“We work with the team”

Besides boosting existing FMCG brands in the upcoming season, Harsha Vardhan has the mandate to grow the group’s pharmacy retail venture.

For the Rs.30 billion Emami Group, the biggest marketing challenges have been the changing times in the Indian FMCG market and the conventional opinion on family run enterprises. Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, who is one of the key pillars behind the company’s meteoric rise in the recent past, has managed these challenges deftly. He’s the youngest Director at the Emami group & has led the creation of successful brands like Boroplus and Navratna, which together contribute 50% of the company’s FMCG turnover.

Harsha believes that to survive in the FMCG world, constant localisation is necessary and so are brand extensions. This year itself, Emami did 3 brand extensions. Harsha is now planning a major extension under the ‘Fair & Handsome’ brand by the end of 2011. For the upcoming season, Harsha is trying to connect all his FMCG brands with movies (like Zandu Balm with the movie Force). Emami’s gameplan involves at least 8 new launches, product repackaging and taking each brand two new states every year. Last year, the group entered the retail rodeo with pharmacy retailing under the name of Frank Ross Ltd. When we ask him whether the retail venture would go pan-India, Harsha comments, “Emami is India’s fastest growing FMCG company and that’s because we have always adopted multiple distribution channels depending upon the product. And I feel for our retail venture also, the same is applicable.” On the family front, Harsha is even ensuring that the next generation is well aware about the brands. He trailed his fathers footsteps at the age of 13 by entering the business. And today, his 4-year-old son is made to use brands like Emami’s ‘Thanda Thanda Cool Cool’ powder! Take that for unquestionable passion!

Emami’s second generation has taken up the cause of converting Emami into a conglomerate, but Harsha asserts that it will not shift their core focus from FMCG. The group targets a yoy growth of 30% in revenue by 2012. The plethora of files, telephones & hand-phones and the absence of personal or family photographs on his desk reveal a lot about Harsha professionally. Ask him how he manages diverse imperatives and he replies with a smile, “We, the directors, don’t work individually. We work with the team, which creates a force strong enough to manage the group.” Harsha, who ensures regular correspondence with all family members (including the Goenka brothers), feels that his generation has brought in lots of dynamism through professional management and this is fuelling the drive to make Emami big outside the domestic, and the FMCG boundary. Clearly, this marketing maverick is gearing up for interesting times ahead!

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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Planman Technologies

“It’s not about hard sales, but to educate people”

Mudit Bhatnagar, Head - Marketing, Direct Channels & International Business at DHFL Ltd., talks about his new marketing initiative, which he feels can be a game-changer in the home loan sector, as it will ease customer connect.

With increasing number of players entering into the lucrative home loan segment, what it needs for a player to emerge as a winner is some clutter breaking innovation. And that’s what DHFL intended to do, when they launched their ‘loan on wheel’ drive recently in the Delhi and NCR region. To know more about the campaign and DHFL’s strategies to establish itself among the home loan providers, 4Ps B&M catches up with the man behind the campaign Mudit Bhatnagar, Head – Marketing, Direct Channels & International Business, DHFL.

You have recently launched a new initiative “loan on wheels”, which sounds more of a mobile office to disburse loan? Can you please share more details about this initiative?
This is a 60-day program for Delhi and NCR region. Under this, a moving vehicle acts like an office, where a consumer can come up, sit comfortably and enquire about our loan offerings. We will have 2 sales people inside, and 3-4 people outside who will distribute literature and prospect to potential consumers. This idea was conceptualised nearly four months ago. To have a broder reach we intend to go real estate construction sites on weekends, as consumer enquiry footfalls is maximum in such localities on these days. After NCR, we plan to move to various markets in Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand. So after we spend 60 days in NCR, we will cover the remaining markets in North India over the next 30 days.

