CHAPTER 1

Brand Preference of AVT Tea among customers

TABLE OF CONTENTAbbreviations I List of Table iiiList of Charts v

Executive Summary viiI INTRODUCTION 6-11

II PROFILES 12-41III REVIEW OF LITERATURE 42-65IV DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 66-94 VI FINDINGS, CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS 95-100Bibliography viiiAppendix xiii

ABBREVIATIONS

BLF: Bought leaf factories

CAGR: Cumulative Average Growth Rate

CTC: Crush Tear Curl

FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization

QR: Quota Restrictions

WTO: World Trade Organization

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

STG: Small Tea Growers

APK: Association of Planters of Kerala

SME: Small and Medium Enterprises

HRD: Human Resource Development

CPD: Consumer Products Division

GAP: Good Agricultural Practice

K-S: Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

LIST OF TABLES

SL. NoTable descriptionPage no

2.1Market penetration of branded tea23

2 2Distribution network36

4.1Gender of respondents67

4.2Age level of respondents68

4.3Income level of respondents70

4.4Interest in branded teas71

4.5Most preferred brand72

4.6Sub brand analysis74

4.7Price level of AVT tea75

4.8Years of experience of using AVT tea76

4.9Awareness about AVT premium tea bags78

4.10Influential factors of AVT tea79

4.11Influence of brand image in purchase81

4.12Opinion regarding Packaging of AVT tea82

4.13Availability of AVT tea83

4.14Influence of advertisements84

4.15Opinion regarding Quality deterioration of AVT tea85

4.16showing the response regarding whether they recommend AVT Tea powder to others86

4.17Opinion regarding promotional activities87

4.18Rating of each promotional activities88

4.19Calculation of O-E89

4.20Changes expected by customers regarding AVT tea90

4.21Comment on AVT tea91

4 .22Unique peculiarities of AVT tea92

4.23Overall satisfaction of AVT tea93

SL. NoChart titlePage no

2.1Major areas of business29

2.2Structure of Sales and Marketing Department35

4.1Gender of respondents67

4.2Age level of respondents69

4.3Income level of respondents70

4.4Interest in branded teas71

4.5Most preferred brand73

4.6Sub brand analysis74

4.7Price level of AVT tea75

4.8Years of experience of using AVT tea77

4.9Awareness about AVT premium tea bags78

4.10Influential factors of AVT tea(mean score)80

4.11Influence of brand image in purchase81

4.12Opinion regarding Packaging of AVT tea82

4.13Availability of AVT tea83

4.14Opinion regarding Quality deterioration of AVT tea84

4.15Influence of Advertisements85

4.16Response regarding whether they recommend AVT Tea powder to others.86

4.17Satisfaction level of promotional activities87

4.18Rating of each Promotional Activities90

4.19Changes expected by customers about AVT Tea93

4.20Comment on AVT tea87

4. 21Unique peculiarities of AVT tea90

4.22Overall satisfaction of AVT tea93

Executive SummaryBranding is one way to attract new customers. When a customer comes to you because of all they have heard about your product and business, then you can be certain that they are serious about buying. When you run marketing campaigns, you are simply throwing out a wide net to attract a large number of customers. Branding is one way to attract new customers. When a customer comes to you because of all they have heard about your product and business, then you can be certain that they are serious about buying. When you run marketing campaigns, you are simply throwing out a wide net to attract a large number of customers.

Brand preference is closely related to brand choice that can facilitate consumer decision making and activate brand purchase. Knowing the pattern of consumer preferences across the population is a critical input for designing and developing innovative marketing strategies. The notion of preference has been considered in different disciplines such as economists, psychologists, sociology. However there is no commonly agreed definition of preference among these disciplines.

The purpose of the study is to analyse the brand preference of AVT tea among customers. Branding proves to be an effective way to gather preference from the customers. Without an effective branding strategy a company cannot hold a much bigger image of the customers. The customers are able to get information about the details only because of an efficient branding strategy followed. Here AVT tea has got high preference among customers because of the features like quality, reasonable price etc.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION People begin to develop preferences at a very early age. Within any product category, most consumers have a group of brands that comprise their preference set. These are the four or five up market brands the consumer will consider when making a purchase. When building preference, the goal is to first get on the consumer's preference sets, and then to move up the set's hierarchy to become the brand consumers prefer the most - their up market brand. Gaining and maintaining consumer preference is a battle that is never really won. Brand preference is the Selective demand for a company's brand rather than a product; the degree to which consumers prefer one brand over another. In an attempt to build brand preference advertising, the advertising must persuade a target audience to consider the advantages of a brand, often by building its reputation as a long-established and trusted name in the industry. If the advertising is successful, the target customer will choose the particular brand over other brands in any category.

This project work entitled "Brand preference of AVT tea among customers" is a study which covers about the branding strategies adopted by the firm with respect to marketing its product. It covers how far effective its marketing strategies are in creating awareness about the firm's product to its customers and also to ensure good amount of satisfaction among them.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEMBranding is one way to attract new customers. When a customer comes to you because of all they have heard about your product and business, then you can be certain that they are serious about buying. When you run marketing campaigns, you are simply throwing out a wide net to attract a large number of customers.

Branding proves to be an effective way to gather preference from the customers. Without an effective branding strategy a company cannot hold a much bigger image of the customers. The customers are able to get information about the details only because of an efficient branding strategy followed. If branding campaign was not successfully implemented in AVT, the situation will not have as better as what it is of today.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims at exploring the branding strategies of AVT and the position of the particular brand among the customers. Brand preference is a selective demand for company's brand rather than a product; the degree to which consumers prefer one brand over other. In every product category, consumers have more choices, more information and higher expectations than ever before. To move consumers from trail to preference, brands needs to deliver on their value proposition. . An effective branding strategy can go a long way in helping a firms brand to reach its highest possible potential and obtain good brand image.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY PRIMARY OBJECTIVE To know the customer awareness of AVT tea powder. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

To assess the satisfaction level of the customers.

To analyze the brand preference of AVT tea with respect to

Competitors brand in the minds of customers.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is conducted to analyze the brand preference of AVT tea among customers. This study explores what are the branding strategies adopted by the firm. This work is intended to provide insights about the effectiveness of their strategies on building up of satisfaction among the customers and how the customer perceives the offering of the company is covered under this project work.

1.5 METHODOLOGY

1.5.1 Descriptive Study

Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. It describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied and also answer questions like what, when, where and how. It attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or program, or provides information about, say, living condition of community, or describes attitude towards an issue. The research uses description as a tool to organize data into patterns that emerge during analysis and often uses visual aids such as graphs and charts to aid the reader.

1.5.2 Database design Primary data will be mainly acquired through questionnaire and interview.

Secondary data are collected from various sources such as company records, research reports, magazines, journals and web sources.1.5.2 Sampling Design

The sampling technique used is Convenient sampling. The sample size consists of 100.

1.5.3 Statistical Design

Data analyzed with the help of appropriate tools such as median, Binomial method, KS test, Cross tabulation, percentage method, Ranking method and supporting tools are used by Pie diagram, bar charts, line charts.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study has it's extend towards branding strategies of AVT tea. The scope cover about customer response on satisfaction level of AVT tea and the time period of the study was 60 days. 1.6 LIMITATIONS

Chances of bias of response

Time constraints

1.8 CHAPTERISATION Chapter 1: Introduction : This includes Introduction, Statement of the problem, Objectives of the study, Research Design, Scope, Limitations.

Chapter 2: Industry Profile and Company Profile

It consists of global scenario of tea industry, History, Indian tea industry. Company profile of AVT.

Chapter 3: Review of Literature

Theoretical framework of the study and empirical studies related with the studies.

Chapter 4: Data analysis and Interpretation

This includes analysis and interpretation of data.

Chapter 5: Findings Conclusion and Suggestions

This consists of findings of the study, concluding section/ aspects and suggestions of the researcher.

