The 30TH FEB Post is an approach to have a better understanding of - Marketing and Brands; which are certainly, dynamic of all. A space to brainstorm with you the industry trends with a similar focus & wavelength. Check out our latest posts at, www.30thfeb.com/blog
FACEBOOK is good. Post CAREFULLY. It is about your BRAND. Avoid Repetitions.
Take INSPIRATIONS. Offer VALUE.
PERSONAL BRANDS will emerge. Do not get overwhelmed. Create ONE if you plan to work CONSTANTLY on the same. Oprah has a personal logo ‘O’. Wait! Do you have it in you?
SOCIAL MEDIA will shine further. Use it EFFECTIVELY. Grow your NETWORK.
Empower your BRAND on web. Accept PAYMENTS online. (Paypal, Google Wallet etc)
Customers are no more looking for Brand Information. Create BRAND EXPERIENCE.
Be HONEST with your brand. Work Hard SMARTLY.
RESEARCH on Emerging Platforms & Technology. PREPARE and PERFORM.
If you are a START-UP brand. Make 2012 – ACTIONABLE.
Anna Hazare, the man needs no introduction. But why am I writing about him? I am here to write about the Brand Anna. The factors which created a BRAND out of a common man in the nation which is known to be most depressed, swayed by the westernization, in the corporate race and has practically started adopting corrupt practices as a default virtue.
How 'Brand Anna' Emerged?
1.The PROMISE.
A Brand is a Promise. Think of all the brands you align with – isn’t it the promise which they keep that keeps you loyal towards the Brand. Anna has only one promise to keep and he with his team is ardent about it. He emerged as a brand because he offered a promise which everybody is seeking. He emerged as it is a brand who is promising a benefit to all with absolute no offence.
2.Representation of PROMISE – the Connect.
Brand Anna – is not a personal brand. It is a brand which depicts power to powerless, direction to directionless, motive to motto less and a hope to hopeless. With the media intervention the representation has gone up by leaps. People are relating and participating. Engagement has increased – thanks to Social Media. Be it facebook communities, Pic Badges, twitter or you tube videos.
People are connecting by all ways possible. The youth is participating – the college goers, the working class. Even the old and the homemakers are showing enthusiastic participation. Look at the numbers, this Brand estimates almost 77-80%coverage on top 10 News Channel for half of August, facebook registered more than 150 pages for the brand, Times Now reports more than 8000 videos to be received for the motion and their No Bribes initiative. For two days, the Twitter hash tag #isupportannahazare was the top-trending topic. And there is no denying the fact – which thousands have stepped out from their comfort zones to add up to the Brand Power.
3.Brand Symbolism
Tri-color & Mahatma Gandhi indeed are the prime Brand Ensembles. Both are national symbols and give some kind of rush of emotions to each & every countrymen. I must say, that the symbolism which is created earlier by the brand team and then by the freelancers and now even people are making profits from the Brand Merchandise is amazing. The tri-color is the base element and the creative depictions from t-shirts to Gandhi caps everything is fashionable. I am sure you are aware of the ‘Mein Anna hun ’ caps have reached the ramp at Lakme Fashion Week.
4.Brand Anna – the way forward.
Brand intentions are good and I support them but somewhere I had doubts on certain ways adopted. Yes, I am proud that we are the nation which started ‘Satyagraha’ but isn’t fasting unto death an undemocratic idea. I mean no democracy allows suicide.
My say on the Brand- Anna would be:
Brand Anna is a social brand with honesty as its main ingredient. It should not be harmed or mis-quoted by over-promotion.
Brand should be careful about turning more authoritative then participative.
The Brand ambassadors need to be very careful in conduct & practice.
It is good to be ardent but not rigid
Like every brand – ‘Constant Evolvement’ would be the challenge.
The people associated are great but we need to be careful with our Brand Growth formation. After all it is indeed the 'most favored brand of Indians.'
