Markathon january 2014

Marketing Magazine of IIM Shillong

Volume 5 | Issue 7

How “Pink� is Pink really?

Vartalaap with Mr. Michael Norton Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit & Marvin Bower Fellow at the Harvard Business School

January 2014

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From The Editor

Year 2013 has been a year of questions and uncertainties. And also a year of no answers at all.

Uncertainty and gloom was all over the country. Political scene was haphazard at best. Business Climate was volatile. Economy was tumbling and even now we are clueless how it’s going to turnaround. Sports in the country witnessed a scene which every Indian had dreaded for past 24 years. Hindi Cinema saw a heart breaking split. Globally the scene was not great either. US Government shutdown to killer typhoon Haiyan which rocked Philippines to demise of Nelson Mandela, 2013 was as uncertain as it could get.

But there were things which surprised us in a positive manner. One was the Himalayan rise of Ramon Magsaysay award winner and Civil servant turned politician Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi CM. Modi wave is already being felt as BJP swept MP and Rajasthan elections and marginally winning in Chattisgarh too. In business front, this year might very well be a year of turnarounds with SBI, Future Group and Tata Steel being expected to reclaim their respective positions which they enjoyed during their heydays. Hopefully, 2014 will provide answers to all of these. Sports will be a focal point of discussion for many things as Brazil is getting ready to host the biggest sporting event on the planet, FIFA World Cup.

Apart from this, our society is asking much pressing questions. Will gays be deprived of their rights? The recent ruling on LGBT rights has sent shockwaves. Markathon with its usual style tries to connect the various dots to show how this would affect the business scenario.

This Year’s first cover story will be on Pink Marketing. We listen to our readers and we act also. So we have added a new section titled “Ishtihaar” which would discuss about

Indian way of marketing and dropped Bookmark section.

Apart from these, we have the usual sections with new authors and obviously new style of analysis and storytelling to enthrall the readers.

T.S.Elliot once famously wrote in his poem Little Gidding, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language; and next year’s words await another voice” and went on to say, “What we call the beginning is often the end; and to make an end is to make a beginning.”

It has been exactly one year since we took over the reins of this distinguished magazine. We have strived hard to better the quality of the magazine every month and we hope we have achieved it. In the process, we are really proud to have helped a lot of Marketing enthusiasts like us to acquire, share and disseminate knowledge.

When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, while others build windmills. And we? We have inducted a team which is capable of doing wonders. We feel it is the right time for us to pass over the reins to our Junior team. Though it is hard for us to part from the day to day activities of crafting Markathon, we are quite happy that we are leaving Markathon in safe and reliable hands. But Markathon is to stay in our hearts forever and we know it will be in yours too. For any suggestions or feedback, please write to us at markathon.iims@gmail.com.

And now let us all welcome the New Year, full of things that have never been.

For the new beginnings. For the new team. And for our ever growing love for marketing.

Cheers.

The Markathon Team Editors

Senior Team : Ashok A | Kamalpreet Singh Saluja | Pallavi | Prateek Gaurav | Shashank S Tomar | Swikruti Panda Junior Team : Amit Sonwani | B Ushashree | Nishant Prakash | Ramanathan K | Varsha Poddar | Yash B. Bhambhwani

Creative Designers Senior Team : Sushree Tripathy | Vaibhav Annam Junior Team : Malini Aishwarya B | Swati Pamnani

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Perspectives Bullet Train Abhimanyu Roy | IMT Ghaziabad

january 2014

Contents 4

FOGG clouds the AXE effect Maitreyi Bodake | SP Jain

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How “Pink” is Pink really?

B Ushashree , Yash B. Bhambhwani and Malini Aishwarya B | IIM Shillong Vartalaap Professor Michael Norton Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit & Marvin Bower Fellow at the Harvard Business School

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Eye 2 Eye Prankvertising : One Hit Wonder or Dawn of New Age Marketing?”

Palak grover | FMS Delhi & TanishaPradhan | IIMK

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Silent Voice Aam Aadmi Party

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Specials Addicted Swati Pamnani & Yash B. Bhambhwani | IIM Shillong

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Brand Story Nishant Prakash | IIM Shillong

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Fun Corner Malini Aishwarya B | IIM Shillong

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Ishtihaar Ramanathan K | IIM Shillong

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Jab They Failed B Ushashree | IIM Shillong

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Radical Thoughts Varsha Poddar | IIM Shillong

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Updates Amit Sonwani | IIM Shillong

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Events - GodSellers Amit Sonwani & Nishant Prakash | IIM Shillong

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perspective perspective perspective perspective

january 2014 december 2013 january 2014 different markets and marketers wanted to cash in on the total potential market. Finally, in order to cash in on director Rohit Shetty’s reputation for creating masala entertainers (like the Golmaal series) the poster featured his name boldly. In comparison here is the poster of the Chennai Express beside that of Don 2(another Khan starrer directed by Farhan Akhtar). From the very start, Chennai Express had positioned itself as a classic Rohit Shetty action comedy.

Bullet Train An examination of the marketing strategy of Chennai Express

By ABHIMANYU ROY IMT GHAZIABAD

Four years ago, a love letter to engineering students across India became the high-grossing Bollywood film in history. Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots grossed an unheard of ₹392 crore worldwide. Even after adjusting for inflation it beat out K. Asif’s epic Mughal-e-Azam as the most popular film ever made in the Indian film industry. Industry insiders predicted that its record would not be beaten in a decade but whereas Mughal-e-Azam held the crown for 15years, 3 Idiots would fall within only four. Olympus has fallen and the new king is another Khan.

Shahrukh Khan’s Chennai Express overtook 3 Idiots this year to become numero uno at the box office. Its brand of masala film-making resonated with Indian audiences and the result was an unprecedented number of housefulls at theatres across the nation. So how did it manage to do it? The answer is not just standard epithets about catchy songs or engaging story or charismatic acting. It is an innovative marketing strategy that utilized all possible channels of communication to get movie-goers into seats.

To understand this story, let’s start at the beginning.

Well Begun is half done The Indian public was given a first look at Chennai Express on New Year’s Day 2013. The makers released 3 posters which showcased director Rohit Shetty’s creation. The posters were smartly created and highlighted the two most important selling points of the film – the lead pair (Khan and starlet Deepika Padukone) and the South Indian culture that was integral to the film. Furthermore, releasing the posters 8 months before the film’s anticipated release date, gave marketers a chance to build up curiosity in the minds of cinema-goers. The posters were well received by industry pundits who were eager to see Khan’s first outing in a year post a lackluster Jab Tak Hain Jaan. Additionally, unlike other Bollywood films the posters were released in different languages. This was done as the film would be released in different languages for

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Posters of Chennai Express and Don 2. Notice how much more prominent Rohit Shetty’s name is.

Teaser and Trailer – Traditional Marketing As the months went by Khan and Padukone’s faces became more noticeable on billboards across the country.

Finally, in the last 3months before the film’s release the marketing team shifted into high gear. They started by releasing a 31second teaser of the title track sung by S. P. Balasubramaniam in May. The choice of singer – Balasubramaniam is a famous singer in Tamil cinema – as well as portion of the song that was screened (it contained classic Southern beats as well as a western influence) gave fur-

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Game & Clothing line – Innovation in Marketing

ther clarity to the audience about what they could expect in film without giving away anything of the plot.

