Which 'value' component do you master?

Why is it that we love some companies and not others? Why is it that some companies are so successful in creating value for customers while some others seem to be clueless about what customers like and for these, we keep wondering, dont they see what they are doing?!?!

Customers today want more of what they want. If they want quick service, they want it quicker. If they want best quality, they want it better. If they want low prices, they want it lower and so on. A company/ marketers need to figure out what customers value and give them more of it, everytime.

Successful companies have learned the art of doing precisely that and in fact they keep pushing the envelope to the next level. But please note that you dont need to be the 'best' at everything that a customer value! Successful companies / brands pick a 'value  component' and become the best in it.  

Consider this:

• Maruti cars need not be the best cars in terms of quality but they are masters at pricing and service. 
• Westside, Max and Fashion @ Big Bazaar (fbb) do not offer premium brands but they score in lower pricing.  
• Dove doesnt claim "killing germs" but it is the most popular moisturising soap.
• Coffee at Starbucks is neither quick nor cheap but tastes great (although I personally do not like it but you cant argue with such a success).
• McDonalds might not be the tastiest burger but it certainly is 'value for money' and 'same everywhere' (that translates into 'safety' for customers - "at least we know what we will get at McDonalds!")

Thats the whole idea - Choose a value component and be the best in it. (Please remember that 'value' is what the customers sees as value.)

Some general value components that you can consider are:

Price - In particluar, reducing the price can increase the value and thats so obvious and cliched! The idea here is that if a player offers "same (features/quality etc) for less (price)" properly, it can do wonders!!  Look at what One Plus did to established players like - Apple, Samsung, HTC etc 

and in a recent case, look what Samsung has attempted (although slightly late) through its M series. I remember reading an article titled -- "Dont Teach Your Daddy How To Make Phones" - which was referring to Samsung's response to the likes of Mi, Gionee, Vivo, Oppo etc. No wonder, Samsung M series made an unprecedented first day sales record and was sold out on Amazon in a short span of time.



The whole story of 'private labels' or 'retailer's brands' is built around this strategy.

Speed - increasing the speed of service / delivery / installation / billing etc can create magical effect on creating value! Have you observed, we even feel frustrated if we see a queue at KFC / McD. Forget that, how do you feel when you see a couple of people at self check-in kiosk at the airport! For today's customers, everything should have been done yesterday!! "Soon" is no more a comforting answer and things that were considered "fast" yesterday look sleepy today!


FedEx figured it out and claimed and owned in consumers' minds - "When it Absolutely, Positively has to be there Overnight."



... more value components that you can master, are coming soon :)

Disclaimer - 

1. There are many many more value components. 
2. Increasing the prices and reducing the pace can also add value, depending on the context!

Brand नामकरण - Choosing a brand name - A simple thumb rule

How do you choose a brand name?

Have you ever chosen a name for a child? All those who have, would know that it is not easy (especially if it is your own child!) Same is the case with choosing the brand name for your business or product!

There is no clear-cut answer but the issue is indeed an important one! Considering the importance of the issue, many scholars and consultants have worked on the issue and have given their own guidelines as to how to go about it. For example, Alexandra Watkins (Ex-copywriter O&M) has offered two acronyms that guide the brand name selection. First one is about what a brand name should contain / have - SMILE (Suggestive, Meaningful, Imagery, Legs, Emotional). The second is SCRATCH that draws attention towards error prone areas while naming a brand. SCRATCH stands for Spelling, Copycat, Restrictive, Annoying, Tame, Cursed and Hard.

Brand Name Considerations

Be Different – This is a popular approach with brand managers who think ‘breaking the clutter’ is an important contribution of the brand name. These brand managers realize (and were also told in the branding classes) that in today’s cluttered environment, a name that sounds strange would be a good starting point as it grabs attention. So we see names like Ola, Oyo, 72 & Sunny and Strawberry Frog etc. Interestingly, the name of Alexandra Watkins (mentioned above) named her own company - ‘Eat My Words’ and even titled her book (where she has given SMILE and SCRATCH) is ‘Hello, My Name is Awesome … How to Create Brand Names that Stick’.

Discriptor Names - Another way to decide on a brand name is to have a name that describes the product/service. Entrepreneurs “observe” a gap in the market and launch a business/product to fill it and try to name the business as what the business does or serves. For example, Big Bazaar,  Chaayos, Tea Point, SleepWell, GoodKnight etc.

