National brands, but rooted in origins

Brands from the South remain in the South. True? Why?

Chennai

Sudarshan, brands may look regional, but they need not necessarily be. India has seen many examples that have defied this theory you state.

I do believe it is important to carry a regional ethos in the case of some brands, and in the case of some, it is important to attain and flaunt a national imagery, if not an international one. One needs to deal with it case to case.

If you really look into the history of Indian brands, most started out as regional offerings. Look at Nirma. Look at MTR. Look at Maiyas. Look at anyone. To that extent, all brands start regional, and then sprout and sport national feathers. It takes time, but eventually when they dominate on the count of national taste and like factors, they eventually do go North, West and East alike.

In the space of consumer durables, smaller companies are nifty and quick. How and why?

New Delhi

Mathuranath, the moment you are a biggie, your model is fixed. Some clever consultant puts in the model and it is locked. All investments are made with a surety of purpose, intent and desire that there is nothing left to chance or change.

Life in the fast lane of fast-changing consumer businesses does not run this way. Changes happen. Path-breaking dissonances in the market make one totally vulnerable. Companies that fix their business models with little leeway for change suffer. That is exactly what has happened in this space in the past. For you to succeed in this business line you need to be an amoeba, and not a paramecium.

The important point to note: The moment you reach scale, bad practices of the biggies are likely to impact you. You need to be careful to assess what has worked for you in your business model and stay to the knitting of that.

Brands are today acknowledging failures at last. When brands mess up, they are coming out and acknowledging it. Is this not new?

Hyderabad

Ramya, marketers evolve, just as consumers do. Marketers who have a finger on the pulse of their consumers believe in evolving with them. Those that don’t end up to be antediluvian in their attitude. And get outsmarted by customers who are as savvy as they are.

Saying sorry is an evolved format in marketing. The relationship-morph status between the marketer and the consumer is a reality to take note of. In the beginning, when the consumer lives in a supply-short situation, the marketer is on top. When supply is in plenty and competition is acute, positions keep switching. There is a greater degree of mobility between marketer on top and consumer on top. In many ways both live and thrive with equality at play, existing at the same level. And then finally comes a day when competition is very, very acute and the marketer is desperate. At this point of time, the consumer is on top.

‘Sorry marketing’ comes into fashion in a marketing economy where the consumer is very evolved. It is a point of time when the consumer is on top and the marketer is grovelling. ‘Sorry marketing’ emerges at a point of time when marketers who make mistakes don’t try to sweep the mistake under the carpet. Instead, they adopt the high ground of confession and self-retribution even. The first tenet of sorry marketing is the acceptance of the fact that the consumer in the market in question is an evolved consumer, and that nothing will ever miss his eye in the long term. Therefore if you have made a mistake, accept it and talk about it. Apologise, for sure. But make a virtue of that sorry format itself as well.

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

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