2016! A fresh new beginning! Another year lies ahead with infinite possibilities, for us and for the marketeer inside us. To ride the wave and make the most of this New Year, Markathon brings to its readers another fresh issue focusing on the marketing trends likely to shape the world in 2016. This month’s cover story would take you through the various trends marketing gurus have predicted for this year. Also cover story would touch upon digital and visual marketing, the latest buzzwords in Marka-Town. Also this month, we have real surprise in store for our readers. In order to keep you updated with marketing across the world and with Markathon, we have added a new column in our magazine named ‘Digi-Tally’. This section will focus on our social media activity during the month and will definitely keep you updated in case you missed out on the latest Marketing gossip. January, with the freshness and excitement that it stands for, has surely been buzzing with Marketing all month. This month saw the exciting entry of ‘Netflix’ in the Indian market. That, definitely is a very Happy New Year indeed. Not just for movie-buffs, January brought happiness to Indian shopaholics too, as The North Face in association with Myntra has planned to enter India. And the ever changing McDonalds becomes merrier and happier with their renewed packaging. Surely, for us foodies who live to eat, the new year couldn’t have been better. If the already innovating social media wasn’t enough for you, the Social Media Summit this year plans to bring in really disruptive technology in the coming year. What is to happen next, only time can tell!
In the Vartalaap section, we have for you an interaction with Dr. Vijay Sethi, Professor at Nanyang Business School, Singapore who will be sharing with us his experience on the field of marketing and academics with special reference to how digital and social media play a huge role in formulating a brand. We believe you will indeed benefit from the wise words of the marketing guru who aptly captures the difference between marketing in India and marketing across the globe. And as the saying goes all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, this month’s Fun Corner will surely gear up your Marketing Detection skills. Lastly we would like to thank all the contributors for Markathon. The overwhelming number of entries that we have received for this month’s edition show how Markathon has developed as a platform to showcase the best minds in the marketing domain. With so many exciting stuffs lined up for you, flip through the pages of the January Edition of Markathon and let us know your comments and feedback by writing to markathon.iims@gmail.com. We thank you for the constant support you all have given and hope to continue receiving the same. Happy Reading! Team Markathon
The Markathon Team Editors
Harsha Daga | Piyush Jain | Daksh Bhagat | Shubham Shukla | Sharad Srinivasan
Creative Designers Astha Kabra | Akshay Seth
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Contents Perspectives Cause Marketing Anubandh & Sudipta Mondal | TAPMI, Manipal The New Era of High-Tech Terrorism: a marketing perspective Sidhartha Bhattacharyya | IIM Udaipur
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Marketing Trends to look forward to in 2016 Piyush Jain | IIM Shillong
Specials 17
Logoistic Sharad Srinivasan | IIM Shillong
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AD-dicted Astha Kabra & Sharad Srinivasan | IIM Shillong
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Fun Corner Astha Kabra | IIM Shillong
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Jab They Failed Daksh Bhagat | IIM Shillong
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Updates Harsha Daga | IIM Shillong
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Digi-Tally
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Vartalaap
Dr. Vijay Sethi Professor Nanyang Business School, Singapore Interviewed by: Akshay Seth | IIM Shillong
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Eye 2 Eye
Is free basics a violation to Net Neutrality Dheeraj Lamkhade | Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai & Prabhakar Singh | Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna
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Silent Voice
Delhi’s Odd-Even car driving rule Saurabh Kumar & Kamlendra Kumar | NAARM, Hyderabad
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perspective
Cause Marketing By Anubandh & SudIPTA MONDAL TAPMI, MANIPAL
“Youth signifies passion and a desire to bring change”
C
ause Marketing is aimed at achieving social benefits while creating business value for the company. It, however, is interpreted in many ways in the business world. It is based on the idea of giving back to society and forming a strong relationship with the consumers. Take ‘Save our Tiger’ campaign for instance. It not only improved the population of tigers in India, but also strengthened the image of NDTV and Aircel (campaign initiators) in peoples’ minds. On 28 February 2014, as per the Gazette notification of India, it became mandatory for every company meeting certain financial criteria to formulate a CSR committee and spend 2% of its three years average net profit on CSR activities. With the passing of this Gazette, the debate over forced philanthropy and ‘tick box’ behavior took the back seat. The law is there, whether you like it or not. Options create dilemmas but when the order was passed, it left companies with no other option (and hence no dilemma) but to direct 2% of their profits towards CSR. Thus, by means of this law, cause marketing under the armor of CSR, gained substance and much recognition from being abstract and debatable to becoming an integral part of the ‘type of marketing’ pedigree.
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perspective The smarter companies decided to use this opportunity for welfare of the society, as well as extension of the core values of their brand. That is when they went out one step further and formed CSR policies that applied globally, not just in India.
Care2.com is the best example of how youth are using cyber space to improve their habitat.
Cause Marketing and CSR
Cause Marketing usually falls as a sub-set to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), though a clear demarcation is difficult. A company’s CSR work enlists several initiatives, but not all are marketed. The decision of ‘which initiative to market’ is subjective to the company. Indian FMCG giant HUL runs many CSR programs like Shakti, FAL etc. but it specially markets Sanitation & Preventive Healthcare program through Domex Toilet Academy.
Need for participative environment
‘Youth’ signifies passion and a desire to bring ‘change’. CSR gives them a common platform to align professional goals with their willingness to contribute to the society. In the current scenario, our work life and personal life has become one and there is hardly any time left to do something for a cause. CSR, thus, caters to both dimensions of life- professional and societal. Moral incentives Corporate world is awash with awards and recognitions given in the field of CSR. The idea is to motivate the companies as a whole and give their employees a sense of ownership for the cause they are involved in.
