"There is enough evidence to suggest that the biggest users of SMS are Screenagers-youngsters who spend a lot of time before a screen" Siddharth Varma, Managing Director & Country Head, Reebok India

Parikh will need to take a decision depending upon his target segment. If his audience is middle-aged corporate users who need to be careful about not twisting their backs, then he's wasting his time with mobile marketing. It might also be worthwhile for the messaging service to seek prior permission from its users on being open or not, to promotional offers.

However, there is enough evidence to suggest that users of SMS and internet-based consumer promotions are Screenagers-young men and women who spend a lot of time sitting before a screen of some sort. Of a phone, a computer terminal, a TV etcetera. Their biggest concerns are looking good and wearing the right brands-all, of course, at affordable prices.

With suitable alterations to the proposed advertising slogan ('Your Body Needs Your Help' has a well-over-the-hill tenor), Parikh can gainfully employ mobile marketing to sell products to a growing tribe of young men and women who are very concerned about looking fit and sporty. The two key success factors in making this medium work are identified correctly by Mittal-strong value propositions and entertainment.

Targeting 15-25-year-old Screenagers will no doubt reduce the number of messages one needs to send, to a figure well below 14 million. This group is less cynical towards advertising, more receptive to promotional offers and SMS is its verbal shorthand. Moreover, they are typically early-adopters. And brands that use new technology to talk to early-adopters not only increase their chances of making sales, but also create positive associations, especially if the ad ideas are novel.

However, the content of the message, for both opt-ins and sales responses, needs deeper thought. A free customised fitness program based on one's personal fitness goals is often offered as an opt-in by sporting goods brands and never fails to elicit a positive response. Mittal might well be successful in building his database to begin with, but getting a sales response will be more challenging than a price-off at Parikh's cost. A strong value proposition (read 'price-off or discount'), as he suggests, may be a fail-safe option (Rs 800!), but is disastrous for Parikh's P&L in the long run.

Parikh would be advised to steer clear of such short-term sales growth tactics, and examine his product portfolio in the context of this medium's relevance. Sports shoes are high purchase-ivolvement products, with the added complexity of size and fit, and online distribution of such merchandise has not had much success around the world. People like to try on footwear before buying, especially so in the running fraternity.

However, fitness gear is definitely worth examining, as consumer needs tend to be diverse while availability and awareness are low. Customised fitness recommendations from Sculpt should lead to the sale of personal solutions and equipment. Sculpt should use this database and its SMS advisory service to service this niche, and offer a bouquet of services-health checks, health club and personal trainer referrals, home gym installations and nutritional supplements.

To conclude, nothing can stop a good marketing idea whose time has come. If people do not respond to a good message, be it on fitness or a SARS attack, you need to shoot the messenger. Not the first time, but only if he or she is late for the race.

"Given the current consumer trends in the urban populace, an adept marketer should make fitness look fashionable to the audience" Ajay Gupta, Chief Consultant, BrandProphet

A study of new consumer trends would indicate a shift towards fashion and fitness-consciousness in the urbane populace. An adept marketer should therefore make 'fitness' look 'fashionable' to this audience. But the challenge is to drive the message home effectively, given the ever-decreasing attention span of the consumer. Now, modern marketing tools need to be collaborative and require a feedback loop with customers. Mobile marketing is one such tool, an application of 'permission marketing'. It engages customers in a dialogue and can result in immutable customer loyalty. Taking cognisance of the 'fitness and fashion' trend among the youth and the upwardly mobile consumer set, its adoption of SMS and its potential value to Sculpt, Parikh should go for it. But not without asking some key questions.

» Do these initiatives invite customer participation?
» Do they encourage a long-term learning relationship?
» Do we have an effective database management system to track, record and communicate with customers?
» Do we have an effective product education plan?
» How do we deepen our post-sale customer bond?

Finally, Parikh should ensure that Mittal formulates a comprehensive strategic action plan that is woven into the integrated communication plan to ensure synergy with Sculpt's overall brand positioning and identity.

"For Sculpt, with a majority of its target audience now mobile users, living the mobile lifestyle, mobile marketing makes eminent sense" Raj Singh, Director (Business), ActiveMedia Technology

Sculpt is in a position faced by all businesses every day. What is the best marketing mix to use in order to reach its marketing goals? 'Best' would, of course, mean different things to different people, but a few of the defining factors would be leveraging the inherent strengths of each media option plus getting the best overall RoI.

For Sculpt, the question is whether this is a relevant channel to reach its target audience. And if so, how well it fits within the overall marketing mix.

Among the strengths of the mobile medium are that it is interactive, personal and immediate. On top of this, there is already a deep penetration of mobile phones among the sec A and B groups. For the first time, Sculpt has an opportunity to use mobiles as an add-on to traditional media to create interaction with the majority of its target audience. In a time of increasing media clutter and fragmentation, the mobile medium offers Sculpt the ability to cut through it all, and that too, in an innovative manner. Every brand has to innovate to remain relevant. For Sculpt, with a majority of its target audience now regular mobile users (and increasingly living a mobile lifestyle), mobile marketing makes eminent sense.

Another big opportunity for Sculpt is to build its own mobile database as part of a relationship marketing strategy. This is a medium term benefit, but an extremely powerful one at that. Sculpt will have the ability to get feedback, make offers and so on directly to consumers. There is no other media channel that can match the mobile medium in this respect. So, as a brand that's in the game for the long term, this is another key reason for Sculpt to opt for it.

Of course, as with the use of any new medium, Sculpt will have to endure a learning process. There is no escaping the need for added experimentation and fine tuning. But the important point is to start somewhere. There are now numerous case studies of brands overseas integrating mobile into the marketing mix to get a bigger bang for the marketing buck. So Sculpt can learn from these, and run a pioneering campaign that fits its context. Initially, a small pilot project can be used that minimises risks but still allows Sculpt to see what the medium can do.

So yes, absolutely. Sculpt's CEO Parikh should try out mobile marketing. What has he got to lose?

"After securing the opt-in, Sculpt should give the consumer the option of pulling the product information if and when he wants" Satya Kalyan Yerramsetta, Chief Executive Officer, SMS Country

Wireless is an entirely new medium that requires an entirely new approach to marketing and advertising. Simply transfering the tried-and-tested methods to the new medium can be detrimental to the strategy. Mobile marketing may actually be easier to execute, less expensive, and more effective than other marketing channels. We have three major issues here: the cost, the sale-conversion ratio, and whether mobile marketing works in India. The cost of such promotions is minimal; say, one-fifth of what a direct mail initiative would cost, since each text message costs only a few paise. Mittal's idea of delivering "value and entertainment" is good, and the consumer would be interested in a "fitness regimen recommendation" as an opt-in bait for the SMS service. But after that, Sculpt should give users the option of pulling the product information instead of delivering it cold. Let them press a button to get it if and when they want. This is non-intrusive.

India is forecast to have 31.9 million mobile subscribers through 2005, and now people are using SMS even for business related functions. We've just had a big success with an SMS campaign for a Hyderabad pub. Parth Parikh, go ahead. Try mobile marketing.