Introduction & Backdrop

Amaravati is the proposed capital city of the recently split state Andhra Pradesh. The announcement
marking Amaravati the de-facto capital city had come at the heels of the final directives of the AP
Reorganisation Act, following which erstwhile AP had a separate state Telangana carved out of its
geography. Under the Act, then current capital city of Hyderabad was to serve as the joint capital of the
two states for a period of 10 years, during which period redrawn Andhra Pradesh had to develop its
capital city. AP Chief Minster, Dr Chandrababu Naidus declaration to build a new state capital,
Amaravati thus came in September 2014.

Given the backdrop of mistrust and a sense of betrayal between the sister state, which in turn continue
to foster a growing competitive rivalry between the two, it was seen as crucial for AP to build Amaravati
into a modern metropolis that would rival the worlds finest cities. Success of this project, is being seen
as a means to not only bring in much needed investment (owing to loss of the major commercial centre,
Hyderbad), but also restore the lost status of Telugus post the bitter birfurcation.

However, with the state already being revenue deficit; the presence of an existing modern city
Vishakhapatnam as an alternate capital city; and reluctance of government employees to shift base from
fully developed Hyderabad to the yet to be developed Amaravati, the need to boost investor and
consumer (citizen/employee) confidence in Amaravati was seen as critical. And it is this need that laid
the rationale to build a brand for the upcoming capital city Amaravati.

Proposed Outline
The project thus proposes to look at the following factors in some detail. Apart from focusing on current
and future targeted efforts for Amaravati, a continuous comparison with other global city brand building
efforts shall be undertaken, as a part of the narrative wherever feasible.

Amaravatis positioning on the Brand Lifecycle Opportunities and Challenges

Amaravati, according to the authors, is at the Concept & Start up phase of the brand life cycle, trying to
build awareness and acceptance/consideration in the eyes of its stakeholders. Unlike traditional brands,
the brand for a city, in the authors opinion would see a flatter maturity phase, considering the
stickiness of physical investment in big city brands. However, considering the growing buzz of Smart
cities in India, the concept and growth phase, as circled below will be the most crucial deciding phase for
Amaravati given the short timeline for building the megacity
Relevance of Brand Knowledge and Brand Architecture Concepts in building brand
Amaravati
Amaravati, can be seen as a Corporate Brand trying to make its foothold in the market, promoting a
credence based product participation in a new city development, is rather different from traditional
product and service brands.

Further, the Brand Association Network for Amaravti shall be built to comprehensively take stock of the
Brand Building efforts so far, primarily to see if all the right stakeholders are being targeted.

In this context, the channels of communication utilized by Amaravati shall also be looked into, with
emphasis also on Brand Community Practices.

Brand Value Analysis

Thereafter, communication seeking to develop a Brand personality, positioning and image shall be
looked into. Further, the success of the brand in establishing brand value across the five levels illustrated
below shall be illustrated, any potential gaps that can be met shall be identified.

Brand
Essence
Brand
Personality
Emotional
Benefits

Product Benefits

Product Attributes

While here, the challenges of making this brand appeal to a mass citizen/investor base shall be
discussed. Unlike traditional brands, which can leverage specific brand value propositions to segment its
target consumer base, Brand Amaravati should appeal to the populace at large. Efforts undertaken to
achieve this particular objective shall be analysed, prior successful efforts at creating such a truly Global
brand shall be looked into for further suggestions.