Contents

Brands 02

Understanding the purpose of branding strategy 03 The Coca-Cola Company

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Coca-Cola India 09

Perceptual Mapping 14

Brand Equity 16

The Challenges and Response to Challenges 18

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BrandsConsider some of the world's great brands: Coca-Cola GE, Disney, Ford, IBM, and Microsoft. All powerful, vibrant properties that command a premium price -- primarily because these brands are recognized and aggressively managed as potent business tools. Their corporate leadership understands that a powerful corporate brand can weather crises more easily, slow market share erosion and rally employees. Powerful brands influence customer preference, strengthen the bottom line, and can even boost market valuation. Yet for many companies, the brand remains an uncultivated business asset.

Branding, very much a buzzword today, is often confused with "corporate identity" or "corporate image." They actually have very different meanings:

Corporate identity refers to a company's name, logo, tagline -- its visual expression or its "look."Corporate image is the public's perception of a company, whether that perception is intended or not.

Corporate branding, by contrast, is a business process -- one that is planned, strategically-focused and integrated throughout the organization. Branding establishes the direction, leadership, clarity of purpose, inspiration and energy for a company's most important asset, its corporate brand.

A CoreBrand conveys the essence, character and purpose of a company and its products and services. It's the heart and soul of the brand from which all outward expressions emanate. When effectively managed and communicated, the CoreBrand has tremendous power.A brand becomes a CoreBrand when it has been defined, directed and understood by all audiences.

Through in-depth analysis of more than 800 Fortune 1000 companies, its proved that corporate branding efforts have a significant, measurable impact on financial performance. A strong brand will enrich your bottom line and boost your stock value, as well as influence consumer preference. The logic behind the impact of branding is simple: if consumers are more familiar with your brand, they are more likely to feel more favorable toward you and to purchase your products. This will have a positive impact on sales, earnings and cash flow. In much the same way, as investors become more familiar with your company, they are

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more likely to have a favorable perception of it. A stronger corporate brand image will positively impact your stock price by an average of 5-7 percent, depending on your industry. When managed properly, brand ROI can extend beyond this point.

Understanding the purpose of branding strategy

Competition in the global business environment is tough and achieving a unique position and competitive advantage becomes more and more difficult and expensive. The high level of investment necessary to maintain production capabilities and rising cost of R&D for product differentiation, makes strong marketing capabilities and unique brands pre-requisites for modern companies to cover these heavy investments. How can companies and management teams catch up?

Corporations around the world are increasingly becoming aware of the enhanced value that corporate branding strategies can provide for an organization. Branding in the classic sense is all about creating unique identities and positions for products and services, hence distinguishing the offerings from competitors. Corporate branding employs the same methodology and toolbox used in product branding, but it also elevates the approach a step further into the board room, where additional issues around stakeholder relations (shareholders, media, competitors, governments and many others) can help the corporation benefit from a strong and well-managed corporate branding strategy. Not surprisingly, a strong and comprehensive corporate branding strategy requires a high level of personal attention and commitment from the CEO and the senior management to become fully effective and meet the objectives.

Corporate branding is often, but wrongly, referred to as an exercise where the company logo, the design style and color scheme are changed. Naturally, these are important elements to evaluate and potentially change at a later stage once the strategy has been decided upon. It is often accompanied with a new corporate slogan, and then everyone expects results to occur during the project. Corporate branding is a serious undertaking that entails more skills and activities than just an updated glossy marketing facade with empty jargon.

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A strong corporate branding strategy can add significant value in terms of helping the entire corporation and the management team to implement the long-term vision, create unique positions in the market place of the company and its brands, and not the least to unlock the leadership potential within the organization. Hence a corporate branding strategy can enable the corporation to further leverage on its tangible and non-tangible assets leading to branding excellence throughout the corporation.

