Managing the customer, Circa 2002

Lalitha Srinivasan in Mumbai

In the year 2002, the hot focus will be on the new marketing concept called ‘experiential marketing’, predict marketing pundits. In an effort to gain a competitive edge over rivals, Indian marketers are increasingly opting for this new marketing route to promote their products. Very soon, marketers will switch from the traditional marketing methods to this new mode, opine ad industry experts.

Comments Ms Preeti Vyas Giannetti, chairperson, Vyas Giannetti Creative: “The future belongs to experiential marketing techniques. This novel concept is a holistic marketing approach which creates various experiences for the consumers at different levels.”

Currently, Ms Vyas’s integrated brand communication company is implementing the ‘experiential marketing’ method to promote various brands in the Indian market place.

According to Ms Bhuvana Ramalingam of Ford India Ltd, the new marketing concept is already quite popular in the Indian automobile sector. “We have been using this method to promote our Ikon range for quite some time. And it’s now picking up momentum in the Indian markets. I think, it will continue to become popular in 2002,” adds Ms Ramalingam.

Ms Ramalingam also observes that in 2002, the new marketing concept will be used to promote various brands in sectors other than automobiles.”Seeeing the efficacy of this method, I am sure other marketers in sectors like consumer durables will adopt this concept very soon,” adds Ms Ramalingam.

In sync with the new marketing trend, Bajaj Auto Ltd recently set up a host of service centres called “Eliminator Service Enclave” in 15 major cities across the country. Prior to the launch of the Kawasaki Bajaj Eliminator, the company set up these service centres in major metros. “Last year, our aim was to showcase our new product’s capabilities in a world class atmosphere. At these enclaves, people can touch and feel the brand. Also, they can take it for a test-drive,” explains Mr RL Ravichandran, vice- president (business development & marketing), Bajaj Auto Limited.

Mr Ravichandran asserts that ‘experiential marketing’ will be the order of the day in 2002. “Because, customers would like to touch, feel and try any product before they buy it.

In fact, we plan to promote our other brands through this mode of marketing,” says Mr Ravichandran.

As for the future of this concept, Mr Ravichandran observes that it will really work well for certain categories like automobiles and mobikes. “After seeing the success of this concept, I think it should work well in the consumer durables segment too,” adds Mr Ravichandran.

In fact, it is for the first time that Bajaj Auto has adopted the experiential marketing route to promote its new launch—Bajaj Eliminator.

‘Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai’ advocates Mr Jagdeep Kapoor, managing director, Samsika Marketing Consultants. For Mr Kapoor strongly believes that in the Indian marketplace the key to success lies in novel concepts like—experiential marketing. “Today, customers want quality products at competitive prices. In addition, they seek good brand experience before buying any product,” adds Mr Kapoor.

Till now, Samsika has adopted this marketing approach to promote a host of brands including Mother Dairy, Aptech, Monginis and The Club among others. Sums up Mr Kapoor: “A good brand experience is a unique interaction with the brand when the customer gets
faith, hope, confidence and joy—even before buying it.”

Well, it seems ‘feeling is believing’ in the Indian marketplace.