New Age Retro – The Vespa is back

Meet the 66 year old Italian Classic Icon – “The Vespa. Of Italy. Now in India”.

The Italian two- and three-wheeler maker Piaggio, is known in India mainly for its three-wheeler passenger and goods carriers and four-wheeler light trucks prominently seen in rural and semi-rural areas.

Taking a complete U turn, Piaggio has re-entered the fiercely competitive Indian two-wheeler segment with the Vespa 125. How does it position itself among the best-sellers like Honda Activa, Dio and Suzuki Access? More so, how does it sell itself with a price tag of nearly 40 % more than its nearest rival scooter? Really speaking, are there any takers for the retro style as expensive as Vespa?

Piaggio’s marketing strategy has put together the classic ageless iconic style with today’s functionality. It is trying to rejenuate the brand Vespa in India by making Indian customers take pride in its history and heritage. It is trying to build on the iconic status that Vespa enjoys worldwide. Vespa is being portrayed as a synonym of lifestyle. Not only all its ads talk about the ageless fashion and style of Vespa, but its promotional campaign “Once upon a Vespa” actually takes you through the entire journey of this Italian make. http://www.onceuponavespa.com/. The contest that it is running under this campaign is an example of high level interactive version of web we are living in. The creativity has touched yet another high. The extent of customer engagement that it attracts, I must say, is as good as compelling a customer to go through the brand heritage and successfully imbibe in him the essence of the brand.

However, I am doubtful how much it will sell only on its style quotient which is all built up and not really contemporary, although Vespa is being positioned historic as well as futuristic.

The company has set up a 150,000 units per annum capacity at Baramati, Maharashtra for the Vespa. It hopes to hit 12,000 units per month by October and also hopes to double the sales in its near future.

So, let’s wait and watch the retro rebirth!

The Indian Consumer – Dawn of a New Decade

As we enter a brand new decade, we see the emergence of India as a resurgent, vibrant & self-confident nation. The Indians riding this emergent wave are forward looking and carry aspirations like never before. A farmer from Karnataka saves money to be able to impart education in english medium to atleast one of his sons so that his son can get if not much, atleast a job in Bangalore’s BPO. And indeed, India has seen unprecedented job opportunities in the last decade. Today, top IT companies are recruiting engineers from towns as small as Ichalkarnangi & Satara from Maharashtra. The wave is thus inclusive.


The new Indian Consumer says: I want it all..! Let that be about the increasing number of multiple mobile sim holders or about the new product categories entering Indian markets. Hand sanitizers, nutritious foods like oats were never in the consumer’s shopping basket a while back. Lifestyle products have flooded our markets.


India has not only been a hot destination for foreign investment, but India itself has made highest global impact through mergers & acquisitions, in proportion to its GDP. Not only an Indian consumer but Indian businessmen too are riding the wave. Indian business today is witnessing increased professionalism in its conduct & governance. The entrepreneurial zeal of ordinary Indians is at a high with tech startups sprawling across regions and challenging industry giants. Micromax Informatics, for example, was just another mobile handset when it was launched and today it is India’s largest mobile company with valuation of over $1billion and all this in just a matter of three years !


Smart Phones or social networking sites, we are there to grab all the opportunities to get connected. Facebook and Twitter have over million users in India. Twitter is so popular with Indian celebs and their fans that we even went on to have a Twitter Minister (Mr. Shashi Tharoor :)


So, with the dawn of this new decade, we the Indians give only one message to the world….

The Worldz up for grabs by Us..!

Marketing of a Radio Channel

Radio Mirchi, Radio One, Radio City and such radio channels have cluttered the FM space in Pune in no time. From hot bollywood numbers to traffic updates, puneites get it all on the move by tuning into their favourite stations. A radio channel being city centric has immense potential for creating a strong customer connect. Radio Mirchi for example undoubtedly has the first mover advantage in the city of Pune and has engraved thikhat mirchi in the minds of every punekar. A radio channel can be built into a brand that is very closely associated with every listener belonging to the city. It can be almost built as a synonym for the city and hence has tremendous scope for customer engagement.


