The Marksman- October 2016 issue by The Marksman

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EDITOR’S NOTE Dear Readers, It gives us great pleasure to bring to you another interesting issue of our very beloved Marksman. We have curated for you a broad spectrum of interesting articles that should enhance your understanding of marketing. Our cover story for the month is about colour marketing; the way colour affects human psychology and persuades a person towards it. The special story talks about the revolution the game Pokemon Go brought in the marketing world. We would like to congratulate this month‘s call for article winners – Himanshu Shete, Welingkar Institute of Management and Dipti Aggarwal, IIM Indore Mumbai whose articles have been featured in this issue. For the remaining entries, we would like to thank you all for your incredible response and encourage you all to keep writing to us with the great enthusiasm. Enjoy Reading! Stay with us on www.interfacesimsr.com/index.php/marksman Follow our Facebook page for more updates.

OCTOBER 2016

Content Tweets

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

Brand Markive

Cover Story

Special Story

Marketing Faux Pas

Hall-mark Campaign

Pioneer

Bookworm

Kickstart

Featured Article

Square Head

Buzz

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TWEETS #SmileMoreForAGoodDay

Under this campaign, the brand is launching ‗Pay By Smile‘, which is one of its kind idea that encourage people to smile more and shows ‗smile currency‘ as a tangible asset. Reviving the purpose of the brand -―It‘s a smile that makes a Good Day,‖ the brand as a part of the ‗Pay by smile‘ initiative enables consumers to pay for the special edition NILL MRP Good Day packs through their smiles instead of money for a box of cookies. All one has to do is upload a 'smiley selfie' with the above hashtag and redeem a zero MRP Good Day pack directly from the counter. Snapdeal consumers can‗Pay by Smile‘ for a special ‗Box of Smiles‘ that will comprise ofa variety of Good Day cookies. The ‗Pay bySmile‘ concept went live across India through exclusive tie-ups withHypercity and Snapdeal on 7th October 2016. The brand haslaunched the ―Smile More for a Good Day‖ campaign with its smile ambassador Deepika Padukone, as part of an active effort to persuade Indians to smile more.

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TWEETS #GreatIndianFestival Recently, Amazon announced the second phase of their festive season. Over the past few weeks, the brand has launched two films to extend the positioning of ―Tyohaar BadeDilwala‖. The films beautifully narrate the human stories about the way people tend to let their hearts swell during the festive season by showing generosity. The first film depicts a retired father buying a watch for his daughter and making her realise that he still holds the ―Father‘s‖ position, and can buy a gift for her. The second one shows a lady gifting new clothes to her Dhobi and his kids,saying ―We don‘t wear old clothes for this festival‖.

#YouAreTheFestival Joining the eCommerce brand war of this festive season, online fashion retailer Jabonghas launched its nationwide festive brand campaign - "YouAreTheFestival".The TV advertisement, which will be aired on all leading TV channels, will also be backed up by Print, Cinema, CRM and Social Media campaigns.The story of the advertisement is built around the concept of celebrating the festival that is ‗You‘. It blends the themes of festivity, colour and homecoming with Jabong's wide range of fusion wear to give a colourful and stylish effect. Its "Be You" campaign highlights peculiarity, the freedom to be a leader and promotes one's own sense of style.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad: Scotties Agency: John St, Toronto, Canada

Canada‘s #1 selling facial tissue, Scotties, with the innovative methods of Agency John St., has come out with a print ad recently to show that a tissue is more than just a tissue. The campaign has used simple captions like Team Lost Team Won, Broken Heart Broken Phone, over close up faces to help convey the meaning that a tissue has multifaceted uses - from wiping tears of joy to lipstick smudges to running noses, you name it. The motive behind the campaign was to highlight Scotties tissue as an important part of everyone‘s arsenal. Scotties have always focused on brand equity and tried to imprint their relevance in the customer‘s mind by launching various campaigns worldwide. With their unique box design, the right mix of innovation and focus on customer wants, Scotties is sure to capture extra space in the shopping trolleys of many with such print ads.

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ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD : CINTHOL #ReadyForAwesome AGENCY : Creativeland Asia

With the recent performance of women in the Rio Olympics, it can nowhere be denied that women are awesome! The recent Cinthol ad film shot in a POV format celebrates the spirit of women that makes them awesome. It shows how determined a woman athlete can be to achieve her dreams, with a similar tagline #ReadyForAwesome. The video not only depicts sports but also the challenges a woman faces every day, and how she accepts and counters them to achieve her dreams. The ad comes as an inspiration to all women,especially those who wish to achieve their dreams under any circumstances, and are least worried about how the society perceives them. Such ads will surely instil pride in women for theireveryday life struggles and achievements. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s no holding them back and Cinthol Women is a reflection of such palpable spirit.