CHAPTER -2

INDUSTRY PROFILE AND COMPANY PROFILE

2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE

Drinking tea plays such a part in our lives, it is such a universal phenomenon with millions of people the world over enjoying their tea on a daily basis, that its hard to imagine a world without and yet while the eastern world has been using tea for more than 4500 years, for most of this time tea was unknown in the western world. Tea was only introduced into the west a relatively recent 400 years ago. Discovered in China, tea has exerted a profound influence on societies and cultures throughout the world so that there are unique ceremonies in various cultures and most parts of the world have social etiquettes concerning the preparation and drinking of tea as well as social customs regarding how, when and where to drink it. Many myths, legends, poems and proverbs surround tea and maintain its mystique. Tea has always accompanied and even influenced the unfolding of key historical events as well as maintaining a presence whenever economic, technological or cultural developments to place. Today tea enjoys an unparalleled and enduring popularity. The Chinese originally called it "Kia". As far as is know it was during the course of 6th century AD that the name evolved into "Cha". On its arrival in the west it became Te which is still the name for tea in many countries.

2.1.1 DISCOVERY OF TEA

Legend has it that tea was discovered by the Chinese Emperor. Shan Nong in 2737 BC. The Emperor had a habit of boiling hid drinking water. One day while he was in his garden a few tea leaves fell by chance into his boiling water which then gave off rich, alluring aroma. The emperor, upon drinking this brew, discovered it to be refreshing and energizing Him immediately gave the command that tea bushes to be planted in the gardens of his place. Thus the custom of brewing fresh tea leaves in not water began and quickly spread. Since the discovery of tea and over the centuries the tradition of drinking tea brewed from fresh tea and over the centuries the tradition of drinking tea brewed from fresh tea leaves in boiling water had been firmly entrenched in China. Until the fifth century AD, tea was primarily used as a remedy, due to the medicinal benefits attributed to it. From this time onwards, China's upper is adopted the fashion of presenting packages of tea as highly esteemed gifts and of enjoying drinking tea at social events and in private homes. At around the same time the Chinese tea ceremony began to develop and the findings of tea began to spread as it reached Japan.Tea is nearly 5,000 years old and was discovered, as legend has it, in 2737 B.C. by a Chinese Emperor when some tealeaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water. In the 1600s, tea became popular throughout Europe and the American colonies. Since colonial days, tea has played a role in American culture and customs. Today American schoolchildren learn about the famous Boston Tea Party protesting the British tea tax one of the acts leading to the Revolutionary War. During this century, two major American contributions to the tea industry occurred. In 1904, iced tea was created at the World's Fair in St. Louis, and in 1908, Thomas Sullivan of New York developed the concept of tea in a bag. Tea breaks down into three basic types: Black. Green, and Oolong. In the U.S., over 90 percent of the tea consumed is black tea, which has been fully oxidized or fermented and yields a hearty- flavoured, amber brew. Some of the popular black teas include English breakfast (good breakfast choice since its hearty flavour mixes well with milk), Darjeeling (a blend of Himalayan teas with a flowery bouquet suited for lunch) and Orange Pekoe (a blend of Ceylon teas that is the most widely used of the tea blends). Green tea skips the oxidizing step. It has a more delicate taste and is light green/golden in colour. Green tea, a staple in the Orient, is gaining popularity in the U.S. due in, part to recent, scientific studies linking green tea drinking with reduced cancer risk. Oolong tea, popular in China, is partly oxidized and is a cross between black and green tea in color and taste. While flavoured teas evolve from these three basic teas, herbal teas contain no true tealeaves. Herbal and "medicinal" teas are created from the flowers, berries, peels, seeds, leaves, and roots of many different plants.

Tea has been cultivated in China since at least the 10th Century BC with legends going back even further but despite being so important to the economy that it was even used as currency, it was not until it started to gain worldwide appreciation that it could truly be said to become an industry. Traditionally it was a laborious and often in poorly accessible regions but as technology changed and interest grew it begun to be cultivated more intensively and shipped abroad. As world politics changed. partly driven by the demand for tea, it was in the interests of colonial powers to cultivate their own crops instead of relying on the Chinese. This caused plantations to emerge in India and Sri Lanka until by the 20th century India supplanted China as the largest exporter of tea in the world. Tea has had an important economic place in Chinese history. The first recorded evidence of tea having any a commercial value is in the writing of Wang Bo in 59 BC, who wrote instructions on how to buy and prepare tea, implying that it was on sale by this time. Before then it had a long history of medicinal use which had gradually evolved into an important part of the Chinese diet but was probably largely cultivated on personal plots of land or picked in the wild. By 760, when the Book of Tea was written by Lu Yu, it was evidently an organised industry with specific cultivation, processing and preparation methods which varied according to regions and styles. Although Portuguese settlers at a trading port in Macau described drinking "cha" none of them seemed to have brought any home until 1606 when the Dutch East India Company sent a shipment to Holland where it quickly spread throughout Europe. By 1636 it was known in France and appeared in German apothecaries by 1657. England was actually of the last countries to be introduced to tea, with the first adverts appearing in coffee houses in 1658, and may have remained a small market if not for the marriage of King Charles II to Catherine of Braganza. Catherine was a Portuguese princess and a great lover of tea. When she arrived in England in 1662 it is said that she asked for a cup of tea but there was none anywhere in the royal court. Instead she was given a glass of ale but did not find this so refreshing and requested some tea be ordered for her. A case of 21bs 2oz was sent as part of her dowry which arrived in 1664 and she soon set about changing the attitudes of the English nobility, convincing them to order 100lbs more in the same year. From here tea becomes such a popular product for the English that the government begins to tax it heavily. In 1689 it reached 25p in the pound and almost stopped sales, so in 1692 it is reduced to 5p in the pound which allows the tea trade to flourish in its new market. Tea taxation was finally abolished completely as late as 1964 in the UK.In 1679 the first London Tea Auction was held by the East India Company, who held a monopoly on goods from India and China, starting a tradition that would 300 years. They were held quarterly with tea being sold "by the candle"; meaning that the auction would last the duration of a candle and when the flame went out the sale was ended. At first tea was sold as part of a much larger auction on all goods from the East but by the early 18th century tea had become so popular in England that tea auctions were held on their own. Stable trade relations had been reached with the Chinese at Canton and tea was being regularly imported to Britain increasing the frequency of the tea auctions until by the mid-19th century they were being held weekly and were by all accounts something of a riotous affair. This tradition would continue up to the end of the 20th century with the last London tea auction.

When the East India Company finally had its trading functions abolished in 1834, tea became a free trade commodity and this generated an interest in finding cheaper ways to cultivate tea. This same year the first proposal to grow tea in India was submitted by the Governor-General of India Lord William Bentinck who appointed a commission to research its feasibility. They issued a circular which was responded to by Major F. Jenkins, Commissioner of Assam, who made a strong case for the use of his district for the cultivation of tea. Included in his response were specimens of local plants growing wild in the area which were forwarded to the Government Botanical Gardens in Calcutta and identified as a variety of tea. In the following year the first Indian garden crop is cultivated and two years after that a locally grown sample shipment acquires its first market in India. In 1839, just five years after the initial proposal, the Assam Company is organized in London and sells 10.000 shares at 50 each. It is enough to buy two thirds of the experimental gardens in Assam and appoint local management from Carr, Tagore & Co., the first biracial enterprise in India. After Assam other areas of India were to follow suit. Chinese Yunnan and keemun teas were introduced to Darjeeling in 1856 where some of the world's finest teas were developed. In 1859 the Assam gardens expanded to cover the adjoining Brahmaputra River Valley, employing vast numbers of coolies for their work and necessitating legal intervention to enforce regularised lengths of contracts, determined rates of pay and health measures to protect the labour force from exploitation.

Another important development around this time was the cultivation of tea in Lanka, called Ceylon at the time. The first plantations were set up by James taylor in 1867 where it quickly became the main export of the country after its former export, coffee, was wiped out in a fungal epidemic during 1869. Ceylon is still known today as a unique brand of tea around the world and Sri Lanka still relies heavily on its exports. From here tea just continued to grow in popularity in the west with exports from India exceeding those from China for the first time in 1888. In 1901 the average consumption of tea was 61bs per head per year, 3x what it had been 50 years ago when most tea came from China. In 1903 the first tea plants were grown experimentally in Kenya after successful trials in Malawi 20 years earlier. Kenya is now one of the world's major tea producing nations making up 28% of Kenya's total export earnings today.

