The Marksman - September Issue 2014

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

>> pg 06

The Brand Domino’s

>>pg 10

Rise from the dead

>>pg 12

Colgate: Brand extension backfired

>>pg 17

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

VOL. V | ISSUE IV | SEPT ’14

TWEETS

03

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

05

BRAND MARKIVE

06

COVER STORY

AUTHENTIC MARKETING

SPECIAL STORY

RISE FROM THE DEAD

10

MARKETING FAUX PAS

12

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN

13

BOOKWORM

15

PIONEER REWIND BUZZ

01

08

17

19

31

THE MARKSMAN

EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers, We welcome you all to yet another exciting September issue of our very own Marksman! We have a series of exciting articles lined up for you this month.

Our cover story this month features Authentic Marketing talking, about it’s significance and it’s relevance while marketing a product. This month’s special story – “Rise from the dead”, talks about reviving the deceased brands and the process of brand revitalization. Our Brand Markive, discusses about the world’s most well - known food chain of Pizzas – Domino’s Pizza. In addition to that, we even have our regular yet exciting sections on: Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude, Squarehead, Hallmark Campaign and Faux Pass. Also don’t forget to check our last month’s newly introduced segment Pioneer.

We are glad to inform you that we had received a great response for our September’s call for Articles and after thorough evaluation, we have Akanksha Kriti from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Vidushi Trivedi from MICA and Anu Kaushik from Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management and Research whose beautifully written articles have been selected to feature in this month’s issue. And for all those entries which haven’t been featured this month, we thank you all for your response and encourage you to keep writing to us with the same fervor.

Feedback is always welcome and we would appreciate and acknowledge if our readers keep writing to us. Stay connected with us on www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.

Enjoy Reading!

TEAM MARKSMAN The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR @marksmansimsr

SEPTEMBER 2014

02

TWEETS Nescafe stutter for all hearts The new Nescafe commercial around a stuttering youngster has become the talk of netizens in the past weeks. The company has brought the emotional connect with the line “It all starts…” in a better way. This has been a shift from the actress Deepika Padukone as the face of the brand. Nescafe has served its coffee strong to the online audience while embedding a social message without being too preachy.

Coca Cola: A step ahead of ‘Open Happiness’ With the festive season around the corner, Coca Cola Company has conceptualized a new commercial urging its customers to skip formalities. The proposition of “Celebrating togetherness” has been an attempt to attract the consumption at home and a step into the future. The advertisement is also seen as an alternative, if not replacement for tea and coffee, at home. The ad is conceptualized by McCann World Group India.

03

THE MARKSMAN

TWEETS Facebook: Bandwidth Targeting for Indian Market

FreeCharge: Recharge with returns Remember the classic one liner: 'Paise kya ped par ugte hain?’. FreeCharge, the online recharge platform, has positioned itself as a youth ally giving benefits of coupons and offers on each recharge.

The mobile commerce company in its well-knit maiden TV campaign offers insight that youngsters are often reprimanded for being reckless and spendthrift by parents.

Facebook has 1.32 billion users across the globe and its India user base stands at 108 million. About 93.1% of the Facebook's global revenues during April-June 2014 came from advertising.

To attract the Indian market, Facebook has launched a bouquet of features targeted at the Indian advertiser. Its most recent introduction is the global targeting capability, that enables advertisers to reach people based on the type of network connection they usually use -be it 2G, 3G or 4G -when accessing the platform. Called as 'Bandwidth Targeting', the feature is available globally via the Ad Create tool, Power Editor and the API tool on the platform.

SEPTEMBER 2014

For every recharge done on FreeCharge, the company gives customers discount coupons from food joints and popular retailers, equivalent to the recharge amount, delivered to their mobile, inbox or even doorstep.

The campaign is executed by Lowe Lintas.

04

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

Client: Volkswagen Creative Agency: DDB, Mexico

Volkswagen continues its solid tradition of subtle and innovative advertising – this time without featuring the product at all. What could be faster than teleportation? That is indeed what Volkswagen depicts here – seamlessly, playfully.

Client: Penguin Creative Agency: Y&R, Brazil

Generations have grown up on Penguin’s books and cherish them fondly. Their latest ad impresses the power of proof reading simply and elegantly the power of reading.

Companhia das Letras is Brazil’s largest publisher, 45% of which is owned by Penguin.

05

THE MARKSMAN

BRAND MARKive DOMINO’S PIZZA A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step. A slice of this adage clearly belongs to Domino’s Pizza. Who could have thought that an investment of merely $ 1000 would some fifty years later generate revenues worth $ 1 billion? The American franchise, with presence in more than 70 countries across the world and 10,000 stores under its belly, had initially started out with just one outlet.

In 1960, Tom Monaghan, along with his brother James, had bought a small Michigan based pizzeria called “DomiNick’s.” After a year into the business, James traded off his half to his brother for a second hand car.

Tom Monaghan, now the sole owner, rechristened it to Domino’s Pizza in 1965, two years post which its first franchise outlet opened in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Within a decade, it quickly expanded to 200 more, scrapping Monaghan’s original plan of adding an extra dot to the logo with the addition of every new store, the last dot was added for the third franchise that had opened in 1969.

It eventually turned global, opening its first international store in Canada in 1983; the same year it celebrated the opening of its 1000th store overall. This was followed by a series of franchisees mushrooming all across the world right from down under Australia to upper class Britain, scorching Africa and even far east Japan. The year 1998 marked the retirement of Tom Monaghan, who sold the company to Bain Capital for a billion dollars. Talking of big money, in 2004 Domino’s got listed on the NYSE under the symbol “DPZ.” Right from the start, the menu was kept very simple, serving just one type of pizza crust, namely, regular in sizes of 12” and 16”, respectively, comprising of 11 toppings and a beverage option of Coca Cola. This underwent a change in the early 90’s with the innovation of deep pan pizza.

