Every brand is a niche brand

Group Members: Ashish Agrawal (07) Shivam Bajaj (10) Vikramjeet Chaudhary (16) Subhayu Ghosh (17) Mehul Golwala (24) Pallav Kumar (42) Sudeep Mallya (45) Bharat Mulchandani (48)

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Branding and its importance

Brand equity is the sum of all the hearts and minds of every single person that comes into contact with your company." - Christopher Betzter According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) a brand is defined as 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 other sellers. Branding doesnt mean the consumers choose you over other competitors. It signifies that the particular problem statement could be solved for consumers only the brand. The objectives that a good brand seeks to achieve include:

Deliver clear message Confirm credibility Establish emotional connect with consumers Motivate the buyer Ensure consumer loyalty

Brands are spread through various elements like:

Name: Word or words used to identify the company, product, service, concept E.g. Tata Indica = Indias Car Logo: Trademark that is used to identify with the brand. E.g.: XEROX didnt develop the first photo copier but now its synonymous with photocopying Tagline or Catchphrase: Desh ka Namak Tata Salt, Just do It - Nike Shapes: Tall Boy Hyundai Santro, Graphics: The utterly butterly girl from Amul Color: Sounds: Famous jingle in Nirma Washing Powder Movement: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors. Smells: Nestle Maggi has transformed the instant noodle market. Scores of companies have tried to launch their product but the smells associated with Maggi Noodles are completely etched in one mind Taste: CocaCola has trademarked its formula and the taste is same in all the countries Coke is sold.

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Branding helps an organization reach a point where it starts understanding all the needs and wants of a consumer. Brand stays in the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the total of all their experiences and perceptions some that could be influenced and some that could not. Brand value is of paramount importance in todays fast paced world. A brand is a source of energy that carries the product safely into the arms of the consumer. It is a promise of delivering the stated service to the consumer. Branding ensures a feeling of attachment, a sense of higher superiority, and an aura of intangible qualities that enclose the brand name, mark, or symbol. Booming branding efforts bring about strategic attention where people not only identify your brand but also understand the distinguishing qualities that make it better than the other competitors. We live in a globalized era where many new markets are opening every day and with them are many new competitors. Consumers have an array of great choices available to them to choose from. Marketers are working ever hard to offer customers strong brands that are clearly differentiated and that offer crystal clear, real value and exclusive benefits. The need for branding has never been greater. Why is strong brand so very important? Strong Brand influences buying decision and shapes possession experience Trust and emotional attachment with the company is ensured and then future decisions could involve emotional behavioral patterns associated to them A strong brand commands premium price and could definitely make much more sales at those high premium prices Branding helps make purchasing decisions easier. In a commodity market where features and benefits are virtually indistinguishable, a strong brand will help your customers trust you and create a set of expectations about your products without even knowing the specifics of product features. Even if the consumer doesnt purchase the product branding will help "fence off" consumers from the competition and enable the company to protect its market-share while grabbing his mind-share too. Once a company grabs a consumers mind-share rest assured the consumer will think of the brand first while making any purchase decision Also a strong brand at times could make the consumer forget product features. What a strong brand does is sell the intangible benefits to the consumer. In todays world these intangibles have a lot of value attached to them.

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An experience of a lifetime is something every customer desires. Brand provides just that. It enables the company to make emotional attachment with the consumer. Thus it not only ensures a consumer loyalty but also could help in cross selling other offerings from the companys stable Branding builds name recognition for company or product A brand will help articulate company's values and explain why it is competing in market

Leo Burnett model for Brand:

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Kapferer's Prism of identity uses the dimensions: Physique, Personality, Relationship, culture, Reflection and Self-image

Niche Marketing
A niche market is a focused and targetable portion of a market. By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream

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providers. You can think of a niche market as a narrowly defined group of potential customers. For instance, instead of offering cleaning services, a business might establish a niche market by specializing in blind cleaning services. Why should you bother to establish a niche market? Because of the great advantage of being alone there; other small businesses may not be aware of your particular niche market, and large businesses won't want to bother with it. The trick to capitalizing on a niche market is to find or develop a market niche that has customers who are accessible, that is growing fast enough, and that is not owned by one established vendor already. One common path to success for many small businesses is establishing themselves in a niche market. Because no matter how hard they try, no large retailer can be all things to all people, there are always going to be segments of the population whose needs for particular products and/or services are going unmet leaving room for the small business to succeed by meeting those needs. Even the country's largest manufacturers target carefully pinpointed market segments to maximize the effectiveness of their programs and often tackle different niches for each product group. Hewlett-Packard, for example, markets all-in-one machines that print, fax and scan to segments of the home office market, while targeting larger businesses for higher-priced, single-function units. Niche marketing can be extremely cost-effective. For instance, imagine you offer a product or service that's just right for a select demographic or ethnic group in your area, such as Hispanics or Asians. You could advertise on ethnic radio stations, which have considerably lower rates than stations that program for broader audiences. So your marketing budget would go a lot further, allowing you to advertise with greater frequency or to use a more comprehensive media mix. Questions to ask yourself before going for a niche marketing strategy 1. As part of a strategy of selling a wider range of high-margin goods, are you being careful to distinguish potential future market sweet spots from valueless niches that produce needless complexity?
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2. Are you listening carefully to what consumers are saying online about your products, not just to you but also to each other, and are you reacting quickly to make improvements that address any negative comments? 3. Are you standardizing design components as much as possible to limit the costs of producing an extensive product line? 4. Are you aggressively keeping inventory and distribution costs down with strategies that allow you to configure finished products quickly when orders arrive, swap inventory among outlets or share distribution with other producers? 5. Are you continually reviewing your product portfolio to weed out those products that arent contributing to profits, while being careful not to dump products that arent big sellers but still contribute to the portfolios overall profitability? If you answered no to any of these questions, youre not getting the most out of what we call resonance marketing selling a variety of precisely targeted goods designed to resonate with consumers.

Basic concepts for niche marketing success 1. A unique product or service. For starters, if youre going to master a niche market, you need to have a unique product or service. Ideally, you want to be the only one selling what youre selling. The trick to coming up with such a product or service is to look on the fringes for unmet needs. For example, one East Coast entrepreneurs business consists of creating hand-made medieval outfits. Large retailers and even shops specializing in costumes dont supply these types of garments. Dont forget that processes can be products as well. Theyre ubiquitous now, but someone once looked at an inkjet printer cartridge and came up with the idea and the process for refilling them

