Brand Mgmt

1. XLRI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND HUMAN RESOURCES
BRAND MANAGEMENT FOR B2B BRANDS – CORPORATE BRANDS
A STUDY
SUBMITTED
TO PROF. Sharad Sarin
B2B marketing
BY
GROUP # 6
Amit Kumar (G10006)
Bharat Parikh (G10014)
Hussein H Rassiwalla (G10020)
Nikunj Verma (G10033)
Vikash Chandra (G10059)
JAMSHEDPUR, JHARKHAND
26 JANUARY 2011

2. Table of Contents
I. Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 3
II. Marketing Communication for B2B ...................................................................................................... 3
III. Recent Trends in Brand Management .............................................................................................. 4
i. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) .......................................................................................................... 4
ii. Use of Internet technology ................................................................................................................... 6
a. Company Websites ................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
b. Social Media .......................................................................................................................................... 6
c. eMarketplace ......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
IV. Case Studies from Indian Context ..................................................................................................... 6
i. MindTree ............................................................................................................................................... 6
ii. MRF Tyres ............................................................................................................................................. 9
V. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 12
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3. I. Overview
While a lot of B2C companies put considerable effort in building a brand very little attention has
been paid by managers of B2B companies towards creating a brand. Many managers are
convinced that it is a phenomenon confined only to consumer products and markets. Their
justification often relies on the fact that they are in a commodity business or specialty market
and that customers naturally know a great deal about their products as well as their
competitors’ products (Kotler and Pfoertsch 2007). According to a research carried out by
Chartered Institute of Marketing there is a lack of framework of best practice in industry and a
lack of explicit brand management.
According to Sweeney (2002) some of the advantages provided by a brand in business context
are:
 Brands build trust
 Brands add value, even in commodity markets, enabling companies to command a
premium price and to avoid getting into a price war situation
 Brands build loyalty by creating stronger customer relationships and reducing customer
acquisition expense
Moreover with similar production technologies being available to all players and entry barriers
for newer entrants falling the products and services are getting commoditized. Hence, creating
stronger brands has become imperative for companies to differentiate themselves and to cut
the clutter.
Sweeney (2002) lists four important stages at which brands can influence the buying center
decision in a business to business scenario:
 Decision on tender list
 Preliminary shortlisting for negotiation
 Decision to purchase
 Decision on supply and support services
Given the influence of brands on buying center it becomes important to understand how
brands are managed in a B2B situation. The rest of this document is aimed at providing an
understanding of the B2B marketing communication, recent trends and advancements in the
field of B2B brand management and providing a couple of examples from Indian context.
II. Marketing Communication for B2B
B2B non-personal methods of communication, including advertising, catalogues, the internet,
the trade shows, have a unique and often crucial role in the communication purpose.
Advertising and sales promotion are rarely used alone in the business to business setting but
are intertwined with the total communication strategy-particularly personal selling. Personal
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4. and non-personal forms of communication interact to inform key buying influencers. The
challenge for the business marketer is to create an advertising and sales promotion strategy
that effectively blends with personal selling in order to meet sales and profit objectives. The
advertising, online media and sales promotion tools must be integrated to achieve desired
results.
In a B2B scenario it is very difficult to measure direct sales increase in terms of
Rs./Advertisement budget. Advertising goals can be measured in terms of brand awareness,
recognition and buyers enquiry. It can be presumed achieving them stimulates sales volume for
B2B marketers.
Advertising media is selected on the basis of their circulation. The internet provides a powerful
medium to communicate with target customers. Communicating the customers need is not
only relevant to but a necessity in B2B scenario. This is highlighted in following example:
Caterpillar is a leading machine manufacturer of earth moving equipment. This space is
crowded by many heavy machinery factories like Komatsu, Hitachi, Volvo, New Holland,
Caterpillar, etc. All of these manufacturers produce qualified products. But, Caterpillar leads the
sales. Its products are used everywhere in the world. The customer might use the machinery in
jungle or in the middle of the sea. Caterpillar knows and understands this unique need of the
customer. The company communicates the assurance of spare part availability at hard to reach
places through following tagline: “48 Hours Part Service Anywhere in the world or Caterpillar
Pays”. This assurance of spare part availability has instilled great confidence into its customers
and differentiated Caterpillar’s offerings from its competitors.
