Corporates get a dose of Patel's marketing

India Inc's managers lapped up new insights on rural marketing from Praful Patel, the Union Minister for civil aviation, on the first day of the fifth Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) marketing summit.

Recalling the days when he was faced the challenge of establishing his 'Number 27' brand of bidis in the face of rumours that smoking bidis caused impotence in men, Patel said he had to work out a strategy to associate health and vitality with the product.

"We paraded bodybuilders smoking bidis to convince them otherwise," he reminisced.

He added that even politicians employed subtle advertising, for instance Laloo Prasad Yadav selling the idea of 'Kulhars'. He also asked the advertisers to build an Indian model for marketing 'Brand India'.

Sunil Kant Munjal, president, CII, said that marketing professionals engaged the consumers more in the process of marketing.

"The customers must have a say in product design and even advertising," he said. Munjal added that marketing had more to do with behavioural science and should be based on customer needs.

"Even business-to-business companies must look at advertising as their core growth strategy," he observed.

N Srinivasan, director general, CII outlined the 'ABC' of marketing where accessing the markets, brand building and customer-oriented strategies would re-define discipline.

Sanjeev Gupta, chairman, CII marketing committee and CEO, Coca-Cola India said that marketing needed a commonsense approach.

"The product must be unique and satisfying a genuine customer need. And if you get the consumer insight right, there will be a universal market and not just urban or rural market," he said.

Criticising present day marketing trends, Suhel Seth, CEO Equus Redcell said that the function had been reduced to a gimmick.

"A lot of ad campaigns today are being written on the back of an envelope and there is hardly any strategy thinking behind it," he said.

He called for a strategic consumer-connect model from marketers that would focus more on consumer delight.

While sharing international marketing insights, Anil Menon, VP, corporate brand strategy, IBM, USA said that to build a successful brand, the CEO of the company should own the brand.

"That is how Sony has built and safeguarded its brand," he said.