MAM
JCB India to kick off marketing campaign in Jan 2014
BENGALURU: Indian construction equipment manufacturer JCB India (JCB) plans to showcase 19 innovative made-in-India machines at Excon 2013 in Bengaluru on 20 November. The company also plans to kick off a campaign at the start of its financial year, which is January-December.
JCB’s marketing and communication plans are mainly BTL. “In the case of an automobile company, the spends would be around 70:30 skewed towards mass media, with BTL forming a small part of the spends. In the case of construction machinery companies such as ours, it would be around 85 per cent spends on BTL activities, and just 15 per cent towards mass media and that too generally in bursts,” revealed JCB Executive VP of marketing, business development and corporate affairs Amit Gossain to indiantelevision.com.
“Our communications on television make more sense on the regional channels where, maybe, my customer doesn’t even understand English, but could be a big buyer. We do use mass media such as television and newsprint and spend some money on news channels, etc., but our core communications are more the experiential kind,” said Gossain.
JCB takes part in events such as Excon 2013 where it claims to have booked the largest exhibition space of 4250 square meters this year. JCB holds customer-connect programmes, takes customers to visit its factories, gets dealer inputs, etc., as a part of its BTL activities. Besides, it subsidises a part of the marketing and communication expenses of its dealers.
Industry experts say that companies such as JCB could be spending anything from 0.5 to 3 per cent of annual turnover towards marketing, a figure range that Gossain agrees with for JCB, but refuses to peg the actual spends. In the case of a company such as JCB India with revenue of Rs 6000 crore, even the lower number would translate into marketing spends of Rs 30 crore per year.
“Despite an industry downturn of about 24 per cent, we have seen our revenue drop by just about 9-10 per cent, which means that our market share has grown,” said Gossain. “We are confident of the future in India and are setting up two new manufacturing plants in Rajasthan and have planned investments of Rs 500 crore over the next five years,” he revealed.
Stressing on quality, a strong customer support network and fuel efficiency, JCB’s tagline is ‘We care, that is why we are everywhere.’
New Delhi based Infinity handles the creative and media buying duties for JCB India.
Brands
Trump announces $300bn Texas oil refinery with Reliance, calls it the biggest in US history
First new US refinery in 50 years planned at Brownsville port with Reliance
WASHINGTON: The United States may soon see the first brand-new oil refinery built on its soil in half a century.
Donald Trump announced a proposed $300 billion refinery project in Texas, calling it a landmark moment for American energy production and jobs.
Posting on Truth Social on 10 March, Trump said the facility would be built at the Port of Brownsville and developed by a company called America First Refining, with major investment from India’s Reliance Industries.
The announcement frames the project as a centrepiece of the administration’s push for “energy dominance”, with Trump claiming it would deliver thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity to South Texas.
If realised, the plant would mark the first all-new major refinery constructed in the United States since the 1970s. In recent decades, oil companies have largely chosen to expand existing facilities rather than build new ones, citing high costs, regulatory hurdles and environmental scrutiny.
Trump described the proposed investment as the “biggest in US history”, positioning it as proof that policy changes such as streamlined permits and lower taxes are drawing large-scale energy investments back into the country.
The refinery is planned for the Port of Brownsville, a strategic Gulf Coast location that provides easy access to shipping routes and export markets.
A key partner in the project is Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The company already runs the world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar, India, making it one of the most experienced operators in large-scale petroleum processing.
The Texas venture would mark a significant step for the group into America’s domestic refining sector, potentially strengthening industrial ties between the US and India.
The proposed refinery is being promoted as a next-generation facility capable of processing American shale oil while maintaining high environmental standards. Trump said it would be “the cleanest refinery in the world”, although the specific technologies behind that claim have not yet been detailed.
Industry observers also note that the $300 billion figure is unusually large for a refinery project, and analysts are waiting for more clarity on whether the number reflects total construction costs, long-term infrastructure investment, or broader economic impact estimates.
As of 11 March, Reliance Industries had not publicly confirmed the investment size or the structure of its involvement.
For now, the announcement has sparked equal parts excitement and curiosity in energy markets. If the plan moves from promise to pouring concrete, the refinery could reshape the Gulf Coast energy landscape, and reopen a chapter in American refining that has been quiet for nearly fifty years.
