As an old advertising and brand communications professional in India, I realise that I am writing this post at the time of year when companies gear up for annual appraisals, promotions, increments, etc. It’s a time when employees and company leadership take stock of people’s careers, how they’re faring, what areas of weakness if any… Continue reading What it Means to Be a Woman Professional Amidst So-called Entrepreneurs in India
Recently, I wrote a piece here on my blog examining how much had really changed in the way consumers make their brand purchase decisions in today’s world. And I concluded that while plenty had changed in the technology dimension of advertising and marketing, consumers still make their brand choice decisions the way they always have.… Continue reading Advertising and Media in The New World
In connection with my last blog post on brands in which I had written about how brands that take a long hiatus can make a comeback, I would now like to think and write about hugely successful brands that lose their way. Not that they disappear, just that they seem to be stuck in a… Continue reading Nothing Succeeds Like Success, Until You’re Lost
In the fall of 2020, we were relieved to see a recovery in the sales of passenger vehicles in India, as people clearly showed a preference for owning their own private transport in the post-lockdown phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Companies were reporting better sales as the previous couple of years had seen a slowdown,… Continue reading Motown Caught Between Recovery and Slowdown
There are many brands that we grow up with and are an intrinsic part of our lives. Some fade away into oblivion, but most stay around and strengthen their relationships with consumers. And even when we outgrow them, there is always another set of consumers to take our place. There’s a curious thing I observed… Continue reading Brands Relaunching After a Long Hiatus.
We all talk of brand equity, especially in the advertising and brand communications industry. The Economic Times in India even has an advertising and marketing supplement called Brand Equity. What exactly do we mean, when we speak of brand equity? The term has come to encompass many aspects of a brand’s growth, from brand awareness… Continue reading Between Equity and Valuations, What Brands Represent
I remember digital media being the shiny new thing on the horizon, the year Apple launched the iPhone and the smartphone era was born. That was 2007, and there have been plenty of disruption and changes since then. Much water has flowed under the digital bridge and nowhere more so, than in the advertising landscape.… Continue reading What the Digital Medium Needs, To Be a True Brand-building Medium
It has been around three decades since Indian companies started going global. First, was the Aditya Birla Group, followed by the Tata Group, Mahindra, Godrej, Airtel, Reliance and many more. What does their internationalization tell us about their brands globally, and have they even begun thinking of themselves as multinational brands? The one strange feature… Continue reading Indian Brands in the Global Arena
In addition to my last blog post in which I had shared five of my presentations on the building blocks of brand development, I thought it might make sense to explore other aspects of brand-building as well. I have been thinking about these subjects for many years, while observing developments in the advertising and marketing… Continue reading Brands Need Long-term Vision and Care
The past two years have been anything but benign for the Indian automobile industry. As I had written in a blog post more than a year ago, many factors are to blame for the state of the business. However, I don’t think any automobile company in India has suffered as much as Tata Motors has.… Continue reading The Road Ahead for Tata Motors
Peripatetic Perch 