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BRAND MARKive Oyo Rooms Doing the unthinkable is the latest buzz in the market and this has never been more prominent than in the peculiar case of Oyo Rooms. This name first appeared in the summer of 2013 when an eccentric youngster Ritesh Agarwal saw a problem and decided to do something about it. Three years later Oyo rooms boasts of being one of the biggest startups of India. Be it a family outing or the honeymoon of a newly-wed couple, company retreat or a solo adventure, finding the right place to stay is always an issue. And in a country like India where we check the price even before looking at a product, finding a budget hotel is an all the more dismal task. This is where Oyo Rooms comes in. With over 6500 hotels spread across the country, it provides a variety of options to choose from, at every price range. But this is not just another run of the mill hotel booking app. Following the likes of AirBnB, Oyo, rather than owing hotels, ties up with them, providing standardized rooms to its clients at pocketfriendly prices. The idea of running countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s largest budget hotel chain, without owing a single hotel, is truly mind-boggling. Since its inception, Oyo Rooms has been growing rapidly and has roped in many heavyweight investors like Lightspeed and Soft Bank. Within three years, Oyo rooms has become the largest hotel chain in the country and ranks among the top 5 startups in India- no small feat given its small taskforce and such a small time period.

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BRAND MARKive The credit for this rapid success goes to the intensive marketing, presence on the online space and right tie-ups made at the right time. Oyo rooms has always had a great online presence, be it on social media platforms or on mainstream digital media. But when it comes to Oyo rooms, the cream on the cake is always the unconventional. Oyo rooms has always cashed in on opportunities no one else could fathom. Their digital campaigns like ‗#NikalChalein‘, where it targeted the ‗independence weekend‘ (August 12th to 15th), was a grand success and received country-wide acclamation. Its latest ventures also created news when it decided to tie-up with Ola- one of the biggest taxi aggregators in the country, to provide a wholesome experience right from pick-up to stay to drop. Some are even calling it ‗Partnership of the year 2016‘. With ease of access, great visibility and affordable pricing, Oyo rooms has created a value proposition so irresistible that customers have no choice but to #GoOyo every time they plan a trip.

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COVER STORY Color Psychology Marketing Have you ever wondered why Facebook is in the color of blue instead of red, green or for that matter any one of the wide variety of colors available in this planet? Okay, let us keep Facebook aside. For all the Batman lovers reading this and who have seen the movie ―Batman Begins‖ what comes to your mind if I ask - ―Does it come in black?‖ Yes, exactly. Those of you who have missed the movie, do make sure to watch this particular scene. Even though both these cases of Facebook and Batman has its own personal reasons to be the way they are, what if I told you there is more to it than what meets the eye!

Color Psychology Marketing is one of the most important, interesting and controversial areas in marketing. As rightly quoted ―Color Psychology Marketing helps to get the consumers see what you want them to see, feel what you want them to feel . and do what you want them to do.‖This single aspect makes understanding color psychology very important to make your content successful. Understanding the Color theoryIt is often believed that any color from the VIBGYOR spectrum can be used to market our content. But in fact, the way colors are seen is not in the way of VIBGYOR. Thus, it is necessary to understand the colors first before using it for marketing.

Most people consider the color aspect as something that came out of a random choice. Well, there are high chances that it might not be the case. In the scope of content marketing, color could be an emotional cue. Color can also help you to stand out in the vast ocean of content marketing.

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COVER STORY

Colors can be subdivided into the following: a)Primary Colors- They are the three colors that make all the other colors. They are red, blue and yellow. b)Secondary Colors- Created using the primary colors. They are purple, green and orange. c)Tertiary Color- Created by adding more of one particular primary color than the other while mixing. Red-Purple, Orange-Red, Green-yellow etc. d)Pure ColorPrimary, Secondary and Tertiary colors, when kept without adding a third color such as white, black or any other color for that matter, they are known as pure colors. There are a few more categorization such as tint, shades and tones. Each of these subdivisions may be used in different aspects, for example Pure color is mainly seen to be used in summer clothes, children‘s toys, and even daycare décor to make it more attractive. Whereas blue goes on with corporate, high-tech, medical etc. That is why most of the corporate company‘s logos are in blue color than any other colors. But there is one exception for Facebook. Did you know that the reason why it is blue in color is because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green color blind? Well it is true. There would always be an exception in one way or the other. Anyways, coming back to the color segments, this whole categorization of colors can be represented in a single wheel known as the Color Wheel. We generally wonder what is the use of knowing all these colors and the color wheel diagram.

