Innovative Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns
Innovative Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns
We've come across some very innovative guerrilla marketing campaigns on youtube. Check them out!
Definition of Guerrilla Marketing: using a number of unconventional methods of marketing with minimal resources for maximum results, any marketing campaign that uses non-mainstream tactics and locations.
http://www.adjetter.com
Why is Bajaj such an iconic brand?
Bajaj Auto, the Indian brand which was synonymous with the unaerodynamic and bland looking scooters and Rickshaws is today one of the leading manufacturers of great motorcycles. The brand, which was for commercial customers and old uncles, is today a truly in vogue and considered “hep” by the now generation. How did this transition come by?
Rajiv Bajaj, the son of Rahul Bajaj transformed this sleeping dying giant into such a euphoric brand even before his 40th birthday. His decision to shut down the scooter line and focus 100% on the motorcycle business was highly criticized by the Bajaj top guns. They all thought that shutting down the companies' largest division and to focus on something where they did not have any expertise was a sureshot formula for failure.
However, Rajiv was right. He understood that the scooter business was declining globally. Especially in India, the consumer focus had already shifted to motorcycles. The likes of Kinetic, LML were losing money and were not innovating. Soon, Rajiv launched the Bajaj Pulsar, Avenger and Discover series. As of 2010, Bajaj Auto now sells over 3.5 million motorbikes a year. This is roughly 10% of the global pie. Its remarkable for a company to have restructured a business 7 years ago and gain such phenomenal marketshare globally. Through their partnerships with KTM ( a niche racing bike icon with impeccable rally records) and Kawasaki( they distribute Bajaj bikes across Asia), they have been able to resurrect the Bajaj brand and have made it very chic and desirable. Bajaj now sells in more countries than ever. In markets like Philippines, Bajaj is still the largest seller of motorcycles.
All these changes happened based on one decision, i.e. to focus on the right product. With their new four wheeler division, Sky's the limit for Bajaj. They are truly iconic and are one of the Indian flag bearers across continents. Buland Bharat ki Buland tasweer. Hamara Bajaj!
Watch the commercials. Bajaj's 1989 ad :
And Bajaj's 2001 Ad ;:
Indianizing : When to and When not to
One could see a lot of ideas that have been indianized in the recent past. The BIG SWITCH and MAA EXCHANGE and the controversy over "who copied from whom" really baffles me coz when I look at it, I just see it as a rip off of the UK RDF Media program called 'WIFE SWAP' created by Stephen Lambert. Most companies do the mistake of indianizing ideas that have clicked in the US/UK without enough market analysis before investing crores and crores in bringing them to the market.
One good example that I can think of is the personal finance management SW that was launched in India. It was a major hit in the US, but inspite of advertising on print, FM and digital media, it bombed in India. The pricing model was fine, advertising was reaching the potential audience, may be even the market research showed that the product would sell. What the company failed to realise is that in a country like India, the point of sale(POS) results vary the most to it's corresponding market survey(MS) results. Indians are known for managing finances on their own and went on to show that they were still not ready for a 3rd party player to manage their finances. Assuming MS results to be same as POS can be a game changer.. in some cases taking you down to a place from where only UnderTaker can resurrect :)
There was this drug X with head ache as it's well known primary side effect. A competitor launched a similar drug that was pretty much the same in terms of efficacy, effectiveness etc, but they had somehow managed to get rid of the head ache. What was there to think? Everyone thought that may be not immediately but eventually this drug would replace X. Counter intuitive as it may seem, this drug bombed. People were used to having the post drug consumption head ache and having no head ache somehow made them feel that the drug wasn't working at all.
And that is why, POS surveys become really really important. People say 'YES' to everything as long as they don't have to spend money from their pockets. And Indianizing something based on it's success in the West without POS analysis can terminate your company, finish a few careers and sad but true in 1 case that I have seen end a marriage as well. Sometimes what's tried and tested in the US can leave you done and dusted in India :)
However, the best example that I can think of in this context are the Indian Youth Networking Sites. If you limit your audience by any metric, you are bound to be at least 1 step behind your competition. While FB and Orkut were trying to cover the entire world and fraaaansheep requests were flying from Atlantic to the Antarctic, the India-focussed sites could only boast of "Kashmir to Kanyakumari" coverage. How many Indian social networking sites do you know, and how many are you a member of? The answer will tell you how successful the Indian networking sites have been.
