‘Cost cutting’ – not the only purchase criteria of Global Outsourcing Companies

Consumers like you and me (generic) in the alternative evaluation stage of our purchase-decision-making-process develop certain criteria (price, quality, brand name, etc.) against which the product or service to be consumed would be valued and of course, this is based on whether our involvement in consumption is high or low. Let’s assume the product to be purchased is an automobile, automatically signifying a high involvement purchase and you will without a doubt mull over your decision with such criteria as price, performance, delivery schedule, servicing abilities and a myriad other clauses of your own. Earlier, with little or zilch competition, marketers worried very little of whether their products were tailor-made to gratify the needs of buyers or not. Conversely, owing to colossal corporate warfare, companies even after delivering top value products and services to consumers, must also bear with the fact that they have to cater to even the minutest of factors that would influence a buyer’s purchasing decision.

The reason why I have crafted out the above mini-version of the buyer decision model is because, ironically a similar sort of scenario now dwells in the Global Outsourcing (business) markets. Formerly outsourcing companies, contracted work primarily to those nations that implicated lower labour costs and ensured quality output (which is an obvious criterion) and these were made available to the buyers with ease by the suppliers. On the contrary, now buyers (Outsourcing companies) have upped the ante by anticipating superior services from suppliers that include enhanced geographic reach and services scope, suave work-delivery models and an assortment of the best talent that is essentially unmatchable.

Suppliers must now gear up and proactively strategise to meet the next-generation sourcing challenges. Though quite a few speculations made rounds of the fact that outsourcing in India has taken a dent during the economic downturn, many Indian IT and ITes (BPO, KPO, LPO) companies emerged victorious, having overcome the dreadful recession. Now, there is a change in the kind of challenge the suppliers of outsourcing services face; a confrontation that is only going to make them mature, improvise, sustain, compete and achieve business triumph. How? By managing to explore new and improved global delivery models, sketching out expansions that ensure positive consequences, adopting few of the best industry practises, recruiting a diversified and effective manpower and certainly the imperative feature (USP) of outsourcing – ensuring impeccable cost effective exercises.

The main motto of this article is to ascertain the significance of how a buyer’s purchasing decision (whether a B2C or B2B market) is subject to change. The functioning of a marketer and his organization can be smooth, provided both pay the right amount of respect to this thing called 'change'. The beauty of marketing is evident when such changes are handled well by bearing the fundamentals in mind and in this case the marketing fundamental being Consumer Buyer Behaviour. It is fitting therefore, to conclude this editorial with 'Heraclitus' cliché statement – The only thing that is constant is change, and flexibility is the need of the hour. 

A Manager's Guide to Creative Cost Cutting


Making profitable outsourcing decisions

FIFA World Cup - Official Theme Song - Wavin Flag by K'Naan

My heart starts racing every time I listen to this track; swelling my anxiety levels as the FIFA World Cup 2010 approaches.

Troubadour                                Football World Cup 2010 (Only Hits)  

Meticulousness - A must for Ad makers

Boy! It feels really good to be back and to start writing again. And this couldn’t have come at a better time, because it has been a little over 2 months since I entered the Advertising Industry and it seems as though I have learnt a lot more than I could have asked for. This fact, makes me believe that I am qualified enough to write something about the Advertising Industry and also the people working in the industry.

One of the most critical qualities (job attribute) that a person, who aspires to enter the Ad world must possess is Meticulousness. In fact, a lack of this feature (paying attention to detail) would make life a living hell, for even a little bit of ignorance would result in elevated costs. How? Let’s take an instance - Imagine you are walking past a huge hoarding of Pepsi with its baseline (tagline) being wrongly displayed as – Youngistan Ka VOW!! Instead of WOW!! There needs no explanation what would happen to the maker of that Creative (Ad). He/she would simply be fired. Why? Because there is absolutely no room for errors in this industry. 

There is a lot that goes behind in bringing a creative (advertisement) into existence, be it BTL or ATL; from designing to getting the copy (headline for the Ad) correctly spelt  to making sure that it appeals to the TG. An error made like that of misspelling WOW as VOW would lead to bad repercussions, especially when the brand is newly launched unlike Pepsi which is already an established brand. But even for Pepsi, such blunders are inexcusable.

