THE SOCCER WORLD CUP: MASTI KI PATHSHALA

World Cup 2010 saw many cheers and tears. Shakira sang, Octo-Paul chose, Spain won, and the other teams taught us some valuable marketing lessons

Last year in South Korea, a parrot was pitted against 10 stock traders. Their performance was measured on returns earned over a period of six weeks. The parrot outperformed most of its rivals, earning a very decent 16% return. So did the parrot have lot of clairvoyance capabilities or was it being more astute than its competitors? Neither, if you ask us. The contest only highlighted the unpredictable nature of the stock market. Taking a cue, the uncannily accurate predictions of the Oracle Octo should be treated as nothing more than interesting coincidences. In any case, Paul the soothsayer has turned a recluse now and is unavailable for making forecasts.

30 days, 65 matches and 32 participating teams. One does not really need an eight-legged creature to draw lessons in management and marketing which were unfolding right in front of one. But if, like most viewers, you spent hours only lazing around drinking beer, watching the lithe body of Shakira singing Waka Waka, Messi figure-skating past defenders, or Diego Forlan producing a goal out of thin air, all this too being half asleep, then let us do the search for you, and give you the enduring takeaways that the teams and the tournament delivered for us. So here goes:

THE TROPHY GOES TO... SOUTH AFRICA: The real winner was Brand South Africa. The initial apprehensions over crime, racial skirmishes and terrorist onslaughts vanished soon. Not even one tourist had a cause for complaint. The infrastructure was excellent. Most impressively the matches were so well organised that there were no annoying queues at the stadia, despite elaborate security checks. Every single citizen seemed to have taken the job of hospitality upon himself. Little wonder then that whereas in a May 2010 poll 56 % had pronounced South Africa ‘unsafe’, towards the end of the World Cup more than half of total respondents declared the host nation to be quite safe. Marketing lesson: If you have a sense of ownership, your brand gains dizzying heights! Hoping against hopes, we wish we could say the same thing about Brand India after the Commonwealth games are concluded in October, 2010.

CHINA: It is not for nothing that China is proclaimed to be a ‘merchant to the world’. The country had a tangible presence in the World Cup 2010. It usurped the contract for making the Jubilanis from traditional football makers in Pakistan’s Sialkot. Vuvuzelas, stuffed Zakumi mascots, wigs, condoms, seats for the stadia – Chinese rolled out all of them and more. Up to 90 % of those honking plastic trumpets sold in South Africa during the World Cup were supplied by China. And mind you, the demand is not merely confined to the African nation or only for the period of the tournament. Marketing lesson: Grab an opportunity when it presents itself. India in contrast became happy supplying only football bladders!

AMBUSH MARKETERS: An analysis of online blogs, message boards, and social networking sites by the Nielson company found that Nike was more frequently linked to the World Cup than any official sponsor, including Adidas. Carlsberg beer attracted four times as many mentions in English messages relating to the tournament than official sponsors Budweiser. Back home many would be able to recollect clarion call of Pepsi – “nothing official about it” – when the company had lost the World Cup in cricket sponsorship rights to Coke. Marketing lesson: Savvy marketing saves millions in sponsorship investment.

PACE IS THE NEW ‘P’: Shakira’s anthem-song, translated in English, means: “Do it – get the task done”. Inertia is the enemy of initiative. Colgate kept on procrastinating about standing up to the challenge being offered by Close Up in the gel-based toothpaste market; lost the battle forever. Bajaj delayed upgrading styling and technology of its scooters and became extinct. When it comes to marketing, pace is another P in the arsenal of the marketer. Marketing lesson: The brand which seizes the moment, wins the moment.

HYPE DOES NOT NECESSARILY GENERATE A BETTER PERFORMANCE: Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaka and Messi were supposed to be the stars. Alas, the quartet barely scored enough goals to match even the individual number of goals scored by less famous players like Forlan or Mueller. Edsel from Ford partly failed to move because of the hype created about an unseen, unproven product. A low profile Rock On actually rocked among the movie goers but the Salman starrer much publicised Veer failed to win over the audience. Marketing lesson: Clever publicity can generate a lot of hype – but winners are the ones which exceed the expectations of the buyers.

MARADONAS OF THE WORLD: Argentina faced a humiliating defeat. They concentrated on stellar individual performances but failed to play as a team. They got dismissed 0-4 by Germany. And yet World Cup 2010 will be remembered for Maradona’s charisma, antics, and fiery press conferences. There were more banners and posters of him than of any other player in the matches Argentina played. Even after his team’s disastrous exit, he continued to hog the limelight. The player and the Argentinian govt. are unlikely to let him go. Marketing lesson: Temporary blips fail to make a dent in the fortune of an enduring brand.

SPAIN, THE WINNERS: Keep believing and you will get there in the end. Spain had never been past the quarter-finals ever before. But this time they offered lessons in perseverance. Marketing lesson: Hang on there; don’t give up the faith; you are likely to make it in the end. That’s the reason a Kellog succeeds in India or Tanishq leads in the jewellery market.

GERMANY: Germans were described as dour, even if efficient and methodical; as Italians with worse haircuts. But not this time. They played attacking football, made impregnable defence against Argentina. Most importantly they played as a team, and played to win. Only the ruthlessness of the Spanish defence (and not the clairvoyance of Paul,silly!) snuffed them out. They offered two marketing lessons. Marketing lesson #1: Give yourself a style makeover and the world will love you. That’s why Enid Blyton stories are being rewritten as are mythologies in India being recreated to appeal to the newer target segments. Marketing lesson #2: The brand leadership lies in the ability to turn an organisation of disparate experts into a living, working team. That’s how while Bharti Telecom (Airtel) was scaling new heights , Idea was groping to find, well, a winning Idea.

