1. 2013 TRENDS : LESSONS FOR MARKETERS
AUTHOR: ANISHA MOTWANI

2. LEGACY POLITICS PROVIDED WAY TO FRESH BLOOD
This could very well find place among the best marketing case studies for 2013.
AAP mobilized the disillusioned Indian voters specially the middle-class and
significantly first-time youth voters. Grass-root politics took a new definition. But
reactionary politics is one thing and consistently developing proactive long term
sustainable strategies is another. How this succeeds as it evolves in the next
few quarters may go a long way in redefining politics in India.
AAM AADMI PARTY

3. ARRIVAL OF 'PURPOSE' BASED MARKETING
The trend on ‘purpose’ over pure
ingredient based campaigns that
started as a trickle with ‘Daag
Achche hain’ found itself reflecting
in reflected in a slew of brands that
have taken up issues like
progressive parenting (Bournvita),
widow remarriage (Tanishq),
barriers between India and
Pakistan (Google). More and more
brands have been able to make the
bold departure from the
conventional.

4. CONSUMERS BECAME DEEPLY ENGROSSED WITH THE OVERALL
NEGATIVE ECONOMIC SENTIMENT
The current state of the
economy - high inflation, rising
fuel prices and interest rates
had their impact on the end
consumer. Never before was
the lay consumer following GDP
& Inflation rates so closely. The
conventional symbol of India’s
appetite for consumption – Car
sales, took a hit for the first time
in 11 years

5. DIGITAL GARNERED A LARGER PIECE OF PIE
More and more marketers increased
their digital spends and actively
experimented, and rightfully so, with
digital marketing. From creating
content, to launching communication on
digital first, from contests on social
media to using the medium to track and
target prospects better ....marketers
preoccupied themselves more with this
medium than ever before. The trend is
only going to strengthen next year with
more digital specialists becoming a
permanent part of the marketing team.

6. ‘MOBILE’ GOT A SHOT IN THE ARM.
Growing four times faster than the global
average, India overtook Japan as the 3rd
largest smartphone market in the world.
The ‘Google-Airtel’ free zone, a service that
allows you to access Google mobile
services on the go at absolutely no data
costs is an early indicator of marketers
picking on this. The consumer is showing a
mirror. It’s now for marketers to interpret
this effectively and design relevant &
effective solutions & apps for their
categories.

7. MEN EMERGED AS SIGNIFICANT SHOPPER BASE.
Gone are the days when we could
confidently say that men hate shopping.
They are actively buying and consuming
a whole lot of brands / products -
from deos to fairness face washes, from
clothes to shoes, from gadgets to lending
a helping hand in monthly
grocery/household purchases, Marketers
would be better placed to learn their
unique shopping patterns, subliminal
selection techniques, and their
aspirations to extract more value from this
consumer base, going forward.

8. UNCONTROLLABLE & EMPOWERED CONSUMERS
Time and again, a lesson that marketers
realised was that today you can't control your
consumer no matter how powerful your
message may be. Social media emerged as a
strong medium to raise voice, show dissent,
complain about brands and gather momentum
with fellow friends and friends of friends, to
publicly mock brands that made mistakes/did
wrong. It is a clear lesson for brands to think
twice before launching an initiative and to
handle tactfully and 'quickly' any faux pas they
make. While many a brand would have
experienced this – a societal manifestation of
this in the Indian context was the common
citizen’s furore on the Nirbhaya episode that
shook the conscience of the whole nation in
2013.

9. FEWER INNOVATIONS IN PRODUCTS
2013 saw most innovation and action take place in the field of service delivery
and not in new disruptive products. The world did not get to see much that could
deserve status of the next Smartfphone, the next iPad or the iPhone. More &
more work happened in incremental innovation in new customer interaction
channels, a distribution system or a technological concept or a combination of
all of these. The incremental innovation by Flipkart and possibly some other e-
tailers of sending step by step shipment status updates to customers after
payment goes a long way in assuaging any apprehensions they would have on
merchandise delivery very relevant keeping in mind the dis-intermediated nature
of their purchase.