Hello Readers! Welcome to the mini world of marketing that we, at IIM Shillong, cherish every month. The purpose of Markathon is two-fold; first to nurture the love for marketing students have, and second, to be the voice of many budding writers willing to share their views on stirring topics in the marketing arena. Through the pages of this month’s Markathon, one would find a vast assortment of interesting articles and updates on the marketing world.
We also take pleasure in bringing forth our interview excerpts with Mr Vijay Kadu, Vice-President- Business Standard, via our Vartalaap section. The section aims at sharing experiences of illustrious personalities and our useful insights from our conversation with them. Our digital marketing section ‘Digigyaan’ talks about Price Per Click and the section ‘Logoistic’ unfolds the interesting evolution story of Renault’s Logo. ‘AD-dicted’ yet again examines the advertisements of two companies- Whatsapp and Go Daddy and then determines if the company succeeded in striking a chord with their target audience. We owe our progress to the pioneers of this magazine and congratulate all the winners and contributors for their immense interest and support. We also thank our readers for their constant faith in us which serves as a motivational force every time. We sincerely hope that you all enjoy reading the magazine as much as we enjoyed compiling it.
This month’s edition discusses the concept of Experiental Retail through its Cover Story, with some contemporary examples. The Perspective section sets open the realm of ideas and celebrates the entries ‘Brand activist vs. Brand manager: The rise of an age of purpose-driven marketing or simply another jargon-fuelled fad’ by Kalyani Kakaraparthi, IIFT and ‘Singles DayNot So Single Anymore’ by Ms Anjali Gourap, SIMSR. The Eye2Eye section which discusses points in favour and against a particular stimulating topic every month, proudly boasts of short articles beautifully written by Mr Varun Kumar Love from IMED, Pune and Mr Pradyumna Panwar Team Markathon from IIM Shillong.
November-December 2018
Perspective
Brand activist vs. Brand manager: The rise of an age of purpose-driven marketing or simply another jargon-fuelled fad?
Kalyani KAKARAPARTHI IIFT
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell” – Seth Godin Marketing is the epitome of an abstract oxymoron – a kaleidoscope of contradictions and disparate ideas while boiling down to simple yet strong principles at its core. Fortunately, this keeps debate thriving within every tenet of marketing as people tend to disagree on a lot of common facts and find new ways to explain the latest trends.
Brand management, apart from being one of the most hyped professions in this domain, is now under the scanner for becoming outdated and, from a supposedly nihilistic viewpoint, on the verge of death.
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Perspective But would such an important pillar for behemoths like P&G and Unilever suddenly lose its importance? The answer is yes and no. And that is where marketing professors like Mark Ritson and brand leaders like Hanneke Faber (president of Europe for Unilever) are
at loggerheads. Although there has been a larger amount of appreciation for brands becoming more political, there are opposing views on whether an activist can shoulder the responsibilities handled by a manager which include the lesser dynamic and revolutionary jobs like cost. Philip Kotler describes brand activism as “not only meeting customers’ needs but also caring about a social, political, economic or environmental reform”. According to him, the current scenario of activist marketing is a natural evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies no longer donate money to foundations and shrug off their duties; they are making it their work to bring a change for the better. They are redefining their mission to appeal to a deeper part of consumer psychology.
Breaking the stereotypes of beauty through its campaigns championing ‘Real Beauty’ and voicing out that ‘Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes’ might seem atypical of a beauty product whose performance feeds off the insecurities of women, but it has turned Dove into a household name with the campaign going strong for more than 10 years.
The people behind the campaign believe that they are working towards bringing a change in the general perception of beauty and are making more women feel confident about their bodies by generating a buzz around these topics. This is not all about just helping the society; the campaigns have boosted sales figures and customer loyalty.
Dove is one of the most discussed examples of how brands are standing up for a higher purpose than just increasing sales.
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November-December 2018
Perspective Taking all of this into consideration, we can deduce that corporates are now cashing in on the “positive image” being created by the campaigns for humanity, environment, and social issues and converting this into their marketing strategy. Customers and even employees prefer to associate themselves with a brand that is not just money-minded but also socially responsible. This does not mean that corporates became non-profit organizations overnight though; the primal drive for maximum sales revenue still exists. However, they are now growing more aware of the world and people and connecting with their customers by reflecting their thoughts and supporting the causes that they are deeply in touch with.
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and activism to create brand awareness is the big shift in marketing today and it’s a pure genius – how can you ever outdo a marketing strategy that’s based on the very principle of being human? While completely doing away with a “Brand manager” might not be a bright idea, it might soon become necessary for every company to question itself on where it stands regarding the various issues happening in the world and advocate for the necessary actions. This would give way to a cross between a manager and an activist- a progressive opportunist willing to be brave and authentic.
