Brand Awareness Audit Ashirvad
Brand Awareness Audit Ashirvad
Brand Awareness Audit Ashirvad
Index terms: Brand awareness, brand knowledge, brand image, brand equity, brand management
I. INTRODUCTION
“Brands are like human beings. They are born, fed and nurtured, made strong and responsible so that they
can be faithful friends of the people (customers), form mutually beneficial and satisfying relationships with
them and become their companions for life. Such brands, make their parents (organization or corporate)
proud of them. The best brands are the ones who help in forming and sustaining strong long term “parent-
brand-people” relationships. These brands form the potential for present growth and future expansion. They
help the organizations conquer peaks at the time of booms and stay afloat and swim at times of depression.”
Today nearly all the companies are focusing more and more on building strong brands. The concept of
brand equity and its management has come to the fore like never before. More and more companies are
refocusing on select strong brands.
This article is thus a timely stuffy of the importance of brands, what it takes to build them, what benefits do
they give to different stakeholders (organization, distributors and customers), how can they be leveraged,
what is the impact of modern technology on branding, branding on the web, branding in mergers and
acquisitions etc. examples have been given and cases discussed at every suitable point to bring out an
application oriented understanding of “building and managing brands”. The article is related to “Ashirvad
pipes Pvt. Ltd “ whose mission is
“Ashirvad - Leadership You Can Trust”
Ashirvad pipes Pvt. Ltd has been relentless in it's commitment to quality and service since 1975. The leader
in the manufacture of PVC and CPVC piping systems, Ashirvad Pipes is ISO 9001:2008 certified and is a
National Award winning company. With its state-of-the-art factory spread over 40 acres, the company has
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an annual manufacturing capacity of 1,08,000 metric tons and manufactures a complete range of high
technology and superior quality plastic piping systems for domestic and agricultural use. The manufacturing
systems adhere to the highest level of international quality for a maintenance free life.
A leader in the industry, Ashirvad is a hub of creation and product development, holding onto traditional
values and revolutionizing technology, but we let our work speak for itself, with 2.7 Million successful
installations made in 35 Countries across the globe using Ashirvad Column Pipes. The stringent quality
checks at every stage of production, that ensure premium products and maximum customer satisfaction. We
strive to make your life easier, with a committed network of representatives across the nation, available to
guide you 24/7. We are committed journey to provide the best products for plumbing, agriculture and
sanitary applications. WE ARE BUILDING A WATER HAPPY WORLD!
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RPVC Rigid Poly Vinyl Strong and durable, Resistant to rust, UV Portable water supply, Disposable of
Chloride radiation chemical effluent.
CPVC Chlorinated Poly Environment Friendly, Long Life, Easy to Hot and cold water distribution,
Vinyl Chloride install, Corrosion resistant Chemical
PPR Polypropylene Chemical and Sulfur resistant, Lightweight, Hot and cold water supply, Sanitary
Pipe Tensile strength lines, Water purifying plants
HDPE High Density Suitable for process water, corrosion and Storm sewers, High drainage,
Polyethylene abrasion resistant Recharge systems.
SWR Soil, Waste and Cost Effective and Lightweight Drainage,Chemical, power ,
Rain Water Plants.
HOSE Strong, Suction Pipe, Used with
Durable, diesel engines in irrigation.
Better Flow
Composite Poly Ethylene Excellent corrosion resistant, Clean and safe, Excellent for civil hot and
Composite Pipes Good Flexibility, Lower conductivity, cold water project systems.
Permeation barrier.
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Research Approach:
Data Collection and Sources of Data:
Secondary Data:
• Articles in Newspapers, Magazines and Internet
• Study Reports from Internet
• Desk Research under the guidance of my guide
Primary Data:
Consumer Survey on the effect of brands on their buying behavior. Primary data was collected from the
market place by interacting with the dealers, retailers through the survey method. The questionnaire used in
the survey method has both structured as well as unstructured questions along with their necessary reviews
about the product, market conditions. Data collection was done through questionnaire.Presenting of
questionnaire was done and the required changes were made before the actual survey.
Sampling Method: The technique used was Cluster sampling. Cluster sampling is a non- probabilistic
sampling technique, where division of population area into recognizable sub divisions i.e cluster and then
simple random sample of these clusters are drawn.Where, researcher have taken population of Maharashtra
region ,then divide it into various important markets as clusters.
