The Marksman - December 2015

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

VOL. VI | ISSUE VII | Dec’ 15

EDITOR’S NOTE Hola Readers,

We welcome you to the December edition of „The Marksman‟, a month filled with lights, snow and feasts. One more year loaded with sweet recollections and cheerful times has passed. You have made our year exceptionally uncommon, and we wish this continues forever.We wish you have a year as incredible as you are.

In this edition, Cover Story speaks about “Whitespace Marketing”, which lets you know how can you target the uncharted spaces in your business. Read the Marketing Faux Pas to know how it is very important to know about the regional dialects and languages when a company is expanding on a global level . Brand Markive takes you through the exquisite Spanish clothes store “ZARA”. Special Story describes how our very first ancestors who could communicate lead to the evolution of WOM.

Your overwhelming response for our December‟s Call for article was highly appreciated by our team and after a rigorous evaluation, we have Angshuman Kondinnya from NMIMS, Hyderabad and Shubhi from IIM, Indore whose articles made it to the top. To all the other entries who didn‟t feature this time around, we extend our warm thank you for your efforts and urge you all to keep writing to us.

We‟d also like to hear back from our esteemed readers on how you find this issue.

Your feedback helps us make us improve the magazine.

Happy Reading !

Stay connected with us on http://www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.html Follow our Facebook page for more updates.

DECEMBER 2015

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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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Rewind

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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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THE MARKSMAN

TWEETS Durex wants #condomemoji

Highlighting the importance of safe sex ahead of World Aids Day on December 1, Durex launched a YouTube and Twitter campaign to create worldâ€&#x;s first official safe sex emoji. With the immense popularity amongst todayâ€&#x;s generation, emojis have become a form of expression, and through this campaign Durex are encouraging Twitter users to show their support using the hashtag #condomemoji to persuade Unicode, the official emoji creators, to consider it. The campaign also involves a video that has already been heavily advertised on YouTube.

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TWEETS Reliance offers #SmartCare

This month Reliance launched its Smart Care campaign wherein twitter users using a Reliance connection on their phones can access and manage their account using Twitter login. The users need to register their Twitter IDs and their mobile number on Smart care portaland then by tweeting some simple hashtags they can do a number of tasks. For instance to recharge their phone, all a Smart Care user needs to do is tweet @RelianceMobile #Bill phone and a direct link will appear in his message box and with just a click he will be redirected to a payment gateway. The service can be used for viewing special offers, checking balance, adding a service and much more.

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An emoji for #MakeInIndia

In its bid to turn India into a globally competitive manufacturing hub, the „Make in Indiaâ€&#x; campaign got its own emoji .With the emojis of numerous US brands trending, this is the first for a non-US brand. The emoji features a shadow of a lion on an orange background, signifying India as a strategic growth market ready to welcome the rest of the world. It can be added to a tweet by using the hashtag #MakeInIndia.

This is a significant as Twitter as a social networking platform has a huge presence throughout the west and is gaining wider adoption in India with each passing day.

THE MARKSMAN

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad:Don’t Drink and Drive CLIENT:BMW AGENCY:Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners

Driving while intoxicated is dangerous, there is no denying that. But still we hear about sloshed drivers meeting with accidents every now and then. Considering this, BMW tried to sensitize people about the ill effects of driving under intoxication by this minimalistic poster.

The poster says, “Spare parts for humans are not as original as those for cars.” The Ad emphasizes on how special and irreplaceable our body is and it is not a smart idea to hurt oneself while driving drunk. By putting a prosthetic leg next to a real human leg, BMW creates a strong impact on its viewers with an appeal of driving cautiously. While some marketers term it as a smart way to promote genuine BMW parts, the campaign received great appreciation due to its emotional and sensitizing quotient. This ad was indeed issued in public interest by BMW!

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

TELEVISION AD : Be together, not the same CLIENT: Android AGENCY: Droga5 Who does not like to watch funny videos showing unusual animal friendship? Android released this advertisement which talks about how everyone is different and yet want to be together. With only 5 words in the video, Android manages to keep your eyes glued to the screen until the end as you smile at the fun these animals are having. With a cute appeal, the video aims at connecting fun and easiness with Android in the minds of the viewers. The tagline “Be together not the same” indirectly attempts a mockery at Apple iPhones which provide the same interface and features in all the models.

Although, in order to keep it minimalistic, they have used the brand “Android” only once and it does little to creating brand awareness. A video with such a high recall value will definitely help Android in the long run. Having said that, the advertisement was indeed creative and the video, along with the animals, got great appreciation worldwide.

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THE MARKSMAN

BRAND MARKive ZARA

“ZARA” is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer founded in 1975

by Ortega, one of the richest men in the world in Artexio,Galicia.It is the flagship chain store of the Inditex group, the world's largest apparel retailer.

