 Debashis Paul,
COO
Percept/H
“Times they are a-changing”
The new discourse in the marketing arena across the globe is about the next level of branding revolution.
We all know about the myriad opportunities opening up every day in the media space thanks to the digital explosion. In the midst of this intimidating explosion in online marketing ,mobile communications and commerce , let us also recall the parallel explosion of sorts in the conventional avenues in the last decade or so. Television, print, radio, out-of-home, branded events, retail and direct marketing have all metamorphosed through technological advances in content and more. Madison Avenue aptly coined the expression - touch points - to capture the phenomenon of this new age of interface opportunity explosion. The old world caption of exposure occasions wouldn’t do justice to this evolved notion of target audience contact.
In a similar vein there is plenty of new nomenclature to denote this interface. Engagement is one such amongst many. All of us use this term every day.
 However, one of the crucial aspects of the branding revolution discourse is the crying need for the retention of solid branding principles in creation and sustenance of brands in the face of digital explosion or should we say, touch point explosion.
The context arises in the wake of an overabundance of customer choices and the consequent pressure for short term gains at the marketer’s end and the multiplicity of touch points available to the marketer .It’s true, by and large, that the fundamentals of branding have taken the back seat. And this is observable across categories and clients.
One such fundamental is the concept of Core Value of a brand.
The strategic Core Value is the wellspring of all values and associations that lie at the heart of a brand. All its communication assets like brand personality and so on draw from and add back to the Core Value.
To manage and reinforce the Core Value of a brand is somehow relegated to the background in the case of many longstanding brands in the Indian market.
I would go so far as, to say that the longstanding brands are in jeopardy .Losing their distinctiveness and relevance. The challenge for these brands is to reinterpret the Core Value and keep its relevancy and allure with a consistent brand voice even to new age customers across the tangle of touch points.
The abstract space of brands, its Strategic Core Value and its impact on multiple audiences requires understanding of two underpinnings to branding.
To put it simply - first, the reconfiguration of human needs, priorities and wants, that change over time. Second the dynamic cultural forces that have a bearing on it and in its relationship with its customers.
To put it simply - first, the reconfiguration of human needs, priorities and wants, that change over time. Second the dynamic cultural forces that have a bearing on it and in its relationship with its customers.
Some of the Indian brands that have achieved this by a fierce focus on their Core Value and can be termed as power brands that have been built in the last decade are Sahara (wearing the India badge with pride on the global stage), HDFC Life (Self pride above all), Hero (I can make my place in this world), Tata Tea (awakening righteousness) and Cafe Coffee Day (my everyday share of a posh life). There are, of course, several global and Indian brands I could enumerate here .Owing to space limitations I have put down only a few of my favourites to make the point.
As brand communication managers it would be important for us to think as to how we can inculcate the rigour in understanding the brands we handle from the perspective of their Core Value and then think through the associations ,brand personality and the potential to exploit these innovative formats of communication .
Brand DNA is a term created in early 2000s to capture the concept of what was considered, old fashioned Strategic Core Value, far more vividly. It was a dramatic representation using genetics nomenclature underlining the need to dig deep to understand a brand’s Core Value. And not to take on face value what is superficially seen in ads or an execution device or what the Vox pop shows. The point about “decoding the DNA” became the real thing, the priority stuff.
But that excitement of decoding appears to be waning today and the rush about the touch points; the 360 degree hoopla has taken on a life of its own divorced of the Strategic Core Value.
Caution and diligence must be exercised .Careful study and thinking is imperative. Lastly, inspiring the client, convincing the client with intelligent data and powerful argumentation is called for.
I would like to mention by way of a great example a Coca Cola story of how a strategic choice was made for the sponsorship of a gigantic sporting event way back in history and how it has continued the association for brand building purposes for eternity.
The Olympics of 1928 was chosen primarily for sponsorship because of the platform it offered to link the brand emotionally with the clearly identified Core Value of Coca Cola. The innocent enthralment of watching sportsmen in action in the stadium was the space for the brand Coke to own. That’s what Coca Cola is, at its core. Its happiness that is non logical, It’s a thrill that does not result from personal achievement. It’s always here and now. Its joie de vivre that is embedded in innocence
the conceptual understanding of brand space back then is awe inspiring and hats off to the CEO of Coke then who reasoned his decision basis the Core Value.
It’s Olympics 2012 London and Coke is the sponsor boasting about its longest association with the Olympics movement.
The brand has travelled to many countries across the world in the last century .Many layers and associations have been built over many decades on this brand and there are many shades to it – its grown to be a mythic brand and it continues to rule to this day in the world of brands and sits atop all the new age brands across the globe.
Brand fundamentals are forever!! |
