Three C's of Driving Sales: Connect, Convince, Collaborate

In sales, there is a big difference between finishing first and second. First-place finishers make the sale and pocket the money, while second-place finishers leave empty-handed.

To better understand what makes that difference, Mike Schultz and John Doerr, of the sales training and consulting firm RAIN Group, studied more than 700 business-to-business purchases made by buyers responsible for $3.1 billion in purchasing power for their recently published book, "

"What we learned from these buyers is that winners sell radically differently than second-place finishers," Schultz told Business News Daily. "We also found that winners exhibit a specific combination of behaviors to achieve better outcomes than other sellers."

Schultz, co-president of the RAIN Group and sales expert, said in their research they discovered that the way winners sell can be characterized by specific behaviors at three different levels.   

In a recent exchange with Business News Daily, the author outlined the three levels and how 

• Level 1: Connect

Winners connect in two ways. First, they are more effective at connecting the dots between customer needs and their company's products and services as solutions than second-place finishers. Second, winners connect with people. Buyers believe that winners both listened to them and connected with them personally more often than the rest.

Connecting with people and connecting the dots sounds a lot like relationship and solution selling to us. Connecting with buyers on both levels is still absolutely critical to winning the sale. While sellers used to win on Level 1 alone, now it's just the way to get your foot in the door.

• Level 2: Convince

Winners convince buyers that they can achieve maximum return, that the risks are acceptable and that the seller is the best choice among all options. Many sellers are not good at convincing buyers, and large portions of sellers aren't even willing to convince. When they can and do, they win more sales.

• Level 3: Collaborate

Winners are collaborative in how they work and what they do. They are perceived by buyers to be responsive, proactive and easy to buy from. And buyers believe winners actually collaborate with them during the buying process by working with them to achieve mutual goals. Buyers perceived collaborative sellers to be integral to their success.

"Those who apply these three levels as a systematic approach to selling — and apply it well— not only see themselves in the winner's circle more often, but also maximize client loyalty and generate the most referrals," Schultz said.

In addition to determining the three levels of sales, Schultz and Doerr also studied those factors, from the buyer's perspective, that most separated winners from second-place finishers. They discovered that out of 42 factors, the one that most separated winners from second-place finishers was this: "educated me with new ideas and perspectives."

Schultz said by educating buyers with ideas, winners share concepts and insights that can have a major impact on the buyer's goals.

"We call this opportunity insight," Schultz said. "Buyers typically don't know alternative opportunities exist until sellers take the time to share them, but once they do, it influences the buyer’s agenda for action."

Schultz said that doesn’t mean sellers should just throw ideas out left and right and see if something sticks, but that they essentially need to transfer their drive, passion and energy for the possibilities to their buyers’ minds.

While there has been a shift in the way buyers buy, the fundamentals that have been true for decades are still necessary," Schultz said. However, he believes sticking to the basics isn't enough to win sales.

"To win today, you must also focus on differentiation, ROI and collaboration," he said. "Do so while leveraging ideas and you’ll win significantly more often."

How Big Businesses Use Colors to Affect Your Emotions

How does the color in your logo make your customers and prospects feel? Here's a look at the emotions certain colors elicit and iconic business logos that use those colors.

Blue summons images of the sky and sea, which makes people feel such emotions as comfort, understanding, clarity, calm, and trust, according to the FinancesOnline's infographic.

"Green is associated with the harmony of nature," states the infographic. "What you feel is calm, relaxed, trust, peaceful, and hopeful."

Black conjures ideas of sophistication and boldness. "Black is associated with the formality and mystery of night," suggests FinancesOnline.

To find out more about logos, how much they cost, and how famous ones have evolved, check out the infographic:

Sex & Marketing

Yesterday I heard about 'lascivious' presentation of Kamdhenu Paint, ''BOLLYWOOD STAR NIGHT'' at club Cabbana, Phagwara. Dealers were invited to 'Paint the town' with thrilling performances (includes pole dance as well) of Minisha Lamba, Claudia Ciesla, Shefali Zariwala, Hussain Kuwajerwala, Drishti Saharan & many more. Though there is not much-authentic info about it but the pictorial depiction of scheme pamphlet says it all.

Infusing sex in marketing strategies is old and widespread. In 1870s, Pearl tobacco had featured a naked maiden on its package cover. sIn 1885 W. Duke & Sons inserted sexually provocative trading cards of actresses in their packages of Duke's Cigarettes. Calling them the initiators of sex-marketing is not wrong.

