• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Kolkata, July 18 The marketing of Tata’s small car Nano should be backed by a strong branding effort in order to attract global demand, according to Mr Bernd Schmitt, the Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business School and Executive Director, Centre on Global Leadership.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Brand Conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Thursday, Mr Schmitt, one of world’s recognised observers of brand dynamics, said: “Nano is one great innovation going by the price-cutting technology. But there is more to a car than the price.” Stressing the need for a global export-oriented car manufacturer to place its product as a brand he said, “Although the Tatas are rated among the world’s front liners in innovativeness and they are used even as a case study in Western universities, not too many global consumers are aware of the ‘Tata’ brand yet.”

Mr Schmitt also pointed out that while both India and China had been lagging behind in branding initiatives, China was now faring better than India with brands such as Lenovo gaining popularity. There is hardly any recognisable brand in India, he said adding that most of the branding initiatives are ‘inspired’ from Western success stories, lacking an element of ‘originality’.

A number of Indian sectors, he pointed out, could do a lot better with original branding initiatives. “Indian IT and ITeS services, hospitality and retail sectors have a huge opportunity for global recognition provided they can brand themselves well,” he said. India is also losing out on a lucrative opportunity of branding its hugely popular Darjeeling tea, he added.

Pointing out the need of drawing inspirations (benchmarking) from other industries rather than copying from players within the same sector, he said the Indian retail industry could directly connect with the customers by using Bollywood as a life-style promoter in stores.

More Stories on : Branding

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Arvind launching new stores for global brands

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line