Marketing Marvels

New advertising strategies vital to attract new markets

Anuradha KODAGODA

Advertising is really challenging and it plays a huge role in the market said Marketing Director - Personal Care of Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd Ramani Samarasundera.

"We should use new advertising strategies to attract new market segments and also to keep the existing customers," she said.

A human being has five senses. Advertising is how we influence these five senses of customers to buy our products. We allocate a significant amount of money and resources on advertising every year.

We give an opportunity for our customers to experience our new products through our sampling campaigns. We conduct demonstrations in shopping malls where people get an opportunity to educate the customers about our products. Currently the latest technology is to use advertising heavily through e-commerce. So we should use the knowledge of the most updated communication methods and should also reach customers through these communication methods.

Q. As a multi-national company what are the challenges you face when it comes to global branding?

A. It is an advantage to be a multi-national company to support global as well as local brands. Every year Unilever spends a significant amount on Research and Development (R&D) and we are having skilled and talented chemical engineers and staff who are specialized in the industry.

We are always concerned when we import global products to the local market and how we would make it relevant to the local consumers. Concerned about the Sri Lankan economy during the last couple of years inflation is quite high and the disposable income of the people is quite low.

So as customers they always have to make choices to buy the correct product which gives them the benefits, which they are looking for. So 'how to make it relent' is actually one of the challenges we are having when it comes to global branding.

And also we use various strategies like packaging sizes, different price forms and new usage occasions, which covers all segments of the market according to their income levels.

Since we are marketing many global brands the next challenge is communication. Because nowadays people are doing their transactions through the Internet and there are huge advertising campaigns in the Internet. The competition is quite high within brands.

So, we should always update and have a clever knowledge about the latest technology and about new communication methods. To overcome this challenge we always engage with our regional counterparts to get the latest updates from our overseas branches.

Q. How do you relate the brand extension and brand stretching when it comes to personal care?

A. It is a choice whether a particular brand can extend further in to other categories. For example whether soap can extend in to a body wash likewise.

However, as the fundamentals of the marketing, it should always match with the equity of the co-product and also it is an advantage of the strength of your co-product and it helps to change the identity of the brand. It really compromises what your brand stands for.

Q. In most of the multi-national companies there are more foreign marketers than locals. What are the loopholes that you see in local marketers compared to foreign marketers?

A. At Unilever here in Sri Lanka we don't have any foreign employees who handle top positions in the company. All marketing activities are handled by me and another person, and both of us are from local universities. And if you see in many multi-national companies' many leadership personalities come from local university backgrounds. But there are also some loopholes that we can see compared to these two categories, most of them come from different educational disciplines.

Sometimes problems can arise when it comes to decision making. Apart from that there are some weaknesses in the local education system as well where the students do not get an opportunity to be thorough with their subjects because of high competition. And also there is a lack of opportunities to get practical knowledge during the course of their degree.

Moreover, the cultural influences are also there especially when it comes to female marketers.

To overcome these loopholes we conduct some educational programs at universities to encourage them in choosing their career path as marketers and we have also offered internships in our organisation for students who pass out from the universities. Though we are a multi-national company I seriously believe that there is always a plus point to have local marketers since they can easily understand the customer's mind and desires.

Q. Most of the marketers are not financially disciplined. This is one of the reasons why marketers do not attend the boardroom. What do you think of this?

A. At Unilever most of the people who are in brand management positions are from financial backgrounds and also for the people who are only from marketing backgrounds we do facilitate them on job training programs and workshops. So far we have not faced any difficulties in appointing marketers in the boardroom.

Q. Do you face any difficulties in being a female marketer?

A. On the contrary, I think that womanly qualities are more relevant for this profession. The understanding and empathizing come naturally in female behaviour and these qualities are also core in this profession. I have been working as a marketer for quite a long time. So far I have never felt it a disadvantage to being a female in this field.

It is quite an interesting and exciting profession for people who seek challenges. Hence I would like to invite young people who are interested in the marketing field to face the challenge and climb the corporate ladder in their professional career.

