A truly Desi Ad

An ad that is perfectly pitched for the Indian masses with the use of a jingle that is humoros enough to make you smile and get your attention.

Can everything be Branded?

A brand is essentially something that resides in the minds of consumers through a tedious process called ‘positioning’. Successfully employed postioning and communication strategies envisage a product or service into a brand. The question as to whether everything can be branded needs some exemplifying of some behemoth brands that represent the ‘everything’ that we are referring to. We can recognize the universality of branding by looking at some different product applications in diverse categories – physical goods, services, retail stores, online business, people, organizations, places, and ideas. Let us take a look at some of the categories and the successful brands that exist in them.

When we talk about airline services, we often tend to recall Southwest Airlines which has branded itself as the cheap fare and no-frills service that has been unbeatable over the years. Google (online product) has ruled the online business since years with its search engine whose mission is ‘to organize the world’s information and make it universally applicable’ and boy aren’t they doing it with immense success. When we ask for the best retail store, we can only find Wal Mart to be the answer since it is the only retail brand that there is which owns over 5000 stores and that innovatively introduced the EDLP (Everyday Low Pricing). Talk about the best educational channel and National Geography pops into our heads, an NGO which also sells magazines, maps, books, etc. Even sports can be branded and the best instance is Manchester United which is the favourite football club of many. The club is also a huge brand which is worth more than $750 million and this worth increases as and when the team performs well and wins as many championship titles as possible.

It should hence be understood that in reality everything is and can be branded. You’ll as well are in fact brands too as people possess attributes that differentiate themselves from others and hence become a brand. Some of the renowned people brands could be Warren Buffet (richest man, Obama (first black U.S. President), Kishore Biyani (retail King), etc. However, the degree of strength of every brand that exists is variable i.e. some brands are strong and some are weak which depends on the branding strategies adapted.

Brand Proliferation – a Predicament or an Elucidation

Branding has and always will be a tough job for any marketer that eventually personifies a product or a service into an image that is either likeable or otherwise depending on the kind of branding strategies that brand managers undertake. To introduce one new product and build a brand out of it is itself a very daunting task and to have a plethora of brands being introduced can surely suffocate the marketers. This concept of launching and managing a plethora of brands by one company is considered as Brand Proliferation.

Now, proliferation of brands is often spurred by the rise in line and brand extension, which eventually leads to the recognition of a brand name with a variety of products. For any marketer, it is essential to keep in mind that they should opt for brand extension strategies only when they have an existing core brand which serves as a good base which can withstand future proliferations. Though there are successful entities that have pulled off effective brand extension, there are few who would say that it is not a safe option to proliferate. Ask Miller, the American Beer manufacturer, how they failed and their answer would simply be - wrongly devised brand extension strategy. Their success in the sales of their best brand ‘High Life’ (that captured the women and the upper-class market segments), Miller’s thought it would be appropriate to launch another brand called ‘Miller Lite’ which again targeted women and occasionally drinking men. This resulted in cannibalization with Lite eating away Life’s sales. However, ask Virgin about their success, and their reply would be colloquial brand extension strategies. Their impeccable brand proliferation tactics venturing into every possible business division would only suggest that their core brand is strong.

Brand Proliferation can definitely be a challenge which could result in favourable results for many companies if and when they construct the extension plan with a strong core brand in place.

Satisfying the motive called "Achievement"

How good is your response to stimulus?

Effective response to stimulus is a good indication that your nervous system is working fine, however let us try and understand how the stimulus - response theory works. Let’s say there is a consumer who has a desire to buy something which is backed by a Motive and this must be gauged by a marketer in generating cue – stimuli to capture his induce him into buying – responding to the stimuli. Now, it becomes important to remember that response can be in the form of enquiring about the product too. These three indicators articulate the stimulus – response model.

The onus is now on the marketer to come out with cues - stimuli that elicit responses far quicker than its competitors. If your target consumer segment is like Joey in this clip, then you have a good chance of achieving quicker and better number of reflexes - responses than if you had a target consumer segment full of Rosses. Reinforcement is one conceptual strategy that would work effectively with ones who are rather late in responding (preferably positive reinforcement) and it is also significant in keeping a tap on existing buyers and encourages repeat purchases. Thereby successful marketing would require the right kind of stimuli that hastens to satisfy consumer motives through quick responses from buyers.

The ESSENCE of Customer Relationship Management

How often have you been managed so well as a customer of a product or service, that it instigated you to re-purchase the same brand? The answer might be close to never. Negating persevering attention to existing and potential consumers is a blunder that many people make. And this is especially true in public sector undertakings and this forces me into stating one of my dreadful experiences in an insurance company which I visited to pay the regular premium. It was insanely astonishing to notice the poor quality of service that was rendered which in turn made me look out for better servicing insurance companies.

It is satisfying though to come across some, who go beyond the rules of CRM to achieve customer delight and one such entity is C. Krishniah Chetty & sons that is existing since 1860’s. This prominent jewellery shop has served a diversified number of consumers from British of the pre-independent India to the younger and vibrant generation of today’s Incredible India. It boasts of the impeccable CRM software technologies which are consistently updated with relevant data relating to their broad array of consumers. Another important aspect they dwell on is the cultivation of existing consumers that extends a personal touch through custom design and wedding planning, C2C selling and buying brokerage assistance, hallmarking and a plethora of services.