Humans are one of the rare visual creatures in the world. They are so visual that the color of the object plays a much bigger role in influencing what we will purchase than we might possibly think. Research reveals that people make a subconscious judgment about an environment or product within the first 90 seconds of initial viewing. Between 62% and 90% of that sub-conscious assessment is based on color alone. Suppose if Apple revealed an iPhone 7 in silver/ black version and the very same model in orange color, there is hardly any evidence to suggest that the orange colored version would be sold in high number than the former.

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A child suggesting her mother to smoke

COVER STORY

Favorite Colors: Although there is a perception that ―Pink and Violet‖ are supposed to be girly colors this research ended up in ―Blue‖ being the favorite color among the two genders. Other researches also showed that Purple is still if not the top, one of the favorite colors preferred by women. Whereas men didn‘t opt for purple in any list of their favorite colors. Various studies related to color perception and color preferences show that when it comes to hues, shades and tints, men prefer bold colors whereas women prefer soft colors. Shades of colors were generally added to the favorite color list by men, especially those Color Preference: This would be by far, one of the most colors with black added. In case of women, interesting applications of Color Preference. they are found to be receptive to tints of Do you think people would actually buy a colors i.e. the colors with white added. pink/orange Harley Davidson to have a so called ―rugged‖ look? Or owning a purple colored Mercedes would look stylish? Maybe it does. But even if it does, as previously mentioned, there is no successful studies to validate that the pink Harley and the purple Mercedes would sell more than the Black, Silver or White colored versions. It is far more important for a brand‘s colour to actually support the personality that the brand Color Names: wants to portray instead of trying to align with For me one of the trickiest part of purchasing something online is to identify random color associations. As far as Color Marketing is concerned, there the color by its name. The moment of are two major divisions in the consumer despair when you struggle to guess the market. And this division is purely out of right one and you fail. There are also times gender. Let us have a look at the major likes when I often heard people complain about and dislikes (color) of the consumer market the same complexity in color (especially Men). based on gender. And with respect to the role that color plays in branding, studies reveal that the relationships between the brands and the color is under the perception of the appropriateness of the color that is being used for that particular brand. The question is to make sure if the color fits what is being sold. Our brains normally prefer recognizable brands all the time. This makes color an incredibly important aspect while creating the brand identity. It is in a way very important for the new brands to stand out from its competitors by using colors that ensure differentiation.

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COVER STORY .

Least favorite Colors: The world was much simpler when back in school, we only had to study that there were only 7 main colors - the VIBGYOR. And those names were just simple. Anyways, that topic is out of scope as of now. The point is, although different colors are perceived in different ways, their ―names‖ play a significant role while purchasing.

―A rose by another name‖ was such a study. When subjects were asked to evaluate products with different color names for products such as makeup, the names which were generally preferred were fancy. For example, ―Mocha‖ was significantly more likeable than the ―Brown‖ color even though they were actually shown the same color. The same effect is applicable to a wide variety of products as well. Research tells us elaborately named paint colors appear more pleasing to the eye than their simply named counterparts. More unusual and unique color names are preferred for almost everything.

For example, if I ask you to choose between a Razzmatazz color and a rich shade of Rose, most people are more likely to choose the former than the latter. Considering the fact that Razzmatazz is actually a rich shade of Crimson Rose color would have had little effect. The scope of study on Color Psychology Marketing is vast. And there are different interpretations of different colors as well. But however, there may not be a clear cheat sheet to get the perfect color for the brand you want to build. In the end it‘s always the feeling, the mood and the image that your brand creates that play a role in persuasion. It is necessary to recognize that colors only come into picture when they can be used to match this specific brand‘s desired personality. Without understanding this context, selecting one color over the other wouldn‘t make much sense. And as far as evidences are concerned, there is none to show that an orange iPhone would take over its silver counterpart.

