Branding...

It was a class project that was different. It was fun doing it and at the same time brain draining too. Well, it is generally fun but it becomes brain draining when you have deadlines hanging on the head.
It was a long week and I think, it was good that this branding presentation was slated last. It provided a befitting end to the series of presentations. Coming to the project, the whole class was given some brands which had failed or were not doing well in the market. Each team had to rebrand these products and make them sellable. Products were like Sweekar, Sunfeast Pasta, Hamam, Indian Express, HMT etc. Ours was a ‘hatke’ one - Indian Airlines. It started with deciding on the Repositioning (Positioning is the image of your product that the consumer has in mind), deciding on the target markets, defining the brand identity. Next came the print ads, TV ads, Radio ads, designing new logo, new taglines, new packaging, new events, and sponsorship proposals. People were living their products and involved like real Brand Managers. For an exercise such as these, you need ideas. And ideas can come anytime, anywhere. They came while reading, attending lecture, on the shit pot. Everywhere. There were inputs and suggestions from friends and families. New Brand Ambassadors emerged. Amitabh Bachchans,SRKs and Sachin Tendulkars gave way to the guys and gals from class with that ‘boy/girl-next-door’ image. Even real life mothers came on reel. Finally, everything merged into an afternoon where each group put up its stall and displayed the hard work they had put in. It was a mix of this diligence and creativity with lots of fun thrown in that was on display. People coming to your stalls, admiring your work. You going to others and feeling in awe of their work. No matter how much we cribbed about it (we do it all the time.. nahi?) but the whole experience was simply exhilarating.

Any one at Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) listening ?? Guys, we have rebranded you.. you can leave a comment if you want to hire us :-)

A quotable quote on the exercise from our Marketing Stud Rohit Hegde..He says, 'unbelievable times i tell ye..of toil, of hilarious times,of snapping at each other, of irritation, of bruised egos and massaging egos....and finally the sweet taste of success...now thats wot i call "teamwork"! '