Reflections

Two Words That Stopped Me I recently came across two Marathi advertisements that used the words "हैराण" and "झिजणे". Both stopped me — not because they were grammatically wrong, but because neither sounded like the Marathi an ordinary Marathi consumer would naturally speak.        That is where my mind turned to autotranslation and technology. It is the age of technology even in advertising, and it has known benefits — there is no argument to that. But the same technology is also creating shocks in the system, as well as giving rise to problems. The bigger issue is that the industry seems to be blissfully unaware of the downrange as well as the immediate challenges being raised by the entry of technology into this field — a domain that was, hitherto, purely creative-based, human-based.   The Real Danger ...

Lets take a stroll through the market – any market, any city in India. Go into the shops, and observe the products therein. The one thing that stands out – the proliferation of MNC Brands, brands that originate outside India, with only production in factories in India, if that. In some cases, even that is not there – the product is simply imported. Either that, or its key components are imported. A similar trend, though not so easily observable, can be seen in industrial markets, with the tendency of imports being ever-present. Be it steel or be it dairy, it is the same story everywhere. This, far from being a success story of the past 28 years, is actually a telling failure of our local industries, a compelling tale of abject failure, as company after company falls in share {sometimes even shutting shop}, with the gains being made by Brands that are not Indian. Our per capita income has gone up, yes. Opportunities for people have increased, yes. Lifestyles have improved ...

The Book gives a nice summary on the cover : Delightfully written, Spark decodes the art of Brand Building and provides a step by step guide to arriving at insights that survive the test of time . I refer to the book “ Spark – The Insight To Growing Brands ”  written by Paddy Rangappa . In short – delightful, yes. Step by step guide – yes; but to what is the question. Is the content good – yes. Is it pertinent – again, unequivocally, yes. But does it decode the art of Brand Building – regrettably, no. In my opinion basis 17 years of Sales and Marketing Work Experience, there is a lot more to building Brands. That said, this is an excellent resource, as we shall see in this review. CRAFT There are many good points in the book; excellent, stunning insights, and a very practical framework that just about anyone in any leadership or quasi-leadership role will find very practical and adaptable to just about any real world situation. The framework suggested, one of them, is...

FMCG : PATANJALIED!!!!! {PART – 3} The Feasible Strategic Alternatives At the outset, let me clarify that I am not an FMCG player; my interest in the Patanjali case study emanates from the unique marketing riddle it presents; and its close similarity in some ways with my Trade Telecom Handsets, wherein two challengers have upstaged the established player/s. Being a keen student of Brand responses to attacks in my trade, I could see ready parallels and deep learnings to be had from the studying the rise of Patanjali, and the current responses of the attacked incumbents i.e. the established players. As I have gleaned from my FMCG friends, the current responses include launching brands or sub-brands around the health parameter, Ayurved, etc; these are clearly not going to be adequate. I don’t deny the need for such variants in the product lineup, but these cannot be the core response for obvious reasons, as we saw in the previous two parts of this article. We need to go deep...

FMCG : PATANJALIED!!!!! {PART – 2} Previous Part : Click Here The rise of Patanjali cannot be explained by mere Marketing Factors; to further underscore my point, let me just quote a small observation : for the first time, I am seeing an FMCG Brand {or any other product, for that matter} being discussed in Social Media, Whatsapp forwards and discussions, personal discussions etc. Now this is absolutely unique; for a mere Brand to get so much traction as to become a talking point in such areas does call for comment as well as some pretty serious thinking and analysis on the part of both Academa as well as Corporates; it is {yet another} indicator of the seismic shift in the Indian Consumer that should have been spotted The Indian Consumer Story is admittedly complex with deep differentiation and divisions that most corporate honchos love to parrot – and they are spot-on accurate. However, when trying to pin down the growth of Patanjali, one has to go beyond these narrow ...

FMCG : PATANJALIED!!!!! {PART – 1} The Rise, Rise And Rise Of Patanjali… The rise, rise and rise of Patanjali in the FMCG Sector is the cause many a heartburn in the trade  whose marketshares it has eaten, excitement in the media which gets something magnificent to talk about and report on – analyse – discuss; and a whole new range of products for the customer to experience. A lot has been said and anaylsed about the rise of this brand, and a few responses are also trickling in from the current majors in the trade, which is where the issue stands as on date. A lot has been said about the key reasons behind the rise of this brand; a lot of it does actually make perfect sense; the factors that I have read are indeed pertinent and contributory factors behind the rise of the new brand. But, and this is a big but, all of these factors together will account, or rather, ought to account for, the rise of Patanjali . I respectfully submit to all Marketing Pundits out there,...

How does one create a Brand? Traditional Brand Management looks at concepts like the marketing mix, brand loyalty, awareness, personality, equity, positioning, attributes etc; all these and more are admittedly  core concepts with a range of practical ramifications and uses. The difficulty I have as a marketer in relating to these is due to the excessive focus on one element in the mix : promotion, and specifically advertising. No Marketer can deny advertising its rightful place; it is through the medium of advertising that company products reach the consumer, and make the consumer aware of the same; it also helps build loyalty, creates differential & preferential demand, builds strong associations and all the rest of it; that is pretty much beyond argument. But the problem is that, in tandem with these steps, a host of other steps are needed to provide the base from which promotion can build. Further, these other steps provide the superstructure as well as stability....

One of the most neglected and underestimated aspects of Brand Building remains the contribution and role of the 3rd “P” of the marketing mix : Place. The other 3 Ps have been looked at threadbare in any number of excellent case studies, books, researches, in both India as well as the rest of the World. But, on this, the   third “P”, a few selective articles, case studies apart – I have not read anything in my reading so far. Funnily, this is at complete variance with my own on-ground experience in Sales for 16 years. The question is and remains, how to go about building a great brand? Sure, you need a great product that fulfils a defined need from a set of prospective customers; it should be at a price-point acceptable to the customer-set {segment in Marketing Jargon}; this price point should not reduce the allure of the brand; and it should be backed by a strong marketing programme spanning Advertising and Sales Promotion activities – this is what most pundits will ex...