The Marksman March 2019 Issue by The Marksman

Dear Readers,

It gives us immense pleasure to present before you the March 2019 Edition of our glorious magazine The Marksman. We have put together a compendium of interesting articles that would help broaden your perspectives on marketing.

We have, in this issue, an interview with Mr. Soham Wagh who is a Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing Professional with more than 16 years of experience in India at specific and global roles. Currently he works with GSK as the Global Marketing Lead for the Cephalosporins Portfolio. For this edition, our cover story is, “Boom of Digital Marketing Space in India”. At present, digital marketing stands as a booming career option for the youth in India. Digital marketing has been successful in making a very strong impact in the Advertising and Marketing world with some of the most striking features like instant response, cost-effectiveness, convenience, flexibility, and efficacy. The chances of development of the digital marketing industry in India are quite high with increasing numbers of points of contact. Our cover story takes you to the digital world and the immense scope that it brings with itself! Hearty congratulations to the winner of this month’s Call for Articles, Aparajita Srivastav, whose article has been featured in this issue. We are overwhelmed by the response that we have received from all of you and encourage you to write to us with the same enthusiasm. We would also like to hear back from our esteemed readers on how you found our February edition. We value your feedback as it helps us to constantly improve. Enjoy Reading! Stay with us on https://theinterfacesimsr.com/magazine/ Follow our Facebook page for more updates.

MARCH EDITION

INDEX Tweets

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s All About Ad-itude

Marketing Faux Pas

Cover Story

Pioneer

Special Story

Brand Markive

Bookworm

Hall-Mark Campaign

Kickstart

Featured Article

Square Head

Industry Expert

TWEETS TWEETS #MaiBHiChowkidar

-MALVIKA YADAV

. The campaign has been launched to counter the Congress President Rahul Gandhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s " Chowkidar Ch or Hai" jibe against the Prime Minister..â&#x20AC;?

Weeks ahead of Lok Sabha elections and a day after launching " Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign on Twitter , Prime Minister Narendra Modi today changed his personal Twitter account name to -Chowkidar Narendra Modi. Following Prime Minister, BJP president and other BJP leaders also changed their profile names to Chowkidar Amit Shah, Chowkidar Piyush Goyal, etc.

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TWEETS

TWEETS Twitter On Women’s Day

‘Balance For Better’ was the theme for International Women’s Day 2019

On March 8, Twitter users across the globe celebrated Woman’s Day. It was a joy to see the world taking out the time to applaud the women and the journey that they undertook. Twitter was at its absolute best and the people left no stone unturned in showing their gratitude towards women and their support for the cause. While full global gender equality still remains a distant dream, days like these show that the world is definitely moving towards being a better and a more tolerant place for women.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD

Indian advertisement space has always been a place for goofy, funky and funny ads, and we have a new entrant in this domain. Birla Aerocon with help of Ogilvy has created a masterpiece which has been talk of the town. In this ad, a man is shown to have a new name every different day, which leaves everyone in and around his life perplexed as to, Why he has a new name everyday? His mother is shown often to keep a track of his name, but alas the fellow comes up with a brand new name every time. Towards the end of the advertisement he is shown as a plumber, arriving at a home to repair leakage in water pipes. The lady of house asks whether this time the problem will be resolved finally, to which he replies, "Madam, kuch hua na toh naam badal denge.” But the pipe bursts again and after that he is prompted to change the brand of pipes instead of his name to resolve the issue. Who would’ve thought that the oft used Indian catchphrase of “Naam badal dunga”, can be used to create an advertisement masterpiece.

- PARAG CHAUHAN Indian advertisement space has always been a place for goofy, funky and funny ads, and we have a new entrant in this domain. Who would’ve thought that the oft used catchphrase of “Naam badal dunga”, can be used to create an advertisement masterpiece.

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PRINT AD

Skechers a long term enemy of Nike got into the feelings and created a print ad with phrase “Just Blew It”, to mock Nike and attract more college athletes and fans towards its sneaker collection.

In a recent social media buzz in USA, a print ad on the sports section of New York times and several other newspapers was being talked about a lot. This ad by Skechers came on the backdrop of a recent event at basketball game, where Zion Williamson, the college superstar ripped off his Nike shoe while playing the game and got injured resulting in a six week recovery period. The game was being televised all around the world and also it was being watched by former USA president Barack Obama on the court, this debacle cost Nike as it got bashed by fans and spectators from every sport for providing an inferior quality shoe. Surprisingly, Skechers a long term enemy of Nike got into the feelings and created a print ad with phrase “Just Blew It”, to mock Nike and attract more college athletes and fans towards its sneaker collection. But the audacious attempt was mocked by people on several social media platforms saying that Skechers was out of its depth to criticize Nike when it has zero or minimal fan following for any of its sneakers.

