I happened to watch muruga speak on TEDTalks. He is truly gifted. His curiosity and simplicity come out so clearly when he describes his visit to a local shop to buy a sanitary napkin for his wife. He insists on going to the shop dspite his wife, Shanthi, telling him that it is way beyond the family budget and that they will have to give up milk, which is clearly not an option for her. The shopkeeper furtively looks left and then right and quickly wraps the product in a newspaper. Disarmingly, Muruga wonders why this man needs to be so scared.There are some fascinating leadership traits that stand out in this man. Let’s see what they are and what they mean in the context of India and, indeed, the world.Curiosity: To what extent do our schools and, indeed, our families encourage curiosity? It will be very instructive to see the early Muruga in his family. How did his family or his school respond to his questioning and wondering mind? The natural instinct is there in all of us but it needs an environment that fosters it. It appears that Muruga does not accept convention blindly. He is, in fact, troubled by it, in some ways. He seems to want to question things and set them right. He appears to have a ‘reformer’ like stance of someone who is driven to change the unquestioning collective mind of unthinking acceptance, refusing to be cowed down by convention. This kind of thing is inspiring, it provides the ‘permission’ for others to follow suit. Sincerity: Sincerity is the absence of pretence, deceit or hypocrisy. One can see this in the way Muruga chooses to speak in his own way; he clearly has nothing to hide. He does not bother about how others see him and acts on the strength of his own idea or conviction. He approaches the shopkeeper to purchase sanitary napkins without the slightest hesitation. It is not about how others will see him but about what he has to do in that moment, which is, buy his wife something which will stop her from feeling the need to hide. We live in a larger social milieu in India which strangely prompts us to hide the most obvious of things because of ‘what others will say’! The perceived larger society is like an inner critic from which one can only try and protect oneself from. And this blunts our natural abilities. Sadly.Empathy: He clearly feels for his wife, to start with, and then, for women at large. He is deeply (and really) bothered by this whole plight of womankind, who have no choice but to use the most unhygienic and secretive means to deal with their period. His empathy is so real in the way he creates a device which he wears to simulate the experience of a period. He is clearly horrified at what women have to go through. Do we even know what women in Indian society go through let alone being aware of what do we do with it? As with curiosity, we slowly kill this quality, this ability to empathise, turning away from the pain of others.Awareness: Muruga is intensely aware that the chase for money and fame will not result in the appropriate response to the needs that women in much of the world have. He clearly sees that in many ways, we are so dependent on big business with the attendant high costs that he chooses to tackle it differently: he is aware that the focus on money can change everything. Interestingly, he says, “If everyone runs after money, their life will not have any beauty!” Courage And Perseverance: His clarity gives Muruga a single focus of what he needs to achieve. Even the ‘loss’ of his wife and then mother does not stop him from what he knows he has to get to the bottom of because he can see what they have to go through even if others do not. The idea that takes birth is painstakingly converted into a practical reality. How much time and energy must have gone into this pursuit!Implications for India and the World: The kind of leadership displayed by this ‘half educated’ (in his own words) man underlines what is missing in today’s education. Can we imbibe the lessons of leadership that are so clearly embedded in this single person’s victorious march, so reminiscent of one daring Indian barrister nearly one hundred years ago in South Africa!How about if, to start with, we encouraged our schools to find ways to be able to reinforce these traits that Muruga so beautifully embodies? The writer looks after the coaching practice for the APAC region at the Centre for Creative Leadership. He is currently based in Singapore(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-08-2014)
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It is a well-known fact that a majority of women in India cannot afford the sanitary napkins peddled by large brands. They were never the “market segment” that the Levers, J&J or P&G were looking to address. The freshly minted MBAs from the IIMs in their employment, who came up with beautiful marketing campaigns to sell more to the rich, never wondered how 88 per cent of the women who were not buying their product, addressed their sanitary hygiene needs. It took an Arunachalam Muruganantham, a poor uneducated welder to devise an affordable solution that would work for the majority. He not only invented a cheaper machine (his Rs 75,000 versus Rs 3.5 crore in large organisations) but also devised an innovative model whereby women’s self-help groups in villages and smaller cities would purchase these machines, produce and distribute the sanitary pads locally. What an idea, Sirji!In one stroke, Muruganantham transformed the female hygiene industry, sitting in a remote part of Tamil Nadu. Muruganantham is in the company of another ‘first’, who too addressed what we fashionably label as “bottom of the pyramid” or the next billion market. Govindappa Venkataswamy did it for eye care with his Aravind Eye Hospitals. He provided affordable eye care to the poor while also showing how to run a self-sustaining, profitable enterprise by reducing costs, increasing efficiency and productivity and, above all, infusing empathy into health care. Dr Venkataswamy went on to produce low-cost lenses, sutures and other medical products so that he could continue to provide the same high quality of treatment to his poor patients. He was 58, a retired government doctor on pension when he embarked on this ambitious venture. He did not study business management from a B-school or have a degree in Public Health or big donors. Still, he pledged not only his own but the entire extended family’s assets to ensure that nobody lost their sight because they could not afford to pay. Muhammed Yunus (Nobel laureate, 2006) did it too when he founded/designed a microfinance bank for the poorest of the poor — the rural women in Bangladesh — lending against all established canons of banking, without any collateral. Grameen Bank has turned the mainstream banking model upside down by bringing back trust into the lending model and putting money in the hands of people who have no “credit history” to show. Grameen Bank faced untold hurdles from the government, banks, leftist, rightist and the in-betweens who resisted change. But Yunus succeeded and with it transformed the lives of millions of rural poor in Bangladesh while showing the way to other countries.Today, we have a term for all these modern day heroes — ‘social entrepreneurs.’ A common thread across Muruganantham, Dr Venkataswamy, Mohammed Yunus, et al, is their empathy for the voiceless billions. They see opportunity, which others have let go because it does not generate the high returns that the investors and stakeholders demand. They are visionaries, highly persistent against all obstacles, problem solvers and innovators exactly like the mainstream entrepreneurs. What distinguishes them is their focus on solving a dire social problem, keeping the venture profitable and sustainable, yet eschewing ‘profit maximisation’ as their dominant objective. They are different from NGOs because their approach and idea is scalable! What does it take to be a social entrepreneur? It is a bleeding heart coupled with the smarts and grits of an entrepreneur. We see these traits in Muruganantham in plenty. He is not able to bear the idea of women using rags; he says he will not even use the rag to clean his scooter! Even after Muruganantham readies his low-cost machines, he is not in a hurry to monetise his invention. Instead, he devises an innovative model whereby owning the machine would generate employment for the local women. Finding change agents is always tough but more so when it comes to social change agents. The impact that this handful of people produce could change the lives of millions for the better. Perhaps, this is what drives them to pursue their goal — an intangible and inexplicable feeling of having made a significant difference to the unseen and unheard masses. The writer is CEO of AnuPartha, a global executive search firm focussed on transformational leaders(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-08-2014)
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Salma Ali growled at the pasta that was taking so long to cook. She then reached for the half used jar of pasta sauce sitting in the fridge. She could read not a word; the font was too small for human eyes, likely 4 point, she guessed. Salma got her glasses and turned the bottle to read: “Ingredients’..., then ‘Discover other products of Brand XX (this was in larger font, bold)... then BEST BEFORE 36 MONTHS FROM MANUFACTURE (non-bold), store in cool dry place / Refrigerate after opening/ For any suggestions... (in 3 point)... then suddenly the font went uppercase and 12 point: MRP (inclusive of all taxes): Rs 195. (Then, in ultra mega tiny font) For batch number, date of manufacture, please see back of the jar).Salma let out a cry. What was ‘back of the jar’ in a round bottle? She swirled the bottle around. There was nothing. Imported by India, Product of Spain, Manufactured in Italy... but no date of manufacture of any kind. Even so, don’t things have a shelf life once opened, she wondered. Switching on Safari, she Googled ‘toxicity in tomatoes’ and bingo, she came upon the USFDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services site, where she read that high acid canned foods — tomato was one of the 30 others listed — had a storage-on-shelf life of 12-18 months and after opening, a life of 5-7 days in the refrigerator.Salma put down the jar slowly on the countertop remembering the times when opened jars had remained in the refrigerator for months. Ehsaan, her brother, would not have looked up any site for shelf life. She was about to throw away the bottle, when a sentence on the website caught her attention: ‘Throw away carefully. You don’t want animals, children, or anyone else who might rummage through the trash to get ill.’It was 11 p.m. Salma called Abhi, “This is so shameful. There they care even for tramps and animals. Here we don’t care for consumers!”Abhi: Yaar, this is the bane of business today. So careless! But we must first check our own products Salma. Let us take a look tomorrow?The next day, Abhinav called for six of the products that were under his care. And sure enough, Kanto products too had consumer data all over the place. As he sat there staring at the spread before him, the MD, Prakash Udpa, poked his head into his office and said, “A deep moment..?” Abhi looked up slowly, a bit lost in thought, then said, “ I think we have never looked at our products as consumers, but always as makers, designers, creators... too lofty a position.... Prakash, why do we have our dates and storage information and instructions scattered? Wouldn’t you think that ideally you begin with manufactured date, best before followed by storage conditions and use within after opening, all together? And Prakash saw all the packs....Prakash: We could not be the only guys doing this. Let us get out some 50 different brands and see the general attitude to pack communication. By noon, an assortment of products sat on Abhi’s table. Salma and Thomas Chacko (product manager) joined them.Salma: Ok, here we go, branded chana dal — ‘packed (PKD) 6/2013’ on this side, then... on the other side, it says best before (BB) 6 months from packaging date...Store in a cool dry place. Clear inkjetting and larger sized fonts. But, of course, it does not state expiry.Prakash: Commodities typically have no expiry. We get staples from the hills for the whole year...Salma: I do not know, but as a consumer I ask the dal brand, ‘Then why give me this information?’Abhi: We need to link expiry dates to healthcare, tell the consumer you can store the product only for so many months because being a tropical climate you can be infected by weevils. Product can spoil. So ideally dals should be used within 3 months of buying. Instead, we say, let them buy, let them decide, they will get it right... we are not trying to engage with the consumer on this, educate her, tell her what can be the fallout of weevils. Read Analysis By: Shobha Prasad, Ravi Nigam & Chandan Dang break-page-breakSalma: Because we feel that our conditions are already so suboptimal, eating weevil-ridden dal will definitely not kill. Healthcare is not an item on our agenda. Don’t we say, if you can eat pani puri on the streets then why can’t you drink tap water? Same logic.Abhi (laughing): You may have a point, well... now, we have Kay’s mixed fruit jam. Best before 12 months from packaging. No info on when it was packed. So turn it around... hmm, it says ‘PKD and for batch number see lid’. I look at the lid and I get to see inkjetted 