Branded by the West

I am Indian, so I am Asian. I am in advertising and hence, according to the author, one of the five reasons why there are very few great Asian brands. So, I need to learn from this book rather than comment on it. In other words, I am being brave by reviewing it. But I will give it a try!

I see this book through the lens of India — a market with which I am familiar. India is the second- biggest market in Asia; so what is said in the book must be applicable to India, if the book is true to the title. I have seen brands in India up close and believe I have a perspective to share.

Joseph Baladi with definitiveness says that Asian CEOs face three major obstacles to building great brands: (i) lack of knowledge, (ii) misconceptions about branding and, therefore, about what is needed, and (iii) an abundance of providers willing to exploit the first two limitations of CEOs. In one sweeping statement, he questions the intelligence of Asian CEOs and the integrity of their brand partners — advertising agencies and brand consultants. And this he repeats over and over again.

Life is not as simple. To begin with, Baladi believes great brands have global footprints. That is a questionable starting point. Nowhere in his later definition of a brand does he state a need for a multi-country footprint. There are enough brands in India — Airtel, Asian Paints, Fevicol, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Jet Airways, Kingfisher beer, Tata, TCS and Wipro to name a few — that have strong consumer equities. Ignoring their existence is shortsighted. The proportion of great and good brand to not-so-good brands may be smaller in Asia and India than in the West. The reasons for these may be beyond CEOs and their vision. India is a 20-year-old market and still developing. Indian brands have not yet had the economic pressure to go beyond penetration or drive it by building emotional equities. And culturally, brands are perhaps built differently from the West so the metrics of measurement may be different. Indian brands tend to sell values rather than propositions and single-minded association with categories. The author is critical of the “opportunistic expansion of Indian companies and the presence of conglomerates”. He claims this could be a limitation to growth of great brands. However, Japan — yet another Asian country that Baladi by definition leaves out of his Asian scope — has many strong brands within conglomerates! Similarly, he repeatedly says Indian CEOs’ stated purpose of business is “making money” and comments strongly that that’s a limitation to growth of great brands. Whatever the vision statements of many strong brands purport, the view of many western CEOs and companies is no different: “increasing shareholder value” is equivalent to “making money”. And the West’s obsession with stock prices is again no different from the Asian perspective. Similarly, he sees the “hierarchical view of the universe” as one more limitation… again contradicted by Japanese brands!

Such observations leave you with the feeling that Joseph Baladi is perhaps not sensitive to both the cultural and economic environment in Asia while passing judgment on branding here.

However, there are many truths, too, in the book. He expands on a number of branding concepts and branding processes quite lucidly, making it a good textbook. As a professional, however, I think Baladi has too many concepts and jargon — brand attributes, brand benefits, brand values, brand personality, brand blueprint, brand strategy — that could confuse and scare away a prospective brand creator. It makes the branding process seem as challenging as, and sometimes more complicated than, running the business. There are a few illustrative examples of the concepts that help clarify them — especially the “mission” statements. He also does, of course, throw up a lot of observations about Asian entrepreneurs that ring true about their Indian counterparts — lack of innovation, lack of commitment to quality, comfortable with short cuts and so oon.

Through the book, Baladi switches between corporate brand building and product brand building and that gets confusing. The two are distinct exercises. The book is better on its theory of corporate brands, highlighting the importance of internal alignment and the fact that it is as important as external presentation. However, his assertion that every employee needs to be taken on board and made co-participant is questionable. It works for the West doesn’t mean it needs to work here too!

In sum, the book reveals that just because you are right in parts doesn’t mean the sum of it all is convincing, especially if the parts don’t lead to the conclusion.

Provocative titles are good — they attract readers. Seth Godin’s Every marketer is a liar endearingly leads you to the concept of brands and storytelling. However, here the title provokes to disappoint. There is no strong evidence to support the theory and everything is based on sweeping brushstrokes. Some books offer learning by providing facts and perspective; this one does by getting you to question and argue all its conclusions.

Asia is tired of the West preaching to us. It’s time, perhaps, for people to understand this part of the world’s way of doing things and help in building on it. That’s something worth thinking about before deciding to read.

THE BRUTAL TRUTH ABOUT ASIAN BRANDING
And How To Break The Vicious Circle
Joseph Baladi
Wiley
250 pages; $29.95