Chennai Express took merchandising to a whole new level. With two apps launched just a fortnight before the film’s release, Chennai Express wanted to tap into the huge market of cyber gamers. The first app – a video game – targeted gamers who liked Bollywood films. The game, titled Chennai Express: Escape from Rameshwaram, had players dodging goons and obstacles like cars and trucks in order to gain enough points to save Padukone’s game avatar. According to the Google Play store Escape from Rameshwaram has had over a million downloads. The second was a karaoke app, which allowed players to sing some of the movie’s signature tracks on their smart phones. This app has had nearly 1lakh downloads till date.

Chennai Express was pushing new boundaries.

Chennai Express’ official trailer was released at a media event in Mumbai on June 13th.

As is customary, the stars of the film, the director and the producer were present. However, as a sign of the changing times, the trailer’s online presence took priority over its offline presence on television screens and movie theatre previews. Case in point – 3 Idiots that was released 4years ago has garnered 4million views on YouTube till date, Chennai Express crossed the 2million mark in 4days.

The trailer itself featured aerial shots of a train and some classic images of Southern culture like the combative Parichamuttukali dance of Kerala. The interplay between the

Poster for Chennai Express: Escape from Rameshwaram While the apps targeted largely a male audience, the clothing line – a line of designer sarees that Padukone sports in the film – targeted the female demographic. Padukone even walked the ramp on a few occasions to model the line at fashion shows. The line made by Palam Silks with a rich Southern color palette and traditional fabrics proved to be a hit amongst women and was in high demand at clothing outlets.

Parichamuttukali dance was featured in the trailer

lead actor and actress gave the viewer an inclination of the plot of the film. Action snippets as well as comedy one-liners drove home the image that the marketers wanted to create. As a concluding reinforcement the last of shot of the trailer features the line “Rohit Shetty ishtyle” in bold.

The trailer had hit all the marks it was intended to hit.

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The Lungi Dance In the final weeks before the release of the film, Khan and Padukone appeared on a variety of popular television shows such as Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and Indian Idol Junior. A characteristic of these became the cast members doing a

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dance step called the Lungi dance with some of the con- Successfully linking Rajinikanth to the film paid testants or the host of the show. rich dividends for Chennai Express. As fans lined up to watch Khan and Padukone’s pairing outside south Indian movie screens, the film’s gross collections in Tamil NaduKerala region exceeded ₹8.5crore – more than double of previous record holder 3 Idiots which had ₹4.2crore.

The Lungi dance was a step that accompanied the song of the same name sang by Honey Singh. The song with its catchy tune became ubiquitous during the film’s promotional drive. But coming up with a memorable melody was not the real genius behind this move. Rather it was the nod to legendary actor Rajinikanth that truly put it in the mainstream. “Thalaivaa” (Tamil for leader, and the nom de dieu for Rajinikanth fanatics) was present in almost every line of the song and posters of Rajinikanth’s films were plastered all over the music video.

Conclusion The marketing of Bollywood films is undergoing a revolutionary change. Increased broadband penetration and rampant proliferation of smart phones are altering the promotional landscape. No longer are releasing attractive posters or intriguing trailers enough to make a movie a success. Marketers have to veer from traditional norms to gain the attention of viewers in the digital age. Chennai Express was successful in implementing a new strategy to capture the market. But as with any new strategy there are going to be variations which are going to improve upon the base – such as Dhoom 3 with its motion poster.

Time will tell just how successful these innovations turn out to be. For now though, all we can do is learn from a certified box office blockbuster.

A shot from the music video of Lungi Dance featuring a poster of Rajinikanth

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FOGG clouds the AXE effect

By MAITREYI BODAKE SPJIMR

“How does somebody know what they want if they haven’t even seen it?” once questioned the erstwhile legendary Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. This can be seen especially in the deodorant industry in India which has undergone a serious transition since the second half of 1990s -post economic liberalization.

Killer, Fuel, Addiction, Bad Boi, Layers, Secret Temptation, Intense, Streax Xenoh and several more. There are also the imported labels such as Ferrari, Hugo Boss and United Colors of Benetton preferred by the high earning and glitterati crowd in the country.

In this already cluttered market, forayed one more deodorant ‘FOGG’ by Vini Cosmetics Ltd, an entrepreneurial venture founded by Darshan Patel in 2010. Being a co-promoter of Paras group and a key player in building brands like Moov, D’Cold, Set Wet, Ring Guard and Dermi Cool, provided Darshan Patel the required expertise and experience of creating a unique and strong brand. This is evident from the unique positioning of FOGG. The launch ad portrayed a young urban male who is fed up with his deo as during usage only gas comes out instead of perfumed liquid. Then comes FOGG which is only liquid based with no gas ensuring longer and quality usage. In short, its positioning statement read “Bina gas wala body spray”. The positioning was sealed with the guarantee of 800 sprays in one bottle. Axe which has been the dominant player in the men’s deodorant category always played on the “sex appeal” feature where the man with the Axe deodorant is perceived as attractive and women are drawn to him with his pheromone like deodorant. Many other players entering the market followed suit crowding the market and leading to a commoditization of deodorant category with a similar positioning. The competitors also adopted

The deodorant and body spray market in India is currently valued at 1800 crore with upto 55% annual growth. Ac-

cording to a recent Euromonitor report, from just Rs 283 crore in 2007, sales of deodorants in India have grown five-fold to Rs 1,520 crore in 2012; expected to double upto Rs 3,010 crore by 2017. Deodorants form an appealing category in the personal care segment of FMCG justifying the already existing clutter and the increasing inflow of more and more players. Men’s deodorants peg a 70% market share in the overall deodorant segment growing at 25% annually. Between 2003 and 2012, three and four out of every 10 men in cities, and one out of every 10 men in small towns have used deodorants. The dominant players in men’s deodorant category in India are Axe from HUL, Park Avenue by Raymonds, Wild Stone by McNroe Chemicals, Set wet and Zatak from Reckitt Benckieser The lesser known players have launched brands such as 18, a

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similar packaging style and tag lines as Axe further diluting the brand essence of Axe. Exhaustive research and focus group studies conducted by Mr. Patel and his team pointed out that the functional benefits of attitude and sex appeal had been commoditized by the competitors. Digging deep in the brand Axe, it found out that customers were dissatisfied by the nozzle of Axe deodorants bottle as it caused wastage. They were convinced that to create a differentiated brand, they would focus on the value part of the brand. The deo bottle was designed with a direct nozzle ensuring no spray is wasted and the smell lasts longer.

A simple consumer insight of providing more sprays per bottle, they provided value for money and uniqueness to the customers who were getting more and more neutral towards the choice they made from within the other brands of deos.

marks a sharp debacle for Axe which commanded a market share of 18-19% just a year ago. It was imperative for Vini Cosmetics to crack the distribution in the already matured deodorant market. It spent about Rs 20 crores since the inception towards building stronger distribution channels for its product. It has built a network of ‘C n f’ agents in various states who are linked to various stockists, wholesellers and retailers -a model commonly followed by all leading companies. Distributers lauded and promoted FOGG product as they found a unique convenience offered in terms of support by media, the company itself, retail scheme plans and margin offerings. While Axe signed actor Ranbir Kapoor as a brand ambassador for Axe, FOGG continued to promote itself on its key usp -more number of sprays and a long lasting smell. Recently, Vini Cosmetics has raised a capital of Rs.110 crore from venture capital fund Sequoia Capital for expansion and diversification which suggests its continued focus towards growth.

