The Marksman Summer 2016

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH

VOL. VII | ISSUE I | SUMM’ 16

EDITOR’S NOTE Hola Readers,

After a three month break, we are back with an exciting, exuberant and enlightening Summer issue of The Marksman!

This special edition has a lot of exciting news waiting for you! ‘Cost Free Marketing’, our Cover Story for this issue will show how you need not always burn a hole in your pockets when it comes to marketing. In addition to that, we have a new section containing the experiences shared by our Marketing committee members during their past two month stint in certain companies such as GEP, Roposo, etc. We hope it will help you to get an overall idea about the company, the profile that our friends are into, the nature of their work and more.

In addition to that, we have a series of other exciting articles lined up for you this month, as always. The Special Story is about engaging the HNI customers and what do they seek. Our Brand Markive talks about “Giorgio Armani”, the fashion brand. We even have our regular yet exciting sections on: Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude, Hallmark Campaign, Faux Pas and Pioneer.

We are extremely glad to inform you that we had received a great response for our call for Articles. After thorough evaluation, we have elected the articles of Amritansh Ahuja, IIM Kozhikode and Vivek Kumar, IIM Calcutta to feature in this month’s issue. We thank all our participants for sending their articles and encourage them to keep writing to us with the same fervour.

Happy Reading !

Stay connected with us on http://www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.html Follow our Facebook page for more updates.

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Tweets

Content

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It’s All About Ad-itude

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Brand Markive

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Cover Story: Cost Free Marketing

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Special Story

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Marketing Faux Pas

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Hall-mark Campaign

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Pioneer

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Marketing RealTime

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InternSpeak

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Bookworm

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Kickstart

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Featured Article

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Square Head

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Buzz

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THE MARKSMAN

TWEETS #Polowers race for Volkswagen Polo

Volkswagen Polo has been one of the favorite cars of the young drivers these days. But sadly, it did not converge much on the social media. To help increase its online presence, Volkswagen started the #Polowers race on twitter. The campaign invited people to participate in the race by tweeting about their favorite car. Any time anyone would tweet, they would be leading the race. The winner of this race was to win a brand new Polo. Twitter was swarming with tweets at a rate of 1 tweet with #Polowers almost every 5 seconds. At the end of the race, #Polowers was leading the trending chart, beating even Justin Beiber.

Needless to say, the race was a huge success and it surely helped Volkswagen increase its online presence and popularity.

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TWEETS #BefikarBookKarwith Make My Trip

#SayItWithPepsiEmojis

The online travel industry is swarming with companies trying to woo customers. In this race, Make My Trip started the #BefikarBookKar campaign which talked about how easy it was to manage a trip through Make My Trip app. The campaign included a series of video commercials and tweets which help customers make the most of the app. The ads, which feature Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh, were considered a little too tacky by the audience, but captured their attention nonetheless.

The campaign was a nice idea to introduce the MMT app as an easy to use travel planner.

Since the rise of emojis in internet messaging, we see something new happening every now and then. The latest is the Pepsi way of sharing your emotions. The new Pepsi cans and PET bottles come with emojis and clip arts printed on them. The campaign #SayItWithPepsitalks about how Pepsi bridges the communication barriers of language. Not only did the campaign help improve the image of Pepsi, youngsters are not talking with these emojis on twitter and other social media. Indeed, saying it with Pepsi sounds a cool way to.

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THE MARKSMAN

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE Print Ad: Agency: TwoAM.Agency Client: Hasbro

We live in a world where technology has taken control of our lives. We are more wired than ever. And this is not restricted to just us. The sight of young children playing games on their parent’s mobile is not uncommon.There are games and apps developed especially for them.

In this environment, Play-Doh poked fun at the gaming industry by releasing creative and minimalistic print ads in South Africa, targeting parents. These ads show various drawbacks of these modern day games and at the same time highlight the benefits of using the classic children’s modelling compound. The central images are created using Play-Doh with a single line stating the advantage over its modern counter parts.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD : The Hero – A Bollywood Story Agency: Lowe Lintas Client: Google

In order to increase the Google searches on mobile phones, Google released a heart warming father-son ad just in time for Father’s day, even though it was not a Father’s day initiative by the company. The ad was released on YouTube on June 19,2016 and has received more than 2.9 million views.

The ad is a 6 minute short film about a young man who helps his father accomplish his lifelong dream of acting into reality by using the search engine.

In a dinner table conversation between the son and his mother, the son asks his parents to join him in Mumbai, where he works, now that his father has retired from his job at a cinema theatre. The mother tells him his father would never agree because of an oath he took 40 years ago to never return to Bombay where he went to become an actor and had even landed a role in a movie. But his dream was crushed by his father (the son’s grandfather) who brought him back.

The son touched by this, plans a bollywood themed vacation for his dad (by using Google search) where they enact famous bollywood dialogues which the son captures and creates a film which he screens at the local cinema. Having his dream fulfilled, the father agrees to move to Mumbai.

Arun Iyer, chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas, explains, "Google has found that one in every ten searches in India is related to cinema and movies. Cinema is the life and soul of this country. So we came up with this thought and decided to create a story around it... In the film, the entire search platform of Google is optimised for cinema...," adding with pride, "The film industry has taken to it in a big way.“ https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+hero+google

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THE MARKSMAN

BRAND MARKive Giorgio Armani “Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered” Giorgio Armani S. p. A is an Italian House which designs, manufactures, distributes, retails ready-to-wear, swimwear, shoes, watches, confectionaries, jewelry, accessories, home décor etc. It was founded by Giorgio Armani in mid 1970.

Giorgio Armani a living legend that he is in the world of fashion, was born into a working-class family in Piacenza, Italy. After a tour at medical school, Armani fulfilled his service in military and then got a job at a departmental store in Milan known as La Rinascente, as a buyer and window dresser.

