Cashing in on optimism!

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Want to improve sales in adverse conditions? Positive tag-lines should do the trick...

Crashing stock markets with evaporating values, increasing inflation with rising prices and tight liquidity with the dreaded pink slip issuance; the world is in doldrums. The populace has been engulfed in pessimism as the financial downturn creates an unprecedented hole in its pocket. As a result, purchasing power for even daily goods has been curtailed, hurting the bottom lines of many companies. In this bleak outlook when consumer confidence is at an all time low, corporations need to think out of the box. Vulnerable, major players have come out with ‘feel good’ taglines to hold on to their audiences.

In its bid to actuate things in a positive direction, Coca-Cola has decided to replace the ‘Coke side of life,’ the company’s tag-line of the past three years, with ‘Open happiness.’ Pepsi on the other hand has come up with its new campaign, ‘Every generation refreshes the world,’ while CK has launched the ‘We are one’ campaign. Showing its innovative side, Dunkin’ Donuts has come out with the tagline “You kin’ do it”. Not staying far behind, traditional players like IKEA and Mercy too have unveiled their new feel good campaigns, ‘Embrace change’ and ‘Believe’ respectively. Players claim that the current campaigns are meant to offer encouragement and a spirit of fun during these challenging times. “‘Open Happiness,’ embraces a positive outlook. It is an invitation to open ourselves to the positive aspects, to happiness, and to the potential for a better tomorrow,” explains a Coca-Cola, India Spokesperson to 4Ps B&M.

Before coming to a point, it must be understood that whatever marketing strategies corporations adopt, the sole motive is always boosting sales. Moreover, in the current market situation players cannot afford to lose their current customer base by not being innovative. “There is plenty of evidence suggesting that the tagline when used concurrently with other aspects of the brand such as the logo, colours and other auditory & aural stimulus, is likely to impact sales,” supports Stephen Byrne, Director (Strategy), DIFFUSION. These players are technically betting big on positive psychology in order to persuade audiences. A good and positive tagline increases the brand recall, leading to prompt purchases. “All this is part of a global movement towards more emotive and less functional taglines,” adds Byrne.

Interestingly, most of these ‘feel happy’ taglines are a response to competition’s calls rather than a perceptual favour to consumers. Evidently, the customer was of course always the king, but then it’s the corporations that laugh all the way to their banks!

Ratan Lal Bhagat

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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CELEB ADS IN BIG TROUBLE?!

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Just-exited-from-Ogilvy, Creative Director, Titus Upputuru offers his take. “There are advocates in India whose daily job is to pick up stuff that they deem to be incorrect of offensive. I remember I did this ad when I was with TBWA. It was against marble excavation. I wrote a headline that said ‘Somebody please stop this guy from hitting his mother on the head repeatedly with the hammer.’ Now that was supposed to be in the context of mother earth and stuff. But a huge hullabaloo was created saying we are encouraging violence against mothers. Now isn’t that crazy? And we had no option but to stop the next lot of releases. I guess there should be a body that has better representation from the industry who have the discernment to check if the ad is really misleading.”

Ujjal Sinha, CEO of the Kolkata-based ad agency, Genesis, believes that it is more posturing than the real thing. “I would like to see who or which body has the guts to throw Big B, SRK or Sachin Tendulkar in the cooler! Does every promise that they dish out through their endorsements to attract the desired response, resonate with solid facts that can be proved? Highly unlikely.” That at least something (at long last) has been done in this “surreal area” seems to please school teacher Radha Iyer. The 30-year-old believes that it could well work as a ‘warning’ to both companies and celeb endorsers, forever doing their bindaas, irresponsible number in this space. “Hopefully, they will look before they leap,” she adds.

Are they? Will they?

As this goes into print, Sani Fresh has signed on TV star, Saakshi Tanwar as their brand ambassador; Bollywood’s new sensation, Asin [Ghajini] has been scooped up by Tata Sky and Shahid Kapur has signed the dotted line for VIP travel gear brand. Is there a brand-fit between product profile and celeb profile? Will the consumer product promise really deliver the goods… or will misleading claims, riding on red-hot celeb-endorsers, continue to blaze away? Authoritative and high profile voices have lauded this move and are of the belief that it would definitely create “transparency between all parties involved as also encourage ad agencies to get genuine clients. It would also work as an effective filter and weed out irresponsible hustlers, while protecting consumers, ad agencies, companies and celeb endorsers from getting duped.”

Rhetoric or resolve? Only time will tell… in the meantime stand by for a fresh slew of celeb endorsements with mobile number pay cheque fees! Oh, also take a close look at prisons in your friendly neighbourhood lock-up for a whole new and starry version of Jailhouse Rock!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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Doling up for the ‘big boys’!

