Adieu, decade of turbulence!

They made for much hype, agitation and excitement - the Y2K bug, the dotcom bust, the cell phone, big-buck brand campaigns, middling service notwithstanding ….

Writing a year-end column is challenging enough but to review the decade is a bit like landing up at the Centurion on a damp, murky day straight from the airport and finding Dale Steyn thundering in and suddenly realising that you have walked in to bat without your protector! On the lighter side I was trying to recall just what are the changes that have happened in my own life over the last decade and came up with a sensational discovery.

Ten years ago I used to painstakingly write my column on ruled sheets of paper and my secretary (who is now in Australia perhaps supporting the rejuvenated Aussies) would dutifully key it in. (I used to have a decent handwriting thanks to the plethora of loving and frequent impositions that my old school, Don Bosco Egmore in Chennai, so lavishly bestowed on me.) But today, as I key in my fortnightly 1,500 words religiously on my Apple laptop, my handwriting has gone for a toss. Of course, we could argue endlessly about whether my ability to write columns has improved! But let's move to more dramatic things - the economy, the consumer, brands, communication and life in India over the last decade. What has happened and what seems likely to happen in the near future? Let's take a look at the past before we venture our opinion on the future.

Y2K to Wikileaks

Do you remember the turn of the last century and the excitement, the dread around the Y2k bug and its impact on the software business at least? Well, things have blown over and the winds of change have blown in - something more sensational - Wikileaks. God, has the media gone to town or what, with every politician and statesman making more off-the-cuff remarks than Tendulkar's numerous centuries. The decade witnessed the dotcom boom and consequent bust. I remember (painfully) that our company that was called brand.comm became brand-comm as we went away to lick our wounds after putting all our eggs in the dotcom basket. Speak of the power of brand recall, many of our clients and well-wishers still refer to us as brand.comm. But the World Wide Web has taken over and digital is the medium to be in and everybody and his brother-in-law claims to have a digital strategy.

Of course, while many are denying that digital will actually take over the Indian markets, there is no denying its potential or criticality and the smarter, savvier brands are those that are showing the way rather than following the leaders. In a sense, India had been a follower of Madison Avenue earlier and is following in this medium too, as connectivity and security issues continue to dog us. But make no mistake, India is poised to fly and is just waiting to take off despite the blocks. But India has to discover its own new model which might be a marrying of offline with online. Consider a marriage site such as bharatmatrimony.com which has offline centres where horoscopes are printed and given to anxious and yet technologically challenged parents. India has traversed the mobile space with greater speed than several others and soon there might be a union of the two to move ahead. The future will have to do with harnessing the power of the mobile.

Roti, kapda aur mobile

No analysis of the last decade in India would be complete without the telecom and mobile revolution that has swept through the country. Even small villages in India discovered the pleasures of being in touch with their relatives in far-flung places thanks to the STD booths that littered the length and breadth of this country. Today, thanks to technological innovations it is possible for someone living in the villages to do a video call with family members he has left behind in his quest for employment and livelihood.

But I am getting ahead of myself and missing the mobile services revolutions. This is something India and Indians can be justifiably proud of. Today the mobile population is close to 800 million with 16 million phones being added every month. Mobile phones from China and Taiwan have flooded the market and new brands such as Micromax are giving the leader Nokia a run for its money. Mobile service operators continue to advertise heavily - and often produced outstanding advertising. Brands that readily come to mind are Idea Cellular with their “What an idea, Sirjee!” and the Vodafone campaigns featuring the now famous pug dog and the Zoozoos. There is no doubt, in my mind at least, that mobile services advertising has overtaken the colas in creativity.

The sad reality, though, is that advertising agencies continue to create ads that are independent of the quality of the service. Of course, this strategy is not unique and continues to apply to banks as well. But to return to the mobile services business, while it has continued to be driven by schemes, price offers and tremendous advertising expenditure, there has been a game-changing strategy too. I speak of the Tata Docomo strategy of per second billing which the competitors too had to reluctantly follow, to the delight of the consumer who continues to speak as rapidly and as needlessly as some of our TV commentators.

The retail revolution

It is difficult to discuss the last decade in India without the growth of organised retail as players such as the Future Group.

Trent and Reliance followed the Shoppers Stops and the LifeStyles of the world and went into the smaller towns and realised there was a completely service-starved consumer waiting for them there. Yes, the value format was here to stay and the consumer in the smaller town was growing in confidence and affluence. On October 15, 2010 no less than 150 Mercedes Benzes were sold on a single day at Aurangabad!

After that interesting titbit, let's return to organised retail which, though it may get media attention and interest, accounts for less than 3.5 per cent of the total trade. Not a figure to be sneezed at but nothing to set the Ganga on fire either! Yet, the decade has witnessed the emergence of private labels and the beginning of the tension between brand marketers and large formats, which are pushing brands to be on sale constantly. Brand values are being diluted by each and every sale and hardly anyone visits the company showroom as they find the well-lit, air-conditioned factory outlets a far cry from the factory outlets of yesteryear where you had to check your merchandise and could not exchange it even if it was defective. How times have changed and with it, consumer preferences!

Summing up

The consumers are changing, becoming more affluent and more demanding. They are used to quality, such as the new airports. Service and consumer engagement will be the key. How good is your service offering? Price is important as Big Bazaar has demonstrated. But how well are you positioned? The Nano is struggling as it is seen as a “cheap car”.

Agencies, in their quest to talk about things like “consumer connect”, are forgetting the importance and value of the big idea, fragmenting their resources and trying to achieve too much with too little.

The decade was easily the decade of crises – whether it was the financial crisis or scam after scam that India unearthed. The media too, which was busy playing judge and jury, suddenly found itself in the dock. Crisis management was key and few of the companies seem to have mastered the fine art of crisis management. And the next decade will see more of this. After all, we live in Kalyug, don't we!

Companies that pay lip service to social media and are experimenting with it without their hearts in it or getting their hands dirty are going to be hit, and soon. Companies that harness the mobile phone's capability will thrive.

Agencies continue to bemoan the lack of talent and yet steadfastly refuse to train their personnel. First we pay peanuts and then refuse to train the monkeys that we have brought into the industry, lest they be poached. Why wouldn't clients be frustrated?

Clients, even as they understand and appreciate the need for good creative, continued to haggle on prices even as they complained about the quality of service.

Brands changed their identities, often because they seemed bereft of other ideas to rejuvenate themselves. When will brand owners realise it is more important to get the essence of the brand right rather than merely tinkering with cosmetic things?

And finally, longevity will be key. Brands that endure will have clarity and consistency. In 1999 I was in England for the best World Cup to date and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar had to rush back to India for his father's funeral. He came back to thrash bowlers all over the park and dedicate his efforts to his deceased father. Now he has scored his 50th test century and dedicated that too to his father. So that's one factor that has been consistent through the turbulent decade.

Consistency and longevity will continue to be key in the next decade as well. Here is wishing you a great year first and a wonderful decade later!

Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, brand – comm.
Read my blog @ http://www.brand-comm.com/blog.html
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Twitter: twitter.com/RamanujamSri

An Emperor in China

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/11/13/stories/2008111350040200.htm

Our columnist comes away wowed by the consumer service in China, though his delight is tempered by a few other concerns..

Customer delight: Following the growth of foreign brands in China, one of the obvious things seen in the country is that as a consumer you are always welcome.

Till recently I had no direct exposure to China. Maybe my only exposure to China was to its cuisine and restaurants such as Mainland China and Memories of China which, though they tickled my palate, certainly pinched my wallet. Many of my friends had stolen a march over me and visited China and extolled its virtues to the extent that I went to China with a mind conditioned to not going overboard about the tremendous progress. But all that went through the window when I saw the roads, the huge buildings, the colossal Beijing airport and the Olympic stadium, all of which got me into a deep depression about our own lack of progress. This piece is not about infrastructure as I am hardly an expert in that, but about my experiences as a consumer in a country where one did not know the language but was still able to observe and experience the keenness to treat consumers as kings.

Of course, we all use the statement “consumer is king” without bothering to understand its implications and are often content to merely pay lip service to it. Here are a few impressions gathered over a week in Shanghai and Beijing. I must quickly clarify that I do not know the Chinese language and had great difficulty in communicating with the world at large, as very few people, however modern their appearance, speak even pidgin English.

