Soon we will see emergence of Indian brands on global stage: Gordon Pincott

With 30 years in the business and 25 years with Millward Brown, Gordon Pincott, the chairman of the world's second-largest market research organisation, has witnessed the rise of many brands and at the same time has seen some of the biggest names go bust. Given today's complex media landscape and the restlessness that comes with it, brands are attempting to do things differently and are at their experimental best. ET spoke to Pincott during his recent India visit to get a sense if all is well in the marketing world. Edited excerpts:

Do you feel that marketers today overestimate the consumer's interest in brands?

Yes, I think brands take themselves far too seriously and this is not surprising, as marketers like to live their brands. We have the largest neuro-marketing team in the world at Millward Brown and have drawn a lot of learnings out of neuro-science. What we have picked up is that people don't go through a lot of effort to make decisions. They pay very little attention to advertising because it's not that important to them and when they make a brand decision, they are not expending very much effort either. They typically buy the last brand they bought and don't weigh up everything. That to me is the digital dilemma. Digital is a fantastic space for engaging in detail with people. The question is do they want to engage with you, your brand and your communication? They don't want to become friends with their butter or indulge in some good great online cooking oil exploration.

So in today's complex media landscape, do you think it is possible to build a great brand by just focusing on traditional media and not looking at digital?

Yes, you could. You could get away with it. Would you be exploiting every opportunity that might be open to connect with people in different ways? You would be limiting yourself but could you launch and develop a global brand on the back of TV? The truth is that most global brands have done just that.

If you look at China and India Inc and their attempts at becoming global entities, what do you think is holding them back in their journey? Do you think both countries have perception issues?

I think perception is an important factor. I guess China has been cut-off from the world for much longer. Millward Brown's journey in China has been really interesting. We have been in the market for 10 years and opened up on the back of multinationals. All our business came from international brands for the first four to five years. Now over half of our businesses in China come from Chinese companies. They are all looking to go global and are aiming to understand everything they can about it. Brand China is an issue, but I don't think as an individual brand you necessarily need to solve the country's issues. I see absolutely no reason why there won't be major Chinese and Indian brands that are global in the next 10 - 15 years.
Which Indian brands prop up in your head as brands to look out for on the global stage?

Some brands like Mahindra already do have a strong international presence. Take Tata for example. It is really interesting that the area where I am based in England used to be the car and motor bike manufacturing center of the world. But, bit by bit, it all declined and vanished. One of the last pieces there is Jaguar-Land Rover and when word was out that Tata was buying it, there was a wailing and gnashing of teeth and a sense that it was the very end of the car industry. But, they have done a very nice job of building and continuing to build the Jaguar and Land Rover business.