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Mumbai , Dec. 15

WHAT do Mumbaikars think of brand Mumbai and what does the rest of India think of the city of dreams?

This is just one of the many nuggets of information that is available to Rediffusion DYR, which has undertaken consumer research that gathers information about 1,375 brands across 3,000 consumers in eight cities across India.

The Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), as the research is known, is Young and Rubicam's proprietary strategic marketing tool, implemented in over 44 countries and is the largest brand study in the world even finding mention in brand guru David Aaker's Building Strong Brands, the modern-day Bible of branding.

According to Mr K. Subramanian, Director (Strategic Planning), Rediffusion DYR, "The philosophy of the BAV is to be able to look at a brand closest to the way it is `processed' in the consumer's mind. The consumer, for example, carries different kinds of perceptions of LG and Nike and Ambassador (and Mumbai!) and does not neatly slot them as durables or shoes or cars. Hence, brands are essentially thought blurbs in the consumer's mind. And if the consumers, in their minds, do not slot brands neatly into categories, then it is only logical that the marketers begin to view their brands outside the narrow confines of their categories."

Hence, the BAV asks consumers the exact same question for a whole host of brands (1,375) including countries, celebrities and cities and decodes the true value of a brand across categories.

So what do Mumbaikars think of their city compared to the rest of India?

Well, for one, Mumbaikars find the city to be far more caring, helpful, obliging, simple and healthy than does the rest of India.

What about the city's glamour and on-the-move lifestyle, one asks?

Mumbai lives up to its image of being the glitz and commercial capital of the nation as the rest of India, including citizens of Delhi, perceive it to be more dynamic, up-to-date, independent and a leader on the one hand and distinctive, sensuous, glamorous and trendy on the other.

On the pillars of brand building, Mumbai is highly distinctive as a brand for the rest of India, whereas for Mumbaikars, the city is so highly internalised that they do not consider it to be too different from the other brands in their world.

When it comes to relevance, which is a measure of importance of the brand in one's life, Mumbaikars expectedly rate the city higher than does the rest of India.

Rather surprisingly, however, when it comes to the regard that they have for the city, the rest of India holds Mumbai in higher esteem than Mumbaikars themselves do.

As for the brands that Mumbaikars considered most similar to Mumbai, making the grade are Zee TV, Four Square, ICICI Bank, Amitabh Bachchan and grab a load of this, the USA!

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