Human brain is attentive to food, danger and .... Sex. It remains scanning the thing that can be dangerous, the food and the things it can have sex with. Brain rapidly response to sexual messages and it is very hard to ignore them. That is why, marketers keep on targeting it.

Now a day, society is lore open to sex and results into more presence of sex into marketing and advertising. 'The Rumour Touch' keep things away that can be offended. 'Selling Sex' is the trade-mark of industries like fashion, motion picture, clothing, automobile and many more.

The question to wrangle upon is, whether 'Selling Sex' should be ethical?

Yes, will be the answer. Associating a product with sex is tricky. If any effort went wrong or the message perceived by the customer got wrong, it would cost the brand identity. 

Practice adopted by Kamdhenu Paints is ethically wrong. It would drive the short term sale. Any whistleblowing or mishappening would draw them in a tiff. 

Rather....

Be Creative, Be Sexy!

Here is some creative sex-blended stuff for you:

The changing face of marketing

Change is the dominant fact of life in every business today. And the ability to master and exploit change has become one of the most sought-after management skills. This is particularly true in marketing, where the very tempo of change is constantly quickening.

Today’s chief executive faces a baffling dilemma. Change gets costlier every day; yet not changing can be costlier still. And even while adapting to change, a company’s marketing effort must reflect an internal constancy of purpose and an external consistency of image.

Not all changes in marketing, of course, are equally significant. Some are confined to particular industries. Others are broader and more functional in nature. And among these broader trends, there are six whose effects, I believe, will be felt by almost every business.

The dominance of the customer

It is nearly a truism that the needs and wants of the consumer are the critical issues today in creating new products and services, and developing the accompanying plans to merchandise them at a profit. But this trend—the first on my list—is still in process of evolution. The need to understand and anticipate future customers is bound to become even more essential than in the past, because the end users of almost every company’s products are shifting in makeup, location, and number at an ever-increasing rate.

The significance of this to senior marketing executives is twofold: First, they cannot—indeed, they must not—assume that yesterday’s customers will be available tomorrow. Second, they had better be certain that they have adequate sources of market information. Unless they can keep up with what is happening to their markets, the whole company’s selling effort may ultimately be directed at the wrong people with the wrong products and at the wrong time. This is what a marketing vice president I know meant when he said, “My company’s sales output can’t be any better than my intelligence input.”

Consider a few of the changes in the nature of consumers and markets:

• Sociologists and marketers agree that people are becoming more interested in use than in ownership. One can rent or lease everything from garden tools to machine tools to cars. Annual rental income, not including car and truck rentals, is close to the $750 million mark. The value of equipment being leased, currently about $1 billion, may well double in five years. This trend could affect the channels of selling, pricing arrangements, sales appeals, or even the characteristics of the product line (such as the increasing sale of disposable items).
• There has been disproportionate growth in the market for personal services, including recreation, education, and travel. Depending on whose statistics you choose to believe, consumer services now account for 40 percent to 50 percent of all consumer purchases.
• A whole series of demographic changes hold significance for the producer of consumer goods—in particular, the explosive growth of the teenage and young-adult market, the migration of blue-collar workers to the suburbs, the increase in per capita income, and the ever-growing mobility of our population. To the consumer-goods manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer, this means there is no such thing as stability of customers.
• People’s tastes are becoming more varied, flexible, and demanding. As just one example, consider the demand for wood products. The traditional lumber manufacturer now produces and sells a multitude of products that were virtually unknown 20 years ago—and all because product research teamed up with marketing to develop products that people wanted and were willing to buy.

Another important result of this growing consumer dominance is that today nearly all sales potentials are segmented. Typically, a total market now comprises a series of submarkets, each with its own characteristics and each demanding a different sales approach. For most companies, it is a gross error to develop a marketing program aimed at the “average customer.” Today such a consumer, or such a company, hardly exists. In short, the company that is not alert to the customers’ needs and the changing complexities of marketplaces is inviting disaster.

The spread of marketing research

The second trend is the increased use of marketing research—in terms of both quantity and scope. To an important degree, of course, this trend is a response to the first. If knowledge about future customers is essential, and if the quality of the marketing output is materially affected by the caliber of the informational input, then marketing research is bound to increase in use and contribution as the interest in more scientific marketing grows.

