Was it Shahrukh Khan going in for the ?sunshine car? that prompted you to buy the Santro? Or, Saif Ali Khan zipping around in the Chevrolet Aveo that made you go for it? If not these, was it the advice given to you by your friend or colleague that tilted the scale in favour of a Honda or the brand value associated with the ubiquitous Maruti?
Engaging customers? This has been a million-dollar question facing marketers which seems to have become more and more complicated with the explosion in media and availability of newer media to get in touch with prospective customers.
The moot question is: Is it effective to have celebrities endorse brands or is it more effective to bombard the customers with ads on TV, newspapers and the internet? Or else, can one get more mileage by associating with big-ticket events like cricket or blockbuster TV sops or is it a shade sober, engaging in community service activities and other such events?
Market research firm TNS carried out an exercise to rank such influencers on the car market and find out exactly how effective, and also how ineffective, many of them were. The study was conducted across ten centres and covered close to 2,000 car owners and intending buyers, primarily those associated or wanting to associate with cars from the entry-level stable (Maruti 800 onwards) up to the mid-range (till the Mahindra-Renault).
While the top influencers come later, one of the biggest findings of the study is the pulling power of the stars. The study finds that the stars?mostly from Bollywood?hardly fail to impress prospective buyers. Their influence is also limited as celebrity endorsements seem to have an influence only in north India.
Pradeep Saxena, senior vice-president at TNS India, explains the reasons for the regional imbalance in the star power, ?Most of the stars hired by car companies like Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan or Preity Zinta are Hindi-speaking and popular more in the north. Thus, their effect is also more in this region,? he says.
While stars lived up to expectations in the north, in the east kiosk/stand up displays and cricket sponsorship had the highest influence. In south, magazine advertising, website advertising enjoyed a higher influence while the western region had a mix of all factors with no one factor really dominating.
The real sales initiators were gradually becoming the most difficult and tricky for companies. ?With the explosion of media, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a marketer to know, which media is working for the brand and which is not. Which media is effective in image building, which one is effective in imparting information and which one has the highest impact on purchase decision. And this is not just about the conventional media such as television, press and outdoor, there is a huge spending on road shows, events sponsorship and even test rides, amongst many others,? explains Saxena.
The TNS study, that aimed at identifying the relative influence of 35 possible marketing contacts, found that a TV ad from the manufacturer was the most influential contact while newspapers ads followed it, on prospective customers. Importantly, opinion or influence of family members, friends and colleagues was ranked the third most influential contact while test drives?that give people an actual feel of the product?came in fourth. Last on the top-five list came in the actual presence of the car on the road as it worked as an important influencer on the minds of prospective buyers.
TNS said two important questions facing the marketing communications team include finding out what connected best with the consumers and what brand encounters were experienced most by consumers. ?The brand needs to understand more about how these brand-consumer relationships are built: what is the intrinsic capacity of individual contacts to influence consumer attitudes and how effectively are competing brands using contacts to influence consumer attitudes and brand choice,? TNS said.
Interestingly, factors that influenced the least include: road safety education, guidance, driving schools and other community service activities. Among the non-starters are attempts made through telephone calls, direct mailers, letters and e-mails from manufacturers or dealers. TNS said sponsorship of motor racing or rally events as well as radio spots were also among the uninfluential contact points as was experience of car model through hire, rental or loan.
Saxena said point of sales?where a customer visited dealerships and had opportunity for test drives?was among the crucial groups that had an important effect on prospective buyers. ?For manufacturers, there is a definite opportunity to establish a strong customer experience at the dealership through elements such as test drive, showroom ambience, salesperson and product brochure where customers are not well engaged at the present time,? Muder Chiba, executive vice-president at TNS India, said.
The study said customers in the purchase process took specific notice of car reviews in TV and other media press, which at present are un-cluttered mediums. ?Therefore a good PR activity of this kind for a brand could have a disproportionate benefit for it,? it said.
By geography, manufacturer website and celebrity endorsements were noticed significantly more by intenders/ owners in metros, whereas intender/ owners in non-metros were more receptive to sponsorships of TV/radio programmes and art/entertainment events and community service activities, the study said.