Exercise 1- A group of 5 students will be given one brand and

they will trace the story of that brand from its inception. In the
story they will have to cover the following-

1. Evolution of the Brand & Brands DNA

2. Brand logo and name changes over the given period and
reasons for the change
3. Branding on various platforms like television, internet,
social media
4. Differences if any in the India brand strategy and Global
brand strategy

MTV 1980 vs 2015

Apple 1976 vs 2015

Nike 1971 vs 1995

 McDonalds 1960 vs 2015

Ray-Ban 1957 vs 2014

Burger King 1957 vs 2015

Dunkin Donuts 1950 vs 2015

 3-M 1942 vs 2015

Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate 1905 vs 2015

Pepsi 1898 vs 2015

Audi 1932 vs 2015

Exercise 2-

Brand Asset Valuator Model BAV Model to

measure Brand Equity (Philip
Kotler Summary)
Brand Asset Valuator BAV Model to measure Brand Equity (Philip Kotler Summary)

Advertising agency Young and Rubicam (Y&R) developed a model of brand equity called Brand
Asset Valuator (BAV). Based on research with almost 200,000 consumers in 40 countries, BAV
provides comparative measures of the brand equity of thousands of brands across hundreds of
different categories. There are four key componentsor pillars of brand equity, according to
BAV.
1. Differentiation measures the degree to which a brand is seen as different from others.
2. Relevance measures the breadth of a brands appeal.
3. Esteem measures how well the brand is regarded and respected.
4. Knowledge measures how familiar and intimate consumers are with the brand.
Differentiation and Relevance combine to determine Brand Strength. These two pillars point to
the brands future value, rather than just reflecting its past. Esteem and Knowledge together
create Brand Stature, which is more of a report card on past performance.
 Brand Asset Valuator (BAV Model)

Examining the relationships among these four dimensionsa brands pillar patternreveals
much about its current and future status. Brand Strength and Brand Stature can be combined to
form a Power Grid that depicts the stages in the cycle of brand developmenteach with its
characteristic pillar patternsin successive quadrants. New brands, just after they are launched,
show low levels on all four pillars. Strong new brands tend to show higher levels of
Differentiation than Relevance, while both Esteem and Knowledge are lower still. Leadership
brands show high levels on all four pillars. Finally, declining brands show high Knowledge
evidence of past performancerelative to a lower level of Esteem, and even lower Relevance and
Differentiation.
 Brand Asset Valuator Examples

Aaker Model Defining Brand Identity

(Philip Kotler Summary)
Aaker views brand equity as a set of five categories of brand assets and liabilities linked to a
brand that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to
that firms customers.
These categories of brand assets are:
1. Brand loyalty
2. Brand awareness
3. Perceived quality
4. Brand associations
5. Other proprietary assets such as patents, trademarks, and channel relationships.
According to Aaker, a particularly important concept for building brand equity is brand identity
the unique set of brand associations that represent what the brand stands for and promises to
customers.

As per Aaker, brand identity as consisting of 12 dimensions organized around 4 perspectives:

1. Brand-as-product (product scope, product attributes, quality/value, uses, users, country

of origin)
 2. Brand-as-organization (organizational attributes, local versus global)
3. Brand-as-person (brand personality, brand-customer relationships)
4. Brand-as-symbol (visual imagery/metaphors and brand heritage).

Aaker also conceptualizes brand identity as including a core and an extended identity.

The core identitythe central, timeless essence of the brandis most likely to remain constant
as the brand travels to new markets and products.
The extended identity includes various brand identity elements, organized into cohesive and
meaningful groups.

Brandz Model Measuring Brand Equity

(Phlip Kotler Summary)
Brandz Model Measuring Brand Equity (Phlip Kotler Summary)
Developed by: Millward Brown and WPP
Marketing research consultants Millward Brown and WPP have developed the BRANDZ model
of brand strength, at the heart of which is the Brand Dynamics pyramid. According to this model,
brand building involves a sequential series of steps, where each step is contingent upon
successfully accomplishing the previous step. The objectives at each step, in ascending order, are
as follows:
1. Presence. Do I know about it?
2. Relevance. Does it offer me something?
3. Performance. Can it deliver?
4. Advantage. Does it offer something better than others?
5. Bonding. Nothing else beats it.
Research has shown that bonded consumers, those at the top level of the pyramid, build stronger
relationships with the brand and spend more of their category expenditures on the brand than
those at lower levels of the pyramid. More consumers, however, will be found at the lower levels.
The challenge for marketers is to develop activities and programs that help consumers move up
the pyramid.

Brand Resonance Pyramid (Philip

Kotler Summary)
Brand Resonance Pyramid (Philip Kotler Summary)

The brand resonance model also views brand building as an ascending, sequential series of steps,
from bottom to top. The steps are as below:
1. Ensuring identification of the brand with customers and an association of the brand in
customers minds with a specific product class or customer need
 2. Establishing the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers by strategically
linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations
3. Eliciting the proper customer responses in terms of brand-related judgment and feelings
4. Converting brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between
customers and the brand.
According to this model, enacting the four steps involves establishing six brand building blocks
with customers. These brand building blocks can be assembled in terms of a brand pyramid. The
model emphasizes the duality of brandsthe rational route to brand building is the left-hand side
of the pyramid, whereas the emotional route is the right-hand side.
Example:
MasterCard is an example of a brand with duality, as it emphasizes both the rational advantage to
the credit card, through its acceptance at establishments worldwide, and the emotional advantage
through its award-winning priceless advertising campaign, which shows people buying items to
reach a certain goal. The goal itselfa feeling, an accomplishment, or other intangibleis
priceless (There are some things money cant buy, for everything else, theres MasterCard.).

Brand Resonance Pyramid

The creation of significant brand equity involves reaching the top or pinnacle of the brand
pyramid, and will occur only if the right building blocks are put into place.
Brand salience relates to how often and easily the brand is evoked under various
purchase or consumption situations.
Brand performance relates to how the product or service meets customers functional
needs.
Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service, including the
ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers psychological or social needs.
Brand judgments focus on customers own personal opinions and evaluations.
 Brand feelings are customers emotional responses and reactions with respect to the
brand.
Brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship that customers have with the
brand and the extent to which customers feel that they are in sync with the brand.
Resonance is characterized in terms of the intensity or depth of the psychological bond customers
have with the brand, as well as the level of activity engendered by this loyalty. Examples of
brands with high resonance include Harley-Davidson, Apple, and eBay.

Cost-Based-Method for evaluating Brand Equity

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

Historical Costs:

This is the money that has been spent on the brand till date. Suppose Rs.100 million have bean spent
so far creating a brand called X. The value at which the brand can be sold to another organization
should be Rs.100 million.

This appeals intuitively though there are several problems in using historical costs. First, a
prospective buyer is interested in the future cash flows from a brand and the fact that 100
million was spent on brand X does not guarantee the realization of even a fraction of that
amount in future sales.

Costs incurred in brands are no measure of the efficiency with which the money was spent.
The R& D budgets of GM, Siemens, Philips, Xerox and IBM are much more than their
respective Japanese competitors namely Honda, Hitachi, Sony, Canon and NEC. Yet the
number of successful models produced by the Japanese far outnumber the ones produced by
their western counterparts. Poorly spent finances hardly get translated into brand equity.
Historical costs may or may not be an adequate measure of a brands future potential even
when the costs are adjusted to the current prices.

Replacement Cost- Method for evaluating Brand

Equity
Posted on August 6, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

Consider a brand, say Colgate. How much would it cost to create a brand with similar turnover,
profitability, distribution reach, brand loyalty, etc. This cost is its brand equity.

To begin with, measuring each of the above costs is not very easy. Colgate has a turnover of
over Rs.7000 million, a gross profit figure of Rs.150 chores, reaches at least 7 lakh retailers
directly (many times this number indirectly) and finally is probably the most popular brand in
the country.
Promotional expenses on launch alone cost close to 7 Crores today for a national brand. Add
to this the production, distribution and marketing overheads. A simple calcu lation can
demonstrate this figure. Consider the example of another brand, Close-Up. Close-Up has
been in existence for some time now. Say Rs.200 crores was spent cumulatively on
production and marketing over the years to achieve the present turnover. To this, add the
amount for the brand loyalty and distribution equity it commands. Let us add another 50
crores to take care of that. In other words, the brand value of Close-up is 255 crores.

Replacement cost = (Launch cost + production and

administrative costs incurred over the years + brand
premium acquired over the years due to brand loyalty,
distribution, etc.)
First, procedurally this is not very simple. Of course, it is better than historical cost because it
considers todays costs. But this suffers again from the same setbacks as the previous method.
What is the guarantee that if a brand is created at the cost be Rs.255 crores today it will
obtain a market share of about 17% as Close-up did? This indeed is the million dollar
question.

Present costs (as in replacement cost method) are as bad indicators as past ones (as in
historical cost method) as far as evaluating brand equity is concerned.

Market Value Method for Evaluating Brand

Equity
Posted on August 10, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

The brand value for a particular brand is obtained by comparing it with the value that had
beery realized in a comparable, current merger or acquisition. Given below is a list of
acquisitions from the recent past and the price at which these acquisitions have been made:

PRESENT (Rs.in Million)

Brand Taken over by

Eveready Mcleod Russel

Kelvinator Whirlpool

Farex, Glucon-D, etc., Heinz

Thums Up, Gold-Spot Coca-Cola

Cibaca Colgate
 Transelektra Godrej

PAST

Company Taken over by

Ashok Leyland Hindujas

Assam Co. Jay Mehta

Shaw Wallace M R Chabbria

Berger Paints Vijay Mallya

Cibaca for instance has been bought by Colgate for a sum of Rs. 1310 million. If Cibacas
equity is Rs.1310 million, what is the equity of Colgate? Perhaps since Colgate has about 17
times as much turnover as Cibaca, if we multiply the equity of Cibaca with a factor of 17 we
will arrive at Colgates. That puts it at Rs. 22,270 million.

