Amul stands for quality and fair price

Amul stands for quality and fair price

Association is probably a mild word to describe my connection with Amul. Because for the past four and a half decades, I have admired the people who had set up this federation and the ones who have been running it since then. Amul is not just a brand but a cooperative movement that involved farmers who had a major role to play in the freedom movement of our country. These starved farmers had the mettle to literally throw milk on the ground instead of paying taxes to the British Government.

The charisma of the leadership of Mr Kurien, his sense of idealism and deep commitment has made Amul a unique brand not just in India but across the globe. Amul has brought income in the households of farmers and you can witness the betterment of their lifestyle with your own eyes. The other thing that keeps you motivated to work for this brand is its unwavering quality as all its products come with high quality standards. As for the pricing strategy, you will observe that the products are all fairly priced, not cheap or competitive, but fair. They have been clear right from the foundation that they are here to serve two sections, farmers and consumers.

The driving factor on the creative front is their ability to give us a free hand in doing what they feel is our expertise. Apart from the 4Ps of marketing, they strongly believe in another ‘P’ which stands for ‘Professionalism’, so once they have appointed someone to handle their creative duties, they put in all their trust in that person.

Probably that’s the reason we have been able to churn out topical ads that have carved their own niche in the hearts of the masses. But if you ask me which of these brilliant billboard messages is special to me, it would be the one we did eons ago when Indian Airlines was on a strike for almost two months. The Amul girl mascot was dressed as an air hostess and the message was, ‘Indian Airlines serves Amul butter if and when it flies’. We were asked to withdraw the ad but Mr Kurien completely refused to do so. And later, the Airlines also gave up the idea of threatening them to cancel the butter supply.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012

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

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2011 ADVERTISING FORECAST

AS ECONOMIES STARTED RECOVERING FROM THE RECENT BUBBLE BUST,IT WAS EXPECTED THAT THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY WOULD WITNESS A MODEST GROWTH IN THE COMING YEARS. BUT THE RISING FEAR OF DOUBLE -DIP RECESSION HAS FORCED SEVERAL ADVERTISERS TO TRIM BUDGET INCREMENTS PLANNED FOR 2011. FROM A LONGER TERM PERSPECTIVE, TOTAL MEDIA ADVERTISING FORECAST FOR THE YEAR 2016 ARE ESTIMATED TO CROSS $558.4 BILLION, FOR WHICH THE INTERNET WILL BE THE MAIN DRIVING FORCE.

Touching New Heights

In the post-recession era, developing markets continue to expand much faster than developed markets in terms of ad spends. Growth in the total media advertising industry is estimated at an average annual rate of 7% from 2011-2016. But Western Europe market analysts are of the opinion that the continuing debt crisis in the peripheral Eurozone has damaged advertisers’ confidence in the region’s long-term growth prospects. While political turmoil in MENA caused the ad market to go down by 14.2% this year, the market is expected to return to growth in 2012.

Still the most popular

Although marketers continued to pour more dollars into TV campaigns as compared to other media, the intensity was found missing as six out of the top 10 advertisers spent lesser than last year. The top 10 TV advertisers spent a total sum of $5.16 billion in H1, down by 1.7% yoy. The industry is expected to escalate at an average rate of 7.5% to around $243 billion by 2016. US, Japan, China, Italy and Brazil are the five largest markets today. It is noteworthy that TV, which is expected to captures 41% of global advertising in 2011, will actually increase its share to 44% by 2016.

Internet, what else?

Online advertising spends have gained a lot of traction over the past few years. This space is expected to grow by 10.6% each year through 2016 after rising by 12.5% in 2011. The medium is also expected to account for $70.9 billion in global advertising in 2011 and touch $117.5 billion by 2016. Its share of the global pie should increase from 17% in 2011 to 21% in 2016. However, the largest online advertising markets will remain the same with the United States leading the herd, followed by Japan & Germany. China will ultimately dominate with its rising growth rates in the coming years.

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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.

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“My focus is to drive ROI from my investments”

Staying up-to-date with the happenings in the industry and one’s professional knowledge is key to a good marketing career, says Gupta.