Was this campaign backed by some market research? What was the basis for such an initiative, especially timed around the festive season?
The whole basis for this campaign has been, how do I make the whole process of home buying simple for my prospect? DHFL’s focus area is the low-middle income segment, which is consumers with average ticket size of Rs.16 lakh in Delhi-NCR, and sub-9 lakh in other markets. I want to cut short some of the processes. The biggest problem is prospecting: whom to go to? Or who are the players in the market? Today every bank, be it HDFC or SBI, is offering home loans, but it’s a matter of convenience. With this initiative we want to communicate and educate the customers that home loan is not a cumbersome process any more as it used to be 10 years ago. Our initiative is not to do hard sale, but to educate more people about home loan processes. I feel I am doing something good for the industry at large and customer as well. Simplifying the process is the main focus. Moreover, satisfying prospects queries is a big plus. Because if I have clarified your doubts, treated you well, I am sure you will come back to me. As you mentioned this is the festival season, our effort is to be part of customers’ celebrations. We want to tell people, let’s do some happy things around this festive season.

Brand DHFL is still not as high on consumer recall as some other banks and home loan players are. Do you think this initiative help you on this front?
As I said, every problem is an opportunity for us. Over the last 27 years, we have grown step-by-step. We are not in the acquisition game or topline game. We want to grow on fair terms. I want to get more customers on board and serve them well, because then only he will spread our name by word of mouth.

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 Best B School India
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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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Planman Technologies

Who will Win The 3G War?

3G Roll-Outs have Begun. 4PS B&M Talks to Aircel, Aircel, Vodafone, JWT, O&M And many more to Decipher The Winner's code in 3G

Voice and text are passé; now mobiles are ready for Live TV and 21 Mbps Internet speed! While the political and legal establishment in India remain stuck on who all pocketed the 2G spoils, service providers are firmly one step ahead in the hope for rewards of the 3G kind; as a new phase of competition gets underway in the telecom space.

Although 3G operations kick-started in India in early 2009, the ball has started rolling only now, after private players entered in late 2010. Tata Docomo was the first one, riding on the experience of its partner NTT DOCOMO. Circa 2011, the battle has now reached a feverish pitch with Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom & Aircel starting their 3G roll-out.

The stakes are extremely high. After 34 days and 183 rounds of bidding, telecom operators shelled out approximately Rs.677 billion in the auction, with Rs.509 billion from private operators, and Rs.167 billion from BSNL & MTNL, for 71 licenses. Delhi and Mumbai, being the costliest circles, accounted for roughly 40% of the total money raised. To add to that, operators are expected to put in an additional $50 billion over the next five years to strengthen their 3G network across the country, says consultancy major PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The market for initial adopters of 3G – the SEC A populace is small – roughly around 100 million, and that too scattered across circles and different service providers. Sandeep Ladda, Executive Director, Telecom and Entertainment & Media Tax Practice, PwC, projects that it will reach 80 million by 2015. So there are no easy pickings in the initial phase. 4Ps B&M delves deep into the plans of Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Idea to understand their competitive situation.

As expected, Airtel seems to have a head start initially, cornering an impressive 2 million 3G users, within months of its launch – in January 2011. The company’s large base of high net worth subscribers in metros works to its advantage. Otherwise, the product offering i.e. 3G services is more or less similar. All are promising high-speed 7Mbps to 21 Mbps Internet, Live TV, live video streaming, video calls, a more responsive GPRS, mobile Wi-Fi, et al. On the distribution front, we are witnessing a dramatic change from 2G times. Instead of whole circles, the telcos are focusing on city-to-city rollouts. When they roll out in entire circles, rural areas and tier 3 towns get into their ambit as well.

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 Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
IIPM in the league of best management institutes of India.....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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OUR PRODUCTS MET THE CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS PROVIDING “GOOD” VALUE!

Shashank Srivastava, CGM - Marketing, Maruti Suzuki

Brand Maruti has grown amidst a clutter of brands in the Indian passenger car market. What according to you, has made Maruti such a valuable brand?
Maruti Suzuki has been able to retain and even grow its market share, despite intense competition. Our products met customer requirements providing “good” value, which was supported by a great brand image and an extensive distribution network. The competition in the industry really began in 1996 with Daewoo, and intensified with the entry of Tata Motors and Hyundai. The nature of the market and consumer requirements have changed dramatically and we have been able to identify these trends correctly. The company has always been there for its consumers. It has earned their trust and loyalty, thus making it one of the most valuable brands in India today.

