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Tag: N. Chandramouli

  • This is Concept BIU’s second acquisition this fiscal

    Concept BIU acquires the business of Bluebytes

    By A Correspondent

     

    Concept Business Intelligence Unit (Concept BIU) has acquired the business of Comniscient Group’s Bluebytes News. With this acquisition, a press release notes that Concept BIU will be servicing around 550 clients and becoming the “largest media monitoring and analytics service provider in India”.

     

    Said Ankoor Choudharri, CEO, Concept BIU: “We are proud to acquire the business of Bluebytes and we are happy to welcome their 120 plus clients onboard. The new clients will have access to Concept BIU’s service experience which offers an array of analytic tools, consultative client relations; mobile application based services and more allied services offered by us.”

     

    Added N Chandramouli, CEO, Bluebytes News on the acquisition:  “It was a strategic initiative for our group, Bluebytes will be acquired by Concept BIU, a competition we came to admire over time for their large and satisfied clients. While the parting of Bluebytes from our group is an emotional one considering we birthed and raised it, we are happy that the clients are in safe hands with Concept BIU. That said, the next decade for the Comniscient Group looks exciting due to growth in public relations and in brand analytics through our companies, Blue Lotus Communications and TRA Research.”

     

     

  • Four out of Top 20 brands based in Mumbai

    LG ranked India’s most attractive brand; Sony and Samsung Mobiles follow

     

     

    India’s Most Attractive Brands 2016, a study comparing the ‘attractiveness’ held in brands, has been released. TRA Research, a Comniscient Group company, has listed the brands that have successfully elicited the desire-based yearning in their audience. LG has taken the crown of India’s Most Attractive Brand in the just launched 2016 study. The South Korea-based Consumer Electronics giant has taken the 1st rank, moving up from 2nd place last year. Sony ranks 2nd, followed by the two-time reigning attractiveness champion from the previous reports, Samsung Mobiles which ranks 3rd this year. Honda makes an entrance at the 4th position also leading the Automobiles category. Samsung, in the Durables category leaped from rank 87 in 2015 to rank 5 this time round. The highest placed wholly-Indian conglomerate in this year’s listings, Bajaj, is India’s 6th Most Attractive brand.

     

    The second Indian brand in the list, Mumbai-based Tata is ranked 7th, which has slipped three places since last year. Maruti Suzuki comes in at rank 8 and Airtel towers up nine ranks from ranking 18th last year, followed by Nokia at 10th position. Another Mumbai-based brand Godrej (All India rank 13), Dell (All India rank 15) and Hewlett Packard (All India rank 17) made an exit from the top 10 Most Attractive Brands listings this year. A total of four out of the top 20 Most Attractive Brands were based out of Mumbai. Other city-based brands that were listed include Angel Broking (All India rank 491) and Big FM (All India rank 715).

     

    “LG’s progress in the report is admirable, having dethroned the two-time reigning personal-gadgetry brand Samsung Mobiles to be India’s Most Attractive Brand for 2016. The consumer electronics segment has always been high on Attractiveness—the magnetic pull that brands exert—evidenced by the fact that three out of the top 5 Most Attractive Brands for 2016 are from this segment. Tata’s ranked 7th this year has a dip of more than 20 per cent in Attractiveness Quotient as compared to the previous report.

     

    Brand Attractiveness is an invisible, overwhelming pull that subtly but irresistibly draws audiences towards itself. In order to influence and inspire their consumers, brands have to mold their outgoing communications to constantly and proactively accentuate their brand appeal,” commented N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research.

     

    Among the 1000 brands 276 categories were listed. Some of the by Advertise” href=”#60137872″> important category leaders in Attractiveness are Colgate (FMCG), Amul (F&B), Bata (Personal Accessories), Raymond (Apparel) and Airtel (Telecom).

     

  • Samsung Mobiles trails second, followed by LG and Sony

    Tata ranked India’s Most Creative Brand 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tata, one of India’s largest conglomerates is ranked as India’s Most Creative brand by TRA Research Pvt. Ltd., (formerly Trust Research Advisory), a Comniscient Group company. The revelation was a part of a study conducted across 16 cities by the brand insights company. Creativity is the strategy ability to cope with situations to create better or new solutions combining innovating thinking and efficacious application. Contrary to general perceptions Creativity is one of the three operators under “Rational Appeal” in TRA’s proprietary Brand Attractiveness Model.

     

    The South Korean multinational company Samsung Mobiles ranked second on Creativity followed by LG and Sony respectively. Honda was ranked in the fifth position, succeeded by technology giants Hewlett Packard (HP) at sixth and Dell at seventh. The eighth, ninth and tenth ranked brands feature Nokia, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj respectively.

