EDITOR’S NOTE About this Edition > "Attention is a resource - a person has only so much of it.“ A marketing campaign or strategy is deemed successful when it sticks with the consumer and draws their attention to what you sell - services, products, content or promises. With the market being redefined every single day, only the best make a difference. With the number of distractions that consume the crowd, selective attention has become more of an art that very few possess. Companies have invested heavily in understanding what actually grabs the attention of people and it's a continuous war in the mind to either fall for the bait or break the chain. In this edition's cover story “Attention Economy”, we try to understand how people could overcome this infinite loop. This edition takes you through a journey of stories, empowerment, controversies and much more.
CFA Winners > A very hearty congratulations to the winner and the runner up of this month‟s Call For Articles. 1. Deepak Balayan (Winner) – Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune 2. Abhishek Ranjan (Runner-up) – Goa Institute of Management, Goa You can read their brilliant pieces in the ”Featured Articles” section. We were overwhelmed by the responses that we received from all of you and encourage you to write to us with the same enthusiasm for all further editions as well.
EDITORS
THE TEAM
KRITI
SNEHA
SURATH
WRITERS
DESIGN
ARKO
AAYUSH
AJITH
ATHARVA
JASH
NANDANI
SAMBHAV
SAMBARTA
SAKSHI
SUMIRAN
SNEHA
SURATH
CONTENTS KICKSTART A social commerce marketplace based out of the United States which became successful in its endeavor by tapping the growth in second hand clothing market and its unique brand positioning.
MARKETING FAUX PAS An attempt to drag a competitor into the mud backfired and SanDisk instead found themselves in the thick of it.
COVER STORY Companies have started tapping the most important aspect of a customer mindset - their attention. Are customers that gullible though?
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN Pedigree shows yet again why dogs are the purest creatures in the world through a campaign that deservingly revolves around them.
BRAND MARKIVE Featuring the Dabur Vatika ad that went beyond its brand resonance and became more about pioneering a change in the mindset of people.
MORE THAN MARKETING Enhancing the next gen features, Old Spice through its brick and mortar setup aims to find a perfect mix to blend success into the setup
PIONEER A story of how the founder of Faasos followed his passion to perfection and chose to live the dream he visualized.
IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE The queen of arranged marriages made a fun collaboration with Burger King and received a whopping response.
AD-TALES A hallmark campaign for a brand celebrating a landmark of 60 years, showcasing what it has been all about over the years.
MARK-5 For something that is so prevalent as a marketing strategy, a trackback to see how the hashtag trend went viral in the first place.
SPECIAL STORY The world belongs to AI, we are just living in it. With the dominance created by them, we take a look at what's next in store.
1
Scarters:
Quiet Moments. Fewer Things. Simplicity - ATHARVA SINDEKAR
Kickstart | March Edition
It was 2017 when the founder of Scarters envisioned Scarters as a brand which can cater to working individuals with minimalistic design yet maximum utility. Since its inception, Scarters has always tried to fit right in the affordable luxury product category. As a brand, it believes that the customer experience is the top priority. It ensures this by using its minimalistic design approach in its products and its packaging. To connect with their large customer base personally, every product comes with a handwritten note from the founder.
The first product launched by Scarters' product line was a unisex laptop messenger bag.
Scarters gives their customers to buy their products via their website or other e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart. Unlike other competitive brands, which come up with multiple products, Scarters believes in quality over quantity. They have 15-20 products, but each one has its USP and individual market.
It observed working professionals' mundane life and wanted every such individual to have a luxurious yet affordable travel companion.
In the last 3 to 4 years, Scarters has come a long way and diversified its product mix by launching laptop sleeves, mousepads, coffee mugs, desk pads, etc. One such quirky Coffee mug coming from the Scarters' sleeve, the socalled ''Coffee-to-go'' is undoubtedly one of a kind product. It is an upcycled coffee mug made from coffee grounds that is 100% unbreakable.
2 It seems that work from home phenomena arising due to COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise for Scarters. The desk pads were launched just a month before the lockdown in February 2020. Over the last year, it has become the fastestselling product of Scarters.
In the future, Scarters aims to lead in the premium products segment. It is targeting more in the backpacks category by launching unique, premium, and affordable products.
Kickstart |
Being showcased as a premium segment, Scarters still faces numerous challenges like upcoming market challengers, pricing, etc. But with its design form and impeccable customer satisfaction have made it has successfully created a niche position in the market.
March Edition
Aesthetics and enhanced user experience have resulted in lower customer attrition. Customers now believe that products offered by Scarters are worth every penny.
3
SanDisk:
Anti iPod Campaign - SAMBHAV MEHTA
Marketing Faux Pas |
March Edition
At some point in our life, most of us have been fascinated with the idea of owning an iPod. In the early 2000s, Apple sold nearly 400 million of these, and iPods were a hit during that time. By the end of 2005, Apple dominated the market with the release of iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and iPod 5th generation. In 2006, SanDisk manufactured their own the e200, and they advertised it uniquely by launching the „iDont‟ campaign. This campaign by SanDisk included many graffitilike posters which depicted animals using iPods, comparing iPod users to sheep, donkeys, chimps, cows, puppets, zombies, etc. Statements like „iFollow,' „iSheep,' „iHerd‟,' „the walking iDead,' “are you an iChimp?,” and “have you become an iPuppet?” were included in the posters.