Market Share Equalization Method for

evaluating Brand Equity
Posted on August 12, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

This method uses an ingenious way of tackling the brand equity problem. Let us suppose that
there are totally hundred consumers of toothpaste in the country. Of these, 65 use Colgate, 20
use Close-up, 10 use Promise and 5 use Babool. We also assume that there are only 4
toothpastes in the market.

Brand Prices No.

(Rs. per 100 gm)

Colgate 17.40 65

Close-Up 22.50 20

Promise 17-40 5

Babool 14-60 10
What are the prices at which the market share for each of these brands is equal? It is obvious
that Colgate is the most popular brand. But when its price is raised beyond a point, people
will switch from Colgate to other brands. What is the point at which 40 people switch from
Colgate and distribute themselves among the other brands equitably. This situation is shown
in the fallowing table:

Prices No. of people using

Brand

Colgate 24-50 25

Close-Up 23-00 25

Promise 17-50 25

Babool 14-60 25

At this point, we have forced a situation market shares are equal. The prices here straight
away give an indication of brand equity. If we divide the prices in paise by ten we get the
numbers in the brand equity map. In other words, the brand equity of Colgate is equal to 245
while that of Babool is 146.

Price Premium Method for Evaluating Brand

Equity
Posted on August 13, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

This is done by comparing the difference between the retail price of the brand and the retail
price of an unbranded product in the same category. Here again the difference will give an
indication of brand equity. This measure will also give us an indication of Brand strength
only. That is, higher the retailer premium that a brand can charge, greater is its equity in the
minds of the customer.

But this is less useful than the profit premium method in understanding brand strength because if we
take the toothpaste market, there are brands at different prices.
Comparing Colgate Total (the most expensive toothpaste) with an unbranded product will
give it high brand equity as compared to Colgate Dental Cream. However, for the common
man, Colgate means Colgate Dental Cretin only. How then can we accept higher brand equity
for Total as compared to Colgate Dental Cream?

Similarly, some toothpastes like Babool are deliberately priced low to penetrate the market.
On the basis of the lower retail price premium it commands, it would not be right to say that
Babool enjoys less brand equity than what say Promise does. Further, low priced brands like
Nirma and Lifebuoy will have their brand equity close to zero if this method were adopted.
Such a computation would be unrealistic.

Brand Knowledge Method for Evaluating Brand

Equity
Posted on August 17, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

Brand knowledge can be expressed as a sum of brand awareness and brand image. Each of the
parameters (i.e. brand recall/strength of brand associations/ attitudes/ user image) can be measured
on a 1 to 10 scale. A weighted sum of these parameters will be the measure of brand equity.

Dimensions of brand knowledge

Brand recall: Here is an illustration to measure brand recall. Suppose you want the
consumer to recall, let us say NIRMA the following set of questions can be asked:

What brand comes to your mind when I say detergent powder? (This is called top-of-mind-
awareness.)

Which detergent brand comes to your mind when I say Low price? (The answer could be
Wheel/Nirma/or a regional brand.)

Which brand comes to your mind when I say white/cream detergent cake?

The advertisement for which brand says Do you now understand why 1 buy this? (This is
an allusion to the housewife in the Nirma advertisement mentioning she buys Nirma because
it saves money.)

If the answer to the first question is Nirma then its Brand Recall score is high. It can be
given a score of 10.

If the respondent does not have any brand on top-of-mind awareness identifies Nirma for
question 2 which contains a stronger clue, his association with the brand is that much weaker.
He may be assigned a brand recall score of 6.
Now, in question 3, a stronger hint is being supplied because Nirma is the most popular
among white/cream detergent cakes. If the respondent does not identify Nirma in Questions 1
and 2 but does for question 3, he gets a brand recall score of 4.

The fourth question is almost a giveaway, which points straight to the Nirma advertisement.
If the respondent identifies Nirma here, he is given a score of 2.

If he fails to identify it even here, he gets a score of 0.

Thus, a scale can be developed where high score signifies high brand recall and low score the
opposite. In a similar manner the other parameters like brand recognition, favourability of
brand associations, strength of brand associations, etc. can be measured on a 0 to 10 scale.

When these scores are summed up and averaged, we get a measure of brand equity. This
method is probably the most comprehensive measure, if consumers can be accepted as the
focus of brand equity. Such methods argue that equity does not lie in the price at which a
brand can be sold but in the mind of the customer. Even if consideration obtained for selling a
brand can be a measure, it is argued that this consideration itself depends on how many
people like the brand or its customer based brand equity.

Attribute-oriented Approach for evaluating

Brand Equity
Posted on August 19, 2008 by Drypen | 0 Comments

The approach in this method is

Take a particular brand. List all its attributes. Get ratings for each of these attributes on a 0-.10 scale
from consumers. Sum up the scores.

This represents the equity of the brand scale. Repeat a similar exercise on competing brands and we
have the brand equity for all the brands.

Suppose one gets the following hypothetical scores for 4 talcum powder brands:

Ponds Cinthol

Freshness 8 7

Fragrance 7 7

Long-Lasting 9 9

Appearance 8 7
 Desirability 8 6

40 36

If the scores are converted to a scale of 100, the total score for Ponds is 80, Cinthol 12, Liril
72 and Gokul 62. This score represents the Brand Equity. However, brand equity usually is
more than what the attributes bestow on the brand. This becomes the limitation of the
method.

How Brand Identity

Makes Your Marketing
Easier [Case Study]
06 | 04 | 12

As a retail consultant, I get calls from a wide variety of retailers

who ask for help to make more sales, attract more customers and
become more profitable. From time to time I share these case
studies (from some of the largest brands to some of the smallest
mom and pops) with lessons about physical location, personality
styles, merchandising, branding, marketing and of course,retail
sales training all of which you can use in your store.

This is one of those case studies.

The Client
 After reading one of my Los Angeles

Times business makeovers, Christina called me and invited me to

her home to see her products. She loved to paint flowers and
started her business of hand painted glassware in 1994.

She took a big risk one day. She prepared a selection of her one-
of-a-kind vases, put them in a brown cardboard box with a short
note and dropped them off with a receptionist on the top floor of a
Nordstrom store. That's when it cinched it for me she was
anExpressive personality style.

She was surprised when a buyer called her that afternoon and
wanted to place an order; not just for that one store but for
several. In order to handle all the Nordstrom orders, Christina
hired a staff of college-age artists who helped paint her flower
bouquets on clear glass vases, wine goblets, paperweights and
perfume bottles.
After a bit of conversation, I found that Nordstrom was still her
only customer and she needed to grow her business into a
recognizable brand. And even with the additional shifts, she
wasnt making enough profit.

She wanted my help to change that.

The goal

While Christina had been a successful risk-taker, we realized the

best way to maximize her inventory would be to diversify her
customer base. Rather than going from store to store in hopes she
would get sales, we needed her products to be where the buyers
were already looking for her merchandise. And we needed to raise
prices.

Read another case study about getting buzz for your business
here.

The strategy

We needed to come up with a way to pique other store-buyers

interest, create advertising that showcased her theme of flowers
growing in the yard, and create a website, brochures, selling
strategies, and a branding program that would deliver repeat
business.

The implementation

Knowing your brand identity - what it is based on, why it exists

and who it is targeting makes your marketing job much easier.
In talking to Christina, I had to find out Why flowers? Why on
glass? She told me, You don't always have flowers in your
garden so why not paint them on a vase so you can have them
year-round?"

Those words became the opening sentence in brochures that told

her story. The paragraph continued, Christina's love of nature has
been a lifelong passion, beginning in childhood when she tended
the flower and vegetable gardens of her parents. Her designs are
derived from these memories.

When asked about her style, she told me she painted the flowers
as if, "they were growing out of the ground and onto the glass."

I placed the glassware in soil for a photo shoot to emphasize the

point. I came up with the tagline, Bringing a bit of paradise into a
hectic world.

We changed the name of her products to, Christinas Hand

Painted. We came up with three collections of vases to make
ordering easier: seeds, buds and blooms.

With a brochure and website that could tell her story, we

registered for the Los Angeles Gift Show and while we she didn't
get the best location, we came up with a unique design for her
booth.

The Booth
To reinforce the "garden" concept, we covered the display tables
with live sod. To reinforce the hand-made quality of her work, we
had two of her employees hand-painting in the aisle. To sell a
program of new arrivals, we gave tips how to "keep your garden
fresh" and offered an auto-ship program. Putting her in a natural
setting matched her expressive personality.

As buyers came by the booth, they were greeted with, Welcome

to our garden. It made them stop in their tracks. The smell of the
sod, the visuals of the vases, the friendly tour of the products all
combined to make the show a big success.

The results

Christina was able to add many new clients, sell out her inventory
and was able to relocate to Northern California within the year.

This was many years ago and while technology would have been
different, the process, the vision and implementation are still valid
for you today.

