DST UNVEILS NEW BRAND IDENTITY AND EXPERIENCE

The rebranding highlighted DST's renewed commitment to bring about an integrated experience for customers and to help Brunei diversify its economy via ICT.

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam (29/07/2011) -- DST, Brunei Darussalam's leading telecommunications and media services company, today launches a new brand identity, the first in 16 years, after an intensive strategic branding exercise involving all staff members and select customers.

The new tag line, "The Future. Now." shows the company's purpose to catalyse Brunei's economic diversification via information and communications technology (ICT) and be its global champion.

The launch marks the start of the development of a unified DST experience, which will be rolled out over the next two years and will lead to closer integration of existing business units including DSTCom, Incomm, Multimedia and KristalAstro.

"Given the rapid pace of the global ICT market and DST's stable lead here in Brunei, the logical next step would be to seek growth from new services and overseas markets. The brand research told us that our customers prefer an integrated suite of services. It will be challenging, but we are determined to implement this vision over time and also do our part for the Bruneian economy," Idris T. Vasi, Chief Executive Officer at DST, said.

DST's desire to help stimulate the local economy is further reflected in a new CSR initiative called the Future Fund. Together with strategic partners that will be revealed at a later date, DST created the Future Fund to invest in up-and-coming Bruneian ICT companies and to create business opportunities.

A promising start-up may expect early seed equity investment from B$50,000 to B$150,000 per tranche. The fund is expected to be in existence for at least five years and possibly ten years.

Customer and staff feedback were instrumental in determining the direction of the logo redesign. The simpur flower, which has been long linked to the DST brand, was adapted to create the new symbol, a simpur star. The logo formed by five letter Ds represent how the unity of DST staff and customers will create a new future for Brunei.

According to Hj Suhaimi Hussain, CTO at DST, the company wanted the new brand identity to remind them of our new commitment and to inspire every staff member to do his or her best for the customers, as it was the close interaction with customers that allowed DST to become a leader in mobile communications in Brunei.

"Integrating different technologies and platforms is never easy but we have always been a company that is quick to adapt to change. I am confident that we will soon see the fruits of our integration efforts," he said.

The launch of the new identity includes a conversational campaign across major newspapers in Brunei that leads people to think about how much technology can shape people's everyday lives. The campaign befits a brand that helps people to connect with family and friends, to share amazing content with the world and to stay entertained through the best of music and television.

The new logo, tagline and experience represent DST's renewed commitment to bring about an integrated experience for customers and to help Brunei diversify its economy via information and communications technology (ICT). The following questions and answers will help our stakeholders understand the rationale behind the rebranding.

1) Why was there a need to do a rebranding exercise?

A comprehensive business research involving staff and select customers were conducted over a period of three months from November 2010 to January 2011 to review the state of the DST brand. The research showed the following insights:

1. DST has achieved market leadership in Brunei and should seek growth from emerging markets while strengthening its local presence.
2. DST should transform its customer service experience to offer an integrated approach and be in line with global trends.
3. DST has the ability and opportunity to build a recognisable global brand that is strongly associated with Brunei.
4. DST should continue to develop key talents within the company and nurture promising leaders for the country.
5. DST can act as a catalyst to help Brunei diversify its economy through targeted investments in ICT.

A cross-functional leadership team comprising the executive committee and key staff then spent significant time to develop a long-term strategic brand roadmap to guide DST's development. As part of this endeavor, DST will look for appropriate investment opportunities in emerging markets and at the same time integrate its various business units to enhance the service quality for customers.

2) What does this mean for the customers?

Customers can expect DST as a group to be increasingly integrated, as we work to enhance our services. For a start, a new flagship store combining DSTcom, Incomm, KristalAstro and relevant ICT services will be launched towards the end of the year. We will also, over time, be creating and launching bundled packages to provide a greater value-add integrated experience.

It will of course not be an overnight process. We seek the understanding of our customers as we progress towards this, but we are committed to doing our best to achieve an integrated experience.

3) What is DST's purpose statement and what does it mean?

Our purpose statement is: "Catalyse Brunei's economic diversification via ICT and be its global champion."

This statement acts as our true north and reminds every staff member of why DST exists. We have a responsibility as a corporate citizen of Brunei to contribute to achieving the goals of Wawasan 2035, that of a diversified economy, which we can do by helping to stimulate the country's ICT industry.

4) What is a specific activity that you will do to help Brunei become a more diversified economy?

Together with our strategic partner that will be revealed at a later date, DST is creating the Future Fund to invest in up-and-coming Bruneian ICT companies and to catalyse enterpreneurship. Under this initiative a promising start-up may expect early seed equity investment from B$50,000 to B$150,000 per tranche. The fund is expected to be in existence for at least five years and possibly ten years.

This is one initiative, but based on discussions with various partners in the country, we expect to develop other programmes where DST can spark more growth in the ICT industry.

5) What is the meaning behind the new DST logo?

Customer and staff feedback were instrumental in determining the direction of the logo redesign. The simpur flower, which has been long linked to the DST brand, was adapted to create the new symbol, a simpur star.

The logo formed by five letter Ds represent how the unity of DST staff and customers will create a new future for Brunei, as symbolised by the star within. The kaleidoscope effect shows the role of DST as a catalyst to enable customers to do amazing things with technology.

Purple was chosen as the primary colour drawing inspiration from the simpur flower, and also because a competitive review of the logos of leading telcos in the region showed that many them were either blue or red. Purple will stand out as a differentiated colour.

6) What does the tag line "The Future. Now." mean?

The tag line excites customers with all the possibilities currently available to them through DST's services, while challenging staff to keep innovating in order to stay ahead in a fast changing world. The tag line expresses the commitment of DST to help bring Brunei forward to be on a par with the best in the world.

7) What will happen to DSTCom?

The research showed that retail customers already refer to DSTCom as DST. Even at the corporate level different stakeholders refer to DST Group as DST. Therefore, from now onwards the brand name will simply be DST at both the group and the retail levels. The names DST Group and DSTCom will be phased out.

8) What will happen to Incomm?

Over the coming months customers will see an integration of DSTCom and Incomm services. Incomm will also be renamed as DSTIncomm.

We are still in the process of rolling out the new retail branches. Some stores will be chosen to offer all services, while other stores will offer limited services due to the lack of space or demand. We will share this news with customers in due time.

9) What will happen to Data Stream Solutions?

DSS will be renamed as DSTSolutions and will seek new ways to offer an integrated approach to our customers. We will devote more time to grow our business solutions and we see opportunities in working with a diverse range of partners, from the government to SMEs.

10) What will happen to Fascom?

Fascom has been useful as a service to many Bruneians for large-scale events. To help customers enjoy the strengths of our integration, Fascom will be renamed as DSTFascom. We are excited about new opportunities, which we will share with customers soon.

11) What will happen to Kristal Astro and KFM?

Kristal Astro is the only pay TV operator in Brunei, while KFM is the leading and only private radio station in Brunei with engaging programming and popular DJs. We remain committed to the growth of both pay TV and radio services as entertainment channels for Bruneians. We are retaining and enhancing these brands so audiences can continue to enjoy and relate to them.

12) What will happen to Simpur?

Simpur is Brunei's leading online lifestyle portal and we intend to continue to develop this platform further. We will seek new opportunities to enhance the content on the portal and keep our users engaged.