This campaign's main aim was to convince users to use mp3 devices other than Apple devices, especially SanDisk‟s new e200. SanDisk hired paid footmen to post the photos, hand out t-shirts, and other propaganda on college campuses to advertise. Through this campaign, SanDisk asked the target audience to “Think for yourself” and “resist the monotony of the white earbuds.” The campaign used some pretty blunt lines in order to demote the competition. The lines stated that it was the time for self-expression and for all independent spirits to say „iDont.' The lines also clearly stated that they do not need to follow the single source of music as there was an alternative.
Thus, a company must always make the marketing campaign carefully for the target audience as the success of the product depends upon it.
March Edition
4 Another reason why this campaign failed was that it insulted users of iPod, which was their target consumer base. SanDisk did the exact opposite of an old saying i.e.; you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. SanDisk, in this campaign, tried to convince people to buy their product by insulting them through comparison with sheep, cows, and chimps. The same was not well received by the audience.
The last reason was that the 'e200' did not offer any new features such as better memory or longer batteries. On the contrary, it simply was a not-iPod. If the product had been compelling to back up the creative campaign, people might have opted to own a SanDisk-phone rather than an iPhone. However, since their product was not innovative and simply not an iPod, people did not buy it.
Marketing Faux Pas |
There were many reasons for the failure of this marketing campaign. For one, most of the posters never mentioned the new SanDisk Sansa e200 series, which ideally should have been in focus. Consumers needed to go to the website to see what was up with the 'iDon‟t' campaign from a blog created by a man named Eric (a fictitious person). Even then, the blog's content was more on attacking the „iTatorship‟ of Apple than on informing customers about the product.
5
Attention Economy:
More like Ugh-tension Economy? - NANDANI KABRA May I have your attention..... In exchange for truckloads information, please?
of
In today‟s generation, it often happens that people unlock their phones to reply to a message and then spend hours looking at memes. They find it hard to even finish a meal without watching something. It turns out these glued-up individuals are totally symptomatic for being trapped in the attention economy.
Cover Story |
March Edition
WHAT IS ATTENTION ECONOMY? Out of all the things that are traded in the market, attention being traded as a commodity strikes as the most bizarre thing that can happen. Attention economy treats human attention as a scarce resource that needs to be tapped and used for solving information management problems.
The dealers of attention function in a way that they tap our activities to provide us new conveniences and diversions, creating a grand bargain to transform our lives. Tim Wu, the author of The Attention Merchants, explains in his book, it is the dramatic and impressive rise of an industry that barely existed a century ago. A phrase coined in the West that fits well for this generation is „homo-distractus‟, a species of ever-shorter attention span known for compulsively checking their devices. He also mentions, „as adults we are hardly ever unreachable; seldom away from a screen of some kind; rarely not being solicited or sold to‟.
6 There are huge businesses that spend their time monitoring how users spend their time online. The most intelligent designers, programmers, and business people in the world are currently wondering how to get us to scroll and binge more. The dynamics of the attention economy work to incentivize companies to draw users in to spend more and more time on websites and apps. The different design trends that focus on grabbing user attention are: Eye-catching animations to call attention to a piece of content and busy and overcrowded designs where a large chunk of information is given at once with hopes that one of the many images will draw the user‟s attention.
In the screenshot attached below, from ABC News Homepage, two automatically playing videos are visible in the page fold- one in the bottom left corner and one in the top right corner competing for attention. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, in an interview, made a very bizarre statement that has been etched in our minds. He mentioned, “we actually compete with sleep, and we‟re winning”. Speaking of Netflix, The Social Dilemma, dubbed as the documentary of the year, gives a surreal look into the social media world and what it encompasses. The documentary, in essence, underlines three key factorstechnology addiction, social engineering, and surveillance capitalism.
March Edition
ATTENTION
Cover Story |
HOW DOES THE ECONOMY WORK?
7 The Social Dilemma, positively chilling and slightly disturbing, gives a lot of hard-to-swallow statements on the current state of affairs on social media and the attention economy.
Cover Story |
March Edition
IMPACT ON USERS There are only two industries that call their customers "users": illegal drugs and software. Some of the world's most influential people are now being referred to as users of their products. Social media has increasingly added to the dehumanization with a rapidly growing intake of photoshopped images without a single psychological and emotional thought. As long as these technology giants are making money, nothing else matters. As a result of this constant catfight for attention, users' brains are almost time filled with so much information, half of which is futile.
