In probably the biggest-ever marketing blitzkrieg of its kind, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer tied up with over 25 brands

for co-branding. Did this association benefit the brands? Pritie Jadhav Chief operating officer, P9 Integrated Success depends on what the brands wanted out of the tie-up. If their objective was to get on to the entertainment space, then they have achieved it well. If their objective was to generate brand recall and create brand visibility, then they have failed miserably. Since they jumped on to the bandwagon, they must have certainly given it a thought. Many got on when there were already 18-19 brands on board. The lack of choice of platforms could be one of the reasons why the brands decided to get on to a single platform such as Ra.One. This thought is rooted in the belief that if a film is overhyped, it is good for the brand. Brands need to put in more strategy in order to reap decent benefits out of their alliances with a film. Embedded content has to be seamless - otherwise, it looks extremely jarring. Nabankur Gupta Founder, Nobby Brand Architects As far as a co-branded effort with a film is concerned, a brand's association should stand apart as unique. Only then is the purpose of such an association served. Twenty-five brands trying to share a single platform, no matter how successful, is a little too much. In case of in-film advertising, the showcase of a brand name or mention of a brand needs to be woven well into the story. For example, if Videocon is doing an in-film branding and there is a sequence in the movie that needs to be shot inside an electronic goods showroom, then Videocon should milk this opportunity. In Ra.One's case, I believe, brands jumped because of Khan's association. But, if you look back, you cannot tell the brands associated with Ra.One's from those associated with Khan alone. Vishal Gondal Chief executive officer, UTV Indiagames Ra.One has worked well for UTV Indiagames as it was the single-largest downloaded game for us. We have been associated with Ra.One from about nine months prior to its release. We were one of the few brands associated with it even before the buzz around the movie had gathered full strength. I believe that children have been the biggest consumers of the movie and brands that had aimed to target children with their association with Ra.One benefited the most. I have two children and I cannot count the number of times that we must have visited McDonald's to purchase Ra.One merchandise. Even platforms like Google+ and YouTube seem to have gained considerably owing to their association with the movie. From a gaming point of view, I believe that we hit the bull's eye with Ra.One. Rajesh Iyer Business director, Liquid Thread Brands are falling over each other in trying to get into relationships with Don 2, thanks to the results of brand associations with Ra.One.

Each year, Khan has one large movie that differentiates itself from the rest. Ra.One's marketing has worked as far as the box office is concerned. As a consequence, the movie should have worked for the brands as well. The disappointment is how some brands seemed to think that the association ended with their signing a contract with the film. They thought little of how to leverage the association beyond the logo presence. However, a few did succeed. Western Union Money Transfer's spots were highly visible as they were skewed towards prime time and high-impact buys. McDonald's, Nerolac and Cinthol Deo used the association smartly by linking it to sales. Stop talking, start listening
Business Standard, Mumbai, November 25, 2011

How some companies are using the social media space for having a dialogue with consumers.
At the AdAsia 2011 conclave held earlier this month, much of the conversation centered on the role of the digital, more importantly social media, in communicating with consumers and overall marketing strategies. But experts say as with all communication, this too can be two-way. That is, it is as potent a medium as any for not just talking to but rather listening to consumers. Saurabh Yagnik, GM & VP, English Channels for Star India, agrees. He should know as Star World, the group's flagship English general entertainment channel's latest offering, Love 2 Hate U, is a result of listening closely to the audience and their conversations in cyber space. It is inspired from the hate club culture predominant in social media. "Our viewers reside heavily in digital media and are active users of social media platforms. And using these, they love to express their opinions strongly. It was while going through these that the show was conceptualised," says Yagnik. The channel must have been quite enthused after this for having a dialogue with the audience and making it integral to any market research or marketing activities. And that is evident from the 'viewer partner programme' that they launched about two months ago on Facebook. Individuals can sign up for the programme via the channel's Facebook page. They would be a part of a captive focus group and be involved with helping the channel flesh out content through constant feedback. The group, whose membership will be restricted to about 2,000, may even be used for testing out episode pilots, according to Yagnik. Star World is not alone in using this platform to connect with its audience. In fact, earlier this year Parle Agro won awards at the creative and media awards held in Goa for its innovative use of Twitter for engaging with customers. The company used the website to track inventory of its snack brand Hippo. Consumers were encouraged to tweet if there was adequate stock of the brand at their nearest store or wherever they walked in. If sufficient stocks weren't there, based on the consumers' tweets, the company would attempt to refill in the shortest possible time. Another example would be Sony PIX, an English movie channel that runs a PIX movie club, where it screens latest Hollywood releases for its members (only college students) free. The channel uses its Facebook page to run polls regularly for the members to vote on the movies they would like to watch.

