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Karbonn was launched keeping in mind various factors like design aesthetics, target audience, location specifics and expected feedback on the product range. Being an Indian mobile company and with aggressive competition from international brands that had strong hold in the market, they have been able to penetrate deeper than mobile brands with conventional marketing formats.

To know more insights about Karbonn mobiles, Adgully caught up with Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]

On asking about marketing and branding strategies, Devsare said, “Our brand philosophy is that our products should redefine life in every way. We first made our product available in Tier 2 & 3 cities through distributors and local retailers.”

Further elaborating his point, he said, “After establishing a strong hold in the semi urban market, we went ahead with launching our products in metros as well and created a visibility amongst consumers.”

As per the Gartner report “Market Share: Mobile Communication Devices by Region and Country, 3Q11,” Karbonn Mobiles is the top most Indian Mobile Brand.

Value for money and youth are the key factors driving positioning of all the mobile brands in the market so with respect to their competition they wanted to be very different in terms of positioning. He says, “Our brand positioning is “Redefining youth”. Karbonn mobiles with stunning aesthetics with unrivalled innovation is creating a new definition i.e. youth and our target audience are people who are young at heart irrespective of age, status etc.”

Karbonn has been a market leader in ‘firsts’ wherein initiatives by the group is followed in by the competition. Innovations like popularizing Dual-SIM phones, providing affordable android phones and others prove a point of the business leadership of the brand.

Sharing the USP of the company, Devsare explained that while other competitors harp either on branding or product range, Karbonn keeps a healthy balance between the two and has one of the most consistent offerings in the market which focuses on product and the brand thus achieving a greater consumer connect.

Apart from value for money and committed after sales service, the core value that drives the brand and also sets it apart from the competition is the cutting edge technology which seems to be the focus of the company and also providing technologically advanced products.

In terms of association, Karbonn is associated with the most popular sports of the subcontinent, which has proved to be a great platform for the brand in terms of reaching out to the audience and giving the brand an opportunity to connect with the consumers at a massive scale. Also, sponsoring entertainment properties like Star Screen Awards, Sach ka Saamna, enhanced the brand’s popularity and announced Karbonn Mobiles’ intentions of climbing to the top.

This year the company is planning to step up their marketing expenditure by 30% of Rs. 150 crores, which was their spend last year, i.e. this year it would be to the tune of 195 crores. This money will be spent on product development and brand promotions. “We are targeting to change the face of the Indian mobile phone market with our quality handsets and intend to be amongst the top 3 mobile phone brands by next fiscal,” Devsare added.

As told by Davsare, they have recently forayed into the smart phone segment and the response is overwhelming and also introduced a complete new range of smart feature phone. The focus will be on OS vendors to develop unrivalled technology for the consumers for entry into tablet segment, Also there is an active engagement planned with mobile chipset vendors.

He says, “Also we are focusing on creating a demand driven market by launching about 3 to 4 models every quarter. This business model enables the brand to understand consumer needs and offer products specifically suited to them.”

India’s mobile handset market is quite cluttered with international brands having a strong hold on the consumers. Creating your own place in such kind of a market is not that easy where first you face aggressive competition, second you have consumers who are loyal to their brand and third meeting the ever changing demands of Indian consumers.

Speaking about the steps taken as per the challenges, he said, “After realizing all these challenges we devised a strong strategy to enter into the market and built a strong, dedicated and loyal distribution channel. We targeted consumers in tier 2 and 3 cities who are price conscious and ready to experiment with a new brand provided with best features in low prices.”

Besides the ground level approach the company also invested heavily in research and development to churn out innovative and unique features in sync with market trends and also in various associations, consumer promotions etc. With a wide product range, all below Rs 10,000, Karbonn enjoys being the brand which has one of the lowest defect ratio in the country.