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2. A marketable product or service. You can create all kinds of wonderful products and/or services but if no one wants what youve produced, whats the point? There has to be enough of a demand for your product or service for your business to make a profit. How do you find out? By trial and error or by conducting extensive market research, the latter being the preferred approach. If one wants to know if theres a market for dog coats, bamboo flooring or counselling for the Blackberry addicted, the best way to find out is to get out there and ask. Making or buying a lot of something and throwing up a Web site to see if theres any interest in what youre doing is for people who dont want to make money. 3. Choose a niche market thats available. Remember, niche markets tend to be smaller so theres only room for so many players. When it comes to niche marketing, if you try to jump on a bandwagon, youre only going to fall off the back. Before you started such a business yourself, one certainly needs to carefully research the competition and the size of the market to see if a new business in this niche would be viable. 4. Market, market, market. Marketing is perhaps more important for niche market businesses than for any other kind, because the niche market business is by definition, unknown and succeeds or fails on making the connection with exactly the right kind of customer/client. If one opens a Starbucks, for example, people know right away what that business is about and what kinds of products to expect. And because Starbucks market is anybody who likes coffee, they really dont have to worry much about advertising at this point in the game. But if one opens a business providing naturopathic treatments for pets, selling tub/shower conversions for the elderly or providing virtual assistant services to professional speakers, people wont know what to expect or even that my niche business exists at all unless the effort to reach and educate them is made. So market, market, market and once you have a customer or client, make contact on a regular basis. A unique product or service that will fulfil the unmet needs of a specific group of people thats niche marketing in a nutshell.
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Toyota is a huge multinational company. At first glance, it appears that Toyota focuses on the auto business as a whole both from a marketing and production standpoint. This view is correct. Notwithstanding this fact, Toyota is excellent when it comes to niche marketing. Toyota will search for niches for which it can supply a product in need. Toyota was one of the first companies to realize there was a group of car buyers who would be very interested in environmentally friendly cars. To answer this need, it came up with the legendary Prius. The Prius is the first mass production hybrid car. Where other car manufacturers saw Toyota taking a huge risk, Toyota saw it as an opportunity to identify a new niche and establish its brand in that niche. In marketing, it is often the first brand on the scene that takes the day. Once Toyota took the plunge, it pursued an effective niche marketing plan. It didnt promote the Prius in just any media. It focused on media outlets that were watched, read or listened to by people concerned about the environment. For example, it heavily promoted the car through environmental groups and their publications. As the only game in town at that time, Toyota not only dominated the niche it was the niche. Niche marketing translates just as well to the Internet. In fact, your first sites should be focused on identifying niches and providing products or services to accommodate the need of those prospects. One of the biggest mistakes made by new businesses on the web is biting off more than they can chew. You are not going to compete against Amazon for general book sales. On the other hand, you might be able to pound Amazon into the ground in the rare book market or in a specific niche such as home improvement periodicals. The point is to try to focus both your site and marketing on a segment of the market that is not already dominated. How Do You Determine the Value of a Niche Market? Targeting specific markets costs money, but think of it as an investment in future sales and customer loyalty. To ensure that you are making a good investment, ask yourself these questions: 1. Can I generate profits from targeting this niche market? If there is no potential to make money, it is a losing proposition. It may be a tough decision to walk away from a set of prospects that look interesting, but the bottom line talks. 2. Is this market big enough to warrant our attention? Will this market grow in future? If you are looking at a stagnant market that is not going to deliver profits in future, it is not a winner. Think long term.

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3. Does it fit with your companys values and resources? Can you afford the financial outlay? Ultimately, you will be measured by the return on investment you generate, or on some other measure of financial success, so remember what the bottom line needs to look like. 4. Can we reach it effectively? If we cannot communicate with that segment apart from the rest of the market, we will waste resources communicating with a large group of people to reach a much smaller group the ability to focus is key. 5. What does the competitive landscape look like? Is there a niche leader you cannot unseat? Are there undiscovered diamond fields? Is there room for us and our offerings in the marketplace? Hence we see that it is essential for companies, small or big, to identify their target markets and the consumer needs in order to come up with the right products. Hence, every brand is a niche brand, focusing on a specific audience.

Some examples of niche marketing: Cadbury Celebrations: Targeting the social culture of India and its brand positioning in the market

For Rakshabandhan and Diwali

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Strategy: Cadbury India Pvt. Ltd is unwrapping a new advertising, branding, product and retail strategy to position its Cadbury Celebrations gift range on the broader usage plank of year-round gifting, including social visits. Till now, this brand has been narrowly focused on festivals and occasions. The Celebrations gift range exists under the Cadbury Celebrations brand portfolio. The chocolate market is valued at more than Rs1, 600 crore, and growing at 18-20% per annum. By broadening its gifting proposition, Cadbury hopes to outpace category growth. Cadbury India executives say Cadbury as a whole currently commands 70% of the chocolate market in value, and the entire Celebrations range market share is 6.5%. To increase its usage width, the Celebrations gift range has been launched in different package sizes, priced between Rs145 and Rs155. The Celebrations gift range is now also called panned chocolate, since it contains nuts, etc. It is being sold at premium food stores and modern trade formats to achieve differential visibility.