In a short span of time, FOGG, a product by a young company has managed to penetrate into the market dominated by successful and seasoned players like Axe, Park Avenue. This can be largely attributed to its unique positioning and focused strategy. With ITC Engage’s entry in deodorant market in April 2013, there can be some further changes in market dynamics. Only time will tell whether FOGG can sustain this new competition but for now, it has surely proved its mettle.

FOGG was positioned for the urban centric youth who wanted a value for their money. Focus was on quality and customer satisfaction. Price was aimed towards the premium segment. One bottle was priced at Rs 180 which was 15-20 % higher than the competitors. It was believed that the customers would be drawn to the product for its value offering and will be ready to pay the premium price. This insight also proved right. Starting with a market share of 0.5% in Jan 2012, FOGG recorded a market share of 10.5%in Jan 2013. More so, According to the Nielsen report released in October 2013, FOGG currently enjoys a market share of 13% surpassing Axe which is at 8%. It

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Cover Story

B UShashreee ~ Malini AIshwarya B ~ Yash B. Bhambhwani

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rom the first gay characters on mainstream television in the 70s, to the huge brands that dared to openly market to the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) audience in the 80s, to the 10-year drought that hit the gay advertising industry due to the arrival of AIDS, to its reappearance due to a recession and to the resistance it still faces today, the LGTB market is a fascinating study in diversity, courage, profit and respect. Pink Dollar marketing is the focussed effort made by companies targeting the LGBT community. It has been observed by experts that this market holds great potential and is making a significant economic impact. The question arises: how has itbecome so significant that people in every nook and corner of the world have heard about it? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that there are gay people all across the world even though their rights and the legality of their relationships have been in ceaseless contention. Due to its growing size and spending potential, this market is gaining significance.

The topic has been controversial since its inception due to friction from the society. According to GLAAD (Gay& Lesbian Alliance AgainstDefamation), in 2004, 36 per cent of Fortune 100 companies advertised directly to this segment and over $223 million was spent annually on advertising in print media that directly targeted the gay segment. The market experts say that the purchasing power of this community is about $790 billion and due to its volume it is being seen as a lucrative market. Industries that are focussed on this group of people includenightclubs, restaurants, cab services etc. The LGBT community also has a strong influence in the field of politics, which it has gained through political donations. Some companies which have adopted pink dollar marketing are Mc. Donald’s, GAP and Oreo. It is not limited to brands alone, but even celebrities like Madonna, Lady Gaga and

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Kylie Minogue are supporting the motion while celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons and Ellen Degeneres are openly gay and extensively campaigning for gay rights. Many countries,latest addition being New Zealand, and several states in US have legalized same-sex marriage. Campaigns supporting the LGBT community on social media have further led the marketers to closely target this segment. Markathon has tried to decipher why this motion has accumulated such a huge number of followers and what this new lifestyle facet spells for marketers, specifically for those who wish to or have already jumped on the bandwagon of Pink Dollar Marketing.

The advent of gay advertising dates back to the early 20th century in 1915. A print ad for the Palmolive soap shows an image of two women cuddling in bed together. The sensuality is almost palpable, however, the headline “Appeals to dainty women”, seeks to strike a chord with a larger female consumer base.As time progressed, many other similar advertisements did come into picture, some of which were “Ivory Snow” in 1917,KarpenPil-O-Rest Mattress in 1939, a 1943 ad for Cannon towels portraying a company of soldiers skinny dipping in the South Pacific and a 1945 ad for Faultless pyjamas showing three handsome young gentlemen getting dressed after what was apparently a sleepover. In most of these ads the gay subtext is a matter of opinion—or perhaps, perception. A straight person who looked at these ads in magazines would just turn the page and not think anything, but someone with a gay

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sensitivity mightreact differently. Then came the other kind of advertisements that openly advertised to the LGBT community - Absolut was the first majorcompany to do so. They believed the LGBT community to be the modernisers and hoped that their habits would be eventually adopted by the youth later.

This rationale culminated in their advertisements in two gay magazines –‘The Advocate’ and ‘After Dark’ and later, conceptualisation of their advertisements on homosexuality.In 1993, a TV ad for a Danish newspaper called Politiken, showed two men passionately kissing. What followed was theground-breaking Ikea ad in 1994 with a gay couple showing-off their newly decorated home and shopping for a dining room table. Some of the commercials that followed werelight hearted, while others highlighted more serious

statement but doing so on a mainstream channel like Facebook. With banks too entering the fray, Toronto-Dominion’s CEO Ed Clark spoke out in support of gay rights on YouTube. Similar steps have recently been taken by the Royal Bank, which encouraged staff to wear pink on April 11 in support of Day of Pink, an international campaign against homophobia and bullying. Nokia, Visa, Deloitte, Google, Facebook and Telus have also taken similar measures and have shown through various means that they prize diversity. Indeed, the list of companies that have moved their support from niche marketing to mainstream overtures has become truly eye-catching.

India too, has experienced a roller coaster ride in Pink Dollar Marketing. Hailed as a progressive ruling, the verdict by Delhi High Court decriminalising homosexuality in 2009 suddenly brought India to the attention of the billion-dollar gay and lesbian travel business. In the last few years, the gay and lesbian travel segment and the resultant attention in the wake of India coming across as a progressive nation, was already showing positive trends. Indian corporates like Adi Godrej’s Godrej Group and condoms maker DKT India tapped into the growing purchasing power of the LGBT community and latched on to the idea of ‘pink money’ in their brand positioning.

Brands like Levi’s, Hajmola and Amul also targeted this segment in their advertisements.

While Levi’s featured two female models cosy-ing up to each other, the Amul butter ads showed the Amul mascot offering buttered slices of bread to two girls and with the caption: ‘Out of Closet, Out of Fridge!’

Larger corporations such as Virgin Mobile and Hindustan Times have also increasingly used LGBT-friendly messages to promote their brand in advertisements, with taglines themes of acceptance and equality andproved that such as “It’s time to open our minds”. The ‘Come Out commercials have the potential to generate positive of the Closet’ campaign by Titan’s Fastrack also feaemotions towardsthe LGBTcommunity. tured two women literally stepping out of a closet.

