question hour

How Sahara built its brand

Cricketers till recently used to wear shirts displaying the Sahara logo. How does this help as not many people know what Sahara does and what its products are?

Badlapur

Milind, cricket is a religion in our country and in many ways we worship cricketers. If not gods, they are the demi-gods, for sure. What they wear and what they tout is surely the word of the demi-god.

When they did sport the Sahara name and logo on their jerseys, the brand name got into the psyche of millions (820 million fans to be precise) and stayed there. Never mind that you may not know what Sahara does and is all about; the next time you hear the brand name, you will view it with credibility and possibly even display a yen to franchise whatever it does.

Imagine you travel to Mumbai and see two hotel brand names out there. One is a Sahara Star and another is a Jubilee Star. Quite likely you will show a preference for the Sahara star offering. Brands make you recognise them, choose them, give them business, recommend them and even repeat-use them. And that surely is the power of the Sahara name on the cricket jersey.

Also, do remember, when you see a national cricketer sporting a brand, two things rub off on it – the aura of cricket and the aura of the nation, even. And that’s double benefit, for sure.

I am a marketer of alcohol brands in the country. Is ready-to-drink a category I can explore with profit?

New Delhi

Bhandari ji , the ready-to-drink (RTD) market is a young market. It forms a critical part of the starter drinking kit. Thus far, the tag of starter category in India lies with beer.

In many ways beer is the first thing a newbie drinks. All progression happens from the mother category of beer. The robust growth we have seen in the beer category in India in recent years is in many ways a testimony to this. Do also remember that we are a young nation. This means that the potential newbies to the market will come from this segment. There is a key issue here. Women find beer a bit too manly and bitter to handle. The feminine market craves a drink that is suited to their starter palates. While wine is an option, it is found to be too expensive and at times heavy. Therefore, this is a market that is craving for the RTD.

RTDs are a big hit with the starter feminine market for liquor. Starter RTDs pack a wee bit of alcohol and plenty of sweeteners and flavours and more. They are friendly, deceptive in their alcohol throws and give just a bit of a buzz. Most RTDs are priced exorbitantly and this is a stumbling block in semi-urban markets. Out here, beer is the universal drink of acceptance for the light drinker, as it gives you right volume at the right price. In most markets RTDs will need to crack the pricing issue vis-a-vis beer as its direct point of competition.

I aspire to take a brand of lingerie global. Is this a silly dream?

Hyderabad

Nayana, not at all. No dream is really silly.

The global market for brands is an extremely cluttered one. From over 16.42 lakh brands that are active in the world today, it is only a handful that are remembered, recalled and cherished and loved entities. Building a brand in the global market is all about image and delivery. While the image can be built with dollars and euros and yen, brand delivery in terms of the brand promise is a tough one. This challenge has everyone scurrying to put together brand activation formats that touch consumers intrinsically. The brand, as per my definition, is essentially a thought. A thought that lives in people’s minds. Managing this thought clearly is the science, art and philosophy at play. If you invest enough in that, no dream is really silly.

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