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SPECIAL STORY POKEMON GO – A Marketing Revolution? Instead of taking big screens by storm across the world, this summer‘s blockbuster has people glued to smaller screens. Launched in July 2016, Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by an American software development company Niantic for iOS and Android devices. The game allows players to use GPS technology to locate, capture, battle, and train virtual cartoon characters, called Pokémon, who appear on the screen as if they were in the same location as the player. Players need to physically travel to explore the game's map and visit local landmarks called PokéStops and gyms, including local businesses and public spaces. The game also supports in-app purchases for additional game items. Pokémon Go has become a viral sensation and is one of the most used mobile apps in 2016, having been downloaded by more than 130 million people worldwide. In less than a week after the release, it had surpassed Twitter‘s daily usage and drubbed mobile apps like Whatsapp and Snapchat in terms of amount of time users spent using the app every day. With Pokémon Go becoming more of a cultural phenomenon, we explore some interesting implications it has and will have on marketing.

The need of the hour is for marketers to have an integrated strategy that encompasses all the platforms used by consumers now-a-days. To understand better, let‘s take an example - A person can check-in to a restaurant using a location based app like Zomato, redeem an offer, share a comment on Zomato and then immediately post an update on their Facebook wall, all of this by referencing to the restaurant‘s Facebook page.

This game illustrates the full realization of So-Lo-Mo Strategy. The game has successfully combined social media with local marketing and mobile. The methods to use SoLoMo through Pokémon-Go are varied and have immense potential. Some of the methods can be-

SoLoMo MarketingPokémon-Go has been able to tap the potential of SoLoMo Marketing. SoLoMo is the marketing strategy to make use of a consumers‘ seamless movements between channels and platforms to the maximum.

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SPECIAL STORY •

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Leveraging social media business enterprises that are Pokestops or Gyms to advertise it on social media. In one such instance, Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden used Facebook to inform people about the abundance of Pokémon Go riches in their gardens. Local businesses around the globe have started to offer discounts specifically for Pokémon trainers, and their results have been astounding. Offering discounts to Pokémon Go players for every check-in referencing to their business on social media can be a great marketing strategy. For instance, McDonald‘s Japan launched Pokémon-themed happy meals, which did extremely well, and led to a 23 per cent increase in their share prices. If a business doesn‘t happen to be in the vicinity of a Pokemon location, there can be other ways to lure customers. For example, advertise the presence of a phone charging facility and offer discounted products and services to the players of the game. In fact, Amazon leveraged Pokémon Go in their sales pitch for a portable phone charger. Going all out with events is a new strategy. Organising a Pokewalk, in which the staff dresses up in company branded clothing, and freebies offered to participants will ensure social media attention. A California based fitness start-up GOQUii, has been organising fitness-based events called Active Sundays, usually attracting around 40-50 people. Pokewalk‘s were organised by companies in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi, inviting individuals to play game

while working out. Needless to say the event was an unprecedented success with over 500 people attending it. It escalated to become the largest gathering in the event‘s 18-month timeline with the brand generating favourable goodwill. It is almost a revolution in terms of how Pokémon Go has been able to combine reallife interaction with social media marketing. Branding opportunities:It is a great opportunity for franchises and local businesses to devise ways to associate their brands with the game and become popular. Businesses of all kinds and retailers across the globe can cash in on the Pokémon Go craze. Manufacturers can introduce Pokémon themed merchandise ideas. One such example was the T-Mobile . one year of free, initiative, which offered unlimited data on Pokémon Go as well as other Pokémon Go related gifts to all customers who claimed the gift using the TMobile Tuesdays app.

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SPECIAL STORY Augmented Reality Marketing:Pokémon Go has undeniably increased the popularity of Augmented Reality and marketers need to watch the trend and identify ways to leverage this leading-edge technology. Innovations in terms of improved hardware on smartphones will usher in a new era of mobile applications that will exist in an Augmented Reality ecosystem supported by enhanced geo-location abilities. The challenge lies in integrating Augmented Reality technology in a way that it enhances the customer experience, making services and products more fun and convenient. Undoubtedly, Pokémon Go is the most successful mobile game ever and it will be interesting to watch what the game goes on to achieve in the near future. But more significantly, this game has started a technological revolution that will have consequences on the business and marketing ecosystem in the future. Whether Pokémon Go stays or fizzles out, it has brought AR to the forefront and highlighted its potential in a way that has never been done before. Smart marketers will keep themselves informed, study this phenomenon and devise ways to use it, and also go on to make new innovations.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS The New York Times Subscription discounts email The New York Times is one of the oldest American daily newspapers started in 1851. The newspaper found itself in trouble after an email that it sent to around 8 million subscribers. The incident took place when the New York Times decided to give discounts to people who had recently cancelled their subscription of the newspaper. The marketing strategy of the New York Times was simple. In order to retain its customers and to make them reconsider their decision, it offered them seventeen deals and discounts. By human mistake, the email was sent to around 8 million of the subscribers whereas it was meant for only three hundred of them. Two things followed in the minds of subscribers upon receiving the email. One that it was a spam email and that the email id of the New York Times had been hacked by some hackers. The second thing that followed was even worse. When the existing customers came to know about the offers that NYT was

