EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers, Welcome you to the newest edition of ‘The Marksman’, a month where the newbies have just entered colleges with stars in the eyes and seniors are preparing for possibly the most important time in their lives. This year has seen a lot of development in the arena of marketing and we are here to bring them all to you. In this edition, we start off with “Guerrilla Marketing”, a marketing technique focuses on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that yield results and are deployed by companies to make each encounter with their consumers surprising and memorable. In our special story, we look at the anti-spam law brought into force in Canada recently and how it affects us as future marketers. Also in our Brand Markive, we look at the lingerie brand, ‘Victoria Secret’ and try to understand the secrets of being one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Apart from these, the Marksman continues to keep you enlightened through Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz,Ad-itude, SquAreheaD, Hallmark Campaign and Faux Pas. Your overwhelming response for our July’s Call for article was highly appreciated by our team and after a rigorous evaluation, we have Arpit Goel from TAPMI and Chetan Sharma from IIM, Bangalore 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.
Feedback from our readers is something that we always look out for. Do mail us on www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman and stay connected with us. Enjoy! Happy Reading! Team – Marksman The Interface,The Marketing Club at SIMSR @marksmansimsr
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CONTENTS TWEETS
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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE
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BRAND MARKIVE
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COVER STORY
GUERILLA MARKETING
SPECIAL STORY
Canadian Anti Spam Legislation
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MARKETING FAUX PAS
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Hall-MARK C AMPAIGN
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BOOKWORM
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BUZZ
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THE MARKSMAN
TWEETS Mahindra’s Rise Prize Campaign
Eureka Forbes Makes Water from Air
Mahindra Group is doing the 'Spark the Rise' campaign for last two years and now the company has launched a 'Rise Prize', which offers $1 million to drive globally relevant innovations and to give a boost to development of a culture of innovation in India which reflects in the hashtag for the campaign on twitter is #WorldClassFromIndia. The ad film for the campaign film sets the tone with an opening shot of a Kashmiri girl sitting under a tree when an apple falls on her shoulder (no prizes for guessing what this indicates).
In an effort to spread awareness on the need to combat water scarcity, Eureka Forbes has started an on-ground campaign demonstrating innovative ways to produce pure drinking water from air. Leo Burnett, the advertising agency responsible for this campaign has tried to showcase the technology their client possess in the water purifying domain. The air water generator is designed and developed by Aquaguard, a water purifier brand in collaboration with a firm WaterMake. The experiential campaign introduces a breakthrough technology that converts thin air to pure drinking water .No sales activity was part of the campaign and the target audience seems to be everyone as they all need water.
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TWEETS Isuzu Motors enters North Indian Market Isuzu Motors opened its first outlet in the national capital region in Gurgaon in a bid to enter the north India market. Isuzu Motors is counting on the gradual shift from small commercial vehicles to pick-ups. The company also announced it would open outlets in Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur and Ludhiana this year and Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kanpur and Udaipur by next year to expand in to the entire northern region.
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Isuzu Motors India aims to open 60 outlets across India by the end of 2015-16.At present, the company has presence across five states Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. One thing for sure is that Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra should be feeling the heat now and it is actually good for the customers who are likely to get better vehicles at more affordable prices.
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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad Client: Head & Shoulders, P&G
A simple yet elegant print ad by P&G that connects with the target audience well owing to its connection with the popular Bollywood movie Rockstar. Inspired by Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle in the movie, the print conveys the necessity of healthy hair.
Television Ad Client: Honda Mobilio
Seems like things couldn’t be better for the TV starlet Kapil Sharma.Along with the success of his show Comedy Nights with Kapil and coming to an agreement for three movies with Yash Raj Films, Kapil has now added another feather to his cap. The Japanese car manufacturer giant, Honda, are soon rolling out the budget SUV, Honda Mobilio. And who better to approach than the lovable name in every household Mr. Sharma. Starring with his on-screen wife Sumona, he presents the car in his own unique way. The Advert goes pretty well in portraying the multiple features that the car provides in a budget range. Thus, the advertisement serves the purpose of Honda of targeting the new segment with a low price SUV car.
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BRAND MARKive Victoria’s Secret “The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is: ‘What does a woman want?” - Sigmund Freud
opened 5 more branches in the city of San Francisco. It was clear that Roy had found a gaping crevice in the world of undergarment fashion of the 1970’s.