III. Recent Trends in Brand Management
i. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
Hsiang-Ming Lee, Ching- Chi Lee and Cou-Chen Wu have examined the effect of M&A on brand
images and brand equities of the merging companies. The study focused on M&A cases where
the acquirer-dominant is affiliated to a weak brand image and the acquired one has a stronger
brand image. The result of the research study indicates that greater the perceived differences
between acquirers and acquired brands, the more the brand equity of the acquirer will
increase. In addition, all the dimensions of brand equity for the brand with a superior image
decrease significantly.
The study cites example of Tata Motors Limited from India acquiring Jaguar Cars Limited and
Land Rover in 2008. This acquisition by Tata Motors was not only aimed at entering luxury car
segment but also was a strategic move to create a global brand presence and further enhance
its brand image in India.
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5. The total number of M&A deals executed in India between the months of January to May in
year 2007 was 287. There was a monetary transaction of US $47.37 billion involved in these
deals. Out of the 287 M&A deals, there have been 102 cross country deals with a total valuation
of US $28.19 billion. Apart from the acquisition done by Tata Motors some of the other
prominent deals witnessed are Hindalco acquiring Canada based Novelis, Dr. Reddy’s Labs
acquiring Betapharm, Ranbaxy Labs acquiring Terapia SA, Bharti Airtel acquiring Zain Africa etc.
M&A is an inorganic growth strategy adopted by many organizations to increase their capacity
and competitiveness. According to Schweizer (2005) M&A can enable the acquiring company to
obtain:
 Complementary technologies of the acquired company
 New products
 Distribution channels of the acquired company
 Desirable market positions
In addition to reaping above mentioned benefits an organization can strategically acquire a
company which can provide brand extension to the acquirer and provide following benefits
related to branding:
 Provide a readymade brand in an established market thus reducing the “time-to-
market” for acquirer
 Provides a better understanding of the target market in terms of brand preference and
buying behavior
 Can act as an entry point in a market which is outside acquirer’s country (cases of cross
country M&A)
 Boosts the brand image of the existing brands that are present in acquirer’s portfolio
 Provides an opportunity for rationalization of brand portfolio
With M&A providing these branding related benefits in addition to the other strategic benefits
it remains a preferred alternative for B2B companies to manager their brands.
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6. ii. Use of Internet technology
a. Social Media
b. eMarketing
IV. Case Studies from Indian Context
i. MindTree
Amongst Indian IT companies that are taking their growth forward without yielding to the
financial pressure faced from all corners MindTree Consulting is leading the pack. MindTree is
a medium sized company and has shown tremendous growth in the IT space. Even though it
started in 1999, it went public in just 7 years (2006), all due to its growth strategies. Its focus
has been on reducing costs and improving operational efficiency, with an eye toward staying
lean and in shape to be able to compete effectively. It was always conscious about its
positioning and MindTree brand through the years has been as the “best mid-size company
out of India.”
As per MindTree’s management Brand is a very emotional topic. Most of its top management
has essentially been with the Company since day one (August 1999). This is not an
exaggeration: not only are all 10 co-founders still with MindTree, but of the first 150 people
to join, they’ve lost only 2 or 3 “MindTree Minds”. The stability they’ve had makes the brand
discussions very personal.
MindTree’s Visual Identity: The Logo
There is one thing that strikes a common chord with all the employees. And that is
MindTree’s commitment to social responsibility. The depiction of MindTree’s
DNA begins from the company’s logo. MindTree's logo was created by a
student, Chetan K.S., who has cerebral palsy. The visual identity for MindTree
and its facility is replete with digitally expanded drawings of the students of
the Spastic Society of Karnataka’s School with which MindTree has a
longstanding relationship. In the logo the red stands for action. The bright
yellow bubbles represent joy something which is followed in its true spirit.
The decisive skyward, blue brush stroke is Chetan's way of communicating
imagination. No wonder, MindTree minds promote the tradition of being
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7. socially sensitive and nurture values.
For strong brands Customer’s experience and internal alignment is very important
In today’s context Branding is more about making a promise and creating a culture within the
organization that allows a fulfillment of this promise fostered. Branding can therefore be
viewed as an experience of the customer and other key stakeholders. People branding or
internal branding initiatives are especially relevant to knowledge based industries such as IT
and BPO as people are the brand ambassadors with the maximum influence on how the
brand is perceived. This is one idea which MindTree adopted from its initial days.
For a branding strategy to be successful, MindTree realized that it is imperative that its
employee management be well-aligned with the company’s overall business objective. The
Mission, Vision and Values that shows the direction in which a company should move forward
also has this philosophy imbibed. It reads “We will deliver business enabling software
solutions, by creating partnership with our customers, in a joyous environment for our
people”, a mission that places people (employees) at a strategic position in the organization.