As it moves into the 20th century with the main growers and exporters set the story of the tea industry opens a new chapter. This time it would be innovations in the way tea was prepared and drunk that would drive it into new markets around the world and America begins to play an important role as they develop more convenient ways to brew tea. Tea bags and iced tea start to make it less of a ritual causing people to have tea at times when it would have been too much effort to brew some loose leaf tea. All these only cause the main growing areas of China, India and some countries in Africa to expand in size as their experience dominates the cultivation industry to today.

2.1.2GLOBAL SCENARIOIndia and China rank as the largest and second largest, respectively, in tea production as well as consumption. Together they account for around half of world's tea production. They export about a quarter of their production. In global trade India's contribution is 17% while that of China is 17.6% vis-a-vis the production contribution of 30% and 23% respectively. This is because of high consumption of tea in both these countries. Other countries like Kenya, Sri Lanka and Indonesia produce only 25% of world tea but control 50% of the global trade. They export around 90% of their production.

As per a FAO report on tea industry the market for tea is expected to grow at 3% per annum till 2005 (on base period 1993-95). In 1999 the world's total tea produce was estimated at 2.83bn Kgs as compared to 2.96bn Kgs in 1998. This production is expected to go up to 3.1bn Kgs by 2005. The consumption of tea too is expected to increase by 3% per annum till 2005 (on base period 1993-95) to 3.0bn Kgs Of this 3bn Kgs nearly 2.2bn consumption is going to come from developing countries and rest from developed ones. With removal of QRs following WTO regulations coming into force, the consumption is going to get a major fillip particularly in developing nations.

During the last four decades, Kenya has increased tea production by 25 times. Chinese tea production has witnessed a CAGR of 4.6 %. The production growth has been slower in India and Sri Lanka at 2.3% pa and 0.9% pa respectively during the same period. The area under cultivation, during the last four decades has gone up by 33 o in India whereas in Kenya, it got multiplied ten times during the same period. Tea production is concentrated in a few countries due to suitable climate, soil and availability of cheap labor.

2.1.3 INDIAN SCENARIOTea isn't simply tea in India but it is like a staple beverage here and a day without it is impossible and incomplete. Indians prefer their steaming cup of tea because for them it acts as an energy booster and is simply indispensable. This popular beverage has a lot of health benefits too as its antioxidants help to eliminate toxins and free radicals from the blood. Originally tea is indigenous to the Eastern and Northern parts of India, but the tea industry has expanded and grown tremendously over the years, making India the largest grower and producer of tea in the world. The tea production in India was 979,000 tonnes as of 2009. In terms of consumption, export and production of tea, India is the world leader. It accounts for 31% of the global production of tea. India has retained its leadership over the tea industry for the last 150 years. The total turnover of this industry is roughly Rs.10, 000 crores. Since 1947, the tea production in India has increased by 250% and the land are used for production has increased by 40%. Even the export sector of India has experienced an increase in the export of this commodity. The total net foreign exchange in India is roughly Rs.1847 crores per annum. The tea industry in India is labour intensive, meaning it depends heavily on human labor instead of machines. This industry provides employment to more than 1.1 million Indian workers and almost half the workforce constitutes of women.

The history of Tea drinking in IndiaThe documented evidence according to the history of tea drinking in India dates back to 750 BC. Tea in India is generally grown in the North Eastern regions and the Nilgiri Hills. Having evolved since those early days, tea drinking in India has now come a long way. Today this nation is proud to be one of the largest tea producers in the world. Buddhist monks in India have used tea for its medicinal value since thousands of years. According to a very interesting legend, the history of tea drinking in India began with a saintly Buddhist monk about almost 2000 years ago. It so happened that this monk who later became the founder of Zen Buddhism, decided to spend seven sleepless years contemplating the life and teachings of Buddha. While he was in the fifth year of his contemplation and prayer, he almost fell asleep. He took some leaves from a nearby bush and began chewing them. These leaves revived him and enabled him to stay awake as he chewed on them whenever he felt drowsy. Thus he was able to complete his penance for seven years. These were the leaves of the wild tea plant. As per the history of tea drinking in India, local people used to brew and drink tea using the leaves of the wild native tea plants. Since that time, different varieties of tea have emerged; the most famous among them is the Darjeeling tea. The commercial production of tea in India was started by the British East India Company and vast tracts of land have been exclusively developed into tea estates which produce various types of tea.

In the 16th century, the people of India prepared a vegetable dish using tea leaves along with garlic and oil and the boiled tea leaves were used to prepare a drink as well. The first Tea Garden was established by the British East India Company by the end of the 19th century after the Company took over tea cultivation in Assam, a region in the North Eastern part of India.

According to the records, Assam tea is named after the region from where the tea comes and has revolutionized the tea drinking habits of the Indians. Most Indians drink tea with milk and sugar. Traditionally, a guest in any Indian home is welcomed with a cup of tea. Over the past few decades, tea has become one of India's most important commodities. Not only is tea indigenous to India, it is also something that the country takes a lot of pride in as it is the second largest tea producer in the world after China and contributes greatly to the country's GDP growth as well as foreign exchange earnings. Accounting for over 30% of the global production, India is a world leader in all aspects of tea production, consumption as well as export. It is the only industry where India has retained its leadership over the past 150 years, offering a variety of products, from original Orthodox to CTC and now green tea, Darjeeling tea, Assam tea and Nilgiri tea. No other country has so many popular varieties of tea. The total turnover of the tea industry is around Rs 10,000 crore and since independence tea production has grown over 250%, while the land area has just grown by 40%. There has been a considerable increase in exports too in the past few years. The total net foreign exchange earned per annum is over Rs 1,850 crore. The labour-intensive tea industry directly employs over 1.1 million workers and generates income for another 10 million people. Women constitute 50u of the workforce especially in northeast India.

There is a wide variety of tea offered by India; from Green Tea to CTC tea to the aromatic Darjeeling tea and the strong Assamese tea, the range of tea available in India is unparalleled. Indians take a lot of pride in their tea industry because of the pre-eminence of the industry as a significant earner of foreign exchange and a significant contributor to India's GNP. The three prominent tea-growing regions in India are Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri. While Darjeeling and Assam are located in the Northeast regions, Nilgiri is a part of the southern region of the country. A visit to these regions is made truly memorable by the endless rolling carpets of green which are the tea gardens and one cannot but help feeling enthralled and captivated at the sight of the huge tea estates. Majority of the tea factories are located within the premises of the tea estates and this is what accounts for the freshness of the tea. The process of tea production has a series of procedures and processes. The process starts with the plucking of tea leaves in the tea estates by women employees carrying a basket over the head and ends with the production of the ultimate tea. There are mainly two ways of producing tea in India namely the CTC production and orthodox production. CTC is an acronym for crush, tear and curl. The tea produced by this method is mostly used in tea bags. The orthodox production method consists of five stages, namely withering, rolling, fermentation, drying and finally storing. It is not possible to compare the two varieties because their quality depends on factors such as rainfall, soil, wind and the method of plucking of tea leaves and both possess a unique charm of their own.

Historically regarded as a hot beverage, the penetration of tea in the non- alcoholic cold beverage segment is another driving force for this industry owning to the raising affinity towards ice-tea which currently accounts for over five per cent of entire non-alcoholic beverage market in India, found the study. There is not much product differentiation at rural and urban levels and thus key industry players are coming out with value added products but with rapidly changing market scenario and technological advancement in agri-business, there is tremendous scope and potential for growth and development of domestic tea industry. The Indian tea industry is facing threats on account of its high cost of production. The threat is particularly acute in the international arena where India is now a distant fourth with a global share of 12 per cent in 2009 and after Kenya, China and Sri Lanka. That is nothing new. but over the last few years, the organised industry has been exposed to threat from within the country too from the small tea growers (STG) who now account for 28 per cent of total Indian tea output. The phenomenon is more pronounced in the South where 44 per cent of the produce is from this segment while in North India 24 per cent comes from STG. The industry construct is changing with a new paradigm evolving. The Indian tea industry is presently facing tough competition from China, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Kenya and Japan.

Hindustan Unilever is the current market leader in terms of sales value with over 20 per cent market share; while Tata Tea is the leader in terms of sales volume with nearly 20 per cent market share.

