From past decade the sports industry continues to see an inflow of money from new sources because of shifting power dynamics in far-flung villages, towns and cities. Also, because of widespread use of emerging technologies and a greater focus on broader societal issues. In India, sports industry is becoming robust which explores newer trends and new opportunities and challenges for sports organizations, leagues, owners, teams, players, and fans. The Narendra Modi government is giving additional push to sports.

Globally the sports industry is massive which includes fitness, health, yoga and pure entertainment. Sports industry is getting more visibility because of digital media. It has a massive audience which is much diversified in terms of age, gender, geography, and society. The sports industry is a hyper-dynamic sector which is constantly changing and all of this is reflected in the marketing strategies used by this sector. 

Marketing strategies involve the four Ps; the product can be a good or service, price includes what the consumer pays, place includes the locations where a product is marketed and distributed, and promotion includes advertising. The concept of the four Ps is age-old; it has been around since the 1950s. In mid-eighties, the four Ps were extended by another three Ps of marketing mix which includes the people, the processes and the physical evidences. These three components are also of great essence in marketing.

The term Marketing Mix was coined by Neil Borden who first started using the phrase in 1949. He said that the marketing manager blends the ingredients for an attractive offer of marketing mix. It was Jerome McCarthy, who in 1960 to suggest the four Ps of marketing. According to McCarthy the marketers fundamentally have the four variables which they use while crafting a marketing strategy and while preparing a marketing plan.

This article will discuss the four Ps of sports marketing. Sports market is growing globally from $354.96 billion in 2021 to $501.43 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 41.3% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate). Overall employment of all marketing, advertising and promotions managers, including sports marketers, is projected to grow 6 per cent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. Sports marketers will be needed to plan, direct, and coordinate advertising and promotional campaigns.

The marketing mix is very important to sports organizations. Each sports organization is going to utilize a different combination of these four P’s. Each one will have a different product, a different price, a different place, and different promotions to attract any given target segment irrelevant of whether the organization is domestic or international in nature. An organization can calibrate quality of product, extension of product, regulation, powering or increasing price. A well prepared marketing mix enhances the success of the product with benefits such as creating synergy which helps to create the right pitch for promotion. It enhances brand loyalty. It eases the decision making of brand managers to position the product rightly in customer’s mind.

To explain the four P’s of Sports Industry I will be giving example of Nike brand. 

Product

The product is the heart of the marketing mix. All marketing activities begin with it. The product is not a physical entity alone; it captures the whole tangible and intangible aspects such as functional use, appearance, design, features, brand name, logo, quality packaging, ingredients etc.

Here, it is essential to understand the term product mix concerning marketing. The product mix is the whole range of products a company offers to its customers. For instance Nike majorly produces sports-related items and equipment. Nike focuses on producing a wide range of products and makes sure to maintain the mark of quality. The company designs different products for each kind of sport which makes its products comfortable for athletes including sports apparel. Nike has a wide range of sports equipment and accessories like bags, backpacks, balls, headbands and caps, and many more. The company has also teamed up with Apple for Nike+ products to track runner’s performance through running watches.

Nike produces different shoes for different purposes like running, golf, football, cricket, skateboards, tennis, cycling, and other sports too. They also sell casual footwear for non-athletes in vibrant colours which attract the youths. They manufacture different styles of sneakers according to men, women, and kids. Most importantly Nike’s focus is to constantly keep innovating design and develop products to improve athletic performance. Its overriding desire is to design products with true performance while using mix of innovation and technology. Nike makes sure that its consumers benefit and perform better.

Price

It’s the cost consumers pay for a product. It is the only P which generates revenue. Marketers must fix the price which suits the product’s real and supposed value. Marketers must consider supply costs, seasonal discounts, and competitors’ prices. In some cases, business executives may raise the price to give the product the appearance of being a luxury. Pricing decisions must be thoughtful process, as it is a double-edged sword. If a product is highly priced, it may project high quality and make the product’s positioning in limited and standard stores. So, the marketer must know the art of exercising this dangerous sword of pricing.

Nike uses value-based pricing and premium-based pricing strategy for their products. Nike does comparative study of its competitor’s product pricing while the company considers the current market price while setting the prices of products. Before setting up the prices, they measure what overall customers are willing to pay for a product. This value-based price strategy helps Nike to increase its profit over the time.

Premium-based pricing means pricing of premium products; Nike sets premium prices for its high-quality products. From time to time Nike has offered discounts on its products like “Easter sales” “Diwali Sale” on its online website and its stores, which helps them to attract new customers and retain the existing ones. They are also given the option to sign in and be the first ones to get any new arrivals.

The pricing decisions are based on policies and strategies. Also, the pricing decisions are based on allowances, discounts, rebates, credit policy etc. The pricing strategy of an organization must align with the organization’s mission, vision, goals etc.

Place/Distribution

Place in marketing mix refers to the market geographically located all over in a nation and in larger sense the globe. Marketing strategy depends on the market location. Where a company sells its products is important because the location must have the target customers.  

Distribution decisions include elements such as channels of distribution, cost of warehousing, product handling, transportation, inventory control, order processing, reporting and billing.

Nike has 1000 plus shops all over the world and its offices are located in 45 countries outside the US. Most of the Nike products are sold in retail shops as many customers prefer to physically select the products by trying on sportswear. Retail stores are easily available in every city in multiple nations.

The company has its outlet named Niketown. These are the big hyper stores occupying 4or more floors with premium experience due to a variety of services. Niketown stores are fancy stores where new and emerging products are sold. Nike has recently reopened its flagship Niketown store on Oxford Circus Street in London following an extensive redevelopment. Helvar lighting (intelligent lighting) control has been used across the reportedly largest Nike store in the world just to deliver a creative and inspiring shopping environment. The Niketowns have a customization booth to offer services to individual customers as per their choice. It consists of professional zone where you can take advice for which product suits bone structure and body size of a customer. The customer’s shopping experience is made exclusive.

Nike products are also sold through their Online Nike store. They also sell through other online stores like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. Nike spends handsomely on strengthening their distribution channels.

