At some point, it is important for everyone to put themselves in the place of a brand and view themselves through this magic mirror. Which part of the life cycle does the brand ‘you’ belong to, what kind of effort needs to invent / re-invent oneself, grow and mature and make money out of the ‘brand you’.

I believe that it is possible to consider oneself as a brand and ‘build it’. By employing almost every technique that you would for a brand on yourself, it is possible to achieve great brand salience for yourselves amongst your peers, industry and the market in general.

Let’s take a few key issues that one needs to answer which would help in building a great personal brand.

Values & attributes: There has to be a bunch of values that you would stand for at a very fundamental and honest level. It is important that you identify them because those are the key elements which will bring you happiness. If you are not honest here, then you would probably land a great job or be known in the social circles, but you would never be able to experience happiness when you are by yourself. Choose your words carefully. Similarly there must be a few attributes (adjectives), which would define you as a personality. This would outline the kind of jobs you should get into for success to follow.

SWOT: Standard operating procedure in understanding and presenting oneself in front of others. By understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats you are clearly defining your every move in making a good brand of yourself.

Research: Any brand requires a bit of research to understand where it stands, what position it can take and what needs to be done to reach the desired goal. You are no different. It is important to do your own research (qualitatively or quantitatively) on where you stand on various parameters. This could include not just your area of operation but also finer details like soft skills, leadership qualities etc.

TG: Every brand stands for some values to a certain set of audience. From 50000 feet, Coke is a serious soda, while Pepsi is the irreverent, yuppy, generation now kind of soda. The TG is clearly defined. Similarly, you need to clearly delineate who you are catering to. It is possible to do so at every sphere of work. You can be a Customer Service Person, but clearly delineating yourself to be a CS resource in a BPO, Telecom company or Technology company can be possible. It is just a function of understanding where you want to be and who would be your consumer. At a different level, you can provide a different message to different people without lying. And the overall brand message (what you stand for) can still be the same. If you doubt it, read an earlier post here.

Competition: Less said the better. However, by understanding your competition in a given space, you would be able to position yourself better in your consumer’s mind. If it is a job offer where you are pitted against say 2 others with a similar skill set, by positioning yourself as a better leader, it is possible to attract your TG. Many times, many brands sell for some reason totally different from what it fundamentally stands for. Just look out for the Nissan Micra advertisement and you would realize that the car is being sold on a premise that it doesn’t need a key to operate. But a car is supposed to give you ‘driving experience’, mileage, comfort, maneuverability etc. What Nissan does is not wrong at all. But is just a proof of concept that you can be a great Customer Service Resource, but the prime reason for choosing you over someone else could be ‘Leadership’.

Finally, I would like to leave with a thought.

Operate within your sphere of influence. Example: Rajnikant. If the radius of his sphere of influence is 3 kms, you will always find that he is operating at the epicenter. You would seldom find a movie where the title is not based on the character he plays, where he is not introduced with a song, where he does impossible things to win over the heroine and annihilate the felon. This is a thought germ for a complete post in itself. However, I have used Rajnikant as an example for the perfect brand manager of brand ‘Rajnikant’. If he can do it, any one of us can. I am just working on it.

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I learnt that the western world views brands very differently from the eastern world. At least till the 80s or even the 90s, the western world indulged in ‘Product Brands’. For them each product was a brand unto itself. So you would find that any related product would only be line extensions. A classic example is Gillette.

Gillette is a product brand. It is so entrenched in ‘shaving’ as a category, that it would be impossible for any human being to consider Gillette as let’s say, a shampoo. The brand just doesn’t seem to fit the bill when it moves out of Men’s Shaving Care area.

Even large business houses which are considered ‘Gods’ of Brand Building like Coke in my argument would be a single product Brand. Other products are all with a different brand name. Consider this, Mazaa, Thums Up, Sprite, Fanta, Limca, Minute Maid, Kinley, Georgia.

But as we move towards the right side of the world map, we find that brands extend beyond a category and get into every possible space of business (products or services) and have been BLOODY successful. A homegrown example is Tata.

The Tata Group is a conglomerate of about 150 companies held by Tata & Sons. The businesses vary from Steel to Software to Salt. Multiple companies operate with the same brand name and the brand gets extended within and outside the line of products that they operate in. Another recent example is Reliance. You would find that all their operations are under the same name (barring Vimal maybe).

Is culture the answer?

The Eastern philosophy of branding endeavors to ‘milk’ the brand’s value to the fullest. It stems from our culture (I presume). The eastern world is more occult and has never run behind materialistic pleasures (until the last couple of decades, maybe). We have limited needs and have never been the gluttonous consumers that the west has always been. To us, we need to get the full value of every paise spent. Thrifty that we are, we end up milking the brand to its last drop of blood.

