“We aren’t niche!”

Lufthansa has often enthralled Indian customers with its initiatives & Sangeeta insists that more are on the anvil

Sangeeta Sharma, a veteran in the aviation industry and in Lufthansa, where she has spent over two decades, talks to deepti singh about the company’s approach to the Indian market and the recent Park & Fly initiative:

You have been instrumental in bringing many firsts to the Indian market. Please elaborate on the marketing strategy of Lufthansa this year.
Lufthansa has always been innovative in its marketing strategies and stayed ahead of the curve. This year, we have gone a step further to add a unique ‘experiential’ dimension to Lufthansa marketing, which is focused on customer engagement. This is supported by an integrated marketing campaign that combines conventional marketing channels with new age platforms such as digital and social media.

Lufthansa recently introduced the Park & Fly game. What was your strategy behind this?
Leveraging interactive mobile technology with an innovative marketing model, it presents a first-of-its kind gaming experience in the public space that is both informative and entertaining. The enthusiasm for and the interest in the game has far exceeded our expectations. Over a thousand people have played the game on each weekend, with a multifold ripple effect through the buzz around A380 Park & Fly Zones in every mall and the viral impact of our supporting digital and social media campaigns.

How do you measure your progress in India and how have you customised your approach to this market?
It’s been over half a century since Lufthansa began scheduled services to and from India. The trust and loyalty of our customers has grown with each passing year, making us the No 1 European airline in India today. India is a strategic market and we will continue to be a committed partner in the nation’s growth story as it claims its spot as a global economic powerhouse. We don’t do run-of-the-mill stuff, which is apparent. Lufthansa is not a niche brand now and we cater to a diverse target audience that comprises corporates, SMEs, leisure travellers, MICE groups & students. The fact that our brand recall moved from 17% in 2005 to 100% in 2010 demonstrates the support we have from our Indian customers.

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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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Planman Technologies

“Hard to categorise India”

After successfully weathering the initial storm, Manish is now focusing on making Panasonic the ‘people’s’ brand in India

He has had a prolific career of around 15 years already in the consumer durables industry and has served global giants like LG, Samsung & Haier before being inducted into Panasonic India. It is therefore logical to expect nothing less than a thorough understanding of the consumer durables market in India from Manish Sharma, Director, Marketing, Panasonic India.

He joined Japan-based Panasonic in August 2008 as product head for the Viera range of televisions and was promoted as director of marketing in 2010. Sharma, who studied electrical engineering form Madhya Pradesh, considers himself lucky due to the fact that he has always been at the right place at the right time. He often recalls the way he happened to join different brands when they were going through their most challenging times. “When I started my career, I joined Korea-based LG, which entered India as a joint venture and was finding it difficult to make its own place or stand in the market. A few years later when I shifted to Samsung, the brand was repositioning itself at that time, introducing new product lines and betting high on research and development,” he says. When he joined Haier, it presented a different kind of challenge as the company was not a known brand in the Indian market. Then when he decided to join Panasonic in 2008, the company was similarly making a brave attempt to establish itself in the domestic market. Now, after much hard work under his leadership, Panasonic is regaining its glory and market share.

Sharma says that for the Japanese head office of the company, India is one of the most important and strategic markets in the world. The company has recently shifted its focus completely towards India by scaling up investment plans and also launching many new products, which are especially ‘custom-made’ for Indians consumers. The group has recently invested in an R&D plant in Harayana and other infrastructure initiatives also. Panasonic has also delved deep into celebrity associations under his leadershiop apart from the endorsement of sporting events. With his understanding of the industry and the India market, he has helped Panasonic make it big by adding a generous local flavour to its brand appeal and at the same time, making a strong youth connect.

After the success and acceptance of star kid Ranbir Kapoor’s association with the Viera brand, Sharma also introduced another actor Katrina Kaif to be the face of the home appliances range of the firm. And to mark the firm’s foray into the sports world, Panasonic has become the official partner of IPL’s Delhi Daredevils team and is also sponsoring the national football team.

