Vanilla Branding vs Effective Consumer/Customer Engagement; Where are we? an understanding from our branding activities

"Don't be a Vanilla brand", says Ted Coine.

This guy is one of the most influential business leaders on Twitter, with a following of over 100,000 and growing rapidly. His blog, http://tedcoine.com, focuses on leadership, culture, customer service, and the effect of Social Media on the business world.

Vanilla is basically a like for all flavor. Something similar to a secular political ideology of the INC in India. It works for the starters but beyond a point attention demands a highly differentiated marketing strategy focused on effective customer engagement. For a FMCG product it would very much be applicable to the consumer as well. 

You can read the full article on his blog

http://sustainablebusinessforum.com/tedcoine/50633/and-best-critic-winner

In this regard I would like to mention a few of our branding activities. I should take the opportunity to make it clear success and failure is always collective. I should also be honest to admit my novice-ness with regards to the actual organizational constraints of any.

At one of the places we were branding a basketball court at a center of youth and education, basically the wall facing the main entrance. Apart from that we had spent considerable effort at establishing a clear boundary and a cemented floor (with minimum cost probably as visible from the quality of the floor, no offences please :-) ). One could see large Airtel banners alongside the tress along the main entrance as well. The concerned place for sure knows how to make money :-P.

But the point here is who is the target?

,what does the communication convey?

and most importantly how much does it engage with you, given that you are in a center for the youth?

Now a simple large branding improves the top of the mind awareness, agreed. But aren't we already doing consistently great at that (courtesy: TNS reports). And moreover how may in that institute(a very important part of our target market anyways) wouldn't have heard of Indomie, the brand. Well advertising for the less moving SKUs is a different story altogether, but I didn't see that happening. And what about the money spent on the floor and boundary? Ok its not a loose expenditure for some part of the aesthetic beauty would go as a credit to Indomie as the playground evolves. But again aren't these right expenditures for some fledgling brand rather than a super-brand like Indomie?

Now let's get down to business. What if we were to change the playground a bit, with four basket ball basket posts depicting each of our SKUs with the basket balls itself being branded? What if we change the rules a bit as if to present a new game as a competition between the four SKUs. Imagine the attention over the ball and the post every time a player plays there. We can very easily feed a share of that passion into our brand loyalty. May be we can even have four teams, from different hostels or any other four ways to divide the entire institute and in the process involves the entire institute. Call this the Indomie battlefield. Given the culture of Nigeria it wont be much time before the 'INDOMIE GAME' becomes popular in every college.

Imagine the awareness such a high intense playground generates about the not so fast moving SKUs!

There can be many different angles to think about it and many extensions to project out of it. But wouldn't it be a thought in the right direction? May be there are many such opportunities in the so many activities, societies, clubs and other fields in the institute!

or should we keep searching for walls and roof tops to put flexes and paints choosing from the limited artwork at our disposal? Give it a thought!!!

That's why may be I was so pleased to see room number plates of a girls hostel in Unilag branded by Indomie. I still remember all my room number right from my undergrad dates!!! Kudos my team :-) I am sure we can do more at that :-)

Sharing a Nike ad with great Customer Engagement

Please share your ideas.

The idea of highly visible CSR feeding into our consumer marketing as an after thought to this >>"We should have a hospital in Nigeria made by Dufil", Shreya.

"We should have a hospital in Nigeria made by Dufil", Shreya

The idea of highly visible CSR feeding into our consumer marketing as a tool to not only have a long term base in Nigeria but also to have a sustained sales for Indomie, is not at all an alien idea. But is this an idea whose time has come is something we seriously need to introspect.

Quite a few times I have heard from the area marketing people about the emotional factor attached to the retailers which try to push the competitor(at least as far as the display space is concerned) owing to the "poor guy" syndrome due to the poor sales of some competitor. It made me wonder as to why don't we have a  overarching emotional attachment which can overcome this sympathy for the poor.

What when one of our pack says,"One Naira out of your purchase goes to treat a disabled" ?

What when one of our pack says,"One Naira out of your purchase goes to educate a poor Nigerian kid" ?

What when one of our pack says,"One Naira out of your purchase goes to help a AIDS victim" ?

What when one of our pack says,"Now share your pack of Indomie with millions. You purchase feeds some not so privileged. Flash here to know how."

The central idea Improved Consumer Relation(Involvement/Interaction).

Give it a thought!!!

"We need to expand into new markets, importantly rural areas", Saurabh to Boss

Now, Saurabh is actually our Multipro guy from Sokoto and this conversation is an excerpt from the group meeting of Multipro and Dufil with Mr.Prem.

The genuine voice with which he speech-ed his observation took me a back by a month when I was busy pondering over the pan Nigeria sales data of Indomie, comparing the difference from June last year to March this year. The visible drop both in percentages and number made me wonder about a lot. May be another blog for all that, but the point over here is about our foray into new markets and the behavior of the two tier cities to our sales figures.

