Slumbering Smugness Eats Into The Vitals Of A Brand

When we read the Case Histories of Brands with potential that was not Fully Exploited, We find one Devastating threat linking them all – Complacency!

Rubik’s cube comes with six coloured sides, 21 pieces, and 54 outer surfaces. It can generate more than 43 quintillion (43,252,003,274,489,856,000) possible configurations. But there is only one solution. Despite 30 years of existence it continues to be one of the best selling toys of all times. Harlequin publishing house sells 140 million Mills and Boon copies every year, generating a turnover of $429 million. So, it’s Gods – and some other brands – who can afford to invoke monopoly power. Not the rest of us. In the marketplace devil does not take the hind most; he attacks the front runner. In the real world there are myriads of cases where brands constantly lose ground. They surrender their competitiveness due to a number of reasons – relevance or lack thereof, becoming predictable and formulaic, being outfoxed by smarter rivals, judgment errors, and so on. When we read the case histories of brands with potential that was not fully exploited, we find one devastating threat linking them all – complacency!

BEVERAGE WITH A POLITICAL BOTTLENECK

When Coca-Cola was forced to quit India in 1977, Double Seven was launched as its replacement. The product replicated the taste of Coke one hundred percent. The formula being developed by a government research lab, the central government decided to entrust Modern Beverages India Ltd. (MBIL) the task of marketing it. There existed no capacity limitation or equipment problems so that any desired volume could be supplied. There was no rival brand of course. But MBIL decided to produce soft drinks using a concentrate of only 1 tonne per day. Between 1977 and 1987 the production remained stagnant. In fact, by 1987 the brand had vanished from metropolitans. And since in the absence of a marketing push later entrants like Thums Up (in Western India) and Campa Cola (in North India) managed to capture a fair share of the market. So why did the brand fail even if it had excellent product back up?

For two primary reasons: MBIL’s handling of the bottlers and the perception that the PSU’s mandate was limited to produce bread. Thus, MBIL, used to dealing with small bread retailers, pursued the strategy of getting as many bottlers into its franchise fold as possible. India, after all, was following a socialistic model of development (even in a profit oriented venture!). Naturally, it failed to get the support of big bottlers in the metros. And, true to the PSU mode of operation, the enterprise never promoted the product effectively, so as to build a brand image matching Coke. In the soft drink industry the product cost is negligible; the consumer pays for the promotion costs. However, above everything else the marketing failure was the result of an indifferent government attitude; it promoted the drink till it served a political end. Beyond that no commercial interest. The brand went into neglect. Interestingly, the lab still has the secret formula. Any takers?

Trap No. 1: No marketing orientation, no success in a competitive market

According to IDC, Nokia’s marketshare in Indian mobile handset market has declined from 54% in Q2, 2009 to only 36% in Q2, 2010 (Nokia of course refutes the figure). Nokia seems to be missing the bus for a long time now. Just two years ago it enjoyed a market share of more than 70%. But now it is stranded in the middle of the market. At the lower end homegrown brands and the Chinese products are nibbling into Nokia’s market share while at the top end the likes of RIM, Samsung, and others are making its life miserable. All this because the company has became slothful. For example, when Indian buyer exhibited a clear proclivity towards clamshell models, Nokia had none to offer, supplying only candy bar varieties. And now that 39% of all handsets sold in the country (January-June 2010) were dual sim handsets, Nokia did not have a single model in the segment. The slide explains itself.

Nokia as an organisation, according to the insiders, swollen by its earlier success, has grown complacent, slow and removed from consumer desires. It has been following product orientation as against marketing orientation, primarily because its design approval process is mired in Soviet style bureaucracy. If you need evidence, read on. A few years before Apple introduced the iPhone, Nokia engineers presented a prototype of Internet ready touch screen version with a large display. Management was unmoved and refused to give a green signal for further development. You know the rest of the story where iPhone appears as the hero. During 2004 the management again rejected an early design for a Nokia online applications store – an innovation that all major players adopted three years later anyway. Nokia failed to improve its symbian OS, needed to support a more sophisticated smartphone. Though it introduced the industry’s first touch screen devices in 2003, it failed to perfect the technology to fingertip precision before Apple did. Notwithstanding N8 launch it still lacks a convincing response to iPhone. To make matters worse, Nokia spokesperson refuses to admit that the company follows a sloppy approach towards innovations, that the company has become risk averse.