The question that the father of psychology couldn’t answer was answered by this man. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words ‘Victoria’s Secret’, is the image of scantily clad women who look too anorexic too be eating properly. However, the story of this brand goes way beyond that. It started with a man who was too shy to buy something intimate for his wife. So, he decided it was time to open a store of his own. Victoria Secret’s was founded by the alumnus of Stanford School of Business Roy Raymond on June 12, 1977. Within one year of opening his store, the company had garnered sales of $500,000. Really not bad for a start-up. Within 3 years of starting operations, the store had
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The company’s namesake is England’s long-reigning 19th-century monarch, Queen Victoria. She and husband Prince Albert played “between the sheets” enough times to produce nine children before his unexpected death in 1861. The ‘Secret’ part of the name comes from the curiosity of knowing how the queen Victoria managed to spawn 9 kids in the era of tight corsets.
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BRAND MARKIVE The Brand Victoria's Secret is now the most popular brand in the world, beating established giants like Levi's, Macy's, and Old Navy. Now how did a lingerie brand which caters to just 50% of the people on the planet and just for the age group of 20 and above, become one of the most popular brand in the world? The answer to this question lies in what the then CFO of the company told the media.
When somebody's 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be?" Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer said at a conference. "They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that's part of the magic of what we do at Pink." The company has created a desire for its product within the teen community while being the niche market supplier for the adult market. It is worth noting that they have achieved this position by not by sheer luck but by the years of expensive and impeccable marketing. The Angels The Angels are the biggest draw for the company. These super models ensure that the company gets the maximum eyeballs every time it comes out with an advert. These models were always chosen with some certain
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parameters being kept in mind. For example, the brand always chooses models with a personality so that women could relate to them or would even feel comfortable being around them. Tactics There are a few well known marketing tricks used by the company which have always worked exceptionally well to draw the customers. o Freebies o Exclusive, Limited-Time Coupons o Clearance or Bargain Sales o Incremental Incentives The Fashion Show The cherry on the cake is the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, with Victoria’s Secret Angels at their full glory that garners attention no other fashion show does. The company regularly ropes in the latest young sensations to bring in the new crop of customers. It is an hour long advert in which people pay money to watch. These shows have the latest young sensations performing who play an additional role of getting along with them, the attention of the hundreds of thousands of fans of that particular performer. It’s said the greatest trick a marketer can ever pull is convincing the people that they aren’t selling anything. In between holding fashion shows and getting super models to wear their apparels, looks like Victoria’s Secret managed to pull that off.
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COVER STORY GUERRILLA MARKETING Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that yield maximum results. The term guerrilla marketing was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book ‘Guerrilla Advertising’. The term was inspired by guerrilla warfare which became popular during the Peninsular War, when the Spanish people rose against the Napoleonic troops and fought against a highly superior army using the guerrilla strategy. The term "guerrilla" was used in English as early as 1809, to describe the fighters (e.g., "The town was taken by the guerrillas"), and also (as in Spanish) to denote a group or band of such fighters. Guerrilla warfare tactics includes ambushes, sabotage, raids and elements of surprise. Much like guerrilla warfare, guerrilla marketing uses the same sort of tactics in the marketing industry. Guerrilla marketing originally was a concept aimed towards small businesses with a small budget, but this didn’t stop big businesses from adopting the same ideology.
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One of the most famous examples of guerrilla marketing is The, Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American psychological horror film that was produced by five graduates of the University of Central Florida Film Program with a minimal budget and a camera.
The two set up an internet campaign to spread rumours about a fictitious legend of “the Blair Witch.” They created a website devoted to the Blair witch to help support the film. A tagline was also made which went as such, “In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found.” The Blair Witch Project grossed $248,639,099 worldwide.
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COVER STORY
COVER STORY
Another example could be of Absolut Temptation campaign by the Vodka manufacturers. The simple idea was to place Vodka-flavoured temptation in the traveling consumer's way. The use of the luggage belt is quite clever than one might initially think. First, it's a place a consumer is forced to wait, consequently making any distraction a welcome one. Second, it plays on the fact that even if you'd never act on it you've probably thought about how easy it would be to nab an interesting looking item from the belt and just walk off. One example was the Everyday Fabulous campaign that Ikea did in New York City. Swedish furniture giant Ikea made little public pockets of Manhattan a little nicer with whimsical street settings in the "Everyday Fabulous" campaign. Seeing such ordinary items in unexpected places was a great way to cement something in a consumer's mind, as well as actually get their physical product right under their noses not an easy feat under normal circumstances.