     

    N Chandramouli

    Commenting on Tata’s status as India’s Most Creative Brand, N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA stated, “Creativity is not just viewed from a point of novelty, entertainment and utility alone, but from a position of future risk amelioration and protection. Tata is a pioneer, one willing to take risks and go through unchartered territories to deliver better or new solutions. When brands display Creativity, they demonstrate an ‘intellectual’ ability to deal with the future better.”

     

    INDIA’S TEN MOST CREATIVE BRANDS

    Ranking

    Brand Name

    1

    TATA

    2

    SAMSUNG MOBILES

    3

    LG

    4

    SONY

    5

    HONDA

    6

    HEWLETT PACKARD

    7

    DELL

    8

    NOKIA

    9

    MARUTI SUZUKI

    10

    BAJAJ
  • N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Private Limited, on the impact the Aamir Khan outburst has had on Brand Snapdeal

    By Invitation: N Chandramouli: The Trust Bond between a Brand and its Ambassador

    By N Chandramouli

     

    The relationship between a brand and its ambassador is highly interconnected, and that which will impact one will also invariably impact the other also very closely. The reaction of the consumers on the other hand is a case of the ‘congruence of values’ of the consumers with the brand. So when a brand or its ambassador consider its actions in the current day social era,  each must have a responsibility of building the trust of the other. Else, with its unfettered and unfiltered information exchange of the age, often even small things have a high potential of exploding out of proportion.

     

    After the recent Aamir Khan controversy, the brand he endorses, Snapdeal, came out with a statement distancing themselves from the ‘personal’ comments of Aamir. This was probably after a huge public resentment of the ambassador’s statement, demonstrated by one star ratings of its app by angry consumers, nearly 67,000 of them.  Similar incidents have happened in the past, but why do some actions get the response they do, while others simply slip by?

     

    The answer depends on how close a relationship the brand and its ambassador share. A similar reference that can be taken as an example that (luckily for the brand ambassador!) did not have the a different result – that of Shah Rukh Khan in his ‘intolerance’ quote to a TV channel a few weeks ago. However, that statement did not impact Bigbasket.com in the same manner as Aamir’s statement hit Snapdeal goes to show two things.  Firstly, it shows the success of the Snapdeal campaign in totality.

     

    If the first thing that comes to the public’s mind on saying Aamir Khan was Snapdeal, in no certain terms, the connection between the two was quite well-established. Secondly, it goes to show the relative importance of the brand to the consumer and its importance that the consumers place in its values. The consumers of Snapdeal relate to more than in the case Bigbasket, and this is evident in the sharp consumer action against Snapdeal. In all this mess, Snapdeal should rest happy in one deep insight, that whatever they were doing with Aamir Khan in their campaign was working well, and they should use this as an opportunity to knowing and understanding the trust of their consumers better.

     

    N Chandramouli is CEO, TRA Private Limited (publishers of ‘The Brand Trust Report’)

     

  • The move is a key step towards consolidation and growth

    Blue Lotus Communications strengthens leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Blue Lotus Communications has strengthened its leadership team by getting Amitesh Banerjee as Senior Vice President and Rahul Lakhpati as Vice President.

     

    Amitesh is a communications professional with 30 years of multi-country experience including stints as Head of Communications in the Seychelles Marketing Board, Associate Director Strategy & Market Development with Perfect Relations, General Manager – Comma Consulting, Managing Partner West – Genesis Burson-Marsteller and Vice President-Adfactors.

     

    Rahul has a cumulative experience of over 14 years comprising PR and journalism and has serviced clients across various sectors and domains. Some clients he has worked on include Volkswagen, Western Union, Suzlon Energy, Raymond, Citibank, Hyundai Motors, Mahindra Group to name just a few.

     

    N. Chandramouli, CEO – Blue Lotus Communications, averred, “2015 has been good for us with many account wins in the beginning of this year with the environment positivity converting into substantial retainer business. Strengthening of our leadership team is a key step towards consolidation and growth.”

     

  • Decoding Communication is a book that helps in deciphering this complex subject through its fluid and anecdotal writing

    Decoding Communication launched by TRA Publishing

    By A Correspondent

     

    Communication is a universal remedy. It helps bridge relationships, sustain knowledge and also makes chance more predictable. Communication builds a nourishing environment for organisations, brands and individuals to grow. In today’s environment of information overload, it is imperative that anyone interested in understanding, influencing and managing communication, has full knowledge of the subject and Decoding Communication is a book that helps in deciphering this complex subject through its fluid and anecdotal writing.

