It started as a vision in 1984 and soon became an outfit that specialised in manufacturing of consumer electronics, networking and communication technologies in the west. And now, Cisco Systems wants to replicate the success in the east. In a discussion with 4Ps B&M, Cisco’s head of brand strategy and advertising Nupur Sharma talks about how the company is poised to become the key market for Cisco’s dream on this side of the globe.
How do you differentiate yourself from other technology brands in India?
What we really do is that we believe in bringing people together on platforms for using our products and solutions where people can come together to share things. This really differentiates us from other technology brands. So others might come up with different kinds of products and solutions, but what we really do is that we connect people and then we bring them together, which enables them to share what they have and I think that is what makes things better for us.
Being a trusted technology brand in India, what challenges do you foresee to protect your unique brand identity?
From an advertising perspective we have been in India for a period of about two and a half years now. We started investing in the brand almost around the same period. What we really feel is that we need to continue to spend on building the Cisco brand in the country. Cisco has been very well known to the technology decision makers in the country, but not equally familiar with the business decision makers. So those are the people we need to reach to. We also need to communicate the strengths of our brand to the community at large.
What’s the inspiration behind Cisco’s ‘My Human Network’? What scope do you see for the same?
We thought of this idea almost six to nine months back as part of our brand initiative in the country to take the Cisco brand to the next level. We always believed that we need to do something different. So we wanted to develop a platform where people can connect to something which is close to their hearts. That is how we came up with this platform. It is a kind of social platform where people can interact and be affiliated to causes that are close to their hearts. So for example, if I believe in a cause and want to do contribute to the same, but alone can not do it, then I can create a community and invite interested people to contribute. There are social networking platforms which help people to connect with friends, but this a more serious place where people will actually come together for different causes.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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