There are thousands of unique corporate brands. Companies like Microsoft, Intel, Singapore Airlines, Disney, CNN, Samsung, Mercedes and many others are good examples to think of. The global financial powerhouses HSBC and Citibank have both in recent years acquired a vast number of companies across the globe and adopted them fully under their international corporate brands with great success and within a surprising short timeframe. A strong brand is about building and maintaining strong perceptions in the minds of customers. This takes time to establish and many resources to keep, but eventually no one remembers what the local banks used to be called, and HSBC and Citibank manage to transfer the brand equities from the acquired brands into their own corporate brand equity.

An ancient and famous Indian proverb says: “If you don’t have a goal, how can you know when you have arrived?” In order to establish and grow a corporate brand successfully, the management team has to track and measure the strength of the current corporate brand and the entire brand portfolio. Research can help understand the business landscape in more depth and serves as a foundation for the future corporate brand strategy.

Modern research tools have become very sophisticated and at the same time easy to employ. There is no excuse for not trying to get a market and customer driven perspective of the brand portfolio including the corporate brand.

There are several benefits for employing a branding strategy that a corporation can exploit. First of all, a strong corporate brand is no less or more than the face of the business strategy, portraying what the corporation aims at doing and what it wants to be known for in the market place. The corporate brand is the overall umbrella for the corporations’ activities and encapsulates its vision, values, personality, positioning and image among many other dimensions. Think of HSBC, which has successfully implemented a stringent corporate branding strategy. HSBC employs the same common expression throughout the globe with a simple advertising strategy based on the slogan “The world’s local bank.” This creative platform

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enables the corporation to bridge between many cultural differences, and to portray many faces of the same strategy.

A corporate branding strategy creates simplicity; it stands on top of the brand portfolio as the ultimate identifier of the corporation. P&G has notoriously been known for a multi-brand strategy, and yet again, the corporate brand P&G is still what encapsulates all activities by the company. Depending on the business strategy and the potential need for more than a one-brand architecture in the case of P&G, which markets many different brands under its umbrella, a corporate brand can very often assist the corporation and the management to focus in on the core vision and values. Once this overall platform has been established and implemented, it serves as a great stepping stone for revisiting any other brands in the corporations’ portfolio -- to have a new approach to and look at its various brand identities. This ultimately will lead to the final brand architecture of the corporation and set the strategy for how branding and brands will play an important role to achieve the corporate objectives.

When the corporation decides to implement a corporate branding strategy, some cost efficiencies can often be achieved as opposed to a large multi-brand architecture where the corporate brand plays a smaller or insignificant role. Today, there is a general requirement for high level of investments to maintain efficient production capabilities and scale in many industries (for example technology and pharmaceutical), and to stay competitive in R&D for new products and services. Product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter for many industries and products, and corporations have to seek solutions to recover their development and marketing costs within the shorter life cycles. These factors combined are forcing corporations to evaluate their cost structure, and a corporate branding strategy can help management achieve its goals by bridging across product categories and services as opposed to a multi-brand strategy.

There are obvious cost efficiencies in terms of reduced marketing and advertising spending as the corporate brand replaces budgets for individual product marketing efforts. Even a combined corporate and product branding strategy can often enable management to reduce costs and exploit synergies from a new and more focused brand architecture.

The Apple brand has established a very strong position of being a design-driven and innovative company offering many types of products and services. Its corporate brand encapsulates the body and soul of the company, and the main messages use the corporate Apple brand. Various sub-brands then help to identify the individual product lines.

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But one should carefully avoid the potential trip of streamlining the brand portfolio just based on a raw cost perspective as secondary effects can play a significant impact of the overall revenue stream and on the stakeholders image of the corporation. The basic guideline is based on revenue contribution of the various brands. If profit contribution can be enhanced by reducing the number of brands, the portfolio is too big. Reversely, if the overall profit contribution can be enhanced by adding new brands, the portfolio is too small. Hence an individual wish for strong corporate branding must be evaluated carefully and all factors taken into consideration.

In the last couple of years, corporate brands have become very strong drivers of financial value for corporations. Corporate brands by themselves have become valuable assets on the company balance sheet with market values very often much beyond book value.

The founder of Sony, Akio Morita, once said: “I have always believed that the company name is the life of an enterprise. It carries responsibility and guarantees the quality of the product.” A strong and well-balanced corporate brand orchestrated throughout the corporation by a passionate CEO and his team can lead to very successful and sustainable financial results.

