Amway’s advertising blitz

What’s with Amway? I thought they never advertise? How come this current blitz?

- Keshav P. Bhalla, Ahmedabad

Keshav, Amway is a classic direct-selling model that works for and in India. Amway is possibly the most silent direct-selling success India has witnessed in decades. And yes, all of a sudden we do see a blitz of advertising.

If you peek keenly, you will see two kinds of advertising. One is product-centric, and the other is channel-centric. The product-centric piece of advertising is really very B2C and the channel-centric advertising (even full-page efforts) are totally B2B-oriented.

In the year gone by, Amway has taken a lot of flak. Its India Chairman and CEO and other top executives were even hauled off to jail. The company, the brand and indeed the entire channel of direct selling have gone through some degree of turmoil in the previous year. This current advertising blitz is, therefore, totally aimed at correcting perceptions that may have been created about the industry at large, and Amway in particular, over the decades. In many ways, Amway is coming into its own.

At a larger level, the direct selling industry has several negative perceptions associated with it, thanks to a whole host of people who have played all kinds of games in this space in the past. It is, therefore, important for the bigger and the more responsible companies in this space to stand up and clarify and purify the air at large.

I do believe this industry is capable of generating lots of jobs. India’s biggest problem is the fact that we live and thrive in a situation of jobless growth. This can be corrected by the industry of direct selling. Direct selling holds the ability to create millions of entrepreneurs who will write their own pay cheques as they create micro-entrepreneurships for themselves.

I also believe that the direct selling industry, headed by Amway, must not only depend on advertising to change the mindsets of Indians about this industry but should walk the talk. Companies in this space must take up a set of states in India as examples and must demonstrate to the State Governments involved that they can create jobs and prosperity. Amway, for instance, must take the lead in putting a separate business plan for a set of pilot states so chosen, and must, over a three–year format, demonstrate results. These results will help the industry gain sanctity, which it has somehow lost in the recent past.

The water purifier players seem to be advertising a lot. The battle-lines seem to be drawn between Eureka Forbes and Kent.

- Shilpa Gunavanthe, New Delhi

Shilpa, the water wars have just about begun. Kent has been an aggressor brand in the water purifier market. The market itself has evolved over the years from the simple to the complex. What Eureka Forbes started as an evangelical effort in the urban markets of India, is now, after all these decades, a science. A reasonably evolved science, even. The market is currently in the reverse osmosis phase. Expect more advanced methods to come.

Superiority and its claim is a marketing company's life-script. Both brands will claim superiority one over the other. This is something that will continue, as the stakes in the game are large volumes and an almost universal acceptability in the marketplace is a given. As water becomes more and more impure, and as water shortages stare at us, devices such as water purifiers will attain greater and greater significance, relevance and ubiquity.

One-upmanship will be the name of the game. Kent and Eureka Forbes will lead this at the top end of the market, just as the Unilever effort hopes to open up the real gut of the market at the middle rung.

There are two high grounds to occupy in any brand fight. One is that of the advertising imagery and the thought the brand evokes among potential consumers. The other is the high ground it occupies in terms of distribution and service. Both are equally important. I do believe both these brands can occupy one high ground each. Neither have both. While Eureka Forbes is a front-runner in sales, distribution and service, Kent is the forerunner in the realm of advertising blitz, panache and imagery. Polishing the other end might be a task for each to address.

Let’s remember, water is the big killer issue of the near future ahead of us. Those who dominate its purification process will be top-of-mind brands that will be in every kitchen and dining room, for sure.

Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. askharishbijoor@gmail.com

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