Markathon- January 2022

MARKATHON Jan 2022 | Pandemic Edition

EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION WITH THE HEAD OF BRAND GOOGLE- MR.SAMIT MALKANI

WARNING! Proceed at your own risk!

You are now entering a zone that will stimulate your mind and open up new avenues within you. There is a high possibility of your brain being exposed to mind-boggling ideas. You are also at the risk of getting a completely new perspective. It is highly advisable to keep an open mind in order for maximum retention and to comprehend the current trends.

Special precautions may be required as you move towards the last stage of this journey, wherein you will be shown how much the world has changed and how the wars have just begun.

MARKATHON

EDITORS CHHAVI SHARMA

JAY SHRIMALI

MEET SHAH

of THE PRIYA JAIN

RUCHIKA SUTHAR

SAMIKSHA KAPOOR

ISSUE SHIVAM UPPAL

SIDDHARTH SARAWADE

Markathon

UDIT GROVER

EDITOR'S NOTE

BY CHHAVI SHARMA & SHIVAM UPPAL

T

he unprecedented impact of Covid-19 over the previous year had literally brought the

world to a standstill. Despite being better connected than ever before, we were distanced.

The commencement of the new decade has also brought about a massive shift in marketing. As we entered a lockdown globally, the branding and marketing communications slowly drifted towards a spirit of togetherness as a society and support for the frontline workers. Brand communications began moving away from the products to their values and stakeholders.

On the other hand, Covid-19 got us hooked on our screens like never before. The screen time went up drastically and so did the race to grab customer attention via digital real-estate. While the brands quickly shifted from offline to online, the way they went about marketing also changed drastically. As we're slowly getting back to normalcy, the marketing practices & consumer behavior seem to have changed for good.

In this edition of Markathon's annual magazine, we look into the changes in marketing brought about during the pandemic & foresee how the future of marketing would shape up With the help With the help of social media, digital

presence, and the right marketing strategies, more than 30 start-ups have become a unicorn in the year 2021 amid this coronavirus pandemic. We tried to incorporate the stories of Start-ups that bloomed during the pandemic hence unboxing the toolkit needed to conquer the pandemic blues. So here we are, to give you a gist of what all happened and what all changed.

For this edition, we have invited Mr. Samit Malkani. He is the Head of Brand & Creative Marketing, India & Southeast Asia at Google. He has spent 7 years in Google in different areas- specializing in brand marketing. He talked about his take on the marketing world in the pandemic era and how companies are adapting to it in the interview. He also talked about Google's perspective on the potential employees that they look for. It ended with how his career trajectory looked like- while picking up his experiences and viewpoints.

Taking another step forward, we also covered all the types of changes that were observed during these timesranging from changing consumer needs, market campaigns, to new marketing realities.

Apart from this, the magazine will also take you on a ride down the controversies of the marketing world. On the flip side, certain advertisements inspired the common public and unimaginably garnered support. Not just this, we also have some fun elements incorporated within for you to enjoy.

As we advance, we have covered some sections to enhance and aid the current happenings of the marketing world. Our lives have been altered in unforeseen ways because of the pandemic. Some brands that we had only used once in a blue moon prior to the epidemic became an indispensable part of our life both during and after the outbreak. Through our Brand wars section, we made an attempt to know more about who was able to connect with the audience more.

Finally, we would like to thank all the participants for sending us exciting entries for the Perspective and Eye2Eye section. We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our readers, who motivate us to bring out fascinating editions each time—looking forward to receiving your feedback and suggestions!

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Marketing before vs after Covid

COVER STORY

DIGITAL-FIRST STRATEGY Markathon 7

Markathon

MARKETING THAT TRANSCENDS COVID

BY PRIYA JAIN

D

igital marketing has transformed more quickly than any other marketing area, and the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame.

Technology is altering our world rapidly, hence keeping up

with new industry trends is becoming increasingly difficult.

People began spending more time online than ever before during the pandemic, enhancing their online presence, and expanding the online business possibility, suggesting a bright future for digital marketing agencies. With the introduction of COVID-19, individuals worldwide were confined to their houses for long periods, followed by social distancing norms, resulting in lasting consumer behavior changes and a significant shift in information, commodities, and service consumption patterns.

Regardless matter whether there is a pandemic or not, the more people interact with technology, the more they like the experience, making it a normal part of their lives. To make exciting changes and lead the Marketing profession, digital marketing, and advertising agencies must get off the cutting edge and leap to the bleeding edge. Digital marketing is changing to keep up with new technology advancements and shifting customer tastes, such as the expectation that ads and content become more tailored and relevant to the individual.

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COVER STORY

"Pandemic compelled businesses to shift online, brands to create relevant content."

Pandemic compelled businesses to shift online, brands to create relevant content. Businesses have been forced to move online to promote their products and services due to the epidemic, prompting brands to generate contextual and relevant content to gain a larger share of mind from their client base. To succeed, marketing companies will need to continue innovating and expanding, whether by hiring visual designers or

utilizing technological advancements that focus on user experience.. To ensure that their marketing efforts in this Covid universe are successful, we must remove all hurdles.

