| Describing India as an onion he said those marketers
who have not understood the fact that India is multilayered have quickly
come to grief. He blatantly said that 'Brand India' was impossibility
and the focus must be on building sub brands and India be a cafeteria
of brands. Ramesh explained, "Lets not fall into the same trap
as the 'India Shining' campaign fell into," taking a dig at the
BJP led campaign. "We are diversity in unity and this fact must
be celebrated."
Are consumers asking for too much?
The general consensus on this one was that consumers should be
expecting the moon and if they are not then one has a problem. Increased
levels of awareness has catalyzed the whole process of consumer
expectations. Moving away from FMCG categories Ajit Mantagani president
- denim division, Raymond India said, "In our line of business,
we have to provoke the consumer to ask for the moon thereby increasing
the value associated with our products. Given the existing environment,
where a customer has more choice, other products to choose from,
it became imperative for companies to develop trust and connect
for them to succeed."
He pointed out that defining one's primary consumer was itself
a strategic issue, as non FMCG categories do not deal with the end
user directly and hence a lot of middlemen also become one's customers.
Next was Lowe's executive creative director R Balakrishnan, who
in very simple words said gaining an insight into a customer is
nothing but looking inside one's self. Citing examples of the Balbir
Pasha campaign to Vim Bar to Saint Gobain, Balakrishnan said the
moment marketers stopped borrowing from consumers and started giving,
that's when we will become a cutting edge community.
Coming to making a rural connect, Rajesh Gupta VP DCM Sriram said
how it was imperative to first have knowledge of the domain. Marker
research done by a third party could provide with data but not the
desired connect. Most rural consumers may abstain from telling you
what they want, so the trick is to sense the needs and translate
them into sales. Interpretation being critical.
Last mile branding in a retail model was covered by Pankaj Mehra,
national sales director Loreal. The ultimate expectation has to
do with an overall, more holistic assessment of what a brand delivers.
This means that brands are expected to become more responsible for
what they stand for in terms of their identities and what they provide
beyond just the product. Since the way people define value changes
with the times, consumers today are more in tune with the overall
experience a brand provides versus what a product offers in terms
of its attributes and functional benefits. While there are many
companies that have already addressed a broader experience with
their brands and products, marketers need to look closer at how
their brand can enhance the overall experience that consumers will
encounter before, during and after consumption of the end product.
The closing session highlighted the new age consumer and where
they were headed. Delivered by Venkat Ramaswamy, professor of marketing
at the University of Michigan, focused on the "next" practices
of value creation. "Everybody is sensing a very basic and fundamental
shift in business," said Ramaswamy. With increased awareness,
consumers today are highly networked with the Internet, mobile phones
and the rise of consumer to consumer communication. He reiterated
that it was time companies wake up and understand that they can
no longer create value for the customer, but need to create value
with the customer. Hence there has to be a constant endeavour towards
co-creation.
Overall the day provided insight, raised relevant concerns: some
age-old, some emerging one to ensure perspective and progress.
The discourse delivered some interesting take home value!
|
A
day of branding all the way. From the branding of a state to hardware,
to beauty products to rural branding to the more macro 'Brand India'
the summit covered it all.