1. ALL ABOUT BRANDING

The term brand means different things to the different roles of buyer and seller, with

buyers generally associating brand with a product or service, and merchants associating

brand with identity. Brand can also identify the company behind the specific product --

that's not just a biscuit, that's Britannia biscuit. This use of brand puts a "face" behind the

name, so to speak, even if the "face" is the result of advertising copy and television

commercials. This use of brand also says nothing of quality, just the buyer's exposure to

the brand's PR and media hype. For the typical merchant, branding is a way of taking

everything that is good about the company -- positive shopping experience,

professionalism, superior service, product knowledge, whatever the company decides is

important for a customer to believe about the company -- and wrapping these

characteristics into a package that can be evoked by the brand as signifier.

1.1 Introduct ion to Branding

The American Marketing Association defines a 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 and to differentiate them to those for competitors”. A brand is thus a product or

service that’s adds a Dimension that differentiates it in some way from other products or

services designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be functional, rational,

or tangible- relate to product performance of the brand.

Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one

producer to those of another. The earliest signs of branding can be traced to Europe

where the medieval guilds required that craftsmen put trademarks on their product to

protect themselves and producer against inferior quality substitutes. Also in fine arts

branding began with artists signing their works. Brands today play a number of important

roles that improve the consumer’s lives and enhance the financial value of firms.

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Brands identify the source or maker of the product and allow consumers-either individual

or organizations- to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor.

Consumers may evaluate the identical product differently depending how it is branded.

Consumers lean about the brand with its past experience and the marketing program. As

consumers lives becomes more complicated, time starved the ability of brand to simplify

decision making is invaluable. Brands also perform valuable functions for the firm. First

they simplify the product handling and tracing. Brands help to organize inventory and

accounting records. The brand name can be protected registered trademarks. The

intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and can reap

the benefits over a long period of time.

Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the

product again. Brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm

and creates barriers to entry that makes it difficult for other firms to enter the market.

This brand loyalty can translate into willingness to pay higher price. In this sense

branding can be seen as powerful means to secure a competitive advantage. Brands

represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property that can influence consumer’s

behavior. Strong brand results in better earnings and profit performance for firms, which

in turn, creates greater value for shareholders.

How do you “BRAND” a product? Although firms provide the impetus to brand creation

through marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that

resides in the mind of the consumers. A brand is a perpetual identity that is rooted in

reality but reflects the perceptions and perhaps even the ultimate choice of the consumers.

Branding is endowing products and services with the power of brands. To brand a

product, it is necessary to teach the consumers “who” the product-by giving a name.

Branding involves creating mental structures and helping consumers organize their

knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and

in process provides value to the firm

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Branding can be applied virtually anywhere a consumer has a choice. It is possible to

brand:

A physical good (Nestle soup, Pantene shampoo or Maruti Swift),

A service (Kingfisher Airlines, TATA AIG medical insurance),

A store (Big Bazaar, BATA stores),

A place (The state of Kerala, Pushkar Mela),

A person (Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar),

An organization (UNICEF or BCCI),

Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that you associate

with the company or a product. When you think of Volvo, you think of safety. When you

think of Nike, you think of Michael Jordon or ‘Just Do It’. When you think of IBM, you

think of ‘Big Blue’. The fact that you remember the brand name and have positive

associations with that brand makes your product selection easier and enhances the value

and satisfaction you get from product.

While Brand X cola or even Pepsi-Cola may win blind taste tests over Coca-Cola, the

fact is that more people buy Coke than any other Cola. The fond memories of childhood

and refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a

little bit better cola taste. It I this emotional relationship with brands that make them so

powerful.

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1.2 Purpose of Branding

The purpose of branding is to create a powerful and lasting emotional connection with

customers and other audiences. A brand is a set of elements or “brand assets” that in

combination create a unique, memorable, unmistakable, and valuable relationship

between an organization and its customers. The brand is carried by a set of compelling

visual, written and vocal tools to represent the business plan and intentions of an

organization.

Branding is the voice and image that represents your business plan to the outside world.

What your company, products and services stand for should all be captured in your

branding strategy, and represented consistently throughout all your brand assets and in

your daily marketing activities

The brand image that carries this emotional connection consists of the many manageable

elements of branding system, including both visual image assets and language assets. The

process of managing the brand to the business plan is important not only in “big change

situation” where the brand redefinition is required, but also in the management of routine

marketing variables and tactics. This does not have to be a “ground-up” situation where

there are wholesale changes to the business. Rather it is more common that specific

changes to the changes to the business plan are incremental and the work of the brand

strategist and designer is to interpret these changes and revise the branding strategy and

resulting brand assets and define their use in the full range of marketing variables.

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1.3 Brand Identity

Brand Identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations, and brand

personality, brand toons etc. A good brand name gives a good first impression and evokes

positive associations with the brand. A positioning statement tells what business the

company is in, what benefits it provides and why it is better than the completion? Brand

personality adds emotion, culture and myth to brand identity by the use of a famous

spokesperson (Bill Cosby-Jello), a character (Pink Panther), an animal (the Merrill lynch

bull) etc.

Brand associations are the attributes that costumer thinks of when they hear or see the

brand name. McDonalds television are a series of one brand association after another,

starting in yellow arches in the low right corner of the screen and following with

associations of Big Mac, Ronald MacDonald, kids, happy meal, food quality etc. The first

step in creating a brand for your company is branding workshop.

How do we determine our Brand Identity?

Brand has been called the most powerful idea in commercial world, yet few companies

create a brand identity. Do you want your company’s brand identity created for you by

competitors and unhappy customers? Of course not. Our advice to executives is to

research their customers and find the top ranked reasons that the customers buy their

product rather than their competitors. Then, pound that message in every ad, in every

news release, in communications with employees and in every sales call or media

interview. By continuous repetition of messages customer will think of your product and

then buy it.

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1.4 Tools for Building Brand Identity

Brand builders use a set of tools to strengthen and project the brand image; Strong brands

typically exhibit an owned word, a slogan, a color, a symbol, and set of stories.

Owned Word

A strong brand name should trigger another word, a favorable one. Here is the list of

brands that own a word:

Company Word

Volvo

BMW

Mercedes

Fede ra l Exp re s s

App le compu te r s

Lo tus

Kodak

“Sa fe ty”

“Dr iv ing pe r fo rmance”

“Eng inee r i ng”

“Ove rn igh t ”

“Graph i c s”

“Spreadshee t s ”

“F i lm”

Slogan

Many companies successfully added a slogan or tagline to their brand name which is

repeated in every ad they use. Here are some well-known brands slogans, which people

on the street may easily recall or recognize:

COMPANY SLOGAN

British Airways

Ford

LIC

“The world’s favorite airline”

“Quality is our number one job”

“Jeevan ke saath bhi jeevan ke baad bhi”

Colors

It helps for a company or a brand to use a consistent set of color to and in the brand

recognition. Caterpillar paints all its construction equipments yellow. Yellow is the color

of Kodak film. IBM uses blue in its publications, and IBM is called “Big Blues”.

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Symbols and Logos

Companies would be wise to adapt a symbol or logo to use in their communications.

Many companies hire a well-known spokesperson, hoping that his or her quality transfer

to the brand. Nike uses Michael Jordon who has worldwide recognition and likableness,

to advertise its shoes. Sporting goods manufacturers sign contracts with top athletes to

serve as their symbols, even naming the product after them.

Cartoons and Animations

A less expensive approach is to develop a character, animated, to etch the brand’s image

into customer’s mind. The advertising agency Leo Burnett has successfully created a

number of memorable animated characters. Here are some well known brand cartoons

which people may recognize:

Company Cartoon or Animation

ICICI Prudential

Amul Butter

McDonalds

All Out mosquito Repellent

Pillsbury

7 Up

Chintamani

Utterly Butterly Girl

Ronald

Louis

Doughboy

Fido Dido

Objects

Still another approach is to choose an object to represent a company or brand. The

travelers’ insurance company uses an umbrella, suggesting that buying insurance is

equivalent to having an umbrella available when it rains. The prudential insurance

company features the rock of Gibraltar, suggesting that buying an insurance is equivalent

to “owing a peace of rock “which is of course, solid ad dependable. Companies have

developed many logos or abstracts, which are easily remembered by people. Even the

way the brand name is written makes a brand recognizable and memorable.

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1.5 Brand Effectiveness

With an increase in global competition, branding has become a source of competitive

advantage. In rapidly evolving market for consumer, and industrial products and services,

the source of next generation competency will be branding. In this briefing we

demonstrate how to calculate the brand strength, the price premium associated with the

products categories, and type of customers attracted to the “Premium Products”.

Marketers who match their brand with customers needs will have a sustainable

competitive advantage.

