Q] What are the insights behind your latest campaign, BeChoosy?
There are basically three broad insights behind this campaign. Firstly, marriage is a decision which you take today, but it impacts the next 35 to 40 years of your life, hence it’s very important to explore options and consider the pros and cons before taking a decision. Secondly, when it comes to marriage, our society is heavily stacked against girls. If a girl has a certain criteria in mind, she is considered picky or snobbish. But if a boy has some criteria, he is considered to be mature. Today, girls are educated, and they are making choices while taking up a career, pursuing a hobby, making friends etc. But during weddings, we all go back to what the society was 40 years ago. Thirdly, when girls reach a certain age they come under a lot of societal pressure. They are not even given enough time to understand the would-be partner. After two to three meetings, they have to get engaged. We believe that just like boys, girls should also have equal opportunity when it comes to marriages, hence ‘Be Choosy.’
Q] As a matrimonial site, you should push for marriages. But some of your campaigns, such as the last one – Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi – appear to be against your purpose. Can you please elaborate?
If you see our campaigns of the past several years, you will notice that we have always stood for happy marriages. Our philosophy is to build a better Bharat. If you have good citizens, then it leads to a better country. Good citizens come from good parenting and good parenting happens in a home that has a happy couple or a happy marriage.
As for the social initiative – Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi, we found out that in Rajasthan, especially in the belt of Jaisalmer, the girls are still married off at a very young age. If a young girl is married off against her wishes, she will not be happy and hence, her marriage will not be happy. Happy marriages can only happen when the individuals are ready to enter into matrimony. For that the girls have to be educated to take the right decisions. Hence, this whole idea of supporting girl child education with scholarships and grants came in, and that campaign took shape.
Q] BharatMatrimony has been around for over two decades now. Over the years, what kind of changes have you noticed in people’s attitude towards getting married?
Twenty years back, the process of decision making used to be kind of parent-oriented. But now that is more in the hands of children or individuals who want to get married. Of course, parents are getting involved even today, as match-making is a family decision. But the individuals are now playing a far bigger role than before.
Also, earlier there used to be a lot of skepticism when it came to finding partners through online services. However, over the past few years, we have seen penetration of Digital platforms in all walks of life. So the acceptance of such platforms is much better now.
Q] Who do you look at as competitor? What is your current market share?
We are the only public listed organization in the matchmaking space in India and our current market share is 60%. BharatMatrimony is strong across the country and we don’t really have any pan-India competitor. We do have competitors in regions. For example, in North India, there is a set of competitors who might not have any significant presence in South India and vice versa. Likewise, in South India, there might be some competitors, who have no presence in the eastern and western part of the country.
Q] What does your marketing mix look like?
Unlike other services, where you might be a life-time customer, a matrimonial site is a stage-of-life service. People of marriageable age come to the platform and they delete the service after getting married. We have observed that a typical customer stays on our platform anywhere between three to nine months. Also, while 70% of our sign-ups are done by individuals who actually come to the platforms, 25-30% are still done by their parents. So, in a market like this, Television is one of effective ways to reach out to people. So we spend 60-65% of our marketing dollars on Television and remaining 35-40% on Digital.
Q] What was your growth rate in the last financial year?
We’ve grown year on year over 13% in our top line. In the current years also we expect a double digit growth.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Matrimony.com is a consumer internet conglomerate, managing marquee brands such as BharatMatrimony, CommunityMatrimony and EliteMatrimony.
FACTS
Hindi / Non-south - #BeChoosy TVC
Agency – Wondrlab – Amit, Tanuj and team
Director - Joyeeta Patpatia
Production House – Blot Picture Company
South - #BeChoosy TVC
Agency – Wondrlab – Amit, Tanuj and team
Director – Roshni Chandran
Production House – Primary Colours Films
PR agency: Perfect Relations
PROFILE
Arjun Bhatia is Chief Marketing Officer at Matrimony.com. He has 18 years of experience across e-Commerce, Smartphones, Consumer Electronics, FMCG and Technology industries. His academic credentials include an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies Delhi and an engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering. He earlier worked with Samsung India Electronics, IBM, Motorola and ITC Limited.
