The Marque Magazine: October

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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 July’s edition revolves around the usage of technology and brand advocacy in marketing. The theme gives a sneak peek into the marketing practices of the new age. This edition has a lot under its umbrella, from bringing forward automation, psychology, and a blend of digital and physical experiences while drawing hidden inferences of marketing. 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.

The


CONTENTS 01 Are Consumers Going Numb to Digital Ads?

04 e Moguls of Anti-Competitive Practice

10 Buzzfeed

06 Green Marketing: Marketing for the Good-

14 Ads - The Dynamic Digital Way 17 Marquing The Moments


Are Consumers Going Numb to Digital Ads? Author: Deep Arora Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIMS)

“Inspiration is the most important component of our digital strategy.” A digital advertisement, also called online marketing, Internet advertising, or web advertising, is a type of marketing that utilizes the Internet to deliver marketing messages to consumers. It is an ongoing emerging source of information that expands more and more over time and is growing exponentially in terms of its applications and number of users due to its uniqueness in characteristics of personalization, flexibility and interactivity. It is this versatility that sets the Internet apart from traditional modes of advertising. In this mode, consumers have the flexibility to change their campaign as and when they need to without having to incur additional costs. The Internet has become a major communication and entertainment medium and has in fact begun to replace the traditional mediums that provide entertainment, promotion products, and information. Also, traditional marketing forms, like television, radio, newspaper, magazines, and so on, are disappearing. These days, most businesses and organizations use digital marketing and advertising to improve their overall sales and revenues.

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In today’s world, people ignore, are unresponsive, and are numb to digital ads for multiple reasons. Digital advertising is vastly overrated in terms of effectiveness. According to a study conducted on eBay, the effectiveness of brand search ads is being overestimated by 4,100%. Similar analysis of Facebook ads show up a number of 4,000%. During sales of ad space, sales folks claim that advertisement will create behavioral change - a phenomenon called lift. They support this claim by pointing out that a large number of people have purchased the product after seeing the ad - commonly known as conversion rates.

“It is difficult to feel like marketing when it is at its very best.” For instance, the Yahoo! study found that online display ads actually produced a 5% increase in sales. Almost none of that increase came from loyal, repeat customers: 78% came from people who had never clicked on an ad before, and 93% of sales actually took place in the retailer’s brick-and-mortar stores rather than through direct responses online. This means that the standard model of online ad causality - that viewing leads to clicking, which then leads to purchase - does not accurately describe how ads influence what consumers do.

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These findings may explain why Procter & Gamble and Unilever, the granddaddies of brand marketing, we’re able to improve their digital marketing performance despite reducing their digital advertising budgets. Marc Pritchard, P&G’s Chief Brand Officer, slashed the company’s digital advertising budget by $200 million or 6% in 2017. Unilever’s digital advertising was cut by nearly 30% by the end of 2018, making it the largest cut ever. As a result, P&G achieved organic growth of 7.5% in 2019 and Unilever achieved organic growth of 3.8%. Additionally, both companies increased their media spend from one focused narrowly on frequency - measured in clicks or views - to one focused on reach, the number of consumers they touched. In the past, they contacted some of their customers 10 to 20 times per month with social media ads. There were diminishing returns and possibly some customers were annoyed by this level of bombardment. Therefore, they reduced frequency by 10% and redirected those ad dollars to reach new and infrequent customers who were not seeing ads. Due to the pandemic, some brands halted digital advertisement spending in 2020. In the absence of demonstrable improvements to business outcomes, companies can be very selective about what expenditures are turned back on, since those costs were not contributing to growth anyway. Last but not least, smart advertisers should run more controlled experiments as eBay did in 2012 and determine the portion of digital advertising that drives incremental business outcomes, and the portion that just drives bot activity.


“Innovation is an integral part of your company culture. As consumers transform faster than we are, if you don’t catch up, you will be left behind.”

However, that’s not the end of digital advertising, as its revenue expenditures, as well as its primary source of advertisement, are still on the rise. Companies simply need to be more precise in what they are showing, who they are showing, and how they are showing their advertisements. A well-targeted & oriented digital advertisement leads to a more likely conversion of a customer to a buyer.

