1. Consumerism in India: the suits get it wrong

Consumerism is big business in India. There will be 628 million middle-class Indians by 2015. And already, their net income has doubled over the last 10 years. Obviously, every multinational company now wants to sell in India. Some companies have failed and others succeeded. The ones that failed did so because they were not sensitive to the cultural factors that affect consumer behaviour in India.

Consumerism in India: the suits get it wrongKellogg's introduced corn flakes in

India in 1995. But the product failed miserably. It achieved less than 20% of its initial sales target. How could Kellogg's have gone wrong? Corn flakes are cheap, more and more Indian women are working and don't cook breakfast anymore and people want a nutritious yet quick meal, right? Kellogg's seems like the perfect answer, doesn't it? Why, then, did Kellogg's suffer years of losses in India? The answer, dear reader, lies in the quirks of Indian consumption patterns. Something my uneducated

cook understood, but the suits at Kellogg's didn't. Indians consume differently. Indeed, what people buy in any country is defined by local culture. Very simply, different strokes for different folks. And in this case, Indians like HOT milk in their cereal. Kellogg's cereal is made for cold milk and didn't hold up to hot milk. It became soggy. Nobody wanted to eat it. For years, Kellogg's struggled in India. It was only after revamping its product and making a cereal suitable for hot milk that Kellogg's became profitable in India.

So here are some cultural quirks multinationals should keep in mind when marketing in India:1. Indians like hot cereal.2. Most Indians worship cows; part of the country is vegetarian.3. Indians don't kiss (at least not in the movies).

It was point No.2 that my cook, Perumal, drove home. You see, not only are many of us vegetarian, we are a cow-worshipping, non-beef-eating lot. About 20% of India's population is completely vegetarian, and about 82% does not eat beef. Yet McDonald's revenue in India has grown a whopping 50% annually since 1997. How does McDonald's, the

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world's largest BEEF-based food chain, thrive and flourish in cow-revering, vegetarian India?

Enter the 'Maharaja Mac'. A 100% ground lamb burger served with lettuce, tomatoes, special sauce, cheese, onion and pickles on a sesame bun. Other items include the Chicken Maharaja Mac, the McVeggie and

the McAloo Tikki (with potatoes). The vegetarian items are advertised with a "100% pure veg" stamp on them. Seventy-five percent of the McDonald's menu in India is Indianised. In 2001, McDonald's also introduced the Veg Surprise burger, a veggie burger with Indian spices. Not surprisingly, sales volume shot up 40%. As for the flagship Maharaja Mac and the McVeggie, not only are they profitable, they are

also politically correct burgers. Indian political activists are always eager to protest again so-called "cultural imperialism". And foreign-based fast food chains are easy targets.

Take KFC, for example. After an ambitious start in the late 1990s, KFC scaled back its expansion plans after major protests. KFC was also accused of using illegally high amounts of MSG and frying its chicken in pork fat (India's 150 million Muslims don't eat pork). Activist groups protested outside the restaurant in Bangalore, holding placards reading "Quit India" and "Stop Playing Foul". KFC now has just one restaurant in India. McDonald's has 58 restaurants in India. And it seems all set to "beef up" more profits in the country. As the Managing Director of McDonalds India, Vikram Bakshi, says "When you go into any country, very clearly, you have to understand the culture; you have to understand how you intend to be relevant to the consumer in that country. I don't think any brand, no matter how big it is, can take the market lightly. And I think the biggest mistake is when you think you have a big brand and that everyone is overwhelmed by it. Because whatever the brand, it has to be relevant to the consumer of that country."

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2. The Telecom Boom Takeover India Adoption of, resistance to diffusion of innovations.

The landmark year of India, 1991 ushered in the new telecom policy and with that a complete change of the face of the Indian telecom space. Infact, from the mid 80’s The market was beginning to transform, Sam Pitroda with his technology working closely with the Govt. of India helped connect the people of India – in far-flung regions and remotest corners, to each other and to the world. His tenacity helped create the concept & technology behind the network of

“STD/PCO” phone booths across the country, in every village. The 6 lakh booths, providing employment for over a million people, today dot the

remotest regions of India. The basic design and technology behind this was simple and cheap.

