Brand Communication to Millennials

On a rare occasion, I switched on the television and while channel surfing I came across a commercial for a car endorsed by a popular Bollywood actor. This actor definitely belonged to the millennial generation and hence it was safe to assume that the brand was targeting the millennial generation among it other target audiences. 

Now the question was what are the millennial generation's media consumption habits? Of course, the writing on the wall is very clear. The millenials consume an array of digital media and the traditional media channels may be non-existent for this cohort. However, brands continue to invest in television advertising to cater to their other target audiences and to be visible on the medium, among various other reasons. 

That brings us to another pertinent question. What is considered a credible message by the millennials? Can we continue to create brand messages the way we did a decade ago with done-to-death themes like emotions, hard-sell and celebrity endorsements? 

It may be a good idea to understand the millennials foremost. 

Let us have a look at the Deloitte's Global Millennial Survey 2019

https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

Millennials and Gen Z are wired differently from the generations that were born during the Old Economy and hence their world views, tastes and opinions are interestingly different. So let's cut straight to the story and understand how brands should communicate to millennials. This generation values experience. Brands are required to amplify these experiences either physically or virtually. Wisdom says immersive experience can result into specific brand outcomes. And hence experience matters for the millennial customer.

The millennials do not really care about how great your product is. What they definitely are concerned about is how the product was created and in the process were any stakeholders at a disadvantage. They do not take cause campaigns seriously for they know that getting a celebrity and creating an appealing visual and using the digital medium will neither save tigers nor reduce pollution. They want brands to walk (back) the talk. Or rather they want brands to look into their value chain and rework on their business models to commit to a cause. This means sourcing of raw materials, vendor pricing, employing children by vendors, usage of scare resources, waste treatment, fair trading and ethical practices, employee practices and finally offering what is considered 'value' by customers.  

Several companies in telecom service, FMCG, electronic consumables, passenger vehicles target millennials. It is essential to relook at what millennials want and address these wants through better products and meaningful communication.

Hybridity in Indian Advertising

From colonialism to globalization, there are stories aplenty in India. These stories, some good and some ugly, convey the triumphs and trial of the Indian middle class, the zeal to adapt and lead by the industry, the dawn of the consuming class and several others. One such interesting story is the hybridity in Indian

Advertising.

It is believed that the colonial past divided India into two parts – the colonizer and the colonized. Over time, this difference led the colonized to believe the existence of two dichotomous worlds – home/ world, inside/outside, material/spiritual and so on. This ambivalent relationship between the ‘traditional home’ and the ‘modern world’ continues even today.

Indian advertisers, when faced with the challenge of selling a modern product, have tried to embed the product among Hindu imagery – like use of Gods and practices, draping women in saris and dressed in traditional attire, local values, etc. One of the earliest representations of this dichotomy is the creation of a character, Lalitaji for Surf. The character is described as a shrewd housewife who manages her modern household efficiently without compromising the traditional values. As India embraced globalization, one of the home-bred brands, Bajaj launched the popular ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign, which illustrates the hybridity of the Indian culture. Thus Indian advertising illustrates a fine tapestry on which both traditional India and the modern outlook is woven into an interesting design of multicultural contemporary global India.

Snob Brands

Can brands turn snobbish? Yes. Aren't brands a reflection of human personality? So there are possibilities for a brand to become snobbish. When do brands become snobbish? When a brand becomes either the undisputed leader or one of the top players in the market; when it startes to think that there is no brand close to its repute; when it does not face a challenger brand; when it thinks that it can be the leader endlessly and stops to innovate; and most importantly when it stops listening to its customers - both external and internal.

What happens next? Disaster is just around the corner. Haven't we seen top brands falter and fall primarily due to their own fallacies? Hence it pays to acknowledge brand success, and at the same time be focused, watch competitor's growth meter, innovate, motivate employees and remain customer friendly. Like in life, snobishness does not take one ahead.