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Both the mobile app and the site is enriched with features which allow jobseekers to filter job openings by Location, Keywords, Functional Area, Experience Bracket and Minimum Expected Salary. Also, users can create up to 5 custom job alerts on the basis of the search criterion defined by them. These job alerts are directly sent to the users’ inbox 3 times a week. To make job search further convenient and mobile friendly, as soon as the user logs into the site it will automatically recommend jobs on the basis of the information provided during the profile creation process. . Jobseekers can view the detailed job descriptions and apply in a secure and confidential environment – directly from their mobile devices.

It will be an added boon for employers as well because it acts as an additional platform to reach to their target audience. With the introduction of this mobile site, the response time for jobs posted will be reduced considerably and thus recruiters will be able to cater to a larger audience within a short span of time. This site has specially been designed keeping in mind the need and convenience of a mobile user.

Commenting on the same, Vibhore Sharma, EVP, Technology, Naukri.com said “Mobile devices are bringing about a revolution in the way people use internet and consume content from the web and smartphones are the new basic phones that would eventually engage users more than a pc.

With the launch of our apps and (re-purposed) website for mobile devices, we aim to offer our users the ability to continue their job search on the go and never miss out on a career opportunity.”

This HTML5 site has been optimized to work with all popular smart phones. Further, through this platform jobseekers can also manage and update their Naukri profile effortlessly and conveniently. Users can keep a track on how many times their CV has been viewed by an employer and also which companies have they applied for jobs earlier. Thus, this bouquet of mobile solutions will make job search simpler, productive and much more efficient.

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LikeMyWorld team, is team of highly committed, creative and passionate individuals having impeccable credentials. Rakesh Aggarwal is an alumnus of IIT and has a goal in life to make things simpler.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Rakesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, LikeMyWorld, shared the concept and idea behind launching the product ‘LikeMyWorld’, he said, “We launched our company in August, as we started our company we started with ground work that is understanding the industry and their work. We do had loads of idea like more than 50 concepts when we started, we went out and spoke to people about our applications and ideas, they found it quite interesting and were excited too. Then, we decided that we’ll not do business development but will focus on this. So, from the month of September- January this year, we are focusing much on research and development and figuring out how to do it and get started with it.”

He further added, “With this launch we are showcasing exclusive products in different industry verticals. Just to give you a background, we are focusing on – consumer, automobile, media entertainment, sports, hospitality, we are focusing on such industries that have consumer touch point.”

‘LikeMyWorld’ is a social initiative, as this social platform is not just for chatting but a platform where we can engage in useful stuff. It’s one of the good media to engage and connect with people. The USP of the brand is, the way they engage their end users and consumers in totally different way.

What is ‘LikeMyWorld’ all about? “Most of the media worldwide right now are pretty much focusing on our first part, that is ‘we connect’ and now they understand the problem that it’s not important to have thousands or millions of fan but important to build engagement with them. So, these applications like save environment, social club, automotive and other interesting games are there, where we are trying to build interactive concepts especially for young consumers as they are much involved in social networking sites. We have around 75 applications which is easy to learn and enjoyable. We are trying to connect with our consumer through emotions as they like sharing what they like, their best experience or place like in automotive we guide our consumer with road, climate, atmosphere etc., which is different from other sites that provide tour guidelines. Here one can play, share their ideas, get incentives in games and apart from these we have games where you can share your wardrobe, can like, buy or sell. You can earn money and spent it too.” said Rakesh.

He further elaborated, “It’s gamification of the brands. It helps to build a relationship with the end user or consumers, once it’s done and later whenever buying decisions come consumer buy that brand, they associate with that brand.”

LikeMyWorld has a celebrity segment, media segment, consumer products segment and social media initiatives. Till now they used to pitch directly and they have received good response, but now they will pitch their client through agencies also.

We asked Rakesh Agarwal, about why he thought launching this new product in Bombay, and to share insight about ‘LikeMyWorld’ team. He replied, “We always wanted to launch our new product, at a place where people would be able to appreciate the creativity and yes Bombay is the right place for that. About our team we have our execution team, creative and content writers, brand consultants, graphic designers and we are focusing on to strengthen our team and working on to form our customer facing team as we stopped hiring in between due to our focus on our brand.”