With dreams in his eyes, he left the job to design clothes for Nino Cerutti and launched his own line in the mid-1970s with the help of his partner Sergio Galeotti. Giorgio Armani had always been recognized for its fitted, minimalist style which represents its creator but the business grew after the brand was associated for designing of the wardrobe for 1980’s Hollywood Blockbuster film, American Gigolo starring Richard Gere.

Since then, the brand has expanded into every corner of fashion including jeans, sportswear, accessories, perfumes, makeup, and haute couture-as well as interior design, real estate, restaurants, and hotels.

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Today, Armani group has a retail network of 60 Giorgio Armani boutiques, 11 Collezioni, 122 Emporio Armani, 94 A/X Armani exchanges, 13 Armani Junior, 1 Giorgio Armani Accessori and 16 Armani casa spread over 37 different countries.

Giorgio Armani started the company back in 1975. Being a designer himself, he made apparel with a sense of aesthetics, beauty and luxury, a sense that appealed to the elite of the society. This top notched section of society includes the royal families of many Asian countries, the royalty of Belgium and even the plush women from the Middle East and the stars from Hollywood among many other prominent customers. Since the day of its foundation it has been held solely by Giorgio Armani himself being the sole shareholder, managing director, chairman.

It has become one of the most reputed fashion and luxury brands in the world with many sub-brands designed under the brand of Giorgio Armani to cater to the specific needs of different market segments. Not only has it become one of the most respected and known brand names in the fashion industry, it is also one of the most highly valued fashion companies in the world with a value of nearly 3 billion Euros.

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BRAND MARKive

The brand started off as “Giorgio Armani”, a line of customized suits and other high priced products, targeting consumers aged 35-50. Over the years they introduced new product lines in order to reach other price and age segments, while still aiming to maintain an chic, sophisticated, and inspiring brand identity. The other brands under the parent brand “Giorgio Armani” are: Armani Collezioni : Targets people who aspire to wear Giorgio but cannot afford it.

Emporio Armani : Its target audience are younger people aged between 25 to 35 years.

Armani Jeans:Targets a broader range of 18 to 30 years old.

Armani Exchange : It’s that brand of Armani which is easily accessible to young people with an accessible product line.

Armani juniors:As the name suggests it’s targeted towards children.

Armani Privé: It was commenced in response to clients demand for exclusive products.

Being the brand name it is they hardly need to make themselves known to the world, but yet their presence is felt regularly at Annual Academy Awards as well as during the red carpets of other awards.

Armani has amazed us and we wish it keeps amazing us.

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THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY Cost Free Marketing Marketing has been considered as an expense by the company since the very beginning.

Whenever there is a cost cut in budget, marketing is the first one to bear the brunt.

With the emergence of technology which has strengthened communication and provided us with many mediums to reach the people, marketing can be practiced effectively with very little or no cost at all. This comes in handy for small businesses and for businesses with budgetary constraints. The use of simplistic practices makes it easy and feasible for all to practice.

The first and the foremost important marketing factor is the word of mouth. This forms the basis of each technique and will help one to reach the customers. Every activity generates a review in the mind of people and so an expression. This comes out in the form of an action or recommendation which spreads among the others. The first and the foremost step is to concentrate is on the people working for the firm. One needs to ensure that people working in the company are spreading the proper word of mouth to others. Employees form the first hand source of information for any product or service and so emphasis must be laid on that. A low key referral program among the employees can be initiated. This would help in the spread of business and accompany in building a good brand name.

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Why does it happen that you never see an ad of the best restaurant in your town?

How did Ferrari became such a big brand without a single penny on advertising? The answer is word of mouth. These famous products and services outsmart their rivals in one or more relevant fields and thus satisfy their customers. A question to ask yourself at this point is: Do I have a great product or service as compared to my rivals? A SWOT analysis of rivals and oneself is enough to shed light on this. Most of them stood for something and stood against something. Top brands like Costco never spent a penny on advertising but they took customer relationships to a whole new level and spent a lot of time talking to them. They generated an enormous word of mouth and thus had a huge following.

Indirect publicity through influential persons can be of very good use. A word written for the company or picture with a renowned person should be put up in display and advertised.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

For services, this particularly generates a good word of mouth. Reaching out to people for this is very necessary. While one may think these people are too busy to respond, in most of the cases it does actually work.

This happened with Spanx. It became famous when Oprah Winfrey listed Spanx among her favorite products. It is easy to say that it may be by accident but Spanx did send its products for free to celebrities and make up sets in the form of gift baskets. And this is no coincidence that they liked it and when they spoke for it, the sales sky rocketed. They had a wise strategy to target famous celebrity women who would speak up for body image “Promise, large promise, is the and it worked. sol of an advertisement. “ - Samuel Johnson.

The power of brandscaping needs to be utilized. Businesses with similar consumers should be sough and advertising spaces should be exchanged. This is a very effective and economical way to win over new customers and create a win-win situation for participating businesses. Similar thing can be done with ones suppliers. Advertising space on each other’s web site can be exchanged and thus exposure among the audiences can be increased. Another effective way is to crack deal with consultants. Signing up a deal upon mutual agreement terms

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with consultants proves to be an effective way to market your product. This shifts the marketing upon the consultants and the after payment is a part of the profit thus reducing the risk to a large extent.

One way advertising can also be practiced similar to the way Intel did. Intel is a perfect example of how a component inside a product was successfully marketed. Intel gave a certain cost wavier to companies who would display its sticker on PC’s in the early stages. Today people specifically pay attention to the processor which is fitted inside the gadget and it has become a main criterion for deciding what to buy.

Today the world has moved towards digitization and so digital presence is a must. Presence on all digital platforms is necessary and also an integration within all platforms needs to be done. The very important factor in this is the content.

Loads of money is spent on content generation today. This proves to be very expensive. To cut out the expenses recycled content can be used. This involves giving a facelift to the old content, modifying a small part, laying emphasis on evergreen content and republishing an old content on special days.

THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY A very important point to remember while using content is to put the consumer first, the brand comes second.

Using content which is already present on the internet is a cheap and easy way. One man’s used data is another’s treasure. However sources need to be quoted and respects need to be paid while quoting. Content plays a very important part. It keeps the buzz going and never lets the word of mouth die. Engaging content intends to add knowledge, touch up a particular emotion and delight the people. This helps to engage the public and keeps them up to date with the business. On Linked In not just adding connections but participating in discussions and getting into talks can help greatly. Using the various social sites to the fullest is very important.

Creating instructional videos to educate the public of your product or related fields helps to engage the audience. Creating professional videos can be way costly but there is the opportunity of giving it a shot yourself or hiring an intern to do so. You tube today is an easy way to spread information. If creating videos seems time consuming then slide decks can be created and can be shared on Slide share. The story of Lauren Luke, a female taxi driver turned into a brand herself worth a 100 million dollars. She started uploading videos on Youtube every Thursday named Lauren Luke’s Looks. Simple self shot videos but great content. Within six months she had 500,000 subscribers. Later on she went to launch her own successful brand in the name of Lauren Luke.

Guerilla marketing can be used. Guerilla marketing is an advertising concept which

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promotes the use of unconventional ways to market products and services This stresses on high creativity and low budget.

There is always a space for invention and new creativity.

This is a very useful strategy when a small company is competing with bigger ones. It focuses on reach rather than frequency.

Unlike traditional advertising ways which can prove to be expensive this proves to be a very cost effective way. This type of marketing generates word of mouth among people and thus helps in spread.

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COVER STORY

E-mail can be a very low cost way of reaching the customers. A monthly news letter highlighting important news can be sent across to contacts and keep up with the latest happenings. Very few people read up newsletters but a newsletter highlighting some important sector news or trivia can be engaging and convey your information to the users.

Whenever someone visits your sites a pop up urging to sign up for the monthly newsletter can be very effective. This keeps the consumers aware and also helps to convey important information directly to the intended persons.

The barter system may have been considered a thing of the past but it is a good form to use up for fulfilling ones requirements. Advertising space in exchange for a product/service or becoming a gift sponsor for an event worth advertising can help to save on advertising costs.

It can help in customer engagement and creating new contacts. Barter system is an effective way to build up a network and help spreading ones name.

All these techniques prove to be fruitful if practiced properly and do apply to a large number of businesses. They are sure to increase the customer base without causing a strain on ones pocket. Today when budgets are tight and return expectations are high these techniques come in handy.

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THE MARKSMAN

Special Story Engaging the HNI customer HNI or high net worth individuals is a classification used to denote family and individuals of high net worth. Although the net worth cutoff for this designation may differ, high net worth is generally quoted in terms of liquid assets over a certain figure.

The amount of money an individual has directly impacts the type and quality of products and services he/she demands.

Services like personal shoppers, stylists, fulltime travel agents are just scratching the tip of the ice-berg, brands today are willing to go above and beyond to not only to attract but also to make sure they retain these HNI customers as these customers have a clear idea about what they expect from a product and service and many of their expectations are centered around unforgettable experiences and building a relationship with their favorite luxury brands, which makes ensuring engagement of HNI customers with the brand even more important. Findings of a recent study by BCG also highlight that HNI consumer growth and retention will be the main driving catalyst in luxury category growth over the next several years. Apart from this, emerging section in the form of HNI millennial will drive growth in existing markets and channels, far more so than any new sector expansion.

What do these HNI customers seek?

Baker’s company spent three years conducting a series of focus groups, one-onone interviews and identified

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six statistically different Life Style as well as “personal drivers” for the HNI customer Lifestyle #1. Unmistakable Affluent Driver: They want to been seen as distinct from the crowd and will go to great lengths to portray that image

Lifestyle #2. Understated Affluent Driver: Not to call attention to their wealth. The Understated Affluent own private planes, vacation homes and yachts.

Lifestyle #3.

Tasteful Affluent Driver:Owning unique items that make them feel good & showing good taste versus fitting in.

Lifestyle #4. Dependable Affluent Driver: Items with excellent craftsmanship.

Buying something simply to make an impact is not on their motive.

Lifestyle #5. Economical Affluent Driver: Blending in. They would try to fit in versus stand out.

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SPECIAL STORY Lifestyle #6.

Practical Affluent Driver: Enjoy their wealth in a practical way, so while their principal residence may be the ranch home, they’ll also have a vacation lake house where they entertain family and friends.

Strategies that have worked Using Data to drive Engagement From luxury hotel chains like Marriot to fashion giants like Dior or for that matter even wealth advisories make use of data through their IT enabled CRM systems to understand what is ‘relevant’ for each HNI and use this as a tool for not only providing a delightful experience but also as an engagement tool. For example: "Mystique", the CRM system at The RitzCarlton is used to track information such as guest preferences, frequency of visits and issues that have come up for guests during their previous stays and addresses and uses this data for future purposes.

Increasing the levels of personalization Style feed apps, personal stylists, tie-ups between apparel and clothing, even the orientation of the furniture in the room of a luxury hotel are personalized. As bizarre it might sound when it comes to the rich even the smallest of inclinations are given paramount importance. Not just this many brands have integrated their services with their CRM systems so the next time these customers come around, offerings are presented per their preferences.

Following the customer While the HNI customers largely consist of a more traditional audience who are wooed byarchaic style with a flavor of novelty, luxury brands must keep in mind the

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requirement of the rich millennial who would prefer shopping online over going to a store. The best alternative is to come up with a mixed approach. For example: Burberry enables shoppers to explore and buy the latest products not only online, but online within the store via shopping assistants armed with iPads who provide suggestions, show new arrivals and check stock levels.

