IIPM B School: 2011

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

India’s Best media agencies 2011 and client expectations

4Ps B&M in association with Indian Council for Market Research (ICMR) brings to you the list of India’s best media agencies – those that are rewriting the rules of the game in today’s contemporary, fast-paced, media-buying world. Additionally is presented a graphical report on client expectations

While consumerism in India is today on an all-time high, product life-cycles are on an all-time low. Even the right product, at the right price point, may not serve the purpose of the marketers sans the right advertising push. Investment is short and in such a circumstance, the companies turn to the media planners, giving their kind more respect and making them more central to the entire decision ad-placement process. Therefore, to zero in on the best media agencies for the year 2011, we initially started with the set of India’s most recalled and successful media agencies. The final list was arrived at by testing each agency on several technical and financial parameters, which included number & quality of clients, billings generated in the recent past and ROI delivered (for their clients). Apart from this, an in-depth survey was also conducted amongst India’s top marketers (which included CMOs and Senior Marketing Executives of companies like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Fortis Healthcare, Lava International, Ashiana Housing, et al) to understand the factors/parameters they take into consideration while selecting a particular media agency to design the marketing mix of their respective companies. A total of 247 interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire across five main centers in India namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. We’ve attempted to ensure that the 4Ps B&M-ICMR listing is cogent, structured and represents the factual positioning of expectations of the respondents.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
Planman Technologies

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

How festivals have fed consumerism in India

4Ps B&M brings to you a spectacular analysis on how festivities have transformed the consumer space more than any other factor in the marketing history of India post-liberalisation, and why the years ahead don’t look any different

20 years of celebration
In the post liberalisation era, Indians learnt to earn well, and learnt to spend even better! And 4Ps B&M’s angshuman paul argues that it was the festival season that truly brought the onset of consumerism in India to the marketer’s delight. And consumers aren’t complaining either.

When it comes to defining God, there are numerous typical questions that people have asked and there are as many or more answers that spiritual leaders have come up with. Speculation is never ending on whether God is male or female, does God have a form or is formless, which religion has a better chance at bringing one closer to God, et al. People in India, particularly with the dominant Hindu population, have traditionally worshipped millions of Gods, and speculated on these very questions and come up with even more confusing answers. However, there is one aspect about which we can be more conclusive in comparison – God in the 21st century is, far more often than not, ‘Made in China’!

Surely, there are no surprises there, as most of you who glance at the bottom of those beautiful idols (in organised retail shops as well as myriad gift stores) to check the price tags would have also noticed the fairly ubiquitous name of the country of origin. It may make you feel uncomfortable for a moment, but look at the invaluable lessons in marketing and economics it provides you. When it comes to business, the world (thankfully) speaks one language, belongs to one religion and worships one God (in this case, the God that the customer worships)! The deal goes to the company who is the most competitive and knows the customer best.

From an economy that was supposed to be tapped only if you had a ‘compulsively unrelenting’ death wish, India transformed into a booming customer market for numerous global economies with export surplus, and China is obviously the most well known and prominent. Liberalisation in India was a major inflection point in India that transformed consumer mindset as well as producer orientations in terms of marketing and branding like never before. A study by McKinsey Global Institute in 2007 revealed that if India grows at the current rate, average household incomes would triple by 2025 compared to 2007 and India will become the fifth largest consumer market globally compared to 12th in 2007. In terms of economic classifications, the deprived (bottom of pyramid) households would shrink admirably in number to 49.9 million in 2025 compared to 101.1 million in 2005 and seekers in turn would swell from 10.9 million to 94.9 million and the globals at the top would grow in number from 1.2 million in 2005 to 9.5 million in 2025. Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) accounted for around 57% of India’s GDP (at market prices) while retail accounted for 37% of PFCE at $291 billion in FY 2009-10 (Deloitte). The report projects that India spends a major portion (59.5%) on Food & Grocery followed by 16.9% on beauty & wellness and 9.9% on Beauty & Fashion. It’s a virtual bonanza for MNCs. “However, liberalisation was not only limited to foreign players coming in but also Indian players, especially small scale players like us could imagine going overseas,” feels Tarang Arora, a Jaipur-based second generation entrepreneur who took his jewelry brand Amrapali to Europe and has 10 exclusive stores in cities like London. During the late 1980s; be it for a scooter or for a sack of cement – demand was high but supply wasn’t, leading to black marketing and monopoly of sellers. So brands like Bajaj, Titan (from the stable of Tatas), Rasna & Onida (from Mirc Electronic) were thriving.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

“Customers are Filtering Their Media Exposure”

Abraham Alapatt gives his set of 10 mega trends which he believes are Transforming The Market today, and why marketers need to adapt to them

In today’s world, everything has to be quick and seamless. Even the classical brand and marketing concepts are being rewritten completely. Here are 10 mega trends which I believe are transforming the market today and that we, as marketers, need to continually adapt to.

