FROM THE EDITOR I am glad that the marketing club got the opportunity to use its monthly magazine as a platform for all the young marketing enthusiasts who are curious to let out their views on various topics. It gives me immense pleasure to write this message as Editor of this unique edition of the magazine. The theme of December’s edition revolves around the usage of concepts like Advertising, Pop culture in marketing and understanding of India’s competitiveness in the International fruits market. This edition has a lot under its umbrella, from doing a thorough analysis of various hidden inferences of marketing and consumer approaches to reinstating brands’ latest buzz. I extend my warmest gratitude to all the authors for their interest, enthusiasm, and well-documented submissions of excellent articles and participation in this magazine’s building. I firmly believe that no matter how your magazine is delivered; either at your doorstep or to your computer, printed on glossy stock or on cheap tabloid paper, appearing on your iPad or your cell phone screen, it is still the work of an editorial team for a discerning audience, a beautiful and meaningful (we hope) package of ideas, words and images put together by a group of experts for its readers. While technology efficiently delivers new stories to our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, magazines are all about context – how ideas and images are presented in relation to one another and spanning a broader perspective. We, the editors, will always strive to keep you engaged.
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CONTENTS 01 Is old still gold in the world of advertising?
05 How India Can be a ompetitive Player in the International Fruits Market 13 Buzzfeed
07 International Outlook on Indian Tea and Marketing Strategies to Increase Turnover 17 Incorporating Pop Culture into Marketing
19 Marquing The Moments
IS OLD STILL GOLD IN THE WORLD OF ADVERTISING?
The consequences of going against the masses might prove to be more fruitful than you think. Srivibhu Timmaraju GLIM, Chennai Advertisement fatigue is the phenomenon of dilution of lead-generation and reduction in customer engagement due to repetition or lack of content in the propagated message. A prime example of this in the field of television advertisements would be the ones put out by AXE deodorants. Their main theme was that men (especially young men) would attract women if they used their perfumes. Although the ad worked initially, with other companies even adopting this marketing strategy, it soon became stale and overused to the point where people stopped paying attention to it, with the common sentiment going along the lines of “not this again�. An example of ad fatigue in the field of online advertising would be the notorious pop-up ads, universally despised to a point where people admit to installing ad blocking software just to get some respite from them, whether on YouTube or their favourite news website.
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While it has been noted, for example, that blacks relate more to advertisements featuring other blacks in them, on the other hand they relate more to whites in advertisements when compared to, let’s say latinos, in the same advertisements. The need to represent these segments has been noticed by companies and they are earnestly toiling away to make these segments feel included and represented appropriately.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR), one of the major sources of revenue for modern companies, falls drastically when ad fatigue occurs. Subsequently, a drastic reduction in Return-On-Investment (ROI) occurs. Even though pop-up ads are one of the most effective ways to attract a large number of eyeballs over a period of time, they are usually unable to get results because of the lack of relatability and their failure to cash in on the key concepts of sparking interest, which is content that is both meaningful and fascinating. However, in the modern world, the definition of what is meaningful and what is fascinating is changing rapidly, with every person having a different and unique perspective as to what they find appealing. Highly exclusive, personal advertising was thus born, but is it actually unique for everyone, or does it tell another story? The modus operandi of any company is to capitalize on its existing market segment and expand to other market segments outside its range of operations, without compromising on its existing segments. However, there has been an increasing deviation of almost all companies from the Nash Equilibrium, with more and more ads catering to previously uncatered to segments. Studies have shown that minorities tend to associate more with brands that show minorities themselves. To market products to these segments, companies have started employing actors that belong to these ethnicities in their advertisements. However, there has been a backlash effect that has been overlooked.
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However, due to the highly opinionated and volatile culture that has permeated through today’s society, it is increasingly difficult to find a formula that works, as more and more issues have been cropping up that have previously been either overlooked or not anticipated at all in the first place. The largest segment of any company’s customer base usually ingratiates itself into the company’s ecosystem and would not really bother with the ethnicity/class being portrayed in advertisements, as long as the company does not change its product drastically. With an increasing number of words being termed offensive including terms like ‘picnic’, along with their usage being severely discouraged, the safest bet for any advertising agency is to try and cater to segments that will not be controversial in the current climate. This has however led to a loop back to where it all started, with the age-old sex-related and death-related advertisements dominating the markets, just with minorities/interracial/ actors in them. Even though the trends are similar, and there is
immediate backlash as soon as the ads drop, there is always some kind of reported increase in sales. The same ads which were deemed as overused and uninteresting have now again found themselves in the limelight, but with different actors. Countries like India are susceptible to the trickle down effect, where trends being experimented upon in developed countries, mostly in the west, gradually morph and find their way into the Indian markets, with tweaks and changes wherever required, taking into account the culture and sensitivities of the population. India does not have a race-based system, so the race-based advertisements of the west have been replaced by caste-based systems. This brings into play the concept of a creative stranglehold, as advertising agencies are in a fix, as experimenting might lead to humongous negative revenues, as well as a negative brand image, accompanied by, worst of all, losing market share to competitors. So companies all over the world have adopted a rinse and repeat mantra of implementing the same methods as they had in the past with minor changes, but always managing to portray the under-represented in the advertisements.