The dimensions of this trend are suggested by the membership growth of the American Marketing Association (AMA) from 2,800 in 1950 to an estimated 13,000 by mid-1966. Most of the increase represents marketing research, not individuals from the academic fields. As long as seven years ago, according to a national study by the AMA, nine out of ten companies with sales of $25 million or more had at least one marketing researcher on their staffs.

Today, the bulk of company marketing research is devoted to such activities as development of market potentials (for both existing and new products), analysis of customer buying habits and requirements, measurement of advertising effectiveness, share-of-market studies, determination of market characteristics, sales analysis, establishment of sales quotas, and development of sales territories. Beyond this value in reporting on historical and current conditions, however, I see a trend toward increased use of marketing research as a creative tool to help solve future management problems.

For example, it can be used to help management determine the most effective channels of distribution for a particular product line. By coupling distribution-cost analysis with accurate research on shifts in consumer attitudes, a marketer may uncover the need for a major shift in distribution policy. Such a sophisticated response to changed customer attitudes can be seen in the fact that Chanel No. 5, fine oil paintings, and expensive mink coats now can be purchased at Sears Roebuck, which also is the single largest retailer of diamonds in the United States.

Again, consider the function of marketing research in the evaluation of a major acquisition. Recently, a maker of industrial-machinery components became interested in acquiring a somewhat smaller company in a different but related business. On paper, and particularly from a financial viewpoint, the proposed acquisition looked desirable. But a careful research effort in the field revealed that two competitors of the company under review had considerably better reputations for customer service and, more important, much superior research-and-development capabilities. Thus a potentially disastrous purchase was avoided.

Salespeople’s compensation is another area where a creative marketing-research group can make helpful contributions. Today, many companies are trying to orient salespeople’s efforts toward profitable sales rather than volume alone. But before a compensation plan can be geared to this objective, careful thought must be given to identifying and measuring the profitability of customers, the profit relationships among the various products, the costs of carrying out the various selling activities, and the feasibility of any new sales-control system that may be required. Marketing research can help to provide revealing analyses and reliable recommendations on each of these factors. Other management problems calling for inputs from marketing research include pricing decisions, test marketing of new and/or revised products, and estimates of future personnel requirements.

Obviously, the broadening scope of marketing research should materially increase the efficiency of the total marketing function. In some companies today, it is worth noting, the head of marketing research is a member of a product-planning committee, a marketing-strategy committee, or even a company-wide long-range planning committee—clear evidence of top management’s growing realization that marketing-research people can make a vital contribution to planning decisions and marketing strategies.

The rise of the computer

The third major trend marketing must consider is the emergence of electronic data-processing equipment as a major tool of scientific marketing not only for reporting data but also, more importantly, for planning and control by management.

Generally speaking, I think it must be conceded that companies have dragged their feet in taking advantage of electronic data-processing analyses, online communications, and information-retrieval systems as tools to help make marketing more efficient. But the computerization of many areas of marketing is only a matter of time. Consider a few current applications of these techniques:

• A major insurance company analyzes sales performance daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, comparing current figures with last year’s performance and this year’s goals. The input information is fed into 15 satellite computers at 15 regional headquarters. After processing the sales data (a complex task in the insurance industry, since so many pertinent details are routinely involved for every policy sold) these machines feed back the essential sales information to two master computers at headquarters. There the data are summarized and printouts are made on Friday night. By Monday morning, the reports are on the manager’s desk.
• A West Coast apparel manufacturer now adjusts the initial merchandising forecasts in light of salespeople’s bookings, then develops the cutting orders for three plants day by day in relation to inventories on hand. Salespeople and management are kept abreast of trends daily during the key selling periods and weekly thereafter. Major merchandising decisions are made on the basis of current information that was not available before the installation of electronic data processing.
• One of the largest industrial distributors in the West has set up an online electronic data-processing system that enables its key customers to place purchase orders for major products by using prepunched cards that bear the price and quantity information. These purchase orders are automatically transmitted to the distribution center for processing, billing, and shipping—freeing the salespeople from much routine order taking and permitting them to spend more time on individual customer problems.
• There are, of course, many other possible applications of electronic equipment as an aid to the marketing function. And in the years to come, the use of electronic equipment by marketing management will certainly increase.

Expanded use of test marketing

A fourth important trend, in my opinion, will be toward more controlled experimentation to narrow the odds of an error in making marketing changes.

Two major influences emphasize the need for further expansion of test marketing. The first is the rising cost of marketing changes: the costs, for example, of introducing new products and packaging, of developing new advertising and promotional programs, and of retraining salespeople.

