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Narula explains that while this segment of the community was most impacted, when they were locked home was also the time to upskill, bringing advantage to Panasonic Life Solutions as well.
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Panasonic Life Solutions India banked on digital and the opening up of tier 2 and tier 3 markets to bring back some of the numbers that it had lost in the Covid-led economic downturn of 2020. The brand went digital first in most aspects, and the marketing team, steered by Sunil Narula, the vice president of marketing at the company, became busy in channelising its resources through digital and social media platforms. Another area that the brand took active interest in was the connected com- munity of electricians, channel partners and the likes, and assisting them in a tough period.
“Every function in a company strives to ultimately achieve business objective. If that can be achieved by associating with a relevant cause, it is the logical thing to do,” notes Narula, reflecting on the marketing thought process in the year gone.
Extended Community
“The idea of existence is in brand purpose. Much has changed in the last year in the way we work as marketers and engage with consumers. In the last year, we have become very responsible. Our business involves many influencers such as electricians, plumbers who were impacted severely in the Covid year. Rather than spending money on advertising, we spent much time in building the ecosystem. We have spent time in training and upskilling these people.”
Narula explains that while this segment of the community was most impacted, when they were locked home was also the time to upskill, bringing advantage to Panasonic Life Solutions as well. “We gained on metrics like brand affinity due to this,” he adds.
As the market began showing signs of opening up, Panasonic Life Solu- tions also benefitted from the upward trend. “The demand was very buoyant in the rural part of the company. Tier 2 and lower markets recovered much faster, and that drove growth for us,” Narula states.
Digital First
As revival was seen in construction activities and consumer spending, the company’s product categories such as fans, lighting and water heaters also saw an increase in consumer demand. Some of this was from pent up demand of the year, and some was triggered by some amount of normalcy coming back.
Much of this demand how- ever was coming the online play that Panasonic Life Solutions had invested in during the year.
“We moved to a digital- first approach. This was to not only make products available to consumers as soon as possible, but also create a parallel system to the traditional distribution system,” Narula informs.
To go contactless, the company listed 90 per cent of its fast- moving and higher selling items on ecommerce platforms. Digital remained dominant in Panasonic Life Solutions’ strategy in the year. In addition to the digital push, Panasonic Life Solutions also directed marketing spends to increase its retail visibility.
For this multitude of approach in its marketing, Panasonic Life Solutions made it among the BW Top 50 Marketers 2021. Speaking on this, Narula says, “I am especially grateful for this recognition, coming on the back of a tough year.”