The Marksman February 2016

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

Brand Markive -Cirque Du Soleil

Special Story: Destination Marketing

Faux Pas: ZICA

Pioneer: Stan Lee

VOL. VI | ISSUE IX | FEB’ 16

EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers, Team Interface brings to you yet another edition of The Marksman to satiate your marketing appetite. We proudly present the February 2016 issue for your kind perusal.

This month's Cover Story titled, "Will the real transformers please stand up? : Marketing in the age of technology", speaks about the use of technology in marketing. It talks about the increasing usage of tools and techniques such as augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones, by marketers to create an impression in the minds of their audience. The Special Story "Destination Marketing : Taking a twist to tell the tale," tells us about how destinations are being converted to brands , each with their own brand story, to increase their connect with the tourists in an attempt to become tourism hotspots. Alongside we have our usual engrossing sections: Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude, Hallmark Campaign, Kick-start, Pioneer and Faux Pas, which will take you through various marketing developments, trivia and personnel from varied fields.

We would like to congratulate the winner for this month‟s Call For Articles – Nivica Malhotra from N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research. For all those entries that haven‟t been published in this issue, we thank you all for your overwhelming response and request you to keep writing to us with the same fervour.

A big thank you to all our readers for your continued support. Do write to us about topics you would like to read in The Marksman , or regarding any queries or suggestions that you might have.

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TEAM MARKSMAN The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR @marksmansimsr

FEBRUARY 2016

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CONTENTS 02

Tweets

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It’s All About Ad-itude

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Brand Markive: Cirque Du Soleil

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Cover Story:Will the real Transformers please stand up? :– Marketing in the age of technology

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Special Story: Destination Marketing: Taking a Twist to Tell the Tale

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Marketing Faux Pas: ZICA

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Hall-mark Campaign:The R-Rated Superhero

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Pioneer: Stan Lee

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KickStart: Edureka

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Bookworm

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Buzz

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TWEETS Nivea undertakes a ban with #BanBodyOdour

#BanBodyOdour As a part of Nivea‟s campaign titled “Sands of Time,” was introduced the #BanBodyOdour twitter contest. Post the launch of it‟s video garnered as much as 2 million views across various digital platforms, the campaign focused its attention on Twitter. They conducted a contest by asking participants to promote the campaign by sharing their #BanBodyOdour slogans. There were quirky posters flooding Twitter. The contest had turned out to be extremely likeable on Twitter with participants tweeting innovative slogans

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TWEETS #TheFilmFareLYF In order to engage fans and create excitement about the Filmfare, LYF (a smart phone device from Reliance) which had participated in the Filmfare this year made use of various social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. #TheFilmFareLYF was the hashtag used to create a buzz about the event. It not just created a buzz among the followers but was mentioned by Twitteratis for over 12000 times in just a span of five hours, thus, making #TheFilmFareLYF a leading trend for five hours. The tweets mainly revolved around the nominations of the various awards and the performances that took place that evening.

Main Aur Maa Following the success of their video on YouTube titled “Main Aur Maa,� which had received over a million likes in just one week, cello moved on towards its second phase of promotions.

The second phase of their promotions included organizing contests of Facebook and Twitter for their followers.

The contest included a basic questionanswer format. As a participant, one was provided with multiple choice questions about the campaign and the brand.

Participants who were able to answer correctly were provided with giveaways in return.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad

Ad: Drop your weapon Company: AT&T Advertising School: Miami Ad School, Miami, USA

AT&T, the 2nd largest mobile telephone provider in the United States, came up with the advertisement to raise awareness about the fatality caused due to texting while driving. The ad juxtaposed the statistics of the casualties caused by texting & driving alongside the casualties caused during the Iraq war. The data comes as a shock when we see that texting while driving has claimed lives nearly 10 folds as that of lives lost during the war. It thus displays mobile phones aptly as a weapon in an attempt to implore the public not to use their cell phones while driving as it is in their hands to drop this „weapon‟.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Television Ad

Ad: #AmPrettyTough (Scan the QR code to watch the complete ad) Brand: Dabur Gulabari Agency: Contract Advertising Dabur Gulabari started the campaign „Why should tough girls look tough?‟ to take on the issue of gender stereotyping. Today‟s youth is not bound by the age old norms of girls pursuing creative hobbies instead of being outdoors. The general mindset of the people is that the few girls who do choose rugged hobbies also look „tough‟. The advertisement begins with a social experiment where in a group of people are shown a picture of a 13 year old girl and are asked to guess her hobby. Every individual in the room is given a set of options to choose from, and every single one of them opted for indoor activities like dancing, painting etc. When asked for their reasons for selecting that particular hobby, answers ranged from those activities being fashionable and trendy to the girl „looking‟ like she would be pursuing those hobbies.

