Winning Consumer Mind Space

Radical changes are taking place in the Indian Marketing scenario. Responding to ever changing market place and soaring consumer expectations has become a Herculean task for marketers. “Strategising with speed” is fast becoming the new mantra of the marketing game. The only way to gain advantage over competitors is to formulate market strategies that are innovative and perspicacious.

 Corporate executives as well as management students need to comprehend and nurture a conceptual approach towards marketing, given the intense competition in almost any product category. There is an urgent need for bringing about the vital linkages between concepts and strategies that revolve around brands and marketing concepts in the backdrop of Indian marketing reality to assist learners in developing themselves as “Result Oriented Marketers” of the future.

Keeping the above imperative in view, IIIM organized a Consultative Industry Interface on November 4, 2004. Eminent industry practitioners were invited with an aim to help the budding managers understand the intricacies of marketing strategies used in FMGC & Consumer Durables sector.

Moderated by Mr. Hemant Anand, a renowed academician, the interface commenced with Mr. Mohit Arolkar, Branch Manger, Philips India Ltd, Jaipur, who talked about increasing distribution in the right direction and spending on the right counter i.e. weighted distribution. He emphasized that despite the proliferation of mass marketing, all firms in the sector should unfailingly  provide more customized services to the consumers.

Thereafter, Mr. J.P. Sharma, Vice President HLL Network, Jaipur, shared with the audiences the lessons to be learnt from the success of one of the largest FMCG Company in Asia, HLL.     Discussing HLL’s strategies, he highlighted ‘OPQR’ as its success mantra where ‘O’ refers to opportunities. ‘P’ symbolizes price & how Asia’s largest FMCG manages cost reduction through ordering in bulk quantities, ‘Q’ stands  for  the quality standards met by  sharp innovation through highly dependable R&D units and ‘R’ symbolizes  the extensive range that HLL offers to the consumers to satisfy their personal needs round the clock.

Mr. Sharma’s interesting talk was followed by an equally intriguing presentation by Sh. B.M. Chandna, Divisional Sales Manager, Eureka Forbes, Jaipur, who deliberated upon  the significance of  direct selling channels and highlighted the problems faced by a marketer in marketing innovative products based on  new concept. Discussing Eureka Forbes strategy in marketing of vacuum cleaners , he credited the  efforts of the ‘Personal Selling’ department    resulting in raising market share of the product(94%). He surmised that as a result of right mix of strategy & R&D initiatives, the company has been successful in creating  two of the most powerful super brands, Aquaguard & Euroclean.

Taking the discussion to a different but important platform,Mr. Rajesh Gupta, Asstt. Marketing Manager, Cromption & Greaves,Jaipur , talked about the basic marketing principles & emphasized the significance of increased production capacity and networking in industrial selling. He also spoke about the sales promotion activities undertaken by Cromption & Greaves  in agricultural & rural areas.

Last but not the least, the house was addressed by Mr. Madan Lal Sharma, Manager, HRD,  Autolite (India) Ltd.,Jaipur who drew upon  his vast experience to stress upon the criticality of  ‘intangible soft factors’ like working environment, interpersonal skills etc in terms of their   impact on the output of any organization.

The interface ended with Mr.Anand’s  analytical summarization  of the strategies discussed during the day to help the participants appreciate the importance of innovative and suitable marketing plan in ensuring the effectiveness of  sales efforts.