c
 


 
  
   
 

The company always has a feeling for community, that if we take so much from the
community it becomes our responsibility to give back to the community. So the company
always works for the upliftment of the community. It has always been a socially active and
conscientious company.

The company has an established brand image, through its socially unswerving attitude,
the brand image has gone high in the minds of the customers. It always believes in corporate
bountiful activities and donates a considerable amount of $1 of every bottle of beer to various
cultural programs, social and environmental issues as well as drug awareness programs in all
the western states that the company operates. The funding ranges from $2500 to $5000 and
the interest for social concerns are equal to all the states where the company functions,
except for any eventuality when the company shows additional concern for the state which is
great need of resources.

It does not end here, the company also has got a community board where the
organizations in need of funds can post their requirements, which becomes a medium through
which the people including the employees of the organization could help the people in need.
So this becomes a communication channel between the Non-Profit Organizations to post their
requests and the people who want to help. The company also has a website in which there is
link to help these charities and the organizations could mention their requirements for people
who browse the site to see and help. Thus the company is indulged in various community
services, without wanting anything in return.

The company was started in 1991 and the business of the company is still going in the
right direction and getting profit more than what is expected. The company has got its
distribution in 16 western states and the customer retention is high in all the states. This
clearly states that the company has got a long lasting image in the mind of its customers. It is
not only the beer that the customers are loyal to, but also the company also because it has
proved to be a social conscious company. Thus the brand image of the company is always
very high in the minds of the company. The customers and people, directly or indirectly
related to the company, know that these social activities that the company does is not just
 promotional activity which the company does, the image building of the company is done
automatically. There is consistency in the company¶s¶ community activities and it is done
continuously.

So except for the promotion that the company does on a smaller scale, it does not
have to promote or build its image. There is always word-of ±mouth promotion going on for
the company amongst the people, starting from the company¶s customers to the people who
are not directly related to the company. So as long as the company continues to strive for the
growth of the community, the company¶s brand image would also be at its pinnacle.

c
  



The branding policy of every company concentrates on making the customers to

understand the attributes of the brand, which is then converted to tangible and intangible
benefits. Further, the brand speaks about the company¶s values and depicts the company¶s
culture, in addition to illustrating a personality as well as the right consumer to use it (Kotler,
2000).

The branding policy that the company adopts is Multi Branding, which means that the
company markets varieties of beers (i.e. new brands introduced in the same product category).
The company¶s policy is to market few varieties of beer seasonally. It targets customers from
the ages of 25 to 44 and keeps the image of the company as very straight-thinking. The
branding policy of the company would continue to be a single product category i.e. beers with
additional features. The company follows individual branding to market its products. It has got a
wide variety of products in the same line. This policy of the company is because of the single
product of the company - beer.

In addition to the product, the company does branding keeping in view its competitor¶s,
the market where it markets its product, the number and the varieties of the competitor¶s
products as well as its own resources. In this case, the company has an image already
established and its competitors are both macro brands and micro brands.

Furthermore, the company heavily depends on its packaging for its image building
activity. Packaging is not only giving a physical feature for the product but also an image
building aspect. The container and the design of the package show the marketing strategy of
the company which is generally user friendly. In this case, the beer is sold in a pack of six which
may increase the customer acceptance of the product and also motivate the customer to try it
many times. Thus the company provides a select amount of product at the time of consumption.
By marketing some of their products seasonally also; the company specifically meets customer
needs. The company uses amber glass for packaging which is environmental friendly.
Otherwise making a distinction between the company¶s products and those of their competitor¶s
would be very difficult, because of the homogeneity if the product.

Packaging has helped the company in three ways. The packaging has helped the
product to maintain its well-designed form; the form of packaging satisfies the needs of the
customers, in this case males between the ages 25 to 45 and the third function is to promote
the product, features, its uses and image. So the image of the company is in a way promoted
by its packaging. The people who drink the company¶s beer are considered to be responsible
citizens. This holds true for the people consuming the product as well as the people associated
with the company, because the company believes in running an environment friendly business
as well as doing whatever is possible to make the community exultant and comfortable. Thus
with the help of branding policy and packaging has helped the company to build its image in the
positive direction.

Ö
 
V

'
'   
 


 
       
    

!"

This is an article that appeared in New York Times regarding the issue of pinching of
business ideas.

The newspaper featured an article about Green Garmento, a company that makes
reusable dry-cleaning bags, and its inventor Rick Siegel. Seeing this article, Jane Wyler,
another inventor contacted the author to express her anger that her company Reuseniks was
infact the first one to conceive the idea of reusable dry cleaning bags.

Ms. Wyler brought out that her company manufactured reusable dry cleaning bags
under the name Clothesnik. She was contacted by Mr. Siegel in 2008, who expressed his
interest in investing in the company, an offer that was declined by Ms. Wyler. Mr. Siegel, in a
later email to Ms. Wyler also mentioned that the reason for his inclination to be involved with
Ms. Wyler¶s company was that the Clothesnik could be easily replicated by potential
competitors who could undermine their uniqueness and reap the available awards.

Ms. Wyler claims that Mr. Siegel stole her idea resulting in undermining of her brand.
Mr. Siegel on the contrary claims that the Clothenik was made of organic cotton and cost $30
apiece, whereas his product the Green Garmento was made of Polypropylene and cost just
$9.99. Thus they were not rivals, he claims. He adds that his innovation and creativity lay in the
ability to recognizing how to transform one product into something else.

The author however claims that these facts were never disclosed by Mr. Siegel the
previous month. The author states that Mr. Siegel now says that after seeing the Clothesnik, he
did some research to conclude that the product would be more successful, if made of
polypropylene, which was a cheaper material. Thus he did not owe anything to Ms. Wyler, who
in any case says that she expects no money, but only credit for her invention.

The author explains the genesis of Clothenik, as it was started as a company by Ms.
Wyler and her friend Wynn Williams in 1990, but shut down in 1993. The company was
restarted by Ms. Wyler in 2007, later entering into a partnership with Mr. Leivenberg. They met
Mr. Siegel again, but did not insist on a noncompetition agreement before the information was
shared due to a presumed shared selflessness.
 Ms. Wyler says that she was shocked when she was informed that Mr. Siegel had
stolen her idea. She consulted a lawyer, who advised her that a law suit would be expensive
and likely to be unproductive. Her husband, David sent Mr. Siegel an offensive email message
with the subject line ³Scum´. This email is cited as one of the reasons by Mr. Siegel for not
revealing the details of his interaction with Ms. Wyler to the author earlier. Mr. Siegel also
informed Ms. Wyler in a later interaction that his move was legal as there was no patent on
garment bags.

The article brings out that business ideas can be easily replicated or stolen, and there
is seldom an underlying trust in relations between businessmen. It also emphasizes the need
for legal provisions such as non-competition agreements to be in place before business
information is shared, to avoid complication and unpleasantness at a later stage. These aspects
have been explained in chapter 10 -  # 


$

  under the
section   
 
in the book.