Taking India Places
Brand: Tata
Brand Tata has been a regular on the list of the world’s top brands for the past many years. According to global consultancy Brand Finance’s Global 500 list for 2010, the brand is 65th most valued in the world with a valuation of around $11.2 billion. While Tata has been a household name in India for decades, the brand acquired a global recognition following its current chairman Ratan Tata’s successful high profile acquisitions of leading brands in the world’s toughest markets. Beginning with the acquisition of Corus and following it up with the Jaguar-Land Rover buy in 2008, the group reinforced the emerging might of the Tata brand on the global platform. Much earlier, its acquisition of the Tetley brand and its steering of information and technology venture Tata Consultancy Services as India’s largest software exporter had earned it accolades in the corporate world globally. The group’s Nano project was also hailed across the world as an engineering wonder. The launch of the world’s cheapest small car in New Delhi was an event covered by the world media. Morgen Witzel, the author of the book, Tata ? The Evolution of a Corporate Brand, says, trust, reliability and community service are some of the values associated with the name Tata.
World, my driveway
Brand: Mahindra and Mahindra
After losing out on the iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover to Tata Motors in 2008, Anand Mahindra’s ambition has seen no bounds and in a short span, he has made the Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) brand one of the most talked about names in the global automobile space. His acquisition of beleaguered SUV maker Ssangyong Motors raised many eyebrows. Many global biggies such as Renault and Nissan backed out of the race to take over Ssangyong. M&M, however, stuck it out because the company saw immense potential in the buy given the company’s sound network that runs deep into South East Asia and parts of Europe and superior technologies to compete with the more popular SUV makers in the world. Pawan Goenka, president (automotive and farm equipment sector) M&M explained the rationale behind the acquisition by saying, ?Ssangyong fits into our scheme of things since our aspiration is to become a leading SUV player in the world. More than 85% of its sales are in the SUV segment.? M&M is now on an aggressive brand push into new markets, starting with the US where it plans to launch re-engineered models of the existing light truck Pik-up and SUV Scorpio. Its purchase of electric vehicle maker Reva also indicates it thirst to get into the environment-friendly segment. Meanwhile, the purchase of the beleaguered Satyam through Tech Mahindra in 2009 also indicates the group’s eagerness to take calculated risks as the start of an ambitious global strategy for growth..
?Ronojoy Banerjee
On a global pitch
Brand: Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has tasted stupendous success, not once, but all the three times it has been organised, proving that the 20-over cricket tournament is no flash in the pan, despite all the controversies surrounding it. Much of the credit for IPL’s unprecedented success goes to erstwhile commissioner Lalit Modi for transforming the tournament into a global brand in a short time. In its heydays, before the Modi imbroglio, IPL made it to the fourth spot on the Forbes list of the world’s hottest sporting properties. Brand valuation firm Brand Finance put the brand value of IPL at $4.1 billion ahead of the third season. It is, indeed, a global offering from Indian soil with players from different countries across the world, a global viewership, and the commercial interests of brands owned by multinationals. The popularity of the game worldwide can be gauged from the fact that internet giant Google tied up with IPL to show the matches on its video-sharing platform YouTube even as Modi harvested the business potential of the tournament to the hilt by getting on board general entertainment channel Colors, UFO Moviez and even the United Nations Environment Programme as its partners. ?IPL is going to become the world’s biggest brand. In any case, we are already India’s most global brand,? Modi had said before the third season of IPL.
?Vivina Vishwanathan