Targeting the Right Segment

From e-commerce to net banking, everything around us is migrating to Online. Everything is just a scroll or click away. Marketing is concentrating more on the comfort and user friendly features of online products & services. Identifying a new market segment or a niche target is much necessary now. One such segment is Women. Over these years many brands tried to knock the emotional quotient with them. Now the established brands makes the move to explore the segment with wise advertisements and right positioning. Latest among the brands are Windows & Google. Windows latest ad on PC with windows 8 are asking women to explore their world and expand them online. Google through its new campaign is starting to spread the importance of being online and the benefits women's could derive from it. By creating a standalone URL and association with well known brands from various sectors, this campaign is surely aiming to reach out to its targets in a big way. It is estimated that in India 40 percent out of 150 million internet users are women and roughly 24 million log in daily. These are big figures and through this campaign google is planning to add another 50 million by 2014. 

Return of the King : Parle Agro

Its been 15 years since Parle Agro withdraw themselves from the carbonated beverage business after selling out the line of business to Coca cola. The Rs.15000 crore soft drink industry since then is ruled by coca cola & Pepsi. Even then Parle Agro made a segment for themselves with products such as Frooti & Appy fizz. The former enjoying 85 percent of the mango based drink market certainly is the oldest and largest. The non competition agreement expired in 2003 with Coca Cola and now the big player is coming back to the oldest play ground with an intention to create a new product segment with a different target group in mind. Cafe Cuba will be a coffee based carbonated drink and the main targets will be youth. Aiming at a 7% market share we have to wait & see whether Parle will be able to beat the competition and taste created by international brands among the youth in all these years with Cafe Cuba. All the best for this Indian Brand to sustain the competition. 

Responsible Advertising

Brands always try different ad mix to catch the attention of the public. They comes out with mixture of humor, sentiments, relations etc. We will be able to recollect many ads falling under these categories which are local as well as global. One such category is "thoughtful ads" or "serious ads" which for a second will make you think and feel about the scenario or message given in the punch line. This type of ads are different from the other categories as they should have the boldness to project an issue which are known but are less discussed or excepted. It could be either political, may be about competing brand from the same sector, a hot social issue under debate etc. The ad might be able to create a vibe in the society depend on the issue. One such initiative recently done was by "The Hindu". These ads some times will cover the brand in terms of impact and the ultimate viewer will go with the message but not able to recollect the brand. The Hindu came out with some thought provoking messages and flashed it across various mediums. These ads covered political issue, direct attack on competitor, page 3 and went up to addressing the social issues. Even though the ultimate objective was to pass on the message to the viewers that they are serious about the on going issues in the country and will report it with at most sincerity. A good job by Taproot. Some times such an initiative could make a difference in the viewers. 

Goddess under attack - The Hindu campaign against social issues

How realistic discounts are;

We are always inclined towards shopping, thus we some how look for reasons to buy or replace our existing mobile, TV, Car or any other consumer durable with us. Once again a festival season begins and all major brands are pilled up with their inventories and freebies to influence your thought process and make you walk in to their outlets. This year not like previous years, all major brands are spending extensively on advertisements. Many brands which till now believed in driving sales just through their product quality and customer supports are now started pushing their ads weeks before the festival days. Slashed price, EMI schemes, freebies etc are largely used as sales tools. 

One such brand is Sony which always stand out for its product and its quality are forced to come out with a full page ad on TOI along with Mobile store for promoting their mobile phone segment. Many of the recently launched variants are shown with a slashed price. This makes us to think twice how realistic the rates quoted always are when with in weeks of its launch almost 2000 Rs/- were reduced for certain products. Discounts are always attractive for buyers. But the fact is, the rates are hidden some were and are not visible to us and comes in light particularly during festival season or at the time when company want to get rid of the stocks. We could even get a piece of these discounts in an off season if we are able to make a good bargain with the dealer. 

The myth that i couldn't broke is how to understand the right price of a product.  

