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Tag: N. Chandramouli

  • Marketers today don’t know their customers: TRA Research’s N Chandramouli

    Marketers today don’t know their customers: TRA Research’s N Chandramouli

    MUMBAI: The recently launched India’s Most Attractive Brands 2018 report ranked brands across categories based on an elaborate model measuring which brands the consumers desire the most. The results were calculated after thorough research that involved TRA interacting with people across the country and seeking their responses over a number of ‘attractive attributes’.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the launch event, TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli shared some valuable insights into the marketing culture of today as well. He said that many marketers today do not know their customers They have made stark generalisations about who likes what and what has a market where. While they, in many cases, might be successful in increasing the sales, they lose out on carving an identity for the brand. They fail in driving ‘customer loyalty’.

    “When it comes to ‘loyalty’, most brands rely on the customer to be loyal. They do not think that a customer has a number of options to choose from; one is spoilt for choices. Thus, the brands will have to adapt and deliver,” said Chandramouli.

    He noted that brands today employ a marketing tactic called ‘dynamite advertising’—which is similar to an old fishing technique where fishermen dropped dynamite in the sea to easily catch the dead fish after the explosion. He implied that brands today are creating a lot of noise to boost sales but this form of advertising isn’t helping them in creating a distinct identity.

    Chandramouli added, “Brands need to understand that sales and identity are two completely different things. The age of selling is dead. It’s the time to help people in buying. Thus, brands must think ten years ahead and do things that attract the customer. A brand shouldn’t be speaking about itself. In fact, the consumer should be talking about it and making it popular.”

    But in an age and time of cut-throat competition and each brand focusing on unique marketing trends; it might become difficult to stand out. To this, Chandramouli said that brands should look into the data and studies and find out its own identity before promoting itself. He also said that brands shouldn’t rely completely on agencies for the creatives but rather be involved in creating their own identities.

    It is imperative for brands of today to cut through the noise and come up with ideas that attract consumers. Be it creating campaigns that stand out or contribute to a social cause or sponsor programmes that reach their true target audience; brands will have to act if they want to stay relevant for the longer term.

  • Samsung Mobile leads in TRA’S Most Attractive Brands’ list

    Samsung Mobile leads in TRA’S Most Attractive Brands’ list

    MUMBAI: India’s Most Attractive Brands Report 2018 (MAB 2018), in its fifth edition, has listed the country’s most attractive 1000 brands, based on TRA’s proprietary model of brand attractiveness. The study is an annual syndicated primary research conducted with 2500 consumer-influencers across 16 Indian cities. Leading the pack, India’s most attractive brand is Samsung, the Korean mobile phone manufacturer, which also inaugurated the world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida earlier this year.

    Tata Motors, which has shown very good market performance recently, is ranked 2nd all-India, with a phenomenal jump from 181 rank last year. Apple iPhone, ranked 3rd this year, having jumped up from the 92nd rank in 2017. Reliance Jio, the three-year-old disrupter telecom brand and already the third largest mobile phone network in India, ranks 3rd among India’s most attractive brands and tops the mobile telephony category unseating last year’s leader, Airtel. Maruti Suzuki is ranked the 5th most attractive brand in India, up two ranks over last year. The next five ranks among the top ten are Samsung (consumer electronics) at 6th, Dell (laptops) at 7th, SBI (Bank – PSU) at 8th, Nike (sportswear) at 9th and Honda (four-wheeler) at 10th.

    “Attractiveness or desire can be defined as the response to a sense of longing for anything – a product, brand, person or an outcome. When brands score high on TRA’s brand attractiveness research, they have successfully created similar subconscious pull. Such brands have intense magnetic power over the consumers. It is extremely gratifying to see that Indian brands have the maximum presence among the top 100,” said TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli, on the launch of the report. He expanded that 49 Indian, 18 American, six South Korean, six Japanese & two Chinese brands made it to the top 100.

    Chandramouli further added, “Categories of gadgetry, mobile services, automobiles, and consumer electronics have the largest average attractiveness index this year. All these categories are highly driven by individual personalities and this shows a rise in the self-awareness – a growing sense of purpose and social-worth of the Indian consumer.”

