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Title

“Investigating the brand management of Amul from

customers’ perspective”


Abstract:

The brand management is an important activity for any organization, because it is brand which

makes an organization unique when compared with other organizations. For example, Nike sells

the different types of shoe for Men and Women, and there are other companies which sell the

same type of shoes, but what makes the Nike shoe different is its brand, which it have achieved

since long time by providing good quality products to customers. Other operations of an

organization like marketing, advertising, human resource management etc. can be impacted by

the brand value. This report analyzes the brand management process and brand value

assessment of Amul, a leading company in India which produces milk- related products.

The literature review of the research explains different concepts of brand management process

and also explains the research methodologies which can be used in the brand value evaluation.

The research approach and the methods adopted in the research are explained. A case study of

Amul explains the different views of the researchers regarding the brand management process

of Amul. It explains the advertising strategy and marketing strategy deployed by Amul in

relation to brand management. A survey based on an online questionnaire is conducted which

identifies the consumers perception of the brand value of Amul, its advertising process, quality

of products etc. The survey responses can be compared with the case study analysis where an

analysis is made on the data collected. Based on the analysis, recommendations are presented

to Amul and a conclusion is made.


Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1. Introduction: ..................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2. Research Aim: ................................................................................................................................... 8

1.3. Research Objectives: ......................................................................................................................... 8

1.4. Research Significance: ....................................................................................................................... 9

1.5. Chapter’s Summary: .......................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1. What is a brand? .................................................................................................................................. 12

2.2. International Branding: ........................................................................................................................ 17

2.3. Brand Names: ....................................................................................................................................... 18

2.4. Building the brand proposition: ........................................................................................................... 19

2.5. Competitive advantage with Branding Strategies: .............................................................................. 20

2.6. The Brand Manager ............................................................................................................................. 25

2.6. The Anatomy of a Brand: ..................................................................................................................... 29

2.7. Chapter’s summary: ............................................................................................................................. 31

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1. Introduction: ........................................................................................................................................ 33

3.2. Process of objective evaluation: .......................................................................................................... 35

3.3. Research Design: .................................................................................................................................. 35

3.4. Data Collection Process:....................................................................................................................... 40

3.5. Data Analysis: ....................................................................................................................................... 42

3.6. Ethical considerations: ......................................................................................................................... 42

Chapter 4: Case Study Analysis

4.1. Company Overview: ............................................................................................................................. 44

4.2. POPs (Points of Parity) and PODs (Points of difference):..................................................................... 45

4.3. Product Strategy: ................................................................................................................................. 46

4.4. Pricing Strategy: ................................................................................................................................... 46

4.5. Distribution Strategy: ........................................................................................................................... 47

4.6. Communication strategies: .................................................................................................................. 48

4.7. Brand Equity and Brand Personality: ................................................................................................... 55

4.8. Competitors: ........................................................................................................................................ 58


4.9. Chapter’s summary: ............................................................................................................................. 60

Chapter 5: Survey Results Analysis

5.1. Sampling overview: .............................................................................................................................. 62

5.2. Descriptive Statistics: ........................................................................................................................... 62

5.3. Survey Results Analysis: ....................................................................................................................... 64

5.4. Summary of results: ............................................................................................................................. 76

Chapter 6: Conclusion & Recommendations

6.1. Analysis: ............................................................................................................................................... 78

6.2. Recommendations: .............................................................................................................................. 78

6.3. Conclusion: ........................................................................................................................................... 80

References: ................................................................................................................................................. 81


Chapter 1

Research Introduction:


1.1. Introduction: There are cases where organizations are closed soon after starting their business due to

increasing losses and reducing customer acquisition. People usually prefer the brands which

they already knew and are comfortable with. For a newly formed organization, gaining the new

customers and increasing the customer loyalty by retaining existing customers is the major and

complex task. In achieving this task, the branding plays a major role. A complete newly formed

organization in the beginning has a different brand value when compared with a newly formed

organization in partnership with an existing organization, and also an existing organization

starting their business in another industry or area of business. A newly formed organization can

increase its brand value by providing the best services which are more competent to the

services provided by other organizations in the same area. As a result it can emerge as a new

brand in the market. A new organization formed in partnership with an existing organization

can possess some brand value of the existing organization as a result it can attract some

customers, but without taking proper measures in managing the brand can lead to the losses,

and the same applies for the existing organization starting their business in new areas or new

industry. Therefore to sustain in a highly competitive market, brand management is a very

essential process in any organization. For example “Everything Everywhere” is the newly

formed company from the merger of two leading UK network service providers Orange and T-

Mobile, but not many are still aware of the brand. There are very few “Everything Everywhere”

stores operating along with Orange and T-Mobile stores, which not only creates confusion

among the people, but also raises questions about the brand value.

For an already existing organization, managing their brand is also a major operation like other

business processes. Poor brand management can result in losing existing customers which has

more impact on the business than losing new customers. For example, if you regularly find poor

customer service, lack of goods in a very big retail shop known for its best quality products and

services, it affects its brand and slowly the customers would prefer other good retail stores for

buying their goods. Therefore for all the organization, whether it is newly formed or existing

one, brand management is a very important process as it is a factor which is perceived by their

customers, and customers are the main asset to any organization. Almost all the business


processes in an organization can have an impact on the brand value. For example, poor supply

chain management can result in late deliveries, empty stocks, poor quality products etc., which

can have a negative impact on the customers and can result in the loss of brand credibility.

Similarly poor customer service, poor designed products, and other business operations can

also impact the brand value of an organization.

Organizations may launch new products or services regularly, but the success of in the success

of a product or service launched, brand management plays an important role. A satisfied

customer can refer other customers about a product or service received from an organization,

which helps in getting new customers and creates free publicity for the organization. In

launching a new product or service, brand management play a very important role. This can be

explained by considering two examples. The first that if a newly launched cheese product by a

newly formed company is available in Sainsbury’s stores, which are known for providing good

quality products, people may buy it trusting the Sainsbury’s brand, and if they are satisfied with

the product they would buy again, or else they may buy their regular brand which they have

used before. Here the brand value for an organization is achieved with the use of other

organizations brand. In another example, consider the recently launched luxury car “Phaeton”

by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has an excellent brand value among the low and medium priced

car buyers, but it has launched Phaeton in competition to the other luxury brands like

Mercedes and BMW. As the company has no brand equity among luxury car buyers, and its cost

is too high for medium priced car buyers, the company has to suffer poor sales. In Europe, 2003

Volkswagen predicted that nearly 15000 cars would be sold, but in contrast to its prediction

only 2500 cars were sold (Roland et al., 2004, p.02). In this case, the company has gone against

it brand’s perception by the customers in launching new product, and has experienced the poor

sales, though the product was marvelous in terms of design and functionality.

Therefore in building and managing a brand, customer perception of the brand has to be

considered. Brand can also have an impact on HR processes, for example, an employee would

always prefer to work with a company having excellent brand value than working in a newly

formed company with no brand value. All the internal and external operations ranging from the


design and quality of a product to its marketing and distributing can have an impact on the

brand, which can have a major impact on an organizations growth.

In extending this concept, this research is aimed at investigating the impact of organizational

processes on the brand management process of an organization, using the customer perception

of the brand. A case study of Amul, one of the leading manufacturers of dairy products in India

is used in the research, explaining its brand management process linking with other processes

of the company. A survey is conducted to assess the customer perception of their brand and

from the research conducted and survey results recommendations are outlined for Amul’s

management in managing their brand value.

1.2. Research Aim: The aim of this research is to investigate the brand management process of Amul, one of the

India’s leading companies operating in the dairy related products sector, by assessing the

consumer perception of the company’s brand.

1.3. Research Objectives: Analyze and investigate how the brand value can be impacted by the both internal and

external operations of an organization.

Investigate the brand value and equity of Amul in Indian market.

Investigate the approaches followed in managing their brand by Amul.

Analyze and evaluate how Amul has managing its brand by linking to other

organizational processes.

Conduct a survey to assess the consumers’ perception of Amul’s brand and its value.

From the data collected and analyzed, suggest recommendations to the Amul’s

management in managing their brand more efficiently.


1.4. Research Significance: The brand of an organization is one of the major factor in achieving the success and growth. “If

this business were split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take

the brands and trademarks, and I would fare better than you.” —John Stuart, Chairman of

Quaker. This statement explains the importance of brand in relation to the other organizational

processes. The organizational processes can be changed, improved or modified, to achieve the

brand value, and how these processes could impact on the brand value is an interesting topic to

be researched.

1.5. Chapter’s Summary: Chapter 1: Research Introduction:

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the aim of the research with a brief overview of what

the research is all about and its significance.

Chapter 2: Literature review:

The purpose of this chapter is to study and explain the concepts related to brand management,

which include the brand management process, techniques like advertising, marketing etc.

These concepts are studied and analyzed to better understand the research areas, so that

better analysis can be done.

Chapter 3: Methodology:

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the research methods and approaches used in

collecting the data and analyzing it. It explains how the research is guided by using specified

models which could help the researcher in focusing on the scope of research and achieving the

right results.


Chapter 4: Amul’s Case study:

The Amul’s marketing strategy in increasing its brand value through the effective means of

communication techniques, which are unique compared to the other organizations are

discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Survey results analysis:

The purpose of this chapter is to present the survey results which are used to assess the

customers’ perception of Amul’s brand value. The results to the each question are displayed

using charts and explained.

