Business

Saturday October 31, 2009

Taking alternative actions

By EILEEN HEE


THE road ahead is bumpy and it is going to take some time before it gets rosy again. Against this backdrop, what alternative marketing actions are companies pursuing today besides invariably cutting their marketing budget?

Three CEOs recently offered branding insights on navigating through turbulent times and staying afloat in times of crisis.

Each shared different approaches, ranging from never wasting a crisis because there is opportunity for money to be made, to connecting on a personal level with customers and playing hardball with competitors and the power of creating a hook.

For Alliance Bank chief executive officer Datuk Bridget Lai, effective branding is not just about spending millions of dollars and getting “an advertising agency to launch a sexy campaign for the bank”.

“If we cannot even convince our employees about what we stand for, why bother spending million on an advertising convincing the public of who we are?” she asked.

Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin ... ‘Kill the competition before it gets started.’

Lai was one of the participants at the recent CEO Breakfast Forum on Effective Marketing on the Road to Economic Recovery organised by The Star and Ogilvy Malaysia.

The lively session also featured Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin, managing director of local up-and-coming hypermarket Mydin, AirAsia X Sdn Bhd CEO Azran Osman-Rani and Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) executive director Datuk Dr Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem.

Lai said the bank was not a big spender on advertising “anytime and anywhere” because branding is essentially about differentiating itself from the others and having common set of values internalised.

“It is important to start with values and vision before branding. It is about having a common set of values that connect you with customers and staff, which is unique and can be internalised,” she explained.

She added that public relations was a powerful marketing tool and that a “personal touch” was way more rewarding than millions spent of advertising campaigns.

She learnt this by accident, after getting a lot of response to a newsletter she had personally written, which was sent out to a million of the bank’s credit card customers. “Until today, I receive a lot of feedback about the personalised note,” she said.

“Never underestimate making a one-on-one connection with your customer or staff. When I first joined the bank years back, I gave my staff a regular report card on what I was doing and seeing, and I received a lot of feedback,” she added.

“A personal effort can be more rewarding than the millions you spend on a full-page advertisement.”

While it pays to be cautious and creative about spending in advertising, employing “hardball” tactics to survive on all fronts could also be an astute marketing move.

As Ameer, the Mydin CEO, pointed out, “Kill the competition before it gets started.”

AirAsia X is creating a new market in the travel industry.

“Never underestimate an underdog,” he said, adding that he visits his competition on a daily basis to check out their prices and learn their weakness.

Despite being a fairly new player in a tough business, his local hypermarket chain has notched up considerable achievements, with an annual revenue of RM1.3bil and thousands of employees.

Mydin also has a very strong brand attribute of providing everyday low prices. “Whenever the economy dips, Mydin does better because our products are priced competitively and consumers downgrade during a downturn. We do not believe in yo-yo pricing,” he said.

He added that there were other means to advertise and that corporate social responsibility initiatives could be a good avenue for branding. He, however, reminded that “all efforts should be done earnestly”.

“Think with your head, but decide with your heart,” he said.

While retreating into a shell would be an instinctive reaction in a crisis, it may not always be the right decision.

MIER’s Ariff said it paid to look at the forest and not the trees.

“The forest is on fire. You don’t see the fire. You are still tending to your own tree. But when the tree is on fire, there are still challenges and opportunities,” he said.

Times like these provide space for creativity, he added.

However, he was quick to point out that despite the global downturn, the Malaysian economy was still faring well.

“What is surprising is that consumer spending has been holding up, thanks to a high level of savings,” he said.

Azran of AirAsia X, who brought some pretty pictures of the low-cost carrier’s promotions, shared his insights on how the company was creating a new market in the travel industry and dictating the market to the consumer.

“In the past, you decide where you want to go and when. These days, we have turned that upside down,” he said.

“We have changed the way consumers consume travel and that’s the power of creating and stimulating demand. You completely flip it around. But as exciting as it is, its also very simple.”

He added that despite the challenging environment and media clutter, it was about standing out through the clutter and communicating through simple means.

“That’s how we get through this environment. It’s about the hook,” he said, adding that it was also important to have a distinctive look and feel to the brand that you could claim as yours.

“Otherwise, you’re spending money for someone else,” he quipped.

He argued that businesses needed to bring in new customers and create new categories of customers in order to stay ahead of the game.

Meanwhile, Ogilvy Malaysia group managing director Zayn Khan said there was a shift in power from the hands of manufacturers into the hands of consumers.

He described it as a form of a revolution, and marketers had to be conscious of this phenomenon and give consumers the due respect that they had come to earn.

“Consumers are much more savvy and vocal than they used to be. They want things on their own terms. They want control. With the surge in social networking, there is a shift (of power) from the hands of manufactures, the brand owners, into the hands of the consumers.

“Marketers have to talk straight as consumers get bombarded with more information from multiple channels,” he said.

“Brands are like people,” he added.

“Strong people have personality, charisma and values that they stand for and they express all of these in what they do. Consumers are looking for special brands in which they can have a special connection.”

He said what is not going to change is the demand for goods and services that offer value for money.

“A lot of this could be due to perception. It can be how you position benefits that come with your product that would appeal to consumers,” he added.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story