Finolex Industries Ltd, one of India’s largest rigid PVC–U pipes, fittings and PVC resin manufacturer considers experiential to be the nucleus of all its marketing strategies. Be it through a wide range of industry association events or rural demonstration programs, organizing on ground competitions for its target audiences to creating curated experiences at Nasik Kumbh mela, the brand has done it all.
In a candid conversation with Everything Experiential,
Nitin Kulkarni, Vice President, Sales & Marketing Finolex Industries, shares why experiential initiatives are more beneficial for his brand rather than ATL marketing campaigns.
“The products that we sell are used by a specific group of people. Our target audience is usually skilled plumbers who refer our brand to the customers when they work in their homes and builders who are responsible for the construction of a house. We have tried ATL as well but where ATL lacks today is its limitation of not catering to specific set of audiences. When addressing a lot of people while targeting a small group, there is high probability that you communication will get lost in the clutter and thus for us BTL is the best influencer”- says Kulkarni.
The brand which has so far restricted its marketing campaigns in mainly the semi-urban and rural audiences, has with its latest consumer connect initiative
Finolex Plumber- Ek number made a shift towards the urban market as well. Under this campaign the brand distributed around 2 lakh FIL branded cups to various tea vendors in areas like Loha Chawk, Sion Koliwada, Ghatkopar West etc (areas which are predominant hardware market base in Mumbai) over a period of 3 weeks.
The core idea behind the activity was to create a community of plumbers in the Mumbai region and drive a loyalty program around this concept. Finolex also highlighted the loyalty program on the tea cups which were given to the tea vendors in these aforementioned regions.
On the basis of this activity, FIL was able to reach out to over a lakh people. Database of 1050 registered and verified plumbers was sourced through this activation. Additionally out of the registered plumbers 40% have been provided with mobile recharges, 20 of them would be provided with multimedia android phones and 1 lucky winner will be awarded a motorcycle.
As a result of this campaign in the period of one month FIL accumulated approximately 850 plumbers and increased share of voice in the Mumbai market in terms of both primary and secondary Sales.
The brand has recently also executed an on-ground initiative at the Nasik Kumbh Mela where it distributed branded bags to the attendees as the mela has a strict no plastic bag mandate. Through this campaign, Finolex was able to generate maximum brand recall value for itself amongst a diverse set of target audiences .
Talking about the importance of such on-ground campaigns for the brand Kulkarni says-“Experiential is very important for us as a result 60-65% of our overall budget is used for it. We do hire event agencies from time to time for executing such campaigns but there is no agency in particular who is a regular for us.”
