Brand.i September 2014

Feedback, suggestions, complaints, appreciation and brickbats at welcome. Do write to us at marcom@mibdu.org Disclaimer: • This magazine does not reflect the views of MARCOM, MBA(IB) or DSE – they belong to the fabulous individuals who contribute to it. • The images have been used for a non-commercial purpose and are proprietary content of the owners

EDITORIAL TEAM

Anshul Jain Chetna Yadav Chirag Mahajan Deepak Mann Navin Sharsar Raunaq Kalia Saumya Sadana

COVER DESIGNED BY

Dishant Mina

1……… Toppling The Pyramid (Cover Story) 4……… Below The Line Activations 6……… Roti Reminder: Is It a Campaign Worth Repeating? 9……... Brand Voyage: Ikea 10……... Healthcare Marketing: The भारतीय Insight 12……… Healthcare Marketing: A New Era 13……… Printacular: Those That Made It To Cannes Lion 2014 18……... CSR: A Promotion Tool 21……… CSR: Its All About Marketing 23……… How to Jump Into CSR BRANDwagon? 25……... Remorph: Going Live

TOPPLING THE PYRAMID Marketing to the Rural Consumer in India Nikhil Mukhija MIB, Delhi School of Economics

The soul of India lives in its villages.’

‘

-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Apparently, the sermon Bapu declared back in 1950s was a secret subtle message for the MNCs that were to step their feet in India post 1991. As per the 2011 Census, 68.84% of India’s total population resides in the countryside; as per a survey report, those 6 Lakh+ villages contribute to over 53% of the FMCG produce consumption.

relatively poorer masses were keen to try on the Toothpastes and Shampoos and Hair Oil, but were concerned to risk 50 Rupees that was a significant fraction and sometimes equal to their daily earnings’ and hence arrived the one Rupee Shampoo & Hair Oil Sachets and 5/10 Rupees Toothpaste. Needless to say, the Revenue graph never seemed to soar that high as a fruit of one small change.

Gone are the days when one would paint a picture of a man in torn clothes taking his buffaloes for grazing on the grassland, as an archetype to portray an Indian village. It’s a usual sight to witness SUVs, Advanced Household Equipments like Microwave, ACs to be far common commodities in the year 2014.

What has driven this drastic change? Primarily, the electrification & penetration of media, television has changed the way rural people lead their lives. Aspirations are soaring. Disposable Income is abound and literacy too is contributing its share to the way people perceive their own lives and compare it with their urban counterparts, a feeling of competition is sure to creep in. Now that we are somewhat confident of the ‘Demand’ Side & the ‘Place’, let’s graduate to the Promotion Aspect. A sterling example of innovation, leading to unprecedented success would be, ‘the invention of sachets, that was largely inspired from a rural marketers acumen of identifying the void, the gap that was there, where the

Recently reading a few internship experiences on insideiim.com, I was apprised of a village where all the retailers had been selling SIM Cards only to the male members of the township, and a woman approaches an IIM A Alumnus setting up a kiosk at the village, and asks him ‘Do You Sell SIMs to Women as well?’ and he was startled beyond measure. Now, this would be something that no Kotler or Drucker would teach you, since India is a country whose heterogeneity lies beyond articulation. So this societal convention in that particular village where only men went and bought a cellphone and subsequently a SIM Card, is a void that if timely discerned and utilized, can reap huge benefits to the First Entrant (Of course treading cautiously so as to not be in direct conflict with the Gram Panchayat!) 2

Cement Companies are known to offer special discounts to villages, keeping in light ‘the surge of Pucca House Constructions’ and offering free guidance and construction support to those who allow the company to paint one wall of their house with their company’s advertisement. In a country where the mass struggle to fulfil the first 2 levels of Maslow’s hierarchy they certainly wouldn’t mind getting one wall of their ‘First Pucca house’ painted with an advertisement in return for a significant savings on construction expense. Airtel’s ‘m commerce’ and Vodafone’s ‘m paisa’ are yet another attempt to recreate a western union like set up, only in this case, the remittance is transferred from the family’s youth that has gone to a far off city to earn the livelihood and send back home the savings he manages. In turn, Airtel & Vodafone earn a loyal and larger customer base. This reminds me of the Symbiotic relationship that we studied back in the 8th standard.

ITC’s E-Choupal is something that has become too clichéd an example, worth quoting, which advocates its strength and impact in recognition of the brand in the masses, that are expected to become 4 times the size of Indian Urban Markets by the year 2020.

The movement, the change, the vision shift is so palpable that in 2005, Rural Marketing Association of India was created, that is now growing in leaps & bounds, having members like Tata, Hero, Cargill, Ogilvy, GroupM, Dabur, Abott,ITC, Maruti, Novartis & a plenty more. (Ref-http://www.rmai.in/listing-ofmembers.html) Healthcare companies seem to be a bit sluggish in catching up to it. Innovation in laymen terms would be something that is unique & new and adds value. Marketing is communication of the same, of concluding, ‘perceived value>perceived cost’ in the minds of target customers. Given the huge & relatively ignored market base, it is safe to assume that the firms that align themselves to this changing trend will have the first mover advantage and become the favorites of 84 crore people, who are yet to choose their favorite brands in almost every sector, be it Biscuit or be it Cement.