Measuring Brand Effectiveness

There are many metrics to measure the potential of and actual effectiveness of brands.

The simplest way is to apply the concept of what we call the 4 D’s of Branding;

differentiation, distinctiveness, defendable, digit-able.

Distinctiveness : your brand should be distinct when compared to your

competitors and to all spoken and visual communications to which your target

audiences will be exposed. The more unique and distinct your communications,

the wider the filed of effective competitive strength it will have. There are simple

means to apply to test the distinctiveness of your brand.

Differentiation: the brand strategy and brand assets must set you’re offering

apart and clearly articulate the specific positioning intent of your offering.

Defendable: you will be investing in creating your brand assets and in all cases

your brand must have proprietary strength to keep others from using close

approximations. This applies to your trade names and other proprietary words as

well as to your logos, symbols and other visual assets.

Digit-able : in most businesses there is strong and growing element of electronic

communications and commerce that dictate all brand assets be leveraged

effectively in tactile and electronics form. This goes for all brand assets.

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Much of the brand manager’s work is to build a brand image. But its job doesn’t stop

there. The brand manager needs to make sure that brand experience matches the brand

image. Much can go wrong. A fine brand of canned soup described in a full page color ad

may be found in dented and dusty condition in the bottom shelf of a supermarket. The ad

describing a gracious hotel chain is belied by the behavior of a surly concierge.

Building brand therefore calls for more than brand image building. It calls for managing

every brand contact that customer might have with brand. Since all the employees,

distributors and dealers can affect brand experience.

1.6 Brand and Reputation

A brand exists in the mind, or not at all. The mind it exists in may be that of a customer, a

potential customer, an interested observer, a disinterested observer... or almost anybody.

Awareness of a brand may be irrelevant to any purchasing decision that an individual

may make. People are aware of the Mercedes car brand, but cannot envisage any

circumstance under which they would (could!) buy a Mercedes. They are aware of

Marlboro (and scores of other cigarette brands) but as a non-smoker they will never

convert their awareness into purchase. Male with no children are not targeted by Pampers

or Huggies but still are aware of the brands.

People wear many hats. But are or not a potential customer. People may be an employee,

an investor, a citizen, a husband and so on. They hate McDonald’s hamburgers but might

love their stock market record and therefore be a potential customer for their stock. They

will never buy a Boeing 777 but might be impressed by the aircraft and favor an airline

that flies them. They have no idea what an Intel chip is, but might be persuaded that it is a

good thing to have in my PC and therefore buy a computer from a company that uses

them.

Brand Aware argues that there is no difference between "Brand" and "Reputation". Some

conventional wisdoms state that customers buy brands, but that investors buy reputations.

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Those potential employees join companies because of their reputation, that the media and

other "stakeholders" judge a company on its reputation in some way as a distinct concept

from its brand. This part argues that such distinctions are fallacious for all companies, but

especially for single brand companies such as a McDonalds, a Coca-Cola, a Compaq or a

Shell. These companies’ reputations are part and parcel of their brand. Their brands are

their reputation.

The Brand

To any individual a brand (in his mind) is a complex combination of experiences, beliefs,

perceptions and associations that have grown up over time. For example Coca-Cola is a

company brand, a product brand, a service brand and a brand with a long history. It is a

brand which may represent (to any one individual) diversity, internationality, technical

excellence, financial strength etc. etc. It may also mean insensitivity, environmental

pollution, abuse of power and other negative perceptions.

Perceiving the brand:

An individual builds up his perceptions of a brand via a wide range of communications

channels. They are as follows:

Experience: The most powerful influence is experiential. This is when the

individual actually has a "Brand experience". The most obvious are: -

He visits a McDonald’s restaurant or a Shell petrol station.

He buys a Coca-Cola branded product or service.

He views a Coca-Cola bottler's facility.

He visits a corporate website.

He attends an interview at the company.

He contacts the company office for information.

He meets an employee of the company.

He buys a share in the company, etc.

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Advertising: Over time an individual who lives in a country in which the

company/brand is active, or travels to one on business or vacation, will be

exposed to their advertising. This advertising may be in a wide range of media:

TV commercials for products and services

Recruitment ads inviting employment applications

"Corporate" TV commercials promoting the company's "reputation"

Web based advertising

An ad for the company’s branded products or services in a wide variety of print

media.

Billboards on highways

Radio

Point of sale etc.

Media reports and stories: Individuals will be exposed to a wide variety of

reports about companies in the media (print and broadcast) where the editorial

content is only partly influence able by the company (in some cases) or not at all

(in most cases). These stories will come from a variety of primary and secondary

sources: -

Press releases

Press conferences

Reporting of "events"

Investigative journalism

Stories passed to the media by third parties (Non governmental organizations etc.)

Professional/business interest : For some individuals to interface professionally,

or from a specific business need, with famous companies (or to observe them) is

part of their job. They will usually procure their information from a variety of

sources and via a variety of channels of communication. These individuals have a

special interest in the companies and they include: -

Financial analysts and journalists with an interest in share performance

Existing or potential suppliers of products and services

Existing or potential industrial/commercial customers

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1.7 Building the Brand

The art of marketing is largely art of brand building. When something is not a brand, it

will probably be viewed as a commodity. Then price is the thing that counts. When price

is the only thing that counts then the low cost producer wins. But just having a brand is

not enough. What does the brand name mean? What associations, performances and

expectations does it evoke? What degree of preferences does it create?

Choosing a Brand Name

A brand name first must be chosen then its various meanings and promises must be built

up through brand identity work. In choosing a brand name, it must be consistent with the

value positioning of the brand. In naming a product or service the company may face

many possibilities: it could choose name of the person (Honda, Calvin Klein), location

(American airlines), quality (Safety stores, Healthy choice), or an artificial name (Exxon,

Kodak).

Among the desirable qualities of a brand name. Some are:

It should suggest something about the product benefits.

It should suggest product qualities such action or color

It should be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember; short names help a lot to

recognize the product to the customers.

It should be distinctive.

It should not carry poor meanings in other countries and languages etc.

Building Positive Associations

The best known brand names carry associations. For example, here is a list of words that

people say they associate with McDonalds:

Kids

Fun

Happy Meal

Ronald Mc. Donald

Quality

Toys

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In trying to build a rich set of positive associations for a brand, the brand builder should

consider five dimensions that can communicate meaning:

Attributes: A strong brand should trigger in buyers mind certain attributes. Thus

a Mercedes automobile attributes a picture of well-engineered car that is durable,

rugged and expensive. If a car brand does not trigger any attribute, then it would

be a weak brand.

Benefits: A strong brand should suggest benefits, not just features. Thus

Mercedes triggers the idea of well performing car that is enjoyable to drive and

prestigious to own.

Company Values : A strong brand should connote values that the company holds.

Thus Mercedes is proud of its engineers and engineering innovations and is very

organized and efficient in its operations. The fact that it is a German company

adds more pictures in the mind of the buyers about the character and the culture of

the brand.

Personality : A strong brand should exhibit some personality traits. Thus if

Mercedes were a person we would think of someone who is middle age, serious,

well-organized and somewhat authoritarian. If Mercedes were an animal we

might think of lion or its implied personality.

Users: A strong brand should suggest the type of people who buy the brand. Thus

we would expect Mercedes to draw buyers who are older, affluent and

professional.

In summary, brands when their very name connotes positive attributes, benefits, company

values, personality and users in the buyer’s mind. The brand builder’s job is to create a

brand identity that builds on those dimensions.

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1.8 Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements are those trademarks devices that serve to identify and differentiate the

brand. Most strong brands employ multiple brand elements. Nike has distinctive

“swoosh” logo, the empowering “Just Do It” slogan and the mythological “Nike” name

based on the winged goddess of victory.

Brand element can be chosen to build as much as brand equity as possible. The test of the

brand building ability of these elements is what consumers think or feel about the product

if they only knew about the brand element. A brand element provides positive

contribution to brand equity.

Brand Element Choice Criteria

There are six criteria in choosing brand element. The first three can be characterized by

brand building in terms of how brand equity can be build through judicious choice of

brand element. The latter three are more defensive and are concerned with how the brand

equity contained in the brand element can be leveraged and preserved in the face of

various opportunities and constraints.

Memorable : How easily is the brand element recalled? How easily recognized?

Is this true at both purchase and consumption? Short brand name like tide, Nike

can help.

Meaningfu l : To what extent is brand element credible and suggestive of the

corresponding category? Does it suggest something about a product ingredient or

a type of person who might use the brand?

Likeability : How aesthetically appealing does consumers find the brand element?

Is it inherently likeable visually, verbally, and in other ways? Concrete brand

names such as Wheel, Sunsilk etc evoke much imagery.

