Brand Power

Do you remember the last time you went to a shop and asked for a chocolate?
Chances are that you might have asked for a Cadbury or a Hershey's instead.
Similarly, if you want bottled water, you ask for a Bisleri. A photocopier
machine anywhere in India is called a Xerox, and people don't ask for
toothpaste, they ask for Colgate.

This shows the power of branding which has pervaded our daily lives to such
an extent that we associate brand names with the products we use. And this is
now visible even in the IT industry. Vendors are pouring in lots of money to
create a brand identity so distinct that customers will immediately relate to
it. The reason is simple. The brand that has the highest recall will have the
highest sales too.

So what is branding all about? And is it only for the bigger companies? Can
the channel also start considering branding as a strategy that can help them
bring in more business?

Why consider branding

Before you jump the gun to embark on a branding exercise it is necessary to
know why this initiative is important and what it entails. According to Sandeep
Parasrampuria of the Best IT World, which has the iBall brand of peripherals,
creating a brand is a process in itself. He said, “First of all, your objectives
have to be very clear. You need to know what you want to do, how you want to do
it, how you want to position your product, what the product line is, etc.”

Positioning of a product is very important. Every market, industry, and
category, will have a different range of products. They will have different
brands that need to be positioned at different levels. So you need to be very
clear where you want your brand to fit in all of this.

Once you know where you want to fit yourself, then the rest of the process
will follow-in terms of the product that you are offering. Or it could be the
other way around, where a company will say that these are its strengths and that
it can make these products, and then look at where it can be positioned.

“You have to analyze your strengths and strategize accordingly. Once it is
clear as to what you are offering, then you can start the branding process,”
Parasrampuria noted.

CREATING AND MANAGING A BRAND

What's a brand Firstly, you must understand the difference between brand and branding. Branding is only a subset of the brand strategy. In other words, branding is the look and feel, design, logo, etc, whereas the brand strategy is the integration of a number of elements. So brand strategy could entail segmentation, positioning, pricing, product portfolio, advertising, PR, distribution, relationship, promotion, personalized selling, and an entire set of ingredients. Brand building You get a better price realization and customers have more faith in your products. You also have a situation with a generated demand rather than a pushed supply. More importantly there is a repeat sales value. Importance of branding A recent Samsika research revealed that the average Indian consumer uses 44 brands everyday. Consumers do not buy products or services; they buy brands, because a brand stands for trust. Who requires it It is a myth that you require a lot of money to create a brand. In brand strategy, the least you need to spend is money. What you need to spend more on is time, effort and most of all on focus. First, you need to select the consumer need, the target market, the positioning, the audience, the segment, etc. Then you need to implement it, and finally you need to reflect it or communicate it. Brands fail when they communicate without doing the selection and implementation. Benefits of branding The tangible benefits of branding are that you are able to get faster sales and larger sales, spread awareness and therefore generate pull and demand. You are in a position to actually have a better price realization and profit. The intangible benefits are that you can build other brands or launch other products under the same brand, you get reputation and respect, you get investment, you can go public, people trust you, you get recognition, you can start building a large organization, you can start building wealth, and you can start improving the quality of life of the consumers. RoI We have a module called the Samsika Brand Accountability Module. In this module if you are selling a commodity, for every one unit of input that you put, you may get one unit of output. If it is a label, for every one unit of input that you put, you may get 10 units of output. For a recognized label, for every one unit of input that you put, you may get 20 units of output. In the case of a brand, for every one unit of input, you may get 1,000 units of output. For a strong brand with brand personality, for every one unit of input, you may get one lakh units of output. And for brand immortality, for every one unit of input, you may get a million units of output. You need to have availability, visibility, affordability, and most importantly, credibility. Branding of services The difference between a product and a service is threefold. Firstly, in the case of a product, it can be manufactured in a factory. In the case of a service, that service will be produced and consumed at the same time. Secondly, services are perishable. The third thing is that services is the future; 65 percent of India's GDP is now service industry. The reason is that as economies develop and mature, they become more service oriented. However, every product has some proportion of service in it and every service has some proportion of service in it. As far as services are concerned, there will be a higher proportion of intangibility and lesser proportion of tangibility. Source: Jagdeep Kapoor, Director, Samsika Marketing

He recalled how he started iBall with just a range of mice and keyboards.
Fortunately, these were products that could be positioned at top-of-the-line in
the market. Once the basic positioning was finalized, it was only a matter of
sticking to its basic positioning as newer product lines were added to the
range.