Youths’ perspective
Today’s generation proudly collaborates towards mitigating the grave issues of society. What makes them more active as compared to the previous generations? Partially, it can be answered from the fact that there has been a considerable increase in the per capita disposable income in the last two decades. In addition to that, technological revolution has caused a dramatic shift in the ways of information exchange. This has entirely change the dynamics of how youths perceive their society and how they react to its problems. Social media has subsequently appeared as an added reason. Emergence of online petition websites such as Change.org or
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Company’s perspective When questioned by his CEO about his goal in life, Bruce Burtch, ‘father of cause marketing’, answered by saying, ‘do well by doing well’. His reply has pioneered the significance of social responsibility in the corporate world since then. Demographic Dividend CSR activities have been focused at sensitive issues like women empowerment, vocational training to the underprivileged, environment & sustainable development. This reflects companies’ understanding of the truth that India has entered in a demographic dividend and training and educating the young population as well as providing them employment will eventually benefit the companies directly or indirectly.
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perspective Improving social image It was surprising for some, when Mattel Inc. appeared in the top 100 corporate citizens list of Forbes magazine. Mattel has been severely criticized in the past for portraying objectified women role models for children through their “Barbie” dolls. Their efforts to appear in the ‘good corporate citizen’ list clearly emphasize on the importance of having a good brand image in peoples’ minds, which the company understood very well.
Marketing Aspects in Cause Marketing Umbrella Branding in CSR This can be best exemplified through the ‘Jaago Re’ campaign by Tata group. Jaago re in itself is not a CSR initiative. It rather acts as an umbrella brand, encompassing several different burning issues of the society, which demands cognizance from the society viz. tax awareness, child adoption, gender stereotyping etc. under its canopy.
Case Evolution, Edelman Good Purpose etc. have proved that consumers would switch to a brand that supports a cause when price and quality are equal. Study showed that 85% of job holders claimed that they would quit their job if the company had negative CSR practices. Cause Marketing - Social Media Marketing Social media has acted as a catalyst for cause marketing. Digitization has made it easier for the companies to reach new target segments. Similarly, it has become convenient for people to participate in social causes. It is because of social media that awareness campaigns on complex diseases like Ebola or ALS have become successful worldwide. Brand’s core values-Natural extension The very premise of CSR is based on ‘mutual benefit’. And extension of a brand’s core values should be the result of any effective cause marketing campaign. P&G’s Parivartan- the Whisper School Program initiative is worth mentioning here, which educates girls about menstruation and prevent them from unhygienic sanitation practices.
Issues with Cause Marketing Double-edged sword Although cause marketing creates a good image of the company, excessive marketing may discourage consumers, as they might think that the company is trying to reap profits behind the veil of social service. Selfish motives Companies use cause marketing to get monetary incentives/relaxations from the government. They also indulge in certain campaigns to boost sales of their product for short-term and later on, disengage from the cause.
Cause-marketing myopia The company managers at times get too involved with the social campaign and forget that not only the primary motive of the company is to earn profits, but also, the values and practices of the organizations need to align with the cause they are fighting for. In the infamous British Petroleum incident, where they telecasted ‘Beyond Petroleum’ ads on one side and carelessly Brand switching/preference From time to time, market research studies like Cone allowed the Gulf oil spill to happen on the other,
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cause marketing efforts backfired and created a feel- tive CSR will lead to brand longevity, due to stroning of frenzy among the public. ger connect with the emerging population. As for Cause Marketing, it will slowly intermingle and To conclude, there is a clear association between diversify with other, more traditional concepts of youth, CSR and cause marketing. Together they cre- marketing. And when approached deftly, compaate a healthy ecosystem for all strata of people. Effec- nies will be certainly be able to mitigate certain issues related with this marketing approach.
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perspective
The New Era of High-Tech Terrorism: a marketing perspective By Sidhartha bhattacharyya IIM UDAIPUR
The author George Carlin once quoted “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” Well this quote is not true in its entirety and as I shall hopefully convince you through article. To get to the point, a man who has been living in a civilized society and is not averse to reading a newspaper would have heard of the dark cloud looming over the world by the name of The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They are a well know terrorist organization who operate out of the mentioned 2 countries and have amassed a huge army as well as land due to hostile takeovers. In the midst of gathering one of the largest and most devout armies of the world they have planned and masterminded some of the cruelest and horrific acts of terror the people of the world have had the misfortune of seeing.
Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has willingly taken a backseat in this affair as they cannot compete with the sheer size and scale of operations at ISIS and have been terms as too extreme by the current head of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The scale has taken things to such an extent that “Coca-Cola” and “Pepsi” can be substituted by “ISIS” and “Al-Qaeda”. All this has happened due to the fearful beauty of the marketing and advertising strategy of the ISIS.
Frightfully Beautiful Strategy
Considering the fact that ISIS is a terrorist organization which incorporates sort of medieval practices people think that it is sort of an archaic organization. But on
The Successor Has Taken the Throne
At this point one would logically raise the question, about where has this terrorist organization been able to muster such a large work force. One must think that the ISIS consists of the people from Al-Qaeda who have shifted their allegiance to a stronger organization. The strength of the organization is said to be around 200,000 which is significantly greater than its predecessor having just over 28000 members at it strongest. So one may ask where the new Islamist Extremists are coming from who never joined the
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perspective the contrary the organization or “Caliphate” as they term it is led by a group of highly intelligent and tech savvy group. Like any major company, ISIS has a well set out business plan which they intend to execute. Their plan is to impose the Sharia law on the whole world. Like every James Bond their intention is world domination. To do this they must have certain strategies and a marketing plan. Well that requires a simple STP analysis. The segments they have at their disposal is the whole Muslim population of the world which was 1.6 billion people in the year 2010 and is also the fastest growing religious
hind Them”, “A Message Signed with Blood To the Nation of the Cross”, and “Healing the Souls with the Slaughtering of the Spy” will “inspire social change” in the western world. They intend to portray the concept of Jihad to the rest of the world and attract thousands of young impressionable souls into their bloody path like so many already have. These videos include the beheading of several
population of the world. Thus they have an ample group of people to target. So they set up their strategy to target the young Muslim population from around the world aged between 20 and 30. The reason they have been targeted as they are the young rebellious individuals of the world and have been aliened by the society around them. The impact of racial attacks and constant hate received by the Muslim community enraged these postadolescent young adult and send them into a frenzied state of rebellion. Now the beauty in the ISIS strategy is their positioning. They positioned their organization in a way that it gives a safe haven to these so called outcasts of society and where they are free to practice their religion and all the extremist facets attached to it. They provide help to those who are in the need of this sense of belonging. People from all around the globe and majorly countries like the UK and Australia are falling prey to these promises.
foreign journalists which do attract western military attention. Now this is not something that the organization would necessarily want but once people see their “brothers” getting killed at the hands of people who have been suppressing and isolating them from their childhood.
