The Marksman Dec '14

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

BrandMarkive: 20th Century Fox

Special Story: The hottest new jobs in marketing

Faux Pas: Malaysia Airlines

Pioneer: Amitabh Bachchan

VOL. V | ISSUE VII | DEC’ 14

Wishes You

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers, If January has summoned, could December have declined?

Novelty is valuable by itself -- not as proxy, not as alibi. As we march onward into the new year, we bring you the December edition of The Marksman -- your monthly feed of the latest buzz in marketing.

This issue's Cover Story beckons ideas that are as it were eternal truths -- Relationship Marketing, as its name suggests, is about focussing on the relationship between the buyer and the seller, treating it more than just an instance of trading activity. The Special Story, for good contrast, is about the hottest new jobs in marketing that we should all watch out for. Brand Markive digs deep and takes up 20th Century Fox (recall the dramatic intro jingle?) for a historical tour. The All About Ad-titude brings in two latest instances of how advertising can work on the theme of an occasion and convey touching messages.

Dig in to also catch in on the story of how Amitabh Bachchan has evolved as a brand, to explore how Chipotle Mexican Grill showed the world that good marketing goes hand in hand with both sensibility and sensitivity, the report on our national level communications strategy competition and lots more!

We would also like to congratulate this month's CfA winners -- Cristy Dominic from SIBM, Pune, Urvi Mishra from IIT Roorkee and Shweta Gupta from NMIMS. We thank you all for your enthusiastic response and hope you enjoy flexing your reading as well as writing muscles!

As always, we welcome all manner of query and critique. You can find various ways of connecting with us on our website -- www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman With heartfelt wishes for a happier and more enlightening year to come, Happy Reading!

Team MARKSMAN The Interface-The Marketing Club of SIMSR @marksmansimsr.

DECEMBER 2014

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CONTENTS TWEETS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -03 IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -05 BRAND MARKIVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 06 COVER STORY: RELATIONSHIP MARKETING - - - - - - - - - - - - -08 SPECIAL STORY: THE HOTTEST NEW JOBS IN MARKEING - - 11

MARKETING FAUX PAS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 17 PIONEER - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 19 REWIND - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21 BOOKWORM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -23 BUZZ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -34

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TWEETS Titan Raga has kicked off a new campaign to celebrate contemporary women. The message it wants to put across is that the Raga woman is independent, strong, confident and has a right to choose to be herself rather than conform to expectation.

The ad featuring Nimrat “Lunchbox” Kaur puts the strong social message in a subtle manner over a quick conversation between a divorced couple crashing into each other in an airport lounge. It is hard-hitting and aims to inspire young girls and women across the nation and the world to live life on their own terms.

#AbMontuBolega – Strepsils goes Social

DECEMBER 2014

#HerLifeHerChoices – The Titan Raga Woman of Today

The largest selling sore throat lozenge in the world has ventured into curing social menaces as well. #AbMontuBolega is Strepsils’ foray into digital media which urges people to voice their opinion, blow the whistle and speak up for what’s right.

People can indulge by posting comments and/or images of unwanted social scenario on the social media followed by the hashtag. The latest cause it has associated itself with is the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. From clearing throats to cleaning streets, strepsils has really come a long way.

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TWEETS #PowerofFive – Microsoft Lumia 535

Santa Claus comes once a year but there are a bunch of people who can even give Santa a run for his money. We’re talking about the unsung heroes of online shopping who are always at our beck and call to get us our favourite goodies any time of the year, the delivery men. In an effort directed towards appreciating the phenomenal efforts put in by this army, Google during its GOSF (Great Online Shopping Festival) decided to turn the tables and let them be on the receiving end. Google staff personally delivered customized helmets, carrying their names on it to them. The booming wheels of e-tail industry is in their hands, the least we could is keep their heads held high with safety.

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Microsoft recently launched its Lumia 535 handset in India. It started promoting the handset through #PowerOfFive on the social media, basically highlighting its features of 5 inch screen and 5 MP front & rear facing camera. In order to boost the campaign Microsoft came up with a contest wherein various Twitterati were asked to guess one of the services it offers, depicted through a picture in lieu of a Lumia 535. To add to it, especially since Republic Day is just round the corner, Lumia teamed up with Nargis “Rockstar” Fakhri to kickstart another campaign named #RomanceUrCity which requires people to click selfies at popular monuments of their city.

#SpecialDelivery – A Google initiative

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD Sansbury: Reliving the Christmas spirit!

Sainsbury presents a wonderful story of peace in the midst of war between German and French troops, about one hundred years ago on a Christmas Eve. The ad shows two soldiers in the trenches, one on each side of the border, being nostalgic about their homes and initiating a peaceful gesture on the Christmas morning. They put down their weapons, greet each other and indulge in a short but fun filled game, after which they resume their work dutifully.

PRINT AD Publicis Singapore: ‘Every good idea begins with a pencil’ The advertising agency scores high with this festive print ad that suits the season at its best. The central idea and the choice of props and colours in the ad, very well highlight the creativity quotient of the firm.

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BRAND MARKive 20th Century Fox "A major film studio is a production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box office revenue in a given market."

Give that definition to an average English movie audience and he might not add a suitable name as an example to it. Ask them if they know "20th Century fox" and they will reply with Epic Movie titles, that too, in confidence.

