• Part I: Part I: Most & least successful brand launches in India
• Part II: Part II: The 3 most successful brand launches
• Part III: Part III: The 3 least successful brand launches 

The Brand Derby from Business Standard is a study among senior marketing professionals on new brand launches in the past 12 to 15 months, conducted by Indica Research, and is designed to give readers insights into the highs and lows of brand creation.

This year's Derby shortlisted 42 brand launches. The study was conducted among 76 marketing professionals in five cities. The number of respondents in Mumbai (28) and Delhi (16) was higher because of the greater commercial importance of the two metros. Professionals interviewed in the other three cities: Bangalore (12), Kolkata (11) and Chennai (9).

The respondents were senior marketing professionals (with over 10 years of experience, general manager and above in designation), representing all industries -- from FMCG, durables and advertising to banking and financial services.

Over a one-on-one discussion, the respondents were shown a list of brand launches and asked to separate them into three piles: very successful, somewhat successful and not at all successful. They were then asked to rank all the brands from the "very successful" pile in order of importance.

A similar exercise was conducted for the "not at all successful" brand launches, where respondents were asked to select the "least successful" brand launch. They were also asked to give reasons for their choices.