Communication and Brand(a speech at a corporate forum)

Following is a speech written for a corporate discussion at my work place:

If not professionally yet, my academic grades qualify me to be called as a ‘Marketer’ and on the same grounds, I shall key some thoughts of mine here!!

To me the concept of marketing is simple – We all conduct businesses in a crowded market, where the customer has the liberty to choose his options and businesses need to break the clutter, to differentiate and then deliver quality to ‘woo’ the customer again!!!

To do the same, one needs to talk to the right customers, needs to reach out to target them and hit them with messages, visuals, symbols, logos, pictures, credentials, testimonials and what not - conveying ‘what’ the product/solution/idea being offered to them is and ‘How’ would it be useful to ‘Give’ them some benefits.

The above paragraph captures the essence of this write-up, cause it explains nothing but the process of ‘Communication’ [albeit one-sided] and talks of the mediums which when registered as an identity in the mind of the customer is promoted to be called a ‘Brand’.

Creation of a ‘Brand’ is the ultimate property of a Marketer and it’s an outcome of a strategic psychological process involving mind games between the marketer and the customer’s targeted.


One of my favourite examples has always been FAIR & HANDSOME

Fair and lovely – the first variant of the product was positioned only for female’s, however, marketers failed to realize that Men also wanted to look fair and stealthily used/bought fair and lovely – to wade away from the embarrassment of using a feminine cream!!

Consequently, they marketed the same product (not many changes in terms of ingredients and the basic product manufactured) differently, renamed it as Fair and Handsome and positioned the product for MEN.

The message was communicated through mass-media as Shah Rukh Khan (Credential, testimonial) shouted to all men in the world, that finally we have realized your underlying ‘need’ to look handsome (WHY), we have made an exclusive product for you (HOW) and you can buy that facing no embarrassment and look – ‘fair and handsome’ (Benefit)!!

Fair and Handsome – The name in itself was the Brand and Shah Rukh – the ambassador. The message was clear and convincing and so were the sales figures later!!

Creation of a good brand begins from the marketer, establishes with a customer and ends with a manufacturer!!! If the product does not stand up to the hype, hoopla and expectations created by the marketer, then the product would never-ever be able to recover!!

Imagine if after all the marketing, fair and handsome ended up ‘Tanning’ and ‘Darkening’ people – be it Shah Rukh Khan or Sachin Tendulkar – the product would not sell !!!

Like all cricket captains after losing a match say – that the captain is as good as the team. A marketer and his Brand is also as good as the product itself!!



Branding is a philosophy and not an entity! It has its constituents that encompass its beliefs and convey a message.

People, who share the same philosophy, vouch for the brand and are willing to pay a premium for it!!

The exercise of Branding involves complements like; Brand Identity/Logo/Picture etc, Brand Name, Brand Ambassador, A Punch line etc

Taking the case of Infosys – the trademark logo calligraphically written as INFOSYS is the Brand Identity. The logo is nothing but a representation of the company – but the company’s positioning as a quality and ethical IT business partner exudes the philosophy of being a righteous and successful business entity.

It is only because of this philosophy that customers are ready to pay a premium to us; it is only because of this philosophy that resources want to be part of the company. It is this philosophy – built successfully over a period of time – that represents Infosys – at large and is identified by that logo!!

It is this philosophy that I call the philosophy of Branding!!

Other examples that I can think of are – ADDIDAS identified by its calligraphic logo along with the parallel stripes is positioned for high spirited, passionate performers and people high on octane. The slogan matches the same philosophy as it shouts ‘Impossible is nothing’.

Nike – Swoosh (Tick) is a famous brand identity underlined by the caption of ‘Just Do it’ philosophizes the art of challenging oneself and accomplishing the impossible.

The process of branding would be rendered ineffective if it is not executed with the same vigor as it was thought of, strategized and planned.

