Just last week our internal office discussion hovered around how PR heavy strategies don’t really work in India, because PR channels like live events, blogs, niche tv, industry publications are not well developed here. People also don’t seem to talk about new products without seeing some major advertising. To get a brand off the ground in India, BIG advertising is needed.
Yet another issue in India appears to be user get user marketing in the early days of a website. What’s the biggest social network in India? Its Orkut. How did you get on? Did someone invite you? No. You got on because you had a gmail id and simply used that to sign into Orkut and after that you searched and added your friends. If you look at Orkut’s fortunes (as reported by Alexa), they really took off after Gmail id allowed Orkut access.
This week we have an example that substantiates my theory. Minglebox has been struggling for a year to get any major traction and giving it company is Fropper.com. Out of the blue comes BigAdda.com and Reliance style plasters billboards all over town. Suddenly BigAdda’s reach (as ranked by Alexa) is the same that of Minglebox and just shy of Fropper, both of which are good mature products. Click here for Alexa’s graph
India is probably the only country in the world where a social networking site has been launched through big money mass advertising. Does it bring about a drastic change in web 2.0 fundamentals which are anchored on user get user and PR? Yes it does. It also spells trouble for start-ups and good news for big boys, which is quite the opposite in the rest of the world.
However there can be exceptions. We have seen Gmail successful adopt in India to large numbers with no ad spend even in the face of advertising (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Indiatimes Mail, Zapak & Rediff all advertise). But then Gmail is an exceptional product, or like my CTO said “its the only damn mail that’s working all the time”.
So there is hope yet, all you gotta do is build the next Gmail 😉
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giving exposure to a brand for a launch whether web 2.0 or any other conventional business is not a bad idea. Reliance is known to have engaged a few brand consultancies for a pitch just to come up with the name for this venture. they are known shell out Rs.2-3lacs just for this naming exercise. so splashing around their name on billboards across the country hardly seems surprising.
the alexa graph shows hits. does it mean they’re acquiring users? even if they are, is the cost of acquisition sustainable? we know reliance plays long term. but this is new territory for them. and they might be in for some surprises.
the real question is – IS ADVERTISING A SUBSTITUTE FOR A GREAT PRODUCT? – i dont think so. I don’t believe that cash strapped startups with a compelling product need to be worried about the big boys and their war chests. but if you are a me-too operating in the same space then paranoia would be wise.
“It also spells trouble for start-ups and good news for big boys”
Wow!!! very solid point.
RYK, you made a valid point that mass advertising is one way to go VIRAL in Indian market. BUT.Big question is to what extent?
What is purpose of mass marketing? Are we targeting same audience? Does marketing principals are same for SN as they are for soaps and detergents?
Flopper is there quit a long time.They did mass advertising ( Remember there radio ads on FM sations) but if you a close look that graph (Click here for Alexa’s graph) you can easily see visible and constant fall in flopper’s friends. Why this contrast?
One justification is either they are marketing a “poor product” or marketing in the “wrong market”.With male/female user ratio of 100/20 they are trying to market “dating” which is still not “cool” thing in conservative India.
IMHO if your product is unique and deliever value to user and you empower user to do viral marketing for you Viral marketing is still the best form of marketing in internet world.
Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Indiatimes Mail, Zapak & Rediff all advertise in India.They did it for different purpose.All are delivering same product in differnet packaging.So diferentiation was a issue for them.Gmail was different by design.Rediff,Zapak,Indiatimes entered in e-mail services in maket very lately and wanted to reach a critical mass as soon as possible.
Did u say Gmail is a expectiobal product???????? You must be joking.
just brings back memories of the dot com bust , the big boys spend money ( expect break even in three years – as quoted by Rajesh Sawhney) and they figure out its not so simple and wont happen so soon… bingo a bust comes a callin ….just hope that companies big or small realise that the product is king just getting another me too product out there wont assure either registrations or monies.
incidentally my email address is gmail too 😉
Spam is passe with indiatimes now.
Good point RYK. No amount of advertising can match a well thought out product. Rediff, Indiatimes couldn’t even think about how to remove spam in so many years. Gmail executed it fine and thats a major driver for them.
Product is the key.