Measuring Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies Brand Awareness

Prof. Rekha Attri1, Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude2 and Dr. Manvinder Singh Pahwa3

Abstract For a brand to have value, it must be valued by the customer.Brand Equity is measured by understanding the customer brand knowledge in terms of the position that the brand occupies in the customers mind, the level of brand association, brand awareness and brand loyalty. India's oil market has so far been dominated by Public Sector Oil marketing Companies especially in the marketing of petroleum products. One particular customer behavior that has intrigued the marketers and researchers for long has been the indifference exhibited by fuel consumers while making choice amongst these three brands to refuel their vehicles. This research aims to study the level of brand awareness of the line and brand extensions for public sector oil marketing companies and the customer awareness for marketing communications and loyalty programmes of these companies. The results point towards the need to work on integrated marketing communication strategies to increase brand awareness. Key Words: Brand Awareness, Brand Equity, PSU (Public Sector Units), OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies), HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.), BPCL ( Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.), IOCL (Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.)

1. 2. 3.

Asst. Professor, Core Business School, Indore, rekha.attri@gmail.com Vice President, Academics and Professor, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, dr.ashish.urkude@gmail.com Associate Professor and Head, Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun, mspahwacs@gmail.com

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1982967

Introduction A successful brand is an identifiable product, service, person or place, augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant, unique added values which match their needs most closely (Christodoulides & Chernatony, 2010). A brand signals to the customer the source of the product, and protects both the customer and the producer from competitors who would attempt to provide products that appear to be identical (Aaker, 1991). Advocates of brand equity contend that for a brand to have value, it must be valued by the customer. If the brand has no meaning to the customer, none of the other definitions of brand is meaningful (Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Keller, 2000). The oil industry influences almost all aspects of business, economics and geopolitics throughout the world. India's oil market has so far been dominated by state firms such as the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), especially in the marketing of petroleum products. These represent pretty strong brands amongst themselves, but one particular customer behavior that has intrigued the marketers and researchers for long has been the indifference exhibited by fuel consumers while making choice amongst these three brands to refuel their vehicles. With the rise in the disposable income of the Indian consumers and the ever increasing population of vehicles in the country there is going to be a huge increase in the demand for Auto fuels (SIAM-Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers, 2010). Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell report on consumption of petroleum shows a 13.86% increase in consumption of petroleum in 2009-2010 as compared to previous year. Table 1: Consumption of petroleum in India Consumption of Petroleum (in '000 tonne) Year Consumption YOY increase in consumption YOY Increase %age 2005-06 8 647 2006-07 9 286 639 7.38% 2007-08 10 332 1 046 11.26% 2008-09 11 257 925 8.95% 2009-10 12 818 1 561 13.86%

Source: Petroleum planning and analysis cell, 2010 The Asian Development Bank report on Efficiency and Climate change considerations for on road transport in Asia has forecasted the vehicle population and fuel consumption in India to exhibit a fast growth.

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1982967

Table 2: Forecast of vehicle population in India Forecast of Vehicle Population in India Vehicle Type 2-W 3-W HCV LCV Car Grand Total 2005 35.8 2.3 2.4 2.4 6.2 49.1 2008 46.1 3 2.9 3.2 8.8 63.9 2015 87.7 5.3 4.6 5.7 18 121.3 2025 174.1 8.8 9.1 12.5 41.6 246.1

Source: Asian development bank report, 2008 (2-W= 2 wheelers; 3-W= 3 wheelers; HCV=Heavy commercial vehicles; LCV= Light Commercial Vehicles) Table 3: Forecast of fuel consumption in India Forecast of Fuel Consumption in India Year Million Tons of Oil Equivalent (mtoe) 2005 58 2008 73 2015 115 2025 221

Source: Asian development bank report, 2008 Thus with the increase in the vehicular concentration there is going to be an increase in the demand for auto fuel and there lies a huge opportunity before the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to work on their brand equity so that they can compete with the private players as well as with their Public Sector Unit (PSU) counterparts. In the oil marketing business, product differentiation is very hard to sustain. Despite the fact that companies have introduced different octane fuels, the apparent lack of switching costs creates a challenge for marketers, as consumer has no reason to stay with one particular brand. Since all brand decisions rely on in-depth understanding of customer to create a point of differentiation for sustainability over time, this research was carried out aiming to study the awareness level of the customer for the public sector oil marketing companies and their various initiatives in terms of line extensions, brand extensions and marketing communication activities in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India. The results from this study would provide market insight to the OMCs regarding their current awareness level amongst the customers.