Innovative Marketing In Rural India: Below The Line Activations Rosu Jacob, Ashwin Shetty T.A.PAI Management Institute Manipal With numerous brands splurging the markets, today each brand is in the race to gain better recognition from their target consumers. Retail outlets are no more the single channel that used to be where customer interaction with the brand occurred. Seeking deeper penetration, rural marketing is gaining high momentum. This segment has immense potential but reaching them effectively has long hindered penetration rates into this strata. Marketing pundits now go to the rural customer and exhibit themselves extensively amongst them, thus giving them a touch and feel of the products they have in the offering. This is where the idea of below the line activation attains limelight. Contrary to the belief that rural moves to semi urban, the statistics given below show that India is still dominated by the rural people. The number of villages in India is 6 lakhs and hence, the potential market for any product in rural areas is huge.

Marketing Strategies in rural India

The Rural consumers, although illiterate, are smarter and give utmost importance to value for money. Their level of involvement is very high and hence this gives the marketers ample headache to design the right communication strategies. For the rural population, satisfying their utilitarian needs is more practical than fulfilling their hedonic ones. Initially, radio was the most preferred means to reach these customers but now companies have changed their thinking. Rural population is information hungry but entertainment starved, hence customer involvement is always encouraging for below the line activities. This gives an opportunity to the companies for engaging the target segment in rural areas with their product. Targeting the opinion leaders and generating top of mind recall by word of mouth publicity in rural India is the main strategy behind BTL.

Below the Line Activities Companies prefer to reach out to their target segment in a channelized manner. This is more realistic in the rural markets where reach is a primary concern. Industry giants like HUL, P&G, Perfetti, and R&B etc. have been adopting these activations as a means of reaching their target segment. BTL is expected to be a 12000 crore industry soon.

Some activations in India: PepsiCoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orange soft drink Mirinda launched its Pagalpanthi Bhi Zaroori hai campaign in the villages of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. In this campaign, which ran for two months the Mirinda branded trucks, moved around different villages. The staged trucks hosted many engaging games, designed in line with the product theme. The games were oriented towards engaging with Mirinda. Product sampling was also done in these staged open trucks. The participants were gifted Mirinda branded frames and tees, thus aiding brand recall. Word of mouth publicity was also achieved helping to build a positive mindset towards Mirinda among these people.

Castrol demonstrated another classic example of this approach in their attempt to re-launch CRB plus-tractor engine oil. Farmers and mechanics were their target audience and Castrol resorted to directly demonstrating the value proposition of Castrol oil to them. Operation attack strongly communicated the offerings and POD of Castrol. Target audience was made to comfortably sit in AC buses and were served with refreshments. An aspiring brand movie, “Jai Kisaan” was then aired , appealing to the emotions of lapsed CRB plus users like a long lost friend. Sales kiosks to generate trials, extensive brand presence at dealerships and tyre shops, live demos at tractor mandis and mechanical hubs were also used by Castrol in their multi-pronged BTL approach. This approach provided the farmers and mechanics with a forum to post their doubts and also a clear understanding of Castrol CRBs value proposition leaving little room for apprehension. Operation Attack covered 17 states and created a wave of activations in ninety days. Top of mind awareness of CRB plus increased by 12.2 % and preference share increased by 3.1% vis a vis last quarter. The approach was nothing short of effective and resulted in winning of customers in large numbers.

Major brands have also started a bundle of activations rather than activating an Individual one. HUL’s “Khushiyon Ki Dholi” campaign was a rural activation initiative aimed at reaching out to the dark villages in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Its main aim was to inculcate good personal hygiene by changing the attitudes of the rural customers. This activation was primarily aimed at brands like Wheel, Surf Excel, Sunsilk, Vim, lifebuoy and Close-up. P&G also did the same with Tide and Head & Shoulders, which was projected as as “Kamyab Jodi” in the rural areas of the country.

References: DON'T FLIRT WITH RURAL MARKETING: THE HANDBOOK OF RURAL MARKETING AUTHOR: RV Rajan http://www.hul.co.in/mediacentre/news/2010/HULla unchesmultibrandruralactivationprogramme.aspx http://www.rcmindia.com/operation-attack.html http://www.academia.edu/4840927/Brand_Activatio n_A_marketing

Roti Reminder- Is it a campaign worth repeating? Saikat Sinha TAPMI, Manipal

Innovative marketing- HUL’s Roti Reminder in Kumbh Mela 2013, Allahabad Rural marketing had always been a challenge to the Indian FMCG companies. Innovative models had been tried out to change the way rural India consumes goods and services. One of the most innovative ideas was ‘Roti Reminder’ by HUL for its brand ‘Lifebuoy’. Lifebuoy had been stamping its hand washing message onto millions of rotis at Kumbh Mela. For every food order placed, the first roti carried the branded message “Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya?” (Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?)

o The heat stamped message might have caused panic to some people who felt that the roti was inedible and might cause harm. If this was the thinking behind, the promotional activity might have not been able to communicate what they intended to and had earned a bad name instead. o Though the festival runs for nearly two months, the people who come to take the ‘holy dip’ stay for a shorter period, typically ranging from 1-4 days. So the people get exposure to this activity for a very short span that is insufficient to make a permanent change in the thought process and buying behavior of the rural crowd. o The purchase of heated stamp machines requires considerable investment of money. Besides this, too much of heat could spoil the taste of the roti. So it requires proper training of the people working in the dhaba. The added cost of electricity consumed has to be borne by the company and it cannot be passed to the person who is buying his food. So high costs are involved. It needs to be seen if the cost incurred during this activity is at par with or lesser than that incurred during other types of promotional activities and still the benefits are larger.

