MARKSMAN Stories. Insights. Knowledge. T h e VOL XIII | ISSUE I | AUG '22 ARE YOU PROUD? >> 18 Hallmark Campaign >> 24 Humans of Marksman >> 25 Marketing Trivia >> 22 Marketflix & Chill INTERFACE WHERE MARKETING COMES ALIVE
Winner Iragaraju Bhavani Susmitha, IIM Ahmedabad Runner up Biswajeet Ghosh, Symbiosis Institute Of Digital And Telecom Managaement Pride month brings with it a celebration of the hues of freedom and vivid joy of expressing ones' identities freely People are looking for support once they speak out and marketing brands have been trying to put in their two cents of generating an inclusive environment for their community Be it through innovative ideas of expression and support or the rainbow washing trend that has been carrying on for ages, Pride Month is being celebrated by brands in one way or another Read more about 'Are You Proud?' in this edition's cover story The edition also takes you through brand stories of innovation and philanthropy, an exclusive interview with an advertising expert, a fun marketing crossword, the happenings on social media, and much more.
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The inspiring pieces of work can be discovered in the "Featured Articles" section. We were overwhelmed with the response, and we wish the same for the future as we believe you would respond with the same gusto portrayed in the past Rayomand Sachinwala Anushka Dalvi "Everyone deserves to experience love fully, completely, without shame and without compromise."
CFA WINNERS: You have not failed to surprise us with your brilliant articles A hearty congratulations to the folks who managed to be the winner and runner up of the Summer edition of the call for articles 1 2
Lessismore Aditi Pooja Damaraju Chinmaya Sharma Mulye T H E W R I T E R S Anshul Sheikh Hari Shankar Kannan Antarip Biswas Rijul Ghosh T H E W R I T E R S Aditi Pooja Damaraju T H E D E S I G N E R S Sanket Dangra MEET THE TEAM T H E W R I T E R S Sankalp Jaiswal Amrit Prakash Nair Ginni Gupta Anushka Dalvi
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02 Cover Story Pride month signifies the celebration of freedom to express your identities and speak out what's in your hearts. Find out how it can be inculcated by brands in their marketing strategies to symbolize an inclusive environment
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Kickstart Travel down the memory lane while witnessing the sucessful journey of the fun, nostalgia inducing brand Skippi Ice Pops
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Read on to know more about this unique idea of one of the most exciting pitches of Shark Tank India
03 Brand Markive When you think of the word safety, your mind immediately connects it to the brand Volvo Find out how over the years, Volvo has emerged from more than just a reliable safety brand to undertaking the challenge of one the world's global crisis of environmental sustainability
04 More than Marketing Know how the predominant issue of climate change is being tackled by one of the popular global brands Ikea with their 'Let's Go Zero' campaign, encouraging schools to do their bit towards combating this crisis.
05 Marketing Buzz
The trending age of social media has significantly increased comparison and insecurity among youngsters. Find out how Dove has shone some light on this issue with their Reverse Selfie campaign to highlight realness in the era of filtered beauty
06 Hallmark Campaign
The month of June comes with its rainbow coloured hues of celebration of a new freedom in the world. Read on to know how Microsoft participated in the Pride Month celebrations by venturing beyond borders and urging people to embrace their identities.
08 Marketflix and Chill Netflix has been in dire need of stepping up its game due to the highly competitive rise of other OTT platforms in India Find out how Netflix has been re establishing its top position with the much awaited season 4 of Stranger Things with its popular star cast and '80s trends
09 Humans of Marksman Sneak a peek into the life of a passionate and leading advertising and branding professional and a senior VP of one of the world's famous advertising agencies FCB Interface India Ms. Ruta Patel to know about her views and her journey in the field of advertising over the years 10 Marketing Trivia Turn your game mode on and test your knowledge of the marketing world by trying out this challenging crossword. Have fun learning new titbits for your marketing based trivia collection
07 Pioneer You can't imagine cooking a new Indian recipe without thinking of the this person. Sanjeev Kapoor has always been one of the renowned chefs of the country, but we are here to tell you about his inspiring entrepreneurial journey as well.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
There are countless flavours and ways to enjoy one's favourite ice cream here in India
6 KICKSTART
Posters, banners, and standees are just a few of the pop marketing tools Skippi uses to promote its products throughout India's retail outlets running advertisements on OTT platforms like Hotstar during popular events like the IPL to increase traffic both online and offline Celebrity/Influencer
The brand's packaging is really distinctive (box and bag pack) The Skippi Ice Pops are made, distributed, and sold by the company in liquid form at ambient temperature, eliminating the need for freezers or cold rooms across the supply chain, which benefits the brand in a number of ways Additionally, the Skippi app will soon be available, enabling users to remain updated on specials and new products
Marketing to spread the word about the product to as many people as possible, build brand loyalty among customers, and promote both offline and online sales. To enable clients to make purchases through any channel, Skippi is accessible on a number of platforms, stores, and storefronts. Additionally, Skippi is developing dark storefronts for quick order fulfilment.
