Brand Management

Faculty: Dr. Smriti Pande

Final Examination
Date: 28th August 2021

MBA (Core) | Division A

Ridhima Yadav | G023 | 80511020325

 Brand Management | Final Examination
MBA (Core) 2020-2022 | Division A
Ridhima Yadav | G023 | 80511020325

Question 1

1. (a).
Prepare a plan to position “Aroma” in Indian market. Explain your answer in detail.

Answer 1 (a):
To come up with a positioning plan for “Aroma” let us first understand what positioning is and the
elements that it covers. So according to Philip Kotler positioning can be defined as “…the act of
designing the company’s offer (image) so that it occupies a distinct valued place in the target
customer’s minds.”
Before coming up with a positioning statement, there are a few elements that need to be defined in
terms of the brand and its offerings:
1. Competitive frame of reference
It is important to define the market and product category the brand is competing in, so a few things
need to be defined under this:
i. Category Membership: The brand is a luxury ceramic brand, mostly known for its
handcrafted, high-quality, artistic ceramic pieces. So the category it belongs to is Quality, as
it is a luxury segment brand and its functionality is to add to the beautification of people’s
homes.
ii. Segmentation: Let’s look at the 4 segments:
1. Demographics:
Age: 25-60
Sex: Both male and female, predominantly females
Marital status: Married
Family size: 4 or more
Occupation: Business, working professionals
2. Behavioural Segmentation:
Online shopping habits: Mostly browsing through online shopping websites
Actions taken on website: Looking for artwork, bedsheets, curtains, cutlery etc.
Benefits sought: Looking to beautify their homes and office spaces, renovating their home
Loyalty: Low loyalty, as they will go for the brands that they think are reasonable and give
exactly what they want, since when it comes to these products things like colour, design etc
matters a lot and can differ greatly from brand to brand.

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 Brand Management | Final Examination
MBA (Core) 2020-2022 | Division A
Ridhima Yadav | G023 | 80511020325

3. Geographic segmentation: Metropolitan and Tier 1 & 2 cities

4. Psychographics segmentation:
People who are outgoing, social, deeply interested in and appreciate art, like to travel and
collect art pieces from their travels etc.
iii. Target segment: Target segment would be women between ages 30-45, business
professionals, who in spite of being busy like to come back to a beautiful house.
iv. Nature of competition: Aroma’s competition exists both in organised and unorganised
markets. In organised markets we have big luxury brands like Fabindia, Homestop etc.
Coming to unorganised market, there are a lot of brands on platforms like Instagram wherein
the artist directly sells its product to the customer through their page.
2. Establishing POPs and PODs
i. POP: Hand crafted ceramic art pieces
ii. POD: The fact that the brand incorporates the traditional and cultural nuances of the place
and that it is made in Italy

Question 1.(b).
“Aroma should use the existing portfolio to enter Indian Market”. Comment and explain your
opinion in detail.

Answer 1.(b).
Aroma is a luxury ceramic brand which has its workshop in Italy. It is expanding internationally and
being an innovative brand that tries to incorporate the cultural and traditional aspects of wherever it
is expanding.
Its current portfolio consists of 3 categories: artistic pieces, home décor and jewellery.
Coming to the Indian market, there are already many players in the organised and unorganised
market. Unorganised market has many small artists whose products are very distinct as well as not
very expensive. Thus to make a place in this market, Aroma needs to have a very strong value
proposition that will make the consumers come to it.
According to me, Aroma should diversify in order to enter into the Indian market. They should
launch a different category as well of ceramic cutlery. This is something that appeals to the target
segment that is defined in answer 1(a).
Reasons:

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 Brand Management | Final Examination
MBA (Core) 2020-2022 | Division A
Ridhima Yadav | G023 | 80511020325

1. Luxury art pieces are something that people buy once in a while since it is a long term usage
product. Even if the person buying is very affluent, they might not completely redecorate their homes
very often.
2. Appealing to the social class, cutlery is something that everyone uses on a daily basis. Most
houses have a distinct set of cutlery for daily usage and guests. This is something that people might
invest in since it also defines their hospitality as hosts.
3. Jewellery segment is also very crowded in India, it has very big and trusted players like Tanishq
etc in the market. This segment also has a very loyal customer base since it is a very expensive
product and also an investment for many people. Rather than spending money on ceramic jewellery,
people would want to invest in gold and diamond which will be of value even in the future.

Question 1.(c).
Refer to your answer for Q1(b), which brand architecture strategy would you suggest to
Aroma for establishing the brand in Indian market.

Answer 1.(c).
In the previous answer I suggested that there should be a category extension and Aroma should
introduce a ceramic cutlery category.
The brand architecture strategy of Aroma should be Branded House. Since Aromas is already a
well-established brand internationally they could leverage on the brand name and introduce a product
category under the same name. This will not only make the customers trust them but also think that
they are reliable.
Aromas will be associated to its unique brand offering that is made and designed in Italy and that
uniqueness will be attached to all the product categories that will make its value proposition unique.
Looking at the example of Fabindia which has product categories like clothing, jewellery, handbags,
bedsheets, cutlery, foot ware etc., we see that it has a unique offering associated with it that it has a
pinch of Indian-ness attached to it and it is all made in India. In a similar way even Aromas can
position itself in the luxury segment.
Having a branded house will not only position it well but also have a very distinct POD attached to
the mind of the customers that it is made in Italy. The global association attached to it as well as the
premium feel will be remembered through the name Aromas itself.
This can further be enhanced by having brand elements distinct to the brand that is applied in all the
categories.

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 Brand Management | Final Examination
MBA (Core) 2020-2022 | Division A
Ridhima Yadav | G023 | 80511020325

Question 2
Considering the given persona, design a customer journey map for “Cafey” to identify relevant
stages, customer process, touchpoints and emotions.

Answer:
To come up with a customer journey mapping for “Cafey” can be explained with the help of a table
taking the touchpoints, emotions and experience in mind:

Stage Awareness Consideration Decision Delight

Touch Instagram Instagram Instagram Phone Books a Zomato

Zomato
Point Story Ad Page Call Cab review

He is
extremely
The next day He goes on delighted
he sees an ad Zomato with the
Samaksh
on his He visits and check On experience
sees one of He calls
Instagram the out the Saturday he had at
his the café to
from the Instagram menu, evening he Cafey. The
colleagues’ book a
page page that finds some books an ambience,
Instagram table for 4
“Things to is linked interesting Uber for the cakes
story on
do in on the and new Cafey and cookies
visiting Saturday
Mumbai”. post. He types of with his and
Customer Cafey with since he
The post browses offerings family. specially the
Process his wife and has a busy
looks through and checks He enjoys coffee. He
friends. This life and
appealing images the prices. a cup of gives a 4.5
intrigues Saturday
and he and finds He also coffee star rating
him since is a
remembers their checks with their on Zomato
the image of happening
that he had Zomato how far it in-house and
coffee and day in
seen this link in is from his cookies recommends
snacks looks Mumbai.
café itself in their bio. house and cakes. the place.
appealing.
his friend’s (Google He plans to
story. Maps) come back
the next
time.

Experience Good Good Good Good Good Good Good