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MFM-NIFT HYDERABAD

AMAR CHITHRA KATHA

REFLECTION OF THE CASE

In 1986 they reach 50 million copies sold from the begun of series. Amar chitra katha is a series

of comic books illustrating the glorious part of India in every aspect. History: It was started in

1960’s by “Anant pai” popularly known as “uncle pai”. His dream was to make Indian childrenwell versed in Indian mythology and our culture. There is a lot of change in the medium of

communication to reach the audience from the start of their publishing of books to till the date.

There was a paradigm shift in Indian society, which was slowly moving from joint families to

nuclear family system. In a joint family, children were told stories by their grandparents. The void

was left by the absence of grandparents and it was filled by Amar Chitra Katha They chose English

language as a medium of instruction because the target audience was children in urban schools.

This case deals with the marketing strategies to get succeed in the market for ack. name of the

book published in chandamama 1947 Indrajal 1950 Dabbu 1960 amar chitra katha 1967

FOUNDING THOUGHTS

• Children love stories & stories with pictures are even more popular’

• Objective- Credible source of Indian mythology, folklore, epics, history, culture & heritage

for children

• Target- English educated urban Indian children

• Position- Indian-style Aesop fables ,Route to their roots, Indian

• Comic book format, Art + aesthetics, sober, iconic

• Credible, sober, variety were the differentiation

1ST EDITION

• 1969- 1st issue Krishna, No. 11, 30 page

• Monthly (then fortnightly)

ACK CONTRIBUTION

• Colourful window into India’s glorious history and mythology for urban Indian nuclear

families

• Filled traditional story telling void (Grandparents) ,launch coincided with shift away from

joint families

• Ubiquitous, shaped Indian sensibility and identity

• Entertainment + education + reading habits

• English helped reach majority of children

• Brought alive architecture, costumes, flavors & facts

• Non-controversial, sober, parent & teacher acceptance, promoting national integration &

regional awareness

•



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ACK- CRITICISM

• Stories simplistic, Indophilic and authentic

• Often single source research

• Most characters artist imaginations or from old paintings and depictions

•

Hindu mythology specific

INDIAN ANIMATION

• Indian ‘animation DNA’ exception than norm, outsourced

• Hanuman, Disney’s Roadside Romeo, Toonz’s Tenali Raman, Green Gold’s Chota Bheem

& BIG Animation’s Little Krishna- closer to world-class

ACK MEDIA

• 2006 ACK Media, founder Samir Patil (Ex Mckinsey)

• Revive ACK popularity levels using new media

• Set up 20-25 ACK Lounges in metros and large cities

• Shop-in-shops & reading lounges- browse at leisure

BRAND EXPANSION

ACK MEDIA- FOUNDING THOUGHT

• Fables, religious parables and historical biographies

• Introduction to great & lesser-known stories of India

• “The opportunity to take brands locked in their old worlds & rediscover them in other

forms excited me. ACK was synonymous with storytelling, and wil retain the unique ACK

storytelling flavour”

ACK WEBSITE

• 2007 1 stop shop, global delivery, India free delivery

• Credible to suit gen now

• Target Indian children + Indian diaspora

• Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali & Marathi

Category

Channel

Adjacent

Segment

Geo ra h

Broadcast +

virtual media

Print media to entertainment

TV

Cinema

Mobile

Internet

ACK

Indian to global



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• Ads on relevant issues, cultural updates

• ACKpedia- India encyclopedia- credible online authority

• Focus on customer engagement

ACK DIGITAL MEDIA- TIE-UPS

•

Strategic fit- leverage own content strength of comic books to harness digital media reach& potential

• Turner TV- Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha

• Vodafone Essar mobile- audio books, comics, ringtones & wallpapers

• Synqua mobile games- Bheema, Arjuna, Suppandi

• iRemedi- ACK comics on iPhone & iPod, global audience

• NPL- online, 2D multi-player game- Legend of Katha

This case relates to the branding and marketing of the comic book series, which began in 1960

as an educational tool to make children aware of the Indian Hindu mythology, history and

culture. By 2010, the Amar Chitra Katha was about 500 titles covering a wide range of topics,but it faces competition not only from international and indigenous comic book company,

but with the electronic media, such as children’s games and shows on cable television and

the Internet.

In November 2007, all the Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle magazine titles were acquired by

Mumbai entrepreneur Samir Patil, who created ACK media as an umbrella brand. The

company tried to reach his audience through the launch of an Internet portal, the creation of

DVD / VCD, filmmakers, based on Amar Chitra Katha comics and placement on mobile

platforms, phone, etc. Shift was inevitable to maintain a stable position in the market and

achieve growth, but the leadership wondered how it could and should he keep his presence

in the printing market.