The Coca-Cola Company is the global soft-drink industry leader, with world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The Company and its subsidiaries employ nearly 30,000 people around the world. Syrups, concentrates and beverage bases for Coca-Cola, the Company's flagship

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FAST FACTS

Population: 1 billion.

Share of sales: The Company leads the CSD market with a nearly 60 percent share of sales.

Annual per capita consumption: Nine (eight-ounce servings).

System employment: Approximately 10,000 people.

System investment: More than US$1 billion since 1993.

brand, and over 160 other Company soft-drink brands are manufactured and sold by The Coca-Cola Company and its subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world. In fact, approximately 70 percent of Company volume and 80 percent of Company profit come from outside the United States. The products of The Coca-Cola Company touch lives everywhere. Their core brands have made an impact around the world, brands such as Fanta, Sprite & of course, Coca-Cola are available and  recognized in many countries. Each of their brands are distributed in one or more countries and is tailored to the cultures and tastes of those consumers. So wherever you are, you're sure to find a Coca-Cola product to enjoy.

While The Coca-Cola Company is a global company with some of the world’s most widely recognised brands, the Coca-Cola business in India, as in each country where we operate, is a local business. Our beverages are produced locally, employing Indian citizens, our product range and marketing reflect Indian tastes and lifestyles, and we are deeply involved in the life of the local communities in which we operate.

History

After a 16-year absence,Coca-Cola returned to India in 1993. The Company's presence in India was cemented in November that year in a deal that gaveCoca-Cola ownership of the nation's top soft-drink brands and bottling network.

Investment, Employment and Economic Impact

Coca-Cola India has made significant investments to build and continually improve its business in India, including new production facilities, wastewater treatment plants, distribution systems and marketing equipment. During the past decade, the Coca-Cola system has invested more than US$1 billion in India. As such Coca-Cola is one of the country’s top international investors. In 2003, Coca-Cola

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India pledged to invest a further US$100 million in its operations.

The Coca-Cola business system directly employs approximately 10,000 local people in India. In addition, several independent studies have documented that, by providing opportunities for local enterprises, the Coca-Cola business also generates a significant employment “multiplier effect”. In India, we indirectly create employment for more than 125,000 people in related industries through our vast procurement, supply and distribution system.

Bottling Operations

The Coca-Cola system in India comprises 27 wholly-owned Company-owned bottling operations and another 17 franchisee-owned bottling operations. A network of 29 contract-packers also manufactures a range of products for the Company. Almost all the goods and services required to produce and market Coca-Cola in India are made locally, sometimes with the help of technology and skills from the Company. The complexity of the Indian market is reflected in the distribution fleet, which includes 10-tonne trucks, open-bay three-wheelers that can navigate the narrow alleyways of Indian cities, and trademarked tricycles and pushcarts.

Products

Leading Indian brands Thums Up, Limca, Maaza, Citra and Gold Spot join the Company's international family of brands, including Coca-Cola, diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta, plus the Schweppes product range. Our Kinley water brand was launched in 2000 and, in 2001, our energy drink Shock and our first powdered concentrate, Sunfill, hit the market. Annual per capita consumption of soft drinks in India is nine 8-ounce servings.

MarketingWhile broad direction and themes for our global brands are created at a global level, specific marketing programmes for our products are determined locally. In early 2003, Coca-Cola India collected Advertiser of the Year and Campaign of the Year awards for the Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola all-media campaign. Innovation has been the hallmark of other marketing campaigns, with the Company racking up "firsts" in the introduction of canned and PET soft drinks, vending machines and backpack dispensers for crowds of cricket supporters.