“If the content is king conversion is non less than queen.” Since digital ads are sold by the number of clicks, they get, they seem to be better than they really are. Many of these consumers would buy anyway, without a prompt from an advertisement. Nowadays, TV viewers give more importance to the brand ambassador, celebrity, punch line, visual effects, and music in TV ads. Despite diverse uses of the internet and an array of internet advertisements, respondents were less likely to be able to recall having seen the advertisements. In this scenario, internet advertising would be highly unlikely to be reliable. It is important for advertisements to influence consumers’ buying practices.

Advertisements should be accurate, genuine, and serve the informational needs of consumers. To create awareness in the consumers, businesses should use attractive and informative content rather than relying on advertisements to change their perception. Instead, they should use other methods of promoting their products or services to make people aware. By creating awareness and building strong perceptions in the minds of their customers, any company can indirectly change the purchasing behavior of consumers.

“All the doom and gloom are greatly exaggerated. No doubt, things are messed up, but there are opportunities on the horizon.”

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The Moguls of Anti-Competitive Practice Author: Lakshya Choudhary Mahatma Gandhi once remarked,

brought an end to a complaint filed in 1996 on behalf

“The

world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.” The history of the world

is replete with examples of greedy people, parties, associations, and companies, who in their fancy of etching their dominance over the rest, have resorted to the most exploitatively infamous practices ever. As we have often seen, big companies tend to become greedy by suppressing the competition in their industries for larger profits. Anti-competitive behaviour has been extensively used by businesses or governments to curb competition within the markets to generate supernormal profits and deter competitors from the market. One may say competition is a necessity. And we agree because it helps the common people to procure better quality products at judicious prices as companies continuously innovate to maintain their share in the market. But, at the same time, if new competitors are not even given this opportunity by the big companies, the customers end up paying a higher price due to a lack of substitutes. Mergers, cartels, predatory pricing, price fixing, exclusive dealing, and resale price maintenance are some examples of anti-competitive practices. INSTANCES Anti-competitive practices are heavily regulated yet deemed illegal only when it leads to a substantial dampening in competition. This gives a big loophole for big companies to carry out this practice without coming under the microscope of the law. For instance, in May 2003 US credit card companies Visa and MasterCard had agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit by paying US$3 billion. The payment

of five million US merchants and three trade associations. In their contracts, Visa and MasterCard imposed an “honour all cards” duty on retailers, which forced them to accept their debit cards, for them to be able to accept their credit cards. The plaintiffs claimed that Visa and MasterCard exploited their market power in credit cards to force merchants into accepting their debit card services and that the services were being offered at an uncompetitive price, with the card companies looking to monopolize the market for debit cards in the US. This case is significant for other countries, as Visa and MasterCard are global players in the credit card market, accounting for a large share of the worldwide market. The US Department of Justice successfully challenged the Exclusionary Rules adopted by Visa and MasterCard prohibiting any bank issuing a Visa or MasterCard card from issuing the cards of other competitors. In 1996, the European Commission instructed Visa and MasterCard to give up these rules in Europe, through which the consumers benefited. This instance is a reminder to evaluate the effect of exclusionary rules adopted by global joint ventures in worldwide network industries.

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of India (NRAI) has filed additional information with the fair-trade regulator CCI alleging “anti-competitive practices” by Zomato & Swiggy. NRAI pointed out that Zomato and Swiggy are charging a commission in the range of 25 to 35 percent of the order value in 2020-21 with numerous instances of delayed payments by the two aggregators which have affected the entire cash flow of its partners. The two Big Dogs of the Indian Online Food De-

Amazon was caught practicing another anti-competitive behaviour. In 2020, the European Commission charged Amazon for abusing its dominant position to gain an unfair advantage over other competitors stating that it used data on third-party sellers that use its online platform to boost sales of its own-label goods. While the two companies have been opposing an investigation denying any wrongdoing, even Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal insisted that instead of forum shopping, the companies should let the CCI investigate if they were doing honest business, adding that the reluctance showed they weren’t doing it right. CONCLUSION

livery Industry are forcing restaurant partners to give discounts on their platforms to maintain good visibility on the platform. They have shifted the entire cost burden on the restaurants, with threats of delisting the restaurants on refusal to maintain price parity with instances wherein some partners have been expunged from the platform for offering some better rates to consumers than other channels. Another significant occurrence of anti-competitive behaviour involving global giants in the e-commerce market led to CCI ordering a probe against Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India in January 2020, saying it had “prima facie” evidence to begin an investigation under Section 26 (1) of the Competition Act, 2002. This came after trade bodies, such as the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM)- ‘a group representing small and medium business owners in the national capital’, alleged that Amazon India and Flipkart were offering deep discounts— that were predatory in nature—to customers, as well as favourable terms to select sellers, accusing them of anti-competitive practices, predatory pricing and preferential treatment of sellers among others.