1. We cannot control what messages go out to customers: Social networking, virtual communities, blogs, mobile, et al, have ensured this. So, just make sure you have a lot more good messages than bad to share.

2. The power of social networks has multiplied manifold: Harnessed by technology, the influence of social networks is now, both a potent marketing weapon for those who use it well and a dangerous minefield for those who don’t.

3. Increasingly, customers will try to find you – not the other way round: So, you need to be easily visible to succeed. Use tools like search engine optimisation, listings, key words/tagging, wide retail network, kiosks, et al, to maximise your visibility.

4. DIY (Do it Yourself) customers – who want to evaluate products and services without an intermediary and make decisions themselves will become the norm, especially in services: Marketers should merely be facilitators and providers, not sellers or hawkers.

5. Customers want to own and influence brands, and not the other way around as it was traditionally: Let ownership transfer happen without hindrance. Nike, for example, in US borrows design cues for the next season by inviting youngsters (playing basketball in their neighbourhood) to pick new shoes from an open dumpster, and noting down which designs they go for first. They call it “Bro’ing” (marrying “borrowing” with “bro”). Apple is another cult brand that demonstrates this – Apple users are so involved with their company’s new products that they both ensure their success and/or failure – faster than their rivals. So, Apple knows real quick whether they have a winner on their hands or not!

6. Customers want to be able to choose/filter their media & media environment and not be bombarded. Privacy (or perceived privacy) is critical: Anti spam, DND listings, HD DTH subscriptions without ads, DVRs are symptoms of a growing trend, especially with more affluent customers, who want to filter their media exposure every way they can. Decide time, place, content and delivery to suit their mood and convenience.

7. Young like that: With a young demographic increasingly being the largest consumers, every brand is trying to be young, at least in imagery and metaphorically.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Just when you Thought you’d had Enough of Reality

With The Launch of the new Frooti tvc, Parle Agro has Kickstarted a new Genre of Reality TVC through its Clutter-breaking “why grow up?” Campaign series. 4PS B&M takes a first-cut look Behind The Scenes!

Just when you thought reality shows were losing sheen and thus taking away the very element of ‘freshness’ and ‘spontaneity’ (all thanks to allegedly ‘pre-planned’ content), Parle Agro’s Frooti has decided to remodel the concept of reality ‘shows’ into reality ‘TVCs’. Can the concept pack its intended punch? Well, to Parle’s credit, a reality TVC has rarely been done before. In order to dramatise mangoes in an entertaining way while keeping Frooti’s ‘Why Grow Up’ philosophy intact, Creativeland Asia (creative agency for Frooti), along with Equinox Films, has created the mango themed reality game show called ‘Mango Slam Bam Bam Bam’, with an intent to grab eyeballs by showing ordinary people playing innovative and fun games like ‘Mango Rodeo’ and ‘Pluck a Mango,’ and then enjoying a Frooti to refresh and rejuvenate themselves after every crazy round of games. Earning another point is that in this first of its kind Indian reality TVC, the cast has comprised people living next door rather than high profile celebrities or actors or even ‘fixed’ contestants. The set for the game show was created at Priyadarshini Centre in Mulund, Mumbai, where the director, Ram Madhvani (Equinox Films) found a perfect shooting forum with a 17 feet deep pool that could adhere to all the necessary safety norms.

Both the participants and the hosts of the show were made to wear comedic outfits that looked like gigantic mangoes to add to the already high fun quotient of the game show. A set-up of eight cameras was positioned strategically to capture the varied reactions of the participants from all possible angles. Nadia Chauhan, Joint MD & CMO, Parle Agro is confident that these are the differentiating points that make the TVC click. She shares one such anecdote us, “There was a participant who probably had the biggest adrenaline rush of his life just before plucking a mango from a mango wall – and the way he screamed right before grabbing the mango, was enough to scare all those who were standing balanced on the trampoline.” Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder & Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia talks about another such incident, “There was this one lady who actually fell on the giant Mango Rodeo, and you could not help but laugh your guts out at that visage.” The fact is that when read literally, these incidents don’t perhaps tickle the funny bone to a Chaplin high. But in a reality show, the mere visual of a real life human attempting a comedic move, and failing at that, is enough to achieve at least one critical objective – phenomenal brand recall.