Created by Sam Pitroda’s team at the center for development of telematics, which he founded in 1984, it was a device that displayed the phone call cost and generated an instant bill at the user’s end, instead of at the telephone exchange. This changed the Indian telephony. Under Pitroda, C-DoTs key contribution was the RAX, also known as rural automatic exchange – small, cheap & robust phone switches that helped take telephone to rural India, forming its telecom backbone. Sam then moved on to helping shape the telecom policy in India. In 1987, he was appointed advisor to the Prime Minister of India. In 1989, he became the first chairman of India’s Telecom Commission, responsible for all aspects of telecom legislation and development for the country.

Today, the telecom industry has seen a major transformation, take for instance the mobile subscriber base touching 100 million by 2006 and 200 million by 2008. The country’s mobile service market is forecast to grow by a compound annual rate of 28.3% during the next 5 years, to reach revenues of about $15.6 billion in 2008, according to a research firm Gartner Inc,. The telecom regulatory authority in India has announced that 41.26 million

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Indians have subscribed to phone service since the beginning of 2005. Of the 5.33million phone people who subscribed to phone service in March 2006, 94% were solely for mobile, bringing the number of people with phone service to140 million. Of those phones, 36% are land lines & 64% are cell phones. The telecom regulatory authority in India also announced today that 1.3million Indians have broadband internet connections.

When Mobile telephone came in 1994, the acquisition cost, handsent cost as well as the recurring expenditure were too high. At Rs 16.40/- per minute airtime charges, the cost was very steep. Even handset cost and the incoming cost of calls were very high.

In 1995, bookings opened at Rs 10,000/- and the final entry cost with a basic handset worked close to Rs 25,000/- a price very steep by 1995 standards. The product that time considered as luxury product for the crème de la crème had a penetration only at the upper end of the market. As the product and the services diffused over a time, the airtime charges dipped and so did the handset costs. Most marketers by then had realized that volumes would be the basis to drive the market and value.

Significantly, the market was also moving away from duopoly to accommodate more players, chiefly state run BSNL & MTNL. In 2002, the launch of CDMA changed the whole market dynamics. As the product had diffused over time into the segment of customers in the initial phase, the next level customers were seeking low rates for both services and handsets, which the operators were gradually doing.

The Indian cellular market therefore became a classic case of cost based economics. The lower cost of entry brought in more number of consumers, with high air time usage. Incidentally, the airtime charges in India are the lowest in the Asia Pacific. Today operators target Section C, D and even E consumers of the market. The two key drivers to the category, which defined the diffusion process, are the introduction of the prepaid services and the waiver of incoming call chargers. The handset companies also manufacture specially designed cellular phones for the Indian market. Nokia 1110 is a

case in point. The handset had the penetration with a target of sec D & E class. Featuring the rough and though attitude that are required to adjust to Indian conditions. Truck driver, light/torch in mobile, Hard body etc where the feature of its communication. Today, market is flooded with all sorts of handsets with variable price range. Add to that the flexibility of choosing any tariff option from the operators. All this makes cellular phone acquisition easier.

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The telecom boom in India, particularly the cellular market, reflects some of the factors that influence consumers’ decisions about innovative offerings. Similar is the case with the South Korean broadband market. S. Korea is one of the biggest markets as most households have a broad band connection. Why are South Korean consumers so willing to switch to broadband?1. Competition between service providers has kept the price relatively

lower than that of the US markets. This resulted in variety of offerings.

2. Govt. encourages getting broadband to enhance the children’s education – a benefit that fits with the high cultural value placed on education.

3. Multinationals like Samsung and LG make it easy by marketing all sorts of related products, from enhanced handsets to web-controlled smart appliances.

4. More than half of populations live in big cities, so word of new innovations like higher and faster download speeds etc spreads rapidly.

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3. SURF Excel: Never have stains been so welcome Psychographic of values, personality & lifestyles

The story of SURF in India is 45 years old by 2008. It had a humble beginning from Hindustan liver (now Hindustan Uniliver Ltd). The brand lived through 60s, 70’s and 80’s on the platform of “washes whitest” and the classic Lalithaji symbolized the no-nonsense housewife, who always looked for the best bargain. She was the icon which first represented the empowerment of Indian housewife in Indian advertisements. She was the traditional, middle class housewife who was educated and smart – someone nobody could take for a ride. The Indian housewife could identify completely with Lalithaji and she became an instant success. The brand SURF at that point of time tried to reposition itself as a superior product as compared to any other ordinary detergent powder. The differentiator was showcased through a tough non compromising person like Lalithaji, who said, “Aadha kilo SURF ek kilo saste powder ke barabar hota hai.” Surf at that point worked its positioning for two reasons. 1. It was already estanblished brand with over 2 decades of market experience. 2. Nirma, an economy brand was eating into its market share, with a low price plank.