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The Indian law has adopted significant measures to keep anti-competitive practices in check. While doing business in India, parties are prohibited from executing anti-competitive agreements. Formulation of The Competition Act, 2002 represents the seriousness of government authorities in promoting fair business. People have a right to better service at better prices; thus, it becomes an imminent function of the authorities to sustain competition, protect the interest of the consumers, and ensure freedom of trade in markets in India.


Green Marketing: Marketing for the Good Prathmesh Galphade Two birds with one stone The growing concern in the consumers about the environment and the harm to it made by the big industries and companies brings us to a great marketing practice which not just improves the brand value of the Company but also significantly contributes in the cause for the protection of the mother nature. Green Marketing is a practice in which brands either manufacture and sell the products/services in an eco-friendly manner or makes a significant contribution to the cause of protection of Nature and advertise and promotes them as an environment pro company. Brand Image

Consumers start feeling that by purchasing the product/service through the company which is involved in green causes they are themselves contributing their share in the good cause. Consistent efforts made by the brand towards environmental and social causes create a place for themselves in the heart of their consumers. A loyal consumer base which not just buys but also promotes the brand. It is like- A person who does good deeds is considered a good person, and who does not want to keep a relationship and to associate with a good person. Practices

Practicing Green Marketing helps brands im- There are many different practices in Green prove their image in the mind of consumers. Marketing, for now, let’s focus on 3 of them:

Source: https://www.agood.com

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1. Green products and raw materials In this type of practice, a company manufactures all its products from environmentally friendly materials and minimizes the use of harsh chemicals, raw materials that are hazardous to the environment. There could be no better example than ‘A Good Company’ who uses this practice very reli-

Patagonia made revenue of $1 Billion approx. in 2017, which was itself a 25% increase from the recent year. The revenue could be even more in the past year (202021). It looks like they are just loved by their customers.

giously. They do not just claim to manufacture the Green Products but also share all the materials used and processes behind it. They sell everything from Eco-friendly pens and notebooks to No-Plastic iPhone Covers. Despite the fierce competition in E-commerce agood. com has achieved a valuation of $5 Million+ (vague), which is an achievement in itself.

vironment than planting a tree. In this ‘Plant Green’ practice, brands plant trees in different manners, some sign a contract of some thousand trees, some themselves take a challenge to plant some fixed number of trees in a specified time and even more interesting and profitable some brands like ‘Mama Earth’ plant a tree for every product a customer buy. Mama Earth does a lot many things in the domain of plastic recycling, eco-friendly products but the most innovative and beneficial way I feel is ‘Planting a Tree for every product brought by the customer, on his/her name, they do not just claim to plant it but rather provides the geographical latitude and longitude so you can trace and visit the tree planted on your name. Under their Plant Goodness initiative, they are planning to Plant around 1 million Trees.

2. Zero Waste and Carbon Neutral Reduction in harmful waste and carbon emissions is directly proportional to preserving the environment. When you say No waste and No Carbon emission, it means No more harm to nature. One such Company, ‘Patagonia’ has aimed to become a Carbon Neutral company by 2025. They also have built repair centers around the world to increase the longevity of their product and lower the carbon footprint which is created while manufacturing new items and thus reducing the waste and carbon emission. Against all the odds and the challenges, they face due to fair trade and environmental policies they are practicing, they are making good in terms of money.

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3. Plant Green There is nothing better you can do to help the en-

When a consumer comes to know that a plant will be planted on his/her name after buying a product, the drive to buy increases and people end up buying even if they feel the product is a little expensive. Not just goodwill, they are also making money. They have a valuation of $730 Million and an annual revenue run rate of around $100 Million despite having competitors selling at very less prices than them.