Closing a sale

As people in business we all agonise about closing sales whatever the size of the transaction. We have theories on how to do it and on occasion have even experienced it. But the commitment of the young salespeople in China, even in small establishments, was something to be seen and admired. While I experienced it in many small outlets, I felt the full force of it in the golf shop where I was trying to buy a driver. I need to tell you that I belong to that breed of golfers who are looking for magical improvements in their golf game just by buying “new and improved” equipment. Of course, bargaining in China is an art which would put to shame the bargaining that one might do in Karol Bagh or Sarojini Nagar market in Delhi. Nor is it a feature only of street shops but something that happens in large establishments as well.

And yet, even if you offer a price that is one-tenth of what she might have offered you initially she still smiles at you because she is passionate about closing the deal. Their intensity in closing the sale makes us wonder how even young, junior sales people behave like owners of the establishment. Of course, I behaved like a veteran shopper and kept wandering to other shops in the same mall to check the prices and that threw her into a tizzy. And finally, since there was a delay in getting the clubs from the warehouse I offered to come back later but was amazed at the way she held on to me for dear life and even volunteered to give me a massage (an offer that I was unable to take up as I was travelling under the eagle eye of my spouse)!

It leads me to wonder about how people are trained, or how they are instilled with a sense of commitment that links their commitment to sales and how they are empowered to take decisions. It might be worthwhile for anyone who has anything to do with selling to study the selling skills of people such as these. I am sure such skills exist in other countries too and probably in small establishments in India too. But I wonder if the same skills exist or are allowed to flourish in larger organisations, or are they lost in transit?

Show the customer you value her

One of the obvious things about China is the fact that as a consumer you are made welcome. You can find malls opening at 10 a.m. and on Saturday there were already people waiting to enter. The gates opened exactly at ten, like clockwork as one would expect, and one could observe salespeople standing in wait, bowed in welcome, chanting something which sounded like good morning. Contrast this with our own set-ups where after the officially announced opening times, one can still see people cleaning and mopping the floors and empty counters where the attendants are yet to come even as consumers like you and me wait.

On another occasion, when eight of us entered an ice-cream outlet in the middle of the afternoon we were greeted with loud cheers of welcome. Clearly they valued our presence. When I said it was the birthday of my friend (a privilege we bestowed on him as he was paying the bill) they promptly sang “Happy Birthday” to his obvious embarrassment and our collective delight. Used as we are to surly salespeople who are wondering what you are doing in their outlet, one was pleasantly surprised to put it mildly.

Attention to detail

Marketing and management is all about attention to detail. As we often say, we all know what is to be done, but it is only that we often do not do what we know we must do to keep our customer happy. We all know that we must treat our consumers as individuals and look at opportunities to delight her and yet how often do we do it? I saw evidence of this in the train from Shanghai to Beijing when we travelled as a group. While it was no MAGLEV (magnetic levitation) which travels at over 400 km per hour, which operates in Shanghai, it was certainly a classy train which travels at a fair clip. But this is not about speed as much as it is about individualised attention.

Let me explain. The cubicle in which we travelled had four berths and as it was an overnight train which would reach Beijing early in the morning there was a toothbrush with a tiny tube of paste for each passenger which was fine, along with a pair of bathroom slippers for each one of the occupants, which was perhaps to be expected too. But what was unexpected was that each one of the slippers had a slightly different colour so that each one of the occupants knew exactly which was theirs! Simple you say, delight I say!

And yet …

While there are many things that I can talk about, it is only fair to talk about some of the issues facing the growing China as well. The biggest issue in my opinion is the prevalence of organised fake brands and precious little seems to be done to check that. People roam the streets of Beijing offering Omegas and Rolexes. I bought one each for Rs 120 a piece and one would be hard pressed to spot the difference. All the big brands, whether it is Gucci or any of the famous watch brands, all have replicas. There is also no denying the fact that the ‘Made in China’ label still carries its own perceptual problems and while China is working on it, one feels the problem and the perceptions are too deep-rooted to wish them away.

One also believes that China’s lack of proficiency in the English language could certainly hurt its aspirations in the long term, although one must mention in the same breath that China has just accepted Western customs and brands like a duck takes to water. In fact, one finds cities like Beijing and Shanghai are teeming with McDonald’s and KFCs just as Bangalore seems to be overflowing with Dharshinis (stand-and-eat restaurants). This, to my mind, is a big difference between China and India which has not adopted Western styles and eating habits with the same zeal and thank heavens for that! I read somewhere too that China does not have strong local brands which could hurt it in the long run.

Sum and substance

China clearly has a lot to offer the world in general and India in particular. It would be dangerous to blame all our ills on the democratic process and attribute all of China’s progress to the fact that it is ruled with an iron fist. I think China has realised the value of the fact that whatever the mode of governance you may have, it will be market economics that will determine long-term success. It will boil down to simple things that are not so easy to achieve, such as execution and attention to detail, not so much about strategy that many of us spend so much time talking about. And this is where China scores.

(The author is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)

Rewind. Reflect. Rejuvenate.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2007/12/27/stories/2007122750030200.htm

Consumed as I am by two passions - cricket and advertising, I was trying to see if there is any parallel between what happened in cricket around the world in 2007 with what happened in advertising, marketing and business in India at the same time. F irst, let me talk about cricket. For Indian cricket, 2007 was probably a year like no other. The disaster of the cricket World Cup in the Caribbean was reduced in impact by a test series win in England after a small matter of 21 years.
Of course, neither the captain nor the team got the recognition they deserved and the captain resigned in disgust as this must have been the last straw on an already tired and frustrated camel’s back. It is no fun being captain of India as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will testify.
This was followed by an extraordinary triumph in South Africa where we won the T20 World Cup under a new captain, Dhoni who, incidentally, is a strong link between my two interests. The whole of India went mad after this. Then followed a one-day series loss to Australia and a one-day series and Test triumph over Pakistan, again after two decades. And now the all important tour of Australia has just begun. What a year of highs and lows! Many of the young Indians saw a World Cup triumph by India for the first time in their young lives.
The world of advertising, brands and communication that I am equally passionate about did not have as dramatic a year. Here are a series of reflections on the year gone by and predictions for the immediate future. After all, 2007 will soon become 2008. And if now is not the time to reflect or introspect, I wonder when is.

India shining
‘India Shining’ may have bombed at the last elections but it is not elections or the advertising for it that we are talking about now. The economy is booming, companies are doing brilliantly, the Sensex is soaring and confidence is at an all time high for India and Indians aided and abetted with deals like the Corus deal. In fact, it is bordering on arrogance, a bit like the way of the BCCI in its relationship (?) with ICC with which the BCCI frequently throws its weight around thanks to the sponsorship muscle it enjoys. A booming India and a 20,000 Sensex means good things for the Indian advertising industry and here is the first prediction.
Year 2008 will be an even better year for the industry and there will be an increase in advertising for products and services as sections of our population think the world is their oyster and rightly so. Where will this boom come from?
While the booming Sensex will mean that there will be a slew of IPOs, and agencies specialising in this arena of activity will rake in the moolah, an opportunity will present itself for public relations agencies as well. This in a sense will be a replay of the late Eighties and early Nineties. Yet many of the older, well-established agencies could be threatened by a younger breed of agencies as people who make decisions will change and younger merchant bankers come into the picture and maybe the stranglehold of the old stalwarts over the new issues advertising market will be under threat.

Retail hot and happening
I need to reiterate that the retail revolution will continue, burgeon and eventually sweep this country. Retailers who are currently in ‘sale’ mode will also realise that factors such as service delivery, branding and differentiation will have to prevail as price advantages will reduce, if not disappear. Yet, the agencies face a bigger threat. The rise of retail means the agency can no longer get away with glossy image-building ads that are cute to watch and do nothing for footfalls. Results will be the key.
“Don’t tell me what a great ad it is, just drive people to my store” could well be the mantra of the marketer who is already struggling with rising real estate costs and increasing competition. Earlier, agencies used to build image with TV and drive traffic through newspapers. What will the new formula be? If retail is the next big 20-20 of business then both marketers and agencies would not have the luxury of time to experiment. The time to deliver is now. Is the agency ready? Who knows? And on the subject of 20-20 cricket, which was a huge money spinner, agencies need to realise that it is here to stay. They need to figure out whether they need shorter, edgier and zanier work for the audience and the mood that is different, rather than the same commercial for all seasons and all programmes.

