BY JAGDEEP KAPOOR

One of the largest and the fastest emerging categories in the world is the category of education. My advise is, Indians, don’t be late – Educate.

In our country, there is great respect given to education. Infact, Goddess Sarawatiji is worshipped with tremendous sincerity and dedication just like Goddess Laxmiji is worshipped with tremendous faith and respect. India is a country where knowledge and education leads to wealth.

All across the world education has grown in stature as well as in its mass appeal. In this new knowledge economy skill is as important as will. The scope of education is extremely wide and therefore students, who in this case are consumers, are constantly looking for trustworthy educational avenues. Their parents too are constantly in search of bettering the lives of their kids through fruitful education.

In the wake of the above, branding of education has become necessary. This does not mean that even a substandard educational product or service can succeed. If there is a bad product or service it would definitely fail since no amount of marketing spend could retrieve a bad product or service. Further a brand, specially an educational brand, succeeds on the basis of faith and trust and therefore quality of education imparted would be the foremost consideration for a consumer to choose an educational brand.

Educational brands which are highly respected in India are also the most sought after. Excellent schools, colleges as well as the world famous IIT and IIM brands are valued because of their quality and track record.

I come from a family where education is looked upto and highly respected. My father is a post graduate in Economics and my mother is a double graduate in Psychology, English and French. All members in the family including my wife and kids yearn to learn more. While doing my MBA, I realized that India is the best place for education to thrive and be respected.

There are millions of families like my family who invest in education and seek to develop themselves in an all round balanced fashion.

This drive to seek knowledge amongst Indian families has made education a marketing subject. Since a brand stands for trust, Indian families would choose a trusted and reputed brand for themselves. This opens up a great opportunity for brand marketeers and educational institution to develop world-class quality and brand themselves in the minds and hearts of consumers.

One more word. It is not necessary to be national or international to be a strong brand. Being National or International definitely helps, but it is not necessary. You could be a strong regional or local brand through the quality of your service and the credibility that you build. Education is a life long process and so is branding. If you are in the education field, go ahead and brand your educational product or service.

BRAND MBA

In todays competitive world, there are many professions which are successful and therefore more students would like to enter those professions. Few decades ago, the only professions, as reflected in Hindi films, which were respected were the profession of being a medical doctor or a brilliant engineer. These two professions continue to be highly respected, but along with these two professions like in the field of Chartered Accountancy, entertainment, IT, sports and many others are also being respected.

One profession which has emerged very strongly in recent years is the MBA profession. The Brand MBA is looked upto and respected for all the opportunities and gains that it offers. Infact, it has reached the topmost league along with some other top class professions. I am also an MBA, having done my 2 years full time Master of Management Studies course at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute and I can see a vast change in the perception of this profession over the last 2 decades. I would have taught over 36,000 MBA’s at various Management Institute including at JBIMS, over the last few decades. I can see the popularity of the MBA profession growing by leaps and bounds as well as there being a greater hunger amongst students to aim to complete an MBA.

Brand MBA has evolved and resolved. Brand MBA has gone through an evolution as well as a revolution. In my opinion, the Brand MBA has to continue to prosper and furnish and contribute positively to industry and society, then it must understand its role, its scope as well as its responsibility. Society will look up to the MBA profession to lead the way and better the standard of living and quality of life of Indians.

MBA stands for “Master of Business Administration”. I would like to give an additional meaning to the letters MBA so that the Brand MBA can move forward. In my opinion “M” does not only stand for “Master” but stand for “Management” also. Management could be of a home or a company or the society itself. It is the art of getting optimal results with limited resources. Brand MBA must practice pure management.

The “B” stands for Business in the word MBA. I would like to give it an additional meaning by mentioning that “B” should also stand for “Brand”. In today’s world, people buy brands and not just product or services. Brands stands for trust and the MBA professional must build brand with trust.

Finally, “A” in the word MBA stand for “Administration”. I would like to give it another meaning by making “A” in the word MBA stand for “Accountability”. MBA professional must be accountable for results.

There is a tremendous amount of hope that the society has from the Brand MBA and my recommendation is that the MBA professionals should Manage resources, build Brands and be Accountable that would be a true Brand MBA performance !

Thus we see that education whether at school, college or professional level is growing and branding of education whether at the school or MBA level is the way forward for a brighter future.

Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved with Jagdeep Kapoor – Managing Director, Samsika Marketing Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
No part of this document may be modified, reproduced, stored, deleted or introduced in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (Electronic, Mechanical, Photocopying, Recording or Otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of the document.

The author is Jagdeep Kapoor, Brand Guru and Managing Director of the successful Samsika Marketing Consultancy.
Tel: (022) 28477700/7701 (022) 28470214/15
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E-mail : jkapoor@samsika.com