Parasrampuria said, “We would not like to shift to a position that is very
different from where we are at present. Repositioning is a very tough process
and should be avoided at all costs.”

Supertron Electronics' VK Bhandari also pays an equal importance to brand and
has been successful in establishing Supercomp as a well-known brand, especially
in the eastern market. Bhandari said, “Personally, I think that branding is the
most important asset which any organization can create over a period of time. A
brand is not only for the product, the brand represents the company as a whole.”

On the question of how Bhandari distinguish his product from those of his
competitors and other bigger vendor, Bhandari said, “Every brand has its own
positioning. Our brand-Supercomp, is positioned as a quality brand and as a
value for money brand. It is seen that in every market there is space for all
brands to operate.”

	"Merely having a brand is not enough to establish one's company in the marketplace"
	sanjeev soni Country Manager-India Amconics Infotech Solutions

Branding is not enough

Sanjeev Soni, Country Manager-India, Amconics Infotech Solutions too has been
working on creating a brand recall for his products. According to him, creating
value addition to your product is very important to go one-up over your
competitors; there should be something offered by your product, which your
competitor's product doesn't offer. According to him customer care, after-sales
support, extra features that your product carries, and above all affordability,
all go into making of a good brand.

But at the same time he maintains that merely having a brand is not enough to
establish one's company in the market­place. “In today's world, a brand name is
not that important. What is more important is customer satisfaction,” he pointed
out.

He recalled how he started iBall with just a range of mice and keyboards.
Fortunately, these were products that could be positioned at top-of-the-line in
the market. Once the basic positioning was finalized, it was only a matter of
sticking to its basic positioning as newer product lines were added to the
range.

Parasrampuria said, “We would not like to shift to a position that is very
different from where we are at present. Repositioning is a very tough process
and should be avoided at all costs.”

Supertron Electronics' VK Bhandari also pays an equal importance to brand and
has been successful in establishing Supercomp as a well-known brand, especially
in the eastern market. Bhandari said, “Personally, I think that branding is the
most important asset which any organization can create over a period of time. A
brand is not only for the product, the brand represents the company as a whole.”

On the question of how Bhandari distinguish his product from those of his
competitors and other bigger vendor, Bhandari said, “Every brand has its own
positioning. Our brand-Supercomp, is positioned as a quality brand and as a
value for money brand. It is seen that in every market there is space for all
brands to operate.”

	"Merely having a brand is not enough to establish one's company in the marketplace"
	sanjeev soni Country Manager-India Amconics Infotech Solutions

Branding is not enough

Sanjeev Soni, Country Manager-India, Amconics Infotech Solutions too has been
working on creating a brand recall for his products. According to him, creating
value addition to your product is very important to go one-up over your
competitors; there should be something offered by your product, which your
competitor's product doesn't offer. According to him customer care, after-sales
support, extra features that your product carries, and above all affordability,
all go into making of a good brand.

But at the same time he maintains that merely having a brand is not enough to
establish one's company in the market­place. “In today's world, a brand name is
not that important. What is more important is customer satisfaction,” he pointed
out.

Also, he felt that a prerequisite for any brand doing well is for the brand
name to be in sync with the services and quality that it stands for. Soni
elaborated, “We have to keep on engaging with out channel partners in order to
promote our brand. Channel knocking, in terms of roadshows, events,
demonstrations, and other promotional events have to be undertaken in an ongoing
process.” In the case of Amconics, consumer knocking is not done, as Amconics
goes entirely through its channel partners to the end-users. Further, Soni added
further, “We are currently concentrating only on building our brand image among
the channel community. However, very soon we will also start interaction with
the end-users.”

This brings another important facet to branding, and that is of brand
positioning. It is important to come up with a brand positioning strategy after
a lot of consideration to future growth plans. You face more competition when
you move down than when you move up in positioning, as there are too many
players at a lower level. However, when you are moving up, there are only a few
players who are very big and it is tough to make your presence felt in that
scenario.

	"We follow strict quality control guidelines to ensure that we meet customer expectations and deliver on our promise of high quality"
	chetan shah Md, Xpress Computers

Professional help

Since branding calls for very specific and evolved skill sets, and
sensitivity to market reactions, it might not be possible for an entrepreneur to
take decisions related to branding on his own. Does it make more sense then to
bring a brand management specialist into the picture?