Why meticulousness and what about creativity? you must wonder. Let’s face it, creativity comes through to you only when you pay enormous attention to detail. I can explain this better with an example - If Leonardo Da Vinci had painted Monalisa with her hair cut by an inch, the painting portrait would not have received the same accolades as it has received now. He was meticulous in painting her in a manner that personifies it to be the most creative and iconic painting in the world.

Stay meticulous, stay creative.

Advertising Photography                             Advertising Business

Arrogance unlimited

Is it the fact that a large chunk of employees of government organizations hate serving people, or is it that they really hate working? Is it that they have a bad rapport with their boss, or is that they are paid very less? Is it hatred towards consumers, or is it plain arrogance?... There could be numerous questions that could be added on to get more inquisitive about a government or nationalised employee’s reason to be serving consumers the way he/she does. 

Ironically it is the consumer at a government office who needs to be polite, needs to wait, needs to pay more (bribe) for a particular service and even worse gets told off for questioning about a particular product. I only wonder the fate of the same set of employees if they served in private organizations. Employees who constantly act as an interface to consumers are considered one of the most important touch points for an organization, and any wrong doing on their part would affect its (company’s) reputation. Disciplining such employees is a major step that needs to be taken by the government, for if the same scenario continues, there would be hell to pay as consumers would start finding simpler and better ways to gratify their needs.

Muslim Rage and Christian Arrogance: A Time for Reason, Repentance and Dialogue.

Children - Floating Signifiers of advertising

It is essential for us marketers to understand the phrase or concept termed ‘Signifier’ with respect to marketing communication. ‘When an object or image is shown in a particular context in order to refer to some underlying meaning, it is a signifier of that meaning’. For instance, the use of Yuvraj Singh in marketing communiqués may signify the meaning of style, performance, etc. Marketers need to be vigilant while strategically placing these signifiers within the framework of a particular advertisement, through which they would be able to transfer meaning from the signifier to the product being communicated.

The focus of this post is on children being portrayed as floating signifiers. Commercials featuring children attempt to convey different sets of emotions and meaning which the kid being showcased in the Ad is intended to represent. These kids are expected to prompt a certain feeling or concept which has been tapped pretty well by most marketers. The most relevant feeling or emotion of the audience (target market) that a child can often tap is the cute, heart-warming attraction towards himself/herself and in turn towards the product being advertised. Children are also used in advertisements as referents to the future, purity and innocence, responsibility, chaos and fun. Check ads of Airtel and Vodafone that have been victorious in winning consumers’ attention. Having said this, it is an uphill task or an impossible one for marketers to appeal to audiences’ other emotions which could be - sense of identity with the endorser, confidence in the endorser, etc considered very vital in creating an unforgettable brand

However, it needs to be made clear that a child to become a regular brand endorser is difficult as the audiences tend to negate repetition, hence lowering brand recall and awareness. Children are better of being used as brand faces than being employed as brand ambassadors.

And remember everything depends on the context (product being advertised, target audience, brand positioning, etc.)!!

The Power of Will

The power of will helps a constant smoker quit gradually; the power of will enables a boyfriend who is heart-broken get over his cheating girlfriend; the power of will generates oodles of energy to a sick person who recovers speedily than expected. Yes, it is the power of will that reduces the procrastinating nature of individuals and overcome their lethargic nature so as to desire and drive oneself towards prosperity and achieve the unimaginable.

Marketers with the same will power could gain success for their firms through persistent planning and follow up of the same. I know, however, that it is the Plan that matters more than the will power; but the fact is both go hand in hand and what big can a plan achieve with absolutely zero endurance and the will to stick to it even after certain failed attempts. There are many such firms that have gained popularity not just because of their ability to strike good with their marketing strategies but also because of their will power that ensures persistence, determination and belief.

The real constitution of the living being

‘When Sanatana Gosvami asked Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu about svarupa (the real constitution of the living being), the Lord replied that the real constitution of the entity is to render service to the Lord. Extending this, we see that one being serves another living being in some capacity and thus enjoys its life. There is no exception to service in this society of living beings. The politician convinces the voter of his capacity for service and thus gets his job. The artisan serves the merchant; the store owner serves his customer. In fact no living being is exempted from rendering service to others. Service, then, is a constant companion of the living being, and so we may conclude that rendering service is the eternal religion of the eternal living entity.’