What could have gone wrong? o The message was given in Hindi. This festival is attended by pilgrims from all over of the country. There were people who did not know how to read this language and therefore they could not follow the message. o People, who already use an HUL soap brand but not Lifebuoy, can switch to Lifebuoy as there is no switching cost involved. This would result in cannibalizing the other soap brands of HUL.

o The festival registers a footfall of 100 million people out of which a reasonable percentage comprised ‘sadhus-sants’ and affluent urban people. Though they are not considered in the target segment, yet the stamping is done on all rotis irrespective of the kind of people consuming it. o Since Kumbh Mela happens only once every three years, it would be always difficult to track the year-on-year changes in the buying behavior that might result due to this promotion.

So what else could be done? o Fast moving consumer goods are many. Innovative promotional ideas in rural India for different types of products would increase the visibility of that particular product only. Implementing different ideas separately and exclusively for individual brands like Pepsodent, Lifebuoy, Clinic Plus, Rin, Fair and Lovely, Kwality Walls etc. would be extremely time consuming, costly and might be futile as the people have never felt the need of using or cherishing these products. Brand evaluation would follow only after need arousal. As of now, most of the rural populace is indifferent to advertisements in the form of posters, hoardings, wall paintings. They get somewhat attracted to products that flood the local kirana shops or those products that neighbours spread through word-of-mouth. But rural distribution is still a challenge in India and it is not possible to ensure robust distribution unless and until the Indian infrastructure develops. o At this juncture, the time could be wisely put to use in nurturing and gaining the faith of the rural potential customers in the company. The companies should start doing this the CSR way, similar to what ITC has been doing through its ‘e-choupal’ initiative. Since rural India is predominantly an agrarian economy, the companies should try to build their relationship with the farmers

through activities that will benefit both the parties. Through this, the company should strive to build awareness (need to wash hands, clean teeth, nourish hair, damages caused by spurious counterfeit brands) among the farmers’ community and the Self Help Groups (SHGs). It might take some time, but this approach would yield fruit at the end of the season. By the time Indian infrastructure (roadways, storage facilities, distribution channels) develops, the aimed awareness level of potential rural customers would be achieved and the company can push all its products to its rural target segment. The company would not need to promote its products individually as the company had positioned itself in the people’s mind by this time. The stark reality o At the present day, an Indian from a remote, inaccessible and non-electrified village is not likely to pay any heed to a message like ‘Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya’ as he is far away from the ‘need recognition’ stage and is perfectly happy with using soil and ash to clean his hands.

Brand Voyage Deepak Mann Dept. of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics

Fig: The 1st ever catalog made by IKEA in 1951

IKEA was a venture of a 17 year old boy Ingvar Kamprad, who used his pocket money to start a business which has now become the world’s largest furniture retail business. The name IKEA is formed from his initials (I.K.) along with the first letters of Elmtaryd (E) and Agunnaryd (A),the farm and village where he grew up.

IKEA was formed 7 decades ago in 1943 in Sweden as a mail-order sales company but diversified into furniture, 5 years later. The furniture was manufactured in Ingvar’s home initially and in 1951 he saw an opportunity to expand by the usage of a ‘Catalog’, a tool which IKEA still uses as its prime marketing technique, which is said to have more number of copies printed every year than the Bible. Within a couple of years IKEA bridged the gap between the customer and the brand by displaying its products in a furniture showroom in Älmhult, Sweden. Finally, in 1958 IKEA opened up its first ever store in Sweden with an area of 5,700 square meters.

IKEA focused on high quality products at a low cost and focused on innovating in terms of processes, expansion strategies and product conceptualization. Over the next few decades, it expanded its reach to various continents and was very well received amongst all audiences. The company also grew its repo for its side business of selling meatballs at the store owing to Mr. Kamprad’s empathy towards hungry shoppers. In 2012, IKEA sold 150 million of their signature meatballs — that’s roughly 4,200 metric tons of meat. The firm diversified its offerings all throughout the period and have grown not only to design furniture but offer complete interior décor for a house, office or even a town! At the end of the 2013 financial year, the brand had begun operating 345 stores in 41 countries and is expected to open up its first store in India in 2015.

Currently, there are approximately 9,500 home furnishing products in the Ikea range, each assigned a crazy name instead of product number as Ingvar Kamprad is dyslexic. They’re the world 3rd largest consumers of wood with an annual usage of 1% of the total wood on planet earth! Ikea’s most famous product, Billy Bookshelf, sells at the rate of one bookshelf every 10 seconds. The company boasts stores in 41 countries, employs 120,000 people, and are visited annually by 522 million people. That’s a visit for 1 in 14 people on the planet. Wild.