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Transferable : Can a brand element be used to introduce new products in the

same or different categories? To what extent does the brand element add to brand

equity across geographic boundaries and market segments?

Adaptable : How adaptable and updatable is the brand element? Betty corker

received 8 makeovers through the years-although she is 75 yrs old, she doesn’t

look a day over 35.

Protectable : How legally protectable is the brand element? How competitively

protectable? Can it be easily copied? It is important that names that become

synonymous with product categories such as Kleenex, Xerox, Jell-O, etc retain

their trademarks rights and not become generic.

Brand elements can play a number of roles. If consumers do not examine much

information in making their product decisions, brand elements should be easily

recognized and recalled and inherently descriptive and persuasive. Memorable or

meaningful brand elements can reduce the burden on marketing communications to build

awareness and link brand associations. The different associations that arise from

likeability and appeal of the brand elements may also play a critical role in the equity of

brand.

1.9 What is Brand Equity?

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There is no universally accepted definition of brand equity. The term means different

things for different companies and products. However, there are several common

characteristics of the many definitions that are used today. From the following examples

it is clear that brand equity is multi-dimensional. There are several stakeholders

concerned with brand equity, including the firm, the consumer, the channel, and some

would even argue the financial markets. But ultimately, it is the consumer that is the most

critical component in defining brand equity. Some researchers in the field of marketing

have defined brand equity as follows:

Lance Leuthesser, et al (1995) writes that "… brand equity represents the value

(to a consumer) of a product, above that which would result for an otherwise

identical product without the brand's name. In other words, brand equity

represents the degree to which a brand's name alone contributes value to the

offering (again, from the perspective of the consumer)."

The Marketing Science Institute (1988) defines brand equity as, "The set of

associations and behaviors on the part of the brand's customers, channel members,

and parent corporations that permit the brand to earn greater volume or greater

margins than it could without the brand name and that gives the brand a strong,

sustainable, and differentiated advantage over competitors."

Brand equity can be defined as three distinct elements:

The total value of a brand as a separable asset -- when it is sold or included on a

balance sheet.

A measure of the strength of consumers' attachment to a brand.

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A description of the associations and beliefs the consumer has about the brand.

Of those three concepts, the first can be classified as "brand valuation," the second "brand

loyalty," and the third "brand description." Brand loyalty will be a factor that affects the

overall brand value, and brand description will usually affect or explain some of the

brand loyalty. Because of the importance of each of these elements of brand equity, they

will each be briefly explained.

Brand Equity as Brand Value.

Brand value involves actually placing a dollar or rupee value on a brand name. The

reasons for doing this are usually to set a price when the brand is sold and also to include

the brand as an intangible asset on a balance sheet (a practice which is not used in some

countries). While there are many methods for making this measurement, some of which

will be described shortly, it is important to note that there is a significant difference

between an "objective" valuation created for balance sheet purposes, and the actual price

that a brand may get when sold?

A brand is likely to have a much greater value to one purchaser than another depending

on the synergy that exists. For acquisitions, the value of a brand to a certain purchaser is

often estimated through scenario planning. This involves determining what future cash

flows the company could achieve if it owned and took advantage of the brand.

What this means is that there is no such thing as an absolute value for a brand, and brand

value needs to be considered as only one component of the overall equity of a brand.

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Brand Equity as Brand Loyalty

Loyalty is a core dimension of brand equity and is a way to gauge the strength of a brand.

It represents a barrier to entry, a basis for a price premium, and time to respond to

competitive innovations. The variety of measures used for brand loyalty usually is a

combination of one or more of the following:

Price/demand measures--focus on a brand's ability to command a higher price or

make consumers less sensitive to price increases than price increases for

competing brands.

Behavioral measures--focus on consumers' behavior.

Attitudinal measures--focus on general evaluative measures such as 'liking' or

'disliking.'

Awareness measures--focus on identifying a brand as being associated with a

product category.

Brand Loyalty and Equity refer to the notion that some brands are "stronger" or

better than others.

An example of this sort of belief is:

“If the businesses were split up, I would take the brands, trademarks and goodwill, and

you could have all the bricks and mortar - and I would fare better than you.”

The optimism for the concept can be stated on the fact that when one would say as a

predictor of future financial performance, brand equity, if reported, would be valuable for

capital marketers and shareholders. Brand equity has the potential to become the set of

measures of business performance that matter most.

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The motivation for brand equity comes from the observation that many marketing efforts

"realize" benefits; such as sales or profit and these are accounted for in the firm’s profit

and loss figures. However, there is the possibility that management might choose

between taking realized benefits and "storing" them future. One of the most common

times this argument is used is when discussing the role of advertising versus sales

promotion. You could spend lots of money on advertising, see no immediate effects, but

you could save your job by saying that you had "built the brand". At least one

advertising agency offers to partner companies in this sort of activity.

So marketing strategies could be putting money into (or out of) the brand equity bank

account. But the question is as always how do we know? That is are we actually building

the brand with all our advertising (or other brand building 4 p’s decisions e.g., limited /

premium distribution rights, high price, fancy packing, after sales service, extended

warranties).So, hopefully you have got the idea - theories about brand loyalty and equity

are used to represent aspects of brand strength.

This "strength" can take a number of forms, e.g., consumers predominantly buying your

brand, which might be represented by a high share of category requirements, or high

proportion of sole-buyers.

Consumers saying good things about your brand, e.g., having a positive brand Attitude, it

might be the ability to charge a price premium. It might be the ability to not be

substituted when out of stock. Future strength might be in terms of some sort of long-

term competitive advantage or the ability to sustain brand extensions.

One of the things is that as with many concepts in marketing, is that there are many

different definitions and viewpoints on what exactly brand equity is and how to measure

it. So that is a problem. We need to be clear just what people mean when they talk about

brand equity or brand loyalty, or building brands.

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Brand loyalty / Equity advocates

One of the ruses used by proponents of brand equity or loyalty is to claim that these

measures do not capture all the important aspects of brands strength. But this is an

evasion. We want to be able to detect that our efforts are doing something to the brand,

and so we need to know ways that this might show up in.

Brand Equity as Brand Description

Brand description, the final component of brand equity, concerns the actual attributes of

the brand. These attributes or associations are major creators of brand loyalty. A wide

variety of techniques exist for matching consumer associations with perceptions of a

brand. These techniques can be both qualitative and quantitative. They work by getting

the respondent to link each brand with pictures or words. These attributes then can be

measured with multi-dimensional scaling to position the attributes relative to one another.

Qualitative Measures of Brand Equity

The Brand Equity Ten are ten sets of measures grouped into five categories, which

attempt to gauge the strength of a brand. The first four categories represent customer

perceptions of the brand along the four dimensions of brand equity- loyalty, perceived

quality, associations and awareness. The fifth includes two sets of market behavior

measures.

Loyalty

Price Premium: A basic indicator of loyalty is the amount a customer will pay

for a product in comparison to other comparable products. A price premium can

be determined by simply asking consumers how much more they would be

willing to pay for the brand.

Customer Satisfaction: A direct measure of customer satisfaction can be applied

to existing customers. The focus can be the last use experience or simply the use

experience from the customer's view.

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Perceived Quality and Leadership Measures

Perceived Quality is one of the key dimensions of brand equity and has been

shown to be associated with price premiums, price elasticities, brand usage and

stock return. It can be calculated by asking consumers to directly compare similar

brands.

Leadership/Popularity has three dimensions. First, if enough consumers are

buying into the brand concept it must have merit. Second, leadership often taps

innovation within a product class. Third, leadership taps the dynamics of

consumer acceptance. Namely, people are uneasy swimming against the tide are a

likely to buy a popular product. This can be measured by asking consumers about

the product's leadership position, its popularity and its innovative qualities.

Associations/ Differentiation Measures

Perceived Value: This dimension simply involves determining whether the

product provides good value for the money and whether there are reasons to buy

this brand over competitive brands.

Brand Personality: This element is based on the brand-as-person perspective.

For some brands, the brand personality can provide links to the brands emotional

and self-expressive benefits.

Organizational Associations: This dimension considers the type of organization

that lies behind the brand.

Awareness Measures

Brand awareness reflects the salience of the product in the consumer's mind and

involves various levels including recognition, recall, brand dominance, and brand

knowledge and brand opinion.

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Market Behavior Measures

Market Share: The performance of a brand as measured by market share often

provides a valid and dynamic reflection of the brand's standing with customers.

Price and Distribution indices: Market share can prove deceptive when it

increases as a result of reduced prices or promotions. Calculating market price

and distribution coverage can provide or more accurate picture of the product's

true strength. Relative market price can be calculated by dividing the average

price at which the product was sold during the month by the average price at

which all the brands were sold.

