An overview of Happily Unmarried journey in marketing

E-commerce is paving way for innumerable entrepreneurs to enter the retail sector and make it more competitive. There are so many sales or offers or special day discounts or deals which are keeping everybody in this business on their toes. The tricks like increasing the price first and then be pretentious about the prices has made the e-commerce player paid price in their own terms like negative word of mouth from people. Small small business have flourished in every nook and corner which has become the livelihood of many people. One such inspiring group of people who thought of something innovative and experimented way ahead of time in the time around 2003 when no flipkart also existed were the founders of "Happily Unmarried", Rajat Tuli and Rahul Anand.

The approach of finding fun and ability to generate a wow factor associated with their products is unique. We all laugh and giggle when we watch something humorous be it a tv series or a humorous commercial, if that was not the case Chandler Bing of Friends or Barney Stinson of HIMYM fame would not have been the some of the most memorable characters of our time. Appreciating fun in small small things around us is not an easy task. It requires a third eye vision which only a handful of us can think of. Happily Unmarried is not an unknown name for the times at present. They have never come up with any TVC or any print media but still they are able to create a buzz online. Their products are getting popular and youth once in a while definitely experiments with their products. Their success has inspired so many other entrepreneurs like Chumbak, stupid-intelligent, quirkbox etc. Their humorous posts are awesome which makes people appreciate things around them. (http://www.happilyunmarried.com/blog/). Their messages are straight forward they speak loud and clear and to the point. They dont hesitate to make fun of our celebrities too but in a subtle manner. Its not like a going viral because of inappropriate content just like what AIB did and it became the matter of debate. There is always a thin line between humor and making fun to get people laugh. People laugh aloud when they see Satires but they dont learn to appreciate the things in a positive manner when they are looking at humor.

The kind of marketing strategy Happily Unmarried is following is really incredible, gaining grounds and becoming popular amongst masses. It is a perfect blend of knowing what ingredients works best for my brand. Itsnot always the root of traditional media which help you to make your brand but it the right strategy at the right time what matters the most. 

Wonders without penny spent

With the advent of the new era of online shopping, some brands are banging aloud with their wonderful Sales revenue. The traditional media for them seems to be a good old day story starting as " once upon a time....". When there is a roar of Asian tiger for "Make in India" the Chinese Dragon is sending the fire by targeting India's potentially untapped telecommunication market. The brand sending jitters to Apple and the other smartphone players is doing great business in India.

Some people call it phenomenal and some call it a theft, but at present the brand is hatching golden eggs. The most amazing part is this brand has followed an exceptional growth chart without spending money for the big launch. Despite shipping few defective sets too, it managed to sail through by working on its quick replacement of defective sets. What strategy worked out for it is really important to think about.

Collaborating with the important online player Flipkart, has done wonders for both of them. While other online players like Snapdeal and Amazon can only manage to sell their screen guard or their flip covers, Flipkart gave it a buzz with prior registration and limited stock availability.

Chinese products are anyways a hit among Indian masses. So the buyers had a doubt about the quality of the product as they are famous for cheap price with no assurance of the warranty of the product. Targeting mobile phones worked out as people love to experiment with new devices and flaunt about them. The commodity with a small life cycle and with the cheap price attracted the potential buyers. The name China's Apple gave it a positive leap in the mind of the consumer as Apple is always a sought after brand with epitome of perfection.

There is a very interesting thing to be noted about this brand, it was selling itself at a higher price than it was being offered on Flipkart on other sites which primarily sell the second hand stuff among the target market. I think this is only such case in existence. The brand riding on the shoulders of others like Flipkart and now Bharti Airtel is playing safe saving its penny to be spent on the marketing front.

Making the brand a prized possession for those who own it in a flash sale is creating lots of buzz and paving way to strong word of mouth for publicity for others. Other players in this segment will have to really put in great effort to overcome this Chinese dragon otherwise they will burn their hands in its spells of fire.

Journey of Dowry System in Modern era

Dowry system has always been prevalent in the society in India. Quite interestingly the journey of dowry has also transformed its form with the passage of time. We say that women upliftment has taken place in the society and they now stand shoulder to shoulder with their men counterparts so has the elevation of dowry.

Origin of dowry was through the times when a girl used to get married and has to go to the other house. Her parents used to give her all the things associated with the basic amenities (we will discuss about the gold/jewellery part later on). She used to be the homemaker and take care of the house, doing usual stuff to make the life of their counterparts as comfortable as possible. The basic purpose was as a new member used to add on in the family she used to bring with herself the supporting things to lead a comfortable life. Now as the liberalization of women took place the face of dowry also started changing. Now the things which once used to be the basic amenities increased gradually not from the bride side but the groom wants more things to make “THEIR” life comfortable. Slowly and slowly it started to become a burden on the bride side. Crime cases in dowry took a leap. Parents of the girl child started to feel girl as a burden. Now the empowerment of women through education came to the forefront. A greater section of the society wanted their girl child to be educated.

