Guest Article: Ravikant Banka: The positioning of 'brand Sahadev'...

... and other marketing lessons from the Mahabharata.

Last week, in one of our routine and heated arguments, I heard my boss say, 'what a brand stands for has to be like Angad ka paanv: unshakeable'. I was like 'hey that's an interesting connect'. It got me thinking - and researching soon - about the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, especially the latter.

It was the epic Mahabharata that kept an entire nation glued to the idiot box on Sunday mornings. To people at large, it's a mega story of good vs. evil, but when I looked closer, wearing my marketing sun-glasses, the Mahabharata seemed like an ocean of marketing and branding gems. Let me share my exploration of the Mahabharata.

In today's yug and Mahabharata, it's brands that fight each other for micro units of market share.

The kirana store is the new Kurukshetra. Arjun's single-minded focus the clear branding mantra. The brands that keep learning and evolving are the brands that will triumph in this Mahabharata and emerge as Maha brands.

The character Shikhandi in the Mahabharata, was originally born as a girl child named Shikhandini to Drupada, the king of Panchala. Shikhandi, who is popularly perceived to be a eunuch due to his sexual duality, fought in the Kurushetra battle from the Pandavas' side. He was instrumental in the felling of Bhishma Pitamah, acting as Arjuna's charioteer. As Bhishma refused to fight a woman, Arjuna hid behind Shikhandi and attacked with a volley of arrows. In spite of his inadequacies, Shikhandi managed to stay relevant. Similarly, brands need to stay relevant by changing their strategies. For example, service providers such as Airtel and Idea no longer talk about calls, they sell their internet offerings. For that matter, brands like Havells and Titan stay socially relevant by highlighting the traits of today's women. Bajaj is staying relevant to the youth by moving from stodgy scooters to the energetic, tech-loaded Pulsar.

When we think of Bheem, one among the great Pancha Pandavas, the one word that comes to mind is 'strong'. Similarly, once a brand owns a word, it is almost impossible for competitors to take that away.

For example, Tata is known for trust, Volvo for safety, Mercedes for prestige, Pepsi for youth, Aamir Khan for perfection, Apple for innovation, Coke for happiness, Maggi for instant, Mazaa for mango, Thums Up for action and many more. It's always worth having a core proposition that creates immediate recall for a brand.

The son of Bheem and the giantess Hidimbi, Ghatotkacha's maternal parentage made him half-rakshasha and bestowed him with immense magical powers such as the ability to fly. Due to the rakshasha genes, his powers used to increase manifold after sunset. Using it to his advantage, Ghatotkacha wreaked havoc among the Kaurava army. Similarly, brands could do well by using timing to their advantage.

For example, Good Knight increased its advertising spends during the spate of dengue threat across the country. Mazaa capitalises on sales during the non-mango seasons.

Bhishma Pitamah had the boon of 'Ichha Mrutyu' - death by wish. Although he could have chosen to live, in spite of being seriously wounded, after the battle of Kurushetra, he chose to die. Because he believed his purpose of being had come to an end. Similarly, brands reach a stage when their need/demand in the marketplace ceases to exist. With no purpose, these brands must be allowed to die, instead of spending inordinate resources to keep them alive.

Some of the brands that had to die a natural death were Ambassador car, Maruti 800, Kodak Camera roll, and Ford Mustang, to name a few. For that matter, is it time for book stores like Crosswords to review their business model with the sudden rise of online booksellers such as Flipkart or Amazon Kindle? Definitely worth pondering over.

Arjuna, as the story goes, hit the bird's eye with singular focus. This focus was the key. Similarly, narrowing focus helps brands dominate a category.

For examples, Domino's focussed on '30 minutes nahi toh free', Subway on Submarine sandwich, Big Bazaar on low prices. These brands have been growing bigger by staying focussed.

On the other hand, would Pepsi lose out by trying to enter the family space?

Abhimanyu entered the chakravyuh before he was fully ready and before time. It resulted in his death. Similarly, there's a right time and space to launch a brand. A brand launch is likely to fail if done at a wrong time and space or before time.

Example: Kellogg's India entry, Thums up in the early 90s, Blue Pepsi, Walmart luxury fashion garment, Crystal Pepsi, Vanilla Coke, Maruti Versa, Cobra deo spray, Atom by Pepsi, Real Value Vacumizer, among others.

Yudhistir was known for his diligence in following 'dharma'. All his actions were guided by 'dharma'. Similarly, a brand key is like dharma. All the actions and interactions of the brand are guided by the brand key.

For example, Tata and Google. Tata believes in following ethics and Google believes in employee morale boosting.

Sahadev was an expert in astrology and a highly skilled swordsman. He was specifically chosen and sent to conquer the South because of his expertise with the sword, and because Southerners were skilled with sword-fighting in general. Similarly, it's important to know your customers and competitors if you want to win over them. When you launch a particular product you need to know who are you positioning it for, what is the market for your product, why will people buy it, and what is its 'potential' to capture market and take over competition. You don't need a great product; you need the 'right' product.

Examples: Shaadi.com, Honda Activa, Olx.in, Flipkart.com, Asus Epad.

Ekalavya exemplifies belief. It's his belief in Guru Dronacharya that inspired him to learn archery from just a statue of his Guru. His sheer belief went on to make him one of the greatest archers. Great are those brands that have created such belief in the minds and hearts of their consumers.

Examples: SONY, SBI, Tata, Maruti, among others.

These are just a few from the many examples that can be derived from the Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata of marketing, the brands that see, listen and learn are the ones that sustain. Others perish.

(The author is chairman and managing director of Eggfirst Advertising and Design)