The flip-side to the story is that not all feedback or views are shared by the customers directly with the brands. "People share their views and experiences about various brands and service providers online with their connections (friends)," says Ranjit Nair, CEO, Germinait Solutions, a consumer analytics firm. Some of the platforms used to do so include blogging websites, micro blogging sites like Twitter, review websites like Tripadvisor or Mouth Shut, social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. "These views are mostly in public domain and often relied on by other consumers for making their purchase decisions. Thus, views expressed in virtual space can influence others' choices or perceptions in real time," adds Nair. What's more, this information is unsolicited and cannot be controlled. More importantly, it can even damage one's brand image. Nair's Germinait Solutions helps its clients to listen to online conversations about their brands using its in-house software, Explic8. This is how it's done - parameters for the search and key words are defined along with sources (any particular websites) and a date range (within which the posts/comments have been uploaded). Then, using crawlers, all conversations mentioning the key words are picked up. Finally data gets analysed and the wheat separated from the chaff. Some of the projects undertaken by Germinait include a study commissioned by a US-based five-star hotel chain. Parameters like service quality, decor, cleanliness and hotel locations were considered. Based on these, the study focused on understanding the customer's experiences at the various properties and their pain as well as pleasure points as shared online. This helped the hotel chain identify internally properties that were performing as per customer expectations and those that were lagging behind and the areas in which they underperformed. Similarly, another project involved a leading private sector Indian bank. The bank wished to analyse how the company was spoken about in online conversations, the tonality used and the sentiment expressed and how it changed while discussing competitors. "Such research can give companies a holistic view on the voice of the customers and help sharpen the focus of their branding and marketing strategies based on the insights," says Lulu Raghvan, country director, Landor India. However, there are numerous challenges. The sheer quantity of data can be a deterrent. Plus the quality can also be questionable on occasions. Brands currently use such research sparingly and the space is not gaining much traction. Mainly because not all brands are 'talkable' and do not generate much conversation. Some sectors like hospitality, telecomm service providers may find the option more useful than others. Irrespective of the difficulties or shortcomings involved, all agree that for the one listening carefully enough, there may be precious lessons to learn or inputs to gain via this medium.

Global chains cut loose in domestic retail space

By BS Reporter, Business Standard, New Delhi, November 25, 2011 Section: News Category: Retailing

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51% multi-brand & 100% single-brand retail FDI pave way for foreign players.