I will leave the readers of this post with this new interesting concept I came across. How many of you would buy this? http://elightelite.com/
http://www.adjetter.com
Advertisers are betting too much on India’s performance in the world cup
Every advertiser who's been betting on cricket recently would have researched the 2007 cricket world cup in the West Indies with a lot of details. The last world cup was a nightmare for Indian advertisers. The Indian cricket team crashed out of the 2007 cricket world cup after just 3 matches. India in fact lost to the tournament underdogs, Bangladesh as well. After India's early exit, the TRP's dropped like a pack of cards and advertisers who had bought ad space in advance through well structured pre bought “smart” deals, lost out big time.
Keeping this disturbing trend in mind, ICC has managed to overhaul the format of the world cup significantly. The new structure ensures that the knockout stages of the tournament don't start until 3/4th of the tournament is over. This way, the advertisers are better hedged and their risk is significantly leveraged. Hence, India's performance in the world cup doesn't have more than a 25% effect on the TRP's. This has definitely been a big selling points and has attracted a slew of sponsors. No wonder, 100+ advertisers have officially tied up with the 2011 edition of the cricket world cup.
In the interest of the Indian advertising industry and as a patriot, lets just hope that India lift the cup this time!
Poker and Marketing!
This Valentine's Day saw the return of The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) to WWE. After 7 long years The Rock finally returned to Monday night RAW. The exit of the likes of Austin and Rock had seen a huge drop in viewership and it was high time that WWE did something out of the blue. Not many in this World have the liberty of bringing back the most electrifying man in all of entertainment and hence the opportunity to quadruple their TRPs overnight. The Rock ensured this by giving a word to his fans that he is never ever going away. So, targeted advertising becomes VERY VERY important.
Most companies do different things to reach their audiences and establish their brands in the minds of the people. Advertising is alanogous to No-limit Texas Hold 'Em Poker and let me walk you through how each phase of the game can be compared to the different phases in advertising.
Each player starts with a 'BUY IN' amount (Advertising Budget)
Each player is dealt two cards face down. (Company's Core competencies)
Five cards are then dealt face up across the middle. (Total market potential)
The first three are called the FLOP. (First round of assessing market potential)
The next one is called the turn. (2nd round, understanding competitor's strenghts and weaknesses)
The final card is known as the river. (Last round, final chance at outplaying your competition)
Every HAND in the game is like an advertising campaign. You can choose to go ahead with it or launch another campaign (wait for another hand). No matter what kind of market research you do, the market potential can only be gauged to a certain extent, the clear picture is only when you are IN THE MARKET, i.e when all the community cards are dealt.
Companies know their core competencies well, you get to see your cards. They need to take the right campaign based on the market and based on what they think the competitors are doing. If you have Sachin as a brand ambassador, then showing ads involving him during the cricket WC would be right thing to do.
Once the flop is dealt, you have a decent idea of the market and also how competitors are playing in the market. This reminds me of how the 1p/sec campaign forced every telco to come up with similar plans to hold on to their customers. One could see that some competitors launched their 1p/sec or better campaigns right away while others took their time. Some telcos who flaunted 'CONNECTIVITY' as their core USP thought that they could still hold on to their customers without needing to do what their competitors were doing. Eventually they had to follow suite as the entire market dynamics had changed and one could see the paradigm shift, i.e when the turn and river were dealt.
Sometimes even though the market potential is known, there is a latent market which is not visible to the naked eye. This is when you have to think beyond your core competencies to drive your competitors out of the competition. Some M&A coalitions can be given as examples here. One good example would be how naukri.com took the whole job application process online. This was playing strong in a 'NO MARKET POTENTIAL' hand, where competitors would not follow suite as they are unaware of what you hold. When you get into the market and start reaping benefits, your competition is left far far behind.