Parasrampuria opined that this decision depended on the level at which one
wants to work. It might not be a viable proposition to afford a brand consultant
for everyone. However, any suggestions of someone who is experienced in branding
are definitely invaluable. “When we started out, there was no brand specialist
who was assisting iBall. However, as we grew, we realized that we could do a lot
better if we appointed a specialist,” he noted.

Jagdeep Kapoor, Director of Samsika, a brand management company, noted that
it is not necessary for an entrepreneur to engage a brand specialist for
grooming his brand. But getting a professional on board has its benefits,
because the latter can help gauge the density of branding exercises to be
undertaken. “As an expert on the subject, we can help the company resolve any
branding confusions it might have or intensify the activities to have better
recall. Also, we can realign the branding initiatives, given the current market
scenario to effectively communicate what customers expect from the brand and
what its current perception is to customers,” he added.

Brand perception

Altering brand perception is a slow process that cannot happen overnight,
unless you are pumping in a lot of money on advertisements and activities that
will grab your customer's attention. Parasrampuria said, “It is a very slow
process, which will take its own time. It depends on how the channel and the
users perceive it.”

Alteration in branding is also a conscious decision that has to be taken
after much thought and depends on where the company sees itself in the next few
years. The entrepreneur has to be very clear as to how he wants to see the
brand. That is where positioning, type of logo, and packaging comes into play.

Sanjeev Bhavnani, CEO and MD, Visesh Infotecnics agreed with Shah, as he
resonated with the same thoughts. “Branding is very important as your brand is
your identification in the market,” said Bhavnani. He reiterated that the brand
name should have a correlation with the products and services offered by the
company.

Promotional material such as brochures and flyers play an important role in
creating a brand image. Another point that Bhavnani mentioned, was the creation
of a unique web identity. “Every product or service being offered by Visesh
Infotecnics has an exclusive space on the web,” said Bhavnani.

The most important ingredient is having the right people in place and the
right client list. “Product differentiation and service differentiation is
needed to go one-up over your competitors,” said Bhavnani.

Over the past three years, Sogo Computers has spent a lot of money on
creating a brand image for its own brand of PCs. Sogo Computers' unique selling
proposition is that Sogo PCs are priced at rates lower than those of its
competitors and are backed by a one-year warranty. Dinesh Nair, GM, Sogo
Computers said, “It is necessary to have a brand identity that is in sync with
what is offered by your products and services.”

Ravi Verdes of Bangalore's Frontier Business Systems too felt that branding
helps in associating the skills that a company possesses with the company's
name. “It also helps create awareness among the customer base as to what are the
new offering of the company in terms of solutions and services,” he said.
Frontier recently appointed a marketing team, which will look into branding of
its services. Verdes too has similar plans. He said, “We will do many things as
part of the branding exercise such as seminars, advertisements, e-mail direct
marketing, etc.”

It is necessary to have a clear branding agenda, without which any marketing
strategy is incomplete. “Ever since we started taking our growth seriously, we
started taking branding seriously,” said Ranjan Chopra, CMD, Team Computers.
Team Computers' new logo 't:' and tagline 'beyond the box' reflects the changes
in the organization. This restates the importance of a company with a brand name
that is sync with the services provided by the company.

Some are not convinced

Not everyone is convinced about branding being a great conduit into the
customer's wallet. Lauren Information Techno­logies, which is primarily into
providing solutions and services, is one of them. Avinash Kodwaney, Assistant
VP-Marketing, Lauren Information Technologies said that today their customers,
who include corporate, multinationals and SMB clients, know Lauren as a brand
through the services it provides them. But most of this recall is based on word
of mouth publicity.

Kodwaney said, “We provide quality services to our customers, that's how we
retain our customers. Also word-of-mouth plays an important part in making the
name known. Today, we are known for providing different solutions.”

Team Computers' new logo 't:' and tagline 'beyond the box' reflects the changes in the organization

But he agrees that it is important that they are never away from the
customer's thoughts and recall. This is why the company organizes end-user
events at regular intervals and sends mailers to its customers. These are either
technology mailers or promotional mailers. “We also undertake demonstration
sessions for our customers by calling them to our office or taking them to our
solution centers as means of customer engagement,” he added.

Other than this the company leverages on its direct sales team to get new
customers. But with the increased competition it is now thinking of investing in
advertisements to retain brand recall.

But Bhandari cautioned that ad hoc advertisement is not enough to engage
customer attention. He said, “Branding is not only advertising but it is the
commitment of an organization to the customer for quality, reliability and
trust. We have been investing in brand building activities over the past two
years and will be doing it with full force in the coming years also.”