The first ice pops brand in India, Skippi Ice Pops, uses only natural ingredients for its products, including natural sweeteners, colours, flavours, and preservatives
The flavoured ice popsicles that the neighbourhood ice cream vendors used to serve with the ice creams were available to almost everyone when they were young. Before, there was no well known ice popsicle brand in India; only neighbourhood merchants produced them To address this gap In 2020, Skippi Ice Pops was introduced by Anuja and Ravi Kabra, the CEO and Co Founder of the Hyderabad based firm. It was started to undermine the ice cream industry's hegemony in Indian markets and alter the appearance of the desert there
Skippi Ice Pops Ice cold nostalgia Amrit Nair
7 KICKSTART
The first investment in Skippi came from Shark Tank India. The brand acquired an investment of Rs 10 million and was one of the first to receive an all shark contract That was a significant turning moment for the company; since then, Skippi has grown significantly. In just three months, Skippis' distribution on Swiggy increased by 3.9 times In India, 1,811 Tier I, II, and III cities have received Skippi. Additionally, Skippi products worth Rs 1 million have been sent abroad to Hong Kong, Kuwait, Uganda, and Nepal. The next stage for Skippi is to set up a sizable production facility They are having trouble keeping up with demand because they are India's only ice pops brand In addition, they are observing demand coming from the African and Middle Eastern regions. Due to its optimised technical processes, Skippi Ice Pops has a significant presence in all of India's major cities. Skippi uses third party applications to extract more information from their POS, and their on the ground staff will use these applications to bring specific storefront data while also deploying ERP on the backend The brand has experienced exponential growth Over 3 7 million Skippi Ice Pops have been sold in the past year, according to Skippi From the first to the fourth quarters, sales increased 28 times Sales on the website have multiplied by 5 8 From the first to the fourth quarters, Amazon sales climbed by Rs 9,717,801 in total.
According to a global study by IPSOS on diversity in the marketing industry, 72% of respondents felt most advertising does not reflect the world around them, 63% claimed they don’t see themselves represented in most advertising, and 60% say they don’t see their community of friends, family, and acquaintances represented accurately. This indicates that as consumers, we don't feel heard, and our connections with brands are superficial Have you ever been discriminated against for something you cannot change? What do you consider is your biggest weakness? that in mind, imagine someone turning your biggest weakness against you in an intimidating or threatening manner. imagine a brand telling you this, directly or indirectly. We have witnessed brands making harmful statements regarding dark skin, LGBTQIA+ people, women, cultures, ethnic and other These don’t just affect individuals of these communities, but the community as a whole, people outside of it, and the brand’s relationship with them want to show that You Proud? Pooja Damaraju
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Aditi
Cover Story 8 they really care But how believable are they if their communication doesn’t match with their action and lacks the right representation of the audience?
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Brands increasingly
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minorities
The same study also found that 76% of consumers believe that advertising has a lot of power to shape how people perceive each other. As marketers, the question “What does the target audience expect” poses itself constantly Consumers want to feel valued and welcomed in every step of the customer journey, but that’s not all they
9 Cover Story
According to 5WPR’s Consumer Culture Report, 83% of the millennial demographic want companies to align with their values, and 65% have boycotted brands that have taken an opposing stance on an issue.
look for. Standing for a cause does make an impact Taking the example of Nike’s famous ‘Dream Crazy’ campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick: the brand took a strong stance on racial injustice in support of the NFL player Despite some initial turmoil faced by Nike, they really believed in something even when it meant losing a lot But ultimately, it worked, with a 5% or $ 6 billion increase in the company ’ s stock and brand value and a 31% boost in sales
Millennials are changing how brands communicate with audiences, and brand managers need to demonstrate the alignment of a brand on various social issues. So how can consumers and brands move towards consciously making better choices and creating a deep connection? That is where inclusive marketing comes in. At the heart of it, it is all about creating meaningful relationships, loyalty, and trust. Truly inclusive marketing can give a voice to underrepresented sections of society and amplify them It is a win win for brands and diverse communities, by positively impacting a brand and making a difference at a societal level.
