Ma 2008

The Delta Perspective

“If this business were splitup, I would give you the landand bricks and mortar, and Iwould take the brands andtrade marks, and I wouldfare better than you.”— John Stuart,Chairman of Quaker(c.a. 1900)

Brands came into existence as early as trade when herd ownersused hot irons to mark and identify their cattle. This mark laterdeveloped with the industrial revolution where factories usedcertain elements to distinguish their products from others. Aspeople moved into cities and were no longer exposed to themanufacturing source of the products available, their purchasingdecision became influenced by the brands that they knew. Brandshave come a long way since, and have become representative of asignificant value of their parent companies.

of origin.” If the above is applicable ina developed market like the UK, theimpact of a trusted brand would delivermuch higher value in high-growthmarkets where corporations are lesscustomer oriented.Already from the early start-up stage,setting up a telecom operator isbecoming increasingly standardized; theinvestors choose one of three or fourmain companies to setup their network,recruit the same regional telecomexperts from existing operators, andmost likely use the same company todevelop their SIM cards and packaging.Then, as the market becomes mature,the main differentiator to attractcustomers becomes the brand (look &feel, communication, and experience)

Operators in a monopolistic situationtypically focus on slowly adding incrementalfunctionality in order to make customersspend more money, therefore increasingrevenue. Monopolies would regard neitherprice nor brand as priorities becausecustomers have no other alternatives orbenchmark in the marketAs the second player enters the market,price will increasingly become a competitivepriority. Improved customer service and somedegree of customized products and serviceswill push the functionality axis slightly higher.Branding in this case is usually regarded as amere visual differentiation between operatorsAs the more operators enter the market,pricing will not be a sustainable lever to playin the long term. In order to differentiate,operators will need to look to their brand’semotional appeal. Since there are capsin the functional axis (limited to networkcapabilities) and financial axis (restrictedby profitability and business sense), abrand’s emotional appeal is always limitlessand only capped by the operator and itscommunication agency’s creativity