A complete brand analysis of Madhya Pradesh Tourism.

1. Abstract:
The report is a study done to show that a A Brand Management
state government owned entity can also be Project Report
branded and can be hugely successful in
doing so. It also studies various
communication strategies undertaken by
the Madhya Pradesh to communicates and
build a powerful brand. The report also
takes a peek at the future of the brand and
various strategies that the Madhya Pradesh
Tourism is planning to adopt so that the
brand is felt at an international level.

2. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Sr. No. Title Page No.
1 Introduction 3
2 Marketing Mix 4
3 Branding Strategy 6
4 Communication Strategy 7
Internal Branding 11
Training and Development 13
Public Private Partnership Program 13
5 Result of the Branding 14
6 Future Endeavour 16
7 Reference 17
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3. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Introduction
Madhya Pradesh is called the "Heart of India" because of its location in the center of
the country. It has been home to the cultural heritage of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism
and Jainism. Innumerable monuments, exquisitely carved temples, stupas, forts and palaces
are dotted all over the state.Madhya Pradesh is also known as Tiger State because of the tiger
population. Famous national parks like Kanha, Bandhavgadh, Shivpuri, Sanjay, Pench are
located in Madhya Pradesh. Despite having such a rich variety of tourist spots, Madhya
Pradesh was unable to create any buzz about itself. Before the Madhya Tourism campaign
began, the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation had a very naïve and
simple way of going about promoting their state as a tourist destination. There was no
specific strategy and there was a complete lack of enthusiasm on part of the state government
in promoting its state.
MR. Hari Rajan Rao is considered to be the father of brand of the Madhya Pradesh
Tourism. Under his supervision the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development
Corporation created a brand for Madhya Pradesh Tourism. Under his command, MP Tourism
has been able to achieve high brand equity and has been able to do good business.
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4. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Marketing Mix
Before going on to the actual branding strategy, let‟s have the marketing mix of
Madhya Pradesh Tourism.
Product
Madhya Pradesh tourism is a service product by nature and involves tours in the exotic
locales of Madhya Pradesh. There are different kinds of tour products.
Caravan tourism Package – A product which provides tourists with their own caravan
to travel
Eco tourism package – As the name suggests, it is a tour for tourists who love
landscapes and forests
Rural tourism – Involves tours to Amla and Pranpur
Adventure tourism – An interesting tourism concept wherein they invite tourists for
the “Chambal challenge”
Place
Amarkantak, Bandhavgarh, Bhedaghat, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur, Bhopal, Chanderi,
Chitrakoot, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Kanha, Khajuraho, Maheshwar, Mandu,
Omkareshwar, Orchha, Pachmarhi, Panna, Pench, Sanchi, Shivpuri, Ujjain. These are the
places where th tourism packages are conducted.
Price
Pricing of Madhya Pradesh tourism is competitive in nature. It competes with various
other private organisations such as Mahindra tours and travels as well as others and hence it
has to use competitive pricing.
Promotions
Madhya Pradesh tourism ads are known as one of the best and most creative ads
across India. Each of its TV commercials has been innovative in nature and have attracted a
lot of eyeballs as well as generated curiosity. Besides ATL communications, it also does BTL
promotions through publications as well as sales promotions. The tourism board also has a tie
up with Jet Airways for promotional packages.
Process
Depending on the type of package, the process varies. In case of Caravan tours, the
process would involve loaning caravans to tourists who can than return it in a given amount
of time. Similarly in case of other tours, Guides as well as accommodation is included which
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5. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
completes the whole tour with minimum hassles and maximum enjoyment for the tourist.
Thus the process of Madhya Parades tourism is systematic in nature.
People
The people in Madhya Pradesh tourism consists of Tour operators, Tourist transport
operators, Hotel staff, Tourist guides as well as the main operations staff. Madhya Pradesh
tourism board also has amazing ways of rewarding employees through awards such as
Tourism friendly forester (Whoever maintains forests)
Tourism friendly archaeologist (Taking care of heritage)
Most frequent tourist visiting MP (Encouraging government to take part)
So on and so forth. Thus Madhya Pradesh employs its people flawlessly.
