In an exclusive interview with SME Times, Ankur Kalra, CEO and Founder, Vibgyor Brand Services said that small and medium businesses should invest in advertising campaigns that meet their specific marketing objectives. There are one of billions advertising saying the same things. The audience is becoming really smart and it is not easy to influence or woo them with a random marketing gimmick so strategies should be designed around the lives of your customers in a way that the product effortlessly fits in.

                                                     Excerpts of the interview...

What, according to you, is the most important factor to connect with the target audience?
Ankur Kalra: In this world of abundant choices and easy options, innovative marketing campaign and unique experiences is something that makes a brand stand out among the others. Consumers are getting smarter and approach advertisements with caution.  Connecting with them now, takes a full circle as brands  and  consumers let go of the seller and buyer roles. Establishing an emotional connect is most important where consumers are made to feel like the brand is an integral part of the lifestyle and not something being pushed at them  by marketers.

In marketing especially, what is the best way to attract customers or buyers?
Ankur Kalra: In over saturated media customers are constantly bombarded with advertisements; print advertisements, advertisements on hoarding, television commercials, radio advertisements and many more. Engaging with them through experiential marketing is the best way to get their attention that is where experiential marketing campaigns come in the light and let your consumers get up, close and personal with your brand and see how it fits in their lives.

In today's time, what is the best possible medium of the advertising and promotion? Why?
Ankur Kalra: I'm a firm  believer in what Jeff Bezos of Amazon says -- "Brands are formed not by what companies say but by what they do". While most companies focus on claims--newer, better, whiter, fairer, tastier -- they forget that so is everyone else. That is why the smarter brands are choosing to rely on experiential marketing to invent new experiences, new ways to interact with customers. Right from the bigger brands like HUL, L'Oreal, Sony and Barista committing a substantial chunk of their marketing budgets to BTL, newer and smaller brands are also discovering that BTL is a better return on their marketing investment. BTL campaigns involve consumers in the brand experience and create a desire in them to try and buy the product. It is a process that brings pure excitement and once you're in, there's nothing quite like it.

When so many platforms are available in the market why many small businesses are facing hindrances in doing successful marketing?
Ankur Kalra: They are one of billions saying the same things. Nowadays the audience is becoming really smart and it is not easy to influence or woo them with a random marketing gimmick so strategies should be designed around the lives of your customers in a way that the product effortlessly fits in.

Could you highlight on the services you are providing?
Ankur Kalra:Vibgyor is India's leading experiential marketing agency that specializes in Consumer Outreach Programs, Brand Activation, Launch Events and Corporate Events. We enjoy finding new and exciting ways to connect with customers and have conceptualized and executed various such campaigns in schools, colleges, malls, corporate parks, RWAs, etc.

Could you tell me about Vibgyor -- India's leading Experiential Marketing Company? What made you decide to be an entrepreneur? Could you share more about your start--up venture?
Ankur Kalra: Vibgyor has a single, one point agenda -- to reach out to customers in the most engaging and exciting ways. We are ready and willing to experiment with your brand, in fact that's what gives us the competitive edge. We're not afraid to go all out and innovate constantly, what we fear is doing the same old and getting irrelevant. All our campaigns are guided by our core purpose of Involve to Excite. We're  fully involved in each and every aspect of our work and the result is invariably exciting. That's how we've managed to create India's biggest QR code cake at 1,000 kg, India's first ever online community for Sunsilk Gang of Girls long before anyone had heard of Facebook and more recently a Times Square replica at a mall in Mumbai that displayed live tweets from around the world for 14 hours to reveal a lipstick that lasts long enough. As long as we're thinking and doing, we're confident that no one can deliver the kind of campaigns we can and we do.

What is Vibgyor's growth and expansion plans?
Ankur Kalra: For 2012, we were looking at growth targets of 20-22% and we managed to achieve results in excess of 25%.  And it's not just the numbers; we’re working with the best brands and corporate and have managed to build long standing associations with them. Our association with HUL, Dabur, Samsung, L'Oreal, Dabur, MakemyTrip, Group M, Bausch & Lomb goes back several years and we've worked with over 15 new brands in the last one year alone. Dunkin Donuts, WeChat, Fiama Di Wills, GreenPly, Nikon, GMR, Flipkart to name a few, have chosen Vibgyor for their activation campaigns. This year, we're looking at growth targets of 30-35%. We set our sights high and have a clear and focused goal -- to continue to innovate and grow as India's number one experiential marketing company.

How to create an effective marketing strategy that can help a business grow?
Ankur Kalra: An effective marketing strategy would be one that is a good  mix of Above-the-line (ATL) and Below-the-line (BTL). While  ATL has greater reach, BTL has powerful connect.

What is your message to our readers especially the small and medium businesses?
Ankur Kalra: For SMEs running a tight ship, it is important to invest in campaigns that meet their specific marketing objectives. Apart from delivering deep impact for the brand, experiential campaigns help establish a connect that can inspire brand loyalty --  very rare in the highly competitive market today.

What is the best use of experiential marketing among several others?
Ankur Kalra: Experiential marketing campaigns are based on an insight --they intend to solve a problem or appeal to an aspiration. Steer clear of marketers who make your brand or product the hero of the campaign --the true hero is the experience and that's what makes it relevant to customers. The best campaigns are those that are designed around the lives of your customers and fit the product seamlessly in. That is why you will see campaigns by international agencies like 7Up's Melting Machine, Sprite's Soda Shower and Coke's Frozen Bottle in hot countries in the summer, where people are looking for some respite from the heat and have time to engage with during the summer break. One of the best internal examples that I can think of is Vibgyor's on-ground promotional campaign for Maybelline. The brand is perceived as fairly international and reaching out to Indian women was posing a bit of a challenge. So, we proposed a campaign during Karva Chauth, promising free mehendi application in exchange for purchase of Maybelline products. Based on a great insight, the campaign hit the nail right on the head and the results were phenomenal.

(Namrata Kath Hazarika can be contacted at namratakh@tradeindia.com)