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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“Media Consumption is Least Affected by Mobile Tech in India”

The Mobile Boom in India may Inspire many to talk about how it has changed Media Consumption, but Rohit Bhargava from Ogilvy has a Contrarian View. 4Ps B&M finds out his Opinion on A few other trends as well

“I write a blog about influential marketing. I work at Ogilvy. I have a personality. I wrote a book on why personality matters.” This is how Rohit Bhargava, Executive Vice-President, Global Strategy at Ogilvy, likes to define himself at twitter. Bhargava is the founding member of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence team, which is apparently the world’s largest global network of social media strategists. He has a personal marketing blog – just to say that it is a popular blog would be belittling the fact that it has been ranked by AdAge as one of the top 25 marketing blogs in the world. If that was not enough for his claim to fame, his bestselling book, ‘Personality Not Included’ has been published across the world in eight different languages. If you were to chance upon his blog, you will find a section where he likes to describe himself in the form of various bios, like a one line bio, a short bio, a 100 word bio, then a 100-ish word bio and finally a full bio. Not only has he led marketing strategies for brands like Intel, Pepsi, Lenovo, Seiko and Unilever, he has also worked on marketing campaigns for brands like Arnotts, Subaru, Malaysia Airlines, Kelloggs and Maggi. To cut to the chase, 4Ps B&M caught up with him to bring to you straight from the horse’s mouth, the inside story of the trends shaping media consumption in mainland India viz-a-viz the rest of the world.

‘Content curation’ and ‘entrepreneurial journalism’, how do you see them as important factors in shaping media consumption trends in India or elsewhere?
Journalism is evolving in ways that no one could have imagined around five or 10 years ago. In a world where anyone can publish information instantly, the role of journalism is becoming more entrepreneurial and curated. For example, when citizens post videos experiencing a typhoon, those are the journalists who actually watch these videos and validate them as a source of authenticated news. On the other side, now you have more and more people with journalism training and experience choosing to take the more entrepreneurial road of creating their own media properties and building their own audiences.

There are many trends which have surfaced in the last five years. But what is that most remarkable trend that you think has played a vital role in shaping media consumption over the past couple of years?
The democratization of expertise has been the single biggest trend shaping the consumption of media over the past five years, and also the belief in that media. Everyone is an expert in something, and now you can share that expertise online with the whole world. That means that the media we all read is no longer limited to just a small subset of “official” media publications. Everyone influences everyone else, because we can all read and consume media created by one another.

According to you, what will be the most interesting medium to watch out for, as a trend in shaping media consumption in India and the rest of the world?
The sheer volume of people in each new generation in India has created a natural pressure to stand out. This pressure will lead more and more people to try and build their own personal profiles through creating their own media online. In a truly flat society, anyone can be found and succeed regardless of where they are born or what economic class they fit into. Your place of birth no longer determines your potential future success. Innovation can come from anywhere.

We often hear that India missed the era of pagers and straight away got into mobiles. How do you think that affected media consumption in India?
Actually, I think media consumption will be the one thing that is ‘least’ affected by the mobile technology in India because many people who are now discovering the particular technology are already familiar with print newspapers, televisions and radio. The point is, they already have established patterns for consuming media and they are unlikely to throw that away for what is still a substandard reading experience on a very small screen. Instead, I think the real impact of mobile immediately will come from the people who first access the Internet over mobile devices and use mobile devices to send and receive payments. Those applications are much more likely to drive the growth and adoption of mobile devices. As larger form mobile devices such as tablets start to make their way into the larger base of the market, we may start to see this change.

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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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Decoding Sweet!

Cadbury has for years Flirted with Campaigns that have Moved away from its Core ‘Chocolate’ Message. Now, with its Latest ad Series, is Cadbury Returning to its Original theme? a Summary 4PS B&M review

There are few food items people feel as passionate about as their love for the “sweetness” of candies, desserts and chocolates. Many years ago when we first saw the ad of a girl dancing on the cricket field and tucking into her chocolate, we knew that there was “Kuch khaas” in Cadbury. That moment has continued to live on as consumers are still dancing to the tunes of the Cadbury brand today.

Cadbury Dairy Milk has enjoyed a long and celebrated history of consumption in India even as it has always been in stiff competition with rival Nestle. Cadbury enjoys a market share of over 70% – the highest Cadbury brand share in the world – with flagship Dairy Milk enjoying 30% of the market share. The size of confectionery market in India is Rs 4,500 crore – double that of the chocolate market, which is closer to Rs 2,000 crore, estimate industry observers. Confectionery, too, is growing at a steady clip of about 15%. Naturally, the billion-dollar Cadbury Dairy Milk brand is considered the “gold standard” for chocolates in India.

