Track2Realty Exclusive: Once a promise has been defined, all the customer touch points need to be mapped. Everything from the website to marketing collateral to what the CEO says about the company to how the telephone is answered at corporate headquarters should reflect the promise of the corporate brand.
Track2Realty: India’s hospitality real estate space has probably come of age; and has reached a critical threshold in its learning as well as business development curves. Although the ongoing economic slowdown and uncertainty have caused hotel rates to decrease marginally in the last couple of years, India now stands at the cusp of a hotel building and rebranding boom, which should help keep rates competitive in 2013.
Track2Realty Exclusive: To say that the year 2013 has been stressful for the Indian real estate would be like stating the obvious. A major reason why the sector could not perform up to its true potential this year is the negative market sentiments.
Track2Realty: The economic downturn has subdued office and retail markets, resulting in a sales slowdown as well as pressurized capital values across leading cities—according to CBRE Research’s year-to-date coverage of trends in India’s real estate sector.
Track2Realty Exclusive: So if there is a real estate brand in India that wants to fully realize the benefits of branding to drive its business forward, what is the way forward?
Track2Realty Exclusive: Urbanisation is inevitable but when the very same model of development is rolled out haphazardly it also brings its side effects. Many urban cities across the country are witness to the fact with the loss of its traditional old world charm and eventually the city losing its very identity.
Track2Realty Exclusive: We are the first to accept the influence of branding in our lives. Look at the watches we wear, the T shirts we adorn, and of course the cars we buy. Are our decisions not highly influenced by the ‘ brand name ‘? Indeed, it is. Marketing has begun to play an important role in the decision making process of consumers, especially in urban metropolis areas. Moreover this phenomenon is spreading rapidly to the tier II and tier III cities of India as well.
Track2Realty: Sentiment in the Indian occupier and investment real estate markets has been hit on account of deteriorating levels of growth in the economy, continuous fall in the rupee value, high retail inflation and subsequent rise in key policy rates, according to the RICS India Commercial Property Survey Q3 2013.
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.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Some of the developers believe that being a responsible corporate entity CSR forms a very important aspect of their day to day functioning. For example, Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck Realty says they have formed Sunteck Foundation that is a dedicated entity which under its umbrella supports various initiatives that lead to social betterment.