Branding

A FINAL PROJECT On EFFECT OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION Submitted in fulfillment for award of degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA) from MDU, Rohtak (Session 2008-2010)

PROJECT SUPERVISOR: DR. R.N. SINGH

Submitted by: Anand Khandelwal REG. NO. 05-VB -864

Institute of Management & Technology (Approved by AICTE & Affiliated to M. D. University, Rohtak) Near Sai Dham, Tigaon Road, Fariabad-121002 N B A – A I C T E Accredited Institute

Declaration I, Anand khandelwal, Registration No. 05-VB-864 Student of MBA of the INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY, Faridabad hereby declare that the Project entitled, “EFFECT OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION”is an original work and the same has not been submitted to any other institute for the award of any other degree. The interim report was presented to the supervisor on 20 Feb,2010 and the presubmission presentation was made on 15 Feb,2010. The feasible suggestion have been duly incorporated in consultation with the supervisor.

Countersigned

Signature of the Supervisor

Forwarded by Director/Principal Institute of Management & Technology

Signature of the candidate

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Concentration, dedication, hard work and application are essential but not the only factor to achieve the desired goal. Those must be supplemented by the guidance assistance and cooperation of experts to make it success. I express my deep and sincere gratitude to Dr. R.N SINGH, under whom guidance I did my project. I express my deep and sincere gratitude towards him for providing me first hand knowledge about other related subjects. I would like to extend my heart filled gratitude to, Dr. Parul Khanna, Dr. HARI OM SHARMA, Lect. S.B.Dubey whose directions & valuable inputs kept me motivated and inspired to keep working towards the objectives of the study. I am indebted to Dr. Ravi Handa (Director of Institute) without whose sincere gratitude this project would not have been possible. I would like to extend my heart filled to my parents. Without their contribution this project could not have been possible. At last but not least, I would like to thank GOD as God is everything. God gives us mind and allow us to do some meaning full task.

PREFACE Project Report is an essential part of any professional study. It introduces the students to the real world in which he/she is going to step in after his/her professional studies. Project Report introduces the student to the industry and tells him/her about the job aspects in the near future when he/she is about to leave the college for a job. My project titled “EFFECT OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION “has enabled me to have a broader knowledge about the HR Outsourcing. In the field of management apart from the theoretical knowledge practical knowledge is also an essential part, because it helps the student to gain knowledge of the ongoing changes required in the industry. I have tried to summarize all my observation, experience and the knowledge acquired in this project report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: introduction • Significance of problem • Review of existing literature • Conceptualization • Operationalization of the concept • Focus of the study • Objectives of the study • Limitations • References Chapter -2: Research Methodology • Universe and survey population • Profile of the organization • Research design • Sample size and techniques • Analysis pattern • Data collection Chapter-3 • Micro analysis Chapter-4 • Macro analysis Chapter -5

• Findings &Recommendations Bibliography Appendices Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it. A brand often includes a logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, sound and combination of all these which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. Brand equity measures the total value of the brand to the brand owner, and reflects the extent of brand franchise. The term brand name is often used interchangeably with "brand", although it is more correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of a brand. In this context a "brand name" constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through trademark registration.

REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE Too often even marketing professionals don't have an answer, and too many have their 'own' answer. Which makes life very confusing? We've trawled through our resources to find some of the best definitions: The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as:

"a name, sign or

symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors." Signs and symbols are part of what a brand is, but to us this is a very incomplete definition. Walter Landor, one of the greats of the advertising industry, said:

"simply put, a brand

is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality." In his book, 'Building Strong Brands' David Aaker suggests the brand is a 'mental box' and gives a definition of brand equity as: "a set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service..." This is an important point, brands are not necessarily positive! Building from this idea of a 'mental box' a more poetic definition might be:

"A brand is the most valuable real-estate in the world, a corner of the consumer's mind". These are all great definitions, but we believe the best is this: "A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer".

Brand monopoly In economic terms the "brand" is a device to create a monopoly — or at least some form of "imperfect competition" — so that the brand owner can obtain some of the benefits which accrue to a monopoly, particularly those related to decreased price competition. In this context, most "branding" is established by promotional means. There is also a legal dimension, for it is essential that the brand names and trademarks are protected by all means available. The monopoly may also be extended, or even created, by patent, copyright, trade secret (e.g. secret recipe), and other sui generis intellectual property regimes (e.g.: Plant Varieties Act, Design Act). In all these contexts, retailers' "own label" brands can be just as powerful. The "brand", whatever its derivation, is a very important investment for any organization. RHM (Rank Hovis McDougall), for example, have valued their international brands at anything up to twenty times their annual earnings. Often, especially in the industrial sector, it is just the company's name which is promoted (leading to one of the most powerful statements of "branding"; the saying, before the company's downgrading, "No-one ever got fired for buying IBM").

Brand Extension

An existing strong brand name can be used as a vehicle for new or modified products; for example, many fashion and designer companies extended brands into fragrances, shoes and accessories, home textile, home decor, luggage, (sun-) glasses, furniture, hotels, etc. Mars extended its brand to ice cream, Caterpillar to shoes and watches, Michelin to a restaurant guide, Adidas and Puma to personal hygiene. There is a difference between brand extension and line extension. When Coca-Cola launched "Diet Coke" and "Cherry Coke" they stayed within the originating product category: non-alcoholic carbonated beverages. Procter & Gamble (P&G) did likewise extending its strong lines (such as Fairy Soap) into neighboring products (Fairy Liquid and Fairy Automatic) within the same category, dish washing detergents.

Multi Brands In a market that is fragmented amongst a number of brands a supplier can choose deliberately to launch totally new brands in apparent competition with its own existing strong brand (and often with identical product characteristics); simply to soak up some of the share of the market which will in any case go to minor brands. The rationale is that having 3 out of 12 brands in such a market will give a greater overall share than having 1 out of 10 (even if much of the share of these new brands is taken from the existing one). In its most extreme manifestation, a supplier pioneering a new market which it believes will be particularly attractive may choose immediately to launch a second brand in competition with its first, in order to pre-empt others entering the market. Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of different products, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's perception of what business the company is in or diluting higher quality products.

Once again, Procter & Gamble is a leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as ten detergent brands in the US market. This also increases the total number of "facings" it receives on supermarket shelves. Sara Lee, on the other hand, uses it to keep the very different parts of the business separate — from Sara Lee cakes through Kiwi polishes to L'Eggs pantyhose. In the hotel business, Marriott uses the name Fairfield Inns for its budget chain (and Ramada uses Rodeway for its own cheaper hotels). Cannibalization is a particular problem of a "multibrand" approach, in which the new brand takes business away from an established one which the organization also owns. This may be acceptable (indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall. Alternatively, it may be the price the organization is willing to pay for shifting its position in the market; the new product being one stage in this process.

