Hello and welcome to this session on marketing fundamentals where you will go through one of the most important

aspects of marketing, and that is branding. Whether you think of chocolates or ice-creams, coffees or colas, clothes or
shoes, bikes or cars, there will always be 2-3 top brand names that come to your mind. Whether you use an iphone or
not, you recognize that bitten apple and whether you drive or don’t, that hooped Audi logo is a known symbol, isn’t it?

Take for instance instant noodles, and Maggi is the name that comes to your mind. Does that mean there are no other
brands manufacturing a similar product like instant noodles? Certainly not. There are others such as Sunfeast with
their instant noodles called Yippie, Nissin with Top Ramen, and now recently Baba Ramdev with his brand of instant
noodles. But the way Maggi as a brand has captured our mindshare over decades is commendable.

Let’s understand the concept of branding and its importance in detail.

A few years ago, Mondelez the parent company of Cadbury decided to change the Cadbury name to Mondelez. In
India this decision met with a backlash. People did not want to lose the Cadbury brand. If you think about this for a
moment, there is no reason the brand change should affect people. The chocolates would have tasted the same.

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But over the years people had developed positive associations with the Cadbury brand that they did not want to let go
of this. Understanding this, Mondelez rolled back its decision and continued with the Cadbury brand. This is the
power of branding. Brands go beyond material choices. They result in emotional associations that are difficult to
shake off.

So what is a brand? The American Marketing Association defines a brand as ‘a name, Term, Sign, symbol or Design
intended to identify the goods and services of one seller, or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those of
competition’.

This is a great definition, but it still doesn’t do justice to what brands are. Brands are so much more than just a name
or a logo. Brands are essentially the set of associations that they form in the minds of target consumers. The name,
symbols, taglines and design are mere representations of these associations. In the Cadbury example, the brand
through its campaigns and products had come to be associated with ‘celebration’. This is the sort of positive
association that brands strive for.

Brands are powerful marketing tool: they often drive the choices that consumer make. Imagine you want to buy
toothpaste. Do you go to a store and buy just any tube that says ‘toothpaste’ or do you go and ask for Colgate or
Pepsodent? You might not actually think about it then but in the buying process you eliminated many other options
because they didn’t even come to mind in the instant you were making your purchase.

This happens in many if not all our buying choices whether for toothpaste, clothes or cars. For buyers, brands are
important because they often make choosing easier.

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Brands also give consumers confidence that they are making the right choice. Consumers seek the security or
assurance that strong brands provide. And brands ensure they are satisfied with their choice post- purchase.

You might not have a Mercedes car but looking at the logo you recognise the brand. Just to reiterate, Brands are not
just about logos - They are a set of associations that form in the minds of the consumer. Let’s move ahead and get to
know what it takes to build a brand and how the 4P’s of marketing mix are important tools for building a formidable
brand image.

All strong brands are built on two pillars: brand awareness and brand image. Awareness is how easily and often
consumers recall your brand. We often talk about the depth and breadth of awareness. Depth concerns how easily the
brand name is recalled; breadth is how often, across different circumstances, it is likely to be recalled. It’s not just
enough to have a brand that people are aware of; it should have the right image associated with it.

Brand image is about having unique associations with your brand that are positive and strong. Unique associations
help you differentiate your brand, but those associations also need to be positive. And finally consumers should feel
strongly about those unique, positive associations.

If you have brand awareness and brand image then you have a strong brand. How can you as a marketing manager

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create awareness and brand image? To do this, you have at your disposal four powerful tools: the four Ps, or the
marketing mix, namely:

● Product
● Price
● Place
● Promotion

1. Product itself offers many ways in which you can create awareness and image. For instance: the brand name
on the product; the Logo; the features and the design. Each of these offer opportunities to touch the consumer and
create awareness and the right associations.

2. Price can also help you build a strong brand: it sends the signal, for instance, of exclusivity, if you have a very
high price. On the other hand, if you want to send the signal of being a mass-market product, you have a mass-market
price.

