Personal Branding

Ever wondered why you don't get promotion when you thought it was thoroughly deserved . You give every ounce of your energy into the projects and still wonder why your colleague-cum-competitor-cum-rival gets every bit of the appreciation. If you have ever faced these issues like being in the right company but wrong profile or being given projects, you never even want to start working upon, you face a very common syndrome called L.O.P.B.(Lack Of Personal Branding). I promise you this was a self-made acronym with no acceptability anywhere on earth much akin to K.I.L.B.

Time to get heard

It can occur to any person in any field working in any sector at any level. It works like any other physical ailment. Its impact can only be measured by the symptoms it shows on your work and personal life. Mind you, if not treated properly or not at the right time, it can lead to catastrophic results. So, all the engineers, doctors, CAs, lawyers, MBAs or any professional reading the blog, I will request them to keep on reading.

Now, there's no point going into the definition part of it. Just google it and you will find a million pages. Just to set the records straight, I didn't come up with the term; it was was coined by Al Ries and Jack Trout. But that's not our concern, so lets get to the business part of it.

Personal branding is the art of making oneself present in the manner that the person wants himself to be perceived by others. It is more or less like "packaging" oneself so as to have a particular image of oneself in the minds of others. It has many elements ;both tangible and intangible attached to it. The tangible part is your workspace and the instruments or devices you use in your job. The intangible parts are your desires, feelings and opinions. There are many other intangible elements and it is actually impossible to contain it in a few words.  The intangible elements obviously play a much bigger role than the other.

There are some stereotyped qualities that many mentors or websites shall ask you to adhere to. For instance, an engineer is supposed to be simple,plain,introvert and hard-working guy. A lawyer is an outgoing, extrovert who can go on talking till the cows come home. The CA is supposed to be a serious, thinking guy who loves playing with numbers and is devoid of any sense of humour. But is this stereotyping actually true. Does it work in real life or rather works with every other professional. The answer is NO.

So, why the stereotyping of these professionals. The reason is that these professions existed before the the rise in population ,the rise in middle class, economy boom and much before concepts like globalization and privatization became part of the common man's jargon. Hence, due to lack of opportunities in a particular field and the typical mindset led to the people believing that a witty and jocular engineer is bound to be unsuccessful much like an introvert lawyer. I am sure you must have met people who still believe in the age old "definitions" of professions. "Your son talks so much, he should be a lawyer" or "Your son speaks so less, ye kahaan accha lawyer ban paayega; isko toh engineer hona chahiye tha(should have been an engineer)". I am sure at some stage your parents were told these words or alike.

OK, trust me those who think I am digressing; no I am not. It was important to explain the current "false parameters" required to assess any profession or professional because this is where our problem begins.

Forget what you were told in the childhood, forget what 55-yr old neighbour opines about you; please understand that any person with any set of attributes can excel in the choice of his field. Period. You only need to understand yourself, your job environment, your compatriots, and a bit of PERSONAL BRANDING of course! 

Now, how to brand yourself. Branding is not a one step process or a one day exercise. It is a long-term process which involves every minuscule part of you and your surroundings. Change. That is the keyword. Do all the things that are required to have a better image or rather an image you wish to be seen as. Now, please understand that there is a difference between branding and shamming. While the former is the process of projection of true yourself while the latter is the projection of a fake persona which is very harmful for your career prospects.

We will take look a look at different ways of personal branding in the second part of the blog.

Whats wrong with them?

For the past several days, you must have seen the promotional campaigns of TATA Docomo and Idea 3G. I have been wondering that why these advertisements have failed to leave any impression on the viewer. They both have a popular celebrity on their side, then why? The reason is very simple. The advertisements have gone from being insipid to irksome. Forget promotion, it has almost started hurting the brand value of both the brands.

Idea had started well with very interesting ads. Who can forget the ad wherein the problem of communication was resolved by "Idea" and we find out that Abhishek Bachchan was dumb in the whole act. Another TVC that caught everyone's eyeballs was the "speaking tree" wherein the man is asking if the tree is "post-paid or pre-paid". But then in came the 3G promotion. Abhishek Bachchan looks quiet a half-wit in all of the weakly written scripts. Hence, the three Bachchans only make his presence exasperating in the ad. Be it the three Bachchans on the treadmill or waiting at the bus stop, the whole script can't get more adrift. The brand personality of Idea is of a sincere brand and hence may be making funny and snazzy ads is not an option. But it does not give you the right to make such banal and trite ads which have the ability of boring the viewers to death!

