Why Sales Or Why Not Sales?

Well, most of the fledgling marketers want to start their marketing careers with lucrative pay packages and definitely with highly acclaimed work profiles like that of brand management, strategic planning, etc. Budding marketers are reluctant to do sales, even to start with.

Well, they may want high profile jobs, but then they cannot thrive in such jobs until they do justice to the work. I don't say that burgeoning marketers lack commitment to work, but then there are several steps to move up the ladder and sometimes, there aren't any shortcuts.

Sales is the function of marketing that is closest to the consumers. Once you understand consumers, you understand their buying preferences and patterns, their responsiveness to advertising, their desired value proposition, etc. Once you know all this, you can feel the pulse of consumers and give them exactly what they expect out of brands. So, to strategize and build brands, one needs to understand consumers and sales is one of the best arena where you learn that.

So, marketers shouldn't be scared of sales, rather this is the marketing domain that could lead them where they exactly want to land up.

Jai Ho Vs. Bhay Ho

The election campaigning for election 2009 are is over and IMRB is with the scorecard for these campaigns. 

Congress featured its Jai Ho campaign wherein it highlighted the developments that were a consequence of its constructive policies, taking the backup of great Congress leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Click here to view the TVC.

On contrary, BJP's Bhay Ho had an anti-advertising campaign, focused on denigrating Congress on grounds of inflation, recession, unemployment and terrorism. Click here to view the TVC.

IMRB report makes it evident that Congress' ad campaign was more effective compared to that of BJP. Congress has displayed and highlighted its achievements, while BJP has scorned on Congress. Rather than highlighting its achievements in previous term of reign, they tried to malign Congress.

Audiences clearly stated that they liked Congress' ads better than BJP's ads. Congress has taken a more positive approach and is more promotion focused. On contrary, BJP has tried to use a fear appeal against Congress, but it failed to instill any appeal in its favor. BJP's approach has been negative and people didn't appreciate their campaign in terms of concept and content.

Well, the results for Election 2009 are due this weekend. Let's see how advertising has shaped up the poll results. 

Would "IPL" Merchandise Sell ?

Yesterday, I had a discussion on sales of IPL (Indian Premiere League) merchandise with my peers. The issue of contention was, "Would IPL merchandise sell" ? 

Before moving on with IPL, lets look at EPL (English Premiere League), that earns revenues from sales of tickets, sponsors, etc., but maximum revenue is through sales of merchandise that includes T-shirts, accessories of various clubs. IPL may earn money by sales of tickets, sponsors, TVCs, but do you think it is possible to generate revenues out of sales of IPL merchandise?

Well, IPL is quite a new name in Indian sports scene fabricated around India's common religion named Cricket. IPL consists of eight teams representing various regions of the country and each team has its own merchandise.

The issue is when people are following IPL like a religion, why wouldn't the merchandise sell? 

Well, the answer lies in inadequate marketing mix. It is not only about product, but price, promotion and place also.

IPL merchandise is meant for the youth, who go frenzy about the game. Now, if we look at India's economic scenario, size of middle class overrides the magnitude of upper class. As such, the product, that is, IPL merchandise is meant for middle class who connect to the game as religious conviction. Now, if you look at the prices of IPL merchandise, you will be flabbergasted to see mismatch between the affordability of target segment and prices of IPL merchandise. Click here to see some of the prices. Also, the owners of IPL have tie-ups with premium brands like Reebok, Adidas. The question is when the product is meant for the mass consumers of middle segment, how would they buy it from the house of premium brands. 

Also, the channel of distribution has to be such which makes the product within the reach of target audience. They must have various channels like online channels, mass segment retail outlets like Westside, Shoppers Stop, etc. Middle class is reluctant to go to Nike or Adidas.

As such, not only product, but place and price are also important to sell IPL merchandise.

Last, IPL owners must realize that they have to follow a Push strategy to sell the respective stuffs, as consumers still aren't as crazy about the game, they have economic constraints and they want easy accessibility of products.

Recession isn't that bad

When the recession has hit the world heinously, marketers have found a way to beat its effect. They have devised ways to capitalize on it.

I am talking about the new Airtel TVCs, featuring R. Madhavan and Vidya Balan. The commercials emphasize on relationships and not money, whether it is recession or not. Click here to see the commercial. 

The company has always had a positioning of fostering relations. Even now, the positioning is same as ever, but the theme has been altered and fabricated around recession. Here, company also communicates its lowering of tariffs to sustain the product's value proposition, complementing the brand image.

As such, marketers do find a way to find positives in negatives. The campaign seems to be impressive. Almost all of  marketing mix elements have been altered including price, promotion and product (inclusion of M-commerce). Lets see how sales complement this new strategy with modified marketing mix.

THE AXE EFFECT

Axe is known for its bold and audacious ad campaigns. Here it comes with it the all new Call Me campaign. 

In this ad, a girl gets smitten by strong masculine fragrance of Axe and depicts something called numberitis, wherein the girl is directed by her psyche to give her number to men smelling of strong masculine cologne.

Well, the ad campaign is a huge success as it has succeeded in involving the masses in ground activities. The company expected somewhere around 1 million calls in the initial month of the launch of the campaign, while the numbers were exceptionally high to 2.7 million calls. It was a treat for consumers to have the so-called Axe babe Tanya on the other side of phone.

Well, the ad campaign is based on strong construct in marketing. To have your brand known to consumers, you have to involve the consumers with the brand. The brand successfully did that, which is evident from the no. of calls made, though sales would finally dictate success of the campaign. In my opinion, the campaign aroused immense curiosity and excitement in the target segment, and as such, the purpose of media campaign is well served.

Let's Go International

Once a company establishes itself in the national market and if it is ambitious enough, it would definitely want to go international and thereby expand its consumer base and sales.

There can be various strategies to go international. A company may want to enter only one foriegn market at a time or a no. of markets simultaneously. Based on number of markets to be entered, the strategies could be either waterfall strategy or sprinkler strategy.

Waterfall strategy is one wherein companies enter only one foreign market at a time, establishes itself there and then move to other markets. In this competitive era, this may be a slow pathway, but to understand the consumers of cross-national area, waterfall strategy is highly recommended. This is generally meant for products which are to be customized. For Example, Nestle sells highly customized products. Its products like dahi (curd) and ghee (clarified butter) are India-exclusive products.

On contrary, sprinkler strategy is one wherein a company enters several foreign markets in one stance. This strategy works well when products are standardized and needs no adaptation to local needs. For example, Gillette launched its Mach3 range of razors in 11 countries simultaneously.

As such, choice of entry strategies to foreign markets depends on company's objective and kind of products. 

What an Idea !!!

IPL fever is on its peak and so is marketing war among competing brands. I am talking about the new ad campaign of Idea. 

In the recent days, Vodafone's Zoozoo characters have been the hottest stars in the nation. Vodafone has launched a unique commercial campaign to communicate its services and schemes. The characters are particularly popular among IPL audience.

Well, competitors of Vodafone havn't been sleeping when Zoozoo was making people laugh by its raillery. Here comes Idea with a new campaign which stars Mumbai Indians. The players of Mumbai Indians display their Idea Numbers on screen and ask people to call them and become a celebrity.

Well, the idea sounds great. After all, it is all about sustaining in the market, by creating and maintaining awareness and inserting brands in consumers' evoked set. People are not going to buy Vodafone because of Zoozoos' banter or Idea's "a call away" Sachin or Harbajan. It is just a way to be on consumers' top of mind. This implies that being a part of consumers' evoked set, consumers would consider buying these brands. Ultimately, it is the product attribute that will govern the sales.