A BRAND CASE STUDY: THE

SUPERDRY APPEAL
http://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2016/03/the-superdry-appeal/

Superdry is an international clothing label of SuperGroup plc.,

headquartered in Cheltenham, UK. This case study looks into the key
aspects of branding that heavily influenced the success of this label. Also,
we look at how the definition of this brand altered consumer perception.
A couple of months back, I was taking a stroll down Princes Street, Edinburgh, which happened
to be the week of the Fringe Festival. Had a good time watching the acts but what really caught
my attention was the sheer number of people sporting Superdry apparel.
The jacket with the Japanese script lettering on its shoulder lining, which happens to be the logo
as well, is a ubiquitous sight on any high street in Britain. Imogen succinctly writes in The
Guardian in London, you are never meant to be more than 6ft away from a rat, even if you
cant see one. Today, in the UK by my scientific reckoning you are never more than six feet
away from a bit of Superdry.

SUPERDRY: WHO ARE THEY?

For the uninitiated, Superdry is a fashion label of SuperGroup plc, an international clothing
company based out of Cheltenham, UK. Well, it didnt start out that way but thats what this case
study is all about. Its about ingenious branding thatresurrected an almost non existent fashion
line of outdoor wear a transition from car boot sales to high street stores, from oblivion to
ubiquity.

Beckham posed with one, Bieber performed with one, Helena Christensen, anyone? Yes, she
was papped with a Superdry triple zip Windcheater. Oh, and did I mention Kate Winslet? You get
the picture (excuse the pun). And, ironically, celebrity endorsement wasnt initiated by
SuperGroup and, yet, celebrities in Britain, and the ones across the pond endorse Superdry with
their wallet, nevertheless.

BRAND IDENTITY

They market themselves as a fashion chain for men and women blending vintage Americana
with Japanese and British inspirations. Whats the Japanese inspiration, I hear you ask. Well, the
scripting on the logo, and, yeah, thats about it. But, boy, did it work! SuperGroup have clearly
capitalised on consumer psyche towards anything Japanese. Research has shown that
European consumers aspire and exhibit inclination towards Japanese brands and this is reflected
in their purchase decisions. Moreover, packaging/products scripted in Japanese tend to exude a
certain degree of quality and wow factor in the customers perception.

The fact that Superdry has nothing to do with anything remotely Japanese is evident if you
decipher the script. If loosely translated (theres no literal translation from Japanese), it reads
maximum dry (do), which sounds absolutely nonsensical. James Holder, the brainchild of
Superdry reminisces of his obsession with typography and his childhood spent reading Japanese
manga comics (known for its Japanese script on the cover). Apparently, the logo was conceived
at a Japanese pub by James with a play on English and Japanese typography to loosely convey
the meaning of staying dry on a wet day using Superdry.

The branding genius lies in the logo seamlessly incorporating Japanese and English, and
conveying something totally different to what it actually says! Some market experts believe its a
parody on Japanese clothing brands that often use meaningless English mumbo-jumbo to
appear British. Parody or not, SuperGroup aint complaining. The logo has elevated Superdry to
the point its mentioned in the same breath as Uniqlo, Zara, AllSaints and Mango labels that
rub shoulders with Superdry.

THE ROAD AHEAD

As is usually the case with brands that solely rely on brand identity, Superdry has reached a
plateau, in terms of its ber-cool appeal. With brand fatigue setting in, SuperGroup badly
needed to infuse some pizzazz into the flailing brand. Well, hope has come cloaked as Idris Elba,
yes, The Wire man, wholl be lending his name for a premium range of Superdry apparel,
apparently.

The name IDRIS has been trademarked and this time (thankfully!) theres no Japanese script
tagging the name. The designers have adopted a rather conservative approach with the new
logo, perhaps to appeal to a more mature audience.

SuperGroup hopes Idris mass appeal will help gain lost momentum both at home and the US,
one of Superdrys biggest markets. According to a report in The Guardian, Euan Sutherland, the
chief executive believes Superdry still appealed to 18-24 year old market, but many shoppers
had grown up with the brand and Elba, 42, would appeal to that older generation as well.
Further, he adds, Idris Elba is a big man in the US and he will automatically reposition Superdry
in peoples minds.

Its not the first time that Superdry is betting big on celebrity endorsement. Its always thrived on
celebrity endorsement. Now, though, SuperGroups taking it a notch further by launching an
entire sub-brand that is Idris Elba. This strategy has worked in the past for many high street
brands to plug plummeting sales. Will this work for SuperGroup? What do you think? Would love
to hear your thoughts.

Rebranding
Etihad Airways, established in 2003, is the second largest flag carrier of
the United Arab Emirates. They are based out of Abu Dhabi operating
intercontinental flights using the spoke and hub model like their fellow
carriers. As recent as 2014, the carrier rebranded itself in a quest to
differentiate itself from its big two Middle Eastern competitors. Has the
rebranding strategy worked? Lets find out.

MIDDLE EASTERN AVIATION AND

ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Air travel hasnt been more interesting and revolutionising, than its been in the last decade.
Thanks to its favourable geographic position and oil reserves, the Middle East has emerged as
the new hub for Middle Eastern carriers connecting Europe with Asia and the US.

The dynamics of the aviation landscape has seen a sea change globally, much to the chagrin of
legacy operators in Europe and the US. Carriers from the Middle East are challenging traditional
European and American players, in their own backyard. Etihad Airways is one of the big three,
based out of Abu Dhabi, UAE, and is the second largest (first being Emirates) flag carrier of the
Arab Emirates.

WHO ARE THEY?

Etihad Airways commenced operations in 2003. In 2014, the carrier embarked on a rebranding
strategy, to reposition itself as an agile airline, willing to align itself with the changing commercial
dynamics of Gulf aviation.

Amidst stiff competition from its friendly rival, Dubai based Emirates, Etihad Airways rebranding
needed to capture the essence of a serious contender challenging the existing norms of airline
hospitality. Further, the brand needed to reflect the understated flamboyance so unique to Abu
Dhabi on the airline.

THE REBRANDING DESIGN BRIEF

Landor Associates, a reputed brand consulting firm was tasked with the rebranding strategy.
Interestingly, Landor didnt look to aviation for inspiration but to something more earthen and
sublime the wind swept sand dunes of Abu Dhabi. The wind swept patterns on the golden
desert sand cocooning the Moresque architecture of Abu Dhabi served as the canvas for
Landors design. These iconic visuals of Abu Dhabi are interpreted as copper, silver, cream and
brown tessellated polygons.

THE OLD AND NEW

This is a clear departure from Etihads old branding and the team at Landor believe such a
transformation was absolutely needful for a successful rebrand strategy. The whole design
concept is interestingly titled Remarkable and the chosen colours reflect the appearance of sand
dunes in different lighting conditions.

In the airline, these coloured polygons exude an aura of exclusivity and premiumness while also
imbibing the airline livery with a unique identity. The design team at Landor add, Etihad is a
hospitality brand that provides experiences so magical, they have to be remarked on. No detail is
too small, no idea too big. The concept of Remarkable infuses the brand, creating an airline with
legendary stature.

The new livery will adorn Etihads fleet and the makeover operation is expected to be completed
by 2017. These prismatic shapes are a safe bet in design parlance and design experts believe
they have a longer shelf life in terms of visual appeal.

To that end, Landor have succeeded in sticking to Etihad Airways rebrand strategy. Speaking at
the livery unveil to Jonny Clark of thedesignair.net in Hamburg, Peter Knapp, Global Creative
Officer of Landor Associates, had this to say: we used the ambient geometry present in the
architecture and culture of the emirate and reinterpreted it with a sense of Arabian modernism
which has become synonymous with Etihad and Abu Dhabi itself.
DESIGN THEME AND INTERPRETATION
Etihad Airways fleet include the super-jumbo long haul A380s, long haul jumbo 787 Dreamliners
and a slew of mid range 330s and 777s. The A380 consist of an industry first Residence suite, to
cater to VVIP elite guests (Etihads term for passengers), which is essentially based around the
concept of a studio apartment in an aircraft. This is followed by First, Business and Economy
class, all given that remarkable Etihad touch.

The rebrand design needed to reflect these categories by having their own interpretation of the
Remarkable theme infused in them.

This is what Landor have to say:

Simply smarter economy classReinvents small moments that other airlines

overlook, to bring a sense of surprise, spontaneity, and fun to air travel.

Intelligent businessDesigned for the new global tribe that challenges traditional
notions of business class.

First classCreates a luxury travel experience so deeply personal, its like being
transported to your own private universe.

VVIP travelA unique vision of VIP travel with service so exclusive only a select few
will fully experience it.
The rebranded theme is reflected from the cosy and vivid prismatic pillow to the exuberant Etihad
lounges across continents. The colour cues of copper, brown, cream and silver are also
represented in the Residence and other classes subtly, to complete the Etihad ambience.

Trivia: An internet search reveals that Residence fliers love the polygon Etihad pillow; I cannot,
but agree!
 Gensler Architects

GROWTH STATS
Now, onto some numbers: According to travelweekly, a UK based travel website, Etihads
annual passenger numbers grew by 23% in 2014. Given the fact that this percentage also
includes Etihads code sharing partner airlines, its still a decent number, albeit 2014 being a year
of slow passenger growth, globally.

Etihads growth trajectory continues on in 2015 as well with a 17% jump from previous years
numbers (Times of Malta). To put in perspective, thats about 23.3 million passengers, of
which, Etihad claim 75% of that number, while the rest are taken up by their codeshare partners.
This spike in growth is evidenced from 2012 onwards, leading us to believe that the rebranding
strategy indeed worked, transforming Etihad as a carrier bringing Abu Dhabi to the skies.