Gender Based Strategy
These strategies work on men very well but for women they have to use a separate method to help them join.
Propaganda Propagation
ISIS may follow extremist laws but their methods of communication are highly varied and try to find different kinds of media through which they can target their audience. Videos are their prime source of media attention for the organization where their extremist acts are caught on tape and published in social media for the entire world to see. On the 4th of July they released a movie by the name of “Healing the Chests of the Believing People” where they show the execution of 25 seemingly teenage soldiers after they have been caught by the ISIS. They feel that this video along with videos like “Punish Them Severely to Disperse Those Who Are Be-
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Just like the men they have been isolated in these civilized societies and have a sense of hate welling up inside them. Along with this Muslim women do not have much say in the choices they make. Most of what they do is chosen by the family and are forced to follow them. ISIS realized that fact and targeted this group of enraged women in order to gain their support. They presented the environment to be beautiful as well as a place of freedom where they
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perspective can choose to do whatever their heart desires. They presented the place as an utopia for Muslim women where they have the freedom of choice and also conform the ideals of Islam. But the scenario there was very much at loggerheads to what they presented. Women ran away from their homes and spent all their money to get a flight
into slaves for the ISIS fighters. They were immediately brutalized, raped and made to live in the houses of the fighters in order to serve their every need. Needless to say they were not given the authority to leave and their lives which were bad just turned worse.
Introspection
The point at the end of the day is that it is our fault that the ISIS is so strong today and nobody else’s. If we the people of civilized non-extremist society do not marginalize and isolate people based on their religion as well as what some religious extremists might have done before. We are nobody to judge a whole community based on a particular group of individuals. This form of constant judgement leads to gradual build-up of resentment and hate which drives them to the point where it seems to them that they have no choice but to go into the faction of religious extremism. The lessons learnt from the ISIS are not just about how a terrorist organization can lead a successful marketing campaign but how we the people have been a cause of our downfall. We have played a major role in the creation of this huge black cloud that is looming over the world just because of our own stupidity in these matters. We are the large group of stupid people and it is up to us to make a change in the way we look at things in order to stop this growth.
ticket into Turkey from there they sneaked their way into the IS stronghold. Expecting a beautiful environment they were very much shaken up to find that they made
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Cover Story
“Marketing Trends to look forward to in 2016”
By
Piyush Jain
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MARKETING BUDGET
L
ooking back at the start of 2015, most of the marketing predictions were centred around social marketing. Then digital marketers wanted to know which traditional social networking platforms would get more expensive and which new social sites to exploit. Social media still works, but it’s important to look deeper into how people are using these platforms and not just which ones are popular at the moment. So let’s see what 2016 might have in store for us in terms of marketing trends as predicted by Daniel Newman in an Forbes article and Kenneth Gillett in business2community to name a few. Digital marketing trends will be something to look forwards to this year also but at the same time there will be other ways and other things to look at. Like content marketing is becoming increasingly visual. As we transition into 2016, it’s time to think about which visual marketing trends are most likely to stick around. Though new techniques and ways are coming up every year but there are some traditional techniques that are an absolute must. Fashions, technology, and Internet user preferences can change in a flash. Still, some traditional marketing tactics have translated very well from offline to online. Meanwhile, marketers get to enjoy an exciting ride, but they need to adapt quickly or risk falling off. So let’s have a look at a few trends that we should take a note of in 2016.
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away from big data because they lacked the skills—or the big budget resources—to translate it into something meaningful. Now, tools are coming to the marIt’s been a slow grind for some, but marketing depart- ketplace that make mining and managing data easier m e n t s than ever. 2016 will be a banner year for incorporatare mov- ing big data and perhaps more importantly, analytics ing from into marketing decisions. a silo of advertis- Omni channel Will be Retail’s Best Friend: ing and n o n - i n - Tweet for Pizza! Dominos has one of the catchiteractive est Omni communication toward becoming a natural part of c h a n the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. nel camMarketers, using integrated tools, can engage with p a i g n s customers online, track the buyer’s journey, mea- right now, sure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with but brands outreach tailored to meet their audience’s needs and across the interests. But for customers already bombarded with board will quickly learn that an integrated customer information, a great customer experience is becoming experience is essential—one that creates one smooth baseline. interaction, rather than multiple micro events. From Embrace the Customer Experience Model:
addressing the causes behind abandoned shopping carts to creating an easy transition between online and bricks-and-mortar locations, Omni channel will It may sounds like a broken record, but content is still improve the bottom line for both retailers and B2B. king—even more so given the de- Digital Marketing terioration of interruptive tactics. The year 2015 has been the year of digital marketing But context is a and it will be in the news in 2016 as well. There will stronger factor be new developments happening in this space and than ever. With will most probably take away the major chunk of the no decline in sight company’s marketing budget. So let’s look at some of for the importance of good content, the next year will the game changing digital marketing trends that we see greater focus on bringing influencers on board for might witness in 2016. more organic marketing. Storytelling will also play a key role in drawing consumers in and keeping them 1. Influencer Marketing: engaged. Natural, relevant content in the right channels will drive content campaigns. Influencer marketing is considered to be the most rapContent is still the King:
idly expanding way to acquire new customers. Recent surveys suggest that getting authorities or celebrities to mention or promote products might grow faster than SEO, PPC ads, and content marketing. Tactics to attract influencers vary, but they might include sending free products to review, offering cross promotion, or simply paying a fee. Many brands have already capitalized on this and
Big Data IS for Marketers: Big data, which includes social and unstructured data, is a goldmine for marketers. Until recently, m a n y marketers shied
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others are following.