In the series of strange sounding names, a trend is to club two words and come up with a new name, like Band+Aid, Flip+Kart which started as a book seller or Snap+Deal or Pay+(A)TM are some cases in point.

Finally a practice that was extremely popular in India and which is gradually declining is choosing the family name as the name of the business. So, right from Gupta Stores to Tata – Birla and Godrej, many businesses preferred the name or the surname of the founder as their brand name. In some cases, the abbreviated form of the name or surname is used as well, like – TVS (T V Sundaram) or L&T (Larsen & Toubro).

Which is better – brand name that tells about the product - or - a family name - or - a unique, different name with no apparent connect with business?

The answer is, as always, not straight forward! However, you can consider the following as thumb rules:

It would take longer time and more resources to build a brand that is a family name or a unique name that does not tell about the product or business. Simply because you will have to spend time and resources to educate the consumers to see, understand and learn what your brand name stands for. Consider this – consumers will find it easy to understand and learn relatively quickly that SleepWell is a mattress brand, whereas they will find it difficult to comprehend the connection between the two, if the brand name was ‘Anurag’.

Summary – if you don’t have time and money, go for a brand name that tells something about the product or service.

On the contrary, if you choose to have a brand name, which indicates your business or product, then it would be difficult to diversify. Consider this – tomorrow if SleepWell wants to diversify in Coffee business, it would be difficult (and unwise) to put SleepWell name on a Coffee. Here the family name or a unique name might be easier to carry. Please note that it is not ALWAYS that way. In India, brand name TATA stands for values, trust, nation building, good corporate practices etc. So, its easy to sell Tata Salt and Tata cars. However, in spite of being a family name, it wont allow you full freedom. For example, you cannot put Tata name on a Cigarette (which is considered harmful for health).

Of course there are many more considerations … but this is a good point to start thinking about it!

Remembering a campaign - BPL (1990s)

Company: BPL

Year: Mid / Late 1990s

Context: 

An Indian consumer electronics and mobile services brand fighting the ever increasing love of Indians with anything "foreign", specifically from the brand context, Korean and Japanese brands in its space (electronics) and Hutch in mobile services. Indians have always tend to love foreign brands (except for a few Indian brands like Royal Enfield and now Patanjali etc) and when they started getting access to them post liberalisation, its anyone guess what would be the reaction!

Execution: 

Keep in mind it was still 1990s - Hire an extremely popular face (Amitabh Bachchan, who else in 1990s) who represents India and Indian-ness, who has a following across generations and let him give some food for thought to Indians. 

Medium: 

Print and TV

Here are the ads: try to read the copy ... its where the meat is :)
(zoom from browser window or open in a new tab ... I am telling you, it would be worth it)

Trivia: It was Big Bs first ad and it was his first & last ad before that famous french cut beard came in! (People of this generation will never understand why whatever he did (including growing a beard or cutting it) became a national talking point and how people reacted!!)

Interpretation & Analysis - later ... for now njoi d wonderful copy of the ads n think about it :) ... However, I would love to know your interpretation and analysis!!

The Infamous Brand Extensions - & What Can Be Learned From Them

The Concept of Brand Extension

Brand Extension happens when a company takes an established brand into a new product category. Please note "new product category" here means a product category in which the brand was not present. Also, please do not confuse the term with "Line Extension" as well.

(So called) Rationale Given Behind Most Brand Extensions

1. The company can utilize / exploit the success of the brand to expand its market. Expanded market means more consumers and more consumers mean more money and more money and more consumers means "growth". 

2. No one seems to have the time required to build new brands! The street (Wall or Dalal) wants returns every 90 days or so! So, using a successful brand name to quickly acquire new customers makes sense!

3. Most importantly, what does success of one brand brings in? The answer is expectations and desires! Expectations from investors soar sky high and desires of top management which possibly believes in "making it large"! So, Line Extensions become a natural choice!

4. We can derive synergy by using the associations of established brand

Some Popular Failed Brand Extensions

1. Sears (retailer), American Express (credit card), Xerox (copier), Chrysler (automobile) - all entered financial services business.
2. Virgin entered the Vodka and Cola business
3. Playboy tried its hands in clubs, eyewear, casinos
4. IBM launched copiers
5. Patanjali jeans
6. Adidas cologne
7. Cosmopolitan Yogurt
8. Colgate Frozen Foods
9. T-series detergent
10. Dove Elixir

Problem with Brand Extensions

They force the brand to lose focus! Focus on what the brand stood for in the first place, focus on for whom it was meant for in the first place etc. All successful brands stand for something and if that 'something' is diluted, what remains? The remains of a brand!!!