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FAUX PAS -AISHWARYA JAIN

Surf Excel : Holi Ad

Recently, they launched a completely new advertiseme nt of the same campaign, set around HinduMuslim harmony, but many appeared divided over the concept.

Surf Excel, the detergent brand owned by HUL, is known for its heartwarming ‘daag acche hai’ ad series. It is now facing widely expressed criticism over a new advertisement ahead of the Hindu festival of colours – Holi. Recently, they launched a completely new advertisement of the same campaign, set around Hindu-Muslim harmony, but many appeared divided over the concept. Soon after the ad was shared on the HUL Twitter handle, people objected saying it hurts sentiments of Hindus and their festival has been portrayed in bad light. Surf Excel’s 38 seconds long Holi ad ‘Rang Laaye Sang’ features two kids, a young Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. The entire ad shows how the girl tries to stop the colony kids from throwing balloons on the boy by using some tactics. It is later revealed that it was done in order to protect her Muslim friend who had to go to a nearby mosque for prayers wearing white kurta pyjama. 5 MARKSMAN

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FAUX PAS While Unilever attempted to promote religious harmony with the advertisement, not many appreciated the emotion that was carried throughout. Many said it was Hindu phobic, promoting “love jihad” and some even said that it wants to showcase that the Muslim prayer Namaz is more important than Hindu festival Holi in India. Twitter was filled with tweets slamming the ad with the hashtag #boycottSurfexcel. A tweet read, “#boycottSurfexcel because you know that the add is humiliating Hinduism and promoting Muslim culture in our country. Considering holi colour as “daag” is not acceptable by Hindu people because it is assumed to be done intentionally by the brand. Gender selection could have been reverse, but the controversy was created majorly because of the positioning of characters as Hindu girl and Muslim boy. Apne pan ke rangon se auro ko rangne me daag lag jaaye, toh daag ache hai (If the colours of belongingness puts a patch of dirt on others, then those patches are good). This was taken as a sentiment violation, as pious colours of Hindu festival Holi were considered creating problems for Muslim ritual ‘Namaz’

Twitter was filled with tweets slamming the ad with the hashtag #boycottSur fexcel.

This shows the level of tolerance we have as citizens and bhakts of our religion. The company must have had a large scale research before bringing out the new ad, but it was criticised on the basis of certain speculations which are not yet accepted by HUL. MARKSMAN

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COVER STORY BOOM OF DIGITAL MARKETING SPACE IN INDIA

15th August 2005. It was another great year for India. The entire country stood united and sung the national anthem, whilst feeling proud of the direction the country was going in. The country looked happy with the new Government, cricket kept reminding people of how diverse the country is, and year on year growth looked impeccable. More and more houses started owning computers. Mobile phones became common in households. Although technological development came late as compared to other countries, India still showed signs of not stopping.

-MOHAK SHAH

" The future looked clearIndia was going to be one of the youngest countries in the world by the turn of the decade, and that showed an impact on future plans Of companiesâ&#x20AC;?

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COVER STORY

The demand from an ever-growing population kept on increasing every year. The future looked clear- India was going to be one of the youngest countries in the world by the turn of the decade, and that showed an impact on future plans of technology companies all around the world. The turn of the decade meant the introduction of a revolutionary development- the Android-powered mobile phones. This was one development that shook the entire communication ecosystem in India.

“1GB of internet cost anywhere from Rs. 200- Rs. 400. The middle class and the population in poverty in India couldn’t afford the Internet”

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COVER STORY

More and more people in India started buying these phones, which left a big impact on the online Ecosystem in India. At the same time, the increase in literacy rates all around the country meant more tech-savvy population to be catered by an array of companies. The introduction of brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo etc in India meant the availability of mobile phones at almost half the prices that were prevalent earlier. This change led to an astounding portion of the population from tier-3 cities and villages also making the most of mobile phones. A huge chunk of the society from villages was earlier cut off from the rest of the country, but now the same section can watch Ravish Kumar’s show from his/her mobile phone every time they want. Another revolutionary development contributed immensely to the growth of the online ecosystem in India. The Mobile Internet rates were at an all-time high throughout the last decade and even in the first half of the current decade. 1GB of internet cost anywhere from Rs. 200- Rs. 400. The middle class and the population in poverty in India couldn’t afford to spend so much only to get 1GB Data. Internet was a commodity for the rich. Hence, the development of the Online Marketing ecosystem was Price also slower in the country.

