Brand Breakout: The transformation Phase

Brands is what we use to define our personality. They form an important part of defining us, an Apple user is looked as some one who is innovator i.e ready to adapt new technology, a person who wears Raymond suiting's feels more complete in personality, a Tag heuer owner has attitude, thus our personality is defined by the brands we use.

Now a days brands are undergoing a transformation phase and are creating a new image for them selves. They are getting into new shoes and customers are thus made to attach to the new image of the brands. Maruti which was previously just seen as a maker of family cars is now having a new image for a more sporty car maker by introduction of their Swift model.

Tata motors by launch of its Nano had taken an image of an innovative company and is making mark in its own way, and consumers are readily accepting the new image of the company's brand.

Tata Tea also got a more dynamic image after the launch of its "JAGO RE" slogan and is now looked upon more of a youth image as they show a greater involvement of youths in waking up the nation.

The question arises as to why companies take up the transformation from a an old image to a new image and do the consumers accept the new image of the company?

The brand break out certainly helps the company to enter a new segment or to add a new segment to its existing market. Tata Nano will now open a new segment for the company by which they can have a greater share in smaller segment car market and will certainly add to profit of company.

The factors which has made brand breakout can be, there could be a market which can be entered by existing product just by taking a new image or the company goes into product innovation which makes it go for a new image. Like Apple which was previously just looked as an IBM rival took a new image of innovation by launch of its I Pod.

There could also be certain attributes which may be added to the existing product and it may be presented by a new image, like Maggie which is now having a slogan of "Taste bhi health bhi". Making it healthy for children too.

The brands are now readily accepted by consumers and this transformation is certainly helping the company to a greater extent. Thus Brand breakout by right ways is certainly an add on advantage.

Source: BrandLine, Business Line.

Election Campaign the Other Way

We see a lot of different ways of campaign which political parties use for the promotion of party policies and the candidate who is contesting for them. They use various touch points like audio, video, personal meetings, celebrity presence and what not. They use all possible means to communicate and make them popular among local people and get connected.

On other side there is a company which used effectively this election for promotion of their product was TATA. They used this election for promotion of TATA TEA by launching a campaign of "JAGO RE" . The concept has been very effective as they show youths creating a awareness about voting among people and making them vote. The youths are now taking an active participation in politics and it makes them feel connected to ad.

We normally see people at tea shops discussing about political issues and other things and tea thus they used same concept for promotion. It showed a great increase in people who registered for votes and even they offered assistance online for people to register for voting. Company has seen an increased sales after launch of their campaign and now this slogan has also gained a greater popularity among all. It has almost became an anthem for these days.

Thus company has effectively used the present environment for promotion and creating a greater awareness among people. In all its a great strategy by company to launch a two way campaign.








Source: Economic times, Brand Equity

The Management " i " Concpet

In an article by Arindam Chaudhuri i came across the "i" management concept of managing the indian way . We in our course of management studies are taught about various aspects about world market and global concept. The concepts how foreign markets work and how companies follow different strategies. The way a company functions in a market is totally the way the culture of the country is and its the way the companies function. An  American companys way of functioning will be totally domitaed by its culture as compared to an European company.

Thus the management "i" concept talks about teaching the Indian way. The culture of the country its belives about things are totally different from the others. We are never taught management by sticking to our culture and developing a strong platform for same. Thus we lack the sense of bonding to our culture at a broader level.  If we look at the way we are brought up, we Indians are attached more to our family and core values and we give more importance to them. This forms the basis of our thinking and we take decisions accordingly. Thus the course should be designed in such a way that it blends the indian culture along with management and gives us the required training. 

Inspite of having such great bschools yet our management graduates are not able to match with the international schools as we still rely on case studies of foreign companies for analysis and understanding. The "i" concept which he uses for training of various companies CEO's and managers should be promoted even to the b-schools for greater practical learning by students.

Source: A article by Arindam Chaudhari

Viral Spoofing

Marketers are always in search of a communication medium by which they can remain in minds of consumer for a longer time. Today Viral spoofing is growing largely due to same and many companies are using a concept that has already been used for promotion of their product. This definetly gives an add on advantage to marketers as they dont have to advertise much as concept is already famous and well known. This results in a cost saving by company and the popularity of the ad also increases to a greater extent. This is been effectively used by companies like Honda, Addidas, Bajaj and even for the recent campaign of elections.

I came across an ad for Makemytrip's on line travel community Oktatabyebye where we share our views regarding hotels and other traveling places. They have spoofed the movie "Ghajini". A man is shown visting a hotel and he uses all facilities of that hotel and on returing he gets his body tatooted about how he felt and at last all places on his body get filled. Then they show the online community where we can share our views and experiences. Thus the company already used the popularity and concept of movie Ghajini. The same concept has also been used by Bajaj Allianz for promotion of their Tax saving campaign.