Trap No. 2: Bureaucratic sloth kills the initiative, ingenuity and innovations

Mercedes Benz is one among many cases where multinationals misread the India market to their own peril. It shares this dubious honour with the likes of Peugeot, Wrangler’s, and Tang ... though not entirely, since it is one of the few companies which has wiped out red ink from its P&L account and now generates net profit. The story needs to be told anyway. Mercedes certainly created the market for luxury segments in India. Yet against a targeted number of 20,000 (including exports) the company actually sold only 1,885 cars in its launch year. First mistake, the company overestimated the consumer’s willingness to buy at a price tag of Rs.23 lakh. That too, through cheque payment! Then, it launched E220 model and not C series, since it wanted to pursue low volume high price strategy. But this model was about to be phased out from world markets. And the affluent prospective Merc buyer in India, who was well conversant with international trends, felt cheated. Further, the company was stingy in introducing newer models in India. Between 1996-2009 it launched only 25 models. In contrast, since January this year it has already launched 22 new models across various segments.

And yet, due to its absolute monopoly in the luxury car segment it wiped out all its accumulated losses by 2005, since when its balance sheet is awash with black ink. The performance thus had less to do with savvy marketing by the company, and more on account of existence of a market that offered no rival choices. So the moment the challenger brand BMW entered India, Mercedes lost its premier position to the new entrant, for the first time since it set up its operations here in 1996.

Trap No. 3: Monopoly status delivers you a ‘hostage’, not a ‘happy’ customer

Examples abound. Heinz with its premium pricing (where customer failed to perceive a clear differentiating reason to pay extra) thinking erroneously that everybody knows the brand in India (not true), MySpace which got eclipsed by Facebook and Twitter because overtime it lost focus, Liril bathing soap which exploited the potential of freshness plank but flogged it till it went stale, or Bajaj which again due to virtual monopoly position offered staid products and predictable communication. Women’s Era created the market for women’s magazine but failed to evolve with the modern readers.

PLUG THE LEAKAGE BEFORE IT BECOMES A DELUGE

Of course some realise their mistake and attempt mid-course correction – Mercedes (now following lower price high volume strategy), Star bouquet of channels (which is regaining its number one position through revamped programming and positioning, after it had lost to Colors), Coke (which realised that every experiment to undermine Thums Up was actually benefiting Pepsi more than Coke), and many others.

So, let complacency not consume your brand. You may not get a second chance to regain lost ground.

Slumbering Smugness Eats Into The Vitals Of A Brand

HIGH PERFORMANCE MARKETERS DREAM, DARE AND DELIVER!

Ten lessons to learn from marketers who have either given the world some best-selling brands, or have failed miserably in their efforts...

The latest SMS joke doing rounds goes something like this: The teacher told the class, “Introduce yourself and say what does your dad do?” When his turn came, a boy stood up and said without battling an eyelid, “Sir, my dad works as a male stripper in a night club.” Lost for words, the teacher gestured him to sit down but later confronted him, “Well, there are subtle ways of putting it, and aren’t you ashamed of what your dad does for a living?” The boy replied, “Sir, actually I made that up in the class. Honestly, he works for the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and I was too embarrassed to reveal his real occupation!” So who do you think will take the crown to head the Hall of Infamy once the year ends, considering all the news about the CWG 2010 that has been doing the rounds? [There is no prize for guessing the right answer.] The logic is simple: Authorities have been wrongly marketing the state of affairs with anything and everything to do with the Games. But moving away from disgraced marketers and disappointments, let us talk about those who are star marketers, and why...

