Hello Readers! October has been fabulous for Markathon! The new team organised two events this month. The first was ‘Brambola’, a Tambola with the twist of brands. The other was the annual case study competition called ‘TouchStone’. You can find the glimpse of the events inside.
vatikar of IIM Shillong takes a firm stand in favour of Traditional Advertising.
The magazine also comprises of an interesting article by Mr. Sayan Chaudhary of IIM Shillong on Cartoon Marketing. He writes about how RedBull successfully used Cartoon Marketing to engage with its customers. Mr. Dhrupad Kumar Malakar, a student of IIM Bodh Gaya talks about ‘Brand Ronaldo’ in his Productolysis. The debate of the month was ‘Social Media vs Traditional Advertising’ in which Mr. Aravind Shankar of IIM Ahmedabad talks about both the pros and cons of social media while Ms. Vaibhavi Par-
In the end, I would like to thank all our writers for Perspective and Eye2Eye. We appreciate the effort you give. I would like to encourage more and more people to write to us! I would like to extend appreciations to the Team Markathon as well! Finally, a big thank to all our readers. They are the ones who motivate us to dig deep and bring good content.
There have been clear shifts in the way advertising is done in India. This is exactly what the month’s Cover Story is all about. This month’s ‘Brand Story’ gives a thorough analysis on the evaluation of Marlboro as a brand. You may also Coming back to the magazine, this month’s edi- find the story behind Nestlé’s famous logo under tion brings to our readers a new section - Mark- ‘Logoistic’. o-pedia! Mark-o-pedia will now be a monthly dose of concepts and jargons to the marketing ‘Ad-dicted’ brings to you ad-analysis of the latmaniacs. We introduced this section to spread est ads trending across media channels, be it knowledge and make our readers more aware. A social or traditional. ‘DigiGyaan’ is a section must read section this time is ‘Vartalaap’ with which talks about how technology helps marketGaurav Mehta, CMO of GirnarSoft. Mr. Mehta ers. This month ‘DigiGyaan’ is all about Affiliate shares with us his valuable insights he gained Marketing, a buzz word for online sellers. Also from his experience in Yahoo!, OLX and now at don’t forget to catch the latest happenings of the CarDekho.com. market in the ‘Updates’ section.
Stay Passionate! Team Markathon
Perspective
October 2018
Cartoon Marketing – The Comic way to drive business
Sayan chaudhary iim shillong
A question that arises in every investor who has invested in content marketing is, “What if my investee printed out my content and used it in their products for my benefit?” For most investors, the answer would be ‘in my dreams’. This question is prevalent in several B2B technology giants, but the recent trend in the content marketing is the inclusivity of brilliant marketing cartoons has turned around the effectiveness of the content marketing. The measure of increase of the effectiveness has been experienced as around 400 percent increase in some companies.
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Perspective THE POWER OF CARTOONS IN CONTENT MARKETING: Tom Fishburne, the founder of the company, Marketoonist, says, “Companies are taking a fresh look at an old media. Even as newspapers are in decline in the sphere of marketing, the cartoon medium is thriving. I see the potential of marketing cartoons replacing the flood of infographics we have seen in the past.”
The cartoons have been a legacy in everyone’s lives, whether the person be old or young. The cartoons have a cadence of capturing and sustaining the attention of the audience. One of the key elements of any cartoon is that the customer can actually have a personal and emotional connection with their lives. He says, “When done correctly, we are acknowledging a universal truth and this is where cartoon marketing works best – more about the reader and less about the brand. Cartoons lend themselves to this powerful approach.” One of the companies using cartoons as their marketing strategy is Red bull. Their cartoons have swept the customer by their feet.
October 2018 time and put themselves beyond barriers to create an amazing piece of work that hits the bull’s eye, practically every time, be it in Hungary or Mumbai. Their advertisements connect with minimum stagecraft and dramatics, according to Joono Simon, the executive creative director of Ogilvy & Mather. He also adds, “Humour has stern codes to live by, and these simple gags have a certain lightness about them that gives them longevity and instant likeability. Although serialized ads are more prone to fatigue, the ‘mama’
ad and others in the series from Red Bull are something that make you chuckle,” says Simon. “’Red Bull gives you wings’ is a simple proposition that’s flexible enough to free your imagination and not handcuff creativity.”
The energy-drink brand that made its founder (and some would say the man who founded the category) Dietrich Mateschitz, one of the richest men in Austriawho was never interested to adopt the traditional media and methods of advertising. Instead he wanted to use the ideas picked up from traditional marketing and so as seen in the case of Red Bull, it has built a strong association with all sorts of regular and extreme sports, entertainment and events around the RED BULL AND ITS SUCCESS world rather than bombarding unsuspecting consum ers with television commercials, billboards and banFor decades the energy drink brand has been ners or print spreads. charming its audiences with the campaign ‘Red Bull Gives You wings’. The mystery animator, somewhere in Hungary, is the mastermind behind those cartoons used in the television commercials. His one and only job is to breathe life into the stories that flow in from all the parts of the world via the Red Bull’s idea contest. The contest enables the company to get excellent ideas to make the cartoons and connecting the customers with the company better. The animator’s simple yet quirky doodles transcend
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Perspective “Advertising Red Bull is not just about glorifying the product but connecting with consumers with an entertaining story that’s a bit of fun. The distinctive cartoon style makes it unique and clutter breaking.” Simon of Ogilvy couldn’t agree more. “Even the doodle like illustration style is not so form obsessed and it seems to suggest that it is deliberately made weightless to be carried by the power of the gag.” BUSINESS EMPIRE FROM CARTOONS: Fishburne’s Marketoonist has been a huge success with many companies using their cartoons and advice for their marketing campaigns. Without revealing any names, one big company, after adding one of Fishburne’s cartoons saw a 400 percent increase in their content effectiveness. He himself has said that he gets a 40 to 50 percent open rate on these cartoons.
joined in to have a picture of themselves. Their Face book pages have over 600 pictures of people posing themselves either in the attires or alongside the characters. BUT ARE CARTOONS REALLY EFFECTIVE? Does the modern customer respond to cartoon marketing? Wall Street Journal cartoonist Stu Heinecke says the answer is affirmative. In his book Drawing Attention, Heinecke shares “test-proven secrets” for marketing using cartoons. In direct contrast to one famed advertiser who said “Humour doesn’t work,” Heinecke believes that cartoons are an essential part any successful marketing campaign. And he can prove it. His customers report doubling their open rates with the inclusion of cartoons — particularly via email — with similar results for B2B.
These results are seen even in startups too. They worked with a technology startup called RealEyes on an email nurturing campaign which exceeded open rate benchmarks by 38 percent and click benchmarks by 150 percent.
“Cartoons have always given me an upper hand,” Heinecke told SocialTimes. “They’re better read and remembered than just about anything else you could put into print. They melt the ice, people love them, and they impart a point of agreement immediately. I think they’re the ultimate involvement and Marketoonist and Kronos have used cartoons with a engagement device.” green screen at many trade shows so that the attendees could get pictures of themselves starring in car- According to CartoonLink, a company founded by toons. One of the biggest advantage of employing this Heinecke, “most promotional mail finds its way to strategy is that the audience can relate themselves the trash bucket quickly. Not ours. Our postcards with the brand in a funny manner, by revisiting their are treated like keepsakes and kept on refrigerachildhood days. It was noticed that not only children tor doors or office walls for years. Now that’s sticky and youths, but the matured and retired people too marketing.”
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Perspective Writing for Salesforce, Heinecke provides five reasons why cartoons are a powerful tool for social media marketers. Here’s an excerpt: 1. Cartoons are one of the most powerful involvement devices in the world: Humour is about revealing the truth but with a twist. The behavioural act of laughing itself suggests that the customer has picked up the point that you had wanted to convey. 2. Cartoons double email open rates and increase engagement: On testing, it was found that the excitement to read the cartoon makes the customer to open their mails and have a look at the cartoon. 3. Cartoon help to reach VIP prospects: If you’re involved in selling or strategic business development, the ability to break through to heavily-defended VIP prospects — CEOs, C-level executives and the like —
To summarize the entire article, it can be said that content marketing has and will see a shift in the stories where the traditional marketing context of Cartoons, which have embedded themselves in the minds of the audience irrespective of their ages, will see included in the context that will drive the marketing campaigns of many businesses.
is critical to your success. I use cartoons constantly to achieve this task, usually with spectacular results. Sandler Training tested it, for example, and generated a 100 percent response and 8,000 percent ROI.
So, the animators, get ready to be an integral part of the marketing sphere and the story writers, be ready to weave your stories to touch the hearts of many and bring a smile to their faces!!
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Perspective
BRAND RONALDO dhrupad kumar malakar IIM bodh gaya
“This is why I compliment Juve for the signing, which is great for them in terms of football, publicity and marketing’. -Jose Mourinho After nine years at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo transferred to Juventus for a fee reportedly in excess of €100 million. The inevitable exit and the entire transfer saga generated more online page views than the top five Premier League transfers combined as he retains his position as one of the most read about personalities in the world even at the age of 33. Clearly, Ronaldo is unwilling to compromise on his goals.
EFFECT ON BRAND JUVENTUS Adored by his fans worldwide, Ronaldo’s deal represents a near completion of the business and brand building plan by Juventus, which had started when the club got relegated in 2006. The plan involved the construction of the league’s first club-owned stadium in 2010, and re-branding the Juventus’ logo to make it more social media-friendly. When the news of Ronaldo’s transfer was reported in the news, Juventus’ Stuttgart traded shares soared by 37%, hitting €1.12. The market capitalisation of the Juventus Club has increased from €660 million in June (before Ronaldo’s transfer) to €1 billion today. This makes it easier for the club to attract money in the form of sponsorship deals, and sell merchandise with Ronaldo’s name on them. Presently, Juventus are placed 11th in the world by Brand Finance among the world’s most valuable football clubs by brand worth.
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Perspective EFFECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
EFFECT ON THE LEAGUE AND COMPETITION
When Ronaldo’s transfer was declared officially, Juventus gained more than 400,000 followers on Twitter, more than 1.4 million fans on Instagram, and 400,000 on Facebook in just a week. Ronaldo has 320 million followers across various social media platforms, which dwarves many clubs and top players. This strengthens the idea that the fans are increasingly supporting athletes more than franchises.
The Champions League trophy has eluded the Italian Giants since 1996 even after qualifying for the knock-out stages in the last few years. And if Ronaldo can help Juventus to a UEFA Champions League final, the exposure for that one year will be worth about €50 million, representing a large return on the €17 million investment paid each year for sponsorships. And unless the other Italian Clubs concede defeat and yield to Juventus, the League shall be growing by leaps and bounds in terms of viewership and content.
For reference, Ronaldo has 6.6 million followers in Mexico, but Juventus only 1.1 million. These numbers show that Juventus is gaining a huge exposure in markets where they are seeking growth and establishment, especially among the new targets who are unlike the classic Football fans: millennials, women and kids. EFFECT ON SPONSORS Forbes reported that between 2016 and 2017, Ronaldo posted 580 pieces of sponsored content which generated 927 million interactions. And in just 24 hours of being announced as a Juventus player, 520,000 jerseys with his name on the back were sold for €105 each. His lucrative CR7 brand is reportedly worth €100 million, and the Juventus sponsors which include Jeep, Adidas, Allianz and Samsung, will be able to gain tremendous benefits from this deal. Ronaldo has been one of the highest-paid athletes in the world because the sponsors recognise the immense value that Ronaldo brings to their brand equity.
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Serie A in 2003 was at its peak- Juventus and AC Milan faced each other in the UEFA Champions League Final. The transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus is a significant step in restoring Serie A to its former glory. The effects are already being felt as opponents increase their ticket prices during each Juventus visit, simply building on the brand Ronaldo. “Il Colpo del Secolo”- the deal of the century is what the Italian media call Ronaldo’s transfer. The league still has its issues- chaos, controversy and corruption. But nobody can deny that this is the most eagerly anticipated Serie A season in a long time.
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Cover Story
THE SHIFT Cover Story IN INDIAN ADVERTISING India is the second most populous nation in the world. With over a billion people living within its borders, sharing thousands of distinct cultures, 8 major religions, and 22 different languages. With such great diversity that resides in the country, it’s certainly not right for a brand to assume, that what worked for one emerging market will also work for India. Hence for any brand to flourish in a country like India the right MARKETING question to ask is not “What is the size of Indian market that we can capture with our global strategy?” but BUDGET rather “what should be our customized strategy for the Indian market?” While it is true MNC’s will change the emerging markets forever, the reverse is also true. Hence it becomes imperative for every MNC that exists or is wishing to enter in the Indian market to customize itself in every possible manner, from its product to its communication and also make sure that it promotes the right culture, respects all religions and speaks the language that the nation does. That’s where advertising plays a role. History of advertising can be very well categorized into four phases. The first phase was the phase of post-independence which continued till 1960, the advertising in this era was marked with a mere factual description of products and a sheer lack of creativity. The second phase (1960-1980) marked a slight shift in the advertising, where India established its identity separate from that of British India and where brands promoted creativity in every way they could. Moving forward, the third phase (1980-2000) saw a shift in the focus from creativity and
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innovation towards the creation of efficient channels of communication that improved the reach of advertising. What changed advertising for once and for all was the fourth phase that began from 2000 till today that marked a radical shift in the field of advertising. The advertisement completely changed from a mere factual description of a product towards a more experience-driven marketing. Where it was not the product but the experience that was sold. What distinctly differentiates this phase from the others, is that the advertisers pushed for the products that were not naturally a part of the shopping list of an Indian customer. Products that the Indians felt that they had no need of or felt shy to talk about like contraceptive pills or condoms. This was the phase when the marketers understood that customers can anyways research about the product. Hence advertisements have to be done not to inform but to attract and bring about a shift in the mindsets of people.
III cities with the help of new advertisement channels that focused on connecting the brand with its target audience using their distinct culture and languages. Using these new channels of communication companies got more aware about the target customers and brought about a radical shift in the marketing message, men became less macho, women became happy with the shade and shape they were in and kids got knowledgeable even on most taboo topics. Advertisement before this phase showed no concerns about society and eyed attention only on the product. But with the increasing awareness among the citizens, the brands could no longer sell just the products, they had to sell stories, stories about the life of people, stories that try to shape the society and the stories that showed how adamant these brands were in trying to bring about a change in the society. Looking at the current trend one can easily identify
Hence the big challenge for the MNC’s that entered in India as the after effect of the post-liberalization was to advertise the products in a way that it connects with the culture of people. This was certainly not possible with any blanket advertisement strategy, hence these multinationals went glocal. Leveraging their global competitive advantage and adding with it a local touch in whatever they do by integrating and communicating their product in the different cultures and languages present across the country with the BTL Marketing strategy.
the change in the face of Indian customers, the traditional middle class is being replaced by the aspiring working class. This new emerging class holds in them both, a desire to consume more and a high purchasing power. This has caused advertisers to move their focus from value for money concept of advertising to the value that the product leads to the consumer’s life.
Advertisers have seen a sudden shift in the target audience and because of the demographic change in the country that is more bent towards the age group With that level of understating that was gained by the of 18-34 (the age group that can also be referred to 2000s, the Indian advertisers reached tier II and tier as the new aspiring working class), there has also
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been a change in the mode of communication from traditional single line radio or TV advertisements to the flashy world of internet. With such demographics, the advertisers had no choice but to move the focus of their advertising to the Facebooks and the Instagrams of the world, the place where youth spends most of its time. This age group which now accounts for more than 50% of the country’s population, has shown a great sense of responsibility towards the society and willingness to leave an impact or as Steve Jobs said “a dent in the universe”. This was well noted by many great brands and they didn’t let this opportunity go in vain. These great
brand then designed advertisements that emphasized on bringing about a social change. That’s when we first saw TATA Tea going “Jago re Jago re Jago re!” asking people to vote and raise social consciousness, dairy milk going “Kuch meetha Hojay” exactly when there was nationwide protest regarding the adulterated sweets, Whisper creating advertisements breaking all the taboos surrounding menstruation by its “Touch the pickle” ad campaign, a successful campaign that gained nationwide support, Vicks vapoRub showing a transgender woman adopting a little girl and giving her a beautiful life.
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Ariel trying to break all the stereotypes by redefining the work load balance that has long been existing in the country, which subjected women to be mere house makers and men to be the bread earners of the family, with its “#ShareTheLoad” advertisement and McDowell’s Soda talking about “Yeh number one yaari hai” showing a group of three friends on an adventure trip and how they motivate one of the physically challenged friend stating that they all were born to fly. Listening to which the physically challenged friend decides to complete the adventure and has a great time with all. These were among the few advertisements that have changed how things in society were typically looked at and how they brought about a social transformation by advertising the importance of voting, improving the status of transgender in the society and putting a stop to the stereotyping of women.
Hence to give an overview of the evolution of advertising in a more logical and systematic way and to summarize all that is said above, let’s divide advertising into three-time frames. Advertising 1.0 (Product-centric advertising), Advertising 2.0 (Consumer-oriented advertising), Advertising 3.0 (Values-Driven advertising) and study them across various parameters. Advertising 1.0 was the phase when the objective of the brands was just to sell products, because of lack of available options, brands in this time frame saw customers as mass buyers with physical needs that can be satisfied by any product they offered, even if it could remotely satisfy those physical needs. The key marketing concept used in this phase was product development. But with the change in the demographics
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that was slowly shaping up, advertising moved into the second phase, advertising 2.0 which was the phase where the main objective of the brands was to satisfy and retain the consumers, where the brands looked customers as smart and emotional beings that can be satisfied by using differential marketing strategies. In the third and final phase that we experience now, advertising 3.0, it is a value-driven advertising strategy, where the major objective of the brands is to make world a better place, brands in this phase view customers as humans with heart, mind, and spirit, and use marketing strategies that connected with the value system of the customers. I certainly agree that not all of us reading this article have seen this transformation in advertising but I certainly believe, looking at the advertisements today that the way they are presented to us, is because it’s exactly the way we are. We live in a world of instant gratification, we need everything quick, and guess what? Advertisers know this. Hence they
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pitch their products in a way that gives us that sense of instant gratification. They exactly know what connects with us? What aspiration do we carry? And they project their product in a way that fills that void of our present state and the state we desire to be in. I personally believe that advertising has played a very crucial role in shaping the Indian society. India is a land of dreams and aspirations and for every person that desires to go big, advertisements offer him a glimpse of what great life, filled with all the luxuries that he can desire for looks like. Advertisements have seen a big shift in the recent times because of the understanding that the advertisers have gained over time about the Indian customers, which has helped them in creating ads that have and will keep selling exactly what they want by putting an Indian face on whatever they have to offer.
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Vartalaap
October 2018
VARTALAAP An Interview with Mr Gaurav Mehta by Riya Sarkar and Rishi Ahuja Mr. Gaurav Mehta is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at GirnarSoft since 2016 and looks after the online properties of GirnarSoft like CarDekho.com, ZigWheels, and Gaadi.com. Some of the important components of his mandate include brand building, performance marketing, and trade marketing. He completed PGDBA in the areas of Brand Management, Media, Market Research and Marketing from MICA in the year 2002. Mr Mehta has almost 16 years of work experience out of which 10 years have been in the digital world. Prior to joining GirnarSoft, he was CMO at OLX for South Asia and used to set up marketing operations in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mr Gaurav Mehta also had a stint at Yahoo! for more than 4 years where he learned and worked on things like mobile marketing, customer analytics and personalization strategies while these were still buzzwords. Early in his career, he has also been an entrepreneur. Mr Mehta started Brand DNA, the first branding and marketing consultancy in Rajasthan in 2003. Talking about his personal life, Mr Mehta loves to read books across genres and believes in keeping himself always updated.
GirnarSoft
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Vartalaap
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really believe that reading are the tutor I have today.”
You graduated in 2002 from MICA and we are currently in 2018, what do you think are the new opportunities for us in the field of marketing which were not there when you graduated. Three electives that we had when we were graduating were brand management, media planning and market research. These were the only three directions that you could chose a career, Nowadays, there are so many options, like analytics is such an important part too. And also believe that the time is now where the software elements of market making are also coming in. Things like semiotics, languages so on and so forth. The softer elements of marketing are also something you can make a career in. Nowadays, everything is getting digitized so if you think about it then the core of every skill that you learn needs to be done on the digital platform and what are the digital technologies that I need to learn to deliver this product. I think that’s a distribution channel. You should always look at digital as distribution channel. Your core skills are built on basis of that. So that’s how I look at it. Your core skills haven’t primarily changed that much. New ones have gotten added to it. Like that time, we were talking about traditional marketing and the new age of marketing. Traditional marketing hasn’t gone out of use. But it’s being delivered in a different manner. From a career perspective also you have to understand digital marketing, not only from the perspective of – ‘I know Facebook, I know Instagram,’ all these things but how are all these things deployed. How can we actually deliver digital solutions? And on top of that nowadays some of the softer elements are being recognized for what they are. With rising standards of living people are moving more and more towards brand. You have previously worked with OLX. What are the challeng-
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es you faced in tapping the youth market base? Many! Let me give you an example to explain how deep a problem can actually be. Not really a problem, but what are the barriers of adoption can be? For 2-2.5 years of operating in OLX, we had taken the lead and everything was going well, but I still wasn’t satisfied. We were the eighth largest site in the country and I could see we could be the top five site. So as a part of my research I spoke a lot to people. I spoke about the macro impact, I wanted to understand the macro impact of the cultural codes that determine our behavior. So one of the people I spoke to was the head of psychology at Delhi University, and I asked the same question as you just asked me – why do people not sell their used goods? And he had a very interesting take and I think that’s very legitimate. He told that our culture and that’s not about religion, people do believe in reincarnation- this body is a vehicle and the soul can’t be destroyed. Now just overlay this piece of information 60-70 years back when people didn’t have too much but they believed that even if they would go out in this life they would come back. But how do people actually recognize their legacy. When products were not just products. They embodied our ancestors and people had a huge resistance towards selling them off. This cultural code is so deep rooted in us Indians, irrespective of religion, that doesn’t let us sell things. The next question is just an extension of the previous one.You have been CMO of OLX South-Asia. How is the market of India different than the rest of South Asia? So South Asia would mean Pakistan and Bangladesh. I was also General Manager, OLX, Pakistan. So I was heading the business division over there. I think because all of us are part of a common culture, again, I am reiterating that point, I do not mean religion but shared history and culture.
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Vartalaap Vartalaap The attitude towards selling things was the same as it would be in India. From a consumer’s perspective there was nothing that was different. Maybe the trust factor was a little bit lower in Pakistan because of the security issues in that country. That’s a very regional insight. So that was a major difference I guess. The second big difference was just the technology adoption in that country versus India. The level of talent, the inquisitiveness, the wanting to do something bigger; that is all very similar to Indians but the technology adoption-how you use technology was maybe 3-4 years behind India. This made us differ our marketing strategies and business our go to market in a different way. Maybe not as bold as we wanted our consumers to be because of the technology adoption. Those are two big differences. In one of the articles you mentioned that “the best practices” are becoming obsolete and a marketeer needs to keep himself updated. How do you keep yourself updated? Yesterday I was meeting with some people and this guy is into leadership coaching in Singapore and leadership coaching is basically you coach a CXO level person and becoming a better version of himself or herself. Not necessarily about the domain but just the way they are and how they operate. That’s what leadership coaching is. The other guy very interestingly said; I have gone through leadership coaching myself and I agree to this; he said that my leadership coaching advice is to read books. On a daily basis I read a lot. I come about 1 and a half hours before the office starts to make sure I have one and a half hour of me time. The broader elements I read about being geopolitics, economics, current trends and maybe 45 minutes to marketing. There’s like enough invoking literature on all these topics. A marketer can’t be very narrow focused. He or she needs to be well aware about the current information that they take on board. That’s why I wrote the- you can’t be very tied down to the domain that you represent. Like I have been an entrepreneur, I have done sales, I have done maturity offline marketing when I was at OLX. I have done majority of content marketing when I am at CarDekho. Things change so rapidly because of technology and new things that are coming in that if you get stuck in a particular domain then that’s a
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October August 2018 one-way ticket to being obsolete. So I really believe that books and reading are the only tutor I have today. You are the in charge of CarDekho, Gaadi.com and ZigWheels also. From a distance one would feel like these three are almost the same. But for a marketer it is important to place each on them differently. So can you tell us what is the differentiating factor between these three? As I said, when I came onboard with CarDekho, we were writing a lot of content. It was mostly print media dominated. Through data base and through research we found out that CarDekho has to be a buyer’s brand. So my brand value for CarDekho was that I will help you buy the right car basis your need state. So all my content, my marketing, my product tooling, everything had to change according to that. ZigWheels became a brand only for exclusive enthusiasts. who come on a daily basis and read about cars and bikes and so on and so forth. Gaadi as a brand didn’t have any specific positioning. I spoke about purpose which is not exactly about brand value but as a brand value I could not ascribe something which is or sizeable. Maybe we could have something later in the near future. But, CarDekho became a car buyer brand helping you buy the right car, Zig became a brand for experts and enthusiasts and the motorheads. So that’s how we differentiated those two. A recent news highlighted the deal between google and Mastercard to track data about how much people are spending on retail on ecommerce websites, to compete with websites like Amazon and e-bay. Where do marketers draw the line about collecting data? This is as much of a business question as much as an ethical question. Sometimes both kind of ovelap each other. I think that the young generation doesn’t mind being marketed at. Like if you go to countries like China, there people actually want to be re-marketed. As in if you take their data and remarket stuff to them, then that’s a sign of respect and affluence. This kind of data collection is only right when you are doing it for the right thing and giving the right information, because all of us do want to consume things. Advertisement is not something which is a deterrent. I consider advertisement and marketing as a way to help consumers make the right choice. But there are
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many people who actually are scrupulous about this thing. That’s where the lines merge. I think more and more because of the rules and regulations which are coming in marketers are, if they are not on the right side of the data debate, they are being compelled to do that. Enough checks and balances are coming in. But you can have all the data in the world if you don’t use it properly for consumer benefit then even it is an obtained data it would do very very bad for you. Companies like MasterCard and Google have a TnC checkbox you don’t even know what you have given your consent for and even if you are a discerning consumer you will that let me read the TnC, but they are so long there’s no way how a person can make any sense of it. So it’s like by default you have to sign up. That’s a wrong thing. But a lot of recent regulations are making it much simpler and things have started to become a little bit better. But it’s a murky world.
There is no doubt about it and everyone knows that. Even AR and VR will become big; the whole world knows that. We acquired a company which is into it. So we are investing our money in these technologies. But I don’t know which one will be in the bigger league. AR and VR have been there for quite some time now. The first time AR really came into the big picture was through Pokémon Go. So you have to be ready.
Things change so rapidly because of technology and new things that are coming in that if you get stuck in a particular domain then that’s a one-way ticket to being obsolete.
What are some of the latest digital marketing trends that caught your eye?
I would like to answer the question in a different way. I always look at the cost of failure. Experiment and assign the cost of failure when the stakes are low. So right now we are experimenting with all these technologies. In some we are succeeding and in some we are failing. So we are learning our lessons when the cost of failure is very low and even if it doesn’t work, our business will not have a big impact. Tomorrow if AR and VR become big, we now know that what does it do and what it doesn’t, so we can proceed with it in a much more structural manner. So rather than which technologies caught my eye, I would say all of them caught my eye but there is a way to use them for marketing. So that would be my little bit of spin-off as an answer to your question..
I think that the young generation doesn’t mind being marketed at. Like if you go to countries like China, there people actually want to be re-marketed. As in if you take their data and remarket stuff to them, then that’s a sign of respect and affluence.
When you talk about trends it kind of throws me off because we have been using primarily everything that is there. But I can’t say that I am sold on to something in a big manner. So if you talk about any technology like AI, VR and AR, automation or machine learning, pretty much of any and every bit of digital technology e are using it today. All of them caught my eye and we are experimenting with them right now. If you ask me will AI and ML become big, I would say absolutely they will become big.
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Second thing I would say test for the right results. A lot of times what happens is that there are many factors that affect success. Suppose you succeeded, but you really not know which factor resulted in your success. I call this as false positive. The 2nd factor might have worked for your success but you might think that it was the 4th one as you are biased towards
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October 2018
Vartalaap the 4th factor. So when it comes to marketing, you use the 4th factor but that does not work out. So I believe measurement is really important to identify what is working and what is not. Hence, I always try and see the causality between what I am doing and what I am getting. When I talk about econometric modelling and data analytics, it does exactly that. So I have to understand that when I invest money, does it relate to a direct correlation and incidence on my business metric. Only then I get a positive positive.
irrational decision making has to go hand-in-hand. So CarDekho will help me understand that Honda City is the right car for me, ZigWheels will have an expert community for a car nut. But PowerDrift will make me fall in love with the Honda City. Through PowerDrift, we just influence the decision a little bit more. Content has a huge play in car-buying and bike-buying and that’s where we try to do our best. In the end, what message would you like to leave for our readers and the budding marketing managers?
Isn’t the Indian Market very nascent for high end I would say don’t get too serious or obsessed by the technologies like AI and ML? skill sets you currently have because they are going to get obsolete. You might be a graduate from a leadA short answer to this question would be a no. ing B-School with a specialization in a field. Those We acquired a company called Connecto. With skill sets might be enough to land a job. But 4-5 years its AI and ML capabilities we are helping our- down the line those skill sets won’t be the reason selves and our partners to predict which car why you will get your next promotion or next opis a person going to buy. So this is one exam- portunity. The first thing is you have to keep disruptple of the technology being used here in India. ing yourselves. Disrupt yourself when you are at a peak and not when you are going down. I left Yahoo! Your company acquired PowerDrift. So when I was there in the Young Leadership Council what was the intent behind buying it? and took OLX challenge. I left OLX when I was at the peak of my powers to take on the role I am currently First of all, they are the best in what they do and in. It is just a better way to be relevant for a longer are a fabulous bunch of people based out of Pune. I period of time because when you are going to work don’t look at an acquisition from the Balance Sheet for 40 years there are going to be tough times. It has or valuation point of happened with everyview. I look at it as one be it Steve Jobs, company cultures Bill Gates or Warren coming together. Buffet. So make sure Secondly, their skill that your highs are for sets are complimena longer and lows are tary to what we do. for lesser time. SecThey are very ediond thing is keep on torially driven. They adding to your skill will go deep into a sets all the time. I keep car to understand on doing that. I love and then present to read books. I try to their analysis. Powfind some ‘me time’ erDrift is almost like and read books. Readthe TopGear of India. ing might not come They celebrate the motoring aspect without getting naturally to people but when you go to actual workmuch into detail. The third piece of the story is that spaces, you will realize that you have questions that a car, not so much a bike but specially a car, is a high you are not taught to answer. At that time, you may involvement purchase decision. Your rational and feel it makes sense to read some books.
You should always look at digital as distribution channel. Your core skills are built on basis of that. So that’s how I look at it. Your core skills haven’t primarily changed that much. New ones have gotten added to it.
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Eye2Eye
October 2018
The ROI Debate: Social Media Vs Traditional Advertising Aravind shankar IIM ahmedabad
Vaibhavi parvatikar iim Shillong
Social media marketing offers tremendous advantages over traditional media in specific contexts –
Traditional Marketing is not so traditional anymore. There are many facets being added to this medium of connecting to consumers. Ever heard of “Drinkable Ads” served through Billboards, Television and even a Radio! Yes, this was the campaign that Coca-Cola ran in year 2016 for Coke Zero. The advertisement showed an attention-grabbing Coke Zero being poured right into the consumers phone through Shazam, on radio the delicious sound of Coke being poured was transmitted through radio channel which consumers could record and further avail a free Coke Zero at the nearest retail store. The advertising campaign was designed for mass but at the same time each consumer was so involved that this campaign was huge hit.
Reach: It can be measured through the metric of CPM (Cost per thousand impressions). Delivered through a digital medium, the same message can be easily replicated across multiple locations and recipients. Thus, social media offers the ability to reach the widest audience at the lowest cost and can be the preferred route when the primary goal is increasing brand exposure and visibility. Customization: Marketing varies anywhere between a generic message to targeting specific segments or even at an individual level. This creates the potential for a higher degree of engagement with viewers, which in turn increases the probability of viewers transitioning across Attention -> Interest -> Desire -> Action. This is particularly suited for differentiated products where targeting messaging to specific groups yields better results than a generic message.
v e r s u s
Flexibility: Social media marketing enables dynamic campaign modifications in response to changing needs and market feedback, thus improving the efficacy of the campaign. Multiple variants of the campaign can be rolled out in parallel and learnings can be incorporated into modifications on the fly.
Cost: With everything happening digitally, the cost of reaching more recipients across different locations becomes virtually zero. Additionally, the cost of being flexible as highlighted above is also very low when compared to the rework costs associated with a traditional media. This becomes a significant factor when the product or brand needs to reach a huge number of viewers in a short time. The biggest reason why media selection fails, be it social or traditional, is lack of clarity at the initial decision phase. The choice of using social media vs. traditional media must be evaluated through the prism of the intended goal of the marketing campaign.
Traditional Advertising has gone beyond just educating the target audience through infiltrating them with overflowing content to involving them emotionally and physically into the product per se the brand. Traditional Methods though fetch lesser ROI have a farther outreach when used in such way in a country like India. In India not much population has internet access, though there is faster pace in its growth but still traditional marketing is being taken more seriously than social media marketing. Like, Amazon when first started in India, launched an eye catching “Chai Cart” campaign. This shows that even the mammoth e-commerce firm took the medium of traditional marketing to penetrate into a new market. The methods by which such a marketing is done is through print media, broadcasting, direct mail, telemarketing. Some of these are changing from being outbound to inbound like direct mailing is now forwarded to customer after seeking their permission, TV ads are not anymore disruptive, they are connecting customers like the Samsung Ads which show a societal connect. Traditional Marketing is getting a physical touch like Royal Enfield Cafe, Taj Hotels started Taj Khazana. All of this suggest that traditional marketing will always have a dominant say in the world of marketing. radi-
Topic for the next issue: “Targeting The Masses: Quantity or Quality?” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 28th November 2018. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!
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Logoistic Logoistic
October August 2018 2018
Nestlé S.A which is widely known as Nestlé is the largest food company in the world, measured by its revenue since 2014. The company was founded by Farine Lacteé Henri Nestlé in 1866 and later merged with Anglo-Swiss Milk Company in 1905. It is currently operating in 86 countries with a total of 283,000 employees and around 6000 brands under its belt. The original logo had a single bird sitting on a nest which derived from his family’s coat of arms. This name in ‘German’ language means nest. He later added 3 younger birds which became the link between infant cereal and the logo of company. In 1966, Nestle combined the logo with word ‘Nestle’ which simplified the design. In 1988, it supported the then practice of having small family and thus reduced the number of fledgling to 2 from 3. They also removed the worm from its bill which suggested they are focusing not only nutrition and their plans to diversify its product line and search the upcoming markets. The bird sitting there and providing its fledgling suggest that they provide them with best nutrition. They changed the shape of nest where leaves could be seen and this shows the care that they have for the environment. The current logo is blue in colour which signifies the purity, prosperity, goodness with utmost care that it and its products have for customer. Nestlé written below the logo are written in Helvetica which in our thinking represents boldness and firm as a company.
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By Riya sarkar IIM Shillong
CAMPONY: PepperFry POSITIONING: Don’t wait for Diwali Sale december October 2013 2018 YouTube Link: : https://youtu.be/j2SphaMixrM
AD-dicted AD-dicted
BY gaurav lakhani & Vishal Gupta COMPANY: Zameen.com IIM Shillong POSITIONING: House for everybody COMPANY: Honda POSITIONING: ‘Teri Har Udaan Hamari Shaan Hai’ YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7yiLq5uPlrs YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/2Eak9-SJ-kI Concept: The advertisement starts with Akshay Kumar standing with people associated with Honda. It shows how Honda employees are devoted to helping people like helping the child to get a balloon, giving riding simulator to a novice woman who probably is reluctant to try it in society. Later in the ad, it shows Honda’s service for the customer located in terrain regions. The line “Teri Har Udaan Hamari Shaan Hai” is repeated to show that how Honda value the success of its customers. The breaking point comes when it shows how a father helps his son to achieve his unorthodox dreams and enrolling his son in Honda Racing Academy. This shows how Honda is deeply rooted in our life and has shaped our lives in a significant way.
CATCH
Verdict: Catch The advertisement perfectly catches the emotions and sentiments of people. It shows how Honda is always there with people. Their hashtag #TeriUdaanHamariShaan reinforces that company keeps its customers’ aspirations at utmost priority. The scene where the mom and son take the photo at the same place after so many years wants to portray that Honda has always been the best choice for customers. Their portable service centre suggests their strength of providing a customer with service even when he is located in a remote location. At last they want to show that Honda is not just the typical budget bikes ridden by middle class men and therefore they show its non-gear version, racing version, bike for terrains and ebikes to show that they cater to all segments
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Concept: The ad starts kicks off with two contemporaries battling it out to become the CEO of the company. The protagonist is given the opportunity. However, he in order to climb the ladders of corporate success, he has failed in his family commitments specially his only son. He is deeply hurt, that though his son still loves him, he has started to alienate his father, as he was never there for him on his special occasions. Having realised his mistake, on the day of final presentation, when he had to present his proposal to the board, he decided to let his contemporary preside the meeting, while he attended his son’s birthday.
MISS
Verdict: Miss The advertisement is based on the clichéd line of thought where a man is so busy in his work that he forgets his family responsibilities and thinks that whatever he is doing is right because it is all for his family. Moreover, the ad is too long to keep the viewers interested spanning for over 5 mins, and after a point of time becomes predictable. Also, the message of the ad is not really clear as to what is its purpose. It is only at the end when they say that they can help find a house, but we can make it a home, that some context can be found. Most importantly, it does not talk about how it is different from other housing portals, or why should the customers use this portal. The stress has mistakenly been given to make it more Bollywood style.
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Brand Story
October 2018
Brand Story Marlboro
Riya Sarkar IIM Shillong
Contrary to popular belief, Marlboro started as a women’s cigarette in the year 1847. It was the first cigarette brand introduced for women because the cigarettes were claimed to be mild and that they didn’t cause much “health issues”. The cigarettes were sold in white copy and were named Mild as May. The packaging specially appealed to women as it contained lots of feminine symbolisms and a special red cellulose around the filter to hide lipstick stains. Unfortunately, the cigarettes were a failure and the company had to change its strategy and so in the late 1950s a new Marlboro was born. This time the target group was the more financially attractive young males. The packaging was also changed to incorporate more hint of masculinity into the brand. A lot of thought was put into the new packaging – it was tough to protect the cigarettes from rough weather. Also its flip-top design made it so that the user looks at the pack every time he looks at it. Also its clean, aggressive white with red arrow design could easily be recognized on the monochrome TV screens.
spired by Clarence Hailey Long’s photo by Leonard McCombes, featured in Life Magazine. He was the first model to appear in a Marlboro advertisement. This tradition of hiring models was soon replaced by real working cowboys performing their daily tasks.
Why the Marlboro Man worked? The reason why the campaign was such a huge success can be attributed to the following three factorsUse of an established archetype: The Cowboy of Marlboro County is an illustration of the Jungian archetype who is a warrior and traveler and represents a lone traveler
Visual Semiotics Semiotics is the analysis of how a sign brings meaning to the reader. In this context, the Marlboro Man represents universal masculinity and the valThe company hired Chicago based advertising firm, ues such as reason, independence and egoism conLeo Burnett, to come up with a new idea to en- nected to it. In a political context, the Marlboro gage the target audience. The agency chose to do it Man also represents liberty. This made the Marlthrough archetypal masculine character. The cowboy boro Man not only the symbol of a cigarette brand character emerged at the top of the list. The compa- but also the mascot of the American white middleny chose to completely ignore its earlier strategy of class from the 1970s. Marlboro County also symappealing to the health conscious masses and the ad- bolizes a natural, clean world, not polluted by marvertisement completely ignored any health concerns ginalizing white class ideas of modern society and in the campaign. The first Marlboro Cowboy was in- consisting of women’s right, racial equality etc.
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Brand Story
October 2018
The Savanna Principle Satoshi Kanazava is of the unpopular opinion that the human brain didn’t evolve much since the last 10,000 years when the human species was living in the savannas. If this argument is considered to be true then the visuals in the advertisement triggers the same reaction in a modern-day human as it would have done to a person living in the stone ages. Such thinking is supported by modern day evolutionary psychologists. The Marlboro Ads either provides its viewers a feeling of bringing attention or providing safety. This makes it an attractive place that people want to discover. Marlboro Man from the very beginning was a very successful campaign and it took the company from having 1% market share to being the top 4 companies in the U.S market. By 1972,
MARKATHON
Marlboro was the most popular cigarette brand and has been holding that position ever since. Marlboro and Sports Marlboro is very well known for its association with motor sports which started in the year 1972 with Marlboro sponsoring the Formula One team BRM and this association has continued throughout the years. They have been an ardent supporter of the sport and have been sponsoring a plethora of motor sport events. Thus, Marlboro has successfully integrated itself as part of the popular culture. Long after the ban on tobacco advertising, the lone cowboy still reminds Marlboro brand even to non-smokers.
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October 2018
Digigyan
Affiliate Marketing Simran Miglani IIM Shillong
Affiliate marketing technically refers to a sales tactic to increase sales of a product by involving affiliates who recommend products to others and earn commissions for the same. The interesting fact is that in affiliate marketing, the cost, to the customer, of buying from an affiliate is same as buying directly from the marketer.
- The network acts as an intermediary between two parties, such as the merchant and the affiliate, or the affiliate and the consumer. It’s usually the portal that connects the two parties. - The publisher, commonly known as the affiliate, is actually the person involved in recommending the product to the customer and finally converting the transaction.
A large number of online selling portals rely on the concept of affiliate marketing by providing the affiliates with the unique tracking link. The affiliate mentions the link in his/her recommendation texts and if it is followed by any of the readers further resulting in sale of the company’s product, the affiliate earns commission. The whole idea is based on revenue sharing, wherein if the owner of the product wants to increase the sales, he/she may offer the promoters some financial incentive.
- The customer is the one who buys the product recommended by the affiliate. The customer is the end node of the entire process or chain of affiliate marketing.
Usually, there are four parties involved in affiliate marketing, namely, the merchant, the network, the publisher, and the customer. - The merchant is the creator of the product, also the seller or the marketer.
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The biggest affiliate, so far, is Amazon. The company runs the Amazon Associates affiliate program which lets people promote any of the products, ranging from toys to books to household items, the company sells on its online platform. Any person can sign up and generate and get access to custom affiliate link to Amazon products. If and when someone purchases any item using that link, the affiliate earns some commission. Usually, the cookie period of every affiliate is of 60 days, which means he/she will only earn the commission if the visitor uses his/her
IIM Shillong
Digigyan
October 2018
affiliate link to get to the sales page and buys some product within the next 60 days. Affiliate marketing can be taken as performance based marketing, in the sense that for every customer or sale ensured by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts, he/she is paid accordingly. It may sometime happen that we find affiliate marketing overlapping with some other forms of online marketing because affiliates usually engage them
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selves in regular online advertising methods, which include email marketing, content marketing, paid search engine optimisation and organic search engine optimisation. Affiliate marketing may seem to be similar to referral marketing, but differs in the sense that it completely relies on financial motivation whereas referral marketing relies heavily on trust and relationships. Affiliates contribute to online retailers’ marketing strategies to a great extent.
IIM Shillong
Mark-O-Pedia
October 2018
ToFu, MoFu and BoFu
is the result of the company’s effort in marketing. In this stage, the buyer makes the decision, i.e. is converted. It is a tiny number in comparison with Awareness stage.
These are terms used for Different stages of Marketing Funnel. The Marketing Funnel is a visual tool that helps marketer understand buyer journey from Introduction to the offering to Conversion and Brand Advocacy. The stages of marketing funnel are Awareness, Consideration, Decision and Conversion, Loyalty, and Brand Advocacy.
Advertainment
Advertainment is a portmanteau of advertising and entertainment. Typically Advertainment is done by intertwining advertising and entertainment By Shobhit Chandak Marketing Funnel also helps firms in the form of movies, television sein developing the marketing strategy. ries or songs. A widely used example Each stage’s conversion rate from its previous stage is product placement in movies and songs. is considered and wherever the percentage converted is the least that stage is analysed to find out the Unlike traditional media, the ultimate motive of reason for the same using laddering technique to go Advertainment is to inspire engagement that moves to the crux of the issue and solve the issue so as beyond impressions and engagement but rather Admore number of people go to the next stage vertainment, enable audiences to connect with the brand. ToFu: Top of the Funnel ~ This is the first stage of the marketing funnel, and this stage plans to build A well-known example of Advertainment is the Faawareness about the offering. This stage is for the mous Space jump by stuntman Felix Baumgartner in broadest amount of audience, and the audience in- October 2012. With millions of people watching this cludes buyers, potential buyers and non-buyers of entertainment stunt, Red Bull got everyone’s eyeball the offering. by sponsoring the event. Red Bull, an energy drink often sponsors extreme sports production. MoFu: Middle of the Funnel ~ In this second stage, the audience is much more targeted and the audi- Other examples of Indian Advertainments are Bajaj ence have a higher probability to buy over the pre- Dominar Odyssey, Mountain Dew’s Kangchenjunga vious stage audience. The audience is considering Calling, TVF’s Tripling with Tiago. the offering. Because of its high rate of conversion into brand BoFu: Bottom of the Funnel ~ This stage is of par- evangelist Advertainment is a growing practice in ticular importance to the business, as this stage the field of marketing.
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By vishal gupta | IIM Shillong
Stay Uncle’s new marketing campaign addresses the LGBTQ community’s problems with hotel bookings Stay Uncle, a hotel booking website in India, launched a unique marketing campaign to address the problem of hotel booking for the LGBTQ community. To reach out to the masses and spread awareness about the problem StayUncle created an ad, which showcased a gay couple walking into a hotel to book a room, and how people around judge them. Stay Uncle raised a question to most of the Indian Brands about their stance on the rights of the LGBTQ community.
Vodafone launches Sakhi, urges women not to stop Vodafone Idea has rolled out a mobile based safety service called Sakhi. Designed exclusively for women, the features include emergency alerts, balance and private number recharge for prepaid users. It works across both smartphones and feature-phones. The film conceptualised by Ogilvy urges women to overcome their inhibitions. The protagonist throws up several questions that have stopped her from progressing in life. We used this understanding to dramatize how the product can enable women to navigate everyday challenges with confidence. Sakhi is the reassurance of a friend always by their side.
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Apple regains crown as world’s most valuable brand as Facebook value sinks
Apple has displaced Google as the world’s most valuable brand, according to Interbrand’s 2018 Best Global Brands report, regaining the title it lost last year. According to the ranking, Apple’s brand value grew 16% year on year to $214.5 billion – the first time the $200 billion mark has been surpassed. In second place, Google was up 10% to $155.5 billion, while Amazon, valued at $100.8 billion, retained third place, up 56% and the fastest-growing brand on the list. Microsoft at number four (valued at $92.7 billion) and Coca-Cola ($66.3 billion) complete the top five.
OYO records 73% YOY bookings growth ahead of Christmas, winter vacations As per an analysis by OYO, urban Indians believe in taking short holiday breaks to escape their hectic schedules. OYO has witnessed a 73% YOY growth in bookings ahead of the winter vacations. A majority of these travelers are couples and individuals enjoying short holidays. Ahead of the holiday season, hotel bookings have jumped more than 60% in the top 10 cities over last year. The maximum bookings have emerged for leisure and non-leisure destinations, including Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Shimla.
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