Healthcare Marketing -The भारतीय Insight Yatin Sharma IIM Kozhikode

Let’s go back to the state of affairs in the 80’s – Rohan has been coughing for few weeks now. He gets a cough syrup but his cough persists. Then he seeks his family doctor’s advice who diagnoses him with tuberculosis. He undergoes a prolonged treatment which affects his family financially and emotionally. Come to the present day scenario: Rohan takes his son to a physician of a reputed hospital as the son has been coughing for a day now. We can observe a definite change in the mind set not only towards health but also the spending behaviour of the people from then to now. Indian healthcare industry today stands at around $100 billion and is projected to grow at 15% CAGR. The market is highly fragmented with the unorganised component accounting for some 90% of the private market.

Indian rural healthcare provides huge untapped market opportunities with immense potential to develop. According to a United Nations report, 75% of the health infrastructure in India – including doctors and specialists and other health resources – is concentrated in urban areas constituting 27% Indian population. This represents a stark contrast in the urban and rural healthcare. The state of government hospitals in India is abysmal. Healthcare accounts for only 4.8 % of India’s GDP of which only 25% is government funded which is very low relative to other developing countries. South Africa spends 8.7% of its GDP on healthcare of which, approximately 42% is government funded. This indicates that a major proportion of healthcare in India is dominated by private players and such indication makes it even more relevant for these players to market their services.

The Past decade has witnessed a huge surge of patients with chronic diseases reporting to hospitals every day. With ever increasing Indian doctors, surgeons, specialists working in western countries, one can infer that favourable economic conditions can attract the establishment of a lot of specialist treatments centric clinics with specialised doctors. In fact there has already been a spike in the number of special treatment service providers. However, the sector is still is in nascent stage 10

India offers unique and diverse services in healthcare. Besides conventional medicinal practices, it offers traditional ones like Yoga, Ayurveda etc. which are re-innovating themselves and becoming viable options. These sciences which have been the backbone of ancient Indian medicine and have no side effects, offer a vast range of treatments from hereditary diseases to critical stage chronic diseases. More significantly these are sources of foreign exchange. Kerala and Uttarakhand have been able to leverage these capabilities but still there is huge scope for further improvement.

Healthcare marketing can be segmented based upon populationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyle and rural healthcare marketing comes with its own challenges. As rural and semi urban population is highly cost-centric, focus should be more on cost awareness. Rural population should be made aware of various healthcare facilities like free maternal and health check-ups, vaccinations etc. covered under various government schemes. Awareness should be on prevention rather than cure as this is bound to be more cost effective in the long run. Secondly, accessibility and availability is another major issue which is faced in remote areas. Though a mobile clinic is not a new concept and governments have tried to employ it but it still provides the most viable opportunity for private players to invest intensively in. With marketing in the right direction, there is a possibility to reach every nook and corner which can improve the condition of primary healthcare in rural areas.

services under the INCREDIBLE INDIA campaign would provide the right impetus and would attract various investors. With proper marketing techniques, there will be an increase in the awareness among the people which would increase the demand as well as put the onus on both citizens and government to improve healthcare. Till now, healthcare marketing in India has been limited to only a few ad-campaigns but with such huge opportunities, it is only right to think of expanding the marketing efforts in healthcare and make it the next big thing.

References Mckinsey and company: Indian healthcare: Inspiring possibilities, challenging journey Sanhati.com Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_So uth_Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the _United_States www.medscape.com

In addition, the concept of medical tourism could be promoted vigorously within India and abroad. Medical tourists believe that for a considerably lower cost, organic treatment with a shorter waiting period can be provided without any consequential side-effects in India. Marketing efforts can be concentrated on promoting Yoga and Ayurveda as the USP of Indian Medical Tourism. Government should initiate marketing campaigns to improve the visibility of these niche services. Such experiences need to be properly marketed in states and Indian tourist advertisement campaigns. For example advertising these

Healthcare Marketing - A New Era Akshay Joshi XIME Bangalore

Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world. With so many sensitive issues, new laws and potential risks, it’s important that you take every step with caution while strategizing to market healthcare products. You need a strategy for delivering powerful marketing messages that connect with your target audience on an emotional and rational level without sacrificing accuracy or compliance.

they've never met; all on the web, all on their own terms and all on their own time schedule. As a result, the traditional marketing techniques that worked so well over the past century just don’t perform like they used to.

In 21st century, when we talk of healthcare it must be understood that today it’s not about treating the illness with Pharma products alone but Preventing illness, besides Fitness & related products, including Diagnostic products.

The transition of product usage also influenced the change of marketing tactics. It was imminent due to new discoveries, research - prompted by increasing health hazards. From natural to manmade, from the Traditional Medicineto Pharmaceuticals (Curative Approach) & more recently in the last 2-3 decades, from food to Nutraceuticals(Preventive Approach). It is also true that, “Buyer behavior’’ has changed forever. To truly understand this new shift in buyer behavior, you need to take a look at how and why it came about.

