Sekhar's Blog

1. The Marketing Solutions & Services Provider
The Art of (not) Living through
Branding
Once the domain of multi-million dollar corporations, the
concept of branding is being embraced by individuals and
small businesses as a means to distinguish themselves
from the competition. It takes time and patience to
develop an effective brand, both in the creation and the
implementation phase. A brand cannot be created
overnight; it is planned, maintained, groomed. But, if
done effectively, the process is well worth the
energy..........And that's what, perhaps, we have always
believed!
My brand is the public image of my business. It is my
reputation. It is my promise to my clients. My Brands
shape consumers’ perceptions and expectations of me.
Branding does not come cheap. It involves sales
promotions and advertising and years of hard work and
disciplined efforts and focus. With my personal
experience in a couple of multinational companies for
over a decade, I have seen myself how much flesh and
blood we infused to the skeleton to bring life to a
Brand. Today as I move in the Industry, I find some
clients proudly sharing with me the Brand names of
products that he uses in his feed milling operations that
I had myself promoted sometime ago. The feeling is so
enticing and satisfying that all my efforts on the brand
building during my years of employment has actually
reaped results! It is a different story that the same
client is caught unaware when you actually step into his
warehouse and find a 'generic' form of the Brand which he
was factually using and not the original brand that he
had mentioned a while ago! Doesn't matter to him, Brand

2. The Marketing Solutions & Services Provider
or no-Brand, the cost difference between the two can be
compelling at times. And for you, who has put in life to
the Brand means a hell lot! It is so disgusting!
After all those years that you have invested in Branding
your product and by the time when you think you should
now start reaping the fruits of your efforts, you
suddenly find tsunamis of generic products that hit the
ports in all the territories. It was only last year, when
your client was so satisfied with the efficacy of your
Brand that he started exploring for 'other' cheaper
options. In the process of doing so, he has already
floated inquiries to several traders not readily
realizing that his marketing efforts in creating demand
(or killing your Brand?) had been effective many times
compared to what actually the company selling the Brand
could do in years. And before you could realize what
happened, hordes of traders are now ready with the copy-
cats of the Brand selling on price. You can expect them
to make similar claims that a Brand could promise in
terms of composition and efficacy. For the sake of price,
your client is also ready to compromise on the source and
quality of such products. They use the product and say
"we have no problems whatsoever" with the quality and you
have no right to question them any further as you better
be aware that there are 153 variables effecting the
performance of the bird...and your product is just one of
them!
Well....lack of quality checks of raw material and feed
additives, inadequate control on farms and performance
parameters will ensure that these generics will make hay
when the sun shines...or I can't be wrong if I say when
the sky is still overcast with dense clouds.
Particularly in the case of antibiotics, producers do not
hesitate to add a ‘mug’ of extra generic product into the

3. The Marketing Solutions & Services Provider
formulation with smile on the face that despite of doing
so, he still spends less compared to a Brand. What he
might not be considering is the fact that overdosing or
under dosing of some product categories like say AGPs and
anticoccidials, might can lead to development of
resistance over a period of time. So what we have as an
industry accomplished with all our sincere efforts on
bringing down our costs of feed formulation is, we have
ensured that a good potential feed additive candidate has
become ‘impotent’ and killing my dear innocent BRAND
forever.
Friends, we have very little choice of options in most of
the feed additive categories, many have lost their sheen
due to irresponsible usage. Let us play a responsible
role as a livestock citizen of this universe to ensure
that we let the Brands live.
Authored by:
Dr. Sekhar Basak,
Managing Director,
Innovista Consulting,
Better known for “Innokit” and “Konzerve Plus”
HP: +91-9871203111
Homepage: www.innovistaconsulting.com