But certainly, the task for Kurup and Madhvani was not that funny as they finally had to go through 150 hours of unedited footage to come up with the two TVCs that are on air currently. Add to it, the post production lasted exactly a month, and Kurup worked closely with the edit members every morning and evening, before and after his office hours. Kurup claims that despite watching the footage for endless hours, he never got bored – and this, he confesses, used to happen to him with other ads. “But this one has only grown on me with time,” he says. In fact, he also talks about how thrilled the participants were when they got to know that their contribution to the show was going to be used in Frooti’s TVCs.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Toyota Liva vs Honda Brio: Marketers at War

So far, Toyota and Honda have more or less shared honours in their Internecine Battle in India. Will The Brio and The Liva change that?

They have competed fiercely with each other in every market they entered, but for their fatherland, it would be sacrilege to choose between the two! After all, both Toyota and Honda have been symbols of Japan’s iconic rise as an industrial superpower post World War II, and are also key to the country’s bid for an economic recovery in this century. Besides these similarities, they have been celebrated case studies for their successful forays into multiple global markets, and have also been viewed quite negatively for the ‘recall’ wave they unleashed some time back.

While Civic and Corolla appeal to a similar TG, both these models have been able to carve their respective spaces in US, Japan and even in the domestic circuit. The same is the scenario with Camry and Accord. At the end of February 2011, Camry and Corolla stood at the 3rd and 4th position respectively in the list of the top selling vehicles in the US market, while Accord and Civic booked the 6th and 8th positions, respectively. However, they are markedly different when it comes to strategic approach. Toyota is one of the more aggressive players, while Honda has a slow and steady approach. “Honda first studies the market and then launches a product,” said a consultant on condition of anonymity.

As far as the Indian market goes, both Honda & Toyota have been equally cautious and have avoided taking the expressway too early. The duo entered the second fastest growing automobile market in the world during the mid-90s and they have been building their consumer base in a slow and steady manner. The playing field has been restricted to a couple of sedans and SUVs so far. In the segments where they have competed, they are more or less even. In the executive segment, Toyota Corolla posted sales of 8,769 units in the April 2010 to January 2011 period as compared to Honda Civic’s sales of 4,121 units in the same period. In the premium segment, Toyota posted sales of 330 units with the Camry & Prius combined, compared to 1,988 units for the Honda Accord in the same period. In the mid-size segment, Honda is the leader with 40,190 unit sales in the period, but Toyota is making waves with over 2,000 units of the Etios sold within two months of launch. In the MUV segment, Innova alone sold over 50,000 units in the period, while CR-V managed only 435 units.

The launch of Toyota Etios Liva and Honda Brio will catapult these companies into the high volume fetching hatchback segment, and this is where the battle will get very interesting. The question is – who looks more par for the course?

“The buzz around Etios started from the Auto Expo that took place in the capital in January last year,” says Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director – Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motors. Undoubtedly, a lot of research and synergy has gone into the development of the Brio and the Liva and both Japanese giants would not like to gamble with the success equation for these models in particular. For both companies, Liva and Brio will surely bring new customers under the Toyota and Honda umbrella, but an overwhelming buying experience will build loyalty with these consumers as they upgrade over time. “There is a lot of anticipation for Honda Brio in the market and we are confident that the car will be appreciated by the Indian customers,” says Jnaneswar Sen, Vice President - Marketing, Honda SIEL Cars India.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

D&H Just 68 years!

Their team synergy wasn’t evident initially, but complementary traits have in fact done wonders for Vaybhav and Tirth

"As we speak, we’re in the process of taking on the role of Senior Creative Directors at JWT on the Airtel business,” declares an exuberant Vaybhav Singh, CD, Dhar & Hoon. With the ‘we’, he refers to his better half – Swami Anand Tirth, who also works as Creative Director at the same agency, and has been working with him for eight years now.