What your clients are expecting and vice a versa, “There are brands which are like just start up and we have clients like that who wants us to run teasers for them to let people know about their brand. We connect them to the right audience, keep audience engrossed with them, making sure that our clients are always unique, we deliver a deeper insight about our clients to consumer’s consumption patterns, views and suggestions thus we expand their business by making them out-reach their present reach. We want to cover our running cost and the scale as its self –funded company as of now. We have clients where we require funding element for second and third quarter of the year, as funding is a natural thing which is required.” Said, Rakesh Agarwal.

‘LikeMyWorld’ is planning to come out with free apps for normal people/end consumers to use. They are looking at to gain value and customer acquisition.

“In terms of pricing, our applications are bit expensive but it’s a very interesting and customized approach.” said Rakesh Agarwal. | By Ranjana Gupta [ranjana(at)adgully.com]

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Customers can easily browse through products by selecting different categories and sub categories. There is also an option of searching for offers at Restaurants, Spas and other entertainment avenues, which are nearby any location.

“At Snapdeal, we continuously seek ways of enhancing product experience and generating more value for the customers. Goes without saying, it will make Snapdeal available to a much wider audience of mobile subscribers and strengthen our presence.” says Rishabh Arora, Business Head – Mobile at Snapdeal.com

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This 3 days event showcased mobile and online marketers, entrepreneurs, brand owners, content developers, agency executive, SEO architects, and digital-media experts exploring the possibilities and power of Digital and Mobile Marketing in Asia. Along with the summit, there were contest like ‘The Digital Marketer’s Contest’ and workshops too.

“Click Asia Summit 2012 builds on the spectacular success of Click Asia Summit 2011. Click Asia Summit 2012 is designed to create a forum for some of the top marketing professionals to congregate and create a marketplace for ideas and services that will help Asian companies get the marketing edge.” said, Kavita Jhunjhunwala ,Show Director at Click Media Private Limited.

CAS has the potential to become a regular fixture in your annual speaking engagements. Not only does it focus on one of the largest markets in the world, it helps you network with over 50 global speakers and ivy-league CXOs from the top most Asian Corporations.

This year at CAS, digital marketing gurus like Lucy McCabe (Vice President – Consulting Services Asia Pacific, OgilvyOne Worldwide), Gillian Muessig (President, SEOmoz), Ankit Fadia (Cyber Security Expert), Cyriel Kortlevan (Innovations Expert) , Benjamin Grubbs (Executive Director, Interactive Media, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc.) and other experts of national and international brands were present, who explored and dissected every aspect of digital marketing for the audience.

“The area we are paying attention to in 2012 is mobile Internet and how adoption and consumption increases in the market with the entry of low-priced tablets and Nokia’s move to the Win7 operating platform. Our overall mobile usage increased 7X in 2011. We are bracing for even greater adoption of our content on mobile devices in 2012 via mobile browsers and new native applications we develop for the three main operating platforms in the market.” said, Benjamin Grubbs, Executive Director, Interactive Media, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, on mobile marketing plan they are focusing in 2012.
Grubbs further added, “One should have effective mobile marketing plan apart from powerful digital and social media marketing plan in place”

Speakers and trainers from three continents were there to discuss what digital marketing means to the rest of the world, and what it can mean for India, along with Dr. Shashi Tharoor – Member of Parliament, India.

Day 1 of the Click Asia Summit 2012 was for networking and entertainment, where people enjoyed stand-up comedy at its best at India’s laughter headquarters, the Comedy Store. Day 2 of the CSA started with Shashi Tharoor’s keynote –‘ Impact of digital media on politics and India in general’ followed by Lucy McCabe, OgilvyOne Worldwide and other speakers . Day 3, CAS had Master Classes where experts such as Mahesh Murthy (Pinstorm, India) started with a brief exposition of the new realities, new principles and new metrics, later followed by Vivek Bhargava, (Communicate2, India) who focused on how one should plan content creation, how to distribute the same through search and social media and how to build User Generated Content strategy to make it self-sustaining.