The group was in for a surprise when the girl, Jaahnavi Sriperumbuduru enters the room and reveals herself to be a mountaineer who had already conquered the highest peaks of Europe & Africa. She then holds up a placard with the question „Why should tough girls look tough?‟ The brand has creatively challenged the stereotypes in our minds and tries to create a connect with the teenagers of this country, their target audience.

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BRAND MARKive

Entertainment That Caters To All Your Senses: Cirque Du Soleil They wanted to create something that was beyond imagination and employed the skills of people like acrobats, gymnasts, figure skaters, street performers, etc. Unique performances with their own themes, storylines, music compositions, etc. was an innovative strategy they came up with to differentiate themselves as world-class entertainers and not just another circus troupe.

Mesmerising, hypnotic, transcending, captivating, enchanting, transfixing, spellbinding, bewitching, dazzling… No, these are not just a list of random adjectives; these are in fact just a few of the words that have been used to describe the performances of Cirque Du Soleil.

Something that was started by two performers in the streets of Quebec has evolved into a company that is the forerunner in the live entertainment industry.

Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix started Cirque Du Soleil (Circus of the Sun) in the 1980s, a time when the circus performances were being dictated by animal cruelty and freak shows.

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The big break for Cirque Du Soleil came when they were asked to perform for Quebec‟s 450th Anniversary of the French Explorer Jacques Cartier‟s discovery of Canada. They were loved by audiences and critics both alike, which led to a tour of performances all over the world.

The shows were major hits with tickets being sold at around a 100 USD. The elaborate sets, impressive costumes, soul reaching music and breath-taking performances made them an instant hit no matter which city they went to.

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BRAND MARKive They started their first resident show at Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas called “Mystère,” which continues to win hearts even after 20 years. They created more resident shows like “La Nouba” for Disney World, Florida; “Kà” for MGM Grand, Las Vegas;“Joyà” for Riviera Maya, Mexico; etc.

One of the most famous and most expensive resident shows that they have so far created has been for The Bellagio, Las Vegas called the “O.” The unique thing about this show is that it is the first aquatic show that Cirque Du Soleil has ever attempted. The pool created for the show contains 1.5 million gallons of water and it is the stage for all the acts. One of the most innovative and gripping acts ever created, “O” has been rated as one of the most thrilling experience a person can ever endure.

Many famous directors have also been affiliated to the Circus of the Sun. The latest director to be added in the list is James Cameron with his act “Toruk.” He has brought his imagined world from Avatar to life with Cirque Du Soleil. You don‟t need 3D glasses to see this performance come to life. A universe created and executed so brilliantly that it leaves the audience with an experience that is unfathomable. You actually live Cirque Du Soleil performances, and not just see them. Indeed, Cirque Du Soleil is shining brighter than the sun in the hearts and minds of its audience, with performances that you must see at least once in your lifetime.

Cirque Du Soleil even collaborated with other companies to form shows like Michael Jackson: One, Criss Angel Believe, Viva Elvis, Love: The Beatles, etc.

Some of the acts of Cirque Du Soleil were immortalised as 3D motion pictures and TV series. They have also performed live for the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, FIFA World Cup, Dubai Festival, etc.

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COVER STORY Will the real transformers please stand up? :Marketing in the age of technology A boy of seven in Mumbai stood awestruck at the image of the man standing on stage delivering the speech.

Miles away, in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, a man of forty was equally intrigued, and listened in rapt attention. An electoral campaign in the largest electorate in the world, and its success was unprecedented, to say the least. The sheer power of the confluence of marketing and technology has been observed time and again.

Technology adoption has been the goal of most disciplines, and marketing is no different. As we create products whose utilities traverse boundaries, it also becomes imperative to market them across these boundaries.

Artificial Intelligence:What’s it about?

Artificial intelligence as a concept tries to emulate intelligent behaviour through computational processes. Hence, the aim of artificial intelligence is to make machines „think and feel‟. Marketers have often tried to leverage artificial intelligence in several ways. Through machine learning, computers „learn‟ by developing algorithms and techniques. As an iterative process, this helps in behavioural targeting by computers, by „learning‟ about what kind of advertisements can be targeted through the behaviour of our current and potential customers.

