Marketing communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Marketing communications is the "promotion" part of the "marketing mix" or the "four Ps": price, place, promotion, and product. It can also refer to the strategy used by a company or individual to reach their target market through various types of communication. Those who practice advertising, branding, brand language, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are termed marketing communicators, marketing communication managers, or more briefly, marcom managers.

Traditionally, marketing communications practitioners focused on the creation and execution of printed marketing collateral; however, academic and professional research developed the practice to use strategic elements of branding and marketing in order to ensure consistency of message delivery throughout an organization - a consistent "look and feel". Many trends in business can be attributed to marketing communications; for example: the transition from customer service to customer relations, and the transition from human resources to human solutions and the trends to blogs, email, and other online communication derived from an elevator pitch. (Keller, 2001) defines marketing communication as “the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, incite and remind consumers – directly or indirectly about the brands they sell”. It is also described by (Pickton and Broderick, 2001) as “a conversation between a brand and its audience and it is the collective term for all the communication functions used in marketing a product or service”. Using a suitable communication channel (Van Riel, 1995), the message is sent to a receiver who may be consumer, employee, stakeholder, competitor or the general public. The environment through which the message is transmitted may be noisy (Duncan, 2002) and the message received may be quite different than what was intended by the sender. To attract full attention, it is therefore important for the company to plan and encode a message and use communication channels or media most suitable for the consumer or intended audience. In the last decade, due to heavy media clutter (Keller, 2001; Campbell, 2010) and stiff competition between different marketing channels, it has become increasingly difficult for marketers to capture the minds of the targeted audience with traditional channels. In order to differentiate their messages from their competitors’ companies are in search of innovative channels that could be used to influence the audience by cost-effective means. An emerging economy with fast growing markets offers many such new opportunities in terms of products, services and events that could be used as innovative channels for marketing communication.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To identify unique brands that could be used in understanding as innovative marketing channels.

2. To study distinctive properties of these channels (compared to traditional channels) that could be exploited for marketing and brand building.

3. To chalk out effective marketing strategies using these popular channels.

The Two Innovative channels of Marketing: Mumbai Dabbawala and Indian Premier League

1. The Mumbai Dabbawala Tiffin suppliers:

An association of about 5000 lunch delivery persons, also known as the “Dabbawalas” (Thakker, 2002; Livemint.com, 2008) has fetched a world record in best time management and customer satisfaction and is presently considered to be a very unique brand with characteristics quite different from those observed in normal corporate organizations. With a six-sigma performance record and negligible technology backup, these Dabbawalas deliver about 2,00,000 boxes of home cooked mid-day meals each day at a very affordable cost. They have the potential of being used as an innovative marketing channel for different purposes. The state owned Corporation Bank initially helped these Dabbawalas to open bank accounts based on their identity cards issued by the association. Now these people help the bank by taking account-opening forms to clients and get them back at nominal fees from the bank, making the entire process fast and hassle free. They have also been hired by Airtel to deliver prepaid cards, new connections and bundled handsets. These people known for their honesty, down-to-earth attitude and gentle behavior have been the driving force exploited by Airtel for deeper penetration in the market particularly for the middle and lower income segments. The Dabbawalas have also been roped in for the Reliance Power IPO by providing and picking up completed application forms from the customer located across the length and breadth of Mumbai. They would also be using this dedicated channel for pushing insurance products, mutual funds, demat accounts and money transfer services. Other companies have also realized the potential of the Dabbawalas. The beverage giant Coca-Cola tied up with this brigade for distributing free samples of its newly launched “Minute Maid Pulpy Orange”, the orange juice drink. With stiff competition from Pepsico and Dabur Foods, such an attempt was a positive step by the company. To increase the reach and trust among local consumers, Microsoft took the help of Dabbawalas to promote its Windows package for a campaign called “Asli PC”. This dedicated workforce has also been used by organizations to distribute their brochures and pamphlets within the city. The Dabbawalas distributed HIV/AIDS prevention messages issued by the Govt. of Maharashtra to their customers along with the tiffin-boxes on the World AIDS Day. For decades, the Dabbawalas have provided extraordinary and cost effective services without taking help of information technology. In order to expand their business and make their lives a little simpler and secure, the association has launched its website (Mumbai Dabbawala Website) and accept orders online and by SMS/ mobile phones. As the Dabbawalas gear themselves for doing business with a modern outlook, (Physorg.com, 2006), they provide ample opportunities to the marketing community for use of this dedicated and branded channel effectively. Companies now have this unique local network of Dabbawalas to advertise their products and services. The official website (www.mydabbawala.com) attracts more than a million visitors annually and may be used for advertising. The association sends newsletters to customers and also has their e-mails for communication. Leaflets or brochures of products may be sent to the customers along with the lunch boxes. Corporate logo or special messages may also be suitably placed on the ‘dabbas’ providing a more personalized marketing communication between the company and the customers.

