Assure, Convince, Impress

The taste of pudding is in eating‐ they say. And experiential marketing works the same way. By definition, it’s about attaching unique experiences with the product benefits so as to attract and retain the consumers. Under experiential marketing approach, companies encourage their consumers to try and use the product or service in the real usage environment. P&G used this approach when they went all out promoting ‘Tide’. Their salesmen demonstrated Tide powder by actually washing the clothes using Tide in some of the households. This instilled confidence amongst the housewives as they could see the effectiveness of the detergent themselves. For the fence‐sitters, it was a quick check to verify whether Tide actually delivered what it promised.

HUL, the arch rivals of P&G, followed the same approach when they went ahead with their “RIN
Challenge” in March this year.

Experiential marketing makes a consumer ready before he thinks of actually buying and using the product. More the marketing is done in experiential way, more it alleviates the chances of post-purchase dissonance. If the unique experiences can be created while the customers evaluate (look at/touch/ feel) the product, it gives them a much stronger reason to eventually buy the product. Since the consumers have experienced it themselves, they have no reason to ponder over their decision later. Consumers are often trapped in the dilemma of doubting whether the product will work exactly the same as it is shown in advertisements. And there comes experiential marketing to help the marketers and, to assure the consumers.

Especially for hedonic purchase decisions where customers get pleasure from the very act of buying, using the experiences (along with the product) pampers the fantasies of consumers. Also, the right experiences aid to their self‐expression and emotions. Going forward, it might function as a tool to impress customers.

This is getting even more relevant as more no. of companies are trying to grab share of the same valet. On the marketer’s side, it helps to tell consumers about how the process of usage will fulfill their needs. In today’s world, products can’t be easily differentiated ‐ but experiences can be!

If implemented correctly, this idea will certainly help consumer products and durables companies in a big way, e.g. in the Home cleaning category, if the consumers are convinced that the cleaner wipes out the germs and makes their toilet clean, they will be ready to buy the product. Moreover, if the experience has been assuring and rewarding, it gives an opportunity to command a premium for it.

And some of the companies have started the move in the right direction, e.g. Mahindra & Mahindra realized it early when they launched Scorpio in 2002. They offered test‐drive to the customers and asked them about their experiences. These insights helped them fill the gaps in product features and make it even better. Skoda has recently done the same by offering test‐drive to its customers in select malls/show‐rooms in Mumbai.

Courtesy:
Mithilesh Kumar
SCMHRD 2009-11

Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, CEO, Rural Relations

Mr. Pradeep Lokhande has been working very hard for almost 15 years on his dream - he has been trying hard to make the villages of India computer literate! In this process not only is he helping students in the villages but is providing valuable data related to conditions and challenges faced by these villages to various corporations to help them understand the consumer behavior. It’s a win win situation for all.

Recently he started an effort to make video interviews of the villages by employing the youth from the village. This helps in providing feedback to the contributors as well as interested corporations. He has already helped over 400 schools with a computer which not only keeps the students excited about their schools but help them understand the amazing uses of a computer which has completely changed the way we do business.

He has created an infrastructure which allows for donations to reach its goal without any red tape through his organization: Rural Relations.

Rural Relations, founded by Mr. Pradeep Lokhande is playing a unique role in helping the kids with computer education, in making us all aware of the state of the villages, a very interesting approach to provide valuable data of about almost 70% Indians - The Rural India!

Mukul Varshney (Sr. General Manager and Head Sales and Marketing – Harvesters and Crop Solutions at John Deere)

Mukul Varshney (Sr. General Manager and Head Sales and Marketing – Harvesters and Crop Solutions at John Deere)

A B-Tech from Allahabad University and EGMP IIM Bangalore; Mr. Mukul Varshney has over 22 years of experience in Channel Management, Strategic Planning, Sales & Market...ing, Business Development, Sales Process Reengineering and Human Resource. Agri-solution and Bio fuels management.
He is presently Sr. General Manager and Head Sales and Marketing – Harvesters and Crop Solutions at John Deere India.
He has 11 Years of experience in Sales and Marketing with Mahindra and Mahindra Limited Automotive Sector.

