Best Marketing Practice : Customer Ombudsman

Best Marketing Practice #2

HUL has introduced a unique practice in India by launching a Customer Ombudsman. In July the company appointed a retired Justice Mr M S Rane as the customer ombudsman. It is for the first time that an Indian FMCG company has appointed an ombudsman for customer grievances.

Ombudsman are usually officials who are charged with the responsibility of representing the public by investigating and addressing grievances and complaints of the public. ( Wikipedia).

The current move was a part of the Lever Care initiative of the company which was started in 2007. Through Lever Care , the company wanted to provide a single point of contact for addressing consumer complaints and feedback .

The Lever Care works through a system of call centers and designated officials who will handle the complaint management process. The customers are encouraged to contact the Lever Care numbers/email etc in case of a grievance.

According to the company, the complaint pack will be replaced by the company with a new one . Then the complaint will be processed for further action.

According to the press release, those complaints which could not be resolved through Lever Care will be routed to the Ombudsman who in turn will investigate the complaint .The decision of the mediator will be binding on the company and not on the consumer.

I was intrigued by this news. Why should an FMCG company put so much pain in the complaint management process. I was under the impression that FMCG companies will not be facing much complaints compared to consumer durable companies and service firms.

According to a report in Livemint , HUL has around 200 cases in various courts against it ( I was surprised ). Court cases can take away lot of time energy and money from the company. HUL hopes that such an alternative will help both the customers and the company to handle complaints and grievances quickly.
I think its a good proactive move by the company to make things easier for the consumer to address his grievances. I think its a best practice because its usually a nightmarish experience for a customer to get his problem addressed. Ombudsman helps genuine customers to get a speedy unbiased redressal.

Secondly HUL really doesn't need such a mechanism when compared to other businesses.Most of the products are of high quality, less priced and the service element in its products are negligible. Still the fact that the company has invested its time and energy in reaching out to the customers is quite laudable.

Brand Update : Timex

After around two years of media silence, Timex has launched a new campaign for their latest collection of watches. The collection is branded as Conversation Starters.

Watch the campaign here : Timex

The new campaign is a repositioning exercise for the brand which was earlier positioned as a rugged watch for the outdoors.
The new campaign is trying to make the brand appeal for the hip-hop fashion conscious young generation. The brand is also not using the slogan " What Next " which it used for the last two years.

The brand is aiming the SEC A youth aged between 20 & 25. Earlier ads were targeting more mature guys like the young professionals who loves the outdoors. The new range of watches aims the younger generation who love socializing.
It makes sense for Timex to target these segments because there is no brands aiming this age group. Fastrack is aiming the college segment while Titan is for mature ones. Hence Timex through this collection is aiming to target the highly lucrative youth segment.

Related Brand
Timex

Hanung Toys : Bringing Smile to the World

Corporate Brand : Hanung Toys & Textiles
Agency : Oxygen

Brand Analysis Count : 345

Hanung is a less celebrated brand in India. This company is India's largest soft toy manufacturer and a preferred supplier to some of the well known global retailers like IKEA.

Hanung Toys & Textiles came into existence in 1991. Conceived by Mr Ashok Kumar Bansal, Hanung became a leader in the soft toy market in India within a span of ten years. The company started with a modest order of Rs 6 lakh from IKEA. From there on, Hanung was on the growth path becoming the largest exporter of soft toys and then later diversifying into soft furnishing products during the early 2005.

The company has collaboration with a South Korean company.It adopted the Korean name. Hanung which means - Stem of Tree. The logic is simple, to get the international look., you need an international name Even in India Hanung is perceived to be an International brand rather than an Indian one.

Hanung now manufacturers about 11,000,000 pieces of soft toys and about 1,250,000 furnishing sets per year. The company supplies to retailers across Europe, US , Latin America and Middle East. The highlight of the company history is the Rs 600 crore order it received from IKEA in 2007 which catapulted Hanung to the big league . Till 2007, Hanung was a licensee for Walt Disney in India.


But how many of us know about this company. Although Hanung is an exporter, the company has strong domestic presence too. Infact its the market leader in the soft toy category in India .
Indian toy market is estimated to be around Rs 2500 crore and the organised soft toy market is around Rs 200 crore. The market is in utter mess because of cheap Chinese toys.

With regard to the Hanung brand in India, the company have two domestic brands . Hanung has launched a chain of toy store under the brand Play-n-Pets which is a more upmarket brand. It also have another brand Muskan which is a more affordable range of toys.

What I feel about Hanung is that it is not utilizing its potential in Indian market . I have bought a couple of Hanung Toys ( thinking its a foreign brand ) and is absolutely satisfied with the products. The product has quality and affordable price.

The brands from Hanung gets a good retailer support but on the promotional front, Hanung is almost silent in the media. It could have made these products a rage in the Indian market. But I think they are more focusing on the export market which is more lucrative.

Both the domestic brands Muskan and Play-n-Pets are nice brand names and can catch the fancy of Indian consumers. As a parent, I am now concerned about the quality of toys which my child plays with. I think Indian consumers are slowly waking up to the quality issues in Toys.
Now I check the toys and the manufacturer before buying it and Chinese toys are now out of my shopping list. So there is a growing market for quality brands like Hanung.

Competition is also in the offing. Reports say that Reliance Retail is planning a category killer in the toy retail space. Hanung will only benefit out of these since they can supply to these retail giants .

As a consumer I accidentally discovered this brand and now become a loyal customer .There will be many customers who need such a brand but unaware of its existence.Its a marketing mistake to under utilize the potential of such a wonderful brand.