GHANA: Ghana’s exit brought many to a grief. Perhaps because they fought well and were so near to becoming the first African nation to enter World Cup semis. So remember: Everybody likes a fighter who plays by the rules of the game, even if he loses.

ITALY: Defending champions and four times World Cup winners gave their worst ever performance, not being able to manage a single victory. Remember, a fine pedigree provides no clue as to how you are likely to perform in future. A constant renewal and rediscovery is what is needed. When was the last time you heard someone use a Promise toothpaste?

FRANCE: 1998 Champions and 2006 finalists put up an equally dismal show. The players did not cover themselves with glory. What with Frank Ribery being caught in a tangle with a prostitute and Nicholas Anelka getting the marching orders for abusing the coach. To top it all the players went on a strike! We could put of course more teams under the scanner – the Dutch, South Koreans, North Koreans, and of course the English team – but we would wait for another occasion.

We sign off quoting an example of Indian ingenuity (detractors would, sure, call it illegal imitation): Shakira’s Waka Waka has become Lakka Lakka in Kerala – the desi version of the song sung by Malayali singer Liji Francis; the video is almost an exact replica of Shakira’s video in terms of music, imagery, and choreography. We leave it to you to draw your own marketing lessons from this.
 

THE SOCCER WORLD CUP: MASTI KI PATHSHALA

HOW TO SELL SHOE CARTONS AS STARDUST?

As a brand owner you need to knock at the gateway to the user’s mind. But the main task is to locate these gateways

Have you noticed that six months ago MTV dropped the words ‘music’ and ‘television’ from its logo? MTV is no more about English music or even music or dating shows. It has customised its programming strategy to include show genres like relationships, careers, campus fests, reality shows, dating, and even films of one hour duration. Over the past couple of years MTV has brought several non-music programs like Roadies, Splitsvilla, and Stuntmania to offer shows which developed cult following. And why not, nearly 88% of the youth have at least one favourite channel, which they tune into regularly. So the idea behind transformation: To compete in the space that youth identifies with while viewing TV as the entertainment category. The broader question of course is: How do you actually market a specific brand when it is surrounded by near identical offerings from rivals? The total number of ads on TV, print, and radio together everyday exceeded 65,000 last year. An average consumer is bombarded by an estimated 3,000 advertising messages from all the media, not counting Internet. So how does our brand win? Well, the simple proposition is that a successful brand belongs to the consumer, not the marketer. Go ahead and create a sense of belongingness. Customise and personalise the offering to the extent possible. So earn the love, intimacy, and respect for your brand. Then translate them into loyalty. Question is, how? As the brand owner you need to knock at the gateway to the user’s mind. So, the main task is to locate these gateways. This is what this article seeks to do for you.

GATEWAY-1: VALUE CREATION AND COMMUNICATION

When Onida decided to enter the TV industry, it had two problems at hand. It was actually a watch making company with little known brand equity. Second, its promotional budget was very limited. But the product did have certain distinct advantages. It was a vertical set with controls at the bottom. All the other sets had the horizontal look, with the controls along the sides of the screen. Besides looking different the set performed better in terms of picture quality, sharpness, etc. The initial message: “The boss is not late. It is the others who arrived in a hurry.” The company consciously decided against a feature based campaign, since most leading competitors were inundating the public with these kind of messages. Instead, the company decided to use envy as an emotional platform, personified by the green devil: ‘Neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride’ is one of the classic campaign which very successfully highlighted the points of differentiation. The dare devilry immortalised an unknown brand.

Principle-1: In a seemingly commoditised category make a last ditch attempt to locate some points of difference. Present it dramatically before the target audience. Keep your communication refreshed over time.

GATEWAY-2: MIGRATE TO A MORE RELEVANT CATEGORY

After Coca Cola left India, Thums Up replaced it successfully. There were many consumers who relished the image of a fizzy aerated water in a crowned bottle, which could be popped to yield a profusion of foam. Yet, there was a significant section, which wanted the most preferred taste with similar imagery, yet considered a fizzy drink to be unhealthy. Came in Frooti, which offered mango as a drink, not a juice – an entirely new product concept. The advertising task was to sell the idea to the young generation that no fizz did not mean staid or flat; rather, it connotes fun. The punch line used – ‘a real fruit drink in a freaked out pack.’ The ad moved away from the niceties of Queen’s English and utilised language straight from teenager parlance. It won instant favour with the TG.

Principle-2: Catapult your brand into a different or even ‘unrelated’ category where your brand can belong legitimately.

GATEWAY-3: APPEAL TO NORMS AND VALUES OF THE TARGET SEGMENT

Jaago Re campaign of Tata Tea was started in 2007. It continues successfully to appeal to the norms and value system of the target audience. It attempts to project tea from merely being a physical and emotional revitaliser to become a catalyst for social awareness. While normal tea is just about waking up, Tata Tea campaign aims at creating an awakening exhorting Indians to act against their own apathy and mediocrity towards social issues.

Principle-3: Appeal to the consumer’s sense of duty, morals, pride, etc.