Sample Design: It includes various objects within the population from where information are gathered by
the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. In this project the sample element are the various
Dealers and retailers who are certified Ashirvad Pipes Pvt.Ltd. dealers, non-certified dealers.
Sample Extent: It includes geographical boundaries under consideration.In this project the sample extent
was major 20 major markets of plumbing pipes of Maharashtra region which includes Kotla mobarakpur,
Bhogal, South ext. ,Khanpur, Sangam Vihar , Khanpur ,Mayur vihar etc..
The study is confined to more than 150 outlets which consist of distributors , dealers, retailers in 20 (approx)
markets of Delhi.The survey which is conducted in Delhi will certainly help out the management to know
the loopholes in their strategy.The survey will lead them to have a detailed analysis of competitors’ strategy
and they can plan to have an edge over competitors.Most of the dealers, distributors, retailers dealing with
Ajay pipes or other Plumbing pipes were interviewed.The information about competitors strength was
gathered from all the dealers and retailers which was fruitful in analyzing the demand.
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Ashirvad Pipes is ISO 9001:2008 certified and is a National Award winning company.
With its state-of-the-art factory spread over 40 acres.
The company has an annual manufacturing capacity of 1,08,000 metric tons and manufactures a
complete range of high technology and superior quality plastic piping systems for domestic and
agricultural use.
The manufacturing systems adhere to the highest level of international quality for a maintenance free
life.
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Table No 7:Market Segment
Market Segments
Mar
Market Market
ket
B- C- Custome Buying
Sr.No NAME B- Size Location Maturity Trends
Nationa Interna r profile Practises
Loc
l tional
al
Bangalore quardra tic Constant Distributor
1 ASHIRVAD Yes Yes Yes Large 45 years
,Rajasthan Increasing & Strong Dealer
Ahmedab Linear Constant distributor
2 ASTRAL Yes Yes Yes Large 35 years
ad Increasing & Strong Dealer
Pune Linear Constant Distributor
3 FINOLEX Yes Yes No Large 50 years
,Ratnagiri Increasing & Strong Dealer
Linear distributor
4 SUPREME Yes Yes No Large Jalgaon 68 years variable
Increasing Dealer
variable
Distributor
5 AJAY Yes Yes No Small Delhi 25 years Increasing &
Dealer
Modrate
(Source: Primary Data)
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Table no 10:Brand Promotional Material
Brand Promotional Material
Trade
Business white Case
Sr.No Name Brouchers Stationary show blogs Vedios
cards papers studies
displays
1 ASHIRVAD YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
2 ASTRAL YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
3 FINOLEX YES YES YES YES YES YES YES NO
4 SUPREME YES YES YES YES YES YES YES NO
5 AJAY YES YES YES NO YES NO NO NO
(Source: Primary Data)
Table no 11:Brand ,Service & Product Positioning
Brand & Service ,Product Positioning
Brand Brand Corporate
Sr.No Name Voice Value Unique selling preposition culture Intranet Activity
upvc column,flowguard
1 ASHIRVAD YES YES cpvc YES YES
2 ASTRAL YES YES Plumbing Products YES YES
3 FINOLEX YES YES Agri ,Flowguard cpvc YES YES
4 SUPREME YES YES Underground drainage YES YES
5 AJAY NO NO Plumbing Products YES YES
(Source: Primary Data)
online/personal
1 ASHIRVAD Plumbing solutions YES enquiry Strongly Agree
online/personal
2 ASTRAL Plumbing solutions YES enquiry Strongly Agree
online/personal
3 FINOLEX Reliable YES enquiry Strongly Agree
online/personal
4 SUPREME Reliable YES enquiry Moderately Agree
online/personal
5 AJAY Reliable YES enquiry Moderately Agree
(Source: Primary Data)
Brand Equity :
‘Brand equity includes not only the value of the brand,but also implicitly the value of proprietary
technologies,patents, trademarks and other intangibles such as
manufacturing know-how’ (Reponen, 2000)
"One of the 100 FASTEST GROWING MARKETING BRANDS
IN ASIA"
(Evaluated and selected by KPMG)
Brand resonance:
• Ashirvad must use their branding effectively to
counteract negative publicity.