Quality

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We consider the consistent high quality of our beverages to be one of our business’ primary assets. In India, as in each country where we produce our beverages, the Coca-Cola system adheres not only to national laws on food processing and labelling, but also to our own strict standards for exceptional quality. In everything we do, from the selection of ingredients to the production of our beverages and their delivery to the marketplace, we use our specialised quality management system, The Coca-Cola Quality System, to ensure that we are offering consumers only the highest quality products. We monitor our success through our customer and consumer feedback and our in-trade monitoring programmes, and this information enables us to continuously improve our already demanding systems.Coca-Cola and the community

At Coca-Cola, we have a long-standing belief that everyone who touches our business should benefit. That basic proposition – that our business should bring benefit and refreshment – is central to the way we operate in communities around the world. Coca-Cola India provides extensive support for community programmes across the country, with a focus on education, health and rainwater harvesting, all key priorities of the Indian government, which has recognised the Company’s efforts with several awards.

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Coca-Cola is the 5 th most respected company in the world

The Coca-Cola Company has been ranked as the fifth most respected company in the world by the Financial Times / PricewaterhouseCoopers survey on the world's 'most respected companies'. The company also topped in its category of food and beverage industries. Since the rankings began, the company has remained in the top ten, never falling below the sixth slot.

Coca-Cola is ranked in the top ten by business leaders for 'best corporate governance'. In a separate ranking of corporate governance by non-governmental organsations (NGOs), Coca-Cola was rated at No 5.

In terms of providing shareholder value, Coca-Cola has remained in the top ten, ranked number 7 by business leaders as in 2003. Coca-Cola also was ranked in the top ten for shareholder value by fund managers at number 8, same as in 2003.

Sanjiv Gupta, President of Coca-Cola India said: "This is a great tribute to our workforce throughout the world, as well as in India. We recently appeared in the top ten most admired companies in India too so really feel a part of this success."

Coca-Cola India

Introduction

In 2003, the Indian subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company was awarded the Robert W. Woodruff Award for outstanding business performance. Coca-Cola’s turnaround in India had come after a period of heavy investments. During the period 1993-2002, the company had invested $1 billion in India. In 2003, Coca-Cola had 17 manufacturing units, 60 distribution centers catering to 5,000 distributors and one million retail outlets, serviced via trucks and three-wheelers. Coca-Cola2directly employed 10,000 people.

Background note

Coca-Cola’s reentry into India was driven by both competitive factors and Coca-Cola’s own global plans. Pepsi had entered India in 1990 and by 1993 had garnered a 25% market share. Coca-Cola could not stay behind. Moreover, the parent company had realised the need to expand its presence in emerging markets as growth was tapering off in developed countries. In late 1993, to make a quick entry into the market and neutralize Pepsi’s early mover advantage, Coca-Cola decided to buy out a local soft drink company, Parle, which had a 60% market share.But Coca-Cola found itself facing several problems. It focused on establishing the Coke brand quickly, positioning it as an international brand and not emphasizing local association. Neglect of Parle brands3 led to their decline in market share. The operations of the small bottlers acquired from Parle system were inefficient and increased costs. The bottlers also had problems adjusting to Coca-Cola’s work culture.Instability at the top also created problems for Coca-Cola. Between 1993 and 2000, Coca-Cola had five presidents. During the tenure of the founding CEO, Jayadev Raja (1992-May 1995) and Richard Nicholas (June 1995- March 1997) Coca-Cola seemed to fritter away the jump-start it got from the Parle acquisition. Donald Short (April 1997-November 1999) streamlined the bottling operations and the supply chain. Douglas Jackson (November 1999-January 2000) had a short stint before being replaced by Alex Von Behr (Von Behr).

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Meanwhile, the push for increase in volume had taken its toll on the internal systems of the company. In March 2000, Coca-Cola received reports of gross violation of discounting terms and credit policies and dubious cash management practices by its North India n operations. The company initiated an enquiry into the matter with the help of consultants Arthur Anderson. The team inspected regional offices, distribution centers and bottling plants in the Northern region to verify the accounts and other transactions. Investigations revealed that discounts were as high as five times as those offered in other regions. There had also been arbitrary appointments and cancellations of dealerships.The findings were followed by a detailed performance appraisal, which led to the resignation of 70 managers during the period, July-November 2000. The employees alleged that the top management had approved the discounts and the whole appraisal exercise was a thinly veiled effort to cut down the managerial strength. As the managers left and doubts about the whole episode remained, distrust towards the top management crept into the lower and middle management.

