A Season of Good Cheer, K N grant - The Financial Express
December 28, 2010
11 for 2011
This time, last year, the Indian industry was keeping its fingers crossed that 2010 would herald a revival in fortunes. And what a revival it was! With the green shoots of optimism seen across sectors, 2010 witnessed several trend-setting initiatives, which have the power to re-define the India story in 2011 and beyond. From the rollout of third generation (3G) telecom services to mobile number portability to the overwhelming response to Twitter and other new media by consumers and brands alike, each of these is set to lead the consumer and the marketer onto a new journey.
It is to understand the nuances of this new journey in 2011 and identify the opportunities that it holds that BrandWagon asked leading media, marketing, advertising, entertainment industry professionals to predict 11 crucial trends we are likely to see in their respective sectors.
The 11 experts participating in the exercise include Kurush Grant, executive director of ITC, the biscuits-to-tobacco conglomerate; Sunil Lulla, managing director and CEO of Times Television Network, which has television channels ET Now, Times Now, Zoom and the just launched Movies Now; Anita Nayyar, CEO of MPG India, the media agency of the Havas group; Rajesh Kamat, CEO of Hindi general entertainment channel Colors; and Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO -motion pictures of UTV which has produced recent hits such as Peepli Live and Rajneeti. Others in this distinguished list are Rahul Kansal, chief marketing officer of Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd which publishes dailies The Times of India and The Economic Times; Arvind Saxena, director - marketing and sales, Hyundai Motor India, the second largest car maker in India; LK Gupta, chief marketing officer of LG India, the Indian subsidiary of Korean consumer electronics conglomerate LG Electronics; Anisha Motwani, director and chief marketing officer of Max New York Life Insurance; Shireesh Joshi, director - marketing, mobile services, of Bharti Airtel, which initiated a high-decibel rebranding this year; and Sandip Maiti, CEO of Experience Commerce, a digital agency.
Each of our experts has reiterated that the India story shows no signs of derailment. Rather, it will pick up speed, despite the many challenges to overcome and much learning to do. The underlying theme of these predictions is that the media, marketing, advertising and entertainment industry should continue with steady growth in 2011 as well.
"With the economy back on the growth path, and the consumer sentiment improving consequently, the fast moving consumer goods industry looks poised for a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead," says ITC's Grant. For the auto sector, it's heady days ahead. "In 2011 we expect the market to grow in each and every segment with more players in the compact segment," says Hyundai's Arvind Saxena.
For new media, disruption will be the operative word in 2011. This is one sector which sees a new revolution every other day, changing the rules of the game everytime.
"The market for digital content, applications and marketing will experience disruptive growth in 2011. Increasing availability of multiple screens (tablets and large screen smart phones), opening of 3G and crashing access prices, will enable the audience to consume digital content in ways that could hitherto not be imagined," says Sandip Maiti.
Sunil Lulla of Times Television believes that 2011 could see the beginning of a new way of working for TV news--the collective competitive by finding ways of working together. "There could now be a move towards collaboration, beyond guidelines. The industry is likely to collaborate for a stronger economic pool," he says.
Rajesh Kamat of Colors, too, believes that 2011 is the time to shake off old habits, and form new ones. "It's time we experiment more. The Indian television consumer is waiting to change... we just need to lead them with the right content," he says.
With the emergence of new platforms and technologies, the process of buying and selling too is poised to change. Says Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV, "Innovations like 3G will change the dynamics of movie watching, creating new access points for consumers across the world." At the same time, the entry of Hollywood studios into local production will further change the market dynamics.
Even as the world gets more connected, and marketers look worldwide for their customers, the rural customers will become increasingly more important. For both consumer durables and automobiles, is it rural India that holds the key to healthy bottom lines. "There are pockets of prosperity in rural India that will be the major drivers of rural growth next year," points out LG's LK Gupta.
Hope you enjoy reading the edition.
Poised for growth: With the economy back on the growth path, and the consumer sentiment improving consequently, the FMCG industry looks poised for a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead.
A new look: A lot of existing products will change in their appearance and packaging. With improving market conditions, companies will be tempted to relaunch products, plan brand f extensions and also, enter new segments.
Price wars: There is less likelihood of price wars this year.
Having come out of a difficult phase, companies will be averse to any kind of bloodletting.
Quality stuff: Giving value to the consumer will be the top priority and companies will make a c serious effort to deliver value and quality rather than paying mere lip service.
Inclusive growth: Growth will s be more inclusive, covering more geographies and demographics. Eastern India, specially states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, look very promising.
Premium pays: Even as the s growth will become more inclusive, f there will be a renewed focus on building and expanding the upper end, super premium product categories.
Acquisitions: Scale and speed of acquisitions will be far higher than in the recent few years. The companies planning to expand into new segments or markets will prefer acquisitions than starting new operations.
Health platform: Consumers' focus on healthy products will gain further momentum and companies are likely to respond by coming up with an interesting interplay between over-the-counter products and classical fast moving consumer goods products.
Shopper marketing: There will be a more pronounced marketing push at the point-of-sale. Companies will make serious bids to woo consumers inside a retail outlet.
More IT: There will be greater investment in information technology systems for improved supply chain management and customer relationship management.
Modern stores: More and more conventional retailers will try to acquire modern look and feel, and such formats, which are different from the big organised retailers, will grow faster than the traditional mom-and-pop stores.
