BROOKE BOND
All cannot be blamed on poor brand performance; aggressive ad campaigns by rivals also took its toll

Brooke Bond has been one of HLL’s most popular brands in Indian tea market. But, last year HLL announced VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) for its frontline salesmen. Around 150 salesmen from the Brooke Bond team took up the offer. The intent behind this move was to have a smaller but more disciplined sales staff. Clearly, something was amiss. No wonder, Brook Bond’s ranking in the 4Ps B&M India’s 100 most valuable brands fell by 18 points (from 79 in the previous year to 95 this year). One reason for the fall can easily be attributed to competition (read: aggressive marketing promotions by rival Tata Tea), which seems to be eating into Brooke Bonds’ market share and brand visibility in the Rs 6,500 crore organised Indian tea market. Small wonder then that Brooke Bond is focussing its energies on boosting its various sub-brands (Taj Mahal, Red Label, Taaza and 3 Roses – distributed in south India) straddling the mass, niche and lower segments of the market, and is now focussing on value-added flavours and varieties. Despite all odds that seem to be grappling this brand currently, the fact remains that Brooke Bond continues to be the largest selling tea brand in India. Having first introduced the country to the teabag format, this brand is not the sort to give up easily!

CANON
Next year, watch out for their rank in this list

Making its debut in the 100 Most Valuable Brands list is the Singapore- based imaging technologies major, Canon. The reasons are not too hard to guess. A slew of product launches (24 digital imaging products, including 8 new digital cameras), enhanced retail reach and a consistent 42% growth in quarterly revenues! Says Akshun Gulati, Indus- View Advisors, “Canon has a huge gamut of imaging solutions, excellent product range and competitive prices that makes it a leading brand.” Canon’s marketing strategy has been very channel based, as it has carved a niche for itself as it enters Tier II cities as well. The company has recently signed on Sachin Tendulkar (January 2007) as its corporate brand ambassador and expects his star power will help it communicate to the mass. Lined up for future is the Canon ‘Excellence Award’, which will reward performers to coincide with India’s 60 years of Independence deepening its association with the country. Truly, this one has got everything in its kitty to climb up even higher in the brand recall ladder next year.

ITC HOTELS
A spill over of too much diversification by ITC Group? Bingo!!!

From tobacco to grandeur, ITC is one company that has done the transition in style and their Welcom- Group hotels is a glaring example. Such is the brand power of ITC hotels that first, it was successful in getting the Starwood brand to India via a franchise agreement three decades ago and has recently entered into an exclusive tie-up with Starwood to being their premium brand, the ‘Luxury Collection’ to India. However, the brand ITC Welcom Group has nevertheless slipped down in the 4Ps B&M rankings to occupy 99th rank (down by 21 mammoth points). Well, a part of the slip could be ascribed to the uncertainty hovering over the use of the name Sheraton in ITC hotels (considering that the contract with Starwood was about to expire); but more pertinently, competitors in the luxury hotel segment have grown even more ambitious and aggressive, considering the galloping potential of Indian hospitality sector. Even as ITC Group remains preoccupied elsewhere (read: forays into FMCG and confectionary segments), Taj and Oberoi Groups are steadily hiring the best talent in the industry to fuel their belligerent plans. Of course, ITC Hotels still boast speciality restaurant like Bukhara, Peshawri, Dakshin and Dum Pukht. And this latest cosy relationship with Starwood may yet take the ITC Hotels business to the next level in India, and abroad...

AIR INDIA
Scaling heights beyond the blue sky and making it to the top 100

‘Your palace in the sky’ – Air India! Reaching high in the sky was not easy for an Indian planning to go abroad without India’s first international airline – Air India. It acted as a stepping stone for many other international airlines that came quite later in the nation. The ever-smiling Maharajah, the popular mascot of the airline, communicates impressively the endearing symbol of Indian hospitality and has been the most successful brand icon of all the times. According to Veera Khambatta, Dy. Commercial Manager, Advertising and Special Promotions: “This is our 75th year of operation as the flag carrier of our nation, most of it as an international airline, we are justifiably proud of the long and glorious history of brand Air India.” Furthermore, Air India has been adorned with the Best International West Bound Airline out of India for the second consecutive year by Galileo Express Travel Awards 2006. The Special Category Award recognises the most significant CSR initiative taken by an organisation. The recent merger of Air India with Indian Airlines was a strategic move to create an internationally competitive carrier. In the process, the airline also got a much-needed facelift and brand equity of the merged entity soared!