The Supreme Court ruling upholding the legality of

Once considered a high-risk, low-reward Section 377has seen the ire of the public and brought field, worthy of a limited spend, at best, today the the gay community into the limelight again. The “Gay gay and lesbian community is recognized as an es- for a day” campaign on Facebook was an innovative sential audience segment. This has led to very large campaign with a huge social media following. But companies like Kraft not only making a very overt that wasn’t the end of it. Social media was flooded

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with print ads from Tanishq, Fastrack, Amul, Simply Potatoes, Hidesign, Beforeorafter.in, among many others that out rightly condemned the verdict. The astounding response and support for the LGBT community serves as heartening news. However, advertising to the LGBT community in any social setup has its set of challenges. A major challenge is the unpredictability of people’s reactions as in the case of IKEA ads. Other challenges include the social norms and/ or the ads themselves being seen as derogatory by straight as well as LGBT communities.The key conceptual problem however, is how to tap into the lucrative and growing LGBT market while not losing the mainstream and traditional heterosexual market, especially through the use of traditional mass media. To this effect, the use of implicit meaning within the explicit message has proven to be very effective, without offending the heterosexual consumers who are less likely to identify or understand gay iconography. ​According to research conducted by Prime Access and PlanetOut in 2008, nearly a quarter of the general population surveyed think gay imagery in commercials would have negative impression on them.Although the survey research result did show positive feelings from the gay and lesbian group with the use of gay imagery in commercials, there is also some avoidance among the gay community members in purchasing gay associated brands.

This may result in both the general population and gay market avoiding the gay associated brand or products in fear of being labelled gay. Therefore, companies have to identify and communicate perceived value that is important to gay consumers.

For instance, the perceived value in the gay market that some men look for is the recognition and acknowledgement of gay existence and the support of their lifestyle and marketing campaigns that provide this recognition create positive intentions.

Over the years Marketing has evolved, strategies have been developed, some have succeeded, some have failed and some never reached the audience.

With a large number of companies looking at the Pink Dollar Market as a valuable audience to add to their target customer base, the number of ads and campaigns focussing on this segment is increasing.

Social websites are being flooded with print ads and quotes supporting not just the community but also the ad campaigns based on it. The world stands at a point where the term love is being redefinedand as a smart marketer would have it, it is the best time to

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push one’s product by being a part of this controversy which experiences involvement of people in volumes. Companies like Oreo that are known for their Marketing acumen have come up with print ads supporting the LGBT Community because they believe in developing the brand and not just customer base.

The evolving concept of Marketing 3.0 states that it is in the best interests of the company to share the concerns of the society and brands supporting the Pink Market are doing exactly that. Capitalizing on such movements is what conveys to the audience that the brand is aware of the concerns that the public faces and that it sensitizes with such issues. While some of the developed countries have accepted the phenomenon, developing countries like India are still grappling with societal and political friction. The recent Indian Supreme Court ruling regarding the Section 377 and the protests that followed clearly show that the Indian market needs to be dealt with differently or marketing campaigns following this line can backfire.

Our take - this segment has a lot of potential and the way it is being received marketers can count on the fact that if they show their support to the LGBT community, they stand to gain a chunk of the market share. However, campaigns should be sensitive to strike a chord with the Pink dollar market and not antagonize or distance the straight community.

Social Media has and will continue to play a major role in this and marketers have already started realising that. It is indeed time toembrace the pink in us.

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vartalaap from archives

january 2014

An Interview with Mr Michael Norton Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit and Marvin Bower Fellow at the Harvard Business School

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B.A. in Psychology and English from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University , Professor Norton was a Fellow at the MIT’s Sloan School of Management, prior to joining HBS. He is the co-author - with Elizabeth Dunn - of the new book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending. His work has been published in a number of leading academic journals, including Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Consumer Research, and has been covered in media outlets such as the Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He has appeared on National Public Radio, and written op-eds for the New York Times and Forbes. His “The IKEA Effect: When Labor Leads to Love” was featured in Harvard Business Review’s Breakthrough Ideas for 2009. In 2010, he won the Theoretical Innovation Prize from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology; in 2011, he won the SAGE Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Social and Personality Psychology; in 2012, he was selected for Wired Magazine’s Smart List as one of “50 People Who Will Change the World.” At HBS, he teaches a second-year MBA course, The Art of Marketing Science, and in the Program for Leadership Development and Strategic Marketing Management executive programs.

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Markathon: Can you share few of the learning from your work experience at Larsen & Toubro which helped you in your management journey?

1. Buy Experiences. Material things (from beautiful homes to fancy pens) turn out to provide less happiness than experiential purchases (like trips, concerts, and special meals). Whether you’re spending $2 or You co-authored the book ‘Happy Money: The Sci- $200,000, buying experiences rather than material ence of Smarter Spending”. What is the essence of goods can inoculate you against buyer’s remorse. the book and who do you think should read this 2. Make It a Treat. When something wonderful is albook? ways available, people are less inclined to appreciate

My co-author Liz Dunn and I started our in- it. Limiting our access to the things we like best may vestigation of the link between money and happi- help to “re-virginize” us, renewing our capacity for ness because of a surprising finding in the academic pleasure. There is value of turning our favorite things literature: while making more money doesn’t make back into treats – like making that afternoon latte a people less happy, it generally makes them much less special indulgence rather than a daily necessity. This happy than they think it will. We wondered whether principle explains why McDonald’s makes its pheit was true that money couldn’t buy happiness, or nomenally successful McRib sandwich available only whether that the real problem for limited periods each year, and was that people weren’t spending why commercials can actually enthe money they had in ways that hance the pleasure of television. would increase their happiness.

3. Buy Time. By permitting us Over more than a decade, we have to outsource our most dreaded been conducting research – with tasks, from scrubbing toilets to laypeople, employees, customers, cleaning gutters, money can transand corporations – to determine form the way we spend our time, what kinds of spending are assofreeing us to pursue our passions. ciated with the most happiness: Yet research shows that wealthier which purchases give people the individuals generally do not spend most “bang for their happiness their time in happier ways on a buck.” As a result, our research is daily basis; thus they fail to use relevant for anyone looking to get their money to buy themselves more happiness out of their hardhappier time. Ask yourself a quick earned cash, and is also relevant question before buying: How will for managers seeking to improve this purchase change the way I use customer and employee satisfaction. my time? Companies ranging from Intel to Patagonia to Home Depot have developed creative strategies To attain maximum satisfaction, what do you think to give even their busiest employees a sense of time consumers must keep in mind while spending and affluence, a potent predictor of people’s satisfaction where do they usually go wrong? with their jobs, and with their lives.

Imagine I told you right now that you won the 4. Pay Now, Consume Later. Digital technology and lottery – what are the first things you would think of credit cards have encouraged us to adopt a “conto buy with your new wealth? If you are like most sume now and pay later” shopping mind-set. By putpeople, you probably thought of buying some stuff: ting this powerful principle into reverse – by paying a new television, a new car, a big house. The biggest up front and delaying consumption – you can buy mistake people make when spending when they buy more happiness, even as you spend less money. Beis that they buy stuff, which research shows has little cause delaying consumption allows spenders to reap to no impact on happiness. the pleasures of anticipation, without the buzzkill We identified five key principles of happier spend- of reality, vacations provide the most happiness being – all of which involve shifting attention away from fore they occur. Even better, people are less prone to buying stuff whenever we want it. overspend when they experience the pain of paying

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january 2014

up front, which can put them on the path to decreasing their debt.

5. Invest in Others. New research demonstrates that spending money on others provides a bigger happiness boost than spending money on yourself. And this principle holds in an extraordinary range of circumstances, from a Canadian college professor purchasing a scarf for her mother to a Ugandan woman buying lifesaving malaria medication for a friend.

