brand management

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NMIMS TRIMESTER VI - BRAND MANAGEMENT BRAND MANAGEMENT Buildings age and become dilapidated Machines wear out People die But what live on are Brands HISTORY OF BRANDING Branding has come a long way in India and also around the world. The word brand comes from the word "brandr”, a word used by early Norse tribesmen meaning ‘to burn’, as in branding livestock to declare ownership. No doubt, anyone who has read cowboy stories is familiar with the concept of branding cattle. Over time branding of cattle became not just mark of ownership but also of quality. In the Chicago meat market, buyers recognized quality beef through the brand mark on the cattle. This was because the ranches which produced better quality of meat did so as it implied –better grass or more adequate supply of water, better living conditions for the cattle or a shorter journey to the meat market. No longer was ‘meat on the hoof’ a commodity, it was ‘branded’ and the better quality was recognizable. In the earliest form, a brand mark defined quality, a mark which differentiated a quality product from other similar products. Many years ago, in the Soviet Union, when products were sold under a generic name, the factory manufacturing the product had to mark its identity on the packaging. Customers soon realized that a detergent powder produced in one factory was superior to another in quality. Eventually, housewives would turn the packaging around while purchasing to identify the origin of the product and make their choices on the basis of 1 Prof Karthic Iyer

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Page 1: BRAND MANAGEMENT

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.

-William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was wrong. A rose by any other name would not smell as sweet…which is why the single most important decision in the marketing of perfume isthe name.

-Al Ries and Jack Trout

NMIMS TRIMESTER VI - BRAND MANAGEMENT

BRAND MANAGEMENT

Buildings age and become dilapidatedMachines wear out

People dieBut what live on are Brands

HISTORY OF BRANDING

Branding has come a long way in India and also around the world. The word brand comes from the word "brandr”, a word used by early Norse tribesmen meaning ‘to burn’, as in branding livestock to declare ownership. No doubt, anyone who has read cowboy stories is familiar with the concept of branding cattle. Over time branding of cattle became not just mark of ownership but also of quality. In the Chicago meat market, buyers recognized quality beef through the brand mark on the cattle. This was because the ranches which produced better quality of meat did so as it implied –better grass or more adequate supply of water, better living conditions for the cattle or a shorter journey to the meat market. No longer was ‘meat on the hoof’ a commodity, it was ‘branded’ and the better quality was recognizable.

In the earliest form, a brand mark defined quality, a mark which differentiated a quality product from other similar products.

Many years ago, in the Soviet Union, when products were sold under a generic name, the factory manufacturing the product had to mark its identity on the packaging. Customers soon realized that a detergent powder produced in one factory was superior to another in quality. Eventually, housewives would turn the packaging around while purchasing to identify the origin of the product and make their choices on the basis of its manufacturing location. The serial number of the factory had become a brand as it is differentiated from other similar detergents, which, according to the state, were supposed to be identical in formulation and in every other way. This is similar to the Nirma story where the brand name was the only differentiator between totally similar products in the Ahemadabad market in the early 1970’s

WHAT IS A BRAND?

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BRAND - A FEW DEFINITIONS

David Ogilvy defines brands as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it’s advertised.”

Kotler defines brands as “A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competitor.”

The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as:

“A name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors.”

Jared Spool, a web site usability expert, says,

"Branding means creating an emotional association (such as the feeling of success, happiness, or relief) that customers form with the product, service, or company."

Walter Landor, one of the greats of the advertising industry, said:

“Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality.”

Branding is supposed to be the process by which the true character and purpose of the company is communicated. And this process is a strategy that is consistently applied through the entire firm, hopefully creating an aura of trust; an appreciation of your uniqueness; and a set of expectations in your customers, shareholders and employees. Everything is consistent--packaging, advertising, public relationsBranding creates value beyond what's intrinsic in the product (or service, for that matter.)

There are different ways to look at the meaning of brand and branding in simple terms:

A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer. Brand is everything what you want to communicate to consumers and what you

communicate. By definition, “brand” is whatever the consumer thinks of when he or she hears your company’s name.

A brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality.

It’s a bundle of functional and emotional benefits A name with a reputation A mark of pride A simplifier of choice A product or service with an attitude

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It is absolutely clear that a brand is very different from a product or service. A brand is intangible and exists in the mind of the consumer. This definition helps us understand the idea of brand loyalty and the 'loyalty ladder'. Different people have different perceptions of a product or service, which places them at different points on the loyalty ladder.

This brings us to the other vital connections of management, namely, Positioning and Advertising of a product or service. Advertising has to sell, and it achieves this by positively influencing people's perceptions of the product or service.

However, Advertising grabs customers’ minds. Branding gets their hearts.

ROLE OF BRANDS

In a world where products, markets, and industry boundaries are in flux, a well-managed brand can be a prime source of strategic direction and competitive advantage. Today branding is such a strong force that anything from salt to lemon juice and water is branded. The following are the roles of branding which serve many purposes:

A brand identifies the seller or maker.

A brand protects both the consumer and the producer from competitors who would attempt to provide products that appear to be identical.

A brand reduces the primacy of price upon the purchase decision. It accentuates the bases of differentiation. A brand is essentially a sellers promise to consistently deliver a specific set of

features, benefits and services to the buyers. A brand gives the seller the opportunity to attract a loyal and profitable set of

customers. Brand loyalty gives sellers some protection from competition and greater control in planning their marketing programs.

Strong brands help build the corporate image, making it easier to launch and gain acceptance by distributors and customers.

Managing a positive brand image creates opportunities to introduce new products that build on brand equity. It helps to attract and retain good employees and it improves the stockholders’ perceived value of your company.

Products are “what companies make” – brands are “what customers buy”

BRAND CHARACTERISTICS The world is rapidly shrinking with the advent of faster communication, transportation and financial flows. Products developed in one country – Mont Blanc pens, McDonalds, BMW’s – are finding enthusiastic acceptance in other countries.

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A German businessman may wear an Armani suit to meet an English friend at an Indian restaurant who later returns home to drink Russian vodka and watch an American soap on a Korean television. There are different aspects or levels of a brand, may it be of a product or service which attract customers to build an image and an idea about that product or service. There may be various viewpoints through which a person may perceive the brand in a particular way.

Let’s take Mercedes Benz for example:

Attributes: Mercedes suggests expensive, well-built, well-engineered, durable, high prestige, high value, fast and so on. The company may use one or more of the attributes to advertise the car. For years, Mercedes advertised “Engineered like no other car in the world”. This tagline served as a positioning platform for the car’s other attributes.

Benefits: Customers are not buying attributes, they are buying benefits. Attributes need to be translated into emotional and functional benefit, “I am safe in case of an accident”.

Values: The brand also says something about the producer’s values. Thus Mercedes stands for high performance, safety, prestige and so on. The brand marketer must figure out the specific groups of car buyers who are seeking these values.

Culture: The brand may represent a certain culture. The Mercedes represents German culture: organized, efficient, high quality.

Personality: The brand can also project a certain personality. If the brand were a person, an animal, or an object, what would come to mind? Mercedes may suggest a no-nonsense boss (person), a reigning lion (animal), or an austere palace (object). Sometimes it might take on the personality of an actual well-known person or spokesperson.

User: The brand suggests the kind of consumer who buys or uses the product. We would be surprised to see a 20-year-old secretary driving a Mercedes. We would accept instead to see a 55 year-old top executive behind the wheel. The users will be those who respect the product’s values, culture and personality

BRANDING - CONCEPTS

While studying brands and branding case studies will come across various terms and concepts relating to brands which most companies use in order to define their strategy for branding their product or service. Some of them are explained as below:

Brand Width: It is the extension of the brand outside its original product category.

Brand Length: It is the brand’s franchise in terms of age groups, consumer types and international appeal.

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Brand Depth: It is the brand’s ability to create consumer loyalty by offering

variants in each element in the brand length.

Brand Weight: It is the influence of the brand in its category or market.

The Brand: SuzukiBrand Width: Motorcycles, 4 wheel drive automobiles, Sport and Utility automobiles, Small engine parts, outboard motors and marine products.Brand Length: Motorcycles – Swift, Samurai, Sidekick etc.Brand Depth: Swift – Chevy Sprint, Geo Metro (Variations of the Swift, Essentially the same Swift motorcycle.)

Brand Width

Motorcycles 4-Wautos S.U.V’s Eng Parts Outboard

MotorsMarine Pdts

Samurai

Brand Depth Chevy Sprint Geo Metro

ShaolinSidekickSwiftShogun

ELEMENTS OF A BRAND

BRAND NAME

Certain factors should be considered before selecting a brand name. They are as follows: Distinguish the product from competitive brands Memorable and easy to pronounce Easy to say, spell and pronounce It should allude to the product’s uses, benefits, or special characteristics in a

positive way Negative or offensive references should be avoided. Evoke positive mental image Evoke positive emotional reaction Suggest product function or benefits Simple Sound appropriate Be registrable (unique) Possibly, translate well in other languages too.

