“Branding helps sell the USP of your projects”

As the real estate industry becomes more mature, it is fast adopting corporatisation and branding practices to meet consumer expectations.

Oberoi Realty’s Reema Kundnani, Vice President, Marketing & Communication, speaks to 4Ps B&M’s Mona Mehta on how branding can help build trust and confidence among real estate buyers and sellers. Edited excerpts:

How is branding helping to change the image of the real estate industry?
The real estate industry is maturing and we are seeing a lot of corporatisation happening. The industry has now become serious about branding, positioning, promotions and building a reputation for itself like any other sector. In our case, Oberoi Realty has been positioned as a premium, high quality luxury brand in terms of project design and execution. That’s our USP and branding helps us maintain our track record in the industry.

What’s your approach to branding and what message it seeks to convey?
We believe in responsible branding and our adspend is geared towards consciously promoting our brand through responsible branding. Through our ads we tell customers what we stand for. The tagline of our ads say, “Our apartments are ready, are you?”Following the launch of Oberoi Splendour at JVLR at Andheri in Mumbai, we have moved 400 families into 3 BHK apartments that cost Rs.2.2 crore each.

Has branding helped in pushing sales and creating the right awareness?
Branding helps build the right perception in the minds of customers. The branding of Oberoi Realty, through which we target the upper premium income audience, is creating a similar perception in our TG. Right branding helps to create perceptions about ownership of a product with all its attendant benefits. By communicating about our brand, we have been able to create a vision of our product that’s high on technology and design experience.

What particular branding strategies have you gone for and how are they different from the others?
Oberoi Realty has adopted two to three innovative branding strategies. Firstly, Oberoi Realty has tried to create a brand pull. We have been able to communicate that ours is a brand with premium and luxury positioning quality and design. Secondly, we have focused on enriching the customer experience by letting customers feel and experience the product before they buy. Oberoi Realty has always tried to be different in its communication. We put up our ads without putting the location of the building, with the tagline, “location available on request.”

Does branding help real estate players to connect closely with consumers?
Branding is important for the real estate industry because there are thoughts, emotions and decisions involved in the purchase of your dream home. When it comes to expenses, buying a house is one of the costliest expenses for a buyer and there is a lot of emotional attachment involved. Oberoi Realty focuses on building high trust and transparency in all our projects. We do not discount prices because the involvement of buyers with the brand is that much higher.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Advertising - Hotspots and Rankings - International Curry

Some international campaigns succeed in creating momentously historic landmarks in the global advertising playfield. 4Ps B&M brings to you a review of one such stellar campaign that was active during the fortnight ending November 30, 2011

Served fresh!

Advertiser: Lay’s
Ad Title: Lay’s: Machine
Category: Ambient

4Ps TAKE: There are thousands of products out there across categories vying for your attention through multiple mediums. The flow of information is so overwhelming that after a certain point of time, your brain stops registering information. In fact, the human brain in the present time has developed a unique defense mechanism under the contours of which it only accepts what appeals to it the most. But some brands stand out with their approach and these are the ones which successfully manage to position themselves as category leaders resulting in increased market share. Lay’s happens to be one such brand. Years of careful and well crafted advertising has made it one of the most consumed potato chips in the world. The consistent challenge is to reinforce and consolidate its position. To achieve the same, Lay’s in association with +Castro (advertising agency) created a unique ambient campaign recently. The idea was to showcase transparency in terms of natural ingredients used. So while a lot of brands keep their ingredients secret (after all, what will you make out of monosodium glutamate, disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate?), Lay’s decided to communicate how 100% natural potatoes coupled with vegetable oil and a pinch of salt make their potato chips the best.

Conventionally, a classic sampling exercise would have sufficed. But Lay’s put up special vending machines in malls across US, which, instead of accepting coins, required just a natural potato to deliver the end product. Customers had pick a potato up, drop it into the machine to see the action starting. The shutter on the front panel of the machine would open to reveal the potato being processed (from peeling to chopping and then finally frying) and potato chips get finally delivered in a freshly sealed packet. The effect – people waited in queues for their turn just to see how 100% natural potato chips were being prepared. Just keep a close watch. Looking at the response, a vending machine might soon be coming up at a mall near you.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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GREEN PRODUCTS GO ON HOLD IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES

The patrons of green products are facing the burnt of economic conditions. While some are still thinking, most have gone back to cheaper non-greens

In August, Lloyd Alter came up against the limits of his environmental convictions when he had to replace the leaky roof on his house in Toronto.

“For years, I said I would install a reflective metal roof,” because it helps to reduce heat and lower energy costs during the summer, said Alter, an architect who writes about design for Treehugger, a sustainability-focused website. But “when push came to shove,” he said, “I bought asphalt (one which costs almost half of the metal roof and made from a a petroleum-based material).”

It is the kind of reality check that many eco-conscious consumers face these days. And like Alter, most have resorted to cutting their spending on a variety of items, particularly green products, which typically cost more than their non-green counterparts and can be difficult to justify, or even afford, when budgets are tight. In a bad economy, what used to seem essential can quickly become optional. At the same time, what was once merely fashionable can become a matter of necessity. Activities like growing and canning food, raising chickens and making your own clothes and other household goods are now seen by many as a way to economize while staying true to green values.

