Brand image and recall is one subject. Sales volume and the strategies that fall into place to get that going, is another. In many ways, branding and brand image are not about sales, really.

And whenever I say this, the quick question that comes back is a simple one. If branding has little to do with the subject of selling, what’s the use of branding at all?

The answer is a simple one as well. Branding is all about the short-term, medium-term and long-term image of the brand in question. Sales is really the short-term approach to garner market volume. And short-term could mean the sales volume of the monthly cycle even. And sometimes it could mean sales strategy, which could cover a relatively longer period of time.

Brand image, therefore, does not ensure and assure sale volume. Your brand image could be very positive, and your sales volume could be very, very negative.

Conversion of brand image into sales volume and value is a very slow process. It is so slow a process that at times it is not visible at all. At times, it takes decades for it to happen.

Brand image in many ways is like the sky above us. Everyone knows it is there. Everyone is happy about the way it looks. Everybody looks at it in awe at times. Everyone is comfortable with its presence. Everyone will talk of it in awe. Write poetry on it even.

But no one wants a piece of it. No one wants to own a piece of it. It is just there.

Brand image is, therefore, not about sales. It is the facilitating environment that creates the positive image that in turn drives interest in the product and its offering. This interest could be converted into an avid desire to own the product or service.

It is there that sales, with its allure, comes in. Sales tactics offered by clever sellers will help swing the sale in.

Therefore, don’t worry if an Amul chocolate is yet to take off or Britannia’s image is yet to create that robust sale in the marketplace. Remember, if the sky didn’t exist, the marketplace wouldn’t be there at all.

With the recent fee hikes at IIMs there seems to be a shake-up with students having to cough up more money. Is there equity in this situation? The fee seems to come first. What about the poor students around?

- Sheela Ramani, Hyderabad

Sheela, I do believe the fee comes last. The fee structure at an IIM is the last of the issues at hand. The first issue is merit. The first issue is the ability of a student to study for the CAT and get through the CAT. Some students spend a whole year on this and some do a crash course of three months and others spend no time at all and get through it. The preparation process for the CAT costs money. This is the first hurdle that weeds out the economically empowered from those not empowered. I do believe this is wrong. The first unfair hurdle to achievement is here. Intelligent students who wish to go through a thorough coaching process at times are unable to afford it and hence fall out of the race. This is unfair. And not the eventual fee structure of an IIM.