An effective sales tool called 0% EMI

Through out the year, major manufactures and consumers wait for the festival season to introduce the promotional schemes & to make the right purchases. Brands kick started this year's marketing initiatives already as the festival seasons began in some south Indian states. Mobiles, Cars, Consumer Durable etc will be eagerly waiting to start their promos in all mediums by the mid of October. Even though the consumers might not be sure whether the purchases are wise & essential, they might still go for this considering the changing taste and various affordable schemes in the market. But the recent ruling from RBI ban the 0% EMI scheme might upto a certain extend effect the expected sales. This was an effective tool used by brands in the last few month for pushing sales. Big brands such as Apple & Samsung was depending on this scheme for the sale of their high end models. With this scheme they made it look the price of Rs. 25000 or Rs. 35000 as affordable to the middle class buyers. In fact with the scheme, the brands play the card of instant sales as most of us carry a card card now a days. The schemes are definitely good if the retailers pass on the benefit of higher sales to the customers but most of the times they charges additional swiping charges above the MRP. 

Lets hope the brands will come with a new marketing tools during this festival season to brighten their sales.

How big is really big?

This question is quite relevant particularly in the Indian Mobile market where every month we welcome a new model with additional features and extra large screen size. I am yet to understand the way things are going how to differentiate mobile, tablet & phablet. Few years back it all felt like the size of these things will reduce and will come down to just as a bluetooth headset. But the fact is something different, now the 5" is the size where most of the competition is happening. Major brands such as Samsung, Micromax & Sony already introduced one each in the segment during August '13. The difference between the tablet and phones now reduced to 1.5" as Samsung Mega came with 5.8" screen.

More than calling the additional usage and experience offered by these phones are the vital reasons for the selection. Graphic games, easy to carry movies on the move, online magazines etc add the flavours. We need to wait and watch how soon will the difference of 1.5" will be eliminated and will both these categories merge in to one by wiping one of the category.

Effective Marketing

As a part of its Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities campaign, IBM and Ogilvy Paris made three billboards with different functions: One is a bench, the other is a ramp for stairs, and the last serves as a rain shelter. Such small initiatives helps a brand to catch the attention of the consumers. These initiatives don't cost much but are very much effective. The challenge is to identify such opportunities and execute your idea to it.  

Price War in Online & In Shop shopping

The year 2013 is going to witness quite a lot changes brought in by internet in our daily lives. One among the factors will be our shopping experience. The revolution called e-commerce came to the market way back in the beginning of 2000, but it took a decade to show its presence and gain popularity among the population. Last couple of years was certainly beneficial for the e-commerce industry with the entrance of smart phones, 3G, wide publicity by players such as ebay, infibeam, flipkart etc. 

As slowly the generation moved forward along with the shopping trendz the shopping experience also changed. Being vibrant is always acceptable for the youth. Thus the frequency and popularity of online shopping increased. The big question started to emerge in the market. Whether the consumers prefer online shopping above the in-shop retail shopping. The answer up to a certain limit is YES. The big reason for this is the price difference offered in both the platforms. To take an example the price of I Phone 5 in retail outlet against the online has a clear difference of Rs. 5000/-. The difference could not only be from margins, but the difference in set up cost also is vital. Every retail set up comes with some added cost of rental, electricity, staff etc. which doesn't comes in an online shop. The convenience not only limits to this, comparison, free home delivery and additional cost which comes along with normal shopping such as, eating out are completely excluded here. 

In the coming years the price war will widen with online platforms coming with more attractive offers and consumers choosing to take advantage of it sitting at home.  

Right Place at the Right Time

For a result oriented approach, every marketing activity should be time bound. Being in the right place at the right time could do 50% of the work for the brand. For this, the activities should be well planned, well organised and also well executed. A recent such campaign conducted was during Akshaya Tritiya. Most of the brands in the jewellery sector & financial services used this opportunity to drive new business through fresh purchases or new investments. With over half a lakh stickers circulated at vital locations to induce the thought among the investors to think of fresh investments during Akshaya Tritiya was initiated last weekend. More than deriving business from this activity, the main purpose was to attract or get the lime light with the innovative design and approach. An effort to be among the targets before they finalise the purchase decision.

