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4Ps
Feeling good in bad times
Whoever said ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ was not just a true genius at word play; but also one who had possibly seen-it-all happen to the so-considered ‘great brands’, from atop the citadel of capitalism... A ground reality check by Aditi Prasad
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 Survival Tactic 3:
Focus on your consumers
If the monetary crunch is hitting your company badly and you are thinking of compromising on the quality of your products & services (just an iota mind you!), you’d better take a sleeping pill instead – and not wake up unless the slowdown storm has passed. Because if you reduce quality, your consumer will never forgive you – even after the economy stabilises. As per Millward Brown, a reduction in quality may go unnoticed for a while, but will certainly give competitors an edge that they may exploit later.
The trick is in prudently slashing all unnecessary production costs and bringing in efficiencies of scale as domestic coffee retailer Café Coffee Day (CCD) has discovered to its benefit. Says Bidisha Nagaraj, President-Marketing, CCD: “On the back of the economic slowdown, we are tightening our supply chain to minimise our expense and maximise our output.” Even their expansion plans are well on track despite the current crisis. Variants like Music cafes, Highway cafes, Garden cafes, Lounge cafes and premium offering – Coffee Day Square – are already a reality, giving CCD great reach across varied consumer segments, as also giving wings to their plan of opening 1,000 cafes by end-2009.
Apart from brand extensions, CCD is also proactively evolving its menu. Amidst all the brouhaha about the consumer’s evaporating ability to make purchases, CCD has launched its new menu to ostensibly shadow individual guest sentiments. For example, caffeine input is more in morning coffees like Morning Glory and First Light; Solar Eclipse and Summer Breeze are the afternoon coffees to minimise fatigue; and you can end the day with a delicious dessert drink called the Sunset Brew. Explains Nagaraj: “Experience is what has kept people coming back to our cafes. ‘Shadows’ will go a long way in providing that experience and thereby maintaining and increasing our customer base.” A smashing 360 degree approach to entice the consumer out of their present predicament!
On the other hand, arch rival Barista seems to be stuck in a quagmire of sorts. Faced with a cash crunch and changes in management control (European coffee chain Lavazza bought out Barista recently), the coffee retailer has not been able to innovate either with extensions or positioning. No prizes for guessing which of the two coffee chains is emerging stronger. V. Ramachandran, Director-Marketing, LG India, is bent on pursuing a similar strategy: “Along with premium market we will focus on rural market, which seems to be very strong presently because slowdown had no impact on this market.”
After burger & french fries, brand McDonald’s has started offering its breakfast menu (including parathas, muffins and hash browns) to consumers since January this year. The thought once again germinates from a desire in McD’s to expand its consumer base. Interestingly, the breakfast menu is McD’s most successful initiative in many countries globally, but it took them all of 12 years and a slowdown-hit economy, to actually launch it in India. But for McD’s, marketing in a slowdown is not merely about tapping into diverse consumer segments. The focus is also on keeping its ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ communication consistent; which brings us to the next survival tactic...
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Survival Tactic 4:
Focus on your communication
Seen the latest ad from India’s leading insurance provider LIC. Haven’t? Well, it talks about the needlessness of adding two K’s to your name to change your professional fortune. Okay, caught the latest Tata Safari Dicor commercial? This one pointedly rubbishes office politics in these troubled times and asks consumers to ‘Reclaim your life’. India’s largest private bank ICICI is doing a lot of ‘rely on us in bad times’ ads; Honda City’s sedan cruises along rough terrain with an ‘enjoy your challenges’ tag line...
If you are still not getting the point – guess its back to the schoolroom for you. Fact is every marketer worth his salt (or should we say 4Ps?) is sending out ‘loaded’ missives to his consumers these days. He’s trying to build a common agenda with consumers and make a moot point about the emotional connect in these unhappy times so that the
consumer should buy his brand. Agrees Anisha Motwani, Executive VP-Marketing, Max New York Life Insurance (MNYL): “Times are cautious. Therefore, the message should have a ‘re-assuring’ communication strategy. The tone and content of advertising should be re-assuring that your money is safe with us.” To communicate its credibility, MNYL recently began spreading the message that their international partner, New York Life is the only American financial organisation that has been untouched by the US economic turmoil.
And that perhaps is the reason for all the optimism floating around in the air. Yeah! You guessed it right – because
people want to hear good things (especially the overtly optimistic, never say die, Indian people!!).
Big 92.7 FM, the biggest private FM player as per the number of channels and reach – is similarly attempting to cash in on consumer apathy to negative messages. Their ‘Don’t Worry; Be Happy’ theme is receiving rave response. Says Nirupam Sonu, VP – Programming, BIG 92.7 FM, “Honestly there is a lot of negativity in the air. So, we need someone to tell them to be happy and take them a little away from their troubles.” Besides the daily doses of laughter, the station has a programming line up that hosts visionaries and CEOs who give tips on how to stay motivated at the workplace, how to secure jobs, manage expenses, et al, during these tough times. “It is not just about recession and gives no gyan as to when the bad times will end. Instead it is just our initiative to help our listeners,” says Sonu.
Besides the message itself, medium choices and exorbitant ad rates are other niggling worries for marketers. The trick it seems is to review your media budget allocations to maximise value. Little surprise that a host of marketers are lining up media houses to review their options. Chirantan Chandran, Partner-Client Leadership, Mindshare adds that “clients are of course looking for better rates but moreover, the major deciding factor for them is ROI and the accountability of investments. They have become more careful about each step they are taking, they are seeing what they are receiving in lieu of what they are doing in fact what they are investing.” Titus, ex-Senior Creative Director, O&M suggests innovative media vehicles for generating better bang for their bucks. “Communication is changing. We are all awakening to the fact that television can’t solve all the problems,” he says.
TV sure can’t solve problems. Just like chanting, praying and generally invoking the God of good times to banish those depressing thoughts, TV can at best play along the tunes of hope. But the fact is that there is a lot of hope for marketers and companies that can think out-of-the-box. Out-of-the-box need not be out of the world; but it does mean you actually end up feeling good in these so called bad times.
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