New position: As a social gathering gift

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Brand Positioning: The new television commercial from Contract Advertising (India) Pvt. Ltd seeks to portray the Celebration gift range as a smart buy for social visits. Sanjay Purohit, marketing director, Cadbury India: The communication for Celebrations earlier concentrated on occasions like Diwali and Rakshabandhan. Over the last seven to eight years, the brand emerged as a good gift proposition for occasions and enabled people to come closer. Research done by Cadbury also suggested that we extend the plank of occasion-based gifting to social gifting. It is our endeavor to provide our consumers with all-year-round gifting options. We came up with new packaging for the panned chocolate as we feel that it was significant to refresh and revitalize in terms of aesthetics and graphics. Positioning chocolate as an all-year-round gift product has been tried before. Amul tried it with its gift for someone you love plank. Kids gifting chocolate to each other is considered okay in India. But adults gifting it on social occasions? Not so hot. In places like Singapore, however, if you wind up at someones home with a wine and a box of Ferrero Rocher, its perfectly fine. Celebrations is not seen as a premium brand. In order to be a premium brand, there should be a premium offering. All of the Celebration brands taste the same as the Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, its flagship product, he says. In order to make a new market, you need to have a product thats different. You could try experimenting with dark chocolate or low-cal chocolates. Competition: Competition in the chocolate gifting segment emanates from premium international brands such as Lindt, Ferrero Rocher and Hersheys which are sold in glitzy retail malls.
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There are also speciality chocolates brands such as Fantasie in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, and Patchi candies and chocolates in Mumbai. These brands are likely to be picked up as gifts due to the aspirational factor, according to brand consultants. These premium brands currently occupy barely 2% of the chocolate market in India in value terms.

Rolex: A supreme brand among all luxury watches

What makes Rolex so successful? When you think about luxury watches, the first brand that always comes to mind is Rolex. While there are a few other luxury watch brands that are actually priced at a level or two higher than Rolex watches with have tighter production outputs, if you ask anyone they would probably prefer a Rolex
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watch. This is how successful Rolexs marketing campaigns have been over the years. There are so many key selling points that drive the sales figures of Rolex watches that it is no wonder they are recognized the world over. And while there are other more exclusive brands, hardly any average consumers will recognize their names. That is the beauty of their marketing strategy, with such a huge brand awareness that even non-targeted consumers are aware of and aspire to own such a watch. There are a number of things the marketing team for Rolex focuses on. History, tradition, and sophistication, among others, are just some of the words Rolex strives to be associated with. On all counts, Rolex has been able to deliver a watch that privileged consumers will buy. They have long been an innovator in technology that is still seen in todays modern timepieces. Many of todays self-winding watches are based on the mechanism innovated by Rolex in 1931 from a 1923 design. And they are certainly quite eager to tell the world about it, such as when Jacques Piccard had a Rolex Sea Dweller Deep-Sea Special strapped to his submarine that went down to a depth of 10,916 feet into the Marianas Trench in 1960 while still being able to keep perfect time. And of course, there is also the fact that every single watch they make can be considered a status symbol for its exclusivity and limited production outputs. One of the advantages behind the marketing strategy of Rolex is that owning such a watch is achievable, while other luxury brands market themselves as out of reach luxury watches. Rather than only concentrate on the exclusive group of people who are capable of buying a Rolex, or any other luxury watch brand for that matter, there is certain brand awareness, even among the masses. Of course, this doesnt mean in any way that Rolex will eventually become more affordable to the average person, even if they are only slightly less privileged than your typical Rolex buyer. Actually, what it does is make sure the consumer thinks about Rolex first, more than anything else, once they come into the financial means to afford this kind of watch. Just think of it. So if a law firm decides to promote one of the junior associates to the position of senior associate, the first gift that person is likely to get himself is a Rolex.

