1.

ALL ABOUT BRANDING

The term brand means different things to the different roles of buyer and seller, with
buyers generally associating brand with a product or service, and merchants associating
brand with identity. Brand can also identify the company behind the specific product --
that's not just a biscuit, that's Britannia biscuit. This use of brand puts a "face" behind the
name, so to speak, even if the "face" is the result of advertising copy and television
commercials. This use of brand also says nothing of quality, just the buyer's exposure to
the brand's PR and media hype. For the typical merchant, branding is a way of taking
everything that is good about the company -- positive shopping experience,
professionalism, superior service, product knowledge, whatever the company decides is
important for a customer to believe about the company -- and wrapping these
characteristics into a package that can be evoked by the brand as signifier.

1.1 Introduction to Branding

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as A name, term, sign, symbol or
design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller
or group and to differentiate them to those for competitors. A brand is thus a product or
service thats adds a Dimension that differentiates it in some way from other products or
services designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be functional, rational,
or tangible- relate to product performance of the brand.

Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one
producer to those of another. The earliest signs of branding can be traced to Europe where
the medieval guilds required that craftsmen put trademarks on their product to protect
themselves and producer against inferior quality substitutes. Also in fine arts branding
began with artists signing their works. Brands today play a number of important roles that
improve the consumers lives and enhance the financial value of firms.

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Brands identify the source or maker of the product and allow consumers-either individual
or organizations- to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor.
Consumers may evaluate the identical product differently depending how it is branded.
Consumers lean about the brand with its past experience and the marketing program. As
consumers lives becomes more complicated, time starved the ability of brand to simplify
decision making is invaluable. Brands also perform valuable functions for the firm. First
they simplify the product handling and tracing. Brands help to organize inventory and
accounting records. The brand name can be protected registered trademarks. The
intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and can reap
the benefits over a long period of time.

Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the
product again. Brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm
and creates barriers to entry that makes it difficult for other firms to enter the market.
This brand loyalty can translate into willingness to pay higher price. In this sense
branding can be seen as powerful means to secure a competitive advantage. Brands
represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property that can influence consumers
behavior. Strong brand results in better earnings and profit performance for firms, which
in turn, creates greater value for shareholders.

How do you BRAND a product? Although firms provide the impetus to brand creation
through marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that
resides in the mind of the consumers. A brand is a perpetual identity that is rooted in
reality but reflects the perceptions and perhaps even the ultimate choice of the consumers.
Branding is endowing products and services with the power of brands. To brand a
product, it is necessary to teach the consumers who the product-by giving a name.
Branding involves creating mental structures and helping consumers organize their
knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and
in process provides value to the firm

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Branding can be applied virtually anywhere a consumer has a choice. It is possible to
brand:
A physical good (Nestle soup, Pantene shampoo or Maruti Swift),
A service (Kingfisher Airlines, TATA AIG medical insurance),
A store (Big Bazaar, BATA stores),
A place (The state of Kerala, Pushkar Mela),
A person (Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar),
An organization (UNICEF or BCCI),

Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that you associate
with the company or a product. When you think of Volvo, you think of safety. When you
think of Nike, you think of Michael Jordon or Just Do It. When you think of IBM, you
think of Big Blue. The fact that you remember the brand name and have positive
associations with that brand makes your product selection easier and enhances the value
and satisfaction you get from product.

While Brand X cola or even Pepsi-Cola may win blind taste tests over Coca-Cola, the fact
is that more people buy Coke than any other Cola. The fond memories of childhood and
refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a little
bit better cola taste. It I this emotional relationship with brands that make them so
powerful.

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1.2 Purpose of Branding

The purpose of branding is to create a powerful and lasting emotional connection with
customers and other audiences. A brand is a set of elements or brand assets that in
combination create a unique, memorable, unmistakable, and valuable relationship
between an organization and its customers. The brand is carried by a set of compelling
visual, written and vocal tools to represent the business plan and intentions of an
organization.

Branding is the voice and image that represents your business plan to the outside world.
What your company, products and services stand for should all be captured in your
branding strategy, and represented consistently throughout all your brand assets and in
your daily marketing activities

The brand image that carries this emotional connection consists of the many manageable
elements of branding system, including both visual image assets and language assets. The
process of managing the brand to the business plan is important not only in big change
situation where the brand redefinition is required, but also in the management of routine
marketing variables and tactics. This does not have to be a ground-up situation where
there are wholesale changes to the business. Rather it is more common that specific
changes to the changes to the business plan are incremental and the work of the brand
strategist and designer is to interpret these changes and revise the branding strategy and
resulting brand assets and define their use in the full range of marketing variables.

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1.3 Brand Identity

Brand Identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations, and brand
personality, brand toons etc. A good brand name gives a good first impression and evokes
positive associations with the brand. A positioning statement tells what business the
company is in, what benefits it provides and why it is better than the completion? Brand
personality adds emotion, culture and myth to brand identity by the use of a famous
spokesperson (Bill Cosby-Jello), a character (Pink Panther), an animal (the Merrill lynch
bull) etc.

Brand associations are the attributes that costumer thinks of when they hear or see the
brand name. McDonalds television are a series of one brand association after another,
starting in yellow arches in the low right corner of the screen and following with
associations of Big Mac, Ronald MacDonald, kids, happy meal, food quality etc. The first
step in creating a brand for your company is branding workshop.

How do we determine our Brand Identity?

Brand has been called the most powerful idea in commercial world, yet few companies
create a brand identity. Do you want your companys brand identity created for you by
competitors and unhappy customers? Of course not. Our advice to executives is to
research their customers and find the top ranked reasons that the customers buy their
product rather than their competitors. Then, pound that message in every ad, in every
news release, in communications with employees and in every sales call or media
interview. By continuous repetition of messages customer will think of your product and
then buy it.

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1.4 Tools for Building Brand Identity
Brand builders use a set of tools to strengthen and project the brand image; Strong brands
typically exhibit an owned word, a slogan, a color, a symbol, and set of stories.

Owned Word
A strong brand name should trigger another word, a favorable one. Here is the list of
brands that own a word:

Company Word
Volvo Safety
BMW Driving performance
Mercedes Engineering
Federal Express Overnight
Apple computers Graphics
Lotus Spreadsheets
Kodak Film

Slogan
Many companies successfully added a slogan or tagline to their brand name which is
repeated in every ad they use. Here are some well-known brands slogans, which people
on the street may easily recall or recognize:

COMPANY SLOGAN
British Airways The worlds favorite airline
Ford Quality is our number one job
LIC Jeevan ke saath bhi jeevan ke baad bhi

Colors
It helps for a company or a brand to use a consistent set of color to and in the brand
recognition. Caterpillar paints all its construction equipments yellow. Yellow is the color
of Kodak film. IBM uses blue in its publications, and IBM is called Big Blues.

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Symbols and Logos
Companies would be wise to adapt a symbol or logo to use in their communications.
Many companies hire a well-known spokesperson, hoping that his or her quality transfer
to the brand. Nike uses Michael Jordon who has worldwide recognition and likableness,
to advertise its shoes. Sporting goods manufacturers sign contracts with top athletes to
serve as their symbols, even naming the product after them.

Cartoons and Animations

A less expensive approach is to develop a character, animated, to etch the brands image
into customers mind. The advertising agency Leo Burnett has successfully created a
number of memorable animated characters. Here are some well known brand cartoons
which people may recognize:

Company Cartoon or Animation

ICICI Prudential Chintamani
Amul Butter Utterly Butterly Girl
McDonalds Ronald
All Out mosquito Repellent Louis
Pillsbury Doughboy
7 Up Fido Dido

Objects
Still another approach is to choose an object to represent a company or brand. The
travelers insurance company uses an umbrella, suggesting that buying insurance is
equivalent to having an umbrella available when it rains. The prudential insurance
company features the rock of Gibraltar, suggesting that buying an insurance is equivalent
to owing a peace of rock which is of course, solid ad dependable. Companies have
developed many logos or abstracts, which are easily remembered by people. Even the
way the brand name is written makes a brand recognizable and memorable.