Managing Brand Equity

Consistency is the key to successfully building and managing brand equity. Having a

long-term outlook and projecting a consistent image of your brand to the customer will

maximize the results of building brand equity. It is critical for managers to realize that

brand equity can have positive as well as negative effects on a product or company. In the

end, it is the customer that truly defines what brand equity means.

If management feels it is necessary to change the direction of a brand or change a product

it must be careful not to change too quickly. There are many examples of companies that

have changed a product or brand too much or too quickly. On these occasions, consumers

met changes with adverse reactions. The most famous example is Coca-Cola. They

changed the formula of their flagship product Coke, and consumers reacted so poorly to

the new product that the old formula was reintroduced and the new formula eventually

was discontinued. The consumer through the product experiences brand equity. The

product has certain attributes or characteristics that deliver the equity to the consumer. If

any of these attributes are changed or eliminated, the equity delivered to the consumer is

also changed.

Managing brand equity is a continual process with long-term implications. Unfortunately,

many brand managers are forced to focus on short-term goals such as market share and

profits. Many programs that are implemented to boost short-term sales or market share

22

may be detrimental to the long-term viability of the brand. For example, Proctor &

Gamble has started to test market a program to move away from using coupons to a

system of every day low prices. This is, in part, because consumers may become loyal to

the coupon or promotion and not to the product itself. Constant promotional programs

erode margins and eventually brand loyalty. Ultimately, brand equity is damaged.

In 1988, Graham Phillips, Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide, said, "I doubt that

many would welcome a commodity marketplace in which one competed solely on price,

promotion and trade deals, all of which can be easily duplicated by competition. This

would lead to ever decreasing profits, decay, and eventual bankruptcy. About the only

aspect of the marketing mix that cannot be duplicated is a strong brand image." This

quote clearly demonstrates the importance of managing brand equity. In many categories,

brand equity is the only point of differentiation between products.

Many people may think that building and maintaining brand equity is solely the

responsibility of brand managers, but it is actually a cross-functional team effort.

Financial managers are important because they can fully analyze the costs of maintaining

and building brand equity. For example, launching a new brand is extremely consuming

in terms of money and time. It may be more cost effective to extend a current brand than

introduce a new brand. Marketing research is critical for many obvious reasons. It

develops most, if not all, of the research and data that companies will use for deciding

strategic issues. Marketing research can also help determine how brand equity is actually

measured. Once a definition of brand equity is established, the responsibility of tracking

23

9.

1.10 The World Strongest Brand Share 10 Attributes

The brand excels at delivering the benefits consumers truly desire.

The brand stays relevant.

The pricing strategy is based on consumer perceptions of value.

The brand is properly positioned.

The brand is consistent.

The brand portfolio and hierarchy makes sense.

The brand makes use of and co-ordinates a full repertoire of marketing activities

to build equity.

The brand is given proper, sustained support.

The brand’s manager understands what the brand means to customers.

The company monitors source of brand equity.

Branding benefits buyers as well as sellers in the following manner

To Buyer:

Help buyers identify the product that they like/dislike.

Identify marketer

Helps reduce the time needed for purchase.

Helps buyers evaluate quality of products especially if unable to judge products

characteristics.

Helps reduce buyers’ perceived risk of purchase.

Buyer may derive a psychological reward from owning the brand, i.e., Rolex or

Mercedes.

24

To Seller:

Differentiate product offering from competitors

Helps segment market by creating tailored images, i.e., Contact lenses

Brand identifies the companies’ products making repeat purchases easier for

customers.

Reduce price comparisons

Brand helps firm introduce a new product that carries the name of one or more of

its existing products...half as much as using a new brand, lower co. designs,

advertising and promotional costs. Example, BPL telephones.

Easier cooperation with intermediaries with well known brands

Facilitates promotional efforts.

Helps foster brand loyalty helping to stabilize market share.

Firms may be able to charge a premium for the brand.

2. ALL ABOUT TOON BRANDING

25

2.1 Toon Branding

Looks like the ad industry can’t have enough of animation. Digital characters are fast

stepping into the realm of corporate brands.

Hutch’s Boy-Girl duo, the claymation Chintamani of ICICI, The toons in All Out

Mosquito repellent ad, as well as the classic Asian paint’s ex-mascot Gattoo, the Amul

girl, the Handiplast Boy, Fido-Dido of 7-Up etc are some of the examples of the toons

used for marketing the product.

“Most advisers are using animation for top of the mind recall” says McCann Erickson’s

Prasoon Joshi. McCann’s new commercial for Coca-Cola’s vanilla variant has the model

blowing animated, heart-shaped kisses for the audience.

“Toon illustrations create excitement, and also serve as a memory hook to pick a

particular brand from clutter”.

Kellogg’s animated kid and bear are intertwined in people’s minds. Nike also used

“swoosh” logo sign to bring immediate recall value, while the Claymation characters Of

Amaron, an O&M creative, pick on sleeping politicians to get their value across. O&M’s

Piyush Pandey says his firm encourages the idea of breaking form. “Creative people have

to look at different ways to get message across, and if that means exploring other forms

of art, then why not?”

HLL’s Annapoorna uses Flintstone like characters to drive its USP. Industry officials say

animation could be used as creative idea to express a particular value, or it could be a

sacrosanct image, almost becoming part of the logo of the brand – like A-I am Maharaja

or Amul Girl.

As mnemonics flow thick and fast characters get established in the consumers mind.

However at times they are given a hasty burial. Asian Paint’s Gattoo was the rage, but the

kid was killed after he was linked to child labour.

26

First it was retro advertising, and then there was the trend of using real kids. The ad

world’s latest obsession is with animation. Be it Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat

asking Fido to make her more curvy or Aishwarya Rai diving into the sea with a Frisbee

or, for that matter, an animated poodle talking to Rani Mukherjee and her gang of friends

in the Fanta commercial- they’ve all got the cool punch with animation.

With a string of animated commercials such as Pepsodent (Bhoot Police). ICICI

Prudential’s Chintamani and Anand Rathi Securities happening in the past few months,

companies across sectors are more willing than ever before to use animation in their ad

films.

The number of animation ad films produced per year in the past five years has increased

at least eight times and feature films like Hum Tum (had cartoons of Saif Ali Khan And

Rani Mukherjee coming in between the film)are backing the overall trend around

animation.

“We used to do three animation ad films a year five years ago, now it’s two every

month,” says, E.Suresh. Creative director. Famous House of Animation, a division of

Famous Studios.

“Animation is no kid stuff anymore. One sees a fair number of youth and adult targeted

content happening in the form of animation in films and TV shows these days,” says

Rahul Welde, general manager, media. Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Mr.Welde claims to have used animation where it could add to the creative quotient of

the commercial which give something unexpected to the audience.

“Gross thinks at time look cute in animation rather than the real thing, say in case of a fat

man, the Chintamani ad was initially a radio jingle. With Claymation (clay + animation),

it broke the clutter and became likeable in a very non-financial advertising style,” says

27

Abhishekh Bhatia, director marketing, Prudential Assurance, Malaysia, who was then

involved in launching the campaign from ICICI Prudential.

The contribution to the sales of pension schemes of the group rose 30% after the

campaign. The popularity of cartoons among youngsters- a gradual transformation over

the past few years- Kill Bill, Lion King, Shrek, Run Lola Run, all of which have cutting

edge animation. Moreover, most of the global award winning campaigns have used

animation extensively, be it Euro RSCG’s Waterboy, Grrr Honda, Unileaf Tea or Levi’s

Mr.Lova Lova.

“However a real character interacting with an animated character is not a novelty. It is a

style and a lot of people are catching on it but this is not the end of it,” points Ashish

Chakravarty, head creative, Contract Advertising. There are other viewpoints too. “It’s a

nice way of doing a boring script. But there are scripts that needs animation to prove the

point as in the case of Oye Bubbly (Pepsi Commercial) last year,” says Anuja Chauhan,

VP and Senior Creative Director at JWT.

Besides the advantage of visual appeal, many complex issues, such as stunts, can be done

away with, with the use of animation- for instance the stunt in the Lux Commercial

couldn’t be done so perfectly by the real character (here Aishwarya Rai) vis-à-vis the

animated character. Animation ad also helps keep costs down. Industry sources say a

simple animation ad is less expensive than an ad with decent production quality that costs

around Rs. 70-80 Lakh. Animated ones cost around Rs. 30-40lakh on an average.

However, what creative directors hate about animation is the fact that it takes a lot more

time “For A Fido itself, we need to work for three weeks to get it absolutely right,” says

Chauhan of JWT

2.2 CASE STUDY

AMUL BUTTER GIRL

28

(The moppet who put Amul on India's breakfast table)

50 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000

tonnes a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tonnes a year in 1997. No other brand

comes even close to it. All because a thumb-sized girl climbed on to the hoardings

and put a spell on the masses.