An excerpt from the ‘Bhagvad-gita – As It Is’ delves into the constitution of the living beings and the manifestation given by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If every marketer adapts this theory and personifies it as a practise to be followed by every employee in the organisation, the corporate world would be a better place, at least from the consumers’ perspective. This is exactly what is lacking in corporates and hence leading consumers into frustration. Out of one such frustration that I experienced, I had pointed out on how rendering service has to be the main motto of every firm in one of my previous posts. Firms must read this line everyday that’d help them achieve consumer gratification - 'Service, then, is a constant companion of the living being, and so we may conclude that rendering service is the eternal religion of the eternal living entity'. Doing this would give real meaning to the existence of the company, the employees, and the products and services they generate.

‘Enjoy serving! As every service you’d render would make the Supreme Lord happy and satisfied.’

Too Simple but makes sense

A BDE does more than just selling

I took up a test today called ‘the self analysis test’ that digs deep into student’s strengths majorly on his/her domain and behavioural skills. Also, there could be certain other questions incorporated in it too. There was one particular question that grabbed my attention the most which sounded something like this – what role does a Business Development Professional play that enables overall growth for a company? The most obvious answer is that a BDE (Business Development Executive) generates revenues through increased sales and this has to be a BDE’s major and foremost objective.

Well, is that it? Nope, a BDE does more than this. He is considered as one of the major touch points for consumers who would be judged based on his appearance and his proficiency in handling clients. This judgement goes a long way in the clients’ re-visiting the firm for a repeat purchase or not. He also acts as an internal brand ambassador who indirectly is involved in brand building activities where he represents one of the crucial promotional tools (personal selling). A BDE also acts as a co-ordinating link among various departments of a firm as he is required to interact with every business function.

A Business Development Executive does not only generate sales, he also is indirectly responsible for innumerable deeds that bring about unparalleled growth for a firm.

Unconventional yet acknowledged

Who’d you pick - A Brand Ambassador or A Brand Face?

This question is quite clearly posed to marketers of whom would they choose to feature in their Ad campaigns. There is a need to define and also distinguish these two terms that could support a marketer’s choice. A brand ambassador is one who serves as the spokesperson for a particular brand, enhancing the brand image by appearing as a testimonial for the brand’s benefits. He or she becomes an integral part of the brand persona and helps build an emotional bond with the consumers. And this goes beyond just appearing in TV commercials to running promotional campaigns, to attending press conferences, to even using the product (brand being endorsed) so as to make it visible to the public. The brand ambassador transforms into a brand champion where he is associated with every aspect related to the brand that could also enhance his/her laurels.

Now, a Brand Face is just like a tool used to increase brand recall and would only appear in advertisements and nothing beyond that. Brand faces would have limited or temporary contract periods under their kitty for an instance Sona Chandi Chawanpryash using Sourav Ganguly for a while in its commercials. They are simply forgotten once the campaign ends. Now the question could arise – why choose or incorporate brand faces in the first place? Wouldn’t they create a temporary brand image that people can easily forget after the campaign ends? Yes, this is true, but it is important to know that everything is contextual and fits well with situations. This is also true with brand faces, that it is going to be appropriate to use them not for a long term brand building objective (which will rather be done by brand ambassadors), but for short term goals of promoting awareness of a newly launched product, or to communicate a discount in prices, and many such goals.

The choice therefore is based on the context or situation that a marketer or a brand manager faces.

Understand consumers better than they do

How easy life could get for marketers, if they could really understand consumers better than consumers themselves do. In many cases, it has been evident that consumers don’t know what they want or even what is possible. For example, even 20 years ago, how many consumers would have asked for now-commonplace products like cell phones, i-pods, digital cameras, 24 hours online buying facility?

Such situations call for customer-driven marketing – understanding customer needs even better than customers themselves do and bring out products that meet most existing needs and more importantly the latent needs. This has been proven repeatedly by the world renowned organization, known for its persistent innovative abilities – 3M.

