Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne

In recent days there has been lots of video shoots and photo shoots within Mahindra Eminenté Complex, commissioned by Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited to launch new marketing campaign with glossy colourful misleading brochures in their quest to lure more customers into buying sweet home of their dreams, in the new residential tower ANGELICA & ASPEN within Mahindra Eminenté Complex. Same kind of marketing campaign was shown to the customers for buying into blocks VERVIAN & VERONICA.

Companies traditionally & over-zealously use paid-media marketing without really deciphering the  Consumer Decision Journey (CDJ) - four stage journey of consumer(Ref:McKinsey study):

1.     Consider

2.     Evaluate

3.     Buy

4.     Enjoy, Advocate and Bond.

Companies spend exorbitant amount of money to influence customer decision at CONSIDER and BUY stages by showing the prospective customers HD video shoots, digitally enhanced colourful brochures interspersed with sweet talking tie-wearing executives trying to (mis)lead customers on haseen journey à la of Mungerilal depicted in famous TV serial – “Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne” (rosy dreams of Mungerilal) telecasted on Doordarshan, while sipping half-filled cup of chai or coffee. Customers remain optimistic and allow themselves to continue that haseen dream all because of the trust developed by Mahindra brand name over decades, and enjoy the half-full cup of masala chai (spice tea) while making purchase decision. At the same time they refrain to foresee half-empty cup of unfulfilled promises which will stare at them once they carry forward their journey to ENJOY-ADVOCATE–BOND stage.

Companies behave niggardly when it comes to engaging with customers during EVALUATE & ENJOY-ADVOCATE-BOND stages and that is exactly what is happening now with customers who have already moved in buildings- VERVIAN and VERONICA in Mahindra Eminente Complex.

One anonymous reader of the blog had left comment in blogpost- “Nudge Baliye” suggesting to bring the disillusionment of the residents to the notice of Anand Mahindra who is known for his intolerance to mediocrity visible around him. Irony is that he too is well aware of it. We Indians love to raise the finger when we know that the corrective action responsibility lies in the jurisdiction of someone else e.g. Anand Mahindra tweeting about dismal situation at Heathrow airport or the state of toilets in an Indian exhibition, but when it comes to looking within own jurisdiction, like ostrich we bury our neck in the sand and refuse to look. We donate millions of dollars to foreign alma-mater to have our name engraved over there, whereas millions of children in India hardly have access to their first text book of alphabets.

While launching the media blitzkrieg, marketing department must understand that when consumers are pleased with a purchase, they spread the word and bat for it by word of mouth, creating fodder for the evaluation of others and invigorating a brand’s potential. Instead of spending horrendous amount of money for launching media blitzkrieg, they should seriously try to understand the power of word-of-mouth equity.

Because of digital explosion we consumers are overloaded with plethora of information available all around. In such a scenario consumers are very skeptical about lofty claims propounded by traditional company-driven advertising & marketing and increasingly prefer to make purchasing decisions largely independent of what companies themselves tell consumers about products. This tectonic power shift toward consumers reflects the way people now make purchasing decisions. The marketing managers remain oblivious to the fact that now a days customers gather product information from a variety of independent & unbiased sources and decide which brand to purchase. Their post sales experience then influences their own next purchasing decision of the product of same brand and word-of-mouth recommendation to others. 

Word of mouth is not only biggest influencer in making purchase decisions but also wields the power of being most disruptive one. Word of mouth can prompt a consumer to consider a brand or product in a way that incremental advertising spending simply cannot. It’s also not a one-hit wonder. The right messages resonate and expand within interested networks, affecting brand perceptions, purchase rates, and market share. The rise of online communities, blogs, twitter and other form of communication has dramatically increased the potential for significant and far-reaching momentum effects.

Experiential word of mouth is the most common and powerful form, typically accounting for 50 to 80 % of word-of-mouth activity. It results from a consumer’s direct experience with a product or service, largely when that experience deviates from what’s expected. Complaints adversely affects brand sentiment and, ultimately, equity, reducing both receptiveness to traditional marketing and the effect of positive word of mouth from other sources.

It may prove to be more prudent that marketing division, sales division and after-sales-relationship division of Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited work in tandem to make the whole experience of customer association with Mahindra brand name, mutually and perpetually more pleasing & rewarding so that customers are proud of brandishing their loyalty to Mahindra brand name instead of being woken up by stinking reality at the end of haseen sapne (rosy dreams), rubbing eyes in disbelief like Mungerilal.

Also, readers may be interested in reading following blogposts:

1.     Obsession with parrots

2.     Nudge Baliye

3.     Powwow with CEO of Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited.

4.     Deadline is dead again

5.     Bird Bath

6.  Workmanship at its worst

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