Human bonds make your brand stronger

How people branding can help create stronger brands


Does human bonding strengthen the brand? The answer is – yes. The brand loyalty develops among the employers if they bond well together and the brand loyalty capitalises into brand equity.

Spending on your people can lead to building better and stronger brands. In the recent years, organisations have recognised the power of people branding and have come up with everyday solutions to make their brands stronger.

The first one is, of course, team outings. Once in a while the teams should be encouraged to get together outside office environs and feel that besides working together at office, they are good buddies as well. This strengthens bonding, creates better teams, increases outputs, effectiveness, efficiency, and eventually helps build the brand. Trust among team mates is crucial for successfully achieving a common goal.

Imagine how you feel when you are invited to a bar by your immediate boss and s/he behaves like your closest friend. It encourages you further to put forward your creative inputs during discussions. You come out of the fear factor that haunts you all the time when you want to assert your ideas forward or disagree with your seniors.

The team building exercises also build stronger bonds leading to strong brand building. You never know who is good at what. Someone who might be too slow in grasping might turn out to be an idea champ. The team building exercises bring out the unseen qualities inside a person. Identifying and recognising talents is another crucial step towards building better teams.

Hiking the whole day in the weekend, sharing each others’ experiences in the way, competing with each other in terms of stamina, in terms of creativity in the photos you click on the way, sharing lunch, coffee, tea together creates a camaraderie which shows up in the group performance. Especially, if certain hikes are turned into a corporate social responsibility (CSR) stunt like distributing notebooks and pens to a remote school, teaching students about the environment, it generates sense of responsibility among the group.

It is high time organisations work towards bringing cohesion among the informal groups within the organisation. It is proven fact that the informal groups help nurture organisational politics that eventually hinders the growth of the organisation. Social events like “Happy Hour” once a month help bring together the whole organisation.

Every Fridays can be turned into a learning cum idea sharing platform. Well known think tanks can be invited to the organisation to interact with the staff. It not only infuses enthusiasm among staff, but also provides them ample opportunity to speak up their mind and put forward their opinions that might be worth a hundred dollar idea.

Bonding together motivates the staff to work effectively and efficiently. Organisations should seek to turn the workplace into a playground where camaraderie and ideas flourish together. It turns the workplace into a magic wand - waving it, the teams can create miracles anytime at the drop of a hat.

Make your brand more visible

What are the cheapest ways to step up your brand recognition? This is the most asked and nerve-wracking question to the brand managers and corporate communication specialists. And the frequent reply is – “Rome was not built in a day, it takes time to get your brand recognised”.

However, apart from your brand manager or corporate communications specialist, you too can help raise your brand recall everyday. There are simple solutions that can be implemented without expending an extra penny from the office coffers.

Let’s start from the workplace. Displaying a visible and large size board in the office premises gives the passers-by a chance to glance and a point to ponder over the brand. If the office is located in a busy street, then of course, daily hundreds of people get to see the brand and out of those hundreds, some will have the brand in the subconscious corner of their minds. Their brains will recall and reiterate the brand if they happen to see it somewhere else. Just have a look at the corporate offices of some of the big brands.

Now let’s get the brand moving. By moving I mean to say put the brand sticker with some catchy slogans on the back of your vehicles. At least some hundreds of followers on the busy road will get to see the brand daily while you are driving to or from work. Especially, at traffic lights and jam, the followers will notice the brand.

There’s another amplification factor to make this more effective. If the office has a pick and drop facility – then the whole bus or car can be painted with the brand. Or a huge, easily visible sticker can be stuck to the vehicle. This will not only make the brand more visible but give a dynamic touch to the brand – more people will get to see the brand everyday. You can imagine how much the DHL vehicle running across the city advertises its company.

If you can spare a day for your office and environment, there’s another cheapest mean to spread your brand visibility. Wear the office tee shirt and cycle to your office every Friday. This will obviously get your brand noted on the streets. And you will feel proud to go green at least once a week.

Word of mouth branding leads to tipping point results. Talk about your brand while talking with your friends during get together and parties. If they find it interesting, they will again talk to more of their friends and it will in fact bring the chain effect to spread the message. Haven’t you been tempted when one of your friends recommends a particular eatery to you? So effective is the word of mouth branding.

The buzzword social marketing can prove profitable in your organisation’s case. Partner with a media house to occasionally place the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) messages in the media. The intermittent messages in the media keep people interested and curious towards your brand. Haven’t you seen the WWF messages to save the endangered species? It reinvigorates the brand everyday.

