'The purpose of brands must be defined to serve the customer differently'

At the Pride of India Brands, The best of North conference 2023, industry leaders convened to discuss how brands of Bharat are driving the Indian economy, competing with brands in the international markets, creating brand resilience and meeting consumer demands. The leaders' roundtable was chaired by Aditi Mishra, Chief Executive Officer, Lodestar. Participants included Akshay Modi, Joint Managing Director, Modi Naturals; Jitendra Agrawal, CEO of Lighting & Consumer Durables, Surya Roshni; Dr. AK Tyagi Executive Director, Haldirams; Dr. Daviender Narang, Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management; Deepak Sahni, Founder & CEO, Healthians. 

The session chair asked Haldiram's Dr Tyagi about the brand's growth journey. He replied, "The multi-location and multi-product Indian global brand Haldiram over the years have been growing using three mantras: Continuous and constant innovation; Changing the Company according to customer gains and the last mantra the company focuses on is about delighting customers. Besides being trained in traditional snacks, Haldiram is the first Indian company to pack branded Indian snacks in 1990. Further talking in the discourse of the historical significance of the brand."

Tyagi mentioned that the brand invested a good sum of money in Research and Development to understand the market. However, the company yet not developed any automation for traditional food, but working on the research to develop mechanisms to make the process easier. The brand never compromises the taste, quality, and hygiene of the products and also uses International food parameters to certify the food parameters and also focuses more to innovate to satisfy the customers. 

The CEO of Surya Roshni, Agrawal said that the brand is completing its 50th year, and it is present in a very diverse segment including consumer durable products. Despite confronting ups and downs, the brand never compromised with the customer focus approach and usage of technology in making products innovative. Over the years, the brand has maintained an efficient and effective manufacturing process. Talking specifically in context to the lighting category, he, said, “The lighting is a very process industry. Surya is a brand that invested well in the lighting segment despite facing competition in the market. Surya is one of the largest LED manufacturing brands in the country. The brand stands out in the clutter of the LED market without losing relevance in the market and maintaining the customer focus approach amid the competitive market.”

Relatively a new player among homegrown brands, Healthians has a lot to learn from older players, said Sahni. "Today the making and breaking of the brand have become easier because of social media. Since the older brands have maintained the legacy since time immemorial, they are not being penalised much if they commit some mistake, but the new brands do not have such leverage. They have to be careful before committing anything in the market. Keeping in mind all these little things, our brand focuses more on the feedback process to address all the issues our customers face while engaging with our brand.”

Representing Modi Naturals, Modi added to the conversation and said, “While building brands with social media is tougher. We are witnessing a scenario in which the brand itself is no more a competitive advantage. Developing and implementing the business idea in a manner to build a sustainably profitable business is something that I being a new player in the market learnt so far” He also mentioned the book called ‘Competition Demystified’ to understand the concept of the market better. Aditi summaries the discussion in four points: “The base to do business is to start your business with customer focus approach; innovate continuously; build agility; and bring about a faster turnaround. 

Furthermore, talking more from an education point of view, Dr. Narang shared his thoughts on what made India better for students to learn and innovate in a couple of years, he said: “The education is included in the concept ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ which was being shared by honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi two years back. There is a gap between National and International education, but a lot many changes happened in the education industry after the Pandemic. Online education has made the education system more flexible and open to all. India used technology to interact with people located all across the world to learn and innovate. Our system is more adaptive and agile as compared to the International system. National Education Policy is the breakthrough in the Indian education system. Our education system is also evolving in a better way. International economies are integrating with Indian economies and its education system to present better results.”

The panel agreed on a few points when it comes to brands surviving in a country with so many cultural changes. The globalisation of the Bharat brand eradicates the cultural barriers; the market study plays a major role in building a product economy; the brand needs to understand the larger needs of the consumer in a manner that differentiates from the other market players; Cultural differences push brands to deliver as per the customer requirements; Since India is a diversified country, so it is important to do an in-depth market study to understand the customer needs; Advertisement content and investment differs regionally;

They agreed that culture, emotion, place, and taste build brands. For upcoming brands, they had some valuable pieces of advice. Business should be done based on a realistic idea; the business model must be resilient; one must also look for competitive advantages while doing business; the purpose of the brand must be defined to serve the customer differently; think creatively to play big, a brand must build a unique way to stand out in the market; Product and marketing must contain USP and what the customer is additionally getting from the brand.