If not the Airline Industry,it’s
the telecom sector in India that is undergoing a cut throat competition in the
market.
The rules and regulations in this
industry have made the players fight tooth and nail not only to win new
customers but also to retain the existing ones. Each player in the industry has
put all efforts to make their brand unique and to stay close to the customer.
Since there is only very little space to differentiate in the product
offerings, brands try to differentiate in their service, network coverage and
messaging to build their brand image in the customer’s perceptions.
If brands need to be defined in one word, the closest
definition I feel is “Trust”.Brand equity is tantamount to trust worthiness.
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad
one to lose it
Benjamin Franklin
This Saturday
was not so good, if not for all at least for Idea customers in Kerala. People
were not able to connect with their loved ones.A technical snag in Idea
resulted in the network outage in Kerala for several hours.It was one such day
where Idea’s reputation as a brand got a severe hit.
This incident
illustrates that in today’s inter-connected world,we couldn’t manage a couple
of hours, let alone a day without the Mobile phone.People are so dependent on
the mobile that their life will go standstill without a phone. The people who
believed in “Idea can change their life” got stuck in their life for a day;
they were not able to call their friends, plan their date, close a deal or to
inform/call for help on an emergency.
People got
frustrated and they took out their vengeance in the social media with the hashtags
#NoIdea #IdeaDown which caused a dent in the image of Brand Idea who is the
market leader in Kerala.
Knowing the depth of the dent that
the technical glitch has caused the brand, the team Idea, we must admit responded fast. They came
forward and acknowledged the network outage and inconvenience that it caused to
the customer. They also updated the customers as and when the issue got resolved.
We all know that
to err is human (so this could happen for any brand), we as customers
appreciate their act to come forward and admit it and to keep them posted when
it was fixed.
Also Team Idea has come up with 100 minutes free talk time for their
idea family for the inconvenience that they had inadvertently caused.
The emergency response from Idea
not only in the operational front (by fixing the technical glitch) but also in
the Brand management (by providing 100 mins Loc /STD calls free) is highly appreciable.
Idea has done
a wonderful job in fixing the dent in the network and brand swiftly.
But only time will
tell us how far they have succeed in bringing back the lost trust of the customers
and how good they heal the wound made in customer’s mind.
I still remember, the day I
got into TCS my mom was so thrilled and happy. She was all the more
excited that I got into a TATA company. TATA has always enjoyed that good will
in the society. They are known, right from their initial days, for their
philanthropic activities- as a company that pays back to the society. Tata’s
has always walked the talk and followed Jamsetji Tata’s words “In
a free enterprise the community is not just another stakeholder in the business
but in fact the very existence of it”. Besides offering numerous scholarships
to the students, the Tata’s have also backed numerous institutes
like The Tata Medical Centre in Kolkata, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research etc. as a mark of their commitment to
the community.
Many global organisations have followed their foot prints
and are coming up with CSR initiatives for the community with whom they are
engaged. A few are taking proactive initiatives, while others are taking a
reactive stance. There are manyways in which the organisations work for the
betterment of the society. Some do it by building schools,colleges, libraries
and hospitals ,whereas others work for a cause, like fighting against diseases
like cancer, AIDS etc., campaigns for preserving water/forest/tiger, campaigns
for sustainability , climate change etc.
ITC has launched E- Choupal, an initiative to prevent the
middle men from exploiting the farmers. It is an e-procurement portal to
procure agriculture and aquaculture products, directly from the farmers. ITC
also contributes to primary education in villages by sharing the profit from
the sale of their Classmate notebook,
which gives consumers a sense of affiliation to the initiative, just by buying
Notebooks.
Honda has recently come up with an awareness campaign to
restrain drivers from Multi-tasking ( Texting
& Driving). They have tried to communicate this message via a series of
Ads showing that Texting & Driving
is as difficult or complicated as Texting
& Cutting Hair, Texting &
Vacuuming, Texting & Making
Pancakes or Texting & Gardening.
PepsiCo started an initiative to maintain water balance by
saving and replenishing more water than their total water usage in the country
.They also marketed it well via labels in their water bottle to make its
customers aware of their commitment towards waters sustainability.