to debut soon. Platforms like Facebook already have paid video ads, and they’re performing well enough 2. Increased spending on organic social marketing: to be a new standard in the marketing mix. Organic social media is based on the assumption that you have to earn your way into the newsfeed with great content that people love. Most organic social media posts aren’t directly selling, because selling is rarely interesting enough to drive engagements. In the Adweek survey, 70 percent of marketers planned to spend more on using content marketing to increase their social presence. Attracting attention via useful or entertaining content can complement social media ad spend. 3. Going mobile: IIn May of 2015, Google already announced that mobile traffic outpaced laptop and desktop traffic in several countries, including the US. It’s interesting to note that that Smart Insights data suggests that the average time spent on a PC isn’t really decreasing. Rather, time spent on cell phones and other mobile devices is increasing rapidly. That means that it’s important to make sure you have an effective mobile design, but it’s not time to abandon updates for your laptop and desktop site. 4. Video will become critical for digital advertising success: Most marketers have already explored the power of uploading video ads to sites like YouTube and promoting them via social media. In addition, Google is testing using video ads in their PPC search ads, and these are expected
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Visual Marketing As mentioned above digital advertising will be on the rise and video will be one of the things that is going to drive it. It is nothing but Visual marketing to use a broader term and much has been clear for a while that is rising. From branded video content to the revitalization of email marketing, visual marketing will be a key component of the successful marketer’s 2016 strategy. 1. Use of Animated GIFs on Social: As many social media marketers and avid users have recognized, animated GIFs and short videos have become pervasive over the course of 2015. If you look at Twitter, the majority of its bestperforming content involves some kind of visual element. This gravitation toward visual posts is based on human preferences. The average person’s attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds. Thus, most social media users aren’t going to read an entire article; they simply want the basics. GIFS, or bite-sized animations, are ideal for telling stories in a short timeframe. The motion in these images also gives them an advantage in vying for attention in crowded newsfeeds. Also look for Vine video clips, which are six-second truncated videos, to rise in popularity. Vine is already extremely popular with the general public, but brands have yet to fully adopt it. This will likely change in 2016. 2. Real-Time Storytelling Via Live-Stream Social: Thanks to Meerkat and Periscope, an entirely new social medium came into existence in 2015. Known as real-time storytelling or live-stream social, these video platforms enable users to live-stream videos to their followers.
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Periscope may already seem big, but expect the platform to explode in 2016. It offers the perfect blend of social media and video that progressive digital marketers have been looking for. Also we can expect to see a lot of brands doing sneak peeks, product presentations, celebrity takeovers, live question-and-answer sessions, behindthe-scenes footage, contests, and more. If you’re a digital marketer, the possibilities created by social live-streaming are exciting. It’s the future of the industry, and it’ll be intriguing to see how live-stream social evolves in 2016. MARKETING 3. Video Will Revitalize Email Marketing: BUDGET Though email marketing is still very much alive, its power has waned in recent months because more attention is being given to evolving mediums such as social media. Still, expect video to revitalize email marketing in 2016. Marketers will rely less on heavy text content and more on videos that encourage recipients to interact with their brands. The key to successfully using video in email depends on the quality of the video and its length.
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4. Videos on Home Pages and Product Pages: While off-site videos on YouTube and other publishing platforms are valuable as mentioned above, you’ll see more and more video content migrate to branded URLs. Marketers will continue to find ways to integrate video into web design and make pages less static and more immersive. There are two specific places where video will likely surface, i.e., Home pages and Product pages. You’ll also see more video content used on landing pages and “About Us” pages. Textual content won’t disappear completely, but we can expect video to permeate web design much further in the coming months. These are some of the Marketing trends that will create a buzz in the market. So in this rapidly changing world of marketing with old trends still going strong and some new trends that are to be looked at as predicted by some marketer’s, so what do you think will these rule the market or we are going to see something different altogether? We can only wait and watch the exciting world of marketing that lays ahead of us this coming year.
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VARTALAAP An Interview with Dr. Vijay Sethi Dr. Vijay Sethi specialises in electronic commerce, IT entrepreneurship, strategic information systems planning & knowledge management. Voted as the Business Professor of the Year, 2013 by the London-based Economic Intelligence Unit, he has mentored various companies that have gone on to win accolades in competitions such as the Asia Moot Corp, Global Moot Corp (Austin, Texas), etc.​
Professor
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“Startups cannot be created sitting in a closed room, amongst a group of founders
“
Markathon: Indian advertisements are said to be more creative than foreign ads. How is creative advertising different in Singapore & the U.S. vis-a-vis India? Any particular ad campaign, digital or otherwise which caught your attention and stuck with you? What was so special about it?
Texas) and Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC, North Carolina, Chapel Hill). You are also the business competitions director for Nanyang Business School. Indian B-schools are on the course of having a well-developed competitions scene. Some tips for our readers.
Singapore’s ad industry is different from India because it caters not just to Singapore, which is small, but to the region. For example, ad agencies in Singapore will roll out a campaign across SE Asia as a whole and not just Singapore. Thus, they need to take into account different cultures, languages, and sensitivities. This can sometimes come across as being less creative. But ultimately, the effectiveness of an ad depends upon its goals (branding, conversions, etc) rather than how creative it is. But Singapore and the region can learn much from India and perhaps it time for them to look East rather than only West as they have been doing traditionally.