    The report lists 286 categories under 34 super-categories. The other category leaders in this report are Levi’s (casualwear), Biba (ethnicwear-women),  Siyaram (fabrics), Allen Solly (formalwear), MRF (tyres), ICICI Bank (bank-private), SBI (bank-PSU), HSBC (bank-Foreign), Visa (credit /debit card), Fastrack (branded fashion), Gucci (luxury fashion), Kenstar (consumer appliances), Samsung (consumer electronics), Symphony (air coolers), LG ((refrigerator), Samsung (washing machines), Philips (lighting), Odonil (air fresheners), Himalaya (baby products), Nippo (batteries), Coca-Cola (aerated beverages),    Kit Kat (chocolate bar), Canon (cameras), Patanjali (ayurvedic products), Moov (pain balm), Prestige (cookware), Roca (bath fixtures/sanitaryware), Taj Hotels (hotels –premium), Google (internet search), Amazon (online retail), Ola (taxi aggregation), ACC (cement), Hero (cycles), Nike (sportswear), Titan (watches),  DLF (real estate), FBB (fashion retail), Nataraj (writing accessories), Dell (laptops), Hewlett Packard (personal technology) and Jet Airways (airline – private).

  • Samsung becomes India’s most attractive brand in 2017

    Samsung becomes India’s most attractive brand in 2017

    MUMBAI: The crown for India’s most attractive brand has yet again gone to a South Korea-based company. Smartphone company Samsung dethroned LG as India’s most preferred brand.

    LG has slipped to second position followed by Sony in the top 3. Tata, after falling by almost three ranks in 2016 has come back to hold its position to rank 4th in 2017. Honda ranks 5th after ranking 4th in 2016 and 6th in 2015. The 6th most attractive brand in 2017 is Apple, which has jumped 12 places after ranking 18th in 2016 and 15th in 2015.

    The survey for the 4th edition of India’s Most Attractive Brands was conducted among 2,456 consumer influencers across 16 cities and generated nearly 5 million data points and 5,000 unique brand mentions, out of which the top 1000 brands have been listed in this year’s report.

    TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli mentioned, “The one aspect that has somehow stayed constant is the fight for the top 3 ranks between Samsung, LG and Sony. Will this be the case even next year? Well it may be difficult to predict as the rankings this year have seen some major rank climbs and falls, making a few of the former new category leaders and the latter resigning from their coveted spot.”

    One of the list’s major brand rank climbs is Patanjali; from ranking 371 in 2015 to ranking 87 in 2016 to making it to rank 12 in 2017.

    Chinese mobile phone maker Oppo has claimed the 20th position by taking a major jump from its position at 341 in 2015.

    In the Media-TV segment, NDTV has emerged as the numero uno channel followed by Aaj Tak and Sony Entertainment at number 2 and number 3 positions respectively. In Hindi GEC, Zee TV slipped to number 2 position with an overall ranking of 226 which is a major slip from its last year’s position of 93.

    Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali emerged at number 1 position in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) category with an overall position of 12 which is 75 ranks up than its last year’s position at number 87. Colgate followed at number 2 position and saw a slip in its overall ranking by retaining its position at 43.

    In food and beverage category, Brooke Bond tea saw a major slip in its ranking. The tea brand ranked at 120 in the category but slipped by 776 points in its overall ranking this year with 941 as compared to last year’s 165.

    In the branded fashion category, homegrown brand Fastback emerged as a clear winner at number 1 spot beating international luxury brands Gucci at number 2 spot, Tommy Hilfiger at number 3 respectively.

    In DTH sector, Tata Sky was the most attractive brand with an overall ranking of 315. Reliance DTH was among the worst losers as it ranks at 888. Cadbury Perk joined the bandwagon of losers with its rank at 949 as compared to the previous year’s 499, a difference of 450 ranks.

    “This year we have incorporated the theme of diversity in the report. Diversity is something that our study radiates,” concluded Chandramouli.

  • Brand trust: Samsung, Sony, LG, Apple & Tata lead in TRA report

    BENGALURU: The seventh Brand Trust Report by the TRA Research (TRA, formerly Trust Research Advisory) was released in Bengaluru today by TRA research head Sachin Bhosle.

