Karisma Kapur’s story from low-grade flicks to big time tells us that a ‘mass’ brand can go ‘class’ if the right changes are made to all the elements of the mix. Viewers – who are celebrity consumers – are willing to make the change. Can it happen in the product or service brand world?
The Deccan saga shows clearly that it is critical for a product to be continuously upgraded and delivered to consumers if one wants to sustain it, even at the lower end of the pyramid. The market is ruthless – there are no sympathy purchases available.
But one question, albeit academic, is worth pondering: Could branding have saved Deccan? Given that Deccan as a brand has high awareness and created enough emotional equity, could rejigging of the price-value equation have helped its business viability? Could the brand equity built by Deccan have broken the shackles of its discount imagery and been used to provide an alternative to the mass class airline travellers in the Indian market? These are questions worth pondering.
The Karisma Kapur example shows that brands can be moved up, if managed well. However, the history of Indian branding in the product space reveals that what happens with people brands is not true about product brands. Products have successfully managed to move from class to mass. Yet, there are few examples of product brands that began by playing the ‘mass discount’ (or price warrior) game and later managed to climb up and become ‘premium and aspirational’.
Let’s look across product categories.
While brands have managed to upgrade their image and evolve together with their consumers – Lifebuoy is a great example, having moved from a carbolic, sweaty association to a desirable health imagery.
Brands in consumer durables have acted similarly. The discount segment has been often left to local and regional players who offer basic price driven products that give the lower income segment ‘category’ status rather than ‘brand’ status. LG and Samsung, two late entrants in the market, used pretty much the P&G principle – came in at the top and then expanded their footprint by offering lower priced products or by dropping prices to become more accessible.
Titan, which falls somewhere between FMCG and durables, has always been premium in imagery to the mass market. To keep its integrity intact, it has tapped into the lower income segment by introducing a new brand, Sonata.
So, what does this say about branding in India...
– Brands have historically addressed the middle class market because that is the group which has the spending power and yet offers great volumes.
– New entrants into categories have come in from the top, offering strong value propositions, and then extended into the middle market.
– While there have been cases of brands upgrading their image, a shift from the bottom to the top has not happened.
...and about Indian consumers?
– There is a strong price-quality equation in the consumer’s mind. Higher price means high quality and if the product delivers, brands can create desirability – and then extend down. Consumers buy into the brand values even if the product is not as good. The bottom market is always handled separately.
– In categories that drive status through label value, consumers like to leave behind their past as they move up. And the middle-lower class divide is quite well defined. Even FMCG marketers have subliminally recognised this. There is an unconscious yet clear caste divide in brand purchases and associations, too!
Branding in services, especially airlines, is distinct from the product branding of the 20th century. In the manufacturing world, brands are product plus advertising. In the service world, it’s the sum of product, advertising and experience.
India is a class-conscious society. And interestingly, this is acceptable to the classes. Observe the reaction of a middle class Indian tourist in London or Paris, if his tourist bus driver were to come and sit with him at his table: He would become uncomfortable. Yet, ask your driver in India to come and share a table with you in a restaurant and he would be reluctant.
Till then, the verdict remains that in a class-conscious India, there is a caste divide in brands too and upgrading has its limits. We remain a brand unequal society. Sounds hard, but seems true.
The Deccan saga shows clearly that it is critical for a product to be continuously upgraded and delivered to consumers if one wants to sustain it, even at the lower end of the pyramid. The market is ruthless – there are no sympathy purchases available.
But one question, albeit academic, is worth pondering: Could branding have saved Deccan? Given that Deccan as a brand has high awareness and created enough emotional equity, could rejigging of the price-value equation have helped its business viability? Could the brand equity built by Deccan have broken the shackles of its discount imagery and been used to provide an alternative to the mass class airline travellers in the Indian market? These are questions worth pondering.
The Karisma Kapur example shows that brands can be moved up, if managed well. However, the history of Indian branding in the product space reveals that what happens with people brands is not true about product brands. Products have successfully managed to move from class to mass. Yet, there are few examples of product brands that began by playing the ‘mass discount’ (or price warrior) game and later managed to climb up and become ‘premium and aspirational’.
Let’s look across product categories.
While brands have managed to upgrade their image and evolve together with their consumers – Lifebuoy is a great example, having moved from a carbolic, sweaty association to a desirable health imagery.
Brands in consumer durables have acted similarly. The discount segment has been often left to local and regional players who offer basic price driven products that give the lower income segment ‘category’ status rather than ‘brand’ status. LG and Samsung, two late entrants in the market, used pretty much the P&G principle – came in at the top and then expanded their footprint by offering lower priced products or by dropping prices to become more accessible.
Titan, which falls somewhere between FMCG and durables, has always been premium in imagery to the mass market. To keep its integrity intact, it has tapped into the lower income segment by introducing a new brand, Sonata.
So, what does this say about branding in India...
– Brands have historically addressed the middle class market because that is the group which has the spending power and yet offers great volumes.
– New entrants into categories have come in from the top, offering strong value propositions, and then extended into the middle market.
– While there have been cases of brands upgrading their image, a shift from the bottom to the top has not happened.
...and about Indian consumers?
– There is a strong price-quality equation in the consumer’s mind. Higher price means high quality and if the product delivers, brands can create desirability – and then extend down. Consumers buy into the brand values even if the product is not as good. The bottom market is always handled separately.
– In categories that drive status through label value, consumers like to leave behind their past as they move up. And the middle-lower class divide is quite well defined. Even FMCG marketers have subliminally recognised this. There is an unconscious yet clear caste divide in brand purchases and associations, too!
Branding in services, especially airlines, is distinct from the product branding of the 20th century. In the manufacturing world, brands are product plus advertising. In the service world, it’s the sum of product, advertising and experience.
India is a class-conscious society. And interestingly, this is acceptable to the classes. Observe the reaction of a middle class Indian tourist in London or Paris, if his tourist bus driver were to come and sit with him at his table: He would become uncomfortable. Yet, ask your driver in India to come and share a table with you in a restaurant and he would be reluctant.
Till then, the verdict remains that in a class-conscious India, there is a caste divide in brands too and upgrading has its limits. We remain a brand unequal society. Sounds hard, but seems true.
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