Startups cannot be created sitting in a closed room, amongst a group of founders. They only happen when someone believes. And this belief comes from feedback, talking, networking. So go out and share your idea. No idea which is any good can be so brittle that just by sharing it will be compromised. Every feedback you get, you gain confidence. Until it reaches a point where a founder knows that they have something important; that is the start of their belief. Once this happens, the passion comes automatically. We often say have passion. But with passion comes belief – so go out and create an MVP (minimal viable product), get feedback, and a moment will come when you know that are onto something big.
Markathon: You have mentored many new Internet business ideas, many of which have gone on to win accolades in regional competitions such as the Asia Moot Corp, Bangkok Business Challenge and global competitions such as the Global Moot Corp (Austin,
Markathon: How are trends in digital marketing different in India vs. Singapore? Singapore being small and very different culturally and racially monitors digital media but manages with
“Ultimately effectiveness of an ad depends upon its goals”
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a light touch. On the other hand, India operates very differently, with rules which often come about bottom-up. These contexts dictate what people do with digital media and how they use it. Social media I would think is equally popular in both countries. But once again, what can be done and what cannot is aligned with the context of Singapore in this country while the Indian scene is more “chaotic” and representative of a bazaar, metaphorically speaking.
Once we understand the fundamentals of EC, then we can apply them to the local context and that is what will create value. For example, there is little point in copying e-Bay. But the dynamics of the C2C space are important. Once these dynamics are clear, then we apply them to the Indian or the Singapore context and a unique and value-creation model will emerge. Far too often, many do not want to think or do the hard work of thinking conceptually. Or we dismiss concepts as “ivory tower thinking.” In the words or Daniel Markathon: India is undergoing exponential devel- Kahneman, we need to do more System 2 rather then opment in the e-commerce sector. These e-retailers System 1 thinking! benefit from not having to invest in establishing an offline presence (real estate, intermediaries). But what do you say about marketing? Should these retailers focus on offline as well as online marketing?
Engineering is an applied discipline. If you really want to stand out today as a techie, then do pure science, especilly Maths.
Yes, India is relative less mature in this space and traditional media plays a very role in society. Not only that, the Internet penetration rate is still not that high. Moreover, the decision making locus is also very different, just like is China, vs. the West. All these characteristics mean traditional means must play a large role in expanding the role of EC in India. At some stage, just like it has happened in China, digital media can be the be-all and the end-all. But that will only happen when there is an Indian equivalent of an Alibaba, Baidu, or Tencent.
Markathon: Entrepreneurship in India is another area where we see a lot of activity. All startups are primarily looking to organize the unorganized Indian market and earn through disintermediation. But the focus of these startups remains on having a good IT team to develop the product. How important, do you think, is the need to have a good marketing team? Its not about good marketing, but about having the right business model. Far too often and too much, companies just copy what is going on in the West. The only way to bring value is to understand the local context and then create a business model that leverages and is aligned with the local context. So its about a business model. That is why in classes we talk about concepts and lessons-learnt which are broader than the company that we are looking at.
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Markathon: In India, students consider an engineering education as a default option. It is only after their graduation that they start to explore other career options. How can budding marketers leverage their technical education in their Marketing career in India and elsewhere? They are lucky because of the emergence of data analytics as a key and ongoing trend. That is their ticket to utilizing their technical education. I think if anything, parents do their children a disservice by continuing to push engineering. And we all do a disservice by pushing the myth that engineering means good technical skills. Engineering is an applied discipline. If you really want to stand out today as a techie, then do pure science, especially Maths. That is the deep skill which is needed today to standout in analytics and big data. Markathon: What is the future for Online Marketing? Is offline marketing going to get redundant or will it experience a comeback when digital media gets on people’s nerves? Digital media is not monolithic. It started with simple online banner ads, moved on to Google, then social media, and so on. Its this innovation which is keeping
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digital media alive and relevant. Traditional media on the other hand has been relatively stagnant. It must push new boundaries. If it does, it will be a part of the marketing mix. Thus, it’s the rate of innovation in the two media which will determine which one will survive and grow and which one will stagnate and languish. The ball is in their court! Markathon: Management education is increasingly getting more and more expensive in India as elsewhere. While getting increasingly restrictive to a wide section of students in monetary terms, it is also putting a lot of pressure on the quality of educators that these college have to offer. You have recently been named as the “The World’s best business educator” by the Economics Intelligence Unit after open completion from 300 plus professor around the world. What is the recourse for the students who are not getting their money’s worth in business education. Students need to get away from an entitlement mentality. Universities owe students an education and not a job. Far too often, schools push their success in placements and this is what attracts students. Jobs are the result of a process of hard work, learning, and becoming intellectually richer. If students want to make the right choices, then they need to change their frame and perspective. It’s a chicken and egg problem – students choose schools where they can get good jobs and colleges build programs to get students jobs. Management is one of the most challenging disciplines because everything about it is an art not a science. What people to recruit, why do customers buy, how to do branding – all these are wicked problems. We can solve them using the obvious or being creative. That was my message in the talk that I gave at the finals of the Best Professor lecture in London. My focus was on content and not form (or, in the terminology I used with you all – Function and not Form). So students, to gain most value, must demand function and not form. And very quickly the free market will react and better institutions will result.
