India has traditionally been a tea drinking nation. The association of youth culture and coffee drinking opened up exciting avenues for the cafe market that earlier used to have lower priced offerings from udupi (small restaurants) cafes. The organized cafe market-which was branded and professionally run in terms of its marketing efforts-in India, it was worth INR 93100 million and was growing at 25-30% annually. Sensorial experience was vital to a café brand. Cafe Coffee Day had a striking lead in terms of pioneering the cafes in India. With brands such as Barista Lavazza, Gloria Jean's Coffees, and Au Bon Pain in the fray, the challenge for Cafe Coffee Day was to strengthen its strategic brand associations, taking several considerations into account. In categories such as beverages, brands need to build themselves on both symbolic and hedonic appeals besides offering good attributes and benefits. With cafes being associated with the urban youngsters, the challenge for brands is to ensure strong brand associations as they are a logical outcome of attributes, benefits, symbolism, and hedonism. With competitive brands of cafes offering quality of coffee that would no longer be a differentiator, Cafe Coffee Day had to establish itself on brand associations that would nurture its associations and give it a sustainable edge over the competitors. Such an approach proposes a few challenging questions : How should the brand differentiate itself from its competitors? What were the dominant associations of the brand, and how could it use these associations? How did loyal consumers of the brand perceive the brand? How could the brand develop unique associations and communicate these to its consumers? The case study emphasizes the importance of brand associations in a dynamic environment that is affected by competitive brands and changing lifestyles of consumers.

The Himalaya Drug Company is interested in obtaining insights into how the lifestyle of consumers is associated with the use of face washes, especially of its own brand. As the population of India, which is primarily under the age of 35, becomes more affluent and self-conscious, personal grooming has become more important. Several brands have positioned themselves in the market according to various attributes and benefits. Himalaya wants to understand the impact of values and lifestyles both on the category of face washes and on the brands in this category. The case makes use of a consumer survey conducted in December 2011 that investigated the lifestyle of consumers and connected it to various face wash brands through the concept of laddering. Were the attributes and benefits of the brands associated with the lifestyles of the consumers? How were values associated with brand association? Himalaya hopes to obtain insights through these questions to discover how it can effectively compete with its competitors through branding association.

The Himalaya Drug Company is interested in obtaining insights into how the lifestyle of consumers is associated with the use of face washes, especially of its own brand. As the population of India, which is primarily under the age of 35, becomes more affluent and self-conscious, personal grooming has become more important. Several brands have positioned themselves in the market according to various attributes and benefits. Himalaya wants to understand the impact of values and lifestyles both on the category of face washes and on the brands in this category. The case makes use of a consumer survey conducted in December 2011 that investigated the lifestyle of consumers and connected it to various face wash brands through the concept of laddering. Were the attributes and benefits of the brands associated with the lifestyles of the consumers? How were values associated with brand association? Himalaya hopes to obtain insights through these questions to discover how it can effectively compete with its competitors through branding association.