The Marksman August 2020 Issue

EDITOR’S NOTE About this Edition > In these trying times, when people are getting accustomed to the ‘New Normal’, it is crucial to keep calm, stay focused, and stay updated with the global trends and updates, from the cozy chair of your house.

Our Cover Story for the month focuses on the birth of Sports Marketing in India and how the IPL orchestrated that paradigm shift. Read on to know more. In our Special Story, this month, we take a look at the increasing power of memes in marketing.

Read on about how Zoom became a regular name in just the span of a couple of months. We also take you through some marketing mishaps that no-one saw coming.

With this edition, we try to do our part by bringing you the latest from the world of Marketing.

Hope you enjoy it and find it insightful. Stay safe!

CFA Winners > A very hearty congratulations to the winner and the runner up of this month’s Call For Articles.

1. Akash Gupta 2. Mrinal Chopra You can read their brilliant pieces in the ”Featured Articles” section.

We were overwhelmed by the responses that we received from all of you and encourage you to write to us with the same enthusiasm for all further editions as well.

EDITORS

THE TEAM

YASH

ABHISHEK

RUTVI

ABDUL

ARNAV

FAIQA

HARNEET

MOHIT

PIYUSH

SHAHRUKH

VYOM

YASH

WRITERS

DESIGN

HARDIK

CONTENTS KICKSTART Take a look at a startup that grew to become India’s largest fresh produce supply chain company. Read more to know about their journey

MARKETING FAUX PAS It is possible for a global giant to make a marketing blunder – giving lessons to others who should not follow those steps. Check out what Colgate did wrong!

COVER STORY With a history of 12 years of making cricket fans go crazy, Indian Premier League has come a long way. Read on to know how It played a role in the birth of Sports Marketing in India.

SPECIAL STORY Ye Binod Binod kya hai? Ye Binod Binod!

Check out the Special Story to read our take on the viral trend that got turned into marketing hack.

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN A great initiative by one of the most trusted brands, Reliance Jewels, with theie campaign #WeOweYou.

BRAND MARKIVE Check out how Zoom became a common name for Videoconferencing in the pandemic; helping everyone meet in these trying times.

MORE THAN MARKETING Read about how Henkel took a different route from just doing business to something More than Marketing, to make an impact that matters.

FEATURED ARTICLES This edition, our featured articles talk about two very interesting topics – Influencer Strategy post Pandemic, and The Dilemma a marketer faces between Personalization and Privacy

1

NINJACART - ABDUL MANNAN Ninjacart is India's largest fresh produce supply chain company that's solving one among the toughest problems within the world through technology.

Kickstart |

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It connects producers of food directly with retailers, restaurants, and service providers using inhouse applications that drive end to end operations. Currently, it is equipped to move 1400 tonnes of perishables from farms to businesses, every day, in less than 12 hours.

When Ninjacart started in 2015 as a B2C hyperlocal grocery delivery platform, their main aim was to assist retailers, take their inventory online and deliver quality groceries to consumers in less than 60 minutes from ordering at scale. This was still a novel concept back then.

Every day, around 500 tonnes of vegetables and fruits are delivered to thousands of outlets and retail stores across multiple cities in India in only two and a half hours. And this is often done by Ninjacart with a delivery accuracy rate of 99.88 percent all year-round, without one time off.

Behind this accurate and largescale operation is years of diligence, deep market understanding, and innovative use of technology - all directed towards the single-minded goal of improving efficiency and plugging pilferage.

The four-year-old Bengaluruheadquartered startup began by focusing on the retail-consumer segment (B2C) but realised that this was not viable in the long run from a business point of view. It then pivoted to a B2B model to make a seamless link between farmers’ produce and retail stores.

The goal was to ensure a fair price for everyone involved.

2 The science and technology of precise delivery for Ninjacart begins with accurate predictions. “The customer orders today for delivery tomorrow therefore the purchase and selling happens on an equivalent day,” says Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Co-founder and CEO. The initial step for ninjacart was to accumulate and understand the ‘farmer harvest calendar’, which might give the team an summary of the fruits and vegetables available in each season. This made Ninjacart conscious of the demand and provide, and provides farmers a week’s notice of what's expected of them.