Brand Building Initiatives of PSU OMCs in India Various initiatives were taken up by the OMCs to create differentiation in the minds of the customer and hence attract a higher share of their wallet. Indian Oil launched Xtrapremium and Xtramile branded fuels and also set up XTRACARE retail outlets for select urban and semi-urban markets. For highway motorists, it launched large format Swagat brand outlets and Kisan Seva Kendra's for the rural markets. The XTRAPOWER Fleet Card program was launched as a smart card-based fleet management solution for fleet operators and corporates for cashless purchase of fuel & lubes. IOCL made its presence felt in 2004 by advertising through banners and contests on the website Indiatimes.com . The Saal Bhar Free Fuel and the Car in A Tank offer on the purchase of branded fuels from Indian Oil outlets were campaigns run for building customer loyalty (www.iocl.com). BPCL launched Speed the branded petrol and Hi Speed diesel , introduced the loyalty card- PetroCard and Smartfleet loyalty card for fleet owners and corporate customers and also initiated the enhanced Fuel

Proposition movement, 'Pure for Sure' to communicate the brand promise to the customers . PETROZINE, was the e-initiative of the company for keeping in touch with their valued customers and it launched Petrodaily (e-magazine) to keep the valued customers updated on the happenings in the Petroleum industry worldwide as well as in India. The company opened non-fuelling utilities such as In & Out convenience stores, ATMs, Cyber Cafes etc. at the retail stations. Another innovative project started by BPCL to win customer loyalty was the concept, Ghar located at major highways across the country, which offered Dhaba services, secure parking spaces, restrooms, an essential items store, emergency assistance and messaging services to the fleet owners. BPCL made its presence felt in 2005 by advertising through banners and contests on the website Indiatimes.com and also executed the promotional campaigns of Bharo Petrol Chalo London to build customer loyalty (www.bpcl.com). HPCLs Branded Fuel Power and Turbojet were introduced along with the normal fuel at the retail outlets. The non-fuel activities at the retail outlets include ATM, take away food counter, C Store, vehicle accessories etc. The sales promotion campaign HP Happy Wheels Offer was designed to build customer connect and loyalty with the customers. The company started Rasoi Ghar project in rural market, whereby the villagers paid for the gas used, and were not required to pay any deposit. HPCL also introduced several loyalty cards, namely CLUB HP Smart1, i-mint card, Drive track card for the benefit of customers and fleet owners. For Club HP outlets mass media campaign was effectively utilized to communicate the brand