Promotion

In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, most of the time persuasive in nature. The other word for promotion is advertising. Advertising aims to serve two objectives. One is informing the potential customers about the product and second it creates a desire in them to buy the product. The promotion mix thus includes the various means that an organization uses to communicate with the target audience. An effective promotion ensures good sales and a marketer must strive to create a conducive environment.

The promotional mix includes advertising, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, social media, print media, outdoor media etc. 

Nike’s main source of promotion is sponsoring sports events. The company does advertisements involving high-profile celebrities and athletes of different countries.  Some celebrities that promote Nike’s products are Serena Williams, Christiano Ronaldo, Mo Farah, Kunal Rajput, Rafael Nadal, and LeBron James. It also Sponsors the sports teams like cricket, NFL, FIFA World Cup, Tour de France Cycling, Rugby World Cup, and NBA. Nike’s new ad brilliantly showcases the unstoppable spirit of women in India. The video features top Indian sportswomen along with Bollywood beauty Deepika Padukone.

Nike does direct marketing by personal communication with organizations such as universities, schools, colleges, and local sports teams. They also give time to time discounts and great offers to their loyal customers and to woo new ones they use promotional tactics. They give financial support to the NGOs to make public relations strong and able to promote their products through it. Nike’s target audience is fitness-centric, elite class, and sports enthusiastic people especially youngsters. Nike also promotes its products through social media by connecting with millions of people and interacting with them through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign launched in 1988 motivated millions of people to do their job efficiently. Till date, this slogan is a trademark of Nike. The company’s Latest campaign hashtag #YouCantStopUs tells us that every sports field is equal which has gone viral on social media. Nike does such inspiring campaigns of different themes from time to time and gains trust of their customers.

Sports event sponsorship

Lot of sports companies sponsor sports events to add value to the brand. In almost all sports events there is intense competition among companies and brands. Often there is little to choose from in terms of quality, content or price. In order to make a brand stand out from the crowd a sponsor choses sport to create a unique position in the mind of the consumer. At the highest levels, sport involves gold medals, world records and global awareness. Through sponsorship sports companies gain a big mileage. Companies use sports sponsorship for a variety of reasons, and to attract sponsorship it is important to understand which objective a company is seeking.

Sports companies seek to get media coverage. Sporting events create opportunities for exciting newspaper photographs and television images showing sponsor logos on shirts or banners. Such exposure creates brand awareness making its logo stand out from competitors. The sponsor gets more benefit through activities that are enjoyable and memorable and provides opportunity to build customer mindshare. The sponsorship provides an opportunity to communicate with the customer in the setting where he is enjoying a quality time, leisure time and experience.

Big brands such as Pepsi, Puma, Adidas, Nike, Red Bull, Coca Cola, and Reebok are famous for sponsoring events. They have contributed a lot of money and effort to sponsor campaigns for teams around the world.

A name is the most important identifier of a person, a brand, state, a village, a business, a nation, a pet etc. The name implies race, era, societal culture and religion. No wonder, people take time to name their children, their business, their pet, their memoirs etc. Names have meaning and they do suggest character, traits and acumen of a person/business/state/nation/ product. Each name has power, people work hard to make the name outstanding and influential, and it must be valued.

Beyond just a memorable logo and tag line, good branding adds to the value of a company. It provides employees with direction and motivation, and attracts more and more customers easily. A brand represents the total sum of people’s awareness and experience of an individual, a company, a product, a school, college, a university, a hospital, a park, an auditorium, a nation, a river, a mountain, a flower and infinite things. There are countless components which go in creating a successful brand.

In this article I will be discussing some examples of how names were created of certain brands.

Do you know that Pepsi was named after the medical term for indigestion? The inventor of Pepsi, Caleb Davis Bradham, originally wanted to be a doctor, but due to some crisis in his family, he left medical school and became a pharmacist instead, according to the company website. His original invention, identified as “Brad’s Drink,” was made from a mix of sugar, water, caramel, lemon oil, and nutmeg. Three years later, Bradham renamed his drink, which he believed helped digestion; so he named it as “Pepsi-Cola,” taken from the word upset stomach, meaning indigestion.

Panera Bread Company is a chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada. Panera combines two words “pan” and “era.” According to Panera’s Facebook page, the chain store’s name has Latin and Spanish roots. In Spanish, “pan” means bread and “era” means age or time. So put together, Panera means “age of bread.” And, in Latin it means breadbasket.

Google owes its name to a typographical error. Its name came forward from a brainstorming session at Stanford University. Founder Larry Page was coming up with ideas for a massive data-index website with other graduate students, according to a Business Insider report. One of the suggestions was “googolplex” one of the largest describable numbers. The name ‘Google’ came about after one of the students accidentally spelled it wrong. Larry Page thought of keeping the name as erroneously spelled and registered his company with this name.

McDonald is named after two brothers who ran a burger restaurant. Raymond Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, used to sell milkshake machines. Once he met brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, who ran a burger restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The McDonald brothers bought several of Kroc’s Multimixers and he was so impressed by their burger restaurant that he became their agent and set up franchises around the US. Years later, he bought rights to the McDonald’s name.

Adidas is not an acronym for “All Day I Dream about Soccer”; it’s a fallacy of many people. It turns out the athletics-apparel brand is named after its founder, Adolf Dassler, who started making sport shoes when he came back from serving in World War I, according to the LA Times. The name combines his nickname, Adi, and the first three letters of his last name, Dassler.

Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, the expensive watches wanted a brand name that could be understood and pronounced in any language. He tried combining the letters of the alphabet in every possible way. He thought of hundreds of permutations and combinations by setting and fixing the alphabets. But, none of them felt quite right. One morning, while riding on the upper deck of a horse-drawn omnibus along Cheapside in the City of London, the name “Rolex” struck in his mind and ears.

The name LG came from the merger of two companies, Lucky and Goldstar, the acronym of both companies. It was officially decided to use the brand name as LG.  It is a conglomerate in South Korea. When the company started marketing its products to the west and English speaking countries the company rethought about its name using the same acronym as “Life’s Good” as a backronym (an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words).

Nike is the Greek goddess of victory and she often represented with wings. Her presence symbolized victory and she was often depicted as sitting next to Zeus, the Greek god. The swish designed signifies her flight.