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COVER STORY
COVER STORY
One of the best examples was the Dirty Water campaign done by UNICEF wherein a vending machine was set up on the streets advertising dirty water. Instead of different varieties of soda, it was actually different varieties of diseases found in dirty water. It was even more interesting that people would actually put in a $1 (which ultimately was donated to the cause) to see what came out. UNICEF took a very ordinary object a water vending machine and made it startling by filling it with bottles of disease-laden H2O to enlighten New Yorkers about how something we take for granted is not such a luxury in the developing world. While stopping passers-by in their tracks with choices of malaria, cholera and typhoid-flavoured "Dirty Water," the UNICEF staffers then got the message across that $1 is enough to ensure a child gets access to clean water for 40 days, a simply bottled message that saw the donations roll in. It was a clever way to convey an issue, confronting those that live a life of luxury with stark realities from other parts of the world.
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Tribal DDB and Volkswagen decided that the best way to promote its new model, the Polo GTI, amidst the movement for environmental consciousness was to underscore its best qualities: fun to drive and speedy. So they created the fast lane, an actual racetrack that was integrated into everyday situations to ameliorate and expedite them. In other words, the campaign gave people the chance to get from point A to point B more quickly and to have more fun in the process, whether it be browsing the grocery store aisle or descending an elevator in the mall. People utilizing the fast track were captured in the act by a hidden camera and the footage was posted on social networks to reach VW’s target audiences. People were invited to comment on Facebook and take part in the fast lane contest. The campaign succeeded in creating a lot of awareness, gaining 12,000 friends on Facebook, and making what were normally mundane tasks fun. The website attracted 283,560 page views and 3,481,775 video views.
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COVER STORY
COVER STORY
Dutch agency Novocortex managed to get its online insurance client a ton of press and traffic with a simple guerrilla marketing campaign that went viral, and cost less than 1,000 euros. Using static paper "stickers," motorists were fooled into thinking their cars had been scratched. But the sticker is really an ad for the insurance company. The agency didn't stop there. It put videos of tricked drivers online and offered stickers to viewers so they could fool their friends. The stickers ran out after two days as the public willingly spread the message across the Netherlands, which, as we all know, is pretty much the Holy Grail of any marketing campaign. As we can see from the above campaigns, all of these companies spread awareness about their product, service or cause in a limited budget and reaching a lot of people by doing so. Sometimes this can go very wrong as what happened in the Boston bomb scare.
The famous 2007 Boston Bomb Scare was caused by Turner Broadcasting on January 31, 2007. What started off as a guerrilla marketing campaign to promote a new film featuring a Cartoon Network show called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, turned into a citywide bomb scare. Turner Broadcasting with the help of guerrilla marketing agency, Interference, Inc., placed battery-powered LED placards resembling the ‘Mooninite’ character on the cartoon show. The LED placards were placed throughout Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding cities. The placards were placed in random locations and remained unlit during the day. At night the placards lit up to show the ‘Mooninite’ character putting up his middle finger. The devices resembled some characteristics of explosive devices and soon caused the scare. The campaign ended up costing Turner Broadcasting and Interference, Inc. $2 million for the incident. The campaign itself received a lot of criticism both good and bad. A lot of creative thinking goes on in agencies to promote new products and services and one of the main aims is to keep the cost as low as possible. Guerrilla marketing techniques focus at doing the above and catch a lot of attention in the process.
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SPECIAL STORY THE ALL NEW CANADA ANTI SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL) Spam emails have been making round as table conversations for quite a long time now. Some customers view it as a waste of space in their prestigious inboxes while some think of them to be potentially informative. Marketing in the Canada just got restrictive with the Anti spam legislation in Canada , aiming at companies who spam heavily to be charged hefty penalties - up to $1 million for individuals and $10 million for businesses.
Although Canada's law was passed in December 2010 it comes into effect years after other countries ranging from Australia to the United Kingdom and the United States enacted anti-spam legislation. While legitimate businesses are fighting with how to ensure they comply with the legislation, those directly affected by the law are less likely to be too worried about it. The more legitimate the business, the more likely it is that they are going to be following the rules, but of course the people who are not following the rules already aren't going to follow the new rules. At the hub of the new legislation is "commercial electronic message," or CEM which includes any electronic message that encourages participation in a commercial activity, including, but not limited to, offering, advertising, or promoting a product, a service, or a person.