In the beginning, before the invention of mass media, buyers everywhere relied on physiciansto take care of the illness. Then with factors like – increase in awareness, affordability, affluence & accessibility, advertising came along and developed a bunch of tools to help spread sales and marketing messages far and wide. Today’s buyers have access to more knowledge from more sources than ever before. They ask questions, get answers, read reviews, do comparisons and start conversations with people

Marketing tools & Strategies: Pharmaceuticals are marketed through sales force by all companies across the world. Products are promoted to physicians with the help of visual aids like flip charts, laptops, scientific papers, clinical trial reports, physician’s conferences etc. These are prescription products, which are approved by Govt. Drug Authority like FDA in USA & DCGI in India. Innovative presentation based on pure science is the major tool, with one to one interaction as the main tool to get the maximum mileage out

this sales call. That is why, Training – soft skills in particular - becomes an integral part of the strategy of the pharma companies. This traditional marketing these days is backed up by SMS, cold calls, emails due to more availability of the modern gazettes. The prescriptions are monitored at pharma retail shops – prescription audit through sophisticated software linked to a data base center. This information is useful for bringing in a change, if required, to change the marketing strategy on product portfolio or product promotion. Nutraceuticals or preventives are sold directly to consumers. These are licensed products by Govt. authority like DSHEA in USA, or FOSHU in Japan or like FSSAI in India. Licensing is based on safety profile of the products.

• E marketing – Through portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc. This is the fastest growing segment. This is where most of the innovation in strategies is happening. The fitness & diagnostic products like blood sugar/blood pressure monitors are getting a prominence in consumers’ mind primarily due to healthcare awareness. Conclusion: • Two major shifts are making the Healthcare companies relook at their marketing strategies. The first is consumerization. Patients already have far greater choice and control. This presents a major challenge for organizations that do not have well-developed consumer capabilities. • The second major shift is the evolution of risk, which is shifting away from consumers to the companies. In light of this, the companies will need to diversify revenue and capitalize on their expertise in assessing and managing risk. • Healthcare Marketers will have to 1. Determine the operational focus, while differentiating their own capabilities. 2. Reduce the care cost. 3. Develop Customer centric models – A ‘win–win’ model 4. Managing the transition. • The healthcare industry is undergoing unprecedented changes right now with greater consumer choice and new technology. A fundamental shift from the traditional fee-forservice approach to the one based on quality and outcomes.

Marketed through 3 major routes.

• Direct selling route where multilevel marketing strategies are used. e.g. Companies like Amway, Hebalife, Monavie, Usana etc. • FMCG – mainly through besides various other Itchgard, Iodex etc. (The some pharma products, has been ascertained physician’ monitoring).

• These different ways of doing business have the potential to revamp the healthcare value chain and redistribute value among stakeholders. • Surely healthcare marketing will be more challenging in years to come.

media advertisement tools. Products like products also include whose safety profile & do not require

Printacular Those that made it to Cannes Lions 2014

The Epic Split feat. Van Damme (Live Test 6) For Volvo Trucks

Kan Khajoora Tesan For HUL by PHD India

Kan Khajura Tesan (or KKT) is an ondemand, entertainment channel on the mobile platform.

Brazilian Association of Organ Transplant: Lifeguard Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Accident Prevention Network: P Advertising Agency: Ogilvy, Bangkok, Thailand

Axe Black: Heroic Advertising Agency: Ponce, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mercedes: Businessman Hear what you can't see. Active Park Assist with Ultrasound Sensors. Advertising Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai, UAE

Jack & Jones: Knit with wit Advertising Agency: &Co, Copenhagen, Denmark

Panasonic Nanoe Automotive Air Conditioning: Windblown dog Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, Australia

Guinness: Now in a bottle Advertising Agency: BBDO, Singapore

CSR, A Promotion Tool Palak Vasa, Priyanka Doshi Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research

“Businesses need to go beyond the interest of their companies to the communities they serve.” – Ratan Tata

because various accountable and ethical business practices have enhanced company’s ranking in terms of sustainability and the art of giving back to the society alongside their actual profit making performances.

Profit meets Purpose Image

Stakeholders

Positioning

CSR Competition

Promotional Tactics

Cause Marketing

Cross Promotion

Digital Audience

Promotion

Perception

CSR - a marketing tool The Firm, The Society and The Market The past few years have witnessed a paradigm shift in the manner a firm is engaged in social initiatives. With the advent of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a great opportunity to help a cause and market one’s business has arrived. Visible CSR activities enhance a firm’s reputation. Hence, firms are no longer viewing CSR as a non-profit obligation but as an additional channel to promote, position and market themselves. Large corporate houses have turned their attention to re-building their brand by wrapping products in the fabric of social cause and presenting it to the customers. CSR-oriented brand campaigns are assisting companies to catapult their marketing efforts

Promotional Tactics: Companies can determine the use of CSR in promotion mix, or combination of promotional strategies. One such way is to launch a new product along with a CSR event or by routing certain percentage of the selling price of the product to a predetermined social cause. Furthermore, it may even appoint brand ambassadors to highlight the company’s CSR efforts. For instance - Dia Mirza for Panasonic. Cause Marketing: Companies may decide to sponsor a social cause or invite sponsorships from charitable trusts, donors and other corporations. At a fundraiser event organized by the company, sponsors can set up kiosks to address any queries pertaining to its CSR activities. Also, in similar events, such as a charity cricket match, at least one product may be promoted by giving it away through free samples.