At MindTree branding starts from within: People Practices
A company that has successfully built a brand from “within” is MindTree Consulting. Known
for its people friendly processes, MindTree was ranked among the top employers for (two
consecutive years, 2003, 2004.) Not surprising, MindTree likes to address its employees as
MindTree Minds. At the core of the People Practices at MindTree are its Values & DNA. The
values of Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing and Social Responsibility (CLASS) were crafted
by the employees of MindTree.
Since employees are a critical part of this “customer experience”, it is imperative that they
help reinforce the brand at every point of interaction. To make this possible the company has
to make the employees buy-in to the promise to deliver. So, how did MindTree achieve
employee buy-in? Surprisingly, it is the same set of HR processes that help employees buy-in.
The difference, however, lies in the implementation. The HR practices, in all possible ways,
communicate what the company stands for, i.e. its promises and how valuable the employees
are for the company. The take away from MindTree’s experience is that success comes from
taking care of the fundamentals, taking care of the details and adopting a holistic approach to
a situation.
Brand with a Conscience
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8. MindTree is committed to the pursuit of better living for people with disabilities and
enhancement in the quality of primary education. Working on the leading edge of technology
innovation, MindTree firmly believes it can add significant value through assistive
technologies in achieving these goals. MindTree Foundation provides the platform to
channelize these initiatives. The core mission of this non-profit organization is to ‘Support
primary education and the cause of differently-abled people by leveraging MindTree’s
leadership, values, and resources’.
MindTree Foundation’s charter supports 3 broad initiatives:
a. People with disabilities (with specific focus on Assistive Technologies)
MindTree support the development and dissemination of assistive technologies to address
the needs of people with different types of disabilities – muscular, visual, hearing and learning
disabilities. The initiative was launched with an engagement with Spastics Society of
Karnataka (SSK). The foundation will also work closely with educational institutions like IITs,
identify promising technologies available in their labs and help bring these technologies to the
market by leveraging MindTree’s engineering capabilities and partner ecosystem.
b. Primary Education
By focusing on primary education, MindTree believes that a higher impact can be achieved in
building a better foundation for future. The charter provides a formal platform to execute
such an initiative. The company has been supporting schools for their infrastructure,
curriculum development, and employment of additional teaching staff and training of
teachers.
c. Mindshare
Mindshare is an initiative across MindTree’s global footprint. Wherever they are on the map,
this initiative helps them identify specific areas where MindTree Minds can contribute to the
society. Each location is anchored by a Catalyst who will identify and connect MindTree Minds
to volunteer with social sector organizations. The significant aspect of this program is that this
will ensure each MindTree Mind who volunteers for this program personally interacts with
the beneficiary. The objective is to share time, attention, and affection with these people to
make them feel special.
Managing Brand starts with Managing Business
For a brand to really resonate with its customers apart from strong branding it’s very
important to live up to the expectation that a strong Brand brings. This can’t be done better
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9. than by delivering on promises on business front and exceeding expectations of your
customers. MindTree Consulting is an international IT-consulting company that delivers
affordable business and technology solutions through global software development.
It designs enterprise applications, using a world-class methodology, for business-to-business
and business-to-consumer applications. These applications are built to leverage emerging and
classic communication channels. It is into defining business needs to building an e-solution
using best-of-breed tools and technologies
It truly lives up to its tagline: “Deliver business-enabling solutions and technologies by
creating partnership with our customers in a joyous environment for our people”
ii. MRF Tyres
MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) is the market leader among tyre manufacturers in India, with a
24% share terms of revenues. Its leadership position, coupled with its strong brand recall and
high quality, MRF commands the price-maker status. MRF has a strong presence in the T&B
segment, the largest segment of the tyre industry, and commands around 19% market share
in the segment. It is the leader in the two/ three-wheeler segment and tractor front tyres, and
holds second place in the passenger cars and tractor - rear tyres. Exports account for around
12% of the gross sales in MRF.
Products
MRF is the leading manufacturer of tyres for almost all segments. Being driven by technology
and product innovation, every tyre that comes out is of the highest standards and tested to
weather the toughest conditions on any road. With more than 85 tyre variants, MRF holds the
highest market share of 22% in terms of sales volume in the tyre industry.
Apart from tyre manufacturing tyres, MRF also manufactures its MUSCLEFLEX brand of
Conveyor Belting at one of the most advanced, State of the Art, Facilities in India.