Umbrella branding Strategy

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Louis Vuitton: The famous brand started out back in the 1850s. The founder was made famous for crafting the luggage for Napoleon. From theses roots the brand has become synonymous with luggage and in particular handbags. Louis Vuitton is very much the envy of the industry, recording an operating margin of 45%, whilst the industry average is only 25% for luxury accessories. The company is famous for its handbags, but also sells a range of wallets, briefcases, eyeglass cases etc. Over recent years, the brand has tried to modernise its image by utilising the talents of young designers and artists in rejuvenating the image of some of their products, whilst maintaining the classic designs. This reinvention has attracted younger buyers into the brand. However no one designer for Louis Vuitton has eclipsed the powerful brand image of Louis Vuitton itself, unlike other design brands.

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Three level of Product marketing

Established Sector Products

1854 Luxury Goods Leather goods, ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewellery, textiles, writing instruments & accessories. Famous for its handbags. $600 $2,000 (Handbag)

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Typical Locations Retail Environment

Business Strategies

Paris, New York, Tokyo, Dubai, Las Vegas, Los Angeles. 300 Store Locations Products prominently displayed. Stores vary in product stocked. Uses concessions in department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. Very contemporary in design and feel. Located in high street locations or exclusive shopping malls with other designer brands. Online purchasing in the US only. Have used Uma Thurman and Jennifer Lopez in ad campaigns.

Target market: LV uses demographic targeting strategy to target their customers Both men and women Age: ranging from young adults to seniors (22 65 yrs old) Income: around $5,500 or above per month

Branding Strategy: Louis Vuitton stands out from their peers through their relentless focus on product quality. All products are extensively tested to make sure that they can withstand wear and tear, and that there are no imperfections. The company has blended mechanisation and handmade craftsmanship into their products, boosting their productivity, maintaining that high level of product quality, whilst still holding onto the allure of handmade quality. In an effort, to maintain the prestige image of a Louis Vuitton product, the company operates a pricing integrity strategy amongst its entire distribution network, a Louis Vuitton bag is never reduced in price, and there are no sale periods. The company offers customised products such as personal engraving on hand luggage pieces, boosting its appeal further. Furthermore, the company sponsors elite sporting events such as yachting and motorsport events. This is in effort to match the audience of sponsorship property with the target audience of the brand itself.

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Lilliput Kids wear: Even kids have their own style

The size of kids wear market is estimated to be at Rs. 30, 510 crore. Industry experts predict that the market will further grow to reach Rs. 45, 000 crore by 2013, with braded apparels contributing to a major share. The volume of market share of kids apparels in the total apparel market is at 24.9%, as against a 15% share in 2005. Urban kids apparel market comprises about 60% of the total kids wear market. A research states that more than 30% of the countrys population is below 15 years of age. The density of population makes kids wear to be one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian market scenario.

Branded kids wear are well established in I tier cities, and are now experiencing a good growth in II & III tier cities as well. Wanting the best outfit for their children, parents are seeking a variety of garments offered by new brands, and are shopping in exclusive outlets dedicated for
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childrens apparel. Industry players further predict that the market is set to grow by 12% annually and reach its peak by 2010.

Characteristics of Kids wear Markets: The market for kids wear is classified as follows: Infants (0 - 6 months) Toddlers (7 months - 2 years) Kids (3 - 8 Years) Pre-teens (9 - 12 Years) Childrens wear is mainly on a seasonal basis. Highest sales figures are usually recorded during the months of August September. The average annual expenditure on kids wear is approximately Rs. 3, 857.

Success Factors: Craving for a niche, new entrants as well as existing players follow distinct strategies to market their brand. Marketing task lies in capturing the imagination of the children with fashionable patterns, and of the parents with quality apparels supplemented by reasonable prices. All these determine the success of the manufacturer in this segment.
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Fashion Innovations: The practice of dressing girls with a frock and boys with shorts are way beyond. New pattern of garments in par with the latest fad is being sought by parents. Fashion industry is boosting up the well dressed child trend with their new collections on the runways frequently. Kids apparel manufacturers make optimum utilization of latest trends in the fashion world to entice the kids and increase their sales. With wishes and demands getting added in the list of kids, manufacturers and retailers are making the most of it. Factions of domestic and international players are seen in the arena, with each of them wanting a slice in the pie. Use of cartoon characters in kids garments: Apparel manufacturers are cashing on the popularity of cartoon characters. Character inspired merchandising is emerging as one of the hottest market trends. Mickey Mouse, Powerpuff girls, Spiderman, Superman etc. have all found their way into the kids wear market and are currently selling like hot cakes in the market. The type of cartoon character used in the apparel depends mainly on the popularity of the toon, their age group, and sex of the children.

