Brands that stole the spotlight

In a few days, we will say goodbye to 2015, and welcome the New Year. As the poet Tennyson so aptly said, we will ring out the old and ring in the new. Mumbai may have to celebrate without beef steak, and Delhi without its odd numbered cars, but the good news is that all of us can say Yippee! to the new year with our favourite Maggi noodles, which are now happily back on the shelves.

What better time of the year to look back, and reflect on the brands that stole the spotlight during 2015? These are products, services or people who made the big news headlines this year, for better or for worse.

If you are wondering why famous people are included in this compilation, that’s simply because they are brands in their own right. And sometimes, brands may have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, but we are talking here about the big headlines they made, and are not sitting in judgement on the reasons.

The Maggi tangle The best place to begin our year-end reflections is on a brand of two-minute noodles that most of us have eaten (and slurped) in our college hostels, roadside stalls and in our homes. In what were clearly the biggest Indian brand headlines of the year, Maggi was banned by the Indian food regulator FSSAI, in June 2015, for allegedly failing food safety tests relating to lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG). Newspapers and television channels went wild with their coverage of this sudden and unexpected development.

For the first two weeks, Nestle, which markets Maggi noodles, did not respond very coherently to this regulatory and media assault. Thereafter, the company did much better, and mounted a legal challenge to clear its name. In the meanwhile, the product stood withdrawn from the market, and has only returned to our shelves six months later. The absence of Maggi led to an upsurge of nostalgia amongst consumers, some of which the brand captured in beautiful YouTube videos which my wife and I watched with great delight.

All this shows us how much a popular brand is missed, by its loyal consumers. But most importantly, the Maggi episode has many lessons to teach marketers, on how to deal with a sudden, larger-than-life crisis. The lesson for our marketers: In today’s volatile times, crisis management is as important as brand management.

Patanjali’s challenge If I had the privilege of handing out an award for the best emerging Indian brand of the year, I would have to give it to Patanjali. Whether you admire Baba Ramdev or whether you are indifferent to him, the brand he has created is making waves across the country. Patanjali claims to offer organic and natural food products and herbal medicines with wide-ranging health benefits. The brand itself is named after the Vedic scholar Patanjali, who wrote a treatise on medicine and Ayurveda. Products include foods, cosmetics and juices.

Here is a sampling, which indicates the wide range of offerings: Patanjali Chyawanprash, for overall wellness. Patanjali Dant Kanti dental cream, with the goodness of babul , neem, turmeric, cloves and other herbs. Patanjali Amla and Aloe Vera juices. Divya Mukta Vati capsules that address high blood pressure in conjunction with yoga. Patanjali cow’s ghee, which is advertised as being good for eyesight. And now, Patanjali noodles and pasta, for those of us who want Italian cuisine blended with the blessings of nature (or “ Prakriti ka Ashirwad ”, the byline of this brand). Somewhere and somehow, Patanjali has tapped into the Indian psyche. That is why this relatively new brand has reportedly already crossed revenues of ₹2,500 crore per annum, and continues to grow rapidly.

Most global foods companies, I suspect, are struggling to find the right response to Patanjali. The lesson for our marketers: Indian heritage and tradition hold a treasure trove that is ours to discover. Consumers are waiting.

Volkswagen’s dark hour Moving away from India to the globe, the brand which made big headlines this year, and for all the wrong reasons, was Volkswagen. How could a blue-blooded brand of cars from Germany, the venerable home of great engineering and automobile technology, cheat its way to success?

This was unbelievable, but unfortunately it was true. In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests in the US by installing illegal “defeat device” software on its diesel cars, after it was accused of doing so by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of that country.

By the company’s own admission, 11 million cars worldwide are fitted with this cheat software. Volkswagen reacted quickly once this unfortunate news went public. The company’s America boss, Michael Horn, used these memorable words — “We’ve totally screwed up.” The Group’s CEO resigned, an internal enquiry was launched, and a huge financial provision of over €6 billion was created to cover potential damages and recalls (even this large amount is now thought to be woefully inadequate).

Winning back the trust of consumers, communities and Governments will now be a herculean task for Volkswagen. The lesson for our marketers: Don’t cheat. Full stop. The spotless character, integrity and reputation of your brand is far more important than any additional sales volumes or so-called competitive advantage you can ever generate through short-cuts which are not legal or ethical, or which walk too close to the line.

Merkel's moment If Volkswagen dealt a bad blow to Germany’s reputation, one woman single-handedly did wonders this year to raise this great country’s image.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is my choice for “human brand” of the year 2015. I know such praise for Merkel is getting rather repetitive, because every single reputed global publication that I read ( Time, Financial Times, The Economist ) has either put her on the front page, or called her the leader of the free world, or has named her the Person of the year. Yet Brand Merkel has a very important lesson to teach us.

Over years, her core characteristic has been one of caution, of taking a measured approach. However, when the moment required it, she reached beyond herself, and courageously embraced a greater cause.

Her fearless and bold response to the refugee crisis in Europe, as she pledged to shelter anyone from war-torn Syria, was this year’s defining symbol of strong moral leadership. She stood virtually alone in this stance, which was unpopular even in large parts of her own country — thus demonstrating that people and brands can potentially become great when they boldly embrace noble and relevant purpose, which may be well beyond their functional core. The lesson for our marketers: Brands with purpose win the hearts of people. What purpose does your brand have?

Other brands in the spotlight Many other brands were also in the spotlight this year. In a straw poll which I ran with a few of my colleagues and friends, the brand names which came up included many of the usual suspects — Apple, Fitbit, Amazon, Airtel 4G, Facebook, Tesla and Uber. There were a few unusual brands too — ISIS, Adele (specifically mentioned for her song Hello ), Caitlyn Jenner (“Best Relaunch of the Ysar”), OYO Rooms and Donald Trump. Are there any other brands on your spotlight list for 2015? Do write in and let me know. In the meanwhile, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

The author acknowledges valuable inputs from Kashica Bhagat, Tata Sons, in the writing of this article.

(Harish Bhat is Member, Group Executive Council, Tata Sons. He is also author of Tata Log: Eight modern stories from a timeless institution. These are his personal views. bhatharish@hotmail.com )

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