Businesses like PepsiCo and Google and nonprofits like DonorsChoose.org are harnessing these benefits by encouraging donors, customers, and employees to invest in others.

Tell us something about ‘the IKEA effect’ given by you and its applications.

Many firms’ business models – from Build-ABear to IKEA – require customers to assemble products themselves. Does asking customers to engage in this labor detract from or enhance the customer experience? What we have called the IKEA effect demonstrates that far from decreasing people’s satisfaction with products, engaging in the production of goods can actually increase their value to their creator. In one study in which we asked people to make origami cranes and frogs, participants saw their amateurish origami creations as similar in value to those made by experts, and expected their peers to share their inflated views of the worth of their creations as well.

The most unusual (and ambitious) application of the IKEA effect we have come across is Local Motors, a company where customers are not only encouraged but actually required to build their own car in order to purchase one. We are now exploring how the IKEA effect plays out in online environments – using Converse’s design-your-own-shoe interface – as well as exploring the neural underpinnings of the value people assign to the products of their own labor.

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“While making more money doesn’t make people less happy, it generally makes them much less happy than they think it will; The biggest mistake people make when spending when they buy is that they buy stuff, which research shows has little to no impact on happiness.”

To what extent do you think companies are giving importance to consumer psychology and behavior?

Any good consumer-facing company knows that a deep understanding of the psychology of its consumers is essential for designing new products and new marketing campaigns that resonate with those consumers. One interesting and fastgrowing development in this area has been the use of experiments in understanding consumer behavior.

Google and Amazon are leading the way in varying (for example) the way in which search results are presented, the pricing and discounting of products, and the ways in which recommendation agents are used to suggest purchases. Conducting quick experiments allow marketers to test several versions of marketing messages simultaneously, increasing the potential for real learning.

What will be your advice to the aspiring marketers who read our magazine?

Related to my answer above, pushing for a deeper understanding of consumer needs – which leads to surprising and monetizable consumer insights – is what distinguishes good marketing from bad.

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eye2eye

december january 2014 2013

Prankvertising: One Hit Wonder or Dawn of New Age Marketing?” palak grover

tanisha pradhan iim kozhikode

fms delhi It has become extremely difficult for marketers to advertise effectively via traditional channels and grab attention not only because the generation has become more marketing-savvy and advertising-critical but also because they have “Seen It ALL”. In such a case, a prank played on them often succeeds in turning out to be a good strategy. And once this succeeds to get the attention, the word of mouth buzz starts and the brand and product gets viral in no time.

In the already cluttered marketing world, Prankvertising is perhaps the new age of marketing. It confronts the customers in unexpected ways and helps in getting top-of-mind recall in the minds of the viewers. Innovation in the pranks designed grabs people’s attention. Viewers find it easier to relate to the ads as they show unsuspecting customers like them and there is an inbuilt sense of reality which the viewers see in the ads. This increases the credibility in the minds of the viewers, helps in increasing the brand value of the product, makes the products top the minds of the consumers, differentiates it and helps in driving sales. As the advertising budgets get smaller and smaller, prankvertising turns out to be a very plausible option of getting maximum reach in minimum cost and stealing the attention of the already distracted online customers.

This method is particularly very successful in launching a new product since it makes the product go viral with a minimum cost investment in their marketing budget. Prankvertising is Impactful, Innovative, Cost-effective and ensures maximum reach in less time. In case of established products, it helps in refreshing the image of the product with an element of fun and delight. Prankvertising is a great strategy for marketers and will dominate the future era of marketing.

Sadism doesn’t always sell.

An innocent woman waiting at the airport sees her image being telecast on the national television as an “unpredictable and dangerous criminal”. Shocked and visibly shaken, she stares at the television in disbelief and meekly utters to her nearby passengers “I didn’t do anything” – evidently traumatized. Who wouldn’t be - being put through such a cruel joke merely for the sake of Nivea trying to sell its new stress-busting deodorant?

Are such outrageous stunts really worth the risk? What if the victim had a heart problem and wouldn’t have been able to take the joke in the way it was meant?

Such marketing stunts definitely catch the eye of the audience, garnering millions of views on YouTube but if the trend continues without any needed rectifications in the intensity of the pranks, it might just be a disaster waiting to happen.

With the advertisers running out of good ideas to use the traditional channels of promoting new products, such eye-popping ads might not even be the best way for the consumers to learn about their product. Indeed so, one traumatized man who was at the receiving end of a prank staged by LG showing the end of civilization on an LG television stormed out of the staged scene using the choicest of swear words – not caring the least about the excellent real life like picture quality of the TV. While we are used to advertisers reminding us that dark skin is not beautiful and wrinkles make us look and feel unattractive, the fact that they are now scaring us half to death seems to be like adding injury to insult. While sadism seems to be selling right now, but it does seem that at some point – in the long term - prankvertising will backfire on the advertisers.

Topic for the next issue: “Consumer reviews - transparency tools or platforms for stealth marketing?”

Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 25th January, 2014. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry.

Winning entries will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!

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silent voice

december january 2014 2013

Theme: Aam Aadmi Party Last month’s results Winner vivek unnikrishnan | niam

Congratulations!!! Vivek receives a cash prize of Rs 1000!

honorary mention

SAURABH KUMAR | INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT NIRMA UNIVERSITY

NEXT THEME FOR SILENT VOICE: India Post LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 25th January, 2014 EMAIL ID: markathon.iims@gmail.com Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only.

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AD-dicted AD-dicted

december january 2013 2014 BY yash bhambhwani IIM SHILLONG

BY Swati pamnani IIM SHILLONG PRODUCT: Women’s lifestyle, Flipkart

PRODUCT: Godrej Hair Colour

POSITIONING: When you have everything and still nothing to wear

POSITIONING: Unbeleivable parlour-like colour without all the mess and within budget

CREATIVE AGENCY: Happy Creations, Bangalore

CREATIVE AGENCY: Creativeland

YouTube Link: http://www youtube. com/watch?v=4tjzho6INp0

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W at3i5hYtY

CONCEPT:

CONCEPT:

CATCH

Flipkart started its advertising on television by featuring kids, and has continued the same, since then. So far, online shopping campaigns mostly targeted men. Departing from tradition, the brand has recently launched a TVC which is tailor-made for women, who closely pursue time and are comfortable transacting online. The film opens up showing a young woman who gets out of her bed and moves towards her closet to search for something to get dressed. The closet is well stacked and she is trying on different clothes and accessories one after another but nothing seems good enough. The background score narrates the story and says, “I’m the girl with closet full; a closet full of nothing.” The girl ends up infuriated and distressed after trying so many clothes from her closet. The ad concludes with a voice over and super sign off that reads, “When you have everything and still nothing to wear. Introducing Women’s lifestyle, Flipkart.com.”

VERDICT: Catch With a fresh and creative theme, perfect segmentation and a tagline so apt for girls’ lifestyle vertical, Flipkart has successfully moved out of its niche ‘children as adults’ advertisements. With a practical campaign, targeted purely at women, the idea stems from the simple insight that even if a girl has so many clothes and accessories she cannot find anything perfect to wear, from her wardrobe.

With a revamp of the look and feel of this section on the site, this campaign winds up all the restructuring efforts and communicates Fipkart’s offering in a simple manner to which women can instantly connect themselves.

