Marque - The Marketing Club, IIM Rohtak - November'19

In September 2018, when Nike released its ‘Woke’ campaign featuring the American football quarterback and poli cal ac vist Colin Kaepernick, it managed to evoke strong reac ons from across the socio-poli cal spectrum. Kaepernick had pioneered the American na onal anthem protests in 2016 when he decided to ‘kneel down’ during the an Americans. Thus, by choosing Kaepernick as the face of its campaign, Nike took a clear stand on an issue which appealed to its millennial customers.

However, the million-dollar ques on, quite literally in this context, is ‘Was it worth the risk?”

To answer this, let us delve into a few fundamental factors which have and have not worked for different woke marke ng campaigns in recent past.

Alignment with customer values:

Nike’s woke adver sement was not well received by everyone. Soon a er its launch, the campaign faced backlash in the form of social media videos showing people burning their Nike shoes. If that wasn’t enough, President Trump weighed in with his tweet that said: “Nike is ge ng absolutely killed with anger and boyco s.”

So was Nike’s woke campaign a failure? Not Really.

According to a report by Edison Trends, in the days following the Kaepernick commercial, Nike’s online sales grew by 31 % over the previous year during the Labor Day weekend period, compared to a 17 % increase in 2017. Moreover, the following weeks saw Nike’s stock price reach an all- me high on the New York Stock Exchange.

So, how do we explain this paradox?

The answer lies in the fact that Nike’s core demographic does not comprise the old conserva ve white Americans who were at the forefront of the protests against the Kaepernick campaign. Instead, the company’s target skews towards a young, liberal and racially diverse market which is not only ‘woke’ towards the cause of ‘Black Lives Ma er’ but also more likely to buy a new pair of Nike sneakers.

Telling the right story:

Another intriguing marke ng campaign that led to

sement based on toxic-masculinity and the ‘#MeToo’ movement. Facing increased compe on from low-cost millennial-focused brands like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club, Gille e aimed to shi its brand percep on among the youth by going from “The best a man can get” to “The best a man can be”.

So just like Nike, Gille e had its target market, and the corresponding woke alignment figured out. But unlike Nike, it could never a ract a boost in sales.

On the contrary, the Gille e commercial went onto become the 3rd most disliked video in the history of YouTube. Even if we acknowledge the difference in the purchase-behaviours of customers for sneakers and razors, the campaign can s ll not be called a success.

So, what did Gille e get wrong? The storytelling.

While Nike’s message to customers was upli ing, that of Gille e can easily be perceived as accusatory. As marketers, we need to acknowledge that even the most woke customers may not accept a brand telling them how they should and should not conduct their masculinity or femininity. Such moral authority is s ll reserved for ins tu ons like religion, family and close communi es. So even though the underlying message of the Gille e campaign was aligned with its customer values, the storytelling shows an overes ma on of its ‘woke capital’.

Building Credibility:

Market research definitely shows that the majority of young customers are belief-driven and thus keen on seeing brands take a stance on ma ers of public interest. However, in their race to become woke, brands cannot afford to appear opportunis c or insensi ve to complex societal problems. The Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner which was eventually pulled by the company a er draw-

considera ons. To earn the millennial’s trust, it is also important that companies approach woke from more than just a marke ng perspec ve. Staff representa on and inclusion, assigning the role of a ‘Chief Diversity Officer’, direct financial contribu ons and relevant CSR ac vi es are the ways in which companies can build a holis c and credible woke presence in today’s world.

In conclusion:

with the shi of purchasing power into the hands of millennials, businesses will look to capitalize on the ‘woke’ quo ent of their customers. But as seen from the recent campaigns, like any marketing strategy, ‘woke is worth’ only if it is done right.

Instagram recently announced that it was introducing its hidden count’s feature to its biggest market- United States. For those who don’t know about this Instagram had in May this year announced that it would hide counts on all posts from your followers and tested it on Canada and then expanded into other countries like Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. The reason for this extraordinary move, as explained by Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri was to maintain mental well-being and preserve social media for its sole purpose – connec ons, conversa ons and a community.

In this ar cle, I analyse the implica ons of this move both from an individual’s perspec ve as well as what it means for businesses and influencer marketing and the ways we move forward.

