Nearly 82% Indians see brands as 'aspirational'

More and more consumers in India now prefer to go for branded products, with 82 per cent of them looking at brands as aspirational symbols and improved standard of living, according to a recent study.

“About 82 per cent consumers in India are increasingly expecting brands to enhance personal well-being as brands become aspirational symbols of their improved standard of living. The global average is 70 per cent while Asia’s average is 77 per cent,” according to Havas Media Group’s ‘2013 Meaningful Brands’ study.

A lot of people in India, however, tend to believe that overall intentions of brands are a bit sceptical of their communication creating huge opportunities for brands to make a real, tangible meaningful difference, the study said.

“The India findings highlight deep customer involvement with brands. Meaningful - today is real business, delivering what matters when, in the truest economic and social sense. It drives brands to establish relationship connections with their customers directed towards sustained personal, societal and financial success,” Anita Nayyar, Havas Media Group CEO, India and South Asia, said. India’s top three meaningful brands in 2013 are LIC, Britannia and Cadbury, the study added.

The top three brands are followed by Sony, Samsung, Parle-G, Unilever, Tata Motors, Airtel, Hyundai, LGE and Maruti, which have the highest attachment, it added.

Meanwhile, the top five meaningful brands globally are Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nestle and Sony, it said. The study looked into 13 dimensions: impact of the brand’s ‘Marketplace’ benefits alongside its impact on 12 different areas of ‘well-being’ (personal and collective), for a comprehensive view of its effect on quality of life.

The sixth edition of the Meaningful Brands study measured 13 dimensions and covered 700 brands and over 1,34,000 consumers in 23 countries.

The study further found that more meaningful global brands are likely to come from emerging than western markets where brands need to reinvent themselves to reconnect with people, to avoid getting commoditised.

“This presents huge opportunities for existing and new brands to establish meaningful connections with their customers in India. Here consumers are still warming up to brands and core categories like Food and Beverages brands are seen as meaningful,” Havas Media India Managing Director Mohit Joshi added.