Experiential Branding and Technology products

I came across an interesting article on Forbes.com by Rishad Tobaccowala on marketing in Post-digital world namely Up Next: A Post-Digital World. He says that it is important that marketers use a blend of the traditional brick and mortar selling model and the contemporary online marketing environment. The partners and customers for a brand think beyond the narrow specialties.

Rishad has mentioned about one of the iconic brands, Apple which has used its brick and mortar exclusive outlets to create brand experience, the Apple experience and its online stores for convenience of tech-savvy buyers who reside in the post-digital contemporary world.

Well, in this era of ample examples of commoditized brands (or products!!! Commoditization leaves no room for brands), Experiential branding can be a break-through strategy for tangible products. However, how can we do experiential branding for intangible products like technology to create a "Wow" element to associate with the brand. Technology products cannot be physically demonstrated on account of intangibility.

Well, product demos can be experiential for technology products, but technology products are yet not commoditized. Technology products are best marketed in the online environment as the tech savvy target consumers are present online. As such, the best way to create brand awareness and recall for technology products is greater visibility among the target audience. You got to be present everywhere the competition is to build and identity and thereby customer base.

Brand extensions at a glance

I recently came to know that Nirma has entered into a new category and as such, has introduced Nirma salt. I was flabbergasted to see Nirma entering in to this entirely new category.

When a company wants to extend its products or categories, it may go for line extension, multibrands, brand extension and new brands. In the respective context, Nirma must have followed a strategy of introducing an entirely new brand rather than having the same brand name for an entirely unrelated category like salt.

Nirma has a huge brand equity in the detergents category and as such, product extension or multibrands would have been a good strategy, had it maneuvered in the detergents category only. Nirma has followed the brand extension strategy wherein it has extended its category as well as brand. Well, I am really not sure how well is this gonna work. I think that Nirma should have introduced an entirely new brand to enter a new category like salt or condiments.

Brand extension generally works when consumers tend to generalize the stimuli, that is, people relate the quality of a brand to all the brands from the same stable. On contrary, consumers tend to differentiate the stimuli when the categories are entirely unrelated as in case of Nirma.

I think P&G has been really smart in have multibrands and new brands for brand development. It is into a lot of categories like personal care, home care, grooming and many more. As such, multibrands is feasible for product extensions and new brands for category extensions. Nirma is known for its presence in the detergents category and not in the category of edible products. As such, consumers would not generalize the brand equity of Nirma in these two unrelated categories.

Let us wait and watch how Nirma fares in the highly commoditized category of salt.

Name of the game - Differentiation

A few days back, I came across the new packaging of Kinley mineral water, a Coca-Cola company product. Mineral water is more like a commodity now with minimum level of differentiation among various brands of the same. Click here for information on brand commoditization.

Mineral or bottled water category is one of the foremost to get commoditized. In the Indian scenario, Bisleri was the market leader to the extent that the category of mineral water had become synonymous with the brand, Bisleri. Now the competition is intense as the number of players in the category have increased significantly.

If you consider the category of mineral water, the scope of differentiation is really low. As such, the core product cannot be differentiated but the components of augmented product like packaging can be modified so as to survive in the market.

Evian, a French bottled water manufacturer and distributor followed a differentiation strategy long back when it modified its packaging to cater to the premium segment. The modified packaging marked the entry of brand in all premium restaurants thereby creating a niche for the brand. Well, this has been a brilliant differentiation strategy.

Well, differentiation is always different and if it isn't different, it is not differentiation. So is the case with Kinley mineral water. It almost tried to copy the packaging of Evian without alteration in its pricing. Well, it is difficult to say, but the strategy behind this could be to cater to aspirational need of people by providing them a look alike of a premium product in affordable prices.

Let us see how this new packaging and the underlying strategy works for Coca Cola Inc.

Open or Close ?

Let me again comment on the Indian telecom industry and its giants, who have a common feature called adaptibilty.