Secondly, when you extend the brand into unfamiliar territories, two things happen:

• You dilute the brand meaning. The brand was successful because its meaning was clear to the consumer. With the brand extension, the brand meaning dilutes.
• More importantly, you are more likely to compete with someone 'focused' and it would be difficult to beat them at their game.

Finally, everyone knows that you cannot be strong in everything so it is better to be strong in something rather than weak in everything.

Last but not the least, marketers must understand the simple reason behind why most Brand Extensions end up on the losing side in the market.

It is because the whole idea concludes in using the money from one successful brand in fighting a specialist in another category. As a result the brand which gives money loses and because it is difficult to beat an specialist, the extension loses! 

Secondly, when the company catering to its well chosen target segment with a well designed brand, start catering to a different set of customers while fighting with a specialist competitor, tends to lose focus on the customers it was originally catering to. The customers eventually figure out that the brand does not stand for what it promised and the brand is also not caring for them anymore. So, they start leaving!

Consider this example -- 

Dove is an established brand name is soaps, it enters 'hair oil' (Dove Elixir) and 'baby products' range (Dove Baby). Here it competes with Johnson & Johnson in baby products and (let us say) Parachute in hair oil! 

Now, it is anybody's guess as to what kind of resources would be required to compete with the likes of Johnson & Johnson & Parachute (speacialists) in their own backyard 

A bigger tragedy would be this --- in order to compete with specialists, it must focus on this war, and as a result, from where it might lose focus from - you guessed it right, the loyalists of Dove!

Disclaimer

1. Whats written above is a simple generalization but a true one! (In any case, what do you expect in such small number of words and limited space)
2. Of course, there are exceptions to what's written above but they are generally Corporate Brands. More on that later! :)

Welcome to the age of "On-demand" - Challenges to Marketers, Content Creators & Teachers!

The concept of "On-Demand"

Any system that allows users to select and consume (audio / video) content, when they want / prefer to, where they want to etc. The benefit it offers is that it makes is easy for consumers to choose what they want to consume and then consume that content at their time of choice, on the device of their choice. 

Obviously, consumers have appreciated and liked the concept and brands are creating, capitalising and responding accordingly. Netflix, Amazon Prime, TataSky, iTunes, Gaana.com etc are some popular brands that are creating and riding the wave. Earlier airlines offered selected video-on-demand to their passengers, now Uber and Ola are doing that as well!

How things were different? 

When I was a kid, we eagerly waited for the 'Sunday Movie' on doordarshan, we also waited for our TV serials too as there was no "repeat telecast", if you missed, you missed! 

We planned where we will watch the movie, the match or the episode of the serial and what will we do while watching them etc. Same was the case with desperately and anxiously waiting for new, popular songs to come on chitrhaar or rangoli (TV programmes that showed movie songs). That wait, that anticipation made the whole experience so exciting!

Even the ad-breaks, people would rush to toilet or to finish their tasks and reach their seats again. It used to be a race against time in real sense!  

When VCR came, we went to video library, spend time and make effort in choosing and then rushed home as we could not wait to watch the movie!

People wrote letters which took weeks to reach the radio stations to play their favorite songs and then waited anxiously for weeks to hear their name and the song on the radio!

It seems it was because 'content' was scarce and required a lot of effort to consume!

Not any more!! Welcome to the age of "Instant Gratification" Welcome to the age of "On-demand"!

Now, accessing what one want to watch is a matter of a few seconds and a few clicks! While the whole thing/process has definitely become "convenient" and "fast" but how does it affect the engagement levels and involvement of consumers? Does it affect our behaviour too?

Let us put it this way, what happens when we get things in abundance and that too, too easily and too quickly?

Can it lead to a feeling of general dissatisfaction or a tendency to being dissatisfied easily ... the feeling might get expressed like -- because I have easy access to many movies at a time, I also tend to stop them immediately or midway if they dont appeal to me in first few minutes and because we do this frequently, the general feeling is "even this is not as good .... let me see if there is something else".

Now compare this with -- how many times have you come out of a movie theatre if the movie did not appeal to you in first few minutes? Or if you are from my generation who saw movies on VCR, how many times you stopped the movie cassette that you brought from the video library from the market after spending significant time in going there, debating about the movie, waiting for the cassette to arrive and bringing it home?

Can this also lead to a feeling of "boredom" ... why do kids who have access to all kind of entertainment "on-demand" are generally more bored? Is there a connection? Can there be a connection? For example as they say - "if you fill and bring your own water from a distance, you will never waste a single drop of it", can there be a similar correlation / connection here?