The Lalithaji campaign worked for some time, after which the changing nature of the market and new consumer trends forced Surf to focus on different platform to retain its market and get across new consumer segments. The brand for

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some time made efforts to sustain its market presence and market share by introducing perceptible changes in the brand through features like power boosters, cues like “new improved surf”, to name some.

However, around 1990’s the brand was again under pressure with the imminent launch of Ariel from P&G, Surf had to rethink on its franchise and look at line extensions through Surf Excel. The brand was successful among the premium segment. In addition, during this process the parent brand surf remained under pressure and therefore in 2004 had to be withdrawn. Around this time Surf Excel also consolidated itself by launching newer variants through Surf Excel.

One of the Key value drivers for Surf Excel was stain removal which was paradigm shift from the earlier platform of more lather and therefore cleans clothes. Most housewives had the perception that more lather gives better cleaning. One of the challenges of the brand Surf Excel was to remove this notion and hence the platform of stain removal was used which worked well for the brand. Later the brand went on to develop some new formulations of Surf Excel that produced less lather, helping to conserve water. This made a big difference in the dry southern states of south India. Here many people used to spend more money on water than the detergent to wash clothes. During a study

conducted it was found that washing clothes accounts to almost a quarter of all the water used in the states of TN and AP. In these states, 2004 saw the relaunch of Surf Excel.

The brand promise was relevant to the consumer behaviour study, which claimed to save two buckets of water a day without compromising on the stain removal. Independant research by the C P Ramaswami Trust, an NGO there that works on the water conservation, has verified this claim. TV ads endorsed by the south Indian film celebrity Revathi, promoted the message of cleaner

clothes without lather. Sales of Surf Excel have increased by almost 50% in TN & AP after this relaunch.

The campaign was extended all India with Shabana Azmi, who had more national presence, was showcased to focu on the water conservation aspect. The brand took the platform of stain removal to a higher value driven and used the proposition of stains are welcome, as it said “SurfExcel hai na”. Today its moved further and claims “Daag ache hain”. Continual shifting and moving on the process has helped the brand values to reach deep in the minds of the consumers. Today Surf Excel is synonyms to stain removal.

Surf Excel has been continuously innovating and offering value drivers to the consumers in an attempt to keep the brand fresh and alive in their mind. As a brand reinforcement strategy it helps, since the core

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value remains unchanged and most propositions only consolidates the core stand.

Together values, personality and lifestyles constitute the basic components of psychographics, the description of consumers based on their psychological and behavioral characteristics. Marketers use psychographics to gain a more detailed understanding of consumer behaviors than they can get from demographic variables like ethnicity, social class, age, gender and religion.

4. Bajaj: Truly Humara BajajMarketers require the basic understanding.

A company with over 70+ years of existence in the Indian market that started off as a typical family run business. The founder Shri Jamnalal Bajaj had strong Gandhian leanings and was actively associated with the Indian freedom movement. In fact, his some Shri Kamalnayan Bajaj too was associated with the freedom movement very closely. Bajaj group’s diversified interests included a wide range of industries, spanning automobiles (two-wheelers and three-wheelers) home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel & finance. After Rahul Bajaj took over the business in 1965, the company went into fast track mode and for over 4 decades was under his leadership. The turnover of the Bajaj Auto, the flagship company went up from Rs 72 million to Rs 46.16 billion (USD 936 million). Through the 60s, 70s & 80s Bajaj scooters were almost a generic brand to scooters in Indian market. It dominated the scooter market and had near domination stage. In the mid 80s, India saw motorbike segment growing. Bajaj was not far behind in realizing this development. Rising fuel cost, urbanization, and over all changing mindsets of

consumers meant motor bike as a category was replacing the scooter segment. Hero Honda one of the early entrants in the 100cc bike segment had the first mover advantage and gained sufficient inroads with their CD100 bike. Soon, companies like Bajaj, TVS and Escorts followed their suit. Gradually the size of the market expanded and so did the players. Today the motorbike market has a

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large array of players including the Japanese heavyweights of bikes like HONDA and SUZUKI.