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1.5 Brand Effectiveness
With an increase in global competition, branding has become a source of competitive
advantage. In rapidly evolving market for consumer, and industrial products and services,
the source of next generation competency will be branding. In this briefing we
demonstrate how to calculate the brand strength, the price premium associated with the
products categories, and type of customers attracted to the Premium Products.
Marketers who match their brand with customers needs will have a sustainable
competitive advantage.

Measuring Brand Effectiveness

There are many metrics to measure the potential of and actual effectiveness of brands.
The simplest way is to apply the concept of what we call the 4 Ds of Branding;
differentiation, distinctiveness, defendable, digit-able.

Distinctiveness: your brand should be distinct when compared to your

competitors and to all spoken and visual communications to which your target
audiences will be exposed. The more unique and distinct your communications,
the wider the filed of effective competitive strength it will have. There are simple
means to apply to test the distinctiveness of your brand.

Differentiation: the brand strategy and brand assets must set youre offering apart
and clearly articulate the specific positioning intent of your offering.

Defendable: you will be investing in creating your brand assets and in all cases
your brand must have proprietary strength to keep others from using close
approximations. This applies to your trade names and other proprietary words as
well as to your logos, symbols and other visual assets.

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 Digit-able: in most businesses there is strong and growing element of electronic
communications and commerce that dictate all brand assets be leveraged
effectively in tactile and electronics form. This goes for all brand assets.

Much of the brand managers work is to build a brand image. But its job doesnt stop
there. The brand manager needs to make sure that brand experience matches the brand
image. Much can go wrong. A fine brand of canned soup described in a full page color ad
may be found in dented and dusty condition in the bottom shelf of a supermarket. The ad
describing a gracious hotel chain is belied by the behavior of a surly concierge.

Building brand therefore calls for more than brand image building. It calls for managing
every brand contact that customer might have with brand. Since all the employees,
distributors and dealers can affect brand experience.

1.6 Brand and Reputation

A brand exists in the mind, or not at all. The mind it exists in may be that of a customer, a
potential customer, an interested observer, a disinterested observer... or almost anybody.

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

may make. People are aware of the Mercedes car brand, but cannot envisage any
circumstance under which they would (could!) buy a Mercedes. They are aware of
Marlboro (and scores of other cigarette brands) but as a non-smoker they will never
convert their awareness into purchase. Male with no children are not targeted by Pampers
or Huggies but still are aware of the brands.

People wear many hats. But are or not a potential customer. People may be an employee,
an investor, a citizen, a husband and so on. They hate McDonalds hamburgers but might
love their stock market record and therefore be a potential customer for their stock. They
will never buy a Boeing 777 but might be impressed by the aircraft and favor an airline
that flies them. They have no idea what an Intel chip is, but might be persuaded that it is a
good thing to have in my PC and therefore buy a computer from a company that uses
them.

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Brand Aware argues that there is no difference between "Brand" and "Reputation". Some
conventional wisdoms state that customers buy brands, but that investors buy reputations.
Those potential employees join companies because of their reputation, that the media and
other "stakeholders" judge a company on its reputation in some way as a distinct concept
from its brand. This part argues that such distinctions are fallacious for all companies, but
especially for single brand companies such as a McDonalds, a Coca-Cola, a Compaq or a
Shell. These companies reputations are part and parcel of their brand. Their brands are
their reputation.

The Brand
To any individual a brand (in his mind) is a complex combination of experiences, beliefs,
perceptions and associations that have grown up over time. For example Coca-Cola is a
company brand, a product brand, a service brand and a brand with a long history. It is a
brand which may represent (to any one individual) diversity, internationality, technical
excellence, financial strength etc. etc. It may also mean insensitivity, environmental
pollution, abuse of power and other negative perceptions.

Perceiving the brand:

An individual builds up his perceptions of a brand via a wide range of communications
channels. They are as follows:

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

individual actually has a "Brand experience". The most obvious are: -
He visits a McDonalds restaurant or a Shell petrol station.
He buys a Coca-Cola branded product or service.
He views a Coca-Cola bottler's facility.
He visits a corporate website.
He attends an interview at the company.
He contacts the company office for information.
He meets an employee of the company.

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 He buys a share in the company, etc.

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

company/brand is active, or travels to one on business or vacation, will be
exposed to their advertising. This advertising may be in a wide range of media:
TV commercials for products and services
Recruitment ads inviting employment applications
"Corporate" TV commercials promoting the company's "reputation"
Web based advertising
An ad for the companys branded products or services in a wide variety of print
media.
Billboards on highways
Radio
Point of sale etc.

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

reports about companies in the media (print and broadcast) where the editorial
content is only partly influence able by the company (in some cases) or not at all
(in most cases). These stories will come from a variety of primary and secondary
sources: -
Press releases
Press conferences
Reporting of "events"
Investigative journalism
Stories passed to the media by third parties (Non governmental organizations etc.)

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

or from a specific business need, with famous companies (or to observe them) is
part of their job. They will usually procure their information from a variety of

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 sources and via a variety of channels of communication. These individuals have a
special interest in the companies and they include: -
Financial analysts and journalists with an interest in share performance
Existing or potential suppliers of products and services
Existing or potential industrial/commercial customers
1.7 Building the Brand
The art of marketing is largely art of brand building. When something is not a brand, it
will probably be viewed as a commodity. Then price is the thing that counts. When price
is the only thing that counts then the low cost producer wins. But just having a brand is
not enough. What does the brand name mean? What associations, performances and
expectations does it evoke? What degree of preferences does it create?

Choosing a Brand Name

A brand name first must be chosen then its various meanings and promises must be built
up through brand identity work. In choosing a brand name, it must be consistent with the
value positioning of the brand. In naming a product or service the company may face
many possibilities: it could choose name of the person (Honda, Calvin Klein), location
(American airlines), quality (Safety stores, Healthy choice), or an artificial name (Exxon,
Kodak).
Among the desirable qualities of a brand name. Some are:
It should suggest something about the product benefits.
It should suggest product qualities such action or color
It should be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember; short names help a lot to
recognize the product to the customers.
It should be distinctive.
It should not carry poor meanings in other countries and languages etc.

Building Positive Associations

The best known brand names carry associations. For example, here is a list of words that
people say they associate with McDonalds:
Kids

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 Fun
Happy Meal
Ronald Mc. Donald
Quality
Toys
In trying to build a rich set of positive associations for a brand, the brand builder should
consider five dimensions that can communicate meaning:

Attributes: A strong brand should trigger in buyers mind certain attributes. Thus
a Mercedes automobile attributes a picture of well-engineered car that is durable,
rugged and expensive. If a car brand does not trigger any attribute, then it would
be a weak brand.

Benefits: A strong brand should suggest benefits, not just features. Thus
Mercedes triggers the idea of well performing car that is enjoyable to drive and
prestigious to own.

Company Values: A strong brand should connote values that the company holds.
Thus Mercedes is proud of its engineers and engineering innovations and is very
organized and efficient in its operations. The fact that it is a German company
adds more pictures in the mind of the buyers about the character and the culture of
the brand.

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

Mercedes were a person we would think of someone who is middle age, serious,
well-organized and somewhat authoritarian. If Mercedes were an animal we might
think of lion or its implied personality.

Users: A strong brand should suggest the type of people who buy the brand. Thus
we would expect Mercedes to draw buyers who are older, affluent and
professional.

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In summary, brands when their very name connotes positive attributes, benefits, company
values, personality and users in the buyers mind. The brand builders job is to create a
brand identity that builds on those dimensions.

1.8 Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements are those trademarks devices that serve to identify and differentiate the
brand. Most strong brands employ multiple brand elements. Nike has distinctive
swoosh logo, the empowering Just Do It slogan and the mythological Nike name
based on the winged goddess of victory.

