India’s Best to be out soon

Interbrand released its 13th annual report on Best Global Brands recently and the global branding consultancy is now gearing up to release an India specific report on best brands which would be released in the first quarter of 2013. After Omnicom acquired a majority stake in DDB Mudra Group in November last year, Water, its brand strategy and design consultancy, became a part of the Interbrand network. The integration of Water into the Interbrand network is expected to be completed by early 2013 with Water becoming Interbrand India.

Talking about the integration, Graham Hales, CEO, Interbrand London, who was in Mumbai recently to launch the Best Global Brands report, said, "We would like to see Water extending itself to the whole range of interactive services for the Indian brands." In terms of what Water can leverage from the Interbrand network, he says that Interbrand's core strength is about creating and managing brand values. "We concentrate on how we can create value in brands and the process that we follow to achieve this is to create value, manage it and then evaluate where we have got to. Thus it is create, manage and evaluate. It is a cyclical approach. And also, it is about the overall brand journey. So there can be individual projects that might not be adding value to the brand but you have to see it in terms of the road map to help the brand fulfill its potential value. As reports like Best Brands prove, every year brands have a huge potential to grow, even in years such as 2012 when the economy is not very good."

Ashish Mishra, chief strategist and head, Water (Interbrand India) says that Water has to leverage, gain and learn from the experience of Interbrand at two levels – processes and operation. "In terms of processes, we have to learn from Interbrand's brand value and strategic approach. In terms of systems, it is more at an operational level. April onwards we have been working at it. There are a lot of plans being discussed and implemented, new clients and resources that we are speaking to."

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