BRAND IDENTITY PRISM BY KAPFERER

Brand Identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer in1986. The brand’s

identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand’s

differentiation from competitors. Externalization elements: Physique, Reflection, Relationship

Internalization elements: Personality, Culture, Self-Image.



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BRAND IDENTITY PRISM OF AMAR CHITRA KATHA

DAVID AAKER'S BRAND EQUITY 10

Aaker introduced the concept of ‘brand equity Ten’, comprising 10 items spread across five

dimensions, to measure brand equity. He did not mention a single measure of brand equity, but

expressed it as a set of five dimensions: brand loyalty, perceived quality/leadership,associations/differentiation, awareness and market behavior.

•Brand loyalty was captured in two elements: the price premium and satisfaction/loyalty.

•Perceived quality/leadership dimension consists of two components: perceived quality and

leadership. The third dimension comprises associations and differentiation measures.

•The fourth dimension is brand awareness, consisting of brand recognition and recall, and

•The last dimension is market behavior measures, consisting of market share and distribution

depth of the brand.

This study attempts to operationalize brand equity and create a standard measure of it that could

be used across products and markets to measure brand equity. However, this study also providesonly an indication towards a set of items that can contribute to brand equity.

DAVID AAKER'S BRAND EQUITY 10 FOR ACK

BRAND LOYALTY – Aaker (1991) defines brand loyalty as ‘the attachment that a customer has to a brand’.

Two different levels of loyalty are classified: behavioral and cognitive loyalty (Keller, 1998). Behavioral

loyalty can be indicated by a number of repeated purchases (Keller, 1998) or commitment to buy the



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brand as a primary choice. The extent to which people are loyal to a brand is expressed in the following

factors:

Reduced marketing costs, as hanging on to loyal customers is way cheaper than charming

potential new customers.

Trade leverage, as loyal customers represent a stable source of revenue for the distributive level.

Attracting new customers, as current customers can help boost name awareness and hence bring

in new customers

Time to respond to competitive threats, as loyal customers that are not quick to switch brands

give a company more time to respond to competitive threats. (Aaker, 1991)

Amar chitra katha hanging on to loyal customers and they attracted new customers through brand

extension like Tinkle etc. capturing different segments, which made them so successful and which gives

stable source revenue and the loyal customers shared the beneficiary values through word of mouth

which boosts the name awareness and brought new customers. Since the competition was less and ack

was accepted and credible source of knowledge for INDAIAN MYTHOLOGY customers dint switch to anyother brand.

PERCEIVED QUALITY

It is defined as the customer’s judgment about a product’s overall excellence or superiority in

comparison to alternative's brand and overall superiority that ultimately motivates the customer

to purchase the product (Aaker and Jacobson, 1994). The extent to which a brand is considered

to provide good quality products can be measured on the basis of the following criteria:

The quality offered by the product / brand is a reason to buy it.

Level of differentiation/position in relation to competing brands.

Price, as the product becomes more complex to assess and status is at play, consumers

tend to take price as a quality indicator.

Availability in different sales channels, i.e. consumers have a higher quality perception of

brands that are widely available.

Level of differentiation is high due to its uniqueness. Economic- Value for Money, Sets.

Price of the product is valuable to the product that they are offering. ACK was offered in almost

all languages hence there was a good perception about the brand in consumers mind. Tinkle is

the brand extension which was running successfully.

It had very good distribution channel. IBH Books & Magazines Distributors Pvt. Ltd, (IBH) is

India's largest distributor of books and magazines, it is the distribution arm of Amar Chitra Katha

Pvt. Ltd. With a widespread 9-city network across the nation, IBH directly services more than

1500+ wholesalers and retailers. Being the strongest and most-trusted brand of service, they

have the strongest portfolio.



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BRAND ASSOCIATIONS

Consumer must first be aware of the brand in order to develop a set of associations. Brand

association contains the meaning of the brand for consumers; it is anything linked in memory to

a brand (Aaker, 1991). Brand associations are mostly grouped into a product-related attribute

like brand performance and non-product related attributes like brand personality andorganizational associations. The associations triggered by a brand can be assessed on the basis

of the following indicators:

The extent to which a brand name is able to retrieve associations from the consumer’s

brain, such as information from TV advertising.