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Von Behr along with Sanjiv Gupta (Gupta), Vice President, Operations and Navin Miglani, the head of Human Resources realized the need for a complete overhaul of the system. They felt an urgent need to decentralize operations even as they established stronger systems and processes.The top management team decided to reposition Coca-Cola as a beverage company rather than as a carbonated soft drinks (CSD) company. They convinced the Atlanta headquarters to introduce new affordable package sizes to increase beverage consumption and revamp Thums Up and other Parle brands.

Coca-Cola also realized the importance of maintaining good relations with the government in a country, where many politicians continued to whip up public sentiment against MNCs. In 1997, Coca-Cola had signed an agreement with Government of India to disinvest 49% in favor of the Indian public to bring in $700 million into India. But, in 2000, with return on investment being only Rs.3 per share for a face value of Rs.10 per share, Coca-Cola was reluctant to go ahead with the divestment. This led to friction between the government and Coca-Cola. In August 2002, to keep the government happy, Coca-Cola divested 49% stake in its bottling subsidiary Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCB) through private placement (33%),

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employees and stock option trusts (10%) and bottlers (6%). In the process, Coca-Cola raised $41.6 million.MarketingVon Behr launched several new marketing initiatives, influenced by the direction the parent company was taking under CEO, Douglas Daft. Daft believed rapid globalisation had made the company highly centralized in its decision-making and insensitive to local needs. Daft had embarked on a “think local, act local” strategy, which marked a major shift from the one-size-fitsall mindset. The parent company expanded its portfolio to 300 brands, mostly local. In emerging markets, the company focused on making products affordable for consumers.Von Behr realized that regional brands not only required less advertising support but they also increased the viability of bottling operations. Coca-Cola spent $3.5 million to beef up advertising and distribution for Thums Up. By 2002, it had become India’s No.2 cola drink after Pepsi.Maaza, the mango drink, was repositioned as a juice brand and saw a growth of almost 30% in 2001. Since India was a large country consisting of blocs of different tastes and cultures, Coca- Cola customized its marketing strategy for different regions. It promoted the Coke brand in Delhi, Thums Up in Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh, and Fanta in Tamil Nadu. Coca-Cola had plans to launch Rimzim, a spicy soda drink, in Maharashtra. Different pack sizes were promoted in different parts of the country. The one-liter pack was promoted in Delhi and the 1.5-liter pack in Mumbai. Restaurants in Delhi and Mumbai and Paan-bidi4 and grocery outlets in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were targeted as the preferred channel.

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Coca-Cola gave its promotional efforts a local flavor by leveraging festivals like Durga Puja in Calcutta, and Dandiya in Gujarat. It also started focusing on the youth market. Coca-Cola’s positioning was similar to that of Pepsi but it started to outspend Pepsi. In 1998 and 1999, Coca- Cola spent three times6 more on promotions than Pepsi. Coca-Cola also started focusing on youth passions like cricket, films, festivals and food. It signed on cricketers and popular film stars for its advertisements. It modified film hits to frame catchlines that appealed to the youth. In April 2000, Coca-Cola brought out a TV commercial featuring Hindi movie heartthrob Hrithik Roshan. This worried Pepsi, prompting it to come out with a spoof in which a pretty girl spurned a lookalike of Hrithik Roshan in favor of Shahrukh Khan, another popular movie actor and longtime Pepsi endorser. Coca-Cola promoted all its 10 brands8 to crowd out Pepsi. While Thums Up was associated with adventure sports, Sprite was used to take potshots at Pepsi.Coca-Cola learnt with experience that price was a strategic weapon in a country where many people found a bottle of Coca-Cola to be an expensive proposition. In 2000, Coca-Cola conducted a yearlong experiment in coastal Andhra Pradesh by introducing a 200ml bottle priced at Rs.7. The volumes went up by 30% demonstrating the importance of consumer affordability. The 200ml pack, priced at Rs.5, was rolled out countrywide in January 2003. The advertising campaign highlighted the affordability and Indian image of Coke. One advertisement, which became very popular, starred popular Indian actor Aamir Khan (See Figure (iii)). It reiterated that the Chhota Coke (small Coke) was available for just Rs.5. The advertisement was shot in a rural setting to target new consumers. The campaign was a huge success and won the AAAI and Abby advertising awards