GATEWAY-4: CULTURAL ICONS

Very few things have the power to evoke in us the sense of being one nation. Pakistan as an adversary, a cricket victory, or may be a disaster like Gujarat earthquake. And of course Hamara Bajaj. No ad, essentially trying to defend a product, has ever managed to evoke in its viewers the intense, incredibly sweet feeling of being Indian. Towards end 1989 Vespa and Honda technologies had arrived in Indian Scooters market. Bajaj needed to upgrade too. The competitors were trying to (de)market Bajaj as behind times and fuddyduddy. It was decided to broaden the Bajaj positioning beyond the mere transportation onto larger canvas of Indian way of living. To convert the idea into a commercial where typically Indian situations were shown where Bajaj Scooter was being used in some way or the other that every Indian could identify with: Parsis who were so fastidious in cleaning their scooters or a Punjabi family en masse riding on its scooter. The shooting was not around the product, because of the product primarily, but around the emotions and moments shared with the product, around the product, because of the product. The lyrics translated in English read: This earth, this sky, our legacy, our past... This glorious tapestry of our glorious India – Humara Bajaj. The immensely successful commercial looked at the product in a macro cultural perspective and gave it a status beyond its usage, beyond its competition, built on the deepest sentiments of a diverse nation.

Principle-4: Position your brand as a cultural asset that plays an important role beyond mere functionality.

GATEWAY-5: MOUTH PIECE FOR SELF EXPRESSION

During the 90s Bata Power shoes ad campaign was created to gain new converts & reassure the faithfuls. ‘You are tired of being just a roll number. Another pair of blue jeans in the crowd. There is more to life than coffee & cigarettes... And spouting Marxian thoughts aloud. There is majesty to be found in the mountains. All it takes is some gasoline. And the power to have a dream.’ The Power shoes were expected to be a tool for self expression.

Interestingly, there is a new hypothesis being propagated nowadays: Men now are more concerned about their physical appearance because more and more women are becoming independent, financially as also in term of deciding whether to bear a child or not. So men have developed a sense of threatened masculinity. Since men have had to relinquish their traditional roles as breadwinners, fathers, etc, it leaves them with only their own body to demonstrate their masculinity. Wonder if there are hidden lessons in this for the brand owners!

Principle-5: Power up your brand with a provocative ideology that your consumer wishes to subscribe.

GATEWAY-6: CREATION OF LOVELOCKS

VST realised that while demographically cigarette smokers were becoming younger, psychographically their lifestyle had changed. But brand personality of most brands in the cigarette market was similar to the macho he man or the successful executive / businessman. VST decided to offer a new brand Charms, which aimed to create for itself a new brand image, but which would match with the self image of the TG – the college & new graduate group. This group gave importance to intellectual and emotional liberty, freedom of all senses. So the ad said: ‘Charms is the spirit of freedom. Charms is the way you are.’ Note, first, the articulation of the need of the TG – the spirit of freedom. And then the insistence on identification – ‘Charms is the way you are.’ Within two years, the brand had 13% share of the cigarette market.

Principle-6: Solidarity principle: Position your brand as an ally on one important emotional issue that others have ignored, denied, or not understood.
 

HOW TO SELL SHOE CARTONS AS STARDUST?

WHAT’S THE TROUBLE WITH KOTLER?

There is no one single “humdrum” marketing or advertising strategy that will get you across to the “typical Indian customer”. The ball game is different in Bharat!

T ractors with green colours are not liked in China. Why? Well, let that be an unresolved mystery. Let’s concentrate on another puzzle. The third largest American tractor company realised in India that rolling out a flashy new design with a rounded hood is inviting disaster for oneself? Because in India tractors run for almost 12-16 hours a day, though they spend only half the time doing the actual farmwork. Away from the fields they are pressed into service as passenger vehicles. So a square hood, instead of a round one, is a very good feature to have because it can accommodate more people.

Welcome to the Indian marketplace and its peculiarities.

IS THERE A MARKETINGUESE?

Notwithstanding the weight of mighty ones like Theodore Levitt and Thomas Friedman who pitched for oneness of the world, the fact is that there is no universally applicable marketing strategy. So you need to tweak your learnings from Kotler to adapt them to specific (in our case Indian) realities. India for example, is both young and old. Snail mails and social media co-exist here. We are modern but retain our old cultural values; both the forces operate and interact to influence consumer behaviour. Valentine’s Day and Wedding muhurat, both are prefixed. Since Indians are relationship oriented, coffee cafes are likely to work as meeting place. Yet, culturally rooted food habits will ensure that bacon ice cream (coffee ice cream with cinnamon and bacon fat) or mango and lemon grass kulfi with tandoori fruits in it will remain items for the niche market for a long period of time to come...

India actually is a sum of many parts. You need to study the market well. Ford came to India with Escort, its sedan; it did no good to the company. Mondeo provided no succour either, nor did Endeavour help to the extent expected. The Ikon designed for India created a buzz though. But the neglect of the most significant car market segment proved dear. So Ford Figo has had an India focus. Out of the 84 prototype mules that were built for it, 64 were manufactured in India. The development process involved over 8,000 individual tests, 20 crash tests, and 7 lakh km of driving on 134 pre-production models that were made.

