There is a term called activation. A company may have a very good distribution network, a decent product, making the final product rightly available at the retail counter and promising a value to the user but it all reduces to ashes if the product doesn’t register in the mind of consumer and he just passes away. Its not that the product is bad, its just that the mind of consumer is not receptive to that category of product because of some reason. This will happen if either the product is a low involvement one or if it has become one, which may further happen due to many reasons, loyalty being one.
Some companies focus on packaging to make the registration; others try shouting, and many these days go for guerilla. Idea is to INDULGE the consumer, and this essentially has to be by involving or rather pushing to involve his senses. Attractive packaging catering to sight, asking people to touch and feel the product related to skin and so on. The consumers have been getting used to innovations and marketers to innovating. Add those two together and you get some really creative marketing campaigns. Say, lately the trend of Scent Marketing has picked up. Being true to its name, it’s blowing nice aromas at you to get you to spend more and keep coming back.
ScentAir, a firm from North Carolina has indulged itself in this marketing. It makes specialized smells for the companies. These are then used in retail outlets, in hotels, in magazines and lot more open avenues left to be innovated. Sometimes smells of actual products are pumped into the room. In one case, says Van Epps, CEO, ScentAir, that it actually lured more people, step by step, to a basement ice cream shop by wafting the essence of sugar cookie and waffle cone down the stairs. He claimed that the shop found a tremendous lift in their sales as a result of using that like a sign. “It’s why we call it an aroma billboard.” he points.
Aroma based signatures is the other popular trend. Many companies are going for a signature aroma and associate it with their deliverables. Idea is that scents are much more associated with our memories than our sight, so help in making an emotional bond. This very thing inculcates the high involvement of product. So next time one smells the same scent, the brand is recognized. ScentAir is already selling the devices for this kind. A typical machine lasts for 300 hrs, can detect motion and is a small enough one to miss out on the general attention. With 1000 smells to choose from, one can customize it fully.
And companies are embracing it with a big smile. Mars, PepsiCo, Kraft and Procter & Gamble, hope scents will help them get attention among fragmented audiences.
Had gone to chandni chowk today for a nice treat at the famous old eateries like Kake di Hatti and Giani’s Faluda & had taken metro for traversing. What i witnessed on my way back to hostel had my eyes and attention fixed.
Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) promoted Adlabs launched a new FM Radio, Big 92.7FM, in already cluttered FM radio market. To market its launch in Delhi it came out with a direct marketing stunt of putting Big 92.7 triangular boxes on the holding straps in Delhi Metro. Well my first reaction was – awesome !!! Covering every alternate strap, it made a great sight. Well atleast many of the people who had to stand holding the strap surely gave it due attention. Due to restrictions I could not click a snap though.
The new entrant is planning to go across 45 cities, 1000 towns and 50,000 villages to reach 200 million, the largest private Indian endeavour till now. It also emboldens the dream of Anil in media industry, which one may think of have been started with wedding with Tina Munim
What cheers me is the use of direct marketing as a choice by industry majors now in India. India has been scoring high on various ad awards lately and this trend is surely gonna impress the juries now. Atta boy agencies !!!
OK, am late for this The news may be about a month old, but it just never caught my senses, any one of those for the record…
After hollywood came out with much appreciated action flick – Troy , almost every one knows about the history behind famous Trojan horse. Just for the unpardonables, the legend goes,the long drawn out Trojan War was fought over Helen of Sparta (a Greek polis) who had been carried away by Paris of Troy. Finally, the Greeks tricked the citizens of Troy into accepting a large wooden horse (in which they had hidden their warriors) as a sign of the latter’s victory. During the night, the warriors emerged and overran the city. Helen was returned to her husband, Menelaus.
Years have gone by and the legend still enthuses and amuses people. So when Sify came to Ogilvy for a direct marketing campaign for Sify Assure what came out was an innovative ad campaign.
“One of the reasons for choosing this concept was that our target audience identified/related to it as computer virus as well as for the ever popular story. We thought it would be appropriate as it related to both the breach of Troy, which was always thought to be impenetrable, as well as a computer virus which could destroy your precious data,” says Madhok, adding that today’s corporates are not sensitive to information security despite the great risk.
Sify’s strategy was to drive home the point to 439 CEOs and CTOs by sending them a wooden horse with a trapdoor in its belly which contained a note saying `Your security has been breached.’ It urged them to log on to a Web site with a unique password (for each person) mentioned in the note and greeted them by name with a letter introducing Sify Assure and case studies of security breaches in firms.
