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Understanding Real Estate Branding through the study of the brand

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Industry analysis

According to some reports India is among the top 20 countries globally that has the strongest momentum in its real estate index. Coming in second only to China, the countrys real estate industry is galloping ahead due to its fast growing urbanization, changing consumer spending habits, changing demographics, greater average purchasing power and other favorable factors. Not only that but even non resident Indians (NRIs) and other international private and corporate entities are landing on the countrys shores to invest in real estate and to set shop in the countrys booming industries. One can only see how much the prices have shot up along the years, with some cities being prohibitively expensive for both. The economic upset of the past couple years have also made an impact in the sense that now real estate developers in India are beginning to adjust the prices a little this year to keep their businesses viable and keep the consumers more interested.

However, owing to the slow growth of Indian economy in the last two years this field of business has shown a deceleration. The real estate sector has come down to 6.5% in the financial year 2012-2013 from a thriving 7.8% in the year 2009-2010. As per the economy survey, the housing sector in India contributes nearly 5% to the overall GDP of the nation. Real estate ranks 4th, in regard to the multiplier effect of the countrys financial system. Apart from generating a huge level of employment, this sector also acts as a stimulant for more than 250 subsidiary industries like building materials, cement, consumer durables, brick, paint, steel, and so on. Some of the major challenges that the real estate industry in the country is facing today are deficiency of proper industry status, absence of title insurance, lack of land titles that are clear, not having enough financial sources, scarcity of laborer, increasing cost of material and manpower difficulties in getting approval for different procedures involved. However, with the execution of monitory policies by RBI, it has been predicted that the latter half of 2013, will experience a growth in real estate sector. So, a real estate company in India will survive successfully if it also specializes in warehousing logistics in India with a perfect synchronization.

Competitive Landscape
(COMPARING TOP REAL ESTATE COS IN KOLKATA IN TERMS OF BRANDING)

EMAMI CITY Product Features: All typical features of a premium condo Tagline: Buidling with trust for a better tomorrow Brand Proposition: trust the company to provide quality infrastructure

BENGAL AMBUJA Product Features: All typical features of a premium condo Tagline: Building with passion.. to make a difference to the way people live Brand proposition: Affordable quality living

Mani group Product Features: All typical features of a premium condo Tagline: Change for good Brand proposition: Modern and innovative architecture at affordable pricing

DLF Product Features: All typical features of a premium condo Tagline: Building India Brand proposition: Unique and innovative housing that focuses on customer satisfaction

About The Brand

History & Overview about the considered brand: Umbrella Brand- Emami ltd. Established in 1974, Emami is a trusted name in FMCG Personal and healthcare business has a strong brand recall o Brand proposition is providing herbal beauty solutions Family Brand- Emami Realty Established in 2006, leverages upon the family brand for proving credibility Real estate business has strong brand recall in Kolkata owing to several real estate projects undertaken Brand proposition is to trust the company to provide quality infrastructure as the positioning statement goes building with trust for a better tomorrow Contradictory/Negativity brand association due to connection with the recent AMRI fire Product Brand- Emami City One of kind ventures of Emami Real Estate which leverages upon the corporate brand name Value proposition- Modern, elegant and a fully equipped residential complex Brand promises a perfect life, comfort and relaxation due to world class amenities Brand identity described through Kapferers Prisms

Brand DNA

Brand PersonalityFive core dimensions (Brand Personality Dimensions of Jeniffer Aaker)Sincerity- Family oriented, wholesome Excitement- Spirited, imaginative, up-to-date, young, contemporary, unique Competence- Reliable, successful Sophistication- Middle/upper class, glamorous, charming Ruggedness- Outdoorsy, western Products and servicesLargest residential complex in north Kolkata Largest open sky landscape garden, water body, walking track, greenery Amenities like clubhouses, pharmacy, gaming arenas, indoor stadium, swimming pool, caf and lounge Consumer ViewsOffers a good standard of living, far from downtown, affordable pricing Internal BeaconCommunication through print ads draw the imagery of an aspirational life that the modern youth of today strives to achieve owing to a greater disposable income and more global exposure.

Field Visit
We conducted a research across residential complexes in Kolkata. Details of these visits are as followsObjective of the exercise: To understand the nuances of real estate branding Objective of the research: To understand brand perception of Emami City Objectives of the questionnaire design: 1. To check for the awareness and perception of brand Emami 2. To check for the awareness and perception of Emami City 3. To study the most preferred characteristics in condos (in order to recommend as to what the marketing campaigns should focus on) TG chosen: People already living in housing apartments (for them aspirational living would be upmarket condos); employees of Emami City (who currently own apartments at Emami City) Analysis: The responses that were recorded were run through SPSS for analysis. Also, key insights from some in-depth interviews have been listed

Results: We checked for the awareness level of the corporate brand to see if it was indeed right for Emami City to leverage upon the same for all its branding exercises.

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46.15% of the respondents know that Boroplus and Fair & Handsome are products of Emami.

They are satisfied with the products and perceive them as good quality. We checked for the awareness of Emami City and also association of Emami with the AMRI accident, which can possibly give it a negative brand association. Results are as follows-

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The good, bad and neutral is solely dependent on whether the respondent is aware or still remembers the AMRI fires. More than half the target group does not have a positive brand recall of Emami City which can be a challenge for the company

We also tried to understand that which attributes are the most sought after ones when our TG wants to buy an apartment. Results are as follows-

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Proximity from workplace / school is most important factor Security is the second most important factor according to the survey Proximity from airport is least important

Key Take Aways and Recommendations All creative, print ads used at present by Emami City highlight aspects related to size of the property, cleanliness, greenery and healthy living. As per our survey, the attractiveness of such condos increase when they are close to regular places of visit like schools, colleges or workplace. Thus, there should be focus on how Emami City is just X km away from downtown, or how all routes to and from Emami City are not congested with traffic or the roads have fast moving traffic. Since security is crucial to our TG, there should be more focus on any surveillance systems, CCTV cameras that might be installed in complex for continuous monitoring. One of the biggest challenges would be to erase memories of the AMRI fire in order to make the brand recall positive. Instead of directly tackling this issue by not taking responsibility or blame (done in the past), the brand needs to carry out campaigns and exercises that instead focus on how they care for the safety of their customers. They need to act more sensitive to this issue instead of being defensive. Thus, all of their family brand communication should focus on being customer-centric and extra care for the safety of the customer. Also, the brand awareness level at present is very low. The only investments made in the apartments as of now is by employees of Emami as they intend to sell it at a higher price later. While it is true that sooner or later, property of any kind gets sold due to the burgeoning population, in order to have a more promising future in

realty and for quicker returns, marketing campaign needs to be executed more proactively. Customer engagement level is very low at present. The company can think of campaigns integrated with digital media for a wider reach. A lot of consumer insights gathered during the interviews and surveys pointed at the perception that Emami City might not be a property of superior quality but will be affordable as Emami, the FMCG product stands for affordable beauty solutions aimed at the middle and lower income group. However, the offering of Emami City is very premium and at par with any premium builder like DLF. This is one of the biggest challenges that the marketing communication needs to counter. Can be countered if Emami City associates itself with deemed classy actors, popular particularly in West Bengal (this is also one of the typical ways used by Emami- associating themselves with a brand ambassador) (Pl Note: The Excel Sheet attached has more details of the survey conducted along with additional insights and how the analysis was conducted)