3. Place, or where you distribute your product, can also help build awareness and image. The store in which you
distribute your product or service can help create both. Where it is placed in the store, and the nature of the store itself,
can help you create the right associations with your brand.

4. Promotion consists of the ways in which you can inform and persuade consumers about your brand.
Promotion has many aspects to it: we call this ‘the promotion mix’, and this consists of advertising, personal selling,
sales promotions and public relations.

Each of the 4Ps offers opportunities to create awareness and build unique, positive and strong associations with your
brand. But integrating them so that they together send a strong, consistent, positive message is just as important as
thinking of their individual roles.

If you are a computer user, you are likely using a computer that already has an Intel c hip inside. More than 80% of
consumers worldwide, or computers worldwide, actually use an Intel chip inside it. But the brand was not built
overnight. As you know, technology takes a long time to market. It's not easily understood by end consumers either.

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If you are a technology brand like Intel, how are you able to sell a product at a premium vis-à-vis all the other
microprocessor companies that are out there.

So, if you look at Intel, in the 1980s all their processors were actually denoted by 5-digit numbers. And over a period
of time they realized that this is not working in their favour. Therefore, they started marketing their PCs and marketing
their products, i.e., essentially the processors, by tying up with manufacturers and making sure that their brand are
shown as a part of that laptop.

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So, whenever you go out in the market, you go to a shop and you look for a laptop, you will always see that Intel
Inside sticker there. What does that denote? That denotes and assures that you are going to buy a brand which has an
Intel Processor inside it. That’s how they actually started building awareness for their brand. Otherwise what was
happening was, all these Intel chips were hidden inside the computers, and there was no preference for a consumer to
say that I want an Intel Inside computer vis-à-vis a processor which is built by an AMD. That’s how Intel grew as a
brand and that’s how Intel actually branded itself in order to grow as a microprocessor company what it is today.

Now, let's look at the example of Pepsico and how it launched Mountain Dew and what’s the brand image that it has
created? Mountain Dew, if you have seen their ads, you must be aware that it’s been positioned as a brand that has an
image of excitement, adventure, and of course taking risks. If you have seen the first ad, what they had shown in the
ad was a cheetah. Basically showing and reflecting the adrenaline that you get when you drink a Mountain Dew
essentially.

The second ad that you might have seen is Dar Ke Aage Jeet Hai, which is the tagline that they use in essentially
bringing out the fact that it is something which is position for youngsters who are willing to take the risks and go out
of their comfort zones.

Positioning it as an energy drink was important and therefore these kinds of taglines were used. In fact, going and
taking it two steps further, they also started featuring Hrithik Roshan, who is sort of reflects the adventurous spirit of
that brand and he comes and does different stunts either on a boat or on a plane or on a bike, and therefore Mountain
Dew has created this brand image around itself.

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So, when you look at brand equity as a concept, it denotes two things. One is what is the perception of the brand and
what is the value it holds in the eyes of a consumer and the second is the commercial value that the brand holds, i.e.,
what's the number in terms of the value.

As you may have heard and read about it in several different newspapers about the value of a brand, that it's a 6-
million-dollar brand or a 10-million-dollar brand, when they are saying that they actually mean brand equity.
However, for the purpose of the course and the learning’s that we are going to go through going forward, we will look
at the qualitative aspect. That is, the brand perception and what the value the brand holds in the eyes of the consumer
and how do we essentially build that. That is the brand equity.

So, let's look at the five different parts or elements of brand equity. First is Brand Awareness. Second is Brand
Quality, that's the perceived quality. Then there is Brand Loyalty. Then there is Brand Association. And last but not
the least, there is Proprietary Brand Assets which are essentially differentiating factors for the brand. We're going to
learn all these elements and all these aspects in the context of Amazon and how is it launched in India. As you know
Amazon has been a very big brand and they have spent millions of dollars in creating the brand equity that it has
currently in India. So, let's look at it from all the perspectives.

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So, let's look at the first element that is Brand Awareness. How does a company build equity by building brand
awareness? If you look at Amazon, they have spent millions and millions of dollars in India just to make sure that
their brand is out there to increase the recall value with the consumers. The higher the recall value of Amazon, the
higher the number of people who know that it exists, and that is how the higher the brand equity is.

