Brand Disconnect

The wide disconnect between a Brand and its Value domain.

A great idea need not become a great product. Similarly a great product may not become a great brand.

Great brands have to deliver basic values.

We live in a world of excesses. Too many products, too many services... In this constant bombardment of excesses, we are naturally led to complex thinking about surviving competition and sustaining our shine.

But basic values deal with terrible simplicity and convinience. Our effort to understand the consumer is becoming more artificial and complicated. We are unable to relate. How do we connect ? What set of values do we create or deliver ?

Why are we suddenly waking up to a difference between customer satisfaction and customer delight ? Delight is no new world to emotional civilization. The customer always wished he was delighted. Its just that no one thought of that until competition woke us up. We cannot afford to sleep and wait for the customer or cmpetition waking us up. Thats being blindsided.

We manufacure products, name them, market and sell them and soon start believing that these 'pet-names' became BRANDS !! Lets stop kidding ourselves. Stop sinking that money showing a TV spot saying "even monkeys love this brand, why wont you ?" This is commodity behaviour and beware....

In my opinion the business world is sharply divided into 'brand-enterpreuners' and 'other enterpreuners'. My humble plea to the brand-enterpreuners is as follows :

1. involve the consumer
2. identify unfulfilled value-gaps
3. design perfect solutions &
4. PLEASE deliver with respect

In the entire process keep emotions in the forefront.

The subject of sustainance comes only after a perfect achievement. Not just after any simple achievement.

A smart global India of tomorrow can be a reality if discrete 'brand enterpreuners' empower the long-deprived Indian consumer who was scared to discern.

My final suggestion. Encourage the creation of a Brand engineering school which can make, fix and maintain Brands. I am scared to say Value-brands, Super-brands and bla-bla. These Brand schools are not consultants or consulting firms whose experience-window is alarmingly myopic and inadequate. These brand schools are to be created for consumers, run by consumers and managed by consumers.

Look at the world from the other end. The consumer end. Remember never to say

• Well, my organization can only do this way
• Sorry, it was a mistake, we will correct this.

Soon enough, there is never going to a second chance. If we decide to sustain we have to ensure that all our practices are future-proof way beond any reasonable benchmarking.