Brand Management becomes really
complicated when keep adding more brands and do not build them but try to
create a family under one brand (umbrella branding). For consumer goods this
strategy can work but ultimately you have to build a personality of the brand
and associate positive and relevant stories around the brand. However, if you
are planning out to move into a premium segment, you are sadly mistaken!
Before, analyzing where Q Mobile
went wrong, let us begin with someone who did it right. One of this greatest
luxury brands Lexus. A lot of people would be surprised to read that Lexus is a
Luxury Car Division of Toyota Motor Corporation. In 1983, the then President
initiated the project with an aim of creating a luxury vehicle challenging the
world’s best. A top advertising agency was hired and a specialized image
consultancy firm was hired to suggest its name. There are two stories
associated with the name Lexus, the first one suggests the combination of luxury and elegance; the other theory suggests it means luxury imported to the US. From the word go, Toyota despite owning
the company detached “Toyota” from it.
But why??
Each brand has its unique
associations, associating a luxury car with a brand that is everyone’s car,
would not work. Till today, Lexus operates in a brand new world, its
dealerships/showrooms can outshine the likes of Mercs and Beamers. Today, it is
one of the major share holders and global premium car market. Do you think it
would have been possible with a Toyota logo on it??
Coming back to Q Mobile.
Considering Pakistan’s telecom consumption rate, mobile handsets have created a
separate class of its own. A market dominated once of Nokia now have other
players like Samsung, Apple, HTC, Sony, LG, Motorolla, Q Mobile, Voice, Mega
Gate and a lot of Chinese brands including replicas. In such a competitive
market, fortune lies certainly at the bottom of the pyramid where apart from
Apple all brands compete. One prominent feature of a low price segment is
higher handset change ratio. Therefore, the market is forced to offer better
value proposition while remaining in the same price bracket. But if suddenly
and brand comes up with a Rolls Royce and top model, eye brows will certainly
raise. A premium/luxury mobile phone albeit less than ten thousand rupees….What
a deal!
In luxury brand industry, price is the biggest
P. Yes it is. A little high and you not quite make and a little low your
customers not quite feel it. So what could have been done? This leads me to an
interesting mobile handset brand called VERTU.
It is a hand-made, gold plated, diamond studded brand which is essentially
a Nokia. Until recently, it was wholly owned by Nokia. Are you surprised?
If Q Mobile were to seriously
launch a new mobile handset in the premium category, here is what they need to
do:
- Create a separate brand, build a new image and disassociate its image from Q Mobile.
- Since their hardware cost is quite low, come up with premium features to build up the price.
- Or forget premium brand and focus on the lower price segment in which the company is doing really well.
Last but not the least Q is just
an alphabet and it definitely does not mean Qadyani
Mobile. Q could stand for Quran or Quaid-e-Azam. One has to be a little more
creative.