The extent to which association contribute to brand differentiation in relation to the

competition (these can be abstract association or associations with concrete product

benefits)

The extent to which brand associations play a role in the buying process (the greater this

extent ,the higher the total brand equity)

The extent to which brand associations create positive attitude/feelings(the greater this

extent, the higher the total brand equity)

The number of brand extensions in the market (the greater this number, the greater the

opportunity to add brand associations) (Aaker, 1991)

Emotional- Quintessential Indian history & glory

Functional- Authentic, insightful, easy to read, sober

Brand Personality- Indian, Larger than Life, Friendly

Extent to which a particular brand calls to mind the attributes of a Amar chitra katha category.

For example, asking for 'Amar Chitra Katha' when one wants informative ( mythology)

interesting comic book for kids. Emotional feel from children that ACK filled the void left by

grandparents. Amar Chitra Katha was launched at a time when Indian society was slowly moving

away from the traditional joint family system, because of (among other things) socio-economic

constraints and urbanization. The choice of English as the primary language led it to reach the

majority of children who studied in English medium schools.

Many of the “best” buses in Mumbai were painted the characters from Amar chitra katha.

Indian Flavour

Educational tool

Customers contact with the organization and it’s employees;

Advertisements;

Celebrity/big entity association;

Quality of the product;

Products and schemes offered by competitors;



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Product class/category to which the brand belongs;

POP ( Point of purchase) displays

RANGE (BRAND EXTENSION)

• Fables & Folktales (Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Jataka)• History ( Shivaji, Akbar, Rana Pratap)

• Mythology (Krishna, Hanuman, Buddha)

• The Epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata)

• Humour & wit (Tenali Raman, Birbal)

• Biographies (Vivekananda, Lokmanya Tilak)

• Literary Classics (Shakuntala, Nala Damayanti)

BRAND AWARENESS –

It is a key determinant of brand equity. It is defined as an individual's ability to recall and

recognize a brand. Top-of-mind and brand dominance is other levels of awareness included by

Aaker (1996) in measuring awareness. Awareness can affect customers’ perceptions, which lead

to different brand choice and even loyalty (Aaker, 1996). The extent to which a brand is known

among the public, can be measured using the following parameters:

•Anchor to which associations can be attached (depending on the strength of the brand name,

more or fewer associations can be attached to it, which will, in turn ,eventually influence brand

awareness)

•Familiarity and liking (consumers with a positive attitude towards a brand, will talk about it more

and spread brand awareness)

•Signal of substance/commitment to a brand.

•Brand to be considered during the purchasing process (to what extent does the brand form part

of the evoked set of brands in a consumer’s mind) (Aaker, 1991)

Amar Chitra katha - when the comic added historical topics, it proved very helpful to students.

For most, Indian history, a jumble of names and dates, came alive as stories. The detailed

research of architecture, costumes, regional flavours and facts ensured that the comics were

widely accepted into the mainstream, both parents and teachers using them as educational aids.

To an extent, these books, with their homogenized and unbiased character descriptions went along way in promoting national integration and increasing inter-provincial awareness throughout

the country.

Pai went for a cross advertising strategy, advertisement of amar chitra katha were printed

on Tinkle issues.

Word of mouth publicity.



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The series boasted of its power in the back covers of the issues, some examples of which

were: “Acquaint your children with their cultural heritage”, “Give your child a gift he’ll

treasure forever – the gift of his own heritage”.

In December 1987, “Amar Chitra Katha – the Route to your Roots”, an advertising flyer

was inserted into some issues of Amar Chitra Katha. A more refined statement tostrengthen the positioning came in March 1988. The claim read: “ Amar Chitra

Katha….5000 years of India’s mythology, history, legend – the very soul of Indian culture”

– packed in volumes of 32 colorful pages

Putting up a display rack in front of stores. He distributed free copies to schools to

demonstrate the value of Amar Chitra Katha as a learning tool. The outcome of this move

was that many school libraries became subscribers.

Pai emphasized on annual subscriptions, so that the comics were received regularly

through the mail like magazines. During this time, Pai travelled to various schools in India.

He also got some of the buses in Mumbai painted with characters from the comic booksand heavily advertised in school newsletter

MARKET BEHAVIOR MEASURES

In November 2007, all the Amar Chitra Katha titles and Tinkle magazine were bought by Mumbai-

based entrepreneur Samir Patil, who created ACK Media as an umbrella brand. The company

tried to reach its audience through the launch of an online portal, the creation of DVDs/VCDs,

sponsoring movies based on Amar Chitra Katha and placing comics on mobile phone platforms,

etc. However, such actions were shifting the focus of the brand from books to electronic media.

