The Hindu Business Line : It's perception management!

Brand is a function of the mind. It is perceptions which shape its personality and evolution over time so brand management is, in essence, management of perceptions.

SARS today is a brand -- a brand with negative perception.

IN the Eighties we called it Product Management. In the Nineties we glamorised it as Brand Management. In the opening years of the 2000 series, we might as well get ready to rechristen it once again.

If given the right to father this new science, art and philosophy as we know it today, I would choose the blatantly open terminology of them all that best describes the management of brands today. Perception Management!

Brand management is today in essence the management of perception. The complex process of management of perception in a bid to leverage attitude. Critical attitude that leads to purchase decisions, and more importantly an attitude that fosters the brand in a positive mindset for years to come in the hearts, minds and gall bladders (who knows where the seat of thinking and emotion really is?) of consumers.

Perception management it is! The brand itself, for a start, is a perception. Its value is a bigger perception still. Its delivery expectations, its quality standards, and its satisfaction cues are all perception-triggers that create that all big `P'! Brand perception!

Brand managers are therefore perception managers for their offerings of commerce. The brand manager does what he does in a bid to create that positive perception for the wares he touts. In this process he swims within an environment, fights with it, and eventually dominates it ... as in the case of the most successful brands that occupy the hearts or gall bladders (remember, the heart is a bit too over-hyped! Time for the gall bladder to get some limelight as well!) of consumers.

Perception is specific. Perception is personal. Perception is individualistic. Yes, it certainly is all of this! The brand manager is a clever guy as well! He knows how to create, nurture and mass-replicate perception itself! And that indeed is the new science of perception management I am talking about. A new science that depends on image matrices that can leverage attitude and subsequent behaviour. The roots of much of which can be found in the early processes adopted by Pavlov. Pavlov is alive and kicking in the science of perception management today. As alive as Fido Dido himself!

It is indeed all about stimulus and response. A particular and specific consumer response is pretty possible with a specific delivery of a stimulus. The delivery vehicle needs to be right. The choice of stimulus must be one that has been vetted by an ardent and intensive process of mass and specific consumer research, covering the quantitative, the qualitative and the holistic!

Look around at brands that have succeeded in breaching the threshold perception levels of contemporary consumer mindsets. These are brands that have got the stimulus just right for the society the brands swim in today. What's more, the paradigm of positive stimulus creating positive response is being broken up by the demands of contemporary society that believes less and less in rules.

A negative stimulus is pretty much capable of producing a positive response as well! Nestle's Yorkie chocolate bar touts itself boldly as "Not for girls"! Girls are even derided - "Does not come in Pink"! Girls love picking up the chocolate off the shelves! Remember, this is rebel society we live in! Perception management in these times is a daunting task that defies the dos and don'ts many of us have picked up in management schools that taught static-state societal theory.

Perception management it is then! Brand managers are seeking out the help of those who understand the psychology of individuals and the psychology of the mass that constitutes contemporary society today. Brand managers will soon run to seers who can look into the future of society as it morphs itself as well! Remember, the brand that can offer perception cues of what consumers will want in the future is going to be one step ahead in this mass perception game.

The good thing about perception is that once it attains critical mass through the hard work put in by hard-working brand managers, it is pretty viral in its spread and stretch. It is indeed a good thing for positive perception and a terrible thing when it comes to negative perception!

I have just returned from a quick, anxious and hurried trip into Hong Kong. There is a dreadful fear all around in this territory. My two-day trip into Hong Kong and Macao has been full of sights that speak of both a metaphorical and literal viral fear. There is paranoia in the air. Face-masks that protect, gloves that are ubiquitous, rabid stares at people who are ill-mannered enough not to cough or sneeze into tissues held on their nostrils and mouths, and a fear of death lurking at the corner of every individual's sleeve is a reality in this otherwise open market.

The perception of SARS is a blatant reality today. Even as I return from Hong Kong, friends who know I have been there, don't want to party with me for a while. There are some who are absolutely open, telling me to be careful and avoid visiting the region. Others are polite and speak on the phone and make those excuses of how they want to postpone their meetings for next week as something special has come up!

SARS is a brand today. A brand that has a perception that is deadly. A perception that is negative to the point of death. Negative to the point of being shunned. The spread is viral.

Word-of-mouth spread that is as potent in its reach and deadly effect as the virus at prey itself! Remember, SARS is a perception as well! A perception that has found its way in a quick and efficient manner that rivals Mr Bush's "shock and awe" tamasha in Iraq!

SARS today threatens businesses of every ilk in the region! It threatens the very fabric of the economy of South East Asia. For a long time to come, tourists will avoid the region. Travel advisories will be out. And for a long time to come, I will not visit Hong Kong as well!

(The author is a brand domain specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Feedback can be sent to bleditor@thehindu.co.in.)

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