Marketing Strategy : 10 Questions About Your Brand

Marketers are faced with a highly challenging task of balancing short-term and long-term strategies for the brand. In a highly competitive market, marketers often get deluged in activities which are tactical in nature. In doing so, brands may lose focus on pursuing its vision.

There are many reasons behind the manic run behind short-term gains for the brand. The major culprit is in trying to manage the brand from quarter to quarter. Pressured to show positive growth in every quarter, managers are seldom given time to analyze the long term implications of their marketing activities.

At some point in time marketers need to pause and take stock of the brand’s path to future. Great brands are never built in 3 months. It takes years of focused work and investments. Although marketers are willing to invest now, they expect a positive ROI within a short span of time.

Whether the brand is new or old, marketers need to periodically assess and evaluate the path towards the future. The following questions will help the brand managers to check whether the brand is treading in the right direction.

1. What is your brand vision?

It is critical for brands to have a long term game plan. The plan will help serve as a guideline that will help future managers to devise action plans and continue in the right direction.

2. What needs of customers that your brands satisfy?

Marketers must be able to clearly articulate the customer needs and wants that the brands aim to satisfy. These needs and wants may change over time; hence marketers need to periodically review whether the brand is currently relevant in the customer’s life. The brand should also be able to appeal to the new demands of the consumers. Regular evaluation of this parameter will keep the brand in tune with the changing consumer mindset.

3. What is your brand’s core strength?

Brands needs to have a “ WoW” factor if it is aiming for long run profitability. Marketers needs to constantly search for the “WoW “factor and keep inventing more and more of these “ WoW” factors.

4. What values does the brand represent?

Brand values represent the core foundation upon which brand strategies are made. According to Professor Kevin Lane Keller, Brand Values are those set of abstract associations that characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand. Brand values serve as the basis for brand positioning. Marketers have to identify and internalize these core values and periodically check whether the brand is aligned to these values.

5. Will the customers relate to those brand values?

Not only that the marketers should identify brand values, they need to check whether those brand values are relevant to consumer’s life. Sometimes consumers may not relate to the brand’s core mantra. It is in this situation where the brand may feel disconnected with its target audiences. Periodical review of the brand’s connection with the target market is critical to long-term survival.

6. Is the brand relevant to a customer’s life?

Successful brands stay relevant in the consumer’s life. Marketers should be able gauge whether the brand is relevant to the customer. Managers should constantly keep in touch with the customers to understand how the brand is helping them in their life.

7. Is the brand’s promise sustainable over time?

Markets are dynamic and consumer taste and preferences change drastically over time. Hence while developing the brand’s core mantra or promise, managers should also devise a process to determine whether the brand’s promise is sustainable over time. The brand also needs to evaluate its promise in comparison with its competitors.

8. Is your brand flexible?

There will be situations where the brand may have to reinvent itself. New opportunities may force the brand to venture into related as well as unrelated categories. Marketers should build some amount of flexibility in the brand architecture so that it is possible for the brand to venture into other categories.

9. Does the brand create excitement in the market?

Iconic brands are exciting. These iconic brands not only excite the customers but also the employees. A crucial question in the brand’s quest for excellence is whether the brand is able to create a sustainable level of excitement in the market. Creating excitement in the market is not easy and it cannot be done overnight. Marketers need to invest a lot if they want to create a high level of excitement in the market.

10. Is your brand engaging the customers?

The final question for the managers is about customer engagement. We are living in the experience economy. Consumers pay for experiences rather than for products. To understand the customer’s expectations and deliver those experiences, brands needs to constantly engage the consumers. Technology has enabled marketers to directly interact with the customers in multiple platforms. Managers should check regularly whether the brand is engaging with the customers through the various available platforms.

Originally Published in Adclubbombay.com

Brand Update : No Idea then Get Idea !

There are times when a campaign thrills you with its simplicity and creativity. Idea's new campaign on number portability was one such thrilling moment.