SEPTEMBER 2014

06

BRAND MARKIVE Because of market demand, they had to adapt to the prevailing trend and updated their menu by adding Domino’s deep dish or pan pizza.

Around the same time, they also introduced the first non-pizza item on their menu, breadsticks, which over the years made way for a hoard of other side dishes, viz. Buffalo Wings, Lebanese Rolls, Spicy Baked Chicken, Calzone Pockets, Potato Smackers, Spicy Twistyz, etc.

Although Domino’s had ventured into India back in 1996 with its first outlet in New Delhi, it gained momentum only between 2007 and 2012, during which time it changed the holding company from Domino’s Pizza India Pvt. Ltd. to Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (which operates Dunkin’ Donuts as well) and even came up with its IPO. To cater to the tastes of Indian consumers, it localised 50% of its offerings. Over a period, it had gained market leadership by acquiring 72% of the market share, more than three times that of its nearest competitor and more than two and a half times the slice it had a decade ago.

08 07

Trivia: There are more than 34 million ways to create a single Domino’s pizza. In 1998, Domino’s launched an industry innovation, Domino’s HeatWave®, a hot bag using patented technology that keeps pizza oven-hot to the customer’s door.

Domino’s is 96% franchiseowned. Domino’s is consistently one of the top five companies in terms of online transactions, behind companies such as Amazon and Apple.

India is the third largest market for Domino’s just behind US & UK.

THE THE MARKSMAN MARKSMAN

COVER STORY AUTHENTIC MARKETING In the bustle of management trends that promise to revolutionise the field, authentic marketing hasn’t yet been heard of, at least not in the literature. This may not seem surprising to the cynic (s/he might even suggest it to be an oxymoron), but this may be a good sign – a relief, perhaps, of authenticity not having already been reduced to a fad, given that marketing trends are usually largely about a change in focus and technique.

But that is not to say that it is not being practised. With the magical charms of IT, marketing and advertising have come to what seems to be the ultimate frontier – advertising that fulfils all its functions without being advertising at all. The Interactive Advertising Bureau defines native advertising as comprising “paid ads that are so cohesive with the page content, assimilated into the design, and consistent with the platform behaviour that the viewer simply feels that they belong”.

Blends in so well, fishes can fly. [Escher, MC]

SEPTEMBER 2014

But is there money in this? You bet. As of end of 2012, Facebook was earning 14% of its income through its Sponsored Stories project. Not without good reason -- says Sheryl Sandberg, “[they] perform multiple times better on both desktop and mobile than ads in the right-hand column”. According to Adobe’s Digital Marketing Blog, the “multiple times” in Sandberg’s quote is as much as 48 times. In short, it’s working. In a relatively short time, interest in native marketing has snowballed such that more than 73% members of the Online Publishers Association now offer native advertising options – with BIA/Kelsey reporting spending of over $3.1 billion this year.

But customer attention may not be so easy to misdirect over time – the Edelman Trust Trust Barometer 2014 indicates once again that consumer trust is not as much a result of accident or manipulation as of the value they are able to find – depending on whether it’s from government (lowest), from media (next in line) or from social service (high), on whether you are Chinese or Singaporean (highest) or Spanish or Russian (lowest). While online search engines come up as highest in trust, social media are lowest in terms of source of information. Tech and automotive are the most trusted, while banking and M&E are the least trusted.

08

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Besides, as Copyblogger’s April 2014 study indicates, 49% online prospects have not yet even heard of native advertising, with only a 3% of them knowing what it is.

There are any number of statistics and case studies floated around on the acceptability of sponsored content, but they have to be kept in this context – simply because marketers are quicker to discover methods/techniques than consumers. The vast majority of consumers are not opposed to online advertising per se. Most of them recognise that it is needed for the site’s main content to remain free. For companies, native ads offer un-interruptive value through content. While this is certainly true in many cases, the objective is to use them not to increase general knowledge on the part of the consumer but to eventually lead to sales. As The Onion’s fictional Publisher Emeritus T Herman Zweibel puts it, may the ox of journalism always be yoked to the cart of commerce?

Native advertising is what marketers are turning to because authentic marketing is often not worth the trouble. It belongs to the family (marketing mix) but is the subversive extreme – to at least appear true/sincere.

10 09

Put more dramatically, native advertising is the crafty grandson of authentic marketing – young, promising, results-oriented, but naïve and vulnerable.

But what exactly is authentic marketing? How authentic exactly is one being asked to become?

Objective morality aside, there is no significant agreement as to the way in which the ‘authentic’ relates to the organisation. For some, it is transparency of process. No company should lie or distort truths such that an incorrect impression is given of a product or service. That is, there should be errors neither of commission nor omission. For others, it is being in line with the company’s mission. In this context, authentic marketing is surely being used as yetanother-marketing-strategy (“look how honest we are!”), but whether or not it will be possible to practise authentic marketing (actually telling the truth) is up for debate. This, however, is one of those cases where one simply has to go back to the basics. Marketers will do well to heed their Adi-guru: said Kotler in the introduction to his Marketing Management, “authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make”. With native advertising, marketing will be walking a tight rope -- the challenge will be to balance the sustained attention-by-misdirection with providing genuine value. With great power comes great responsibility.