Interviewed by: Akshay Seth | IIM Shillong
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eye2eye
january 2016
Is Free Basics a violation to Net Neutrality? DHEERAJ LAMKHADE WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, Mumbai
PRABHAKAR SINGH CHANDRAGUPT INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, PATNA
My mom recently started using the Smartphone and I keenly observed her digital content consumption pattern. I installed 2 apps - Whatsapp for communication and Facebook to socialize with her college friends and then as days passed I observed new apps being installed on her phone like Groffers, Inshorts and PayTm. Now five months after she got her 1st smart phone, she buys groceries online, shops online, learns recipes from Youtube, reads about the global happenings on her mobile and pays monthly house bills. Few months ago, when I gifted her the smartphone little did I realise that the device meant for connecting people would lead her to a whole different world. When asked how she got there, she replies, “By clicking a photo of a Saree on Facebook which opened an app filled with awesome clothes at great prices”. She was referring to Flipkart. From someone who was considered as technologically illiterate, she has come far as now she manages most of her work online. Similarly 90% of Indians have not yet got the opportunity to connect with the world. The reason quoted by McKinseys of the world is poor infrastructure which has led to a low internet penetration. “I feel Facebook’s Free Basics is the Black Hole which will lead millions of Indians to a complete new universe of digitalization.” The real issue is that of differential pricing for the existing users, which affects the fundamental of Net Neutrality. But Facebook is helping in setting up an infrastructure to get new users online. Until and unless the urban youth do not awaken to allow free basics by not protesting against it, the underprivileged will never get the exposure that can drive change and growth. “Please do not curb the opportunity for millions of youths who have similar passion to grow like us.”
Everyone in a society needs basic services like free basic books, free basic healthcare, free basic education etc. As we are living in a digitalised world where on a single click we would get cornucopia of information and other services which help us in deriving benefits and exploiting opportunities. This is the reason for the inception of free basic by Facebook. Various entities alleged Facebook free basic of violating ‘net neutrality’. If we delve into the definition of net neutrality as per law, indeed free basic is a violation. Net neutrality in its basic form means unbiased and equal internet access to all. However, if we further introspect free basic, we would note that Facebook is providing this platform to a limited and selective set of app developers by partnering with some internet service providers (ISP). This is the main reason why free basic’s adulation turned into admonition. Facebook has partnered with reliance telecom for providing free basics and thus it will help to great hilt reliance subscribers in deriving maximum benefit out of free basic. Also, we are sceptical about Facebook view of providing services free of charges. There is a possibility that in the long run it could charge people for such services as is the expectation in the case of Whatsapp that sooner or later it is going to be chargeable platform. Hence, such services are totally against the Indian purview of net neutrality. If Facebook has really a sacrosanct vision of providing free basic to help the need to avail their economical and fundamental rights, then there are other ways also to do so. Facebook can collaborate with government at both central and state level to create specific sites, information and contents for the needy like farmers, artisans, craftsman etc. Through this it can also impart necessary skills and know-how to such people. Afterwards, roll out free basic services to people having access to these sites only. This step will do more justice to the ‘net neutrality’ and also serves the objective. So it will be like hitting two birds with one stone.
Topic for the next issue: “Does NetFlix’s Entry in the Indian market really spell disaster for the Blockbuster” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 10th February 2016. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!
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eye2eye
july 2015
By Sharad SRINIvasan IIM Shillong International Business Machines Corporation, usu- were replaced by a more contemporary design ally known as IBM, is a widely acclaimed American that featured “Business Machines” in a sans-serif innovation and consulting firm headquartered in Ar- font. monk, New York. It was established in June 1911 by Charles Ranlett Flint. 1947-1956 IBM is one of the oldest and most powerful brands In 1947, IBM went through a period of change in the world and amongst the most innovative com- during which new business areas were explored panies in the technology space today. IBM’s logo and along with it new ideals were adopted. The is considered to be one of the most influential lotransition from the gos of all time, and its transition through the ages punched-card tabulatis very interesting to study. The present “8-bar” ing business to computlogo of IBM, written in blue, symbolizes reliability, ers began with a change trust, authenticity and the impeccable quality of of the company logo. the brand. But the present logo was preceded by 4 On 1st January 1947, the new logo appeared on others between 1911-1972, as the company tried the masthead of Business Machines. The widely to perfect the representation of the business that it recognized “globe” was replaced with the letters was involved in and the ideals that it stood for. “IBM” in a simplistic typeface, Beton Bold. HISTORY BEHIND THE LOGO 1911-1924 In 1911, the company came into being by the name of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) through consolidation of the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company and the Tabulating Machine Company. The logo of the company was historically inspired, and is reminiscent of the Rococo style. In those days, revival of the arts and crafts were seen as respect for skill and expertise. Keeping in line with this idea, the logo was also shaped as a stamp, to signify a trademark of quality.
1956-1972 In 1956, Thomas J. Watson, Sr was replaced by his son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr as the Chief Executive of IBM. With this change, a new period in the lifecycle of the company began and in order to make a statement, the company decided to subtly modify its existing logo. Noted graphic designer Paul Rand changed the logo typeface to City Medium from Beton Bold. This was done to project a more solid and stable appearance whilst maintaining a continuity in its look.
1972-Present 1924-1947 The lBM logo, as we all know it was introduced In 1924, The Computing Tabulating Recording Comin the year 1972. Once pany was renamed as the International Business again Paul Rand was Machines Corporation. The new name was brought hired for the job. He rein to emphasize upon new tained the former typeaspirations of the company. face but replaced the They were on the lookout for solid letters with horizontal stripes, symbolizing new, profitable business opspeed, energy, dynamism and modernity. portunities which could be replicated across the globe. Till today, the basic design has remained conThe new logo was an embodistant and the logo has become one of the ment of their newly adopted ideals. It was shaped most widely recognized and influential as a globe wearing a belt that stated ‘international’. logotypes across the world. The previous Rococo features of the “CTR” logo,
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silent voice
december january 2016 2013
Last Month’s Results WINNER SAURABH KUMAR & KAMLENDRA KUMAR || NAARM, HYDERABAD
honorary mention MANISHA MANASWINI|| XIMB, BHUBANESWAR
THEME FOR NEXT SILENT VOICE: Indian Cricket Team’s performance in the recently concluded series LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 10th February, 2016 Upload your submissions on https://www.facebook.com/markathon.iims/. The most creative entry will be the winner( Number of likes will also be a judging criterion) Drop in a message to Markathon once you have uploaded your entry. Mention your Name and Institute’s name in the description of the entry uploaded.