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Marketers engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand image may be developed by attributing a "personality" to or associating an "image" with a product or service, whereby the personality or image is "branded" into the consciousness of consumers. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. A brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition. When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. One goal in brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of the company present. For example, Disney has been successful at branding with their particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo) which it used in the logo for go.com. "DNA" refers to the unique attributes, essence, purpose, or profile of a brand and, therefore, a company. The term is borrowed from the biological DNA, the molecular "blueprint" or genetic profile of an organism which determines its unique characteristics.

Brand equity measures the total value of the brand to the brand owner, and reflects the extent of brand franchise. The term brand name is often used interchangeably with "brand", although it is more correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of a brand. In this context a "brand name" constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through trademark registration.

Brand energy is a concept that links together the ideas that the brand is experiential; that it is not just about the experiences of customers/potential customers but all stakeholders; and that businesses are essentially more about creating value through creating meaningful experiences than generating profit. Economic value comes from businesses’ transactions between people whether they be customers, employees, suppliers or other stakeholders. For such value to be created people first have to have positive associations with the business and/or its products and services and be energised to behave positively towards them – hence brand energy. It has been defined as "The energy that flows throughout the system that links businesses and all their stakeholders and which is manifested in the way these stakeholders think, feel and behave towards the business and its products or services."[citation needed]Attitude branding is the choice to represent a feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Marketing labeled as attitude branding includes that of Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, Safeway, and Apple Inc.

"A great brand raises the bar -- it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you're drinking really matters." - Howard Schultz (CEO, Starbucks Corp.)

The act of associating a product or service with a brand has become part of pop culture. Most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to designer clothes. In non-commercial contexts, the marketing of entities which supply ideas or promises rather than product and services (e.g. political parties or religious organizations) may also be known as "branding".

With the emergence of strong retailers, the "own brand", the retailer's own branded product (or service), emerged as a major factor in the marketplace. Where the retailer has a particularly strong identity, such as, in the UK, Marks & Spencer in clothing, this "own brand" may be able to compete against even the strongest brand leaders, and may dominate those markets which are not otherwise strongly branded. There was a fear that such "own brands" might displace all other brands (as they have done in Marks & Spencer outlets), but the evidence is that — at least in supermarkets and department stores — consumers generally expect to see on display something over 50 per cent (and preferably over 60 per cent) of brands other than those of the retailer. Indeed, even the strongest own brands in the United Kingdom rarely achieve better than third place in the overall market. The strength of the retailers has, perhaps, been seen more in the pressure they have been able to exert on the owners of even the strongest brands (and in particular on the owners

of the weaker third and fourth brands). Relationship marketing has been applied most often to meet the wishes of such large customers (and indeed has been demanded by them as recognition of their buying power). Some of the more active marketers have now also switched to 'category marketing' - in which they take into account all the needs of a retailer in a product category rather than more narrowly focusing on their own brand.

At the same time, generic (that is, effectively unbranded goods) have also emerged. These made a positive virtue of saving the cost of almost all marketing activities; emphasizing the lack of advertising and, especially, the plain packaging (which was, however, often simply a vehicle for a different kind of image). It would appear that the penetration of such generic products peaked in the early 1980s, and most consumers still seem to be looking for the qualities that the conventional brand provides.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Whatever else is may be in our lives-child, Parent, student, worker, jogger, or stamp collector- we are all consumers, all of our days. We buy and use goods and services constantly, to eat; to wear, to read, to watch, to play, to travel in, to keep us healthy, to make us wealthy, and if not wise at least better educated, the act of consumption is therefore an integral and intimate part of our daily existence. And that is there whether we have a lot of money to spend or little. In every long country of the world, billions of purchase of goods and services are made every year. In the U.S. for example, the activity now accounts for most of the economy- some $4 trillion, or about two third of the annual gross national product.

BUYING BEHAVIOUR

Consumer decision making varies with type of buying decision. The decision to buy toothpaste, a tennis racket, a personal computer and a new car are all very different. Complex and expensive purchases are likely to more buyer deliberation and more participants. Assael distinguished four types of consumer buying behavior based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of differences among brands.

COMPLEX BUYING BEHAVIOUR Consumers engage in complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. This is usually the case when the product is expensive, bought infrequently, risky and highly self-expressive. Typically the consumer does not know much about the product category and has much to learn. For example a person buying a personal computer may not know what attributes to look for. Many of the product features carry no meaning unless the buyer has done handsome research: “16K memory”, “disk storage”, “screen resolution”, and so on. Complex buying behavior involves a three-step process. First the buyer develops beliefs about the product. Second, he or she develops attitudes about the product. Third, he or she makes a thoughtful purchase choice. For the consumer’s information gathering and evaluation behavior the market needs to develop strategies.

DISSONANCE – REDUCING BUYER BEHAVIOR Sometimes the consumer is highly involved in purchase but sees little difference in the brands. The high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, in frequent, and demanding. In this case the buyer will shop around to learn what is available but will buy by fairly quickly, perhaps responding primarily to a good price or to a purchase convenience. For example carpet buying is an high involvement decision

because carpeting is expensive and self expressive yet a buyer may consider most carpet brands in a given price range to be the same. After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of the carpet or hearing favorable things about other carpets. The consumer will be alert to information that justifies his or her decision.

HABITUAL BUYING BEHAVIOR Many products are bought under conditions of low consumer involvement and the absences of significant brand differences. Consider salt, consumers have little involvement in this product category. They go to the store and reach for the brand. If they keep reaching for the same brand it is out of habit not strong brand loyalty. There is good evidence that consumers have low involvement with most low cost, frequently purchased products. With low involvement products, consumer behavior does not pass through the normal/attitude/behavior sequence. Consumers do not search extensively for information about the brands, evaluate their characteristics and make a weighty decision on which brands to buy.

VARIETY SEEKING BUYING BEHAVIOR Some buying situations are characterized by low consumer involvement but significant brand differences. The consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Think about cookies. The consumer has been some beliefs about cookies, chooses a brand of cookies without much evaluation and evaluates the product using consumption. But net time the consumer may reach for another brand out of boredom or a wish for a different taste. Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction.

OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT

Perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers is their ability to create, maintain, protect, and enhance brands. Branding is the art and cornerstone of marketing. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Thus a brand identifies the seller or maker. Under trademark law, the seller is granted exclusive rights to the use of the brand name in perpetuity. Brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyrights, which have expiration dates. A Brand is a complex symbol that can convey up to six levels of meaning. 1.