Kickstart |

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Next, it needed a reasonably good idea of what to expect. For this, the corporate gained complete past buying data of consumers - what they ordered and therefore the frequency of order to work out a pattern and to understand which items to procure.

3

OH-NOT-SO-CLEAN: Colgate’s Frozen Foods

Marketing Faux Pas | August Edition

- HARNEET SINGH GHATEHORA Colgate, one of the biggest brands in dental care products, is all about keeping your teeth fresh and oh-soclean. But surprisingly back in the 1980s when they tried their their hand in the frozen dinner food segment, it left a bad taste in most people’s mouths. This was the height of the frozen meal boom in 1982. Everyone had caught the T.V dinner bug by that time, and a lot of the other companies had the same idea and were able to capitalise on it successfully.

But what Colgate failed to do was change the branding before launching the product.

And consequently, anyone enthralled by the mouth-watering picture of stuffed lasagna just could not get past the idea that it might taste more spearmint than beefy.

Unsurprisingly, this product didn’t last long.

Brand extension is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand in different product categories. The new product is called a spin-off.

A perfect example of that was Old Spice, which is an after-shave lotion made famous by those old commercials in the 1970s and 1980s. Thanks to brand extension, it’s one of the leading deodorant, shampoo, and body wash brands.

It was a brilliant brand extension for Proctor and Gamble because men’s grooming products are a short spin-off from cologne.

4 As far as brand extension failures go, there has been no bigger failure than Colgate Frozen Dinner Entrees.

Yes, Colgate made frozen dinners.

Colgate is one of the top-selling brands for toothpaste. Colgate in the recent past has done a great job of selling toothbrushes and dental rinse, which is just an extension for dental care products, which makes sense.

So what were they thinking? A million dollar question, even now!

Marketing Faux Pas |

They hoped to capture the growing market for ready-to-eat meals.

Maybe they also hoped that customers, after enjoying their frozen meals, would go out and buy its toothpaste as well?

Connecting the taste of food and toothpaste is a bad idea. Anyone would be afraid that if their penne pasta with chicken tasted like mint. It’s no surprise the product failed miserably.

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In this sense, there is no idea why the company decided to use the same name to sell food products, called Colgate Kitchen Entrees. Did they think consumers would eat their Colgate meal, and then brush their teeth with Colgate toothpaste?

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NETFLIX REVOLUTION - SHAHRUKH SHAIKH Changing the definition of Outdoor Advertising:

It’s All About Ad-itude |

August Edition

Netflix is a huge player in the current media landscape. It does an amazing job using outdoor advertising to complement its digital advertising strategy.

Netflix’s outdoor campaigns never fail to create a buzz, and they consistently drive conversations from the streets to social media.

With a massive $2 billion marketing budget, it is common to see immensely unique outdoor advertising campaigns, but for now let’s take a look at, by far, one of their most unique campaign.

Netflix’s innovative billboards have caught many eyeballs over the past few years. One such campaign has not only created buzz but has also shocked many people. The media giant incubated a human body at bus-stop in order to promote their new show “Altered Carbon”.

Their out of the box campaign shows how innovative brands can get with outdoor advertising. They have made sure that their customers are engaged with them even outside their platform through their mind blowing marketing strategies.

Some commuters have slammed the advert for being too graphic, while others have called it modern art.

In conclusion, Netflix has successfully reached the target group. Every campaign is different in terms of overall effectiveness, but what stood out for Altered Carbon was the fact that news of these bodies traveled beyond both the 1-to-1 interaction and cities. It was truly far-reaching.

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6 The new advert features a plastic wrapped nude mannequin picked from the show and to make things even realistic, they made sure that it breathes.

But people felt that their latest marketing campaign was a step too far.

It’s All About Ad-itude |

Netflix’s show Altered Carbon, which has amassed immense popularity, focuses on a reality where humans can live forever by transferring their consciousness. The futuristic sci-fi thriller is reminiscent of another hit Netflix show Black Mirror and has established itself as a must-watch series. Its marketing campaign has gained similar response; emerging at bus stop on Santa Monica Boulevard and Crescent Heights in West Hollywood.

