Q] What are the insights behind your latest campaign #HealthyMomsforHealt hyHomes?
As far as our marketing strategy is concerned, we do a lot of product-led campaigns throughout the year. Lately, we have also identified certain topical events, and are leveraging that to define the purpose of our brand. Mother’s Day is one such topical event that we have picked up. The campaign is primarily based on the well-being, and healthy sleep of mothers. Sleep deprivation is very common among mothers, especially in the new ones, and we truly believe that wellness begins at home. The technology that we offer in our products, focuses on the comfort and convenience of the users. So, we are trying to reflect that in our campaigns too.
Q] What kind of sale has your AC segment experienced this summer?
As far as AC is concerned, in April we had recorded a growth of over 80% as compared to the April of 2021. If you compare it with the April of 2019 (which was pre-Covid era), we recorded a growth of 60%. In March this year, we recorded a growth of nearly 142% as compared to the March of 2019. We attribute this growth to the pent-up demand, and an early onset of summer season this year. We targeted an overall 30% to 35% growth this summer vis-à-vis FY 2019.
Q] What kind of ACs are people preferring this year?
We have seen a huge demand for inverter ACs. Consumers are looking at high-end air conditioners, which are smart and can help them multitask. This is applicable across all categories. If I talk about refrigerators, the demand for 550 litres and above has gone up. As for televisions, 50 inches is the new 40 inches these days. Likewise, the demand for fully automatic washing machines has gone up. People are spending more time at home, and are looking at convenient appliances that help with multitasking, and can keep them connected remotely, no matter where they are. So, the demand for high-end products is going up across all the categories.
Q] Can you please elaborate on the smart and multi-tasking appliances?
Let’s take air conditioner as an example. In this category, cooling is now taken for granted by consumers. They say, ‘tell me, what else you are offering.’ So, we are saying that while Panasonic ACs are good for cooling, there are also a host of other features, which makes it a complete device for consumers. Our ACs come with a patented technology called Nanoe, which actually works on eliminating bacteria and viruses.
In our smart ACs, we also have our IoT app MirAIe, which gives you complete control over your air conditioner remotely. It has built-in artificial intelligence, and thus the machine can take calls on its own, based on your usage pattern. For example, when we go to bed at night, we keep our air conditioner at the lowest temperature, and we have to keep changing it manually from time to time. Through artificial intelligence, the smart ACs understand the usage patterns of consumers over a period of time, and then start adjusting the temperature on its own.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Panasonic Group is a global leader in developing innovative technologies and solutions for a wide-range of applications in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industry, communications, and energy sectors.
FACTS
Media agency- WATConsult
Digital agency- WATConsult
PR agency- MSL
PROFILE
Shirish Agarwal is the Head, Marketing Communications and Brand at Panasonic India, overlooking operations across the country. He is responsible for devising marketing strategy for new and existing products/services and driving sustainable and profitable growth for the company.
Q] When it comes to communication and promotion, what are the innovative ways that you have adopted to convey messages to the new-age consumers?
Smartness lies in understanding consumer needs and pushing relevant communication. So we try to understand which stage of the purchase cycle a consumer is in, and then deliver messages based on it. Such experiments cannot be done on television. But when it comes to Digital, we utilize that platform very smartly. If a consumer is in the second stage, which we call the research stage, we ensure that we have relevant review content on YouTube, and other platforms. Such content talks about our key buying factors, and also highlights our proposition. Likewise, we ensure that all platforms are equipped with relevant offers, schemes for the consumers who are in the final stage of the cycle.
Q] What percentage of your sales is coming from e-commerce?
Different categories contribute differently from ecommerce. The air conditioner is witnessing 15% contribution from e-commerce platforms. When you look at home appliance products such as washing machine, refrigerator, microwave, etc., we are seeing around 11% contribution from e-commerce overall.
Q] What are your media spends like at this point?
We spend around 45-50% of our marketing budget on Television and 30-45% on Digital. The remaining budget we spend on Radio, Print, and Out Of Home.