“Big or small, each industry realized the potential and the impact this revolution was having on the population of India. Their customers were changing. Their habits were changing. Typical channels of communication were changing.”

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COVER STORY

“Half of all global searches are predicted to be voice searches by 2020. India has been looking at 270% growth each year in voice search queries, as mentioned by Google in 2018.”

All of this until Mr. Mukesh Ambani decided to enter the industry. The advent of Jio left an Impact which is rarely seen by any company all around the world, let alone India. Jio started off by distributing free sim cards to the population of India. This meant free services, which included the Internet, TV, Music, and Calling, to an entire population that was formerly ignored by telecom giants like Vodafone, Idea, Airtel etc. The Internet was entirely free for the early adopters for more than 6 months. This meant effective customer acquisition of classes other than the rich in India. Internet became an important part of each and every person’s life overnight. Every generation adapted to using the Internet like it was never seen before. The kids, adults, elderly all loved using a technology that made their lives easier and helped them get closer to relatives staying afar.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY This phenomenon was being looked at by all the companies in India. Big or small, each industry realized the potential and the impact this revolution was having on the population of India. Their customers were changing. Their habits were changing. Typical channels of communication were changing. The mediums used to reach out to audiences were changing. The costs involved in talking to the customers were changing. Such big changes meant the companies needed to change their strategies of marketing as well. Digital Marketing thus became a huge part of Marketing Strategies of businesses. Facebook was earlier used by only the younger sections of the country. The audiences reached out to by companies on Social Media all belonged to younger strata. Reaching out to a diverse demographic wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as easy and accessible. Companies looked at this as a huge opportunity to reach out to the right set of people who would be most susceptible to buy their products or avail of their service. Google Adwords saw a huge rise in India. Companies realized that Google provided them a great opportunity to reach out to audiences based on their demographics, geography, preferences etc which was all that was needed to be more targeted towards serious customers.

The audiences reached out to by companies on Social Media all belonged to younger strata.

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COVER STORY

The increase in the population using the Internet has led to more and more ecommerce companies being established in India. The E-commerce industry has grown drastically in India, with the country becoming a golden opportunity for companies like Walmart, Amazon etc. E-tailing is now the direction the country is going in. The myth that personal touch and feel play a huge role in the fashion industry has been proven wrong by companies like Myntra, Jabong etc. The customers only care about discounts and deals, which is what these E-Commerce companies excel in. The ECommerce industry is only expected to grow even further in the coming years in India. Half of all global searches are predicted to be voice searches by 2020. India has been looking at 270% growth each year in voice search queries, as mentioned by Google itself in an Event in 2018. The personal assistants- Siri, Alexa, and Google Home have led to huge growth in the number of voice searches in India. The times ahead are going to be extremely exciting for India and the Digital Ecosystem in the country. The country is on a path to become truly digital by 2025.

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PIONEER -ANURADHA IYER

NEIL PATEL It is said that ‘Creativity grows out of two things: Curiosity and Imagination’. One such curious young entrepreneur is Neil Patel, the co-founder of booming start-ups like Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Neil Patel Digital. He is a New York Times bestselling author and was recognised as the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by President Obama and top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. This young entrepreneur started his career by working at Knott’s Berry Farm, sold Kirby’s vacuums from door to door and many other endeavours. Instead of searching jobs on portals like Monster Jobs, Career Advice & Hiring, he learned their business model and working pattern, thereby forming his own Job Board known as Advice Monkey. Since he needed to market his site to be successful, any firm he appointed didn’t match up to his expectations and thus he ended up firing every one of them. He ended up learning Internet Marketing himself.

Instead of searching jobs on portals like Monster Jobs, Career Advice & Hiring, he learned their business model and working pattern thereby forming his own Job Board known as Advice Monkey.

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PIONEER

He founded companies like Craze Egg, KISSmetrics and Hello Bar and is in roll in creating much more innovative start-ups like these.