The second influence is the mounting investment in product research and development. About half of all corporate research-and-development activity in the United States today is concerned with the creation of new commercial products. The resulting outpouring of new products may measurably shorten the product life cycle and reduce the payout time correspondingly. This is one reason so many innovations in consumer goods are test-marketed before being placed in national distribution, even though the product may have been checked out in the laboratory and its sales potential assessed through marketing research.

What kind of projects should be considered for test marketing? Here are a few examples:

• Evaluating new products and new product features or services in relation to market potentials. This kind of application, accepted in the food industry for many years, has only recently been used to determine whether customers would support further processing and fabrication of sheet and plate products by industrial distributors.
• Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of new packaging. New frozen-food containers for berry products went through regional market tests on the West Coast before national introduction.
• Evaluating the effects of a new sales-incentive plan. A shift from individual incentives to a group plan was tested by a pharmaceutical manufacturer in San Diego, St. Louis, and Atlanta before being installed nationwide.
• Determining the advantages, if any, of new delivery and service practices. A machinery manufacturer used test marketing to determine whether to expand its customer-service program. When the results indicated that customers would not pay the added cost when faced with the reality of signing up for the added service, the proposal was dropped.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of alternative advertising media and approaches.Here again, an established technique in many consumer-goods industries is being more widely applied in testing alternative media and promotional approaches for the marketing of industrial products.

Some marketing projects can be tested quickly and relatively inexpensively through computer simulation. For example, a leading US pharmaceutical company has used simulation to determine the sales and profit impact of servicing small orders and/or small customers by using jobbers and/or parcel post and/or not selling them at all—and all this under a variety of assumed reactions by competitors.

With or without computers, however, I believe that increased use of test marketing under controlled conditions will be an important future trend in marketing.

Metamorphosis of field selling

The fifth trend I foresee is a shift in the nature of the field-selling job toward a more integrated, profit-oriented marketing effort.

A typical salesperson today represents a major investment of company funds. A 1964 survey by the Sales Executives Club of New York placed average training costs at $8,731 per person, excluding pay. Keeping a typical salesperson on the road may easily average $15,000 to $17,000 of direct costs per year, including compensation. To achieve a satisfactory return on this investment, the salesperson must sell profitably—not just bring in volume. The job is becoming less and less the presentation of the company’s product line, more and more the marketing of integrated systems.

Consider some of the ways an apparel salesperson now works with retailers:

• selecting the products for the coming selling season and establishing inventory standards
• maintaining stocks at proper levels and reordering as necessary (frequently utilizing electronic data processing)
• helping to train retail clerks
• establishing advertising schedules and assuring proper in-store tie-ins
• executing in-store promotions
• counseling on style trends and helping to move or shift slow-moving merchandise

In other words, such a salesperson is carrying out a field-marketing effort that involves products, market analysis, advertising, promotion, and inventory control.

In another case, a sales representative for chemical fertilizers helps distributors sell to their customers, the dealers, through financing services and marketing-research assistance. The sales rep may even have to set up merchandising programs to help select and train salespeople for the distributors. Thus, the emphasis is on helping customers increase their profits so that the company, in turn, can prosper.

Another important continuing trend in the field-sales job is the ever-increasing impact of key-account, or selective, selling. In most industries, a limited number of customers have a growing profit importance. In grocery retailing, for example, there are 20 percent fewer outlets today than in 1958. In industrial manufacturing, 10 to 20 percent of the customers may account for as much as 80 percent of sales, and an even bigger share of profits.

Thus, key-account selling is becoming an increasingly crucial feature of the field-sales job—a trend with important implications. In many companies, a key-account selling program may entail special analysis of present and potential customers, and the establishment of related control reports to measure profit results with particular accounts. It may include assigning these accounts to senior salespeople and developing special selling programs and promotional materials for these key customers. And it may call for special attention from the home office, such as periodic field calls and review by key executives or even establishment of an executive responsible solely for the key-account selling program.

In the net, there is little doubt that tomorrow’s salespeople will be different from yesterday’s breed. They are going to be more highly trained and better paid; they are going to be planning oriented, service oriented, and technically skilled—in short, sophisticated marketers.

Global market planning

An ever-broadening application of the marketing concept to worldwide markets is the last of the six broad trends that I believe will change the face of marketing in the next few years. Over the past decade, the marketing concept has become widely accepted in the United States—perhaps, in some situations, too enthusiastically accepted and too indiscriminately applied. Nevertheless, I believe the concept of a completely integrated marketing effort is valid and will be increasingly adopted. In many companies operating worldwide, it will stimulate the development of global market planning.

Expenditures by US companies on plant and equipment abroad, which were $5.1 billion in 1963, $6 billion in 1964, and $7.5 billion in 1965, may well exceed $9 billion in 1966. For manufacturing operations alone (excluding petroleum refining), expenditures abroad rose by 30.5 percent last year, while domestic plant and equipment expenditures advanced 15.7 percent. And mergers, licensing agreements, joint ventures, and the establishment of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries by US companies overseas are continually on the rise.

For the smaller company, this trend may emphasize the need to establish or strengthen export relationships so that it too may market on a worldwide basis. For many larger companies, it points to a day when the United States may be merely a domestic division within the worldwide corporation.

This means that top management must think through how best to coordinate a multinational selling effort to assure adequate corporate control over a worldwide marketing plan—yet without unduly restricting initiative and responsibility within each national segment. An important part of this problem is determining how to provide most efficiently the marketing services needed—services that in many companies today are directed, if not executed outright, by a central corporate staff.

But this matter of becoming a worldwide company is only one of the major pressures in the changing complexities of business today. To keep pace with these changes, and to play the strong role in the future that I believe to be the key challenge to marketing executives, the face of the marketing function will have to change accordingly.

(The article is subjected to copyright material of McKinsey & Co. Publication on The Business Stuff is just for reference)

Amazon Vs Flipkart- A Customer's Outlook

It is the story of a teacher and pupil. The relationship was of 'getting inspired,' before it turned into a ‘bitter war.’ The war is all about market share.

Yes, you are right! It is Amazon Vs Flipkart. 

Bansal brothers were inspired by Amazon to set up the replica in Indian market and they did it very well. Late entry of Amazon in India and their outrageous efforts to grip the market has fluttered Flipkart. There is no way out for both, except to fight a price battle.

Guess what, who is the gainer? And the answer is simple. It’s Indian Consumer, who always paid an extra penny for a better service.

I am a frequent online shopper. From books to electronic gadget, I prefer e-commerce. Especially, these days I am even more active due to my broken leg. Sigh! Broken limbs or such other disability is quite a blessing for these consignors. Nevertheless, many THANKS to both!

Though both giants are up to the mark, but my personal experience with Amazon is phenomenal. Foremost, they are speedier in delivery and quicker in action. The depth of product mix at Amazon is sea alike. Though Flipkart is little trendy in marketing style and making good use of word 'Exclusive.' Being a huge brand identity, Amazon carries itself with all that 'orange' branding. Its simple but mind-blowing marketing strategies can make anyone feel astounding. Amazon's online ads remind me of the famous tagline of Hutch (Wherever You Go, Our Network Follows). These ads going to follow you on every damn website you open, with the product line you went through at amazon.in. For a common man, It can be a great fun. Being a marketer I know this is just another way to persuade a customer.

To my surprise, Amazon has offered me a gift card worth of Rs. 200. It was a token of apology against a late delivery that took place long back. Being consumer focused, Amazon credited me the delivery charges and apologized. Right from dispatching to delivery, its valuable SMS follow-up is yet another add-on 

As the price war continuous, both companies are selling things at very low rates. Huge discounts and offers are given to encroach the market share. Both firms have abolished the competition. Not a single firm stood against these and each one is about to diminish. Though snapdeal has shown little resistance, and myntra was acquired by Flipkart.

Sometimes it makes me surprise to see such low rates. At a few occasions unlike Flipkart, I have observed comparatively low quality of products of Amazon. It can be taken into consideration to reduce the prices even more.

Net worth of Sachin and Binny is soaring high because of good execution, of a copied idea. Nevertheless, war is on. Winning it requires stamina and willingness to earn low profits.

Just the Right Image- A Making Of Brand 'Modi' (Case Study)

Executive Summary: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi's election juggernaut in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is an example of howto prepare and successfully implement a marketing and branding campaign. Irrespective of your faith, ideology and voting decision, there has been no escaping Modi. His image and in-your-face messaging have overshadowed all other brands - even that of his own party. This case study looks at the strategy and tactics behind the creation of Brand Modi.

