The Marksman July 2016

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

VOL. VII| ISSUE II | JUL’ 16

EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers,

It gives us great pleasure to bring to you another interesting issue of our very beloved Marksman. We have curated for you a broad spectrum of interesting articles that should enhance your understanding of marketing.

Our cover story for the month is all about cross cultural marketing. There are examples of blunders as well as success stories that showcase the challenges and lessons in marketing to a different culture market.

The special story helps you understand how to deal with not so happy customers. Our Brand Markive explains the marketing concepts behind Patanjali’s success. Another interesting read would be the Tea-a-me intervention for Donald Trump in the hallmark campaign.We have many other articles in our usual sections for you to read.

We would like to congratulate this month’s call for articles winners – Nikita Pendse, IIM Raipur and Tarun Gahlot, SBM, NMIMS Mumbai whose articles have been featured in this issue. For the remaining entries, we would like to thank you all for your incredible response and encourage you all to keep writing to us with the great enthusiasm.

Enjoy Reading!

Stay connected with us on www.interfacesimsr.com/index.php/marksman Follow our Facebook page for more updates.

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Content

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Tweets

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It’s All About Ad-itude

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Brand Markive

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Cover Story: Tele Marketing

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Special Story

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Marketing Faux Pas

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Hall-mark Campaign

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Pioneer

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Bookworm

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Kickstart

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Featured Article

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Square Head

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Buzz

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TWEETS #onlyintheapp

Taco bell has been one of the leading fast food joints for Mexican cuisine but has had a low social media presence and very few app users. To target almost 2 million of its users, Taco Bell came up with a new social media strategy, where they turned off all their social media accounts which simply now read “The new way to Taco Bell isn’t on network, its #OnlyInTheApp.”

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TWEETS #ThatPepsiIntern Pepsi, a well-known brand came up with one of the most unique ideas to engage its audience. Pepsi had roped in Ranbir Kapoor to be the face of this one-of-its-kind campaign where they were looking for 15 interns through social media. It all began with a twitter handle #ThatPepsiIntern and the campaign went wild like a fire to engage more than 2500000 people.

Hotstar, which is the most heard of live streaming site, recently launched a fantastic marketing campaign to promote their website for the Rio Olympics and get more viewership. This campaign features a girl who is really confused since she wants to watch more than one sport with different people at the same time and is unable to do that. That’s when Hotstar comes to her relief. #OlympicGamesOnHotstar

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad: Agency: Hakuhodo, Jakarta, Indonesia

They say a picture says a thousand words. Similar is the case with this print ad. This print ad is created for PT Phapros Tbk a pharmaceutical company present in Indonesia. The company established in 1954 is the oldest Pharma company. This print ad is for all the people who are sick of motion sickness. The company introduces an anti motion medicine named “Antimo” in a very creative way. The ad shows a strong, huge, monstrous ocean with strong waves which gets bisected with a calm center ally. Next, a cruise sails through the calm ally and waves keep crashing by the side. You can then read the text saying no more motion sickness indicating the effect of their medicine. Using the least amount of words, the brand just conveyed the message it wanted to. It’s a simple concept executed well – sometimes all you need for an effective print advertising campaign are visuals as strong as these.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD : NIKE – Deepika Padukone

Whose name strikes your mind when we talk about the greatest sportsperson in our country? Sachin Tendulkar? Virat Kholi? Dhoni? Vijender Singh? Sushil Kumar? Milkha Singh?

But never will the names like Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom hit your mind first. Such is the image of women in India in sports. Since ages, sports has been thought of as an arena where usually only men enter. Earlier, females were looked down upon who tried to enter into any sports field. Although there has been improvement in this case but the perception still remains “Females are suited in kitchen rather than in sports”. To break this very stereotype, Nike created a very powerful ad showcasing the strength of females. Showing how females also can be in all the streams which were “supposedly” only for men. It shows how females are no more the “Delicate Darlings” but sheer Daredevils who can punch and bleed and yet not stop and shy away from learning. Also, the tune “Da Da Ding” has a high recall. In the entire ad Nike just tries to depict- Never Give up and Do it. Just Do It.

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BRAND MARKive PATANJALI There has been a lot of hoo-ha over how suddenly a small Indian brand has become a major threat for big international brands selling in India. So, what is it that is working in the favour of a marketing layman, Baba Ramdev and enabling him to make the bigwigs sweat?

To start with, for a brand to be able to gain consumer trust, its credibility is essential. It is important for the consumers to believe what is communicated and see the brand as the expert of the offering made. To establish faith in them, brands need to do their research to come up with the ideal logo, image or tag line and work to exceed expectations. However, in the case of Patanjali, that part was already covered.

Baba Ramdev made quite a name for himself when he started featuring on our television screens. People were doting over him for making their lives better with simple techniques of yoga. The word spread like wildfire and he became a household name even for those who had never considered exercising. Brand credibility then was a piece of cake for Patanjali.

Brand communication is also an important factor for building good brands. Patanjali has been doing this very well . Most of their communication focusses on rekindling the connection between India and Ayurveda.

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This works well in their favour by reminding the consumers of their roots. Not only does Patanjali practice content marketing brilliantly but also builds an emotional connect with the audience. Such communication paired with Baba Ramdev who features in them, furthermore increases the trust that the consumers have in the brand. Besides, Baba Ramdev himself is very active in publicly sharing thoughts about many issues and has a huge following on the social media. Now that these building blocks were in place for them, Patanjali had nothing other than the product to really work on. They did that very well too.

They cover a diverse range of products in their portfolio. Some of their products are toothpaste, hair oil, shampoo, biscuits, detergent soap and face wash. Not only that, they are pretty disruptive when it comes to their products. The perfect example to support this are the Atta Noodles that were introduced by Patanjali. Their timing was impeccable too. While the consumers were disappointed about the lead content, they couldn’t help but cry over the ban on Maggi.

That is when Patanjali Atta Noodles jumped in to satisfy the Indian consumers.

Patanjali has not only been attentive to consumer needs but has also ensured of reminding the audiences of the same by breaking advertising records. In a short duration, Patanjali has managed to set the bar high for MNCs. Now that’s marketing!

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BRAND MARKive

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COVER STORY Cross-cultural Marketing When Gerber, the popular baby food brand

by Nestle first started selling their baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the USA with the cute baby on the label.

However later they found out that in Africa companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside the package, since most people cannot read. Similarly, Pepsi expanded their market to China, with the slogan, "Pepsi brings you back to life", without even realizing that it translated to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. Brand blunders like this often result from lack of research of cultural nuances of a new market.

This just points out the rationale behind carefully analyzing cultural values underpinning a society and highlights the importance of cross-cultural marketing..

Decoding “Cross-culture” Marketing Cross-cultural marketing is the tactical course of marketing amongst consumers whose culture differs from that of the marketer's own culture at least in one of the central aspects, such as language, religion, social customs and principles, education, and the living style. Cross-cultural marketing demands marketers to be conscious of and delicate to the cultural dissimilarities; to respect the right to culture by the consumers in various cultures and marketplaces, marketers should understand that they deserved the right to their cultures. If the marketers want to be the conquerors in cross-cultural marketing they must create the

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marketing mix that meets the “consumer's values on a right to their culture. It involves knowing that people all over the world have different requirements. The main test involved in the cross-cultural marketing is “HOW” to do it. Businesses today are developing stratagems to take benefit of the incipient commercial opportunities. The main reasons for going multinational are increasing demand of goods and services of one country in another country and foreign markets becoming the best opportunity for future growth.

When Does Culture Matter in Marketing?

From the demographic viewpoint all market comportments are culture-bound.

Both consumer behavior and business practices are executed to a great degree by the culture within which they take place.

Consequently, in order to match the marketing mix with consumer preferences, purchasing behavior,

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

and product-use patterns in a potential market, marketers must have a thorough understanding of the cultural environment of that market, i.e., marketing cross-culturally.

However, this is by no means to suggest that in the 21st century all marketers should focus on cultural differences only to adjust marketing programs to make them accepted by the consumers in various markets. In contrast, it is suggested that successful marketers should also seek out cultural similarities; in order to identify opportunities to implement a modified standardized marketing mix. To be able to skillfully manipulate these similarities and differences “Promise, marketplaces large promise,isisone the of the in the worldwide sol of anmarketing advertisement. “ most important strategies for Samuel Johnson. businesses in the 21stCentury.

Cultural blunders: Brands gone wrong Coca Cola entered the China market; naming their product something which sounded like “Coca-Cola”. The only problem was that the characters used meant, “Bite the Wax Tadpole”. When they learned of their mistake, they later changed it to a set of characters that mean “Happiness in the mouth”.

Fiat released an ad in Italy in which actor Richard Gere drives a Lanica Delta from Hollywood to Tibet. Gere is hated in China for being an outspoken supporter of the Dalai Lama – there was a huge online uproar on Chinese message boards commenting that they would never buy a fiat car.

Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”. Instead, the company thought that the

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word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad actually read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant”.

Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan ‘finger lickin’ good came out as “Eat your fingers off” in China. Also when launching in Hong Kong, they used chickens raised and fed in China. The Chinese feed their chickens fish – so the taste was nowhere near the same as American KFC as a result the company had to close shop.

Success Stories: Conquerors multicultural markets

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Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” ad campaign is an often-used example of a successful cross-cultural campaign which capitalizes on the diverse population of the USA. It consists of the song being sung in seven different languages reinforcing the idea that Coca-Cola is for everyone.

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COVER STORY Kimberly-Clark’d “Celebrate Family Unity” marketing program linked five of its brands: Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kleenex, Scott and U

by Kotex. It was a platform created to inspire and encourage families to come closer together and give them fun ways to drive family pride and celebrate their unity.” It took inspiration from its Hispanic consumers – a key consumer segment but was targeted at the universal market.

languages with endorsement from notable celebrities.

McDonald’s is perhaps the longest standing American multicultural marketer.

With product portfolio including a mix of standard and region specific food items: from McAloo tikki in India to ‘Le Croque McDo’ in France and strategies targeted to market these offerings have led to the immense success that McDonald’s enjoys.

Cross-cultural checkpoints When firms enter into a new market having a different cultural context, the market managers must think over the alternative strategies, such as the global strategy, multi-domestic strategies and so on. From companies that have successfully mastered the art of transcending across cultures certain key takeaways can be drawn. The followings can be provided as Gillette has achieved a giant market share in recommendations to be successful in the diverse markets through its diverse product global business; portfolio that caters to the needs of both Understanding one’s own culture: classes and the masses; apart from most other Until the companies have a clear companies that also have a continuous stream understanding of who they are and what of new products is that Gillette seeks has shaped them, and what makes ‘us’, they worldwide leadership for all its new products. are incapable of understanding ‘them’. This The advertising concentrates on the using would ensure that every encounter with sports celebrities and models for another market is a cross-cultural advertisements. experience and would help an Pepsi is marketed in US and Europe as a side organization learn from each market not drink to go with pizza or lunches, In East Asia just about each market. it is associated with being fashionable and cool Knowing one’s Expertise: It is and thus there is the use of local pop and rudimentary for an company to have a sports stars. In India Pepsi is marketed more in clear knowledge of its expertise and what terms of being a thirst quencher and being a area it needs to work upon to be drink that provides a lot of fizz. The advertising successful across markets and cultures. in East Asia and India is always in the local

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COVER STORY This also involves taking help from marketing experts for the target countries Content Localization Thorough research: Researching the culture of the target countries and the way people in that particular culture communicate, negotiate and work is also crucial while making decisions related to market strategies. Is the target market a high context (for example South Asia) or low context market (US)? What does a company need to know about non-verbal communication while trooping to another market? It involves a detailed research aimed at the understanding of psychological, cultural and social characteristics of explicit markets.

Cross-cultural workforce: Nothing could be more beneficial to a company with multicultural aspirations than a work force consisting of human elements of varying cultural backgrounds as the companies to conquer new markets can use their employee’s’ own vivid knowledge of culture as a strategic tool.

Taking care of the Peripherals: Know how of local festivals, religions and taboos, holidays, employing professional translators, content localization and all supplementary considerations that work within the periphery of investigation are also critical whilst formulating a marketing approach.

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As brands become global, companies might forget the fundamental objective, which is to know your market. Cross-cultural marketing is simply about using common sense and exploring how the diverse elements of a brand are influenced by culture and amending them to put them across to their target audience in the best possible sense. As already mentioned above, many international establishments have had difficulties with expanding their brands worldwide because they have failed to put in the research and effort necessary to understand the culture. This has lead to several failed brands, to offended consumers, and to the loss of millions of dollars that comes with having to start all over again. Needless to say a deep understanding of consumers’ cultural background and then devising a strategy to market keeping the culture in mind is imperative for success.

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Special Story How to deal with unhappy clients?

In today’s world every business has to deal with difficult and unhappy customers. Dealing with these customers poses a big challenge to businesses across the globe today. Unlike old times where an unsatisfied customer used to spread the word to ten other people around him, today an unsatisfied customer can reach to millions of people. Organizations thus cannot afford to let go off these customers.

These recent communication developments make it extremely important for businesses to deal with unsatisfied customers. This helps to safeguard the company’s reputation and if properly explored, can become a strength of the company in today’s competitive business environment. As satisfying everyone is not possible, following technique comes in handy to deal with such customers.

perspective. This helps one to give 100 percent to the problem at hand and work towards the “customer delight” objective.

This is linked to the basic act of listening.

Whenever a customer raises his concern, it is because he wants to be heard.

Remember to start a dialogue on a neutral mode. Keeping a low tone helps in calming down the prospect and reduces chances of a potential heated argument. An argument is never won by anyone. A common thing that we do, not only in business but also in life is that we listen so as to reply. Active listening includes actively grasping what is being conveyed. To send out a message that the customer is being heard, repeat the concerns that he has mentioned. Even if the problem has been spotted right away, do not interrupt and let the customer have a say. This conveys a message to the customer that he has been heard and understood by the company Active listening brings the problem to light and helps in evaluating customer expectations.

The first and the basic thing is to adjust your mindset. When a customer is unhappy, one needs to shift to a customer service mindset.

Having a service mindset diverts one from a fault finding perspective to a problem solving

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SPECIAL STORY Putting oneself in customer’s shoes helps to evaluate customer needs. It also gives an insight into what the customer is expecting.

This helps to find a median between what the customer needs and what the company needs. While being a part of this situation do not straight away disagree, instead be on the customer’s side. Eg. A “Sorry, this cannot be done” can be replaced by “Let me see what I can do for you in this situation.” Such things shift the supplier-customer thing to a friendly ally point. The gist of this part is to avoid negatives in the first place. Some customers try to impose control and so the balance between being courteous and helpful without letting the customer walk over you is a must.

Once the problem has been understood and if the company is at fault apology can play a key role. Most people express concerns so that companies realize their fault.

Apologizing is what calms down people.

Acceptance of fault and an apology might sort out things and turn complex situations into an easy one. If it’s not the company’s fault then facts need to be conveyed calmly and in a neutral manner. Standing firm on one’s ground firmly and proving it is also required at times. Now there are two different ways to make customers happy. If a company knows what would make its customer happy then tell them the way they intend to solve this problem. If not, then presenting a solution and interacting with the customer/client on what they would suggest on solving the problem can be done.

The trick lies in directing the customer towards the organizations way of solving the problem.

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Let them choose your way of solving the problem.

Care should be taken that the solution is not too hypothetical and that the conditions can be fulfilled. It is more like reaching a common ground and jointly tackling the situation. The company needs to have a set of strategy for solving problems but the response needs to be a personalized one.

Once a solution has been reached upon follow up needs to be taken and the aforesaid promises need to be fulfilled. This needs to be dealt with seriously because not everybody gets a second chance. Follow up with the client is also a must. This sends a message that the company cares about the customer and ensures that the situation has been successfully dealt with. Resolving problem in such a way helps instill a positive reputation in the minds of the customers.

Many companies have been practicing this and have built a strong reputation.

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SPECIAL STORY

Today many clients complain over the phone or respond via e-mails. If possible, they need to be invited for a face to face conversation as most people do not express anger in a face to face situation. Human contact is a very effective way to tackle issues at hand. However modifications in the above process can be made and adjusted according to the communication media being used.

Companies need to seize such opportunities. It has been often noticed that solving problems often leads to loyal customer rather than a problem free service. Companies need to see such problems as opportunities to strengthen corporate relationships. They need to take these learnings positively and inculcate them into the system so that the same concerns do not arise again and again. Angry customers are honest sources of reviews and help to find the existing anomalies in businesses.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS Airtel 4G Airtel has been applauded for its innovative and touching marketing campaigns in the past.

However, 2015 and the current year seem to be the years wherein Airtel seems to have lost its idea of creative campaigning that people used to connect with. Airtel came up with a series of TV ads in 2015 which annoyed almost every viewer who saw it. Enter Airtel 4G girl!

The ubiquitous girl seems to constantly travel to remote corners of the world and always tries to act cool. The typical monologues used to remind customers of Airtel’s presence across the country can annoy even the calmest of the viewers. The script of the ads lack sensibility and only seem like a loud bombardment of words to drill down the idea that Airtel provides 4G connection almost everywhere on the planet! This could have been alright had there been only a couple of ads to showcase the idea. But Airtel went overboard and came up with series of ads; all on the same idea with little thought put into creating something unique with each ad. The ad seems to mock people by showcasing this girl again and again repeating the same facts about Airtel 4G.

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The same girl smiling and pretending to be an Airtel know-it-all has already bored the audience to irksome levels. On product front, Airtel hardly seems to offer anything attractive. Also, the false claims of Airtel 4G presence across remote corners of the country acts as a put off. The ads are extravagant and lack a deeper connection with people that a good marketing campaign usually offers. The ads are preachy and talk down to customers. It makes the customer feel like s/he’s dumb and needs to be told so and so about Airtel. Therefore, at a psychological level, it irritates the customer. The overexposure to the ad and the typical expressions used, has made it to qualify as a bad marketing campaign. The stickiness of the ad is only because of the frequency of airing it across media channels like T.V, Youtube and others.

Let’s hope this is the last of the annoying marketing campaigns by Airtel and it returns to its previous innovating style of marketing.

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Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN TRUMPING DONALD: A TEA-AME INTERVENTION “For your sake, for America’s sake, for the world’s sake” said the Kolkata based tea company, TE-A-ME to Donald Trump urging him to drink more green tea to cleanse himself by sending him 6,000 tea bags to “purify mind” in their new campaign. The gutsy on-ground activity involving the controversial Republican nominee and the U.S. presidential election candidate was later converted to a digital film.

Te-A-Me, an Indian tea company selling flavoured tea internationally sent a special delivery from Kolkata to Trump towers in New York, via two sari clad women while onlookers looked on in amusement. It even has U.S. citizens urging Trump to go ahead and drink the tea! Te-a-me had a simple message for him, “Mr. Trump, it’s never too late to cleanse yourself.” Conveying the benefits of green tea in a humorous approach,

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Te-A-Me said in its video “we are sending you lots and lots of natural green tea. It fights against harmful free radicals. It helps purify mind and body and regain a healthy balance. It has also proven to make people smarter.

Please Mr Trump drink the tea.”

Mr. Trump has everyone - the whole world worried and Te-A-Me decided to send him tea because there was a lot of negativity around him. The digital film has been conceptualised

by Fisheye Creative Solutions, a Bengaluru based creative agency. As a company, the only agenda of Te-A-Me was to increase awareness of the benefits of green tea which they were successful in doing. With this Through the Line marketing and conversion to a digital film to increase its reach, the company has garnered a lot of recognition and PR. They have been able to create a big digital buzz. It has been trending on social media with a viewership of 3.2 million on Facebook and YouTube combined, in just 4 days.

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

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PIONEER Seth Godin Sometimes known as the “ultimate entrepreneur for the information age”, Seth Godin is an American writer, successful entrepreneur, marketer and a public speaker.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Godin graduated from Williamsville East High School in 1978. He received degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University. Seth did his MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business and worked as a software brand manager before he started ‘Yoyodyne’, one of the first Internet-based direct-marketing firms, with revolutionary ideas on how companies should reach their target audiences. In 1998, he sold ‘Yoyodyne’ to ‘Yahoo!’ for $30 million US dollars after it became groundbreaking firm in providing marketing services to multinational companies and himself became Yahoo's vice president of permission marketing. .

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In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo, a community website that allowed users, called "lens masters“, to create pages (called "lenses") for subjects of interest. The site donated 5 percent of the profits to charity, and 50 percent to the lens masters. He is the author of 18 books that have been bestsellers around the world ranging from topics of post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. His books have been translated into more than 35 languages; with Linchpin, The Dip, Tribes and the Purple Cow being the most popular and successful ones. In April of 2016, Godin's book, All Marketers Are Liars, was selected

by Carine Alexis at Forbes as one of six essential books every marketer should have on their shelf.

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PIONEER

Keeping up with his upbeat innovative ideas to encourage people in the field of marketing, Godin announced in a blog post that he would offer a six-month alternative MBA program at his office in New York in 2008. . He professes the idea of making information available for everyone in the world and starting a global conversation on business and marketing in which everyone from everywhere can take an active part.

In 2013, Seth was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, he being one of three chosen for this honor. Recently, Godin once again set the book publishing industry on its ear by launching a series of four books via Kickstarter. The campaign reached its goal after three hours and ended up becoming the most successful book project ever done this way.

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Bookworm Meaningful: The Story of Ideas that Fly - Bernadette Jiwa “Marketing is the art of telling a story that moves people to act” Bernadette Jiwa, in her book “Meaningful: The Story of Ideas that Fly” talks about how important it is for businesses to offer products that matter to people. She insists that marketing starts with the customer’s story, and the job of the marketers is to “compete for meaning”. Meaningful aims to establish that without meaning or a motive, products and services are mere commodities and customers will never feel connected to them.

Great businesses are founded on the truth that marketing is the art of telling a story that moves people to act, and not merely a tactic to sell stuff. It’s about finding ways to create meaning and making people feel something, rather than making them do what you want them to do in the short term.

When the marketers are moving towards data analytics to assess the trends, Bernadette points that numbers often fail to measure what matters most. The book beautifully reminds us that one important difference between a good idea and a commercial idea is the context or meaning it holds for people. The understanding about who the product or service is for and what do they need goes a long way in determining whether the product will be accepted by the customers.

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An example discussed in the book is of Nike FLYEASE – a shoe made especially on the request of a boy suffering from Cerebral Palsy. It talks about how Nike made something that was needed by people and how easy was it to market the product.

“We spend most of our time trying to make people love things, when we should be simply making things people love”, she says.

Apart from her fresh and emotional appeal towards marketing, the book also features a new take in writing. She uses lines such as “What does she want to do, but can’t? What can you do to help her?” when talking about the customers. This makes it a new approach in the conventional marketing where the customer has always been a ‘he’.

In all, it is a great book talking about how important a good product is for marketing.

Definitely a must read for marketing enthusiasts!

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KickStart StayUncle Gone are the days of sneaking around and being embarrassed to get a room!

A nation like ours which loves to go into a frenzy over every Tom, Dick and Harry’s opinion and lets the moral police often run amok, has found itself a debate for the ages!

The unique service offered by this start-up is that privacy starved couples can book rooms as per their requirements, say for 8-12 hours and pay for only those many hours instead of paying for the entire 24 hours. They currently have 12 hour booking slots but are planning to shorten the hours for making it With this hot new start-up in the market, truly an hourly booking venture. Rates are couples can finally be themselves and book a reasonable and cost between Rs. 1400 and room without judgement or fear of safety. Rs. 5000 only.

Unmarried couples have had to bear the Interestingly, the story of how StayUncle burden of moral shaming and social stigma secured their first round of investment is since time immemorial. unique and involves chasing prospective customers rather than investors. Luckily for StayUncle which is based in Gurgaon is the the co-founders, they pitched to early brainchild of CEO & Co-founder Sanchit adopters using nothing but great Sethi; who is a Mechanical Engineer from personalized content and emails, which BITS Pilani. It is the latest buzz in town and turned the tables in their favour as that got an absolute hit among the cupid-struck them a lot of WoM in the market and soon lovers. investors seeked them out.

Sanchit sharing his views on his hotel, had said, “There is no law in India that prohibits unmarried couples from renting a room. As long as they have a government ID card, a room can be given to them. We don’t live in the 1950s anymore. What we are trying to do is change the mind-set of hoteliers.” The thought of being modern is harmless and in the betterment of society.

The StayUncle has a unique caption saying “Couples need a room, not a judgement” and has tie ups with 34 hotels in Delhi, 10 hotels in Mumbai and plans to spread across the whole country to help couples book rooms without any inconvenience.

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THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE Raymond: Celebrating single Moms on Father's Day - Nikita Pendse, IIM Raipur ‘A father is the provider and mother is the nurturer’-these roles have been assigned to each of the parents since time immemorial.

Out of the two parents, fathers are responsible for materialistic as well as emotional wellbeing of each of the family members. From pre historic times the man in the house had the duty to go out hunting for food for the whole family. With changing times this duty evolved as earning money. Also, they are capable caretakers and disciplinarians. A good father is the first man to love the daughters and for sons he is the idol.

Father’s Day is the day which honors this important person in everyone’s life. It celebrates the contributions fathers and fatherly figures make to our life. We express our love and respect for them by giving them gifts and cards.

But in recent times the social demographics are changing. The number of single mothers is on rise. These mothers raise their children single-handedly. They essay the roles of both the parents with finesse. On one hand they go out and earn for the family and essay the role of fatherly figure and on the other hand provide the warmth and care of a mother.

But their hard work and extra efforts go unsung and unnoticed. Even their children don’t know whom to celebrate on Father’s Day. This Father’s Day, Raymond did something different and path breaking. They dedicated an advertisement saluting the single mothers.

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The Raymond ad film opens with a mother and son sharing a leisurely moment in their living room. The protagonist is reading a newspaper while her son is carefully trying to distract her and places his present hidden behind a cushion next to her. She unwraps the gift and there lies a mug that reads—World’s best dad.

Raymond’s suiting is a premium Indian fabric and fashion retailer. It is today one of the largest players in fabrics, designer wear, denim, cosmetics & toiletries. The products are largely aimed at the male consumers.

The marketing strategy of Raymond’s was different since its inception. It created 'The Complete Man', a metrosexual, caring, family man who was very different from the way men were portrayed in the 70s and 80s. That was the angry young man era. But the Raymond man was softer, and every communication created showed the changes happening around the Alpha

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FEATURED ARTICLE male.

The protagonist of Raymond was born — sometimes a caring father, at other times a doting husband or a sincere friend and always looking dapper in a crisply ironed Raymond suit. Some of the advertisements just concentrated on the man and his qualities. The fundamental idea was anchored in a basic human truth — that a man values his family. Today, two decades later 'The Complete Man' lives on.

The success of the ad campaign can be attributed to the fact that it changes the setting of the ad film in relevance to the contemporary society. And this year’s father’s day ad campaign by Raymond was in sync with this spirit.

The new Raymond film depicts the beautiful mother-son relationship, through the beautiful narrative described above.

Raymond breaks away from the cliché and salutes ‘Single Mothers’ on the occasion of Father’s Day. It was a piece of communication that wonderfully decodes the brand’s philosophy – The Complete Man, a soul we celebrate. Through this film, Raymond has brought in a twist to portray some of life’s real circumstances, in this case a salute to single mothers.

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The Complete Man is not just the perfect man, but more like an ideal or value. Using this yardstick they have been exploring different roles, forms and expressions that the Complete Man can own. Single mom is one such expression.

The film captures the honest emotion and understanding of our world through the lens of a little boy. An embodiment of love, the boy realizes his mother’s contribution in shaping his life and playing the role of both his parents. And he makes sure he communicates his love to his mom in his own little way.

Explaining the relevance of the tagline ‘Complete Man’ with the concept of the ad film, the filmmakers said, “Complete Man is just an idea and it is not necessary that it has to be a ‘man’. Rather, a ‘Complete Man’ could be any individual.”

This is a scenario of ‘today’ and only a brand like Raymond can be true to bringing this alive in a contextual and progressive manner to the audience, recognizing the rejoicing role of a single mother. The Raymond’s Team created something that evokes the right emotions and touches the human angle.

The Raymond ad is trending on social media and has been getting a positive response on all platforms. The people are appreciating the ad film to bring into light such a known yet not discussed topic in light in such a beautiful way.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

Content Marketing: A secret weapon for outsmarting competition - Tarun Gahlot, SBM, NMIMS Mumbai Businesses crumble and perish at the same pace with which they are launched. Even if they are among the lucky ones that thrive, there is still no guarantee for the bright future.

Therefore, everybody wants an edge. And hey, every business needs one.

The best strategy to edge past the competition hasn’t changed since business started : a) Create a killer product or service b) Delight your customers with it, and c) Do it all profitably.

However, you have to know what your competition is doing else you would be too naïve to think that simply being good is enough to walk away with a win. You don’t agree with it? Just ask Ned Stark from “Game of Thrones.”

It is too easy to get blindsided. Ideally, the businesses needs to beat the competition at their own game. And in my opinion, content marketing is particularly well suited for this. It is relatively easy to take acue of your competitors’ success and foundering and leverage them for yourself.

JULY 2016

Content marketing, as a strategic marketing approach, focuses on creating and distributing relevant, consistent and valuable content to attract and retain the customers and ultimately drive profitable action through them.

Basically, it is the art of communicating your message with your customers and prospects without direct selling. As a noninterruption marketing technique, content marketing pitches your products and services to the buyer along with the plethora of information - making your buyer more intelligent and smarter. The basic essence of this content strategy is the belief that if the businesses deliver a valuable and consistent information to buyers, they will ultimately reward them with their share of wallet and loyalty.

