Auto,
telecom and consumer durables companies have raised their advertising
and marketing budgets by up to 50% to convince cost-conscious buyers to
loosen their purse strings in the upcoming festival season.
The September-October period packs in two major festivals and offers firms the biggest opportunity in the year to rev up sales. But this time round, businesses will have to use all sorts of tricks to enthuse buyers hurt by rising cost of food, loans and fuel.
“Recovery from slowdown of the economy, as a whole, is a lot dependent on how consumers respond during festivities. And so, we do not want to leave any stone unturned this time as well,” said L K Gupta, chief marketing officer of LG India, the country’s largest consumer goods maker. The flurry of activity is centering on advertisement houses, with players such as durables and appliances maker Lloyd, mobile handsets maker Lava Mobiles, mobile service provider MTS India and home appliances brand Morphy Richards keen on using print and television advertisements.
“The top key categories that have fuelled this growth include auto, owing to new car launches, consumer durables and telecom due to the launch of number portability and 3G services,” said Prasanth Kumar, head of trading at GroupM, a global media investment management group.
MTS India, which plans to roll out Android smartphones this festive season, has increased marketing spend across all channels of communication. “The idea is to capture growth in the smart voice and high-speed data segments. This is reflective of the continued economic activity in the country,” said Amitesh Rao, brand and media director at MTS India, which posted 18% growth in revenues and 17% growth in subscribers in the June quarter. Similarly, Bajaj Electricals, which also sells the Morphy Richards brand, has doubled marketing and ad spends to Rs 15 crore for the September-November period from last year. For the first time, the company will advertise its pressure and induction cookers and steam iron range as it expects a pickup in demand after Shradh, a period considered inauspicious for buying. “We see a growth of 25-30% in sales backed by new promotions and offers,” said Bajaj Electricals executive director R Ramakrishnan.
Vivaki Exchange chairman Ambika Srivastava said, “Some categories such as handsets and real estate are seeing growth of over 15% this year. We have forecast a growth of 12-14% for industry ad spends by the end of this year.” Vivaki is a strategic business unit of the Publicis Groupe that manages media buying for Micromax, Samsung, Kotak Mahindra, Emirates Airline and Nestle.
Durables company Lloyd has doubled its marketing spend to Rs 10 crore and booked space in 50 malls in 15 cities to showcase its products. “Diwali being the biggest buying season, we are very optimistic on sales,” Lloyd Electric and Engineering president Nipun Singhal said. The company witnessed over 300% growth in the air conditioning segment in 2010 and is expecting the same response in its television range. Established
players, too, hope that festivities will buoy sentiments.
Consumer electronics company Panasonic, which has increased spends by 25% to Rs 100 crore this year, will used the increased amount in promoting cameras, and grooming products such as hair dryers and straightners. However, it will continue to focus on core categories such as televisions and air-conditioners.
The FMCG category is likely to see an upswing too. “Despite the not so optimistic market sentiment, FMCGs have grown their ad spends by 15-20% so far this year and are likely to maintain this momentum during the festive period,” said Punitha Arumugam, group CEO of Madison Media, a media buying firm.
Chocolatier Cadbury will stretch its Diwali campaign by two weeks to promote gifting.
In the real estate sector, Amrapali Developers plans to triple its ad budget to . 3 crore and Rival Raheja Developers expects a three-fold growth over last year on the back of new project launches. But Hiranandani Developers and The 3C Company are not increasing ad spends this season. “The markets will be a little slow as the RBI has increased interest rates on home loans. So though there is huge demand, people are delaying purchase,” said Hiranandani Developers MD Niranjan Hiranandani.
(With inputs from
Ravi Teja Sharma)
The September-October period packs in two major festivals and offers firms the biggest opportunity in the year to rev up sales. But this time round, businesses will have to use all sorts of tricks to enthuse buyers hurt by rising cost of food, loans and fuel.
“Recovery from slowdown of the economy, as a whole, is a lot dependent on how consumers respond during festivities. And so, we do not want to leave any stone unturned this time as well,” said L K Gupta, chief marketing officer of LG India, the country’s largest consumer goods maker. The flurry of activity is centering on advertisement houses, with players such as durables and appliances maker Lloyd, mobile handsets maker Lava Mobiles, mobile service provider MTS India and home appliances brand Morphy Richards keen on using print and television advertisements.
“The top key categories that have fuelled this growth include auto, owing to new car launches, consumer durables and telecom due to the launch of number portability and 3G services,” said Prasanth Kumar, head of trading at GroupM, a global media investment management group.
MTS India, which plans to roll out Android smartphones this festive season, has increased marketing spend across all channels of communication. “The idea is to capture growth in the smart voice and high-speed data segments. This is reflective of the continued economic activity in the country,” said Amitesh Rao, brand and media director at MTS India, which posted 18% growth in revenues and 17% growth in subscribers in the June quarter. Similarly, Bajaj Electricals, which also sells the Morphy Richards brand, has doubled marketing and ad spends to Rs 15 crore for the September-November period from last year. For the first time, the company will advertise its pressure and induction cookers and steam iron range as it expects a pickup in demand after Shradh, a period considered inauspicious for buying. “We see a growth of 25-30% in sales backed by new promotions and offers,” said Bajaj Electricals executive director R Ramakrishnan.
Vivaki Exchange chairman Ambika Srivastava said, “Some categories such as handsets and real estate are seeing growth of over 15% this year. We have forecast a growth of 12-14% for industry ad spends by the end of this year.” Vivaki is a strategic business unit of the Publicis Groupe that manages media buying for Micromax, Samsung, Kotak Mahindra, Emirates Airline and Nestle.
Durables company Lloyd has doubled its marketing spend to Rs 10 crore and booked space in 50 malls in 15 cities to showcase its products. “Diwali being the biggest buying season, we are very optimistic on sales,” Lloyd Electric and Engineering president Nipun Singhal said. The company witnessed over 300% growth in the air conditioning segment in 2010 and is expecting the same response in its television range. Established
players, too, hope that festivities will buoy sentiments.
Consumer electronics company Panasonic, which has increased spends by 25% to Rs 100 crore this year, will used the increased amount in promoting cameras, and grooming products such as hair dryers and straightners. However, it will continue to focus on core categories such as televisions and air-conditioners.
The FMCG category is likely to see an upswing too. “Despite the not so optimistic market sentiment, FMCGs have grown their ad spends by 15-20% so far this year and are likely to maintain this momentum during the festive period,” said Punitha Arumugam, group CEO of Madison Media, a media buying firm.
Chocolatier Cadbury will stretch its Diwali campaign by two weeks to promote gifting.
In the real estate sector, Amrapali Developers plans to triple its ad budget to . 3 crore and Rival Raheja Developers expects a three-fold growth over last year on the back of new project launches. But Hiranandani Developers and The 3C Company are not increasing ad spends this season. “The markets will be a little slow as the RBI has increased interest rates on home loans. So though there is huge demand, people are delaying purchase,” said Hiranandani Developers MD Niranjan Hiranandani.
(With inputs from
Ravi Teja Sharma)
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