Hello readers!
brands. The Eye to Eye section involves a very relevant debate on whether a brand should target its competitor through advertisement with Mr. Akhilesh Panigrahi from Symbiosis International University, Pune talking about the benefits like driving home the USP clearly by comparison and creating a level playing field. On the other hand, Mr. Ayush Chaudhari from IIM Shillong explores how such competitive advertising can harm the brand by exploring legal issues, risk of negative impact, and uncertain future situations which may end up landing the brand in the same position.
Data is the currency of the future, and now the task is to turn data into information, and information into insights. Exploring this idea further, Apoorv Gupta talks about the “Big Data Analytics in Marketing” in this month’s cover story. In the catch and miss section we bring to you the Hyundai Road Safety advertisement, which has Shahrukh Khan urging all to “Be the better guy” just for the sake of being good. While this advertisement broke a cliché and established that one need not be rewarded for being right, the first ever ad campaign by MensXp – “Outdated Proposal” was full of clichés and seemed very outdated in its idea as well as execution. In this month’s perspective, Mr. Akhilesh Panigrahi talks about “Predatory MarketIn our Vartalaap for this edition, we have ing Communication” by highlighting the interviewed Prof. Deni Morisset, Director of war between Apple (iPhone X) and Google Executive Marketing Programs for Essec Asia (Pixel 2). In another, we have “Artificial IntelPacific. Denis has worked 25 years in the ligence in Digital Marketing” by Debangana luxury fashion industry from 1979 to 2004 Das from Tapmi which talks about how AI and was the COO of Ralph Lauren (Europe), is going to alter the various dimensions of CEO of Couture House Pierre Balmain, CFO marketing as a whole and the doors of opof Children Worldwide Fashion and CEO portunities it opens for the marketers. of Giorgio Armani France. He shares his insights on luxury management across two di- Also, find a peek into the life of budding verse geographies: Europe and Asia, as well marketers at IIM Shillong, with glimpses of as some advice for all the marketers based GodSellers 7.0 (Celebration of the art of sellon his experience at the helm of world-class ing), Touchstone event in Khlurthama (the annual management fest of IIM Shillong) and session with Prof. Kevin Lane Keller. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Happy reading! Team Markathon
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Andar Ki Baat Perspective
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Cover Story Big Data Analytics 08 in Marketing Apoorv Gupta | IIM Shillong
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Oh Prick! It’s Predatory Marketing Communication Akhilesh Panigrahi | Symbiosis International University
Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing Debangana Das | TAPMI, Manipal
Eye 2 Eye
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Is it a good idea to target your competition through advertisement?
Vartalaap Mr Dennis Morriset Director of Luxury Executive Programs, ESSEC Asia Pacific Interviewed By:
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Akhilesh Panigrahi
Ayush Chaudhari
Symbiosis International University MARKATHON
IIM Shillong
Yash Agarwal & Aishwarya Tiwari | IIM Shillong IIM Shillong
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Andar Ki Baat SpeciaLs
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AD-dicted
Catch & Miss advertisements of the month Anurag Pandey & Nitin Nathani | IIM Shillong
Digi - Gyaan
Jab They Failed
Tradigital Marketing
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Nitin Nathani | IIM Shillong
BudLight - UpForRape??
19 Aishwarya Tiwari | IIM Shillong Marketing Gyan
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Top 5 Reads
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Updates
November Special
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Khlurthma’17 & VC Session with Mr Kevin Lane Keller
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Godsellers 7.0: The flagship event of Markathon
To get the brain tickling Aishwarya Tiwari | IIM Shillong Fresh from the Marketing World Aishwarya Tiwari | IIM Shillong MARKATHON
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perspective
Oh prick! It’s predatory marketing By Panigrahi communication. SymbiosisAkhilesh International University Predatory Marketing Communication has become imperative in highly dynamic and competitive markets to maintain the market share. Brands better keep an eye on their neighbours now!
I
ntroduction
With Apple and Google wielding cudgels at each other in the war between iPhone X and Pixel 2, we discern predatory marketing communication used to boost the effectiveness of ads. Such a technique creates level playing field for both products, thereby making it easy for buyers to choose the best one matching their preferences. Google emulated simplicity from Apple in its latest ad for Pixel 2 where we observe clear similarities in the background, fonts and feature projec-
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perspective tion sequences. The iPhone X ad starts with its name in a polychromatic font whereas the Pixel 2 ad begins with an apparently rebellious ‘Ask’ to urge customers to move beyond normal, and demand for more. Google on the sly has tried to tag the iPhone X as a retrograde product with clichéd features.
While Apple continues to brag on its matchless face recognition feature, Google focuses on its camera and photo light adjustment attribute. The USP of iPhone X as portrayed in the first few seconds is its full length display without a home button. It works against Pixel 2 at the beginning of the ad since iPhones were equipped with the light adjustment feature its previous versions. Leveraging the super-valued face recognition feature, the iPhone X ad shows a sequence of font variations with the text ‘face’ in order to denote flexibility and precision of its technology.
lighting feature of iPhone X by offering the same on both front as well as back camera. To make the assault even more savage, it abruptly pops
up the storage full error message displayed on an iPhone to blatantly target Apple’s inflexible and chargeable extra storage on the cloud. This forms the crux of predatory marketing communication in an ecosystem where a company can openly target its competitor by incorporating hints at various situations where a particular USP needs to be clearly driven into the buyers. It ensures a simulation of communication models and effectively using that channel to get an edge over the predatory product. Of course, the time of launch plays an important role to mark strategic points where one can design the ad in a way which shows the advantage of using one product over the other. While Apple plays lead in design, quality and functionality, Google beefed up the competition with its ubiquitous Google Drive, Google Lens and Google Maps. But, it has failed to adopt a predatory pricing model against Apple due its nascence in the smartphone market. Customers are still in the process of accepting Google as smartphone brand where Apple enjoys a leading edge due to its legacy.
