After a high-decibel festive campaign in association with the eighth season of Bigg Boss on Colors, Snapdeal has now launched a new campaign ‘Dil Ki Deal’ with Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador. Sandeep Komaravelly, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Snapdeal talks about the objective of the campaign and signing on a celebrity brand ambassador
By Henna Achhpal
Q] What is the insight and objective of the latest Snapdeal campaign, Dil Ki Deal?
With our previous campaigns, we established the USP of Snapdeal being a destination that offers the widest assortment of products at great value. Following that, we felt Snapdeal has now evolved to take the next step in its communication and bring emphasis on the emotional fulfilment it brings to both buyers and sellers. The objective of the campaign revolves around talking to consumers about the benefits they get when they transact on our platform or engage with our brand. Transacting on our platform is not just about finding a product, or buying it at the best price or value, or saving a lot of money. It goes beyond that, which is predominantly the core thought of what this campaign is all about and that is why it has been named ‘Dil Ki Deal’. We want buying products on our platform not to be just about savings, we want it to be much more than that. We want it to be a bundle of joy for our consumers and that’s the core messaging that we have done as part of this campaign. Aamir Khan helps in giving more weight to this campaign by being the narrator of the entire brand thought. This is also going to be our brand message going forward. It will go on for four to six weeks and we have a 360 degree plan around it.
Q] Why did you feel the need for a celebrity brand ambassador at this point in the brand’s journey and what was the thought behind signing on Aamir Khan?
The idea was predominantly the objective we want to achieve as a brand. Once we finalized our messaging for the brand as Dil Ki Deal, we also felt it would be good to get someone on board who can add more intensity to what we’re trying to do. That will drive a lot of trust of the consumers and ensure we are able to communicate it much more efficiently. Aamir Khan as a celebrity is someone who cuts across segments, appeals to every consumer and stands out from regular run of the mill celebrities. Not only is he India’s finest and most loved actors, his persona goes beyond his acting prowess. We found a great synergy between our brand and what he can do. Even after this campaign, he will continue to be Snapdeal’s brand ambassador.
Q] What is the media mix for this campaign?
All the media channels for this campaign are sizeable. A rough split would be around 60% offline and the rest Digital. Outside of TV and Digital, we will have visibility on other media such as Print, Outdoor and several on-ground activations.
Q] What are the marketing plans for IPL?
Some of it is still work in progress so I won’t be able to talk about it. But there will be a sizeable visibility for our current brand campaign because it’s been launched in the same time period. There will be a lot of promotions around ‘Dil Ki Deal’.
Q] Snapdeal recently introduced luxury yachts on its marketplace. It also offers real estate and cars. However these are not yet reflected in Snapdeal’s marketing communication. Why so? What’s the way ahead for such high cost categories on e-commerce?
These categories, while existing on Snapdeal, will become a part of our communication in due course of time. Once they become sizeable, we will talk about them in our communication. There is a lot of demand for such categories. Compared to offline, obviously the numbers will not be as fast moving but given the performance so far, there is a lot of latent demand for these categories.
Q] What is Snapdeal’s role in the #TogetherOnline initiative with Google India?
As a platform, our mission is to drive life-changing experiences for a lot of entrepreneurs across the country. We are providing them with a platform to come and sell their products. We are converting a lot of entrepreneurs who are part-time into businesses because they have been using our platform to sell their products. Google is driving the initiative of women entrepreneurs, and helping them make successful businesses online by enabling them to list on our platform and sell across the country. As far as Snapdeal’s role is concerned, we will run awareness campaigns amongst our shoppers and educate women on the entrepreneurial opportunities on our platform.
Q] How does Snapdeal differentiate itself from other players in the category?
What sets us apart is that our driving force is providing life-changing experiences to sellers, and offering the widest assortment of products at the best prices to buyers. For us, it’s about driving this entire ecosystem and enabling these experiences. As long as we are able to do that, we are on the right direction to create a great proposition for our brand and also create value for all our stakeholders.
Q] Which markets have been contributing greatly to Snapdeal’s growth?
It’s all across. I don’t think there is any market which is not contributing. All the markets actually are seeing tremendous growth owing to Internet penetration, and people becoming ready to buy online. As a result, there is growth happening across markets.
Q] Between the website and app, which platform witnesses more traffic? How are you planning to further leverage m-commerce?
About 70% of our business now comes from mobile. Going forward, since a large part of our business is predominantly through the app, the experience will be far better and far more native. Be it Google Android, Apple or Windows, we’ve seen that the stickiness of consumers who are coming through the app is higher than those who typically transact on the web. That’s the reason we’re making renewed efforts to provide a differentiated experience on the app.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Snapdeal’s vision is to create India’s most trusted digital marketplace that creates life-changing experiences for buyers and sellers. In February 2010, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal started Snapdeal.com. It has an assortment of more than 11 million products across over 500 diverse categories from thousands of regional, national and international brands and retailers. With over 40 million members and 1,00,000 sellers, Snapdeal.com delivers to more than 5,000 cities and towns in India. The company grew 600% from 2013 to 2014, with over 70% of its orders coming from mobile phones. In its journey till now, Snapdeal has partnered with several global marquee investors and individuals such as Soft-bank, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Ratan Tata, among others.
FACTS
Creative Agency: Leo Burnett
Media Agency: OMD
Digital Agency: MSL GROUP
PR Agency: Text 100
MARKETING TIP
Never forget the objective of the campaign. Unfortunately, that is often forgotten as the campaign progresses.
CMO FILE
Sandeep Komaravelly, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Snapdeal handles Marketing & Communication for Snapdeal.com. He was also a member of the founding team at Grabbon.com, which got acquired by Snapdeal. Prior to this, Komaravelly worked in the consumer goods industry and management consulting firms, taking on projects across Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain Efficiency & New Product Development domains. He has an MBA degree from XLRI, Jamshedpur and is a Mechanical Engineer from BITS, Pilani. Komaravelly is a sports enthusiast with keen interest in football.
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