Bombay (Summer of 1967) : A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old

housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her

neighbors on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger

by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the

commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her

four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. "It was

the first Amul hoarding that was put up in Mumbai," recalls Sheela Mane. "People loved

it. I remember it was our favorite topic of discussion for the next one week! Everywhere

we went somehow or the other the campaign always seemed to crop up in our

conversation."

Call her the Friday to Friday star. Round eyed, chubby cheeked, winking at you, from

strategically placed hoardings at many traffic lights. She is the Amul moppet everyone

loves to love (including prickly votaries of the Shiv Sena and BJP). How often have we

stopped, looked, chuckled at the Amul hoarding that casts her sometime as the coy, shy

Madhuri, a bold sensuous Urmila or simply as herself, dressed in her little polka dotted

dress and a red and white bow, holding out her favourite packet of butter.

For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact.

So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for

being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came

when a British company launched butter and called it Utterly Butterly, last year.

It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the

advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had

been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier

29

advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine,

corporate ads.

One of the first Amul hoardings

In India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken

too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image.

The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a

campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.

The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the

Polson butter girl. This one was sexy, village belle, clothed in a tantalizing choli all but

covering her upper regions. "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and I decided that we

needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a

little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha. And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet

was born.

That October, lamp kiosks and the bus sites of the city were splashed with the moppet on

a horse. The baseline simply said, Thorough bread, Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul,. It

was a matter of just a few hours before the daCunha office was ringing with calls. Not

just adults, even children were calling up to say how much they had liked the ads. "The

response was phenomenal," recalls Sylvester daCunha. "We knew our campaign was

going to be successful."

For the first one year the ads made statements of some kind or the other but they had not

yet acquired the topical tone. In 1967, Sylvester decided that giving the ads a solid

30

concept would give them extra mileage, more dum, so to say. It was a decision that would

stand the daCunhas in good stead in the years to come. In 1969, when the city first saw

the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha,

Mohammad Khan and Usha Bhandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul

account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad

with a fervor that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever. That was the first of the many

topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social

observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch.

India looked forward to Amul's evocative humour. If the Naxalite movement was the

happening thing in Calcutta, Amul would be up there on the hoardings saying, "Bread

without Amul Butter, cholbe na cholbe na (won't do, won't do). If there was an Indian

Airlines strike Amul would be there again saying, Indian Airlines won’t fly without

Amul. There are stories about the butter that people like to relate over cups of tea. "For

over 10 years I have been collecting Amul ads. I especially like the ads on the backs of

the butter packets, "says Mrs. Sumona Varma. What does she do with these ads? "I have

made an album of them to amuse my grandchildren," she laughs. "They are almost part of

our culture, aren't they? My grandchildren are already beginning to realize that these ads

are not just a source of amusement. They make them aware of what is happening around

them."

Despite some of the negative reactions that the ads have got, DaCunhas have made it a

policy not to play it safe. There are numerous ads that are risqué in tone."We had the

option of being sweet and playing it safe, or making an impact. A fine balance had to be

struck. We have a campaign that is strong enough to make a statement. I didn't want the

hoardings to be pleasant or tame. They have to say something," says Rahul daCunha.

"We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore," says Sylvester daCunha. "The Indian

Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn't take down the ads they

would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad,"

he says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the

Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a

symbol of independence; they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite

31

their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. "Then there was an ad during the

Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The

Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do something about removing the ad they would

come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this

country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr on or off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to

us saying how much she liked them."

There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the

artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad "He said that he

had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked

his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so

funny," says Rahul daCunha in amused tones. Indians do have a sense of humour,

afterall.

From the Sixties to the Nineties, the Amul ads have come a long way. While most people

agree that the Amul ads were at their peak in the Eighties they still maintain that the

Amul ads continue to tease laughter out of them.

Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy

lines. That we laugh because the humour is what anybody would enjoy. They don't

pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun.

3. DATA ANALYSIS

32

3.1 SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE

BRANDING-SPECIAL FOCUS ON TOON BRANDING

QUESTIONAIRE

Q1. Indentify the following toon mascots and their products or either of the one:

____________________________________________

___________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

1st page of questionnaire

Q2. Can you recognize a product on the basis of its brand mascot alone?

Always

33

Sometime

Often

Very Rare

Q3. Do you relate any product with toons?

Always

Sometime

Often

Very Rare

Q4. Do you think nowadays brand mascots are losing importance to brand personality?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

Q5. Which is your most memorable toon mascot?

Amul Butter Girl

Fido Dido

Chintamani (ICICI)

Any other __________________

Q6. Why do you think this brand mascot is the most memorable one?

A6.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

2nd page of questionnaire

Q7. If you are to launch a new product will you depend on a brand personality of a toon

mascot to build the brand image of your product? Give reasons?

A7.

________________________________________________________________________

34

________________________________________________________________________

Q8. Toon Mascot is mare popular in the rural or urban areas? Give reasons?

A8.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q9. What features do you think a toon mascot should possess so as to remember over a

long period of time?

Cute

Happy Face

Suitable to the product

Innovative

Entertaining

Any other _____________________

`Q10. Would you like if toon mascots are also advertised through clothing, accessories,

bags etc?

Yes

No

Depends on the mascot

Don’t know

NAME: _____________________________

AGE: _____________________________

PROFESSION: _____________________________

3rd page of questionnaire

3.2 Stat is t ical Data

Q1. Ident i fy the fo l l owing toon masco t s and the i r produc t s or

e i ther o f the one?

35

In terpre ta t ion : Ou t o f t he 35 r e sponden t 15 we re ab l e t o i den t i fy

a l l t he p roduc t s co r r ec t l y on t he ba s i s o f i t s t oon masco t a l one

wh ich comes up t o 42 .86%.Wherea s on ly 8 .57% i . e . on ly 3 pe r sons

we re no t ab l e t o i den t i fy a l l t he p roduc t s co r r ec t l y . The mos t

i den t i f i ed masco t i s 7up F ido -Dido whe rea s mons t e r . com was t he

l e a s t popu l a r one .

36

1 No. of toons correctly identified (X axis)

6 5 4 3 2 1No. of respondents(out of 35)(Y Axis)

15 8 9 3 0 0

% 42.86% 22.86% 25.71% 8.57% 0 0

Q2. Can you recogn ize a produc t on the bas i s o f i t s brand masco t

a lone?

Interpre ta t ion : O f t he 35 r e sponden t s 20 s a id , t ha t t hey we re

some t imes ab l e t o r e cogn i ze t he p roduc t on t he ba s i s o f B rand

Masco t a l one wh ich comes t o a round 57 .14% o f t he t o t a l s amp le

s i z e . Wherea s on ly 8 .57% were a lways ab l e t o r e cogn i ze t he p roduc t

on t he ba s i s o f i t s b r and masco t

37

2 Recognition of product on basis of brand mascot (X axis)

Always Sometime Often Very RareNo. of respondents(out of 35)Y-Axis

3 20 12 0

% 8.57% 57.14% 34.29% 0

Q3. Do you re la t e any produc t w i th toons?

Interpre ta t ion : Ou t o f 35 r e sponden t s 16 peop l e o f t en r e l a t ed t he

p roduc t s w i th t he i r t oon masco t s wh ich come up t o a round 45 .7%.

Wherea s on ly 5 .71% o f t he r e sponden t s ve ry r a r e ly r e l a t ed t he

p roduc t s w i th t oons

38

3 Ability of relating products with toons (X Axis)

Always Sometime Often Very RareNo. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

3 14 16 2

% 8.57% 40% 45.7% 5.71%

Q4. Do you th ink nowadays Brand Masco t s are l o s ing impor tance

to Brand Persona l i ty?

In terpre ta t ion : 51 .43% o f t he t o t a l peop l e su rveyed had t he op in ion

t ha t B rand Masco t s a r e no t l o s ing impor t ance t o B rand Pe r sona l i t y

whe rea s 14 .29% had no op in ion r ega rd ing t he s ame

39

4 Brand Mascots are losing importance to Brand Personality (X-axis)

Yes No Don’t NoNo. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

12 18 5

% 34.29% 51.43% 14.29%

Q5. Which i s your mos t memorab le toon masco t?

In terpre ta t ion : on t he ba s i s o f t he su rvey conduc t ed 85 .71% o f t he

r e sponden t s op t ed fo r Amul Bu t t e r G i r l a s t he i r mos t memorab l e

t oon masco t f o l l owed by F ido -Dido and Ch in t aman i w i th 14 .29%and

2 .86% re spec t i ve ly

40

5 Most Memorable Toon Mascot (X-axis)

Amul Butter Girl

Fido Dido Chintamani Any Other

No. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

30 5 1 0

% 85.71% 14.29% 2.86% 0

Q6. Why do you th ink th i s Brand Masco t i s mos t memorab le one?