Brand element can be chosen to build as much as brand equity as possible. The test of the
brand building ability of these elements is what consumers think or feel about the product
if they only knew about the brand element. A brand element provides positive
contribution to brand equity.

Brand Element Choice Criteria

There are six criteria in choosing brand element. The first three can be characterized by
brand building in terms of how brand equity can be build through judicious choice of
brand element. The latter three are more defensive and are concerned with how the brand
equity contained in the brand element can be leveraged and preserved in the face of
various opportunities and constraints.

Memorable: How easily is the brand element recalled? How easily recognized?
Is this true at both purchase and consumption? Short brand name like tide, Nike
can help.

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

corresponding category? Does it suggest something about a product ingredient or
a type of person who might use the brand?

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 Likeability: How aesthetically appealing does consumers find the brand element?
Is it inherently likeable visually, verbally, and in other ways? Concrete brand
names such as Wheel, Sunsilk etc evoke much imagery.

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

same or different categories? To what extent does the brand element add to brand
equity across geographic boundaries and market segments?

Adaptable: How adaptable and updatable is the brand element? Betty corker
received 8 makeovers through the years-although she is 75 yrs old, she doesnt
look a day over 35.

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

protectable? Can it be easily copied? It is important that names that become
synonymous with product categories such as Kleenex, Xerox, Jell-O, etc retain
their trademarks rights and not become generic.

Brand elements can play a number of roles. If consumers do not examine much
information in making their product decisions, brand elements should be easily
recognized and recalled and inherently descriptive and persuasive. Memorable or
meaningful brand elements can reduce the burden on marketing communications to build
awareness and link brand associations. The different associations that arise from
likeability and appeal of the brand elements may also play a critical role in the equity of
brand.

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1.9 What is Brand Equity?

There is no universally accepted definition of brand equity. The term means different
things for different companies and products. However, there are several common
characteristics of the many definitions that are used today. From the following examples
it is clear that brand equity is multi-dimensional. There are several stakeholders
concerned with brand equity, including the firm, the consumer, the channel, and some
would even argue the financial markets. But ultimately, it is the consumer that is the most
critical component in defining brand equity. Some researchers in the field of marketing
have defined brand equity as follows:

Lance Leuthesser, et al (1995) writes that " brand equity represents the value (to
a consumer) of a product, above that which would result for an otherwise identical
product without the brand's name. In other words, brand equity represents the
degree to which a brand's name alone contributes value to the offering (again,
from the perspective of the consumer)."

The Marketing Science Institute (1988) defines brand equity as, "The set of
associations and behaviors on the part of the brand's customers, channel members,
and parent corporations that permit the brand to earn greater volume or greater
margins than it could without the brand name and that gives the brand a strong,
sustainable, and differentiated advantage over competitors."

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Brand equity can be defined as three distinct elements:
The total value of a brand as a separable asset -- when it is sold or included on a
balance sheet.
A measure of the strength of consumers' attachment to a brand.
A description of the associations and beliefs the consumer has about the brand.

Of those three concepts, the first can be classified as "brand valuation," the second "brand
loyalty," and the third "brand description." Brand loyalty will be a factor that affects the
overall brand value, and brand description will usually affect or explain some of the
brand loyalty. Because of the importance of each of these elements of brand equity, they
will each be briefly explained.

Brand Equity as Brand Value.

Brand value involves actually placing a dollar or rupee value on a brand name. The
reasons for doing this are usually to set a price when the brand is sold and also to include
the brand as an intangible asset on a balance sheet (a practice which is not used in some
countries). While there are many methods for making this measurement, some of which
will be described shortly, it is important to note that there is a significant difference
between an "objective" valuation created for balance sheet purposes, and the actual price
that a brand may get when sold?

A brand is likely to have a much greater value to one purchaser than another depending
on the synergy that exists. For acquisitions, the value of a brand to a certain purchaser is
often estimated through scenario planning. This involves determining what future cash
flows the company could achieve if it owned and took advantage of the brand.

What this means is that there is no such thing as an absolute value for a brand, and brand
value needs to be considered as only one component of the overall equity of a brand.

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Brand Equity as Brand Loyalty
Loyalty is a core dimension of brand equity and is a way to gauge the strength of a brand.
It represents a barrier to entry, a basis for a price premium, and time to respond to
competitive innovations. The variety of measures used for brand loyalty usually is a
combination of one or more of the following:

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

make consumers less sensitive to price increases than price increases for
competing brands.

Behavioral measures--focus on consumers' behavior.

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

'disliking.'

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

product category.

Brand Loyalty and Equity refer to the notion that some brands are "stronger" or
better than others.

An example of this sort of belief is:

If the businesses were split up, I would take the brands, trademarks and goodwill, and
you could have all the bricks and mortar - and I would fare better than you.
The optimism for the concept can be stated on the fact that when one would say as a
predictor of future financial performance, brand equity, if reported, would be valuable for
capital marketers and shareholders. Brand equity has the potential to become the set of
measures of business performance that matter most.

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The motivation for brand equity comes from the observation that many marketing efforts
"realize" benefits; such as sales or profit and these are accounted for in the firms profit
and loss figures. However, there is the possibility that management might choose between
taking realized benefits and "storing" them future. One of the most common times this
argument is used is when discussing the role of advertising versus sales promotion. You
could spend lots of money on advertising, see no immediate effects, but you could save
your job by saying that you had "built the brand". At least one advertising agency offers
to partner companies in this sort of activity.

So marketing strategies could be putting money into (or out of) the brand equity bank
account. But the question is as always how do we know? That is are we actually building
the brand with all our advertising (or other brand building 4 ps decisions e.g., limited /
premium distribution rights, high price, fancy packing, after sales service, extended
warranties).So, hopefully you have got the idea - theories about brand loyalty and equity
are used to represent aspects of brand strength.

This "strength" can take a number of forms, e.g., consumers predominantly buying your
brand, which might be represented by a high share of category requirements, or high
proportion of sole-buyers.

Consumers saying good things about your brand, e.g., having a positive brand Attitude, it
might be the ability to charge a price premium. It might be the ability to not be substituted
when out of stock. Future strength might be in terms of some sort of long-term
competitive advantage or the ability to sustain brand extensions.

One of the things is that as with many concepts in marketing, is that there are many
different definitions and viewpoints on what exactly brand equity is and how to measure
it. So that is a problem. We need to be clear just what people mean when they talk about
brand equity or brand loyalty, or building brands.

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Brand loyalty / Equity advocates
One of the ruses used by proponents of brand equity or loyalty is to claim that these
measures do not capture all the important aspects of brands strength. But this is an
evasion. We want to be able to detect that our efforts are doing something to the brand,
and so we need to know ways that this might show up in.

Brand Equity as Brand Description

Brand description, the final component of brand equity, concerns the actual attributes of
the brand. These attributes or associations are major creators of brand loyalty. A wide
variety of techniques exist for matching consumer associations with perceptions of a
brand. These techniques can be both qualitative and quantitative. They work by getting
the respondent to link each brand with pictures or words. These attributes then can be
measured with multi-dimensional scaling to position the attributes relative to one another.
Qualitative Measures of Brand Equity
The Brand Equity Ten are ten sets of measures grouped into five categories, which
attempt to gauge the strength of a brand. The first four categories represent
customer perceptions of the brand along the four dimensions of brand equity-
loyalty, perceived quality, associations and awareness. The fifth includes two sets
of market behavior measures.

Loyalty
Price Premium: A basic indicator of loyalty is the amount a customer will pay
for a product in comparison to other comparable products. A price premium can
be determined by simply asking consumers how much more they would be willing
to pay for the brand.

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

to existing customers. The focus can be the last use experience or simply the use
experience from the customer's view.

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Perceived Quality and Leadership Measures
Perceived Quality is one of the key dimensions of brand equity and has been
shown to be associated with price premiums, price elasticities, brand usage and
stock return. It can be calculated by asking consumers to directly compare similar
brands.

