BRAND

Many practicing managers refer to a brand as more than that- as something that has actually created a
certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace. For the American
Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of
them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate
them from those of competition. These different components of a brand that identify and differentiate
it are brand elements.

PRODUCTS
A product is anything we can offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that
might satisfy a need or want. A product may be a physical good, a service, a retail outlet, a person, an
organization, a place, or even an idea. Five Levels of Meaning for a Product are
The core benefit level is the fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by consuming the
product or service.
The generic product level is a basic version of the product containing only those attributes or
characteristics absolutely necessary for its functioning but with no distinguishing features. This
is basically a stripped-down, no-frills version of the product that adequately performs the
product function.
The expected product level is a set of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally expect
and agree to when they purchase a product.
The augmented product level includes additional product attributes, benefits, or related services
that distinguish the product from competitors.
The potential product level includes all the augmentations and transformations that a product
might ultimately undergo in the future.

Importance of Brands to Consumers

Identification of the source of the product: Strong company reputations can

contribute to the product being a safe choice. Toyota might not use extra
ordinary approach for branding itself, But its investment in most ethical
practices and culture reflects in the quality of the product n service. Here
the value of the brand can easily exceed an organisation assets, more n
more companies are investing in branding activities than even before. If a
triple bottom model sustainability is followed, people, planet and profits are
the main proponents of growth through branding .companies cater to the 3
aspects , growth is inevitable. Projecting the right Image can get the
company to higher levels than any other strategy.
Assignment of responsibility to product maker
Risk reducer: The brand reassures you when in unfamiliar territory and buying a branded
product gives you a reassurance about the product and producer.
Search cost reducer
Promise, bond, or pact with product maker
Symbolic device: Brands can serve as symbolic devices, allowing consumers to project their
self-image. Certain brands are associated with use by certain types of people and thus reflect
different values or traits. As a result, consuming these brands may be a means by which
consumers can communicate to others-or even to themselves-the type of person they are or
would like to be.

Signal of quality: Price is often used as a signal where people assume that higher priced
products must be higher quality even when there is no evidence to support this. Consumer may
have the ability to inspect the product in detail.

Reducing the Risks in Product Decisions

Consumers may perceive many different types of risks in buying and consuming a product:
Functional risk The product does not perform up to expectations.
Physical risk The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the user or
others.
Financial risk The product is not worth the price paid.
Social risk The product results in embarrassment from others.
Psychological risk The product affects the mental well-being of the user.
Time risk The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another
satisfactory product.
Importance of Brands to Firms
To firms, brands represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property, capable of influencing
consumer behavior, being bought and sold, and providing the security of sustained future
revenues.
Identification to simplify handling or tracing
Legally protecting unique features
Signal of quality level
Endowing products with unique associations
Source of competitive advantage
Source of financial returns

Branding Challenges and Opportunities

Savvy customers: Now as always, marketers use tools and techniques to engage with potential
customers for their brands. With the advent of the Internet, information on what these tools and
techniques are has become more readily available to individuals who arent marketers. The
engagement-heavy marketing strategies employed on social media have also given these savvy
consumers a platform to complain when a particular marketing tactic or campaign displeases them.
For instance, when McDonalds launched their #McDStories campaign, they assumed they would be
able to get people to talk about their brand in a positive way. Unfortunately, savvy consumers saw
through the campaign and used it instead to lodge complaints about the brand.
Brand proliferation: Brand proliferation is the opposite of brand extension. While in brand extension,
new items are added using an existing brand name and several products are offered under the same
brand name, in brand proliferation, more items are brought in with new brand names. In other words,
the firm has several brands in the same product/product category. It means that the list of independent
brands swells up. For instance, Unilever has more than 25 brands of ice creams and P&G has more
than a dozen brands of detergents.
Media fragmentation: Describes a trend to increasing choice and consumption of a range of media in
terms of different channels such as web and mobile and also within channels, for example more TV
channels, radio stations, magazines, more websites. Media fragmentation implies increased difficulty
in reaching target audiences.

Increased competition: Increased competition, competitive pressures, industry developments, and

market conditions could affect the growth of our business and adversely impact our financial results.
Increased costs: For some brands, having to factor in seasonal markdowns is another factor in raising
retail costs. Designer brands repeatedly going on sale may eventually be forced to artificially inflate
prices to counter the margin pressure.
Greater accountability: Marketing is increasingly under pressure to make the most of its brands, its
investments, and its organization. In the boardroom, leaders ask for accountability and assurance that
every dollar spent on marketing is contributing to long-term profitable growth. Although this pressure
is particularly intense in tough economic times, the topic is increasingly relevant even in good times.

Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements

MEMORABLE: How easily is the brand element recalled and recognized. Memorable and
attention-getting brands facilitate recall or recognition. EX. AMUL, ZOOZOO
Meaningfulness: Brand elements may take on descriptive or persuasive meaning. General
information about the nature of the product category (guides brand awareness and salience)
Specific information about particular attributes and benefits of the brand (guides brand image
and positioning). Ex- Fair & Lovely, Closeup.
Likability: Do customers find the brand element aesthetically appealing? Descriptive and
persuasive elements reduce the burden on marketing communications to build awareness. Ex
Mahindra Scorpio.
Transferability: How useful is the brand element for line or category extensions? To what
extent does the brand element add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market
segments?
Adaptability: The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it to
changes in consumer values and opinions. E.G. logos and characters can be given a new look
or a new design to make them appear more modern and relevant. The more adaptable and
flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it to changes in consumer values and
opinions. E.G. logos and characters can be given a new look or a new design to make them
appear more modern and relevant.
Protectability: Choose brand elements that can be legally protected internationally. Formally
register chosen brand elements with the appropriate legal bodies. Vigorously defend trademarks
from unauthorized competitive infringement.

