They buy with gusto

Once while having a discussion on consumer behavior of rural people, Somun a very constructive thinker highlighted few points that i would like to mention here. Brand hardly matters for rural people, rather what appeals to them is" value pricing". They prefer smaller packaging ( sachets of shampoo and masala) because it is affordable for their wallet. Moreover he stressed on the fact of counterfeiting and cloning that actually affect the rural market t. I do agree with his arguments except one that rural customers are not brand loyal. Let me tell why?
Most purchases in rural customer's purchase basket tend to be unbranded. That's fine. But when they actually buy brand, they buy true brand. Rural customer trust brands as friends. The brand is perceived as a reliable mate, an entity that promises and delivers. Before buying they also have a pool of considerations and evaluate each and every options and go for the best one. Owning a good brand also gives them a social affiliation and status in that cohort. It differentiates the owner from the rest villagers in terms of esteem also, as Indian villages are still social strata bound. So they do not hesitate to spend in bulk to get the best brand and keep telling others about the benefits of that brand.

Are you a brand addicted?

Customer mind-set includes everything that exists in the minds of consumer with respect to brand: thoughts,feelings, experiences, images, perception and attitudes. Creating the right customer mindset can be critical in terms of building brand equity and value. But once the brand awareness is raised and brand attitude is created then you can't stop the brand growing exponentially. The degree of loyalty towards a brand is called brand attachments. Hard core loyals are dubbed as brand addicted. I find in very common among my friends. They are addicted to particularly some brands. If they have a plan to buy something in that segment then they will go for that brand only, never mind what other options they have. That's brand addiction. It is the reflection of an attitude that they form towards a brand. Overall evaluations of the brand in terms of its equity and satisfaction that it generates fuels the brand attitude and finally cause adherence leading to addiction. When i analyze myself then i find myself to be a hardcore loyal to few brands but in certain categories i belong to switch loyal( who switches to different brands according to value proposition). Now ask yourself. Are you brand addicted?

Brand appeals in sync with value pricing

The recent recessionary trend show us how big brands succumbed to the pressure and finally tumbled while smaller players survived. Its not that those brands succumbed were bad in strategies but what i feel their brand appeal was not in sync with pricing. Pricing is relative and when we use the term value pricing it can differ more. But what pertinent is how the consumer perceives the price of goods and commodities. So redefining value is very important for companies to sustain in the market. Do not get carried away by value that is defined by lofty advertisements and retail appeal. Get down to the basics and focus on basic brand appeal. Brand appeals needs to be in sync with value pricing. Reduce obscene margins that are typically made and taken for granted in categories. Brands must not distance themselves from customers by creating wall of unfair means. What is more important is mass appeal. You should not sacrifice width and breadth of appeal for mere margins. Bargaining power of consumer is increasing day by day. The awareness level among them is very high now a days. So if you adopt unfair pricing then the customer will definitely say bye bye to you. At the end of the day Brand appeals should sync with value pricing.

Lose the bargain but win the customer

I always admire one of my friend's bargaining skills ( where there is an option of bargaining ) during purchase, not because he used to grab the best deal but how he does it. During my last outing with him we went to a shop to buy some stuffs. The shop keeper asked a price of two hundred bucks for that. Then my friend started all the bargaining tricks and narrowed it down to one hundred and thirty bucks. Then the shopkeeper pleaded that he would hardly extract any profit out of it and asked to bind the deal at one hundred and fifty bucks.My friend said no and finally zeroed on one hundred and forty bucks. Shopkeeper agreed to it. My friend was elated with a sense of pride, again sealing the best deal. Then while returning he told me that the shop is the best one where we can find value for money. I simply nodded.

Now i knew that the product he bought costs only hundred bucks( same brand ) in my place. Shopkeeper set the price high and allowed the customer to bargain. When customer bargained and managed to get that at his best perceived value, he felt good. What i am trying to say is that the shopkeeper took his profit in a big way and customer thought he won also. So for them it was an win-win situation. Thus made the customer a repeat customer as well. All know repeat customer turns into loyal customer bringing the profit to the company. So the shopkeeper lost the bargaining battle but won a customer.

Oh..i forgot his birth day

Deepak: Stalin, you did not wish me on my birthday
Stalin : Oh, i am so sorry. Your birthday just went right.
Deepak: Anyways you forgot. That's the truth
Stalin : Why you removed your birth day stauts from Orkut
Deepak: I was just checking who were wishing without knowing it from Orkut, but i was expecting your call.
Stalin : I am really sorry. Belated happy birthday.

This is a part of my conversation with my friend Deepak two days after his birth day. No body can deny the fact that we are used to web,internet and social networking sites now a days. I can even say that we are totally dependent on internet. Previously we have to remember so many things , but now no need. On social networking sites friend's,relatives birth day keep coming and we simply by watching that wish them. But if someone will hide his/her birth day status, then we will not be able to wish him/her. There comes the problem. The person who may be expecting your wish will definitely feel bad. Because emotion plays a very crucial role in every human's life. Unintentionally we will keep hurting our beloved persons. What can i term this fault of human or technology?

