Branding!

Its been quite some time since SME/SMBs across the globe have been blamed of not giving enough importance to building a brand, however not many have come forward to educate them and change their mindset. However the worse thing is that there are bigger brands which are equally negligent of brand building and these are brands who have the muscle power to flex but its the focus which is missing. They do have brand managers from some of the best marketing and advertising schools but still make enough mistakes. Some of the most well known organizations follow what even an SME wouldnt dare do, check these

1. Facebook – I know lot of you would already have decided to junk this write up, after all who on earth would think facebook to be a bad brand. But consider this – how many of you are happy with privacy policies of facebook. Since Jan 2010 many factions of people have come out and revolted against facebook privacy settings however Mark Zuckerburg believes that the world has changed, that it’s become more public and less private. There are a lot of voices coming up against facebook and not many people like what they are doing (however everyone is still using it) it surely is on a thin ice! I hope there’s not another Myspace coming up!

2. Cold drink brands – Pepsi, Coke, Sprite etc – Another shocker Ok imagine you go to a shop and ask for Sprite and he gives you 7Up, would you drink or leave it! More than 90% of people would go ahead and drink it! Good brands are irreplaceable is what we were taught

3. Cafe Coffee Day – This is my fav “bad brand”. All of a sudden we found out CCD changing logos and then you realised some of the merchandise in their outlet still had old logos. Excuse them, who wants to waste! Over 5 months since the rebranding happened – go to MG Road in Bangalore or Delhi Airport – same old logo hanging around! If some one is listening, guys pull your socks.

Though i agree SMEs/SMBs haven’t focused on branding but they are not the only ones to be blamed!

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