Reflective notes

Assignment 3

Submitted to:
Prof. Abhishek Jain

Submitted by:
Anmol Raina
PGMA2111
The case is regarding Consumer satisfaction. The author is in a dilemma on how
he should treat his consumers as he himself is a marketing manager for Chips n
Dips.
What makes him to think deep into his consumers starts when he first notices
his wife Gargi giving 3 days old food to her maid Gayabai in a polybag which
make s him question why we treat different people differently. This made him
realise that he himself as a marketing manager is not giving his best products to
his consumers because of the “adjust karlo” mentality.
He also states that “we take advantage of the meek”. What is important is that
before we think as a brand manager we need to think as a citizen, human being.
We always assume that we are giving more to our consumers that they deserve
because of the various options available to them. According to the author this
very mentality needs to be changed.

Talking about respect:

This is where premium customers come into the picture as they are given
respect and more features by the brand because the brand thinks they spend
more. But this does mean they have the right to give below par services to other
consumers. This is how the attitude seeps into one. Brands give sub-standard
services to normal customers because they do not think what is right or wrong.
They just provide you with services just for the sake of it.

Later the author talks about how brands damage their customers emotionally
and physically. The brands are making customers like the maid Gayabai who
want sub-optimal, low-grade products. The brands are playing with the minds of
insecure consumers and giving it the name of marketing strategy.
The only thing brands want is to increase their sales and make the consumers
spend money in the most fastest and cost-effective way.

Emotional damage:
Now the author mentions how brands manipulate their customers and play with
their minds. He says what a customer looks for in a product or service is the
experience that comes along with it and not the luxury but the respect. But the
brands through their cheap promos convince the consumers that it is the product
that they want & not the experience and thus the consumer ends up buying
cheap products and gets stuck in the spiral of insecurity.

Physical damage:
The brands feed their consumers goods that are about to get expired or are of
poor quality or from old stock buy promoting discounts and offers like buy 1 get
1 free. This is an insult to the faith of the customer in the brand.

The author compares what his wife did with the maid to how brands dump their
outdated products on the consumers by giving discounts as if we have to be
grateful to the brand for this discount offer.

What brands today think is that they need to look good compared to their
competitors, this mentality is not in the favour of the consumer. The author also
mentions how brands make a fool out of their consumers. The consumer simply
pays more for the brands expense on ad campaign whereas he is still sold the
same old product but with a different colour packaging stating that there is no
value added for the consumer. This is what the brands have fallen to looking
just to make profits and squeezing the consumers hard earned money.
Finally, it is said the company’s respect for its customer also depends if the
company is willing to replace the product or not.

Conclusion
Brand today constantly try to increase their profit by selling below par products
tricking their customers into buying old, expired products by selling them on
discounts. Companies are willing to spend millions on ad campaigns to sell their
old products to the new customers rather than making products that are
environment friendly or products that actually add value to the lives of their
consumers.