The significance of COVID19 on customer behavior and attitudes cannot be overstated. In the aftermath of COVID-19, according to a survey we're conducting with our sister firm Reach3 Isights, 76 percent of people have developed new habits, behaviors, and routines.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed stated they want to continue some of their new habits.

Consumers are also experimenting with new goods, with 36% intending to continue using new brands after COVID-19.

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Many brands are used to dealing with crises, but the global scope and ongoing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 are first for us. Even the nimblest advertisers — accustomed to evolving their strategies and adapting ad creatives in real-time — are asking, "How do we meet this unprecedented moment?"

Whatever crisis response guidebooks may have existed weeks ago now seem to be from another era, and even the nimblest advertisers — accustomed to evolving their strategies and adapting ad creatives in real-time — are asking, "How do we meet this unprecedented moment?" This is how few brands answered this question through their impactful strategies to come out of the pandemic stronger.

Markathon

McDonald's Philippines detailed new procedures, such as mandated temperature checks for employees before and after shifts, to directly address consumers' increased worries about preserving their health. "We will not hesitate to cancel any customer activity or even temporarily shut down any of our restaurants, "President and CEO Kenneth Yang warned consumers via video. Ford, as a company that has been around for more than a century, has had its fair share of adversity.

To convey their commitment to fighting COVID-19 by manufacturing medical equipment in short supply, the company shifted its ads to explain how they have dealt with global-scale crises in the past — for example, by building military equipment during World War II — and to explain how they have dealt with global-scale crises in the past Built to Lend a Hand" and "Built for Right Now" are two new ads that tap into the company's century-long commitment to its customers and goal. As the world around them transforms, Ikea hoped to remind people of the stable worlds they had already built

—such as playing with children, dancing, making music, or simply relaxing with loved ones.

COVID-19 will permanently alter the consumer landscape, regardless of how long the crisis lasts. Companies will be unable to revert to their previous strategies if this occurs. For the reality of the post-COVID-19 world, your personas, communications, and even product strategy may need to change drastically. While being confined to one's house can be stressful and isolating, Ikea Spain saw an opportunity to change perceptions about shelter-in-place orders by bringing its Spanish- and English-speaking customers back into their homes.

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REBRANDING

REBRANDING REBRANDING IS THE PROCESS OF GIVING YOUR BRAND A FRESH NEW LOOK BASED ON MARKET TRENDS

BY MEET SHAH

We, as humans, are always in search of something new and exciting. It is a basic human instinct to seek out "something unique." Apart from exploring newness in our lives, we also prefer to relocate or recreate ourselves to pursue answers, peace, or simply a change.

Similarly, you may need to rebrand your business from now and then.

Rebranding is the process of giving your brand a fresh new look based on market trends. The process of changing logos, brand names, brand value, marketing perspective, and even product packaging is referred to as rebranding. This is done to establish a new brand identity and so distinguish your brand from competitors. Rebranding is nothing new, but there should be some compelling reasons why a brand should be rebranded.

This article will provide realworld examples to help you understand a few reasons why businesses consider rebranding.

R E B R A N D I N G Markathon

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DIVERSIFYING THE BUSINESS: When a well-established corporation enters new markets or launches new products, new strategies are developed to assist them in establishing themselves.

Brand: ITC The Imperial Tobacco Corporation was first established in India under the British Raj ownership in 1910.

Post-independence, the corporation expanded into other fields of manufacturing and changed its name to ITC. It began producing a wide range of products, including books, incense sticks, paper boards, stationery, well-known hotels, agri-business, and information technology.

Markathon The advent of digital broadcasting, the web, and apps, as well as an increase in the number of people reading on mobile devices, have all brought the BBC closer to its users and viewers, but because they couldn't use the same typeface across all media, they struggled to communicate a coherent identity and maintain a consistent voice.

Other services, such as BBC News, BBC Weather, BBC Sounds, iPlayer, BBC Sport, and BBC Bitesize, have also updated their logos. Each digital service Brand: BBC would be identified by updated, The BBC (British Broadcasting recognizable colors, logos, and Corporation) gave its famous visuals, which would ease logo a ‘modern’ makeover navigation between them. because ‘audiences thought Furthermore, the redesign some of their services look would pay for itself because the old fashioned and out of BBC would own the design date.’ rights to the new 'Reith' The famous trio of blocks has typeface and would no longer been moved slightly apart, have to pay an annual license the letters have been fee to use the previous font, shortened, and the font has which is a cost-effective been altered to the bespoke approach.

'BBC Reith' font, named after the corporation's founder.

THE BRAND DATES BACK TO THE ICE-AGE: Companies evolve and change.

Some of them expand rapidly, which raises the need to rebrand. It is best to conduct research before changing the brand values and identity if you have an established brand. It is also critical that businesses maintain their brand values and, in some cases, their logo, as these help them connect with their customers.