Mobile number portability ( MNP) is on the verge of becoming a reality. It means that a consumer can switch their mobile service provider while retaining their number for a fee.The allowing of MNP will take away one of the most important switching cost as far as a consumer is concerned. Many consumers ( like me) had grudgingly stayed with a subscriber just for the sake of retaining the mobile number for the fear of losing contact with old friends and acquaintances. When MNP becomes a reality, that fear will go and consumers will be free to switch service providers.

For the service provider, MNP is both a challenge and an opportunity. Challenge because they cannot take a consumer ( subscriber) for granted. Consumers often are lazy and have inertia in terms of taking pains to switch service brands. One has to be too pissed off to take the trouble of moving to a different service provider and then messaging all contacts about the new contact number. This switching cost over the period of time has been lightened with the popularity of dual SIM phones and most of the subscribers are now open to carrying multiple phones with them.

It is in the light of these developments that Idea decided to take on MNP through their latest campaign - No Idea,Get Idea.

The ad uses the most commonly used slang - No Idea to drive home their point. It is an example of sheer brilliant creative which hits you right on target.

The campaign focuses on instances where non- Idea subscribers gets pissed off with their mobile service providers. They encounter network issues, over charging instances and bad consumer services and when Abhishek Bachchan asks them for the reason why they are being mistreated, they responds in the typical slang - No Idea. Abhishek Bachchan pitches with the punchline " Get Idea ". Simple but brilliant.

Watch the campaigns here :

Network Issues

Customer Service

Billing Issues

It is clear that Idea has done some research on the burning problems that consumer's face with regard to mobile services. Network coverage , customer service and billing issues feature prominent among the key reasons for customer churn and complaints.

One will know which brand will gain more with MNP only after it is implemented but Idea decided to use this for yet another brilliant campaign. This preemptive campaign puts Idea in a advantageous position against competition. Now competitors will find it difficult to crate campaigns on these features and negate this first -mover advantage of Idea.

Another interesting thing I noticed about the campaign was that " Get Idea " term may have came late to the creative directors because if you notice the ads, Abhishek Bachchan says " Thats What " (not Get Idea) when the other character says " No Idea ". I think that " Get Idea" punchline was later incorporated into the ads.

Idea brand is on a roll . Aditya Birla Group should be applauded for the investment it is making on the brand. Telecom services over a period of time will become commoditized interms of tariff plans and other features.Once consumers are free to chose without switching costs, brand will play a big role in customer acquisition and retention.

A nice take on the current campaign from an adman - Bhatnaturally

Van Heusen : Evolve Yourself

Brand : Van Heusen

Company : Madura Garments ( Aditya Birla Nuvo)

Ad Agency : JWT India

Brand Analysis Count : #467

Van Heusen is one of the largest apparel brand in India. The brand which came to India in 1990 is on the verge of a new growth trajectory. The exciting new path for the brand is built on the rich heritage that this brand carries.

Van Heusen is a truly global brand. The brand has a rich heritage with a history dating back to 1881. The brand journey started in USA in 1881 when Moses Philip and his wife began selling hand-sewed shirts to local miners of Pennsylvania in a push cart. Later Philips and his son moved to Newyork and began selling shirts.

In 1910 John M Van Heusen from Holland found a unique process of fusing cloth on a curve thus created a comfortable self-folding collar. John Van Heusen and Philips' son Seymour Philips met in US and Philips-Van Heusen Company was created. The company also got a patent for the collar in 1919. ( source : Super Brands)

From there, the brand went on to become the largest selling shirt brand in USA. Now Philips-Van Heusen (PVH) which owns the brand worldwide is an apparel giant which owns iconic brands like Arrow, Van Heusen, Tommy Hilfinger and Calvin Klein.

This iconic brand was brought to India by Madura Garments. Madura Garments hold the right to market this brand in India. When Aditya Birla group acquired Madura Garments, the right moved to AB Group.