Celebrate some important days which matches with your organisational values. This will again rejuvenate your brand once or twice a year. Have you not heard about the “Walkathon” organised by Standard Chartered Bank? It obviously gets you noticed – on the streets and in the minds of probable clients.

Corporate gifts, especially calendars and desk souvenirs which have a long shelf-life give your brand that extra space in somebody else’s office. Not only the holder but the visitors to the office of the holder get to see your brand and appreciate it (if it’s really good). Everybody will look at the calendar if it’s from Pirelli!

Appoint an ambassador. Of course s/he should be a public figure. It will not only connect your brand with the admirers of the public persona but will also highlight your organisation’s cause. Just ponder why UN appoints goodwill ambassadors every year.

Cattle oldage home to conserve vultures

When a man dies, people come together, praise the good deeds of the person and take his body for the final rites. However, in Lalmatiya village of western Nepal, the local communities organize an honouring procession when old cattle die. They cover the carcass with a white piece of cloth, offer flowers and incense to the dead, chant mantras and dispose the body to a platform meant to be an eating table for vultures.

As soon as the men leave the platform, the carcass is covered by a venue of vultures and they eat up the whole body within hours. Few years ago, the whole village used to be drenched in a strong stench of the dead animal for weeks, because there were no vultures around.

“The vultures had vanished from this area,” says Shyamesh Chaudhary, the President of the Kalika Community Forest Users’ Group. “After we banned Diclofenac and started feeding the vultures, they started coming back.”

The community forest users’ group opened an oldage home for old livestock two years ago. The local communities also banned Diclofenac in Lalmatiya and nearby Sisahaniya village.

When the cattle die, they are fed to vultures. Before accepting the old cattle, they confirm that they were not treated with the anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac. The drug has been the main cause of drastic decline of vulture population in Nepal. The vultures die of kidney failure after eating the carcass of cattle administered with Diclofenac.

“The oldage home for livestock is a unique way of conserving vultures and respecting the old cattle,” says Moti Adhikary, the coordinator of the oldage home. “Earlier the old cattle used to stray in the nearby community forest and village after being deserted by the owners. Now they have a safe place to stay before they die.”

The oldage home pays a nominal amount to the owners for providing the old cattle. The cattle are well taken care of and fed properly. “Right now we have 25 old cattle with us,” says Dil Bahadur Kumal, the caretaker of the oldage home. “In total we have had 152 cattle and we fed them to vultures after they died.”

After the oldage home’s establishment, five different species of vultures have flown to this area with many building nests in the nearby community forests. “We have located 22 nests in our community forest,” says Chaudhary. “More vultures have built nests in the neighbouring community forests and people come here to watch vultures.”

With a simple innovation, the villagers have not only taken care of old cattle and revived the vulture population but also attracted many visitors to this area.

Discoveries in the times of extinctions

Over 350 species discovered in the Eastern Himalayas

Chitwan Scorpion (Heterometrus nepalensis)

While the world is reeling under the impacts of climate change with the possible extinctions of species, the new findings in the Eastern Himalayas spanning Bhutan, the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, North Bengal and Sikkim, the far north of Myanmar (Burma), Nepal and southern parts of Tibet Autonomous Region, have delighted the conservation fraternity.

Over 350 new species including the world’s smallest deer, a “flying frog” and a 100 million-year old gecko have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas.

A decade of research carried out by scientists in remote mountain areas endangered by rising global temperatures brought exciting discoveries such as a bright green frog (Rhacophorus suffry) which uses its red and long webbed feet to glide in the air.

(The WWF report The Eastern Himalayas – Where Worlds Collide details discoveries made by scientists from various organizations between 1998 and 2008)

In Nepal alone 94 new species were discovered which include 40 plants, 36 invertebrates, 7 fish, 2 amphibians, and 9 reptiles.

One of the most remarkable discoveries in Nepal was Heterometrus nepalensis, a scorpion new to the world discovered in the Chitwan National Park in 2004. This discovery was significant as it was the first species of scorpion ever to be discovered in the country and was given the name to honour the occasion.


The Eastern Himalayas report also mentions the miniature muntjac, also called the “leaf deer” (Muntiacus putaoensis) which is the world’s oldest and smallest deer species.

Scientists initially believed the small creature found in the world’s largest mountain range was a juvenile of another species but DNA tests confirmed the light brown animal with innocent dark eyes was a distinct and new species.

