For Elkana Ezekiel, it was simply the excitement of working in the fast-paced consumer electronics space that made him take up the position of Samsung India’s chief marketing officer. As he puts it, he has spent 16 years “selling toothpastes and shampoos”, and, therefore, consumer electronics, especially Samsung, was perhaps a natural step. Samsung is moving ahead of its Korean brother LG Electronics by scaling up its mobile handsets and IT businesses. The company reported net sales of Rs 11,663 crore and net profit of Rs 402 crore for the year ended March 2010, against LG India’s Rs 10,691-crore net sales and Rs 347-crore net profit. To keep the momentum going, Samsung plans to make the right moves in product innovation, distribution and marketing and communication. In an interview with FE’s Rohit Nautiyal, Ezekiel shares his plan of action to take the brand to new heights. Edited excerpts.
This is the first time that a CMO has been appointed at Samsung India. Why has this position been created now?
The position of the CMO was created because the Samsung CEO felt that there was a need to leverage the synergies across the business verticals and provide one consistent, synergistic Samsung image in terms of our marketing initiatives for our consumers. With the product portfolio and the businesses growing, the CMO and his department will strengthen the Samsung brand right across all verticals.
How has your experience as the CMO been?
Being part of an organisation that has innovation in its DNA, one gets to witness new technology on a day-to-day basis. I was looking forward to be a part of this the moment I made up my mind to join the organisation with all the experience I had in the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector. The principles of marketing remain the same even if you switch from FMCG to electronics. Another charm of working here is the opportunity to keep an eye on ever-changing consumer trends. Earlier, people kept the same refrigerator for 25 years. If a new technology comes into the market now, people are willing to consider a new purchase within a shorter span of time. We are ready to cater to this receptivity of the modern-day consumer for a smarter life.
Ten years ago when Samsung and LG entered India, the focus was on cheap prices. A lot has changed since then with consumers willing to pay more for technology. Would you agree that Samsung is perceived as a technology brand?
One could not have done more than $3 billion of business in 2010 without having a strong positioning. I won’t call Samsung a technology brand. Rather, we are using technology as an enabler to make the lives of our consumers easier. As we speak, we are building our consumer base with a special focus on engagement. People should buy into our concept rather than taking us for yet another ‘techy’ brand. Currently, we are targeting two markets: one belongs to the consumers who swear by constant innovation and the other being the semi-urban and rural market. And its interesting to see how changes are happening at an unprecedented pace here. This year, LED TVs are growing faster than LCDs. Five years back, not many people were aware of what an LCD had to offer. So technology has been changing at a much faster rate than we can imagine.
What should be the ideal media plan for brand Samsung?
For me, media is any form of consumer engagement. Television will remain the primary medium for our brand because of the massive reach promised by the medium. There will be a lot more digital as well. In-store display is going to be another area of focus so that our customers get a clear idea on what to expect when they start using it. I realise how there’s hardly any product information available on the cartons we use. So, online and print can play a key role in providing a better understanding of our products than a 30-second commercial which can only introduce a product to prospective customers who are information hungry all the time. E-commerce is also a big opportunity in India and we have forayed into this space recently by tying up with a few vendors. Mall activations and exhibitions are also important in the current scheme.
What will be the way forward to grab a bigger slice of the mobile handset market?
Again we have a two-pronged strategy for the mobile handset space. While on the one hand we are pushing our tablets and smartphones, on the other hand we are trying to provide smartphone-like features in handsets at an affordable price point. And we do this by offering mobile phones starting as low as Rs 1400 going up to Rs 30,000-plus. We are also moving beyond our hardware capability by focussing on applications.
Recently, Samsung launched its smart TV. How long will Indian consumers take to accept smart TVs?
There are different technologies available in the market and the possibilities are unlimited. It will be the current LED user who will graduate to a smart TV. The initial response to smart TVs has been good and based on that our target is to sell around 1 lakh units by the end of this year. We expect to see these numbers coming from metros.