The West is the consumer. The use & throw world. And brands are treated pretty much the same way. Gillette would spend separately for Mach II, Mach III and shaving gel because each of them is a separate brand. Each has a separate P&L account and hence spends on them would be mutually exclusive. So what if Mach II would be retired or phased out once we put 3 blades in that small space!

The west has to use and throw the brand. The value of the brand would be lost once it gets phased out for whatever reason. However controversial it may sound, I think it is very difficult for any American company to straddle a brand across product categories successfully.

I am sure there are people who think otherwise. Any views?

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A quick walk (which is virtually impossible) down the ‘Golden stretch’ would prove the point. The stretch between Panagal Park and T Nagar Bus Stand is home to more than 100 jewellery shops and a few hundred clothing shops. And all of them do ROARING business. During times of distress, I have always walked through this stretch and have found all the confidence I need to prove that there is enough money in the market.

I can never forget a bill board by a company called Rajkamal Sarees. When I was a school kid I have seen their billboards in all Chennai metro railway stations. Proudly it would read “Kick your jobs. Sell Rajkamal Sarees”. We seem to have come a long way from there.

Marketing is a tradition for these stores. Spending an evening with Sun TV will prove it for you. You can see at least 15 different brands of Silk Sarees, 8-10 jewellery showrooms and equal number of clothing outlets advertising. The point is that these advertisements defy some basic rules of marketing.

1. NO differentiation in advertising
   If you remove the brand pack shot from the TVC and plug another brand’s pack shot, it wouldn’t change a thing. The consumer may just not notice the brand.
2. NO USP
   Unique Selling Proposition? Go to hell. Though I cannot prove it, I believe that they all source the saris from the same set of looms in Kanchipuram (the silk saree capital of India situated about 70kms from Madras).
   That apart, they are all in a huge cluster placed one next to another thus beating any geographical advantage over another. Still each seem to have a story to tell. I am just discussing a few examples here. Maybe there is something to learn from each.

RmKV Silk sarees
They did a series of ‘World Records’. Longest saree, maximum number of colors in a saree etc. It has now become a tradition for this brand to break ‘world records’ for some reason or the other. The best part is that they had a popular film star Jyotika as their brand ambassador for a while. I still can remember their TV commercial featuring Jyotika selecting the color of her saree for her wedding. It was very apt timing because around that time she was getting married to her co-star Surya. Brilliant plug!

Pothy’s
Very little in terms of product differentiation. But the scale takes the cake for this brand. Pothy’s was a prominent outlet in Coimbatore Tirunelveli and they started opening branches because their competition decided to tickle them. Yes. When Nalli opened an outlet in Coimbatore, Pothy’s was outraged. And outraged is a euphemistic term, because going by what they did, it should be termed as nothing less than a war. They opened the then largest clothing outlet in Chennai bang opposite Nalli’s. And was amongst the first to go TV with consummate ease. They did take a huge part of the market share and they made it look so easy. Chennai (read T Nagar) had two large stores to go to now.

Another huge marketing trick of Pothy’s was the Aadi sale. Traditionally, Aadi (a tamil month) is a month when Tamilians don’t buy new stuff. They believe that things bought during that month will not stay! But this just happened to be a turn around. Around this time, Pothy’s started the Aadi sale. Prices were slashed by up to 50% and some price conscious Tamilians took the bait. All it requires is your neighbor to buy a new silk saree and show it off. The woman of the house has to get one for herself. The mood was almost like “screw the belief. Get that saree!”. The best part is the fact that this has opened up a new season for all categories in Tamil Nadu including white goods, clothing, jewellery etc. An erstwhile unchartered market!

LKS Gold House
Traditionally the only big guy in the Chennai (later TN) market was GR Thanga Maaligai (GRT). When LKS Gold House started, they took the same route (albeit in parallel) as Pothy’s. Heavy duty advertising was one of their key strengths. They were amongst the first to have a proper advertising agency servicing them. A key learning from LKS is the cost of production. These guys understood clearly that airtime is expensive. So they used to get new producers every time and experiment just to ensure that the cost of production of these TVCs were kept at a minimum. I have heard that they have done TVCs for as less as INR 50000 (in the year 2000), while never hesitated to buy airtime across channels even if it runs into a couple of crores. Brilliant strategy!

GRT, Nalli’s & Kumaran
I can’t leave out these brands. They have stood the test of time and wait… family splits. Both Nalli family and Kumaran family have had splits between brothers at some point of time. But they have always kept the tradition of their brands flying high. They were able to adapt quickly and also started campaigns to retain their existing customers. Notable amongst them is GRT’s chit plan. They started a chit system (quasi financial instrument) where customers can pay a fixed amount to GRT on a monthly basis which will earn interest for them and will be redeemed for Gold Jewellery at the end of the term. Awesome quick thinking! Nalli & Kumaran meanwhile went into newer markets and worked on market expansion.