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R

It has always been said that the secret to a successful advertisement is the right message, right time and right people. The Godrej Hair colour ad has come at the right time when the complete market is switching from alternatives like mehendi to colour which is more safe and economical now. The message in the ad is that you can now have hair coloured just like in the parlor at home, which is very convenient and acceptable by the audience. Godrej chose to show a woman using the product, which limited the purview to just female users.

MISS VERDICT: Miss

Someone needs to remind Godrej that men are also a significant target group and just when they missed out on focusing on the men they made another rookie mistake.

The Indian man thinks of hair colour as something that relates to women and what is required is to change that impression, but what Godrej did instead was show the man in the advertisement scream in excitement just like his better half which was not at all attractive. All in all the advertisement failed to catch the audience’s eye and Godrej needs to work on marketing the product better.

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brand story

january 2014

Brand Story : SAMSONITE Nishant Prakash | IIM Shillong

For a brand that is more than a hundred years old, Samsonite has seen it all. It has witnessed a change in the consumers’ perception of its offerings from being mere ‘luggage’ to becoming a ‘Travel Gear’ and more recently, a ‘Travel Wear’. With a rich legacy of design breakthroughs and industry firsts, it has been leading product innovations for years having recognized the aforementioned changes in time. Be it the three-point secured latching system, the injection-molded polypropylene production method or the 4-wheel multi directional spinner, Samsonite has a long list of ‘firsts’ in the industry.

It was around the late ‘80s when Samsonite first recognized the changing consumer needs, attributed to more frequent travels and the consequent demand for compact travel gears. It was then that it first started making endeavours for designing ‘durable yet light’ products, a connotation that has stuck with the brand ever since.

This was further complemented with long-term warrantees (some products came with 10-year guarantee schemes) that assured consumers of the brand’s focus on service and quality.

It appears surreal to many, how a brand attributed with a premium tag in this product category made a mark and generated appeal in India, a market characterised by high price sensitivity. Samsonite scored a home run with the launch of its flanker brand ‘American Tourister’ in India, a brand with a trendier and younger appeal which featured in a relatively lower price range segment than the parent Samsonite. What we have as a result of this is a top-selling ‘Class for Mass’ range, a strategy that was eventually emulated by VIP with the launch of its ‘Skybags’ range. Historically, the marketing expenses in India have been split equally between Samsonite and American Tourister which is proof of the huge stress being laid on the latter.

The innovative products have always been supported by the right messages being communicated across the globe. Be it the initial taglines of ‘Strong Enough to Stand On’ in the early 1900s or the recent communication establishing the robustness of the Cosmolite range by claiming it ‘can withstand a truck going over it’ – the idea has always been to make the consumers aware of the perfect mix of style, toughness and durability that the brand has on offer.

While the previous commercials evinced the sheer toughness of the product by depicting a Gorilla

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pounding and punching a bright red coloured Samsonite case inside a cage, the recent ones have been focused on exhibiting style and elegance as important parameters to differentiate itself as a combination of strength and aesthetics.

A recent print campaign titled ‘Heaven and Hell’ (depicted in the image below) showcasing the contrast between the travellers and their luggage during a flight, happens to be the world’s most awarded print ad in history. The list includes a plethora of Grand Prizes, Gold Awards and Yellow Pencils from the likes of Cannes Lions and D&AD. The brand has left no stone unturned in exploring various media to re-affirm its connect with the consumers. The recent experiential offering for its ‘Fire Lite’ range invited the consumers inside a store to stand on a shell of the luggage to test its toughness. For a brand that considers its stores as its strongest branding vehicle, this was yet another attempt to ‘wow’ the consumers inside the store.

The online ‘Step-Out with Harsha (Bhogle)’ campaign post India’s World Cup victory has also been unique in its own way. The fact that a global Samsonite campaign was simultaneously launched in India for the first time is a testimony to the growing importance of the Indian market for the global brand. It was also the first time that the brand moved from its set ‘TVC then Print then Online’ formula and started with the online blog first – a testament to the fact that the brand is all set to change with the changing times.

However, the brand’s recent initiatives may appear to be a bit confusing from a Marketer’s perspective. The design collaboration with one of the world’s most reputed fashion designer in Alexander McQueen was a carefully crafted move to position itself as a fashion-oriented brand; on the other hand, Samsonite India recently announced the proposed launch of Project Pappu – an entirely new line to enter the sub-Rs. 1000 luggage market – with an intention of going beyond the Metros and tap the rural pockets. While the former takes Samsonite’s century long legacy to a new level, the latter is in stark contrast to what the brand has strived for historically. Having said that, one must remember that it is Samsonite we are talking about – with a long history of innovations, unparalleled marketing expertise and a superior distribution network, there shouldn’t be much to worry about.

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fun corner

january 2014

Fun Corner Malini Aishwarya Batchu | IIM Shillong

Identify the brands from their New Year and Christmas advertisements

1

2

3

4

5 MARKATHON

6

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fun corner

january 2014

7

8

10

9

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ishtihaar

january 2014

Ishtihaar RAMANATHAN K | IIM Shillong

As another year passed by and as we get one more year closer to see India one amongst the biggies, we at Markathon felt that there should be an exclusive section dedicated to cover all the marketing techniques and promotions exclusively adopted for India. From this edition onwards, the bookmark section will be replaced with ‘The Indian way of Marketing’ section.

Recently activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi’s seventh chief minister on Saturday as his one-year-old AAP made an electrifying debut in the elections winning 28 seats in the 70-member Assembly. In this new section, we will take a look at AAP from a marketing perspective and see what really transpired in the past one year to get them to where they are now.

When the Party was formed, it was perceived as a middle class party aka upper class in the minds of the rural people who constitute a whopping 49 % in Delhi. They then made a gradual image makeover and their choice of the name reflects what they wanted to be. Their symbol, broom, also connects well with the people and aptly symbolises their mission to sweep corruption away from India. In the marketing world we all know that name, logo and brand are not just mere symbols but they are pictures that comes to the customers’ mind when they think about you and AAP too has understood this quite well.

Piggybacking the corruption scandals, they cut across classes. There wasn’t a separate dedicated campaign for each section of the society. They did not have the money to splurge on media campaigns. Owing

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to the limited funds they steered clear of using print or TV ads and the party aggressively campaigned by radio, social media and door to door marketing. They started early, had huge volunteers and decided their campaigns based on their strengths. Even an ad agency volunteered itself and suggested various strategies to position AAP better in the minds of the people. AAP avoided any such professional manicured approach in their marketing strategy and in the end it did work for them.

Marketing is all about what really works for you than following a standardised approach and AAP stands as a clear example for this. It’s not about spending hefty amounts on your promotions and waiting to reap your rewards. With just 20 crores at their disposal, AAP strategically used this money in reaching maximum number of people and it all depended on their value proposition.

AAP within this short period has succeeded in their efforts and they seem they are well on their way to make a mark in the upcoming 2014 LokShabha elections.

