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Tag: LK Gupta

  • Hatchbacks most preferred vehicles amongst Indian buyers; Maruti and Hyundai occupy top slot

    CarDekho report highlights interesting car buying trends

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading online automobile marketplace CarDekho recently made public its report on online search patterns of the Indian consumers compared to actual in-market sales of cars during the festive season. The report, which is based on CarDekho’s platform traffic as well as Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, focused on various car categories such as hatchback, MUV, Sedan, SUV and Compact SUV/MUV to present a comprehensive statistical picture of the user consideration versus actual demand.

     

    According to the report, Hatchbacks were the most preferred customer choice, figuring in consideration sets for nearly 47 percent consumer with their actual demand clocking in 48 percent of the overall figure. The sedan category also saw consideration (26 per cent) and demand (25 per cent) nearly at par with one another. Maruti and Hyundai occupied the top slots in the Hatchback as well as the Sedan segment, with Honda also marking prominent presence in the latter category.

     

    Compact SUV/MUV section saw a high consideration percentage (17 per cent) due to the buzz effect surrounding the new category launch. However, the actual demand for the segment was only 10 percent, which could be attributed to the relative unfamiliarity of the Indian public with the category. MUVs, on the other hand, resulted in a much higher actual demand (12 per cent) than consideration, which stood at a mere two percent.

     

    Speaking on the announcement, LK Gupta, CMO, GirnarSoft, commented, “The October-November festive season is a time when Indian consumers wield their financial clout to buy things that they have shortlisted over the year. As such, this report provides a valuable insight into the shopping trends during this busy period. These insights will help car manufacturers to better understand the dynamics of consideration sets that buyers go into the market with, and how they change through the purchase process. The report also helps us as an auto portal to improve upon our existing services and shape our product offerings to be more in sync with the consumer preferences.”

     

  • Multi Screen Media, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League, is likely to make about Rs 1,000 crore from on-air sponsors and spot advertising this year, riding an ecommerce wave

    MSM to rake in Rs 1000 crore from IPL ads as e-commerce players join party

    By Ravi Teja Sharma & Ratna Bhushan

     

    If all goes according to script, Multi Screen Media, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League, is poised to make about Rs 1,000 crore from on-air sponsors and spot advertising this year, riding an ecommerce wave, say media planners and industry watchers. About 25% of the revenue will come from e-commerce companies, said Rohit Gupta, president of MSM, though he did not confirm the total amount that the broadcaster is likely to make.

     

    Spending by online retailers made up for 10-12% of MSM’s revenue of Rs 800 crore during last year’s IPL. Flush with cash raised at mind boggling valuations, e-commerce companies that will be seen on air this time include Amazon, Paytm, Magicbricks and CarDekho as sponsors while CarTrade, Snapdeal and Freecharge have taken television spots during matches.

     

    MSM has signed up 12 sponsors including Vodafone, Hero MotoCorp, Intex Mobiles, PepsiCo and Vimal Pan Masala, selling close to 95% of its inventory before the eighth edition of the tournament started on Wednesday. These sponsors have taken over 50% of the inventory while the rest has been sold as spots to other advertisers.

     

    “In the last couple of years, a lot of e-commerce companies have raised funds. Their target is quick consumer acquisition for which they are trying to use cricket as a platform to get quicker reach,” said Nandini Dias, chief executive officer at media agency Lodestar UM. IPL’s viewership has grown from about 160 million in the fourth edition in 2011 to 191 million last year.

     

    “There is no better platform than IPL to reach out to the Indian masses,” said Manisha Rana, head of marketing at property portal Magicbricks.com, which will launch the second phase of its new campaign that started in February. The new campaign is set around IPL matches and this time is in a shorter 15-second avatar.

     

    Media planners say e-commerce companies have almost doubled their spending this year. Amazon is one of the presenting sponsors this year after having been an associate sponsor last year. It gets 210 seconds of advertising time per match compared with an associate sponsor’s 100 to 120 seconds. “Amazon would have doubled their outlay as well as inventory this year,” said a media planner, not wanting to be identified.

     

    In a recent report, media investment company GroupM said that it expects e-commerce to lead advertising spends in 2015, though it currently has a much smaller base than other categories. A report by Assocham and Deloitte says e-commerce will cross $16 billion worth of business by the end of 2015.

     

    LK Gupta, chief marketing officer at Girnar Soft, the owner of CarDekho.com, said the momentum has been building up for the ecommerce sector for the past three to four years as it gets ready to explode into a mass category. “There is a watershed period when a category has to achieve scale. For e-commerce, that comes from Internet connectivity, mobile phone adoption, openness of the mass public to buy and search stuff online. That tipping point was crossed last year,” he said. “Cricket is a huge property to go behind because it gives you national scale in one go.”

     

    The Ratan Tata-funded company CarDekho will launch the second phase of its “Mr I Know” campaign during the IPL.

     

    Shankar Nath, senior vice president at Alibaba-backed Paytm, said the company plans to step up brand recall and salience for Paytm through cricket. The company is investing in IPL as an associate sponsor with the official broadcaster, for which it has planned a new campaign, and also is in a tie-up with Mumbai Indians as official partner.

     

    Gupta of MSM said youth, which is the big category and a target group for e-commerce companies, come in big numbers around the IPL. Apart from finding space on television, several e-commerce companies have tied up with IPL teams. Food ordering app TinyOwl has signed up with Mumbai Indians as its official food ordering app. Harshvardhan Mandad, CEO of TinyOwl, said the company will launch its first big marketing campaign through the IPL.