With the revenue earned from his internet marketing company, he invested in other companies like Vision Web Hosting which was not a success. He still didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give up. With the remaining money, he created another company named Crazy Egg in 2006. Crazy Egg: A heat map software to help analyse the visitors and get the best possible results for the website. It also provides conversion rate optimization tips and trends that help a company get higher conversions. He aimed at selling Crazy Egg for ten million dollars but couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get an asking price for it. Slowly, he realised that software companies need a few years to take off and luckily enough, Crazy Egg started to do well financially. Since the market size of this company for one product was very limited, he decided to create another analytics firm that would solve a much larger problem than what Crazy Egg solved. Hence came into existence KISSmetrics. KISSmetrics is a web analytics platform that helps a firm to track their customer conversion process and help them retain their customers. It also helps the firm analyse data and trends to make profitable decisions, and thus increase their revenue.

With the success of KISSmetrics, he aims to make this company a billion-dollar revenue generating firm. Now, he is also the co-founder of NP Digital which gives innovative digital strategies to growing companies. Curiosity and innovation have no bound when it comes to this young enthusiast. 14 MARKSMAN

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SPECIALSTORY STORY SPECIAL -AVISHA GANDHI

Hold on to your Hat, It’s finally here ! ! YouTube music YouTube music has entered the battlefield of music streaming apps in India. YouTube music allows you to find music you searching and also to discover new music. It allows you to create your own playlist or gives you option for making one for you. It’s not the first music streaming app of google. Google has an existing player in the market which is Google Play which is the default music player in most of the android phones. In an interview with a business magazine the google owner said they have no plans of merging both the platforms for now but since they both providing same service they’ll be thinking about it. When it comes to music YouTube undisputedly houses largest music video gallery in world be it a live concert performance or originals you name it and you’ll find one served in tray.

“YouTube music has entered the battlefield of music streaming apps in India YouTube undisputedly houses largest music video gallery in world be it a live concert performance or originals you name it and you’ll find one served in tray.”

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SPECIAL STORY

“YouTube Music is providing an option which currently no music app is providing there is an audio switch, which allows users to switch between the audio and video formats of a track without a hitch.”

Now how it’s really different from the other streaming apps existing in the market when it comes to its interface it has most sorted and user-friendly interface, it has three sections. First, it’s your Home which helps you in discovering new music and playing old one Second, is your hotlist where all the trending music is featured. Finally, is library which stores all your downloaded or liked music. When it comes to new feature it has, compared to others features the best of Google Play Music, which is powered by Google's machine learning technology and YouTube's extensive official catalogue and distribution network. It hosts really interesting features like Discover Mix, You Mix Tape, it gives user ability to listen to their favourite music and at the same time exploring more. Adding to all this it has an option which currently no music app is providing there is an audio switch, which allows users to switch between the audio and video formats of a track without a hitch. Apart from all this it gives user option to control the quality of the downloaded audio or video file to manage their memory and data usage. 16

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SPECIAL STORY

YouTube Premium YouTube has brought YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) to India with YouTube music,YouTube premium allows user to play music, to watch videos to stream without ads or in a simple manner ad-free streaming across the websites and on mobile apps. YouTube premium also offers its originals (films or videos produced in collaboration with professional studios and YouTube personalities) exclusively to its subscribers, it enables user to play or to listen in background all videos and music through a mobile device which is normally available to free users. Currently, YouTube is giving 3-month free trail in states of U.S.A. and after that a subscription fee of $9.99per month is to be paid by the users, it recently made an announcement that it is going to increase its premium subscription fee from $9.99 per month to $11.99 a month which is high compared to other streaming service providers in the market while YouTube Music premium fee will stay same i.e. $9.99 per month While in India it is giving a special introductory offer of 3-month free trial for YouTube Music Premium that can be redeem before March31,2020. YouTube premium is priced at 129 per month and YouTube Music Premium is priced at 99 per month. The good part about it is that if you take premium subscription of YouTube you automatically get premium subscription of Google Play Music and vice versa

â&#x20AC;&#x153;YouTube premium also offers its originals exclusively to its subscribers, it enables user to play or to listen in background all videos and music through a mobile

device which is normally available to free users.â&#x20AC;?