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THE INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Birth of Sports Marketing In India

Cover Story |

August Edition

- PIYUSH MUKHERJEE In 2007, while the country was still hungover from India’s win against its fiercest rival at the ICC T20 World cup in Johannesburg, a certain Mr. Lalit Modi was busy plotting the launch of a premier league inspired by the grandeur and enormity of NFL & English Premier League. The Indian Premier League, a T20 cricketing extravaganza, was rather a ploy to squash the attempt of Zee’s Subhash Chandra’s Indian Cricket league, which looked well on its way take up the first mover advantage. However, IPL saw what the ICL couldn’t and it hit their’ weak spot grabbing not just market share but also attention overriding almost every other sporting event the country had ever seen.

IPL gave a whole new meaning to the words “Sports” & “Entertainment”. “Sport-ainment!” is where things looked good, now.

Over the years, its success became a catalyst for the boom of various such franchised based leagues across the sporting world. But closer home, it was more than that.

The IPL proved to be a true gamechanger in the way sports marketing was viewed in the country. With an estimated brand value of $6.3 billion in 2018, and ranked the 6th most attended league across sports in the world, IPL is success story not just in the realm of the game, but a marketing heaven for brands and advertisers.

8 The Anatomy of the Brand Value:

The biggest takeaway from the study was that heavy spending brands tend to weigh their options between supporting the IPL as a whole or supporting an individual team. Turns out, supporting the IPL as a whole is far more feasible than an individual franchise. It is these exact kind of tricky decisions that brands have to take in order to leverage the magnanimity of the blockbuster that is the IPL.

Cover Story |

The study threw some really interesting and surprising findings. As per the report, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) continued to be one of the most popular teams despite its poor performances over the year.

Though Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians ranked high in home loyalty contribution, it was only CSK and MI that seemed to have a truly nationwide presence. They are the franchisees to associate with, for a brand looking out for nationwide awareness.

The study also suggested that a mix of a low profile brand with a highly followed team can provide reasonably high brand recognition.

Wrogn, the principal sponsor for RCB, which did not have a strong brand presence prior, achieved a 40% rise in brand recognition since associating with the franchise. This could be because RCB’s presence on multiple ads and a strong social media game.

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After the culmination of the 2019 season, Velocity MR released a study titled’ ‘IPL Brand Insights Book’. It was positioned as “an insightful guide for crafting marketing decisions by brands”. It highlighted various factors that are deliberated by marketers while taking the IPL leap. The study covered a sample size of 2,750 online respondents who watched IPL 2019 across 11 cities. The sample reflected the sentiments of IPL followers both at the national and regional level.

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Cover Story |

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All To Gain For Brands: Ever since its inception, IPL has been a conglomerate of all the big brands that one can think of.

The teams are owned by big names.

Brands like Nokia, HP, Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Blue Star, Ceat, Crompton, Ford, Maruti Suzuki, Pidilite, Luminous, Domino’s, etc. are just a few brands of the lot to name.

In the 2018 edition, there were 34 brands that were part of the show.

“Vivo IPL”, “DLF IPLF”, “Yes Bank Maximum”, “Citi Moment of success”, “Ceat Strategic Time Out” and so many other such associations have never left our minds ever since the 1st season aired more than a decade ago.

For such brands, the recall value went up exponentially ever since they joined the bandwagon, regardless of their status today.

Audience viewership of the IPL has also been a major driving force in brands shelling out abnormal amounts of funds to be part of the tournament. Sony Sport Network and now Star India have reaped heavy rewards by investing hefty amounts for broadcasting rights.

Hotstar, the digital streaming platform, by Star India, broke its own world record twice in the 2019 edition. While one of the matches recorded 12.7 million views compared to the previous high of 10.7 million, the 2019 finale was watched by 18.6 million concurrent viewers.

10 Over the last 5 years or so, the success of IPL has stimulated the growth of other sports which were struggling for viewership and demand.

The evidence lies in the advent of various sporting leagues in kabbadi, football, badminton, hockey, etc, creating a value for stakeholders and encouraging a hefty pool of investments.

With life seemingly taking an unprecedented turn in 2020, live sports was perhaps the last thing anyone would have expected, be it the viewers, organisers, athletes or the investors. However, as life slowly resumes normalcy across the globe, sports has started to resume, providing everyone with a much needed breath of fresh air.

Like Nike said in their powerful latest advert, Sports in indeed back. With IPL 2020 now being organised in UAE, neither the pandemic nor the consequent economic downturn has deterred brands from wanting to associate with the tournament. It is astonishing that even in such drastic times, a unicorn fantasy gaming startup did not hesitate investing a massive INR 222 Crore for the title sponsorship of the 2020 edition.

2016-17 saw a whopping 14.4% growth in sports endorsements, with a strong catalogue of 82 brand endorsements being bagged by non-cricketing athletes put together. PV Sindhu’s and Sakshi Malik’s success story in the 2016 Rio Olympics helped push noncricketing endorsements to newer heights. The conventional cricket crazy inclination of brands are now exploring other sports for increasing their much desired reach, be it the ISL, PKL, PBL, etc.

For brands in India, Sports has become the number one destination to achieve all the glory that they have wanted to for the longest time.

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Looking Ahead:

Cover Story |

The Larger Picture:

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#WeOweYou: Reliance Jewel

- MOHIT NAGDEV

Hallmark Campaign | August Edition

Reliance Jewels is one of the most trusted jewellery brands in India. As part of its annual promotion, Reliance Jewels launched an exclusive series of jewellery collection on its anniversary called ‘Aabhar’. The Aabhar collection is aimed at projecting gratitude from the company to its loyal customers.

Despite the unfortunate challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the brand has received a lot of love and support from its customer base. As a tribute to them and all the frontline corona warriors, the brand launched a new campaign called #WeOweYou. The campaign embarked with a 4 minute video showing its latest collection of jewellery pieces with an audio narration in the background.

Through the ad-video, the brand shares memorable experiences it has had over the years with its customers in an inspiring manner dedicating gratitude towards its customers for their love and support throughout the years. Also, the voice in the video’s backdrop was of legendary Bollywood veteran actor S.M. Zaheer, giving it a unique and personal touch.

The Aabhar collection is based on the theme of intricate lanterns which also symbolizes the light of hope, especially in these unprecedented and challenging times, and therefore adding an emotional appeal to the campaign giving hope to people for a brighter future out of this dark phase of this pandemic life.

12 August Edition

The campaign has just begun now and is being promoted significantly on various social media platforms as well as print, outdoors and instore. It’s a great initiative by Reliance Jewels and is a significant step towards strengthening their customer relationships and building on their brand equity and build loyalty among the customers.

Hallmark Campaign |

They have also added the option to release virtual lanterns on their website which is a nice touch and also increases brand engagement.

The shots of the intricate lanternlike jewellery pieces was very beautifully portrayed in the video-ad enhancing its aesthetic and visual appeal.

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SONAM WANGCHUK: The Inventor

- YASH SANCHETI

Pioneer |

August Edition

Phunsukh Wangdu from 3 Idiots was an inspiration to all of us. From the dialogues to his unconventional inventions, the character played by Aamir Khan became an iconic Bollywood characters. Reel has always taken inspiration from the Real, and this character was no different. Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer from Ladakh was the inspiration behind Phunsukh Wangdu.

Wangchuk was homeschooled till the age of 9, after which he completed his schooling in Srinagar & Delhi. Due to language barriers, he often faced problems. He completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from NIT, Srinagar. Due to differences with his father over his choice of the engineering stream, Wangchuk financed his own education. With his brothers and five peers, he started ‘Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL)’ in 1988. They launched ‘Operation New Hope’, to provide culturally appropriate and locally relevant education.

In 2002, together with other NGO heads, he founded the ‘Ladakh Voluntary Network (LVN)’, a network of Ladakhi NGOs, and served in its Executive committee as the Secretary till 2005. The SECMOL campuses have been constructed as mud buildings with Solar capabilities. These are present in mountain regions like Ladakh, Sikkim, Nepal where temperatures go below -30, the architecture and solar capabilities of the school, keeps the children warm. SECMOL won the International Terra Award for best building in July 2016 at the 12th World Congress on Earthen Architecture in Lyon, France.

In 2005, Wangchuk was appointed as a member in the National Governing Council for Elementary Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. He also worked as an educational advisor for a Danish NGO working to support the Ministry of Education in Nepal.

