PROJECT REPORT ON BRAND MANAGEMENT (AMUL)

Submitted To: Ms. Megha Varma Kumar

Submitted By: Dinesh MBA -4th

Sem. 07MBA12

RAMANUJAN COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

PALWAL

DECLARATION

I, hereby declare that this project titled Amul Brand:-A Critical Analysis is prepared by me, during the academic year 2008-09 under the guidance of Ms. Megha Varma , Faculty of Ramanujan College of Management, Palwal. I also declare that this project work is the result of my own effort and has not been submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree. Also this project is strictly for assessment purpose and can not be held against the company. The facts held in the project may have been altered to protect the interest of the company.

Dinesh Kumar

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sno

Topic Acknowledgement CHAPTER 1 AMUL THE ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION MARKETING FOR AMUL PROMOTION PRODUCTS

1.

2.

CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAND WHAT IS A BRAND WHY BRANDING SPECIAL IMPORTANCE OF BRANDS FOR FMCG PRODUCTS HOW BRANDS ARE CREATED BUILDING A BRAND TYPES OF BRAND WHY BUSINESS SHOULD TRY TOBUILD THEIR BRANDS BRAND ASSOCIATION BRAND LOYALTY BRAND AWARENESS

BRAND IDENTITY THE BRAND-AS-ORGANIZATION BRAND EQUITY

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CHAPTER 3 AMUL BRAND:- A CRITICAL ANALYSIS INDIVIDUAL BRANDS VS UMBRELLA BRANDS BRAND EXTENSION MULTI BRANDS WHY BRAND EXTENSION NEGATIVE IMPACT OF BRAND EXTENSION ON PARENT BRAND REVIEW NEW BRAND VERSUS BRAND EXTENSION WHATS IMPORTANT TO CUSTOMERS HOW TO CONDUCT BRAND EXTENSION BRAND STRETCHING BRAND EQUITY BRAND IMAGE

4.

CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY DEFINED 3.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN 3.4 METHODOLOGY

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CHAPTER 5

6.

ANNEXERES

CHAPTER 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to concede the contribution of a number of people without whose cooperation & support this report wouldnt have taken the current form. I deeply appreciate their valuable contribution. I am particularly grateful to all people, without whose co-operation this report would can not be completed. They give me a perspective on how to go about this project. I also specially thank to Hhimanshu for the initial stimulating ideas for going about this project. I am also thankful to my faculty guide Ms. Megha Verma for his valuable guidance.I am very grateful for the assistance of the friends and colleagues along with the respondents who assisted me in getting this dissertation completed.

Dinesh Kumar

AMUL THE ORGANIZATION

AMUL THE OPRGANIZATION

Amul: The origin

The mighty Ganges at it's origin is but a tiny stream in the Gangotri ranges of the Himalayas. Similar is the story of Amul which inspired 'Operation Flood' and heralded the 'White Revolution' in India. It began with two village cooperatives and 250 liters of milk per day, nothing but a trickle compared to the flood it has become today. Today Amul collects, processes and distributes over a million liters of milk and milk products per day, during the peak, on behalf of more than a thousand village cooperatives owned by half a million farmer members. Further, as Ganga-ma carries the aspirations of generations for moksha, Amul too has become a symbol of the aspirations of millions of farmers.Creating a pattern of liberation and self-reliance for every farmer to follow.

EVOLUTION In 1940 the revolution started as an awareness among the farmers that grew and matured into a protest movement and the determination to liberate themselves. Over four decades ago, the life of a farmer in Kaira District was very much like that of his counterpart anywhere else in India. His income was derived almost entirely from seasonal crops. The income from milk buffaloes was undependable. The marketing and distribution system for the milk was controlled by private traders and middlemen. As milk is perishable, farmers were compelled to sell it for whatever they were offered. Often, they had to sell

cream and ghee at throwaway prices. In this situation, the one who gained was the private trader. Gradually, the realization dawned on the farmers that the exploitation by the trader could be checked only if marketed their milk themselves. In order to do that they needed to form some sort of an organization. This realization is what led to the establishment of the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (popularly known as Amul) which was formally registered on December 14, 1946. The Kaira Union began pasteurizing milk for the Bombay Milk Scheme in June 1948. An assured market proved a great incentive to the milk producers of the district. By the end of 1948, more than 400 farmers joined in more village societies, and the quantity of milk handled by one Union increased from 250 to 5,000 liters

GUJRAT COOPERATION MILK MARKETING Milk Marketing Federation

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is Indias largest food products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of milk cooperatives in Gujarat which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interest of consumer by providing quality products which are good value for money. THE GUJARAT CO-OPERATIVE MILK MARKETING FEDERATION The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, Asias largest producer of dairy products, which markets Amul brand dairy products, is expected to show a growth in sales of 17 per cent to about Rs. 2,220 crores in 1998-99 from Rs. 1,884 crores in 1997-98 and 1,554 crores in 1996-97. The federation with 19.5 lakh producer members is taking up the manufacture of Swiss cheese both for the domestic market as well as exports.

In 1997-98, its average sales of liquid milk were 39-65 lakh kg per day against 38.1 lakh kg in 1996-97. The federation, marketing about 26 different dairy products, sold about 10.5 crores litres of milk in pouches during AprilSeptember 1998. its sales of buffer have gone up form 10,000 tones in 1996 to 25,000 tones in 1997. The federation has plans to increase its turnover 5-fold to Rs. 10,000 crores by 2005 by increasingly milk products manufacturing capacity. Until recently, the federation has been exporting its products to West Asia. In 1997-98, its exports touched Rs. 26 crores. In 1998, the federation for the firs time exported butter, cheese and gulabjamuns to the US. In 1998-99, the federation exports to the US are projected at Rs., 10 crores.

Members:

13 district cooperative milk producers Union

No. of Pro ducer Members:

2.7 million

Total :Milk handling capacity

10.21 million liters per day

Milk collection (Total 2007- 2.69 billion liters 08): Milk collection (Daily 7.4 million liters

Average 2007-08): Milk Drying Capacity: 626 metric Tons per day

Cattle feed manufacturing Capacity:

3090 Mts. Per day

Sales Turnover Rs. (million) US$ (in million)

Sales Turnover 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Rs (million) 11140 13790 15540 18840 22192 22185 22588 23365 27457 28941 29225 37736 42778 52554 US $ (in million) 355 400 450 455 493 493 500 500 575 616 672 850 1050 1325

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INTRODUCTION
AMUL means priceless in Sanskrit. The brand name Amul form the Sanskrit Amoolya, was suggested by a quality control expert in Anand. Variants, all meaning priceless, are found in several Indian language. Amul products have been in use in million of homes since e1946. Amul Butter, Amul milk Powder, Amul Ghee, Amulspray, Amul Cheese, Amul Chocolates, Amul Shrikhand, Amul Ice cream, Nutramul, Amul Milk and Amulya have made Amul a leading food brand in India. (Turnover: Rs. 18.8 billion in 1997-98). Today Amul is a symbol of many things. Of high quality products sold at reasonable prices. Of the genesis of vast co-operative network. Of the triumph of indigenous technology. Of the genesis of a vast co-operative network. Of the triumph of indigenous technology. Of the marketing savvy of a farmers organization. And of a proven model for diary development.

Type Cooperative Founded 1946 Headquarters Anand, India Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. Key people (GCMMF) Industry Dairy Products See complete products listing. Revenue $1.33 billion USD (in 2007-08) Employees 2.41 million milk producers Website www.amul.com Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited), formed in 1946, is a dairy cooperative movement in India . It is a brand name managed by an apex cooperative organisation, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by some 2.6 million milk producers in Gujarat , India[1] . 11

AMUL is based in Anand , Gujarat and has been a sterling example of a cooperative organization's success in the long term. It is one of the best examples of co-operative achievement in the developing world. "Anyone who has seen ... the dairy cooperatives in the state of Gujarat, especially the highly successful one known as AMUL, will naturally wonder what combination of influences and incentives is needed to multiply such a model a thousand times over in developing regions everywhere."[2] The Amul Pattern has established itself as a uniquely appropriate model for rural development. Amul has spurred the White Revolution of India, which has made India the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world. It is also the world's biggest vegetarian cheese brand [3] . Amul is the largest food brand in India and world's Largest Pouched Milk Brand with an annual turnover of US $1050 million (2006-07) [4] . Currently Amul has 2.6 million producer members with milk collection average of 10.16 million litres per day. Besides India, Amul has entered overseas markets such as Mauritius , UAE , USA , Bangladesh , Australia , China , Singapore , Hong Kong and a few South African countries. Its bid to enter Japanese market in 1994 had not succeeded, but now it has fresh plans of flooding the Japanese markets [5] . Other potential markets being considered include Sri Lanka . Dr Verghese Kurien , former chairman of the GCMMF, is recognised as the man behind the success of Amul. On 10 Aug 2006 Parthi Bhatol , chairman of the Banaskantha Union, was elected chairman of GCMMF.

MARKETING FOR AMUL PROMOTION

50 years after it was first launched, Amul's sale figures have jumped from 1000 tones a year in 1966 to over 25,000 tones a year in 1997. No other brand comes even close to it. All because a thumb-sized girl climbed on to the hoardings and put a spell on the masses.