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REBRANDING SHEDDING THE NEGATIVE IMAGE: Companies can obtain an unnecessary negative reputation for a variety of reasons, such as customer service style, or they might lose reputation due to unjust attacks from competitors or the media. It could also be due to other factors such as product design or an inability to connect with customers on an emotional level.

THE BUSINESS WANTS TO ALTER ITS CORE VALUES: When a firm evolves and enters new domains, its meaning, values, and characteristics may change. Then it's time for a rebranding to send the right message to its customers.

BRAND: FACEBOOK (THE COMPANY) Facebook (the company) rebranded itself as ‘Meta.’ For Facebook, the ‘rebranding' is more than simply a name change; it is a reflection of the company's rising goals and focus on a new area: the metaverse, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plainly sees as a reality sooner or later.

Facebook makes money by selling targeted advertisements to marketers.

However, if user numbers decline, so will advertising revenue. By repositioning itself as a new, futuristic company, it may be hoping to outlive the

original generation of social media companies — and its own bad reputation. In a nutshell, rebranding ranges from the look and feel of a company's individual brands to restructuring its entire corporate identity.

Suitable rebranding at the right time provides many opportunities. Your brand can be modernized, your external image adapted, and your corporate identity revised. The rebranding process should always be well thought out and ill-considered rebranding can damage your brand.

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Brand: Domino’s In 2009, Domino's (of pizza fame) was at a loss, with only a 9% share of the pizza restaurant market.

With a successful rebranding, the company was able to transform all of that. And it concentrated on addressing the issues that customers had with its products.

The result? By 2016, the company had a 15% market share and the highest customer loyalty of any pizza restaurant. It was also one of the first firms to utilize chatbots to collect orders via social media, allowing it to meet customers where and how they spend their time.

Markathon

SCALING THE BUSINESS: When a firm expands worldwide or merges with another company, it is necessary to rebrand. Finding a new brand identity that represents the values, image, attributes of the new company is key for successful rebranding.

Brand: Vodafone-Idea Vi is more than just an abbreviation for Vodafone and Idea. It is shorter, simpler, and while referencing the origins of the two brands, Vi [read as ‘we’] also reflects the collective nature of Indian society. It is clear that Vi now wants to be seen as a competitor and not just a survivor like its parent companies. Fortunately, the rebranding generated a lot of social media buzz.

VI [READ AS ‘WE’] ALSO REFLECTS THE COLLECTIVE NATURE OF INDIAN SOCIETY.

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EYE 2 EYE

SOCIAL MEDIA:- A FRIEND OR 1. A FRIEND

N

BY BHAGYASHREE CHAWREKAR IIM Shillong

ear the beginning of 2020, the world came to a standstill, and we were forced into our homes. During the lockdown, as we could not take a step out in the world, social media became a mini world in itself. Before the Pandemic, most of us used social media platforms

EYE 2

to stay connected to our friends and families, and during the Pandemic, the need for digital connection was even more prominent. Whether it was being in touch with our close connections or partaking in the various trends that made us feel a part of a large collective, social media helped us feel a little less lonely when we were all isolated.

The importance of social media, as a way to stay connected, to share our frustrations, or as a platform where we would come across good news or deeds to revel in, cannot be undermined. But the benefits of its presence went beyond that.

Across the world, social media has become a tool to fight the Pandemic. In many countries, the governments used it as a means of location tracking, which helped them with contact tracing. Many health organizations used these platforms and their broad reach across all age groups and different sections of society to disseminate important information and instructions to the public. Many doctors and healthcare workers, who were experiencing the horrors of the disease up close, were using social media as a way to directly reach out to people and make them understand the severity of the situation. As for the general public, social media platforms like Twitter provided them with a way they could reach out for help to a large community of people who were willing and able to help. Blood donations, Plasma donations, arranging for transportations, and Oxygen Cylinders - It would not be an exaggeration to say that in many cases, the convenience and reach of social media have saved lives.

There were many businesses, especially small ones, that were hit hard due to the extended lockdown. Even as these businesses could not operate under strict restrictions, many of them used social media Platforms to build a stronger brand identity and formed deeper connections with their customers. Besides this, the increasing unemployment due to mass layoffs saw a large number of people, particularly younger ones, start small activities that could provide them a source of income like art, audio-video content over YouTube, and much more. Many people used this time to start providing goods and services from home, and social media provided all these people a way to reach a larger audience and customer base.

There could be arguments made for the negatives of social media, but even so, in my opinion, the positives outweigh the negatives. Be it as a way to stay connected, to spread information and awareness, to reach out for help and to provide help, or as a way to set up or expand a brand’s digital presence – social media has proved itself to be a friend during the crisis.

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Markathon

A FOE IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

BY SHOURADEEP DUTTA, SHAVIK BARAL FORE School of Management

2. A FOE

T

he impact of social media can’t be overlooked for sure. From getting latest updates about our favourite influencers, movies, and sports to sharing key events in our lives, it has truly dissolved the barrier of communications. But is it really worth spending a lot of time on? The question becomes even more significant in the context of the covid Pandemic. There have been countless lockdowns, whether partial or complete, ever since the Pandemic began, which basically translates to fewer external movements leading to people spending more time indoors.

