Are Iconic Technology Brands a myth?

Classical branding taught us about power brands that stand the test of time.Across market conditions , geographies and time.Have a good product, invest in your brand over time; and it will continue to be iconic.

But in the recent past in an increasingly 'instant' world; not too many technology brands seem to stand the test of time and tend to lose their aura pretty quickly.

Let's look at cars. From the 1920's to 1950s the power brands(pun unintended) in automobiles were from the Ford and General Motors stable- Pontiac, Chevy, Dodge, etc. Soon these were upstaged by European superbrands - Mercedez Benz , Porsche and Audi (rememebr the Quattro?). In the 80s; the hitherto quirky Japanese brands started gaining traction. Companies like Toyota (based on their reliability and quality values) and Honda(refinement) became the brands of desire- Lexus,Accord and recently; the Prius.So much so that in emerging markets; the American/European brands didn't stand a chance in the desirability stakes. But today;on the back of a recession; its the Korean brands that seem to have taken centerstage.

Even in PCs; brands like IBM gave way to 'hip' brands like Apple.Which today are fighting for their 'hipness/tech' status with upstarts like Acer.In software - Microsoft upstaged IBMs OS but then became the 'big bad wolf' to Google .And today; the Google brand is fighting online upstarts in the 'cooltech' stakes.

Take mobilephones - Motorola (remember the cool flipphone and Startac?)gave way to Nokia. Today Nokia may be the world's largest selling brand but is it hip/iconic? That space belongs to IPhone/Blackberry in the top end, Samsung in the middle market and a host of Chinese brands in the bottom end.

Even in consumer electronics iconic TV brands moved from RCA to Philips to Sony to Samsung to "I don't know what's hip today!" pretty quickly.

Evidence suggests that increasingly, technology brands seem to lose their sheen soon after they become big. In the technology space 'trust' doesn't seem such a big deal after all;when compared to sexiness/performance/newness.


Its almost that technology customers are rooting for the underdog!

So how does a technology brand stay iconic ?

By assuming that brand decay is inevitable; despite your best efforts.

So does one you invest in the brand? Or reinvent it to keep it continuously fresh? Or just create a new brand using the resources and credibility of the cash cow mother brand?

I'm still to figure that one out but currently I am tending to the latter.

But what about financial brands?

Evidence suggests for financial brands it's the complete opposite! Trust is the biggest deal and newness be damned! The older the brand, the bigger it gets(like compounded returns!).

But then that's the topic for a different post!

Cheers.

Motilal Oswal Education Films: About Time Someone Did This

In the stock markets some people make money. And many make mistakes.

The reason why there's a new campaign from Motilal Oswal that helps educate investors and traders about some basic home truths of investing/trading in shares that will help avoid these mistakes.

We keep telling these truths to clients when we meet them or when we present to them. Taking it onto a broader canvas was the next logical step.

There are three films that try to drive home these truths

Film 1 tells people that there are two styles - Investing & Trading. Investing is like a test match(long term, patience, fundamentals oriented etc) while Trading is like 20-20 cricket( fast paced, quick decisions, buy-sell is momentum oriented, high risk-high return etc). Both have their role. But you need to be sure as to what your style is. We have a profiler that helps people find out just that. Which they can get done on the phone if they call us.

Film 2 highlights a common mistake many people make. Which is that they start off being investors and then somewhere let their emotions or market pressure get to them and suddenly become traders. This is a dangerous situation. Somewhat like playing a Dilscoop to a bouncer in a test match. It may come -off once; but eventually its going to hurt you. So whether you are an investor or a trader; its important to stick to your gameplan. A difficult task no doubt; but who said its easy making money.A booklet that you can write to Motilal Oswal for helps you do that.

Film 3 is targetted to traders. Traders often get so caught up in the action of trading that they forget to keep a safety net. Almost like going to bat without putting your pads and other protection on. Trading is a high-risk/high-return game. While we look forward to the high returns ; we should try to minimise the high risk as well. And that's what Stop-Loss does. Writing to Motilal Oswal gets you a booklet on Stop Loss, how to use it and another one on how to be a successful trader. Stop Loss is the helmet that helps you face the bouncers in the market with confidence!

The films are on air since a week and have received an encouraging response.

Have a look and tell me what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwjO7ntBOTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAAurpwz5Go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDFpIwSvPks


Cheers