Now the race for education began for the girl child. However it did not percolate through all sections of the society, it was handful of middle class and upper middle class section of society. In the place where crime for girls is always on the rise especially from the safety point of view it was a difficult task for parents to teach a girl in comparison to the boy. But still girls started making their mark on the society. Parents started upbringing their girls in the same manner as a boy. Now the equation for marriage became a bit difficult educated girl means an educated boy. Does educated boy means elevated dowry? Rates are being set for the boy as per their education. Is this the justice to the education of a girl?

In India number of dowry cases is on the rise. According to the newspaper Telegraph “Women is killed every hour in India over dowry”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10280802/Woman-killed-over-dowry-every-hour-in-India.html

If a girl is working and well educated that becomes a big bonus so in these type of cases the dowry takes a different form. Usually the other side does no demand money or kind for themselves but in order to glorify themselves wants this glitter to be shown to their relatives. This has been very well portrayed in our daily soaps on various channels. The best narration which I could find was this one from a soap called " Jee Le Zara" on SET. the conversation between the elders for finalizing the marriage is worth watching. This is just one case which is shown.

The big question is when will this end?  All girls, whether educated or uneducated, whether financially independent or dependent, remain untouched with this dragon of dowry. This is extremely ridiculous for the society and the future of women in India.

Impact of Illusive Advertisement

Marketing is defined as an organization function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to the customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.  Earlier when the brands catering to the needs of the customer were limited there was less of the competition but as the brands increased so did the competition. The rules of the market were simple and everybody was enjoying their share. With the due course of time communication became one of the top priorities. The important mediums constituted print, television, radio, fliers, billboards, mail, telephone, posters, CDs. Audiotapes and internet. Brands wanted to grow by increasing the size of the markets but slowly and slowly with the increasing coverage snatching away of the market share from the competitors became important to survive. Some ground rules were laid down by advertising council of India so that competition may not turn into a hostile war. 

Recently Colgate and Pepsodent two oral health care brands are caught up in defaming case against other. The campaign was so noticeable that even though somebody missed it by chance on television the news covered it up. Earlier also so many similarly themed advertisement talking about brushing the teeth, cavities, germi check have appeared on television. But this one did its task very well meaning to say covering a big chunk of the target audience. Though the case is still going on in the court Pepsodent was able to come in news.

Does the brand appreciate the fact that it has come in the limelight by whatsoever means?

Taking another example of the print ad which was created for fun in the year 2002 and had no implications for the brand communication became viral few days back.

The ad says that the earlier the kids start drinking Cola better it will be for their future. However the person who has made this advertisement says it has no implications for promoting the brand.

Now let us try to understand what does this type of advertisement says at subliminal level. Earlier advertisements used to provide the apt information and people could trust on that while making decision making. But now when the information provided in the advertisement is objectionable. Where does the responsibility of media lies? In the earlier example of Colgate vs Pepsodent  there have been charges that no such laboratory test actually existed which has been shown in the commercial.

The vintage advertisement of Cola shows the name of the “The soda pop board of America” which is nothing. Also the claims done in the advertisement are just baseless. What harm does this misleading advertisement do? These type of advertisements because of their unique claims catches the attention of the audience and then works at the subliminal level. Since not every viewer will cross check or verify the facts and figures they at their subconscious level make an acceptable premise. In future that information which gets stored gives an optimistic purview. Even though a person can straight away negate the claims (as done in the cola ad), but somewhere down the line if somebody supports that idea the response would be positive. This is how advertisements take the people away from realty at a very minute level of consciousness. In case of advertisement of Pepsodent and Colgate though Colgate is the market leader, Pepsodent will be successful in this attempt if its distribution becomes equally strong as of Colgate and it increases its visibility too by 130 percent. The prime advantage which it can bang upon is top of the mind recall because of the free publicity it has earned. Now if that is in sync with the supply chain it can be a successful moment for the brand.

Ethically speaking this type of advertisement claims should be strictly banned and be discouraged. A strict action should be taken for their course of action so that there should not be any misleading effect. The whole purpose of communications gets defeated and it will cost dearly in the future.

Critical Review: Tata Docomo advertisement theme “Open Up”

Recently saw the Tata Docomo commercial which has the theme “open up”.

Seeing the advertisement it was a bit difficult to reach on a conclusion whether it is a good one or not. The song used in the advertisement is a hit number by Salman Khan. How much brand elements were in sync with the song used as well as how well it is used let us ponder some thought on the same.