13 Businesses With Brilliant Global

Marketing Strategies
Written by Hannah Fleishman | @hbfleishman

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Thanks to the internet, global reach is no longer reserved for deep-
pocketed brands, nor is it an incredible hassle for already over-burdened
marketing managers.

In fact, a global presence is possible for any business with a creative

strategy and an understanding of world markets.

What is good global marketing?

To give you an idea of what a great global marketing strategy looks like,
we've compiled a list of brands that totally "get it."

Download our global marketing playbook here to get

expert tips on global marketing.
From adapting their social strategies to translate across multiple languages
to adjusting their menus to appeal to the cravings of a diverse group of
people, these brands are taking positive steps towards creating a
solid presence across the globe.

So if you're looking for inspiration on how to craft a successful

international marketing strategy and expand your business' reach, check
out these examples from 13 successful companies.
13 Companies We Admire for Brilliant
International Marketing
1) Red Bull
Austrian company Red Bull does such a great job with global marketing that
many Americans assume its a local brand. How?

One of its most successful tactics is to host extreme sports events all over
the world. From the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix to the Red Bull Air
Race in the United Kingdom to the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Jordan, the
brand's powerful event marketing strategy takes them here, there, and
everywhere.

Aside from events, Red Bull's packaging also plays a part in its global
appeal.

"Red Bull really looks like a product from a global economy. It doesn't look
like a traditional American soft drink -- it's not in a 12-ounce can, it's not
sold in a bottle, and it doesn't have script lettering like Pepsi or Coke. It
looks European. That matters," explains Harvard Business School
professor Nancy F. Koehn in a 2001 article. Though it's since diversified
its product selection since that article was published, the fact remains that
Red Bull's consistent packaging has helped this brand go global.

2) Airbnb
Airbnb, a community marketplace for people to list and book
accommodations around the world, was founded in 2008 out of San
Francisco, California.

Since then, Airbnb has grown to 1,500,000+ listings in 34,000+ cities

worldwide. A large contributor to the company's explosive global success?
Social media.

In January 2015, Airbnb launched a social media campaign around the

hashtag #OneLessStranger. The company referred to the campaign as a
"global, social experiment," in which Airbnb asked the community to
perform random acts of hospitality for strangers, and then take a video or
photo with the person and share it using the hashtag.

Just three weeks after the launch of the campaign, over 3,000,000 people
worldwide engaged, created content, or were talking about the campaign.

3) Dunkin Donuts
In case you missed it, National Donut Day was June 3rd. And while we
were getting our hands dirty with a Boston creme (or two) here in the
states, Dunkin Donuts China was serving up a fresh batch of dry pork and
seaweed donuts.
With over 3,100 stores in 30 countries outside of the U.S., Dunkin Donuts
has evolved its menu to satisfy the sweet tooth of its global customers.

From Korea's Grapefruit Coolata to Lebanon's Mango Chocolate Donut to

Russia's Dunclairs, it's clear that Dunkin Donuts isn't afraid to
celebrate cultural differences in an effort to strengthen its
international presence.

4) Domino's
Similar to Dunkin Donuts, Domino's has prioritized menu innovation as a
means of increasing international interest and awareness.

The joy of pizza is that bread, sauce, and cheese works fundamentally
everywhere, except maybe China, where dairy wasnt a big part of their diet
until lately, explains Dominos CEO J. Patrick Doyle.

And its easy to just change toppings market to market. In Asia, its seafood
and fish. Its curry in India. But half the toppings are standard offerings
around the world.
By making a conscious effort to gain a better understanding of the
preferences of the markets it's trying to break into, Domino's is able to
deliver pies diverse enough to gain international attention.

5) Rezdy
Some companies may not be trying to attract global markets directly, but if
their clients are, they better know how. Rezdy is an Australian-based
reservation software designed to make online booking smoother for tourists
and agents alike.

Though Rezdy's clients are Australian-based, the company needs to cater

to its clients' international visitors. Click on the screen shot to check out this
fun video on Rezdy's homepage:
The first feature the video spotlights is 'Internationalisation.' The video
walks us through how easy the service is for users, but is sure to
emphasize the language and currency customization tool upfront. Even if
your company is marketing to other regional companies, consider their
global customers as if they were your own.

6) World Wildlife Foundation

WWF took its Earth Hour initiative -- a voluntary worldwide event where
participants turn off their lights for an hour to show how easy it can be to
battle climate change -- and brought it to Norway's mobile audience.

Scandinavian countries like Norway experience extreme daylight hours in

different seasons, making the country a prime candidate for WWF's
Blackout campaign. Using digital agency Mobiento, the nonprofit placed the
Blackout Banner across Norway's top media sites to promote Earth Hour.
With one tap of the banner, the screen went black. Finger swiping the black
screen slowly revealed the Earth Hour countdown. The banner attracted
roughly 1,000,000 impressions and the campaign received three MMA
Global Mobile Marketing Awards back in 2012.

Have a cool idea? Don't be afraid to try it out on one international market --
just make sure it's the appropriate audience. (Also, don't be afraid of the
dark.)
7) Pearse Trust
With offices in Dublin, London, Vancouver, Atlanta, and Wellington, Pearse
Trust has grown to be an international authority on corporate and trust
structures. But it takes more than offices all over the map to reach an
international audience.

That's why Pearse Trust keeps content flowing on its Facebook page that
engages its various markets. In this screenshot below, you can see Pearse
Trust posts lots of content featuring international affairs relating to the
company's practice.
It also levels out external articles with Pearse Trust content, featuring news
from places like Germany, Ireland (where it has a Dublin office), and the
U.K. (where it has a London office). This is a great example of focusing on
common interests shared among your company's various markets while
also making the content relatable to customers by region.

8) Nike
Nike has been able to evolve its global presence through the careful
selection of international sponsorships such as its previous long-standing
relationship with Manchester United.

Although sponsorship spending can be fairly unpredictable -- demand costs

tend to surge due to triggers like championships and tournaments -- these
partnerships have certainly helped the brand capture the attention of a
global audience.

Nike's NikeID co-creation platform serves as another strategy that the

company is using to appeal to international markets.
By putting the power of design into the hands of the consumer, Nike is able
to deliver customized products that align with different cultural preferences
and styles.

9) McDonald's
We all know McDonald's is a successful global brand, so unlike its menu, I'll
keep it light.

While keeping its overarching branding consistent, McDonald's practices

'glocal' marketing efforts. No, that's not a typo. McDonald's brings a local
flavor, literally, to different countries with region-specific menu items. In
2003, McDonald's introduced the McArabia, a flatbread sandwich, to its
restaurants in the Middle East.

McDonald's has also introduced macaroons to its French menu:

And added McSpaghetti to its menu in the Philippines:

This "glocal" approach has helped put McDonald's at #9 on Interbrand's Best Global
Brands 2014.

10) Innocent Drinks

Innocent Drinks is the leading smoothie company in the U.K., but that's not
the only place you'll find its products. In fact, Innocent products are now
available in 13 countries across Europe.

And despite its widespread reach, the company's "chatty branding" remains
consistent across the board. For instance, the website is very bubbly, with
contact information that reads "call the banana phone" or "visit the fruit
towers."
While global expansion and rapid growth can sometimes distract a
company from consistent branding, Innocent Drinks has managed to
remain true to itself. By ensuring that the brand's voice is interpreted the
same way around the world, Innocent is able to create a more recognizable
brand.

11) Unger and Kowitt

The phrase 'glocal' can be defined as "Think Globally, Act Locally." But
what happens when you switch the two around?

Woah, fasten your seat belts -- literally. Unger and Kowitt is a traffic ticket
law firm based in Fort Lauderdale defending drivers in the state of Florida.
Not very global, right? Well, Unger and Kowitt understands that America is
a melting pot and that Florida is bursting at the seams with different
cultures and languages.
Though a domestic service, the firm's website is available in English,
Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole. With these options, Unger and Kowitt
can cater to Florida's nearly 3.5 million Floridians who speak Spanish,
Portuguese, or Creole. Don't miss out on expanding your client base --
sometimes you don't have to look far to attract international business.

12) Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a great example of a brand using international marketing
efforts. Though a large corporation, Coca-Cola focuses on small
community programs and invests a lot of time and money in small-scale
charity efforts.

For example, in Egypt, Coca-Cola has built 650 clean water installations in
the rural village of Beni Suef and sponsors Ramadan meals for children
across the Middle East. In India, the brand sponsors the Support My
School initiative to improve facilities at local schools. Not to mention, the
brand sticks with selling an emotion that can't get lost in translation:
happiness. Now, tell me this doesn't look like fun:

13) H&M
According to Interbrand, H&M is on track to increase new store openings by
10-15% a year. One of the secrets fueling its global expansion strategy?

Optimizing its online experience.

With an online shop available in 21 markets, including the U.S., H&M is
doing everything in its power to create an easy-to-navigate, mobile-friendly
online shopping experience.

Smart cookie
Benjamin Koellmann Print Edition: March 31, 2013

Executive Summary: For most of its 100-year existence, Oreo was

America's best loved cookie, but today it is a global brand. Faced with
stagnation in the domestic market, Kraft Foods moved it into emerging
markets where it made some mistakes, learnt from them and ultimately
triumphed. This case study looks at the strategies used to win over
customers in China and India.

On March 6, 2012, the famous cookie brand, Oreo, celebrated its 100th
birthday. From humble beginnings in a Nabisco bakery in New York City,
Oreo has grown to become the bestselling cookie brand of the 21st century
generating $1.5 billion in global annual revenues. Currently owned by Kraft
Foods Inc, Oreo is one of the company's dozen billiondollar brands.