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

buying into the brand concept it must have merit. Second, leadership often taps
innovation within a product class. Third, leadership taps the dynamics of
consumer acceptance. Namely, people are uneasy swimming against the tide are a
likely to buy a popular product. This can be measured by asking consumers about
the product's leadership position, its popularity and its innovative qualities.

Associations/ Differentiation Measures

Perceived Value: This dimension simply involves determining whether the
product provides good value for the money and whether there are reasons to buy
this brand over competitive brands.
Brand Personality: This element is based on the brand-as-person perspective.
For some brands, the brand personality can provide links to the brands emotional
and self-expressive benefits.
Organizational Associations: This dimension considers the type of organization
that lies behind the brand.

Awareness Measures
Brand awareness reflects the salience of the product in the consumer's mind and
involves various levels including recognition, recall, brand dominance, and brand
knowledge and brand opinion.

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Market Behavior Measures
Market Share: The performance of a brand as measured by market share often
provides a valid and dynamic reflection of the brand's standing with customers.

Price and Distribution indices: Market share can prove deceptive when it
increases as a result of reduced prices or promotions. Calculating market price and
distribution coverage can provide or more accurate picture of the product's true
strength. Relative market price can be calculated by dividing the average price at
which the product was sold during the month by the average price at which all the
brands were sold.

Managing Brand Equity

Consistency is the key to successfully building and managing brand equity. Having a
long-term outlook and projecting a consistent image of your brand to the customer will
maximize the results of building brand equity. It is critical for managers to realize that
brand equity can have positive as well as negative effects on a product or company. In the
end, it is the customer that truly defines what brand equity means.

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

it must be careful not to change too quickly. There are many examples of companies that
have changed a product or brand too much or too quickly. On these occasions, consumers
met changes with adverse reactions. The most famous example is Coca-Cola. They
changed the formula of their flagship product Coke, and consumers reacted so poorly to
the new product that the old formula was reintroduced and the new formula eventually
was discontinued. The consumer through the product experiences brand equity. The
product has certain attributes or characteristics that deliver the equity to the consumer. If
any of these attributes are changed or eliminated, the equity delivered to the consumer is
also changed.

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

many brand managers are forced to focus on short-term goals such as market share and
profits. Many programs that are implemented to boost short-term sales or market share

22
may be detrimental to the long-term viability of the brand. For example, Proctor &
Gamble has started to test market a program to move away from using coupons to a
system of every day low prices. This is, in part, because consumers may become loyal to
the coupon or promotion and not to the product itself. Constant promotional programs
erode margins and eventually brand loyalty. Ultimately, brand equity is damaged.

In 1988, Graham Phillips, Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide, said, "I doubt that
many would welcome a commodity marketplace in which one competed solely on price,
promotion and trade deals, all of which can be easily duplicated by competition. This
would lead to ever decreasing profits, decay, and eventual bankruptcy. About the only
aspect of the marketing mix that cannot be duplicated is a strong brand image." This
quote clearly demonstrates the importance of managing brand equity. In many categories,
brand equity is the only point of differentiation between products.

Many people may think that building and maintaining brand equity is solely the
responsibility of brand managers, but it is actually a cross-functional team effort.
Financial managers are important because they can fully analyze the costs of maintaining
and building brand equity. For example, launching a new brand is extremely consuming
in terms of money and time. It may be more cost effective to extend a current brand than
introduce a new brand. Marketing research is critical for many obvious reasons. It
develops most, if not all, of the research and data that companies will use for deciding
strategic issues. Marketing research can also help determine how brand equity is actually
measured. Once a definition of brand equity is established, the responsibility of tracking

23
 9.

1.10 The World Strongest Brand Share 10 Attributes

The brand excels at delivering the benefits consumers truly desire.
The brand stays relevant.
The pricing strategy is based on consumer perceptions of value.
The brand is properly positioned.
The brand is consistent.
The brand portfolio and hierarchy makes sense.
The brand makes use of and co-ordinates a full repertoire of marketing activities
to build equity.
The brand is given proper, sustained support.
The brands manager understands what the brand means to customers.
The company monitors source of brand equity.

Branding benefits buyers as well as sellers in the following manner

To Buyer:
Help buyers identify the product that they like/dislike.
Identify marketer
Helps reduce the time needed for purchase.
Helps buyers evaluate quality of products especially if unable to judge products
characteristics.
Helps reduce buyers perceived risk of purchase.
Buyer may derive a psychological reward from owning the brand, i.e., Rolex or
Mercedes.

24
To Seller:
Differentiate product offering from competitors
Helps segment market by creating tailored images, i.e., Contact lenses
Brand identifies the companies products making repeat purchases easier for
customers.
Reduce price comparisons
Brand helps firm introduce a new product that carries the name of one or more of
its existing products...half as much as using a new brand, lower co. designs,
advertising and promotional costs. Example, BPL telephones.
Easier cooperation with intermediaries with well known brands
Facilitates promotional efforts.
Helps foster brand loyalty helping to stabilize market share.
Firms may be able to charge a premium for the brand.

25
 2. ALL ABOUT TOON BRANDING

2.1 Toon Branding

Looks like the ad industry cant have enough of animation. Digital characters are fast
stepping into the realm of corporate brands.

Hutchs Boy-Girl duo, the claymation Chintamani of ICICI, The toons in All Out
Mosquito repellent ad, as well as the classic Asian paints ex-mascot Gattoo, the Amul
girl, the Handiplast Boy, Fido-Dido of 7-Up etc are some of the examples of the toons
used for marketing the product.

Most advisers are using animation for top of the mind recall says McCann Ericksons
Prasoon Joshi. McCanns new commercial for Coca-Colas vanilla variant has the model
blowing animated, heart-shaped kisses for the audience.

Toon illustrations create excitement, and also serve as a memory hook to pick a
particular brand from clutter.

Kelloggs animated kid and bear are intertwined in peoples minds. Nike also used
swoosh logo sign to bring immediate recall value, while the Claymation characters Of
Amaron, an O&M creative, pick on sleeping politicians to get their value across. O&Ms
Piyush Pandey says his firm encourages the idea of breaking form. Creative people have
to look at different ways to get message across, and if that means exploring other forms
of art, then why not?

HLLs Annapoorna uses Flintstone like characters to drive its USP. Industry officials say
animation could be used as creative idea to express a particular value, or it could be a
sacrosanct image, almost becoming part of the logo of the brand like A-I am Maharaja
or Amul Girl.

26
As mnemonics flow thick and fast characters get established in the consumers mind.
However at times they are given a hasty burial. Asian Paints Gattoo was the rage, but the
kid was killed after he was linked to child labour.

First it was retro advertising, and then there was the trend of using real kids. The ad
worlds latest obsession is with animation. Be it Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat
asking Fido to make her more curvy or Aishwarya Rai diving into the sea with a Frisbee
or, for that matter, an animated poodle talking to Rani Mukherjee and her gang of friends
in the Fanta commercial- theyve all got the cool punch with animation.

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

Prudentials Chintamani and Anand Rathi Securities happening in the past few months,
companies across sectors are more willing than ever before to use animation in their ad
films.

The number of animation ad films produced per year in the past five years has increased
at least eight times and feature films like Hum Tum (had cartoons of Saif Ali Khan And
Rani Mukherjee coming in between the film)are backing the overall trend around
animation.

We used to do three animation ad films a year five years ago, now its two every
month, says, E.Suresh. Creative director. Famous House of Animation, a division of
Famous Studios.

Animation is no kid stuff anymore. One sees a fair number of youth and adult targeted
content happening in the form of animation in films and TV shows these days, says
Rahul Welde, general manager, media. Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Mr.Welde claims to have used animation where it could add to the creative quotient of
the commercial which give something unexpected to the audience.