Attributes : A brand brings to mind certain attributes. Mercedes suggests expensive, well-built, well-engineered, durable, high-prestige automobiles.

2.

Benefits : Attributes must be translated into functional and emotional benefits. The attribute “durable” could translate into the functional benefit. ”I won’t have to buy another car for several years.” The attribute “expensive” translates into the emotional benefit “The car makes me feel important and admired.”

3.

Values : The brand also says something about the producer’s values. Mercedes stands for high performance, safety, and prestige.

4.

Culture : The brand may represent a certain culture. The Mercedes represents German Culture organized, efficient, high quality.

5.

Personality : The brand can research research project a certain personality. Mercedes may suggest a no-nonsense boss (person), a reigning lion (animal), or an austere palace (object).

6.

User : The brand suggests the kind of consumer who buys or uses the product. We would expect to see a 55-year-old top executive behind the wheel of Mercedes, not a 20year old secretary.

Companies need to research the position their brand occupies in the customer’s minds. According to Kevin Keller, “ What distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterparts is the consumer perceptions and feelings about the product’s attributes and how they perform. Ultimately, a brand resides in the mind of the Consumers”.

DECISION PROCESS Smart companies research the buying decision process involved in their product category. They ask consumers when they first became acquainted with the product category and brands what their brand beliefs are how involved they are with the product, how they make their brand choices and how satisfied they are all. As per the ‘Stage model’ of the typical buying process, the consumer passes through 5 stages: problem recognition information search evaluation alternative, purchase decision and post purchase behavior, clearly the buying process start long before the actual purchase and has consequences long after ward.

The model implies that consumers pass sequentially through five stages in buying a product. But this is not the case, especially with low evolvement purchase. Consumers may skip or reverse some stages. Thus a woman buying her regular brand of toothpaste goes directly from the need for tooth to the purchase decision, skipping information search and evaluation. However we will use the model in figure because it captures the full range of consumer once again at Linda Brown and try to understand how she became interest in buying a laptop computer and the stages she went through to make her choice.

Branding and Advertising A brand is a product that provides functional benefits plus added values that some consumers value enough to buy. Brands do differ from each other but distinctiveness over and beyond this is highly desirable. In brand building, advertising works through the reinforcement hypothesis to build up, for buyers of the brand, a resonance or mutual interaction and reinforcement of behavior and attitudes. Once the brand is off the ground after building its position against other brands, this position is maintained largely by two factors: the brand’s functional performance in comparison with competitors and the added values that have been built in the main by the advertising. Branding and advertising are almost synonymous. There is an unspoken assumption:

PRODUCT + ADVERTISING = BRAND

In other words advertising idea is the brand property. Only advertising reaches a vast numbers of consumers that too economically.

BRAND BUILDING

1. BRAND BUILDING BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF WORLD FAMOUS EVENTS LIKE WORLD CUP (CRICKET) Surf Excel’s advertising during the world cup was talked about. The brief was to link Surf Excel with cricket and at the same time bring out the brand’s functions and benefits like stain removing. “The advertisement highlighted the core benefit of the brand – removal of stains”, says an HLL spokesperson. “That is why the client bought the idea immediately, even though the idea was not typically lever.” This ad. Campaign is an example of how a company can build its brand image by keeping a close watch on events taking place all around the world.

2. BRAND BUILDING THROUGH SHIFT IN ADVERTISING STRATEGY Onida’s brand image was being threatened by umpteen brands. It wanted an advertising strategy, which could communicate its contemporary, youthful premium brand image with an aim of cheeky arrogance. This arrogance stems from the fact that their T.V. is the best. This time they changed their familiar and successful devil, as they believed that the core of the brand is more important than symbols like the devil. So the new advertising with the airplane came up. This is the case of changing the brand image through advertising.

3. REINFORCING THE BRAND IMAGE Kelvinator has reinforced its ‘the coolest one’ image with series of ads. For example, in one of its advertisements a man sings attuned but gains appreciation when he feels cold and sings in his shivering voice once the refrigerator is opened. Despite Kelvinator’s ownership being shifted from whirlpool to Electrolux, the consumers still associate Kelvinator with ‘the coolest one.’ The advertisements were basically meant to bring Kelvinator back o top of mind consciousness. The idea came from rustic reasoning and the ads are being aired on star sports and Sony. This case endorses the fact that advertising can play a vital role in fixing the brand’s image in people’s minds.

4. BUILDING BRAND IMAGE KEEPING THE COMPETITORS IN MIND LG Electronics Fridge Sub branded PN system (preserve nutrition), was positioned as nutrition preserver. The ads said “from today, all other refrigerators become history; drawing attention to something that pushed their one benefit further towards the consumer. The advertising aimed at both the head and the heart. CTV

It was positioned as the right set for wrinkle free vision, nothing terribly 007-ish in it. The CTV’s eye adjusts itself to lighting conditions. This was their in other CTV’s also, so LG used preemptive advertising strategy to build its brand image.

5. BRANDING AN INDUSTRIAL HI – TECH PRODUCT INTEL (the third line) It is the world’s tenth most valuable brand. It is targeting the main stream market, with a special accent on home pc market, along with office use. Its global advertising sees the blue door opening- the viewer is sucked down a flash whirl, virtual town. The shear technical wizardry of the ad spots gelds the aura of a very hi- tech product and in this case well becomes the message itself. It also links it to the excitement of surfing the internet. It has positioned the brand as the internet dream machine.

6. EMOTIONS IN BRAND BUILDING WHEEL Wheel detergent powder was advertised using the emotion anger. Although it sounds negative, the trick clicked as the angry lady was calmed when she used the detergent which brought award to her husband. A successful campaign fixing the brand as a household middle class which the customer can identify. MAGGI Maggi tomato ketchup is illustrated as, ‘sauce ka big boss’. The tag line of Tomchi is ‘not too hot, not too sweet, tastes just right.’ It appears to be a direct hit

at Maggie’s ‘its different’ hot and sweet sauce. The communication is based on positioning of ‘tom chi’ as a sauce, which has a perfect balance of tomatoes for sweetness and spice of chilies. The Maggie sauce campaign with its famous Ajit jokes-‘Lilly don’t be silly’ or ‘boss has gone for a toss’, was path breaking. It has made the brand memorable. There is a new ad now, which explains the expansion advertising strategy. Maggie is continuously following upon. But whatever be the product, Maggie has remained and will remain etched in the customer’s mind as a dependable and a quality brand.

