The economic slowdown may have made the customer hesitant about spending her
hard-earned money but marketers are pulling out all stops to convince her to
step into the store. From harping about low prices in their ads to
experimenting with the media mix, brands are trying their best to beat the
blues
The past one month
has seen the rupee sinking to new lows against the dollar, industrial growth
spluttering and interest rates climbing up menacingly.
While the dollar dominance sent India’s marketers into a tizzy, consumers tread a world of almost anticipatory darkness. The HSBC purchasing managers’ index (PMI) states that India’s manufacturing activity slipped for the first time in August 2013 since the high-decibel 2008 economic crisis as both output and business orders witnessed a significant fall. Add to this the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council’s estimates that the Indian economy is expected to grow by 5.3%, and the scenario becomes bleaker. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly cutting back on their household shopping (soaps, shampoos, skincare, packaged groceries and food items) to counter rising prices and hence, slowing economic growth.
So, does this mean that the marketer is staring at empty stores? ........................
Apart from digital, it is regional print, regional television and out-of-home (OOH) which are expected to attract a significant portion of the ‘more focussed’ advertising budgets. “Regional television and regional print attract a more focussed audience set; they are also low-cost platforms and, therefore, the return on investment is better,” says Pawan Jailkhani, chief revenue officer at 9X Media.
While the dollar dominance sent India’s marketers into a tizzy, consumers tread a world of almost anticipatory darkness. The HSBC purchasing managers’ index (PMI) states that India’s manufacturing activity slipped for the first time in August 2013 since the high-decibel 2008 economic crisis as both output and business orders witnessed a significant fall. Add to this the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council’s estimates that the Indian economy is expected to grow by 5.3%, and the scenario becomes bleaker. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly cutting back on their household shopping (soaps, shampoos, skincare, packaged groceries and food items) to counter rising prices and hence, slowing economic growth.
So, does this mean that the marketer is staring at empty stores? ........................
Apart from digital, it is regional print, regional television and out-of-home (OOH) which are expected to attract a significant portion of the ‘more focussed’ advertising budgets. “Regional television and regional print attract a more focussed audience set; they are also low-cost platforms and, therefore, the return on investment is better,” says Pawan Jailkhani, chief revenue officer at 9X Media.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Gupta, managing director
of outdoor media agency Global Advertisers, notes that OOH has
already started witnessing significant growth as advertisers have increased
their budgets for outdoor campaigns by 10-15% this year. “Real estate clients
have increased their spends by about 12% while media and FMCG brands have increased
their outdoor budgets by 10% and 15% respectively,” he says. Read
more.....Link: http://epaper.financialexpress.com/163557/BRANDWAGON/24-September-2013#page/2/2
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