Brands renew strategies to build consumer connect this Pongal

The four-day harvest festival of Pongal sees people in Tamil Nadu travelling to their home towns to celebrate the festival with family and friends. This year, the onset of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the state government impose restrictions.  This has led to Pongal celebrations being restricted to homes.

Brands have had to, therefore, renew their strategies to connect with their consumers. Viveks, the consumer retail durable chain, has adopted a trifold approach as B S Vishal, VP – Marketing, says, “Our approach for Pongal is trifold – Digital as the primary communication medium along with BTL activities and gifts. These have become a sort of a norm with Pongal and do attract customers.”

Although the sentiment has been low, the company is still seeing consumer traction. “Our format is more offline and the sales numbers will be spread over a week with the government announcing extended holidays. Currently, we are experiencing a good number of enquiries through our chat and other mediums of customer interaction,” Vishal added.

Meanwhile, incense and prayer products maker Cycle Pure Agarbathies has launched a video e-commerce catalogue for prayer products on the occasion of Pongal. Arjun Ranga, Managing Director, Cycle Pure Agarbathi says, “We communicate using relevant content through online and offline media. It is the ideal time to showcase our comprehensive range of prayer products to our consumers. In fact, this Pongal we are launching the world’s first interactive, video e-commerce catalogue for prayer products. It’s a visually stunning film created by a special team of creatives over a year. It’s a new way to shop for prayer products in the new normal.”

A major category during festivals is jewellery and Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director – Kalyan Jewellers says, “Gold has always been a preferred saving option among Indians and in recent times, it has also emerged as the safest and most lucrative long-term asset. The dynamic market scenario and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to renewed interest among younger consumers who have bought into the idea of gold jewellery, for the first time.”

With Tamil Nadu being one the biggest market for paint and paint products manufacturing company, Nippon Paint, Pongal is an important time to connect with consumers looking to refurbish their homes. Mark Titus, Director of Marketing, Nippon Paint (India) Decorative says, “As a brand which has Tamil Nadu as one of its focus markets, the Pongal festival season is one of the most important times of the year, when consumer spirits are high and markets are buzzing with activity. From an industry point of view, it’s one of those seasonal times when people refresh their homes.”

Omni channel meat retailer TenderCuts is looking to build its base this festive season. Aruna Jathar, Chief Marketing Officer, TenderCuts says, “TenderCuts follows a thematic marketing calendar to engage with customers at different occasions through the year with regular offers for Diwali, Christmas, New Year and Pongal. TenderCuts is currently running a healthy resolution campaign that focuses on different recipes necessary for in the daily diet and rich in protein content. Our communication preceding this Pongal season has been well accepted. We have gained substantial traction and sentiments are very positive towards the brand. We aim to continue this season as well.”

Building a Consumer Connect

The ongoing pandemic has resulted in brands accelerating digital adoption, resulting in changes in the media mix. According to Kalyanaraman, “With respect to our customer outreach strategy, one of the biggest trends that emerged out of the nationwide lockdown is a huge increase in the screen time spent by Indians across digital platforms. In line with this, brands have begun to align their marketing budgets towards digital, social media and OTT, especially when it comes to placing new content. At Kalyan Jewellers, we introduced temporary changes to our media mix with a more digital-centric approach.”

“To address the ongoing digital transformation and target the tech-savvy millennial consumers, we are strengthening our omnichannel strategy and focusing on creating a holistic ecosystem, making the ‘phygital’ model more seamless,” he added.

On its part Nippon Paint has launched two campaigns this Pongal season. The first campaign, the Walltron Patrol Campaign focuses on for its waterproofing solutions segment, for which the brand launched a new TVC and digital campaigns as well. The second campaign is for Spotless NXT, a premium interior emulsion paint. The brand also launched a special scheme for its painter partners in Tamil Nadu. The painters were given Pongal kits containing items like vessel, rice, jaggery, cashew, dhoti, sari and travel bag and this scheme benefited more than 9000 painters across Tamil Nadu.  Adds Titus, “Given our wide TG, we undertake a complete 360-degree approach regarding our campaigns. A multi-platform engagement strategy that encompasses all possible multimedia platforms – TV, print, radio, digital, and OOH has proven beneficial for us.”

For Viveks’, its marketing activities has been driven primarily by digital formats and also included BTL, Paper inserts, Radio (minimal), Digital including influencer campaigns. 50% of its media spends have been targeted to Digital with the rest divided among other mediums.  

As per Ranga, Cycle Pure Agarbathies’ media strategy is constantly mapped to the ever-changing market landscape. He says, “We maintain a sustained presence in the consumer high-affinity genres such as general entertainment, movies and address trade via news channel associations along with product and media innovations. Our consistent presence on social media also helps us create and grow our own community of like-minded consumers.”

Jathar says, “Being an omnichannel brand, we have a healthy mix of customers with people preferring online and offline. We build campaigns that are relevant across offline and online, our media strategy is specific based on the segment and reach. Our communication strategy is also very focused.”

Mapping the Consumer Demand

For Cycle Pure Agarbathies, changes in consumer patterns have led to the brand adapting to this shift. Ranga says, “During the pandemic, trust became the most important factor that influenced consumer choice, and our consistent quality backed by values seems to be paying off. The demand for our products has been consistent throughout the year with the expected spikes during festivals. Like other FMCG categories, the patterns of purchase have changed with the onset of the pandemic, with the lowering of purchase frequency and increase in demand for large and family packs.”

On the other hand, Vishal of Viveks says that there has been a clear preference on what the consumer demand is. He says, “Demand has been mixed but few products such the kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaner, microwave oven, heaters, large screens and washing machines has been high. Sentiments have been slightly low. However, with this Pongal festive season being a long weekend, our expectation is to achieve last year’s sale numbers.”

On a final optimistic note Titus says, “We usually witness a 15-20% spike around Pongal. Given the current Covid situation, it may not be in line with earlier years, however, we remain optimistic. Consumer sentiment remains positive despite the current challenges, as analysts are saying that this would be a short wave. At the moment, demand seems to be better than last year.”