Researches have revealed that the Customer won’t
mind paying a premium to buy products from those companies who are committed
and sensitive towards the society. They further pointed out that they also
acquire a more loyal customer base. .
In this time and age where
companies vie against one another for a distinct space in the minds of their
customers, a TV commercial or a billboard advertisement may last for a few
hours or days . But a brand image created by giving back to the society will
last for years, just the way it has lasted in my mom’s mind.J
One of my fondest childhood
memories was my journey to school and back in my Dad’s Bajaj Chetak.For the Millennials, people born
in the era of the 80’s to 90’s, I need not explain much about the dear family
commuter Chetak. It was a car on two
wheels for the Indian family!!I don’t think that any other brand could claim to
have touched the lives of the Indian Middle class as deeply as Bajaj has. Every
man who has lived in this era will surely have some or other memory associated
with the Bajaj scooter. It was a dream come true, a mark of success to own a
Bajaj!!
Advertisements and marketing has
always played an importantrole to build the brand image and persona, which is
100% true in the case of Bajaj.
During this time - when India was
taking its baby steps towards the path of development, when the Indians had started
aspiring, Bajaj came up with a beautiful ad campaign, which, even now rings a
fond bell or two for the Millennials - Buland
Bharat ki Buland Tasveer…Hamara Bajaj (which meansthe great symbol
of a great India: Our Bajaj).It was definitely
one of the best ad campaign in Indian advertising history. It portrayed the
image of India perfectly.
At the
time of ideation of this Ad, Rahul Bajaj and
Team Lintas (now Lintas-Lowe & Partners, Creative Agency) needed to make
the Chetak more appealing to the youngsters and wanted to beat the competition
from its Italian competitor Vespa. They needed to showcase that Bajaj Chetakas an integral part of People’s lives.
So they decided to recreate an Ad similar to that of ‘Chevrolet’s Heartbeat
of America' (in late 1980s).It could be seen as Bajaj’s strategy to design a
campaign which plays on emotions than in technology and they succeeded in it.
By around
1991, India had opened its market to global companies which offered a multitude
of products to choose from for the Indian consumer, making them literally the
kings. Automobile giants started selling their products in India in
collaboration with Indian companies. Bajaj, however did not want to join this
league.But by mid-90s to early-2000, sales of Bajaj Scooters started declining.
To counter this, Bajaj launched a couple of bikes in collaboration with
Kawasaki and otherwise. But unfortunately, it didn’tdo much to push the sales upwards.
These launches were backed by a
refurbished version of the popular ad campaign. They
replaced Buland bharat with ‘Naye Bharat ki Buland Tasveer….. Hamara Bajaj’.Instead of focussing on a single product,
Bajaj showcased their entire
portfolio including the newly launched Eliminator & Boxer in this Ad. Bajaj
which was known for its tradition had successfully and brilliantly portrayed
how Tradition and Modernity are seamlessly bridged together in this ad.
When I
was in my teenage, soon after the Y2K fear had gone, a decade after globalization
and liberalization, the time during which IT and other job markets were picking
up in India. The Indian Middle class was slowly rising to upper middle class.
Europe and other developed markets were starting to consider India as a
developing country. While the Indian youth where growing leaps and bounds, it
was the need of the hour for Bajaj to come up with a breakthrough as Bajaj
scooters were trying hard to catch up with its competitor’s motorcycles both
on road as well as in sales.Rajeev Bajaj decided that
it was time to move on. They decided to go solo and decided to launch
their first bike without Kawasaki.It was indeed a risky
step during that time, launching a 150cc bike to a mileage sensitive market.
They wanted to launch a sexy bike. Out came, drum rolls please, The Bajaj Pulsar with the tagline, “Definitely male”.
Bajaj was sure that this need to
be marketed well to be successful. As they embarked
on this new step, they needed a campaign that breathed fresh air to brand
Bajaj. In a complete break away from their subtle, traditionalistic style of
advertising, Rajeev Bajaj, a Marketing genius
in the Indian corporate, decided to take a brave, bold move.Ogilvy and
Mather, came up with “Definitely Male” idea to market this, which was hugely
successful. Bajaj was back on the scene and with a
bang.The Bajaj Pulsar was primarily targeted to people in the age group
of 18-24, but found themselves appealing to a much older audience as well
(21-35) helping Bajaj’s sales and profits skyrocket, after almost a decade.Every
youngster started dreaming of owning a Pulsar.