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jab they failed

january 2014

Jab They Failed The Titanic of Automobiles b ushashree | IIM Shillong “The purpose of a business is to create a customer.” One of the marketing tenets given by Peter Drucker. However in 1957, Ford managed to create a car but failed to create customers. Ford Edsel was a passenger car built to revolutionize the automotive industry. It was designed with the intent of being a large, stylish vehicle that would meet the driving needs for thousands of U.S. consumers and families. It was launched after a lot of hype, fanfare and publicity with a highly successful ad campaign, “The Edsel is Coming”. Anyone involved with the Edsel was sworn to secrecy not to leak a word about what was being claimed to be an innovative motor car, so that nobody could get even a glimpse of it. All the hype brought an excited public in record numbers to see the car’s unveiling on “E-day” September 4, 1957 but they left without buying it. Till date, the Edsel is considered to be one of the classic marketing failures. Edsel had followed a highly successful Ford Thunderbird, which ironically witnessed a rise in sales after the launch of Edsel. What could have been the reason for this? Conceptually, it wasn’t that bad a car. The Edsel actually had some great innovations for its time such as a “rolling dome” speedometer, “Teletouch” transmission shifting system in the centre of the steering wheel, ergonomically designed controls for the driver and self-adjusting brakes.

Many believe that the pre-launch over hype was Edsel’s undoing. The customers were expecting a wonder car and the car they saw just wasn’t up to the hype. It was certainly not great in the looks department. In fact

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many Cultural critics speculated that the car was a flop because the vertical grill looked like a vagina. Those who did buy an Edsel found that the car was plagued with shoddy workmanship as well. Many of the vehicles that showed up at the dealer showroom had notes attached to the steering wheel listing the parts not installed. How did Ford, one of the greatest manufacturer of cars in its time, make that flaw in its workmanship? Ford launched the Edsel as a brand-new division, but they didn’t give the car line its own manufacturing facility. Edsel relied on Ford to produce their cars and Ford workers resented assembling “someone else’s” vehicle. Apart from all this, Edsel wasn’t associated with Ford in anyway. The absence of the strong base was another mistake which led to Edsel selling only 64,000 units in its first year.

Another reason why people didn’t go for Edsel was that it was a pretty expensive car. During this time the United States was in recession. Most of the cars of that year were being sold at discounted prices and Edsel’s price just wasn’t competitive enough.

So all in all, Ford’s marketing research seemed pretty flawed. However it wasn’t for lack of research that Edsel failed. It was research utilized in the wrong area with no fruitful result – “straw that broke the camel’s back” - the name. By the end of the research, Ford had 10,000 names to choose from and due to some irrational groupthink they picked Edsel, named after the first child of Ford’s founder Henry, Edsel Bryant.

It’s just not a name that rolls off the tongue easily. People associated it with weasel, pretzel….. anything but a car. So Ford ended up building an ugly, expensive and difficult-to-name car with shoddy workmanship which nobody wanted to buy after promising the car of their dreams. Ringing bells for Marketing Myopia? With a better name and better workmanship and design in a different economic time the car might have done well. Ford finally got it right with the Mustang in 1964 which sold half a million vehicles in its first year.

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radical thoughts

january 2014

Radical Thoughts Hands up! You are now a

mobile, micro-target.

VARSHA PODDAR | IIM Shillong

When you walk down the gleaming corridors of the newest mall in your city, amidst the polished smells and the sophisticated lights and the glistening glass doors, do you miss that cry of “Aiye, Sir/Madam, yeh dekhiye! Best quality, best price. Ek ke saath ek free!” that often helped to sniff out a bargain? Do you find yourself roving endlessly, unable to decide which way to go without the helpful beacons of shopkeepers’ voices to guide you like in the good old bazaars?

Well, you might not have to wait long. And while there certainly won’t be men and women crying deals out loud at the swanky stores in a mall, your

mobile phones will be abuzz more than usual when you enter one. Say hello to mobile micro-targeting!

How does it work and what is it? Well, Apple set the ball rolling when it introduced the aptly named “iBeacons” in about 254 stores in the US in December of 2013. The iBeacon, a micro-location smartphone targeting system, as Apple puts it, uses wi-fi and Bluetooth signals along with browser and search history data to inform stores when a customer is in the vicinity of their store. Store owners can then send out customized offers, deals and coupons to the customers, they can direct them to parts of the stores that would have goods that would most interest these target buyers based on their previous buying patterns.

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The iBeacons are in a very nascent stage and while it is mostly the big brands that would perhaps be able to use this costeffectively, many retailers are currently beta-testing the device.

Meanwhile, other companies are making the most of this trend. Weve, a joint venture set up by EE, O2 and Vodafone, is already seeing a three- to four-fold increase in spend for the last quarter of this year from brands using its mobile targeting service to reach consumers, compared with the beginning of the year.Last month, for example, retail giant Tesco ran a mobile campaign in which it sent messages to people within the vicinity of its stores to remind them to order their turkey early for Christmas. The supermarket chain works with Weve, which has a database of over 20 million mobile users, to run geo- targeted campaigns.For another Tesco campaign earlier this year, Weve sent a £5 discount offer to women aged 25 to 54 living in a Tesco catchment area. Nearly 40,000 women clicked on the message to redeem the coupon in one day.

Whether this trend will catch up in other countries as well, still remains to be seen. The specific aim of mobile micro-targeting, apart from the value-added service that it would naturally be to customers, is to break the ‘showrooming trend’ in which customers browse goods in stores but order them online by offering them the custom deals and bargains that the latter online portals mostly offer. Yet another annoying combination of marketing and technology?

Or one of those rare ones that we do not mind getting used to? The answer this time, would come from very specific targets and we would need to wait and watch. However, for the radical trend that it is currently, we would watch out for this one!

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updates

december january 2014 2013 would now be made available in select Indian cities, before taking it to other cities in a phased manner next year.

By amit sonwani

Brand Launch Nokia’s focus shifts to ‘experiences’

Nokia has come up with another offering in Lumia portfolio- Lumia 1520 which is the 10th Lumia device that has been launched in India. Going forward, Nokia aims to focus more on services or experiences like mapping, imaging, music and many more. The Nokia Lumia 1520 is 6-inch at Rs. 46,999, Windows Phone 8 OS, with a 20 megapixel camera, 2GB RAM and 32 GB internal user memory.

Isuzu joins SUV fray with MU-7

Japanese auto major, Isuzu Motors announced its entry into the Indian UV market with the launch of its premium SUV MU-7.The diesel-driven MU-7, described as one of the longest SUVs available in India now, will be positioned against its Japanese rival Toyota’s Fortuner, the top selling model in Rs15-25 lakh UV segment in the country, and Mahindra Rexton. Isuzu motors had its presence earlier in India as the supplier of engines for the iconic “Ambassador” cars.

Micromax comes with Canvas Blaze

Micromax launched dual SIM smartphone Canvas Blaze that includes one sim slot supporting MTS’ CDMA network, for about Rs.11,000. One slot will work on 3G equivalent CDMA network of MTS and the other will support GSM sim on networks like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Canvas Blaze, with a 5 inch screen size, 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 8 MP camera at back with flash and VGA front camera and expandable memory of up to 32 GB, is built on Android’s Jelly Bean platform and supports Bluetooth version 2.0 and Wi-Fi as well.