Attack on portrait lighting:
Google tackles this by showing a sequence of photos to show its multifarious colours, OLED display and automatic adjustment in less lighting. The second USP proclaimed by Apple is the replacement of emojis with animojis, to which Google had to take a bullet at its chest. It instead chooses to attack the front portrait
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The Google Pixel 2 ad openly questions the need of a second camera. This was another at-
Attack on storage: Perhaps a gentle nudge to next-gen, Apple introduced augmented reality(AR) in the new iPhone tempt in taking a dig at iPhone X which has X. Google challenged this with Google Lens two cameras. We observe a repetitive use of the word ‘more’ in Pixel 2 ad which constantly urges customers to question their threshold requirements. It is an idea directed towards al-
through which the user can instantly gather more information about a recently clicked photo. Being a versatile tech-oriented company, Google has the luring the strong endorsers of Apple to spark an instinctive interrogative for more advanced features, specifications and technology. Moreover, the AI assistant Siri has been downplayed by Apple while Google continues to nurture the value proposition of Google Assistant in the ad, thereby facilitating efficient user-device communication.
Attack on camera:
trump card of data and analytics which has wider applications in predictive strategic decision making. On the contrary, Apple is focussed on making the user interface simpler, smoother and faster with next-gen technologies.
Attack on next-gen technology: MARKATHON
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The third and most important USP of iPhone X shown at the beginning of the ad is wireless charging. It is observed that Apple has tried to project its cutting edge USPs like wireless charging, face recognition and animojis at the start, whereas Google has spilled over its USPs towards the end and it holistically gives the impression of a highly combative video commercial. The positioning of value proposition in iPhone X ad is consistent while the Pixel 2 ad
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perspective seems to have lost its essence in the process of arguing with its peer’s values. It is evident from the
consideration towards the Pixel 2 smartphone in the low-priced, affordable category. Predatory Marketing Communication has become imperative in highly dynamic and com-
fact that the ad begins on a hostile note and ends with the product name, thereby diminishing its significance in the TVC. But, it creates a daunting impact on the buyer to evoke a keen sense of
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petitive markets to maintain the market share. Google has time and again disrupted the mantle of marketing communications to inspire other brands in adopting similar models for their product marketing strategy. Voila – brands better keep an eye on their neighbours now!
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perspective
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN DIGITAL MARKETING By Debangana Das TAPMI, Manipal
Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a discipline of computer science that emphasises the creation of intelligent machines powered with the capability to process information, take strategic decisions and perform complex business functions. Organizations across the major industry verticals have started to embrace the potential of AI for digital transformation as well as to design innovative
ways to engage with their customers. AI can help marketers analyse large amount of heterogeneous data and discover actionable insights about customer preferences. They can utilize it to enhance their digital marketing campaigns to offer personalized customer experiences. Following are some instances of the application of AI across the different functions of marketing. They have been mapped with the different stages of Customer Relationship Management (Attract, Satisfy and Retain). •Content Marketing: AI powered tools can help marketers from designing websites to creating personalized content for their target audience. With the help of simple rules and formats machines can generate industry specific reports. Analysing customer demographic and behaviour data, AI can customize the content of the website so that customers can view the best promotional offers. Customers can also be alerted through push notifications which are aligned to their individual preferences. A popular AI writing program is “WordSmith” that can structure tons of data, apply quantitative algorithms and generate
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stories. Another AI-powered marketing tool is “Rocco” which can propose attractive social media content to strengthen the brand value of the company.
with customers. AI can be used to streamline content across different social media channels so that it is aligned to the target customer’s persona. Social Media gives marketers the opportunity to interact with customers through different channels as well as capture their feedback about different offerings. Facebook treats customers as co-creators of their content. Customers are given the option to identify the relevance of a particular advertisement which is presented while they are browsing online and if they don’t find it relevant they can also provide the reason behind the same. This helps Facebook to streamline their online content and identify relevant advertisement for the right customer. Yelp is an American multinational organization where customers can contribute to the content of the website by providing their reviews regarding different products and services.
•Sales Lead Generation: AI can analyse past customer buying patterns as well as their social media engagements with different competitor brands. This data is very much useful to marketers in order to allocate their sales force appropriately so that they can align their marketing campaigns to retain their customers before they are attracted to competitor offerings. This helps in significant cost savings as instead of hovering through a crowd of leads, marketers can easily identify the prospective customers who can offer them the highest sales value. “Netra” is an AI powered tool that has the capability to analyse visual contents like photos, logos from different social media channels. “OneSpot” is another AI powered system which helps in lead conversion by giving a personalized look to the on-site media content of brands that maximizes visitor engagement and also helps in re-targeting customers.
•Dynamic Pricing: Gone are the days when retailers used only economic factors like market forces, demand and supply to set the price for a product. Today AI algorithms help marketers to identify the maximum price that customers are willing to pay for a particular product. Marketers can keep track of the products that customers typically abandon in their online shopping carts. This can give them a fair idea to design incentive schemes for such products so that customers in future are ready to buy them.
•AI powered Email Marketing: AI is used by marketers to enhance their email marketing campaigns. Example of an AI powered marketing tool is “Phrasee” that can recommend catchy subject lines to prevent the emails from being ignored. “Seventh Sense”, another AI email tool appropriately decides the timing of email communications that increases the probability of customers to respond.
•Customer Engagement through Chatbots: Chatbots can serve as virtual brand ambassadors. They are now part of marketing activities for many renowned brands. Apart from providing a personalized experience to customers they push the customers seamlessly through the sales funnel. Chatbots gather and analyse data
•AI powered Social Media Marketing: Social Media Marketing powered with AI can provide marketers a platform for real time engagement
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about every customer they interact with and they provide personalized advice for shopping based on the customer’s purchase history and preferences. They can be used to send personalized marketing messages as well as relevant information about the brand and services offered. This ensures customer retention as well as it facilitates cross selling and up selling. “Sephora”, a cosmetic retail store developed a chatbot which initially asks the user to take up a quiz. Insights from the responses are used to provide customer recommendations regarding beauty and make up. “Starbucks” has designed a chatbot which can take customer orders through voice commands or text messages and in turn provide information on price and time to ready the order. “Spotify”’s chatbot makes it easy for customers to browse through music collections. The customer experience is further enhanced by
an AI based platform which provides customer churn predictions is ‘Vidora’.