This has, however, impacted users' ability to do everyday things like focus, reflect, and process emotions without them even knowing about this change. HOW TO FIGHT THE ATTENTION ECONOMY? Undoubtedly, the attention economy has all living beings with cell phones in hook, but does the future behold the same? It is anticipated that the trends that are observed now in designing for attention will continue to evolve. A lot of companies and brands will choose to create an ecosystem where attention-grabbing advertisements flourish. The ads might become more immersive in a race to grab users' attention. It is also rumored that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat are testing augmented-reality advertisements.
8 Instead of parking them somewhere in the back of your mind, write them down so that the next time the same thing pops up, you know where to give your time.
Make impactful task –lists as a replacement to your generic task list. The impactful task lists will drive you to lay a concrete base to your plan-of-actions. In contrast to the buzz the attention economy has created, a lot of marketers have understood the importance of permission to access the personal space of users as the only way for both the stakeholders to thrive.
March Edition
• Be clear about what has actually caught your attention.
• Give your attention to the next actions.
Cover Story |
It is quite evident that the attention economy is in here for the long haul and the actual way out is the way through,
9
Pedigree:
A Dog Brings It Back - AAYUSH SHETTY
Hallmark Campaign | March Edition
More than 300 million individuals worldwide are right now suffering from depression. However, as per a report by WHO, Brazil has the most number of individuals experiencing the condition in Latin America. Unfortunately, depression is considered one of the prime reasons for death among Brazilians between 15-29 years. The numbers don't indicate a positive sign, do they? It's typical for the individuals who experience the ill effects of depression to imagine that life has no significance and that whatever they've lost will never come back. In any case, guess what? There's a solution that can once again brighten their lives. The answer is the simple advice of having the presence of a dog in their lives.
Pedigree took the opportunity to take a simple game of fetch between the caretaker and the dog and turn it into something that would connect with the audience on an emotional level. The campaign primarily focuses on helping people deal with their depression and advocating for adopting dogs as a solution. The 1.5 minute-long video centers around a man who meanders alone in the desert. He feels like his life has ended, as he lost his cherished one. Thus, he makes a massive decision to abandon life. In any case, when all expectations appear lost, an unforeseen character appears and revives the ability to love in our hero. Indeed, a dog shows up to demonstrate that things don't have to have a dismal completion regardless of whether all turn out badly.
10 To add to the advertisement, Pedigree also came up with a range of fetch toys which have the words "love," "life," "happiness," and "hope" printed on them, and they were sent primarily to influencers who had recently been through tough times. Just like the advertisement, the concept behind it is that whenever people distance themselves from one of the positive aspects of life, such as love, their beloved dog would bring it back. With this fundamental similarity, Pedigree tries to make people considerably more mindful about the significance of adopting a dog, showing exactly how much joy they bring to our lives.
Emotional marketing with an aspect of social good to go with it, Pedigree certainly hit the bullseye with this one. This campaign is in line with the numerous other innovative ideas by Pedigree. They focus on overcoming everything terrible in our lives, especially on social media, by bringing back positivity to our newsfeeds and, in turn, our lives too. It was a small but vital step in doing social good backed by a brilliant marketing campaign that certainly made an immediate impact.
Hallmark Campaign | March Edition
. Everyone needs a dog in their dayto-day existence to help make things a little more clear.
11
Dabur Vatika:
#BraveAndBeautiful
Brand Markive |
March Edition
-SNEHA PATEL CSR ads are something that have now become too mainstream. Nowadays, every brand comes up with ads that talk about social causes. Be it Tata Tea‟s iconic “Jaago Re” campaign which highlighted causes like women empowerment and electoral representation, or Lifebuoy‟s “Help a child reach 5” campaign, which talked about the absence of proper hygiene amongst the people living in rural areas and the resulting consequences that they have to suffer. In these ads, the brands highlighted those causes which aligned with their products. However, Dabur Vatika‟s Brave and Beautiful ad highlighted a reason contrary to its product proposition. The ad showed a bald woman who is a cancer survivor and is gradually returning to her everyday life after battling the severe disease. The ad begins with the woman looking at an old picture of hers in the morning.
She then starts her daily activities like getting her daughter ready for school or preparing breakfast. Afterward, she starts getting ready to go back to her workplace. At first, she tries to hide her bald scalp with a scarf, but she eventually decides to show off her scalp as it is not something to be ashamed of or hidden. At work, her colleagues immediately embrace her and give her a warm welcome, and this welcome puts all kinds of hesitance to rest. Lastly, one by one, all the ladies take off their bindis and place them on the side of her head as an act of warding off negative energy. The film ends with a shot of the lady with the writing, “Some people don‟t need hair to look beautiful.” The ad conceptualized by Lowe Lintas salutes the spirit of cancer survivors.
12 This commercial is not just another marketing activity whipped up by a brand. It is something that is much bigger and bolder.
Vatika has always positioned itself as a product for women of substance. Dabur featured celebrities who have blazed their own trail in the industry and become successful in tune with its positioning strategy. Ads have now become mediums of telling a story of the commoner. It is now about finding heroes in yourself rather than in celebrities. The inspirational story of a cancer survivor losing all her hair which is called the crowning glory of a person, and restarting her life with her loved ones supporting her, portrays the message in the strongest way possible.