Multi-channel campaigning Digital media campaigns, celebrity endorsements, strategic alliances, Event sponsoring, TVCs, print media advertising are done by all the major luxury labels but what really makes a difference is going that extra mile to make the customer feel a little more special. For example: the jewelry brand Cartier organizes major Cartier events like the opening gala of the Cocteau exhibition at the Beau Bourg Museum and private diners at the Cartier Foundation for Modern Art in Paris with only 20 to 40 guests who are the top buyers of the brand.

THE MARKSMAN

SPECIAL STORY

Balancing Exclusivity and Ubiquity It is the unmistakable affluent amongst the crème of the crop that makes exclusivity so essential to them, yet the brand must not become too limited as it might lead to lower brand recall. It is required that a balance between the presence and availability be established. For example: while Rolex doesn’t have a company outlet on the internet it does endorse numerous events like the ‘Rolex sports car series’ which are attended by the HNIs thereby upholding it’s brand recall amongst them.

While these strategies are a mandate to create luxury experiences and brand interactions for that are deeply and intelligently personalized and are based on more than just transactional, overlay and inferential data, the key to attract and retain a HNI customer remains the quality of the product and service being offered. For instance the biggest of luxury hotel brands extensively focus on training their workforce to provide the customers with an experience that is bound to bring them back. This is perhaps the most critical component for considerably increasing long-term engagement and brand loyalty of the ever so important HNI customers.

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MARKETING FAUX PAS #Jealous Husbands #Jealous Husbands refers to a recent ad campaign by Dabur which shows a young married woman making her husband jealous as she goes out in her stunning avatar (after consuming Dabur honey) and having to show off her mangalsutra in order to reassure the husband that she is still his. The ad ends with the woman smiling and saying that husbands are ‘cute’ when they’re jealous.

Though at first look this ad may seem harmless but such ads unconsciously propagate age old stereotypes. When the woman asks her husband how she is looking, he says ‘lovely’ but then brushes a strand of her hair in order to make her mangalsutra visible. The husband then says, ‘better’! This is where it gets annoying . This is where the ad brings out a message that it’s okay for a married woman to look lovely

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as long as she flaunts to the world her emblems of loyalty. That does not sound like #jealous husband, more like #insecure husband! Ads like this unfortunately take away the true meaning of a marriage.

Instead of portraying it as a loving and respectable bond, such ads encourage the idea of a woman constantly having to show her husband (and the world) how she is committed to him. How she ought to behave. It also shows how little we have progressed as a society. Especially when we are talking about gender equality on one hand, while on the other hand the mass media continuously bombards us with ads like this which tweak our opinions and perceptions of equality.

THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS

Advertisements play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and must take a step ahead and become more progressive which truly reflect the times. Today there are a number of married couples who do not believe in wearing ornaments that prove to the world that they are committed, and that does not make them any less loving towards their partners than the couples who do. It’s time that advertisements do not fuel already grappling problems at hand of gender inequality, domestic abuse and marital patriarchy. The modern consumer is a highly aware being with modern ideas and beliefs. It’s time companies do away with age old stereotypical concepts in ads and come up with something new and refreshing to sell their products.

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Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN #IAmBrandBihar The start of a modern revolution Every now and then someone comes up with a campaign to promote a product or service. Some of them last a long time while some fail from the start.But every once in a while comes a campaign that alters mind sets. #IAmBrandBihar is one such campaign of recent times.

The campaign was kick-started when its curator, Bashshar Habibullah, was aggravated and appalled by the mention of the word ‘Bihari’ as a Hindi curse word on some website. Alia Bhatt’s role in her recent movie Udta Punjab strengthened the campaign even further as many praised her for nailing the role of a Bihari girl. Author of the book, Without a Goodbye, Swati Kumari, also joined in Bashshar in this cause as one of the active participants with an open letter to the actress on the responses to her role.

The campaign aims to break the stereotype attached to the state and encourage those belonging to the state to be more open and confident about their origin. This has been fairly successful so far, as can be clearly inferred from the response on the social media. Within just a few days, the campaign went viral on the social media with Biharis from all sorts of professional and nonprofessional fields supporting it. Pictures of and by authors, cartoonists, artists, journalists, radio jockeys, rickshaw pullers, etc. have been shared.

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By stating their professions and donning the tag of Bihari publically, these people are part of the start of a, probably, much larger movement by challenging the derogatory treatment given to Biharis and the casualness with which the term is used. The enthusiasm and pride of these people, some famous, will surely manage to engage, encourage and involve many others who have shied away from their origin.

To what extent these people would manage to change the perception of the rest of the country remains to be seen. However, no product or service can be effectively marketed to the people unless the providers also believe in it. #IAmBrandBihar has at least reached this necessary initial stage. The campaign has succeeded in bringing together Biharis irrespective of their beliefs, opinions and orientations united by only their origin.

THE MARKSMAN

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

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PIONEER SUNDAR PICHAI Sundar Pichai was born on 12 July 1972 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu as Pichai Sunderarajan.

Pichai grew up in Chennai and achieved his degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in Metallurgical Engineering. He holds an M.S in Material Sciences and Engineering from Stanford University and also an MBA degree from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was christened a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar, respectively.

He is married to Anjali Pichai, a chemical engineer and batch mate at IIT Kharagpur and has two children. Pichai hailed from a lower middle class society and had never experienced the joys of watching television or travelling by car in his childhood. Pichai saw technology in his hands at the age of 12 when a land line phone for the house was bought by his father. He had an extraordinary skill of remembering and memorizing numbers. He could keep in mind all the numbers he dialled. He will still sometimes boast of by showing off his memorization skills at meetings, to colleagues' awe. Pichai was not only good with numbers while at school but also the captain of his high school cricket team. Pichai joined Google in 2004, where he drove the product management and innovation efforts for a vast array of Google's client software products, including Google Chrome and Chrome OS, as well as being hugely responsible for Google Drive.

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He went on to oversee the development of different apps such as Gmail and Google Maps.