Until the mid-1990s, Oreo largely focused on the US market - as reflected in

one of its popular advertising slogans from the 1980s, "America's Best
Loved Cookie". But the dominant position in the US limited growth
opportunities and spurred Kraft to turn to international markets. With
China and India representing possibly the jewels in the crown of
international target markets due to their sheer size, Oreo was launched in
China in 1996.

The China launch was based on the implicit assumption that what made it
successful in its home market would be a winning formula in any other
market. However, after almost a decade in China, Oreo cookies were not a
hit as anticipated, according to Lorna Davis, in charge of the global biscuit
division at Kraft. And the team even considered pulling Oreo out of the
Chinese market altogether.

In 2005, Kraft decided to research the Chinese market to understand why

the Oreo cookie that was so successful in most countries had failed to
resonate with the Chinese. Research showed the Chinese were not
historically big cookie eaters.

According to Davis, Chinese consumers liked the contrast of sweet and

bitter but "they said it was a little bit too sweet and a little bit too bitter".

Without the emotional attachment of American consumers who grew up

with the cookie, the taste and shape could be quite alien. In addition, 72
cents for a pack of 14 Oreos was too expensive for the value-conscious
Chinese.

Kraft's Chinese division used this information to formulate a modified

recipe, making the cookie more chocolatey and the cream less cloying. Kraft
developed 20 prototypes of reduced-sugar Oreos and tested them with
Chinese consumers before arriving at a formula that tasted right. They also
introduced different packages, including smaller packets for just 29 cents to
cater to Chinese buying habits.

The changes had a positive impact on sales and prompted the company to
ask some basic questions challenging the core attributes of the traditional
Oreo cookie. Why does an Oreo have to be black and white? And why
should an Oreo be round?
 This line of questioning and an ambition to capture a greater share of
the Chinese biscuit market led Kraft to remake the product in 2006 and
introduce an Oreo that looked almost nothing like the original. The new
Chinese Oreo consisted of four layers of crispy wafers filled with vanilla and
chocolate cream, coated in chocolate. The local innovations continued and
Oreo products in China today include Oreo green tea ice cream and Oreo
Double-Fruit.

Another challenge for Kraft in China was introducing the typical twist, lick
and dunk ritual used by American consumers to enjoy their Oreos.
Americans traditionally twist open their Oreo cookies, lick the cream inside
and then dunk it in milk. Such behaviour was considered a "strangely
American habit", according to Davis. But the team noticed China's growing
thirst for milk which Kraft tapped with a grassroots marketing campaign to
tell Chinese consumers about the American tradition of pairing milk with
cookies. A product tailored for the Chinese market and a campaign to
market the American style of pairing Oreos with milk paid off and Oreos
became the bestselling cookies of that country.

The lessons from the Chinese market have shaped the way Kraft has
approached Oreo's launch in India. Oreo entered India through the import
route and was initially priced at Rs 50 (about $1) for a pack of 14. But sales
were insignificant partly because of limited availability and awareness, but
also because they were prohibitively expensive for the value-conscious
Indian masses.

Learning from the Chinese success story, the company under global CEO
Irene Rosenfeld took localisation strategies seriously from 2007 onwards.
The $19.1-billion acquisition of Cadbury in 2009 provided Kraft the local
foothold it needed in India.

Unlike the Chinese, Indians love their biscuits. Nielsen says India is the
world's biggest market for biscuits with a market share of 22 per cent in
volumes compared with 13 per cent in the US. While the lion's share of this
market is for low-cost glucose biscuits led by Parle-G, premium creams
account for a substantial chunk valued at around Rs 5,500 crore ($1.1
billion). The way to the Indian consumer's stomach is through competitive
pricing, high volumes and strong distribution, especially in rural areas.

Oreo developed a launch strategy around taking on existing market leaders

in the cream segment - Britannia, Parle and ITC. Internally, they even have
an acronym for this strategy - TLD (Take Leaders Down).

The focus was to target the top 10 million households which account for 70
per cent of cream biscuit consumption. Oreo launched in India in March
2011. It entered the market as Cadbury Oreos because Cadbury is a stronger
brand name than Kraft, and initially focused on generating awareness and
rapid trials. The product was sweetened to suit the Indian palate and Kraft
exploited Cadbury's network of 1.2 million stores.

The Made in India tag meant using locally-sourced ingredients,

modification of the recipe to suit Indian tastes and possibly cheaper
ingredients, a smaller size and competitive prices. Oreo launched its
traditional chocolate cookie with vanilla cream at Rs 5 for a pack of three to
drive impulse purchases and trials, Rs 10 for a pack of seven and Rs 20 for a
pack of 14 for heavy usage. The cookie looks the same as its international
counterpart with a motif of 12 florets and 12 dashes.

The company maintained the heritage of the bitter chocolate cookie with
sweet vanilla cream to stand out from me-too products and meet customer
expectations of having the real thing. Kraft initially chose to outsource its
manufacturing for the Indian market instead of using Cadbury factories.

Communication and advertising have been consistent across the world as

the core customer remains the same. The company focused on using the
togetherness concept to sell Oreos in India, with television forming the
main medium of communication although other media are also being
tapped. Oreo India's Facebook page is one of the fastest growing in the
world. The company also went on a bus tour to push the concept of
togetherness among families across nine cities and it used a smaller vehicle
for a similar campaign across 450 small towns. Oreo is driving point-
ofpurchase sales with store displays and in-store promotions in a bid to
overtake market leader Britannia Good Day's distribution.

With a strategy focused on rapid brand awareness and extensive

distribution, the Oreo India launch story has been a success so far. Its
market share has grown from a little over one per cent after its debut to a
massive 30 per cent of the cream biscuit market. As awareness of the Oreo
brand grows in India, Kraft is looking to shift from the Cadbury distribution
network to a wider wholesale channel. It is also eyeing kirana stores and
small towns apart from modern stores in big cities.

Today, Oreo is more than just an American brand. It is present in more

than 100 countries, with China occupying the No. 2 slot. Seven years ago,
this was highly improbable.

The new Oreo brand proposition is richer and more elaborate while allowing for brand
growth and innovation: Prof Nirmalya Kumar
BRANDS FACE AN EXISTENTIALIST DILEMMA

Initially, successful brands begin with a tight core brand proposition which is often unique at
the level of the product or product features. Just as McDonalds was about hamburgers
and Starbucks about coffee, Oreo was about its distinctive cookie. As time goes by,
consumers change and the company needs growth. Sooner or later, the brand faces an
existentialist dilemma. Staying faithful to the traditional proposition would lead to brand
irrelevance, while expanding it too much would lead to brand incoherence.

Continued success requires the brand to redefine its core, finding in it a proposition that is
still faithful to tradition, and yet encompasses modernity in a manner to keep the brand
relevant, differentiated and credible. The rise of emerging markets with their different
consumption patterns and greater diversity of income distribution questions the core
proposition of many developed world brands. Just as McDonalds had to realise it was
about clean, affordable fast food and not hamburgers, Oreo had to go through a candid self-
exploration. The new Oreo brand proposition is richer and more elaborate while allowing
for brand growth and innovation.

Similarly, Starbucks realised that when China was going to be its second home market,
coffee was not essential to the core proposition. This required a change in the logo and the
word coffee was dropped from it. In China, more than coffee, people line up at
Starbucks for cold refreshments. However, brands are like rubber bands and can only be
stretched so far in the short run. In the long run, they can often be more flexible than their
brand managers.

Prof Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing and Director of the Aditya Birla India Centre
at London Business School

Affordable pricing is one of the strategic value propositions Kraft is offering valued customers in
India: Hiroshi Omata
AVAILABILITY, AFFORDABILITY AND ADAPTABILITY ARE KEY

This is a good example of marketing excellence in three As in India: Availability, Affordability and
Adaptability. The key to success in the Indian market is to pursue a balanced marketing effort in
terms of the three As.

Availability is a function of distribution and value networks, which generates brand awareness when
it goes along with well-devised advertising campaigns.

Affordable pricing is one of the strategic value propositions Kraft (Cadbury) is offering to valued
consumers in India. Better or more-for-less is the mandate for the value proposition in this category.
Arguably, where Oreo India made a difference in is the fact that it successfully overcame a real
challenge each and every marketer faces to realise affordable pricing with profitability.

Excellence in adaptability to local culture also helped Oreo capture a share of mouths and minds.
One of the key success factors for Oreo in India is replicating the learning from China in terms of the
intangible brand promise more than tangible benefits like taste. The notion of togetherness fits the
Indian context of valuing the family and resonates with the nuclear family in the expanding middle
class. Togetherness has successfully created emotional bonding not only between the brand and
consumers, but also between parents and children when they experience the brand through product
consumption.

When Oreo enters smaller towns, it will be able to enjoy a sweet taste of the future as the case proves
the existence of global or universal consumers in India.