7. BUILDING BRAND THROUGH CORPORATE ADVERTISING ICICI ICICI has been building its identity over the last couple of years and the impact is that now a common man knows what ICICI stands for. In the common parlance it denotes trust and confidence. The new identity has given ICICI extra mileage in everything and advertisements have built trust in the group name thus helping leverage each product through cross-synergies, seamlessly. This trust has been built at a lower cost. The communication device used is very interesting as it educates the common man about his own money. This is the financial brand in the offering. (Currently their ad campaign has again undergone a change. Now they are focusing on “hassle free banking”.) DEBEERS

The DeBeers has rocketed this non-traditional brand from 1995 and its market has grown stupendously by 19.4% in 1997. The ratio of advertising to incremental sales was 1.2:100. The DeBeers Consolidated Mines manages consumer demand using advertising, publicity and trade. The brand plank was: diamonds are more modern and aspiring as compared to gold. Communication had two options: the woman as a self-purchaser buying with and without her husband’s approval or the husband surprising the wife. The second was preferred and thus the product was positioned as a highly emotionally charged surrogate for status. In TV there were two spots:1. Architect 2. ‘Hotel spot’ Print advertising focused on creating identification with women portrayed and directly compared costs with that of familiar objects. Diamond-testing information below the ad addressed the ‘knowledge issue’. These efforts changed the attitudes of viewers against diamonds. In 1997, diamonds were seen as more personal gifts. Nevertheless, diamonds had an upper hand on gold only in terms of beauty and status. In 1997 only, major change was in media when recall leapt up. The new wedding strategy was used and the new international ‘shadows’ execution looked stylish and elegant. Infomercials were run which addressed price, confidence and knowledge issues, the channel thus enabled them to get a long, complex message into a medium one having greatest reach and impact. No wonder Debeers is a name in itself.

Ref: Brand Equity (ET); Feb.2006

ADVERTISING THE HARD WAY VICCO It took Vicco 27 years to carve out a niche for itself. After five unsuccessful years of trying to sell Vicco Turmeric, it decided to use e fresh strategy. Other than packaging, communication of the brand was an important aspect used. Using the traditional ‘haldi’ ceremony, it positioned the product in the minds of the Indian women category. The core theme rekindled memories of tradition and happiness but also insisted upon daily application of the cream It also came up with a vanishing cream formulation and after extensive advertising in over a thousand movie halls and the television, the brand began to gain acceptance. Fair and Lovely’s introduction did not dent Vicco’s sales while Sangeeta bijlani endorsed the brand. With continuous harping on the natural benefits of turmeric cream, Vicco went ahead unfaltered by fairness creams and came to be known as a nationally recognized turmeric cream.

BRAND EQUITY The equity of a brand is measured by the awareness and the image which it evokes. This is a natural measurement, since the brand is the symbol. Brand awareness relates to the number of persons who recognized the brand significance and who are conscious of the promise which the symbol express. The aim of advertising is to reveal the meaning of the brand and to spread it as far and as wide as possible to encourage people to try the product offered.

The decision as to which of these different levels of awareness should be pursued depends on the way in which customers are expected to make their choice, and the degree of personal involvement.

BRAND POSITIONING “Product positioning refers to the consumer’s perception of a product’s attribute, use, quality and advantages and disadvantages in relation to competing brands.” Berkowitz, Kerlin, Rudelius “Product positioning refers to the place an offering occupies in the consumer’s mind on important attributes relative to competitive offerings.” Market positioning is “arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place in market and in the minds of target consumers.”

USEFULNESS OF POSITIONING As competition intensifies and brands proliferate, consumers tend to differentiate between brands in their own way. Positioning is a conscious attempt on the part of the marketer to accentuate this natural tendency and in the process, impart a distinct identity to his own brand to make it stand out among the competitors. The basis on which this differentiation is achieved reflects consumer preferences or attitudes. The marketer, through his diverse and coordinated actions, tries to influence this process. The concept of positioning is also important in various other aspects of the marketing strategy. Once one is clear about the position one wants, the other marketing decisions like product design, packaging, pricing, method of distribution, etc., become clearer.

BRANDING OF COMMODITIES

In the past, in India, most commodities were sold in unbranded form. Today we notice the reverse trend. It all started in early Nineties when foodgrains and spices were offered in branded form. Vegetables followed this, and so did salt, sugar, etc. Today, more marketers have jumped into the bandwagon. Say, Tata salt has used corporate name, oranges are stamped with the growers level; tea s sold in special pack, design or names, common nuts and bolts are packaged in cellophane with the distributor’s symbol, and automobile components- spark plug, tyres, filter-bear separate brand names from the automakers. This craze for branded commodities is also a result of the changed lifestyle of people, specially working couples who have high disposable incomes and for whom quality and convenience now take priority. Marketers are flocking to the commodity market because of huge size they offer. For instance, the branded rice market is at Rs. 1100 crore which constituted just about 10 % of the rice market. This goes to show the immense opportunity. Generally speaking, marketers have added value to commodities through branding, be it fertilizer, salt, spices, flour, rice or sugar. Hindustan Lever has achieved a thundering success when they differentiated its DAP fertilizer under the brand name of “paras”. Similarly, Brooke Bond has branded frozen vegetables with its Green Valley Brand. DCW Home product had modest success when it first launched Captain Cook Salt and followed it up with Captain Cook Atta. Siel is into sugar, NEPC has offered atta, maida, sooji and spices.

Advantages

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The brand name makes it easier for the marketer to process orders & track down problems associated with the brand.

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The marketer’s brand name & trademark provide legal protection( patent or copyrights) of the unique features, which would otherwise be copied by competitors.

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Branding gives the marketer the opportunity to attract loyal and profitable segment of customers. Loyalty created over time offers the unique advantage of having assured customer base against competition & greater control in their marketing programmed.

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It is wrong to assume that any commodity market is a homogeneous mass. Instead, the task lies in skillfully identifying the different segments & understanding their specific needs. Branding helps marketer to form suitable segmentation of the market. Different brands can be aimed at different segments of customers.

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In the long run it helps to build a strong association with the consumers as well as the trade. By highlighting the same name, they could project their quality and image of the company.

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Last, but most important, to derive the first mover’s advantage and tap the huge market potential.

CUSTOMER’S BENEFITS Branding of commodity products not only benefits the organization but it also helps the customer.

1) Quality: - Customer will get the quality product from the wide variety of similar products. a) The risk of getting adulterated product is minimized. For example unbranded masala etc. may be adulterated which not only affects the taste of the food but also affects the health of the person. b) The manufacturing date is printed on the packet of branded commodity which helps him to know how old the product is. For example the local grocery shop can give the old Atta to the customer telling as fresh Atta but for branded customer can read the manufacturing as well as expiry date.