In one of the ads in the latest four parts campaign for Volkswagen Polo, a man driving a Polo car puts a large egg in front of the car and then runs his car over it. He finds an angry mother ostrich storming towards him. The voice over says: “The Volkswagen Polo. Our engineers have tested the ground clearance. So you don’t need to.” The series is actually trying to highlight that the company understands typical needs of Indian buyer and the car has been built for the Indian conditions.

 
Lesson 1: Each market is unique. Study it well before attempting to serve it.

DIVIDE AND RULE

In the Indian metros, a typical youngster buys about five pairs of jeans annually for very practical reasons: Versatility of the garment. It is perfect for college, partying, and now even for a formal occasion. Yet, the ratio between ethnic wear to Western wear hovers around 50:50 for women. Even those who prefer Western attire have nearly 20-30% of their wardrobe consisting of Indian wear. To add to the complexity further, fusion wear is gaining increasing acceptance: Kurti with jeans, clinging tees with ethnic print skirts or tunics with churidar style leggings.

India is tuned to today but tagged to the old. Many Indian dream merchants have developed a thing for phoren maal, be it in the form of a Hollywood celeb appearance, fair-skinned dancers, or international trainers. Look at the Indian Bollywood industry for that matter. 27 out of the 40 recent titles had English (or Hinglish) names. These filmmakers feel English titles help draw the multiplex audiences, since such names give the movie an international feel. And since a lot of money comes from international audience, even films with Hindi titles have English taglines. This affects foreign film buffs on one side, while it keeps the name desi enough for small time cinegoers. 64% of the 600 plus prints of Avatar were dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Hindi version incidentally earned the highest – 40% – revenue share followed by English at 36%. Café Coffee Day (CCD) has nearly 1000 outlets which are classified under high street, highways, shop in shop, transportation hubs, corporates, hospitals and educational institutions.

Lesson 2: Indian market is highly segmented. Be clear which segment(s) you wish to target.

Ranbir Kapoor works in Ajab Prem... but fails in Rocket Singh. The segment targeted still wants its quota of songs, dances, comic tracks, over the top lines, and of course, a heroine!

CHOCOLATE MUTTON CURRY, ANY ONE?

Shallow ideas (and products based on them) fail to enthuse the customers. Indian audience rooted for the blood-pumping exercise of Wanted, but Chandni Chowk to China proved to be a little too cheesy. For them rom-com stands for Ajab Prem... and not Kambakht Ishq. In the past Sangam of Raj Kapoor did well with a total run of nearly 4 hours and 2 intervals, but today Kites was tweaked to a length of 90 minutes for foreign viewers (and 2 hours in India) And yet it failed to fly since 90% dialogues are in English and Spanish. Archie Comics batting for family values now has Kevin Keller, a gay character. When road network started spreading countrywide, Tata Motors sensed business opportunity in providing the last mile transportation and offered Tata Ace – a miniature version of an HCV.

Current crop of customers believe that it has very little time and a lot to do. So being impatient is OK. And the product and services too must be tailored to this profile. T20 instead of a five dayer, 5 seconders instead of 30 second commercial, speed dating against steady romances et al, cater to this mindset. Besides, when consumers have shorter lifecycles of interest and shorter patience platforms, brand loyalty gives way to brand promiscuity. So the marketer needs to develop multiple brands with different positioning. Amway sells (only in India) products in various pack sizes because consumers expect a wide range of choices. It is only in India that Amway sells low-end products as compared to highly concentrated and premium products sold elsewhere. Corporate hospitals in India are tweaking up services, working longer, and rushing medicare to the sick at a telephone call. They are opening neighbourhood clinics. Archie Comics is being launched in Hindi and Malyalam. Indian mythological characters are being modernised. In Amar Chitra Katha (Stage-1) there were divine monkey calendar images flying away with an entire mountain. Ramanand Sagar made Dara Singh Hanuman (Stage-2) with plastered lips, misty eyes, and with constant chant of Prabhu. In the 21st century (Stage-3), now Hanuman returns to bless the earth as a cherubic mischief monger dodging bullets like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. The avataar has been contemporised to suit the sensibilities of the target audience.

Lesson-3: Once you know your targeted customer group, fabricate a product, or modify the existing one, to suit his needs, whims and fancies.

Laurel & Hardy will find audience, so will perhaps Soori-Poori (a new animation series with Indian caricatures).

India has 5 metros, 5 mini-metros, 33 tier-1 towns, 28 tier-2 towns, 152 tier-3 towns, 201 tier-4 towns, nearly 4600 peri-urban markets (population between 5000-99,999) and 6 lakh villages. There are nearly 10 lakh millionaire households in India in peri-urban locations, and 13 lakh in the country’s villages. India is a huge market needing all kind of products. Only word of caution: You will invite failure if you try to sell silicon supports to Pam Anderson (of Baywatch and VIP fame) or slimming shots to Shilpa Shetty!

NUDE KATE MOSS AT $43,000

We are talking about bromide prints of the model, silly! But then marketing is all about delivery of right value at right price.

BMW and Mercedes have realised that by cutting down on some features and shaving a few lakh rupees off the price tag, they have been able to attract buyers who may otherwise have opted for the top of the range models from mass market manufacturers. The models priced at around Rs.25 lakh have opened up the luxury car market for buyers who would have earlier thought of them being way beyond their precious budgets.