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Neural networks have also been instrumental in pattern recognition in market research and analyses, challenging several of the traditional statistical models. In terms of decision making in marketing as well, expert systems are employed so that marketers can consult them to analyse and provide choices and information about product development, market penetration strategies, identifying the appropriate marketing mix and the competitive landscape. Another breakthrough has been in using artificial intelligence in sales.

Conversica is a company that uses artificial intelligence (human-like voices, in this case) in order to reach out to an organization‟s leads created, and converse with them, to enable the human sales force to focus on just selling.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also being used to be au fait with the different aspects of social media and its impact.

Facebook uses pattern recognition algorithms that enables us to tag our friends in photos and predict hashtags along with several other such functionalities.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

The deep learning part of AI is the reason users get suggestions that are relevant to them out of the ocean of information and people on Facebook.

Google‟s DeepMind also uses deep learning algorithms to enrich the searches and give better results. LinkedIn, in collaboration with Bright.com, uses machine learning algorithms, to find matches between employers and job seekers, through historical hiring patterns, location, qualification, preferences etc.

Bookmarking network Pinterest acquired data software company Kosei to boost its personalized recommendation models to boost pins. Pinterest also bought out Visual Graph, to gain more traction through image recognition and search.

Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard are two devices which have tapped into this amazing concept. Samsung Gear VR has been developed by Samsung in collaboration with Oculus VR. It‟s a wearable device (can be worn like spectacles), which lets users mount their smartphones onto the device, and play games, watch videos, take tours of cities and so on. The reason it feels so real is that the content that the user watches can be controlled by the movements of his/her neck! Google cardboard, takes innovation up a notch, by creating its own wearable VR device using (no, I‟m not kidding) cardboard! Using influencers in the field to reinforce your product or technology is definitely a smart way to go. Samsung went the extra mile by bringing Mark Zuckerberg on board in a surprise appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Zuckerberg spoke about the wonder that is VR, and what the world will look like if this becomes a (virtual) reality.

Marketers are also going the VR way in order to promote other products in the Reality becoming virtual: Virtual and pipeline for launch. Samsung used VR to augmented reality create the “wow effect” in order to Virtual reality is explained as an artificial promote its new range of Galaxy S7 environment created using software, such that phones, in an attempt to bring back its the user accepts it to be a real environment. audience that turned away after its past It is different from 3-D experiences in the versions‟ lacklustre launches. Samsung also sense that virtual reality (VR) immerses the created a virtual reality ski jump to push user entirely in the experience such that the the Gear V2, as Samsung was the sponsor user is cut off from the entire world in a of the Winter Youth Olympics, and gave its world of his own. The possibilities and audience a change to experience a ski opportunities that are opened up by this jump, in this way. innovation are limitless for a marketer.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

For a marketer, the challenge will be to intelligently include content targeted at users, who will be so isolated from the world that we know. In order to target VR users, the solution may be positioning their products inside their games and as advertisements inside the virtual movie theatre viewing experience.

Augmented reality (AR) is a digital technology that places text, photos and videos running on the userâ€&#x;s smart device on to physical objects. For any person augmented reality will definitely make everyday life a lot easier.

Driving cars with GPS projected on to the windshield, watching movies on walls, learning new skills, working on projects, there are a plethora of possibilities. Marketers are never far behind and have experimented with AR in various innovative ways. Toyota, in 2011, combined three components, a computergenerated pop-star, a branded mobile QR code and an augmented reality experience.

Once a user took the picture of the branded QR code, he/she was encouraged to download the Toyota mobile app, after which the users could view the pop-star singing, standing next to the Toyota Corolla, all in augmented reality! There was a whopping 600% increase in the number of mobile app downloads and a 30% soar in the number of Corolla leads in the period. Closer home, KFC India used augmented reality to educate its target audience of its affordable prices. By downloading its app, the user could hold any denomination of currency on its AR enabled camera, and a tray would appear with the items that can be bought in that amount.

There were 35000 downloads of the app, and an enormous buzz was created.

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To drone or not to drone, that is the question: Marketing and Drones Amazon using drones to deliver products has been lauded and criticized by the people, but having delivery systems that can assure on-time deliveries despite road blocks and strikes, is definitely a dream to chase. Several tourism companies and wildlife enthusiasts are using drones to display footage of their tour experience in order to generate curiosity and interest amongst potential customers. Though drones are in fact very useful, there are several reservations about the privacy and safety of people which stand in the way of their true potential. Be it artificial intelligence, virtual reality, holograms, drones or augmented reality, the future of marketing will go hand in hand with technology. It is up to us marketers to address every challenge with a wacky idea and a persistent investment in technology.

