Primum Mobile Weblog

Stock of wool in weavers village

This blog is in English to enable our co-workers @jaipur rugs to read what we write about our experiences here.

Being Dutch we are said to be pretty outspoken. Some even call it blunt. This characteristic is not always highly valued abroad. Being here only for two weeks to develop a brand strategy puts us up for a challenge. How do we get all the information we need to come up with a brand strategy, without turning everybody crazy with our questions? And maybe at least as important: how do we present our ideas in such a way that the advice is embraced and executed? In our next blog we will let you know if we succeeded.

Current status branding

Jaipur Rugs (JR) has been thinking about branding its products for a while now. Several surveys have been done and options on how and where to start were discussed. The Jaipur Rugs wholesale company in the US already adds labels with the Jaipur Rugs logo on all rugs they sell. In Asia soon several stores will open that want to sell their products under the (to be defined) brand of the company. Local actions are taken but plans, ideas, and decisions are stored in the heads of the different family members. Up till now no worldwide brand strategy has been defined. Anna and I are here to contribute to this part. The decision on which brand and which strategy to follow needs to be taken in the next couple of weeks.

Starting to understand the company

We decided to approach our branding assignment in an ‘inside out manner’. Firstly we wanted to get a clear understanding what the family-run company Jaipur Rugs is about. We read the case done by Prahalad, saw the different steps in the supply chain, visited weavers in villages, and had a showing of different kind of carpets. We also got some insight in the Jaipur Rugs Foundation (JRF). A voluntary, non-profit and secular organization founded by Mr. N. K. Chaudhary, the CMD of Jaipur Rugs. His purpose is to organize carpet-weaving artisans at grass root level and build up their capacity so that they will have decent earnings and lead a dignified life. The Foundation works with more than 40,000 artisans across the carpet value chain in 10 states in India.

Our approach

Jaipur Rugs and Jaipur Foundation have shared values but their activities and goals are different. The current vision and mission of JR shows that the different positions of JR and JRF are not clearly defined. A clear position is a precondition for branding. So in our plan we started with getting a clear understanding of the position of JR and the companies’ ambitions for the coming years. After that we have a look at the end customers and their characteristics. Finally we summarize branding options suiting the JR positioning, ambition AND clients. And last but not least we define next steps after the branding decision has been made.

Yesterday we discussed our concept with one of the strategic advisors of the family and had interviews with two members of the management team in India and the US. We expect to have our advice ready by the end of day. Tomorrow we present it to the CMD and Director. We are pleased with the end result and hopefully so are they.