March Edition
Like other coconut hair oil brands, Dabur showcased women having long, luscious hair in its commercials. Actors like Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra have been brand ambassadors of the brand. However, with this ad, Dabur treaded on the unconventional path. Having a bald woman as the protagonist of a haircare brand‟s ad is unthinkable, but Dabur accomplished this feat with aplomb.
This ad shatters glass ceilings because of its unconventional approach and emotional message. Usually, hair care commercials convey the message that strong, long hair is the ultimate form of beauty, but the Dabur Vatika ad tells us the exact opposite. The ad film tells us that strong, shiny hair does not equal a beautiful you; rather, your strength defines you.
Brand Markive |
It peeks into their emotions and the odds that a person suffering from cancer faces after winning the battle against the deadly disease. The background song called „Tu faulaad, Tu phool‟ sung by Salim Merchant with music composed by Haneef and lyrics written by Pranav Harihar add a special touch to the commercial. The music provides a beautiful narrative to the story with its melodious tune and meaningful lyrics.
13
Jaydeep Barman & Kallol Banerjee: The Food ‘Rebels’
- SAMBARTA DUTTA
Pioneer |
March Edition
It‟s not often that you dare to leave your stable job to enter a volatile industry. Its even less often that you get to call yourself a disruptor in the segment. That‟s what makes the journey of Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee stand apart from the others. This is the tale of Rebel Foods, formerly known as Faasos and the incredible men who build this venture.
An IIM Lucknow alumnus, Jaydeep Barman, started his career from Pune after completing his MBA in 2000. But the entrepreneurship bug in him led him to quit his job and come up with a Kolkata style roll joint named Faasos with joint partnership with his colleague Kallol Banerjee who also belonged to Jaydeep‟s hometown, Kolkata.
The duo soon faced the struggle to keep the business up and running with low volumes in sales. Barman left India in 2006 to pursue a management degree from INSEAD in France with his partner following the next year. The restaurant business was put in backburner and delegated to hired staff. Post this stint, Jaydeep worked as a consultant in McKinsey and Kallol sold enterprise software at BOSCH Singapore.
It wasn‟t until 2010, that they decided to call it quits and permanently focus on their passion for food. The big break came in the form of $5 Million capital investment from Sequoia Capital in October 2011 and they started expanding to Mumbai and Bengaluru. The next couple of years that followed, saw a major expansion with the aid of technology and increased focus on delivery much on the likes of Dominos Pizza. By 2013 it had become a well known Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain. But the „Hunger‟ in the duo never stopped. In 2014, after 3 years of successful operations, the partners found out that almost 76% of their order volumes came from delivery of food and people didn‟t care where their restaurant was located. That was the lightbulb moment for these enthusiastic entrepreneurs. They saw an opportunity and shut down the high street stores and relocated to interior sections of the cities.
14 Today the platform has gone beyond the traditional food business and come up with its own entrepreneurial Rebel Launcher program for highly enthusiastic entrepreneurs to launch their food brands. This unseemly duo has truly stood out and has brought revolution to the food experience for the customers.
March Edition
The gamble paid off handsomely. Within 24 months from Aug 2018 to early 2020, the brand saw a 4x jump in overall revenue. Every new kitchen became profitable within 3 months since the launch and the total investment would get recovered in 12 months. In 2019 the owners expanded globally by setting up their first outlet in Indonesia followed by that in UAE and UK.
According to Jaydeep, he and Kallol wanted some fresh ideas to implement and run the operations out of the box. To do this they came up with Faasos-Entrepreneurs-inResidence (FER) program where they recruited around 8 people out of almost 1000 applications. These new hires had zero experience in food business but had a tremendous sense of ownership. Today, the owners boast a negligible attrition rate with a proud culture of ownership. The company does not have a head of Human resources and believes that HR is every manager's job.
Pioneer |
By 2016, Barman decided to bite the bullet and come up with the concept of cloud kitchen, which unbeknownst to him, was going to revolutionize food-tech in India. They built a model of centralized kitchen serving multiple brands which shared staffs and raw materials used to prepare food. This not just proved to cut down on fixed cost but was also helpful in consolidating multiple brands of cuisine under one umbrella. To recognize this, Faasos was rebranded as Rebel Foods as its parent company in 2018, with the brand Faasos retaining the Rolls & Wraps business.
15
P&G Barbershop - SURATH BANERJEE P&G is well known for its ad campaigns which strike the right chords with a developing Indian society. With the likes of #ThankYouMa, #Dontletdreamswait, and #Ittakes2 it has successfully won over the emotions associated with its various brands.
More Than Marketing |
March Edition
Old Spice: Old Spice is a famous shaving and fragrance brand. P&G bought it in June 1990. Old Spice in India has a diverse product line, including deodorants, fragrances, shaving items, men's grooming, and many more. New investment in retail: P&G decided to invest in a Brick and Mortar setup, a barbershop under its old spice brand. The store will serve as a haircare business and a content studio for its social media handles.
