Whom are we speaking to?

Scene- My desk, on Phone

Me: Hello, I am Vikas Sachdeva, I am in Marketing Team, Can you please help me with the sub categories of awards for the entry - Advertising, Events, Print ads, TV ads,Communication collaterals, any research insights, concept innovation etc?  I have sent all the entries for the awards.

Other side: Yes, I will mail you all the details.

Scene 2, A glass cabin mixed with few walls 

Me: Sir, I will be getting the details of sub categories of awards

Other side: whom did you speak to?

Me: Some representative from awards, but i don't know the name.

Other side: Its always good to know who is the person we are speaking to, at least the name.

Though this conversation has become the pretext of the thought , I have been thinking for last 6-7 months about

Whom brands/marketers speak to promoting their products/services/brands/companies/offerings.


I read somewhere "Marketing for prospective customers needs to be different than Marketing for already acquired customers"

So whom are we speaking to?

Only communication perspective

Prospect 

Brands speak very nicely to him/her, he/she is the most pampered person on this earth, he is approached/influenced on everything, Which car he should buy, which phone is best for his/her needs etc , Brands make him believe that they are the only best choice available to him if he wants to redeem himself.

If we are speaking to prospect, In our communication, We should be

• Giving him knowledge about the product/service than pushing it 
• Giving him experience of our brand/product service first than telling him its advantages over others
• Lucrative incentives to try  

As a prospect, i may not know what to buy, it is the trials with the different brands which will help me choose. Better is the experience , better are the chances of getting picked.

Through deal sites like Snap-deal/group on, what they do is, they discount the full time service/product to trial mode, customer pays say Rs 599 for a spa treatment where he/she experiences services and then choose full time packages.

 If a toothpaste or a cream continuously speak about how it is better than others, beyond a point people start mistrusting the same.

Customer

It is the most misunderstood word, There is a distinct difference between customer and a user. I may be a customer of a hypermarket when i buy detergent but i am not the end user. The requirements of end user may be different than a customer. While I may choose X brand based on availability/location of the hypermarket/convenience while end user may think of price/quality of the product.

If we are speaking to a end user

• Focusing on targeting/communication based on quality of the product/durability/tangible aspects. He/she always looks for functional aspects first
• Comparisons with other brands/services, challenging his rational mind to think, giving him reasons to choose your product/service rather than you pushing it
• Offers/discounting

In the end , I should be proud of my decision in choosing the brand/product/service. If i as a end user have not got kick of purchase, if my rational mind is not happy, all in vain.

If we are speaking to a customer

• Focusing on targeting his triggers of choosing the products/service, We need to involve the customer into our journey, how this product/service is made, how it started, engaging him more through story telling.
• Giving him more reasons to be loyal, family outings in the plant where we manufacture the products, making him feel special, making him feel important and valued
• Involvement of his friends/family in your business
• Involvement of his in new product/service design
• Understand his/her emotional needs

Today thanks to tight budgets over variety of media options available, same communication is released for all types ( prospects/customer/end user), then we wait and wait for the results. 

We need to craft tailor made programs for each type we are targeting and administer each program effectively.  

At the end, i would like all of us to think " Communication/Marketing for Prospect/Customer/End user is distinctively different from each other, we need to think differently for each set" 

By the way, Just 20 days left , we will have new government at the center.

Keep smiling!

Vikas Sachdeva

Is Social Media making us anti social?

Is Social Media making us anti social?

No, I am not trying to answer headline of this blog, I am just attempting to give my inputs how social media has become part of our lives and how people are behaving on social media platforms.

One thing i would like to highlight is Social Media is not facebook, twitter and linkedin though these have become definition of social media. Social Media is a platform on which people express their views. Tomorrow anybody can come with some innovation in the way people express which will be more than likes, comments, Retweets etc.

Lets talk about nature of Facebook and twitter and LinkedIn to understand more about them. By nature i mean the way these three platforms behave. Facebook is more visual , Visual cues play important role when people express their views.You know research says blue color is soothing to eyes, it is calm in nature, hence Facebook color scheme is blue. Due to its nature it engages people in pictorial way which means people tend to post pictures on this platform. I loved one line somebody mentioned "The urge in the people to speak/express themselves is the reason of success of this social media". People want to tell about themselves, what they are doing at any given moment and want others to acknowledge it. Thats why more no of likes, comments gives people a high.

Twitter is a different phenomenon. In 140 characters, it forces people to write/express relevant. Text/word is a hero, people think high about usage of right words to express themselves. Hence it is more of text. If you are hyper active on twitter, people don't mind much as one tweets in less space and can tweet more in number however if a person is hyper active on Facebook , pressure of likes/comments makes him feel that people will not respond beyond one point.

Linkedin is a different animal altogether, it supposedly captures professional aspect of a person, his career, his connections. It is basically used by professionals and a kind of no- nonsense platform.

here is a catch, 3 major platforms, different nature! and a most of the people behave differently in all these platforms!