Physical Evidence
Madhya Pradesh tourism has tie ups with the best city hotels, Wildlife sector hotels,
Tourist center hotels, Restaurants and as mentioned the best service people to give the best
experience to the tourists. Madhya Pradesh itself is exotic in nature and the locations such as
Bhopal, Udaigiri and Sanchi are beautiful thus making for excellent physical evidence.
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6. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Branding Strategy
Given the 8 P‟s of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism, the branding strategy seems to be
very consistent and makes the brand comparable to any other private player operating in the
same market segment.
Usually, every place has sufficient good things to attract a tourist which can be shown
in a marketing campaign. The trick to a successful tourism marketing campaign is to string
together all the relevant things to develop a coherent positioning statement. Madhya Pradesh
marketing campaign doesn‟t lay much emphasis on the scenic beauty of Panchmarhi,
Dhauladhaar waterfall etc., and focuses on traditional and historic things because that‟s what
they have decided to be the projected USP of the state. The brand statementfor Madhya
Pradesh is not unique unlike Kerala, which stands for “Exotic” or Gujarat, which stands for
“Religious”. Madhya Pradesh Tourism is not able to define unique brand proposition. This is
because of wide variety of tourist places ranging from forests to old temples to hill station to
tiger reservoirs.
As you can see, the logo itself states that “The heart of Incredible India”, it is a clearly
case of extending brand of the Incredible India campaign. It also leverages the brand equity
that the Incredible India campaign has generated. Although the brand draws heavily from the
original campaign, it sets its self apart from the original campaign by some very innovative
and rather engaging way.
One of the major things that i found while the research was that, the logo and the
brand statement has been used by the tourism board as well as the other vertical of state
government. This helps in communicating an uniform message across all the direct and
indirect communication mediums.
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7. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Communication Strategy
The first communication strategy says that “Hindustan kaDilDekho” and was created
by Ogilvy& Mather advertisement agency. It was launched in April 2006. This campaign had
a theme of Bioscope. The film shows all the tourist spot of in Madhya Pradesh and very
artistically and aesthetically shot. The advertisement received a good response, and helped in
creating a brand equity that Madhya Pradesh Tourism never enjoyed. After the launch of this
advertisement campaign, the perception for Madhya Pradesh Tourism had increased
exponentially. The advertisement was not only path breaking in terms of delivery but was
also able to show its impact in terms of sales.
In late 2009, a refurbished campaign was launched. This time the theme had change to
Eye. Through use of very beautiful eyes a very creative route has been adopted to explain
what had been visited by the tourist and viewed by other.Interestingly, the first ad invited
tourists to come and „see‟ Madhya Pradesh, while the second ad narrates the tourist‟s tale
after he has visited the place. The creative idea for the new ad was, quite literally, taken from
the word „sightseeing‟.
Fig 1: Hindustan KaDilDekho, the “EYE” campaign
Further this campaign was also extended to radio. Its media partner was My FM
94.3fm. In this activity, the MY FM RJ travelled around all destinations in Madhya Pradesh
and also described the locations, sites, eating joints, handicrafts, people, culture etc. of the
place. The RJ continued his journey as he narrated a brief account of the destinations live on
radio so that listeners can get to hear and visualize the beauty of Madhya Pradesh. The
campaign was also extended to print media. The complete television advertisement was
printed into a strip format and was then promoted through printed media like Hindi magazine
and journals. During the first campaign, the advertisement focused on the inviting the tourist
to Madhya Pradesh. It tried to imbibe Madhya Pradesh as an option while considering various
tourist destinations. There was a shift in the second part of the same campaign. The second
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phase didn‟t invite tourist, but merely show various tourist attractions that are there to be
explored.
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9. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Fig 2: Hindustan kadildekho ad as appeared in the Newspaper.
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10. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
There was again a change in the communication strategy for Madhya Pradesh
Tourism. It was again Ogilvy & Mather that were responsible for the advertising campaign.