"Got Milk" -the sensational campaigns of all time

For more information on " GOT MILK" Campaign, please check the link given below
http://inventorspot.com/articles/got_milkinventive_marketing_5569

Region status for india-PepsiCo's big plan

Recently PepsiCo awarded "Region" status to India. The company will hold its annual board meeting in India for the first time in mid-September. India will be the second country after Mexico to have the annual board meet. The $43-billion beverages and snacks company has been very successful in India, even if when the parent company was facing the global down turn. Chairman and CEO of the company hails from India that may be a reason for getting this Region status, but what I feel there are more solid reasons behind it.

1. Decentralization: Allocating the "region" status will facilitate more independent decision making process and faster allocation of resources. It has integrated its beverages and snacks under a common leadership in line with Indra Nooyi's "power of one" strategy. Indian brass of management will take decision according to the Indian market only, which is best suited for India.
2. The Indian wing has given them an all time high growth of 33-35% last year at a time when its parent was struggling to make profits. That shows the high growth opportunities that India has for the comapny. Besides this it has to tackle Coca-Cola in Indian market which is a big task itself. The investment of PepsiCo in India is already $1 billion and it has plan of investing a total of $500 million over three years.

So hope to see a complete turn around, when the biggies will confront each other.

Force India-Fisichella makes India proud

It was a great moment of pride for every Indian, when Force India's driver Fisichella grabbed the pole position in Belgian Grand Prix. Vijay Mallya, the aviation and liquor mogul could not have asked anything more than that. He responded by saying this "I am so proud of Giancarlo, the team in the garage and the factory and also for the entire Indian nation. There is nothing more to say. We've done both ourselves and the country proud." It was the Force India team's first-ever pole and the fourth for 36-year-old Fisichella, who has been heavily linked with a switch to Ferrari for next month's Italian Grand Prix. His last pole came at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. After this, he will be under pressure to stay with the team that has given him a new lease of life - and added to the lustre of the 'golden oldies' running in Formula One. When we are facing a turbulent time in our country from our own sports ministry, at that moment basking such glory is really commendable. Here some people are trying to term it as entertainment rather then a sport and hence neglecting the evolution of this sport in our country. But don't they feel proud after getting this news. We have talented indigenous drivers who can really make it big at international stage. So why we are not providing them the facilities for that.

You need to be a human

Doing business in this time and without the help of information technology is like next to impossible. I read so much about just in time (JIT), TQM, ERP, GPS, RFID etc..actually a long list to mention here. Every dreaming big companies are setting their operation on high -end technology. But are we moving away from the classic human touch!!! I am quite skeptical about it. I read an article on Sam Walton( founder of WAL-MART) during a case discussion in my class. There it was mentioned that he never went for technological help to make his business decision. He said"a computer or machine can only tell how much you have sold, but it won't be able to say how much you could have sold". It make sense to me actually. A computer will not be able to predict the unexplored potential of any business, it's the human touch intuition,gut feelings that can drive. Being in business, its not necessary to have great policies, being human is a great thing. Go where your customer are and respond to them. that is where you can have the big advantage over big guys. Creating a healthy atmosphere at work place and caring for your employees can propel your business like anything. Rocket science is not needed to handle the man power, few simple loving words and gestures can create a great company.

Advertising influencing consumer behavior

Advertisements are developed to influence the way people think about products and brands. More specifically it is designed to affect consumers beliefs and brand attitude. Attitude is the nearest variable to buying decision. Advertisers use multi-attribute attitude models to help them ascertain the attitudes of target consumers. However consumers have perceptual defenses that allow them to ignore or distort most most of the commercial message to which they are exposed. While passing by roads we are exposed to so many advertisements and billboards. Initially they are able to catch our attention, but over a period of time we distort them. Because they fail to create the stimuli that is needed for attention. If a TVC is shown repeatedly on television, we tend to swap channels whenever it is telecasted or do other things in the mean time.So it becomes a challenge for the ad maker to create the innate stimuli. But when we are exposed to something new, different and abstract we tend to focus on it. This things create a stimuli in our brain and we pay attention to these creative ads. When consumers are not motivated to thoughtfully process an advertiser's message, it may be in that advertiser's best interest to feature one or more peripheral cues as part of the message.

Ads-It's not really new-new

There’s a new wave of advertising sweeping over Indian channels, only it’s not really new-new. So many heyday Ads are coming now a days. What I strongly feel is there’s more to this reuse of old ads than just the effort to tap nostalgia. Let it be Garden saree Ad by Lisa Roy or Bajaj Electrical s " jab mein chota ladka tha" Ad. Old Days Ads have created a resonance in the minds of consumer and when ever the Brand comes into mind somehow the unique Ad comes into mind automatically. So it makes sense to me bringing back the old ads.It makes sense for us to go back to a property that was iconic. It is less about nostalgia and more about juicing value out of what we still consider is a strong meaningful property in difficult times. As long as the target consumer is same and message strategy is unchanged, i think use of old ads are ok. It will definitely evokes the sense of loyalty and brand recall to a great extent.

