Domain Marketing & Sales

Name of the Case: Defining the digital strategy for Pravesh (1)
Introduction: In India, a door and windows is typically made of wood and has several problems
related to quality of experience of the household: variable quality, environment unfriendly,
susceptible to termites and warp, low strength, etc. However, due to aesthetic reasons and lack of
alternatives, wood has remained the preferred material for doors.
Our research and consumer insight revealed that security and aesthetics are the prime need from
exterior doors. While steel has inherent strength, it is not considered to be 'aspirational' due to
local fabrication. We wanted to provide the consumers with a high quality solution that combined
the aesthetics of wood with the security and strength of steel. Based on these insights, ‘‘Pravesh’’
was born: factory finished steel doors with wood finish - doors that combine the strength of steel
with the elegance of wood. This is for the first time branded steel doors is being made available to
individual house builders in India. Refer website www.tatapravesh.com for product and other
details.

Current Context: ‘Pravesh’ was launched on 15th Jul’14 for retail consumers and since
then it has been a one of its kind journey for Tata Steel. This is for the first time ever that
Tata Steel has ventured into services and solutions space. Developing and launching
innovative product in a new category requires reaching out to the target consumer,
changing consumer mindset as required which means right communication, schedule and
right media mix depending on the segment, target consumer and brand positioning.
Target segment of Pravesh is given in the annexure. Despite being a new product, it is
equally important to optimize advertising to sales (A2S) ratio. Besides, with the advent of
Social media and more consumers becoming digital savvy, the importance of Digital
marketing becomes very relevant. Most of the consumers generally want to know the
details of the product on digital media before taking any decision.

Problem Statement/Challenges Faced: Given the Pravesh target segment and

understanding that Pravesh is to be positioned as lifestyle brand, should we focus more
on digital marketing given that it has faster reach? What should be the share of the total
marketing budgets for digital marketing and what should be the key communication in
digital space? Besides, what vehicles should be used in the digital space and if social
media marketing is relevant? Given that it takes time to build a new brand digitally, how
do we engage with the consumers on this media?

Critical Case Questions (6 in nos.)

1. What should be the digital communication strategy for a ‘developing’ consumer durable
product like Pravesh?
2. What percentage of the total advertising budget should be spent on digital media?
3. For this particular question, assuming the constraint of Rs 2 crore at maximum for digital
media spends, Devise media mix by attributing spends on your suggested digital
platforms/vehicles along with reason to spend and the growth envisaged.
4. What should be the route of communication and communication style to represent the
functional attributes of the product or emotional attributes like security, safety on digital
media?
5. How should we engage with the consumers on a consistent basis on digital media for a
category like doors/windows?
6. How should we encourage the customers to purchase doors / windows online?
Domain Marketing & Sales
Name of the Case: Develop marketing strategy for Aashiyana, an early engagement platform
for individual home builders (2)
Introduction: Construction of homes in India continue to remain a desirable but challenging
project for the average Individual Home Builder (IHB) as lack of relevant guidance, ideas and
information, significantly limit a home builder’s capability to get his/her ‘dream home’
constructed. Between lack of reliable information and not knowing whom to trust, home building
is a very difficult task for an average home builder. Keeping these challenges in mind, Tata Steel
launched a new website, Aashiyana, in May’18, to address the varied needs of Individual Home
Builders (IHB), the core customer segment for its Rs 5,800-crore retail brand Tata Tiscon. With
this new digital portal, Tata Steel aims to engage early with the retail customers and foster long-
term relationships with them, in turn helping expand the retail footprint in India.

Current Context: Aashiyana (aashiyana.tatasteel.com) is an innovative online platform that

empowers home builders by providing them with easy to use solutions like tools related to
research and planning, inspirational ideas and reliable contacts, at their fingertips. Ranging from
a large range of architectural designs to browse and get inspired by, to finding a trusted service
provider in their locality, Aashiyana platform supports the home builders across their home
building journey. It also offers customers a very convenient and reliable platform to purchase
Tata Steel products such as Tata Tiscon rebars, Pravesh doors and windows, thus making home
building a joyful process.