Incorporating the latest manufacturing techniques, MUSCLEFLEX-Conveyor Belting has gained
rapid acceptance in markets worldwide. MRF PRETREADS is yet another innovation from MRF
Industries which is the most advanced pre-cured retreading system in India. MRF forayed into
retreading as far back as 1970. Today, MRF has perfected the art of recurred retreading with
its extensive knowledge in tyres and rubber. MRF’s diverse business interests also include
Paint and Coats, and Toys.
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10. Brand recognition and brand recall
When it comes to top-of-mind brand recall, MRF
beats the rest of the competition hands down.
Unlike Bridgestone India, MRF has for long
concentrated on aggressive brand promotion.
Sports celebrities and event endorsements have
been a major vehicle for their brand promotion
activities. From signing on three sports
heavyweights at one go (Sachin Tendulkar, Brian
Lara, and Steve Waugh), to endorsing national
rally circuits, to founding the MRF pace
foundation, MRF has been at the forefront of
aggressive brand building, one reason why MRF
commands more brand recognition than
Bridgestone India, despite the latter’s superior
quality and international credentials.
The MRF mascot, the MRF muscleman, clearly states the category membership MRF
subscribes to. MRF communicates to the customer its superior endurance and strength.
The company sponsors a number of sports such
as cricket and rally racing, to position its tyres as
high endurance and sporty. Its slogan “Tyres we
race, are the tyres you buy” stands testimony to
their category membership
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11. MRF: The Advertising Way
MRF uses advertising as the primary medium to reach out to its customers. The company
invests heavily on print, TV and outdoor media, to drive its brand into the minds of the
customer. MRF is credit with devising some of the most creative ads ever made for an Indian
tyre company. It allots a huge budget outlay for advertisements and other promotional
activities. Its mascot, the MRF muscleman along with its slogan “Tyres with muscle” was once
one of the most recognizable advertising campaigns in Indian advertising history. It was
specially devised at Lintas by its CEO, Alyque Padamsee himself. Allyque and his team
painstakingly surveyed scores of truck drivers at road side dhabas to understand their needs
and wants.
MRF takes care to promote its tyres as tough, reliable and high endurance. This is because its
main share of customers comes from the Light and Heavy Commercial vehicles segment.
Truck and bus owners in this segment consider strength and endurance as the No.1 factor
desirable in a tyre. For the passenger and two-wheeler segment, MRF promotes itself as a
high quality and high performance tyre manufacturer.
MRF is also well known for founding the MRF Pace
Foundation, which is today one of the premier training
institute for India’s budding pace bowlers. Though cricket,
given its cult like status, gave MRF a lot of publicity, it was
its sponsorship of auto-racing projected its slogan, “Tyres
with Muscle” and outlined the quality of its tyres and
allied products.
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12. J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2011 India Original
Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction Index
(TCSI) Study SM has revealed MRF to be the
most satisfying OEM tire company in the
country. The study, now in its eleventh year,
measures satisfaction among original equipment
tire owners during the first 12 to 24 months of
ownership. The study measures overall
satisfaction by examining four factors (listed in
the order of importance): appearance,
durability, traction/handling, and ride. Overall
satisfaction in 2011 averages 822 on a 1,000-
point scale, an improvement of 24 points
compared with 2010. MRF has improved by 23
points from 2010 by achieving a score of 833 &
performing well in the appearance factor. Apollo
follows MRF in the rankings with a score of 830.
V. Bibliography
Published Resources
Kotler, Philip and Pfoertsch, Waldemar (2007), “Being known or being one of many”, Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 357-362.
Lee, Hsiang-Ming; Lee, Ching-Chi and Wu, Cou-Chen (2011), “Brand Image Strategy Affects Brand Equity
after M&A”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45, Issue 7/8.
Schweizer, L. (2005), “Organization integration of acquired biotechnology companies into
pharmaceutical companies: The need for a hybrid approach”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol.48
No.6, pp.1051-1074.
Sweeney, Brian (2002), “B2B brand management”, Brand Strategy, September Issue
WWW Resources
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13. http://www.economywatch.com/mergers-acquisitions/india.html
http://www.mindtree.com/about-us/mindtree/about-mindtree
http://www.mindtree.com/blogs/the-true-%E2%80%9Cbrand%E2%80%9D-of-a-company
http://www.mindtreefoundation.org/Pages/Home.aspx
http://www.karmayog.org/csr2010/csrall/csrdetails.aspx?id=459
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article1487056.ece
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