How you can articulate Green Marketing in your Business? 1.If you are a product company, you may try to use raw materials which are eco-friendly and do not harm mother nature much. The price of the product may increase remarkably and may result in customer loss but in the end, it is your choice to lose existing customers and find new ones or trying some other green marketing practice. 2.You can, like mama earth, promise planting a tree for a purchase that a customer makes or take a target like planting some hundred or thousand trees in 3-5 years. You don’t have to plant a tree yourself. You can just do a contract with companies that provides such services. 3.Improve your manufacturing process to eliminate chemical waste and other wastes that could be harmful to nature. This will be again expensive to carry out but will lead to enhanced product and improved brand image.

4. No Plastic usage. You could promote No Plastic usage and start using other materials for packaging, shipment, etc., and can make customers believe that you are contributing to the cause for better surrounding and lifestyle. 5. Renewable energy usage. By reducing or eliminating the use of energy that produces carbon and switching to the better form of energy sources like solar energy, wind energy or even bio-fuel will help you stand as an environment concerned brand. 6. Donate if you cannot do the other things well. Even if you are not able to practice other things you can just donate a sum of money to other organizations that are working towards the betterment of mother nature. 7. Green Packaging- If not anything from the above 6 things, you can at the least start using green color in the product packaging.

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There is no guarantee in this that customer will perceive you as a green enthusiast brand but a chance is there that some group of people will feel that you are an eco-friendly brand.

for doing wrong practices that are hazardous to nature. It’s the work of the government and Environment organizations to make them

There is nothing very eco-friendly about this soap but it will for sure appeal to some as if it’s organic soap (eco-friendly). Things to remember while practicing Green Marketing Be Vocal Do Green Marketing and not just green practices. If you do everything well but no one knows then it’s not Marketing. Green Marketing is about making people aware of your efforts and creating a brand image around environment enthusiasts and not just doing good green practices.

accountable for their deeds but not yours. Do as much you can do without asking other people and competitors what they have done. Happy Green Marketing

Don’t Cheat If you will cheat, one day, if not today or tomorrow, you will lose all your credibility. Tell consumers only what you have done honestly with proofs and don’t create things you have not done. In this era of information and technology, it’s not hard to trace a lie. The more transparent you are the more are your chances of success in the long term. Don’t Criticize While showing your goodness don’t blame other people, organizations, industries, etc.

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Source: https://www.google.com/


#BUZZFEED #BUZZFEED

ZEE - SONY Zomato offersMerger Rs. 25 lakh for consumer created ad

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and Sony Pictures Networks India have enteresd into a non-binding term sheet to combine both companies’ linear networks, digital assets, production operations, and program liabilities.

Zomato is proofwill thatbethey can intoentity. a superThe innovative marketing campaign. Punit Goenka CEO &turn MD criticism of combined merged entity will be a publiclyAfter listedconcomsumers. After consumers expressed their growing boredom with Zomato’s monotonous YouTube and pany in India. Alongside the merger shareholderxs of Sony will also infuse $1.575 billion in the entity, TV ads,will some users tookshareholders to social media to criticize butter chicken ad. However, Zoamtowill which give Sony’s 52.93% stake inZomato’s the merged company while Zee shareholders seems to have played its cards well by coming up with a smart idea to help it come up with funiscamhold 47.07% of the entity. Currently 96.01% of Zee shareholding is public while 3.99% share held by paigns while engaging with their customers. its promoters. The firmZee went out, proclaiming that the ads do than suck.Sony, So now, it has opened floor forfrom creative While hasalla larger network viewership share it derives most of the its strength ideas fromgeneral customers. What waschannels commendable apartSony fromhas theanovel idea, they also regional entertainment (GEC)was andthat, movies. stronger foothold onshared Hindi the feeling with their customers that made them win many hearts. GEC and sports segments.

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#BUZZFEED

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Source: https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/


#BUZZFEED

Exit of Ford Motors from India Ford Motors, one of the first global carmakers to enter the Indian market, has chosen to quit India after only 25 years of operations. While models like as the Ikon, Endeavour, and EcoSport were huge successes, others such as the Mondeo and Fusion did not fare as well. The firm has incurred operational losses in excess of $2 billion (Rs 14,600 crore), and demand for its automobiles was low. The market share of the company is still 1.8 per cent. According to Ford India CEO Anurag Mehrotra, the company was unable to establish a viable route to long-term profitability. Ford will close its Sanand (Gujarat) factory by the fourth quarter of 2021, and its Chennai plant will cease car manufacture while engineering by 2022. However, Ford will continue to sell vehicles in India through imports, and media sources indicate that several high-end models, including as the Mustang Mach-e, Mustang, and Ranger, would be imported. Ford will also continue to help dealers in their efforts to service existing customers. The decision will have an impact on around 4,000 of its employees. Before Ford, American company General Motors (GM) and the American motorcycle company Harley-Davidson exited the Indian markets. In September last year, Harley-Davidson announced the closure of its production facility in Bawal, Haryana, in addition to significantly reducing the size of its sales operations in Gurgaon.

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#BUZZFEED

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Ads - The Dynamic Digital Way Author: Alipriya Ghosh Gone are the days when a 30 minutes TV show was accompanied by 8 minutes of Advertisement and that was the way of life. Sometimes it was the same few Ads on repeat and if they were made right, even re-watching them or singing along with their songs gave us happiness. The Vodafone Pug Ad or the Dairy Milk 2-in-1 Ad is memorable till day.

In today’s era of Auto Correct and Reels our attention span is lower than ever. We skip theme songs and movie credits just because we have the option. Ad Blockers have made the task easier. There are people who have purchased Spotify Premium not for better Audio Quality or more options, but just to skip Ads. People all over the world had to increase their time on the internet especially Post Covid, with an average of 8 hours. Ads are also being particularly designed for Digital Platforms with shorter and catchier content, sometimes being only images. On Instagram, every third or fourth story is an Ad. Digital Advertisement can mainly be divided into: Social Media Being the most popular among youth, these are the Ads which we see while scrolling through social media. Often being related to our search history, these have the highest engagement rates. Video Ads These are the Ads before YouTube and Facebook videos which we almost always skipped. Display Ads These types of Ads appear at the top, on the side, and in the middle of web content on almost every website. Display Ads are known for their effectiveness they reach more than 90% of people who surf the internet. The other types of Display Ads include Audio, Mobile, Email and Paid Search Ads. Ads

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According to IPG, 65% of people skip video ads, and they do so the first chance they get. What’s more, not all users do it because they want to skip the particular ad. As many as 76% disclosed that they tend to skip ads out of habit.

themselves, proves to be annoying. Sometimes it is not about your mood but the time of the day. Furthermore, imagine you are all set to watch the latest Avengers: Endgame trailer, you’re bound to skip the Ad displayed before.

Why do People skip Ads?

Even if we do not skip the Ad, do we actually pay attention?

Ads that introduce the brand too early tend to kill the curiosity: The idea is to create a stellar first impression but to not reveal which brand it is or which new product the Ad is talking about. A common trick used for engagement is to start with a question or a story which the audience can’t help but watch unfold. Your Need is already met: If you were looking for a new Laptop and you’ve already purchased it, you might not be interested in laptops anymore. Thanks to Cloud computing you will still be shown similar Ads until you start searching extensively for another product. Too oo out of the box is too risky: A quirky new Ad with brilliant storytelling might hit home for some but not for the mass. Fair and Lovely Ads are popular among people who are looking for fairness creams but they are often criticized by a large number of viewers. Sometimes it is not the Ad: It was found that the sight of watching too many happy, often artificially sweet people in the first few seconds of an ad, especially when the viewer is not in a good mood

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71% of Indians over the age of 15 are non-vegetarian. Licious, which launched in 2015, has capitalized on the strong demand of meat and fish in India. After a series of successes, it has come up with a new brand campaign. Created in collaboration with Ogilvy, the campaign portrays the emotions a delicious meat dish evokes from meat lovers. These are such Ads which can’t be skipped and leaves you with a feel good factor. The presence and sales of Licious have increased manifolds thereafter.


The films take a light-hearted approach, showing how great quality meat and seafood wins heart every time. Collaborating with a lot of known faces like Anil Kapoor and Dhruv Sehgal, the campaign sees manifestation through digital films, print ads and regional TVCs other than its ramification across all brand assets. The bottom line So, not only are our attention spans dwindling, but many people, are multi-tasking which further decreases the attention on each task.

There is no denying that attention is now a scarce commodity. For brands, even the short engagements are important. According to Nielsen Research, 25% of purchase intent result from video impressions that are less than two seconds long. As a marketer, if you play your cards right, you can make the most out of those quick engagements to help you get the results that you want.

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M M

Marque - The Marketing club, IIM Rohtak

THE

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 : Niribili, Priya, Thiviya DESIGN : Chetna FOLLOW US ON :


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