But there is a paradox to it also. Could companies have run the same old commercial? Perhaps not in all cases, as the imagery won’t be contemporary enough, but they can try to stay true to the original.

Nimbooz bags sponsorship of King's XI Punjab

When Leading soft drink manufacturer, PepsiCo launched its non-carbonated packaged nimbu paani 'Nimbooz', under its brand 7Up in India it created a lot of hype in the market. To promote the product which claims to contain no artificial flavours and contains real lemon juice IPL2 was the best option in India. But after IPL2 shifted to South Africa the pre-planned promotional campaign was hit badly. The drink which is targeted at Indian tastes, finally grabbed the opportunity to become the official beverage sponsor of the IPL franchisee team Kings XI Punjab. It has also got the branding rights on the players’ uniform with the logo at the back.PepsiCo has drawn up an intensive consumer activation campaign to market Nimbooz. The 360 degree marketing communication plan will build awareness through multi-city launches and road shows, 3D activation, leveraging Out-of-Home (OOH) media, radio, press and outdoors. The on-ground initiatives will be supported by a TV commercial that reflects Nimbooz’s ‘Ekdum Asli Indian’ proposition.Besides, the company has also launched a marketing initiative ‘Nimbooz Highway Gadi’, in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, offering consumers to buy scratch cards and win a trip to South Africa. So go grab your bottle, who knows may be you are the lucky one to fly South Africa !

Is "young" the undisputed flavour of the day?

Recently a headline grabbed my attention Sushmita Sen loses ad deal to Asin,the Ghajini fame. The perfect diva who was associated with Pantene for a longtime paved the way for young,pretty new face but no where as charismatic as Sush. It is not the case with Sushmita alone. List is very long. Pepsi khan was dropped from team pepsi, Ash Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee and preity Zinta all lost their previous lucrative deals. On the cricket front too similar trends have been observed. Yesterday’s iconic players like Sourav, Dravid, Kumble and even genius Sachin have suffered in the hands of power of youth. In my opinion the reason behind this trend is:
• There is definite a point of saturation when a celeb endorses a brand for a long period of time in today’s novelty driven market
• Success is all that matters at the end of the day
• Youngistan is drooling over youth icon
People like change. They love to watch something fresh and exciting. The age of loyalty is over , it is the age of return on investment(ROI). Success is the mantra of money now. Dhoni’s dynamic leadership, success as captain as well as batsman has earned him endorsement of Rs. 300 crore. T20 players of our country have replaced the old faces in Indian cricket. Be it cricket or Bollywood expect the sponsors to keep pampering and pouring money on successful persons only. So Nestle dropping Rani for Trisha and Nakshtra Diamond sagging Aishwarya for Katrina Kaif is not at all a surprise. Youth is definitely in and here to stay on as long as they are successful but is it possible for them to retain the charm for long. Does a Yusuf Pathan or Praveen Kumar can ever match the charisma of Sachin or Shahrukh? Are they brand fit? Do they go with the profile of Pepsi? Is it that the marketer are following the trend just like a brainless follow-the herd mentality !!!

" Jai Ho" for The congress !!!

The Congress is ecstatic about "Jai Ho" the Oscar winning song by AR Rehman from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. With an eye of using it in its central election campaign for the 2009 polls, the Congress party has bought the rights of Jai Ho from T-Series for an undisclosed sum of money. Ignitee digital solution has created the video using the song jai ho showcasing the footage of computer revolution, Chandrayan, women empowerment and many policies implemented during the Congress regime. The video is considered as the most viewd video on orkut for the last month, having nearly 35,000 viewership. As general Election is nearing fast it is not just congress but all parties are opting for the digital and online media for campaigning. Political campaigns and advertisings were very much there,but this time they have metamorphed into a bigger scale. Every party is eyeing the 40 million online voter base. Youth generation is the voter base who spend maximum time on internet and online campaigning is the best way to reach them, because every vote counts. Digital media is the best way to reach maximum numbers of voters of different ages, races and communities. It is a very accountable medium which facilitates pin pointed targeted messaging with zero wastage. So if you are finding political party's election campaigns on social networking sites like orkut,facebook,myspace and metacafe, then it is nothing astray. INDIA IS SHINING !!!

Appy Fizz got new cousin Grappo Fizz

Recently I saw one of my friend sipping a new packaged carbonated drink, I asked him what was that and answer came lemon. Eyebrows raised suddenly.I checked that being curious and it was LMN from Parle Agro . when I hear Parle Agro the first thing come into mind is "frooti"(the largest contributor to parle agro’s sales) delicious mango drink,yummy ! Company’s other offerings include Appy fizz, saint (a juice brand), bailey mineral water and Parle-G (largest selling glucose biscuit in the world) and many more. But this summer Parle Agro is in a mood to capture as much share it can grab in soft drinks segment.Appy fizz got its new cousin Grappo fizz-a carbonated grape drink. After the huge success of appy fizz among the youth , the grappo fizz is also aimed at youth persona and is introduced as a “youthful rapper” and the cousin of the appy fizz character. So after apple its grapes now in the carbonated drink form. Certainly as the youth is moving away from the consumption of cold drinks being health conscious, this type of drinks are real alternative for them and Parle Agro is leaving no stone unturned to make it popular among the consumer.Parle Agro plans to tap into this segment through various activities including a television commercial, which will be on air this weekend. Grappo Fizz i am waiting for you.