The Eastern Himalayas are now known to harbour a staggering 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 types of freshwater fish. The region also has the highest density of the Bengal tiger and is the last bastion of the charismatic greater one-horned rhino.

Historically, the rugged and largely inaccessible landscape of the Eastern Himalayas has made biological surveys in the region extremely difficult. As a result, wildlife has remained poorly surveyed and there are large areas that are still biologically unexplored.

Today further species continue to be unearthed and many more species of amphibians, reptiles and fish are currently in the process of being officially named by scientists. The Eastern Himalayas is certainly one of the last biological frontiers of Asia with many new discoveries waiting to be made.

Tigers roar loud in Nepal

A tiger captured in a camera trap in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve of Western Nepal/ Image courtesy: GoN/ WWF Nepal

2008 population estimate brings a sigh of relief among conservationists

The wild tiger population is at a tipping point. More than half of the Bengal tiger population was lost to poaching in the last decade. The estimated number of tigers in important range countries is frighteningly low, with a recent government census suggesting there may be as few as 1,300 tigers left in India, the species’ stronghold. Besides poaching tigers are facing an epidemic of habitat loss across their range.

When the Government of Nepal started the nation-wide tiger population estimate with the help of conservation organizations like WWF and National Trust for Nature Conservation on 15 November 2008, there was a hidden fear among the conservationists that the results might be dishearteningly low. But when the final figures were released there was a joy and sigh of relief in everyone's face. The 2008 population estimate has confirmed the presence of 121 adult tigers in Nepal. The 1995-2001 estimates had shown the presence of 123 adult tigers in Nepal.

Following the unique bar codes
Each tiger has unique set of stripes, just like the unique fingerprints we all have. The set of stripes are different on both the sides. To capture the stripes on both sides, a pair of camera traps is fitted at the probable sites of tiger encounter in such a way that when a tiger crosses between the cameras they click at the same time.

To derive information on both abundance and distribution of tigers, the current survey employed two methods - Camera Trapping method inside the protected areas and Habitat Occupancy survey both inside and outside the protected areas. Three hundred camera traps were fitted at the tiger encounter sites and the images captured in the cameras were analyzed to find the final figures. To obtain reliable population estimates the survey was undertaken simultaneously in all potential habitats. Previous studies had been undertaken in different time periods and at different spatial scales.

Illegal trade behind the declining tiger numbers
The main reason for the decline of tiger populations has been attributed to poaching and illegal trade. This is linked to the illegal international trade in tiger parts and derivatives (skin, bones, meat in some cases although not reported in Nepal) and use in traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM). Apart from these, sporadic cases of retaliatory killing from irate communities have been reported. Other important reasons of tiger population decline are habitat shrinkage and fragmentation due to human intervention, loss/decline of prey species.

As per the recently released figures, Chitwan National Park has 91, Bardia National Park 18, Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve 8 and Parsa Wildlife Reserve has 4 adult tigers. The tiger numbers have increased in Chitwan but have decreased in Bardia National Park and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve of the western Nepal.

"In spite of the decade long insurgency, encroachment, poaching and illegal trade, the present numbers is a positive sign, but we can't remain unworried," says Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal.

"The declining numbers in western Nepal has posed more challenges, needing a concerted effort to save this charismatic endangered species focusing on anti-poaching and illegal wildlife trade."

Transboundary cooperation a must to save tigers
The Government of Nepal has approved and launched the 'Tiger conservation Action Plan 2008- 2012'. A comprehensive management plan has been devised in which the target is to increase the population of tigers by 10 per cent within the first 5 year period of the plan implementation. Many conservation organizations like WWF are helping the government to conserve the tigers. However, with the effort of Government of Nepal and conservation organizations alone won't be enough to save the tigers.

"Nepal and India share a porous border and many protected areas in both countries are linked with each other," said Dr. Uday Raj Sharma.

"Both the countries need to work together to save these endangered species."

Helping hands for rhinos at risk

It is hard to imagine but true that the species that rubbed shoulders with the prehistoric dinosaurs are once again in the great risk of being wiped out due to the avarice of human beings. The rhinos lived in grasslands, forests and wetlands of South and South East Asia long before humans arrived, their ancestors were here 40 million years ago. Indricotherium, the most impressive of all the extinct rhinos was the largest land mammal ever to live on earth.

