LIJJAT PAPAD - A TALE OF ORDINARY WOMEN'S SUCCESS

Lijjat papad is a brand with a difference .This brand is a special one because it makes a difference in the livelihood of thousands of poor women in India. The brand from Shri MahilaGriha Udyog Lijjat Pappad was started 46 years ago in 1959 on a measly sum of Rs 80. Seven ladies started preparing Papad and from there this story of a movement starts. From that Rs 80, the brand has grown to become Rs 300 crore and more importantly many households were saved from the clutches of poverty. One of the senior member, Ms Jaswantiben Poppat(Founder),  was honored with Economic Times Corporate Excellence Award in 2002.

Pappad is a form of Indian crispy bread. The food is taken as a snack and also along with lunch and dinner. Lijjat has become an integral part of the Indian palette through sheer determination and hard work.
The most important factor that the made this brand a success was the careful operational planning that goes behind the brand. It would humble even the smartest management graduate when we realize that ordinary women run this entire company.

The Lijjat brand is built on certain core values that has been ingrained into the entire system. The values are
a.Make sure that the process runs smoothly
b.Ensure the highest quality standards
c. give the product at a good price
d. Good corporate governance and profit sharing.

It can be said that the organization derives its values from the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi ‘s idea of Sarvodaya.The process works like this

Every morning the group of members go the the Lijjat office to Knead the dough. Another group goes to the office to collect the “quality checked “ dough for rolling. These women give the previous days papads for quality check. Another team packs the tested papads. Every member gets the rolling charge ( vanai) based on the productivity.
The quality check process is also rigorous. The members should take a quality pledge and ensure that the house is neat and clean and there is a separate place for this process. Every member is trained to make the perfect Lijjat papad. If any member is found not adhering to the quality standards, she will be given some other work like packing etc.If during the testing , any lot is found to be below standards, the entire lot is destroyed.

The entire organization is decentralized and managed by a committee of 21 members. All the members of the committee have veto power and this ensures that decisions are based on consensus. The committee decides on the sharing of profit and all the members of the society gets equal share of profit. The decentralization gives the branches the power to do the quality checks and the responsibility to maintain accounts.All the members ( called as Ben) are owners of this movement and this automatically ensures greater accountability.

The brand is having the strength of “ Consistently Good Quality” as its USP.Recently this brand is also facing competition from other players. Unlike other social brands, Lijjat was serious about advertising. The brand communicated its Crispness and quality through its ads.The ads features a Bunny ( mascot) and a very popular jingle ‘Khurram Kharram”. The positive word of mouth, the advertisement, the consistent good quality and the distribution made this brand highly successful.
The company has also diversified into detergent products (branded SASA)  and other food products. The brand is a unique success story. The story of a movement that changed the lives of more than 40000 poor women.

About Me

YO Siddharth

I am a very chilled out and a sweet guy. I have been born and brought up in the most place of this earth - Chandigarh. I believe knowledge opens your mind and hearts . These days much reliance is given to bookish knowledge and very less to practical knowledge. So this blog has been created to share knowledge beyond books which can prove very fruitful for u guys in future life.

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HOW CAN AAMIR KHAN TEACH COMPANIES ETHICS

Aamir Khan is known as one of the great marketing minds of bollywood. But one quality which distinguishes Aamir Khan from the actors is his ability and most of all the courage to speak the truth about the content and target audience of his movies.

When Peepli Live was released, Aamir khan clearly spoke that the movie is for a very limited audience. Not many people would be able to understand it and the masses would clearly not relate to it much. The actor of a stature of Aamir Khan could have easily promoted at a mass level and could have earned big bucks.
But he never wanted to create false expectations for its customers.
Even the promotions of talaash were of low profile because it was mainly for niche audience.