Google takes on the piracy battle in china

I am sure Google is the most prefered search engine all over the globe. But if something is hurting the giant,then it is the chineese market. China is one of the few markets where Google trailed leader Baidu.com. Yes, Baidu.com controls 60% of market share of the search engines. At the same time Chinese music market is crippled with the disease of piracy. Music majors like EMI, UNIVERSAL, WARNER AND SONY are facing stiff challenge from piracy. Majority of their revenues is lost due to this practice in China.The market is legitimately estimated to be $76 million, but piracy has made business miserable for these companies.
Google who is desperate to make a strong presence in China, does not leave this golden chance to slip from its hand. As a strategic move it decided to offer free download able music to Chinese listeners. The motive behind the move is

• It is a serious attempt to monetise the huge online market in China
• Google's strategy to overtake Baidu.com
• Stop the bleeding caused by piracy for music major companies like EMI, SONY and UNIVERSAL

South Africa may host IPL 2

Amidst of all the storms IPL once again came with a twist. This time not for big franchisee deals or astounding amount of contract money for players. IPL has moved to offshore and probably South Africa will get the nod ahead of England. English weather may hamper 70% of the scheduled matches so South Africa is considered to be a good option for IPL 2. It has the proper infrastructure and right mix of audience to make it a success, but i am afraid that can it match the aura of Indian soil?

I can surely say that it won't be the same as it was in inaugural edition, because the concept of IPL is based on the regional teams and so much belongingness is attached to it. When the team will play in a offshore venue the very purpose of belongingness will be lost. Cricket will be there but the adrenaline flow will not be the same. The money was made from television, but the real success of the tournament was felt in the stands. It was impossible to watch a game in the stadium and not be infected with the new kind of fervour and enjoyment these games engendered. Taking the games away would be to deny them their natural habitat.

The BCCI announced on Sunday that it would stage next month's event abroad after failing to get government clearance for security cover because the tournament dates clashed with the country's general elections. Obviously the management of IPL will go for the profit maximisation,they can not afford the loss of money and contacts that are already made. So the only way to avoid these losses is to conduct it anyway and anywhere. But at the end of the day the taste of fast food cricket should be retained !

Out of Home media Advertisements

While going through my summer internship programme(famously known as" SIP") interview I came to know about Armour display systems, which basically provide out of home media advertisement facilities to corporate houses at railway stations by their digital display systems. I really got impressed by the unique innovative way of advertisement. It started providing service initially at Chennai railway station and recently operating in number of railway stations. By their display systems they provide the necessary information about the train routes and timings, but the TV commercials are shown between important passenger information cycles. Core benefits of this advertisement are: it reaches mass effectively, minimize the audience fragmentation and no channel hopping. People will watch the advertisement because when they will look for information about trains ,they will watch those advertisements also. Passenger of all age groups and regions are able to watch those advertisements where it affects the purchase decision. It also provide a source of entertainment for those who are sick of waiting long for train. But there are some disadvantages also,when passenger are more keen about the information about the train schedules, showing Ads may not be an ideal idea. Language may act as a barrier also,sometimes passengers may not be able to understand the language used. But overall if we see then it is a very good concept for advertising where it taps the maximum number of mass.More advancements in technology will push it further. So let's see how the trend is shaping up.

IPL Blues !!!

Terror clouds are hovering over the subcontinent. But if some are least bothered about the dangers lying ahead, they are the BCCI and its ancillary, the IPL governing council. They're blissfully unaware of terrorists who might lurk in general elections booths as well as in IPL venues. The BCCI is adamant that both the elections and the IPL can run smoothly with proper distribution of security forces—some wishful thinking that. IPL commissioner Lalit modi a lso stated that not a single player has officially raised voice over the security concern. But as we all know our country can be affected by terrorism,so why to take chance. I am not against the tournament but the s chedule can be changed to post general election so that security will be more stringent. Apart from it BCCI should include FICA in the security management in twenty20 event, so that overseas players will feel safe to play. The IPL committee must be reviewing the monetary aspects related to the league and it may cost them heavily to schedule it later but it is the need of the hour. After all we all want to have a great tournament of cricket and entertainment . So let's hope for the best!

