You need not be a Al Ries or a Jack Trout to market successfully!! The other day I came face to face with this reality while moving along the streets of Kormangla trying to reach Forum (the mall) which is usually more packed than a peek time Virar - Churchgate fast local on any weekend. So as I was seeing a sea of human population ambling away aimlessly along the streets of Kormangla in a desperate effort to make their weekend a bit more interesting my eyes set sight on a phuckawala alias a panipuriwala (for the mumbaikars) alias a golgappewala (for the delhities).
Normally you woudnt have given a second glance to any phuchkawala standing on a street corner with a bulging plastic bag filled with phuchka that could easily accomodate me and you in its expanse, but this person was differnet. He seemed to be in the spotlight (both in meaning as well as literally). So Mr. Phuchkawala was spotted attracting a huge crowd right in front of a newly opened VLCC (For the lesser informed its a beauty and slimming centre which has branches all across India) centre that had used a lot of halogen lights to make weight concious people aware of its existence. The effect of the light seemed to make Mr. Phuchkawala look more attractive selling his huge load of phuchkas and attracting a crowd to taste whatever he had to offer.
The sight also made me fall prey to try out his phuchkas. After all the Calcutta Chromosomes (not the book) have a strong attachment to roadside unhygeinic delicacies like phuchka. A simple query about the price of the same using the rustic "Kitne ka diya" revealed 10 ka 6 aur ek sukha". A puzzled look on my face made the phuchka wala start off with the inflationary pressure that Bangalore had been subjected to. After all I had come a long way since my school days when you could get 4 phuchkas for a rupee. No doubt his prices were too exhorbitant as compared to the prices 3kms away in Bangalore where you could get "10 ka 10 aur ek sukha".
Without further complaints about his exhorbitant price I told him to prepare a plate. His apt hands started working on mashing the potatoes and mixing it with all the varities of masala stored infront of him making a thick mass. While his hands worked on the same his mouth did not close for even a split second. He revealed that he was from UP and that potatoes were dearer in Kormangla than BTM and that he could make 5 varities of things with his stuffs and that he was selling phuchkas for the last 6 years and he went blah blah all the while finally revealing his marketing alliance.
So Mr. Phuchkawala apparently had a reason behind standing in the spotlight of VLCC! He described that if it was anyone else he would have been readily kicked out of the place for blocking the way to the beauty and slimming centre but incidentally he had stuck up a marketing alliance with the owner of VLCC. He said that initially he used to stand infront of a park a few blocks away from the place where he was right now selling his stuffs when one fine day he was approaced by the owner of VLCC who wanted him to sell his stuffs standing infront of the newly opened centre. The marketing alliance had paid off well for both of them as he explained. These days he was following a premim pricing model charging more for the phuchkas because of the location factor. And moreover he was drawing a crowd infront of the VLCC centre thus making it more prominent. He also told about how the entire alliance was a success and told us instances of how bulky women who had come to his phuchka centre had felt self concious and had landed up in VLCC for a weight reduction programme.
I was spellbound by his knowledge of marketing. A query about his educational qualifications revealed that he hadnt even passed the 10th standard and incidentally in a matter of few minutes he had taught me more of marketing than any of the profs of the B-School I went to could in the two years. Mr. Smart talker can anyday take a class of marketing alliance the way the dabbawalas took a class on 6 sigma concepts at IIM. So next time when in doubt do not look into Kotler for examples....look around you, you would get a lot of live examples in ur own ecosystem.
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