A lot can be learnt about another company’s content marketing program: • What content they are publishing on their weblogs and other websites :The businesses can sign up for the competition’s newsletter or subscribe to their weblog’s RRS feed. A folder could be created in the inbox for each and every competitor. Alternatively, Google Alerts can be created for the company’s name and products.

• How, when and what they publish on social media platform and whether the social media following is shrinking or growing – level of engagement of customers:

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FEATURED ARTICLE By employing content search tools and searching by your competitor’s website URL – the business will be able to get a list of top content published by your competitors on the social media platforms - articles, videos and infographics as well as the social shares for each piece of the content. Tools like Follower Wonk, Twitter Audit and Fanpage Karma can be used to see how well their social media is performing and how engaged their audience is.

Best of all things, you’ll be able to see who shared your content. These sharers are probably acting as the influencers for you.

Since, you have an understanding of what all content the influencers are interested in – you can then follow them on Twitter/Facebook for a while and post on social media to let them know that you have published something they might like. • How well their pay-per-click advertising working i.e. which terms and keywords they are bidding on, how much they are paying for it and the ad copy: In an era of digital disruption, website speed & mobile optimization can give you an edge in search engine rankings.

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Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Tests could be used to find out how your site is performing vis-à-vis your competitors.

• To find out what the customers are saying about you and your business: Irrespective of the fact that your business is localized or not, if you are able to get traffic from the review sites like Google and Yelp to your website/stores, you will want to know how your competitors are doing on those websites in your analysis as well. Look for trends in both positive and negative ratings to see whether there is something your competition is not delivering - on which you can beat them? Check out their reviews and what all ratings they have. And find out if there are any unmet demands that that can be leveraged upon to grow your business.

There is more to its advantage, but that will be probably enough to pique your interest on it. The underlined point here is that you can get a complete a content marketing diagnostic on yourself &any competitor of your choice and then use that information to avoid the mistakes committed by them.

Consequently, apply your time and resources to do more of what has worked for them. If it is observed that they are dominating one topic or niche– then learn how to side-step their strengths and avoid a competition with them head on. Therefore, content marketing is being employed by some of the greatest marketing organizations in the world like HUL, P&G, Microsoft, Harley Davidson and John Deere. It is also being developed and executed by small and medium enterprises around the globe.

THE MARKSMAN

SquareHead

JULY 2016

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BUZZ PUZZLE

ACROSS 5. ______ launches 'Bees Ka TV' campaign to raise awareness about the affordable platform that makes TV accessible to anyone with a phone 6.

Verizon Communications Inc. announced plans to buy core assets of this internet content provider 7. ____, in its recently-launched ad film 'Da Da Ding', features women athletes aimed to inspire young women to take up sports DOWN

CLUES

1. Flipkart recently announced the acquisition of this fashion and lifestyle ecommerce platform from the Global Fashion Group 2. HT Media has launched its second radio station, Radio _____ 107.2 FM, in Delhi. It will be a retro station which will only play old Bollywood music 3. ________, owned by Tata Chemicals cheers Indian athletes heading to Rio Olympics with 'Namak ke Waastey' campaign 4. ShopClues launched this seller-bidding platform which is a self-service solution to help merchants promote their products Answers: Down: 1.Jabong 2. Nasha 3. TataSalt 4. AdZone Across: 5. DittoTV 6. Yahoo 7. Nike

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THE MARKSMAN

Call for ARTICLES CALL FOR ARTICLES AUGUST 2016 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

1. Are Loyalty programs a thing of past?

2. Measuring return on Digital Investment 3. How brands create a signature brand story *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 : 20th August, 2016

JULY 2016

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The TEAM

THE TEAM TWEETS by Vivek Gariba It’s all about AD-itude by Ishita Shah Brand MARKive by Mansi Mahajani COVER STORY by Shikhar Dubey SPECIAL STORY by Priyank Wani FAUX PAS by Janhavi Kothari

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Ashka Mevawala PIONEER by Dipika Soneja BOOKWORM by Samarth Amarnani SquAreheaD by Ishita Shah BUZZ by Kashyap Salvi

KickStart by Shruti Mohapatra PROOF READ by Dipika Soneja Kunal Sanghrajka DESIGNING by Ishita Shah Kashyap Salvi PROMOTIONS by Dipika Soneja Shruti Mohapatra

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To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:http://interfacesimsr.com/index.p hp/marksman

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 Website: http://interfacesimsr.com/index.p hp/marksman

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