I have been caught up with work, travel and other such mundane things these past few days. That, coupled with my legendary laziness, is the reason why I have not updated my blog - not that you care I know!
As a stop gap, as a relief to your eyes, yet as a pain to your ears, here's a link to some audio bytes. I was interviewed in Aaha FM - a popular Tamil FM channel in Madras, owned and run by Kumudham magazine - a few weeks back on, what else, marketing.
If you have a few minutes - 45 of them to be precise - click on the link and check out yours truly.
A caveat though: The interview is in Tamil. For those who can't understand it and wouldn't feel like listening to it - lucky you!
http://www.archive.org/details/BadriSeshadriKizhakkuPodcastWeek6
_SatheeshKrishnamurthytalkingtoSatyanarayanonMarketin
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 06, 2009
The Upside of Slowdowns
It looks like the worst of the economic slowdown is behind us. Some economists have predicted the beginning of a recovery early next year. Agreed, economists get it wrong most of the time. As they say, economists correctly predicted ten of the last three recessions! Let’s hope, for our sake, they are right about recovery.
Everyone and his mistress have talked about the pains and problems with economic slowdowns. Every cloud has the proverbial silver lining. Is there anything for us marketers to learn from this slowdown? I think there is. And here are three.
1. To begin with, most of us were referring to this lull as recession. By God, at least this country of ours was far from it. We were actually growing albeit much lower than last year. We had been growing so fast and so fine all these last ten years or so that most of us were not happy when the growth slowed down. The slowdown made one thing clear to everyone, if ever clarity was needed: ‘We Indians want growth; and growth at a galloping pace. Anything slow and we are not willing to accept.’ For a poor and illiterate country that has just started to embrace open markets and globalization, it’s a heartening thing to note.
2. Premium brands are the ones that seem to take a pounding during economic slowdowns. Honda was hammered. Toyota was traumatized. Mercedes Benz was murdered. But did you notice Maruti managed! While their premium brands slowed down, the company sales itself didn’t. The company’s mass brands grew even if not by much. It clearly shows and comprehensively proves: Don’t put all the eggs in one basket. If you have premium brands in your portfolio, try having mid-sized ones and low-priced warriors too as part of your product mix. Come slowdown, your premium brands would wobble; but your mass brands will wiggle you out.
3. Come an economic slowdown and marketers seem to cut costs – and that includes cutting down on the easiest one to cut – advertising. A study by Business Line has proved that all those companies that actually bucked the slowdown and increased their advertising spend were the ones that actually grew during this slowdown. Makes sense, doesn’t it? When everyone cuts down their noise levels, even if you whisper you are heard loud, by the ones that matter most – customers. Remember, tightening your belt during a slowdown is fine; but too much of a tightening and you start suffocating. Loosen it a bit during a lull and you might well laugh all the way to the bank.
For the sake of all of us and this country, here’ hoping for an early and speedy recovery: Three cheers to the economy, up up hooray!
Everyone and his mistress have talked about the pains and problems with economic slowdowns. Every cloud has the proverbial silver lining. Is there anything for us marketers to learn from this slowdown? I think there is. And here are three.
1. To begin with, most of us were referring to this lull as recession. By God, at least this country of ours was far from it. We were actually growing albeit much lower than last year. We had been growing so fast and so fine all these last ten years or so that most of us were not happy when the growth slowed down. The slowdown made one thing clear to everyone, if ever clarity was needed: ‘We Indians want growth; and growth at a galloping pace. Anything slow and we are not willing to accept.’ For a poor and illiterate country that has just started to embrace open markets and globalization, it’s a heartening thing to note.
2. Premium brands are the ones that seem to take a pounding during economic slowdowns. Honda was hammered. Toyota was traumatized. Mercedes Benz was murdered. But did you notice Maruti managed! While their premium brands slowed down, the company sales itself didn’t. The company’s mass brands grew even if not by much. It clearly shows and comprehensively proves: Don’t put all the eggs in one basket. If you have premium brands in your portfolio, try having mid-sized ones and low-priced warriors too as part of your product mix. Come slowdown, your premium brands would wobble; but your mass brands will wiggle you out.
3. Come an economic slowdown and marketers seem to cut costs – and that includes cutting down on the easiest one to cut – advertising. A study by Business Line has proved that all those companies that actually bucked the slowdown and increased their advertising spend were the ones that actually grew during this slowdown. Makes sense, doesn’t it? When everyone cuts down their noise levels, even if you whisper you are heard loud, by the ones that matter most – customers. Remember, tightening your belt during a slowdown is fine; but too much of a tightening and you start suffocating. Loosen it a bit during a lull and you might well laugh all the way to the bank.
For the sake of all of us and this country, here’ hoping for an early and speedy recovery: Three cheers to the economy, up up hooray!
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