1 As per industry reports, the shelf life of ATL campaigns have decreased from 6-8 months, coming down to 2 months. This makes it important for the marketer to create more engaging marketing strategies, which create a greater recall. 2. BTL activities ensure greater interface with the consumers and instant feedback. This gives rise to immediate ROI and on-the-spot sales, or immense recall value. 3. BTL is becoming a strong focus area for retailers. Catchment initiatives are seen as an integral part across retail segments, especially since the growth of modern and multi-brand retail. In order to combat declining walk-ins, store managements are resorting to deeper brainstorming sessions to evolve creative catchment engagement initiatives. This is sought to be linked to store managers’ KRAs. The organised sector of the Indian events and activation industry is estimated at around Rs 2,800 crore in 2011-12. 4. The segmentation between organised and unorganised players stands at a 40:60 ratio. 5. The BTL industry has grown at over 20 per cent during the last two years and is expected to grow to Rs 4,375 crore by 2013-14. 6. Spends dedicated to below-the-line activations are poised to increase by 20 per cent more in 2013-14. 7. The relationship between events and technology is emerging. Brands are deploying social media technology as well as unique tech-engagement on-site to create an integrated campaign. 8. Food brands, and other FMCG products, which fall under the impulse purchase category are dedicating more than 60 per cent of their marketing spend to BTL activations. 9. The electronics industry is investing majorly in in-store activations. The budgets of major electronics brands have upped 20 – 30 per cent between 2012-13. Since, the final brand choice for a customer depends upon how a specific model is demonstrated and explained to him at the point of sale, this BTL activity acquires most importance as a high percentage of electronics is sold via the multi brand channel. 10. The auto industry in India is very forthcoming and experimentative when it comes to BTL activations. This industry spends heavily on activation formats like road shows.
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Social media can undoubtedly play a massive role in creating buzz around an event. It is increasingly being perceived as a vital medium when it comes to drawing attendance to an event, engaging the attendees during it and also to populate the content generated at it. However, simply providing attendees with a few social platforms may not be enough. The term ‘experiential marketing’ calls for an enriching and personalized experience. Therefore, to establish strong connections with the audience it is imperative to encourage deeper engagement. Here are 7 tips to ensure you are sharp as a tack when hosting your next event: Target a Relevant Audience “When targeting a specific audience, social media helps a great deal in allowing psychographic filtering”, says Pratik Gupta of Foxymoron. He adds, For example, when a company like Maybelline is segmenting its audience it knows it shares its consumers with Forever 21, Revlon etc. Through the use of social media it becomes easier to subset audiences”. Social media can also be integrated with registration to share the names of people attending and in turn lead to the involvement of many more. #Hashtags Always present the audience with a hashtag to get an early start to creating buzz. For example- to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their G-Shock range, Casio released a specific hashtag weeks in advance before a celebratory event. Attendees and non-attendees were encouraged to use the hashtag to upload photos of their Casio watches on Instagram. 3000 photos were generated which were displayed on a live-feed throughout the venue. Similarly Twitter profiles can be created for the speakers (if any) so the audience can get early access to them. Keeping the hashtag central will ensure content is not lost and audience remains engaged. Interesting Content People like to read, share and comment on interesting things. Make that available to your audience. Foxymoron executed a viral campaign integrating social media and on ground activity for launch of Maybelline’s SuperStay lipstick using a hashtag on Twitter- #DoesntLastLongEnough. Maybelline fans were encouraged to share their thoughts on what they wished ‘lasts as long as she does.’ The result was a high amount of cheeky content created by women across the country. ‘I have to do it again and again because #DoesntLastLongEnough’ and ‘I do at work because #DoesntLastLongEnough’ were some of the tweets. The topic trended #1 for 14+ hours in India and was discussed by Maybelline’s 1.7 million Facebook and 1500+ Twitter followers. Build a Community In the digital age, people are no longer willing to wait around. Ensure all questions and comments are responded to very swiftly. Act in charge before the onset of the event and remain in charge till the event is executed. Offer prizes to the most interactive and engaged attendees. Offer something extra for engaging on social media. It could be anything from a free book at a book launch, to a copy of an industry report, to free registration for a subsequent event etc. Social Media for a Social Cause There is a feel good factor in doing the right thing or contributing to a social cause. Tap that emotion through social media where applicable. Pratik Gupta, Foxymoron, states, “For Garnier Men’s ‘Powerlight A Village’ campaign last year, the audience on Facebook was encouraged to actively like, share and comment. Each