The session

On a Sunday morning I suddenly get a call - "You have to take a 5 mins session for some school children on marketing !!"

Marketing ?? I OK it !

after playing CS for half an hour I start thinking abt what i should be speaking ...

Very impressed by myself I sketch a plan

I will start by asking which is the latest movie on the box office ... asking them how they know it .... and kick starting with promotions 4th P of marketing ..... then steadily explain all the other Ps

I reach the place on time to find out everyone is in formal wear ..... and the school children were not from the 8th or 9th class ...... they were 10+1 & 10+2's from some of the best schools across India.

I was then suddenly asked to begin blabbering

I started off as I planned ..... but the answers I got were

" Karz is the latest movie " . .... " It is through promotions by the producer"

I had to think of a back up plan ..... I tried driving them to the other Ps

but they replied ..... "there are 4 Ps ..... product, price, place and promotions" !!

( I wouldnt be shocked if someone stood up and said .......these are defined by Kotler ..... whereas some people also believe in 7 Ps and those are ...... )

I was now feeling trapped due to underestimating these kids.....

Luckily I could give them some fundas on how STP is employed .... ( I couldnt speak on high profile stuff like surrogate marketing etc etc) ...... and by the time i was done with I was told that my time was up !! (Thank you !!! i whispered)

Later I heard that these kids had raped a person who was taking the seminar on Operations by preempting him with all his fundas

Gen Y ........ need to beware of em i should say

Question unanswered

Even though the IIP data released today shows a major increase in production of consumer non-durables (FMCG) ....... the FMCG index at Nifty lost 26.27 points or 1.32%. Tata Tea, Nestle, UB and HUL were the losers.

This raises a question-mark on the sustainability of this kind of growth currently experienced. Common sense dictates that if the downturn were to persist, which it will for many months at least, the price-hikes and the efficiency generation initiatives would not be able to bring in the same amount of growth. Rather we stand at the danger of end of growth and the beginning of a decline.

Technopak Advisors, a retail consultancy, had predicted that the FMCG sales have a danger of declining at about 10%.

Lets just say that ....... only Time will tell !

FMCG industry and the Economic downturn

What would one expect on the performance of FMCG companies and the economic downturn ?

A drop in sales (obviously for non-essential items) and hence a drop in profitability ?

Revelation, the profits of FMCG Co.s is rising at a rate of 17-20% in the first half of 2008-2009.

Wondering how? The sales have taken a hit ... but are still growing at a reasonable pace

But the bottomline is soaring .. majorly due to the various initiatives taken by various companies.

For example HUL clocked a 34% increase in this quarter. This was done majorly through price hikes of about 5-10% to compensate for the increase in raw material costs.

Nestle and Dabur have revisited their sourcing programmes and are now undertaking intelligent buying. Dabur is buying material on future exchanges for non-essential items to flank bulk buying.

Several Cold-drink and beer companies are using tin cans instead of metal cans to reduce the overall cost without significant impact on functionality.

Col-Pal has initiated an effort of cutting down on SKUs to reduce the packaging and and other costs.

Godrej Consumers has relooked its supply chain and transportation of materials to reduce about Rs10 crore per year.

Some consumer product companies not only reduced the weight of their product but also introduced newer re-engineered products of smaller quantity. Wipro Consumer launched a new soap at Rs 6 weighing 45gms, otherwise it would have cost Rs 16 for 100gms.

Similarly Coke has introduced a 350ml PET bottle for Rs15 for most of its brands.

Firms on the other hand could not cut down much on Advertising and Promotional expenditure due to fierce competition.

An interesting Outdoor campaign by Anheuser Busch InBev to launch Tennent as the strongest beer in India.

Another OOH on agency faqs which I found particularly interesting. Uses the hype created by Gajini to its own advantage ..... 

But I would definitely like to research on whether people pay enough attention to the creative copy to realize it is not the cliched Amir Khan and there is certain meaning to what is written on the person's body.