Friday, February 03, 2012
Pop-up Stores and More!
Heroes without Honda
By Harish Bijoor
Q: What is a pop-up store? And why the buzz about them?
-Kruthika Krishna, Vijayawada
A: Kruthika, a pop-up store is a store that pops up all of a sudden, fulfills its short-term purpose of creating awareness for the brand it represents, and then pops out of your life as quickly as it came as well.
The buzz is all about he fact that Pop-up stores work in the current clutter-market situation one witnesses. These pop-up stores are amoebic and have the ability to pop up and close down at will for short durations. In these short-durations they have a huge degree of quick viewership in terms of new eyeballs. They help in building a quick awareness on a new product and then they vanish. They move on to capture more eyeballs elsewhere. These in many ways are Caravan-stores that cover a large area in a shorter time.
These stores come up from nowhere and vanish fast. Permanent stores actually get boring as they become part of the mall they are located in and become part of the furniture around. Pop-up stores add zing to such a dead and static retail environment.
These stores work beautifully for a category that has a new product, a new piece of technology, or even a new model to showcase and demonstrate.
The joy of such stores is that it may not be restricted to a mall. Even a large Mom and Pop store ('kirana' store) can accommodate a pop-up store counter. In many ways, at the Mom and Pop stores, this is nothing too different from the space they used to let out on a weekly basis to products and services that wanted to demonstrate the product to new customers in the old days.
Q: What’s the status of the Direct Selling industry in India? We do see small little noises being made time and again, but nothing big at all.
-Som Mullick, Kolkata
A: Som, the noises are small, but the Direct Selling industry is fast emerging to be the choice-industry of the small town. Small-town markets are growing in terms of the aspiration to eat more brands and buy more brands. However, there is a loophole in terms of availability and the supply-chain that caters to the small town. Direct selling therefore becomes the one single answer.
Direct selling will grow exponentially in the small towns, just as it will shrink exponentially in the big 8 Metros. The industry is slated to grow briskly in two terrains: health and wellness and so also in the terrain of cosmetic care where the range available in small towns is not so vast as in the big cities. The Direct selling business offers dis-intermediation in the selling chain and offers the best of International products at the doorstep of the Indian in the small town.
As affordability, the yen to want to possess and use, and more importantly the craving increases for such products in small towns, the first answer will be offered by the Direct Selling industry. Bottlenecks however remain.
The biggest bottleneck is the non-use of credit cards in purchase, and the return-factor on the Cash-on-delivery scene in India. Returns of cash on delivery packages range at 30% levels as of today. And that is a disaster.
Q: Hero splits from Honda. What’s the impact “break ke baad”?
-Rohini Chadda, New Delhi
A: Rohini, a break is a break. From the consumer point of view, it is a break-up of a brand.
In many ways consumers equate the brand and its delivery capability to the fact that two mighty corporate organizations have gotten together to get a powerful motorcycle brand going. The user of this product still does believe that technology that comes in from outside India is superior to technology that is available in India. This rather strong viewpoint helps brands such as Hero Honda as the Japanese connection is its one big draw. There are really two bits of equity at play in this brand. The first is that of the Honda equity in terms of technology and durability on offer. The second piece of equity is the Hero equity. This is all about a local player who has a face that is Indian and a face that is recognized to be one that has wide reach and has the capability of offering good after-sales service.
The sum equity of the Hero Honda brand is therefore an amalgam of the Honda technology and durability marrying the domestic service and sales capability of Hero.
Just plain old Hero is really nothing but a bicycle maker of repute. Therefore the future option with Hero would be one where just plain Hero is just not enough. My view. So take that with a pinch of salt.
Q: I want to brand an educational institution of repute. How do I go about it? What do I avoid?
-Saleem A Kishti, Mumbai
A: Saleem-ji, education is a credible output. It is an inner-sanctum subject, very close to religion.
I have a theory that there are outer-sanctum products and Inner sanctum products. Outer sanctum products are things like food, clothing, shelter, accessories, telecom, etc.
Inner sanctum products are Medicare and education, to name just two.
The innermost sanctum product is religion.
One must take greater and greater care as one steps into more and more inner sanctum subjects. Branding needs to be sensitive, relevant, original and innovative. You can't brand it like you would brand toothpaste.
Some management Institutes however have tried to do that...much to the peril of their credibility ratings! And they have started looking like plain old toothpaste as well!
Q: When does mystery marketing work? When do teaser campaigns deliver? Any touchstone issues?
-Preiti Mullick, Raipur
A: Preiti, mystery marketing works in advertising environments where there is too much of clutter in terms of overt branding.
Therefore, the first ad that does not use its brand name, but leaves back small little clues of what it could be, and finally reveals it all, works.
Once a few have done this, the aura of such advertising and marketing ceases as well.
The point is simple, in a market when everyone is shouting the loudest, the one who is whispering the least is heard the most. Most mystery marketing campaigns aim for this.
The core big idea of such advertising is to tell it all later. Reveal the brand the last, rather than in the first few seconds, as most brands do.
Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com
By Harish Bijoor
Q: What is a pop-up store? And why the buzz about them?
-Kruthika Krishna, Vijayawada
A: Kruthika, a pop-up store is a store that pops up all of a sudden, fulfills its short-term purpose of creating awareness for the brand it represents, and then pops out of your life as quickly as it came as well.
The buzz is all about he fact that Pop-up stores work in the current clutter-market situation one witnesses. These pop-up stores are amoebic and have the ability to pop up and close down at will for short durations. In these short-durations they have a huge degree of quick viewership in terms of new eyeballs. They help in building a quick awareness on a new product and then they vanish. They move on to capture more eyeballs elsewhere. These in many ways are Caravan-stores that cover a large area in a shorter time.
These stores come up from nowhere and vanish fast. Permanent stores actually get boring as they become part of the mall they are located in and become part of the furniture around. Pop-up stores add zing to such a dead and static retail environment.
These stores work beautifully for a category that has a new product, a new piece of technology, or even a new model to showcase and demonstrate.
The joy of such stores is that it may not be restricted to a mall. Even a large Mom and Pop store ('kirana' store) can accommodate a pop-up store counter. In many ways, at the Mom and Pop stores, this is nothing too different from the space they used to let out on a weekly basis to products and services that wanted to demonstrate the product to new customers in the old days.
Q: What’s the status of the Direct Selling industry in India? We do see small little noises being made time and again, but nothing big at all.
-Som Mullick, Kolkata
A: Som, the noises are small, but the Direct Selling industry is fast emerging to be the choice-industry of the small town. Small-town markets are growing in terms of the aspiration to eat more brands and buy more brands. However, there is a loophole in terms of availability and the supply-chain that caters to the small town. Direct selling therefore becomes the one single answer.
Direct selling will grow exponentially in the small towns, just as it will shrink exponentially in the big 8 Metros. The industry is slated to grow briskly in two terrains: health and wellness and so also in the terrain of cosmetic care where the range available in small towns is not so vast as in the big cities. The Direct selling business offers dis-intermediation in the selling chain and offers the best of International products at the doorstep of the Indian in the small town.
As affordability, the yen to want to possess and use, and more importantly the craving increases for such products in small towns, the first answer will be offered by the Direct Selling industry. Bottlenecks however remain.
The biggest bottleneck is the non-use of credit cards in purchase, and the return-factor on the Cash-on-delivery scene in India. Returns of cash on delivery packages range at 30% levels as of today. And that is a disaster.
Q: Hero splits from Honda. What’s the impact “break ke baad”?
-Rohini Chadda, New Delhi
A: Rohini, a break is a break. From the consumer point of view, it is a break-up of a brand.
In many ways consumers equate the brand and its delivery capability to the fact that two mighty corporate organizations have gotten together to get a powerful motorcycle brand going. The user of this product still does believe that technology that comes in from outside India is superior to technology that is available in India. This rather strong viewpoint helps brands such as Hero Honda as the Japanese connection is its one big draw. There are really two bits of equity at play in this brand. The first is that of the Honda equity in terms of technology and durability on offer. The second piece of equity is the Hero equity. This is all about a local player who has a face that is Indian and a face that is recognized to be one that has wide reach and has the capability of offering good after-sales service.
The sum equity of the Hero Honda brand is therefore an amalgam of the Honda technology and durability marrying the domestic service and sales capability of Hero.
Just plain old Hero is really nothing but a bicycle maker of repute. Therefore the future option with Hero would be one where just plain Hero is just not enough. My view. So take that with a pinch of salt.
Q: I want to brand an educational institution of repute. How do I go about it? What do I avoid?
-Saleem A Kishti, Mumbai
A: Saleem-ji, education is a credible output. It is an inner-sanctum subject, very close to religion.
I have a theory that there are outer-sanctum products and Inner sanctum products. Outer sanctum products are things like food, clothing, shelter, accessories, telecom, etc.
Inner sanctum products are Medicare and education, to name just two.
The innermost sanctum product is religion.
One must take greater and greater care as one steps into more and more inner sanctum subjects. Branding needs to be sensitive, relevant, original and innovative. You can't brand it like you would brand toothpaste.