Chapter 6: recommendation & conclusion:

The purpose of this chapter is to give a brief outline by concluding the research work and

findings. Then based on the data collected and analyzed, recommendations are suggested to

the Amul’s management in managing their brand more efficiently.


Chapter 2


Literature review:

2.1. What is a brand? A product or service developed by an organization to distinguish itself from other organizations

in the market can be stated as a brand. The distinctiveness, an organization has to achieve in

the market place is a very complex task, when there are many organizations providing the

services or products in the same area of business. It can be achieved by positioning the brand,

with a unique set of functional and symbolic attributes, which can make the organizations more

unique and distinct in the market. A brand can be successful when it is developed according to

the market needs and structure reflecting the distinctiveness from other brands. Ries and Trout

(1986), defines the term ‘brand positioning’ as the process which involves different tasks that

differentiates a specific brand from all other brands in the market. For example, the brand O2,

in the mobile telecommunication sector in UK is known for its effective network service and

excellent customer service, which distinguishes itself from other brands like Orange, T-Mobile

etc. In the process of brand positioning, different factors like price, product or service usage has

to be considered because they directly impact on this process. Sometimes, the price charged

can be either high or low compared to the price charged by the other organizations; however

this distinction can have impact in the minds of customers’ viewing the brand. In the same way

the product usage also has an impact on the brand positioning (Hakinson & Cowking, 1996).

Taking the same example of telecommunication market in UK, O2 products prices are high

when compared with the other companies like Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 products prices.

O2, has been charging high prices by providing excellent network service, and customer support

and distinguished its brand from other companies; while other companies like Orange, 3 has

distinguished themselves by providing low priced products with moderate network service and

customer support. This is the concept of brand positioning in the market.

Sometimes organizations can implement unique brand positioning in the market, but this

uniqueness or distinctiveness may be lost or affected as other organizations launch similar


products or services in the market. For example, the touch screen mobiles first launched by a

company might have positioned its brand distinctively unique in the market place, but when

the same touch screen products are launched by other companies in the market, the unique

brand positioning of the company, which initially launches the touch screen products may be

affected. Therefore continuous innovation in developing the products or services in both

functional and symbolic attributes is essential in brand management. For example, Vaio laptops

mostly differentiate its brand on functional attributes and continuously upgrading these

attributes in the new models; while Wrangler Jeans focuses on symbolic attributes like style,

fashion, comfort etc., and continuously innovating and implementing new ideas in their

products to position its brand as distinctive in the market. Therefore, both the personality of a

brand and its positioning can be a part of brand positioning (Hakinson & Cowking, 1996).

Brand proposition:

As discussed, both brand personality and positioning are termed as brand proposition, which

directly influences the process of brand management. These two propositions can be

considered as the starting points in developing and implementing the process of brand

positioning in the market. Davidson (1987) stated that for the organizations to make its brand

as distinctive in the market place, the propositions should be simple and easy to understand,

and the propositions which are complex and inconsistent may not be useful in making an

effective distinctiveness of brand.

A proposition can sometimes include a set of statements describing the uniqueness of the

brand. For example, recently launched speakers and headphones branded with the name

‘beats’ by Beats Electronics LLC., can have the following statements as a part of their brand

proposition:

The best sound quality brand

The most reliable brand

High quality performance achieving brand

Brand designed for youth


Brand in medium priced sector

Brand which makes the people to hear the music in a way an artist hears (Beats

Electronics LLC., 2012)

All the aspects involved in developing and managing a brand must be in consistent with these

statements, and other operations like advertising, marketing, distributing etc., of a brand must

embed these statements in their operations. Hakinson and Cowking (1997) stated that

sometimes these statements could be used as the tag lines or slogans in advertising a brand

which express its uniqueness and distinctiveness from other brands. In contradict to the

statement of considering brand personality and positioning as the propositions, Ries and Trout

(1986) have not distinguished the personality and positioning as different factors. They stated

that sometimes organizations might change their brand positioning (example: competition)

while remaining in the same personality and in some other cases organizations can change their

personality (example: launch of new unique models) at the same time not altering the brand

positioning (Aaker and Shansby, 1982).

Consumer – brand relationship:

The consumer brand relationship is very important for the success of a brand started by the

organization in the market place, because it is the consumers’ perception of the brand and its

propositions, which form a major part in sales and distribution of the products or services

related to a brand. In fact, the brand should attract the customers to buy it; whether it is a

highly branded product like Rolls Royce cars, or medium branded product like Volkswagen cars,

or quality branded products like Lurpak butter, or symbolic branded product like Levis comfort

jeans. The strong consumer and brand relationship reflects the balance and alignment of the

customers’ expectations, needs and brand symbolic and functional attributes.

Adding to the symbolic and functional attributes in relating to the customer needs, Part et al.

(1986) has identified an additional attribute called experimental needs. These needs are

categorized as those which are experimental in nature, providing a smooth comfort experience

for customers in using the brand products. Brands which deploy these attributes are known for


their innovation and unique approach in developing the products and services which could be

used by the customers, in more of an experimental fashion. In reality, the success achieved in

deploying this type of process can be influenced by various factors like whether or not the

product are actually meeting the needs of the consumers, consumers buying power, consumers

interest in experimenting the new innovative products or services etc. In this process, the brand

may be more innovative unique in terms of its propositions, but the success in implementing

this process would be mostly depend on the buying power of customers, though they meet

physical and psychological needs of the consumers (Part et al., 1986).

Competitive Advantage with Branding Strategy:

The process of building a brand and achieving market share using the branding of the

organizations products or services is a long term process as it requires effective communication

to reach in to the consumers’ minds and the market. As stated by Calderon et al. (1997), this

can be void in certain situations, where the propositions of a brand including symbolic,

functional, and experimental needs are far more unique in nature and are effectively

influencing the consumer buying behaviors. For example, Apple i-phones have achieved success

in short term, due to their unique and innovative propositions of branded product; whereas

service sector organizations like banks might need to follow a long term process as the

consumers already have large number of alternatives and the influence it has on the consumers

behavior is low compared to the industrial organizations for their products, where the

consumers can actually feel the propositions instantly.

Using the effective means of communications like advertising through electronic media, and

online media, and good propositions, the companies can efficiently achieve high brand value,

which would increase its market share and competitive advantage. It could be a tough task or

relatively hard for the companies to achieve competitive advantage by relying only on the

functional attributes, therefore the role of marketing, and advertising and using advanced

technologies in this process are more necessary to be a successful competitor in the present

uncertain economic environments in the market. Therefore companies are implementing

intangible symbolic attributes anfd strong brand propositions to lay a strong foundation for


sustainable business as a part of long term growth strategy, while deploying the effective

technical and strategic decisions in the areas of marketing to increase their market share and

competitive advantage (Calderon et al., 1997).

Corporate brand identity:

As the success is achieved in increasing the strategic value of brands, the role of advertising and

marketing has been growing in the process of managing the brand and increasing the brand

communication with the consumers. Through the means of communication technologies, the

invisible benefactors of an organization with excellent brand value are now being known to

consumers through different means like advertising, press releases, annual reports etc. For

example, corporate brand like BMW, though it includes different internal suppliers with their

own brand value, often follow monolithic approach in managing and advertising their brands,

and often small brands which are the part of corporate brands may not come in to lime light. In

other cases few corporate organizations endorse their brand to other organizations to sell their

products under the corporate brand. This reflects the importance of brand value, which is very

hard process for the organizations to achieve, as sometimes the organizations existence or

growth and success are completely relied on its brand image and value. Considering these

cases, often corporate branding becomes more complex task as they need to include highly

effective communication modes to maintain their brand position and value in the market (Read,

2006).

Brands as assets:

Brands are the major assets for any organization, because a brand can be realized and

identified by the customers even when the organization ceases to exist. It is the brand, which

consumers’ perceive when thinking about an organization, more than its operational areas of

growth or strategies. Therefore the brands are often considered as the most reliable and

intangible asset for a company. In some cases, it can be seen that the organizations includes the

brand value as an asset in their balance sheets. For example, in the recent study made by Savov


(2011), Apple corporation brand value is estimated to be $ 153 billion, which stands first in the

world beating the Google in the year 2011. As it involves long term to achieve a brand value, an

alternative method of acquiring an existing brand is considered as the best process by many

organizations. For example, Tata Motors, an Indian automobile manufacturers known for its

medium priced cars, has acquired two British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover as the

process of moving from medium priced car brand to luxury car makers brand. Therefore, a

brand is a major asset, which can make the organizations more stable in terms of growth, sales,

profits and sometimes even existence (Tollington, 1998).

Brand Stretching:

Acquisitions may not be possible in all the cases to increase the brand value as they involves

huge investments in acquiring a good brand, and even there is a risk in franchising the brand

name to the other companies as it might affect the parent brand. Therefore brand stretching is

an alternative approach, where an organization uses its brand for the other products too. The

new product involved in this process is called spin off product. The extent of brand expansion is

mainly depends on the value and credibility of the parent brand, and also on the consumers’

attachment to the core brand values. But care and necessary measures has to be taken in this

process so that the parent brand value is not diluted due to increased brand expansion. The

more increase in the gap between the original product brand and the new product group, can

increase the risk of failure and dilute the value of the parent bran (Han, 1998).