The Indian consumers today is younger and more demanding. How are you handling this situation?
Right pointed out. As India has progressed economically, naturally the consumer preferences have evolved both demographically and psychographically. The Indian consumer today is younger and more demanding. He is expecting not only value for money and reliability, but also recognition and aspiration from the product. Maruti Suzuki has been carefully building its image with these changes in mind. This is even reflected in our product line-up, such as the Swift, the Dzire, the SX4, the Ritz, the A-star et al, and also the nature of our communication. But there is still a long way to go! Technology is changing rapidly and competition will grow. We cannot be complacent.

As compared to the past, has the company’s approach towards pushing sales changed?
There was little competition in the past. There was always some mismatch between demand and supply. However, with time we built our network and our brand became the most trustworthy in the industry. Today, we have our own marketing and sales staff and conduct research on customer trends. We also invest heavily in advertising.

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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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

The Art of TV Advertising

“TV is the quickest medium but cannot hold the brand on its own,” are the very first lines that Sangeeta Sharma, Manager Marketing, South Asia, Lufthansa says, when we enquire about the reasons Lufthansa has stayed away from standard TV advertisements. The truth is, while trying to play the contrarian, Lufthansa’s marketing strategies have been based upon precise and up-to-date customer intelligence – the primary reason that Lufthansa, instead of relying on the time & tested mode of TV commercials, has rather preferred only that exposure to the TV medium where they could quantify the investment-response ratio.

One critical example is their selective sponsorship of CNBC All For This One Moment (presented by Shereen Bhan, who interviews corporate leaders), where – rather than simply paying up money for being associated with the programme – Lufthansa developed the content within the programme and tracked viewer response with help from CNBC. Few companies in India have the wherewithal to get into viewer analytics like this. In another example, Lufthansa has also been the first airline to use TV tickers in stock screens. States Punit Kapoor, AVP, MRM Worldwide India (which handles the Lufthansa account globally), “Our specific TG, the business travelers were used to seeing only stock tickers, but to see a Lufthansa ticker added to our brand proposition.” While the airline has shied away from TV advertising, they have not been averse to using tactical campaigns on radio and also branding via print & outdoor campaigns. Saket Sinha, Partner-Client Leadership, Mindshare (the media planning agency for Lufthansa) shares, “Lufthansa has grown over the years and the reason for such phenomenal growth has been sharp targeting and understanding of the consumer insights. The kind of media that we’ve chosen for Lufthansa is solely based on the marketing needs. We did not choose TV because TV gets into interruption rather than engagement.”

Late 2009, the carrier – which had completed 50 years of operations in the country – was voted “Best International Airline in India” at the CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards. The focus this year is, however, towards strengthening the carrier’s position in India as the leading European airline. In reality, with 49 weekly flights to seven Indian destinations, Lufthansa is clearly today the top European carrier in India. In fact, India is second only to United States when it comes to the number of weekly frequencies that the airline operates. So the job is not that tough apparently. But with an emphasized focus on new media, Lufthansa is additionally attempting to be a radical trendsetter.

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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4Ps B&M brings the answers in this exclusive report

Though Akshay Mehrotra, Head-Marketing, Bajaj Allianz feels that when it comes to an intangible product like life insurance it is the trust factor instead of a brand that plays an important role in convincing an investor, he really does not hesitate in accepting the fact that in an overcrowded market, like the one they are in, it’s the strong and powerful brands that always have an edge over the others when it comes to choose one. And in industries such as Banking & Financial Services (BFSI), the brand sometimes is considered to be the representative and proxy for the credibility and reliability of the company.

Though there are critics who feel that the brand strength does not protect an investor when market tastes change, when competitors develop more effective business models, or when disruptive new technology displaces a product, the truth of the matter is that the same holds true for any other factor too that affects shareholders’ wealth. So do brands really matter to shareholders? The concluding answer is that in the new-age stock trading scenario, where market information is discounted within a few milliseconds, a brand’s existence or non-existence might not matter in the extremely short term. But it surely does over the long term, both directly and indirectly, as the brand plays a more expansive role as time passes.

