What is the importance of branding in a service like generation and dissemination of information?
A. It varies from medium to medium. In the case of television, the programme is probably the channel’s best brand. Kaun Banga Crorepati was the brand that actually got people hooked on to STAR Plus. And then the channel used the KBC opportunity to sample some of their other products (serials). Over a period of the time, those serials became brands in themselves. But a TV channel is still dependent more on its sub-brands, than its mother brand. In the case of a newspaper, people buy into the mother brand. The primary choice may be shaped by the sub-brand, such as the Delhi Times, but people buy into the brand as a whole. The importance of brand, brand consciousness, brand salience, is bigger in the case of a newspaper than other media.