The location for the shop is 1614 High St. This has been specifically chosen to target the male youth in Ohio. According to P&G: "Every single detail from the front desk to the mural in the back of the shop has been created for a truly memorable experience as we help our guys navigate the seas of manhood with the perfect haircut, style and hair grooming products," Leif Edgar, Old Spice brand director at P&G. In addition to its content studio, the shop will also have a celebrity barber residency. This will provide additional content for its social media handles and followers, including 2.4 Million Facebook fans and more than 110 Thousand TikTok followers.
16 Real-time content: The content studio and celebrity residency provide a constant supply of real-time content to create more engagement. Consumers will get to see real-time content and make informed choices regarding products and services. This feature has also allowed the company to assess the honest opinion that people are having about the brand. The impression and effectiveness created is visible and decisions can accordingly be made.
Consumers will get a better medium to express their opinion and suggestions. They will also get to avail better quality service. In this way, newer channels of interaction will open up.
A platform for product testing: As mentioned earlier, new products will have a readymade ground for testing and generating insights to make necessary changes before the final market launch.
March Edition
The investment in the Barbershop is a crucial signifier of P&G looking forward to adopting a strategy of "Constructive Disruption." Key Marketing Insights A platform for real-time research: The company will get real-time data from consumers to design new products and services in line with the latest demand.
Brand Presence:
More Than Marketing |
This Barbershop will be utilized by old spice to test its new line of products. It will also allow them to interact with their end customers, i.e., the local life.
17
Burger King:
#DatetheWhopper
It’s All About Ad-itude | March
Edition
- SAKSHI JALAN Just a day ahead of valentine's day, Burger King launched the ad campaign of #datethewhopper. More than beautifully scripted, it was very skillfully enacted by Sima Taparia. A unique stand was taken by Burger king India by terming it as a 'season of breakups' while the entire world was ready to celebrate the feast of love on Valentine's Day. This campaign of burger King steers away from all the mush that generally surrounds, urges its customers not to compromise, and aims for better things. In the film Taparia, a sensation of Netflix show Indian matchmaking, asks viewers to 'breakup, end the dry relationship and stop compromising on size'. Sima Taparia adds that her efforts are empty if one keeps compromising. The film ends with her message - break up with the bland, small, dry burger and date the Whopper.
The brand asked Instagram users to come forward and make memes from the video stating the reasons for joining the Whopper circle by ditching the burger. The first and most creative entries of top 800 stood a chance to grab a free Whopper. All they required to do was to tag @BurgerKingIndia using #DatetheWhopper. The two-day contest went live on 12th February. Like other burger king ads, this ad came as an exception and changed the image of love on valentine's day. In this ad, Sima Taparia narrates how spice, excitement, and taste are essential in relationships, just like our burgers. She takes a dig at competitors' burgers, stating them as dull, dry, and boring. Here is what the company CMO had to say about this advertisement :
18 Burger King has always been known for its unusual and out-ofthe-box communication. Burger King ads are always the beat of social media for their provocative tone of voice, tongue-in-cheek humor, unflinching social commentary, and catching the best moment. Whatever burger king is doing, it indeed is working for them commercially, culturally, and most of all, creatively. Be it among competitors or netizens, burger king's Ad in the digital era is all to go gala over.
It’s All about Ad-itude |
Pratik Gupta, Co-Founder of Zoo Media and FoxyMoron, mentioned, that FoxyMoron and Pollen are advocates of leveraging pop culture effectively, which is why they identified Sima Taparia as the perfect 'match' for this campaign. He also stated that is why they have adapted her popular relationship advice to advocating breaking up with regular burgers and putting an (onion) ring on the Whopper. That's the fun of this campaign; it's contextual and extremely relatable. Given how she had gained so much attention, it would also allow the brand to get attention and would turn into an ideal strategy for them.
March Edition
Srinivas Adapa, CMO, Burger King India, in an interview, told that, #DateTheWhopper idea is a continuation of their "It's not a burger, it's a Whopper" campaign. Sima Taparia according to him is the perfect cultural hack, and her role reversal in their campaign is a great Valentine's opportunity to highlight the Whopper proposition.
19
Fevicol:
The Iconic Sofa Campaign - SUMIRAN NARAYAN
Ad-Tales | March
Edition
Fevicol, Asia's most trustworthy adhesives brands, recently celebrated its sixty years of operations. Born in 1959, Fevicol has become a household name that is currently synonymous to unbreakable bonds. Having started with a single product, Fevicol now has over seventy five variants like Marine, HeatX, Hi-per, EzeeSpray and rules the adhesive domain. It launched many innovative products which have completely changed the way furniture is made in India. Over the years, Fevicol has become the preferred choice of the woodworking businesses. Fevicol is known for its ad films which beautifully capture the essence of building strong bonds. To celebrate its 60th year, Fevicol unveiled its "Sofa Campaign." Conceptualized by Ogilvy, Pidilite's creative partner for over thirty years, the new TV ad highlighted Fevicol's journey over the years in its human and humorous fashion.
