What feeds the TV debate
The prime time television debate is a big brand across channels today. How has this evolved to be the animal it is today?
Pankaj, I like that “animal” bit in your question.
Prime time news channel television debate is today a big brand property. Each of the anchors who manage this so deftly are big brands in themselves. Take Arnab Goswami, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Rahul Kanwal and an entire pantheon of other big names.
The nation really loves all this. The reason is a simple and insightful one. We have harvested viewer insights and have arrived at the fact that India is a nation that loves debate and discussion. To an extent, this is exactly what happens over a cup of tea and at times over a bun or a samosa at the ‘ nukkad ’ (corner) in our country. Television in India has discovered this fact and has created an electronic nukkad of its own. Only here, there are articulate individuals who come with a diverse set of thoughts and heated words. There are words, there is heat, there are semantics and there are fights too.
To that extent, television has aped real life and viewers lap it up with gusto. Viewers are so fascinated by it all that they switch channels from debate to debate as well. The next day, there is enough reference to the debate at the office or the factory or wherever you work, and the debate continues from the virtual to the real.
In many ways these television debates provide fodder for the physical debate, heightening the quality of debate altogether. I do believe every medium has a role to perform. Print has its role, as does television. While print handles reportage best, television handles the debate, discussion and fight format best. Use the medium as a medium. Use every medium to its best advantage. I do believe that is what is happening out here in India.
Free gifts on products that we sell have become a habit. What does one need to watch out for in this space where we burn money?
New Delhi
Rohit, yes, free gifts on packs cut both ways. Consider first whether you must enter this terrain of giveaways at all. Don't just do it because your competition is attempting it. Ask the key question, whether the word ‘free’ erodes your brand image. If it does, stay away from it.
Evaluate clearly the immediate sales volume and value you will receive through such an offer. Evaluate also how it will push the competition to the wall.
Many things to consider, really.
And remember one thing clearly, once you set the ‘free’ ball rolling, you ride a tiger. You need to continue riding it. If you stop doing that, you run the risk of being eaten up. Also, do remember that when you start the ‘free’ syndrome in a category that is virgin, you will have every one of your competitors putting in valuable brand-margin money into it as well. The ‘free’ kitty swells at the cost of your brand profit margin.
The good consequences are, of course, all about an immediate surge in brand volume. The worst is that you habituate your consumer to expect something or the other with every buy.
I am a start-up and I want to brand. Some tips, please?
Pune
Prem, start-ups are typically strapped for cash. More often than not, most start-ups mistake branding to be a cash-intensive process. Not true.
My recommendation for start-ups is to invest in a brand mentor rather than in an advertising agency. Most start-ups understand their businesses better than anyone else who might be hired to do their business. Therefore, all you need is a mentor. Get one, and insist that your entire effort needs to be vetted forever on the basis of low-cost branding initiatives.
Market research is indeed the first step. Here I recommend small sample sizes, run by you rather than outsourced to a specialist agency. Everything else will follow the insights you gather from market research. Market research helps you build your basics right. And once your basics are right, nothing can really go wrong. Get your brand mentor to forever hold your little finger and guide you at every step then on.
Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Send your questions and feedback to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in