ABSTRACT

BRANDING AND MARKETING IN EMERGING MARKETS

* Mr.M.Prakash
*Mr.C.Prasanna kumaran
# Ms. M.Suriya priya
Countries such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, South Africa,
Egypt, and several others were either socialist economies or controlled capitalist economies.
They were closed from the global economy for a long time. All these countries are also
characterized by substantial population levels, improvements in physical, intellectual and
financial capital. Many of these countries have opened their economies to foreign direct
investment and thereby taken a step towards a fuller integration with the global economy. It is
estimated that these countries comprise a whopping 86 percent of the worlds market.
Marketing successfully to the 86 percent is imperative for companies that want to remain
globally competitive.
On the one hand, the heightened consumerism, and rapid globalization, is presenting
global marketers with immense opportunities. On the other hand, these opportunities are riddled
with some unique challenges for market solutions for emerging markets are different from those
for the developed markets. Developing and implementing these solutions often demands
innovation, and an inexhaustible drive to overcome obstacles in adapting to local conditions.
Time tested brand strategies that worked very well in the developed world, sometimes fail in
emerging markets, causing companies to incur losses, and lose great marketing opportunities.
Although many economies are aggressively developing their economies, it is usually Asia that
manages to capture the global attention.
This paper deals with a deeper analysis of the hard facts that presents the tremendous
evolution happening in Asia, the most important of all the other emerging markets. It also
examines this critical lacuna and suggests some strategies that companies in these emerging
economies can pursue to build world class brands.
*Lecturer in Management studies, Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram
*Asst. Professor in Management studies, CMS College of Engineering, Namakkal
#
M.B.A. (I year), Dept of Management Studies, Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram.

INTRODUCTION:
When a business is attempting to enter into an emerging market, it is important to
conduct the proper research. Businesses who fail to develop a branding strategy often fail in the
market and loss money.
BRANDING:
According to Vincent Grimaldi de Puget, a brand strategist, branding is the blend of art
and science that manages associations between brands and memories in the mind of the brand's
audience. In other words, branding is completed once a brand is established and the need for
marketing, advertising and promotions are established. However, what does it mean for a
business owner with a business, idea, concept or product in a new market? These business
owners face the challenge of branding in emerging markets.
Before concepts are identified for effective branding strategies for new and emerging
markets, the core components of branding must be identified. These core competencies are:
The brand is the product, service, business or individual that you want to establish a
presence with. Think about it this way; the things you buy and use every day are brands
regardless of their popularity.
The attributes are those things that make the product or service worth buying or using. On
the other hand, value is the worth to the buyer. You may have that one thing you cant live
without and that is your perceived value of that product.
EMERGING MARKET:
An emerging market is a new or up and coming market that is untapped. Emerging
markets can become a silent killer to businesses if market research is not conducted. Even
companies with a popular brand carelessly enter into markets without researching them and thus
lose millions.
Emerging markets are countries that are restructuring their economies along marketoriented lines and offer a wealth of opportunities in trade, technology transfers, and foreign
direct investment. According to the World Bank, the five biggest emerging markets are China,
India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia. Other countries that are also considered as emerging markets
include Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Poland, Turkey, and South Korea. These countries

made a critical transition from a developing country to an emerging market. Each of them is
important as an individual market and the combined effect of the group as a whole will change
the face of global economics and politics.
Emerging markets stand out due to three major characteristics. First, they are regional
economic powerhouses with large populations, large resource bases, and large markets. Second,
they adopt open door policies to replace their traditional state interventionist policies that failed
to produce sustainable economic growth. Third, they are the world's fastest growing economies,
contributing to a great deal of the world's explosive growth of trade. By 2020, the five biggest
emerging markets' share of world output will double to 16.1 percent from 7.8 percent in 1992.
India ranks among the well known emerging markets in the global economic scenario.
Since the economic liberalization policies were undertaken in the 1990s, emerging market India
has really prospered which has helped to boost the Indian economy to a great extent. The main
factors behind this booming emerging market are the economic liberalization and the perfect
competition market, the high standard of living and per capita income, the development of
medical facilities and infrastructure, the increase in foreign investments and so on. Over the few
years, there has been a significant growth of the Indian market which has resulted in the high
Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The significance and vastness of emerging markets have been reasons for the marketers
across the globe to look at these markets to have a share of the whole marketing pie. At this
juncture, every marketer aims at having greater insight into emerging markets so that they are
able to understand their target market better and develop a marketing-mix just suited to their
needs.
THE VALUE OF BRAND IN EMERGING MARKETS
Branding when done right, a brand can actually influence access, distribution, funding
and much more. A brand becomes a catchall for a promise and an expectation. And building a
brand is as much about creating a voice and establishing leadership as it is about creating the
mark and materials that represent the brand in two-dimensional form.
Brand as Beacon
Brands embody allegiances, affiliations and identities. When applied to communities,
clinics, hospitals, townships and small businesses in developing countries trying to attract
regulatory support, distribution channels, funding access or customers, a trusted brand