promise under the banner Club HP Achcha Lagta Hai. The new Retail Brand "Club HP" assured customers of high - quality personalized "Vehicle and Consumer Care"(www.hpcl.com). Theoretical Background & Review of Literature Brand Strength or Brand Equity is normally measured by understanding the customer brand knowledge in terms of the position that the brand occupies in the customers mind, the level of association with the brand values, the brand awareness and the degree of brand loyalty expressed by the customer (Aaker, 1991). From an empirical point of view, numerous researchers have shown that brand awareness measures are powerful predictors of consumer choice behaviour (Haley and Case 1979; Nedungadi and Hutchinson 1985). Furthermore, from a conceptual or theoretical point of view, brand awareness has been recognized as preceding and necessary to brand evaluation (Howard and Sheth 1969; Holden and Lutz 1992). According to Keller (2002), consumer brand-knowledge can be defined in terms of the personal meaning about a brand stored in consumer memory, that is, all descriptive and evaluative brand-related information. Different sources and levels of knowledge such as awareness, attributes, benefits, images, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and experiences get linked to a brand and its understanding by the consumer. The customer-based brand equity framework, developed by Keller defines customer-based brand equity as the differential effect that consumer knowledge about a brand has on the customer's response to marketing activity. Positive customer-based brand equity results when consumers respond more favourably to a product, price, or communication when the brand is identified than when it is not. Brand awareness is typically measured by recall or recognition (Rossiter and Percy 1987). Researchers point out that recall measured by presenting a product category and asking respondents to recall brands from that category gives an indication of the brand awareness. Researchers also typically take a recognition measure in which they present the brand name and ask respondents whether they know of the brand. David A. Shore, who teaches the graduate course on branding at Harvard University says, "As life gets more complicated and consumers have less time, the ability of a brand to be a predictable experience is important, in that consumers will automatically return to that same brand." Branding is more than just about communications. Shore's brand definition is: "the visual, emotional, and cultural image that surrounds your association or organization and its products and services. It's what makes you want to put Nike on your feet, Disney in your vacation, and Haagen-Dazs in your refrigerator." Today's consumers are inundated with information and communication. People need a way to cut through the clutter. Brands can become trusted shortcuts. Ad creativity can play an important role in making cognitive responses more favourable, thereby increasing message acceptance and persuasion. Creating favourable brand attitudes is often seen as a necessary

precursor for brand preference to exist. In an advertising context, brand attitudes have been shown to be influenced by affective reactions such as perceived entertainment value and/or affect transferred from more favourable ad attitudes (Smith & Yang, 2009). Various studies conducted by various researchers on the effects of advertising creativity in persuasion context and almost all of these studies have revealed that creativity enhances the brand awareness amongst the customers. Table 4: Empirical Studies on the Effects of Advertising Creativity in Persuasion Context Variables investigated Reference Pick, Sweeney, and Clay 1991 Stewart and Furse 2000; Till and Baack 2005; McQuarrie and Mick 1992; Pieters, Warlop, and Wedel 2002 Pick, Sweeney, and Clay 1991 Kover, Goldenberg, and James 1995; Ang and Low 2000; Till and Baack 2005; McQuarrie and Mick 1992; Smith et al. 2007 Goldenberg, Mazursky, and Solomon 1999; Ang and Low 2000; Till and Baack 2005; McQuarrie and Mick 1992; Smith et al. 2007 Major findings Creative ads enhance customers (unaided) recall of ad ideas Creative ads enhance consumers recognition in an incidental learning context. Creativity facilitates ad attitudes (only when the ad has positive feelings).

Recall/memory

Recognition

Ad attitudes/ liking for the ad

Brand Attitudes

Creativity facilitates brand attitudes *Creativity does not enhance Brand Attitudes Ad creativity enhances product evaluation if consumers are sufficiently motivated and the ambiguity does not impede the verification of the ad claims Creativity facilitates purchase intention *Creativity does not enhance purchase intention Advertising that provides for personal enhancement is most effective Creative ads draw more attention to the advertised brand Creative ads induce greater motivation to process the information Creative ads induce information processing deeper

Product Evaluation

Peracchio and Meyers-Levy 1994

Purchase intention

Kover, Goldenberg, and James 1995 Kover, Goldenberg and James, 1995 Pieters, Warlop and Wedel 2002, Till and Baack 2005; Smith et.al. 2007 Smith et al., 2007