27
Gross thinks at time look cute in animation rather than the real thing, say in case of a fat
man, the Chintamani ad was initially a radio jingle. With Claymation (clay + animation),
it broke the clutter and became likeable in a very non-financial advertising style, says
Abhishekh Bhatia, director marketing, Prudential Assurance, Malaysia, who was then
involved in launching the campaign from ICICI Prudential.

The contribution to the sales of pension schemes of the group rose 30% after the
campaign. The popularity of cartoons among youngsters- a gradual transformation over
the past few years- Kill Bill, Lion King, Shrek, Run Lola Run, all of which have cutting
edge animation. Moreover, most of the global award winning campaigns have used
animation extensively, be it Euro RSCGs Waterboy, Grrr Honda, Unileaf Tea or Levis
Mr.Lova Lova.

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

style and a lot of people are catching on it but this is not the end of it, points Ashish
Chakravarty, head creative, Contract Advertising. There are other viewpoints too. Its a
nice way of doing a boring script. But there are scripts that needs animation to prove the
point as in the case of Oye Bubbly (Pepsi Commercial) last year, says Anuja Chauhan,
VP and Senior Creative Director at JWT.

Besides the advantage of visual appeal, many complex issues, such as stunts, can be done
away with, with the use of animation- for instance the stunt in the Lux Commercial
couldnt be done so perfectly by the real character (here Aishwarya Rai) vis--vis the
animated character. Animation ad also helps keep costs down. Industry sources say a
simple animation ad is less expensive than an ad with decent production quality that costs
around Rs. 70-80 Lakh. Animated ones cost around Rs. 30-40lakh on an average.

However, what creative directors hate about animation is the fact that it takes a lot more
time For A Fido itself, we need to work for three weeks to get it absolutely right, says
Chauhan of JWT

28
 2.2 CASE STUDY
AMUL BUTTER GIRL
(The moppet who put Amul on India's breakfast table)

50 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000
tonnes a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tonnes a year in 1997. No other brand
comes even close to it. All because a thumb-sized girl climbed on to the
hoardings and put a spell on the masses.

Bombay (Summer of 1967) : A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old
housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her
neighbors on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger
by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the
commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her
four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. "It was
the first Amul hoarding that was put up in Mumbai," recalls Sheela Mane. "People loved
it. I remember it was our favorite topic of discussion for the next one week! Everywhere
we went somehow or the other the campaign always seemed to crop up in our
conversation."

Call her the Friday to Friday star. Round eyed, chubby cheeked, winking at you, from
strategically placed hoardings at many traffic lights. She is the Amul moppet everyone
loves to love (including prickly votaries of the Shiv Sena and BJP). How often have we
stopped, looked, chuckled at the Amul hoarding that casts her sometime as the coy, shy
Madhuri, a bold sensuous Urmila or simply as herself, dressed in her little polka dotted
dress and a red and white bow, holding out her favourite packet of butter.

For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact.
So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for
being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came
when a British company launched butter and called it Utterly Butterly, last year.

29
It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the
advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had
been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier
advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine,
corporate ads.

One of the first Amul hoardings

In India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken
too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image.
The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a
campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.
The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the
Polson butter girl. This one was sexy, village belle, clothed in a tantalizing choli all but
covering her upper regions. "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and I decided that we
needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a
little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha. And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet
was born.

That October, lamp kiosks and the bus sites of the city were splashed with the moppet on
a horse. The baseline simply said, Thorough bread, Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul,. It
was a matter of just a few hours before the daCunha office was ringing with calls. Not
just adults, even children were calling up to say how much they had liked the ads. "The
response was phenomenal," recalls Sylvester daCunha. "We knew our campaign was
going to be successful."

30
For the first one year the ads made statements of some kind or the other but they had not
yet acquired the topical tone. In 1967, Sylvester decided that giving the ads a solid
concept would give them extra mileage, more dum, so to say. It was a decision that would
stand the daCunhas in good stead in the years to come. In 1969, when the city first saw
the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha,
Mohammad Khan and Usha Bhandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul
account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad
with a fervor that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever. That was the first of the many
topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social
observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch.

India looked forward to Amul's evocative humour. If the Naxalite movement was the
happening thing in Calcutta, Amul would be up there on the hoardings saying, "Bread
without Amul Butter, cholbe na cholbe na (won't do, won't do). If there was an Indian
Airlines strike Amul would be there again saying, Indian Airlines wont fly without
Amul. There are stories about the butter that people like to relate over cups of tea. "For
over 10 years I have been collecting Amul ads. I especially like the ads on the backs of
the butter packets, "says Mrs. Sumona Varma. What does she do with these ads? "I have
made an album of them to amuse my grandchildren," she laughs. "They are almost part of
our culture, aren't they? My grandchildren are already beginning to realize that these ads
are not just a source of amusement. They make them aware of what is happening around
them."
Despite some of the negative reactions that the ads have got, DaCunhas have made it a
policy not to play it safe. There are numerous ads that are risqu in tone."We had the
option of being sweet and playing it safe, or making an impact. A fine balance had to be
struck. We have a campaign that is strong enough to make a statement. I didn't want the
hoardings to be pleasant or tame. They have to say something," says Rahul daCunha.

"We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore," says Sylvester daCunha. "The Indian
Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn't take down the ads they
would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad," he

31
says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the
Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a
symbol of independence; they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite
their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. "Then there was an ad during the
Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The
Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do something about removing the ad they would
come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this
country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr on or off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to
us saying how much she liked them."
There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the
artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad "He said that he
had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked
his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so
funny," says Rahul daCunha in amused tones. Indians do have a sense of humour, afterall.

From the Sixties to the Nineties, the Amul ads have come a long way. While most people
agree that the Amul ads were at their peak in the Eighties they still maintain that the
Amul ads continue to tease laughter out of them.

Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy
lines. That we laugh because the humour is what anybody would enjoy. They don't
pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun.

3. DATA ANALYSIS
32
3.1 SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE
BRANDING-SPECIAL FOCUS ON TOON BRANDING

QUESTIONAIRE

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

____________________________________________

___________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________
1st page of questionnaire

33
Q2. Can you recognize a product on the basis of its brand mascot alone?
Always

Sometime

Often

Very Rare

Q3. Do you relate any product with toons?

Always

Sometime

Often

Very Rare

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

No

Dont Know

Q5. Which is your most memorable toon mascot?

Amul Butter Girl

Fido Dido

Chintamani (ICICI)

Any other __________________

Q6. Why do you think this brand mascot is the most memorable one?
34
A6.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2nd page of questionnaire

Q7. If you are to launch a new product will you depend on a brand personality of a toon
mascot to build the brand image of your product? Give reasons?
A7.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Q8. Toon Mascot is mare popular in the rural or urban areas? Give reasons?
A8.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Q9. What features do you think a toon mascot should possess so as to remember over a
long period of time?
Cute

Happy Face

Suitable to the product

Innovative

Entertaining

Any other _____________________

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

35
 No

Depends on the mascot

Dont know

NAME: _____________________________
AGE: _____________________________
PROFESSION: _____________________________
3rd page of questionnaire

3 . 2 S t at i s t i c a l D a t a

Q1. Identify the following toon mascots and their products or

either of the one?

1 No. of toons correctly identified (X axis)

6 5 4 3 2 1
No. of 15 8 9 3 0 0
respondents
(out of 35)
(Y Axis)
% 42.86 22.86 25.71 8.57% 0 0
% % %

36
Interpretation: Out of the 35 respondent 15 were able to identify

all the products correctly on the basis of its toon mascot alone which

comes up to 42.86%.Whereas only 8.57% i.e. only 3 persons were

not able to identify all the products correctly. The most identified

mascot is 7up Fido-Dido whereas monster.com was the least popular

one.

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

alone?

2 Recognition of product on basis of brand mascot

(X axis)

Always Sometime Often Very Rare

No. of 3 20 12 0
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-Axis
% 8.57% 57.14% 34.29% 0

37
Interpretation: Of the 35 respondents 20 said, that they were

sometimes able to recognize the product on the basis of Brand

Mascot alone which comes to around 57.14% of the total sample

size. Whereas only 8.57% were always able to recognize the product

on the basis of its brand mascot

Q3. Do you relate any product with toons?