Over the years, both as a student and a teacher of branding, I have been enamored by the brands that surround me. The day has arrived where the average Indian consumer lives, eats and sleeps brands. I have also noticed how people from various age groups have grown brand conscious and brand specific. Even a three year old knows the difference between unbranded potato wafers and Lays. The young seem to take great pride in displaying brands.

Today brands connote various meanings to its audiences - saviour, partner, aspiration, love success, joy and so on. Such seems the power exuded by brands in our lives.

At the same time, I cannot help remember the Moral Science class at school. My teacher defined God as Omni-potent and Omni-present. hhhhmmm.......did I say brands being all so powerful and ever-present?

The Emerald

My experience as a teacher is filled with several life lessons, anecdotes and memorable interactions with students, peers and others. I began teaching in 2000 to the students of an under-grad business management program. During the first year, a certain student seemed to stand apart from the rest of the group. She, lets call her Emerald, was smart, ahead of the class, proactive - everything that a teacher wanted in a student. Later during the course, she regularly absented from the sessions. Since it was a small group, it was easy to track the students and help them to sort out issues if they sought any assistance. So I tried to find reasons behind Emerald's absence. She was supposed to be suffering from chronic headache. the absence continued and finally Emerald quit the course. I learnt later that she had some problems in the family.

I made several attempts to get in touch and convince her to continue her course. All my calls went unanswered. Years later, in a shopping area, I felt a familiar face pass by. It was Emerald. But I never bothered to stop and say hello to a "dear student". As it was not crowded, there was a higher probability of Emerald noticing me. But she didn't. My ego as a teacher convinced me that it was the student's duty to walk up to me and converse.

Then it happened. During the first week of July 2008, the local papers reported that a young woman jumped from her apartment and ended her life. A note by her mentioned that she was frustrated in life as she couldn't find a job. I looked at her picture and yes, it was Emerald.

I wish I had pushed myself to convince her to continue the course. I wish I had taught them how to be strong. I wish I had let go of my ego. I wish.......

Looking for tribes(wo)men

I had earlier mentioned about the art of case study writing akin to a Holmes story. After being with Icfai for nearly three years, I can very confidently say that it gives a great sense of satisfaction to write case studies and teach through writing. Besides, the learning derived is significant. I have authored more than 15 case studies, co-authored several and mentored and initiated teams into case writing. All our case studies are available at http://www.ecch.com/ and http://www.ibscdc.org/

I have moved on from being satisfied in seeing our case studies taught in b-schools across the world to collaborating with academicians and industry insiders in writing case studies. I have also realised that there is a very small tribe of regular case writers from Harvard, INSEAD, Wharton, Richard Ivy, Icfai and a few others. I and my team at Icfai Research Centre would be glad to collaborate in whatever we can be it case reviewing or writing or even getting your case class tested. The idea is to expand the tribe of case writers. Drop a line if you are interested: bharathi@ibsindia.org, bharathisg@hotmail.com

Customer is the King......Gimme a break

Several observers of the Indian market have time and again mentioned that the Indian customer has arrived and so is customer service in terms of exceeding his expectations. I think we still have a long way to go when it comes to serving the customer and genuinely making an effort to retain him. Let me narrate a story. Last week I went to this supermarket, Nilgiris, a100-year old brand that has a loyal clientele. The shop is very congested with narrow aisles flooded with merchandise. I was looking for an after shave for my husband. The after shave brands were all placed at the top of the rack. They were very closely packed and one had to make an effort and at the same time show a lot of caution while removing the preferred one. When I picked up one of the brands, the pack nxt to it fell thud on the floor and smashed inot pieces. Immediately the sales gal came running to look at the damage and informed that it would be billed. I continued with my purchase and very time I picked up something, there was someother product tumbling down. I also picked up a couple of aprons for which the price sticker was missing.