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Special Story Destination Marketing: Taking a Twist to Tell the Tale “The traveller sees what he sees.

The tourist sees what he has come to see.�

-G. K. Chesterton

After a long week at your boring 9 to 5 job, endless meeting and presentations, the immense stack of papers on the desk and the excruciating conversations with your boss, all you really want to do is run away somewhere far from this hectic schedule. But where to is the question? In that moment you remember a glimpse of an ad or a poster of a place that was so inviting you wanted to leave everything behind, pack your bags and hop into the next plane, train, ship, bus, bullock cart or whatever that will take you there. If you ever felt like this, you just witnessed the temptations put forward by destination marketing.

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Not so long ago, all the ads involving a destination represented a kind of a slideshow of all the locations, monuments and the plethora of activities that the place had to offer. It was like a collage of postcards. Take Jammu & Kashmir Tourism advertisements for example. It shows the snow covered mountains, pristine lakes and the breathtaking valleys showing it truly is heaven on Earth.What it is missing is a brand story.

Brand story is something that is created by the marketer to enhance the appeal of the place to the audience, in this case the potential tourists. The new Rajasthan tourism ads have struck the right cord and have created a viral effect on the internet appealing to masses. To create a brand story, the logo was designed that shows two camels that resemble a long moustache commonly seen on Rajasthani men.

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SPECIAL STORY The ads show different tourists and what they end up experiencing through their eyes. For each tourist, Rajasthan becomes a part of what they see and what they experience and so each time the place is rechristened with the name of the tourist, like Aryasthan, Huansthan, Nehastan, Janesthan, Meerasthan, etc. So the ads want to say there is something unique in Rajasthan for everyone. “Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye” is the slogan on which the brand story is built on.

The ads are exploring all the untouched and lesser known places that Rajasthan has to offer and inviting each one to make Rajasthan their own with their own stories to add.

Gujarat tourism had already started with their brand stories with veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan exploring the state and inviting people to not just see but “Breathe in a Little Bit of Gujarat.” He would be shown experiencing the sights of architectural temples, wild national parks, the white Kutch desert or enjoying festivals with the common folks like kite flying and Navaratri inviting people by saying “Kuch Din To Gujaro Guajarat Me.” Madhya Pradesh tourism campaigns were created by building a brand story as well. “Hindustan Ka Dil Dekho” campaign was made to trigger the people to explore the state and its wilderness through their hearts. The ads were epitomes of creativity. May it be the hand shadow ad or the holi ad, both of them showed innovation in depicting the same places in MP but through different means. Both Gujarat and MP tourism were able to create brand stories and identities for themselves and appeal to a greater audience than before.

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Internationally, the same phenomenon is seen where many countries have changed to building brand stories rather than just presenting picture perfect places. Australia‟s “Walkabout” campaign created a story that could even be called emotional advertising. Sometimes you need to get lost to find yourself and you will find yourself in Australia was the main theme of these campaigns. One of the ads shows a woman fighting to keep her relationship afloat along with a demanding job. Being completely involved in her work leads to a break-up which is when she realises she has lost herself and everything she stands for.

She goes to Australia to rejuvenate her love but ends up finding herself. She arrives to Australia as Ms. K Mathieson, Executive VP of Sales and departs as just Kate. The walkabout campaigns managed to resonate with millions of people out there who needed to go find themselves and not remain lost. The latest in the Australia tourism campaign is the one with Chris Hemsworth stating “Australia is not a place you see, but a place you feel.”

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SPECIAL STORY

Exploring Australia is like falling in love, the feeling is indescribable. Australia tourism has understood the importance of brand stories and has been actively working on making their ads explore feelings and experiences and not just places.

Philippines has also boarded the train of designing a brand story to illustrate the beauty and experience of the islands. Their campaign “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” has managed to show the story of Philippines as a place where you will get addicted to the fun. Some of the ads show people will do anything to go back to Philippines. One such ad shows a woman going back to Philippines because she forgot to get a souvenir for her mother’s neighbour’s brother. Another ad shows a couple going back to Philippines because the picture they clicked did not have the ideal lighting. Many such outrageous attempts were made by people to go back to the funfilled Philippines. It’s more fun in Philippines truly manages to capture the fun-loving tourists and building a brand story as a fun place to be.