So what if I am queen of kitsch?
Let’s get quizzical. Who declares that AB junior is a better actor than his Paa? Who claims that ‘there is nothing natural about Amitji’ or, that poor Salman Khan is being repeatedly used by his girlfriends for climbing up the career graph? Which brand stands for brashness, crudeness, and unsophistication, but to whom, Prabhu Chawla (from Aaj Tak) admits that much against his own wishes, “I have to invite you to Seedhi Baat since the audience demands it”? One of the top business magazines had included Rakhi Sawant in its list of best marketers of 2009. The façade is carefully cultivated by Rakhi.

Lesson #1 to become a star marketer: Be uniquely relevant to your target audience.

Of vision and Dreams...
Henry Ford’s dream was to build a car for the masses, constructed by the best men, using the best material and having the simplest of designs. It was to be priced low so that every one with a moderately good salary could afford it. This dream sums up his marketing philosophy and the spirit of the Ford brand. First to introduce the assembly line in 1914 and mass produce cars, he made them affordable for all. A technological genius, he followed his passion and became the force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that in only a few decades permanently changed the economic and social character of USA. A few years short of a century later, another great visionary, Ratan Tata, dreamt of a Nano and brought it to fruition.

Lesson #2: Dream big, live it, and enact it.

The first family of organised retailing
Kishore Biyani has changed the way we Indians shop. Focussing on decoding the Indian consumer, his singular goal is to respond to the needs of the Indian masses. He says that he knows only one way of attaining LSD – Laxmi Saraswati and Durga (goddesses of wealth, knowledge and emotional well being, and power) – by following the consumer way. The `10,000 crore plus Future Group is perhaps the only successful company in organised retailing in India today. Biyani has an uncanny and profound understanding of the Indian consumers.

Lesson #3: Consumer focus is the key; rest will follow.

I am the change agent!
Barack Obama relied on nouveau marketing tactics like online contribution through his electorate friendly website, mobile messaging to connect with his voters, and so on. He adroitly packaged himself as a product, selling hope and change to fellow countrymen. His catchphrase, ‘Change you can believe in’, struck the right chord in a country that had lost faith in the establishment and was looking for a saviour. Obama came as a relief, as a trustworthy alternative, produced and packaged very slickly.

Lesson #4: Connect well with your customers.

Hum hein Chulbul Pandey!
The successful Dabbang actually signals the thumping return of the delightful subgenre, the unapologetic mainstream masala flick. Salman fills the gap of being ‘man of muscle’, but not necessarily the conventional hero incarnate. He has positioned himself as Bollywood’s premier action hero. The dream combo – soft face, tough body (reminding you of Dharmendra of the ‘70s) – compels the women to ogle at him and men envy his rippling muscles bursting through the seams of his shirt. Now, everybody does not necessarily dig at We are family. There is life outside the multiplexes.

Lesson #5: Bridge the need gap existing in the market.

I am young, I am the future
During the General Elections of 2009, the heritage party promised the usual – stability, secularism, good governance. However, what was new and unique to the Congress’s marketing strategy was Rahul Gandhi who brought the youth in the mainstream of politics. He infused sincerity, positivity, and freshness in the Party’s plans. RG, the brand, represents youth, dynamism, and new-age thinking. He easily connects with the masses, has charisma, transparency, down to earth demeanour, and a relentless focus on galvanising youth. Still evolving, it is to be seen if he will have his Obama moment in 2014. He is still perfecting the art of marketing.

Lesson #6: Cultivate new segments as per your strengths.

Badshah of marketing
SRK is worth `1,500 crore. He has the sharp vision of a businessman. At the core of the casual exterior exists a canny entrepreneur, who is quick to spot an opportunity and get cracking at it. He has the requisite skills to run businesses that he does, the qualities that meet the job specifications for becoming a CEO and capabilities of an inspirational leadership. He has successfully helped launch new products and brands in relatively untested markets. With a strikingly clear vision and great ambition, he is a great researcher, a coach and a player, and a meticulous manager – traits that make him a quintessential marketer.

Lesson #7: Use your strengths to full advantage.