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The law shall apply to all businesses or persons sending CEMs, irrespective of whether there is expectation of profit.Regulated messages comprise common message formats such as email, SMS (text) messages, and instant messages (IMs). They also include Web applications, websites, blogs, voice over IP, and URLs. Some regulations have been enacted to require senders to be in compliance with the mentioned requirements; must possess consent to send a CEM, must identify yourself before sending a CEM, must include an unsubscribe mechanism in every CEM and you must provide a way for the recipient to contact you. For any organization sending communication to Canadian recipients, the legislation requires that businesses make these changes for all the new mail recipients.
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SPECIAL STORY For their existing email subscribers, organizations have until July 1, 2017 to bring their email programs into compliance.
But some observers wonder how effective it will actually be. Some are of the view that it’s a total waste of time. the only payoff is the one which the government didn’t intend, which comes from the permission requests from legitimate businesses that have been filling up inboxes and are giving recipients a chance to opt out of further electronic communication if they wish. They are of the view that even with the legislation businesses would definitely find a way out of this by taking advantage of the loopholes. Also as some people are not in the favor of this legislation they are sending emails to businesses to keep sending them emails regarding their businesses as these customers view spam mails as valuable and informative. Others are more optimistic about the legislation, which will also deal with threats posed by the installation of malware on computers or unlawful collection of email addresses. This group categorically includes those who are not in favor of spam CEM and regard them as useless and consider them to be a waste of time and space. The anti spam law is a pain for marketers from any industry as it restricts their reach to the customers and prevents them from tapping new ones.
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Companies have yielded tremendous results from their databases but now the same information has been curtailed leaving them to search for alternatives to expand customer base and reach out to customers. E-mail based solicitation is about sending out large numbers of blanketed rather than targeted messages. Even if a firm gets lucky doing that, the best they can hope for is about a 1- or 2-per-cent response rate. It’s an outmoded method of doing business which irritates people and engenders exactly the kind of thing that the CASL has been a response to. Alternatively, some companies are doing some neat things to create a buzz about their brand, and gaining both recognition and customers. One that stands out for is Virgin Atlantic which is using creative print ads or their wonderfully engaging and radically different musical safety musical video. Social media creates buzz, and viral marketing takes on a life of its own. Thus, a brand needs to think out of the box with the new legislation in place and engage customers as part of their brand to expand customer base and retain customers as spam CEM is not the way out now. Additionally, target messages is the route forward which limits customer reach but at the same time leads to focused marketing strategies which in the long run might turn out to be more profitable and sustainable.
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MARKETING FAUX PAS American Apparels
Type: Social Media Marketing Marketing Faux Pas: Mistakes a disastrous Space Shuttle explosion for ‘clouds or fireworks’ on social media Companies are constantly targeting social media today, be it to increase their brand value through marketing strategies online, or to connect with potential job candidates for their company. While social media works wonders in both these contexts, any blunder committed on this platform will be viewed by thousands of people, no matter how quickly it is taken offline. One such example is that of American Apparel’s terrible PR fail as it mistakes Space Shuttle explosion for ‘clouds or fireworks’ on the brand’s Tumblr Blog on July 4th, 2014. A tragic explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger occurred on January 28th, 1986, when it broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the death of its seven crew members. Approximately 17 percent of Americans witnessed the launch live because of the presence of the first member of the Teacher in Space Project.
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Media coverage of the accident was extensive: one study reported that 85 percent of Americans surveyed had heard the news within an hour of the accident. The disaster has been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace ethics. This image which about broke hearts around the globe was now misused by the US clothing company American Apparel. A young member of American Apparel’s social media team uploaded the image of the disintegrating shuttle to the brand’s Tumblr blog, probably as some sort of tie-in with America’s 4th of July festivities. The image was tagged ‘smoke’ and ‘clouds.’ The mistake was acknowledged by the team and apologies were issues within 45 minutes, the following being their apology message:
Considering the extent of media coverage of this event back in 1986, such a mistake by an American company is definitely an incident of sheer ignorance and carelessness.
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Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN Nestle: Share Your Goodness campaign succeed and what can we learn from it as global marketers? The lessons are surprisingly less about digital technology and more about analogue humanity.