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November-December 2018
Perspective
Singles Day - not so single anymore ANJALI GOURAP SIMSR
As far as marketing gimmicks go, the creation of Valentine’s Day was by far the biggest creation by marketers. Spending on your loved one lavishly helped marketers and brands like Archie’s and Ferrero Rocher’s rake in the mullah. Slowly the Valentine’s Day was stretched into Valentine week, giving more reasons for people in relationships to spend on each other and thus helping brands make money. The Valentine week starts with the Rose day on February 7th and ends with Valentine’s Day on 14th with days like Chocolate day and Teddy day in between, promoting the sales of Chocolates and Teddy Bears. Couples are happy, but the hap-
piest stakeholders are companies selling these items. But what about those who don’t have a partner to share Valentine’s Day with? What about those souls who haven’t yet found a match for themselves? Don’t the singles deserve a day to celebrate their so-called singledom? Turns out Chinese e-commerce giant Ali-
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baba exactly though along similar lines and introduced the “Single’s day”. Single’s day as a concept was not originally introduced by Alibaba. November 11 is known in China as “bare stick holiday” because of how the date looks like (11.11). It was celebrated as Anti-valentine’s day in the 1990s by the students at Nanjing University. This was a celebration of singledom which is generally frowned upon by the Chinese society. November 11 is also known as bachelor’s day because of China’s gender imbalance. Due to its one-child policy and a favouritism for boy child, China has been left with a huge surplus of men. By 2030, it is estimated that one-in-four Chinese men in their late 30s will never have married. Thus, single’s day from a marketing perspective has potential to become a big hit. Alibaba spotted the commercial opportunity in leveraging Single’s day just like other marketers did for Valentine’s Day. Singles day was marketed by Alibaba as a day where singles can buy and gift themselves. It is celebrated as a day where one advocates their love for themselves. Little did Alibaba know that singles day would become so popular that people, regardless of their relationship status, buy things and take part in the biggest shopping festival in the world. Now other e-commerce companies like JD.com have also started riding the bandwagon of single’s day. Singles day is now not only limited to China but has become a global phenomenon. In this year’s celebration, Singles day set another sales record beating their previous record of 25
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November-December 2018
Perspective
and decline are a cyclic feature and in terms of longterm growth, they are confident of reaching their targets.
billion. This year, Alibaba saw a staggering 30.8 billion being spent on their site. This year, the 25 billion of 2017 was achieved in just 15 hours and 49 minutes. While the numbers are mind blogging, the growth rate has decreased from 36 percent in 2017 to 27 percent in 2018. We can attribute this decline to the ongoing trade wars and a shaky economy. The economic growth of the nation has been slow, and people are preferring to spend less and save more. In fact, Alibaba themselves had slashed their sales forecast for the year by 5 percent citing the same reasons.
Target Market Singles’ day started by offering discounts to consumers, mainly bachelors, offering retail therapy and a way to celebrate their singledom by buying something for themselves. With the initial success, Alibaba started targeting people who want to buy international brands, especially luxury brands. Alibaba signed up top luxury brands to sell their merchandise on singles’ day. According to consultancy firm McKinsey, 7.6 million Chinese households spent an average of 71,000 yuan ($10,686) each on luxury items last year, reaching more than 500 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in total purchases -- or about one-third of the global luxury market. This does not mean that they no longer target the mass consumers. Alibaba still makes most of its money selling products targeted to mass consumers and their original target market, the singles in China. However, as mentioned earlier, singles’ day has evolved as an event where even people in relationships buy things for themselves. So, Alibaba targets this group of people who are young and are active on social media. According to a study, China has 800 million internet users and 98% of them are mobile users. This tech-savvy, mobile consumers form the main target market for Single’s day.
There is also a rising sentiment among young Chinese shoppers of avoiding this maniac celebration of consumerism. To add to it, more such shopping festivals are being promoted by other companies. This is diluting the monopoly that Alibaba enjoyed. Consumers now have the choice to shop at any other festival according to their needs. Another complaint would be the increasing difficulty of getting discounts. Earlier, the discount coupons were easily available, but now they have gamified it. With discounts available only at certain times of the day, needing a group of people to apply for a discount together. After all these activities the discount rates accumulated did not amount to much. This had generated a lukewarm response to the day this year. Industry experts are hinting at a possible slowdown in the growth of Singles Day. They expect the sales numbers to hit a plateau soon due to an increase in aggressive competition, slowdown in economic growth and changing consumer tendency. However, the Alibaba team is not worried about it. Joseph C. Tsai, Alibaba’s executive vice chairman concluded saying any slowdown is only temporary, the growth
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Marketing Strategy In order to market Singles day, Alibaba uses a variety of marketing techniques, some of the old-fashioned and some of them involving the latest trends in technology. Alibaba spends a lot on these events and not
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Perspective
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Perspective
with them, according to “The Millennial Consumer”. Alibaba has taken this very seriously and therefore use social media to unite this group around the singles’ day event.
not just on discounts. Singles day event has become a gala of sorts for Chinese Consumers. Alibaba has primarily two websites where it sells its products, taobao.com and tmall.com. Tmall is a marketplace for business to consumer commerce and sells branded goods to Chinese consumers. To kickstart the event, Tmall hosted a star-studded countdown gala where Hollywood and Chinese celebrities performed. These events are adorned by global as well as Chinese celebrities and are a huge hit with consumers, with 400 million viewers, more than the entire population of some European nations combined.
