Quite recently, I had a highly animated discussion with my partner and buddy Shailesh Amonkar on the deplorable state of a few newspapers in the city.. Seeing mainline brands go without advertising on most days is unpardonable for media professionals like us.
And for Shailesh who breathes, eats and sleeps the business of revenue, this was nothing short of sacrilege and no amount of chilled apple juice from our pantry helped.
Yet somewhere i saw reason in this anger. The same rubbish is bandied around unabashedly time after time.. Demonetisation, tough markets, real-estate dip etc; And to top it all its now laced with marketing jargon to camouflage lack of depth.
Both of us have seen and weathered tougher market conditions to know that these aren’’t excuses any longer.
Since our room was seeing all this heightened action, we decided to take it a step further to understand the transformation that is taking place in the sales process among other reasons.
An interesting observation that came out of this analytical banter was the current trend to chase volumes at any cost. I have a strong suspicion that the penchant for bringing in professionals from FMCG and Telecom has a lot to do with this ill-founded methodology.
I know, this may seem like an off the cuff, typical ‘JD in your face’ remark and hence the need to explain what sets these industries apart in the basic sales process that till a couple of years ago was sacrosanct…
The FMCG industry most often chases numbers and at different price points
( often using a bucket of brands ) but the ultimate consumer pays the same MRP – Maximum Retail Price and that rarely changes, What they do however, is to incentivise their immediate consumer i.e. their distributor, who in turn does the same with the dealer, going right up to the retailer that we you and me buy from.
The crux here as you will notice is that the ultimate consumer pays the same MRP and this remains sacrosanct; Evidently it also protects the basic brand value proposition.
Now the same strategy adopted in media wont hold water, as it’s the ultimate rate that the advertiser is paying here that is eroded upon. The agencies continue to get the same commission and the base rate is discounted upon.
Therein lies the problem as you allow your ultimate consumer to taste blood.
And blood is addictive ! Your are never going to command more than that, irrespective of which magician you bring in as a leader.
This is the typical folly of adopting a new industry strategy and applying it to media sales. You fall with a loud thud and this resonates Deafeningly on your brand.
Chasing volumes is a trait obviously held in high esteem in the FMCG, Telecom and other sectors where volumes make the difference and consequent parting with higher margins are acceptable. Cross-industry adoption of concepts and tactics are all good but what we often forget, is that media is a strange business and it takes acumen of a unique order to master.
Do not tamper with your basic wiring. Short circuits can burn brands too.
Probably, it is time to revisit one’s roots for answers. After all, the best things that happened to print media came from media-minds. There ought to be a reason for this isnt it?
Our fraternity baron’s must get back to their knitting; they may just find the pattern a lot easier if they only relooked their set of needles…
Jd also consults in Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing, both of which are integral to his brand interventions.
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