becomes the positive equivalent of the squeaky wheel. Newcomers (government, funders,
NGOs) expeditiously seek out well-defined, efficiently run community businesses and
organizations. A well-known brand name (lets just consider for a moment that a pretty icon isnt
necessary here) stands for something that is consistent.
Brand as Amplifier
1298 is a subsidized ambulance service started in India and funded by The Acumen
Fund. It received a boost of attention during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year when its
bright yellow vehicles emblazoned with the number 1298 the number to dial if you need their
service were highly visible in all media broadcast throughout the world during the multi-day
siege. Per the founders of the company, they had very little money to promote their endeavor so
they used what they had the panels of the vehicles themselves.
Brand as Connector
Oftentimes individual businesses or health care facilities or businesses that would
collectively benefit by working together can and should rally under a single umbrella brand
name. These organizations can attract more attention by collaborating under a single philosophy
and create an influential body that will have more power than it would as individual entities.
Once again, the power of a brand name can elevate purpose and awareness with a bit of attention
to the focus and crafting of a single-minded message. Alliances become more powerful when
their new partners or prospects know what to expect.
Brand as an Efficient Bridge of Trust
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a high profile NGO, set up
to meet the Millenium Development Goals. They have committed U.S. $14.9 billion dollars to
date to fund grant recipients in 140 countries.

Their primary function is to finance the fight

against these diseases yet they act a trusted partner to a multitude of stakeholders in the medical,
science, government, and non-governmental communities. They are only 6 years old but they
have achieved global recognition because of the standards and accountability connected with
their business practices. Because of their powerful brand name they and those associated with
them receive an automatic seat at the table for life-saving business discussions.
Brand Considerations for Emerging Markets
Over the last decade, many multinational brands have rushed in to emerging markets,
agog at the potential of billions of new consumers who had been liberated from planned
economies and protectionist barriers. Their wealth has generally grown much more impressively

than in the US or Europe. They are the next goldmine. But its not as simple as we had assumed
it would be. There have been as many disappointments as success stories. National pride and
cheaply made local goods often supersede the brand equity of a western brand. Competition for
the top tier of the market is fierce. And unfortunately, companies have dismissed the roles of
history and culture in their strategies for growing their brands in emerging markets.
Most multinationals have traditionally long resisted targeting the local consumer,
preferring instead to transplant offerings that were developed for their traditional developed
markets. The assumption has been that if we think a certain way about the world, then so goes
the rest of the planet. But context and culture have a funny way of changing meaning and
purpose. That being said, three reasons are often cited for the reticence to localizing strategies
and messaging. The first is that the mass market for any single emerging economy is not large
enough to justify the effort and cost of localization. In other words, there may be a billion
potential customers down the road, but there is risk in jumping in at the deep end. Second,
multinational managers rationalize; emerging market consumers are growing more affluent by
the day and are becoming more like their affluent-market counterparts both in behavior and in
purchasing power. Luckily, with the success of brands like Pizza Hut and Nike overseas, the
view is beginning to change. Finally, it is argued that to adapt to local market conditions in
every emerging economy will undermine core assumptions about standardization that are
fundamental to the success of multinationals. The catch in all this is that these assumptions just
dont hold water.
First, products and brands transplanted from existing, economically powerful markets
typically appeal to the affluent or those aspiring to the upper socio-economic echelons. Delving
deeper into the consumer base to establish mass-market positions would create the economies of
scale necessary to justify localization. And localization along characteristics that are common
across emerging markets, allows the costs to be spread over much larger volumes. In other
words, while size matters, we need to fundamentally rethink how we structure our cost
assumptions.
The argument that emerging market consumers are rapidly becoming more like their
Western markets is true, but only to a point. The rate of change is not as rapid as contended. We
need to remember that change is not a one-way street emerging markets influence us, changing
the nature of what a brand means on a global scale. Also, we have to bear in mind that what we
see as becoming like us is derived from our worldview, not theirs. That means it is an