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Bombay: Summer of 1967. A Charni Road flat. Mrs. Sheela Mane, a 28-year-old housewife is out in the balcony drying clothes. From her second floor flat she can see her neighbours on the road. There are other people too. The crowd seems to be growing larger by the minute. Unable to curb her curiosity Sheela Mane hurries down to see what all the commotion is about. She expects the worst but can see no signs of an accident. It is her four-year-old who draws her attention to the hoarding that has come up overnight. "It was the first Amul hoarding that was put up in Mumbai," recalls Sheela Mane. " People loved it. For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact. So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever. The ultimate compliment to the butter came when a British company launched a butter and called it Utterly Butterly, last year. It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter. The butter, which had been launched in 1945, had a staid, boring image, primarily because the earlier advertising agency which was in charge of the account preferred to stick to routine, corporate ads.

One of the first Amul hoardings In India, food was something one couldn't afford to fool around with. It had been taken too seriously, for too long. Sylvester daCunha decided it was time for a change of image. The year Sylvester daCunha took over the account, the country saw the birth of a campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.

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The Amul girl who lends herself so completely to Amul butter, created as a rival to the Polson butter girl. This one was sexy, village belle, clothed in a tantalising choli all but covering her upper regions. "Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and I decided that we needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha. And so it came about that the famous Amul Moppet was born. That October, lamp kiosks and the bus sites of the city were splashed with the moppet on a horse. The baseline simply said, Thorough bread, Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul,. It was a matter of just a few hours before the daCunha office was ringing with calls. Not just adults, even children were calling up to say how much they had liked the ads. "The response was phenomenal," recalls Sylvester daCunha. "We knew our campaign was going to be successful."

The Rebecca Mark favourite For the first one year the ads made statements of some kind or the other but they had not yet acquired the topical tone. In 1967, Sylvester decided that giving the ads a solid concept would give them extra mileage, more dum, so to say. It was a decision that would stand the daCunhas in good stead in the years to come. In 1969, when the city first saw the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha, Mohammad Khan and Usha Bandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad with a fervour that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever.

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That was the first of the many topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch. India looked forward to Amul's evocative humour. If the Naxalite movement was the happening thing in Calcutta, Amul would be up there on the hoardings saying, "Bread without Amul Butter, cholbe na cholbe na (won't do, won't do). If there was an Indian Airlines strike Amul would be there again saying, Indian Airlines Won't Fly Without Amul. There are stories about the butter that people like to relate over cups of tea. "For over 10 years I have been collecting Amul ads. I especially like the ads on the backs of the butter packets, "says Mrs. Sumona Varma. What does she do with these ads? " I have made an album of them to amuse my grandchildren," she laughs. " They are almost part of our culture, aren't they? My grandchildren are already beginning to realise that these ads are not just a source of amusement. They make them aware of what is happening around them." Despite some of the negative reactions that the ads have got, DaCunhas have made it a policy not to play it safe. There are numerous ads that are risque in tone. "We had the option of being sweet and playing it safe, or making an impact. A fine balance had to be struck. We have a campaign that is strong enough to make a statement. I didn't want the hoardings to be pleasant or tame. They have to say something," says Rahul daCunha. "We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore," says Sylvester daCunha. "The Indian Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn't take down the ads they would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad," he says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a symbol of independence, they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. "Then there was an ad during the Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do 15

something about removing the ad they would come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr On Or Off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to us saying how much she liked them."

Amul's point of view on the MR coffee controversy There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad. " He said that he had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so funny," says Rahul daCunha in amused tones. Indians do have a sense of humour, afterall. From the Sixties to the Nineties, the Amul ads have come a long way. While most people agree that the Amul ads were at their peak in the Eighties they still maintain that the Amul ads continue to tease a laughter out of them. Where does Amul's magic actually lie? Many believe that the charm lies in the catchy lines. That we laugh because the humors is what anybody would enjoy. They don't pander to your nationality or certain sentiments. It is pure and simple, everyday fun.

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Bread Spreads

Amul Butter
Utterly Butterly Delicious

Amul Lite
Low fat, low Cholesterol Bread Spread

Delicious Table Margarine

The Delicious way to eat healthy

Powder Milk

Amul Spray Infant Milk Food

Amul Instant Full Cream Milk Powder

Sagar Skimmed Milk Powder

Sagar Tea Coffee Whitener

Amulya Dairy Whitener

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Fresh Milk

Amul Fresh Milk

Amul Gold Milk

Amul Taaza Double Toned Milk

Amul Lite Slim and Trim Milk

Amul Fresh Cream

Amul Kool Chocolate Milk

Amul Kool Flavoured Bottled Milk

Amul Kool Flavoured Tetra Pack

Amul Shakti Toned Milk

Amul Masti Spiced Buttermilk

Cheese

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Amul Pasteurised Processed Cheese

Amul Cheese Spreads

Amul Emmental Cheese

For Cooking

Amul / Sagar Pure Ghee Cooking Butter

Amul Malai Paneer

Utterly Delicious Pizza Desserts

Mithai Mate

Masti Dahi

Amul Ice Creams

Amul Shrikhand

Amul Mithaee Gulab Jamuns

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Gulab Jamun Mix Health Drink

Amul Chocolates

Amul Lassee

Nutramul

Amul Shakti Health Food Drink

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SWOT ANALYSIS
A swot analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is a simple and powerful way to analyze your companys present marketing situation. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths or weaknesses and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities or threats. The swot analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates.

Swot ANALYSIS framework

Environmental scan \ External Analysis / \ opportunities threats | swot matrix

Internal Analysis / \ strengths weakness

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF AMUL Strengths Premium pricing, no discounts Focus on quality & purity Brand image of amul among Weaknesses Lack of transparency with dealers Focus on niche segments

customer Promotional strategy by the

marketor.

Opportunity

Threats Way behind market leader Nothing unique about strategy Highly competitive market

Convert image into market share Wide product portfolio Positive rub-off due to high quality Healthy resource generation

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STRENGTHS-

Amuls strengths are its resources and capabilities that can be used

as a basis for developing a competitive advantage

Amul s brand is reputated Good market share leverage Quality product Country wide network Dedicated employee and human resource

WEAKNESS-The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness .The following may be considered weakness

Lack of transparency with dealers Focus on niche segments

OPPORTUNITIES- The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth . Such opportunities are include. An unfulfilled customer need. Arrival of new technology Removal of national trade barriers

THREATS- Change in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm . Some threats are include

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 Strong competition with other brand Way behind market leader Nothing unique about strategy Highly competitive market

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INTRODUCTION TO BRAND

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WHAT IS A BRAND
A brand is name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors A Trade mark is "a brand or a part of brand that is given legal protection because it is capable of exclusive appropriation." Manufacturers can use their own brands (known as Manufacturers brands) or brands of their distributors (Distributors brands). Brands are a means of differentiating a companys products and services from those of its competitors.

WHY BRANDING
Manufacturers/ distributors use brand names for a variety of reasons from simple identification purposes to having legal protection for unique features of the products from imitations and help consumers recognize certain quality parameters. In some cases, brands are just used to endow the product with unique story and character which itself can be a basis for product differentiation.

SPECIAL IMPORTANCE OF BRANDS FOR FMCG PRODUCTS

While brands can represent all types of goods or entities, they have special importance for FMCG products. Brand equities are stronger in FMCG products as the consumer is reluctant to try unknown brands/ unbranded products for the following reasons.

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These products individually account for a small part of household spending. Most of these products are personal use. In many cases, it is difficult to differentiate a product on technical or functional grounds and therefore the consumer is reluctant to switch to an unknown brand. Successful brands generate strong cash flows, which enable the owner of the brand to reinvest a part of it in the form of aggressive advertisements/ promotions. This reinforces the perceived superiority of a brand.

HOW BRANDS ARE CREATED

FMCG companies spends enormous sums on building a brand equity by way of Advertisements/ publicity. Free samples. Low entry price. Promotions (schemes for dealers, consumers etc). Advertisement and promotion can induce trials but for sustained loyalty, the manufacturer has to offer superior quality and value for money. Most successful brands are founded on a chance discovery of a new product/ process or assiduous research and development work. Major players invest in R&D on their existing brands and improve the product quality continuously to maintain their edge over competitors.

BUILDING A BRAND
What factors are important in building brand value? Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands, as illustrated in the diagram below:

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QUALITY Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the core benefits the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity. 28

Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors. POSITIONING Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things. REPOSITIONING Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumers tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline. The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard. COMMUNICATION Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience. All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception. FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE

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Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by first-mover they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is plenty of evidence to support this. Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sellotape that, in many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors drawn to the high growth and profit potential demonstrated by the market-mover will enter the market and copy the best elements of the leaders brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop developed the ethical personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the major high street cosmetics retailers. LONG TERM PERSPECTIVE This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brands message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must invest in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability. INTERNAL MARKETING Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed internally as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favorite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty.