Engagements and Interests:
Trainer – JD Global Performance Management
ISABS – Human Behavior Personal Decisions International USA - Impact Leadership
Dardis Communication USA- Coach
Profiler 360 degree – Coach
Team Enrichment Speaker – JDI internal departments
Visiting Faculty to COE Bhopal, NIAM Jaipur, SIMCA Pune, IIPM Pune and PIBM Pune
Member FIND Pune (A knowledge Sharing Forum)
JD representative for Govt Liaison, Universities and FICCI
IIMB – Member foundation initiative - Pune Chapter
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Nitin Gupta (Rivaldo) is the CEO of Entertainment Engineers

Nitin Gupta (Rivaldo) is the CEO of Entertainment Engineers(www.humorbeings.in)

He is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay famous for creating a Cult Play 'Love In December'. Fresh out of IIT Bombay, he got an offer to perform on Laughter Challenge, the opportunity which he la...ter turned down! The reason is why he founded Entertainment Engineers with a simple mission, to make Stand Up Comedy respectable in India and to create a humor Renaissance in this country. Humor he says, ought to have an emotionality to it. We not only want people to laugh and think, we want them to LAUGH, THINK and FEEL at the same time. T.V. was not the medium to do that. So Nitin took to the Stage, College Festivals, Corporate Shows. And in a short span he has already enthralled the Audiences in some of the Biggest College Festivals in India, IITs, NITs, IIMs including their Alumini Meets. A Guest Speaker at various E- Cell Platforms and Marketing Conclaves. A TED Favorite. He is widely considered as the most Original Orators of present times.
But Theater and Stand Up Comedy is not the only thing on Nitin's Mind. He has already had many offers from leading Production houses in Bollywood to make Love in December. But he is in no hurry, as he candidly puts it, 'Love in December is our baby, hence it will be our Home Production.'
He soon intends to enter into Advertising. Till then we will have to be remain content with his heartwarming Stand Up Comedy Concerts.
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Exploring Experiential Marketing in the Rural Market

The new buzz word in the market is “experiential marketing” – using one or more of the human senses to market services and products. The concept is really quite simple and honestly very brilliant; it involves not only giving customers an opportunity to engage and interact with brands, products and services but also helps them build an emotional connection thereby enabling them to make a better purchasing decision. Today, experiential marketing has been used quite successfully in urban market contexts; however, my focus in this article is on exploiting this new marketing model to explore the rural markets in India where the customer is not educated and has a different mindset than those in the cities.


Why the rural market? Well, most of the BOP today lives in a “media dark” zone, meaning they do not have access to radios, TVs, etc. Since, traditional marketing models fail to reach this target experiential marketing can step in and broaden the horizons for brand promotions and consumer education. In addition, the real life experience of touching, tasting, feeling, relating and familiarizing oneself with a new product that the customer is likely investing in for the first time, creates a unique influence on the buyer. On the far opposite end of the "trust" spectrum lie media advertisements which pitch features and benefits. There is little reason for consumers to trust yet another over-exaggerated sales pitch, let alone base their purchase decision on it. It is here that the experiential marketing fits in.


How has experiential marketing made its mark? In the rural markets, usage of promotional tools like kiosks, stalls, free sampling, etc. has increased tremendously in the last decade. Consumers are now demanding testing and tasting of products before buying even a pack of biscuits or tea. Some methods that marketers have employed for satiating this consumer curiosity are by providing samples at the tea stalls at the Melas and Haats (weekly markets in the villages). The smell of the tea accompanied by the taste from a free sample forms a part of experiential marketing luring them towards the products.


A well demonstrated implementation of experiential marketing was seen in Mahindra’s promotion tactic for its Hy Tec tractor brand. These tractors are strong hydraulic tractors aiming to help farmers sow the fields. To demonstrate this technology to the farmers the company engaged them through a technique in which sensors were fixed to the hydraulic and a large LCD monitor was placed for the farmers, which captured the movement of the cultivator on an ECG graph. This activity was easily understood and remembered by the farmers, thereby creating a band impact resulting in significantly increased sales for the company.