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All these campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg of the many things countries, states or even cities are doing to enhance their potential as tourist hotspots.

Creating a brand story or even a theme works well as it creates a need or aspiration to visit those places and be mesmerized and enveloped by the experience. These places are marketing a story and a feeling, and not just a destination. The way of telling the tale has changed and so has the way of experiencing a place. Destination marketing has evolved to destination branding, and each brand has a story to tell. So dive into these stories and experience the thrill.

THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS ZICA or ZIKA – Homophone Hell for Tata Motors

William Shakespeare once famously asked “What‟s in a name?” Here may lie your answer. Tata might have learnt it the hard way. Tata‟s new hatchback yet-tobe launched ZICA has caught a bug. Zica has been into the homophone hell with Zika the deadly virus which is spreading across the world rapidly.

The car‟s name resembles „Zika‟, the virus causing a surge in serious birth defects in South America. But things took a turn for the worse in January when the Zika virus from a forest in Uganda came into the limelight and started making headlines globally. In another messy coincidence, Zica‟s brand ambassador, a rather famous footballing sensation, is from Argentina, which also happens to be the first country where a case of Zika was reported.

When the World Health Organization (WHO) chief warned that the Zika virus is “spreading explosively” across the world, Tata Motors decided to rebrand the car.

For months, the marketing division spent thousands of dollars on Zica‟s promotional activities until the virus Zika came along. Being a socially responsible company and not wanting the new launch to meet the fate of previous hatchback cars, Tata Motors quickly decided to revise their marketing strategy.

FEBRUARY 2016

Now, Tata Motors has announced a name change, though at press-time for Auto Expo, they had not announced the new name.

The next thing they made sure was that ZICA was not used in any of the promotional activities of Tata Motors be it in the online and offline advertisements or even in sponsorships.

For instance, the host of a famous reality show on TV, which is sponsored by Tata Motors‟ ZICA (a great way to promote ZICA even before its launch), redubbed the part again where he promoted the car on the insistence of Tata Motors.

After its not-so-successful stint with NANO, Tata Motors was leaving no stone unturned in the branding and promotion of ZICA. They released the first teaser of Tata Zica two months ago with quite a lot of fanfare garnering the much needed attention.

The trial runs for the media soon followed in Goa and the car‟s design were appreciated by the reviewers. Zica was promoted as a „Zippy Car‟ and FC Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi was roped in as its brand ambassador.

Tata Motors thus acted swiftly and quickly even before the car was in the markets for sale by realizing similar mistakes that were made in the past.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS

This is not the first time there has been a naming disaster. Skoda Laura meant a penis, the General Motors‟ Nova was Spanish for “It doesn‟t go”. Very few cars like the Hyundai Creta (which also has a controversial definition according to Urban Dictionary) have managed to not let the sales get affected by the name.

Tata Motors presented their hatchback car in the recent Delhi Auto Expo without the name and even after so many big cars trying to steal the limelight, Tata Motors did manage to create an impact.

These are the lessons for any company that wishes to release its product globally. It would benefit them to be sensitive of languages and cultures across the world.

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THE MARKSMAN

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN The R – Rated Superhero

Do you remember the numerous posters of different movies stuck one over the other on compound walls, lamp posts, under the flyovers and every other inch of public space that had potential of attracting eyeballs? All jostling to attract the attention of those who didn‟t care to even catch a glimpse of these artworks. In all honesty, it looked less like a film promotion & more like a badly made collage which accomplished nothing but defacement of public spaces.

Most of the campaign had content that wasn't movie-based, but Deadpool-based. This allowed Fox to distribute it without giving away any key plot points. It all started with Deadpool hijacking the theatrical trailer of Fox‟s „Fantastic Four‟.

This made it very apparent that Deadpool had absolutely no boundaries, which was perfect for the mercenary with a motormouth.

On April Fool‟s Day 2015, Ryan Reynolds and 20th Century Fox pulled the ultimate prank on fans by announcing that Deadpool will be rated PG-13. Many fans feared that this‟d fail to stay true to the spirit of the comic. Viewers later learned that this was in fact a joke and the movie will actually be rated R. Gone are those days of mindless movie promotions. Recently, 20th Century Fox treated us to what could very well be the best film marketing campaign in the history of cinema. The only folks who might be unaware of Deadpool would be a few North Koreans and maybe a few lost tribes of the Amazon.

FEBRUARY 2016

Deadpool‟s personal accounts were created on Instagram & Tinder.