10 Cover Story
Brands also need to beware of color washing (whitewashing, pinkwashing, rainbow washing, etc ) when trying to appeal to their audiences that may cause more harm than good. Pepsi's advert featuring Kendall Jenner is a perfect example of marketing insensitively towards a social issue for the sake of speaking on it Marketers need to switch their focus from the brand’s messaging and everything going on with the brand to what the audience needs to know and how the brand can translate that into something authentic that can have an impact. In the age of hyper personalized marketing, Inclusive marketing is realizing that every individual is unique and there is no such thing as “normal ” Intentional inclusion in campaigns, like including authentic representation of communities and listening to them, can prevent unintentional oversights and exclusion. It is equally important for organizations to create an inclusive culture to match brand values with the organization’s values. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in marketing teams that produce diversity marketing help brands be more culturally intelligent Such organizations can talk with more authority and relate better with diverse markets. That said, there are some brands that do get it right when it comes to inclusive marketing. Google knows that an individual sees almost 2 million ads every year, which is almost 2 million ways that the advertising industry can help people see themselves positively reflected They review their own ads, criticize them and work towards improving inclusion in every campaign by partnering with diversity experts on topics from race to mental health. They don't just want to make a difference but enable fellow marketers to be more inclusive with their inclusive marketing toolkit, which has everything needed to help the industry get inclusivity right. ThirdLove is an inclusive lingerie brand with campaigns targeted at real women, of all ages, sizes, shapes, gender identities, sexual orientation, and backgrounds They even wrote an open letter to Victoria’s Secret!
11 Cover Story awareness around it. As consumers, we as individuals of diverse communities need to express our uniqueness, garner support from those in the community, and amplify these conversations. We need to be conscious of the brands we support and hold companies accountable for their actions. On the other side of the coin, brands need to listen to what diverse groups have to say for the benefit of everyone. Now that we have come to the end of this, I have one question for you: Are you proud of your choices as a consumer and as a marketer?
Coming back to Nike, they recognize that anyone can be an athlete and have featured stories on diverse athletes. They create inclusive products and work on improving their workforce diversity Hallmark’s ”Share more merry ” campaign centers on a young girl with a hearing impairment and shows relatable Christmas traditions narrated through underrepresented groups The advert’s dialogue is signed throughout and also captioned, making the content accessible to everyone Whirlpool’s Care Counts Laundry Program aims to improve equality in education by reducing the barrier to accessibility of clean clothes They install washers and dryers across schools to serve the impacted communities and raise
12 BRAND MARKIVE Volvo. For Life.
The firm has long emphasized the historical reputation for stability and dependability in marketing campaigns, and Volvo cars are touted as safe Laminated glass was first used in the PV type in 1944. The modern three point safety belt was created and patented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin. It became a requirement for all Volvo cars in 1959, and Bohlin released the patent in the interest of safety and made it freely available to others The 960 introduced the middle rear seat's first three point seat belt in 1991 and an integrated kid safety cushion in the center armrest The Side Impact Protection System (SIPS), designed by Volvo, directs the force of a side impact away from the doors and into the safety cage Assar Gabrielsson, a sales manager for SKF, and Gustav Larson, an engineer from KTH, decided to build a Swedish automobile in 1924 On August 10th, 1926, AB Volvo officially launched. The first car, a Volvo V 4, came off the assembly line at the Gothenburg facility in 1927, according to the Volvo Group. In 1944, The Volvo PV444 passenger car began production It dominated Volvo production and led to its entry into the American market. Volvo's largest manufacturing facility, the Torslanda facility in Sweden, was established in 1964. Volvo Car Corporation was a Ford's Premier Automotive Group member In 2008, Ford put Volvo Cars up for sale in December, and in 2009, it was sold to Geely Holding Group
Antarip BiswasFrom Safety to Sustainability
The business is committed to increasing its remanufacturing processes and minimizing production waste. Volvo Cars remanufacture approximately 50 distinct parts for its vehicles since they consume about 80% less energy and 85% less raw materials than new parts The XC40 Recharge, its latest electric SUV, is meticulously engineered to minimize its adverse environmental effects All of the carpeting inside is constructed from recycled plastic. The car interior features a sustainable fabric material over leather The XC40 symbolizes Volvo Cars' five pronged ecologically friendly and sustainable business operations strategy
