For Droom, Old is Gold

As per several reports, in 2014, India's used car market was valued at USD 1.5 billion with over 3.5 million units sold annually. The sector is growing at 20-22% CAGR. However, the sector is expected to value at USD 45 billion with 8 million units sold annually by 2020.

This clearly shows a huge market and several players such as CarDekho, CarTrade, OLX, Quikr, Spinny, Zoomo are trying to capture consumers mindset. As a result, Quikr Cars, OLX and CarTrade are aggressively advertising on mass media and online.

In a latest development, Droom, a 12-month-old online marketplace to buy and sell used automobiles, has launched its debut mass media campaign to reach out to spread awareness. The brand recently roped in Contract Advertising as its creative agency.

Their campaign 'Bindaas Ghoom', which includes two TVCs highlight the joys of owning a second hand vehicle, which is properly verified on all accounts. Both ads feature a couple who debate whether their recently bought vehicles warrant a celebration or not. While the men in both TVCs are reluctant to be overjoyed, the women turn the spotlight on the ways in which the vehicle will be a most pleasant addition to their lives. They appropriately underplay the importance that one attaches to the concept of being "second" and emphasize on the fact that the vehicles are "new" for them! The ads end with the tagline 'Miley feeling nai wali'. Both the films showcase the pleasure that any vehicle brings into the lives of its owners, be it new or pre-owned.

Speaking on the idea behind this campaign, Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Droom, says, "This campaign is based on consumer insights. Firstly, consumer faces a lot of trust issues while buying used cars, such as they have no clue about the condition of the car, dents, engine and price. Secondly, people attach a lot of pride in buying either a used or new car. We are urging consumers to keep Droom in the consideration set whenever they plan buy a used car. Moreover, the ticket size is much higher in our case, so we have to create trust with our users." He further added that at present Droom has the opportunity to own the market leadership.

High on Recall?

Now, since used cars has been a category to watch out for in India of late, and as pointed out, all the major players have based their advertising on the message that owning a used car is now easy and trustworthy. Though the current ad from Droom is a nicely executed film, unfortunately, until the end, people are unable to realize which brand or platform is talked about. People will have to watch the entire film to find out that it is for Droom.

Aggarwal says, "We wanted to weave an emotional story around the used cars and hence avoided using the brand name in the story. The idea was to engage and connect with the audiences. Our objective was to change the people's perception towards buying a used vehicle, which often ranges from less positive to negative attitudes as compared to buying a new car."

Commenting on the ad, Saket Vaidya, Regional Head, Business Leader and Digital Solution Architect, ‎Indigo Consulting opines that Droom has wasted a big opportunity. "It is a nicely executed film but until the end one does not recognizes that it's an ad for Droom. Moreover, the brand could have actually associated any feature of the used car buying-selling with the plot, which could have become a lingo in the category. Imagine the kind of recall, the brand would have got from it," adds Vaidya.

He further pointed at the brief given to the agency was not appropriate. "The entire tonality of the film seems to be negative. Even when people buy a used car, they celebrate it because it's a car. The brand should discourage showcasing such attitude in the ad films. One must understand that such an attitude around the used cars is fabricated but in real it does not exists. Droom could have shown how used car helps people, happiness it adds to life and other aspects. In my opinion, the agency has executed the film very wisely but the brief was not right," shares Vaidya.

A Differentiated Offering

Droom has a very transactional model where sellers list their inventory for consumers to pick and choose. So, when a consumer zeroes in on a model, he/she has to pay 2% of the listed price to Droom, which serves as a token amount to block the particular vehicle listing. Next, consumer has to visit the seller outlet and pay the left over 98% for picking up the car. However, if consumer decides not to buy the car, Droom returns the token money.

The platform also allows general consumers to list their vehicles. However, the platform claims itself to be completely different from other players operating in this market such as Quikr, OLX, CarDekho and others.

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"OLX and Quikr are online classifieds, where consumer interacts with the consumer. The trust factor for a vehicle is completely missing as people have to assess the condition of the car themselves. However, Droom provides a score to every car depending on its condition (after a thorough inspection), which assures the consumer. Moving on, CarDekho or CarTrade, are content companies that generate leads for sellers. A consumer does not want to be repeatedly called by the sellers even if he has expressed interest in buying a used car. In our case, seller has no information about a consumer until he visits his outlet. Moreover, as soon as a user commits to buy a certain car, we de-activate the listing and hence positioning the consumer as an exclusive buyer for that particular automobile," shares Aggarwal.

Droom is spending over Rs 50 crore in the coming 12 months to build its brand. It has allocated funds on TV, Print, OOH and Radio. Besides, brand has allocated a separate budget for digital including social media, performance, and others. Droom is targeting metro centric and digital savvy audience between the age group of 21 and 45 years.

The platform's overall marketing strategy includes a mix of offline and online media with three focus areas - Creating Viral Content, Performance Based Approach and Emotional Connect with audiences. "The first two areas are covered via our digital initiatives. We spend on strengthening our social media community, app downloads and performance oriented campaigns. However, to build a stronger emotional connect we are doing mass media campaigns. We are working with our agencies to create viral content, and are regularly mapping our footsteps," adds Aggarwal.

He further adds that people do a lot of research before making a decision to buy-sell car. "It is a non-impulsive category and hence digital is one of the key mediums for us. There is a huge challenge of category building ahead of us," shares Aggarwal.

For the record, in last one year, Droom has made over 6,500 transactions and currently it clams to sell 40 vehicles on an average per day. It earns 60% of its revenues from two-wheelers, 25% from cars and rest from the other services.

The brand claims to have grown 501 times since its launch in January, 2014 and has listings over Rs 1,000 crore. Aggarwal says, "At present we probably sell everything on wheels in India including plane, cars, bikes, cycles and other stuff. People can also opt for road-side assistance, insurance renewals, renting a plane, yacht, superbikes or luxury cars."

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He further claims that Droom gets over 2 million monthly visitors. It has established a 1.3 million strong community on Facebook. "Our users are spending time on research on Droom. They spend 10-19 minutes on our platform and surf nearly 21 pages at once," shares Aggarwal. The platform already provides its services in 71 cities and will be adding more. It currently works with dealers across the country and the brand is valued at upwards of Rs 300 crore.

Droom is certainly trying hard to grow in the category and acquire leadership, but will it be able to take the mindspace that is occupied by the early movers in the category is yet to be seen.

Source: http://www.adageindia.in/marketing/cmo-strategy/for-droom-old-is-gold/articleshow/50193748.cms