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Theme: Delhi’s odd-even car driving rule
Congratulations!!! Vivek receives a cash prize of Rs 1000!
AD-dicted AD-dicted
december january 2013 2016
By SHARAD SRINIVASAN IIM Shillong PRODUCT: Helpusgreen Yagya Dhoop PRODUCT: Tata Coffee Grand
By ASTHA KABRA IIM Shillong
POSITIONING: Pave the way towards making religion more sustainable.
POSITIONING: Perfect coffee, just how its supposed to be
CREATIVE AGECY: Dentsu Webchutney
CREATIVE AGENCY: Mullen Lintas
CATCH
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TQwc3qy5i7M CONCEPT: Manufacturers of ritual material in India, in order to make their products more marketable, print images of Gods/ Goddesses on the packaging of their products. But the disposal of these packages becomes problematic as people are reluctant to throw away an image of God into the dustbin and they end up placing the packets under trees or in a river, which adds to environmental waste. To deal with this problem, the packaging of Yagya Dhoop incense sticks has been infused with Tulsi seeds (Seed Paper). So once the incense sticks have been used, the package can be ‘Sown’ instead of being thrown away. The advertisement also encourages users to share photos of their ‘sown’ plants using the unique QR code on every packet. The ad concludes with the slogan ‘SO WHY THROW, WHEN YOU CAN SOW?’. VERDICT: Catch Markathon believes that the advertisement hits all the right spots and ends up addressing multiple marketing objectives, right from developing a story around the brand to increasing consumer engagement. Although the idea of sustainable(green) products has been around for a while, the problem being addressed here is unique. And with the religious market in India having a value around $30 billion, the ad is very relevant in this day and age. Further, the ad campaign manages to connect with the consumer by offering discounts to those who post images of their ‘sown plants’ on the website. All in all, Markathon believes the ad campaign by Helpusgreen ticks all boxes and should end up being a success.
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YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/gvEvRBeYO2M
MISS
CONCEPT: The recently aired TVC opens with a cool rapper Granny singing praises about the Tata Coffee Grand. The focus is on premium plantation coffee from the plantations of South India. ‘The Granny – The Agent of Change’ is the heart of the communication via the TVC. The Granny, with years of wisdom and experience, is shown as the ultimate authority on good coffee and spreads the message to kill bad coffee. The granny is a trendsetter and thanks to her ‘swag’ she can connect to people of all age groups, which is seen as youngsters dance and groove to her rap. The TVC ends with the outspoken, highly opinionated and animated Grand Granny introducing Tata Coffee Grand as the perfect plantation coffee, just how coffee is supposed to be! VERDICT: Miss Markathon believes that even though the Grand Granny is very trendy and cool, she fails to get the message across to the viewers. The rap, one of the most catchy ways to garner attention, fails to make a lasting impression on the minds of coffee lovers. Tata, known for its innovative and disruptive TVCs, has this time been a little ineffective in getting the message across to the customers. Also looking at the financial aspect, the TVC has not garnered the expected revenue in the first month of its release. All in all, Markathon believes that the TVC could’ve communicated the essence and the USP of the coffee to the viewers.
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fun corner
january 2016
ASTHA KABRA IIM Shillong
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jab they failed
DAKSH BHAGAT IIM Shillong
january 2016
Jab They Failed
M
McDonald’s Arch Deluxe
cDonald’s is known in every nook and corner of the World for offering hot, tasty hamburgers to the masses. Being masters of the “Dollar Menu”, they own the fast food industry by providing their food at a significant value. Then why are we discussing the brand under this section of the magazine today? Any guesses? When a brand fails to recognize the need of the hour, it begins facing some conventional marketing problems, which also happened with McDonald’s when it launched its new burger, Arch Deluxe, which failed to inspire consumers. In 1996, the Arch Deluxe debuted as a large hamburger patty on a soft potato-flour roll, with lettuce, tomato and a fancy mustard/mayo combo sauce. Marketed as the ‘Burger with the Grown-up Taste’, the idea was to have a burger which would shift the focus away from children. Indeed, the advertising campaign for the Arch Deluxe sent across the message of a sophisticated alternative of McDonald’s regular offerings with images of kids shying away from the ‘sophisticated’ product. With a $100 million advertising budget, the burger became successful in creating a huge build-up to the release. However, it never caught on with McDonald’s throngs of hungry fans. Reason sighted against the same were many. Some argued that it was overpriced. Others believed that the target market was inappropriately identified. Many people also speculated that the budget was misused and the burger in itself didn’t taste that great. Let’s try to understand what actually happened. The value propositions that McDonald’s has set for itself are friendliness, cleanliness, consistency and convenience, which fortunately its competitors have neglected to capture. The first consideration is that a regular customer never goes to McDonald’s for sophistication, rather goes for the convenience offered. On entering a McDonald’s restaurant, a customer gets the convenience of knowing what to expect. He does not want to be bombarded with a million and one different variations of essentially the same product- a hamburger. McDonald’s has never competed on taste, yet everybody comes back. Another trouble with Arch Deluxe was regarding the strategy of the burger to be sold on taste. This may have been the wrong approach to draw in consumers because it was seen as McDonald’s trying to be something it’s not: a culinary luxury that appeals to food connoisseurs. That may not have been the intent, but that became the perception that led to a major break down.