Just to give you an example, when Amazon started building brand awareness in India, their ads were all over the
place. There was a time when almost every medium that you looked at there was an Amazon ad. Be it newspapers, be
it TV commercials, be it ads that you see when you are watching YouTube or be it social media.

To continue that further, as a cricket crazy nation, they realize that they could also be a part of IPL and all the major
cricket leagues that happen and the sports leagues that happened in India related to cricket.

And if you have seen, even is IPL, they have leveraged this brand awareness by selling cricket equipment when
someone is actually watching IPL and focusing on match. In addition, they even came up with a fictitious team for
IPL, where they actually came up with a team which is actually sort of acting as brand mascots of Amazon. And then
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they are going and doing different skits, doing different webisodes which engage with our audience and with the
masses.

So, Amazon is essentially trying to build brand awareness at every aspect of a consumer, whether that person is a
cricket crazy consumer, or whether that person is a techie who is always online looking for stuff, and he sees an
Amazon ad. Therefore, brand equity of Amazon is extremely high in a short period of time, because of the amount of
investment that they have done in building those campaigns. So as a marketer, how does Brand Awareness build
equity?

If you are a marketer, the higher your brand awareness, the better it is for your Brand Equity, because that is going to
increase the amount of recall that is going to be there for the brand in the minds of the consumers.

Now let's look at the second aspect of brand equity that is Brand Association. What does the brand associate itself
with, in the minds of the consumer?

During the launch of Amazon and having built that awareness, Amazon realized that it was pertinent to get into the
minds of the consumer in terms of a place or a brand that they could trust. In order to build this trust, it was very
important that they think of how they are going to articulate this trust as Amazon and as a brand.

Therefore, the tagline Apni Dukaan was conceptualized. Apni Dukan has this feel of consumer getting the trust and
the service and the quality that you would get a local retailer in his region, right? So, for example if I am a consumer,
I'm going to a store which is a local store and I know that person by name, I trust him more than a corporate which has
newly entered the Indian market. And therefore, Apni Dukan as an articulation worked very well with the Indian
consumers in order to build trust about the brand.

It talked about refunds, it talked about delivery, it talked about the fact that if you are not happy with the product you
can give it back and exchange it when it comes to fashion or when it comes to stuff that you need to try before you
buy. Therefore, Apni Dukan was the kind of brand association that Amazon created.

So as a marketer, when you look at Brand Association, what you need to understand is, what is it about your brand
that you want your consumers to associate themselves with?

Identify that and be able to associate your brand with that with the correct kind of articulation and strategy which will
go as a part of your brand communication.

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Let's talk about perceived quality, the other aspect or framework of the brand equity. If you are going to be a brand
which is going to create a dent in the market or create a perception for quality of service or product in the market, it's
one of the most important aspects that a consumer seeks. In order to do this, there are various ways of doing it.

Amazon for example did so by talking about the fact that they sell 100% original products. When they say that they
sell 100% original products, it assures the consumer, saying that the product that they are going to buy online is not
going to be fake, which is often a misconception for first time online shoppers. In order to tap this market and in order
to actually make sure that the quality of our products is 100% right, they made sure that this was there in every
communication.

So, whether you see a TV ad or whether you see a hoarding whether you see a newspaper ad, you always say that they
sell 100% original products. This was a way to get into the mindset of the consumer and to tell them that the quality of
our products are 100% right.

It also plays in the customer service. So, let's say for example there is something wrong with your order, Amazon will
pick it up for you for free and they will deliver you the right product immediately after that. Oftentimes they will not
even do a pickup of the product and they will just deliver the right to product to you, telling you that sorry for the
inconvenience, we delivered you the wrong product, you don't have to go through that problem again.

Therefore, the perceived quality of Amazon as a brand has been made extremely high, which leads to higher brand
association, which leads to higher brand equity essentially.

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So as a marketer, what is important is that when you are creating a perceived quality for your brand, it is
communicated in the right fashion and it's communicated basis the perceptions of that category in their market.