Van Heusen was a pioneer in the development of executive -wear segment in India. The brand positioned itself as one for the upwardly mobile executives. The brand positioned itself on the platform of Powerful + Fashionable executive formal wear. The brand introduced the concept of " Power Dressing " implying that the brand users are those who occupy the powerful places in the corporate world.

Along with the aspirational positioning , the brand appealed to the consumers by focusing on fashion.Fashion and Formal wear are seemingly opposite attributes and it is difficult to convince consumers that a brand can have these opposite attributes co-exist. Van Heusen was successful in doing that. The best way to impress the fashion conscious consumer is to innovate. Globally Van Heusen is known for its innovation in their clothing. The brand came out with concepts of Ice Touch, Dura Press etc which reinforced the positioning of Van Heusen as a fashionable executive wear.

The brand endorses the core values of modern, fashionable updated, minimalism and timelessness. The brand targets 25-45 year olds who are in the middle-upper class executives who have a penchant for understated fashion.

The brand captured the attention of Indian corporate through is heavy brand promotion and rich heritage. Van Heusen is now a Rs 400 crore brand with strong presence across the country. The brand which initially promoted itself using the tagline " Power Dressing " evolved over a period of time. The tagline was changed to " Power . Evolved " which communicated that the brand user has arrived to a position of power. Now the brand is sporting the tagline " Evolve Everyday". The brand also successfully ventured into women-wear.

The highly competitive Indian executive wear industry has prompted the brand to devise new ways of growth. The brand launched its range of casual wear under the brand VDot and has now roped in Actor John Abraham as the brand ambassador. ( VDot will be dealt in detail in a future post).

The strong point of Van Heusen is its ability to lead the market with its fashionable range. The high quality , never compromising premiumness ( exclusivity) and understated image has contributed a lot to the growth of this brand. The campaigns of Van Heusen (except for the early ones on Power Dressing) were never clutter-breaking but was enough for the discerning customers to patronize the brand.

Marketing Strategy : Harnessing the Power of Brand Elements

American Marketing Association defines brand as 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 competition. According to Professor Kevin Lane Keller, Brand Elements are trademark-able devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. The most common brand elements are brand names, logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople, slogan, jingle, imagery, packages, colour, imagery, signage etc.

It is important for marketers to realize the potential of using all the brand elements while endeavouring to build a brand. Most marketers tend to concentrate their resources only on brand names and logos and thus losing an opportunity to create and develop other brand elements which can act as a powerful differentiator. Successful brands take advantage of all their brand elements there by creating various points of impact in the mind of the consumer.

Take the case of Absolut Vodka. This is a brand which used its simple trademarked Vodka bottle as a powerful brand element. Through consistent campaigns, the Absolut Vodka bottle was developed as a powerful differentiator for the brand. The trademarked bottle has become the most remembered and visible brand element for Absolut creating a distinct identity for the brand. The brand created lot of awareness, loyalty and consumer interest through the clever use of the vodka bottle in all of their campaigns.

Marketers should be able to identify unique brand elements that can break the clutter and create an impression. While most of the brands chose to invest in common obvious brand elements like the name, logo etc, it would be wise to look for something different. A classic example of that can be seen in the branding of Vanish – which is the stain removing detergent brand of Reckitt & Benckiser. The brand used colour Pink as the main brand element. Vanish uses the tagline “Trust Pink, Forget Stains “to promote the brand element. Vanish product is not pink in colour but the brand comes in a pink pack. The use of the “Pink” colour as the brand element acted as a powerful differentiator for Vanish. The association with Pink also increased the brand awareness and brand recognition in a highly cluttered detergent market

Another important criterion for effective use of brand element is that it should be easy to memorize. The brand elements should be easy to remember and recall. The consumer should be able to remember the brand element and the element should aid in the recall of the brand during the time of purchase.