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In this digital age it is not hard to guess that people are obviously spending more time on their cell phones than ever during this time. From the outside, it seems that people confined in rooms do not have many things to do other than open the social media apps and scroll, scroll, and scroll to kill time.

But it is not just the time that is killed in this process. The most severely affected is our body. The eyes are subjected to constant stress during official work hours (most work is online now), but during breaks, when we are again using social media, the stress effect multiplies. This indirectly causes headache or fatigue making us take some unscheduled rest which reduces our work rate affecting our daily as well as long-term performance. Not only that, the amount of inaccurate news in social media is just unreal which most of all know but fail to agree when actually needed. Pandemics are those critical times when people will ‘sell’ ideas or manipulate data to make people believe in certain things, e.g.: severe sideeffects of vaccines. And the common people will believe them. Due to so much tragedy around, any post pertaining to covid 19 will seem to be real even if it is false because that is what fear can do.

Typical examples are when fake news is circulated under the name of top scientists and research institutes. It also includes reporting the false number of cases and deaths in various countries. Another very important issue relates to the posts containing sensitive information like deaths, aur extreme suffering. During the Pandemic, we saw how shamelessly posts were circulated pertaining to dead bodies or suffering people in hospitals. Although it is important for people to understand the gravity of the situation, showing too much graphic negativity will leave a drastic scar in the minds of people who are or whose family members or friends are suffering from the same or are in a similar condition.

It is important to understand that many posts which are made in uncertain times are to instigate certain kinds of emotions which may range from fear, anger, hatred to any such negative feelings towards certain targeted groups or activities. So long as social media exists, there can never be a guarantee of unbiased news. It is entirely the responsibility of people to self-check facts and traces the origin of posts before believing in them.

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Startups That Bloomed During The Pandemic

Fintech companies raised $10.73 billion in 2021, accounting for around 22% of the total $48.32 billion raised. As mentioned by Karthik Raghupathy, VP & Head of Strategy & Investor Relations, PhonePe, "The increased funding into fintech startups post-pandemic is a positive sign for the startup ecosystem. It has been driven by the wider adoption of digital payments and financial services by millions of users in Tier-ll and Tier-Ill cities along with the rapid digitization of kiranas across the country. While there were many startups that boomed during the pandemic, the majority was made up of fintech startups due to the boom of personal investments in India.

STARTUPS THAT BLOOMED DURING THE PANDEMIC

BY UDIT GROVER

I

t’s raining unicorns in India amid an unprecedented funding spree for Indian startups across sectors. The Coronavirus

pandemic unleashed a tidal wave of entrepreneurial activity as more than 30 startups became unicorns in the year 2021.

It can also be regarded as the golden year for the India Startup Industry. According to Ernst and Young research, the number of startups in India are expected to cross the 1 lakh mark, doubling from the present number. While startups in a wide range of industries, including software, automobile, e-commerce, ed-tech, and food-tech, have reaped the benefits of the post-pandemic digital boom, the fintech sector has excelled the rest of the businesses.

Only eight months after Zerodha valued itself at over $1 billion, India found its second wealth management unicorn in Groww. Groww, just like Zerodha, offers a software platform that lets users to invest in stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs, and gold via a mobile app and a web platform. For do-ityourself (DIY) investors, the company had also launched stocks with an easy-to-use interface.

The business raised $83 million in a Series D round led by Tiger Global, making it the fiftieth Indian unicorn. Last September, the company secured $30 million in a Series C round. It plans to utilise the funds to develop new products, hire additional employees, and expand its financial education platforms Kunal Shah-led Fintech platform CRED entered the unicorn club at a valuation of $2.2 Bn in the year 2020. The startup is backed by big players like DST Global, RTP Global, Tiger Global, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Sofina. The platform caters to premium credit cardholders, providing them with rewards and privileges in exchange for paying their bills on time.

Markathon 17

Markathon

With a $90 million (Rs 670 crore) Series, C funding round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group, India’s crypto exchange platform CoinDCX became the first crypto unicorn in India. Founded in 2018 by Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, CoinDCX raised $13.5 Mn in its Series B funding round in December 2020. As per the co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta, “The funds raised will be allocated to expand (bring more Indians to crypto / make crypto a popular investment asset class in India) and strengthen our workforce that will cater to our growth story. We will hire talent across multiple functions and focus on new business initiatives.”

The Bengaluru-based gaming platform became the second Indian startup in the gaming segment to enter the unicorn club. At a premoney valuation of $2.3 billion, the esports behemoth raised $150 million in a Series E round from Legatum Capital, Accrete Capital, and Gaingels LLC. Moore Strategic Ventures LLC and RTP Global, among others, were among the existing investors in the round. MPL, which was founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra, offers a wide range of gaming alternatives, including skillbased games like daily fantasy sports and chess, as well as casual games like 8 Ball Pool and Fruit Ninja. MPL claims to have 85 million users in India, the United States, and Indonesia. The company has partnered with various game developers and introduced over 70 titles on its platform throughout the years.