A subsidiary of the Fox Entertainment Group today, 20th Century fox was merger between Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures. Located near Beverly Hills, in the Century City area of Los Angeles, it is one of the six major American film studios.

Starting with one of the partners in serious financial problems the company today stand with more than 200 titles in development for now only and more than three thousand movie titles under its belt, this company has seen it all-ups as well as downs. Apart from movie distribution, they also deal with other modes as Television, Radio, Music, Home Entertainment and Movie-processing.

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When they started off, it was more of a death saving move for Fox, who being more of a strict business man than an artist was not being able to grasp the audience's nerves consistently and in that era and for long, the fate of a movie decided the fate of not only its stars but all the names connected to it. The other partner, Twentieth Century Pictures was quite small in size at that time but owing to their then financial conditions, it was still the bigger stakeholder.

It was being headed by Zanuck and Schenck, who later proved to be the craftsmen for the company providing it with the much needed connect with the audience.

The collaboration was waved off by launching of new actor faces who carried the studio forward for years to come. This was indeed a brave move by a business already not in a strong position. However, it paid off well. Maybe that was the only reason they were not afraid of taking up bold steps and moving on to first of its kind film-making in the years to come, the years which saw the studio being associated with actors like Henry Fonda, Don Ameche, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable etc.

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BRAND MARKive What today stands as an integral part of the movie experience- the music and audio effects were adopted the first by the then named as "Twentieth CenturyFox Film Corporation". And the valor of decision does not lie only in the restricted technology exposure at that time but also at taking up the initiative to invest in an innovation. Later, the cinemascope Technology was also adopted first by them only and in addition to the list are the acts of early adoption of 3-D technology and the intangible quality of adding a unique flavor to the studio's creations and associations.

Majorly, apart from the Monroe tragedy, they were able deal with the varying personal requirements of the creators during the era which saw a lateral shift in the way the World see an artist and how an artist looks at the World.

DECEMBER 2014

In the 21st century, they started taking their reach to a global platform. Launching of an Asian subsidiary, strengthening in the Australian market are examples of the same only and today, they stand out as a trusted name in each of the fields they deal withfrom the television screen to the big screen to the Smartphone screen, they have been able to cover all the platforms in a convincing way.

It can thus be clearly concluded that it is the perfect blend of artistic credo and in-time proper financial decisions that they have been able to not only sustain their presence for decades and decades but also achieve static growth in an ever-dynamic industry.

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COVER STORY RELATIONSHIP MARKETING We often see companies which go an extra mile trying to meet their monthly, quarterly and yearly sales targets. But how many companies have you seen which actually go even further to create and maintain relationships with their customers. That’s what this month’s cover story is about, ‘Relationship Marketing’.

There are many definitions of relationship marketing given by management gurus from different parts of the globe. But putting it in simple words and a broad sense, ‘Relationship Marketing’ is the brand’s ability to create an emotional connection with the consumer.

The activities are aimed at developing and managing trusting and long-term relationships with larger number of customers. Companies maintain the customer profile, buying patterns, and history of contacts in a sales database, and an account executive is assigned to one or more major customers to fulfill their needs and maintain the relationship.

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One of the most expensive and difficult tasks facing any business firm, especially multi national corporations is acquiring new customers. Earning a potential customer's attention, creating interest in them for a product or a service, making a convincing pitch and then facilitating the final sale can leads to huge expenses when every step has to be accomplished. According to a few management experts, acquiring a new customer can cost five times as much as retaining an existing customer.

This presents a serious dilemma for many companies. With finite resources, is it better to attract new customers or try to hold onto the ones they already have?

According to those same experts, a 2% increase in customer retention can decrease costs by as much as 10%. No company can survive and grow if they are not constantly adding to their customer base.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Some examples of relationship marketing are sending birthday cards to clients, offering reward plans to customers and creating web pages and forums for clients to find the answers to their questions and to become better informed. Making a change based on customer requests is also a relationship marketing technique.

Relationship marketing is the approach businesses take to keep their customers happy and feeling like they are important. A We saw how important and at the same common example of customer appreciation time, how difficult it is to implement this is the frequent flier reward plans some concept properly. Looking at the conceptual airlines use to keep their customers framework of relationship marketing, it returning. Listening to the consumer is key “Promise,aslarge promise, where is the both views marketing an exchange in relationship marketing. When a number soul of an advertisement. “ the buyers and the sellers help to shape up of customers request a particular change in - Samuel Johnson. the direction and outcome of the product a policy, product or procedure and a that will be offered to the market. Instead of company listens and responds, that business treating marketing as merely selling a shows it is interested in its clients and their product to passive potential buyers, welfare. relationship marketing argues that you need Actually, relationship marketing is more to encompass many more activities and than just sending out a survey to receive parties in the marketing process, including feedback, it is about truly engaging clients consumers.

Marketing doesn't end after the customer and customers so that they feel a part of purchases the product; rather, you attempt something special and feel they have a to obtain important feedback from your deeper connection with the brand. Loyal customers and build a continuous customers are the life of an organization, relationship through related products and and relationship building leads to loyalty services. and trust.

