The best marketing insight can be from common sense and directly knowing the customer. In th fast- paced times of today, we need to reinvent our thinking on the following core issues.
IS TV THE RIGHT MEDIUM?
In today’s times, when TV has become the favourite pastime of most, it is most ironical to note that TRPs, short for Television Rating Points, have dwindled considerably despite the wide range of new age channels and programmes occupying the frame. This is clearly evident from the fact that previously, a handful of channels competed amongst each other for TRPs that ranged anywhere between 50-60 as against the new age war for the two and three TRPs of today.
And the medium of TV requires loads of investment, so what if it is for a 20 seconds commercial? All this makes one wonder if TV is really the right medium?
CELEBRITY
In an era of ‘15 minutes of fame’, it is no wonder that celebrities do not live long. It is agreed that the use of a celebrity is a sort of insurance against a bad job of advertising to a certain extent, but it should also not be ignored that the amount of competition is fierce with every brand roping in celebrities to make it big. This may even result in celebrities switching brand endorsements which may be simply due to sundry reasons like a better package offered by a fellow competitor. With almost every brand slogging it out in the race for celebrity endorsers, every brand ultimately, turns out to be almost the same with a known name attached to it. And yes, whoever remembers which brand is endorsed by which celebrity, anyways?
PROMOTIONS
Nowadays, Marketing Managers have increasingly restricted themselves to being Promotion Managers. Previously, the strategy used to be ‘Buy two and get one free’ or even ‘Buy one. Get one’, which has now changed to ‘Buy one and get two free’. In today’s scenario, it becomes almost difficult to figure out if the demand has increased for the product or the free gift on offer! No points for guessing what that does to the brand equity!
USP
Philip Kotler is one of the foremost marketing gurus of all times. This has been agreed upon by the Marketing Managers of today and so, every product has a Unique Selling Proposition or the very popular USP. So, USP is then translated into technical terms and we get to hear things like Bio Fresh, Peptide, PSPO, which makes little sense to the customer. Kotler has also mentioned somewhere, “A confused customer is the worst customer”
REALITY COMMERCIAL
A few years ago, a new wave of reality TV shows hit the TV industry and inundated the Television scene. It continues to do so till today. And advertisements need to follow suit.
Today, most commercials are either comical or unbelievable or even such wherein the customer is put down. There is a very small list of advertisements that actually help in giving a lift the brand’s image. Realistic commercials are the need of the hour.
OVEREXPOSURE
IPL is a perfect example of overexposure. During the entire season, it must have come to our minds atleast once if not more, the endless number of brands shouting out loud from every possible corner. Be it the caps, shirts, sleeves, scoreboard, pants, balloons and the list goes on.
Now, the question, here, is “Isn’t this causing more of customer dismay than customer endorsement?”
PRIVATE LABEL
Volumes is what every manufacturer looks out for, even if that translates into increased competition. This explains why any manufacturer agrees to give out his product under other private labels, which means sharing shelf space with the other brands. So, have we done away with concepts like brand power, brand equity and brand disccrimination already?
GRASSROOT MARKETING
The fact that needs to be realised by the Marketing Managers of today is that ‘Grass root Common Sense Marketing’ is what will save the scene. It is high time they realise that we need marketing which follows the dictum of common sense rooted to the ground, rather than just following foreign case studies blindly, textbook thinking, desktop management.
Grass root Common Sense Marketing advocates brand royalty through services directed to customers, entrepreneurship in marketing, use of Indian examples and case studies in marketing and, most importantly, ‘consumer insight’.
This is the secret behind many Indian brands which have made it to the big league!
