2005 - Oil India Limited

OIL beyond territorial barriers
Brand - a historical perspective
Branding has a long history. The word 'brand' is derived
from the word brandr, a word used by early Norse
tribesman meaning 'to burn' as in branding livestock to
declare ownership. Although popularly the differentiating
of cattle by their owners in the wild west is considered to
be the more recent roots of modern day complex branding
process, brands have been used as marks of identification
at some time in all countries and civilizations. The
branding scene below is shown on Egyptian Tomb walls
dating back to 2,000 B.C.
BRANDS WERE APPLIED TO HUMANS AS RECENT AS
1822.
For over 4,000 years, brands have been used for
identification on both livestock and humans. Fugitives,
galley slaves, gypsies, vagabonds, brawlers, and the
clergy have been marked with "symbols of shame" brands
down through history. The science of brand reading
almost requires a language of its own. Amazingly, every
numeral and letter of the alphabet can be made with an
iron shaped in a configuration.
Until modern times, to prevent theft, livestock being
driven across country were required to be "road branded".
The brands were painted on with pine tar or paint in early
history. Later, when the vast trail herds of cattle were
driven north to market, hot iron brands were used.
Rustlers using "running irons" were ingenious in changing
brands. The most famous brand change involved making
the X I T brand into a Star with a cross inside.
“Over the years brands evolved from being an
identifier, than a discriminator and finally a repository
of shared meanings & beliefs.”
Corporate Branding
Every successful brand has managed to communicate its
company's core beliefs and attitudes what the company
stands for to its target customers. Over the last hundred
years there has been a proliferation of products due to
mass production and distribution. As technologies
developed it became increasingly difficult to
differentiate in a given product category. Without having
strong brands, consumers find it difficult to make a
choice between a large number of products and services.
In such situations, strong brands can differentiate
between similar products and consumers use brands as a
mechanism to make purchase decisions.
Brands allow you to clearly define and communicate
what you stand for, whether you're the "lowest-cost
provider," the "most innovative," the "best total solution,"
the "preferred choice" and so on.
Indian brands like Colgate and Godrej have touched the
zenith of brand value, which is reflected in the fact they
have become generic names (people use these brand
names loosely for all other toothpaste/steel cabinets
brands).
There is evidence available worldwide that the
performance of Companies is directly linked with the
strength of the brand name. A study conducted by
Mckinsey in 1999 across 130 countries worldwide
demonstrated that an average the total return to the
shareholder was five percentage points higher than
companies which had weak brands.
“Target Groups, Communication Content and Methods
& Modes are the main constituents of Corporate
Branding.”
Brand Value
For the fourth consecutive year, Business Week has
teamed up with Interbrand, a leading brand consultancy,
to publish a ranking of The 100 Best Global Brands by
dollar value. This year's rankings rewarded companies
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