By: Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor Associates
Track2Realty Exclusive: As a brand management professional, I am often asked as to which industry in India needs branding the most. Without any second thoughts, my answer is real estate. Prima facie that may sound very counterintuitive as real estate is after all a big advertising spender.
We see endless full-page ads in leading newspapers from real estate companies on an almost daily basis. Drive down major highways in the metros and the biggest hoardings are all screaming about the newest lifestyle development that you just have to pour your life savings into.
However, advertising is only one aspect of branding. By over-emphasizing this aspect while paying very little attention to what it really takes to build a successful brand, Indian developers have by and large gotten themselves and their industry into a crisis of consumer confidence.
How many stories have we heard about our friends and family members being taken for a ride by a developer? Buildings abandoned mid-way through construction because the necessary permits were not secured.
False advertising claiming swimming pools and other amenities are made, but the developer does not bother to fully complete before delivering a property. Handover of possessions severely delayed due to inexplicable reasons.
These are only a few recurring themes of broken promises by many real estate brands. I am sure there are many more horror stories that have perhaps left consumers rather scarred about investing in the industry at all.
It does not help to build trust with consumers that a group of private developers have been vigorously lobbying against the Government’s Real Estate Regulatory Bill that will bring in transparency and customer-friendly policies to the industry amongst other things sorely needed. This opposition to regulation reflects poorly on the developer community at large and could be a real death knell for real estate brands.
Is there a real estate brand out there that is willing to stand up against the sorry state of affairs? A brand that is willing to take responsibility and change the way things have been? A brand that wants to build meaningful relationships with consumers? The opportunity exists and the first mover will surely reap leadership benefits. These are probably over expectations for a sector where even the mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is seen as a liability.
This reminds me of ex-BP CEO Lord John Brown who in his defining 1997 Stamford speech changed the way oil companies thought and behaved forever – “Ladies and Gentleman, climate change is a reality and we are partly responsible…the challenge for all of us is to find ways to transcend what appears to be a harsh trade-off between the desire for economic growth and rising living standards on the one hand and the equally strong desire for a clean environment on the other.”
BP was the first to put in place environment friendly policies and embrace the harsh challenges of climate change. That it significantly veered away from its promise to the environment is the subject for another debate, but the BP example does show that if somebody is determined to change the way an industry operates and to eliminate wrong doings, other brands will follow suite. Think Chevron’s “Human Energy” or Exxon Mobil’s “Taking on the world’s toughest energy challenges.
…to be continued