It showcased the strength of Fevicol keeping in mind the changing paradigms of the Indian social and cultural scenario. But, what went behind this iconic ad campaign? Let's dive deeper. In an interview with economic times-Brand Equity, Adman and filmmaker Prasoon Pandey shared the story behind Fevicol's Sofa film. He said that behind every Fevicol ad scene is just one thing Listening to one's gut. How then did Fevicol put together this extremely creative and iconic Sofa script? The answer was straightforward but very tough to explain. "Pidilite keeps its thinking unbelievably simple, meetings short and treats itself, Ogilvy and Corcoise as one single unit." says Pandey. He added, "In a one-minute exchange, the chairman of Pidilite and MD of Pidilite reminded us that it was time we worked on a new Fevicol advertisement.
20 The ad film took the viewers on a journey of multiple generations through the sofa perspective. The first scene opens in the old era, where a newly wedded couple is heading home with a sofa, gifted to them. As the advertisement progresses, we see the sofa being handed over from one person to another, one family to another and one generation to another.
The closing frame takes us through the sofa's making and how Fevicol is integral to making any furniture. This 90-second ad film is the longest by the brand ever and was aired on leading GECs, digital platforms, cinema and radio. It was the very first time that a brand‟s advertisement was placed as content on platforms like Hotstar, Sonyliv, and Zee5. Fevicol has adopted a unique and bold marketing way known for its innovative and quirky marketing and communications strategy. The way it used uncommon creatives and targeted a younger audience on social media platforms is commendable. And with a fantastic idea like this, it was bound to win hearts.
March Edition
That is precisely how Fevicol pulled off this campaign, with a lot of patience, imagination, gut instinct, and consideration.
The cherry on the cake is the peppy background score in a UP dialect. The ad beautifully manages to show how the sofa has witnessed multiple ups and downs through its lifetime and is still going strong- with that Fevicol bond.
Ad-Tales |
That was the very first meeting we had. The second meeting was seven months later, a 30-minute meeting when we discussed an idea that was approved by all in the first 10 minutes."
21
Hashtag Marketing: Find Yours
- JASH SHAH Before 2007, Twitter acquainted Hashtags to quickly filter the content, which received a more significant response from the users. Promoting the brands has become a directive tool through Hashtag Marketing. Hashtag commercials set up a solid establishment in online media advertising. Hashtags will become well known just when they give a steady exertion on research for the relevant Hashtags. Hashtags are Keyword expressions or words that help to relate everything about that specific idea. The most astonishing aspect of supporting Hashtag promoting is, it markets everything on social sites for Free. In contrast to other advertising, this needs no investments and has a higher reach with the most considerable significance.
Mark-5 |
March Edition
#WantAnR8 by Audi
Some time back, when R8 was released, one of the Twitter clients (Joanne McCoy) let the brand know how gravely she needed to ride an R8 by using #WantAnR8 for her tweet. The brand gave her amazement by letting her drive an R8 for a day. The Hashtag later took off as the brand utilized it to advance the dispatch of their vehicle. Before long, others likewise began using the Hashtag, and the brand amazed a couple of them by allowing them to drive an R8 for a day.
#NationalFriedChickenDay by KFC At the point when #NationalFriedChickenDay began trending on Twitter, KFC leaped to benefit as much as possible from this chance. The Hashtag initially began to drift on Twitter as many food enthusiasts wanted to commit a day to fried chicken. KFC understood that the Hashtag was identified with their image and ran a limited-time crusade around it. It turned into a yearly festival, just like KFC's most well-known hashtag crusade. That year, the brand commended the day by introducing Saw-like drive-through robots. #ShareACoke by Coca-Cola This campaign redefined CocaCola's social media picture. Some time back, the brand thought of sharing a coke by offering customized marks for bottles. Along these lines, clients can gift CocaCola to other people and share Coke with them.
22 The brand likewise launched a site from where clients could arrange their customized Coke. To further lift the mission's permeability, it worked together with stars like Ryan Seacrest and Selena Gomez. It turned into a viral hashtag crusade, and the brand still uses it.
Oreo has unquestionably dominated social media stages like Twitter and Instagram. While you may be acquainted with their most recent missions like #OREODunkSweepstakes or #PlayWithOreo, the #OreoHorrorStories lobby is an unequaled victor. During Halloween, the brand posted various comical vines, parodying some of the most famous horror movie scenes (with Oreo as a lead). It won over their fans and got them trending during the holiday season.
Just like Oreo, running an event or festival-oriented campaign can be very fruitful. If an upcoming festival is related to the brand, a dedicated campaign around it would be a great deal.
