WHAT IS BRAND LOYALTY Literature on branding and brand loyalty contains many different approaches to defining the concept

of brand loyalty. These range from preference, to repeat purchase, to various degrees of commitment. Loyalty is a distinct concept that is often measured in a behavioural sense through the number of repeat purchases. The Customers of Milo if they would have had the Brand loyalty they would have went for a repeat purchase and the brand would have been in a live status. Milo at this point failed to capitalise and did not convert consumers into a loyal consumers Consumers may be in the habit of buying a particular brand without really thinking about why they do so. Continual purchasing of a preferred brand, may simply result because the brand is prominently stocked or frequently promoted. Though Milo did a fair amount of promotion by airing TV commercials and carried out promotions in schools, but unfortunately Milo failed to influence the decision makers in the house hold. When consumers are confronted by a new or resurgent competitor providing compelling reasons to switch, their ties to the brand may be tested for the first time. The attachment a consumer has to a brand is a measure of brand loyalty and reflects how likely the consumer is to switch to another brand, especially when the brand is changed, either in price or product features. When Milo being launched as new brand Complan, Boost, Bournvita and Horlics have been well established in the market, Milo was not able to penetrate completely through the clutter, as consumers who were using other brands where maintaining their loyalty towards it.. If consumers purchase a brand repeatedly without attachment it is then called behavioural loyalty. When a consumer purchase repeatedly and with attachment then the consumer is both behaviourally and attitudinally loyal many top brands have been market leaders for years despite the fact that there undoubtedly have been many changes in both consumer attitude and competitive activity over a period of time. In India especially most of the consumers had an emotional attachment to the product. LEVELS OF BRAND LOYALTY Potential loyals Brands may receive favourable attitudes from consumers. These consumers are potentially loyal to a specific brand. Potential loyal consumers are loyal only if a tailormade programme is devised to increase their rate of purchase of a particular brand. Milo in their case though they made a tailor oriented program for kids they failed to convey the message because during its time of launch the decision makers of the house where parents and not kids, they failed to convey the message to the parents. . Pseudo loyals Pseudo loyals, also known as repeat-buyers, do not hold strong attitudes towards a brand and only purchase a brand because of the brands price or availability. Reinforcement of choice and increased perception of the brands superiority will ensure brand preference by a consumer. Milo could have tapped the pseudo loyals of other brands by making it easily available and by maintaining the price ratio compared to others, despite Nestle having a strong distribution system it failed because there was a price difference between the competitors and improper positioning made in the consumers mind

Active and committed loyals These consumers will not change their brand unless a new need is revealed to them which is not satisfied their current brand and a new brand caters to that solution. The need here to the consumers to give an energy drink to their kids which was already done by other brands and Milo did not reveal any other need to the people, so the active and committed loyals to the other brands remained unchanged.

The loyalty pyramid

The brand name does not influence the purchase decision of these consumers and each brand is perceived to be adequate to satisfy the consumers need. The consumer purchases whatever is on sale, or is convenient to purchase. This particular level consists of non-loyal buyers who are completely indifferent to the brand. Milo failed to tap the interest of this level of the consumers, by initially not catering to them by providing only two variants of package whereas the other brands where providing many variants of package ranging from 100gms to 1Kg. The second level consists of habitual buyers, which includes consumers who are satisfied, or at least not dissatisfied with a brand. There is no degree of dissatisfaction that is sufficient to stimulate a change especially if the change involves effort. Loyalty of consumers who form part of this level can be vulnerable to competitive offerings especially if competitors can create a benefit that is visible to the consumer. If the benefit is not visible, competitors may find it difficult to reach the habitual buyers since there is no reason for these buyers to be on the lookout for more alternatives as these alternatives do not show more visible benefits if compared with the existing brand. Milo failed to attract this level of consumers too, a distinct and visible benefit was not shown to consumers it just positioned itself as just another energy drink.

Level three represents satisfied buyers (also known as switching-costloyals). Should the satisfied buyer consider switching to another brand it will be coupled with switching cost, that is, cost in terms of time, money or performance risk. For competitors to convince a satisfied buyer to switch a brand, the competitive brand needs to overcome the switching cost by offering an inducement to switch or by offering a benefit large enough to compensate. Since Milo price was no where less than that of the competitors and the positioning was also not properly made, further adding to its convenience in packaging was absent which failed to lure the level 3 loyals. The fourth level of pyramid is made up of those consumers who truly like the brand. The consumers preference may be based upon an association such as a symbol, experience, or perceived high quality. Sometimes consumers struggle to identify reasons why loyalty exists toward a brand, especially if the relationship has been a long one. Sometimes just the fact that there has been a long-term relationship can create a powerful effect, even in the absence of a friendly symbol or other identifiable contributor to liking. The Indian consumers minds have been conditioned by the other brands that a colour of brown shades or white shades should be present in the package of the energy drink. But Milo came up with a green tint which people did not associate with the energy drink. Finally, the top level of the pyramid represents the committed buyers who are proud users or discoverers of a brand. The brand is very important to them either functionally, or as an expression of whom they are. The consumer possesses so much confidence in the brand that the brand will be recommended to other consumers. Consumers who were using Milo did not recommend it to others because it failed to convert the consumers in the first four level of pyramid to a loyal consumer. Brand Positioning: Positioning concerns the way consumers see the organisations brand and the placing of the organisations brand in the consumers mind space in relation to competitors. Positioning also helps the organisation to point out the difference between its brand and that of its competitors. Considering the amount of competition Milo had it positioned itself initially as an energy drink for an adventurous and daring youth and kids involved in sports. This was showcased by them by their advertising by kids fighting in a karate match, swimming in the ocean and performing stunts, all these attributes made for the positioning where considered as risky by the parents of the kids thus the initial positioning for Milo went wrong. Whereas the competitor brands positioned themselves as energy drink for growing kids, a nourishment drink with vitamins, a drink which is perceived to be a fun loving drink for kids etc, so Complan, Horlicks and Bournvita where highly successful and Milo lost the game due to improper positioning.

Brand Marketing Programs: The Brand Marketing programs where carried out well by Nestle Launch with Common wealth games Milo was launched by Nestle by associating it with the Common wealth games since it was positioned as drink for adventurous sports personality. So it was launched as an official beverage for athletes. Frequent TV commercials were aired by associating it with Common wealth games which was adding pride to India. Celebrity Endorsements: Nestle associated it with sports it roped powerful sports celebrity and TV commercials featuring them were aired before two weeks of the common wealth games. Sports personalities became the brand ambassadors for Milo. Social Events: Milo also conducted various events in schools for kids by sponsoring for the event it also promoted Milo by visiting various schools in an interval of three months by offering milo as drink for free for kids and by giving them a trial pack. Tv Commercials Milo also aired various TV commercials by launching a tetra pack ready to drink variant along with Milo smart plus which adds to the memory power of kids. Promotions and Ads related to these categories were carried out effectively. Free Gifts Milo to boost up its sales gave freebies such as Milo-bat, Tennis Ball, School bags and wrist watches etc on its purchase. This helped Milo to initially to gain the market share later when the promotion was stopped the sales went down and finally the product was withdrawn from the market. Brand Association Brand Association is anything or an event which is deeply ingrained in the minds of the consumer about the brand. Brand association should always be done with something positive so that the consumers will relate the product with it. It is the attributes of the brand which comes into our mind when we recall it; also relates it with classifying the product or services class and category. Milo when it was launched it was mainly associated with energy and sports for a champion, also a tagline stating Win with Milo, was associated with it. The one of the biggest problem in this association is Boost a competitor for Milo has already associated it as a drink with energy and sports by having Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar as their Brand ambassadors. It is boost which first associated itself with energy and it also had the tagline Boost is the secret of my energy. So at the initial point the association made by Milo was a wrong move taken by Nestle. Further the initial promotion of Milo had more free gifts with every purchase, this made consumers to associate it with free gifts and once the sales promotion was stopped it resulted in a disaster as the association made by the consumers did not meet the ends. This improper Brand Association made both by Nestle and Consumers led eventually to the downfall of the brand.

Brand Elements: Brand elements are attributes to describe the brand which are ingrained with the brand and the brand will not exist if does not have Brand Elements. The elements of the Brand Should be Memorable: A brand should be easily recognized and recalled, Milo as brand had had a easy recall as the Name was easy to pronounce. Meaningful: It should have rich visual and verbal imagery, Milo had visual image of green tint added to it, further it had a credible visual of giving energy to kids. Apart from this a brand should also contain the other following elements such as Adaptable Appealing Protectable and Transferable.

Brand Name: Milo

Colour " Green Package"

Brand Elements

Slogan "Win with Milo"

Association "energy"

Brand Identity: Brand Identity is a bundle of mental and functional associations with the brand it actually stems from the culture of the organization which it launches which is responsible for creating a unique product with distinguishable features in it. It is the total proposal and promise. Brand Identity should also be futuristic and should reflect on the durable qualities of the brand. Noticeable elements of a brand are

1. Association- Milo had association with sports and energy, which was already had by boost 2. Tagline- Milo had a Tagline of Win with Milo which was unique 3. Colour- Milo had a unique colour combination with green and balck 4. Trademark- It had an trade mark of Nestle a trusted company in the entire world 5. Jingle- Milo had several jingle which is one of the reason why the brand was not easily recalled by the consumers. Thus Brand Identity is a basic means of consumer recognition and represents the brand distinct from its competitors.