Firstly, my personal opinion is the fact that ‘like’ counts from individual posts have been hidden from Instagram is the right way and also the point rather than just hiding likes, social media channels should remove them altogether, and consequently, this update should be rolled out worldwide across all social media channels.

Think about it for a minute. Every me a person posts on social media he is presen ng and cura ng his best self, he/she is anxious about the number of likes and engagement the post gets, or he/she is constantly watching or checking and comparing these counts with their friends or followers. Ul mately, this may lead to massive anxiety and even depression triggered due to falling short of one’s own percep ons and expecta ons of acceptability in social media. Social media has made the inevitable possible – “Tying our whole self-esteem to a few metrics driven by others” and make ourselves present “The Perfect Life of Myself”. In such a situa on, social media pos ng has become more like a pressurizer than just a way to share and communicate with your known ones.

How o en have we heard the phrase “Oh, that guy or girl appears or is so different on real than what we saw on Facebook or Instagram.” Well, on reality, the person may be the same but what he/she has posted adheres to the general acceptability/likeabil-

ity bucket on social media.

No one will like a passionate post by a person, which falls outside these boundaries.

The result, a person begins losing his/her individuality and starts following the crowd. This is what widens the gap between the actual and the presented self. In addi on to that, there can be a wrong persona of the person created in social media itself by the analy cs algorithms, which will lead to wrongful targe ng of marke ng communica ons.

All of this is rooted in the metrics based features of social media. Once you remove that people are no longer bound by the thought process – “Will this post get likes” or “Should I post this?” What it will do is that people will start pos ng about what they really feel and are really passionate about, stop unhealthy comparisons and what we will ul mately have are more authen c and genuine conversa ons in social media. Moreover, there is evidence for this – The Stories feature on social media – Introduced more than a couple of years back, the story pos ngs by individuals have overtaken all forms of posts.

Individuals share and express away more freely and now have 450 million daily posts across all channels.

Thus, a post with no public engagement counts will go a long way to ensure more alignment of the real and the digital self.

Now I come to the second part of my analysis. If Instagram removes counts, what does it mean for brands? What does it mean for influencers who have built up their business models basis their post likings, engagements and followers? Some cri cs say that this is the death of influencer marke ng.

However, it is not so. Some of the most prominent Instagram influencers like Kim Kardashian West, CardiB have come out in open support for the move.

However, there is a legi mate concern that if likes are not publicly visible, how do brands decide which influencers to work with? What is the credibility here? This is where influencer-marke ng pla orms with analy cs tools will add value and help brands in

their decisions. The influencer may con nue to analyse their content through the app-developed analytics made available to them. These may be analysed through either the pla orms or screenshots and informa on can be uploaded to be visible by brands themselves. There will be newer metrics, for evalua ons such as swipe-up rates, clicks, view-through rates etc. The ques on is also not just about engagement and reach but brands building long-term rela onships with influencers and moving beyond the metrics. The key is that now there will be more on-brand content crea on and a more authen c follower engagement to look forward as influencers will too not compete and worry about these metrics and have more to offer as their crea ve outbound communica on. This has the power to shi marketing plans and budgets more towards organic marke ng in social media rather than inorganic. Also, it will minimise the malprac ces of bots used to boost likes and followers. Thus, the content will once again be king rather than people with large followership driving their post footprints more significant than others do. Also, stories with no counts have not prevented brands and influencers from pos ng and ge ng their visibility. Thus, a similar model (without the 24 hr disappearing feature) will work with posts too.

Lastly, the other point men oned in the context of social media is that whether all social media channels will follow the same rules of removing likes. What if TikTok does not agree to do it and it becomes a channel of choice for influencers. This will not happen in my view, as all channels have developed their own specific niches. Tiktok will remain popular for short minute videos, Instagram for the sta c posts by fashion-savvy millennials and Facebook being the choice for the general audience.

There can be no subs tu on for one by the other, and hence eventually all social media channels may have to come to a common opera onal procedure or code, which keeps the mental state of its user at the centre. As social media gains more trac on, it will also come under the health regulatory purview as well.