When a brand is being built, marketers use offensive strategies while they use defensive tactics to maintain their brands. Indian Telecom mammoths are now using defensive strategies to maintain their brand, and thereby retain their customer base. The major components of defensive branding strategies are adaptability, protectibility and transferability, which are being well used by players like Airtel, who have adapted the brand as per the heinous context of global meltdown.

Airtel has recently come up with its new ad campaign called "Anna and her special 5". Click here to view the commercial.

The commercial shows the synergy between Anna and her group of five friends, but there is no information on the significance of the figure 5 in the product offering. In the end of all TVCs of the campaign, there has been a mention of a toll free number for more information on the deal.

The ads are really cute and adorable with a special component which is called need for closure. When consumers are exposed to any marketing stimulus like a TVC, they tend to form perceptions, which may be favorable or unfavorable. In the process of organization of perceptions, marketers play a major role in moulding the consumer perceptions which are favorable for the brand.

Humans, by default have a tendency to organize their thoughts and perceptions and form a complete picture for every incoming stimulus. As such, they need a beginning, content or body for the perceptual image and then the closure.

In the new Airtel campaign of special 5, there is a beginning with introduction of the characters of the commercial as Anna and her friends and also the content which are interactions amongst friends, but there is no closure as there is lack of explanation on the special five offer, though there is a hint on lower call rates. This need for closure is addressed by giving a toll free contact number where customers can get the details of the offer.

Now, as the consumers have an urge to closure for the perceptual picture formed by the stimulus, TVC in the contemporary context, and as such, customers are compelled to dial to the customer contact centre, which would serve as a point of contact for the company to sell the new offering.

Well, most of the commercials and campaigns fail due to lack of conceptual support in managing the marketing mix, but Airtel has really lived up to the need of the hour.

Marketing Mantra of the month

"In good times, people want to advertise, in bad times, they have to."-Bruce Barton, Co-founder, BBDO agency.

Break Through the Clutter

I have been writing a lot on telecom players. Here is another piece of applause for this highly dyanamic, yet positively competitive industry. As the competition is immense, the organizations in the telecom industry are making constant efforts to beat the rest.

Here comes Airtel with an adorable TV commercial featuring a cute kid trying to protect her boat from the rain, unabling which she is helped by her five friends. Click here to view the commercial.

The TVC is sweet and adorable, but the only problem with the TVC has been the slight resemblance of the child model with the one used in Vodafone TVC. There have been reviews from audience that in the midst of the ad, they were expecting the entry of the famous Vodafone pug.

This erronoeus part of the Airtel TVC can be attributed to the effort to break through the clutter. Organizations have lately been using children in the commercial to enhance the likeability and memorability components of the commercial.

Well, we really can't blame Airtel for using the kid resembling the one in Vodafone commercial and I really applaud Airtel for coming up with such an adorable ad campaign.

Three cheers!!!

Vitality of socio-cultural environment

What do you think determines the purchase behavior of buyers? Well, the two major factors which mould the buying behavior of consumers are the marketing mix and the socio-cultural environment of the buyers. Marketing mix is the marketers' domain while marketers have no influence over the socio-cultural environment of the buyers.

Lets us talk about the socio cultural environment. It includes ones' family, friends, culture, beliefs and societal norms. As the domain of discussion is socio-cultural environment, culture definitely plays a major role. Now If you see the Hofstede's Model for accessing cultures, you can well infer that certain cultures are individualistic while others are collectivistic. Indian culture is collectivist while American cult is individualistic. Well, you may ask how can I say this with conviction.

Let me take a simple example. If you listen to Western music, it has individualistic orientation. If you hear the lyrics of the song in the video, you can figure out the fact that people in US or UK beleive in being solitary and fight the battle of life alone. As such, people prefer to listen to music that reflects individualism and and to some extent rebellion. Hence, socio-cultural environment of people determines their taste even in music and this is what marketers need to tap on.

The crux of this post is to tell that socio-cultural environment plays a vital role in determining buyers' buying behavior. As such, marketers must not ignore the cultural patterns of their target segments.