    TRA says that The Brand Trust Report 2017 (BTR-2017), the seventh in the series, is the result of a primary research based on the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA. Spread over a four month effort starting November 2016, this year’s research was conducted among 2,505 consumer-influencers across 16 cities, and generated nearly 5 million datapoints and 11,000 unique brands, making it the most intensive study on Brand Trust across the globe reveals TRA.

    Bhosle revealed that the consumer influencers or responders were persons between ages 21 to 50, drawing a salary of at least Rs 20,000 per month, working in an organisation that had revenues of at least Rs 50 crore. Another important criterion for a responder was a name card in his or her name.

    Some of entries of note in the report include: Samsung has been ranked as India’s Most Trusted Brand of 2017 (climbing 17 ranks from 2016). Sony and LG both retain their 2016 rankings and are at second and third ranks respectively. Apple ranks as India’s fourth Most Trusted Brand and, rising 12 ranks from 2016, makes it to the top 5 for the first time. Holding on to its rank of last year, brand Tata’s trust defies the temporary imbroglio it faced to occupy fifth rank. The 6th position is held by the automobile giant Honda; Maruti Suzuki follows, taking the seventh spot. Dell is at eighth rank and Lenovo, climbing 18 ranks from 2016, features in the ninth position in the list. Bajaj, a brand which has been in the top 10 in five out of the seven reports, comes in at the tenth rank in India’s Most Trusted Brands list. None of the FMCG brands made it to the top ten positions in BTR-2017.

    Of note is the performance of some Bengaluru based brands. TRA CEO N. Chandramouli said in a press note, “In keeping with the business vibe of the city, several Bangalore-based brands have made a significant mark in the list. Kingfisher, ranked 213; Infosys, ranked 226; and MTR, ranked 285, are cases to point. Myntra catapulted 283 ranks from last year to secure rank 297 in 2017. Among the 23 Bangalore-based brands, a remarkable 12 are category leaders – Sonata in Watches, Britannia in F&B – Diversified, Amazon in Online Retailer – Diversified, Ola in Online Taxi Aggregator, Fastrack in Branded Fashion, IBM in Consulting/Services, Tanishq in Jewellery, Kingfisher in Beer, Infosys in Software Services, MTR in RTC Foods, Myntra in Online Retailer – Fashion, and Art of Living in the NGO super-category.”

    Bangalore-based brands have made a strong showing with city brands leading 6 of the 40 Super Categories in the report. These leaders are Kingfisher (Alcoholic Beverages), Fastrack (Branded Fashion), Himalaya (Healthcare), Kurl-On (Home Furnishings), Art of Living (NGO) and Apple (Technology). 23 city-based brands made it to the top 1000 most trusted brands in India.

  • Discovery & TLC top Brand Trust Report 2015

    Discovery & TLC top Brand Trust Report 2015

    MUMBAI: Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific’s two flagship channels Discovery Channel and TLC have been ranked as the most trusted brands in the factual entertainment and lifestyle categories by The Brand Trust Report 2015 for the fourth consecutive year in India. 

     

    Discovery, a non-fiction entertainment channel in India, offers an engaging line-up of high-quality content from a range of genres including blue-chip nature, science and technology, survival and adventure, ancient and contemporary history, cultural and topical subjects. 

     

    TLC, on the other hand, is an in-home getaway for aspirational viewers who want to experience the best the world has to offer. Providing an extensive mix of programming on travel, cuisine, makeover, relationships, design and lifestyle trends; it encourages viewers to make the most of their time and live the most rewarding and exciting lives.  

     

    Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific executive vice president and general manager – South Asia and Southeast Asia Rahul Johri said, “We are delighted that Discovery Channel and TLC have enhanced their brand leadership and strengthened its relationship with viewers across the country. Despite the fragmentation in the market, both channels have succeeded to increase the Trust quotient which reflects the team’s ingenuity and intensity to deliver the brand promise. This recognition embodies our commitment to offer the finest content on television and provide consistent, differentiated and enriching entertainment experience.” 

     

    Trust Research Advisory CEO N. Chandramouli added, “Discovery Channel and TLC’s rising trust legacy is admirable. These rankings are a reflection of Discovery’s brand focus and incredibly strong connect with its audience across the country.” 

