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In the Impact issue dated September 12-19, we carried a feature titled 'Superbrands: Genuine Brand Icons or a Shortcut to Instant Glory?' where we gave a slight overview of the Superbrands process; a couple of Superbrands case studies supporting their induction into 'Superbrands-dom'; and left you to decide whether having Superbrands status is in fact a 'status' at all. The issue went into print, hit the stands and we carried on with our lives; struggling to meet our deadlines for the next issue of Impact. The only problem was that nearly three dozen curiously infuriated callers called continuously, annoyingly and interrupted our struggle. We're used to getting several calls every week for this, that, or the other; but these callers were different. They all had the same grouse; they were people who mattered; they were important; respected for their opinions; and knew what they were talking about. And they had a serious problem: How could VLCC possibly be a 'Superbrand' when Colgate and Fevicol were not??!! How could they possibly have the audacity to feature it on the same platform as brands like Britannia and Godrej? Well, we didn't know the answer to that one; but deadlines were getting nearer; and we didn't really have the time to mull over it. However, the next week was easier, so we did. And we did.
To make a long story even longer — fuelled by our callers' sentiments — we called up several 'Superbrands' custodians, advertisers and media houses to ask them a little about the Superbrands Council in general. We asked them what they felt about some of India's biggest, most respected brands not being included in it. Every single person, we spoke with, called it a scam; a waste of time and money; an easy way to make money; and it was a nice little way of building a sense of imagined brand equity, feeling of self-importance for a lot of the unworthy brands listed in it.
Superbrands' professed reason for existence is to "pay tribute" to brands that they feel are worthy of it. In short, you pay them to pay you tribute. That the brand truly deserves it does not always seem to be the case.
It works like this, Superbrands identifies and decides on worthy brands, rolls them out in front of an esteemed array of 'Council Members'; and asks them to evaluate and tag a score on each of the brands. The heroes, who make it, are then invited to participate in Superbrands. It is all based on 'intangible parameters', and nobody knows how it's done; perhaps, Superbrands got left out of the loop when it was discovered that as far as brands are concerned, intangibles depend, and change according to the tangible aspects of it.
To understand the whole process better, we called up Neelakshi Sarkar, Vice President —Marketing, Superbrands. We told her that people were rather shocked when VLCC was Superbranded, "I'm a little surprised at that comment myself. I mean, VLCC (in their category) is definitely a Superbrand," she said. (But five minutes later, she contradicted that statement, saying, "In terms of a VLCC, it's not like you're telling me this for the first time, I've heard comments about it also!)." And that category would be 'Healthcare'. So it was sharing a platform with Strepsils and Saridon, we assumed. "That falls under the category of 'Paracetamols'," she corrected us. Well, any thinking person will know that Strepsils is anything but a paracetamol; and as it turned out later, we found out that the category never even existed in the first place. Obviously, we were barking up the wrong tree, Sarkar seemed as clueless; and even more confused, about the issues than we were.
So we turned to Anmol Dar, Managing Director, Superbrands. In the two interactions we had with him (one telephonic, the other over e-mail) Dar attempts to demystify the misconceptions. With Indiatimes and Sify featuring as Superbrands, we decided to ask Yahoo! India if they'd ever been approached to join; "No, we haven't", they said. Now how can that possibly be when a recent IMRB study shows it to have the highest recall rate among Internet users? Most of the largest brands in the country are not mentioned. Dar happily gave the fine example of Parle's Bisleri as the creator of the packaged water market; do you see it on their list? We certainly don't. But then, when one has the status that they enjoy, shelling out peanuts and slapping the 'Selected by Superbrands' logo on to all their communication would hardly make a difference to their standing in the market. Which is a thought; perhaps that is exactly why you don't see most of India's truly biggest brands 'Selected by Superbrands'.
Dar cited the Filmfare awards as an example of how the awardees of Superbrands were chosen. Any idiot child in this country will tell you that the Filmfare Awards' winners are decided by a popularity poll, which every single person in this country is invited to participate in. He talks about how the next time around, instead of Superbrands selecting contenders for the status, they'll get consumers to pick them out for the Council Members to validate and shortlist. Well, how many consumers? And considering the fact that most of the Consumer Superbrands Council Members are not going to indulge them this time around, whom will they get this time around? There are too many questions and few answers.
"The fact is that this is not advertising; these are just brand stories," Dar says. Well, if that was in fact, a fact then why would he write in the foreword of the Consumer Superbrands book that consumers would be willing to pay a premium for Superbranded services and products? And if it really does have nothing to do with advertising, why does the 'Selected by Superbrands' logo feature on nearly all forms of print communication. Most unfortunate consumers are clueless about the fact the brands haven't been 'selected', but literally bought the rights to slap the logo on. Most advertisers, most unfortunately, as also unaware of this; they're "proud to have Superbrands in their client list; it proves that our hard work has paid off" they say. Imagine if they knew they could pay Rs 5 lakh for each of their un-Superbranded products to be 'selected'.
"Levers had twenty-two brands that qualified, and they didn't want all twenty-two to participate — and I would have been very unhappy if they all had, because it would have been a Levers book then, so they chose just ten." Well, if Levers truly does have twenty-two Superbrands, what does one do? When we brought up the fact that there wasn't a single P&G Superbrand, Dar told us that 11 years ago (which is incidentally also the age of Superbrands so far) P&G International decided not to "participate in any such things" worldwide. Well, if that's the whole truth and nothing but the truth, they how on earth does Crest Toothpaste land up a Superbrand in the US?
"In India, we're a little coy about drinking; and we've had restrictions imposed by the Government about advertising them and stuff like that, so we've tried to steer away from controversy. We don't want anyone saying that the Government has banned advertising on those products and we're endorsing them," says Dar with regards to the fact there are no alcohol or cigarette Superbrands. Well, why then would the jacket for the recently declared Business Superbrands book literally be a Royal Challenge advertisement. And if "Superbrands only pays tribute to brand building initiatives; we don't endorse brands" as Dar puts it, where does the worry of endorsing alcohol or cigarettes come from?
This is a magazine targeted at professionals in the advertising, marketing, and media industry. What do you think about Superbrands? Do you believe it lends even a bit of brand equity to any product or service? We invite you to share your views on this issue with us on deepti@exchange4media.com, and we promise to send your responses to Anmol Dar and the Superbrands team.To read the entire article, buy a copy of Impact Advertising and Marketing magazine dated September 19-25
To read the entire article, buy a copy of Impact Advertising and Marketing magazine dated September 26-October 2