“The Curious Marketer” By Harish Bhat

‘The Curious Marketer’, an insightful book by Harish Bhat brings us the different facets of the marketing landscape, with solid citations and analogies. It is non-jargonistic and has enticing insights into famous Indian brands and other global brands describing how brands touch lives.

About the Author:

Harish Bhat has held several senior roles in the Tata group over the past 30 years. As an avid marketer, he has helped create many successful Tata brands. He is a columnist and writes now for the Hindu Business Line.

Brands and symbols:

Brands come in with unique compelling symbols to convey their uniqueness. For instance, Bull the strongest is used in Red Bull energy drink, similarly Cheetah the swiftest is used in Puma shoes to convey the attribute speed. Dove bird which is gentle and soft is used in dove soap to highlight the attribute softness. There are almost thirty cars named after animals, such as the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Impala, Volkswagen Beetle, Corvette Stingray, etc. It also sticks in our minds for a long time. We can’t forget the little blue bird logo of Twitter, the alligator symbol on Lacoste T-shirts is another memorable one.

Brands and Music:

In the late 1980s, no one can forget the signature musical tune of Titan. Airtel’s tune still resonates on our minds.These tunes played a pivotal part in the success of the brands. Enchanting tunes such as Nirma, Lifebuoy, Vicco Turmeric, Bajaj Scooters,etc are still fresh in our minds. In Stores, the slower tempo of music makes shoppers spend more time. At hospitals, Dentists in clinics use calming music to alleviate the pain, knowing that most of their patients will be scared of the drill.

Brands and Origin:

Consumers buy a brand and will be more inclined towards the story behind the brand too. Scrumptious Kanchipuram idlis, Darjeeling tea, swiss watches, basmati rice, Persian carpets have unwavering origins. Most of the Apple products get manufactured in China, yet have a message at the back of every product as “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China”, ensuring they keep consumers from California intact.

Brands and Reminiscence:

During the eve of Christmas in the UK once, colouring books were sold targeted at adults instead of children, and marketers found the response to be overwhelming. As a result of the rush of the coloring books, several marketers emulated the same strategy and started to sell colouring books on Amazon and on other platforms. Colouring books are seen as an anti-stress therapy for adults who find it as a way to relax from stress at the workplace, messy relationships, etc. Other similar good childhood reminiscences include Kung fu panda movie series, Amul ice cream, Cadbury chocolates, nursery rhymes, etc. Another reason why the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral is that it’s a child-like activity that instills happiness while pouring water into someone’s head. Great marketers use this idea of taking back people to childhood as this brings some of the gratifying small things again in life.

Brands and Course Correction:

Xerxes Desai, the man who created two intriguing brands Titan and Tanishq, is highly known for his courageous decisions and something that everyone can learn from. He had a set of designers, horologists, and marketers who made riveting designs and contributed to the breathtakingly beautiful design of Titan watches. It is not always that marketers will be infallible, they are prone to mistakes, but a marketer must know to identify the flaw and fix it without much demur. Xerxes Desai too made a big marketing error by launching Tanishq initially with 18-carat gold, in European design, but it did not go well with Indian consumers. He quickly took a step back, launched Tanishq again crafted to Indian designs with 22-carat gold combined with caratmeter, a lethal combination that was loved by many consumers.

Brands and Colours:

Colours can create distinctiveness in brands. Impulsively we think of Coca-Cola when we see a red bottle and similarly Cadbury chocolate when we see a purple bar. The same goes with the barbie doll when we encounter pink, Starbucks is green, Apple is white, Tata is blue, Bank of Baroda is orange, Idea is yellow. Google, the most omnipresent brand has stood out by being a multicoloured brand in a typical monocolored world. It goes in four colours blue, red, yellow, and green. At times on certain days, to acknowledge a tragedy, Google will go colourless.

Brands and Circles:

Many brands use circles to represent their logos, the primary reason behind it is circles represent a sign of positive emotion, happiness, and love. Another thing is circles are simple, circular symbols are the most lucid ones for humans to remember. Digital Brands like Dell, HP, Whatsapp, Wikipedia, Firefox, Chrome, Ola use circles in their logos. Telecom brands like Vodafone, AT&T, and other global car brands like Volkswagen, Mercedes, Benz, Audi use circular logos. Other brands like Nivea, Starbucks, use circles as well. Olympics uses Circles extensively. India’s eminent brands like Tata, State Bank of India, LIC have logos that are either circular or elliptical in shape.

Brands and the Intense desire among consumers:

Brands come in limited editions thus creating an intense desire among the consumers. Virat Kohli owns a whopping 2.97 crores worth car, which other consumers won’t be able to buy even if they are filthy rich as Audi has built only ninety-nine units of the car worldwide. Flash sale events conducted by Amazon, Snapdeal, and the invite-only sale of smartphones by the OnePlus One in 2014 created a burning desire among consumers.

Brands and Excitement:

Brands come with a set of emotive benefits, for instance, the Italian Chocolate brand Kinder Joy comes with a unique egg-shaped pack, kids love and get thrilled on opening it. Similarly, Fastrack and Titan had their captivating way of packaging watches in cylindrical aluminium tins that lured many college-going youths.

Brands and Comebacks:

MotoG was one of the brands which lost its stance when other brands like Samsung, Nokia, Apple took over, but it soon was reincarnated with the launch of vivid and vibrant Moto G. Similarly we still have Kingfisher airlines fresh in our memory though it’s not flying now. Millions of Indians continue to wear the HMT watches despite the dominance of Titans, Sonata.

Brands and Speed:

Consumers desire speed and brands that cater to this speed have emerged successfully over the years. Some of the prominent brands with speed as their key feature are Maggi(2-Minute Noodles), Dominos(Thirty minute or Free delivery), New Horlicks(dissolves in two seconds), Amazon’s single-day delivery option, Fewikwik(affixes together in an instant), Eno fruit salt (gets to work in six seconds).

The book emphasizes more on branding and marketing strategies. The book has fruitful information describing how humans and brands are tied together, what makes people to cling to specific brands. It is a pleasurable read and I strongly recommend this book to everyone.