Cross Promotion: It is necessary to consider the consumer’s perspective in order to understand the advantages of cross promoting a brand alongside any CSR efforts. Cross-promotion enables the consumers to focus on corporate social activities as well as the company’s products. For example- since its initiation, Shiksha has made donations towards helping children with better education. This is due to the strong support from consumers by buying the P&G products; enabling P&G to contribute a part of the revenue towards the cause. This way people might prefer to continuously buy the products, as they would like the company's cause.

Digital Audience:

International Breastfeeding week for promoting the benefits and appropriate method of breast-feeding to infants. Post that week; Nestle intensively promotes its products Lactogen and NAN-Pro claiming it to be closest substitute of breast-milk, which can be given to an infant in the absence of breast milk. Hence, Nestle lives up to its image of Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company.

Into the future Until today, companies released only those products that were necessary from the standpoint of innovation and profit. However, expectations of crucial elements such as consumers, employees and government mandate vis-à-vis how much the company supports the society has risen.

Digital marketing and social-media marketing has evolved by leaps and bounds. The company can utilize this to connect with the potential digital audience to promote CSR activities and products. A company can strategically place a product on webinars or podcasts concerning CSR activities . Alternatively, the company may also conduct social media competitions to boost the same.

The word CSR has garnered importance from every direction. Companies must now understand that they can infuse betterment in the society and that it is difficult for the government to uplift the society alone. By providing this support, companies can enrich their brand image in the eyes of general public. General Electric (GE) was one the early birds to grab the untapped opportunity depicted in the above statistics by introducing ‘Ecomagination’ initiative. It helped GE by spreading awareness about the use of renewable energy to manufacture its product and thus minimizing carbon footprints. This program was highly effective as the Ecomagination portfolio has grown from 17 products to more than 80, withrevenues reaching $17 billion in 2008, an increase of 21% over 2007.

What this means to the business, is that a company can easily shoot ahead of the competitors by communicating their CSR story of setting up sustainability goals and promoting ethically produced goods. Moreover, aligning business plan with CSR strategy will help organizations to leverage their CSR outflows. Considering all the factors above, CSR is ought to become a very important instrument to market a company’s brand or business as a whole.

Another example of utilizing emotional quotient of consumers is the Nestle campaign during

Corporate Social Responsibility: It's All About Marketing Dipti Nirbawane, IIM Kozhikode

Ram is today’s common man. A man with sense and sensibility towards the society. He wants to bring a change in the society and help people in need but he is very busy in his daily routine to find time to do so. So what happens next? Does he help the society? How? Does he join any NGO? Does he teach the poor kids? Does he arrange blood donation camp? No ways…Then? The man simply buys lot of shampoo! Confused? How can Ram buy shampoo to help society? Yes he can. Because for every single shampoo he buys, Rs. 1 is contributed to poor kids’ education. Win –Win situation for both: Ram and needy kids. No wait….not only for both; it’s most importantly for third party also…The Company! Yes! This is the story of CSR initiatives being taken by many companies in order to build brand image and attract the consumers. Gone are those days when people used to have only lifebuoy as a soap for the whole family and PARLE G was the only biscuit known. Now, in the era of competition between numerous brands to gain the potential consumers, every brand provides excellent taste, flavor, smell and attractive packaging. If not Shahrukh, then Salman does the advertisement for that brand. Then how does one brand stand out? The answer is building the brand image through CSR! That is how TATA remains the country’s most respectful, reliable and preferred growing brand and companies like HUL lead in cut throat competition in FMCG sector. For a particular brand, the marketing cycle starts with getting to know the expected consumer

behaviour and it gets completed with the associated CSR initiatives. Hence while building brand image, it is highly important that the CSR activities are in congruence with the marketing strategies and company’s foundation goals. The famous Tata Tea campaign: “Jaago Re” which promotes awareness about social responsibilities like voting, corruption etc. indirectly promotes its image as a reliable brand. Hence, the success lies in association of its CSR initiatives with brand’s image of reliability and responsibility. Coca Cola which is considered as world’s most valuable brand (2009) has proved how the CSR way can lead to building of trust among consumers for the brand. Whether it is health and sanitation campaigns in Nemam, Tamil Nadu, or Healthcare facilities in Meghalaya, Coke has smartly tried to deviate attention of consumers from its health effects and made everyone focus on its concern about the health of people. And no points for guessing, Coca-Cola was awarded with Golden Globe CSR awards in 2009.

Not only do CSR activities help in creating positive image of that brand and promoting sales, but it also helps in capturing new market segments. Leading FMCG company HUL has successfully penetrated into the rural market segment with its project SHAKTI which empowered rural women. Project SHAKTI made HUL famous in rural market on a large scale with the trust it built which any HUL advertisement campaign could not have done. Also a similar path was followed by ITC with the famous EChaupal activities that strengthened its roots in rural market.

The important thing to be considered is that ITC does not stick to one uniform social campaign. It has launched several social campaigns according to its different brands. Rural women empowerment in Tamil Nadu via Mangaldeep agarbatti, education aid via ITC Classmate. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a classic example of how to correlate brand features with CSR activities.

