Get social to protect your brand

Get social to protect your brand

What is social media all about?

Melvyn Lobo

Melvyn, all of us are trying to understand it hard and deep.

Today, it is a medium where ‘opinion leaders’hold plenty of sway. Look in any terrain, whether it be politics, banking, consumer marketing, FMCG or durables, there are opinion leaders who have a following they leverage. To an extent these leaders pre-digest the subject and make it friendly enough for all to have a say in it. To that extent, social media is not really as social as it seems.

The point of social media is that you must be on it. You must be on it not only to make your brand, but to stop anyone from breaking your brand. Social media may not make brands for some, but it can surely break brands.

When politicians ask me if they should be on social media, I tell them, you must, must be. Either get social, or be anti-social.

Is the Salman Khan judgement a big hit to his brand status?

Gopinath MK

Gopi, the recent judgement in a prolonged case and the temporary setting aside of the judgement by the Bombay High Court has made Salman Khan the centrepiece of a fair bit of brand action.

Salman Khan has occupied more brand attention than any one else in recent times. As we explore the hit to his brand status, it is important to consider the fact that there are three brands out here in contention for attention.

The first is brand Salman Khan himself. The second is brand ‘Being Human’ and the third are the sets of brands Salman endorses. Each of these is hit to a different degree and a different impact altogether.

Salman’s personal brand takes the dirt hit. This is a negative hit. There will be fans and, more importantly, non-fans who sit on the fence of near admiration, who will question the status of a hero who has had a case in which there have been a fair bit of flip-flops and incredulity. From their hero, they would have expected more. Salman’s image with this set is hurt. For brand ‘Being Human’ all this negative publicity is very good. It brings the brand to the fore and this is Salman’s brand. A brand that showcases his softer side. His benign side. The brand will continue to be in the limelight and gains in the short and medium term.

The third set, which is hit, are the set of brands he endorses as of today. Brands are essentially selfish beings. They will withdraw the moment there is a whiff that Salman will go to jail. If he does not, these brands will continue to reap the harvest of his mega brand appeal.

Thus crumbles the Salman cookie.

The mercury is up, but is the Indian consumer ready to pay ₹100 for a premium ice-cream?

Mahesh D

Mahesh gaaru , summer is here with a vengeance for sure. As the heat builds up, the ice-cream wars start.

The consumer in India today is a stratified being. There are levels and levels. In the ice-cream market, the cheapest level is a ₹2 per stick category today. This is the ice-candy category in the unorganised segment. It booms in summer. Right after that there is the ₹5 level which has the largest volume today. As much as 45 per cent of ice candy consumption lies here. Then comes real ice-cream in its many guises. There is ice-cream and then there is the ‘frozen dessert.’ This is where prices start climbing. ₹10 at the bottom end and ₹90 at the top end.

The Indian market is ready for all this. There are different people with different disposable incomes in their pocket. I know this is obscene at times. There are people who earn ₹100 a day to feed a family of five, and then there are people who will spend the same amount on an ice-cream without a whimper. But then that’s India. A country of wide disparities in terms of disposable income. One man’s daily disposable income is another man’s monthly income.

COMMENT NOW