THE THEMARKSMAN MARKSMAN

SPECIAL STORY RISE FROM THE DEAD Binaca, Dalda, HMT, Campa Cola do any of these product names remind you of some memories from the past.

Brand Reincarnation gives you a chance to relive and experience the magic of these deceased brands.

Brand managers put in their blood and sweat to strive hard and create, nurture, maintain and reposition their brands as and when required. But a new practice is gaining importance in the present day scenario of taking a dead brand and giving it a new lease of life. This is like walking on a two edge sword where the brand should appeal to the new generation of consumers and meet the expectations of the ones who still remember it.

Imagine Parle’s Gold Spot, which was discontinued after Coca Cola acquired certain cola brands from the Chauhans, bringing it back to life. The soft drink has some fond memories associated with the people who are now in their 20s and 30s, in parallel the brand will obviously look to fulfill the expectations of the new age consumers.

Marketing myopia can be one. At times a brand is too blinded by its success wears a pair of blinkers and sidelines the consumer’s needs.

Also, sometimes a brand falters in its positioning and gets rejected by the consumers because it fails to connect culturally with them. Kellogg’s made this error of judgment in India. Then there are brands which try to reinvent themselves ignoring the customer EQ towards the product and the brand per say. The New Coke Versus Original Coke rings a bell.

This amnesia can prove fatal for both the small brands and the giants.

All of these errors give rise to the new concept of Brand Reinventing. The new buds buy the rights of a specific brand name at a cost less than that of the New IPhone 6+ trying to capitalize upon its brand heritage, customer recognition and historical relevance.

The happy news is a couple of brand conservatives in the United States have taken up the mammoth task and are active in the business of brand excavation and revival.

Reasons of the Brand failure can be attributed to several factors:

SEPTEMBER 2014

10

SPECIAL STORY The roadmap of the Process can be laid down as:

group dubbing the product as a “goodfor-you drink that tastes great”.

The first step involves extensive market research to narrow down into products that the firm terms as “dormant” i.e. out of use; small in volume or occasionally some that are stuck in bankruptcy cases.

While we feel that most brands can be revived, some brands may just not be worth the effort.

The product now has a $40 million hit turnover and commands 29% of the chocolate-drink-mix market, outperforming Hershey's syrup.

This is particularly true for brands that suffer from lack of relevant differentiation, low awareness, and a negative image. The firm relies heavily on inside collaboration and interpersonal skills to carry out the acquisition process.

Though a herculean task this emerging trend is likely to grow and not die as a fad. It requires efforts to rise from the ashes and build up a new customer base and make a successful product line out of a dead brand and with more and more companies investing in the same, we can whole heartedly await to see the revival of some of our favorite perished brands from the past.

The process is followed by Brand Revitalization where monetary benefits are taken care of in terms of seed capital.

The final step is the Strategic and creative development of the ideas derived in the previous two steps.

‘Scavenger entrepreneur’ a term coined for the likes of Jeff Himmel, has led to the development of the malted dairy drink Ovaltine.

The product was brought from Sandoz Nutrition Corporation, followed by the active television advertising strategy adopted by Mr Himmel of the Himmel

11

THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS Colgate Kitchen Entrees-Brand extension backfired Although product innovation and brand extension is a crucial marketing strategy that saves companies a lot of time and money and gives an enriching experience to the consumer, it backfires spectacularly if companies fail to understand how their brands are perceived by consumers. Brand extensions often go out of plumb if the company cannot align the product with its brand, or if they cannot identify their target market appropriately.

Colgate launched Kitchen Entrees, a line of ready to eat products, in the US in 1982, hoping to capture the growing market for frozen food.

The objective was to make customers aware of the new products and to achieve sales of 5% within the first month of the launch. The idea was after enjoying its frozen food offerings consumers would go out and buy its toothpaste as well. The product was available in different sizes and prices, but it failed as people could not establish a link between Colgate as an oral care brand and Colgate as a ready to eat brand.

SEPTEMBER 2014

The market and positioning for the parent brand and the brand extension were different. The qualities of the product were microwaveable, healthy and delicious food at premium price targeting the middle to upper social class. It was a huge loss to the company as it wasted a huge sum of money in commercial advertisements and promotions. The brand had conventionally been associated with personal care and oral care, and the customers simply did not buy the idea that they should eat food offered by the same brand whose products they normally use to clean their mouths with.

The market segmentation was done in two parts: Primary market and Secondary market.

The primary market consisted of the mothers of middle or upper income groups whose children were above six years of age, who had little time for household work and preferred healthy meals but find it difficult to prepare meals. Secondary market consisted of the young and single individuals who were studying or working and did not live with their family, and had no time to prepare meals. While the idea seemed workable on the drawing board, Kitchen Entrees drooped with customers, who didn’t find Colgate very appetizing. Colgate could have conducted some more market research and perhaps introduced its frozen food products under a new brand.

12

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN #TDThanksYou When ATM Got a New Meaning From the word go, the notion that customer is king has been drilled into the mind of every marketing student. We have been taught time and again that customers are the top-most priority for any organisation. A simple thank you uttered by a sales rep goes a long way in saying that the company cares. However, TD Canada took these simplest of concepts and produced one of the most beautiful campaigns seen in modern advertising.

Traditionally, banks have been associated as being rigid institutions. Lately, the banking industry has been seeing a radical change, and banks have been making a conscious effort in moving towards customer-centric operations. TD Canada’s #TDThanksYou campaign is a benchmark for the same. They found a way to acknowledge their valued customers in an extremely personalised and compassionate way, thus, ensuring that their loyalties would remain strong for years on end.