• Having a clear brand image will also allow the
company to be competitive in low involvement markets
such as plumbing, sanitary, drainage and agricultural
markets.
• Having a strong branding strategy is key here to enter the evoked list of the consumer.
Brand Judgements :
Brand Quality: Ashirvad has maintained a strong brand image due to effective
communications and strong performances of it’s core products.
When asked why they prefer Ashirvad products, 5/12 said taste, 3/12 said better
advertising and 4/12 said personal preference.
Brand Superiority is also an important aspect, with Ashirvad in a battle with
Astral ,supreme and Finolex in many low involvement markets.
Brand Credibility: Ashirvad is a high integrity brand, which regularly innovates and
conducts market research, ensuring it appeals to it’s key audiences.
Brand Feelings:
The majority of Ashirvad products are high involvement, low risk products.
This makes their brand feelings mild, as they do not invoke a huge reaction from
their consumers.
Within these high involvement markets, it is key to sell the advantages of
choosing their products over a competitors.
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Ashirvad’s focus on competitive prices,recognisable brands and innovative product launches spark a
reaction from their consumers.
Brand Performance in Ashirvad:
The Ashirvad brand aims to satisfy the performance needs of their consumers.
In the Plumbing, Sanitary & Drainage markets, they aim to perform in strength and
quality.
However, with their mineral water brand ‘Pure Life’, their key performance
indicator (KPI) is ‘purity’.
It is essential for products to perform to these basic levels to ensure the
customer satisfaction.
Brand Imagery in Ashirvad:
In the Indian market, Ashirvad aim for WE ARE BUILDING A WATER HAPPY WORLD!
A leader in the industry, Ashirvad is a hub of creation and product development, holding onto
traditional values and revolutionizing technology, but we let our work speak for itself, with 2.7
Million successful installations made in 35 Countries across the globe using Ashirvad Column Pipes.
The stringent quality checks at every stage of production, that ensure premium products and
maximum customer satisfaction.
We strive to make your life easier, with a committed network of representatives across the nation,
available to guide you 24/7.
We are committed journey to provide the best products for plumbing, agriculture and sanitary
applications
This resonates through their branding, offering fair trade coffees, healthy cereals and
pure mineral water.
It is essential that they maintain a strong image with regards to Coporate Social Responsibility
(CSR)
Overall, Ashirvad is perceived as an innovative market player, which in recent
years has improved it’s global image through strong branding and marketing practice.
Brand Salience in Ashirvad:
Red logo prominent on all products, with individual branding strategies for each
product line.
When asked, 10/10 people associated Plumbing with Ashirvad.
However, when asked who owns Rowntree's, 3/10 were able to identify Ashirvad.
Despite this resonance, Rowntree’s still remains a successful product, being of
the highest selling confectionary brands.
Ashirvad operates with high salience, ensuring it’s branding is seen by the mass
and niche markets their array of products appeal to in a congruent manner.
Brand Values that Ashirvad Maintained:
Integrity coupled with a strong work ethic
The desire to do quality work
Friendly, open and honest communication
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Extensivedistribution network
Distributors 2000+
Warehouses 20
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IV: Findings:
Consider the point of parity & point of difference it has been seen that Ashirvad has major four
competitor brands like Astral, Finolex, Supreme & Ajay but considering the points of brand
management, customer service, brand standard, brand structure Ashirvad is a strong brand than other
competitors . (Ref. Table No- 1,2,3)
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Consider brand equity, brand impact, brand awareness, brand loyalty, joint ventures, global
associations, brand image, market segmentation ,this shows Ashirvad is a superior brand than other
competitor brands. (Ref. Table No-4,5,6,7)
It is found that brand personality, brand promotional material, brand publicity as well as service
management & product positioning of Ashirvad is better than other competitor companies. (Ref.
Table No:8,9,10)
It is found that Ashirvad is aware about social media so it organize New Apps, digital applications
launched first time in plumbing industry . (Ref. Table No:11,12,13)
From table no 14 it is found that 85% brand audit checklist is fulfilled by Ashirvad Pipes Pvt Ltd &
consider it as a strong & vital brand. (Ref. Table No: 14)
Ashirvad Pipes has fulfilled all the criteria of Brand Audit, Brand Awareness, Brand Positioning,
Ashirvad is a Global Brand.