‘A blemish that often stains most branding exercises is the marketer’s bias towards strategy and planning, than towards its execution and communication’

Marketers quite often spend a lot of time, thought and resource on strategizing the entire exercise of branding i.e. to identify the segments, articulate the positioning of the product, design the brand identity, and carve its philosophy – however, all this would only make sense and effect, if and only if – it is communicated in the appropriate manner.

It may sound a little exaggerated, however to my understanding, the act of designing the branding strategy is so involving and overwhelming that in the mix of it marketers deem the process of communication to be a mere activity and not an integrated process of the entire philosophy.

One needs to chose an appropriate medium for the message to be communicated, a medium that can articulate the message well, a medium which has a good reach, desired frequency, suits the budget and importantly hits the right audience and creates an impact.

Ariel once released a global print advertisement across the globe – in leading local country journals. The advertisement showed a storyline (an advert jargon) wherein the clips ran from left to right. Left – first, showed a transparent bucket full of soiled- dirty clothes, Left-Second, showed Ariel detergent being dropped into the bucket and the dirty clothes and the final clip from the left showed washed, neat clothes dried on a rope string.

The message was simple and clear; the detergent was being positioned as a powerful cleansing agent, the medium (print) and the story line designed - created an impact; however the execution failed especially in the Gulf and Middle East part of the world.

Marketers did not pay attention to detail, in the gulf and other Muslim countries, where people read from right to left and not from left to right as is the common practice.

This meant that the advert to them conveyed that ‘Ariel is a powerful detergent that could grease and soil your neatly dried clothes’!! The advert bombed and boomeranged to create a negative impact as Brand Ariel ended up getting de-marketed.

Disney, worlds most popular cartoon maker, amusement park operator and owner of some of the most recognized brands such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other cartoon characters – could not establish themselves in Europe and to a large extent even in China.

The reason again is a communication strategy failure – they failed to localize their marketing messages and customize their branding exercise to the local lands from where they were operating. They represented themselves an icon of the Americas, communicated the same aloud amidst envy and pride.

Lack of subtlety in communication led to their failure in two of the world’s biggest markets – again establishing a classic case of how communication of a brand is of supreme importance!!

As markets explode and customer’s purchasing behavior matures, the relevance of brands and their existence transpires!!

Hence, as products compete for space and attention in the crowded, global markets – the one’s who would pass Darwin’s law of survival – would be the one’s who would carve an identity; the one’s who would be known, recognized and philosophized by the customer.

The one’s who would be branded; marketed and communicated would be the one’s to stay alive!!

India – free but fractured!!!

One of my colleagues had recently returned back to India after a 7 year stint in the US – and as I conversed with him – I found him quite often saying that “it is quite difficult for one to get used to the way of life in India, given that you are so pampered by the organized, methodical and systemized life abroad”

I failed to empathize with him, because I am yet to cross the oceans myself, however – his repeated accusations against my country (it was his too!!) and its way of life created a sense of discomfort and uneasiness in my mind.

I couldn’t debate with him, because I was uneducated, unexposed and did not know a thing or two about his land. I was also subdued in my talks, cause all those accusations made against my country and its paralytic system’s, were in actual correct and true to their existence!!

I am one amongst those many young people who have these momentary propels of patriotism that exist until the feeling is ripe in thoughts and the stimulus vibrates within the mind. Once you get over it, the country man within you dies a hibernating death and waits for further external instigations like a patriotic movie on the cinemas or a conversation with a rebel (such as this one with my friend) to come.

However, I long debated within myself as to what would it take for India to be not always mortified, to be not on short of good comparisons, to be benchmarked, to be sought after and to be a good place to live life in!!

Infrastructure, Sanitation, Hygiene

Pune, my current city of occupation is a new, young, vibrant city, being showcased as the face of the new emerging India – the window to the same, the rail station certainly did not do any good to its reputation!!!

