There is a misconception that branding is just about a Logo or Tagline. No doubt in that these two are the important components but Branding is much more than that. Branding comprises of every aspect of a client’s experience, from website to social media, your logo, office branding and advertising.
We at APPPL COMBINE intensely believe that each and every successful business is built on the foundation of a strong brand. Once this is understood, there is no denying the significance of the role that brand plays in marketing. In past we have created a lot of successful Branding and marketing strategies for a lot of brands, one such brand success story is that of Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal’s daily deal portal Snapdeal. Known to be one of the largest e-commerce portals in India, Snapdeal had its share of struggle. After the great dot-com crash, the Indian market was limping back to normalcy. From a couponing company named Money Savers, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal launched Snapdeal in 2010. However, the backdrop of market conditions for this launch was all wrong as the internet was still just taking baby steps and online shopping was a far cry.
Snapdeal was originally conceived as a platform offering consumers heavy discounts on dining, entertainment, lifestyle products and services. Merchants were expected to give heavy discounts in lieu of high buzz visibility online and heavy footfall. Though the business model looked perfect, the venture was probably a little ahead of time. On one hand, convincing Merchants was difficult, as they could not connect well with the concept of giving away heavy discounts on the online medium. On the other, it was hard to get the consumer to visit the portal and buy whatever little deals were available. The consumer could never realistically settle with the thought of buying something online without physically getting to see it and hold it. The touch & feel excitement and quotient of shopping were missing. Also, the previous dot-com bust had made an irreparable dent in quality perceptions of products/services sold online. Consumers had a perception that the products/services sold online were of cheap and inferior quality.
This is where we came in. As the Marketing and Advertising partners, the onus was on us to cement the brand perception right at the time of brand launch to allow the brand to grow rapidly. We started from the scratch. While consulting and advising the brand on how to improve its UI and UX, considering the marketing perspective in mind, we listed down steps on how to build trust and acceptance amongst the consumer and merchants alike. Though like any other start-up, funds were scarce, we smartly optimized every penny and ploughed ahead. We initiated the marketing solution with a two-pronged approach.
1. Win the Merchants’ trust and comfort to give deep discounts.
2. Win Consumers’ trust in buying online without worrying about any possible fraud on their credit cards or the delivery and quality of the chosen product(s).
With the launch campaign, we ensured that the brand was perceived the way it was envisioned and created. The take-home message of Sanpdeal being the ‘best deal’ brand, works even today.
APPPL COMBINE 