We recently conducted a poll on Linked In to get views on the best way to brand a business unit for an emerging company. The options provided were:

• Ride on the corporate brand (leverage the corp brand)
• Spin off as a separate brand
• Stand out under the corp umbrella (i.e. your branding efforts are independent yet aligned with the corp brand)
• Does not matter

The results were interesting and we got 42% of responses voting for “Stand out under the corp umbrella”, 32% for “Ride on the corporate brand” and 21% for “spin off as a separate brand”.  We got a good mix of responses – across ‘c’ level and management to mid-level people. We found that marketing people were the ones who vehemently opposed spinning off a separate brand whereas some ‘C’ level executives were open to it. The results can be viewed at http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/99477/asrgs.

When does it make sense to spin off a separate brand? The example that immediately comes to mind is P&G where the individual brands marketed by the company are probably more famous than the corporate brand itself.  A spin-off makes sense when you want to have a different positioning, attributes etc. for each of your products/services. Case in point – Accenture setup this low-cost entity called Concadia and the reason is to convey the image of a low-cost provider. Now, this would not have been possible under the Accenture umbrella.

Rather, for emerging companies, it would make more sense to remain aligned with the corporate brand – it is highly likely that the brand attributes for new services/products would be similar to the corporate brand and hence efforts need not be invested in setting up a new one. B2B buyers are also more interested in what you offer, your content, delivery etc and hence it makes more sense to focus on these aspects and ensure your brand attributes are consistent across your organization.  Your views on this topic are welcome.

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This is an important  topic in today’s competitive market -Buyers are more demanding and there is lot of pressure to cut costs, improve efficiency etc. Therefore, more than ever companies have to distinguish themselves in the crowd and that is not an easy task. This is where branding strategy comes into play. We are working with an emerging company with expertise in a niche area and helping them brand this business unit.

How does that work? It starts with a complete understanding of the client context – their strengths, weaknesses, challenges etc and this is garnered through interviews with  stakeholders  such as management, employees and customers. With a sound grasp of the internal context, we need to do a similar study of the market. This includes understanding  buyers and influencer behaviour. The idea is to know the market, what it demands and expects and then map your business’ strengths/capabilities with that. Once that is done, the branding path becomes clearer and you will know how to position yourself and what are the vehicles required.

For example, if the market is mature and opportunities exist to provide support services – then, positioning yourself as a value adding player with business and domain understanding will not be of much use as that is not something the prospects are looking at. On the other hand, it will be useful for an emerging market. So, it is critical to understand the market thoroughly and zero in on what their pain points are.

Very often we find companies not performing a holistic exercise of market + internal context. They end up positioning themselves based on their internal context which may not always be effective for the market they are targeting. Today, you have to know your customer intimately, the way their business operates, the industry challenges,  the way they think, the way they take decisions  and so on. Once you know the market you are operating in, it becomes easier to address/engage them. Sometimes, it will require you to change the way you are working  - you may need to acquire different kind of skills and approach the market in ways that you are not used to – this change as usual will be challenging but worthwhile for the market you want to target.

Branding involves not only aspects that are external facing but also aspects that are internal to the company. The branding strategy should be harmonious across all stakeholders and it is not sufficient to just address the customer/prospect community. With a comprehensive approach and sustained efforts, it is possible to make a dent on your target market.

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The recent news item about Democrat senator Charles Schumer calling Infosys a chop shop has sparked off a lively debate and understandably drawn a lot of comments from the Indian IT industry. Clearly, political compulsions and an economy that is taking its time to recover are triggering such statements.

This is ironic from an Indian IT industry stand point though. During its heydays ( mid nineties to mid 2000’s), the word global delivery was merely a euphemism for large and multiple development centers in India, for most companies, including the large ones. Likewise, the proportion of global talent was not very significant. In the last few years however, the scale players especially have gone about globalizing their operations more systematically, hired locals, especially from the US, which continues to be the most attractive market notwithstanding the recession, and begun to behave like a global corporation, albeit slowly.

This episode underscores the need for Indian companies and industry associations to focus more and more on brand building to communicate strongly the value being delivered by the global outsourcing industry.

Comments?

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One of the the key questions that our clients who are trying to stitch together a social media strategy have is, on deciding the tools they should include. It is not a surprising question given the seemingly infinite possibilities available. On one hand you have supposedly obvious choices like facebook and twitter which seem to have become akin to standards, on the other, every morning you hear of some new tool that appears really relevant to your situation! For instance, yesterday I read about this new blogging platform called Tumblr (yes!) which has 6.6 million users – this sets you thinking whether this is a tool for you to consider.

That said, in our view, rather than getting boggled with the choices, pick a few more established ones and get started. That is the key. Like in all branding exercises, your social media strategy will give results only over time, and if you are at it.

By spending too much time on fine tuning your strategy, including deciding on the number of kind of tools you want to make a part of your effort, you maybe losing valuable time.

It is always easy to add as you go along, so if you are debating this question right now, I hope this post has given you some food for thought………

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Making consumers love your brand is the ultimate goal of any marketer. Apple, especially in today;s context, is often held as an example of a brand that is loved. I read an article in a recent Scientific American magazine that underscores the power of the Apple brand.

Apple recently held a cruise event called MacMania 10 where 102 macphiles, as they call themselves, paid good money to hobnob with fellow macphiles for a week!

The week long interactions also offered an opportunity to discuss what could be better with apple products as well.

As I finished reading the article, I was even more impressed with the way in which the company has built its brand. The takeaways were that, it is important to persist with your vision and way of thinking. It is easy to now talk admiringly about apple and its products, but there were times when the company’s vision and strategy were truly tested.

The company and its founder stood their ground, and banked on innovation to see them through.

The other aspect that stood out for me is really about building a community of loyalists who then become your biggest ambassadors.

I would welcome your views on building likeable brands.

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We all know this. Hence choice of the right visuals is an important aspect in creating high impact marketing communication. This is however easier said than done.

We come across numerous websites where the pictures are so staid and predictable- chess pieces for strategy, hand shake for relationship or a picture of a group of men and women in business suits as a catch all! I think if we applied our minds, we can do a lot better.

On a related note, I recently drove past a More super market in a small town in Kerala. I was surprised to find that More had penetrated into such parts, but a little dismayed at their branding approach. The facade of the building had this huge poster of rich red strawberries ( which the local population would have no clue about!). It is not surprising that the supermarket hardly attracts a crowd. People may think that what is in the shop is not for them!

It will be great to get views from others on this.

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