Emotional Reaction

Attention

Motivation Depth of Processing *Conflicting results found in the literature

Smith et. al., 2007

McGuire (1968) developed the Hierarchy of Effects model that focused on the role that cognitive processes play in the persuasion process. He proposed that the persuasive impact of messages could be viewed as the multiplicative product of six information processing steps: presentation, attention, comprehension, yielding,

retention, and behaviour. The Hierarchy of Effects structural model explains that exposure to advertisements of the brand results in brand awareness followed by learning drawn from the ad claims and thereby resulting into message acceptance. These stages have been classified as cognitive stages where a customer understands the ad. This stage is followed by the affective stage where a customer develops a liking for the brand and ultimately the conative stage where a customer forms brand intentions which may be either positive or negative. Lavdige and Steiner (1961) applied the Hierarchy of Effects model directly to advertising. The result was a seven step model that begins with consumers who are completely unaware of the brand and then go through successive steps of awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase. Studies on brand awareness were carried out for airline brands (Underwood, 97; Rosser, 2002; Thomaselli, 2005; Ramage, 2005 and Chen and Tseng, 2010), FMCG (Broadbent & Colman, 1986), Apparel brands (Ryan, 2005; Bhardwaj, Kumar& Youn, 2010). Bennett, Ehrenberg and Goodhardt in 2000 had studied the brand loyalty amongst the petrol buyers in London. They had compared the purchase behaviour of the customers over two consecutive purchases. Their study concluded that loyalty related measures could be revealed through the analysis of just two purchases over a period of time. A statistical analysis was carried out by Ang and Tan in 1990 on how diesel and petrol sales to road vehicles are affected by several non-price marketing strategies in Singapore. The analysis was based on the monthly sales data over a four-year period for a subsidiary of a major international oil company. The results depicted the effectiveness of these marketing strategies in the highly competitive Singapore retail market. Kumar and Sahay in 2004, in their paper titled Retailing at Petrol Pumps: From commodity dispensing to customer service, have emphasized how maintaining customer relationships through service elements are being practised by the oil marketing companies in India. Their work investigated various elements of products and services and developed a model for designing the services at petrol retail outlets to create customer satisfaction. Marketing and Development Research Associates (MDRA) in 2003 conducted a survey on 336 customers to identify the preference of customers for branded fuels. Their research concluded that though more than 40% of the customers preferred using branded fuel, still there existed a large group of people who did not prefer the branded fuel because of it being highly priced. Also the advantages of switching over from unbranded fuel (unleaded normal fuel) to branded fuel with high octane levels and additives were not clearly perceived by the customers. No study has been conducted to understand the level of brand awareness amongst the customers of oil marketing companies. This study therefore aims to study the brand awareness level for the public sector oil marketing

companies and also the customer awareness of the marketing communication and line and brand extension awareness for the petrol brands. Objectives of the research As effective brand management requires taking a long-term view of marketing decisions. Any action that a firm takes as a part of its marketing program has the potential to change consumer knowledge about the brand in terms of some aspect of brand awareness or brand image. These changes in consumer brand knowledge will also have an indirect effect on the success of future marketing activities. The public sector oil marketing companies have done line extensions of petrol brands like Speed, Xtrapremium and Power and brand extensions in the form of convenience stores like In &Out, Xtracare and HP Connect. These oil marketing companies have also launched loyalty cards as a step towards attracting the customers through various loyalty schemes. Various marketing communication activities have been undertaken by each of these companies to build their brand awareness in the market. Based on the literature review a gap has been identified for a very limited research which has been carried out to understand the brand awareness level for the public sector oil marketing companies. The objectives thus framed for this research are as follows: To study the brand awareness levels of the customers for the public sector oil marketing companies. To study the customer awareness of the brand extensions done by Public sector Oil Marketing Companies. To study the customer awareness of the marketing communications for the petrol brands of Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies. To study the customer awareness of the line extensions for the petrol brands done by Public sector Oil Marketing Companies. Research Methodology Although the need is to study the brand building exercises of all the OMCs in India across all states but due to constraints on time, financial and physical resources, the researcher has scaled down the scope of research in terms of (a) geographical spread and (b) products marketed by the OMCs. As far as geographical spread is concerned the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh has been selected. In product category the focus has been kept on marketing of Petrol. With this backdrop the study was limited to the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh to