The Journey of ZARA began in the year 1975 with a small store in a central street in downtown A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, Featuring low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega began opening more Zara stores throughout Spain. Ortega initially named the store as “Zorba” inspired by the classic film “Zorba the Greek” but a bar two blocks away from the store shared the same name „Zorba‟ which created a great confusion and so they decided to rename there store .

DECEMBER 2015

As the moulds for the letters in the sign were already made, “ZORBA” was rearranged and thus “ZARA” was found.

By 1986 most of the cities like Valladolid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao and Malaga in Spain had Zara as one the most popular retail outlets in the fashion industry , with this achievement and success in Spain Zara decided to expand itself globally. In 1988 the company decided to experiment in the global market and chose Porto as their first destination. The response for Zara in Portugal was overwhelming and this lead to expansion of its retail stores in countries like US, France, Greece, Mexico Belgium, India and many more.

Zara is one of the international retail chains that does not spend on advertisements and is highly dependent on its store managers for its sales. The money saved by Zara in advertising is used to support higher cost of production in Spain to fulfil the demands and wants of its customers. Zara has a focused team of product managers and designers who oversee the design and other major factors of a specific classification or range of products that need to be introduced in the market. This helps Zara in achieving new quality designs within a short period of time.

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BRAND MARKive

Within a span of just 30 years Zara has grown from 1 store in Spain to more than 1540 stores in 73 countries. This shows how well the brand has been accepted globally and is reaching out to a greater audience every year. Zara has also been awarded the “Best fashion Product “in the first Retail Grand Prix and is achieving bigger milestones with every year passing.

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THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY

Whitespace Marketing Kodak invented digital photography in 1975 but it didn‟t bring digital camera into the market for the next 30 years. Xerox as a brand is known for its photocopy machine but it also devised mouse, laser printer, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) but it failed to commercialize itself for these and hence is not much known for the same. There are few more companies who did something which others never thought of doing but could not get through because of some or other drawbacks. Then there are companies who do not try to venture into something new and just stick to their routine core competencies.

What makes grabbing these opportunities so difficult is that companies need to move away from their own known territory and core competencies and walk into the unchartered territory – into their “Whitespace”. So now the important question is what exactly is Whitespace? There are numerous definitions circulating around whitespace but the ones which sum up the entire understanding of whitespace are given. Some analysts define it as a place where there is no competition.

While few others define it as new markets or gaps in the existing markets which can be catered to fulfill consumer needs. Mark Johnson defines it as a new market opportunity which is uncatered but it cannot be addressed with the current business model the company is using.

DECEMBER 2015

In visual marketing terms it tries to focus on the main product which needs to get the consumers eye by keeping the space around it empty. This is one of the concepts which is followed by the magazine “The uncluttering way”. The whitespace concept is applied in between words that are in emails and direct mails as well.

It can be seen in the first image that as many links are gathered together, it makes the links less readable. While the second image shows applying whitespace makes it readable. So it shows how whitespace is important in other fields as it is in the field of marketing. Whitespace is a scary haunted place which many companies don‟t try to enter. This is because many companies experience in this whitespace is “unblemished by success”. But if the dangerous are very obvious, the causes for the same may not be. The biggest reason people fail at this space is not because it is hard to travel or navigate or flow through that space but because companies try to blossom their whitespace with the existing business model.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Identifying of whitespace is not only important for a company, but it is important for an entrepreneur as well. A company‟s or an entrepreneur's playground is the "white space" in a market, where a new product or service solves a problem, improves cost or efficiency, or creates something entirely new.

It is like a sculptor who sees the sculpture within a block of stone, the entrepreneur "sees" a solution where others cannot. It is this vision, and the ability to create a costeffective solution that helps one to target the whitespace appropriately. This is done by coming out of the “shell” starting to try out a “Promise, large is the one. new business model thanpromise, the traditional sol of an advertisement. “ Samuel Johnson.

Identifying - white space opportunities necessitates exploration into areas adjacent to but outside your traditional business boundaries. Unconventional approaches are very much necessary to uncover these high value opportunities and then convert them into attractive businesses ideas. Tackling the white space challenge often requires a dual focus on exploring the intersection of multiple emerging trends and also on defining how the convergence of two or more technologies or capabilities can satisfy powerful latent consumer needs. The main aim is that you must continually engage in rapid learning and decision-making around new consumers, competitors, partners, customers, suppliers, business models and other emerging marketplace dynamics if you want to taste success. So how do you recognize your whitespace? It‟s pretty easy.

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You just have to observe your friends and family using stuffs and think on the lines of what can help them do a certain work in an easier way. Or what can be created to accomplish a certain work. And VOLA you have your breakthrough invention idea created. Whitespace is everywhere. You just need an eagle‟s eye to grab that space and execute it in the right way. The following example will help you understand how you can identify your whitespace in a very simplified form. Suppose you want to open a restaurant and don‟t know what type of food you want to serve in your restaurant you simply need to segment the restaurants in your location into some category viz. healthy, unhealthy, tasty and not tasty. While you gather your information you‟ll realize there are many fast food joints which provide tasty food but it is not healthy.