Interpre ta t ion : Acco rd ing t o t he su rvey conduc t ed Amul Bu t t e r G i r l

i s t he mos t memorab l e t oon masco t because i t ha s been i n t he ma rke t

s i nce a ve ry l ong t ime and a l so i t i s ve ry a t t en t i on s eek ing because

i t i s a lways r e l a t ed t o t he cu r r en t a f f a i r s

41

6 Reason for Amul Butter Girl being most memorable (X-axis)

Long Lasting

Cute/ Happy

Good Animation

Attention Seeking

Innovative

No. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

12 5 4 7 4

% 34.28% 14.28% 11.42% 20% 11.42%

Q7. I f you are to l aunch a new produc t w i l l you depend on a

brand persona l i ty or a toon masco t to bu i ld the brand image o f

your produc t?

7 Dependence for the launch of new product (X-axis)

Toon Mascot

Brand Personality

Both Some Other Method

Depends On product

No. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

12 6 2 3 8

% 34.28% 17.14% 5.71% 8.57% 22.85%

In terpre ta t ion : 34 .28% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed op t ed t o

depend on a t oon masco t f o r t he l aunch o f t he i r new p roduc t 5 .71%

though t o f u s ing bo th t he t oon masco t and pe r sona l i t y fo r t he l aunch

o f t he i r p roduc t .

42

Q8. Toon Masco t i s more popu lar in Rura l or Urban areas?

In terpre ta t ion : 37 .14% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed sugges t ed

t ha t t oon masco t s a r e more popu l a r i n t he u rban a r ea s due t o h igh

l i t e r acy r a t e whe rea s 28 .57% had t he op in ion o f t he t oon be ing more

popu l a r i n t he ru r a l a r ea s because t hey i den t i fy t he p roduc t on t he

ba s i s o f t oons .

43

8 Popularity (X-axis)

Urban Rural BothNo. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

13 10 3

% 37.14% 28.57% 8.57%

Q9. What f ea tures do you th ink a toon masco t shou ld pos se s s so

a s to be remembered over a long per iod o f t ime?

9 Features of toon mascot to make him memorable (X-axis)

Cute Happy Face

Suitable to product

Innovative Entertaining

No. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

11 15 25 17 19

% 31.43% 42.86% 71.43% 48.51% 54.29%

In terpre ta t ion : 71 .43% though t t ha t t he t oon masco t shou ld pos se s s

t he f e a tu r e s wh ich a r e su i t ab l e t o t he p roduc t f o l l owed by t he t oon

be ing en t e r t a i n ing and i nnova t i ve .

44

Q10 . Would you l ike i f the toon masco t s are a l so adver t i s ed

through c lo th ing , acce s sor i e s , bags e t c?

In terpre ta t ion : 57 .14% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed sugges t ed

t ha t t he above men t ioned p romot ion s t r a t egy shou ld be u sed

45

10 Promotion of Toon mascots through clothing, accessories, bags, etc (X-axis)

Yes No Depends On Mascot

Don’t Know

No. of respondents(out of 35)Y-axis

13 1 20 1

% 37.14% 2.86% 57.14% 2.86%

depend ing upon t he masco t whe rea s 37 .14% wou ld r ea l l y l i ke t he

p romot ion o f t oon masco t t h rough c lo th ing , a cce s so r i e s , bags e t c .

3.4 Theoretical Data

From the su rvey conduc t ed t he fo l l owing f i nd ings can be conc luded :

Out o f t he 35 r e sponden t 15 we re ab l e t o i den t i fy a l l t he

p roduc t s co r r ec t l y on t he ba s i s o f i t s t oon masco t a l one wh ich

comes up t o 42 .86% hence i t c an be conc luded t ha t t oon

masco t s have a lmos t been succe s s fu l i n t he i r pu rpose o f B rand

r eca l l , wh i ch means t ha t more i n t e r e s t i ng t oon adve r t i s emen t s ,

more b r and r eca l l .

46

Out o f t he 35 r e sponden t s 20 s a id , t ha t t hey we re some t imes

ab l e t o r e cogn i ze t he p roduc t on t he ba s i s o f B rand Masco t

a l one wh ich comes t o a round 57 .14% o f t he t o t a l s amp le s i z e .

Wherea s on ly 8 .57% were a lways ab l e t o r e cogn i ze t he p roduc t

on t he ba s i s o f i t s b r and masco t

Out o f 35 r e sponden t s 16 peop l e o f t en r e l a t ed t he p roduc t s

w i th t he i r t oon masco t s wh ich come up t o a round 45 .7%.

Wherea s on ly 5 .71% o f t he r e sponden t s ve ry r a r e ly r e l a t ed t he

p roduc t s w i th t oons . So i f more compan i e s op t f o r t h i s s t r a t egy

t hen t he r e l a t i on o f t he t oons and p roduc t s w i l l de f i n i t e l y

i nc r ea se , impre s s ing t he v i ewer s .

51 .43% o f t he t o t a l peop l e su rveyed had t he op in ion t ha t B rand

Masco t s a r e no t l o s ing impor t ance t o B rand Pe r sona l i t y

whe rea s 14 .29% had no op in ion r ega rd ing t he s ame . B rand

masco t ha s i t s own iden t i t y and w i l l de f i n i t e l y be more

appea l i ng t o t he aud i ence a s i t i s a ve ry i nnova t i ve concep t o f

adve r t i s i ng and p romot ion

47

On the ba s i s o f t he su rvey conduc t ed 85 .71% o f t he

r e sponden t s op t ed fo r Amul Bu t t e r G i r l a s t he i r mos t

memorab l e t oon masco t f o l l owed by F ido -Dido and Ch in t aman i

w i th 14 .29%and 2 .86% re spec t i ve ly

Accord ing t o t he su rvey conduc t ed Amul Bu t t e r G i r l i s t he

mos t memorab l e t oon masco t because i t ha s been i n t he ma rke t

s i nce a ve ry l ong t ime and a l so i t i s ve ry a t t en t i on s eek ing

because i t i s a lways r e l a t ed t o t he cu r r en t a f f a i r s

34 .28% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed op t ed t o depend on a

t oon masco t f o r t he l aunch o f t he i r new p roduc t 5 .71% though t

o f u s ing bo th t he t oon masco t and pe r sona l i t y fo r t he l aunch o f

t he i r p roduc t . Thus i t c an be conc luded peop l e wou ld r ea l l y

app rec i a t e i f compan i e s u se t oons fo r p romot ing t he i r

p roduc t s .

37 .14% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed sugges t ed t ha t t oon

masco t s a r e more popu l a r i n t he u rban a r ea s due t o h igh

l i t e r acy r a t e whe rea s 28 .57% had t he op in ion o f t he t oon be ing

48

more popu l a r i n t he ru r a l a r ea s because t hey i den t i fy t he

p roduc t on t he ba s i s o f t oons . So compan i e s ope ra t i ng i n t he

ru r a l a r ea s c an u se more o f t oons t o make t he i r b r and ea s i l y

r e cogn i zed and popu l a r amongs t t he ru r a l masse s .

71 .43% though t t ha t t he t oon masco t shou ld pos se s s t he

f e a tu r e s wh ich a r e su i t ab l e t o t he p roduc t f o l l owed by t he t oon

be ing en t e r t a i n ing and i nnova t i ve .

57 .14% o f t he t o t a l popu l a t i on su rveyed sugges t ed t ha t

p romot ion o f t he t oon masco t s t h rough c lo the s , a cce s so r i e s and

bags depends comple t e ly on t he su i t ab i l i t y o f t he t oon t ha t

means t ha t i f t he company u s ing a t oon masco t i s t h ink ing o f

u s ing such p romot iona l channe l s shou ld de s ign t he t oon i n a

manne r t ha t w i l l be su i t ab l e and l i ked by t he t a rge t ed aud i ence

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4. PERSONAL REVIEW

4.1 Why it’s Branding?

As a teenager I am very much fond of clothes, accessories, bags, foot wears, mobile

phones but only “Branded”. In real sense I am a “Branded Baby”. it gives me great

pleasure buying favorite things from a branded company so that it represents quality,

costliness, worthiness for the money that spend for it.

Like me other people are also crazy about the brands of the products that they purchase.

People nowadays have very good knowledge about brands that are available for a

particular product and also for different types of product. They gather enough

information about different brands that are available for the product that they are willing

to buy. This is relevant for the purchase of durable goods like mobile phone, television

sets, washing machines etc.