Comparison with Black Friday: Points of Difference(POD) and Points of Parity(POP) While there is a huge chasm between the sales figures of Black Friday and Alibaba’s Singles day, it is as close as it gets. Black Friday sales are approximately 30 percent of that of singles day. However, in principle, both of them are aiming for the same thing – getting more sales than ever. It is also interesting to note that in spite of being aggressively promoted for more years than Singles day, Black Friday has not been able to generate those kinds of numbers. To add to woes of Black Friday, Singles day falls on Nov 11, which is before the Thanksgiving weekend. This is weakening the sales revenue generated by companies that are only targeting Black Friday
Alibaba also uses innovative techniques to raise consumer awareness about the day. Using a campaign, known as the “New retail” strategy, Alibaba incorporates VR shopping channel on Taobao’s mobile app, “Catch the Tmall cat” AR game on Tmall app and live-streams with over 600 international brands and real-time interactivity with over 7.4 billion customers during its 11.11 Countdown Gala Celebration. Marketing is not only done to attract shoppers but also merchants who will sell their goods through the website. The number of merchants increased from 27 merchants in 2009 to more than 140,000 in 2017. Product launches are also done in a grand manner, initiatives such as “See Now, Buy Now” fashion show which streamed on Youku, China’s Youtube and VR visit to Macy’s allowing anyone around the world to “visit” its NY flagship to explore and shop.
The average American consumer looks for better deals in the month of November due to the impending Christmas season. Singles day has been hyped up in the States for the exciting discounts that they offer. Not to mention top brands like Nike, Adidas are also partnering with Alibaba. Consumers are changing their shopping habits are doing it early rather than waiting till Black Friday.
62% of Millennials said they are more likely to become a loyal customer if a brand socially engages
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Perspective
Alibaba’s Singles Day is a one-day event; hence all the shopping activities are concentrated on that day. Unlike Black Friday where companies like Amazon start their offers a few days before the actual day thereby diluting the impact of the shopping day. The phenomenon of having dedicated days for shopping has been cropping up around
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the globe. Every company is attempting to grab a share of the pie. This is, however, spreading the spend of the consumers across multiple days and multiple retailers. Resulting in a reduction of sales revenue generated by individual days and companies. It has become a 365-day shopping festival. Consumers are becoming increasingly saturated with extreme marketing of said shopping days. There is a decline in the impact of the marketing efforts of the company as they are not able to reach their targets. This is not going to change anytime soon. Any new entrant to the field faces stiff competition from the already existing giants. The world, however, needs to look out for a disruptor in this field who will breathe fresh air into shopping experience for the people. This is the only way the figures will see a huge jump. Till then all companies including Alibaba will have to come to terms with the reduced growth rate in the sales revenue generated in the coming years.
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November-December 2018
Cover Story
EXPERIENTIAL Cover Story RETAIL With the subsequent rise of the internet, we have all heard stories of the apparent decline of the high street, as if this trajectory was impossible to reverse. But as more and more millennials are developing desire for experiences, this trend could be about to reverse. For example, 52% of the holiday spendMARKETING ing for millennials is predicted to be spent on experience- related purchases compared to older customBUDGET ers for whom the figure stands at a mere 39%. Retailers are now working overtime to respond to meet the needs of their customers who are choosing to invest in experiences rather than products. Customers don’t just want to walk into a store, buy a product and leave because the advent of online retail has made it easy for them to do all this from the comfort of their own home. To pull consumers to their stores, retailers now need to ensure that customers don’t just leave their stores with products but with memories, by creating more immersive retail experiences. ‘Retailtainment’ is fast becoming popular and the fusion of retail and entertainment- to provide customers with fun, unique experiences that elevate shopping, is predicted to dominate the industry in the near future. Consumers have a plethora of choices when it comes to where they choose to spend their hard-earned money and to make sure their businesses run profitably and to drive sales, retailers need to offer a desirable experience.
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Cover Story
November-December 2018
What does this move to experiential retailing technically mean for retail engineers and property proprietors? It is hugely affecting the organizations of retail spaces, bringing about both smaller and bigger stores for various kinds of merchandise and enterprises. It has made enormous difficulties for retail designers and landowners, who battle with a few key inquiries. These incorporate “what is the correct kind and blend of retailers for a specific scene?” and “what depths and widths and layouts are ideal for the present retail situations?” While the possibility of experiential retailing may infer stimulation, in-store electronic presentations, intuitive mirrors and new subtle strategies, it truly comes down to making charming, significant, intelligent encounters that intrigue to each of the five senses. It likewise requires a profound comprehension of the customer’s journey, so as to coordinate systems across over marketing channels. Westfield’s “The manner by which We Shop Now: What’s Next” study of 20,000 buyers in the U.S. furthermore, the U.K., directed in fall 2015, affirms that customers utilize every one of the five faculties in the scan for products. We realize that customers depend on sight and contact, and that retailers frequently utilize scents to make a calming situation. In any case, as this and different overviews have discovered, customers are progressively looking for a multisensory encounter. This is offering ascend to “back to front” retail encounters in which the majority of the faculties are invigorated to incite positive emotions inside the customer, making a more profound connection to the brand. Italian designer Antonio Cardillo, for instance, updated the Illuminum London leader aroma store, utilizing a mix of sight, fragrance and surfaces – dividers covered in volcanic fiery remains from Mount Vesuvius – to bring out the faculties and make a vivid experience. Westfield retail master Ryan Mullinex clarifies
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back to front retail along these lines: “It’s between the cognizant and the inner mind, that is the place we like to be.” Fragrances at Illuminum London are contained in clear glass globes suspended from the roof. All items are situated in the back of the store; agents recover them for clients. In their new report, JLL Retail unveiled their “Six Dimensions of Retail Experience,” which are a set of universal benchmarks and they define how well are retailers meeting the expectations of the customers who visit their stores. But all in all, what do customers need from an experience? It must be intuitive. Buyers at their core are as yet practical in nature. A store can have a wide range of fancy odds and ends, however by the day’s end, customers should have the capacity to effectively find the correct items. This was the most imperative of the Six Dimensions for customers – having the capacity to discover what they’re searching for… which appears, well, rather natural… correct? As such, retailers need to recall to not go over the edge with regards to involvement and totally shun the value-based component of the store. There must be a solid human component. Having the capacity to interact with benevolent and learned staff was nearly as imperative to customers… if you don’t mind endeavoring to contain your shock. The primary concern, if customers would not like to address anybody they could simply purchase on the web. Having staff to enable them to explore their item decisions (without being salesy) upgrades the general involvement. It ought to be meaningful. Customers want to connect with brands that are identical to their own. The business has since quite a while ago examined
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Cover Story
November-December 2018
the possibility of moment satisfaction with regards to in-store shopping, however the present sociallycognizant shopper requires more than the rapture of making a buy – they need to feel like it had any kind
ing purchasers a brought together, consistent shopping knowledge over all channels. Buyers additionally need retailers to energize in-store versatile use for installments, quicker checkouts and item wayfinding – which is a territory stores need to conquer. Customers need it customized. This doesn’t mean getting their initials weaved on their most loved purse.