2.2. International Branding: In the markets, where there exist similar needs, and no cultural barriers, an existing brand can

franchise its operations in other foreign regions. International expansion of a brand increases

the value of brand, which is one of the major advantages of brand stretching. In some cases

this has meant establishing the brand globally. Hakinson & Cowking, (1996) stated that in few

cases this process could be restricted to developed countries, where the consumer lifestyle,

economies, and needs are almost similar. Though there are different risks involved in

internationalizing the brand, by following the effective measures and solutions, the process can


be simplified and succeeded. It is the brand position and value in the domestic market, which is

mainly concerned during the internationalization of a brand. For example, Tesco’s strong

performance with increasing growth across its sales, revenues, profits has made its

internationalization process much easier due to its strong brand value in the local market. The

foreign market environment is also another primary concern in the process of internationalizing

a brand. For example, entering a foreign market would be much easy in a place where there are

no major competitors when compared to the place where there are strong dominant

competitors. Using this concept, Tesco has been increasingly internationalizing its bran in the

Asian regions, where the competition is less and the market entry rules are easy. The type of

foreign market entry process can also have an impact on the brand value. For example, multi-

national corporate brand Heinz have not achieved strong global brand because most of its

foreign market entry process are through acquisitions of local companies in the foreign market

(Hakinson & Cowking, 1996).

2.3. Brand Names: Brand names can help the organizations in reaching the customers more effectively. The

customers would identify an organization as a brand, which could improve the brand

propositions of the organizations. As stated by Sarah et al. (2004), there are three strategies

used for naming the brands, which are:

Standalone: In this type of strategy, the companies use a single brand for their products

and operates with single brand name (Example: Reliance Industries, India’s biggest

business chain uses the name ‘Reliance Group’ for all its business chains like Reliance

Retail, Reliance Power, Reliance Steel, Reliance Technologies, Reliance Media works

etc.)

Endorsed: In this type of strategy, the companies endorse its parents name for all its

products (Example: Nestle KitKat, Sony Vaio etc.)

Family Name: In this type of strategy, the family name is used as the brand name for all

the product names (Example: Weight and Watchers from Heinz).


Companies have to register their brand name under the Trade Marks Act to protect their

brands from any misuse by other organizations, and brand names also can serve the legal

obligations of the companies, which could help in its commercial success (Sarah et al., 2004).

VanAuken (2011) suggested some tips in naming the brands which are explained below:

The brand name should be:

Easy to pronounce, read, spell, remember and recall.

Should be short and broad enough to express the business values.

Should not have any negative meaning which would hurt other communities and

cultures.

Should not be used by any other organizations, especially competitors.

2.4. Building the brand proposition: The brand proposition can be built by deploying the different means of communications which

can have an impact on the consumers’ perception of the brand. For example, advertising in

electronic media, newspapers, online; sales promotion; providing good customer interaction

services; are few elements which can build the brand propositions of the organizations.

Advertising is the effective element which has to be used aggressively for a new brand and also

to revitalize an existing brand. Community development sponsorships, for example, Barclays

Premier League, Reliance 10k Run, Sahara World cup series etc. can be more effective in

building the brands as they can deeply penetrate in to the customers. Creative ways like going

zero carbon emission stores in retail business organizations, launching community development

programmes etc., can also add the value to the brand propositions. Maintaining direct public

relations through direct communication between the organizations can perhaps be the best

way to avoid negative perception of a brand in the community (Williams, 2007).


2.5. Competitive advantage with Branding Strategies: To increase the competitive advantage, to increase the sales and growth, to expand the

business areas of operations, many companies are considering the branding as the major

weapon in achieving these goals. Achieving competitive advantage through branding is more

crucial in complex markets, where there are organizations using strong innovative approaches

and providing high quality products and services. In fast changing market behaviors, and

stagnant areas of production and services, it is the branding which plays a major role in

achieving competitive advantage, rather than deploying symbolic attributes. For example in the

cool drinks market, not many companies achieve competitive advantage by launching new

products with unique symbolic attributes. In the markets, where the competitors and other

organizations, imitate the market leader in production, distribution, marketing, labeling and

other business operations, branding is the only way to be able to distinctive and unique in the

process and to maintain competitive advantage (Kotler, 1991).

Competitive structure and brand strategies:

Michael Porter (1980) stated that the purpose of using competitive strategies by the

organizations is to position themselves, in the best place in market so that they can compete

with other organizations or influence the other organizations in their favor.

Porter (1980) considers that the competitive state of, and hence profitability of, an industry

depends up on the following forces:

“rivalry among existing firms

The bargaining power of suppliers

The bargaining power of buyers

The threat of substitute products

The threat of new entrants”

Graham (2012) suggested the following categories in developing strategies to maintain the

competitive structure of the organizations.


Cost – leadership strategy:

In this type of strategy, organizations usually try to increase the market share by

reducing the prices of their products and services, to compete with other leading

organizations. For example, Vodafone has low priced contracts and gives more benefits

in the phone contracts though it has poor service in order to sustain the competition

from market leaders who are good at providing the best services like O2 and Orange.

However, this strategy is not beneficial in all the cases, as it might lead to more

complexities in uncertain economic situations. In times of economic recession, the

companies opting this strategy are the first to be affected as the slight decrease in the

sales can affect more adversely on their operations. To sustain different risks and

challenges, this strategy has to be deployed along with other strategies explained

below:

Differentiation strategy:

In this strategy, the organization adopt different elements and attributes which makes

their product and services more appealing to the consumers and far more different

from the products and services offered by the other organizations. In deploying this

strategy organizations usually try to position themselves as the monopoly supplier of

the unique products or services, and increasing the product pricing as the products are

more appealing to the consumers. For example, Apple i-phones have positioned

themselves as the best touchscreen mobile services, and their products are more

appealing to the customers, as a result, it has high priced products when compared with

other mobile phone providers.

Ries and Trout (1986) stated that the companies have to be the first in launching the

different products in to the markets to be successful. The companies which adopt this

strategy have no competitors if they are the first to launch different and unique

products and thus can earn huge profits (Clifford and Cavanagh, 1985).

Focus strategy:


This particular strategy is called as focus strategy because, organizations before

launching the brand study the market and then choses either product differentiation

strategy or cost- leadership strategy to become competitive. This type of strategy is

mostly used by the small and medium sized companies, who do not have enough

resources and do not want to take any chances in suffering losses (Clifford and

Cavanagh, 1985).

Brand Strategy Development:

In long term run, companies usually forget the original brand propositions which are planned,

and concentrate on other business functions. Therefore organizations usually maintain a

separate team for brand management, which develops the brand strategy and manages the

company’s brand (Park et al., 1986). In long term run, the companies need to deploy effective

brand strategies relating it to the other business functions like production, marketing etc., to

maintain its competitive position. The following figure shows the brand strategy development

process, designed by Park et al. (1986).


Establishing the brand proposition:

The first step in the strategy development is to outline the statements concerning the

brand proposition, which explains more about the core business values and product or

attributes. All the elements including symbolic attributes, psychological needs, and

functional attributes must be considered in outlining the brand proposition (Kottler,

1991).

Selecting the appropriate mix:

Kottler (1991) analyzed different factors in the marketing mix, which are Price,

Promotion, Place and Product. These four elements are very important which must be

considered in developing the brand strategy, so that the communication process about

brand with the consumers would be more effective, which not only increases the

competitive advantage, but also enables the company to achieve a sustainable business.

Advertising and promotional activities would lead the brand success, but the amount

actually necessary for advertising and promotions must be carefully analyzed, if not it


would result in waste of money, time and sometimes it even affects the brand value.

Therefore right amount of mix, in the areas of promotions, advertising with right

amount of information about the product explaining the functional and symbolic

attributes in a more effective way is very much essential in developing a successful

brand strategy.

Rolling out the strategy:

The roll-out of a strategy over the life of a brand has been broken down by Park et al.

(1986) in to three stages, which are explained below:

1. Introductory stage:

At this stage, the appropriate of brand propositions have to be assessed and

outlined, which is the basis for developing the strategy. In this process no

competitive nature or factors are concerned while more concentration is laid on the

brand propositions (Kottler, 1991).

2. Elaboration stage:

From the basis outlined, the brand propositions have to be compared with the

competitors, to make it more effective and superior than the competitor’s to make

the process more effective. In cases, when launching a product brand, whose similar

products already exist in the market, this stage has to be revised more effectively to

differentiate the brand propositions from other organizations brand propositions in

the market (Kottler, 1991).

3. Fortification stage:

This stage allows the possibilities of deploying the brand expansion or stretching

process making the brand strategy more tangible in complex situations (Kottler,

1991).

Modifying the proposition:

Similar to the different things brands do have age factor. At some point of time, the

organization has to decide whether to kill a brand or to revitalize it. Basically a person’s


grows with a brand and continues to be using it till long time, in such cases, that specific

brand can be observed by the other young people as for adults or aged people, and as

such the brand may lose its customer base among the younger generation and

eventually it may have to die. But there is a possibility that the brand has been

revitalizing its strategy and taking the communication of brand propositions more

effectively in to all the sectors can help in the long run of a brand with increasing

competitive advantage (Kottler, 1991).

