AgTalk | Stick close to your customers: MMRSS' Sarang Panchal

Research is one word that is gaining higher and higher importance, especially, in today's marketing / selling business. Thus is justifies the upsurge of market research firm in India. The concept, already prevalent, is now picking momentum as companies feel the heat of competition and the need to understand the consumer in order to stand out in the market. A popular name in this area is Majestic MRSS (MMRSS); Asia's largest independent full service market research firm that is specialized in multi- country research.

With the aim to serve its Indian clients, MMRSS had launched MRSS India that will offer Indian marketers local access to the best of breed technology to generate consumer insights. With this launch, MMRSS has brought Sarang Panchal on board, as a Chief Mentor and Co-Founder of MRSS India. The two have come together to launch a next generation full service Marketing Research agency. The new venture will capitalize on technologies for insight developed by MMRSS and its partners in the US, Europe and Japan.

Sarang Panchal has more than two decades of senior level experience in market research and has done research in the area of new products, branding, advertising, forecasting and segmentation. He was the Managing Director of The Nielsen Company, Asia-Pacific, between 2007 and 2008 and associated with Smart Spaces as a partner.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Panchal explored his thoughts on his role at MMRSS India and the strategies that he'll be working on being aboard this team.

Adgully (AG): Being one of the experts in this domain, what was the thought behind the partnership with MRSS?

Sarang Panchal (SP): It's been around three years that I left the industry but, I have been doing consulting and e-commerce projects and then when Majestic asked me to come on board as a principal advisor and chief mentor, I said yes as I found it interesting! I have been associated with them from a long time, I respect them and I know how they work and what they have done in India - Pacific region. When they asked me about this role, I said that I'll be happy to come on board and will join the management team and will work on the projects together. It's a good challenge to be in India and I think the market is ready for it. According to me, Majestic can do it as they have got the financial stability, they have the experience of Asia-pacific, they have got good relations to leverage and it's a good project to rise on.

AG: What according to you could be the challenges that Majestic would face in the market?

SP: I don't see any challenges for Majestic because I think the market is ready for it. We made a good team together. We start leveraging everything that we have because we have already been very successful in Asia-Pacific and we are now here in India. We were waiting for the right time and I think now the time is right. Prior to this, we got a lot of inquiry and every single day we used to refuse the business and the reason was that we were not ready for it. We can't say yes to a project when we don't have a team on board, we don't want to make mistakes that larger agencies have made and that's my job, to guide them on that and supervise the management team.

AG: Any plans in terms of partnerships and tie-ups with other groups and agencies that you are looking ahead?

SP: We are open to partnerships but our existence would be regardless of that. Unless someone comes up with the unique model which we are open to looking at, but I don't think that we really need that. We have good relationships and network created in other parts of countries. For example, we have people working for our company but are there in Singapore; they are not there in India but associated with us. We are just focusing on doing good quality of research and move ahead.

AG: You have been this domain, so tell us how was the industry decade back and how you look at the industry today?

SP: I think, may be two decades ago that the perception of market research in the industry was much better than it is today. The industry was much more respected, and in the boardrooms for all important decisions, market research was done. Today, sadly it's not the case and we need to restore market research back to where it belongs. We've been axed down by the consultancies, as today everyone goes to consultancy agencies not to marketing agencies. But we can reverse it by doing good quality of research which could actually make the difference for clients business. Today, the research agencies are too busy in selling their own products, but they should understand that they are there to help client to grow their business and then only you can try and get back the lost image of market research.

AG: What would be the size of the management team that you are looking forward to?

SP: We are just putting it together, we'll be having another press meet in about few months' time with the management team because they were be the ones who would be doing the work, and I would be the advisor. To be part of our team, we are looking out for few good people who are light-minded and interested towards this project.

AG: Please highlight the areas of expertise that you are intending to develop?

SP: Media, Package goods and Pharma. But, we are keen on social media as it's something that's close to our heart and we would be offering that soon. We are also looking ahead to have syndicate products across different verticals.

AG: What according to you, would be the USP of MMRSS India?

SP: The USP would be that we will be leveraging technology in the space of market research with the equipment's, because that's the reason we have seen growth in Asia- Pacific. That would be the same reason to grow ourselves here, faster than our competitors.

AG: You are not only focusing just on A class town but also on B & C class. Elaborate on the rational behind the same?

SP: See, most of the time we can't go there because we can't afford to go there. But if clients are ready to pay, we with our technology will be able to give them standard research, timely everywhere in the country. So, we want to partner with clients who have a little bit of width and depth in their mind and we can be the service provider/ suppliers for them.

AG: This year seems to be a tough year, so what you think clients need to do to tackle this year?

SP: According to me, they need to be closer to their customers. If they are closer to their customers and figure out their needs they can develop over it. I think, country still has loads of hidden potential, and I know that there is a slowdown in some areas but I don't think so it's anywhere nearby some of the international market. From a market research perspective I wouldn't worry about it at all, it's just a cyclical thing and we will work it out! I think its good time to consolidate and understand the customers.

AG: What kind of trends do you spot in the FMCG sector?

SP: I think food will continue as it's very close to Indian customer's heart. But there is a difference between the package goods that we can observe when we go abroad. In India we actually don't have too many variants available and the reason is that the top segment is growing, and the second thing is due to exposure of media and international travels, you find customers evolving and they are aware, demanding and wanting stuffs. So, when we do research, we find that they demand and want something more and industry have to develop and offer it to them.

AG: Does working with a select clientele mean that your services would be little 'creamy'?

SP: Yes, you've would be amazed by the quality of work and the kind of complicated research that we do with ethical Pharma or it could be the area of high networks or the survey on CFO's. For that we need to pay talk dollars. If we pay to talk dollars and give talk dollar information to our clients, they need to pay the talk dollars. And much rather giving them the experience and the stuff that they have never seen before and give it to them quick.

AG: Share with us three key trends that you see in your domain?

SP: One is that, today we can see rapidly changing consumers, you just can't assume things. If you have done any survey on customer understanding few years ago, you cannot compare the same thing which is going on today. Specially, in the categories like media and telecom which is moving at very fast pace; we can notice the top end changing very fast where the middle and lower end is little bit predictable. People are becoming more discerning and aware and it's difficult to cope with them as a marketer. The second trend continues to be value conscious - the Indian customers will always evaluate, and they are very particular about the value. And the third would be the role of influence - it has become very different today as earlier, elder people used to take all decisions but today even when you buy a car you consult the kids. There are loads of changes happening in upper and middle class level and a marketer has to in sync with it.

AG: Any word of advice for the marketers?

SP: Stick close to your customers would be one of the advice's and second would be, to value products and use this time to sort out your distributions, work on training and product improvement. As tomorrow when the market will boom, you need to be in the position to leverage. | By Ranjana Gupta [ranjana(at)adgully.com] & Ankita Tanna [ankita(at)adgully.com]

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