Most marketers say it has been a year of mixed fortunes so far. What has been your experience in this regard? Any new strategy you adopted this year?
The year has been good for us so far, though the effects of the slowdown have lately become apparent. But we are hoping that the exuberance of the festive season will help push sales. So far, the results from the Onam sales in Kerala have been very promising, and we are expecting good sales during the Diwali period. On the strategy front, we are getting more and more active in the digital and social media space. As more and more youth are frequenting these channels, we want to tap them. An added advantage of the digital platform is that you can measure the number of visitors to your sites.

High raw material and other input prices are squeezing the margins of marketers while tight competition forestalls the possibility of raising prices. What challenges do you see in such an environment?
The biggest challenge for me as a marketer is “how to drive ROI from my marketing investments”. This is my core focus, which I am asking all my team members to work on.

What is your leadership style? What do you think works best for you?
My style is situational. I am quite hands-on when it comes to new initiatives like making our presence felt in social media, stepping up online marketing initiatives, etc. I love and enjoy being active on this platform, and use it to keep bouncing ideas to my team and discuss the broad contours of our marketing strategy. Otherwise, I am more hands-off with the team, I trust their work, and just keep a bird’s eye view on the situation, rather than trying to micro-manage things.

How does the marketer inside you function differently ‘at work’ and ‘away from work’? Is it easy to switch gears between the different environments?
I don’t carry work home. It’s quite easy for me to switch off from work at home. I like spending time with my family, especially my two kids whose company I enjoy the most. Sometimes, I have to work on Saturdays as well, but that comes with the territory. In the office I get along very well with my peers and juniors. I like cracking jokes and having a good time with them. It’s critical to have a good work-life balance as a good family life propels you to give your best on the job front. So, I think one should never ignore one’s personal life at the altar of professional career.

What do you think was the major turning point in your career? What lessons did you learn from it?
It was while I was working with Gillette and was posted in the Middle East. I was on the strategy side of the business. Around 2003, I made a shift to the front-end side or the marketing side of the business. It was a real learning curve, and I got to apply the marketing strategies and insights, and it gave a great boost to both my confidence and career.

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.

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Now, The Best Ads in other Categories!

The criteria for shortlisting ads that have an edge over others are as follows: product positioning clarity; clinching benefit to the brand; presence of a Power Idea; visibility of brand personality; expectancy of communication; single-minded focus of message; reward to the prospect; visually arresting and painstaking craftsmanship. Here’s a peek into our Print, Outdoor, Viral and BTL verdict for the fortnight ending February 19, 2011

HappyDent
Baseline: Giving millions a reason to smile
Category: Print

4Ps B&M TAKE: History fascinates; historic revolutionaries are even more fascinating. HappyDent, from the stable of Perfetti, well known for its distinctly humorous TVCs, has come out with something different this time and is all set to create an impact on consumers through the print medium as well. With the latest creatives built around personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa (the faces of these people have been reconstructed using HappyDent gum tablets) and set in a black backdrop, this one makes for an admirable piece of artwork and sets a benchmark for similar brands in the category. The punchline “Giving millions a reason to smile” is again inspiring making this creative a clear winner this fortnight.

Times Of India

Baseline: The Great Indian Circus
Category: Print

4Ps B&M TAKE: The latest print commercial conceptualised by Taproot for The Times of India titled ‘The Great Indian Circus’ aims to capture a day in the life of India. This campaign is part of a contest which involves uploading pictures, videos and jokes to sketch the quirky reality of the world’s largest democracy. The ad that showcases everything right from Baba Ramdev’s aasans, to a whacky circus, from a child playing cricket to God men, gives you a chance to win great prizes and goodies. The concept of banking on every Indian’s perspective of his country hits the bull’s eye and is bound to generate the response expected out of it. Great idea & smart execution, we would say!

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.

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Discovering the soul of a life-product

Manish k Pandey and Steven Philip Warner discuss the nuances and intricacies of branding with the lady who holds Max New York Life’s marketing torch

Anisha Motwani, Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Max New York Life Insurance

It’s said that insurance is always sold and never bought. But Anisha Motwani, Director & Chief Marketing Officer at Max New York Life Insurance (MNYL) has proven this doctrine wrong on several occasions. She firmly believes that brands are not formed just by communications, but it’s a cumulative consumer experience through various touch points. “The consumer is not as complicated as you think. You need to always see yourself as a consumer, as if you were not part of that industry,” says Anisha who firmly believes in “need-based” selling.