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LOGO

The company logo is the cornerstone of the firm's branding elements. For many firms the logo is the visual reminder of everything that the firm stands for. While a great logo won't necessarily build the firm, it plays a vital role in representing it. Conversely, a weak or confusing logo can detract from the value that the firm brings.

Elements of a Good Logo:

It has a lasting value - trendy logos don't hold up over time. It is distinct - some amount of uniqueness, as long as it doesn't confuse, is

valuable. Appeals to your target market - if your target market is partial to blue then it

doesn't matter that you're not. Supports your USP - If you are trying to communicate your low low prices then

your logo should support that image Legible - This seems pretty obvious but many people use typefaces and images

that can't be printed or carried to a large sign. Your logo should clearly identify your company and it can't do that if people don't understand it.

Nike, McDonald’s, etc.

SLOGANS, JINGLES, CHARACTERS, AND PACKAGING Recognize the benefits of an effective jingle, slogan, character, and package

design for a brand. Use a slogan or jingle that i.e. audible to the ear and one which is catchy.

The Doodh Doodh Ad.

TYPES OF BRANDS

The functional dimension is the product’s attributes and benefits or the tangible properties while the symbolic dimensions are the intangible aspects of the brand. A

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Symbolic dimension

Functional dimension

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marketer can combine these two elements to create the ‘right’ appeal for customers. In consumer behavior the rational and emotional perspectives are two models that explain how consumers make purchase decisions. Successful branding, therefore, depends on combining the rational and emotional components of a brand in a manner that it becomes consistent with the consumer’s frame of mind.

FUNCTIONAL BRANDS

Here, the functional dimension of the brand is far more visible and appealing than the emotional or symbolic dimension.

Nivea’s range of body products focuses on the functional benefit of smooth skin.

Also, buying of a painkiller would be by and large a rational, left brain driven activity. What implications does one have for marketers of Aspirin, Aspro, Anacin? Here the brand should be functions driven. That is, the brand essence should revolve around ‘reasons’ demonstrating product superiority in terms of its ingredients and efficiency of its pain relieving process (e.g., the product “dissolves faster in water” and therefore, “relieves pain faster.” SYMBOLIC BRANDS

Here, the symbolic or emotional dimension is more prevalent than the functional dimension. The decisions would be based on more of the emotional aspect than that of rational aspect. In the circumstances where consumer buying is emotions driven, the brand must accordingly focus on symbolic or emotional aspects.

E.g. ICICI Prudential has various schemes concerning children’s futures; this also stresses on the emotional aspect, caring for the child and securing his future.

BRAND BUILDING STRATEGIES

PRODUCT BRANDING

This is of the type one-brand one product. In terms of customer perception and information processing, the most effective way to designate a product is to give it an exclusive name, which would not be available to any other product. In the product branding strategy the brand is promoted exclusively so that it acquires its own identity and image. This way the brand is able to acquire a distinct position in the customer’s mind. The thrust is on making the brand acquire its ‘own’ set of associations and stand on its own. Product branding allows a brand achieve exclusivity and differentiation. It does not share other products and does not take on company associations. The company’s name takes a backseat and the product does not get benefits from the company name. The greatest advantage in this case is that a brand can be targeted

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accurately to a distinct target market or customers because its positioning can be precise unambiguous. Customers connect easily with product brands since what the brand represents tends to be clear.

P&G have been follower of the product branding strategy. P& G’ s into baby care, beauty care, feminine care, health care, fabric care, home care, food and beverages, etc. P&G has been an ardent follower of the product brand strategy. Its brands are stand alones; people don’t even know that they all share a common root in P&G. the company does not share a common identity. Thus, a company following product branding is better positioned to venture into unrelated areas of activity without being a subject of market scrutiny.

Another advantage is that with an identifiable brand uniquely positioned and directed at a segment, the firm is able to cover an entire market spectrum by making multiple brand entries.

The drawbacks of product brands are essentially cost based. Creating individual brand is costly exercise. Only the firms that have deep pockets and long staying power can adopt this strategy.

LINE BRANDING

This is of the type ‘One brand many products’. Sometimes a brand is launched with a distinct concept e.g. Lakme (“source of radiant beauty”) Winter Care lotion .The brand appeals to a distinct market segment who appreciate and like the brand concept. The core idea is that the brand connects with the consumer group. Now the customers do not tend to be content with the one product, which the brand offers. Rather they want additional product which go hand in hand with the brand concept or application; for example a Lakme user wants all the products which enhance beauty-beauty lotion, deep pore cleansing cream, lipsticks, nail enamel, eye make up etc.

Line branding strategy illustrates how well cultivated brand can be extended on to a host of related products under a common concept. This strategy seeks to penetrate the customer rather than penetrating the market. It seeks to fulfill all complementary needs that surround a basic need. Line brands start with a product but later extend too a whole range of complementary products. The products in the line draw their identity from the main brand. Marketing products as a line enhances the brand’s marketing power rather than selling them as an individual brand.

Colgate has a whole range of dental care products. Colgate Total, Colgate Gel, Colgate toothpowder, as well as the various toothbrushes.

BRAND EXTENSION

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Brand extensions, which are a popular means of introducing new products to the marketplace, fall under the ‘One brand all products’ type of brand strategies. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name. Consumer familiarity with the existing core brand name aids new product entry into the marketplace, and helps the brand extension to capture new market segments quickly.

Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm. A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension. In the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level. In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Although a brand extension aids in generating consumer acceptance for a new product by linking the new product with a known brand or company name, it also risks diluting the core brand image by depleting or harming the equity, which has been built up within the core brand name. An inappropriate brand extension could create damaging associations, which may be very difficult for a company to overcome. The different types of brand extensions are:

Product form extension:

Product launched in a different form usually means line extension rather than brand extension. But if different product form constitutes entirely a different product category from customer behavior perspective, it would be called brand extension. For e.g. liquid milk and dried milk may not be perceived as the product category. Similarly chocolate bars and chocolate powder belong to different product categories.

Companion Product:

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AMUL MILK AMUL CONDENSED MILK

LG FLATRON LG XCANVAS PROJECTION

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Brand extension is in the form of companion products is perhaps the most common. The idea perhaps is to capitalize on product complementarily. The consumer may view both products jointly and hence, provide scope for launching brand extension.

Customer franchise:

A marketer may extend a product range in order to meet the needs of a specific customer group. For instance, a company may launch a variety of products meant for e.g. nursery going school children. The focus here is not customer base but their diverse needs.

Company expertise:

Brand extensions often come in the forms of different product category introductions using a common name but emanating from a common expertise pool. This strategy is particularly true in Japanese countries.

Hindustan Lever Limited

Brand distinction:

Many brands achieve distinction in the form of a unique attribute, benefit or feature, which gets uniquely associated with the brand. In such situations the company can work backwards to launch different products, which essentially cash in on this distinction. For

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J & JBABY

SHAMPOO

J & JBABY TALC

J & J BABY OIL

J & J BABY SOAP

ORAL CARE

SKIN CARE HAIR CARE

BODY CARE

PARACHUTE COCONUT

PARACHUTE HAIR OIL

PARACHUTECREAM

PARACHUTE SHAMPOO

COLGATE DENTAL CREAM COLGATE TOOTHBRUSHLAKME NAILPOLISH LAKME LIPSTICK

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example, Parachute may have the expertise of coconut nourishment in customers mind over time. This would give the company Marico the opportunity to launch a variety of products exploiting this distinction.

Brand image or prestige:

A brand extension may involve a foray in to unrelated product categories based on a brand’s exclusive image or prestige. Brand exclusivity or prestige bestows great extension opportunities. This is particularly true of designers and artist brands.

UMBRELLA BRANDING

This again is of the type ‘One brand all products’. An umbrella brand is a parent brand that appears on a number of products that may each have separate brand images. Firms have a short-run incentive to reduce quality and save costs, as consumers can only observe quality ex post.

Videocon’s range of home appliances – air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, etc. Phillips also has a whole range of home appliances under the brand name Phillips-the mixers, irons, televisions, etc.

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CARTIERJEWELLERY

CARTIER WATCHES

CARTIERPENS

CARTIERPURSES

AMULBUTTER

AMULMILK

AMUL CHEESE

AMUL ICE CREAM

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Umbrella branding scored well on the dimension of economics. Investing in a single brand is less costly than trying to build a number of brands. By leveraging a common name across a variety of products, the brand distributes its investment. Hence umbrella branding works out to be an economical strategy. Using an umbrella brand to enter into new markets (Tata making a foray into the automobile car market) allows considerable savings. The brand bestows the new product advantages of brand awareness, associations and instant goodwill.

