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Executive Summary

The thrust of marketing and of branding strategies for products and services has shifted from being 'market-driven' to 'market-driving'. However, this is not a new phenomenon and the companies that have been able to capture this through their marketing strategies have set examples for a lot more to follow.

Marketing theory suggests the routes to success for firms within the framework of the marketing mix or 4 P's. However, this has been extended to 7 P's to incorporate the other important aspects that went beyond product, price, place and promotion. We have explored the branding strategies of some of the most successful brands in the marketing world, who have risen to the top by providing value to their customers by following the path 'less traveled'. Brands such as Starbucks, IKEA, Sony, Dell and others have identified innate and unexpressed customer needs to enhance the value provided and in return garner commitment from their loyal customers.

We have realized that although differentiation is the difference between life and death of brands, this differentiation has to stem from forces that do not always have a theoretical explanation. At times it is wiser to rely on non-text-book ideologies such as intuition, gut-feeling, and vision. Legendary brands such as Virgin & Dell were built on the strong gut-feeling and the conviction they had in their belief and offerings.

Such brands have breakthrough success as a result of radical innovation, a strong business system and a leap in their value propositions. Dell broke the traditional value chain to sell PCs to the consumer via direct channels. Avis, the car rental company communicated its No. 2 position in its advertising copies, again a non-traditional practice.

There are many successful firms that have found success in moving beyond the thinkable into the realm of creativity, innovation and prudent marketing insights. An emerging paradigm - the Four A's has the potential for explaining success of these maverick brands.

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* Contributed by -
Aashika Agarwal & N. K. Mitash,
Class of 2006,
IIM Lucknow.