The Bengaluru-based direct to consumer gourmet meat startup entered the unicorn club recently in October 2021. The startup raised $52 million in its series G funding round led by IIFL AMC’s LateStage Tech Fund, Avendus FLF (Future Leaders Fund) and other private equity investors. Licious, which was founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, operates on a farm to fork business model, which means it owns the complete backend supply chain. This includes strict cold chain control, which allows it to preserve the quality and freshness of each product from the beginning — procurement, processing, and storage — until it reaches customers. Licious currently boasts an annual revenue rate of INR 1,000 crores with a 500 percent year-on-year growth rate, a staff of 5,000 people, and operations in 14 cities across India with over 2 million consumers.

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Startups That Bloomed During The Pandemic Businesses have been forced to move online to promote their products and services due to the epidemic, prompting brands to generate contextual and relevant content to gain a larger share of mind from their client base. To succeed, marketing companies will need to continue innovating and expanding, whether by hiring visual designers or utilizing technological advancements that focus on user experience. To ensure that their marketing efforts in this Covid universe are successful, we must remove all hurdles.

The significance of COVID-19 on customer behavior and attitudes cannot be overstated. In the aftermath of COVID-19, according to a survey we're conducting with our sister firm Reach3 Insights, 76 percent of people have developed new habits, behaviors, and routines. Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed stated they want to continue some of their new habits. Consumers are also experimenting with new goods, with 36% intending to continue using new brands after COVID-19

Nykaa entered the unicorn club at the beginning of the pandemic with a fresh Rs 100 crore funding from an existing investor – Steadview capital. The investment from Steadview capital valued the Mumbai-based beauty startup at an estimated $1.2 bn.

As we celebrate the extraordinary success of Indian entrepreneurs, particularly in the last two years, we must acknowledge that there were several global macroeconomic conditions that aided in this achievement. The global pandemic prompted a societal digital change and embrace of technology.

Furthermore, regulatory changes/crackdowns in China's tech sector, as well as the availability of vast pools of private funding, all contributed to the Indian startup ecosystem's ability to flourish and produce a record 40 unicorns in 2021 alone.

Markathon 19

VARTALAAP

BY RUCHIKA SUTHAR & CHHAVI SHARMA

Mr. Samit Malkani is the Head of Brand & Creative Marketing, India & Southeast Asia at Google.

He has spent seven years in Google under different areas- specializing in brand marketing. After completing his post-graduation from Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, he began his career as a copywriter at Lowe & Partners. He also served as a lead copywriter on an APAC-region campaign for Johnson’s Baby. Then he progressed in his career by joining Yahoo! as the head of sales strategy. He collaborated with various teams across the APAC regions to build and deploy content solutions. Then he joined as strategic creative director at Hansa Cequity, where he was brought in to help develop a new model of data-driven creativity. Apart from his career in advertising and brand management, he also certified as an Amateur Bartender, which adds a unique tangent to his life.

Markathon 20

VARTALAAP

1

So, starting off with our first question, how do you think this pandemic has changed the way companies work?

“Many of them are still working in reduced budgets compared to the pre-pandemic period; hence, everyone is just more conscious about their spending and its value proposition. Many brands nowadays are pivoting towards direct-to-customer models just like startups and that has been possible through digital, and it has become a trend.

Now here the buzzword was a brand purpose, but I believe we must go one level deeper to brand responsibility. Brands are shifting their focus towards doing the right thing in the right way for their customers by making changes that impact their brand. This has not been limited to customers. Even in employer-employee perspective, there have been drastic changes like a four-day workweek, adoption of fully flexible policies through which they reflect their own values which form an addition to the attempt to do the right thing.”

The crisis has made everyone stay at home wherein every work is being done from homes only- so how do you think brands are making a product to be more connected with homes and how are they bringing the homely part in their products?

So, I think this is a very complex question because it varies around different categories. But I believe this is being done through thorough advertising since agencies are finding innovative ways to incorporate the new normal in all our lives. But I think it’s hard to alter the product. So, we put the advertisements in that way. Technology is anyway made to serve people everywhere.

Talking about the campaign perspective, I think that they begin with the insight of people working from home where the protagonists are wearing their masks in the setup. Apart from this, brands are pivoting to D2C models. There have been continuous developments in this aspect as well.

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Next question is about Indian market. Globally markets have matured in different ways over years. In terms of global maturity regarding marketing, where do you see Indian Companies being along the line as compared to their global counterparts?

Honestly, we have a long way to go. Some companies have already started this journey. I remember a Google study where we looked at the maturity curve. I think that here not every company uses digital platform and secondly, they are not using their data well; they still need to leverage upon the resources that they have. Here the company go and put up a TV advertisement on YouTube, whereas ideally, they should be building upon YouTube first- so yes, we still have a long way to go, long answer short

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3

This is very true, now this brings us to our next questionspecifically for Google, what are the instances where user-led marketing has taken up? How are we leveraging the google data and the consumer trends in this pandemic? What has changed in this regard?