     

     The Brand Trust Report, compiled and released annually, is the result of an exhaustive survey undertaken by the Trust Research Advisory (TRA). This year’s research was conducted among 2,000+ ‘influencer’ respondents across 16 cities. The study generated nearly two million data-points and 17,000 brands to create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index, which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s brands on the basis of trust.

  • Snapdeal takes the road less travelled…

    Snapdeal takes the road less travelled…

    MUMBAI: Be it acquisitions, deals or launches of products, Snapdeal continues to make headlines.

    While Amazon India is partnering with Future Group and Flipkart has acquired Myntra to boost the fashion retail section, Snapdeal is attempting to break the clutter by filling its basket with products from diverse categories.

    In the last few weeks, the e-tailer is ventured into selling homes, two-wheelers and four-wheelers, gourmet food. It has also inked some exclusive tie-ups with electronics retailer Croma and television manufacturer VU Technologies among others. Snapdeal is also one of the sponsors for the famous reality television show, Bigg Boss 8.

    “We offer a platform where anyone can come and sell or buy anything that can be sold. We are trying to replicate the offline market place in its most democratic manner possible online,” says Snapdeal offlibe marketing senior VP Maneesh Goel.

    “The intention is to try and cater to every single consumer,” he adds.

    Snapdeal, as a strategy, is trying to capture the entire wallet share of Indian customers and has been quite successful so far.

     “Snapdeal has been one of the sites which is constantly evolving with newer ideas both in terms of products on offer and marketing strategies”, says Team Pumpkin co-founder, Swati Nathani.  

    According to Trust Research Advisory CEO, N Chandramouli, “This approach is done to get involved in every aspect of a customer’s purchase. All products are the same in the purchase – one pays and the other sells but with the degree of purchase involvement and the price changes. If Snapdeal is successful in smoothly operating the entire purchase cycle, they will definitely grow in terms of the bond that they share with their customers and thereby increasing trust.”

    Snapdeal has managed to raise over $233 million (over Rs 1,400 crores) this year from investors including Premji Invest, Temasek and eBay Inc. Industry veteran, Ratan Tata also invested in the site, giving it his stamp of approval.  According to media reports, Alibaba is also said to have forayed into the Indian e-commerce space with Snapdeal as its partners.

    With its ‘bachate raho (keep saving)’ tagline and focus on unbranded products sold by small manufacturers and retailers, Snapdeal has established itself as a mass-retailer, with over half of these 50,000 merchants selling fashion and lifestyle products that account for 60 percent of its orders.

    “Most categories which are generally sold on the urban arena involve middlemen and hence their value is rising. With Snapdeal foraying into the sections, the involvement of middlemen is reducing leading to fall in their value,” Goel added.

    Snapdeal recently crossed $1 billion (or Rs 6,000 crore) in sales (called gross merchandise value in the online world) taking on rival Flipkart, which had achieved the target a few months ago.

    The new categories such as real estate, gourmet foods and automobiles are critical for the portal. For both Tata Value Homes and the new Mahindra Scorpio, the site let users pre-book online for an amount (Rs 30,000 Tata Value Homes and Rs 20,000 for the new Mahindra Scorpio) that is much lower than required through traditional mediums such as at a car dealer’s or property sales office.

    Tying up with Tata Value Homes, the e-tailer announced 85 homes, worth Rs 40 crore, were sold in six days. It also introduced a new gourmet section on the site in partnership with Sanjeev Kapoor.

    According to Nathani, “Gourmet is the section which should bring the next level of revolution in the e-commerce space. After Books, Electronics, Fashion and Home, Gourmet has been one section which everyone wants to explore. The category has also been a little underplayed in the offline space and therefore, we think that this can be the game changer in the e-commerce space.”

    With Diwali coming soon, the online portal is planning a huge campaign for its customers. But more than that, they are concentrating on the marketing of it.

    “The campaign will last around 40-45 days. The intention is that, depending upon day to day we will be clocking around 1000-2000 ads slots everyday, the campaigns will peak on several days, overall targeting around 50,000-60,000 slots,” Goel reveals.