Bearskin rugs, candid bathroom pictures, 4th wall breaking videos like Deadpool delivering a baby were just a few things that were shared here.

OOH vehicles were used for campaigns like “Skull-Poop-L” & “Valentine‟s Day”. Ryan Reynolds shared such content on his social media.

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

YouTube was used to share hilarious videos like “How Deadpool spent Halloween” which had Reynolds & a few kids dressed up as X-Men characters & “Twelve days of Deadpool” in which new content was released everyday for 12 days on the websites of different Promotional Partners. Publicservice announcements for causes like awareness for early detection of breast & testicular cancer were made. „Proof of the pudding is in the eating‟, the promo campaign proved to be a huge success as Deadpool shattered the opening week box office records by earning over $130 million, when Fox had anticipated only $70 million.

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THE MARKSMAN

PIONEER The Story Behind the Real Superhero: Stan Lee

What is common between Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men and many other characters that we have come to love and adore through the years? Itâ€&#x;s none other than their creator, STAN LEE. A visionary like no other, Stan Lee has created a universe of superheroes and villains that have evolved through the comic book pages and have now become immortalised on the big screen to entice a whole new generation of fans.

Born as Stanley Martin Leiber, he knew he had the knack of storytelling and writing from a very young age. He joined Timely Comics in 1939 and moved up the ladder at an exponential speed. From filling inkwells and running errands in the office to becoming the editor in chief, Stan Lee had worked in every vertical of the comic books industry and that too only at the age of 19.

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Under his leadership, Timely comics was renamed to Marvel Comics as we know it today. The company strategy was to keep copying the trend of the industry and not innovating. After 20 years of imitating, there came a point in his career where Stan Lee was so dissatisfied that he thought of quitting his job. His wife, Joan Lee, motivated him to do what he wanted and not be concerned about the trends in the industry. She said the worst that could happen to him was that he would be fired; he was going to quit anyway, so no harm done.

Thatâ€&#x;s when he came up with The Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby. He made sure that these superheroes had flaws and had emotions and problems of their own. This made the audience empathize with the characters and be more involved. This trend caught on like wild fire.

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PIONEER He went on to create other characters like Hulk, Thor, Spiderman, Xmen, Iron Man, Daredevil, etc. along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Bill Everett.

He made sure all his characters were more human and had day to day problems like school, jobs, girlfriends, etc. Another interesting aspect that he introduced in the comics was making fictional portrayals of himself and the artists involved. In one of the issues of Fantastic Four he and Jack Kirby are seen talking to each other on the cover.

This brought in a twist that the readers enjoyed and also turned them into household names. People would send letters addressed as “To, The Editor” in other publications, but at Marvel, they would send to the concerned person by name.

He went on to write more stories and create new characters for a long time. Eventually he retired and became a board member at Marvel. He also found POW Entertainment and Stan Lee Media. These were ventures formed to capture his characters on motion pictures by getting good deals and tie-ups with various studios. They were very successful in doing so as we can see from the record breaking movies of the last couple of years like The Avengers, Deadpool, Captain America, Iron Man, The Amazing Spiderman, etc.

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He makes appearances in comic cons to promote Marvel and has become the face of Marvel. Another reason he is so famous is because of his cameos in all the Marvel movies. He is the hot dog vendor in X-Men, the security guard in the museum where Captain America steals his own uniform or the latest where is seen as the MC at a strip club in Deadpool. His cameos are something many of the fans look forward to in all the Marvel movies. At the age of 93, Stan Lee has done it all and more. He has become a greater legend than any of the superheroes he created over the years. His catchphrase “Excelsior” truly applies to him. He is and will always be the greatest superhero of all time.

“With Great Power Responsibility” - Stan Lee

Comes

Great

THE MARKSMAN

KickStart Edureka!

Identify a gap, realize the scale of its utility, prepare a solution to it and EXECUTE. The simple flow-chart like procedure to a start-up seems too easy to learn and too tricky to execute, but things happened in very much a copybook style for Lovleen Bhatia and Kapil Tyagi who converted their idea into a success named Edureka.

Over years, politicians and students have been equally critical of the lack of pragmatism in the training of higher technical education in India.

Bhatia and Tyagi realized this gap and made way for Edureka, an interactive, online learning platform. It offers live, instructorled courses that cater mainly to working professionals who want to enhance their skills.

Lovleen, an IIT-BHU alumnus joined hands with Kapil, an IIT-Bombay alumnus in 2011 to start this venture with 4 employees in a small office in Noida with an investment of about Rs 1.5 crore.

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They launched their first pilot project to the final year students at ABES Engineering College in the nearby locality of Ghaziabad. Focusing on Mobile app development, it was organized by partnering with few Bangalore based- software companies. Following it, they shifted to another small office in Bangalore.

By June 2012, they had 15,000 students across the globe for their Android development course. By that time they had already shifted their complete education online, the sphere they still excel in.

Their Eureka moment was when a 10-year old created an Android app, using their platform!

Edureka was ranked among the top companies in Deloitteâ€&#x;s Technology Fast 50 India 2014 and was named the second coolest start up by Business Today in 2015.

Today, it faces the challenge of adding new courses while maintaining quality.

Currently they operate from their office at Sigma Tech Park in Whitefield, Bengaluru having successfully delivered more than 50,000 hours of class to 3,50,000 learners in 150 countries.

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Bookworm Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses

This concoction by master content marketing strategist Joe Pulizzi is your recipe for entrepreneurial success in the modern market context.

He is a founder of several start-ups himself including the content marketing institute, which enjoyed its presence on Inc. magazineâ€&#x;s list of fastest-growing private companies for three years in a row.

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Joe recognizes the potential of content marketing in this content-driven world, unlike any other strategist. According to him sticking to the traditional approach is like cooking a dish that is destined to get stale even before itâ€&#x;s served. The modern marketer is dealing with a highly dynamic market and an equally responsive and fickle audience. In this book, Content Inc., he propagates a reverse recipe where the content is developed and valorised, an audience is built around that content and finally a product is shaped for that audience. This is a paradigm shift from the conventional route where first a product is created and then an audience for it is wooed.

This book codifies a business start-up process in six lucid, pragmatic and cost-effective steps.

These radical steps namely the sweet spot, content tilting, building the base, harvesting audience, diversification and monetization are your mantras to chant as a marketer in the days ahead. As the ingredients used in a recipe decide its taste similarly Pulizzi identifies content as the secret ingredient for a successful marketing plan.

However, surprisingly content despite being so pivotal is often if not always the most overlooked aspect of marketing in the present day scenario and Joe Pulizzi pens down a guide for marketers to help use their content right.

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FEATURED ARTICLES

Brands looking beyond Cricket – Pro Kabaddi League wins more sponsorships

Nivicia Malhotra - N. L. Dalmia Instt of Mgmt Studies & Research, Mumbai Is India‟s sporting mindset beginning to broaden? Are Indians finally getting over their frenzy for cricket and giving other Sports like kabaddi, badminton and hockey a chance?

And the answer is in the affirmative! Look into 2013 and 2014 and you‟ll realize that for the first time in this country, a professional Football league-ISL, Indian Badminton League, Golf Premier League, and Hockey India League were launched and proved to be successful as well.

But the most popular of all- The first edition of Professional Kabaddi league (PKL) -an initiative of Mashal Sports, a company which was co-founded by Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group and Mr. Charu Sharma, who is also a Director of Mashal Sports; saw giving chills to IPL! We are finally seeing other sports getting Sponsorships from the big brands that were earlier connected only with cricket! But does this mean cricket leagues are losing out on sponsorships? Do advertisers feel that India is finally saturated with cricket and IPLs and do people of this country who have always worshipped cricket and considered cricketers to be their Gods ready to view and enjoy other sporting leagues with the same enthusiasm and spirit?

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India, ruled by cricket since ages is embracing this great change because in the last two to three years, an element of fatigue had crept in with too much cricket happening throughout the year. Even in team sponsorship money, cricket‟s share, though still high, is gradually decreasing.

The organizers of Pro Kabaddi League say that it was the most watched sport on Sony Six channel after the FIFA World Cup! They were expecting a good response from states traditionally associated with Kabaddi like Haryana and Punjab, they were surprised to find people of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat showing ample interest in the game. Kabaddi was seen as a very uncool sport made for rural India only. But this game has caught viewers‟ attention because of three factors•It‟s power packed to watch •Short duration of 45 minutes.

•The players- fit and energetic.

All these add to the viewership experience.

And thus, urban viewership is growing strongly every year, with 64% contribution from metros this year, which has grown by almost 50% compared to last year.

The increase in viewership is not just limited to TV but Hotstar, Star India‟s digital platform, clocked in 10 million users for its season 2, compared to 0.7 million viewers who watched Season 1.

What does all this data imply? PKL is enjoyed by the urban youth too.