of effect too. Utilizing the store to feature corporate social responsibility activities could pay profits for retailers as far as connecting with customers is concerned. Customers need bargains that are custom-made to The store ought to be immersive. Customers need their buy propensities for use on items they really something one of a kind, stylishly satisfying, wel- purchase. Given what number of choices customers have readily available, they believe they ought to be granted with customized perks and discounts that fit how they shop and what they like.
It might appear to be troublesome, however there coming, and outwardly animating. Not to continue are 5 steady basic components retailers can use to on pointlessly, but rather on the off chance that they guarantee an amazing client encounter. These are: needed to efficiently rearrange through a homogeneous gathering of dreary garments stick stuffed with each conceivable style, size, and shading on a solitary rack – they could do as such much less demanding on the web. It should be accessible. Omnichannel retail has been a popular expression throughout recent years, but then retail by and large is missing the mark at giv-
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Cover Story
November-December 2018
Intelligence: All of these retailers guarantee that the faculties are associated – recollections of what we feel, hear, see, smell, and contact, may endure forever.
the best five. Here’s the full best 20 from JLL’s report:
Innovation: These thoughts were all bona fide and common, making the client feel as though they have entered an alternate world. Connectedness: Customers must feel that the experience has been made for them. This should be possible through the usage of components from past visits, or plan of items focused at clients’ specialty tastes. This is found in Farfetch’s procedure, where clients can alter their own shoes. Startling quality: These remarkable encounters are basic to guarantee your image is recalled. Unwavering quality: The experience is executed through tried techniques to accomplish consistency and perfection. This is to guarantee that the in-store encounter endeavors and is appropriately executed. So, who’s doing it the best? Apple beat the rundown, with Victoria’s Secret, Ulta Beauty, Bath and Body Works and IKEA making it to
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Thus, experiential marketing isn’t only about spending millions on fancy and expensive gadgets for your retail store. Sure, it might help, but it’s mostly about giving the customer a personalized shopping and an unparalleled retail experience. In the very near future, shoppers demand for experience will continue to rise and push retailers across almost all sectors – except discounters, where price will always win no matter what. Retailers should look to improve the customer experience across these six dimensions in order to win both mind and wallet-share from consumers.
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Vartalaap
November-December 2018
VARTALAAP An Interview with Mr Vijay Kadu by Vishal Gupta & Simran Miglani
Mr. Vijay Kadu is a veteran management professional with a demonstrated history in the newspaper industry having sound knowledge of Brand Management, Advertisement, Business Development and Distribution. He’s a through and through sales expert having done his Masters in Business Administration in Marketing and has had professional work experience for over 25 years. He is currently holding the office of the Vice President- Sales of Business Standard for over 9 years. He has previously worked in prominent newspaper organization like Indian Express, Diligent Media Corporation, Lokmat newspaper. He has excellent leadership qualities and is a highly respected leader across the companies he has worked at. DNA Mumbai was launched under his leadership and has set new standards for newspaper launch in the financial capital of the country. Recently, under his charge, Facebook has tied up with Business Standard as part of its subscription programme. As per announcement, there were a total of only 28 such partners globally, Business Standard being the only one from India.
Business Standard
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Vice President
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Vartalaap
November-December 2018
“ There is a market for every-
thing - there is a market for the crisp and there is a market for regular readers
“
Markathon: We feel a lot of apps coming up and offering short and crisp news these days and people generally, the millennials, prefer reading on the go. So do you think that this can in any way affects the customer or market share of the print media industry? Actually, there is a reader for everything. The reader wants the information in various format, let it be video. There are people who go for two-line, three-line, the Twitter was initially a 14-word type of thing, but then that doesn’t satisfy everyone every time, you keep on changing. There is a market for everything- there is a market for the crisp and there is a market for regular readers.
comes out, so no one would read the newspaper next day. Who would want to read the stale news? But you see 5cr to 26 cr is a huge jump even though TV was a growing platform. And again we are projecting the same growth even though there is digital disruptions happening. There is one basic reason, there is a huge rural market yet to tap, they are getting added and people are getting into English. India is a complete diverse society, so for the print, there is always a reader, I don’t see the death of newspapers in near future.