Volvo added a head protecting airbag in 1998. Volvo unveiled the Blind Zone Information System (BLIS) in 2004, using a side view mirror mounted camera to identify vehicles entering the vehicle's blind spot and inform the driver with a light. Volvo tested well in the EuroNCAP program. Since 2009, EuroNCAP has awarded five star safety ratings to every Volvo model. By 2040, Volvo Cars want to achieve climate neutrality Reducing lifecycle emissions per car by 40% by 2025 is one of its main objectives By 2020, the company's global factories were using 51 percent of climate neutral energy by using renewable energy to power their facilities and improve energy efficiency Further, they hope to cut emissions across the value chain by 50% in tailpipe emissions and 25% in operational and supply chain emissions, resulting in a 40% decrease in their lifecycle carbon footprint per vehicle Volvo Cars want 50% of its vehicles to be electric by 2020 and to only develop fully electric cars by 2030 since electric vehicles are essential to achieving climate change targets
BRAND MARKIVE 13
IKEA UK has partnered with Ashden's Let's Go Zero coalition effort, which focuses on helping all 32,000 UK schools achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030 IKEA shares Let's Go Zero's conviction that young people should be prioritised worldwide Therefore schools have a critical role in preparing the next generation to live sustainably and healthily IKEA can motivate and promote a sustainable and healthy lifestyle in a way that is inexpensive, easy, and available to everyone, in keeping with their mission to assist many people in living better within the boundaries of the world
MORE THAN MARKETING 14
IKEA Rijul GhoshTaking it down to zero
IKEA held a tournament for schools participating in the Let's Go Zero Campaign in June and July 2022. They requested schools submit ideas for programmes that might help their instructors and students carry out more to combat climate change The ozone has been the limit for everything, including composting, erecting bike shelters, and growing veggies! They will now collaborate with the winners to realise these ideals using their services, products, and funding (£2,000 for each project) IKEA has made investments in sustainability across all aspects of its operations, both those that customers can see and those that can't .
15 MORE THAN MARKETING
Building on the current enthusiasm and drive of another generation to be more environmentally conscious and make positive changes, schools and kids play a crucial part in helping the UK reduce carbon emission levels The effort works to encourage sustainable and healthy living for the majority of people while accelerating the decarbonisation of UK schools Our ideals helped us swiftly adjust to meet the changing demands of many individuals during a challenging year when the living situation was more crucial than ever To help those who are most in need to get through the epidemic, Ingka Group has concentrated its efforts on providing resources and businesses along the value chain.
With Science Based Objectives that support their aim of becoming environmentally aware by 2030 and attaining net co2 emissions any later than 2050, the collaboration helps IKEA's long standing obligation to take climate action Collaboration is a significant component of their environment positive approach because they think they can only affect change by cooperating with partners in business, government, non profit organisations, charities, consumers, coworkers, and suppliers. Since school age children live in 42 per cent of UK homes, classrooms are a perfect setting for igniting community change for the coming generation. Despite the difficulties, the firm is progressing toward its sustainability objectives and generating strong performance
The movie progresses backwards, beginning with the uploaded selfie and then turning around all of the adjustments and staging to finally expose the young girl hidden behind it. It exposes the disturbing truth behind many young women's social media selfies as well as the negative consequences of heavily altered social media content The movie comes with a collection of photo posters Each one is divided in half, showing the ladies' real faces next to extensively modified ones in an effort to highlight the negative effects of retouching software.
By the age of 13, 80% of girls online alter their appearance. In a forceful new campaign dubbed "Reverse Selfie," Dove and the advertising firm Ogilvy set out to alter this painful reality. The campaign has achieved tremendous success. On YouTube and Instagram, the campaign video has received over 750 000 and 870 000 views, respectively The public and press have given the campaign favourable reviews, describing it as "powerful" and "beautiful " Dove decided to relaunch its campaign against unattainable beauty standards with a contemporary follow up to their 2006 campaign, "Evolution," in response to growing expectations on girls as young as 13 to look their best online A 13 year old
MARKETING BUZZ 16
Dove's Selfie #NoDigitalDistortion
Reverse
Anshul Sheikh girl who significantly altered a photo of herself before sharing it online is featured in the "reverse selfie" promotional film.