2) Quantity: - In branded commodity products the customer is getting the right quantity of product. The grocery shop cannot give him less amount.

3) Price:- The price of branded commodity product is fixed so a shopkeeper cannot change it & customer cannot be cheated. For branded commodity products the shopkeeper has to charge the same price from a child or an adult customer. 4) Value For Money:- The branded commodity product saves time of a customer because the customer does not have to waste time in removing unwanted material from the commodity products. Customer easily identifies the branded commodity. Customer knows the special attributes or benefits.

Challenges in Branding Commodities The commodity market is generally driven by price. Besides, consumers, by and large, show n involvement in selection of a commodity. Under such conditions, to make them insensitive to price itself is a very difficult task. And, afterwards to create a preference for more sustained efforts on the part of any marketer. Of course, the challenges are slowly taking place in cites and big towns where consumers are able to appreciate the benefits of buying a branded commodity. Branded commodity is a marketing exercise at a very fundamental level. Unlike in consumer goods market where the marketer can play around with consumer perception, brand differentiation etc, in a commodity, branding is about going to the basics or exploring at the grass-root level. To quote, David Aaker,” It involves overturning the rules of the market, establishing new selling propositions in the market, establishing new selling propositions in the market which so far has been driven largely by price. And everything from positioning, pricing, brand value & packaging takes on a new sensitivity”. Brand building involves cost, apart from additional cost incurred in packaging, labeling, advertising, legal protection & a risk that if the brand should prove unsatisfactory to the user, the company’s image would suffer & it may even affect market for other products of the company. Thus the challenges involved are formidable. Still any marketer prefers to brand it because of many unique advantages.

PACKAGING AS A DIFFERENTIATING STRATEGY

The package provides the buyer’s first encounter with the product & is capable of turning him “on” or “off”. Many marketers have called packaging a 5 th P along with Price, Product, Place & Promotion. Packaging is treated as an element of the product strategy. Well-designed packages can create an image of convenience and quality for the consumer and promotional value for the producer. This could be a useful tool for justifying the premium charged. Inertia Industries Limited (IIL) launched their premium of Sand Piper beer in1993, but the response was less than encouraging as the customer could not associate ubiquitous brown bottle with a premium beer & hence the price charged struck a discordant note with the customer. In 199, to rectify the defect, the company went for the relaunch & the packaging was changed to green bottle with a golden champagne foil top. IIL now repositioned Sand Pipers as the “champagne of beers”. The effect was startling. It sold out 37,000 cases as compared to merely 3000 cases a year before.

IMPORTANCE OF PACKAGING IN COMMODITY PRODUCTS Packaging plays a very important role in commodity products. For example, ‘Uncle Chipps’ potato chips are based on its delivery of freshness, crispness & retention of flavor. This is possible by use of packaging technology wherein the product is packed in air-tight metal foil packets filled with nitrogen atmosphere to prevent air from leaking in & spoiling the product. Moreover, at a time when potato chips were available only in colorless, transparent, their quality plastic packages, ‘Uncle Chipps’ was the first to use packets made of air impermeable metal foil which was brightly colored for visual differentiation.

FOCUS OF PROBLEM

Price or a discernible better quality Branding can be viewed as a tool to position a product or a service with a consistent image of quality and value for money to ensure the development of a recurring preference by the customer. It is common knowledge that the consumer’s choice is influenced by many surrogates of which the simplest one is a brand name. Although there may be equally satisfying products, the consumer when satisfied with some brand does not want to spend additional effort to evaluate the other alternative choices. Once he or she has liked a particular brand, he or she tends to stay with it, unless there is a steep rise in the product comes to his/her knowledge, which prompts the consumer to switch the brand.

OBJECTIVE OF PROJECT WORK

Main Objective:The main objective of research is to analysis how the brand effects the customer purchasing decision in FMCG goods and durable goods

Sub Objective:The sub objective of research is to understand the choice of the customer is branded or non-branded goods.

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING A PARTICULAR RESEARCH PROPOSAL Branding can be viewed as a tool to position a product or a service with a consistent image of quality and value for money to ensure the development of a recurring preference by the customer. It is common knowledge that the consumer’s choice is influenced by many surrogates of which the simplest one is a brand name. Although there may be equally satisfying products, the consumer when satisfied with some brand does not want to spend additional effort to evaluate the other alternative choices. Once he or she has liked a particular brand, he or she tends to stay with it, unless there is a steep rise in the price or a discernible better quality product comes to his/her knowledge, which prompts the consumer to switch the brand.

Companies spend a lot of money and time on the branding and thus it needs a careful evaluation on the effect of branding on consumer buying behavior.

LIMITATION 1

Lack of Differential Advantage Products fail when customers do not perceive them as better value than existing options.

2

Too Slow Development. Speed of entry or design of new products is essential in the changing market where technology is readily available.

3

Poor Planning. Error in judgement about target market/segment, in accurate positioning often misses the opportunities.

4

Lack of Managment Enthusiasm. Management is, at times, complacent & avoids entry into new area.

5

Lack of Organization’s Expertise. Managing new products may call for expertise, which an organization may sometimes lack.

6

Assigning inadequate resources to market development. Presuming that the product is so good that it will sell on its own can prove to be wrong as special efforts of market development are required.

7

Lack of Genuine Superiority. If a new product is merely & imitation of existing product, but claims superiority with which the consumers do not quite agree, the product will fail sooner or later.

8

Under Estimating The Competition. Underestimation of competitors’ capabilities & possible reactions is at times the cause of product failure. If the product launch is based on a lower cost of production & the assurance of good channel support. It may face its match by competitors.

9

Poor market Research. The wrong reading of consumers’ mind & arriving at an optimistic forecast of market demand is sometimes the reason for product failure.

10 Poor timing of Launch. Too early or too late an entry into the market is also a common cause of failure.

Chapterization Chapter 1: This chapter contains the information about the introduction of the topic. Chapter 2: This chapter contains the information about the research Methodology and profile of the organization. Chapter 3: This chapter contains the information about the micro analysis means objectives wise analysis. Chapter 4: This chapter contains the information about the macro analysis and this analysis is important as it cantinas the conclusion of this study also. Chapter5: This chapter contains the information about the summary of major observation & Recommendation.

