5 Strategies To Learn From SaReGaMa’s Carvaan

“Nostalgia could be the right chord to strike!” - Aparajita Misra, Editorial Lead

India’s oldest record company took us by surprise last May 2017, by launching a retro device in the digital age, called Carvaan. If we take a deeper look it involves interesting technology behind the vintage feel. Carvaan is a digital audio player, with 5000 evergreen songs from yesteryears. It comes with in built speakers, definitely, cares about your moods, you can operate the library without internet, and not to miss out on Ameen Sayani’s legendary voice on Geetmala’s shadow.  It is a multi purpose portable music player which looks like an old radio set with big buttons, a jog-dial, an inbuilt speaker and a small screen that displays the name of the song being played. 

With All the “noise” around, marketers must adopt a unique approach to reaching and keeping their consumers, in this case, keeping your listeners engaged. Making emotional connections in the simplest ways possible could be the great solution to interact. 

Would you agree that an emotional connection is more important than customer satisfaction? 

Here are 5 key strategies I gathered from the recent launch of Caravan: 

First, Data is Vital

SaReGaMa has a music repertoire across several genres and languages. Its library has over one lakh tracks. This data assisted them in joining the right data sources, giving them the ability to go beyond whats hot to uncover or bring back old sounds via their latest product launch. It has also helped SaReGaMa in understanding their consumer demand and the unmet gap which was calling to be filled.  

By building a real-time musical social graph, this record company made the right investments in musical talent, and product, and also assisted in executing a smarter marketing plan that targets specific listeners and buyers. Data is a way for the record industry to deliver better music at a lower cost, creating an improved business model that can be successful with the right data platform. The intelligence derived from Big Data has proven to predict how we listen and buy music in today’s time. 

With the latest streaming model, the floodgates clearly stand wide open. Companies have access to detailed information such as when, how, where, and who is listening to what. Which was likely to be a big help for Caravan’s birth!

As a result of gathering real-time, detailed information and generating unique insights across the music ecosystem, Big Data is clearly the driving force in the rise of the music industry in India. 

Second, Consider The Experience You Offer

SaReGaMa understood the shared understanding of who their most valuable customers are and how to meet their needs. They struck the right chord to engage a forgotten segment of listeners i.e. the cool ones from the 1960s to 1980s.

We build brand loyalty by giving our listeners the feeling that they are important to us. There are many levels to this — from using the language they'll connect with, to treating them like they matter on social media, or in this case by launching a product which made them feel important. Engaging with who they are apart from a hand with a wallet will build customer loyalty. 

Third, Humanise & Make it Personal

Carvaan, relates to memories, emotions, it relates to the listener's moods. It’s refreshing to experience something that would make you smile. It’s essential to remember, as a business, an artist, or a manager, that you have to build a connection. It is essential to create a brand experience which is more emotional than cognitive.

I still remember tearing up in joy during an AR Rahman’s concert, it was an experience seeded but seemed so natural. The various factors which contributed to this were the sound, stage production, visuals, the dim lights, and lit lighters which accompanied a unique version of my favorite song being sung. It was the consistency, the continued relationship which was maintained by AR Rahman’s team with the fans. That experience until today ignites a certain emotion in me, the thought of it covers me in goosebumps,  and I can associate it with a memory. 

Carvaan, ignites memories, emotions and ensures a long-term relationship with their listeners.

The key is to "humanize" the brand through products and services that solve problems. You want people to get excited about your business, and that can’t happen without establishing an emotional connection. That means treating every touch point with your customers like a face-to-face conversation. What information would you share? How would you talk about your products? Would you be smiling? Consumers have a lot of choices. It's your job as a marketer to give them a reason to care. Bingo! Carvaan definitely was a risk worth taking, well done SaReGaMa! 

Fourth, Fulfilling a Need

India's population aged 50 and over is expected to double by 2050 when nearly one-third of its total population would fall in this age group, according to a US census. SaReGaMa, consciously or not took a very important step here by making a neglected segment of our population feel important, by launching a product specially designed for them. From the point of view of meeting an unmet demand. Even from the point of view of having no player addressing this segment when it comes to music, hence opening a unique revenue stream as a record label.

In the age of digital, Carvaan is seen as a more personal, tangible and meaningful present than, say, an iTunes voucher. The introduction of Carvaan can be linked to the disposable nature of modern formats like streaming and downloading, the short-attention span generation as well.

In my opinion, It is all about the process. There are so many distractions in today’s date, we’re always doing 1000 things. Listening to Carvaan is something to do without your phone, it’s something where you can stop and enjoy it and get rid of all the other distractions. It’s the way older generation like to consume music. They will stream and download as well maybe, but people who really pay attention to music like sitting on a couch and listening to a record, in this case, Carvaan.

The unmet demand of having something tangible, something real, emotional, and experiential can never be replaced by the online alternatives of music consumption. This could be a food for thought, while technology can be immersive and futuristic, Carvaan strikes the perfect balance between then and now.

Fifth, The Power Of Nostalgia Marketing 

Old is new! Old is Gold! Gold is Evergreen! I can go on with the idioms, but you get the point right? Carvaan undoubtedly was a great way for SaReGaMa’s come back using Nostalgia Marketing! 

Be it choker necklaces, Harry Potter or Pokémon, the resurrection of vinyl, it feels like a serious blast from the past. As the years go by, we all develop a certain degree of nostalgia for our younger days. The games we played, the food we ate, the music we listened to – they all make us feel something. Tapping into fond memories can be an invaluable tactic, especially for engaging your listeners. Globally, smart brands are engaging through retro roots — and it’s called nostalgia marketing.

Unless you live under a rock, chances are you’ve heard something about the interactive mobile game that took the world by storm. ‘Pokémon GO’ an extraordinary example of nostalgia marketing done well. But — and maybe even more importantly — the app also offers great insight into the power of coupling nostalgia with modern relevance. Precisely the path SaReGaMa as a record label followed as well. It definitely is too early to judge if the product would take the country by storm, but’ we’ll be watching. 

In the Indian music space, as you might have noticed, there is a rise of cover songs, artists on YouTube, and television, Vidya Vox, Penn Masala, Aditya Narayan, or even multiple brands recent one being “Nexa” considering Monica Dogra, Vishal Dadlani to cover international hits. In the digital age, piggybacking on covers has been a popular way for artists to get attention; this too falls under a category of nostalgia marketing. The numbers have been speaking, more and more YouTube stars are discovered via tributes. 

On a closing note, In an age of impersonal digital media, building social connectedness through nostalgia is an easy way for companies to leverage the optimistic feelings that often accompany walks down memory lane. Associating brand messaging with positive references from the 90s, 80s — and even the 60s-70s in this case — humanizes brands, forging meaningful connections between the past and present.