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What has been the most interesting sales promotion you have engineered?
In mid-2011, we embarked on a brand integration journey, uniting our two telecom brands, Tata Indicom (CDMA) and Tata Docomo (GSM) under a single umbrella brand, Tata Docomo. We launched a major campaign around this time to drive home a few points: convey this unified identity, speak about the network credentials and engage with consumers as well as trade partners.
Jeet ki ghanti was in a way the second leg of this campaign. This phase of the campaign was designed in a manner that carried forward the ubiquity of the network message through demonstration. The task was to make the consumer experience the network credentials. We rewarded consumers who kept their phones with Tata Docomo sim cards constantly on with big prizes. In essence, we were rewarding loyalty. The promo was rolled out around mid-November 2011 and ran for six weeks.
How was it designed?
The consumer had to leave an SMS to a shortcode (special telephone numbers, shorter than full telephone numbers, used to send SMSes), in response to which he would receive a code. This code had a shelf life of 24 hours. For this duration then, the consumer was eligible for the hourly and the end-of-the-day lucky draws. Every hour we picked a number and gave away a bike as a prize and at the end of the day a bumper prize, a car.
Apart from the big prizes won daily, the consumer was also surprised with preloading of balance on her cell phone, thus strengthening the proposition "Jeet ki ghanti kabhi bhi baj sakti hai" which drove home the point that with the Tata network, you might receive the winning call anytime.
Who was the primary target for the promotion - new or existing customers?
The promo was aimed at rewarding existing customers. However, the gratification was available for both existing and new customers alike. In that sense one could say it was targeted at both the categories of customers.
What were the challenges?
A challenge that comes to mind with this campaign is a technology-related one. We received hundreds of calls every hour from consumers. The system had to keep generating SMS codes for customers looking to participate and pick a number, in a completely impartial way, every hour. The process was an automated one - there was no manual intervention of any sort. Planning the technological support for the promo proved to be a big challenge.
Who partnered you in it?
We did not have any brand partners per se. The prizes that were given away - the bikes and the cars - were purchased from Yamaha and General Motors (Chevrolet) respectively. The only 'partner' for the promo was information technology company Tata Consultancy Services that built the technology platform for the campaign.
What was its direct and measurable impact on the sales and the brand?
The network perception scores grew by 17 per cent post the campaign, according to Brand Track. Gross additions to the subscriber base grew by 24 per cent. In the month before the launch of the campaign, gross additions had declined by 8 per cent. The high value customer base (defined on the basis of average revenue per user as Rs 300 for prepaid and Rs 500 for postpaid) grew by 11 per cent and by 2.6 million in absolute terms.
The incoming minutes of usage went up by 569 million minutes, a growth of 12 per cent, during the promotion period. This is suggestive of the fact that a large number of customers was actively using their sim cards and had circulated their Tata DoCoMo numbers. That is to say, they weren't keeping the numbers active only for receiving incoming calls pertaining to the promotion but were in fact using the number for receiving incoming calls as well.
Was there any middle ground struck between tactics and strategy with this sales promotion?
From a strategic viewpoint, the campaign was meant to reinforce the brand integration and drive home the brand values and the ubiquitous network which was the central message of the larger campaign. From a tactical perspective, we were incentivising the customer for those six weeks to stay on with us. As a category that operates on multiple sim cards, the promo worked well to push the consumer preference for a sim card in our favour. The balance of scale was tipped equally between strategic and tactical decisions.
Will it be relevant today?
In its original form, the campaign was held together by a larger objective of driving consumer knowledge about the brand integration. This objective may not be relevant any more. However, the context of 'multi-simming' continues to be a reality even today. And, as a challenger brand, we must fight for the consumer's recharge wallet.
