Social Media Gaze: 20(13) & beyond

Social Media has become number 1 activity on Web today.Facebook has cemented its dominant position, and is now the first choice in all but 10 countries. With million of user, it is  the biggest social networking site in the world. Pinterest became the darling of the social media set, especially the ladies and fashionistas. Twitter continued to grow, Google+ continued to grow with over 400 million users, in every second 2 new member joins LinkedIn, Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world.

“Social Media is Living – Breathing – Mysterious – Powerful – Fluid – Raw and Revolutionary”

With itself its bringing in a lot of opportunities in the year 2013. It has effected everything from from TV industry to education to politics, to businesses, to Job market, to revolutionary waves, you name it and its on Social Media.

Around 50% of world population is under 30 years old, and this population is yet to explore the world of social media. So, to connect with people around the world one needs to be out there. However is it all about just being connect or its also about ROIs?????? Social Media has also played an important role in pumping huge for revenue if we talk in terms of business. Embracing social media is a huge undertaking, and involves a large investment. 

For any one to leverage Social Media for greater ROI, one needs to concentrate on 3 major components:

Engage: we cannot ignore the fact that personalizing is important approach to social media marketing, it’s also important to engage. Without engagement, you leave your audience out of the equation.

Transparent: It is very important for the business, organisation to be transparent while engaging themselves with the audience. Building trust is very important in marketing your brand/website/blog. And trust comes through transparency.

Content: Links, posts, videos, images, comments, re-tweets  mentions … the list goes on. Content has always been the pillar of all marketing efforts. There are clear indications that content is going to be even more important in the social media context.

Social media plays an important role in how consumers/audience discover, research, and share information about brands and products. 

"Shining Star" The Indian Consumer Market

INDIA... its a large and a vibrant nation, with 23 official languages, about 1000 unofficial languages, 1600 dialects, eight major religions, and a land mass of more than 3.2 million square km.... Whats important among everything is that the current economic scenario has unleashed gigantic opportunities for the country. 

But the question here is... Why would anyone be interested in this opportunity. the answer is not far to find. A large, growing, consumption-driven economy, a slowing down in development markets, a young consumer base, and a modern retail race that has not even seriously begun yet, is a once-in-a-half-century opportunity. And a consumer who is ready and waiting and is under served.

Facts:Indian Consumer Market

• India is the 2^nd largest growing market in the world.

• Indian consumer market is poised to grow 3.6 times between 2010 to 2020. Faster than most other emerging market.

•  Consumer spending is likely to expand 3.6 times. From $911 billion in 2010 to $3.6 trillion in 2020.A 14% annual growth.

• Consumer spending globally is just 5.5%.Indian will constitute 5.8% of world’s total consumer spending. 

• The consumer market in the developing countries is more diverse that in developed countries.

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There are few yet strong facts that support the boom of consumer market base in India.......

Urbanization:

Source: Mckinsey

> Resulting in better excess to products and increasing the purchase.
> 80% urban household have T.V. as compared to rural household only 39% have T.V.

Nuclear Family:

> Youth are becoming much more independent and indulge themselves more than their parents, more spending on clothes, food, big & better housing, education & leisure activities.

> Generation Y have greater choice than their prior generation:

• This generation is also caution about their beauty and personal care, that has led to growth of The Beauty and Personal Care market to almost 20 times over past 20 years.
• Car model rose to 160 from just 5 in 1990's.
• T.V. channels have exploded from just 1 to 500.
• Outstanding loans jumped from $7 million in 1996 to $167 billion in 2011.

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INDIAN CONSUMER: In India the desire to trade up is the highest compared to any other developed economy. Almost 34% of consumer tends to trade up to the goods that offer higher quality, better functionality, or strong brand appeal. It is also observed that many Indian consumer are brand conscious however not brand loyal. In fact, more than half of the Indian consumer chooses from a basket of brands rather than seek out a specific brand.

Source: BCG

The rapidly rising household incomes and a robust mounting  population will lead to a striking increase in overall consumer spending.

The upcoming changes in the Indian consumer market will create major opportunities and challenges for both the Indian and multinational businesses. the companies will need to appeal and educate large number of new consumers, create and retain brand loyalties as tastes changes with rising income, and introduce high value products and service at suitably low prices to be accessible to the emerging middle class.

Gateway to INDIA's Prosperity: FDI???

Every individual, now and then is speaking about the hottest topic this season, is FDI… Everyone got their own point of views, some in favor some against it…..

So here I am to elucidate FDI my Way. Before FDI was imposed, every one of us were busy analyzing the diesel price hike and LPG subsidy move, & then came the biggest decision of Union government of allowing the FDI in India. And we were then busy debating whether FDI is good for small traders, agriculture and so on.

Well let’s try to figure out the music in artless words — to apprehend whether FDI will really bring in superior shopping and flying experience to us.

For me FDI means: FOREIGN DUMPING INVESTMENT  why I say so is because companies come and put their profit, their lump of money with a vision of multiplying it ten times as India has been titled as AN EMERGING ECONOMY. The country is becoming the major hub for the foreign players.

FDI has been one of the important steps taken by the government in order to revive back the country in the league of emerging economy. Not only this, the move also sending positive signal across the globe and inviting players to invest in this boosting economy.