17 MARKETING BUZZ
Dove is utilising this campaign to advance their fight for realistic beauty standards by using their strength and influence, hoping to spark a debate and launch a movement that will alter the selfie culture. The campaign is aimed at parents, with the intention that they will download Dove's social media kit and have #TheSelfieTalk with their kids, according to Juliana Paracencio, Global Creative Director at Ogilvy UK The hashtags #TheSelfieTalk and #NoDigitalDistortion are used in the campaign, which aims to promote true beauty over unattainable beauty ideals online With the latter, they're enticing users of social media to promise to share candid images of themselves in support of the campaign. The campaign has been well liked on social media, with Dove's campaign postings typically generating more interaction than ones that are centred on products and other campaigns from the business. The split face visuals and video clips seemed to be the most well liked, perhaps because of their shocking nature Dove has guided a cultural discussion about what constitutes beauty over the years. It is well known for its controversial advertising that fuses brand marketing with social responsibility Dove makes sure that its messaging is truthful Instead of casting models in this instance, Dove chose girls who had personally encountered ighlights Further demonstrating the retouching options that are available with just a tap of the finger, the images were enhanced with the same applications that ladies have access to The two campaign hashtags on Instagram have user generated content, with more than 1000 posts using the hashtag #NoDigitalDistortion. Natural selfies and comparisons of users' photographs' modified and unaltered versions dominate the material. Dove continues to promote natural beauty through initiatives like the "Reverse Selfie" campaign and demonstrates that they are not only focused on advancing capitalism Given the success of these programmes, Dove will probably keep advancing their social marketing
Microsoft celebrates pride month! Aditya Mulye
Every year, the GLEAM community at Microsoft selects a theme for Pride month that responds to the current challenges and helps transcend LGBTQIA+ inclusion In 2018, Microsoft declared, ‘ we ’ re here, and we ’ re not going away ’ In 2019, the theme was to ‘take action ’ In 2020, Microsoft encouraged dialogue. In 2021, Microsoft urged everyone to unite Microsoft proclaimed 2022 as the year that Pride has no borders in reaction to the attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community worldwide. Early on, Pride was an internal celebration of LGBTQIA+ identities, but GLEAM expanded its concept of Pride to the world as they realized that it could have a more significant worldwide influence In June, the sky takes on a new hue that symbolizes freedom as rainbow colored flags become more prevalent in public spaces Come June, strong voices recount the difficulties and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community as Pride Month takes place What began in the United States in 1969 has become a universal representation of embracing and celebrating identities. In 1989, Microsoft included sexual orientation in its anti discrimination rules, and in 1993, it was one of the first businesses to provide benefits to employees in same sex domestic partnerships Incorporated in 1993, Microsoft's GLEAM LGBTQIA+ employee resource organization now has over 3,000 members worldwide 18
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN Pride Has No Borders!
Teams are the backbone for hybrid workers at Microsoft and many other corporations Designers at Microsoft left no stone unturned to make Teams more expressive in favor of pride month. Microsoft Senior Designer Shyla Lindsey oversaw the addition of sixteen brand new exquisite Teams backgrounds that were 3D produced and proud in nature New colors were also added to the Pride and Pangender flags. The backgrounds are given depth and complexity through movement, texture, and natural light. To represent the development, beauty, and vitality of the LGBTQIA+ communities, the team included natural elements. 35 Pride flags are now proudly flown by teams Team Xbox has consistently advocated for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in a variety of settings. Still, one thing they've always wanted to do was bring Pride to one of the company's most noticeable products, the Xbox controller. A design team led by Elliot Hsu produced an Xbox Pride controller with a front plate covered in a rainbow of colors and several LGBTQIA+ flags last year, during the height of the pandemic This ‘Pride Controller’ was sent to selected LGBTQIA+ gamers, and social media lit up A petition started to free the pride controller, and Microsoft is officially bringing the pride controller to the market
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HALLMARK CAMPAIGN
Microsoft has donated more than 8 million dollars to organizations that support LGBTQIA+ communities A hope to bring positive change to these communities drives Microsoft to leave no page unturned As Microsoft claims ‘ no matter where you are on Earth, our lives and stories spring from the same well of humanity Rise, nobody can define who you are. Hear us now. No borders!’
