these sub-brands are endorsed by the parent and yet maintain their own distinguished persona and value

proposition in the consumers mind. A complete break away from the parent that is the creation of an individual brand would not be possible for Marriott in this case. Primarily because here the consumer is looking for her needs to be met within the universe of Marriott-backed service guarantee. The endorsement is necessary. In effect, branding strategies must be guided by, as well as geared towards, achieving a larger goal. Let us consider the examples of telecommunications player Tata DoCoMo and two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, two brands that have chosen to take completely opposite routes around the same time to illustrate the dos and donts of the branding journey. And yet, each has valuable lessons in store for future managers.

One versus many

The Strategist looks at the recent experiences of TataDoCoMo and Bajaj Auto to check if the textbook assumptions about umbrella versus multiple branding stand true on the ground
MASOOM GUPTE he standard view of business growth is that growth is always good, bigger is always better and that companies must grow or die. While every company aspires to grow its business, an expanding business brings with it a host of new risks: too many people, too many locations, too many products and at times, too many brands

to contend with. At least for marketing managers the choice is clear: they have to decide whether they prefer the simplicity of unified or umbrella branding or the frenetic juggling of a multi brand portfolio. The choice appears simple but it is not one that can be settled by the flip of a coin, or the roll of a dice. In The New Strategic Brand Management, author Jean-Noel

Kapferer writes that the decision regarding the number of brands to be retained is closely linked to an analysis of the brands function in its respective market. Every market can be segmented, by product, customer expectation or type of clientele. This does not mean, though, that a market divided into six segments, for example, should necessarily call for six brands. This depends on their function (do we need endorsing, umbrella, range or product brands?), he elaborates. So how does the marketer resolve this dilemma? Anand Kumar Jaiswal, associate professor of marketing at IIM Ahmedabad, explains the basic rationale that often leads to the choice between umbrella and sub-branding. With umbrella brands, one is investing in just a single brand and leveraging its equity across various categories. In the long run, one can economise advertising and new launch costs on the back of this investment. There is, however, the risk of any single failure affecting the overall equity of the brand, given its interlinked nature. To restrict the risk to the parent brand, the marketer might opt for sub-brands. Additionally, it is also to reach out to different segments. It is not always possible to make the parent brand reach out to every segment or category of consumer. Different sections want different things and one must strategise based on that, adds Jaiswal. Take the case of Marriott Hotels. There is the Courtyard Marriott for business travellers and Residence Inn by Marriott, an extended stay option. Both

Choosing my style
Tata Groups telecom interests covers the entire gamut from GSM to CDMA to internet connectivity businesses. To the layman, this can be translated better by a mention of its brands like Tata DoCoMo (GSM), Tata Indicom (CDMA) and Tata Photon. Yet, two of these three (one completely and one partially) are now defunct. To be sure, the brands, not business interests, are defunct. Mid-2011, the company embarked on an ambitious plan of integrating the three businesses under the flagship of Tata DoCoMo. So out went Tata Indicom and Tata Photon.

The decision to integrate the three businesses was led by various factors, says Gurinder Singh Sandhu, head, marketing, Tata Teleservices. The business integration helped us increase our consumer reach multifold overnight. We could transfer the strengths of one business to another. For instance, GSM is stronger in prepaid. We could bring this advantage to CDMA as well as cross sell our services, says Sandhu. Consider this: Total retailer associates of Tata Teleservices is around 5 lakh. Of these, only 1.5-2 lakh were selling recharges for CDMA. Reason: every retailer holds an electronic voucher denomination (EVD) used to recharge customer SIM cards. Earlier, the retailer had to invest in two separate EVDs to be able to offer GSM and CDMA top-ups. And since prepaid is not very popular with CDMA customers (as it is used mostly for fixed lines), few opted for top-ups for CDMA. Post the business integration, the same EVD can be used by retailers to top up both. A mid-way shift in branding strategy requires enormous planning though and cannot be sprung upon stakeholders suddenly. Sandhu says, The company did extensive legwork with distributors and retailers before the branding exercise. There were presentations to explain the benefits of the shift as well as bring them on board about the changed protocols. At the company end, there was the integration of the back-end customer support operations for which extensive training was required. Changes were made at every footprint to reflect the integration. While Tata Teleservices chose to leverage its assets by bringing its brands together, Bajaj Auto went on a diametrically opposite path focusing on its sub-brands, Pulsar and Discover. Bajaj Auto, the makers of the iconic Bajaj Scooter, is a leading twowheeler maker that had always harped on the mother brand Bajaj to transfuse individual product lines with the same values of trust and Indianness. The philosophy, say insiders, changed when Rajiv Bajaj assumed a more active role at the company.
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