According to me FDI really promises a bright future to India, with a better shopping experience, better airline to travel, and better content for entertainment possibilities every evening. This move will certainly help in the long run; it makes India the best investment destination.

First let me throw some light on FDI on the Indian Aviation industry. I think it is the most needed step seeing the growth opportunity in this industry and the way the industry is performing.....

"According to aircraft maker Airbus“India will be the fourth biggest market in terms of value for all new aircraft deliveries during the next 20 years.”

The Indian aviation sector has a growth potential to absorb investment worth US$ 120 billion. As for the FDI in aviation, it would give boost to the sector. As we can see the today’s scenario of our aviation industry, which has so much potential to grow is degrading day by day. Where our national carrier is going down, FDI has become the need of the hour. Not only the present condition of the industry will improve but will help bring in more healthy competition…..

Well besides this, the major concern everyone is showing is that the FDI in retail would adversely affect the Indian small retailers and the farmers. However in my opinion it will push them into healthy competition, they would try to organize themselves in order to compete with the giants.

Source: Economics Times & ibef.org

What’s in store for farmers from this move? It would help them cut intermediaries, giving farmers the best and competitive price for their produce. It would also help to avoid the tons of wastage of the food grains, fetching the farmer’s greater profits. Better supply chain, better facilities of cold storage, thereby improving the quality of produce; income of the farmers will stabilize  farmer will eventually be integrated into modern trade…….

Now being a consumer, I want to talk a little about consumer benefits that FDI will bring along; Greater choice, More competitive price, better quality of food product, etc…..

Moreover, development cannot be stagnant, it is something that cannot be stopped, and it is bound to happen…..

Marketing News: April-July 2012 Revealed

Marketing News is what we search everywhere. 

I have made an effort to bring the best of news for the months of April-May and June-July 2012, in a crisp, artistic manner.Read it and stay updated...

These videos were prepared by me & Aamer Rushnaiwala (aamerrushnaiwala.blogspot.in) . Thank you Aamer for crafting this, without your creative PPT's skill this wouldn't have been possible.

April-May 2012


 

June-July 2012

The Changing Face of Ads

There were times, when we knew that this product advertisement would feature this kind of people, this would be the concept, this would be the theme, etc….. for example: a noodle ad would feature a child, he is hungry, and his mum serves him a bowl of delicious noodles; or may a detergent power ad would have a frustrated house wife, a yellow looking shirt that changes into white; or for that matter a child enjoying a bar of chocolate……

However, this era is a game changer; we really don’t see those same kinds of ads any more…From a modest start of a few lines spoken on the radio to the showy world of internet- the advertising world has come a long way, and so does the advertising concept…

What does a marketer really thinks before making these kinds of ad? This is the question that hunted me for days; so, for that matter i searched whole of websites and saw various advertisement, from the nineties to those of twenties……. There was one difference that really caught my eyes. How one generation has replaced the other in the world of advertisement. How the companies try to increase their target segment through interesting and innovative ads.  The companies are doing all to attract the attention of the consumer towards the brands as well towards the ads, ultimately increasing the recall value of the ad.

Let me highlight some of the examples, Chocolate is considered a product for children, however Cadbury with is innovate ads highlights elder people consuming it at various occasion and for a good beginning (subh arambh)… in the process made chocolate relevant to us in ways that we had never assumed of……..

(Cadbury Gems: "Raho Umar-less")

The recent ad of Cadbury Gems (ikla pikla ping ping)  featuring elders who start behaving like kids for Gems…. (I really liked that ad)…... Cadbury Gems' new campaign tries to bring out the little child in everyone as it tries magnifies its target consumer base from kids to those who are children at heart. The campaign showcases countless childish attributes of adults, the motives for their attraction to Gems & stresses on the idea of living an ageless life with a fine tagline, 'Raho Umarless' 

The Maggie ad where the Old mam askes his wife to prepare “pakode” so that he can enjoy the rain, so the wife asks her Bahu to prepare something healthy, and the Bahu in turns prepare Maggie for the whole family... we can see in this ad how the company try to portray maggies as whole family snacks and not just for kids…

What really does the marketers think before making these ads, Does the advertisement offer a “reason why” to buy the product? Or is it oriented more to emotional appeals? Does the ad feature the product or does it focus on the people using it? Well the ad must be correlated to the need and mentality of the consumer…. But these ads still works even if its going in opposite direction of people’s perception or mentality…  I would say the marketers are trying to change this perception, but are they really successful in doing so? I certainly cannot judge this, but for me these ads are really amazing, this is the changing face of advertising…..

(FlipKart Ad)

Well I talked a lot about Elder generation taking place of young ones in ads, what about the other way around…. The best example for this would be FlipKart’s recent advertisements, carrying forward the concept of kids as adults, these ads will focus on driving home some of the key advantages of shopping on FlipKart…. All its recent ads have couple of kids talking about problems with online shopping and how Flipkart is a solution, but with voices of grownups. I like the problem and solution strategy……

But the question is do people really get motivated to shop online??? Would the audience really take the kids conversation seriously???

Whatever the solution would be, I am very impressed with this new change in the advertisements, the marketers indeed pour in their talent and creativity in order to craft these brilliant ads.