Well, apart from marketing and writing, we have another obsession - Shopping. Yes, My name is Ashanka and I'm a shopoholic. I love the shopping experience, I love being in a mall. It's such a crazy weird world. Trippy with all the music, in-store activities, perfume scent wafting across mixing with the food court aromas. Yes being in mall warms the cockles of my heart but sometimes I'm amazed that Mall designers miss out on the basics
The basic metric for any mall is footfall correct? but I think one needs to measure two other metrics to determine total success. One is time spent and the exit rate. Time spent is difficult because visitors to a mall are not Id'ed seperately but I'm sure exit rates can be measured if you have seperate entrances. So I guess going by the above points the paramount importance for any mall is to keep all the people that it attracts within the mall for as long as possible. Because, duh, the more time they spend the more they are likely to spend.
So, going by this rather obvious logic, I fail to understand why most malls have few to none seating arrangements inside the mall. Seats are vital to a mall's success methinks because shopping, as most people will agree is a tiring activity. The constant activity wears out the legs and after a point you want to quit and go home. I see this all the time, when my mom/aunts/friends shop. Everybody I know becomes impatient after a while because their legs are killing them and they'll sooner drag you out than let you try out the awesome looking dress. This is such a common occurence that I'm surprised that nobody thought of putting seating whever possible because that is what will keep people inside the mall. I'm convinced that malls are designed by men who have no idea about shopping.
Yesterday I was at Central and I spent a good two hours there and my feet were killing me. And surprise, surprise no seating whatsoever, except at the foodcourt which does not really count because you gotta make a purchase there and you can't really sit and relax. People also forget that women, the most prolific of shoppers, often shop in shoes that are less than comfortable like heels, platforms etc. Isn't is logical to make your prolific, high spending shopper comfortable?
But, there's a rub in providing seating in some kind of stores like book stores for example. If I was a store manager at a book store I wouldn't provide any seating whatsoever, simply because, seating gives a reader ample time to savour and read atleast 4-5 chapters of the book. I believe that the more time you give a person to decide on something, the more they're gonna narrow things down. Like say, somebody wanted to by 6 books but on reading a bit most likely than out they'll pick 3. I don't have logic to prove this but this I say by experience. Besides I knwo tons of people who visit bookstores on multiple occasions and finish a book piecmeal. But this logic again flies in the face of conventional wisdom because as we all know book stores are rife with seats, couches, cushions, coffee and what not!
Somebody please explain it to these guys! Please!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Book Review: It Happened In India - The story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the great Indian consumer
Think of Indian malls and the first mental image to come to mind is frenzy. Of frenzied buying and frenetic consumption by hordes of masses that just don’t seem to be satiated. Think a little more and you’ll see images of things flying from the shelves; you’ll even start to hear the mad whirr of credit card machines working overtime. Yet, funnily enough, it wasn’t quite so crazy even in the late nineties. What has changed is India. The booming economy has ushered in an era of confidence and of course unprecedented consumption.
On first glance, “It Happened in India”, by Kishore Biyani, Managing Director, Future Group, seems to be nothing but an amalgamation of milestones of this self confessed “maverick” entrepreneur – On how he rose from selling stone washed fabrics to being the czar of Indian retail. But this book is not about rags-to-riches, it is about vision. This book is about a man who had the gall to envision a confident India and his foresight in ensuring that when this India consumed, it consumed from him.
The book fittingly begins with Biyani’s recollection of the first ever Sabse Sasta Din or Maha Savings Day at Big Bazaar on 26th January 2006. The deals were apparently so good that not only did it attract the masses in droves, but also riot police had to be called in various cities to control the chaos. What is revealing about this chapter is Biyani’s assessment of this response:
“But more than the quantum of sales, what seemed significant to me was that this incident marked the arrival of a new set of customers into the modern retail stores in India”.