Interestingly, the sparks flew off in the air for them when they first exchanged glances at Grey, but with different partners. At that time, a campaign at the agency had propelled them to spend a weekend, as a team, with the execution and finishing stages completed by them. This was a campaign for Hindustan Times which was soon followed by another stepping stone in the form of a campaign done for Business Today. The campaign not only fetched great reviews among their peers but also marked their establishment as a team; as they soon shook hands with the bitter but true reality – that in the field of advertising it takes two to tango most of the time! Thus the duo gradually started using each other as a springboard to push the bar on their work. Since then, they have been sounding boards for each other’s ideas, as well as of those who’ve worked with them. And still, after years the aura, this effervescent relationship is still evergreen.

However, as said, their understanding wasn’t a given at the beginning of their relationship. Tirth reminisces about Vaybhav as he shares, “He thought of me as an absolutely spooky advertising fellow who remains soaked up in his own creativity, while I thought that he was senior to me, as he worked with Pat (Pratap Suthan) at that time.” But the start wasn’t as disastrous as it is made out to be. The duo’s jam sessions after office hours helped them break the ice, until the two overtime became great friends and realised the value of that camraderie. “Being in a business that’s about ideas and people, it’s great to work with people you respect and yet have the freedom to question. And working in a team gives you the opportunity to have both,” admits Vaybhav.

And soon enough, the duo had changed track to agencies like Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Erickson. It was their stint in McCann Erickson, however, which was the most special one. The reason was that they got the opportunity to gain as much as possible from the iconic Indian ad guru Prasoon Joshi, an opportunity many others in their ilk would sell their souls for. Over time, everything just “fell in place.” And as of today, Vaybhav says, “It’s the understanding that we’re together to do good work, if not great; that keeps us curious and pushing each other.”

The duo bring with them an incredible client list. At their earlier agencies, they had chalked out creatives for some of the biggest brands like RIG, Reebok, Microsoft, Happydent, Chevrolet, Santro and of course, Hindustan Times to name a few. Despite having already worked with such big names, both of them feel their best work is yet to come. As Vaybhav asserts, “From our last agency, the work we feel closest to was for RIG, a utility clothing brand. For the armchair explorer, the campaigns pushed beyond boundaries to an exploration of landscapes filled with incongruous imagery and visual oddities; and to that extent aroused the interest of both the viewer and the advertising within the category.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website
IIPM Best B School India
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Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

It’s time to unveil the Hero @ Honda!

The Ex- Gillette and HUL Veteran, Anil Dua has been an important pillar in the Hero Honda growth story. Dua takes Pawan Chabra through many personal and professional chapters of his life

Anil Dua

Senior Vice President-Sales, Marketing and Customer Care, Hero Honda

When Anil Dua, Senior Vice President – Sales, Marketing and Customer Care, Hero Honda decided to move from the FMCG industry to the automotive industry, he had already realised the fact that while it will be a shift from the industry that he works in, the business and marketing principles will still be the same. He candidly accepts in a chat with us in Hero Honda’s Gurgaon plant in the state of Haryana, “I have been able to adapt to the FMCG environment and apply it to the automotive industry.” For the records, Dua moved to Hero Honda in 2006 after spending a valuable span of 16 years with Hindustan Unilever. It is to be mentioned here that Anil Dua entered the Hero Honda family at a time when its arch rival, Bajaj Auto was very close to overtaking it as the largest player in the Indian two-wheeler industry. Dua recollects, “As we decided to focus on the top-lines rather than bottom-lines, the strategy paid off in no time.”

While the formula to success was to chase revenues and the assumption was that profits will follow suit, the company has been able to get its cards right and Dua has played a vital role in this whole exercise. He says, “My leadership style is in a way inspired from Bhagavad-Gita as it teaches to focus on the means by which the ends will take care of themselves.” Clearly, Hero Honda has also followed a similar path over the past few years. Dua ensured that despite the fact that Hero Honda launched close to 15-16 models in a total in its 20 years of existence, since 2006, it has been able to launch 9-10 new models or variants every year for the past four years now. But the success story goes beyond the aggressive launches that have been made by the company. Be it the network expansion plan under which the company has taken its touch points figure from the year 2000 mark in 2006 to more than 4500 recently or the aggressive advertising that the company has been doing for the past few years, it has surely been hitting the sweet spot of the Indian consumer. “We were already standing on a firm wicket and with a brand that has been nurtured with utmost care for many years, what we have done is we have touched new heights standing on that firm wicket in the last four years,” says Dua.

