As I See It : Creativity Vs Extravaganza

Frankly I was shocked to see today's ( 30/04/09) Hindu Business Line. The front cover page was just a blank white sheet with the Business Line Masthead. A closer look reveals a two figures at the middle of the sheet with a "turn overleaf " message below.

In the middle it was written 2009 crore (2007-08) --- 3007 crore (2008-09)netprofit

Turning overleaf revealed that the ad was for Bank of India which announced its annual results. The results' details were published in the full innercover page advertisement.

The result is pretty impressive - a net profit growth of 50%.
But the Ad is not ....

White spaces are good... but too much white space shows that there is a hole in the pocket.

This is a time where every penny is precious. Whether it is a bank which is making huge profits or a business which is trying hard to survive. Here we see a full page wasted just like that with no purpose whatsoever.

There is no big idea . Remember it is not a brand building ad. It is an ordinary process for publishing annual results. That is why such a spending is nothing but a sheer waste of valuable marketing money.

There are many ways of telling the public about this stellar results. Let the top management visit all channels and give interviews, let the PR department make this result come in the front page of all newspapers. That is how such results should be marketed not by blasting money publishing white spaces in the front cover.

I had worked in media and I know how much such an ad costs. Definitely this is not the time for such lavishness. Every Paise counts.

John Wanamaker once said "Half the money I spend on Advertising is wasted;the trouble is I don't know which half ".

Pearlpet : Har Dil Ka Pet

Brand : Pearlpet
Company : Pearl Polymers
Agency : Imagine

Brand Analysis Count : 396

Pearlpet is a highly successful brand. So successful that the brand has become generic to the category. This is a brand that transformed the Indian kitchenware market. I still remember times where my mother used to store those curry powders in the Horlicks Glass bottles. Now a look the row of plastic containers in the kitchen speaks about the change that this brand has made to the Indian households.

PET stands for Poly Ethylene Terephthelate. PET bottles offered a very convenient safe storage solution for both the industry and households .

PET storage solutions have application in both industry and consumer segments. The pet bottles are used for packaging in various business like Softdrinks, Confectionery etc.

Pearlpet is a brand which was very popular at the home segment.The brand replaced the glass bottles and became the choicest storage solution for the households.
Pearlpet infact satisfied a need for a safe durable storage solution. Glass bottles were very good but had an inherent disadvantage of being unsafe and breakable.

PET jar offered a solution for this.The bottles were looking good, came in convenient sizes and shapes, was unbreakable and priced reasonable.

Pearpet was the first one to create a brand in this emerging category. Pearlpet was introduced in the Indian market in 1984. During those days, the brand advertised heavily and reports say that Malaika Arora was a model for this brand.

On the industrial market segment, the increasing number of brands in the fmcg ,softdrinks and confectionary segment increased the scope of PET products. Pharmaceutical segment also was a huge opportunity for such packaging solutions.

Pearlpet faces competition from two fronts. The greatest threat was from the unorganized local manufacturers. Since consumers do not significantly see a difference between branded and unbranded products, they choose the low priced unbranded bottles and packs. Chinese products also give a huge competition for Pearlpet.

At the higher end of the market, direct marketing giants like Tupperware and international brands like Rubbermaid has carved a niche for itself. They are giving competition at the premium end of the market.

In this highly competitive scenario,Pearlpet however is not aggressive in taking on the competition. The brand is still resting on its laurels. I do not remember seeing any ads/promos of this brand in recent times.Consumers now do not see much difference between Pearlpet and other unbranded ones. This is akin to leaving the entire market open for all competitors.

Pearlpet is missing out opportunities of grabbing maximum from a market which it had created. The brand still have a huge equity which it should nourish and invest . Although reports suggest that the brand have a larger share, the lack of brand promotion can be the Achilles Heel for this brand.

As I See It : The Death of HR Function

Human Resources Development ( HR) was a glamorous function. A much sought after specialization in business schools (especially by girls) HR came into limelight with the Software Industry boom in India.

The HR function broke away from the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department ( P&IR) which was later relegated to dealing with Unions and Payrolls. HR became the focal point in organizations and took over the glamorous functions like recruitment,selection and training.

The software boom resulted in a huge demand for talent. Firms began to scout for the scarce talent and retaining talent became the major worry for the top management. Suddenly ,from a mere Staff Function, HR became a strategic function.

Management Gurus began to praise the importance of HR in a firms' strategy. HR professionals were touted to play a major role in the board. When Mohandas Pai of Infosys voluntarily remitted his CFO position to take up the role of Director - HR, everyone thought that HR has come off age.

Since money was not an issue, training was on overdrive. HR made training mandatory for all officials including Chairman and Managing Directors. Even thoughts about corporate universities began to shape up.

Stories began to spread about the lavish perks and mouth-watering work environments. Companies began to compete to build smartest workplaces.Employees were considered vital resources. Firms began to inventory human resources fearing that competitors will grab them. Sometimes employees in the bench exceeded those who are doing real work.

The traditional sector like manufacturing , FMCG and durables also faced issue of retaining talent because talent was moving towards sunrise industries that offered better packages.

Employees tried to take advantage of the talent crunch by transforming themselves into Job Hoppers.Commitment was out of fashion , No Shows became the order of the day.


Then......

Recession struck... Markets tumbled, customers stopped buying , panic spread and the dreaded word - Cost Cutting became the Manthra.