Wow! Social Media had allowed us to be brands quite easily. The boom is big and is growing. Earlier it was about websites – then it was about blogs and now just your profile, portfolio and fan strength. Boom! You are creating a brand. Your personal brand talking about you as an individual, showing your portfolio, sharing your thoughts with the world and guess what – few or several but you have followers. This sounds like Magic.
Even the word resume would sound obsolete very soon. The recruiters will check your credential on your network profiles. Will read up the recommendations, will scan your posts & updates and then would consider your profile. Your Personal brand is very much there for the world’s disposal.
While the rules of Branding are slightly different and sound complicated, the easy features of social network sites like Facebook actually make you work on your brand, on discovering yourself. They work like wizards and in between leave you to think and explore your personal brand. Most of the start-ups, self-employed people from designers to emcee’s have their personal brand pages on these sites but what matters is – the matter of the brand.
So while you create your brand, make sure that you are,
a. Presentable
b. Appealing & Approachable
c. Communicating without confusions
Warning:Social media has made it very easy to brand oneself, remember there is an influx; as everybody present there is creating a brand of him/her. You need to be careful about certain things:
1.Differentiate:
Keep note, that like you everybody is hooked to social networks and has a public page, blog, a catch line etc. So what matters is How Different you seem then others?
2.Consistency:
The idea to magic is consistency; the web is full of dead, obsolete pages. People create and forget passwords, they switch from one network to other and leaving the former profile go stale and hence unnoticed. So you need to work hard to be consistent so that your followers, friends or anyone else who is searching something relevant gets on to the right page.
3.Growth Plan:
Unlike product brands or individual brands, a personal brand can grow all the way through. So every person who is doing Personal Branding must have a growth plan. Sharing & Experience will come with evolvement of the personal brand. But one should always grow on the lines of value creation. That would make it more worthwhile.
With the Commencement of 2010, lets explore the 10 Commandments of Branding & Marketing.....they are surely not the things but they are going to be the inevitable things!
Everyday ambience, Sharp Humor, Single Message, Plain Straight Truth – on face brings lot of relevance in any marketing communication. That’s how the magical communication campaigns are being aired for Tata Tea’s – Jaago Re Campaign. The campaign is straight on Corruption.
The creativity, the communication, the ad copy, the actors all of these just create a dovetail in a truly effective way. This is a purely common man’s campaign and everyone can relate & link to it so conveniently. The problems, issues are so common that everyone could relate it to oneself, someone or the system. They talk about bribes, under the table projects, donation driven admissions etc. Their remains no doubt of authenticity or credibility in the communication because it is coming out of our daily routine lives. Everyone has been a part of that situation and if not they are aware of several such situations.
The message of ‘Jaago Re Campaign’ is a very well integrated communication, meant for all and provoking young & sleepy India. It is an urge, a wake up call against corruption. The TVCs of Jaago Re are not mere entertainment or a brand communication, it is more importantly an alert message touching not only hearts but several minds and telling them to react & respond. Showing them what it takes to see the India they want to see.
Tata Tea is just not into the awareness spree, they are also backing the campaign with the corruption index on their site. They plan to promote the internationally marked Anti Corruption Day on Dec 09 as a national event. The latest TVC titled, ‘Aaj se khilana band, pilana shuru’ caption on air is, Har Subah bas utho mat, jaago re. They are banging on the thin line between getting up & waking up. Online & mobile media is the most popular one when it comes to youth - the campaign is absolutely on track. We, as in the present day generation are more internet friendly and Jaago Re provides an excellent communication on their site. The voter id registration process too is kept very interactive & user friendly.
The impact is phenomenal. The masses are taken aback and with the corruption index the magic should be kept alive. As far as brand strategy is concerned, they are promotions almost all 4 variants through this. But the customer insight seems different here – I the tea should be now interpreted as a youthful drink. Nevertheless, its an excellent Social media campaign.
