Brand, usually
register in our minds for the status enhancement, aspirational value, or gets into our good books for CSR
activities. But there are some brands which get entwined in our life and become
part of us, capture our hearts, and give us immense pleasure at nominal cost.
Let me cite an personal example.
Cadbury's Milk Chocolate. A bar of chocolate wrapped in a
silver foil sliding out effortlessly out of a royal blue sleeve. The
mesmerising texture of the blue pack, and the crisp foil unfolding to reveal
the rows of chocolate pieces neatly perforated. I used to remember way back in the
sixties, as a child my mama ji gifting me one, on pay days every month. I remember opening the pack excitedly and
gasping salivating at contents unpacked.
Eating one whole was a luxury , all
items used to be neatly cut into pieces to be distributed equally in the
household. More than monetary, the
reason was of thrift. (a family could in those days sustain for month on what
is thrown away in a week nowadays) hence
eating a full bar of chocolate was blasphemy in those days. So as expected we
used to get one tiny piece to be relished in leisure. The time taken for the
chocolate to melt in the mouth would seem like an eternity, the taste lingering
in ones mouth till the next month, awaiting Mamaji's pay check. That taste still lingers in ones mouth, the
brand managers for the chocolate trying hard to capture those moments on film
but hardly making it there.
Such is the brand affection if I may call it so, for cadbury’s . The association so impersonal
yet so endearing. Yes there was an aspirational value to the pack of
chocolate, not because they were priced
high (used to buy one for Rs.1 if I remember correctly), or one wanted to be
counted among the wannabe by using it, but because FMCG and consumer goods were literally non
existent those days, earnings were sparse, and spending even more so, reliance
was on home made stuff, at least for the
palate.
The Brand evokes
memories unfathomable Memories, try as they might the brand managers at
Cadburry’s can never recreate those emotions in their ads. the association so
impersonal yet so endearing
Today when I want to splurge I do so on the likes of Toblerone...but
when we think of think of chocolate we come home to Cadbury's Dairy milk.
I wish we could create such brands, horses for long hauls,
unaffected by the ups and downs of wall Street, not wanting to scalp you for
the pedigree that they proclaim themselves to be, those who remain there for
ages to come, and there are examples galore..Bata,(my grandpa used to wear one)
Amrutanjan (my grandma used to smell of one) Cherry blossom(i used to polish my
dad's shoes as a child) brands part of your life...not fleecing you, not in a hurry to make a fast buck, but just there
as a part of you, .... for life.
Good Morning V Arun Kumar
