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 Brand finds that developers are into mix & match of ATL & BTL activities to meet the challenges of branding at the bottom of the pyramid. Some are even getting into the top end luxury projects also to balance the project portfolio to take their brand premium forward.
Real estate may be sales driven in its approach but the developers are largely conscious of the fact that the short term goal of marketing ROI is a mere journey and the destination is the brand value that eventually pays the premium over the project. The dichotomy of sales driven versus brand driven marketing campaign is an inherent reality of the business and it gets even more challenging when the product category falls into the bottom of the pyramid.
Redevelopment, for instance, has historically been categorised into slum redevelopment and hence the challenge of brand positioning made many of the developers foray into luxury segment as well. Over a period of time, the redevelopment got a facelift with many redevelopment projects shaping well beyond slums as well. The new DCR (Development Control Rule) in Mumbai brought to the fore level playing field for the developers who had specialisation over the redevelopment projects.
The collective consciousness, however, still looks at the top of the pyramid with luxury and super segment as “the brand”. And hence, developers carry the additional responsibility to position themselves as the brand in their own legitimate right.
Does redevelopment cuts to the brand value of the developers? Not many are ready to accept it. Those who are busy positioning their brand with product at the bottom of the pyramid maintain the brand value is primarily intrinsic to product/brand offerings, track record, market reputation, customer perception and overall product packaging factor.
Many believe developing an iconic luxury project is very different from redevelopment business in terms of permissions and processes. Developers who do not have the infrastructure for the same may not like to enter this field as this is also more time consuming. But today, developers from even luxury segment are also getting into redevelopment. This in itself justifies that developers in luxury segment no longer look down upon getting into redevelopment.
For instance, developers like Omkar Realtors & Developers, Hubtown, Jaycee Homes etc have created a niche today in the luxury segment despite of their roots in the redevelopment in general and slum projects in particular. Today, most of these companies have a separate team looking after respective division of their business.
Diipesh Bhagtani, Executive Director Jaycee Homes says redevelopment in fact helps boost the brand value. It gives rise to viral marketing. If the final product is good, not only society members talk about it but also people in the vicinity. They tend to compare the old building with the new one and the good work is eminent. There is a lot of positive talking about this project. This makes a brand more visible. Redevelopment is another stream of construction and in no way inferior to developing any other building.
“As we all know addressing to a few people is much easier then addressing to the masses which make the bottom of the pyramid. This is a very complex segment with various attitudes and temperament. Branding in this segment has to be very neutral and subtle so that the communication is apprehended in the way it is supposed to be. Maintaining your brand ethos if you are in luxury segment which is meant for the niche and communicating to the masses without diluting brand image is the biggest challenge,” says Bhagtani.
…to be continued
