Mumbai: Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, or R-Adag, enlisted 5,000 of its own employees for the test launch of its direct-to-home television service. The employees were encouraged to air their opinions on the service, and then offered a discounted subscription that was extended to friends and relatives whom they referred to the company.
Subscribers touched 70,000 even before the launch, and at least 65,000 have come from employees and their referrals, says a company spokesperson.
Trendsetter: A file photo of a worker at a Dell facility in Austin, Texas. Dell was among the first companies to harness employee feedback in developing new products and improving existing ones. Photograph: Bloomberg
Welcome to marketing in competitive and trying times, when the employee is increasingly being drafted as a brand evangelist by companies to help spread the word on their products, or even to sample, hawk or co-create products.
The company benefits through quick and cost-effective brand communication by effectively having its entire staff on its marketing team; it boosts workforce morale and helps companies retain employees, for whom a product-promotion role could also mean extra money.
“The Reliance ADA Group is one of India’s largest employers with close to 100,000 employees,” says Girish Shah, head of branding at R-Adag. “Employees as a consumer community are our ‘influencer consumers’ and an ideal platform for launch and assessment of customized services and consumer promotions, new product launches etc.”
Tapping its employees’ creative vein, Tata Teleservices Ltd allows employees to sample products first and has a programme called ‘Idea-Beans’ which allows employees to suggest products or innovations that could be launched by the company. If the idea materializes as a product or a product feature, the employee is rewarded.
Kiran Khalap, co-founder, Chlorophyll Brand and Communications Pvt. Ltd, says that over time, first consumers and customers and then employees, have become owners of the corporate brand.
“This is a seminal story: the change in balance between what we in Chlorophyll refer to as the ‘legal owners of the brand’ and ‘psychological owners of the brand’,” says Khalap.
Employee referrals
Many companies have been using employees to help them get good people—while also inspiring them to sample products or engage in corporate social responsibility marketing.
Coca-Cola India Ltd’s referral programme is called OK4KO and works more like a recruitment program.