This very unique password enabled Sify to identify which CEO or CTO had logged in. Sify’s call centre would then call him or her to judge their interest, and if they were classified a hot prospect, would go on to fix an appointment to discuss the product. Those who had not logged in would be sent a reminder three days later.
Of the 439 mailers sent, 199 prospects logged in, which is a 44.6 per cent response. For any DM campaign, this is a great success. Each hand-made wooden horses cost Rs 350 a piece. “If we had branded the horse, the campaign may not have been such a big success,” says Madhok, “people wouldn’t have liked to display it.” They also decided not to make the wheels move because people would then tend to turn it into a toy. Rather than recognise it for the reminder it is meant to be!
This is yet another guerilla by Piyush Pandey’s team, which is now known for its out of box ad ideas. A halcyon reminder of Fevicol campaigns. *sigh*
I log on to my Orkut today evening on diwali day, and guess what is the surprise ?? Orkut Invites are no longer needed in order to sign up for Orkut !!! Its open for joining for one and all from front page !!!
There has been a mad rush lately to get the Orkut invite, which some people had time of their life selling on eBay or distributing through chats, playing the mating game all the way. But no more, simply goto Orkut homepage and click on Join Orkut link or log on with your Google Account.
This will give more traffic to Orkut and will give competetion to MySpace, with which ironically Google had a deal for advertising. Also read from insideorkut blog that Google is now allowing Orkut users to choose who they can get friend requests from based on language.
Sorry guys, i know u all will miss the brazillian beauties
Post placements am having a browse to check what all have I missed out on in that 1.5 week; and this one was just awesome- Google buying out YouTube and finalising a search partnership with MySpace. The computer market is poised for a mega war sometime in future. A computer is majorly used with internet interaction these days, so where Microsoft is making sure that it captures the desktop market and strengthens its hold on internet market too, Google is doing just the opposite, capture the internet market and seep into desktop too to complete a backend for its powerful tools. And mind it, Google has beaten Yahoo to get this buyout, while Yahoo is just wondering where its kingdom suddenly vanished !!
The still-unprofitable YouTube is the most expensive acquisition by Google yet. Google had flirted YouTube with an offer of $1.6 billion which finally came to $1.65 billion, and with beating out Yahoo, Google will gain access to the nearly 100 million users of MySpace too, providing web search and sponsored search links for the social networking site. MySpace’s 115 million plus registered users are a vital source of traffic to YouTube, the internet’s largest video-sharing site.
With this Google surely has gone a lot ahead in field of Online Marketing. According toMarketingVox, the deal with MySpacem will begin in the fourth quarter, with Google guaranteeing at least $900 million to FIM over three years, so long as the latter meets traffic and other commitments.
After Orkut, AdSense and Blogger (beta), lets see if Google also comes out with YouTube beta wherein one has to log on using the google account and password. Finally one fine day I see myself working out my way with technology with justONEGoogle account
It has been quite a time since Microsoft came up with the teaser for Zune (see my blog post here). Finally Microsoft has come up with a date for its launch, not before the net got filled up with comparision and hatred sites. The date has been decided at November 17th, Tuesday with launch only for US market. The Zune device will retail for $249.99 U.S. and is create new ways for entertainment fans to connect and share media experiences device-to-device through the use of wireless technology and new software scenarios. Launching in 30GB storage, this places it head to head with other 30GB media players such as Apple’s iPod. The Zune features a couple of capabilities not present on the ubiquitous iPod including an FM tuner and wi-fi music sharing capabilities. In addition, the Zune marketplace is offering both pay-per-download songs for 79 Microsoft® Points each (99 cents) and a $14.99 per month “unlimited” music download option. The Zune will also come preloaded with a handful of music videos and tracks (See MS website for details)
Whether it will be all to take on iPod is yet to be seen.
Have been going through the new marketing adverts lately; though many argue that this kind of marketing has suddenly taken world by surprise, I prefer not to agree with this argument. Let’s first take a look at the new marketing, the in-thing for most of the blogs.
With traditional marketing being equated to ennui, the ad gurus have thought of new and innovative ideas for long to cater to the slow paced results of traditional marketing. But this was to change suddenly in 1982 with launch of a book by Mr. Jay Conrad Levinson, named Guerrilla Marketing. Defined as, “Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.” by www.marketingterms.com , this kind of marketing is best suited for small businesses which otherwise cannot take on the market leaders using traditional marketing. And these campaigns are none of the traditional adverts too, they either showcase a differential attribute of the product, or else create an image or perception using non- product attributes i.e. which is not an actual or rational benefit from that product but may be perceived as such; the whole idea being to transform cold prospects into consenting partners.