2.6. The Brand Manager The whole process from developing, implementing and managing the brand and all the factors

related to the brand is managed by the Brand Manager. Bureau (1981) has identified the

following key areas operations in the organizations:

Planning and Control:

The brand manager usually do not involve in the administering tasks, or other tasks

which required managing the operations. The main aim of the brand managers role is to

find the best and all possible ways of launching a product in to the market and to

achieve the best revenues from the sale of that product (Bureau, 1981).

Revenue:

Revenue is one of the major factors on which the organization’s financial health

depends. The companies earn revenue from the sale of their products and services. To

increase the revenue the companies has to consider different factors right from the

production, quality of the products to the marketing of these products. Though the

products are good and effective, sometimes without effective marketing, they can still

suffer loss in sales and decreasing revenues. Therefore marketing is the mode of

communicating with the consumers about the products and influencing them in making

the purchases, which plays a major role in increasing the revenues (Bureau, 1981).

‘One or a limited number of brands’:


The organizations may have a single product or wide range of products and services,

because there are no limitations in increasing the areas of business, if the organization

has efficient strategies to grow in other sectors. Organizations usually have different

processes for marketing a product like design, development, quality control, packaging,

pricing, distributing, advertising etc., but no two different products can be deployed in

to similar attributes and processes. As the products are different, all these processes

have to be newly developed for each and every individual product even in terms of

branding. A marketing manager have to carefully assess the branding process, when the

company have more number of different products and services in terms of developing

marketing and brand strategy and also in managing the brands (Bureau, 1981).

As each product or service has its own brand propositions, there should be individual

brand managers for different products depending on the need and use.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

A brand manager is not solely responsible in developing the strategy for achieving the planned

revenue for each product, which represents more financial in nature, but the position is also

responsible for other areas of operations. The scope of responsibilities of a brand manager is

much more larger than just achieving the specified revenues, as lot of other factors involved

like brand strategy development, developing brand propositions, revenue generation, brand

management etc. Semlow (1979) has categorized the responsibilities of a brand manager under

different roles explained below:

As a Market analyst:

The brand manager can also be undertaking the role of a market analyst, where the

responsibilities like market data analysis, environment study and assessment,

competitive nature etc. have to be undertaken. Techniques like SWOT and PESTEL

analysis should be used in studying the market data and analyzing the suitability of

launching a brand (Semlow, 1979).

As a Planner:


Planning is one of the major task in any kind of operation because the success in

achieving any task is mostly dependent on the effective planning made. Considering the

brand management, the responsibilities of the brand manager include the planning of

different branding related tasks like proposition planning, strategy planning, market

entry type planning, schedule of tasks planning etc. (Semlow, 1979).

As a Coordinator:

After agreeing to a marketing plan, the brand manager needs to coordinate different

teams and processes to see that the planned goals are met on time. Though the brand

manager has no authority on the implementation teams, he should coordinate the

different teams in completing the tasks on time, as per the scheduled plan. Putting his

intellectual abilities and creative skills in to place as the marketing planner, the brand

manager also acts as a coordinator, reflecting the responsibility and intensity of the

manager to achieve the marketing goals (Semlow, 1979).

As a Controller:

The plans made, the strategies developed are the process of identifying the buyer

behavior, but what is more important is that controlling the brands in different cases

ranging from poor sales to high sales. Planning different attributes like product pricing,

packing, quality control, labeling, advertising, distributing are the part of planning

process, which are backed by the communicating process with the consumers. Looking

at these plans, brand manager, as a controller need to forecast different results based

on different metrics to take right decisions in right time (Semlow, 1979).

THE BRAND MANAGER AND THE COMPANY

As the responsibilities of the brand manager are varying depending the scope of operations, the

areas in which the brand managers operate will also be changing. For example, when working

as the marketing director, receives reports and information from all the subordinate managers

like sales manager, distribution manager, logistics manager, research manager etc. (Bennet,

1993). As all these operations are mainly related to the field of marketing, brand managers can

most of the times take roles as marketing managers as they control different areas of


operations, but not influences or has authority over the implementation teams (Kapferer,

2008).

As the area of brand management involves different functions, a brand manager solely cannot

manage the operations in all the areas. Therefore they can work in a specific area or have

subordinates working in different areas with different roles and responsibilities. Some of the

major areas as stated by Kapferer (2008) include:

Advertising Services:

Companies which have wide range of products or services or with a strong brand

identity make huge investments in the areas of advertising. Organizations usually wok

with different advertising companies in effectively marketing their products, with good

communication techniques and unique ideas to reach more deeply in to the consumers.

Therefore a separate team of employees with a manager can be employed to

continuously revise advertising strategies of the company and to monitor and develop

new unique ideas in the field of advertising the company’s brand (Kapferer, 2008).

Marketing Research:

Research includes different tasks like collecting the data, analyzing the data to get good

quality information, which can be used in gaining the knowledge to make the right

decisions at right times. In the process of doing a market research, different factors like

social, political, economic and technological factors have to be considered (Kapferer,

2008).

Trade Promotions:

A There should be a close relation between the processes of planning and promoting, as

the promoting techniques have to be developed and implemented according to the

planning made. Promotional schemes mostly influence in getting the company and the

consumers closer to each other. In promoting a brand manager plays an important role

and in selling the branded products, sales manager plays an important role. And in trade

promotions, the responsibility would be shared between the brand manager and sales

manager in the organizations (Kapferer, 2008).


Production Planning:

Usually the brand management process is impacted by every major business operation

like production, promoting, pricing, packing, distributing etc. The production planning

has to be according to the brand propositions, which reflect the symbolic and functional

attributes of the products. Therefore often brand managers can work in the areas if

production planning (Kapferer, 2008).

Financial Control:

As the brand manager is more involved in managing the revenues, he has to be in

proper alignment with the financial team to monitor the sales growth, and other metrics

which reflect the brand positioning in the market. Therefore taking the information

from the finance teams, brand managers may sometimes need to plan the finance

based on the data shared by finance team in terms of sales, revenue, growth etc.

2.6. The Anatomy of a Brand: Considering different factors like the consumer brand relationship, the consumer buying

behavior, changing market environments, the process of managing a brand becomes more

complex in nature, as the different goals of the companies like sales, revenue, competitive

advantage etc. may be directly influenced with the branding process. Considering different

complex factors David (1992) has analyzed the following set of criteria in the process of

managing a brand:

Product level: Considering the brand management at product level, the process must be

efficient enough in meeting the customer demand, market needs and also the

completion. The brand management is not just the process of advertising and

marketing, but involves lot more operations. It is clearly known that a brand which does

not meet the customer demand would not be able to sustain in long term process, it is

obvious that the functional and symbolic attributes which are more influential in

achieving long term success for a brand. Therefore building a brand has to balance the

brand propositions with the communication strategies like marketing, advertising and

promotions (David, 1992).


Branding is more powerful than the product management: Branding is the major factor

which connects the consumers with the company than with the company’s product and

consumer. Though product management has an impact on the branding process, it is

the brand which makes the difference. For example, though there is no stock availability

of Apple’s i-phones in the stores, it is the company’s strong brand value which connects

more with the products and customers. The product personality can be changed over

time, but it is not an easy task to change the brand positioning and the brand image of

the company (David, 1992).

Consistency between brand value and brand benefits: There should be a consistency

between brand personality and brand value. The change in brand personality may not

be achieved in short term because a brand lays a strong impression in the minds of

customers’ minds, which would take long time to change. The customers should be

offered with what they want, and change in the brand propositions can have an impact

on the customer buying behavior. Kapferer (2008) contrasted the idea that people

usually take quick decisions, and in such cases if there is an inconsistency between the

brand value and benefits, the companies might lose their loyal customers. Therefore

tangible process which could be changed according to the situations must be deployed

in managing the brands (David, 1992).

The values offered must be wanted by the consumer. No matter, whatever the

measures an organization takes, if a brand does not meet the needs of the consumers’

then it is very hard for the brand to survive for long term. All the sales are being judged

on the value of a brand, as the personality may not be consistent at all the times. The

value is not something that can be achieved by the company on its own, but it is the

perception of consumers’ about the brand. If a brand is offering something which is

desperately needed by the customers, while no other brand is offering the same, then

the value of that brand can be increasing and can achieve long term run in the market.

But the change has to be deployed in the brand management from time to time; for

example zero carbon emission stores or ozone friendly products may not be adding

value to the brand if they are launched before 20 to 30 years (David, 1992).


Balancing tangible and intangible elements of a brand:

In specific markets like drinks or cigarette products, the advertising process could have more

impact on the branding than the functional and symbolic attributes, because the likelihood of

similarity in the brands is too high, so that the differentiation may not be achieved so easily.

However in other specific market areas like electronics, functional and symbolic attributes have

more impact on the branding rather than advertisements and promotions (Example: Apple i-

phone). Therefore, a balance has to be achieved in all the specific areas of branding to achieve

long term goals (Chernatony and Riley, 1997).

Therefore, a relative balance in the different characteristics is essential to achieve more

effective brand management processes, which form the core principles of managing a brand.

These factors influence on the decision making process and the brand positioning process.

This has to be the core concern in developing and managing the brand. A brand manager needs

to analyze more deeply in to the situations, so that the more clarity can be achieved in

understanding the consumer perception of a brand. Therefore the best brands are those which

are more appealing to the consumers, with good brand propositions of functional and symbolic

attributes. In supporting the idea, David (1992) has stated that:

“A brand must be a blend of complementary physical, rational and emotional appeals.

