Mangalam Cement Ltd. is a part of the massive and renowned B.K Birla Group of Companies since 27th October; 1976 and is managed by the 3rd Generation of females since the germination of the Industry, namely Mrs. Vidula Jalan. She is the granddaughter of Mr. B.K Birla and has been a part of the company’s board of directors and top share-holders since 2009. The company has gone through many ups and downs but has always fought their way back into the market. The company as the name suggests is engaged in the production or manufacturing of cement which (as we all know) is the key binding agent for the construction if buildings in today’s day and age.
Cement is one of the main products that is considered to be an essential for the real estate and property developing industries. But at the same time, cement being an essential in a developing country, there are many suppliers and manufacturers of the same which leads to immense competition in the industry. The list of competitors of Mangalam Cements is huge, some of which are a part of the B.K Birla Group itself. Their main competitors range from the internal Ultratech Cements, Ambuja Cements to Binani and JK Cements Ltd. These names have been associated with the Cement manufacturing sector for many decades and have been offering quite a tough time for Mangalam.
Rising Competition was an important reason for Mangalam Cement to invest into large scale promotional activities along with pushing up the ROI and financially stabilising the company. In the age of tough competition what makes you stand out is the way you promote yourself, what you can proudly say about yourself that your competitors cannot say about themselves. In a competitive sector it is essential for you to stand out as delivering the same product or service but differently. For e.g. A particular cement company may claim to provide the same product at the lowest price in the market, while another may concentrate on assuring buyers about the quality and durability of the same. It comes down to one simple strategy-the USP or Unique Selling Proposition of the brand (not always of the product/service).
Mangalam Cement followed this policy to be where they are today and releaseMyAd has been their friend throughout their advertising and promotional journey.
Planning a Campaign for Mangalam Cement Ltd.
Analysing the Competitors: In a highly competitive sector like cement, it is essential to understand and measure the steps of the closest competitors before venturing in to the market for any promotional stratagem. Hence, we analyzed the top 5 competitors in the market which included their growth trend and promotional activities and also the USP, if any. This helped us set forth in to the market with certain precautions and strategic preparations such as refraining from publicizing similar features or product names or creatives or following similar promotional strategies.
Target Audience: Pointing out the target audience was quite simple for Mangalam Cement as there is barely any difference in their target audience and those of the competitors which is why highlighting the USP becomes even more critical. The target audience comprised of small, medium and large real estate developing agencies and property builders across India.
Recognising the USP: Apart from selling quality cement (which every other cement company claims) Mangalam Cement needed something which made them unique. They needed to recognize what they had and none of their competitors do and nor do they claim of having anything close to it. After consulting their manufacturing guidelines, company functions and protocols, it was found that they possessed two unique propositions:
1) Dedicated Efforts towards Environment Sustainability: This refers to the fact that unlike other cement companies, Mangalam Cement has set up their factories and manufacturing units in a manner that they do not pollute the air. Cement is among the most hazardous polluting agents of the environment today and many precautions are to be followed to protect the environment from such pollution. They have indulged into many environmentally friendly initiatives such as water harvesting, water sprinkling to reduce dust emission around the production area, installed bag filters to regulate and collect the dust emitted from the factories, wet drilling system, no use of noisy equipments, planting of trees and plants and other polluting elements treatment plants to minimize harm to the environment.
2) Risk Management: Mangalam Cement emphasised on promoting their Risk Management initiatives in which they have invested heavily and are a pro at it in this industry. They have employed special people to handle this department who take care of all the initiatives in the Risk Management field which involve managing Industry Risks, Marketing Risk, Funding Risk, Input Cost Risk etc. No other cement company have this sort of an employee oriented division dedicated completely to the well-being of their employees in a hazardous field such as Cement Manufacturing.
Choosing the Media: The Media Platforms are an essential component of an Ad Campaign as they ensure that the message is conveyed in the way and to the audience it is intended for. For Mangalam Cement the media vehicles were not limited to only traditional mediums such as Newspapers or Magazines or Television. The media platforms included Radio, Hoardings, Low Floor Buses etc. The aim was to get maximum visibility all round the targeted locations. Advertising through non-traditional media platforms, ensured that the brand was not only developing with time but also thinks beyond the box.
