Track2Realty Exclusive: It is generally believed in the sector that CSR can not be a brand driver the way other branding efforts are being evaluated in terms of ROI. Diipesh Bhagtani, Executive Director, Jaycee Homes, says that CSR alone cannot be the catalyst for brand building; there is no case study as such. CSR is seen more as a responsibility towards the society rather than a business promotion activity.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Brand building and maintaining the brand image is a big challenge for any business, and more so for in real estate where one has a direct contact with the end user. Moreover, brand positioning of the business of real estate is dependent on the overall eco system where demand and supply is dependent upon a host of external factors such as the state of the economy, government policies, etc.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a new concept in the Indian real estate and companies are going through the learning curve. Some are adopting it with greater amount of conviction, while for others it is an emerging necessary evil.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A section of developers are not in favour of experimenting with the advertisements as this may have negative effect. According to Diipesh Bhagtani Executive Director, Jaycee Homes, ads have some components which are common and similar in all their creative. This helps us build, recognize and recollect the brand name. This also helps build and reinforce the brand identity.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Public Relations or the PR stands for different things to different people in this part of the world. In the business of Indian real estate the philosophy is how much coverage do I get by paying how less. And only developers are not to be blamed for this since agencies understand the psychology of developers and tend to over-promise, thanks to the cut-throat competition in the business.
Track2Realty Exclusive: The question is do brand ambassadors really buy the flats of the realty firms they endorse? Most unlikely! Of course, those who earn huge sums won’t live in flats even if they are very luxurious.
Track2Realty studies the role of brand ambassadors in the Indian real estate as the advertisements are often blamed to be not just aspirational but misleading as well. How far celebrity endorsement helps the company and to what extent their celebrity status gets affected by a sector where trust deficit is pretty high
Track2Realty Exclusive: Neeraj Gulati, MD, Assotech Realty says real estate is akin to two sides of the same coin; at one half you have the developers at the other you have the end users/investors. The point is real estate does throw a negative shade as projected to the stakeholders in terms of realty debt.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Media creates perception in the collective consciousness that realty debts are a cause of concern. It is generally assumed that a debt-ridden company is not the right one to invest. However, business cycle of some of these over leveraged companies is not just better than peers, but also high in terms of brand equity. Track2Realty finds that over projected magnitude of realty debt may or may not be a reality.
Track2Realty Exclusive: More holistic approach is required while conducting a research on any real estate entity. The scientific research should undertake a detailed analysis on the accounting policy, business model, geographical presence, sales & execution strategy, project portfolio of the company. It should also take into consideration the company’s initiatives to monitor its operations for timely delivery of the project without cost overruns & sustaining margins.