Changing dynamics in B2B market: increasing importance of branding; a case study of TCS

Abstract

Companies, which fail to differentiate itself from its competition by failing to position itself strategically or build its brand identity / image, find itself out of the business too early in the game. This is very true in the case of B2Ccompanies. In fact we find that the B2C companies felt the heat and took to branding very seriously and made it a part and parcel of consumer s everyday life. All this while, there has been a misconception that B2B buyers are not influenced by emotional factors such as brands. With growing competition and increasing commoditized marketplace, things seem to be changing slowly but surely. It is evident to see that a number of companies in the B2B segment are worried about their image and are hiring external agencies / brand consultants to build / enhance their brand image. They are very keen in capturing the mind share of their various stakeholders before others take advantage of this wave. We can find instances of this happening more so in the Indian IT industry. TCS, the market leader among the Indian IT companies has understood the significance of positioning and has embarked on the Experience Certainty campaign to signal its intent to position itself alongside IBM and ACCENTURE as a global force to reckon with. TCS is focusing on reliability and thus started its Experience Certainty campaign with Ads in Wall Street Journal, London s Financial Times, Forbes and the likes. They have also put up billboards in US airports in their effort to create an image and positioning in the International market. Recently a full page advertisement of TCS appeared on the Wall Street Journal which read as follows: "Strong partners have the knowledge to measure promise against reality, the flexibility to seize opportunity, and the experience to deliver certainty". The Experience Certainty campaign highlights how TCS has helped global organizations like ABN Amro, CDS, National Grid and Ferrari address business challenges effectively. This is the first time that the Indian IT giant has come out in open with a very focused branding exercise. Though it is well recognized that brands play a role in industrial markets, a coherent model for B2B branding does not exist as it does for B2C. Keller s contribution (1993; 2001; 2003) towards B2C Branding is enormous and his Consumer based Brand Equity model (CBBE model) is well established in the industry circles. But its application in B2B markets is less proven and Keller himself calls for more research on this area. Through this project, we will apply Keller s CBBE model on IT Services industry and qualitatively verify and measure the brand equity of TCS. We will also try and understand if there are any limitations or challenges in applying this model to IT services market in the B2B context.