Now look at some of the past events which prove that companies actually make false claims through advertisment.
1.Athletic shoe company Reebok paid $25 million US in September 2011 to settle charges by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over claims that “toning shoes could strengthen muscles in the legs, thighs and buttocks. Ads featured women in shorts with shapely bottoms and even claimed the shoes would “make your boobs jealous .
2.The maker of Nutella, the hazel nut and chocolate spread, settled a class action lawsuit for $2.5 million US in April 2012 over its claims the treat was a healthy food. The lawsuit contended Nutella contained dangerous levels of saturated fat and was more than 55 per cent processed sugar.
3.Yogurt maker Dannon paid $56 million US in December 2010 to settle charges from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and class action lawsuits over claims that the probiotic bacteria in its yogurt could aid regularity and prevent colds or flu..
4.Even you find many universities which claim 100% palcements and education..which in actual is not the scenario.
5. Even there were claims that fast food and snack companies like Mcdonalds and KFC and Lay's contain higher level of fats and cholestrol...more than they claim on the packing of their products.

Ethics is a  quality every marketeer should imbibe i.e. not to create false expectations for its customers. All those claims you make about a product should be genuine.Customer is not dumb these days and the kind of revolution which takes place everyday on social networking sites against such unethical behavior could in the long run damage the reputation and growth of a company.
In short, Yooooooo.
REFERENCES: http://www.businessinsider.com/false-advertising-scandals-2011-9?op=1
 

HOW BRAND IMAGE AFFECTS FUTURE PROSPECTS OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Brand Image is not something related to just products or services. It has a huge impact on the future prospects of political parties and as such politicians too. If the branding strategy as such goes wrong, the parties do suffer in terms of less votes and loss in elections.

If you compare BJP and congress, one thing which is favor of congress is its image of that of a secular party and a party of masses. It cemented its image as a party of masses through its Aam Aadmi Campaign. BJP on the other hand is known as a party of Hindu's and mainly a party of the urbans and the middle class. 

Its strict stance on hinduism and the 1993 Babri Masjid Case and 2002 Gujarat Riots and the 2008 riots case against christians has cemented its position as a party which is anti-muslim and anti- christian. Muslims and christians shy away from voting for the party and are more inclined towards Congress.

Secondly, BJP'S blatant internal fighting and inability to project a strong leader for 2014 Lok Sabah elections has shown it as a party which is confused and leaderless. People have very less faith on the party and on its leaders. 

As such, these factors have created a negative image in the minds of people because of its it chances look bleak in the coming 2014 elections. So, negative brand image has its affects on political parties.

Other example is 2008 US elections. Obama won not only because of his strong campaign, but because the Republicans image declined cause of the recession and failure in Afghanistan. People saw a better alternative and his charisma helped him to votes then.

So, politicians should understand the image which they project in the minds of people will help them win votes in the long run. Public never inquires about the ground reality of any part, what they see in the media they react according to that only.

TIPS ON HOW TO SELL EFFECTIVELY FOR BEGINNERS

Through this article, I would like to share my personal experience on how to sell effectively to customers. At the time of selling, it is very important to win the customer’s heart.\

Last week I went to GIP to and visited a few gadget showrooms. I was checking the features of some of the latest smart phones and then, a very sweet girl appeared to demonstrate features of the phones they had in the showrooms. Although, u enjoy talking to girls in showrooms but that experience really taught me how to be a good sales person.

 

Some of those experiences I would like to share with you guys:

1.       Never Judge a Customer By His/her Appearance:  Good sales person never judge a customer by their appearance. You never know behind those awkward clothes is a rich dude who can be your potential customer.

2.       Give Each and Every Customer Equal Importance: Every customer should be given equal importance irrespective of his appearance, income level, personality, or religion.

3.       Be Enthusiastic at the Time OF Giving Demo’s: Just ask yourself a question that would you like to visit a showroom where sales executives are very disinterested in giving demos. Enthusiastic sales executives will always attract customers.

4.       Just Tell How The Product Is Beneficial For the Customer: Just focus on telling how the product will be beneficial to the customer. Purchase of the product depends on the customer.

5.       Offer Products According To The Needs Of the Customer: Imagine a guy has a budget for Tata Nano but is offered Tata JLR. Will the customer be amused?

6.       Never Show The Greed That You Want The Customer To Purchase Your Product:  Like I said in article No.4, just focus on telling how the product is beneficial for the customers.