    “Intention is to double the revenue through Diwali sales,” he added.

    Jasper Infotech, which runs Snapdeal.com, has recently reported a loss of Rs 264.6 crores for the year ended March, compared with a loss of Rs 120 crores in the previous year.

    “In terms of numbers and reach, currently we would say Flipkart is the winner but with its constantly evolving strategies, we will soon see Snapdeal getting into the top spot, “Nathani opines.

    The battle is a close one for now. The company is venturing into various brands from auto, electronics, mobile phones, home furnishings, kitchen appliances, beauty, footwear to clothing to get them online.

  • And the e-commerce war continues…

    And the e-commerce war continues…

    MUMBAI: The day began with one of the most interesting ad wars on the front pages of leading newspapers of recent times and ended, on one hand with Flipkart apologising to its customers even after clocking $100 million in 10 hours while on the other hand Snapdeal, making a crore per minute, scoring its highest sale in a single day.

     

    Even though the fight for the market share between e-retailers has been going on for some time now, the day 6 October seems to have made history in the e-commerce space with discounts and deals never heard of and the impossible to miss marketing by the e-commerce sites. The day signals the start of a marketing war that is set to intensify in the months to come.

     

    In a bid to differentiate itself, Flipkart launched the ‘big billion day’ sale along with a matching television ad campaign for the past two weeks. It was projected as the mother of all flash sales, with the aim of surpassing the turnovers of multiple day sales in a single day. Though it did not turn out the way it was supposed to.

     

    The sale not only affected the home-grown brand Flipkart, it also impacted its competitors like Amazon and Snapdeal majorly along with Indian retailers like Future group. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has also launched a probe into the sites and the government may also launch a separate policy for the sector soon.

     

    According to Trust Research Advisory (TRA) CEO N Chandramouli the Big Billion day sale was merely a catalyst to a situation that has already been simmering for a while. “It is essential that the government looks into the matter as with the absence of legislative measures the online retailers exist in a state of anarchy,” he says.

     

    Talking about the Big billion day fiasco, Chandramouli reckons, “The Big Billion day fiasco definitely has coloured the perception of people negatively. If this has not awoken all the e-commerce brands to ensuring they tighten their systems before embarking on such an offer day, then there will still be trouble.”

     

    “On the other hand, this fiasco must have also strengthened the resolve of competing brands to prove that they will stand true to their promises, ensuring that their promise to the consumers is always met,” he adds.

     

    Chandramouli feels that mature players like Amazon were the gainers in this fiasco backed by their years of experience and learning. “Everyone other than Flipkart has benefitted from this fiasco. The competition is being trusted more and Flipkart’s stranglehold is being broken, the consumer has got some good deals and they benefit too,” he points out.

     

    Team Pumpkin business head Swati Nathani has a different view. She says, “We did see complete social media backlash for Flipkart on 6 October and assumed that the e-commerce giant will definitely not achieve the targets set by itself. However, at the end of the day, we did see Flipkart breaking all records and emerging as a clear winner. Despite that, the co founders sent an apology note to all the customers. In our opinion, Flipkart has gained more than it has lost after the fiasco.”

     

    When it came to ads, none of the e-tailers were behind. With Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Day’ sale ads flooding the pages of major Indian newspapers, Amazon’s response alluded to India’s recent successes in space with its “Mission to Mars” campaign, while Snapdeal tried to play it cool with a pitch that ran with the tagline ‘For others it’s a big day. For us, today is no different’.

     

    The statistics show that a combination of #Flipkart and #BigBillionDay received approximately 57,600 mentions versus 15,000 mentions for #CheckSnapdealToday. #Flipkart and #BigBillionDay collectively received approximately 2,137 million impressions across Twitter, while #CheckSnapDeal received around 859 million impressions. Emotions favoured Snapdeal where it received only seven per cent negative sentiment mentions compared to 23 per cent for Flipkart. The conclusion could be that while Flipkart got the numbers, Snapdeal, even with the smaller numbers it could manage, kept customers happy.

