MARKETING

MANAGEMENT
DECISION SHEET ON MARKETING NISSAN MICRA AND TATA NANO USING
SOCIAL MEDIA

LIKHITHA S
2228328
2 MBA R
 Marketing the Nissan Micra and Tata Nano Using Social Media

Date: 2012

Title of the case: Marketing the Nissan Micra and Tata Nano Using Social Media

Topic: Social media marketing, promotion, marketing strategies, Advertisements

Key decision maker: Sharada Deshpande (Social Media Director, Tata Nano), Karl Slym
(Former head of GM India)

Case Facts
 The Indian automotive industry is dominated by hatchbacks, which were categorised
into three categories: A, B-1, and B-2 depending on their price, with A being the
least costly and B-2 being the most expensive.

 Nissan began selling the Micra hatchback in 2010, competing against well-
established brands such as Maruti Swift and Ritz, Ford Figo, and Hyundai i10 and
i20, with Maruti being the largest stockholder in the passenger vehicle industry.

 To raise awareness for the unknown Micra, Nissan collaborated with Bollywood's
top actor Ranbir Kapoor, who used the flashback method in a TV ad series to
illustrate distinct aspects of the automobiles. However, it did not significantly
increase Micra sales.

 Nissan subsequently launched "The New Star Campaign" (with the assistance of
AKAQ), a short film in which about 20 persons were chosen to perform with Ranbir,
and auditions were held via Facebook ( ads in Times of India and also from auditions
in malls in 9 different cities)

 The campaign resulted in an increase in sales, but it was insufficient. In addition,

overall sales for the first eight months of 2012 were 12% lower than the same time the
previous year.

 The Tata Nano was the result of Ratan Tata's goal of manufacturing a low-cost
automobile to entice two-wheeler/motorcycle users to switch to the car category.

 Nano competed in the A class against the Maruti-800, Alto Hyundai Eon, and
Chevrolet/GM Spark.

 To raise awareness, Nano began a series of advertising depicting various challenges

encountered by individuals riding two-wheelers, such as riding in the rain or a family
of four riding two-wheelers.

 The second campaign they created was 'Nano drive with MTV,' which was India's
first social streaming programme in which four teams from different directions battled
with a Nano, a restricted budget, and a 20-day journey.

 The two initiatives were effective in the sense that they gained 1.5 million Facebook
friends and revenues increased dramatically that year.
  The drop in both car sales was caused by a rise in gasoline prices, and customers
began to shift to diesel-powered vehicles.

Dilemma/Conflict faced by the decision maker: Karl Slym, Tata Motors' new managing
director, met with Shrada Deshpande, the company's social media director, on September
14, 2012. Deshpande had left the meeting a month before, with Slym's queries unanswered
and less than a week to prepare. What are the results of these social media marketing
campaigns? Was the Nano marketing campaign as effective as the Micra marketing
campaign, and vice versa? Perhaps most significantly, can the increased consumer
engagement in such initiatives be sustained, and if so, how?

Problem Statement:
• What can Nissan and Tata do to increase their market share?
• How do automobile companies secure long-term profitability?
• Is it feasible that a social media campaign can help usher in a better future?
• Can Nissan or Tata remain in business as competition intensifies?
• Given that Tata is a well-known local brand among customers but Nissan is a global
brand, how will Nissan bridge the marketing strategy gap among local consumers?

Causes for the Problem:

• The fundamental issue with Facebook as a social media platform is that, although
having a big number of followers, the fraction of loyal followers is substantially
smaller. As a result, estimating/predicting based on these platforms was difficult and
inaccurate; for example, 500,000 Facebook fans does not guarantee 500,000
committed fans.
• Nissan's challenge was that it competed with well-established Indian brands such as
Maruti, whereas Tata was a well-established and trustworthy Indian brand (even
though it was competing with other brands)
• The Theme of the short film is ineffective: The short might have been much better
with a stronger plot or script. The prior ad series was far more persuasive than the
short film, and the results reflected this.
• Another concern was the company's over-reliance on star Ranbir Kapoor's fan base.
The actor should not recall a product, but the opposite must be true.
 • The problem with Nano's campaign is that it is inefficient.

Criteria:
• Pricing policy
• Using campaigns
• The usefulness of social media
• brand positioning
• Car viability
• Promotion of a brand

Alternatives:
• Social Media Effectiveness:
• Print Magazine Advertisements
• Conveying taglines
• Customer Engagement
• Making use of big data analytics

Analysis of Alternatives:

Social Media Effectiveness: The efficacy of the social media strategy may be observed on
the top line of the P/L account for that year or quarter. A good campaign is a talking topic
for a long time, even after the campaign is over. In this scenario, Nissan's social media
campaign was brief and stopped shortly after the film's premiere. The NANO Campaign, on
the other hand, lasted three seasons and received positive comments throughout.

Print Magazine Advertisements: Most people in India read Hindi printed materials as well
as English publications, with The Hindu and The Hindustan Times being the most popular.
So it would have been preferable if they had also included a Hindi newspaper and/or used
The Hindu and/or The Hindustan Times, so that more people were aware of the campaign.

Conveying Taglines: The Tata Nano was designed to assist customers transition from two-
wheelers to four-wheelers, but the Nissan Micra did not offer an enticing message to the
buyer. The message for their product was not communicated to the consumer, which meant
that the customer had no idea which of their problems the solution would answer.
Customer Engagement: Customer engagement is essential to these activities, but the level
of participation must be defined because not every customer can be satisfied. Companies
must recognise that customers do not understand technicalities, and it is their responsibility to
assist them in understanding the need and how a product will satisfy it.

Making use of big data analytics: Behavior is continuously monitored throughout time.
Because the Tata Nano and Nissan Micra both used social media to advertise their products, I
believe that ongoing analytics are crucial to determine their performance. This can be
monitored through big data analytics where the larger size data are stored and analysed where
they can get the insights which is helpful to create the campaign.

Decision/Summary:

In my opinion, the most important goal for both Nissan and Tata is to increase their sales in
India. Separately, Nissan collaborated with Bollywood's most well-known actor, Ranbir
Kapoor, to create a series of TV commercials that highlight the Micra's distinctive and
competitive qualities to the general public in an effort to raise awareness of the unpopular
Nissan Micra. In order to attract younger customers and increase sales, they collaborated
with Kapoor to create a film called The New Star of India in addition to the TV
commercials. To achieve significant social media success, they worked with Facebook to
choose co-actors during the production process. Tata employed commercials to raise
awareness among India's young, who represent a sizable potential market. Therefore to
overcome these dilemma and conflicts and to solve those problem aroses when they follow
the listed alternatives above.