However, a traditional scooter making company which such deep-rooted legacy and experience in the said industry has been able to shrug off the image of a family driven vehicle into a more yuppie, younger and more dynamic segment with a range of bikes to suit the taste and lifestyle of the age group. The company carried out a large number of internal and external changes to realign with the changing nature of market. Especially, the efforts to reach out to the new segments were more pronounced. In the late 80’s the classic “Hamara Bajaj” advertising campaign from the erstwhile HTA now JWT, created very strong visual imagery of a home grown brand. The pan Indian state was created.

However, a few critical factors, pertinent to macro environmental factors;1. Shifting demographic trends: a very young population in India, with

rising disposable incomes, that can own a vehicle at far more younger age as compared to 10 years back.

2. Rapid urbanization of smaller towns and with it the problems of traffic and distances to travel, together with the lack of intra-city public transportation.

3. The third aspect being more of a global concern is of oil price rise. Its cost of benefit analysis was done by Indian consumers with a scooter versus motorbikes.

4. High growth passenger car segment and easy finance options made car buying easier further helped by falling prices and families opting for comfort and safer climes of a car as against scooters

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Taking advantage of the environment and the growth opportunities realized in the motorbike segment, Bajaj quickly consolidated its core business and moved more aggressively in this market. The motorbike models launched prominently featured the brand names unlike in the past where the name Bajaj was more prominent. This was more for the reason that the company still carried the scooter image in its core and that could have diluted the imagery in the new segment. Brands today like Pulsar, Caliber, Avenger, DTSI are more successful and carry their

brand names more prominently as compared to the earlier brands of scooters that had Bajaj written prominently. As most scooters were referred as Bajaj Chetak, Bajaj FE, Bajaj Super, Bajaj 150 etc. The company also changed the company logo and a new tagline was incorporated in the logo “Inspiring confidence”, perhaps making an effort to get closer to the younger audience.

Today, Bajaj may not be No1 in its category, but it surely stands tall at No 2 position after Hero Honda, giving it a run for its money. Hero Honda that started off as motor bike company is still traditionally known as Motorbike Company. Bajaj is a classical example of how a company adjusts to the shifting trends in the consumers and his/her buring preferences and makes itself relevant across its segments.

CD100 Yamaha FZ16

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5. Hyundai Santro: The Sun (rise) shine carMotivation, Ability & Opportunity

Santro’s launch in India in 1998 was a well times launch for the company and also for the automobile industry per se. The Maruti bandwagon was there between 1982 and 1998,

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dominating most of the market segments. The proverbial Maruti 800, Zen, Esteem & Gypsy seemed to dragging for far too long and the market looked for innovation in any form, either a new model or a new segment. Study caught the sound bytes of consumers expecting a car that offered space and power yet not being slotted in a large sedan segment. Santro’s launch from Korean stable was a mixed bag of apprehension and skepticisms. The Kroean experience with Indian market was only through LG and Samsung so far. The common perception of Korean brands was low cost, high technological products and backed with consistent innovation. The similarity ends at the country of origin since the durables and the automotives are two very different categories to have anything in common. At an average price of Rs 3,50,000 ($8000) ex-showroom and with an on-road price of Rs 4,00,000 ($8500) the car was noticeable for it tall boy shape, a pioneering effort from Hyundai, something which was not seen on Indian roads.

The car in it self may not have been a unique product but it was something which was able to fill the void that was there for sometime offering a range and choice to the customer, who seemed to have grown tired of the Maruti platter and the range they offered. Santro was compact, spacious and powerful in its segment, offering enough legroom space and a power of 1100cc. The typical diffusion of innovation cycle worked for the car and the brand picked up in the metros and mini-metros. It also packed in a successful ad campaign with Shah Rukh Khan which was another pioneering effort, as before that the celebrity endorsement was unheard in automobile segment. The brand was quick to get noticed. There has been no looking back since then for Santro. For a brand Santro and a series of innovative features like e-rlx, zing etc. helped the brand to create an impact in the A3 segment, till then dominated by Maruti.