The blend must be distinctive and result in a clear personality which will offer benefits of value

to consumer”

2.7. Chapter’s summary: The concepts of brand, brand management, the role of brand manager, brand and its influence

in maintaining the competitive advantage and how a brand can affect the company’s sales,

growth, and revenues have been discussed in this chapter, which gives more clarity on the

information related to the research topic of brand management.


Chapter 3


Research Methodology:

3.1. Introduction: A research process has a sequence of tasks which are performed in an order to find the answers

to the research questions and to achieve the goals, aims and objectives of the research. As the

research involves tasks like data collection process, data analysis process, they have to follow

specific guidelines, methods and approaches which are already tested and justified to give

more reliability for the data gathered and analyzed. In the process of finding answers to the

research questions, different sources of information is studied, gathered and analyzed to better

understand the research problem, so that more effective outcomes can be achieved. In this

process of collecting the literature, different sources of information including journals, previous


research papers, online articles, news articles, books are used. Rajashekar (2006) stated that a

research should include study, experiment, observation, comparison and reasoning.

The brand value is something that is perceived by the consumers about a product or a company

in the market place. It is more like an asset to the company which may not be measured using

metrics. Therefore to assess, such factors, the best way is to collect the responses from the

consumers of the brand, as they are the main people who add value to the brand. In assessing

and evaluating the brand strategy adopted by Amul, the primary data is collected in the form of

surveys using an online based survey questionnaire, which are developed in relative to the

research area and the objectives. A case study of Amul is considered to assess the brand

management process of Amul. The Amul’s marketing strategy, advertisement strategy and

unique communication methods to better connect with the consumers is done as the part of

research work. The secondary data in this case is collected from the books, magazine articles,

previous research papers, journals and other white papers. Based on these findings,

recommendations are presented to Amul management to improve their marketing strategy and

advertisement strategy as the process of developing a strong brand.

The aim of this research is to investigate the brand management process of Amul, one of the

India’s leading companies operating in the dairy related products sector, by assessing the

consumer perception of the company’s brand. In the process of achieving this aim, the

following objectives are set for the research:

Analyze and investigate how the brand value can be impacted by the both internal and

external operations of an organization.

Investigate the brand value and equity of Amul in Indian market.

Investigate the approaches followed in managing their brand by Amul.

Analyze and evaluate how Amul has managing its brand by linking to other

organizational processes.

Conduct a survey to assess the consumers’ perception of Amul’s brand and its value.

From the data collected and analyzed, suggest recommendations to the Amul’s

management in managing their brand more efficiently.


3.2. Process of objective evaluation: 1. To investigate the brand management process of Amul, and its marketing strategy.

2. Literature review is about the discussion of brand, brand management, the role of brand

manager, brand and its influence in maintaining the competitive advantage and how a brand

can affect the company’s sales, growth, and revenues and other concepts.

3. Using an internet based online survey questionnaire, a survey is conducted to assess the

consumers’ perception of Amul’s brand.

4. Effectively presenting the survey results by using both graphical and statistical tools.

5. As the outcome of research problems are finalized, based on the problems identified

recommendations are presented to the Amul’s management in effectively managing its brand.

3.3. Research Design: A research design guides the researcher in the process of collecting the data and analyzing it

(Churchill 1979). Nachmias and Nachmias (2008) stated that the research design stems from the

idea as a critical link between the theory (literature, information and data) and argument

(analysis, results, and outcome). Bryman and Bell (2007) stated that the priorities given for the

different elements in the research work can be understood by research design, and this would

influence the next step methodological factors like sampling. Therefore it can be considered as

a prototype explaining the research process, which can be used in collecting the answers to the

research questions. The research design also provides, the research plan, research methods,

strategies, and approaches along with ethical issues (Saunders et al. 2008).

Saunders et al. (2008) developed a Research Onion method, which has different layers

explaining the elements of a research, as shown in the figure below:


Research Philosophy:

Levin (1988) defined research philosophy as the belief with which a researcher works in

achieving the goals and objectives of the research. In the social world, an event can be analyzed

with the philosophical perspective to achieve an outcome of it. The way the events are seen,

and the way they are being interpreted impacts more on the research process which is all about

viewing and interpreting. Therefore philosophical perspective guides the researcher in this

process to better collect and analyze the information related to the events or actions. There are

different philosophical perspectives which can be followed in the research like positivism,

interpretivism, subjectivism etc.

As defined by May (1997), a positivist approach considers the collection of dare from large

section of social environment in the process of explaining the cause and effect relationship. In

this process researcher’s beliefs have no importance as the conclusions are drawn from the

data collected and analyzed. Smith (1998) defined this approach as:

“Positivist approaches to the social sciences . . . assume things can be studied as hard facts and

the relationship between these facts can be established as scientific laws.


The positivists think that the social factors can be used as objects in studying and doing

research work.

In interpretivism approach, the researchers believe that the research objectives can be

achieved by using the small section of sample population with deep analysis. The researcher’s

beliefs have more impotence in this process, and the researcher tries to show the results

according to his beliefs.

Considering the two major philosophies, this research adopts positivistic approach in the

process of collecting and analyzing the data.

Research Approach:

A research which has begun properly is almost half done. The research approach guides the

researcher from the point of starting it till concluding the research. Inductive and deductive are

the two major research approaches usually used in the research process.

When the broader theories are achieved using specific observations following the tentative

hypothesis, then the approach can be termed as inductive approach. A degree of uncertainty

resides in this process (Burney, 2008). This approach is also called as bottom up approach as

shown in the figure below:

Unlike inductive approach, deductive approach uses the broader theories to arrive at more

specific confirmations. Logical conclusions in this process are drawn from observations (Burney,


2008). The deductive approach is also known as top down process as shown in the following

figure:

As the positivistic research philosophy is selected in the research, deductive approach will best

suit the research process.

3.3.3. Research Strategies:

As specified by Saunders et al. (2008) research strategies reflects the different means of

collecting and analyzing the data. In this research, two major research strategies, case study

analysis and survey process are adopted. Amul, a leading manufacturer of dairy products in

India, is considered as the case to assess the brand management process, marketing strategy

and advertising strategy specific to the company. To better assess the brand value and brand

image of the company an online survey questionnaire is developed and the survey is conducted

with the company’s consumers in assessing the Amul brand value, because value is something

that is perceived by the consumers.

3.3.4. Research Choices:

Saunders et al. (2008), specified the following research choices:

Multi method: In this type more than one method is used in collecting and analyzing the

data.


Mixed method: In this method, a mixture of approaches and methods are used in the

process of collecting and analyzing the data.

Mono method: In this process only a single method is used in the process of collecting

and analyzing the data.

As both case study analysis and quantitative analysis is used, this research uses a mixed method

research choice:

Research methods:

Qualitative methodology:

This method deploys the process of collecting the high quality data from a small sample

population. Usually detailed interviews, more detailed surveys are used as the part of data

collection. The process is mostly influenced by the interviewer in hid broad thinking and efforts

to collect the information, and the interviewee, based on his expressing the level of degree of

reality Andrew, 2005).

Quantitative Methodology:

Unlike qualitative methodology, this method uses large rate of sample population in collecting

the data. The quality of the data collected in this process could be low because of big sample

rate. Usually surveys and observations are used as the part of this method to collect the data.

Time horizon:

In order to attain the effective results in the survey, Saunders et al. (2008) suggested that the

survey would at least last for three months, but as the time is less, the survey was conducted

for three weeks, and the results are outlined. Considering the time horizon in the research

there are usually two types; cross-sectional, where the research is conducted at a particular

point of time with a time limit; and longitudinal, where the research is conducted over a period

of time. This research uses cross sectional time horizon.


3.4. Data Collection Process: The research process:

Primary data in this research is collected from the surveys, and the survey process is explained

below:

Questionnaire design:

Churchill and Iacobucci (2002) specified that in building a survey questionnaire, the ability of

the participants in understanding the questions have to be considered. Therefore this

questionnaire already has a multiple choice answers which the participants need to select the

right option rather than writing the answer. The following diagram shows the step by step

process followed in designing a questionnaire.


Research sampling:

Parasuraman et al. (2004) defines the sampling as the process where the selection of number of

units or population, that should be undertaking the survey is determined. The research

objectives can be used in the process of determining the sample rate, which is sufficient enough

for achieving the research goals (Saunders et al. 2007). The sampling process in this research is

designed and implemented according to the Churchill and Iacobucci (2002) method, which is

shown in the following figure:


The questionnaire is then designed at www.surveymonkey.com, where a link to the survey is

generated. The survey link, with the survey purpose is written in emails and forwarded to

different consumers in India. In the beginning the main was forwarded to 48 people, but due to

leas time, snow ball sampling technique is used to gather better response rate. A note is

presented in the email requesting the email recipient to forward the email to his/her friends

and other people. Thus a sample rate of 128 has been achieved at the end of the survey

process.

3.5. Data Analysis: The data collected in this process is analyzed using statistical tools like pie charts, bar graphs,

rating scale etc., which is explained and analyzed in chapter 5.

