To gain insights into Maruti Suzuki's marketing strategy and its advertising spends during the next fiscal, e4m turns to Shashank Srivastava, the man at the helm of marketing and sales of India’s largest carmaker.  

In a comprehensive interview, Srivastava, highlights significant shifts in consumer behaviour over the past year, emphasizing the surge in SUV preference and the demand for advanced features even in entry-level cars, coupled with a preference for localized content in marketing. 

Addressing the impact of Google's phasing out of cookies, Srivastava underscores that the marketing spends will increase due to the heightened reliance on first-party data and reduced efficiencies.

In the upcoming fiscal, India's largest carmaker plans to invest more in advertising and promotional activities- in the range of Rs 1,200 to 1,400 Cr, compared to the current fiscal spend which is to the tune of Rs 1,200 Cr, Srivastava tells e4m.

Excerpts: 

Have you observed any peculiar change in consumer behaviour over the past year? If yes, how do you pivot your marketing to suit that change?

A. We have seen many changes in consumer behaviour. Firstly, the shift towards SUVs has become phenomenal and now its share has reached 50 percent. Secondly, consumers prefer the latest features even in entry-segment cars. Thirdly, there is the vocal for local preference, which means the consumers prefer content and communication in their own languages. 

We have been working on all three. As you know, we have been aggressively launching the latest SUVs and refreshing our entire portfolio including entry cars like Alto K10, Espresso and Celerio. We are leveraging regional platforms as well as creating fantastic content in regional languages.  

Google has started phasing out cookies from January onwards and has plans to completely abolish them by the year-end. How has this impacted your marketing strategy and budget? 

A. Google’s move to phase out third-party cookies will potentially have a significant impact on the marketing strategy and budgets of advertisers:

The first and most important implication is that advertisers’ reliance on first-party data will go up significantly. Currently, they are using Google’s tools to track and target users across websites. 

Without third-party cookies, advertisers’ ability to build detailed audience profiles and deliver highly targeted ads will go down. This must be countered by the use of first-party data. At MSIL, we have been working on our own Customer Data Platform (CDP) for the last many years and have already been using the same effectively in our campaigns.

The other implication is the rise of contextual ad targeting: In this case, we must work on tools and technologies to identify highly relevant content and placements for our target audience such that our ads can be contextually placed. 

There are many other implications as this is an evolving situation like adjustment of measurement strategies and frameworks, building of partnerships with publishers and data providers and being prepared to adapt to emerging tracking solutions and technologies.

Overall, this has the potential to increase ad spends as there will be reduced efficiency for some advertisers. 

What would be Maruti Suzuki's marketing and advertising budget for the financial year starting April? 

A. Overall marketing and advertising spends in the coming fiscal would be in the range of Rs 1,200-1,400 Cr. 

What would be your media mix going forward? 

A: Our current media mix is tailored to our TG. We use multiple media platforms like TV, OTT, Digital, Print, OOH, Cinema and Radio in good proportions. Overall, TV leads with around 40% share followed by Digital around 30% (both Web & OTT) and Print around 15-20% and other mediums (10-15%) contributing the remaining. This will change in FY 25 depending on the changing media dynamics and our consumers’ changing preferences.

Which digital platform is currently offering the best ROI?

A: Both Google and Meta platforms are highly efficient in building reach as well as engagement with the target audiences. One must be mindful of the kind of products and placements in which one invests to get the best ROI. Products like instream videos on Meta are best for increasing viewability and view through rates (VTRs) and likewise non-skip mid-roll videos for YouTube are best for increasing brand exposures. We use both extensively.   

Of late, Maruti Suzuki has been investing in new platforms and properties to capture the attention of GenZ. How have those initiatives helped you so far?

A: Oh yes. Younger audiences are very different in their choices of content. That’s why it’s important to engage with them. Newer on-ground properties like Lollapalooza Music Festival, VH1 Supersonic and Lakme Fashion Week resonate with young audiences. Likewise shows like Family Man, Night Manager, Special Ops etc on OTT platforms are hit with younger audiences. 

We have been able to see this trend early and have partnered with these properties and have seen a phenomenal rub-off of our brand imagery. Early results are highly encouraging.    

How do you plan to leverage AI in marketing and communications?