7.       Be Polite, Sweet and Courteous to your Customers.

8.       YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SERVICE MARKETING 7P'S

We all have studied the 4P’s of marketing really well- product, price, place and promotion. But this portion of marketing mix just caters to products, not services. Service Marketing Mix has 7 P’s and the reasons for having these P’s are truly justified. The other 3p’s are:

1.       People: Employees of any company engaged in the service sector are an integral part of its marketing process. Example: if you go to a restaurant, the staff is very courteous and polite with you. You will enjoy the food more. On the order hand, if you go to a restaurant and the staff is rude and disinterested, you won’t enjoy the food much. So the employees play a key role in attracting customers to their place of work. In a software company, it’s the software engineers who play a key role buy making robust software’s for their clients.

2.       Physical Evidence: Services are intangible products. You cannot feel them. But there are certain physical things which can increase your joy of having your service.  Imagine you go to a restaurant and you find their good ambience, lighting and music. Your joy having food will increase substantially.  Hotels with good ambience are more attractable. People with adequate money prefer private hospitals than Government one for their clean washrooms, plush rooms and beautiful gardens.

3.

Process:

CUSTOMER ORDER’S FOOD

                                                                                                         BILLING IS DONE 

FOOD DELIERED QUICKLY

 

                    CUSTOMER SATISFIED

                                                                                                                                                           

Process here means to deliver your product with quickly with quality. Imagine you go to Mc Donald’s and they delay their delivery. You really won’t like it. You go to a hospital and the doctor delays in attending you. You may not prefer that hospital again. So you have to ensure you deliver your product quickly and of good quality. Your efficiency needs to be at its best.

REFERENCES:http://www.marketing91.com/service-marketing-mix/

Thumps Up For Thumps Up

People always criticize when a new marketing strategy is launched. The will give you loads of advise and point out thousands of flaws in your strategy. The same thing happened with Thumps Up during the launch of their recent campaign "Aaaj Kuch Toofaani Karte Hain". The ad depicted the famous Sourthern Superstar Mahesh Babu doing daredevil stunts after having his Thumps Up

Watch the ad here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWXHXPQddlY

People said they are doing the same thing what Mountain Dew does. In mountain dew ad's , u see people doing daredevil stunts after having mountain dew. So Thums Up has lost its exclusivity. At one point of time , even I thought that the strategy may go wrong but Thumps Up has been able to garner a lot of eyeballs and it has again become popular among the youth.

In short, in marketing its not the rules which always work, but your instinct to.  

Now Thumps Up latest strategy to appoint Salman Khan as its brand ambassador is also a correct move. Salman Khan's personality traits like that of being a strong macho guy go well with Thumps Up traits too. Mahesh Babu will do the needful in south and for north , they have Salman Khan. Coke should advertise Thumps Up more like the way it does it's parent brand. Positioning can be different as coke is always been promoted as a family drink and thumps up can be promoted among youth esp. boys who love adventure and thrill in their life.This way Thumps Up will not be able to eat Coke's market share as both products positioning would be different.

 So, its Thumps Up for Thumps Up.

OSBORNE EFFECT IN MARKETING

Obsorne effect is a negative outcome for a company in which a company prematurely releases the information of its future products which in return impacts the sales of their current products.People in return of better products in future stop purchasing current products of their company.
The term was coined in 1980's when a company named Obsorne Computers Corporation after releasing a successful portable computer announced prematurely the release of its future products. Customers in anticipation didn't purchase the current products , The sales of the current line-up dried up and the company had to suffer huge losses.
RECENT EXAMPLES:

Recently Microsoft announced that all current Nokia Lumia devices like Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 will not be uppgradable to Windows Operating System. The new apps developed by microsoft will also be not compatible with the current lumia devices. The customers may not purchase current lumia products as they may wait for the future Nokia Lumia devices as they will support Windows 8 operating system.

Companies should be clever and a bit tactful while announcing new products. They have to ensure that they get the maximum returns from the existing products. One should follow Apple's policy. They are so secretive while launching new products.With the hype they create with new products, they can easily kill the sales of their existing products. They slowly withdraw the inventories from the stores and display immediately a new product after its launch..Who would like to stuck up with unsold inventory and stocks.
One should be wise in announcing the launch of new products in the market. These small strategies are what which make a company success story or a failure.
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
REFERENCES:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/Osborne_Effect.html
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/07/07/nokia-rim-and-the-osborne-effect-oh-apples-here-to.aspx