The following snapshot is actually one of the slides from my introductory presentation.

There are two important things to observe here:

1. We are actually hit at the two tier markets. I wasn't surprised to hear about a Tummy Tummy selling int interior east from one of our Area marketing guys.
2. Between the two periods when our sales dropped the maximum,we were actually not much effected at the Tier one zones but at the bottom.
3. There would(is) surely be more to think about and you can keep adding.

But I think we can safely conclude that we are actually facing some strategic competition rather than the usual perception of incidental competition.

What do you think??

Well, in that case what is our expansion strategy??

"We need customized T-Shirts for all", Pragyan

Pragyan was asking Shreya for customized T-Shirts with our names written on it. I asked him to put the post on the blog, but he felt shy to write. He has always been a shy kid. But shy to write is his new attribute. The last time he wrote a love letter, it was very clear and tidy, because it had nothing written on it :-P.

Customized spectacles and mirrors on the T-shirt were also some of this ideas.

But lets not lose the point here.

We need to think...

Customized merchandising--- Is it a good idea? Does it go with our brand?

If we go ahead with it how much and for how many can we do it?

For my sake, I would any day feel great to own a piece of Indomie with my name as a flavor.

SuperHIT SKU.

please comment!!!!!

P.S: Love you Pragyan :-)

V-Connect's FLASH might just be the gateway to the Consumer Universe

Moving from a trade driven company to a market driven company is always challenging and hence a very interesting phase. To re-direct the entire organizational focus from the trade markets to the consumer household itself requires some grueling introspection. It might sound easy but the people who have been to fields know how tough it is at times to carry out a simple project like a household sampling and retail topping. The extent of training, structure and feedback mechanisms required to be integrated into the project eats into some great time. The results are rewarding though, but only if a check is ensured virtually at every step of the process. The last time I was involved in such an activity I had plan the pay structure, arrange for vans, arrange for promoters and supervisors, plan the structure, areas, checking methods and not to forget that I should be on the field for anything might just stop working on its own.

And after all this Can I really be sure that the right message has been delivered to the right person?

Well the best solution to the problem would require some organizational rethinking but I believe FLASH can save our day for the time being.

Well for those who are unfamiliar with the service here is how it works. Its very simple. The service records data about missed-calls given to a specified number at a per call cost of 5 Naira. Now its up to your imagination to put it into use. Here is one of the examples

Heard that Vani has planned to use FLASH in our household sampling activity. Each area under sampling has been given a FLASH number. After the promotion finishes his job and before he gives away the free sample he asks the sampled person to flash the area number. Now V connect gives us the entire records of all such flashes from all numbers. Thus we have a predefined universe of potential customers for our future activities, apart from having a real time check on the promotion process.

For other technical details you can always get in touch with Vishnu @vconnect.

Happy Flashing!!!!

Qualitative research has become a commodity and is in danger of losing its power to shape business strategy and provide inspiring consumer understanding,” says Rebecca Wynberg, CEO Global Qualitative Practice, TNS

In trying to keep pace with change, qualitative research is losing its bearings. Consumers are more immediately influential than ever, and there is pressure to deliver rapid information to clients or risk being left behind by the digital revolution. Research has prioritised offering instant results even if they provide little insight and contribute nothing to the client’s longer-term business direction. But turning research into the equivalent of a fast-food commodity can only have a negative effect on the quality of work being delivered. 

Too often, qualitative research is being used when it is too late to maximise its value. Projects are commissioned to make quick evaluation decisions as a fast and cheap alternative to quantitative research: a rubber stamp at best, a substitute for decision making at worst. It is used less and less frequently where it has the greatest power to inspire business growth and new, creative ways of thinking that is as an integral part of strategic development from the outset.

Other highlights:

• The medium is not the message
• Importance of putting the context back into the research.

It makes me think,

How much qualitative research are we doing? 

Isnt it time yet that we start doing some qualitative research?

To read the full article please follow the link below

http://www.tnsglobal.com/sites/default/files/whitepaper/TNS_Research_Excellence_a_manifesto_for_qualitative_research.pdf

Power Oil Media Launch

Power Oil! Power Oil Power!! Power Oil!!!

That above is from the guardian

The above is from the Punch

Quoting Vani

"Hi All,

We have successfully launched Power Oil in Lagos, East, South West and South Central (Abuja and North will be this week). We had Media Launch yesterday (TV and Newspaper). Attached are the pictures from today’s “The Guardian” and “Punch”. The launch event and Mr. Deepak’s interview would be broadcast on NTA. We will also have news mention for next 2 weeks in prominent newspapers.

Also, we have launched TVC and Radio adverts in Lagos (we will roll out nationwide this week). Below is the youtube link of Power Oil TVC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_6x7l86u8o&feature=youtu.be

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for all the support and good wishes J.

Regards,

Vani "