3.6. Ethical considerations: The following ethical issues in this research are followed:

Any personal data collected in this research, in the survey process, will not be disclosed

to the third sources without informing the participants.

The purpose of the survey and its benefits are clearly explained to the survey

participants in the email sent to them.

The research process is conducted according to the tested, approved research methods

to increase the reliability on the data collected and analyzed.

The survey process, design of survey questionnaire and conducting the survey is in

accordance with the ethical standards specified by British Sociological Association

(2002).

http://www.surveymonkey.com/


Chapter 4


Amul Case study:

4.1. Company Overview: Amul is one of the India’s largest dairy product manufacturing organizations, which has spread

its operations across different parts of the country and recently started internationalizing its

products in foreign countries. It is the cooperative organization, which includes different village

societies, in the state of Gujrat state, which is the ranks number one in terms of growth and

econmy in India, and the organization is called as Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing


Federation (GCMMF). The organization serves the needs of the consumers by providing high

quality products and also the suppliers and members which include farmers, small societies and

companies in the state. The cooperative structure of the organization includes, 13 district

cooperative dairy farmers societies, 2.9 million dairy and other product suppliers, and 15,322

rural societies, with a production capacity of 13.07 million liters every day, and the daily

average milk collection of 9.1 million liters per day. The company also has 647 meters milk

drying capacity and 3740 meters of cattle feed manufacturing capacity per day. The brand

name “Amul” for the company is derived from the Sanskrit word, “Amoolya” which means

precious (Amul, 2010).

Company’s History:

On 14 December, 1946, the company was registered as District Co-operative Milk Producers

Union (DCMPU) in India in a town called Anand, and the name was then changed to Amul.

(Ramchandran, 2010). From the time of its formation, the company has been expanding its

product base and customers base in India, which resulted in enormous growth and production

capabilities. The company has increased its production from 10,000 tonnes in the year 1996 to

25,000 tonnes in the year 1997 (Suhrud, 2006). Concentrating on the local market as the core

business function, the company at the same time expanding its business operations in the

foreign markets, which include China, Bangladesh, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, and UAE (Pankaj,

2005).

4.2. POPs (Points of Parity) and PODs (Points of difference): POP’s of Amul organization include the following elements:

The yellow color butter is standard color in the market industry.

The product packaging of 100 and 250 grams is similar to other competitor products.


Low price of butter in the market when compared with the similar products of other

organizations.

POD’s of Amul organization include the following elements:

Strong brand value for the Amul’s products due to its efficient symbolic and functional

attributes like excellent quality and good packing, and due to effective and innovative

advertising strategies of the company.

The unique ad campaign by the company using billboards and hoardings across

different public areas, like countering the recent incidents in the country in a funny and

matured way has given it more unique differentiation in advertising when compared

with its competitors.

Wide presence of the company across the different parts of the country is also a big

asset in marketing the products.

4.3. Product Strategy: The Amul’s products do not have major differences when compared with other organization’s

similar products, except the attributes like quality and freshness. Amul’s products are highly

recognized as the fresh an excellent quality products in the country. More than 86 per cent of

the market share in the country has been captured by Amul, since its formation, and the

company has been the market leader for the past four consecutive decades. Due to these

features like good quality products at low fares and being a cooperative and local company, the

company has achieved a strong loyalty among the consumers in different regions of the

country.

4.4. Pricing Strategy: Amul has been following the cost-leadership strategy since its formation. As the company is a

cooperative organization, in which majority of the shareholders are farmers and suppliers, the

upfront costs for the company in acquiring the raw materials is nil, and this has been the major


advantages as the company only need to bear the production and marketing costs. The

different range of product mix, like ice creams, butter, sweets etc., has increased the Amul’s

brand value by brand stretching as the symbolic and functional attributes is maintained at the

same level among all its products (Pankaj, 2005). The pricing strategy of Amul as described by

Pankaj (2005) has the following goals:

Its products are used on daily basis, and continuous revitalization of brand is

implemented to achieve long term survival.

Aimed to increase the share of different products in the market.

Aimed to provide high quality products with best customer service and larger

reachability for the consumers.

4.5. Distribution Strategy: The shopping place, or stores is the major part in the distribution strategy as it is the place,

where the company directly interacts with its products to the customers. Proper planning is

necessary to decide in selecting the modes or channels, and the type of channels to better

reach the customers. Therefore the company has been using the cold and dry warehouse

systems and also in transport systems to ensure the quality of the product is not altered. As far

as the stock availability is concerned, the company has been operating magnificently with a

network of more than 3500 distributors and 47 warehouse depots, in order to ensure the

availability of their products in all the stores at all the times. The company has also been

launching small Amul stores in the major public areas, railway stations and other major

junction, where the fresh Amul products are sold (Amul, 2010). The major goal of the company

is to achieve high profits among its cooperative members, by providing the best quality

products according to the customers’ needs and perceptions. In this process of improving the

customer satisfaction and loyalty through its products, the company has been using the

following ideas:


Large number of distributors, Wholesalers and retailers, in the big and diverse country

like India. It has been steadily increasing their distributors and retailers to meet the

growing demand of the customers.

Increasing the number of company’s own branded stores through direct opening and

through franchising. Amul’s product stores, where only Amul products are available

have been opening across many places in the country, so that company can increase the

reachability of its products to the customers.

Amul has been increasing it online sales by specially branding its internet marketing

naming it as Amul Cyber stores, where the customers can directly place an order online,

and the products are delivered to their doors.

Other alternative strategies like push strategies are in fact not necessary for the company

because the demand for their products is too high in the country. This huge customer demand

is evident from the company’s operations like not setting any targets for the retailers in selling

the product, and retailers too not taking any special care in selling the Amul’s products. The

next growth option for the company is to enter new markets as the demand for the products is

high in the domestic market and also because the company has spread its operations across the

major parts of the country. The distribution channels intimate the company well in advance,

when the demand for the products would suddenly increase more than expected, especially in

the times of festivals. In addition to these factors the unique advertising strategy of Amul,

which differentiates itself from other organizations has been a major asset in increasing the

customer loyalty and the brand value (Partani, 2008).

4.6. Communication strategies: The major brand elements of the company include its name, logo, tagline / slogan, jingle,

character / mascot, and URL, as shown in the following figure:


The Brand Name: As explained earlier, the brand name of Amul is derived from a

Sanskrit word called “Amoolya” meaning precious, which has gone more effectively in to

the public. As the name is short, easy to remember and recollect, and represents the

local cultures and heritage, the brand name ‘Amul’ has effectively proved its presence in

the market (Amul, 2010).

The Logo: The following figure is the logo of Amul, which is recognized by many people

in the country.

The tagline or slogan: The slogan designed by the company is more effective and

reflecting the nation, has been a major advantage in communicating the company’s

brand propositions with the consumers. The slogan or tagline of the company reads

“The Taste of India”.


The Jingle: Jingle is something with catchy and tinkling sound which could easily attract

the customers. The jingle used by the company “Utterly, butterly, delicious………Amul”

has very well penetrated in to the society and customers’ minds.

The Character/ Mascot: Amul has been using the mascot since 1967, which shows a girl

in red dotted frock, and the “utterly butterly delicious” jingle. The Amul’s character is

shown in the figure below:

The URL: The Amul’s URL is also simple and easy to remember, which is www.amul.com

Company’s marketing with integrated communications:

Before Amul entry in to the advertising, many companies were concentrating on advertising

their products rather than their brand in the country, and the advertisement were in serious

tone representing the products, their functionalities and features. Unlike the other companies,

Amul has been following a unique approach, where it mostly advertises its brand rather than its

products. The brand strategy and communication strategy of the company are effectively

aligned, where the company uses different means of communication depending on the local

customer behavior in positioning its brand. The Umbrella branding strategy has helped the

company in facing many risks like conflicts among union members, poor cooperation among

the members in developing the brand; as no specific areas were highlighted in the

advertisements without affecting any community and any union (Ankita et al., 2008).

Consumer Advertising:

This type of advertising is primarily aimed at potential and loyal customers. Major portion of

the advertising budget is assigned for this type of advertising in the company. Amul, usually

http://www.amul.com/


have a very large customer base by region and also by financial status. Amul products are used

by all the age groups, all level people (high class, medium class, and low class), as such there is

more complexity in selecting the potential customers. Therefore, the company has been using

the middle class society as the potential consumers which form the major part of the Indian

population in this type of advertising. Though the company has been using this element, the

point here to be noted is that it is not advertising its products, but it is advertising its brand

(Ankita et al., 2008).

Institutional Advertising:

Large scale advertising to reach wide range of audiences uses this type of advertising technique,

which is also called as corporate advertising. Billboard and hoardings advertising of Amul

focusing on any recent controversial issue and making funny comments on the issues has been

liked by many audiences which are designed with a sense of humor. Few examples of such

hoardings are shown in the figure below:

Advertising – An indirect action:


This type of advertsing may not be effective in achieving the immediate behavioral change in

the buying behavior of consumers related to a product. The main aim of the Amul organization

is to create an everlasting image in the minds of consumers about its brand, as the part of long

term strategy, and it is for this reason, the company has not opted the aggressive selling

strategy.

