Interview

Customers' needs are quite complicated :

'Establishing new products a challenge'

Anuradha KODAGODA

"It's always a challenge to bring down global brands to the local market and establish new products in the market.

However, as marketeers our main focus should be to understand the market behaviour and bring down the products at the right place and at the right time where we can minimize the risk factor of it being a product failure in the market", said the Marketing Manager of Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Sahan Rajapakse.

"Due to the current economic crisis, the most affected is the construction industry.

To sustain this kind of situation, it is essential to keep the loyal customers by offering them special pricing rates and discounts, rather than looking at new market segments," he added.

Q: What inspired you to select marketing as your career?

A. As I believe, for a marketeer, there are key qualities, which he/she should carry in their lifestyle. To be an outgoing personality is one of the key qualities and I think I'm good at that. In a company, the marketeer is the frontliner who deals with the customers in their day-to-day transactions.

Nowadays the customer's needs are quite complicated and it's changing very often and they always like to see changes and innovations in their favourite brands.

What brought me into marketing is that, I like to take on challenges and also it is quite an interesting job unlike other traditional 'sit and do' jobs.

Q: Being a frontliner in the company, what are the challenges you face in the field of marketing?

A. Being in a multi-national company, the current economic downturn in the world is not affecting the market favourably. Over the last five years, there has been a significant drop in the consumer's purchasing power.

Therefore, consumers have to choose the correct product in their first choice due to the limited purchasing power.

However, unlike marketeers, customers always have better opportunities because of many options that are available in the market. In this scenario the marketeer can play a huge role in the market by differentiating their products in the market.

We are in the business of paints, where our product is categorized under luxury products. Due to the current economic crisis consumers always have to focus on satisfying their primary needs such as food, housing and safety.

Apart from that, they face high competition and surviving in the business is also another challenge for a marketeer. Therefore, to overcome these issues we use different types of marketing strategies and it is always a huge challenge for a marketeer to grab the market share to sustain the business.

Q: What's the impact of the current economic crisis on your company?

A. Due to the current economic crisis, the most affected is the construction industry. Apart from the projects under construction, we could hardly see any new projects being implemented in the country.

Due to this issue there is a direct impact on the paint industry as well. As a solution to overcome this situation we offer low cost options, to introduce value addition products at the same price and special discount schemes to the market. To sustain this kind of situation, it is essential to keep the loyal customers by offering them special pricing rates and discounts, rather than looking at new market segments.

Q: What do you think about local marketeers?

A. I have been in the field of marketing for the last 13 years and unlike earlier we see there is a positive tendency of talented and skilled marketeers coming in to the field who are from different educational backgrounds. Actually it's a good sign in the field and I hope this trend would continue in the future.

I always advocate that budding marketeers in the field should be thorough and they should sharpen their skills not only in marketing but also in financial management and operational skills, IT and soft skills.

Q: In many companies we often see that marketeers are not represented at board room meetings. What do you think?

A. According to my opinion, the main reason for this is that most marketeers are not financially disciplined. Now it's time for Marketeers to go beyond marketing and as I said earlier they should be disciplined in other areas as well. To be financially disciplined can be a totally new area for a marketeer, but to be a substantial personality in marketing, it is essential to have financial knowledge. There are many training programs and workshops for marketeers that have been organized to overcome this problem.

Q: What are the advertising strategies that you employ in the company?

A. Even though there are the pros and cons on the impact of advertising on society, I think it plays a huge role in the market. In our company we use mass communication methods since we do not use regional campaign models to promote our products.

As a multi-national company, three years ago we used all foreign produced advertisements and campaigns for our promotional purposes. We got a favourable response to some of the advertisements but gradually we realized that we have to fine tune and localize these advertisements in keeping with the Sri Lankan society. Therefore, all our advertising campaigns right now are locally produced where it suits our local clients.