Talking about correlation with brand features, there is another angle to this story. PEPSI fails to build brand image through CSR campaigns, even though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initiative for waste water management is for a great cause. The reason is that with its product, Pepsi targets the youth and it has positioned itself as a brand for rebellious, daring, carefree young people. Hence its social campaign does not connect with its potential customers.

So, the moral of the story is that building brands with the help of CSR activities can be a double edged sword. If you know how to use it properly, the battle is yours; else your brand identity is lost. The game winner will be the company which turns their CSR activities into a potential market for business in the future.

It is said that Marketing is not just about the voices heard; it is also about the voices unheard!

Totally applies to brand building through CSR!

Have You Jumped on the CSR BRANDwagon? Have you jumped on CSR BRANDwagon? Jatin Khandelwal IIFT Delhi You switch on a TV, read a newspaper, or maybe enjoy a meal at your favorite restaurant but try as you may, you can never escape prying eyes of an advertiser. What do you do then? You do what you are trained to do all your life, ‘Ignore the brand’. But if people are so adept at ignoring, how does a brand connect with its target audience? The solution is simple, ‘Make people want you’.

For a naive businesses man CSR is a burden and nothing more than a charity and he scoffs at a mere idea of it. But for an enlightened soul CSR is a means to connect with people and it is something that actually ‘Make people want the brand’. CSR involves people directly and helps in connecting people with the brand and this makes it all the more harder to forget the brand as it acquires a memory space in the minds of consumers. In the present age of information glut it is practically impossible for a company to camouflage its functioning. Gone are the days when whatever you said was accepted at face value, now the knowledge about the brand isn’t limited to what you have to say as there is free flow of information on TV, internet, magazines etc. and most of these are unregulated. People have started taking CSR activities into account while purchasing. The perfect example here is P&G’s Shiksha program where a part of revenue is used to provide education to under privileged kids. This helped them to get traction with customers and cement their position as a ‘good’ FMCG company. Moreover people tend to ignore higher prices for a product when a product serves a CSR. When Costa Coffee increased its price in London by 10 pence (by launching responsible coffee) in the garb of helping poor farmers in Kenya and Brazil people readily paid for it though almost none of the money went to farmers. Trust is something that people rarely associate with companies; CSR helps you build that level of trust that customers are ready to pay extra 10 pence for no discernible difference in product quality.

CSR helps you unlock new markets which have thus far not accepted your product or the product category. When Johnson and Johnson analyzed the market of sanitary napkins they realized that major chunk of women population still used cloth and many weren’t even aware about the sanitary and few who were, didn’t realize the importance of it. So Johnson and Johnson undertook an initiative to educate women about the importance of sanitary napkins through influencers like teachers, doctors, nurses, prominent people, etc. This helped in developing sanitary napkins category as a whole and since Johnson and Johnson were the ones who created awareness, people

had a good perception about them and this helped them in cornering larger chunk of the market.

In a cluttered market such as apparel there is not much differentiation between products so how do you differentiate your brand with your rivals’? Here again CSR comes to rescue. To reduce manufacturing costs major apparels companies have shifted their manufacturing bases to developing and under-developed countries where working conditions are pathetic to say the least. Nike recognized it and was the first to allow third parties to audit the factories and has disclosed them impartially. This propelled their brand image vis-à-vis its competitors who were struggling to contain the damage of soiled reputation because of terrible working conditions in sweatshops.

agree your marketing campaign be it social, traditional or CSR is as good as your product. If you have a terrible product no matter what CSR activity you undertake your product sales won’t take off.

Marketing through CSR though is in its nascent stage but with the passage of time more marketers will understand its true value and will have a major chunk of their marketing expense being used for CSR activities. As they say the more you give the more you shall receive and this is true in every sense for a company. Have you been CSRed yet? If not then hop on the ’CSR Brandwagon’ before it’s too late.

Obviously CSR is not the only way to reach out to your target audience but it is something that genuinely empathies with people, understands their problem and provides a solution. It is something which more often than not creates a positive perception about your brand in the minds of people. But all this could go for a toss if your product is worthless. As all marketers would

REMORPH: GOING LIVE Gaurav Gupta, Tata Motors

An old school thought form the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus says: “Change is the only constant in life”, but today, would you agree with me, if I Re-morph it, to claim it for the most likable, most profitable but most challenging word in the Oxford dictionary - “Business”.

The radio cab market is an organized segment of the business which generates close to a total of Rs.1200 crores annually and has taken a major 45% market share in airport pick-ups and drops.

Top line, bottom line, revenue projections, convincing the investors, constant value addition, running the daily operations, generating profitsWhoa! Wait, do I as an entrepreneur need to do all this? The answer is sadly “YES” and hey I am not done here, there’s something more coming your way. Ladies and Gentle, boys and girls – Take a note of the most important among all the ingredients in this secret recipe of a successful business venture. A topping that gives the recipe its real taste, a concept that draws the fine line between - a business venture and a “successfulsustainable” business venture.

