The new Nano Avatar

The iPhone launch featured in the top 10 business stories in 2007. Yes, Apple had a banner year in 2007. The stock more than doubled thanks to strong sales of the new iPhone, revamped iPods, and updated Macs.

But that was last year. Rocked by the January roller coaster, can Apple live up to investor expectations for 2008? With that in mind, the world will be paying a lot of attention to what Apple Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs has to say during his keynote address at the company's Macworld show on January 15th.

The people’s car, Tata Nano is the new Nano Avatar. This is an interesting twist to innovation. Professor C K Prahalad calls this process of “constrained innovation” as working within the Innovation Sandbox. Priced at US$2500, this is the world’s cheapest car.

There is a worldwide applause – see how the world sees the Nano. We have seen several examples of marketing driving introductions across the world. Perhaps here is an unprecedented mass market driving product - an embodiment of constrained innovation and design credited to Girish Wagh. Which makes me think of it as a hallmark innovation, a new year gift from Ratan Tata to the people of India, not to be easily dislodged from its pride of place in the annals of product innovations making a dream fortune at the bottom of the pyramid come true.

Can Apple eclipse this marvel? I doubt it.

Because the Tata Nano acts a catalyst to attract a section of existing two-wheeler owners, currently estimated at about 50 million, to upgrade to a car. Because Tata Nano pushes the envelope for the others in the revolutionary bandwagon like another Indian manufacturer Bajaj, the biggies like Renault, Nissan, Volkswagen, Skoda and Fiat in the race to build low cost cars. Given the shape of the income distribution in India, the new price point of Tata Nano translates into a 65 per cent increase in the number of families that can afford a car.

Another feather in the cap of incredible India.

“Can the world afford it?” is a mere rhetoric when we recognize this as a breakthrough innovation. Tata Nano is Made in India. Made for India. It has already proven to be an “innovation platform” promising a huge potential for several breakthrough innovations to follow suit. This is probably another reason for the people of India to celebrate that business and a booming economy will mobilize necessary civic focus to expediently act on the infrastructural needs. To me, this is such a enchanting innovation that will catapult infrastructural development and social transition in India, way beyond the much discoursed demographic dividend and the neo-statistical architecture of India. This is serious innovation that warrants the molting off of a best practice mind set. As Rama Bijapurkar writes in her “Winning in the Indian Market”, the question to ask of the Indian market is not “When will the Indian market be ready for my global best-practice strategy?” but, rather, “When will I be ready to create the next-practice strategy for the Indian market?”

Well founded on such a platform and born out of a constrained innovation, it would serendipitously garner enough muscle and improvement to roll out in due course to other emerging markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa within four years, per plans. Environmental "nightmares" will also be cradled in sleep.

That said, I am curious to see if there is a distinctly differentiated marketing approach to Tata Nano - a next practice strategy. On the day of the launch, the Tata Nano ad was:

It's here. The new Tata Nano
To end all speculation, debate and talk!

The news paper headlines and copy were, to me, a lot more engaging than the Tata Nano ad or its tatapeoplescar.com website:
When you have such a mega innovation in Product, the elements in the marketing mix ought to be holistically derived (see an interesting framework).

It is reported that Tata Motors will initially produce 250,000 cars and expects to sell almost a million cars annually. Estimates from analysts are that the profit per car will be around US$100. That warrants a non-traditional approach that generates a return on marketing investment (reported budget of US$1.25 million this year) that is consistent with this business model. With such a heroic product, marketing communication cannot be prosaic ads, announcements and typical TV spots. Nor can it be a routine website. I see some ad agency "creatives" in India peppering some thoughts on How to sell the Tata Nano.

Did Tata Nano that hit the headlines in almost all mainline newspapers warrant announcement advertising? Doesn't this deserve an equally smart and innovative marketing approach? A rehashed media plan or a typical ad campaign is not the answer to this unique opportunity for marketing to create shareholder value.

The marketing strategy of Tata Nano will be integral to its performance in the market place. The financial imperative on marketing the people’s car is explicit. Morphing the marketing strategy to enhance the consumer experience and engage the car’s people is implicit.