The other culprit for the "most grotesque ads" is of course Tata Docomo. Its tagline says "keep it simple silly" lifted from Kelly Johnson's famous acronym KISS replacing 'stupid' with 'silly'. But their ads have encapsulated both the elements; utter stupidity and stark silliness. With the most tasteless jokes being told by Ranbir Kanpoor in a stand-up act he naturally fails to deliver.  All the TVCs have a similar problem to Idea's - lack of good script. In Tata Docomo's ads though, the whole campaign on television has been mishandled. Firstly, Ranbir Kanpoor has the personality of a lively and gracious choclate boy actor. Why would you tell him to wear a suit and perform in a lone act with the laugh tracks and fake applause? When launched in 2009 its tagline was "Do the new" and tried to woo the customers with 1p/sec tariff. It obviously had to get out of that brand personality. Ahemm, with this?

I wonder if more than hurting the brand personality of Tata Docomo and Idea, it has done harm to Ranbir Kanpoor and Abhishek Bachchan's image respectively; or vice-versa. Whatever the consensus might be, both the campaigns shall go down as the two of the most inglorious campaigns in the history of cellular advertisements.

CATCH

Catch brand belongs to the Rs 1600 Cr conglomerate Noida based DS Group. It was launched in the year 1987 as a salt and pepper brand and has now diversifiied into other products. The brand extension seems to be working fine for the parent company. We will take a look at figures later. Lets start by analysis of the CATCH brand.

Prior to the launch of Catch salt, a random survey was carried out of the urban Indian market. Based on the findings of this survey, the company targeted Catch at two segments – upper class Indian households in the metros, hotel, and restaurants, which would use the product in large volumes. The company built a national distribution network covering 1,600 premium outlets in India's A and B class cities.Catch Salt was launched with a price of Rs.6 for a 200 gm pack. At that time, Tata iodized salt, the market leader, was priced at Re1 per 1 kg pack and loose salt was priced at less that Re1. Analysts felt that there were bigger risks than what the price ratio would suggest at first glance. In India salt had always been a low-priced commodity, and many analysts felt that not many people would be willing to pay higher prices for it. But, according to analysts Catch salt did find acceptance among urban Indian women. This was rather surprising they thought considering that the salt was being sold at thirty times the price of other salts. In 1989, the company launched ground black pepper in 100 gm shakers. A 100 gm pack of salt was also launched. In spices too, Catch was priced higher than other leading brands like Everest and Badshah. As different regions in India used their own distinctive mix of spices, the branded spices market was dominated by regional players. DS Foods hoped that its superior packaging would give Catch spices an edge over other brands in the market. In April 2000, the spices were introduced in lined carton packs at lower prices. Analysts felt that the move was aimed at generating volumes by bringing the product into the popular pricing range. The company could then compete with Everest, Badshah and others.
So while the dispenser pack (100 gm) of red chili powder retailed at Rs 26, the price of the lined carton pack (100gm) was Rs 18. Similarly, turmeric powder (100 grams) priced at Rs 20.05 in dispensers was available at Rs 12.00 in lined cartons. By April 2001, the prices were further slashed – the red chili powder lined carton pack was priced at Rs 13.00 and turmeric powder at Rs. 10.00.

Post 2000, the brand has diversified into various extensions. In 2003, it launched its own line of flavoured water. At the time of lauch, there were no compettitors of this product and it was a new product category itself. Currently, Catch has its variuos beverages in the market. It has its soda , mineral water and cola in three flavours viz. cola,lemon and orange.  Besides alomost every spice being rolled out under the brand, it has a special range of Catch ready to eat snacks. It is available as Catch grams, Catch Pistachios, Catch cashews, Catch Almonds and Catch Jumbo Corn. The foray into snacks had begun as early as in 2001.  Catch also has its range of Gold and Silver foils which are the first electronically beaten foils made in collaboration with Wallner based in Germany.