One first explanation for brand extensions is that umbrella branding is a form of economies of scope, as it economizes on the costs of creating a new brand. Brands have an intrinsic value (status or otherwise) and are therefore like a “public good” in the sense that the more products are sold under the same brand the greater the total value created. A different perspective on brand extensions is that, in a world where consumers are uncertain about product characteristics (due to horizontal or vertical differentiation), brands may play an informational role. Umbrella branding may reduce uncertainty about a new product's attributes, a fact that increases value if consumers are risk averse. Considering these factors it can be said that umbrella branding is a superior strategy when there is a significant overlap between the set of buyers of each of the firm's products. This result extends the well-known notion that brand extensions and umbrella branding are only successful if there is a good fit between the different products under the same umbrella.

The main danger associated with umbrella branding is that since many products share the common name, a debacle in one product category may influence the products because of shared identity.

ENDORSEMENT BRANDING

Endorsement branding strategy is a modified version of double branding. It makes the product brand name more significant and corporate brand name is relegated to a lesser status. The umbrella brand is made to play an indirect role of passing on certain common generic associations. It is only mentioned as an endorsement to the product brand. By and large, the brand seeks to stand on its own.

The brand gets the endorsement that it belongs to specified company.

Kit Kat gives the signal that it belongs to Nestle and Dairy Milk conveys that it belongs to Cadburys. Cinthol’s communication stresses that it is a Godrej product.

Though these brands enjoy their unique image, somewhere in the image the makers association is also a part. Endorsement branding strikes a balance between umbrella and product branding.

In case of Cadbury’s and Nestle, the brands mentioned above have their own unique position and image. Cadbury’s or Nestle support the brands to the extent that they

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transfer certain qualities or associations, which enhance customer’s trust. Brands are identified by their own name.

WHY IS BRAND BUILDING DIFFICULT?

It is difficult to build a strong brand in today's environment. The brand builder can be inhibited by substantial pressures and barriers, both internal and external. There are 8 different factors that make it difficult to build brands:

Pressure to compete on price, Proliferation of competitors, Fragmenting markets and media, Complex branding strategies and brand relationships, The temptation to change identity/executions, Organizational, Pressure to invest elsewhere, Pressures for short-term results.

One key to successful brand building is to understand how to develop brand identities, to know what the brand stands for, and how to most effectively express that identity.

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Short Term Pressures

Pressure to compete on

price ProliferationOf competitors

FragmentationMarkets and

Media

Pressure To Invest

Elsewhere BUILDING BRANDS

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PRESSURE TO COMPETE ON PRICE

There are enormous pressures on all firms to compete on price. Price competition is at center stage, driven by powers of strong retailers, value sensitive customers, reduced capacity growth and overcapacity. Retailers have become stronger and use their powers to put pressures on prices. Whereas a year ago information was largely controlled by the manufacturer retailers are now collecting vast amounts of information and developing models to use it. As a result there is an increasing focus on margins and efficient use of space.

Orange versus BPL mobile services - What these cellular service providers are doing is to compete with each other mainly on the basis of price. If Orange is cutting its deposit amount, or reducing the general rent or tariff or airtime charges, BPL has to follow the suit. Also the cola companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi are continuously engaged in a price war.

PROLIFERATION OF COMPETITORS

New, vigorous competitors come from a variety of sources. Additional competitors not only contribute to price pressures and brand complexity, but also make it harder to gain and hold a position. They leave fewer holes in the market to exploit and fewer implementation vehicles to own. Each brand tends to be positioned more narrowly, the target market becomes smaller and no target market becomes larger.

There are innumerous players in various product categories. One of these is toothpaste. With products ranging from gel, tooth powder, herbal pastes and striped paste – the market is quite clustered. The market is so much saturated with different players in these markets that they keep competing on the positioning of their brands, which has to be

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Complex Branding Strategies And Relationships

Bias Against Innovation

Bias Towards Changing Strategies

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different from the rest and thus cater to a particular segment of the population. Like Close-up toothpaste which is positioned on the fact that it has mouthwash for fresh breath and Colgate which stresses on its calcium content for stronger teeth.

FRAGMENTATION MARKETS AND MEDIA

At one time being consistent across media and markets was easy as there were a limited number of media options and only a few national media vehicles. However the bewildering array of media options today includes interactive television, advertising on the internet, direct marketing, event sponsorship and more are being invented daily. Coordinating messages across these media without weakening a brand is a major challenge. Coordination is all the more difficult because different brand support activities are often handled by different organizations and individuals with varying perspectives and goals. In addition companies are dividing the population into smaller and more refined target markets, often reaching them with specialized media and distribution channels. Although it is tempting to develop separate brand identity for each of these target segments it presents problems for both the brand and the customer. Since media audiences invariably overlap, customers are likely to be exposed to more than one identity relating to the same brand.

The Coca-Cola ad featuring Aamir Khan is targeted at the retailers and the rural market while the ad featuring Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi is targeted at the urban consumers. As both these ads are going on simultaneously the consumers tend to be exposed to both the rural as well as the urban face of the brand.

COMPLEX BRANDING STRATEGIES AND RELATIONSHIPS

Different identities of brands and their extensions make both brand building and managing it difficult. In addition to knowing its identity each brand needs to understand its role in each context in which it is involved. There is a tendency to use established brands in different contexts and roles because establishing a totally new brand is very expensive. The resulting new levels of complexity often are not anticipated or even acknowledged until there is a substantial problem.

Henko Compact and Henko Stain Champion both belong to the German firm Henkal. Although this is a line extension finding difference between both these products is not easy. A number of questions like “Does the name ‘stain champion’ mean Henko Compact does not remove stains? Or does it mean that Stain Champion is a technologically inferior product?” often cross the consumers mind when they consider these brands for purchase. This is because the line extension and the relationship of one product with another in this strategy are not considered.

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BIAS TOWARDS CHANGING STRATEGIES

There are sometimes overwhelming internal pressures to change a brand identity and/or its execution while it is still effective or even before it achieves its potential. The resulting changes can undercut brand equity or prevent it from being established.

Promise toothpaste tried to change its well set positioning and went in to emphasize the freshness aspect of its paste rather than the well-established clove oil aspect. As a result its sales went down.

BIAS AGAINST INNOVATION

Companies managing a established brand can be so pleased with past and current success, and so preoccupied with day to day problems, that they become blind to competitive situations. By ignoring or minimizing fundamental changes in the competitive situation or potential breakthroughs, managers leave their brands vulnerable and risk missing opportunities. A new competitor is thus often the source and beneficiary of true innovation.

Iodex became blinded and redundant after achieving the position of market leader and preferred to rest on its laurels rather than go in for product innovations and line extensions. As a result its leadership position was lost to Moov, which positioned itself as a remedy for backache and converted all the weaknesses of Iodex into its strengths.Also Bata was the market leader for footwear but they did not adapt with the changing times. As a result their sales went down. Currently Liberty Footwear is the market leader.

PRESSURE TO INVEST ELSEWHERE

When a brand is strong there is a temptation to reduce investment in the core business area in order to improve short-term performance or to fund new business diversifications. There is an often mistaken belief that the brand will not be damaged by sharp reductions in support and that the other investment opportunities are more attractive. Ironically the diversification that attracts these resources is often flawed because an acquired business was overvalued or because the organization’s ability to manage a different business area was overestimated.

SHORT-TERM PRESSURES

Pressures for short-term results generally undermine investments in brands. There are several reasons for this:

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There is wide acceptance that maximization of stockholder value should be the overriding objective of the firm.

Management style itself is dominated by a short-term orientation. Annual budgeting systems usually emphasize short-term sales, costs and profits. As a result brand-building programs are often sacrificed in order to meet those targets.

Short-term focus is created by performance measures available. Measurements of intangible assets such as brand equity, information technology or people are elusive at best. Also long term value of activities that will enhance or erode brand equity is difficult to demonstrate whereas short-term performances like impact of promotions can be tabulated easily. This results in debilitating bias towards short-term results.

It is true that that building brands is difficult. But it is doable as is evident by those who have done so. The greatest examples of this are brands like Titan, Coca Cola, Cadbury’s etc. We can thus see that it is possible to build strong brands by building, managing and maintaining the four assets that underlie brand equity-awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand association.

BRAND EQUITY

Before looking at the various methods of brand building it is essential to know what brand equity is because strong brand equity is the basis of brand building.

Keller defines brand equity as “Brand equity is defined in terms of the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brands -- for example, when certain outcomes result from the marketing of a product or service because of its brand name that would not occur if the same product or service did not have that name.”

David Aaker defines brand equity as “A set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to or subtracts from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers.”

