It’s been a tough ride in India for Italian auto major Fiat. While other auto majors witnessed high growth, Fiat struggled, particularly on the service front. Post its exit from the joint venture with Tata Motors for distribution, the company has hastened to overhaul its brand image. Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, AVP-Marketing, Fiat Chrysler India, tells us how the company is now looking to connect with the consumer and ensure the complete Italian experience.
Q] It’s been a tough ride for Fiat in the Indian market. What are you looking to communicate through your new campaign?
Brand Fiat has been in India for a long time and we have a strong heritage and history in the market. While we were a relevant brand in the past, it is important now to connect with the Indian consumer of today. We have made significant changes over the last six months in the way we present the brand in the marketplace because the learning from customers’ feedback was that we were not represented in the right way. They were not getting the true experience of the brand; the brand value was getting was getting diluted at the point of sale or service. So in our campaign, we have people making moves in their lives and connecting that with Fiat as a brand, because Fiat understands the Indian consumer, more than other brands. We have been a part of the ‘growing up’ years of the Indian consumer of today, and we can really make this emotional bond work.
Q] What does your marketing mix look like?
Roughly about 60% would be TV and Print put together. There are some magazines, Digital would be around 7-10% and we will also use Outdoor. In terms of GRPs, we are looking at 550-600 GRPs, and will be seen across channels including GECs and regional channels. We are also making some investments in IPL. It’s a six week campaign where we are highlighting the main genesis and then we go into the product and service stories because finally the consumer wants to know what Fiat is doing.
Q] As you mentioned, service had become a sore point during your JV with Tata Motors. What has been the learning and what have you done on this front? How are you improving the consumer experience?
We now have an exclusive dealer network and exclusive showrooms. We want the consumer to have the whole Fiat and Italian experience and have therefore introduced two Fiat cafés. It is a showroom experience. We are looking to have cafés across various cities. Our new showrooms are nice and people have been trained comprehensively to deliver the best test-drive experience. Fiat is a driver’s brand; the products are great to drive, so once you have behind-the wheel experience on the car, you are bound to get converted because the experience is really outstanding. We also have an effective and robust website where consumers can skim through the key information very easily in a user-friendly manner.
Q] What about the Digital platform which lends itself well to auto companies? What are your plans in this space?
We are going to go digital in terms of major search engines and portals. We need to get more and more consumers into the Fiat brand, talking about the Fiat brand, so that can happen in social media. We are looking at a social media contest where the consumer comes in through various sources and does some activity and then we take him back to the Fiat website, test drives, service experiences. We are investing money in digital, social and mobile which can be different consumer touch points. We are also looking at apps. We have something for the café which we will update subsequently and that is basically an all-encompassing product plus brand plus event activation at the café.
Q] What are you doing on the online reputation management front?
We are now getting an integrated IT CRM DMS system which will connect the social platform into our CRM system and 24x7 call centre at the same time. We have a DMS, which is a dealer management system. So, whichever way a customer call comes through, he will either get connected to the call centre or a dealer, so we are sure that we don’t miss it. Anything and everything that comes in terms of a consumer input, be it a sales enquiry or a test-drive request or complaint - whichever route it comes through, everything gets channelized through there; it gets segregated as per the priority, importance, etc. through the DMS. We are investing a lot in that to make sure that the information flow is seamless, quick and we are able to respond to the market.
Q] It’s been a tough time for all auto-makers and car sales have been disappointing due to the continuing uncertainty in the economy. How is Fiat looking to stand out in this environment?
The economy is still under a lot of pressure and the auto industry is affected as it is directly connected with the economy. Our products have always been competitive, the price positioning is aggressive, the product content is good, the consumer feedback has always been positive. Whatever issues we have had about products in the past have all been ironed out now. What was missing was consumer touch-points, so we have revamped all the consumer touch-points over the last 3-4 months. We feel that we stand a fairly good chance to be considered now, because the consumer always liked our products and now he has the right shop experience too. We feel that post October, things will start looking up.
Q] How many dealers do you currently have? What is the training given to them and what are your expansion plans on this front? Fiat has set a target of 1% market-share, does it look achievable now?
We have 51 dealers who have mostly been added in the last quarter. Each of the dealer teams has undergone comprehensive sales training and comprehensive technical training. Having the right service centre is important because once the customer is happy, he will spread the word. We are looking to double our dealership network in a year’s time and the focus will be on the big cities and towns before we look at moving into Tier II and Tier III cities. We are currently in a transition phase and we believe once the network falls into place, even the goals set will look very small because we can do much more than that.
Q] What are the challenges in marketing Brand FIAT in India?
The single-minded objective and challenge for us is to get the Indian consumer to relook at the Fiat brand and be in the purchase consideration. Once he reconsiders and comes in through the online route or through a dealer, we’ll deliver the right experience to him to make sure that the consideration goes to the logical conclusion of closing a sale. Then of course the service network should take care of that customer through the ownership life-cycle. That’s very important as well because that was what was missing in the past.
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