Dua as a person has always been on his toes to ensure that the company and his brand are on the top of the mind of the Indian consumer. When asked on how he maintains a healthy work-life balance, Dua answers in a flash, “The biggest personal accomplishment has been that me along with other members of the management have been able to convince the company to move to a five days a week format rather than the earlier six days a week and we have been working 5 days a week since April 13, 2009.” In fact, Dua ensures that he does not take his work home even if it demands spending a few more hours in office to ensure that he spends quality time with his family on weekends. “I do not carry a laptop to home and carry it back. Although, BlackBerry makes up for it but I ensure that I give time to my wife and my two boys,” shares Dua. On a usual weekend, apart from spending time on common hobbies like crosswords, cricket, tennis and movies with his family, Dua likes meeting friends and visiting his parents often. Hero Honda, as a company, on the other end also provides a couple of opportunities where families can be involved within the work frame. Be it the family day that the company hosts once a year or the hockey and cricket matches that the company participates in, it surely is a support to its employees to ensure that they devote time to their families as well. “The Hero Honda family day is a great platform where all the families get together and quickly get to know each other. It kind of gives a moral support that everyone is sailing in the same boat and are equally busy,” adds Dua.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The man who made India love Ronald

For the first time in a long time, Vikram Bakshi shares his personal experiences on how McDonald’s rejected him... and then accepted him. By Angshuman Paul

Vikram Bakshi

JV Partner, McDonald’s India (North & East)

Jack Trout in his book The Battle for Your Mind talked about how companies can target customers in a crowded market by focusing on ‘positioning’ rather than simply selling their products. That was the year 1981. It was also the year when a young entrepreneur from India was planning to target Indian consumers with various imported products. In his frequent visits to the West, he had noticed how Western goods attracted the Indian masses, simply because they were, well, Western. Interestingly, during this man’s various sojourns to Europe, his one stop solution for food was McDonald’s. And every time he entered a McDonald’s outlet, his only thought was about replicating the concept in India. Over time, the idea gained structure in his mind. Vikram Bakshi tells us today how he wrote at least ten times to McDonald’s head offices in the USA proposing a business venture; and how he never managed to receive a positive response.

Vikram Bakshi apparently was too headstrong to give up. And finally the day arrived, much after liberalisation had set into the country’s economy. The era was 1990s and the Narsimha Rao-led Congress government had opened its gates for foreign players to enter India. Recalls Vikram, “Things had started changing dramatically in the Indian corporate world, and I was continuing with my overseas export business.” This was the time when Big Mac was all set to foray into the Indian soil. And Vikram got to know about it from the most unexpected source, his neighbour, who turned out to be noted hotelier Madhusudhan Thakkar (he has many restaurants in 5 star hotels to his credit) who was keen on taking the franchisee of McDonald’s. Eventually, Madhusudhan backed out, and Vikram decided to move ahead. Vikram found some more help from unexpected quarters. Pramod Bhasin, the President and CEO of Genpact, helped Vikram draft the initial offer letter and even Vikram’s resume. The underlying challenge was to convince the brass at McDonald’s that Vikram had the wherewithal to take up the national franchise. And one day, Jim Gemher – VP for franchisee operations at McDonald’s set up a meeting with him. In the ensuing three-hour conversation, Jim extracted every possible piece of information from Vikram. “The very next day, I was called for another meeting,” says Vikram, “but there were other bidders here including big players like Ansals, Modis, Mahindras and several others too. All my confidence died down and I thought I would lose the contract. Even then, I just repeated whatever I had said to Jim the previous evening.”

Despite all the biggies bidding, Jim chose Vikram (he revealed later that Vikram had been chosen right after the first meeting itself). Today, Vikram Bakshi is the MD and JV Partner of McDonald’s for the northern and eastern regions in India, and has made McDonald’s a brand that has been able to consistently provide Indians with classic as well as contemporary value-for-money quick service products. It is also the only QSR in the country that sources 90% of the products from within the country. Interestingly, Vikram has not just roped in the best of the Indian suppliers, but he has also introduced them to its global buyers. As a result, not a single supplier has left Big Mac since the very beginning of its journey in India. And it’s the sturdy supply chain that has helped Vikram, therefore McDonald’s, to reduce the raw material cost and eventually become an affordable brand.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

“Ooh Ads need to reach Non-Urban India”

With ever increasing clutter in traditional media, out-of-home media is regaining relevance in India. Romeer Sen, Executive Director, katha mediamix explains ooh nuances