Mr. Perfectionist?
Aamir Khan, knows how to influence masses. He made people change their hairstyle and bulk up after Ghajini, become more empathetic towards children with learning disorder after Taare Zameen Par, and even rethink the Indian education system with its warts and all after 3 Idiots. His last four releases have collected `600 crore at the box-office. Raju Hirani calls him a marketing monster. Aamir the marketer is even more precious than Aamir the actor. His big success is in running a production company which has cent percent record of super hits – three out of three.

Lesson #8: A better mousetrap needs marketing too.

A check list should consist of not merely Do’s but also Don’ts. Let’s therefore also narrate some entries from the Hall of Infamy.

I am Lalit Modi AKA IPL
There would not have been an IPL without Lalit Modi choreographing it. However, he became too sure of his invincibility & piled up one fatal mistake after another. He caught up with his nemesis when the fantasised immunity cover crumbled with the govt. unleashing its wrath on him. He built the IPL to a $4 billion-plus level, but on the way razed his own equity to ground.

Lesson #9: A megalomaniac marketer bites the dust.

Crash landing is a real possibility
Paramount Airways was the poster boy of Indian aviation. While others were immersed in red ink, it was awash with profit. But the promoter M. Thiagrajan failed to do his arithmetic right. Driven perhaps more by passion and integrity, not logic, he failed to appreciate the fact that airline business is a great money guzzler. He failed to honour his commitments. A good product got grounded even before it could start gaining heights.

Lesson #10: A successful marketer has to be an astute businessman too.

HIGH PERFORMANCE MARKETERS DREAM, DARE AND DELIVER!

Secrets of a Valued Brand

In a market where clutter defines the present and competition is religion, What should Drive a Brand – Pricing Advantage or Benefit Package?

A brand is a promise. As a variety of competitive claims assail the consumer’s senses, he uses his personal gestalt of each competing brand to compare one with another. He is looking for a uniquely beneficial package of attributes. A marketer must make an offer at such a price as the customer’s expectations are exceeded. We may add that a successful brand is an identifiable offer augmented in a manner that the customer perceives it in a promise that is full of uniquely relevant values which match his needs. And a valued brand is one which delivers the added values in a sustained manner, in the face of competition.

PUTTING BRANDS IN SILOS: THE ORTHODOX WAY

Though the marketer designs his offer, the customer is the arbiter. When buying a new brand he seeks clues about the capabilities of the brand. He evaluates the brand through a menu of perceptual evaluations so that it becomes his idea of the product. Good branding results in perception of the values of a brand interpreted and accepted so clearly that the brand acquires a personality (Coke, Thums Up, Pepsi, et al). Indeed, products with little apparent functional differences are regarded differently because of the unique brand personality (for example: Kingfisher Airlines vs. Jet Airways).

A study of 1036 brand communication enables us to typify brands in the following eight categories:

The table above shows that marketers interpret brands in different ways. Thus, they place different emphasis on resources that they need to commit to support the brands. While some treat brands as functional devices (Colgate dental cream), others treat them as primarily differentiating devices (Close Up toothpaste). But the really successful ones – the valued brands – adopt a holistic perspective by treating their brands as strategic devices.

IF LOVE IS BLIND, WHY IS LINGERIE SO POPULAR?

Such brands acknowledge that customers are the promiscuous lot. Love for a brand is not unrequited. At times the frame (Packaging) may sell the painting (Product), but often, consumer declines to oblige. Wise marketers analyse the forces that can influence the profitability of their brand, identify a position for their brand that majors on the brand’s unique advantages and guard it against competitors. Maruti does it. Ford did not, until it introduced the Figo in India. The marketer does not emphasise on design or advertising (Fiat Palio did, with miserable results); instead he coherently employs company resources to support competitive advantage (LG, Nescafe).

Of course if the competitive advantage is not sustainable, the brand will disappear from the market (Stencil) or will be outmaneuvered by more aggressive rivals (CCD vs. Barista). A brand’s competitive advantage gives it a basis for beating competitors, since it creates superior value for its customers. These customers perceive value in brands when it either costs less to buy these brand than competing brands offering similar benefits (Micromax offering Push mail facility), and/or when they have unique benefits which offset premium prices (Honda City).

