In politics, just as it is in business, branding and the ability to innovate and improve are important tools for success, says Premier Najib Abdul Razak.

“In politics, we have to ask why people do not support us,” he told an audience of over 2,000 in Putrajaya today while opening the Rural Entrepreneurs Carnival organised by the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

NONE He added that similarly, entrepreneurs must seek out why some people do not support their brand or product.

In both cases, Najib ( centre in photo ) said, surveys must be done so that they can then improve ourselves and attract those who had not supported them before.

“We must ask why are they non-clients,” he stressed.

He also added that leveraging on branding is crucial in order to provide a premium to the value of products.

Najib said that if a product costs RM10,000, we can sell it for RM20,000, if people accept and like the brand.

The PM also urged entrepreneurs not to follow the old way of doing things and seek their fortune in safe sectors which lack competition.

NONE Quoting from the popular business book Blue Ocean Strategy , whose management theories were recently picked up by the government, he described these sectors with so many competitors that it is like an ocean that runs red from the blood of competition.

Instead, he asked them to take risks and create or explore brand new areas, new “blue oceans” where there are few or no competitors.

In order to assist the development of rural entrepreneurs, the premier also announced an RM50 million allocation for a Mara-run Usahawan Kecil Dynamic entrepreneur development programme, dubbed UK Dynamic.

Najib reinventing himself

In recent weeks, Najib was reported to have hired the services of more public relations experts, this time to try and improve his personal image and the “BN brand”.

Indeed he has been hard at work reinventing himself, appearing on radio shows and attending concerts unannounced.

NONE As he told a radio DJ on one of the stations he appeared in recently, “Our message must be cool, so that the bros out there will listen”.

However, critics questioned the source of financing for the alleged public relations campaign, fearing waste of more public funds at a time when subsidies for the rakyat are being cut.

Indeed, some experts are calling Najib’s new ‘cool’ image as being nothing more than an election facade and his reform promises only cosmetic.

Others have also called his new ‘brand’ nothing more than a repackaging and rebranding exercise than any real substantive move.