Components of an all-in-one AI powered Marketing Platform: The following is a hypothetical framework of the different capabilities of an AI powered marketing platform which covers all the dimensions that a marketer can benefit from.
Conclusion:
recommending playlists for the customers depending on their mood and behaviour.
Today customers have become increasingly tech savvy and quality conscious so it becomes important for marketers to continuously revamp their marketing strategies. This is imperative in order to design innovative ways to engage with customers. AI presents a plethora of opportunities for marketers. AI powered systems minimize the manual tasks involved for handling cross channel digital marketing campaigns as well as it promises better ROI due to strategical alignment of resources. It provides a fast pace for marketers to generate higher revenue streams by delivering personalized experience to customers. One of the pioneers of AI marketing is IBM Watson which provides cognitive recommendations to marketers to help them understand customer behaviours through an interactive analytical visual interface. They also have features to support “Campaign Automation” and “Real Time Personalization”.
•Customer Churn Rate Prediction: Retaining an existing customer is much more cost efficient than acquiring a new one. Different machine learning algorithms are designed which helps in identifying unhappy customers so that they are offered different incentive schemes before they turn to other competitor brands. An example of
Research shows that marketers who are already using AI have identified a substantial increase in their marketing efficiency. Therefore marketers should embrace the power of AI to delight their customers and at the same time sustain their market share and stay ahead of their competitors.
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cover story
november 2017
Big Data Analytics in Marketing
Cover Story
D
ata is the new currency in town and all giant corporations, MARKETINGas always, can’t have enough of it. Google probably knows more about many of us than we know ourselves! This BUDGET huge amount of data is processed and analyzed to gain insights about the customers and into the functioning of the business and finds application in almost all fields. The information about customers is of particular use to marketers. Whether the marketers realize it or not, the time for conventional marketing, where the marketing strategy of a brand was based completely on the intuition of the marketer has long been over. While conventional marketing considered the demand of a consumer and created a product to satisfy it, what it lacked was to keep the ever-changing consumer behavior in mind while doing it. And a major reason for this disregard was the lack of adequate data that could put the marketer into the minds of the consumer to gauge and prod u c e exactly w h a t t h e y need. But the advent of data, or more specifically big data, has filled that lacunae. Big data analytics has revolutionized the field of sales and marketing by improving the marketing efforts in many ways:
Identifying the right segment Traditionally, marketers used to make their best guesses
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about the demographics of their ideal segment but it not the case anymore. Using big data analytics, the companies can easily determine who is buying what and in how much quantity. More information about the prospective customers like the websites they visit frequently, social media channels used by them and even the sections of a webpage they are interested in can help a marketer make the right decision. Identifying and targeting the right segment not only enhances the reach and efficiency of the marketing efforts but also helps the companies in cutting their marketing costs by helping them achieve more with less.
panies in making the optimal marketing purchases across different advertising channels. The level of granularity that can be achieved through big data is what makes it the next big thing in marketing. For example, now we can track the performance of different marketing channels for different segments in different geographies for different age groups and gender and so on.
Enhanced Retention
Customer
It’s very common to see companies deploying loyalty cards, known by many names underlying concept remaining the same, to track a customCustomer Engagement Optimization er’s purchases. Loyalty card systems also track which promotions and incentives have been the Big Data proves crucial in providing customer most effective in encouraging a customer, indilevel information about where they live, how vidual customers or group of customers, in makoften they buy and what they want. Analysing ing another purchase. how customers interact with the company’s online portals and even offline stores turns out to The system can also help the marketer in identibe beneficial in improving the user experience. fying which segment of customers is the most influenced due to the deployment of loyalty cards. The ability to know when and how the custom- The data analytics can also help in figuring out ers would prefer to be contacted is imperative in the particular complaints regarding the product a world where consumwhich have caused ers are getting more the most dissatisfacand more impatient tion in the consumand easily irritable due ers and accordingly to excessive marketing remedial steps can be efforts being put in by taken before the situdifferent players in the ation gets out of conmarket. trol.
Optimizing Performance
Real-Time Personalization
Currently estiTracking impact and return on investment used to be difficult in traditional advertising. But continuously monitoring and optimizing their marketing efforts through measurement, analysis and testing through big data analytics can help com-
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Big Data Analytics when combined with machine learning algorithms enables marketers to personalize their offers to customers in real time. A perfect example of this would be the ‘customers also bought’ section on online shopping websites like Ama-
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zon and Flipkart and ‘recommended’ videos section on Netflix and YouTube. Marketers can now personalize the products and promotions that a particular customer has access to right down to sending personalized offers and coupons to the customer’s phone when he enters an offline store. It can thus help in strengthening the marketing strategy of the firm and in integrating the various tactics that the company employs to create an interest for the product in its target segment.
ior and sales.
Budget Management
Improved content marketing
By enabling companies to monitor, assess and optimize their marketing campaign for highest performance, big data analytics helps them in better allocation of marketing budgets to get the highest ROI. It also helps the companies understand how their budget allocation among the different marketing strategies deployed in the past panned out to make any changes if necessary. Companies can strategize about the amount of expenditure that needs to be incurred in order to achieve the set goals by analyzing the data across the industry and the strategy of the competitors. Data analytics can also help in understanding the changing trend in the consumer behavior and these future predictions can serve as the yardstick to finalize the budget that needs to be allocated.