To be very honest, nothing has really changed; we at google believe that marketing begins with the user. Our principles were formed many years ago which are still followed. It begins with a deep understanding of user behavior and insights through research, data, or trend analysis.

For last one and a half years, we have been making products that will help people and keep them safe during this time to give them critical information. Some of the works that we have been doing is to recognize the work done by frontline workers; we have put out banners and campaigns to make people know everything about vaccination drive and everything that’s related to that. The thing that changed is the speed with which we operate. We found ways to maintain the emotional connection while being useful, agile, and mindful of the situation and circumstances. We also try to be sensitive to what people are going through this phase in the most helpful way possible.

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VARTALAAP

5

Okay, so the next question will be directly from the students; what should be the skills they should possess as an individual looking for career in sales and marketing domain- specifically in the digital world?

So, 20 years ago the market was different; the emergence of digital led us to be very data-driven in my opinion. I really value leading with data and looking into insights, but I think marketer of the future has to have three distinct skill sets. First, you need to read data, look at the facts, numbers, and look out key insights and information. This will help you to build your strategy. The second skill will be a market strategy. You need to take that data that needs to be turned into an actionable plan. You need to move from data to plan. Finally, the third skill will be creating content. You need to turn your plans creatively to identify new solutions to create new ways to position and take this all to market. I believe every student out there must possess this. You need to understand the problem and then build a strategy to deal with the problem creatively.

Now the next question will be from students who wish to make a career in a company like Google, which is mainly technology with a bit of marketing in it. What will be your advice in such a case?

So, one of the reasons that drove me to join Google was the opportunity to build. I genuinely believe in our vision, mission, and the impact and potential that we have. Putting this in a Google concept, you really need to be passionate about it and not just view it as an opportunity to have Google’s name on your CV. Working here is so much more than that. It is more about what you make of it which will be hugely driven by how much you care and believe in the company. If you treat it just like another job, you will miss many things that you could have gained out of it. You will miss the opportunity to go beyond and gain so much more.

So, my first piece of advice is that you should work for the company that you really believe in.

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Secondly, you need to be intellectually curious and have a massive appetite for learning. Things can get intense.

But if you keep your mind tuned to learning, that will serve you well. Google is full of smart people, and you should learn from them every day- don’t try to trap yourself in the comfort zone.

You must take the stretch and gain the chance to learn and try as many things as you can in the initial phases of your career. Here at Google, you also have a chance to impact many lives, and you get chances to step up, and if you don’t take it, you are missing a full experience.

One thing that I look at in an interview is the level of preparation: knowledge and study. If you want this job, then show me that you don’t just come with a cookiecutter approach. Have knowledge and awareness of our products, initiatives, company culture, challenges we face, and opportunities. Show us that you have done your homework and that you are passionate.

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That was insightful. Lastly, I would ask something about your career. After completing your Post Graduation, you started off as a copywriter- then went ahead to become a creative director and then went on to Yahoo and changed into multiple organizations. So, for students in their 20s, it’s really fascinating. Were there moments in your life that impacted your career trajectory?

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VARTALAAP Ultra-Several. The first one is the choice to go for advertising instead of software engineering. I did BSc. in Mathematics. I was in IIT and always had a thing for coding, but I was always a good writer. One of my professors pushed me to take up a career in writing, which pushed me into advertising. I joined Lowe under a great mentor. At some point in my advertising journey there, he knew that I was stagnating- not learning or growing. But he managed to get me to work on our digital arm. I learned it and loved it, and even he encouraged me to leave Lowe. He said that I couldn’t get where I wanted to get through the digital space here- and the best route is outside of this company. That put me forward in my path. Then I joined Yahoo! and learned about digital. Then I went to Jack in the box, which proved to be another fantastic experience, and I learned a lot. Whenever I feel that I’m not learning enough, I get out of my comfort zone. This eventually led me to Google, which opened a whole new learning curve. I look towards learning and unfamiliar ways, and you should also do the same.

"You need to be intellectually curious and have a massive appetite for learning. Things can get intense. But if you keep your mind tuned to learning, that will serve you well. " - Mr. Samit Malkani

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ADS THAT INSPIRED US

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tories are probably the only constant since the existence of human civilization. Stories have been and are an inseparable part of our daily lives. They resemble oxygen in the sense that there are stories that we inhale, and then there are stories that we exhale, providing the quintessential metaphorical oxygen for survival. The impact stories have on us is almost unparalleled, the stories our moms tell us before sleep, the ghost stories that scare us, the stories of love, or the stories of childhood mischiefs. If our minds were home, stories would be the cement that binds all the bricks together. It then is a matter of no surprise that when we want to convey something that we don't want people to forget about, we almost always convey them through stories.

One such way stories have an impact on us is through Ads. And it all started in 1941 when Bulova Watch Company aired the first-ever TV advertisement. "America runs on Bulova Time," the 10-second ad stated, and thus was born an everevolving concept of advertisements. From the world's first TV ad to the world's first drinkable Ad by Coca-Cola, brands have come a long way in putting across their message impactfully.