14 On 15 November 2016, Sonam Wangchuk was awarded the Rolex Awards for Enterprise for his work on Ice Stupa. The idea started gaining traction from the authorities in the Swiss Alps. Wangchuk was invited by the president of Pontresina, a municipality in the Engadine valley, to build Ice Stupas to add to their winter tourism attractions.

He also has a vision to set up a skill based university at a cost of Rs. 800 crore in Ladakh. In response to the ongoing India-China border disputes, he has appealed all Indians to use their wallet power and boycott Chinese products.

Sonam Wangchuk has constantly showed the way as to how problems can be tackled in a simple yet effective way. He has brought light to the much needed improvement required in India’s education sector specially in the inner most regions of the nation.

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To overcome this crisis, Wangchuk started a project called the Ice Stupa. These Ice Stupa’s are artificial glaciers formed by using glacier grafting techniques.

Within no time Wangchuk and his team built a two storey prototype of an ice stupa which could store roughly 150,000 litres of winter stream water which was not required during that time of the year.

Pioneer |

Wangchuk noticed the water crisis faced by the farmers of Ladakh, especially during the months of April and May, before the natural glaciers melt start flowing.

In 2015 when Ladakh faced a crisis due to a landslide causing a formation of a 15 km long lake which posed a huge threat for the downstream population. Wangchuk proposed using siphoning and water jet erosion to avert the danger. He was officially invited by the Government of Sikkim to work on similar threats of dangerous lakes around the state. Sonam Wangchuk was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s highest honor in 2018.

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ZOOM:

Pandemic’s Videoconferencing Service - ARNAV MOHAPATRA

Brand Markive |

August Edition

Zoom Video Communications Inc. is an American communication company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides videocalling and chat services through a cloud based software platform.

Beginning in early 2020, Zoom's software usage saw a significant global increase following the quarantine measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoom had a blockbuster quarter as its app became the hottest video conferencing service of the pandemic. In an earnings report, Zoom reportedly made $328 million in revenue during its February–April quarter. That’s up double from the same time last year, when it made $122 million.

Zoom’s customer base has also grown to 81,900 firms with more than 10 employees, which is an increase of 61% since the same time last year. Its stock price has surged more than 100% since the outbreak began.To support that growth, Zoom has built offices in San Jose, Santa Barbara, Denver, Atlanta, Kansas City, Sydney, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. Overall, the company now employs more than 2,000 people.

However, amidst all the glory, criticism hasn’t been far behind.

With heavy scrutiny of its security practices. The company was heavily criticized for implying its video chats were fully encrypted when they were not.

16 •Zoom is building a product that can sell itself.

•Zoom isn’t afraid to splurge when it comes to building their brand.

Since day one, the team at Zoom has been focused on solving for the customer, and – more specifically – they’ve been focused on building video communication tools that actually work. From a marketing perspective, Zoom hasn’t been focusing on aggressively chasing down prospects. Instead, they’ve been focusing on getting the Zoom brand out in front of as many eyeballs as possible. And they started by targeting one key group Early adopters.

A large part of Zoom’s success lies in its simplicity. It is easy to get started and the app is lightweight.

The interface is intuitive with options of live chat, screen share and its most popular feature, gallery view. In the gallery view, one can see all those who have connected, with about 49 users in a single frame. This feature has been a game-changer leading to higher acceptability of Zoom. Zoom has become a preferred option for ‘face-to-face’ meeting for business and personal needs.

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•Being customer-driven is ingrained in Zoom’s company DNA.

With its simple user experience and a freemium model, Zoom dominated the market while it addressed the changing needs of the ‘non-customers’ of the existing video conferencing industry. Zoom did not disrupt the market as it did not eat into the shares of the existing players but won new buyer groups with its simple, friendly offering.

Brand Markive|

Long before its IPO last year, there were three key components of its growth strategy that helped give Zoom a competitive advantage:

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THE HENKEL WAY

More Than Marketing |

August Edition

- FAIQA SHAIKH Plastic pollution affects climate change and human health. It has been an integral component of products and packaging because of its durable nature & lightweight. Oil, gas and coal are all the fossil fuels which form the building blocks of plastic. When analyzed, 8% of the world’s oil consumption is associated with plastic. Considering all this it is important for firms, especially those that cater directly to the consumers on a regular basis, to reduce their consumption of this toxic material for single usage purposes.