The Power of Youth

The coming ages are of youth. Marketers are thus moving their activity concentration towards focusing youth. The recent campaigns of Pepsi co., Sprite, the hit campaign of Airtel "har ek friend saroori hota hai" etc are classic example of these shift. Even the financial industry is realizing the importance of catching them from the root. Already the brands started to adopt and modify the social platforms for their needs & wants. Online account opening, introducing mock trading in facebook etc are classic examples of this. Reaching to the targets at earlier stage will certainly help to create an early entry in to their minds and also will help for an early brand recall. At the same time the biggest challenges in front of these brands are, youths are always impatient, if you don't meet their requirements there is always a possibility that they will move to the competitor. To meet the expectations constantly will always remain a challenge for the brands.

An affordable laptop called Tablet

Its not been more than 2 years since we came to experience a new look of desktop and laptop and that too adapted to a size of mobile phone called Tablets. In the last 1 year, this product went through such a dramatic change which any product or brand would just dream for. The pricing and configuration made this product eye catchy and affordable. Up to a certain extend, this product already eat in to the market of smartphones. The Chinese models and the upcoming local players in the Indian Market brought the starting price of the Tablet from Rs. 4000/- onwards. There is not much difference now left with high end tablets and  laptops. One of the prominent brand in the sector is planning to bring a 7'' tablet later this year along with some amazing features. The only main feature missing is of a CD ROM in the tablet. But considering the main  purpose of a tablet user wont be for playing a CD. Leaving it apart, the future of tablets are pretty bright and in the coming years it will certainly replace the mobile markets.

Derived Oppurtunities

It is not necessary that your product will be in depend through out the year. Even though it may not be a seasonal product, the demand and supply will very from time to time. You cant be in the sucess stream with out holding a product thats in demand 365 days. In such a scenario comes the option of Derived Oppurtunities or rather named as Created Oppurtunities. You need to create the situation where your product comes in demand hence you have to link your product to a festival, occassions or some happenings in the society. Akshaya Tritiya is such a situation which was developed mainly by the jewellery brands to generate a demand. Over the years it certainly gained its importance. In the earlier times it used to be popular among a particular caste or region but now, the brands through effective marketing strategies created the demand across the country.

Certainly this year also during the occassion the gold price will see an upward trend as the demand increases.

The trend called Social Media

Social Media more than a communication platform has become a trend in the market and in every business model. It depend on the business how effectively they use the medium in their benefit. It is going to be certain that every business may not be able to derive same benefit from it. Some could use it for effective communication, building positive sentiments about the brand online, communicating periodic offers & schemes etc. In my opinion the brands that are youth centric will be able to reap the benefit of social media than any other business. As per the recent survey by a well known agency shows that 50% of the users are below age of 25.. In case of facebook, it is quite difficult to understand how of the actual users are active. It is also possible that, many people opened the accounts because everyone around him/her is in Facebook. 

But no doubt, the platform will a cost effective tool for branding across the globe. Every business should have a clear cut idea particularly on how they are going to use this medium in long term for their benefit rather than wasting the time & money just for the sake of being online.

Mircromax - Success of an Indian Brand

Being India always stays only in words. Many of the brands we use from apparels, cars to mobile are mostly korean, or japanese. But this products certainly ask for a chance from us. Introduced in the Indian market in 2000 and with in 10 years of its entry it had  6.24% of the mobile market share in India. Challenging the big players like Samsung & Nokia, Mircromax went on introducting innovative products with affordable prices. Marketing budget of mircromax in 2012-13 was nearly 150 crore. With such a big spend like this, surely they are aiming to be noticed and be in the top preference of prospects. WIth the introduction of Canvas HD series they made it big in the market. The mobile got a good initial response and positive reviews are going viral in online portals. Even during my recent mobile purchase, mircromax came to me as an option but a second thought of service centres took me away from the brand.

If they solve the issues of dedicated customer care centres in major cities, i will surely give a try to this Indian brand.