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2008 saw a flurry of old-school public sector banks rid themselves of their staid persona and adopt a nimbler, stylish image to compete with the private and foreign players in the segment. To be fair, it all began with the largest public sector bank – State Bank of India’s conscious effort to shed its sarkari image in 2006, but the trend caught real steam in 2008 when a series of other banks joined the fray, in preparation for the introduction of BASEL II norms in early 2009. And all this to fight the big boys in the race. Campaigns that led this makeover bug were that of Canara Bank, Union Bank, IDBI and Indian Overseas Bank, among many. Canara Bank and Union Bank, in particular, did not just sport a new tagline, but also went in for a change in logo. Canara Bank’s comunication (devised by O&M) tried to drill home the message that they had changed and that too for the people they love (read: consumers). Union Bank adopted a similar strategy, yet decided to retain its brand promise – ‘Good People to Bank With.’ IDBI, however, did not change its logo, but tried to aggressively position itself in the market place to get the idea across to its consumers that it was one bank that was not just for the big boys! All in all, a year that saw PSU banks doling out crores of rupees to position themselves efficiently!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Veritell or Allzon?

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Short term challenges apart, the Verizon-Alltel merger, seems worth the wait; By Savreen Gadhoke

Honchos at Verizon Communications and Alltel Wireless could now spare some time contemplating as to what name is best suited for the entity formed by their merger. The duo earned a breather when the proposed merger, worth a sterling $28.1 billion, which was until now held back by Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), finally got a total clearance on November 4. The deal was struggling to get past the regulatory nod since June 2008 (when Verizon made its first attempt to acquire Alltel). But was the wait worth it?

DoJ and FCC had raised objections regarding the existing roaming contracts in rural areas. Explains Declan Lonergan, VP, Consumer Research, Yankee Group, “The merger may bring down competition and raise prices in future as it will reduce the number of roaming partners, which the local carriers can tie-up with.” And therefore, FCC has granted approval to the merger only on the basis of a commitment from Verizon that it will not play around with the roaming rates in the next four years. In addition, FCC has also demanded that Verizon divests its services in as many as 100 markets that overlap with the services of Alltel, to which again Verizon has happily agreed. And why not, as post-merger, Verizon will win over the 15 million plus subscriber base of Alltel, in addition to some 70 million of its own; hence leaving behind AT&T, with a subscriber base of approximately 75 million. Adds Lonergan, “Since both carriers are CDMA-based, combining the technical infrastructure should be hassle-free.”

Certainly the wait was worth the effort as Verizon has been catapulted to the first position in the US wireless carrier space, leaving behind arch-rival and seemingly irreplaceable AT&T Wireless at the first runners up position. Not only has Verizon tremendously increased its customer base, the merger will also make it one of the top US ad spenders. Now that the deal has finally got the green signal, what takes priority with Verizon is aggressive advertising and promotion to announce to the world that Alltel is now officially a part of Verizon. Camilla Armstrong of Brand Finance says, “Verizon will have to make an extra effort to reach out to the rural areas and explain to local roaming carriers why the merger is a good business opportunity for them.”

Objections raised by FCC may have left the local carriers unhappy with the deal. Industry experts peg the entire rebranding campaign to be worth $100 million, which could last for over six months; which makes it more challenging when coupled with the 4-year clause. So in essence, the ‘breather’ isn’t going to stay for long!

Savreen Gadhoke

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Carbon ‘Black Jack’ Traders!

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As mentioned earlier, India (with a 6% market share and 930 projects in pipeline) is next only to China and contributes to about one third of the total CDM (Clean Development Mechanism, which accounts for 16.5% of the market) project base registered with UNFCCC (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change). In 2007, Indian companies reportedly earned $300 million by selling CERs (equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide) and this earning is all set to touch $3.6 billion by 2012. The carbon trading market has grown phenomenally. The global carbon market was just $11 billion in 2005; went up to $31 billion in 2006; touched $64 billion in 2007; and is thundering upwards at $96 billion as per current figures. It is in reality expected to be a trillion dollar institution by 2020.

Corporate players across the globe foresee a huge demand in the future and hence are developing environmentally conservative technologies. This will not only help them cash in on millions of dollars of future demand but will also portray them as responsible corporates. Speaking exclusively to 4Ps B&M, Tom Johnstone, President & CEO of the $8 billion behemoth SKF (the world’s largest ball bearing manufacturer), said, “Carbon credits enhance both the company’s image as well as profits,” and further added that it’s a win-win situation for both the company and the consumer.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!