Similarly, there are places where you find healthy food but it is not tasty. So from this you could conclude that your whitespace can be a restaurant which provides a healthy version of all foodstuffs which are also tasty.

THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY Whitespace usually creates fear in the minds of the companies. And this is provoked just mainly by the daunting idea of entering into the unknowns. White spaces can cannibalize existing products or services. It requires extensive system design, support and mainly the use of a new business model different from the one which is being used. And as a result, this often leads to people not wanting to take any risks and they instinctively retreat to their core and close adjacencies.

There are some tactics which can help overcome the fear against whitespace and enter the new territory like a boss: •Look for what others cannot see.

•Create content for new consumers.

•Provide your content in a different format.

•Locate new users for your existing information.

•Find new uses for your basic information.

•Implement creative promotional campaigns.

•Serving more markets. Repurposing •Implement a skill discovery workshop.

•Develop marketing items and content based on buyers‟ journey.

Now once that we have our whitespace decided we need to map it. Meaning how will we approach to turn our whitespace opportunity into reality like internally focused, externally or future focused.

Internally focused white space mapping process is an inward looking tool used to map your company‟s abilities and address new opportunities or threats from current competitors. This process is used to determine how efficiently and effectively you can react to opportunities and threats from processes, systems and structural perspectives. In this scenario, white space mapping becomes an instrument to identify barriers to your company that can inhibit it from pursuing new products, new markets, or to counter a competitive response to your moves.

The externally-focused perspective to white space mapping begins with mapping the market, products, or services in your markets and determining whether these are served, under-served or un-served. The goal is to find gaps in existing markets, products, or service lines that represent opportunities for your business. Some of these gaps may be opportunities with little or no competition, some may identify non-consumers, and others may uncover an entirely new market space that has the potential to transform your industry.

The tools of external market analysis are fairly well known. However in white space mapping the objective is to approach the unknown. You could almost say the definition of the „white space‟ is that there are few footprints in the sand.

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COVER STORY

The future focused white space mapping process will put an emphasis on applied strategic foresights. Usually there is a time horizon of no less than 5 years and involves input from strategic foresight exercises. These foresight inputs include a range of strategic options generated from the same sense of white space and possibilities that an externally focused mapping exercise generates. Some of these options might be a bit difficult for some analytical and objective people to appreciate or even recognize. It is because these people are liberated from core assumptions and this makes them threatening. However, this is undoubtedly the more important form of output because of the way it alters and influences the very mechanism of strategy development namely the perceptions of the mind(s) involved in strategizing. The white space narratives often manifest themselves in visual maps, multimedia presentations, narratives and even experiential events that communicate future context.

Thus whitespace is the new field everyone should run out on and get their hands, legs, body dirty and bring out the best.

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THE MARKSMAN

Special Story It’s Only Words Afterall‌.

Kenyanthropus Platyops the very first ancestor of modern humans first walked the earth 3.5 million years ago. Apparently these are the first ones who used tools, were bipedal and could communicate. With this evolution a form of marketing came into existence which since ages has only grown stronger and will never be suppressed in the near future. Well this also makes Kenyanthropus Platyops the first ones to experience marketing. So what form of marketing did they experience? Itâ€&#x;s the WOM marketing. As the Kenyanthropus Platyops were the first to use tools it can be presumed that they must have shared these tools to hunt in groups. How did they become customers? Well no money was involved but the live usage of tool and communicating to one another about their ease while hunting was a word of mouth marketing that followed demand for more tools and development. So the Word of Mouth marketing is the most ancient forms of marketing that is more alive than ever today. Believe it or not we use and utilize this in almost all of our transactions.

Research shows that today 3/4th of people believe that advertisements area hype. Yes hype is necessary today to market but is it the right channel. A study by Nielsen suggests that 92% people trust their friends and family and would go in for a product or service based on their suggestions. This is the power that word of mouth marketing has. So why not create content which will be marketed through word of mouth marketing and be

DECEMBER 2015

hyped at the same time without people knowing that they themselves hype it. Today as we say that the world has gone flat due to technology, word of mouth marketing has grown even stronger. Today before buying a product we research on the net, consult friends and relatives, read reviews and then go for the particular product or service. The present age is considered to be an information age. Is all the information available on net not a word of mouth in the written form. It is known to one and all that products will be showcased with their good qualities and add ins but as humans we rely more on experiences. We prefer to ask opinion, take views from the pre-existing consumers and then make a decision whether to consume a particular product or service. The word of mouth marketing plays a very dominant role in all our transactions today. With information easily available and communication enhanced anyone can access to the product reviews available on the net, phone a friend and ask for an opinion or consult experts.

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SPECIAL STORY Thus word of mouth makes its presence felt in all mediums of marketing available today.