Coca-Cola identified bottled water as an area where it had major opportunities. In 2002, packaged drinking water (PDW) in India was a Rs.1,000 crore industry, growing by 40% every year.Despite being a low margin-high volume business, PDW was an attractive proposition for bottlers as it increased plant utilization rates. But it was an intensively competitive market, where product differentiation was difficult. Coca-Cola’s Kinley faced stiff competition from Ramesh Chauhan’s Bisleri and Pepsi’s Aquafina. Coca-Cola positioned Kinley as natural water with the tag line “boond boond mein vishwas” (Trust in each drop of water). To make it affordable, Coca-Colaintroduced Kinley in 200 ml pouches for Re.1 in selected places in Ahmedabad and 200 ml water cups in Maharashtra for Rs.3 in a test marketing exercise conducted in mid-2002. In 2002, with a market

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share of 35%, Kinley was the leader in the retail PDW segment, contributing 20% of Coca-Cola’s revenues.

Perceptual Mapping

Perceptual mapping has been used as a strategic management tool for about thirty years. It offers a unique ability to communicate the complex relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by buyers in making purchase decisions and recommendations. Its powerful graphic simplicity appeals to senior management and can stimulate discussion and strategic thinking at all levels of all types of organizations.Perceptual mapping can be used to plot the interrelationships of consumer products, industrial goods, institutions, as well as populations. Virtually any subjects that can be rated on a range of attributes can be mapped to show their relative positions in relation both to other subjects as well as to the evaluative attributes.Perceptual maps may be used for market segmentation, concept development and evaluation, and tracking changes in marketplace perceptions among other uses. Perceptual mapping involves two steps: (1) data collection and (2) data analysis and presentation.

Data CollectionAmong the various mathematical and statistical methods used to produce perceptual maps, POPULUS has found—and published research to this effect—that multiple discriminant analysis provides the most reliable methodology. Among the reasons for this are:1. Discriminant analysis has a close linkage between product points and attribute locations.2. Discriminant analysis maps do not change if attributes are added that are linear combinations of those already present in the perceptual space.

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3. Discriminant analysis is alone in paying attention to “between product” information, after scaling it so that “within product” differences are equal for each dimension and uncorrelated. That means that DA uses a “yardstick” to give every dimension common metric (in terms of equal unexplained variance).4. Discriminant analysis is the most efficient method in terms of cramming into a space of low dimensionality the most information about how products differ.5. Unlike mapping based on distances or similarities, DA make use of attribute ratings, which are easy and natural for respondents, and useful for their content even if mapping is not done with them.6. POPULUS research [Fiedler, 1996] has shown that DA was more successful that Correspondence Analysis at reproducing a known map when the data were distorted in various ways.Employing this methodology, respondents are never asked about similarities among products or subjects; they are asked to rate products on attributes, and similarities are inferred from differences in respondents’ ratings.The data required for perceptual mapping thus comes from rating scales where the subjects of the map, from products to populations, are described on the basis of selected attributes. The validity of the map depends on both the overall set of attributes and the subjects of the study as well as the subset of attributes and subjects evaluated by each respondent.Most studies suffer from too many attributes. Manufacturers and service providers see hundreds of ways in which their products and services differ—or might differ—from those of their competitors. Often the research analyst is unable to impose the discipline necessary to develop a reasonably short list of attributes. In most studies, it is usually desirable (or necessary) to select a subset of attributes for respondents to rate. This can be accomplished by using one of two approaches:1. Select a subset of most important attributes. Each respondent rates all attributes on importance. The questionnaire is programmed to select a subset of the important attributes for rating. This may assure more meaningful questionnaires for respondents.2. Randomly select a subset of attributes. The questionnaire randomly selects a subset of attributes for each respondent. This has the advantage that there will be roughly equal sample sizes for each of the evaluative criteria. The obvious disadvantage is that the respondent task may be less interesting. Research by POPULUS has shown that the first alternative provides for a greater correlation between discrimination and importance.Data Analysis and PresentationMultiple discriminant analysis uses the “F ratio” to determine attribute and product or subject location in the perceptual space. The