2. The Indian Premier League cricket matches:

The IPL (Sabnavis, 2008; Jackson, 2008), an exciting cocktail of sports, entertainment and business has been the biggest marketing initiative of the year 2008 in our country. The roaring success of IPL matches together with an ever-increasing fan base throughout the world has made IPL a great Indian brand. IPL team owners are using all their marketing talents to mint money in different ways. However, companies wishing to use it as a hot marketing channel also have plenty of opportunities to promote sales and improve their brand value. Since IPL has both world-renowned Indian players and international icons, it provides great opportunities for global giants and multinationals to advertise their products / services for better penetration in the national and overseas markets. The coverage of these Twenty20 matches has also been very popular in Australia and many other countries. IPL matches would be web cast live in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Cricket lovers in many other countries are likely to get a taste of these matches on TV, radio, Internet and broadband making the IPL a global brand in due course of time. The IPL has tied up with many corporate houses to be their official partners. Apart from an official website (IPL Website), regional teams interact with their devoted fan club using various modes of communication. Teams have tied up with many brands to become their principal sponsors. The ground sponsors use banners and digital signage to display their products. The team uniforms have adequate space for different advertisements. The teams have also pitched in a number of cricket players for advertisement of ‘related’ products that match their personality. The IPL has also opened the doors for innovative marketing of regional products and services. Team owners have the freedom to lease branding rights to local organizations who could use different ways to efficiently market their local products. The IPL-2 (Bobilli, 2009) which started in April 2009 at South Africa has paved the way for its future growth and popularity. It is expected that the ‘global outlook’ of IPL would show new directions to other sporting events. The present challenge for the IPL management is to keep up the tempo of the public at home particularly when crazy Indian fans are unable to participate directly in the game with their heart and soul. However, the anxiety and excitement of seeing new players and team captains and involvement of celebrities and film stars in this event have kept the morale of millions of people high around the world. Overall, some experts believe that steep increase in advertisement rates, segmented viewership and controversies with some IPL teams and management are the prime reasons for some companies to stay away from IPL. On the other hand, many marketers and customers believe that IPL has provided an exciting and instant channel for product launch, sales promotion and brand building.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

This research paper is solely exploratory type of research and we have utilized secondary data. Secondary data was collected from the official websites, TV, news and print articles together with blog postings and discussions.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

The study is based on the secondary data obtained from from the official websites, TV, news and print articles together with blog postings and discussions. However, IPL and Mumbai Dabawaala are not operating in small area, these two operations happens in metro cities with lots of peoples involved in it and as we had restricted our data collection to secondary source only so it has some limitations in it.

Data Analysis and Outcomes

According to secondary data we got from various sources we have built the histograms, bar plots and pie charts for visualization of data. Some of the qualitative and quantitative outcomes which we got for two marketing channels are stated under.

1. The Mumbai Dabbawala Tiffin suppliers

Our secondary data analysis is agreeing that the Dabbawalas have created a reputed and unique brand for themselves. In fact it is revealing that it’s a unique and effective way for companies to market their products by distributing their product information using the dedicated human network of the Dabbawalas. The association feels that the most important attribute responsible for their success is time management. Transparency, positive role of the management and focus on core competency has helped this organization to grow and keep its promises to the customer. We also believe by our analysis that success of such a workforce depends mainly upon teamwork and time management. Also our recommendation is that the Dabbawala service could be replicated in other metro cities also with similar performance of the workforce. However, the association thinks that proper logistics suiting their requirements may not be available in many cities. The impact of distributing advertisement brochures, pamphlets and product/company messages to their customers has been very positive. The Dabbawalas want to maintain the quality and commitment of work they had been doing for the last 118 years. They would also like to fulfill the ever-changing needs of the customer. Though technology does not help in their logistics work (which is a manual process), it has played an important role in other aspects of their business. Website and mobile phones have helped them to connect to the outside world and fetch more customers and advertisers. Though purely traditional in their approach, the Dabbawalas feel that induction of technology has helped them greatly in their business. This makes us feel that traditional businesses should adopt technology to improve their efficiency and also to address the changing needs of the customers.

