“Treeenk Treeeeeen Treeeen Trink” sounds familiar...Oh so you’ve forgotten the sound which our dearest D-Link 56Kbps modem used to make a decade ago when we connected it with our desktop and our MTNL Line. As a teenager I remember banging my fist on the table when it took ages to open the links I wanted. No doubt with the broadband this problem was solved. The high speed internet permitted not just the users but also the web designers to flaunt flash and JSPs on the web pages. Now considering Moore’s Law there had to be a day when we have our desktop giving way to the futuristic laptop. Wow, so a lappie gives you the mobility you always desired. Not until recently, you still had to sit tied at a place if you wanted to surf isn’t it. Not anymore! With almost 4-6 major players providing USB Modem services, owning a lappie actually gives you mobility across geographies.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, India has become one of the fastest growing countries in terms of the number of travels made within the country and between countries, by road and air. And here the communications industry found a profitable business opportunity. In this year's budget, union finance minister P Chidambaram has reduced the excise duty on wireless data modem cards by 16%. It is a significant move as far as the data card players are concerned, as it will encourage service providers to slash prices of their wireless data cards drastically. The government has targeted to achieve a data card subscriber base of 40 mn by 2010 from the current 10 mn subscribers. It was also announced in the 2008-09 budget that one lakh broadband-enabled common service centers in villages will be established at a cost of Rs 5,400 crore. All major service providers, including Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom, BSNL, and Vodafone, have launched data cards to tap the vast opportunity lying ahead. The players are offering data cards and USB modems at competing prices and different tariff plans to woo customers.
Ok. So now my reason to bring up this topic –how do you communicate this service? Its more rational an offering than a SIM CARD. If you closely observe Reliance NetConnect’s commercial, I’m sure you’ll remember one of those analogy questions you came across in the MBA Entrance Tests... MOBILE : SIM CARD :: LAPTOP : ???
Now this is an answer the smart marketers @ RCOM got and it was pretty simple- A USB Modem. Like you don’t walk out of the mobile store without a sim card you JUST SHOULDN’T walk out of the Laptop vendor without the USB Modem, clear strategy by the major player in this segment. The intention, clear “Reinforcing the fact that you DO NEED a USB Modem”. Go by the tag line of RIL Netconnect- Anytime, Anywhere Internet Access.
The TVC starts with the protagonist in an elevator with a laptop bag when a gentleman (most probably his boss) asks him if he got a new laptop. When the guy says yes, he asks him “GOT THE SIM?” The guy says yes and wonders whats a SIM gotto do with a laptop. This runs in his brain even when he is in the cab, the train, lol even a reflection of MI2. To end it he gets home to surprise his wife and she asks him the same –“GOT THE SIM”. The Voice over then speaks about the High Speed internet and then says “Reliance NetConnect...Aapke Computer ka SIM Card”
Theory time – now, the positioning is clear. In the minds of the consumers, I as NetConnect, position the product as a SIM CARD...remember the analogy example i quoted a few paras above. This is done since the number of laptop customers exceeds the number of USB Modem users. And I as a company want to induce the usage of NetConnect to ideally each and every Laptop customer and give him the much desired mobility in life. But is it the right move. Reliance Netconnect, with a speed upto 144 Kbps, has presence in over 15,000 towns and 4 lakh villages. The company in its latest move has also tied up with laptop manufacturers HP, Lenovo and HCL to bundle its data card. The company has sold 12,000-14,000 units a month over the last four months.
Now going by the strategy text books, such a move is purely a market leader for increasing the usage of the product. You increase the size of your market, hence you being a (say) 35% in a 50 crore market become 35 % in 100 cr market. Doubles your topline and economies of scale could reduce your costs which increase your bottomline. Simple, not so.Lets look beyond the textbooks now!
Remember the disastrous campaign of Pepsodent which spoke about brushing twice a day. What it did to the customers- they liked the cute kids, got the msg but used more colgate (existing leader in segment) than buy a pepsodent. Why am I saying this is that the USB Modem market is very new where leadership is undefined yet. Although RIL is a dominant player. TATA Indicom’s Plug n Surf is the closest and BSNL, Vodafone,Airtel are yet to get the mileage. So is it too early for Reliance to show their leadership when the market is cluttered and undefined? What if the users get the positioning of the product right but use a USB Modem (of any brand) than Reliance? Disaster!
But kudos to ADAG Group to be the first to reinforce leadership through accurate positioning of the product in the minds of the customers. The chain goes something like this Think of a Laptop -> think of a USB Modem -> think of Reliance NetConnect.
For the positioning I give it a full but only for the timing of the ad I bring the scores down:
3.5/5 is what I feel the brand truely deserves.
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