Marketing is more than the product itself

All of us are well aware of the success story of Coke. But how many of us know about its failure, dubbed as the 'biggest blunder' in the history.some theorists even go so far as to say that the whole thing had been planned as a deliberate marketing ploy to reaffirm public affection for Coca-Cola. Now you must be thinking what blunder am I talking about??????.......
Here goes the story...................
....Coke undoubtedly was the biggest stakeholder in the Cola market. But its number one position was facing a threat from Pepsi.
In 1950s Coke had outsold Pepsi by a ratio of more than five to one. However, Pepsi during the next decade repositioned its image as a youth brand. By doing so it took amajor risk;risk of loosing the older-aged peoples' segment. But, the risk paid off, Pepsi became successful in marginalising the ratio between Coke and itself and was claiming a stake for an increased market share. A number of public tests conducted by Pepsi showed that people preferred the sweeter taste of Pepsi as compared to that of Coke.....another cause of cocern for Coke. Moreover, another reason for Cokes market share outnumbering that of Pepsi was the vast distribution network of Coke and the presence of larger number of vending machines of Coke. Else given a choice between Coke and Pepsi(in the same shop), people preferred to have Pepsi if it was available. Seeing the vulnerability of its number one position Coke adopted 'flanking strategy', by introducing Diet-coke, to retain its market share. Diet-Coke was closer in taste to Pepsi and besides eating Pepsis' market share it also ate up cokes market share(as was expected). Coke found its market share at a staggering 24%.
After this Coke ended up deciding that fault remained not with its marketing startegy but with the product itself and hence it started working towards anew formula. The results were overwhelming in terms of taste and finally, in 1985, it launched the New-coke.
After the launch of New-Coke, US population decided to boycott it. Throughout most of the last century,Coca-cola had capitalized on its 'original' status in various advertising campaigns claiming Coke to be "the real thing". By launching New-Coke, it was contradicting itself. The contradictory marketing message was accentuated by the fact that since1982, Cokes strapline had been 'Coke is it'. Now it was telling consumers that they had got it wrong as if they had discovered Coke 'wasn't' it, rather New-coke was instead. To confine the brands significance to a question of taste was therefore completely misguided.
It soon beacame evident that Coca-cola had to bring backits flagship brand and formula and it did do by relaunching old Coke, redubbed 'Classic coke'.
In the words of Jack Trout "marketing is a battle of perceptions, not PRODUCT'.

SENSEual Branding

Do you like the aroma of coffee or u can't simply resist swaying yourself after hearing any tune?....If YES, then beware...you are falling prey to 'sensory branding' strategy being widely adopted by marketers, to compel you to buy their products.
It all started in 1918 with coke. Coke wanted to design such a bottle for itself that a blind folded person could also recognise it simply by the touch of it. And guess what??????....It actually worked....Though with time Coke lost the unique shape of its bottle but taught other marketers a very important concept "Sensory Branding".
Sensory Branding, says Minda Lindstorm, is the most happening thing in the marketing world today.
Today when we are bombarded with hundreds of ads, day in and day out, the recall of ads is becoming lesser and lesser. By 2007, it is predicted that 20% of the consumers will be eliminating ads from their TV screens with devices like TiVo. Almost 83% of marketing and brand building concentrate on just two senses and just 17% make use of the other 3 senses. Marketers have realised the deterioarting impact of visual branding and hence are moving to multi-sensory branding of their products.
Our olfactory sense is probably the most impressionable and responsive of the five senses. Other senses invoke memories which are filtered by the brain but smell invokes memory that directly appeals to the feelings without getting filtered through the brain. And probably this is the reason why marketers are adopting olfactory sense as their way of marketing. For example, take Pepsi, it launched aroma centres in some cities; these aroma centres emanate the odour of coffee which attracts the attention of passer-bys to its newly launched cafechino coldrink. Some super markets in North America are connected to bakeries by hundreds of meters of pipeline. The pipelines carry the aroma of fresh bread to the stores entrances......The strategy works. Automobile manufacturers are investing heavily in developing an aroma which can be sprayed onto the car along with paint. And the reason for this being done: Gratify the 'new car' smell that accompanies the purchase of a car. Sensory Branding is also being applied to service industry. Singapore Airlines has patented a distinct aroma that permeates itsentire fleet and is included in the flight attendants perfume and also blended into the towels served before take-off.......and its customers are distinctly able to relate to this scent.
Ever started swaying after hearing the Airtel tune ????????....YES.....This is a classic example of sound branding. Mercedes-Benz has 12 engineers dedicated to the sound of opening and closing of doors. Nokia tune has created awareness similar to that of Intel Pentium tune with the only difference being that Intel paid millions and Nokis nothing at all in composing these tunes.
Ever brooded on the fact that why selling clothes through internet never took-off????.....it was because it lacked the 'feel' of 'touch'. The consumers were not able to touch the clothes and get a feel of its texture and quality and hence the sales of clothes through Internet never took off.
The potential for connecting with consumers via other senses is huge and unused. The more senses a brand appeals, the more customer loyalty it gains.

"BEING SPACE" in marketing

Ever seen people running towards that comfortable couch, the moment they enter a CCD or Barista outlet? have you ever wondered why a Shoppers's Stop showroom has used star, black and white images, defying and challenging the wisdom of conventional advertising. Ever wondered how stark and noticeable a change your own SBI has undergone in its internal settings and ambience?....And yes!!...Have you noticed the soft music being played in the background when you enter your own....Guess WHAT??....your own old SBI. Now I won't keep you guessing all the time.....I'm talking about the "being spaces" concept rapidly adopted by Indian Players.

Commercial living room like settings in the pupublic space, where catering and entertainment aren't just the main attraction, but are there to facilitate out-of-home, out-of-office activities like watching a movie, reading a book, meeting friends and colleagues, and so on. None of the sectors have spared themselves from the taste of being "being space" marketers.

Coca-cola launched in December Coca-cola red lounges, an interesting experience based on innovation, target teens in malls in Illinois and Los Angeles(source:Promoxtra). The lounge areas offer exclusive music, movie and games programming, custom built furniture, a plasma screen media hall and sound domes. This provides a perfect ambience for teenagers to relax in comfort, hang out with friends, socialize and enjoy great entertainment.

The competition isn't showing up in the retail sector alone but the service sector also is fast adopting the "being space". Indian software firm Infosys can be related to the being space example: Infosys combines work, child care and "being space".

Each day companies are coming up with newer and newer ways to appease its customer. Firms both abroad and in India are fast adopting to "being space" and many others have surpassed this stage and moved on to the next higher level of "brand space".