Brands in the Boardroom

“Why don’t we see a single Indian brand in the Business Week league table?” This question raised by an aspiring manager at the recently held ET in Campus seminar on ‘Brands in the Boardroom’ put the issue of understanding and managing DNA right in focus. Successful organizations world over have nurtured strong brands with unique consumer connect experiences over a period of time. Indian corporates would have a better chance of multiplying their EVs and getting counted among the big guys out there if they focus more on the demand side management and not just the supply side. Read on... .... (ET dated 29th Jan. 2009, section – Business & IT, Page 6)


http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETBG&login=default&AW=1233236248953


‘Focus on intangibles key’

Publication:Economic Times Bangalore; Date:Jan 29, 2009; Section:Business & IT; Page Number:6
Our Bureau BANGALORE

THE success of any enterprise in the next three decades will be determined more by its ability to use intangible assets than by its ability to control the physical ones, said Ramesh Jude Thomas, president of Equitor Consulting, speaking at ‘ET in Campus’ event held at Christ University Institute of Management. Delivering a lecture on ‘Brands in the Boardroom,’ organised by ET in Campus, an initiative of the Economic Times, Mr Thomas said that brand is a unique relationship that creates and secures future earnings for the company. Explaining the case of the world’s top two brands, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, he said that the total brand value of these two companies in 2007 was $129 billion, which was higher than the GDPs of many countries. According to him, the companies with established brands appeared more credible. Detailing the role of intangible assets in mergers and acquisitions, he said that when Procter & Gamble bought Gillette for $57 billion, a little less than half the price was for the brand alone. Dwelling on the reason behind the absence of Indian brands on the league table, Mr Thomas said: “As long as we continue to focus on cost, someone else will beat us at our own game. The need of the hour is to focus on creating value through brands.” “In the very near future, companies will be valued around the quality of their brands. Other assets will be valued only for the support they can provide to the brands,” Mr Thomas said.

Ramesh Jude Thomas, president and chief knowledge officer, Equitor Management Consulting, speaks on ‘Brands in the Boardroom’ as part of the ET in Campus ‘Leaders on Leadership’ lecture series, at Christ University in Bangalore on Wednesday. —ET

Brands and Bad Times

Ramesh Jude Thomas,
President & CKO EQUiTOR Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The biggest analysts and pundits could not see a 20k market could go into free fall. No one imagined that some of the most revered names in the financial world would disappear overnight. And then I saw the darnedest sight: An ad for Merrill Lynch in The Economist. Were these guys completely cuckoo? Consider this. The Bank of America paid $ 50 bn for this company with one leg in the grave. What were they thinking? To answer that we need to ask why the really smart guys retain their marketing budgets in bad times? 1. In a downturn most companies will slash their marketing spends. The entire expenditure in the category falls. Guess what? The guy who retains his marketing spends suddenly has a much higher share of voice. When there is less noise in the market, you can only sound louder. 2. When the media market shrinks, deals abound. You end up getting much better value for the same budgets. 3. Your confidence infects the entire eco system. The trade pushes your product harder. 4. Finally, when things turn around, folks will always remember the good stuff that they used in bad times. When 9.11 happened, most airlines were dead certain that the world will stop flying from 12th September. In the face of this gloom, a certain Mr. Ahmed Makhtoom ordered $ 26bn worth of aircrafts and kept advertising. Emirates haven’t seen a drop of red ink since then. How many airlines can claim a similar record. Apple has not cut back a penny from their original plans or got rid of a single person in an economy that shed over a million jobs by the close of last year. In November this year, Bharti unveiled a 15 crore logo to reflect its $10bn ambitions. Are these guys gamblers? Or just fool-hardy fruitcakes with king-sized egos? If you go a little below the surface some interesting threads begin to show up: Great confidence in their reading of the market, a very well thought out, distinctive offering and an almost arrogant sense of conviction. But what really separates the men from the boys is a management which seriously believes that their brands are real business assets. If you were certain that over half the value of your business exists only because own the word COKE or INTEL or DISNEY, would you starve it? The moral of the story is that sound offerings with quality leadership will always back themselves to win under any conditions. At the worst of times, enough people have to fly, borrow capital, stay in hotels, and buy a meal. The million dollar question is will it be your meal or capital that these folks will buy.

Quiet Market? Sound Louder

Amidst the global trend of shrinking marketing budgets, I saw an ad in The Economist (no less) for for a marquee investment bank that was sinking. What were they thinking, when even the most profitable companies were cutting back?
When the media market shrinks, deals abound. You end up getting much better value for the same budget. Read on...
http://www.livemint.com/articles/2009/01/13222155/Quiet-market-Sound-louder.html

Brands and Bad Times

Ramesh Jude Thomas,
President & CKO EQUiTOR Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The biggest analysts and pundits could not see a 20k market could go into free fall. No one imagined that some of the most revered names in the financial world would disappear overnight.
And then I saw the darnedest sight: An ad for Merrill Lynch in The Economist. Were these guys completely cuckoo?
Consider this. The Bank of America paid $ 50 bn for this company with one leg in the grave. What were they thinking?

To answer that we need to ask why the really smart guys retain their marketing budgets in bad times?

1. In a downturn most companies will slash their marketing spends. The entire expenditure in the category falls. Guess what? The guy who retains his marketing spends suddenly has a much higher share of voice. When there is less noise in the market, you can only sound louder.
2. When the media market shrinks, deals abound. You end up getting much better value for the same budgets.
3. Your confidence infects the entire eco system. The trade pushes your product harder.
4. Finally, when things turn around, folks will always remember the good stuff that they used in bad times.

When 9.11 happened, most airlines were dead certain that the world will stop flying from 12th September. In the face of this gloom, a certain Mr. Ahmed Makhtoom ordered $ 26bn worth of aircrafts and kept advertising. Emirates haven’t seen a drop of red ink since then. How many airlines can claim a similar record.

Apple has not cut back a penny from their original plans or got rid of a single person in an economy that shed over a million jobs by the close of last year.

In November this year, Bharti unveiled a 15 crore logo to reflect its $10bn ambitions.

Are these guys gamblers? Or just fool-hardy fruitcakes with king-sized egos? If you go a little below the surface some interesting threads begin to show up: Great confidence in their reading of the market, a very well thought out, distinctive offering and an almost arrogant sense of conviction.

But what really separates the men from the boys is a management which seriously believes that their brands are real business assets. If you were certain that over half the value of your business exists only because own the word COKE or INTEL or DISNEY, would you starve it?

The moral of the story is that sound offerings with quality leadership will always back themselves to win under any conditions. At the worst of times, enough people have to fly, borrow capital, stay in hotels, and buy a meal.

The million dollar question is will it be your meal or capital that these folks will buy.

Evaluating brand value in an intangible environment

Did you know that an industrial business such as the General Electric Co.or GE, commands a brand value of nearly $47 billion? Procter and Gamble Co. acquired Gillette Co. for a whopping $57 billion, with almost half of that going for five brands. The top 10 global brands are worth $390 billion, three times the GDP of Thailand. Read more at:
http://www.livemint.com/2008/09/30212353/Evaluating-brand-value-in-an-i.html

The sound of music

Jingles which strike the right chord amass a wealth of brand recall. No wonder then that firms prefer to retain the decades-old tunes generations have identified the brand wit. Read more at
http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/25233032/The-sound-of-music.html?pg=1