When one admires the Taj Mahal, the great Pyramids of Giza (man-made wonders) or even the Bugatti Veyron (one of the most expensive cars in the world) one is awestruck at the sheer opulence. But have you ever stopped to admire the contribution of the beautiful white marble to the magic of the ‘Monument of Love’ or the manner in which the stones are cased together to build a structure as eternal as Khufu’s pyramid or the engineering marvel that gives you the fastest accelerating car in the world? As expected everyone is spellbound by the perfection of the red, red rose but no one bothers about the manure and fertilisers which nurtured it into its full-blown, breathtaking beauty.
Can I take you a little further back and ask you to examine the plight of the manufacturer responsible for providing the core of all these? Have you ever wondered that in a world of technological innovation and mass production how he can stand out and break the clutter in order to rise above the status of a non-descript commodity to the respect-able persona of a brand. Some might argue against this and say it is virtually impossible.
Well for cynical sceptics there is the classic case of Intel where the microchip inside has almost a generic identity. This is one chip which, in today’s cyber world, has better recall than maybe even Lays potato chips. Then there are brands with a heritage of providing us a hassle free drive — the two stalwarts, Exide and Castrol. One is your car’s heartbeat while the other is its life blood, in terms of liquid engineering.
At this stage I cannot resist talking about two extremely focused success stories. Both of them have risen above the clutter and created their own special space in the consumer’s mind. One is a mundane adhesive manufactured by Pidilite industries and used to join wooden boards and other fixtures. The product benefit of “bonding” is so wonderfully depicted through a series of ads, which use emotions — Judi hui family ke naam — and humour — the egg that does not break as the hen that laid it consumes her feed from the adhesive box. That’s right Yeh Fevicol ka jod hai, tootega nahin. The message appeal was so successful and had such a high recall with the end user that it was extended to the companies’ other products like Fevikwik and M-seal. The advertisement where three simple drops of Fewikwik could help the fisherman get a prize catch and the conniving son who bludgeoned his dying dad into signing over a huge sum and who gets the numeral one before the zeros erased because of a leaky roof, had such a fine balance between humour and the product advantage that the brands were able to ensure a generic recall with the viewer.
The second brand also used the emotional route, but here the emphasis was not on the product benefit but rather on the end result it created with the product. Not so long ago the paint on my wall was just that; and suddenly came a brand that got the walls talking. Suddenly it was whispering to me about Har ghar kuch kahta hai, the songs and the notes that my walls hummed had to be my special melodies, which told the world Is ghar me kaun rahta hai. The appeal of the poetry and lyrics, colours and family were blended to create an emotional rainbow by Asian paints.
The chords struck just the right notes for a New Age consumer whose house was a symbol of HIS own unique achievement, so the walls needed to mirror HIS reflection as well.
Then there are a myriad brands that drive home the promise of quality and reliability through a variety of approaches. Sometimes using celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, M Schumacher and Sachin Tendulkar to sell cement and engine oil and radial tyres. At other times using the manufacturer himself like Mahashay Chuni Lal when he promotes MDH masalas.
Thus, the path from the common noun (commodity) to the proper noun (brand) is difficult but as we observe not impossible. If you have the humour and brand connect then you will be able to go Shock laga, shock laga the Havell’s way. If you are able to transform bathrooms into glamour rooms like Roca and Kohler you will be welcomed into the premium lounge of the customer’s psyche. If you have the tenacity of Ambuja Cement and the tensile strength of Tata Steel your journey and transformation will be smoother.
And at the end of the day even if you still remain a gumnam commodity brand, no worries, you are the consumer’s bare necessities, he might not remember you but paradoxically he also cannot survive without you.
The writer is professor of marketing at IMI Delhi