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F ratio is a ratio of the variance between ratings of different products/subjects to the variance of ratings within products/subjects. In an attribute study, these variations among ratings are generally of two types:1. The differences between products/subjects, revealed in the difference between average ratings for different products.2. The differences within products, revealed in the differences among respondents’ ratings of the same product.An attribute would have a higher F ratio either if its product averages were more different from one another, or if there were more agreement among respondents rating the same product.Multiple discriminant analysis finds the optimal weighted combination of all the attributes which would produce the highest F ratio of between-product to withinproduct variation. That weighted combination of attributes becomes the first dimension of the perceptual map.

Brand Positioning & Perceptual Mapping

Positioning reflects the "place" a product occupies in a market or segment. A successful position has characteristics that are both differentiating and important to consumers.

Every product has some sort of position — whether intended or not. Positions are based upon consumer perceptions, which may or may not reflect reality. A position is effectively built by communicating a consistent message to consumers about the product and where it fits into the market — through advertising, brand name, and packaging.

Typical questions addressed

What is your current position?

• What does the "space" look like?

• What are the other brands in the “space”? What other categories are present in the “space”

• What are the gaps, unfilled positions or "holes" in the category?• Which attributes are most important?

Perceptual mapping is a graphics technique used by marketers that attempts to visually display the perceptions of customers or potential customers. Typically the position of a product, product line, brand, or company is displayed relative to their competition.

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Brand Equity

Equity is nice to have, but….

Nobody seems to know what brand equity is. Is it Lifebuoy's claim on protection of health? Or, caring of babies by Johnson & Johnson? Or the beauty-giving qualities of Lux?The idea of brand equity started off as something like the goodwill that one of our forefathers sold when he left his stationery retail store; brand equity was a financial concept. Like goodwill.

Then, somehow, brand equity has expanded until it now is a grab bag of all the assets, usually intangible, that a brand musters. Since brand equity now means so many things, financial and others, it is becoming almost unusable as an instrument to solve the major problems that brands now have.

David Aaker, the famous researcher whose works include "Managing Brand Equity", lists some of these assets: name awareness, loyal customers, strong association, and perceived quality.

But there are other equally important elements: brand personality, brand bonding, user imagery, value, strength of feeling, and more. So much more that the search for brand equity sometimes feels like shooting in the dark. It is blind; it is hit or miss. When you do hit, you are not too sure whether you want what showers down.

In short, brand equity is a nice idea until you have to actually use it or act on it.

I am not saying you should discard the idea altogether, instead I am pointing to a way to direct brand equity. Different kinds of brands have different kinds of "hooks", specific equity elements, different from each other and most effective with each kind of brand, that can hold or attract a buyer. Some or all of that list of equity elements may come into play. So, what you should do with brand equity is this: find the "hook", concentrate on it, and brand equity really starts to make sense.

There are "hazar" examples in the Indian context: the ages-old beauty soap Lux International, Lifebuoy, Johnson & Johnson, Surf, Liril, Cadbury’s.... the list is long.Other scintillating successes include that wonderful MRF tyres (now a bit precious) in which the hook is power and space age. And the Wills Filter where the hook is "made for each other."

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Perhaps an equal number also exists for flops because they failed to use the right elements to build brand equity -- Ponds for using their name gained through talcum powder segment for their toothpastes and baby soaps, Allwyn refrigerators for their silent operation thrust, and so on.

On another level, Thums Up danced away from "Thirst quencher" in search of something more creative -- "Taste the Thunder" and to "I want my Thunder." Definitely for the better. Similarly, Pepsi consistently built from "Yeh hi hai right choice baby" to "yeh dil maange more".