At present, it has repositioned itself with the tagline "Zara Sa". The tagline in meant to convey higher product quality aimed at the middle-middle and upper-middle class women who shouldn't compromise with the quality and be price conscious at the same time. The TVCs and print campaign show Juhi Chawla as their brand ambassador who is an apt choice for the brand. She signifies a modern successful woman who also has an image of a homemaker. The campaign highlights the "state-of-the-art Low Temperature Grinding (LTG) technology, which prevents the evaporation of volatile & delicate oils from spices".  In a Rs 40,000 cr market of spices in India where only Rs 5000 cr is for branded spices, it was an intelligent move to increase their brand equity through repositioning. For the year 2010-11, the conglomerate is targetting a turnover of Rs 230 Cr from its brand Catch.  The marketing officials in the group claim that while the industry average is 30 % growth y-o-y , on an average Catch has been growing at 60 % every year. It wants to add more products under the Catch brand and make at least 200 SKUs under the brands.

Catch Masala TVC

The Bata Story

Bata established itself in India in the year 1931. In 1934, it started functioning from its own built manufacturing city at Batanagar, close to Ganges in West Bengal. Bata Shoe Company Private Limited went public in the year 1973 and changed its name to Bata India Ltd.
Before we move any further, its very important to discuss the latest comeback made by the company in its market. Under the leadership of  Marcelo Villagran, the CEO of the MNC, it has registered an unprecedented return in the Indian market. It was only half a decade ago that the company had reached the point of bankruptcy and has now made a strong comeback.
“If the last five years were all about consolidation, the next five years will be all about expansion,” says the CEO. Hence it became my source of natural curiosity to take a sneak peek into the company and its strategies and share it with everyone.The net profit on y-o-y basis has grown by 42.6 %  to INR 95 cr. The Bata scrip which was reeling at Rs 40- Rs 45 only a decade back and is now trading around Rs 460. You may visit any share market site and it will advise you to buy its shares.So what has caused the major turnaround? What were the key strategies that the champion CEO employ to gradually make the balance sheet favorable?
Well, the first job of the CEO as soon as he joined the company in 2005 was to clear the mess. He closed down stores which had registered continuous losses over the year. The stores were turned into modern format stores that had better designs and brand appeal. In the year 2010, over 108 new format stores were opened to enhance the presence of the brand. Hence, it was all about closing the old ones and opening new stores at better locales.  Another unique feature was to provide merchandise online on its site. The website had over 4 lakh hits since the launch of the service a year ago. The company made its special team comprising of experts in shoe making and branding who were given responsibility of launching new designs. The strategy of Bata was very simple. It tried to offer products that were consumer-centric and provided value for money.
The brand personality of Bata is definitely an honest and sincere brand which can be trusted by the consumers. It does not carry any snob value but a simple and strikingly innovative designs for its consumers. Hence the basic TG for the brand is middle-middle, middle-upper and upper-lower. The company has clearly done away with the lower segment of the market.
Bata has its fully operational stores in Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and even Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Now its planning to increase its store presence in other small towns in India. Its planning to start with franchisee operations in these small towns too. The average size of these new stores shall be kept at a minimum of 5000 square feet. 

 
Future Challenges :
I believe now that since the company has already made a comeback, it should look for more expansion both in terms of market and consumers. The main consumers of the brand till now have been consumers who are above 40. Its high time that the brand starts targeting the major market i.e. the youth in the age bracket of 19-30. Currently, the brand manufactures its own range of men’s accessories like belts and handbags for women. The strategy should be to reach the youth through these auxiliary brands and then drive them towards the mother brands. May be they could make more accessories like sunglasses, watches etc which are mid-ranged priced meant to attract the youth. Also the brand Bata has enormous respect and such brand extension shall not hamper the image of mother brand.
Another new strategy could be a fierce promotional program. When was the last time we saw a Bata TVC? Probably, we can’t even remember. May be it was never there. The time is nigh for Bata to go big and sweep their customers off their feet. No doubt Bata has arrived finally but it needs to communicate it to the market. What better than having a spree of promotions focusing on the brand essence. The honesty, comfort, perfection and value for money that the company offers should be highlighted in the promotions. Also, the new market i.e. the young should not be forgotten. Hence, a brand ambassador who can cater to both the needs should be signed by the company.

PS :I request every reader to kindly drop-in their valuable comments. Please don’t treat it as an article but a discussion.

Journey called LUX