As I waited for my train to Mumbai - the drenched station with pools of stagnated rain water, smeared with algae and mud welcomed me into the platform. Human and animal excreta – feasted over by flies, bees and bacteria smeared the rail tracks and beggars flocked the station semi-naked, scarred, burnt, and begging with mal-functioned bodies. The only reason why I survived the nausea in the air was that I was aghast, shocked, numbed and equally amazed at my fellow citizen’s ignorance and their ability to survive in such insane living conditions.

I did not blame anyone cause I had no rights to do so – people could question my contribution towards the country’s causes as much as I could question them!! However, at least people had the tenacity to survive in ignorance; I seemed to lack that too!!!

People, Poverty, Education and Righteousness

I boarded my train and barely had sat on my seat, when a young boy just slipped a post card into my hand. Young kids have always been my weakness and I immediately fell for his innocent smile. As I read the note, it said that the young boy wanted to continue his higher grade school and he needed money for the same.

I observed that my co-passengers had no sympathy for the boy and hardly seemed to go through any feelings even after reading the well crafted emotional note. I must confess, I fell for it – moreover my conscience shrieked inside to showcase some nobility, towards the people and the poverty of the country!! In an attempt to get rid of my guilt, I called the boy and asked him to recite a poem for me, which he did up to fractions of my satisfaction and I handed him a 10 Rs note!!

He was courteous enough to thank me and the next I knew was that, 10 other similar looking kids came running towards me from no-where carrying similar paper postcards and their depressing stories!!!

I realized that the young boy would have gone and told his team of boys/girls, that there is an emotional fool, sitting in coach B1-10 who shall fall for all our tricks and is a virtual jackpot for today!!

I can understand their state of poverty; however, I also can understand the inclination of their thoughts – negative, ungovernable, untoward, compelled, frustrated and helpless!! They were young at heart and this is the age when one shapes his/her conscience; it already had been programmed by the men who they work for with deceit, guile, and deception.

They would comprise of the masses, the mob, and the people of tomorrow and their thoughts would manufacture the outlook of our country and to me, they did not look very promising!!

Governance

Arguably, every kid’s first insight into imagination and foresight is an answer to the common question asked in school – ‘kiddo, what is your ambition in life’? Most of us in India, influenced by our parent’s talks or occupation give clichéd answers ranging from a doctor to an engineer to a teacher.

Kids abroad want to become a fireman, a senator, a soldier and if any little one says doctor – trust him to have an Indian ancestral connection!!

True to the answer, if my son in the days to come tells me, daddy – I want to become an Indian Politician!! I might as well forbid him for life….The designation is an embarrassment to the philosophy of employment!! The occupation has lost its meaning, the title carries no compunction and the work has no virtues!!

How I wish I was wrong – however, with barbarians sitting in the parliament, hardly carrying any proficient qualifications or intellect in their minds to analyze complex foreign policies, study the cycles of economies, strategize defense warfare and formulate progressive ideologies!!

We have selfish goons ruling the country, who know more about dividing people on secular issues, propagand populist measures and go to the cheapest level of accusing each other of grave crimes (such as bribery, ghotala’s, scandals etc) in the very august house of parliament, the nucleus of the country!!

A few days back, I saw the rulers of the country being accused of buying votes from the opposition members by the members of the parliament to prove their majority over the nuclear deal. I do not know, who was right and who was wrong – However, was ashamed to know that I am under the governance of a bunch of jokers and they wouldn’t realize that by committing such acts for individual materialistic selfishness, they are letting the country to be doomed!!

I Hope….

I only hope that things change in the coming future!!
Country Men, including me develop a sense of obligation towards society, people, and the country at large!! Individualism paves way for societal happiness and development is routed transparently across sectors, cities and classes of society.

I hope in the days to come, Railway Stations and Bus Stands become monuments of the country and people visit them with pleasure!!

I hope kids on the roads maintain their innocence, recite their rhymes to bring smiles and not to earn money in deceit.

I hope my son becomes a successful politician and in turn that makes me feel proud.

I hope my NRI colleague and his tribe ceases to exist……..

I HOPE MY COUNTRY IS NOT DOOMED!!!!