In a certain tooth-paste manufacturing company, the senior executives had once assembled and were brainstorming on different ways by which they could increase the sales of their tooth-paste tubes.
Many expensive suggestions like 'hiring a celebrity to promote the brand' or 'offering cash and other incentives to retail sellers' came up. For many hours the meeting went on without reaching any viable conclusion.
Somewhere within the meeting, a junior, not-so-important employee came up with a unique idea. His idea was powerful enough to increase sales without investing heavily. He suggested that the 'mouth of the tooth-paste tube be widened to double its current size'. He justified that whenever the consumer would squeeze the tube, more tooth-paste would flow out from the tube, which would exhaust it faster and compel the user for a quicker re-purchase. Thus, the product would start moving faster !
Initially, some senior scoffed at the idea thinking it was too immature, but later they realized that it was actually a brilliant suggestion ! The company went ahead and executed it,...and lo, its sales did increase substantially !
Traditionally, when we think of ways to increase market share, we focus on cliche ways like advertising, promotion, incentives, but sometimes a seemingly trivial, 'out of the box' suggestion can produce rave results !
What an idea !
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Think out of the box !
This incident relates back to the Wills (Cricket) World Cup of 1996.
Both Pepsi and Coke were struggling hard to increase their market share in the Indian sub-continent.
The ICC approached them with an offer that one of them would get a chance to be the 'Official Drinks Partner' of the World Cup.
Both Coke and Pepsi started bidding hard to acquire the title of the 'Official Drinks Partner'. The bidding initially started with low amounts but slowly reached alarmingly high levels. Coke and Pepsi were aggressively bidding to oust each other and get the title of the 'Official Drinks Partner'
However, during a certain point of the bidding, Pepsi suddenly backed out and coke got the contract after paying a hefty amount.
The coke team was jubilant and started advertising themselves as the "Official drinks partner"
Pepsi, on the other hand, came up with a revolutionary advertising campaign. Whatever money they had saved by backing out of the auction, they pumped in behind promoting their new slogan "Pepsi - Nothing official about it ! Aha !!'
In the advertisement Pepsi showed "office" as something very boring, habitual and routine. Whatever was "official" was very cliche. On the other hand, not being official meant being very cool and trendy !
Pepsi's jingle went very well with the urban youngsters.
By making clever use of a differentiated approach, Pepsi took clear advantage of a lost contract !
Sometimes, thinking out of the box really helps !
Both Pepsi and Coke were struggling hard to increase their market share in the Indian sub-continent.
The ICC approached them with an offer that one of them would get a chance to be the 'Official Drinks Partner' of the World Cup.
Both Coke and Pepsi started bidding hard to acquire the title of the 'Official Drinks Partner'. The bidding initially started with low amounts but slowly reached alarmingly high levels. Coke and Pepsi were aggressively bidding to oust each other and get the title of the 'Official Drinks Partner'
However, during a certain point of the bidding, Pepsi suddenly backed out and coke got the contract after paying a hefty amount.
The coke team was jubilant and started advertising themselves as the "Official drinks partner"
Pepsi, on the other hand, came up with a revolutionary advertising campaign. Whatever money they had saved by backing out of the auction, they pumped in behind promoting their new slogan "Pepsi - Nothing official about it ! Aha !!'
In the advertisement Pepsi showed "office" as something very boring, habitual and routine. Whatever was "official" was very cliche. On the other hand, not being official meant being very cool and trendy !
Pepsi's jingle went very well with the urban youngsters.
By making clever use of a differentiated approach, Pepsi took clear advantage of a lost contract !
Sometimes, thinking out of the box really helps !
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Think Big to Grow Big !
When legendary billionaire Dhirubhai Ambani first came to Mumbai, he just had Rs. 50,000 with him. However, he had big dreams to make it to the top echelons of the corporate world. Within 40 years he managed to achieve a market cap of 65,000 crore Rupees !
There is a very interesting story from his early days in Mumbai...
During his evening walks, he would often go to the Taj hotel for a cup of coffee. In those days, a cup of coffee in the Taj would cost 65 bucks...a luxury which only the rich and famous could afford. Whilst Dhirubhai's peers and colleagues preferred drinking coffee at the roadside stalls for 5 bucks and save money Dhirubhai often sat in the Taj gallery to enjoy the expensive coffee at a premium price.
"You are crazy," one of Dhirubhai's friends once told him. "Why waste 65 bucks behind a cup of coffee in the Taj when you can easily get it for less than 5 bucks on the road ?"
To this, Dhirubhai replied, "I am paying 5 bucks for the coffee and another 60 bucks because the Taj gives me an opportunity to connect with the city's most influential people ! Its not about the coffee; its about acquainting myself and developing relationships with the people who really count !"
This was how Dhirubhai always thought !
Whilst his colleagues and peers preferred to save money by compromising, Dhirubhai always spent money behind everything that would help him grow Big !
He always believed that business can often be achieved by knowing the right people in the right place. And it always helped having friends in positions that really count !
Like Robert Kiyosaki once said, "Poor people work, Rich people network !"
There is a very interesting story from his early days in Mumbai...
During his evening walks, he would often go to the Taj hotel for a cup of coffee. In those days, a cup of coffee in the Taj would cost 65 bucks...a luxury which only the rich and famous could afford. Whilst Dhirubhai's peers and colleagues preferred drinking coffee at the roadside stalls for 5 bucks and save money Dhirubhai often sat in the Taj gallery to enjoy the expensive coffee at a premium price.
"You are crazy," one of Dhirubhai's friends once told him. "Why waste 65 bucks behind a cup of coffee in the Taj when you can easily get it for less than 5 bucks on the road ?"
To this, Dhirubhai replied, "I am paying 5 bucks for the coffee and another 60 bucks because the Taj gives me an opportunity to connect with the city's most influential people ! Its not about the coffee; its about acquainting myself and developing relationships with the people who really count !"
This was how Dhirubhai always thought !
Whilst his colleagues and peers preferred to save money by compromising, Dhirubhai always spent money behind everything that would help him grow Big !
He always believed that business can often be achieved by knowing the right people in the right place. And it always helped having friends in positions that really count !
Like Robert Kiyosaki once said, "Poor people work, Rich people network !"
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