understand the consumer awareness for the line and brand extensions of OMCs and their awareness levels for the marketing communication and loyalty programmes of these companies. Both recall and recognition methods were used to understand the awareness levels of the customers for the oil marketing companies, their marketing communications and line and brand extensions. Since these companies mostly used hoardings at the petrol retail outlets as a media for marketing communications hence the respondents were shown some pictures of the hoardings and they were asked to recognize the company to which that hoarding belonged. Customers were also presented with the punch lines of the marketing communication activities and were asked to identify the company to which the punch line belonged to. The names of the branded petrol, loyalty cards and convenience stores were also presented through the questionnaire and the respondents had to choose the correct answer in terms of the oil marketing company from the alternatives mentioned in the questionnaire. Qualitative response for brand recall was also solicited from the respondents by giving them a product category of Petrol and asking them of the various brand names they could associate with this category. The Pilot Study In view of the exploratory nature of the study and enhance the data collection, prior to conducting the pilot studies, the initial questionnaire received extensive reviews and suggestions from four senior academics with expertise on the subject matter. To ensure "respondent-friendly" structured questionnaire, it was pilot tested with 10 academicians before commencing the actual pilot studies. Convenience sampling method was used to carry out the research and 400 respondents were targeted for the study. The questionnaire was filled by the respondents and care was taken to approach them at places other than petrol retail outlets to avoid any biased responses. 25 responses were discarded due to incomplete filling of questionnaire. Findings and Conclusion Out of the total population surveyed 23.2% of the population belonged to the higher income group , 40% of the respondents could be categorized to fall in the middle income group and rest 36.8% of the respondents belonged to the lower middle to lower income group category. The population surveyed exhibited a skewness of -0.235 which is considered to be low and hence we can safely say that the population studied exhibits normal distribution. Table 5: Statistics of the population surveyed

Statistics Income Interval N Valid Missing Mean Median Mode Std. Deviation Variance Skewness Std. Error of Skewness 375 0 2.14 2.00 2 .764 .583 -.235 .126

Exhibit 1: Normal distribution curve of the population studied

The respondents were presented with the punch lines of the public sector oil marketing companies which are used in marketing communication messages. The respondents had to name the company for the various punch lines given. Upon analysing the data it is seen that the punch line Club HP received the highest correct responses of 58.7% followed by the punch line High Performance Petrol for Speed by BPCL. For the rest of the punch lines the awareness percentage was very low as seen in the table 6. Table 6: Percentage awareness of the brand punch lines

Tag Line Bringing Energy to Life Club-------------Pure for Sure Achcha Lagta Hai Go Out and Play Pure Bhi Poora Bhi High Performance Petrol

Correct Percentage 10.4 58.7 18.9 2.7 0 6.1 24.3

False Percentage 89.6 41.3 81.1 97.3 100 93.9 75.8

Table 7: Percentage wise awareness of punch lines & their association with other OMCs

Company wise association percentage of Marketing communication Tag Line (Company Name) Bringing Energy to Life (IOCL) Club--------------(HPCL) Pure for Sure (BPCL) Achcha Lagta Hai (HPCL) Go Out and Play (IOCL) Pure Bhi Poora Bhi (IOCL) High Performance Petrol (BPCL) * Correct response percentage Table7 depicts that there is higher percentage of incorrect responses and no answers indicating that the customers could not recall the marketing communication messages of the oil marketing companies. The brand names of line extensions for petrol for the three public sector oil marketing companies were included in the questionnaire and the respondents were asked to identify the company to which these brands belonged to from the list of alternatives given. 40.3% of the respondents could correctly associate the branded petrol Speed from BPCL followed by 34.1% correct responses for Xtrapremium from IOCL. HPCL 3.5 *58.7 2.7 *2.7 2.7 9.3 14.1 BPCL 2.7 0 *18.9 0 0 9.6 *24.3 IOCL *10.4 0 4 0 *0 *6.1 14.1 No Answer 83.5 41.3 74.4 97.3 97.3 75 47.5

Table 8: Percentage awareness of petrol brands

Identification of Petrol brands Speed (BPCL) Power (HPCL) Xtrapremium (IOCL)

