Mahindra Renault Customer Research

Guys,

I got this call from some firm which is inviting Logan Owners for this special meet on Monday 28th July @ The Grand Hyatt, Vakola, Mumbai. He didnt quite elaborate on much but he said we were receiving some complaints on dealerships in Mumbai and lack of Service Centers in the western line. This meeting, he said, was to discuss with the customers on these issues and try to understand the difficulties faced.

I am very happy at this initiative by the company and am definately going to attend the same. If other Loganizers from Mumbai want to attend, u can get in touch with me on my phone - 9892598827. You can also contact Vikram from that agency on 9892070342.

I guess if we want redressal to our grievances, we should definately attend such meets.

If anyone is planning to come, Please also mention in this post. If u can, mention your contact details so that we can get in touch.

WHEN WHEN are they doing it in Delhi??

Quote :

Research In the Automobile Industry.

Dear Saumil

We represent the Business and Automobile Research Division part of Hindustan Thomson Associates.

We hereby extend our invitation to your good self to Participate in this Round Table Discussion,scheduled to be held at Hotel Grand Hyatt Business Centre Santacruz (E) opp Asian Paints dated 28^th JULY 2008 – MONDAY 7.00pm onwards followed by Dinner.

We are inviting current car owners of MAHENDRA RENAULT LOGAN.

We
have identified you as a valueable source of information for this
research programe and we request you to please give us some time from
your busy schedule.
Incase if you have any further quaries pls do contact me and I shall be obliged to respond your Quaries.
As a token of our Appriciation our client would be giving GIFT VOUCHERS………

Solicate your Co-operation and thanking you in advance for agreeing your
valuable time with us.


Thanking You,

Yours Faithfully
Sejal Bhatt
Head Operations

This is the invitation Email i received. Seems like this is another company altogether doing it independently. I will still go ahead and attend and post details thereafter.

Alrite, had a word with them again, they say its Hindustan Thompsot JWT(James Walter Thompson) Research division carrying out the activity for Mahindra Renault. They say, MR is themselves not doing it to avoid customer bias which may affect the process in their presence. They also have another activity for the ladies @ the JW Mariott tomorrow. Not sure if it is only for the Logan.
Will post more tomorrow post the meet. It starts @ 7 and ends post dinner.

Thats a great initiative. Do let them know about the forum, brother. Also please ask if they are doing something in delhi.

And dont forget to point them to the Dacia Logan and the differences and ask WHY
Stu

Yea sure Martin and ashutosh, i'll keep your concers and suggestions in mind.
Also i am worried and shocked that i cant see ANY other Loganizer in the Forum coming ahead to join in for such a meet.

I am sure this will take place in other places of India too very soon. This the perfect ambience to voice our copmlaints as well as appreciation.

Saumil,
The invitation as I can see from their mail was for you, if they dont invite any other Loganizer how do you expect them to join you!

Dude,
i have mentioned the number, if u call them and talk, they'll send u an invite too. Its not abt u and me, its about the larger perspective as of now..

I cannot understand why they misspell there own name or am i wrong ?
MAHENDRA RENAULT LOGAN. surely its Mahindra
Stu

Ya i found tat funny as well
There are a few more,
Quaries
Appriciation
Mahendra is the Mother of all Goofups

Watch out Mate!!!
Google this or even get in touch with Mahindra .We have something like this in Germany but we get a questionair sent to us
Stu

Yes, there are questionaires too. This seems to be another research program or so. Lesse. Will post the experience.

http://www.wpp.com/WPP/Companies/OfficeDetail.htm?id=82

They sound real enough now so enjoy your meeting
Stu

But dont buy anything !!

They have mentioned very clear that this isnt any sales meet so nothing is sold, only discussions for their client i.e. Mahindra Renault.
I had checked this before and btw JWT is a very big ad firm here and also other parts of the world.

I am surprised that they still refer to themselves as HTA, the name has been changed to JWT many years ago ... coupled with the spelling errors, I am going to look in to this...

i wish they do something like this in Delhi soon.. AC Nielsen is doing the JD Power survey here and I was administered a very long questionnaire recently..

Alrite Guys,

It wasnt exactly a customer meet to discuss dealer issues so i changed the topic. It actually was a Reasearch program in which 10 people per Conference room with a conductor. This was a program by IMRB - http://www.imrbint.com with JWT.