Green jobs for green world

Blue collar and white collar jobs are old now. The world is going green,let it be green marketing or green products which are environment friendly. IBM,GE AND TOYOTA are some of the big names which are thrusting heavily on green business to sustain the environment which is deteriorating very fast. "As more jobs are lost due to the current economic downturn, sustainable forest management could become a means of creating millions of green jobs, thus helping to reduce poverty and improve the environment," forestry expert Jan Heino of the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a statement. New jobs could include forest management, agroforestry and farm forestry, improved fire management, development and management of trails and recreation sites, expansion of urban green spaces, restoring degraded forests and planting new ones. By this we can reduce the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide concentration in the air,mitigate the effect of hazardous elements on our environment and ultimately will have a positive impact on climate change than any other initiative currently being planned or considered.By creating more green jobs we will be able to reduce poverty to some extent also and this can attain more popularity in rural areas.So hail green jobs !

Let's save cricket !

"Our future as a nation is in our youngsters' hands. Sport helps to make good human beings. If the sport is not there, the children can do silly things."This was the statement of Younis Khan,captain,Pakistan cricket team,after the cricket community started denying to play in Pakistan. He pledged the world not to let die cricket in Pakistan. It really make sense to me. We all are familiar with the barbaric act of terrorism. Terror strikes hurt more number of people indirectly rather than directly. Latest attack on Srilankan players was the worst thing that can happen to any sports and sportsperson in the world. Now world cricket community is banning the Pakistan soil.But is it the solution to this perennial problem? Tomorrow the same thing can happen with any country,to any sports. what can we do? Should we keep banning all soils which will be affected by terrorism. Should we leave playing the sports? And by doing this the only thing we can prove is that we are handicapped,nothing else. Rather it is the call of the hour to uproot the prime cause.It is the time to give them an answer. Sport helps to make good human beings. If the sport is not there, the children can do silly things. We have to be very careful about that. Nobody wants to see children going down a bad path and finding themselves involved with bombs and things like that. We all must do something to stop that happening. So join hands to fight against terrorism and save cricket.

Is "jai ho" the best one from A.R.Rahman

Slumdog millionaire made every indian proud by bagging 8 oscars including best film also.Indian pride was further served by a double Oscar win for “Slumdog” composer the “Mozart of Madras,” A.R. Rahman who bagged the best original score and best song statuette at the Los Angeles awards ceremony."jai ho" is rated as the most searched word along with slumdog after the phenomenal success of the movie.I am sure the success of the movie willboost indian movie industry as well tourism industry also,which is a good sign for Indian economy.But what haunting me is that -Is jai ho is the best creation of A.R.Rahman? I certainly feel no,the song is awesome but the master has already produced so many classic ones.Songs from Roja,Bombay,Lagaan,RDB and Dil Se are class apart,magic composition of the master.Roja,Dil Se,Bombay were not nominated for oscars and Lagaan and Rang De Basanti though were nominated but as best foreign film category.So the master did not manage to get oscars for its best creation.As because slumdog millionaire was directed by an foreign director and producer it got a chance to be in the mainstream of oscar nomination.Anyways talent like him do not need award to prove his class,if he would have been to hollywood then so many oscars should be his only

Banks going FMCG way in advertising

From last few days I am observing that State Bank of India(SBI) is advertising heavily in print media as well as broadcast media.In most of the major newspapers you can see the" SBI customer"comparison Ad.It describes that all income class people can be a SBI customer.He may be a driver or may be a top business man. He may be a mechanic or the owner of the vehicle.Though State Bank of India has already created a brand equity among Indians but still its preemptive strategies are customer oriented.But what i can say is that now banks are spending on Brand Building like never before.The reason behind it what I believe is banks are the most commoditised brands in the world now.They not only try to position themselves differently but also try to create value to the customer and achieving customer's faith.So banks are going the FMCG way in advertising.According to media monitoring company AdEx India ,banks were the third largest among advertisers in the first half of 2008. HDFC Bank topped the list with an spent of Rs 307 crore in the financial year of 2007-08. Citi Bank and ICICI Bank were the other major spender.Union bank is going to spend Rs 75 crore on advertising this year. So on an average banks have raised their promotional expenses by about 40 percent in the last two years.Celebrity endorsements are more frequent now. Royal Bank of Scotland roped in Sachin Tendulkar,Sania Mirza for Deutsche Bank,SRK for ICICI Bank are some examples. In their advertisements they deliver certain Brand Promises like the private Indian banks claim world class efficiency,foreign banks claims to be more Indian's type and the public sector banks claim to be more modern in operation. But whether it is Sachin or SRK,banks need to make sure they inspire trust while building brands.

YOU COULD GET EVEN LUCKIER

Readers please don't get confused. I am not an astrologer or not selling any product on which i am giving an extra gifts. "YOU COULD GET EVEN LUCKIER" is the latest scheme of AIR INDIA. The airline industry is facing the downturn,volatile ATF price and reduction of passengers. So to sustain in the competitive market, all carriers are planning different moves to reduce the cost of operation.We know travelling agencies and ticket booking agents usually share some amount of money with the companies.To avoid that carriers have shifted to e-Ticketing or web ticketing,but still competition is intense.there also.Few days back I saw a print Ad of AIR INDIA. It read like this"You could get even luckier.now,every 100th online booking made at http://www.airindia.in/ gets you a free ticket ! Not to mention the best domestic fares that are yours the moment you log in . Get online between 17th Feb and 31st March 2009. Get lucky!"This is a nice strategy to promote the online ticketing where the middleman's share can be avoided and a competitive edge can be attained over other carriers also. By providing 100th,200th,300th(n*100)th ticket free it will certainly generate curiosity among the customers and definitely they will give it a try.So go online,give it a try and you could get even luckier!