Historically, it used to be extremely difficult to measure the ROI from a blog post but with the help of big data analytics, marketers can analyze which pieces of content are the most influential at moving leads through a sales and marketing funnel. Analysing content is highly affordable making it easier even for small businesses to implement it. This would prove helpful in highlighting the pieces of content responsible for closing sales.
Predictive Lead Scoring
Predictive lead scoring takes into account property information of leads, behavioral data, social information and demographics to figure out which properties should be included and how much to weigh each property. The algorithm finds the information customers have in common and the information that unclosed leads have in common to come up with a formula to identify the most qualified leads.
The use of content marketing is on the rise. As per the Content Marketing Institute’s 2017 report, 87% of the companies in U.K. have adopted the practice. But even among those who do, companies analyze only 12% of the data they have available as per a Forrester report. This clearly highlights the need to develop big data analytics capabilities to make the most of data available to them.
Lead scoring has long been used by sales teams to rate their hottest leads but predictive analyt- Market Research ics on big data can now be used to generate a model to successfully predict consumer behav- Data is the biggest asset in today’s world. It can
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be used to gather the kind of information which was impossible to collect just a few years back. Marketers can get deeper insights in the minds of the consumers and customize their products accordingly. They can now conduct both qualitative and quantitative market research in a more efficient, quick and inexpensive manner than ever before. Having the capability to process a bulk of data obtained from online and offline survey tools helps in easily implementing customer and focus group feedback.
M a r k e t Analysis Access to a MARKETING bulk of data BUDGET about competitors and their marketing efforts through new social monitoring tools and third-party vendors enables the companies to have a distinct competitive advantage over the market. This could form a key in devising a short-term and long-term strategy for the growth of the company. The accessibility of product performance data
broken down on various parameters for the company’s own product and its competitors helps in analyzing and benchmarking where the product
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Brand Image Management By leveraging big data analytics, companies can now easily monitor any reference to their brand across many different online portals, websites and social channels to know about unfiltered reviews, opinions and testimonials about their products and organization as a whole. The marketers can also find the channels most influencing the brand image of their product and take necessary actions to change it. Plotting the brand image among different sections and subsections of the customer segments on the perceptual map helps in identifying which points lie away from the desired region and putting in efforts to bring them in. The applications of big data analytics in the field of marketing listed above, of course, just scratch the surface of what is possible today and what could be in the near future when big data analytics would become accessible and affordable even to the smallest businesses and novice users. It can only be a boon by helping companies in improving their marketing efforts and reaching their customer in much more innovative ways. Big data analytics has revolutionized the way marketing decisions are made by providing the marketer useful insights about the performance of his/her product. It is now possible to dig deep into how successful the past marketing efforts have been to retain the best ones and replace the lower ones with the help of additional insights from the data. The early movers are going to enjoy the biggest advantage. So, what are we waiting for?
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vartalaap
november 2017
VARTALAAP An Interview with Mr. Denis Morisset Denis Morisset is an ESSEC graduate with over 20 years professional experience in the luxury industry. Formerly the COO of Ralph Lauren Europe, CEO of Pierre Balmain, and Managing Director France of Armani, he has been teaching in various ESSEC programs (LVMH Chair, ESSEC MBA in International Luxury Brand Management, ESSEC MBA in Hospitality Management, ESSEC Executive Education) in Paris and Singapore since 2004. He is currently the Director of Luxury Executive Programs – ESSEC Asia Pacific and served as the Executive Director of ESSEC’s MBA in International Luxury Brand Management between 2004 and 2012.
ESSEC Asia Pacific
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Director of Luxury Executive Programs
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is a business and between image and “ Luxurybusiness, in the end, business will
Markathon: With the rise of digital marketing, the marketing industry is at a turning point. So, what do you think are the struggles that are unique to luxury brands concerning digital marketing? Digital marketing represents in fact a lot of opportunities for luxury brands to leverage on a growing number of on-line touch points to engage with consumers, convey their DNA & codes, increase their dream factors and storytelling. Large luxury brands and luxury groups have in fact become media producers and distributors. Most of them have created beautiful videos, developed mini sites, collaborated with on-line influencers, developed on-line events. We can think of Burberry who was a pioneer with the Art of the Trench, but also Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel (Chanelnews.com), Dior (Diormag.com) etc. For smaller luxury brands which do not have the same budgets to invest in traditional off-line marketing and in off-line flagship stores, digital marketing also represents an opportunity, as it removes some barriers. At the same time, luxury brands are not always using social media in a very social way. This is linked with the fact that luxury brands prefer to convey their DNA, brand myth, push their inhouse content, tell their story on-line in a way that enables them to keep the full control of their image and communication. It is often more a monologue than a real dialogue. This is why most luxury brands do not really answer netizens on social media, as opposed to premium or mass premium brands.
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always be the real priority.
Markathon: Growth is a blessing for all brands given that they are profitable, but for luxury brands especially those which in principle set volume limits, it’s a challenge. How should these brands deal with the problem of finding a way to grow while still maintaining exclusivity? This is of course one of the fundamental paradox or challenge of luxury brands. The more they grow, the more they are successful, the more products they develop and sell, the more clients they recruit, the more accessible they will become in the eyes of many consumers. They strive to find the right balance between exclusivity and accessibility but this issue is more critical for the largest and most famous luxury brands. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani have been so successful that they are necessarily more accessible. But there is no return option. Luxury is a business and between image and business, in the end, business will always be the real priority. The challenge for these super brands is not to become more exclusive, but to work on the perception of exclusivity: continue to grow and increase sales while finding ways to reinforce in consumer’s mind a certain “perception’ of exclusivity. This is mostly achieved by increasing the brand’s dream and desirability factors. At the same time, it should be clear that this is a problem of “rich” brands…! A lot of smaller, less famous luxury brands face in reality the opposite problem. Their business is not big enough and they are in a way too exclusive because
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vartalaap this exclusivity is related to their niche business. For these brands, the challenge is to find a way to increase their brand’s popularity without being necessarily more accessible. For instance, if a husband offers his wife a beautiful and very expensive necklace from a niche luxury Jewellery brand, that the wife or her friends never heard of, it is likely that the recipient of the gift will not be very happy! For this brand, the challenge is to increase its popularity but without becoming accessible and easy to get.
november 2017 on this trend and the future ahead?