To profile a radio channel’s target audience, it’s the young and energetic crowd of cities between the age group of 15 to 45 years of age. It is characteristized by a fast-paced lifestyle. They listen to the music & get information on the move. They have access to latest technology and mind it that they spend significant portion of their time on the internet. Need to mention, they are loaded with good amount of disposable income too.


The fact that the target audience is tech-savvy and a heavy user of internet calls for introducing “Internet” as a more engaging medium for customer involvement with the radio channel.


How? Radio channels often claim to be one-stop shops for complete bollywood entertainment with online music, jokes, live interaction with the RJs and celebrities.
How about positioning a radio channel as a hub of events & happenings around the city? Everyone falling in the target audience does keep looking for options for outings, parties or shopping for the weekend. Every happening in the city can be tracked by and associated with the channel. It can be positioned perhaps as a hub of weekend masti or a weekend planner or guide. Be it dining, shopping, cinema, theatre, outings or parties.


Well, this is not a mere positioning and customer engagement strategy but also can be turned into a major source of revenue generation for the channel besides ad revenue. The channel can tie-up with local retailers, malls, restaurants, hotels, multiplexes resorts, spas and others and run promotional offers & discounts. They can be hosted on a micro-website and even better – through weekly newsletters. The channel can drive campaigns for initial registrations on its website and to build a customer database. E-commerce directly on the host website could also be incorporated at a later stage.


Who knows the radio brand may just enter one’s life for much more beyond music & entertainment!!

Marketing Initiatives in Indian IT Services Industry – A Survey 2010

Sponsor: Indira Institute of Management, Pune
Date Published: 15th August 2010

Description:
Although the value of marketing is accepted at a high level, most business executives are unable to definitively articulate the precise contribution that marketing brings to business. There is always a risk of either over–investing or under-investing in marketing.
Simultaneously, the rapid proliferation of new media in which to invest has marketers struggling to understand which options can deliver the greatest return.
Buying cycles can take months and encompass multiple communications vehicles. Deciphering the effectiveness of a specific marketing initiative in such an environment is a daunting task.
Marketers need to gain a better understanding of how to allocate resources across media types to optimize ROI.
Once marketers can analyze and better understand the impact of their marketing initiatives on their prospective buyers, they are in a good position to make smart decisions on how to optimally allocate their investments to have the greatest positive effects on the revenue.
This report gives a detailed look at how a marketing function is handled, various marketing tools used and their effectiveness and also marketing budgets and its performance across the Indian IT services industry.


Key findings highlighted in report:
 Marketing in Indian IT Services Industry has evolved from Push to Pull strategy and is now turning to Inbound Marketing.
 Marketing Tools such as case studies, white papers, blogs & social media, etc are being increasingly used and are becoming more important.
 Content Marketing, therefore becomes new age mantra for IT Services marketing.
 Other marketing tools like Events, Conferences & Exhibitions, Webinars and Analyst Relations remain to be the primary lead generating tools for Indian IT Services Industry.
 With marketing measurement tools & techniques, marketing activities are being made accountable while with web analytics, they are being made more efficient by leading IT companies.

Topics covered in the report:
a) Marketing Function in Indian IT Services Companies
i. Its Role
ii. Its Effectiveness
iii. Its Control
b) Marketing Tools used by Indian IT Services Companies
i. Most Popularly Used Tools
ii. Most Effective Tools
c) Marketing Budget Allocation by Indian IT Services Companies
d) Marketing Performance and Marketing Measurement by Indian IT Services Companies
e) Current Marketing Trends & Innovative Tools used in IT Services Marketing
f) Challenges in B2B IT Services Marketing


Companies included in study:
Capgemini, Cognizant, Cybage Software, Geometric Ltd, Hexaware Technologies, KPIT Cummins, Mahindra Satyam, Mindtree, Patni, Persistent Systems, Symphony Services, Syntel, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro Technologies, Zensar Technologies, Calsoft Inc, Ignify Software, Innominds, Justmeans, Prion PLM & IT Services, Saama Technologies, Uniken Systems, etc.

