AT A time when the buzz around a possible HDFC-HDFC Bank merger refuses to die down, a study commissioned by the world?s largest marketing communications group WPP Plc has declared HDFC Bank as India?s most valuable brand with a brand value of $9.4 billion. The study titled ‘BrandZ Top 50 most valuable Indian brands 2014’ was released by Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, in Mumbai last week.
While in Mumbai to launch the study, Martin Sorrell said that brand India had taken a beating in recent times and there was a need to resurrect the image. He gave a comparison of India with China which had benefited greatly from its image abroad. ?There is a direct co-relation between the foreign direct investment inflows and brand image perception of a country,? he said. On WPP?s India business, Sorrell said it touched $500 million mark last year for the first time and has been growing at 6-7% per annum. However, he also added that India is under-advertised, in comparison to WPP operations in markets such as China.
Telecom brand Airtel, synonymous with India?s mobile revolution, is the second most valued brand with a brand value of $8.2 billion, according to the study carried out by marketing and brand consultancy Millward Brown. State Bank of India comes in at third place with a valuation of $6.8 billion. Other brands in the top ten list include ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Idea, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Communications.
In a listing of 50 most valuable Indian brands, the combined brand value of all the brands in the ranking is almost $70billion. The services businesses lead the rankings study with 30% of the Top 50 brands, come from the service sector. While 17 in the list were multinational corporations, 26 were private Indian brands and seven were state owned brands. Kiran Khalap, co-founder of brand consultancy Chlorophyll said, ?I feel that comparing a Bajaj Auto which is a corporate brand and Maggi which is a product brand is confusing. While Asia’s gross domestic product will be 25% of the world’s gross domestic product in 2014, its share of Top 500 brands is only 6%. So we are far from being believers in building brands or buying them. Powerhouse brands are a long way off.?
The rankings were arrived at on the basis of financial data from financial software, data and media company Bloomberg and Kantar, WPP?s market research agency, along with consumer interviews for more than 500 brands. A lot of the study was based on consumer perception and their experiences which is why certain marquee brands failed to make the cut, said officials associated with the study. Technology brands were conspicious by their absence. Other marquee brands such as Vodafone and LIC also did not make it to the list.Two Tata Group brands?Tanishq and Tata Motors found their place on the list. Mukund G Rajan, Tata brand custodian and chief ethics officer at Tata Sons, talked of the Tata brand and how the group turned it into a global name from its earlier image as a valuable corporate Indian brand. ?Before we
embarked on the mantra of globalization, we realized that we needed to consolidate our position in India first. ?During the economic reforms of 1991, and following the entry of various competitors from overseas, we realized that we needed to deal with them in a unified way.? By year 2000, Rajan said that Tata was ready to take on competition in markets across the globe.?From an $18 billion group in early 2000, we have grown to a group spinning operations across 100 countries, one that directly employs more than 600,000 people and has an aggregate turnover of 103 billion $ in this fiscal. As our global footprint and stature increased, the time is right for us to invest in building the Tata brand across worldwide markets. This global brand campaign which we will embark upon shortly will be the first for the Tata Group in its 146-year history,? he said.
Colgate India’s managing director Prabha Parameswaran said that the brand Colgate which was at number 28 on the list, was so much a part of India’s socio-cultural fabric and ethos that most people did not realize that it was an international brand. ?Go to any small town in India and ask??Did you brush today?? And the answer would be??Haan Colgate kiya (I have done Colgate),? said Parameswaran. ?I had the same experience in Mexico. That’s really what global brands do. They become a part of the social fabric.?
Prasun Basu, Millward Brown’s managing director – South Asia in his presentation said that India is dominated by a handful of big brands or companies that own stables of brands. ?The top five account for 45% of the rankings total value.? he said. Basu added that the stronger a relationship a brand can build with consumers in its category, the more it can leverage that to build scale.