     

    Mobile taxi-hailing app developer Uber has tied up with Kolkata Knight Riders as the official local transport partner, Foodpanda is the shirt and kit sponsor with Sun Risers Hyderabad while Shopclues is the e-commerce partner of MS Dhoni-captained Chennai Super Kings.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The new campaign has given birth to a character called 'Mr. I Know' and takes forward the earlier story of 'sunona hi dekho'.

    Linen Lintas powers new campaign for CarDekho.com

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading car portal cardekho.com has come up with a follow-up campaign titled ‘Mr. I Know’. Conceived by Linen Lintas, this new campaign comes on the back of the portal’s TV campaign ever that was aired during Diwali – a period when car buying and selling is at its peak.

     

    In the film, there’s a character who boasts about knowing almost everything under the sun. His knowledge is razor-sharp, but has an annoying habit that cuts every conversation midway. Cardekho.com calls him,’Mr. I Know’.

     

    However ‘Mr. I Know’ is blind when it comes to buying a car. Cardekho.com comes to his rescue with facts about cars so that he can make a rational decision.

     

    Says LK Gupta, CMO, CarDekho: “After our first hard-working TV commercial that successfully took CarDekho to a wider audience, our task was to refresh communication with a continuing brand thought and value proposition. ‘Mr. I Know’ does just that – presenting the same proposition in an entertaining and memorable manner,with a sharp consumer insight.”

     

    This new Car Dekho campaign has not only given birth to an interesting character called ‘Mr. I Know’, but also takes forward the earlier story of ‘sunona hi dekho’.

     

    The launch campaign (with the thought ‘sunona hi dekho’) was based on the fact that people get advice about cars from all quarters, and yet they remain confused when they have to make a decision. “This new campaign takes that thought a step forward in an interesting manner,” says Jaideep Mahajan, ECD Linen Lintas.

     

    Pranav Harihar, GCD, Linen Lintas, and writer of the campaign elaborates, “You find characters like ‘Mr. I Know’all around you. Sub-consciously, we use the phrase ‘I know’ in our daily conversation too. In the film ‘Mr. I Know’ does just that–interrupting others and completes their sentences.”

     

    Credits:

    Client: Cardekho.com

    Agency: Linen Lintas, Delhi

    ECD: Jaideep Mahajan

    GCD: Pranav Harihar

    Client Servicing: Sirish Gudibande, Shubhi Pandey

    Production:Film Farm, Mumbai

     

  • Linen Lintas has unveiled a campaign – 'Sunonahindekho' – that portrays the differentiation that CarDekho.com offers its users

    Linen Lintas appointed creative partner for CarDekho.com

    By A Correspondent

     

    Linen Lintas, a Lintas group company has been appointed as the creative partner for CarDekho.com. As its affiliate, Linen Lintas will work towards delivering creative and strategic insights & solutions that’ll play a significant part in making CarDekho.com a formidable player in the online car buying and selling marketplace.

     

    LK Gupta

    On appointing Linen Lintas as its creative partner, LK Gupta, CMO, CarDekho.com said, “Having worked with some of the team members at Linen in the past, we had high confidence in strategic insights and creative capabilities of the team. Hence we opted to partner with them.”

     

    To tap into the online auto marketplace that is witnessing its fair share of excitement at the moment, Linen Lintas has unveiled a campaign – ‘Sunonahindekho’ – that portrays the differentiation that CarDekho.com offers its users. The campaign has been conceptualized based on the insight that everybody has an opinion and that one should listen to all of them, but the final decision should be taken by individuals on their own accord. That’s the message that the new CarDekho.com TVC conveys, albeit in an entertaining and relevant way.

     

    Sharing his observations, LK Gupta, CMO, CarDekho.com said that being a pioneer in the concept of unbiased, objective and expert comparison of used and unused cars, CarDekho.com wanted to bring alive the most prevalent insight of what goes on in the mind of a prospective buyer. “Our website does a detailed analysis of all technical information, expert opinions, on-road prices and helps the buyer to shortlist what is most correct for him. We even help the consumer by arranging a test drive and connecting with the nearest dealer. All in all, it’s a must-check solution before buying a new or used car.”

     

    Adding further, he said that CarDekho.com had recently launched the iOS version of its popular smartphone app, and was the first among car portals to do so. “Our Android app that was released about a month ago has already clocked more than 100,000 downloads. So this is the perfect timing for us to go and present this wonderful service,” he continued.

     

    Building further on the concept, Abhik Santara, EVP, Linen Lintas said that when we throw open our decision to buy a car, we seek and get opinions from all and sundry. “Eventually, thanks to multiple POVs, we stand confused. CarDekho.com, gives a real comparison on all aspects to let you be most informed before making the choice. This is the core insight that we worked around. Through this proposition, we are aiming at an intense TV and digital burst in the next couple of months,” he shared.

     

    Jaideep Mahajan, ECD, Linen Lintas added, “The task was simple and that actually was the most difficult part – how to depict this mental trauma of a car buyer in a refreshing and interesting manner. Our objective was to just not show a picture of the ‘car-buying-phase’ of a guy but to show it in a manner that everyone who is in that phase or who has gone through it should relate to it and say- this has happened/is happening with me. Cardekho.com actually solves all these quandaries and shows the true picture. So not deviating from the brand promise our task was to heighten the problem part of it.”

     

    For the record, CarDekho.com is India’s most popular auto portal and helps its users with car research, finance, insurance, used cars and any other aspect of car buying and selling with the best possible deals through its exclusive tie-ups with car manufacturers, finance and insurance companies.