Brand India’s an idea in the right slot

Niclas Ljungberg

Brand India is an idea whose time has come. One of those rare Big Ideas that means so much that everyone seems to have their own image in mind about it, yet no one can quite define it.

In fact, Brand India is a Big Idea that has successfully managed to absorb numerous other ideas over the centuries, and is now the convergence of lots of ideas whose time have come.

One of the biggest challenges is to start connecting the dots to tell the full story of this complex brand. What is Brand India doing to build brand equity in this age of globalised short-attention spans? Let’s do a quick review.

The Incredible India tourism campaign has made a mark globally. The India Everywhere economic campaign hijacked Davos 2006, imprinted India on the minds of the world’s power elite, and is now ‘on tour’.

So far, few Indian companies, products and brands have made it to global consciousness, excluding a few special cases like ‘Gandhi’. An example on many Westerners’ minds is Mittal, but let’s face it, that’s not really an Indian company.

Still, Mittal vs Arcelor brought the concept of ‘the Indian MNC’ to international media, CEOs and bankers. Indians are coming to get you an M&A closer than you’d like to think.

On the local advertising scene, where we might find future contenders for international mindspace, local spenders include the likes of Dabur, Bajaj, Paras, and Tata (and, interestingly, the government of India), and transnational joint ventures like Hero Honda and Maruti Udyog/Suzuki. And the usual multinational suspects like HLL, P&G, PepsiCo, Nokia and LG.

Neither has yet brought the world a strong global Indian consumer brand. Brand India, in that context, is a B2B rather than a B2C brand. Some industry sectors play a key role in changing the perception of India, e.g., pharmaceuticals, medical tourism, manufacturing, e-learning, creative services, and retail. Levis has their second-largest store in the world and the largest in Asia, in Bangalore, which is bound to send a strong message.

Look out for local brands with ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’ propositions successfully combining very cheap and very useful = very good value, like micro finance or one-sachet products.

Other examples with potential include agri-business, wind power and the space programme. And NRIs add to the Brand India equity through people like Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi.

There is potential to carefully exploit those ‘soft and mystical’ aspects of India, like yoga and Ayurveda, e.g., medical tourism and experience-based offerings. Some say these stereotypes should be avoided since they will keep India’s image in its past. I think real value is being expropriated by other companies in other countries.

Why let them? On the downside, there are a number of challenges and threats, many being addressed slowly: poor infrastructure, inclusive growth, states developing at different speeds, and a reputation of corruption and red tape.

Some of Brand India’s strengths are its democratic system, the sheer number of consumers, human capital, and not the least, an emerging confidence and sense of opportunity of India taking its rightful place as a leader in the global economy.

In the 21st century, you have to compete on ideas. A Deutsche Bank advert said, “Ideas are capital. The rest is just money.” Brand India is an idea at the right place at the right time. The rest is just history.

The writer is  a strategist, advising brands in India and Europe, and author of upcoming ‘Brand India’