'It is important to diversify from traditional advertising,' says Versuni’s Pooja Baid

Consumers today are more informed, more demanding and far less likely to be persuaded by conventional messaging than they were a decade ago. As attention spans shrink and trust increasingly shifts towards experts and creators, brands are being forced to rethink not just where and how they advertise, but why consumers should care in the first place.

For Versuni India, which is home to Philips Domestic Appliances, that shift has fundamentally reshaped its marketing strategy. Pooja Baid, Chief Marketing Officer, Versuni India elaborates, “Consumers are now overexposed to advertising. It is extremely important to diversify from the traditional approach.”

This thought process informed the launch of Philips' OneChef all-in-one cooking appliance earlier this year, and continues to shape the brand’s marketing efforts in a category that has to adapt to rapidly changing consumer preferences.

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Indian consumers have always been value-conscious. However, Baid believes what they consider valuable has evolved. “About 20-25 years ago, Indian consumers valued utility more than anything else. Then they started valuing durability. Right now, they value user experience, performance and aesthetics. The values are evolving, but the fact that we are value-conscious hasn’t changed.”

At the same time, in addition to absorbing facts communicated through brand messaging, consumers are turning to creators and experts to verify claims. These changing behaviours are also reflected in Versuni's media investments. “Nearly 40 per cent of our expenditure on media actually happens on digital, which is a big chunk for an industry dominated by the use of traditional media,” Baid reveals.

But success is measured well beyond metrics like reach and impressions. "Brand consideration, brand preference and market share are the three big KPIs that we track. We are also constantly looking for efficiency metrics and tracking eventual lead conversion percentages,” Baid says, further revealing, “We actually start doing our media planning ‘outcome-backwards’, not ‘budget-forward’.”