Nestlé has hit a nerve with its latest “Share Your Goodness” campaign. This series of heart-warming ads has emotionally resonated with millions of people in India, as well as a larger set of the global population via social/online media.
It is a great example of next generation storytelling and its message has struck a chord in many a heart, largely because the campaign leveraged a number of new media tricks – from online video with extended versions to smart search optimization and seeding its own hash tag #ShareYourGoodness to enable sharing and discovery. But the campaign is a success for more reasons than just great storytelling and new media tricks. So why did this
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Storytelling is critical: Both executions, particularly Adoption, is a well-honed story – a story with humanity that leaves enough unsaid that the viewer brings their own experiences into the experience and therefore it becomes more engaging.
Human insights are key: The core insight is really about how food is central to human bonding and social experience. In both commercials, food serves as a bridge, a connection, an expression of love and understanding between siblings, husband and wife and just people in general. Smart marketers own the category benefit: Food is an effective way to share our goodness. This is the underlying emotional benefit of food, besides its ability to sustain us physically. By linking Nestlé to this underlying category benefit, Nestlé looks bigger, more purposeful and more relevant to life than just being a food manufacturer.
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Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN Break the Mould: Somewhere a client or a series of clients made some bold calls. First, they decided to launch the campaign online. Second, they approved story lines where the brand is the hero without the product being the hero or appearing all over the story. Third, they approved scripts that took on out of the ordinary topics. And finally, they understood that we live in a connected world and had their agencies seed, enable and leverage sharing. Recognize and leverage the power of new media: Many marketers see digital and new media – even today in India and often around the world – as an afterthought, an add-on or something one does to claim it is in the plan. The reality is that in places like India, which is the second largest market for Facebook with 100 million users (also Twitter’s and Linked In’s second largest market) and a highly mobile (soon in India 250 million smart phones), new media is as much media as old media and can allow for far more flexibility to create and distribute an idea. Why not start with the idea first and then determine the media rather than starting with the: 30 or the print ad?
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International appeal The underlying insight of human goodness linked to sharing food, combined with the realization that the digital world allows one the room to tell a story which can then be shared and edited for other media, is so big that this campaign has an appeal for international audiences, making it possible to leverage this effort across the globe. In a connected world, the best ideas can come from everywhere and the Internet is global!
Marketers and Agencies need to realize that some of the old arts (storytelling, insights, understanding category benefits) and pure client and agency guts are very critical. So is the ability to seamlessly leverage old and new media in ways that get people not only to be viewers, but be part of the media distribution plan.
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FEATURED ARTICLES Reebok Rebranding: Will it change the game?
Chetan Sharma - IIM, Bangalore
It is well known that to rebrand and to change the product positioning in consumer’s mind is a mammoth task. Imagine doing that for a revered and wellestablished brand with more than a century of existence! Is it just splurging of money to generate media attention or a genuine signal towards a new direction for the company? Is it worth it? Reebok took this giant step to rebrand to the delta logo which only the third logo in a century of its existence. The triangular symbol represents the transformation in physical, mental and social state of an individual through attention on fitness. The aim is to reposition its image, step away from elite and professional athletes and focus towards fitness in everyday life.
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There is no doubt that the fitness industry is booming in U.S and all over world. The United States is the single biggest user of health and fitness products, surpassing their next competitor by nearly 3.5 times the amount of money spent. Over 60% of all Americans actively participate in some form of recreational sport that requires a certain level of fitness. People are concerned about their weight and physical appearance more than ever. Clearly, the market is growing at a healthy rate and this could be Reebok’s chance to capture this new market segment. Reebok’s stance of fitness has been evolving over last few years since it started co-branding with CrossFit and collaborated with other fitness leaders like Spartan and Les Mills. Opening of Reebok Fit-Hub retail stores and becoming the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games was a step in this direction. The strategic partnerships and the marketing efforts for last few years clearly established the brand’s singular focus towards fitness. The launching of “The Sport of Fitness Has Arrived” campaign to show fitness as a sport that is about competition and companionship coexisting in the society.