Hiroshi Omata, CEO, Dentsu Marcom

Just the Right Image

This case study looks at the strategy and tactics behind the creation of Brand
Modi.
Shamni Pande Delhi Print Edition: June 8, 2014
 Narendra Modi Photo: Reuters

Executive Summary: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi's

election juggernaut in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is an example of howto
prepare and successfully implement a marketing and branding
campaign. Irrespective of your faith, ideology and voting decision, there
has been no escaping Modi. His image and in-your-face messaging have
overshadowed all other brands - even that of his own party. This case
study looks at the strategy and tactics behind the creation of Brand Modi.
Pitching a specific leader as a driver of change and to mobilise voters'
support is hardly a new political strategy. After all, the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) had projected L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee its prime
ministerial candidates in the past (remember the Ab ki baari Atal Bihari
slogan in 1996?). The Congress party's projection of Indira Gandhi as the
country's tallest leader with its 'Indira lao desh bachao' tagline in the 1970s
is another such example. But the personal rhetoric had been tied, and
sometimes made subservient, to the political parties to which these leaders
belonged. With his landslide win in the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections,Narendra Modi has rewritten the rules of the game and
redefined Indian politics. Brand Modi has not only captured popular
imagination but also trumped Brand BJP. How did it happen?
David Aaker, American marketing guru and author of several books on
branding, wrote in an April 2012 blog post that every person has a brand
that affects how the person is perceived and whether he or she is liked and
respected. This brand, he says, can be actively managed with discipline and
consistency over time, or it can be allowed to drift. Modi and his marketing
team showed oodles of both once he was anointed the BJP's prime
ministerial candidate on September 13 last year. In fact, they had been at it
from much before.

Modi's transformation over the past year from a regional, right-wing

politician to a decisive leader with a clear development agenda, the one best
suited to take India forward is nothing short of extraordinary. Senior BJP
leaders Piyush Goyal and Ajay Singh handled the overall media strategy,
and a task force was constituted to handle Modi's campaign in Varanasi.
Advertising legends such as Ogilvy & Mather's Piyush Pandey, McCann
Worldgroup's Prasoon Joshi and Sam Balsara of Madison World lent their
skills at various levels. Advertising agency Soho Square, part of the WPP
Group, handled television, radio and print campaigns with catchy slogans
such as "Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar".
"The archetype he offers is of a strong, all-knowing father figure who is
unwavering," says Santosh Desai, who heads Future Brands, the brand
consultancy arm of Future Group. To create the father figure, Modi's team
invoked tales of childhood, in books and comics. Invariably, and
understandably, they were tales of heroism involving a precocious Bal
Narendra (Modi as a child). What else would you call a story about a child
swimming across a crocodile-infested lake to plant a flag on a memorial?
The child, when he came of age, walked away from his family to devote
himself to public cause, lending what brand consultant Harish Bijoor calls
"bachelor blandness" to his story.

From Gujarat to India

Modi's team faced three main challenges when it set out to project him
as the country's next prime minister. One, the three-time Gujarat chief
minister was a regional brand trying to go national. Two, the 63-year-old
was seeking to connect with the youth considering that this year's election
had almost 150 million first-time voters. Modi, who rarely chooses to speak
in English, was trying also to connect with the urban, middle-class audience
that is becoming more politically conscious. Finally, and most importantly,
he carried the taint of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.
The one event that, perhaps, helped Modi the most in making a mark on
the national scene was the shifting in 2008 of Tata Motors' factory for the
Nano minicar from West Bengal to Gujarat. Farmers in West Bengal,
backed by firebrand politician Mamata Banerjee, now the state's chief
minister, had been protesting land acquisition for the plant by Tata Motors.
Modi provided the company land and other incentives almost overnight. In
the process, he also established himself as a champion for industry and
development.

Sridhar Samu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Hyderabad's Indian

School of Business (ISB), says it's not easy for most product brands to go
from regional to national. He says the dilution of the only other national
brand, the Congress, and a common underlying need for change also helped
Modi. "If a brand can tap into a common underlying need and connect it to
benefits, then it could go national. We see how both Haldiram's and
Saravanaa Bhavan have managed this. They targeted the underlying need
for tasty snacks and south Indian food," he says.
Full Coverage:Lok Sabha Elections 2014
According to Y.L.R Moorthi, Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute
of Management, Bangalore, there is a difference between a regional brand
going national and a politician going national. He says Modi was known
outside Gujarat even before he decided to move beyond the state, just as
Nitish Kumar and J. Jayalalithaa, chief ministers of Bihar and Tamil Nadu,
respectively, are known. But these regional leaders didn't venture out of
their home states in the recent elections. Modi did. And he did it at a
massive scale - he attended more than 5,000 events and 470 political rallies
across the length and breadth of the country.

Striking a Chord
On February 6, 2013, more than six months before he was named as the
BJP's choice for the prime minister's post, Modi addressed students at
Delhi's Shri Ram College of Commerce. He talked about Gujarat's model of
development. He spoke passionately about the need for speed in
government decision-making and about the need to improve skills of the
youth to accelerate economic growth. That speech won him many young
admirers. One of them is the second-year student Sulabh Newatia, who says
he decided to cast his vote for the BJP after listening to Modi's speech. "I
see him as a visionary who can take the nation forward," says the 19-year-
old from Kolkata.
Modi, an excellent orator, has delivered scores of similar speeches since
then. He highlighted slowing economic growth, high inflation and lack of
new jobs - issues which immediately resonate with young and urban voters
- while blaming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government
for the problems. After the elections were announced, his marketing team
bombarded voters with print, television and radio advertisements with the
same themes. It reached voters through text messages and Modi's recorded
voice seeking votes for himself. It also tapped into social media platforms
such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - Modi has about four million
Twitter followers - to magnify the impact of the advertising and branding
campaign.
The impact of this relentless campaigning has been felt across different age
groups, geographies and sections of society, says political analyst Manisha
Priyam. "I have even heard young children, far removed from such debate,
mentioning the word 'NaMo'," she says, referring to a sobriquet for
Narendra Modi. The carefully crafted moniker also appeals to the
traditional Hindus - the BJP's main vote bank - because of its religious
connotation, as the Sanskrit word Namo is used as a salutation reserved for
the Hindu gods.
Modi's efforts to connect with the youth and urban voters were helped in no
small measure by his pro-business persona. Business leaders from industry
doyen Ratan Tata to billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani have
praised Modi and his administration in Gujarat. This has allowed Modi to
build his brand as a progressive leader who has the ability to deliver
economic results - the single biggest leitmotif of this campaign that has
allowed it to cut through caste bias among other things. "The Congress is
not lacking in spending power or ability to get marketing brains to
campaign for it. But the biggest push for Modi has come from the overt
push and advocacy of corporate leaders," says independent political
observer and media veteran Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. "It is a truism that
marketing cannot sell a bad product. Irrespective of the money you spend
on marketing, if what you are selling fails to strike a chord in the minds of a
large section of the electorate, all efforts to market Modi would be in
vain."
Shaking Off the Stigma
The biggest challenge Brand Modi faced was diverting public attention
away from the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat that claimed the lives of
more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Initially, Modi's supporters in
BJP attempted to engage in public debate and highlight the clean chit given
by courts to wash off the stigma. Then, they changed tack. They toned down
the Hindutva rheotoric and focused instead on Modi's more recent past and
his development record in Gujarat. "He knows that people want a better life
and he offers Hindutva with the right dilution," says Desai of Future
Brands.
Marketing gurus cite the examples of Cadbury, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola that
battled problems relating to brand-taint. Cadbury had fought its way out of
a controversy related to worms in its chocolates while the two beverages
giants faced allegations of pesticides in their colas. "The best way for a
tainted brand to overcome a challenge is to not talk too much, but to
acknowledge it happened, and then move on," says Samu, the ISB
professor. "The more one talks about, the more the memory for that event
gets activated among the target market, and they remember it more. The
BJP and Modi did not talk about it. Or if they did, they kept it to a
minimum," he adds.
IIM-Bangalore's Moorthi says the weakness of the Congress leadership also
helped boost Brand Modi. "When the brands in the domain appear worse,
the contending brand might shine by comparison. In Modi's case, he was
helped by the tightlipped nature of the Congress leadership and their
indifferent performance in the second stint," he says.
While most companies routinely apologize for problems detected in their
products, Modi stopped short of doing so. "He did give an account of
reflections on the event [the riots]. He seemed to say that he was pained
about the event but didn't say sorry," says Moorthi. Veteran adman Prahlad
Kakkar concurs. "It does not matter if he [Modi] is wrong. He will never
publicly admit that," observes Kakkar, who has been associated with several
political campaigns, including that of Indira Gandhi. "But he will, at the
same time, take corrective measures to navigate out of it, without ever
saying so."
The Ideal Model
Not so long so, the words that could have been used to describe Modi were
authoritarian, megalomaniac and communal. The way the creators of Brand
Modi dealt with the third taint was by not dealing with it. "What more was
there to say [about the post-Godhra riots)? There have been various panels
instituted to probe into the matter," says a BJP leader.
Instead, they focused on building Modi's image as self-made, strong,
efficient, inspiring, and incorruptible. "He [Modi] created an impression of
being a sincere, credible and committed leader. He convinced people that
he could improve their lot," says social scientist Ramadhar Singh,
Distinguished Professor, IIM-Bangalore. This is the leitmotif the marketing
arsenal of the BJP worked to amplify. "No media can help create that kind
of consistency," adds Kakkar, the veteran adman.
Automatically, as if by derivation, the Congress-led United Progressive
Alliance began to look more and more indecisive and corrupt. "Today, India
attributes weakness and failure to Congress," says adman and lobbyist
Suhel Seth. "Modi stands for good governance."
 All stories about Modi's life in the public domain have consistently fed into
this new image. And although questions remain about Modi's ability to
perform at the national level and his Gujarat model of governance, his
personal branding and marketing strategy seems to have worked and voters
across the country appear to believe his claims. "Even if you cut out 40 per
cent of what is untrue about Modi's promise of growth...the rest is very
real," says Guwahati's Chiranjib Hazarika, 24, who is looking to start a
career in banking. "Development is his only agenda and people are
following him."
Modi's message has attracted even those disinterested in politics. "I have
never been very politically conscious. But it is frustrating to see our
economy slide back from the progress it made. So, I stepped out to vote, for
the first time, for Modi," says Shankar Narayanan, 28, who works for a
multinational information technology company in Chennai. "Modi has a
proven track record of governance and growth."
Cut to 40-year-old Manoj Rana, who runs a small guest house in Shillong,
and you have the answer to the most central ingredient of Modi's branding:
"We are not interested in politics. We want change. Modi can deliver that
change. People are sensible, they are not carried away by mere talk," he
says. That indeed is the bottom line of any brand's success story. It bears
out that Modi's brand is by him, for him and from him. The BJP machinery
has served as mere coaches for the branding-led engine of Modi.
The branding of Modi and a presidentialstyle campaign was a brilliant response to redefine politics:
Siddharth Shekhar Singh, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Fellow Programme
in Management, Indian School of Business
BRAND MODI MUST MEET ITS PROMISE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

The national branding of Narendra Modi was born out of compulsion. Opponents had successfully
branded the BJP as communal and checked its rise under the uninspiring old leadership. The BJP
needed to redefine Indian politics along dimensions of good governance and development that suited
it better.