3 Ability of relating products with toons (X Axis)

Always Sometime Often Very Rare

No. of 3 14 16 2
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis
38
% 8.57% 40% 45.7% 5.71%
Interpretation: Out of 35 respondents 16 people often related the

products with their toon mascots which come up to around 45.7%.

Whereas only 5.71% of the respondents very rarely related the

products with toons

Q4. Do you think nowadays Brand Mascots are losing importance

to Brand Personality?

39
 4 Brand Mascots are losing importance to
Brand Personality (X-axis)

Yes No Dont No
No. of 12 18 5
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 34.29% 51.43% 14.29%

Interpretation: 51.43% of the total people surveyed had the opinion

that Brand Mascots are not losing importance to Brand Personality

whereas 14.29% had no opinion regarding the same

Q5. Which is your most memorable toon mascot?

40
 5 Most Memorable Toon Mascot (X-axis)

Amul Fido Dido Chintamani Any Other

Butter Girl
No. of 30 5 1 0
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 85.71% 14.29% 2.86% 0

Interpretation: on the basis of the survey conducted 85.71% of the

respondents opted for Amul Butter Girl as their most memorable

toon mascot followed by Fido-Dido and Chintamani with 14.29%and

2.86% respectively

41
Q6. Why do you think this Brand Mascot is most memorable one?

6 Reason for Amul Butter Girl being most memorable

(X-axis)

Long Cute/ Good Attention Innovative

Lasting Happy Animation Seeking
No. of 12 5 4 7 4
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 34.28% 14.28% 11.42% 20% 11.42%

42
Interpretation: According to the survey conducted Amul Butter Girl

is the most memorable toon mascot because it has been in the market

since a very long time and also it is very attention seeking because

it is always related to the current affairs

Q7. If you are to launch a new product will you depend on a

brand personality or a toon mascot to build the brand image of

your product?

43
 7 Dependence for the launch of new product (X-axis)

Toon Brand Both Some Depends

Mascot Personality Other On product
Method
No. of 12 6 2 3 8
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 34.28% 17.14% 5.71% 8.57% 22.85%

Interpretation: 34.28% of the total population surveyed opted to

depend on a toon mascot for the launch of their new product 5.71%

thought of using both the toon mascot and personality for the launch

of their product.

Q8. Toon Mascot is more popular in Rural or Urban areas?

44
 8 Popularity (X-axis)

Urban Rural Both

No. of 13 10 3
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 37.14% 28.57% 8.57%

Interpretation: 37.14% of the total population surveyed suggested

that toon mascots are more popular in the urban areas due to high

literacy rate whereas 28.57% had the opinion of the toon being more

popular in the rural areas because they identify the product on the

basis of toons.

45
Q9. What features do you think a toon mascot should possess so

as to be remembered over along period of time?

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

Cute Happy Suitable to Innovative Entertaining

Face product
No. of 11 15 25 17 19
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 31.43% 42.86% 71.43% 48.51% 54.29%

Interpretation: 71.43% thought that the toon mascot should possess

the features which are suitable to the product followed by the toon

being entertaining and innovative.

46
Q10. Would you like if the toon mascots are also advertised

through clothing, accessories, bags etc?

10 Promotion of Toon mascots through clothing,

accessories, bags, etc (X-axis)

Yes No Depends Dont

On Mascot Know
No. of 13 1 20 1
respondents
(out of 35)
Y-axis

% 37.14% 2.86% 57.14% 2.86%

Interpretation: 57.14% of the total population surveyed suggested

that the above mentioned promotion strategy should be used

depending upon the mascot whereas 37.14% would really like the

promotion of toon mascot through clothing, accessories, bags etc.

47
 3.4 Theoretical Data

From the survey conducted the following findings can be concluded:

Out of the 35 respondent 15 were able to identify all the

products correctly on the basis of its toon mascot alone which

comes up to 42.86% hence it can be concluded that toon

mascots have almost been successful in their purpose of Brand

recall, which means that more interesting toon advertisements,

more brand recall.

Out of the 35 respondents 20 said, that they were sometimes

able to recognize the product on the basis of Brand Mascot

alone which comes to around 57.14% of the total sample size.

48
 Whereas only 8.57% were always able to recognize the product

on the basis of its brand mascot

Out of 35 respondents 16 people often related the products

with their toon mascots which come up to around 45.7%.

Whereas only 5.71% of the respondents very rarely related the

products with toons. So if more companies opt for this strategy

then the relation of the toons and products will definitely

increase, impressing the viewers.

51.43% of the total people surveyed had the opinion that Brand

Mascots are not losing importance to Brand Personality

whereas 14.29% had no opinion regarding the same. Brand

mascot has its own identity and will definitely be more

appealing to the audience as it is a very innovative concept of

advertising and promotion

On the basis of the survey conducted 85.71% of the

respondents opted for Amul Butter Girl as their most

memorable toon mascot followed by Fido-Dido and Chintamani

with 14.29%and 2.86% respectively

49
 According to the survey conducted Amul Butter Girl is the

most memorable toon mascot because it has been in the market

since a very long time and also it is very attention seeking

because it is always related to the current affairs

34.28% of the total population surveyed opted to depend on a

toon mascot for the launch of their new product 5.71% thought

of using both the toon mascot and personality for the launch of

their product. Thus it can be concluded people would really

appreciate if companies use toons for promoting their

products.

37.14% of the total population surveyed suggested that toon

mascots are more popular in the urban areas due to high

literacy rate whereas 28.57% had the opinion of the toon being

more popular in the rural areas because they identify the

product on the basis of toons. So companies operating in the

rural areas can use more of toons to make their brand easily

recognized and popular amongst the rural masses.

50
 71.43% thought that the toon mascot should possess the

features which are suitable to the product followed by the toon

being entertaining and innovative.

57.14% of the total population surveyed suggested that

promotion of the toon mascots through clothes, accessories and

bags depends completely on the suitability of the toon that

means that if the company using a toon mascot is thinking of

using such promotional channels should design the toon in a

manner that will be suitable and liked by the targeted audience

4. PERSONAL REVIEW

4.1 Why its Branding?

As a teenager I am very much fond of clothes, accessories, bags, foot wears, mobile
phones but only Branded. In real sense I am a Branded Baby. it gives me great
pleasure buying favorite things from a branded company so that it represents quality,
costliness, worthiness for the money that spend for it.
51
Like me other people are also crazy about the brands of the products that they purchase.
People nowadays have very good knowledge about brands that are available for a
particular product and also for different types of product. They gather enough information
about different brands that are available for the product that they are willing to buy. This
is relevant for the purchase of durable goods like mobile phone, television sets, washing
machines etc.

But in case of FMCG products, once the brand or the company gives good quality
product the customers become loyal to that brand and make it a point to spread positive
word of mouth about the particular brands product. In this sector some brands are so
highly successful their brand name is the first to hit the customers mind while the
purchase of that product. Some examples for the same context are:

PRODUCT BRAND NAME

Coconut Oil Parachute
Detergents Ariel
Toothpaste Colgate
Pencil Nataraj
Photocopy Xerox
Book Navneet

Not only FMCGs nowadays companies of other products have also made a mark on the
minds of people and are able to share the same priority for the purchase. Brands and
Branded products are mainly popular in amongst the age group of 16-30 yrs. And some
examples of such brands are:

PRODUCT BRAND NAME

Jeans (Denim) Spykar Jeans
Shoes Adidas
Glares Fast Track

52
Make-up equipments Lakme
Watches Fast Track or Titan

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

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

influenced by the brand that they also want to spend their leisure time under a
Branded Roof. If a family is about to go for shopping definitely they would visit
a renowned branded mall Shoppers Stop, Center One, R-Mall, Orbit Mall, Big
Bazaar and many others which have created a good brand image. If friends are
planning to go out for a movie, they would go to Multiplexes and Cine Plazas
which also provides them with the facility of shopping and also cafeterias where
they have a good time with their friends.