Some management Institutes however have tried to do that...much to the peril of their credibility ratings! And they have started looking like plain old toothpaste as well!
Q: When does mystery marketing work? When do teaser campaigns deliver? Any touchstone issues?
-Preiti Mullick, Raipur
A: Preiti, mystery marketing works in advertising environments where there is too much of clutter in terms of overt branding.
Therefore, the first ad that does not use its brand name, but leaves back small little clues of what it could be, and finally reveals it all, works.
Once a few have done this, the aura of such advertising and marketing ceases as well.
The point is simple, in a market when everyone is shouting the loudest, the one who is whispering the least is heard the most. Most mystery marketing campaigns aim for this.
The core big idea of such advertising is to tell it all later. Reveal the brand the last, rather than in the first few seconds, as most brands do.
Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com
Labels: Brands, Digital Marketing, Hero-Honda, India, Indian retail
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Digital Branding
Digital Interactivity
By Harish Bijoor
Q: Why is digital media in such good focus today? And what is new here?
-Jyothi Virwani, Mumbai
A: Jyothi, the visual appeal of digital mediums cannot be matched by any other medium. Immediacy is hot. In the sense that the medium is closest to the point of purchase, or on way to purchase. It is an excellent reminder medium as well.
Further, it is also a medium that can build two-way interactivity.
What’s new?
Today, we have technology available where a digital signage can actually not only transmit lovely visuals and offers, but can also read who is watching it at a moment of time and dish out specific advertising. For instance if the sensor detects a woman in the mid fifties watching the medium, the product that can be shown to her digitally will be something relevant to her rather than items of irrelevance.
The medium can be used to research out consumers and consumer reactions even. Therefore the applications are many. Privacy issues remain though, and therefore such interactive digital signages need to have up-front communication aimed at viewers that is totally transparent.
The most recent and the most exciting development in the digital signage media is this. I have indicated the true-blue value-add possibility of interactive signages. Here, as you watch the signage, the signage watches you as well. Its complex algorithm will assess your sex, your age, your social class by way of dressing, your attitudinal stance by way of how you sport your hair, etc. In turn, it will dish out advertising that is specific to you and not umbrella advertising that is more often than not irrelevant, irritating and myopic.
Q: When a crisis hits a company, what is the process of communication that needs to fall into place? What if I had an Enron or a Satyam happening in my company?
-Vasanth Panigrahi, Hyderabad
A: Vasanth, God forbid! Let’s just hope we don’t have too many of these happening.
Just in case, it does though, the process needs to be quick. It needs to involve those who are close to the top. Close to the real center of information. Once quickness has been established as a norm here, it is important to use every neutral tool and vehicle to advantage. A neutral tool would be capturing everything that is written on the crisis and presenting it on a common platform for all to see. This will swathe the entire effort with credibility, and will not be seen to be a Goebbelian method of PR activity.
Once this credibility has been achieved, communication needs to get interactive. It needs to answer every question that is raised. Such questions can come from Opinion leaders, the media, employees, and the lay public even. Every constituent needs to be respected and given an answer that is right, and an answer that could be cruel in its impact even. People want the truth. Never hide it. Say it the way it is. Once said, truth has a way of settling down in the psyche of the individual. Do not molly-coddle hard fact. Do not clothe hard fact. Just give it out naked!
Set up an independent Ombudsman to assess the role of this crisis communication team even. Listen to the Ombudsman. And let this crisis-communication auditor come from a neutral source. This will be a rich process then.
Q: Indian retail has just about matured. What do you see to be the important factors that will contribute to its success further?
-Joseph H Hoover, Trichy
A: Joe, I am not sure I agree with you. Indian retail is not yet mature. It is at its most immature adolescence as of now.
Immediately however, Indian retail needs to adjust its mentality for Indian conditions. We need to be multiple-formatted. Every chain needs to have multiple formats and must not rely on niche formats such as the mega super-marts. In the early days, such a focus on single-formats will work, as the low hanging fruit of the ready-made consumer in urban markets is plucked. But things will dry up soon. Smaller format outfits need to be a reality for every chain sooner or later. Non air-conditioned retail is something that cannot be missed.
A partnership of big retail with small must not be missed as an opportunity. Imagine if an Aditya Birla Retail contracted 2, 00,000 existing small kiranas to partner in their retail spread. Every one of these small kiranas would get the benefit of an organized front-face in terms of branding and of course the benefits of mass sourcing. For the retail brand, this would mean a quick 2, 00, 000 outlets that sport the brand name of the company. Also, this would mean 2, 00,000 business people in small retail continue their livelihoods. They would bring passion and a deep understanding of the local market for the big retailer. Every outlet could be co-branded. More-Ghanshyam Stores and a More-Shetty Stores!