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SPECIAL STORY Google has taken very sharp move by introducing both YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in the Indian market. Over the last couple of years, music and video streaming services have picked up in India. Recently in February, Swedish streaming company Spotify has also entered the Indian market. YouTube clearly has an upper hand when it comes to music or video gallery as compared to its competitors like Saavn, Wynk, Gaana, Apple music, Amazon music, etc. YouTube is marketing both of its new services ingeniously, since most of the people didn’t know about it. YouTube is reaching out to public to make them aware about YouTube Premium by adding its advertisements before YouTube videos and for YouTube Music a pop-up box appears on its website interface “Where music meets your desktop”. It will be interesting to see how it becomes the Market leader in music streaming app.

“Over the last couple of years, music and video streaming services have picked up in India.” “YouTube is marketing both of its new services ingeniously, since most of the people didn’t know about it”

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BRAND MARKIVE -ROHAN MENDON

RAYMOND- CONSCIOUS GROWTH BEHIND THE SUCCESS It’s rather uncanny if you meet an individual who hasn’t heard of the phrase, Raymond: The Complete Man. Every man, atleast once wanted to own a Raymond suit. For over 9 decades it continues to be one of the leading premium retailers in India aspired by all generations. And while it holds a strong legacy, Raymond the brand conducts research every year to evaluate its performance vis-à-vis other brands in the market and to understand consumer behaviour, sentiments and preferences. As early as in 2008 the company realized the importance of emerging markets beyond Tier I. Between 2009-14 the company gradually expanded its retail presence to cover all Tier II & III markets.

For over 9 decades it continues to be one of the leading premium retailers in India aspired by all generations.

For the next level of retail expansion, Raymond felt a need to evolve & develop a new retail business model with right consumer proposition for the emerging Tier IV & V towns . Raymond store on 3 pillars: First, consistent desire to be the best in class in terms of the products & services. Second, connect with the customers and how customers trust the brand. Raymond has been consistently ranked as number one in terms of quality and trust amongst Indians. Singhania handed over Raymond Ltd to his son Gautam, and although following which there have been financial struggles between the father-son duo, Raymond continues to reap profits irrespective of personal feuds.

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BRAND MARKIVE

The Raymond Shop (TRS) outlets are being renovated across the country to offer bespoke services, upgraded technology and a more contemporary ambience to customers. There are several new introductions: launch of performance enhancing fabric such as the Techno-Smart series, the all-Natural Linen collection, Shoes for every occasion, leveraging new age technology such as 3D printing for accessions, to the latest adoption of Khadi in fabric.

The Raymond “RE-IMAGINED” strategy involves- Envisioning Purpose, Self-Disrupt and building a suitable eco-system. It’s focus is on emerging reality and scalable business. Leaping forth to victory, Raymond has recently rolled out over 200 stores in the past 18 months, with it’s goal of #HarSheharMeinRaymond.

Leaping forth to victory, Raymond has recently rolled out over 200 stores in the past 18 months, with it’s goal of #HarSheharMe inRaymond.

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BOOKWORM - IMRAN SHAIKH

THE POWER OF HABIT Why do people keep doing self-destructive things? Can the development of habit cause a positive change in an organization? How do you form a good habit? All of these questions are answered in Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Habits are not God’s plan or destiny, they are just repetitive actions rooted in our minds. We can choose which habits to keep and which not to keep once we know how. The book Power of Habits talks about the power of habits and routines to mould and shape everything in your life, I can help you shape your health, relationships, happiness, career success etc. We are conscious of some habits like biting your nails in tense situations but most of them are subconscious like nervous hand gestures when presenting at a meeting There is one important thing that one must take away from this book: Habits are triggered by Cues, which is followed by an action and ends with a reward. If you want to change a habit for good, you must reward yourself so frequently that you begin to crave for the reward The Power of Habit is an excellent book that’s chock full of interesting concepts and examples. “If you want to change a habit for good, you must reward yourself so frequently that you begin to crave for the reward ” 21 MARKSMAN

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN -

SHAIVEE SHEKHAR

HDFC BANK - #BeTheChange

HDFC Bank shed some light upon the struggles of the working women in Indiabut not the obvious ones which come to your mind.

March is the month of women. For their 2019 International Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day Campaign, HDFC Bank shed some light upon the struggles of the working women in India- but not the obvious ones which come to your mind. Not the struggles of juggling both work and personal life, managing pressures from bosses at work and family at home, and then some â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but of making people understanding that they are more than capable at thriving at both, thank you very much.

Depicted through a video that fits in perfectly with the existing climate of conversations around gender equality, HDFC bank emphasises just how important it is that more women join the workforce in India, and how equally capable and deserving they are of getting that chance.

