By: Pranay Vakil, Chairman, Praron Consultancy
Track2Realty Exclusive: Media perception is not much different than public perception in developing brand. It depends on how media plays down. 50 per cent of the media is honest in promoting actual brand worthiness but few media also carries planted articles or on the contrary, prevents negative articles in exchange of media barter deals.
Media perception plays extremely important role in developing or destroying the brand. Media can build the positive brand or negative brand by blowing up the controversy out of proportion which needs to be controlled tactfully.
Brand evaluation can be defined with long term recall value and not just the ROI (return on Investment) or a success of an ad campaign. Brand develops with researching its market share, strong penetration in the minds of stake holders and target audience and happy satisfied customers. If a research group like Knight Frank endorses any company for its market share then it also adds value to the brand perception & presence.
The new developer evaluates its market share with its sales figure whereas known player evaluates brand with the premium earned. With ever changing law retrospectively over the period of time there is no shortcut in overnight brand building. Also, celebrity endorsements may help to promote sales but fails to generate brand value.
Thus, developers need to give time to sink in mind of people for longer duration. In some instances where realtor is part of a large conglomerate, it is easy to achieve brand label with other established venture of the corporate house.
Branding is a nevertheless challenging. In real estate most of the brands are local and accordingly challenges are different because it caters to the different class of audience. Therefore, companies have to be brand conscious as each developer caters to different class of localities. This indicates brand should concisely garner the demands of the niche audience and do not confuse the customer which tarnish the brand reputation.
Omkar Realtors & Developers who are best known for SRA constructions stands an example to the change in brand perception when a known developer in a segment makes a switch to the other category. The launch of their luxury premium projects initially created a confusion in the mind of the customers and hard to believe in the product. This image shifting project made them work harder by actually showcasing the sample flats to prove their product worthiness.
Similarly, when K Raheja, known for constructing office space, launched its residential project Riviera, a radical shift led to confusion among the audience disturbing the expectation level of delightful customers.
In such case challenge of repositioning brand can be overcome with period of time. Repositioning or rebranding is the new challenge faced by the sector in recent time. Developers are trying to develop different class of products like when Tata started rebranding Taj as Viventa. It was huge efforts to rebrand and create an acceptance in the minds of the people.
…to be continued