Currently, five types or rhinos are found worldwide. White rhinoceros are the largest and most common one, with a broad square-shaped mouth, found mainly in South Africa. Black rhinoceros are the fastest one with a hooked upper lip, found in east and southern Africa. Javan rhinoceros are the rarest one, only 60 remaining in the west Java's thick forests in Indonesia. Sumatran rhinoceros are hairy one, like to wallow in muddy pool, with only 300 left in Burma, Indonesia and Malaysia. The greater one-horned rhinoceros – having most folded skins, are found in India and Nepal.

The greater one-horned rhinoceros population faces a grave threat from poaching. Once, there were 600 rhinos in the wild in Nepal, but the population slumped down to 372 due to the security problem during the insurgency in Nepal. However, with the concentrated conservation efforts, the number has gone upto 435 as per the rhino count conducted in 2008.

Poached for its prized possession
"The rhinos are poached for their horns and the poaching is well organized," says a local in Chitwan, home to the second largest population of one-horned rhinos. "Most poachers work in gangs and the methodology is such that each member of the gang has to do only a specific task."

A member of the gang just locates the rhino and gets a meager sum of money, sometimes even a bottle of beer works for him. They are generally poor local people. They take the benefit of rhinos' behaviour – they like to wallow in water bodies and they leave dung in big piles, using the same path in the vegetation again and again. Another member of the poaching gang shoots the rhino and the third member hacks the horn from the dead rhino's body. Then one member takes the horn to cities like Kathmandu from where the horn could be passed on to either China or India. The amount earned by the gang members escalates with each higher layer and finally the rhino horn lands at a prized amount of approximately Nepali rupees 800,000 (around USD 10,000).

Historically rhinos have been hunted for their horns, a prized ingredient in traditional Asian medicines. Rhino horn is a key ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even today, traditional Chinese practitioners use rhino horn to treat life-threatening fevers. However, the current clinical evidence is inconclusive about its fever reducing properties.

In a number of the Gulf countries, men traditionally wear daggers and the most expensive handles are made from rhino horns. The wearers of the daggers still command respect in the society.

In Greek mythology, rhino horns were said to possess the ability to purify water. Rhino horns were carved out into beautiful ornamental drinking cups to detect poisons. The ancient Persians of the 5th century BC thought that cups carved from the rhino horn could detect poisoned liquids, causing bubbles in the presence of some poisons. This belief persisted till the 18th and 19th centuries among the royal courts of Europe.

The researchers say that this may have been because many early poisons were strong alkaloids that may have reacted strongly with the keratin and gelatin in the rhino horn, thereby indicating the presence of poison.

Besides poaching, destruction of habitat and conflict with humans over living space remain the major threats to saving these magnificent species.

Concerned community members
The communities living in the vicinity of protected areas are well aware of the plight of the rhinos and they know that without rhinos the tourism business will suffer. A mahout (elephant handler) in Chitwan says, "The tourists come to see the rhinos." "If we can't save the rhinos, all of us will lose jobs."

In a shocking incident, a live rhino's horn was hacked off by the poachers, leaving the rhino writhing in pain. The rhino died after two weeks in spite of being treated by the veterinarian and officers of Chitwan National Park. The community members were so enraged that they padlocked all the offices in Sauraha, Chitwan and demonstrated on streets to pressurize the government and concerned people to save the rhinos. A hotel owner in Sauraha says, "If the locals find out the culprits, they will beat them to death."

Similarly, in Khata, the biological corridor that links Nepal's Bardia National Park with India's Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, the community members have formed community based anti-poaching operation units. They patrol the community forests on regular basis and are keep an eye on any new person entering their territory. Eighty three rhinos were translocated to Bardia National Park from Chitwan National Park but as per the 2008 rhino count the park has just 22 rhinos left. In an incident when the community members heard a bullet shot in the nearby community forest, around 2000 locals formed a human chain and remained awake the whole night to save a mother rhino and its baby. The mother and the baby rhinos regularly come from the national park to a water hole dug by the locals in the community forest.

Fences of harmony
Besides the anti-poaching patrols, the communities have started planting mentha (mint), chamomile, lemongrass and citronella plants in their lands bordering the national park in Khata. " Farming the crops that are unpalatable for the rhinos has reduced the human rhino conflict , " says Bhim Bahadur Pun, a farmer in Khata. "We are also getting better price for the essential oil produced from these crops."

With the financial support from organizations like WWF, the communities have put up electrical fences around their fields and community forests bordering the parks in Chitwan and Bardia. This has also reduced the conflict.