The shift was inevitable to maintain a stable position in the marketplace and to achieve growth,

but the management wondered how it could and whether it should maintain its print presence

in the marketplace

Market Price

The issues were initially priced at a nominal rate of 75p, 10 which was within the reach of most

of the target group. By 1986, the holding company, IBH, claimed to have reached combined sales

of 50 million copies since the series began. From time to time, the comic house released

“bumper” issues with 90 pages; these were collections of stories on a central theme 15 from

previous individual issues and were priced at different levels from single issues at INR 40 to five

in-one bundles at INR 240 and special editions such as the Mahabharata at INR 1,250.

Distribution coverage

IBH Books & Magazines Distributors Pvt. Ltd, (IBH) is India's largest distributor of books and

magazines, It is the distribution arm of Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd. Its products were present at

all major book retailers, small bookstores and more than 10,000 vendors through an India-wide,

technology-enabled distribution network. The brand had a central warehouse in Bhiwandi, with



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automated warehouse systems and processes in 10 cities. It was present directly in more than

900 stores including leading retail chains such as Landmark, Crossword and Reliance Timeout.

Besides this, more than 2,000 stores were serviced through distributors. Moreover, the website

also facilitated purchase of ACK titles online.

BURBERRY

CASE REFLECTION

In 1856 the brand started by Thomas Burberry opening a draper’s shop in England. There he

created gabardine, which is a fabric that waterproof and breathable. This created the customer

base of anyone who ventured out into extreme conditions. Burberry’s trench coat was the official

coat of the British Army in World War I, which went along with the previously stated customer

base.

In the 1920s and 30s, Burberry check pattern was introduced as lining but soon became the

signature trademark. This changed the customer base into politicians, celebrities (which includedactors and actresses), and famous adventurers. During this time period the Burberry trench coat

was appearing in all sorts of Hollywood movies by famous actors and actresses, which created

the prestige of the brand. Burberry’s designs and quality were even favored among the British

royalty, which created the luxury image for the brand and opened it into upper crust following.

Between 1955, when Great Universal Stores Plc. (GUS) bought Burberry, and up until 1990s,

Burberry had been licensed to a variety of products and categories that were not consistent with

the brand’s image. However, the brand did grow worldwide. The customer base during these

times was all over. Due to the different licenses the brand was sold at all different locations and

prices that attract different followings.In the 1990s, the company’s customer base was concentrated on older males and Asian tourists.

This was a result of the brand being sold at stores that were inconsistent with its quality

proposition. The mid-90s the brand had the image of being stodgy and conservative with an older

customer base.

A breathe of fresh air came into the company when Rose Marie Bravo took over as chief executive

in 1997. She changed Burberry from an outerwear manufacturer into a luxury lifestyle brand. Her

goal was to reinvent Burberry.

The Bravo team was very successful in elevating the overall status of the Burberry brand. This

was not an easy task or something that was accomplished overnight. Bravo’s goal when she tookover was to transform Burberry into a “luxury lifestyle brand that was aspirational, stylish, and

innovative.” Some immediate changes made to Burberry to help accomplish this and elevate the

overall status were cosmetic. This included changing the company’s name from Burberry’s to

Burberry and introducing a contemporary new logo and packaging. Then Bravo went on to

reposition the brand. This meant attracting younger customers while retaining Burberry’s core

customer base. The product line was also updated. The new product line included products



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logos and scripts or signatures seen as iconic elements. The Burberry heritage lies mostly in the

making of the trench coat, and the invention of the gabardine. With this, the brand specializes in

rainwear and coats. Not only are these of very high quality, but the notion of quality runs very

deep in the company tradition.

BRAND LOYALTY – Aaker (1991) defines brand loyalty as ‘the attachment that a customer has to a brand’.

Two different levels of loyalty are classified: behavioral and cognitive loyalty (Keller, 1998). Behavioral

loyalty can be indicated by a number of repeated purchases (Keller, 1998) or commitment to buy the

brand as a primary choice. The extent to which people are loyal to a brand is expressed in the following

factors:

Reduced marketing costs, as hanging on to loyal customers is way cheaper than charming

potential new customers.

Trade leverage, as loyal customers represent a stable source of revenue for the distributive level.

Attracting new customers, as current customers can help boost name awareness and hence bring

in new customers Time to respond to competitive threats, as loyal customers that are not quick to switch brands

give a company more time to respond to competitive threats. (Aaker, 1991)

The BURBERRY persona is one a mix between classic British class and modern playfulness.

Furthermore the persona is conservative and sophisticated and at the same time humorous and

forward going.

Burberry has a history of providing first class outerwear for the British upper class. It was very

innovative in the past and came up with the Gabardine fabric. The aim is to have a brand

consumer. As they operate by themselves, the loose some of the synergy effects gained by

Operating several luxury brands. The long history of operations could vouch for long-termstrategies but mostly Burberry relies on its brand and the knowledge of senior staff to fulfill its

missions. Worth noting is that Burberry sell products to third party interests and therefore it

might be harder to control how the brand is presented. Finally Burberry is an international

operation with outlets on all continents.