I got to know the price only after the bill was printed out at the billing counter. I pointed out to the manager of the store that the merchandise had to be properly arranged so that one could use single hand to pick up products from the shelves. I was told that I was the only customer who seemed to have a problem. I was in turn advised to ask for an escort at the store. As a matter of fact, this information was nowhere displayed in the store. The manager did not even acknowledge the suggestion or register the compalaint of a customer. I duly paid for the broken bottle of after shave, cursed Nilgiris that I would never visit them again. But does it matter to the retailer? A small percentage of this huge population is sufficient for the retailer to meet his costs and make a decent profit. This apart, I noticed the price on the aprons written with a felt pen in one of the corners of the cloth and barely visible. Is this not a perfect case of hiding information that is vaulable for the customer?

The hype that is created around the buzzwords 'the Indian customer', 'customer service' and 'customer retention' fall apart in the wake of such events. So what next? I would visit a different super market and Nilgiris would continue to 'entice' customers.

The brand that indeed unites the colors

One of the world's most controversial brands is the United Colors of Benetton (UCB). Unlike other companies that makes unrealistic statements about their brands, UCB works the other way around. It believes in taking a stance in the real world instead of using its advertising budget to perpetuate the myth that consumers can be happy by the mere purchase of UCB clothes. Its trademark of colorful jumpers is a part of the visual imagery but not the focus of its print and billboard ads. There are several ads of UCB that truly unite the colors vby showing multiethnic and multicultural models.UCB has also courted controversy by a series of unsettling images-blood covered babies, a dying AIDS patient, a child soldier and several others. The irony is that controversy only served to elevate the brand UCB further.

Absolutly Absolut

Anybody who wants to understand advertising can hardly ignore this advertising history - Absolut Vodka. Generally vodka is beleived to be a Russian (or Ukrainian?) brand. And Absolut being a Swedish Govt. product had to break the convention. There was nothing much to talk about the product. Vodka, being a colorless liquid was packaged in odd-looking medicine bottles and the company wanted to highlight the absolute purity of the brand. The company also had the origins clearly printed on the bottle. The ad agency, TBWA coined a simple two-word formula, "Absolut Perfection" in 1981. The ad also depicted the bottle being shown against a halo. This ad was followed by similar such ads which clebrated the bottle as the hero and with just two words. The rest is advertising history.

The campaign has been running successfully since 1981 even today. More than 1500 print ads have been released. These ads have caught the imagination of hobbyists the world over. Several sites, like ebay, sell these ads. The Absolut campaign is so successful that many artists have featured the Absolut bottle in their ads. For instance Andy Warhol the renowned painter and David Cameron, the fashion photographer. in the Absolut Cameron ad, the model becomes the bottle with the label being transformed on to her dress.

The company sources water from one well, grain from one field and production from only one plant in Sweden even till today. Every year during winter, it creates an Ice Hotel featuring an Absoult bar and invites guests. It also conducts premier exhibitions of the work that features the Absolut bottle. In the US, Absolut Vodka is the No. 1 imported vodka in the premium category and No.1 in the world. This is a perfect example of sheer advertising success.

Have a look at the ads. The hero of each copy is the bottle and the magic created by just two words.

What is a brand?

I have been talking in length about brand positioning and other aspects of branding. But what is a brand? In my opinion, a brand is a distinct identity given to a company's product. It should be visualized and vocalized. It begins with a name being given to the product. may be distinctive font and color. for instance, Cadburys. A symbol can be tagged to the name, like Nike, Reebok, amazon.com. The symbol or the visual identity is called the logo. A lot of reserach goes into selecting the names and logos. Fedex has an arrow depicting moving forward, amazon.com has a smiley signifying service with a smile and an arrow from a to z (amazon) telling customers that it has everything from a to z. A mid-tier IT company in India, MindTree Consulting has its logo painted by a student of the Spastics society, which again signifies the vision of the company.

