Skip to main content

Trust - shades of grey

Meeting academics is always an eye opener for me. Everytime, they make me see another shade of life. This morning was no exception. I happen to go to my alma mater to see some academicians selecting candidates for the next batch for a different course and institute.

This institute is not well known in this part of the country and is perceived to be a traditional, conservative place. However, the response is great from the candidates who come to seek admission through a series of exams, group discussions and finally interview with a panel.

The institute was concerned about it's low awareness scores in North India and were debating whether to build awareness, should they not use advertising. No brainer one would say. Advertising is used so very effectively to increase awareness and in the process build value for the brand/offering.

But consumer has a mind of her own. Lot of potential students gave a feedback that the fact that institute does not advertise gives a lot of credibility. THIS IS INCREDIBLY COUNTER INTUITIVE.

The rationale given is that advertising is accepted as exaggeration of facts and has an inherent lack of trust in the claims/facts.

For a question of my career of life, I do not want to trust an institute that advertises which inherently is exaggerated truth. I accept this lack of trust for things/brands where my stakes are low but not where stakes are so high.

Something worth for marketers to delve into.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Power of observation

Mr Topiwala observed his niece being very interested in dressing up. He engaged in a discussion and came to understand a pain point of large number of Indian women. Something that women are very passionate, possessive about and have a very strong emotional bond, almost unbreakable bond. He created a new product that solved a huge effort and a recurring problem. And this was a self sticking, in varying sizes and design and in colours preferred by women, red and maroon. Since its launch in 1985, the brand is a huge dominant one in the market. Almost synonymous with the category. Companies would envy such a dominance. Over the years many innovations were brought about like iodine enriched, dermatologically tested and many more. 'Shilpa' bindis. An amazing story of a dominant brand that solves a real problem through acute observation. Would love to know of more such stories. #bindingmachine   #observation   #consumerneed   #businessmaze   #indianmaze 204-1-20

The biggest concerns - how we tackle?

These days, there are two topics of discussion. One about the national security and issues related to it and second, economic scenario and its impacts on individuals (own and in the organisations they work in). Jobs are difficult to come by. Packages are not as great as they used to be. How do students in B schools etc tackle it: - toppers are more worried about how much money will they make - others are looking at beyond placement cells - companies that were shooed away till last year are being treated with great honour - some students have resorted to contacting their freinds, long lost uncles, relatives etc to seek a favour On talking to a few CXOs, it was clear that making contacts to seek favours actually works to the detriment of the candidate. They all agreed that people is the key concern for them to run a business. They clarify quickly that it is all about RIGHT PEOPLE. How many students are actually writing to the organisations specifically demonstrating how they can add val...

Are you ready?

Scaling up? How about doing it in a short time? How about when demand is much beyond your plans? How much is much? Let us look at how such enormous challenges have been met in a matter of a few weeks. India was found awefully incpacitated to meet the demand of masks, PPEs and sanitizers. Demand soared by 1000X (and perhaps even more). In a matter of under 8 weeks, we started manufacturing all three in reasonably required quantities. Adjacent skills were deployed. Licences granted at lightening speed. And by 12th week, we had more than enough capacity and stocks. So much that we are exporting all of the requirements to the needy across the world. And costs and prices have gone down by 3X if not more. Can you do a simulation of your business for such a scenario? How quickly can you pivot? It's an amazing case study of entire industry standing up to the challenge. #covidopportunities   #businessexpansion   #pivoting   #businessmaze