This time the campaign stated “MP ajabhai, sabsegajabhai ”. it was introduced in
November,2010. This campaign, the third in a series of hugely popular and successful
campaigns done in the past, is based on the ancient art of shadowgraphy. This art form woven
around an earthy and rustic musical jingle captures some of the unique and surprising facts
about Madhya Pradesh.The new advertisement has been positioned to capture people's
imagination from religion, adventure to history that the state offers.
Madhya Pradesh Tourism also has launched various tour guide books. The guide book
contains detailed information about the place that helps the tourist understand the significance
of the place along with giving information about various tourist places. This helps in
increasing brand recall and hence furthers brand equity. Two new booklets have been
produced by Madhya Pradesh Tourism. The first one is on MICE (Meeting, Incentive,
Conference & Exhibition), the latest trend in tourism. The publication contains valuable
information on the various business facilities, accommodations & other sightseeing options.
It is aimed to target high - end clients from corporate & business world, planning a perfect
business meet coupled with delight, in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from highlighting MPT
properties, due importance have also been given to private hotels of the region.
Fig 3: Cover of the MICE destination guide book
The second in line is a book specially designed for the travel agents to market MPT hotels.
This book contains visuals of the exterior as well as the interior of the properties which will
serve them as a handy tool.
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Fig 4: Cover of the itineraries guide book
Very recently, Madhya Pradesh Tourism has launched a video log on YouTube. It
consists of all the collection of videos that Madhya Pradesh Tourism has ever marketed. This
creates a unique location for all viewers that seek information about Madhya Pradesh and its
tourist attraction.
In today‟s world a website has become most important part of communication
medium for any organisation, and when it comes to tourism industry, the importance of
website increases exponentially due to involvement of foreign citizens. Madhya Pradesh
Tourism has been ahead of the current as far as other states are concerned. It has a
comprehensive website that gives all the necessary information and much more. This website
has helped create a “professional” brand image for Madhya Pradesh Tourism.
Internal Branding
No branding exercise is complete without the stake holders in the brand accepting the brand
as their own and delivering the promises that the brand statement make. Madhya Pradesh
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Government has shown great intent and commitment in terms of devoting lot of time and
resources in development of basic infrastructure and training the people for delivering the
brand promise.The strategy for achieving the desired objective has been based on the
following :
a) Revitalizing the state tourism development corporation and running the same on
professional lines. All the commercial and non-commercial establishments of the
corporation have been renovated and are now being run professionally. The corporation is
now a profit making entity. The units of the corporation are divided into the following
broad heads.
i. Hotels
ii. Restaurants/Way side amenities
iii. Boat Clubs
iv. Information Counters
v. Sound & Light Shows
vi. Adventure zones
vii. Transport section
viii. Marketing Offices, Regional Offices, Head Office
b) Improving tourist infrastructure – With assistance from the Government of India,
Ministry of Tourism tourist infrastructure is rapidly being improved at almost all
important tourist destinations.
c) Improving connectivity – Over the last few years, roads linking almost all important
tourist destinations have improved. Air connectivity to the state has also improved
considerably with the starting of a number of new flights.
d) Aggressive publicity & promotion – Creative and aggressive publicity and promotional
campaigns in print and electronic media has considerably improved the image of the state.
Regular participation in domestic and international events has also helped.
e) Inviting private investment – Various steps, including creation of a tourism land bank
have been taken to attract private investment for building hotels, resorts and
entertainment centres.
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13. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Training and Development
In order to hone the skills of Madhya Pradesh Tourism's staff, Madhya Pradesh Institute of
Hospitality Training (MPIHT), organized a series of training in various segments of
hospitality. A staff training programme was held in Hotel Payal, Khajuraho on the 2nd & 7th
of May, 2011, followed by another training session organized in collaboration with the
Institute of Hotel Management, Gwalior and Indira Gandhi National Open University,
Bhopal. The essentials of hotel industry like, food & beverage, housekeeping, front office
management etc. were included in the training.
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program
PPPs enable the public sector to benefit from commercial dynamism, the ability to raise
finances in an environment of budgetary restrictions, innovation and efficiencies, harnessed
through the introduction of private sector investors who contribute their own capital, skills
and experience. This program will help government specifically achieve high serviceability
despite having severe resource constraints. Thelatest guidelines are expectedto set the stage
for rapid developmentof tourism infrastructureby attracting privateinvestment.