NIGEL PIERCY, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING & STRATEGY, AND ASSOCIATE DEAN, AT WARWICK BUSINESS SCHOOL, UK
It’s a means to an end, not an end in itself
Investors should always exercise some caution before accepting management assurances that the strongest brand always wins

There is a lot of evidence that successful major brands constitute an important asset providing competitive strength and enhancing performance in the marketplace. For many buyers brand identity provides security in a purchase, it encourages repeat-purchase, & product recommendations. This alone underlines why the owners of a business should be looking closely and carefully at investments in branding and the results in brand strength compared to competitors. However, there is more to it. The smart investor needs also to be wary of the dangers of mindless expenditure on brands that create little value, and the underlying vulnerability of brand-based strategies.

Branding is a productive investment only if it builds value for customers and hence for shareholders. The brand is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Investors need to ask probing questions about whether management is prone to “blind faith branding”, which assumes that all expenditure on brands is productive expenditure. It is not. Investors should also be fully aware of the weaknesses of building corporate strategies around brands and exercise some caution before accepting management assurances that the strongest brand always wins. Most obviously, the more successful a brand, the more vulnerable it is to imitation and counterfeiting – imitation is the quite legal development of close substitutes by competitors, while counterfeiting is illegal but difficult to avoid. Management claims about the robustness of strong brands may exaggerate just how sustainable they are.

It is also apparent that traditional strengths of brand-based competition may be increasingly questionable in 21st century markets. Having the most valuable brand in the world did not protect Coca-Cola from a change in drinking tastes across the world or an anti-US backlash in some areas. The strength & value of IBM’s branding did not protect it from Dell’s direct business model in the 1990s or competition from cloud computing right now. The now-classic case is the emergence of generic (unbranded) cigarette products in the US in the 1990s.

Faced with loss of business to generic tobacco products sold in gas stations, the big brand owners did the unforgivable – they cut prices to protect market share. The investment community reactions was quite clear – if faced with competition the only thing you can do is cut prices, then that means brands are not worth much, and the question becomes where has the money gone.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
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Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
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IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
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Planman Consulting

Exclusive Interviews from inside LG, Samsung and competitors

Now the dilemma comes when one has to place a bet on which of the two has crafted a better future for itself. In 2010, LG and Samsung collectively take up a lion’s share of almost 40% in the consumer durables market in India and have outclassed not only their Japanese cousins but also the Indian incumbents like Videcon, BPL and Onida. Interestingly, the entry strategy for LG on one hand was to establish its footprints into the interiors of the country and to play on volumes. Samsung, on the other hand, has always positioned itself as a premium player among the consumers. But today, the battle for the durables sector is completely paradoxical. In spite of the slowdown in 2009, the consumer durable industry grew by 20% and is still expected to reach a mark of $40 billion by 2012 at a CAGR of 11%. Having mentioned that, the moot question that arises now is - Who will win the race?

Off late, LG has been repositioning itself in India and harping on the strategy of aspirational branding from a functional perspective. Shin explains the logic behind this move as he shares, “The reason behind this step by the company is stiff price competition, which is taking place very fast and China made products are coming up. So we need to make products accordingly. We shouldn’t play in the red ocean and we should gradually get out of there (low priced products) so that things improve. The other rationale behind this move is that the resale values of LG products is high, the customer is always ready to pay more because of good quality. We have already experienced this from the mass marketing.” Samsung, on the contrary, is spreading out to price sensitive markets because of its low penetration levels. For instance, around 30-35% of company’s flat TV sales occur in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Besides the geographical dimension, another factor playing a crucial role in the cat-eat-cat competition among the two is the mobile phone category. As per an IDC report, out of the 100 million handsets sold in 2009 Samsung garnered the second slot with 7.7% of the entire pie while LG stuck to its third position at 5.4%. Clearly, Samsung has bolstered its position over the last two years by launching new products across all price segments and roping in a celebrity ambassador (Aamir Khan).

Another major differentiation between the two is their communication strategy. Vijay Uppal, CEO, Upfront Advertising puts forward the brand attributes as he exclaims, “In terms of the Brand attributes, I would say LG is more of a sales volume lead brand whereas Samsung is commanding a ‘qualitative feel’ in the customer’s mind. But both of these brands have been using a two track communication strategy. LG harps more on promotions, whereas Samsung is more attuned towards brand aspect.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting