We have all been given an object lesson on branding this past week – by the unpaid people at Birkirkara FC.
By inviting AC Milan to hold their winter camp here, they have branded Malta for the millions of supporters that Milan has all over the world.
By getting a world-known name here, Birkirkara provided Malta with an entrée to the millions of supporters’ homes for free, or rather for the expenditure involved in getting the venture off the ground.
By logging on to the club’s website, or television station, they could see for themselves our wide green spaces, blue skies and friendly people in a way that none of those CNN adverts ever did.
When the Malta Tourism Authority, under a different chairman but the same minister, tried its hand at branding Malta it ended up getting so confused it started calling everyone Brand Malta. Thousands of liras later, and with a different chairman and board, the Brand Malta campaign became a homelier affair, yet it still pontificated to the Maltese as if they, and they alone, were the cause of the lack of tourists. That may well be one of the reasons, but surely that does not explain the whole situation.
Now Birkirkara, and also those who invited Bocelli, and the other world-famous names, to Malta have shown the way. Or at least one good way.
People in our main markets must have heard about Malta but they have never been in a situation where they could really see for themselves what Malta and the Maltese stand for. Of course, we can shout till we’re hoarse about our millennial culture, our temples and our history, and also about our tourist attractions and accommodation; we can go to all the fairs we want to, but we will never get them here.
People, and this is elementary about contemporary culture, identify with their idols, in this case football heroes. And people tend to go to where they have seen their heroes enjoying themselves. Why we, for instance, have completely failed to capitalise on the blockbuster films that were shot in Malta is a complete mystery when one considers that only Popeye Village remains.
The Milan training camp has also brought out one other important aspect that no Brand Malta campaign ever could do. It offered the Maltese, for free, what they have long wanted to have, a familiarity with the team they support. Consider the scenes in Golden Bay as two very ordered lines of supporters or onlookers stood one arm’s length away while their heroes ran through the sand.
Yet, it is also true that, just as we say after most World Cups, it is not right for Maltese, of any hue, to support so enthusiastically a foreign team or a foreign national team.
It is also true that the scenes at the airport when Milan came would never been seen in Milan itself. And it is also true that sometimes the fans’ overwhelming love for the champions they were seeing in the flesh could lead to some embarrassing situations, if not actual danger for the players’ life and limb. There is much where we ought to grow up – but that is not the point we are making.
The point is that Birkirkara, and Birkirkara alone, have identified what needed to be done to get Malta’s name known wherever there are Milan fans and known in a positive way. Such a simple thing as persuading a club to hold its winter camp in Malta projects a positive image of the island and its other, unknown, attractions.
In these final days that Milan will be spending here, and especially on Tuesday, let us all continue to maintain this positive image, at the same time showing we do have a national dignity to uphold as well. Finally, after so much negative publicity as regards illegal immigrants, it is good to see Malta and the Maltese being praised for being hospitable.