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TYPES OF BRAND There are two main types of brand manufacturer brands and own-label brands. MANUFACTURER BRANDS Manufacturer brands are created by producers and bear their chosen brand name. The producer is responsible for marketing the brand. The brand is owned by the producer. By building their brand names, manufacturers can gain widespread distribution (for example by retailers who want to sell the brand) and build customer loyalty (think about the manufacturer brands that you feel loyal to). OWN LABLE BRANDS Own-label brands are created and owned by businesses that operate in the distribution channel often referred to as distributors. Often these distributors are retailers, but not exclusively. Sometimes the retailers entire product range will be own-label. However, more often, the distributor will mix own-label and manufacturers brands. The major supermarkets (e.g. Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys) are excellent examples of this. Own-label branding if well carried out can often offer the consumer excellent value for money and provide the distributor with additional bargaining power when it comes to negotiating prices and terms with manufacturer brands.

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WHY BUSINESSES SHULD TRY TO BUILD THEIR BRANDS?

There are many advantages to businesses that build successful brands. These include: Higher prices Higher profit margins Better distribution Customer loyalty Businesses that operate successful brands are also much more likely to enjoy higher profits. A brand is created by augmenting a core product with distinctive values that distinguish it from the competition. This is the process of creating brand value. All products have a series of core benefits benefits that are delivered to all consumers. For example: Watches tell the time CD-players play CDs Toothpaste helps prevent tooth decay Garages dispense petrol. Consumers are rarely prepared to pay a premium for products or services that simply deliver core benefits they are the expected elements of that justify a core price. Successful brands are those that deliver added value in addition to the core benefits.

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These added values enable the brand to differentiate itself from the competition. When done well, the customer recognizes the added value in an augmented product and chooses that brand in preference. For example, a consumer may be looking for reassurance or a guarantee of quality in a situation where he or she is unsure about what to buy. A brand like Mercedes, Sony or Microsoft can offer this reassurance or guarantee. Alternatively, the consumer may be looking for the brand to add meaning to his or her life in terms of lifestyle or personal image. Brands such as Nike, Porsche or Timberland do this. A brand can usefully be represented in the classic fried-egg format shown below, where the brand is shown to have core features that are surrounded (or augmented) by less tangible features.

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BRAND ASSOCIATION Over the last decade, firms have markedly increased their investments in the creation and development of brands. In fact, in most economic sectors a gradual brand generalization can be observed, even in those markets that have traditionally been more reluctant to use them (as is the case of food and agriculture or high tech product markets). The creation of a brand implies communicating a certain brand image in such a way that all the firm's target groups link such a brand (and thus the products sold using its name) with a set of associations. Brand equity research in marketing, as exemplified by Aaker's (1991, 1996) conceptualization and Keller's (1993, 1998) framework, is rooted in cognitive psychology and focuses on consumer cognitive processes. Corporate brands represent one of the most fascinating phenomena of the business environment in the twenty-@rst century (Olins, 2000; Lewis, 2000; Pauvit, 2000; Balmer, 2001a, b; Bickerton, 2000; Gray and Balmer, 2001; Hatch and Schultz, 2001; McDonald et al., 2001; Ind, 2001; Newman, 2001; Simoes and Dibb, 2001; Balmer and

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Greyser, 2003). Their importance is irrefutable. Brands, in their various guises, are integral to our everyday existence (Sherry, 1995). European Journal of Marketing John M.T. Balmer Bradford School of Management, Bradford, UK, and Edmund R Gray Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA

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BRAND LOYALTY The customer base if often the core of a brands equity. If customers are indifferent to the brand and, in fact, buy with respect to features, price, and convenience with little concern to the brand name, there is likely little equity. If, on the other hand, they continue to purchase the brand even in the face of competitors with superior features, price, and convenience, substantial value exists in the brand and perhaps in its symbol and slogans. Brand loyalty, long a central construct in marketing, is a measure of the attachment that a customer has to a brand. It reflects how likely a customer will be to switch to another brand, especially when that brand makes a change, either in price or in product features. As brand loyalty increases, the vulnerability of the customer base to competitive action is reduced. It is one indicator of brand equity, which is demonstrably linked to future profits, since brand loyalty directly translates into future sales.

BRAND AWARENESS It is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category. Brand awareness involves a continuum ranging from an uncertain feeling that the Brand is recognized, to a belief that it is the only one in the product class

BRAND IDENTITY Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organization members. Brand identity should help establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating a value proposition involving functional, emotional or self-expressive benefits. Brand identity consists of twelve dimensions organized around four perspectives-the

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brand-as-product (product scope, product attributes, quality/value, uses, users, country of origin), brand-as-organization (organizational attributes, local versus global), brand-asperson (brand personality, brand-customer relationships), and brand-as-symbol (visual imagery/metaphors and brand heritage). Brand identity structure includes a core and extended identity. The core identity-the central, timeless essence of the brand-is most likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products. The extended identity includes brand identity elements, organized into cohesive and meaningful groupings that provide texture and completeness. To achieve maximum brand strength, the scope of a brand identity should be broad rather than narrow, the thrust should be strategic rather than tactical, and there should be an internal as well as external focus to brand creation.

BRAND IDENTITY PLANNING MODEL

STRATEGIC BRAND ANALYSIS Customer Analysis Trends Motivation Unmet Needs Segmentation Competitor Analysis Brand image/identity Strengths, strategies Vulnerabilities Self-Analysis Existing image Brand heritage Strengths capabilities Organization / brand

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BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM Brand Identity

Extended Core Core

Brand as Product 1. Product scope 2. Product attributes 3. Quality/value 4. Uses 5. Users 6. Country Origin of

Brand Organization 7. Organization attributes innovation, consumer concern, trustworthiness) 8. Local vs. Global (e.g.,

As Brand Person genuine energetic, rugged) 10. Brand customer relationship (e.g., adviser) friend,

As Brand as Symbol and metaphors 12. Brand heritage

9. Personality (e.g., 11. Visual imagery

VALUE PROPOSITION Functional benefits Emotional benefits Self-expressive benefits

CREDIBILITY Support other brands

BRAND-CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

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BRAND IDENTITY IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM BRAND POSITION Subset of the brand identity and value propotion At a target audience To be actively communicated Providing competitive advantage

EXECUTION Generate alternatives Symbols metaphors and Testing

TRACKING

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FOUR BRAND IDENTITY PERSPECTIVES: THE BRAND AS A PRODUCT: PRODUCT-RELATED ASSOCIATIONS Product-related associations will almost always be an important part of a brand identity because they are directly linked to brand choice decisions and the use experience. THE PRODUCT SCOPE: ASSOCIATIONS WITH PRODUCT CLASS A core element of a brand's identity is usually its product thrust, which will affect the type of associations that are desirable and feasible. With what product or products is the brand associated? For Visa it is credit cards, for Compaq it is computers. PRODUCT-RELATED ATTRIBUTES Attributes directly related to the purchase or use of a product can provide functional benefits and sometimes-emotional benefits for customers. A product-related attribute can create a value proposition by offering something extra (like features or services) or by offering something better. Virgin Airlines, which offers free limousine service with a business class ticket. QUALITY / VALUE Many brands use quality as a core identity element. Gillette, for example, is positioned in large part by "The Best a Man Can Get," and Gillette's Good News is the best of the disposable razor category. Value is closely related to quality; it enriches the concept by adding the price dimension

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THE BRAND-AS-ORGANIZATION The brand-as-organization perspective focuses on attributes of the organization rather than those of the product or service. Such organizational attributes as innovation, a drive for quality, and concern for the environment are created by the people, culture, values, and programs of the company. The Saturn brand is a good example of such an identity, tying together Saturn Values (building a world-class economy car), programs (including the retailer system) and people (who visibly buy into the values). THE BRAND-AS-PERSON: BRAND PERSONALITY The brand-as-person perspective suggests a brand identity that is richer and more interesting than one based on product attributes. Like a person, a brand can be perceived as being upscale, competent, impressive, trustworthy, fun, active; humorous, casual, formal, youthful, or intellectual. For example, Saturn has the personality of a reliable, down-to-earth friend. A brand personality can create a stronger brand in several ways. First, it can help create a self-expressive benefit that becomes a vehicle for the customer to express his or her own personality. For example, an Apple user might identify himself or herself as casual, anticorporate, and creative. Second, just as human personalities affect relationships between people, brand personality can be the basis of a relationship between the customer and the brand. The friend relationship helps drive the Saturn identity and program. Third, a brand personality may help communicate a product attribute and thus contribute to a functional benefit. For example, the Michelin man's strong, energetic personality suggests that Michelin tires are also strong and energetic.

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BRAND EQUITY Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm's customers. The assets and liabilities on which brand equity is based will differ from context to context. However, they can be usefully grouped into five categories: 1. Brand loyalty 2. Name awareness 3. Perceived quality 4. Brand associations in addition to perceived quality 5. Other proprietary brand assets-patents, trademarks, channel relationship, etc. PROVIDING VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER Brand-equity assets generally add or subtract value for customers. They can help them interpret, process, and store huge quantities of information about products and brands. They also can affect customers' confidence in the purchase decision (due to either pastuse experience or familiarity with the brand and its characteristics). Potentially more important is the fact that both perceived quality and brand associations can enhance customers' satisfaction with the use experience. Knowing that a piece of jewelry came from Tanishq can affect the experience of wearing it: The user can actually feel different PROVIDING VALUE TO THE FIRM As part of its role in adding value for the customer, brand equity has the potential to add value for the firm by generating marginal cash flow in at least half a dozen ways. First, it can enhance programs to attract new customers or recapture old ones. A promotion, for example, which provides an incentive to try a new flavor or new use will be more effective if the brand is familiar, and if there is no need to combat a consumer skeptical of brand quality.