Of late, companies are trying to add another dimension to the brand. Identifying a distinct smell to the brand. This is a relatively new attempt in the context of branding. Otherwise retailers selling food, flowers have used both visual and nasal appeal to attract the customers.

It is not just products that can be brands. Services, ideas-cruelty against animals, places and even people. When I say people can be brands too, one should not confuse it with brand endorsers, but inherent brand value of the person. For that matter, we are all brands. It is just that companies pay attention to those having a higher networth. Like Madonna, Beckham, Amitabh Bachchan, ..... Branding has assumed such importance today when sportspersons or actors hog the limelight, there are organisations and individuals to market and position these 'brands' right. This has also resulted in the increasing acceptance of political branding.

Finally, let me wind up by stimulating your thinking process- to what extent would companies go in the name of branding? Is the customer at the receiving end of this branding circus?

CCD

CCD- Cafe Coffee Day, thats how the youth market knows this brand. Popularly known as the desi Starbucks, is not just a successful coffee retailing venture but it is a brand that has revolutionised coffee drinking among the young in India. The brand message, the visual identity and the brand itself seems to have contributed to the success. Its message of 'anything can happen over a cup of coffee' has not just been depicted in its promotionla messages but also well captured in movies that have used the brand outlets. The red color gives a very distinct brand image which is uniformly maintained in its brand name and in the decor of the outlets. This supports the resaerch that the colors red and blue have launched several brands ahead of the rest. Pepsi, Coco-Cola for instance. The product, that is the coffee, adhers to the overall image of the brand by keeping up the promise. It has a wide range from Mocha to Espresso to Cold Coffee and others. Cafe Coffee Day is no doubt a youth brand. Well-positioned and well-marketed.

By the way, I have kicked caffeine out of my life. But its worth a visit to CCD to revel in the brand. Coffee anyone?

Always Low Prices

'Always Low Prices' - does it ring a bell? I am sure most of them would get it right, Wal-Mart's iconic tagline. Volumes have been written on Wal-Mart. More or less Wal-Mart seems to have been successful with this positioning in the market. Would it be possible for Wal-Mart to trade up? I mean introduce a new line of merchandise, may be luxury line of clothes or accessories. Is it suicidal for a succesful brand to change its frame of reference in the minds of the customers?

To answer this, one needs to undersatnd brand positioning. Brand positioning is the place a brand occupies in the minds of the customers. Usually on two criteria, say, technology-price, availabilty-quality, etc. Brand managers need to be cautious at the nascent stages of branding to position the brand right. Choose a position which is unexplored. Moov is a classic example of getting its positioning right in the very beginning of its launch. A position which remains unshaken till today. Amrutanjan -for headaches, Zandu Balm for pains and cold and Iodex for ooh, aah, ouch. Nobody thought of the consumer's back. And then came Moov. It targeted women -the category that complains the most of back aches. the positioning worked. Moov continues its piggy ride on the consumer's back and the mind too.

What if positioning fails? Simple, reposition. Now this is the nightmare for brand managers. to make customers think differently about the brand. However there have been successful brand repositioning too. Remmeber Nestle's Milkmaid. It entered the market by claiming to be an alternative for milk, specially for tea and coffee consumption. Very soon Nestle realised that its Milkmaid is used more as an ingredient to make desserts. Nestle repositioned the brand. And Milkmaid, till date does not have a strong rival.

So coming back to where we began, can Wal-Mart reposition itself as a premium brand?

Innocence Lost

A lot has been written about the tremendous influential power of children in today's purchasing decisions. Children today, have their say in everything from toys to washing machines to cooking oil to bikes and now what pain balm(Moov) and filing tax returns?

Marketers have responsibility towards the society and they should know when to draw the line. Increased use of children in ads results in overspending and blatant commercialisation. Somewhere advertsiers should pull the plug and let children enjoy childhood.

The Male Factor in Advertising

I grew up watching ads with the impression that the bathtub was the domain of women, till I saw King Khan in the recent Lux ad. What is HLL up to? Tired of marketing to women? Well its a known fact the beauty secret of film stars has been shared by Indian men too. But an ad directly addressing men....

The Indian man in advertising has transformed from being a macho to metrosexual over the past 50 years. If you go back to the ads of post-independence era, you will see the Indian man either wielding a gun or the plough.....Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. Then came the 'Thandurusthi ki Raksha kartha hai Lifebuoy' ad with men in other places, like the stadium. Man started to scale the power bastions and were shown as the successful one in Digjam Suitings, Godrej Shaving Cream,etc. Then came 'the Complete man' of the Raymonds who showed the caring side of the Indian man. Today men are taking decisions about washing powder and after wash hair conditioners for their women. They are not just stopping at that, they are asking for their share of fairness creams and ........bathtub too. Wonder, what next?

I Luv Marlboro

Marlboro, one of the most popular brands in the world was first marketed as a mild cigarette for women in the 1920s. It had a market share of less than 1%. When reports were published linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, Philip Morris added a filter tip, gave a macho image to the brand and created marketing history. The ad agency, Leo Burnett is credited for making the most remarkable and memorable ad campaign by associating Marlboro to the cowboy. Overnight, from nothing to a 5000% increase in sales was reported. It was certainly a rags-to-riches story for the brand. The ad campaign is so popular, that the color red and the inverted V sign on the Marlboro pack is recognised even without the brand name being mentioned.

But then, in the 1970s, ban on cigarette advertising on TV and radio was enforced. Marlboro took to the roads.....literally....it started to adorn the billboards across the US freeways. With more stringent rules in place, and the emergence of the Internet as a worldwide point-of-sale, Marlboro adopted various methods of camoflagued advertising(subliminal). It entered pubs and bars, encouraged internet chat among Marlboro smokers, conducted contests, pampered customers with visits to Marlboro Country (ranch in Montana), redecorated pubs with red furniture and a host of other things. It went back to its retailers and charged lesser for their stock than the competitors and commanded nearly 60% of the retailer's shelf space.

In Nov 2005, Marlboro celebrated its 50th B'day bash by inviting its select customers to entertainment shows across U.S. cities. The brand continues to be the market leader and holds 40% of the US market share, way ahead of its competitors.

On the flip side, there has been many spoof ads on Marlboro and two of the models who endorsed the brand died of lung cancer. But ........I luv Marlboro!

RFID - Bond with the Best

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) initially made an appearance as an espionage tool in many a Bond movie, but this cool tool or rather a tag, is making inroads in enhancing supply chain efficiency. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a method of automatic identification which relies on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices known as RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a tiny object that is either attached to or incorporated into a product or a person. These tags have antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio waves.

The initiative to adopt the technology has primarily originated from the retailers. They have recognized the benefits of RFID in the form of reduced inventories and faster inventory turnover. Some of the retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS and several others have already experimented with RFID and are determined to take the technology to the next level of their operations. It is not just the retailers who will benefit from RFID. There are other potential areas of application such as manufacturing, transportation, defense, internal security and other areas where information is vital to gain a strategic advantage. RFID, like any other emerging technology, is slowly catching up and broad adoption is likely by 2010, according to AMR’s research.

Companies have a lot of work to accomplish before RFID gets accepted as a common-place technology. Many agree that supply chain optimization is possible only with the effective collaboration of trading partners. To this extent the initiatives are focused on online collaboration and communication of the standards with the supply partners. But this is not enough. The problem is in the sharing of data between the retailers and suppliers. Achieving and maintaining collaboration between retailers and their suppliers helps reduce cycle times and moves retail companies a step ahead to deliver the right product to the right place and at the right time.

Excerpts from my article 'RFID - the Buzzword in Supply Chain' published in The Marketing Mastermind, Dec 2005.

