Aspirational Value of a Premium brand gets diluted when it attempt to reach out to other Market Segments

" Luxury carmakers like BMW, Audi plan more 'Made in India' products in sub-Rs 25-lakh category "

An aspirational brand means a large segment of its exposure audience wishes to own it, but for economical reasons cannot. An aspirational product implies certain positive characteristics to the user, but the supply appears limited due to limited production quantities.

An important characteristic of an aspirational product is that the part of its exposure audience that is at present economically unable to purchase it, thinks of itself as having a fair probability of at a certain point in the future being able to do so. This part of the exposure audience is referred to as the aspirational audience, whereas the part of the exposure audience that already can afford the product is called the consumption audience. Consumption audience and aspirational audience together form the aspirational product's target audience.

The larger the ratio of aspirational to consumption consumers in the target audience, the higher the brand's premium.

Therefore,it would be challenging for these Premium brands to maintain its aspirational value in the long run.

2014-Foot Ball WorldCup ; An eye opener for Business enterprises

The recently concluded  foot ball world cup throws open an interesting analogy for business enterprises as they envisage similar challenges as encountered by the teams  in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

a.Disruptive change :

The traditional South American style of football is challenged by the innovative European style or the emerging  Africana style. Brazil being a victim of this change.

Businesses however large they may be , have to keep their eyes & ears open. Marketing department needs to constantly identify the trend in the Market Place & help organization to quickly equip itself to address this change.

b.Backup Plan  :

Brazil failed to have a contingency plan. They were over dependent on a few of their set players.They did not sufficiently equip themselves  to address  any eventualities to their Players

Enterprises should always have Plan B even though they do not foresee any challenge immediately as misfortune always strike out of the blue leaving the enterprise dumbstruck.

c.Individual Talent Vs Team Talent :

Brazil & Argentina might have individual talent in their Players but then as a Team Germany could wade off this challenge

Individual talent is desirable in an enterprise but then it is the onus on the Marketing Department to develop suitable strategy to synergise this talent operating in silos, to an Organisational Talent  & thereby gain competitive advantage at the market place.

d.Hype :

There was considerable hype created for the Brazilian Football team with predictions fmade for their becoming the winners in  the World Cup-2014. Brazilians were carried away in this hype without a rational analysis.

Marketing department in an enterprise should always administer the right dosage of hype at the Market place else it may boomerang . 

Did Marketing make the difference with regard to the Outcome of the recently concluded 2014 Parliament Elections? Does this demand Organisations of any size to take a leaf out of this, particularly ,on the Marketing front.?

There is a strong school of thought that “Effective Marketing Communication” made all the difference in this recent concluded  elections.

The way BJP has managed its strategy will excite many B- Schools to perform case study about the entire campaign. Branding strategy & Marketing Strategy are visible with an  effectively  use of new age Technology.

BJP resorted to  “Election Management” rather than conventional election campaigning. The following are a few highlights ,which I am sure, any Marketer will appreciate.

a.Branding   :

What Modi stands for  : Leadership / Development / Good Governance /

                                         Against corruption

Tag line : “Ab ki bar, Modi Sarkaar”

These are strong emotional connect which any Marketer will desire his product / Services  be associated .Effort was put to have TOMA (Top of the mind awareness ) among the audience.

b.Marketing  : Marketing strategy was in line with the brand strategy

i) Product Differential strategy.

ii)STP –Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning

eg : Rural/Urban ;Demographic (First time Voters)

iii) Marketing programmes were tailor made to suit specific Market segments.

eg: 3DHalogram Rallies,  NaMo Merchandise,   Chai pe Charcha, Bharat Vijay Rallies,

TV/NewspaperAdvertisements
iv) Marketing communication through Social Media:

eg: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Youtube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Flickr, Ipad/Iphone/Android applications

                  

Therefore, This election  proves beyond  any doubt about  the effectiveness of Marketing in deciding the success or failure of the Parties even in Parliament elections. The success of the winning Party in this election is analogous of any Product / Service organization which tastes similar success concentrating on their “ Marketing Management ”.

Do Marketing contribute to the success of B2B companies in today's environment.

Many B2B businesses are of the opinion that Marketing does not contribute to the success of B2B companies as much as it could compared to B2C businesses.Is it still so in the changing Market dynamics of today's environment.?

Below mentioned are a few revelations in this perspective :

a. B2B com­panies’ product development process is still conducted from a perspective that is primarily inside out. ie. seldom inputs from the customer feedback is considered seriously to be integrated in the process.

b. Pricing of products and ser­vices in most of the B2B companies are based on  a cost plus  basis.

c. There are only a handful of B2B Companies that have a comprehensive strategy in place for strengthening their brand image and corporate reputation.

Probably, B2B Companies belief  that their  product / Service evaluation by the customer is more from the functional aspect which makes this important Marketing function diluted.

Evaluating  the above mentioned facts drives us to the conclusion that  better Management of the B2B business brand portfolio could integrate into the organization to achieve its corporate goals. Therefore, Marketing as a function in B2B enterprises will definitely yield success.