Mobile Ads to tap the Mobility

Changes are always inevitable in every field. With the changes in situational factors, things around us also changes. Every marketing guy keeps an eye on things that effects our daily life and the various ways to reach out to the prospects by breaking the barriers. Slowly the shift is happening in the Marketing budgets of many company's, to move from conventional medias to more new generation - cost effective medias. Marketing budgets assigned to online medias saw a steady increase in the last 2 years, making an upward trends of almost 50%. A big role played by Android, Apple, Samsung, made the OS and devices familiar with the customers over a span of 2-3 years. Last quarter of 2012 saw an increase in the sale of Tablets. From a luxury it became something which is affordable. This will pave way for an increase in Mobile ads. Ads are now going to reach us in our mobility. Thus from TV, Outdoor & Print, ads will now move to our pockets. Just one touch or scroll away to catch our attention. 

Encashing the summer by soft drinks

As this years summer extended the duration and the temperature of many cities rising than the normal, the soft drinks brands extended their campaigns by getting associated with IPL and upcoming Champions trophy. Coca cola launched the new campaign "‘Bewajah Khushiyan Lutao, Coca-Cola Pilao’ with new faces from Student of the year movie, Pepsi launching "Oh Yes Abhi" & maaza coming up with "Har mausum Aam" with Imran khan and Parineeti Chopra.
Its all about brand recall for the buyers. More visibility will lead to better recall and act as an impulse during the buying decision. Having such a scattered market and a vast geography, these brands will certainly get their deserved piece of pie.

A car "Made for India"

Since 1997, Honda started operation in India they survived in the Indian market with their petrol models. Their flagship models civic, CRV, city & the new Brio all came with petrol option and had a niche market which was created only with the factor of quality. During these period the competitors came with Diesel variants and raised competition for Honda but they never felt the need for a diesel variant. But now after all these years, Honda is entering into Diesel market with a car termed as "Made for India", Honda Amaze. Dealers already started getting good response from the prospective buyers. But the biggest question is, with the recent diesel price revisions and govt. made it clear to remove the subsidy in diesel by next year, the demand of diesel cars are actually started showing decline. In such a scenario, will Honda be able to make a difference in the market response.

Every Campaign should be a learning

There are certain brands who move ahead of their time and set milestones. There campaigns are never less than a case study and will also works as a booster. To name one is VW. Each campaign of the brand is completely different from the previous one and will stand out due to its standards and efforts put in it by the team. These campaigns some where creates a psychological attachment towards the brand among the customers. Even though you may not be an actual customer of it but still you would love to look for the brand, follow the brand and like the brand back of the mind. 

Each campaign should be a learning for the brand and the marketing team. Thats how you will lift your standards and have a new one after each campaign.

Benefits in the age of Online Marketing

With the availability of smartphones at a starting price of Rs. 5000/- and Tabs for as low as Rs. 8000/- the base of online users has increased considerably in 2012. The coming years will be dominated by Online marketing. Mobile based facebook users increased by 57% in January '13. These social platforms are going to play a vital role as it will serve as a recommendation platform among the peer groups. Along with this more mobile marketing and self developed apps for the OS will also be important. These will eventually benefit the customers as the competition will be more on the quality of services and satisfaction derived from the provider.

Difference in Approach

I recently noticed the difference in the approach of marketing movies from Bollywood & Mollywood. In Bollywood the hype starts atleast 1 month in advance and covers all mediums such as, online, print, outdoor etc over this period. In case of Mollywood the hype starts just 1 week in advance and with songs & promos goes viral slowly with 2 or 3 days before the release. The difference might be due to the vast market both these Industry plans to tap. But still marketing plans in advance certainly helps to keep the product in the lime light and catch the attention of the audience at the right time. Certainly the budgets have a vital role to decide this. Recently an actor from south rightly said, "south knows how to make a film & Bollywood knows how to market a film".

Its IPL time again

Once again the IPL is here. 9 teams, more than 70 matches and crores of rupees ready to flow in terms of advertising. Many major brands are ready with their new campaigns to get launched during IPL. Exams are over, nothing much happening around, this years IPL will have some positive signs around it. India's recent series win against Australia will work as a positive vibe. Godrej for the first time is all set to launch a 9 part corporate campaign with  Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador

.