In a big-ticket policy decision, the cabinet on Thursday opened the high-growth retail sector to foreign chains. That means people can soon shop at international department stores such as Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco in India. The politically sensitive decision to allow up to 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand and 100 per cent in singlebrand retail has come a few months ahead of Assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh. A stormy cabinet meeting, amid protests from UPA allies, cleared the proposal along with a set of stringent riders, which may pose a hurdle to many foreign players. This is the first time since retail FDI was mooted some seven years ago that the proposal reached the cabinet. Almost five years ago, to get a feel of things, the government had commissioned economic think tank Icrier to assess the impact of organised retail on neighbourhood mom-and-pop or kirana stores. Even as the report had concluded in May 2008 that the impact of modern retail on the profitability of small stores would wear off with time, the government could not muster the courage to allow FDI in multibrand retail for fear of hurting small traders, an important vote bank. But, to curb inflation and disassociate itself from the 'policy paralysis' tag, the UPA regime has finally taken a call. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma will address Parliament on the matter tomorrow. The opening of multi-brand retail is expected to bring down inflation and the inflow of foreign funds may help finance the current account deficit. However, foreign investment may not come in a hurry, going by the global economic outlook at present. Anshul Jain, CEO (India) of DTZ, an international real estate consultant, pointed out international retailers would take 12-18 months from the time of the decision to actually enter India. As for the global players who are already in India, they may take up to a year to start multi-brand operations after renegotiating with their Indian partners. 2012 is likely to be a tight year from the retail perspective due to the economic conditions globally, Jain says, pointing out that India will watch real action only from 2013. Retail is estimated to be a $590 billion industry in India, and growth opportunities are immense, say analysts. International research firm Nielsen said in a recent study that retail was a big opportunity as India's consumer confidence was the highest in the world, way ahead of China's. That is despite the global economic slowdown. Many of the top retailers of the world - Walmart, Carrefour, Metro and Tesco - are already in India in some form or the other. In the backdrop of stiff regulations in the multi-brand retail sector, international chains found a foothold in the cash-and-carry business in the country. While Germany's Metro is keen on only the cash-and-carry or wholesale business, others such as American giant Walmart and French retailer Carrefour have been waiting for the government to permit FDI in multi-brand retail. Meanwhile, they set up cash-and-carry stores in India. Even the UK's Tesco has tied up with Tata Group's Trent through the franchisee route. There's no restriction on FDI in the cashand-carry format. While no FDI was permitted in front-end multi-brand retailing till now, foreign investment was capped at 51 per cent for single-brand retail. The committee of secretaries (CoS) had in July recommended 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, after which there was a lull as far as government action on the policy was concerned. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the ministry of commerce and industry had sent the final note to the cabinet last week, suggesting 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand and 100 per cent in single-brand after inter-ministerial consultations. In the single-brand segment, retailers such as Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Marks & Spencer, Fendi and Zara are among those present in India through the franchisee route. "The move paves the way for the entry of multinational retail giants. It would also benefit existing domestic players on account of advanced technology and much-needed financial support," said Krishan Malhotra, partner, tax, KPMG. THE STORY SO FAR January 1997: FDI up to 100% allowed under automatic route in cash and carry during H D Deve Gowda's United Front govt

October 2003: German cash-and-carry major Metro becomes the first international chain to enter India January 2006: FDI up to 51% allowed in single-brand retail and cash-and-carry rules relaxed, under the UPA-I regime with Manmohan Singh as the PM November 2006: American major Walmart and Bharti Enterprises sign an agreement for retail space August 2007: Walmart and Bharti announce JV in cash-and-carry business August 2008: UK-based Tesco enters pact with Tata group's Trent December 2010: French retail major Carrefour opens first cash-and-carry store in India

Communication crisis for retail chains

With the Cabinet nod on 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, and 100 per cent in single brand retail, several global retail chains are expected to enter the Indian retail arena. In an already cluttered Indian retail market, how will retail brand's communication strategy shape up? afaqs! finds out.
Consumers are often exposed to a surplus of offers from several retailers while chalking out a shopping list. A plethora of hoardings, pamphlets, newspaper supplements, as well as the radio communicate to the consumer the cheapest price for a product, or the best discounts on offer. Given this scenario, the cabinet policy decision of 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, and 100 per cent in single-brand retail will pave the way for several global retail chains to make their foray into India. Though, several top retailers from across the globe such as Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, and Metro are already present in India through their JV partners. The entry of new players will increase in competition in the Indian market. Apart from their local counterparts and kirana stores, the Indian retail chains will now have to fight for consumer attention against global giants. In such a scenario, what will be the best communication strategy for the retail chains to follow? Promoting offers Over the years, it has been observed that the strategy for large retail stores and giant chains has been to promote offers, expressed in percentages off regular prices. Retailers found a common denominator to entice consumers, with offers such as 'A shampoo for Rs 10 less than the MRP', or a 'A toothpaste free with a toothbrush', or even 'Shop for Rs 1,000 and get a gift voucher of Rs 200 free'. With such discounts and promotional offers being the order of the day, retail chains seemed to have entered a price war against one another. But, according to Viren Razdan, managing director, India, Interbrand, it is not the aggressive price strategy that consumers will recall, but the aggressive value addition. "Typically, all large format stores speak about price competitiveness. While the best price can be a brand's power for a cause, when it comes to a cluttered market, it is a brand's real value that will come to play," says Razdan. "Retailers will need to change their approach in a cluttered market, and focus more on building brands," concurs Atishi Pradhan, vice-president and executive planning director, Contract Advertising. "The positioning has to be new, like Big Bazaar or Shoppers Stop have done."

