Strategic Marketing and Branding

By: Tulika Bansal

25 Nov 2019
Agenda for this session
- Case study (Group exercise – One Plus)
- Onset of Relationship Economy and importance of creating exemplary
Customer Experience
- Creating “Whole Offers”

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Group presentations
Group 1 & 2 to present

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OnePlus case discussion
● What is the positioning of OnePlus?
○ Product was placed in between the mid-premium segments with great features at lowest
possible cost (no retail, only online). The #NeverSettle hashtag proved that you don’t need
necessarily need big bucks to own a good product.

● What did One Plus did differently for their customers which was not done
previously?
○ It innovated unique supply-chains that have forgone the warehousing-and-inventory-
accumulation model and replaced it with a direct-from-manufacturing-to-shipping model.

○ One plus was not only building a rough and tough Smartphone but also focusing on the texture
of its body - Sandstone back, different colours

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OnePlus case discussion (Contd.)
● How are they validating the features/ products in the market?
○ Use of Oppo brand

● What were some of the unique marketing techniques used by One Plus?
○ Exclusive invites, community interactions, use of evangelists. While the key aim of invite only
was to allow OnePlus to match its inventory levels to demand, but it also gave the business an
ability to execute digital marketing campaigns as tech enthusiasts scramble to get invites

● How are they effectively managing the product cycle

○ OnePlus refreshes the flagship smartphone twice a year.

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OnePlus case discussion (Contd.)
● How are they creating exceptional customer experience?
○ They were okay not making any money for the first two years and just building a brand that a
great and reasonably priced product can be bought online

○ The company has also launched the OnePlus Care app to enable customers to self-diagnose
their smartphones and avail free pickup-drop service from their home or office, in case of a
need to repair their OnePlus devices.

● Any challenges they are likely to face/ currently are facing?

○ The Operational model is somewhat unstable and doesn’t deliver a uniform customer
experience - limited stock / unavailability are some shortcomings of this brand

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Unit 1, Session 2:
Creating Whole Offers to enhance Total
Customer Experience

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Exercise
Make a list of 5 companies/ services/ brands that you use regularly and describe
the reasons why.

One of the top 3 reasons would surely be the experience you get from dealing with
the brand

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Should marketing be about products or customers?
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp0Q8Z5Isz4>

ABOUT MARK MORIN

As a customer relationship builder, Mark has devoted the past 35+ years to bringing brands and
people closer. He is an author, trainer, professional speaker and an expert in the field of relationship
and cognitive marketing. His work focuses on creating lasting customer relationships between brands
and their customers through relevant, personalized and creative marketing campaigns and programs.
He has been teaching relationship marketing at Université de Montréal since 1998. Each year, he
presents a host of keynotes and workshops throughout North America.

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The relationship economy - What it is
The relationship economy is all about building trust by deeply understanding your
customer and delivering exactly what they want, when they want it.
“In a world where trucks drive themselves, data is accessible from anywhere via the cloud and teams rely on
Slack to communicate because talking just takes too long, it’s evident that the pace of business has accelerated.
This trend may continue unabated, and while the new reality belies a world that’s fundamentally digital and
transactional, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Despite surface-level evidence to the contrary, business is actually regressing to its most basic form — the
relationship. As tools and processes evolve, relationships with partners, customers and employees are the only
constant and a key area of investment when it comes to fueling growth.

This phenomenon is known as the relationship economy and it follows the demise of the consumer economy,
where business models were built mainly around cost-per-unit projections.”

- Forbes 12
The relationship economy -
The relationship economy is built on trust. The transparency of crowdsourced reviews and the internet has
brought Milton Friedman’s theories on the viability of consumer-generated “licensing” to reality.

The instantaneous nature of modern business combined with the rapid scalability enabled by technology
means the reference points and metrics of the past two decades are fading. The primary point of reference is
now the relationship.

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The relationship economy -

Companies can build their capital in the relationship economy immediately by focusing on things like
customer success, a prospect-centric sales process and providing valuable content.

In a world where successful companies focus on lifetime customer value over average selling price, this
approach will pay off more than branding efforts. ROI on each customer win goes up dramatically as a
relationship is built and loyalty cemented.

Relationships give you a strategic advantage in a crisis, build your brand and create brand evangelists, and
increase customer satisfaction. They keep your business moving and define your future, driving tremendous
opportunities that result in greater growth.

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Some important ratios
CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost:
This is the money that we spend to acquire a customer. As the brand gets stronger and some of
the organic channel builds up, CAC tends to go down. Some of the best internet businesses in India
have sub Rs 300 CAC but after becoming large national brands.

LTV: Life Time Value:

If a customer buy something worth Rs 1000 and the GP margin on that is 20%, net value accrued is
Rs 200. If this person does 10 transactions over 2 year period, the LTV will be Rs 2000. Most
companies calculate LTV over 2-3 year period as most of the customers drop-off beyond this point.

LTV/CAC Ratio:
This determines the health of the business. Most healthy business have LTV/CAC ratio above 5
and the ones that achieve the ratio of 10+ are highly profitable and valued proportionately.

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What is a Whole Offer
Whole offer is all the products and services needed by the mainstream customer to
get full satisfaction.

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Group assignment
How has Tesla created the whole offers for their customers. Describe all the
products and services launched by them. Also analyse how they have assembled
an ecosystem of partnerships and alliances that complement and enhance the
customer experience

[10 mins presentation]

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