Ashutosh Tiwari, EVP, Strategic Marketing Group, Godrej industries
In an interview with Ruchika Kumar of Pitch, Ashutosh Tiwari, EVP, Strategic Marketing Group, Godrej Industries, talks about the changing marketing scenario and evolving digitised world and its impact on brand communication strategies. Excerpts:
How do you think brand communication has changed over the years?
Brand communication is changing at an accelerated pace from being passive, primarily centred on print and TV to becoming more 360 degree – on-ground, digital, social and interactive. It is moving beyond passive messaging to activations in the form of contests and other formats. If we take the example of Godrej Khelo Jeeto Jiyo, the cost of this campaign was comparable to any advertising production but we got at least three times more GRP than ever. Gojiyo, meanwhile, was launched as a virtual campaign with multiple times the average effectiveness of a conventional advertising campaign. So communication has become much more diverse.
But don’t you think that digital still is in its spreading stages?
If you ask any marketer who has taken the digital route, he will say that it is an emerging platform, it is nascent and small as we have 59 million connections in a country of one billion people. Thus it’s less than five percent penetration or merely 89 million users. Actually, this is an inaccurate representation. If you consider 59 million internet connections in the country, we can safely say that there is at least one connection per household. And I assume that these connections are in urban India which has 60 million households, almost suggesting that on an average, every one household is wired to the net – so that’s humongous reach.
But do Indian marketers understand digital well?
More than understanding digital, the biggest concern for talent is that the current crop of marketers are primarily Engineer-MBAs. They are supremely gifted on analysis and insight but may be not as accomplished on synthesis, creative problem solving, creating powerful experiences. They are more left-brained rather than right-brained.
Why do you think that talent needs to be more right-brained?
Over the years, consumer buying behaviour has changed. In the 1980s, bulk of consumer choices were led by unique selling propositions (USP), e.g. a laundry brand was bought because of its ‘washing whitest’ proposition. Thus one single proposition identified one single brand. The period between the late ’80s and ’90s was an era of ‘positioning’, which was selling of brands on a bundle of attributes. In the current decade, brands have started going beyond propositions and positioning into emotives and culture. Tata Tea with its Jago Re and rejuvenation activation is an example of giving a cultural context and interpretation of society. So brands should now try to become personas for the sake of relationship with the consumers.
Has this migration from functional attributes to emotional bonding, impacted the way we distribute?
In the last 5-7 years there has been an emergence of a proposition which has moved beyond brand proposition and consumer proposition – it now caters to the need of shoppers. We believe that now no launch can be successful unless it is a win-win-win situation for all three: customer, consumer and shopper. The other big thing in retail is related to the whole job of sales function per se, which was earlier to retail and distribute the brand. As we move ahead, the role of front end is likely to become more about merchandising and making the brand experience come alive at retail. Thus, making retail experiential has led to a qualitative shift in the capabilities and resources companies invest in the front end.
Any challenges in this modern format?
Challenges are in creating shopper propositions that are powerful, reskilling front-end to be able to offer branded experiences, and customisation of retail propositions across different kinds of channels, which are fragmenting further. Meanwhile, certain challenges that are often talked about pertaining to the bargaining power of the customer in organised trade vs the brand.
So is modern retail a barrier to showcase the bargaining power of the consumer?
Earlier, the focus was how do I get things cheaper. But today, the consumer is willing to pay more if the marketer is willing to give more. At the same time, promotions too are becoming less tactical, less about ‘give me cheap’. They are becoming far more about value upgrading, increasing consumption and building deeper emotive connect.
In the changed scenario, do you think, Kotler is any more relevant?
Kotler is still relevant, but there is life beyond Kotler. Bulk of Kotler led marketing tends to focus on product marketing with brand being one of the pillars (4Ps). It was more about taking a proposition oriented view for selling brands. With time, as is evident in the work of Kapferer, the whole brand view has moved beyond transactional proposition to more relationship, persona based marketing. Brands are focusing on cultures rather than just on propositions. Kotler remains relevant but there is more to the science and art of brand management.
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