Coordinated Accessories: This seasons style statement includes dressing up with accessories, where everything from dress, bag, and hair clip is color, and design coordinated. In the current trend, leather bags, caps, key chains, and hair bands are considered as required with an ensemble. Especially in case of branded apparels, garments coordinated with proper accessories sell well in the market, than individual apparels. The price ranges for such apparels are extravagant.

Brand Building: As apparel markets are growing in size rapidly, kids of today have a vast range of options to choose from. So, it becomes necessary for the manufacturers, and retailers to woo the offsprings and convince them to make the buying decision. Brands approach kids to market their product focusing on unique colors, silhouettes and prints just as for adults.

Marketing Strategy:

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Designing for kids is very different from designing for adults. Kids are a very sensitive target audience that needs to be pampered every now and then. For kids, brand names are not the only factor; kids talk about the style, physical attributes of the product, colours, look etc. It is the whole package that works for the kids they need to be pulled at all levels to get them to try a brand and stick to it. Dungarees, shorts and shirts are the evergreen fashions in kids' apparel. Short skirts, tops with puffed volume, halter tops, lace trims and cropped trousers are the in things in the world of children's apparel in today's times. Moreover, designing for kids is probably one of the toughest jobs, as they are in this transient phase and their psyche at every age has to be mapped and their or 7-8 year olds is very different from designing for 11-12 year olds. They identify themselves the most with sportspersons, celebrities and superheroes. So attitude and individualistic style is an essential component of the clothing. Further, one cannot compromise on the quality of the fabric; in fact one has to be even more stringent when it comes to kids non-abrasive, easy iron clothing, low formaldehyde content are a few basic benchmarks one has to adhere to .

Mens fairness Cream Over the years, Indian male became more and more conscious of his looks, not just in the business world but also in society. A lot depended on how he presented himself. Men didn't want to run the risk of being seen as irresponsible and negligent due to their looks. Following global trends entered the metro sexual male - the man who has strong concern for his appearance and styling. Leveraging the fact that there were no products to meet their growing needs at least not of international quality, brands pooled in energy and resources to target these men. The grooming fad was not limited to men in the corporate field - it spread to collegians and other youngsters too, growing the market further. Results: Men's fairness cream market in 1999: Did not exist Men's fairness cream market in 2009: Rs 100 crore Some Stats Launched in October 2005; first fairness cream for men in India Market size at Rs. 1367 mn ($ 29 mn) with a market share of 84% Contributing significantly to the top line Sales grew by 27% in FY1

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Sales
Other Brands 16%

Emami 84%

MAJOR Players today Emami's Fair and Handsome, launched in 2005, was followed by HUL, the makers of Fair and Lovely, which launched Fair and Lovely Mens Active in 2006. Beiersdorf AG, the German parent of Nivea, entered next with its Nivea for Men products. Smaller players include Elder Healthcare's FairOne Man, a Shahnaz Hussain franchise.

Cheap cars (Tata Nano) The Tata Nano is an inexpensive, rear engine; four-passenger city car built by the Indian company Tata Motors and is aimed primarily at the Indian domestic market. It was nick named as the One-Lakh car for its aggressive pricing strategy of keeping its price near 1 lakh. Seeing an opportunity in the great number of Indian families with twowheeled rather than four-wheeled vehicles, Tata Motors conceptualized and began development of an affordable car in 2003.The company is targeting lower income group with family, first-time buyers of car and motorcycle owners . A lot of importance was given to rural markets where the a lot of growth was expected from well to do families who till now could not afford a four wheeler. Nano was expected to prove wonders for the Indian car markets. Imagine the rich and upper middle-class will now buy the product for their servants to purchase vegetables. Rickshaw owners, who presently buy a Bajaj Auto at
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Rs 1.2 lakh, can replace it with a Tata Nanospend a few thousand on getting a LPG engine, and then charge customers at say Rs 10, instead of the present Rs 8. Imagine your driver coming to pick you up in a Nano, drive you to office in your Honda City, drops you back in a latter and goes back in a Nano. Endless opportunities indeed!