The major asset categories are: Brand loyalty Brand name awareness Perceived quality Brand associations

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BRANDLOYALTY

Provides Value to Customer By Enhancing Customer’s

Interpretation/processing of information

Confidence in purchase decision

Use satisfaction

Reduced marketing costs Trade leverage Attracting new customers

Create awarenessReassurance

Time To Respond To Competitive Threats

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BRAND AWARENESS

PERCEIVED QUALITY

Anchor to which other associations can be attached

Familiarity –liking Signal of substance/

commitment Brand to be considered

Reason to buy Differentiate/

position Price Channel member interest Extensions

Competitive Advantage

Provides value to firm by enhancing:

Efficiency and effectiveness of marketing programs

Brand loyalty Prices/margins Brand extensions Trade leverage Competitive

advantage Help process/

Retrieve information Reason to buy Create positive

attitudes/feelings Extensions

BRANDEQUITY

BRANDASSOCIATIONS

OTHER PROPRIETARY

BRAND ASSETS

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Several aspects of this definition require elaboration. First, brand equity is a set of assets. Thus the management of brand equity involves investment to create and enhance these assets. Second such brand equity asset creates value in a variety of very different ways. In order to manage brand equity effectively and to make informed decisions about brand building activities it is important to be sensitive to ways in which strong brands create value. Third brand equity creates value for the customer as well as the firm. The word customer refers to both end users and those at the infrastructural level. Finally for assets or liabilities to underlie brand equity they must be linked to the name or symbol of the brand. If the brand’s name or symbol should change, some or all of the assets or liabilities could be affected or even lost, although some might be shifted to the new symbol or name.

BRAND LOYALTY

Brand loyalty is the ultimate goal a company sets for a branded product. A company’s main question in relation to selling their products or services use do be: “How do I get people to buy my product?” Nowadays companies still greatly appreciate the answer to this question but they have also realized that getting customers is not the only thing they need to do. In today’s rapidly moving world consumers don’t stick with products for life. Advertisements and an increased feeling of independence have created consumers that will switch brands or products as soon as the feel the need to do so. What company’s look for in this consumer environment is creating a so-called brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty is a consumer’s preference to buy a particular brand in a product category. It occurs because consumers perceive that the brand offers the right product features, images, or level of quality at the right price. This perception becomes the foundation for a new buying habit. Consumers initially will make a trial purchase of the brand and, after satisfaction, tend to form habits and continue purchasing the same brand because the product is safe and familiar.

Brand loyalists have the following mindsets:

I am committed to this brand. I am willing to pay a higher price for this brand over other brands. I will recommend this brand to others.

Loyalty Segmentation:Loyalty segmentation helps in building strong brands. A market can usually be divided into the following groups:

Noncustomers: Those who use the competitor’s brand or are not product class users.

Price switchers: Those who are price switchers. The passively loyal: Those who buy out of habit rather than reason. Fence sitters: those who are indifferent between two or more brands. The committed: those who are committed to our brands.

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High brand equity Committed buyer

The challenges to improve the brand’s loyalty profile are to increase the number of customers who are not price switchers, to strengthen the fence sitters and committed ties to the brand and to increase the number who would pay more to use the brand or service. Two segments where the companies generally under invest are passively loyal and the committed customers. The passively loyal customers are often taken for granted. At the other end of the spectrum are the highly loyal or committed customers. Firms also tend to take this group for granted. Yet there may be significant potential to increase business from the very loyal.

The loyal Marriott customer might be encouraged to select even more than often with a improved portfolio of business support services such as fax machines in rooms.

Further there is a risk that loyal customers can be enticed away by a competitor if the performance of the product or service is not improved. For these reasons firms should avoid diverting resources from the loyal core to the non-customers and price switchers. One approach to enhancing the loyalty of fence sitters and the committed is to develop or strengthen their relationship with the brand.

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Brand switchers / price sensitive buyers/ indifferent brand – no

loyalty – no equity

Satisfied / habitual buyer – no reason to

change, equity diffuse

Likes the brand

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BRAND AWARENESS

Awareness refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s mind. Awareness is measured according to the different ways in which consumers remember a brand, ranging from recognition to recall to top of the mind.

Recognitions reflect familiarity gained from past exposure. Recognition does not necessarily involve remembering where the brand was encountered before why it differs from other brands or even what the brands product class is. It is simply remembering that there was a past exposure to the brand. When consumers see a brand and remember that they have seen it before they realize that the company is spending money to support the brand. Since it is generally believed that companies will not spend money on products consumers take their recognition as a signal that the brand is good.

Many companies, especially while introducing a new product in the market find that sales cannot be sustained without constant advertising. Sales charts always show a meteoric rise post-advertising burst. Companies often rerun advertisement on different channels over the year to sustain the brand awareness and ensure that the consumers are exposed to the brand.

Complan repeats the same TV commercials for different target markets over a period of time to ensure brand recall and visibility.

Brand Pyramid:

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TOP OF MIND

BRAND AWARENESS

BRAND RECALL

BRAND IGNORANCE

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At the top of the pyramid is the brand that exists at the top of the customer’s mind. This is the happy and the most desired condition that any marketer seeks. The next level is of all the other brands that are recalled by the customer in an unaided form.(brand awareness) The customer is asked to recall as many brands as he or she is able to whenever one thinks of a product.

Brand recognition is the third level and perhaps the lowest level. And also known as brand recall. Here customers are aided in recalling or recognizing brands or associating brands with a product class. This is important at the point of purchase.

The contribution of awareness to building up equity for the brand can be gauged by the fact that high awareness creates associations in the customer’s mind. He or she is able to associate different images with the brand and this in turn can help generate a customer’s liking for it. It can also lead to a large base of committed customers, and all these benefits in turn will help the firm have more leverage in the market place.

Factors Affecting Brand Awareness:

Brand Awareness refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s mind.Awareness is measured according to the different ways in which consumers remember a brand, ranging from recognition to recall to top of the mind. Some of the major factors affecting brand awareness are: -

Brand Name: One of the most important factor affecting brand awareness is the brand name. Brand name plays an important part in creating awareness for a brand. Also whether the name is really very meaningful or completely baseless they both affect brand awareness.

Bacardi Breezers - flavoured aerated vodka based drink Fevi Stik - adhesive

Centre Shock chewing gum.

Advertising: Advertising also helps to create Brand awareness in a big way. Take any brand name Fevicol, Vicks, Pepsi all have used ad’s for creating awareness among their consumers.

Celebrity:- Another important factor affecting Brand awareness is the celebrities endorsing the Brand. Whenever you see a celebrity you love endorsing a brand you tend to propagate the Brand.

Coca Cola experienced a tremendous increase in brand following post ad campaigns with Hrithik Roshan and “Kaho Na Pyaar Hai”.

Parent Company:- To a large extent the parent company helps in promoting a brand. The parent company in many cases is so popular that its brand automatically become popular and people become aware about the product.

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TATA always promotes it brand with its name along with the brand such as TATA INDICA, TATA INDIGO, TATA SALT.

Sales Promotions And Offers: - It also helps in making the consumers aware of the brand. Some of the sales promotion activities that companies carry out help them in a big way to make their target aware of the brand.

Reliance India Mobile’s Monsoon Hungama offer, wherein they offered their WLL services at an affordable price.

1st Mover Advantage: - Usually the company that enters a product category first has good awareness about its brand. Usually people tend to remember the first player to enter the market.

Parle products “BISLERI” in the packaged water segment.

Public Relations: - The coverage that the fourth estate and magazines provide a brand also helps in building awareness about a brand.

The popularity of local restaurants such as J.W.Marriot has been boosted by the page 3 mentions in the Bombay Times supplement of The Times of India.

Direct Selling: - Some of the companies use direct selling as a platform to create brand awareness.

Eureka Forbes water filter “AQUA GUARD”.

Peer Group Opinion: - Peer group opinion also plays an important part in the whole brand awareness exercise. Usually people tend to discuss a lot about the brand and tend to share their experiences or some recent ad’s they have seen which in turn increases brand awareness of their peers.

When opting for cellular network services (irrespective of prepaid or billing), most people generally go by the opinions of their friends and colleagues.

Recall Of Ads: - In some cases the brand awareness is also high due to specific ad recall, which is very high.

Amaron battery advertisement of race between tortoise and rabbit with the tagline “LAST LONG REALLY LONG”

Brand Recall

A brand (Bisleri) is said to have recall if it comes to consumers’ minds when its product class (mineral water) is mentioned. It indicates stronger brand position in the mind. Still

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at a higher level is the top of the mind recall; it is the brand, which comes first to the mind. The top of mind awareness indicates a relative superiority a brand enjoys above others. Sometimes a brand becomes so dominant that it becomes the only recalled brand in the product category. Very few brands are able to achieve dominance. The cases may include Johnson & Johnson baby powder, Dettol antiseptic, Colgate and Cadbury.