Related brand
Funskool

Brand Update : Sugar Free Gold

Sugar Free Gold now running an aggressive marketing campaign. It has roped in two celebrities . Now Sugarfree is endorsed by the Tamil actress Simran in the South and Bipasha Basu in the North.

Watch the TVC here : Sugarfree

The new campaign is interesting because of two factors.

As discussed in my earlier post, Sugarfree has been positioned as an healthy alternative for Sugar. Now the new campaign takes a slight variation in the positioning from health to fitness. While both health and fitness are in the same level , fitness platform is more appealing to a broader set of younger consumers than health.
Health is defensive while fitness is proactive.

Another interesting factor is that the new campaign tends to associate the unique shape of the Sugarfree with body shape. I think its a smart move by the agency to link the shape of the bottle and a perfect body shape.

But there is something for the brand to worry about.
Recently I was talking to a doctor friend of mine and the subject of this brand came into the conversation. He mentioned that these products contain Aspartame which is bad for the health.

Sugarfree has different variants which have different ingredients. Sugar Free Gold have aspartame while Sugar Free Natura have sucralose which is a healthy substitute to sugar than aspartame.

I think that its the price that is not making this product category to expand. Although I am health conscious and a tea lover, I have a perception that Sugar Free will burn a big hole in my pocket. So unless the prices of these products come down, this product will not be accessible to a large mass of potential customers.

Best Marketing Practice #1 : Creative Lab

Creativeland Asia which is the new generation advertising agency founded by Mr Sajan Raj Kurup is launching a Creative Lab in Kochi. The excerpts of press release is given below

"

While Creativeland has been strengthening its forays into the international/ Asian market with strategic tie-ups with local Asian agencies across markets, it has also been consolidating its presence in India.

Just one year into the business, and Creativeland Asia is all set to open its second and third offices. While the office at Kochi will open its gates in the last week of September, news is still awaited on the other office which is also slated to open in the South. The Kochi office will also host the CLA Lab, India’s first creative laboratory for communication, brand and marketing ideas.

CLA Lab will be a laboratory, a planning space and an ideas library. Exclusively for advertising & marketing minds of Creativeland, its clients and all its Asian partner agencies. CLA Lab will be used as a hub to workshop ideas, test market new ideas and test launch new advertising and marketing concepts and strategies. In addition to the physical space to huddle and brainstorm,

CLA Lab will provide the complete back-end support required for such activities.
Speaking on the developments, Sajan Raj Kurup, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia, says, “Creativeland has been looking for the right time, the right way and the right people to expand its business."
"

I think its a best practice because its for the first time where an advertising agency is trying to see creativity in advertising and brand promotion as equivalent of Research and Development (in product development ).

And such a focus on creativity will be a nice playground for the amazing creative talent we have in our country. Right now creative talents are having difficulty in finding the right kind of platform in our country. The recent Cannes is a proof that India has that creative talent to make itself into a leading hub for creative outsourcing for global marketing giants.

Another factor which prompted me to write a post on CLA's new venture is that they are opening this Lab in Kochi ( my place of work ). Kerala is known for its militant unionism and is often not a preferred destination for manufacturing companies.

But the state is known for its consumers. Its a hard core consumer state and a preferred test market for most of the consumer goods . I believe that if a product succeed in Kerala, it has the potential to make it big in India. Hence Kerala offers huge potential for consumer research especially on the youth segment. Its a homogenous market with a high degree of literacy. The media penetration is also comparatively high. Hence a ideal location for any knowledge based venture. ( I know I am biased ).

One thing that used to surprise me is the fact that none of the major advertising agencies have an office in this vibrant market. To my knowledge no top advertising agencies have an office in Kerala except for Mudra & TBWA. The reason is that none of the major clients have their base ( HO )in Kerala.

Having said that , yesterday I visited a textile shop - Jayalakshmi Silks in Kochi and was absolutely stunned by the massive crowd shopping there. This is Onam season and a season where the Malayalees loose their purse strings. According to Malayala Manorama newspaper, Malayalees spent around Rs 5000 crore in this season alone.

The Kerala consumers spend around Rs 45000 crore in an year. This spending is fuelled by around Rs 18000 crore send by Non-Resident Keralites into the state. Hence Kochi makes a fertile ground for exploring consumer behavior through research .

The only issue for any such initiative is to attract and retain talent. Retaining talent in Kochi can be a tricky issue since Kochi does not have the vibrancy of Mumbai or Bangalore.

Brand Update : Horlicks

Horlicks has caved into the temptation for celebrity endorsement. The brand has roped in the young celebrity Darsheel ( Tare Zameen par fame) as the brand ambassador. The brand already has run two commercials featuring the new brand ambassador.

The brand also had made some changes in the communication message in this new campaign. The brand for now has moved away from the famous " Taller Sharper Message ". The new slogan is " Badlo apni bachpan ka Size " .Iam sorry that I cannot translate that to English without losing the intended meaning.

The new ad is truly Hip Hop stuff with a funky rap thrown in as background music. The ad shows Darsheel with his friends questioning old practices and exhorting to change what they don't like. A sort of non-conformist attitude is projected throughout this ad.

According to a report in afaqs, the company says that the new generation is now questioning the age old practices and Horlicks wanted to relate to the new generation.

It makes sense. But my doubt is whether the target audiences will understand the new message ? One thing for sure is that Darsheel and the ad has a sticky factor which will attract young consumers to the brand. So another bulls eye for Horlicks.
Its also a nice extension of the Taller- sharper-stronger positioning adopted by the brand in the past commercials.
I think that Horlicks has not discarded the earlier positioning but used the current ad to create some freshness to the brand communication.

While Afaqs reports that the positioning has changed, I don't think that Horlicks is stupid enough to discard a highly potential platform of " Taller Sharper and Stronger ".