giving to its customers who had opted out of subscription, they felt cheated. They were mad at the fact that they were not getting same offers even after being loyal customers to NYT. As a result, there was a surge of emails and tweets back to NYT head office complaining for partiality. The employees at the New York Times immediately responded to the matter through emails and tweets. They accepted the mistake and apologized to people addressing it as an unfortunate event and a result of human error. In the aftermath, there was also an article regarding the event in next day‘s edition giving the details of the incidence albeit they did not cover much of the subscribers‘ reactions. This incidence is an example of a marketing faux pas where small mistakes may lead to such unwanted consequences and turn them into blunders. So next time when you send an email for promotions or discounts, think twice before hitting ‗send‘.

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HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN Workplace by Facebook Facebook has opened Facebook Workplace, formerly known as Facebook for Work, for all the organisations. It recently said in a report that 1000 businesses are now on board with the tool that turns social platform a into business-communication hub, as an attempt to shake up office communication. To differentiate itself from others, Facebook has associated itself with big brands like Starbucks, Danone and Booking.com, and 100,000 groups have been added. Facebook is also rolling out a program called Workplace Partner Program which will give companies including Deloitte, Edelman, TBWA Worldwide and Weber Shandwick the keys to help set up clients' and companies' offices with Facebook Workplace. Another differentiator from its competitors like Slack is that unlike Slack, Facebook Workplace is built using a huge platform as its base, which means that employees can use features like live video, reactions and search, and see the site's trending posts all at the same place most preferably at work. While Slack has effectively reduced email for companies, it isn't positioned to be such a one-stop solution to all the problems. Facebook's business tool has an additional advantage of few work-only features too. One such example is dashboard which pulls in analytics and IT systems together. There's also a multi-company groups feature that lets businesses chat with other companies, although Facebook didn't say exactly how

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that would work once it launches in the coming weeks. Facebook Workplace represents a way how a social platform can be used to make money by fees rather than advertising. Initially facebook workplace comes with a three-month free trial after which companies have to pay $3 per person for the first 1,000 users, $2 for up to 10,000 users and $1 each for offices having more than 10,000 employees. The prices are based on the number of active users on monthly basis, requiring staff to use the software once a month on a minimum basis. On Contrary, Slack charges businesses $8 to $15 depending on the plan. This Makes Facebook Workplace a more viable option than Slack.

PIONEER Angela Merkel "A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts." —Nancy Rathburn. 21st century is the era of women, and amongst the many of them, ANGELA MERKEL is one person who is worth mentioning. Ms.Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in 1954, in the city of Hamburg, Germany. She is a German stateswoman and was a former research scientist in the field of physical chemistry. Merkel has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005-a feat never ever observed in German history let alone by a woman. She is also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is also the longest-serving incumbent head of government in the EU. She is currently a senior G7 leader. She is a true leader who has been successfully able to defy on-going economic and political challenges that the European Union is facing. Ms Merkel‘s ability to convince the financially defaulting countries- Greece and Spain to take up German financial and legal logic, and on the other hand to persuade Germany's own political guardians to agree upon her decisions, is a commanding proof of her leadership skills, intelligence and magnanimous international presence. She has guided Germany through recession, with her country beginning 2016 with a budget surplus of 12.1 billion Euros, and an AAA rating. She worked extensively to break the Nazi-era taboo of direct involvement in military action

by sending arms to Kurdish fighters and thus stood tough against the ISIS. On the humanitarian front, by opening Germany's borders to 1 million immigrants from Syria and other terror stricken countries in the last several years, she has time and again proved that a leader needs to be multifaceted with the ability to take bold decisions at most unexpected situations. Angela Merkel is described as the ― de facto leader‖ of the EU and has appeared on the Forbes Magazine's List of World's Most Powerful People ranked as the world's second most powerful person. Notably, she has been on Forbes‘s list as world‘s most powerful woman for ten times. Her grit, poise and ability to take unconventional and tough decisions has carved a niche spot for herself in the hall of fame of august leaders and today she is not only a political big-shot but rightfully a role model for many.