Pitching a specific leader as a driver of change and to mobilise voters' support is hardly a new political strategy. After all, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had projected L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee its prime ministerial candidates in the past (remember the Ab ki baari Atal Bihari slogan in 1996?). The Congress party's projection of Indira Gandhi as the country's tallest leader with its 'Indira lao desh bachao' tagline in the 1970s is another such example. But the personal rhetoric had been tied, and sometimes made subservient, to the political parties to which these leaders belonged. With his landslide win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 

David Aaker, American marketing guru and author of several books on branding, wrote in an April 2012 blog post that every person has a brand that affects how the person is perceived and whether he or she is liked and respected. This brand, he says, can be actively managed with discipline and consistency over time, or it can be allowed to drift. Modi and his marketing team showed oodles of both once he was anointed the BJP's prime ministerial candidate on September 13 last year. In fact, they had been at it from much before.

Modi's transformation over the past year from a regional, right-wing politician to a decisive leader with a clear development agenda, the one best suited to take India forward is nothing short of extraordinary. Senior BJP leaders Piyush Goyal and Ajay Singh handled the overall media strategy, and a task force was constituted to handle Modi's campaign in Varanasi. Advertising legends such as Ogilvy & Mather's Piyush Pandey, McCann Worldgroup's Prasoon Joshi and Sam Balsara of Madison World lent their skills at various levels. Advertising agency Soho Square, part of the WPP Group, handled television, radio and print campaigns with catchy slogans such as "Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkar".

"The archetype he offers is of a strong, all-knowing father figure who is unwavering," says Santosh Desai, who heads Future Brands, the brand consultancy arm of Future Group. To create the father figure, Modi's team invoked tales of childhood, in books and comics. Invariably, and understandably, they were tales of heroism involving a precocious Bal Narendra (Modi as a child). What else would you call a story about a child swimming across a crocodile-infested lake to plant a flag on a memorial? The child, when he came of age, walked away from his family to devote himself to public cause, lending what brand consultant Harish Bijoor calls "bachelor blandness" to his story.

From Gujarat to India

Modi's team faced three main challenges when it set out to project him as the country's next prime minister. One, the three-time Gujarat chief minister was a regional brand trying to go national. Two, the 63-year-old was seeking to connect with the youth considering that this year's election had almost 150 million first-time voters. Modi, who rarely chooses to speak in English, was trying also to connect with the urban, middle-class audience that is becoming more politically conscious. Finally, and most importantly, he carried the taint of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.

The one event that, perhaps, helped Modi the most in making a mark on the national scene was the shifting in 2008 of Tata Motors' factory for the Nano minicar from West Bengal to Gujarat. Farmers in West Bengal, backed by firebrand politician Mamata Banerjee, now the state's chief minister, had been protesting land acquisition for the plant by Tata Motors. Modi provided the company land and other incentives almost overnight. In the process, he also established himself as a champion for industry and development.

Sridhar Samu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Hyderabad's Indian School of Business (ISB), says it's not easy for most product brands to go from regional to national. He says the dilution of the only other national brand, the Congress, and a common underlying need for change also helped Modi. "If a brand can tap into a common underlying need and connect it to benefits, then it could go national. We see how both Haldiram's and Saravanaa Bhavan have managed this. They targeted the underlying need for tasty snacks and south Indian food," he says.

Full Coverage: Lok Sabha Elections 2014

According to Y.L.R Moorthi, Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, there is a difference between a regional brand going national and a politician going national. He says Modi was known outside Gujarat even before he decided to move beyond the state, just as Nitish Kumar and J. Jayalalithaa, chief ministers of Bihar and Tamil Nadu, respectively, are known. But these regional leaders didn't venture out of their home states in the recent elections. Modi did. And he did it at a massive scale - he attended more than 5,000 events and 470 political rallies across the length and breadth of the country.

Striking a Chord

On February 6, 2013, more than six months before he was named as the BJP's choice for the prime minister's post, Modi addressed students at Delhi's Shri Ram College of Commerce. He talked about Gujarat's model of development. He spoke passionately about the need for speed in government decision-making and about the need to improve skills of the youth to accelerate economic growth. That speech won him many young admirers. One of them is the second-year student Sulabh Newatia, who says he decided to cast his vote for the BJP after listening to Modi's speech. "I see him as a visionary who can take the nation forward," says the 19-year-old from Kolkata.