The other India is game for a basic cellphone, a portable refrigerator the size of a small cooler and many other products which are result of frugal engineering. But mind you frugal engineering is nor merely low cost production; the focus rather is on avoiding unnecessary costs and adding more value. In case of Tata Nano for example, the space that otherwise would have been occupied by a ratio is given as storage space since a typical buyer prefers latter to the former. In the process of course, cost was cut too. Nokia provides monochrome screen not merely to make the phone affordable but also to save power, since most such users don’t enjoy the luxury of power supply when needed; polychromatic phones use sophisticated software which uses lot of power. Nokia 1100 provided non-slip silicon coating on the keypad and sides to avoid problems due to intense humidity. McDonald’s prices of course, are well known for making the brand successful in India.

Lesson-4: Indian consumer is value seeker. Only that the connotation of value varies from one segment to another.

WHY DOES DEVDAS BECOME DEV-D?

As marketer you need to talk to the target audience in the language and idiom he identifies with. Maruti sells nearly 18% of its cars in non-urban areas. Initially the efforts to take these villagers to the dealers in big towns did not lead to much success because the potential buyers found it intimidating in plush showrooms. So, the company rooted for local talent and appointed them as sales executives in taluk headquarters.If you wish to wear the sexy biege saree look alike that Priyanka Chopra wore in Dostana then online sites enable you to browse and get the look copied.

Diesel, Timberland, or Hard Rock Café hire from amongst NIFT graduates, DJs, fashion models, yoga instructors, or Shiamak Davar trainees; in brief, youngsters who are interested in rock music, fashion, adventure sports, etc. and ‘belong’ to the target customer group itself. Advertisements and brand projection of cola drinks have a key bearing on the final choice. Youth should be able to find themselves in the communications exercise in order to build a suitable connect. M&M, Nike, DOCOMO, Quaker Oats and many more are using the net to talk to the tweeting generation. Slumdog Millionaire was promoted 90% on social media. Brands are creating communities and creating contents specifically for promotion.

Lesson -5: Communicate to compete in the language and media dictated by your target audience.

That is why Dev-D and Devdas. So in less than 140 characters (as permitted on the Twitter), what is the success mantra: Identify and isolate your target audience and stitch your marketing strategy as per his dictates. Else, you will join the Hall of fame with the makers of Goal, De Dhana Dhan, Dil Bole Hadippa, Jannat and their ilk. And review your lessons of Marketing 101.

WHAT’S THE TROUBLE WITH KOTLER?

NUPTIALS, LIVE-INS, FLINGS AND RAPACIOUS CUSTOMERS

Satisfaction suffices, delight dazzles, but an enthralled customer acts like a brand advocate. Thus, a marketer’s aim should be to have customers who are both satisfied and enthusiastic towards his brand. And how? By building relationships!

A well known brand of writing instruments received a package at its corporate office. The infuriated buyer had used all the invectives he presumably knew to lambaste the brand and had returned the non-functioning pen. He received a package in turn by return mail containing a new pen. Plus a letter which politely reminded him that the pen that he had sent to the said company actually was from another brand! Nonetheless, for the effort he had expended this company was sending him its complements. This is relationship building at its best.

Yours truly bought an expensive pair of leather shoes of an internationally reputed brand. Upon discovering manufacturing deficiencies a replacement was sought. The company flatly refused. The buyer has vowed never to buy again from the same manufacturer as also to influence others to do likewise. Incidentally, while one in two of the existing customer is likely to repeat purchase a brand, only 1 out of 16 prospective customers is likely to do so. On average a company loses 15% of its customers every year; in three years it would have lost nearly 50% of them. Retention marketing is surely worth the efforts. Strive to hold on to your customers.

Bordello need not be the only place where customer comes first!

An enthralled customer acts like a brand advocate. A brand has to overconform to customer expectations first time, every time. Marketing is no longer transaction oriented where one time sale signals is an end to the interface between the brand and its customer. Relationship entails a logical affiliation, a mutually beneficial association. Relationship marketing is based on 4 R’s of marketing: recruitment (of customers), reaping (the pay off), retaining, and regaining (in case of attrition) of valued customers. And why not? A Michigan University study found that higher the loyalty, greater were the returns on the company assets. Another study calculated that at 40% customer retention rate the customers will spend about $9 million extra on the marketer’s offering, while at 90% retention rate the additional earnings would be $24 million.

Closer home, HTA (now JWT) estimated that lifetime value (LTV) of a cigarette smoker was Rs.1.10 lakh over a 10 year period, i.e., roughly 7,000 times the value of a single pack of a cigarette. LTV of all consumer products and services over 25 years period for a typical household amounts to Rs.14 crore (at 1995-96 prices). Include the household’s role of it being an influencer and the value goes up to Rs.25 crore. A typical 10 trucks fleet owner in India buys tyres worth nearly Rs.1.68 crore for his fleet. Due to a successful CRM Program Apollo Tyres extended a privilege card scheme to 42,000 of them out of an estimated 1,50,000 trucks owners. We could multiply the examples.

The aim should be to have customers who are both satisfied and enthusiastic towards the marketer’s brand. A customer who is high on satisfaction and high on enthusiasm is a star customer whereas someone who is low on both these counts is a potential defector.

Similarly, a customer who is low on loyalty and low on satisfaction acts like a terrorist, dissatisfied and highly critical of the brand; he is constantly spreading negative word of mouth. Even a highly satisfied but low on loyalty customer acts like a mercenary, satisfied but does not find the brand uniquely beneficial, he is constantly looking around for a better deal.

Is it chuk de or cheque de?

