Akkdu Bhaji

It was 7 am in the morning and I was helping mom cut vegetables. I was enjoying this activity. I guess the key driver was the eagerness to eat what is going to be prepared.

It was my sister's favorite sabji when she was a kid, even today it is. When she was a kid, she wanted to know what this preparation is called. My mom, because she had learnt to make this herself, had not given any name to it. Suddenly out of no where she came out with a name called Akkdu Bhaji! The name was something that was probably never thought of by anyone else. It was liked by everyone. From then, the name became very prominent in my house and Akkdu Bhaji is prepared often. Everybody in my house and relatives started liking this, very few were fond of the taste and others were simply attracted by the name. The name in itself was attractive enough that we used to eat it with the same spirit even if she forgot to put salt or missed any spices. Did my mom realize that she had created a Brand and every time we saw ladies finger the brand recall was a default.

A week back, I was ripped apart in my company's internal presentation. I was asked to present on Brand creation and I found it difficult to explain to the tech geeks in the audience. Probably today it struck me. A brand creation is nothing but a perception created for an object, person or service. I saw this happening almost 15 years back, but it struck me today that my mom is a good brand creator. We all must have created some or the other brand in our lives. Should we not list them and take the opportunity to be happy about it.