NOTES (REFERENCES)

•

www.wikpedia.com

•

www.ril.com

•

www.google.com

•

www.projectsparadise.com

•

www.scribd.com

•

www.spencer.com

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps, the research process that is generally adopted to study the research problem and basic logics behind them. The basic steps in this research are shown in the chart below

The Research Process Define the research problem and its objectives Review concepts and theories Research design including sample design Collection of data survey

Analysis of data

Interpretation and report writing

The research consisted of two stages. In the first stage, a survey was conducted to collect the data about the people. The second stage involved analysis of the data collected in the first stage.

UNIVERSE AND SURVEY OF SAMPLE A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. If it refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample. Sample design may as well lay down the no. of items to be included in the sample. The researcher must prepare the sample design, which should be reliable for research study. The universe is finite universe where number of items is finite in the given problem the universe is infinite and whole NCR.

Profile of the Organization

BRAND EQUITY The equity of a brand is measured by the awareness and the image which it evokes. This is a natural measurement, since the brand is the symbol. Brand awareness relates to the number of persons who recognized the brand significance and who are conscious of the promise which the symbol express. The aim of advertising is to reveal the meaning of the brand and to spread it as far and as wide as possible to encourage people to try the product offered. The decision as to which of these different levels of awareness should be pursued depends on the way in which customers are expected to make their choice, and the degree of personal involvement.

BRAND POSITIONING “Product positioning refers to the consumer’s perception of a product’s attribute, use, quality and advantages and disadvantages in relation to competing brands.” Berkowitz, Kerlin, Rudelius

“Product positioning refers to the place an offering occupies in the consumer’s mind on important attributes relative to competitive offerings.” Market positioning is “arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place in market and in the minds of target consumers.”

USEFULNESS OF POSITIONING As competition intensifies and brands proliferate, consumers tend to differentiate between brands in their own way. Positioning is a conscious attempt on the part of the marketer to accentuate this natural tendency and in the process, impart a distinct identity to his own brand to make it stand out among the competitors. The basis on which this differentiation is achieved reflects consumer preferences or attitudes. The marketer, through his diverse and coordinated actions, tries to influence this process. The concept of positioning is also important in various other aspects of the marketing strategy. Once one is clear about the position one wants, the other marketing decisions like product design, packaging, pricing, method of distribution, etc., become clearer.

ELEMENTS OF POSITIONING Evidence has shown that there are four distinct variables that effect the position of a given product. These are:a) The product itself, b) The company behind it, c) The competition,

d) The consumers.

The Product How important the product is or what meaning it has for the consumer and how he relates to it. The fact that a product involves better ingredients or processes is a matter of indifference unless this knowledge offers distinct advantages to the consumer. There may be little point in lavishing sophisticated technology on certain packaging material if the customer consigns it to the dustbin as soon as he has unwrapped the product. In other words, one needs judgement of the dimensions, which are important to the customer. Conversely, packaging may be used to lend an aura of desirability to a product but its cost must finally be justified by its intensity of meaning to the customer.

The Company A product omes from a company and every company has its own history. Generally, the stronger the company profile the better the image of its products. For instance, consumers may perceive a better image of a product if it comes from e reputed house like Tatas. The company’s image also matters to th various channels of distribution involving traders and distributors especially retailers. Even where a company like Gujarat cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., is overshadowed by its popular brand name Amul, new product launches like Dhara(a non-Amul brand)

has been well received by trade

channels. Thus, first the company’s own image lends weight to the product’s positioning. Secondly, where it does not, as in the case of dhara, the company’s name still plays a

vital role in successfully launching the product & eventually creates the product position in the market.

The Competition Product positioning is invariably done in relation to various competitive offerings. In most cases, the consumers have a tendency to judge a product in comparison to the dominant brand, e.g., all photocopiers are compared with Modi Xerox, all PCs with HCL, toothpastes with Colgate & so on. Leading brand enjoys some edge over others. It is therefore imperative to assess the various competitors. In other words, selecting a slot distinctly different from the competitors can avoid a direct confrontation with them. While segmentation serves this purpose by dividing the market into smaller groups, positioning goes a step further to establish a distinct niche in consumer’s mind.

The Consumer It should be iterated that positioning is essentially based on consumer perception rather than factual evaluation. Hence, it becomes necessary to examine how the consumer views a product. Here, the consumers self-perception comes into play along with his cognitive and connotative factors. If he sees himself as modern & progressive, he will expect a more progressive product. If, on the contrary, he sees himself as traditional and possessing a taste for performance, then he is more likely to view changes as new fangled. Thus, it is important to know what kind of person the archetypal consumer is, his lifestyle, & his preferences.

Research design

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with economy in procedure. Here we have used descriptive research design. Since the aim is to obtain complete and accurate information in the said studies. The process had to be started from the grass root level and it was very important to understand the market for this IT product, which is very fast in production, distribution and consumption. The entire process was more of a Descriptive Research type and incorporated a formal study of the specific problems faced by most IT companies an exploring the opportunities in the untapped market. The survey was conducted on the basis of NOKIA’s product preference and evaluation of sales forecast in the new and underdeveloped market including the evaluation of the advertising and promotional measures. The data collected had to be systematically arranged, analyzed and reported in a form congenial to take on the spot decisions

The entire set of various segments in the population comprises all the retail store and outlets each retail store in the sampling frame constitute the sampling unit in brief we can say overall sampling is based on 100 people.

ANALYSIS OF PATTERN The collected data will be analyzed implementing appropriate statistical tools and analysis techniques. The chi-squre, correlation and ANOVA types of statistics will be executed to find out the trends of collected data. The trends of the obtained data will be exhibited through graphical presentation

Data Collection

Data has been collected both from primary as well as secondary sources as described below.

Primary sources The primary source of data was Questionnaire filled by people at different places of NCR. After the collection of data it was arranged and the people who were found suitable and interested were interviewed.

Secondary sources The secondary sources of data were the various websites and insurance manuals. This mainly provided information about the insurance sector and the company’s profile. These helped in gaining knowledge about the industry. These sources are listed in References.

•

Descriptive Research is being done which includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds

•

Secondary data is being collected from different sources such as brand equity, brand reporter, web sites, etc

•

Structured questionnaire is being prepared so as to know consumer buying behavior

•

Graphs and diagrams are drawn out of the data analysis

MIRCO ANALYSIS

1. Are you Brand loyal customer?

Graph shows that most of &60%) of the respondents are brand loyal.

2. Which attributes did attract you to purchase branded products? Rank these attributes in order of their importance to you.

Brand Name Price Easy Availability Transparent Cleanliness Others

5 2 4 3 5 1

Most of the respondents says that cleanliness, transparency and brand name effects their purchasing decision of branded products.