For example, after you sell a customer a car, you try to continue the customer relationship with a customer satisfaction survey for important feedback, customer service departments, maintenance plans and promotions, installment payment plans, and extended warranties.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Starbucks is a prime example of a company which engages in relationship marketing. Many of us like the premium coffee that they offer in the few outlets they have opened in the posh areas of the city. In order to keep up with their existing set of customers, the company usually sends out mails and uses the 5 R’s approach for its relationship marketing. Let us have a look: Recognize - The email quickly communicates this is an offer that is exclusive for members. The black and gold highlight colors are consistent with the rewards program brand. There is a lot of information in a very small space and the fact that it is free is always compelling.

Relevant offer – Most of us have friends we would like to take to lunch. This is a clever offer that potentially introduces new people to the Starbucks experience.

Oh, and there is a good chance that a friend will want something else like a drink or other food item, so there is incremental revenue potential for Starbucks.

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Reveal – The creative uses imagery and text to communicate the value proposition of the offer, and important details of the offer are in close proximity.

Redeem – Customers can choose to print out the email or can show the email on their device. What is really important is the attention to detail. The offer code is embedded so they don’t have to educate the barista; the email is instructive for Starbuck’s staff. This attention to detail increases the odds that the experience in the store will be a pleasant one.

Reward – The gold card members can redeem the gold stars for free drinks. They are earning stars and they can take advantage of this offer, sign in and check on the status of their rewards.

We can see from this example that multichannel marketing doesn’t have to be complex, attention to detail is important, thinking of all stakeholders can improve the customer experience, there is more than one way to get customers to share and focusing on the consumer experience can increase a marketer’s options.

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SPECIAL STORY The hottest new jobs in marketing When we talk of taking up a job in the field of marketing, some very usual and clichĂŠ job titles spring up in our minds. Chief Marketing Officer, Brand Managers and Brand Developers, Creative Designers are few of the typical job titles one comes across.

However, as the modern marketing era ushers in, it is high time that these orthodox job titles also witness a major overhaul. So move over conventional, ‘cuz contemporary is here.

With the emergence of newer and more diverse marketing tools and channels, ever increasing customer buying power and lesser brand loyalty amongst patrons, there is a totally new roster of creative job roles with even cooler titles that have come into marketing departments. What’s more, having identified this need, firms are looking to fill these spaces up in earnest.

DECEMBER 2014

These job titles require a very high degree of specialization and probable candidates would have to be the most reliable subject matter experts to be able to fulfill the requirements of these job opportunities.The urgency for immediate action is further heightened by the fact that such candidates are very senior, come at a very high cost to the firm and therefore are very rare.

Hence these new job titles are becoming the hottest topic in the market.

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SPECIAL STORY Such a revision in the structure of firms is considered by many as progressive and comes across as a bold decision by firms to align their operations with the modern marketing scenario. On the flip side, some also believe that such a move is nothing more than a gimmick and in the long run it is not going to alter the way marketing is conducted. Whichever side one is on, they can’t overlook the fact that big firms like P&G, Diageo, SABMiller, TESCO amongst others are riding this new wave in order to simplify their structures and bring in higher magnitudes of specialization. Some such new job titles include Data Translator or Data Scientist, Master Storyteller, Values Evangelist, etc. This article looks at some of these positions in a little detail.

With the ever increasing popularity of Big Data Analytics it has become necessary for the firms to look for people who can analyze and not just summarize, who possess the ability to implement this knowledge in the context of strategic decisions. Firms always face the issue of meeting this insight challenge and end up hiring large numbers of analysts on temporary contracts but seldom find permanent candidates with such analytical abilities. This is where the Job of Data Translator or Data Scientist arises.

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Firms define this position as the one who can “both understand the world of new data and demonstrate a sufficient level of strategic understanding to actually be able to guide decisions rather than just share facts”. Recognizing this need firms are creating board level executive positions to supplement the requisite manpower with appropriate skills. The challenge is to retain customers by understanding not only the needs of a segment but also through knowledge of what drives each individual towards buying behavior.

Hence, understanding data and using it to support the company’s growth strategy remains the crux behind this job role.

Another, very contemporary role that has arisen, sounds more like an author’s position than a marketer’s: that of a Master Storyteller. No, this is neither a job position at Warner Brothers nor are we referring to Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan. Content has become a central marketing tool and firms are looking to hire people who can engage their customers by telling stories that inspire.

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SPECIAL STORY Different platforms and mediums require different stories and the Master Storyteller’s work includes balancing all these channels and tailor-making content for each, consistent with the overall picture and theme of the campaign. This position is very important because these hires become the voice of the company and messages designed by them stand to make or break the image of the firm.

Hence these people are not just content creators but content strategists.

Communicating the content is important, but what is equally important is communicating the overall values of the organization. This is where a Values Evangelist comes in. The role of this position is similar to a country’s External Affairs Ministry. It is the liaison between the firm and the outside world. This might seem as a more reactive job role but it requires a good measure of proactiveness.

It involves making each individual employee the advocate of their brands and engages more deeply with external stakeholders, including consumers. It looks beyond simply communicating the product to communicating the overall values that the organization stands by.