Need to wait and see is whether IPL will be able to gain its lost glory over the years this time.   

Good product is not just Enough

Some times having a good product in the kitty is not just enough to reach the success. A good case is of Micromax mobile. Some of its products are worth considering for a good competitor analysis before buying. Being an Indian company they might even be able to ring the bell of sentiments among the targets. But the real problem lies with the distribution network, after sales services & reach to the target. Today's buyer needs constant reminders, as he is pitched by one or the other brand either online or offline all the time. This is were Mircromax really fails. They still have a good scope if they are able to live up to the week points. 

Hope to see this brand go up and give a good competition to Samsung & Nokia.

Controversial Ad from Ford

Recently some caricature ads representing of Ford Motors flashed online which created controversy for Ford world wide. These ads which seems never came in prints comes with a punch line "leave your women behind". In one such ad, even Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi could be seen with a peace sign and having 3 clad women in the trunk. 

After the uproar, Ford apologies for the caricature & made sure to check the matter. 

Sometimes negative publicity helps for a brand push, but here for a brand like Ford more than benefit it could create problem at least in the people's mindset in certain countries for a short period.

E-mail Marketing

Among the cost effective online mediums, e-mailers are widely considered while communicating promos & offers among mass audience. Many a times a good amount of e-mailers published go as wastage which in actual terms are difficult to eliminate. These wastage comes in forms of spam or not getting noticed by the target. Among other factors subject line is one of the major factor. Attractive subject lines will certainly catch the attention of the target and will play a 50% role in achieving the objective of the campaign. While selecting a subject line one need to be selective about the words as it should go as a spam as well.

It is always a challenge for the marketing guy to select such a subject line while framing a campaign.

Hot & Favorite

With just a quick hundred added to his kitty, shikhar dhawan is hot in the market. Brand such as Nike is already behind him for the next assignment. Along with playing for the country, the game has become a medium to make some quick bucks. Play some good domestic cricket, get in to the national team, get in to the lime light & start earning. Your demand is directly proportionate to your position in the team. 

Hope he plays well for the country & earns good as well.

In the World of Competition

Competition is the word which every one has to face to one point or the other. It spreads from individual, corporate, countries, sports & in achieving basic amenities of life. Two corporate gaints are fighting to eat in to each others market share. One was enjoying the position of leader for a quite some time and in today's world you can't be a market leader for a long time until unless you adapt with the fast changing preferences. Samsung realised this oppurtunity and came out with version which were loaded with features and low at price range. Apple did the best to bring low end models to beat the competition but the main difference was the variations in model that Samsung introduced. They made it common to hold a smart phone among youth, which apple positioned as an elite earlier.  

Below the line fact is, Samsung is emerging as a big threat for Apple in all markets whether its smart phone, tablet or smart watch.  

Vodafone Crazy Feet:

Vodafone Crazy feet campaign to promote Unlimited mobile internet. The easiest way to reach to the maximum at a minimal cost is going viral. Vodafone touching the right code with this campaign. A good initiative from O&M.

Devotion now Online

It is good to see that everything around us is slowly migrating to Online platforms. When banking to booking has already moved Online, it is the time of devotion to accept the trend. Now you can view the temple timings, pooja schedule, book poojas, even you could see the Utsav and possession with live streaming.

Online Ads

Online ads are all about reaching to the mass audience in a cost efficient manner. As the reach is among the mass more than the targets wastage is bound to happen. In a country like India, online is still in the growth stage. It will depend on the line of business whether online is a right tool of promotion for every marketer.  

Best Bus Stop Ever

A good brand building initiative. More than to the experiencing person, the activity will help for a word of mouth publicity to the brand.

Marketing Buzz

Marketing Buzz is all about sharing thought & views from the world of marketing, advertising & campaigns. This blog will publish various news, campaigns and happenings from the ever active world of Marketing & Advertising.