I am a different person in all the three platforms. By nature , i am a content creator not a passive reader. On facebook, i tend to write humor/witty lines as i like entertaining people, on twitter, i play a role of a observer where i tweet about my observations in any topic , be it advertising, brand, politics, bollywood, cricket, management etc. On linkedin, I like to read articles, participate in discussions apart from interacting with right people who have similar interests.

CAN A SINGLE PERSON BE DIFFERENT ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS?  

In my perspective it is possible , provided you are reasonably active on all these platforms.

I have few other observations:

1. I am beginning to have perception that passive readers on these platforms are increasing.They would scroll down the page and like to read the content of others than posting their own.

2. Since the updates are real time, that gives other people a kick to read more  about other peoples' post.

3. Social media platforms are acting a vent for the people to express their emotions & feelings.

4. These platforms are good for brand awareness not selling of product/service.  

5. With the adding of people in their friend list, people believe they are in touch with each other, but that is not true, through these platforms people have become more accessible. People who spend more time on these platforms are increasingly becoming disconnected since they are not putting efforts on meeting people but interact on these platforms.

Facebook asks " What is on your mind"

Twitter asks " what is happening"

Whatsapp and BBM are too playing their role.

One of the professor in my college mentioned it to me once " Always make efforts to meet people, you will learn and unlearn"

And I thought I am in touch with people though this internet based platforms!!


Vikas Sachdeva 

Brand Amul- Connecting with people efforlessly

Brand Amul- Connecting with people’s effortlessly

  

It was 12^th July 2012, I just entered the Hotel Red Fox in Hyderabad at around 11.15 pm, after a day of making arrangements for our new outlet launch in Chandanagar, freshened up, was just about to close my eyes for a good sleep, my room phone rang, wondering who it will be at this hour, It was my boss Mr Alok Kapoor on the another line.

We were called in his room at 11. 30 pm to share some data!

Just as we were discussing some points, My boss stood up and there was one book “Amul‘s India” in his hand.

“This is a gift for you, he said!

I was astonished at his gesture, i had always considered books as most valuable gifts (last week only, my wife had gifted me Steve jobs biography) and a gift from boss, wonderful, i really felt happy!

I slept well that night!

The book is about brand Amul, not how it was made in detail, but how it grew strength to strength.

Few points it taught me-

How Amul system works

Milk Producer---------Village Dairy CO-OP----------District Milk CO-OP union--------State CO-Op Milk MKTG Fed------------Consumer

1.       Cartoon form: First and foremost thing i like about brand Amul is its form, Cartoon Amul girl, it has not tried to become real, had it become real life character, it would have lost the charm, brand Amul is not intimidating, not boasting about its products, this form is most engaging. The sketches are still hand coloured.

2.       Brand Amul: After observing the communication over the period of time, brand Amul is positioned in my mind as “ Priceless products with complete consumer trust” , this brand is so approachable, it’s never far, it tells me “ i have best products whatever milk can produce”

3.       Communication messages: They always are topical, let’s remember it’s really difficult to choose one subject to communicate on as topic need to have dramatic potential, of sufficient interest, they need to appear immediately otherwise impact of that topic will be lost and at the same time, there should be a way to connect with the brand. Amul has always chosen topics which have the maximum connect (Bollywood, Politics and Sports). The messages are thought provoking, lovable and charming.

4.       4-5 words of wittiness and humour and teasing - The best part about brand Amul is that it’s messages are of just 4-5 words and in some cases even lesser than that.

 It’s really difficult in 4-5 words to

           

  Connect with the topic/issue

                Putting humour

               Connect with Amul brand and its products

5.  Amul addressing everyday problems – With its journey from attacking politicians, connecting with Bollywood stars, it started addressing grievances of customers like power shortages, bad roads. Admissions ,Legal age for drinking and more, so customers felt brand Amul as their spokesperson, somebody who is highlighting their problems not as if brand Amul will solve the problems but at least addressing to large public through its hoardings.

6.Controversial nature of messages- Why it got connected to most people was that its controversial Nature, it was put people into thinking for few seconds and then smile, customer would nod in agreement, Yes, i have understood what you meant!

Journey of brand Amul

1970-1980- In this period, Amul billboard documents the disconnected concerns of small group

1985- Mid 1990s- Amul billboards covers beginning of liberalization and change of political discourse.

Post 1991- Political scandals and controversies

After 2000- Bollywood and television

Amul, Utterly Butterly delicious, a brand!

Vikas Sachdeva

    

            

    

          

Brands, ads and consumer

As an amateur, I tend to have big eye for communication, advertising, how consumer will react (my point of view only), Understanding Psyche of people and response patterns. With 6 years of experience in a bit of strategy, branding, advertising which involves agency handling ( both creative and media), conceptualizing promotional ideas and executing it, brand operations ( ATL and BTL) , I have learnt to become a keen observer of advertising. I am itching to share my point of view on following points

• Gaps in Briefs sent to agency and outcome
• Media- only about reach?
• What clicks!