Learning how to write cases from Arthur Conan Doyle

As a student and even as a teacher, I have always taken the case study for granted. I was not aware of the hard work, the thought process and the research undertaken to write these case studies till I joined ICFAI Business School, Bangalore (IBS-B). It has its reseach centre where qualified people qualifications and flair for teaching are recruited. This group is split into teams- one writes derivative books(compilation of articles on a particular topic) and the other, case studies. In addition, IBS-B encourages faculty and students to involve in the case writing process.

The research team does not involve in primary date collection. The work involves the use of secondary data only. Once a case study is written,reviewed and finalised, it is uploaded in www.ecch.com. ecch stands for the European Case Clearing House and belongs to the Cranfield University, U.K.

The case writing exercise involves in-depth study of a subject. My experience as a teacher helps me to visualise whether a trigger (the basic idea that develops into a case) can become a potential case and stir a meaningful discussion in the class. As a big time fan of Sherlock Holmes, I think a case study is like a thriller unfolding with an issue say, a murder, gradually introducing the characters, leaving hints in the case about the suspects and finally igniting a discussion to find out who the murderer is.

Want to write case studies - grab a copy of 'The Complete Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

B-Schools - Only Preach, No Practice

Business schools have ceratinly grown in number and also in terms of what they offer to students. They have emerged as good brand builders. Their brand building is unfortunately, focused outwards and rarely inwards. The way these schools are being run is in complete contrast to what is taught in the class.

I have tried to analyze answers to some of the problems plaguing the teaching fraternity out of my own experiences as a teacher.

1. I have come across many surveys by top magazines in India trying to find the sought after jobs by the youth. Teaching is never an option. Is somthing wrong with the youth? Are they only motivated by salaries? Yes (for a few,teaching is a part of their retirement plans).The pay packet is in no way comparable to that in the industry.

It might be argued that teaching is tension-free job. Not any more. B-schools want their teachers to teach, publish, involve in research, offer consultancy, conduct training progs and perform other mundane jobs involved in teaching.

2. Attrition rates- Most of the B-schools are in cities or in the suburbs. So the costs of living in a city does not compensate their income. Hence job hopping is very high. The best part is schools are not doing anything to contain such high attrition rates. Either they do not want to address the issue or they are too dumb to see the problem.

3. Motivation - Schools think that only salaries motivate employees. But this is not what they teach. They preach New Economy and practice Old Economy.

4. Appraisal - Schools only look at Student appraisals while, it is taught that 360 degree appraisal and self appraisal methods are the best.

5. Only one thing that is followed to the last word is the 80/20 rule: 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people.

On the whole, the human element is missing.

Fair and Handsome?

Fairness creams targeted for men is accepatble and quite a marketing opportunity in India since men are a sizeable market for fairness creams. But ever heard of a fairness cream for men that would turn them handsome? Its believed that 'handsome' is something related to to the physique or build of the person. but then here we have cream that not just turns men fair, but also handsome.

With companies like Himani and their ad agencies designing products and ads like this, we are made to look like fools. What's next- a face mask for men that gives them the perfect jaw line?

toe hold india

A couple of years ago, ASCENT (Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives) had conducted a workshop, during which a short film on one of their projects was screened. ASCENT had adopted a village, Athani in Belgaum district and their objective was to make the women of the village financially independent. This was because the village was dependent on agriculture income which was not coming through and the farmers were not ready for an alternative employment. The viilage, like any other Indian village, has its own tale of woes in the form of alcoholism, lack of basic facilities and so on.

ASCENT with two other organisations Central Leather Research Institute and National Leather Development Programme, set up a kolahpuri chappal making project in Athani through SHGs(self help groups). The Central Leather Research Institute contributed the designs and offered technical assistance, while National Leather Development Programme provided leather. These products are exported and the village has turned into a model village.

Though the objetive was to make women earn a livelihood, as the project gained momentum, the menfolk pitched in and the problem of alcoholism was resolved on its own. For more information, visit www.toeholdindia.com