I am a hard core marketing person. In marketing, the work that I enjoy the most is thinking of and implementing attention grabbing, unusual, surprising marketing ideas that are sticky or at least get a double take from the TG ; ideas that help start a conversation with the TG.
So now, along with being CMO for Citrus Bathrooms, I am thinking why not Ideate (or conceptualize) in general for any product/ service/ category/event because as Rene Descartes says, “I think.Therefore I am”. Starting off the Ideation sessions with a brand I am recently interacting with a lot as a consumer: Amazon India.
As a recent online shopper, I came online with perceptions based on TV and print ads seen previously. Hence, I believed Myntra-Flipkart and Jabong were mainly for fashion, Amazon for books, kindle, etc and Snapdeal for discounted local/unbranded products.
When I went to Amazon for Kindle, I stumbled upon the Clothing section. I was pleasantly surprised to see this category there. Had I known earlier, I would have actively gone to Amazon for it, instead of coming across it by chance.
That got me thinking, what could Amazon have done to draw my attention in an unmissable manner towards the fact that they are now in the fashion game? As per Livemint article dated 6th November 2014,
“Till now, Amazon’s advertisements have largely focused on increasing awareness about the platform and promoting its fast and reliable delivery services. Now, Amazon India, which began selling apparel six months ago, is preparing its next marketing campaign exclusively around fashion”.
With this as the context, if I were marketing @ Amazon…
The TG would be:
1. College Kids, with a skew towards girls- they are early adopters of online shopping and strongly aspiring fashionistas
2. New moms or moms with small children– are a rapidly growing breed of time starved online shoppers
3. Office goers– would greatly appreciate a 24 x 7 fashion shopping destination.
My marketing objectives/ USP would be:
1. To impress upon the TG that Amazon is also into fashion
2. To highlight Amazon brand USP of customer service- mainly the fact that if the customer wants to talk/complain/enquire- they dont have to call Amazon, wait endlessly as the IVR drones on- Amazon calls them (instantly). [As an Amazon customer, this is the feature that made me a big fan of the brand since it is the only one offering this in India right now]
Fashion as a category is highly crowded online but when the exclusive/unique value of Amazon calling the customer everytime they want to talk is added to the equation, it can turn the tide.
Sticky marketing ideas:
1. Giant or life size closet
Amazon has newly launched women’s clothing section. So tell people about it by creating a giant closet on wheels stuffed with women’s clothes and accessories. Throw open the doors of the closet. Place it on an open float and take it around town, especially around high footfall places like colleges/ office areas.
2. Portable Clothes Racks
If closet is working out expensive, even cardboard closet, then use portable clothes racks- one for western wear, one for Indianwear, etc (with bold headers at the top) and push these around the above mentioned high footfall places. This guerrilla marketing tactic is guaranteed to make heads turn.
Now, how do you like these ideas? Do you think they are doable? Do you think they would atleast prompt a question like “What is this? When did Amazon start this?” Would love to discuss and debate.
Couple of more ideas for Amazon India in the next post…….