Early on at Google, He personally convinced co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that Google must have its own browser. Today the most popular browser in history is undoubtedly, the Chrome. His 'substance over style' attitude made him a hit amongst peers.

At Google, he has steered the 'affordable devices' movement, both with the Chrome OS that powers Google's cheap Chromebooks, and with Android One, the company's effort to produce low-cost smartphones for 'the next 5 billion' people coming online.

THE MARKSMAN

PIONEER

Google surprised the world by announcing the appointment of a new CEO on 10th August 2015. To see an Indian-born make it to the list of the CEOs in the Tech Industry, became a proud moment for the Indian community. He seamlessly stepped into the new position upon the completion of the formation of Alphabet Inc., the new parent company for the Google company family. Sundar Pichai, a name now well-known across the globe had to face a lot of struggle before making it to the top.An incredibly simple and humble person at heart, he firmly believes, "It is always better to work with people who make you feel insecure about yourself.That way, you will keep pushing your limits constantly."

Sundar Pichai serves as a Member of Board of Advisors at Ruba, Inc. He spearheaded Jive Software from April 2011 until 30 July 2013 and has made over $100.5 million in the year 2015.Recently, Sundar Pichai and Facebook founder – Mark Zuckerberg, among others, have reportedly pledged to form a foundation in honour of legendary Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan after attending the screening of the “The Man Who Knew Infinity”, a deeply touching and moving biopic on Ramanujan; in Silicon Valley.

The Google CEO also firmly believes that we are hurtling towards a future where one will rely more on Artificial Intelligence than their smartphones. Google has long used a lot of AI and machine learning in its core products.

Pichai hints that Google's strengths in areas like search, image recognition, geographical information and natural language processing, make its potential for assistive technologies gigantic.

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MARKETING RealTIME

Siddharth Bhandarkar Sales Account Manager, Dell International Services

Sitting in a pooled cab, stuck in the renowned Bangalore traffic, as I look out of the window, I wonder how life has changed over the last few months. From being a student for over twenty years, to being a part of the world’s largest start up…Dell.

It’s been quite a journey already.

I still vividly remember the hour long placement interview and walking out of it wondering if the role was meant for me as I’d never imagined that I would end up selling servers and consulting on IT infrastructure.

As a campus fresher, I walked in as a blank slate with an intention of filling it with as many learnings as possible. It was important to spread the roots and to lay a strong foundation first. A one month long classroom training covering Dell’s extensive product portfolio, sales process and numerous interactions with the company’s CXOs helped establish this foundation.

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As a Sales Account Manager at Dell, I cater to the demands of the set of accounts assigned to me. These accounts include distributors, channel partners and direct clients. The main aim is to empower the clients to reach their full business potential by first understanding their requirements and then consulting them with a tailor made solution. Maximizing Dell’s revenue, margin and market share is a by-product of this client-centric approach. Two months into the job I’ve learned that a good sales professional is the one who takes efforts to know not just his clients, but also the industry &the market that they operate in.

Gaining his trust is of utmost importance. If he trusts you, he will do business with you.

As the traffic light turns green and the cab slowly moves out of its slumber, I realise that Passion, Perseverance, Personalization and Play (have fun working) are the true 4Ps to bank on.

THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING RealTIME

Kavya Dubey Assistant ManagerMarketing mGage India Pvt Ltd. Mumbai

There comes a point in life where the mind and the heart are almost always up against each other and it’s a civil war. One such prolonged period is the two years of college life that throw you headfirst in a sea of choices to make and experiences to live.

For a ‘fresher’ as we are popularly referred to as, these two years will be life altering ones. If you are the focused one, then stay clear of any self-doubts that may stir up along the way. If you are the confused one, then give yourself this time to explore and find your calling. For the ‘experienced’ ones the challenge sometimes is ‘unlearning’ to learn anew. Hear it from the horse’s mouth, my placement came as a surprise and was not like what I had been planning for. I got placed in January and until then the ride had been almost the rollercoaster it is supposed to be. ‘mGage India’ is an unusual organization, ebbing with passion and zeal.

It's been two months since I joined the organization as an assistant manager – sales

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but in a week itself got aligned to the marketing department. We are a 360° mobile engagement firm and enable a host of big brands and major players across industries and sectors to unleash the magic of mobile marketing. As a part of the marketing function my efforts are directed towards brand building through internal and external communication, lead generation and working in proximity with the other arms of the organization. But, marketing can be a very misunderstood profile. It is important to keep in mind that the interpretation and responsibilities of the department may mean differently for different organizations, depending on their nature and business orientation. So weight your options well and choose wisely. In the end it all boils down to the choices that we make and how we made them and it’s us who have to live with them.

Be involved, read, stay aware, explore, experiment, go easy on yourself and be a sponge!

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InternSpeak - Mansi Mahajani

@

Start-ups are known to have a dynamic environment with no definite boundaries to the job profiles that restrict the employees from exploring new avenues. The two months of internship in such a company are what we make of them. We may choose to sit back and relax or we may push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and discover new prospects that the future might hold for us. With my stint at Redfoodie, I got the opportunity to move in a direction I was never sure was the best for me. But summer internship is the best time to test the waters before we dive into a career path.

Redfoodie is an online restaurant discovery platform and is at a very nascent stage with only one year into the business. Primarily, my role at the company was that of a sales intern. The sales were B2B and I got to set up meetings and negotiate with many restaurant owners.

There was a target given but I was given complete flexibility to go about it at my own pace.

On the negative side, I never believed myself to be a person best suited for sales. But on the bright side, the experience has helped me develop myself and become a more confident person. It gave me a good exposure to the internal functioning of this industry, the expectations of the restaurant owners and managers, the expectations of food bloggers, etc.

It was much easier to understand the loopholes in the system that the users are unaware of.

In just a two month period I soared to a very different level of insight of this industry.

