Customers Are Our Ultimate Brand Advocates: Mayuri Saikia, Dell

The past two years have evidently accelerated the need to leverage technological solutions as consumers rely on them more to connect with the world. As per IDC’s latest results, the Indian PC market, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, delivered a strong year with shipment growth of 44.5% year-over-year. 

In an exclusive interview, Mayuri Saikia, Director of Marketing (Consumer), Dell Technologies India shares how their customers are always at the core of everything they do and how they are committed to ensuring that there is no disruption in the way of their purchase. She asserts how their services and sales teams, supply chain, and partners have been working together to meet the evolving needs.

"On Dell.com, we maintained our traction via a robust product portfolio and support from trusted technology advisors for our consumers as they navigated the new normal. We are also leading with post-sales support, and our ProSupport services offer customers direct access to engineers for hardware and software challenges and pre-emptive issue management," she explains.

On Dell's Marketing Plan As Schools Reopen

Technology is now playing an increasingly important part in the lives of students, as seen by the fast adoption of innovative learning methodologies. Aligning with this trend, we are leveraging our technology leadership to meet the evolving demands of the education industry.

Furthermore, we have been driving PC adoption in India through various initiatives under the #PC4Education campaign. Dell has been creating awareness of the use of PC technology through its initiative Dell Aarambh, by engaging with students, teachers, and parents (mothers). The goal of Dell Aarambh is to make PC tech an integral tool for learning, harnessing creativity, and building critical thinking for the future workforce. Through this program, Dell has engaged with close to 1 million students and trained more than 1,00,000 teachers and about 1,50,000 mothers from about 5,000 schools across 78 cities. Our latest campaign is another step in positioning the PC as a gateway to learning and creativity.

On Dell's Recent Campaign

We have witnessed a dramatic shift in the learning sector and laptops have been at the forefront of this evolution. From schooling to learning and imparting lessons, PCs played a key role in helping students and teachers adapt to the changing environment. Another important element is that kids these days exhibit independence and often turn to the internet for doubt solving, clarification, or whatever their curious minds may throw at them. The key insight therefore into creating this campaign was this evolution.

Conceptualised and developed by creative agency VMLY&R, this campaign is the larger umbrella of Dell’s annual #BackToSchool and #BackToCollege campaigns. The main ad film is set against the backdrop of a modern classroom, which showcases new ways of learning for students and teachers delivering impactful teaching in a fun manner. It emphasises how students are making the most of their laptops to immerse themselves in the world of experiential learning as well as honing their talent for extracurricular activities. The TVC also showcases how Dell’s Inspiron 2-in-1 PCs play an integral role in actioning an idea that inspires students to innovate, collaborate and achieve their dreams.

The campaign kicks off with a brand film followed by a 360-degree amplification, across television, radio, digital and social media with prime associations and high-impact creatives. The second phase of the campaign features Harsha Bhogle, Tisca Chopra, Mandira Bedi, and Amrita Raichand advocating how the PC is augmenting experiential learning, which helps students understand concepts better and retain information. The second and third phases will extend to social media, YouTube shorts, on-ground activations, retail and online promotions. The brand film will be broadcasted across India in 5 languages including Hinglish, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and English, and showcased on OTT platforms like Sony Liv, Voot, MX Player, and Zee5.

On Gaps Expected To Fill With This Campaign

As schools and universities continued to operate remotely for the second year in a row, the need for a computer grew critical for students. Some students who previously used smartphones/tablets for virtual classes switched to PCs for reasons such as larger screen size and ease of use. The campaign reimagines the PC as a gateway to learning new skills, transforming education, extra-curricular activities, and in a fast-changing digital world. It highlights the PC as an enabler for the future of learning, especially with schools and colleges adopting hybrid learning at scale. More importantly, it brings to the limelight how learning is changing every day, and so has the way kids learn.

On The Campaign Amplifying Dell’s Beliefs Further

We strongly believe that customers are our ultimate brand advocates and we regularly engage with them for their feedback and incorporate it into our offerings. This campaign further fuels our goal of delivering the best-in-class technology and experiences that help build lasting relationships and trust with our customers.

On Ingredients Of An Award-Winning Campaign

In today's consumer-centric environment, a campaign's effectiveness is largely determined by how well it resonates with the target demographic. This is more likely when vivid and innovative visual content and information are used heavily, as they influence how a consumer perceives the campaign. A 360-degree approach with a mix of traditional, digital and social influence elements can make for a winning pitch. The final component that ties all of these elements together is the purpose behind it. Brands must ensure that they have a strong objective that creates an impact on their audience and encourages them to act accordingly.