In conclusion one can only applaud the recent social media innova on for removing likes for it improves mental well-being of individuals, brings focus back to content and transparency thereby crea ng a social media for which it was made for – a more connected community which thrives on posi ve engagement rather than giving rise to all forms of

Have you ever strolled through the malls or the mul plexes and no ced the sweet and temp ng smell of popcorn and bu er? More o en than not, you’ll discover the aroma is origina ng from PVR. It’s not just a fortunate stroke of serendipity; it’s a deliberately created aroma showcasing effort intended to empower deals.

The snacks counter prepares new and fresh popcorn at regular intervals to make sure that the temp ng smell never leaves the air. They house their popcorn poppers in such a way that the aromas can make a trip to the noses of the patrons more easily. If they no ce the fragrance isn’t strong enough, the warm bu er and stuffs in the popcorn popper.

This is just one of the many scent marke ng techniques used by companies throughout the globe to impose a brand image, improve public percep on of product quality and to drive sales.

Scent marke ng is the prac ce of using a charming fragrance to upli a company’s brand image, improve customer experience and increase sales. Aroma marke ng can also increase customer foo all and influences the dura on a customer spends in a store.

This type of unpreten ous marke ng enables companies to associate with their customers on an emo onal level. It is used across industries including cafés, restaurants, airlines, hotel industry and many more.

Scent marke ng is substan ally more than basically dri ing the smell of a product from a retail façade.

There’s a lot that goes into crea ng an effec ve scent marke ng campaign, from choosing what sorts of scent to use to decide where and how to disperse them.

Different fragrances can convey your brand’s theme and values. It’s an approach to discuss sublimely with your shoppers. Scents can likewise be u lized in the workplace to enhance efficiency and joy among your employees. Numerous organiza ons beli le or disregard the power of smell.

Scent marke ng can be used from mul ple points of view. Companies may u lize aroma to sell an item,

make a strong brand understanding or influence employees.

There are four types of scent marke ng:Aroma Billboard: This is the thing that numerous individuals consider when they invoke a picture of aroma marke ng. It’s the point when a company relates an intense, percep ble fragrance with its brand. The smell is the same at every loca on and acts as a sort of “billboard”, satura ng the area with a scent. The PVR strategy above is an example of an aroma billboard smell.

Thema c: This smell is o en relevant to the type of business that is using it. It’s more subtle and less

explicit than aroma billboards. They’re used to set the state of mind and upli the mood instead of promo ng a brand. For example, spas generally use fresh and cool scents like lavender in their ambiance to set the mood for their offering.

Ambient Smells: These are subtle smells some mes used to cover up a bad smell or fill a void. Public bathrooms in malls or large shopping centres o en use ambient smells. These smells are usually light and universally pleasant.

Signature Smells: Numerous retail organiza ons or designer storefront will u lize a signature fragrance at all of their loca ons. Now and again, it’s an aroma the brand sells or a fragrance that summons a specific inclina on. In this case, the same scent is always used and will trigger the memory if whiffed elsewhere. Abercrombie and Fitch, with their intensely scented retail facades, is an incredible case of an organiza on using a signature smell.

Studies show that individuals can relate an aroma to memory with 65 percent exactness within a year.

That implies customers will connect a smell with a brand image and recall it when they smell it later.

Aromas can help create an experience associated with a brand and subtly influence a customer’s perspec ve towards a brand.

One study found that when significant retailers used scent marke ng in their stores, the intent to buy increased by 80 percent. Furthermore, dri ing a pleasant smell in the room not just allures customers to purchase more, it addi onally urges them to stay longer.

Similarly, Starbucks found that customer experience

was improved when they wiped out the smell of cooking their egg sandwiches, which clashed with the scent of their freshly grounded coffee. A service sta on began siphoning the smell of espresso close to the gas siphons and enhanced sales by 300 percent!

Different smells reinforce your company’s image by associa ng feelings with your products or services.

Consider leather and lavender, to name a couple.

The smell of leather is ideal for extravagance brands since individuals generally associate it with opulence. Lavender has been demonstrated to reduce stress and promote rest, making it an extraordinary aroma for spas.

The next me you go shopping, no ce how each company uses or fails to use the sense of smell to their advantage.

