In an era where media fragmentation, brand proliferation and new consumer niches are being discussed, there's a completely contrary phenomenon of convergence that is taking place simultaneously. This phenomenon of convergence is taking place on three levels—however, heavily intermixed and interdependent. These levels are technology, product categories and brands. The author views this sequence as a logical evolution. The momentum and manifestation of this convergence is gaining pace and will certainly redefine the way consumer segments as a concept are looked at. Of these three levels, brand convergence offers the most exciting opportunities for businesses and therefore the primary focus of this article.

The dictionary meaning of the word "convergence" varies from "the act of synergistically coming together" to "contraction" to "similarity of form and structure." We will stick to the former definition in this article.

Technology Convergence
There's a lot that has been written about how technology convergence is redefining and even making obsolete certain categories. Email, PDA and mobile Music, which earlier used to be three non-related product categories today are available in a single device. The PlayStation 2 is not only a games console, but also a CD player, DVD player and Internet connector. Hybrid cars, which till some years back were only at the concept stage, are today available to the customer and there is no end to what microchips have made possible.

eBay, PayPal and Skype with their customer bases and technology under one roof could in a sense redefine ecommerce. eBay, the auction house with Skype's telephony platform makes real-time communication a definite advantage for ecommerce and therefore the synergies in business vital.

Another convergence that is being talked about is between fixed and mobile telephony. Offering services previously offered only on fixed or mobile platforms on the other platform and maybe going beyond that looks a possibility.

Product Convergence
Convergence is a concept that acts as the driving force behind modern product development. The merger of similar devices into a single product form can create a number of advantages for both producers and consumers.

It is not new for products by the same company to be "bundled" together. The evolution however starts when products from different companies converge in a sense. Take the example of a Reuters or a CNN being a content provider for general portals like yahoo or an example in India where a news channel "NDTV" and a newspaper group "Indian Express" have joined hands to not just promote each other but also co-create news content and also take it to a third media, online. Similarly a new cell phone that incorporates iTunes music songs is an example of media convergence in consumer electronics. For the consumer it means more features in less space, while for the media conglomerates it means remaining competitive in the struggle for market dominance. The potential risk with this pace of convergence is that the lines between products and categories will be blurred.

Brand Convergence
This is the logical higher phase of the journey where the value that can be derived both by corporations and consumers is extremely high and at times limited only by thought. This also at the same time acts like a "web of USPs" as opposed to a single USP for the involved brands and can strengthen the bond they share with their consumers creating unique value for them.

Examples are galore. Though one can find hundreds of them in the evolved markets, the author wishes to point out two specific ones in a developing economy like India, where one might be tempted to presume that the concept of brand is yet to evolve. The first is that of the Indian School of Business (ISB) offering "co-branded" courses with the likes of Kellogg and London Business School, which is beyond just sharing faculty and resources. This is a program that tries to concoct the business learnings of both the developed and developing economies.

The other example is of Citibank credit cards which has partnered in India with a retail chain (Shoppers' Stop) and an airline (Jet Airways) in a sort of tripartite partnership, the missing link being between the retailer and the airline. Citibank in fact has even launched co-branded credit cards with each of these brands. A Citibank co-branded credit card customer automatically becomes member of loyalty programs of both Jet Airways (Jet Privilege) and Shoppers' Stop (First Citizen) respectively. Acquiring customers from customer bases of each of the other two brands also is a part of the network. The other way round, frequent flyers over a certain tier on the Airline get benefits on Citibank's credit card as well.

The "Nike + iPod" Sports kit has received an exciting response from consumers, especially the traditional customer of Nike who at the same time of buying values of "authentic, athletic performance" gets to be seen as being "cool and trendy." It gives them best of both worlds, allows them to listen to music and to record, store and share information. The kit is priced at $29 and consists of a receiver that plugs into an iPod Nano and a sensor that sits inside the innersole of specially made Nike shoes and transmits data to the receiver. Customers can connect their iPod Nano to Mac or PC, and their workout data syncs to both iTunes and nikeplus.com, where they can see their runs, set goals, and challenge friends. Both Nike and iPod bring in unique value, which in combination give the consumer a 'more unique cocktail', difficult to replicate overnight by competitors.

The other example, Nokia N93 packs a 3.2 megapixel camera with a 3x zoom Carl Ziess lenses. Carl Ziess, which is known for its superior lenses, brings in the credibility and distinguishing factor for Nokia vis-à-vis other cell phone brands offering comparable concepts of camera-in-cell phone. At the same time it allows Carl Ziess to make its brand accessible to enthusiasts who at a later point in time could be buyers for serious photography stuff and its other products.

So what is driving/can further drive brand convergence?

• Primarily non-competing brands will clamor to get together. For the competing ones, even though some synergies might be working at the back end, it will take further evolution till they converge in the consumer space unless of course the companies merge or brands are bought over.
• The brands should have a similar Target Audience. This might be obvious to some, however the similarity should not end at the demographic level but also extend to the psychographics and buying behavior.
• They should have similar brand appeal and perception. Each of brands coming together should only enhance and/or reinforce the basic image of the other one. In a sense they should complement each other in terms of the perception consumers carry about them.
• The converged entity/product has to meet a genuine consumer need. Convergence for the sake of it will not just add no marginal value to the brands but a venture gone wrong can in fact erode brand equity.
• The converged offering needs to have a unique value proposition, different or greater that the individual offerings. In a way the joint offering should be more potent than sum of all individual offerings.

The advantages that successful brand convergence can bring in are:

• Increased loyalties from customers of both brands.
• May open new business opportunities.
• Allows each brand to tap into each other's customer base.
• PR, WOM and buzz for the brands.
• May motivate customers of one brand to try the other one, which might not have happened otherwise.
• Potential image rub-off for a new brand.
• Gives a signal to the customers that the brand is willing to innovate and experiment.
• Opportunity for sharing marketing costs, which ideally should be lower than what individual brands would have had to spend on creating the same amount of visibility and noise.

Happy marketing!

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Rahul Chaudhari is a product manager in the retail banking division of a private sector bank in India. He is based in Mumbai.