Pricing Strategy:

The company’s major aim is to sell their high quality at low prices in the market. As the majority

of the Indian population includes middle class families, the low price strategy adopted by the

Amul, has been working very well. The Amul product pricing is too low because the suppliers of

raw materials are the owners of the company and they do not have any initial buing costs. And

due to this low priced strategy, its competitors are not able to take market share, because they

are not able to sell their products at such low prices being offered by Amul. Though they slightly

charge more than Amul by boasting about their excellent quality, Amul’s strong brand

attachment with the middle class population has been overtaking them. The company still uses

the same strategy as a part of its growth plans and brand extension.

Usually huge investments in the process of advertising are not really essential, if the company

has the ability to communicate about the core values of the business through its products as

the medium with the customers, which Amul is implementing successfully.

Amul’s Media communication channels:

After creating the effective advertising strategy, it is very important to take the right message

effectively to the right targeted audiences at right time through right medium. When this

process cannot be fulfilled, then there is no use of creating the advertisements. Amul is using

the following platforms in this process:

Billboards, hoardings in highly populated junctions

Advertising on televisions

Advertising in cinemas


Advertising in newspapers, magazines and also over the internet.

Independent websites and portals on the internet.

Using outdoor media in placing hoardings and billboards:

Hoardings are the preferred platforms of advertising by the company, since its formation. It

might soon enter in to the Guinness Book of World Records for using a single successful

promotional platform for long time. Hoardings are used as an effective mode of communicating

with wide range of audiences as they are filled with humor about controversial news at that

point of times. The hoardings are placed in busy junctions, public areas, in all the major cities

and the two-tiered cities of the country. Sometimes these type of hoardings could be

controversial, however with good values and correct amount of humor, this campaign is still

continuing without any problems, and the following figure shows the few examples of

hoardings:


Internet Marketing:

E-business has been increasingly adopted by many companies to increase their sales and to

maintain their competitive advantage. Amul, has also being using the benefits of internet

marketing and has developed a website, where the users can get the information about

different products, and can buy in the quantity preferred by them. Suhrud (2006) analyzed the

major benefits of Amul online shopping, which includes:

“Reusable Styrofoam ice is used in shipping the products to maintain the same quality

(for extra US$ 10.00)

Free icepack which can be reused for storing different food products.

Home delivery process saves time, so that customers can find it easy.


Free promotional offers are given to customers every order they place over the internet.

A family pass is given for free, using which the family can visit Amul production plants,

when orders are placed online.

There is no sales tax added for the products when bought online.”

Virtual parlors are now being planned as the process of deploying new technologies in the

marketing systems.

4.7. Brand Equity and Brand Personality: The core business values of Amul are described in the following statements:

Providing the best returns possible to the suppliers of the company.

Providing the best quality products to the customers

Providing the best prices for their products

The major vales and terns are same for the company since its formation, but the other

functions like advertising modes and types, strategies are frequently revised according to the

changes in the market place. Da Cunha and FCB Ulka are the two main advertising agencies of

Amul, which have not changed for long time. This gives more flexibility in the process of

advertising as the relations between the company and advertising agencies are growing

stronger day by day (Amul, 2010).

Sources of Brand Equity:

Effective brand name which can easily penetrate in to the consumers, offering high quality

products at low prices, ensuring the products availability are the major factors which led to the

company in earning strong brand equity among the other competitors in the market. When a

brand has to be judged by the easiness to recall and easiness in understanding the company’s

business values, then Amul can be said to have a strong and effective brand. Its unique

advertising of making funny comments weekly on the controversial news, Amul has restated

the advertising process in India.


Umbrella branding strategy has helped the company in better positioning its brand in the

market, though there is wide range of products being marketed, which has not created any

confusion among the people regarding the brand. Companies usually spend about 7 to 8 per

cent of their revenues on the advertisements, but contradiction to this process Amul has never

spent more than 1 per cent of its revenues on the advertising. This reflects the company’s

ability in improving brand through cost-leadership strategy combined with unique

advertisement strategy. Ankita et al. (2008) analyzed few success factors of Amul, which are:

“Being one of the largest and oldest food companies in India.

Low product pricing for high quality products.

Being the World’s largest pouched milk brand.

Diverse and large range of products

Effective distribution network

Finally, the unique advertising strategy, which makes the brand more distinctive from

other brands.”

Mental Map:

The core business values and brand propositions of an organization can be shown graphically

using the mental maps. This could be specifically designed for a product or for a range of

products. Amul’s butter product mental map is shown as an example in the following figure:


Brand Mantra:

The effective business values, brand propositions and influential features, when added to the

process of branding can achieve the brand mantra for an organization. Ankita et al. (2008)

explained the brand mantra of Amul, as the five points, shown below:

Customer based Brand Equity:

Ankita et al. (2008), defined the customer based brand equity as the effect which can be

differentiated, based on the customer response and perception during the marketing of a

brand. Amul’s customer brand equity is analyzed under the following factors.


Differential Effect: Amul has placed its brand distinctive to the other brands, in terms of

advertising, product mix, product quality and also marketing process.

Brand knowledge: The brand knowledge is about how effective the consumers know

about a brand. The way the consumers perceive a brand plays a major role, and for the

consumers to perceive it in the right way, the companies have to effectively

communicate about its core business values to the customers. Amul has placed strong

brand knowledge among its consumers.

Consumer response to marketing: Amul’s products are always the first choice of the

wide range of consumers. It is the quality that makes it more effective in better

preferred by the consumers than other brands.

Amul has achieved strong customer based brand equity in all the elements of customer brand

equity pyramid shown in the following figure:

4.8. Competitors: As analyzed by Ankita et al. (2008), the major competitors of Amul are shown in the figure

below:


Though different multi-national companies have their operations in India, Amul has placed itself

as the market leader for more than 40 years because of its unique and distinctive approaches

explained in the above sections (Partani, 2008). Partani (2008) analyzed some few effective tag

lines used by different companies and compared with Amul, as shown in the following figure:


Through its low pricing strategy, effective communication techniques, Amul has remained as

the market leader for long time, sustaining the competition from many big brands like Nestle,

Cadbury’s, Nutralite etc.

4.9. Chapter’s summary: The branding strategy, marketing strategy, communication strategy of Amul has been discussed

in this chapter, and these strategies are very much unique and distinctive in nature, and are

effective in achieving the goals of the company.


Chapter 5

Survey results analysis:


In investigating the brand value of Amul, as it is perceived by the consumers, a survey

questionnaire is developed, to which the results are explained in this chapter.

5.1. Sampling overview: Sampling:

In the beginning the survey link through emails was forwarded to 48 people, but due to leas

time, snow ball sampling technique is used to gather better response rate. A note is presented

in the email requesting the email recipient to forward the email to his/her friends and other

people. Thus a sample rate of 128 has been achieved at the end of the survey process.

Questionnaire Design:

The questionnaire is designed at www.surveymonkey.com, where a link to the survey is

generated. The survey link, with the survey purpose is written in emails and forwarded to

different consumers in India. The questionnaire has 19 questions in total, among which 5

questions request the participant’s personal details, while remaining 14 questions are related

to the idea of investigating the consumers’ perception of Amul brand.

Sample and response rate:

The survey link is initially forwarded to 48 people, and because of using snowball sampling

technique, the response rate of 128 has been achieved.

5.2. Descriptive Statistics: Age:

The following figure shows the respondents who fall in to different age categories. 67

participants are in the age group of 18 to 35 years, followed by 38 participants under age group

of 35 to 50 years, 23 participants under age group of 50 to 75 years, and zero participants aged

above 75 years.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/


Gender:

There are 96 male participants and 32 female participants in this survey as shown in the figure

below:

0

20

40

60

80

18-35 age group35-50 age group

50-75 age group75+ age group

67

38

23

0

AGE

96

32

Gender

Male

Female


5.3. Survey Results Analysis: The survey responses for each question is shown and discussed below:

1. Rate Amul’s approach in gathering the customer feedback through different communication

channels, about its products and services?

Understanding the customer needs and expectations is very important process in any

organization, which would help the organization in providing the products and services that

meet the customer needs and expectations, so that the customer loyalty for the brand will be

increasing. As per the responses collected, Amul’s approach in collecting the feedback is not

that effective as majority of the customers rated it under good and poor. Though the quality of

the products it sells is good, the company has to regularly be in touch with customers in

collecting their feedback to improve their services and products.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Excellent very good good poor very poor

12

32

51

33

0


2. Amul understands their consumer needs and changing consumer behaviors. What do you

think about the statement?

Sometimes organizations studies the changing consumer behavior and needs by outsourcing

the analyzing and survey responsibilities to other organizations rather than directly interacting

with their customers. Based on the survey results they change their products and services

according to the changing needs and expectations of the consumers. Therefore, this question

analyzes whether or not the Amul, is really focused on serving the customer needs or not.

Majority of the participants think that Amul understands the changing consumer needs, but at

the same time there are considerable number of participants nearly 32 per cent of the

participants thinks that it does not. This is somewhere the organization has to be more focused

rather than just providing high quality products.

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 0

87

41


3. Is there a need for Amul to offer discounted prices to get more new customers and also to

retain the existing customers?