Narayan Devanathan, national planning head, Dentsu Marcom makes an interesting observation. Comparing the communication strategy of two large global retail brand, Devanathan says, "Walmart speaks about deals, while Stargate speaks about value offered to the consumer. Both retailers have the same pricing, but what they communicate to the consumer is different. It is a comparison between pushing price and building image." Organised retail is still at a nascent stage in India and many consumers are still hesitant to enter a large store, and prefer their friendly neighbourhood kirana store. "They feel that products available there will be expensive," says Amit Ajwani, managing director, Saatchi & Saatchi X India (Publicis Group's dedicated shopper marketing agency). And, this is precisely the reason why to communicate offers is the best way to attract consumers. According to Razdan of Interbrand, big brands should not be intimidating, but be affable. "This will encourage consumers to accept the brand in a better way. Big Bazaar has been successful as it's intimidating for the normal consumer." But, some industry experts also feel that price-based offers will continue to be lucrative. "In retail, price-based communication cannot cease to exist," states KS Chakravarthy (Chax), national creative director, Draftfcb ULKA. "You may have a brand-based communication once in a while, but offer-based advertising is synonymous with the category, and will continue to remain that way," he says. Talking about the US market, Chax says, "Newspaper out there, carry several discount coupons and people drive several miles to avail the discounts." Jitender Dabas, senior vice-president and head, planning, McCann Erickson, seconds Chakravarthy and says that price-led communication is a reality even abroad, and is likely to continue in India, as well. "Brands such as Shoppers Stop are all about high-end retail. They are also about the experience of shopping. Hence, they can afford to do brand-based advertising such as 'Start Something New.' Big brands will want to differentiate. Emotional advertising can be an option." But, on a daily basis, Dabas feels, they will continue with information dissemination form of communication, in terms of speaking about offers. Sandeep Walunj, chief marketing officer, Value Retail (Big Bazaar) at Pantaloon Retail India, says, "As a retailer, I feel you need to keep your brand relevant. The trick will be to build a brand while communicating offers." The retail boom in the country is also expected to give a great push to the shopper marketing industry. Internationally, major FMCG brands pump in around 25-30 per cent of their marketing spends on shopper marketing, but in India, it is a mere 3-4 per cent. Ajwani concludes, "Shopper marketing agencies have to be active because brands like P&G will pump in a lot of money into chains such as Walmart.

A whole new opportunity

By Nivedita Mookerji, Business Standard, New Delhi, November 28, 2011

Players in the cash and carry business in India seem to be snapping out of their wait and watch mode to draw up ambitious expansion plans.
This month, for the first time since the entry of international majors in the retail sector, all the three international chains operating their cash and carry business in India launched new outlets or

announced aggressive expansion plans. This cannot be dismissed as a coincidence; rather, it is being seen as a sure sign of how the industry will move from here. Wholesalers have been around in India for ages, but it took a handful of global players to give the business some semblance of order. And almost eight years after the cash and carry format, the Western equivalent of wholesale, was born in India, the key players in the business are riding the wave of opportunity. By all reckoning, cash and carry represents a $150 billion opportunity in India (the total retail business is pegged at $350-$400 billion annually). For many global retail chains, the cash and carry model was a way to get a foothold in the Indian market given the stiff regulations in multibrand retail. There's a good reason why international giants like Walmart, Carrefour and Metro or for that matter home-grown Reliance Retail are investing big bucks in their Indian cash and carry operations. Retail is a big opportunity here as India's consumer confidence is the highest in the world despite the global economic slowdown, way ahead of China's, as a recent Nielsen study shows. The other reason why the cash and carry business is on an expansion mode is the high level of expectation around foreign direct investment (FDI) being allowed in multi-brand retail. (At present, the country allows 51 per cent FDI in single brand retail, 100 per cent in cash and carry.) Opening up Once multi-brand retail is opened up to allow the entry of global players, the business is likely to transform, which again would require large-scale cash and carry outlets to feed the retail outlets. Nielsen Executive Director (analytics) Raj Hoshahali told Business Standard recently, "Looking at the expansion of some of the companies in this segment, it is obvious there's demand." The format has taken off in India, he said. According to Saloni Nangia, senior vice-president, retail, Technopak Advisors, cash and carry is still at a nascent stage, but it will emerge among the strongest formats in India. "This format fills in a big gap in the current distribution network. Apart from certain consumer products' distribution networks, there are no structured wholesale networks in the country, especially in semi-urban and semi-rural areas, which can supply to a range of business formats." She adds that a cash and carry model consolidates the sourcing across various formats and can offer a price advantage to its customers. "It also allows the retailer to develop strong private labels," she says. In most parts of the world, the cash and carry format works the same way as in India. In some countries, cash and carry operates through membership, which is available to both B2B and B2C customers. Germany's Metro Cash & Carry, the first foreign major to enter India in this segment in the year 2003, was slow on expansion initially, but it is picking up pace now. Having added one in Mumbai earlier this month, the German chain now has a total of eight cash and carry outlets across India. Metro is not keen on opening multi-brand retail stores in India and wants to stick to just cash and carry unlike international biggies Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco. Metro is looking at opening as many as 50 cash and carry stores across the country in the next four to five years. Although the company does not talk investment, a back of the envelope calculation shows Metro is likely to spend around Rs 3,500 crore over this period on expansion, considering that its per store investment works out to around Rs 60 crore to Rs 70 crore. Rajeev Bakshi, managing director, Metro Cash & Carry (India), says, "We have become proactively customer-centric. We are going out to understand market requirements and talking to customers about what we can offer them."