Yes, brand consolidation is a clear trend. Behind the “trend”, there is some true rationale behind these new ways of managing brand architecture. 30 years ago, moist luxury brands were distributed through a mix of retail stores and multibrands wholesale distribution, such as department stores, specialty stores, even licensing agreement. etc. In the past 20 years, most strong luxury brands made a strategic shift to buy back their distribution and focus on directly operated stores to better control their image, but Markathon: In your experience of work- also their merchandising, pricing and ing across industries like fragrance, develop consumer engagement through footwear, and clothing, do you find any CRM systems. The main reason for subsimilar threads in the marketing strat- brands before was the opportunity to difegies for these industries? ferentiate the brand offering according to the distribution channel. Nowadays, Luxury is becoming a lifestyle and most as most brands focus on their own stores luxury brands are developing a lifestyle only, this reason disappeared. marketing strategy, through different ways, based on their unique situation. More generally, brand consolidation also To develop this lifestyle perception, relates to globalization, digital revolumost of them are trying to increase tion and empowered consumers: all these their brand reach by crossing over new factors forced luxury brands to focus on product categories. Fragrance, Foot- only one expression of their brand image wear, Clothing, but also watches and across markets and demographics. Jewellery, leather goods and accesMarkathon: Luxury is becoming a lifestyle and most sories, all tend to You’ve spent most converge through luxury brands are developing a lifestyle of your corpothat impulse. A “re- marketing strategy, through different ways, rate career in Eucent” luxury brands rope especially in based on their unique situation. like Jimmy Choo France, and now is a good example: your current prostarting with sexy high heel shoes, the fession brings you to an entirely differbrand developed quickly handbags, ent geography of Asia. What differences clothing, fragrances, even men’s prod- and similarities do you see in the luxury ucts. brand management strategies in these two geographies? Markathon: Since the time you were MD of Giorgio Armani (French subsidiary), They are complementary. Europe and the luxury fashion industry has under- France particularly have been at the gone a lot of change. Now, consolida- origin of the most iconic luxury brands. tion is considered as the way forward, But today, the most important consumwith Giorgio Armani announcing in Feb ers are Asian consumers. Another criti2017 that the brand would only use cal element to appreciate is the fact that three main lines. What are your views in a globalized world where empowered
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and connected luxury consumers travel more beautiful off-line show-rooms in Inmore and more, the traditional way to dia. look at the business by region is growingly obsolete. Nowadays, for luxury Luxury goods consumption is also linked brands particularly, due to travel retail, with consumer’s confidence in a better future. Global the real meaningeconomic deful way to analyse Nowadays, for luxury brands particularly, velopment the brand’s sales is due to travel retail, the real meaningful in India and by nationality and no more by region. way to analyse the brand’s sales is by na- growing consumer’s conThis creates a need tionality and no more by region fidence will to develop even therefore also more collaboration be important, but in the end, it will be between markets and remove the silos between these markets, in particular up to luxury brands to decide to invest more in India to convey their dream facAsia and Europe. tors, luxury lifestyle, engage with new Markathon: What do you think about Indian consumers. the present state of luxury brand management in India and how do you see the Markathon: After assuming various future of luxury brand management in roles at the top management in diverse companies, what was your inspiration India? to become a professor? I used to visit India more often10 years ago when most analysts thought the My management style was leading by luxury business was about to pick up in inspiring and sharing with my teams. India. It has obviously not happened or There was therefore an easy and logical not that fast at least. Reasons are sev- path between this management leadereral, including custom duties, cultural ship skills and my professor’s leaderelements, a certain lack of retail infra- ship teaching skills. I think my combined structure, etc. An interesting question professional and academic background remains at which path and how will and my passion for engaging with my luxury market in India grow. Even if the students enable me to truly inspire them wealthiest Indian consumers are likely and this is why my classes are so sucto continue to shop abroad, this is not cessful. the real issue. I do believe that luxury brands have not yet dedicated enough Markathon: In such changing times attention and efforts to promote their where nothing is constant neither a brands, products, lifestyle to Indian Con- business model nor a marketing stratsumers, partially because they had oth- egy. What advise will you give to all fuer priorities. (they often allocate their ture marketers which they should keep capex budgets and attention according in mind while working? to short term strategies. Study and Travel, separately or together. The world is a village, so you’ve got But it will change. to know this village of course and travel Internet and social media, all on-line is a huge learning experience and eyes touch points represent a huge opportu- opener. Never stop studying, one way or nity for luxury brands to engage more another is also a must and it is actually deeply with their future Indian consum- easier and easier with internet, on-line ers, even if they will still need to develop courses etc.
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november 2017
Is it a good idea to target your competition through advertisement? Akhilesh Panigrahi Symbiosis International University
Aysuh Chaudhari IIM Shillong
I do believe that targeting a competitor through advertisement is a good idea. It is a form of predatory marketing communication in an ecosystem where a company can openly target its competitor by incorporating comparative hints at various situations where a particular USP needs to be clearly driven into the buyers. It ensures simulation of communication models and effectively using an ad channel to get extra edge over the predatory product.