Additionally, I was given the opportunity to interview prospective candidates for the role of campus ambassador and some for the position of sales manager. I was additionally allowed to explore marketing initiatives that the company could take for their app which was to be launched soon. My inputs were always given a consideration and in many cases my suggestions were promptly implemented.

Working with a company at such a stage brings for us a plethora of possibilities. We may stick to our comfort zones. But to make something substantial out of the two months of efforts and hard work, it is crucial that we embrace whatever comes our way.

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THE MARKSMAN

INTERNSPEAK

- Surbhi Garg

@

A summer internship is an opportunity to test drive your career in a particular direction. It's your opportunity to see what it would really be like to work in a particular industry, and whether you're a great fit. And, perhaps most importantly, a good internship offers you with know-hows, lessons, and tools you'll need to get a full-time gig in the future. Not only that, but you should have also expended time sharpening and honing the skills you already possessed. For me, one of the most important take away is the new found knowledge.

Keeping these objectives predominantly in mind, I have completed my summer internship at GEP Consultancy. GEP helps enterprise procurement groups at hundreds of Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies that rapidly achieve more efficient and effective operations. A myth that you may face throughout your career is that consultants “Steal your watch and tell you the time” i.e. consultants provide advice that some believe clients already know. This is farthest from the truth. To be a consultant you need to be analytically strong, conceptualise and structure your thought process and be practical in execution. That’s the “Mantra” we follow at GEP. Building a roadmap for us, my first day of internship started with all the VPs and Senior Managers giving us a gist about the company’s functioning. Along with this we had our ice breaking sessions and floor interaction. We had a well scheduled and structured two day induction program followed by a fresher party.

Strictly speaking about the work, GEP gave us immense opportunity to explore the various facets of consulting and encouraged us to take responsibility and be accountable for project related decisions from the initial days itself. I was involved in many projects where my inputs were considered significant and were used in the project execution. The key factor here is the networking with diverse and highly qualified people.

The culture you come across is praiseworthy. There are people always ready to help you irrespective of how busy there are. This environment sustains the employee enthusiasm. We can speak up without the fear of retribution and we never worked in silos.

Finally I would recommend that people who would now appear for their summers should be confident in what they do, have clear concepts and be willing to learn. Aim high and try managing your time in the best possible way.This will eventually lead you where you desire.

SUMMER 2016

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INTERNSPEAK - Kunal Sanghrajka @

Internship at Roposo started the next day after my third trimester exams. Going to work without a single day break was going to be a struggle. The surprise for me was that I had to travel to Pune on the very first day. Roposo had just completed with Roposo Fashion Squad, and we had to go there to handover the cash prize to the winners. The twist was they did not know that they had won! Starting from that day onwards, the learning curve has always been on the rise.

I was working with the City-College-Corporate team in Roposo. Having a prior experience and liking towards digital marketing, this offline marketing was a completely new learning for me. Although a team strength of only 14, we had more than 5 major projects going on at any single point of time and numerous minor projects.

The work environment was so cool that it never seemed like work. We even had a Foosball table, swing and bean bags around to chill. We had three different companies working in the same office space, thus giving me an exposure of the working of 3 different companies in related domains.

When I joined Roposo, it was a fashion social network with around 2.5 million users. Later after 10 weeks of my internship, it had grown up to become a social network with ‘Share you style’ as the tagline with around 4 million users. Such has been the growth of the startup named Roposo.

There was always a confusion as to what I would learn in a mere 10 weeks. But after this experience with Roposo, I am clear enough of what I want for my future in the marketing world.

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THE MARKSMAN

Bookworm What to Say When You Talk To Your Self

Self-talk is something that everybody does but doesn’t share. It is basically on the scientific developments about how the brain receives information and intercepts it. The book certainly helps you to discover a revolutionary technique that encourages one to reverse the negatives they face in life and helps in developing a counterproductive programming to create a new, positive and vibrant life for ones won benefit.

The new techniques, programming and other useful strategies described in this book can be used by anyone belonging to any race, gender, caste or religion to change the conditioning of their sub-conscious mind in order to control their brain so that they can make effective decisions that could help them reach their goal. The techniques explained in the book are so powerful that they help you to control all spoken and written messages that your brain receives leading to permanent behavioural change.

The book is one of its kinds and helps one to understand themselves much better .The book has a great impact and will help one bring about an improvement in all areas of life and ensures that one would feel better and accomplished. This book certainly helps everyone going through different problems in life and overcome them in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

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KickStart m-Indicator When one begins with one’s treacherous journey of using the Mumbai Public transport, one advice one always gets is to download M-indicator. Developed by an IT engineer from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Matunga, Sachin Teke, MIndicator is a free application that provides information related to public transport system in Mumbai. Be it the timetables for Mumbai local trains, Mumbai metros, Mumbai mono rails, Mumbai Express trains or information related to the best bus routes, you name it and this magical app provides it.

While working at a software company,

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Sachin struggled for years using public transport as he had to travel great lengths using multi modal transport and there being no interface where one could get information readily on their phones regarding the schedules, it added to his woes. He also noticed the struggles of other commuters who didn’t have access to a robust schedule service. Determined to come up with a solution, Sachin quit his job and developed Mindicator, now most commonly known as ‘Mumbai’s lifeline provider’. Within one year of launch the application had 5.5 lakhs users and all this only with the help of word of mouth publicity. The app packs in a wealth of information. One can find information relating to movie listings, picnic spots in the city on the basis of distance, job postings, emergency contacts, among other things. Soon after its initial success, the government approached the company to collaborate with them to make public announcements relating to mega blocks or any other BMC announcements or emergencies. The company generates revenue through targeted ads, which, Teke feels, is something only m-indicator can provide. “If you are in Borivli, Thane, Nerul, you can see ads relevant to that area m-indicator provides local targeting, and that’s why clients come to us,” he explains. The company is continuously innovating and adding more features such as Train Chat Services, etc to gain a competitive advantage over other players.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE Big Daddy's Coming: Alibaba entering India This Year - Amritansh Ahuja, IIM Kozhikode Imagine a mud wrestle match with a ring around. Involved in duel is a newly trained Indian looking guy and a roughened up erstwhile rich American, both trying to oust the other. Throw in a few more side kick Indian guys jumping and pumping on to each other.

