Brand personality : Bajaj Pulsar

Abstract:

Advertising is one of the key elements in building a brand personality, which

is equally important to the marketer & consumers.  Brand personality is
distinct, non preemptible enduring and associates the brand with certain
values.  Brand personality acts a potent brand differentiator and offers
sustainable competitive advantage.

Advertising by creating or reinforcing brand's personality enhances brand

value or equity , which in turn can be leveraged through brand extension. 
Brand personality also helps brands to gain market share, command price
premium and insulates from discounting Brands.

Consumers as  part of self-defining process, use possessions to describe

themselves  and also to which group they belong,  especially in socially
conspicuous product categories such as clothing, automobiles etc.(what is
me is related to what I have)   Brands make personality statements, users
associate a brand with a strong personality.

Key advertising elements such as endorser, user imagery, symbols and

execution elements contribute to Brand personality.

Role of advertising in creating Brand Personality

Human beings have a personality, which is essentially a summation of

traits.  Brand personality can be defined in several ways, with emphasis on
emotion, human and tangible aspects of the brand. It can also be defined as
sum of the tangible and intangible aspects of the brand. Even for industrial
product like steel, SAIL uses emotional connect with 'punch line' there is bit
of SAIL in everybody's life.  Brand personality, is process of transforming the
brand into a person or humanizing the brand.  Thus brands can also have
characteristics (Ex: Sex, Gender, skills & abilities etc). Marketers deliver the
personality using  advertising, features, packaging etc.

Users and non users differ in perceptions with respect to Brand personality
users attach a distinct personality to the brand.  Established brands have
unique personality   which is generally consistent and may be implicit. 
Brand personality enables to establish relationship between brand &
consumer with emotional content.  The degree of proximity between brand
and consumer personality, will influence the purchase intension and brand
loyalty.  Brands need to update personality to stay contemporary and
relevant, as target audience personality may change over a period of time,
due to changes in cultural, economic, media exposure etc.  Brand
personality should not be confused with target audience characteristics.
Personality may be existing or aspirational.  Projective techniques can be
used to describe brands.  Consumers can be asked to associate the brand,
with adjectives (word association, sentence completion etc.) and also can be
asked about user imagery.

Recently I saw an ad of Bajaj which showed that Bajaj XCD 125 is now in the
DTSI Club . The DTSI which stands for Digital Twin Spark Ignition system
was a technology patented by Bajaj.

This technology uses twin sparks at either end of the combustion chamber
which gives faster combustion compared to the single spark plugs found in
conventional engines. This twin sparks increases the power of the engine
and offer better performance.

Bajaj did a great marketing move by patenting it and then branding this
technology as DTSI. This is a classical case of ingredient branding. The DTSI
was featured in the second generation Pulsar which was launched in 2003.

While Pulsar rode the wave in 2001 on the back of excellent styling and
mind-blowing positioning , DTSI became the key differentiators for the brand
after 2003. Pulsar was perceived to be a mean machine because of DTSI.

Pulsar thus created and ruled the performance bike category in India.
Its natural for any company to think of extracting maximum mileage out of a
patented technology. Bajaj did just that by extending the DTSI technology to
all its vehicle models including scooters . My doubt is whether Bajaj has
commoditized the DTSI technology by extending it too much.

When DTSI was associated with Pulsar, it meant power , efficiency and
performance . But what will DTSI mean when it is associated with a small
scooter like Bajaj Krystal or a entry level bike like XCD.

Branding an ingredient is the same as branding a product. The consumers

should feel that the ingredient brand is different from other ingredients . The
concept of positioning also applies to ingredient brands.

In many ways, Bajaj has done correct strategies for DTSI. It patented it,
protected it and branded the technology. But where it had failed was that it
commoditized the ingredient brand.
Bajaj did not try to give a special personality for DTSI. Remember, DTSI had
a strong secondary association with Bajaj Pulsar. Both the brands benefited
out of this association. Pulsar used DTSI as a differentiator while DTSI got
the performance tag from Pulsar.

But by making this technology available to all other brands without clearly
looking at synergy was a big mistake from Bajaj. I have no doubt that the
extension of DTSI technology to other brands will greatly help the sales of
these brands . XCD will sell more when it has the DTSi technology.

When a measly powered scooter is also powered with DTSI, what is DTSI ?
It had lost all its brand values which were power and performance. I don't
think that XCD is anywhere near Pulsar in terms of power or performance.
So in a way Bajaj has virtually killed this powerful ingredient brand.

The brand which is going to suffer most will be the flagship brand Pulsar.
When every other Bajaj brands have DTSI, how is Pulsar different from rest
of the crowd ?

The obvious answer will be the design. If it is so, then Pulsar could be
beaten by any other bikes which are better designed. Having good looks is
good for the brand but cannot be sustained over a period of time because :

Competitors can come with good looking bikes.

Designs can be outdated.

Both these are affecting Pulsar. Too many Pulsars on the road has made this
brand dated in terms of looks. But DTSI was a powerful differentiator which
cannot be copied since it was patented. But Bajaj , because of greed,
faltered with one of the most powerful differentiators at its disposal.

Last month, I read a report saying that the newly launched Yamaha FZ 16
has become the number two brand in the 150 cc segment beating Apache
RTR , Hero Honda Hunk and CBZ. In some markets, FZ also has beaten the
market leader Pulsar. Without a clear differentiator, Pulsar is now more
vulnerable than ever.

Is Bajaj listening ?????

Related Brand
Pulsar
Yamaha