Marketing Strategy : How to Market The Intangible

Marketing the Intangible

Originally Published in Adclubbombay.com

Services contribute about 5o% of India’s GDP and have become an important growth engine for our economy. The growth in the service sector has opened up immense opportunities for new products and also newer markets. The huge service economy of India has attracted many players into the market. The market is now flooded with new players and new products.

Marketing of services is a challenging task primarily because services are largely intangible in nature. Because of this intangible nature, consumers find it difficult to visualize the service or evaluate the quality of service before purchase. For established services this problem is less because customers already have formed their opinions because of their past interactions. For a new service firm, getting the customers to try out the service is a very difficult task. This calls for a strong branding effort on the part of the service marketer to lure the customers into their offerings.

Creating a service brand is not the task of the marketer alone. The entire organization is responsible for crafting that brand experience. This is because of the fact that service cannot be separated from the service provider. When the brand promises a consumer of a definite experience, the entire organization should be working as a single unit to provide that expected experience. People who are a part of the organization form an important element of the consumer’s perception about the service brand. For example, the behaviour of the cabin crew in an airline service is a critical factor that defines the perception of the consumers regarding that brand. Hence managing a service brand is more of a strategic function rather than a mere functional task.

According to the branding guru Kevin Lane Keller, marketers should employ a full range of brand elements while crafting a brand strategy for service. The brand elements like Logo, Symbols, characters and slogans play an important part in the formation of brand image. These brand elements becomes important because services are intangible unlike physical products.

The first task for marketers is to make services more tangible so that consumers can visualize the service easier. This is done by adding tangible elements into the service. Hotels and resorts create tangibility by creating excellent infrastructural facilities which gives the consumer a fair idea about the service. For pure services the task of creating tangible elements becomes more complex. For insurance and financial services, the marketers have to build a strong brand image which acts as an equivalent of a tangible element.

For a consumer, evaluating a service before purchase is a difficult task. There is a strong element of risk which is perceived by the consumer before availing the service for the first time. Marketers’ task is to reduce the risk perception and encourage trust so that consumers try out the services. Many companies use branding as a tool to build trust and thus create a long lasting relationship with the customers.

Professor Leonard Berry in his article “Cultivating Service Brand Equity “in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science” talks about four ways to build service brand equity. According to him, the service brand should be (a) Different (b) Determine your own fame (c) Make an emotional connection and (d) Internalize the brand. Strong service brands create powerful differentiators to convince the customers that they are different from the rest of the crowd. Service brands should also be very clear about their core strengths which will inturn makes customers to come back to their service offering. The brand should then build emotional connection with the consumers. Another important requisite is that the employees of the service organization should internalize the brand values and then only they will be able to provide outstanding customer service.

While communicating the service brand’s message, firms should be able to project its credibility, expertise and trustworthiness to the customers. Brands use characters, logo,symbols,colors etc to reinforce its service promise. ICICI Bank successfully used celebrities to build its image as a trustworthy new generation bank. Global consultancy firm Accenture firm uses Tiger Woods to convey its core brand value of “Performance”. These brands have used brand elements like slogans to reinforce the brand promise. Brands like Bajaj Allianz use characters to convey its message. Bajaj Allianz uses the animated “Super Agent “character to convey the message of reliable customer service. These brand elements help the customers to visualize the services even in the pre-purchase stage thus reducing the perceived risk of service failure.

Marketing a service require a holistic approach where the entire organization is focused at fulfilling the brand promise. It becomes the responsibility of every employee in the service organization to take part in creating the experience promised by the brand.

Sure : No Sweat

Brand : Sure

Company : HUL

Brand Analysis Count : #456

HUL has launched a new brand in the Indian market - Sure . Sure is an antiperspirant brand from Unilever's global product portfolio. The brand is claiming to be the largest selling antiperspirant brand in the world. Sure is sold extensively in UK and Europe.

Sure is an interesting brand for a variety of reasons. The launch of Sure brand marks another era in the deodorant market in India. The deo market is divided into categories like Body Spray, Deo with germ fighting properties and Antiperspirants. The Rs 700 crore Indian deo market is dominated by the body spray categories. The launch of a global brand like Sure is going to develop the antiperspirant market in India.

For the promotion of Sure, HUL has roped in the actress Asin. The brand is currently running the launch campaign across South India featuring the celebrity.

Watch the launch ad here : Sure

Since the antiperspirant category is new to the Indian market, the brand has tried to educate the customer about the product category in the launch phase. The launch ad essentially talks about what the product is and the comparison between ordinary deo spray and antiperspirant.

Another interesting aspect of Sure brand launch is the question mark over the fate of Rexona. The fact is that Sure is Rexona !!!

While Sure is marketed across England and Europe, the same product is marketed as Rexona in other global markets including India. There are rumors that with the launch of Sure in India, HUL may kill Rexona deo brand in near future.

According to newspaper reports , Rexona which created the deo market in India is now a marginal player in the market with hardly 5% share. HUL virtually messed up the Rexona brand (soap) with lot of experiments like migrating to Hamam. Even in the deo category, Rexona was virtually neglected in terms of promotional spend.

Sure is marketed with the same tagline and brand elements as Rexona. Both Rexona and Sure carries the same logo - the Tick mark and the same tagline " It won't Let You Down". Sure is also using the slogan " No Sweat " in the launch campaign to reinforce the product benefit.

It is unlikely event where you see two different brands using the same logo and tagline. It does not make any marketing sense unless there is an underlying thought of migrating one brand to another. It can be assumed that Sure will launch its full range of deos and Rexona will be slowly taken off the shelves.

The deo market is witnessing intense competition these days with n number of launches happening. The trend these days seems that get a good fragrance, outsource production and do high profile marketing.

Even the antiperspirant market has seen new launches with Garnier launching its product in the category recently. By launching Sure , HUL is making sure that it does not leave any part of the category to the competitors.

Brand Update : Vivel Extending to Fairness Cream

ITC's soap brand Vivel has launched its fairness cream extension in the Indian market. The brand has been launched in Kerala and is expected to offer stiff competition to the market leader Fair & Lovely.

Vivel's fairness variant is branded as Vivel Active Fair and comes in three SKUs - the 50 gm pack is launched at a price of Rs 70, 25 gm at Rs 38 and 9 gm sachet at Rs 5. The brand is running its launch

campaign with big splash in major newspapers . Vivel Active Fair is banking on its ingredients like vitamins, minerals and moisturizers along with SPF 15 sun protection rating.

In a direct challenge to Fair & Lovely, Vivel is selling its sachet at Rs 5 ( introductory offer) compared to FAL's Rs 7. Indian personal care market is driven by sachets and the Rs 5 price point will help Vivel to achieve the important customer trials. Rs 5 price point is also beneficial

to both customers and retailers because of the coinage factor. This pricing may force HUL to lower the price of FAL's sachet.The Indian Fairness Cream market is worth around Rs 1700 and growing at 15% .

ITC is making lot of headway in its personal care business. The brands like Fiama and Vivel has successfully made their mark in terms of brand visibility. Although the company may not be making money in the personal care business because of the heavy promotional investments, these brands have built a strong foundation that can fuel further growth.It is common for brands in the personal care business to go for brand extensions. Vivel is trying to transform itself to a personal care brand rather than just a soap brand.

It is interesting to see that the brand refrained from using celebrity to endorse the fairness cream. I wonder why ?

Related Brand

Vivel

Marketing Strategy : Customer Service Starts From The Top

Customer Service Starts From The Top

Originally published here in Adclubbombay.com

The $847 million deal between Amazon and Zappos.com was making lot of waves among academicians and practitioners across the globe. The discussions were not about the valuations or the deal but about the unique customer service culture of Zappos.com.

Zappos.com is an online retailer of fashion accessories predominantly shoes. The retailer is famous for its focus on customers. The key factor behind the stupendous success of Zappos.com is their customer service culture. The company is passionate about their customers and the culture of putting customer first runs through the entire company. The entire business model of this company is centred on customers and the CEO is the driving force behind this customer oriented culture. The company has a warehouse that is open 24X7 so a customer who orders at 11 PM gets a next day delivery. The company also has a 365 day return policy where a customer, if he is not satisfied, can return the product with in 365 days of purchase and get a refund.

Every company understands the need for customer service. But it is interesting to see that the understanding seldom translates into actual practice. One of the primary reasons for the huge disparity between understanding and execution of customer service initiative is the lack of customer service culture.

Top Management Involvement

The quality of customer service is directly proportional to the involvement of senior leaders of the company. Although the actual execution of service is done at the lower levels of management strata, unless the senior leaders are held responsible for customer satisfaction, the process will not excel. But for that, customer service should be given its legitimate position in the management functions. In service firms it is natural that customer service is given its due importance. But in other companies there is no reference to customer service as a function.

When senior managers become involved in managing customer service and satisfaction, the function gets recognized in the organization. Priorities change and service does not become an irritant but a priority. Firms like Zappos.com,Ritz Carlton, Mitchells and Marriott thrive because of the intense involvement of top leadership in monitoring customer service. In firms like Zappos and Marriott, the CEOs take personal interest in customer service initiatives.