DECEMBER 2014

Modern marketing has witnessed the growing importance of digital marketing as a medium. Experts believe that within the next five years a company in its promotional budget would have to assign more than 75% toward digital communication. This is where a Digital All-rounder comes in. Analytics, digital and mobile platforms are increasingly driving all marketing efforts and digital platforms have augmented the touch -points that affect each consumer.

Digital media also allows a firm to create a dialogue with each consumer on an individual basis. Hence a Digital Allrounder’s job is to facilitate these one-toone interactions across social and mobile media. As digital media has grown brand marketers have simply not been able to keep up with the necessary digital skills.

This is therefore an attractive opportunity for younger aspirants who feel at home with the nuances of digital marketing.

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SPECIAL STORY These job titles are just a few examples of what the modern marketing scenario has been generating. North American and European firms have more readily accepted these changes. However, the more conventionally-inclined Asian companies are yet to adopt such drastic structural changes, although every organization has identified the need to inject newer and fresher blood in their wings. Research and polls have shown that there is rising confidence amongst top companies to bring in younger and culturally diverse human resource so as to make operations more modernistic, adaptive to global operations and more receptive of differences across markets.

Hence, even though these are relatively newer concepts there is always scope for budding marketers to make their marks as they have their thumbs on the pulse of our modern markets.

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All of us have heard of a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, or a Chief Financial Officer, but the latest CCO title is that of a Chief Customer Officer.

Customer centricity is important for all businesses and the role that this job plays is that of aligning each and every business operation with the customer at its heart.

Understanding the process of how a consumer is affected at each stage of his/her buying process and capitalizing on all touch points, has become mandatory.

Such a job role elevates customer centricity from being just another instance of marketing jargon to being a matter of practice among all firms.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS Malaysian Airlines: Wrong Timing, Wrong Choice of Words For the airlines it was an effort to win back customers but not every marketing campaign can be a success.

So, what went wrong? It seemed like such a good idea...but, not at that time.

The Malaysian airlines was already recuperating from financial woes when the twin tragedies of MH370 and MH17 happened. The lives of 537 passengers on-board the flights were lost that very year. Going by what a bucket list is –it is a list of the things you want to do before you kick the bucket or simply put… Before you die!

Skydive, snowboard, bathe an elephant, chase a tornado, meet a world leader, master a new language- all these and many more feature on our ‘once in this life’ to-do-lists. We all have our own lists and the quicker things get struck off it, the more the thrill. Keeping that in perspective the Malaysian airlines came up with a marketing ploy “My ultimate bucket-list” contest. Launched only for customers who had already booked flights in Australia and New-Zealand, the contestants had to submit an entry about destinations on their bucket list for a chance to win an economy class return ticket to Malaysia or an I-pad.

DECEMBER 2014

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MARKETING FAUX PAS The promotional campaign turned into a PR disaster and served as the final nail in the coffin. The little nuances that we overlook are the ones that prick the most. In a similar instance in 2003 the Hong Kong tourism board ran an ad promising that “Hong-Kong will take your breath away.” This was the time when SARS had killed about 100 people mostly in Hong Kong and China. Such online gaffes capture attention for all the wrong reasons. These are the times when we realize the importance of timing and right choice of words. The airlines was acidly criticised for their choice of words. People found it highly insensitive and detrimental to their sentiments in view of the recent misfortunes apart from the title being construed as macabre.

References to the contest have been pulled off its website and the links now direct to an error page.

The competition however still exists only now asking customers for their “ultimate to-do-list”.

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Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN Chipotle Mexican Grill –Awareness with a touch of entertainment Not so long ago, the hoax photo of KFC’s Mutant Chicken with extra limbs went viral on the internet. Rumours were spread about how the chickens were kept alive by pumping in blood and nutrients and how their bone structure was dramatically shrunk to get more meat. Although people are aware of the effects of such inorganic food used in fast food outlets, consumption continues to grow. Chipotle Mexican Grill’s campaign is exactly against this practice. They cultivate organic crops and raise chicken and pork au naturel and encourage people to eat healthy burritos.

DECEMBER 2014

How did Chipotle do this? By social media campaigns. Not every video uploaded on YouTube gets massive reach. It must evoke emotion which can drive people to share or pass along on social media. Chipotle’s campaign “Food with Integrity” contains all the essential ingredients and has therefore become a huge success.

Take a look at the same below… ‘The Scarecrow’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5 ScSE

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

This animated short film depicts the story of a demoralized scarecrow working in a fast food factory. Tired of its horrendous days at work it decides to quit and to instead open a burrito outlet which uses fresh vegetables. The film attained 6.5 million YouTube views less than two weeks. As of now, it has passed 12 million. The iOS game reportedly topped half a million downloads within about six weeks of landing in Apple's App Store.

It increased consumer awareness of animal confinement, synthetic growth hormones, toxic pesticides and other fixtures of industrial food production.

The campaign was well received by marketing pundits and people for its minimalistic approach. Chipotle's logo appears only briefly at the end of the video and in the game's introduction which was the core of what many assess to be a brilliant, ground-breaking example of content or "narrative" marketing. Needless to say, the revenue increased by 25.8%, sales by 12.7%, and net income soared 34.9%. The exposure and engagement yielded by these videos and clever marketing prove to be successful methods for doing great business indeed.

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PIONEER Building Brand AB – Mr. Amitabh Bachchan

Presenting to you, the Don, the Shehenshah, the most favorite quiz master of all times – he surely needs no introduction. The one and only – this is a man who turned his fortune around, a man with the Midas Touch, a man who can multi-task even at the age of 70, surely the proverbial complete man!

It is, of course, none other than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan! These were just a few words to describe this great personality and writing about him today in Pioneer, is no big surprise. This section would be incomplete without an article on him – so here’s a small peek into the building of brand AB.

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Born in Allahabad to one of India’s renowned poets Late Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan was earlier named Inquilaab taking inspiration from the phrase “Inquilab Zindabad” (“Long Live the Revolution!”). However, later on his name was changed to Amitabh which meant a light that never dies, proving to be the most appropriate name for this young boy. Amitabh completed his education from Kirori Mal College in Delhi.

He commenced his career in films with a voice-over in the award winning film Bhuvan Shome. His career as an actor started with the movie Saaf Hindustani, bagging his first Filmfare Award as a supporting actor in the movie Anand. His career took a kick start with the movie Zanjeer, after which there was no looking back. He went on to be a part of and create a number of hits such as Roti Kapda aur Makaan, Silsila, Laawaris, Kabhie Kabhie, Don, Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony, and Deewar to name a few.

This multifariously talented actor however has not restricted himself to movies. He is known also for his signing talent. Songs such as Rang Barse, Mere Angne Mein and My Name is Anthony Gonsalves are remembered and sung even today. In addition, he has even had a short career in politics as well.

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PIONEER Amitabh Bachhan entered the production business with ABCL (Amitabh Bachhan Corp.

Ltd.). It marked its commencement with the 1996 Beauty Pageant. It produced a number of unsuccessful films such as Gulabi and Saat Rang An event of great importance and Ke Sapne. However, with its relaunch in the concern in his life was in the year 1982 future it added hits like Paa and Buddha Hoga when shooting for the film Coolie. While Tera Baap. shooting for this movie with co–star With the television industry growing by leaps Puneet Issar, Amitabh Bachhan underwent and bounds, how could Brand AB have not to its an almost fatal intestinal injury. It so been a part of it and contributed st happened that Big B himself wanted to success! The beginning of the 21 century has enact a stunt sequence rather than using seen households glued to their TV sets in the a duplicate wherein he was supposed to evenings to witness one of the best quiz fall on a table and roll to the ground. masters of all times – Mr Amitabh Bachhan. He Unfortunately as he jumped towards the has won a million hearts and made great table, the corner of the table hit his contributions to the Indian television industry. abdomen, leading to a rupture in his He has hosted a few seasons of this TV shows spleen causing a lot of blood loss. Having and continues to host more even today, collapsed on the stage, he had to be despite an interim gap due to health issues.

Today at the age of 72, Brand AB has been a operated immediately.

The love and support he received from driver of some 200 films, has endorsed brands his fan-following was phenomenal. People ranging from hair oils, chocolates and pens to flocked to temples to pray for him. Large state tourism. He has done a variety of roles crowds of people gathered outside the right from the angry young man in Zanjeer to the innocent Progeria affected 13 year old boy hospital where he was admitted.

Not letting his well-wishers down, he in Paa. Brand AB has it all, right from politics to bounced back to complete the movie singing to production. And even after all this, which turned out to be a hit adding he stays as humble as ever continuing to another blockbuster movie to his kitty. strengthen brand AB more than ever.

He was even diagnosed with Myesthania Gravis. However, despite all these challenges, he remained unfettered and faced them by pulling up his bootstraps.

Brand Amitabh continues to showcase the true spirit despite these ups and downs.

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THE MARKSMAN

REWIND FCB ULKA Comstrat 2014 COMSTRAT 2014 was the 19th edition of the prestigious National BSchool Communication Strategy competition organized annually by FCBUlka -- India's 3rd largest marketing communication group (part of the Interpublic Group) – in partnership with SIMSR. This year the contestants had to devise a communication strategy that outlines the way forward for Airtel to drive usage of mobile internet in the most effective manner to achieve its objective of increasing the reach in terms of both the existing as well as new consumer base. The primary objective of the task was to identify the right audience and key challenges for the adoption of mobile internet through a consumer lens.

Subsequent to the analysis, participants were required to outline a strategy to drive the image of Airtel as the preferred mobile internet provider and consequently drive adoption.

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The competition was tough as the finalists comprised teams from premier MBA institutes across India. The top 6 teams were from IIMIndore, SOMIITKharagpur, JBIMS, SIMCPune, MICAAhmedabad and SIMSR. The final presentations were held at SIMSR on the 20th of December’14.

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REWIND The event was presided over by the institute director, Dr. Satish Ailawadi, and Prof Isaac Jacob. The judges included Mr. Dorab Sopariwala, the Founding Managing Director of MARG, one of the most prestigious market research companies in India and Mr. Vidyadhar Wabgaonkar, Senior Vice President -Strategic Planning, Interface Communications.

There were online and offline pre buzz events conducted for promoting COMSTRAT on campus. The events included Buddy Connect, #HarEkFriendZarooriHotaHai and Airtel Jingle Contest. The winners of the buzz events were felicitated on the concluding day of the event by the esteemed guests.

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The winners of COMSTRAT’14 were the team from K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research who completed a hattrick. The 1st runnerup was the team from VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur and the 2nd runnerup was the team from JBIMS. The event concluded with a note from the judges who spoke about the quality of the presentations and the implications of the strategies in the real life scenario.

It was a very good experience for students who not only got an opportunity to witness quality presentation but also learn from industry stalwarts.

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BOOK WORM

Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business -Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig and Ben Pring

With everything moving on to the digital platform and more and more companies relying on digital and social media marketing to enhance their sales and brand awareness, the authors of this book wanted to deliver an inside story that could explain this changing phenomenon and also provide certain models to help companies upgrade themselves to the virtual world of codes. Everyone has heard about the term the ‘Digital Footprint,’ Halos is just another metaphor used by the authors to describe the same thing. Rather than adding digital or online to it, they added Codes because they felt that decoding the information will help the businesses thrive.

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The book covers interesting facts about the different ways one can make it big in this digital era. One of the ways that they have proposed is the crossroads model.

This helps one understand how to grow a business through several stages like the ionisation, spark, and enrichment. This is a step by step technique that can be very useful and rewarding for any enterprise.

They have illustrated excellent examples like Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Google, etc. How they reached such great heights is decoded through Halos Codes. The second half of the book is completely dedicated to explaining how applying those principles would benefit the company. Even the small miniscule steps help. It also emphasises that it is not just useful for any company but can also be used to create a personal brand.

People with blogs and video tutorials and other internet businesses can greatly benefit from the book as well. It provides a complete know how of turning towards digital media. With times changing greatly and e-commerce sites mushrooming all over the web, this book helps in understanding the tricks of the trade that led to their success. So if you want to understand how the Halos Codes world can completely change a business, this is a must read.

23 THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES How can burger king mount a challenge on McDonalds ?

Urvi Mishra - IIT Roorkee Burger King has come a long way since the day of its birth. David Edgeton had opened the very first store in Miami in 1954 to provide customers the heavenly taste of hamburger and milkshakes. Since then BK has been subject to acquisitions and mergers but none powerful enough to help it take head on its biggest enemy, McDonalds. Although both of them have been competing in the same field for a good 60 years, the self-described king lags far behind what is arguably the God of the fast-food industry. Yes, it’s definitely possible to stand tall -- but the stature is missing from the throne of king since many decades in spite of tremendous efforts. As BK goes for a deal with Tim Horton we see a ray of hope as it marks its presence in the breakfast menu becoming the third largest in the foodindustry and declaring its strong hold on Canadian market.

A burning flame will keep them away BK has been built upon the idea of flame-broiling and it was able to give the competitors a hard day by it. A key market advantage that has insured its growth in the past. BK should leverage the differentiating factor and should design its ad campaign to reinforce this image in the minds of consumers. As they have already been saying, “exciting things are happening at Burger King.”

There are big challenges on the way of Burger King; a wise selection of plans can make it the winner of the game:

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THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES Say ‘Hi’ to the young ladies Since 1980 the various ad campaigns used by BK are focused on targeting a specific market segment, young male diners from the age group of 18-35.

The major campaigns "Sometimes you've gotta break the rules" (198991), "Your way right away" (1991), and "BK Tee Vee" have kept them away from a large section of consumer group. Also several lawsuits have been filed against them for behaving in a negligent way with kids while distributing the toys. Certainly an empathetic image is the need of time.

DECEMBER 2014

Make it more happening Based on the study done by National Restaurant News and WD Partners McDonald’s (McD) topped Burger King in menu variety, though it ranked lower in food quality. Today we see fast-paced, more affluent, dual-income urban households preferring higher valued food. In menu design, it is important to keep in mind that as income levels increase and consumers migrate from the ‘middle-income’ category, they appear most likely to change their food basket by consuming a more diverse and higher valued diet. A new menu should be designed while not losing the steady traffic.

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FEATURED ARTICLES Strengthen the bond A major factor which is affecting the growth rate of Burger King is inconsistency in its product from one store to another. In building a long lasting relationship with its customer it’s essential that one should perform as per the preconceived image. BK should learn from McDonald’s in that the latter has embodied the formula to run franchisee businesses in a smooth manner, be it in providing the training to the employees, marinating the logistics in the right amount, checking on every franchisee and never allowing deviation from the standard image.

Old is gold As per the old playbook faithful employees takes you through the hardest times. Burger King parent 3G, the Brazilian private-equity firm has fired 3/4 of the staff with the acquisition deal. A cost optimizing move to replace the experienced staff with younger professionals has not been fruitful as expected. Experienced, old staff always cultivates the feeling of trust throughout the organisation. Make most of their industry experience and give them the various health benefits to revamp the social image.

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Innovation Today competitors are splurging from every nook and corner. Virginia’s Five Guys is writing a lucrative sales growth story, West Coast icon In-N-Out Burgers are opening new store in Texas.

Burger joints are mushrooming in every metropolitan city. It’s very hard to be stay put in the second/third place, a position that Burger King has enjoyed since 1972.

From past few years BK had seen shut down of many research labs, training institute while the competitors are relying more on innovation. Put on the creative glasses and try to recreate the magic of whoppers.

Explore the new markets The biggest players of fast food are going through a rough time in the local market .The sales has slipped 0.2 percent in last year in the US at McDonalds and 0.9 percent at Burger King. It’s time to do refranchising in the old market and explore the new markets of Asia, South Africa which have rising middle class , ready to adopt American style eating habits.

An optimistic future is waiting for Burger King!

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES Making way for new players in the energy drinks and non aerated drinks market – what ripples do they bring?

Shweta Gupta - NMIMS, Mumbai “I need to condense my adrenaline, carbonate it, sweeten it, and sell it as an energy drink.�

- Jarod Kintz And this is just the current phenomenon in the energy drinks or non-aerated market in India. According to a previous industry report by Euromonitor International, the size of the energy drinks market is pegged at Rs 500 crore (excluding sports drinks) and is growing at a juicy rate of 45 per cent. Increased urbanization, growing disposable incomes and rising health consciousness among the Indian youth has fortified the demand for noncarbonated drinks market such as energy drinks. This has proven to be a money-spinning opportunity for manufacturers of energy drinks.

Innovative packaging, clutter-breaking advertising and scientific formulations are causing the proliferation of companies selling energy drinks.

DECEMBER 2014

Energy drinks compete with other non-alcoholic beverages such as soda and brewed coffee. Soda is the most consumed non-alcoholic beverage while ready-to-drink tea also offers tough competition as it provides not only anti-oxidants but also a boost of caffeine. But there seems to be a growing acceptance for the consumption of energy drinks in India.

Affordability and visibility are likely to boost impulse purchases and swell the frequency of consumption. Energy drinks are one of the most expensive beverages available in that market hence consumers consider price as a key attribute for its purchase. Red Bull, the world's largest energy drink company, is the market leader. Having entered 13 years ago, it currently enjoys a 69 per cent share. It had the first mover advantage and its long established presence across the country has earned customer loyalty.

Also, it has significant presence in ontrade channels including pubs and clubs that further ameliorates its popularity amongst youngsters.

Although the brand remained the leader for quite some time, it has been losing share to other late entrants including Monster, Tzinga, Cloud 9, KamaSutra, Restless and Burn.

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FEATURED ARTICLES All these newcomers had to differentiate themselves from Red Bull to create an impact. A 250 ml can of Red bull sells for Rs. 95 and thus Tzinga, created by Hector Beverages, has chosen the economy route, selling at Rs 25 a pack. They claim to have a clear proposition – Tzinga has functional value, not an aspirational one.

So colleges, IT companies and BPOs are their main markets. Monster, however, has clearly focused on the premium category, competing head-to-head with Red Bull.

Both of them focus on sporting events for engagement. Burn by CocaCola and Red Bull are entering into exclusive associations with music and fashion events for sponsorship and product sampling to attract consumer attention.

On the other hand, KamaSutra energy drink is banking on taste. Its drinks come in different flavours such as mixed fruit and mixed berry fruit while Tzinga has Tropical Trip, Mango Strawberry, Apple, Mango and Lemon Mint flavours.

However, despite their massive marketing mechanisms, both PepsiCo's SoBe exited shop shelves and Coca-Cola’s Burn had to go in for a re-launch. Thumbs-Up fame Ramesh Chauhan has exploited all his resources to launch Urzza, it will be a game changer in this market and could be a force to reckon with. The new players need to get everything right - their taste, price, accessibility and visibility.

In the non-aerated drink market, Hector Beverages has taken a leap with Paperboat with aamras, aam panna and jaljeera drinks selling like hot cakes in local airlines such as Indigo and Jet Airways (India) Ltd. It also has a few more traditional, zero-calorie drinks in the pipeline including sattu, a traditional drink from Bihar, tulsi tea, ginger tea and kaanji, a black carrot drink originally from northern India. It sells close to 1.2 million packs a month.

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THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES The juices market in India is dominated

by Dabur's Real fruit juices and PepsiCo's Tropicana, having a 45% market share. A segment that is growing at incredibly high rates, the juice market is seeing an explosion of sorts with the entry of new brands, variants and innovations in packaging, flavours and healthy formulae.

With Yakult’s pro-biotic drink already there in the niche market, Hershey has leveraged John Abraham’s brand value to promote its Sofit Soya Milk. It has zero preservatives, no artificial flavours, comes in five delicious flavours and above all is power-packed with nutrient and calcium.

All these cater to the health conscious consumers especially women who want the best for their kids.

DECEMBER 2014

The non-aerated drinks segment is more of an urban phenomenon. The distribution largely takes place through organized channels which is relatively easy. However, bagging a place for their product on retail shelves can be challenging for the new entrants.

Nevertheless, there is scope for a new entrant given the huge potential in the market. The biggest challenge for this segment will be to ensure that its distribution system is flexible enough to cater to spikes in demand and encourage consumption through marketing. Promotional strategies could be built around areas such as fashion, lifestyle and other consumption occasions to boost sales.

Largely, the energy and non-aerated drinks market is an exciting segment that will continue to grow on the strength of innovations and changing lifestyle in India.

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FEATURED ARTICLES Addiction to Freemium – Is it really free?

Christy Dominic - SIBM, PUNE

Freemium is one of the many models of business used mainly by service providers like Skype, LinkedIn and other games like Farmville, Temple Run and a host of others on various platforms. In this model the core service is offered for free with a provision to make additional purchases for a premium amount to speed up the game or buy special items which enhance features of the app or game and ostensibly create a better experience.

