Marketing Myth or Reality?

New marketing paradigms – Myth or Reality?

-K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management Studies

For me Holistic Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Network Marketing, and
Diversity Marketing are mere words. What is of use are the CONSUMER and his BEHAVIOUR.
Marketing according top me is a behavioral science; you understand the consumer behavior you don’t need to learn marketing.

A new broom generates more thrash than it cleans but because it cleans the thrash that it creates the user feels satisfied. Marketing research is this new Broom. You get more problems from it and you get their solutions from it, so you feel good.
No harm in it. But no good in it either.
What does an MR agency primarily do? Tell you what the customer wants? But the customer wants what he sees around , what other companies give him. Instead, give the customer products and services he cant think of this is where a marketing managers acid test lies. Understand the consumer psyche and you’ve mastered marketing.

So, what marketers should engage in is more of BRAND RESEARCH rather than MR.
Executives engage in market research when they are seeking to quantify demand for their current products and potential demand for their new products.
These same executives should engage in brand research when they want to learn how their best customers perceive them, why those customers choose them over competing brands, and how to express their brand universally and crisply across all print and electronic media.
If market research is about benchmarking demand in the marketplace, then brand research is about creating differentiation in the mind of the customer. If market research is about identifying new products and services, then brand research is about why customers choose to purchase those new products. Finally, if market research is about determining price elasticity, then brand research is about commanding a premium price.
There are many firms offering market research. This research is typically quantitative, employing telephone, email and mail surveys. Sometimes this research is bundled with advertising services. Sometimes it is conducted by an online marketing agency leveraging the traffic coming to your website. Most often, market research is provided by companies that specialize in quantitative research and have expertise in specific industries.
Firms offering brand research specialize in building, strengthening and extending brands. They are subject matter experts. Brand research is qualitative, employing one-on-one interviews with your most desirable customers and, when and where appropriate, using focus groups.
The discussion on Brand research over Marketing research is made to conclude that Brand research is a behavioural science and Marketing is a behavioural science.
What You Should Learn by Conducting Brand ResearchIf any research is to have value, it must provide new knowledge and be actionable. So it is with brand research. Below are five critical success questions that brand research informs.
Why do customers choose you over other brands?Knowing this enables you to focus on the skills that help you make and keep your promise to the customer.
Are you competing in the right category?To be clear, an example of a category is laptop computers. A brand in that category is Dell. Knowing in which category you compete in the mind of your most profitable customer enables you to strengthen your position in that category. You can strengthen that position by better delivering the benefits your customer receives when they choose you.
What new products and services can you offer?Old Coke will not travel to new coke. Yet Virgin can travel from the entertainment industry to the travel industry to the soft drink industry. Brand research will identify the current state of your brand in the minds of your customers and what specific steps are required to move your brand to the desired future state.
What are the sources of trust employed by a customer when choosing a company like yours?When making a buying decision, customers seek out trusted sources, such as colleagues, experts, the Internet or advertising. Brand research can identify those sources and the ways in which your customer prefers to interact with these sources.
What are the key messages that resonate with your most profitable customers?Brand research will provide the specific messages that influence customers. These messages should create differentiation and describe the benefits of ownership.
Enough argument to support the proposition of MR Being a NEW BROOM and Marketing being a Behavioural science.

The question is what , if not MR?

I have 2 options
1. MMA
It has 2 components
-- Characterization of brands
-- Branded film making.
2. Cistomerization ( city- customerization)– Before studying the customer study his city.


MMA :
Let us look first at a few hugely successful brands and how they have grown -- the story that many brand practitioners are weaned on is that Procter & Gamble was built on consumer pull and Levers on trade push. This is unfair to both brands because it implies that Levers has not grown on consumer pull and that P&G lacks trade muscle. The important point is that brand pull and trade push both translate into strong brand building weapons as both translate into loyal consumers in their own right.
However consumers need to be induced to come to buy the goods just respect for the brand is not enough. Thus marketers need to focus on UBP(universal buying proposition) rather than USP(unique selling proposition ). So, tell the consumer why he should buy your brand giving him not One but Two UBP’s.
Relying on brand strength remains the best way out of feral catfights over market share. But the efficacy of this style differs with each geographical area. In the future we will see a more brand-sensitive clientele for all goods and services as customers become subconsciously 'irritated' by the deluge of advertising of new brands that confronts them. For them going back to the brands they trust comes naturally.
Characterization of brands
MMA , as I have thought of it would involve planning ones marketing strategies after analyzing a lot of movies, that have worked in a certain area. With specific reference to Retail , I would include a range of underwear’s (Jockey etc..) in my showroom if a film like “Salaam Namaste” has been successful in my area.