     

    And now, even after the dust has settled on the 6 October fiasco, the ad wars continue.  As Amazon now comes up with its latest Diwali Dhamaka sale, Snapdeal continues with its trending #CheckSnapdealToday tagline. Full page back to back ads can be viewed in leading newspapers like the Times of India.

     

    Even as customers continue to shop with sites offering astonishing discounts, the retailers and the government have started expressing concerns over huge discounts being offered by e-commerce firms.

     

    While Chandramouli believes that there are only two possibilities in such cases, firstly that the offer is coming from manufacturers or the e-tailers are absorbing the losses of the discounts.

     

    “Either way, it is not sustainable. If the objective is to pulling in new e-buyers by offering them unheard of discounts, it will help, but it only builds the entire market, not loyalty to any particular brand,” he opines.

     

    Nathani reveals that the current focus of e-commerce players is more to gain the market share in customer mindsets rather than profitability. “Jabong has incurred a net loss of Rs 293 crore in the last fiscal year. So we would say that the e-tailers will even sell products at a loss to ensure that customers keep returning to them. Customers, therefore, are at the best spot right now in terms of advantages,” she says.

     

    But even with the losses, the discounts do not stop. “E-commerce is a rapidly growing sector and often due to the absence of a physical manifestation of the store, online advertisers tend to promise in superlatives,” says Chandramouli.

     

    Adding to the same, Nathani reckons, “Customers expectations have definitely risen in terms of discounts. For eg Snapdeal offered iPhone 5S for Rs 24,999 in its newspaper ad and now, this price has become benchmark for the customers who are looking out to buy the phone.”

     

    According to the pre-dominant consumer sentiment, Flipkart which holds 50 per cent market share in the Indian market may have to now work harder to get its back after the fiasco.

     

    Though, she clearly believes that In terms of numbers and reach, Flipkart is the clear winner currently.  “But with the constantly evolving strategies, they see Snapdeal getting closer to the top spot soon.”

     

    But with Diwali coming near, it would now be interesting to see how the #bigbillionday fiasco will or will not affect the sales of the portals and how prepared they are to give their customers a good time. But till they #happyshopping.

     

  • Samsung is India’s Most Trusted Brand; Sony ranks 2nd, Tata is 3rd

    Samsung is India’s Most Trusted Brand; Sony ranks 2nd, Tata is 3rd

    MUMBAI: India’s much anticipated and most rigorous brand evaluation, The Brand Trust Report, India Study, a comparison of the trust held in brands, has been released for 2014. Samsung has emerged as India’s Most Trusted brand this year. Sony ranks as India’s 2nd Most Trusted Brand followed by Tata which has ranked 3rd this year. In 2013, the three brands had ranked second, third and fifth respectively. LG, ranks 4th in this year’s list, followed by the three year leader, Nokia, at 5th place. Hewlett Packard move up fourteen ranks over last year to become India’s 6th Most Trusted Brand and Hero leaps seventy-nine ranks to become India’s 7th Most Trusted. Honda is at rank 8th, followed by Reliance at 9th. Mahindra betters its last year rank by sixty-nine places to get ranked as India’s 10th Most Trusted brand.

    The Brand Trust Report, the fourth in its series, is the result of a comprehensive primary research conducted on the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory). This year’s study involved 15000 hours of fieldwork covering 2500 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated 5 million datapoints and 20000 unique brands from which the top 1200 brands have been listed in this year’s report. These brands have been classified into 284 different categories as against 213 categories in 2013. The 244-page report is available for Rs. 14000/-.

    N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, said on the occasion of the report’s launch, “Samsung has grown steadily in trust ranks over the last four years – 5th in 2011, 4th in 2012, 2nd in 2013 and has reached India’s Most Trusted rank this year. When a brand focuses on its trust with intensity, apart from trust the brand gains in market-share, product premium and acceptance of new products as an automatic by-product. Samsung’s strategy of focusing on the core intangibles of its brand is evident from its climb to leadership in BTR 2014.”

    An analysis of the 100 Most Trusted Brands in 2014 revealed that most brands were represented from Diversified with 11, Consumer Electronics with 10, Bath/Beauty with 9, Mobiles with 8, 4-Wheelers, Telephony, and 2-Wheelers with 4 each, and Personal Technology, Sportswear and Aerated Drinks with 3 brands each.