One way to exponentially increase the impact of experiential marketing is to combine it with word of mouth marketing. When the consumer is enthralled by his experiences with the brand, he will certainly share these with his friends and family. The results can be truly astounding.
The Aravind eye care system is a prime example of successfully marrying experiential marketing with word of mouth marketing. Aravind eye care systems, largest eye care facility in the world, conducts more than 1500 eye camps where the poor are tested for vision problems and those needing help are admitted to hospitals where the sanitation and medical care is optimum. These camps not only enable brand recognition but also facilitate to build credibility. The word of mouth in this case is extensive enabling to cover a larger target customer base than what traditional media could have covered.

Keeping in mind the above examples we can say that there is a series of conscious steps that the rural consumers take to "filter" down the set of possible choices and then make the decision based on the comfort level afforded by their own "contexts." And the factor that has the greatest weight in a rural consumer's purchase decision is their own experience with the specific product. It is the difference between telling the rural people about features or benefits within the confines of the thirty-second TV spot and letting them experience it and get their own "a-ha!" event.

Courtesy:
Dhwani Thakkar
SCMHRD 2009-11

Santosh Desai–Managing Director & CEO, Future Brands Ltd

Santosh Desai–Managing Director & CEO, Future Brands Ltd

Santosh is the Managing Director and CEO of Future Brands Ltd. Future Brands is a branding services company that creates and manages a portfolio of brands and offers consulting services in the brand and consumer space. Before taking up this assignment, he was the President of McCann-Erickson, one of India’s premier advertising agencies. A post graduate from IIMA, his interest lies in studying the relationship between culture and brands.

A review of his bestselling book, Mother Pious Lady- Making Sense of Everyday India, by Outlook magazine calls Santosh Desai, “the nearest thing we have to R K Laxman in prose”. His work as a social commentator and a media critic has also documented in his role as a weekly columnist with Times of India, and columns in Mint, Media International & Tehelka.

He is a member of the Advisory Council on Communication (ACSAC) of the UID programme as also a member NACO sub-committee on communications and a trustee at the Centre for Media Advocacy. He is on the boards of ING Vysya Bank, Mumbai Business School and Future Consumer Products limited and on the Governing Councils of Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad & Praxis Business School, Kolkata.

He has addressed several national and international seminars and has served as a Jury Member for the 56th National Film Awards.

Posted By Indranil Das
www.ino-vate.blogspot.com

FRAGE 2010 - Quiz 1

Q1) Identify the logo


Q2) Give the connect


Q3) This popular mascot was created in 1985 in New York.
He represents free spirit and guileless confidence. In India, the mascot is known for his association with a beverage company. Though, he has advocated for Human rights also. Identify.

Q4) launched in 1930s this brand was launched for women
but it is now known more as a brand for men. The brand used ships as its trademark, though they have been now replaced by a yacht. Identify the brand.

Q5) Connect?



Q6) This channel was started by a father –
duo in the late 1970s, after both of them were fired from their respective jobs. This channel was a pioneer in its chosen field of programming. The name of the channel was changed to match the name on the letterheads, which were printed with a typo.

Q7) Identify this gentleman, we can’t imagine
life without his creation.


Q8) What’s her claim to fame?



Q9) This product was the first in its line and was
designed in 1970. It was painted black and white so that it can be easily visible on TV. What ?

Q10) Founded in the late 1970s by a noted economist,
this company created a business model of earning money through routine economic research activities. Now it is the largest private repository of economic data in India. Which company?

Answers:

1. BASIX Microfinance
2. The Gateway Hotels. Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Rahul Sharma & Manish Arora, are the brand ambassadors of the brand.
3. Fido DIdo
4. Old Spice
5. The Onida Devil. Gopi Kukde created the concept. AAmir Bashir, Ashish Choudhary & Rajesh Khera played the Devil
6. ESPN
7. Martin Cooper. He is credited with the creation of the cellular phone.
8. Eleanor Thornton was the model for the Spirit of Ecstacy, the mascot for Rolls Royce Cars
9. Telstar, the first official football for the FIFA world cup made by ADIDAS
10.CMIE