Ads not only sell the product, but they also do the work of transforming us.

There are ads that inspire us to go beyond, like in the case of Nescafe when it says "Karne se hi hona hai!" or ads that encourage us to break social taboos. And then there are Ads like Chings Desi Chinese that make us jump from our seats and invoke the dancer in us when the very famous Melody "Jhonka lagaake O Darling!" plays.

Ads that INSPIRED us

BY JAI KISHAN IIM SHILLONG

O! so varied is the constellation of Ads. They make us cry, they make us laugh, they make us nostalgic, and even inspire us. After all, they are not just meager selling instruments, but they are stories crafted by fellow humans filled with a stuffing of emotions. And stories never miss having an impact on us. After all, they are probably the only constant since the conception of human civilization.

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BRAND WARS

BRAND WARS

BY PRIYA JAIN

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he pandemic has changed our lives in the most unexpected ways. Some brands we hardly used once in a blue moon before the pandemic became an irreplaceable part of our lives during and postpandemic. Thank God for technology and these Brands for helping us through these tough times. To get an in-depth idea regarding the most used Brands during Covid times, we conducted a poll on Instagram among eight of these Go-To Brands. We launched a three-day Brand-Wars among Zoom, MS Teams, Phone Pe, Google-Pay, Netflix, Prime Video, Zomato, and Swiggy. The Brand-Wars winner turned out to be “Netflix”, the OTT (Over the Top) platform that kept people across the world entertained at their homes while others fought the pandemic outside.

Netflix started in 1997 as a Movie Rental Service, with people ordering movies on the Netflix website and getting the DVDs delivered to their homes. Once done with watching, the user had to post back to Netflix in the envelopes provided. It came in handy for people who had trouble finding a video rental store near their houses. Since then, Netflix has come a long way. Netflix has more than 150 million paid subscribers across 190 countries, where they offer a wide range of Movies, TV Series, documentaries in various genres, languages.

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Moving away from the traditional Geographical Segmentation, since 2016, Netflix started to treat each subscriber as a single, cohesive entity or a community of people with similar TV Show or Movie preferences. Netflix uses the term “Taste Doppelgangers” for these communities spread worldwide having a similar taste for TV show genres.

For Targeting customers, Netflix uses its Subscription-Based model ranges from mobile to web subscriptions for single screens and multiple screens for families.

Through this, they keep increasing the number of loyal customers while ensuring the customer experience keeps improving & customer always comes back next month.

Netflix has Positioned itself as an easily accessible subscription-based videoon-demand platform. That can be watched on any screen of any size. It gives the users a customized, user-friendly, and the comfortable experience which makes it one of the most preferred platforms in comparison to its nearest competitors.

In India, with the Digital revolution coming into the picture and the free internet on the rise, the watch time of the Indian customers increased. With the internet becoming accessible and the smartphone industry on the rise, the market for Netflix is growing, and there is a lot of untapped markets which remain to be covered.

The Netflix Promotion Strategy has been working wonders with its social media campaigns & other static ads on websites. Netflix has also joined hands with famous celebrities across the globe for their promotional videos to boost their sales. Though the One-Month Free trial promotional strategy remains the most effective way to lure customers by making them try the service on a trial basis.

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2021- YEAR OF CONTR0VERSIES

BY SAMIKSHA KAPOOR

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dvertisements are one of the most integral and influential forms of media. The Indian advertising industry has seen a significant boom throughout the years and is one of the most entertaining, sensitive, creative, and absurd ones out there. For the Indian advertising industry, 2021 can be branded as the year of outrage against advertising and the creative freedom it involves.

This year brands have faced a lot of backlash and hatred, especially on social media, majorly because of Hindutva trolls who accused brands of hurting their "religious sentiments" through "outrageous" ads. However, most of the backlash that they have received is not justified. The Hindutva trolls and their sentiments were so delicate that they were hurt by Urdu words like Jashn, which means to celebrate.

Fabindia recently received a lot of backlash for its Diwalithemed advertisement termed "Jashn-e-Riwaaz" for a range of clothing collections. The brand was accused of "defacing" Diwali - a Hindu festival because of its theme "Jashn-e-Riwaaz." The brand was backlashed due to a Hindu festival's unnecessarily uplifting secularism and Muslim ideologies. Several sections of social media described the tweet as "culturally inappropriate."

Dabur's fem had to withdraw an advertisement because they showed a same-sex couple celebrating the Hindu festival Karwa Chauth. The concept wasn't well-received by many, although some people

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appreciated the brand's creative input to perpetuate inclusivity.

Similarly, Surf-Excel, The HUL-owned brand, which is known for its "daag achhe hai" ads, got into a controversy with its latest Holi special, the "Rang Laaye Sang" (colours bring us together) campaign. The ad is set around Hindu-Muslim harmony, but many appeared divided over the concept. The brand started receiving backlash on Twitter just after its release as people objected to it by saying it hurt the sentiments of Hindus and portrayed the festival in a bad light.