     “Among the top 100 Most Trusted brands, 75 were net gainers while 25 took a fall. The gainers gained an average of 86.23 ranks, while those that fell took a dip of 27.16 ranks on average, showing that the average gain among the top hundred beats the average loss in ranks by 317%. A connected surmise

     

    could be drawn that in the year that was slow for many, brands took the opportunity to focus more on their trust intangibles, scoring points in the process. For long term sustainability and success, it is important that brands have a long term investment in trust”, Chandramouli added.

  • Blue Lotus Communications co-founders start new brand consultancy venture

    Blue Lotus Communications co-founders start new brand consultancy venture

    BENGALURU: The co-founders of public relations agency Blue Lotus Communications, N. Chandramouli and Archana Tomar, have set up a new brand consultancy venture – The Brand Counsel (TBC). TBC will be an independent company outside the Comniscient Group and its‘ focus will be to streamline the CEO/Board‘s direction through the organisation‘s communication agencies. Archana Tomar will be moving on from her position as vice-president of Blue Lotus to head of the brand counsel. 

    The Brand Counsel has a single allegiance – to remain faithful to the management vision at all costs, says N. Chandramoul

    A Blue Lotus Communications CEO Chandramouli said, “The top management‘s urgent imperative is to align business goals to communication goals of organisations. Unfortunately, these two goals often fail to converge, severely limiting the brand‘s potential. If such a divergence sustains, it may leave the audience completely estranged from the brand. The Brand Counsel will have a single allegiance – to remain faithful to the management vision at all costs. TBC will align all the diverse communications of the brand through the organisation‘s existing agencies. With Archana at the helm, I am confident that this new company will scale the ladder of success within a short span of time.”

    Adding on her new role, Tomar added, “My tenure at Blue Lotus has been the most enriching and eventful. We nurtured Blue Lotus and saw it evolve to become among the largest and most respected PR agencies of India. The Brand Counsel will fuel life into brands from a new and innovative perspective without being another middling or muddling think-tank. We see a huge opportunity for brands to improve their communication and resource efficiencies.”

  • Google remains India’s most trusted internet brand for 3rd time

    Google remains India’s most trusted internet brand for 3rd time

    MUMBAI: Google remains India‘s Most Trusted for the third year in a row but the gap with the second ranked Facebook is a miniscule 3 per cent, according to brand trust research agency Trust Research Advisory (TRA).

    An analysis of the All India Most Trusted ranks shows that Google (All India rank 44) fell 13 ranks and Facebook (All India rank 48) gained 17 ranks to bridge the gap, says TRA.

    Yahoo still stood as the third Most Trusted Internet brand despite its 62 rank fall in All India Brand Trust rank.

    Google‘s Orkut, steadied at 4th rank despite a significant fall in daily visitors from India. Ebay follows as India‘s fifth Most Trusted Internet brand with a very small difference in BTI from the previous. The top six of last year are repeated in the same order this year as well.

    TRA noted that the number of brands represented in the Internet category this year has gone up from just 14 in 2012 to 25 this year showing a direct increase in the trust internet based exchanges have begun to garner.

    The Brand Trust Report, India Study – 2013, is the third in its series researched and published by TRA. This year‘s research was conducted in 16 cities generating 19000 unique brands across 211 categories. Trust Research Advisory is a part of the Comniscient Group, a group of India‘s largest non-advertising based communication businesses.

    TRA CEO N. Chandramouli said, “Two reasons online brands rely significantly on trust more than any other. Firstly, the exchanges are without any physical interface, and secondly, the online world is cluttered with choices that make loyalty ephemeral. With most of the new brands entering the Most Trusted list this year being from Online Shopping or Internet Services, there will be no stopping this sub-category from seeing accelerated growth over the next 12 months.”

    The leaders in the various sub-categories are Naukri leading in Internet Services, Youtube in Online Sharing, Ebay in Online Shopping, Google in Internet Tools and Facebook in Social Networking.

    A study of the number of brands in each sub-categories shows that Internet Tools is represented by nine brands, Online Shopping by eight brands, Social Networking by four brands and Online sharing and Online Services by two brands each.