Contexting a Brand Plan to its Healthcare Environment by Amitabha Gangopadhyay Founder Director - Green Bark Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Working for three decades with a variety of companies, including both multinational corporations (MNCs) and local giants, I have had the opportunity to guide numerous Marketing teams with their Brand Planning strategies. The days when a Brand Manager

was deeply familiar with his / her brand from its inception and maintained a long-term

relationship with it have long since passed. It is well known that current brand ownership, frequently changes hands, leading to a loss of brand continuity. A major gap in marketing practices today is writing a brand plan for one year, losing sight of the long-haul perspective of a brand's journey.

This leads to a narrow focus on just ‘a year’s stand’. As a result, the biggest onslaught a brand faces is frequent unreasonable strategic shifts. Crucial exercises, like writing a PEST / PREST and SWOT analysis to construct a strength-based strategy in a well-mapped health & regulatory environment get lost in such a “year’s stand.” Hence all these environment scans and strength mapping exercises become ritualized mandates. In most cases, they are never applied in their true essence. I perceive this as merely a deficiency in comprehending or recognizing the essential analysis and valuable insights that can guide a brand

throughout its extensive journey. That’s precisely the reason that I have decided to write about the elements that need to be built to help develop a deeper understanding and maximize the brand's potential.

Here are 12 well-known areas to consider when planning a brand's mid-to-long-term strategic roadmap.