e4m Video Story:  The real growth is in tier cities: Canon’s C Sukumaran

"We are not the cheapest. We are a premium player, but we still know what's that sweet spot pricing that the customers need," said C. Sukumaran in a conversation with e4m, where he revealed Canon's sophisticated understanding of value proposition vs. pricing strategy. It's the kind of statement that challenges conventional wisdom about competing on price in emerging markets.

With more than 20 years at the company, he is now the Senior Director of Consumer Systems Products and Imaging Communication Products (B2C and B2B) at Canon India – a key architect of Canon's marketing and communication strategies in India.

In a comprehensive conversation, Sukumaran unpacked Canon India's three-decade marketing evolution, the dramatic shift from 80% print investment to digital-first strategies, the company's premium positioning in price-sensitive markets, the growing importance of tier 2, 3, and 4 cities for business growth, and why their expansion from imaging to document management solutions represents a strategic transformation in India's competitive technology landscape.

Excerpts:

Canon has been in India for nearly three decades. How has the brand’s marketing strategy evolved over the years to stay relevant across such diverse consumer groups?

Let me focus on who our consumers are first, and then we can get into how we create demand and reach out to these consumers. Canon has a very strong balance between B2C and B2B, where we cater to home consumers at one end, and enterprise and large government customers at the other. We cater to a varied customer set, and the challenge is how to reach out to these different segments.

We've used all available channels, but there was a big difference between pre-COVID and post-COVID approaches. Pre-COVID, high investment was on print media, newspapers were one of the biggest mediums we used, but things changed post-COVID. Today, digital is our biggest driver of investments.

However, India being such a large country, one approach is not good enough. We use every mode from digital to extensive consumer activation on the ground. For example, one of our biggest customer sets is copy shops - small and medium enterprises. Our preference is to go to them where they are. But for home consumers, digital is definitely the primary way we reach them.

Digital-first is one big aspect, but we know that to reach tier 2, tier 3, and tier 4 cities, a combination of both digital and on-ground activation is essential. We have a very good balance between these two approaches.

The #CANwithCanon campaign is positioned as an umbrella platform. What was the thought process behind creating this narrative, and how does it strengthen Canon’s brand voice in India?

The #CANwithCanon hashtag is our umbrella theme for reaching out to our consumers, partners, and employees. We use this theme to connect with all our stakeholders.

Under this umbrella, we reach out to our employees - for example, we recently had a campaign focused on women employees, highlighting how we focus on gender balance and ensure they receive special support while maintaining productivity. We also have campaigns focused on technology, emphasizing Canon's basic ethos as a technology-oriented organization and how it makes a difference to our end consumers.

The whole idea of having #CANwithCanon is that you can do everything with Canon - whether you're our consumer, employee, or partner.

She #CANwithCanon and India #CANwithCanon highlights both inclusivity and innovation. How important is it for Canon to link its brand storytelling with larger social and cultural conversations?

Our basic philosophy is how technology can reach our people. First and foremost are our employees - they are our first customers. ‘She #CANwithCanon’ was all about our women employees, and we understand the difficulties each one goes through. The challenges for our women employees are much greater, and we care deeply about addressing them.

The idea was how we could make their lives easier and more comfortable without compromising on productivity. That's one part. The other part focuses on technology. As a tech organization, what's the use of technology if it doesn't have practical applications for our consumers? Through these campaigns, our customers speak about how our technology has improved their productivity, which directly translates to profitability.

So we look at our ecosystem of employees on one side, and on the other side, we examine how technology can add value to our consumers.

Canon today serves very diverse customer segments; from creators and students to enterprises, healthcare, and BFSI. How do you ensure your marketing speaks to such varied audiences without diluting the core brand identity?

Our varied consumer base is both a big advantage and a challenge when it comes to outreach. For the home segment, which is one of our biggest consumer groups for printing solutions, we use digital as the primary approach.