Competitive Advertising is nothing new. Brands have taken pot-shots at their competitors since time immemorial. While bashing the competition may be seen as clever, rarely does it result in a positive impact for the advertisers. The annals of history are littered with brands who have tried, and failed. Pepsi’s 2013 Halloween Ad is such an example. It showed a can of Pepsi with a Coca-Cola costume on, depicting Coke as just Pepsi with a cape on. But the campaign disastrously backfired, as coke and its fans took the very same ad and turned it on its head with Of course, the time of launch plays an important role to the caption “Everyone wants to be a hero”, implying that mark strategic points where one can design the adver- Pepsi aspired to be like Coke. tisement in a way which shows the advantage of using one product over the other. Such a technique creates Targeting your competitor is a dangerous game. Consumlevel playing field for both products, thereby making it ers are very attached to brands and their identities. They easy for buyers to choose the best one matching their take brands personally, and when you do something that preferences. they believe you shouldn’t, you risk alienating your strongest supporters. The flip-side to this, is that attacking your We can deduce contrasts from the recently launched competitor may lead to a vociferous response from their Apple iPhone X and Google Pixel 2 video commercials loyal fan base. Add to this the legal hurdles and problems where Google emulated simplicity and lucidity from that you open yourself to by targeting your competitor. In Apple. There are clear similarities in background, fonts June 2017, HUL won a lawsuit against Amul for disparagand feature projection sequences in the Pixel 2 ad, with ing their ice-cream brand. instinctive interrogative statements punched at regular intervals to portray differentiating USPs. And finally, you never know when you might want to do the very thing for which you are targeting your competiConsidering legal implications, the World Federation of tor, as Google found out when it removed the headphone Advertisers (WFA) promulgates prevention of display of a jack from the pixel 2, the very thing it had taken a dig at competitive product in an ad. Perhaps indirect censuring Apple for the previous year. With such an inhospitable enis permitted and this regulation can be subtly manipu- vironment it is better to simply stay away from targeting lated to target a competition through advertisement. your competition directly.
Topic for the next issue: “Should new companies go for niche marketing?” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 22nd December 2017. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!
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AD-dicted AD-dicted
PRODUCT: Hyundai
december november 2013 2017 By Anurag Pandey IIM Shillong
POSITIONING: #BeTheBetterMan CREATIVE AGENCY: Innocean Worldwide
CATCH
YouTube Link: https://goo.gl/vT2HVQ
By Nitin Nathani IIM Shillong
PRODUCT: MensXP
POSITIONING: Welcome to the newhood CREATIVE AGENCY:
R
YouTube Link: https://goo.gl/qN2GK8 CONCEPT: The advertisement starts with a guy hanging out with his friends, when he suddenly sees a girl passing by. In that instance itself, the guy feels an attraction towards the girl and waits for her daily. The scene is supported by a love jingle. One day, finally, he visits the girl and gives his mother’s gold bangles to her as a proposal. The girl is in shock and rejects his proposal. The scene is continued by another girl, suggesting the audience to read MensXP for help in relationship formation.
CONCEPT: The ad celebrates the people who are responsible and disciplined on the road. The ad portrays many incidents where the protagonist follows the rules but has to face the wrath of those who are not following the rules. The first instance where the person stops the car before the zebra crossing to let people cross the road but the person driving behind him shouts at him for stopping the car. Multiple characters are shown who choose the right thing, but then they have to suffer. The ad ends with the message that it is possible that you might not receive appreciation for your good work, but goodness goes a long way, and that is why it is important to follow the traffic VERDICT: Miss rules and be a better man. Markathon believes that as it was the first ever ad camVERDICT: Catch paign of MensXP, much was expected of them, but they have failed in making a connection with the target segMarkathon believes the ad takes a different approach to ment. The ad tries to target the millennials who could persuade the viewers to follow the rules and succeeds in use MensXP in forming relationships. From the beginning it. We have seen multiple ads that have talked about fol- itself, even with the jingle, the ad wasn’t successful to lowing traffic rules before as well, but they focussed on make an emotional connect with the audience. Moreover, the reward of following the traffic rules. However, the the beginning seems cliched as this concept has been ground reality is different, and people rarely receive ap- used earlier in different adverts and movies as well. This preciation for being disciplined on the road. This ad shows straightforward ad did nothing that would’ve made an the reality but ends with the right message. Here, Hyun- impact on the audience. The scene where the guy gives dai is able to position itself as a car which stands for road his mother’s bangles to her without any introduction was safety. It is also able to connect with the people who do an attempt to include the comedy factor, but it failed misfollow the rules but do not receive any appreciation for erably as it was quite abrupt to digest and seemed fooldoing so. Finally, it is able to end with the message of “Be ish. The overall acting in the ad didn’t help either to save a Better Man.” This message looks very genuine. The ad it. Markathon believes that as many ads nowadays arstars Shahrukh Khan and his narration makes the ad bet- rive with a message for the audience, it could have been ter. In the end, the message coupled with the storyline of a good strategy and a bit more subtle to connect better the ad makes this ad a Catch. with the target audience.
MISS
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jab they failed
november 2017
Jab They Failed AISHWARYA TIWARI IIM Shillong
Bud Light - #UpForRape??
