Marico embraces multi-channel approach to win consumers

Hyderabad: One of India’s leading consumer product company, Marico Limited has its focus on driving marketing and branding content in the digital space through influencers to engage with the youth of today.

Speaking to Bizz Buzz, Somasree Bose Awasthi, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited, said: “We are adapting our communication as the medium evolves. We are doing a lot of influencer marketing to ensure that the relevant content reaches the target consumer. But, we ensure that the messaging that goes through is authentic, and hence our choice of influencer is measured.”

She confirms that newspapers and television as a medium have not lost relevance as brands will continue to market themselves here for reaching the masses. “Mediums are getting added rather than subtracted. Along with these new age communication we will continue to be on mass media. We have to be present in the digital space to engage with the consumers of today,” she added.

On creating brand visibility and loyalty amid a competitive market, Somasree said that Marico creates its products visibility by using their unique selling proposition (USP) and establishing a strong distribution network.

“We recently launched a baby care product which is based on virgin coconut oil. So we are talking about that proposition to our consumer parents. For each product we talk about its unique proposition through 360 degree communication for brand visibility. For brand loyalty we focus on the quality of the product we deliver which brings consumers back to using our product. Attractive marketing only ensures that first time the consumer comes for trial. And only through user experience they will come back to us,” the CMO pointed out.

Commenting on facing heat from surge in new age startups relying majorly on unique selling proposition, she said that Marico’s strength is its network of distribution partners, whereas “startups will never have the distribution muscle Marico has.”

When asked about the company’s brand placement in the urban market as against for rural consumers Somasree said that the message solely depends on their need. She went on to say, “For example, price point is the biggest thing we talk about. We would sell in smaller SKUs and ensure more distribution focus on the smaller ones to make it affordable for the rural consumer. While in urban, we serve the more premium products, we sell value added offerings, larger pack sizes which the consumer can afford. This is the kind of differentiation we do with the product mix. In terms of communication, if there is a relevant differentiation in the benefit we are offering to the rural consumer then we talk about that.”