Of Silicon Fast Foods and Cyber Motors

BANGALORE: Ever since the markets opened up in India, we have witnessed several brands making it big, primarily due to their gigantic marketing and media awareness exercises. BPL and Titan are the two names that come to ones mind immediately. Brand building is a painful process, as the campaign needs to be sustained for a long period of time with more and more fund infusions, while the returns are almost never immediate. While the private sector seems to have perfected the art, if there is one example where a government has succeeded in building an effective brand in the global market, it is Hyderabad.

It is hard to believe how a city, which was no more than just another state capital, has been transformed into one of the hot destinations for IT companies from across the globe, in a matter of few years. It’s simple, the magic of brand promotion and public relation worked.

Hyderabad still may be lagging far behind Bangalore and Mumbai in numbers. Chennai and New Delhi, among others may be giving the old city a run for its money. Yet, one cannot but recognise that Hyderabad is a living example of how successful brand building, coupled with offering appealing products, helps pick up market share in the new economy. It has set an example, which now many Indian cities and many politicians want to replicate.

Unlike Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, Hyderabad never had any advantages that would draw IT companies without any prodding. While Bangalore as the IT capital is largely a making of the IT industry and the latter-day government policies, Mumbai used to be the natural choice due to its traditional image of the business capital of the country. Some chose to be in Delhi to be closer to the corridors of power.

But, one man saw the potential in IT and decided to build Hyderabad as an alternative to other cities for setting up IT development centres. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was always aware that only a big-scale marketing exercise, coupled with an equally big-scale media promotion would help achieve the goal faster. Declaring himself as the CEO of the state, being seen as the CM with data on his laptop and stories of his buying the support of world leaders through his Power Point presentations were highly effective Public Relations exercise. Of course, he never failed to support these moves with ample carrots for the global players to enter the state.

Naidu also did his homework well before selling Hyderabad to both IT companies and finance bodies such as International Finace Corporation. Hyderabad can today boast of good quality roads in most part of the city, especially that leads to the Hi-Tec City.

He succeeded, almost overnight, and how. The roads, the buildings, the commerce, the people, even the dress codes in the city, speak just one language — information technology. The cultural change brought in by the sudden promotion of IT in the city can never go unnoticed. Hoardings of software companies dominate in numbers. Cyber Cafes are ubiquitous in the city. What could possibly sum up the current mood of the city are a few company names that caught the eyes of this reporter — Cyber City Estate Developers, Cyber Motors, EyeTech Optics, Hi Tech Nursery, Silicon Fast Foods.

Naidu’s biggest success came when he convinced Bill Gates to open Microsoft’s research and development centre in Hyderabad. He built the Hi Tec city and renamed the place as Cyberabad (another brand building activity). The second phase of Hi Tec City has begun. He started an Information Technology and a business school, which are already getting global recognition. There are now rumours of Hyderabad having clinched the coveted Media Labs project of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Hyderabad is not without problems, though. And, Naidu knows it. Industry still complains of bureaucratic delays and corruption in the state. No wonder, Naidu’s pet subject these days is e-governance. He is busy connecting his districts, putting data in electronic format and asking his officers to adopt IT. Hyderabad has arrived as an alternative IT spot for many IT companies. The next challenge for Naidu is to sustain the growth and face newer competitions.