Mangaldeep, ITC Limited’s flagship brand of incense sticks used primarily for religious purposes, was second in India’s market share, with good profitability, but sluggish topline growth. Mangaldeep offered a range of products covering the economy, popular, and premium categories. Price per stick was the key parameter industry players focused on, but many consumers sought benefits beyond price. Janani Kandaswamy, category brand lead for ITC’s Incense and Fragrances, had identified five distinct segments for for puja on the basis of consumers’ motivation for the prayer ritual and the manner of expressing devotion. In February 2019, Mangaldeep had a single broad positioning across its portfolio, as the brand of pure worship, which helped connect to the divine. But Kandaswamy believed that it was time to move away from a one size fits all positioning. She had to design a portfolio strategy to double revenue over three years, tap into new growth opportunities, and make Mangaldeep the most loved devotional brand in the category.
In March 2023, Campbell Wilson, managing director and CEO of Air India, announced that the owners of the airline, the Tata group, planned to consolidate their airline portfolio. On the one hand, the group’s two full-service carriers (FSCs), Air India and Vistara, would be merged to form a single brand; on the other hand, so would the group’s two low-cost carriers (LCCs), Air India Express and Air Asia India. Wilson had joined Air India in June 2022, only a few months after the Tata group had taken over the debt-ridden airline from the government of India. Although it was clear that the Tata group wanted to consolidate its airline portfolio into one FSC brand and one LCC brand, some industry experts had expressed doubts about the Air India–Vistara merger, given their very different brand associations and heritage. Deciding whether to consolidate the brands was not easy. Would doing so be the right decision strategically, or should other options be explored?
In January 2019, Mohit Sehgal, assistant manager in the marketing team of Legrand India (Legrand), part of a global conglomerate in the electrical and digital infrastructure sector, had been asked to propose initiatives to enhance the brand’s visibility and deepen stakeholder engagement based on the chosen brand platform: Advantage Legrand. The Legrand brand, present in India since 1996, represented a vast product portfolio and was connected to multiple stakeholders with diverse needs. It had successfully grown its business in India with a focus on customer-centricity, a heavy investment in research and development, and a focus on innovation and design. While Legrand was well-respected and strongly associated with premium, ethical products, brand awareness was limited, especially among end-consumers, and the brand was perceived as distant. The Advantage Legrand brand promise was initiated as a first step in increasing the brand’s charisma. Legrand had also worked to enhance customer and stakeholder experiences, expanding brand touchpoints to include experience centres and virtual showrooms and working to deepen its engagement with end-users through social media campaigns. One year after the launch of Advantage Legrand, Sehgal needed to propose a brand-building strategy for the coming year and work out the implementation details. He was excited as he prepared for his upcoming presentation.
In November 2016, the two co-founders of the Delhi-based Greenco Enterprises India Pvt. Ltd. were getting ready to launch a range of frozen snacks in the competitive Indian market. Their strategy was to penetrate the already established non-vegetarian frozen snacks market with fast-moving popular products and grow the vegetarian frozen snacks market with differentiated offerings. As the January 2017 launch date approached, they had to get their pricing and distribution strategy in place. For a new brand with a limited budget, securing shelf space was a challenge. The two founders wondered whether the company should focus all of its efforts on building a retail brand in the business-to-consumer segment, or whether it should consider institutional sales in the business-to-business space. How could the initial investment and running costs be balanced with the need to stay competitive in the market?
In April 2015, two years after launching Sattviko, a casual dining restaurant, the venture had three restaurants in Delhi. The two entrepreneurs who had established Sattviko wanted to continue growing but were feeling cash-constrained. Meanwhile, the online technology-based food industry in India was growing with an influx of venture funding. The entrepreneurs could take advantage of this wave and pursue venture capital, but they might have to shift their business focus to do so. Should they shift the Sattviko value proposition and brand positioning to grow their business?