Suddenly there was a change in the HR lexicon.

Resource became Expense.
Human Resource became Human Cost - the focal point of Cost Cutting.

Talent Retention became Talent Rationalization.

Sitting on Bench Became Sitting Ducks

Training became a discretionary Expense.

HR became a dreaded function relegated to the difficult task of retrenching people and identifying weeds.

Now no one is talking about talents retention, training ,development.


It is sad that only very few organizations identified and understood the true nature of HR. They are still hiring, retaining and training their employees . For others , HR was just a fashion.

The problem was in numbers. Just like filling sales targets, HR began to fill in the numbers. Blinded by the growth, the Qualitative factors never made sense. The current scenario proves that the HR forecasting models needs to be redefined.

I still don't understand why a person should be recruited if they have no job to do ?

If training is considered to be the key to organizational development, why is that it is cut ?

If HR's job is to recruit the right person for the right job, why are people leaving just for a higher salary ?

When organizations grow in breakneck speed, opening offices at every district and recruiting people enmasse, is it the responsibility of HR to remind the company to go slow ?


The current scenario is a painful lesson for the HR Function and it is a time to redefine the role of HR in organization. The principal role of HR should be to imbibe a culture in an organization that naturally attracts and retain the best talent irrespective of good times and bad times.

Otherwise HR will only be a king of good times.

End Note : I am not a HR professional or an expert in this function , hence I may be wrong in some of the observations. Please give your views as comments.

Brand Update : Orbit

Orbit has signed the bollywood diva Deepika Padukone as its brand ambassador. The brand is running the new commercial featuring Deepika

watch the ad here : Deepika for Orbit

The brand is retaining the positioning based on the tooth decay prevention property.The brand has the tagline " It really Works ".
I was surprised to see an actress endorsing a chewing gum brand. I think it is the first time an actress becoming a brand ambassador for a product like chewing gum. Chewing gum was earlier associated more with male segment. But this association has become obsolete for the new generation where you see this product being used by both guys and girls.
The positive side of the endorsement is that Deepika may motivate lot of girls to try out this category.
I don't think that Deepika is going to add any value to the brand as such. The ad also does not have anything catchy . The brand hopes that using a celebrity will gain more eyeballs but other than just a curiosity,Deepika may not add much to Orbit.


What Do You Think ?

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Orbit

Marketing In Recession : Hope is the Key

Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown. Recession and Cost Cutting is the most used terms across offices. Consumer confidence is at the lowest. It is not that consumers (both business and consumers) does not have the need or the money to purchase, the real fact is that they are afraid to splurge.

As a consumer,I have needs and aspirations. I also have some disposable income to purchase but I am not buying because I am afraid of what is in store for me in future.
Many business customers are postponing purchase because they are facing an uncertain future. We are in a vicious cycle which ought to be broken.

Today is Akshaya Thritiya. This is an auspicious day to purchase gold. The story is that if you purchase gold today, it will bring you wealth and happiness in future. Gold Merchants were making a huge marketing push for this day. For the past two weeks, Jewelers across South India were advertising like hell trying to promote gold purchases on this day. And as expected, most jewelers in my state is witnessing brisk sales.

That is the power of Hope.
The success of Barack Obama was an important lesson for all marketers. Hope sells in Recession.

We humans have a innate love of life. We cling to life. Other animals don't cling to life as we do. They don't worry about death as much as we do. We have a built-in -system of Hoping . This trait has been helping us to counter serious dangers to our existence.

Hope is something that help us to slog.

So if you want to your consumers to buy your products, give them hope. Give them a hope that your product will make their life/business easier. Give them hope that you will be with them riding the storm. Give them hope for a better future or else atleast make them feel good.

Hope and greed are different. Hope is realistic while greed is a fantasy. Obama was communicating realistic hope and that was why people believed him.

People are buying gold on Akshaya Thritihiya not because of the flashy advertisements but they have hope .

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Marketing in Recession

Brand Update : Lifebuoy

Lifebuoy has taken a vow to make India healthy. The new campaign " Banaye Healthy Hindustan".
The new ad campaign takes the route of Before- After theme.

The brand selected two apartment complex for this experiment. In one apartment, the children were asked to use Lifebuoy soaps 5 times a day and another apartment were selected where there was no change in the lifestyle . After the experiment, children in the apartment where the brand was used recorded remarkable increase in terms of school attendance and a decrease in the incidence of diseases. Lifebuoy is claiming that the experiment proves that using the brand 5 times a day can dramatically reduce the chance of getting illness and improve school attendance by 40%.

The current campaign is an extension of the famous Swastya Chetana initiative of the brand where the children are encouraged to wash their hands with soaps inorder to reduce the incidence of diseases like diarrhea.

This time Lifebuoy is using the before-after theme . Indian brands are right now using the high-risk before-after theme. Horlicks was the one which came to my mind which had successfully used this experiment format to catch the consumer. The strategy is risky because the claims has to be authentic otherwise the brand will be in trouble. Secondly these claims should be believable.

HUL has tried a similar campaign for Pepsodent ( Dishum Dishum campaign) where it encouraged kids to brush their teeth twice a day. The campaign was a highly successful one.
Through the new campaign , Lifebuoy is expecting similar success.

It is commendable for a brand to strive hard for a noble cause. The brand has chosen a right cause which mutually helps both the brand and the community.

Related Brand
Lifebuoy
Pepsodent