activity contributed as a predetermined unit of energy which was eventually translated into actual ‘energy donation’ to bring electricity into remote villages of India”. The scale of the social cause may of course vary from event to event but there’s always a chance that the media might pick it up. Promotional/Recap Videos Teaser videos are a great way to capture the interest of a possible audience. Snippets of what the event has to offer, views of the speakers, subjects of discussions etc can be released before the event to entice the audience. Once the event concludes, highlights can be merged into a video and made available to a global audience through Youtube. Tireless Engagement Keep the community engaged for as long as you can. Share blog posts and write presentations that can be viewed on your own platform/website. Besides tying social network outposts together, a solid homebase can lead to even stronger engagement on the home site.
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So here’s a situation that almost every marketer and event organizer has faced a couple of times in his life. There’s a marketer, who is approached by A, B and C event management companies that pitch their respective ideas. The marketer likes the idea pitched by C, but gives the contract to A. When the event is carried out, C finds out that the idea used was theirs but the contract was instead given to the cheaper alternative – A. Is it fair? Who is to blame? Can C do anything except feel bad about it? In an attempt to provide the solution, EE gets industry experts to answer. “The practice is highly unethical and I, being a marketer, definitely make it a point not to do it,” says Sudeep Narayan, Marketing and PR Director, Volvo. “You will not find even one example in all my working life where I have been a part of such practice. But that’s about me; however, there are marketers who have been criticized for taking someone else’s idea and giving it to the cheaper alternative. But are marketers really to blame? This responsibility rests on event organizers that approach companies with their sales pitch. The problem is when there is any event company that approaches the client, there is no signed document that states this is the idea that was presented, so no one can prove that the idea was originated from xyz company. They should be very clear. They should have a signed doc with the client, not to use this idea without their knowledge. If they use the idea then they need to give a consultancy fee for the idea,” advises Sudeep. “Very point blank openly, the event companies just please clients. Now most of them don’t have their own fabrication in it. Let’s take the example of an international standard car display. I could be charged 4 lac or even 8 lac. It’s very simple. You look at the example of how a farmer sells a potato. He may be selling it for 5 directly from his farm, but you buy it for 20kg a kilo. Who is an experiential company? Someone who sees through the idea. They generate, execute and run the show. However, most event companies are self proclaimed. Most of them don’t have fabrication. They are just consultants – Not event companies. That cartel in India is very weak,” divulges Sudeep. “If you give honest cost with a brilliant idea, the client will not go anywhere. The assumption is that the client doesn’t know anything. There could be no real cost for the idea, agreed. But if the cost is for fabrication – ask them for the balance sheet,” says Sudeep. That was a marketer point of view. But what does an event organizer have to say when he sees his idea being brought to life by a competitor? “The key to this kind of situation is the client-agency relationship. With most of our clients we have such a strong relationship that such incidents do not happen. Nevertheless, with certain new business pitches, we have had a few experiences with clients where our ideas and concepts have been used by clients with other agencies. Legally, there is very little one can do. Often the companies that do this are very large brands who may have unscrupulous marketing decision makers,” divulges Atul Nath, MD, Candid Marketing. To take a neutral stand, EE got Harish Bijoor, Brand Expert, to give his thoughts on the same. “I’m very against the system of pitches. The first way to sort it out is to say that there are no free lunches and no free speculative pitches. I do believe that event marketing organizations must all gather around the common banner and refuse to make pitches. There are central bodies that look after this. These bodies must set norms and say that you must not make speculative pitches. If you are invited to make a pitch you must charge a fee for the pitch. The fee could be waived if the event organizer is chosen for the job. If not, then a portion of the expenditure is anyway covered by the fee. It is a wrong practice to do free pitches,” says Harish. But why would a client be willing to pay for every pitch that he may not find worth it? “When a client does a short list, he does a closed short list of the best of the lot. He should be willing to put his money where his mouth is. It shows that the marketer is respecting the vendor. Practices must change completely. And as far as ideas are concerned, they are not necessarily genuine. Nobody can prove it. I have actually been in such a situation earlier where the same idea was pitched by two different event management agencies. The order goes to one, and the other obviously blames the marketer for stealing. You can’t always blame the marketer. There is a fair bit of jealousy also in the system,” divulges Harish.