Just making a sale would not classify you to be successful, it is what happens after sales is equally or more important that not only adds to the existing customer base but multiplies the numbers.

Political Brands

With elections fast approaching, I felt it would be appropriate for me to dwell upon the Political Saga and the marketing efforts that emphasise on branding the behemoths of politics. It is pretty ironic that every party that contests polls badmouths the opposition and vice-versa, and at the end of the day everyone makes the same promises in order for them to de-throne the opposition and gain the prestigious political chair. Let’s just have a look at the candidates who pose as favourites contesting for the prime minister’s post and their personification as the ‘Political Brands’ of India.

• Advani: Lalchand Kishenchand Advani who for 55 years served as a deputy to A. B. Vajpayee and the Bharatiya Samajwadi Party, is known to be the most tech-savvy politician, (as described by The Hive Advertising agency working on BJP’s campaigning) that there is in Indian political history considering the fact that he uses all the latest technological devices from mobile phones to lap tops, thereby is said to be the 'prime minister for the youth' since he closely relates to the younger generation. He, like Obama sees youth as his favourite target segment in the market of voters and hence promises the world to them.
• Mr. Singh: Initially considered the puppet of Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was rated as one of the best Finance Ministers that Indian politics has ever produced. However, it would take even more doing from him to make it to one among the best Prime Ministers of our nation, albeit he has come a long way in erasing the tag as Sonia’s puppet. His last brave act in signing the N-Deal lead the country into praising the ’Singh as King’, where his going against the Left party was appreciated by many as against some who were cynical about the whole N-deal fiasco.

Time can only judge as to which one of these brands will be successful with the other grumbling over wasteful efforts that went into creating a brand that lost.

"Counterfeiting" is better than nothing

The fact that an individual imitates a big celebrity in a country like India must seem quite common to many, but consider this fact where an individual starts aping a celebrity so much so that he even seems to live life like the celebrity that he worships. This explains the concept of counterfeiting, which for many marketers is the best way to gain attention from consumers who are preferably prone to low involvement purchases. Counterfeiting does not only happen in the production technologies adapted by firms, but it permeates into all the elements of marketing mix – Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Many of us in India have come across apparels which bear names of brands like addidas (notice that there is an added ‘D’ in the spelling). This really works well for some part of the lower middle segment consumers and thus gives a headache for those whose brand names are being mimicked. In this sense the suffering company might face loss in sales which can only mean that it has lost its sales to the counterfeiting firm. Experts opine that this is an excellent area for research in India in order to know how effective this process is. Leaving aside the ethical significance of such counterfeiting, this kind of counterfeiting does seem to work well, at least unless it crosses the boundaries of law. Hence it is better for companies with restricted funds to take to counterfeiting than do nothing at all.

Whose side is Aamir on?

After being showered with an anonymous number of one sided advertising messages, it is quite a refreshing relief to come across a uniquely designed two sided message broadcasted by Tata Sky satellite services with their brand ambassador – Aamir Khan. Cleick here to view the Ad.

Aamir Khan’s portrayal as an old sardar, who is quite disturbed by his son for the lack of concern showcased towards his Dad, is seen cursing and blaming Tata sky satellite services – “best quality picture provider” for his son’s behaviour. A two sided message, generally communicates both the negative and positive attributes and experiences of a product and a one sided message is seen showcasing only positivistic images. This ad personifies uniqueness in the way the two sides have been shaped; as Aamir’s negative feelings about the product is only a reaction to the exceptional features that the product exhibits (positive). Now, consumers might be speculative of this ad arguing as to the audacity of a company to communicate something negative in its communication. However the fact that it is a one of a kind advertisement, with Aamir Khan’s exhibition of fantastic acting skills, this message will work well with the masses. So it looks like Aamir is on the side of Tatasky itself.

Do marketers Overlook the concept of 'Marketing Myopia'

The first blog post of Marketing Essence focuses on a very well known and debated concept in marketing, termed – Marketing Myopia. I, for one, feel very nostalgic whenever I come across this term since it was one of the very first concepts that I learnt inside of our marketing classroom sessions. The professor, who taught us the basic concepts of marketing, let us know that as marketers it is important for us not to be inflicted by the virus called Marketing Myopia – which essentially represents the mistakes made by a seller or a marketer in strategising; and these mistakes could involve - the marketer focusing too much on the product being sold or on its attributes and every other detail with the exception of what the consumer really wants.

A concept put forth by Prof. Theodore Levitt, a legendary marketing scholar, marketing myopia tends to be overlooked by few sellers or marketers. Myopia refers to short sightedness, and this kind of short sightedness in marketing could prove fatal. An instance that comes to my mind is that of the Roadies show, which is apparently taken over by Bumpy a.k.a. The Nature Baba seems to have been handling the new job pretty well. However, in one show he is shown very excited about how one of the episodes turned out to be amazingly interesting to him, hence he presumed it would be exciting and thrilling for the viewers who will watch it too.

As for him, the episode turned out to be the best, but some of my friends who are die-hard fans thought it was an ‘ok episode’ but not the best. Though Roadies continues to be one among the best reality shows in the country, the makers must be careful not to be ‘inflicted’ by marketing myopia and thereby produce shows that are not only rated best by them, but also by the viewers.