Officially known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, has gotten people to believe that failures indeed do not indicate 'ceasefire'. The mention of the phrase ‘3M has indeed, stumbled into some products’ by CEO Richard O. Carlton again exemplifies their flair in creativity that has fetched them consumers from almost every country accepting their products which were even considered to be gratifying the latent needs of consumers world over.

“Marketing is a (SOCIAL) and managerial process”?

Flipping through what many marketers baptize as bible – Principles of marketing, inscribed by the infamous Philip Kotler and co-authored by Gary Armstrong, I came across the following definition of marketing – Broadly defined, marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and organizations obtain, what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others.

The term that grabbed my attention was SOCIAL. Would marketers want to socialize with every customer that he/she comes across? Consider an instance where your consumers mostly entail those who belong to the premium segment (higher end), and wonder if they'd really like it if you socialized with them, talk to them about their work, their raiment habits and hover most of the conversation around their personal life? They would quite clearly get snappy and turn down your market offering even before you start your sales presentation.

There needs to be a proper interpretation of the term social here, and comprehend it in accordance with the kind of consumers that you deal with. With such High Net worth Individuals (premium segment) it would be best to just go about doing business as usual with very little or absolutely zero attempt at socializing. ‘If this is the case then how would we achieve repeat business’, could be an argument. Simply put, after the actual sale happens these consumers can be given a ring at a time that is convenient to them and be the first to offer a discount on the next repeat purchase. Again, there is absolutely no requirement for socializing, with the exception of adding a pinch of politeness to the conversation.

Long time coming... Kaminey!!

Thank god and God bless my friend Gautam for having compelled me, in fact coerced me, into accompany him in watching a movie. Which one did he want to watch? – the critically acclaimed and extolled Bollywood cinema Kaminey. It is after a long time that I enjoyed a Bollywood movie which is quite diverse in its own sense. The last one I loved was Dev D.

I am glad I watched this movie, simply because of the fact that I can now believe that there is someone who is capable of producing a gangster movie which is unlike the mundane and persistently boring string of Indian gangster films majorly given birth to by Ram Gopal Verma. And that someone is Vishal Bharadwaj. Indian gangster cinemas needed innovation in storytelling, much like the way Guy Ritchie writes and directs his movies. The manner in which the movie is presented subtly in the first half and the second half taking off with an alarmingly brilliant screenplay making the audiences sit at the edge of their seats, reminds you of Guy Ritchie’s presentation style followed in the movie especially Snatch.

Albeit, this film would not impress the masses which is quite alright since it is not intended for the masses, instead it would and has been appreciated by particular TGs for whom it was made. In fact, there were a couple of people who left the movie hall and I could hear them grumbling that they couldn’t comprehend the movie at all. This has not disheartened the makers because these movie goers who prefer typical gangster films do not fall into their TG and that is great marketing for you!!

It needs to be understood that defining a suitable target market would take proper research and more importantly precise judgement on who would fall into the TG. It takes an even greater deal of courage not to be worried about leaving the masses out. Marketers needn’t be too ambitious in considering the entire mass market as their TG, which is where most film makers fail. So, kudos! to Vishal for his courageous effort and his excellent storytelling to both the movie buffs and to marketers respectively.

Can’t wait for Vishal’s next named Ishqiyaa!!

The Futuristic Level

Last but not the least - the futuristic level; and one that shouldn't be negated by marketers. The futuristic level of the product gives an idea about the trends which are taking place in the market in a specific product category. In the two-wheeler category; there may be some on-going research related to solar-powered two-wheelers.

New concept products require marketers to be cautious. There is a need to create awareness of the concept rather than just of the brand when new concept products are introduced. The introduction of washing machine in India is a very good example. Videocon created awareness of the concept of washing machines during the earlier phase of introduction of washing machines. Hence, a futurisitc view must be embedded in marketers' brains, in order to predict future trends which exactly what happened in the case of Videocon.

I hope the posts on 'The Product Level Concept' serves a reminder that even though the concept is quite basic, there needs be an understanding of it, that enables marketers to create wholly - a product that offers value to consumers eventually gaining a brand image and entering into the consideration set of the entire target group.