Brand Name Dominance:

The ultimate awareness level is brand name dominance where in a recall task most customers can only provide the name of a single product. E.g. Band aid from Johnson & Johnson. In order to avoid losing a trademark a firm should begin protecting it early in its life, starting with the selection of the name itself. Sometimes it is helpful and even necessary to create a generic name so that the brand does not become one; the generic name copier helped Xerox protect its brand.

PERCEIVED QUALITY

Perceived quality is a brand association that is elevated to the status of a brand asset for several reasons:

Among all brand associations only perceived quality is known to drive financial performances.

Perceived quality is often a major (if not the principal) strategic thrust of business. Perceived quality is linked to and often drives other aspects of a brand is

perceived.

Achieving perceptions of quality is usually impossible unless the quality claim has substance. Perceived quality may differ from actual quality for a variety of reasons like:

Customers may be overly influenced by a previous image of poor quality. Because of this they may not believe in new claims may not be willing to take time to verify them. Thus it is critical to protect a brand from gaining a shoddy quality from which recovery is difficult and sometimes impossible.

The company may achieve quality on an aspect, which the consumers do not consider important.

Customers rarely have all the information necessary to make a rational and objective judgment on quality-even if they do have the information they lack the motivation and the time to process it. Thus it is important to understand the little things that consumers use as a basis for making a judgment about the quality. E.g. if the customer kicks the tires to test the sturdiness of a car the tires have to be sturdy.

As customers may not know how best to judge quality they might be looking at the wrong cues. A metaphor or a visual image can help consumers see the context in the right way. Jewellery stores that cater to first time diamond buyers must

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educate buyers that quality is not necessarily reflected in price tags or carat claims.

BRAND ASSOCIATIONS

The association’s consumers make with brand support brand equity. These associations may include product attributes, a celebrity spokesperson or a symbol. Brand associations are driven by brand identity-what the organization wants the brand to stand for in the consumers mind. A key to brand building then is to develop and implement brand identity.

One key to successful brand building is to develop a brand identity- to know what the brand stands for and to effectively express that identity.

Hyundai Santro has clearly positioned itself as the “sunshine” car and endorsed Preity Zinta known for her bubbly personality to match their positioning statement.

Invariably all brands come to acquire a meaning in the mind of the customer. Customers associate different dimensions of the product including its use and use situations to the brands. Brand association, therefore, is anything linked to the memory of a brand. Thus a jingle like “Happy days are here again” has been associated in the customer’s mind with Thumps Up. Surf is linked with the economy-minded middle class housewife- “Lalitaji” – in the advertisements.

The name Tata is associated with quality. It is important to know how strong this association is and for a family name like this, which are the products with which this association is the strongest.

METHODS TO EVALUATE BRAND EQUITY

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Costbased

Pricebased

Consumer based

Historical Cost

Replacement Cost

Market value method

Brand contribution method

Price premium

Equalisation price

Brand knowledge

Attribute rating

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COST-BASED METHODS

Historical Costs:

This is the money that has been spent on the brand till date. Suppose Rs.100 million have bean spent so far creating a brand called ‘X'. The value at which the brand can be sold to another organization should be Rs.100 million. This appeals intuitively though there are several problems in using historical costs. First, a prospective buyer is interested in the future cash flows from a brand and the fact that 100 million was spent on brand 'X' does not guarantee the realization of even a fraction of that amount in future sales.

Costs incurred in brands are no measure of the efficiency with which the money was spent. The R& D budgets of GM, Siemens, Philips, Xerox and IBM are much more than their respective Japanese competitors namely Honda, Hitachi, Sony, Canon and NEC. Yet the number of successful models produced by the Japanese far outnumber the ones produced by their western counterparts. Poorly spent finances hardly get translated into brand equity. Historical costs may or may not be an adequate measure of a brand's future potential even when the costs are adjusted to the current prices.

Replacement Costs:

Consider 'a brand, say Colgate. How much would it cost to create a brand with similar turnover, profitability, distribution reach, brand loyalty, etc? This cost is its brand equity.

To begin with, measuring each of the above costs is not very easy. Colgate has a turnover of over Rs.7000 million, a gross profit figure of Rs.150 chores, reaches at least 7 lakh retailers directly (many times this number indirectly) and finally is probably the most popular brand in the country.

Promotional expenses on launch alone cost close to 7 Crores today for a national brand. Add to this the production, distribution and marketing overheads. A simple calculation can demonstrate this figure. Consider the example of another brand, Close-Up. Close-Up has been in existence for some time now. Say Rs.200 crores was spent cumulatively on production and marketing over the years to achieve the present turnover. To this, add the amount for the brand loyalty and distribution equity it commands. Let us add another 50 crores to take care of that. In other words, the brand value of Close-up is 255 crores.

Replacement cost = (Launch cost + production and administrative costs incurred over the years + brand premium acquired over the years due to brand loyalty, distribution, etc.)

First, procedurally this is not very simple. Of course, it is better than historical cost because it considers today’s costs. But this suffers again from the same setbacks as the previous method. What is the guarantee that if a brand is created at the cost be Rs.255 crores today it will obtain a market share of about 17% as Close-up did? This indeed is the million dollar question.

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Present costs (as in replacement cost method) are as bad indicators as past ones (as in historical cost method) as far as evaluating brand equity is concerned.

Market Value Methods:

The brand value for a particular brand is obtained by comparing it with the value that had beery realized in a comparable, current merger or acquisition. Given below is a list of acquisitions from the recent past and the price at which these acquisitions have been made:

PRESENT (Rs.in Million)Brand Taken over by Price

Eveready Mcleod Russel 2900Kelvinator Whirlpool 2500

Farex, Glucon-D, etc.,

Heinz 2100

Thums Up, Gold-Spot

Coca-Cola 1800

Cibaca Colgate 1310Transelektra Godrej 800

PASTCompany Taken over

byYear Price

Ashok Leyland

Hindujas 1987 780

Assam Co. Jay Mehta 1991 600Shaw

WallaceM R

Chabbria1985 390

Berger Paints

Vijay Mallya

1988 360

Cibaca for instance has been bought by Colgate for a sum of Rs. 1310 million. If Cibaca’s equity is Rs.1310 million, what is the equity of Colgate? Perhaps since Colgate

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has about 17 times as much turnover as Cibaca, if we multiply the equity of Cibaca with a factor of 17 we will arrive at Colgate’s. That puts it at Rs. 22,270 million.

Brand Contributions:

This method tries to identify the value that is added by the “BRAND” to the product. Brand contribution compares the profits earned by the brand with the profits earned by an unbranded or generic product in the same category. The difference between the two is treated as a measure of brand value. This, of course, is not acceptable as a price at which the brand can be sold. (The organization will demand several times this value for selling the brand.) This will be useful more as a measure of the brand's strength in the market in which operates. This when multiplied by a suitable integer yields brand equity.

K x (profits from the brand - profits forBrand equity = an unbranded product in tie same category)

PRICE-BASED METHODS

There are some methods, which measure brand equity with the retail price of the brand as the basis.

Price Premium Method:

This is done by comparing the difference between the retail price of the “brand” and the retail price of an unbranded product in the same category. Here again the difference will give an indication of brand equity. This measure will also give us an indication of “Brand strength'' only. That is, higher the retailer premium that a brand can charge, greater is its equity in the minds of the customer.

But this is less useful than the profit premium method in understanding brand strength because if we take the toothpaste market, there are brands at different prices.Comparing Colgate Total (the most expensive toothpaste) with an unbranded product will give it high brand equity as compared to Colgate Dental Cream. However, for the common man, Colgate means Colgate Dental Cretin only. How then can we accept higher brand equity for Total as compared to Colgate Dental Cream?

Similarly, some toothpastes like Babool are deliberately priced low to penetrate the market. On the basis of the lower retail price premium it commands, it would not be right to say that Babool enjoys less brand equity than what say Promise does. Further, low priced brands like Nirma and Lifebuoy will have their brand equity close to zero if this method were adopted. Such a computation would be unrealistic.

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Market Share Equalization Method:

This method uses an ingenious way of tackling the brand equity problem.

Let us suppose that there are totally hundred consumers of toothpaste in the country. Of these, 65 use Colgate, 20 use Close-up, 10 use Promise and 5 use Babool. We also assume that there are only 4 toothpastes in the market.

Brand Prices(Rs. per 100 gm)

No. of people using

Colgate 17.40 65Close-Up 22.50 20Promise 17-40 5Babool 14-60 10

What are the prices at which the market share for each of these brands is equal? It is obvious that Colgate is the most popular brand. But when its price is raised beyond a point, people will switch from Colgate to other brands. What is the point at which 40 people switch from Colgate and distribute themselves among the other brands equitably. This situation is shown in the fallowing table:

Brand Prices No. of people usingColgate 24-50 25

Close-Up 23-00 25Promise 17-50 25Babool 14-60 25

At this point, we have forced a situation market shares are equal. The prices here straight away give an indication of brand equity. If we divide the prices in paise by ten we get the numbers in the brand equity map. In other words, the brand equity of Colgate is equal to 245 while that of Babool is 146.

