Saturday, November 29, 2008

A home for your hobbies


A well executed service concept can be a great inspiration and Pidilite Hobby Ideas is one such. Recently walked into one their outlets (Bangalore) and besides the amazing range of goodies that Pidilite has put together from across the world, one is struck by the overall service experience.
Hobby ideas is an upstream stationery shop which caters to a host of pastime pursuits – from the regular like painting, sketching etc. to more exotic ones like clay modelling, wood modelling etc. Besides it has accessories that enable even novices like me to produce something which is aesthetically acceptable. There are dye-cuts, punches, glitters, origami papers, and all sorts of things which can take even a simple greeting card to a new level of accomplishment.
It is all put together with enormous care and attention and the excitement one feels is similar to the one in a toyshop for a child!
Moreover, what really caught my imagination is the way they are going about marketing themselves. One can attend a free workshop every evening for 3 hours with a highly skilled Pidilite person and produce a hobby idea (which are all displayed in the store), and they also have a service where one can organize a birthday in a part of the store with a customized workshop where the stuff that the guests produce can be taken home as the return gift. In December they are launching a series of weekly workshops aimed at homemakers and children.
It is this kind of experiential marketing that creates a high degree of loyalty in customers. Pidilite have not gone for a high profile media blitz or an invitation sale, instead they have opted for a more difficult, slow burn path to create a small but dedicated base of customers who have experienced the joy of producing a hobby.
And we all know that it is not so easy for a highly product oriented company to pull something like this off in the service domain.
Have always admired this little gem of a company out of Mumbai for its innovative ways but we will leave that for another post.