BRANDING: The image that impresses, The Product That lasts

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.