Mark-5 |
#OreoHorrorStories by Oreo
Beauty and lifestyle brands frequently need to consider some fresh possibilities while running hashtag crusades. L'Oréal Paris accomplished this while working together with the Golden Globes Awards. Their #WorthSaying effort gave ladies more power and urged them to discuss what matters the most to them. The mission was upheld by well-known famous people like Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively. The hashtag crusade likewise worked out positively for the brand's slogan("Because you're worth it"
March Edition
#WorthSaying by L’Oréal Paris
23
Artificial Intelligence: The one Who Knows
- AJITH MENON As we grow older, we tend to trust less in fellow human beings. Understanding a person is not an easy task as a person consists of many attributes and variables. But with the data floating around in the vast deep world of the interconnected digital network, a digital image can be easily created to understand you as a consumer.
Special Story |
March Edition
With great powers, comes great responsibility Have you ever been freaked out by an advertisement that showed the product that you just thought of buying or even talked to someone about a potential purchase? Artificial intelligence is learning faster with the big data platforms and trying to influence how people buy and when. Artificial intelligence is like an infant at this point. It is still learning the basics of characteristic human behaviors, quantified into data using the age-old analytic methods.
It's been almost ten years since target creating algorithms that focus on tracking customers to find out if they were pregnant using their search pattern, and the company started sending them coupons. This targeting produced paranoia in customers as such things were of a personal context. In one situation, the parents found out their girl, in high school, was pregnant by receiving their coupon.
This created a shockwave in the consumer industry, and now with all the advanced tools, it is possible to predict what a person would buy next year at the same time. One of the crucial areas where the issue of up-front privacy matters is the medical sector. This privacy matters for a person, and the data should be handled with utmost care while delivering advertisements to the masses.
24 Personalized emails are preferred by marketers worldwide, and with the help of AI, the content can be personalized as if a person wrote a whole mail just for the person receiving the mail. Creating a feeling of being cared for increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Intelligent Bots Customer servicing can be exploited to its full potential using AI bots that can conversate with customers with better consistency than a customer service agent. As machines learn about you daily, they might be more familiar with you than with a family member.
AI actively predicts the customers' partiality towards the competitors, and this data can be used to create better customer retention. When a customer even thinks of going to another brand, the AI can use all techniques in hand to prevent it from happening.
March Edition
Creating a personalized environment in the website increases customer engagement and, in turn, brings them back to the platform periodically.
Personalizing emails like never before
Special Story |
AI empowers pay-per-click advertisements with intelligent recommendations and creating personalized ads. With ad delivery optimization, the brands can be specific in targeting their customers.
25
Phygital Marketing: Is It Here To Stay?
- DEEPAK BALAYAN Indeed, today customers do not buy any product or service, but the experience. When the internet was nascent in the early years of this century, it was considered another bubble or fad which will fail to take flight. Still, as the smartphone and internet penetration rose exponentially, it took flight and changed all the retail industry. Moreover, similar is the case with the brick-and-mortar stores as now they are considered redundant, but they also have a vital role when we talk about any brand's holistic presence. Customer
centricity/
Featured Article |
March Edition
Enhancing Advocacy:
Despite everything being available at fingertips because of e-commerce and also the online retail channel of many brands, most customers still get a better experience in shopping while visiting any physical store. They feel that it will give them a real-time understanding of the same.
Ex: In the case of the OnePlus brand, which initially started as an inviteonly product and still calls itself the technology first company, it is crucial that they also have an exclusive physical showroom to make their customers experience the fundamental brand ethos on which the company was built.
Last Mile Connectivity: Today customers not only book the product online, but they are also actively engaged in the whole process of online tracking about the details of delivery. Moreover, with each passing day, the e-commerce platforms add hundreds of pin code areas in their area coverage. However, still, its process is quite lengthy when the supplier is present in another city altogether. Furthermore, Phygital marketing is the perfect solution to reduce customer dissonance. Ex: Croma is one of the largest electronic store chains in India, and they have a vast network of stores across India. When it comes to the online presence, they have covered a vast ground to give tough competition to various online market players.
26 Services Offered: When we make any purchases, we also look at the various other factors like the after-sales services and the Total Cost of Ownership (TOC). It is also an important variable to make any decision.
With the above examples, we have seen that how the brands want to make their presence felt on both the grounds and the blend of Phygital marketing, which is like a marriage between Physical and Digital platform plays a very vital role in becoming the first choice of brand, and it wants to be in the list of evoking a set of brands. Phygital marketing also plays a crucial role in making the brands' omnichannel presence as the brand will be near to the customer. Also, it will be the preferred choice because of the holistic services and ease of shopping in the era of the customercentric market.
March Edition
Ex: Ikea, when it entered the vast Indian market, it was available only online, but now it has stores across India.
Featured Article |
Integrating Technology in Physical Stores: About a decade back, the physical stores were like small unorganized places. Then it was followed by the introduction of the organized players such as Future Retail, Reliance Retail, and D-mart, which have managed the overall processes in operations. However, now we have seen that more of the technology has been integrated to make people more engaging and enhance their shopping experience. Ex: It was never imagined that an online giant like Amazon will ever take the path of physical stores in order to come closer to its customers. However, by looking at retail outlets' power, Amazon Go has also opened as an advanced offline store with cashier-less facilities and a queue-less shopping experience.