SONY the leading manufacturer of electronics products for the consumer and professional markets is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Sony comes from the Latin word ‘Sonus’ which means sound. And, ‘Sonny’ is a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster. The company was named after bright youngsters – Sonny boys working in sound and vision. The name Sony was also chosen because it could be pronounced easily in many languages.

Vodafone was formed under the Racal telecommunications brand and as was launched in January 1985 under the name Racal Vodafone Holdings Ltd. The name Vodafone is derived from three words which are of significantly important for the industry. The short explanation could be described with the naming formula voice, data and phone. The idea of this name came from Saatchi & Saatchi (the advertising agency) and one of the company’s original directors. It was the agency’s idea of spelling phone as “fone” which at first wasn’t accepted very well by the then CEO of Vodafone. Eventually he pondered over it and accepted the name. This is how the name “Vodafone” was born.

Brand building requires sincerity: Like we individuals have our personalities, style and image; brands also have their personalities. Brands make a personal connection with their customers. Just as people have values, goals, beliefs and even flaws, so do organizations. Customers connect with the brands if only they like them. The connection grows when brands deliver what is promised. Customers go by their own experience.

Organizations need to work on delivering exactly what they communicate regarding their brands. They need to decide on their brand’s personality traits and deliver them as promised.  Over-promising and under-delivering turns out to be short-term marketing strategy.  In fact, it’s often cheaper and easier to create hype, than providing genuine substance.

Initial marketing hype can create little success, but after it fades, organizations fall flat and struggle to retain customers and struggling for their existence. The core issue in branding exercise is maintaining the brand authenticity. And what is a brand? It’s a name!

In today’s over competitive business world managing the firm’s supply chain brilliantly is one of the strategic responsibilities. A well designed supple supply chain can be firm’s competitive advantage and it can support firm’s value chain. Today companies are under increasing pressure to reach out to their far-flung markets. Buyers want the products and services available to them as swiftly as possible; therefore companies are pressed to deliver when customers are ready to buy. Organizations are taking inputs directly from their customers. Customers are also in constant touch with firms; they are directing the firm’s supply chain right from what goes in the product, timing of the launch, packaging, price and delivery. And therefore, in this emerging world of demand-driven markets the supply chain plays a crucial role. It must not only be flexible and cost-effective, it must be able to respond directly to customer’s call.

Necessity is the mother of inventions. When people are hard pressed for finding solutions to their problems, they will figure out a ways to find them. This means people think laterally when they have to struggle, when they need to fight odds, when they are pushed to the corners. Since the beginning of human life, enormous changes around us have taken us to a path of scientific progress, which in turn has benefited mankind in a number of ways. In every era, men invented many things in order to cater to their rising needs. I would like to showcase in article how some great companies have brought in innovations and strengthened their supply chains.

This article is based upon pure desk research. The desk research technique is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk, using secondary data from various sources such as internet, newspapers, journals and magazines. My 20 years industry experience in the field of sales and marketing and later as my research in Marketing, has taught me that if a products however good it is, if not available when customers wants it can lose out its preference forever. 

In a news item published in Economic Times dtd 8^th June 2011, the former Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee asked chief ministers of all states in India to ‘urgently’ look into the supply chain of items and remove the bottlenecks that are driving food inflation in the country. In a letter to all the chief ministers, Mukherjee said particular attention should be paid to the local factors that are widening the gap between the wholesale and retail prices. The Food Corporation of India recently reworked its supply-chain management. It took help of some leading consultants to reduce the bottlenecks. The nodal agency that procures and distributes food grains across the country annually buys 250 lakh tones of wheat and 300 lakh tones of rice. In 2010-11, it lost a whooping sum Rs 482 crore due to lack of storage facility and constant transiting of food grains.

Food Corporation of India(FCI) uses linear programming technique to manage movement of stocks, this technique has a limited use as all loading railheads and recipient railheads cannot handle full rakes. At times, demands of nearby railheads are combined so that a full rake is used to reduce operational cost and time. Food grains are transported from surplus regions, such as Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, to deficit regions. A detailed monthly movement plan is charted out to help the Railways in allotting rakes and ensuring smooth movement of food grains. In September 2010, the Supreme Court asked the state-owned Food Corp. of India (FCI) to expand and modernize its distribution infrastructure, and noted that 50,000 tons of wheat had already worsened. The case brought renewed focus on the interlinked challenges of feeding India’s population and overhauling its food grain procurement, storage and distribution infrastructure.

According to West Bengal Governor, Mr. M. K.Narayanan, better supply chain management will help reduce inflations in the price of agro-products. Due to lack of proper governance of supply chain there is a huge wastage of food grains in India.

While on one hand when we see the Government failing to take the right measures to improve the supply chains, the private sector is using innovative techniques to combat bottlenecks in supply chain. Companies like Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and Godrej support their marketing channels such as wholesalers, retailers, stockiest for effective sales to nook and corners of the nation. In rural India mandis are emerging as the target centers for direct sales. BPCL (Bharat Petroleum) has introduced specially designed Rural Marketing Vehicle, which moved from villages to villages to fill gas cylinders on spot.

Another innovative distribution model that merits mention is the HLL’s Shakti project, which connects Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with business opportunities. Hindustan Lever promotes and uses the SHGs network present in the villages for increasing its sales in the rural areas. The SHGs are offered chance to become company’s local small scale distributor in the rural areas. The groups, typically of 15 to 20 people, buy a small stock of items such as soap, detergent or shampoos and then sell directly to consumers in their homes. The model is a win-win for the company and the village SHGs.

A supply chain that responds directly to customer needs may look quite different from the supply chains of the past. For one reason that today firms rank distribution function at the top of the value chain. Supply chains need some of the following characteristics

Visibility

Here visibility means an array of record and movement of goods with the right processes. The recording of the movement, events, and patterns that enable the automation allow accurate expectedness, this also enhances dynamic responses of all stakeholders in the business. Today supply chain professionals are insisting on the need for more visibility. After re-inventing the category of express parcel shipments, FedEx went a step further in the mid-1980s with its development of a new computerized tracking system that provided near real-time information about package delivery. Outfitting drivers with small handheld computers for scanning pick-ups and deliveries, a shipment’s status was available end to end. The Fedex system really drove the idea that information of the package movement was as important as the package itself. I must say that Fedex laid foundation of our current supply chain visibility concepts.