During the Eighth and the Ninth Plan periods, a large number of agriculturalists in North Bengal and Assam switched over to tea cultivation lured by good tea prices. Small growers holding up to 10-12 hectares thus started co-existing with corporate/proprietary gardens in North and South India and now perhaps no policy is formulated by the Government without keeping in mind this sector's interest. However, the organised sector faces competition from this sector as STG is outside the ambit of the Plantation Labour Act under which the organised industry has to fulfil certain social obligations which results in shouldering the highest COP (cost of production) in the world. The organised industry has addressed this challenge in two ways - while some corporate like the Tata's have de-risked their operations by evolving as a beverage company rather than remaining as a plantation outfit only, others have chosen to take benefit of this development (of emergence of STG) by increasing their purchases from bought leaf factories (BLF) to which the STG sell their green leaves. There has been a mushrooming of BLF units in Assam and North Bengal. Currently, the share of BLF in total tea production is about 23 per cent against 10 per cent in 2001 .However, their teas are sold privately and inadequate quality control or expertise makes this sector produce a low quality product mostly. Indian Tea Industry is one of the largest in the world with over 13,000 gardens, and a total workforce of over two million people. Indian Tea Industry is a substantial foreign exchange earner and provides sizeable amount of revenue to the government. The Indian Tea Industry's total turnover is Rs 9000 crore.

Table 2.1

StateNo. of Household (in millions)Branded lea penetration per cent

Delhi2.6 m91 per cent

Ahmadabad1.0 m90 per cent

Bangalore1.4 m69 per cent

Chennai1.4 m72 per cent

Kolkata2.9 m20 per cent

Mumbai3.7 m72 per cent

Hyderabad1.2 m59 per cent

Pune0.9 m64 per cent

Source: Secondary DataSize of the industry

Today Indian Tea Industry is having 1692 registered tea manufacturers, 2200 registered tea exporters, 5548 number of registered tea buyers and nine tea auction centers. All-India Tea production rose by 12.3% to 1.62 lakh tones during January-April 2010. The Southern states performed better than the Northern counterparts. The states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka recorded between 13-24% growths. Production in Assam-the largest tea producing state in India, recorded a 9.6 % growth. India is the second largest producer of tea in the world with production at 979 million kg in 2009. According to the prediction of a normal monsoon forecast by the India meteorological department, the Tea Board had earlier said that production in 2010 could be around one billion kg. However, achievement of that target looks dicey. This is because Assam has witnessed excessive rains and pest attacks which have already impacted production in Assam.

In India packet tea market is highly proliferated, matured market with more than 300 brands in the country though dominated by HLL and Tata tea which have presence in all pack size and price variants and jointly control a market share of 40 per cent of the packet tea industry. The next major players Duncan's, Eveready, Goodricke, GPI, Waghbakri, Girnar, Sapat, Dhunseri, mohini, Society, Marvel etc. have strong regional presence. In this segment there are 40 mid-size players having 80 brands among them. The remaining market is far more fragmented and shared between numerous small players. Tata Tea has Agni brand as key growth driver in the economy segment within packaged tea. Hindustan Lever has brands such as Taj Mahal, Red Label, Taaza, A1 and 3 Roses, which are all popular.

While packet tea segment has more than 300 brands and is characterized by severe price competition, the teabag segment is a product category, which is not a mass product yet. The largest tea bag manufacturer in India which packs several of the leading tea bag brands - Lipton, Taj Mahal,Tetlcy,Nestle,Double diamond etc estimates 7000 tons/annum as the teabag consumption in the Indian with an annual growth rate of 20 per cent of which majority comes from the out of home segment. The current Indian tea bag market is similar to Russia in mid nineties when it was in nascent state and then showed a meteoric rise. It is estimated that by 2015 the Indian teabag market shall touch the figure of 15000 tons/annum. Market leaders of the packaged teas. HLL and Tatas hitherto had not shown much interest in teabags but both of them have become aggressive in last three years, as they have realized the potential of this category.

As the primary producer of an assortment of tea. India is the ideal destination for all tea enthusiasts.

Flavoured teas doing wellThe product diversification strategy by big players in tea industry has also lead to pep in flavoured tea production in last ten years. Tata Tea,Taj Mahal and Twinings have introduced flavoured teas in the market. The different flavours that are available in Indian market are that of ginger,cardamom,lemon,earl grey (with bergamot essence), ashwaghandha, mulethi (yashtimadhu), and tulsi. On the other hand green teas sales have picked up on health grounds. Though Indians are hard-core black tea consumers, their interest in flavoured tea can be attributed to their curiosity to test new products and the change in trend in consumption.

Latest Developments Coonoor in Tamil Nadu is working on a strategic plan for an ambitious growth of its tea industry over the next seven years.

The government has directed to submit by a strategic plan for the next phase of growth in the industry during the remaining 11th plan (2007-12) and the 12th plan (2012-17).

In 2009 the global trends during the recession-hit period, the export performance of Indian teas was a mixed bag. Though in 2008 quantity declined by 14 million kg to 192 million kg from 203 million kg. The value was higher by Rs.224 crore due to better realisation per unit by Rs.19 per kg. Total value of exports was Rs.2,617 crore as against Rs.2, 393 crore in 2008.

The Tea Industry is an agro based labour intensive industry. It provides direct employment to over 1 million persons. Through its forward and backward linkages another 10 million persons derive their livelihood from tea. In Northeast India alone, the tea industry employs around 900,000 persons on permanent rolls.

The Tea Industry is one of the largest employers of women amongst organised industries in India. Women constitute nearly 51% of the total workforce. There is no gender bias with respect to employment benefits.

The Plantations Labour Act allowed employment of children above 12 years of age prior to 1987. This provision has since been abolished. No child below the age of 14 is employed in the tea estates now. In fact, following a recommendation by the CCPA in 1995, tea estates have stopped employment of any person below the age of 15 years.

2.1.4 TEA INDUSTRY IN KERALA

The highest tea estates in India are seen in and around Munnar which is in the hill ranges of the Western Ghats in Kerala. In 2006, Kerala alone produced 59.462 million Kg of tea; accounting to more than 6% of the national production and 26% of the production from the southern states. It was the British settlers during the colonial times who had introduced the tea plantations and cultivation in Kerala. It is because in such hill regions the climate and soil conditions are suitable for cultivating tea. India is today the world's largest tea producer and exporter. In Kerala growing districts are Idukki, Wayanad, Kottayam, Kollam. Thiruvananthapuram, Trissur, Malappuram and Palakkad. Though tea is grown in all these districts there is considerable spatial concentration in two districts. Idukki and Wayanad. They account for about 87.24 per cent of the total tea area of Kerala. Idukki lias 72.40 per cent and Wayanad has 14.84 per cent of tea growing area in the State Tea is one of the traditional plantation crops in Kerala and the State is the fourth largest producer of the crop in the country, with a relative share of 8.19 per cent. Kerala alone accounts 2.30 per cent of the world production. Kerala's tea production is 33.91 per cent of the South Indian production. The tea area of Kerala is 7.25 per cent of area under tea in India and 1.38 per cent of the area under tea in the world and it is 32.48 per cent of the area under tea in South India. According to Association of Planters of Kerala (APK), tea export of Kerala is approximately 40 per cent of South lndi3Jl tea export. Kerala exports 44436 tonnes of tea (21.49 per cent of total tea exports from India) and it is about 3.35 per cent of world tea export. Area under tea accounts for 5.78 per cent of the total area under plantations in Kerala and the production of tea accounts for 9.13 per cent of the total plantation output in Kerala. According to the Tea Board, India, total area undertea in Kerala was 36762 hectares in 2000 and it produced 69355 tonnes of tea. Productivity f tea in Kerala (1887 kg. hectare) is higher than that of South India (1807 4At the state and central level the tea plantation sector contributes to the exchequer by various types of taxes and duties. At the state level there are agricultural income tax,-land tax, plantation tax, state sales tax/ purchase tax, building tax, machinery licence fee and professional tax. At-the central level there exists central income tax, cess under commodity acts, excise duty, central sales tax and factory licence fee. Idukki and Wayanad are the major tea growing districts in Kerala, followed by Palakkad, Thrissur, Trivandrum and Kottayam. The popular forms of tea available are CTC (literally means Crush, Tear, and Curl) and leaf tea; they normally have strong flavour, preferred by the people as a whole. Organic tea production is a major shift in this sector (e.g.: Darjeelng tea), and in kerala coverage under organic tea could be increased. Nelliyampathi estates in Palakkad district have already got organic certification.Regional preferences in branded tea

Major players are offering different types of tea in different parts of the country with a focus on the quality perception of the particular demography. For example, in most cases the tea available in the south of India is mainly dust, whereas the norths Indians prefer leaf tea. On the other hand, western market of Gujarat and Maharashtra prefer good quality packet and loose tea while in MP and Rajasthan CTC fanning is the choice. States like West Bengal and Assam do not hold packet tea as a value for money and mostly go for loose tea.

