Five tasks to build Brand India 2.0

Brand India has till now been successful on one important aspect, i.e. harping on Heritage, thru Incredible India campaign.

Going forward, Brand India 2.0 needs to work on several other aspects too!

What do we Offer as ‘Brand India’ – We need to define what value does India propose… for Indians in India, Indians abroad and finally the non-Indians. Keeping aside India’s cultural diversity, currently we propose too many things for too many people without a one solid ‘reason-why’. Diversity could be one, but it’s important as a heritage story for the brand. But going forward, we need to create something modern and fathomable too!

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What do we Talk about the brand – We need to carefully define what and how we project ourselves in our local and international media channels. Most of our AV media currently tends to hunt for sensationalism instead of pragmatism. Politics is not the only thing world is looking for. Developments in Culture, Science, Environment, Inventions (in India) etc. makes the world feel that India has arrived. Recent achievements like Mangalyaan was one such project opportunity that we are proud of. We need to add more to this kitty from various sectors.

What do we consistently Benchmark – We know that China offers too many comparable products cheaper all over the world – but with questionable quality! Indian product quality on the other hand, tends to get diluted in the race against matching Chinese prices. Cheaper and higher quality products is not a solution to tackle Chinese onslaught on our business. We need to achieve progressively better quality levels and benchmark against global standards each time. Only then we can hope to be seen “Made-In-India” become a formidable entity.

What do we promote or encourage – Most of the time, we see India’s Jugaad innovations either die naturally or get selective attention only abroad. Our brightest students get erased either by the system or by community, as it happened in the case of a recent topper-girl. We need to promote Innovation & Excellence Attitude across all levels of the govt. and society. Best of young minds do need to get immediate support of Education and Development ministries to nurture and fulfill their dreams.

How do we Attract attention to the brand – While the above aspects look into the internal aspects of Brand India, we also need to create icons that would showcase India to the world. Incredible India campaign showcased our natural and cultural diversity pretty well through existing heritage icons. We need to add to this diversity by creating newer icons that get attention from the global media. Mind boggling infrastructure, prestigious institutions and man-made eco-diversity parks are just some examples.

Brand India 1.0 was most difficult to organize but perhaps easy to conceptualize, as many things were ready, known and available; they just needed packaging.

Brand India 2.0 would not be an easy journey, as it would need far more commitment, involvement, investment, organization and resource allocation to make it successful.