Relationship building is of course neither easy nor straight forward. Surely a scheme to add extra miles on the loyalty card of frequent flyer would definitely be an insensitive compensation for the horrifying experience of the airplane door throwing open mid-air (no exaggeration; it had actually happened in India)! Indeed the buyer seller relationship evolves through four successive stages. In stage 1 there exist a predetermined group of buyers who will certainly buy. Individual differences don’t matter. Products are created without much feedback from the customers. Communication is one way only. Monopoly suppliers like electricity distribution companies are typical example. In stage 2 the customer becomes an individual statistic, but without much of a unique identity. Database on him exits. Customer is spoken to, feedback obtained, and change is incorporated towards redesigning the product. Auto companies follow this approach. In stage 3 a customer is identified as a unique individual with specific wants. The products are reconfigured based on deep understanding of his needs. Communication is one to one. Custom building of car bodies by Dilip Chhabaria perhaps conforms to this model. Finally in stage 4, the customer is treated as co-creator, a partner. Marketer holds an active dialogue with him. Most fashion designers fabricating for film stars would aptly illustrate this category.

Bonding between customers & brands that they use could be positive, when the relationship is assessed to be fruitful & voluntarily maintained, or neutral, when it is fruitful but involuntary, and negative, when the relationship is sought to be avoided by the customer.

So, whether the customer would spurn a brand, will be a hostage to it, or will cherish the bonding will depend on the type of relationship he maintains with it. Bajaj Scooters started performing poorly, even though Honda subsequently launched successful models in the same category. Nearly 58% of Maruti buyers repeat their purchase from Maruti family. More than 80% of new vehicle owners are satisfied with originally fitted tyres; not only they would like to repurchase the same brand, they are highly likely to recommend the same brand to others, says JD Power 2010 India Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction Study. In the premium chocolate segment, brands like Lindt, Hershey’s, Patchi, et al, have strong brand loyalty. On the other hand, majority cellphone service users are dissatisfied with their service provider; in one phase 31% were terrorists, 25% were mercenaries, and 11% were in the hostages’ category. Put it the other way, 67% market was open to being lured by the rivals.

Slime in the Lotus Pond

Remember, however, that neither all loyal customers are worth retaining nor for that matter all disloyal/less loyal customers should be allowed to migrate. We need to juxtapose loyalty factor on to the LTV of the customer. Thus, we may have a failed ferrous (low loyalty, low LTV) who is a good riddance, or a spent silver (high loyalty, but low LTV) who should be induced to part company, gilded gold (low loyalty but high LTV) who needs to be cultivated, or precious platinum (high loyalty and high LTV) in whose case the brand must travel the extra mile to retain him.

The crunch however lies in implementing the CRM program. The customer is no help at all. A recent KPMG survey reports that while customers expect the sellers to have a detailed understanding of the former, they are unwilling to provide companies with personal information. 79% want marketers to remember their preferences but only 39% would allow them to collate data on them as individuals. 54% of potentials customers feel unhappy about being contacted by new suppliers. Why, nearly 33% would be irritated if informed about new or other products even by their existing suppliers.

CRM is a commitment to a fundamental philosophy which in turn needs to be converted into integrated systems supported by proven technologies. Apollo Tyers put together the Apollo membership centre through which the company tracks its sales and even finds out when the brand switch happens. For instance, if an average truck requires at least eight tyres a year and an AMC member does not return to buy new tyres, there is a possibility of brand switch. Apollo Tyres immediately contacts the customer to reason why.

Khushwant Singh once said that monogamy is an institution forced upon human beings through social sanctions. It does not come to them naturally. Most of us are infidel by natural instinct. The job of a marketer is to curb this instinct. This is what retention marketing is all about. Period.

NUPTIALS, LIVE-INS, FLINGS AND RAPACIOUS CUSTOMERS

ORGASMIC DELIGHT: WHO GETS TO HIT THE G-SPOT

Bollywood films no longer need to clearly demarcate the line between the white & the black. They have started showing grey shades and are succeeding

Rocket Singh, the movie, had everything going for it. Ranbir Kapoor, Bollywood’s new white hope, good direction, excellent script, and enough of preaching. Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani (Ranbir again) was more basic, more outlined, an old style all purpose Bollywood flick with a liberal dose of romance, songs and dance. The girl beautifully compliments the boy: he is the mover, she is the shaker. New Bollywood in old Nautanki style. No radical departure. Rocket Singh fails sans songs, heroine, over the top lines, or a comic strip built in; Ajab Prem succeeds because there is a very significant segment that still roots for the blood pumping exercise of ‘wanted’ or syrupy romance of Jodha Akbar. Kambakht Ishq gets a Golden Kela (Indian version of Hollywood’s Razzies, which are given to disaster makers who disappoint their viewers) for being the worst film of 2009. Dil Bole Hadippa, a carbon copy of Hollywood’s She is the Man gets the boot, it being a very bad photocopy of the original. The audience can see through Kurbaan because it wants to tell the movie makers unequivocally: don’t spend big money on shallow ideas. Putting lipstick on a pig does not work.

Luck By Chance?