India is a complete diverse society, so for the print, there is always a reader, I don’t see the death of newspapers in near future
Markathon: With the millennials and Gen Z coming, where do see the readability of the newspaper ten years down the line? Do we still people will read newspapers? Yes, if you see the digital thing started from the year 2000. From 2000 to 2014, the print circulation revenue has been increasing, the number has been increasing from 5 crs to 26 crs, as per the Information Ministry. From 2014 to 2023, the projection is around 7% growth in the circulation revenue. During the period starting from the year 2000, the Television adoption was increasing, people used to think now the place (newspaper) is finished, the people are getting the news before the newspaper
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If you talk about netizens, they will find their ways to get the news and they may not buy the print format, but yes we will cater to them as well in a different format altogether. No one wants to lose their committed readers, and people will find a way to get the knowledge, the information. If you give credible information, a credible analysis which is Business Standard’s main core area, the people will come to Business
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Vartalaap Standard’s main core area, the people will come to Business Standard, be it in Digital format or Print format. Take the example of your college, we cant reach Shillong in time, its a day’s gap. So here we have the digital edition which is the paid one and there are 96 students who have taken the digital edition and simultaneously there are 60 students who have gone for the print edition. So if the information is needed, people find a way and we are there to cater to them in various format. So as the market demands, the market grows we will be changing formats and reaching out to more people. Markathon: How does the print media industry as a whole and Business Standard, in particular, see North-East as a market? Also, how do they plan to reach out to more people over the years, is digital the only idea? No! We really studied the North-East for the print edition also. We have good revenue from the North-East, not a lot from people but from numerous organizations. We thought we should deliver the separate edition from Guwahati. But as per the study, the product advertisement will not come to us, and if we start the edition we will be dependent on the ads and revenue will not jump up to the mark and thus it may not be affordable.Thats why, we are not thinking of the print edition, but yes, we are going to deliver the digital edition
You click the idea and the person buys the product to the North-East and that’s why we have priced the edition and will be available all over India. We are getting a good response from the paid subscription of the digital publication.
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November-December August 2018 Markathon: A newspaper is something that readers are very sticky about. In the light of this consumption pattern how to newspaper industry, in general, try to acquire new customers? Basically, Sampling is the only way to go forward. If the customer likes your content, he will go for it, otherwise no. The main problem in this scenario is if you are an existing reader of one newspaper, you will first pick up that paper and then you go for sampled paper. So you will read all the news in your chosen paper and will give less attention to the second sampled paper. Hence, its become difficult, but there is no other way other than sampling to promote the newspaper. Segmentize the readers and get if there is the expansion plan for the market. There is a need you havent reached or the person hasn’t thought of it, you click the idea and the person buys the product. Markathon: We know that print media majorly earn through advertisements and with the rise in digital marketing we see a lot of marketers rely on advertising online, so does the print industry consider this as a threat and do you think it has affected or it can affect the industry in the future? See as per projections the industry shows a 6% growth till 2023. Initially, the TV media has impacted the revenue, but the growth was there. Now the digital media is impacting the revenue but the growth is still there. We just have to find different tools. There are certain categories that are going out of print category like classifieds adcertisement. There are bu Government tenders, SMEs and banking companies which prefer to put ads on their portals. This change is going to happen, there is some revenue which will go from print medium to another medium, but yes we will have to expand our horizon and get to new customers and try to get more revenue.
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Vartalaap Markathon: Talking about change, we see that India is going through a digital revolution. So sir how has the branding strategies evolved in course of time in the light of the upcoming digitalization? Basically, in the traditional marketing branding is more about creating a perception. Celebrity endorsement is a key thing, he talks about the product and people used to accept the product. But in the digital era, the people are getting more connected to the product, they can see through the product,
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November-December 2018 they can take the feedback from the market. So the brand position is tested, as people are giving feedback and that’s what is happening in digital marketing. In newspaper media there is no myth about the product, the brand is as plain as it is. Now our tagline is ‘No more no less’, and it’s tested. The feedback is available all across and it includes the digital platform also. So we just have to be honest about the Brand perception.
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eye2eye
November-December 2018
Targeting the masses: Quantity vs. Quality? VARUN KUMAR IMED, Pune
Pradyumna Panwar iim Shillong
Targeting as per the marketing concept is to focus resource and effort in the selected segment. When one is targeting the masses, it means there is no segmentation of the audience/customer. Mass targeting is done in case the product or service can satisfy the needs of all the masses. There is no any need for the segmentation of the customer. The firm looks all the people as its customer and is of the opinion that its product can satisfy the need of the masses and thus main focus is on the quantity.
This debate has always been subjective, for example, if you look things from the perspective of a global giant like Walmart, it would rather lay more focus on the quantity over quality because that’s exatly what they play on. There has also been a lot of research in the recent times about “Gold that lies at the bottom of the pyramid” this is because businesses are established with a basic motive of making money as quick as possible. Businesses hence are trying to create an illusion of offering expensive products which are cheap to manufacture.
In mass targeting, the product or services are advertised in a way that it can satisfy the common need of the mass targeted. In this, firm looks for quantity rather than quality. The very generic example of mass targeting is Political campaign. During the election, the content of the communication is for the general people not for any specific segment. Here, the main moto of the political party is to reach out to masses (quantity) whether the audience vote for the party or not (quality) i.e.; quantity rather than quality.
v e r s u s
As of November 2018, 464 million people are using the internet for shopping, education, entertainment, and various other activities and thus there is a shift from the traditional way of mass targeting to the digitalized mass targeting. We are very much familiar of ads shown during online video screening. Most frequently during the online store sales. This is a perfect example of mass targeting. Whether we are interested in the product or not but the ads are shown to us as the advertiser is targeting the masses. Thus, targeting the masses is a marketing strategy where the main focus of the marketer is to reach out to quantity rather than focusing on the quality.
But what they forget is to look at the other side of the story. Let’s take few examples, Rolls Royce from its inception has focussed on quality and not on quantity. Even if it is expensive to buy a Rolls Royce and has no mass appeal, but it speaks quality and is the dream of many ambitious people that care more about quality and status. Look at Apple, a company that also focussed on quality, no matter how low priced offering its competitors make, a person who has experienced an iPhone will stay loyal with Apple. And there can be countless examples of companies that have seen success because of quality and have thrived in the competition where the competitors offered similar featured but lower quality.
Hence to conclude, while focusing on quantity businesses can reap short term gains, but soon enough the customers will tend to shift and move to better quality alternatives, hence the business which focuses on quantity may even experience low customer retention. While a company that focuses on quality over quantity will experience better customer loyalty and sustainable growth.
Topic for the next issue: “Luxury brands should/shouldn’t use traditional media channel to market themselves” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250300. Last date of sending entries is 01st Feb 2019. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each! MARKATHON
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Logoistic Logoistic
November-December August 2018 2018
Founded in 1898 by 3 brothers, Renault was previously known as Renault-Frères. The first logo had 2 entwined R’s in a medallion. This was mostly done on internal documents but didn’t appear on vehicles. In 1906, the medallion was replaced by a new emblem having a Renault car which won French Grand Prix. This marked the symbolic events in history of French automotive Industry. In 1918, it changed the logo again to mark its contribution in victory of 1918 with FT17 tanks and incorporated silhouette of famous armored vehicle. In 1923, it decided to place a front-end logo on the vehicle making more identifiable. It chose a round grille with Renault name in the centre. In 1923, it took more angular contours, suited for dihedral shaped bonnets. The geometric symbol was established in 1925. Renault’s nationalization started on 16th January 1945 marked a change in company’s status. The “Renault” name thus became the commercial brand and the brand signature evolved into “Plus que jamais, Renault, l’Automobile de France”. The brand grew stronger and was reflected in their diamond logo, yellow officially became the emblematic color of the company. The diamond was shown in most of the organization’s reports and adverts. In 1959, the vehicles and the business organize started to utilize another, smaller logo with a hint of innovation. It was known as the “Pointe de Diamant” — or the precious diamond tip. The symbol still included the “Renault” name scratched in better lettering yet the words “Régie Nationale” vanished. In 1972, the organization chose to make the diamond increasingly noticeable and to never again notice the Renault name. It drew on its “Specialty and Industry” approach, set up in 1967, to characterize the pristine’s visual personality. Twenty years later, Renault chose to survey its visual character to express the quality models epitomized by the brand. The Renault name was currently symbolized by a basic and rich 3D precious stone, which showed up in all reports and adverts. With the landing of electric vehicles in 2007, the Group propelled its universal mark: “Renault – Drive the Change”. This mark symbolized the organization’s inventive. The logo was tinged with blue on the ZOE models. Since 2012, this necessary piece of the brand’s DNA has been combined with a reestablished assurance to connect with its clients in an increasingly passionate manner. In the meantime, the organization chose to launch its new signature, “Renault – Passion forever”, which exhibits its ability to make autos that upgrade its clients’ lives.
MARKATHON
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IIM Shillong
By Riya sarkar IIM Shillong
CAMPONY: PepperFry POSITIONING: Don’t wait for Diwali Sale december 2013 November-December 2018 YouTube Link: : https://youtu.be/j2SphaMixrM
AD-dicted AD-dicted
Agency: Taproot Dentsu Production house: Oink Films
By Rishi Ahuja IIM Shillong
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_ continue=60&v=Tm0k-nvk4l4watch?v=fubEA7OZkWU
Company: GoDaddy
WhatsApp - Share birthdays, share laughter, share joy, not rumors.
Agency: Lowe Lintas
Positioning: Apne chalte business ko online daudao
CATCH
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c7twb4xo5o
Concept: Concept: This was the first The advertisement opens with a local garment ever campaign in business owner ‘Murari’ concerned about the India by Whatcurrent sales performance of his shop and dissApp that took on fake news. In this ad, a girl is cussing the same with the much experienced shown who has moved away from home for the “Bijness Bhai” (enacted by former Indian cricket first time and uses WhatsApp for being in touch team captain MS Dhoni), the with her family. She is seen enjoying small things with her mentor for all entrepreneurs. family through WhatsApp. One day her uncle shared a He is seen wearing a crisp news which turned out to be fake. She informs him about business blazer while workfake news and advised him not to share any news without ing on his laptop and surrounded by many of his admirers. verifying and tells how to curb it. Murari asks if his shop has a ‘Location disadvantage’. To this Bijness Bhai reacts in a subtle manner that there was no problem with the location but Murari’s vision about his business was flawed. Bijness Bhai advices him to take his garment business online using GoDaddy’s web services, to solve his problem of declining sales. The advertisement in the end also shows a conceptual design of Murari Garments’ website. The mood of the advertisement is somewhat humorous with upbeat music.