PIONEER and learns something new every day, and has an open mind. He stays ahead of the curve and carves out a niche for himself in an area before the people get attracted to it. He attempted his hand with sanjeevkapoor com, one of the earliest websites when the dot com boom reached India because he was a big admirer of electronics and technology Sanjeev Kapoor, who views himself as an artist, has always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen, where he sketches out ideas and turns them into profitable ventures Every episode of the well known cookery program Khana Khazana from the 1990s was scheduled to feature a different chef, and the host was supposed to be a India's most renowned chef has skilfully switched between being a chef and an entrepreneur His commercial activities include a chain of restaurants in India and internationally, as well as the high end cookware and equipment brand Wonderchef. They generate over Rs 500 crore in annual income as a group You can't plan to be an entrepreneur One of the chefs that helped establish Indian cuisine abroad is Sanjeev Kapoor He has always been drawn to taking the road less travelled since the start of his profession. He was the first chef in the world to launch a 24 hour television channel devoted to food and lifestyle when he launched FoodFood Chef Kapoor travels
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Sanjeev Kapoor Chinmaya SharmaTo the top with Sugar
PIONEER 21 that running a restaurant and selling kitchenware were two completely distinct businesses Chef Kapoor combines talent, charisma, and hard nosed business development skills to sell his talent to India and the rest of the globe Most significantly, he has the courage to take enormous chances with new initiatives in the culinary industry Sanjeev Kapoor has 5.6 million Facebook fans. Over the years, he has received numerous honors, including a Padma Shri and the CNN Award for Top Five Celebrity Chefs Narendra Modi, has also enjoyed his cooking His restaurants and cookware brand are valued in the crores. Sanjeev has seen prosperity and recognition that may be difficult to even comprehend, but beneath this bulky chef's helmet is an Ambala lad who still loves to cook woman Sanjeev took over the show after the first episode because the audience found him to be so endearing, and the rest is history He now proudly controls 63 operating restaurants in nine nations under seven brands He is the owner of Wonderchef, high end cookware, and appliance company that helps women become independent He has written more than 200 books in seven different languages and has a sizable online following In 2009, he cofounded Wonderchef with Ravi Saxena, the former CEO of Sodexo India. Even though he had started his first restaurant in Dubai in 1998, Wonderchef helped Kapoor realize
Netflix has been going haywire recently with their plans to implement its new policies regarding password sharing This has led them to lose a substantial amount of subscribers However, they also have been aggressively promoting their new shows and quality content. Bringing back the '80s trends has been one of the most sought strategies by many artists recently And in that line of shows and movies, comes Stranger Things season 4, perhaps the biggest of them all. Being set to happen in the ’80s the first 3 seasons were a huge hit among the audience. The first 7 episodes of Season 4 were released on May 27, 2022, while the second set of two episodes, each of which was more than an hour long was released on July 1, 2022. The show amassed a never seen before viewership on Netflix. Despite losing a million subscribers in the past few months, the show recorded 1 3 billion views within the first 4 weeks after its release. The company also stated that Season four attracted more eyeballs than the previous three seasons Seasons one to three were viewed 5 times more in June 2022 than in May 2022, prior to the release of the latest season This record is said to be Netflix’s biggest amount of viewership for a season of English TV ever.