Markathon Manyavar, with its latest advertisement, received a lot of backlash. The ad featured Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt where she is shown at a Hindu wedding 'mandap' awaiting the rituals before the marriage is considered finalized.

This ad mainly focuses on how often girls in India are considered a burden and sometimes seen as a liability only to marry off.

Though the ad intended to address a very harsh reality of how women are treated even in modern-day Indian and the sexism present in practice, many people saw the ad as an attack on Hindu wedding rituals by calling the practice of Kanya-Daan regressive.

Let us now look at another approach related to ad controversies. Like every coin has two sides, ad controversies also have positive and negative sides. The brand must be vigilant as their competitors and clients listen and watch them. At the same time, they wait for them to fail and label an unfortunate situation as #controversial, #discriminatory, and #badexample on Twitter or Instagram. Nowadays, due to the ease of internet accessibility and the growing trend of social media, anybody can take to any social platform, especially Twitter, and post whatever they want about your company – whether it is true or not t. Still, sometimes ads pick the controversial themes as negative publicity helps them more than the positive campaigns.

The pandemic has forced the brands to acquire center stage in 2021 and start their campaigns aggressively to regain their market base that eroded during the pandemic. Dilip Kadam, TV and feature filmmaker, has explained how "Negative publicity is far more effective than a positive one.

Controversies, social media outrage, and hashtag trends force many inexperienced people to watch the ads. The brand's name gets itched in their mind. Controversial themes also help get mainstream media coverage which maximizes the impact and reach of the brand." He also thinks that Dabur made the Fem ad change its image to reach out to the younger generation, who have a far open mindset compared to older generations.

Whether developed intentionally or unintentionally by the ad producers, all the aforementioned advertising messages elicited a mixed response. However, all of them can capture the attention of both target clients and the general public. While the audience had some disagreement over these messages, they also garnered praise and responses from several high-profile people and domain specialists. These thought leaders functioned as influencers, causing people to consider those products. Finally, all these marketing campaigns have the potential to generate buzz and excitement in the market.

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MARKETING BEFORE & AFTER PANDEMIC

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MARKETING BEFORE & AFTER PANDEMIC

MARKETING BEFORE & AFTER PANDEMIC

BY JAY SHRIMALI

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We saw brands innovate their product strategy to complement the withstand situation and deliver their product with the same quality and adherence to their customers. We saw new entrepreneurs who identified the loopholes and took the opportunity to create a new brand altogether, like 10by10 by Rajesh Kumar Das. We even saw brands that failed to assess this transition in time.

Like the outbreak of the word "Selfie" in the 2010s, we noticed the brands were hooked to the phrase "Digitization" since the start of the Pandemic. It forced many brands to develop their online presence and focus more on the omnichannel marketing strategy.

he covid-19 Pandemic brought a pivotal change

in each of us' lives. It transmogrified the lifestyle of everyone, from an infant to KanaTanaka, the oldest person living in the world.

However, the whole Pandemic added one herculean task to the plate of existing brands, and it was to facilitate this unanticipated transition as smoothly as possible for the consumers.

This sudden rise also acquired a new set of digital consumers, and it converted the low-frequency digital consumers to high-frequency digital consumers.

Hence, it would be easy to say that.

"In the 2020s, Omnichannel marketing strategy is the new oxygen for Brands."

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Apart from the speeding up of digitization, one branding segment was affected the most, Brand Loyalty. Covid19 Pandemic opened doors for everyone, from individual sellers to MSMEs, to operate without any substantial investment except to that of the product. As a result of this, many big enterprises saw several small-scale and local competitors. Consumers were provided with a plethora of new alternatives, and a great bunch of consumers chose convenience over brand loyalty. Migration from urban to semi-urban or rural areas was prominent during the Pandemic, due to which we saw the trend shift towards locally grown and created product.

Along with this, personalization also played a significant role in the notable shift of consumer behavior. However, one of the primary reasons for this change in consumer behavior happened was due to the type of marketing that brands focused on during the Pandemic.

Most brands used their resources to market their product and performance rather than spending on loyalty or retention marketing. However, we will see brands focusing more on loyalty than product post-pandemic.

The Pandemic truly challenged brand loyalty, and we saw brands who focused more on their vision and storytelling getting more eyeballs than those who stuck to conventional product marketing. During the first wave, Brands highlighted the risky profession of the frontline workers, and in the second wave, the focus was more on spreading the awareness of the consumers' mental health and more personal problems. With affirmative storytelling, the brands’ showing purpose is at the heart of the new marketing campaigns.

Communication with consumers is transformed, and it is now more partaking in consumers' personal struggles.

Post pandemic, the connection between brands and consumers transcended beyond just the barter product/service and money system. In the new age, brands should stand behind a great product, but more importantly, they should stand behind great values.

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Disclaimer The views presented are the opinions/work of the individual author and the marketing club of IIM Shillong bears no responsibility whatsoever