R
MISS
Verdict: Catch According to Markathon, the advertisement is a catch as it is widely known how WhatsApp has impacted the life of millions by keeping them in touch with their loved ones. While keeping in touch with people, there is always a danger of spreading of fake news which is something the organization is monitoring. This problem must be confronted, and this advertisement will continue to educate people about how to be safe on WhatsApp.
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Verdict: Miss The advertisement tries to educate the small business owners and entrepreneurs about the opportunity of taking their businesses online. The affordability factor of hosting a website is also clearly communicated in the end by stating it’s just ₹99/1st year. Even the use of colloquial pronunciation of ‘business’ gives a local touch. But we don’t find a strong reason in the ad for which a small business owner will use GoDaddy’s services as the solution given is very cliché. What exactly is on offer for those entrepreneurs is not clear nor the ad creates any sort of emotional and lasting connect. We also feel that MS Dhoni is also not the right person to be characterised as the experienced “Bijness Bhai”. The dubbing for Bijness Bhai seems very misplaced and unprofessional too. Hence Markathon feels it is a Miss.
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Jab They Failed
Kratgya gupta IIM Shillong
November-December 2018
JAB THEY FAILED The failure of Danone in India
Danone is a food-products corporation based in Paris, France. The company was started in Barcelona, Spain. Founded by Issac Carasso in 1919, who began selling yogurt branded as Danone which translates to “little Daniel,” after his son Daniel Carasso. In 1942 company moved to New York where it changed its
name to “Dannon” to sound more American. As of now in 2018 the company sells its products in 120 markets and sales amounted to €24.7 billion for the year 2017. Numbers look good. But there is something that the numbers don’t reflect. The failure of Danone in India. This French multinational first entered India in the year 1995. In a joint venture with Britannia Biscuits which was terminated in 2006 because of a legal arbitration. In 2012, Danone again came back to India acquiring Wockhardt’s nutrition business but announced its departure in 2018 again. Let’s explore the reasons for the failure of this brand in India. Let’s start with the product portfolio. Danone’s dairy portfolio consisted of flavored yogurt, lassi, and milk. However what’s important to note is the fact that even after so many years of business in India, the products were only available in 20 cities covering not more than 50000 retail stores. What’s more interesting is the fact that its flagship yogurt was available in just six cities. This clearly shown the problem of the distribution network that Danone had. In India, all the major players are like Amul or Nestle, have invested a lot in the procurement and sourcing of dairy products. This gives them a larger reach, more revenue and better brand recognition than their competitors. Amul for example with its strong procurement network, and can source 176.5 lakh liters of milk per day. But Danone was keeping its first feet in the ground but seeing such massive investments to require to scale up stepped back. So more than a strategy failure it was a lack of patience that resulted in its failure.
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The second problem with Danone was its judgment about yogurts and smoothies. Danone was very successful with its yogurts and smoothie product range in all the markets in entered and followed the same strategy in India and forgot that India is a primarily milk consuming country hence consuming yogurts and smoothies were never so prevalent in the country. But it took a long time for Danone to realize the same. And by the time management realized, Danone had already positioned itself as a “Dahi” company in a milk-consuming country, which resulted in its failure. Hence one can clearly say, the failure was a result of Danone’s inability to unlearn the lessons it learned in the first world nations. Danone did everything as it did in
the first world countries another small example is owning the distribution chain. In India owning a cold chain fleet involves huge costs and is never considered profitable. But Danone kept going with its old strategy and owned the entire distribution network which involved huge costs that later acted as a barrier to its expansion. According to Ranjana a Senior Research Analyst at Mintel “Global dairy players looking to enter well-established and fragmented markets like India will need to focus on long-term benefits rather than expect immediate results, despite the potential of such markets.” Hence looking at the entire thing one can easily conclude that the rules for the Indian dairy game include long-term investment and patience. Danone India lacked patience, which resulted in its failure and shutting down of its dairy division in India.
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November-December 2018
Digigyan
Pay-Per-Click Advertising simran miglani
IIM Shillong Pay Per Click (PPC) is a model of internet marketing wherein advertisers pay a fee every time someone clicks on one of their ads. Basically, it is a way of buying visits to the site, rather than trying to ‘earn’ the visits organically. It is also known as Cost Per Click (CPC) and is used to direct traffic to websites. One of the most popular forms of PPC is Search Engine Advertising. Advertisers bid for ad placement in the search engine’s sponsored links when a person searches a keyword that it related to the business offering. Whenever the ad is clicked i.e. a visitor visits a webpage, a small fee is paid to the search engine. When PPC works correctly, the fee is trivial because the worth of the visit is more than what is paid for it. For example, if $3 Is paid for a click, and the click results in sale of $200, then a hefty profit is made.