In 2015, as a part of its “Up for whatever” campaign, a label on Bud Light read as “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” When people took notice, what started with a Rediff discussion about the appropriateness of the comment quickly escalated into a social media campaign against the company. This slogan received a huge backlash, for promoting rape culture and rape drinks in parties. The matter got so serious that the company was even scolded by a Congresswoman on being so ignorant about public health and safety, saying that the country needs “responsible companies to help us tackle these serious public health and safety problems, not encourage them.” The outrage was amplified by the fact that this was not the first time that the company was under the radar for such marketing gimmicks. In March of the same year, it received backlash over a Twitter post saying “On #StPatricksDay, you can pinch people who don’t wear green. You can also pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever.” Many found that the tweet was promoting sexual harassment and the company was subsequently forced to delete the post. Also, many institutes of higher education in the country were dealing with the issue of high-profile sexual assault and binge-drinking. This slogan was found promoting such activities, and hence many parents expressed their disappointment towards the ignorance of the company over problems that plagued the colleges throughout the country. What was surprising was the fact that the label underwent several stages of approval internally in the company before being launched. The entire approval process and
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multiple departments of the company like legal, ad-council, CSR and their advertising agency came under fire. The entire #UpForWhatever” had people divided on its effectiveness. Some like Edward E. Ackerley, a marketing professor at the University of Arizona, believed that the campaign gelled well with the young target audience, others like Vincent Cicchirillo, assistant advertising professor at the University of Texas, believed that it had taken a dark turn. In the end, Alexander Lambrecht, vice president for the Bud Light brand at Anheuser-Busch, held a press conference expressing his regret and reaffirming the commitment of his brand towards fighting “disrespectful or irresponsible behavior.” But it seemed to be too little too late, as there seemed to be a pattern in the entire campaign, and even his apology wasn’t well recieved. Brands often commit the mistake of trying to find the lighter version of social issues and problems in an attempt to be sarcastic, witty or just funny. They often come out as foolish and insensitive, hurting the sentiments of even their loyalists. Another problem with such campaigns is the way they generalize the millennials as people who just want to have fun, with no regard to anything else. They assume that they can make fun of serious issues like rapes and sexual harassment during parties, because millennials are the “cool” generation that do not take anything seriously. Hence, the lesson to be learned is to have a firm and serious stand over issues that demand so. If the brand cannot understand how to take one, it should distance itself from the issue and not try to outsmart itself.
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digi-gyaan
Tradigital Marketing By Nitin Nathani IIM Shillong The term “Tradigital marketing” refers to the combination of traditional marketing strategies with the new concepts of digital marketing for the overall benefit of the organization. Marketing is all about accepting the new trends, following it and bringing in a new style every now and then. Definitely digital marketing has taken the centre stage, but the traditional style still touches our heart. The old Cadbury Dairy milk ads, the Amul mascot, etc. is something that will stay in our mind forever. Combining it with digital marketing and walking on the path of Tradigital marketing is something really to look forward to.
Today’s digitally savvy consumer has little interest in allowing you to define how he or she will experience a brand. They’re people who do things on their terms. If they sense you’re trying to push them towards any sort of conclusion, they pull away. With digital, we have the opportunity to collaborate; to customize an experience for users so they know that we know they’re important. Today’s best brand websites speak in their customer’s voice and allow the customer to speak.
There are many “digital” ad agencies that want to tell you that traditional media is dead and no one reads the paper or listens to radio anymore. They want to take your ad money and put all of it in search engine optimization (SEO) and build a new website. While it may seem like good advice, the truth is that traditional media is not dead, but its role has changed dramatically.
to go digital. But they haven’t figured out that this isn’t about taking their idea or their content and making it fit digital. It’s about developing content specifically for digital.
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This is where traditional agencies struggle. It’s not that they can’t build a website, or don’t want
But there are issues for digital marketers as well. A lot of digital agencies have little or no interest in understanding some of the fundamentals for building a
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digi-gyaan brand over time. A digital agency that demonstrates no curiosity about the intricacies of branding, or prefers to remain largely uninformed about its client’s business, is as likely to be as ineffective as the traditional marketing guys.
app and take a look later when they’re ready to buy online or in-store. Their “Snap. Find. Shop.” app allows users to upload a photo of shoes or handbags they like, which is then run against the Neiman Marcus database using smart image recognition. If they have something similar, cusThe Tradigital agency demands a brief on who tomers can buy it on the spot online. the customer is, what the brand’s objectives are, and what strategies will deliver. It assumes an Value City furniture recognized the need to active interest in understanding and defining build and nurture personal relationships with the market. Without these critical inputs, digital their customers and thus, created a platform is relegated to a strictly tactical role. It is not interested in fighting against the brand to prove just how clever it can be. This is where traditional thinking kicks in. The brand comes first, and must be united in what it stands for, across all media.
called the “Easy Pass” to bridge data between physical stores and online shopping lists. When Apart from it, firms are also looking forward customers build a list online, a store employee to omnichannel strategies and combine digital can pull up the info and show them their selecand traditional platform to enrich customer ex- tion in-store. perience. For example, the marketing team of the luxury retail chain Neiman Marcus aims to Timberland is using NFC technology to merge the remove the barriers that separate how custom- physical and digital worlds of e-commerce. The ers interact with the brand through different Touch Walls display online-only inventory, allowing channels. If a customer consistently searches for users to touch product photos to view expanded insize 9 or 9.5 shoes or size 9-to-12 in dresses, the formation and build their personalized shopping list company website will remember. The next time for both in-store and online-only products. This has they search for these items, the site will return the added benefit of exposure for lesser-known prodsearch results for those sizes that are available in ucts, as the product recommendation engine pulls up the nearest shop locations. It also innovates in its inventory like women’s footwear and men’s apparel. tech offerings, with tools like the in-store “Memory Mirror.” It allows users to record 360-degree Hence, the big brands have already adopted tradigital videos of themselves trying on clothing in the marketing in one form or another and its time for othstore, which they can then save in the mobile ers to follow the suit.
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1)Go beyond demographics: Use psychographics to reach the modern consumer We are much more than our genders, our sexual orientations, or our societal and marital statuses. In fact, brands choosing to rely only on stereotypes and demographics to paint a picture of their consumers end up being myopic. Link:- https://goo.gl/U9Deaa
2)
100 greatest minds- Warren Buffet on investing
The strategy is to find a good business -- and one that I can understand why it’s good -- with a durable, competitive advantage, run by able and honest people, and available at a price that makes sense. And then we want a management team we admire and trust. Link:- https://goo.gl/vEnxSt
3)
How online advertisers read your mind
ANYONE who has ever used the internet will be familiar with the feeling of déjà vu. You land on a website you might never have been to before only to see advertisements that show something familiar: a pair of shoes you have shopped for. Are advertisers psychic or snooping? Link :- https://goo.gl/d5fg2K
4)
Why it’s time for less bullshit and more build shit
Branding had become too fixated with intangible asset value. We’d diverted monies out of hard product development and break-through invention and, instead focused on simply associating with soft end-benefits. Link :- https://goo.gl/3FEQgD
5)
Zomato’s outdoor campaign
With witty messages and a clever take on pop culture, the campaign got people to sit up and take notice. Tweets with photos of the hoardings rolled in on Twitter as people spotted them and complemented the brand for the clever use of the words and the medium. Link :- https://goo.gl/Cbom1M
By Aishwarya Tiwari | IIM Shillong Coca-Cola celebrates 40 years of Thums up Coca-Cola India, one of the country’s leading beverage companies, has announced that it intends to make Thums Up—India’s most-loved cola— the first home-grown billion dollar beverage brand in the next 2 years. The company also announced the launch of Thums Up Charged, the first ever variant of Thums Up that is packed with even more thunder. Coca-Cola India has planned year-round celebrations on successful completion of 40 years in India to enhance brand love, brand variants, and strengthen operations and distribution.