When the companies usually losing customers or facing high competition, they reduce their

product prices and offers discounts to attract more number of customers and to retain existing

customers. Amul is already having a strong customer base, therefore it may not need to reduce

their product prices; but considering the competition from multi-national organizations, there

could be a very less probability for doing this to sustain the competitive advantage. As per the

researcher’s thoughts, majority of the participants stated that it is not necessary to reduce the

price, which reflects the best pricing strategy of Amul, which is satisfying many customers.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

yes no

12

116


4. Rate the Amul’s brand value under the following options?

Majority of the participants think that Amul has an excellent brand value. About 76.5 per cent

of the participants contributed excellent and very high options. But still there are few

participants who think that the Amul’s brand value is either average or poor. Amul should

target those small sections in effectively communicating its brand propositions to those section

people, who think that it is of poor value.

Most of the participants rated that the brand value of the Amul is very high which reflects the

effective branding process adopted by Amul.

Series 10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Excellent very high Average poor don’t know

66

32

23

7 0


5. Rate the product’s quality manufactured by Amul under the following options?

More than 90 per cent of the participants stated that the quality of the products manufactured

by Amul are excellent and very good, and the responses to this question reflects the strong

brand value of Amul in terms of its product quality among the consumers, as there is no

participant who stated the quality as poor or very poor.

6. Rate the Amul’s Pricing Strategy in marketing all its products under the following options?

Amul has always adopted low pricing strategy to target the middle class families, which for the

major part of Indian population. As the supplies costs are less, due to most of the cooperative

members are the suppliers, the company can offer its products at a very low costs. And the

pricing strategy is comparatively good because knowing that they offer high quality products,

unlike other organizations which would increase the prices to achieve greater profit margin,

0

20

40

60

80

100


97

21

10 0 0


Amul has continuously maintaining low prices for its products. This is evident from the results

shown in the following figure, as majority of the participants think that it is excellent and very

good strategy.

7. Amul’s different advertisements – do you like them?

Majority of the participants stated that they like Amul’s advertisements. As discussed in the

case study Amul follow a unique and distinctive approach in advertising its brand rather than its

products. It uses Umbrella strategy in the process of advertising its brand, which is more

effective in reality, as it is evident from the steady increase in the Amul brand value.

0

20

40

60

80

100


84

32

11 1 0


8. Rate the Amul’s advertisements on electronic media?

Amul mainly concentrates on advertisements through hoardings and bill boards. It uses other

media to a low extent. Majority of the customers feel that the Amul’s advertisements on

electronic media are average, poor and very poor. This reflects the customers’ perception of

Amul’s advertising on electronic media. Therefore similar to the unique approach deployed in

hoardings and billboards, something distinctive in nature should be advertised on electronic

media, which can grab the attention of viewers.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

yes no

103

25


9. Rate the Amul’s advertisements on hoardings and billboards?

As seen in the examples presented in the case study, Amul uses funny comments on the

controversial news, which gains the attention of many people due to its humorous nature.

Amul is using this advertising base since its formation, and it is strongly a major asset in

advertising which makes the brand distinctive from others. As expected, majority of the

customers rated it as excellent and very good, with very few participants rating as poor.

0

20

40

60

80

Excellent very good good average poor very poor

9 1

16

71

23

8


10. Rate the advertisements of Amul in cinemas and other community centers?

Short video ads played in the cinemas, can be a process of targeting the focused customers.

This could be a part of focused advertising strategy. Amul’s targeted customers are middle class

families who might not frequently go for cinemas. However, the advertising in any medium

should be effective, if not it might affect the brand. Majority of the participants rated the

cinema advertising as average and poor. Therefore Amul has to balance its advertising quality

across all the mediums.

0

20

40

60

80


73

31

14 8

2 0


11. What flashes in your mind when you think about Amul?

This question can analyze how good the Amul has taken its business values and brand

propositions in to the people’s minds. Because this reflects the way a consumer perceives the

brand Amul. Majority of the participants stated good quality, which is a good response for the

company. There are good number of responses received for brand name and advertisements

which is also good.

0

20

40

60

80

100


0

21 11

86

9 1

0

20

40

60

80

100

a particularproduct of

Amul

brand name good quality Amuladvertisements

other(commented

nothing)

13 21

81

13

0


12. Do you think Amul plays an effective role in being socially responsible?

Organization using other means like donating to charity, zero carbon stores etc., to increase

their brand image in the society. As far as Amul is concerned there are not much social

programs being undertake. As expected majority of the participants think that Amul is not

being socially responsible, though it has been achieving good profits but not investing in

community development programs.

13. Are Amul products are unique in nature and different from other products in the market?

Amul products are known for their high quality, which is distinctive in nature when compared

with other products. But as far as the uniqueness is concerned there are different similar

products available in the market. But it always depends on how consumers perceive the

branded product. The results are too complex to analyze as considerable number of

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

yes no

111

17


participants stated both yes and no. Therefore the products distinctiveness can be

misunderstood as uniqueness by many consumers in the market.

14. How do you rate the brand value of the Amul when compared with the other competitors

(e.g. Britannia, Mother Diary) offering the similar products?

As explained in the case studies, Amul due to its low pricing strategy, and maintaining high

quality in their products, the company is still the market leader and owns more than 86 per

cent of the market share. In supporting the discussion made many customers feel that the

Amul’s brand is far better and excellent when compared with its competitors which even

include multi-national companies.

58

60

62

64

66

68

yes no

67

61


5.4. Summary of results: Amul has been enjoying huge market share due to its high quality product offering at low

prices, and distinctive advertising, which has made it efficient enough in sustaining competition

from multi-national organizations like Nestle, Britannia, Cadbury’s etc. The company as the part

of growth strategy, increasing the number of its stores in order to increase its products

reachability to the customers. Amul’s advertisements are excellent on hoardings and billboards,

but in other media, the company has to improve its ways of advertising. Amul has to make its

presence felt in the social activities as a part of corporate responsibility for the betterment of

the society. The company should also increase its interaction with customers, in the process of

understanding their needs.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Excellent very high average low very low

85

23

12 8 0


Chapter 6

Recommendations & Conclusion:


6.1. Analysis: The major outcomes of the research study are explained as follows:

Amul’s low price branding strategy is effective among certain group of customers, but

from the survey results there are still some considerable group of consumers who are

not really happy with the prices offered by the Amul. These groups might usually involve

lower middle class families who may not be able to buy the products with minimum

costs.

The company’s approach in analyzing the customer needs is not effective as most of the

survey participants stated that there is no direct interaction from the company in

analyzing their needs.

Though Amul spend less than 1 per cent of its revenue on advertising which is more

effective in interacting with customers, there should be a balance in advertising through

different channels. Only the hoardings and billboard advertisements are mainly liked by

the survey participants.

Though the company has been experiencing the increasing sales and profits, it has not

been actively taking part in social development programs like charities, community

development programs etc.

To better reach the consumers, Amul has been opening the Amul parlors, where the

customers can exclusively find Amul products.

6.2. Recommendations: Based on the information gathered and analyzed, following recommendations are presented to

Amul’s management in improving its operations across different areas of brand management.

Low pricing strategy may not be always successful. There are considerable numbers of

consumers who are not happy with the pricing strategy of Amul, when compared with


its competitors. Therefore to sustain the competitive advantage and to maintain strong

customer loyalty, the company must regularly review its pricing strategy.

The competitors of Amul are changing their symbolic and functional attributes of their

brand to achieve more customer loyalty. They are focusing on developing unique and

distinctive products, like different types of ice creams, soft drinks etc., but Amul has

been maintaining the same product mix for long time, which has to be reviewed and

possible changes have to be deployed to sustain the competition.

Discount pricing has never been the part of Amul’s marketing strategy, as it mainly

depends on its cost-leadership strategy and offering high quality products. But in order

to gather the attention of new customers, and to retain the existing customers, discount

pricing is essential.

Unique advertising on a single communication mode is not always beneficial. There

should be a balanced proportion of advertisements through different communication

channels. Therefore, the company has to work effectively in deploying the elements of

uniqueness and distinctiveness among all its advertisements through different

communication channels.

As far as the social responsibilities are concerned, Amul has a still long way to go. As per

the changing views of consumers, taking part in social activities like charity donations,

and social development programs can improve the brand image in the society.

The company in its domestic market uses the word Amul as the brand name, which

could be more effective in domestic market as it is retrieved from Sanskrit language,

which is known to be the oldest, and god’s own language. But in the process of

internationalizing its operations, it has to choose different brand name which has more

impact on the cultural and social factors in that foreign market.

The quality of its products must continue to be the same, and if possible should be

increased, so that the customers would continue to like the brand as it is of very good

quality and available at low prices.


6.3. Conclusion: The main aim of this research is to assess the Amul’s brand strategy and the analysis of

consumers’ perception of Amul brand. In this process, different literature related to the brand

management techniques and operations is discussed, so that the researcher would have more

idea about the research topic, which would help the researcher in collecting the primary data.

The primary data in this research is collected through an online based survey, and the outcome

of the survey is explained, which has some strong and weak points. The secondary data is

collected from different sources like books, journals, previous research papers, online articles,

magazine articles etc. This information was useful in better evaluating the Amul brand and its

core values. As per te information reviewed, Amul has been ensuring high quality and low

prices in its products, with unique advertising through hoardings and billboards, but in other

marketing areas like analyzing customer needs, increasing the direct communication links

between the company and the customers, poor advertising in e-media, are few other major

issues, which need to be revised and improved. From the information reviewed and collected,

some recommendations are then suggested to Amul’s management in improving their

processes in brand management.

.


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