This map shows us that Colgate and Close-Up are high in terms of brand equity while Promise and Babool are low.

CUSTOMER-BASED METHODS

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245 Colgate

235 Close-up

175 Promise

146 Babool

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Another approach of measuring brand equity is making the customs knowledge of the brand the focus.

Brand Knowledge Method:

Brand knowledge can be expressed as a sum of brand awareness and brand image. Each of the parameters (i.e. brand recall/strength of brand associations/ attitudes/ user image) can be measured on a 1 to 10 scale. A weighted sum of these parameters will be the measure of brand equity.

Dimensions of brand knowledge

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Brand recall: Here is an illustration to measure brand recall. Suppose you want the consumer to recall, let us say NIRMA '' the following set of questions can be asked:

What brand comes to your mind when I say 'detergent powder'? (This is called top-of-mind-awareness.)

Which detergent brand comes to your mind when I say ''Low price?'' (The answer could be “Wheel”/”Nirma”/or a regional brand.)

Which brand comes to your mind when I say “white/cream detergent cake?''

The advertisement for which brand says “Do you now understand why 1 buy this?'' (This is an allusion to the housewife in the Nirma advertisement mentioning she buys Nirma because it saves money.)

If the answer to the first question is “Nirma” then its Brand Recall score is high. It can be given a score of 10.

If the respondent does not have any brand on top-of-mind awareness identifies Nirma for question 2 which contains a stronger clue, his association with the brand is that much weaker. He may be assigned a brand recall score of 6.

Now, in question 3, a stronger hint is being supplied because “Nirma” is the most popular among white/cream detergent cakes. If the respondent does not identify Nirma in Questions 1 and 2 but does for question 3, he gets a brand recall score of 4.

The fourth question is almost a giveaway, which points straight to the Nirma advertisement. If the respondent identifies Nirma here, he is given a score of 2.

If he fails to identify it even here, he gets a score of 0.

Thus, a scale can be developed where high score signifies high brand recall and low score the opposite. In a similar manner the other parameters like brand recognition, favourability of brand associations, strength of brand associations, etc. can be measured on a 0 to 10 scale.

When these scores are summed up and averaged, we get a measure of brand equity. This method is probably the most comprehensive measure, if consumers can be accepted as the focus of brand equity. Such methods argue that equity does not lie in the price at which a brand can be sold but in the mind of the customer. Even if consideration obtained for selling a brand can be a measure, it is argued that this consideration itself depends on how many people like the brand or its customer based brand equity.

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Attribute-oriented Approach:

The approach in this method is as follows:

Take a particular brand. List all its attributes. Get ratings for each of these attributes on a 0-.10 scale from consumers. Sum up the scores. This represents the equity of the brand scale. Repeat a similar exercise on competing brands and we have the brand equity for all the brands.

Suppose one gets the following hypothetical scores for 4 talcum powder brands:

Ponds Cinthol Liril GokulFreshness 8 7 8 6Fragrance 7 7 7 8Long-Lasting 9 9 8 6Appearance 8 7 6 5Desirability 8 6 7 6

40 36 36 31

If the scores are converted to a scale of 100, the total score for Ponds is 80, Cinthol 12, Liril 72 and Gokul 62. This score represents the “Brand Equity”. However, brand equity usually is more than what the attributes bestow on the brand. This becomes the limitation of the method.

BRAND IDENTITY

Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organization members. Brand identity should establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating a value proposition involving functional, emotional or self-expressive benefits.

Brand identity consists of a core identity and an extended identity. The core identity represents the timeless essence of a brand .It is central to both the meaning and success of the brand. It indicates the reasons why the brand as been brought into existence. It contains the associations that are most likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products. The elements of the core identity remain more resistant to change than the elements of the extended identity. Thus the core identity is timeless while the brand position or the communication strategies might change. It is generally the first word that people behind the brand may utter when asked what the brand stands for:

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Lux - Beauty bar for young women Dettol - Antiseptic, protection Johnson&Johnson - Trust and quality a baby needs

The extended brand identity includes elements that provide texture and completeness. The core identity usually does not possess enough detail to perform all of the functions of a brand identity. In particular, a brand identity should help a company decide which program or communication is effective and which be damaging or off the target. Even a well-thought-out and on-target core identity may ultimately be too ambiguous or incomplete for this task. A brand personality does not often become a part of the core identity. However it can be exactly the right vehicle to add the needed texture and completeness by being a part of the extended identity. It provides the strategist with the opportunity to add full detail to complete the picture.

Brand identity consists of twelve dimensions organized around four perspectives:

Brand as a product Brand as an organization Brand as a person Brand as a symbol

BRAND AS A PRODUCT

A core element of a brand’s identity is usually its product thrust, which will affect the type of associations that are desirable and feasible. A strong link to a product class means that the brand will be recalled when the product class is cued. A dominant brand will often be the only brand recalled.

Band Aid in adhesive bandages i.e. whenever we think of bandages Band Aid is the first thing that comes to our mind. And many a times the consumers use the word Band Aid instead of bandage.

Similarly, Bisleri is the word almost synonymous with the mineral water. Whenever one thinks of mineral water Bisleri is the first name that comes to their mind. (Now the leader in this segment is Kinley)

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Extended

Core

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BRAND AS AN ORGANIZATION

The brand as organization perspective focuses on attributes of the organization rather than those of the product or service. The people, culture, values and programs of the company create such organization attributes as innovation, a drive for quality and concern for the environment. Some brand aspects can be described as product attributes in some contexts and organizational attributes in other contexts. Quality or innovation, for instance could be a product-related attribute if it is based on the design and features of a specific product offering while if it is based on the organizational cultures values and programs it would be an organizational-related attribute. In some cases there can be a combination of the two perspectives. However organizational attributes are more enduring and more resistant to competitive claims than are product attributes because:

It is much easier to copy a product than to copy an organization with unique people, cultures and programs.

Organizational attributes usually apply to a set of product classes and a competitor in only one product class may find difficult to compete.

Organizational attributes such as being innovative are hard to communicate and evaluate it is difficult for competitors to demonstrate that they have overcome any perceived gap.

BRAND AS A PERSON

Brand personality is an important area of study for at least two reasons. First, research has shown that a strong brand personality may justify a higher price premium. Moreover, brand personality can play a key role in differentiating a brand in a product category where there is actually little or no difference between products.  Prior research indicates that the greater the similarity between a consumer’s personality characteristics and the characteristics that they believe comprise the brand, the greater the preference for that brand. Brand-as-person perspective suggests a brand identity that is richer and more interesting than one based on product attributes. Like a person, a brand can be perceived as being upscale, competent, impressive, trustworthy, fun, active, humorous, casual, formal, youthful or intellectual.

FARDEEN KHAN for PROVOGUE - In this case you would associate Fardeen Khan with someone who is cool, trendy, from the upper class, fun loving. With Fardeen khan endorsing for provogue people’s perception about Provogue clothes is also cool, trendy, for people who are fun loving.

A brand personality can help create a stronger brand in many ways:

It can help create a self-expressive benefit that becomes a vehicle for the customer top express his or her personality. E.g. an Apple user might consider himself to be casual, anti corporate and creative.

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Just as human personalities affect relationship between people, brand personality can be the basis of a relationship between the customer and the brand. E.g. Mercedes Benz might be perceived as a upscale, admired person.

It might help communicate a product attribute and thus contribute to a functional benefit. E.g. The strong, energetic personality of the Ambuja man suggests that Ambuja cement is also strong and energetic.

BRAND AS A SYMBOL

A strong symbol can provide cohesion and structure to an identity and make it much easy to gain recognition and recall. Its presence can be a key ingredient of brand development and its absence can be substantial handicap. Elevating symbols to the status of being part of the brand identity reflects their potential power. Anything that represents a brand can be a symbol including programs such as the Ronald McDonald house. Symbols involving visual imagery can be memorable and powerful such as the Nike’s “Swoosh” symbol and the McDonald’s golden arches. Each strong visual image captures much of its respective brand’s identity because connections between the symbol and the identity elements have been built up over time. It just takes a glance to be reminded of the brand.

BRAND ESSENCE

Brand essence is a compact summary of what the brand stands for.

Brand identity structure includes core identity, extended identity and a brand essence. Typically the brand identity will require 6 to 12 dimensions in order to adequately describe the brand’s aspirations. Because such a large set is unwieldy, it is helpful to provide focus by identifying the core identity i.e. the most important elements of the brand identity. All dimensions of the core identity should strategy and values of the organisation and at least one association should differentiate the brand and resonate with the customers. The core identity is most likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products. The core identity creates a focus both for the customer and the organisation. The extended identity includes all of the brand identity elements that are not in the core. Brand personality is an element of extended identity.

