Yo!
India@Olympics did not live up to its hype. This year there was more marketing money behind it and a slightly better preparedness thanks to initiatives such as Olympic Gold Quest (the site has not been updated since the Olympics) but on sheer numbers things didn’t work out. I’m glad we got two and the monetary returns will certainly encourage more athletes and their parents. But me, I’m not a sporty type, and am known to wonder how performance in the Olympics causes higher GDP. But I digress. Let’s say that an organization wants to win an award. As a marketer you research its credibility, try to meet its parameters, prepare hard and apply. So far so good. Now supposing you either (a) try, try and try again and don’t win or (b) figure your chances of winning it are the same as that of you clicking a banner ad. What would be a marketers response? Exactly. You’d create – or instigate your ecosystem to create – an award with parameters more favourable to you. So either you’d lobby to get cricket, chess, maths, spelling into the Olympics or you’d set up your own format and be happy with it. Just a thought!
At the broader level though, with rising income there is a greater interest and time for leisure and sports. Just consider Decathlon which has come from nowhere to being a ‘destination’ shop in Bangalore. Rather than chasing a discount strategy, they have focused on creating an experience – you get educated, you can explore, you can play with the equipment. They have created a market for things that did not exist just 10 years ago – I now own hiking backpacks, a tent, folding chairs. And continuing my theme that the price of many products is tending to zero. I feel that going with an experience based strategy will reap big dividends.
Of course, content is a big part of the experience – whether it is delivered online or by in-store consultants. And our recently released Red Book of Content Marketing powered by Yorke Communications had a surprise – 44% of companies manage their content requirements inhouse. This puzzles me a bit because it is a rare organization that keeps its copy-writing inhouse and surely content falls in the same category? I totally get that the expertise may reside inhouse but the communication part of it does require finesse. My views. Do read the report and share yours.
Happy Krishna Janmashtami to those who celebrate the festival!
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