2. The Indian Premier League cricket matches

We believe that IPL has been an innovative way of marketing a sports event. The team owners have introduced new thrill to cricket by introducing unique ideas like creation of teams with well-known players from different countries, performance-based reward schemes and new forms of contract arrangements. IPL offers huge marketing potential for targeting the teenaged and youth segment. Our analysis suggests that IPL is not just men world it is also attracting female and elders’ crowd also equally. In fact, statistics shows substantial participation of female audience in the T20 cricket matches. But we believe that advertisement or promotion of specific products like food and beverages, cars and bikes, consumer electronics and trendy items have a higher impact than products or services that do not match the thrilling USP (unique selling proposition) of the IPL.

General Outlook

Compared to traditional media channels, these unique channels provide many exciting ways of marketing and create an impressive impact on existing and potential customers. It was found that the uniqueness and positive characteristics of the channel are carried forward with the product/ service being promoted. If the Dabbawalas are helping locals to open a bank account, the ‘account opening experience’ of the customer with the bank is also likely to be timely, reliable and hassle-free as their tiffin service. The fun-filled and exciting IPL matches have been found very suitable for promotion of beverages, fast foods, tours and travel and mobile services, new consumer electronics and retail products for the youth, bikes, cars and luxury items, etc. Consumers agree that promotion of specific products/ services is more effective when they match the USP of the brand used as marketing channel. Propagation of important messages by the government or state departments can be done more effectively using these channels.

From our observations and analysis of the collected data, the following facts emerged:

1. These channels offer exciting avenues for promotion and branding of local products that suffer a setback due to the aggressive marketing strategies of multinationals.

2. The value or marketing potential of these message-carrying channels may be further improved by their owners by keeping them operational/active and using innovative strategies and modern technology.

3. These channels provide a “degree of liveness” and “enhanced experience” to the consumer, which is quite distinctive from the normal passive marketing channels.

4. A positive impact is created due to the reputation and uniqueness of the brand carrying the message to the customer.

5. There are ample opportunities for marketers to use their imagination and creativity for exploiting these channels and deliver their messages to customers with a bang.

CONCLUSIONS:

The power of unique service brands and special events as innovative marketing channels has been clearly established in this study. The uniqueness of these brands provides a psychological advantage and helps to register messages more effectively in the minds of customers. Consumers of these services/events agree that advertising through these channels often generate a better impact and help to bring out unique value of the product or service.

REFERENCES:

Bobilli, V K (2009). The Future is Here. Times of India, 18 April, 2009.

Campbell, J.M. (2010), The Next Evolution of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 27(7), 649-650.

Duncan, T (2002). IMC – Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands. New York: McGraw Hill.

IPL Website. Retrieved 28 April, 2008, from www.iplt20.com

Jackson, P (2008). The IPL experience. SkySports.com, 14 May, 2008. Retrieved 22 May, 2008 from www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12194_3566713,00.html

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Livemint.com (2008). Mumbai dabbawalas share success story. The Wall Street Journal, 21 August 2007. Retrieved 10 March, 2008 from www.livemint.com/ 2007/08/21080421/Mumbai-dabbawalas-share-success.htm

Mumbai Dabbawala Website. Retrieved 16 February, 2006, from www.mydabbawala.com.

Pickton, D and Broderick, A (2001). Integrated Marketing Communication. Chicago: Prentice Hall.

Sabnavis, M (2008). IPL – The new marketing cocktail. Business Standard, 2 May, 2008. Retrieved 22 May, 2008 from www.business-standard.com/common/ news_article.php?leftnm=10andbkeyFlag=B0andautono=321697

Thakker, P (2002). Mumbai’s dabbawalas: hierarchy and responsible autonomy. Retrieved 8 July, 2006, from http://thesmartmanager.com

Van Riel, C B M (1995). Principles of Corporate Communication, Hertfordshire/England: Prentice Hall.

Received on 17.01.2014 Modified on 27.01.2014

Asian J. Management 5(2): April-June, 2014 page 162-165