We are in advertising since years. We have been designing
and media planning for some time now. It would be fair to announce that we
understand local level advertising parameters well. Through today’s article, we
would like to clear some Myths about Branding and other related issues.
A Common Myth
MYTH 1: Catalogs will move any products
It has been noticed that many clients come and tell, “
GIVE ME A CATALOG THAT SPEAKS SO LOUD THAT BUYING WILL BE INSTANT”
If this was the case we catalog printers would be selling
anything and everything. Catalogs serve to represent your products in the best
possible manner. They will inform and inspire the buyer, however, the products
will still have to deliver. Never even expect this to happen just on the
strength of a catalog.
However, Catalog has to be visually appealing,
informative and motivating.
MYTH 2: We have a brand, whatever we introduce will work.
This is one of the worst of all the myths. The consumer
has become very educated. In fact you have to decide whether to put a product
in same brand or not. If the product is weak, it will affect other products in
the same brand. The product should always meet the brand promise made to the
buyer explicitly or implicitly.
This does not mean never to use same brands and keep on
creating new brands. You must develop products that match to your brand belief
in the buyer. This is very advantageous as the same branding expense delivers
better returns per every rupee spent on branding.
MYTH 3: Costly Media always Delivers
Media is probably one of the most confusing decision in
Advertising and branding exercise. TV advertise being the most expensive. A TV
ad will say that you are BIG. However, whether it touches your buyer or not
will be questionable because to touch your real buyer you will need consistent
bursts of TV ads. They have to be on several channels, not just on one or two.
THE DANGER: A TV ad has to be backed by Hoarding
placements across the nation and print media. If this is not done, the initial
TV ad budget will go down the drain. People have short memories.
If you do not have a huge budget, you need to plan your
media very cautiously. Always take enough information on each media and its
impact before deciding on total media plan.
MYTH 4: Once you establish a brand, you do not need
advertising.
There are companies that spend heavily on brand creation
and then loose out on maintaining the brand image. This is extremely costly. If
a brand is created it has to be reminded to the buyers regularly.
The reason is that once you establish and image and then
leave the media, someone else comes on and creates his own impression. So the
buyer now has the other image not what you created.
It is better to have an economical media in a selected
target market than have the whole country at once and finally fizz out when the
maintenance part comes on. Also the media costs are the highest and recurring,
so take on and study as many options as possible.
Plan well, Plan Long, Plan forever.
MYTH 5: Word OF Mouth will take care of the brand.
A very far fetched and long term strategy. This is
normally followed by limited budget branding seekers. Word of mouth will only
survive if the product beats most other options. It will be a very slow
process.
It is not suitable for industry such as our which dishes out
thousands of products per day. Yes you still have to get referrals for
Architects and Interior designers. However, that will not suffice.
MYTH 6: Your USP will create your brand.
Some times a manufacturer is very excited about a new
technology or product offering that makes his product different from his
competitors. He starts believing that this
small advantage will beat all his competitors and make his brand huge
naturally.
NOT POSSIBLE
Consumers want a total package at the right price. You
cannot sell a writing pen with video recording facility however unique the
combo is. The cost itself will not justify.
The brand is much bigger that a USP. Brand can highlight
USP but the brand will always be the center, not the USP.
