From Upper Juhu to Upper Worli to the Golden Mile, builders in Mumbai have taken to rebranding entire areas in order to give them a glossy touch and improve sales.

New Names, Improved Sales?

As residential sales dip, developers in Mumbai have become ever more creative in marketing their products. Their latest tactic – rebrand an entire region to entice buyers. So Andheri becomes Upper Juhu, Lower Parel becomes Upper Worli, Wadala becomes New Cuffe Parade and Senapati Bapat Marg becomes the Golden Mile.

“Builders and developers are getting very creative and this is going to be very common going ahead. Because what you are trying to do is appropriate the name of a popular locality and enjoy the rub-off effect of that area’s reputation,” says brand expert Harish Bijoor. “The moment you do this, then you are appealing to the top end, who yearn for the old lifestyle they enjoyed in Juhu and will settle for options in Upper Juhu.”

Rebranding localities is a trend that is fast picking up pace not just in Mumbai, but also other parts of the country such as Bangalore, Delhi and Bhopal. Real Estate experts say developers are focused on making this succeed in order to target Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and domestic customers who may not be able to afford projects in a region, but are prepared to settle for what they think is the next best thing.

“It is more of a positioning exercise for the product itself rather than an area. This is generally targeted at 2 groups of customers. One is the group from outside India or outside Mumbai who are easily swayed by this rebranding and the other is people from within Mumbai, who may aspire to purchase a home in an area, find it too expensive and then decide to buy into a rebranded locality instead.” says Arvind Nandan, South Asia Director – Valuation & Advisory at Colliers International

A 'gora' name seems to get the builders a premium. https://t.co/EKZcZenFoN

— Monika Halan (@monikahalan) February 22, 2016

Upmarket Names, Upmarket Prices

This also means that buying homes in these rebranded localities is not cheap with developers routinely marking up prices to showcase an area’s upmarket appeal. So if you are planning on buying a home in a rebranded area, be prepared for prices that are 5% to 15% more expensive than projects in an unbranded location within the same region. However, real estate experts say investors should not expect rebranded localities to give above-average returns.

“We have not seen any market returns coming out of these specific projects, these rebranded localities which are being marketed at a premium. While it can bring in customers and make them invest as well, the returns are pretty much behaving in sync with the market and have not beaten the market. That is something that must be remembered.” warns Arvind Nandan.

So if you are planning on investing in projects in these rebranded localities, don’t get carried away by talk of high-returns and premiums. In fact, thanks to the ongoing real estate slump, experts say home buyers and investors can actually sit down with developers and negotiate to get rid of that pesky markup.

After Upper Worli and New Cuffe Parade, there's a new term called Upper BKC. What does that even mean?

— Nachi Mhatre (@melittlepixie) April 9, 2016

Glossy Exterior, But Same Old Interior
 
The other big problem is that rebranding a locality doesn’t really change anything on the ground. While it may sound nice to say you live on the Golden Mile, when you hit the roads, you will inevitably be faced with the traffic and parking problems that thousands of Mumbaikars face on the Senapati Bapat Marg every single day. Urban planners and experts say that is the single biggest flaw in rebranding localities.

“For me, naming a region Upper Worli or New Cuffe Parade is a stretch, in the quite literal sense, in terms of the distance from the actual Cuffe Parade. It takes quite a bit of imagination to ignore the distance and the problems in these areas. I would be ready to believe it if it had been in the vicinity of the original region and was a fancier, tonier, more modern version which I don’t think it is.” says architect and urban planner, Kalhan Mattoo.

Branding experts say the difference between what is being advertised and what is there on the ground could potentially defeat the entire rebranding strategy.

“Old Tharra in a new bottle is not going to work. The moment you call something Upper Juhu and if it doesn’t have the infrastructure of what Juhu used to offer, You are turning it into yet another brand gimmick. So I think builders and developers need to be very careful about this and not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.” warns Harish Bijoor.

There is also the fact that this rebranding is illegal, with government maps and documents still showing a locality’s old name. So if you are planning to invest here, make sure you negotiate a good price and don’t get carried away by marketing gimmicks.

Sena MP Anil Desai writes to CM seeking action angst builders who rename areas in Mumbai for profit e.g.Lower Parel to upper worli

— Alok Deshpande (@alokdesh) May 2, 2016

Nikhil Narayan Sivadas, Assistant Editor, NDTV