interpretation that is filtered through existing cultural norms. Americans and Chinese may both
embrace the cowboy image of Coors, but the cowboy image means radically different things in
each culture. It is far from certain to what degree Chinese and Indian preferences will converge
with those of Europeans or Americans. It is as most reasonable to assume that they will be driven
by cultural norms. That means that to be successful, brands should focus on current needs and
cultural patterns, evolving with them as they grow and change.
Consumers in emerging markets tend to shop daily and have 365 opportunities a year to
switch brands. That provides more opportunities to message, yes, but those messages have more
competition, more distractions and shorter periods to make an impact. Consequently, thinking
about how we reach people in emerging markets requires a significant reorientation of how we
use media.
The billions of consumers we seek in emerging economies will remain elusive targets
unless we are able to rethink how we approach these populations. It isnt enough to jump into a
market and assume people will buy; we need to understand who they are and how they
understand make sense of the world.
THE 7 STEPS TO BUILD POWERFUL BRANDS IN EMERGING MARKETS
Emerging markets with its many countries, cultures, business practices and customer
segments is much more complex than other any other region in the world. The clusters are made
up of certain highly developed countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and
Hong Kong with ultra urban and modern consumers with deep pockets, many rapidly growing
countries such as Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Russia, Thailand and others with consumers
willing to experiment with new products and a number of other still developing countries such as
Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and others with
people living below the poverty line and consuming only the bare minimum. Unlike the markets
in US and Europe where markets and customers have reached a certain level of understanding
and sophistication, these markets still demonstrate branding infancy. The mindset, the
complexity of business structures, the diversity of demographic composition and the huge
geographic extant requires certain unique branding steps. Here are some essential steps:
Create a strong differentiation:
In many of the still developing countries such as Argentina, Chile, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka
and Vietnam, Western brands are still looked up to as people in these countries aspire to own the

global brands. With many local companies striving to create similar products at lower prices, the
Western brands would do good to create a strong differentiation by leveraging their brand equity.
Similarly, local brands that aspire to make it big must tap into the unique cultural associations
and local myths to weave the brand into the societal fiber.
Establish a strong distribution network:
Brazil, Russia, India and China, which constitutes four of the biggest economies of the
emerging block, are very vast countries and distribution in these countries holds the key to
success in many industry sectors. A major percentage of the population lives in rural areas which
are not usually covered by the major brands. But with an increased migration of consumer from
the rural side into main stream economy, success in these rural areas will prove critical. Some
major brands such as P&G, Unilever have benefited from such a focus in India. Coca-Cola has
also recognized this emerging phenomenon and has expanded beyond the urban cities of
Shanghai and Guangzhou and into the heartlands of China.
Glocalize:
As the emerging economies mature gradually, they start developing a strong sense of
individual consumption identity. This is evident from the increasing demand for products which
are localized to suit the local preferences of customers. Global brands which enter these markets
must retain their brand identity at the strategic level but localize the tactical implementation such
as the communication, product offerings and so on. This combination of global brands with local
products will allow the global companies to weave their brands into the fabric of the local society
and make the brand a part of the community. Similarly, local brands must leverage their
knowledge of the local consumer must create a brand identity that not only appeals to the
customers but also crates pride about the origins of the brand.
Leverage cross-border synergies:
In spite of the many differences between these countries, companies can leverage the
scale of operations and supply chain across borders to optimize profitability. The relatively lower
cost of production offers companies a fine platform to serve the entire region. By standardizing
the major part of the product and fine tuning the final offering to suit the local tastes, companies
can minimize cost and gain scale.
Recognize and respond to the unique regional markets:
Asia, Eastern Europe and South America are mosaics of cultures and rich heritage. Each
country has a unique pattern of consumption. Companies should be careful not to generalize

