What Shashank Srivastava teaches about brand purpose

So, the one big mistake people often make when they come into India is they feel that it is one country sort of and therefore, one type of consumer it is not. So, there are many different types and that is the diversity which we are so proud of you know. To start off a little bit about how Maruti Suzuki has you know steadfastly guarded its market share across decades now you know the consumer has changed over time, new companies have entered and have exited from the market.

What is that main mantra for Maruti that sort of helps it keep ahead of its peers? So, Radhra I think you mentioned it beautifully in the question itself that the consumer is changing all the time and if you have to constantly engage and maintain that type of market share 50 percent in our case then you need to be very careful of which way the consumer preferences are changing. So, I think I believe the number one mantra for Maruti Suzuki success has been its close touch

with consumers and studying these changing preferences because that determines what products we bring in that determines what type of distribution model we have that determines the communication we have. So, all these factors are actually related to what consumers want and I think understanding of the consumer preference is the number one reason for Maruti Suzuki maintaining market share. So, from the 80s till today, 3 over 3 decades now, how has Maruti Suzuki's focus on the market sort of shifted over time?

I mean initially, I mean you started with the 800 and the Alto was a major success for many years, right? Yeah. And now, you have a premium play as well, you are also in a commercial vehicle. So, how is sort of the focus shifting? What is the thought process behind it? How are you viewing the consumer? Yeah. So, as we discussed in the first question itself, it is about changing preferences and also related with the way the economy is shaping up. So, for example, when we came into the market, Maruti Suzuki, there was only one type of car

which was those ambassadors earlier and the Fiat Padmini if you remember. So, every type of consumer used to buy that. So, if you are a politician, if you are a businessman, if you are a student, if you are a corporate guy, you had those cars because the volumes were much smaller. But as the volumes grew and so also did the new segments emerge. Right. And I think that is the key of going forward and how Maruti has gone is to identify these new segments and keep on pushing our products in those areas.

Where do you see future of mobility growing especially in the India context? So, going forward, I think in India, we observe that India is not one unit. So, there are different geographies and different areas where you have to and we have to be very mindful of that as well. I believe future in our country in the larger cities which is more congested and having probably lesser aspiration to own car now especially among young people may shape up differently from the other parts.

So, you know a little bit about how digital is sort of evolving as part of your marketing mix. Of course, a few years back TV and print was the mainstay and now digital is growing rapidly. It is already a large enough share. But my question is how does digital print, TV play sort of come together in your mix? What role do they play in your communication? Do the sort of is there a sort of a connection between all three that you see? Which is having a certain objective. Yeah, yeah. So, you are very right that digital has emerged as big time now.

Right, right. Our spends used to be about 5-8% of our total spends in digital was just 5-8% which are now almost close to 40% of our media spends. And the reason is that our consumers have started consuming communication largely through the digital media. And it is something which gives us reach as well. And also it is something which is much more measurable. The other advantage of digital of course, as you know is that you can personalize. So, we have gone into programmatic which means that if Radhra is looking at is a different,

is this type of a person, he must be exposed to this type of thing. So, we can actually more sharply define both in terms of geography as well as in terms of the profile of the consumer. And that is very important because it helps in better conversion. Having said that, having said that television and print still has a role to play. Exactly. And I think these three will coexist as it has happened in almost all countries. However, the amount of investments which will go into these category will keep on changing.

Right now of course, as I said digital has been increasing. Tell us about the three common errors consumer brands make when trying to understand the Indian consumer. You have studied the Indian consumer across several years. Are they really asking the wrong questions when they reach out? What are the three top errors that you think? Yeah, I think the number one error which people make is they think that Indian consumer, they think in terms of an Indian consumer. Right. Actually, there are many, many Indian consumers.

So, the one big mistake people often make when they come into India is they feel that it's one country sort of and therefore, one type of consumer, it's not. So, there are many different types and that's the diversity which we are so proud of, you know. Second thing is I think people, they have some thought about emerging markets and they believe that everything applies to India as well. So, they have some thought about the difference. So, they have some thought about the difference between the car and the car. So, they have some thought about the car.

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