Correct percentage 40.3 25.1 34.1

False percentage 59.7 74.9 65.9

Table 9: Percentage awareness of petrol/diesel brands & their association with other OMCs

Company wise association of Petrol brands Speed (BPCL) Xtrapremium (IOCL) Power (HPCL) * Correct Response Percentage

HPCL 8.5 27.2 *25.1

BPCL *40.3 28.8 26.7

IOCL 16.3 *34.1 11.7

No Idea 34.9 9.9 36.5

As seen from the table 9 that although 34.1% of the respondents correctly associated the Xtrapremium brand name with IOCL, 27.2% of the respondents wrongly associated it with HPCL and 28.8% of the respondents wrongly associated it with BPCL. When asked to identify the company based on their convenience stores, higher percentage of incorrect responses were observed indicating towards a very low association of the names of the brand extensions with the oil marketing companies. Table 10 shows that the highest recall was of the In & Out convenience stores of BPCL and a minimal recall of the other two convenience stores from IOCL and HPCL.

Table 10: Percentage awareness of convenience stores of OMCs

Identification Convenience Store In & Out Store (BPCL) Care (IOCL) Speedmart (HPCL)

Correct Percentage 35.2 10.1 6.9

False Percentage 64.8 89.9 93.1

Table 11: Percentage awareness of convenience stores & their association with other OMCs

Company wise association of Convenience store In & Out Store (BPCL) Care (IOCL) Speedmart (HPCL)

HPCL 26.9 10.9 *6.9

BPCL *35.2 10.7 21.3

IOCL 10.4 *10.1 11.5

No Idea 27.5 68.2 60.3

The recall of the promotional campaigns run by the companies and relating these campaigns with the parent company also were extremely on the lower side with less than 20% of the customers giving correct responses ( see table 12).

Table 12: Percentage awareness of promotional campaigns of OMCs

Identification of Promotion campaigns Bhar Bhar Ke Jeeto (HPCL) Bharo Petrol Chalo London (BPCL) Saal Bhar Free Fuel (IOCL)

Correct percentage 17.1 5.9 12

False percentage 82.9 94.1 88

As seen in the table 13, more than 60% of the customers had never heard of such promotional campaigns being run by the oil marketing companies. Qualitative responses indicated that had they known that such promotional are there, they would have patronized that particular oil company for the purchase of their fuel.

Table 13: Percentage awareness of promotional campaigns & their association with other OMCs

Company wise association of promotion campaigns Bhar Bhar Ke Jeeto (HPCL) Bharo Petrol Chalo London (BPCL) Saal Bhar Free Fuel (IOCL) * Correct Response Percentage

HPCL *17.1 18.4 6.1

BPCL 14.1 *5.9 15.2

IOCL 6.7 13.6 *12

No Idea 62.1 62.1 66.7

As seen from tables 14 and 15,more than 69% of the customers exhibited a very weak brand recall of the loyalty cards offered by these companies.

Table 14: Percentage awareness of loyalty cards of OMCs

Identification of Loyalty cards Petrocard (BPCL) i-mint card (HPCL) Xtrarewards card (IOCL)

Correct Percentage 10.9 16.5 30.7

False Percentage 89.4 83.5 69.3

Table 15: Percentage awareness of loyalty cards & their association with other OMCs

Company wise association of Loyalty cards Petrocard (BPCL) i-mint card (HPCL) Xtrarewards card (IOCL) * Correct Response Percentage