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Second, the last four brand equity dimensions can enhance brand loyalty. The perceived quality, the associations, and the well-known name can provide reasons to buy and can affect use satisfaction. Even when they are not pivotal to brand choice, they can reassure, reducing the incentive to try others. Enhanced brand loyalty is especially important in buying time to respond when competitors innovate and obtain product advantages. Third, brand equity will usually allow higher margins by permitting both premium pricing and reduced reliance upon promotions. Fourth, brand equity can provide a platform for growth via brand extension. Lux, as we have seen, has been extended into several cleaning products, creating business areas that would have been much more expensive to enter without Lux name. Fifth, brand equity can provide leverage in the distribution channel. Like customers, the trade has less uncertainty dealing with a proven brand name that has already achieved recognition and associations. A strong brand will have an edge in gaining both shelf facings and cooperation in implementing marketing programs. Finally, brand-equity assets provide a competitive advantage that often presents a real barrier to competitors. An association - e.g., Tide is the detergent for tough family laundry jobs - may preempt an attribute that is important for a given segment. For example, another brand would find it difficult to compete with Tide for the "tough cleaning job" segment. BRAND LOYALTY For any business it is expensive to gain new customers and relatively inexpensive to keep existing ones, especially when the existing customers are satisfied with-or even like the brand. The loyalty of the customer base reduces the vulnerability to competitive action.

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HOW BRAND EQUITY GENERATES VALUE

Reduced Brand Loyalty Costs Trade Attaching Customers

Marketing

Leverage New Provides customer to value to by

Create Awarness Reassurance Time to Respond

enhancing customers: Interpretation/Process ing of Information Confidence in the

Competitive Threats

Brand Awareness

Anchor to which other association attached. Familiarity-liking Singal can be

Purchase Decision Use Satisfaction

Brand Equity

of

substance

commitment Brand to be considered

Reason-to-Buy Differentiate / Position Perceived quality Price Channel Interest Extensions 44 Member

Provides

value

to

Firm by Enhancing: Efficiency Effectiveness and of

Marketing Programs. Brand Loyalty

Help Process / Retrieve Information Reason-to-Buy Brand Associations Create attitude/Feelings Extensions Positive

Prices/Margins Brand Extensions Trade Leverage Competitive advantage

Other proprietary brand assets Competitive advantage

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BRAND LOYALTY You have to have a brand become a friend. Fred Posner NW Ayer Reputation, reputation, reputation! O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial. William Shakespeare The brand loyalty of the customer base if often the core of a brand's equity. If customers are indifferent to the brand and, in fact, buy with respect to features, price, and convenience with little concern to the brand name, there is likely little equity. If, on the other hand, they continue to purchase the brand even in the face of competitors with superior features, price, and convenience, substantial value exists in the brand and perhaps in its symbol and slogans. Brand loyalty, long a central construct in marketing, is a measure of the attachment that a customer has to a brand. It reflects how likely a customer will be to switch to another brand, especially when that brand makes a change, either in price or in product features. As brand loyalty increases, the vulnerability of the customer base to competitive action is reduced. It is one indicator of brand equity, which is demonstrably linked to future profits, since brand loyalty directly translates into future sales.

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LEVELS OF BRAND LOYALTY

Committed Buyer

Likes the BrandConsiders it a Friend

Satisfied Buyer with Switching Costs

Satisfied/Habitual Buyer No Reason to Change

Switchers/Price Sensitive Indifferent-No Brand Loyalty

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THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF BRAND LOYALITY Reduced Marketing Costs A set of customers with brand loyalty reduces the marketing costs of doing business. It is simply much less costly to retain customers than to get new ones.

Reduced Marketing Costs Trade Leverage Attracting New Customers: BRAND LOYALTY o Brand Awareness Created o Reassurance Customers Time to Respond to Competitive Threats to New

Trade Leverage Brand loyalty provides trade leverage. Strong loyalty toward brands, will ensure preferred shelf space because stores know that customers will have such brands on their shopping list. Attracting New Customers Brand awareness can also be generated from the customer base. Existing customers and dealers will enhance recognition merely by being there. Friends and colleagues of users will become aware of the product just by seeing it. Further, this type of exposure actually seeing it "in action" or even on a retailer's shelf - will be much more vivid and have more impact than only seeing an ad several times (unless the ad is highly unusual and effective). 48

Time to Respond to Competitive Threats Brand loyalty provides a firm with time to respond to competitive moves-some breathing room. If a competitor develops a superior product, a loyal following will allow the finn time needed for the product improvements to be matched or neutralized.

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BRAND AWARENESS A Good name is better than riches - Cervantes Brand awareness is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category. Don Quixote Brand awareness involves a continuum ranging from an uncertain feeling that the brand is recognized, to a belief that it is the only one in the product class.

THE AWARENESS PYRAMID

Top of Mind

Brand Recall

Brand Recognition

Unaware of Brand

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THE VALUE OF BRAND AWARENESS Anchor to which other associations can be attached BRAND AWARNESS Familiarity Liking

Signal of Substance/Commitment Brand to be Considered PERCEIVED QUALITY Perceived quality can be defined as the customer's perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives. Perceived quality is, first, a perception by customers.

THE VALUE OF PERCEIVED QUALITY

reason-to-Buy Differentiate/Position PERCEIVED QUALITY A Price Premium Channel Member Interest Brand Extensions

Perceived quality of a brand provides a pivotal reason-to-buy, influencing which brands are included and excluded from consideration, and the brand that is to be selected.

DIFFERENTIATE/POSITION A principal positioning characteristic of brand-whether a car, a computer, or a cheese - is its position on the perceived quality dimension.

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A PRICE PREMIUM A perceived quality advantage provides the option of charging a premium price. The price premium can increase profits, and/or provide resources with which to reinvest in the brand. These resources can be used in such brand-building activities as enhancing awareness or associations, or in R & D activities to improve the product. A price premium not only provides resources, but can also reinforce the perceived quality. CHANNEL MEMBER INTEREST Perceived quality can also be meaningful to retailers, distributors, and other channel members, and thus aid in gaining distribution. We know that the image of a channel member is affected by the products or services included in its line-stocking" quality products" can matter. In addition, a retailer or other channel member can offer a highperceived quality product at an attractive price, to draw traffic. In any case, the channel members are motivated to carry brands that are well regarded that customers want. BRAND EXTENSIONS The perceived quality can be exploited by introducing brand extensions, using the brand name to enter new product categories. A strong brand with respect to perceived quality will be able to extend further, and will find a higher success probability than a weaker brand.

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ASSOCIATIONS, IMAGE AND POSITIONING A brand association is anything "linked" in memory to a brand. Thus, McDonald's could be linked to a character such as Ronald McDonald, a consumer segment such as kids, a feeling such as having fun, a product characteristic such as service. The association not only exists but has a level of strength. A link to a brand will be stronger when it is based on many experiences or exposures to communications, rather than few. A brand image is a set of associations, usually organized in some meaningful way. A well-positioned brand will have a competitively attractive position supported by strong associations. It will rate high on a desirable attribute like friendly service, or occupy a position distinct from that of competitors-such as being the only store that offers home delivery. A "brand position" does reflect how people perceive a brand. However, "positioning" or a "positioning strategy" can also be used to reflect how a firm is trying to be perceived.

VALUE OF BRAND ASSOCIATION

Help Process/Retrieve Information Differentiate/Position ASSOCIATIONS Reason-to-Buy Create positive Attitudes/Feelings Basis for Extensions