Once Bajaj had tested the waters
and found the taste of success they were hungry for more. They completely
overhauled everything. Backed up this huge success they were no more afraid of
change. There was a visible change in their communication to target audience.
They started to air commercials with stunts to a generation who dreamt of
superbikes. Their corporate branding also underwent some big changes. Bajaj was
very clear that they needed to announce to the world that they were no more an
old Bajaj. The logo also went on a transformation, the old Bajaj logo got
replaced with a newer stylish looking logo in 2004. This logo re branding
exercise was supported by Elephant designs.
In 2003-04, they re-launched the
Pulsar after making some cosmetic changes and introducing their DTSi
technology.Leo Burnett (Ad Agency of Bajaj),came up with a new tagline Digital biking for Pulsar DTSi.
Rajeev Bajaj, the marketing Chanakya of the Indian corporate world has
took a lot of bold moves following that. In 2005, another emotionally
significant event happened in Bajaj. The production of the iconic Bajaj chetak,
which was the cash cow of Bajaj Auto for a very long time, was stopped. From
the marketing strategies that ensued, it was clear that he didn’t want to build
a single brand around Bajaj, but rather, was trying to build multiple brands
around Pulsar, Discover, Bajaj RE to cater to different segments of the Indian
market by offering a plethora of different brands.He backed this up by
investing in new plants and new technology to refine their products. Internally
Rajeev also redefined and streamlined manufacturing systems to enhance
production quality and productivity. He also restructured the supply chain and
re aligned sales and marketing to deliver better value to customers.
The results were indeed evident. Bajaj
which had once started off by selling imported two and three wheelers also started
exporting their vehicles overseas.Now Bajaj earns more than one third of its
revenue from its exports.Bajaj acquired 14.5% of stake in KTM Power Sports AG
in 2007 and later increased stake to 47.96% in March 2013.This resulted in
popularising high power naked bike culture in India.
Even when Bajaj was making
immense profit from all these models, they were not ready to stop producing
those models that catered to the mileage sensitive market. So they relaunched
and fine-tuned their 100cc and 125cc models like Platina and CT100. Though a
distinctive leader in the entry level and sport segments, Bajaj lacked the
punch in the middle/executive segment.This segment accounted to half the size
of the total market. So they desperately needed to launch a good product,
making their presence in this segment. Here positioning played an important
role as the market was already replete with a tough competition who offered
multiple models.
It was then that Kevin from Leo
Burnet (Ad agency of Bajaj) came up with a wonderful Idea.The idea was to build
a motorcycle from the scrap of INS Vikrant, the heritage Indian Aircraft
carrier, which had helped India winthe Indo-Pak war. Bajaj took it up with open
arms and V was born. It was bringing a new dimension to the executive segment.
It was the ultimate solution for the positioning conundrum. What more does an
Indian customer need from a brand like Bajaj, than to give them an opportunity
to own a part of the historical INS Vikrant. This idea set ablaze the social
media.
It is rare indeed that a company which
started off by importing two wheelers is now exporting its two wheelers to most
parts of the world. What made it grow – Is it their marketing strategy? Or
Products? Or Technology. I would say it was the harmonious amalgamation of
these that has scripted their success story. It is their uncanny ability to
continually identify the evolving pulse of the customer that has made them one
of the most respected brands in the two wheeler industry, taking them Distinctly aheadfrom the competition.
It was just a week before my friend Arun’s marriage that
I logged into a well known ethnic wear online store for a kurta. After
searching for a while I slipped into an afternoon siesta. After waking up,
sipping my evening tea I logged in to Facebook . It was then when I was
glancing through my Facebook timeline, a blue kurta caught my attention.
Surprisingly it was an Ad sponsored by the same retailer, whose online store I
was searching in the morning.
I was intrigued and out of curiosity, I searched about
Facebook Ads. The more I researched, the more I got fascinated by Facebook ads.