Gaps in briefs sent to agency and outcome

“We just want to create hype around merchandise as on savings platform” ……I saw his mail mentioning the same to the agency!

9 days later, agency came up with layout with boxes and product pictures placed in it, headline read” The Biggest Bachat Mela”

Disgusting!!! He told agency, this is what I expected from you? You have been with us for years now and this is the output!!!.....not acceptable at all!

Poor servicing guy tried explaining in detail but in vain!

Looking helpless, servicing guy mentioned, we had been briefed in one line about the thought and that’s it, no detailing given to us in terms of direction of thinking, one word savings can be depicted in 100 ways!

And fight went on!

Since then I learnt the importance of proper briefing (meaning why we are doing his communication, End objective, TG, any emotion that we are using, tone, informing or engaging etc)

Today in over communication world, where every brand is fighting for perception space, Brands needs to be engaging the customer not only informing about their offerings.

I really really hated this new Aircel ad (Lets keep believing is the tagline) wherein they show a kid opening a laptop and engaging with MS Dhoni, Dhoni tells about his childhood days and how he believed in himself and tears in his eyes (clearly fake and story didn’t demand those tears) and then suddenly Aircel logo appears …let’s keep believing!

I would like to get answers on

• ·         What is to be believed about (Your unmatched offerings, Trust in your brand by your consumerism?)
• 
  
• ·         When I thought about brief that must have been sent to agency, it was clear but the outcome, the ad doesn’t tell what brief must have been!
• 
  
• ·         Why u had tears MS Dhoni? Believe me Consumers are more realistic today and straightforward too!
• 
  
• ·         Aircel-From “world of possibilities’ to let’s keep believing” I don’t know what to say.

I started thinking Abhishek bachchan’s idea ad of sharing violence video on YouTube was much better (

Though again the difference between actual thought and the execution was different)

·         We all believe communication has purposes

·         Seeking attention (watch J K laxmi cement ad where a bikini clad girl is coming out of sea with J K laxmi cement pack shot, No connection with product at all but it has caught all the eyes!)

·         Awareness about products and services ( most fall under this category)

·         Contributing to the life of consumer through its offerings

·         And more!

Media – Only about reach?

“Kerala’s no 1 daily is 32.82 lacs ahead than No. 2 daily…….i was made to read this line with its shouting fonts and animation!

Zee surges to no. 2 spot beating Sony this week !i again I had to read!

My question- is media only about reach?.....where is the content?

It’s not only how many people watching a particular channel  but also what is the content most viewed and why? Is any socio economic culture change is prompting most to view that content? Is it a signal to produce that type of content more?

I admire Sony TV for the way they have changed the content, programs like Crime Patrol, Comedy circus, Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chashma, Indian Idol, Bade Ache Lagte Hain, Saas Bina Sasural…..all have been differentiated in their programming and TG rather than Star TV who is typically seen as Saas Bahu champion.

In Print we often say, this publication doesn’t give me result, have we tried enough? Does by doing communication in said publication 4-5 times gives us accurate results, its TG takes a long to associate with you, you may be new to the publication but publication has enough years under his belt and what efforts have we taken to engage with the readers of publication, just mere self admiring ad and expecting it will do wonders, short term view?

MTV has only its two shows catering to youth, Roadies and Splits Villa, they do fantastic job of faking thrill, emotions, all scripted but still youth is mad about the shows, flesh shown is also a key indicator, are we moving to west by content , yes we are!

So in my perspective, Reach is not only the true indicator, content of media vehicle, engagement with audiences is the key!

What clicks!

• ·         Didn’t you love Dhara’s ad where a kid says “Main ghar chhod ke jaa raha hun” then he couldn’t resist the temptation to eat Jalebi made with Dhara Oil
• 
  
• ·         Didn’t you love Cadbury ad when a girl celebrates victory when her boy hits six in cricket ground and she dances in the cricket ground ( I love all Cadbury commercials, super connect)
• 
  
• ·         Don’t you like Nescafe’s signature tune …ta..tara..ta..tara…ho shuru har din aise!
• 
  
• ·         Lalita ji’s surf ad

There is something that made these ads memorable which is instant connect and relatabilty, celebration, humor, background music!

Fancy jingles, weirdness in communication will help only for shorter period (watch olx ads, serve the purpose of anything can be bought or sold on olx but horrible ads!)

Few characters are so loved that people really visualize them in their daily conversations. Bade  and chote from 9xm, Sudd of hasi ke favaare, Jeevan mein cinema ke faayde,Kamla ka Hamla, Actor calling Actor.

I see so many hoardings on WE highway from Bandra to Goregaon, sometime I wonder a single person must be exposed to thousands of times in brands shouting “ I am the best”

Communication connects when we connect (simple yet not simple)

World’s greatest brands have invested for years to get desired results, and you want everything instantly?? Good things take time and idea is to follow the path, if we measure everything on numbers and conclude our opinions, we will crash in sometime or the other!

Have another blog to write, my point of views only, share yours!

Vikas Sachdeva