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Promotion Mix Strategies Of Mahindra Scorpio

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Marketing
Wordcount: 1027 words Published: 9th May 2017

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Mahindra & Mahindra’s Scorpio was started in 1997 with a vision to continue to dominate the Utility Vehicle (UV) market in India. Their aim was to make M&M known world-wide for their quality, durability and reliability of its products and services. M&M’s business was largely from semi-urban and rural markets of India. Even though M&M had a wider variety of products, it was lacking the products that can cater the modern urban customer needs. The market of M&M was strong but stagnating. These reasons led to thought of Sports Utility Vehicle catering the urban customers and targeted the ‘C’ class cars segment (Rs. 5 Lakhs and above). The SUV was positioned as a ‘better looking SUV’ with a ‘Car Plus’ approach. But due to change in market scenario, competition and consumer preferences the company has started shifting its focus from ‘C’ segment to ‘D’ segment to become a luxury car. Scorpio is a product for those who seek latest technology at affordable prices and for those who feel that big size stands for status. The Scorpio project was very important for M&M. It was banking on Scorpio to help it shed its image as a manufacturer of vehicles for rural use and to break into the urban market. It targeted individual car buyers in the top-end small car segment and mid-size car segment, who already owned cars and were ready to invest in another vehicle.

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Mahindra & Mahindra used an aggressive promotional strategy to promote the SUV. As it targeted the urban audience, television advertisement was a must. It promoted the Scorpio to a large scale through TV advertisements. As the product development took off, a phased communication strategy was plotted for the brand. During the first phase, the need to deal with issues such as lifestyle imagery was identified by the Mumbai-based advertising agency Interface Communications.

As a result, the television commercials depicted the product and even as the print advertisements focused on functional benefits. So one got to see copies like `Car you walk into, and not crawl into’ across newspapers. In phase two, the television campaign was not changed but print creative were centred on communicating new product developments. The third phase of communication was released in July 2004 when the automotive giant focused on the `car plus’ statement. What followed was a series of advertisements focusing on people and lifestyle rather than the product. All Scorpio advertisements show the vehicle in urban settings driven many times by women conveying the message of “ease of driving”. Unlike competitors’ advertising strategy, no imagery of off-road settings and `wilderness’ or `break-free’ connotations were depicted. Other international majors are battle scarred in other markets. All of them have capabilities to compete with the best anywhere. But what Scorpio did was to alert all of them that nothing but the best will do in the Indian market too. So it is very interesting that the tag line of Scorpio TV ads says `nothing else will do’.

Moreover the company has also taken social initiatives through CSR, working towards upliftment of education, health and disaster relief, art and culture, environmental initiatives, sports, etc. This also is a promotional strategy by the company to attract more and more customers for its product.

3. Use of Push or Pull Strategy

M&M initially used pull strategy through aggressive advertising through television media as pull strategy of promotion involves the active engagement of the target market through methods like advertisements or email marketing. The company also went for making a specific web site named “mahindrascorpio.com” to promote the product to a huge level. Moreover the car was also involved at the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil, which is considered to be one of the world’s toughest rallies, so as to bring the product into eyes of those who love cars and want thrill in them, as Scorpio is a car with thrills.

Further M&M also promoted Scorpio through public relations; direct marketing through CRM activities like satisfaction surveys, events, festive offers and rewards programs. All these activities were the part of push strategy by the company. But as the time, customer preferences and competition are increasing the company is now moving to become the global niche player.

4. Critical appraisal of company’s promotion

With such a superlative advertising and promotion, M&M Scorpio was able to position itself as a wonderful product with smart pricing and excellent services. To those young people who like thrill, Scorpio is for car lovers, just like Harley Davidson is for bike lovers. The company had been able to show the product in the same manner through its promotion strategies. The company had been able to justify its promotional activities completely with online promotion through its web site. The basics of all communication are there on the site. It is appealing with a simple design and well written copy. The powerful yet stylish looks and the sheer pride of possession that this brand offers are truly conveyed through its promotional tools. The result of the company’s promotional strategies could be seen through the customer reaction. Scorpio has won many awards in customer satisfaction and as the best SUV. It is among those brands which has got a huge brand recall. Recently the company is using Gaming as one of the promotional strategy whereby the internet users can play game on the web site of M&M Scorpio. And it brings timely changes in its television ads as and when required and it had been able show the product very clearly and specifically through its television ads. Moreover the focus on the target market is also very clear through the promotional activities of the company. So we can conclude that the product delivers a promise and its promotion has been able to create a distinct image in the consumers’ mind.

 

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