Brand Equity

A Review of Brand EquityAs on 10th Feb 2010

Y!OUNIFICATION – are you You`ed?

• If you are noticing the adverts – then you are You`ed.

• “It`s you, 100% you, power to you, its who we are, and its you, the new me” – Recent Tagline by Yahoo!.

• Marketers adopting to the strategy of adopting this ‘You’ word with their products and brand offering.

• Providing themes – larger than life.

You are You`ed!

• Goal: to get more intimate with consumers, allowing them to express their person.

• For e.g. YAHOO! It`s Y!ou – A Campaign as a uniting force, combines the “World Outside” with “My World”

• Articulates a long term brand promise.

“You need a phone that gets YOU” - HTC

• YOU campaign, across 20 countries.• Tagline: “You don`t need to get a

phone. You need a phone that gets you”

• Establish an emotional relationship with their phones.

The “YOU” thing…

• Nokia also applying to YOU, “It`s not just a phone, it`s who we are” – an advert for its Nokia Supernova series starring Priyanka Chopra.

• Videocon Mobile launched its mobiles – “V is the new me”

• HP also had a campaign – “The Computer is Personal Again”

• Dell, “Yours is Here”

You-ing has got to lead somewhere…

• Should lead to somewhere, otherwise these are just hollow-lines.

• But Ogilvy has said that these are just lines, calling it a shift in marketing approach would be a wrong thing.

• These concepts were earlier used too – Insurance, car makers, tobacco cos.

You – A Power to You!

• These Campaigns create a illusion of power with the customers – a power to do what they want.

• Marketers don`t walk to customers, rather they talk through their brands.

• not only about handing over the brand baton to the customer, but delivering what is promised.

Handling the Customers…

• Customer is getting smarter day by day.

• Handling the customer will need democratisation of some brand assets – making a proposition as brand philosophy, rather than a marketing ploy.

• But one must have right and appropriate product portfolio first.

What do Customers Say??

“If a brand tells me I’m like 40 million other people, then I need to find another place to hang out” – an Active Online Commenter.

Article 2 – Cause and

Effect?

CAUSE & EFFECT – A Marketing Strategy?

• Concentration upon cause & effect rather than functional attributes.

• Lead India and Teach India Campaigns by The Times of India Group

• Tata Tea Jaago Re Campaign concentrating upon increasing corruption.

• Idea Cellular attempts to talk about environment and caste-ism and position their brands as a means of ending it.

Aman ki Asha

• Recent initiate by The Times of India Group, Aman Ki Asha – aimed at bringing the two nations together through – Cultural Interactions, business seminars, music, literarcy festivals and citizen meets.

• Thus such an initiative, helps the times group to reach to people in a unique and different manner.

• Filling up the vaccum for urban educated-elite, who feel dis-engaged from politics and nobody is listening to them.

Tata Tea – Jaago Re…

• Brands using causes & effects, look to replace the old campaigns.

• Tata Tea replaced its ‘Asli Taazgi’ line with its ‘Jaago Re’ initiative…

• Jaago Re initiative: “Aaj se khilana band aur pilana shuru” – particularly targeted for youth.

Idea Cellular – A Power to change the society

• Brand name gave them a power to change the society and the way people live – a thing beyond conventional communication.

• Chose a completely different route.

For the times to come…

• Differentiated messaging – i.e. justifying some particular association or a cause.

• Brands Realise – the way the company position its brand, by way of association with certain initiatives and causes.

• Thus besides the communication of product attributes, association with certain initiatives is also important.

To conclude…

• Customers getting more & more smarter, inducing companies to change the way they deal with them.

• Change is inevitable, hence Younification is what companies are focusing upon.

• Also, there is a need for association with certain initiatives.

…its not the ending

• But to make the promise is easy, to keep is difficult, hence the marketers need to stand by what they communicate.

• They should deliver more than what they promise.

• But amidst the many yous and mes and wes there’s a rather troubling, question in the consumer’s mind?