The Budget airline traveler – an advertiser's delight
Since the erstwhile Air Deccan launched in 2003, India has seen a big revolution in aviation. Post that, many more budget carriers like Spicejet, GoAir, IndiGo, Jetlite ( earlier known as Air Sahara) all joined the LCC bandwagon. Airline capacity has shot up by over 200% in the last 5 years and more and more airlines are adding capacity as we speak. Every global air show seems to be having at least one desi airline placing a large order for aircrafts. The legendary Naresh Goyal, Founder and chairman of Jet Airways, India's first private airline, once dismissed the LCC model saying that India would never respond well to an LCC model. Today 70% marketshare is held by budet carriers. With Jet also having 2 LCC brands, Jetlite and Jet Konnect, Mr Goyal would surely have been surprised with this development.
LCC customers are the new emerging middle class of India. This audience has a fairly disposable income. Given the right price, deal and value proposition, they would even spend on high end products. 55% of them own LCD TV's and 75% of them own 4 wheelers. They are also gobbling up insurance policies and buying real estate at a phenomenal pace. Plus, this segment is growing at a scorching pace. While majority of full service airline passengers fly through their company's budgets, LCC travelers fly through their own funds, which makes it even more attractive. Data has proven that many corporate travelers prefer to use LCC's while planning their personal trips or vacations. Every Indian would love to save a couple of grand one way on a flight that's not more than 2 hours in time.
LCC's also offer the advertiser an ability to reach the audience like no other. These airlines are always looking to cut costs and that means that they are always keen on advertising revenue. This opens up a plethora of options for advertisers that want to reach out to the upper middle class bracket of the country. Today, an ad on an airline's tray table is far more effective than a television ad since this customer is literally strapped to his seat while viewing that advertisement! In flight campaigns generally tend to produce much better results than any other form of advertising. LCC's specifically also tend to produce much better results since their customers are always on the lookout for good deals.
Adjetter media network is a media planning and buying platform that specializes in unconventional media properties. They deal with every airline and have done various customized campaigns for in flight branding. Many of these have been very interactive with analytics available to gauge the success of the campaign. With offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata , Delhi and London, they are able to provide advertisers with innovative offline advertising solutions . Whether it's in flight ads or ads at hotels, restaurants, gyms, salons, multiplexes, malls , adjetter offers the advertiser a vast variety of interesting unconventional media options. Check out www.adjetter.com for more info.
Monetize your idle space. Get precious ad revenue!
A few years back, whenever a business plan used to be formulated, the revenue streams used to be very conventional. The business manager would try and focus on business development, cutting costs, better hiring, marketing and better cashflow management. This approach is still valid and still form the core of the Indian business plan.
India is an entrepreneurial society. With a booming economy, young population and easy access to credit, India is where all the action is. On an average, over 600 new businesses are registered in India every day. These could range from small shops all the way to sophisticated nano technology firms. The common element in all these ventures is the vision of the entrepreneur.
Apart from having a successful business plan and strong revenue lines, its also necessary to be able to monetize your existing assets better. Advertising revenue used to be available only to conventional media owners like TV, radio, print etc. However, in today’s times, sky is the limit. If you have a business where you have customers, you could earn additional revenue through ads.
Adjetter is an innovative media platform that helps advertisers target the right audience through better media planning and analytics. In order to target very specific audiences, adjetter needs to keep contracting new and innovative media properties. As of today, the adjetter media network is able to place ads at 15000 grocery stores, 9000 pharmacies, in flight all airlines, 600 restaurants, gymnasiums, salons, college cafeterias, corporate offices, multiplexes, malls and many more. Sky is the limit for innovation. Your customers could also be potential eyeballs for a non competing product. Plus, you get to choose the advertiser that you want to partner with. Its that simple.
Contact adjetter. Email us at target@adjetter.com to understand more. We help businesses monetize their assets better.