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14. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Result of the Branding
Union Tourism Ministry statistics have recorded colossal growth in the number of
domestic tourist arrivals in Madhya Pradesh, a scenario virtually unthinkable barely a few
years ago. Moving up four notches from the number nine position in 2007, Madhya Pradesh
is now ranked fifth as a destination of choice amongst domestic tourists. With the 2008
figures, a 100 per cent improvement on the 1.10 crore tourist footfalls recorded in 2006, the
state now enjoys a 3.9 per cent market share in the country‟s domestic tourism segment.
Fig 5: Madhya Pradesh Tourism‟s Tourist Statistics.
Fig 6: Graph showing the trend in tourist arrival in Madhya Pradesh
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15. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
More recently, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation has bagged
three awards in different categories i.e. Best State in the Country, Best Civic Management of
a Tourist Destination in India and in the category of Innovative/Unique Tourism Project in
the country. The award was given at a function of National Tourism Award 2009-10
organised by Ministry of Tourism Government of India.Its Caravan Tourism has been
appreciated across all the section of tourist market and has won “Most innovative Tour
Product” given by GMR Express Travel World Awards.These awards are the fact that the
communication strategy is not only successful in terms of achieving sales but is also
acclaimed by an external entity.
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16. Brand Management Madhya Pradesh Tourism
Future Endeavours
Madhya Pradesh Government has announced various new incentives in state to promote
tourism as a whole and bring about fundamental improvement in service delivery so that the
brand equity of Madhya Pradesh Tourism can be further strengthen. New set of
incentivesinclude luxury and entertainmenttax rebates andexemption for hotels, B&Bunits
and heritage properties.MPSTDC is also offering landson long lease at various
touristlocations apart from concessionon energy, exemption onregistration and stamp
dutyfees and also to tourist vehicleson designated routes.The policy also proposes promotion
of ecotourism,adventure tourism and water-basedtourism across its largenumber of
waterbodiesthrough private-sector investmentand attractive supportfrom state
tourismdepartment.Promotion of sustainabletourism practices, skilldevelopment and training
foryouth etc. are some of theother areas the new tourismpolicy lays guidelines on.
Also as oneof its kind initiativesin the country, MadhyaPradesh has taken initiative to
form district tourism promotioncouncil to work fortourism development inthe area. Chambal
TourismPromotion Council (CTPC),formed by the Bhind districtadministration, is
workingtowardsdeveloping tourismand essential infrastructure inthe Bhind district.
TheChambal river andits richmarine life and the famousravines in the region is a greattourism
resource that iswaiting to be exploited.
State Government is also working on improvement of airconnectivity within
andoutside the State throughprivate sector. This is especially significant in case of foreign
tourist that visit India. Because currently there are far fewer flights connecting Madhya
Pradesh‟s major cities to other major cities in India, Madhya Pradesh is losing large
customers. Also because of lack of air connectivity, the brand identity created by an
extraordinary marketing campaign is at peril.
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References
1. http://khojkhabarnews.com/?p=7827
2. http://www.afaqs.com/news/company_briefs/index.html?id=42736_My+FM+presents
+Hindustan+ka+Dil+Dekho
3. http://cuttingthechai.wordpress.com/page/29/
4. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brand-India/Article1-713809.aspx
5. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/713809.aspx
6. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ZAcf8BGvx5wC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=
about+bioscope,madhya+pradesh+tourism+campaign&source=bl&ots=msD9Pc2Nr9
&sig=u74pMo9jPWO40Kfmx83pW3GJh6A&hl=en&ei=-
FdaTtHhK4eGrAej6PjWCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0C
CwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
7. http://www.mptourism.com/web/experience.aspx
8. http://www.mptourism.com/web/pk/Tours_Itineraries.asp
9. http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2011/03/madhya-pradesh-state-tourism.html
10. http://www.mptourism.com/web/pk/files/booklet%2011-
12%20(orcchha%20matter)%20artwork.pdf
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