12/2012. So.. three different spots for the same related information. Next, extra virgin olive oil... hmm... this one had a date sticker which, it seems to me, the shop keeper has peeled off. Now we will never know. But here where it says MRP, the printed label says BB 24 months from date of manufacture... but it does not say where to find that... So, I go around the bottle... sorry, no date available. Prakash: Now Kay’s tomato ketchup. After MRP, it says 5/2013; BB nine months from PKD is written below the MFG date. But in a very small font. Nothing about storage...Salma: No, it does, here on my jar! Store in a cool dry and hygienic place at 31 degrees after opening and...Abhi: Wow, same brand, but mine is a refill pack. How come different data systems for the same brand? Salma: It also says ‘Recommended refrigerate after opening’. Wow... never heard of this. I have never refrigerated ketchup! Have you? But why ‘recommended’? Why not be clear? Either you say Refrigerate or say nothing. Likewise, why ‘Best before’? What’s the catch? Thomas: Soya sauce, PKD 7/2012; then EXP 7/2014; Very clear. Now storage information.... is very far away. Yeah, I know it is on the same bottle of 2 inches diametre, but you see how you are taking my attention away, you are making me search for it. And I need not... When I buy a product I must get all this in one place for me to deduce what I need to do. Only expiry date is necessary at the time of purchase. But when I come home, I have to search for how to store and I may not see this! All this should be together. Where do I look, below, above, around, on the seal? It is all over the place and in a most frustrating font! Salma: I do think marketers don’t care. Literally, I mean that. They care that you buy, so they use bazooka marketing. Then they leave you to your confusions and questions, and they also know you do not know where to go ask your questions! At the time of buying as well as at the time of consuming, women normally look for this info every time they reach for the bottle. Especially soya sauce since it is used less often. Thomas: See, the next data is “BB: see cap”... so right from the foot of the bottle I am expected to jump to the cap. Meanwhile, “Storage instructions: refrigerate after opening.” Very clear, not ‘Recommended’. Ok, now we go to the cap... Sorry, there is no BB date. No sticker or inkjetting. Oh, here is a sticker: Ravi Kumar & Company; MRP, BB: See label, MFG date: See label. Net weight: See label; Month of import: 10/2012. What will a consumer do with just the Month of import? Should you not be telling her how long this can be used?Abhi: It’s clear, the importer was supposed to inkjet the BB date, but ‘decided’ not to. That is how you ensure your ROI! Who audits control weaknesses in imports?Thomas: Problem is Indian consumers have a certain lethargy when it comes to complaining...Salma: Who do you complain to? Think about it. The retailer? Then again, most homes are run by hired help; so user and consumer are divorced. You tell the cook to make hakka noodles, you will get hakka noodles. Cook does not know about BB dates. Abhi: Here is ketchup from Laska Brands. This one also says keep refrigerated after opening; Best before is fine. But where is the manufacture date? ...Oh it’s got erased. What is this 7/2013? Ok, Batch date. Rest has faded... Read Analysis By: Shobha Prasad, Ravi Nigam & Chandan Dang break-page-breakSalma: Here is a different question. I need to bake today so I buy a tin of cocoa. Mind you, I am not a professional baker. At the end of eight months I still have that tin of cocoa with me on my shelf. Meanwhile, we have been through summer and monsoons and the climatic conditions have been impacting my kitchen climate. Does the brand owner know if my brand experience is as he designed it to be? Do I, the user, realise that my rich gooey chocolate cake has a flat taste because my cocoa has aged and not because I am a bad baker? Point is, I would be concerned if my consumer’s tin of coco has been lying around for so long. There is a level of deterioration associated with any consumable with time. It gets oxidised... is the product good enough to deliver a tasty cake? As a brand owner, I would worry whether my consumer will get the same joy from using my product that is 8 months old! Wouldn’t you as a brand manager prefer me to use fresh stocks? Abhi: So, what would you do?Salma: Food products must come with a fluorescent sticker which you encourage buyers to paste on the tin with dates such as: Opened on; Use before. If it is in my handwriting, I am more likely to find it and use it. Then again, you are getting me to participate in the freshness process. Thomas: And equally, you, the brand owner, will be under direction to provide me with data whereby you get the consumer to partner the brand!Salma: Absolutely! ‘How relevant am I in a consumer’s life?’ And that relevance lies in your understanding that consuming is a longer process than buying. Your job does not end with selling but in and through the experiences during consumption. What has been your buyer’s consumption experiences?The other deterrent is that increasingly, people are not hands-on cooks themselves. The hired help does not even know that the fancy Ranch Dressing she is using to make your salad has an expiry date, a storage condition, a BB date. You do not know how long the tetrapack milk has been lying open. And in what condition. Do you put a sticker on your tetrapack and say: Opened on? If so then the ‘Consume within 3 months of opening’ caveat makes sense. But you don’t. You always think you will remember. Thomas: So true! I always think I know when I bought my bread. But I respond only when it gets moldy! Now see, my cook has never asked me if she should refrigerate the ketchup, likely because in flat number 3005, where she works, madam does not refrigerate ketchup, so no reason why the sahib in flat 1005 should refrigerate ketchup! But then frankly, I did not ever know that ketchup needs refrigeration!Prakash: (laughing) Ok, here is branded rosagullas from a namkeen manufacturer; MFG: 9/2013. BB 31 May. Nothing about how long the product can be kept after opening the tin. No caveat to say product cannot be left in the tin, if the product MUST be transferred out for fear of oxidisation... Then, I come to the third panel, Ingredients, oh, here: To dealers and consumers: do not sell if puffed up. Store in a cool dry place. But for how long? Now, in a completely different spot, it says, Cut whole lid and consume product on the same day. So, 5 pieces of information on different parts of the packaging. Abhi: Wait a minute. You did not see. This tin comes in an outer carton. The packaging date, the expiry date, etc., are all on the outer