Royal-Thomian – a 132 year old Social Networking Brand

On the eve of the Royal Thomian, we reproduce extracts from MTI CEO Hilmy Cader’s article of brand learnings from the Royal Thomian

Talk to someone in their mid to late 20s and they will hail the concept of Social Networking (conceptually I agree) and tout that the likes of Facebook, Bebe and Linkedin are the ones who invented this (which I disagree).

The concept of Social Networking (in its different forms of manifestations) did exist for centuries, however what I am about to discuss today is a Social Networking Brand that was invented 132 years ago, still going strong and arguably unparalleled by whatever measures of brand equity you may decide to use.

The Royal-Thomian as a brand provides many learnings for today’s Marketers and even sets a benchmark of brand strength that many of today’s brands should aspire to. Here are the learnings and reasons why:

* Prof. C.K Prahlad  in his book the ‘The new age of innovation’ talks of the concept of co-creation and sites the ground breaking examples of Wikipedia, Youtube – where the user provides the contents, while the producer provides the platform. This has been the case with the Royal Thomian for more than a century, whereby the alumni provides a key part of the contents, not forgetting those in their boys tents, the school boy cricketers and the well wishers

* It is argued that profit is the only driver of a business; here is an exception where passion is the driver of the business – an event that the busiest corporate CEOs will find time for and one that old boys will cross continents for.

*New age Marketers will talk of Tatoo brands like Chelsea, Nike, and Harley Davidson. Linked to the Royal Thomian you will use many such experiences – for instance 60 year olds clad in school uniform going back to their classes for a lesson with the same Master (some still hale and hearty) who taught them 50 years ago

* Even the modern day concept of ‘Cult Brands’ is so evident when one takes a look at Corporate Sri Lanka and how loyal alumni pull strings for each other, even proudly claiming “he was at College, my batch, we played rugby together” – would not today’s marketers aspire for such a cult brand status for their brands?

* The Royal Thomain has strong sub-brands, the Mustangs, the Stallions, the Colts to name a few. Each has a unique customer profile based on a combination of demographics and psychographics!

*Above all, it has gone on for 132 years and considering it never had a single payroll employee, only the efforts of the different Brand Evangelists

For those of you not part of this Brand, I do apologise if my passion for the brand got the better of me, but it does not take away the strong brand learning.

I am looking forward to 3 days of brand indulgence!