" COKE vs PEPSI"- it's more intense now

The rivalry between these two companies is no longer new for us,but this time the rivalry is more intense in India. From last two days newspapers and news channels are feeding this news. The two giants are trying to to sign sponsorship deals with the eight teams that are part of the Indian Premier league.Pepsi which is emphasizing on younger generation for its "Youngistaan" dropped Shahrukh Khan after having a decade long association with the superstar. But King Khan 's team Kolkata Knight Riders recently tied-up with Coca Cola -brand "Sprite" to be specific for next two years. Coca-Cola also edged out Pepsi by signing deal with Delhi Daredevils and Gautam Gambhir and is all set to renew the deal with King's Eleven Punjab. Most important thing is that Virender Sehwag and Ishant Sharma who had already signed deal with Pepsi are in Delhi Daredevils and KKR respectively. So again it seems Pepsi's loss being coke's gain. While Pepsi is already with Chennai super kings and planning to roll out co-branded cans for IPL edition. It also cancelled its on ground sponsorship with BCCI three months ago and IPL is owned by BCCI. Here also coke grabbed the opportunity,it has already signed the on-air sponsorship with SET (Sony Entertainment Television) MAX and in talk for ground sponsorship also.So let's see who is going to win the race

Rajasthan Royals a Big Brand to reckon

Rajasthan Royals became the first champions of IPL, arguably the most spectacular and commercially successful consumer product launched in recent times. It was the most low profile team of last years inaugural edition of IPL(No big names, Icon players and Bollywood brand ambassador). It is the only team that manages to earn profit from IPL,while other teams stumbled severely. In management term it is the only team that attained break even in his first year of operation. It yielded the highest return on investment,that is 3733% to its stakeholders(source:The Economic Times) that made it the hottest flavour of this season also.So many brands are now interested to tie-up with this team for this season. Consumer products maker GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India Ltd (GSK) is already associated its name with Rajasthan Royals,which product Boost was one of the sponsor last year.But this year it is coming up with something new to the market.GSK and Rajasthan Royals are now working on a co-branded drink,which is being exclusively formulated by Rajasthan Royals’ physiotherapist John Gloster for GSK to create a demand during the IPL second season.It may be a FAD and may be launched under Boost brand name.As we know many companies had previously tried to encash the popularity of cricket in a cricket frenzy country like Pepsico launched Blue Pepsi during World Cup 2003 and Pepsi Gold during World Cup 2007 .The products were withdrawn from the market after the World Cup.So GSK may adopt similar strategies to ride on the success of IPL and Rajasthan Royals.Recently bollywood star Shilpa Shetty also became the stake holder in the franchisee. Don't you think Rajasthan Royals is a big brand to reckon now?

DTH-the new meaning of entertainment in rural India

The dream has come true.The globe is now at the corner of the small village huts. Thanks to DTH(Direct to home).This has been triggered by the rapid penetration of DTH into rural India. If we look into few years back then rural audience were mostly restricted to DD1 or cable operator's service and had to bear the low service quality,monopolistic price and poor customer service. But the advent of DTH has changed the whole thing. DTH players like DD Direct,Dish TV( Zee Group),Tata Sky,Reliance Big TV,Air Tel Digital TV and D2H from Videocon are going at full pace to lure the customer in rural areas. According to survey the market in rural areas will reach 10 million subscribers by 2010 and the players are not leaving any stone unturned to grab the king's share. They are charging minimum price as monthly rental,customizing the channel package, offering movie on demand and various innovative offerings. So rural people are finding it more worthy than the cable operator's offering as service quality is good and no more technical glitches.So if you will visit to a village now-a-days then you will surely notice the increment in number of DTHs than before.DTH antennas are common now on the roof top of houses in most of the villages .The only concern is that most consumers do not have adequate knowledge of the benefits of DTH.So service providers have to use different media including television, print, and outdoor in rural areas of the country to educate consumers so that they can tap more customers using their service.Overall I feel it is a very lucrative field and it has changed the meaning of entertainment for rural people.