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However, Santro has now targeted a completely new segment in the passenger car market; the entry level car buyers who invariably upgrade from a scooter or are first time car buyers. Through a series of external and internal realignment process it has been able to target this segment that is steadily growing. External, was it quickness to grasp the available opportunity in the emerging markets where Maruti 800 was no more being considered an entry level car. Internal, was in its pricing strategy that was penetrative in nature. Pricing the car at 2,75,000 ($6200) ex-showroom that studied the up grader or the first time buyer, in terms of affordability. NCAER data on demand of consumer durables shows a trend.

1995-96 2001-02 2005-06 2009-10Cars 276 788 1560 3466Motorcycles 760 2599 4663 8369CTV regular 1785 4580 6295 9957Refrigerators 1850 3006 4335 6774White goods 3437 6024 8727 13,149

Source : NCAER, Figures in ‘000s

The data above represents the potential in the market and how the lower end of the market particularly the motorcycle segment had enough opportunity to be tapped currently and in the near future. The motives in this segment to upgrade are quite different while evaluating existing car owners.

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6. Hum Tum: A buzz through Hum & TumLeveraging from Consumer Diversity and influencing on consumer behaviour

Yash Raj Films (YRF) have been in the industry for a long time now. Yash Chopra the chief of YRF is now considered as a legendary figure in the industry. They started out as a film making company in 1970. In the last three decades it has grown from strength to strength and today has to its credit India’s most enviable film catalogue – of which some films have been the highest grossers in

the entertainment industry.YRF over years has expanded the distribution of the

films all over the world. – its own as well as films made by other well known Indian names. YRF has also widened its horizons into home entertainment by marketing and distributing DVDs & VCDs of classic Indian films all over the world through its offices in UK, USA, UAE & India. Yash Chopra’s career started in mid 50s as an assistant director to his brother B R Chopra where he assisted him in the classic 1957 movie, NAYA DAUR. In 1959 he independently directed his own film Dhool Ka Phool, a very touching story of those times where a girl the social stigma of an unwed mother leaves her child. Though it was a hackneyed plot but the treatment was excellent and quite touching. The film went on to become a hit and since then there is no looking back.

Yash Chopra directed and produced a numerous films and today the mantle ha been take over by his son, Aditya Chopra. Yash Raj Films, the banner under which the company operates has diversified into film

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production, direction, music, home entertainment and has set up its own studio.

One of their films in 2004 released was HUM TUM. A runaway hit that went to do well at the box office. The film starring two of the current popular film stars, Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee explored the much trivialized aspect of love-hate-love relationship between a couple. However, what set the film apart was the setting of the characters, the dialogues, but most of all the cartoon characters created specially for the movie promotion. Taking off from the lead characters, HUM & TUM were showcased as cartoons strips in major English daily, creating a buzz amongst the target audience about the film.

In fact, the film per se was not marketed too aggressively. According to Tarun Tripathi, Marketing Head of YRF, just 10-15% of the film budget was used for promotion unlike industry norms of 25-30%. Besides, some fre of cost deals got the movie free publicity worth 30-35% of it budget. The film went on to earn Rs 30 crores from domestic and overseas releases at the end of nine weeks. Hum Tum also emerged as a surprise winner at the box office, particularly in the overseas market. Here the collections at the end of ninth weeks stood at Rs 8.16 crores according to the statistics available from the international Business Review Standard.

The success of the film was 1. More because of the curiosity it created through the cartoon characters released much before the film was actually released and 2. The connectivity of the characters to the film. Infact, the lead actor was the creator of Hum-Tum in film itself. The film and the stars were not marketed aggressively as typical in most film release cases. Instead of giving forced reviews to audience, the

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marketing strategy was to leave the audience to judge it. They appreciated it.

As marketers, one should understand when and why individuals, groups, and various media affect the consumer behaviour. Sometimes information and pressures, known as social influences, have strong influences on consumers because the information source is very credible. During other times they have stronger influences simply because the source can communicate information widely. Think about how you would react if your best friends rave about the taste of a new food, or stranger hands over an electronic gadget to you to handle. Social influences are even higher and more powerful when the individuals within the groups are in frequent contact and have many opportunities to communicate information. Certain people in a social group can be very influential in a group due to their expertise, their level of knowledge and wants to believe what they say.

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7. Cola controversy: Drinking pesticide?Consumerism and public issue policy. Addressing change in mind set.