Adaptability

The supply chain professionals are realizing that the emerging markets in the globe are driven by middle class buyers who are cost conscious, always eager and demanding. Hence, supply chains need to adapt to the costing factor of firms. In 1982, 3M, like every other company, had to leave transportation decisions to each plant and distribution center. Roy Mayeske, at that time the Executive Director of 3M Transportation, got the idea to centralize transportation planning to look for network synergies. 3M took mainframe software being used by Schneider National – one of its major carriers and modified it to be workable from a shipper perspective. This enabled 3M to plan shipments, logical routing, curtail time gaps and intervals. Roy Mayeske thus brough a huge change to the company’s supply chain. Costs were cut, time was saved and most important damages and wastes saved.

Improved communication

A dynamic supply chain needs to respond to rapid reactions in crisis by keeping the response time short. Progressive companies in the world recognize importance of efficient communication and they take help of social media. Social media tools, like blogs, can be more effective in encouraging and idea sharing. TEVA Pharmaceuticals – a Canadian Pharma company has recognized that the speed of supply chain is about people talking to people. TEVA has beautifully harnessed the power of social media to reduce barriers in communication between internal functional groups and external functional group. Their VP –Supply Chain rests his decision by communicating with channels, suppliers, customers etc on social media sites. He says that social media has resulted in a “spontaneous association” between him and their customers.

Collaborating supply chain with value chain of the firm

Firms recognize these days that they need to team up with the right supply chain partner to enhance their value chain. Partnering with a good logistic firm for the movement of supply chain improves sales forecasting of the firm by getting closer to the points of demand and methodical supply. It strengthens strategic relationships with suppliers and marketing channels, enhances sales and operations planning to achieve corporate goals. An automated monitoring makes the supply chain hassle free.

Square D, a division of Schneider Electric, which is based in Palatine, Illinois, provides a good example of a nonlinear development flow in the electrical controls and automation management industry. Demand-driven innovation is an important part of Square D’s business, and the company actively engages its customers in developing new products. But instead of simply submitting specs for a desired product and waiting for Square D to produce it, customers collaborate online or on the phone with order engineers. Customers are allowed to talk to designers to suggest their own ideas or push back and forth on features. This however does not   create hurdles in the manufacturing process. The nonlinear program in their production process has made back-and-forth process easier, richer, and faster than it would be otherwise. The organization is always ready for innovating new designs of switches and circuit breakers. The supply chain managers are ready to plan ahead at the early stages of product development. Square D never compromises on the standard of components. Everything on the shop floor goes from step to step crisply. The overall result of Square D’s nonlinear flow helps the company a 30 percent reduction in order-taking cycle times.

Wal-Mart’s innovation in supply chain

In its persistent quest for low consumer prices, Wal-Mart embraced technology to become an innovator in the way stores track inventory and restock their shelves, cutting costs and passing the savings along to customers. In the process the company became synonymous with the concept of successful supply chain management. Through a combination of distribution practices, truck fleet management and technological innovations Wal-Mart became the model of supply chain efficiency. Wal-Mart’s core competency lies in its supply chain management. Wal-Mart showed the world that Supply chain management is moving the right items to the right customer at the right time by the most efficient means. In the 1980s Wal-Mart began working directly with manufacturers to cut costs; it went cutting costs because of eliminating the intermediaries.   From 1993 to 2001, Wal-Mart grew from doing $1 billion in business a week to $1 billion every 36 hours.

Under a Wal-Mart’s supply chain initiative called VMI (vendor managed inventory) manufacturers becomes responsible for sending the supplies directly to Wal-Mart’s warehouses. As a result, Wal-Mart is assured of 100 percent order fulfillment on merchandise.

Wal-Mart developed the concept of “cross docking,” or direct transfers from inbound or outbound truck trailers without extra storage. The company’s truck fleet and corps of non-unionized drivers continuously deliver goods to distribution centers (located an average 130 miles from the store), where they are stored, repackaged and distributed without sitting in inventory. Goods will cross from one loading dock to another, usually in 24 hours or less, and company trucks that would otherwise return empty “back haul” unsold merchandise. Collaboration Companies within the supply chain synchronize their demand projections under a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment scheme, and every link in the chain is connected through technology that includes a central database, store-level point-of-sale systems and a satellite network.

Wal-Mart is the first company in the world to implement ‘Universal Product Code bar codes’.  Through the bar codes store level information can be immediately collected and analyzed. Through a global satellite system the retail link is connected to analysts who forecast supplier demands effectively. In recent years, Wal-Mart has used radio frequency identification tags (RFID), which use numerical codes that can be scanned from a distance to track pallets of merchandise moving along the supply chain. Even more recently the company has begun using smart tags, read by a handheld scanner, that allow employees to quickly learn which items need to be restored so that shelves are consistently stocked and inventory can be closely watched. Wal-Mart reaps the benefits of its supply chain management by saving time, faster inventory turnover, increased warehouse space and accurate forecasting of inventory levels.

In another case from close home – in remote districts like Gadag chemists had to ensure that medicines are stocked well and can be offered during emergencies. Unfortunately, chemists such as Maranabasari had to wait for an emergency before reaching out to a distributor for life saving drugs, losing precious many hours for medicines to arrive.

Maranabasari found answers to his dilemma in the US army’s Global Combat Support System (GCSS); this is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) commercial off-the-shelf application capable of managing a large volume of business transactions within a single database. It was was originally developed by Anup Akkihal, an Indian born in West Virginia. Maranabasari used it with several other chemists in the district, by paying Rs 100 every month for a software solution that tracks demand, sales and movement of drugs – all on a simple to use handset that does not need any fancy technology. Of course, the chemists had a tough time learning the usage of this technology.  

Akkihal, a post graduate in logistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found his inspiration to develop the software while working on a US Army project with defense contractor Northrop Grumman during July 2006. While working for the US defense, Akkihal realized that back home this technique could be used for the chemists’ solution of stocking life saving drugs. He along with his team, worked with local chemists like Maranabasari to develop a solution that could solve their problems in a simple, effective way. The solution developed by Akkihal, who sells the software through his firm Logistimo, is now gaining grip and holds potential for solving supply chain management problems faced by many village entrepreneurs in the country, experts say. Logistimo’s solution is finding takers in remote villages and districts of Africa.