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PRODUCT-RELATED ASPECTS Going back to the Iodex example, there is a clear need for a non- staining and non-greasy balm in the market. This is perhaps the reason why Iodex started promoting the spray variant But due to packaging costs, the spray variant cannot substitute the original version. There is a need to develop a new product version, which would be in tune with the emerging needs of consumers. The competitive brand Moov is making an attempt to reposition its competitor by making a reference to the staining characteristic of Iodex in its recent positioning spots (an executive who returns from his tour has a stained shirt as a result of applying' a brand' of pain balm). This kind of positioning is likely to have a powerful impact on the consumers (Aspro was repositioned in a similar manner by Tylenol in the West and it is still one of the largest selling analgesic in many markets). Fair and Lovely which has about 35 per cent of the skincare market has developed the same formulation with cold cream and vanishing cream base to cater to niche markets which have seasonal demand. In a move to expand its market, the brand is currently targeting married women (TV spots). It may be recalled that Vicco, the natural cream for complexion, which entered the market well before Fair and Lovely, used the occasion-based segmentation and positioning (which is being continued to this day). This in a way might not have appealed to consumers who needed a skin cream for continuous use (not just for enhancing the complexion for an occasion). Surf successfully launched the 'Lalithaji' campaign through the eighties which established the brand on the 'value for money' platform (though it was threatened by Nirma till Wheel was launched by the same company). When Ariel was launched by the competitor in the higher end, Surf came out with Surf Ultra. Upgrading consumers from Surf (a cross-section of them at least), would have been one of the objectives of Surf Ultra which came out with the anti-stain positioning. The typical Surf consumer was probably used to using a small quantity of detergent and this may have created similar expectations from Surf Ultra. Surf Excel was launched and was positioned with the typical 'slice of life' commercial where the 'user' (a common consumer in the TV spot) highlighted the product benefits. The company felt there was a 54

distinct need in the market to create a brand between Surf and Surf Ultra. This is to ensure consumers who required a detergent brand better than Surf will be in a position to upgrade themselves with a brand that was not as expensive as Surf Ultra. The company launched Surf Excel Power with a positioning that is significantly different from Surf and Surf Ultra (the packaging is also very different). This would also enable certain consumers of Surf to buy a better brand more frequently because of the lesser price. Another interesting aspect of upgrading consumers to a better product is that there may be a transition time involved before these consumers become regular users of the updated brand. Sachets were introduced both by Ariel and by Surf Excel to initiate trials, which is the first step in the process of upgradation. 30 to 35 per cent of volume of Arie! comes from sachets. Consumers may be buying these sachets for special wash purposes. It would take some more time before these consumers start buying the brand for more frequent uses. Even in the shampoo category, sachets account for about 50 per cent of the market. Monitoring segments and positioning strategies in a product category will enable a company to sustain its brands; it will also enable the brand to prepare itself for emerging niches.

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BRANDING STRATEGIES

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BRANDING STRATEGIES INDIVIDUAL BRAND V/S UMBRELLA BRAND

Individual brand has its own identity and the corporate or common name is not used to promote its equity. In case umbrella brand, there is a generic brand with association of some values. For instance, Hindustan Uni Lever follows individual branding strategy and has several brands in the same category such as Lux, Liril, Rexona soaps etc. Competitor Nirma has mainly followed the umbrella branding strategy such as Nirma Bath, Nirma Beauty, Nirma Super, Nirma Shikakai soap etc. Only recently, the company for the first time diverted from its strategy of umbrella branding with the launch of Nima. Advantages of Individual branding strategy are

Some of the products which flop in the market, do not have negative spill over impact on other brands. For example, Nirma is associated with popular end of products, which becomes a major detergent for its expansion in the premium segment.

Consumers looking for a change are offered distinctly new brands by the same manufacturer.

But individual branding requires expensive advertisements and brand building exercises. Also, each new brand does not benefit from the positive perceptions of earlier brands. In umbrella branding, manufacturers have advantage of

Establishing a new product quickly with association of quality/ benefits of the mother brand (a classic case in Indian context has been Godrej). No need for name research, expensive advertisement for creating brand names, recognition and preference. 57

BRAND EXTENSIONS
A product line extension marketed under the same general brand as a previous item or items. To distinguish the brand extension from the other item(s) under the primary brand, one can either add a secondary brand identification or add a generic. A brand extension is usually aimed at another segment of the general market for the overall brand. Brand extensions are used for a group of products such as Clinic Plus Shampoo, Clinic All Clear., Clinic Plus hair oil or Close Up Renew, Close Up Oxyfresh, Close Up Sensation, etc. The brand has some unique USP and there are cosmetic/ functional variations in the extensions. The strategy is to build upon initial success of a brand entry by creating flanker it ems and minor variants of the basic brand. Brand extensions may be used within product categories (In some products like shampoos, there can be natural variants such as shampoo for normal hair, dry hair or for specific problem solving like anti-dandruff). It may also be used for different product segments (eg Sunsilk brand being extended to hair oil)

MULTI BRANDS
Marketer introduces brands mostly in large markets, which compete with each other in almost the same segment. In multi branding, there is cannibalization but overall result is greater market share. Net incremental market share is enough to justify the investment in the new brand. For instance Hindustan Lever has several brands (Lux, Breeze, Hamam, Rexona, etc) in the same category ie toilet soaps.

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WHY BRAND EXTENSION

A brand extension occurs when a parent company or product extends its brand name to a child company or product. For example, AMUL extended its brand name to ice cream. Brand extensions let a marketer take a brand with well-known quality perceptions and associations and put it on a brand in a new category. Not only can marketers capitalize on brand awareness, they can also leverage off of the associations consumers know about the parent brand. If consumers know that Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is deodorizing, they will immediately infer that Arm and Hammer kitty litter will be deodorizing too. Second, consumers who favorably evaluate a parent brand are more willing to try and adopt the brand extension than an unfamiliar brand in the same category. They trust a known brand name. For these reasons, brand extensions make new product introduction less expensive. Brand extensions can also help a firms stock prices. Some academic research has found that Wall Street attend to brand extension announcements and that whether they like them or not depends on how much they like the parent band. Extending a brand can be a smart strategy in the right situation. Brand extensions help to combat product proliferation and allow a company to realize the full value of its brand identities. However, a brand can only be extended so far, and overextending can undermine a carefully crafted brand building program.

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NEGATIVE IMPACT OF BRAND EXTENSION ON PARENT BRAND

Brand extensions can also help consumers understand the core meaning of the brand name. So, in this sense, brand extensions truly help to build equity in the brand name itself. There are a number of instances in which a brand extension has hurt the image of the brand concept. This is particularly true if the brand extension involves some kind of disaster of negative publicity. When Audi had a problem with sudden acceleration in one of its models, all models with the Audi name were hurt (although the Quattroan Audi car with a different namewas not). In recent years companies have been using brand extensions as a strategy for launching new products. The reason why this strategy has been popular is the fact that it decreases the risk of failure of new products, because consumers initially are more willing to accept products marketed under known brands. Nevertheless, this strategy is not free from risks, since it is not convenient for all the brands, and moreover, it may have negative effects on the image of the extended brand. The main objective of this article is to analyze the influence that brand extension have on brand image. An experiment is performed that examines the most important variables to consider in using the brand extension strategy after analyzing the information obtained, this reaches the conclusion that the brand extension strategies may influence the brand image after the extension and that variables such as the brand image prior to the extension, the perceived quality of the extension and the fit between the parent brand and the new product also affect the image A core brand concept can also be diluted if it is extended to too many different product categories. What does Samsung stand for if it is linked to such disparate products as life insurance, automobiles, microwave ovens and the like? Also, a successful parent brand does not always guarantee a successful brand extension. Bic is a great brand in the

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context of pens and disposable razors, but perfume? Well, thats another matter altogether. Branding can be like walking on a tightrope; many names will allow customers to divide and conquer your business, while too few run the risk of overextending individual brands. Having too many brands will lead to customer confusion, since it will be difficult to communicate each brand's core value and differentiation, while too few brands will make a company's messaging seem too broad and general in today's "one-to-one" environment.

REVIEW
Brand extension has the ability to strengthen and update a brand through addressing new consumer opportunities. However, it is not an easy option that will add incremental sales to a brand. It has considerable potential to undermine the brands equity if mismanaged. Brand extension does represent a way in which a brand can be kept up-to-date. It may also help to increase sales through attracting new groups of consumers or addressing additional usage occasions. A new line has to justify its place on the retailers shelf and in the brand portfolio with a clear role. If this is unclear, there is a real danger that the parent brand equity will be undermined. One of the ways in which brand extension may be successful is through viewing it from a consumer perspective. Do consumers view the brand as being a specific product or service or is it a brand that can travel, i.e. its values could be applied to a new sector? It is through developing this consumer understanding that the true meaning of the brand can be understood and appropriate line extensions identified.

Evaluate the long-term as well as short-term impact of a brand Identify and evaluate the brand equity from a consumer Is the brand identified with a product or service category? 61

extension. What does it add to the parent brand?

perspective.

Does the brand have potential to cross category borders? Again Identify what the extension adds to the parent brand. Brand extension should be relevant to the consumer and to the

this should be viewed from a consumer not marketer perspective.

parent brand. Brands exist for the long-term. They establish trust in consumers minds. They are a companys most valuable assets and they should be treated very carefully. Every change to the brand should be viewed in terms of its long-term impact on consumers. A wellmanaged brand will still be there long after its guardians have moved on. Through the Loop has been analysing a number of brands as part of its Brand Positive programme. This programme has been established to identify branding best practices. One of the issues that has emerged from Brand Positive is the way in which companies approach brand extension. This is certainly a way in which the brand can be made much stronger but it also has the potential to dilute the brand equity or cannibalise sales of the parent brand. Too much brand extension that we see nowadays could be viewed as indicative of poor brand practice. Clearly brand extension is an area that has to be approached with a degree of caution. The maintenance of long-term brand health is of paramount importance and should never be sacrificed for short-term advantage when there is pressure to deliver. One of the ways in which this may be achieved is to analyse the reasons why brands are extended. Sometimes brands are extended for the wrong reasons such as technology enabling new forms of product delivery or simply to create a story for the trade or press. A successful brand extension will address genuine consumer needs and should be developed from the consumer demand side not the supply side. Developments such as technology should enable consumer needs to be fulfilled rather than simply trying to sell a new product into the market. What will be the long-term effects of a brand extension?