Bentonville-based American retail major, Walmart, has grown the fastest in India. Having launched its first cash and carry outlet in India in 2009, the US chain already has 14 stores across the country. It too has ambitious expansion plans: A minimum of 20 stores in the next two years. The 50:50 joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Enterprises might end up spending as much as Metro Cash & Carry over the next five years or so having similar expansion goals. "Our Best Price Modern Wholesale cash-and-carry stores have received tremendous response. Currently, we have over 4,00,000 members for our 14 B2B stores across India," informs a Bharti-Walmart spokesperson. What makes the model click? The Bharti-Walmart official says the cash and carry outlets are able to provide over 5,000 quality products under one roof at low and transparent prices. "Our target members are retailers, resellers, kirana shops, hotels, restaurants and caterers and offices and institutions." These outfits would otherwise source products from a host of suppliers at varying prices. The cash and carry stores thus service the day-to-day requirements of unserved segments, he adds. French retailer Carrefour, which has been rather silent after its first cash and carry outlet opened in India (in Delhi) in December 2010, has a second store (in Jaipur) in the country now. "Carrefour has always been committed to the Indian market. The Indian wholesale market offers huge long-term potential for growth," a company official told Business Standard in an earlier interview. India is the only country in Asia where Carrefour has cash and carry outlets. The 90 billion group has around 150 cash and carry outlets, all - save the one in India - located outside Asia. While Carrefour did not elaborate on its expansion plans, information available with Business Standard indicates that the chain has leased one site each in Pune and Delhi, and three in Punjab for opening cash and carry outlets. Around 12 to 13 sites have either been leased or are in the process of being leased by Carrefour for cash and carry stores. Recognising the potential, at the June 2011 AGM, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the company's big-bang retail plan including its re-entry into cash and carry. Having unsuccessfully experimented with cash and carry once before, Reliance Retail is reentering the segment after a gap of three years. In September, it launched the first cash and carry outlet in Ahmedabad. Analysts point out that with a cash and carry business in its portfolio, Reliance Retail hopes to have better bargaining leverage with producers and vendors to achieve higher margins for its retail stores. A Reliance Retail spokesperson says the company has invested in developing a robust sourcing and supply chain over a period of time. "We believe we can leverage the sourcing advantage to emerge as the preferred destination for the kirana stores and other service establishments," he adds. This segment of neighbourhood stores, according to the official, will continue to grow along with the organised retail industry. "Our investment in developing Reliance Market (its cash and carry venture) is meant to cater to this huge potential," adds the company's spokesperson. Going forward Will the international chains continue to invest in their cash and carry operations once FDI is allowed into multi-brand retail, given that almost all of them are keen on starting their own retail stores? The Walmart spokesperson says, "At present, our focus in India is on our B2B wholesale cash and carry stores." He adds, "Should the guidelines be revised to permit investment in the multi-brand front-end retail sector, we would evaluate the opportunities at that time and make an appropriate decision."