Modi, an excellent orator, has delivered scores of similar speeches since then. He highlighted slowing economic growth, high inflation and lack of new jobs - issues which immediately resonate with young and urban voters - while blaming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for the problems. After the elections were announced, his marketing team bombarded voters with print, television and radio advertisements with the same themes. It reached voters through text messages and Modi's recorded voice seeking votes for himself. It also tapped into social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - Modi has about four million Twitter followers - to magnify the impact of the advertising and branding campaign.

The impact of this relentless campaigning has been felt across different age groups, geographies and sections of society, says political analyst Manisha Priyam. "I have even heard young children, far removed from such debate, mentioning the word 'NaMo'," she says, referring to a sobriquet for Narendra Modi. The carefully crafted moniker also appeals to the traditional Hindus - the BJP's main vote bank - because of its religious connotation, as the Sanskrit word Namo is used as a salutation reserved for the Hindu gods.

Modi's efforts to connect with the youth and urban voters were helped in no small measure by his pro-business persona. Business leaders from industry doyen Ratan Tata to billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani have praised Modi and his administration in Gujarat. This has allowed Modi to build his brand as a progressive leader who has the ability to deliver economic results - the single biggest leitmotif of this campaign that has allowed it to cut through caste bias among other things. "The Congress is not lacking in spending power or ability to get marketing brains to campaign for it. But the biggest push for Modi has come from the overt push and advocacy of corporate leaders," says independent political observer and media veteran Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. "It is a truism that marketing cannot sell a bad product. Irrespective of the money you spend on marketing, if what you are selling fails to strike a chord in the minds of a large section of the electorate, all efforts to market Modi would be in vain."

Shaking Off the Stigma

The biggest challenge Brand Modi faced was diverting public attention away from the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Initially, Modi's supporters in BJP attempted to engage in public debate and highlight the clean chit given by courts to wash off the stigma. Then, they changed tack. They toned down the Hindutva rheotoric and focused instead on Modi's more recent past and his development record in Gujarat. "He knows that people want a better life and he offers Hindutva with the right dilution," says Desai of Future Brands.

Marketing gurus cite the examples of Cadbury, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola that battled problems relating to brand-taint. Cadbury had fought its way out of a controversy related to worms in its chocolates while the two beverages giants faced allegations of pesticides in their colas. "The best way for a tainted brand to overcome a challenge is to not talk too much, but to acknowledge it happened, and then move on," says Samu, the ISB professor. "The more one talks about, the more the memory for that event gets activated among the target market, and they remember it more. The BJP and Modi did not talk about it. Or if they did, they kept it to a minimum," he adds.

IIM-Bangalore's Moorthi says the weakness of the Congress leadership also helped boost Brand Modi. "When the brands in the domain appear worse, the contending brand might shine by comparison. In Modi's case, he was helped by the tightlipped nature of the Congress leadership and their indifferent performance in the second stint," he says.

While most companies routinely apologize for problems detected in their products, Modi stopped short of doing so. "He did give an account of reflections on the event [the riots]. He seemed to say that he was pained about the event but didn't say sorry," says Moorthi. Veteran adman Prahlad Kakkar concurs. "It does not matter if he [Modi] is wrong. He will never publicly admit that," observes Kakkar, who has been associated with several political campaigns, including that of Indira Gandhi. "But he will, at the same time, take corrective measures to navigate out of it, without ever saying so."

The Ideal Model

Not so long so, the words that could have been used to describe Modi were authoritarian, megalomaniac and communal. The way the creators of Brand Modi dealt with the third taint was by not dealing with it. "What more was there to say [about the post-Godhra riots)? There have been various panels instituted to probe into the matter," says a BJP leader.

Instead, they focused on building Modi's image as self-made, strong, efficient, inspiring, and incorruptible. "He [Modi] created an impression of being a sincere, credible and committed leader. He convinced people that he could improve their lot," says social scientist Ramadhar Singh, Distinguished Professor, IIM-Bangalore. This is the leitmotif the marketing arsenal of the BJP worked to amplify. "No media can help create that kind of consistency," adds Kakkar, the veteran adman.

Automatically, as if by derivation, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance began to look more and more indecisive and corrupt. "Today, India attributes weakness and failure to Congress," says adman and lobbyist Suhel Seth. "Modi stands for good governance."

All stories about Modi's life in the public domain have consistently fed into this new image. And although questions remain about Modi's ability to perform at the national level and his Gujarat model of governance, his personal branding and marketing strategy seems to have worked and voters across the country appear to believe his claims. "Even if you cut out 40 per cent of what is untrue about Modi's promise of growth...the rest is very real," says Guwahati's Chiranjib Hazarika, 24, who is looking to start a career in banking. "Development is his only agenda and people are following him."