Meeting people and asking them views, through telecommunicating, the digital media, etc word of mouth is present directly or indirectly everywhere.

So, how to be successful in this vast and unending word of mouth channel? Creating a buzz which stimulates people to convey it to each other is done by all but the trick is to never let it die. Keep the buzz alive and make it go viral. An example of this in recent times can be of the FOGG deos. A series of ad‟s with a punch line “Kya chal raha hai?” And the reply to it as “FOGG” has gone viral. Try asking a friend of yours “Kya chal raha hai?” and his reply would be “FOGG…”Thisis how word of mouth marketing works. An ad may be liked by people, even you may find content impressive but one may not necessarily spread it among the masses.

Successful ad‟s, valuable information and creative things which stimulate word of mouth publicity are the requirement. As marketers we need to analyze how the word of mouth publicity will spread. Will the right information be passed on? Will the specific objective be reached?

An important aspect is to create impressive pages on social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. and have all your contacts on it. This in a way stimulates the word of mouth publicity.

Being active on social media and proper content management is very important. It helps people know what is going on, attracts new prospect customers and helps the spread. The word of mouth publicity today has stiffened the competition highly.

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A single unsatisfied customer today can turn the tables on. Bad reviews, communicating to friends and relatives and advising people not to consume a particular product or service are some of the effects. Today firms cannot afford to keep a single customer dissatisfied.

With the enhanced communication channels impacts on the firms have increased. Firms should stress on getting positive reviews as much as possible, stimulate word of mouth promotion and try to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. Most of the firm have realized this and started focusing on content that is being spread. Now a days if you go to a review site and come across a bad review you will see an immediate reply from the marketer apologizing and promising a better consumer experience, providing solution to the problem and promising a better experience. This in a way to stimulate the word of mouth promotion by trying to improve customer relation and showcase that the customer is being cared and focused on. This was not seen a few years back. Firms and organizations need to inculcate this and focus on word of mouth marketing as it plays a major role in dictating their future.

THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS PEPSI BRINGS YOUR ANCESTORS BACK TO LIFE It was the time when arch rivals of the soft aerated drinks coca cola and Pepsi were growing across the globe. Pepsi aimed to expand its market share in China, to achieve that they launched the product with the slogan, "Pepsi brings you back to life." What they didn‟t realize is that this catchphrase translated to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, when interpreted in the local language. This was not only a hilarious mistake but also a grave one especially if you are trying to expand your market globally. If not anything a look into a country‟s cultural disposition and dialect with decent amount of study on the pre conceived notions is required if you are stepping into a new arena.

Most versions and explanations that came out of this faux pas claim the misunderstanding centred on the "Come alive with Pepsi" slogan, which brings up the first stumbling block in the whole controversy.

The slogan for the campaign was not supposed to be come “alive with Pepsi” but “come alive, you are Pepsi generation” but, the last minute brain storming in the creative department of Pepsi decided to go with the earlier campaign. what do we learn from this as a marketer is when dealing with matters of translation and mistranslation every word and nuance counts. Then there was also the question of which portion of the Chinese community misunderstood the slogan, speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, or some other dialect .For such a widespread story, this detail was never pinned down to one reason, none of the accounts located specified a particular language.

Folks were told the Chinese misinterpreted the phrase or that in Taiwan sales dropped off because of this blunder, but never was the language of the misinterpreters mentioned. Again, in the world of mistranslation and misunderstanding, such a detail is key. Pepsi has always been in denial of this faux pas ever being a problem during their building stage in China.

Also what‟s strange is that the missing attack from the contemporaries and also absence of any such news accounts of the "Pepsi Generation" campaign causing problems in the Chinese market.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS

One would think that if the reaction towards the campaign was so horrendous sales would have dropped off at least marginally. A downturn in sales in a major market is bound to impact stock prices meaning even if the story was lacking any form of whimsy still there will be enough proofs from the wall street depicting the problems with the campaign gone wrong. Putting things in perspective was some aspect of the "Pepsi Generation" campaign misunderstood in China to mean the drink would cause the dead to rise? On one hand, it's a widespread tale, vectored by any number of otherwise and unknown impeccable sources, On the other hand, confirmation of even its most basic of details is mysteriously lacking. A good sceptic would leave the coin balanced on its edge rather then calling it either heads or tails at this point.

Since we're on the subject of translations, and though this could have been a major trail back in the growth chart planned by pepsi. The proactivesness of the crisis management lead this incident null and void with Pepsi still ruling the markets in china and all across the globe.

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THE MARKSMAN

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN WWF #Last Selfie Campaign

Selfies and Snapchat- you either like them or you hate them but you can‟t defy their power and WWF‟s “Let this not be my #LASTSELFIE” campaign is a perfect example of how marketers can leverage the power of selfies and social media apps. The World Wildlife Fund(WWF) is the world's leading wildlife conservation organization. It operates in nearly 100 countries and is supported by more than 6 million people worldwide. In its new endeavour to save the endangered species, WWF with the help of a Danish Agency Uncle Grey and a Turkish agency launched “#lastSelfie” campaign on Snapchat. Banking on the idea that Snapchat‟s picture and video messages only survive for ten seconds or less, the WWF decided to link the disappearance of endangered species around the world with Snapchat‟s fleeting nature and create awareness in order to raise donations for wildlife and habitat conservation.

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WWF created a series of selfies showing endangered species and called them the #LastSelfie. These selfies appeared and disappeared on Snapchat and young people were expected to share and spread them on social media. The emphasis of this new campaign was to underline that if we don't take action in real life, the endangered species will disappear for real. Before disappearing, the image asked for help by sharing , adopting an animal, or donating through SMS. Endangered animals such as the Panda bear, the Bengal tiger and the Polar Bear were asking people “Not to let this be their last selfie.” The campaign was victorious in targeting Gen Y millennials as they are some of Snapchat's most avid users. With amazing photographs along with minimal text, the campaign struck an emotional and passionate chord with its viewers and freshened up a traditional conservationist outcry by using a new social media app, Snapchat.

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

The real magic of the endeavour lies in the tie-in between the message and the medium. The initiative was international in scope, originating in Turkey, but taking off in other countries including Italy, and Denmark. With headlines in more than 6 languages #LastSelfie raised global consciousness and in just three days WWF reached their donation target for the entire month. The campaign was so highly acclaimed that it won a 2015 Webby Award which is regarded as “The Internetâ€&#x;s highest honour. This attempt by WWF aptly proves itself to be an example of how contextually relevant and appealing communication messages can be created by marketers. The campaign pulled on my heartstrings and it will definitely pull on yours too.

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THE MARKSMAN

PIONEER MALALA YOUSAFZAI If you are someone who hasn‟t heard of this brown eyed brave soul, well….then go on and read this article to be in the know!

Born in Mingora, a small town in the Swat District of north-west Pakistan, on 12 July 1997, this 18 year old was named after Malalai, a Pashtun heroine; by her father, Ziauddin Zousafzai.

Ziauddin ran a school next to his home and was known as an advocate for education in Pakistan, which has the second highest number of out of school children in the world, and became an outspoken opponent of Taliban‟s efforts to restrict education and stop girls from going to school.. As a child, Malala shared her father‟s passion and became an activist for girls‟ education, which resulted in a death threat being issued against her by the Taliban. In 2009, Malala began writing a blog for the BBC Urdu service under a pseudonym named Gul Makai, about fears that her school would be attacked by the Taliban and the increasing military activity in Swat. Around this time, Ziauddin was told that his school had to close. Women were prevented from going shopping, listening music or watching television. Malala was featured in a documentary made for the New York Times and w-as disclosed as the author of the BBC Blog.-

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She received Pakistan‟s first National Youth Peace Prize in 2011, and was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children‟s Peace Prize. In retaliation to her gaining popularity and national recognition, Taliban leaders decided to kill her.

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PIONEER In 2012, she was shot in the head by a gunman while returning home from school, which left her in a critical condition where she was put under a medically induced coma for recovery until January 2013. She survived the attack and continued to speak out on the importance of education.

The Taliban‟s attempt to kill Malala created furore and received worldwide condemnation that led to protests across Pakistan. In the immediate weeks after the attack, more than 2 million people signed a right to education petition and thus the National Assembly swiftly ratified Pakistan‟s first Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

On her 16th birthday in 2013, she gave a speech at the United Nations.

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She has also written an autobiography, I Am Malala : The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, which was released in October 2013.

In October 2014, she became the youngest person at age 17, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

For her 18th birthday on July 12, 2015, also called Malala Day, she continued her efforts to take action on global education by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon, the expenses for which are covered by the Malala Fund.

Despite the Taliban‟s threats, Yousafzai remains a staunch and dedicated advocate for the power of education. If she isn‟t a pioneer in the true sense of the word, I don‟t know who is!

THE MARKSMAN

REWIND FCB ULKA Comstrat 2015 What the audience witnessed on Saturday, December 5, 2015, was a brilliant brain-child of some of the top notch people of the world of advertising. It began about two decades ago and has been setting higher standards every year. The Interface, marketing committee at K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, was yet again a proud organizer of the countryâ€&#x;s only communication strategy event for FCB Ulka, one of the best advertising agencies in the country. It all started with a case study going live some couple months ago. Ever since then, preparations have been in full swing. Within the premises of K.J. Somaiya, students were attracted with a poster no less funky than the case itself. Once within the proximity, they were engrossed in exciting games like some more. The winners were given the title Pictionary, RAW(reverse arm wrestling) and of Mr. or Ms. Set but the defeated were not left alone and were given a title too, however, that of Mr. or Ms. Wet. This brings us to the case study of this year, which was on the sassy Set Wet deodorants. As expected, entries came in large numbers.

Entries were received from top colleges all over the country and after a lot of evaluation and shortlisting, finally, came down to only six. The finalists were invited to present their strategies for the case before esteemed judges from FCB Ulka,

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REWIND Dorab Sopariwala,Vidyadhar Wabgaonkar and Ruta Patel. The teams got their share of twenty minutes, each, to present. But time flew by as the six presentations came to an end. The audiences were captivated with the amazing work of all the finalists. The judges took their share of time to grill the teams with stimulating questions. What happens when raw talent meets great experience, is brilliant. After all the action, while the judges had their final negotiation and discussion, a lot of goodies were given out in the audience for answering questions relating to various brands and their advertisements.

The judges soon came back and addressed the audience. They gave insights on where the teams were lacking and where they did good work. The teams clenched on to their seats as all the judges were finally invited to the stage for announcing the prizes. The happiness of the winners was clearly visible on their faces. As for the remaining teams, the honour to be able to present on such a platform must have been a huge accomplishment in itself. The top three teams were given cash prizes. However, all the teams were given huge bags full of goodies and certificates. At the end of the day, everybody was a winner. Comstrat â€&#x;15 turned out to be a successful event without any glitches but with a lot of learning.

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THE MARKSMAN

Bookworm SELLING THE INVISIBLE Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith is 250 odd pages of powerful, practical advice on selling and marketing services and intangibles. The book contains many short lessons and anecdotes that are entertaining to read and give deep insights into the selling of „invisible‟ services.

‘The core of service marketing is service itself‟. This is one of the best ideas the book presents.

This may seem obvious while reading, but not all businesses today realize the significance of this simple statement and utilize it in the way they sell. Services is about selling relationships rather than expertise. The author also asks businesses to create a service that the market would love and not necessarily the one it needs.

Marketing is not a department when it comes to marketing a service. In most cases the expertise is either assumed or the prospective client cannot intelligently evaluate the details of the expertise anyway. Instead, service marketing is all about selling a relationship. This is because the prospects aren‟t considering whether to do business with you or your competitors; they‟re choosing whether to use any service in the first place or fill the need themselves!

Lastly the point to take home is that in service marketing, nothing beats brand value. A service is a promise and brand is the opportunity to build that promise.

Superior service will automatically build a strong brand..

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KickStart Bitgiving What do you think happens when the Indian Ice Hockey team is run short of funds for lack, or rather absence of sponsorship and has no choice but to opt out of the Asian Championship? You cannot expect a Chak De India stint in real life.

Well, whatever the outcome might have been, the fact is there indeed was someone out there to rescue them out of the situation and make them feel like a national team of India: Bitgiving.

Bitgiving, was started in 2013 by IshitaAnand, who is based out Delhi. After playing with a lot of other ideas, she finally settled on this one. It is now one of Indiaâ€&#x;s top social crowdfunding platform. Ishita is a graduate of Lady Shri Ram College(DU) and greatly inspired by her brother who encouraged her to become an entrepreneur.The company, apart from raising funds, encourages influential people and organizations to support the campaigns they feel close to, which helps get a greater reach. People can also create support events, which are basically special days in their lives like birthdays and anniversaries, and invite friends to contribute towards them. The platform, because of its transparency as well as virality, is surging ahead.

During the Nepal earthquakes, Bitgiving worked hard towards getting funds for the people. The initiative was supported by Red FM throughout the day as they kept requesting people to contribute.

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This is one of their most known campaigns.

The concept is relatively new in India so the growth is not very fast but the enthusiasm and passion with which Ishita, now the CEO of Bitgiving, drives the company forward, it is bound to reach great heights in the coming years.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

Aamir Khan's personal opinion turning Dil Ki Deal to Dil Ka Attack for Snap deal: How personal views affect brands Angshuman Kondinnya - NMIMS HYDERABAD Snap deal: How personal views affect brands The recent outbursts on social media regarding the comments made by actor Aamir Khan on intolerance have given a food for thought. How does a personal statement affect the brand image as well as its position?

Brand building exercise is a gruelling process which takes a lot of time and thereafter sustaining the image is another uphill task. A simple flow chart would be better.

Commodity =>Product => Brand => Experience =>Heart This is how it touches the heart of the customer. After the commodity has become a brand it has to decide on the means of communicating with the customers. The brand‟s purpose has to reach the people and for that a brand ambassador is brought on board. He is the voice of the brand and establishes a connect with the customer.

Generally a brand ambassador is a celebrity, mostly actors,with whom customers identify, and thus pull them towards the brand.The times which we are living in are such that brand and brand ambassadors have developed a symbiotic relationship. Each one is dependent on the other to survive. The recent Snapdeal fracas is not new. We have seen instances earlier as well.

DECEMBER 2015

E.g. Tiger Woods who was endorsing a lot of brands when he was at the peak of his career but due to the allegations of infidelity with his wife, many of the brands either didn‟t renew their contracts or dropped him from advertising. The recent case of Aamir Khan is another example. The app‟s sales hit a roadblock when he made some statement about intolerance that led to users uninstalling the app and giving a single star rating. The CEO distanced himself saying the brand doesn‟t have any relation with any personal remark that the brand ambassador makes but it wasn‟t enough. The question still remains as to how personal views affect brands?

Personal views affect a brand‟s image in a big way. If the endorser says something which is in sync with the customers view, it will drive the sales else the downward turn would follow. This is because the brands have become heavily dependent on the brand ambassadors.

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FEATURED ARTICLE Many a times the customers are bit unsatisfied with the brand and the views expressed by the person regardless of whether it is connected with the brand or not add fuel to the fire. But this is temporary as in the case with Snapdeal. The frenzy eventually dies out and the customers who are engaged with the brand will continue to do so.Another major flaw which occurs is the inability to distinguish between a person and a brand ambassador.

Customers simply react because it is a sensitive or happening issue but the person expressed only what his wife had said. As actors they say so many things on numerous forums which get misconstrued and thus the brand has to suffer the backlash.The brand rides on the brand ambassador and they select the person on the basis of his personality.

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There has to be a personality match between the person and the brand. The reputation of a brand‟s endorsement is extricably linked to the brand he/she endorses. Brands while choosing their brand ambassadors are well aware of the fact that their personal opinions about any topic don‟t tarnish the brand name. But customers don‟t think rationally and we can‟t expect them to. Celebrities are a monster that companies create, not consumers. The perception of consumers towards the brand changes once the brand ambassador makes any statement. People tend to think why was this person chosen in the first place?

Immediately the focus shifts towards the brand and the image takes a hit. The issue has attracted unnecessary attention because earlier also brands have had to tackle issues but restricted to quality, store service, geography etc. Even the Tiger Woods scandal diminished his personal image but the companies remained intact. Snapdeal has suddenly found itself in the midst of an unwarranted issue and hence have taken a little time to react to it.

In a country like India which is gradually becoming intolerant to anything and everything, choosing the words carefully and stating politically correct remarks has become impertinent. Celebrities are a lot whom people follow and hence every move of theirs is closely monitored.

But there is something the brands can do to protect themselves from such situations.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

The brand should have long term brand qualities (order qualifying attributes) which are differentiated so that it doesnâ€&#x;t have to depend on endorsers and endorsements. Apart from this, brands can ensure they are not hiring somebody just to create awareness . They might create quick awareness, but it wonâ€&#x;t make the brand famous forever. The creative implementation should fit with the brand as in is he going to say something that creates an impact or just say which anybody could have said. The most important thing to remember is that the endorser is not always an agent of change, but a spectacle as well.

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FEATURED ARTICLE AIB's Vigyapanti and the next gen ad wings Expecting a Cadbury or Surf Excel ad from AIB now? When it‟s AIB, things are not this plain vanilla. AIB is already associated with and has branded video content for some big players like Micromax, Snapdeal, Quicker. But now, AIB has taken up a more challenging venture for itself. It‟s going for the start ups to make the “small brands massive.” What‟s more, they are ready to work for them for zero creative cost in exchange of equity. Not many well-known‟s would do that. The viewers would indubitably know AIB more than they would know the startups that Vigyapanti would advertise. So it is AIB that would be too candid or risqué or whose reputation would be at stake for making certain ads and the company that would gain When was the last time you bought a popularity and get marketed.

L‟Oreal product just because a certain And to exemplify, AIB has already come up Sonam Kapoor says “Because you‟re worth with an ad for TrulyMadly, the matchmaking it” or used IDEA mobile network just app. The creative, easily relatable, chuckle because a certain Abhishek Bacchan exclaims some ad that they made to communicate the “What an idea Sirji!” The viewers have simple idea that TrulyMadly does profile evolved over time it now takes concrete checks to keep certain „creepy guys‟ (sic) advertisements to influence them. In the away from the app tells us that we can world of Ogilvy Mathers, Mudras, McCann expect more such captivating ads. These Ericssons has now entered a new player startups cannot pursue the established ad „Vigyapanti‟- an AIB venture. Yes, the same agencies, cannot get their products endorsed AIB that is responsible for many off centre, by celebrities, cannot get ads shooted in controversial, thought-provoking, modern exotic locations or cannot hire fancy videos. The AIB that we all know as a bunch buildings. AIB seems to be the answer to all of four creative young men- Gursimran their questions.

Khamba, Tanmay Bhatt, Ashish Shaky and Rohan Joshi.

Shubhi -IIM, Indore

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THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE The creative team currently consists of six „out of the box‟ thinkers besides the four AIB members. Startups and AIB are sure to gel well- both consisting of innovative, internet savvy, young people. The probability of any ideological differences between the two sides would be low. The idea would easily be communicated from one side to the other. New ideas, ideas that will bring a change would be cultivated. And the result? Relevant, interesting and better targeting ads. Isn‟t that exactly what we‟re looking for?