Bleak economic outlook forecast for 2009 despite US hopes

European and Japanese officials on Monday warned that the global downturn would worsen despite hopes that US President-elect Barack Obama could galvanise the world's largest economy with a new stimulus plan.

Fresh reports out on Monday also painted a gloomy picture, with Japan announcing its worst car sales since 1974 and the iconic Irish china and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood saying it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Economic uncertainty means "it's quite possible that the recovery won't start until the beginning of 2010," European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos told the German weekly WirtschaftsWoche in an interview published on Monday.

That warning came as Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said that Japan had been hit by a rare downturn in global financial markets and that the prospects for the second biggest economy in the world were getting worse.

"The Japanese economy has experienced falling exports and production. Consumption has also turned stagnant and the economy is worsening," he said. Japan has been officially in recession since September last year after the country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank for two consecutive quarters.

Greater optimism about the US economy, however, was sufficient to boost the Tokyo stock market on its first day of trading in 2009, with the benchmark Nikkei index closing up 2.07 percent after a disastrous performance in 2008.

"Stocks are gaining support from the stronger stock market in the United States and expectations of a recovery in the US economy this year," said Makoto Sengoku, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities.

European stock markets inched up in early afternoon trading. The FTSE 100 index in London was up 0.36 percent, Frankfurt rose 0.53 percent and Paris gained 0.11 percent despite a plunge in French car sales in December.

In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, the fractious governing coalition discussed a new economic stimulus plan potentially worth tens of billions of euros (dollars) in a bid to stave off the country's worst post-war recession.

Wall Street shares had soared on Friday, with the Dow Jones rallying 2.94 percent, and a further boost was expected on Monday as Obama meets key congressional leaders to discuss a new economic stimulus plan.

Obama's economic rescue plan also pushed up the dollar on currency markets.

The dollar rose to 91.99 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade on Monday, up from 91.79 yen in New York late on Friday. AFP

Recession puts more pressure on Japan's workers

The current economy makes it even harder for Japanese workers to go home on time, and the results of overwork can be deadly.

In the last year or so, life appeared to be getting better for Japan's long-suffering workers.

Sure, salarymen still toil long into the evening and are expected to guzzle with their bosses after hours. But employers, at the behest of government, have been taking steps to ease workloads, and recent cases suggest Japan's judiciary is more willing to side with employees who sue companies - a trend that could lead to a better balance between job demands and a worker's private life.

A 44-year-old engineer at automotive supplier Denso is one recent beneficiary. On Oct. 30, 2008, a court in Nagoya awarded $15,000 to the man, whose full name hasn't been officially revealed, because excessive demands at work contributed to his depression.

He had been working 14 to 15 hours a day at Toyota (TM), where he had been seconded to help develop diesel engine technology. After going back to Denso, he took six months off to recover from overwork but was demoted when he returned to his job.

"It was important that the court recognized that the companies didn't give enough consideration to the working environment," said the man, who still works at the automotive supplier.

Toyota and Denso both said that while they don't entirely agree with the verdict, they wouldn't appeal the decision.

A year ago a Tokyo court ruled that the Japanese arm of McDonald's (MCD) had used illegal tactics to avoid paying for overtime.

The court found McDonald's had created phony management positions to avoid paying overtime, which regular workers but not managers are entitled to receive. Since the ruling, McDonald's and other restaurant chains have said they will make changes. A spokesman for McDonald's in Tokyo declined to comment on whether the changes are yet in place, but says the company is taking a "proactive stance" on improving the work-life balance.

And in June 2008, Toyota began paying 40,000 factory workers for participating in quality control programs outside normal hours.

Until then such work had theoretically been voluntary, but employees were typically expected to attend. That move followed a Nagoya court decision concerning a 30-year-old Toyota employee who died suddenly in 2002 after more than 100 hours a month of unpaid, after-hours quality control work.

Yet, for all the signs of progress, anyone thinking life is getting easier for Japanese workers may need to think again.

The economic downturn is weakening demand for Japanese exports, but it's unlikely to slacken many workloads.