How much importance is given to OOH media in the media planning stage of a company or brand?
The common objective of the business concerned and advertising is winning consumer confidence, and support. Out of home is where the maximum population at the same time can witness the brand communication and therefore every media strategist needs to incorporate OOH as an inseparable media vehicle in its planning. Human vision is prone to watch anything colourful in nature (whether a poster or billboard) for which outdoor ads serve the purpose and is interesting too. Advertising and marketing have grown and matured over the years. The idea has become more than clear that sticking on to traditional media or at the same time, pushing the new age media to ‘purely sell’ is not going to get the marketer even an ounce of value addition or brand equity. Instead of just observing the brand communication, consumers today prefer to be more opinionated with the kind of consumerism around each one of us. Every consumer today needs to relate with a communication and get involved in the entire process rather than feel isolated.

But there’re major changes in OOH...
Today the world is on the move and the target group literally is traveling extensively and has very little time to get hooked to other forms of media. Out-of-home in different forms reaches the target group at places where other media is still fighting to reach. We ourselves are pioneering innovative ways of advertising in OOH. Presently, even we have introduced this new OOH concept in Mumbai’s Sahara Star, wherein we have identified unique places for advertising and branding. It’s a concept which will be a breakthrough in advertising in India.

How is the Indian OOH media different from the western world?
In India, media-spend in OOH is only 6% but the industry has shown promising growth. The reach of outdoor advertising needs more penetration and customisation to other non-urban places in the country. In the West, OOH media means interaction, making consumers almost feel the brand while they see it. There, marketers don’t cluster the market with too many hoardings but distribute it systematically so that every brand can be seen by the consumer. I strongly feel that the disparity and gap between both the worlds has considerably decreased with an eye towards innovation and developing new properties for brand communication.

What all accounts are you currently handling and what activities are you doing for the same?
Currently, we are handling OOH accounts for Amby Valley, Sahara Star, ICEX, MCX, Essar Group, Gujarat Cement, Mainland China, UB Group. For all the major clients we currently look into conventional outdoor properties like billboards, bus shelters, public utilities, kiosks, bus panels, taxis etc.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

TAKING ON COMPETITION, ONE ‘CHOP’ AT A TIME!

In the midst of recession, indian it firms made radical transformations in their business models. now it’s time to do the same for their brands

By the time you read this, the chop shop fiasco and the resulting outrage would probably have sobered down. But reasons to doubt American intentions on being a responsible trade partner with India have only become stronger. A well chosen terminology and a smartly chosen target (if Infosys is a chop shop, it essentially can be interpreted to mean the entire Indian IT industry) has given Senator Charles Schumer the ‘15 minutes of fame’ he was looking for.

Such statements have more to do with American frustration over their current situation rather than the Indian IT sector’s credentials. But from the perspective of Indian companies, improving brand image and value proposition is definitely an issue for introspection. This is not about making the Schumers eat their words, scoring points, or ‘15 minutes of fame’. As discussed in a previous issue of 4Ps B&M, the cost competitiveness factor in the global IT sector is fast getting elusive with rapid commoditisation, and it would take some doing to ensure that these companies get back to the growth rates they once enjoyed.

Firstly, it makes sense to analyse the vantage point on which the ‘Made in India’ brand stands today. Nitin Khanapurkar, Executive Director, KPMG Advisory Services, comments, “They are no longer just low cost service providers or support functions. They are perceived to manage IT effectively and allowing businesses to concentrate on their core strengths.” Over time, these companies have moved from being application developers to developing strong vertical expertise, efficient India-centric delivery systems and of course low cost. More importantly, these companies have stood tall on standards of transparency, ethics and credibility, apart from the Satyam debacle.

Sreedhar Ramanujam, CEO, brand-comm, particularly admires how Infosys took that leap, “Infosys and its founder NR Narayana Murthy in particular kept talking about “ethics” and the way they handled the sexual harassment case gave credence to that.” Besides, Infosys led the way in showing that PR was more effective as compared to advertising. JP Singh, former MD, Bausch & Lomb India & now management consultant, comments, “PR can have high sanctity. User testimonials & key messages through PR can provide a complementary ‘surround’ effect.”

