Intrinsic value key for brands: speakers

There is nothing like a commodity, it's just a mindset. Every single product has a differential.

Talking about steel there are 20,000 varieties of steel which is little more than the number of branded cars, rice or toothpaste,"said Mr B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel, thereby setting the pace for a discussion on brands in a seminar titled "National Brand Summit: Emerging paradigms in branding".

The seminar was hosted by All India Management Association in Mumbai.

However, some of the speakers were also of the view that all products cannot be classified as brands. "Products come out of the factory and brand is what the consumer buys," said Ravi Naware, chief executive, (foods division) ITC Ltd.

Dwelling on the market size of unbranded atta, Naware said, "48 million tonne of atta is consumed in the country and 97 per cent of the total market is occupied by unbranded players." The speakers also affirmed that brands can succeed only if they are able to identify with the consumer needs.

"True branding is not just about consumers choosing a certain brand over the others. Instead it is more about consumers saying to the world that there are no equals to this brand," said Dharen Chadha, founder and managing director, Momentum Strategy Consultants, a marketing consultancy outfit.

Sunil Lulla, executive vice-president of Set Max India, emphasised that marketers should master the art of making people buying brands or products that they don't really want.

Lulla cited examples of French luxury goods maker LVMH, which comes up with different way of approaching customers like launching different types of handbags at various price points.

Back home, music company Saregama(formerly known as HMV) had launched a music catalogue branded Golden Collection, that included renditions of Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood among others.

Lulla pointed that this catalogue fetched 35 per cent profits to the company and it also exported its collection to overseas market like US and UK at a higher price tag.

Lulla said, "It was the same old singers and old songs but it was also about how you could package these collection and create a perception around the brand."