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Gati: Tapping the retail segment

With Gati Couriers shifting its focus from the corporate consumer to the individual, the new campaign for the brand aims at creating brand awareness.

N. Shatrujeet

agencyfaqs! NEW DELHI,

The problem with courier and cargo advertising is the intrinsic rigidity in the category promise - which is, ‘anything, anywhere delivery'. No other promise can really hope to create even the minutest impression on the consumer. Which only means that creativity in brand communication is forced to blossom within the narrow confines of the category promise. The result? Courier ads that are either to-the-point but dry, or ones that exaggerate. By and large, the latter are vastly more memorable.

For instance, the recent two-ad television campaign for Gati.Take the ‘suicide' ad . Here's a man threatening to throw himself off a high-rise building, with the cops trying their best to prevent him. The Gati man comes into the picture, coolly hands over a document to the man on the ledge, gets him to sign a delivery document and departs. But not before politely thanking him and wishing him "Have a nice day, sir."

The ‘car chase' ad is an extension of the same idea.

"Typically, all courier companies have a range of services and product offerings for consumers," explains an Enterprise Nexus spokesperson. "However, the consumer is not interested in such information, and simply wants to know if her package is safe and will be delivered on time." So the agency decided to communicate to the single-most important benefit - delivering anything, anywhere, on time. "The situations used in the films were exaggerated to spell out the urgency of reaching a package to the consumer."

For Gati, this campaign signals a "paradigm shift" in its consumer focus - from corporates to retail business houses, small traders and individuals. "The brief was to reposition and relaunch Gati, by focusing on individuals and the retail segment to achieve better profitability in business," reveals the Enterprise spokesperson.

In India, the bulk of the business for courier companies comes from the corporate sector, and depends largely on the deal offered by courier companies. The courier market is extremely price-sensitive, which explains the preference for package deals. Individual usage of couriers has so far been limited in scope. However, in-house desk research conducted by the agency revealed that, among individual consumers, the need for sending packages and documents by courier was high.

"The profitability from one-time shippers or small shippers is more than that made from regular corporate businesses," says the spokesperson. The idea is to create new users for the category. Towards this end, creating awareness for the Gati brand among individuals was one of the campaign objectives. For this is where Gati has a perception problem.

The Rs 950-crore domestic courier industry is broadly divided into two segments - cargo and courier. "Companies that need to send huge packages (cargo), send it through Gati," explains the spokesperson. "However, if it is any important document or package that needs to be sent, the consumer prefers a Blue Dart." Incidentally, Blue Dart is the biggest player in the domestic courier market, with a market share of 23 per cent (1999-2000). Elbee and First Flight are joint No. 2, with 18 per cent share each.

Clearly, despite being in the courier business, Gati is perceived as a cargo transporter. "Gati is the leader in cargo management, yet is not perceived as a dynamic company," says the spokesperson. "Also, there is a lack of positive image among the core target audience." Ad hoc advertising - resulting in poor brand recall and low awareness levels - hasn't helped any.

This time around, Gati isn't positioning itself as a courier or cargo company. Rather as a delivery expert. The idea is to offer single-window operation facility - that is, all cargo and courier services under one roof. "Brand building is essential as it is imperative to create awareness of the brand in the consumer's mind so that it gets into her consideration set," the spokesperson insists.

And when almost half of the industry is under the sway of the unorganized sector, getting into the consideration set is, in itself, quite a challenge.

Agency: Enterprise Nexus, Mumbai

The Team:

Creative : Mohammed Khan, Neil Flory, Ramnathkar, Samir

Servicing : Anil Sanjivan, Meera Gautam

Filmmaker : Prasoon Pandey

Production House : Highlight

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