The Future of Brands

Team CAS, CCA and a couple of others had arranged for a guest lecture today. Mr.Shivkumar, VP and Country Manager for Nokia was invited.

The lecture hall was packed.

One of our batchmates gave a brief introduction and then Mr.Kumar started his presentation.

His almost one hour presentation was concentrated on the future or brands. Starting from defining a brand as a time saving device to make the consumer's choice simpler, he went on to talk about how the very concept of brands create industry shake-outs and result in re-evaluation of brands.

He then gave his thoughts about how capitalism had emerged as the most preferred economic system. It was surprising to note that West Bengal was the only state in India that had IT Services protected under law like essential services. So, in the event of a bandh, a Cognizant Bus would still run to work without a problem.

The talk also focussed on how health was an important characteristic in determining the success of brands. And this was evident from the list of brands that had survived the S&P Index over the last 50 years.

Some of the problems that increasing use of technology creates in brands is the problem of privacy. Internet creates a hunger among people to network and access knowlege.

In spite of all the advancement that has happened with products and brands, any interaction on a personal basis would probably be the best thing that could change this world.

Much created demand from the consumer who thinks and expects more than what the producer has to offer has led to alliances which has led to a number of questions in the market about sustainability.

But what one has to remember is that one can never pass the cost to the consumer. So, prices erode, costs never!!!

Because, an individual demands a lot, companies have to re-think brands very frequently and innovate to avoid losing market share.

Individuals seek condensed information. What does this mean?
20% of the students at ISB would carefully listen to every lecture, take notes, prepare well in advance for the exams. The rest 80% would ask them for a condensed information capsule.

The other important reason about success of brands is their promise to prolong the idea of beauty and health. This one reason has definitely attracted the women folk of the world.

People have started seeking their own identity and want to display the same to the world by adopting different brands.

In today's world brands can be either customized or a confident choice for everyone.

Towards the end, Mr.Kumar also emphasised on the concept of using the simplest way to express one's thoughts. And this was like - Would you have a mission statement, objectives and parameters to tell HER or would you simply tell the three words.

Mr.Kumar also answered a few questions about the responsiblity of a brand towards a society.

On the whole, the lecture was between good to excellent. As an audience, we were definitely able to relate to most parts of the presentation.