Yet, chocolate penetration in India is as low as 6-7% and so there exists a huge potential to grow. With its sustained advertising, churning out new campaigns year after year and increasing its ad spends too, Dairy Milk has been able to connect with large swathes of consumers across various demographics over the years. Over the last six decades that it has been in India, Cadbury Dairy Milk has given numerous reasons and opportunities to celebrate joyous occasions in the company of its toothsome chocolates. Right from the “Real Taste of Life” to the latest “Meethe mein kya hai?” the brand’s campaigns have all through dinned the message about chocolate consumption and new reasons for doing so.

The new “Meethe mein kya hai?” campaign is an attempt to propagate the brand as a preferred option for dessert. Considering the Indian household’s tradition of having something sweet after a wholesome dinner, the brand’s latest campaign uses this insight to increase consumption of chocolate in homes, as opposed to impulse purchases only. The ad has been created by Ogilvy’s National Creative Director Abhijit Avasthi and carries a simple but subliminal message: “Most of us feel the urge to have something sweet (Kuch meetha) after a meal. So after your meals when you ask you wife/mom, ‘Meethe mein kya hai?’ we want them to serve Cadbury Dairy Milk!”. Cadbury has been the pioneer in introducing consumers to the art of enjoying chocolate. The brand is known for its campaigns that induce consumers to increase the frequency of chocolate consumption. Back in 1998, when a lot of adults were still seeking justification for chocolate indulgence, Cadbury came out with “Khane ka bahana” campaign. The campaign fetched the brand a larger consumer base by trotting out another convincing reason to tickle the sweet tooth. Then came the ‘Pappu pas ho gaya’ and ‘’Miss Palampur” campaigns with occasion-based themes that helped create a special space for the brand during moments of celebration and amongst large communities. The message behind Pappu pas ho gaya has been lapped up by consumers and is today used extensively to express joy in a moment of achievement and success. The idea involved a tie-up with Reliance India Mobile service and allowed students to check their exam results using their mobile service and encouraged those who passed their examinations to celebrate with Cadbury Dairy Milk.

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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Save The Earth... sell some too

While many companies waste their wherewithal and finances promoting CSR that has no connect with their organisation’s competence or product/service offerings, 3Cs – a real estate company – has used the umbrella of green initiatives to not only promote pro-environment behaviour, but most importantly, has also succeeded in ensuring that the brand recall of their upcoming premium end luxury apartments increases. As an extension of their hyped Earth Water social campaign, the 3Cs company distributed environment-friendly bags as a mark of appeal to people to stop using plastic bags. Apparently, this would reduce the carbon footprint of India. From conservation of water to beseeching people to save planet earth, and more, 3Cs has managed to hit home in finding the connect between CSR and market returns. Go ahead; stop using plastic bags... and yes, buy their apartments too :)

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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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“India Became Important to us in The Past Five Years”

It is one Entity of The Massive Tata Conglomerate that you would have Heard Little about. But, as Tata Interactive Enters The Domestic Education Sector in a Big way, that could Soon Change

When Ratan Tata became the Chairman in 1989, Sanjaya Sharma, who has been with the group for over 31 years, approached him and a team from TAS with a business idea – to get into computer-based learning. Tata liked the idea and the result was Tata Interactiv – an interesting yet relatively lesser known venture of the Tata group. Within a span of a little over two decades since its inception, Tata Interactive has gone through crests and troughs to become the leader in developing training solutions globally. The company has already served clients across education, government & defence, telecommunications and ICT, pharmaceuticals & health care, banking, financial services, airlines, logistics, hospitality et al. Founder & CEO Sanjaya Sharma elaborates on the company’s business model, and how, with its recent foray into schools, the journey in India has just begun.

How did you evolve towards e-learning? What core competencies has the company developed so far?
We began with a focus on computer-based training and multimedia. As the web came in the mid-1990s, we went into web-based learning. We also leveraged our multimedia skills to create web designs. We designed and ran tata.com for the first two years. By the end of the decade, we had acquired enough international references to focus on e-learning. We had invested in product formats like simulations, games, story-based learning, et al. It evolved more towards e-learning and simulations since then. Although it is a niche, Tata Interactive is recognised as the leader as well as the pioneer. Also, we are the only global player. It is a multimedia and multidisciplinary business, and it’s hard to serve multiple geographies. For instance, the style of English speaking itself is different in different countries. But you can never expect to be a TCS in this kind of niche. You can aspire to be an Ideo, the world’s biggest design company. But three core competencies have been developed – multimedia-based instructional design, project management that scales up and institutional selling, which we are leveraging for our expansions.

