‘We have a multi-pronged strategy to reach more consumers across urban & rural markets’

Nilesh Malani, President & CMO, Polycab India Ltd, talks about the brand completing 25 years in business, shares insights around adopting a fresh marketing approach, and more

by Ritika Raj
Published - December 30, 2022
6 minutes To Read
‘We have a multi-pronged strategy to reach more consumers across urban & rural markets’

2022 was a special year for Polycab as the brand completed 25 years of business. The year was quite a fruitful one, with the brand launching new products, adopting a newer marketing approach and much more.

Having completed 25 years in business, how is Polycab pivoting in terms of a fresh product and marketing approach?

Our journey started in 1964 from a modest set-up in form of a small electrical store. When we look at our approach towards building a sustainable competitive advantage for the future - it will be a strong value proposition on the back of pioneering product innovation, complemented by a customised experiential marketing-driven end-user experience. Furthermore, to invoke a higher sense of end-user pull towards this unique offering, we have rolled out TV commercials to convey value proposition-based benefits to consumers through compelling and emotionally engaging short stories. Our Home Automation Solution – HOHM competence provides users with a customised experience of these products using a mobile app or voice control. 

We have multiple initiatives and measures through which we engage with the crucial electrician community. Such initiatives include conducting awareness-generating programmes that impart learnings on the importance of selecting high-quality electrical solutions to ensure their safety. We are looking forward to a newer approach for our new product launches which will help us reach more consumers. 

Polycab recently launched back-to-back campaigns for green wires and LED lights, what was the main insight behind these campaigns? What major challenges did you face in the execution of these campaigns?

Polycab’s main focus behind launching these campaigns was enhancing our presence in the consumer segment. While the product category of wire is difficult to portray considering its conventional legacy, for the recent Polycab Green Wire campaign, we took the emotional route to address the problem that every parent faces – to ensure that their children’s dreams are safe. This was the very first campaign with Ogilvy India and our idea to distantly position ourselves in consumers’ minds was achieved.

Similarly, the Polycab 3-in-1 LED campaign is based on a simple truth - when people are in a good mood their perspective on things changes. The major turning point, in the three campaigns, is that we have tried to move away from being rational to bringing a human touch in our campaigns that helped our customers understand our product well. 

What kind of response have you got for these campaigns?

Our two major campaigns of the year did well with our target audience. The likability of the extra-safe Polycab green wire advertisement stood at 4.7 out of 5 which is a fantastic score. Moreover, the category connect was more than 90 per cent. The story of the film was very impactful for the target audience as the product integration was done in a subtle way.

What were the synergies behind signing up to be sponsors for the T20 World Cup? How did that pan out for you?

Our target audience includes decision-makers aged 25-50 years and the World Cup was the best place where we could reach them. The World Cup campaign has been very successful with excellent TV ratings. The gross rating point deliveries that were promised were higher than 15-20%. The reach was close to 35-40 million people in India.

Our timing was bang on and our campaign continued with the post-World Cup GEC plan. This helped us to be present on the news and other GEC, regional channels even after the cricket tournament. The campaign will be live until December and will help us keep the momentum in the next quarter as well.

When it comes to marketing strategy, is Polycab embracing a more experimental strategy? If yes, what is the insight here?

We are executing a resolve to take brand Polycab to newer heights. I believe strategies aren’t experimental, they are a firm way of doing things and how we intend to take our entire brand-building and marketing forward.  Our strategies have always been solid and planned as per our intent to take the entire brand-building forward. We aim to build Polycab as a more consumer-friendly brand by making it modern and contemporary. Our main focus revolves around three things – to be relevant, entertaining/engaging, and knowledgeable. We have understood in the few years that consumers engage with the brand only when it exhibits these qualities.

What is your current distribution strength and do you look at increasing it going ahead?

Currently, we have more than two lakh retailers as our valuable partners, and it is our constant endeavour to enhance our reach by expanding this network. We have a multi-pronged strategy to reach more consumers across urban and rural markets and add value to their lives. With a robust blueprint, we plan to rise rapidly and adapt to new organisational processes that affirm holistic growth across segments.

Is there anything in the pipeline that you would like to share with us; a new campaign or product launch?

Keeping the environment and best manufacturing practices in mind, Polycab will come out with products that are greener. The company currently has a sizeable number of research and development professionals, focusing on widening its product range. We are in talks to sharpen our focus on the FMEG space by expanding our B2C product range. We constantly look at our communications and try to find ways to continue to evolve according to the latest trends and consumer psychology.

While adopting a newer marketing strategy how has your media mix evolved?

We have aligned the company strategy with the changing times and the current transformation of digital platforms. We are conscious of the latest trends and media consumption of our consumers. However, the traditional media - television or newspaper, still has a larger chunk of our target audience.

We are also looking to expand and build our presence on evolving channels like social media, and OTT platforms where we can get more customised and personalised with our campaigns. We have been working on it and have been allocating a reasonable amount of funds to these channels.

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