Types of Brand Elements

Brand Names: Need to be chosen keeping the six criteria of memorability, meaningfulness,
likability, transferability, adaptability, and protectability in mind. Naming Guidelines Brand
awareness
Simplicity and ease of pronunciation and spelling
Familiarity and meaningfulness
Differentiated, distinctive, and uniqueness Brand associations The explicit and
implicit meanings are important.
Can reinforce an important attribute or benefit association that makes up its positioning.

Logos and Symbols: Play a critical role in building brand equity and especially brand
awareness Logos range from corporate names or trademarks (word marks with text only)
written in a distinctive form, to entirely abstract designs that may be completely unrelated to
the word mark, corporate name, or corporate activities.

URLs: URLs (uniform resource locators) specify domain names on the Internet A company can
either sue the current owner of the URL for copyright infringement, buy the name from the
current owner, or register all conceivable variations of its brand as domain names ahead of
time.
Characters: A special type of brand symbolone that takes on human or real-life
characteristics Some are animated like Pillsburys Poppin Fresh Doughboy, Peter Pan peanut
butters character, and numerous cereal characters such as Tony the Tiger, Capn Crunch, and
Snap, Crackle & Pop. Others are live-action figures like Juan Valdez (Colombian coffee), the
Maytag repairman, and Ronald McDonald. Notable newcomers include the AOL running man,
the Budweiser frogs, and the AFLAC duck.
Slogans: Short phrases Shorthand means to build brand equity. Classic Slogans Melts in your
mouth, not in your hands(M&Ms) Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont
(Almond Joy/Mounds) Wheres the beef? (Wendys) A mind is a terrible thing to waste
(United Negro College Fund) Can you hear me now? (Verizon).
Jingles: Jingles are musical messages written around the brand. Typically composed by
professional songwriters, they often have enough catchy hooks and choruses to become almost
permanently registered in the minds of listenerssometimes whether they want them to or not!
Jingles are perhaps most valuable in enhancing brand awareness.
Packaging: From the perspective of both the firm and consumers, packaging must achieve a
number of objectives: Identify the brand Convey descriptive and persuasive information
Facilitate product transportation and protection Assist at-home storage Aid product
consumption. Packaging Can Influence Taste Our sense of taste and touch is very suggestible,
and what we see on a package can lead us to taste what we think we are going to taste

Building A Strong Brand: The Four Steps of Brand Building

Brand Salience

Brand Salience is the degree to which your brand is thought about or noticed when a customer is in a
buying situation. Strong brands have high Brand Salience and weak brands have little or none. This
helps explain to some degree why big brands are big and small brands are small: if no one thinks about
you at the moment of buying truth, your brand is going to be relegated to the dustbin of small and
unnoticed brands. Brand Salience is a function of the quantity and quality of the consumers memory
structures. Brand Salience is the step before considerationis your brand even thought of before the
consumer considers a brand or brands and makes a final purchase decision? Or is it mentally screenedout, like the majority of brands?
Brand Performance
You cant manage what you dont measure. ~ Peter Drucker
If you are a brand manager, by definition, you are measuring the performance of your brand on a
regular basis. Otherwise, how can you successfully manage your brand?
Describes how well the brand Meets customers more functional needs. Rates on objective assessments
of quality. Satisfies utilitarian, aesthetic, and economic customer needs and wants in the product or
service category. Primary characteristics & supplementary features are Product reliability, durability,
and serviceability, Service effectiveness, efficiency, empathy, Style and design & Price
Brand Imagery
A brand's personality tells a story about the product. It tells its target market what to expect. It suggests
heritage, quality, flavor, status, effectiveness, attractiveness, service, value, when to use it, where to use
it, how to use it, etc. Potent brands create rich pictures in the eye of the consumer. Many different kind
of intangibles can be linked to a brand, but four categories can be linked which are
User profiles
Demographic & psychographic characteristics
Actual or aspirational
Group perceptions -- popularity
Purchase & usage situations
Type of channel, specific stores, ease of purchase
Time (day, week, month, year, etc.), location, and context of usage
Personality & values
Sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, & ruggedness
History, heritage, & experiences
Nostalgia
Memories
Brand Judgements
Brand judgments focus upon customers personal opinions and evaluations with regard to the brand.
Brand judgments involve how customers put together all the different performance and imagery
associations for the brand to form different kinds of opinions. Customers may make all types of
judgments with respect to a brand, but in terms of creating a strong brand, four types of summary
brand judgments are particularly important (and are cited in ascending order of importance).
Brand quality. There are a host of attitudes that customers may hold toward brands, but the
most important relate in various ways to the perceived quality of the brand.
Brand credibility. Customers may form judgments that transcend specific brand quality
concerns to consider broader issues related to the company or organization making the product
or providing the service associated with the brand.

 Brand consideration: Eliciting favorable brand attitudes and perceptions of credibility is

important but may be insufficient if customers do not actually seriously consider the brand for
possible purchase or usage. Consideration is more than mere awareness of a brand; it suggests
the likelihood that customers will actually include the brand in the set of brands they might buy
or use.
Brand superiority. Finally, superiority relates to the extent to which customers view the brand
as unique and better than other brands.