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FEATURED ARTICLES Despite a busy cricket season and upcoming T20 World Cup, PKL is garnering interest from sponsors for its third season and their sponsorship revenues may surpass season 2 revenues.

tournament starts, they should be at least 1525% above last year‟s sponsorship revenues.

Patna Pirates has renewed its deal with Sun Pharma and has been able to get about 15% higher realizations than last year in the deals they have signed till now.

At the league level, Broadcaster Star, which is a co-owner of the League, has signed up with Gionee mobiles and Fair & Lovely Men‟s as new sponsors for season 3 alongside Flipkart, Bajaj Electronics, TVS and SBI. Also, this year, with rural viewership expected to increase, many FMCG, fertilizer and seed companies would be interested to invest in PKL this time.

Take for instance, champions Kabaddi is penetrating the reach in rural of 2015 season U Mumba, have renewed markets. their Sponsorship deal with Amul Macho According to Star, PKL had 20% and Enerzal, and has managed to get on more viewers in Season 2, becoming the board new sponsors such as Adidas, TVS second most viewed sports league, next only and Tata Motors. The team had got to the IPL Tournament. sponsorship revenue of about Rs. 4-4.5 PKL, so far has managed to crore last season, and it would reach close attract and retain both viewers and sponsors. to Rs. 10 crore this year.

The question is whether they‟ll be able to Telegu Titans has renewed its surpass cricket in terms of sponsors and if deals with Greenko, Maha Cement and they do, will it be short lived? With IPL season Field Gear with Sri Chaitanya Group 9 coming up in May 2016 and World Cup (to joining their list of Sponsors. Srinivas be held in India too) in March and April 2016, Sreeramaneni, owner of Telegu Titans said will Pro Kabaddi League live another season? they have been able to get an increase of Will marketers and advertisers still consider around 20% in sponsorship revenues. it to be a profitable avenue? Will Indian Bengaluru Bulls has signed up audience stick to PKL and continue to watch with a tyre company, a car brand and a it in same numbers like before? This only time sports gear brand. While Bengaluru Bulls will tell. has so far got sponsors for this season at Till then stay tuned to Star Sports and par with valuations they got last year, witness whether Pro Kabaddi League is their management assures by the time the successful in ending India‟s affair with cricket!

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SquAreheaD

FEBRUARY 2016

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BUZZ PUZZLE

DOWN

1. The Red & White logo of this brand is recognized by 94% of the world‟s population (4,4) 2. The most Instagram (9,6)

followed

retailer

on

3. This aerated drink originated due to a World War II trade embargo against Germany 5. One in 10 Europeans are conceived on an ______ bed ACROSS

CLUES

4. This fast food chain‟s economy would make it the 68th largest economy in the world (2,7) 6. APPLE‟s iPAD retina display is actually manufactured by _________ 7. This coffee chain has over 87,000 drink combination possibilities 8. This retail giant averages a profit of $1.8 mn every hour Answers: Down: 1.Coca Cola 2.Victoria‟s Secret 3.Fanta 5.IKEA Across: 4.Mc Donald‟s 6.Samsung 7.Starbucks 8.Walmart

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Call for ARTICLES CALL FOR ARTICLES MARCH 2016 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*: 1. Farewell to the age of the lion: Rebranding of the English Premier League

2. Sixth time’s a charm: DiCaprio

The journey of Leonardo

3. Bridging the ‘Gap’ effectively : How GAP stores reached out to its potential customers in Mumbai *Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are clearly mentioned.

1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be approximately 800-850 words and MUST be replete with relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article.

3. Font Type: Gill Sans MT 4. Font Size: 14.

5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute Name_CourseYear 7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic

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

Deadline for the submission of article will be : 20th March, 2016

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The TEAM THE TEAM TWEETS by Minoli Sheth It’s all about AD-itude by Ayush Agrawal Brand MARKive by Palak Thakkar COVER STORY by Sukanya Remesh SPECIAL STORY by Palak Thakkar FAUX PAS by Nikhita Dere HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Siddharth Bhandarkar PIONEER by Palak Thakkar KickStart by Abhijit Sharma BOOKWORM by Kavya Dubey SquAreheaD by Vasundhara Tewari BUZZ by Sankalp Thakur PROOF READ by Minoli Sheth Ayush Agrawal DESIGNING by Palak Thakkar Sankalp Thakur PROMOTIONS by Ishita Shah Kashyap Salvi

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The MARKSMAN is the newsletter of INTERFACE, the Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai.

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