Henkel is a chemical & consumer goods company based in Germany.

In their recent attempt to promote their products and reduce their carbon footprint, they have opened refill kiosks in various locations across Europe.

The aim of this activity was to market themselves as a company that genuinely cared about their impact on the environment and climate. But they also wanted their efforts to resonate with their customers. With changing times, consumers have become extremely aware of the consequences of their actions. They prefer to provide business opportunities to those firms who replicate their own values and ethics.

Henkel has constructed multiple refilling kiosks all across Europe to provide consumers the choice of doing their bit for the environment.

In an attempt to close the packaging loop they are also trying to identify ways in which they can maximize the re-usability of secondary & tertiary packaging.

18 A bottle sold once can be used and re-used multiple times before it needs to be disposed off.

Although done from a marketing perspective to improve the brand image of Henkel as a company that cares about the world, this campaign is centered around a genuine issue that can be scaled up to be used by all such companies in the future.

More than marketing reflects the humane aspect of firms and what actions they do that resonate with all their consumers. We talk about how companies reduce their carbon footprint to how they serve the bottom of the pyramid and save lives. Henkel is pioneering a new way of selling consumer goods by innovating the packaging loop. If successful the world will be using much less virgin plastic than before!

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When a customer enters the store, they select an empty bottle of the required product and scan its code at the station. A label is also printed to inform the customer of the product’s expiry date. When the product is used up, the customer can take back the empty bottle to refill it.

Henkel first tested user acceptance of such refill stations by releasing a few pilot ones that would just provide refills of liquid detergent, softeners, shampoos and shower gels. Once the pilots went well, they chose to go ahead with mass releases.

More Than Marketing |

How does Henkel do it?

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BINOD:

The Incognito Man - VYOM BHATNAGAR This name is quite famous these days and no one knows why. But what we do know is how. The virality in this word is so contagious that even Paytm changed their name to BINOD. This clearly states two things:: 1. Anything Can get viral on the Internet 2. And it can do so, no matter how or why?

The amount of publicity this name has achieved in the past few weeks is spectacular.

A Twitter influencer, humorously, asked Paytm to change its name to BINOD. And Paytm did just that.

Special Story | August Edition

So how did it all begin?

“Aap Chronology samjhiye” -

Slaypoint, a prominent Youtube channel, released video that discussed the unusual string of Indian comments on Youtube videos.

One such comment they took note of was by user who only posted his first name “BINOD”. Period. Yes that is it!

That is all it took for the internet to latch on to this latest viral meme.

The name was everywhere. Literally everywhere! People started changing their usernames to BINOD and incessantly started posting and commenting about it.

Netizens went crazy and other big brands joined the bandwagon too.

Tinder retweeted the “DONE” tweet of Paytm which was later retweeted

by Netflix. Millenials, Gen-Z, or even active Boomers on social media were watching this unravel with absolutely no clue but with 100% zeal. All social media platforms were flooded with #BINOD or other relatable hashtags.

It has become natural for every brand to follow any active marketing trend so as to gain traction.

20 My advice to brands is not to pounce on every moment marketing opportunity, but instead, wait for the right one to come along, one such where no possibility of a negative brand impact exists.”

This moment created something unique and people had taken this very light-heartedly. The important point here is not just if one should join the moment marketing race but also to know when to do so.

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•

Special Story |

N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, commented, • “The Binod moment marketing trend has come as a blessing for even those brands which are only slightly adventurous.

• Binod-like concepts are completely innocent, and if a brand plays a sport in this social media game, it endears itself to many. However, it is not as if every moment marketing on social media works for everyone, especially if the issue being discussed is a sensitive one.

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THE INFLUENCER STRATEGY: Post Pandemic Branding

- AKASH GUPTA

Featured Article |

August Edition

Influencer strategy can be defined as leveraging the reach of an existing influencer who has built a large following and strong brand reputation in a particular niche to support and endorse the company’s product or co-create content, with the intent build brand image and drive sales of the product.

Before the new normal, influencer strategy was still used modestly used by different companies to reach out to more customers and to basically create a greater reach out to the customers. Influencer marketing plays a vital role as the return of investments from influencer marketing are growing exponentially.