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) uses Logistimo’s technology to track the vaccines for the immunization drive in Tunisia since most regions there are not well connected to internet. It seems in past pipelines were used to send vaccines to remote villages; it was difficult to understand where the vaccines were. Kudos to Logistimo! It works on simple technology and not expensive.

3 PL & 4 PL: Indian firms have started using Third Party Logistics (3PL). Third party logistics providers typically specialized in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer’s needs based on market conditions and the demands and delivery service requirements for their products and materials. These companies offer services that can allow businesses to outsource part or the entire supply chain management function.  Many 3PL companies offer a wide range of services including; inbound freight, freight consolidation, warehousing, distribution, order fulfillment and outbound freight. Firms opt for 3PL so that they can operate without much baggage; they become leaner by reducing assets and allowing focus on core business processes.

Globally the growth of 3PL companies began back in the 1980’s when businesses began to look for new ways in which they could outsource logistics functions and concentrate on their core business. The increased awareness and usage of information technology due to revolution in IT services gave way to 3PL firms. One such firm which took the lead in 3PL revolution is Fedex.  Its overnight delivery services changed the logistics format for plentiful firms all over the world. It offered business operations the technique of just-in-time techniques which in turn allowed firms to save investments on warehouses, usage of space and reduce overall business cost. 

3PL industries originated in India after 1990.  The industry was pioneered by global logistics majors as a part of expanding these services to the Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies in automobile, electronics and FMCG sectors. Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies in these sectors took cue from their parent companies and began to outsource a share of their logistics functions to these specialist service providers. Though insignificant in the first few years, Indian 3PL industry is experiencing a rapid growth after year 2000. The number of participants in this industry had grown to be more than 400 by year 2005. The Indian 3PL industry can be divided into three distinct tiers – National Major 3PL companies with nationwide presence, Regional 3PL companies with strong presence in one or two regions, and Small Remote 3PL companies

4PL business is still at budding stage in India; they provide a wide range of value-added services that can range from business process analysis to hand work such as assembly, packaging and configuration besides the core activities of logistics.  4PL companies are hired by firms which engage services of 3PL.  The term “4PL” was actually coined by the consulting group Accenture. In fact, they also hold the trademark to the name 4PL. Accenture defines a 4PL in the following manner: “A 4PL is an integrator that assembles the resources, capabilities, and technology of its own organization and other organizations to design build and run comprehensive supply chain solutions.”

In 4PL, logistics is controlled by a service provider that does not own the assets to carry out logistics activities but outsources to subcontractors, the 3PL. Some large Indian firms in various sectors have invested heavily on logistics whereas sectors such as cement, FMCG, electronics, consumer durables, automobiles, pharma, food processing and the colour & paint sectors are among the chosen sectors which rely heavily on 3PL & 4PL logistics. While multinational logistics firms such as SembCorp, Exel and BAX, have made way into Indian lands couple of Indian firms such as GATI and TVS Logistics are also slowly changing the way products and materials are distributed.

Globally most of the Fortune 500 companies have opted out hiring services of 4PL.  In India, IBM, Dell, Nike and Philips have handed over their logistics operations to 4PLs. Much of the 4PL service includes execution of activities directly or through 3PL service providers. The logistics activities and solutions have started covering compilations of orders, planning the dispatch, physical transportation, in-transit monitoring, confirmation of deliveries, payment to be made to the transporters plus providing MIS to the client and the entire gamut of physical distribution function.

Geographic multiplicity of India needs varied logistics expertise as each region has its own troubles. Logistics posses a main challenge in the growing Indian trade. Along with diverse geographic scenario h a diverse cultural and regional buyer behavior has made logistics operations complicated in India. The buyer behavior in each state varies from the other, coupled with the geographical diversity of each state. Each state requires a tailor-made logistics model. Today, we require multiple solutions logistics companies to suit the nationwide logistics needs. Hope the administration is hearing.

India faces infrastructure limitations which in turn challenges the logistic company’s work also. The congested roadways and heaving ports are resulting in significant delay in movement of goods, affect the performance of 3PL service providers; similarly, lack of sufficient warehousing and specialized storage facilities beyond major cities of the country result in 3PL service providers to restrain from offering warehousing services across the country, hence resulting in their failure to become the complete logistics service providers for clients. Perhaps, allowing these firms to construct their own warehousing facilities in strategic geographic locations and specific regions, could address this problem. If this strategy is adopted by the government then such geographic locations could be designated has warehousing hubs. Over and above, complex tax structures and corruption coupled with erratic bureaucratic control are some other hassles faced by logistics service providers in providing the best of logistics solutions for their clients.

Increased Use of Supply Chain Consulting

Inventory is usually an extremely important aspect of operational costs for many companies and must be managed with the most cost-efficient method possible in order to see profits. Firms today face rough challenges such as whether the firm has supply chain visibility; this structural issue includes the complexity of the product, the nature of the technology the firm uses and at what degree the brand loses its uniqueness and faces challenge of commoditization at each point in the supply network. The second challenge being how much visibility is good visibility; firms are cautious about their supply chain details as these details are of strategic importance. The information can be misused to sabotage a firm’s business plans, and its existence itself. The third challenge being how does a firm behave when it confronts risk?  Firms need to juggle with market changes, new product launches and specific distribution for them, handling marketing channels with a difference for new products and existing channels for older products with a different treatment, sourcing, new acquisitions, credit availability, protecting intellectual property, R&D and its results, shipment security, maintaining cordial relations with suppliers and distributors etc. Supply chains must periodically be assessed and redesigned in response to market changes. In addition, supply chain risks must be identified and quantified.

Firms depend heavily on supply chain consultants these days. The greatest skill of a supply chain consultant is normally the ability to immediately assess inventory costs and put plans in motion to reduce their impact. Supply chain experts typically try to match an inventory management approach that meets the company’s market, industry, customers and its business philosophy. They provide companies with the tools needed to lower their month-to-month carrying charges of inventory. A supply chain consultant may have a degree in logistics or supply chain management or may simply have enough years of experience within logistics and management to be considered an expert in the field. I see a great future for careers in supply chain as managing supply chain professionally is need of the hour!  

In its 2005 “Year of Ideas” issue, The New York Times Magazinelisted nation branding among the year’s most notable ideas. The way a country is perceived can make a significant difference to the success of its trade, business, tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other nations. Simon Anholt coined the term ‘nation branding’ in 1996 and since then he has been working with governments to help them plan the policies, strategies, investments and advance which lead their country towards an improved profile and reputation. America has become the largest and most powerful brand in the globe; it virtually shapes the world in almost all dimensions such as national governance, policies, exports, people, tourism, economic and social status etc. In the fast growing global village nation’s branding is considered as big as federal mega-projects. Steve Silver and Sam Hill, both marketing experts define nation branding as most complex (brand) positioning problem; how can we brand a nation? A nation is as big as a Meta brand inclusive of numerous mega brands. There are so many mega activities of in a nation such as political governance, commerce, education, human resource development, environment, foreign affairs, infrastructure, environment, tourism, culture and heritage etc.

Few years back marketing Guru Philip Kotler launched the World Marketing Summit (WMS), an annual gathering of professionals, in Dhaka to find solutions to global challenges such as climate change, healthcare and skill development. The purpose of the summit was building strategies for creating a better world.   When somebody asked a question to Philip Kotler how emerging economies like India and China should build brands?  He answered the question plausibly stating that emerging countries need to understand importance of marketing strategies. Imagine importance of marketing for building brands as big as nations.

In the emerging economies like China, India, Russia and Brazil many businesses are in the first stages of life cycles, most of these are product driven companies. In India lot of companies are just focused on market share, instant profits, and very little focus on marketing values. In some developing countries marketers have now recognized the importance of lasting impact of branding exercise, reputation and importance of being customer-driven.

Mr. Kotler’s advice to the business world is to become a brand that has distinct meaning. He says it is not enough for companies to be known for what they are producing or manufacturing; for instance it is not enough for people to know that Nike makes athletic shoes. Nike means much more…… It’s a lot of work!

Nation Branding: Role of Government

Coming back to nation branding; the role of governments is to appreciate the best companies around and to assist them in becoming more excellent in the country, and then in the region and then in the world. The government should make it easier for companies to be export-driven, to put in quality control policies, to raise adequate funds as and when required. The government needs to have business friendly approach.

Any nation in the world cannot take its position for granted. The economic scenario changes swiftly. According to leading economists in the world, there are approximately 28 emerging economies which are marching ahead. Countries like Brazil, China and India are regarded as the largest in the world today though the G8 has not included them. There are countries like Greece and Italy who are losing their foothold from the stable nations in the world. Greece is already in major breach of euro zone rules on deficit management and with the financial markets betting the country will default on its debts, this reflects badly on the credibility of the euro. There are also fears that financial doubts will infect other nations at the low end of Europe’s economic scale, with Portugal and the Republic of Ireland coming under scrutiny. If Europe needs to resort to rescue packages involving bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, this would further damage the euro’s reputation and could lead to a substantial fall against other key currencies.

The concept of branding is viewed as ‘cultural diplomacy’ of nations. It is a somewhat new way of looking at a nation, but every nation is already a brand. Every nation is perceived in the minds of people differently living elsewhere in the world. Some countries are known for good things, some for bad, and others have mixed perceptions. Based on these perceptions, other nations in the world interact and do business with other nations, either contributing to its development or hindering it. For example Africa is associated with civil war, Iraq with suicide bombings and Cuba with Fidel Castro’s dictatorship. On the other hand countries such as the US, Canada or France, are perceived positively for decades for their sound political and economic development. Nation branding is based on the underlying assumption that every nation is a brand good or bad depending on its efforts. The important thing to realize about branding a nation is that one of its ingredients is the intensification of something that is found already within that nation.

Singapore – Rise from third world to first world

Singapore’s stunning rise from third world to first world in a matter of 30 years was spearheaded by an intensive and rigorous closely-coordinated programme of nation branding. Today, brand Singapore attracts the investments, business, trade, tourism and talented human resources from all over the world which is helping it further to become more flourishing nation. This state is internationally known as a vibrant, safe, corruption-free place to do business. Name any of the great businesses of the world; everybody wants to be in Singapore! The vibrancy and liveliness of the nation in its culture and the fine art attracts more and more tourists. In global surveys of quality of life, Singapore regularly tops the charts.

Singapore’s exit from Malaysia was a unique historical situation. It is hard to think of another example in history when a state was expelled from a larger country. Singapore’s problems for its fight of independence were not distinctively glamorized.  High levels of unemployment, lack of sanitation, scarcity of potable water, and ethnic conflict were some conditions that marred Singapore then and still typify many third world countries today. It was common scene then on the streets of the country Chinese and Malays often fought street battles that ended in bloodshed.

The unusual effectiveness of the Singapore government has won worldwide acclaim over the years. The Institute of Management Development’s World Competitiveness Yearbook 1997, ranked Singapore as the country which has adopted most effective and fastest strategies and implementations in government policy. Berlin based Transparency International placed Singapore in fourth place worldwide in 2003 for absence of corruption. To explain Singapore’s economic success, it is important to understand the predominant themes that have distinguished its governance from less successful third world countries. At the heart of the Singapore model is the social contract that was articulated between the ruling PAP (People’s Action Party) run government and the people of Singapore. In essence, it said that while the people were willing to accept more government control they also gave up some individual rights. People worked hard while the government created the environment which delivered prosperity and a better quality of life.

The World Bank ranks nations on various parameters on the basis of ease of doing business, from 1 to 183. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. This index shows the best countries the world which allows businesses to prosper.  As of today, Canada ranks number one in this list.

Environmental scanning of a nation for brand building

Environmental scanning of a nation helps in the brand building exercise of a nation. It is the study and interpretation of the political, economic, social and technological events and trends which influences businesses to establish in a nation.  The following parameters involve in environmental scanning:  

Economic Environment

It is very complex and dynamic in nature that keeps on changing with the change in policies or political situations. It consists of three elements: (i) Economic Conditions of Public (ii) Economic Policies of the country (iii) Economic System and other Economic Factors such as infrastructural facilities, banking, Insurance companies, money markets, capital markets etc.