Local trends and responses to films should be studied.

If a company wants to introduce a product in an area, why test market and waste your money, why hire MR, why indulge in promotions if you can have a 70% result by “learning from others failures” i.e. someone else has invested in the movie, his money is at stake, you just need to associate the attributes of your product to the aspects of the Film !
If a Film is being accepted by a small town or a semi-urban area , your product will also be accepted.

A 2004 Mediaedge global survey found the following percentages for people who said they would be attracted to a placed product: Mexico (53%), Singapore (49%), India (35%) and Hong Kong (33%). Meanwhile the US logged a lower rating at 26 percent. None of these figures compare with the Netherlands at nine percent and France's paltry eight percent, suggesting that placing for these audiences probably isn't worth the effort.
2004 also had quite a few visible brand associations outside of the film. These were largely print and TV-led associations and were not part of the film script. Namely Mujhse Shadi Karoge with Britannia 50/50; Kyon Ho Gaya Na with Close Up; Hum Tum with Tata Indicom, Hulchul with 50/50, Lakshya and Airtel, Plan with 8 pm whisky, to name a few.

From India to Indiana, going to and seeing and knowing about movies has become so woven into the social fabric that to not participate is to risk being culturally out of touch.
Bollywood is the choice for MMA over regional films and television because bollywood represents the popular belief in the society specially among the youth and offers a broader spectrum. Also, television has a handicap that consumer behavior cannot be studied on geographical basis.
Film is also able to reach out and touch a global audience in a way that TV programming is just too provincial to accomplish. “Dil chahata Hai ” was a national phenomenon with screaming fans lining up multiple times. It’s a connection that TV shows like “ Pyar Vyar & All That (MTV)”though broadcast in many nations, just cannot trigger.
There are risks, though. Some filmmakers feel that brand promotions should be subtle since it might not go down well with the audience. This might be difficult, though, considering that Bollywood isn’t really known for subtlety. Besides, the audience have been accepting the far-removed-from-reality stories for ages haven’t they? So they probably will accept Amitabh Bachchan (only an example) holding up a packet of corn flakes during his (filmy) breakfast and declaring ‘Wonderful brand! Use this brand cornflakes only.’ At the moment, though, one sees many TV promos of films endorsing brands and the general response has been favourable. The other risk is that the star might just overshadow the brand. Fans come to see their favourite stars, not what soap they use.
Thus the point I’d like to make by the discussion above is that there is something in MMA that works well. But it is not in film promotions , rather it is useful analysis of its similarities with ones brand.
Make films on brands
Rather than placing products in films like coca-cola in Taal , or ICICI in Baghban , I propose Indian companies to make films on brands.
The 1985 film “The Coca-Cola kid” is one example wherein a young boy tries to get a coca-cola agency through out the film.



Cistomerization ( city- customerization):
Another aspect of MMA is Cistomerization i.e City- Customerization . it is true that a distance of 100 Kms in INDIA can change customer preferences completely, so when you plan to introduce a product in India do it city wise ( test marketing in 1 city can ensure nationwide acceptance). Select a city , study its culture , its people , and give them your offering repackaged , so as not to alter their way of thinking ( customerize , but on a city basis).
This concept brings back the “ PROSUMER” (Producer and consumer ). The Indian prosumer wants to be associated with whatever he buys . involve him and take his views. This gives him a sense of responsibility towards the product. A product well made involving the consumer creates what some experts call “Excusumption” and not mere “consumption” . Excumption is the process whereby the consumer justifies his purchase by generating certain “excuses”.
Impulse buying ( triggered by price or window display ) may create some amount of repentance or “Cognitive dissonance” as psychiatrists put it. But, “Ecusumption has lesser chances of the PROSUMER repenting on his actions, as he is the need generator and the need relinquisher.
As a scenario ideally representing “Prosumerism” and “Cistomerization” , a big retailer would stock cloth as per the tastes of the consumers of a city and would involve the consumer in selection of combinations, designers and tailors of the Retailor would present designer clothes to the customer within – 10-15 mins.
Companies should cater to what is being dubbed as MASS CLASS: the hundreds of millions of global consumers who are now unified in their quest for the best deals on offer on a global scale in virtually each B2C category.
the more access consumers have to quality, MASS CLASS goods and services ,the more they want exclusivity and status of a different order. The kind that visibly sets you apart from the masses and gives you access to privileges most others won't get.
The future lye’s in catering to this MASS CLASS.
Improve your strategy formulation by using the methods mentioned above for rest of the time “MARKET” your product. To sum this up Steven Heyer from Scott Donaton’s recent book on product placement, Madison & Vine says: “There is the emergence of an experience-based economy, where cultural production is more important than physical production.”