But in case of FMCG products, once the brand or the company gives good quality

product the customers become loyal to that brand and make it a point to spread positive

word of mouth about the particular brand’s product. In this sector some brands are so

highly successful their brand name is the first to hit the customer’s mind while the

purchase of that product. Some examples for the same context are:

PRODUCT BRAND NAME

Coconut Oil

Detergents

Toothpaste

Pencil

Photocopy

Book

Parachute

Ariel

Colgate

Nataraj

Xerox

Navneet

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Not only FMCGs nowadays companies of other products have also made a mark on the

minds of people and are able to share the same priority for the purchase. Brands and

Branded products are mainly popular in amongst the age group of 16-30 yrs. And some

examples of such brands are:

PRODUCT BRAND NAME

Jeans (Denim)

Shoes

Glares

Make-up equipments

Watches

Spykar Jeans

Adidas

Fast Track

Lakme

Fast Track or Titan

Brand popularity is applicable not only for products but also for services and

entertainment

Entertainment: By “Entertainment” I mean to say that people are now so much

influenced by the brand that they also want to spend their leisure time under a

“Branded Roof”. If a family is about to go for shopping definitely they would

visit a renowned branded mall Shopper’s Stop, Center One, R-Mall, Orbit Mall,

Big Bazaar and many others which have created a good brand image. If friends

are planning to go out for a movie, they would go to Multiplexes and Cine Plazas

which also provides them with the facility of shopping and also cafeterias where

they have a good time with their friends.

Services: Services have also become branded and popular amongst masses.

Anything that girl needs to do to enhance her beauty she will first rush to branded

outlets of the companies like Lakme, L’Oreal etc. For fitness purposes people

prefer popular fitness centers like Talwarkars, Gold’s Gym etc. People also avail

banking services from market leaders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank etc. Availing

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of transport services also happens through branded providers like Raj Travels and

Tourism, Jet Airways.

As being a management student it was a wonderful opportunity for me to work and

research on a topic which interests me a lot. While working on this project I gained

immense knowledge about branding which plays a very important role in the commercial

world and also forms the base for commercial successes.

4.2 Difficulties faced

Working on this project was very much enriching, knowledgeable and tiring experience.

Enriching and knowledgeable, because it gave me a lot of knowledge relating to how to

go about with branding of a product. Not only about how to create a brand name for a

product but it also taught me that once created a brand name how to maintain and

continue with the quality and consistency of the product.

Experience of working on this project was a tiring one because, although “Branding” and

“Toon Branding” are not new concepts, then too not many people or even students are

not aware of it. They needed an explanation about what is toon branding and even

searching information about different aspects of branding needed hard work.

As the project consists of special focus on “Toon Branding” I have also included case

study on Amul Butter Girl which is a successful story for Toon Branding. As important

decisions like “whether to go for toon branding or not?” are taken by the top management

therefore I required an appointment with the personnel of the firm who had enough

knowledge about this topic, but I was not successful in doing so. The reasons behind the

same are:

Location difficulties

The firm is so innovative in its concept of toon branding that the management

definitely had no time for the appointment.

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In spite of all these difficulties I was very successful in getting all the information about

Amul Butter Girl because of excellent website designed by Amul. Lastly I want to thank

my guide, other professors and friends who helped and encouraged me to work on this

project.

4.3 Suggestions

While working on the project I have gained almost complete knowledge about branding

therefore I would always support branding and even suggest the companies to opt for it.

Because it is a process through which the product will be able to find a place in the minds

of the people within this competitive world and also gain the loyalty of the customer if

the product spells quality.

But the company should make a very correct and appropriate decision so as to how

branding is to be done i.e. the process of branding. The firm should use a brand

personality, brand mascot or a toon mascot for the promotion of the brand. The choice of

different elements used to create a brand identity such as color, owned name, slogans,

and symbols etc. should be done correctly so that there are no misconceptions in the

minds of the consumers to understand the use and capability of the product.

It is definitely a good idea if the firm is opting for toon branding because that is the latest

advertising mantra used by many companies but it should be only used if it suits the

requirement of product advertisements. Toon branding is no doubt a good way to create a

brand image, it makes the boring script interesting but care has to be taken by the firm

that the designing of the toon is to be done in a manner that not only the toon mascot is

memorable or the toon advertisement is remembered but also the sales of the product

increases, which means that the toon mascot utilized should also represent the utility,

quality, and need of the product to the customer.

A good example in this context would The Amul Butter Girl (Amul Butter), and also

Chintamani (ICICI). All the hoardings of Amul Butter Girl are so innovative and

animated in such a manner that it makes the people aware of the current happenings in

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the world of politics, film industry, and other industrial sectors and together spreads a

message to use Amul butter in all situations of life. Whereas in case of Chintamani, it is

mainly used to promote the investment plans of ICICI so all the advertisements aims at

increasing the importance of investments in the life of individuals and finally it leads to

“No Chinta Only Money”.

Not only advertisements toon mascots can also be promoted through prints on

accessories, clothing bags etc, but here again the company will face limitations because it

purely depends upon the designing of the toon mascot that whether it will be accepted or

liked on these things.

For example: Fido Dido (7UP) which is promoted through these methods is already a

great success. Teenagers and specially children like the images of Fido Dido on their T-

Shirts, bags etc because the positioning of this toon mascot has been done as a “Cool

Guy”, “Always up to some Mischief”, “Liked by girls” and the list follows. Fido Dido is

all about fun. But Chintamani will not be able to share the same popularity as Fido Dido

because it is not used in all the Ads of the firm and also the positioning of the toon

matters in this case.

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CONCLUSION

The study done so far in the context of a brand and the special focus on toon branding

leads to many important conclusions. In order to facilitate proper comprehension of the

same, I illustrate the points as follows:

The Law of Contraction : A brand becomes stronger when its focus is narrowed.

This does not imply carrying a limited product line, but rather limiting and

focusing a brand on only one type of core product, which in Titan's case happens

to be watches. Titan, though possessed of a wide product line, has stuck to its

focus.

The Law of Advertising: Once born, a brand needs to actively advertise in order

to stay healthy and maintain market share. If done right, advertising is more of an

investment than an expense.

The Law of the Word: Any brand worth it's salt should strive to "own" a word or

words in the mind of the consumer. Examples of such brands are Volvo, who own

the word "safety", Mercedes, who own the word "prestige" and Coca-Cola, who

own the word "cola". Titan, at least when viewed in the context of the Indian

watch market, seems to own the word "quality".

The Law of Quality: Though quality is essential to the survival and growth of

any brand, the fact remains that brands are not built by quality alone. As

mentioned previously Titan more or less owns the word "quality" in the minds of

the consumers, thereby implying that it is perceived as a quality product. Thus, it's

actual quality, as well as it's perception of being a quality product combine to

work towards building the strength of the Titan brand.

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The Law of the Name: In the long run, a brand is nothing more than a name. The

difference between products is thus not so much between the products, as it is

between their names, or perceptions of the names.

The Law of the Company: Brands are brands, and companies are companies.

There is a difference. Titan is owned by the Tata Group, who though highly

regarded in Indian industry are associated more with heavy industries such as

steel and truck building, than with watch making.

The Law of Siblings: There is always a time and a place to launch a second

brand, but when this is done it should be ensured that both brands have separate

and distinct identities. Each brand should be kept unique and special. When Titan

decided to diversify into the jewellery segment, they did not call their new brand

'Titan Jewellery', in spite of the high standing of the Titan name in the minds of

the Indian consumers. To do so would be to undermine the power of the Titan

brand, which is that of being “watch experts”? Hence, the jewellery was called

Tanishq.

The Law of Shape: A brand's logotype should be well designed, in order to fit

the eyes. Visual symbols (again with the possible exceptions of Nike's "swoosh"

or Mercedes' 3-pointed star) are highly overrated. The meaning lies in the words,

not the symbol. The Titan logo, though well recognizable is always accompanied

by the words "TITAN" in a clear, crisp typeface-denoting power (through the use

of capital letters) and class at the same time.

The Law of Colour : A brand should use a colour and typeface that is the

opposite of its major competitor. For example, while Coca-Cola stands for red and

appears in running handwriting, Pepsi stands for blue and appears in capital,

modern looking letters.

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Therefore, in order to effectively build brand equity, the following factors should

also be kept in mind:

Define the core brand's position and value clearly:

A product should be properly positioned and its value (which includes price,

quality and image) should be properly defined. As mentioned in the section

regarding the law of the word, the two words most highly identified with Titan are

“quality" and "Indian". These should thus be emphasized upon. This is exactly

what Titan has done, positioning it's watches as high quality, Indian made

watches, and emphasizing upon it's value for money as well as it's classy image.

