'Value is simply the depth of relationship a brand has with its customer'

As consumers, we have a restricted view of what communication and marketing are, but there's more to it than what meets the eye. Naturally, building brand value and consumer trust is not exactly a cakewalk. To throw light on this, industry experts doled out some interesting points on the topic- Building Valuable businesses in the new tech digital age at the report launch of Kantar BrandZ's Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands.

Shashi Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, IPG Mediabrands &Chairman, BARC  Board; Subhash Kamath, Chief Executive Officer, BBH & Publicis Worldwide, India Chairman ASCI and; Kartik Sharma, Group Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Media Group discussed how brands could improve their value in the eyes of the consumer. 

The session was moderator, Prasun Basu, Head of Growth and Digital Transformation- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar

Kamath said that things have changed rapidly in the last decade but one thing that has been a constant, in his opinion and which also defines brand value, is simply the depth of relationship it has with its customers or consumers. “Now, obviously, a lot of things have changed the way the consumer is using the brand, the way a consumer is experiencing the brand, but how deep is that relationship that you've been able to build? Hence, I would say that depth of relationship defines brand value.”

Taking the discussion further, Basu said that there is a debate going on about the new age brands. On one side,  brands are prepared for the future and on the other side, brands have also been dying and disappearing very fast. 

Speaking about brand-building brands today vis-a-vis the past, Sinha shared that brand value is debatable. He cited an example of HDFC Bank, which didn’t spend money on advertising for ten years. Instead, it invested in setting up technology innovations, and today, after 30 years it's among the top brands in India. “I think sometimes we see it from a very limited view of what communication and marketing is but it's a lot larger,” said Sinha.  

Sharing his view on how brand value will be created in the future, Sharma spoke about two elements -- functional benefit and intangible. “More often the brand with the intangible value tends to win. So that is not going to change, even in the future. The worry is that a lot of effort is today not being properly put on intangible things and companies are focusing too much on short-term goals.”