Core identity has 2 to 4 dimensions that compactly summarize the brand vision. Brand essence provides further focus by giving a single thought that captures the soul of the brand. The brand essence can be viewed as the glue that holds the core identity elements together.

Characteristics of brand essence:

Should resonate with customers Drive the value proposition Should be own able

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Provide differentiation persisting through time. Should be compelling enough to energize and inspire employees and partners of

the organization.

BRAND ESSENCE VS. TAG LINE

Brand essence represents the identity while tag line represents the brand position. The function of essence is to communicate and energize those inside the organization while tag line’s function is to communicate with the external audience. Brand essence is timeless or for a long period of time while the tag line has a limited life. Brand essence is relevant across markets and products whereas the tag line is more likely to have a confined arena.

BRAND IMAGE

Consumers vary as to which brand attributes they see as most relevant and the importance they attach to each attribute. They will pay the most attention to the attributes that deliver the sought benefits. The market for a product can often be segmented according to the attributes that are salient to different consumer groups. The consumer develops a set of beliefs about where each brand stands on each attribute. These set of beliefs about the brand make up brand image. Brand identity and brand image need to be distinguished. Identity comprises the ways that a company aims to identify or position itself or its product. Image is the way the public perceives the company or its products. Image is affected by many factors beyond the company’s control. An effective image does three things:

It establishes the product’s character and value proposition. It conveys this character in a distinctive way so as not to confuse it with the

competitor’s image.

It delivers emotional power beyond a mental image.

The image of a brand may contain different types of associations in memory: attributes benefits and attitudes.

ATTRIBUTE ASSOCIATIONS

These are descriptive features, which are used to characterize a product or service. The attributes could be distinguished on the basis of how directly they are related to product or service performance. The product related attributes are ingredients necessary for the

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products performance. On product related attributes are packaging, user imagery, usage imagery and price.In the case of Woodland shoes the product related attributes would be: leather that weathers, unique sole, water resistant etc. The non-product related attributes would be: price -1500+; package-green box; user-young, rugged, tough; usage-outdoors, trekking.

BENEFIT ASSOCIATIONS

Functional: These are the outcome of the functions performed by a product of service. These are the intrinsic benefits of consuming a product or service.

Mercedes has the functional benefit of sophisticated and ultra modern technology.

Experiential: these accrue to the user in the form of feelings.

For Mercedes the experiential benefits will be the feeling of a smooth and comfortable ride.

Symbolic: These are non intrinsic to the product and correspond to non-product related benefits.

For Mercedes it will be the prestige of being a part of a select group.

ATTITUDE ASSOCIATIONS

Attitudes determine buying decisions. They refer to overall evaluation of a concept like person, product, object or a brand.

BRAND POSITIONING

A brand position is the part of the brand identity and value proposition that is to be actively communicated to the target audience and that demonstrates an advantage over competing brands. Positioning is a concept, which is commonly seen in marketing. “Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offerings and image to occupy a distinctive place in the target market’s mind. The essence of brand positioning is achievement of valued distinction/differentiation in a consumers mind.”

The perceived differentiation takes care of the competitive angle and the value aspect takes care of customer motivation e.g. Perk is positioned as a substitute for a snack, which can be, had anywhere, anytime. A brand must create an association and cling on to it. The bottom line for a position is that it must be valuable, credible, distinctive and suitable for the product in question.

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The strategy to differentiate the brand or product is to place it in an appropriate cell of the human mind so that whenever the customer recalls the product, the firm’s brand is the first to be recalled. This strategy is called ‘Positioning’.

‘Positioning is not what you do to a product. But what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect’.

Whether a brand owns a position or not could easily be found by a simple word association or word which immediately springs to mind as and when the brand is thought for when the word is thought of, the brand is recalled immediately.

Some of the well-positioned brands are:

Raymonds: The Complete Man

Fair and lovely: Fairness

Woodland: Tough Shoes

Dettol: Antiseptic

Captain cook: Free Flow Salt

In short the relation between brand image, identity and positioning can be summarized as follows:

Brand as intended

Perceptual filter/screen Receiver’s perceptual space

BRAND IDENTITY, IMAGE AND POSITIONING

BRAND IMAGE BRAND IDENTITY BRAND POSITIONHow the brand is now perceived

How strategists want the brand to be perceived

The part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively communicated to a target audience

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IDENTITY

Brand as received or Brand in relation todecoded competitive brands

IMAGE POSITION

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POSITIONING STRATEGIES

A product can be positioned based on 2 main platforms: The Consumer and The Competitor. When the positioning is on the basis of CONSUMER, the campaigns and messages are always targeted to the consumer himself (the user of the product)

Peter England always campaigns their product concentrating on the consumer, the user of its product.Louis Philip also concentrates on this kind of campaigns.

The other kind of positioning is on basis of COMPETITION. These campaigns are targeted towards competing with other players in the market.

Dettol television commercials always concentrate on advertisements, which show that this product would give you more protection, then the others.

A number of positioning strategies might be employed in developing a promotional program. The 7 such strategies are discussed below:

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES AND BENEFITS

Associating a product with an attribute, a product feature or a consumer feature. Sometimes a product can be positioned in terms of two or more attributes simultaneously. The price/ quality attribute dimension is commonly used for positioning the products.

A common approach is setting the brand apart from competitors on the basis of the specific characteristics or benefits offered. Sometimes a product may be positioned on more than one product benefit. Marketers attempt to identify salient attributes (those that are important to consumers and are the basis for making a purchase decision)

Consider the example of Ariel that offers a specific benefit of cleaning even the dirtiest of clothes because of the micro cleaning system in the product.

Colgate offers benefits of preventing cavity and fresh breath. Promise, Balsara’s toothpaste, could break Colgate’s stronghold by being the first to

claim that it contained clove, which differentiated it from the leader. Nirma offered the benefit of low price over Hindustan Lever’s Surf to become a

success. Maruti Suzuki offers benefits of maximum fuel efficiency and safety over its

competitors. This strategy helped it to get 60% of the Indian automobile market.

POSITIONING BY PRICE/ QUALITY

Marketers often use price/ quality characteristics to position their brands. One way they do it is with ads that reflect the image of a high-quality brand where cost, while not

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irrelevant, is considered secondary to the quality benefits derived from using the brand. Premium brands positioned at the high end of the market use this approach to positioning.

Another way to use price/ quality characteristics for positioning is to focus on the quality or value offered by the brand at a very competitive price. Although price is an important consideration, the product quality must be comparable to, or even better than, competing brands for the positioning strategy to be effective.

Parle Bisleri – “Bada Bisleri, same price” ad campaign.

POSITIONING BY USE OR APPLICATION

Another way is to communicate a specific image or position for a brand is to associate it with a specific use or application.

Surf Excel is positioned as stain remover ‘ Surf Excel hena!’

Also, Clinic All Clear – “Dare to wear Black”.

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT CLASS

Often the competition for a particular product comes from outside the product class. For example, airlines know that while they compete with other airlines, trains and buses are also viable alternatives. Manufacturers of music CDs must compete with the cassettes industry. The product is positioned against others that, while not exactly the same, provide the same class of benefits.

POSITIONING BY PRODUCT USER

Positioning a product by associating it with a particular user or group of users is yet another approach.

Motography Motorola Mobile AdIn this ad the persona of the user of the product is been positioned.

POSITIONING BY COMPETITOR

Competitors may be as important to positioning strategy as a firm’s own product or services. In today’s market, an effective positioning strategy for a product or brand may focus on specific competitors. This approach is similar to positioning by product class, although in this case the competition is within the same product category.

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Onida was positioned against the giants in the television industry through this strategy, ONIDA colour TV was launched with the message that all others were clones and only Onida was the leader. “neighbour’s Envy, Owners Pride”.

POSITIONING BY CULTURAL SYMBOLS

An additional positioning strategy where in the cultural symbols are used to differentiate the brands. Examples would be Humara Bajaj, Tata Tea, Ronald McDonald. Each of these symbols has successfully differentiated the product it represents from competitors.

REPOSITIONING

Repositioning is changing the positioning of a brand. A particular positioning statement may not work with a brand. For instance, Dettol toilet soap was positioned as a beauty soap initially. This was not in line with its core values. Dettol, the parent brand (anti-septic liquid) was known for its ability to heal cuts and gashes. The extension's 'beauty' positioning was not in tune with the parent’s “germ-kill” positioning. The soap, therefore, had to be repositioned as a “germ-kill” soap (“bath for grimy occasions'') and it fared extremely well after repositioning. Here, the soap had to be repositioned for image mismatch. There are several other reasons for repositioning. Often falling or stagnant sales is responsible for repositioning exercises.

After examining the repositioning of several brands from the Indian market, the following 9 types of repositioning have been identified. These are:

Increasing relevance to the consumer Increasing occasions for use Making the brand serious Falling sales Bringing in new customers Making the brand contemporary Differentiate from other brands Changed market conditions.