3. What was the reason for the delay between the purchase decision and the actual purchase?

Financial constraints Waiting for more innovative product Waiting for market response

4 10 6

4. What influenced you to buy the above stated brand(s)?

Advertising Word of mouth Attractive packaging Dealer Shop display Family/Friend/Relatives Others

5. Influence of brand name on purchase decision

3 6 4 0 3 3 1

6. Influence of quality ON purchase decision

7. INFLUENCE OF PRICE ON PURCHASE DECISION

8. INFLUENCE OF PRODUCT FEATURES ON PURCHASE DECISION

9. INFLUENCE OF FAMILY MEMBERS ON PURCHASE DECISION

10. INFLUENCE OF PEER GROUP ON PURCHASE DECISION

11. INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISEMENT ON PURCHASE DECISION

Companies are paying millions of dollars on their advertising campaign. The purpose of advertising is differs from company to company. Some has brand awareness or some has sales, as this main objective for adverting.

But does advertising really influences

purchase decision of customers it is the biggest whirlpool for every marketer. According to our survey about 70% of the respondents said that their purchase decisions were influenced by advertisement.

12. Will you like to switch your brand preference if you get some promotional scheme with another brand?

Yes

7

No

13

Out 20 respondents most of them said that they were change their brand preference if they get some promotional schemes of another brand.

13. Do you think branded products are better than unbranded products?

Yes No

14 6

The graph shows that 70% of the respondents prefer branded products.

MACRO ANALYSIS

A brand is more than just a product. A product is what a company makes. A brand is what customer buys-hopes/expectation/services. Most of the company is acquired for the brand it has built not for its real estate, plant etc., according to our survey about 80% of the respondents agree on the fact that brand name influence the buying decisions. Brands, which have positive image like Nike, Reebok, Mercedes, Volvo Tata etc., differently influence the buying behavior of the customer. Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy or implied needs. According to G.E’s chairman, John F. Welch Jr. “Quality is our best assurance of customer allegiance, our strongest defense against foreign competition and the only path to sustained growth and coming. In the purchase decision quality of the product is one of the important factor considered by customers. As date also shows that about 90% of the respondent either agree or strongly agree on this aspect. During survey it company provide good quality. In market there are brands like Sony which have better quality and have very good brand equity. A critical marketing mix tool is price, the amount of money that customers pay for the product company has to decide on wholesale and retail prices, discounts, allowances and credit terms. Its price should be commensurate with the offer’s perceived value. If it is not, buyers will turn to competitors’ product. So we can say that price is definitely one of the important factor which influence buying decision of customers, according to the survey about 70% of the respondent agree on this fact and rest of the respondent said that them price is not an important consideration while buying they look for quality and brand.

Days are gone when there are few players in the market now competition is so intense that one can’t sustain without having good quality and advanced technology in their products. Specially in the consumer durable segment product feature becomes more important. And this is also reflected by the survey, 75% of the respondent said that product feature influence. This purchase decision. Family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society. Family members constitute the most influential primary group. Influence of family members in high involvement product category is more, According to survey about 70% of the respondent said that their purchase decisions were influenced by family members, it was quit interesting that about 10% respondent neither agree nor disagree on this point. Besides from the family members, our most of time spend with our peer group. Our living style affected by the group to which we belong, and our buying behavior is also influence by the friends and relatives. According to our survey about 60% respondents said that peer group influenced their purchase decisions. And especially in the case when a person did not have the sufficient knowledge about the product or brand the influence is more.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR OBSERVATINS

Reason for failure of Branded Commodity A number of reasons can be attributed to the success of a brand. However, the same cannot be said for the failure of a brand in the market place. Often, the reason may could be as simple & mundane as I. Unattractive packaging. II. Improper naming of the brand, III. Bad product quality, IV. Marketers not being able to understand the core needs of the consumer properly.

Still serious lapses, which are attributed for failures, are

Inadequate differentiation or me-too syndrome. The most common reason for failure is that the marketers launch products, which are, simply clones of brands already in the market. These new products failed to stand out in crowd. In fact, often lack of imagination prevents marketers to create a significant difference with the existing options. For example Nirma Bath was launched a few years ago in competition of lifebuoy. The brand was just me-too offering & had nothing new to offer to consumer & attempted to cash in on run-away success of Nirma washingPowder which had stormed the Indian detergent market.

Price – convenience equation. Many new packaged food products come into market on convenience platform. That is, the consumer can get rid of some tedious chores simply by paying little more price for the product. The point to calculate here is, just how much will a customer pay for the product. The point to calculate here is, just how much will a customer pay for the convenience. If the convenience-price ratio is not right, the new product has little chance to succeed. All Seasons Foods’ Package chatni & sambars

failed as a result of getting this

convenience-price ratio wrong. The basic idea behind the chatni & sambhars was right. All Seasons calculated that housewives would be only too glad to snap up packaged sambars & chatnis if a company with good credentials sold them. The company bought a state-of-the-art plant from US to produce the proper quality & taste. But the product failed to take off. The reason; the products were prohibitively priced. A chatni bottle half the size of a ketch-up bottle cost twice as much. For most housewives, that did not make any sense. A tomato ketch-up took hours to prepare, & most housewives were only too glad to get it in packaged form. A sambar or chatni required far less effort to cook, & paying a premium for a bottled version was really worth the effort.

Positioning. Improper positioning sometimes brings disasters For example

Milkfood

Yogurt

Milkfood was

a successful icecream

in

North India. However when the company decided to make this line extension through Milkfood Yogurt, it did not succeed.

The problem was that it was never clearly

communicated what the yogurt was all about. The advertising projected it as a superior form of curd, but consumers mistook it as a novel form of ice cream. The Milkfood

name (associated with icecream) was there on packaging as large as life. The yogurt cost Rs.5.50 & Rs.6.50 for different variants (against a Vanilla cup of same size which came for Rs.4). The end result was that the consumer refused to pay the premium. Prices were slashed to Rs.5, but it did not help. i)

Distribution Channel. Another major reason why new product

ii)

often fail in the market is improper understanding of the distribution channel. A manufacturer often chooses distribution channel which he is familiar with-not one which is suited for the product.

iii)

For example Ruffles Chips. Pepsi’s Ruffles chips also failed due to lack of distribution support. Pepsi could not convenience to distributors to carry this product through. While their soft drinks could hold out, their chips got crushed & mangled.

Improper Pricing. Success of a new brand depends to a large extent on initial price setting. The popular saying that one must get value for one’s money, because when the consumer has inclination to buy new offering, there should be a clear benefits.