That is a hell of crowded mud wrestle now.

Spectators sure have gotten their value for money. Let us add to the fun: In enters a vastly experienced muscle flexing Chinese, one who has been around the world winning wrestle manias, now wishing to claim this Indian mud wrestle his own.

This is how Indian ecommerce sector presently looks like. The Indian looking guy being Binny Bansal backed Flipkart (The company is registered in Singapore, headquartered in India , see Article Business Standard June 25,2015), Erstwhile Rich American being Jeff Bezos’s Amazon and the muscle flexing Chinese is Jack Ma’s Alibaba. The Big Daddy Alibaba is coming to test its skills in already competitive Indian ecommerce sector.

SUMMER 2016

This was expected and predicted for long now. It wasn’t an out of the blue move by Jack Ma. He has been testing waters with investments in Paytm (it holds 40% share in its company, and Snapdeal (holds 4.14% share) Alibaba on its behalf seems to be laying the ground for some time now. Be it the meetings between Jack Ma and Narendra Modi or be it Alibaba group president Michael Evans meeting Indian IT minister Ravi Shanker Prasad. Forbes on 15th June, 2016 reported on how Alibaba is close to completing its ‘Iron Triangle’.

Iron Triangle is the way of easily bringing together three corners of ecommerce business: commerce, payments and logistics. Now, Commerce and payments for Alibaba seems to be taken care of by the way of its investment in payments and commerce firm Paytm. Alibaba moreover can easily manage commerce side of the business (It has been doing that successfully in rest of the world).

However it is the logistics that it looks to address before it completes its ‘Iron Triangle’. According to the report published in economic times, Alibaba is looking to partner with one of the logistics firms Delhivery or Xpressbees logistics. In a country like India where infrastructure is still underdeveloped, logistics and delivery can make or break the service perception of any ecommerce company and Alibaba seems to be aware of that.

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FEATURED ARTICLE A market like India was never laid out on a platter for any company trying to cut a share out of it. Alibaba would not only have to deal with infrastructure issues but would also have to make a sense of world’s most elaborate mix of demographics. Moreover the homegrown startups like Flipkart , Snapdeal among others will fight it out to the last customer, last percent of market share, to the last product sold. Jack Ma’s counterpart, Jeff Bezos understands that pretty well, having lost the share to Alibaba in China and presently involved in a fierce market share duel with Indian startups. No doubt Amazon’s announcement of $3 Billion investment in India (taking its total investments in India to $5Billion) was to prepare itself, not only for a long haul but also for an impending duel with Alibaba.

But then Alibaba is no pushover. And unlike Indian e-commerce companies, which are currently mired in losses, Alibaba is profitable. It recorded profits of $5.5 billion in 2015.

Amazon, for comparison, saw losses worth $241 million through its worldwide operations. The sheer scale at which Alibaba operates should scare the pangs out of Flipkart and Snapdeal. On singles day sale in China (China’s equivalent of our great Diwali sale) Alibaba made $14.3 Billion in 24 hours while Flipkart’s yearly sale is $8Billion. While Alibaba shipped 14.5 billion items a year its rival Amazon does 5 billion items a year.

Besides Alibaba comes with deep pockets for its Lead in command Jack Ma famously said:“We are never in lack of money….”.

Alibaba should win this one? Or Amazon‘s increasing share will always be an upward slope? Maybe Flipkart can pull a turn around inspite of decreasing investments and sales?

Source: yourstory. In terms of Gross market value as of May, 2014.

Well, future holds what it holds. Indian ecommerce field seems pretty set (growing at 69% y-o-y). With Alibaba’s entry we should see tides of great discounts/cash backs ushering in ‘ache din’ for the consumers. By the way, who do you think would be brand ambassador for Alibaba??

Not Aamir Khan for sure.

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THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIRTUAL REALITY CONCEPTS IN MARKETING -Vivek Kumar, IIM Calcutta Imagine yourself walking right through your favourite E-commerce website like you are shopping in your favourite hyper market and selecting the items of your interest kept on the shelf with a touch or taking a real-time life-like tour of the apartment that you want to rent or buy sitting in front of your laptops or mobile. All of this and more possibilities are seeing a new dawn with the introduction of Virtual Reality in marketing.

A part of Philip Kotler’s definition of marketing says it is “the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market”. And if looked closely, the “marriage of virtual reality and marketing” does not only satisfy each of the aspect of the definition but also enhances the each and every essence of it.The product of this marriage is a scintillating experience which will propel the level of marketing to new heights. It has given the firms a beautiful means of storytelling.

SUMMER 2016

As is the case with the marketing innovations, they just don’t appear out of the thin air, one can be certain that there are certain advantages associated with Virtually Real Marketing too which makes its existence imperative for the development of marketing. Some of these advantages can be listed as under: Engaging: The viewer not only sees the ad, but becomes a part of it. This engaging experience works in favour of the advertiser. Apart from this, the user is completely cut off from distractions. So concentrating on the advertisement in its entirety.

Impactful: The rate of information dissemination in the VR ad concept is unbelievably high as compared to the existing marketing methodologies. This combined with the fact that one doesn’t get disturbed by the environmental noise, the rate of reception is also high.

Everlasting: As mentioned earlier, the VR ads let the viewer to be a part of the ads. So one doesn’t simply views the advertisement, he experiences it. It is an established fact that the experienced events are retained more readily and easily in our brain and the retention is long lasting.

Ubiquitous Platform: The best part of using VR technology is that it can be operated on mobile phones whose presence cuts across all communities and classes. So with a platform as omnipresent as smart phones,

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FEATURED ARTICLE VR marketing is a miracle waiting to happen in the field of marketing.