The party was the first to recognise and adapt to the fundamental shift in the composition and
aspirations of voters. It seized the opportunity to project a new face to address voters' aspirations.
Thus was born brand Modi. A humble origin, extraordinary achievements through sheer hard work
and dedication, and a corruption-free image made Modi an apt mascot to challenge the status quo.
The branding of Modi and a presidential-style campaign was a brilliant response to redefine Indian
politics.

The branding of Modi was a well-crafted strategy of the RSS and the BJP. The campaign attracted
many newcomers. It was the first election campaign in India to use social media and information
technology heavily and first to listen to the voters and respond in real time.

Brands require huge investment to build, and continuous nurturing to sustain value. Not only can
brand Modi sustain the BJP in power for a long time, it can also help the RSS reposition itself.
However, before that can happen, the promise of brand Modi - good governance and economic
development - must be realised. Further, many voters are uncomfortable with the communal agenda
of some of his supporters.

Modi has to show what true secularism is and why it is different from pseudo-secularism. If he
succeeds in these three areas, he would change Indian politics forever and make the BJP the natural
party to govern - the main objective for building brand Modi.

Siddharth Shekhar Singh, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Fellow Programme
in Management, Indian School of Business

He [Modi] is a very strident, tenacious, and in-your-face avatar of a brand: Prathap Suthan,
Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle
MODI IS A BRAND WHO KNOWS HE IS IN THIS FOR THE LONG RUN

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to become not only bigger than its creator
but also to revitalise and rejuvenate it back. What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra
Modi has done to the BJP. Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it
stood for. Its Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its effect had
weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of the youngest nations with
more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's ability to become bigger than the BJP lies in
his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers of this India, tapping into their simmering anger and
hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of the BJP. Like
brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on economic development and
prosperity intersected at the surface level of consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like
governance, roads, electricity, women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics.
This satisfied the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his party lies in his
symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings, and arrived on the scene
taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler combined. He is perceived as an icon of
disruption and rebellion against the way things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals
to youth who desire change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in
command of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle

Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it stood for: Harsh V. Verma
Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi
MODI DID TO BJP WHAT iMAC, iPOD DID TO APPLE

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to become not only bigger than its creator
but also to revitalise and rejuvenate it back. What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra
Modi has done to the BJP. Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it
stood for. Its Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its effect had
weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of the youngest nations with
more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's ability to become bigger than the BJP lies in
his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers of this India, tapping into their simmering anger and
hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of the BJP. Like
brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on economic development and
prosperity intersected at the surface level of consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like
governance, roads, electricity, women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics.
This satisfied the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his party lies in his
symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings, and arrived on the scene
taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler combined. He is perceived as an icon of
disruption and rebellion against the way things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals
to youth who desire change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in
command of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Harsh V. Verma, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi

http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/case-study/case-study-strategy-
tactics-behind-creation-of-brand-narendra-modi/story/206321.html

2008: Dulux, Global Branding: Case Study

2008: Dulux, Global Branding: Case Study

Library Catagory:

CASE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

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Sub Header:
Building on a common insight to create a global brand

Snapshot

By rethinking its approach to cultural differences and finding common ground in the
regenerative power of colour, Dulux became a truly global brand.

Key insights

ICI Paints embarked on its journey from local to global back in 2007 in the face of
slowing growth with the aim of operating a much simplified and harmonised brand portfolio
and investing in one global priority Dulux.

A major needs-state segmentation study, based on both global and local findings,
uncovered similarities the brand could build on and gave the global marketing team a shared
language.

Working together this way had the added bonus of helping what were once fierce
competitors find a new organisational spirit when AkzoNobel acquired ICI Paints.

Summary
ICI Paints, which was acquired by AkzoNobel, one of the worlds leading industrial
companies, in 2008, had for some time run as a multi-local organisation with a
complex brand portfolio of over 40 brands. Although it had scale and a powerful
global footprint, it was struggling to turn this into a competitive advantage.

In 2007, inspired by a universal insight into the regenerative power of colour, ICI
Paints identified the opportunity to drive growth by building a powerful global brand
Dulux. Over a three-year period the marketing team worked in new cross-border
and cross-cultural ways to get the brand to travel successfully, including developing
a common marketing language.

The result was the creation of a global innovation strategy for the brand centred
around five common platforms and the development of the companys first global
communications campaign.

The business derived significant financial benefit from this new global approach, with
brand share rising in most major markets.

Laying the foundations

In 2005 ICI Paints appointed its first chief marketing officer (CMO). Until then the
organisation had been run as a multi-local organisation, with each of the 50 countries
determining its own marketing strategy. There were examples of local success but
performance was patchy, the company struggled to leverage good ideas and, more
importantly, growth was slowing.

The task for the CMO was twofold: improve the performance of the marketing
organisation and create competitive advantage from global scale. Its major
competitors were local or regional players, so global reach and scale set the
company apart. However, its multi-local operating model was limiting its ability to
realise this advantage.

A pivotal question the company asked itself was whether it could win against its
competitors through simply building local capability and leveraging best practice. Or
was there actually an opportunity to create advantage through building a global
brand? The Dulux name was present in many markets but it was far from being a
global brand.

To answer this question the company first had to develop a common language
across the marketing teams and start looking at the market through the same lens.
So ICI Paints embarked upon a global needs-state segmentation study. This was a
globally-led initiative but developed through a highly inclusive process through which
the segmentation model was built bottom up : developing and validating hypotheses
with the local marketing teams and then coming together to share learning. The
study was conducted in 27 countries and identified that, despite the many assumed
differences in markets, the same consumer segments existed across the globe with
common needs.

The quantitative study was further enriched by an ethnographic study across the top
10 markets where rich insights into the segments were captured through video
diaries and in-home interviews. Some gems of local differences were uncovered and
the team learned that taste is certainly subjective. However, the commonality among
the needs of consumers whether in China or Brazil, India or Poland was astounding.

For the first time the company had a common framework and a language to describe
its market that was understood and embedded in its marketing teams across the
globe. This became a powerful tool in the development of a global marketing
organisation and a first step in uncovering opportunities to develop global strategies.

Finding common opportunities

The next stage of the journey was the co-creation of a global brand portfolio strategy.
Each market arrived independently at a remarkably similar brand portfolio strategy,
targeting the same segments with just two or three brands required to deliver the
businesses growth objectives. Within these portfolios one brand positioning the
Dulux brand positioning was identified by all as the major opportunity for growth.
This was a key milestone as, until then, the company had been managing more than
40 different brands in as many different ways. Now it could focus its resources on a
simplified and harmonised portfolio with one global priority.

At this point a global brand team came together and, through a series of workshops,
began to share business objectives, market trends and dynamics, consumer
understanding, brand portfolio strategies and views on Dulux brand positioning.
While the marketers would describe insights and brand positioning in subtly different
ways, it was now becoming obvious that the team shared many common objectives.
They were targeting the same three segments globally and uncovering a powerful,
universal insight upon which a global brand with scale could be built. Critically, this
was the realisation of the team and not an imposed view from the top.

The power of innovation

Having identified that the team members were trying to build the same brand, they
could rapidly move into the convergence of strategy and leverage of ideas. A
common model was created for the Dulux brand architecture that immediately
unlocked the potential to transfer existing innovation ideas across markets.

For example, in Europe a strong aesthetic pillar had been developed for the brand,
but in Latin America this was a complete gap in the brands architecture. Within
months the Coral Decora range was created and launched in Brazil (Coral is the
name for Dulux in Brazil) and generated 2% incremental sales in the first year.

In Asia an opportunity was identified to strengthen the performance pillar,

leveraging concepts from the UK such as Light and Space (a paint that makes
rooms look brighter and feel more spacious). This was launched across five markets
within the year. And a concept based on super durability that had been successful in
the UK was developed and launched across France, Brazil, and many of the Asian
markets. It has been estimated that the total impact from such innovation leverage
generated more than 250 million of incremental sales for the business in 2007.

Furthermore, the convergence of brand strategy allowed the company to develop

five globally-aligned innovation platforms which are now driving the development of a
global innovation portfolio. By December 2009 the brands innovation pipeline
contained 10 15 cross-regional projects with a focus on breakthrough innovation as
compared to the > 50 incremental local initiatives of two years ago.