Before 2009 arrived our filmmakers lived in a make believe world assuming that with the right kind of hype they could fool all the people all the time. In 2009, over 1,000 movies were released, 95% of which failed the box office test. The industry at Rs.8,900 crore is expected to grow at 9% per annum (CAGR) and touch a figure of Rs.13,700 crore by 2014. According to a Reuters poll, 40% of those surveyed worldwide, go to the cinema often to suspend reality. The figure for India, at 61%, is even higher. So risk and reward both happen to be high. SRK offers a prescription thus for Bollywood’s woes: Learn the screenplay writing technique, visual effects know how, and the discipline and organisation in conducting film business from Hollywood. And this is the clincher, Indian film industry should not abandon its own unique drama – musical format. He adds further that there has to be a substantial investment in research as part of developing a story and converting it into a cinematic experience. Even multiplexers choose a Hindi movie by a clear majority (61%) over Hollywood ventures. 51% audience would prefer watching regional films with subtitles as opposed to world cinema. So while the audience does like the films that break away from the routine fare, it still prefers to watch formula entertainers in swanky multiplexes.

How do you then increase your probability of giving a hit? Embrace marketing.

A word of caution, however: Marketing is not mere promotion; promotion is one small component of overall marketing strategy. Thus there was this Tamil movie Chithiram Pesuthadi made on a modest budget of Rs.1.25 crore with debut stars. It bombed badly on the box office. Was relaunched with Rs.1 crore spent on promotion (mainly on the basis of a song) and it became a huge success. Telugu film industry, the second largest in India, makes sure that glamour overrides substance. While during the 1980s, Sridevi, Jaya Prada, and Jayasudha ruled with well defined meaty roles, post 2000, the success formula is: bare is here. Shriya, Ileana, and others have made vamps superfluous, since even a Mumaith Khan would fail to match them curve for curve for creating the desired sizzle on the screen. Tamil moviedom has travelled a long distance from the likes of Suhasini, Radhika, or Saritha to Namithas of the new decade who don’t mind playing the bimbo. Women are merely used as props in these movies since commercial considerations and one hundred percent hero centric scripts demand that.

But consumer oriented marketing is invoked when, say, we realise that during the past decade, and especially since 9/11, Hollywood has consciously tilted towards churning out fantasy films. Americans perhaps wish to wipe out their bad memories of terrorist attacks, wars, and economic calamity. So spaceships and hobbits are preferred to personal turmoil or the Middle East. Who, afterall, wants to go to the cinema hall to confront unsightly situations? Sorcerers, vampires, robots and aliens are more comforting. During 2010 movies like Day Breakers and Legion have continued with the fantasy genre. Since September 11, 2001, there have been only three reality-based dramatic hits in America!

Life is not so easy for a moviemaker here in India. On one hand, IPL is a formidable foe. So much so that during the current IPL season (March 12 – April 25), no major releases are planned, since the past two seasons have shown that IPL takes away the movie viewership. Besides, multiplexes themselves are screening these matches coupled with live bands, celebrity visits, and cheerleaders on stadia. On the other hand, most movie makers equate marketing with the oldest profession in the world, akin to a prostitute soliciting customers. They have a product-centric approach to exhibiting their movies.

There are nearly 12,000 screens in India. Out of these, nearly 900 are part of the multiplex chain. Yet, multiplexes bring in nearly 55-60% of a film’s revenue. Naturally, because multiplex tickets are priced between Rs.120-150, against the all-India average of Rs.30-50. However, this has created a warped thinking. Many filmmakers erroneously believe that only the multiplex audience is capable of enjoying and paying for a new genre. So, there is hardly anything interesting being made for the general audience. The fact is that Indian market is vast, unique and heterogeneous. Bollywood refuses to accept that a market in middle or lower India also exists. The result: Regional cinema from Marathi, Bengali, or Bhojpuri producers has started eating into Hindi film industry share.

The industry is at an inflexion point; it needs to undergo a correction. Quality content, market analysis, segmentation, and good marketing alone can help. 70% of the revenue comes in first week. So research orientation, cost management, innovative and customer oriented thinking reflecting audience preferences will together do the trick. AB Corp stuck to its targeted budget of Rs.15 crore for Paa. Star salaries, large sums of money on superficialities, et al, are being scrutinised. The industry is learning the importance of economies of scale.

Success Formula: Are we trying to fry a Snowball?

Movie making, like we said earlier, is a high risk high reward business. Still it is possible to reduce the risk element. While there are some constants, many variables accompany them. Let’s see which ones...

Take love and romance for example. Social conditioning and hormones both make women more emotional. All women wait for their Prince Charming, whether it is the hooker with a heart (Vivian in Pretty Woman), or an underdog (Cindrella). In the movies of yore, the love angle would have a class or social context. Now falling in love involves people who are debating about choices available (Aditya and Geet of Jab We Met, Dev D and Devdas) show the contrast between being dictated by individual freedom and social choices, a transition that slowly but surely is taking place in the Indian society. It appeals to the Indian youth. Romance today is less exalted; it is less about the idea of love, more about the individual experience, with a dose of sex may be! Paro of Dev D, now has the temerity to reject Devdas. Even taboo love (recall Pinjar, Jodha Akbar, Cheeni Kum, Nishabd, Girl Friend) between socially incompatibles on account of age, religion, gender et al, is no more an untouchable subject. So, love and romance remain eternal; only their mode of expression changes. The idea of romance of course may change with age too. So the fantasy moves to the context of marriage in India; now Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi would resonate more with the audience. Desperate Housewives are still hopelessly in love, notwithstanding the dose of sex.