Biyani, goes on to categorize the Indian consuming into India one and India two segments. India one constituted the upper and lower middle class, while India two constituted the serving class – the drivers, household helps etc, a class that was vary of modern retail stores and perceived them as “expensive and exclusive”. In Biyani’s own words,
“What was exceptional about 26th January 2006 at Big Bazaar was that for the first time it had attracted India Two and that too in very large numbers.”
There in lies the vision - The vision of not being exclusivist but catering instead to the masses with dirt cheap prices as a result of which their inhibitions are overcome.
A major aspect of the book is that the narrative is not solely of Biyani’s. The narrative is peppered by anecdotal incidents of people who have been closely associated with Biyani in his journey to the top. These include former colleagues, family members, friends and academicians. Although the constant shift in the narrative takes some getting used to, these anecdotes provide a wholesome picture of the man that is Biyani.
The book traces Biyani’s early years as a rebellious youngster growing up in Mumbai’s Malabar Hills. Biyani’s rebellion manifests itself in not only opposing the family’s social customs but in also the way it did business. Frustrated by the inward thinking of his family’s business and its penchant for maintaining the status quo, Biyani sets off on his own entrepreneurial journey by selling stone washed fabrics. After attaining moderate success selling fabric, Biyani decided to go one step ahead and set up a shop that sold ready made trousers called patloon, the Urdu word for trousers. This became the precursor to what would lead to Pantaloon Shoppes and ultimately to Pantaloon Retail
Apart from Biyani’s own meteoric journey, the book is also an interesting factoid of Indian retail in its early years. Apparently Mumbai’s first shopping mall only allowed visitors who had a credit card or a mobile phone! Another interesting fact was that the inspiration for Big Bazaar was not a foreign mall but instead was a 25 year old family owned retail chain called Sarvana, located in Chennai. Biyani’s team would meticulously study the Sarvana store for days and months before arriving at the format for Big Bazaar. Rajan Malhotra, Head Big Bazaar, has this to say about that:
“People may say that we are inspired by the Wal-Marts of the world, but it was at Sarvana that Big Bazaar was born. Everyone who joined the company during those days had to visit Chennai, seek homage at Sarvana and then start working”
What comes out through this book, from every page literally, is Biyani’s obsession with the Indian consumer. Biyani admits to manically studying consumers wherever he goes. Having conquered the Indian retail market, his sights are on to bigger things – That of conquering the entire consumption space. From selling insurance to dabbling in financial services, health & fitness and even stationery – Biyani seems to be after everything that the consumer spends her money on. Infact Biyani has even produced two Bollywood movies in order to extend the Pantaloon brand.
Although the triumphs and successes are well articulated, sadly the failures are not. This is a serious drawback and makes the book seem (sometimes) like one big ode to Biyani’s vision and charisma. But that’s minor nitpicking. This book should be read by all would be entrepreneurs and all those interested in the Indian Retail phenomenon. True to Biyani’s bias towards thrift, this book is economically priced at Rs. 99, making this a really good deal. Value for money indeed!
On first glance, “It Happened in India”, by Kishore Biyani, Managing Director, Future Group, seems to be nothing but an amalgamation of milestones of this self confessed “maverick” entrepreneur – On how he rose from selling stone washed fabrics to being the czar of Indian retail. But this book is not about rags-to-riches, it is about vision. This book is about a man who had the gall to envision a confident India and his foresight in ensuring that when this India consumed, it consumed from him.
The book fittingly begins with Biyani’s recollection of the first ever Sabse Sasta Din or Maha Savings Day at Big Bazaar on 26th January 2006. The deals were apparently so good that not only did it attract the masses in droves, but also riot police had to be called in various cities to control the chaos. What is revealing about this chapter is Biyani’s assessment of this response:
“But more than the quantum of sales, what seemed significant to me was that this incident marked the arrival of a new set of customers into the modern retail stores in India”.