13

At four different locations, TD placed its “Automated Thanking Machines” that surprised every customer who tried to transact through it. The first such wonder was when the ATM started conversing with the customers on issues closest to their hearts. This was followed by some very special gifts popping out of the ATM that were tailor made for each customer.

THE MARKSMAN

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN A mother sending money to her daughter, who was suffering from cancer in Trinidad, was presented with air tickets to meet her. A Blue Jay baseball fan received a team jersey, glove, ball and hat.

Further, his favourite player, the very famous Jose Bautista, himself appeared from behind and invited the astounded customer to pitch live in Blue Jay’s upcoming game. A mother of two children even received piggy banks with air tickets to Disneyland.

These were just a few of the many examples; interestingly, across TD’s 1,110 outlets, over 20,000 employees gave out envelopes with $20 to their customers throughout the day. Special awards for longest-associated customers were given, and the staff even clicked selfies with them.

SEPTEMBER 2014

This “we love our customers” campaign immediately went viral on the social media platforms and garnered a staggering 3.5 million views in just a few days.

Touching and caring are seldom used as adjectives for a bank, but TD revolutionised its image and quickly became synonymous as a bank that does care after all. A very similar campaign was WestJet’s Christmas Miracle.

Although the value propositions were poles apart, the underlying feature of making the customer feel special remained constant. A single master stroke by TD has been successful in creating partnerships that will stand the test of time. We as marketers will be looking forward to what they come up with next.

14

BOOK WORM Who Says Elephant can’t dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround -Louis V.Gerstner, Jr. His memoir, “Who Says Elephant Can’t Dance?” talks about his role in IBM's competitive and cultural transformation.

The book takes us through five different sections: Grabbing Hold, Strategy, Culture, Lessons Learned, and Observations. It gives us insight about disaster recovery planning and short term and long term planning.

In the August edition of THE MARKSMAN, Book Worm spoke about the story of McKinsey and its influence on American Business. Today let’s talk about the book written by a living legend who had a considerable stint in McKinsey and later became the SUPER CEO of IBM; Louis.V.Gerstner Jr Chairman and CEO,1993 - 2002. In 1992, IBM was caught in the cobweb of its Mainframe Business which was headed for obsolescence. The overall organizational issues that ranged from lack of vision and strong leadership skills to policies and bureaucracy added to its misery. However, Gerstner’s shrewd strategic decisions helped the company to rise from the brink of bankruptcy and propelled back to its business with a thumping victory.

OCTOBER 2013 15

In the depth of crisis, identifying and resolving key strategic issues is what is critical for stabilizing the company. The chapter ‘Grabbing hold’ talks about how he managed the same and curtailed the revenue loss within the first couple of years. He sold unproductive assets to raise cash and re-engineered certain R&D divisions for new products. The book also mentions Gerstner‘s meticulous planning involved in communication with the media. His iconic statement, “The last thing that IBM needs is a vision” created a positive wave and share holders started to believe his capability to turnaround the company.

The pivotal sections of the book are Strategy and Culture. Gerstner says “Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like.

19 THE MARKSMAN

BOOKWORM However, I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.”

IBM, due to its global presence was challenging for Gerstner to align every business unit to the common organizational objective. The organization which initially authorized its various divisions to rebrand and advertise its products themselves was disallowed during Gerstner’s tenure. This strategic decision helped the company to portray it as a single large brand rather than individual divisions providing cutting edge business solutions. He was instrumental in changing work culture. His most proud accomplishment was to bring IBM closer to its Customers and inculcate Customer Centricity in their employees, break up fiefdoms and align compensation with performance.

In the ‘Lessons Learned’ section, Gerstner provides advice and key takeaways which can be applied to any industry. One of them is: “A successful, focused enterprise is one that has developed a deep understanding of its customer's needs, its competitive environment, and its economic realities.

This comprehensive analysis must form the basis for specific strategies that are translated into day-to-day execution.”

The book hence gives a lot of guidelines across areas like Strategy, Marketing, Planning, Leadership and Communication which can come handy to all managers. It is a unique case study in managing a crisis, and a thoughtful reflection on the computer industry and the principles of leadership. Overall it is precise, well written, thought provoking and a real page turner.

Gerstner identified that IBM’s unique competitive advantage is its ability to provide integrated solutions for customers rather than selling the proprietary system hardware that had once built IBM in the preceding decades. This was his Midas touch which boosted the company to develop middleware technologies which eventually led to the rise of market capitalization and profits. Gerstner thus made the elephant to dance.

SEPTEMBER 2014

16

PIONEER Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Mahi) “Anhoni ho gayi honi, aur main ban gaya Dhoni!” Our very own Captain Cool, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD), is one of the most valuable assets of India. An aggressive attacking batsman, a reliable wicketkeeper, and a level headed captain; he is the man with the Midas Touch.

His endorsements range from Pepsi to Reebok to Orient Fans to Reliance Communications. His saleability is not just because of his impressive track record, it is also because of his ability to connect with the masses in one way or another.

He led the Indian cricket team to many unforgettable victories: the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the CB Series of 2007– 08, the 2010 Asia Cup, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. His credentials are clearly excellent, but how did the little boy from Ranchi become the 22nd most paid athlete in the world? Brand Dhoni has emerged as an almost fool-proof formula to promote any product.

His ability to convert anything that he endorses into a prospective way to connect with people has definitely worked in his favour. An example is the ‘Believe’ campaign started by Star Sports which includes memorable lines like:

17

Mujhe yakeen hai ki sirf sheher chote hai, wahan ke log aur unke khwaab nahin’ (I believe that only towns are small, not their people and their dreams).