At CSA experts and speakers discussed and explained topics across Search, Social, Email, Mobile, Analytics and Marketing. In addition to the sessions, there were multiple workshops to arm attendees with powerful, actionable information and ideas.

This year CSA brought around thousand trainers, marketers, entrepreneurs, advertisers under one roof. The attendees and delegates were from the CXO and CMO level of large and small businesses, agencies and related vendors. | By Ranjana Gupta [ranjana(at)adgully.com]

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GroupM and Mindshare have had a dedicated mobile practice in India since 2006. Since that time, the agency’s Mumbai operation has led the industry with many firsts to its credit and has emerged as a market leader with over 55% share and a preferred partner status with over 25 companies. The Centre of Excellence team will be led by Ashok Lalla, Leader, Digital Mindshare South Asia. He will be working with Vinod Thadani, Regional Director – GroupM South Asia.

Norm Johnston, Global Digital Leader said: “India is a fast evolving digital market with a strong history and future connected to mobile devices. Consequently, our Mumbai office has consistently been at the forefront of mobile marketing. We want to tap into this expertise and share it throughout our network. Our clients are increasingly looking for smart, cost-effective mobile marketing solutions given the exponential growth in smartphone and tablet penetration and the corresponding uptake in mobile Internet usage.”

Alice Manners, GroupM Interaction COO, Asia-Pacific, added “The quality of service here in India is arguably the best we have globally. From both production and advertising point of view, business is at a tipping point. We are producing some exceptional work, including a groundbreaking augmented reality campaign for Nike that connected the real and virtual worlds.”

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Blazar media was launched to handle digitally driven clients and digitally growing clients who require customized digital expertise.

Dharamdasani is all set to start his own venture in the mobile space. Though much detailed information was not revealed but the venture is scheduled to strike the mobile space market sometime around next month and also over the next couple of weeks he will announce his core team and investors and the role and responsibilities they tend to focus in the mobile space.

Before joining Quasar, he worked for four years as a marketing Manager with Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills in 2000, from where he started his career.

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“We’re very excited to head into 2012 with Anita at the helm of our marketing efforts in Asia-Pacific. 2011 was a year of tremendous growth for us. Anita will help us further fuel the regional mobile ecosystem, given her extensive regional experience, marketing expertise, and advertising background,” said Atul Satija, Vice-President and Managing Director of InMobi, Asia Pacific.

Anita will be responsible for expanding InMobi’s marketing efforts in SEA, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India with the local marketing teams in these markets. She brings with her over nine years of experience in the telecommunications space in the Asia Pacific region and a further seven years in the digital advertising space.

“Asia Pacific is home to some of the fastest growing mobile markets and InMobi has done an exceptional job establishing its leadership in the region. I’m very excited to be part of an amazing team and to be brought into the fold as the company powers up for greater growth in Asia Pacific,” Anita said.

Anita was previously Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific at Alcatel-Lucent where she led a multicultural central marketing team across product, communications, digital and social media, events and public relations efforts. Prior to Alcatel-Lucent, Anita led the marketing efforts of various telecommunications providers around the Asia Pacific region including Vodafone, Digicel, Telstra and Telecom NZ. Anita is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology and holds a post-graduate diploma from Waikato University in New Zealand.

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This exclusive app for Android tablets is the latest to join the long list of apps that have been unveiled by Dinamalar since last year. While the Android application for mobiles launched in September last year seamlessly functioned even in tablets, Dinamalar had decided to create an exclusive Android tablet app to effectively utilise the bigger screen and richer user experience that a tablet offers. Dinamalar has enhanced its Android mobiles application through its latest update. The improved mobile app now allows its readers to enjoy a more enhanced interface that facilitates superior user-experience.

In comparison even the application for tablets has been specifically designed to be more interactive and highly user-centric as it consists of a slew of interesting sections that will enable Dinamalar’s readers to quickly skim through the news from around the world. From special sections that cover news from across a wide-spectrum of areas to features to entertain and inform, the Android tablet app has been built to let the publication’s audience to stay up-to-date at a touch.

With the app recording over 3500 downloads since its release on the 3rd of January, it is obvious that Dinamalar’s readers couldn’t wait to get hold of it. And while speaking about the new initiative that is making waves, the man behind the Dinamalar success story, L. Adimoolam, Chief Marketing Officer, Dinamalar.com, stated, “Dinamalar has always been a pioneer. Our every new initiative has been proof of this fact. With more than 60 years of publishing experience and history behind us, we’ve grown to become highly perceptive and receptive to the changing perspectives of our global reading audience. With the influx of tablet PCs people have been provided with a seamless and convenient option to access up-to-the-minute information. And as a publishing house it is necessary for us to constantly evolve to shift our approach to cater to this ever-changing reader dynamics. And our host of innovative solutions, be it the string of apps released last year or the new Android tablet app that is now available, are just another way of ensuring that Dinamalar is accessible in every medium where our readers look for us.”

Acknowledged to be a pioneer in embracing new media initiatives in the country, Dinamalar is expected to release a slew of innovative solutions in the coming months to provide its readers with a more interactive reading experience.

And while elaborating on the distinctive new initiatives that are slated to hit the market in the coming months, S. Balasubramanian, Head – Marketing (New Media) stated, “We’ve planned some new things for our readers this year. Dinamalar has always been a forerunner in the publishing industry in the country and we will continue to remain so. Amongst the first to make seamless transitions to various new mediums, our intrinsic goal has always been to keep our readers constantly informed through the dissemination of correct and up-to-date information. And we’ve always embraced diverse technological avenues over the years to achieve this. For instance, last year, we expanded our reach through the iPhone, iPad and Android phone apps and our new Android tablet app is just another extension of our initiatives to stay at the top of things, while keeping our readers informed. “

The publishing house has always been ranked amongst the top for its readership and traffic. Last year, Dinamalar.com recorded 1.8 billion page views and had delivered more than 3 billion ad inventory, which catapulted its position to the top spot in the Indian Publication industry. Dinamalar’s continued success has always been facilitated by its widespread reach and its intuitive new approaches, so it should be interesting to wait for the other new and avant-garde initiatives that the publication has planned for its readers this year.

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This time, last year,just three countries (India, USA & Indonesia) were serving in excess of a billion ads a quarter. However, by the end of 2011 another seven countries had broken into the Billion Club which includes UK, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Canada and Thailand.

Although the signs are very encouraging, it’s imperative that retailers provide reassurance on security, simplicity and the services availableso that m-commerce continues toflourish. Globally,users remain reluctant to engage in remote transactions, with 39% preferring to pay in person, and 21% preferring to charge purchases to their phones.The biggest barrier to m-commerce remains the lack of awareness of the tools and services available (35%), and concerns regarding security (27%).

“There are three missing elements, crucial to widespread adoption of mobile commerce,” said Dr KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity. “They are communication, education and security. Users are not currently aware of the services out there. When they do come across such services, these simple processes are presented in a very confusing way. Banks and retailers will need to provide their customers with clear and unambiguous assurances about security.”

India continues to dominate BuzzCity’s charts throughout 2011, serving over 32 billion ads in the course of the year, to over 93 million unique users per month.

Dr KF Lai remarked: “The mobile industry has not only grown but matured, we are pleased to see yet more countries joining the Billion Club across our network and I have no doubt more will be joining in the near future. With more consumers gaining trust in mobile and brands taking advantage of spending power maturity the entire mobile ecosystem will benefit in coming months, ultimately paving the way for further demand for mobile and lifestyle content as well as mobile commerce offerings.2012 looks set to be an exciting year,” he said.