Time Inc. Sells Itself to Meredith Corp., Backed by Koch Brothers A long chapter in media history came to an unlikely close with a sale agreement for Time Inc., the publisher of once-prestigious magazine titles including Time, Sports Illustrated and People. The Meredith Corporation — the owner of Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens and AllRecipes — agreed to purchase Time Inc. in an allcash transaction valued at nearly $3 billion. The deal was made possible by an infusion of $650 million from the private equity arm of Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire brothers.
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Amazon, Paytm now want your Aadhaar details for their services Internet companies are now making Aadhaar mandatory for customers to avail their services. Amazon has asked customers to upload their Aadhaar numbers to track lost packages, while Bengaluru-based car rental platform Zoomcar has said it won’t accept bookings without Aadhaar as proof of identity. Mobile wallet Paytm has also requested users to link their Aadhaar details. Cab aggregators Uber and Ola are looking at ways to integrate Aadhaar into their platforms.
P&G hit by worst performance since it entered the market more than two decades ago Sales at the Indian unit of the world’s largest consumer products firm Procter & Gamble fell 14% during yearto-March 2017, its worst performance since it entered the market more than two decades ago. This is the second consecutive revenue fall of P&G after it deprioritised several brands products and product sizes in an effort to shore up its margins. P&G’s Indian financials mirror the parent’s performance, which saw sales decline of 8% during fiscal year 2016.
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Khlurthma, the annual management fest of IIM Shillong witnessed a mind-boggling participation in Touchstone, an event organized by Markathon from various B-schools across India including DoMS IIT Madras, IMT Ghaziabad, and Welingkar Institute of Management. We thank all the participants for their enthusiastic participation, which made the event as successful as it was.
Markathon in association with Khlurthma 2017 conducted a VC session with Mr Kevin Keller Lane, the E. B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. The discussion revolved around the need to understand the changing consumer behaviour and how marketing is about finding the right balance and evaluating tradeoffs.
Sales at the Indian unit of the world’s largest consumer products firm Procter & Gamble fell 7.0 14% marks during year-to-March 2017, its worst performance since the market GodSellers another milestone in the legacy of theit entered Marketing Club more than two decades ago.
of IIM Shillong where over 700 students and faculties from the various colleges of Shillong gathered to savour the This delicious foodconsecutive and fun-filled games put after up by the students. Participants got an opis the second revenue fall of P&G it deprioritised several brands and product in an effort up its margins. Indian financials portunityproducts to unleash their sizes creativity andtotoshore implement the P&G’s theoretical marketing concepts in mirror the parent’s performance, which saw sales decline of 8% during fiscal year 2016and . added to the the real world. The theme for this year, TV Series, created a nostalgic aura Sales at the Indian unit of the world’s largest consumer products firm Procter & Gamble excitement. fell 14% during year-to-March 2017, its worst performance since it entered the market more than two decades ago.
GodSellers, the flagship event of the Marketing Club, can briefly be divided into 3 sub-events is the second consecutive revenue P&G after it deprioritised brands is a small teaser – Launch,This Auction and Finale though it isfall soofmuch more than that. several The launch products and product sizes in an effort to shore up its margins. P&G’s Indian financials of what could be expected of the main event; auction is where the participating teams place mirror the parent’s performance, which saw sales decline of 8% during fiscal year 2016. their bids for the stalls and the top bidders put on their marketing hats to push their sales numbers during the finale. The event was launched with a bang on the night of 18th November 2017 with a launch video based on the theme for the year highlighting glimpses from GodSellers 6.0. The Marketing Club also invited the entire campus for a treat and took it upon themselves to set up stalls featuring food from every cuisine you can name. Everything from offering value for money combos to doorstep delivery was undertaken by the club members to reach the largest possible audience. And with the right buzz, the stage was all set for the auction. On 20th November, the participating teams took part in the auction and locked horns to get hold of the limited number of stalls. The bids placed for each stall were much higher than ever before and the total bidding amount was 50% higher than the previous edition of the event. The Finale was set to be held on 25th November and the stall owners left no stones unturned during the 5-day promotion period. The teams covered the campus with posters and stickers, released promotional videos, organized musical chairs & marathon and invited everyone for free food sampling to stay in the limelight. The D-Day had arrived and the event started off at 5:30 pm with all stalls set and adorned with lights and posters right outside the hostels in Quadrangle. There was a significant spike in the participation from various colleges across Shillong such as NIFT, NIT, St. Anthonys and St. Edmunds. There probably couldn’t be a better instance of the ‘effect of demand and supply on price’ playing out in the real world than what was observed during the event. The price for items fluctuated every few minutes to woo the customers and to beat the competition. The night of food, bonfire and music was as great a learning experience as it was fun. With a higher footfall and revenue than has been seen in the past, GodSellers 7.0 has clearly left its mark.
digi-tally
november 2017
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Articles are invited
“Best Article”: Akhilesh Panigrahi | Symbiosis International University 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 22nd December , 2017. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAME(S)>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@gmail.com.
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