The Hindu Business Line : What’s in a name?

Today, around the world, software with a Made in India label is considered fantastic. Yet I do not know how many people are aware that a large quantity of the St. Michaels leather products that they run all the way to Marks and Spencer on Oxford Street to buy, is actually manufactured in good old Chennai.

Communications consultant Ramesh Narayan, who writes columns such as Scene & Unseen and Brands We Live With for BrandLine, has turned author with “Reflections. The Marketing And Advertising World Around Me’ based on his many years of experience in these fields. Narayan ran his own agency, Canco Advertising, for several years before he decided to wind down his agency business to become an observer of the media scene and of men and matters. This is an excerpted chapter, Brands and Names, from his book being released today.

Closer home, I wonder what effects brand names have had on social behaviour.

How many Indians do you think name their children after their favourite brand? Well, not many, I guess, and for different reasons. Firstly, most of our truly popular brands are foreign names, and there seems to be a trend in India to opt for ethnic chic. I wonder if parents would consider Samsung, Nike, Pepsi, Lakme, Surf and the like. A stereotyped Sardarji might name his two children Fair and Lovely, but that’s as far as our brands would go. In other cases, the brand is an Indian name itself. Ranbaxy, or Reddy or TVS.

Speaking of TVS, there in a growing trend to persist with the old name but make the acronym the brand in such a sustained manner that generations to come will forget what the expansion really is.

I wonder how many people know that TVS stands for T. V. Sundaram Iyengar. Or that LG stands for Lucky Goldstar or that HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, or that BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. Or that HCC meant Hindustan Construction Company.

Yet, names are often considered a very important part of communications.

Many clients get professional help in naming a brand, and then do some quiet market research to see if it gels with the intended target group.

Changing a name is a big exercise. HSBC spent millions shortening its name. TELCO changed its name to Tata Motors, a change probably driven by the fact that they make cars and trucks and not locomotives any more.

Names are also accepted if they sound as if they hail from a place that has a good image. Thus, a French sounding name for a perfume or sparkling wine, a Japanese name for an electronic product or a German name for something solidly mechanical would in all probability be eminently acceptable. I know that many people were sceptical about the car Skoda, simply because it was Czech. It made a difference when they learnt it was owned by Volkswagen.

This really emphasises the need to build the brand ‘Made in India’. Today, around the world, software with a Made in India label is considered fantastic. Yet I do not know how many people are aware that a large quantity of the fashionable St. Michaels leather products like bags, jackets and belts that they run all the way to Marks and Spencer on Oxford Street to buy, is actually manufactured in good old Chennai. Nor do I know how many people would buy the same products if it didn’t have the St. Michaels label.

That, is the power of the brand.

In conclusion, are kids in India named after brands? Look around and see how many bonny Sachins and Shah Rukhs and Aamirs and Aishwaryas are running around.

These are children named after solid performing brands that make India proud. And on a lighter note, Vindi Banga of Hindustan Lever Ltd who kept talking about his 30 power brands might want to note a 31st brand that has really endured - Johnny Lever.