MARKATHON
Another ironical aspect of the Arch Deluxe failure is that the product was well researched. It was only after an extensive market research involving different demographic segments, it was concluded that people would love to eat a hamburger specially designed for adults. However, the target market that was supposed to be catered never turned up, thus proving Arch Deluxe to be an embarrassing flop. Last but not the least, McDonald’s is heavily centralized. Most of the marketing decisions need to pass through the company’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. In contrast to major product successes such as the Big Mac, the Hot Apple Pie, the Egg McMuffin and the Filet o’ Fish, which were all invented in operators’ kitchens out in the field, the recipe for Arch Deluxe came from the Oak Brook’s kitchen which is infamous for launching many such product failures. However, the problems encountered with the Arch Deluxe are symptomatic of an even bigger problem. McDonald’s in the recent years has been accused of losing connect with the customers who never find it difficult to give up loyalty and hence has been rendered far behind in the market in terms of brand value. Indeed, this is a problem acknowledged by the company’s CEO, Jack Greenberg, who arrived in 1998. Quoting Jack, ‘we have been taking much too long to develop an idea and get it to the market, then too long to decide whether we want to do it or not’. Finally let us look at the lessons we have learnt from the failure of Arch Deluxe: 1. Go for what you know: Part of McDonald’s brand identity lies in its simplicity. Another part is defined by its children-friendly approach. A ‘sophisticated’ burger ignoring children was therefore destined to misfire. 2. Avoid customer confusion: McDonald’s is not cognitive, it is reflexive. By extending its range with products such as the Arch Deluxe, Bratwursts, McTacos and McMussels, McDonald’s was creating a need for its customers to think and get confused. 3. Be sceptical of research: Market research holds a special place when carefully conducted, but it should never be taken as gospel truth. Perception of the brand/product should always be taken care of, even if the research shows results in the opposite direction.
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updates
december january 2016 2013 By HARSHA DAGA IIM Shillong
Updates New Product Launch Crown It unveils unusual business model
Crown It is making the cities go gaga over its innovative product offering as well as fabulously designed user interface of their mobile application. The app in its most unique features provides cashback on amounts spent at restaurants, spas and other partners which can be then redeemed at designated websites including freecharge, Book My Show, Flipkart, Amazon etc.
#BeingMasterchef with iChef iChef.in, a recently launched online food service delivers ingredients — measured, diced and sealed — for you to cook a delicious meal and this is not the real deal. The recipes are sourced from the finest sourced giving due credit to the senders of the recipe. The website currently delivers in Mumbai only but plans to extend to other metros and Tier II cities in the near future.
Discovery Kids Enhances Customer Engagement In Collaboration with Rapid Metro Gurgaon to create the Discovery Kids Joy Express, the famous TV channel Discover Kids adds life to its characters by way of a fun and activity filled one hour ride. By way of such events, the channel aims at cheating higher engagement with their target audience along with increased brand visibility. The channel is also using this platform to socially involve itself by extending special joyrides to schools and NGOs.
Market Development Finally! Netflix is here. Netflix, the popular on-demand video streaming service allowing users to enjoy videos on screens ranging from a smartphone to a smart television, entered India this year. With increasing popularity of internet-based platforms, Netflix has entered as a breakthrough channel encouraging varied content generation. Competitors like BoxTV and Hooq are also in the market at lower price points, however Netflix has an edge with various exclusive globally popular series.
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updates
december 2013 january 2016 The North Face is looking east Through an exclusive agreement with Myntra, The North Face, American manufacturer of gear for athletes and adventurists enters India in quest of exploring the highly growing eCommerce market along with retail sentiments. The brand aims at going offline as well once they establish some ground through the digital link.
Ad Watch Coca-Cola uses ‘One Brand’ strategy to bind people world over The company brings its four products variants: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, CocaCola Zero and Coca-Cola Life together. The company believes that this strategy will bring more balance and consistency moving forward. With multiple social situations that the advertisement captures, their new tagline ‘Taste The Feeling’ is garnering attention in the US and hence, moving global in the upcoming months. Jaguar uses experiential marketing for its new F-TYPE In an innovative manner, Jaguar attracted consumers to experience the only virtual reality simulation worthy of F-TYPE, however, what happened once the consumer fell for it is ‘Actual Reality’ as they call it. With a custom VR Headset, and built into the “6-Axis” hydraulic platform designed to create realistic movement during the VR experience, the consumers were made to believe that they were indulging into a simulated activity. Little did they know that they were being actually driven around by an expert precision driver. What better experience than the real experience of the product itself.
Brand Watch HP Splits to magnify their brand As announced last year, HP is now separated into two standalone companies to better understand and focus on the line of business that is better suited for growth. The newly formed B2B-focused Hewlett Packard Enterprise highlights how their resources and technology will assist business to accelerate and transform for the future through tagline ‘Accelerating Next’. On the other hand, the customer-facing retail end of the company remains with its positioning statement communicating how HP is a medium of change in the lives of people.
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updates
january 2016 McDonald’s, it’s time to brighten-up In an attempt to change push McDonald’s as a modern and progressive burger company, McDonald’s is overhauling its packaging. It is letting the iconic Golden Arches take a backseat by introducing bright colorful lettering on its cups and bags. The designs feature colors that almost sound like the names of new McDonald’s smoothies or fancy burgers for example Passionate Purple, Optimistic Orange and Ocean Fresh Blue. With declining sales in many markets owing to increase health consciousness this initiative is taken as a fresh and welcoming one amongst target markets.
Special Feature Social Media Summit The Brands-Only Summit is a special conference for people leading the social media movement at big brands was something to look out for as we witnessed officials from over 187 companies, including the likes of 3M, Bank of America and Lenovo. The summit aimed at bringing the best of social media marketing to the surface with these officials engaging in case studies and ‘unconferences’. We believe the social media marketing is about to see some great disruptions in the coming year.
Articles are invited
“Best Article”: Anubandh & SUDIPTA MONDAL | TAPMI, MANIPAL They receive 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 10th February, 2016. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAME(S)>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@gmail.com.
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digi-tally
january 2016
Our Facebook page has been buzzing all month. Check out some of our posts here!
To keep up your Marketing Quotient do follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markathon.iims/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Markathon MARKATHON
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