While Nalli & Kumaran went into Market Expansion mode GRT also diversified. They started hotliering. GRT Grand Days and stakes in some of the large 4 & 5 star hotels in Chennai and other places hedged their dependence on retail folk buying gold, silver and platinum jewellery. Remarkable for what can otherwise be termed small town businesses.

Saravana Stores
How can I write about T Nagar, business and not discuss this brand. They used to sell only kitchen utensils. Well, that was ages back. Now, they can be the Hypercity equivalent of Mumbai. Or better still, the Mustafa equivalent of Singapore. Saravana Stores is now into every business one can think of! You can go to a Saravana stores outlet in T Nagar and actually buy everything for your home – including your home. Yes, they also sell real estate plots in there! I have always resisted getting into that store purely because of the crowds. But on one occasion, I stepped out of my shell and walked in and boy! Was I sold? Yes, most certainly! That was the first place where I saw broomsticks being sold in counter A and in the next counter (believe you me) carried mobile phones. Madness with a strong method behind it! That’s how I would describe this brand. Their procurement wing is an awesome bunch of individuals. They must be. Else, you can’t get the kind of deals that this store provides you with. Anything you buy, will be a comfortable 15-20% below the market price. From vegetables to video equipments, you can find almost anything here. And their strategy? Pricing. Beat that!

And their marketing wing is one of the most ‘on the ground’ teams one can encounter. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet them, but can vouch that they carry foresight like no other. They signed up an up and coming female actor ‘Tamannah’. A Bombay girl who can’t speak Tamil to save her life. This was a couple of years back. Today, she is the toast of the Tamil Film Industry. With films against every single big hero of today, she is the most wanted heroine and the numero uno. And Saravana Stores found her before she became that on a long term contract. That’s what I would call a ‘STEAL’!

There are many others and many other successful ones. But this article can’t carry all. But the learnings from each one of them would make an MBA hang his / her head in shame. These guys just know how to milk the customer without letting them feel the pain and probably, we all have a few leafs to take out of these books!

Amen!

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Web 2.0 is a complex matrix, interconnecting web tools and thus a wonderful platform for a meaningful conversation. For many users, tools like Facebook or Twitter starts as a ‘fun thing’. But the number of serious users who use these tools to speak about brands, offerings and what can now be termed ‘word of the written word’ a.k.a ‘www’ as a substitute for ‘word of mouth’ is not a joke anymore.

An article in a recent prominent daily mentioned how scared Bollywood is about ‘twitter’. Because the success (or the failure) of many movies are decided by Twitter and not trade reports anymore.

Should this be the case, how should one treat the online space? My two cents:

The web is the most democratic place in the world. However it affects (and gets affected) by the ‘real’ or brick & mortar world!
The online world is very democratic experience. Users have the power to say what they want and the power to accept / reject what the other users are saying. A living example is Shashi Tharoor. What led him to be the most talked about junior ministers also led him to his fall from grace.

The same media which eulogized his tweeting habits helping a little girl in faraway Trivandrum get monetary support bashed him with front page news over a scandal which cost him his ministerial job.

Lessons: Response – real time. Affects you in the real world and can continue to chase you for a while.

I heard a recent incident when a friend of mine tweeted about an issue with his iPhone and Apple started ‘following’ his tweets. Within a couple of days, Apple sent him a direct message with a link to upgrade his software. Response was real time and you have a customer who speaks about the brand. Online and offline!