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PEPSI AN EXAMPLE OF BRAND EXTENSION Pepsi has taken out many product with different names under the umbrella of pepsi in the soft drink industry Some of the famous drinks areas follows:

Pepsi The choice for great cola taste. Diet Pepsi So light, so crisp, so refreshing. Pepsi Twist The same great taste of Pepsi with a twist of lemon for a little unexpected zing Wild Cherry Pepsi Only Wild Cherry Pepsi has the thrilling burst of unique cherry flavor and a sweet, crisp taste that gives you "more to go wild for"!

Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi

Pepsi ONE The one-calorie cola that tastes more like a regular cola. Pepsi Blue Drink in the sonic flavor fusion of berry and cola and discover the cola revolution. Mountain Dew Do the Dew. Code Red

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NEW BRAND EXTENSION VERSUS BRAND EXTENSION

No one likes taking risks. But brand and marketing directors like it less than most people. Eighty-two per cent of new products are brand extensions into the same or a different category and only 15% are totally new brands, according to a study examining 22,000 cases from Research International. So why are marketers so keen to stick with what they know? There is certainly the chance that any new entrant to the market will fail. As many as 90% of all new products fail, according to Philip Kotler, professor of international marketing at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. But Helen Wing, director of the marketing science centre at Research International, explains: "Companies feel they can benefit from the relationship which they already have with the consumer via their brand when they extend. They believe that if they can leverage that and take that brand into a new category then it's much more effective for them to do that and the investment is lower." Marketing directors appear unwilling to take risks on a new brand when an already successful brand could potentially work in a new category. Eighty-three per cent of marketing directors claim to favor extensions over new brands while 15% give equal consideration to extensions and new brands and just 2% prefer launching new products. "It's just down to the perceived risk of extensions being less," adds Wing. "But if anything, our research showed that this wasn't the case. Brand extensions can be more risky than new brands."

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This is partly because consumers seem no more likely to buy extensions than to try out new products. Although they claim that they will buy extensions more readily than totally new brands, the study findings do not bear this out. Research International's Micro Test database records potential volume sales for brands under test. It shows that buying intentions for new brands subsequently chosen for launch are 10 times as high as those for extensions launched into new categories - 30% against only 3%. Wing explains: "The new products which were tested and then launched did much better in the research. When you look at the extensions - particularly those in the same category - there wasn't much difference between the scores of those which went on to be launched and those that didn't. So obviously it wasn't just the best extensions that progressed to launch; there must have been other factors involved." The purchasing intentions database also suggests that success correlates directly with uniqueness when a new product is launched. Uniqueness was rated as 0.51 (on a scale of 0 to 1) as opposed to value, which scored only 0.31. Consumers find that a product's differentiation is more important than other factors. They want to know that they are getting something which is not available elsewhere. "You really can lose out if your message and brand extension are not distinctive enough from the parent brand and other extensions," warns Wing. The confidence in brand extensions working better than new products means that their marketing support can sometimes be underestimated. New brands are known to need a lot of marketing support as it requires time and money to make consumers aware of the brand. But it is sometimes believed that extensions do not need this same support as the core brand is already in the market.

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Advertising support for new brands is about double that for extensions in the first year; 1,318 average gross rating points (the measure of advertising delivered over time) as opposed to only 661 for extensions. It is not just that advertising support is less. It also appears less effective. Half of all extension commercials are incorrectly identified as being for the parent brand, according to Millward Brown. The advertising for new extensions gains only 65% of the awareness of new brands. Wing suggests that this is the case because consumers don't always realize they are receiving information about an extension. They believe that the advertising refers to the core parent brand. But despite the body of evidence against extensions, Wing says they can still work powerfully for a brand. "We're not saying that extending brands is a bad idea. Extensions do come into the market with a ready- made affinity and emotional bond with customers. That's exactly why companies want to extend their brands and if you do it properly, and deliver on the promises, then it can be a great success. But they are not the low-risk strategy that everyone believes they are."

WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO CONSUMERS?

When considering brand extension fit there are four underlying constructs which consumers evaluate individually, to formulate an overall judgment as to whether or not the brand extension fits with the core brand.

Relevance: is the extent to which the core brand attributes are relevant or important to the brand extension category. For example; (1) the core brand attributes of Starbucks are clearly relevant to the sale of coffee grinders, but not relevant to the sale of other kitchen equipment such as microwaves or fridges, (2) the core brand attributes of Coca-Cola are relevant to the sale of other soft drinks and sodas but not the sale of fruit juice such as orange juice.

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Recognition: is the extent to which consumers understand the reasoning behind why the brand is conducting the brand extension as well as the logic of the brand extension. For example; (1) the core brand attributes of McDonalds make it easy to understand / logical in the eyes of consumers for McDonalds to extend its brand into another restaurant concept, however not easy to understand / logical the eyes of consumers for McDonalds to open a chain of grocery stores, (2) the core brand attributes of Nike make it easy to understand / logical in the eyes of consumers for Nike to extend its brand to sell golfing clothing, but not easy to understand / logical in the eyes of consumers for Nike to sell highly fashionable clothing.

Credibility: is the extent to which the core brand has attributes which are credible and acceptable to conduct and sell the brand extension. For example; (1) the core brand attributes of Sony make it credible and acceptable for Sony to extend the Sony brand into laptops and digital cameras however they are not credible and acceptable to extend the Sony brand into sports clothing, (2) the core attributes of Budweiser make it credible and acceptable for Budweiser to extend the Budweiser into new beers however they are not credible or acceptable to extend the Budweiser brand into wine or spirits.

Transfer: is the perceived ability of a brand to transfer their skills and experience to the brand extension. For example, (1) the skills and experience of British Airways are transferable into other areas of air transportation such as domestic flights and low cost flights, however British Airways skills and experience are not transferable into coach transportation, (2) the skills and experience of American Express are transferable into travel insurance and foreign exchange services, but not transferable into car rental.

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The most crucial component of consumers' brand extension fit judgments is the relevance construct. However all the constructs are important and consumers must perceive all constructs to some degree to perceive a brand extension to fit.

HOW TO CONDUCT BRAND EXTENSION

In conclusion the following five stage process model is suggested for brand extensions: 1. Initial research: Research and map the core brand attributes by talking to the core target customers of the brand utilising unstructured research techniques to elicit an understanding of the constructs and attributes of the core brand. 2. Utilise initial research: Use this initial brand research to assist in brainstorming and the development of brand extension ideas which managers think may or may not fit with the core brand based on the constructs of brand extension fit suggested above.

3. Investigate fit: Research core target customers' evaluations of the extent to which the potential brand extensions fit with the core brand. Ensure samples are representative of the consumers who are likely to purchase the brand extensions. 4. Select brand extension: Select the brand extension which the research indicates has the highest level of fit with the core brand and as such is most likely to be successful. If you want to conduct a brand extension which has a lesser degree of fit with the core brand, identify which fit construct is lacking and then seek to alter (prime) consumers evaluations of the brand via advertising or marketing to increase the degree to which the brand extension fits.

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5. Conduct brand extension: Ensure that the brand is carefully mapped after the brand extension to identify is there is any change in the core brand values as a result of the brand extension.

BRAND STRETCHING
Brand stretching refers to the use of an established brand name for products in unrelated markets. For example the move by Yamaha (originally a Japanese manufacturer of motorbikes) into branded hi-fi equipment, pianos and sports equipment. When done successfully, brand extension can have several advantages: Distributors may perceive there is less risk with a new product if it carries a familiar brand name. If a new food product carries the Heinz brand, it is likely that customers will buy it Customers will associate the quality of the established brand name with the new product. They will be more likely to trust the new product. The new product will attract quicker customer awareness and willingness to trial or sample the product Promotional launch costs (particularly advertising) are likely to be substantially lower.

BRAND EQUITY
Brand equity refers to the value of a brand. Brand equity is based on the extent to which the brand has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality and strong product associations. Brand equity also includes other intangible assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationsh

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BRAND IMAGE
Brand image refers to the set of beliefs that customers hold about a particular brand. These are important to develop well since a negative brand image can be very difficult to shake off. There is plenty of evidence to prove that customers will pay a substantial price premium for a good brand and remain loyal to that brand. It is important, therefore, to understand what brands are and why they are important. Macdonald sums this up nicely in the following quote emphasizing the importance of brands: it is not factories that make profits, but relationships with customers, and it is company and brand names which secure those relationships Businesses that invest in and sustain leading brands prosper whereas those that fail are left to fight for the lower profits available in commodity markets.

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BRAND EXTENSIONS OF AMUL

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BRAND EXTENSIONS OF AMUL

AMUL SAYS 'CHEESE' - AND ENTERS PIZZA MARKET After giving multinationals a run for their money in butter and ice cream, Amul, India's best-known dairy co-operative, is now making international fast food majors like Dominos and Pizza Hut jittery. If the response they have generated in Ahmedabad and now New Delhi is any indication then Amul's pizzas are set to take Indian cities by storm. Going by the serpentine queue that forms outside the Amul outlet that opened in Ahmedabad last week,there is hardly any room for doubt that its pizzas are already a rage. The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, the Rs 20-billion co-operative and proud owners of the Amul brand of milk and milk products, opened its first pizza outlet at Surat, in south Gujarat, about a month ago. Opening pizza outlets was part of a pilot project and a dairy in Surat was a test case. "We enjoy 75 per cent of the cheese market. The idea was to further popularise our cheese," GCMMF managing director B M Vyas told IANS from Anand, about 75 km from Ahmedabad. Priced a mere Rs 20 a piece, Amul pizza was a runaway success, prompting the GCMMF to go for a bigger plan that includes opening 3,000 outlets in 300 cities across the country. Outlets have opened in New Delhi even as trade inquiries are pouring in at Anand. The GCMMF plans to open outlets in cities where it already has strong presence. Ahmedabad alone may have about 100 outlets this year.