Biyani, goes on to categorize the Indian consuming into India one and India two segments. India one constituted the upper and lower middle class, while India two constituted the serving class – the drivers, household helps etc, a class that was vary of modern retail stores and perceived them as “expensive and exclusive”. In Biyani’s own words,
“What was exceptional about 26th January 2006 at Big Bazaar was that for the first time it had attracted India Two and that too in very large numbers.”
There in lies the vision - The vision of not being exclusivist but catering instead to the masses with dirt cheap prices as a result of which their inhibitions are overcome.
A major aspect of the book is that the narrative is not solely of Biyani’s. The narrative is peppered by anecdotal incidents of people who have been closely associated with Biyani in his journey to the top. These include former colleagues, family members, friends and academicians. Although the constant shift in the narrative takes some getting used to, these anecdotes provide a wholesome picture of the man that is Biyani.
The book traces Biyani’s early years as a rebellious youngster growing up in Mumbai’s Malabar Hills. Biyani’s rebellion manifests itself in not only opposing the family’s social customs but in also the way it did business. Frustrated by the inward thinking of his family’s business and its penchant for maintaining the status quo, Biyani sets off on his own entrepreneurial journey by selling stone washed fabrics. After attaining moderate success selling fabric, Biyani decided to go one step ahead and set up a shop that sold ready made trousers called patloon, the Urdu word for trousers. This became the precursor to what would lead to Pantaloon Shoppes and ultimately to Pantaloon Retail
Apart from Biyani’s own meteoric journey, the book is also an interesting factoid of Indian retail in its early years. Apparently Mumbai’s first shopping mall only allowed visitors who had a credit card or a mobile phone! Another interesting fact was that the inspiration for Big Bazaar was not a foreign mall but instead was a 25 year old family owned retail chain called Sarvana, located in Chennai. Biyani’s team would meticulously study the Sarvana store for days and months before arriving at the format for Big Bazaar. Rajan Malhotra, Head Big Bazaar, has this to say about that:
“People may say that we are inspired by the Wal-Marts of the world, but it was at Sarvana that Big Bazaar was born. Everyone who joined the company during those days had to visit Chennai, seek homage at Sarvana and then start working”
What comes out through this book, from every page literally, is Biyani’s obsession with the Indian consumer. Biyani admits to manically studying consumers wherever he goes. Having conquered the Indian retail market, his sights are on to bigger things – That of conquering the entire consumption space. From selling insurance to dabbling in financial services, health & fitness and even stationery – Biyani seems to be after everything that the consumer spends her money on. Infact Biyani has even produced two Bollywood movies in order to extend the Pantaloon brand.
Although the triumphs and successes are well articulated, sadly the failures are not. This is a serious drawback and makes the book seem (sometimes) like one big ode to Biyani’s vision and charisma. But that’s minor nitpicking. This book should be read by all would be entrepreneurs and all those interested in the Indian Retail phenomenon. True to Biyani’s bias towards thrift, this book is economically priced at Rs. 99, making this a really good deal. Value for money indeed!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Vintage Idea
I was just browsing the book stores and caught sight of the Vintage Twins - A wonderful idea of bundling two books for a combined price. What makes this combination really cool is that there are themes to this twin bundling - Crime, Fantasy, Fear, Lies, Love, Lust, Monsters, Satire, Sin & Youth.
The idea behind this bundling is in pairing a modern classic with an established Classic. So you have crime and punishment being bundled with Ripley's game. There's so much thought behind this idea that we surely must dissect it.
Firstly, the "why", may be someone in Vintage saw that their established Classics weren't selling as much as their contemporary classics, and thought, bundling the two with a theme binding both the books was a good way to ensure sales. But the "story" being weaved through some good branding is the message of revival of established classics.
"The Greatest Books of ALL time twinned with the greatest books of OUR time"
Furthermore, they say "the books have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination". fair enough. I personally think its a very clever idea. Most established classics, if they aren't classroom prescribed reading material, are rarely read, because of the perceived old-fashionedness of language. Established classics need a revival because this is the era of best sellers. Infact Anna Karenina had a mini revival after Oprah put it on her book club.