It is not always that these nine categories are mutually exclusive. Often one reason leads to the other and a brand is repositioned sometimes for a multiplicity of reasons.

Lipton Yellow Label Tea:

Lipton Yellow Label Tea was initially positioned as delicious, sophisticated and premium tea for the global citizen. The advertisements also echoed this theme. For instance, all the props and participants in the advertisements were foreign. It is possible that this approach

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did not find favour with the customers. The repositioning specifically addressed the Indian consumer through an Indian idiom.

Maharaja:

Dishwasher in its initial Stages was possibly seen as an exotic product. Thus, Maharaja positioned it as a product aimed at the upper crust. Thus, the positioning statement was “your guests get Swiss cheese, Italian Pizza ...... you get stained glassware.'' But Indians are reluctant to use dishwashers because of deeply embedded cultural reasons. Thus, the message had to be changed to appeal to the Indian housewife. Thus the positioning was changed to “Bye, Bye Kanta Bai'' indicating that the dishwasher signaled the end of the servant maid's tyranny. The brand, therefore, was repositioned from a sophisticated, aristocratic product to one that is functional and relevant to the Indian housewife.

Visa Card:

Visa Card had to change its positioning to make itself relevant to customers under changed circumstances. Initially it asked the customer to “pay the way the world does'' (1981). This is to give its card an aura of global reach. But as more and more cards were launched on the same theme, to put itself in a different league, it positioned itself as the “world's most preferred card'' (1993). To highlight the services it provided, it shifted to the platform of “Visa Power” (1995). This focus on explaining the range of services available with the card continues till date (Visa Power, go get it).

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Exotic & Foreign Exotic & Indian

InternationalSophisticated

NationalFunctional

Pay The Way The

World Does

(1981)

World’s Most

Preferred Card

(1993)

VISA Power

(1995)

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RELAUNCHING

Re-launching a brand means thinking beyond a new design or a new name. It means, "going deeper."

Many a time in marketing, there comes a stage in the life of a brand when it needs to be re-worked and relaunched to take it to a different level. This happens not only for brands which may not be doing well but also for brands that are doing well but would like to do better. Brands go through various stages of evolution in their life and often may need to be restructured and repositioned, revitalised or rejuvenated to improve their sales and market share and profits.

Before getting into the methodologies and ways of launching a new brand, it is important to define the objectives for the relaunch. Some commonly used objectives are:

Is the objective to rejuvenate the brand as a contemporary one, as it is being perceived as dated and traditional?

Is the objective to relaunch a brand that has failed due to an inappropriate marketing mix?

Is the objective to relaunch the brand and reposition it for faster growth and market share?

WAYS IN WHICH BRANDS CAN BE RELAUNCHED

The first is to keep all elements of the mix the same but reposition the brand in the minds and hearts of customers.

Thus, nothing is done to the product, the pricing or the distribution but the communication and the entire repositioning exercise changes the perceived value of the brand. The elements used would be in the area of the communication mix including the packaging. This approach is usually followed when consumers have accepted the product, found it affordable and available but do not want to use it because they feel it does not match their needs or aspirations, keeping the psychographics in mind.

Another method to relaunch the brand is to change the channel and distribution strategy. Other elements may be working but the distribution channel may be ineffective due to the choice of in-appropriate outlets or even ineffective trade margins and marketing strategy. This can be linked with the sales effort, sales organisation and structure.

This happens in cases where the product is accepted, its awareness is high but it is not available. There is, therefore, wastage of advertising money.

In this case, revamping the distribution structure becomes necessary.

The third way to relaunch a brand would be to revamp every element of the marketing

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mix including the brand name, the product ingredients and pricing, and bring it out with a new price and bring it out as a new avatar.

Relaunching a brand is a normal exercise but should be dealt with cautiously. If the brand is doing well because its positioning, distribution and pricing are accepted and it is growing as per the desired objectives, then it is recommended not to tamper with something which is working.

Finally, it is important to say that while relaunching a brand, the main objective should be to bring it to a better level in terms of sales, market share and profit than what its current position reflects.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

The billions of dollars spent per year on celebrity endorsement contracts show that celebrities, like Liz Hurley, Britney Spears and Tiger Woods, play an important role for the advertising industry. This shows that the practice of using super stars in advertising generates a lot of publicity and attention from the public. The underlying question is, if and how the lively interest of the public in ‘the rich and famous’ can be effectively used by companies to promote their brands and consequently increase revenues.

CELEBRITIES AS SPOKESPERSONS

Companies frequently use spokespersons to deliver their advertising message and convince consumers of their brands. A widely used and very popular type of spokesperson is the celebrity endorser.The reason for using celebrities as spokespersons goes back to their huge potential influence. Compared to other endorser types, famous people achieve a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase awareness of a company’s advertising, create positive feelings towards brands and are perceived by consumers as more entertaining. Using a celebrity in advertising is therefore likely to positively affect consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions.

SOURCE CREDIBILITY AND ATTRACTIVENESS

A central goal of advertising is the persuasion of customers, i.e., the active attempt to change or modify consumers’ attitude towards brands. In this respect, the credibility of an advertisement plays an important role in convincing the target audience of the attractiveness of the company’s brand. Pursuing a celebrity endorsement strategy enables advertisers to project a credible image in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and objectiveness.To create effective messages, celebrity advertisers also have to consider the attractiveness of the spokesperson. Source attractiveness refers to the endorser’s physical appearance,

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personality, likeability, and similarity to the receiver, thus to the perceived social value of the source. The use of (by corresponding standards) attractive people is common practice in television and print advertising, with physically attractive communicators having proved to be more successful in influencing customers’ attitudes and beliefs than unattractive spokespersons. This behavior mainly goes back to a halo effect, whereby persons who perform well on one dimension, e.g. physical attractiveness, are assumed to excel on others as well, e.g. happiness and coolness.

Simply assuming that a person just has to be famous to represent a successful spokesperson, however, would be incorrect, with a considerable number of failures proving the opposite. Very well accepted and attractive super stars have failed in turning their endorsements into success.

The late '80s saw the beginning of celebrity endorsements in advertising in India. Hindi films and TV stars as well as sportspersons began encroaching on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings). Of course, the first ad. to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term mission statement kind of way was Lux soap, a brand which has been among the top three in the country for much of its lifetime. Detergents on the other hand ran the whole gamut from Lalitaji (the antithesis of celebrity) to Shekhar Suman, stepping into the lives of ordinary housewives.

In the much talked about Shah Rukh-Santro campaign, the organisation wanted to overcome the shortcoming of an unknown brand, Korean at that. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group. The Santro ad. showed the highest recall amongst auto ads.. despite average media spends for the category.

Even the ill-fated Home Trade had hits going up to seven lakhs a day after their campaign featuring Hrithik, Shah Rukh and Sachin.

Basically, celebrity endorsements give a brand a touch of glamour, and the hope that a famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a crowded market. In the battle for the mind, you get the customer excited by showing him a known face, and an effective demand is created. This would normally work best when the concerned brand has close substitutes, or has a need for differentiation, or requires quick entry in a short lifecycle category.

Apart from this memorable bit, using a celebrity is supposed to lend instant credibility as well as aspirational values to the brand ----- a hope to get people to follow the Pied Piper. For instance, usage of sports personalities in footwear advertising (where the consumer feels that as Sachin wears Adidas, so should he). But here, the marketer needs to be really disciplined in choice of celebrity and the celebrity needs to match the product. For instance, Coke’s Daler Mehndi campaign suffered from this very problem-----it wasn't

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aspirational enough. On the other hand, Videocon is using Shah Rukh cleverly to lift the brand from the masses to a more upmarket, techie image.

Sports people have always been celebrities. Only now, the advertising industry is trying to cash in on their mass appeal. In the field of sports, the cricketers take the lion’s share of advertisement contracts for their wide mass appeal where this sport is considered as a religion and Sachins as gods.

The much sought-after players of Indian Cricket are: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virendra Shewag.

Apart from cricket and cricketers other sport and sportspersons also attract considerable endorsement money. Leading tennis players like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati (J Hampstead, Adidas), footballer Baichung Bhutia (Reebok, Omega), chess wizard Viswanathan Anand (NIIT), golfers Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa (Mizuno of Japan), Narain Karthikeyan ( Tata group, Amaron, Kingfisher and JK Tyres) attract sizeable endorsement money among others.

In an attempt to fly deeper into the hearts of Indian travellers, tourism promotion boards from the South East Asian region are now looking at Indian ambassadors. Topping the list is Tourism Malaysia, which is in negotiations to sign up both Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai as its brand ambassadors to promote this predominantly Muslim tourist destination among the Indians. Not to be left behind, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) is also planning to ink a similar deal with the Indian cricket team.

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