It was expected that the recession would seriously challenge the Indian IT players and expose the chinks in their armour; particularly the dependence on verticals and geographies. Indeed, when you look at the figures, the industry aggregated $73.1 billion in 2009-10., growing by 5.3% yoy (NASSCOM). This is quite subdued in comparison to a growth rate of 30.1% in FY 2007-08 (and NASSCOM also includes Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies like IBM, Accenture, et al). And yet, India remains an integral part of the offshoring strategy for around 51% of the addressable global market and plans to hire 90,000 more people in this year. Their approach to the recessionary phase has been to better serve their clients by improving operational flexibility, adopting radical pricing models, deepening client relationships and building new ones as well as getting adept at delivery through emerging technologies like cloud computing, virtualization and Service Oriented Architecture. Dinesh Sampath Rangaraj, Head, Business Marketing, MindTree Limited (which relied on traditional business models earlier), comments to 4Ps B&M on the shift, “Now, we’re creating business value through market-ready products, services and solutions with a non-linear business model (FP, risk-reward, based on output rather than input).”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Cover Feature - 4Ps Business & Marketing

A study conducted by Interbrand also shows that a strong corporate brand could add 5-7% to a company’s stock price in a bull market, and mitigate losses in a down market. Debashish Mitra, Head-Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India gives us a similar view when he talks to 4Ps B&M, “Investing in a firm from just financials point-of-view is nothing but looking for short-to-mid term gains. It’s always the brand that is the long term asset for a company and subsequently for an investor,” he tells 4Ps B&M. His industry colleague, Sandeep Singh, Deputy MD, Toyota Kiloskar agrees with him and feels that brand reputation and market returns go hand-in-hand. According to him, if there is a hit on the brand, a company could lose grip on the market and vice-versa. He recalls when Toyota posted a loss in the last fiscal, its share prices too went down at the bourses. But it was brand Toyota that quickly managed to regain the lost investor sentiment.

At the same time, a research done by Corporate Branding Partnership LLC, a UK-based consulting firm, during the two-day stock market crash in the US in October 1997, revealed that while companies with strong brands regained their losses in just two days, companies with weaker brands failed to recover. Thomas J. Madden (from University of South Carolina), Frank Fehle (from Barclays Global Investors) and Susan Fournier (from Boston University) did a similar study (Brands Matter: An Empirical Demonstration of the Creation of Shareholder Value through Branding) in 2006 and found that if one had invested $1,000 in August 1994 in the 111 strong-brand companies (as per the Interbrand World’s Most Valuable Brands), this investment would have more than quadrupled into $4,525 by December 2000. The same $1,000 investment in the overall stock market would have turned into $3,195 by end of the year 2000.

“Therefore, when making investment decisions, it would be completely irrational for shareholders to ignore what has an effect on the value of their investments,” says Hubert Gatignon Professor of Marketing, INSEAD.

Certainly, a company which has strong brands in its product portfolio is usually more resistant to economic stress and as such can provide a more reliable and stable forecasting in terms of revenues and profits. Given this, brands are increasingly treated as any other asset producing demonstrable results for shareholders. “One of the main pillars of a company is its brand value. Most investors while doing valuation keep it in mind. Because the higher the brand value, potentially higher is chance to book profits. It becomes even more critical in a wired world, when, one wrong report in the social media, and your brand’s value might plummet. Along with your profits,” agrees Anindya Banerjee, Senior Creative Director, Publicis India.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
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IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
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Monday, January 3, 2011

Extra Activity - A Landmark Felicitation Ceremony

National Award winning film and stage actor Soumitra Chatterjee was awarded for his contribution to immortalise Tagore-created characters and poems through his acting and recitation respectively. Due to some personal engagements, he couldn’t attend the ceremony, but film director Anjan Das received the award on his behalf. Each of these awardees received Rs. 1,00,000 in prize money each, including a gold medal and a citation. Along with these awards, IIPM also announced the institution of three foundations (worth Rs. 10,00,000 each) in the memory of four legendary contributors, namely Shambhu Mitra (theatre), Satyajit Ray (film), Nandalal Bose & Ramkinker Baij (fine arts). The earnings from each of these funds will be utilised to honour and nurture the talents in these three fields. The ceremony ended with an expectedly inspiring speech of the Honorary Dean of IIPM, Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri. In his uniquely majestic deportment, Prof Chaudhuri took us down the memory lane of his childhood and spoke about his love for Tagore. He said, “Tagore’s vision of equitable society is still prevalent. We haven’t yet been completely successful to craft a society where humanistic values like ‘survival of the weakest’ will be a common practice. We need to imbibe Tagore’s philosophy and make our society a better place to live for the future generations.”