Harshad Jain, Chief Marketing Officer, WorldSpace India, joined India’s only satellite service provider earlier this year. Jain had been in the FMCG industry for over 14 years, with a particularly successful career at Pepsi. Speaking to agencyfaqs!, he talks about the promotional strategies of WorldSpace in India, and the growth of the brand over the past six years.

Q. Though off to a slow start, WorldSpace has grown impressively since its launch. To what do you attribute the success or turnaround?
A WorldSpace launched its services in 2000 in India and introduced the revolutionary concept of satellite radio to the country. In the past five years we have expanded our retail presence to reach out to customers in across India and offer a choice of over 40 radio stations playing the widest choice of music, entertainment and information, which can be accessed virtually anywhere in the country.

This growth is a result of sustained campaign that involves consumer education and trial initiation, BTL activities, retail network expansion and a host of experiential marketing strategies that involves establishing tie-ups with retails outlets as well as expansion of the Worldspace Lounge concept to more cities. An aggressive product strategy also helped bringing more people into our subscriber base.

Among the other factors that are driving our growth in the country is the fact that music lovers still find a dearth of variety in the Indian radio space, to which we offer an effective solution.

Q. How challenging has it been to educate Indian consumers about satellite radio? How different would your listener be from an average FM radio listener?
A. To educate the consumers about satellite radio we have provide a 360-degree experience for our consumers by generating consumer education and awareness. This has been done by launching an advertising and communication campaign, providing better product availability through an enhanced sales and distribution network and customer service set up. Our advertising campaign includes print, radio and outdoor advertising, BTL (below-the-line activities) and customer contact programs by way of one-on-one interactions; all aimed at inducing experience of the service. ‘Experience’ is definitely a key factor in marketing our service.

WorldSpace offers a unique value proposition, with quality content that is clutter-free for the discerning listener. The subscription model actually lends a new dimension to marketing of the concept because when customers have to pay for content, very clearly, they are looking for a distinct proposition. These include quality of choice, diversity of programming, and range of content. Indian listeners have never had the luxury of such a variety and choice of music, 24 hours a day. It is a new experience for music lovers, wherein they can choose to tune in to any genre of music as per their mood and taste.

In terms of a customer profile – a satellite radio customer is an evolved radio consumer who is looking for specific niches that satisfy his radio entertainment needs.

Q. What are the genres of music that have been picked up most by Indian listeners?
A. We have a wide base of listeners across our bouquet of stations. Shruthi, our 24 hour Carnatic classical channel; Farishta, the 24 hour channel that plays old Bollywood hits; Spin, the 24 hour International Pop and Rock music channel; Moksha – our new spiritual and wellness channel and Jhankaar, the 24 hour new Hindi and Indipop music are the most popular channels.

Q.While satellite radio is on a different plane than terrestrial radio, what is your strategy to promote this difference?
A. Satellite radio is a new category and right now, we are the only player in the Indian market. The biggest challenge the medium faces currently is the lack of understanding of the concept and its features. We are focusing on expanding our reach and educating music lovers across the country on the value proposition that we offer them.

We offers music lovers several options where they can experience the immense value of the satellite radio services – at our exclusive Worldspace Lounges, currently located in Bangalore, Delhi (Gurgaon and Noida), Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad; through our mobile experience vans; through participation in a range of ground events and concerts that bring music closer to music lovers and through our marketing alliances with brands such as Café Coffee Day and Barista where Worldspace entertains their customers as well as our partnerships with Music World and Planet M where people can get a taste of the Worldspace experience as they shop for their music.

Q. What is the scope for marketing campaigns on WorldSpace as there are no conventional ads? Are co-branded promotions popular?
A. WorldSpace radio is virtually advertising-free, and the programs, channels and RJs are music-focused and committed to leading listeners through a journey of musical exploration on our channel. Yes co –branded promotions have been a success. Particularly successful has been the in-film promotion in Lage Raho Munnabhai. We also have ongoing promotions with Outlook and The Telegraph. I think co-branded promotions are a great way for brands to leverage each others’ strengths.

Q. How do you intend to take WorldSpace to the next level, given the rapid pace of growth in FM radio?
A. Satellite radio has been acknowledged as one of the fastest growing entertainment media. This is borne out by the fact that in USA alone there are over 10 million subscribers of satellite radio services, despite there being hundreds of FM stations available there.

We plan to dedicate significant resources to our current business strategy, including increasing our visibility to support our marketing and outreach efforts, developing our product offerings in India through cost-effective partnerships and agreements and demonstrating the power of our business model.

As we add cities to our market rollout in India, we are also focused on the quantity and the quality of our retail points of presence where our service is sold. Because India’s consumer electronics distribution is significantly more fragmented, we are approaching the retail and distribution on a city-by-city basis. We complement these networks with our own Experience stores.

Additionally we are also focused on increasing the points at which consumers can experience the Worldspace service by ensuring our presence in malls, in colleges, in theatres, in coffee shops and places where we can reach people.

Q. Do you see shock jockeys (like Howard Stern) emerging in the Indian space, like we have in the US market, which is also the largest satellite radio market in the world?
A.Right now the industry is still in its stages of emerging and blooming in India. The programming format is also evolving and so are the styles of the RJs which are more or less uniform across all radio stations. And this is bound to continue for sometime. Therefore it will definitely be a while before jockeys in India are allowed to do their own thing (like shock jockeys).

Q. What kind of music do you like listening to?
A.I like listening to English music on our stations Voyager and Orbit Rock, and Bollywood music on Jhankaar.
 

© 2006 agencyfaqs!