GUD 2 GR8? Nt yt!

Welcome to the 2003 edition of Brand Derby. (Taaliyaan !)

I thought it would be appropriate to use two themes while analysing this year's Brand Derby. The theme of Good to Great, with apologies to Jim Collins, who wrote a book of the same name.

The book analysed 28 companies over five years to dig out the reasons why some companies defy mediocrity, leap to greatness and maintain the greatness over at least 15 years.

Why 15 years?

Because tempus edax rerum ("time is the consumer of all things").

What is true of life is true of brands. Time consumes the ordinary brands, the extraordinary brands thrive despite the passage of time.

This theme is particularly apt for Brand Derby 2003.

For the first time, Business Standard and Indica Research, who conduct the survey, have asked respondents not only about the previous year's winners and losers, but also about the past seven years' winners and losers.

I thought the second theme that would be appropriate would be SMS as a language. Yes, I realise this theme is largely executional and not content-linked, yet we cannot ignore it.

SMS is the new global language, and emoticons are the short-hand of the new generation;-)
I m a 8 -), n I m J) 2 be wrtng this brnd drby!

If you can't speak this language as a marketer, a large segment of the audience is not able to hear your brand's voice.

Intros over. Time to get down to analysis.

Frst, xcutv summry
1. Like 2002, and 2001, this year's winners represent just 50 per cent of the launches. Of the 26 launches mentioned, the 83 respondents classify only 13 as worthy of being called "Very Successful" or "Somewhat Successful".

The more things change, the more they remain the same!

2. Our of 26 brands mentioned, as many as 11 are FMCG brands. Yet, not a single FMCG brand finds mention in the Top Five!

Looks like the traditional stronghold of branding disciplines has weakened. Either that or branding as a discipline is being practised with much greater rigour by other categories as well.

3. The aberrations: For the first time, two brand launches were perceived to be both successful and unsuccessful. Reliance India Mobile and Mountain Dew. An almost equal number of respondents voted them as "Somewhat successful" and "Not so successful".

Remember, "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are". More about this cryptic statement later....

N dtail
Just to help you understand the executive summary, here are the details.

1. Scorpio is the indisputable winner. It is followed by Devdas, Playwin, Tata Indigo and Sony Max Extraa Innings.

As I mentioned earlier, no FMCG brands.

Which is genuinely surprising. You see, we brand analysts maintain that the art and science of branding began with FMCG, and was gradually adopted by service brands, finance brands, retail brands, and finally corporate brands.

The reason is simple : As you move from FMCG to corporate brands, more and more aspects of the brand-owning organisation need to get aligned to the brand values.

For example: If you make soap, the consumer tends to, by and large, create her impressions of the brand via her experience of the soap on her skin. She rarely encounters the actual people who make the soap.

But if you are a finance brand, it is not enough that your product superiority is hinged on lower interest rates or EMI. The consumer experience of the brand now extends to the manner in which your bank answers the phone, the overall demeanour of the bank employee who comes to help the consumer fill in the form and so on.

Therefore, I would have expected that FMCG brand owners, who have historically been the first to adopt branding as a means to consumer loyalty, would make fewer mistakes.

Our current Brand Derby disproves this expectation.

2. What do we make of Reliance India Mobile? 15 per cent vote "Very successful", 18 per cent vote "Least Successful".

Personally speaking, I would put this down to:
a. lack of clarity about the measures of success.
b. lack of information about the measures of success

Since the survey is unambiguous in its methodology, we are forced to conclude that (a) cannot be the reason why. The responses relate to the "perception", and not reality.

Which means it is not enough for successful brands to be successful, they need to communicate their success in an unambiguous manner too!

3. Finally, the seven-year-survey. Which brands were not consumed by time? Perception-wise, at least?

Hyundai Santro, followed by Lagaan, Aaj Tak and Tata Indica.

Conclusions?
The smart ones among you will realise that time has already played a role. The respondents have chosen brands that are fresh in their minds.

The second discovery? No FMCG brands in the list: 0

The third conclusion is a repetition of my last year's conclusion : Lagaan is not a brand by the definitions of a brand. Yet, if it makes the grade, it is because the owners displayed a higher level of skill than traditional marketers.

Are these then the brands that made the grade from gud 2 gr8?

Without taking credit away from the women and men who made these launches possible, I would say, "Not yet!"

Remember these are launches. Introductions. Beginnings of relationships.

My senior colleague Anand Halve reminded me of Dev Anand's reply to a film journalist. When asked if Rajesh Khanna was a phenomenon, he allegedly said, "Meet me after 10 years, and I'll tell you."

Whether the Santro or the Indica will become gr8 brands will be decided by what these brands do over time.

Will they adapt to new competition? To new consumers entering their segment with new expectations? Will they create new products that will meet these new expectations? Will they form deep relationships? Will they provide tlc ? We will have to w8 & c!

If they don't, Brnd Drby or no Brnd Drby, they won't thrive.

If they do, they would be on the path to becoming gr8.

The writer is a veteran advertising professional and the founder of Chlorophyll Brand and Communications Consultancy