The brand managers are in general taught or geared up to promote consumer loyalty. The very foundation of enhancing brand equity is to promote consumer loyalty. David Ogilvy propagates consumer loyalty program to his clients. He is of the opinion that the return on investment on retaining existing customer is 10 times more than a new customer. What an Idea Sirjee..........the fundamentals never change.

The door bell rang and Rahul wondered who it could be. Before he could guess, a familiar voice called out:
"Rahooooool... Are you there?"

It was Rahul's dad. Rahul jumped out of his chair and rushed to the door. As he opened it, he saw his dad juggling his office suitcase with a quite a few polythene gift bags with a familiar logo shaped in the form of an aircraft imprinted on each one of them. Rahul's heart sank. Nevertheless, he offered his help in offloading.

It was Diwali season. Rahul's dad worked for Fly Heaven Company, a leading aerospace company. This time of the year, the company had a tradition of doling out gifts as tokens of its appreciation for commitment from its employees.

Having witnessed the day for years, Rahul could literally predict the future course of this difficult day like a soothsayer.

Rahul: (Here comes the same old sweets from the Chandrakala.)

Rahul’s dad: "Check this out!!! The delicious Chandrakala ladoos! Rahoooool, want to try some??"

Brands in India believe to reach their target consumers they have to invest in traditional marketing and advertising; television, print, electronic, events etc. It is probably true.

However, they often and more times ignore the impact that word of mouth marketing creates on their consumers. Here’s one such story that made waves in India last year and continues to do so in 2009.

We’ve all heard of Polo, Ralph Lauren and we all know how their Rugby/Polo Pony’s with the single digit number on the sleeve became the biggest ‘style’ statement in India for 2008.

There was no advertisement in print or television. There is no Polo store in India. There is no marketing tactic that Polo used for the Indian market. So then how and why did this story become such a big rage? I decided to ask around and see how the Poly Pony tee became the most talked about and worn brand in India last year?