carton but not on the tin! (Everyone examined carton) Typically, families will discard the carton and retain the tin, as often the outer is damaged. Do you worry that the information on both can be different? Ok... carton says ‘MFG date, BB date, see bottom of tin.” (They all peered with Abhi at the tin’s bottom...) Oops... there is nothing on the bottom of the tin! Ha, ha, ha!Thomas: Did you say consume same day? I opened a tin 10 days ago... been popping one everyday... will I die?Salma: You are more likely to live and fall sick for a long time. Why don’t you read the tin before eating?Thomas: Arre! If it is written I will read na! I didn’t even get this outer carton. And the paper on my tin was ripped..Abhi: Prakash, these are the realities of consumer usage. Labels peel off; tins get dented. Cartons get battered; as a brand are you taking cognisance of how the brand data holds up in retail? How are you actually selling to the consumer? The info you seemingly planned for end user is not reaching him... you don’t even have a legal leg to stand on. Now, this business about ‘consume product on same day’. This 1 kg tin has 14 rosagullas. If Chacko bought a tin, he was definitely not planning to eat all 14 on the same day. So, either you scream this message out upfront, or you make smaller SKUs! Salma: You know, if you were to read the entire pack print of any brand, you will see that the marketer is having a disjointed conversation with the consumer. One minute he is saying how to cook it, the next moment he is saying cool-dry-place, then he is listing ingredients, then he is saying it should not be puffed.... is this how we normally converse? And what on earth is a cool dry place? Manali?Abhi: What is air-tight container? It is a generic statement like, ‘be a good boy’. But for how long? Salma: Ok, malted drink for growing children. ...Oh, God so much data! Who reads all this! What a holy clutter! At the back ‘BB 12 months’...then ‘replace cap after use’. Really! What a useless piece of information! ‘Store in clean dry place, away from sunlight’ — now this sunlight bit needs to be upfront, not hidden between maltose and sucrose. Prakash: Ok, guys, I am already feeling terrible. Let’s put all expiry and storage information in two blocks on a pack so that there is a focused window of information. It will build trust in the consumer that ‘my brand experience is more important to the manufacturer. But honestly, why did none of this strike us ever?Abhi: Well.... (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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I really love the way brand managers Abhi, Salma and Prakash have gone on their journey of discovery of each brand’s on-pack communication. Like the Welsh explorer, Henry Stanley and the Scottish missionary Dr Livingstone, our intrepid exp-lorers have moved from label to label, to decipher the code… What has each brand said to the world about its product information, its use information, use instructions. How might readers... its consumers and others… be evaluating this information, its pluses and minuses, for their own use situation or use case?The threesome’s focus here has been on food products, but similar principle scan be easily seen to hold true for any category — whether personal care products (for example, cosmetics), home care products (for example, floor cleaners, dish wash), or durable products (home appliances, etc.). Through their research of several food products belonging to different brands, we saw the various shortcomings in the ways brands communicate information and the incomplete instructions, such as tiny fonts, scattered and dispersed locations for presenting information, missing pertinent information, (for example, how many days is the product safe to use after opening a can/ pack and under what conditions), ambiguous language used (for example, ‘recommended’, ‘best if...’), using a language unsuitable for certain categories of its users (use of only English despite knowledge of Indian lifestyle habits of using illiterate domestic help); use of random measures such as ‘take 2-3 cups of water’ and not defining a cup measure. Add to this information presented on non-permanent parts of the packaging (for example, the disposable outer carton, crimp of tetrapacks) and inadequate communication of warnings. Brands have to take ownership of the journey of discovery about themselves, especially the discovery that is made from packaging. The journey of discovery is an integral part of the consumer’s overall brand experience, especially in the usage situation and the resultant brand perception. Any shortcuts by the brand, or lack of sensitivity, worse, misrepresentation through use of fuzzy language such as ‘recommended’ by the brand — may or may not be upfront unethical but it will downgrade the consumer’s perception of the brand as dependable and she will vote with her wallet and her voice, including on social media. This will not be a secret ballot for sure!How can a brand do the right thing by the consumer? Some pointers: First, list out all the legally mandatory and necessary information at the most logical and visible place on the packaging. Think like a buyer, not like a seller. (What is “necessary information” follows.)Use multiple languages, use pictures, icons, colours to communicate and highlight relevant information. Remember, many consumers won’t understand the medium of instruction you use.Test your brand’s on-pack communication internally and externally with colleagues, family, consumers, competition users, non category-users. See what they say and understand why. Correct yourself where needed, re-test.Additionally, use the digital medium — a 2D bar code (QR code) communicates more than a label. Of course, it assumes a human being has the equipment to interpret the bar code (usually a smartphone suffices)!Now, a reality of life on what information is “necessary”. Every use-case of every brand user cannot be covered by the brand. One has to carefully consider: which use-cases make up the salient 90 per cent, 95 or 99 per cent of usage? For the rest, the brand has to develop its own understanding of the use conditions to assess what needs to be communicated. For example: A soap bar may be used to make a dance floor slippery by teenagers for a party, but that use case usually does not need a specific message addressed to the teens! A relevant use case message may however be — cautioning aging users about the slipperiness of wet soap in the bathroom. How many soap manufacturers have ever said — ‘Use soap carefully — if wet, soap may fall to the floor, step carefully away from the soapy area’? Points like ‘Replace cap after use’ are worth pondering over as we move further on this fascinating