Adapt and win is the mantra for brand survival: PM Sinha

Pummy Kaul in New Delhi

MARKETERS and brands that anticipate changes early, or are quick to adapt to new challenges, will be the ones who will truly win.” That was PepsiCo India’s outgoing chairman Mr Priya Mohan “Suman” Sinha prophesising recently at the CII summit. And those hungry for more, here are Mr Sinha’s five marketing mantras to meet the new challenges:

Connect with the consumer
Successful brands will be less defined by their attributes or benefits and more by the lifestyle and attitudes of the target consumer groups. The emotional connect of the brand with the consumer will be more important. The shift will be from brand performance to the whole experience surrounding the brand. Advertising, which is one of the important tools used, will obviously reflect these needs.

The touchstone of marketing, brand and advertising success in the millennium to come will be the way brands bring forward the importance of ‘consumer connect’.

Deliver value
Delivering value for money, should not be seen as just tactical strategy, but as an integral part of the brand building effort. This calls for continuous innovation in packaging, pack sizes, and an understanding of the points of inflexion, at which the value proposition to the consumer, leads to significant increases in volume. As has been seen in the case of the sachet revolution, these points of inflexion are not always linked to the cheapest per ml price delivery. The absolute price the consumer has to pay for a single unit can play an important role in stimulating demand and getting new users into the category.

Expand the market
The real challenge is one of expanding the market, while continuing to build a strong brand that can withstand competitive pressures from its immediate rivals. Companies need to build their business plans with a very thorough understanding of the nature and complexities of the Indian market. Assumptions made on the basis of similar markets in other parts of the world, more often than not, don’t stand up to the Indian test.

Cast a wider net
When it comes to tapping the rural hinterland, conventional strategies don’t always work. And the gains don’t come easily. At a very basic level availability needs to be pushed in, as deep as possible, to make the product at available at arm’s length. This very often requires investments that don’t yield an adequate rate of return. Affordability obviously will be one of the biggest barriers to adoption of new products.

And it’s not just about being there first, but being there first in a way that is relevant and meaningful to the needs of the consumer.

Tap the youth power
Understanding the youth, is no easy task. The challenge is to identify the key trends, the undercurrents that are common across geographies. Brands have to be “youth poor”, i.e., they should appeal to this audience or at least not alienate them.

If the brand is targeted at a younger audience, say under 10, then it is the teens who are the kids’ role models. And even if the core consumers are an older audience they certainly do not want to be reminded of it!