It’s a very powerful tool for sending the exact message to a targeted segment
or even a single customer. If it comes to demographics, who else can provide
you credible and real time data than Facebook (even more accurate than the
Census data !! ;) )
A builder when he places an Ad of an upcoming project,
can target all people who live around a 50 km radius to the city. He can also
segment further based on the age, Lifestyle, work and other interests of people
in that locality. Facebook even provides user an option to set his/her ad
preferences which he/she would like to see in their timelines.
Facebook also helps a marketer to re-target their
customers. When I log in to an online Kurta store, information about me is
collected via cookies and the pages I visited are also tracked and recorded.
When I close the session without making a purchase, the marketer of the kurta
store starts targeting their ‘lost customer’. A Demand side platform,DSP enables
advertisers, agencies and ad networks to buy display impressions across
multiple ad exchangesusing single
interface. Facebook has a real time bidding FBX which sells the advertising
inventory (ad spaces are nothing but your fb timeline and the right bottom
corner of your facebook page) DSP of Online kurta store will bid with FBX for
showing ads to their lost customer when he/she logs in to Facebook. DSPs share
necessary data to Facebook to identify the person. When the person logs in to
Facebook, Facebook informs DSPs and will bid for displaying ad. Ads will be
shown to user on winning the bid(Real time bidding transactions typically
happen within 100 milliseconds from the moment the ad exchange receives the
request.)
Facebook Ads are either shown in the right column (domain
Ad) or in the news feed. Facebook released a new Ad Format called Multi-product
ad which can be extremely useful for all the eCommerce advertisers looking to
promote multiple products from their store.
There are certain brands whose identity is incomplete without their mascot.But there are very few other brands whose identity itself is their Mascot. When we hear the name Amul,first thing that comes to our mind is the round eyed chubby cheeked girl dressed in her little polka dotted dress.
You will be amazed to hear that Amul is running this Ad campaign for the last 50 years and its the World's longest running campaign ever
Amul Girl was born on 1967 when Dr Varghese Kurien the chairman of the Gujarat Co- Operative Milk Marketing Federation limited(GCMMF) decided to give their account to an advertising agency called Advertising and Sales Promotion(ASP) to work on their ad campaign.
V.Kurien suggested a mischievous girl mascot with two requirements.It had to be easy to draw and should be memorable as most of the advertising would be in outdoor media, which required hand painting.Sylvester da Cunha , then managing director of the agency along with Eustace Fernandez , art director decided to create something that could grab the attention of housewife in the country who were their target audience.They came up with Amul girl as a rival to the polson butter girl.
A year after the launch of Amul girl Sylvester decided to give a solid concept to ads to get an extra mileage. In 1969 when Hare Rama Hare Krishna Movement began in Mumbai, the creative team of Da cunha came up with clincher - "Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry" which was welcomed by Mumbaikaars. From then to now Amul girl is playing the role of "Social Observer".Be it Cricket,Bollywood, Politics , Natural calamities or any other issues of national interest, Amul ensures it'
s included in its very next Ad
Despite changing times and the advent of technology , the simple Amul campaign still spread smoothly on billboards and continues to capture the imagination of a new India through frequent shares on Social media websites
Advertisement Campaigns are designed to achieve a specific goal(s) like establishing a brand, raising brand awareness, increasing the rate of conversions/sales etc.
Leo Burnett of Leo Burnett Worldwide created one such campaign in 1955 which is still considered as one of the most successful and Brilliant Advertisement campaigns of the world - Marlboro Man !!
Marlboro wanted to re position their filter cigarettes as men's cigarette which was otherwise considered as Women's cigarette.
Marlboro Man transformed the Marlboro brand from a mild ladies' cigarette into a rugged, ultra-masculine accessory.
The campaign was proposed to present a line up of Manly figures which included Cowboys , sea captains, weightlifters, war correspondents, construction workers, etc to create a masculine brand image for Marlboro. The cowboy was in first in this series which was inspired by an issue of Life Magazine ( published photograph and story of Texas cowboy Clarence Hailey Long).
This Advertisement campaign was a huge success that resulted in significantly improving sales.
Market share of Marlboro rose from less than one percent to the fourth best selling brand in a short span of a year and increased sales by 300% in two years.This result made them to drop other "Manly Figures" and to stick with the Cow boy
Initially Marlboro man was featured by models , which later was replaced by real cowboys as Burnett felt lack of authenticity when it was represented by models.
