Part I

Circa 2000: Walk into an electronics store, car showroom or a sanitary ware showroom and the experience felt the same. Phrases like "These are the only two models we make." "No Sir, we cannot customise it for you." This was a time when the SELLER WAS KING!

Circa 2010: The experience changed and so did the phrases: "Yes ma'am, we can give you the specific green tiles that you require for your kitchen." "Yes Sir, our sales consultant will bring the car to your house at 1130 hrs on Saturday for the test drive. This time the CUSTOMER WAS KING!

How did this change happen? What made this change happen? Well, the customer had changed and was demanding change. This was the new global Indian customer who demanded that they be offered the purchasing and owning experience that was available to customers in other countries. Companies have had to move from introducing dated products to simultaneous global launches.

Similarly, the customer buying experience has progressed from selling to wooing and very hard in most cases. It is no longer only about purchasing a new TV or washing machine, lipstick or a car, it is about experiencing, evaluating and then making a very informed purchase decision and the enablers of this experiential purchasing process are both marketers and their partners like showroom sales staff, advertising agencies, ATL/BTL agencies etc.

The new battleground is now the "Experience" process for most products. From apartments to cosmetics, automobiles to electronics and even processed foods, companies are partnering with agencies to take the battle to the customers' door. A few years ago, walking into the ground floor of the Galleries Lafayette in Paris on a Friday evening, one would have thought we were on a different planet. Sales counters of some of the best known global cosmetics brands were choc-a-bloc with women of all ages, shapes, sizes being "made up". Men and women were being sprayed with some of the most expensive perfumes at different counters. All this was for free, something that was unthinkable in India then.

Today, even the average middle class Indian can have the same experience at the sales counters of the same global cosmetics giants in malls and shopping complexes across the country. Market Research agencies have done a fairly good job of breaking down and segmenting markets, buyer preferences, spending patterns etc. across the country, allowing marketers and agencies to do some really aggressive targeted marketing and, in many cases, taking the experience to the target customer.

Only a few years ago, it was okay for a company to pay Rs. 2 lakhs to have a dozen banners put up as a sponsor of an event. Today that same company pays 10 times more for a similar event, but not only demands and gets prime positioning for their logo, its name on the backdrop, hoardings and TV spots, but also an area within the event where the invitees can experience their products.

Fifteen years ago, a typical automobile dealer convention would have meant a three-day jamboree to the Film City outside Hyderabad or at a resort in Agra, maybe, with an Indie-pop singer thrown in. It then moved to Macau, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia etc. The dealers had a gala time with the partying, gambling, night club hopping and belly dancing. The company spent a lot of money. Everyone went back to work happy.

Times have changed. Targeted communication has changed. It is no longer only about having fun. A convention can be about creating an experience around your product and business plans, so that it does not feel like work. Today's dealer conventions are events where companies unveil their yet-to-be-launched products at the hands of international celebrities, with Brazilian samba dancers thrown in for good measure. A dealer or employee convention is no longer just another purposeless jamboree, but a company giving its dealers or star employees an experience to spread a partnership message and also to retain and spur employees and dealers to perform better.

(This is the first part of Experience It. Further parts of Ashish Sinharoy's article will be published daily over the next few days)