The network paralysis- The Idea Story

“To err is human to forgive divine”

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.

Being the Apple of Our eyes…

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

Hamara Bajaj -Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasveer

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 means the 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. 

How Facebook knows that I need a Blue kurta!!!

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 exchanges using 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.