1. There are no rules. The rules are made as you go along
   Ever watched The Matrix – the movie? Morpheus tells Neo, “I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it”. These tools are available for you to use and with good knowledge! It is up to the marketer to make the rules. Since the online world is the best democracy, one will have people on both sides opining about every step of your way. However, if it does good to the brand, the rules are right. If it leads to continuous discomfort, it means that there is an immediate need for tweaking.
2. The response is real time. So better be prepared to respond in real time
   The online space is extremely transparent and puts you on the pedestal immediately. Every move on the web is noticed by millions of users and provides them with an opportunity to react or respond to it immediately. A prominent blogger wrote about his good experience with an online travel portal and how helpful they were offline. The travel company’s response (which was real time) and the mix (online and offline response) coordinated well saved a potential disaster leading to a great experience. Result: Happy Customer. Now, get on your feet!
3. Be a child. Learn everyday
   The online space changes the field every day. If one doesn’t learn and learn at the speed at which the world teaches you, chances are, that you are being left behind. So if you are still thinking ‘blogging about your offerings’ would be a great way to reach out to millions, think again. Twitter and Facebook have taken over a while back? And if we think Twitter and Facebook are permanent, maybe we would be wrong again.
4. Product life cycle is short
   A interbrand report last year listed the top brands in the world and there are just three brands under the category ‘Internet services’ in the top 50 viz., Google (7), Amazon (43), and eBay (46). It is mighty difficult for an internet services company to sustain the pace with which users move. Add to it the cultural and geographic differences and the task becomes even difficult. It is important to re-invent and re-invest continuously to be up the curve. Google is a live example of that. Very few realize that Google offers thousands of services for the internet. Being a search engine is just one business vertical for the brand.
5. Be up the curve and ride the wave
   Easier said than done! It is important for identifying patterns on user movement from one service to another. When Facebook was launched not many realized how big it is going to be! But now we see that applications within Facebook like ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Farmville’ (sounds outdated now!) are growing in numbers with millions of people joining everyday and thousands sustaining their stay! Maybe observing these patterns provide for excellent opportunities. Stupid how much ever it may sound, I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for farming companies to provide ‘tools & ideas’ for Farmville users. There are many individuals who have taken a fancy to organic farming as a hobby and produce their own crop for their consumption. Providing tips to them and ‘virtual equipment’ would help growing their brand with them, however small the returns are now!

Well, thinking of a product line for ‘Mafia Wars’? How about Reid & Taylor suitings and Set Wet Gels? The big baddie is gifted by the mentor with Suitings and Gel to make him look cool!

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The moot point though is whether the concept has any relevance in the 21st century. Here’s why!

A dictionary definition of custodian is “A person entrusted with the custody or care of something or someone; a caretaker or keeper.”

In these days of constant evolution and changing societies shouldn’t we be questioning the concept of ‘custodians’ and be looking at ‘brand torch-bearers’ – individuals who have the ability to boldly take the brand where it is destined to go rather than preserve it in time to become a fossilised relic, split infinitives notwithstanding!

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I am particularly impressed with Vodafone for their ability to adapt to the ‘eastern branding principles’ despite being a very ‘western brand’.

I can safely claim to belong to the Kapferer school of thought which hinges on the fact that every brand is available to be milked to the last drop of “blood”. As a pattern Kapferer observes that the brands (and brand managers) in the eastern (or the ‘occult’ world ) invest on a brand only to derive benefit out of it in every possible way. So you would tend to find line / brand extensions galore. While in the west, you typically tend to find more ‘one product brands’ than anywhere else.

Another typically eastern phenomenon is to have an umbrella brand and to have many ’sub-brands’. This doesn’t happen in the west much either. Consider these examples: HUL Vs NIIT.

Hindustan Unilever Limited (erstwhile HLL), is a stable that I have always admired. However, having ‘Hindustan’ as part of their name does not make it any Indian. They still have a lot of western principles of branding which govern them. Not that it is wrong, but that’s how they are! Suits them fine. They had more than 100 brands (correct me if I am wrong), which they wanted to prune down to ‘30 power brands’ a few years back. I was wondering if I am not going to get my ‘favorite’ brand of bathing soap up north because according to the HUL releases, there were 30 power brands across the country and then ‘regional brands’. Whoa! Here’s an organisation which still wants to put money into brands and relegate them to ‘regions’! So you will not be getting your Hamam if you live in Chandigarh and may not get Rin if living in Kolkata or something equivalent like that! I have reasons to believe that this failed! I now get my Hamam almost anywhere I go. Probably, they just don’t advertise Hamam up north, west or north-west. Period.

NIIT on the other hand is a desi brand. We believe in dropping a coin in the pot and taking out four! After all, we are the ‘occult’ kind. The mystic east! You would have NIIT, NIIT@school, NIIT K12 and almost NIIT@anywhere, making the brand owner the traditional milkman, who is out to get the best out of a 30 year old brand. Well, that I call is actual brand management. You have one name, with which you try to get the best benefits over a period of time. That my friends, is called business sense. Every brand goes through a life cycle and I think the ‘occult’ version helps get the best out of the brand because of its multitude uses. Another classic example in the FMCG space which does the same is ‘Dabur’. You will find the prefix ‘Dabur’ with almost all brand that they own. Very rarely do they not associate a brand with its mother! Familial ties do help.

Well, this is certainly not a concept that can be ‘commonized’ as such. But the root remains. The east depends on familial ties and you still tend to find ‘joint-families’ and ‘Hindu Unified Families’, while go-west the kid is kicked out (or kicks-out) of the home the moment they reach copulating age. More product brands as against a brand family.

Q.E.D.

See you soon!

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