Just like Amazon realized that online sales is not something that is easy or something that an Indian is comfortable
with, and therefore came up with a strategy for talking about the fact that they are selling

100% original products, in the same way you need to find out as a marketer, what that is, that is a misconception or a
thought process in the minds of consumer and build your communication of perceived quality around that.

So, let's talk about Brand Loyalty. If you are going to build a brand, it is not going to happen overnight. Unless and
until one customer comes back to you and buys the product from you again after his first purchase, you have not really
built loyalty around your brand. In order to do this, of course quality, perception and all of these other factors are
important. However, there is also
an incentive and there is also a factor
of building a brand preference
so that a consumer comes to
you and not go to anyone else
at a later stage in time when it
comes to the product and service
that you are catering to.

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Again, taking the Amazon example, why should I keep going back to Amazon and purchasing products from there and
why should I not go to a Flipkart or any other platform, where they are probably selling the same product at the same
price? In that case what I will do is, I will create ways for my customer to get a better product service and an
experience from me. And that's how Amazon Prime was launched.

Amazon Prime is an exclusive members-only club of sorts, where you pay an annual fee, and against that annual fee,
you get free 1-day shipping, you get access to Amazon Prime video, which is library of content, free videos, movies,
and latest TV shows and stuff like that. And therefore, it makes you feel exclusive and you are more loyal to Amazon.

If I were to go back tomorrow and buy something from Amazon buy something online, I am more likely to buy it
from Amazon vis-a-vis from any other brand, because of the fact that I am a prime number and it gives me that
preferential treatment which I seek as a customer. Therefore, brand loyalty is very important for any marketer.

To sum it up, brand loyalty for a marketer is important not just from the perspective of a single sale but actually
getting the repeat business from the same customer and build that brand equity which over a period of time leads to
more trust, more sales and more preference for your brand.

Let's talk about Brand Proprietary Assets. Brand Proprietary Assets can be any you could say ground breaking
invention which could be in the form of a patent, it could be anything that a brand holds which is a competitive
advantage over their rivals.

To give you an example, let's look at Amazon again. One-click shopping is an innovation that has been conceived by
Amazon in the US. Now what does it mean? It means that when a user comes to their site and they want to buy
something, they don't have to go through that entire process of checkout.
All they have to do is click one button and the purchase will be made. That one button upon clicking will not ask you
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for credit card details, will not ask you for shipping details, will not ask you for all those other details, because it is
already saved at the back end at their end, which you can change at any point in time. So, one-click shopping was one
invention, or you could say a proprietary asset which Amazon held which no other competitive could have because
they had the rights towards using it. In fact, it got so popular as one-click buying that even iTunes and licensed it and
they use it for one-click purchases of music on their platform.

Therefore, brand proprietary assets are this differentiator which helps you build brand equity which no other rival of
yours can ever have.

Now let's look at Mini Cooper as a brand and how the brand was built. Of course, it took a long time over a long
period of years when Mini Cooper became an iconic brand that as you know of today. However, when it started off its
humble beginning in Britain, it was known as the compact car of every British man. And that's how it became
extremely popular as soon as it was launched in the year 1957.

However, over a long period of years, things changed, and the brand image evolved. After some time when BMW
bought over Mini Cooper, it had innovative technology which was built into the car. Therefore, that branding of Mini
Cooper changed and it became known for technology and not just the fact that it is a fun and energetic car.

In fact, much later it became very popular with the youth as well. As BMW became a global brand, even consumers in
the US found this car to be very zippy, very energetic, very fun and reliable. And therefore, it became an iconic brand
which was known not just for it being a compact choice of a consumer, the compact vehicle choice of a consumer, but
also for the fact that it is a very peppy and energetic car and it has the heart of innovative technology which comes
from BMW.