Pack sizes

Most of the companies have tea in all pack size- 2kg. 1 kg. 500gm, 250gm,100gm, 50gm and 25gm packaging. There are also sachets, which are priced as low as Re.1. Various regions have distinctive packaging preference for poly pack and box pack (mono cartons). 250gm size is the most preferred size. However, from the last two years on retail shelf one could find odd pack weights like 180gm, 225gm etc as part of strategy of cost cutting by several companies by reducing the product quantity. Branded tea penetration is quite high in cities like Delhi and Ahmedabad when compared to other major cities in India.2.2 COMPANY PROFILE

2.2.1 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORYThe seeds of AV Thomas group of companies were planted, when AV Thomas purchased grassland in a place named Pasuparai in the state of Tamil Nadu in 1925. On purchasing their estate Mr. AV Thomas floated various companies under this management. In 1925.Alfred Vedam Thomas demolished a myth. He proved that it was not just the British who could manage plantations by starting a 300 acre tea plantation at Pasuparai,Kerala.From the original tea plantation, AVT has made steady progress over the years moving on into rubber, cardamom, coffee, vanilla and pepper. Today AVT is a Rs. 1200 crore group with a strong local and overseas presence in branded packaged goods, bulk commodities, beverages and the spices market.

AV Thomas group of companies consists of diversified business in tea, rubber and consumer products such as spices, food ingredients leather. Main strengths are;

Manufacturing capabilities

Technological strength

Export marketing capabilities

Domestic retailing strength

Quality in international business

2.2.2 MAJOR AREAS OF BUSINESS

Chart 2.1 showing Major Areas of Business

2.2.3 MISSION

We will be a Global Leader in Marigold extracts through a fully integrated a fully integrated supply chain with excellence in Plant Science & Agriculture and Logistics Management.

We will achieve growth and stability in performance by diversifying to value added natural ingredients for synergistic business segments through development of product research and technology base.

We will bring in highest level of efficiency, traceability,food safety and quality in the supply chain through Contract fanning.

We will establish brand equity for natural ingredients through development of consumer marketing skills.

We will comply flawlessly with ever changing international statutory regulations for our business segments.

We will consistently add value in our business to deliver superior returns to all stakeholders-customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, and society.

2.2.4 VISION

To be a global leader in enriching lives through nature's own ingredients as foods, nutrition and medicines for mankind.

Provide total customer satisfaction through improvement in products, process and services.

Provide total customer satisfaction through improvement in products, process and services.

Develop and motivate employees through ongoing HRD programmers.

2.2.5 VALUES OF THE COMPANY

Constantly strive for value in whatever they do.

Belief in ethical business and transparency.

Encourage individual excellence and foster environment for team work.

No short cuts - ever scarifies long term for short term.

Know the business environment, product and customers well-update knowledge.

Respect the neighbourhood and individuality of each customer, supplier, and employee.

2.2.6 AVT GROUP OF COMPANIES AVT Natural Products

AVT Natural Products is the world's largest Oleoresin pigment manufacturer and exporter with large volume exports to food processing and cosmetic industries in Mexico and the USA.

AVT Mc Cormic ingredients Ltd

In a strategic joint venture with McCormick & Co Inc-USA, AVT distributes a wide variety of spices and curry powders for the international market.

AVT Agro Chemicals AVT manufactures and markets pesticides formulated under direct license from Bayer AG, Germany, with a distribution network of over 5000 outlets spread across India.

AVT Natural Products

AVT Natural Products is the world's largest Oleoresin pigment manufacturer and exporter with large volume exports to food processing and cosmetic industries in Mexico and the USA.

AVT Mc Cormic ingredients Ltd

In a strategic joint venture with McCormick & Co Inc-USA, AVT distributes a wide variety of spices and curry powders for the international market. AVT Agro Chemicals

AVT manufactures and markets pesticides formulated under direct license from Bayer AG, Germany, with a distribution network of over 5000 outlets spread across India.

AVT Leathers

The company manufactures a wide range of leather products, catering to license requirements of various international brands including Ralph Lauren and Pierre Cardin.

AVT Biotech

AVT Biotech is the leading exporter of tissue culture plants and operates the largest bio-technology facility in India, producing 8 million plants for the Indian market and 6.5 million for the international market annually.

AVT Rubber

Over 2 million kilograms of rubber is produced annually of avt rubber plantations. Avt rubber products various grades like centrifuged latex, crumb rubber and dipped rubber goods.

AVT CPD

AVT Consumer Products Division markets some of South India's favourite brands of tea. AVT also has a significant presence in the international market for various bulks, commoditized teas.

Cardamom brands like Raihana and Shahi are already being exported and AVT is poised to enter the coffee export market soon. On the anvil are plans to diversify into value added services like vending machines and a chain of tea parlours. Primary among the CPD's strengths is the ability to innovate constantly predetermining the needs of the consumer.

2.2.7 PRODUCTS Marigold Extract Food Grade

Marigold Extract feed Grade

OR Paprika

OR Capsicum

Curcumin Powder

OR Black pepper

Paprika Oleoresin

Turmeric extracts

Marigold Extract

Vegetable Flavours

Decaffeinated Tea

Green Tea

Instant Black Tea

2.2.8 AVT TEA SUB BRANDS WT Rajah

AVT Rajah is a popular blend of South Indian teas arrived at after tasting 25,000 cups of tea. A high quality golden colors blend with a refreshing full-bodied flavour. Rajah packs taste and freshness into every cup.

AVT Premium

The flagship brand and market leader in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, AVT Premium is a blend of dust teas from the finest high-grown tea gardens of Assam and South India. A strong dark brew with a unique pungent flavour, AVT Premium is a favourite primarily for its strong taste and consistency.

AVT Premium tea bags

For convenience seekers, AVT Premium is also available in teabags. A 'Perflo' system allows quick, complete infusion of tea while providing the real taste of traditionally brewed tea.

AVT Assam

AVT Assam is a rich blend of the finest Assam teas. Every cup provides a robust, full-bodied taste with the rich flavour of real Assam tea.

LEAF TEA AVT Darbari

The perfect blend from Assam's finest gardens, Darbari is AVT's popular leaf tea. Its heady flavour,unique taste and competitive pricing make AVT Darbari a very attractive brand in its segment.

AVT Premium

AVT Supreme is a premium blend of the finest Assam CTC leaf. It is strictly for the discerning tea drinker and is known for its uniquely rich flavour and aroma.

Bulk Tea

AVT CPD exports various grades of fine quality black tea in both dust and leaf forms to Russia, the Middle East and Europe. This division has contributed - consistently and significantly to the overall growth of the company in spite of the stringent quality and satisfaction measures that the export market imposes. Chart 2.2 showing the structure of Sales and Marketing Department DEPARTMENTAL STRUCTURE

2.2.9 Distribution NetworkAcceptability, Availability and Affordability' is the philosophy at AVT.

AVT constantly ensure that their distribution network is efficient in the rural, semi-rural and urban markets. The right distribution translates to low cost, high efficiency and better sales, merchandising and distributions programs.

AVT still holds over 90% of the total distribution in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which is quite a remarkable feat considering that there are bigger market players with deeper pockets and national brands. AVT has 850 distributors across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa.

Table 2.2 showing distribution network of AVT

StateTotal retail units in the state (in lakh)Retailers ofAVT(in lakhs)AVT

distributors% market coverage

Kerala97.6512785

Tamil Nadu1510.528470

Andhra Pradesh20816940

karnataka16413725

Orissa125.413345

Source: Secondary data

2.2.10 QUALITY STANDARDSThe selection Process: Fine Quality at no extra priceTea samples from auction centres across the country including samples from our own plantations are brought to the AVT central tasting center at Kochi. Here expert tea tasters follow the most stringent quality parameters to screen all samples using the '4X' system for a brand-wise and region specific selection process.

The infusion: The teas are infused by immersing 2.5 grams of tea in 4 ounces of boiled water and are allowed to stand for 6 minutes before being strained into sterilized bowls. This infusion is set out on tasting cup lids and excess water squeezed out.

The inspection: The dry leaf is first inspected for physical appearance. Only clean grainy teas are selected. Teas with excess fiber content and extraneous matter are rejected outright. The infusions are then studied for their physical appearance. Only teas with the healthiest infusions are selected.

The intention: The liqueur is then tasted for parameters like strength, briskness and taste. Only teas that fulfil the brand's characteristics are selected. Any tea with inherent manufacturing defects (such as over fire or smoke) is avoided. The liqueur is -so inspected for its color and only those that pass muster are selected - plain, thin and light teas are avoided. The attributes of each lot are coded onto the catalogues using a unique alphanumeric coding system. Only those teas suitable for AVT's brands are purchased from the respective auctions or plantations.The Production Procedure: Delivering quality at every point As soon as the purchases are affected, the details of all teas produced are fed into AVT's proprietary software "Panchathantra". Blend sheets are generated using this application.

The process: Once the blend sheets are generated, the samples pertaining to the teas used are drawn from the warehouses. Representative table bulks of the blends are prepared. These table bulks are then tasted against the various standards and competition. The volumes are recorded and only those blends that match up to the standards are passed for blending. Finally, blend sheets are issued to the various blending units.

The place: AVT has state of the art manufacturing facilities in Coimbatore and kochi. All the teas are blended using Vertical Tower Blenders, which are fitted with are earth magnets and sorting machines to remove any stray iron filings and other extraneous matter (like jute strings) from the teas. Once the blending is complete, the blended tea is once again tasted against the standard. The blended tea is sent into the market for testing and certification. After proper testing the blends are released for packing.

The product: The blended teas are packed with state of the art packing machinery installed in our units. All necessary care is taken to see that our products meet PFA onus. Prior to the actual blending process, a representative table bulk of the blend order is made and is tested along with the standard so as to ensure consistency in the end product. AVT has a modem laboratory that is fitted with the latest testing equipments in the Coimbatore facility. All our blends are put through statutory checks required by the PFA Act.

2.2.11 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

AVT NPLs centre for research and development was established in 2000 and is recognized by department of scientific and industrial research, Govt of india. R&D focuses on both market driven and technology driven products to meet the continuous market changes. Scientists with doctoral and master degree in the fields of natural products, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry and microbiology, with rich industrial experience contribute to the growth of R&D centre is well equipped with an array of sophisticated modern analytical instruments like GCs, HPLCs, HPTLC, GC-MS, spectrophotometer etc .To scale up new processes and products from lab to commercial scale, company has invested in pilot plant facilities for extraction/isolation, crystalliastion, column chromatography, reverse osmosis, specialized tea processing machinery, spray drying, microencapsulation etc. current focus is on carotenoids, natural antioxidants, speciality colors and flavours, value added teas, dietary fibers, photochemical and beadlet technology.

2.2.12 CONTRACT FARMING

AVT group started its operations in agriculture. Their success stories in plantations of tea, coffee, vanilla and their success stories plantation of tea, coffee, vanilla, and their invirto plant propagation techniques through bio technology are a testimony of their commitment to the agricultural sectors. AVT adopted contract farming model to meet maximizing net farm returns to farmers and ensuring quality produce at optimum price. This led to a win-win relation between AVT natural and our farmer friends. They have systems and controls to implement GAP (good agricultural practices) that assures quality right from seed to the finished product and ensure good net farm returns to the farmers. The very fact that AVT natural brand is the top of the mind recall among their customers when it comes to traceability, consistency, food safety etc. reinforces their claim. The main focus of contract farming model are:

Higher yields

Lower costs

More active ingredient content,

Consistent quality

AVT Natural covers the entire gamut of Supply Chain by taking care of each and every link of the supply chain. They collaborate with Financial Institutions and Input Suppliers to deliver quality inputs at the right time like seeds, Fertilizers. Plant protection chemicals, Sprayers etc. They help our farmer friends by arranging collection of their produce right at their door steps with weekly Cash Payment. Middlemen are totally avoided in their system to ensure farmers a legitimate share of the final value of their produce. They believe in the adage "Change is Constant". Which has shifted their focus from "Farm to Fork" to "Seed to Fork" to move ahead of time. R&D Team focuses on seed development that maximizes the net farm returns.

2.2.13 RISK MITIGATION

Successful Contract Farming Model has been implemented at five different agro climatic locations in India and has now crossed the sea to China. This de-risks the raw material supply from the impact of climatic changes and vagaries of nature.

2.2.14 AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

AVT natural in Forbes list of 200 best companies less than billion dollar revenue in Asia-Pacific Region.

AVT Natural Products Ltd won this year Emerging India Awards, constituted for Small and Medium Enterprises in India, for "FMCG Food and Agri Business Category". All SMEs having maximum net worth up to Rs. 500 million were eligible for this award.

AVT Naturals have shared second prize of Kerala State Pollution Control for excellence in pollution control by large industries in Kerala for 2009/10.

Kerala state pollution control board award for SMEs for being environment friendly operations

FACT M.K.K. Nair Memorial productivity award 1998-1999.

2.2.15 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AVT Natural, as a part of its social responsibility identifies the needs of the neighbourhood and fulfils them completely.

They support 30,000 small and marginal farmers with technology to improve their net farm returns and their livelihood. We respect our neighbourhood and all our stakeholders.

Eye Clinic: Around 40,000 school children were screened and, those who required vision correction were identified and given the necessary treatment. This was carried out by the doctors from Shankara Netralaya in association with AVT Natural Products and Rotary Club, Sathyamangalam.

Successful cleaning of weeds and waste materials from the Bhavani river banks and strengthening of the embankments to provide better irrigation facility to the farming community was earned out.

Infrastructure of the approach roads to their facility was further rectified.

Yearly financial assistance offered to the Panchayat for the Polio Eradication Program.

Free weekly medical check-up and assistance provided to the rural community by doctors of AVT Natural Products at Sathyamangalam.

AVT has offered numerous facilities in the education sector by providing basic amenities like computers, laboratory equipments etc. for the students of neighbouring schools. Cash awards have been endowed on top ranking students in the final year of their school.

REFERENCE

"The history of tea", (online: web) accessed on 25 March 2013, http://www.teauction.com/industry/indhistory.asp.

"The history of tea" (online: web) accessed on 29 March 2013, http://en.lov- organic.com/the-history-of-tea.html.

AVT Natural (2012) "Value Added Tea" (online web) Accessed 28th march 2013 http://www.avtnaturals.com/ AVT group at a Glance (201 l)"company" (online web) Accessed 28th march 2013 http://www. avtnatural.com/group glance.html.

AVT group companies(2010)"About AVT"(online: web) Accessed 2nd April 2013 http://www.avtcpd.com/group companies.shtml chapter-3 review of literature3.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKBranding is one of the important aspects of any business. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a "name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors".

Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

Delivers the message clearly

Confirms your credibility

Connects your target prospects emotionally

Motivates the buyer

Concretes User Loyalty

BRANDING CONCEPTS

Brand Name

Brand name is one of the brand elements which help the customers to identify and differentiate one product from another. It should be chosen very carefully as it captures the key theme of a product in an efficient and economical manner. It can easily be noticed and its meaning can be stored and triggered in the memory instantly. Choice of a brand name requires a lot of research.

Brand Attributes

It portrays a company's brand characteristics. They signify the basic nature of brand. Brand attributes are a bundle of features that highlight the physical and personality aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or presumptions. Brand attributes help in creating brand identity. A strong brand must have following attributes: Relevancy: A strong brand must be relevant. It must meet people's

expectations and should perform the way they want it to. A good job must be done to persuade consumers to buy the product; else in spite of your product being unique, people will not buy it.

Consistency: A consistent brand signifies what the brand stands for and builds customers trust in brand. A consistent brand is where the company communicates message in a way that does not deviate from the core brand proposition.

Proper positioning: A strong brand should be positioned so that it makes a place in target audience mind and they prefer it over other brands.

Sustainable: A strong brand makes a business competitive. A sustainable brand drives an organization towards innovation and success. Example of sustainable brand is Marks and Spencer's.

Credibility: A strong brand should do what it promises. The way you communicate your brand to the audience/ customers should be realistic. It should not fail to deliver what it promises. Do not exaggerate as customers want to believe in the promises you make to them

Inspirational: A strong brand should transcend inspire the category it is famous for. For example- Nike transcendent Jersey Polo Shirt.

Uniqueness: A strong brand should be different and unique. It should set you apart from other competitors in market.

Appealing: A strong brand should be attractive. Customers should be attracted by the promise you make and by the value you deliver.

Brand PositioningBrand positioning refers to "target consumer's" reason to buy your brand in preference to others. It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered by the brand's benefits/reasons to buy: and it focuses at all points of contact with the consumer. In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen and a differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium through which an organization can portray its customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer's views and opinions.

Brand Identity

Brand identity stems from an organization, i.e., an organization are responsible for creating a distinguished product with unique characteristics. It is how an organization seeks to identify itself. It represents how an organization wants to be perceived in the market. An organization communicates its identity to the consumers through its branding and marketing strategies. A brand is unique due to its identity. Brand identity includes following elements - Brand vision, culture, positioning, personality, relationships, and presentations.

Brand Image

Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the brand presently stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it is nothing but the consumers' perception about the product. It is the manner in which a specific brand is positioned in the market. Brand image conveys emotional value and not just a mental image. Brand image is nothing but an organization's character. It is an accumulation of contact and observation by people external to an organization. It should highlight an organization's mission and vision to all.

Brand Personality

It is the way a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human personality traits/characteristics to a brand so as to achieve differentiation. These characteristics signify brand behaviour through both individuals representing the brand (i.e. it's employees) as well as through advertising, packaging etc .When brand image or brand identity is expressed in terms of human traits, it is called brand personality.

Brand Awareness

It is the probability that consumers are familiar about the life and availability of the product. It is the degree to which consumers precisely associate the brand with the specific product. It is measured as ratio of niche market that has former knowledge of brand. Brand awareness includes both brand recognition as well as brand recall. Brand recognition is the ability of consumer to recognize prior knowledge of brand when they are asked questions about that brand or when they are shown that specific brand, i.e., the consumers can clearly differentiate the brand as having being earlier noticed or heard. While brand recall is the potential of customer to recover a brand from his memory when given the product class/category, needs satisfied by that category or buying scenario as a signal.

Brand Loyalty

It is a scenario where the consumer fears purchasing and consuming product from another brand which he does not trust. It is measured through methods like word of mouth publicity, repetitive buying, price sensitivity, commitment, brand trust, customer satisfaction, etc. Brand loyalty is the extent to which a consumer constantly buys the same brand within a product category. The consumers remain loyal to a specific brand as long as it is available. They do not buy from other suppliers within the product category. Brand loyalty exists when the consumer feels that the brand consists of right product characteristics and quality at right price. Even if the other brands are available at cheaper price or superior quality, "the brand loyal consumer will stick to his brand.

Brand Association

Brand Associations are not benefits, but are images and symbols associated with a brand or a brand benefit. Anything which is deep seated in customer's mind about the brand. Brand should be associated with something positive so that the customers relate your brand to being positive. Brand associations are the attributes of brand which come into consumers mind when the brand is talked about.

Brand Equity

Brand Equity is the value and strength of the Brand that decides its worth. It can also be defined as the differential impact of brand knowledge on consumers response to the Brand Marketing. Brand Equity exists as a function of consumer choice in the market place. The concept of Brand Equity comes into existence when the consumer is familiar with the brand and holds some favourable positive strong and distinctive brand associations in the memory.

Brand ExtensionIt is the use of an established brand name in new product categories. This new category to which the brand is extended can be related or unrelated to the existing product categories. A renowned successful brand helps an organization to launch products in new categories more easily. For instance, Nike's brand core product is shoes. But it is now extended to sunglasses, soccer balls, basketballs, and golf equipments. An existing brand that gives rise to a brand extension is referred to as parent brand. If the customers of the new business have values and aspirations synchronizing/matching those of the core business, and if these values and aspirations are embodied in the brand, it is likely to be accepted by customers in the new business.

To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact. Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot. A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. It's important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After your entire brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It's a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without. Business branding is therefore important to every business regardless of the size, because it communicates information about your business and product to the market. It will influence the cost of your product, packaging, marketing and advertising strategies, distribution channels, and more. Branding is all about establishing an identity, and becoming recognized for it. There is no denying the importance of branding, especially for the small business. Consumers are always willing to buy products they know and trust. A strong, well defined brand, gives you a competitive advantage in the market. It allows you to charge more for your product, knowing that consumers will remain loyal, and buy it at the higher cost. That is the result of consistent reinforcing of the brand, which enables positive responses from the consumer.

There has been a long standing interest from marketers to understand how consumers form their preferences toward a specific brand. Brand preference is closely related to brand choice that can facilitate consumer decision making and activate brand purchase. Knowing the pattern of consumer preferences across the population is a critical input for designing and developing innovative marketing strategies. The notion of preference has been considered in different disciplines such as economists, psychologists, sociology. However there is no commonly agreed definition of preference among these disciplines. For example, economists believe that preferences are exogenous, stable, and known with adequate precision and are revealed through choice behaviour. The economic view of preference had been criticised for assuming that preferences are stable and endogenous. An individual's preferences are not stable and can be endogenous or exogenous. Brand preference represents the attitudinal brand loyalty excluding the action of repeat purchasing; the brand-oriented attitudinal loyalty. The main theme is that the first three decision-making phases of brand loyalty constitute the focal of brand preference. Thus, brand preference is related to brand loyalty; however, brand loyalty is more consistent depicted by the long term repeated purchasing behaviour.

Prior studies on brand preference can be divided into two groups: the first group is for studies examined the impact of consumer-related factors. They focused on the impact of cultural, social, psychological and personal factors of consumers. The main findings of this group studies revealed that changes in consumers" life style can cause changes in their brand preferences. The consumers' personality traits and values are also considered to be important predicators of brand preference. The second group addressed the impact of brand-related factors such as the brand price and other marketing communications tools with particular concern on advertising and promotion. One of the major findings of these studies is that the brand attributes, plus other brand factors such as perceived value have a significant impact on brand preference.

The first and most commonly used route to winning focuses on generating brand preference among the choices considered by customers, on beating the competition. The brand preference strategy involves incremental innovation to make the brand ever more attractive or reliable or the offering less costly. Faster, cheaper, better is the mantra. Resources are expended on communicating more effectively with more clever advertising, more impactful promotions, more visible sponsorships, and more involving social media programs but such efforts rarely break out of the clutter. There is a focus and commitment on the existing offering, business model, and target segment. Improvement is the goal but change is not on the table. This classic brand preference model is an increasingly difficult path to success in today's dynamic market because customers are not inclined or motivated to change brand loyalties in established markets. Brands are perceived to be similar at least with respect to the delivery of functional benefits, and often these perceptions are accurate. As a result, customers are not motivated to learn about or locate alternatives. Further, even when the offering is improved or effective marketing is developed, competitors usually respond with such speed and vigor so that any advantage is often short-lived. As a result a brand preference strategy is usually a recipe for stressed margins, unsatisfactory profitability, and. ultimately, a decline into irrelevance. It is so not fun. The second route to competitive success is to change what people buy by creating new categories or subcategories that alter the way that existing customers look at the purchase decision and use experience. Under brand relevance competition, the customer selects the category or subcategory, perhaps a compact hybrid, making the starting place very different. The selection of the category or subcategory is now a crucial step that will influence what brands get considered and thus are relevant. The customer then identifies brands that are visible and credible to that category or subcategory. The brand set is more in play than under the brand preference model. A relevant brand for a customer is one for which the target category or subcategory is selected and the brand is in the consideration set.

Winning under the brand relevance model, now very different, is based on being selected because competitors were not relevant rather than not preferred, a qualitatively different reason. Some or all competitor brands are not visible and credible with respect to the new category or subcategory. The result can be a market in which there is no competition at all for an extended time or one in which the competition is reduced or weakened, the ticket to ongoing financial success.

Branding is one way to attract new customers. When a customer comes to you because of all they have heard about your product and business, then you can be certain that they are serious about buying. When you run marketing campaigns, you are simply throwing out a wide net to attract a large number of customers. From there your marketing guys spend time with those leads to find out who is really serious. That takes a lot of time and money, and in the end, you are not sure that those customers will buy. On the other hand, branding puts you in a position to attract serious buyers first off. Those leads might have been generated because of satisfied customers, who are happy to spread the word. Or, they might have been the result of persistent market reinforcement. However the key is, they came about due to a branding strategy that effectively communicated the solution the customer was looking for.

Creates consumer preference for the product/service behind the brand

Consumers tend to buy products they know and trust. Strong brands provide less risk when making the purchase and the piece of mind that the product will performed as expected.

Provides increased revenues and market share

A company can leverage the power of their brand portfolio into new segments and geographical markets. Increases the company's market value

Acquisitions these days are based not so much on balance sheets and physical assets such as land, buildings and equipment, but on brand equity. Brands have become the company's strongest assets. Helps the company survive temporary crises

Toyota, a brand positioned on superior quality, had some serious product issues m 2009. followed by a PR nightmare. However due to the many years of delivering on its quality promise the brand managed to come back and restore confidence in their product.

Prevents new competitors from entering the market

A well known name that owns a particular market segment is a serious barrier to entry for most new competitors. Being the first to create the segment helps tremendously.

Increases profitability by allowing the company to charge a higher price for their products or services

This is one of the strongest arguments for the importance of branding. Customers are in most cases willing to pay a premium for an established brand versus a no-name product.

Creates a unique and differentiated company image

A brand goes well beyond the tangible product or service being offered. Emotional attributes could be the perfect foundation of a strong differentiation strategy.

Increases existing distributor's loyalty

Independent distributor is in the "money making" business. For them brand loyalty always comes second. However if the brand is demanded by the end user the chances of it being dropped from their portfolio are pretty slim. It's an easy sell after all.

Helps the company attract new distribution for its products

A well known brand with proven consumer loyalty will have little problems finding distribution partners, both locally and internationally. Everybody wants to sell a brand that consumers ask for and provides a high turnover.

Offers the company more negotiation power with its suppliers

Vendors want to be involved in projects for a well-known brand, as their portfolio will be greatly enhanced. In order to get the business suppliers are usually willing to make deep concessions, which translates into cost savings for the company.

Decreases employee turnover

Strong brands provide a sense of purpose and direction for employees, who tend to be more loyal to the company.

Holbrook and Hirschman. (1982) According to him a multi-attribute models brand preferences can be explained by consumer's beliefs about brand attributes. However, among multi-attribute models Fishbein model is the most influential one and has been supported empirically. In the theory of buyer behaviour, preferences are the predispositions toward the brands formed from past experiences upon which the buyer ranks the brands in the evoked set. Although these models had contributed in the explanation of brand preference formation, they were criticized as being cognitive models that regard consumers as rational and logical problem solver, neglecting the role of affective elements in influencing the consumer behaviour.

A brand is therefore more than a product, because it can have dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. Branding is all about creating differences. Most marketing observers also agree with the following basic principle of brand and brand equity.

Differences in outcomes arise from the "added value" endowed to a product as a result of past marketing activity for the brand.The value can be created for a brand in many ways.

Brand equity provides a common denominator for interpreting marketing strategies and assessing the value of a brand.

There are many different ways in which the value of a brand can be manifested or exploited to benefit the firm (in terms of greater proceeds or lower costs or both).

Fundamentally, the brand equity concept reinforces how important the brand is in marketing strategics. Maintaining and expanding or brand equity can be quite challenging. Brand equity management activities take a broader and more diverse perspective of the brand's equity understanding how branding strategies should corporate concerns and be adjusted, if at all over time or over geographical boundaries or market segments. Building up of branding strategy is an essential task of a marketer. The firm's branding strategy provides general guidelines about which brand elements to apply across its products. Two main tools in defining the corporate branding strategy are the:

Brand Product Mix

Brand Hierarchy

Brand product mix is a graphical representation of all brands and products sold by the firm.

Brand hierarchy displays the number and nature of common and distinctive brand components across the firm's products.

By capturing the potential branding relationships among the different products sold by the firm, it graphically portrays the firms branding strategy.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE

The branding strategy or brand architecture, for a firm tells marketers which brand names, logos, symbols, and so forth to apply to which to new and existing products. Brand architecture defines both brand boundaries and brand complexity.

BRAND AWARENESS

Ongoing brand awareness ramps up customer loyalty: Since acquiring new customers is such a costly process, retaining customers and bringing them back again and again is critical to long-term business sustainability. Brand loyalty creates a certain level of security for businesses. Brand awareness plays an important role in repeat customer activity. These simple actions can sustain brand awareness among your pool of existing customers. Using brand awareness through retargeting captures lost leads: Retargeting is the process of reconnecting with customers who almost bought, and encouraging them to close the sale. Transactions can be abandoned for any number of reasons, from tech issues to simple interruptions. Following up with customers who loaded items into an online shopping cart for example, and then failed to check out, can help e-commerce companies capture significant revenue.

Brand awareness is the probability that consumers are familiar about the life and availability of the product. It is the degree to which consumers precisely associate the brand with the specific product. It is measured as ratio of niche market that has former knowledge of brand: Brand awareness includes both brand recognition as well as brand recall. Brand recognitions the ability of consumer to recognize prior knowledge of brand when they are asked questions about that brand or when they are shown that specific brand, i.e., the consumers can clearly differentiate the brand as having being earlier noticed or heard. While brand recall is the potential of customer to recover a brand from his memory when given the product class/category, needs satisfied by that category or buying scenario as a signal. In other words, it refers that consumers should correctly recover brand from the memory when given a clue or he can recall the specific brand when the product category is mentioned. It is generally easier to recognize a brand rather than recall it from the memory.

There are two types of brand awareness:

1. Aided awareness- This means that on mentioning the product category, the customers recognize your brand from the lists of brands shown.2. Top of mind awareness (Immediate brand recall) - This means that on mentioning the product category, the first brand that customer recalls from his mind is your brand. The relative importance of brand recall and recognition will rely on the degree to which consumers make product-related decisions with the brand present or not. For instance - In a store, brand recognition is more crucial as the brand will be physically present. In a scenario where brands are not physically present, brand recall is more significant (as in case of services and online brands).BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS IS ESSENTIAL FOR BUILDING BRAND EQUITYIt includes use of various renowned channels of promotion such as advertising, word of mouth publicity, social media like blogs, sponsorships, launching events, etc. To create brand awareness, it is important to create reliable brand image, slogans and taglines. The brand message to be communicated should also be consistent. Strong brand awareness leads to high sales and high market share. Brand awareness can be regarded as a means through which consumers become acquainted and familiar with a brand and recognize that brand.

Branding is one way to attract new customers. When a customer comes to you because of all they have heard about your product and business, then you can be certain that they are serious about buying.

BRANDING STRATEGIESA branding strategy helps establish a product within the market and to build a brand that will grow and mature in a saturated marketplace. Making smart branding decisions up front is crucial since a company may have to live with the decision for a long time. The following are commonly used branding strategies:

Company NameIn this case a strong brand name (or company name) is made the vehicle for a range of products (for example, Mercedes Benz or Black & Decker) or a range of subsidiary brands (such as Cadbury Dairy Milk or Cadbury Fingers in the United States).

Individual Branding

Each brand has a separate name, putting it into a de facto competition against other brands from the same company and Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of different products, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's perception of what business the company is in or diluting higher quality products.

Attitude Branding and Iconic Brands

This is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Companies that use attitude branding include: Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, and Apple, Inc. Iconic brands are defined as having aspects that contribute to the consumer's self-expression and personal identity. Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identi