The Augmented Level

Considered majorly to be the most essential of all levels – Augmented Level values those attributes, which could be either functional or emotional, that successfully differentiates a product offering or a service offering from closely fought substitutes. This is the level which helps marketers to effectively visualize and develop a brand positioning and thump the same in consumers’ minds in a way which earns the brand a successful image. It is quite apparent that the augmented features would be added to a product only after it meets the first three levels; Core, generic, and the expected levels.

A consumer buys a ‘Brand’ only when he scans across all these levels. Click here to know the process of brand selection. This brand selection is influenced majorly by the augmented level which not only entails the functional and emotional attributes but also delivers certain symbolic benefits.

To quote an example let us deviate from the mobile phone illustration explained in previous posts, and look at the car industry. Owning a sedan would give immense emotional + functional benefits. However, owning an Audi would bestow the same along with a symbolic benefit – being the symbol of wealth and also synonym with quality and style in the world of automotives. This is what premium brands have successfully been able to pull off – creating symbolic values and benefits that appeal to the niches. That does not mean, other not-so-premium products do not entail any symbolic features; consider Tata’s Nano, which covers both emotional + functional features along with the symbol of being ‘The people’s car’.

Augmentation is possible with every product category and is considered the most important of all other levels of ‘The Product Concept Level’

The Expected Level

At the third stage is what we call the expected level, which usually signifies what consumers generally expect from the product. Now, now, do not be fooled or confused by this level and conceive it to be similar to the core level that simply symbolizes and satisfies the basic purpose for which the product is manufactured. Also, the expected level should not be confound to mean the augmented level which represents those features that are not usually anticipated by the consumers (will be better explained in the next post). This level comprises of all the features or attributes and benefits that a particular product or service is supposed to render to its target group.

However, it must be noted that these features are at the basic level and are offered by most competitors. It therefore becomes important for marketers to abide by this level through effective scanning of competition in order to see if they have overlooked any feature or benefit offered by a similar or substitute product.

Continuing with the example quoted in my previous post, the expected level in the Mobile Phone category would comprise of the General features and benefits like Radio, MP3 player, SMS (text messages), Camera, video and audio recording, etc. These are the most sought after features that need to be incorporated in mobile phones. I know, I know, you’d be thinking – Hey! Aren’t these the extra benefits that mobile phones have got to offer? Well, think again. Cause, most if not all mobile manufacturers consider these as their most basic product features without which they might lose a huge share in the market.

Keep reading to know the next two levels that help in formulating a differentiation strategy for marketers.

The Core Level and the Generic Level

Today, we shall look in detail at the first two levels of the Product Concept being – The Core level and The Generic stage or level. Though it may seem quite basic for many marketing students and professionals, there are certain instances wherein the same set of people fumble in explaining as to what the Product Levels are and what they exactly represent. Thereby, it would be appropriate to bring out the meaning of this basic concept with examples that could help its understanding.

Simply put the core level represents the product category, in that it would give a clear description of what the purpose of the product is and what product category would fulfil this purpose. This is the key aspect that every Product or Service offering must entail to be even called as a product or service. Consider the example of communication to be the core need, and this need would be satisfied by a devise that helps people connect and communicate to each other which defines the product category – Mobile phones. Hence, the core product here is the mobile phone which accomplishes the core need of communication.

Now, the Generic Stage of the Product level concept comprises of the sub-categories that represent main product category. These sub-categories denote the variants that are available in that particular product category. In our quoted example, where the mobile phone epitomizes the main product category, the various sub-categories would include different kinds of phones like GSM cell phones, CDMA phones or it could even represent the various mobile phone manufacturing firms like Nokia, Samsung, Sony, etc.

These two simple concepts if understood well in relation to the current market and consumer needs would help start-up companies to go a long way in mastering the art of innovation that would lead to the elaboration of the Product Conept onto the next three levels.

The Product Level Concept

We as marketers always tend to classify the product levels into three major heads – the Core level, the Actual Product, and the Augmented Product. It would be best, though to understand the concept of Product by categorizing it into Five Levels and broaden our understanding of the product concept.

A list of the five levels could be viewed in the figure given above, and to make our understanding have more clarity I would be quoting certain examples. To avoid a very lengthy and monotonous reading I would segment this explanation level wise, by elucidating one or two levels in the coming days. Keep reading to get enlightened with a realistic view on the concept of Product Levels.

The Best Entertainer on this Planet