In each case, the hooks consisted of one or two elements and something that lasted, or could have lasted, over time. Now, this might sound a little like Rosser Reeves revived and the USP flying again. And it is, in one sense. But the idea of a brand hook is different.

First, it can be an awareness or a personality for some image-driven brand. It doesn't have to be as "hard" as a USP. Like the beauty with Lux or space age with MRF.

Second, the hook can be complex, consisting of several elements. Like the "Dil Maange More" of Pepsi.

Finally, and may be the most important, the hook can be flexible and change over time. Like Surf with the higher order platform it now occupies. Or even the Coke case where they have finally found some success in "Jo chaaho ho jaa".

Basically, all I am urging marketers and advertisers to do is to stop thrashing around, to figure out just what that specific element of equity each brand has. More than that, we all to stop using brand equity as that magic gun and carefully guard their own precious hooks.

Coca-Cola India’s agency portfolio will read like this: McCann will have Coke, Diet Coke and orange drink Fanta; Leo Burnett will have Thums Up, clear lemon drink Sprite and the mango-flavoured Maaza; and O&M will handle the cloudy lemon brand Limca and mineral water brand Kinley

Coca-Cola-The Challenges and Response to ChallengesMarket Segmentation

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To compete successfully in today’s volatile and competitive business markets, mass marketing is no longer a viable option for most companies. Market segmentation is the process of partitioning markets into groups of potential customers with similar needs or characteristics who are likely to exhibit similar purchase behavior.

Market segmentation is the foundation on which all other marketing actions can be based.

The overall objective of using a market segmentation strategy is to improve your company’s competitive position and better serve the needs of your customers. Some specific objectives may include increased sales, improved market share and enhanced image, to ascertain potential for a new product.

Price Elasticity

If a manufacturer raises the price of his product by ten percent, what will happen to its revenues? The answer depends on how consumers will respond. Will they cut back purchases a little or a lot? This question of how responsive consumers are to price changes involves the economic concept of elasticity.

Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Simply understanding how satisfied your customers are with your services is not enough. A deeper understanding of what customers value is critical to any organization. Customer satisfaction continuously captures the voice of the customer through the assessment of performance from the customer's point of view. True customer satisfaction is an organization's ability to attract & retain customers and enhance the customer relationship over time. Satisfaction in itself does not mean much if it does not get translated into Loyalty towards the company. Hence, going a step ahead,

• What are the drivers of customer loyalty in our market?• Who are our vulnerable customers and how can we identify them?

Market Mapping/ Market Assessment

Fully understanding a market is an excellent way to start a project. These investigations can provide fundamental knowledge about

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opportunities prior to investing significant time and money in product development.

Demand Estimation/Econometrics

Demand estimation - to determine the approximate level of demand for the product

Segmentation & Profiling

Segmentation and Profiling is critical in targeting specific groups and understanding the purchase behavior of those consumers who represent the greatest sales opportunities. Key groups can be identified, based on a number of different criteria including attitudes, psychographics, motivations and barriers, usage habits, loyalty, etc. Once the segments have been identified, analysis can be conducted to provide insight into the purchase behaviors and demographics of each group such as:

• Differentiating category / brand attitudes by various buyer groups to enhance the purchase behavior information.

• Providing key information needed to move light buyers to medium buyers and medium buyers to heavy buyers.

• Providing the ability to understand multiple usage and how usage differs between buyer groups.

SUMMING IT UP

Ultimately, the power of a brand lies in the minds of the customers, in what they have experienced and learnt about a brand over a period of time. Consumer knowledge is really at the heart of brand equity. In an abstract sense, brand equity provides marketers with a strategic bridge from their past to their future. That is, all the money spent each year on marketing can be thought of not so much as expenses but as investments - investments in what consumers know, feel, recall, believe and think about the brand. That knowledge dictates appropriate and inappropriate directions for the brand - for it is consumers who will decide, based on their beliefs and attitudes about a given brand, where they think that brand should go and grant permission (or not) to any marketing tactic or program. If not properly designed and implemented, those expenditures may not be good investments

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