solid plan in place and a good marketing team that can influence and gauge the moods of the masses, action can then be taken accordingly with no apparent side-effects. Considering the short lifespan of the internet where people are bombarded with content everyday, the chances of them forgetting about supposedly controversial ads is also very high, in the end with them either not caring or simply forgetting what the ad was all about, and why they were offended by it. Larger companies have leveraged this and have managed to turn a tidy profit as well as include alien segments into their folds. Smaller companies should try and learn from their larger counterparts, and try applying strategies that include all of the aspects that the larger companies are applying, but with all the appropriate changes based on scale and reach.
The ideas for the ads of the modern era are hardly new, but they are somehow gaining popularity with increases in customer segments and increases in sales, a case worthy of notice. It is important to have a well thought out strategy in place and the coffers to weather through the forecasted almost certain negative downturn in revenue in the immediate future, as soon as the ad drops. More and more companies, from Gillette to Nike, have deviated from their usual customer base, even going so far as to berate them, and have seen large profits in the long run, with Nike even bagging a 31% increase in sales on Labour Day after it put out the ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. It is risky to move forward in this climate as the opportunity cost of such a bold step is too high, however it seems to have worked out for many companies who dared to take the step forward and venture into unknown territory. If there is a
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How India Can be a Competitive Player in the International Fruits Market Attiso Bhowmick University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore When the horticultural sector is considered at par with the industrial sector with its 30 percent share in the nation’s GDP, it may come as a surprise to know that the international export of fruits is not a major source of revenue for the country. After being amply blessed with its rich agroclimatic diversity, India’s climate provides an intrinsic potential to grow a wide rage of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate fruit crops across the subcontinent. With the vegan lifestyle becoming popular in the west, it seems to be a prime time for India to strengthen its fruits exports.
Constraints for Fruit Export
Gaining a competitive advantage in the global markets is crucial to a country that is a major fruit producer. While the studies show a healthy and steady growth in domestic fruit production over the last years (Figure 1), India’s contribution to the global market still remains a meagre one percent. For instance, while India holds the position of the largest banana producer in the world,
it doesn’t share a place among the top exporters globally. So, where lies the shortcomings? The dominant reason why Indian fruits fail to make an impact on the global fruit market is the dearth of standard protocols for post-harvest processing, and the supporting infrastructure and logistics to handle the large produce. The supply chain in in the horticulture industry is highly decentralized. This results in lack of adequate regulations on the production of high
quality fruits pertaining to international standards. There is very little consistency between the supply and quality. The post-harvest technologies are not developed enough to handle the stringent quality checks in the foreign market. Limited capacity of warehouses and overall lack of technical support results in significant wastages and deteriorating quality of the produce.
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Potential Solutions
However, the vast array of complex constraints is hardly an excuse, to not scale-up India’s position in the global fruits industry. Usage of targeted products can be the primary focus to gain production advantage for specific products. Efforts are required to change the fruit industry from supply-based to demand-based. Introduction of disruptive innovations in processed fruit products, like frozen fruits and fruit juices, can offer a competitive asset in terms of pricing. Currently the network of exporters is highly decentralized and there is no direct link between the producers and the exporters. Institutionalizing the scattered network of exporters and correspondingly setting up of associated infrastructure for quality control, sample testing for optimum TSS content, and certification following international norms can significantly increase the volume of exports. Amendments of the APMC Acts to better strengthen the farmer-exporter relationship can result in better quality produce. Unfortunately, the fruits export doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. The export percentages of other processed foods, like meat and fish products, are far higher and also continue to increase at a high rate (Figure 2) when compared to the fruits export. This causes India to lose a potential advantage in international fruit markets, where it already has a niche for superior exports, if properly developed. A suitable farm size is required to consistently maintain a suitable quality and adhere to standard management practices. Small land holdings lead to lesser returns and thus decreases the quality of the overall crop. As a result, productivity becomes low which increases the cost of production and reduces the profits.This causes an erratic trend in case of export of fruits (Figure 3), although the production of fruits domestically follows a steady growth trend.
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Conclusion
Excelling in the International Fruits Market offer better trade alternatives for diversification of Indian Agriculture as a whole. This can serve as dual benefits of reviving India’s position as a key exporter and can also serve as a source of more income for the farmers, thus paving the way for sustainable rural development. This can serve a key role to boost the country’s revenue and bottleneck the adverse economic effects of the post-pandemic recession. At a time when India is deeply involved in an agrarian crisis, it seems that strengthening India’s position as a Global Fruit Bowl can shift the paradigm for a better look more towards an international outlook.
International Outlook on Indian Tea and Marketing Strategies to Increase Turnover Prasanna Venkatesan Kirupapuri IPE, Hyderabad “Marketers are like eagles”. They need to search every corner to find whether any opportunity exist to expand their business. India ranks 2nd position of global tea production and exports after China. China is facing loss in its tea business due to COVID19. Countries like India, USA and many more have cancelled their trade agreements with China. If it is disadvantage for China, then its is an advantage for Indian tea industries to expand their tea business internationally to increase their turnover.
Introduction:
Production:
Conditions to grow:
Cost of production of coffee is higher than tea, as cost of a cup of tea is Rs.5 compared with coffee which is Rs.8. (Finance perspective)
India’s tea production has been increased by nearer Anyone in this world would have tasted a cup of to 4% during 2019. tea at least once in their life time. In the beverages, tea and coffee form the perfect substitutes. Reasons for growth: Discovered about 2700 BC, it is one of the oldest The buyers are choice oriented who always wanted beverages in the world. to enjoy different flavours like green tea, black tea, mint tea etc. (Marketing perspective) On hearing the fact from WHO that consuming coffee might be the reason for colon cancer, The main determinant for the growth is demand and many people have started preferring tea over the analysis indicated that both black and green tea coffee. are price inelastic. (Economic perspective) The tea crop can be cultivated only in tropical and sub-tropical climates. a)Temperature: 10.C – 30.C b)Minimum annual precipitation: 1250 mm c)Preferably acidic soils, ideally 0.5-10-degree slopes and elevations up to 2000 meters.
The area for cultivation also has been increased to 6,36,557.07 hectares from the states like Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka.
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Figure 1.1, Source: Author Contribution
Figure 1.2, Source: Author Contribution
Figure 1.3, Source: Author Contribution
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Export Trade: India produces a finest tea which is demanded all over the world. India stands in the 2nd position after China globally in the highest tea exporting countries. The main reason is, India offers high quality special teas (Assam tea, Darjeeling tea and Orthodox, Nilgiris) that have distinctive aroma, strength, colour and flavour.
India earned Rs.5,506.84 crores from its export trade on tea in the year 2018-2019. Overall, India’s contribution towards the total tea export among the world is 12.6%. In 2018-2019 India has exported tea to more than 24 countries. Due to heavy demand for Indian Tea in Russia, Russian government is ready to have a joint venture with India.
Figure 1.4, Source: Author Contribution
Figure 1.5, Source: Author Contribution
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Figure 1.6, Source: Author Contribution Indian Tea VS Chinese Tea
Both the teas are grown in Himalayas, but they differ in taste due to brewing methods. India uses Camelia sinensis var assamica for tea production (Darjeeling – sinensis tea plant, Assam – assamica tea plant) and China uses Camellia sinensis var sinensis for tea production. India uses a standard western brewing technique whereas Chinese prefer short multiple steeping method. China is the main producer of white tea which is made with pure buds. However, the same buds are available in India too.
Forth coming export trade opportunities in COVID19 scenario:
Chinese tea has heavy demand in European countries followed by United States and Japan. But now China is facing a shortage in its export as many countries including USA have cancelled trade agreements with China. Hence the export of the tea is reduced in China. India being next to China has high chances to acquire the Chinese’s position and can expand its export business on tea by trying to conquer the Chinese share, so that along with the existing demand the total demand for tea from
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India increases.
Marketing Research:
A marketing research has been carried out to know the export trade opportunities for Indian tea companies to sell tea in abroad countries.
Highlights of the research
1.To find whether new marketing opportunities are there. – Marketer Issue 2.To identify new market opportunities in abroad countries. – Main Objective 3.Feedbacks of the buyers/consumers. - Primary Data 4.Reports from Agricultural department on exports - Secondary Data 5.Study was done in Canada, USA, London, Europe, Australia - Location 6.No of samples taken – 157 7.Study covered all the people who drink tea. - People 8.Tata tea, Broke Bond tea, Lipton tea - Top players t taken for research purpose 9.Questions were related to the In dian tea with the parameters like frequency, reason, knowledge.
Analysis from the research:
market. •Heavily advertise and promote the product to Majority of the people in abroad prefer quality and price as most important factors for buying tea. increase its brand image. They consume at least once in a day tea; they have •Initially while selling, frequent discounts must be knowledge and they are willing to taste Indian tea if given to boost up the sales as the majority of the buyers in the market are discount oriented. new company ventures into their city.
Requirements to have a good export trade:
•Produce a high quality of tea •Find the proper source to enter into the foreign market to have an export trade. Initially it can be either franchising or direct exporting •Segment the product to the countries where Chinese exports are high and target NRI first in those countries. Position the product as high-quality normal price product. •Follow penetration pricing strategy since tea is a necessity good and also a new product in that
Verdict:
This is the right time for Indian tea industries to expand their market in abroad countries as Chinese tea production and export has become low and many countries have cancelled their trade agreements with China. If India changes its brewing method and with the buds of white tea if it starts white tea cultivation, then in the present situation India will have more demand for tea export world-wide.
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#BUZZFEED #BUZZFEED
Paytm’s New Year Reaffirmation Paytm has launched an uplifting social film as part of its new “#Har Ghar ka, Desh bhar ka – Paytm, Proudly Indian” campaign to highlight how the company has stood by every Indian in a year filled with difficulties. It reaffirms Paytm’s commitment to support all fellow citizens as the nation enters 2021.
Zomato offers Rs. 25 lakh for consumer created ad
It shows glimpses of a host of products and services offered by Paytm that uses digital technology to improve the lives of every Indian. This includes instant money transfers through the Paytm app which remains among the quickest, safest and easiest ways to directly send and receive money into one’s bank accounts with a simple, few clicks. The innovative Paytm Soundbox and Paytm All-inOne is QR products are also in the film, acting as crucial toolsmarketing to supportcampaign. and expand the conbusiness Zomato proof that they can seen turn criticism into a super innovative After of merchants, both small and large. sumers. After consumers expressed their growing boredom with Zomato’s monotonous YouTube and TV ads, some users took to social media to criticize Zomato’s butter chicken ad. However, Zoamto From supporting fight well against the spread coronavirus andtohelping havefun been affectseems to have played the its cards by coming up of with a smart idea help it those come who up with camed the most by the pandemic to continuously providing the best-in-class digital solutions to Indians, paigns while engaging with their customers. Paytm has aimed to support India and its citizens repeatedly in 2020. Over the year, it distributed 10 andout, handwashes, 4 lakh over 30 products frontline workers Thelakh firmsoaps went all proclaiming that masks the adsand do suck. Solakh now,hygiene it has opened thetofloor for creative and those that might not have the means to buy them. It also served over 4.4 million meals to daily ideas from customers. What was commendable was that, apart from the novel idea, they also shared wage earners in Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai, apart from a number of simithe feeling with their customers that made them Hyderabad, win many hearts. lar activities.
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#BUZZFEED
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#BUZZFEED
Mother Dairy’s Rocket Campaign Mother Dairy Ice Creams has launched its latest campaign for Rocket ice cream chocolate in collaboration with Wavemaker and RED FM. As part of their campaign, radio jockeys interacted with Neila, the alien brand mascot of Mother Dairy’s Rocket Ice Cream chocolate and invited the listeners to share their pictures with the newly launched product on social media with the hashtag #RockItWithRocket to win hampers.
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#BUZZFEED
As part of thier consumer engagement initiative, they have launched the campaign on social media to strengthen Neila’s connect with the consumers. The campaign is duly building up the momentum by engaging consumers from all spheres and they believe that their consumers will find the new range truly exciting and delightful. “Our work remains as innovative as our customers and partners. Adaptive marketing is all about brands that embrace the popular culture and effortlessly become a part of it. Neila is a playfully creative way to use meme marketing to break through the noise and make the brand appealing to the company�, said Karthik Nagarajan, chief content writer of Wavemaker.
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Incorporating Pop Culture into Marketing Aayushi Naik Goa University
Ever since internet took over, it opened doors to a plethora of opportunities in terms of marketing. The humongous platform fostering every possible mode of entertainment provided the much needed polishing for the branding team’s creative hats. How? Pop Culture, “the craze is real”- if I have to subsume some millennial lingo right in here. From web series to memes to comic stand-ups and more, the vast expanse of the internet literally catered to what most of us believe are ingredients to the ultimate recipe of being at par with the world. Pop culture under its mammoth umbrella encompasses topics that range from music, art, fashion, film, television, cyber culture to just name a few from top of the list. Marketing wizards scaled the scope of the popularity of various entertainment mixes and gave life to it as a part of their marketing campaign. More often than not we see catchphrases, quotes and references from viral content assimilated into various campaigns. Big brands such as H&M and Nike amongst others are known to curate merchandise and release content revolving around popular fandom culture, such as series from the popular OTT platform Netflix. A lot of sports teams resorted to dropping videos themed around TV shows that garnered much public affection such as Major League Baseball Teams creating a buzz around the much celebrated show “Game of Thrones”. A lot of apps such as Swiggy (food delivery app) alongside its rival app Zomato have levelled up off late and are often seen contriving notifications and making announcements using humour derived from viral memes and other well received internet content. New era entrepreneurs have ventured into creative hospitality by erecting cafes and spaces drawing heavy inspiration from the very intriguing pop culture. The places are a common sight in many cities harbouring young crowd in large numbers. The interiors are adorned with funky posters, musings and wordings engraved or stuck as well as symbolic artefacts.
The intention behind devising such strategies is to try and serve what the target section is looking for. A lot of brands tasted much desired success after they believed in the significance of pop culture. It’s a well conceived fact that people as consumers have higher chances of being captivated by grabbing hold of their ultimate “fan-girl/boy elements” and exploiting the same to the fullest. Today we see the widespread influence of similar tastes owing to the inordinate internet backing, and it’s the best time than ever to cling onto it and escalate. Something growing progressively popular is the obsession of people, particularly the young blood towards owning merchandise which depicts traces of something they are a fan of. The giveaway tactics took front seat off recent as people would love to own wares- more so when given for free. This encouraged a lot of brands to collaborate with pop culture faces and announce pompous giveaways as well as a chance to meet the on screen heroes. The faces associated with these gimmicks need not necessarily be the brand ambassadors for the brand but widely voguish. This is probably one of those techniques that can be easily dubbed as immortal. Unless the world goes to live under a rock there is quite an inferior chance of not keeping up with the globe. As long as the entertainment industry will burgeon, the influx of creative ideas will sustain. More and more brands join in the wagon and success rates speak for the prodigious response. It just goes on to show that this method is well received and holds the power to allure an entire lot of people. Although, there is a fair chance of an entire structure going deplorably wrong. . Humour is of course subjective and something which may be received as fun
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and games by a section of people might be termed atrocious by few others. Supermodel Kendall Jenner saw herself amidst widespread outrage after she featured in an ad campaign for Pepsi which drew inspiration from the much talked about social issue – racism. An issue which has been a much heated topic and has seen a frequent mention in various arenas of the pop culture. Though the brand maintained that their intentions were far from malice, they had to take the ad off air and publicly apologise. This is one of the many incidents wherein a miscalculation led to image of both, the brand and the corresponding individual or a theme getting hurt. The damage done can hold great volumes as there are dual players subjected to derogation. The public can be so infuriated that they can potentially move and boycott brands regardless of their multilevel presence. The same internet which endorses the pop culture also presents a platform to throw it under the bus. In today’s day and
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age when any piece of information travels like wildfire within fraction of seconds, every move by those in marketing must be a well calculated one. As much as companies are engulfed by this juggernaut harbouring the many facets of pop culture, it only makes sense for them to be really sure of the content that they put out for consumption. Having said that, they can usually not entirely anticipate how well their matter will go with the potential consumer base. A lot of brands have managed to successfully please people at large if not all. There is always going to be a disparity in the acceptance of marketing campaigns owing to the 7 billion tastes dangling across the globe. So when we adopt the task of marketer it is probably a tough deal to mould an idea into a strategy to uphold success and as consumers it is a tougher deal to make a decision to either retaliate or make peace with an idea that doesn’t align with our thoughts.
M M
Marque - The Marketing club, IIM Rohtak
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ARQUING OMENTS
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MARQUE - THE MARKETING CLUB INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ROHTAK
marketingclub@iimrohtak.ac.in
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the stake holders of IIM Rohtak EDITOR : Hassan Ahmed DESIGN : Divya Yadav FOLLOW US ON :