What is the brand definition point of the character of a city?

Hyderabad

Shampa, in many ways a city is what it does to its people. A city is what it gives back to its peoples. In addition, a city is really full of memories. Good ones and bad. When good memories override bad ones, the city becomes a favourite of its peoples. A city to that extent is the net of all experiences it is able to deliver to those who use it as theirs.

Cities are facilitation destinations.

Cities help you earn, learn, gain weight, lose weight and lots and lots more. Cities make you who you are and cities indeed offer opportunities that define our very nature, at times. Cities to that extent make us and the persona we are so proud of.

Those of us who live in cities have gotten used to taking from the city. We are not yet used to giving back. Yes, we do, in terms of all the taxes we pay, but a monetary giving-back is not enough anymore. Global cities demand and need more.

The character of a city is formed by its people, their ability to own the city as their own, its facilities to enhance the quality of life, its vibrant retail life, its vibrant entertainment avatar and finally its people again.

Are you investing in this?

I love Horlicks. I hope you do as well. Tell me your understanding of this brand.

Kochi

Rohan, I am hoping you are a real lover of Horlicks, and you don’t work in a PR-agency that handles the brand.

Now that I have finished being rude, let me answer your question.

Horlicks is a heritage brand in India. This is a brand that really built India in many ways. This ‘fit to fight’ concept of brand equity that Horlicks enjoys is unbeatable.

The brand has positioned itself on the high grounds of both physical and mental fitness. Whole generations have grown up to love the brand and hate its taste. This is a taste that reminds you of childhood and old age. The brand, to that extent, has polarised its appeal across the segment of kids at one end and the geriatric population at the other. And that is its joy and indeed a challenge as well.

The brand strength is its ubiquitous equity and its weakness is its taste. A taste that reminds you of a forced childhood drink. In South India, and indeed in several parts of the East, Horlicks is offered to guests as an alternative. Coffee, tea or Horlicks?

The brand’s primary weakness is the boredom effect of its distinct taste profile. Add to it memory tags of forced nutrition and childhood. This is a brand that is thrust upon your childhood. To that extent, it has scarred you. Scarred you enough to run away from it in adulthood, till you are forced into it again at age 80 possibly.

The brand has been managed excellently by GlaxoSmithKline. It has constantly innovated and has kept addressing the many issues I have mentioned. No wonder then that it reigns high in the stakes for malted food drinks in India. Horlicks is part of the brick and mortar of India as we know it now.

Harish Bijoor is a brand strategy expert and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Mail your queries to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in

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