The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Human factor in branding makes products successful'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 12, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Human factor in branding makes products successful'

Kartikeya Kompella — Photo: K. Gopinathan

A brand needs to be remembered to sell, Kartikeya Kompella tells K. Satyamurty

HE IS all in favour of online market surveys because he found 3,500 responses coming in within eight hours to a survey conducted over the Internet.

Kartikeya Kompella, marketing and advertising professional, whose book, "Applying the Branding Iron", has just been published, is a modest man when it comes to his own accomplishments. Even writing the book came about through unexpected ways.

Kartikeya says, "Ten years after starting my career, I was surprised to be invited to present a paper at an international conference in Athens. I was even more delighted when my paper was nominated for an award in international market research. Then came the idea of putting together my articles, mostly published online, into a book.''

Many of his articles have been published on www.brandchannel.com, and one has been included in the book. Much earlier, one of his articles became a recommended reading for some MBA courses in the U.S. and Canada.

"This was at a time when I was little known in the marketing world and it gave me confidence,'' he says. He was invited to be part of international discussion forums on branding and asked to write for websites.

"The human factor in branding is often not known but that's what makes many brands successful. Most know Edison invented the light bulb but few remember he founded the multi-billion-dollar General Electric.

"It may not make people flock to the stores to buy GE products but it does display the company's heritage and helps people remember it,'' says Kartikeya. After all, a brand needs to be remembered to sell.

It is important for brands to "look at what stories they have to tell consumers and looking at their own history helps,'' he says.

Long-time brands such as Coke or Timex have anecdotes about themselves that make interesting reading.

Coca Cola was once promoted as a tonic and there is a story about how the glow from a Timex Indiglo watch helped people during a power outage, a rare happening in the U.S. Such stories make a brand memorable.

It is also important for brands to create their own "history", he says. It could be a pen which two heads of state use to sign an important document. Or it could be necktie the head of a major corporate wore while making a newsworthy announcement. "If your brand has stories to tell, tell them true, tell them loud and tell them well,'' he suggests.

Kartikeya is a firm believer in the power and reach of the Internet, which is also a strong advertising medium.

While the print media may still dominate, newspapers have also gone online. Advertising on the web can be as subtle and dignified as on other media, he feels. "It is not always necessary to have a hi-tech scream-blast effect on website visitors,'' he says.

Those advertising online should be willing to educate the consumer by providing all necessary information, he feels. Many visiting brand websites want to know whether the brand is relevant to them or not. It helps to tell the consumer the different product categories available and then explain why one specific brand may meet more needs than other brands do. The choice should be left to the consumers.

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