Services: Services have also become branded and popular amongst masses.
Anything that girl needs to do to enhance her beauty she will first rush to branded
outlets of the companies like Lakme, LOreal etc. For fitness purposes people
prefer popular fitness centers like Talwarkars, Golds Gym etc. People also avail
banking services from market leaders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank etc. Availing
of transport services also happens through branded providers like Raj Travels and
Tourism, Jet Airways.

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

research on a topic which interests me a lot. While working on this project I gained
immense knowledge about branding which plays a very important role in the commercial
world and also forms the base for commercial successes.

4.2 Difficulties faced

53
Working on this project was very much enriching, knowledgeable and tiring experience.
Enriching and knowledgeable, because it gave me a lot of knowledge relating to how to
go about with branding of a product. Not only about how to create a brand name for a
product but it also taught me that once created a brand name how to maintain and
continue with the quality and consistency of the product.

Experience of working on this project was a tiring one because, although Branding and
Toon Branding are not new concepts, then too not many people or even students are not
aware of it. They needed an explanation about what is toon branding and even searching
information about different aspects of branding needed hard work.

As the project consists of special focus on Toon Branding I have also included case
study on Amul Butter Girl which is a successful story for Toon Branding. As important
decisions like whether to go for toon branding or not? are taken by the top management
therefore I required an appointment with the personnel of the firm who had enough
knowledge about this topic, but I was not successful in doing so. The reasons behind the
same are:

Location difficulties

The firm is so innovative in its concept of toon branding that the management
definitely had no time for the appointment.

In spite of all these difficulties I was very successful in getting all the information about
Amul Butter Girl because of excellent website designed by Amul. Lastly I want to thank
my guide, other professors and friends who helped and encouraged me to work on this
project.

4.3 Suggestions

While working on the project I have gained almost complete knowledge about branding
therefore I would always support branding and even suggest the companies to opt for it.

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Because it is a process through which the product will be able to find a place in the minds
of the people within this competitive world and also gain the loyalty of the customer if
the product spells quality.

But the company should make a very correct and appropriate decision so as to how
branding is to be done i.e. the process of branding. The firm should use a brand
personality, brand mascot or a toon mascot for the promotion of the brand. The choice of
different elements used to create a brand identity such as color, owned name, slogans, and
symbols etc. should be done correctly so that there are no misconceptions in the minds of
the consumers to understand the use and capability of the product.

It is definitely a good idea if the firm is opting for toon branding because that is the latest
advertising mantra used by many companies but it should be only used if it suits the
requirement of product advertisements. Toon branding is no doubt a good way to create a
brand image, it makes the boring script interesting but care has to be taken by the firm
that the designing of the toon is to be done in a manner that not only the toon mascot is
memorable or the toon advertisement is remembered but also the sales of the product
increases, which means that the toon mascot utilized should also represent the utility,
quality, and need of the product to the customer.

A good example in this context would The Amul Butter Girl (Amul Butter), and also
Chintamani (ICICI). All the hoardings of Amul Butter Girl are so innovative and
animated in such a manner that it makes the people aware of the current happenings in the
world of politics, film industry, and other industrial sectors and together spreads a
message to use Amul butter in all situations of life. Whereas in case of Chintamani, it is
mainly used to promote the investment plans of ICICI so all the advertisements aims at
increasing the importance of investments in the life of individuals and finally it leads to
No Chinta Only Money.

Not only advertisements toon mascots can also be promoted through prints on
accessories, clothing bags etc, but here again the company will face limitations because it

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purely depends upon the designing of the toon mascot that whether it will be accepted or
liked on these things.

For example: Fido Dido (7UP) which is promoted through these methods is already a
great success. Teenagers and specially children like the images of Fido Dido on their T-
Shirts, bags etc because the positioning of this toon mascot has been done as a Cool
Guy, Always up to some Mischief, Liked by girls and the list follows. Fido Dido is
all about fun. But Chintamani will not be able to share the same popularity as Fido Dido
because it is not used in all the Ads of the firm and also the positioning of the toon
matters in this case.

CONCLUSION

The study done so far in the context of a brand and the special focus on toon branding
leads to many important conclusions. In order to facilitate proper comprehension of the
same, I illustrate the points as follows:

The Law of Contraction: A brand becomes stronger when its focus is narrowed.
This does not imply carrying a limited product line, but rather limiting and
focusing a brand on only one type of core product, which in Titan's case happens

56
 to be watches. Titan, though possessed of a wide product line, has stuck to its
focus.

The Law of Advertising: Once born, a brand needs to actively advertise in order
to stay healthy and maintain market share. If done right, advertising is more of an
investment than an expense.

The Law of the Word: Any brand worth it's salt should strive to "own" a word or
words in the mind of the consumer. Examples of such brands are Volvo, who own
the word "safety", Mercedes, who own the word "prestige" and Coca-Cola, who
own the word "cola". Titan, at least when viewed in the context of the Indian
watch market, seems to own the word "quality".

The Law of Quality: Though quality is essential to the survival and growth of
any brand, the fact remains that brands are not built by quality alone. As
mentioned previously Titan more or less owns the word "quality" in the minds of
the consumers, thereby implying that it is perceived as a quality product. Thus, it's
actual quality, as well as it's perception of being a quality product combine to
work towards building the strength of the Titan brand.

The Law of the Name: In the long run, a brand is nothing more than a name. The
difference between products is thus not so much between the products, as it is
between their names, or perceptions of the names.

The Law of the Company: Brands are brands, and companies are companies.
There is a difference. Titan is owned by the Tata Group, who though highly
regarded in Indian industry are associated more with heavy industries such as steel
and truck building, than with watch making.

57
 The Law of Siblings: There is always a time and a place to launch a second
brand, but when this is done it should be ensured that both brands have separate
and distinct identities. Each brand should be kept unique and special. When Titan
decided to diversify into the jewellery segment, they did not call their new brand
'Titan Jewellery', in spite of the high standing of the Titan name in the minds of
the Indian consumers. To do so would be to undermine the power of the Titan
brand, which is that of being watch experts? Hence, the jewellery was called
Tanishq.

The Law of Shape: A brand's logotype should be well designed, in order to fit the
eyes. Visual symbols (again with the possible exceptions of Nike's "swoosh" or
Mercedes' 3-pointed star) are highly overrated. The meaning lies in the words, not
the symbol. The Titan logo, though well recognizable is always accompanied by
the words "TITAN" in a clear, crisp typeface-denoting power (through the use of
capital letters) and class at the same time.

The Law of Colour: A brand should use a colour and typeface that is the
opposite of its major competitor. For example, while Coca-Cola stands for red and
appears in running handwriting, Pepsi stands for blue and appears in capital,
modern looking letters.

Therefore, in order to effectively build brand equity, the following factors should
also be kept in mind:

Define the core brand's position and value clearly:

A product should be properly positioned and its value (which includes price,
quality and image) should be properly defined. As mentioned in the section
regarding the law of the word, the two words most highly identified with Titan are
quality" and "Indian". These should thus be emphasized upon. This is exactly
what Titan has done, positioning it's watches as high quality, Indian made
watches, and emphasizing upon it's value for money as well as it's classy image.

58
 Don't neglect Public Relations:

Public Relations, or PR, are vital to the success and survival of any brand.
Unfortunately, its value as a brand building tool has more often than not, been
undervalued. Newsletters, event and entertainment sponsorships, and other forms
of PR help to define the personality of a company or brand, positioning it as a
good corporate citizen, and someone nice to do business with. In keeping with
India's obsession with cricket, Titan has often sponsored cricket tournaments,
including the now legendary 1997 Titan Cup. Titan also sponsors a number of
popular television programmes, a prime example of which is Star World's "The
Practice".