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BOOKWORM Buyology By Martin Lindstrom Buyology, written by Martin Lindstrom, is based on the largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, that helps us understand the science behind why we buy. The book emphasizes on marketing a product or idea so as to immerse it within the human psyche, so much so that our brain instinctively and impulsively drives our buying actions. Lindstorm studies and proves that we rarely have any sort of rational control over why we buy some products and not others. It is always our brain that subconsciously chooses for us. Traditional marketing methods hardly work anymore and the reasons we think we buy are generally deceptive. It is imperative to understand our brain‘s response to advertising, and product placement alone doesn‘t work. Advertisers need to emotionally engage the target audience in order to mould their buying behaviour. A study conducted on over 1000 people proved that we assume we think rationally when we buy, but we don‘t. Emotions cloud our decisions, consciously or subconsciously. Lindstorm finally answers the question on ―Why we buy‖, by inferring that more often than not, advertisements and marketing strategies that stand out and make an emotional connect with the consumers, are the ones that complement impact marketing.

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KICKSTART Droom There is one thing we know for sure about Sandeep Aggarwal, he knows how to build a successful marketplace. He did that with ShopClues back in 2011, and repeated the same in 2014, when he announced Droom – an online marketplace to buy and sell new and used vehicles. While America already had an efficient market for used automobiles, in India this sector was highly unorganized. Considering India was the third largest automobile economy after China and US, Aggarwal saw this as an opportunity to capture a huge untapped customer base. Backed with technology and experience straight out of the Silicon Valley, along with its focus on constant innovation, Droom soon became a huge success story. The startup, that has now crossed a GMV of Rs 104 crore, has recently launched a month

long auto-festival to woo the customers with various exciting offers and discounts including ShopClues coupons. In a low trust market like India, Droom capitalized on trust, transparency and a simplistic model to address the concerns of buyers and sellers. This model utilized five pillars; an auto inspection service named Eco, a data science based ‗Full Circle Trust Score‘, an algorithmic pricing engine named Orange Book Value, and self declarations about any known issues in the vehicle as the last two pillars. Droom faces stiff competition, right from old classified sites such as CarTrade to the new promising startups such as Spinny, GoZoomo, Truebil and Cars24. But Aggarwal already believes he is five years ahead of the market, considering company‘s focus on innovation and trust, as well its utilization of state of the art technology in the field of analytics and data science. The road is rough, but the ride seems fairly smooth for this more than efficient startup.

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FEATURED ARTICLE Women Empowerment Ads – Stereotype or Effective? -HIMANSHU SANJAY SHETE , WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, MUMBAI The early nineteenth century saw the spread of socio-religious reform movements in India. Apart from caste, another main focus of these movements was women. They worked towards the upliftment of women – liberating women from lower social status they were ascribed. During the hundred and fifty odd years that followed, we slowly transitioned from the concept of ‗women upliftment' to ‗women empowerment'. If women upliftment involved drawing women out of their homes, educating them and providing them with basic opportunities in life (that ironically, we tend to take for granted in today's world), women empowerment encompasses a much broader perspective. It is more about egalitarianism, life skills and in Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's words, the freedom of choice. The twentieth century saw rapid development in the field of technology. With the advent of the television, computer and the internet, the field of advertising took on a whole new meaning.

It became a reflection of the society as well as a reflection of the society. Social change got intricately woven into the fabric of mass communicating advertisements. A striking example is that of the advertisements which have much to do with women and consequently, their empowerment. The amount of influence that these commercials have on women is nothing short of incredible. But how much of it is actually effective in bringing about social change and how much is mere stereotyping?

Women-centred advertisements could be grouped into a few categories. There are ads that encourage consumerism – fairness creams, cosmetics, deodorants or even simple bathing soaps. Then there are others like those of sanitary napkins, baby diapers and health drinks that show women in multitasking roles.