Influencer strategy after COVID situation will be a massive success as not being able to go out, gather in large areas and reduced physical contact would drive people to use more internet and use online marketing for their satisfaction.

Thus, people would find it sustainable and safe to use applications and websites on their mobile to get their necessary things rather than going out to buy them. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pete rsuciu/2020/05/20/social-mediainfluencers-in-the-post-pandemicworld-part-3-the-need-topivot/#75dc43888174

22 are not fully dependent on the company to provide information about the benefits of a product rather customers would like to experiment and will only believe someone who have used the product and gained benefits that the product would give. The extent of actually knowing the influencer sometimes adds to collecting more brownie points for the customers.

An example of amid COVID, influencer strategy being used by a company would be of Cure-Fit, which is a fitness solutions provider and have many fitness centers around the nation. After the lockdown of all of its fitness centers, Cure-Fit didn’t actually stop, it provided their existing members with free yoga session online.

Featured Article |

The strategies used for the post COVID era, should not only be defined by the features and needs that the customer wants but it should instead focus on the delivering the necessary value and quality of using that product by consumers because as the post COVID era approaches, people would be holding onto their finances and result in indulgent buying. So, rather than focusing on promoting a product on basis of its features, designs and looks, customers would rather be interested not only to know but also see the difference a particular product will make if the customers buy their product.

So how can we actually demonstrate the effect of a product to customers?

The answer to an extent would be influencer marketing. With the advent of technology and internet, customers

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google.com/influence-marketing

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Featured Article |

Some of the influencer strategies, which could be used up companies to drive their brand image and sales are as follows: 1) Blogs and Social Media Marketing: Technology and internet has given us a boom for marketing company’s products more specifically.

Blog writing is prevalent from a long time now and companies are actually promoting their products through different known bloggers who can have a effect on the mass people at a time and tell them about their experience of the product and benefits that he/she got s=while using the products.

YouTube, Instagram and Twitter are the essentials nowadays that a person should have to socially connect to different people. Massive numbers of people use these applications and

follow others, who they admire.

This platform also provides a huge opportunity to use influencer marketing for a company, who could easy make agreements with the influencers who have a huge people base and can drive sales as well as generate lead for their products.

2) Affiliate Marketing and Discount Codes: Affiliate marketing and discount codes are the methods used by online retailers which pays a commission to the third-party websites and different media houses for generating sales for their products.

For example, Audible from New York, partnership with Tim Fermis.

In Fermis podcast for some minutes, he speaks about Audible and direct them to their website via URL.

24 Bing-search/affiliate-marketing

Concluding, Influencer strategies post COVID will the major driving force behind a company’s sales and brand image as the prevalent strategies and methods have proved to fail. There is a lot of things that still needs to be discovered in Influencer Strategies.

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3) Competition and Giveaways: Organizing a competition and giveaways also could be a great way to increase product recognition and increasing brand awareness by giving up products to influencers and managing competitions which will have products of the company given away to the winners.

Unboxing videos from the influencers, making a YouTube video or Instagram live about the product, will help shine the product to the influencer follower base in a minimal cost.

Whereas, the companies can also provide freebies or exclusive products

to the influencer to let them showcase the premium quality products which they have and the packs that they will open in-front of their followers showing the ultimate products.

An important note to note in this, the packaging of the products should be done with utmost care as the packaging will deliver the urge of owning the products by the customers.

Featured Article |

This type of marketing also will help to drive sales and increase traffic on the company products.

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PRIVACY vs PERSONALISATION: A marketer's dilemma

- MRINAL CHOPRA

Featured Article |

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The present shoppers walk a scarce difference between needing both personalization and protection.

They anticipate genuine personalization, bespoke substance, customized item suggestions, and command over their information.

Looking for more noteworthy comfort and a steady association with the brands they love, they're available to offering individual information to organizations in return for individualized encounters.

As mindfulness develops around the abuse of information, alongside stricter information control approaches like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), shoppers are requesting both personalization and security, as they look to recapture their voice and control their own information.