MARKETFLIX AND CHILL
22
Hari
The show features a plethora of teenage stars like Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer and others. The show is directed by Matt and Ross Duffer, who are known for their mind bending screenplay in running parallel storylines and connecting the dots perfectly in the end This season features the ultimate revelation from the first season. The telekinetic girl, popularly known as “Eleven” takes on her biggest challenge yet, facing a serial killer with similar powers to her, called "Vecna". The rest of the show is about who this psychopathic wizard is and whether or not Eleven and her friends solve and stop the killing spree of this powerful maniac Runnin' up that hill Shankar'80s music and Stranger Things 4
Nostalgia and novelty combined, the song appealed well to audiences of all age groups. It also led to the song reaching #1 on the daily Global Spotify Chart for the 1st time ever since its release in 1985. The song trend also led to various social media buzzes, posts and memes about “What song would save you from Vecna’s curse?” Spotify also took the opportunity to promote themselves through this opportunity. Spotify collaborated with Netflix to make an official Stranger Things season 4 playlist with all the official Whenever there seems to be a downfall, Netflix finds a way to redeem itself with a fantastic comeback Will this trend continue? Has Netflix crossed their worst phase of subscriber exodus? Are they Runnin up that hill? We will have to wait and watch what's in store for the rest of 2022 for the world's biggest on demand video streaming company
MARKETFLIX AND CHILL 23
One more prominent feature in the show is the ‘80s music, which is timeless and loved by audiences of all ages This season also has been no exception to this legacy of ‘80s music. The story goes in such a way that in order to escape from Vecna’s curse, one has to listen to their favourite song. Maxine "Max" Mayfield, portrayed by Sadie Sink was one of the characters in the show who has been cursed by Vecna. And in the mind blowing battle of escaping from the curse, the episode features the song “Runnin up that hill” by Kate Bush. The trendy song caught the attention of both Millennials and Gen Z equally Kate Bush herself was overwhelmed by the astounding response to her song after all these years
What changes have you witnessed in the advertising industry post the pandemic? I think the advertising scenario has completely metamorphosed post the pandemic.
As a woman working in such a senior position, what has your experience been like? I have worked in this agency for 22 years and have been lucky enough to have bosses who have always been understanding I got a chance to have a six month maternity leave and would have loved to spend even more time with my infant But I believe as long as you are clear on your priorities and you are able to deliver on your work, you can manage to do both I am conscious of the fact that I need to spend time with my kid so that’s why I am able to create that balance 24
While digital mediums had always been essential, the pandemic caused all brands to align themselves towards digital in place of television and print campaigns. From an agency standpoint, we didn’t stick to a straightjacketed method of working before. People would work for longer hours and stretch beyond their limits while having fun the whole time. Post the pandemic, however, people are looking for more of a work life balance. Also, unlike older times when advertising agencies were considered partners, people now view them more in a transactional manner and are looking for very specific solutions.
Ms. Ruta Patel Vice President, FCB Interface India Anushka Dalvi
Through the years, what are some crucial advertising lessons that you have learnt? For making good advertisements, it is critical to have a pulse on what’s going on in the consumer world. Even today, I spend a lot of time interacting with consumers in the field, and not just in Bombay. I believe that you need to get out of your framework because even though you may be working in a place like Delhi or Bombay, your consumers live across the world So, it’s important to go and see the consumers in their natural environment and understand what is going on in their lives Although our lives revolve around our brand, our consumers ’ lives do not, so we have to figure out where our brand has a place in their lives.
HUMANS OF MARKSMAN
25 MARKETING TRIVIA Across: 2. Their stores are built like mazes, so they look like walk through catalogs. 4. One of the largest retail corporations on the entire planet, it closed down all of its stores in Germany when the chain failed to take off in this country. 5. Which social network is owned by Microsoft? 6. In the year 1970, The US banned advertisements for what? Down: 1. In 2010, Google released this update that helped the search results to be up to date with current events 3. Most valuable brand of 2022 CrossWord! 1 5 6 6 23 4 3aekI2enieffaC1:srewsnA!droWssorC setteragiC6nIdekniL5tramlaW4elppA
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Iragaraju Bhavani SusmithaThe best brand advocates?