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FEATURED ARTICLE Actually effective? There are ads for soaps and cosmetics like Santoor, Ponds, Lux, etc. that project women as independent, strong and beautiful. These women can do whatever they put their mind to. This is a change from earlier times when women were treated merely as eye candies without any real substance and were there only to attract a more male audience. There are ads for health drinks that show women who encourage their kids to rise in spite of failures. The Horlicks ad shows a gymnast who tells her son that to climb "Success ki seedhi" you have to step on failure first. Ads for soaps like Dettol talk about general hygiene through catchy tunes ("Dettol Dettol Ho...!"). There are ads for sanitary napkins that show women doing various physical activities even while being on their monthly period. There is a Whisper Ultra ad shows a school going girl going for her football tryouts in spite of her mother worrying about it being "that time of the month" for her daughter.

Also, they talk about hygiene for women, which is a much-neglected topic when it comes into the public domain. This is a huge improvement from the earlier times when women would not be allowed to step outdoors or even touch anything in the kitchen and were considered impure in general during their periods. Merely Stereotyping? Indian advertisements seem to have taken it upon themselves to define the standards of beauty in the country. There is a Santoor ad showing a mother who is so youthful (as a result of the use of that soap) that nobody realizes that she is a mother until her little girl comes running to her calling her "Mummy!" Soaps don't preserve youth â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a healthy lifestyle does. Plus, these ads implicitly show that being a mother and youthfulness, are mutually exclusive. A mother in India should look like a mother (sadly enough, a typical image comes to one's mind of what an Indian mother looks like) and not like a college going student. She should not paint the walls with graffiti or choreograph dances for Saif Ali Khan.

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FEATURED ARTICLE The worst of all are fairness cream commercials. They add more fuel to the ridiculous standards of beauty in India - so much so that beauty has become synonymous with fair-skinned. For example, even in the Santoor ad, the youthful mother is never dark skinned â&#x20AC;&#x201C; she's always fair â&#x20AC;&#x201C; apparently, staying young means being fair. This reflects the stereotypical racist mindset that reflects in matrimonial columns as well. Fair and Lovely have stayed in business for the past three decades or so, solely because of this mindset. There is pressure on girls from all sides to look "beautiful" because apparently, only beautiful (read fair-skinned) girls can move mountains, it seems.

different from the patriarchal society that existed before independence. Women were expected to look and behave in a certain way, then too and it was attributed to the social norms of the time. The social norms of today practice what can be called â&#x20AC;&#x2014;neopatriarchy'. Advertisement as a medium holds immense power to empower women. Sadly, only a part of its resources are utilized to achieve that. A large portion simply goes into reinforcing undesirable social mind sets. Just as we moved from women upliftment to women empowerment, we need to consciously work towards ensuring that empowerment is, indeed, taking place.

Sanitary napkin ads still refer cryptically to menstruation, reflecting the taboo our society places on the discussion of such subjects. Ads still encourage blatant consumerism by inventing new beauty products and stressing the need to use them. It is as if no life was possible before Lakme started their business. They put pressure on women to look and behave in a certain way, which is not much

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FEATURED ARTICLE Impact of Micro Moments in Digital Marketing DIPTI AGGARWAL, MUMBAI

IIM

INDORE

"Being there and being useful in these moments won't only improve your customers' lives; it'll improve your bottom line.―

Recently, I was looking for a best anti-dandruff shampoo and it seems that i was not only the one in my search but there were many others as it was among the top hair care searches. However, the brands that eventually came up are present there only 10% of the time while 90% of the time, they are not showing up. And this is common for not only Google search, but also video search (YouTube). Their video advertisements do not pop up even when they know fashion videos are watched more than 60 billion times. Similarly, this is prevalent not only for this product but many others like If I look for hotel, consumer goods etc. Essentially, those brands that could have made an impact and relevance in my life , failed to do so at that right time, perhaps the right moment.

If You Aren’t Competing for Attention Where It’s Focused, You are not Competing to Win. The brands today want to be there when consumers are looking for them. But most of the time, in a hassle to capture their share on the Reliance Fresh‘s shelf, shares of voice in the Diya Aur Bati daily soap, the brands obsess themselves so much that they get the impression but not the impact. They gain frequency but not utility. Therefore, there remains the gap between being there and being useful. A recent Google publication indicates that an average consumer check his/her phone 150 times a day but spends only 177 minutes a day actively using it.

And another research shows that 50% of the consumers who search on the smartphone visit the store within the day and 18% of those visits lead to a purchase, the same day. Hence, the micro moment when the consumer looked for something is the moment that leads to a purchase and if a brand fails to make its presence in that micro moment, the opportunity is gone.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE Having said that, there is a need for marketers to be a part of this change revolution in consumer behavior. They need to capture those moments of my time when I say – ―I want to go, I want to know, I want to do and I want to buy‖. And these are what we call today as Micro-Moments‖.

customers when they need to travel from Point A to Point B.