Composing Creatives: Audio ads for Radio, Visual Layouts for OOH and other Print Ads & Audio-Visuals for TVCs were all created, designed and planned by the creative experts at releaseMyAd. Using logos and eye-catching visuals and bright colours wherever necessary to get as much attention as possible, were some of the essentialities for Mangalam Cement Ad Creative.
The Mangalam Cement Ad Campaign
The latest campaign for Mangalam began in 2012 and since then has been a continuous process for releaseMyAd and their Marketing Team. Since 2012, we have been ensuring that their main product Birla Uttam Cement is advertised in a relentless manner.
Newspaper Ads: The first and foremost ad was published in Hindi Newspapers covering the entire Northern Zone of India, including major cities with developing real estate projects and commercial zones. The newspapers included Navbharat Times which covered mainly the Delhi/NCR Area and Dainik Jagran which covered all major cities in Uttar Pradesh, namely Agra, Aligarh, Meerut, Moradabad, Ghaziabad and Noida.
Radio Ads- Radio Jingles for promoting Birla Uttam by Mangalam Cement were scripted and edited by the releaseMyAd Radio Creative Team for adding an effective recall value to the brand. Radio advertising was essential as a large number of site workers and even engineers are avid radio listeners. They tune into radio stations while working to avoid the noise at the construction sites. Hence, radio ads reached directly to those who are use the Product or are potential buyers. Jingles are played on a daily basis at regular intervals across stations such as Radio City -91.1 FM in Mumbai and Red FM-93.5 FM heard across the eastern zone.
Shutter Paintings- The Ad Creatives were also painted on the Shutters of several retail shops or Builder Offices as well as Cement wholesale shops in markets across different cities in India. This in a way shows that the builders and cement shops are contributing in the promotion of the Cement and they themselves prefer the brand. So higher the number of shops which have the brand painted on their shutters the better it is since it shows that maximum cement wholesalers and builders support the brand building trust among potential buyers.
OOH- Hoarding Ads, Dangler Ads across roads, beside flyovers and even malls have been put up throughout different sections of metropolitan and developing cities in India. The reason for using the same colour scheme is that most builders and construction workers remember and recall the brand by the way they look, their colours and art work rather than only the name.
L-Band-TV Ads- Television Commercials have also evolved over time. There are now different types of Television ads, one of which is L-Band Ads which appear along the left & lower border of the screen as one ad while a program is going on. These ads more often than not appear on News Channels as well as during matches. The L-Band TV ads were broadcasted across the Northern and Western Zone of India on renowned TV networks including IBN 7, India TV, Zee Network of Uttar Pradesh and ETV Rajasthan.
Mobile Bus Ads– These advertisements refer to the Sticker Ads which are placed on Buses and other large and medium public or commercial vehicles. Birla Uttam Cement Ads were placed on the low floor public transport buses of Jaipur. These buses travelled across the Pink City as well as the sub-urbs of Rajasthan covering the surrounding regions of Jaipur.
Upcoming Projects for Mangalam Cement
Online Initiatives- For the online advertising and development of the Mangalam Cement Brand, an entirely new proposal had been concocted by the releaseMyAd Digital Team which was approved by them. The team is working towards building an entirely new website for them along with handling Adwords, Banner Ads, Content Development and Social Media Marketing.
The proposed website can be reviewed on the mock-up of Mangalam.com which will be transferred to the main domain name as soon as it is complete.
Mangalam Cements have been able to establish their brand name and have pulled themselves up from the tag of a declared “sick” company purely on the basis of appropriate promotional campaigns, special employee oriented initiatives and environment welfare endorsers. They have proved themselves to be a cement manufacturing company who cares about the environment & their employee health without hampering their own sales.
Mangalam has also ventured into two other sectors in which they are flourishing and releaseMyAd is their Ad Partner. Those ventures are Mangalam Timber and Mangalam Academy.
Ad Campaigns That Define Our Success: This special section enlists the detailed Case Studies of all the successful ad campaigns run by releaseMyAd Media Pvt. Ltd. These campaigns have not only provided a new dimension to the products and services of our prestigious clients but have also construed the path towards our success as an Offline as well as Online Advertising Agency. With the help of this section we evaluate, understand and convey our advertising strategies, skills and our expertise in advertising for different media platforms.