     

    Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director of the Madison Group, says about the book, “Decoding Communications is an excellent read for both students and practitioners of communication. It helps provide a conceptual framework to better understand what we do intuitively and why it works and sometimes doesn’t. Chandramouli needs to be complimented on coming up with this alongside running two successful companies. The purpose of all business is to create ‘Trust’ and if it succeeds in doing that, business succeeds.”

     

    Author N Chandramouli is the CEO of the Comniscient Group which has interests in several communication businesses. He has been a communication consultant to several global companies that include brands like DHL, Henkel, Botox, D&B and J&J. He lectures in several communication colleges and is also the author of The Brand Trust Report, India Study (2011 and 2012), and Decoding Communication. More information is available at www.nchandramouli.com.

     

  • One significant conclusion with regard to communication has dawned – successful organizations always have top-driven communication, saysN Chandramouli

    The Anchor: 6 ways to create pathbreaking & sustainable communication for a brand

    By N Chandramouli

     

    Everyone loves to win, though only a few have what it takes to prepare for the win. Sustainable Communication is that organizational winning strategy.

     

    1. Future relevant communication

    In my several thousand interactions with CEOs and top management, one significant conclusion with regard to communication has dawned – successful organizations always have top-driven communication.

     

    Though everyone understands the importance of communication, most top management are unwilling to get involved enough to deep-impact it. Most only want to see results without wanting to participate in its creation.

     

    Communication is treated as an essential, but ‘extraneous’ service to the organization. Therefore, while the result is important, how it is achieved, is not. The communication function most often reports into marketing, and due to this, the entire organization’s communication remains partial to marketing communication.

     

    Sustainable Communication is that which impacts the future of the organization, and without the direct involvement and guidance of the top management, the organization’s future cannot be impacted. Organizations where the top management does not give communication the maximum attention remain myopic without much control over their own destiny. It also silently encourages the ‘dynamite fishermen’ to play havoc, severely damaging the communication environment of the organization.

     

    For an organization that wants to remain relevant in the future, the person piloting it has to be fully committed to Sustainable Communication giving it requisite time, energy and direction.

     

    2. Communication Philosophy

    All systems run on some principle and only when articulated explicitly do they become ‘believable’- a prerequisite for adherence. Its expression is the first step for Sustainable Communication to take root, and this creates adherence at the deepest level in the organization.

     

    The Communication Philosophy of an organization is an analysis of the organization’s reason for existence, its values, nature and its reality. It asks three fundamental questions, the answers to which define a Brand’s topography for Sustainable Communication.

     

    Q. Why do we communicate?

    Neophytes usually get drawn to answering this in terms of the business goals of the company, but this question must not be taken too literally. It is necessary for the answers to be unshackled from the business goals, and therein lies its difficulty. The Communication Philosophy seeks out the intrinsic nature of the organization’s communication, and this answer helps understand the organization’s true objectives in relation to its ecosystem.

    Q. How will we communicate?

    The answer to this question gives guidelines for communication to the organization. It also elaborates the tone and tenor of communication, and most importantly, the Brand’s not-to-do list.  This usually sets the foundation for all to adhere to.

    Q. What do we want to communicate about us?

    The answer to this reveals the ideally desired perception. Since the seed of communication lies in its action, it is necessary that this ideal seeps into every action the organization takes. While articulating its response, one must consider the different states of the entity; current, future and the approach to overcome this aspirational gap. The danger with ideal perceptions is that they tend to fly, and therefore, its articulation should be grounded in reality.

     

    3. Discovering Communication pathways

    Every organization has natural communication trails within them. They use these pathways predisposed to communication because of interdependencies within the sub-group. Use of these interdependencies provides natural energies for supporting the Sustainable Communication structure. Often hidden beneath the surface, unexposed to the organization, these trails need to be discovered with focus. Once found and worked on (no different from real pathways), these pathways will automatically draw more communication traffic through them.

     

    To discover these trails, a deeper understanding of each sub-group’s aspirations, interests, preferences and culture is necessary. These communication trails are also useful in two-way communication and have the scope to become robust feedback systems.

     

    4. Integrated approach

    An integrated approach looks at the organization’s communication philosophy from various dimensions. Some are listed below, but this is a dynamic list and must be added to by the communicator – the more that get included in this list, the more sustainable an organization’s communication will be. The communication should be integrated from the dimensions of:

     

    1. Culture – The organization’s communication must be integrated with the culture of its people and of the society that it exists in.

    2. Vision – All communication of the organization must emanate from a common, expressed vision.

    3. Time – The organization’s communication must be relevant to the past and the future of the entity while remaining aligned to its present.