The business case for custommade encounters

In the time of CX, it's getting fundamental for advertisers to convey a customized understanding as a key piece of their showcasing technique so as to contend and drive current and future development. An examination in 2019 demonstrated that organizations that attention on conveying customized messages in a significant, believed way can convey up to a 20 percent improvement in business benefits.

In any case, building and executing a custom fitted encounter can be testing. Numerous advertisers feel there's more open door as far as ROI than what they're accomplishing. Besides, the cost of misunderstanding personalization can have a sensational effect.

26 protection:

Customers ache for individualized encounters. Desires are higher than any time in recent memory, especially with regards to the worth they anticipate that brands should convey to them. Exploration found that notwithstanding desires outpacing endeavors to make individual encounters, almost all customers (91 percent) are still bound to shop with brands who perceive, recollect, and give them pertinent offers and suggestions.

Then again, a similar exploration uncovered that 83 percent of buyers.

August Edition

As customer desires keep on outpacing brands' endeavors to be close to home, advertisers face ever-changing edges for what individuals believe is a worthy utilization of individual data. Each takes a gander at it in various manner, nonetheless.

Personalization and The buyer viewpoint

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Advertisers are strolling a scarcely discernible difference between expanding the effect of personalization and shielding client trust. At the point when advertisers don't utilize individual information precisely — utilizing an excessive number of information measurements or utilizing the information in a manner that appears to be excessively close to home – the informing can be viewed as frightening.

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The most effective method to adjust the personalization security oddity

As customers become progressively delicate to their security inclinations, advertisers looking to drive personalization need to discover better approaches to explore the multifaceted nature and convey upon shopper desires, all while winning their trust.

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August Edition

are eager to share individual information to empower an elevated level of personalization just if the brand is straightforward by they way it is utilized and the customer has command over the utilization.

As customers become progressively mindful of the abuse of individual data after they are attracting an unmistakable line the sand as it identifies with the utilization of their information for personalization strategies. In a similar survey, customers found the accompanying personalization strategies the "creepiest:" •

• •

Writings from a brand or retailer when strolling by a store (41 percent) Portable warnings in the wake of strolling by a store (40 percent) Advertisements on social locales for things perused on a brand sites (35%)

Pushing ahead, customers anticipate that associations with brands should be like their genuine partners. At the point when one gathering goes outside of the relationship for data, the degree of trust is broken. The call to adjust the contending requests will expect advertisers to rethink their information techniques and work to fabricate confiding involved with customers.

Fabricate a powerful profile of every client's extraordinary inclinations, inspirations and needs by associating

28 Interestingly, utilizing construed information or data about the purchaser that they didn't share purposely or legitimately can be viewed as obtrusive. Buyers favor a better encounter structured than help them over unimportant and trivial strategies that awfully numerous brands despite everything use today. Basically remembering a clients first name for an email title shows that brands despite everything think nothing about their needs or desires.

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Influence the correct information for personalization, while likewise imparting to purchasers how the information is utilized. The correct parity of reach, pertinence and costs when gathering information to customize content decreases danger of information, smoothens out showcasing endeavors and improves personalization strategies.

It also targets and individualizes dependent on genuine customer needs and expectations to improve the worth advertisers give to shoppers.

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Fabricate a powerful profile of every client's extraordinary inclinations, inspirations and needs by associating legitimately with them across on the web and disconnected sources. By gathering and utilizing information that people deliberately and proactively share with a brand in a significant manner, it strengthens straightforwardness, control and in particular, trust.

CALL FOR ARTICLES SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION The Marksman provides one and all the opportunity to discover their hidden talents in the literary field through our “Call for Articles”.

For the upcoming month, the articles can be sent on any of the following topics:

o o o

Short videos and Stories – the right space for marketing?

Lives and Livelihood – Salesperson’s dilemma in Pandemic.

“Rasode me kaun tha?” – Viral Memes the fastest way for marketing.

Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all the references are clearly mentioned.

Kindly follow the guidelines given below: 1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be approximately 800 – 850 (strictly adhere to the word limit).

3. The article must have relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article.

4. Send in your articles in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 5. Subject Line: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year.

6. Kindly name your file as: Your Name_ Topic.

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

The First Prize Winners will be awarded Rs. 500 Cash Prize.

Deadline For Submission Of Article: 25th September 2020

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