CONCLUSION

Reason for failure of Branded Commodity A number of reasons can be attributed to the success of a brand. However, the same cannot be said for the failure of a brand in the market place. Often, the reason may could be as simple & mundane as V. Unattractive packaging. VI. Improper naming of the brand, VII. Bad product quality, VIII. Marketers not being able to understand the core needs of the consumer properly.

Still serious lapses, which are attributed for failures, are

Inadequate differentiation or me-too syndrome. The most common reason for failure is that the marketers launch products, which are, simply clones of brands already in the market. These new products failed to stand out in crowd. In fact, often lack of imagination prevents marketers to create a significant difference with the existing options. For example Nirma Bath was launched a few years ago in competition of lifebuoy. The brand was just me-too offering & had nothing new to offer to consumer & attempted to cash in on run-away success of Nirma washingPowder which had stormed the Indian detergent market.

Price – convenience equation. Many new packaged food products come into market on convenience platform. That is, the consumer can get rid of some tedious chores simply by paying little more price for the product. The point to calculate here is, just how much will a customer pay for the product. The point to calculate here is, just how much will a customer pay for the convenience. If the convenience-price ratio is not right, the new product has little chance to succeed.

All Seasons Foods’ Package chatni & sambars

failed as a result of getting this

convenience-price ratio wrong. The basic idea behind the chatni & sambhars was right. All Seasons calculated that housewives would be only too glad to snap up packaged sambars & chatnis if a company with good credentials sold them. The company bought a state-of-the-art plant from US to produce the proper quality & taste. But the product failed to take off. The reason; the products were prohibitively priced. A chatni bottle half the size of a ketch-up bottle cost twice as much. For most housewives, that did not make any sense. A tomato ketch-up took hours to prepare, & most housewives were only too glad to get it in packaged form. A sambar or chatni required far less effort to cook, & paying a premium for a bottled version was really worth the effort.

Positioning. Improper positioning sometimes brings disasters For example

Milkfood

Yogurt

Milkfood was

a successful icecream

in

North India. However when the company decided to make this line extension through Milkfood Yogurt, it did not succeed.

The problem was that it was never clearly

communicated what the yogurt was all about. The advertising projected it as a superior form of curd, but consumers mistook it as a novel form of ice cream. The Milkfood name (associated with icecream) was there on packaging as large as life. The yogurt cost Rs.5.50 & Rs.6.50 for different variants (against a Vanilla cup of same size which came for Rs.4). The end result was that the consumer refused to pay the premium. Prices were slashed to Rs.5, but it did not help. iv)

Distribution Channel. Another major reason why new product

v)

often fail in the market is improper understanding of the distribution channel. A manufacturer often chooses distribution channel which he is familiar with-not one which is suited for the product.

vi)

For example Ruffles Chips. Pepsi’s Ruffles chips also failed due to lack of distribution support. Pepsi could not convenience to distributors to carry this product through. While their soft drinks could hold out, their chips got crushed & mangled.

Improper Pricing. Success of a new brand depends to a large extent on initial price setting. The popular saying that one must get value for one’s money, because when the consumer has inclination to buy new offering, there should be a clear benefits.

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Rural market. Knowing the huge size of rural population of India it is natural that the rural market is attractive to marketers. Company should study purchasing power, life styles, buying habits, optimal usage level. Brooke Bond for instance could capture the crux of the challenge when they started marketing Re 1 tea packets. 2. Understanding role of children . Marketers should study the role of children in buying decision – as influencers and decision makers. How ever, the challenge remain how does one communicate with children? Advertising recalls being more in the case of children-one way is clear but with every one trying to apply the same technique, marketers will be gradually disillusioned with the method.

Possible ways of

circumventing this problem may be to market the product through schools or to use the imitative tendencies of children by influencing their peers. 3 Distribution. Distribution cost are an increasing component of marketing cost marketers will have to find ways through which one can achieve efficient as well as economic distribution. One solution is joint distribution or by adopting direct marketing. 4. Packaging. With self-shopping gaining grounds and selfspace getting limited, packaging becomes an important factor that marketers have to be concern about. Companies should identify the requirements and pack commodities according to demand. 5 Customer service challenge. In an increasingly competitive market, retention of a customer is possible only through better service. Marketers will require to devote to

more efforts to understand the customer view of quality and convenience. Marketers should do regular research to find this fact. 6 Adaptation to newer environment . As government withdraw entry barriers and relax restriction on merger or take over many companies should install superior technology and resort to merger – acquisition route to make their unit more efficient. 7 Creativity and innovation in overall marketing programmes . Marketers have to develop organizational structure style and functioning, which enable them to act fast and bring in innovations in their marketing programmes

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kevin Lane Keller (2004), Strategic Brand Management, 2nd edition, Pearson Education, New Delhi Consumer Behavior, 6th Edition, by Lean G.Sehiffman and Leslic lazan Kanuk. Consumer Behavior, 6th Edition, by Hawkins, Best ad Coney. Brand Management by YLR Moorthi Building Brand Directly by Stewant Pearson Building Strong Brands by David A. Aaker. Consumer Behavior by Robert East

Brand Equity (Economic Times)

A & M – 1 – 15 October 2005, 30 April 2005

APPENDICES QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Are you a brand loyal customer? 

Yes

 No

2. Which attributes did attract you to purchase branded products? Rank these attributes in order of their importance to you.

 Brand Name 

Price

 Cleanliness



Easy Availability





Transparent

Others

3. What was the reason for the delay between the purchase decision and the actual purchase? 

Financial constraints



Waiting for more innovative product



Waiting for market response

4. What influenced you to buy the above stated brand(s) ? 

Advertising

 Shop Display



Word of mouth

 Family/Friend/Relatives



Attractive packaging

 Any Other



Dealer

5. Influence of Brand name on purchasing decision 

Agree

 Disagree



Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

6. Influence of Quality on Purchase Decision 

Agree

 Disagree



Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

7. Influence of Price on Purchase Decision  Agree

 Disagree

 Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

8. Influence of Product features on Purchase Decision 

Agree

 Disagree



Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

9. Influence of Family members on Purchase Decision



Agree

 Disagree



Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

10. Influence of Peer group on Purchase Decision 

Agree

 Disagree



Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

11. Influence of Advertisement on Purchase Decision Agree

 

 Disagree

Strongly Agree

 Strongly disagree

12. Will you like to switch your brand preference if you get some promotional scheme with another brand? 

Yes

 No

13. Do you think branded products are better than unbranded products? 

Yes

 No

NAME OF THE RESPONDENT: ADDRESS: EDUCATIONAL QUALITICATION: OCCUPATION: AGE:

MONTHLY INCOME: