BRAND WORLD: Experience makes the brand
Bajaj Auto, Puma, among others, have used touch-and-feel experiences to grab customer attention, reports URVI MALVANIA
Personalise and conquer could well be the marketing mantra for the year as brands have tried to outdo one another in a bid to provide unique experiences for customers. Early this year, for instance, moviegoers at some Inox properties found themselves walking on a runway strip; producers of the Akshay Kumar starrer Airlift, which dealt with the evacuation of Indians during the Gulf War, had overhauled the look and feel of the lobby to create a special buzz around the release. The movie has become one of the biggest grossers of the year. Puma India, having identified its customer base as the metropolitan youth, has organised special aerobics and yoga events to reach out to customers, going for events and interactions over television advertisements. And recently, after the government’s demonetisation announcement, Starbucks in some locations in Mumbai went about offering beverages to those waiting in queues outside banks.
Companies across the board are eager to become a slice of the customer’s life and are trying various ways to maneouvre their way in. Jagdeep Kapoor of Samsika Marketing feels that the popularity of experiential marketing is rising because of two developments. “Firstly, a large part of business in India is now in the service sector. Be it hotels, educational institutes, hospitals, cinema or airlines, brands are looking to connect with consumers. Secondly, Indians are increasingly travelling the world and expect something beyond basic service from brands,” he explains.
Restaurants have been early and natural adopters of the strategy. They have experimented with décor and special themed menus and performances. Many new entrants into the experiential space are actually taking a leaf out of their book. A couple of years back Kissan, the tomato ketchup brand from Hindustan Unilever recreated the experience of a village in Mumbai. It converted an entire floor of the multiplex PVR in suburban Juhu into tomato field, complete with astro-turf, piles of tomatoes, and of course, the Kissanpur branding.
“Products and services ultimately lead to experiences the consumer has with the brand. And in that sense any product or service will lend itself well to experiential marketing. This is why anecdotal experience creation is growing (in India). We have already seen some good work done by Coke in the form of Coke Studio and tactile packaging and slowly (other) brands will catch up,” says Harish Bijoor, founder, Harish Bijoor Consultants. Movie makers have been particularly innovative. Horror films now have a small ‘haunted box’ that draws many young moviegoers in for a thrill, or have a creepy character from the movie jump out at patrons in the lobby.
According to estimates, experiential marketing still accounts for a small portion of the budget, hardly a per cent of the total spends. “In the coming years, the growth for this segment will be high. It could reach up to six per cent of total budgets. We have seen significant growth in budget allocation for digital over the past few years, and experiential is expected to follow a similar curve,” adds Kapoor.
Schools, experts say, are turning into a popular venue for marketers, especially for categories like food and beverages and stationery. Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network regularly carry out on-ground innovations in the form of back-to-school activities, contests and other interactions. Sony Six, the sports channel from Sony Pictures Network, in association with the National Basketball Association is touring college campuses with contests and events like NBA Jam which culminates into a basketball festival. Bijoor says that with the emergence of two segments of schools — those with financially well-off and the not so financially well-off students, brands are targeting according to the price band of the services and products offered.
Sports plays a big role in creating memorable experiences and several brands have taken that route to the customer’s heart. Adidas sent 10 fans to the Leicester City match at Old Trafford earlier this year while telecom brands regularly send fans to the cricket field to meet their favourite cricketers. Ola and Uber are keen to play a larger role in any which way they can. They have special packages for weddings and festivals, are delivering groceries and food and so on.
The challenge for experiential marketing, ironically lies with the consumer rather than the brands. “Unlike developed markets like Sweden, Denmark or the US, in India, 90 per cent of the consumers are what we would call ‘basic’ consumers, obsessed with the product rather than the experience. Only the remaining give any importance to experience and so, brands in India are yet to pump money into experiential marketing like the other countries,” says Bijoor.