There is nothing particularly unique or distinctive about brand portfolios, brand extensions, brand acquisitions and brand alliances. These are fairly common elements of brand management strategies, followed by many companies, in accordance with their size, scale, geographic reach and product range. However, what might be missed while formulating a brand strategy is the importance of its alignment with the company’s business strategy. This aspect is brought out strongly through numerous examples in the first paper of this issue, “Aligning Brand Portfolio Strategy with Business Strategy”, by Henrik Uggla. In particular, the author points out that the combining of business strategy, brand strategy and market opportunity is crucial for the success of any business.

The second paper, “Consumer Acceptability of Brand Extensions: The Role of Brand Reputation and Perceived Similarity”, by J Evangeline Selvanayagam and V R Ragel, explores the role played by parent brand reputation and perceived similarity of products in consumer acceptance of brand extensions. This is studied in the context of extensions to the ‘Kist’ brand in Sri Lanka from fruit-based products to biscuits and confectionaries. The findings concur with the existing brand extension literature that favorable reputation enjoyed by the parent brand and perceived fit between the extension and the core brand are quite important for the success of a brand extension.

To segment consumers or their behaviors based primarily on demographic parameters is often viewed as being very prosaic. However, in some product categories, demographics could be a very important determinant of consumer behavior. One such example is that of the cellphone market in India. In the third paper, “A Study on Brand Loyalty and Its Association with Demographics of Consumers: Evidence from the Cellphone Market of India”, the author, Umesh Ramchandra Raut establishes clearly through a consumer survey that brand loyalty with regard to cellphone handsets is influenced by the consumers’ age, gender and income. From the managerial perspective, this research suggests that for building brand loyalty, the marketers of cellphones should chalk out their strategies based on the demographic characteristics of the consumers.

This issue has two case studies. Quite by coincidence, both of them are on internationally reputed coffee brands – Starbucks and Nescafé. The first case, “Starbucks’ Entry into Tea-Drinking India”, by Revathy Rajasekaran, is about Starbucks’ entry into the Indian market. It takes the reader through how Starbucks has been successful in other countries (particularly in China), the challenges faced by it in India and how it could respond to the challenges so as to be successful in India. The second case, “REDvolution: Repositioning the Nescafé Brand”, by Adapa Srinivasa Rao and G V Muralidhara, is about ‘REDvolution’ – an initiative for repositioning Nescafé brand with a new visual identity.

-R Harish
Consulting Editor