Gearing up for the ‘Demand Revolution'

The ‘Demand Revolution', accountability and profitability were in focus at the opening session of CII's two-day marketing summit in Mumbai on Thursday.

The 11th edition of the Summit was on the theme ‘Elephants Can Dance - New Ways to Market to a New India'.

Emphasising the need for marketers to embrace change and stay ahead of change with bold, experimentative and innovative strategies was Mr Sam Balsara, Chairman of the Summit and CMD, Madison World.

“At no point have marketers faced as many challenges as they do today,” observed Mr Balsara.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr Rick Kash, CEO, The Cambridge Group, and author of How Companies Win , outlined why India, despite its current and projected growth, will still have to be ready for challenges.

He said, “With long-term oversupply and contracting demand in the developed markets, India is as much in focus around the world as China. We believe that India will grow at over 8 per cent over the next four to five years, but there will be challenges even here because today it's one small, flat world we live in.”

Demand

He urged marketers and companies to pay attention to demand like never before, and said, “Hold the marketing organisation to the same metrics on understanding the current, latent and emerging demand, as you do the supply side. Companies once used to create the supply, and then turned to marketing and sales. Successful companies today first understand different demands and get differentiated supply to cater to this demand. I urge you to change the sequence, not the engineering.” Mr Kash noted that profitability was key, and to unlock that, understanding the demand stemming from most profitable customers was critical. Mr Gulu Mirchandani, CMD, Mirc Electronics Ltd, underlined the need for marketers to become accountable with marketing expenses. Profitability - not market share - should be in focus, according to him.

He said, “Marketing must know where the demand is, and where the profitable demand is. Marketing has to get involved in R&D and product development, to help understand the nature of demand and create products to cater to that demand. The product is king, if you ask me. If all products were not differentiated, what would the advertising say?”

He took the example of P&G in the US market, and its use of analytics and multi-mix modelling to understand RoI on marketing spends.

There was unanimous consensus on the fact that integrated marketing would be the way marketers address the future.

Mr Trevor Beattie, Founding Partner, BMB, underlined the need for integrity on the part of marketers more than integration for the sake of it. He spoke of emotional integration between all the communication stemming from the brand, rather than similar-looking brand communication that didn't really belong ‘to the same family.'

Ms Kainaz Gazder, Marketing Director, P&G India, noted that with recognition of the forces acting on the market, it was obvious that marketers needed to go beyond the TV commercial and conventional advertising. The digital revolution, need for customers to participate, willingness to share brand messages, and eroding trust in marketing were in focus as she explained integrated communication with examples of Olay and Gillette (Shave India Movement).

Latent demand

Mr Chander Sethi, Managing Director, Reckitt Benckiser India, impressed on marketers the need to understand not just current consumer demands correctly, but also latent demand.

“Marketers must be able to interact and introduce innovation, and then influence consumers positively.”

In segments such as luxury automobiles, it is imperative to create consumer experiences, explained Mr Michael Perschke, Head - Audi India. He noted, “From a marketing point of view, mass media tools serve to create share of voice and awareness. But the decision-making doesn't happen by advertising.”

Several product categories are shifting their anchor media investment from traditional media, noted Mr Shripad Nadkarni, Founder Director, Market Gate Consulting.

He substantiated with examples of Jet Airways, Axis Bank and IPL, which he recognised as brands built without high-decibel advertising.

He urged marketers to look beyond the category norms and blamed ‘too many MBAs' for resistance to change from set marketing templates.

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