Track2Realty Exclusive: A great challenge in real estate branding is the local versus national market. 90 per cent of the realty brands have local presence and not pan India. Most of the projects are linked locally like Prestige with Bangalore or DLF with Gurgaon.
Track2Realty: India continued to feature on the list of the world’s most expensive office markets, with New Delhi (Connaught Place – CBD) ranking at the 7th position, according to CBRE Global Research and Consulting’s semi-annual Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey. Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) bagged the 15th position, while Nariman Point stood at the 32nd position. The latest CBRE survey provides data on office rents and occupancy costs as of September 2013.
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.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It is relatively easier to plan a real estate project’s brand positioning in the high-end category where overboard advertising creates the top-of-the-mind recall value. Though many carry home the perception that branding is about ATL (Above the Line) activities for premium projects; fact of the matter is that branding at the bottom of the pyramid is even more challenging.
Track2Realty Exclusive: In realty business, brand is an additional value the consumer is prepared to pay compared with an ordinary product yet fulfilling the same purpose. If a brand is not able to offer the consumer better advantage that the competitors, it will turn into a commodity.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Agreeing that it is time for fresh approach and marketing strategy, Anshuman Magazine, CMD of CBRE, South Asia says the recent policy moves from the RBI—vis-à-vis the rise in repo rate as well as the 20:80 scheme—are expected to further dampen investor sentiments in the upcoming festive season.
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: A McKinsey report to the Government of India on cost of approval had clearly pointed out that the costs incurred on account of various approvals could constitute anything up to 40 per cent of the sale value. Such is the enormity of the problem of approvals and that the challenge of negativity that we suffer from.
Track2Realty Exclusive: At a time when the critics of Mumbai real estate were busy with the conspiracy theory and prophets of doomsday were writing the obituary, with the report suggesting the city market sitting over 48 months of inventory lending credence to such conspiracy theory, there has been an under-current in the Mumbai property market where some of the smart developers were devising new strategies to beat the slowdown.
Track2Realty Exclusive: A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the company. Branding, according to me, is a double edged sword which grants an advantage of building clientele, loyalty, trust etc but also burdens the shoulders with an added responsibility and obligation to defend the ‘Brand’ so far created persistently.