The enterprise segment thinks differently and requires a different approach. We use LinkedIn to reach C-level executives, but that's not enough. We conduct on-ground new customer acquisition programs where we invite prospective C-level consumers to showcase our technology and solutions. Enterprise customers want to see how our solutions work practically, so we do extensive on-ground activation. We've conducted about 10 such events in the last six to eight months in major metros.

For the photo print segment, we participate in numerous exhibitions focused specifically on the photo segment. We've participated in at least 50 such events in the last 12 months. The combination of both digital and on-ground activation is Canon's secret recipe.

In a digital-first world, how is Canon balancing traditional marketing strengths with new-age formats like influencer collaborations, content-led campaigns, and community engagement?

Influencer marketing is definitely one method we use to reach our audience. But the balance between digital and on-ground activities depends on the customer segment. For home consumers, 80-90% of our investment is digital. For small and medium enterprises like copy shops, 80-90% is on-ground activations with only 10-15% digital. Enterprise segment has a well-balanced 50-50% investment between digital and on-ground activations.

This approach is challenging, but it's necessary. Pre-COVID, we had close to 80% of our investment in print. Post-COVID, it's about 60-40%. Print and on-ground activations remain very active modes to reach our consumers. Nothing goes away easily in India, so print is still a strong medium, especially for tier two, tier three, and tier four cities. Since our business growth is coming heavily from these tiers, the approach to reach them differs from metro operations.

Canon is also positioning itself strongly in business solutions beyond imaging. How is marketing helping drive adoption and trust in these newer categories?

One of our biggest challenges over the last few years was that we were known primarily as a camera and printer brand. When we approach enterprise customers, they ask, "You have managed print services, what more do you offer?"

Over the last decade, we've changed our proposition from simply a managed print solution to a managed document solution. This means we don't only focus on print management but also on digital document management. We provide solutions for customers using both digital copies and print.

We reach out through large CIO forums and CXO forums. We actively participate because the top 200-300 decision-makers attend these events. That's where we project ourselves as a document management organization and a solution-centric company.

Customer trust has been central to Canon’s journey in India. What role does brand communication play in reinforcing this trust, especially in competitive segments like printing and surveillance?

We operate in a very competitive space, but three decades in India has been exceptional because our ethos has always been customer-centric. Every organizational decision keeps the customer at the center and creates processes around that approach.

As a Japanese organization, we've focused on setting up infrastructure for customers. Customers need more than just products; availability is one aspect, but serviceability is equally important. We've ensured that our points of sale and services maintain a professional approach.

We constantly seek feedback from consumers and ensure it reaches our R&D teams so that next-generation products include the features and solutions customers need. We maintain presence at every customer touchpoint; about 4,000 active retailers nationwide, large format stores like Reliance and Cromā, and e-commerce platforms like Flipkart and Amazon.

We also conduct extensive on-ground activations and channel events, especially in tier 2, 3, and 4 cities, where we meet partners and showcase new products and offerings.

How competitive is the Indian market today, and what's Canon's approach to staying ahead?

India is undoubtedly a very competitive market, but if we set our basics strong - whether it's the product, services, or applications; we can be number one. The good part is we're either number one or number two in the Indian market, and we're not the cheapest option. We're a premium player, but we understand the sweet spot pricing that customers need.

In the enterprise segment, for example, we've been number one for nine consecutive years. This is because we've built a strong model where price is one factor, but the combination of services, products, and applications creates the complete package that sets us apart.

Looking ahead, what are the key priorities for Canon India’s marketing strategy; both in terms of consumer engagement and sectoral impact?

Our midterm strategy has two major focuses. First, in our existing business domains, particularly printing, one of our biggest engines, we're looking at expanding deeper into tier two, tier three, and tier four cities. We see significant action happening there, with growth ratios much faster than metros.

Our marketing strategy focuses on a vertical-based approach, targeting industries like automotive, aviation, banking and financial services, and pharmaceuticals. These verticals have a high focus on document management, both print and digital.

The second part focuses on new business elements like network surveillance. We're playing a critical role in smart city projects with our surveillance solutions. This represents another big growth story as we look forward to the coming years.