Aashiyana was launched in three districts on May 8th, 2018 and rolled-out to 36 districts by end
of Aug’18. The launch includes onboarding authorized Tata Tiscon/Pravesh dealers, masons
registered under Tata Tiscon Loyalty Programme and chief architects from the district. As it has
also been experienced from past campaigns that ATL campaigns do not give desired return on
investment for high premium brand like Tata Tiscon in a commoditized market, currently,
awareness is being created through mini dealer meets, mason meets, architect meets and
consumer meets. Additionally, digital marketing campaigns are being driven to increase traffic to
the website. The targets are exponential, targeting 100 priority districts and 10X sales by FY19.

Problem Statement/Challenges Faced:

With the current marketing avenues, Aashiyana is able to generate website traffic and create
awareness for Aashiyana, however, conversions to sales and increase in visitor browse time is still
a challenge. To build up on the opportunity of being first of its kind platform in India, it is
imperative to scale up at a faster pace. Given this, the current challenge is to design the right
marketing strategy, giving an optimum ROI, for faster scale up.

Critical Case Questions (4 in nos.)

1. Propose an integrated communication plan and media mix (digital as well as non-digital), building
up a consumer experience journey from the time an IHB gets to know about Aashiyana, till
purchase gets completed and the consumer refers the platform to someone?
2. Suggest new features and design a content plan for aashiyana.tatasteel.com for next 12 months.
3. Which other products or service providers can be added to Aashiyana, targeting similar consumer
base and eventually influencing Tata Tiscon e-commerce sales? Conduct a feasibility check on each
of the proposed segments.
4. Identify existing competitors in the domain who are offering similar solutions. What can we learn
and adapt from these competitors? We can also cross-learn from similar platforms from other
industries, suggest a few ideas that have worked successfully for other industries and can be
adopted for individual home builders.
Domain Marketing & Sales
Name of the Case: To develop scale-up strategy for Steel based premium prefabricated housing
solution to achieve sustainable business growth (3)
Introduction:
Nest-In is a Steel-based modular construction solution brand of Tata Steel. With its pan-India
presence, and highly efficient delivery mechanism, Nest-in provides a complete turnkey solution
with unique customer experience at its core. It is suitable for various applications like pre-fab
housing (HabiNest), pre-fab modular toilets (EzyNest), portable cabins (MobiNest), All Time Water
Kiosk (AquaNest) and premium prefabricated housing (Nestudio). This case deals with Premium
prefab housing, Nestudio.

Background
Prefabricated Steel structures using Light Gauge Steel Frame (LGSF) based technology
was commercialized in 2013 to serve the requirements of Industrial peripheral housing,
Anganwari, School building, accommodations in remote areas, Police barracks, Hostels
etc. This solution had less acceptability in Urban housing due to less visual appeal of the
structure in Urban parlance.

For the Urban Housing Segment, following are few latent needs of the IHOs (Individual
House Owners):
- Premium looking home, Unique identity to the owner
- Engineered solution to integrate with existing brick-mortar structure
- Fast construction
- Maximum utilization of space available
- One stop, hassle-free solution

The above requirement triggered an idea of utilizing the available urban space with house
or land owners like a farmhouse, rooftop of the buildings, floor or room extensions etc. A
Steel based premium finish prefabricated construction solution is developed and
commercialized in 2017 with following features:

 Light Weight: Around 12 times lighter than conventional Brick & Mortar
structure. It can be built easily on the roof of existing building
 Premium looks: Specially coated Steel wall panels with Wood, Brick or
Stone finish
 Turn-Key solution: Complete house installation with electrical, plumbing,
tiling and finishing
 Fast and Dry construction : A 400 sqft house can be installed in 21 days
with minimal hassles of material storage, dust and construction noise
 Unique design and identity to the owner: Selectively customized as per
requirement
  Technically developed solution: Steel based insulated wall and roof panels
fitted with sturdy structural connections to existing building thereby
withstanding the wind and seismic load

