KATHMANDU: Heroism, riches and royalty have always fascinated mankind ever since the first man declared himself a monarch and crowned himself as the chief. Myths, legends, folklore and history put together cannot ascertain who the first monarch was, but all agree that royalty, kingship and blue-blood are among the most valued virtues humanity has ever discovered. In terms of brand equity, kingship undoubtedly enjoys the highest brand equity that can be assigned to any virtue!The brand value of royalty can be fathomed from the fact that, all products in all categories try and proclaim themselves as the kings, queens or the blue-blood of their respective industries! Among all the possible definitions of royalty and kingship, the ones relevant to branding are the ones which harp upon the virtues of royalty to demonstrate traits of leadership, command reverence, project a god-like aura and garner the ability to inspire people. All brands globally aspire to achieve any one of these virtues and the corporate world literally battles each day to declare itself the king.   

So what actually defines a brand royalty?

The inherent offering of royalty is supposed to be literally personifying all virtues that can be thought of. This ability to person-ify all that is good in humanity is what has given royalty its charm and brand value. It is this virtue inheritance offering that most global brands aspire to replicate. When a product wants to tag itself as royalty, it always highlights it virtues and quality.

Historically speaking, royalty used different means to market its achievements and conquests. Some were gross and barbaric

display of strength, while others were poetic and visually pleasing gifts to humanity. Advertisements of different kinds have been used regularly to proclaim supremacy and build brand equity. Another tool of marketing used by royalty to build their respective brands has been public relationships. The fact that all palaces and forts have a public audience area highlights the importance of the PR tool in building brand royalty.

Legacy has been another great contributor to brand royalty. From claims of sharing blood-lines with gods, demi-gods to the five elements, brand royalty benefits substantially from the mysticism of its legacy. The fact that royalty has existed since creation of mankind gives the brand an unreplicable and irreplaceable legacy. No matter what the vicissitudes of fate bring, once a king always a king! It is this undying ability of the touch of royalty that has added substantially to brand blue-blood.

All the above three elements add up to the positioning of brand royalty. And the result of the total is certainly much bigger than the sum of the individual elements. Brand royalty is that untouchable, all desirable positioning that can be tarnished but not destroyed, that can be pulled down but never replaced.

All global products strive to achieve this positioning for their products. Some succeed and declare them to be the new ‘royalty’, while others fail and are termed as ‘ran-toos’. After all, brand royalty is not just about achieving, it is about personifying mankind’s most revered aspirations.

(The author is associated with the Chaudhary Group and can be contacted at vibhor.kumarsingh@gmail.com)