Flat-Rate PPC In this model, the advertiser and publisher agree upon a fixed amount that is paid for each click. Usually, the publisher has a rate card that lists the PPC within different areas of their websites. The amounts generally depend on the content on the pages. The content that attracts more visitors bear higher PPC than the content that attracts less valuable visitors. However, when committing to a long-term or high-value contract, advertisers usually negotiate and settle at lower rates.
Google Ads is the most popular PPC advertising system in the world. Every time a search is initiated, it digs into the pool of Ads advertisers and chooses some of the them to appear on the valuable ad space on it results page. The chosen advertisers are a result of a combination of various factors like quality and relevance of the keywords and ad campaigns and size of the keywords bids. Who gets to appear on the results page depends on the Advertiser’s Rank which is a metric calculated by multiplying two key factors – CPC Bid (the highest bid amount an advertiser is willing to spend) and Quality Score (a value that takes into account your click-through rate, relevance and landing page quality). Many social networks like Facebook and Twitter have also adopted PPC as one of their advertising models.
Bid-based PPC In this model, the publisher or an advertising network hosts a private auction wherein the advertisers sign a contract that allows then to compete against each other. Each advertiser communicates to the host the maximum amount he/she is willing to pay for the ad space. It is all usually done through online tools and Cost-Per-Click is calculated by dividing the advertisthen the auction plays out in an automated fashion eving cost by the number of clicks generated by an adery time a visitor triggers the ad spot. vertisement. The PPC advertising model is bitterly open to abuse through click fraud. Search engines like Google and other performers have implemented automated sysThere are two primary models for determining Paytems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or Per Click: flat-rate and bid-based. corrupt web developers. Cost-Per-Click = Advertising Cost / Ads Clicked
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Digigyan
November-December 2018
It was also the only company offering programmatic digital brand advertising to be publicly traded, before being acquired
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by Adobe Systems Incorporated in 2016, in an all cash deal worth $540 million. SureWaves MediaTech is a Bengaluru based firm that launched a revolutionary new platform called Skynet. Describing it, the founder and managing director of SureWaves MediaTech, Mr. Rajendra Kumar Khare said, “SureWaves has been at the forefront of many technology-driven in the media industry. With Skynet, we are taking this to a whole new level, with a first-of-its-kind Programmatic Television Advertising Marketplace in the world. Skynet is built around the principles of simplicity, transparency and accountability. We believe Skynet will usher in a new era for broadcasters who will be able to monetize TV ad inventories more than ever and for agencies and brands, who will be able to use the medium of television to a potential never seen before.� Programmatic TV changes the complete landscape of the media buying industry by making the processes open and transparent. It creates a marketplace where the buyers and sellers can interact with each other, which acts as a levelplaying field that provides equal opportunity for all, democratizing the process, which results in delivering benefits to all stakeholders.
IIM Shillong
By vishal gupta | IIM Shillong Glenfiddich welcomes all challengers in bold new global campaign Launching first in Mexico, the campaign follows last year’s hugely successful “Diver” film which launched the Challengers Welcome campaign thought and will appear in 16 emerging whiskey markets, including India. Glenfiddich is inspiring consumers to challenge themselves in a bold global campaign developed by creative agency Space. The campaign aims to attract new whiskey drinkers in key growth markets and is specifically aimed at aspirational, successful and influential consumers who thrive on a challenge.
Amul the preferred Cold Beverage brand of 2018 in India On the occasion of World Food Day, YouGov India surveyed 1000 respondents across India on 77 leading beverages and snacks brands to know their favorite in each category and to understand the ongoing trends within these categories. Amul Kool, from the house of Amul, is the most popular cold beverage brand with the surveyed people. Interestingly, two of Amul’s leading brands, Amul Kool and Amul Masti Buttermilk, are in the top five favorite brands, suggesting that consumers are slowly moving towards healthier options like flavored milk and buttermilk.
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Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance sets a new Guinness World Record
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company was recognized for a new Guinness World Records title for its Plankathon initiative conducted for promoting good health. The event saw a record number of people successfully hold the abdominal plank position, simultaneously, for an entire minute. The new world record was set as 2353 people held the abdominal plank at Pune’s AFMC Ground. Bajaj Allianz Life Plankathon was the finale event to the company’s very successful #36SecPlankChallenge campaign. The campaign was designed to motivate more people to join the healthy living bandwagon in a fun and simple manner.
Horlicks sold! HUL, GSK Consumer merge in a blockbuster deal The all-equity merger deal includes an exchange ratio of 4.39 HUL shares for each GSK Consumer India share, along with GSK entire operations of nutrition business and contract to distribute the latter’s over-the-counter (OTC) and oral care brands such as Sensodyne. With the HUL deal, the 140-year old brand will retain its British ownership Horlicks came to India with the British Army after the end of World War I after Indian soldiers of British Indian Army brought it back with them as a dietary supplement. Since then, the brand has been marketed, first as a family beverage mostly for affluent Indians and later as a nutritional drink for kids.
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The tha has ca peek rede
L ht ww pai in/ cmo thecon rules
November-December 2018
https://www.facebook.com/markathon.iims/ 1) The new age consumer rules
ere is a behavioral changehttps://in.linkedin.com/in/markathon at has occurred, and this s huge ramifications for businesses and more specifially marketers. Here is a k into everything that is www.issuu.com/markathon efining the way consumers evaluate brands.
Link: ttps:// ww.camignindia. /article/ o-corner-new-agensumers/446963
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