The Hindu Business Line : Brand technology

Brand strategy in technology companies, with the exception of the top few, is yet to figure as a key agenda item. The majority of technology professionals, and dare I say some technology marketers, consider ‘brand strategy’ as the preserve of only FMCG companies. This is where they make a fundamental mistake. A carefully nurtured brand that represents well thought of values gets etched forever in the customer’s mind; everything else, the technology, produ cts, employees and customers change over time.

The brand is the sum total of all interactions a company has with its environment, ranging from a mere advertisement in the national media to a meeting with the company’s authorised representatives.

Take, for instance, an FMCG company. A customer walks into a shop to buy detergent. His perception of the brand is not likely to be affected considerably with the purchase experience due to the shorter purchase cycle. Now, imagine a corresponding scenario in a technology company. As the purchase cycle is long, complex and involves a high and close involvement of several representatives of the company, brand strategy needs to be much more inclusive and well-defined.

Technology companies operate in what is perhaps the most dynamic business environment. Product specifications change by the day, so do customer requirements; technology that was hot today becomes obsolete a couple of months later. How do you then create a loyal customer? As technology companies do not enjoy the advantage other companies might have - of having loyal customers for a product that hasn’t changed in 10 years - what they can do is create a positive brand image.

When making expensive purchase decisions, customers look for familiarity based on past experience. If your brand stands for something positive to the customer, you definitely have a headstart over competition. No wonder that out of the top 10 companies in the Global 2006 brands, six belong to the technology domain and three of these are clearly B2B companies. Leading the B2B pack is IBM, a company that has a strong heritage of carefully nurtured brand value at $56 million, followed by GE and Intel at $48 m and $32 m respectively.

No matter how advanced a particular technology is, sooner or later it will get commoditised. It’s a matter of time before the features that stood out as cutting-edge technology become an industry standard acronym. Product brochures of companies begin to look almost like photocopies of each other. What sets you apart then? Right, the brand! A carefully nurtured brand with strong values will definitely score over the rest. A classic example of this is Intel that has used smart branding to differentiate itself from its competitors in the commoditised CPU market. Before the ‘Intel Inside’ campaign Intel’s market cap was $10.26 billion. Post the campaign, by 1998, it had reached $208.5 billion.

The India Context

“India is extremely price-sensitive. Offer a great price and the brand would not matter.” How many times have you heard this? True, Indian customers are demanding and might expect the best returns from the least investment. That’s the ostensible part. What is perhaps overlooked is that Indian customers also place all companies within preconceived slots and categories and then go on to expect the best price from the companies within the category. And how do they categorise the companies? By the same intangible yet very real entity called brand.

Brand stress points in India

Just like brand ambassadors enhance your brand’s personality, there are brand stress points that do the exact opposite. They are factors that can potentially corrupt your brand’s perception as your product makes its journey to the customer. Our country’s heterogeneity in terms of language and culture makes the scope for misinterpretation very high. Remember, the more heterogeneous an environment, the greater the brand stress points. These points impact the mid-level companies the maximum as they are less likely to have direct advertising to shape their brand.

Brand building for tech companies

What goes into making a successful technology brand? Is the process any different from other companies?

- Identify the core values your brand stands for as these directly result in the attributes your brand would have over a relatively long period of time.

- Have a well-defined communication strategy that includes all tangible media for transmitting these core values to your customer. This involves the logo, mission statement, and all other communication that carry your brand.

Companies are known to have changed their logos and colour schemes without disturbing the brand attributes. For instance, a few years ago, Apple gradually phased out its famous seven-colour logo with a more trendy and solid one, without disturbing the brand attributes. More recently, Intel brought about a change in its logo without making any major shift in brand positioning.

- Trace your brand experience.Identify all the touch-points that a customer might have with the company.

- A brand strategy should also involve making all those involved in this experience understand the brand attributes and carry the brand ethos to the customer.

Consistency is the key

Customers look for familiarity and consistency in the brand to place the brand in a certain context.

If I have to tell them, then I am not

Many years ago, the famous Hollywood actor Gregory Peck walked into a club with a friend. It was a busy night and the club was rather crowded with no place to sit. Peck looked around to find a place to settle in and though he had already attained stardom by then somehow nobody really took notice of him. At this, his friend said, “Why are you standing here? Why don’t you tell them I am Gregory Peck?” To which he replied, “My dear friend, if I have to tell them that I am Gregory Peck, then I am not.” Something similar is true for a brand. Instead of trying to explain the brand, its attributes, the rationale and colour of their logo to their customers, which most companies do, we need to remember our communication package should be self-explanatory.

The author is General Manager, Marketing Systems & Technology Group, IBM India Ltd.

More Stories on : Brands | Information Technology

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

Stories in this Section
Cause and VFX

A new air about India

Know the customer intimately

Clean living

Be cool

Tot shots