In the summer of August 2006 when the Cola majors had to battle it out amongst themselves for grabbing market share, they were fighting a different battle. Center for Science & Environment (CSE) in one of its report came out with startling facts. Sunita Narain, Director of CSE quoted in her press release, “ The 2006 CSE study tested 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands, from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola & PepsiCo, spread over 12 states. The study finds pesticide residues in all samples. It finds a cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides in all samples – on an average 24 times higher than the BIS norms which have been finalized but not yet notified. The levels in some samples for instances, Coca-Cola brought in Kolkatta-exceeded the BIS standards by 140 times for the deadly pesticide lindane. Similarly, a Coca-Cola

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samplemanufactured in the Thane contained the neurotoxin Chlorpyrifos, 200 times the standard”.

When the report claim was published first in front pages of national dailies, that both the soft drinks were contaminated with pesticides, the executives from both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were breezily confident that they could handle the issue. After the launch of report, the cola majors could not gauge the level of controversy it would generate. Months after the report released, they are still struggling to win back the Indian consumers. One-quarter of Indian states had already imposed ban on the products of both cola majors. A complex legal battle had started to overturn the bans. Both companies acknowledge that they miscalculated, and stumbled badly, in the initial response to the pesticide allegations. They underestimated how quickly the matter would spiral into a nationwide scandal. They misjudged how quickly local politicians would seize on the issue. And they did not move swiftly themselves to quell the anxieties of their customers.

As soon as CSE, announced it finding that the soft drinks manufactured by the two companies in India contained, on an average, more than 24 times the amount of pesticide residue that is considered safe, the companies formed committees in India and the United States to deal with the issue. The companies also commissioned their own lab tests to rebut the report and worked parallel around the clock on legal and public-relations responses. But their decisions early on to wait for the labs results before commenting in detail on the accusations, and that decision seems to have backfired. The companies’ reticence merely fanned consumers’ suspicions, and they soon got bogged down in the technicalities of the allegations, instead of focusing on winning back the emotional support of their

customers. Eventually as both the companies had begun to realize the extent of damage, the approach towards damage control was now seen as more of public relation exercise and win back customer confidence. Pepsi got its MD Rajeev Bakshi, to feature in their ads to testify about the safety issue. Alternatively, Coca-Cola hired services of celebrities

like Aamir khan to testify itself. Free plant visits were organized, should customers want to personally validate for themselves. In all the cola majors approach was more customer driven. Today, consumers may have buried the past and moved on and the cola major may be back

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aggressively targeting the long-hot Indian summer, but the controversy created a sufficient stir in the market and more specifically as country, where public policy issues and interest of consumer welfare were never discussed. Most of the efforts were initiatives of the government, which were not effective to create the noise level and seemed more routine than necessary.

8. ICICI: Hum Hai NaaMaking impact with the experiences on post decision processes

Banking in Indian post nationalization in 1969 projected a picture of a laid back approach, where the basic focus was driven towards savings and deposits. Most retail customers with banks operated with in the dictate laid down by banking regulations. Aspects like, banking between 10-2pm, Saturday half-day, Sunday off day, lag time get drafts made and numerous other facets which were like bottlenecks with which the retail customer at the bank was conditioned too. After liberalization in 1991 and with

banking sector also opening, the industrial credit arm of the government expanded into retail banking in 1994 with ICICI bank.

After Mr K V Kamath took over as MD and CEO of the bank in 1996, ICICI went through a series of takeovers and new product launches between 1996 & 1999. with 364 branches, over 46 extension counters, a network of over 1050 ATMs, multiple call centers and well-developed internet banking, the Mumbai HQ of ICICI bank can provide financial services all over India. Its customers often use multiple channels, and they are

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increasingly turning to electronic banking options. Business from ATMs, internet, and other electronic channels now comprises of almost 50% of all transactions, up from just 5% in last couple of years. In the process of growing its business to this level, ICICI bank has distinguished itself from other banks through its customer relationship. ICICI bank executive director Chanda Kochar says, “In an increasingly competitive environment where customers are becoming more demanding and financial services are getting commoditized, ICICI realized the key differentiator would be customer focus”.

