The Fresh Brand Brew

The post has been written originally by Mr Manish Sinha.I thank him for his contribution to our blog.He is Vice President Strategic Planning at Bates David Enterprise .

The Fresh Brand Brew(Change Points in Consumer-Brand Relationships)

As we cruise through a chaotic and often messy marketing and branding landscape, how often do we pause to sink-in the fact that many of the consumer-brand relationships have changed dramatically. All of us now have to deal with a fresh brew of brand related issues. This post is about a few of these Change Points.

1. Last Mile is the First Mile.

Today last mile dictates most of our brand purchases - from toothpaste brands to apparel, durables and consumables!Choice can give freedom. But too much choice can also paralyse the decision-making process. Therefore, it's far easier for the consumer to process brand information, messaging and new experiences at the retail point(last mile) rather than processing it between the first(mass media messaging) and the last mile.

2. The ROI on image-based advertising shows a diminishing trend. Increasingly we are finding that image-led advertising - celebrity image, glamour, hyped promises through environment creation - is for entertainment and aesthetic consumption alone.The actual consumer purchase on many counts is on purely rational parameters, convenience, value-based offers or a combination of these factors and have very little to do with the brand image that ad agencies create.

3. Brand Baskets. Today, text-book defined brand loyalty is on a precipitous decline. Consumers are not loyal to 'only image' brands anymore. They do not generally stick to a single brand, or to its philosophy. In most cases it's a consideration basket of brands that the consumers date. Multiple brands for the multi-tasking mind and the multiple-avatars that they don...Brand relationships aren't monogamous any-more!

4. Flash Brands. The other interesting 21st century occurrence is a Flash Brand - the fast rising-from-nowhere people and product brands, backed by aggressive/ often manipulative marketing and a combo of PR + Buzz + consumer participation. Of course very often they disappear as fast as they come. But we must try to understand their creation and DNA. Harry Potter, Shilpa Shetty, iPhone can all be bracketed under the 'Flash Brand' cluster...

5. Rise of Authenticity. Consumers these days value brands that have authentic stories...Decades of image manipulation and false promises(new improved, more improved, most improved) have left them cynical about most brand messages. Tag-lines seem repetitive and sound like election slogans. Tired and non-credible. Consumers straight away are screening hype and manufactured statements. They prefer brands with a more authentic and conversational tone.

6. Inconsistency Rocks.The other thing which has fundamentally changed is that many consumers now expect their brands to be inconsistent and surprise them regularly. This is a marked departure from the 'consistency is King' school of brand thinking. Brands now need to be more creative than consistent in their final expressions... And this calls for greater risk-taking and intuition skills on the part of advertisers and marketers. If we look at the case studies of the most popular brands around us, all of them have embraced discontinuous change more readily and rapidly than the also-rans!These are some of the Change Points in consumer-brand relations. Do write back with your comments. And expect some more 'Fresh Brand Brew' soon. Ciao...

Brand Elements-Titan

Brand Elements:

Brand elements are those trademarkable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. The main brand elements are brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople, slogans, jingles, packages and signage.

Titan Industries is a joint venture between the Tatas and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and was incorporated in 1986.

Brand Name: Titan

The brand name is classical and is based on Greek mythology. It is also suggestive of one of achievement.

Meaning: Titan personifies anything of size, strength, or achievement. This is the association Titan has always sought to achieve and has been successful in it.

Memorability: The name is easy to recall and recognize

Likeability: The brand name is easy to recall and recognize and is inherently descriptive and persuasive.

Transferable: The name Titan means achievement and anybody wearing a Titan is an achiever is what is communicated. It can easily be applied across all product categories and geographies. The gamut of watches range from from Fast Track to Xylus.

Legally Protected: The brand name is legally protected in watches.

URL: http://www.titanworld.com/ .

No other site of the name can exist according to the legal norms.

Logo:The ubiquitous blue-colored Tata logo which was designed by the Wolff Olins consultancy was given a modification to make it more Greek like , shortening the circle around to make a base and giving it black and grey color combinations and the titan logo was born The logo represents fluidity; it may also be seen as a fountain of knowledge, also as a tree of trust under which people can take refuge as with the blue Tata logo .