"Relationship Marketing" building customer loyalty

Marketing has made a paradigm shift from transactional approach to relationship marketing over the last decade.We are living in a globalized world,where competition has become an unavoidable element of business and customers have become scarce.So scholars have identified that the challenge of a firm is to attract and retain loyal customers.Relationship marketing is a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction,rather than a dominant focus on 'point of sale' transactions(Source:Wikipedia).There is a principle in marketing called "20-80 principle".It says that 20 percent of the customer usually generate 80 percent or more of the company's profit,that means they are the profitable customers who should be carefully treated so that re-purchase will be done by the customer.Relationship marketing aims at building and maintaining long-term relationship with customers .Customer relationship management is a potential weapon for every company now-a-days.Maintaining customer database,wishing them on their memorable days,intimating them about new products n services are the latest practices in the cluttered business environment.When a company do the relationship marketing it touches the emotional aspects of the customers and win the share of mind as well as heart also.So the customer feel so inclined to the particular product or company and turn up as repeat customer.In this way company attains two primary objective.First one to retain the customer and second one to build loyalty among the customer.

Mahindra Xylo-the great Indian travelling machine

After the success of Scorpio,Mahindra and Mahindra the market leader of utility vehicle in India successfully launched the new "XYLO" recently.The first true MUV code named Ingenio.Xylo has been priced very competitively as compared to the Chevrolet Tavera & Toyota Innova. Though the quality of Innova is still much better than the Xylo but Xylo's finish is the best in comparison to other Mahindra products - Scorpio & Bolero. Moreover, the Mahindra XYLO offers class-defining lavish space all around such that even a 6ft tall person can stretch in comfort on the 3rd row seat. The XYLO offers an extraordinary level of luxurious comfort at a very cost-effective price for prospective sedan buyers.

Xylo's unique features includes flat bed front seats, Digital drive assist system, Foldable flight trays, Surround cool dual ACs and Captain Seats which makes the vehicle a real steal.The Xylo is a competitor to the other MUV in the global market due to its high end technological advancement also.The XYLO is the 'Great Indian Traveling Machine' and will redefine the future of road travel in India," said Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and managing director, Mahindra Group.True because the product is very customer centric and priced properly,as Indian customer are bit price sensitive.So its promotional campaign saying that the era of sedan is justified to large extent.Let's see how it unravels on the road.

New destination for apparel exporters

For a long time China has been considered as production base for Indian apparel expert companies.But the scenario is changing very fast. China's on going tryst with labour reforms and shifting focus on value added products has created a different environment for the export industry. It allows countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh to become key players.Generally cost pressure compels the Indian companies to shift their production bases to other countries.One of the biggest advantage of these countries is the availability of cheap labour which accounts for nearly 50% of the costs for apparel exporters.Companies like House of Pearl, United Retail and Orient Craft is already operating in these countries.They all are having good price deal there which is encouraging other players to foray also.Vietnam and Indonesia saw exports go up to 4.82% and 3.95% in Nov 2008 from 3.94% and 3.73% in Nov 2007 respectively.Higher level of automation makes production faster and cheaper in these countries .Industry observers say that the cost of labour is nearly 30%-50% cheaper in these countries.Huge employment opportunity is generated in these low economies which is also a good indicator for global economy.During this tough economic condition apparel exporters are trying to sustain in the competitive market where profit margin in wafer-thin.NIKE adopted the same strategy long back to gain the competitive advantage over other rival companies and by minimizing cost of production, it gain market leadership.

The enthusiasm of the Greats

Greatness is a function of longevity and of the ability to take pressure.Players like SachinTendulkar,Rahul Dravid,Murlitharan and Ricky Ponting after playing cricket for such along time still show the same enthusiasm and gritt while playing.Though age and injury is taking toll on their body still their committment on field is simply outstanding.How do they do it? How many of us have worked in the same office for 20 years, and done the same things as an auto pilot? Another day in the bank, another month selling computers, another year thinking up advertising slogans and we are ready to scream. But at least the rest of us do it away from public gaze; our mistakes are discussed in a closed circle, we might just miss out on a salary increment or a bonus, and soon it will be forgotten. But these players have to deal with living their professional lives on the front pages of newspapers, their every move dissected and discussed on television.We praise them so much when they play well,but few poor performances lead us to throw mud at their houses,isn't it!But the bottom line is greats are always unfazed!

Stereotype is now changing

While our nation is riding on the spirit of united public activism, brands such as Idea are using collective governance as their master brushstroke. The latest ad for mobile phone firm Idea Cellular Ltd featuring a woman politician and Abhishek Bachchan—is the latest addition to plethora of ads with social awakening, politics or elections as the central theme. It’s a trend that experts say will only gain momentum as India heads into parliamentary elections due around April-May. Even a cup of coffee can empower these days. Reads the in-store promotion for coffee chain Café Coffee Day: “I wish everyone was bulletproof. This New Year make a wish and change our country. Just write it down and put it in the Cup of Good Hope…we will compile every wish…and send it to the leaders of our country. And pressurize them to do something about it”! Tata Tea Ltd’s latest Jaago Re (wake up) campaign urges people to vote and be more responsible. Not voting on election day is similar to being asleep,is the theme of the Ad. This is an evolution of the typical political Ads which i feel is making the politician red faced. Until now, most Ads featuring politicians used them for comic relief. That stereotype is now changing.

