BEING YOUR TRUE BUSINESS PARTNER

Short List
TitleBEING YOUR TRUE BUSINESS PARTNER
BrandDELL INDIA
Product / ServiceDELL SME FORUM
CategoryB04. Business Equipment & Services
EntrantMEDIACOM Bangalore, INDIA
Entrant Company:MEDIACOM Bangalore, INDIA
Media Agency:MEDIACOM Bangalore, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Anita Devraj Mookerjee Mediacom India General Manager
Deepa Sudhakaran Mediacom India Business Group Head
Sheela Kamat Bloomberg UTV Sales manager
Razia Ali Dell India Marketing Manager
Arul Jothi MediaCom India Implementation Manager

Results and Effectiveness

The leads generated by the event were more than double of any previous Dell event Sales closures rose from 20% to 65% during the activity Dell was catapulted back to its No 2 position and the gap between Dell and the market leader reduced from 7% to 1%.

Creative Execution

We tied-up with a popular business TV channel : UTV Bloomberg; and using their finance sector connections, brought on board other partners : SME decision makers could interact with an IT Expert (Dell), a finance expert (State Bank of India), understand credit policies for SME’s (CRISIL) and identify their individual networking requirements (D Link). A caravan with Dell products and representatives and the other partners travelled to key SME clusters in 8 cities, met with owners and IT decision makers and provided customized solutions for their issues and problems. Issues related to technology, finance & networking solutions were solved in one forum. The activity was amplified through multi-media presence and promotions: A 6 part on-air series on UTV Bloomberg highlighted the best and inspiring SME’s with the aim of generating awe and inspiration among the community. The Caravan series covered the event as it travelled across cities. Print and outdoor were used for promotions in all the cities where the forum was held.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

SMEs accounted for more than half of Dell’s sales – but the brand’s image within this critical segment had eroded severely, affecting market shares. The main reason being that Dell was perceived as just another IT vendor - evaluated on price versus competing vendors – not as partner or enabler. The key challenge was to engage with the SMEs effectively enough to make them see Dell as a consultant for their business – someone who understood their issues and helped overcome them. Indian entrepreneurs face tremendous challenges related to technology and finance – and solutions for these had to be one-to-one. Thus, rather than a generic ATL communication, we understood the real, on-ground requirements for the target group; and for the first time brought together all stakeholders in an SME ecosystem together in one forum. SMEs finally had a one stop place for advice on IT related and funding related issues : The Dell Bloomberg SME Forum.