Study Methodology:
In June-July 2010, a web-based survey was used to gather data from above mentioned companies about their marketing function, marketing tools they use & their effectiveness, marketing budget, marketing measurement & performance.
24 unique companies responded to it and the collected data- primary & secondary was analyzed based on the company size.

Respondents’ Demographics:
Company Size – No. of employees:
• Small: Less than 100 employees — 4%
• Medium: 100 to 1000 employees — 33%
• Large: More than 1000 employees — 63%

Company's Revenue:
• Less than $500M — 54%
• $500–999.9M — 21%
• $1–5B — 17%
• Greater than $5B — 8%

Limitations:
 It was difficult to reach the relevant marketing managers in the sample IT companies who were responsible for pure external marketing activities of the company.
 Not all marketing managers who took the survey were in a position to answer higher-management level questions such as that of marketing budget, while some others did not wish to disclose confidential information.
 The quality of responses may not be the most credible ones as some respondents took a good 10 minutes time to fill the questionnaire while a few took only 4 minutes as recorded by the system.

For more information, please write to anita.nerkar@gmail.com

Driving Innovation

Innovation is believed to be the only competitive advantage to any business organization today.

Lets us see how,

A company launches a new product, sooner or later its competitor too comes up with same equally good product. Tata Docomo launched itself with 1paise per second calling rates and rest of the telecom operators followed suit. Thus, although novel ideas and schemes attract considerable market share and sales, they don’t remain as your company’s “differentiating factor” for a very long time.

So, here we come to the point that not all novel ideas can really be counted as ‘innovation’, especially those which can be easily copied by your competitor. An innovation is such a business model that is path-breaking, disruptive and sustainable.

The Wikipedia defines innovation as a change in the thought process for doing something. Or let us simply call it as “Out-of-Box Thinking”. Therefore innovation to an organization could mean not only new path-breaking products and advanced technology, but could also mean new processes, channels of distribution or entirely a new business model. Thus, innovation may be applied not only to any of the 4Ps or 7Ps of marketing, but also at any point of your entire customer experience with your product or service.

When we talk of innovation, first thing that clicks is Apple’s innovative range of products like first the ipod, then the iphone and now the ipad. Another common image of innovation is Mr. Ratan Tata’s Dream car “The Tata Nano”. This common man’s Rs.1 lakh wonder car was a result of new patented technology and use of new materials.

Just like the car made available to masses, it is actually possible to bring about economic and social development of the country through innovative solutions.

State Bank Of India was the first bank to reach the rural section of the poor people through innovative banking solutions provided by Tata Consultancy Services. Banking was not extended to the villages earlier because of poor infrastructure and networking problems. It could not afford netwrking costs due to low value transactions in the villages. TCS then came up with branchless banking solution with with the help of cloud computing. Instead of being connected to Core Banking software, it allowed the bankers to use a handheld electronic device to read smart cards carrying biometric information that were issued to their customers. The transaction details would be updated through web server.
It is a win-win situation for all the parties.

ITC’s E-Choupal that allows procurement of agri-products directly from farmers and online access to farmers of far-away markets, Fab India that developed communities of artisans into its supplier companies and made mass production of handicrafts possible are also examples of such innovative business models.

Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai has become a legend for its surgical productivity. The statistics regarding number of surgeries its doctors performs and the costs associated with it are simple mind-boggling. It is mix of –efficiency, quality, compassion, philosophy and family which cannot be transposed elsewhere.

Many organizations have value engineering and value analysis processes in place to increase value. After all, innovation is all about creating value through non-traditional approaches.

Innovation is receiving importance in business world today, so much so that countries have Global Innovation Index which is a measure of the level of innovation of a country, (concept produced jointly by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) with some other associations).