journey. The writer is marketing director at Tupperware India. He has experience handling sales, marketing and business leadership roles in companies such as HUL, Pepsi, Nokia and Wrigley(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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Malcolm gladwell may call it ‘a tipping point’ but many of us just know life has its aha moments. For Kanto Products too, that moment probably came with Salma’s visual wrestling with her half-used jar of pasta sauce. That she raised it with her colleague Abhinav and that ripple carried through the marketing team (Chacko) and upward to the MD Prakash Udpa, is creditable. Rarely is a junior brand person’s observation so valuable!Many of us in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world could be accused of reducing our packaging to the role of a well-dressed town crier. We lend our voice to it to make it deliver only the following:Attract buyerCommunicate messageCreate desire for the productSell productBrands tend to concentrate on the front of a pack because seldom do they expect the consumer to read all that is written all over.Food brands tend to do the same. They settle for a great photograph and then use key adjectives such as Cholesterol Free, Sugar Free or Home-style to project attributes they think the consumer will place a value on. Some go to the extent of describing products as Original, Super or Premium.The goal is to ensure packaging pops out on the shelf and differentiates itself from other brands. Food shots can be exaggerated to the point where the picture looks nothing like the actual product. While this might induce consumer purchase, it will rarely help in repeat buying. Designers may win awards for a great looking pack, but consumer dissonance could be lurking around the cornerThe back panel is often ignored. Companies believe it not to be a space for powerful communication, a space where they ought to somehow comply with regulatory norms encompassing ingredient statements, bar codes, nutritional panels and minimal usage instructions such as ‘Replace cap after use.’As a result, brands lose out on the opportunity of using the entire pack to properly educate and inform consumers about important aspects of the product. Consumers need to be informed about the necessary facts on nutrition such as fat, carbs, proteins, etc. Where relevant, attributes such as organic, vegan, Kosher or Gluten-free must be highlighted.Most consumers are unaware of functional and regulatory information, which must be organised well in one panel only, and not be scattered around. Abhi and Salma are rightfully shocked at the lack of clarity on expiry dates and product price while looking at Kay’s Jam, caused by faded inkjetting, peeled-off stickers and data in different places.Care must be taken to ensure people understand the language used. Please say ‘Best before’ instead of BB. Easy contact information on how consumers can reach out in the event of a query or complaint must be provided. Having taken care of regulatory norms, it is important to educate consumers on other useful information, which may prevent wastage or spoilage of products. In addition to providing shelf life information, a simple direction such as — ‘once pack is open, keep unheated product in the refrigerator for up to three days’ provides additional information on usage and storage.Smart brands ensure they point out important innovations of having introduced a ‘cold spot’ in a microwavable pack to prevent burn injuries like Conagra does with its popcorn.A leading maker of tomato paste provides ‘Hints and Tips’ of mixing tomato paste with water to use as stock, or add to soups for added flavour, or stir into risotto — taking the consumer into new areas of product usage. The pack then goes on to educate consumers on the fact that tomato paste is one of the richest natural sources of lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant. The brand effectively informed and educated the consumer on product attributes that may normally not be known.A 360° communication on a pack ensures a firm handshake between the brand and the consumer. It is fortunate packaging starts with ‘P’ else even the 5th place it gets in a 4P world (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) would have proved elusive! The simple truth is consumers are increasingly spending more time on the back of the pack than on the front. Companies should do the same. The writer is managing Director, Tasty Bite Eatables(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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Who among us has not spent time searching all over a pack for expiry date and date of manufacture, or been baffled by messages such as ‘store in a cool dry place’ (what’s a cool dry place in Mumbai?)! It struck me that though the conversation totally resonated with me, I had not so far ever taken these issues seriously. More interestingly, neither have consumers ever raised these as concerns across all pack researches I have ever done. The question is — why? Let’s look at the issues that this conversation has raised: Relevant and important information such as usage and storage, nature of deterioration, possible toxicity, is often not clearly stated on labels.Important information is scattered on the pack with little attention to ease of location, logical ordering, or even making sure that it does not get erased or thrown away.The underlying suggestion in the conversation is that the seller is interested in making the sale, but does not seem as interested in ensuring a safe and quality post-purchase experience. Is this true?Well, not when you buy durables where not only do you get a detailed user manual, the information is also clear and standardised across brands. But when you are buying a bottle of tomato ketchup, you get… almost nothing. Moreover, the information provided by FMCG companies is widely varied, almost whimsical in nature. Does this mean that durable companies care more for their customers than FMCG companies? There are two issues when it comes to FMCG packs:The space provided is a label on a tiny packThe category is regarded as simple, and the consumer experienced — hence the culture of providing detailed instructions does not really existOn a label the size of the palm of your hand (sometimes just the size of your thumb), there is hardly any room to pack all the information. Selling messages tend to get prominence and priority over usage messages. In many companies, this information falls in the realm of the ‘legal’, and change could mean lengthy internal and external approvals, causing delay for something not considered very important in leading to off-takes.Ultimately, this turns into a blind spot for marketers, fixed by somebody long ago, which seems to work (meaning, nobody has questioned), and does not need to be revisited. The problem lies not just with the sellers but with the consumers as well. It is a fact that consumers in the FMCG category do not actually read usage/ storage instructions on packs (though they are particular about expiry). Consumers hold on to usage/ storage beliefs that they do not even imagine could be wrong, hence do not think to check. So, they never get to know that ketchup needs refrigeration or that rosagullas in tins need to be consumed the same day. Did you ever wonder what “best before” really meant — and at precisely what point your product crossed over from the land of the living to the dead? The label is a blind spot for consumers as well. So, how does this cycle of apathy get broken? The Caveat Emptor principle suggests that it is not the seller’s job to inform, but the buyer’s job to find out all about a product before she buys it. But, with the pace of innovation today, consumers may not know what to check for, what pitfalls may exist in the complex products they consume. A purchase is a consumer’s statement of trust in the company. Sellers have a duty to inform and caution their buyers. Not doing so is a breach of trust. Instructions on the label form the buyer’s ‘user manual’, a set of critical instructions that deserve focus rather than peripheral vision. Once marketers look at their packs through the lens of the ‘user’ rather than ‘buyer’ they may displace some of the selling messages on the label in favour of critical post=purchase messages and give them more ‘prime’ space.Consumers are not ever going to raise this as a serious issue. Making these changes is part of the concept of care for the consumers, ensuring that they have the best and safest of experience with the products. The question is: do companies care enough? The writer is director at Drshti Strategic Research Services(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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Abhinav varia and salma ali stood near the mango stalls from where they could see the cold section clearly. They were at Spencer’s Supermarket. Although they had come to check the shelf display and the POP of their juices, they now watched the cold section where the multibrands nestled together. Abhi was a senior brand manager at Kino Foods and Beverages; he looked after the Kanto brand of juices and health drinks. Salma was his colleague. For a few seconds, the two talked about the frosted window not being a good idea as it prevented a clear view of the products. Then they argued why it was, in fact, a good idea, and instead said the milks should have been in a different section.... Just then a customer strolled in with her grown up daughter and a large trolley. The lady picked up a one-litre pack of Kanto and examined it, her head tilting backwards, her eyes straining through the lower part of her spectacles. Now she was saying something to her daughter, who ducked into her range of vision, read something, then they said some words to each other. The lady turned the packet around several times, then urgently flipped the carton and saw the bottom. Her daughter said something engagingly and lady nodded sagely. Presently, she put the carton back on the shelf, picked up another brand, barely glanced at it, and put it in her trolley and went ahead.Both Salma and Abhi were surprised. “Wow! What was she doing looking at Kanto Juice? The time she spent on the Kanto carton belies her eventual decision,” said Salma. Abhi: When a consumer drops my brand and chooses another option, I stand to lose. How am I to know what happened in her head?Salma: Or, or, or, what were the considerations that made you choose another brand over me in the purchase basket? That is a question the brand manager should be asking. Want to catch her in the cash queue and ask her?Abhi: No, no... could be intrusive. Ok, let us say her name is Sarlaben and her daughter is Tara. Will Sarlaben remember why she dropped Kanto for another? Was it that Brand B was nicer even if Brand A met their considerations? Or was Brand A lacking and if so, what was it lacking, can she recall all that clearly?Salma: I am not sure about any of these. The choice of one brand over another may well be a hygiene issue. It need not be the absence of a desired attribute in the rejected brand Kanto. Nor will I say she rejected Kanto. She likely was looking for something which she was unable to find on the pack. The picking up of Brand B instead does not mean she found that missing attribute there; it just means Kanto did not meet something. Abhi: But she did pick up Kanto first. That was her first choice. Now am I to believe she is indifferent to Kanto and the other brand?Salma: Likely. Ok, you take cheese, for example. Amul, Vijaya, Britannia — I am indifferent to all of them. Unless someone asks me to get a particular brand, I go with any of them. And price-wise too, they are all nearly in the same range. So, say, I pick up Amul and I can’t find the expiry date readily, or whatever, I will immediately pick up another brand where the expiry date meets my needs, as at that stage what sets one brand apart from another is this value. Because in self help stores, finding expiry dates and the amount of shelf life left is my problem as consumer. Only the kirana chap reads it in a jiffy and tells you! Yet, I must tell you, I am not likely to remember why I did not pick up a given brand — in a category where I am indifferent. In fact, the next time I am at that supermarket, I would have forgotten that I had hovered over Brand A and then chosen Brand B. Maybe the difficulty did not exist the next time? This happened to me last month —I bought Brand A of milk, when I usually buy Brand B. And I could not explain why I had not bought the usual brand. Abhi: No, Salma, Sarlaben picks up a product-brand, makes some conversation with it in her silence, puts it back, then picks up another brand and moves on. What happened there? Why did she drop Kanto? Or why did she choose Brand B instead? Did she choose B or did she reject A? Does a brand owner ever get to find out why Sarlaben changed her mind? Salma: The brand owner can never find out or enter this moment without intruding. And if he does that, he will inhibit the consumer. Unless he places cameras. Even then you only know what she dropped and what she chose, but never the ‘why’ of either decision. Both thoughts reside in her mind.I tell you, Abhi, I am convinced that the consumer himself/herself does not remember why he/she dropped one brand and chose another. Often this happens in categories where all players have reached a level of parity in the quality and delivery.Abhi: But something does happen at that moment of choice.... what is it? Salma: Maybe something was not right. Maybe the packet looked dented? Or wet, or soiled or...Abhi: Very unlikely with Kanto, but even so, what was it? What changed her mind?Salma: How about that she was disappointed — that is, the brand presented itself in an avatar that either alarmed or disappointed her. I am thinking.... Like say, an offer is on and you expected to see the offer on the pack. Or there are variants of the brand — vanilla, pista, orange... and you do not get your preferred flavour. But more than all these, Abhi, what I would worry about are consumer issues which the consumer never reports. Either you have not asked or I have not bothered/cared to report. Abhi: Or.... it did not make a difference to Sarlaben whether or not the brand had corrected a mistake? For example, on a flight recently, the coffee that was served was worse than bad. In a blind test, even a non-coffee drinker would have sworn that this was not coffee. The air hostess told me it was Senator Coffee. While I don’t drink Senator, I can tell you it takes art to ruin that brand of coffee! Read Analysis: B.S. Nagesh and Arun Narayan break-page-breakNow 350 people sat in that Boeing and I estimate that 10 per cent must be coffee drinkers. Are you saying 30 consumers were indifferent to bad coffee?And that is my point, people don’t report a bad product always. On an aircraft, there is no brand choice, only one brand, one ‘supplier’, one opportunity — during takeoff you can’t get coffee; during descent you can’t get coffee, in between these you can get coffee only when the trolley comes to you. And that is once. Consumers do not always complain. Or they do to the wrong person, that is, they don’t have access to the right person to whom their complaint will make sense. Like this stewardess was not the right gal. She was sad that I didn’t like her coffee. But she did not know what to do with my complaint. She was not trained to deal with complaints.Salma: Ditto Sarlaben... There needed to be access to someone who could answer her query.Abhi: Yes, so the air hostess was not my problem solver; but I do think that at her level she needed to ask me what part of the coffee I didn’t like — the taste, the temperature, the thickness,the what? So, I suspect the brand never expected that its coffee will fail. Hence it did not plan for this contingency. You are right, that is what happened to Kanto too. At the self-service point, when a doubt arose, the consumer Sarlaben did not have anyone who could address it. Salma: Whereas, in a kirana store, she would have immediately screwed up her nose and told Ramnikbhai, the store man, ‘I don’t want this because..’ In that case, she will remember why she rejected the brand. But then under what conditions will she not remember why she rejects a brand or selects a brand ... Those conditions are important for us.Abhi: In self-help stores you also have a huge variety staring at you, so there is not enough time to converse with each one. Hence it will depend on what her orientation is when she picks up a brand. Often a consumer has a familiarity within a product category and within that her is indifferent about a select basket of brands. Like you and cheese. In a supermarket setting, this plays out best, for there she is faced with her basket of preferred brands all at the same time and the act of making a choice is far subtle. What is witnessed is that she picks up a brand, and that choice may reflect on her recall of that brand over others. But this is not to say that she rejects the others. It just means that she has reached for this brand, then she checks for something, and then when this is not met, she moves to another brand in her consideration set. What did she look for?Salma: It would depend: price, packaging, promise, shelf life, date expired, ... I am trying to recall my cheese moment. Abhi: Clearly, there was something you were seeking which you did not find in the first attempt nor the second but you did in the third on the basis of which you made your choice. Here too, if we had asked Sarlaben instantly it would be top of mind and she would have been able to give the precise reason then. Even 10 minutes later, she need not recall.Salma: I know... I am thinking of this phenomenon. What happens? She forgets? Read Analysis: B.S. Nagesh and Arun Narayan break-page-break Abhi: It is not about remembering. We are guided by our inner checklist of attributes. That’s how a customer makes decisions in a supermarket situation because the complexity of the decision making is much higher — and it is under time pressure, it is under stress. Salma: How do you mean stress?Abhi: See, supermarket shopping is supposed to be a very joyful experience. Being there in good lighting, amid many people, so many brands, light music... all that is very restoring. But increasingly I am coming to see that I am stressed out. Because you realise that the more time you want to spend the less time you have to spend. This is a function of a crazy number of brands calling out to you from the shelves, with attractive packaging and then you have to read the fine print to find out who is this brand? What is the state of origin? Is it a known house of products? Dependable? Then, there is the population pressure! Supermarkets are so crowded! And then, you are always conscious that you have only so much time to shop. I leave on a Sunday morning to buy 12 things on my list and 90 minutes in which to do it. I already know the check out will take 25 minutes, so that brings 90 down to 65. You know you came in thinking that you have 90, you have spent 30 minutes looking for greens or getting other vegetables weighed. That leaves me with 60 minutes, less 25 for checkout, that is only 35 minutes in which to complete my list. You are now under stress. In those situations, brands have a make or break situation when a consumer cannot find basic information.Salma: Do you think Sarlaben rejected Kanto because she could not find some information? Oh, heck, maybe! In such a scenario, should not a marketer be alert to the fact that consumers look for some information on the pack? Nobody looks at Amul and puts it in their bag even if that brand name is huge. They examine it for the variant; they do turn the pack over to read specific, current info which is germane to their purchase. Such as expiry date. Especially when there are many new variants on the shelf. Because some variants are slow movers and we are cynical that supermarkets will ‘get rid’ of their slow moving stocks by cunning plans.... We are dependent on a supermarket system to ensure we get fresh products, by keeping their inventory management tip top. Or maybe the consumer has just learnt of a new health information on the Internet. Like a friend who had heard that some cheeses use lecithin, which her religion forbade. So, she spent time staring at all the cheeses!Abhi: So, your thought is that some information was missing... Expiry dates cannot be missing. They are required by law. Or maybe it was there but she could not find it readily...Salma: Have we as brand managers ever asked a consumer what all she needs to know to complete her usage of a product? We live in a tropical climate. We need to know how our Kanto Juices needs to be stored. I have often wanted to ask our R&D guy, can I empty out the one-litre pack into a bottle and store it in my fridge,because I don’t like paper cartons, worse, open paper cartons? Our pack gives a toll free number. How do I know if the answer the call centre girl gives is a researched reply?Or, can I use the orange juice to marinade chicken? What will happen if I boil it? Or what happens if an open carton gets left out for 6 hours... will I die if I drink it?Abhi: I know what you are saying, but we cannot have all that information on a pack for heavens’ sake. Salma: But I as a consumer have these questions! Who will answer them? So, tell me more! Ingredients and calorific values, yes cool. But engage with me more, I mean. How much does our packaging communicate with me? So what did Sarlaben look for and did not find? I think the consumer who is paying for your brand, who is choosing your brand, he is the one who is buying, voting with his money, buying the contents of the packet, he is communicating to you there is an intention to consume what is in the packet. So along with the product what other data is critical to his consumption? There are some tetra packets that say expiry date is three months from date of manufacture. But even Kanto does not say in how many days after opening it must be consumed!I don’t think food marketing has matured in India. It is not about getting good food to the people; it is yet as primitive as getting rid of stocks from my stores, by hook or crook. Examine any food product; that it is elitist and writes only in English, is one thing; but there is worse.Abhi: Ok... let us take a look at some products then... yeh zaroori hai! To be continued...Read Analysis: B.S. Nagesh and Arun Narayancasestudymeera@gmail.com Businessworld case studies(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-07-2014)
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A traditional view of an organisation’s operations leads one to begin the value chain upstream… but truly the fortunes of an organisation depend on this moment when a customer decides to pick up (or ignore) its product at the point of sale… a supermarket in this case. So, everything done to get a product onto the retail shelf —R&D, product development, manufacturing / sourcing, logistics, distribution, marketing, etc., blurs at the point of purchase, when a consumer does not choose the product amidst many others on the shelf. This really is the moment of reckoning! What Abhi and Salma witnessed is possibly an everyday occurrence wherein many consumers’ decision to pick up a brand/ product or drop another is influenced in varying degrees by the interaction between the product and the consumer at the point of sale... be the brand a household name or an unknown, be the purchase a routine buy or an occasional indulgence. No wonder then that organisations need to really know what happens between the consumer and the product at the moment of purchase. In the case situation, Abhi and Salma run through various possible reasons why their juice brand Kanto was placed back on the shelf after a close inspection by Sarlaben, the consumer. However, before we get to these reasons and other influencers such as ‘time pressure’ on the shopper, it is important to understand that the behaviour of consumers depends on whether the purchase is a routine one or a new purchase. Routine replenishment where the product is standard and familiar, the purchase frequency regular and the purchase being low involvement. It is normal for consumers in such cases to go with their standard brand without browsing. However, the standard brand could get rejected if there are doubts on the freshness and quality of the units being stocked. In such a case, consumers may pick up packs only to return them to the shelves and pick up another from the consideration set, or walk away if they are fixed on a brand and unwilling to consider alternatives. New buy where consumers seek newness / variety, where the product / variant is not familiar or the purchase infrequent. Consumers may look at the pack for more information on the product / brand / manufacturer that gives them the confidence to buy, beyond price, and addresses their concerns on quality, freshness or health considerations. In this context, the importance of making it easy for most consumers to find simple things like price, weight, manufacturing date, expiry, contents, etc., on the pack cannot be overstated. The absence or difficulty of finding such details does lead to stress / dissonance. Further, consumers are getting increasingly more individualistic in their usage and expectations from products. They are keen to know beyond the details on the label and how they can get more from their purchase, like when Salma asked, “Can I use orange juice to marinade chicken.” However, this cannot be left completely to in-store promoters, call centres, traditional media or even the packaging to address, as the queries are very specific. Many brands use this as an opportunity to engage directly with consumers via content rich sites, blogs, forums, etc. Thus creating a wider world of interaction, learning and discovery endears the brand closer to consumers. On Marico’s Saffola site, for instance, you get tips for a healthy heart, recipes and you can pose questions to cardiologists and fitness specialists. There are many other such brand examples —Maggi, Sunsilk, etc. All this said and done, organisations still miss out on what really happens between the consumer and the product at the moment of purchase. Honestly, the truth is really out there…. on the shop floor. It may be forgotten by the time the consumer reaches the check-out counter. The search for truth calls for managers to step out of their cubicles, spend time on the shop floor and interact with consumers to get a more hands-on feel of this final “moment” that can go a long way to strengthening brand-consumer relationships. So, dear Abhi and Salma, keep observing and learning more about your consumers as they interact with your brand at retail. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-07-2014)
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