At the same time, branding is not the be all and end all for any successful
business. It is only one component of the entire business operation. Unless your
products and services are not in sync with what you want to do or with how the
user wants it to be, then no branding exercise will yield the desired results.

One can safely conclude that it would be a big mistake to undermine the power
of brands. What the Cadburys and Bisleris of the world have achieved is quite
commendable and even enviable. It might be a long and arduous process to reach
brand immortality and many companies might not even get that far, yet the fact
is that everyone must aim for the stars so that they at least get the moon.

Ravish Khapra

ravishk@cybermedia.co.in

Sanjeev Bhavnani, CEO and MD, Visesh Infotecnics agreed with Shah, as he
resonated with the same thoughts. “Branding is very important as your brand is
your identification in the market,” said Bhavnani. He reiterated that the brand
name should have a correlation with the products and services offered by the
company.

Promotional material such as brochures and flyers play an important role in
creating a brand image. Another point that Bhavnani mentioned, was the creation
of a unique web identity. “Every product or service being offered by Visesh
Infotecnics has an exclusive space on the web,” said Bhavnani.

The most important ingredient is having the right people in place and the
right client list. “Product differentiation and service differentiation is
needed to go one-up over your competitors,” said Bhavnani.

Over the past three years, Sogo Computers has spent a lot of money on
creating a brand image for its own brand of PCs. Sogo Computers' unique selling
proposition is that Sogo PCs are priced at rates lower than those of its
competitors and are backed by a one-year warranty. Dinesh Nair, GM, Sogo
Computers said, “It is necessary to have a brand identity that is in sync with
what is offered by your products and services.”

Ravi Verdes of Bangalore's Frontier Business Systems too felt that branding
helps in associating the skills that a company possesses with the company's
name. “It also helps create awareness among the customer base as to what are the
new offering of the company in terms of solutions and services,” he said.
Frontier recently appointed a marketing team, which will look into branding of
its services. Verdes too has similar plans. He said, “We will do many things as
part of the branding exercise such as seminars, advertisements, e-mail direct
marketing, etc.”

It is necessary to have a clear branding agenda, without which any marketing
strategy is incomplete. “Ever since we started taking our growth seriously, we
started taking branding seriously,” said Ranjan Chopra, CMD, Team Computers.
Team Computers' new logo 't:' and tagline 'beyond the box' reflects the changes
in the organization. This restates the importance of a company with a brand name
that is sync with the services provided by the company.

Some are not convinced

Not everyone is convinced about branding being a great conduit into the
customer's wallet. Lauren Information Techno­logies, which is primarily into
providing solutions and services, is one of them. Avinash Kodwaney, Assistant
VP-Marketing, Lauren Information Technologies said that today their customers,
who include corporate, multinationals and SMB clients, know Lauren as a brand
through the services it provides them. But most of this recall is based on word
of mouth publicity.

Kodwaney said, “We provide quality services to our customers, that's how we
retain our customers. Also word-of-mouth plays an important part in making the
name known. Today, we are known for providing different solutions.”

Team Computers' new logo 't:' and tagline 'beyond the box' reflects the changes in the organization

But he agrees that it is important that they are never away from the
customer's thoughts and recall. This is why the company organizes end-user
events at regular intervals and sends mailers to its customers. These are either
technology mailers or promotional mailers. “We also undertake demonstration
sessions for our customers by calling them to our office or taking them to our
solution centers as means of customer engagement,” he added.

Other than this the company leverages on its direct sales team to get new
customers. But with the increased competition it is now thinking of investing in
advertisements to retain brand recall.

But Bhandari cautioned that ad hoc advertisement is not enough to engage
customer attention. He said, “Branding is not only advertising but it is the
commitment of an organization to the customer for quality, reliability and
trust. We have been investing in brand building activities over the past two
years and will be doing it with full force in the coming years also.”

At the same time, branding is not the be all and end all for any successful
business. It is only one component of the entire business operation. Unless your
products and services are not in sync with what you want to do or with how the
user wants it to be, then no branding exercise will yield the desired results.

One can safely conclude that it would be a big mistake to undermine the power
of brands. What the Cadburys and Bisleris of the world have achieved is quite
commendable and even enviable. It might be a long and arduous process to reach
brand immortality and many companies might not even get that far, yet the fact
is that everyone must aim for the stars so that they at least get the moon.

Ravish Khapra

ravishk@cybermedia.co.in