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"Of course we want to sell more cheese," said brand manager Pawan Kumar. The GCMMF sells about 3,500 tons of Amul cheese annually. Kumar expects its sales to go up by about 1000 tons. The runaway success of the outlet at Royal Sweet Mart, off the upmarket C G Road in Ahmedabad, has only reinforced GCMMF's resolve to take its pizzas across India. Vyas says that federation will position its pizza as a mass consumption product and will leverage its countrywide distribution network to promote it. Mushroom, margarita, tomato-onion and fruit are some of the toppings that Amul offers to begin with. That the GCMMF is pretty serious about its latest venture is obvious because it has included the "Jain pizza" among its offerings. The Jain pizza will not have any root produce like onion, ginger or garlic in the dressing. This keeps in mind the fact that the Jain community does not consume roots. With projected sales of 100 pizzas a day at each outlet in the very first year, Amul will indeed have a tall order at hand.

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BRAND EXTENSION INTO ICE CREAMS SCOOPS APLENTY An ice-cream by any name ultimately is an ice-cream. As brands invade the market with claims of being better than the best, what matters to the consumer is a wide range to choose from.

An ice-cream is a wondrously versatile thing: as an impulse buy, most children, (and many adults) can happily consume it any time of the day or night; as a planned `sweet dish', homemakers serve it to round off a meal; it can be eaten to mark an occasion, or to break the monotony of study-filled evenings, or to cool off on lazy, hot afternoons. I know an addict who pulls out leftover ice-cream from her freezer, puts it on toast and eats it for breakfast! The idea for this column was born when new entrant Amul arrived in the Capital, with its array of interesting-sounding flavours. I've spent the past fortnight researching hands-on, diligently trying out new tastes and reacquainting myself with old ones. As an exercise, it's been pleasurably fattening, and extremely instructive. Never having made any myself, unlike all those dab hands who whip up ice-cream in a jiffy, I've only now learnt the exact components of that soft, creamy creature which comes out of cups and cones (sugar, milk proteins, liquid glucose, emulsifying and stabilising agents, and fat). The last

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ingredient fat is the bone of contention between Amul and Kwality Walls, the two largest ice-cream brands in the country. Charges have been traded in terms of taste, price, quality and sales: the rivalry may not be as publicly voluble or as visible in the media as the colas, but there's no doubt that the battle-lines are drawn. Amul has only recently entered the Capital, brandishing its tag-line `real' milk real icecream'. The milk cooperative, which uses dairy fat, does this to differentiate its wares from those of HLL's Kwality Walls, which uses vegetable fat, and so is forced to call its products `frozen desserts'. As an aware consumer, you need to know the following, and then go ahead and make an informed choice. Amul claims that it has beaten KW to become the country's number one brand, and that its ice-cream is better because it uses pure dairy fat. And that it is 30-40 per cent less expensive than KW, despite its usage of dairy fat (Rs 140 a kg), which is much costlier than `unhealthy' vegetable fat (Rs 25-Rs 30). According to an NDDB executive, the concept of milk-co-operative ice-creams was created to break the myth that ice-cream is an up market, costly item. That, like the low- cost (Rs 20) Amul pizza which democratized the consumption of high calorie cheese-on-a-base, Mother Dairy (the dairy brand only available in New Delhi and adjoining regions), and the nationally-available Amul would be `value-for-money'. HLL has strong counters for these arguments. In these health-conscious days, says an HLL spokesperson, people like to use vegetable oil for their parathas, instead of `ghee'. Dairy or milk fats have a high-cholesterol quotient, and contain trans-fatty acids, which cause heart problems, and aflotoxins which can lead to cancer. If refined oils have almost totally replaced ghee, why this brouhaha about vegetable fat and frozen desserts? The people behind KW believe that the campaign is being waged, not for the consumer who really can't tell the difference, nor for health reasons, but for those lobbies, which have a vested interest in promoting milk utilization to benefit dairy farmers.

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"We use refined oils such as palm kernel, coconut, or oil blends, not hydrogenated oils," clarifies J.H. Mehta, Executive Director, Ice-creams, HLL. "As far as the price differential is concerned, it costs only one per cent more to the end consumer, and the difference is only because there's no compromise on quality of ingredients," he adds. "On a blind test, a consumer will prefer our Cornetto to Amul's tricone", he says. We are talking about the price difference between the two cones: Amul's Rs 15 to KW's Cornetto's Rs 25. "The consumer," he says, "is not just swayed by price, she's very quality conscious as well: if it was just the price factor, why didn't Amul's cone make a dent in the Cornetto market?" An independent study by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) has ranked Amul number one, followed by KW (among four brands which included Vadilal and Havmor, and four loose samples) on the various parameters of taste, melting quality, weight, fat and sugar content. Pleased Amul executive, Vipul Mittal, talks about the survey's findings and Amul's rapidly-growing presence, coupled with its innovative supply strategy. When their team surveyed the market, it found that most ice-cream is eaten off push-carts by people stopping wherever they find a vendor. Now when you go looking for an Amul ice-cream, you will find unconventional vendors: your local STD boothwala, chemist, baker etc, who stock the ice-cream in deep freezes.

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"We are trying to change the traditional way ice-cream is sold," says Mittal, and we are trying to get small local players who have had nothing to do with ice-creams, involved in the process. "In this way," he says, "Amul is just growing the market, not taking anybody's share." Some more innovation from Amul: apart from the usual tastes in the usual shapes and sizes, it is targeting the kiddie market with its `Fundoo' range, with interestingly mango and strawberry-shaped containers, with the ice-cream inside. What I really like is their `Anjeer' (fig) flavour: it tastes very much like the real thing. So much for competing marketing strategies and claims of better and best. As far as you and I are concerned, the more players there are in the market, the more choice we have. It all, finally, comes down to flavours. As a Vienetta (a KW flavour which has done `overwhelmingly well' according to Mehta, and which is out in a second chocolate taste) fan puts it: I like to be in the picture, but I am the final arbiter, I will eat only what I like.

BRAND EQUITY OF AMUL

BUSINESS needs ideas, not merely money. Ventures run on just money, but starved of ideas, would eventually fall prey to competition and perish. And, if ideas are available in abundance, business can overcome other handicaps, including its relative weaker money power, compared to that of its rivals. The success story of the Gujrat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) proves this point. GCMMF, known through its popular desi brand, Amul, budgets its turnover currently around Rs 2,250 crore, to reach a staggering Rs 10, 000 crore by 2006-07, capturing a greater market share, confronting even MNC brands with greater wherewithal. Generally, food products being consumable, are recession-proof. Mckinsey has estimated that the food processing industry has a market of $60 billion in India. Given this huge potential, what specific ideas of Amul ensure its rapid growth?

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Amul's central idea seems to be that of marketing for the poor to use the expression of the eminent Management guru, Mr C. K. Prahalad. The latter identified that India has enormous potential in taking its various products and services to the masses at affordable prices. Amul's latest offer, Amul pizza, is priced attractively around Rs 20, at a fourth of its competitors. Such price-leadership is possible by: Cost-effective production, including primarily, procurement of milk from over two million dairy farmers which, in turn, assures poor farmers reasonable prices. Climbing up in the value-chain by diversifying in value-added products, such as milk sweets, ice creams, pizzas, confectioneries, truly as a food company, rather than merely selling milk, to be known only as an organized milk-vendor. Sustained building of loyalty of customers, not by promoting individual products, but all products under the umbrella of its premium brand, Amul, by investing a good 40 per cent of its ad budget towards brand promotion. Facilitating reach to customers throughout the country by a strong chain of distribution outlets. The investment in relationship with business partners -- both farmer-based cooperatives and distribution net-works -- for purchasing and selling functions respectively, enables Amul enter into any food category without much time or investment. Thus, in just less than 15 days after launch, Amul was able to sell 19,000 pizzas everyday, and expects this figure to go up to 100,000 by the end of this financial year. The novelty in concept, right from sourcing of basic ingredients, cost-management, production, marketing, distribution, selling all tailor-made to country-specific requirements -- seem to reward Amul. True, multinationals generally have certain inherent strengths such as technology, brand, financial muscle power, global experience and so on. But, equally true is that such firms by their very nature, cannot operate below a certain cost-level, in certain niche areas, where the country naturally offers cost-advantages.

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It is precisely for this reason that there have been increasing shifts of outsourcing of various back-office functions, and IT-enabled services from companies abroad in a variety of businesses, that are expected to reach a huge $17 billion per annum by the end of 2008. At a time when Indian business houses lament high cost of production owing to high input charges -- be they power, port, freight, taxes, octroi, cost of capital and other transaction costs -- identifying such niche areas themselves lead to competitive advantage. And, if such specific segments are further pursued with sound strategies, to sustain those business strengths and to constantly compete with the global players, Amul's idea is worth emulating, is it not?

