The fight between local and global brands in Indonesia

Cadbury - Confused or Creative?

Sometimes reputed global brands end up making big mistakes. Mostly when it comes to their localisation strategies. I use the word 'Mistake' beacause for some reason I think they have a complete lack of understanding between message and medium, sometime the digital behaviour of netizens (ok consumers who spend lot of time in the digital world) or integration methods or they are just being lazy. Now, I'm not being critical to the good work global marketing team does sitting in their HQ but rather trying to understand where things go wrong. Or maybe it just me thinking in this way.

Let's take an odd example of Cadbury.

Firstly, their corporate worldwide website looks completely different from other country specific websites. Absolutely no similarity amongst each other except the purple colour. Why? Ok, I do understand every region has its own priorities, marketing goals, business objectives, targets etc. Why such inconsistency? And this is something true for most global brands.

Secondly, its confusing to everyone, be it a loyal brand fan...consumer...shareholder...potential investor or just a casual surfer.

Thirdly, what purpose does fancy phrases like 'creating brands people love,' 'performance driven, values led' serve? Instead why don't you just simply mention your corporate core values and beliefs in an entertaining way.

Fourthly, more inconsistency when it comes to localisation of creative thoughts and execution. Best explained by this two examples below...

Scenario 1:

Country - UK, Client - Cadbury UK, Agency - Fallon

Idea: Glass and a Half Full Productions

( I don't need to explain anything here and you all know the story and the awards and how it spread in the digital media etc.)

Scenario 2:

Country - Canada, Client - Cadbury Canada, Agency - The Hive

Idea: Bicycle Factory

Same brand. Two different country. Two complete different message. As a 7 year old internet surfer, who has seen the Gorilla ad on TV, likes it very much decides to go to Cadbury.com will have a complete different perspective. He lives in the digital world, he's too young to understand the difference between cadbury.co.uk and cadbury.ca and might end up being very disappointed. This is where I think most global brands mess up in their digital strategy. Though this is an odd example but there are several brands which ends up doing the same mistake, time and again. Trying to load too much information in the front page, ending up distracting people who visits for fun in the first place. At least, thats how I feel. Maybe am completely wrong. Which means, there is lot of space for improvement. And this is not about social media or digital media strategy. Its about making sure that the corporate website is in sync with its overall communication. Incase you find other examples, please do let me know.

good day no more

I love the way Unibic Cookies has publicly started challenging Britannia's Good Day. Why have a good day when you can have a great day. Ha. Good to see challenger brands in India waking up. Well, I wonder if only a smart headline will do the job for Unibic or will they also challenge the marketing might of Britannia. Whatever it is, about time to give Britannia a good fight.

Business Week

Business Week has a very interesting section in its website called the Interactive Gallery. It's all about marketing. So those of you looking for interesting information and slides, visit here, it might come handy during those late night presentation preparation days.

Old Idea, New Inspiration

I'm sure you must have noticed the ad above in the Times of India off late. Lux Coffee Table Book is all about the gorgeous Divas of Indian Cinema. Lux is a soap for the Cine Stars. Bollywood Diva's have endorsed Lux for ages in every piece of their communication. The Coffee Book from Lux is an extremely beautiful way to engage consumers. Though an old idea but in the Indian context it is really a great thinking from the agency and the marketer and executed in a brilliant manner. Suddenly Unilever seem to be doing all the right marketing tricks to woe consumer in India. Isn't it?

Honestly, it feels good to see the marketing guys at Unilever pushing the boundaries of traditional media and creating cutting edge communication. Well, what's next is my question. After the Lux Coffee Table, will they explore other avenues? For example, a Photography Exhibition of Bollywood Diva's or create a Lux Diva Museum which has all memorabilia of the Stars etc etc.

Good work and do keep it up. Consumers today want more of what you are doing.

When loyalists switch

Today’s Economic Times has an interesting article, The Unfaithful, which I thought is worth a mention. The ultimate nightmare for marketers is when their brand ambassadors switch brand loyalties. Recent examples of such incidences have come as a shock to the industry:

Virender Sehwag – From Coca Cola to Pepsi
Rahul Dravid – Samsung to Sansui
Sachin Tendulkar – Britannia to ITC Sunfeast
Saurav Ganguly – LG to TCL

Though this phenomenon is not new in the world of marketing, I’m only worried about the dichotomy of the situation. I’m not bothered much about the cola companies since people are aware of cola wars and spoofs, so they don’t take it too seriously. Moreover, colas are fun. In the case of buying electronic goods for a household, not sure how much can a cricket star influence the buying decision. High value purchase is an involved and informed decision, therefore today’s tech savvy consumer know exactly what they are looking for. They do justify every penny they spend contrary to the popular belief that they won’t mind spending more. 2k more for a mere 220 W extra not makes much sense. But yes, 2K more for a 29’ instead of a 21’ makes sense.

But the situation is different when it comes to foods and kids. From a consumer’s point of view, Sachin is synonymous to Britannia, as also in Boost. In fact kids still remember some of those memorable commercials. Now that he’s endorsing Sunfeast, what will be its impact on the consumers? Will the concerned mothers start believing Britannia ain’t good anymore or will they think Sunfeast is a star attraction?

