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Manappuram Finance Ltd., one of the pioneers of the Gold Loan Industry in India, along with its bouquet of other service lines viz. OGL, Home Loan, Commercial Vehicle Loan, Forex & Money Transfer, Asirvad Microfinance along with Insurance Broking subsidiary has set new trends in reaching customers through the concept of Venue Marketing... christened as the LOAN MELA.
In Service Marketing, the 4 P’s (Price, Product, Promotion, and Place) are further expanded to the 7 P’s... the additional 3P’s (Physical evidence, People and Process ) to address the different nature of services. With the ever rising demand and complications in the marketplace, the above thoughts went through a metamorphosis to 4 C’s: Lauterborn’s four Cs (Consumer, Cost, Communication, Convenience) and Shimizu’s 4 C’s (Commodity, Cost, Communication, Channel).
Wading through the P’s & C’s, in the current era of Digital Marketing and Fuzzy Logic, all the schools of thought are combined to put “Customer First”. The time has now arrived to re-position ourselves as a multi-product group company among our target audience, fostering the idea of cross-selling and of a single – window service to all. The endeavour is to go to the customers’ doorstep.
Loan Mela has been the ideal way to reach our target group with our products and service and enhance upon the concept of “touch & feel”. These events create the opportunity to meet our audience, on a one-on-one or in groups, to interact.
Between Nov’15 – Jan’16, we went upon building the aura of our brand “Manappuram“ through two very well conceptualised Loan Melas in Pune (during Nov’15 ) and recently in Madurai (last week of Jan 2016). All our products / services were showcased at a single venue bringing all verticals under the single brand umbrella... Manappuram.
We touched the senses of our audience 360 degrees through all media, viz; Bill boards, FM channels, Cable TVs, SMS, Bus Shelters, Newspapers Ads, Personal Invitations and, of course, mass distribution of notices in multiple venues and newspapers inserts. Auto-rickshaws buzzed across the cities in numbers carrying the posters pasted on them.
We left no stones unturned to paint the town in red.
The exhibition days in Pune and Madurai witnessed huge footfall among the stalls of Home Loan, SME Loan, Commercial Vehicle Loan as also from those trying to understand the processes involved in Gold Loan and the convenience of our “new kid on the block”- the Online Gold Loan.
Inauguration was done by the Senior Management Team from Head Office and the local VIPs. Pre and post press coverage — through some of the popular dailies – have been leaving indelible marks upon our audience leading to deeper and wider penetration of the brand.
For the tech generation, we have developed compatible webpage with complete information on our Loan Mela and to capture the attention of those who could not make it. Online Gold Loan stall added to the interest of both the old and the new generation of customers.
Customers / visitors were engaged by our well manned stalls as well as through Lucky Draws and Mega Draws and ensured return gifts for all who have been patronizing the mela.
Certain builders/ dealers /other partners also participated in the Melas which enhanced the brand value enjoyed by Manappuram.
Brand Manappuram has traditionally been connected with “Gold Loan”. As we expand, such Melas are a significant step in gaining customers’ attention to convey that we have moved on from a single product to multi product /services.
The Customer Feedback captured at these melas has also displayed our “Customer First” commitment. This on ground amplification highlighted our new Avataar and has commenced a new brand image for Manappuram.
Subhashis Das,
Chief Manager - Corporate Marketing