The ingredient: “Re-morph”

Congratulations! You have now successfully made it to the Business World. Welcome to the world of dynamism, innovation and speed. Let’s build an assumption “Change is the only constant in business and the mantra to sustain your business is to Re-Morph as per the changing environment”. So, let’s see whether by the end of completing this paper, if we are able to acknowledge our assumption, as the most important guiding principle of conducting business in today’s time. The bottom line or the pre-requisite to Re-morph is a set of factors namely speed, adaptability and flexibility that enable a business organization to continuously keep on evolving with the changing technological, social and economic scenario as its biggest challenges. The complexities of limited cash, selective shopping on limited budgets, lack of variety/options, lack of complete information about the market has all given way to ATM withdrawals, e-commerce websites and speedier mobile transactions. These technological changes have brought a huge change in the way we conduct our business today. Time consumption to reach out to the right vendor, fixing the deal and payment cycles which used to take months before one could settle for what he/she needs is reduced to mere seconds’ nowSpeed is what makes all the difference. Being flexible enough to adapt to these changes is the only way out if you wish to stay in business.

The debate on brick and mortar stores getting replaced by e-commerce websites is everywhere to be heard. Let’s take another example of an industry that has silently re-morphed itself and is touted to be the next big game after e-commerce.

The app quickly sends the request to the cab drivers close the location of the customer. Wait for a moment and here comes your chauffeur with your choice of cab made at the Uber app to pick you up for your destination.

The industry as primitive as calling a taxi by waving your hand on the street has today evolved itself into a completely consumer focused, organized and technology driven industry with appointments scheduled for picking up to automated tab payments making it more convenient and more likeable to its customers.

Uber takes pride in saying to its premium class customer

The Indian taxi market today stands at an annual revenue figures of 11 lac crores and has close to 4lac taxi vehicles plying on road. The radio cab market is an organized segment of the business which generates close to a total of Rs.1200 crores annually and has taken a major 45% market share in airport pick-ups and drops. Consider an example of a global venture “Uber”, setup initially in US currently operating across 41 countries and valued at 17bn US$. Uber started with its operations for a niche segment of customers catering to a premium class only. It has premium cabs ranging from Mercs, Jaguars, Audis and other big names so to say present in its fleet. A business executive looking for attending to a meeting at a client’s office or in need of a drop facility to the airport just needs to send a request on the Uber app.

“Its your moment. Own it.” What about India? How do we do things here? Besides, Uber making inroads to the country with its operations across 6 Indian major metros: Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi & Pune. We have radio cab companies operating right from the start of the century and known to most of us now. MERU is the current largest player in the cab owning a fleet of 7000 cabs in a total of 8 cities with leads generated from its call center, website and mobile app. It is currently present in 8 cities and has a daily booking rate of 25000.

MEGA with a fleet size of 4000 operates in 7 cities receiving daily bookings of 15000 with a 90 percent contribution from its call center operations market. Taxi4sure which started in Bangalore as a small setup today has a fleet size of 4000 cabs and receives daily booking of 4500.

It currently operates in 3 cities and relies on call center and mobile app bookings.

Easycabs with a fleet size of 3000 hits 15000 bookings daily while operating in 4 metro cities. Call center appointments contributing the maximum to its daily run. It’s no rocket science. The idea behind the whole business is simple. These entrepreneurs were able to identify a latent but emerging need in the industry for a reliable, quick and hassle free operation cab operations preferred by business class executives. The idea executed with multiple technological platforms of web apps, call centers and direct calls ensures the maximum inflow of the customers to their associated drivers. The need to experience a premium class service while in a city of visit gets simple by just logging in your app and selecting the cab of your choice. The industry is silently re-morphing itself from an unorganized market of random availability to reliable and assured service of your choice using basic technology to its best.

round of funding has raised the Uber’s valuation five-fold to US $17bn as compared to the earlier round of funding of $258 million by Google Ventures that gave it a valuation of $3.4 billion just an year back. This takes the list of investors in Uber to include Wellington Management, BlackRock Inc., Summit Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Fidelity Investments, Google Ventures and Menlo Ventures.” A look at the investments above and do we still need to make an effort to think before saying A Re-morph did it for the “Cab Market”

Re-morphing our ideas to sustain. Re-morphing our operations to adapt. Re-morphing our businesses for “Change is the only constant in business and the mantra to sustain your business is to Re-Morph as per the changing environment”

THE WRITER IS WORKING WITH TATA MOTORS, PASSENGER VEHICLE BUSINESS UNIT IN THE CORPORATE AND FLEET VERTICLE AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY FOR PAST 27 MONTHS CONTRIBUTING IN VARIOUSA ROLES OF MARKETING ANDreads SERVICES. recent article on Bloomberg “The last

About Us

MARCOM, the marketing cell of MIB (Master of International Business), Faculty of Commerce & Business, Delhi School of Economics is a student initiative that aims at nurturing individuals with distinctive imagination and originality, making them indispensable for any team that they work in. It provides an opportunity to the students to explore their potential in the field of marketing outside the classroom. We use tools such as case study competitions, quizzes and presentations to provide unadulterated flavour of marketing to students. Our widely acclaimed monthly student magazine Brand.i comes up with articles on changing markets and innovative marketing techniques, inviting editorials by B-school students & professionals from all over the country. Our objective is to give students a podium to unleash their creativity and assimilate the field of marketing.