Indian Premier League facing Lay offs

Last year the Indian Premier League(IPL) emerged as one of the biggest brand in the entertainment world of INDIA.We Indians who consider cricket as a religion and cricketers as our GOD accepted the fast food cricket and it became a huge success in its first edition itself.IPL is the perfect execution of corporate and promotional strategies by BCCI.Corporate biggies owning the eight teams made it more successful as they used every possible business strategies starting from the positioning to adding glamour quotient.But I feel this year recession has started showing its effect on the second edition of IPL.The year 2007-08 show sackings of coaches,officials of all kinds who were not performing for their respective teams(Charu sharma from Bangalore Royal Challengers) to cite as one example.But this year promises to be a little different. This year, it won't just be coaches and officials getting the pink slips; even cricketers will get them. At least three franchisees of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have already taken the necessary steps to downsize their teams.The downsizing will fall on the neck of junior,less established playes. While Mumbai Indians plan to bring down their 27-member contingent to 18, teams like Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils are planning similar moves.

So what has triggered the move? Recession or changed strategies of owners.The franchise official reported that last year everything went on so fast,But this year onwards, expect most of the teams to work on a target-based principle. They know exactly what they're going to be eyeing for or in terms of cricket, what their team composition is going to be during the two-month time.Most of the team franchisees now have a better idea of a core group functioning. Similarly, the captain, coach and senior players have a good understanding of the kind of team required.But readers do not you think recession is forcing them to offer players pink slips.Hope the good time will come soon for them also.

Yeh hai youngistaan meri Jaan

What comes to your mind when you read or hear the line"Yeh hai Youngistaan meri jaan"?Definitely the punchline of PepsiCo India.Yes Pepsi is riding high on the "youngistaan"wave.I feel that the idea behind the campaign is to display the bindass attitude and fearless speaking mind of Indian youth.The Ad having SRK,Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone entails the smart thinking and attitude shift of youth in India.I found my six years old cousin also screaming the punchline.It really fascinates me how this Ad has made an impact on kids also.If we will observe keenly then we will find that not only Pepsi but also so many other companies are following the same suit.Be it indian cricket team,indian politics or indian corporate domain.Everybody is advocating about the young blood.Youth of India is aspiring,bulging with confidence and talent.They need high life and freedom at there reach.So concentrating on youth has became the top priority for every company and this made Mahendra Singh Dhoni the biggest endorser of recent time.Big Bazar's-Desh badla bhesh badlo campaign tries to convey the tranformational appeal to indian customers.So many company has signed Dhoni to endorse their brands or products.Television shows are also now more youth oriented "Mtv splitsvilla","Roadies","Teen diva" and "Wass up-The voice of youngistaan"are quite popular among the youth.All media channels and production houses are now coming with shows targeted at youth.

The buying behaviour of indian youth is not so affected by the current economic slowdown.Infact all major companies in apparel,food and entertainment sector are reporting that the revenue is still coming from the indian youth's wallet.So during this tough time they are more concentrating on the buying behaviour of younger generation,catering to their specific needs.I feel the ultimate aim of companies now to connect with the youth,building on the expression of "Yeh hai Youngistaan meri jaan"

Metamorphosis of advertisement

Advertisement is a mass communication tool to build brand preference and awareness among consumer.In a competitive world every company tries to educate people about the need and solution of the need,isn't it..So advertisement has gained a strong position in marketing strategy.Marketers employ both science and art to develop message strategy(what the Ad tries to say) and its creative strategy(how the Ad expresses the brand's claim).We indian viewers always prefer Ad which portrays emotions,social belongingness and finally humour.We all love fevicol Ads.Why? The answer is very simple ,it is funny.The brand has positioned itself in a unique way that when ever we think of adhesive -Fevicol comes into mind.We can term it as share of mind also.Many would point their trend pointing fingers at the use of humour in Indian advertisings as being something trendy.Many would talk of irreverent advertising that pokes fun at consumers and marketers alike.But i feel the trend is changing in context of Indian advertising scenario.

Previously we were used to see the single Ad for number of times between a movie or cricket match.Remember the Sehwag and his Mom's Ad of Reliance "Karlo duniya mutthi mein" and so many.How boring!Not anymore ,though look at the series of advertising creatives that telecom service providers are playing around in India today.Consider Airtel's R. Madhavan -Vidya Balan series of Ads.They convey the same message in a episode like manner.They simply change the background of discussion or place and pinch in their message.So everytime the viewer is able to see something new and fresh and the level of interest keep on building.Look at the Idea Telecom Ad series starring Abhisek Bachhan.Nice sets of creatives.Each one carrying the themes forward with a storyline( sometimes to bring equality among natives of a village and sometimes emphasizing on one school,unlimited admissions).Vodafone is a step ahead of them.It creates variety of themes to make people aware of its different service types like customer care,music,astrology and sports.

Very little boredom,a lot of creative -acting,fine tuned niceties that make you watch these advertisements again and again.Now I feel you will be able to catch the minute but impactful metamorphosis of Advertisemnt in Indian Ad industry.In my opinion it is a very naive trend.Expect a lots more to jump in.