Don't neglect Public Relations:

Public Relations, or PR, are vital to the success and survival of any brand.

Unfortunately, its value as a brand building tool has more often than not, been

undervalued. Newsletters, event and entertainment sponsorships, and other forms

of PR help to define the personality of a company or brand, positioning it as a

good corporate citizen, and someone nice to do business with. In keeping with

India's obsession with cricket, Titan has often sponsored cricket tournaments,

including the now legendary 1997 Titan Cup. Titan also sponsors a number of

popular television programmes, a prime example of which is Star World's "The

Practice".

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Realize that promotions can be tricky:

Promotions ought to be used to create recognition and build brand loyalty.

Needless and irrelevant contests tend to shift the customer's attention from the

product being promoted to the prize being offered (be it a trip to the US or a new

car). A better (and far less expensive) way to promote a brand would be to allow

it to be used by other companies in their promotional offers. Titan is currently

being offered by both Outlook magazine and WelcomAward (the privileged

customer programme of the WelcomGroup chain of hotels) in their various

promotional offers. The most sensible and effective forms of promotions are

measures such as establishing a privileged customer club offering customer points

redeemable for discounts and rebates. Titan has their own privileged customer

club, Titan Signet, which has an impressive 1.6 Lakh members.

Always remember the USP:

A USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is not only what gives the customer a reason

to buy the brand, but is also what helps him distinguish the brand from its

competitors. Titan's USP is two fold, and can perhaps best be described in six

words. "An Indian company offering international quality". This works for Titan

in two ways. First of all, it's emphasis on 'international quality' successfully

negates it's major Indian competitor, HMT, who is still perceived as a company

offering solid and reliable, yet singularly unstylish and staid looking watches.

Secondly, with the plethora of foreign brands available in the country today, Titan

emphasis on being Indian enables it to effectively meet their threat. Interestingly,

while Titan has never actively promoted the fact that it's parent company is the

Tata Group, at the same time it has never really done much to hide the fact. Thus

while capitalizing on the Tata name; it has built its own identity as an Indian

brand offering high quality watches at prices significantly below those of

comparable foreign brands.

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If you can't be first, be better:

Being the first entrant in any category earns pioneer status for a brand and gives it

the advantage of being the probable market leader. Such was the case with HMT.

However with it's emphasis on it's USP and aggressive advertising, Titan

convinced the market that it produced the better product and thus destroyed

HMT's near monopoly of the Indian watch market.

Expand sensibly :

Extensions should always be logical and market driven and not mere "product

explosions". As the market environment changes with the addition of say, greater

competition, or changing customer wants and perceptions, brand extension should

be undertaken. It should not, however be undertaken arbitrarily. When Titan

entered the market in 1987, its main competitor was HMT, a company offering

reliable and economically priced watches. Titan thus started out being a company

offering a wide variety of models, most of which were priced economically, with

the added USP of being a more stylish alternative to HMT. As times changed,

however, so did Titan. With the growing entry of foreign brands into the market,

Titan continued to introduce sub brand after sub brand to meet every new

challenge. With the entry of the "high performance" sports watch brands in the

form of Tag Hauer, Omega and Breitling, Titan introduced it's own line of

chronographs priced significantly lower than the competition at a mere Rs 5000-

6000. Similarly, to counter the entry of foreign, youth oriented "style" brands

such as Esprit and Swatch, Titan introduced the 'Fastrack' sub brand, again priced

extremely competitively.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books :

Marke t i ng Managemen t :

- By Ph i l i p Ko t l e r and Kev in Lane K i l l e r

Brand Bu i ld ing :

- By Ph i l i p Ko t l e r

Brand ing Managemen t :

- By Ph i l i p Ko t l e r

Brand ing :

- By Ph i l i p Ko t l e r

Webs i t e s :

www.goog l e . com

www.yahoo . com

www.wik iped i a . com

www.amul . com

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Amul Hits of 1995 – 96

On the introduction of the show “Amul surbhi”

Name Game

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Waste Bengal

Amul Hits of 1996 - 97

On the infighting within the Congress government during the general election

On the large number of Lok Sabha candidates from the film industry

62

When Atal Behari Vajpayee became Prime Minister

Amul Hits of 1997 - 98

When Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav was involved in the Fodder Scandal

On Laloo Prasad Yadav's refusal to vacate the Chief Minister's seat.

63

AMUL's salute to India on Independence Day.

Amul Hits of 1998 – 99

On the popular Oskar award winning film - `TITANIC'

On the famous song aati kya khandala from the movie ghulam.

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On Women Bus Conductors’

Amul Hits of 1999 – 2000

Based on the Starr report on Bill Clinton.

On winning the Gold for Hockey in the Asian Games.

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Haul of 10 wickets by kumble

Amul Hits of 2000 - 2001

Match fixing charges against South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje" - April 2000

"India's population touches one billion" - May 2000

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"On the first anniversary of the Kargil issue".

Amul Hits of 2001 – 2002

"On the recent Mumbai Stock Exchange scam involving top brokers" - April 2001.

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Protest over the proposed flyover in Mumbai by renowned singer and prominent

citizens - April 2001

On launch of the Hindi film `LAGAAN' - June 2001

Amul Hits of 2003 – 2004

Two Bollywood stars engage in threatening telephonic calls - the episode then going

to media - April 2003

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Pun on Bollywood highly popular horror film - June 2003

Controversy on the findings by NGO - "The Centre for Science and Environment" that

leading las and carbonated soft drinks contain dangerously high level of pesticide

residues which are likely to be hazardous for health - August 2003.

Amul Hits of 2004 – 2005

On Dr. Manmohan Singh being elected Prime Minister of India - May'04

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Model turned Actress Preeti Jain's allegation against noted film director Madhur

Bhandarkar having sexually exploited her on the pretext of arranging roles in films -

July'04

Launch of 'ZOOM' India's first glamour and lifestyle family entertainment

television channel - September'04

Amul Hits of 2005 - 2006

On the Maharashtra Government's decision to close down dance bars all over the

state barring Mumbai - April'05

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On Mallika Sherawat's first international film 'The Myth' with Jackie Chan - May'05

On Greg Chappell of Australia being appointed new coach of the Indian

Cricket Team - May'05

Amul Hits of 2006 - 2007

Protests against the proposed flyover on Peddar Road in Mumbai - April '06

71

Controversy on increasing height of Sardar Saravor Dam (Narmada Dam) on

Narmada River in Gujarat - April '06

On French Captain Zinedine Zidane shown red card sending him off for vicious

head-butting Italian defender in the chest during the World Cup Football Final - July

'06

On hysteria amongst people at the seafront in Mahim - Central Mumbai to drink

sea water which reportedly turned sweet - August '06

72

Australian cricketers unpleasant behavior of push and shove towards BCCI President

Mr. Sharad Pawar at ICC Champions Trophy prize distribution ceremony at Brabourne

Stadium in Mumbai, India - November '06

Indian Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty winner of British reality television show Big

Brother - February 2007

Amul Hits of 2007 – 2008

73

On Bollywood superstars Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's son Abhishek's wedding with

Aishwarya at their residence Prateeksha in Mumbai - April 2007.

On Super Jumbo A380 Airbus double-decker the world's largest civilian passenger

aircraft in India for first time - May' 07.

Richard Gere Hollywood actor and Shilpa Shetty Bollywood actress in a controversial

incident in public at an AIDS function in India - May, 2007.

Bollywood romantic comedy film CHEENI KUM (A Sugar Free Romance) in which

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superstar Amitabh Bachchan shares time with little girl his neighbor, suffering from

leukemia, wise beyond her years - June '07.

India's Taj Mahal a masterpiece of architecture of 17th Century in the worldwide race

for inclusion in the new Seven Wonders of the World. It was built by Mughal Emperor

Shah JAhan as a symbol of enduring love for his wife Mumtaz on the outskirt of Agra -

July '07.

Police in Mumbai, India conduct breathalyzer or conventional tests on motorists at

night to crackdown on drunken driving to avoid road accidents - July '07.

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CHAKDE! INDIA, the Bollywood movie with focus on women's hockey featuring star-

actor Shah Rukh Khan playing coach of the Indian Women's Hockey Team to bring

fame to India - August '07.

Bollywood actress and dancing queen Madhuri Dixit in the movie "Aaja Nachle" (Let's

Dance) in which music and dance being the essence of the movie - November '07.

Team India celebrate after winning the inaugural ICC WORLD TWENTY 20, SOUTH

AFRICA 2007 cricket World Cup in Johannesburg - September' 07.

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.

Upcoming releases in November 2007 of two Bollywood movies SAAWARIYA –

innocent,

pure love story and Om Shanti Om – a love story – October 2007.

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