The conductor of the program actually was to study different people mindsets. To understand what we like and WHY? There was a camera and mic in the room connected to another room. Actually, they werent supposed to tell us that this is for the Logan cause they think then that the response of the customer would get biased, for/against the company. Neways, they did well before the start of the thing to make us believe that this actually wasnt for the Logan at all but only for their research i.e. for IMRBThey started with Questions that would enable them to study our lifestyles. As 2 hours passed, and we went towards the Automobiles segment, it did stuck me that this was definately for the Logan. They showed us many different Models of cars and asked us to rate them. The pictures also included The NEW LOGAN and the SANDERO. There were some everyone liked, some, some liked/disliked and some everyone disliked. Whatever the answer, people were asked their reasons for the same. WHY u like it/dislike it.They expecially strerssed on that cause the wanted ot actually understand what an Indian customer Likes/Dislikes. It was getting obvious by now. Later, They also spoke about the other features of cars, What we would like and what we could do without. Features like Power Windows, Climate Control AC's, Better Dashboard, Steering Adjustment, Power Window switches, Better Headlights amongst others made my doubt certain. It actually was a good session since i especially like debates and group discussions. At the end, we were to have dinner at the Hotel and were handed Shoppers Stop Gift vouchers worth Rs. 750 each.

Btw, when i left the conference room, i peeped in the other room (Bad Manners ) where the wires from our room were going and found 3 Foreigners sitting and viewing our video and discussing about it. On further prodding the conductor of our GD, she told me that they were from Renault. The whole activity was carried out for them to Understand the Indian Customer better for their Further Launches.


Goood Move by Renault i MUST say

Bravo!!

Yep, definitely a good move. Let's hope that all this pain they took will result in something good.

"Mahindra Renault has launched a new campaign for its mid-sized sedan, Logan. "While the car delivers very well at the product level, we intend to connect Logan better emotionally with its target audience in the new campaign," said Nalin Mehta, COO, Mahindra Renault.
Launched last year to make a foray in the mid-sized segment, Mahindra Renault's Logan is pitted against popular sedans like the Honda City, Ford Fiesta, Maruti Suzuki SX4 and Indigo. While the launch films, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi, had dual objectives of establishing Renault and the car in India, the new campaign attempts to "glorify the personality of Logan," explained Mehta. Positioned as a car for the 'thinking man', "who if carefully considers various options before buying a car, will most probably settle for a Logan", according to Mehta, the campaign features Kunal Kapoor, the brand ambassador of the car.
The TVC details a day in the life of the protagonist. His musings are all about how everyone follows the herd in life situations. According to the voice-over, "We behave the same way, dress the same way, and even buy the same kind of cars…If only we'd stop for a moment and ask ourselves…but why?, Logan is the perfect repartee to all such questions."
The commercial ends with the new baseline – Logan: The answer is here."

What is JWT/HTA doing for a Brand that is handled by Saatchi and Saatchi!!!!

JWT handles the Ford group (IKON, FIESTA, ENDEAVOR) in the automobile category!

One agency cannot handle more than one brand per category because there might be conflict of interest.

Hercule Poirot: "So where were you on the night of the the 28th of July?"

Ha! Ha! Saumil you have a lot of answering to do (not to us ofcourse, you know who)

What TOM says does make sense..
But BTW it was IMRB who carried out the activity. What comes to my mind is that IMRB being a research company, must be collecting data for SAATCHI and SAATCHI. Being from the business of BTL advt. i know that most of the works are outsourced. Yes JWT and SAATCHI and SAATCHI does make things fishy. Anyways though, JWT was not involved in the whole activity. It was carried out by IMRB as i said. JWT/HTA was mentioned to me only while the in the phone call... Neways, will try probing further into it and let u guys know when i do find out something.. Actually, the guy who called me was a very confused man {vikram}, the day before when i called him to confirm if it was happening, he told me "Yes sir, its definately happening at the Mariott". I was shocked cause i was invited to the Grand Hyatt. On telling him that, he said "ya ya sir, we have about 3-4 such activities happening." Probably, he may have mistakenly told me the JWT/HTA Bid. They anyhow seemed freelancers, probably working for IMRB to identify and collect people....
Thats my interpretation...
But definately will try probing further into this

What about the email u received. There is written proof that HTA/JWT is involved ....

which would make me think ....

Which is the Ford Fiesta's competition ... the Logan ... if Ford were to introduce a new variant of the Fiesta, or a new model, whom do they need to address, Logan owners of course, (the others are already loyal to Fiesta) !!

Elementary, my dear Watson! Or rather, that's Tom's interpretation of the whoe episode!