Employee Motivation

Although it may seem very basic to state that employee motivation is critical to any customer service initiative, many firms fail to practice this obvious dictum. Since the frontline employees are the implementers of customer service, it is absolutely essential that they are given the necessary authority and responsibility to handle any request from the customers. This perhaps will the main reason why consumers do not appreciate being serviced by call centre executives. These outsourced firms usually do not have any authority to solve the issues of customers.

In the famous book “The Last Lecture “author Late Mr. Randy Pausch writes about a memorable incident of a $ 100,000 salt and pepper shaker. The author during his childhood days was taken to Disney Land by his parents. Randy and his sister bought a souvenir salt and pepper shaker for their parents. But immediately after they purchased the shaker, it fell and broke. Randy and his sister were terribly upset because they had spent their entire pocket money on that gift. Then a fellow guest suggested the crying Randy that they tell the store what happened.

Randy and his sister approached the store and was surprised when the store staff replaced the shakers for free and even apologized for not packing it correctly. The author then mentions that his family later went on to give more than $100,000 worth of business to Disney Land. The salt and pepper shaker was not worth more than $10 but the small gesture by the Disney Staff created goodwill that is worth millions.

Such customer service excellence will not happen unless the employees are intrinsically motivated. The motivation comes from the responsibility and the freedom that comes with the job. It is in this context that organisational culture becomes critical. While processes can make customer service error free, spontaneity can come only from individuals. Organizations should strive to bring that spontaneity into the customer service.

Another story about customer service spontaneity -

Bill Marriott , the Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, in his blog once narrated a story about an Associate who gave his pants to one of the guests . The guest who came for a business meeting found that he accidently packed his wife’s slacks instead of his own. He realized this only minutes before the meeting began. The chances of going to a store to buy one and making it to the meeting on time were minimal. One of the Marriott Associates noticed that he happened to be of the same size as the guest and offered him the pair of pants he was wearing. The pants were of perfect fit and the guest went to the meeting on time. The Associate managed with his extra casual pants till the grateful guest returned.

(source : http://www.blogs.marriott.com/search/default.asp?item=2358646).

It is not that companies today are not aware of these basics but the fact is that in pursuit of high growth, often these fundas take the backseat.

Brand Update : Sugar Free Natura - Expanding Brand Usage

Sugar Free Natura , the sugar substitute brand from Zydus has been slowly and consistently expanding the scope of the brand. In marketing theory , different ways to grow a brand is to expand the usage situations and finding new uses for the brand and through new variants. Sugar Free has been trying exactly that.

Sugar Free launched itself as a sugar substitute for beverages. So instead of using sugar in beverages like tea, coffee, cool drinks etc, the brand tried to position itself as a healthy sugar substitute.

Rather than specifically focusing on diabetic patients ( who obviously needs such a product), Sugar Free concentrated on a larger consumer base by positioning itself as healthy alternative to sugar.

But the brand realized that focusing just on beverages severely limits the usage of the product. Hence the brand launched a campaign expanding the usage of the brand by telling the consumers to use Sugar Free not only for beverages but also for all other delicacies which require sugar like home made sweets. The brand also roped in the popular Chef Sanjeev Kapoor as the brand ambassador.

The brand has now moved into the next level of value addition by launching flavor sachets for tea. The new product is Sugar Free sachets which contains flavors like Ginger, Lime along with the sugar substitute. The new variant gives another reason to buy the brand.

Sugar Free is a brand that has realized the potential for a healthy alternative to sugar. India has an exploding diabetic population and such a product hold tremendous scope in future. The only factor that limits the growth of Sugar Free is the higher price. The price severely limits the repeat purchase and regular use of this product. The category will grow only if the brand is able to break the price barrier.

Related Brand

Sugar Free

Brand Update : Vanish Gets a Brand Ambassador

Vanish, the stain remover product from Reckitt has found a celebrity endorser in the actress Sridevi. The brand is now running a campaign featuring the celebrity.

Watch the ad here : Vanish

The new ad shows a move by the brand away from the previous campaign formats. The brand has been consistently using the global communication format till now. The brand has thought of using celebrity to penetrate more into the market. The choice of a " retired" actress like Sridevi is intriguing.

What will be the benefits that the brand expects out of this new strategy of celebrity endorsement. The first benefit is obviously more acceptance for the product in the consumer's mind ( hopefully) aided by the brand equity of celebrity. More brand familiarity. Use of celebrity in POP materials will have lot of impact on the purchases. Boosting the brand acceptance in semi urban markets.

The new campaign has discarded most of the brand elements especially the pink T shirt clad girls who were an integral part of the earlier campaigns. I feel that it was a mistake to remove that important component from the new ad.

Related Brand

Vanish