The late nineties witnessed a plethora of brand proliferation across categories either in the form of introduction of new brands or brand extensions. On the contrary, the market for product and services, though grew revenue –wise, became more competitive, particularly in the developed world, like US, Japan, Europe, etc. The pressure to differentiate and concomitant absence of differentiating factors that would allure customers, gave a significant jolt to the revenue growth path of the companies. Companies that had gone rampant on brand extension found their portfolio unmanageable. Very often, different value price segments give birth to different brands, without being clearly differentiated. Moreover, with an exploding number of communication vehicles, it has become increasingly cumbersome to break the clutter. With rising advertising cost and fragmented viewership, traditional brand management has started embracing the otherwise different communication vehicles like event marketing, viral marketing, product placement etc. But, however different the methods may be, the crux of branding exercise remains the same. Branding from its inception remains an interface between buyers and sellers. Brands effectively perform the function of reduction for buyers like reduction of search, evaluation time, reduction of perceived social, psychological and financial risks, whereas for sellers, brands perform the role of facilitator like identifying and re-identifying products, introduction of new products, premium pricing by enhancing the level of differentiation. The essential of brand management boils down to creating the brand identity and communicating it effectively. When the brand over a long period delights customers, it transcends into a Meta brand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kumar Satyaki Ray
Kumar Satyaki Ray is an honors graduate in economics from Calcutta University and an MBA in marketing from the Institute of Integrated Learning in Management, Calcutta. He has seven years of experience in industry as well as academics. Presently, he is working as a Faculty Member at Icfai Business School Research Centre, Kolkata. Prior to going Icfai, he worked with UB Group, Bajaj Group and VST. He has varied exposure in areas like sales management and brand management. His research interest lies in various issues of strategic management from its evolution to current practices.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Naveen Das
Naveen Das holds a B.Tech (Hons.) from IIT Kharagpur and PGDM from IIM Calcutta. He had a seven-year corporate stint in Godrej-GE Appliances Ltd., a major durables company in India, where he has handled responsibilities in as diverse fields as Engineering, R&D, Projects and Sales. He has been into academics for more than seven years in teaching, research, student advising, and consulting. He teaches basic marketing and capstone strategy subjects. In his earlier responsibility, as Dean, Educational Development Cell of Icfai Business School, Hyderabad, he has handled quality issues, including international accreditation and global networking, and been a member of the task force streamlining academic processes. Currently, he is working as Dean, Icfai Business School Research Center, Kolkata, where he is leading a team of knowledge workers engaged in research in various domains of management. He has edited a number of books on branding, and management, and regularly writes and speaks on management, educational policies, services marketing and strategy issues, etc. He has consulted companies like Satyam, Dr. Reddy’s, CGG, and Government of Andhra Pradesh. He has also conducted a number of management and faculty development programs.
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