So what should drive my brand – pricing advantage or benefit package?

Cost-driven brands can cut costs through economies of scale, faster learning, more efficient raw material sourcing, bulk-selling, cost-cutting tech innovations, or streamlining of product range. By understanding what the target market wants, unnecessary frills can be eliminated (Nirma in a polythene pack, Subhiksha stores without air conditioning) and an attractively priced proposition can be developed (Udipi restaurant). However, given the market price, if costs cannot be contained so as to give acceptable profit margin, the strategy will boomerang (Coke at `5 for a 200 ml bottle met this fate). Value added brands on the other hand offer bigger/superior benefits package than the rivals, and charge a premium in lieu (Angioplasty at Max vs. AIIMS). To be sure it need not be functional excellence that establishes the superiority of such brands. A strong image itself can offer a powerful competitive advantage (Heritage hotel properties of ITC Group). Value-added brands differentiate themselves using a variety of techniques – a unique component (Carl Zeiss lens in a Sony handycam), superior technology (iPod), incomparable end product (buildings designed by Hafeez contractor), distinctly superior service (Emirates Airways), or simply image perception (Color Plus).

BUT CAN WE HAVE A TEMPLATE OF BRAND TRUTHS?

Each brand has a cost-driven component and a benefit-oriented package. A brand therefore could be predominately cost-driven (Zenith computers) or predominately benefits driven (Sony Vaio). Accordingly, we can draw a brand matrix that classifies brands on a strategic basis.

Commodity brands offer vanilla, undifferentiated products. The seller lacks the ability and/or inclination to help the customer. The services offered are of indifferent quality, either because of an absence of significant competition (BSNL) or because of low revenue per customer (Government-run schools). If and when new efficient competition arrives, the sluggish brand will have to either pull up its socks (SBI after the arrival of ICICI bank) or it is likely to suffer from a cardiac arrest (yellow top taxis). Bargain basement brands are cutprice offers which care little about establishing features/image superiority; they concentrate instead on passing on the benefit to customers in the form of ultra low prices (Big Bazaar). Unique brands on the other hand are able to charge a premium for their particularly unmatched benefits. These focus less on cost management and more on value addition. Nature’s basket from Godrej, the Gourmet foods supplier, for example offers choicest selection at premium prices. Platinum lounge in PVR complex will leave you poorer by `400-500 per seat.

Finally, the benefit brands are those successful monikers which offer customers many relevant extra benefits (Hyundai i10 and i20). As a consequence of high consumer satisfaction, they enjoy a high relative market share, enabling them to enjoy economies of scale (Hero Honda). They pass on some of the cost savings to customer so as to also enjoy price advantage over rivals (Maruti).

So which cell should a marketer strive to occupy? For sure, commodity brands indulge in mutually destructive rivalry. Relative weaklings are ousted in due course, as consolidation takes place, and then the remaining players find their niche. This is what has already happened in many segments of the consumer durables industry in India. This is what is currently happening in the aviation industry.

Bargain basement brands can survive as long as they can exercise tight cost control. Product portfolio rationalisation, Standardisation et al, need to be undertaken. Many garment exporters have forayed into domestic market, since they were already used to running a tight ship. Vishal Megamart has faced difficulties, because it expanded beyond its limits.

Unique brands survive on constant innovation. Microsoft has launched version Windows 7 through planned obsolescence and iPod is in its fourth incarnation. On the other hand, Facebook has successfully challenged Orkut. These are high-margin brands almost monopolising a specific subsegment of the market.

Finally, benefit brands like Nokia, Frito Lays, Haldiram fast food and their ilk, thrive through being very responsive to changing market needs and continually attempting to improve their offerings, while simultaneously looking for opportunities to shave costs. These brands enjoy a large market share and keep their shareholders happy. So if one has a choice, one should join the league of Valued – unique or benefit – brands. But then, the contest is truly fierce. For most, it would be, like they say, “If only, wishes were horses...”

Secrets of a Valued Brand

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.
 

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