Branding in Indian Agriculture

Agriculture lies in the core of my heart, being an agriculture graduate it should too. After studying the PBM course, a thought came into my mind can agriculture be branded in Indian context? Before I delve into the issue, I would like to say that Indian agriculture should not be confided to only agri-inputs as far as issue of branding is concerned. Rather we should see two facets of Indian agriculture, one at input side and other one is output side. Since these two are entirely different so need, evolution and strategies of branding will be different. Today I would like to concentrate on output side of branding in agriculture.
Agriculture historically has been organized on a local basis with local production supplying to local demand. Today agriculture is a big-bucks global industry, with both major and minor players exporting and selling their products around the world. As production is now targeted at global markets, participants increasingly require a global strategy. Global branding has become an essential element of business strategy.
Commodities are products and services that customers perceive to be homogenous, and a market or industry remains commodity driven if products fail to differentiate in the eyes of the consumer. As commodity markets have become over-saturated, with resulting price decreases, producers now recognize that their future economic prosperity demands a switch from commodity trading to offering differentiated goods and services. One of the fundamental methods of differentiation involves branding.
The essence of successful branding is when the brand delivers consistently, a clearly defined, appealing offering that sets it apart from its competitors. Branding does not work in isolation, and is not just related to the development of a name, logo, company terms or combination of all three. The additional ingredient that makes a brand successful is differentiation or its personality. Successful brands tend to have strong “personalities” that appeal either to the rational or the emotional instincts of stakeholders. Successful brands appeal on an intangible level and offer a range of defined repeatable emotions to the consumer. Commodities by definition are not brands and offer no such emotional security or intangible benefits. Commodities deal solely in the product. Today’s agricultural producers face the increased challenge of how to differentiate their offerings, so that their product is perceived and awarded premium status and price in their consumers’ minds. The key therefore, is to implement a concentrated strategy that focuses on creating real value for those customers who are prepared to pay for it and a brand strategy based on product differentiation.
Branding needs to extend beyond the basic product. Successful differentiation should be based upon genuine differences. If the product per se is essentially similar to other products, or the buyers cannot be convinced of its superiority over other products, then the company seeking to brand needs to adopt a broader perspective and look at the entire experience it offers potential buyers.
Take a look at a key generic agricultural product such as milk. Thirty years ago (though AMUL is an older player), who would have thought that it would be sold in a variety choices; low-fat, skim, flavoured with chocolate, fortified with vitamins and minerals? Furthermore, who would think that there is any more space on the supermarket shelves for yet another differentiated milk product? But introduction of giant like AMUL in late sixties (1966 to be precise, launch of AMUL girl) as branded milk products has changed the mind set, that there is large scope of branding in agriculture. Not only AMUL but regional players like Sudha in Bihar, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, Mother dairy in NCR region and Vijaya dairy are some examples.
Though the counter point to what I earlier said could be if the product is something that does not suggest any branding then? Here is an example of a product dates (khajoor). A company in based in chennai called Lion dates pvt. Ltd is perfect example. Firstly they developed product in mind of the consumer then their own brand. Here the brand was dealing with an alien product and the primary communication task was to impress the consumer about the product's benefit rather than the brand. Hence the earlier communication of the brand was around the qualities of dates. The brand concentrated on Tamil Nadu and later branched out to South India. There are several stories which talks about commodities being turned into brands which can’t be mentioned here. One example is of Basmati rice which is being successfully branded and exported to gulf and European markets. Indian tea is another successful example where branding has played a pivotal role.
Major question here is how to brand the commodity? As there has been proliferation of consumer marketing and branding over recent decades, it makes sense that when branding a commodity one should adopt the successful strategies used by the consumer marketing industry. First is to identify customer segments that are willing to pay an increased price or premium for the added value they will gain. Then identify products and services that create significant and differentiating value to buyers. But differentiation alone will not work hence one has to bundle the product to create a barrier for competitors and make it more difficult for the customer to substitute.

Branding is not simply an after-thought, an add-on. The brand lies at the very heart of the organization and determines corporate actions. Therefore the organization needs to understand and communicate, internally and externally, the essence of its brand. The most successful brands are those that focus not solely on the tangible value but also the intangible value perceived by the customer.