Intel’s famous tagline “Intel Inside” is one such brand element which is easy to memorize and recall. The brand used this tagline and its logo very effectively in their promotions. ‘Intel Inside ‘tagline together the logo became a powerful brand element that created lot of brand recall and identity. Intel is also one brand that used its jingle (melody) as a powerful element. The five note melody has now become an indispensable part of the Intel branding. Intel carefully developed these brand elements through a 3 second animated jingle ( known as a signature Id, audio visual logo) which consisted displaying the logo and the five- note melody after every Intel ads ( Source – Intel Website). Over a period of time, these brand elements became so powerful that consumers will recall the brand once this melody is played.

The brand elements thus created should be protected by the brand owners. Trademarked brand elements become powerful differentiators over time. Since these brand elements are protected, there need not be any fear about competitors copying those elements.

Marketers should try to identify all possible opportunities to create brand elements. And while communicating the brand’s message, all these brand elements should be present in the communication. For example, Idea Cellular uses a wide range of brand elements in its communication. The brand uses its signature Yellow Colour, Taglines and slogans, brand ambassador and its signature melody in all their multimedia campaigns. All these brand elements have become popular over these years that consumers are now recognizing Idea Cellular when they see or hear any of these brand elements.

Having a basket of strong brand elements also helps in tapping in the various promotional mixes more effectively. For example a popular character or a mascot can open up opportunities of promotion through merchandising. A popular jingle or a melody can help to promote the brand through radio, TV or even mobiles. So it is the job of the marketer to constantly look for creating new brand elements and thus giving new promotional opportunities for the brand.

Brand elements have lot of strategic importance in branding. Marketers should take responsibility in identifying, creating and developing unique brand elements. Once created, these elements provide the brand with a powerful identity at a time when features and attributes are increasingly becoming commoditized.

Originally published here at adclubbombay.com

Brand Update : Ceat wants you to be Idiot Safe

Ceat went in for a major rebranding exercise in 2008 when it changed its logo, the mascot and the famous tagline " Born Tough". I was very critical about the whole rebranding exercise especially the decision to discard the Rhino (mascot) and the tagline. The logic for the rebranding was to make the brand contemporary and relevant to the new generation consumers.

Although the company spent some money on rebranding campaign in 2008, it again went in on a silent mode for almost two years . There was virtually no campaign for Ceat in this period. Recently the brand has started making some noise in the media with a series of brand campaigns.

The current campaign for Ceat is for its bike tyres. The campaign is dubbed " Be Idiot Safe ". The campaign runs on the theme that ' Roads are full of idiots and be idiot-safe with Ceat Tyres".

Watch the ad here : Be Idiot Safe

The ads are currently focusing on the " better road grip " feature of Ceat bike tyres. Road grip is an important ,relevant feature as far as tyres are concerned and Ceat has tried to own up that feature.

Along with the 'Be Idiot Safe " television campaign, the brand has tried to take up this idea into the internet by launching the brand site " beidiotsafe.com". The brand tried to engage users by inviting interesting videos about those idiots on the road. Users can upload the videos about rash driving and careless road habits onto the sites. The brand expects that these funny videos will be viral and increase the brand's visibility on the web. I am not sure whether the site had managed to sustain interest among the netizens.

Another interesting aspect of Ceat's brand strategy is that it chose to have different theme for its different product-lines. While " Be idiot-safe " theme is for bike tyres, the brand have a different theme for its SUV product range. For the SUV range, the brand has adopted the tagline " Takes the wild out of wilderness ".

That means Ceat will have separate positioning for its various products. In branding perspective, that is not a good strategy. The multiple positioning can dilute the core brand's positioning unless there is a common thread passing through the various positioning campaigns. MRF uses multiple positioning campaigns for its various products but these product lines have sub-brands. In the case of Ceat, there is no sub-brands but only product descriptors .