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FEATURED ARTICLES The digital marketing efforts also continued to showcase Reebok’s mission to change how people perceive fitness with “Live With Fire” campaign. The brand communication involved inspiring people to live life with passion and purpose through embedding fitness as a sports in their lifestyle. However, this rebranding would come with an expensive trade-off. To follow the new vision, it will have to cede relationships with professional sports leagues who may either switch to the parent company Adidas or worse if they switch to rivals like Nike. The only advantage would be that there will be reduced fear of cannibalization between Reebok and Adidas as the focus and target segment are different now. Adidas would continue to strengthen its association with large-scale sporting events and prestigious athletes whereas Reebok can focus on fitness sports. In context of the Indian market, the rebranding would give Reebok a chance to revitalize itself leaving behind the financial and goodwill loss due to commercial irregularities in 2012. It would not want to miss out on the growing willingness of Indian consumers to spend on fitness, as the fitness industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 25% to reach USD 2.4Bn by 2015. Thus, in alignment with the global strategy, Reebok will open 100 new fit hub stores in India by 2014.The focus is on
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categories comprising yoga, dance and aerobics apparel catering to women customers. It will also roll out its Mega Pink initiative aimed at encouraging women to take up running for fitness. Last but not the least of its worries would be the criticism that Reebok has received for the logo design which is drab and not unique. There is no shortage of delta themed logos out there and it closely resembles that of Delta Airlines and Google drive. The delta signifying transformation is also an overused concept. However, with the new logo, the marketing communications becomes vital as it will define the brand identity going forward. The initiatives should be focused on engaging people on a personal level and market the brand accordingly in events and partnerships with fitness themed organizations. Social and digital platform would also play a huge rule in presenting an integrated approach in brand communication. The bigger question is, could this paradigm shift revive fortunes of Reebok which has faced dip in sales in four of the last 6 years? Can it rejuvenate itself and become the next big thing in fitness industry? We will have to wait and watch if the rebranding efforts does make an impact on consumer’s mind.
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FEATURED ARTICLES Air Asia Pricing strategy : The Perfect Market Penetration
Arpit Goel -TAPMI Air Asia, a Malaysian flight is one of the award winning and lowest pricing airlines since 2001. The concept was introduced with an aim to address people with lower category who consider pricing to be a major issue for not being able to use flights. Currently, with a fleet of 72 aircrafts, 61 national and international destinations, and 108 routes and over 400 flights daily from hubs located in Asia, Air Asia has penetrated the market. When Air Asia was launched, it was aimed to target the non-business class passengers, mainly the leisure traffic and price conscious passengers. The main aim was to reposition the perception that the airplanes are mainly to target the upper segment and is it a luxury thing. There was a huge untapped market of people who wished to travel but due to price constraints, couldn’t; were addressed in this strategy.
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The major problem that Air Asia had to build the perception of not being a cheap flight and being safe. Therefore, the main focus was on providing the services to customers. In case of Air Asia, the normal services of food and drinks was not a criteria for customers to judge the flight. It was clearly positioned to be judged on 3 parameters: Express, Convenient and Affordable. Beyond competing in prices with other flights, Air Asia competed by aggressive marketing using value added services like ticketless travel and a free seating policy. The advertisements used were very attractive and catchy. Below shown are examples. The pattern of comparing an air ticket with a “Sale” was something that was not thought by that time. This approach helped in positioning them in “New to
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FEATURED ARTICLES the World” category and helped create the pull for customers. Also, they took special care while giving away free tickets. They mapped the selling of free tickets with the occasion of completion of 3 years of the company and marketed it as ‘Sharing happiness”. In addition to the above marketing strategies, they introduced another method of monetized services. They placed extra charges on early boarding and seat selection. Although, in other flights this option was free but they positioned themselves as customized flight wherein customers select their seats as per their convenience. They clearly understood the buying behavior of their segment. It was clearly evident that price and convenience were the major parameters for them. As Asia achieved cost leadership by various strategies like customized seats, customized meals etc. Air Asia also leveraged this fact. They introduced fare promotions and encouraged people to book tickets early. Also, discounts on some particular days was one of the strategy. They finally went into tie ups with other companies that made them leaders in the industry. On the right, shown is the current market potential of Air Asia.
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Air Asia has left behind all other airlines by a huge margin. In a study done with Air Asia and its competitors, it was found that the costs incurred by Air Asia was almost 41% less than others. Below shown are some of the figures compared. Air Asia could easily leverage this. The cost that was saved during this process was invested aggressively on marketing. Air Asia spread widespread publicity through investing in Manchester United Football club and other sports events. They also invested in charitable trusts
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FEATURED ARTICLES that were victims in disasters of Myanmar and China. They also took care of environment by reducing the paper ticketing system. This all activities were done to create acceptance of the brand by people.
easy target now. Therefore, pricing of the airlines by cutting costs from the extra benefits that customers might not want was a hit for Air Asia. They have a brand image now and have created a perception of “Everyone can fly� which is readily accepted.