In fact, this was the reason that within just three months of joining MNYL in the fall of 2007, the former veteran marketer at General Motors, changed Max’s tagline from “Your Partner for Life” to “Karo Zyada Ka Irada”, to ensure a greater emotional connect with the consumers. And it worked, especially to create a more customer-centric focus and to drive a greater value for the consumer. “When I joined MNYL we had a brand positioning that was Your Partner for Life. It was certainly a very insurance positioning. But, there was something in it that didn’t gel with my creative mind and I wasn’t convinced with the idea. If my challenge was to build this brand then this whole thing of trying to play the same game and trying to get better than others was not the fastest possible way for me to achieve my objective,” explains Anisha.

It’s actually this insight that has helped the brand MNYL climb the success ladder in a short span of time. From a brand awareness score of 58 with “Your Partner for life” in 2008 (ref: ICMR-4Ps B&M survey), MNYL has today reached a point where it can boast of being among the industry leaders when it comes to recall (brand awareness score of 93 in 2010). What’s more? It was the only insurance company to be a part of prestigious Superbrands list for 2009.

But then, there are a host of private life insurance players in India, which offer products under different brand names. So how has Anisha managed to make MNYL stand out in the clutter? “If you have a product which emanates from a consumer’s need, you have your differentiation done,” says Anisha. In fact, her favourite case in point is MNYL’s Shiksha Plus product. She feels that if people are buying child insurance policies, they are not looking at merely insurance. They are looking at grooming their children as all-rounders and not just academic super-achievers; and as such are in search of a “talent development” kitty and not just a lump-sum for their child’s education. It is this very insight that led to forming the contours of MNYL’s leading child insurance product – Shiksha Plus.

She believes that marketing has moved way beyond creating just awareness to building relationship, particularly in a product category like insurance. As such she has taken several bold and rapid steps in customer relationship management. The newest weapon she has made available in MNYL’s communications armoury is a technology platform that uses digital marketing in reaching customers and agents, faster and more effectively. Supporting this aggressive growth agenda is a multi-channel distribution network comprising over 94,000 agents & 12,500employees.

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.

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LEONID MUSATOV, CMO, SSTL TALKS TO SURBHI CHAWLA ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE MTS BRAND IN THE INDIAN MARKET

But how would you market your voice services in such a competitive environment?
The major challenge for us is to make sure that the consumers who are using our SIM, they make it their primary SIM. We are seeing a lot of progress, but these things take time. Moreover, people have this mental inertia in switching from one operator to another.

You have licenses to operate in all 22 circles but you are present only in 12. By when do you see MTS becoming a pan-India player?
You are right but we have a roaming agreement with Tata Indicom for both data and voice. So, virtually, we are present everywhere. Actually, we are apprehensive about entering certain circles right now. What we are trying to do is to enter markets where we see substantial business for both voice and data. But as business progresses there would be discussions on that.

Can you throw some light on your distribution strength?
We currently have around 20,000 outlets per circle and the number is constantly growing.

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).

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AKAI PLANS TO REENTER! NO CELEBS STILL...

Japanese consumer appliance and electronics company Akai is making another comeback in the Indian market. Its foray in the 1990s did not work very well in the Indian market largely owing to its offerings based on lack of cost competitiveness and low brand recall. It was browbeaten then by other entrants like LG and Sony. But now, the company is all set to return. Global Brands Enterprise Solutions Pvt Ltd has signed up with Akai to sell its products in India. This resulted in the recent launch of a range of ultra-slim LED, LCD High Definition and CRT televisions. Presumably, to become one of the leading players in the Indian market in the next few years, the company plans to invest around Rs.25 crores towards advertising and marketing. At the same time, the company is not looking to hire any brand ambassador. The positioning of Akai will be done as a mass premium brand and it will be 5-8% cheaper than leading brands like Sony, Samsung and LG. There are other strategies too. This time, Akai will not be focusing only on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities (like the previous time), but will also target larger cities. Will all this be enough to gain a significant market share? The fact cannot be neglected that Akai had turned the market upside-down in the nineties by playing the pricing game. It was the first one to offer the combo offer (a 14 inch colour TV with every 24 inch TV), which rewrote marketing rules then. But the market space has changed. So have the rules.

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 Detail
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