THE MARKSMAN

PIONEER When his actions reinforce the words spoken by him, a country truly believes in having the courage to chase its dreams, come what may.

There is immense respect for any person who fights seemingly insurmountable odds to eventually excel beyond expectations, and MSD is the perfect example.

His constant experimentations with his looks through his myriad of hairstyles has been another way by which Brand Dhoni has evolved. It is the first time that an Indian sportsperson has dictated trends that were hitherto an area ruled by Bollywood stars or models. His unique sense of style, his unmatched confidence paired with his consistent cool demeanour is what has made Mahi a success.

SEPTEMBER 2014

As the captain of the cricket team in a country where cricket is not merely a sport, but a religion, his job is not easy. He excels in fulfilling this responsibility. His honesty highlights the humble roots that he comes from. His commitment towards his team-mates, his followers and his country is exceptional. MSD understands the psyche of a complex nation and the emotions attached to this wonderful sport.

He understands that in this nation, cricketers are heroes, and the nation will always look up to its heroes. He strives to maintain his image as Mr. Dependable, on field as one of the best finishers in the game and off field by setting an example in all his endeavours.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has created a niche for himself in a way that he is now irreplaceable, and this is what makes him a pioneer.

18

REWIND A Sales Pitch for Sales Normally a dull and lazy Sunday morning at SIMSR was transformed into a state of excitement and enlightenment with the successful workshop conducted by Team Interface and the representatives from Mercadeo Education Pvt. Ltd. on the 14th of September, 2014.

With distinguished speakers like Mr. Anshuman Mishra (Manager-KPMG, Business Advisor to firms like Nike, Emami, M&S, Fonterra, DuPont, Sab Miller) and Mr. Himanshu Chauhan (more than 6 years of experience in Sales & Marketing in sectors including Insurance, Education & IT), the workshop had to be an instant success. The speakers’ erudition and experience on sales and marketing drove the session to new heights. The student participation and enthusiasm was also commendable.

The session started with the age old question that circles around in the mind of every MBA student—Sales or Marketing.

A show of hands confirmed that there were only a few takers for sales. People were looking for profiles with core marketing like brand management and market research and analysis. But are sales and marketing really that exclusive?

With the examples and illustrations that followed, it became quite clear that both are intertwined. But without the desired sales, even the best marketing plans can go for a toss.

The speakers spoke passionately about the growth paths and career prospects of sales as well as marketing. Why are the CEOs of many major companies from sales? Why such a skewed preference towards sales executives?

These questions were also effectively answered.

A detailed description about the certification program CSFA and why it is required for students was also explained.

In the end, play time was conducted with loads of goodies for the participants. All in all, it was a very interactive and informative session.

Another show of hands in the end showed that a lot of people were convinced how important sales is and were inclined to pursue that as a career option. If this was not an effective sales pitch, we don’t know what was.

19

THE MARKSMAN

Tete -a-Tete Mr. Anshuman Mishra & Mr. Himanshu Chauhan Here’s an excerpt from the interview with Mr. Anshuman Mishra (Manager-KPMG, Business Advisor to firms like Nike, Emami, M&S, Fonterra, DuPont, Sab Miller) and Mr. Himanshu Chauhan (more than 6 years of experience in Sales & Marketing in sectors including Insurance, Education & IT),

So one night we got this idea, why don’t we create a marketing answer to CFA.

Q1. What led you to move from a successful career in marketing to form a training and certification company?

Mr. Mishra: When we took up this idea about three years back, exactly the same bit of research went into how do we make CSFA different or special. One thing about SMEI or SMPA is that it predominantly targets working professionals. So they assume that you know sales and then work a little bit out.

This is a course which is aimed at giving you a lot of knowledge. There’s a proper reading compilation and there’s a lot of research that has gone into that and it is mainly focussed around business school students.That’s essentially the difference.

Mr. Chauhan: It’s about an idea coming up.

An idea that comes through your heart.And about being successful marketers, when it comes to entrepreneurship, with any idea, it is all the skills, finance, operations, HR, and collaborating all these skills which have many challenges. Life is full of entertainment, but it is only entertaining when you have challenges, so it’s all about accepting challenges.

Mr. Mishra: Why entrepreneurship, it’s fairly simple. I read a quote a while back which said that you either have a dream and you follow your dream or somebody will hire you to make their dream come true. So that’s the reason. And about Mercadeo, it was high time somebody did this. Whatever professional success I have today, much of whatever success my friends have today is purely because of what we studied in marketing, and there was nothing which was going back, no feedback.

SEPTEMBER 2014

Q2. How do you differentiate your certification from others such as that of the SMEI or SMPS (Certified Professional Services Marketer Program)?

Mr. Chauhan: Also, sales is a very important aspect of marketing. But the topic of sales is often misunderstood.

20

Tete -a-Tete Even when you can pick your subjects, what you pick is mostly brand management or consumer behaviour because you’re always thinking long term. You’re not thinking what you’re going to do immediately after you leave MBA. So, Anshuman brought this point into the business idea that this is one thing that has been completely ignored, at least in the first year of MBA. And when you go for an internship in a sales/marketing field, this is the profile that you get. This is what we want to bring into perspective.

Mr. Mishra: You keep studying Philip Kottler, and you get a rosy picture about marketing. So the image I had was that I would pass out, I would sit in a conference room with Aishwarya Rai, and we would design a nice ad to sell coke. When we go out the world is completely different. And I’ve seen guys who are very good at marketing fail. When you join marketing, what you essentially do is sales. All your life, you’re prepared for the BCG matrix and the Ansoff matrix, which I’m sure everybody is good at. But that’s not what we’re going to do.

Q3. Will your growth strategy typically depend on a critical threshold of people from the top rung institutes doing your courses?

21

Mr. Mishra: When we started, I didn’t have a number in mind. I had a reasonable career. It isn’t the money which is driving us. What we’re looking for is that this actually helps you when you walk into your summer interview to get that edge over the others because you’re much more prepared in that field. What we have in the certification is very different from what you read in Kottler.

Mr.. Chauhan: Another thing that we have included is that in the certification is that not only academicians have contributed but also people who have more than 8–10 years of experience in sales and marketing have shared their insights. It isn’t just theory and fundamentals. Its viewpoints coming across from different experienced people.

Q4. How do you reconcile sales targets and your own conscience?

Mr. Mishra : That mainly depends on where I’m working. Typically what you do is, you need to be convinced about what you want. Sometimes you do it for the money. If I’m selling cigarettes and I have a target to match, and I cannot advertise. You may think it’s immoral or unethical, but there’s a target to be met. Often the targets are not achieved by your campaigns or promotions, but by how much your distributor is actually able to push it.

As far as the conscience is concerned, it is your call.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES #ALSIcebucketchallenge: Marketing lessons for a social cause -ANU KAUSHIK BHARATI VIDYAPEETH INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH, NEW DELHI Creating an appearance for product and services or providing content awareness through utilising diverse channels of emarketing, the question arises, is it enough for any organisation?

In today’s changing situation with the changes in trend, it appears to be not sufficient for any organisation or individual who’s using the latest technology called web to just create content anymore; achievement lies in making substance so effective that it will captivate the crowd and persuade them to spread the expression.

The ALS ice bucket challenge— This brilliant idea was given by a former Boston College baseball player, Peter Frates living with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—the disease), who understood the value of social networking and initiated this revolution for a cause with his unique idea.

In this challenge, individuals post their videos online featuring themselves while dumping buckets full of ice water over their heads for bringing a cause to light and for donations to ALS; they further challenge their friends/companions to dump water on themselves, a typical stipulation is that challenged participants have 24 hours to perform and if not done within that period, they forfeit by donating certain charitable financial amount.

Therefore, the quest is on for a “formula” that gets individuals attention, and how a brand positions its cause that succeeds is worth gaining from.

What do you get when you bring together a basin of ice, access to online networking and one nonbenefit mission for disease awareness?

SEPTEMBER 2014

22

FEATURED ARTICLES Understand the importance of social media: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was an immaculate storm of online networking, superstar and grass-roots generosity, creating typhoon-quality viral social engagement amid the pooch days of summer. It also demonstrated how social networking might be useful, harnessed, coordinated and oversaw for a social cause.

As indicated by Facebook, between June 1 and August 17, 2014, in excess of 28 million individuals have joined the discussion about the Ice Bucket Challenge, including posts, remarks or likes to further promote it on a large scale. More than 2.4 million people have been identified imparting and sharing the ice bucket challenge among each other.

Whether you’ve chuckled at your companion’s response to the icy water or initiated to take the challenge yourself, posts related to it are all over the place.

This activity has accomplished something that is each advertiser’s fantasy: turning into a web sensation and catching wide consideration of the country in just a month or two.

Thus, each advertiser spreading a cause needs to learn where the best combination lies? Is it in innovation, like by giving a platform to some different idea or bringing change/an excitement through freshness for the audience?

23

A further lesson for marketers to understand how ALS ice bucket challenge has capitalised through social media is given:Utilise perfect timing—Summer is the mainstream time for getaways, and a lot of people are delighted in a more loose work plan. By understanding the need of the customer, challenge started at such a time when students were enjoying their school vacations, and their were augmented hours of daylight permitted individuals to partake in the Challenge and feature their super splashing after-work. An Ice Bucket Challenge would have never been successful in the winters. Therefore, its initial start in summer proved as a perfect time for the challenge to engage thousands of people.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES Recognize the objective—The objective of the ice bucket Challenge is to extend mindfulness and raise money for ALS research, and its prosperity has surpassed introductory desires. The objective is straightforward and clear, and the challenge doesn’t oblige many efforts from members: going online to participate or donate doesn’t ask for much exertion.

Today’s buyers like straightforwardness and immediate information. They ordinarily won't take the time to peruse through a whole article, pamphlet or page to comprehend a message. Advertisers: your companion is straightforwardness.

It’s extraordinary, basic and sufficiently insaneThe #Alsicebucketchallenge feels like a healthy natured clip featured on YouTube and other platforms. It provides an ease of finishing with the client’s assent; it is to a great degree entertaining to watch; and it has an extraordinary follow-up message.

Alongside a pinch of light heartedness, the #Alsicebucketchallenge is likewise exceptionally straightforward and simple.

No email, no entering and no external site.

Low responsibility is amazingly vital in case you’re attempting to get an expansive number of individuals involved. It’s, additionally, another method for “becoming a web sensation.” Instead of one bit of extraordinary content being shared again and again, every video is viral inside

SEPTEMBER 2014

that member’s prompt circle, and it is linked by an easy, excellent hash tag.

Vital role of Celebrities—The promotion got to be viral after some of the biggest celebrities and sports figures responded to the call, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Oprah and many others.

Their massive following permitted the Challenge to explode from one country and expanded worldwide.