Wikipedia defines it as a descriptor of many other types of non-traditional media:
Viral marketing — through social networks
Buzz marketing — word of mouth marketing
Undercover marketing — subtle product placement
Astroturfing… etc
The list is a long one. But something that’s really interesting is the tactics used. Some of these are Word of mouth campaigns, Personal canvassing, Forehead advertising/Headvertise campaigns, blue jacking, Telemarketing, Personal letters, Circulars and brochures distributed at parking lots, homes, offices, malls, etc.; Billboards, Truck and automotive signs, Direct mail campaigns, T-shirts and even Interactive Urinal Communicator !!!!
Check some of these:
1.HAUB (Heat Activated Urinal Billboards) – based on heat sensitive ink technology, the ad gets visible when the (warm) urine falls on the ink delivering an interactive message to a captive audience. The cold water in flush makes the ad disappear again.
2.Another toilet billboard. When Zee Studio premiered Kill Bill, it launched following promo in Asia.
3.This one is superb! The campaign for HBO Sopranos in Russia and Spain!!!
4.This one will beat your spirit out of you. With Halloween around the corner, marketers found a sexy way to gain publicity for Britain ‘ s new show Afterlife
5.Finally on the kinky side – the text reads “ You do not know when it can be necessary ”. It was posted on the entrance floors of men’s toilets by Jontex, a condom brand. Country: Brazil, Agency: McCann Erickson
So convinced that the new marketing is catching up these days? WRONG!!! I would like to say that this kind has caught the attention because of easy information sharing on net, it was always there and dint need a Jay Conrad to be invented but only to be named. It may work wonders for small time, but for mature corps and bigger brands, the majority of sales will always be through the traditional channel of marketing, and that requires bucks, strategy in long term and much more resources than this. I would say that this is not even 10% of traditional one in sales revenue, and the day it becomes, that would be the day we can say that it has finally arrived! Till then these flashes wont harm and are a nice welcome. ~Jasginder
Had a discussion with fellow batchmates on toothpaste market in last few days, and that invariably reminded me of the summer experience and the learnings that i got. Specifically the launch of Close Up with Calcium Minerals. Now that is one brand which has managed to get a stronghold in Indian toothpaste market.
Toothpaste market is divided in two dimensions: fluoride and gel. While the former is basically bought as a family product and is having (perceived) benefits of strong and white teeth; the latter is looked for fresh breath and personality enhancement. Because of this the fluoride market is basically targeted at families, parents (with concern on children) and gel market is targeted at youth.
Now lets take the case of HLL coming out with a Calcium Mineral with Milk variant of Close Up (CloseUp Milk Calcium). This was the first time,the format called ‘Core-in-Sheath’ consisting of a white paste core surrounded by a gel was used in India. Anyway a visit to market and you wont find many people trying out the variant. Many retailers soon found this Fast Moving Consumer Good to be actually a slow mover!
But why did the product fail to register in mind of consumer? many argue that there is a need for gel and flouride mix paste and that is very evident from the success of such variants launched earlier. But then the crucial points are: 1. Who is attracted by the combination? 2. Who is the prime consumer of gel pastes?
When you try to answer, you will see an incongruency. The Close Up consumer is looking at freshness, and adding milk isnt really a great idea for fresh breath! So the idea isnt very appealing to him/her. Yes if you launch a new variant with lemon, mint or Eucalytus, it strikes the vibe as they too stand for freshness. And who is the right customer for gel pastes – youth, and you get them by showing product usage as one which increases either the self image of him/her or that leaves his/her impression on others (basically inc appeal)
Now look from fluoride’s POV. Customer is mainly the buyer for family, so cost, basic benefits of strength, no cavities and ‘jhaag’ are the strong pullers. What’s the perception now that what happens if one doesnt brush? One will have cavities? thats basic puller? (which also explains the large market share of dhishum dhishum paste – Pepsodent as compared with market leader and the old horse – Colgate). So now if you also give benefits of freshness to this user, does it make sense? Of course!!
So thing is such a variant of gel and white should have been launched under the name of Pepsodent by HLL. A problem of wrong targeting, indeed.
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