Brand Feelings
Brand feelings are customers emotional responses and reactions with respect to the brand. Brand
feelings also relate to the social currency evoked by the brand. rand feelings are customers emotional
responses and reactions with respect to the brand. Brand feelings also relate to the social currency
evoked by the brand.
1. Warmth. Warmth refers to soothing types of feelingsthe extent to which the brand makes
consumers feel a sense of calm or peacefulness. Consumers may feel sentimental, warm hearted, or
affectionate about the brand.
2. Fun. Feelings of fun are also upbeat types of feelings. Consumers may feel amused, light hearted,
joyous, playful, cheerful, and so on.
3. Excitement. Excitement relates to the extent to which the brand makes consumers feel that they are
energized, and are experiencing something special. Brands that evoke feelings of excitement may
result in a sense of elation or being alive; the customer may feel cool, sexy, and so forth.
4. Security. Security feelings occur when the brand produces a feeling of safety, comfort, and selfassurance in the customer, who associates the brand with the elimination of worries or concerns they
might otherwise have felt.
5. Social approval. Social approval occurs when the brand results in consumers feeling positively
about the reactions of others to them; that is, when consumers feel that others look favorably on their
appearance, behavior, and so forth. This approval may result from others direct acknowledgement of
the consumer using the brand or, less overtly, from attributing the product itself to consumers.
6. Self-respect. Self-respect occurs when the brand makes consumers feel better about themselves, for
example, when consumers feel a sense of pride, accomplishment, or fulfillment.
Brand Resonance
Brand resonance is characterized in terms of intensity or the depth of the psychological bond that
customers have with the brand as well as the level of activity engendered by this loyalty (e.g., repeat
purchase rates, the extent to which customers seek out brand information, events, other loyal
customers, and so on). Specifically, brand resonance can be broken down into four categories:
Behavioral loyalty: The first dimension of brand resonance is behavioral loyalty in terms of
repeat purchases and the amount, or share, of category volume attributed to the brand.
Attitudinal attachment: Behavioral loyalty is necessary but not sufficient for resonance to
occur. Some customers may buy out of necessityfor example, because the brand is the only
product being stocked or readily accessible, or the only one they can afford to buy, and so on.
Sense of community: The brand may also take on broader meaning to the customer in terms of
a sense of community. Identification with a brand community may reflect an important social
phenomenon whereby customers feel a kinship or affiliation with other people associated with
the brand. These connections may involve fellow brand users or customers or, instead,
employees or representatives of the company.

 Active engagement: Finally, perhaps the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty occurs when
customers are willing to invest time, energy, money, or other resources into the brand beyond
those expended during purchase or consumption of the brand.

Strategic Brand Management

It involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build, measure, and
manage brand equity. The process of strategic brand management basically involves 4 steps:
1. Identifying and establishing brand positioning: Brand Positioning is defined as the act of
designing the company's offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the
target consumer's mind.
a. Points of difference: convinces consumers about the advantages and differences over
the competitors
b. Mental Map: visual depiction of the various associations linked to the brand in the
minds of the consumers
c. Core Brand Associations: subset of associations i.e. both benefits and attributes which
best characterize the brand.
d. Brand Mantra: that is the brand essence or the core brand promise also known as the
Brand DNA.
2. Planning and Implementation of Brand Marketing Programs:
a. Choosing Brand Elements: Different brand elements here are logos, images, packaging,
symbols, slogans, etc. Since different elements have different advantages, marketers
prefer to use different subsets and combinations of these elements.
b. Integrating the Brand into Marketing Activities and the Support Marketing Program:
Marketing programs and activities make the biggest contributions and can create strong,
favorable, and unique brand associations in a variety of ways.
c. Leveraging Secondary Associations: Brands may be linked to certain source factors
such as countries, characters, sporting or cultural events, etc. In essence, the marketer is
borrowing or leveraging some other associations for the brand to create some
associations of the brand's own and them to improve it's brand equity.
3. Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance
a. Brand Audit: Is assessment of the source of equity of the brand and to suggest ways to
improve and leverage it.
b. Brand Value chain: Helps to better understand the financial impacts of the brand
marketing investments and expenditures.
c. Brand Equity Measurement System: Is a set of tools and procedures using which
marketers can take tactical decision in the short and long run.
4. Growing and Sustaining Brand Equity:
a. Defining the brand strategy: Captures the branding relationship between the various
products /services offered by the firm using the tools of brand-product matrix, brand
hierarchy and brand portfolio
b. Managing Brand Equity over time: Requires taking a long -term view as well as a short
term view of marketing decisions as they will affect the success of future marketing
programs.
c. Managing Brand Equity over Geographic boundaries, Market segments and Cultures:
Marketers need to take into account international factors, different types of consumers
and the specific knowledge about the experience and behaviors of the new geographies
or market segments when expanding the brand overseas or into new market segments.
ARUN ICECREAM

Chandramogan, son of a vegetable wholesaler from Chennai, set up Arun Ice Cream in 1970 in Madras
with an investment of Rs. 15,000/- of his own capital and another Rs. 21,000/- borrowed from the
bank.
i.
Was one of about 350 small-time ice candy manufacturers competing in the low end of the
market
ii.
He sold ice candies for 10p and 15p a piece mainly through street vendors and over the counter
sales
iii.
Within a year registered a turnover of Rs. 15,000 and made a profit of Rs. 40,000/The first years success emboldened him to go in for a three-fold expansion in the second year. As the
existing locale was cramped, he chose to locate the new factory in the outskirts of the city.
Problems:
1. Selling the expanded volumes proved quite difficult, particularly during the off-season.
2. Inconspicuous location of new location, inappropriate for across the counter sales
3. Expansion resulted in higher capacity related fixed costs
4. Was now competing with the majors Dasaprakash, Joy and Kwality
5. Bulk of ice cream purchases accounted for by 3 categories:
i.
General provision and departmental stores with deep freezers
Deep freezers supplied by ice cream majors who maintained a cold chain
Too high an investment for Arun Ice Cream
ii.
Hotels and restaurants
Made heavy demands on suppliers
Slow to release payments
Used their substantial clout with small time suppliers
iii.
Social events, mostly parties and weddings
Highly brand-conscious Arun virtually unknown
6. Educational Institutions and supplies to ships were ignored by ice cream majors due to small
volumes and erratic demand
7. Up country mofussil towns ignored due to logistic problems
8. Initial absence of franchisees led to adopting fixed-day selling
i.
Left out a large number of customers from places contiguous to selected towns
ii.
Left out walk-in customers indulging in impulse purchases
9. Did not have a significant presence in Madras City
10. Cost-efficient procurement of milk
i.
Seasonal demand-supply imbalance
Peak season for ice cream summer lean season for milk and vice versa
ii.
Short shelf-life
iii.
Refrigerated transport of milk expensive
11. Transporting ice cream for long distances by train and refrigerated vehicles not viable at that
time
12. Increasing number of franchisees and flavours, took a heavy toll on the factories
13. Violation of MRP guidelines by franchisees
14. Ice cream manufacture reserved for Small Scale Industries (SSI)
15. Emerging competition from Unilever, an international giant, through Brooke Bond India Ltd
(BBIL) and Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL)
HLL not content with anything less than leadership position in every market
Solutions
1. Focused on educational institutions students prepared to experiment with new brands
andflavours:
i.
College canteens and hostel mess segments
ii.
Bagged order from IIT, Madras
iii.
Included college canteens in interior districts Tamilnadu
2. Supplied to ship chandlers. Specially packed to cater to erratic delivery schedules

3. Supplied ice cream at weddings and important social events in up country towns
4. Used local telephone directory to obtain addresses and mailers posted to potential up market
customers
5. Supplied ice creams within 4 to 5 days of booking
6. Unknowingly set up a chain of franchisees who:
i.
Invested in their own freezers
ii.
Started ice cream parlours
iii.
Were supported in promotions and advertising by Arun Ice cream
iv. By early 1999, 700 franchisees in Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
7. Franchises allotted only to
i.
Youth
ii.
Average income individuals
iii.
Those who have failed in business
8. Franchises not allotted to highly educated and elderly
9. Milk procurement:
i.
Directly from dairy farmers
i. Set up collection centres at milk producing villages close to ice cream plant
ii. Milk brought to factory within 2 3 hours of collection
ii.
Offered guaranteed procurement in lean season
iii.
Offered higher rates for additional supply in peak season
iv. Payments made once in 3 days
10. Sourced other ingredients like sugar, fruits etc. and packing materials from leading wholesalers
and manufacturers
11. Transportation of ice cream within a radius of 250 300 kms was done with ice boxes
insulated boxes cooled with dry ice on trains.
12. Built a new plant at Salem
i.
Close to Karnataka and Kerala borders
ii.
Within Tamilnadus milk belt
13. Set up a new plant at Madras at Red Hills
i.
15,000 litres capacity, costing 45 million, and operational in July 1995
ii.
Set up as a separate firm Hatsun Milk Products to circumvent restrictions on SSI units
14. Relieved factories of responsibility of daily direct distribution
i.
Set up depot in Madurai with cold storage facilities
ii.
Responsible for distribution to franchisees in southern Tamilnadu
iii.
Responsible for sourcing produce from Arun factories
15. Fairly expensive and innovative sales promotion programme. E.g. Eat All you Can
programme, Slow Speed Driving Competition and Phone and Have an Ice Cream,
particularly intended to introduce customers to the high-end flavours
16. Approach to Pricing:
i.
Franchisee given 20 25 % of MRP depending on location and costs
ii.
Single tier distribution strategy supply directly to the point of retail sale to the
customer
iii.
Up country franchisee to make advance payment by demand draft
17. MRP control:
i.
Product sold in pre-packed factory packs with MRP marked
ii.
Parlours to display price list prominently
iii.
Violation of MRP guidelines and payment terms led to termination of franchise
18. Recruited competent senior management
The aggressive entry of HLL into the frozen desserts and ice creams industry, would require Arun
to rework their competitive strategy.
May not be very wise for Arun to pursue alternative business opportunities with the hope of
supporting the ice cream business. Aruns strengths are acknowledged to be limited and this would
result in spreading his limited resources rather thin.

Pursuing an aggressive reinforcement of Aruns competitive profile and further expanding its
franchisee network will likely pay more dividends and help stave off the threat of selling out to
MNCs.
Also Arun Icecream has a large market share in the up towns into which the competitor HLL under
brand name Kwality Walls with its frozen desserts is unlikely to penetrate now, when no other ice
cream major has done it before.
NARAYANA HRUDALAYA
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Dr. Devi Shettys family, through the NH PRIVATE LTD of which Dr. Shetty was the Chairman,
owned NH. He was assisted by a board of directors, and the organization had a functional structure
with the medical and finance departments each headed by a Director. One of the operating
philosophies of NH was that surgeons should focus only on performing surgeries and nothing else. NH
also minimized administrational roles for all operational staff, including nurses. NH considered patient
arrival a key area, and staff with special training handled new patients and appropriately counseled
them as they arrived for treatment. This department also liaised with the philanthropy cell to better
coordinate patient receipts.
WELCOME CAPACITIES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
Patients served by NH had shown a steady increase. In November 2006, the hospital marked the
completion of 30,000 procedures since its inception and performed 27 heart surgeries in a day, which
was globally the second highest number of surgeries performed in a single facility in one day. NH had
built a strong rural network in both the southern, eastern and north-eastern parts of the country through
its outreach and telemedicine facility that constantly fed NH with patients. Dr. Shetty had built a
tremendous reputation for himself and NH that also translated into patient arrivals from several
countries. Also, NH had established linkages with small-time family physicians that also referred
patients to NH. Doctors remuneration was competitive, and they had discretion to provide discounted
treatment for the poor.
FINANCIAL STRUCTURE
A key ingredient of NHs business model was keeping costs low for the poor. They did this by using
several schemes including low-cost insurance schemes such as Arogya Raksha (in the private sector)
and Yeshaswini (in the cooperative sector). The poor had to pay very low premiums and had access to
the same state-of-the-art facilities that were available to others paying higher rates.
The NH business model also included philanthropy. It hoped that its provision of high-quality cardiac
care and social missions to provide affordable treatment for the poor would influence others to
underwrite the cost of surgeries by donating to the foundation.
NHS RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGE OF COST MINIMIZATION
NH constantly worked to drive down unit costs. There were a few major factors that allowed NH to
run leaner than its private counterparts:
VOLUME: A high volume of procedures is the basis of NHs cost reductions, mostly attained
with a high level of capacity utilization and staff productivity. Larger volumes of open-heart
surgeries and catheterization procedures everyday allowed the medical team to decrease the
cost of each surgery.
PROCUREMENT: High volumes of patients and procedures enabled NH to have stronger
purchasing power for their medical supplies. An interesting aspect to its purchasing practice
was to eliminate long-term contracts and to bargain with suppliers every week. This also

brought down their inventory carrying costs and reduced scope for opportunistic behavior by
suppliers. NH had brought down its prices by almost 35 percent since it started procurement. It
did not purchase much medical equipment, opting instead to lease; NH paid only for the
reagents needed for the equipment. The high volumes allowed the suppliers to make enough of
a profit to enter into such partnerships.
INNOVATION: NH also constantly works on technological innovations to bring down costs. In
one instance, it brought down the cost of ECG (Electro Cardio Grams) machines from US$750
to less than $300. In another instance, NH bought a digital X-Ray plate based on a product that
was going off-patent in 2004.
PARTNERSHIPS: partnership with government for health insurance schemes (e.g. Yeshaswini
explained later in the case).

NHS RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGE OF ACCESS TO THE POOR

TELEMEDICINE: As soon as NH was created, Dr. Shetty reached out to state governments and the
central to use modern telecommunication technology to increase the access of cardiac health care to
the poor in rural areas. The project had two hubs: one in Bangalore (at NH), and the other was in
Kolkata, located at AHFs Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS).
Cardiologists at these two institutions use satellite technology, ISDN lines and broadband internet to
read patient reports, interact with patients in a video conferencing mode and offer free consultations.
NH operated telemedicine mainly through three different networks. The first was the Coronary Care
Unit Network. This network consisted of hospitals or CCUs in semi-urban and rural areas; these were
both government and charity-run hospitals where NH trained and placed doctors and staff to provide
cardiac care and treat cardiac emergencies. NH also equipped each CCU with beds.
In the second instance, the state government in Karnataka supported the idea and opened up its
hospitals. In this tele-consultation network, patients reported to participating remote hospitals with
cardiac symptoms. Local doctors completed the initial screenings. The patients then set up
consultations with the NH cardiologists. Unlike the CCU, there was no diagnostic or other cardiac
treatment facility that was available in these remote hospitals.
Health Insurance: Yeshaswini Scheme (YS):An insurance program was created in 2003 to further
increase the accessibility of healthcare for the poor. It was designed in partnership with the government
and public healthcare facilities, as well as with the NH group of hospitals. YS was a self-funding
scheme that was owned and administered by NH. Dr. Shetty had one condition, if he were to be part of
the promotion. The condition was that the Federation should enroll all its members, numbering close to
two million, in a low-cost insurance program that he was planning for helping the poor pay for
surgeries. Dr. Shetty believed, based on his experience and research elsewhere, that about 0.08 percent
of the people that he would be enrolling would require surgery and, hence, the scheme could fund
itself.

MAHINDRA SCORPIO
The case examines the marketing strategies adopted by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), leading Indian
automobile manufacturer, for its newly launched sports utility vehicle 'Scorpio' in the early 21st
century. It traces M&M's evolution from being just another Mahindra Group company into a major
Indian business conglomerate. The reasons for the decision to develop the Scorpio are explained and
details on the efforts that went into the creation of the vehicle are provided. Thereafter, the case
discusses the marketing strategies (positioning, advertising, pricing and promotion) adopted by M&M
for Scorpio. The case not only examines M&M's strategies for popularizing Scorpio, it also explores
the increasing competition in the Indian SUV market.
Scorpio - Charging Ahead In June 2003, 'Scorpio,' a sports utility vehicle (SUV3) from Mahindra and
Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), a leading Indian automobile company, celebrated the first anniversary of its
launch. This one year journey had been quite fruitful for Scorpio, which had impressed many industry
observers and customers. A year ago, within the first eight days of its launch, Scorpio had attracted
over 10,000 customers to its dealer showrooms and over 3,000 customer enquiries, resulting in 1000
order bookings. According to company sources, by Media reports, automobile enthusiasts and industry
analysts had all given the SUV extremely positive reports. With demand for the vehicle growing
steadily, M&M even had to increase its production from 1,800 units per month in 2002 to 2,000 per

month in June 2003, and 2,500 per month by late 2003. Thanks to the high decibel advertising support,
Scorpio had acquired high brand recall among consumers. In fact, it was said to be one of the very few
automobile brands in India that successfully boosted the image of their parent companies (in this case
M&M) as well. Besides improving M&M's image as an automobile company, Scorpio was reported to
have played a major part in increasing the company's revenues for the financial year 2002-03. The
company's automotive segment witnessed a 37% increase in revenues, up from Rs 18.28 billion in
2001-2002 to Rs 25.11 billion in 2002-2003. Also, M&M's automobile sales increased by 16% in
2002-2003 (68,852 units) over the previous year's sales (55,920 units). The most important aspect of
Scorpio's growing popularity was the impact it seemed to be having on the country's automobile
market. Scorpio had made other automotive manufacturers look afresh at the utility vehicles segment,
which till now was believed to have little scope for growth in India.
Project Scorpio
For 'Project Scorpio,' M&M decided to implement a new product development technique called
Integrated Development & Manufacture (IDAM). Reportedly, IDAM was expected to enable M&M to
develop an SUV with the most contemporary design and technology. M&M roped in Lucas
Engineering (which had previously helped it in the Business Process Reengineering initiative) to help
it with IDAM.
The Marketing Strategies: Positioning and Advertising
Scorpio was positioned as a UV with great power and style that offered "the ultimate driving
experience, driving thrill, luxury and comforts of a passenger car along with value for money." It
targeted individual car buyers in the top-end small car segment and mid-size car segment, who already
owned cars and were ready to invest in another vehicle. Objective was to create an SUV, but not to
position it as an SUV, as the SUV market was less than a lakh buyers. The positioning was always
CAR-PLUS, More space, more comfort, more power than a regular car.

Brand Elements
Brand Name (Scorpio) Conveys the outdoors, thrill, adventure and dominance
Brand Logo font colour is metallic re-emphasizing the metallic grill that is a dominant
product visual feature. Mighty muscular on the top band of the logo talks about the masculinity
and ruggedness of the product.
Tagline Nothing Else will Do- conveys a very strong emotional desire to have the product
and not settle for anything inferior
Jingle Nothing Else Will do these words set to a progressive rock jingle and western vocals
to emphasize the international appeal of the product
Cars used in communications were bright coloured to catch attention.
Every communication was directed towards brining a sense of Owner Pride, Neighbours
Envy and that no car whatsoever would ever match up
Brand Elements were directed towards creating that sense of desire that wouldnt be satiated by
any other car.
Brand Revitalization
With time Scorpio was loosing its thrill, adventurous brand image due to the entry of many other
SUVs in the Indian Market which had better off- roading capabilities. So a TVC was made in which a

man uses Scorpio to play golf in a desert, thus focusing primarily on the adventure and off-roading
capabilities of the product. More competent engine added and that was the key POD now (mHawk)
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
Free Associations: The simplest and often the most powerful brand association is free association task
in which subjects are asked what comes to mind when they of the brand without any specific probe or
cue than perhaps the associated product category. Ex ( what comes to your mind when you think of
Rolex watch). Marketers can use the resulting association to form a rough mental for the brand.
Marketer use free association tasks to mainly identify range of possible brand associations strength,
favourability and uniqueness of brand associations.
Projective Techniques: For marketers to succeed in uncovering the sources of brand equity they must
profile consumers brand knowledge structure as accurately and completely as possible. Under some
situation consumer may feel that it would be socially unacceptable or undesirable to express their true
feeling. So projective techniques are diagnostics tools to uncover the true opinions and feelings of
consumer when they are unwillingly or otherwise unable to express themselves on these matters.
Marketers present consumer with an incomplete stimulus and ask them to complete it or give
consumer an ambiguous stimulus and ask them to make sense of it. The idea is that in process
consumer will reveal some of their true beliefs and feelings. Types of Projective techniques are
Completion and interpretation task- Here ambiguous stimuli is used to elicit consumer thoughts and
feelings.
Comparision Tasks- Here consumer are asked to convey their impressions by comparing brands to
people, countries, animals, activities, fabrics
Archetypes- It is a research technique to elicit deeply yield consumer attitudes and feelings.
Zaltman Metaphor elicitation Technique: It is a technique that elicits both conscious and especially
unconscious thoughts by exploring people's non-literal or metaphoric expressions. A lot goes on in our
minds that we're not aware of. Most of what influences what we say and do occurs below the level of
awareness. That's why we need new techniques: to get at hidden knowledge-to get at what people don't
know they know. The technique has been used by academic researchers and for marketing purposes to
study a variety of topics related to both marketing and the social sciences. ZMET is useful in
understanding consumer image of brand, products, companies, brand equity, product concept and
design and attitudes towards business.
Neural Research methods: Neuromarketing is a field of marketing research that studies consumers'
sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli including brand. Marketers use
technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in
parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) and Steady state topography (SST) to measure
activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, or sensors to measure changes in one's
physiological state, also known as biometrics, including heart rate and respiratory rate, galvanic skin
response to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and which brain areas are responsible.
This research method is been used to measure the type of emotional response consumer exhibit when
presented with marketing stimuli.
Brand Personality and values: It is Human characteristics or traits that consumers can attribute to a
brand. We can assess brand personality more definitively through adjective checklists or
ratings. The Big five: Brand personality scale used to measure Sincerity (honest, light hearted and
sesnisble), Excitement ( daring and creative), Competence ( responsible, brilliant and ambitious),
Sophistication ( elegant and pleasant), Ruggedness ( resilient and proxy).
Ethnography and Experiential Methods: It is the systematic study of people and cultures. It is
designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view

of the subject of the study. An ethnography is a means to represent graphically and in writing the
culture of a group.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

Brand Awareness: is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers, and is
correctly associated with a particular product. Expressed usually as a percentage of the target
market, brand awareness is the primary goal of advertising in the early months or years of a
product's introduction. It is related to the strength of the brand in memory as reflected by
consumer strength in identifying various brand elements like brand name, logo, symbol,
character, slogan. It describes the likelihood that a brand will come to mind in different
situations. The issues in Brand awareness are Recognition: It requires consumer to identify the
brand under a variety of circumstances and can rest on any of the identification of the brand
elements.
o Recall: Here the consumer must retrieve the actual brand element from memory when
given some related probe or cue.
o Correction for guessing: Any research measure must consider the issue or consumer
making up responses or guessing.
o Strategic implications are Yields insight into how brand knowledge is organized in
memory. Identifies cues or reminders necessary for consumers to retrieve the brand
from memory.
Brand Image: Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be
defined as a unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies
what the brand presently stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it
is nothing but the consumers perception about the product. It is the manner in which a specific
brand is positioned in the market. Brand image conveys emotional value and not just a mental
image.
Brand Responses: The purpose of measuring more general higher level consideration to find
out how consumer combine all the more specific, lower level consideration about the brand in
their minds to form different types of brand responses and evaluations.
o Purchase Intentions: This is a set of measures closely related to brand attitudes and
considering looks at purchase intension and focus on buying the brand or switching to
another brand.
o Likelihood to recommend: Its about how would you recommend this product or service
to a friend or colleague. Its about customer willingness to recommend result from all
aspects of a customer experience.
Brand Relationship: It is the relationship that consumers, think, feel, and have with a product
or company brand. Two catalysts can be credited for the brand relationship paradigm. It is
Characterized in terms of brand resonance and measures for following key dimensions
o Attitudinal attachment
o Sense of community
o Active engagement
o Behavioral loyalty

Comprehensive Models of Consumer-based Brand Equity (CBBE)

Brand Dynamics: This model adopts a hierarchical approach to determine the strength of a relationship
a consumer has with a brand. The five level of the model in ascending order of an increasingly intense
relationship are presence, relevance, performance, advantage and bonding. Consumer are placed into
of the five levels depending on their brand response. By comparing the pattern across brand, we can

uncover relative strengths and weakness and see where brand can focus their efforts to improve loyalty
relationships.
Presence: The customer is aware of the brand and recognizes the name, but may have no
particular opinion or emotional attachment to the brand.
Relevance: The customer is evaluating a brand in relation to other similar products or services.
Performance: The customer will begin to set certain expectations and may develop a real sense
of the brands identity.
Advantage: The brand has proved itself superior to competitors and the customer may begin to
feel an emotional connection with the brand.
Bonding: The customer has established a bond with the brand and is likely to remain a loyal
customer. Consumers at this level of the pyramid may actively promote the brand to their
family and friends.
Relationship to the CBBE model: Five sequenced stages of Millward Browns BrandDynamics model
to the four ascending steps of the CBBE model ( identity, meanings, response and relationship) and
specific CBBE concepts such as Salience, consideration, performance, superiority and resonance. The
CBBE model provides noteworthy aspects which are
Emphasis on brand salience
Recognition of dual nature of brands
Importance it places on brand resonance as culmination of brand building.
Bonding
Advantage
Performance
Relevance
Presence

MAHINDRA SCORPIO
The case examines the marketing strategies adopted by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), leading Indian
automobile manufacturer, for its newly launched sports utility vehicle 'Scorpio' in the early 21st
century. It traces M&M's evolution from being just another Mahindra Group company into a major
Indian business conglomerate. The reasons for the decision to develop the Scorpio are explained and
details on the efforts that went into the creation of the vehicle are provided. Thereafter, the case
discusses the marketing strategies (positioning, advertising, pricing and promotion) adopted by M&M
for Scorpio. The case not only examines M&M's strategies for popularizing Scorpio, it also explores
the increasing competition in the Indian SUV market.
Scorpio - Charging Ahead In June 2003, 'Scorpio,' a sports utility vehicle (SUV3) from Mahindra and
Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), a leading Indian automobile company, celebrated the first anniversary of its
launch. This one year journey had been quite fruitful for Scorpio, which had impressed many industry
observers and customers. A year ago, within the first eight days of its launch, Scorpio had attracted
over 10,000 customers to its dealer showrooms and over 3,000 customer enquiries, resulting in 1000
order bookings. According to company sources, by Media reports, automobile enthusiasts and industry
analysts had all given the SUV extremely positive reports. With demand for the vehicle growing
steadily, M&M even had to increase its production from 1,800 units per month in 2002 to 2,000 per
month in June 2003, and 2,500 per month by late 2003. Thanks to the high decibel advertising support,
Scorpio had acquired high brand recall among consumers. In fact, it was said to be one of the very few

automobile brands in India that successfully boosted the image of their parent companies (in this case
M&M) as well. Besides improving M&M's image as an automobile company, Scorpio was reported to
have played a major part in increasing the company's revenues for the financial year 2002-03. The
company's automotive segment witnessed a 37% increase in revenues, up from Rs 18.28 billion in
2001-2002 to Rs 25.11 billion in 2002-2003. Also, M&M's automobile sales increased by 16% in
2002-2003 (68,852 units) over the previous year's sales (55,920 units). The most important aspect of
Scorpio's growing popularity was the impact it seemed to be having on the country's automobile
market. Scorpio had made other automotive manufacturers look afresh at the utility vehicles segment,
which till now was believed to have little scope for growth in India.
Project Scorpio
For 'Project Scorpio,' M&M decided to implement a new product development technique called
Integrated Development & Manufacture (IDAM). Reportedly, IDAM was expected to enable M&M to
develop an SUV with the most contemporary design and technology. M&M roped in Lucas
Engineering (which had previously helped it in the Business Process Reengineering initiative) to help
it with IDAM.
The Marketing Strategies: Positioning and Advertising
Scorpio was positioned as a UV with great power and style that offered "the ultimate driving
experience, driving thrill, luxury and comforts of a passenger car along with value for money." It
targeted individual car buyers in the top-end small car segment and mid-size car segment, who already
owned cars and were ready to invest in another vehicle. Objective was to create an SUV, but not to
position it as an SUV, as the SUV market was less than a lakh buyers. The positioning was always
CAR-PLUS, More space, more comfort, more power than a regular car.

Brand Elements

Brand Name (Scorpio) Conveys the outdoors, thrill, adventure and dominance

Brand Logo font colour is metallic re-emphasizing the metallic grill that is a dominant
product visual feature. Mighty muscular on the top band of the logo talks about the masculinity and
ruggedness of the product.

Tagline Nothing Else will Do- conveys a very strong emotional desire to have the product
and not settle for anything inferior

Jingle Nothing Else Will do these words set to a progressive rock jingle and western vocals
to emphasize the international appeal of the product

Cars used in communications were bright coloured to catch attention.