Take another example. The native Indians take on the Britishers (Lagaan) and beat the imperialists at their own game. In India it could not have been any other game perhaps, since cricket has the greatest chance of succeeding at the box office. Originally, Iqbal was to be based on Malakhamb, but later, Nagesh decided to use cricket. Lagaan succeeded, because it evoked a feeling of patriotism; Chak De was about a man who had to redeem his honour against all odds. Important lesson is that the films were not about sports but about real people. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, Dil Bole Hadippa, Jannat, and Chain Khuli Ki Main Khuli failed this test and did not pass at the box-office either. Solid script (read emotional hook) and perfect execution both are important as far as the Indian audience is concerned. So the movie must have a body and a soul.

Bollywood women are becoming more independent, assertive, and comfortable about sex and sexuality. Meghna (Priyanka Chopra in Fashion) finds Chandigarh small for her dreams and survives in the big bad Mumbai. Sona Misra (Konkona in Luck by Chance) wants and gets success ethically. Contrarily Paro (Mahi Gill in Dev D) does not hide her wantonness, posting self nude e-mails to her lover, and is equally comfortable sleeping with other men without being in love with them. Krishna Verma (Vidya Balan) typifies Bollywood’s new bold woman for whom sex is as much pleasure as a career move. The Indian audience – atleast the urban variety – has started accepting Indian woman on the move – ambitious, spirited, independent – and at times with a darker side. So the earlier black or white characters are being increasingly replaced by shades of grey. These characters emerge from the society, which is interested in real issues – unlike Hollywood, which is becoming escapist – be they ethnic, religious, social, physical, or any other. The hero of the 1970s and 1980s would have a clichéd persona. Now people wish to watch movies that they can relate to. A dose of realism helps audience connect with the film. In Chak De the Muslim captain is branded as an anti-national. The film clearly dealt with Indian prejudices based on religion. Sarfarosh, Black Friday, Company, and others of their ilk have shown the warts of India. An Omkara mirrors the political rot in the UP, while Gangajal depicted infamous Bhagalpur blindings episode.

In the same tradition, noughties changed the caricature of heroes too. So Rizwan (SRK) suffers from Asperger Syndrome, Auro (AB) is afflicted with Progeria, Singhania (Aamir Khan) has short term memory loss problem, while Charlie and Guddu (Shahid Kapur in double role) lisp and stutter. The stars become human beings. Bollywood is experimenting with the successful Hollywood formula (Tom Hanks with a slow mind in Forrest Gump, Dustin Hoffman as an autistic man in Rain Man, Jamie Fox as a blind person in Ray: Foxx or a blind Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman). Rani Mukherjee plays the deaf, mute and blind Michelle (Black), Kajol is blind (Fanaa) while Ajay Devgun becomes a developmentally challenged father (Main Aisa Hi Hoon). We will see Hrithik as a paraplegic in Guzaarish. Notably, Hindi movies have not dabbled with the superman genre, with the sole exception of Kkrish.

Read Tea Leaves, Poll, or Conduct Polygraph…

But Research A perceptive Ashutosh Gowariker could guess that it would be better to highlight the romance angle over the period epic aspect in Jodhaa Akbar, and this is what the movie trailer reflected. But not all filmmakers may be intuitively so accurate. Market strategists advise about the precise day that the viewers would get their first peek at Ranbir’s bare behind (Saawariya) and SRK’s six packs (Om Shanti Om). So the kitchen sink approach, where the creative would be crammed with as many film elements as possible, is a definite no no now. Thus, if women find the sound of metal shattering bone in two intensely violent scenes in Ghajini (they did, actually) only one blow is kept to kill Asin based on this feedback. For Ishqiya it was found that men were enjoying the movie more than the women. Ad spend consequently on news channels (watched more by men) went up from 5% to 20%.

Originally the scooter ride of Aamir Khan, the paralytic father, and Kareena Kapoor was not to be shown in the movie 3 Idiots. But final version had it based on pre-release research. LSD (Love, Sex, aur Dhokha) has used focused group research to assess everything from concept to marketing material.

This research of course need not be film specific. General trends prevailing in the society give us a fair idea too. Have you noticed the fact that Abhishek Bachchan was a male nurse is Dostana, Ranbir a video game developer in Bachna Ae Haseeno, Deepika Padukone a restorer of frescoes in Love Aaj Kal and SRK a Nasa engineer in Swades? It is not all creative juices flowing. Rather, this is in keeping with the general drift of the society. These careers actually make a statement about individual freedom; today’s youth is experimenting, so the movies have to reflect this. Don’t you think the career of a tarot card reader (Bipasha Basu in Rudraksh) or an RJ (Preity Zinta is Salaam Namaste) sounds really cool?

Audience ke liye kuchh bhi karega!

...So How Does One Become A Top Grosser?

Honestly, we wish we knew the magic mantra. But we can help a player score higher. Look at the table below for some distilled answers Before we sign off, let’s give you a quiz. What is common between Blue, All the Best, Jail, Wanted, Do Knot Disturb, Kites, Pyaar Impossible, Rocket Singh, and Hook Ya Crook? If you said all these are names of movies, well you got the right answer. Actually this was an easy one. But now comes the difficult part: what else is common between these movie names? O.K., so you got that right too: all these are English (or Hinglish) titles. Actually 27 out of the 40 releases in recent times had such names. Now the last part of the quiz: What is the marketing angle involved. And this time don’t expect us to spoon-feed you. Go figure it out yourself!

ORGASMIC DELIGHT: WHO GETS TO HIT THE G-SPOT