Brand India 'a cafeteria of sub-brands'

CII BRAND SUMMIT 2005/ Indian consumer more price-conscious than brand-conscious

Brand India is not a homogeneous entity but a cafeteria of sub-brands like brand Bangalore, brand Hyderabad and brand Ludhiana. These views were expressed by Jairam Ramesh, economist and member of Rajya Sabha in his presentation, 'Changing image of Brand India-implications for Marketers' in the special session-Perspective on Brand India on day two of the CII Brand Summit 2005 in Chennai today.

"Brand India constitutes five aspects- it is an animal that is multi-layered, evolving, aggregative, in transition and has a unique psychology," Ramesh said.

He said that marketers who do not understand the incredible diversity in terms of its culture and income would "quickly come to grief" as they do not submit to ground economic realities. Brand India is in transition and is undergoing transformation socially, politically and demographically.

Individual sub-brands will need to be aggregated and form the building blocks to take Brand India to the next level. "Chennai cannot have the same brand positioning as Bangalore. It can perhaps be positioned as the Detroit of India," advised Ramesh.

He pointed out that to be successful marketers need to consider the understand the psychology of Indian consumers who place a premium on price over brands purchased.

"Marketers should look at building products for individuals in the lower income group. All companies that are successful address the mass market rather than class market," added Ramesh. He quoted CK Prahlad and his bottom of the pyramid approach to illustrate this point.

To the outside world, Ramesh suggested that while projecting Brand India it was important not to oversell but deliver on the promise of expectations set to build credibility.

"While branding India and selling it to the outside world it is important to use the launch pad of successful industries like IT and pharma," Ramesh remarked .