Innovation is the main emphasis of executive managers today for they they know
“To Innovate is To Survive”

Youngistan ka “WOW”

Pepsi, the flagship brand of PepsiCo had introduced the concept of “Youngistan” a couple of years ago. Its current campaign of “Youngistan ka WOW” featuring Ranbhir Kapoor builds on the same youthful spirit. It attempts to show that youth is audacious and lets things happen in their own way.

Youth Traits are much talked about today especially in the marketing world of telecom, two-wheelers, fast moving consumer goods and lifestyle products. Men and women in the age group of 20 to 30 years is their target audience.

A brand is considered to be dying sooner or later if it cannot capture attention of the youth.
It is one such segment that is ready to experiment, try new products, take risks and also have money in their pockets along with willingness to spend.

According to National Council of Applied Economic Research (Dec 2009), 37.9 per cent of 1.2 billion Indian population falls under youth category (age group of 13 to 35) and out of them 72.8 per cent are literate. Quite interesting figures! A huge market potential!

Market research and advertising agencies are all busy these days studying the psychographic profile of this young Indian.
They believe that today’s youth are

Individulastic

Iimpatient
Networked
Novelty Seeker
Value Conscious
Realistic

A company like Bharti Airtel has assigned mentors to the senior executives of the BroadBand Services to understand what young people want and how they live. Yes, those mentors are young 25-year-old employees of Airtel itself…! The executives including the chiefs & heads spend time with their respective mentors to understand how perceptions can be mapped through blogosphere, what is F1 Racing and the networked world of youth.

A company like Levis has its marketing executives in the age group of 28 to 30 years and believes in keeping their company culture young & fresh. Recently, it tied up with banks to offer denims on installment. When Apple launched ipod, it added a slot in their denims to keep the machine.

About 80 percent of customers of Virgin Mobile are below the age of 30. Youth spend about Rs. 500 per month on mobile phones which is more than the national average. Social networking sits like Facebook & Twitter show how networked the young generation is.
Electronic media is getting more popular than the print media. Companies are releasing their ads on You Tube as soon as they are released on television.

Dabur, an FMCG brand realized, a few years ago that its market was above 50 years and that set alarm bells ringing for it. After an extensive market research, it realized that age group of 30 years is heath conscious and gets engaged with the ayurvedic and health products but find them very unimaginative and boring. It was then, that Dabur repositioned itself after giving its logo and packaging a new contemporary look and connecting with the youth. It took on board Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador along with Amitabh Bachchan.

Althhough celebrities like John Abrahim, Ranbhir Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza establish a strong connect with the youth, there are brands like FastTrack that have managed to strike a chord with their customers despite not using celebrities. They believe “There is also an opportunity to be a brand that can be a mentor.”

“Why Play Akele?” was another quirky, bold and on-the-face campaign by social networking site Ibibio.com to entice the youth. It believes that the young audience understands quirky and edgy, and they don’t like straight talk.

So, we find that most of the companies around are speaking the language of youth today…!
It is Youngistan ka wow!
Guys & Gals, its our time to rock the world!

How the Best of the Best get Better and Better

I was quite inspired by this article written by Graham Jones.

He talks about the miler, Roger Bannister who made something impossible possible...He ran a mile in less than 4 minutes before which doctors believed humans were incapable of.

If anything stops you from achieveing something, its your self-limiting mindset.

He writes that Elite performers are differentiated from the ordinary masses by "Mental Toughness".

They LOVE THE PRESSURE. They thrive on pressure and excel when the heat in turned on.

Become the MASTERS OF COMPARTMENTALISATION.

They rise as a result of meticulously done plannning & achieving small goals without losing the focus of LONG-TERM GOALS.

They use competition to hone their skills. They train with the people who push them the hardest.

Its tough to get to the top, but toughest to remain at the top. Keep

REINVENTING YOURSELF.

COMPETE WITH YOURSELF

ASK FOR RELENTLESS FEEDBACK

And to mark every victory and achievement, CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORIES.

Gift yourself a gift that can remind you of your achievement.

And finally, Never Say Die Spirit.

The WILL TO WIN.