The Hindu Business Line : CII brand summit to focus on `connecting with customer'

THE Confederation of Indian Industry has launched its third edition of the Brand Summit 2005 with the objective of sharing the learning gained from an increasingly integrated global marketplace. The first one was held in 1997 followed by one in 1999.

The Brand Summit will be held on February 17 and 18 at Chennai and will focus on the concept of Brand Darwinism and the theme of the summit is "connecting with the consumer in the changing brandscape."

Mr L. Ganesh, past Chairman, CII Southern Region and Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Rane Engine Valves Ltd, said that the CII was partnering with the Commerce Ministry to build the India brand and has also come up with the concept of promoting the `Made in India' brand. CII recently organised a `Made in India' exhibition to promote Indian brands in China.

Mr N. Murali, Chairman, Steering Committee, CII Brand Summit 2005 and Joint Managing Director, Kasturi & Sons, said that India has the second largest number of brands in the world. The Indian market place has become competitive and brands have to connect with the consumer to survive.

The summit has over the years provided learning to businesses and entrepreneurs on brand thinking with its programme identifying and addressing issues relevant to the marketing community.

Mr Krishna Mohan, Member - Steering Committee, CII Brand Summit & President - General Management, Ogilvy & Mather, said that this time around the summit would have an in-depth analysis of the changes that have taken place in the brand environment and the consumers' minds.

Award: This year, the CII has also launched the CII Brand of the Year award. According to Ms Anita Gupta, Member - Steering Committee, CII Brand Summit & Senior Vice-President and General Manager, J Walter Thompson, over 150 nominations from 90 companies have come in. The nominating companies represent over 70 per cent of the publicly traded stocks in the Bombay Stock Exchange. The winner will be announced on February 17.

The confirmed speakers at the Brand Summit are Dr Eric Joachimstaler, CEO, Vivaldi Partners and co-author of `Brand Leadership' with Prof David Aaker; Prof Venkat Ramaswamy, University of Michigan; Ms Rama Bijapurkar, Strategic Management Consultant; and Ms Lalita Gupte, Joint Managing Director, ICICI Bank.

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