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OBSTACLES: SPRING BOARDS FOR SUCCESS. Each failure, each obstacle, each stumbling block can be turned into a success story. In the early years, Amul had to face a number of problems. With every problem came opportunity. A chance to turn a negative into a positive. Milk by products and supplementary yield which suffered from the same lack of marketing and distribution facilities became encumbrances. Instead of being bogged down by their fate they were used as stepping stones for expansion. Backward integration of the process led the cooperatives to advances in animal husbandry and veterinary practice. MILK BY PRODUCTS: AN EXCUSE TO EXPAND. The response to these provided stimulus for further growth. For example, as the movement spread in the district, it was found that the Bombay Milk Scheme could not absorb the extra milk collected by the Kaira Union in winter, when the production on an average was 2.5 times more than in summer. Thus, even by 1953, the farmer-members had no assured market for the extra milk produced in winter. They were again forced to sell a large surplus at low rates to the middlemen. The remedy was to set up a plant to process milk into products like butter and milk powder. A Rs 5 million plant to manufacture milk powder and butter was completed in 1955. In 1958, the factory was expanded to manufacture sweetened condensed milk. Two years later, a new wing was added for the manufacture of 2500 tons of roller-dried baby food and 600 tons of cheese per year, the former based on a formula developed with the assistance of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore. It was the first time anywhere in the world that cheese or baby food was made from buffalo milk on a large, commercial scale. Another milestone was the completion of a project to manufacture balanced cattle feed. The plant was donated by OXFAM under the Freedom From Hunger Campaign of the FAO. To meet the requirement of milk powder for the Defense, the Kaira Union was asked by the Government of India in 1963 to setup additional milk drying capacity. A new dairy

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capable of producing 40 tons of milk powder and 20 tons of butter a day was speedily completed. It was declared open in 1965. The Mogar Complex where high protein weaning food, chocolate and malted food are being made was another initiative by Amul to ensure that while it fulfilled the social responsibility to meet the demand for liquid milk, its members were not deprived of the benefits to be had from the sale of high valueadded products. SUCCESS OF AMUL BRAND THE success of the Amul brand name has, no doubt, resulted in my being asked to comment on its history and the reasons for its success. I have, therefore, reflected on the long history of the brand to see if I could distil reasons why Amul is a name widely recognised and respected, not just in our cities and towns, but in our villages as well. Probably the easy, but nonetheless wrong, answer is that Amul has been advertised well. Certainly it has helped that those responsible for keeping the Amul name in the public eye have used considerable imagination and, if I do say so, The taste of India is nothing short of brilliant. However, there is much more to it. A successful consumer product is the object of thousands, even tens of thousands of transactions every day. In these transactions, the brand name serves in lieu of a contract. It is the assurance to the buyer that her specifications will be met. It is the sellers assurance that quality is being provided at a fair price. If Amul has become a successful brand if, in the trade lingo, it enjoys brand equity then it is because we have honoured our contract with consumers for close to fifty years. If we had failed to do so, then Amul would have been consigned to the dustbin of history, along with thousands of other brands. The tough part of the use of a brand as a contract is that every day is a renewal; if, just once, the brand fails to meet the customers expectations or, more exactly, if it fails to delight the customer, then the contract loses its value. If Amuls sales continue to rise, it is because that contract has been honoured, again and again. I would like to think that the

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granddaughters of some of our first customers are now contracting with us to buy their butter, cheese, baby food, chocolates and other fine Amul products. It is also a fact that when we first thought of exporting to West Asia and even to the United States, it was because of the loyalty of Amul customers who, even when far from home, still craved our taste of India. What goes into the contract that is a brand name? First is quality. No brand survives long if its quality does not equal or exceed what the buyer expects. There simply can be no compromise. Thats the essence of the contract. In the case of a food product, this means that the brand must always represent the highest hygienic, bacteriological and organoleptic standards. It must taste good, and it must be good. Second, the contract requires value for money. If our customer buys an Amul product, she gets what she pays for, and more. We have always taken pride in the fact that while we earn a good income for our owners the dairy farmers of Gujarat we dont do it at the cost of exploiting the consumer. Even when adverse conditions have reduced supplies of products like butter, we have resisted the common practice of raising prices, charging what the market would bear. Rather, we have kept prices fair and done our best to ensure that retailers do not gain at the consumers expense. The third element of the contract is availability. A brand should be available when and where the customer wants it. There is no benefit achieved in creating a positive brand image, and then being unable to supply the customer who wants to buy it. In our case, over the years we have built what is probably the nations finest distribution network. We reach hundreds of cities and towns through a cold chain that not only ensures that our products are available, but they reach the customer at the farthest end of the country with the same quality as you would find in Ahmedabad or Vadodara. The fourth part of the contract is service. We have a commitment to total quality. But, occasionally, we may make a mistake or, our customer may think weve made a mistake, and the customer, as they say, is always right. That is why, for Amul, every

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customer complaint must be heard not just listened to. And, every customer complaint must be rectified to the extent humanly possible. For close to fifty years now, Amul has honored its contract with the consumer. The contract that is symbolized by the Amul brand means quality. It means value for money. It means availability. And it means service.

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FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

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FINDINGS & ANALYSIS Q1. Do you use milk product? i. Yes ii. No

4%

96% YES NO

Findings: 96% respondents in yes while 4% did not use .

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Q2. If yes,which product you use the most? a) Ghee b) Butter c) Milk d) Ice-cream

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 17% 8%

60%

15%

Ghee

Butter

Milk

Ice-cream

Findings:

60% respondents milk,17% to ghee,8

% butter and 1 5%

respondents to ice cream.

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Q3. When you think about brand,which two names comes in your mind? i. Vita ii. Amul

40%

60%

Vita

Amul

Findings: 60% respondents to vita and 40% respondent to amul.

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4. Rank the following factors in the way they affect your buying decision? ( Rank 1 being least important and 6 being most important ) Price ___ Quality___ Brand Name __ Easy of availability ___Sales Service ____ Pressure of friends, relatives____

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Price Easy of availability Quality Sales Service Brand name Pressure of friends 10% 5% 10% 5% 40% 30%

Analysis:- 40% of Indian people believe in price,30% in quality,10% brand, 5% to easy of availability,10% to sales service,5% to relatives pressure.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
Globalization has affected todays market towards the competitiveness. There are so many domestic and multinational companies growing up rapidly. Survival is being the core concept of the companies. A company must know the strategy of the competitors because it directly affects it. So there is a need for a company to know its rivals market potential, market share and selling strategies and its brand image among customer. Today the choice and preferences of consumer is also changing. Customer is now aware about the products. Customer is better educated more sophisticated. He is aggressive and critical who demands his moneys worth and pays only for what he wants. . 8 The main objectives of the project are the following: To know the awareness level of consumers about the brand. To find the satisfaction level of consumer toward Amul brand. To study the strategy vis--vis its competitors To see how effective is the promotional and positioning strategy of Amul. To find out the most preferred brand in the market.

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Limitations in Research
Every study has its own limitations in terms of methodology and the resources available for its conduct. This study has no expectation to it and has been carried under following limitation: 1. Some customers were not able to respond due to lack of awareness towards the brand. 2. Some of the shop owners were not available so, contacted person was not able to present a fair view. 1. Respondents lack of time to give information and their casual attitude was a big hindrance in the study. 2. Lack of experience of the researchers may cause some errors. 3. Lack of knowledge of hypothesis testing also acts as a limitation.

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Research Methodology
Methodology is the specification of the method for acquiring the information needed to structure the study. .

Collection of Data
1. Secondary data
Internal Data
Went through some previous market studies provided by the guide. Previous summer training reports to grasp knowledge about white goods market. Study of product manual and salesman training report to get product knowledge.

External Data
Scanning of various business magazines. Collected relevant information from the marketing books. Through search engine .

2.Primary Data
Observation Method

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Observation about the consumer behavior at dealer counter gave us lots of knowledge about the customer expectations regarding products, counter preferences for brand and after sales servic

ANNEXURE

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APPENDICES (Questionnaire for Consumers)

1. Full Name: 2. Which of the following Age group do you belong ? less than 10 yrs 25yrs to 50 yrs 3. Sex: Male 10yrs to 25 yrs more than 50 yrs Female

4. Do you use the Amul product? YES NO

5. Rank the following factors in the way they affect your buying decision? ( Rank 1 being least important and 6 being most important ) Price ___ Quality___ Brand Name __ Easy of availability ___Sales Service ____ Pressure of friends, relatives____ 4. Which two brands first come in your mind when you talk of milk product. _____________________ 7. Family income:__________________________________________________ 8. Any Recommendations and Suggestions: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ __ _____________________

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(THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN OUR SURVEY)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS 1) Azhar Kazmi Strategic management. 2) Kotler Philip, "Marketing Management", 3) Wilson & Gilligan, "Strategic Marketing Management",

WEBSITES 1) www.amul.com 2) www.strategy-business.com 3) www.google.com 4) www.yahoo.com

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