Naturally, pulling in a varied blend of Alist famous people and celebrities who have risen to the Challenge, their followers chose it likewise helping to generate more funds.

The call to activity is fun and free—Although donations are supported, there is no piece of this fight that requests clients purchase or giving personal information to participate. The main thing it stipulates is “spill water over your head or donate.”

Thus, the last lesson for advertisers is this: The trap isn’t to duplicate or copy an incredible crusade; it is to gain from it and consolidate the lessons into future thoughts.

The #Alsicebucketchallenge is fun, it’s for a decent cause, it had the right timing, it doesn't compel and it’s new. The greatest lesson from this ice storm is that individuals like to connect with individuals and not with organisations.

24

FEATURED ARTICLES The art of making a viral video: AIB genius of the year VIDUSHI TRIVEDI - MICA

“I believe in crying for people and laughing at myself” – Alia Bhatt You are yet again working late. After handing over the report to your manager, the long day at the office seems finally over and you step out to fetch your car from the parking lot. On your way back you ponder silently about your hectic life, pray for less traffic on the road and scan through FM stations at the signal. On the crowded street, vendors are trying to make their final sale for the day and the menacing auto rickshaws and motorcyclists try to nudge and get ahead of the other cars. Irritated drivers keep honking while mendicants take an opportunity to make some extra pennies at the traffic signals. You aimlessly listen to the radio jockey talking or to the several commercials being played between songs.

25

Finally, you reach home, remove your uncomfortable heels or the suffocating neck tie and relax on your couch. Now, how much attention did you pay to the street vendors, the beggars, the radio commercials on your way home? You ignored them all in plain sight.

To make a video go viral, we need to think like street performers. Street performers grab the attention of the people who have no time yet they are eager to see what follows. These performers perform some unbelievable tricks that get the onlookers engaged.

Similarly, the internet is filled with a plethora of digital media. If you want to make people watch your work, there needs to be a surprise element that engages them.

This video showcases Alia Bhatt’s selfdeprecating humour that surprised the social media circle. Let us analyse the reasons for the success of this video: It’s all in the name!

Howsoever good the content of your video may be, it may end up being ignored because the name did not grab the eyeballs. The title of this video, ‘Genius of the Year’ instantly brings to attention the following characteristics about the video—

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES •It acknowledges the popularity of the Bollywood super-hit ‘Student of the Year’ and indicates the reference of this video.

•It’s a pun on the word “Genius” given that Alia has been a Twitter victim for all the Dumb Indian Blonde jokes.

•The title gives out a vibe of a fun-filled experience to its audience.

Story Telling It is important to grab the viewers’ interest in the first five seconds. In the words of Jon Steel— “People are inherently complex, emotional, unpredictable creatures, whose relationships with each other and the things (including brands, products and advertising) around them are more important than the things themselves.”

(Steel, 16 March 1998) Thus, storytelling helps form the relationship of our product/advertisement with the consumer. Our story must be greater than our products because this is what binds our consumers to us.

The backdrop of this video was the episode of Koffee with Karan Season 4, where Alia sputtered the name ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’ when asked who the President of India was. Ever since, she has been the butt of all jokes. This video depicts Alia’s efforts to correct her ‘dumb’ image by working hard to improve her general knowledge.

This video tells you the story of a journey from failure on national television

10 SEPTEMBER 2014

of an upcoming Bollywood star to redemption in the most humorous way possible.

By making fun of herself, Alia leveraged the negative publicity by exaggerating it further and eventually won the hearts of everyone.

Emotional Rollercoaster Ride Once the viewers’ attention has been grabbed, it is necessary to keep them intrigued for long. It is imperative to engage the audience emotionally—to make them smile, then sad and again make them laugh.

Alia starts off with an emotional dialogue “I had thought that day would be the best day of my life…but…” and the video shows that even her family and friends started to crack jokes on her. Thus, the funny video also had its share of contrasting emotions that kept the audience interested.

There is little doubt that Alia has already been successful in Bollywood. Many youngsters look up to her. The negative publicity spread a wrong message to the nation that successful Bollywood stars are ignorant and have low IQ.

THE MARKSMAN26

FEATURED ARTICLES Now, Alia showed her followers that she accepted her shortcomings and did everything she could to inspire the youth.

Her career was strong before and will continue to be after this video, but in the eyes of the audience, she emerged as a strong, wise, young and successful Bollywood actor.

Touch Hearts with an idea that Connects This video not only makes us laugh but it also shows Alia doing what most of us will refrain from doing— admitting our flaws and taking corrective measures.

This video is a courageous attempt made by the actress of not finding the easier way out but handling the situation head-on. We all fear being talked badly about, and the video shows you, how one should take criticism.

Using all possible social media channels

Keep it simple and stupid Our audience is not keen on watching something that is grave and requires immense concentration. They want to watch something that helps them relax and forget the hectic mundane life.

This video uses simple and witty ways to convey the message to the viewer—from the way Alia cries to her work outs in the ‘mental gym,’ all the jokes being cracked on her such as “she is suffering from an acute state of Darsheel Safari.” Even though the end is dramatic and heroic, her crying out in a state of being overwhelmed makes you smile. Key is to keep it simple for the viewers to be able to easily understand and laugh at.

27

As it had been the internet world and mainly the youth who had targeted Alia with a series of jokes about her, creating a video on the same communication medium helped it reach out to her critics. The video gained popularity across YouTube, Facebook,Twitter, Blogs and Posts etc.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES Airtel's 'The Smartphone Network' ad campaign:Women empowerment?

- AKANKSHA

KIRTI

IIM Kozhikode "This is a classical example of denying men rights. The boss lady finds satisfactions in giving extra load of work to her male employees and makes them work extra hours denying basic human rights to go home after usual work hours. Then she make a 2 min noodles and show that to her husband to cool him down.the poor and loving husband who is obviously hungry falls for her trap ! Dedicated to all half brained feminists"[1] If this youtube comment pops up as a question in KBC and one has to guess the ad that is being referred to, chances are many of us would find this question a sitting duck. And, why not given the attention this Airtel’s ‘The Smartphone Network’ ad has received. According to Unmetric, it suddenly became the buzz of the town and became the most engaging post from Airtel in the duration. (See the statistics of youtube for the ad popularity) [2]

SEPTEMBER 2014

The vignette comment may sound ludicrous to few, humorous to some, just to others and innocuous to many, nonetheless, it in itself symbolizes that ad had stirred up a hornest’ nest among feminist groups and had been deftly able to capture first A – Attention of AIDA model (Attention -> Interest -> Desire -> Affect).

It has successfully cut through clutter by striking at all time contentious issue of women emancipation and liberalization. One school of thought finds the ad as portrayal of empowered women who is breaking the glass ceiling while adorning the seat of boss and exuding authority and elegance even while assigning tasks to his subordinate (who in the meanwhile turns out to be her husband).

28

FEATURED ARTICLES The other school of thought takes it with a pinch of salt and asks the important ‘WHY’.

Why a working lady (read wife) boss has to be shown cooking food for her husband while she is at home. Why the scene can’t be replaced with her enjoying food at a restaurant and ‘missing you message’. Why can’t there be a cook serving food at home and wife missing supper which she used to take with her husband or why couldn’t the ad end at simply a video call?

To answer these, let us look at existing patriarchal structure of our society. Today, many men desire for a wife a who is educated, confident, assertive and independent as Madhurima Tuli in the ad but at the same time expect her to be homely, subdued, sanskari enough to give priority to home/ husband. Isn’t it a case of split personality where lady boss has to adorn two different masks to get acceptance and mild down her success by getting into the shoes of cook? Sadly, answer is yes and the ad is conveying the message, though subtly, that you may be boss at office but at home you are wife and have to juggle with household chores notwithstanding of how hard you toil in the office.(note that lady boss leaves her office at odd working hours).

29

If ad agency has to show romance why can’t it be shown with role reversals – a female employee in the office and her husband, considering her work commitment, is cooking food for her – hadn’t it been a better salute to all corporate women who too work late and work hard. This would have made it a better ad with due appreciation to dedication of women workforce of the country and at the same time, acceptance of ambition of women and the fact that they equally have desire to get recognition and honour at work instead of conveying the message that if you need to be a boss at office you must be a subordinate at home.

Cynics may say that it is just an ad and should not be delved into with so much scrutiny. But the pertinent question is shouldn’t an ad just like a movie be made with some social responsibility?

THE MARKSMAN

SquAreheaD

SEPTEMBER 2014

30

BUZZ PUZZLE

ACROSS: 1.

An e-commerce website founded by Jack Ma

2.

Name the parent company of Royal Enfield

3.

A popular brand which belongs to swatch

DOWN:

CLUES 1.

4.

Name the company that announced Prasoon Joshi as New chairman for Asia Pacific region

5.

Its common between Micromax, Karbon, Lava, Indigo

6.

Aravind Limited is the marketer for this famous denim brand in India

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Answers: 1. Alibaba, 2. Eicher Motors, 3.Longines, 4. McCann Worldgroup, 5.Indian, 6.Wrangler

31

THE MARKSMAN

Call for ARTICLES CALL FOR ARTICLES OCTOBER 2014 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

1. #MakeInIndia : Its implications on the world 2. Filing patent infringements : Innovative marketing strategy?

3. Deepika Padukone, TOI fiasco : Helping TOI bounce back *Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are clearly mentioned.

1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be approximately 800-850 words and MUST be replete with relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article.

3. Font Type: Gill Sans MT 4. Font Size: 14.

5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute Name_Course Year 7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic

The best adjudged article will be given a Winner’s Certificate.

Deadline for the submission of article will be : 20th October 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014

32

The TEAM THE TEAM TWEETS by Kavya Dubey It’s all about AD-itude by Abhijit Sharma Brand MARKive by Sankalp Thakur COVER STORY by Akshay Peshave SPECIAL STORY by Shruti Gupta HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Dhruv Maheshwari PIONEER by Sukanya Remesh REWIND by Palak Thakkar TETE-A-TETE by Sukanya Remesh Akshay Peshave BOOKWORM by Dilip Anatharman SquAreheaD by Abhijit Sharma BUZZ by Vasundhara Tewari FAUX PAS by Rishika Saxena PROOF READ by Minoli Sheth Palak Thakkar DESIGNING by Rahul Vangani Shweta Panikker Niharika Srivastava PROMOTIONS by Abhijit Sharma

33

To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:http://interfacesimsr.com/ the-marksman.html OR drop in a mail/contact us at : interface.newsletter@gmail.com Subject line: Subscribe:Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.in terface http://interfacesimsr.weebly.com/ the-marksman.htm Website: http://interfacesimsr.com/themarksman.html

The MARKSMAN is the newsletter of INTERFACE, the Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai.

Images used in THE MARKSMAN are subject to copyright. THE MARKSMAN does not take any responsibility of any kind of plagiarism in the articles received from students of other colleges.

THE MARKSMAN