MK201x - Brand Management

Professor Preeti Krishnan Lyndem

Week 1: Products vs. Brands

Many people tend to use product and brand interchangeably, that is not correct usage. Let us now
watch a creative campaign from India and then discuss on these two terms. This campaign from
Unilever India addresses three hygiene needs specifically in rural India;
• clean hands,
• safe drinking water and
• clean toilets.
If you consider the products that is the marketable offerings.
• For clean hands soap or hand wash; the brand in the ad Lifebuoy.
• For safe drinking water, water filter the product, the brand in the ad Pureit.
• For clean toilets, product - toilet cleaner the brand in the ad Domex.
There can be one product for example hand wash and multiple brands in the market example Lifebuoy,
Dettol, Savlon, Santoor, Lux etc.

Let us know now narrow our focus on the Lifebuoy hand wash or soap. The product as we know is the
soap or the hand wash, the core benefit of cleaning hands. But remember a brand represents
everything we associate with the product. A brand is a promise, a pledge, an assurance, a commitment
to your customers. You might define a brand by words, but you build a brand by actions and everything
you do all the experiences you deliver influenced your brand.

So, what is the lifebuoy brand?

Let us now watch a couple of Lifebuoy campaigns to figure this out.

I. The Lifebuoy brand encompasses firstly simplistically the name Lifebuoy, the logo, the colours,
the look and feel aspects of the product and packaging. This is the visual identity of the brand.
II. Secondly the promise or the assurance or commitment made that their product can provide
99.9% germ protection, that's the core benefit. Assurance of any product from Lifebuoy.
III. Thirdly the mission based on the core values of Lifebuoy which is to alleviate avoidable
illnesses and premature deaths due to diseases from lack of hygiene in developing countries.

So, while the product is the marketable offering a brand comprises of the core values the promises
and visual identity giving your product a differentiated story vis-a-vis competitive brands selling the

© All Rights Reserved. This document has been authored by Professor Preeti and is permitted for use only within the course "Brand
Management" delivered in the online course format by IIM Bangalore. No part of this document, including any logo, data, illustrations, pictures,
scripts, may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the author.
 MK201x - Brand Management
Professor Preeti Krishnan Lyndem
Week 1: Products vs. Brands

same product. So, in the world of brands products are mere commodities, it is the brands that are the
power houses that tell compelling stories about themselves to inspire customers, to associate with
your brand and consequently the products under your brand.

Just to hit this point home, Russell Hanline former CEO Sunkist growers once said, "an orange is an
orange, is an orange unless of course that orange happens to be a Sunkist", a name 80% of consumers
know and trust. Product - brand.

© All Rights Reserved. This document has been authored by Professor Preeti and is permitted for use only within the course "Brand
Management" delivered in the online course format by IIM Bangalore. No part of this document, including any logo, data, illustrations, pictures,
scripts, may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the author.