A whole new world

In January 2008 the world changed dramatically. ICI Paints was acquired by its
biggest competitor, AkzoNobel, followed rapidly by the global economy going into
meltdown. The company not only faced the major challenge of integrating two large
companies which had been at war for decades (with a combined turnover of 5
billion) but the markets were in freefall: builders stopped building, people stopped
moving and consumers stopped buying paint.

The business imperatives became clear. To grow, the company needed not only to
leverage the global scale to win share from local competitors, but the focus now had
to turn to category growth through igniting the passion for decoration. The company
also wanted to encourage the growth of a new spirit in the organisation, and one in
which the two former companies were unified by a common purpose. Working
together to create a global Dulux brand with a global purpose proved to be the
perfect platform through which these new imperatives could be tackled.
Adding colour to peoples lives

The universal insight that had been uncovered for Dulux was that Our surroundings
have a powerful influence on how we think, feel and live. We feel good when they
reflect who we are and who we want to be. Duluxs role is to inspire and help people
to create beautiful homes and communities through colour. We believe that in doing
so we can lift spirits and bring people together. In fact, we sell tins of optimism not
just tins of paint. This was articulated through the brand idea of adding colour to
peoples lives.

The South East Asia marketing team was immediately inspired by this idea and
created a cross- market campaign for Dulux Weathershield that focused on how
Dulux transformed a community from a world of grey to a vibrant and colourful
community filled with joy. This more emotional approach (backed up by a clear
product functionality) proved to be much more effective than the previous
campaigns, yielding above average cut-through and persuasion and was seen as
new, credible, relevant and unique.

Encouraged by the work in South East Asia, the global team began working with the
Brazilian team who were looking for a way to challenge the market leader Suvenil.
The Asian work was researched in Brazil and again the company found that the
advertising had the potential to be effective as it created a strong emotional bond
and a stimulus to paint.

Moreover, the social and community bonding aspect of the creative was particularly
valued and with this insight the idea started to build. Because, in addition to testing
advertising creative based on community stories, the team researched a campaign
which celebrated how the company was transforming communities for real our
people, our paint, our brand transforming Brazil one neighbourhood at a time. The
audiences reaction showed this was a winning idea (see Brightening up the
neighbourhood).

Brightening up the neighbourhood

The Coral Community campaign began in the summer of 2009 with the
transformation of several neighbourhoods and communities in Sao Paolo and Rio de
Janeiro. But these werent just events created for advertising purposes. The whole
company was engaged in preparing the projects, working with the local community to
seek their ideas, engaging with local celebrities and dignitaries to build
newsworthiness, talking with customers to gain local distribution and,
 of course, actually painting the building and then because it was Brazil
celebrating with a party (Figures 1 and 2).

These events created significant PR coverage (including the mayor of Sao Paolo
being interviewed on national TV) and by the end of 2009 the company had achieved
more than 1.5 millions worth of free coverage. The transformations were filmed for
a TV campaign the following year.

However, the impact extended much further than the brand. The company in Brazil
had faced significant challenges through the integration of ICI Paints and AkzoNobel.
The community programme began to unify the company and create a renewed
purpose and spirit. This began to translate into tangible benefits through gains in
distribution and market share growth for the first time in years. Coral grew 3% points
to 22.5% volume share in 2009.

Becoming truly global

The pace at which the idea of adding colour to peoples lives was travelling was fast,
with teams inspiring other teams. The company appreciated that it had a powerful
concept. But this energy and passion for the idea needed to be grounded and
channelled to use it as a platform for a global brand. In the summer of 2009
AkzoNobel embarked on a process to create a global communication and activation
campaign for the brand a pivotal milestone in the journey from multi-local to
global.

Through the process of campaign development the company confirmed that

demonstrating the regenerative power of colour was a powerful strategic platform
for Dulux because it was relevant, competitive and, most of all, it was a truth from
within the business.

It was relevant because audiences could be helped to recognise that small steps
could make a big difference and understand the regenerative impact colour or a fresh lick of
paint can have.

It was competitive because the company believed it had an opportunity to distinguish

itself not just through what was said but how it was said: not what we say but how we say it.

It was true because it was actually at the heart of the organisation. The company had
been actively transforming communities for decades but, until it started working globally, it
hadnt realised it.
By now it had arrived at the stage of bringing to life how it could add colour to
peoples lives (from the small lick of paint in an apartment through to the
rejuvenation of communities). With EuroRSCG London a global campaign idea was
created under the slogan Lets Colour that straddled activation, content, social
media, advertising and beyond. Lets Colour was a creative expression and a
collective call to action that embodied the visionary spirit of adding colour
to peoples lives.

In 2010 the campaign was taken to France (Figures 3 and 4) and the UK (Figures 5
and 6 overleaf) along with Turkey and South Africa. (It was set to be rolled out
globally in 2010). Local resources were combined to create global assets operating
to the principle of fewer, bigger, better and proving to have the potential to be more
effective than if the company had continued to work locally.

An additional benefit was that the idea inspired the organisation. Following the model
of Brazil, every business was now creating Lets Colour community programmes,
whereby every year AkzoNobel would work to transform the communities where they
lived and worked. Furthermore, the company embarked on a programme of colour
training for all its employees so that they all could learn how to add colour to their
lives in their own homes.

Impressive performance

The previous few years had been challenging for the category with market volumes
down 6% in 2009 versus 2007. However, the Dulux brand share performance had
been more encouraging, with volume and value share gains across the priority
markets. In addition, all top 10 markets showed share growth particularly in the
UK, France and the emerging markets of Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and Vietnam.

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case-study#AvXFjQz9AcGhelGe.99

What is the Secret to McDonalds

Global Branding Success?
Ana Pomposo | May 5, 2014 | Marketing

McDonalds is currently ranked the 6th most important brand in the

world and is one of the most visited restaurants, but how does it
maintain its branding success internationally?

With a product thats served in over 117 countries, feeding millions of customers every
day, McDonalds branding success is undeniable. The key to McDonalds branding and
marketing success is segmentation and experimentation.

Need world-class branding experts? Source a specialist online now >>

 But with such a customer base, how does McDonalds maintain its ability to adapt its
marketing and advertising to different countries and cultures?

The marketing strategy of McDonalds is based on uniformity, no matter what McDonalds

you are in in the world, you will always have the most iconic items.

To gain an insight into how McDonalds does this we decided to look at how marketing
in the US, the home of McDonalds, differs with that in Japan, whose market is worth
15 percent of McDonalds empire.

Segmentation
McDonalds main focus is the US, where they spend most of their budget and trial more
new products and innovations. The American audience is their largest Americans
spend more money at McDonalds than any other fast food restaurant in the country.

In the US, advertising normally targets children. Did you know that American kids see
more than 250 McDonalds advertisements per year?

In Japan, the advertising campaigns are more varied when approaching the
demographics, sometimes they focus on children but they also target adults. One
advertisement used McDonalds as a fetish object with sexy girls promoting the
burgers, something you would never see in the US.

McDonalds a brand thats been built through strategic marketing segmentation. The
questions you have to ask are:

What are the wants/needs and tastes of the customers?

Is the marketing up to date, reflecting the changing customer needs and

demands?

Although a multinational giant, McDonalds adapts its business and menu to the
different countries they operate in. They respect cultural differences and every
country has its own policy of developing menu items.

Testing
Experimentation is vital, and it is often carried out by adding or deleting food from
menus according to latest consumer trends and local popularity.

In Japan, apart from the traditional menu you can find seasonal and limited-time items
such as The Teri Tama Burger, served during spring or The Tsukimi Burger, served
during Tsukimi season (in the autumn). In the US there are the popular McRibs, just
available for a short time each year.

This is a good example of adapting to customers tastes, vital when talking about
marketing.

Experimentation is vital, and it is often carried out by adding or deleting food from
menus according to latest consumer trends and local popularity.

The Secret Sauce

It is true that the marketing and branding strategy of McDonalds is based on
uniformity, no matter where in the world, you will always be able to order the most
iconic menu items such as the Big Mac.

The same kind of atmosphere and experience mean that your expectations will be
fulfilled, because you know what you can expect from the restaurant.

Despite its geographic variety the brand is actually very consistent, with a lot of
attention to detail to ensure the values are applied globally.

Global Product Marketing

When we look at the strategic differences between US McDonalds and the Japanese
version, we can appreciate the localized marketing strategies.

For example, the name of the restaurant is adjusted for the katakana, the appropriate
Japanese script for foreign words. In Japan, they call it Makudonarudo, (
), a more appropriate and attractive sound in Japanese.

Drink sizes and fries are much smaller than the ones in the US, and burgers are a bit
smaller too, to suit eating habits. McDonalds ensures the correct sizes before
exporting for international target markets.

Although McDonalds offers its products everywhere in the world, being the most
popular restaurant on the planet, the brand keeps recognizable with its original
meaning and identity whilst catering to local tastes.

Need top quality Product Marketing? Source a specialist online now >>
Innovation and Collaboration
For McDonalds, globalization has meant embracing and engaging different cultures
while at the same time retaining a strong enough brand to be immediately identifiable.

But how can you ensure your brand transcends cultures and regional approaches to
marketing? This is where online innovations really come into their own by bridging the
cultural and physical gaps that can inhibit connection with a global audience.

Make Your Branding Exceptional

blur has helped hundreds of brands source the talent they need to go global. With our
sophisticated and effective online platform, you can source marketing
and branding talent from across the world, and project manage everything online.
Simple, effective and brilliant. Youll enjoy greater choice, better value and faster
delivery. Globally.

https://www.blurgroup.com/blogs/marketing/what-is-the-secret-to-mcdonalds-
global-branding-success/