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

The video highlights the fact that while 27% of women join the workforce, a whopping 48% drop out within 4 months of returning from maternity leave. There is no doubt about the progress women have made in recent years- 2019 actually marks the biggest increase in the proportion of women in executive roles globally- India still has the lowest employment rate for women amongst all G-20 countries, only behind Saudi Arabia. HDFC understands that women are indispensable in every aspect of our lives, it wants to #BeTheChange that it wants to see blossom across workplaces. HDFC Bank strives to #BeTheChange that breaks the old rules because it believes genuinely old rules apply only if we allow them.

The scar/marks of the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body represent their hardwork, triumph and passion. And they should be worn with pride.

HDFC Bank wants to break the systematic stereotypes that have been so wired into our societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psyche and by doing all they can to promote an equitable Indian workforce.

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KICKSTART -ALISHA SINGHAVI

REDBUS In no time, RedBus became the “go-to” option because of it’s amazingly organised structure. The startup revolutionised the travel industry in no time. Founded by Phanindra Sama, who is the chief executive officer of RedBus.in, is yet another engineer who chucked his high paying job to start an enterprise of his own. He was clear with his vision, and thus, ready to risk it all. The business started with just a few seats from a bus operator, RedBus has managed to become one of the most successful and trustworthy medium for online booking of bus tickets.

They are connected with more than 700 bus operators today who have more than 10,000 buses listed on it and operate in more than 15 states of the country with a sale capacity that reaches 5000 tickets every day. The idea came to the founders because of their aim to make the system transparent, bridge the gap between the consumers and the limited agents, in fact directly connecting the consumers to the bus operators.

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KICKSTART

The company commenced with a sum of 5 lakhs, which was the combined saving of the three founders. They were able to generate Rs 50 lakh worth of business although there were no profits. The company suddenly saw a boom in 2008 wherein they had a turnover of INR 5 crore. Today, RedBus has over 2 crore users across the country, 80,000 routes and 2300 bus operators and 16000 daily uses. RedBus is the ultimate combination of efficient market research and the optimum implementation of the technical knowledge, which resulted in innovative business plan and a satisfied customer base. The company commence d with a sum of 5 lakhs, which was the combined saving of the three founders. 25 MARKSMAN

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FEATURED ARTICLE -Aparajita Srivastava Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication

Social Pull Marketing - In Light of Social Media Cultural Movements

A community provides you exactly this, where you feel accepted and amongst your own.The social media platforms are replete with such communities,

MARKSMAN

In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world full of people chasing and connecting with ephemeral content, brands have started acknowledging and accepting the fact that while customer is the king, content is the queen that rules.And how! People have this need for belonging, where their validation for social acceptance stems from. A community provides you exactly this, where you feel accepted and amongst your own. The social media platforms are replete with such communities, where engaging with content raises emotional connection. At times, these connections are strong enough to drive movements and subsequent waves of trends, upon which brands build their strategies of communication to stay relevant and on the top in the cutthroat competition. This is applicable to situations where brand need to defend themselves, or where they try to seize an opportunity for marketing their products and themselves.

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE Case in point being the #MeToo Movement. From creators to influencers, the level of engagement went spiraling to the point where even the unawares got involved in the movement. Established brands such as AIB, DDB Mudra, certain celebrities and journalists found themselves in the swamp of accusations where communication was the backbone that could (and actually did for some) have saved their faces – a la Maggi if you see it that way. While public relations come into play here, the communication strategy finds its strength in the content. Notice the contrast - DDB Mudra immediately upping its game with employee stories post their apology and continuing to pull back its brand equity, whereas AIB being dead post theirs and losing it all. While the movement’s origin was not in India, Tanushree Dutta’s accusation on Nana Patekar was what brought it here. Keeping the personal emotions and opinions aside, let us analyze the movement from the perspective of content. When it comes to social media, all the content gets trickled down in the following manner:

Customer Engagement Framework Creators Critics

Connectors Joiners Spectators Unawares

In the case of #MeToo Movement, the support from Indian female journalists and activists acted as the tool for crossing the chasm.

While it is relatively easier to grab the attention of innovators and market the content to early adapters, the real challenge appears to be crossing the chasm to reach out to the early majority. In the case of #MeToo Movement, the support from Indian female journalists and activists acted as the tool for crossing the chasm.

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