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In 2011, Amul sponsored the Dutch cricket team in the ICC Cricket World Cup and Switzerland-headquartered Sauber F1 team at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. In 2012, Asia’s largest milk brand sponsored the Indian contingent at the London 2012 Olympic Games and invested INR 10 million. What do all these events have in common? EE in conversation with Mr. Pavan Kumar, Asst. General Manager, Marketing, Amul to find out what it takes to get an Amul sponsorship. Read on to find out. 1. Reinforcing Amul as the Taste of India “We wanted to reinforce the positioning of Amul as the original taste of India. In this regard, we went ahead and sponsored the Indian team at the Olympics, supporting our nation and reinforcing our brand value in its entirety as an Indian brand supporting its country at the Olympics. We wanted the best to support our athletes and coincidentally 2012 was the year India won the maximum medals,” says Mr. Pavan Kumar. 2. Platform to connect with the youth “Amul would definitely associate itself with an event where it gets a platform to connect with the youth. That’s the reason why we sponsored the Indian contingent at the Olympics too, so that we could connect with the youth who are obviously into sports and encourage them at the same time to become active and take up sports. Youth constitutes a very important part of our target group and we are always looking for ways to connect with them and deliver the right message,” says Mr. Pavan Kumar. 3. Re-establish milk as the ‘world’s original energy drink’ “As the official sponsor of the Indian team at the London Olympics, Amul’s commitment to health is best defined by its signature product, milk. Through this initiative we wanted to re-enforce milk as the world’s natural energy drink. This was our campaign and we wanted our customers to believe that if they wanted to be fit and healthy, they should make milk a part of their daily diet by relating to the athletes at the Olympics that incorporated milk in their daily intake. It is the world’s natural drink and what better way to put that across than to associate with an energy-packed event,” divulges Mr. Pavan Kumar. So everyone out there who wants Amul to shell out the moolah and associate themselves with their event needs to fulfill the top three requirements. Time to re-work the pitch and pay attention to the above details if you really want to milk the
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Airlines are geared to break conventional methods of advertising as they step outside the airport with some truly innovative ideas. Here are instances of some well-known airlines around the globe that ‘gave flight’ to consumer imagination with their unique advertising. Cebu Pacific Cebu Pacific, the largest low cost carrier of Phillipines used the wet weather to ensure flyers book for a sunnier Phillipines as Hong Kong has less than 100 hours of sunshine in summer monsoon season. The smart campaign used water repellant spray to draw ads on the ground in high traffic areas in the city to make them invisible until wet weather arrives and water droplets roll off the sprayed surface to reveal the tagline `It is sunny in the Phillipines.’ The ad was accompanied by a QR code which could allowed scanning of the ground through the commuters phones and receive a Cebu Pacific discount code. Air France’s FoodTruck Air France started off the ‘Gourmet Food Truck’ through Manhattan, New York and served complimentary food to all and sundry. Chefs from the Airline caterer `Flying Food Servair’ gave free food samples based on the recipe of Air France Michelin starred chef Joël Robuchon. To name a few items on the menu were Pain au chocolat for breakfast besides cucumber and smoked salmon brochette for lunch, French Shepherd’s Pie with duck confit for dinner and assorted French macarons and petits fours for dessert. The truck was parked at different locations and its trail could be followed through Twitter and Facebook. An estimated 600 samples of breakfast, lunch and dinner were served everyday throughout the promotion. Virgin Atlantic takes over a New York park bench Virgin Atlantic gave New Yorkers a flying experience on ground. Passerby could sit on a first class bench in Manhattan and an air stewardess would offer them lunch accompanied by champagne and a choice of movies in the form of a live performance. Austrian Airlines’ Café-to-go Austrian Airlines offered free coffee to passersby in the streets of New York for ten days with its `Café-to-Go’ truck and its route was announced on twitter. Vienna is noted for its traditional coffee houses and the airlines also features a ‘Viennese coffee house’ service onboard its flights. Austrian Airlines’ Café-to-go Austrian Airlines offered free coffee to passersby in the streets of New York for ten days with its `Café-to-Go’ truck and its route was announced on twitter. Vienna is noted for its traditional coffee houses and the airlines also features a ‘Viennese coffee house’ service onboard its flights. Qatar Airways promotes Britain VisitBritain and Qatar Airways tried out an experiential marketing campaign to inspire travelers to go to UK from Saudi Arabia last year. With a total expenditure of 729 million pounds till 2020, Saudi Arabia has the highest projected value percentage growth of 181 percent amidst the 20 emerging and major markets in ‘VisitBritain’ tourism strategy. It was scheduled from November 20 to December 14 and reached out to 45,000 people in shopping malls across Saudi Arabia. Consumers at the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah, Mall of Dahran in Dammam and Riyadh Gallery in Riyadh experienced the sights and sounds of Britain and got a sample of travelling in Business Class in Qatar Airways onboard Boeing 777. A black cab from London welcomed visitors to take a virtual guided tour of the streets of London. Other major attractions in Britain were brought to life through 3D models, TV screens and directional sound. Four Queens Guards were also omni-present for an experience of Britishness and photo opportunities. British Airways’ innovative advertising British Airways in coordination with Ogilvy’s digital created 12-floor custom fit digital billboards with surveillance technology to detect and activate the billboards as their airline passed overhead. Located at Piccadilly Circus and Chiswick in London, whenever the billboard detects a British Airways flight below the clouds, visible to passersby, a child runs across the board, pointing towards the sky chasing the airplane. The billboard then displays an update of the flight details such as BA flight 475 from Barcelona. It was the first of its kind not only for British Airways but also for UK advertising. The online video of the billboard had gone viral and got more than 750,000 views in less than ten days and created a record of sorts.