But bundling itself is an interesting concept that can be applied in any line of business - be it FMCG or in a Tech Product Market. Any product manager will tell you that bundling is a great way to test new products in a market or to up sales of a product that is showing sluggishness. What bundling does is offer a path of of least resistance to the customer.
3 important aspects of bundling methinks:
1. Bundling can only be successful if one of the products in the bundle is a hugely successful product. No point bundling two weak selling products together or 2 strong ones for that matter. the former is ofcourse, obvious, both together will never sell and the latter is a sure fire way of cutting your margin down
2. Another important aspect for a bundling strategy to work is that the combo has to be complimentary to each other. Bundling a shampoo and conditioner makes sense where as bundling Tea and conditioner does not.
3.The consumer defintely must feel like the combo is worth it. It must be value for money
These are my 2 cents worth on the concept of bundling, I would sure love to hear other views on this!
The idea behind this bundling is in pairing a modern classic with an established Classic. So you have crime and punishment being bundled with Ripley's game. There's so much thought behind this idea that we surely must dissect it.
Firstly, the "why", may be someone in Vintage saw that their established Classics weren't selling as much as their contemporary classics, and thought, bundling the two with a theme binding both the books was a good way to ensure sales. But the "story" being weaved through some good branding is the message of revival of established classics.
"The Greatest Books of ALL time twinned with the greatest books of OUR time"
Furthermore, they say "the books have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination". fair enough. I personally think its a very clever idea. Most established classics, if they aren't classroom prescribed reading material, are rarely read, because of the perceived old-fashionedness of language. Established classics need a revival because this is the era of best sellers. Infact Anna Karenina had a mini revival after Oprah put it on her book club.
But bundling itself is an interesting concept that can be applied in any line of business - be it FMCG or in a Tech Product Market. Any product manager will tell you that bundling is a great way to test new products in a market or to up sales of a product that is showing sluggishness. What bundling does is offer a path of of least resistance to the customer.
3 important aspects of bundling methinks:
1. Bundling can only be successful if one of the products in the bundle is a hugely successful product. No point bundling two weak selling products together or 2 strong ones for that matter. the former is ofcourse, obvious, both together will never sell and the latter is a sure fire way of cutting your margin down
2. Another important aspect for a bundling strategy to work is that the combo has to be complimentary to each other. Bundling a shampoo and conditioner makes sense where as bundling Tea and conditioner does not.
3.The consumer defintely must feel like the combo is worth it. It must be value for money
These are my 2 cents worth on the concept of bundling, I would sure love to hear other views on this!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Marketing – Web 2.0 Style!
(hey all, y'know how I love to write right? (note to self: bad sentence that), well I wrote the article about Social networking below for a magazine and since its been published, thot I'd put it up on my own blog as well. Btw all you copy cats, you can filch my article but a citation would be appreciated
Marketing – Web 2.0 Style!
I’m not much of a cricket fan, but having an older brother made me pickup the nuances of the game, albeit quite involuntarily. I know that there is a ball called the “doosra” that is supposed to completely flummox the batsman. The efficacy of the “doosra”, my brother tells me, lies in its surprise element. Just when the batsman has figured out how to play the bowler, the latter throws in the “doosra” to confound the former. That’s exactly I suppose how marketers feel, our “doosra” being the internet ofcourse. Just when we have almost figured out Search engine marketing and optimization, the internet throws yet another curve ball called "Social Networking”.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is clearly the new buzz word these days with more than 500 million citations in google alone. Web 2.0, according to Wikipedia, refers to the next generation of internet applications that “facilitate sharing and collaboration between users”. The term “Web 2.0” came into being during the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. If the first wave of the internet applications got users to seek content on the net, the second wave of internet applications not only lets users create content but also distribute and share it. Web 2.0 is all about using the internet as a platform to connect us and our online activities with the world at large. Technologies that fall under the Web 2.0 bracket include blogs, social networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook etc, Wikis and more.