Lego makes fun of Tesla cybertruck with its own guaranteed sha erproof vehicle Not even toy company Lego could resist taking a jab at Tesla over its unusual Cybertruck design.Tesla unveiled its electric pickup ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show. The Cybertruck’s odd design – a triangular-shaped body made of stainless steel – drew a wide range of opinions, from “eccentric” to a “piece of junk.”One of the highlights (maybe not for Tesla) was a demonstra on of the truck’s bulletproof windows, which sha ered onstage a er they were hit with a metal ball.Across social media, there have been countless jokes at Cybertruck’s expense, but arguably none be er than Lego, which rolled out its own truck of the future.”The evolu on of the truck is here,” said Lego in its tweet posted Wednesday. “Guaranteed sha erproof.” The tweet was accompanied with an image of its truck made of wheels and three Lego bricks.As of Friday morning, the tweet has more than 101,000 likes, and lots of happy followers.Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently revealed the Cybertruck has secured more than 200,000 preorders. According to the Tesla website, you can preorder the truck by putng down a $100 refundable deposit.

Will MakeMyTrip’s bet on alterna ve accommoda on work?

Online travel players have changed the face of tourism industry in India. Be it cket booking, hotel stays, booking rental cars or self-driven cars, or leisure home stays/hostels, all can be done with two taps on a mobile phone. The category has grown at a rapid pace and has been able to build a strong community spread across consumer groups.

Online travel portal MakeMyTrip recently introduced alterna ve accommoda on oerings that include villas, apartments, hostels, and homestays to suit varying travel needs. MMT is among the more established brands when it comes to online travel booking portals.

Today, marke ng professionals are confron ng increased complexity because of the explosion of digital touchpoints and a simultaneous increase in customers’ desires in terms of content, offers and personaliza on. This mul faceted nature is driving the selec on of an enormous assortment of marke ng so wares, based on Ar ficial Intelligence(AI) found technologies like deep learning and Machine Learning(ML), which marketers need to transform the huge swath of verifiable informa on into noteworthy bits of insights. In not so distant future, AI algorithms and machine learning tools will be profoundly implanted at each layer of marke ng processes.

As indicated by a report by Gartner, marke ng technology represents the highest marke ng expense, even above labor expense. On an average, the technology-related costs represent 29% of the marke ng spending plan. The fervor around ar ficial intelligence has jumped into the field of Marke ng technology (MarTech), with all the significant so ware suppliers asser ng their capacity to make marke ng more intelligent and quicker, or above all progressively applicable. At present, over 7000 so ware applica ons enable each part of a customer product purchase journey and support consistent execu on.

Machine learning is becoming core to these services, which has led to increased complexity in Marke ng technology. A few organiza ons have adopted the “Ar ficial Intelligence First” so ware, which joins cogni ve systems, such as AI and deep learning, as a feature of their product development strategy (see Sensei for Adobe or Einstein for Salesforce).

Progressively these so ware projects are being u lized for picking up valuable marke ng insights. For example, IBM’s Watson, which was ini ally made for different purposes, is now progressively used to sa sfy marke ng objec ves. As quoted by Claudio Crivelli, Director of Innova on and Transforma on of Salesforce “ML is a layer implanted in any market-

any organiza on.”

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Organiza ons will profit by proac vely implemen ng an AI system that characterizes how models react to explicit business needs. They may likewise, in an indirect way profit by the u liza on of marke ng technologies based on AI and machine learning. For instance, regardless of whether an organiza on has not put resources into building AI abili es, its adver sing division may be as of now profi ng by the AI progressions conveyed all through its promo ng stack.

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Some of the major areas in which AI and ML have already been incorporated to enhance marke ng efforts include : 1. Making marke ng more personalized Today, Marke ng experts see that mixing AI and ML in the field of paid media, adver sing analy cs and Search engine Op miza on will give the best yield on investment for a business. One of the most praised cases for u liza on of Machine Learning in marke ng is the “programma c media purchasing,” which empowers adver sers to reach out to customers with highly focused adver sements depending on their past behaviors.