26 Micro Influencers
You are scrolling your Instagram feed, and you come across a random reel with a person promoting a brand You are curious to see this stranger, and visit the profile to see around 25k 30k followers That, right there, is most likely a micro influencer A live example of “bigger is not always better”, micro influencers are people with around 10k 100k followers While the numbers might not be as big as that of the celebrities, the followers of these micro influencers are extremely loyal and consider them as an industry expert or a niche specialist of sorts and trust them with their decisions regarding the product they endorse Contrary to the big artists like Bollywood celebrities, who often have the reputation of blindly advocating for any product without even personally using them, these micro influencers have grown to gain a reputation of trust and credibility as they endorse tried and tested products A recent viral example of this was when Alia Bhatt (a famous Bollywood actress) got trolled brutally for endorsing chocolates, ice creams, and aerated soft drinks when she herself is a staunch follower of a strictly no sugar diet Such endorsements cause more harm than good On the other hand, micro influencer e and again proven to instance, when Lays new packaging for its ho” product line, it hundreds of micro red their smiles on the a massive engagement, n impressions Micro o the table a multitude e it with the trust have built with their the cost effectiveness. nentially lower prices rities and bring in r engagement. This ially great ROI in terms y ested in these micro influencers and the returns a brand gets in terms of the added consumers
Micro influencers are passiona their profile and are very consis their posts, consequently lead strong connection with their co These are self built people and have the resources or references to make it in the industry, which i brand they have created for them purely out of genuineness and authenticity Their followers trust them for the same reason and are more likely to buy a product they endorse But, what’s in it for the micro influencer? While there is no question about the authenticity of the micro influencers, it is also worthwhile to ponder on the returns for them lished, it is also important ns of this micro influencer disadvantage here is the nce They might not be and outs of the influencer might be proficient and y around handling their orking with brands might to step into. ch that comes with fewer o something to consider. mited reach comes with ing with their consumers, ue proposition. In conclusion, the advocates for any brand are the customers who use it and feel the experience Micro influencers do exactly that and establish a sense of curiosity and credibility among their followers. 27
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Prepare for the future Bishwajeet Ghosh
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation allows you to automate repetitive, but necessary marketing tasks It facilitates faster client acquisition, better customer retention, and increased contact with high ROI segments
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But why is it the need of the hour? Why is it replacing traditional methods of marketing and door to door sales? What is the Achilles' heel of marketing? Spamming? Ad blindness? Imagine you are in a room with ten people and you are telling the same story to everyone Everybody will get bored Same way when you do not personalise your messages for marketing and give the same message to everyone, people will get irritated and will not respond. Let us first understand what Marketing Automation is Assume you had a personal army of robots at your disposal, ready to listen to your directions and carry them out You can ask them to help you with sales and marketing, and you'll be able to profit from it. These few armies of robots can perform all these operations and convert potential consumers into clients instead of employing hundreds of workers to make thousands of calls, send mail, and conduct follow ups throughout the day. That is marketing automation To put it simply, marketing automation is the use of technology and software to facilitate sales and marketing by automating common operations 28
The power of marketing automation is that you can replicate your messages on a large scale and send unique personalized messages to everyone This comes to the next question: How do we send personalized messages? Is simply changing the name enough? No We need to gather more data which can be done with the help of application forms/type forms With the help of this data, we can feed the messages, configure the responses and can automate as per our requirements AI can also be used for personalisation. AI models are especially useful when it comes to identifying customer preferences and personalising information in real time because of their size and speed Now let's dive into other advantages of automation in marketing. The first is the increase in engagement. Automating simple and repetitive messages can help increase engagement among prospects and customers; for example, welcome series emails can inform new customers about your company and your offerings These emails have a good opening rate, and click rate and drive more revenue Automated messages can be preplanned or issued in reaction to a customer's activities to help move them through the purchasing process The next advantage being it flattens the sales funnel. You can reduce the amount of time of taking someone from a lead to a prospect to a sale. It establishes planned conversations to help prospects and thus save time by 29 It can also be recommended to content marketers as they build their campaigns, schedule communications, personalization and the most advanced Next Best Action Decisioning
CALL FOR ARTICLES identifying common queries and roadblocks. With the help of this series of communications, we can also determine which prospects are more likely to become clients. Once you acquire good customers, you can send them frequent offers and discounts, making them loyal to your products, and later, they will advocate for you, becoming the best customers With AI, ML and behavioural analysis advancements, marketing automation will touch new peaks AI can be used as a tool to provide data insights; AI models can identify patterns in customer data and autonomously cluster customers based on those patterns
C A L L F O R A R T I C L E S September 2022 Edition The Marksman provides one and all the opportunity to discover their hidden talents in the literary field through our "Call for Articles" . For the upcoming edition, the articles can be sent on any of the following topics: Surrogate Advertising : Effective or Not? Minimalism in Branding : How Less Can Be More Ethical Challenges of Cause Related Marketing Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all the references are clearly mentioned. Kindly follow the guidelines given below: One article can have only one author. Your article should be approximately 550-600 words (strictly adhere to the word limit) The article must have relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article. Send in your articles in .doc/.docx format to marksman simsr@somaiya edu Subject Line: Your Name Institute Name Course Year. Kindly name your file as: Your Name Topic. The best adjudged article will be given a Winner's certificate. The First Prize Winners will be awarded Rs. 500 Cash Prize. Deadline For Submission Of Article: 22nd September, 2022
QUOTE DECK -Benjamin Franklin “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
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