Youths for a Secured future for rhinos
Not only the elder members but the younger members in the communities living near the protected areas are concerned about the fate of rhinos. Most of the schools in these areas have formed eco-clubs. Eco clubs are independent group of students working collectively to support conservation. The students stage street dramas to aware the community about the ills of poaching and benefits of conserving the endangered species.

An enthusiastic eco club member in Chitrasari, Chitwan says, "The rhinos too have the right to live along with the humans."

"All of us know that they will vanish like dinosaurs if we are not able to stop the rampant poaching. So, though street dramas, we try to educate the locals on how to stop the poaching of these magnificent animals."

Adding to this a teacher in Chitwan says, "The rhinos will continue to live as long as the young generation is concerned about them."

"The rein is in their hands."

Saving the endangered snow leopard

A snow leopard is hunt for its beautiful fur


God’s pets in peril
One of the world's most beautiful and elusive cats, the snow leopards (Uncia uncia), considered as God's pets by the local communities in the Himalayas, are in grave danger. They inhabit the high, rugged, harsh and barren environs and are distributed in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains. With an estimated world population of just 3,500 – 7,000 in the wild, they are listed on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species as "Endangered".

The snow leopards weigh between 27-54 kgs, their body length ranges between 0.74 – 1.30 metres with a tail nearly the same length. They possess thick fur which is pale with dark-gray to black spots. This aids in hunting by helping to camouflage the cat against the rocky slopes. Its large, broad paws act like snow shoes. The snow leopard even has a built-in scarf, its long, bushy tail that it often wraps around its body and face for added warmth when resting. This same tail helps the cat keep its balance as it leaps among rocky outcrops and narrow ledges after its agile prey. Its powerfully built, barrel-shaped chest gives it the strength to climb the steep slopes. Its long, muscular hind legs enable it to leap up to 10 metres—nearly six times its body length—in pursuit of prey.

Poaching for pelt and bones
The snow leopards are poached for their valuable fur and bones used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As the demand for Asian big cat bones increases, TCM producers turn to other large cats such as the clouded leopard and snow leopard as substitutes for the tiger bones. The bone trade is rapidly replacing fur trade. Herders living along Nepal’s northern border have been known to exchange snow leopard bones for domestic sheep breeding stock from Tibet. The sale of bones offers poor mountain communities an opportunity to generate substantial income, especially where enforcement is weak and the penalties insignificance.

Herders' headache
As the natural prey base depletes, the snow leopards attack livestock and fall victim to retaliatory killing. "Loss of prey mainly occurs due to poaching of prey species like musk deer and Himalayan tahr or due to the competition for grazing grounds between livestock and prey species," says Kamal Thapa, Research Officer with WWF. "Snow leopards get killed in retaliation by the herders when they attack livestock during times when their natural prey is scarce."

Human-snow leopard conflicts often increase in the winter, as the cats follow the herds of Himalayan blue sheep down to lower altitudes. Food is scarce, and hungry snow leopards occasionally kill and eat domestic livestock. In an incident, a snow leopard killed 100 sheep and goats in its single attack in the Langtang Valley in Nepal. The herders are poor and the loss of even a single yak, sheep or goat is an unbearable pain for them. One herder said, "Snow leopards are robbers, they kill our yak and sheep." "If I find a snow leopard, I will kill it and eat its heart first."

Communities to the rescue of snow leopards
Despite the human-snow leopard conflict, people are now conscious that snow leopards are endangered and they should be saved. The herd owners have set up a common fund which is administered and managed by the Snow Leopard Conservation Committee – made up of members of the local community. This Committee is responsible for monitoring livestock depredation trends, fundraising, verifying claims, and deciding on the appropriate compensation, raising awareness on snow leopards conservation and monitoring prey population. This is very much a scheme for the herders by the herders.

The Livestock Insurance Scheme has proved to be one of the important tools to reduce conflicts between snow leopards and humans. When herders are compensated financially for occasional losses of their cattle they are less likely to kill snow leopards in retaliation as they no longer have to fear financial ruin. This scheme has been used in India, Pakistan and Nepal – where WWF created the first scheme in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area of Eastern Nepal. Experience has shown that the livestock insurance scheme has proved effective in preventing retaliatory killing of snow leopards.

A good future ahead
There are 350 – 500 snow leopards in the wild in Nepal. They inhabit the Nepal's mountain protected areas from Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in the east to Shey Phoksundo National Park in the west. Replication of the successful Livestock Insurance Scheme in all the snow leopard habitats will help save these endangered animals. One local from Kangchenjunga said, "The awareness level has increased in our area." "Now even the herders have realized that they should save the snow leopards."