across them as a homogenous region by ignoring the glaring regional and national uniqueness.
Managers aspiring to participate in these booming markets need to have a good appreciation of
the above challenges. As each country is fast evolving and integrating with the global economy,
none of these challenges and market situations are static. Businesses should develop the
flexibility to quickly react to the changes in the market and adapt their strategies to successfully
compete and survive.
Collaborate and co-create:
Many global and regional companies entering these new markets have collaborated and
leveraged the resources of the local companies. The combination of strong brand equity, financial
prowess and the business acumen of the global brands and the local networks, established
distribution channels and the strong knowledge of local customers of the local companies would
offer a winning scenario. Such collaboration would not only facilitate a quicker entry into the
market but also would allow the entering company to learn the nuances of the local business
market.
Leverage the unique Asian culture:
Companies that plan to build brands in these emerging economies must leverage the
unique local culture to relate to the customers. Each country in the cluster has a very strong
history and heritage that has for long influenced the local cultures and practices of both
companies and consumers. Companies should tap into these specific details and incorporate them
in their brand personalities and identities so that customers can be offered an authentic
experience.
THE DOMINANT BRANDING STRATEGIES
Given these examples and brand cases it becomes apparent that there is no one size fits
all strategy for companies from the emerging economies to build global brands. But as has been
comprehensively discussed elsewhere including my book, there are three dominant strategies that
can be pursued by such companies in their quest to build global brands.
Organic growth strategy:
An organic growth strategy is where companies grow their brand on their own potential
without exploiting the possible synergies of other established brands. Companies strive to grow
organically by expanding in the same market or other markets by having full management
control over their brands. This strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages. As the

company is the sole owner of the brand, it gives the company a lot of leeway to decide on its
positioning and personality. It also provides companies with the freedom to invest in and
continuously manage the brand across all touch points.
Alliance growth strategy:
An alliance growth strategy is one in which companies enter into beneficial strategic
alliances which affords both companies the combined strengths of two brands. Further such a
strategy optimally utilizes the synergies between the two companies with a result that the
products and services offers by such an alliance would have the backing of two brand names. As
with any strategy, this too has its own advantages and disadvantages. When two companies
decide to combine two distinct brands (or a portfolio of brands), both companies reap the
advantages of access to new markets, distribution channels, customer segments and products.
Acquisition growth strategy:
An acquisition strategy is one where one companies acquires another company or brands
to leapfrog and grow. This strategy demands a huge financial outlay on part of the acquirer which
can be an obstacle in itself. Further, more than the acquisition itself, the post acquisition
integration poses tremendous challenges to companies. Integration involves multiple functions
within a company including people, processes, operations and brand practices. This integration
process often proves more challenging that the actual acquisition process itself. Though quite
arduous, this strategy proves very helpful for companies that venture into newer markets with
other well known brands.
These three dominant strategies offer companies considerable choice in pursuing their
branding blueprint depending on their internal resource capabilities, their core competencies and
the nature, tenor and character of the external competitive landscape in which they operate.
CONCLUSION
The changing market conditions have morphed branding from being a luxury for an elite
few to a strategic necessity to all businesses that wish to survive and thrive in the long run.
Companies across Asia, South America and Eastern Europe are gradually starting to understand
that if they want to emerge as serious contenders on the global scene and integrate with the
developed economies, they will have to invest in branding. The dominant economic model of the
previous era of closed economies no more operate in the present day. Countries across the world
are increasingly becoming connected. The world indeed is becoming flat. Given such changing

rules of the global economic landscape, emerging economies cannot merely rely on established
models of business and be complacent about their strategies.
Asian companies have taken the lead among emerging economies to show that changing
from the old to the new is possible. For a very long time, Asian companies managed to do
business without building resonating brands due to a number of factors such as government
protection from global competition, localized markets, and low cost. But with the raising
economic power of China and India in the global scene, the confidence levels of many Asian
companies are growing and more companies are aspiring to venture into the global market.
The addition of billions of people from these emerging economies is bound to change the
underlying character of the global business landscape. The integration of such new producers and
consumers into the main stream economy combined with capitalistic economic policies,
globalization of trade and breaking down of trade barriers will bring about an enormous change
in the global business order. If companies in these emerging economies realize the tremendous
opportunities that lay in times to come and embrace branding as a strategic tool in order to
exploit such the tremendous opportunities, the next generation of economic super powers may
very well emerge from these economies.