With this said, Branding earlier was creating Google argues that Mobile today, has the emotional aspects, functional benefits, changed the landscape and has led to an values, utility etc. for the product in the mind ―immediate‖ demand. It has fractured the of consumers. It was all about targeting the consumer behavior into dozens of short right consumer and communicating the right intent-driven fleeting moments. These micro message. It is not so now. Today, Brands need moments of consumers are nevertheless, to put a renewed focus on customer sporadic and go without much notice. But behaviors and expectations via microthese are the moments of high engagement moments. They need to have them as an and intent. With the stream of information at integral part of their marketing strategy to fingertips, consumers demand immediacy lead to differentiation. Reaching consumers and relevance. They seek answers when they on the go is the new revenue battlefield, and want, where they want, on the device they brands who ignore these micro-moments use and through the channel they prefer. risk losing out on precious value that could That makes imperative for the brands to act fuel the next phase of their digital instantly and align their strategy with it. The transformation. It is like an old saying ‖If a real time dimension of these moments is tree falls in the wood and there is no one to disrupting the game of digital marketing. hear it, did it make a sound? Similarly, If a Marketers need not decide on only ―what to micro moment happens and a brand is not display‖ but ―when to display‖. For example there to engage consumer, then the – Let us consider Uber. This company did consumer can act only on what he/she not achieve success because it did the knows‖. And you lose a game to someone competitor‘s analysis or Five Porter analysis who might not be an incumbent but a well, or it identified its customer segments moment capturer. That‘s the impact of micro intelligibly but it owes its success to moments. understanding the micro moments of its

OCTOBER 2016

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THE MARKSMAN

BUZZ PUZZLE

ACROSS 2. Who will be acquiring the controlling interest in payment channel Citrus ? 3. WishnBuy is an ecommerce place started by this company 5. Which fast food chain in India would be serving only a vegetarian menu during the Navratri festival in half of its outlets in India, mostly in North and West India ? 6. Gaana.com and ________ join hands to partner content

CLUES

7. Which e-commerce company launched its logo with a lot of fanfare with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi and music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy ? DOWN 1. Facebook launches new tool _______ for buying and selling goods in your chosen community 4. Pierce Brosnan was seen in the advertisement of this Indian company 8. This newspaper is to be launched in Delhi this month Answers: Across 2.Pay U 3.Intex 5.Dominos 6.Radio Mirchi 7.Snapdeal Down 1.Marketplace 4. Pan Bahar 8.DNA

OCTOBER 2016

CALL FOR ARTICLES

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

1. Changing leadership styles 2. Going Wireless - Impending reality or distant future? 3. Change Management *Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are clearly mentioned. 1. One article can have only one author. 2. Your article should be approximately 800-850 words and MUST be replete with relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article. 3. Font Type: Gill Sans MT 4. Font Size: 14. 5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 6. Subtitle line:Your name_Institute Name_Course Year 7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic The best adjudged article will be given a Winnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Certificate. Deadline for the submission of article : 20th November, 2016

THE MARKSMAN

The TEAM TWEETS by Anchal Pandey Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about AD-itude by Chumi Talukdar Brand MARKive by Yash Agarwal COVER STORY by Jishnu SPECIAL STORY by Urvashree Borah FAUX PAS by Shivam Dixit HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Abhishek Bhardwaj PIONEER by Suhita Pant BOOKWORM by Devarshi Sil SquAreheaD by Rohit Radhakrishnan BUZZ by Deep Shah KickStart by Saurabh Sharma PROOF READ by Urvashree Borah Shivam Dixit Saurabh Sharma DESIGNING by Shikhar Sodhani Chumi Talukdar Abhishek Bhardwaj

To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:http://interfacesimsr.com/index.p hp/marksman OR drop in a mail/contact us at : interface.newsletter@gmail.com Subject line: Subscribe: YourName_InstituteName_Cours e Year Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.in terface Website: http://interfacesimsr.com/index.p hp/marksman The MARKSMAN is the newsletter of INTERFACE, the Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai. Images used in THE MARKSMAN are subject to copyright. THE MARKSMAN does not take any responsibility of any kind of plagiarism in the articles received from students of other colleges.

PROMOTIONS by Anchal Pandey Yash Agarwal

OCTOBER 2016