The theme of the advertisement is “open up” to laugh share and talk. One thing which can be noted very clearly is all the characters in the commercial are enjoying their feeling of happiness alone. All the children are happy dancing on their own tunes. Be it in the garden or the home all of them are happy in their own world. As the commercial proceeds towards the end the man in the office dances in front of everybody seeing the enjoyment of the children but again he is enjoying in himself. This becomes clear as despite so many colleagues in the office he did not invite anybody to dance with him.

The whole purpose of “Open up” is defeated when one sees that it implies open up within self. There is no interaction been shown up in the commercial. However, literally open up is seen in the advertisement as all the children (except few girls) are shown in their bare minimum. The theme open up could have been utilized in a more intelligent way in so many ways. Sometimes the catchy numbers are not sufficient to catch the attention. The product shot comes too late in the advertisement; however most of the Tata Docomo commercial follows the same trend. One good thing about the commercial is that they have taken children primarily as a means to show the expression of joy. The prime focus of the advertisement gets lost somewhere in order to show the expression of self enjoyment and not enjoyment with others. So the purpose of Laugh, Share and Talk gets subjugated. If someone argues that they have focused on the laugh or fun of the children; their video being shared by somebody and seen by some people in office which again reinforces the feeling of fun; then the talk aspect should also come into the picture as nobody was shown talking about it.

Though the advertisement can be said to catch your glance but still the misfit cannot be ignored.

Is it the right move of Apple to introduce color variants?

Apple has recently introduced an advertisement “Plastic Perfected” which introduces five color variants for its apple customers.

Apple has always been an iconic brand with its specific white color. No other brands launched their phones especially in white color. However Apple made their mark with the white color. Even if a person saw the white color of the device a person is carrying the automatic association with the brand could be established. With such a out of the box marketing strategy of Steve Jobs the brand effect is being diluted with its recent launch of iPhone 5c and 5s series. Have a look at the recent advertisement of the launch of the iPhone.

In India the telecom sector is booming with the continuous increase in the usage of the mobile phone users. Moreover the investors now see India as a good investment for luxury and high end products there are n number of brands in India targeting every segment of the society. Hence with so many mobile phone brands in India, the market is quite cluttered. Each brand is giving a tough time to another one. Apple with its entry in India by introducing the colored variants is trying to tap the high end market. Recently Nokia Lumia also entered the market and tried to tap it. While in India itself Micromax, Samsung and other players work on almost the same pattern to advertise. Now Apple has joined the queue. There is nothing which can make them stand apart except the brand name. I see no reason for the buyer to invest in Apple brand when the same features can be bought at lesser price with almost same good looking devices. Customer is not willing to spend just for the sake of showing the brand name until and unless that brand makes him stand apart. The iconic class which used to characterize the brand Apple is being diluted at some point.

Some people may counter the discussed thought that according to the laws of marketing the brands must evolve with time otherwise the competitor brands will outdo their strength giving a tough time. The situation can only be well answered once the market response to the new launch can be gazed. So its time to wait and watch.

Dose for good advertisement = creativity + attitude + emotions

Guinness is always known for its innovative and award winning advertisement. This time they have again lived up the expectations and came out with a brilliant advertising.

The concept of a true sportsmanship and compassion amongst the players brings in the feeling of unity. The advertisement features the various emotions like fighting spirit, happiness, disappointment etc in an impressive way. Sport is such area in advertisement which binds different people with one thread and it always works. This is called brilliant advertising which leads to a positive impact on the culture of the society and unites people. The portrayal of a disabled man on wheelchair helps to reinforce the thought that no matter what the circumstances it’s the attitude of the person which makes him a part of the group.

Now, we know India is a country where cricket is termed as a religion. Cricketers as god and there is huge followers and fans for them. We say advertisement is brilliant in India as compared to the west. But the point is have we ever seen this feeling of true sportsmanship amongst our advertisements. Various brands uses cricketers as their brand ambassadors, but they never tapped their potential as a sportsman but instead tried to forge their product on something related to sports and impose it on the commercial. If the advertisement portrays the true spirit or feelings which can be well echoed works well and remains on the top of the mind recall. The sole aim of the advertising is always not to increase the sales of the product it is sometimes helpful in establishing the brand name. once the brand is able to associate itself with a strong emotion it works well.

Recently coke came up with their advertising campaign of spreading happiness. It was a good attempt to reinforce their presence amongst the competitors.

We need more of this type of good advertising, we still remember “ hamara bajaj campaign” which was able to imbibe in the sentiments of a middle class family when India was growing up in its nascent age post independence. This advertisement made the brand a loved one by Indians.

Meaning to say when creativity is best wrapped in beautiful package of emotions it can do wonders for the brand.