‘Marketing is about not only meeting customer needs but also altering their behaviour’

The Bangalore edition of the e4m-Pitch CMO Summit saw an insightful panel discussion with industry stalwarts deliberating on ‘The Season of Opportunity: Strategies for Marketing during India’s Festivals’. The discussion was on the performance that the festive season brings to the table, its contribution to business and how brands are getting to the heart of things.

On the panel were Gunnidhi Singh Sareen, VP - Marketing, Head, Digital Works; Jiten Mahendra, VP – Marketing, BTC (Byju’s Tuition Centre); Saibal Biswas Head of Marketing, Partnerships and PR, MediBuddy and Nikhil Mayne, Principle Partner - Content +, Mindshare. The session was chaired by Althea Vanderveen, Director, South – Ad sales, Truecaller.

Kickstarting the session, the panellists were asked about consumer sentiments and expectations from the upcoming festive season post-Covid scenario to which Sareen said, “As far as this festive season is concerned, I don’t think there could be a better time for marketeers as well as salespeople. After a gap of about two years or so, people are going to witness the festive season where they will not be restricted as per their movements are concerned. There will be a lot of avenues for consumers to spend money. We have got a lot of respect for our festivals and traditions and whether it is an expression of self-love during festivals or about gifting somebody. So people are going to spend money this time. Online gaming doesn’t really fit naturally in the customer scheme of things when it comes to festivals. They, of course, meet offline and create something fun together. But I still think that it is a great opportunity for us to see how we blend in. At the end of the day, marketing is not just about meeting the needs and demands of the customers. It is about altering the customer behaviour as well.”

Speaking about the advertisement budget trending this year, Biswas explained, “From the healthcare perspective, I think the last two years did provide a lot of tailwinds for the online healthcare specifically because, during the lockdown, you couldn’t go out of your home to even consult a doctor for minor ailments. You were forced to figure out the online option of doing it. So some of the categories automatically moved from offline to online. But if you look at the bigger problem as well as the opportunity, the problem in India especially in tier 2, tier – 3 and rural India, quality healthcare in terms of availability and accessibility to good quality doctors or even doctors themselves does not exist. We made a good start online during Covid and we see continued traction happening both in the metros as well as the tier – and tier – 3 cities. We have consistently chosen to spend in making consumers aware that there is an option where if he or she doesn’t have access to a good doctor, it is as easy as logging on to a website or downloading an app to consult a doctor. It is cheap and affordable.”

“I think brands will be conscious as the media agency said. I also think the Pujo, the Onam is where people will start warming up for what is happening. I think the larger challenge from a brand point of view is that there is a lot of convergence across media. So today OTT, television almost become a sort of single channel so it is no more a digital plan versus a TV plan versus a conventional or a print plan. Everything is becoming seamless and we can put attribution to it. From a brand point of view, I think content is extremely important and then the media piece will come in. It is not that you are going to launch a brand in the festive season and people are going to buy you. What you are trying to be is being topical, building a connection, to take emotional high grounds so the consumer keeps you in the consideration set. So for all this, the content plays a very significant role and there is a community which you cater to because you are an existing brand. So a lot of brands try to reinforce the same who are consuming them. I feel brands are conscious, media will be seamless in terms of convergence piece which it will take on,” Mahendra added.

Concluding the session, Mayne noted, “I think everything we said today is a little relevant. If we won’t always earn, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We took impact when it was necessary. We have not done maybe two large impact properties because do I really need to be my consumer’s face all the time? I think what we did from a digital perspective was quite smart. It is identifying your audience like everybody is saying, that is, listening to who they are and then delivering that message to them. We implemented a lot of our learning from FMCG.”