Ashirvad Pipes has been strongly dominating to other brands like ,AJAY, ASTRAL, SUPREME
and other competitors in all regions.
Ashirvad Pipes is focusing on their advertisement and promotional activities and branding ,due to
which other players are getting advantages over it .
Other competitors of Ashirvad Pipes adopt the policy of Brand awareness and increase their loyalty
and awareness among retails sector.
Some loyal dealers as well as customers are still with Ashirvad Pipes due to its excellent qualities of
pipes.
Due to Ashirvad Pipes has excellent quality in pipes it is estimated that the demand will increase
with awareness among dealers and customers.
Proper Awards and recognition is given to dealers and distributors for increasing the sales volume.
An expert team is there, to follow big builders, Housing societies, Govt. agencies ( e.g -PWD) for
getting bulk orders.
Company has more concentration on production and sale of CPVC Pipes, since demand for CPVC
pipes is much higher in comparison to UPVC pipes
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As per all elements of branding Ashirvad pipes has taken step of global branding as digital LOGO,
Digital Apps, Digital mobile application
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
1. Ashirvad pipes has a vast experience of plumbing pipes ,which has better knowledge, skill and expertise
than competitors in this area.
2. Ashirvad pipes is known for his superior quality. Hence the retailer tends to recommend and sell it to the
customers and hence keep a good amount of stock.
3. The biggest strength of Ashirvad pipes is its competitive price. And Price sensitive customers prefer
brand with high rate and hence dealers and retailers prefer to sell this product.
4. Ashirvad pipes give a handsome margin to the retailers which encourage them to stock and sells more.
5. Available in every range, around 800 variants of plumbing pipes ( CPVC,UPVC, SWR) are available
with different sizes.
6. Availability of wide range of “Plumbing Products”,” Sanitation Products”, “Agriculture Products” is
available at multinational Level.
7.All products have ISI and ISO certification branding
8. The brand image of Ashirvad Pipes is stronger than other competitior players.
WEAKNESSES
1. There is no fixed distributor in retail of Ashirvad pipes in the cities. At present one or two dealers are
present in different market, which may affect turnovers.
2. There is lack of knowledge about the schemes of the company to their customers directly
3. Representatives are not very active as per the demand of the market.
4. Lack of proper supply services to dealers in retail.
5.Products are cost effective.
OPPORTUNITIES
1.The biggest opportunity for Ashirvad Pipes is in rapid Urbanization of the state, & smart city development
which led to derive demand of plumbing pipes.
2.Today there is replacement of metal pipes to PVC pipes especially in agricultural sector which opens a
new source of demand in agriculture based country like India.
3.Ashirvad pipes can co-operate with retailers, distributors and their dissatisfaction with important players
become reason to connect with it.
THREATS
1. The biggest threat for Ashirvad pipes is tendency of retailers & customers to switch over to
the other brand, due to lack of offers and unavailability, lower prices of other brands, greater margin and
quick availability is a threat.
2. The ad-campaigns, innovation, brand image and more transparent distribution network of other pipe
companies poses a threat to Ashirvad pipes .
3. Quality based companies is a major threat to it. As this company focus more on quality in their
promotional events.
VI: Conclusion:
This project report tries to understand awareness of branding related to Ashirvad pipes and its branding
strategy which stand on higher price competition in the market, its location based response rate and other
related aspects with company. As a audit checklist Ashirvad Pipes Pvt.Ltd. has its own website
“www.ashirvad.com”, separate brouchers ,flyers ,postcards, posters, banners, exhibition stands, signage
,gifts and promotional gateways ,press release, fax cover pages, email footers/signatures, letterhead &
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envelopes, business cards, order forms, price list, registration forms, invoices, fact sheets, menus, manuals
,user guides, handouts, proposals, power point presentations, social media presence like ringtone,
advertising, jingle etc. ,online profiles, mobile applications ,internet apps, newsletters ,blogs are available
for branding so researcher conclude that the “Ashirvad Pipes Pvt.Ltd.” has strong leadership local and
global brand.
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