27
Phygital Marketing: Is It Here To Stay?
- ABISHEK RANJAN David is a brand owner, and he wants to have more customers for his business. He uses traditional marketing channels to make promotions that cost a lot of money. But with mobile marketing software, he can digitize his offers and improve his sales results. So, why should David digitize his offers? ●Today, 4 out of 5 consumers use their smartphones to shop.
Featured Article |
March Edition
●David can build quality digital databases from his customers. ●Digital coupons have higher redemption rates as compared to the printable ones. ●Since consumers always have their phones with them, they are trackable with detailed statistics.
Using the software, David can digitize his coupons and distribute the same offer by email, SMS, social media, OR codes, website banners, Wi-Fi networks, beacon NFC tags, and mobile applications. Martina is a consumer, and she received a discount coupon from David. She can save the coupon to her mobile wallet, email inbox, or print it. When Martina is walking close to David's shop, she automatically receives a push message on her phone that she has an offer from David's shop. Martina walks inside the shop and redeems the coupon. David can validate the coupon by using one of the validation methods to secure himself from fraud. David sits in his office to monitor all coupon results and see detailed information about his customers. Martina is happy to receive discounts and keeps coming back to David's shop more often. This is Phygital Marketing, all made possible with advancement in Augmented Reality (AR) glasses acting as the new eyes for customers. By overlaying live footage with goods, Augmented Reality ensures that the product is compelling to buyers.
28 The answer to it is Experiential Marketing, which when combined with digital technologies, has been termed as Phygital Marketing by marketers around the globe. When someone buys a television, smartphones, or apparels, the TFT and LED screen allows to check out various features and even try clothes virtually with just a click. Future-ready brands who look forward are responding to their customer's expectations and remaining ahead of the curve. The most critical aspect for any marketeer is the customer experience which is more important than the products. Research suggests that nowadays, buyers spend less time and money on goods and services; instead, they are more concerned and look out for personal and unforgettable memories. Gartner reported that companies investing more in online personalization technology are outselling their competitors by 30%.
Featured Article |
Phygital marketing aims to provide immediacy where experience happens simultaneously in time, provide immersion where the user is included in the experience, and create an interaction where the experience activates the physical and emotional aspects of the purchasing process. Phygital marketing has been existing for over more than 100 years, but then the question arises that how is it possible without the existence of Digital Marketing.
March Edition
It helps them understand if the product suits their needs by offering them close-to-real product visualization. The use of LED screens is evolving, with brands bending their tactics to create a Phygital market room. Different businesses are using it to integrate (digital + physical) product demonstrations in live product demos.
29
Featured Article |
March Edition
Phygital is a modern version of today's omnichannel with diverse options that allow people to come in, experience the comfort of buying from their homes, and digitally try out products. Inculcating hyper-personalization will shift customers from the top of the funnel awareness to aftersales happiness through higher and more effective engagement at every stage of the sales cycle. Trends like AR and VR are very much functional and helpful when we want the customers to experience our new offerings' value. Given that 40% of consumers abandon a website and shop from a rival brand after being overloaded with options, hyperpersonalization aids them in solving this issue by presenting them with only the opportunities they need.
The graph depicts how consumers' interests in the Phygital have shown a constant upward rise since 2015. There was not much to wonder about when it reached its peak in 2020 because by then and even now, more and more brands are trying to offer an experience to the customers without the presence of physical interactions and in-person experience.
30 March Edition
Phygital Marketing is not going anywhere. As technology advances, the methods adopted will also evolve. Modern buyers reside in both physical and digital realms, seamlessly transitioning between the two. To grab their attention and hold their focus, the brands need to do the same. Gen Z and millennials consumers are at the forefront; they push businesses to turn their customer service approach to Phygital strategies.
Featured Article |
Today, people are tech-savvy and multi-connected, using several technologies and networks to satisfy their requirements. With minimum efforts, the buyers now anticipate real-time responses to relevant rewards and expect to receive an absorbing experience. To achieve this, brands have had to analyze and improve the experience they deliver across each medium to thrive to progress into a more sophisticated, intuitive, and customized relationship with their clients.
CALL FOR ARTICLES APRIL 2021 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 month, the articles can be sent on any of the following topics: ● ● ●
The Advent of Blue Ocean Strategy Customer Retention: Brand Equity v/s Brand Affinity Surrogate Advertising: Beating Around the Bush
Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all the references are clearly mentioned. Kindly follow the guidelines given below: 1. 2.
3. 4. 5. 6.
One article can have only one author. Your article should be approximately 800 – 850 (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 April, 2021
/interface_simsr /interface_simsr www.theinterfacesimsr.com /linkedin.com/in/interfacesimsr www.fb.com/simsr.interface