The Company that Catches PATRON'S EYE FOR 100 YEARS

My definition of a brand is simple. The brand is a thought that lives in a person’s mind. As many people, those many different thoughts of this one brand in question. And that is brand complexity, something that brand-custodians within companies grapple with all the time.

- HARISH BIJOOR

As I peek into the lives and times of century-old companies, I am struggling to find that one common element in all of them. Is there one at all? Or are there many? And does knitting all of them together make for the creation of a true-blue timeless brand that has the ability to nurture the love of every generation it caters to, has catered to and will cater to in the future?

The 17 companies [profiled in this issue] span literally every type of enterprise there is to mention. There are the biggies from the realm of products and services (Tata Steel and Tata Power), there are banks (Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India) and companies that span every other type of enterprise that finds a use at home or office. There is the grower and marketer of the coffee bean (Tata Coffee), the guys who got us that syrupy ruby-colored drink called Rooh-Afza (Hamdard), the makers of the best Good Day biscuit (Britannia Industries) and the guys who help you paint the walls of your life white, yellow and green (Berger Paints). And there are more to munch on this list.

These companies have created timeless brands that have helped them bridge the gap that generations leave behind them to the benefit of their top-line, bottom-line and affection-line equally. If you really think of the companies on this list, affection for sure is a common sentiment that arises, directly in some cases and indirectly in some others.

I do believe timeless brands are created by companies that believe in timeless values. Three for now.

Trust Tops the List