afaqs! Round Table Conference: "There's no bad car"

Marketers and agency executives got together at the afaqs! Round Table Conference to discuss the nuances of automobile marketing

The topic of discussion at the First Round Table organized by afaqs! was the automobile industry and the challenges before it. The discussion saw an eclectic mix of seasoned agency executives and veteran marketers sharing their experiences in this arena.

Gaurav Gupta, director marketing, General Motors; Pankaj Dubey, national business head, India Yamaha Motors; G Sanjay, GM, Hyundai Motors; Rajul Kulshreshtha, MD, Motivator; and Naresh Gupta, head, strategic planning, Dentsu Marcom were part of the panel. The discussion was moderated by Rajeev Dubey, executive editor, Businessworld.

Sreekant Khandekar, director, afaqs!, got the ball rolling. He said, "Two decades ago, when I started India's first marketing and advertising magazine, we thought it would be about advertising and media; but at that time, there was so little media that we started going towards marketing. For the next 10 years, our magazine was mostly marketing oriented, but now there's a change. There is so much advertising and so much media, that coverage on marketing has declined over the years."

Speaking about the rationale behind the Round Table Conference, he said, "Like a lot of other media brands, we feel we too are unable to cover marketing categories very well. By organizing such round tables on a regular basis, we can capture the marketers' viewpoint for our readers."

Quoting facts and figures that indicated bullish growth in the category, Dubey focused the discussion on the challenges faced by the segment. "About a decade ago, there were 50-odd options in cars available; but the number today has risen beyond 400. Under such circumstances, how are marketers managing multiple brands, yet coping with consumer needs and requirements?"

Gaurav Gupta replied, "Brand building is not a one-time investment. Once you launch a product, you cannot step back and lie low. It is a continuous process."

Detailing the differences in the way Korean, Japanese and American companies market their automobiles, Naresh Gupta of Dentsu Marcom explained, "For Japanese companies, engineering plays a very big role. Similarly, there are companies where the consumer is at the core. Others may focus on the gaps in the markets and then go ahead with their products -- there's no set rule to this. It works whichever way you want to make it work. The big equalization here is quality. There's no bad car; no bad engineering."

The biggest challenge, the panellists pointed out, is to get into the hinterland and penetrate deeper into the country. "The biggest challenge is the third P of marketing -- presence. Marketers need to invest accordingly to build up their network. They also need to expand their networks in rural areas," Sanjay added.

The experts also predicted that multi-brand dealership would be fairly popular, five to six years down the line. However, it would depend on the extent to which the market -- that is, manufacturers and dealers -- matures. Globally, in developed markets such as Australia and China, manufacturers come together and discuss consumer insights before coming up with marketing solutions. However, this is still a distant dream in India, the experts noted.

In this regard, Dubey shared how lack in maturity among brokers could make or break marketing strategies. Contradicting this, Gaurav Gupta said, "The first thing to make the consumer want is the brand. The distributor can only push it to an extent. They can influence the buyers, but can't make or break your market share."

Discussing the challenges of re-branding and bringing in new vehicles of the same brand, Kulshreshtha raised the question whether brands such as Sumo Grande and Zen Estillo would have been better off without their legacy. To this, Gaurav Gupta said, "In Western countries, when brands refresh themselves, they wipe out their existing product line and come up with a brand new generation of products. But it doesn't happen in India, because the country is a classic case where there is so much place to play -- there is place for both Sumo Grande and Sumo, Santro and i10."

Commenting on the lack of cult brands in India, Naresh Gupta stated that the Indian market is still in its infancy, and it is too early for a cult to be created. Dubey pointed out that a cult is never created, but just happens. And India will eventually see its cult brands too.

Quoting a study by The Nielsen Company, Kulshreshtha pointed out that worldwide, the trend is to search for information online before buying an automobile. And India is no exception. "Under such circumstances, should marketers rethink their online strategies?" he questioned.

According to the panellists, most brands are active in the search stage, but are unable to create engagement on their websites. The experts also pointed out that digital still didn't have creative focus; agencies came up with TVC scripts and print ideas, whenever asked to design a communication.

On this, Gaurav Gupta said that in 2007, GM used to allocate less than 1 per cent of its marketing spend to online; but the number has become double-digit in 2010.

Talking about the product lifecycle in this segment, the panellists said that products in this category require a facelift every two to three years and a major change at the end of the fifth year. The marketers agreed that they plan these major and minor changes from the very beginning, and their marketing budgets are created keeping this in mind.