Consumer Durables and 50 Years of Advertising in India

Indian advertising has witnessed dramatic changes like no other country has, in the world. The transformation reflects the socio-economic changes the world is going through. In the last 50 years advertising has also underwent a lot of changes as far as consumer durable goods is concerned. Post 1943, when India was about to gain independence was still reeling under the euphoria of freedom, its people were facing acute fundamental problems such as food and other shortages, inflation challenges, ongoing war (Indo-Bangladesh)/China/Pakistan/Srilanka/The North East Insurgency India was in fact a reality, the harsh one, such more than the current, then politicians, like Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi, must have imagined. Poverty and political unrest buoyed the uncomfortability and even more.

The 70’s Show Business- It started here

Untill the mid 70’s more professionals from the advertising industry started entering the advertising scene. MBA grads from the IITs and IIM’s almost half of them started flying o the US, the land of promises, like birds from a coop. Post 1991, the Indian economy was just reviving under PV Narasimha Rao, Congress and Manmohan Singh’s economic stewardship.

Growing of Market

Leading advertising agencies that point of time had the right ingredients to make it big- the right talent, brain power, tools and the technique to counter the challenge in a competitive market, as MNC’s arrived in India. It started from just a handful of brands in limited category and a bucket full of brand products all set to change people’s lives dramatically. The Italian Vespa scooters had just arrived, the BSA, Norton, and Ariel bikes, and loads of consumer durable and white goods to services, real estate, food, snacks, soft drinks, aerated drinks and more.

MNC Spotted Talent in India

The MNC’s started picking local ‘desi’ talent amidst, Indian agencies. Marketing research happened to be the first such offering. Across Asia, you would find an Indian who would be heading operations of one of the agencies. After marketing research, cam media planning agencies started planning media for just or two TV channels in less than a decade (1991-2001).

Creative Indians- Juices Forelong

Creative agencies like McCann, O&M, Ulka, Rediffussion etc. started evolving and was undergoing a metamorphose like situation. During this period Indian commercial Ericcson won an award in Cannes. I think that was the beginning. Indian advertising was changing from a made to suit international audience or modify the content as per local needs and demands as even Indian was experiencing socio-economic changes, thanks to the explosion of cable TV.

Multinational-ization of Indian Agencies (1963-2013)

Advertising in early India was initiated by one B Duttaram did set up his advertising agency in Mumbai in 1905. Most advertising was targeted at the sahibs and the memsahibs who ruled pre-independence India. When JWT-(J Walter Thomson) set up shop in 1929, Professionalism seeped in. The 1930 ad for KC Das pushing its canned rasgulla was a fresh marketing idea then and a decade later the 60s witnessed the 'utterly butterly delicious' campaign by Amul. The supposedly origin of ‘Mad Men of Advertising’, O&M (Ogilvy and Mather Co), are the initiators of modern supreme experiential advertising. Their ‘Man in Hathaway Shirt' ad campaign chose a good looking Man, yet with an eye patch. The ad was a hit. New tools and techniques were being put to use in this period. From a handful of TV channels to now over 500 registered channels and websites and YouTube to a mass proliferation of new digital age advertising and branding/traditional definition of this term was undergoing a CHANGE.

From Metros to Mofusil Towns

From just metro cities namely- Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, the Indian advertisers started targeting smaller towns and people living and speaking vernacular languages, even the modus operandi. Sport marketing opportunities such as IPL, IBL, and soccer competition have created never before advertising opportunities. It like creating a demand out of thin air. Haier India will be celebrating 10 years in India and plans to increase it's digital footsteps in India through digital ways and means. This way a brand can reach out to a wider geography via internet.

Some noticeable changes the industry was experiencing:

a) A beginning of the mall culture
b) Increase of women work force in offices
c) The rise of TV and media
d) Increase in literacy and associate awareness
e) Mobile revolution/Land line expansion
f) New roads/ electrification of villages
g) The rise of luxury marques
h) Growth of internet based products and its usages

Advertising and poverty-Its Invariably Proportionate 

Post 1990, the economic boom has actually elevated lots of poor from the shoddy lives they were used to. The poor, owing the exposure of products, started living better lives, which was affordable in general. Currently over 50% of Indians live under squalor like conditions, yet a majority of the poor today can afford a mobile phone. Hence, we assume that 50% of our population has little or no idea about brands and the importance of quality in a price sensitive market like India.

What Next at Advertising- Embrace Digital

As well perceived by Dr. MG. Padmeswaran, head of draftfcb-ulka (piece inspired by him), Mumbai, he believes that Indian advertising is well positioned to be where it needs to be.

What do we need to do?
a) Talent attraction and retention
b) Decoding and understanding digitization of media
c) Tracking consumer trends
d) Pushing the envelope
e) Ability to demand the right price from the clients.

Pic courtesy- media2.intoday.in, bestmediainfo, graphics8.nytimes Dot com

The Author PalashD, is an executive with an MNC.

Oppurtunity to see and Branding

The basic object of positioning a brand is to make people feel that there is no satisfactory substitute of a product. Adapting a strong position is not a sheer passive act, rather it is an intentional effort to influence events. It needs sidelining, ignoring, seated business targets to favour of others.