Can this be one of the cause for reduced attention spans? So much content to consume, so easily available and so easy to shift from one to another!! Is it possible that when we leave things midway or shift so frequently between things, it becomes a habit and we find it difficult to concentrate?!

What does it mean?

One simple answer is create interesting, engaging and appealing content! No. We need to add 2 words in this statement, "Create content that is interesting, engaging and appealing - 'throughout', 'everytime'! Easier said than done!! 

What if you have a "not-so-interesting" message to give? I am a teacher and I have struggled because of this! At times, as a teacher I have to communicate / deliver something that is "dry" and immediately it reflects in dipping interest levels, increasing body movements and fiddling etc. If I feel this challenge, marketers and content creators would also be feeling the heat! 

Secondly, there is a trend that marketers are creating the content (say by having a youtube channel and offering on-demand videos), then it a MUST that the brands and marketers understand and realize the difference between creating ads that come before or during a TV / radio programme (which the marketers are so used to of) --- and --- creating the "programme" (content) itself. This one requires a different level of engagement and involvement and that too for a longer duration. Its a different ball-game altogether!

to be continued...

Is culture a barrier in international trade...well not always

Students usually ask -- "Is culture a barrier in international businsess"? 


It seems to be a quiet normal / simple question to answer & the obvious answer is -- "yes"

But then if we take the case of "hollywood movies" as a product & their success in India, it is like an exception to the above point. the culture of both places is different but still hollywood movies are successful in India ... so it seems that culture is not a barrier in this case. Looking at the success of hollywood movies in India , it seems that "everybody understands the language of entertainment"... or the language of entertainment is same everywhere.


I disagree, ... because - We as Indians can be divided into broadly 2 categories ... urban educated of metro cities & rest. It is visible that metros are very similar to the west, so the success of hollywood movies is very likely there. if we release 10 hollywood movies in metro, may be 8 will do well, but it is not like that in rest of india.

Now, if we leave the first category & talk about the rest of India...

1. even if we think as residents of a "B class" city or a "mini metro" ... many hollywood movies do not get released in this part ... WHY??? & moreover, most of the movies that are released here are of a particular type (ie action, thrill, fiction, full of special effects) WHY??? -- because the film distributors know that for us ... hollywood movies means - action, special effects, technology, thrill, ficton etc etc ... so for us all this is fine once in a while not everyday. JUST IMAGINE ... NO SONGS, NO GROUP DANCING, NO MARRIAGES, NO MELODRAMA ... that too in all the movies. MOST OF US JUST CANT DO WITHOUT THESE.
2. If we say that culture is not a barrier in case of hollywood movies in India, then answer my question - why dont we release them "as it is"? why do we have to sensor them? the answer is - our culture can accept technology, action but not other things (u understand that)
3. last but most important --- language is a important part of culture ... can we say that holywood movies will be as successful as they are now if we release them in ENGLISH & in other language .... i doubt.

So i think that fortunately this product - "hollywood movies" - is like McDonalds or Pizza Hut ... where you can adjust the product according to the local culture & hence they do well , but otherwise it is like McDonalds selling beef in India ... didnt accepted isnt it? So culture is playing a vital role even in case of success of hollywood movies in India.

What's ur opinion .. is culture a barrier or not????

Question of idealism

It is said that - "if one has to be left with a reasonable amount of idealism by the time one is 50, one had better have it in great doses when one is young." This is said because idealism wear thin with time (especially in Indian conditions).

We always hope / ask that higher educational institutions must ensure that their raw material had idealism in good measure.

BUT, it is also being felt by some that - idealism is costing some bright youngsters their lives.

The murder of IIM-L passout S. Manjunath on November 19, 2005, by oil adulterators in UP. manjunath was belived to be proceeding agianst the owner of Mittal Automobiles in lakhimpur after the outlet was found involved in mass ireegularities in supply of fuel. Also, in 2003, Satyendra Dubey an alumnus of IIT Mumbai lost his life for blowing the whistle on corrupt contractors. Does anyone knows what happened to Dubey's murderers, & there may be others like these who fought corruption at the cost of their lives.

Isn't it that our degenerate system protects anyone powerful if the power flows from gun runners existing as politicians.

So, what should we advise to younger generation - that they should stop being idealistic; that they should be pragmatic & play the system; that they can bank on the political connections to go away with murder ... OR DO YOU THINK OTHERWISE!!!