    4. Environment – The communication must be in harmony with the environment the brand engages with, eliminating any damage to it.

    5. Audiences – It must be integrated with the needs of all the primary audiences of the organization; clients, employees, shareholders among others.

    6. Audience Degrees – It must be integrated with the primary, secondary and tertiary audiences and must be relevant to all three.

    7. Knowledge – Sustainable Communication must have an integrated approach to creation, storing and dissemination of knowledge.

    8. Lifecycle – It must have a regenerative approach such that the birth to demise message lifecycle is considered.

    9. Function Collective – Each function of a business must reinforce the collective, and the collective must reinforce each function’s communication.

     

    5. Multi-polarity

    Multi-polarity tends to maximize communication efficiencies and as it looks at several polarities achieved through each message. For an organization to have Sustainable Communication, while the main focus could be one or a few, the multi-polarity maximizes value by deriving more from the same message. The more polarities that get included in the message, the more sustainable it is. These polarities are:

    1. Multi objective – Each communication must impact multiple objectives in positive ways.

    2. Multi sensory – Such that it integrates experiences of as many senses as possible – cognitive, tactile, auditory, visual.

    3. Multi-audience - The same communication should reach several audiences.

    4. Multi noded – There must be several crossover nodes of several communication pathways to facilitate interaction at the nodes.

    5. Multi functional – It should take into consideration the needs of all the functions (like finance, human resources, marketing and others) around the communication.

    6. Issue Chain

    An Issue Chain is the identification of the natural issues of any system that gives it the propensity to communicate. These depend on its contributors – sector, audiences, technology and others that are issues that drive communication energy. To better this Sustainable Communication method, it is necessary to identify the various issues in the sub-systems and then build communications around these. Such communication sustains itself through the energy that others put into it as it is of their interest.

     

    N Chandramouliis Author of upcoming book Decoding Communication and CEO Comniscient Group

     

  • Discovery channel has been ranked third, ahead of all the Hindi general entertainment and sports channels. TLC has been ranked fifth, ahead of all lifestyle, English entertainment, English news and English movie channels.

    Discovery Channel and TLC ranked amongst the top 5 most trusted TV brands in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Network Asia Pacific’s two flagship channels in India – Discovery Channel and TLC have been ranked amongst the top 5 most trusted television brands in India by The Brand Trust Report 2012.

     

    Discovery channel has been ranked third, ahead of all the Hindi general entertainment and sports channels. TLC has been ranked fifth, ahead of all lifestyle, English entertainment, English news and English movie channels.

     

    Rahul Johri, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, South Asia said: “This recognition by the Brand Trust Report 2012 is a reflection of our strategy to entertain viewers across India with the highest quality and differentiated non-fiction programming like Curiosity, Man Woman Wild and Swamp Brothers. We would like to take this endorsement as a source of encouragement for our future endeavours in creating new genres, trends and programme formats that resonate with the Indian audience.”

     

    Discovery Channel, India’s leading non-fiction channel, entertains viewers in multiple languages with a range of programming across genres including natural history, survival, technology, engineering, wildlife and India. TLC, India’s favourite lifestyle channel, since its launch in 2004 presents refreshing entertainment on travel, food, fashion, luxury, wellness and many other exciting lifestyle trends.

     

    N Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory, publishers of The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2012 said: “It is prestigious that Discovery Channel and TLC have been ranked third and fifth, respectively, among television brands by influencers-consumers in the 15 cities of the study. The study reflects how deeply Discovery Channel and TLC are trusted as measured by a comprehensive Brand Trust study on TRA’s proprietary 61-components.”

     

    The Brand Trust Report (BTR), compiled and released annually is the result of an exhaustive survey undertaken by the Trust Research Advisory (TRA). The methodology includes BTR questionnaire which is designed to illuminate approximately 425 aspects of brand trust, of which 391 were directly brand-related. The study also questioned respondents about two other important brand trust influencers – brand recall and the trust-experience of brands, the latter of which they were requested to furnish reasons for.

     

    The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2012 research was conducted among 2718 ‘influencer’ respondents across 15 cities. The study was the most intensive undertaken on Brand Trust across the globe, generating nearly 2 million data points and 17,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s brands on the basis of trust.

     

    Discovery Communications is the world’s number 1 non-fiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in 210 countries and territories. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 130-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Science and Discovery HD, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including HowStuffWorks.com.

     

    Trust Research Advisory (TRA), a part of the Comniscient Group, is a company dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. TRA was conceived in 2008 to decipher, analyze and measure Brand Trust, to make it universally understood and easily applied. The organization’s focus areas include Research, Publishing, Trust Training, and Licensing.