Therefore, Mini Cooper, over a long period, created a brand image which was strong as well as positive. It is a fun,
reliable, fashionable, hip brand for youngsters and for consumers at large, which has then built an iconic brand of its
own and a cult of its own

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Now let's look at how Mini Cooper built its brand using the 4 P's. The first one being the product itself. If you look at
the product Mini Cooper after its acquisition by BMW, a lot of changes happened. Not just the technical
characteristics, but also the fact that the features of the car and how cool it looked when someone actually drove it.

So, a lot of these aspects of the product were catered to realizing that it had become a brand which people started
loving, and therefore these physical features were looked at. In addition to this, there is a lot of emotional value that is
attached to Mini Cooper.

Therefore, what they did was that, globally when they launched this in other markets, they came up with different
versions of the Mini Cooper which were catering to different lifestyles and different tastes of our consumers.

Now let's look at how the Mini Cooper actually priced their cars in order to build a different brand in different
countries. As you know, global brands may not have the same perception in different countries. To give you a simple
example, Mini Cooper was not necessarily the most iconic brand in the United States. However, in the UK over a
period of time, it has become known as an iconic or a legacy brand.

Therefore, the Mini Cooper which was initially being priced as a general common man's car was now carrying a
premium across the world. In the UK it was being sold for £18000-odd, whereas in the US it was about £15,000-odd.
If you know a Mini Cooper is a luxury vehicle and the way it is priced in India is exactly that.

Therefore, the Mini Cooper’s pricing strategy differed across regions, but still its roots were going back to the brand
that it has created over a long period of time, and now positioned as a premium, as an affordable luxury brand, rather
than a common man's car.

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Now let's look at how place plays an important role when it comes to Mini Cooper. Mini Cooper has distribution ships
across the world and therefore has a presence in each country with authorized dealers and also post sales service.
Therefore, Mini Cooper focuses not only on the sales, but also the post sales service which is very important to the
kind of consumers they reach out to. In that sense, you can also see that how the place and the dealership has been
designed. You can also see this difference when they actually look at the way they talk to you and the kind of
personnel who are available when you go there and you try to talk to them about either making a purchase of a Mini
Cooper or when you go there when you need the kind of post sales service that you need for your car.

Now let's look at how Mini Cooper promotes itself online or offline. It’s built an iconic brand over a period of time, as
you know now it is a world and a globally known brand. If you look at the pulse of the people, and especially the
younger generation and the audience and the fans of the Mini Cooper brand, all of these guys think independently.
When they think independently, they have very strong opinions about where the world is heading.

In that sense and in that context, in order to relate with these fans, they came up with a defining campaign called Defy
Labels. Defy Labels was a campaign which was essentially a campaign that they ran when the Olympics was
happening in 2016, and during this time they actually came up with a campaign where they brought out the fact that
how people think independently.

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There roped in people such as Serena Williams to do promotions, and in order to get into the mindset of the typical
Mini Cooper fan, they were able to bring out the fact that it is good to be independent, it is great to Defy Labels and it
is great to not have prejudices in a world which is one. Which also brings out clearly the fact that it is a global brand
and how it is about individuality and about independence and a fun spirit that lies at the heart of every consumer of a
Mini Cooper brand.

To recapitulate what we have learned so far, First, you were introduced to Branding as another powerful aspect of
marketing to drive the choices made by the consumers. The example on purchasing a Colgate and not just another
toothpaste was a reflection of the trust people have in certain brands.

Next, you learned about the 2 key pillars of building a brand i.e. brand awareness and brand image. Within Brand
awareness, you saw how depth and breadth helps firms be recognized across different circumstances with much
ease.

Within brand image you saw why firms strive for unique as well as positive and strong associations with their brand.
This attribute can help customers feel strongly about the brand and thus, remain loyal to it.

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Finally, you learned how to create brand awareness and brand image using the 4P concept learnt earlier. For the
product, you learned how the logo, packaging and tagline can offer different opportunities to touch the consumer.
Likewise, through price it can establish itself as an exclusive or inclusive brand.

On similar lines, the place in which you distribute your product or service can also help send across a signal to the
consumers, building an image in the process.
Lastly, you learned how promotion through advertising, personal selling can create awareness and thus, persuade
consumers to purchase the product. Thank you.

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