 "Brands strike the right note")
Branding in the digital age is all about agility. Ask Paytm, the mobile wallet company that ran a full page advertisement in a leading national daily the morning after the announcement. Just Paytm, the ad said, don’t ATM. Freecharge, a mobile wallet from Snapdeal was just as nimble on its feet. Its ad, also in the morning papers, said cash was so yesterday. Cab aggregator Ola, food delivery and ordering apps such as Freshmenu, quick service restaurant, Dunkin’ Donuts all jumped into the game, all within a few hours of the announcement.
Mobikwik, another mobile wallet, asked consumers not to panic and use their service to pay bills. Go cashless was its mantra. Online jewellery store Blustone used the news to play on the Indian consumer’s penchant for gold purchases and asked people to invest their money in gold as it would always be valuable. Future Retail announced that its stores were open till late, for those who wanted to spend those Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and Aditya Birla Retail offered 15 per cent cash back on purchases made on its online retail store.
Harish Bijoor, the Bengaluru-based brand consultant says, “The move is going to be a boost for e-payment companies. Additionally, credit card companies and mobile banking divisions of banks will also see this as an opportunity to get business and so these companies will get aggressive on the marketing front. It’s like making hay while the sun shines and no marketer would give up on the opportunity. I feel in the coming days, there will be a lot more communication from companies like Paytm since it is windfall time for them.”
According to Paytm, within hours of the Prime Minister’s announcement, the company has registered a 200 per cent hike in number of app downloads and 250 per cent surge in number of overall transactions and transaction value. Did a quick reaction on the part of the brand lead to the surge? While it is impossible to draw a direct correlation between the two, more and more brands believe that this is the only route to the customer’s mind.
Brands are reacting faster to news today than they would have done 5-6 years ago say experts. The reason, they say is the shifting nature of consumer engagement and the fact that the digital shopper is constantly online. According to a recent report by Nielsen (What’s in a brand, January 2016), “A brand is the promise a product or service makes to consumers that is supported by distinctive associations and experiences. And brand management is about implementing your business strategy by using two-way communication to connect products with the consumers interested in them.”
Connecting with consumers is important because it keeps the brand in conversation on social media through posts and re-posts and tweets and re-tweets. All of this adds to the visibility and reputation of the brand. This has driven many more brands to take strong positions on topical issues. Consider for instance, the way companies reacted to the recent surgical strike by the Indian Army in Uri (September 29). Within a few hours, Hero MotoCorp had an advertisement in the papers saluting the heroism of the country’s soldiers. Bajaj Auto revived its campaign for Bajaj V, the bike that used metal from the legendary warship INS Vikrant. And then Boeing joined the bandwagon and released an ad in newspapers that said, ‘A peaceful sky, thanks to those who defend it. Boeing is proud to salute the Indian Air Force as it celebrates its 84th anniversary.’ Even without associating directly with the army’s action on the line of control, these brands were able to ride on the national sentiment.
Some brands crossed the line with their jingoism and paid the price for it on social media. But experts point out that not reacting to a news development is no longer an option. In the past it was only brands such as Amul that reacted to news developments, the rest preferred to stay neutral. Rahul da Cunha, speaking to Business Standard earlier about Amul’s brand strategy had said that the need to stay topical had only grown with the advent of social media.
He believed that this would help keep the Amul brand relevant for years to come.
Bijoor says, “Agility is the win factor today when it comes to branding and marketing. Any marketer who slept off at 8 pm on November 8 missed the opportunity to communicate topically to his TG. Those who were quick to think on their feet got to work and connected with the customers, addressing their needs in a way. “
Almost all the online marketplaces have announced discounts and cash back offers on purchases, hinting that the consumer’s new state of cashlessness is no barrier. Some have said that they will guide customers through the changes and improve the payment methods on their sites to smoother the transition. “At Myntra we are taking all steps to guide our customers to a smoother transition towards non cash transactions,” said Ananth Narayanan, chief executive officer of Myntra. Bijoor says that marketing is a 24x7 job now. Brands cannot afford to rest, policy changes at midnight means that they have to stay up all night formulating an effective response.
(With inputs from Sohini Das and Alnoor Peermohamed)