Political environment

The government policies affect the businesses extensively. Political beliefs of Government, political strength of the country, relation with other countries, defense and military policies, centre state relationship in the country, thinking of opposition parties towards business Units attract or distract FDI in a country. 

Socio-cultural environment

Influence exercised by social and cultural factors, not within the control of business, is known as Socio-Cultural Environment. These factors include: attitude of people to work, family system, caste system, religion, education, marriage etc.

Technological environment

A systematic application of scientific knowledge to practical task is known as technology. Everyday there has been vast changes in products, services, lifestyles and living conditions, these changes must be analyzed by every business unit and should adapt these changes.

Natural environment

It includes natural resources, weather, climatic conditions, port facilities, topographical factors such as soil, sea, rivers, rainfall etc. Every business unit must look for these factors before choosing the location for their business.

Demographic environment

It is a study of perspective of population i.e. its size, standard of living, growth rate, age-sex composition, family size, income level (upper level, middle level and lower level), education level etc. Every business unit must see these features of population and recognize their various needs and produce accordingly.

We Indians should take some lessons to brand ourselves in the globe. 

During the 2002 World Cup, a doctored photo appeared on the cover of the British newspaper “The Mirror.” The photo depicted members of the Argentinean defense with women’s handbags in front of a goal. The photo instantly made the rounds on the Internet, ultimately becoming one of the most shared photos of all time. Though FIFA World Cup establishment did not meant to use this photograph as a direct marketing ploy of the FIFA World Cup, the shared photo helped to further heighten the already global prestige of the event!

The leading media networks today are Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Of course there are other sites that fall under the category of prominent social networks including YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. The Internet has paved way for the Viral Marketing. All over the world the marketers prefer to go viral.  It is an amazing method of generating traffic and leads but also creates a great demand for a new or older product. It is successful because it creates the curiosity and desire needed to generate the demand for a product or service.

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are treating the popular song Kolaveri Di from a Tamil film ‘3’ as a classic example of viral marketing. IIM – Ahmadabad dedicated a session to Kolaveri Di as part of its course on Contemporary Film Industry: A business perspective. Various professors at IIMs are saying that viral marketing is in-thing and marketers should not neglect it.

Online viral marketing is the latest marketing tool

Online viral marketing is the latest marketing tool that is creating buzz in today’s net savvy world. It is thriving on the word-of-the-mouth phenomenon for numerous products in the world. The Australian beer company, Carlton Draught, wanted to produce an ad that would grab the attention of the world. The result: “The Big Ad.”  The ad went viral, forcing the beer company to scale back its broadcast television ambitions due to risk of over-exposure. Within 24 hours of its release, the ad attracted more than 162,000 views, and after two weeks it had garnered over one million views. Viral advertising may take the form of video clips, interactive flash games, e-books, images, or even text messages.

In 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment promoted the return of Chris Jericho with a viral marketing campaign using 15 second videos. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho.

The key to successful Viral Marketing is to tweak the marketing message online astutely. When one consumer finds some value in your message he is likely to forward it on to his network of contacts. Online consumers tend to forward these messages for a variety of reasons, but all of them stem back when they believe that message in an ad has an intrinsic value that they wish to share with others.

In an effort to build up their online presence, Kraft launched a branded micro site called “Cheesy Movies.”  The site, which corresponded with Kraft’s much larger back-to-school promotions, allowed participants to create an account and develop their own animated movies up to 25 seconds long.  The short films featured an array of different props and characters for participants to work with and manipulate.  The micro site was a hit with both kids and parents.  Thousands of movies were created with each participant spending on average between 30 minutes and an hour on the site.

Viral message can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can harness the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly. Viral marketing is linked to social intelligence. According to the original definition of Edward Thorndike, social intelligence is “the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls, to act wisely in human relations”. It is equivalent to interpersonal intelligence. Many thinkers have opined that social networking improves social intelligence.

Nike has become a master of viral marketing over the years, but this 2006 ad staring Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho has emerged as one of the greatest viral ads of all time. The “is it real, or is it doctored” quality of the ad caused many viewers to send the clip to friends to get a second opinion on whether the feat was real or computer generated. As of today, the amateur-looking clip has generated more than 30 million views on YouTube and positioned itself as one of the most successful and acclaimed viral ads of all time.

In another case, BMW launched a series of eight high-cost, high-production short films released on BMW’s website. The films were produced and directed by such acclaimed filmmakers as David Fincher and Guy Richie and starred actors such as Don Cheadle, Clive Owen, and even Madonna. Within the first four months of release, the films attracted over 11 million views and sent BMW sales up 12% in 2001 alone. The success of the BMW series has prompted many other car manufacturers such as Nissan, Chevrolet to adopt a similar internet-based strategy.

People want to stay connected with their friends, families and the world from wherever they are. We usually tend to pass on any news, message which strikes us or our imagination with our near and dear ones.  The word viral means an infection caused by virus; here viral means infectious, crazy, frenzy.

Smirnoff wanted to promote the launch of Raw Tea, a new line of alcoholic malt beverages. To do this, they released a music video called “Tea Party” to the product’s micro site. The video eventually made it over to YouTube where it has attracted nearly 5 million views. The popularity of the video inspired the marketers at Smirnoff to expand Raw Tea’s website to include follow-up videos and online contests in order to make the site more interactive.

As the name “viral” suggests infection, this marketing technique can spread uncontrolled after effects like a virus. It has both positive and negative side effects. The effects of viral marketing can only be controlled to a certain extent and are dependent on one’s creativity. I personally feel marketers need to be very careful while deciding the target audience and the timing for viral marketing.

When Chevrolet created a user generated advertising platform for a campaign for their new model ‘Tahoe’, things went wrong when users started making critical comments of the big car maker’s fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness. The rumors on commercials typically included stuff like this: Hey, 2,325 U.S. kids have died, 16,653 have been injured, and up to $2 trillion will be spent to keep our oil supply safe. If you support the troops you’ll get out there and use some of it! Chevy Tahoe: Don’t let all that blood go to waste.

