Classmate: Brand identity & Ethical and Legal Issues

Brand Identity

Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer.

Following aspects that are used to cultivate a consumers mind towards the brand are -

•  Name of the Brand
•  Designs of the  logo
• Uses colors, shapes, and other visual elements in its products and promotions
• Crafts the language in its advertisements

Towards creating a brand identity which would be impactful Classmate tried to create its notebooks made of recycled paper, becoming more environmentally aware of the impact of its business and a campaign that seeks to dial down the stress and peer pressure among students are some of the steps being taken by ITC to keep its Classmate brand of stationery relevant among a young set of consumers. Faced with an environmentally and socially engaged group of young students and parents who are vocal advocates of their beliefs on social media, the company wants to build an identity that addresses the concerns of the target group.

Classmate stands for identifying and celebrating the uniqueness of every child. The brand encourages each user to nurture the skills and interests that make them special, with confidence to make their dreams a reality.

Visual elements used in its products: 

·       Classmate notebooks consist of more than 300 variants including notebooks, long books, practical books, drawing books, and reminder pads. ITC focused on the design elements of notebooks: each Classmate notebook has a theme on the cover and related information inside. ITC Classmate notebooks use Ozone-treated, Elemental Chlorine Free Paper which has lesser use of chemicals in the bleaching stage. Ozone treatment of paper before the bleaching process improves paper quality and shelf life.

·       Classmate Pulse is a trendy range of notebooks from Classmate for the uber-cool youth of today. Its vibrant, stylish, and trendy covers with special effects make a statement, upping the style quotient of these notebooks.

·       Classmate's range of pens includes ball, gel & roller pens. Classmate pens deliver unmatched comfort and a neat writing experience. They are ergonomically designed and engineered to ensure a controlled ink flow for a smudge-free writing experience. The textured rubber grips and low viscosity inks ensure that writing is comfortable and extremely smooth.

·    Classmate Colour Crew range of art materials come in a range of rich and vibrant colors, has been designed to cater to a child's learning needs-from developing motor skills, hand-eye coordination, to colour recognition, and much more. This portfolio ranges from Wax crayons, Plastic crayons, Oil pastels, and Sketch pens.

Ethical and Legal Issues

Knowing the terms:

Ethical deals with social concerns, responsibility, and enforcement cannot be forced but are on a more voluntary basis,

Legal relates to the law and there are definite enforceable methods available to deal with such points.

Classmate: The brand enjoys a strong penetration in the stationery market. Classmate claims to have a share of 22-24% in the notebook market. In terms of consumer spends, they are already a Rs 1,000 crore brand and enjoy the No.1 position in this segment. They command a market share of approx 20 and a 5-15% price premium over the regional competitors.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Every Classmate notebook carries an ITC's CSR message on its back. For every four Classmate Notebooks purchased, ITC contributes ₹1 to its social development initiative that supports, among other projects (including the development of tobacco plantations to increase cigarette production), primary education

Classmate Art Academy

This first took off in 2015. Classmate launched a new initiative - Classmate Art Academy to promote its latest range of art products. The certificate training program brought together art teachers from top schools of New Delhi under one roof, to provide them with a platform to learn new skills. The property was executed by Victor Tango. Classmate recognizes the advantages of nurturing artistic pursuits in the all-round development of a child and aims at providing them with the right tools.

Ad Spends

The company spends more than 5% of its turnover on marketing and brand building activities. They spend across mediums, depending on the need for the campaign. Their expenditure on digital marketing has substantially increased over the past few years, and plan to continue practicing the same.

BTL or ATL Marketing

As a brand, they believe that both ATL and BTL are equally important and they complement each other. Depending on the product, target audience, and geographies, they evaluate the media mix and move with their marketing plans.
Social media, too, has definitely changed the fundamentals of marketing and information sharing throughout the globe. It gives liberty to a brand to reach out to the masses in real-time via multiple channels.

WWF-India and ITC Ltd. promoting responsible forestry

This first took off in 2009. ITC Classmate was the first Indian company to join the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN). Papercraft Premium Business Paper is a product of ITC limited and is the country's greenest paper mill. ITC contributes towards saving the environment: through ozone treatment and ECF technology to eliminate toxicity in the industrial effluents released by them into the ecosystem, and on a large scale through reforestation and water conservation by planting 8 trees for every tree used, which has greened over 1 lakh hectares since 2008.

ITC’s Tree to Textbook Value Chain 

With ITC‟s Social & Farm Forestry Programme as its bedrock, ITC‟s Tree to The textbook value chain is an exemplary model of linked prosperity that delivers on all three dimensions of the triple bottom line. While all Programme beneficiaries profit from their previously unproductive assets, for marginal and tribal wasteland owners.

 ITC‟s Social Forestry Programme has played a transformational role by bringing them out of the vicious cycle of poverty. ITC benefits from a renewable and secure source of pulpwood for its Paper & Paperboards Business which in turn provides strategic sourcing to its packaging and other FMCG businesses. A key plank in ITC‟s climate change mitigation strategy, the largescale green cover created by the plantations has brought significant environmental benefits and has played a vital role in ITC‟s carbon positive status. Along with clean processes like elemental chlorine-free and ozone bleaching technologies employed by ITC‟s Paper & Paperboards Business, the Programme has contributed to the Company‟s green credentials. As a result, ITC‟s Education & Stationery Products Business has been able to strengthen its brand value by offering eco-friendly Classmate notebooks made by small and medium enterprises, and Paperkraft business stationery, as well as enabled ITC‟s Packaging Business to offer green options to its clients.

ITC's Primary Education Programme

 Benefitting over 7,75,000 children 
 This programme aims to create enabling conditions so that more underprivileged children stay in school and complete their schooling. It also tries to hone their skills and abilities. 
 The Programme provides infrastructural support to government primary schools - desks and chairs, lights and fans, classrooms and other structural improvements, textbooks, and notebooks, sports kits, etc. 
 Sanitation infrastructure is a top priority. 
 Programme partners with education providers to introduce modern teaching and assessment methods. 
 The Read India Plus Programme, run in partnership with Pratham, improves the quality of learning of around 36,000 children every year.

Future Plans

Classmate has developed a portfolio of world-class products through sustained investments in brand building. Going forward, they will leverage their competencies, expertise, innovations, and brand communication strategies to stay ahead in the market.