Cruise bikes (Royal Enfield)

Royal Enfield is a motorcycle manufacturer, having its current base in India. The company is the currently leading the 350 c.c. bike segment with their flagship product Bullet. Royal Enfield India was set up in 1955 when it started receiving 350cc bikes in kits from the UK and assembling them in Chennai, India. But, eventually the entire bike was manufactured in India and a couple of years later the Company started manufacturing the 500cc Bullet. By its sheer power, unmatched stability, superior riding comfort and rugged good looks, the Bullet dominated and continues to dominate the Indian roads. In the last ten years, the domestic two-wheeler industry has seen structural changes. With the growth of Indian economy the spending capacity of the Indian buyers increased. Prospective 2 wheeler buyers were not only looking for bikes with good mileage and durability, but a niche segment was created where customers were looking for bikes for thrill and adventure purposes. Bajaj and Yamaha tapped into this segment by launching Pulsar and FZ series bikes. Then came the segment for cruise bikes. Royal Enfield was targeted at middle class boy of the age group 18-31.It was designed specifically for people who were looking for cruise bikes. It was positioned as the Indian Harley Davidson. Its popularity and use by the
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defence forces further enhanced its image of a bike capable of taking on any terrains. Currently Royal Enfield with its range varied of bikes dominates the Indian cruise bike market. Its competitors in this segment include old players like Bajaj Avenger and new entrants like Hyosung motors.

Blackberry Phones Blackberrys world-wide success in the smart-phone category is a premier example of brand planning. It is a story about Blackberrys ability to shift when necessary to meet the markets changing needs. A key element for RIMs success in building the Blackberry brand was being able to respond quickly to opportunities. Blackberry was initially positioned as a business phone in India. It was aimed at corporate India and provided with value added services specifically targeting them. This resulted in them capturing the senior manager market for years in India. Many corporate executives swore by Blackberry and its services. While Blackberry has pretty much taped up the senior manager market for years now, their latest efforts are guaranteed to attract younger new users and strengthen their position even more. It was early on to identify the growing popularity of the smart phone market in Indian youth and swiftly moved to tap it. At the heart of it is a great product & pricing strategy. Priced at Rs.9,990 the Blackberry Curve is well within reach of junior or entry level managers and affluent young stars .It delivers a great mix of features at that price. With the growing popularity of social networking sites the young generation felt a compelling need to keep in touch at all times. The promotional campaigns for blackberry were also in perfect sync with their marketing strategy. The Do what you love. Love what you do add became an instant hit. It not only appeals to the work-obsessed, Type-A control freak but would also to those not in a typical 9 to 5 corporate career -creative professionals, entrepreneurs and college going youth.

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Freecharge.com (Fill Currency Fill Stomach)

Freecharge is a web based service which lets users to recharge any prepaid mobile phones in India. Freecharge user can recharge currency up to Rs 1000 and minimum recharge value is Rs 10. Freecharge is conceptualized and launched by a strategic marketing company called Accelyst which work with Indias top retail companies. To promote the usage, Freecharge has tied up with retailers like McDonalds, Barista where, upon recharging the user gets a free coupon equal to the amount charged which can be redeemed in the respective retail outlets, truly an amazing strategic partnership. It gives notion to user that they getting recharge free of cost. The online prepaid recharge business currently contributes to less than 1% of the total prepaid recharge but given the volumes of the Indian telecom industry even this amount runs in over 100s of Crores. The working model of Freecharge seems to be a sure winwin for mobile operators, retailers and the users. Its a win-win-win situation win for the customers, they get their value out of the recharge; win for the retailer because they are able to tap into a large mass of people; win for the company based on the Rs.10 leverage they charge for their services per transactions. The company plans to capture 50 per cent of the total online recharge business by 2011. Some of their unique marketing strategy like online marketing and event sponsoring has paid off.
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The website is already doing around 2,500 transactions every day, with over 20 per cent new visitors registering on every single day.