Slogan: “What’s your style?”

Titan was launched in 1987 when watches were seldom stylish and catered to the basic need of knowing the time.Titan brought in the style concept and gradulally built its brand equity.Jingle: Mozart’s Fifth SymphonyTitan has a typical signature tune taken from Mozart’s fifth symphony.Titan pioneered the concept of gifting watches and with the signature tune the watches caught the attention of many

Shahrukh Khan-The biggest Indian Brand

Shahrukh Khan-The biggest Indian Brand

This is how the star was described as at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. The star has endorsed a number of products and has a perfume by his name too. With a fan following spreading across the world, this brand is indeed resonating.

Expressing his excitement and surprise to be invited at the summit, the man did have his corporate words right coupled with a lot of humor, capturing the interest of the audience. Few of the significant points I could gather from what I saw on television:

1. India as a global entertainment portal:

He seemed worried about the global positioning of Bollywood in the global environment. He said with an industry so vast and diverse, the Indian industry does not find international filmmakers coming to India, it is always India that has to make its presence felt everywhere. He also commented that Oscars must be conducted in India with him being one of the performers there.

2. Shahrukh’s Brand Image:

When asked about his brand image and what he has done to create and maintain it, he gave a suttle yet impactful response that it has been his honesty in dealings and unlike other brands ,he competes with himself and not with anybody others. He says he would like his next film to outdo Chak De! India.

3. Media Invasion:

He said he respected the media and he said that he used media when he had to promote his films like Om Shanti Om currently. He said his movie is competing against Sawariya(he never mentioned the name but it was obvious) where Sony Columbia Tri Star Film is spending 30-40 crores only on publicity.He said that is where I take help of media.

4. Politics and his entry into it:

He said politics is not for good looking people like him although he said Rahul Gandhi is good looking .On a more serious note, he said that it is commendable that young people are joining politics. And said that it is a self-sacrificing job and he is too materialistic to join it.

Nation Branding

NATION BRANDING

Nike!Coca Cola!Google!Apple! Brands prevail in the market making their presence felt all the time and creating resonating relationships with customers.Brands can be products,places,services,etc.Nation branding is a niche subset of place branding.

Globalization has led nations to become more integrated and competing with each other for tourists,business,foreign investments or merely for the attention of the media.100% pure New Zealand,Malaysia-Truly Asia,etc are remarkable examples of nations attempting to brand themeselves.However some nations need not explicitly brand themselves due to their popularity like America for power and money,Japan for technology,etc.

Why would a nation brand itself?

1. A nation could brand itself if it has been targeting the wrong audiences.For example targeting a segment with low spending power for tourism.

2. A nation could brand itself if wants to correct a wrongly built image.For instance.India is still known to the world as a land of culture but nothing beyond.It is important to make the people aware of the technological breakthroughs the country has gone through and also that India is the land of spirituality,youth and corporate leaders.

3. A nation could also want to correct a negatively developed image due to wars,etcSimon Anholt describes the nation brand as the sum of the perceptions of a country and itspeople across six dimensions of national assets, characteristics and competence.

Shahrukh Khan and Cricket-The Branding Perspective

Shahrukh Khan and Cricket-The Branding Perspective

Two brands in the market that carry a personality that is dominating, enlightening and controversial. Let us see what is different between the two. The former lives a reel life and the latter lives a real life. We must remember that there are no retakes on the cricket field. They have to face real people and play their part.The commonality between two is the hype. A testimony of the same is the huge number of products endorsed by them.

Now what is interesting is the relationship between the two. Where do we see them together? And who is it benefiting the most form the brand image.PlatformsWe see them together on television advertisements, TV shows. The most recent show we saw was on Star TV called Chak De Yaara! where Shahrukh was there entertaining the cricketers and here we saw the cricketers having a great time with the filmstar.Who benefits the most?I would say it is the media and advertising agencies.

These brands prevail in the market making their presence felt all the time and creating resonating relationships with the customers.The Impact a Shahrukh Khan in Chak De India makes hockey a popular sport which had become extinct and a cricketer in an advertisement makes the product popular. But it is important to realize both can have serious and negative influences on the public. Both need to be responsible in any of heir activities as people idolize them.Please post in your comments on the same topic….