What is the rationale behind the recent foray into schools?
We have been looking at India as a larger opportunity in the past few years – be it on the vocational side, the school side or the higher education side. We have prioritised schools as the first step. We are leveraging the same core competencies – there is a team of over 200 people creating the same core content. That comes from the strengths of multimedia production and instructional design. Selling to schools is a different target audience, but it is still institutional selling adapted to schools. It will use our project management skills as well. Education represents a big change in philosophy for us. We were not chasing a billion dollar turnover earlier. With the entry into a mass segment like schools, we definitely expect to reach a billion dollars in the next few years.

What is the core value proposition that you will bring in for schools?
Our concept is to supplement the way teachers are teaching by providing them with methodology and the multimedia content through Internet. We have a cloud solution and everything is hosted centrally. The school server is connected to us. As we create new lessons, they keep popping into the school. The philosophy is built around the lesson plans supplied by us to the teacher. It is about how the topic is to be taught, cross linkages with other topics, short term and long term objectives, group/individual activities, assessments. The animation-based and multimedia-based components are also supplied to the teacher. Lesson plan is an overall plan to teach the lesson based on the way the board specifies. At this time, there is a lot of interest in terms of this concept. Some 7-8 thousand schools have implemented this system only partially. The sector is price sensitive, but demand is arising from all segments – trustees, principals, teachers, students and parents want it as well. We plan to cover some 100 cities across the country in the next few months.

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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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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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The Great Escape at Mandawa

One of India’s most anticipated off-road events, the 67th Mahindra Great Escape recently concluded at the sand dunes of Mandawa, Rajasthan. The event was flagged off by Bhaskar Rao, Transport Commissioner, Government of Karnataka and saw eminent personalities from all walks of life enjoy the Mahindra spirit of adventure and offroading. The Great Escape is an ‘invitation only’ rally and since its conceptualisation in 1996, it has offered most of the elusive terrain across India to its participants. In the beginning, the rally was incepted to showcase Mahindra vehicles’ strength on the terrain against termac, though over the years, it has won the reputation of being one of the most thrilling non-competent rallies in India. In 2009, the Great Escape celebrated its Golden Jubilee in Goa.

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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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LG’S War Cry to Apple

Tablet wars, which was initiated and pioneered by Apple with its launch of i-Pad, have once more been ignited by the original makers of i-phone’s Retina feature. LG plans to rival Apple’s i-Pad by the end of the fourth quarter this year with its upcoming tablet that apparently will have the latest features and all new benefits. The ‘LG slate’, which still awaits a formal brand name will focus on creating content rather than consumption with a mixed support of document writing, video editing and even elements of coding which are presently missing in Apple’s tablet. LG has already declared its initiatives on releasing smart-phones based on NVIDIA’s Tegra -2 chipset along with nine more handsets by the end of this year and plans to capture a 5 million units’ share in the US market alone. Although LG completely failed to make its presence count in the smart phone segment in the past, the current claims can at least boost the confidence of the management which is all set to challenge the temple of innovation (Apple) and the biggest invention of the recent era.

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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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THE UNSHAKEABLE CHARISMA LIVES ON!

Despite tough competition, brand hero honda continues to be India’s top two-wheeler brand for the high recall that it enjoys among domestic consumers

Post partition when the Munjal family shifted to Ludhiana and started making bicycles who would have thought that it was a giant in the making? But once the government allowed foreign companies to enter the Indian market through minority joint ventures, Hero Group joined hands with Japan’s Honda Motor Co. to manufacture motor bikes. And today, the joint venture – Hero Honda – is not only the world’s largest producer of two-wheelers, but also one of the dearest brands for most people in India. Certainly, the path was not rosy enough. But with a strong determination and by deploying right strategies at the right time, the brand has managed to climb the ladder faster than any other auto maker in the country.

Year 2006 was a true taste of character for Hero Honda. This was the year when its arch rival Bajaj Auto was close to topple it as the market leader. The whole Indian media was doing rounds of speculations about when Bajaj would be able to overtake Hero Honda. But the bike maker was busy finalising its strategy to come out of the tight situation. Recalls Anil Dua, Senior VP – Marketing & Sales, Hero Honda, “We then decided to change our focus to the top-line of the company to which the bottom-line will follow and the rest, as they say, is history.” Undoubtedly, with the tag of a leader in terms of mileage and a focus on entry-level, the company deals with great volumes and there by touches the lives of millions of the Indian consumers ensuring greater brand value for the company. Moreover, going by industry watchers this is one of the biggest reasons which has provided Hero Honda such a cushy position in the domestic market. In fact, the company’s timely foray into the rural parts of the country has empowered its brand equity to grow by leaps and bounds. Avers Pankaj Dubey, National Business Head, India Yamaha Motor, “The Hero Honda brand is very strong in the rural parts of the country and it is very difficult to challenge the leadership position of the company in those areas.” For the uninitiated, Hero Honda banks more than 40% of its total sales from rural areas currently.

