Understanding Brands: Sushma’s Story – (Brand Management 93)
Sushma had just joined her first job as a brand manager in a mid-sized pharmaceutical company in India. She was bright, enthusiastic, and hungry to learn. But every time she opened a brand plan or sat in a meeting with senior managers, she felt a quiet fear rising inside her.
Everyone spoke in heavy words—segmentation, differentiation, value proposition, omnichannel, lifecycle management. The more she listened, the more she wondered: Is branding only for people who speak in big terms
One morning, her mentor, Mr. Narayan, noticed her silence. He walked to her desk, smiled, and said, “Come with me.”
They headed to the terrace. It was quiet. A warm breeze blew across the compound as delivery vans moved in and out.
“Sushma,” he said gently, “you look tense these days.”
She hesitated, then said, “Sir… I’m trying hard to understand branding. But everyone speaks so intellectually. I’m worried I may not be cut out for this.”
Narayan laughed softly—not to mock her, but to reassure her.
“My dear,” he said, “good branding takes a lot of good-quality thinking. Yes. But that does not mean branding is only for intellectuals or jargon-spouting folks.”
She looked at him, surprised.
“Brand management uses the brain,” he continued. “But it never asks you to disconnect your common sense. In fact, it depends on it. And it certainly doesn’t require you to speak in complicated language. Some of the finest brand managers I have met explained great ideas in the simplest possible way.”
They leaned on the railing, watching the traffic outside.
“Tell me,” he asked, “when you buy a product—any product—what makes you trust it?”
Sushma thought for a moment. “Consistency… honesty… and how it makes me feel.”
“That’s branding!” he said with a smile. “Branding is not a mysterious art. It is the art of earning trust. It is the art of showing your doctors, your patients, your field force that your brand keeps its promise.”
He picked up an empty tea cup that someone had left nearby. “Look at this cup. If I tell you this will keep your tea hot for two hours and it actually does—again and again—you will trust it. That is the foundation of branding. Not jargon.”
Sushma felt a small knot inside her unwind.
“But sir,” she asked, “what about all the frameworks and terminology?”
“They are tools,” he replied. “Useful tools. But tools don’t build brands. People do. People with empathy. People who listen to doctors. People who understand the patient behind every prescription. People who think with clarity and communicate with simplicity.”
He paused, then added softly, “Branding is not about sounding smart. It is about making others feel understood.”
The breeze grew stronger, lifting her hair slightly. She suddenly felt lighter.
“So,” he said with a wink, “shall we go build a brand with honest thinking and simple language?”
Sushma nodded, smiling for the first time in days.
And that was the moment she truly began her journey as a brand manager—not by memorising jargon, but by trusting her mind, her heart, and her common sense.
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