Focus on brand building, exhorts Al Ries

Think it in India, make it in China', should be the mantra for all companies wanting to make it big in the global arena, said Al Ries marketing strategist and chairman Ries & Ries.

While admitting that India was the intellectual powerhouse, Ries quipped, it was not enough to say what one was doing-it must be demonstrated.

Ries was confident that India had the potential to design and produce global brands, going by the success of Indian entrepreneurs in the US.

Laura Ries, president Ries & Ries, added that India produced the highest number of PhD graduates. However she said that India must come up with better-branded universities.

Speaking at the conclusion of the brand summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry, she stated, "Colleges such as the Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management produce gifted people but India must have worldwide branded schools such as Harvard, Standford and Yale."

The Ries duo also advised companies to step back from an advertising-only approach and focus on use of public relations for brand building.

Small companies should go in for this as well, for brand building was not based on cost but focus. "Watch out for Walmart -- the economy store chain will sweep the world", they added.

The CII summit attracted over 320 delegates including 19 from south-east Asia, the chairman of CII eastern region Sanjay Budhia said.

"The response justified the decision to bring in Reis from USA and take the summit global," said Sandipan Chakravortty, chairman of the organising committee and managing director of Tata Ryerson.

Taking up on what he spoke on at Thursday's inaugural session, Al Ries summarised that his advice to IT majors was: Narrow the focus. Indian IT majors try to establish presence in all kinds of software solutions.

As an example, he said Microsoft specialises in personal computer software, Oracle in database software and SAP in ERP software.

In contrast, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro do everything, instead of just focusing on one specific solution.

According to Ries, the biggest mistake and perhaps the most prevalent was to extend a successful brand to other products.

"Theoretically, if you have a good brand it will work on something else, but in reality it does not happen."

Mercedes-Benz lost money and goodwill by selling cheap cars and IBM has been losing money on personal computers for 20 years because the car-maker was a premium brand, and IBM was a mainframe brand.

To explain the belief in the power of a single brand, Ries compared it with religion and said, the biggest problem in the world today was religion. Religion was belief in something without the slightest evidence of it being true.