question hour. Wealth of exposure

Gaining a wealth of exposure

How does a marketing professional gain from being on the Board of Directors of a company?

Kolkata

Mohapatraji, the word is not ‘gain’, rather, it is ‘contribute’.

I have personally not found being on the various Boards that I sit on a career-enhancing move at all. It does not add to my career, but it does add to my exposure, for sure.

I am dealing with issues at the apex point of different organisations. One day I could be dealing with an issue in core technology and another I could be dealing with media and entertainment or on the core issues facing a durables company. This exposure is a value addition.

Further, on most boards that you sit upon, there is a deep level of experience and exposure surrounding you, with some nine directors offering perspectives that can open your mind in many ways.

Car companies often recall their cars to fix minor repairs. Do all companies manufacture with imperfection? Do frequent recalls create a bad impact or affect the brand image?

Coimbatore

Praveen, auto companies do recall faulty offerings from the market. This is common across the globe, just as it has been seen to be a good practice in India as well. Product recall is a function of faulty manufacturing. A brake lining that is faulty can pull back a car for re-fitting, just as an engine defect can pull back the entire car for an overhaul.

When a company pulls back its products, its brand image does get affected. The umbrella brand is muddied, and the product brand is affected even more. Here, there is a sensitivity to take note of. Two contrary things happen here. First, the auto brand that is being withdrawn gets a negative image. The consumer imagines that he has made a bad choice and the brand is faulty. It hits the brand hard. Simultaneously, the mother brand does get jolted, but far less. The consumer gives it the benefit of doubt. The fact that the company withdrew the brand responsibly, containing the damage, adds positive notes to the company’s brand image. The consumer views the company as a responsible one. At this stage, if the company goes all out and tells the public at large as to why and how it is withdrawing the brand, the public is even more happy.

In this era, clarity and confession are brand attributes that are respected and pardoned.

I am writing a paper on celebrity endorsement. What is your comment on this space in India?

Hyderabad

Shalini, celebrity endorsement must not be seen as a knee-jerk short-term activity. Brands that use celebrities as long-term assets that you associate your brand with do better than those who use celebrities as short-term properties to perk up consumer interest. Celebrity endorsement use must be a long-term marriage and not a dalliance. Don’t be promiscuous with your brand endorser. Show commitment. This advice goes both to the company and the brand endorser.

Brand endorsers must remember that consumers are also assessing the credibility of the star in question. If you endorse far too many brands, you are spreading your personal equity a bit too thin, and your viewers and consumers will respect you that much less. An Ustaad Zakir Hussain, who endorsed Taj Mahal tea for most of his life, is that much more respected than possibly any of our current day stars from Hindi cinema and Indian cricket alike, who advertise, at times, thirteen-and-a-half brands simultaneously. Today you are a paint and tomorrow you are a car and the day after tomorrow you are a pen. In the bargain, your viewers are confused. They know you are doing it for the money, and nothing much else. And that’s negative sentiment for your personal brand equity. While you the brand endorser goes laughing all the way to the bank, your personal equity has gone to the cleaners.

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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