Therefore to summarize the strategies company implemented were: Simple Product: Targeted the demand for extra payments on flight trips Planes were made of narrow seating and only a single class No seat assignment was there No frequent flying buyers Positioning Clearly positioned that non business class and leisure travel people. Aggressive marketing techniques Secondary airports Competition with all transport carriers Low operating costs Low Wages Low fees of airport Low costs of maintenance High resource productivity The above mentioned strategies helped them gain competitive advantage in the market and are readily accepted by the customers. They have penetrated the market and replicating the same model for any other company would not be an
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BOOK WORM Waiting For Your Cat to Bark? -Ryan & Jeffry Eisenberg "Waiting for your cat to bark? This question is like asking, "Are you waiting for your customers to respond the way they used to before?" The truth is that indeed quite a few marketers are, and that can lead to a major debacle.� "Cats don't bark - and consumers today don't "salivate on command" like they used to a couple of decades ago. For decades, marketers have been "ringing bells" in the form of advertisements & marketing campaigns and waiting for customers to salivate. However, today’s customers behave more like cats than Pavlov's pooch. The times have changed and so must we. Mass marketing had a great response back when the media channels were limited to a few numbers as well as a customer’s choice of retailers. The system started to deteriorate with the emergence of FM. The question that marketers now face is what happens when mass marketing no longer rings bell and a new set of independent and tech savvy cats emerge? In Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?, the Eisenbergs share strategies that can be adopted by marketers to attract the ever growing consumer base in a
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fragmented market, who are evolving to become more and more wise and well-aware. Due to the growing digital touch points, consumers can no more be blinded by false promises and exaggerations. At the click of a button, they can find out another alternative. The Eisenberg brothers suggest that this landscape can be leveraged by marketers who must provide exceptionally high value to customers, both in terms of the product offering and the service accompaniment. The growing digital touch points have ensured that products no longer sell on the basis of sheer marketing initiatives but have a direct influence from other users present on the cyber platform. It is on the marketers now on how they want to leverage this paradigm shift to their benefit. All in all, this book is an interesting read because of multitudes of real-life examples that show the plausible blunders of ignoring the changing marketing landscape and the returns of embracing these changes.
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SquAreheaD
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BUZZ PUZZLE
ACROSS
3.
2. 1.
9. 5.
4. 8.
1. Name the company that has the slogan - "American by Birth. Rebel by Choice.” 4. This brand was actually the financier's daughter's name. 6. This is the only state that can be typed on one row of keys. 7. What is obsessive nose picking called? 9. Which brand owes a lot of its success to a cartoon character called ‘Louie, the fly’?
6.
DOWN
7.
CLUES
2. The first Instagram photo featured what animal? 3. Who said ... “You can’t just ask your customers what they want and try to give it to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” 5. He invented the Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were buried in one. 8. Maelys Castela has taken over as the CEO of a major European company. Name it.
Answers 1. Harley Davidson 2. Dog 3. Steve Jobs 4. Mercedes 5. Fredric Baur 6. Alaska 7. Rhinotillexomania 8. Akzo Nobel 9.Mortein
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THE MARKSMAN
Call for ARTICLES CALL FOR ARTICLES AUGUST 2014 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:
1. SADVERTISING – Brands focusing more on striking an ‘Emotional Chord’ 2. ITC enters Dairy & Personal Care 3. Movie marketing in Reality shows in India
*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 August 2014
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THE MARKSMAN
The TEAM THE TEAM TWEETS by Kapil Maggo
It’s all about AD-itude by Aman Dua
Brand MARK ive by Deepika Sharma
COVER STORY by Alakh Krishnani
SPECIAL STORY by
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
Megha Gupta
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Dylan Menezes
FAUX PAS by Prashanti Kasinathan
BOOKWORM by Ritika Bramhe
SquAreheaD by Prashanti Kasinathan
BUZZ by
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Shweta Panikker
PROOF READ by Dylan Menezes Asheeb Singh Raina
DESIGNING by
Ishaan Srivastava Ritika Bramhe Parth Shah Niharika Srivastava
PROMOTIONS by Ishaan Srivastava Kapil Maggo Aman Dua
JULY 2014
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.
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