ISB Marketing Summit looks Beyond Rich India
Reckoning India's growth as a global economy, this year the Marketing
Club at the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, themed their
annual flagship event ikshaa as 'Beyond Rich India. Lower Income
Segments - A Marketing Opportunity' at the ISB last week.
The Summit brought together prominent industry leaders and marketing
experts, who shared their diverse, forward-looking perspectives on
pertinent issues those marketers in emerging economies face today.
In his welcome note, Deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar said that the ISB
thrives on diversity with special focus on emerging markets.
The purpose of ikshaa thus was to bring the two characteristics
together.
"India has the richest portfolio and the Indian growth story is
hotting up, especially in the FMCG sector," said keynote speaker Douglas
Baillie, CEO Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
Conveying the fact that Unilever has deep roots in developing
countries, which generated 40 percent of the revenues. He added that in
today's market digitalisation, co-creation, scale and sustainability is
inevitable.
"Co-creation with customers is one big opportunity. As for scale -
would you lend 50 million to one person or lend $1 to 50 million
people", he asked.
He also shared that in India, rural consumption levels are on the
rise and that created a new class of consumers with unique, new needs.
"To approach this new class we need to follow a top down approach", he
said.
The panel deliberated on the multi-faceted challenges -
infrastructure, technology, vast geographic reach, diverse cultures and
consumer mindset that these companies have to face and on re-thinking of
strategies to successfully address this segment.
Head of Marketing, Reliance Communication Sanjay Behl said, "The
business of mobile phones in India is relevant to the Bottom of the
Pyramid (BoP). In the next 3-5 years, everyone in India will walk and
talk.
The main concern however is availability and affordability."
Reliance, he said was aiming to move from population coverage to
landmass coverage in the next six months.
Reliance's approach to crack the BoP, he said, was to provide cheaper
handsets, share infrastructure with other operators and partner with
government. |