HPCL 19.7 *16.5 9.6

BPCL *10.9 11.2 15.2

IOCL 26.7 6.9 *30.7

No Idea 42.7 65.4 44.5

About 26.7% of the respondents believed that Petrocard was issued by IOCL instead of BPCL. Thus from all the responses related to the level of brand awareness about the marketing communication, promotional campaigns, line extensions , brand extensions and loyalty cards of the public sector oil marketing companies it can be concluded that Conclusion There is low awareness of the brands of OMCs, be it the brands of high end petrol or the awareness of the brand names of the convenience stores. About 60% of the respondents could not relate the brand names of high end fuels like Speed, Xtramile, Power etc. with the parent company (see table 8). The brand awareness of the convenience stores is even lower with more than 65% of the respondents being unable to recall the oil marketing company with the name of the store (see table 10). More than 80% of the respondents failed to recollect the name of the oil marketing company when they were asked to identify the company based on the promotion campaigns (see table 12). The awareness about the loyalty cards also depicts a similar picture with more than 70% of respondents unaware of the parent company based on the name of the card (see table 14). While studying the awareness of the punch lines of the Oil marketing companies it is observed that the awareness of these punch lines is minimal and more than 70% of the respondents could not remember the punch lines. There is negligible recognition of the advertisements and OOH (Out of Home) creatives of the OMCs by the customer. There were negligible correct responses when the respondents were shown the creatives of the advertisements of OMCs and were asked to name the OMC which they thought the advertisement indicates towards. This indicates that the hoardings that are currently positioned only at the retail outlets have failed to register in the minds of the consumer and are drawing minimal consumer attention. There is negligible awareness amongst the consumers of the promotional schemes launched by the oil marketing companies. In most of the instances the consumer heard of the scheme only when the researcher enquired about the same through the questionnaire. The standard reply was that had they known of such a scheme running they would have availed of the opportunity. The marketing environment evolves and changes, often in very significant ways. Shifts in consumer behaviour, competitive strategies and other aspects of the marketing environment can profoundly affect the fortunes of a brand. Consequently, effective brand management requires proactive strategies designed to at least maintainif not actually enhancebrand equity in the face of these different forces. There are many ways that brand awareness and brand image can be created, maintained, or improved through carefully designed marketing programs. The first step that can be taken by public sector oil marketing

companies is that they need to have an insight into how customers think and act, make purchase decisions and then design marketing communications to tell the target customer of how these brands fit into the customers lives. Brands connect with customers on an emotional level. Advertising has always been seen as main weapon to build brands by the brand managers. Excessive reliance on this form of communication has however resulted in over communication. Marketers are therefore exploring new ways of supporting their brand. One such method is called Brand Activation which comes under the category of Below the Line activities. Brand activation can be defined as marketing process of bringing a brand to life through creating brand experience. Generally, the core features or brand values of a brand are used for activation. Thats what every brand manager strives to achieve i.e. communicating their brand values to their target customers. Although the benefits of Above the Line (ATL) marketing communication activities cannot be undermined but to begin with, the oil marketing companies need to interact with the customers to identify their stated and unstated desires. This objective can be achieved through successful brand activation.It is therefore very important for OMCs to have repeated frequent interactions with the customers through innovative means where the customer is able to foresee the advantages of premium fuel and overall have connect with the oil marketing company. Presently all OMCs are doing this brand activation at a very low key i.e.one- two activation in a financial year, whereas such brand activations are done on a weekly to fortnightly basis by international oil companies outside India. Such frequent interaction of international oil marketing companies with the customers has resulted in increased customer loyalty. Thus the OMCs should consider adopting a similar approach. All the oil marketing companies claim to be known for certain brand values which as of now are not strongly positioned in the customers mind. Thus by establishing TOMA (Top Of Mind Association) through continuous reminders in the form of above the line marketing communications using television as media, the company would be able to position distinct brand values amongst its customer segment. The reason stated by the respondents for such a poor recall was that these hoarding are put up at the retail outlet and the customer does not have an inclination to comprehend what is being stated through these hoardings. The OMCs should consider the placement of the hoardings at prominent places where the visibility is higher. Hoardings can also be positioned at a distance of 500 metres before the approach to the petroleum retail outlet. By following such measures the public sector oil marketing companies can increase their brand awareness and prepare themselves for the future where there is bound to be stiffer competition from private oil marketing companies ( both national and international) who have more experience in brand building and have deeper pockets for carrying out marketing communication activities.

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