ICICI today has not just expanded into numerous divisions like insurance, mutual funds, securities, and commodity trading, but even their core banking business has extended into a multitude of activities, providing benefits to the customers. The ICICI ATM today is not just a point for cash withdrawal, but it can also be used for mobile prepaid card recharge, buying internet packs (ATN- Any Time Net), payment of donations (Anytime blessings), Mutual funds transactions, bill payments, flexi top ups and calling cards. ICICI’s aggressive and customer driven approach on the flip side has also been able to open the market. Nationalised

banks like SBI, Corporation Bank etc., have had to realign themselves and a host of other private banks have followed the suit. HDFC bank, UTI bank, IDBI bank to name a few have always been known as the follower in the segment after ICICI’s aggressive opening. ICICI has redefined the Indian banking industry on how customer driven banking is done.

The case of ICICI bank illustrates and highlights the importance of customer satisfaction as the foundation of a successful business. Also, it shows how customer satisfaction depends on good performance creating positive feelings and perceptions of equity. In addition to this, it shows how customers can learn about the offerings by experiencing them directly. Finally, ICICI shows how by offering innovative and new range of services make the customers stay loyal. All this phenomena occurs after the consumer has made a decision. Hence, once a customer comes to you after making a decision on your product, as a marketer you should be ready to provide them with a detailed experience of your offerings so as to make them stay with you. You should be careful enough to provide them with the experience

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which should have a favorable impact of you and your products on your customers.

10. iPod: Making it iconicUsing knowledge and prior understanding of consumers.

Just as SONY once dominated the market of portable CD music players, Apple Computer’s iPod is the undisputed star among portable digital music players. Launched in 2001, the iPod became so widely popular that within 3 years, reports that some stores were running out of stocks before Christmas made business headlines. The iPod became a huge hit not because of low prices – many iPod models are priced significantly higher than competing products – but because of two benefits for which Apple is known for – User friendly operation and style.

Before the iPod, Apple’s signature product was the Macintosh personal computer, known for its ease of operation and forward looking design. Likewise, iPods are sleek and slender to have clever features for selecting or shuffling songs. Yet, Apple’s early ads never provided any details of product’s technology, price, or features. The ads focused

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primarily on the fun and feeling of owning an iPod. The brand’s cachet was enhanced as many celebrities were spotted sporting an iPod. The sales soared. Despite increased competition, the iPod captured more market share over time, due in part to a steady stream of new models. Other firms have jumped on the bandwagon, offering iPod add-ons or forging a marketing connection to the iPod, as BMW did with the “iPod your BMW” campaign.

“The iPod is not just a consumer electronic, it’s a cultural icon. Most important of all Apple understands this well” said an industry analyst. “By making strong associations with other strong brands of different category, it establishes the iPod as a platform, ultimately using that as a way to get the iPod experience into customers’ hands.”

The tremendous success of the iPod illustrates various concepts on brand and consumer behaviour. First, some consumers have a number of favorable associations linked with various electronic brands. Moreover, electronic brands have different images and personalities, which mean consumers, view them as distinct from one another. Consumers have prior knowledge that allows that allows them to categorize brands and products as specific types of electronic entertainment products. In fact, many consider iPod the prototypical brand of digital music players, a product group seen as a subcategory of electronic entertainment products. Finally, consumers’ current knowledge serves as a basis for interpreting information from the iPod ads and its association with other brands. Consumers pay attention and perceive things based on their experiences or understanding about the world around them. Hence as marketers, we need to observe and understand what our consumers already know – their prior knowledge.

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11. McDonald’s pricing reminisces memoryUsing memory and retrieval to connect with masses so as to link multiple aspects – Yet stick to the point.

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Marketers some times use nostalgia to drive a point. In price sensitive market like India, McDonald’s has seen focusing on the price point very aggressively. One of the platform through which it emphasizes the price point is the flashback/throwback days of reduced prices. The range of products it offers like Burgers, Ice creams, Drinks, McPuff etc. all at the Rs 20/- price point. This has been reinforced through the series of ads and commercials and in-store publicity that the company deploys to highlight the price platform. Many ads which communicate the flashback days reconnect with memory of olden days when prices were low. The tag line “Ho gayee puraani yaadein taaza” or “Aapke zamane mein baap ke zamaane ke daam”.

An important aspect to note is, the synchronized series of which develop link to their global positioning of brand “I’m lovin’ it.” The McDonald’s happy price menu is also a part of their global plank, with an adaptation in the communication.

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