Nimbleness and a friendly go-to-the-consumer-directly approach is the hallmark of an underdog brand
Would you agree that you have somewhere benefited from being an ‘underdog’?
If you look closely, worldwide, this industry (telecom) has been dominated only by multinationals. When we started, I think more than anything else, everyone (including ourselves) questioned just how we could take on these ‘giants’ with such deep pockets, backed by phenomenal R&D base. But we still got into the market with 10,000 handsets. Our only learning till then was that the Indian market largely had handsets, which were made by global companies in global R&D centres. What was happening was that consumers were getting ‘adapted’ to what was being offered to them. The ‘focus’ on India — understanding consumer needs was something that needed to be done better. So, we made the first mobile set with a 30-day back-up. In 10 days, the 10,000 handsets were sold out with repeat orders coming to us.
We realised that while we were the ‘underdog’ brand, we were actually on the right track. By the way, we had no advertising budgets; so our first launch — that was so successful — was supported just by word-of-mouth. I don’t know about ‘benefiting’ from being an underdog brand. I know we were always — and we continue — working very, very hard. We have the advantage of understanding the local market, having faster and swifter innovations and creating verticals that no one else has in the Indian market.
So obviously underdog brands can become powerful. What, according to you, makes such brands powerful?
I think they (underdog brands) become powerful because somewhere, sometimes, they have a better understanding of consumers. I’ll speak specifically about Micromax. I think we have an edge in terms of our innovations (it’s our biggest strength), we have nimbleness, we have a friendly go-to-consumer-directly approach. Maybe we read our consumers better, maybe, in terms of technology, we are fast to react. If we are planning something, we can come up with products in three-to-four months flat. Maybe, it is not easy for the multinational companies to come up with products specifically for just one market and sweep things around so quickly. They (multinational telecom companies) have their own one-year, two-year roadmap. Because we look from a particular view (local), we can manage better. For example, we came up with blueprints of nine tablets, refining each and every one of them along the way. But, somewhere we were not convinced; we felt it was not the right product and so, we tweaked it and offered something totally different, totally unique, a first-of-its-kind product to the Indian market.
How does consumer self-image and circumstances affect their reaction to underdog and top dog brands?
I think the tough part for an underdog brand, in this aspect, is selling the product, developing an effective communication strategy and actually getting consumers to, first, adopt and adapt to the product, and second, to understand that the company is actually giving you value for your money. I don’t have any qualms, for instance, to go to a distributor, roll up my sleeves and start selling the products (not just mine, necessarily) to consumers. As an underdog brand, I can do so without feeling the slightest hitch. To me, it is absolutely the best exercise and in 30 minutes of selling the products, I get an understanding of just what the consumer wants and desires from companies in the business. It’s not easy to create an image, a brand, especially for underdogs, which compete directly with giants. But, I think, on-the-ground exercises, a genuine concern for consumer needs, a willingness to experiment, will get you noticed and get a positive reaction from the consumers. In each and every product, you need to give to the consumer whatever will help her in her everyday life. Plain vanilla advertising, vanilla branding can’t help you sustain for long.
What, then, is the ideal communication strategy for an underdog brand?
In your case, you didn’t even have the advertising budgets. Oh, we had zero advertising budgets. Like I said, we studied the consumers better. So dual SIM card phones, phones with recording facilities, affordable phones especially for women, complete with cosmetic and technological features (this was Bling, complete with Swarovski-studded crystals), among others, are ideas taken directly from the consumers.
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When we started making handsets, everyone said just one thing; ‘Haven’t heard of Micromax’. But that didn’t deter us. Our approach was to first attack the rural markets, and then come to the towns. Believe me, that’s what transformed things for us. The rural segment realised the value we were offering them in terms of the products we offered. Now we want to tap the high-end markets. We want to do brilliant products, confuse all the people on why they are even buying the other brands and not this (lifts his personal Micromax handset).
We have been just three-and-a-half years old in the market and now we are at a tipping point of sorts. Now we are big, raring to go forward and place, through our organization, India on the international map.
Our advertising strategy is now completely in your face, our branding is tongue-in-cheek. If you see any of our commercials, we are directly asking consumers why they are not selecting our brand over others. We are challenging the consumer directly, calling a spade, well, a spade.
| Micromax plays a flexible game |
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Now, if you think long term, how long can brands benefit from the underdog imagery?
Underdog brands face tremendous challenges. Can they benefit from such imagery in the long term? Yes they can, as long as they can genuinely understand what consumers want and give value-for-money products. Price, mind you, is not the criteria, value-for-money is. Okay, let me give you an example.
I was with a friend in the US recently who wanted to go to Zara (a now well-known high-street brand) store. Now, I’m fond of brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, but Zara is not where I purchase things from. It’s only when I stepped into the store, I saw the products — they are brilliant, at a phenomenal value — that I started asking myself questions. Why didn’t I explore this brand before, why didn’t I experience it before?
The same theory, I apply to Micromax; why should consumers pay Rs 35,000 or more for phones when Micromax is offering them more value on a similar product? Once the adoption of the product happens for an underdog brand, people sit up and take notice, particularly because it’s not a giant, it’s an underdog brand.
Does the journey — from being an underdog brand to a big company — rob a company of the ‘fun’ part of being an underdog, which is about not having too many layers, of being nimble, of being willing to go the whole hog and take risks?
Not entirely. Yes, we have a corporate structure in that we have a CEO in place and other senior positions filled up by some of the best names in the industry. We have our HR policies but we are still very, very flexible. I think we remain an employee-friendly organisation just like we did when we started out. My belief is that if your internal customers (company employees) are happy, only then can our external consumers be happy. If you’re unhappy then there’s a problem because it will affect the product. Trust me, our attrition rate is negligible and I’m really happy that normally people don’t leave us. I understand their sensibilities.
I’m in my loafers and denims despite being in a corporate setup. I don’t have a problem if my employees want to work from home, want to wear something casual to work; it’s fine, of course, as long as they’re getting the job done.
I see companies being strict about employees coming to office at 8:30 am, the ‘red mark’ system and all of that. Personally, I don’t understand it and when our HR team tried doing that I asked them not to. Such systems won’t work for a company like Micromax. Policies in companies are important but they should be employee-friendly, they should not become a roadblock. The only thing I’m strict about is that you only use Micromax products in office.