With these benefits in its kitty, it is of little wonder that this technology has many takers. If giants like Google (Google Cardboard), Facebook (bought Oculus in a $ 2bn deal), Microsoft (Microsoft HoloLens), Sony, HTC etc. are going all guns blazing after something, one gets the feeling that it’s the next big thing. Not only the investment in developing these technologies but the effort being put into to make the technology accessible to everyone are vital growth signs for the usage of this phenomenon in marketing. Google’s much celebrated project ‘Google Cardboard’ is a step towards increasing the reach of the VR. And it goes without saying that, ‘The more is the penetration of this technology, more it bodes well for marketing.’ Further, to epitomize the phrase ‘Make hay while the sun shines’, many new firms like: BecauseXM, HammerheadVR etc. which specialize in making advertisements especially for Virtual Reality devices. According to a report published by Superdata around 1.3 million VR headsets were sold in 2014-15 which is bound to increase in the coming years. So, things are moving really fast, aren’t they? And if you are not convinced with these arguments, here are some examples which will surely convince you. Many firms have started to use the wonderful aura of limitless possibilities created by this copulation. Firms like Volvo with their project ‘Volvo Reality’ have started providing the virtually real test drives for Volvo XC90 SUV which

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provides you experience which is nothing short of life-esque. The very fact that the effort required equipment worth $800,000 shows the intensity of the belief that Volvo has in this technology. The video of the filming of entire process garnered 175k views on YouTube which is impressive by any standard for videos of that category.

Over the years Coca Cola has built its brand image as a ‘think on its feet’ firm as far as its marketing strategy is concerned. For a firm like this, a technology with vast potential as VR can prove to be a ‘weapon of mass creativity’.This is exactly what happened in Christmas of 2015 when Coca Cola created the virtual reality sleigh ride. A beautiful amalgamation of the technological edge of Oculus Rift and Out of the box thinking of Coca Cola allowed the people all over Poland to be Santa Claus for a day.

Apart from these two examples, we have world’s leading brands like: Nike, Ikea, Redbull, McDonald’s etc. taking help of this innovation to make their marketing more interactive.

THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

The usage is not limited to creating advertisements, some the firms are using VR technology for marketing research by taking inputs from potential customers as to how their store should look like by providing them a virtual tour of the raw prototype of their stores.

To put astop to the slew of examples, the best one must be quoted at the end i.e., the use of VR technology by HBO to promote its series ‘Game of Thrones’ where the viewers are given a multi-sensory experience ‘Ascend the Wall’. It really seems like with advent of VR in the marketing landscape,‘Winter is coming’ for other marketing channels.

With so much of hoopla surrounding VR, one has to take this technological boon with a pinch of salt while applying it for marketing purposes. One of the many caveats with which VR comes is the diversity of the two platforms on which it’s run i.e., smart phones and PCs. While the mobile phone gives a basic feel of virtual reality, PC takes you for a most engaging ride. So, the campaigns must be designed separately for both of them. Apart from that one must keep in mind that it is everything but real. So effort should be there to touch upon as many senses as possible in order to make it a la real.

SUMMER 2016

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SquareHead

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THE MARKSMAN

7. Facebook's Internet.org is now renamed to?

BUZZ PUZZLE

ACROSS 2. Rediffusion Y&R won a Silver Media Lion for its _______ condom initiative for Tata Motors at Cannes 2016 3. This campaign called #MadadEkIbadat is winning hearts all over the internet. It is for which brand?

7. This Indian brand has made the MNC FMCG giants in India cower in fear in just 12 months. Name the brand 8. The latest series of 'Be a super' commercials have been received really well by audiences across the country for which brand?

CLUES

DOWN 1. Healthcare Agency of the year at Cannes 2016 was awarded to _______ communications 4. Which E-commerce giant’s CEO recently bought a Rs. 32 crore home in Bengaluru by taking loan from two private banks 5. A type of marketing similar to wordof-mouth marketing, where a company develops customers who become voluntary advocates of a product and who promote its features and benefits on behalf of the company 6. Priyanka Chopra has been appointed as the brand ambassador of a fruit drink.

Name the makers of the drink ACROSS: 2- Dipper; 3-Surf Excel; 7- Patanjali; 8-Vodafone DOWN: 1- Medulla; 4- Flipkart; 5-Evangelism; 6-Parle Agro

Answers:

SUMMER 2016

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

1. Content Marketing: A outsmarting competition

Secret

weapon

for

2. Maruti’s new #TohChaleinKya campaign 3. Raymond: Celebrating Single Moms on Father’s Day

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

1. One article can have only one author.

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

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

5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute Name_Course Year 7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic The best adjudged article will be given a Winner’s Certificate.

Deadline for the submission of article : 20th July, 2016

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THE MARKSMAN

The TEAM

THE TEAM TWEETS by Samarth Amarnani It’s all about AD-itude by Ashka Mevawala

Brand MARKive by Ishita Shah COVER STORY by Priyank Wani SPECIAL STORY by Shikhar Dubey FAUX PAS by Janhavi Kothari HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by Mansi Mahajani PIONEER by Shruti Mahopatra BOOKWORM by Vivek Gariba SquAreheaD by Kashyap Salvi BUZZ by Ashka Mevawala KickStart by Dipika Soneja PROOF READ by Shruti Mahopatra Dipika Soneja DESIGNING by Ishita Shah Kashyap Salvi PROMOTIONS by Vivek Gariba Priyank Wani

SUMMER 2016

To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link: http://www.interfacesimsr.com/th e-marksman.html OR drop in a mail/contact us at : interface.simsr@somaiya.edu Subject line: Subscribe: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year

Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.in terface Website: http://www.interfacesimsr.com/th e-marksman.html

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

Images used in THE MARKSMAN are subject to copyright. THE MARKSMAN does not take any responsibility of any kind of plagiarism in the articles received from students of other colleges.

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