Conclusion
This report sets out to examine the how every brand is ultimately a niche brand and the connection between Niche brands and the concept of Added Value, and how those brands were able to offer to the consumer some extra value over that of its competitors or generic products. It also looked at contrasting Niche brands with more established global or commodity brands to ascertain if the fundamental characteristics of branding were applicable to a wide range and variety of brands. Should a niche brand manager direct and control their brand in the same way a multi - national brand manager would operate with global brands, or do niche brands require a totally different approach to the interaction with the consumer and the market in terms of adding value to their product or service? In general whether it is a niche or a mainstream brand, the most important job for the brand manager is to communicate the perceived added benefits to the customer. How this is done largely depends on the resources of the organisation but ultimately it will be the customer who decides whether the perceived benefit is worth the premium asked. The primary research under taken are that of Lilliput, Emamis mens fairness cream, Cadburys Celebrations, Tata Nano, Royal Enfield, Blackberry phones and Freecharge, Louis Vuitton and Rolex where we tried to find out why their loyal customer base purchased from this company when they could probably acquire similar products at cheaper prices, from other sources that they were already aware of through product research. The answer from the customers asked, seemed to indicate it was because of the added value attached to the brand by way of customer service . In the first part of this paper the question was asked what is the definition of a Niche Brand is it based on the size of the brand or the size of the target market? The answer to this is that it can be based on either or both of these. A niche brand does not necessarily have to be controlled by a small organisation, It also needs to inspire higher levels of loyalty due to the relative size of the target market; the brand requires the consumer to repeat their consumption over and over again. Brand loyalty is important for all brands but for niche brands it is fundamental to the very existence of the brand. Brands succeed because they capitalise on their unique characteristics which others find difficult to copy or emulate. These unique benefits will offset their premium prices and so they will create value - added brands.
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This key concept is critical to all brands whether they are niche or appeal to a wide range of customers. They must in some way give something extra to the consumer over the generic competitor so the concept of added value must apply to all brands regardless of their size. For the niche brand that is managed by the niche company (SME) they may not be able to take advantage of economies of scale or have huge resources for mass promotional campaigns, so they must look to add value from other sources . They will be able due to their size, to stay much closer to the customer and be aware of and understand their needs. Their size allows them the flexibility and most importantly the ability to deliver superior performance over generic brands. The niche company will view them as normal day - to day business activities in the pursuit of customer satisfaction and ultimately competitive advantage as opposed to actively developing value added brand strategies. All Niche brands are not the same and will not be controlled by the brand manager in the same way. Due to resources niche brands handled by niche companies will be managed differently than niche brands from multi nationals, but the underlying values and concepts are relevant to both, which is that they are appealing to a specialist target market who expect and appreciate added value . We would contend that the niche brand is now a more viable proposition than the more mainstream traditional commodity brands, which are now consistently under threat from in - house, own label brands that are increasingly being offered. Traditional branding is no longer offering the added value that differentiated it from the generic offerings, as products are becoming ever more standardised. However for the niche brand customer, value has been built up over a period of time by establishing a relationship that is based on offering added value through differentiation and offering high levels of service to a specialised target markets needs, which responds in kind with customer loyalty and by paying a premium . If niche brand companies focus on added value, then the consumer will assess the companys offering on criteria beyond its basic products. The consumer then will build a relationship with the niche brand company as opposed to a traditional brand concept. We firmly believe that the future of brand development will focus much more on the added value of niche brands as a way of counteracting the continued dominance of the supermarket giants.

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