RAMMS-JC Williams Group seminar: Redress the store to a brand

John Torella, senior partner, JC Williams Group, pointed out the various requirements for a retail brand in the global scene

“India’s economic growth has set the change for a fundamental change in marketing,” said John Torella, senior partner, JC Williams Group.

The RAMMS and JC Williams Group organised a seminar that highlighted the basic and not so basic requirements for a brand to thrive in the new global retail scene. Torella began by stressing the need to focus on internal audiences (employees) as much as on external audiences. With India booming and the change seen in the spending patterns of the new middle class, Torella emphasised the need for a drastic change in the marketing strategy that brands adopt.

John Torella

Brand building must be carried out in such a way that footfalls in the store are increased, beyond which the store itself is gradually converted into a brand. For this to be achieved, Torella said, “Marketing should create awareness of the brand; understand its consumer, and accept the mindset of its regional consumer in order to generate traffic into the store.” With the newer middle class there have been many changes in the way a brand is built. Immediate sales have been replaced with a conscious and profitable growth; emotional benefits such as creating a bond with the customer have replaced rational benefits.

Torella cited the example of Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi, saying, “To build loyalty for life you need to connect with the five senses of the consumer.” Concentrating on the change that needs to be seen in marketing, Torella said that the brand will have to address various issues such as local needs and changing lifestyles within a locality. Brands will have to plan globally, but think locally and deliver personally, said Torella.

These changes in the outlook towards marketing create a new and enhanced role for the chief marketing officer (CMO). “Marketing,” said Torella, “needs to be made accountable to the brand and thus become key to the success of a brand.” He held the CMO to be a driver of change, thus making him the accelerator of the brand’s success. The CMO for this changing strategy will need the additional skills of building the business in order to build a brand, analysing and researching the market to predict its trends as well as being innovative with ideas.

Another important duty would be to maximally utilise the media available. Apart from the traditional media of television, press and radio, web, blogs, mobile, trade sponsorships, promotions, brand entertainment, direct/e-direct and plasma screens need to drive the marketing strategy.

In order to make the brand reach out to the consumer, the employees of the brand must first be addressed. They need to understand the values for which the brand stands and they must also understand the brand similarly.

All the media that are employed to market the brand should be used optimally. For example, when a brand creates itself on the web, the designing and marketing must be a continuous process that keeps improvising. Torella said the brand could reach the audience through traditional media and social media, which includes the newer genres such as blogs, mobile, direct marketing and interactive two-way marketing.

“The two-way marketing creates a dialogue which results in brand building,” informs Torella.

Thus, the increasingly tech-savvy consumer asks for a different approach to marketing a brand. “No matter who you would be in the industry, you would witness a change in the interaction that you have with your customer,” summed up Torella.

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