Nestudio is a turnkey solution developed with pre-coated Steel sheets made into
insulated sandwich panels with PUF. The walls and roof are fitted to Steel frame fixed to
floor concrete with bolts. Internal flooring is finished with branded tiles and roofing with
false ceiling. The electrical and plumbing is concealed and branded bath fittings are
inclusive in the solution. It comes with Steel doors and UPVC windows fitted with high
quality locks.

Impact of this solution:

Economic :
There are existing buildings where the rooftop cannot be used for constructing another
floor with conventional construction as the building foundation is not designed
considering new load. But since Nestudio is a lightweight solution it can be built on
rooftops of conventional house. Hence the IHBs can utilise the space meaningfully.
Social :
Every family experiences the need of additional rooms as the family expands with time.
Nestudio can quickly give the solution to the immediate need of a family for extra
house space. Also a need to upgrade the lifestyle with GYM, separate study room,
house office etc can be fulfilled in existing land area.
Environment :
Nestudio is a dry construction technique where steel based components and
connections are used.
If conventional construction is replaced by Nestudio for a single hall house (400 sqft),
following resource can be avoided in comparison to Brick and Mortar structure.
Cement : 68 bags , River Sand : 10.5 Cum, Stone : 4.5 Cum, Bricks : 7500 Nos., Water :
1700 Liters. There are less site activities hence less waste generation and noise
pollution at site.

Visuals (Nestudio):
This prefab solution is targeted to farmhouse owners, roof owners of buildings in metros,
professionals with urgent need to extend house-offices, cottage and tourism sector in
hilly terrains and homestays. The territories identified for growth are Uttarakhand,
Sikkim, Kerala, Goa and metro cities of Delhi, NCR and Kolkata. Some potential uses are:
Housing needs with 1BHK or 2 BHK, GYM, Puja room, offices, cottages, outhouses, study
rooms, classrooms, conference rooms, halls etc.

The lead time to convert a typical enquiry of 400 sqft of value around INR 8 lacs takes 20-
30 days with multiple levels of design iterations and 4-6 personal visits to the customer.
This creates a requirement of multiple sales executives and designers and requires high
level of engagement with customer.

Currently this need is met locally in an unorganized market through local contractors or
builders who construct structures with Steel pipes and provide façade with glass, non-
insulated steel sheets, ACP, wood panels or cement boards. To be cost competitive, local
electrical and bath fittings are used, the finishing is not upto the customer expectation.

Visuals (Competition):
Problem Statement/Challenges Faced

This solution caters to the latent needs of an individual. Being an unconventional

construction method, only a certain small percentage of audience appreciates the
functional benefits of this offering. The premium aesthetics appeal to a specific segment
only who aspires for an upgraded lifestyle. This solution comes at a price range of 30-40%
higher than the brick-mortar construction solution but it serves needs which are not met
with concrete structures. This offering is not a substitute to conventional construction but
a solution to extend or upgrade and hence comes at a different price point. The challenge
is to identify and reach these individuals with need to upgrade and comfortable to adopt
premium unconventional prefab construction solution.
Critical Case Questions (4 in nos.)

1. To do market segmentation and suggest value proposition for each segment which
the company should offer in order to achieve desired growth
2. To identify most effective and efficient marketing mediums for each segment
3. To identify relevant early adopters and explore a media to reach potential
customers who appreciates unconventional product ranges or seek solutions to
enhance and upgrade their living standards
4. To develop detailed strategy to scale-up in identified territories and propose ways
to shorten the enquiry conversion time considering the need of a customer for
customization and the high level of engagement required by sales team