Social Networking Sites (SNS)
Social Networking sites, till recently, were largely considered a teen fad – a place where idle teens hung out but when Newscorp bought Myspace for $580 million last year and when Facebook went from the being the 60th to the 7th most visited website in span of one year, the entire industry started taking notice.
Although Myspace and Facebook are largely popular in the United States, here in India, the Google promoted Orkut is the overwhelming favourite. India has the second highest number of Orkut users apart from Brazil, accounting for more than 8 million profiles. Infact Orkut is the 3rd most popular website in the country, behind Google and Yahoo according the website tracking portal, alexa.com and was even voted the “Youth Icon 2007” by MTV!
Most SNS work pretty much in the same manner. Users are required to sign-up using an email ID and password. Once they have registered, they proceed to fill out their “profile” that has information relating to age, gender, political views, relationship status and ofcourse the ubiquitous, “about me” field. Once the, “profile” has been created, users embark on building the “network” through search tools. Most SNS like Orkut, Myspace and Facebook allow users to post messages to friends through “scrapbooks”, blog, upload videos and photos, form communities and even send emails. Users spend an estimated 20 minutes per day on social networking sites.
With SNS drawing so much traffic its little wonder then that these days a new site is born practically every month. This has led to the creation of smaller more niche SNS like LinkedIn for professionals who want to network with other professionals in the same line of business or Shelfari for booklovers who want connect with other enthusiasts. Experts believe that the future of social networking lies in “custom built” social networks, with users creating their own social networks for their own circle of friends
Marketing Potential of SNS
Most SNS rake in advertising revenues through simple banner and text ads. Although, Orkut has recently pulled out text ads from the site (due internal considerations it seems), marketers as still excited by the prospects that SNS seem to offer
Targeting & Segmentation: As most SNS take in information on age, gender, location, ethnicity etc, while creating a profile, the ability to reach the right demographic is greatly enhanced. For example a B-school could easily advertise to 20+ age group category or a Japanese restaurant could advertise to people who prefer japanese cuisine in a particular city
Nurturing Early Adopter Communities: Most SNS encourage users to build & join communities based on their preferences and affiliations. Its, therefore, not surprising to find communities on products such as Toothpaste, chocolates etc. a community offers a plethora of opportunities to marketers. As a community is essentially comprised of loyalists and early adopters of a product, marketers can use a community to test new products and innovative ideas, get reviews and feedback, create a buzz, use the community to spread the message by word of mouth. Infact a peer recommendation is considered the most powerful and persuasive tool in leading to a purchase.
Widgets: A major inflexion point occurred in the social networking arena when, Mark Zukerberg, Facebook’s 23 yr old owner, announced this May that he was “opening” Facebook to third party developers. Anyone could now build “widgets” or web applications on Facebook and propagate it. This led to the development of all sorts of widgets including comparing and reviewing books, trivia quizzes on favourite TV shows or generating random quotes from a comic strip. The potential of widgets to attract traffic is so enormous that even Myspace and Orkut have both announced that they would be opening their sites to third party developers.
For a marketer this means that one could promote a product and create a “buzz” by creating a cool application, like a game and then have it spread by the network.
India and SNS
One of the best examples of Indian marketers warming up to the social networking phenomenon is HLL’s Sunsilk Gang of Girls Website. Since its launch in June 2006, the unique all girl community has over 600,000 members and over 36,000 “gangs”. Besides content that primarily relate to the brand like hair care and styling information, the portal has features such as blogs, Job Section, Book Bar, and a user generated video content section called GOG TV
The Gang of Girls portal has allowed the brand to propagate its message to the large user base more effectively than what a 30 second commercial could. It has created a space for loyal users to congregate where they can now give feedback, test and review new products, fill out survey sheets (a marketer’s dream!) and build even stronger associations with the brand. The brand in turn gets to learn the pulse of the market and get valuable information on what the next trend is going to be.