I don’t have an answer to this question. But what’s happening for sure is that celebrities are losing their credibility. A cause of concern indeed.

Entertainmnent@home

So, I went for dinner at Bulu’s place. Bulu is one of those creative guys who don’t blog. He gives a simple explanation for not blogging, “I don’t have enough time to think, write and fill my web dairy.” Well buddy, do you read any blog? “Yes, reading is my source of inspiration.” Fair enough. Then we started discussing boring stuff like work, latest scandal in his agency etc, when suddenly Bulu’s four year old daughter Sonia came running inside “Papa I want to watch Finding Nemo.”

Bulu picked up his phone called someone and order the DVD, turned back at young Sonia and said, “It’ll be there tomorrow morning, you can watch it once you’re back from school.”

Bulu used an offline method to hire a DVD from an Online DVD Rental company. The concept of Online DVD rental is not a new concept. A new category in India though, which is gaining popularity. Netflix, Blockbuster, Lovefilm, Quickflix are some of the popular Online DVD Rental brands in US/UK/Australia. In India, VC’s and Angel Investors found Online DVD Rental a lucrative business to bank upon. Madhouse, SeventyMM, Catchflix, Cinesprite, Moviemart are few such companies to open shop in India. They follow the same business model - Get online, fill registration form and pay a fee, decide a plan and select your movie. Most of them are regional players and unlike the west they don’t use postal service for logistics. However the good point is that you can call, send SMS or queue your list in the website for the DVD's to be delivered.

Common brand proposition – India’s first online DVD rental company + No Late Fee + Free home delivery + largest collection

If you put together all of them, their customer base adds up to a million approximately. Given that India’s favorite pastime is watching television and cinema, the number seems insignificant.

I found few basic challenges that these companies need to overcome soon. A quick look at the movie list and you’ll find the same old movies enlisted on every website. No major differentiation in offering. Movie channels air the same movies and even show new releases then why do I subscribe you? To watch movies at my own convenient time. Not a strong enough reason. As a customer if I want to watch a French or a Japanese movie, what do I do?

Logistics is a big issue. They are unable to deliver on time therefore cannot reach smaller towns. Ultimately end up making big promises and a growing list of unsatisfied customers. Another issue is the penetration of Broadband on optical cable backbone with set-top-box. As they gain momentum, services like video on demand, pay per view will pose a severe threat.

No proper customer segmentation based on age, individual viewing or family viewing, what genres of movie does a person like, customer recommendation etc. Atleast this would have given them a fair amount of knowledge and insight about their own customers.

Lastly, internet penetration in India is low. Therefore as a company you limit yourself to a set of niche audience from the very beginning. And honestly this internet savvy audience is in no mood to watch ‘Mard’ or ‘Dil Main Dard’ ordering from the net.

So what do Online DVD Rental companies do to secure a bigger pie of the Indian market? Here’s my take on how these companies should do marketing:

We are infested with tens of thousands of neighborhood CD Shops serving us pirated VCD/DVD’s. A great opportunity lies in bringing them under your fold. How? A more effective online-offline business model.

• Create a franchisee business model. These stand alone neighborhood shops will be more than willing to be a part of brand and instantly give you a multi city presence (Also save you the cost of setting up several warehouses)
• Create brand retail outlets. Ask them to junk all pirated VCD/DVD’s and you provide them with original copyright legal versions. (Use PR effectively and ensure that people are aware you care hence serve the best)
• Create a call center and your brand shop is the delivery point (aka a Pizza Corner)
  

Once you put in place these basic infrastructures, you’re ready for marketing 2.0.

• Tie up with LG, Philips, Samsung, Videocon, Onida and Sony Home Theatre Systems for one year free subscription with every purchase
• Remember what Reliance Communication did? Handset + Subscription @ Rs. 501/-. To penetrate in smaller towns offer a DVD Player free with two years of subscription. Buy DVD players in bulk from a manufacturer, brand it and sell it along with your subscription. It allows you to enter Non-DVD player owning households immediately. You reach to a larger audience
• Exchange scheme – Pay for a year's subscription and bring along your old VHS Player, walk out with a brand new DVD Player
• Since computers are also touting themselves as a complete home entertainment device, tie up with HP, Compaq, Zenith, Acer, Lenovo to increase your subscription.
• Tie-up with Filmfare magazine and create a Filmfare Award Winning Collection. One years subscription of Filmfare gets you a Online DVD rental subscription or vice versa
  

Once you’re ready with your marketing 2.0 effort, it’s time for revenue generation 2.0

• Producers are spending a fortune on advertising their movies in different media. Use your website for advertising these flicks. Make money
• Use your DVD jacket/DVD envelope for advertising. Make money
• Use your brand shops for advertising. Make money
• Use your movie catalogue for advertising. Make money
  

Now that you’ve made money and I dare say lots of them, use your brain and start segmenting your customers based on genres and likings and make an enviable list of movies. Include world cinema, foreign movies etc. a collection that will draw customers to you by itself.

Before I end, if you think these are difficult ideas to execute, the easiest solution will be to hire me as a consultant. Will someone please write back to me on this soon?

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