It would work well if Ceat can think of a core brand positioning for the brand - CEAT. This core brand positioning will be reflect what the brand CEAT stands for. Then use sub-brands for its product-lines like SUV, bike tyres, car tyres etc .The brand can then use different positioning campaigns for the sub-brands. The sub-brand's positioning should be in line with the core brand's positioning but the sub-brands will have freedom to chose its own relevant themes.

Related brand

Ceat

Marketing Strategy : Where is Marketing in Your Strategy ?

It is interesting to see how many companies realize the importance of marketing in their corporate strategy framework. Most firms have realized the importance of marketing as an important function in their organizational framework, but marketing has not yet being considered as an important part of the corporate strategy.

Marketing concept evolved through various stages. The first stage was where the firms believed that consumers want inexpensive products that satisfied their needs and wants. The emphasis during this stage was on mass production and focus was on efficiency and low cost. ((kotler, p. (2008). Marketing management. delhi: prentice hall.)

The next stage of the evolution was when firms realized that consumers are not just looking for low cost solutions to their needs but are also attracted to product features and new product innovations. During this stage, firms competed with each other in developing new product features and solutions.

Soon firms realized that mere product innovations and features are not going to lure consumers into purchase. Consumers needed to be persuaded to buy products. During this stage, firms focused on increasing their ability to sell the products in the market. This stage saw lot of investment in building sales departments and channel management functions.

Despite the success of the concept based on the emphasis on selling, firms found a gap in the consumer needs and the product being sold. Increased competition created a need in the firms to look at consumers for fresh ideas. Firms realized that they should be more consumer focused rather than focused on selling products. Firms also realized that it has the ability to shape consumer behaviour and create new wants. Rather than focusing on selling and producing, companies began to listen to consumers and adopt strategies that shaped new consumer behaviour and trends. Products became only a tool to realize firm’s objective. Consumer became the focal point of all activities. It was the beginning of the marketing.

From a function focused on moving the product from the warehouses to consumer, marketing has come a long way. It now occupies a significant position in a firms’ organizational structure. But it is time to reinvent marketing.

Although leaders of businesses emphasis on the importance of marketing in their organizations, the concept of marketing is constrained by the functional status bestowed upon it. Marketing is still considered as a function rather than a strategy. And by giving a functional status, the scope of marketing is severely blocked from realizing its full potential. It is time for firms to realize that business in marketing.

Marketing is not a function but a strategy. This is a matter that has to be dealt with at the board level. While financial performance and analysis is given huge importance in the annual report of publically listed firms, it is interesting to see how little information and analysis is given on the marketing side. I would like to suggest that firm’s should show courage to put their marketing strategy to scrutiny at the highest level.

The advantages of taking marketing strategy at the board level will have lot of advantages. For example take the case of a brand extension. Should this decision be taken at the board level or should it be dealt at the functional level. Is brand extension a corporate strategy or a functional strategy? In most of the firms, these decisions are taken at the functional level and seldom discussed threadbare at the board level unless it require huge capital expenditure. And it is often found that brands lose because of meaningless extensions resulting in a direct impact on its financial performance.

Take the example of positioning. Is positioning of a brand discussed at the board level or decided at the functional level. Should the decision of positioning /repositioning discussed at the board? If business is marketing, then the decision on positioning should be discussed at the highest governing body because the success of the product largely hinges on the effectiveness of positioning. When positioning strategy is discussed at the highest level, it becomes business strategy and not just another element of the functional strategy.

When a firm takes such a serious view of marketing, then branding becomes focused. Positioning becomes consistent, Managers think twice before venturing into meaningless extensions. Brand strategy will not be outsourced to advertising agencies. Consumers will be handled with care. Complaints will be seriously dealt with and monitored at the highest level of management hierarchy.

In highly successful companies, marketing is handled by CEOs. Brands like Apple, Microsoft, Harley Davidson thrive because they are looked after by the CEOs. When CEOs become marketing evangelists, marketing will achieve its true potential.

Originally published here in adclubbombay.com