Adgully Exclusive | Crystal Gazing - Brands in 2011

Will the brands be able to target the young consumers in the country and retain them as consumers get smarter and share their feedback through the real time media of web. Adgully caught up with the leaders and this what they had to say:

Lutz Kothe, Head of Marketing & PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales:

Well launch wise we will be bringing in three new cars in the market in the new year. One of them will be the successor of Passat and the other one will be the successor of Jetta. And lastly the successor of Touareg will also enter the market in the new year. We also start with new technologies in the market. We will be introducing BlueMotion technologies which will deliver to our customers a better fuel efficiency, a better fuel consumption and technology-wise take care of the environment. On top of this one we will launching "Think Blue" as a promotional line for the technology we will be introducing.

On the CSR side we will looking at taking even more assets into the protection of our environment, it is a huge umbrella, but we are going to get into it this year.

Rajeev Karwal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder Director, Milagrow:

We will be looking at doing better quality business and help our clients to deliver better and grow more. We are also looking at focusing on future leaders and enable them to grow and make speedy progress. Finally when the client is growing as a result of our efficient work it is always the best kind of outcome we expect. But this year we will be setting new benchmarks and looking at an all-round growth.

This year in terms of branding social media will take centre stage. A lot of brands will be looking at reaching out to their potential customers through social media. However not a lot of companies in India are prepared fully to go digital, but they will have to catch up because 3G's entry will change the access rate of Internet and digital apps in the country amongst consumers.

Moreover brands have to really understand that they have to deliver the same amount of quality and promise from the perception of differentiation and innovation that they create through various media campaigns. The brands will have to be very careful about this because consumers are becoming very sharp and if they do not like something they have various forums like the web to voice it. Besides the competition is on the rise for the industry. Hence the brands will have to look at creating real innovation and differentiation and a very well thought and planned consumer experience. Normal PR activity might not be able to suppress poor services, so the brands will have to be very careful about what perception they create of themselves in the minds of the consumers. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]