Indian retail inroad can be made by the big player only on a win-win format of big and small. And not to the exclusive benefit of the big alone!
My prediction is that in the next six years, the face of Indian retail will look very different from what we see today. Today's big ones might just vanish altogether. Bubbles burst, you see!
Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com
By Harish Bijoor
Q: Why is digital media in such good focus today? And what is new here?
-Jyothi Virwani, Mumbai
A: Jyothi, the visual appeal of digital mediums cannot be matched by any other medium. Immediacy is hot. In the sense that the medium is closest to the point of purchase, or on way to purchase. It is an excellent reminder medium as well.
Further, it is also a medium that can build two-way interactivity.
What’s new?
Today, we have technology available where a digital signage can actually not only transmit lovely visuals and offers, but can also read who is watching it at a moment of time and dish out specific advertising. For instance if the sensor detects a woman in the mid fifties watching the medium, the product that can be shown to her digitally will be something relevant to her rather than items of irrelevance.
The medium can be used to research out consumers and consumer reactions even. Therefore the applications are many. Privacy issues remain though, and therefore such interactive digital signages need to have up-front communication aimed at viewers that is totally transparent.
The most recent and the most exciting development in the digital signage media is this. I have indicated the true-blue value-add possibility of interactive signages. Here, as you watch the signage, the signage watches you as well. Its complex algorithm will assess your sex, your age, your social class by way of dressing, your attitudinal stance by way of how you sport your hair, etc. In turn, it will dish out advertising that is specific to you and not umbrella advertising that is more often than not irrelevant, irritating and myopic.
Q: When a crisis hits a company, what is the process of communication that needs to fall into place? What if I had an Enron or a Satyam happening in my company?
-Vasanth Panigrahi, Hyderabad
A: Vasanth, God forbid! Let’s just hope we don’t have too many of these happening.
Just in case, it does though, the process needs to be quick. It needs to involve those who are close to the top. Close to the real center of information. Once quickness has been established as a norm here, it is important to use every neutral tool and vehicle to advantage. A neutral tool would be capturing everything that is written on the crisis and presenting it on a common platform for all to see. This will swathe the entire effort with credibility, and will not be seen to be a Goebbelian method of PR activity.
Once this credibility has been achieved, communication needs to get interactive. It needs to answer every question that is raised. Such questions can come from Opinion leaders, the media, employees, and the lay public even. Every constituent needs to be respected and given an answer that is right, and an answer that could be cruel in its impact even. People want the truth. Never hide it. Say it the way it is. Once said, truth has a way of settling down in the psyche of the individual. Do not molly-coddle hard fact. Do not clothe hard fact. Just give it out naked!
Set up an independent Ombudsman to assess the role of this crisis communication team even. Listen to the Ombudsman. And let this crisis-communication auditor come from a neutral source. This will be a rich process then.
Q: Indian retail has just about matured. What do you see to be the important factors that will contribute to its success further?
-Joseph H Hoover, Trichy
A: Joe, I am not sure I agree with you. Indian retail is not yet mature. It is at its most immature adolescence as of now.
Immediately however, Indian retail needs to adjust its mentality for Indian conditions. We need to be multiple-formatted. Every chain needs to have multiple formats and must not rely on niche formats such as the mega super-marts. In the early days, such a focus on single-formats will work, as the low hanging fruit of the ready-made consumer in urban markets is plucked. But things will dry up soon. Smaller format outfits need to be a reality for every chain sooner or later. Non air-conditioned retail is something that cannot be missed.
A partnership of big retail with small must not be missed as an opportunity. Imagine if an Aditya Birla Retail contracted 2, 00,000 existing small kiranas to partner in their retail spread. Every one of these small kiranas would get the benefit of an organized front-face in terms of branding and of course the benefits of mass sourcing. For the retail brand, this would mean a quick 2, 00, 000 outlets that sport the brand name of the company. Also, this would mean 2, 00,000 business people in small retail continue their livelihoods. They would bring passion and a deep understanding of the local market for the big retailer. Every outlet could be co-branded. More-Ghanshyam Stores and a More-Shetty Stores!
Indian retail inroad can be made by the big player only on a win-win format of big and small. And not to the exclusive benefit of the big alone!
My prediction is that in the next six years, the face of Indian retail will look very different from what we see today. Today's big ones might just vanish altogether. Bubbles burst, you see!
Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Email: harishbijoor@hotmail.com
Labels: Crisis-branding, Digital media, Indian retail