David Quilty, a blogger in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has stopped buying organic cotton T-shirts and shopping for produce at Whole Foods. And after years of buying packaged cleaners and soaps from eco-friendly companies like Method and Seventh Generation, he can no longer afford them, he said, so he has started cleaning his home with a solution he whips up himself.

Not coincidentally, his widely read environmental blog, The Good Human, recently ran an article entitled “23 Ways to Use Vinegar for Nontoxic Cleaning.” One of a number of similar features that have appeared on the site in the past year, it is a sign of the blog’s shift toward a do-it-yourself mentality.

The same shift in focus is evident on other environmental blogs. Alter said he sees it playing out daily on Treehugger. “Had you come on the site four years ago, before the recession, you would have seen a post every day for a new bamboo shirt or bamboo sandals,” he said. “We do almost none of that stuff anymore, because people don’t have the money to buy it.”

Not surprisingly, the green products industry is feeling the pinch. Laura Batcha, Executive Vice President, Organic Trade Association, said that while the organic-goods sector has boomed in the past eight years, going up to $29 billion from $9 billion in sales, the industry’s yearly growth rates dropped to less than 6% in 2010, from between 15 and 20% previously.

And some brands have felt the pain more than others. According to SymphonyIRI Group, a market research firm that tracks mass-market stores (excluding Wal-Mart), sales of Clorox Green Works tub cleaner and dish detergent each dropped by more than 30% in the 12-month period ending in early September. And another popular green brand Seventh Generation has seen a drop in sales of items like paper towels, which are down by more than 15% during the same period. Meanwhile, pricier items like hybrid cars have seen sales decline by more than 20% in the past year, according to Baum & Associates, another market-research firm.

Despite all that, Batcha insists that the green industry is continuing its “uphill climb” (the industry’s growth rates are back in the low double-digits this year, she said, although she was unable to provide specific numbers), and most people aren’t making a choice between green and cheap. At the moment, however, many eco-minded consumers seem to be wary of both.

Not long ago, Alter found himself in a grocery store, trying to decide between $10-half-kilogram organic bacon and a nonorganic brand that cost $5. In the end, he didn’t buy either one.

For Erin Peters, a stay-at-home mother of three who began using green products four years ago, the do-it-yourself approach was a response to what she thought was a temporary financial hardship. But despite forgoing things like green cleaning products and organic food, Peters said, she thinks she is living in a more sustainable way than she did before.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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“DESIGN BUSINESSES TO DELIVER RESULTS”

Operational ceos design businesses with the same rigour and discipline that they expect their teams to bring to designing new products, identifying clear requirements for operational performance and evaluating alternative operating model designs.

The challenges facing CEOs have never been greater: increasingly demanding customers, rapidly changing technology, accelerating industry dynamics, global competition. This tough business environment has seen the emergence of a new generation of ‘operational CEOs’. These are results-driven, operationally-savvy executives who realise that strategy on its own isn’t enough; delivering results requires a mastery of operational strategy. They take their inspiration from companies like Southwest Airlines, Toyota and Zara, who have leveraged operational strategy to create innovations that have profoundly altered the dynamics of their industries.

Managing outcomes
Being operational doesn’t mean that CEOs need to manage operations directly. Instead, they focus on managing the outcomes. They understand that businesses and their operations need to be explicitly designed, not just left to evolve organically, and that they have a critical role in defining the performance that each part of their business must deliver. They design businesses with the same rigour and discipline that they expect their teams to bring to designing new products, identifying clear requirements for operational performance and evaluating alternative operating model designs. They realise that sometimes incremental improvements aren’t enough; significant changes to their company’s operating model may be required to deliver the results they need.

Operational CEOs understand that all components of what a business does, from customer acquisition to customer service and support, need to be viewed in an operational context. They know the strengths and limitations of their current operating model and how it is different from their competitors. They have a firm grasp of the key operational metrics for every part of their business and understand the interdependencies between them and the performance trade-offs involved.

Designing & implementing new operating models
Start-ups have the chance to create their operating models from scratch – which is why they can be so dangerous. Operational CEOs understand how the limitations of their current operating model can constrain the strategic options available to their business. They also recognise the potential of operational innovation to change the basis of competition. They know the key design decisions businesses in their industry need to make and the time and cost involved in making changes to the different components of their operating model. Faced with significant uncertainty, operational CEOs put a premium on flexibility, and they design operating models that can respond rapidly to new opportunities and changing market conditions.

Zara: fast fashion delivers results
Zara, the Spanish fashion retailer, demonstrates how operational innovation and a radically different operating model can redefine the basis of competition and deliver superior business results. The company’s strategic vision is to deliver value-based fashion – fast. Zara can get new clothing designs from the drawing board onto store shelves in as little as two weeks, while it takes most retailers four to twelve months. The key to the company’s success is a high-speed operating model that integrates every aspect of the business, from product development to retail.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
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IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM in sync with the best of the business world.......
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