Sony, decided to put the marketing of their PSP system in the hands of some eccentric ad agency, and striding into the unsafe waters of viral marketing, the ad agency Zipatoni made a terrible, appalling video of some guy rapping about how he wanted a PSP for Christmas and posted it on Youtube along with links to a website. Never once was it mentioned that Sony was behind this ad, in fact the ad was presented as fan made. The campaign was torn apart nastily and exposed over at somethingawful.com. The feelings of Sony’s customers and its target audience got hurt with this nasty ad. Sony could only respond in an apologetic manner and a tall explanation. The rivals of Sony derived a great mileage out of the ad failure.

Like every coin has two sides, Viral Marketing too has its two sides; heads and tails, you decide which side you want to use.

Why do consumers ignore marketing messages? They are too tired of advertisements day in and out moreover everywhere they go. Because of this boredom they don’t know the brand and what the offering is, they don’t understand how the product or service works, they don’t understand the benefits of the brands, they find the advertised messages ambiguous, they feel the ads are not directed at them, the messages are dull and tiresome, while commercials are aired consumers are busy doing something else, they’re at work, they are not in a mood to hear the ads, in short the customers are tired of hearing from the brands and fundamentally to the company’s value  offering. The moral of this narrative is the good brands don’t need to be advertised too often and good brands sustain on their core values.

It is a fact that brands like Apple, Nike, McDonald or Google achieved their iconic statuses because of an unattainable magical formula, or we can say that they are lucky to have the brilliance of a single visionary leader. However, these companies have adopted specific approaches and principles that transformed their ordinary brands into iconic brands.  

Great brands don’t waste too much time and money on image building; Instead great brands focus on culture, core operations, and customer experience. They reach out to their customers when it is required. Intelligent marketers concentrate on internal marketing communication than external marketing communication. They turn to advertising, promotions, and public relations only after all other elements of the brand have been developed and aligned. These companies believe that actions (customer’s experience) speak louder than words. When organizations cultivate stronger corporate culture, have healthy relations with their stakeholders, believe in corporate governance their brands fuel faster growth.

There’s a lot in name for brands

In my opinion the brand name matters in its success and its life cycle.  Where did the name Apple Computer come from? Steve Jobs & Wozniak wanted their startup to be ahead of Atari Computers in the phone book. They wanted to stay away from the unfriendly, larger than life, complex images created by other computer companies such as IBM, Digital Equipments, Cincom etc. Jobs and Wozniak wanted to pay a tribute to Apple Records, the music label of the Beatles. There’s another tale to it that Jobs in his early life had worked in a farm at California picking and growing apples. The name just clicked and rest is history.

Good brands don’t become complacent

One of the fundamental principles of a brand’s success is its ability to do two challenging things at the same time – maintain consistency in the core of the brand such as quality, features, and price points along with this constantly change in order to stay in tune with the changing times. Doing these two things simultaneously is a big challenge for any brand.  Sony – one of the most distinguished global consumer electronics brand which has enjoyed unparallel brand equity and loyalty is surprisingly losing out its position. Its rivals Samsung and LG are giving it a tough time. Over the last couple of years, Sony has been gradually but surely slipping from its ivory tower.

There are few reasons for Sony’s fall from the top. This is because of its excessive and unrelated diversifications; to name a few – consumer electronics, music label, online music store, semiconductors, a motion picture company and financial units. These diversifications suck its energy and added to heaped costs of unrelated operations.  The diversification’s have not only drained the brand’s resources to a great extent but also abstracted the brand focus from the core of the brand. In addition, brand Sony has become complacent; it has many loopholes left open in its operations making it vulnerable to attacks from rivals. The followers (holding follower position) in the market who are agile, more energized attacked on the loose ends on multiple fronts. Samsung, LG, Apple, Nokia and others have grabbed Sony’s market share in consumer electronics segment.

Good brands don’t chase customers

Regularity and reliability cannot be compromised in the brand building game. The philosophy adopted by Ray Kroc – the founder of McDonald’s is that they can’t be successful unless their operators (franchisees) are successful. The logic is so profound. Approximately 85% of McDonald’s restaurants are owned and operated by independent business men and women. The idea of McDonald’s has always been of wanting to build a restaurant system that would be known for food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparations. Their aim, of course, was to assure repeat business based on the system’s reputation rather than on the quality of a single store or operator. This required a continuing program of educating and assisting operators and a constant review of their performance. The key to uniformity is their ability to provide techniques of preparation that operators have to follow. The success also comes because of its management listening so carefully to its operator’s problems, thoughts, ideas and solutions. The success of this partnership between the company and its operators is that the operators devote full time and best efforts to their restaurant business. Their focus and passion is what makes McDonald’s the number one food service organization in the world.

Great brands when commit stay committed

Another iconic brand Nivea body cream has been around for many years. Nivea is used in a household for generations together making it a habit. You will see Nivea on the dressing shelf constantly in many households; this is because it is super hydrating and makes the skin supple. This body cream product has maintained its fragrance, feel, thickness, packaging design same for years. When you buy the bright blue round tub/tin you know what you’re getting. It is one of those creams that have not changed, thus enjoying a large amount brand loyalty.

The best brands are good inside

Fortune Magazine and the Great Place to Work Institute named Google the 2014’s “Best Company Work For.” It’s the fifth time Google has enjoyed this position. This company has always believed in bringing diverse in demographics, smart, talented young people together. They believe in providing a very conducive atmosphere to people while allowing them to innovate, good benefits and perks, safety to women employees. Well, the company has a systematic hiring policy. Nepotism is completely avoided.  It is one of the employee friendly organizations. When the work atmosphere is great, obviously the employees give their best. 

Good brands stretch out

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is leveraging on Horlicks’s brand equity to get into new categories. Horlicks is an old player in the market. Horlicks came to India with The British Army; the end of World War 1 saw Indian soldiers of British Indian Army bringing it back with them as a dietary supplement. It has been around for decades. But there are no evident signs of its ageing. Horlicks’ market share is above 50 per cent as per AC Nielsen market survey.  It would be foolish for GlaxoSmithKline not to leverage the equity of such a brand. Thus, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare decided to use the brand’s equity to get into new categories. It has launched biscuits for children, a nutrition drink for women, an energy bar and chilled milk. Thus good brands stretch out.

Pay attention on how you make a relevant brand!