The future of media planning
Does anyone remember the age of door darshan? I guess the toughest job for a marketer would have been during those days. You had 1 TV channel, no FM radio, no market research reports and most important, no internet! However, with changing times and the advent of satellite television, things started looking better. Until a year back, life looked good for the marketing/media world. There were 100s of TV channels,, a large variety of FM radio channels and an ocean of digital media choices. Marketers now had options of doing regional TV/ radio and even specific campaigns
However, post recession, times have been really tough. One of the hardest hit industries has been media. With every large/small corporation trying to cut costs, media spending has been the hardest hit among all other costs. While many analysts agree that this was a wrong move, the short term cash saving was a priority. No one wanted to now launch a brand nationally by flooding TV, radio, print, hoardings and every other media options. The age of reckless media spending was slowly dying and this led to a new age of marketing. Marketers now wanted more specific targeted audiences. People that really would buy the product.
Audience targeting used to be considered an art earlier. Today, marketers have realized that media plans need to be data and analytics driven. The world is a lot smarter and so are consumers. Even FMCG companies, the industry with the largest media spend, started realizing this.
Adjetter media network's vision is to transform the media business by bringing more transparency to the marketer. We intend to provide tools and analytics to the marketer that help in better decision making. More brands today want smart ads. Eg:”
If a luxury car maker advertises on the front page of a leading English newspaper, chances are that only 1% of the readers actually fall into the target audience bracket. Out of that small segment, the number of people that would actually be interested in knowing more or test driving the car would be far lesser. Now, Adjetter helps the luxury car maker by advertising their new car on the business class of an airline. The campaign is interactive where the customer could request a test drive by just sending a SMS to a published number. Over 3 lakh people in India fly business class every month. This is a highly targeted segment with disposable incomes. Through this campaign, the luxury car maker was able to generate more sales than what it managed through a large print campaign.
What matters is the end result. Campaigns should result in sales numbers. That's the need of the day.
Sports advertising, is it effective?
The 2011 superbowl ads were sold for a cool $3 million per 30 sec slot. This by far is the most expensive advertising slot in advertising history. Groupon launched it's first ever TV ad on the weekend by spoofing celebs who appear in “save the planet” commercials. Similarly, Motorola launched it's ipad rival, Xoom tablet during the superbowl. Historically, The superbowl ad slots have always been used by advertisers to launch their game changing products or to make a statement that they have arrived ( classic example is the 3 year old groupon). Similarly, the FIFA 2010 was another classic example of unforeseen ad spends. Comparing it with our Indian counterparts, the IPL would have to be the most expensive advertising slot at a cool $4000 per 20 seconds. While this might definitely sound paltry comparatively, It still is a huge cost since the comparative bottom lines in India are lower.
When a brand like coke, with a presence in 100+ countries, advertises at global sporting events, it does make sense. Hence, they tend to gobble up the lead sponsor slot. Ambush marketing ( marketing with an event without officially associating with the event commercially) is gaining a lot of momentum. The classic example would be of the South African low cost carrier, Kulula. The carrier's ad described the firm as the "Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What". Again, while this led to some legal troubles, the mileage they extracted out of the event was phenomenal.
As cost pressures add up and with increasing consolidation in the media space, brands are gonna continue looking for alternate advertising models. Brands like coke, IBM, Pepsi, Microsoft, Shell, Unilever, P&G and similar might still continue to make a statement through global sporting events. However, their more cost effective cousins will continue to explore alternate mediums. A recent tie up of GAP with online discount coupon retailer, Groupon, gave them a huge amount of incremental in store sales. Similarly, when Groupon's competitor livingsocial published a $20 amazon.com for $10, amazon saw a huge spike in their sales. These forms of marketing seem to be getting more and more acceptable since they translate into direct sales. This is measurable and the spike in sales does not cannibalize the existing bottomlines.
Adjetter is India's premium media network that helps brands focus their energies on the right target audiences. Through their offline and online advertiser/publisher network, they are able to generate customized highly targeted campaigns for advertisers.