The ad agency industry is already intimidated by AIB‟s move. Though AIB is targeting a completely different segment, the consequences can hit the industry big time. Some startups that can afford to pay the inveterate ad agencies would shift towards Vigyapanti, thus giving such agencies all the more reason to worry. AIB attracting their client share would land them in great losses. This is the reason many ad agencies have already proposed tie ups with AIB. But why would AIB do that if it can lure clients without the aid of these hot-shots!

Not a long time from now, we will see a change in the kind of ads that will be made and shown. After all, Bandwagon effect is a real thing. With AIB coming up with Vigyapanti, many other radical thinkers will follow and we may see more such ad wings in the time to come. That again is something the big players need to worry about. The viewers are not the same as before. They‟ve become more aware, more pragmatic, more no-nonsense.

DECEMBER 2015

They cannot be won over by any type of ads now. Besides, with an increase in the number of „on the go‟ viewers, the existing ad agencies need to shift from the traditional TV commercials to other channels of communication. The consumers now feel a sense of ownership, a sense of belongingness about the brands they choose. They cannot accept everything that they‟re being shown on the TV and the Internet. Their fingers itch when they see an impertinent, uninteresting ad to switch channels or to press the skip button and hence it is the perfect time for AIB to come up with such an idea.

The ad agency is an already jumbled market with powerful networks. Whether AIB would be successful or not, only time will tell. But we expect the ad makers to understand us better and show us what we want to see, not what they want us to see. And with AIB rolling out its ad wing, the expectations from the established agencies will definitely shoot up. We expect the industry to evolve with the viewers so that when we switch on our TVs or surf the net, we would not want to skip the commercials because we do not find them captivating enough.

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SquareHead

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THE MARKSMAN

7. Facebook's Internet.org is now renamed to?

BUZZ

4. Bigbasket

Across 1. Amazon

3. Urbanclap

5. Snapdeal

CLUES

ACROSS 1. This American online major has claimed to be the most visited ecommerce site in India 3. Ratan Tata made his latest investment in this leading services marketplace 6. This online food ordering platform has tied up with the IRCTC recently 8. The Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment and acclaimed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks on Thursday announced formation of _______ Partners - a new film, television and digital content creation company DOWN 2. This Gurgaon-headquartered company started advertising on some of the world's biggest porn sites 4. This online grocery store, recently entered the Gujarat market 5. In a first for Indian e-commerce, this portal will be available in 12 languages to online shoppers including Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi, besides English 7. This bollywood movieâ€&#x;s trailer smashes all records for the most viewed (3.6 million) in 24 hours after its release on YouTube Down: 2. Zomato

PUZZLE

7. Dilwale

6. Foodpanda

8. Amblin

Answers:

DECEMBER 2015

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

1. Is branding of Reliance Jio launch on twitter from various celebrity handles effective?

2. Free Basics, is it really Net Neutrality?

3. Ola boats rescue operation, humanity or marketing? *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_CourseYear 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 January, 2016

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THE MARKSMAN

KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research Presents

Melange 2016

The flagship event of KJ SIMSR, Melange is back again. And this time, its bigger!

“Mumbai is not just a city, it’s an emotion.”

This year, Melange is set to celebrate the spirit of Mumbai. We invite you all to join in as we pay a tribute to the magnificence of Marine Drive,Vada Pao and the local, with our theme “Mumbai”.

The 3 day extravaganza is full of fun, excitement and memories to cherish forever. From national level competitions and quizzes, to celebrity talks and amazing prizes, it‟s everything you want.

What‟s more? The soul of Indian Pop Music, Euphoria will add to the grandeour of Melange this year.

So come, be a part of the undying zeal and life of Mumbai. Find yourself immersed in excitement and emotions as the waves takeover.

Save your dates – 11th – 13th February 2016 For registrations, brand associations and other discussions, reach out to us at melange.simsr@somaiya.edu Visit us : www.melangesimsr.com

DECEMBER 2015

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The TEAM

THE TEAM TWEETS by Shikhar Dubey It’s all about AD-itude by Samarth Amarnani Brand MARKive by Vivek Gariba COVER STORY by Ishita Shah SPECIAL STORY by Priyank Wani FAUX PAS by Sampada Srivastava HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Dipika Soneja PIONEER by Shruti Mohapatra REWIND by Mansi Mahajani BOOKWORM by Janhavi Kothari SquAreheaD by Ashka Mevawala BUZZ by Kashyap Salvi KickStart by Mansi Mahajani PROOF READ by Nandit Shah Kunal Sanghrajka Priyank Wani Nitish Solanki DESIGNING by Ishita Shah Kashyap Salvi PROMOTIONS by Ishita Shah Kashyap Salvi

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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