At first glance, freemium service often comes across as very different from what it actually turns out to be. Most people would start on a game because of its novelty factor, recommendation or simply because it is the current trend or fad.

Little do they realize that these funlooking games can be as addictive as cigarettes and alcohol!

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In fact sometimes the damage is so severe that it has even resulted in death. Last year a Taiwanese person died after 23hrs of continuous playing of Riot's MOBA (Multi-player Online Battle Arena), League of Legends.

Addiction mostly occurs in the case of games based on the freemium model and not for services based on communication.

The reasons for addiction are definitely worth looking at. Most games, especially in the RPG (Role Playing Game) genre, where you get rewarded for collecting a certain number of objects become very addictive. It is because this establishes in you a very fast sense of positive reinforcement; essentially it turns you into a Pavlov’s Dogs type of creature.

Here the gamer’s response will be more and more positive in spite of the decreasing reward and longer time. In short, one gets hooked even before one knows it. Successful freemium apps exploit this particular aspect of human behaviour using classical conditioning and examples around the digital world bear testimony to this fact.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLES The effect of this addiction can be demonstrated as follows. Most often there would be two options to proceed, either to wait it out or simply purchase that special power. Initially, spending $2 for an additional character seems like a trivial thing to do for the player. However, a plethora of similar situations keep cropping up and players end up making these small purchases which cumulates into a large amount. Despite knowing this, a large number of players still can’t stop as they have gone way too far in terms of involvement and commitment and can’t even think of leaving it mid-way, not knowing that the end is nowhere near.

DECEMBER 2014

In Farmville, a very popular freemium game, a specific plot of land is given to the player where he or she can grow crops, plough land etc. which rewards the player with a certain number of points and taking the player to the next level. A market is made available for the player to make purchases either using the farm coins provided at the beginning of the game or using farm cash which can be acquired using real currency. It now becomes a question of whether you have the patience to wait, which you were not used to doing earlier, as rewards used to come faster then, or do you simply make a small purchase to get the virtual farm cash. In short, real money is shelled out to buy something that doesn’t exist in reality, and if the game has caught your fancy, it happens not just once but almost every single time a progress is made.

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FEATURED ARTICLES In fact, it is those who have the capability of making such in-app purchases that these game-makers target. Returns are realised from those who get hooked onto it, compensating for those who use only the core product without any additional payments. In other words, every freemium product has been designed with the potential addict in mind so that maximum profits can be made in the lure of some basic services being available for free to rope them in.

The answer to whether freemium really means free depends solely on which segment makes use of the service. Is it the group who sees the game as merely a game and opts out when there is an option to trade real currency for virtual items or is it the group that falls for the gimmicks of the game and ends up failing to see the difference between the real and virtual worlds? For the former group, freemium means free, but for the latter group freemium means free only at the beginning. As time passes, the game becomes less and less free, eventually burning a hole in the pocket of the gamer.

The irony of it all is that the money, in addition to the time and energy spent, yields absolutely nothing in the real world. The hard earned money that is made goes to those game designers while the players are trapped in a virtual world where they achieve rewards and accomplishments, which too are unfortunately virtual.

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THE MARKSMAN

SquAreheaD

DECEMBER 2014

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BUZZ PUZZLE 1

ACROSS

2

4

3 5

2. Top political hashtag of 2014, for a campaign by the Aam Aadmi Party #(10)

4. Co-founder of Xiaomi (3,3) 6. Microsoft’s new operating system, expected to be launched towards the middle of 2015 (7,2) [Hint: may include a number] DOWN

6

CLUES

1. Algorithm used by Google so that the search focuses not just on the words of the query but also on its context (11) 3. This low cost airline has been in the news recently, not for the right reasons! (7) 5. Tata is set to roll out this car in the compact SUV category in 2015 (5) Answers: Across: 2.MufflerMan 4.Lei Jun Down: 1. Hummingbird 3.AirAsia

5.Nexon 6. Windows 10

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THE MARKSMAN

Call for ARTICLES CALL FOR ARTICLES JANUARY 2015 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

1. Selfie-Mania: How brands are using selfies to enrich their promotional activities.

2. The Hashtag Revolution: Hits and Misses of 2014 3. Forecast 2015: The brands that will reinvent marketing trends. *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 January, 2015

DECEMBER 2014

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The TEAM THE TEAM TWEETS by Sankalp Thakur

It’s all about AD-itude by Vasundhara Tewari

Brand MARK ive by Abhijit Sharma

COVER STORY by Rahul Vangani

SPECIAL STORY by Dhruv Maheshwari

FAUX PAS by Kavya Dubey

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Dilip Anantharaman

PIONEER Minoli Sheth BOOKWORM by Palak Thakkar

SquAreheaD by Vasundhara Tewari

BUZZ by Sukanya Remesh

PROOF READ by Akshay Peshave Disha Shah

DESIGNING by Palak Thakkar Kavya Dubey Sukanya Remesh

PROMOTIONS by Sukanya Remesh Akshay Peshave

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To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:http://interfacesimsr.weebly.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.weebly.com/t he-marksman.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