Brand Watch HUL revives commodity business

Hindustan Unilever has entered the premium rice market with Gold Seal Indus Valley basmati rice, which was being exported in the Middle East till now,

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Infosys launches platform for retail industry

Infosys announced the launch of its new retail trade platform, TradeEdge, developed in association with P & G, is targeted at the emerging markets including India. The platform would enable FMCG companies have ‘greater visibility’ of their sales flowing through their distribution and retail channels and provide ‘insights’ to exchange information about sales, inventory etc.

Colgate tops the most trusted Brands list once again

Top 100 most trusted brands list released by ET on 18th Dec saw Colgate retain its top spot in the list while FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Ltd. saw three of its brands feature in the top 5 with Clinic Plus, Lifebouy and Lux taking 3rd, 4th and 5th spot respectively. Reckitt Benckiser’s Dettol climbed to the second spot. Mazaa, Nokia, Airtel, Close up and Maggi were other 5 in the top 10.

Media Lodestar wins Samsung India’s media business

The winning Interpublic Group agency will handle the entire portfolio of the brand in India including mobile phones, TV/audio/video, cameras/camcorder, home appliances, PCs and printers. The account size is estimated to be upwards of Rs 400 crore. This review process was one of the most talked about pitches of the year because of the brand itself and its whopping media spends.

Fevicol’s patch up job

Pidilite’s adhesive brand Fevicol recently organized a daylong activation across schools in India titled Shram Dan Divas on Dec 20. It partnered with more than 22,000 woodworkers and carpenters and fixed the furniture at more than 300 schools, institutions and organizations for underprivileged children across the country. The activity was organized under the Fevicol Champions’ Club (FCC) in more than 145 locations across the country.

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updates

december 2013 january 2014

Ad Watch

Bookmyshow’s love triangle Bookmyshow.com has launched another ad film, following the reveal of its new brand identity comprising of a logo and tagline - ‘My Show. My Time. My Seat’.

The film conceptualised by Lowe Lintas and Partners conveys the convenience of being able to choose one’s seats while booking tickets through the portal. The film features three friends - a boy and two girls - in college, which reminds us of ‘Kuch kuch hota hai’ who end up sitting separately in the theater due to last minute purchase of tickets. The ad is simple and delivers the message but fails to leave a memory.

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SdQtLzkt1b4

her mental restrictions and celebrate what she is. The ad stands out from others as it tries to pitch the product differently unlike commonly used pitching points of comfort and beauty.

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE

Vodafone rolls out ’Made for Video streaming’

Vodafone has rolled out the next TVC in its ‘Made for …’ series that kicked off in August 2013. Following ‘First Love’, ‘Made for moms’, ‘Made for young’ and ‘Made for sharing’, the current film speaks of the video streaming capa bilities on the network. The ad shows a young man’s attempts to learn Japanese through videos to meet a Japanese girl on a dinner date. He succeeds to bring a smile on her face, although in the way he thought he would. The ad effectively conveys the message the networks capability of high speed streaming on the go.

Enamor urges women to celebrate who they are

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OhPa_ m1hAnQ

Lingerie brand Enamor has rolled out a new campaign titled ‘Fabulous, as I am’. A TVC that is part of the campaign conceived by Publicis Ambience went on air on 12 December. Set to a sound track ‘Fabulous as I am’ the film shows incidents in which a young girl does what she wants to like eating cake or diving in a lakshedding

Articles are invited

“Best Article”: Abhimanyu Roy | IMT Ghaziabad He receives a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation We are inviting articles from all the B-schools of India. The articles can be absolutely anything related to the world of marketing but it should be an original work that is not published elsewhere. The articles can be specific to the regular sections of Markathon which includes: • Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena.

• Productolysis: Analysis of a product from the point of view of marketing.

• Strategic Analysis: A complete analysis of marketing strategy of any company or an event.

Apart from above, out of the box views related to marketing are also welcome. The best entry will receive a letter of appreciation and a cash prize of Rs 1000/-. The format of the file should be MS Word doc/docx.

The last date of receiving all entries is 25th January, 2014. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAMES>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@gmail.com.

MARKATHON

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events

january 2014

GodSellers 3.0

Ganda Hai Par Dhandha Hai Ye!!!

AMIT SONWANI & NISHANT PRAKASH IIM Shillong

The students and faculty members of IIM Shillong and other reputed colleges from the city took time out from their busy schedules on Saturday, the 7th of December, to experience the third edition of the annual Real Life Market Simulation Extravaganza organised by the Marketing Club of IIM Shillong – Godsellers 3.0. Over the past 2 years, the event has seen some really out-of-the box ideas being implemented during the event wherein the participants offer a variety of products ranging from lip smacking delicacies to creative art works to surreal gaming experiences, all the while putting their Marketers hat on for a tussle with the other participants to win the all-important title of being called a Godseller.

This year, with the unique on-campus launch of the event and the unparalleled response shown by the participants during the auctioning of the stalls (both happening in the week prior to the actual event), in many ways there was already a buzz on campus that the event was going to see some of its own records broken. And boy were they true!!! Taking it a notch above previous seasons, we saw the event get bigger and better not only in terms of the offerings but also in terms of the enthusiasm shown by the “buyers”. A testament to this was the fact that the total sales on D-day amounted to a whopping and unprecedented Rs. 74,000.

The phenomenal enthusiasm shown by the buyers was in response to the sheer hard work which the participants had put in not only on the day but also for promotions prior to the actual event.The event saw teams coming up with innovative advertising strategies like discounts for the first few customers who register themselves prior to the event, online blogs and quizzes to make people more aware of the offering, door to door marketing and custom orders, advance orders for demand

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estimation and a brilliant ambush marketing campaign by one of the Games section participants.

On the evening of the actual event, the visitors were treated to a wide array ofmouth-watering dishesfrom different parts of the country like Daal-baati-churma, a range of tasty Dosas, Badaam Halwa, Gol-gappa’s, Chicken-65 and even an entire stall dedicated to “Ghar Ka Khana”. The Games section saw innovative ideas like real-life Angrybirds, Spot Golf and the ever-engaging classic card games like 7up-7down. The “Arts and Others” section received a

lot of appreciation from the visitors for the amazing display of creativity by the teams through offerings like Wax Candles, Wall Hangings, Bookmarks, Customized Greetings Cards, on-the-spot Palmistry and one of the crowd favorites – Song dedications.

Participants came up with strategies like price bundling and dynamic pricing on the day of the event to increase sales which showed the quick on-the-feet thinking you expect to see from Sales and Marketing enthusiasts. Both pre-event promotions and on-ground sales efforts formed important judging criteria for the event.

Team “Tadka laga ke” (Food section) was the event’s top grosser with a total sales of over Rs. 10,000 and were also adjudged the winners of the event. They were awarded Rs.6000 as prize money for their superlative performance in Marketing, Service and Customer Satisfaction. The team “Back to School”(Arts & Others) grabbed the second prize and bagged in Rs. 4000 for their efforts. The Marketing Club extends its heartiest gratitude to the participants and all the visitors for making the event the success it was and hopes that we reach to even greater heights in the coming years.

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IIM Shillong

We would love to hear from you: markathon.iims@gmail.com www.issuu.com/markathon

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Markathon, IIM Shillong