Realize that promotions can be tricky:

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

Needless and irrelevant contests tend to shift the customer's attention from the
product being promoted to the prize being offered (be it a trip to the US or a new
car). A better (and far less expensive) way to promote a brand would be to allow it
to be used by other companies in their promotional offers. Titan is currently being
offered by both Outlook magazine and WelcomAward (the privileged customer
programme of the WelcomGroup chain of hotels) in their various promotional
offers. The most sensible and effective forms of promotions are measures such as
establishing a privileged customer club offering customer points redeemable for

59
 discounts and rebates. Titan has their own privileged customer club, Titan Signet,
which has an impressive 1.6 Lakh members.

Always remember the USP:

A USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is not only what gives the customer a reason
to buy the brand, but is also what helps him distinguish the brand from its
competitors. Titan's USP is two fold, and can perhaps best be described in six
words. "An Indian company offering international quality". This works for Titan
in two ways. First of all, it's emphasis on 'international quality' successfully
negates it's major Indian competitor, HMT, who is still perceived as a company
offering solid and reliable, yet singularly unstylish and staid looking watches.
Secondly, with the plethora of foreign brands available in the country today, Titan
emphasis on being Indian enables it to effectively meet their threat. Interestingly,
while Titan has never actively promoted the fact that it's parent company is the
Tata Group, at the same time it has never really done much to hide the fact. Thus
while capitalizing on the Tata name; it has built its own identity as an Indian
brand offering high quality watches at prices significantly below those of
comparable foreign brands.

If you can't be first, be better:

Being the first entrant in any category earns pioneer status for a brand and gives it
the advantage of being the probable market leader. Such was the case with HMT.
However with it's emphasis on it's USP and aggressive advertising, Titan
convinced the market that it produced the better product and thus destroyed
HMT's near monopoly of the Indian watch market.

Expand sensibly:

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Extensions should always be logical and market driven and not mere "product
explosions". As the market environment changes with the addition of say, greater
competition, or changing customer wants and perceptions, brand extension should
be undertaken. It should not, however be undertaken arbitrarily. When Titan
entered the market in 1987, its main competitor was HMT, a company offering
reliable and economically priced watches. Titan thus started out being a company
offering a wide variety of models, most of which were priced economically, with
the added USP of being a more stylish alternative to HMT. As times changed,
however, so did Titan. With the growing entry of foreign brands into the market,
Titan continued to introduce sub brand after sub brand to meet every new
challenge. With the entry of the "high performance" sports watch brands in the
form of Tag Hauer, Omega and Breitling, Titan introduced it's own line of
chronographs priced significantly lower than the competition at a mere Rs 5000-
6000. Similarly, to counter the entry of foreign, youth oriented "style" brands such
as Esprit and Swatch, Titan introduced the 'Fastrack' sub brand, again priced
extremely competitively.

61


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Marketing Management:

- By Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Killer

Brand Building:

- By Philip Kotler

Branding Management:

- By Philip Kotler

Branding:

- By Philip Kotler

Websites:

www.google.com

www.yahoo.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.amul.com

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 Amul Hits of 1995 96

On the introduction of the show Amul surbhi

Name Game

63
 Waste Bengal

Amul Hits of 1996 - 97

On the infighting within the Congress government during the general election

On the large number of Lok Sabha candidates from the film industry

64
 When Atal Behari Vajpayee became Prime Minister

Amul Hits of 1997 - 98

When Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav was involved in the Fodder Scandal

65
On Laloo Prasad Yadav's refusal to vacate the Chief Minister's seat.

AMUL's salute to India on Independence Day.

Amul Hits of 1998 99

66
 On the popular Oskar award winning film - `TITANIC'

On the famous song aati kya khandala from the movie ghulam.

On Women Bus Conductors

Amul Hits of 1999 2000

67
 Based on the Starr report on Bill Clinton.

On winning the Gold for Hockey in the Asian Games.

Haul of 10 wickets by kumble

68
 Amul Hits of 2000 - 2001

Match fixing charges against South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje" - April 2000

"India's population touches one billion" - May 2000

69
 "On the first anniversary of the Kargil issue".

Amul Hits of 2001 2002

"On the recent Mumbai Stock Exchange scam involving top brokers" - April 2001.

70
Protest over the proposed flyover in Mumbai by renowned singer and prominent
citizens - April 2001

On launch of the Hindi film `LAGAAN' - June 2001

Amul Hits of 2003 2004

71
Two Bollywood stars engage in threatening telephonic calls - the episode then going
to media - April 2003

Pun on Bollywood highly popular horror film - June 2003

Controversy on the findings by NGO - "The Centre for Science and Environment" that
leading las and carbonated soft drinks contain dangerously high level of pesticide
residues which are likely to be hazardous for health - August 2003.

72
 Amul Hits of 2004 2005

On Dr. Manmohan Singh being elected Prime Minister of India - May'04

Model turned Actress Preeti Jain's allegation against noted film director Madhur
Bhandarkar having sexually exploited her on the pretext of arranging roles in films -
July'04

Launch of 'ZOOM' India's first glamour and lifestyle family entertainment

television channel - September'04

73
 Amul Hits of 2005 - 2006

On the Maharashtra Government's decision to close down dance bars all over the
state barring Mumbai - April'05

On Mallika Sherawat's first international film 'The Myth' with Jackie Chan - May'05

74
On Greg Chappell of Australia being appointed new coach of the Indian Cricket
Team - May'05

Amul Hits of 2006 - 2007

Protests against the proposed flyover on Peddar Road in Mumbai - April '06

75
 Controversy on increasing height of Sardar Saravor Dam (Narmada Dam) on
Narmada River in Gujarat - April '06

On French Captain Zinedine Zidane shown red card sending him off for vicious
head-butting Italian defender in the chest during the World Cup Football Final - July
'06

76
 On hysteria amongst people at the seafront in Mahim - Central Mumbai to drink
sea water which reportedly turned sweet - August '06

Australian cricketers unpleasant behavior of push and shove towards BCCI President
Mr. Sharad Pawar at ICC Champions Trophy prize distribution ceremony at Brabourne
Stadium in Mumbai, India - November '06

77
Indian Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty winner of British reality television show Big
Brother - February 2007

Amul Hits of 2007 2008

On Bollywood superstars Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's son Abhishek's wedding with
Aishwarya at their residence Prateeksha in Mumbai - April 2007.

78
 On Super Jumbo A380 Airbus double-decker the world's largest civilian passenger
aircraft in India for first time - May' 07.

Richard Gere Hollywood actor and Shilpa Shetty Bollywood actress in a controversial
incident in public at an AIDS function in India - May, 2007.

Bollywood romantic comedy film CHEENI KUM (A Sugar Free Romance) in which

79
 superstar Amitabh Bachchan shares time with little girl his neighbor, suffering from
leukemia, wise beyond her years - June '07.

India's Taj Mahal a masterpiece of architecture of 17th Century in the worldwide race
for inclusion in the new Seven Wonders of the World. It was built by Mughal Emperor
Shah JAhan as a symbol of enduring love for his wife Mumtaz on the outskirt of Agra -
July '07.

Police in Mumbai, India conduct breathalyzer or conventional tests on motorists at

night to crackdown on drunken driving to avoid road accidents - July '07.

80
CHAKDE! INDIA, the Bollywood movie with focus on women's hockey featuring star-
actor Shah Rukh Khan playing coach of the Indian Women's Hockey Team to bring
fame to India - August '07.

Bollywood actress and dancing queen Madhuri Dixit in the movie "Aaja Nachle" (Let's
Dance) in which music and dance being the essence of the movie - November '07.

81
Team India celebrate after winning the inaugural ICC WORLD TWENTY 20, SOUTH
AFRICA 2007 cricket World Cup in Johannesburg - September' 07.

.
Upcoming releases in November 2007 of two Bollywood movies SAAWARIYA
innocent,
pure love story and Om Shanti Om a love story October 2007.

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