Another interesting aspect of the website is the tie-in with third party agents like Monster.com for the job section and oxford book store for the book bar section. Although these features add to the overall experience of the portal by making it more wholesome, it also means products not directly related to the brand get a weigh-in by the community.
MTV India’s relaunched website – mtvindia.com also incorporates a lot of SNS like features that finds favour with its target demographic – the college going youth. The MTV U section enables one to join ones college community and also interact with people from other colleges. Apart from the now usual features like blogs and message boards, there is also a section where products that appeal to the college crowd are promoted. Interestingly MTV India also has a link on the site to join its group on Facebook
Social networking features like blogs, communities, message boards are being increasingly adopted by marketers inorder to make their marketing campaigns more 360o. These features enable a marketer to truly engage and interact with the audience being marketed do
While the traffic that social networking sites attract is making marketers scramble to hit upon the right formula, the fundamental difference between search engine marketing and social networking must be understood. Search engine marketing works because people are essentially looking for things, in social networks people are essentially hanging out and not looking for anything specific. The advertising in such spaces needs to be subtle and should add to the experience of social networking. Anything that disrupts the experience is bound to be a big turnoff.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is that most of these sites have a youthful userbase that is prone to fads. The space needs to constantly to re-invent itself to have members coming back and not flock to the next site with cool features. This requires constant monitoring and large budgets. One must therefore decide what features one needs to implement to maximize the marketing effort
Marketing – Web 2.0 Style!
I’m not much of a cricket fan, but having an older brother made me pickup the nuances of the game, albeit quite involuntarily. I know that there is a ball called the “doosra” that is supposed to completely flummox the batsman. The efficacy of the “doosra”, my brother tells me, lies in its surprise element. Just when the batsman has figured out how to play the bowler, the latter throws in the “doosra” to confound the former. That’s exactly I suppose how marketers feel, our “doosra” being the internet ofcourse. Just when we have almost figured out Search engine marketing and optimization, the internet throws yet another curve ball called "Social Networking”.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is clearly the new buzz word these days with more than 500 million citations in google alone. Web 2.0, according to Wikipedia, refers to the next generation of internet applications that “facilitate sharing and collaboration between users”. The term “Web 2.0” came into being during the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. If the first wave of the internet applications got users to seek content on the net, the second wave of internet applications not only lets users create content but also distribute and share it. Web 2.0 is all about using the internet as a platform to connect us and our online activities with the world at large. Technologies that fall under the Web 2.0 bracket include blogs, social networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook etc, Wikis and more.
Social Networking Sites (SNS)
Social Networking sites, till recently, were largely considered a teen fad – a place where idle teens hung out but when Newscorp bought Myspace for $580 million last year and when Facebook went from the being the 60th to the 7th most visited website in span of one year, the entire industry started taking notice.
Although Myspace and Facebook are largely popular in the United States, here in India, the Google promoted Orkut is the overwhelming favourite. India has the second highest number of Orkut users apart from Brazil, accounting for more than 8 million profiles. Infact Orkut is the 3rd most popular website in the country, behind Google and Yahoo according the website tracking portal, alexa.com and was even voted the “Youth Icon 2007” by MTV!
Most SNS work pretty much in the same manner. Users are required to sign-up using an email ID and password. Once they have registered, they proceed to fill out their “profile” that has information relating to age, gender, political views, relationship status and ofcourse the ubiquitous, “about me” field. Once the, “profile” has been created, users embark on building the “network” through search tools. Most SNS like Orkut, Myspace and Facebook allow users to post messages to friends through “scrapbooks”, blog, upload videos and photos, form communities and even send emails. Users spend an estimated 20 minutes per day on social networking sites.