Post success a product will reap increased sales/profits and a consumer franchise who will finally believe that there is no satisfactory substitute. Dilip Ray believes in branding first and positioning later. He says, “Lots of products have gone haywire over the years. They constantly keep aspiration levels high and reminding that a product is there.”
In a heavily competitive space ME TOO products will hardly make a difference, a product has to get ingrained inside an audience’s mind. Prof Subroto Sengupta an author once said, “a product must find a definitive place in an individual’s perception inside a world of products.” In other words the product should find a strong position and should sit tightly over it. To position a brand requires that helps you make choices and having a position that means that the product will appeal to some and might not to others. Piyush from vedainformatics.com confirms a thought by saying, “a product’s success can define a company’s brand value. Branding is not something which is one size- fits all, understanding a product and their target audience is important. Positioning can happen later along with packaging and finishing that comes as additions.” In broader terms positioning can be done in several ways like offering special benefits, targeting special segments, pricing and distribution.
Being different is essentially important, benefit positioning can be used if the brand is perceivably differentiates in its ability to deliver a specific benefit. Benefit positioning will again depend on how many people really care about benefit and how differently the brand delivers it.
Arthur Cadzo stresses on comparisons, “One can simply flaunt the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the product. Show the facts and salient features of the product. You are sure of then compare the facts and stats and figures of yours and others.” He meant dotting the dart- know your audience. It requires brand marketing should be focused, precise and targeted on a specific segment. The target audience can vary from demography, economy, geography, ethnic identity and of course attitudinally. To work, target positioning should cause the people in the target to perceive superiority of a brand to meeting their respective needs.
Prodeep K Hui a senior media person asserts, “The strategy of undifferentiated marketing has now changed to focused marketing activity amongst individual sub-group and a defined geographical area.” Markets have always been sensitive to pricing. Prices build brands. It has the ability to put a brand either on the top or bottom of the category. Being the most or least expensive brand in respective category can be an asset or liability in certain cases. Well, there are standalone exceptions like Rolex and Marlboro, if reports are to be believed their sales plummeted dramatically after their promoters reduced their prices. Here the former brands have positioned in the consumer minds in a different league (macho and elite respectively). It purely depends that the particular promotion is done for the masses or the classes. Obviously size of consumers, brand image and profit margins might get affected by this strategy owned.

At times it becomes difficult to depend on a price position, for instance we understand that Mercedes Benz has been positioned as an expensive and conservative vehicle. The implication for the marketing mix -the 4P’s would be that of this premium branded car, a high priced car which is selectively distributed and marketed. For example an Audi or a Porche will never get advertised in a regional or vernacular newspaper, it will choose Discovery, National Geographic or BBC unless the promoters have biased interests. The selective target group comprises of price elastic consumers, segmented on the basis of demography, lifestyle strata and certain rational/emotional core values.
Speaking macro six qualities can result a successful brand position campaign. A product with a face or relevance. Positioning that fails to touch a human chord through which a person can not relate or identify is ineffective. A positioning which is unable to reflect a character of the product is unable to reflect a character of a product is bound to fail. Akshay Kumar’s endorsement of Bagpiper and Thumbs Up reflects a macho image. The legendary Gattu, the painter boy of the Asian paints. Relevancy of the product from a human angle helps positioning a brand successfully.
Plain and simple words can do wonders read clarity. ‘We try harder because we are No 2’ established Avis as a major league competitor quickly. By establishing an underdog position in the mind Vs Hertz. Avis strived to overcome dissonance in the prospects choice situation by triggering an effective route to persuasion i:e evoking a sense of empathy for an honest #2.
A position should be simple enough to comprehend. The message should be loud and clear. Is your product unique or somewhat distinct from others, if not how can be – Discontent, emptiness or a vacuum in a person’s heart is always there. All his need is not satisfied. Hundred of products are scrambling with each other in a limited space. What is that differentiates– price, promotion and expensive strategies that will not build brand equity in long term.
Don’t you think look matters? No matter how good your product is does not create an articulate stroke, you may land up in an unwanted place. If a product is meant for a particular class the class has to be identified first and then accordingly jive up to expectation and be committed.

In the past decade or so the WWW (world wide web) has provided an independent platform to individual users, private firms, government and large organizations to show up and showcase who they are. Here comes the relevance of OTS (opportunity to see). A spiraling growth of the internet and unique users is growing by the day. Blogs/ articles writing is a neo phenomena and SEO (search engine optimization newer). Here is the opportunity that lies, there are approximately 70 Million blog users in the world, how to differentiate? SEO is a rank improvement technique of a site, blog or even a company with the help of existing popular search engines like Google, Yahoo or Rediff. If I talk about businesses relying heavily on the internet, optimization will become indispensable in forthcoming years, for sure. I would like to mention again, your product has to be good and reliable, SEO techniques is like a supplement which can boost immunity and health of a modern organization tremendously. No matter how good you dressed your window, the pane should good or else, sooner than later, it will fall off.
A brand is like a promise--it represents traits of company's products/ services. The brand is also a faith that a consumer reposes and believes that it will change lives.