PERCEIVED QUALITY

It is defined as the customer’s judgment about a product’s overall excellence or superiority in

comparison to alternative's brand and overall superiority that ultimately motivates the customer

to purchase the product (Aaker and Jacobson, 1994). The extent to which a brand is considered

to provide good quality products can be measured on the basis of the following criteria:The quality offered by the product / brand is a reason to buy it.

Level of differentiation/position in relation to competing brands.

Price, as the product becomes more complex to assess and status is at play, consumers

tend to take price as a quality indicator.



MFM-NIFT HYDERABAD

Availability in different sales channels, i.e. consumers have a higher quality perception of

brands that are widely available.

Level of differentiation is high due to its uniqueness. Economic- Value for Money, Sets.

Price of the product is valuable to the product that they are offering. Burberry strives to be

innovative in its relation with consumer and involve them in the company. Two excellent

examples of this is artofthetrench.com where consumers can publish photos of themselves

wearing the trench and the first ever life 3D streaming of a runway show. A part of the Burberry

heritage is the notion of adventure and Meeder states that the company wants to be adventurous

in the communications, brand-consumer communications included.

The visual image and metaphor of Burberry is one of Classically British with a modern twist. There

are slight differences in the image and metaphor in the different collections, but the core remains

the same. Not surprisingly the brand origin of Burberry is the British Isles.

BRAND ASSOCIATIONS

Consumer must first be aware of the brand in order to develop a set of associations. Brand

association contains the meaning of the brand for consumers; it is anything linked in memory to

a brand (Aaker, 1991). Brand associations are mostly grouped into a product-related attribute

like brand performance and non-product related attributes like brand personality and

organizational associations. The associations triggered by a brand can be assessed on the basis

of the following indicators:

The extent to which a brand name is able to retrieve associations from the consumer’s

brain, such as information from TV advertising.

The extent to which association contribute to brand differentiation in relation to the

competition (these can be abstract association or associations with concrete product

benefits)



MFM-NIFT HYDERABAD

The extent to which brand associations play a role in the buying process (the greater this

extent ,the higher the total brand equity)

The extent to which brand associations create positive attitude/feelings(the greater this

extent, the higher the total brand equity)

The number of brand extensions in the market (the greater this number, the greater theopportunity to add brand associations) (Aaker, 1991)

Emotional- Quintessential Indian history & glory

Functional- Authentic, insightful, easy to read, sober

Brand Personality- Indian, Larger than Life, Friendly

Brand promise

Positioning

Burberry is a true classic and its collections fits, and functions, at all situations. Be it country side

or city. It aims to be both modern and classic at the same time and many of the products have

been around for years. The products can be seen as investments. Regarding the emotionalelements, how the consumer feels, the brand dream once again comes into play. The consumers

also feel like they are a part of the classically British establishment and a part of the modern

fashion crowd.

Celebrity/big entity association;

Quality of the product;

Products and schemes offered by competitors;

Product class/category to which the brand belongs;

POP ( Point of purchase) display

BRAND AWARENESS

Burberry has a diverse and powerful marketing communication tool to generate a cohesive brand

identity. With the advent of the internet, Burberry has changed the Advertising emphasis from

traditional methods to “new” media. Burberry has used a celebrity endorsement like Emma

Watson, to communicate with younger consumers (Riston, 2011). Top management is also

involved in advertising campaigns to reinforce the identity of the brand. This strategy

increases the associations that consumers have with the brand.

"Retail Theatre" is a significant source of promotion and sales for the brand. This concept wasinitiated by Burberry. It allows the live streaming of runway shows directly to flagships stores

globally. Customers watch the show in real time, they can buy products from the collection on I

pads and they are able to purchase the product several months before the items are available in

store, this gives a cachet of exclusivity. It is modern way of selling the product. The experience is

exiting and unique. The customer feels like being part of the life of the brand.



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CONCLUSION

Considering the changes and dynamics in the fashion industry it is important that Burberry keeps

reinventing itself. The focus on their demography and their interaction through innovative digital

media will clearly help them in the ever changing customer base. By having a clear succession

plan for their executives will ensure that they do not have a crisis because of executive turnover

but also keep the company culture moving forward. The importance of shared value becomes all

the more important to Burberry as they shift to newer markets and the opportunity to contribute

back to the society greatly increases. This will mean that as we speak about the company’s legacy

in the field of fashion for the last 150 years, future generations remember Burberry for their

values as well as their products.



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