Modi's message has attracted even those disinterested in politics. "I have never been very politically conscious. But it is frustrating to see our economy slide back from the progress it made. So, I stepped out to vote, for the first time, for Modi," says Shankar Narayanan, 28, who works for a multinational information technology company in Chennai. "Modi has a proven track record of governance and growth."

Cut to 40-year-old Manoj Rana, who runs a small guest house in Shillong, and you have the answer to the most central ingredient of Modi's branding: "We are not interested in politics. We want change. Modi can deliver that change. People are sensible, they are not carried away by mere talk," he says. That indeed is the bottom line of any brand's success story. It bears out that Modi's brand is by him, for him and from him. The BJP machinery has served as mere coaches for the branding-led engine of Modi.

BRAND MODI MUST MEET ITS PROMISE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

The national branding of Narendra Modi was born out of compulsion. Opponents had successfully branded the BJP as communal and checked its rise under the uninspiring old leadership. The BJP needed to redefine Indian politics along dimensions of good governance and development that suited it better.

The party was the first to recognise and adapt to the fundamental shift in the composition and aspirations of voters. It seized the opportunity to project a new face to address voters' aspirations. Thus was born brand Modi. A humble origin, extraordinary achievements through sheer hard work and dedication, and a corruption-free image made Modi an apt mascot to challenge the status quo. The branding of Modi and a presidential-style campaign was a brilliant response to redefine Indian politics.

The branding of Modi was a well-crafted strategy of the RSS and the BJP. The campaign attracted many newcomers. It was the first election campaign in India to use social media and information technology heavily and first to listen to the voters and respond in real time.

Brands require huge investment to build, and continuous nurturing to sustain value. Not only can brand Modi sustain the BJP in power for a long time, it can also help the RSS reposition itself. However, before that can happen, the promise of brand Modi - good governance and economic development - must be realised. Further, many voters are uncomfortable with the communal agenda of some of his supporters.

Modi has to show what true secularism is and why it is different from pseudo-secularism. If he succeeds in these three areas, he would change Indian politics forever and make the BJP the natural party to govern - the main objective for building brand Modi.

Siddharth Shekhar Singh, Associate Professor

MODI IS A BRAND WHO KNOWS HE IS IN THIS FOR THE LONG RUN

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to become not only bigger than its creator but also to revitalise and rejuvenate it back. What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra Modi has done to the BJP. Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it stood for. Its Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its effect had weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of the youngest nations with more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's ability to become bigger than the BJP lies in his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers of this India, tapping into their simmering anger and hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of the BJP. Like brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on economic development and prosperity intersected at the surface level of consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like governance, roads, electricity, women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics. This satisfied the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his party lies in his symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings, and arrived on the scene taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler combined. He is perceived as an icon of disruption and rebellion against the way things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals to youth who desire change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in command of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle

MODI DID TO BJP WHAT iMAC, iPOD DID TO APPLE

It is not uncommon in the world of marketing for a brand to become not only bigger than its creator but also to revitalise and rejuvenate it back. What iMac and iPod did to Apple Inc is what Narendra Modi has done to the BJP. Prior to Modi, the BJP brand was on the brink of irrelevance for what it stood for. Its Hindutva identity resonated deeply with the partition generation but its effect had weakened for the successive generations. Demographically, India is one of the youngest nations with more than 65 per cent of people below 35 years. Modi's ability to become bigger than the BJP lies in his ability to listen to murmurs and whispers of this India, tapping into their simmering anger and hopelessness.

Modi created an identity that resonated with far more people and deeper than that of the BJP. Like brands make sense at surface and deeper levels, Modi's discourse on economic development and prosperity intersected at the surface level of consciousness. The Gujarat model threw in words like governance, roads, electricity, women's safety, peace, industry and education, supported by statistics. This satisfied the questioning mind that hankers for reason.

But reason is often the alibi for non-reason. Modi's ability to become taller than his party lies in his symbolism. He tapped into despair, hopelessness and sinking feelings, and arrived on the scene taking on the symbolism of the outlaw and the ruler combined. He is perceived as an icon of disruption and rebellion against the way things are done. It is this counter-cultural streak that appeals to youth who desire change. And his traits like being organised, proactive, and confident, and in command of things, subtly connect with the ruler archetype.

Harsh V. Verma, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi