What Bishwajeet Samal teaches about brand purpose

So globally also and in India we are focused on how to target the Gen Z's and the Gen Y's, the Millennials and the people who are going to be associated with a brand in the future. How do we prepare ourselves for that? Volkswagen has been in India for a long while now. I mean, and it has a good recall among the premium audiences, right? What has been your marketing strategy and how has it evolved over the past few years? So if we talk about 10 years back when we entered the market, we were an unknown brand at an unedited awareness of 8%.

For us then, it was important that we work on our awareness levels and make India understand what focus on brand is. So we clearly invested into that. We built the brand then. So it is important for us to be relevant to the newer audience and that is a change or shift in strategy. Also, if we look at the segments which have evolved, it has changed a lot, the segments in which we are present and the upcoming segments where we are not present right now, but we are wanting to have products in.

So from a strategy point of view, again, we are moving in that direction where we introduce newer products into the segments which are growing in India. And as you look to engage newer customers, you're also, I'm sure you'll be looking to get deeper into the country. You're also looking at younger audiences, younger consumers. Right, right. Millennials, very soon, Gen Z is coming of age and they're looking to buy cars. How will that positioning evolve? How are you looking to change your communication? Is the media mix evolving as well?

I mean, I remember the GT Cup used to be quite popular. What is the thinking process there? So yeah, of course, with changing times, you have to change the brand. You have to be flexible, agile, more nimble and target the right audience. As you rightly brought up the question, as a brand, we are clearly focused on this. So moving from traditional way of communication or engaging with our audiences, we are increasingly focused on how to target them better, what are the segments we should look at and what is the kind of change that we need to make

in the content that we're producing and the way we are reaching out to the audiences. Great. So all this is in process. A lot of changes are happening to the way the brand was talking. So traditionally, our communication was based on storytelling. Plus, when we entered the market, going back to the previous question, we have focused on innovations. We wanted to create that much required buzz for the brand in the country. So we did a lot of innovations and the whole India knows about it.

Talking newspapers, silver newspaper, hole in the newspaper, a lot of this. Plus other innovations in different media, not only digital, outdoor. We did all of that. Now is the time where we are just taking a step back to understand what is required for the future and prepare ourselves for that. So globally also, and in India, we are focused on how to target the Gen Zs and the Gen Ys, the millennials and the people who are going to be associated with the brand in the future. How do we prepare ourselves for that?

So will the share of digital grow as in your media mix? Because if you're looking at targeting and more of a long tail approach, looking at niche segments, will that be a major focus? Because digital allows you a lot of flexibility and also allows you to track the entire consumer journey. Absolutely. You are completely right there. Digital is a focus for us. We have changed our media mixes, channel mixes more towards digital. People are consuming content. We have to create relevant content for the right set of audiences.

And hence, you have to move monies from your mainline, mainstream, print or TV medium to digital medium. Yes, clearly for us, that's a focus and we are investing into it. So you spoke about content. In terms of branded content, native advertising, what are some key campaigns that you would have done and what are you looking to do going ahead? So for us, again, we sell cards in different states. India is a huge country. It's like, you know, different countries within a country. And the consumers, they speak different languages.

The culture is very different. In order to engage with them in the taste that they want to, we as a brand are also investing into doing local content, like integrating products into, say, local programming, creating content that appeals to a certain set of audience. So it's a bit fragmented. But I would say that leads to targeting the content better. And we are focusing on it. Is there an example there? This is very interesting. Regional content is what you're talking about. So is there an example you can cite?

I mean, how you're using content to get to regional audiences? So to give you an example, I think last year we did this. I was not there, but I do understand it worked well for the brand. So there was a program in south of India called Kathalo Rajkumari, where we had the product integration for the Amio. And it tried quite well after that, because a lot of people started inquiring about the Amio. And our dealers got back saying, oh, this really worked because we get the demand now from the market. Wonderful.

So an example which clearly states that if you're investing into the right kind of content or product integration, it leads to greater affinity with the audience. So cinema is really, really big across the country, and especially for south India, where they're the biggest celebrities. Yes. So I think that made a lot of sort of connect there. Okay. What do you think about influencer marketing? This is something which is really sort of doing the buzz. There are views which are sort of both sides of the thing. Some people feel that it's a fad.

It'll die away. It does not really show the returns. And some brands, consumer brands, really think that influencer marketing. And in some ways, it's also sort of a next generation for the brand ambassadors that brands used to have. And today they're looking for micro influencers. Yes. Right. So what is your overall take on that? How does it work? Do you think it's a great... So for me as a marketer, clearly it is super important. And I feel the need for it. So traditionally, folks never believed in brand ambassadors. Right.

Across the globe in different countries, we don't have brand ambassadors. But we did work with some celebrities. And we do understand that nowadays, influencer marketing is so much important. To give an example, recently also we did launch a black and white edition, which is a special edition car. We tied up with certain influencers to ensure that the people who are following these influencers, they get targeted better. Right. Right. It is absolutely important to have a good mix of both macro and micro influencers

because one is going to give you the reach. Hmm. And the other is going to give you the much needed targeted messaging, which is, you know, where the influencer is being followed by a certain set of people. So for us as a brand, if I can talk about that, we are focused on it. We are going to invest in it and we believe in it. The last question, how do you unwind after work? I mean, being a marketer for a premium car brand is hard. There are things happening every day. There's a lot of competition. It's a very tough market.

Even, I mean, how the auto industry is shaping up. What do you do to sort of ease out the pressure on the week? Oh, that's a good question. Well, to be very honest, recently because of my love for music, I picked up learning piano. Wow. So at this age, I started... What else do you play? No, I've started just learning. I don't listen to music. Yeah, this is the first instrument I'm learning really. Of course, sports is something I'm interested in. Like I learned skiing in Germany. Right, right. And swimming, playing tennis.

These are a couple of sports that I do. Apart from that, I love solving riddles with my boy. Yeah, it's a very interesting thing because he's thinking. It makes him think. And he tells me that, Papa, let's do some riddles.