Yo, baby! We are young and talking!
The youth theme has been done to death but we cannot wish away the fact that 59 per cent of the Indian population is below the age of 24 and that we have an amazing mobile market. Indian youth has taken to mobile phones as a duck to water. With increasing connectivity and accelerating use of GPRS, it provides a great opportunity for marketers to look at this medium far more seriously.
My children are 23 and 20 and represent India’s urban, affluent youth. They are probably more attached to their mobiles than they are to their parents. While it is a disappointment to me, it is perhaps a great opportunity for marketers to capitalise on this, engage and build relationships with youth using the mobile. Do we really understand this medium and its potency? And let’s not forget that we are one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. Speaking of youth and the new medium let me go on to the next big opportunity, and that is digital.

The great technology divide
India understands technology and has used it to become a budding superpower. Yet, we need to remember that online is the medium of the future and we have not really cracked it, technology notwithstanding. We have talked about this and will continue to talk about it but perhaps its time has come.
Let me give you a simple analogy. In the Eighties, Print was king. People wrote lyrical copy and won awards. Body copy was crafted and visuals made your mouth water. Then TV became the medium to watch out for, work on and build reputations with. Those who adapted to the medium and understood its differences got a headstart over their competition.
And what about advertising professionals? The ones who understood the new medium did well while those who refused to or ignored it just got left behind. We are at a similar juncture now.
Online is the medium that will change the face of marketing. Does the agency understand this medium? Is it only using this as “spin” to media and clients, or can it harness it? This is a big ask and creative people too must cross this chasm. My request to creative people is simple. Embrace this medium. Train to create in it. Understand its nuances and pitfalls and you will reap the benefits but a quick assessment of where agencies are, or what little they did in 2007 in this medium, makes one slightly concerned.

A few concluding thoughts
What were the great ads of 2007? What were the ads that made you stand up and cheer or wish you had done them? I could not think of too many or maybe they are not playing on the sports channels. In any case Airtel, Reliance and Idea produced interesting ads. Some of the financial advertising was insightful while colas seem to have lost their fizz. But media fragmentation is a way of life and will continue to be so.
The past two years, and even 2008, one suspects, will be all about celebrities. Leading the pack is our small-town hero Dhoni.
Hype rules for a short while and then reality takes over, whether it’s Saawariya or ICL. Here are two of the biggest flops of 2007 and whichever year that we are talking about, the basics will not change. Media weights or slick advertising can never support an inferior product. And expectations must be delivered.
The fact that the worldwide advertising hub for Lenovo will be Bangalore is an interesting and heartening development for advertising. This is not only about costs as the cynics might wish us to believe but an appreciation of our creative and strategic abilities.
Three of the larger agencies have creative people heading the agency, a phenomenon which was earlier reserved for the creative shops. One of the largest payouts in recent time happened at Lintas, bringing with it its own share of controversy about consultants and perhaps might have even got the Finance Minister’s attention, though one sincerely hopes not.
Whichever the year one is reviewing it seems impossible to keep out the paucity of people and the real decline in advertising’s importance in the overall scheme of things, and most certainly in the job market. Agencies are sceptical of training youth for fear of losing them. Yes, people will leave but plan for it, and if you do strike it rich with a few, you are still ahead.
So where do we go from here? While a year is just 12 months there is a depressing sameness to the advertising industry. Clients refuse to pay and then complain about poor quality. Talent is an issue and we seem to do precious little whether it is 12 months or 12 years. Retail is under metamorphosis, technology is reinventing itself every day, and the consumer is transforming herself while advertising continues to be in preservation mode.
Here, my years are showing and I am ending up being pessimistic. It is a great time to be in business. So let me end by wishing every one of you in advertising, communications and marketing and the whole world a wonderful 2008!

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)