With SNS drawing so much traffic its little wonder then that these days a new site is born practically every month. This has led to the creation of smaller more niche SNS like LinkedIn for professionals who want to network with other professionals in the same line of business or Shelfari for booklovers who want connect with other enthusiasts. Experts believe that the future of social networking lies in “custom built” social networks, with users creating their own social networks for their own circle of friends
Marketing Potential of SNS
Most SNS rake in advertising revenues through simple banner and text ads. Although, Orkut has recently pulled out text ads from the site (due internal considerations it seems), marketers as still excited by the prospects that SNS seem to offer
Targeting & Segmentation: As most SNS take in information on age, gender, location, ethnicity etc, while creating a profile, the ability to reach the right demographic is greatly enhanced. For example a B-school could easily advertise to 20+ age group category or a Japanese restaurant could advertise to people who prefer japanese cuisine in a particular city
Nurturing Early Adopter Communities: Most SNS encourage users to build & join communities based on their preferences and affiliations. Its, therefore, not surprising to find communities on products such as Toothpaste, chocolates etc. a community offers a plethora of opportunities to marketers. As a community is essentially comprised of loyalists and early adopters of a product, marketers can use a community to test new products and innovative ideas, get reviews and feedback, create a buzz, use the community to spread the message by word of mouth. Infact a peer recommendation is considered the most powerful and persuasive tool in leading to a purchase.
Widgets: A major inflexion point occurred in the social networking arena when, Mark Zukerberg, Facebook’s 23 yr old owner, announced this May that he was “opening” Facebook to third party developers. Anyone could now build “widgets” or web applications on Facebook and propagate it. This led to the development of all sorts of widgets including comparing and reviewing books, trivia quizzes on favourite TV shows or generating random quotes from a comic strip. The potential of widgets to attract traffic is so enormous that even Myspace and Orkut have both announced that they would be opening their sites to third party developers.
For a marketer this means that one could promote a product and create a “buzz” by creating a cool application, like a game and then have it spread by the network.
India and SNS
One of the best examples of Indian marketers warming up to the social networking phenomenon is HLL’s Sunsilk Gang of Girls Website. Since its launch in June 2006, the unique all girl community has over 600,000 members and over 36,000 “gangs”. Besides content that primarily relate to the brand like hair care and styling information, the portal has features such as blogs, Job Section, Book Bar, and a user generated video content section called GOG TV
The Gang of Girls portal has allowed the brand to propagate its message to the large user base more effectively than what a 30 second commercial could. It has created a space for loyal users to congregate where they can now give feedback, test and review new products, fill out survey sheets (a marketer’s dream!) and build even stronger associations with the brand. The brand in turn gets to learn the pulse of the market and get valuable information on what the next trend is going to be.
Another interesting aspect of the website is the tie-in with third party agents like Monster.com for the job section and oxford book store for the book bar section. Although these features add to the overall experience of the portal by making it more wholesome, it also means products not directly related to the brand get a weigh-in by the community.
MTV India’s relaunched website – mtvindia.com also incorporates a lot of SNS like features that finds favour with its target demographic – the college going youth. The MTV U section enables one to join ones college community and also interact with people from other colleges. Apart from the now usual features like blogs and message boards, there is also a section where products that appeal to the college crowd are promoted. Interestingly MTV India also has a link on the site to join its group on Facebook
Social networking features like blogs, communities, message boards are being increasingly adopted by marketers inorder to make their marketing campaigns more 360o. These features enable a marketer to truly engage and interact with the audience being marketed do
While the traffic that social networking sites attract is making marketers scramble to hit upon the right formula, the fundamental difference between search engine marketing and social networking must be understood. Search engine marketing works because people are essentially looking for things, in social networks people are essentially hanging out and not looking for anything specific. The advertising in such spaces needs to be subtle and should add to the experience of social networking. Anything that disrupts the experience is bound to be a big turnoff.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is that most of these sites have a youthful userbase that is prone to fads. The space needs to constantly to re-invent itself to have members coming back and not flock to the next site with cool features. This requires constant monitoring and large budgets. One must therefore decide what features one needs to implement to maximize the marketing effort
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