Talking about the possibility of FDI in multi-brand and whether it would change things for cash and carry, Technopak's Nangia says, "There is a strong business opportunity in cash and carry in India. So it is quite possible that both Indian and international companies would have an integrated B2C and B2B format in the future." Along with expansion and investment plans, these cash and carry players have set definite revenue targets for their companies too. Metro is looking at realising around 5 per cent of its global revenue from India by 2015, up from the existing 1 per cent of the 67 billion turnover of the group. Walmart gets a little less than $1 billion in revenues from its India operations - approximately 1 per cent of its international revenue pegged at $100 billion. Walmart group's total annual revenue is much higher at $405 billion. While Walmart's China revenue is around $7.5 billion, the combined revenue from Japan, China and India is estimated at $16 billion, said company officials. Carrefour has just about started out in India, and therefore its India contribution is negligible in the global revenue count. Carrefour India's consolidated sales stood at 5 million in the first quarter of this year. In comparison, China's was 1,600 million, Taiwan's 435 million, Malaysia's 110 million and Singapore's 21 million. The group's consolidated Asia sales for the quarter is pegged at 2,438 million. Evidently, India has a lot of catching up to do with some of the other Asian markets. Metro's Bakshi said in an interview that other Asian markets, including China and Japan, were ahead of India in terms of sales revenue. Walmart holds a similar view. Walmart India President and Bharti Walmart Managing Director Raj Jain recently told this newspaper that India was just about starting on the retail modernisation process. "If you look at some other emerging markets like China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, or Mexico, you will find these are ahead of India by anything between five and 20 years," Jain had said. The way ahead is fraught with challenges. According to Nangia, one of the biggest tasks for players in the segment is to educate potential customers about the format and the advantages it offers. Besides developing a strong sourcing network and finding the right locations with right catchment areas, the obsolete Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act in most states that deny farmers and agri-buyers the freedom to sell and buy as they wish at the price they think best is still the biggest bugbear for cash and carry. "It is a large volume, low margin business; therefore getting the right business volumes are essential," Nangia stresses. Among the other major hurdles in cash and carry are expensive real estate, poor infrastructure, dearth of trained manpower and absence of an efficient supply chain. As a Bharti-Walmart spokesperson puts it, "We need to build up the right infrastructure to cater to the large and growing population of India. This will go a long way in curbing inflation and in tackling food supply issues." BITS AND BYTES * No FDI restriction in cash & carry business * Cash and carry in India is worth around $140 billion, out of the $350-billion retail business * Typical investment per store is around Rs 40 crore to Rs 60 crore, depending on the size of the outlet * Proportion of Indian items on the shelves of foreign cash and carry majors operating in India is anything between 90 and 95 per cent

Brand extension: Good or bad?

Brand extensions are build on existing equity and they are less expensive to launch than entirely new brands. The logic of brand extensions is compelling. There are brands where extensions that have been successful and then there are some where they have the potential to dilute a brand. As they say the most successful brand extensions come from companies that really know their customers, even more so that know the limitations of their brand. Our experts discuss extensions that have been successful and those that have the potential to dilute a brand, and what makes some brands more extendible than others. The simple answer for marketers seeking ways of entering new categories, tapping new customer segments and exploring new benefit areas has been: "Extend the brand". After all, the logic of brand extensions is compelling, at least on paper. Brand extensions build on existing equity, they are less expensive to launch than entirely new brands, and they are a low risk option in these competitive times. But is it really so simple? Consider some of the brands that according to Brandz, were the world's most valuable brands in 2011: Apple, IBM, McDonald's, Vodafone, Coca Cola. If brand extensions was the magic solution, you'd have seen dozens of extensions of these brands across marketing landscapes far and wide. Coca Cola potato chips, McDonald's T-shirts, Vodafone TV sets, Apple refrigerators... The reason why this does not work is that from a consumer viewpoint, there has to be a recognisable and intuitively meaningful connection across the offerings. And the "marketing manager's link" is often just too-logical-by-half. Let's look at some of the extensions that bombed because of 'spurious linkages'. Pond's Dreamflower Talc was all about freshness, and toothpaste is about fresh breath early in the morning... but Pond's toothpaste went down the drain. Nirma toothpaste followed another but equally logical sounding link: it cleans clothes, why shouldn't it clean teeth? It didn't wash with consumers. Saffola followed a supposedly increasing health consciousness into a baked snack called 'Saffola Zest'. But it missed a simple truth: no one ever ate a snack for her health. The product has disappeared. Mothers have happily been giving Bournvita to their