Every communication was directed towards brining a sense of Owner Pride, Neighbours
Envy and that no car whatsoever would ever match up

Brand Elements were directed towards creating that sense of desire that wouldnt be satiated by
any other car.
Brand Revitalization
With time Scorpio was loosing its thrill, adventurous brand image due to the entry of many other
SUVs in the Indian Market which had better off- roading capabilities. So a TVC was made in which a
man uses Scorpio to play golf in a desert, thus focusing primarily on the adventure and off-roading
capabilities of the product. More competent engine added and that was the key POD now (mHawk).

TAJ HOTEL
Unlike some emerging economies, such as China, India had an established hotel industry with strong
domestic hospitality companies. A largely protected market until recently, ambitious international
brands like Hyatt, Marriott, Intercontinental, and Starwood had entered the market, challenging the
dominance of domestic companies such as THRP (Taj, Gateway, and Ginger), East India Hotels
(Oberoi and Trident), and ITC WelcomGroup (ITC, Sheraton, and Welcomgroup). India had 5 million
tourists annually, compared to 75 million in China, 21 million in Thailand and 11 million in
Singapore.
Taj was the longest standing Tata brand and had an iconic stature in Indias hospitality industry.
IHCL, the parent company of the Tata Groups hospitality business. IHCL operated via two entities,
THRP and Roots Corporation Limited (RCL). all of THRPs properties ranging in quality from midmarket to luxury ($60 to $300) had the sign off, The Taj Group of Hotels. In 1994, the hotels were
broadly divided into three categories: luxury, leisure, and business. Both the luxury as well as business
hotels catered to business travelers. The leisure category included four sub categories: Palaces, Taj
Garden Retreats, Beach Resorts, and Cultural Center Hotels. THRP geared up for its international
foray, Ratan Tata brought in R. Krishna Kumar from Tata Tea, to take over from Kerkar. Kumar
wanted the brand to be viewed as a dynamic, emerging, Indian Asian brand, while retaining an
association with its heritage and the grandeur that came from several of its iconic luxury properties and
palaces. Kumar recalled, The Taj had acquired considerable equity as it grew in size, but I thought it
required some segmentation and greater accountability for monitoring the bottom line of the
properties. The only way I could have done it was to segregate it into different SBUs. He also felt that
the umbrella brand Taj, needed a sharper focus. In his six years at the helm, he changed the groups
orientation and management, and directed greater attention to strategy, marketing and branding. Even
so, the Taj name appeared on most but not all properties, and in different ways. For example, under the
Taj Luxury brand they had a Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay, and a Taj Bengal in Calcutta. Similarly,
under the Taj Business brand, most hotels were called Taj Residency, but there were exceptions
such as Taj President and Taj Malabar Cochin. There were further complications. For example, Taj
Mahal, Bombay was a Taj Luxury Hotel, but the Taj Malabar Cochin was a Taj Leisure Hotel. Even
though both were luxury hotels, the former was aimed at business travelers, while the latter was
aimed at vacation travelers. Kumar also decided to add Resorts and Palaces to their logo like the
corporate brand identities of most international hotel chains. Thus, their corporate identity changed
from Taj Group of Hotels to Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces (THRP). Until the acquisition of The
Pierre in New York in 2005, THRPs properties outside of India were mostly non-luxury, and
awareness of the Taj brand amongst international travelers was likely to be high only for those who
had visited or planned to visit India. In contrast, in India, the Taj was an iconic brand.
THRP had what Misra referred to as a mixed bag of brands which confused consumer perceptions of
the Taj brand, at a time when global brands were entering India and THRP itself was planning an
aggressive international expansion into its sourcee markets. The parent brand Taj had both high brand
salience and a very strong, up-market brand image in India. In the international marketplace, the brand
had high awareness amongst regular travelers to India, but for non-users of the Taj, the positioning of
the Taj was not clearly understood. Internally, there was growing recognition that the Taj umbrella
branding was diluting the image of the Taj brand because although the different hotels were positioned
and categorized differently, consumers still expected the high quality of Taj from all properties.
Landor recommended a hybrid brand architecture for THRP; in between the Branded House with
dominant master brand (e.g., GE and Four Seasons) at one end, and the House of Brands with
dominant sub brands (e.g., Procter and Gamble and Starwood) at the other end. The hybrid was called
the Sun and Planet Model (e.g., Intercontinental and Coca Cola). Landors initial recommendation was

to have THRP as the corporate brand, which would have three brands under it. At the center would be
Taj, the Sun in their model, remaining as the old world, luxury brand, in the five-star category. The
other two would be new brand launches. One would be a full service brand for the upper upscale
segment with an endorsed linkage, Vivanta by Taj, in the four-star category, aimed at the new
generation of travelers who were not interested in old world luxury. And the other was proposed as a
two-star, economy brand, Ginger, focused on no-frills hotels for the secondary and tertiary cities that
until then had only an unorganized hospitality sector.
The Branding Challenge
implementing the new brand architecture was challenging and Misra described the impact of biting a
very difficult bullet: Weve been on this painful journey for the last few years. We de-flagged 50-60
hotels from the Taj name and re-branded them. Of these, 18 were to be re-branded as Gateway and 25
as Vivanta by Taj. It wasnt easy because these are existing hotels, with complex ownership patterns.
We did a lot of internal lobbying employees cling to the brand name because their self-esteem
comes from working for the Taj. We had an intense engagement with customers who would be upset if
a favorite hotel becomes a Gateway instead of the Taj. So we had to battle through partners, owners of
properties, customers, and our own employees.
For now there were other more immediate battles to be fought. Not knowing how Gateway and Ginger
would fare this year, Bickson was unsure about what to do about Vivanta by Taj. Should he signal a
go-ahead for its launch, post-pone the launch indefinitely, or withdraw completely? If they did decide
to postpone the launch, should he name the three ready properties in Goa, Bengaluru, and Maldives
Vivanta by Taj, or some interim name until the brand was formally launched? Were they right in
creating four brands? He turned to look at Misra and wondered how he should ask him to handle the
owners of the proposed Vivanta by Taj properties.