The hall of fame

Going to the movies? Have you considered the options – Inox, PVR, Cinemax, Wave, Adlabs, Satyam… the list goes on. There was a time when watching a movie and popcorn centered on just getting to the nearest cinema hall showing the film. Nowadays, the culture has exponentially changed. Every consumer enters not a single screen hall, but is offered a plethora of choices in one place. You decide on various factors – the movies, food, seats, the different pricing for every show et al. You even decide whether you would like to be pampered like a baby in a relaxing Cinemax Gold/PVR Europa lounge with its super cushioned recliners. Who wants to go home, now? Interestingly, these are the various factors that have turned the traditional hall into a live brand with a host of differentiating factors. Multiplexes like Cinemax & Fun Republic even have loyalty cards that give you points for sharing your movie experience with them. It is, therefore, not surprising to see the sort of investments that the big guns are looking at. Reliance’s Adlabs has bought licenses for the Kanpur-based Rave Cinemas. This gets them instant access to 23 screens over Delhi/NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. So from their current 62 screens, Adlabs has made the prudent choice of entering even Tier II cities and started establishing visible brands. “Consolidation in exhibition space & integration with production houses will lead to faster development of movie business & significant value creation,” states Ravi Sardana, Senior VP, ICICI Securities Ltd. Surely, the mall culture has promoted cinema halls; in fact multiplex owners are being lured to take space within malls to attract the crowds. And even the small towns are not far, look at Cinemax’s expansion plans. Today it has 23 screens, and has become the first investor in over two decades to open a cinema hall in Guwhati, Assam. This brings their screen count to 38 and they aim to scale up & be present in at least 11 states by 2009. And if you thought that was it, think again. There are players like USA’s Time Warner group, Australia’s Hoyts and South Korea’s Megabox that have evinced more than casual interest in investing into multiplexes. It is very likely that the next year and a half will have a half a dozen foreign multiplexes opening up near our doorsteps. Clearly, when one of the bigges names in the business – PVR – can start debating over the film revenue share they want as seen with Fanaa, Dhoom 2, Kabul Express & Ta Ra Pum Pum, you know that these traditional movie halls are coming of age. And you bet some will finally establish themselves among the 4Ps B&M 100 Most Valuable Brands!

Cigarettes and Alcohol
The winners in these two categories were predictable

Based on the methodology followed for the survey on India’s 100 most valuable brands, ICMR conducted a similar survey for the section on alcohol and cigarettes. The initial phase of the survey had 72 brands of alcohol and 24 brands of cigarettes. The parameters of brand awareness and recall were taken as the main parameters to short-list the number of brands to 25 brands of alcohol and 13 brands of cigarettes. These short-listed brands were then rated by consumers (non-smokers and non-alcoholics did not form a part of the survey) on a scale of 1-5 (where 1 is low and 5 is high) for the parameters of brand awareness, brand image/perception and brand loyalty. The survey was conducted in 5 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata & Bangalore) amongst 3000 respondents unlike other categories wherein the research was conducted in 9 cities. The survey revealed that Wills Classic, Wills Navy Cut and Gold Flake topped the consumer rating in almost all parameters with ITC very easily taking away 4 positions amongst the top 5. The survey for the alcoholic beverages category was conducted on 25 brands that were based on the same parameters. The alcoholic beverages were categorised into regular and premium segments based on the pricing (Delhi prices) of a 750 ml bottle.

CIGARETTES: Respondent Profile

Amongst the number of respondents who were covered under the purview of the study, 85% of the respondents were males and 15% of the respondents were females. The age groups of the respondents who were surveyed are given alongside.

Alcoholic Beverages Respondent Profile:

Around 82% males and 18% females were covered under this segment. The highest number of respondents were in the category of 20-30 years of age with 52% of the respondents belonging to this category. In the regular segment Kingfisher (beer) of UB group was the topmost rated brand amongst the 3 short listed parameters of brand awareness, image and perception and brand loyalty. Chivas Regal was found to be at the top position among the brands in the premium segment.