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The Jabong fashion week that commenced on July 25th concluded on July 30th at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. Jabong Online Fashion Week in partnership with Talenthouse India was initiated with the idea of providing a platform to aspiring artists and to enable them to showcase their talent. The event called in budding talents from the field of designing, modelling, photography, hairstyling and make up artistry. The event took a kick start with Mr. Praveen Sinha, Founder and Managing Director Jabong.com, Mr. Arun Mehra, CEO, Talenthouse India and Ms. Rashmi Virmani, Show Director, IOFW. The jury panel comprised of Designers: Poonam Bhagat, Dr. Darlie Koshy; Models: Carol Gracious, Samant Chauhan; Photographers: Akash Das, Hemant Khendilwal, Sushmendra Dubey and makeup/hair experts: Rod Anker and Samantha Kochhar. The participants were mentored by Bollywood’s girl-next-door Yami Gautam. Elaborating on this contest, Praveen Sinha, co-founder, Jabong, said, ” When we came up with the idea of Jabong Online Fashion Week, the only thought process was to bring upon a positive change in the online fashion industry, with an aim to polish the gigantic talent our country has. I am elated by the unprecedented response this initiative has received in its first season itself. With India Online Fashion Week, we aspire to represent the fashion industry and provide the fraternity an online platform to grow, thus benefiting all stakeholders.” The participants showcased their designs according to a set theme and timeline. Participants included Scilicet, DIR 69 by Tanu Bagai, Shreya Mistry, Bhootsavaar by Nitin Bal Chauhan, Armaan and Aimaan, Timsy and Siddhartha, Astha Bahl, Siddharth K Kakkar, Dressology by Amit Arora, ANS by Astha and Siddarth, Azalea by Aditi Gupta, Piquancy by Sarthak Gandhi, Swagger by SAJ (Sajid Dhar), ILK by Shikha and Vinita, Threesome by Kanika;Ankit and Mehak. The event witnessed Aditya Roy Kapoor walking the ramp for Nitin Bal Chauhan and Yami Gautam for Rajdeep Ranawat. The final winners across three categories were announced with Mr. Praveen Sinha awarding Ashish Gurbani as the Best Photographer and Arvind Sharma as the Hair Stylist, while Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Director Sales and Marketing Revlon awarded Vipin Arora for Makeup Artistry. The collection from ramp was available on www.jabong.com marking itself as the first shoppable fashion week in Indian history. The sponsors included NDTV Goodtimes: Media Partner, 92.7 Big FM: Radio Partner, Revlon: Official Makeup Partner, Phillips: Official Hairstyling Partner, Ziveg: Accessories Partner, Talenthouse: Talent Hunt Partner, Le Meridien: Hospitality Partner. Along with being the first of its kind and showcasing handpicked talent and involving consumers and giving them a firsthand experience it also gave an opportunity to achieve ‘zero’ time to market –‘launch, showcase & sell’ the latest collection through India Online Fashion Week (IOFW) platform. “It is a combination of talent and fashion. If we create a few, hundreds will get motivated to aspire their dreams. This will remove the blockage, the dogma of less scope and fashion prowess will be encouraged”, added Praveen Sinha with a smile.
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A study by the Great Place to Work Institute India has revealed the 100 best companies to work for in India for the year 2014. The Great Place to Work Institute was born in USA in the year 1997. It has since opened its doors to 45 countries across the world with the aim to recognize and build great workplaces. It started operations in India in 2003, in conjunction with a local consulting firm. Over 500 organizations registered for the 2011 study making it one of the largest studies in workplace culture in the world. In collaboration with Businessworld, Great Place to Work in India published lists of Best Workplaces in India in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. This year’s study is in collaboration with Economic Times. Around 600 organizations applied to be assessed for the 2014 study. As part of this assessment, companies were studied through two different lenses. Firstly, perceptions of the organizations’ employees were measured through surveys where over 1,70,000 employees were surveyed in all. Secondly, strength of people related management practices of the organizations was assessed using a people practice assessment framework developed by the Institute. So what’s making India a great place to work and what’s holding it back from being one? The research revealed some of the key strengths and areas of improvements for India Inc. Friendliness, non-discrimination on basis of sex & race, pride and trust in management’s competence were found to be some of the leading strengths of organizations in India. More than 80 percent of the respondents feel positive about these areas. On the other hand, perceptions about managers’ favouritism and politicking, equitable distribution of profits, lack of unique benefits, and absence of collaboration in decision making were found to be some of the leading areas for improvement for organizations in India. Only around 60 percent of the respondents feel positive about these areas. In midst of peculiarities of the country’s culture, demographics and economy, 100 organizations have stood out to emerge as the best companies to work for in India. Here’s a look at the Top 25- 1. Google India Pvt. Ltd. 2. Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. 3. Marriott Hotels India Pvt. Ltd. 4. American Express India 5. SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. 6. Adobe Systems India Pvt. Ltd. 7. Godrej Consumer Products Limited 8. Intuit Technology Services Private Limited 9. Ujjivan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. 10. Cactus Communications Pvt. Ltd. 11. NetApp India 12. Eureka Forbes Ltd. 13. Encore Capital Group (Midland Credit Management India Pvt. 14. Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. 15. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces 16. DHL Express India Pvt. Ltd. 17. Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte. Ltd. 18. Vodafone India Ltd. 19. Federal Express Corporation 20. Accor Hotels India 21. Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. 22. Titan Company Limited 23. Bajaj Finance Limited 24. Blue Dart Express Ltd. 25. Radio City 91.1 FM Source: Great Place to Work Institute
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In the age of stringent competition, marketers need to focus on the needs and demands of the customers and delight them by slightly exceeding their expectations. Experiences generally tend to become the basis of people’s lives and conversations. Marketers thus try to imbibe elements that make an experience commemorating and what can be better than integrating a component of surprise. A surprise can evoke several emotions at the same time. Surprise does not require heavy investment; all it needs is some great ideas! So here are a few activities that instilled an element of surprise in an event… CELEBRATION TIME! Westjet is known to have always delight its customers through various surprises. Similarly, Spanair took an initiative to surprise its passengers.190 passengers travelling from Barcelona to Las Palmas on the Spanair flight at the Christmas Eve were happily surprised by the unexpected gifts they received at the luggage carousel. The agenda behind any successful experiential campaign is to emotionally connect with the customers and provide an experience that stays with them for long. So, on the Christmas Eve, when people are normally celebrating over dinners and parties in Spain, Spanair made these passengers feel at home by distributing gifts to them. NEVER MISS A BREAKFAST… Kellogg’s, the leading cereal producing brand served breakfast in a transit mode in India. To carry this out, Kellogg’s associated with Meru Cabs to provide breakfast meals to passengers in the cabs. 100 Meru cabs in the four metro cities were branded with Kellogg’s “Anaaj ka Naashta” campaign. A breakfast kit was placed in all cars keeping in mind the early morning travelers. These cabs were surprise cabs for the passenger. If they happen to book a cab for pick-up between 5am – 9am, and if they are allotted a breakfast cab, then a message would be sent to the consumer telling them that they will be sent a breakfast cab. Thus, offering the right thing at the right time incorporated with a surprise element proved to be a great experiential campaign for the brand. LIPTON’S STRESS KILLER Lipton in its Chillout surprise campaign connected to people with the help of twitter. For all those who were stressed in their lives and were venting it out on twitter, Lipton designed a campaign for them. Lipton scanned stress-filled or complaining tweets from people in Mumbai and by finding their locations, it reached out to them. The Chill Out Crew went to all the scanned locations and handed a Chill Out hamper to those people. The motive of spreading smiles and happiness was efficiently brought out through this initiative. This surprise campaign brought smiles to several faces. FEEL CONNECTED… Finnair surprised its on- board passengers during a flight to Delhi by dancing on the tunes of Bollywood songs to celebrate India’s Republic Day. It was seen as a brilliant move to connect with the passengers and promote the brand at the same time. This surprise dance culturally engaged the passengers who were travelling on the 26th of January. It was a great experiential campaign that left the passengers in the flight awe struck. HEINEKEN’S CRAZY DESTINATION ROULETTE! Travelers at the New York’s Kennedy airport became a part of the crazy destination roulette wherein they could change their flight to a more exotic destination at the push of a button. Those taking part in the adventurous campaign had to agree to drop their existing travel plans without knowing the new destination and immediately board a flight to the new place. Heineken booked hotels for these travelers and provided cash to cover expenses. It promoted the message of ‘drop everything’ and ‘go anywhere’ through this initiative. Many travelers agreed to take up the challenge and give up on their planned trips to be a part of this experiential campaign. Heineken thus engaged with several travelers providing them an unforgettable and daring experience.
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