Now, Paris-based Shombit Sengupta, international brand strategist and chairman of Shining Strategic Identity, has a new feather in his cap: for the first time, Sengupta has been asked to find solutions for American brands. In Calcutta for the weekend, the creative strategist talked about his latest work on Indian brands--and brands that work. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

What goes into making a strong brand?
A particular brand, I feel, is the differentiating identity of a company, which casts an image on the consumers mind. For a strong brand image, a company has to carve a strategy through an emotion transmitted into the unconsciousness of the consumer. This identity adds value to the company which we call a strategic identity.

You speak aboutfocussing on the concept of `quoted value' for brands-how does this concept work?
Quoted value is the emotional surplus which the brand releases vis-a-vis the consumer's perception--and which leads to a real tangible value in the market for consumers, and in turn, improves shareholder wealth.

You are now well-ensconced in the brand building market in India. Is there any common factor that you perceive in Indian brands?
Indian companies have immense latent value which needs to be unfolded and brought to the fore. They need to follow the `Tree of Life'--a visionary approach leading to fruition in reaping long-term benefits.

What has been your key operational area so far as brand building in Indian companies is concerned?
My feeling is that unlike international companies, most Indian companies lack vision. There has been a gap between marketing and research and development which has held back the optimum benefits accruing to the company.

What according to you are theshortcomings of Indian brands?
In India there is hardly any culture for branding. There are three essential elements lacking, regarding the trends in marketing of Indian companies. They are visibility, readability and proximity. Visibility essentially refers to what the consumer and trade can identify with, easily, in terms of a singular icon, throughout the country. Readability is a perfect understanding of the difference in R&D which has to be convinced. Lastly, proximity is when consumers can feel the closeness of the manufacturers, that they think about them and their personal daily better-life benefits.

How does your company create brand awareness?
This is a three-stage procedure. First, we create the rational impact at the physical level of the product. Second, we elevate and link this with the mental benefit which represents the brand. For example, for a brand like Britannia-`eat healthy' was a rational benefit and `think better' was the emotional benefit. The third step is toacknowledge this with the social context in order to be contemporary. This will lead to awareness. In fact, a legitimate identity has to be created at the mental level for an interactive branding.

Is that how you view the role of consumers?
For consumers the pleasure factor is also very significant-they are willing to spend extra for these products. Consumption levels are built on a long-term profitable brand.

How do you view the growth of the retail trade in India?
The Indian retail trade is more advantageous than in western countries. Indian manufacturers are not taking advantage of this fully. The retail trade here lacks innovation. It contains too many products which hold the same benefits.

What about the marketing initiatives undertaken by most companies to spread the reach of their brands?
Market studies are too standardised in India. Going by data collected by our company, it has been seen that if a company creates a new concept that generates immediate growth, itwill encounter a blockade after two years. The success formula will be copied by other players thus leading to a fragmented market. In about four years time, a wall is formed curbing the brand's growth and thereby creating a dead-end.

Do you perceive a change in the coming years?
Definitely, yes. We are just a few years since liberalisation-but a lot has changed already. There is immense scope for Indian brands doing well, in the years to come.

How do you view branding among the software companies in India which are doing so well?
Yes, software companies are doing well but strangely they have a tendency to project their product at a lower category in the international market. Going by the concept of value-for-money, they should peg at higher positions. We found this in the case of Wipro for which we did corporate branding. There was a need to design a strong identity to reflect international ITcompetitiveness.

What are the factors that you consider while choosing a brand for astrategic identity exercise?
We look at a business: is it worth Rs 400-500 crore at least, and is it linked to the masses. Then we see the bottomline, the growth and competitive edge of the company in the industry.