Ad gurus discuss 'brain tattoo' at summit

Just do it! Nokia. The first thing that comes to our mind when we read these words is Nike and cellphones. Effective advertising? Great brand recall? Experts would attribute it to brain tattoos. And its not something a smart marketeer thought of overnight. The concept has been around for decades.

As a panel of experts got together to discuss at the India Brand Summit in Mumbai on Friday, a brain tattoo is essentially a psychological impression that gets imprinted in your mind. However, if not consistent, it can also fade away and be replaced.

The key to creating an effective brand, one that lasts in the minds of the consumers, quite simply is to emotionally connect with them. Ashutosh Tiwari, vice-president marketing, Godrej Sara Lee, explains how when they needed to establish the 'Hit' brand it had to be looked as beyond selling a value proposition to the customer.

In fact, they decided to target every woman's association with her home and build on the "Ghar mera hai" theme. The idea is to create a unique brand that sticks to the consumers mind, it's not about a product with a unique selling proposition anymore. The brand has come to be equated with a person who the consumer identifies with and associates certain attributes with.

As Sripad Nadkarni of Marketgate Consulting says, apart from establishing an emotional connection with the consumer, a brand also has to be functional and follow some sort of cultural trend for the customer to be able to identify himself with it.

The most important thing is to decide what the brand stands for and make sure that it adheres to it and not give out conflicting messages which, in turn, would confuse the consumer.

On a less theoretical and more practical note, Prashant Pandey, deputy CEO of Radio Mirchi, had a few relevant points to make. While trying to build your identity, its equally important to be focused, not only in your communication but also what you do, which is how giants like Nokia have managed to establish themselves. At the end of the day, brands which had managed to create brain tattoos were also the more profitable brands.