However, it is not only about the rural expansion and entry-level segment, the company has also built upon its premium segment portfolio and hence, has been able to cater to a wide range audiences. Offering products like Achiever, Hunk, CBZ Xtreme, Karizma and Karizma ZMR, the company proudly labels its premium products portfolio as its diamond strategy. Explains Pawan Munjal, MD, Hero Honda to 4Ps B&M, “We have decided in the last couple of years that we have to have leadership across segments. We should not be seen as a company for rural masses only. So, we have refreshed our portfolio and have been growing at almost 40% in premium segments.”

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
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VIKAS JAIN, FOUNDER MEMBER AND BUSINESS DIRECTOR, MICROMAX - HOW HE OVERTHREW THE DOMINANCE OF BIGGIES LIKE NOKIA, LG... AND MORE

Will your product portfolio remain similar for these markets as well?
To begin with, it would remain same, but later on we would like to localize it as and when we see the need.

Don’t you think you are entering the international markets too soon?
I don’t think it’s early. I think there’s enough market available and the company has enough resources to do more than one thing at the time. What’s more important is to be at the right place at the right time and that’s what we are doing.

How will your launch portfolio play out?
12 handsets at the time of Bangladesh launch, 10 for UAE and 7 for Sri Lanka. These are devices from our current portfolio and as we spend more time in these markets, we will look at scaling them in accordance with the needs and demands of each market.

What are your upcoming devices for the Indian market?
Hopefully, 3G services will be rolled out during Diwali and we would like to time our 3G portfolio along with that. I think with time, 3G would be a big part of the portfolio. We would see many more devices with bigger screens, and more smartphones. We don’t want to sell a technology, but a solution, which our customers can experience and have its worth. We would also be looking at Android devices around that time only.

Can we look forward to push mail devices as well?
If things go well, we’ll have push mail on more than one device by the next month.

How do you plan to benefit from your international exposure?
This gives us higher exposure into different markets, and brings in opportunities. For example, Micromax had its smartphones ready, but could not launch it in India as there were no 3G services available. But in a small country like Sri Lanka, 3G has been available for the last one year. So this territory can now help us to take our portfolio to a next level.

What about your service centre strength?

In India, we have 520 service centres and our target is to have 1000 by the end of this calendar year as we are looking to double up our sales base from one million units to two million in this financial year. In international markets also, we are trying to give a similar experience to our customers. So, while we have 22 collection points and 6 services centres in Bangladesh, the count is 54 and 3 in Sri Lanka and 13 and 1 in Nepal respectively.

Do you follow the same branding strategy in international markets as well?
Our phones are different from any other phone in the market. We have always looked at bringing utilitarian things in the market with the help of our devices and I think customers are smart enough to understand the same. So far, all our success has come from this strategy only.

What’s next on your agenda for the Indian market?
We want to have a top of mind recall of 10%. We already have that much market share, but we would want to see the same percentage saying Micromax should be their first preference while buying a cell phone.

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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Punit Kapoor, AVP & Branch Head, MRM Worldwide India - TV Advertising

Brand Speak

Punit Kapoor,
AVP & Branch Head, MRM Worldwide India

Lufthansa as a brand has always been perceived to be for the elite class. Is that the positioning that you are trying to achieve for the brand?
I think it is just a perception, which may have been true earlier... not anymore. As a traveller, I will want more options on the net and when I compare prices, I will want the best possible one. Today, our perception is changing – we are localising our campaigns.

Talking about localisation, why haven’t we seen Indians being featured in your campaigns?
That is intentional. Indians are very aspirational; and keeping this in mind visually is very important. Another reason is standardising; you will see the same girl all across the globe so the connection is simple and easy. Localisation is coming because of consumer needs but as far as the brand strategy is concerned, the image has changed. We also have faces looking European/English; but yes, a globalised face.

If radio ads make sense, then why not attempt TV advertising too, as both target the masses?
We were very convinced from the start that we will never use TV for advertising. The radio medium has emerged [faster]. Everyone in our TG is travelling and on-the-move. As they are not in offices, so the medium serves right.

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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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