kids in milk, but that did not help to win them over to Bournvita biscuits. And the list can go on. The point is that, what appears logical from one direction is not compelling from another. If you make 'health' the axis of commonality' Saffola Zest snack can go down the gullet as smoothly as Saffola cooking oil. But is the axes are 'snacks' and 'cooking oil' the twain miss the mark! There is another, perhaps even more important link required to make brand extensions a success. And that is, whether the corporate skills and capability required is transferable across the products. Putting a Lakme moisturising lotion in a tube calls for one set of product development and manufacturing skills; running a Lakme salon needs a very different ability to make sure the girls who attend to customers in dozens of salons have flawless skin! Putting a Kingfisher logo on an aluminum can that carries 330 ml of beer is a bit different from running a business in which the Kingfisher logo is put on a 110 feet wide, 75-tonne container that carries 150 people. Over a period of three million years the Australopithecus hominid has evolved through several 'brand extensions' into us: Home sapiens. But species of snacks don't evolve overnight from a species of cooking oil. On the other hand, a Sunsilk shampoo and a Sunsilk conditioner seem so similar to me that I am not even sure a term such as 'brand extension' should be used. So my sense is that all too often, brands may be getting extended on weak grounds, and the logic of the conference room fails to meet the logic of the kitchen counter. Of course there is no clear line between what is a 'genuine' brand extension and what is not, but that is where judgment comes in. Otherwise extending brands could become a matter of a rule of thumb. Which more likely than not, will get a thumbs down. The author is co-founder, chlorophyll brand & communications consultancy

Brand extensions are seen as a cheaper and less risky way of launching new innovations and are not really about creating new brands. Businesses increasingly live with the twin realisation that building brands is both difficult and expensive on one hand and on the other the market equity of many brands seems far greater that the economic value they generate. Brand extension is the natural outcome of these two competing impulses both internal to the corporation and has generally very little to do with realities of the marketplace or

consumer mindspace. Brand extensions are seen as a cheaper and less risky way launching new innovations and are not really about creating new brands. While the jury is still out on extensions there is general consensus that they usually fail or are at best moderately successful. Is low risk low return the unwritten future of brand extensions? Clearly seeking permission from the consumers is not working. Then we pull out and look at what is creating wealth and value in the world it makes for fascinating discoveries. A few quick facts to get started, Christano Ronaldo's legs got insured for $87 million while the whole Athens Olympics was insured for $44 million. The IPL is a $4 billion-plus enterprise in four years. What is Batman worth? Forbes list of wealthy fictional characters puts Bruce Wayne's wealth at $7 billion. The way the world goes about creating wealth and value is dramatically changing and our current brand equity and financial models are woefully inadequate to explain the new world. More importantly the culture industry are the new marketer's. We need to learn from them if we want to leverage and extend our brand successfully. They have in my opinion unparalleled ability to create brand value, franchise that value, create desire and conversation around it, prequels and sequels, merchandize and engagement, all that brand marketing is know for. Take the James Bond franchise as an example, or Batman, or Harry Potter, take the God of War game, etc and we find great examples of brand extension and leverage creating great economic and cultural capital. So what does the culture industry know that we don't know? This can be quite a long list, let me highlight a couple of key points. 1. People don't buy what we do or how we do what we do. People "buy into" why we do it. The most successful people, brand and ideas in the world are those which invest their time and money in creating a compelling narrative around why they do what they do, simply put Big brands are brands with big agendas, not with big marketing budgets, because once the consumer has bought into your agenda you have tremendous permission to enter his life look at Apple, Dove, Nike, each with a compelling agenda and a very successful case history of extending their brands across the consumers if spectrum. 2. Branding is nothing but asset creation, the culture industry understands assets, they are able to see the greater value of the asset and do not get limited by product, form, context, So for example Batman is an asset, you can make a movie, write a comic, create a game, develop merchandise, open cafes, have a television series, potentially develop a super hero training program, the big ideas are in life and not in ads.

When we are bought to be used in kitchens and bathrooms, we have to constantly wonder if we have permission to go the next room, but when we create a story that's bigger than ourselves we don't need any permission, we are already invited in.