2. Improving client experience In the vast majority of the e-commerce business organiza ons, AI is injected at various phases of the consumer journey and requires individual, yet organized implementa ons. For instance, at Amazon, algorithms shape the shopping experience at every step of the customer journey, from “inac ve inquiry” to “re-engagement”. Other than the recommenda on and re-targe ng algorithms, Amazon has presented new ML-driven services, like “programma c sampling” to trigger consumer consciousness of the latest products.

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cant insights A great deal of informa on is created at each phase of product purchase by a client. The informa on increases significantly due to the number of products in a given category, considering every single diverse varia on and designs that are accessible for purchase. Also, consider how those purchase decisions are influenced by past brand connec ons, me of day, climate, sort of gadget, individual inclina ons, language, feelings and that’s just the beginning. It is highly unlikely an individual could have access to these factors, coordinate them into noteworthy insights and plan any ac on in real- me. For this, marketers depend on big data analysis to connect the dots and use AI and machine learning to give them significant insights by u lizing the right informa on.

Primary objec ves of Machine Learning for improving Marke ng Strategy Op mizing marke ng endeavors and decreasing marke ng expenses.

AI empowers marketers to increase automa on, streamline procedures, and augment workers in ways that improve the experience of clients. Marketing ac vi es are now being par ally automated for rou ne tasks, op mized for non-rou ne tasks, and augmented for complex decisions that require man and machine to depend on each other’s capabilies. Tradi onally, organiza ons used to automate ac vi es to reduce the costs of human labor. Today, marke ng automa on has successfully transformed into something which is more than a cost-cu ng mechanism. There is a movement towards the automa on of customer experience. Now, organiza ons have the opportunity not only to automate their internal processes, which are invisible to consumers( such as segmenta on and targe ng), but they can also implement solu ons that delight customers with proac ve services. The chatbot “TOBi” furnishes personalized sugges ons with a 100% conversion rate compared to the Vodafone website and answers key solicita ons with an 80% resolu on rate.

Companies like Amazon bring brilliant examples of automated AI strategy. Whenever the sales forecas ng framework based on AI detects the growing popularity/demand of an item, it triggers several ac ons automa cally. Consequently, Amazon refreshes the inventory es mates and streamlines the supply chain network across warehouses. As a consequence, the customers will see increased recommenda ons of the popular products at an adjusted (and dynamic) price. Based on the outcome of this

updated again.

Increased Personaliza on Marketers can dis nguish innumerable opportunies to use AI into brand image building the process to maximize consumer acquisi on and reten on.

AI-based marke ng so ware can enable marketers to engage with consumers across channels and give op mized customer experience without a huge increase in manual work. Cogni ve technologies such as Machine Learning can increase produc vity of en re marke ng departments by decreasing the me spent on segmen ng customers and developing targeted campaigns.

Olay’s Skin Advisor, a deep learning-powered app, is an example of AI op mized experience. It analyzes a woman’s face to decide her “skin age” and recommends the best product from hundreds of different varia ons. A er the introduc on of the personalized Skin Advisor, Olay has doubled its conversion rate while engaging with 4 million consumers.

How can marketers best make sense of these new technologies?

Ar ficial intelligence adds to automa ng, op mizing, and expanding three major marke ng processes: informa on assortment, gathering insights through data analysis, and client engagement.

Present-day Marke ng depends on intelligent technologies to capture per nent client informa on from the interac ons with the brand. The advantage for the client is be er assistance on communicated needs and the an cipa on of the fulfillment of unexpressed desires.

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Marke ng professionals using “Ar ficial Intelligence first” methodology needs to think about why and how to deliberately inject AI in customer-centered informa on assortment, special crusades, and client collabora ons. The forma on of novel brand encounters expects adver sers to transform any significant client informa on energe cally. Each client’s response to a predefined process, like a business item dispatch using email, creates a progression of collabora ons on various touch-points. For example, the message, “book your test drive,” will develop communica ons with clients via web-based networking media, store, and contact center. Every collabora on between the brand and the client represents an arrangement of individual informa on, unequivocally or quietly gathered (u lizing cookies).

This focal thought of informa on-driven marke ng, combined with ML, makes the data- to ac on-to interac on cycle shorter and more brilliant.