Dear Readers, It gives us immense pleasure to present before you the October 2018 Edition of our glorious The Marksman. We have put together a compendium of interesting articles that would help broaden your perspectives on marketing. We have, in this issue, an interview with Mrs. Vipra Khandelwal, who is a Senior Business Analyst at Ab Mauri India Pvt Ltd. She has had an experience of over 8 years in mapping business requirement and designing customized solutions. For this edition, our cover story is, “Right Time Marketing”. When it comes to marketing, it is rightly said that timing is everything. Real-time marketing has successfully enabled organisations in gaining consumer’s attention and engaging them with the brand by focusing on the timing. The recent shift from this strategy to Right Time marketing is quite evident. Marketers are shifting their focus to consumer engagement at the right time and the right platform where the probability of the conversion is the highest. Our cover story encapsulates this concept beautifully and provides the readers with a meaningful insight into Right Time Marketing. Hearty congratulations to the winner of this month’s Call for Articles, Upasana Ghosh, whose article has been featured in this issue. We also like to applaud the work of Anjali Kallikada who is the runner up this month. We are overwhelmed by the response that we have received from all of you and encourage you to write to us with the same enthusiasm. We would also like to hear back from our esteemed readers on how you found our September edition. We value your feedback as it helps us to constantly improve. Enjoy Reading! Stay with us on https://theinterfacesimsr.com/magazine/ Follow our Facebook page for more updates.
OCTOBER EDITION
INDEX Tweets
01
It’s All About Ad-itude
03
Marketing Faux Pas
05
Cover Story
07
Pioneer
13
Special Story
15
Brand Markive
19
Bookworm
21
Hall-Mark Campaign
23
Kickstart
25
Featured Article
27
Square Head
32
Industry Expert
33
FAUX PAS TWEETS -AVISHA GANDHI
Wendy’s: You Showoff Wendy’s, the burger chain, is one of the most active brands on twitter which uses guerrilla marketing tactics on social media, often making use of its competitors’ ads and errors, slips to make a statement. Wendy’s has been in action for taking a number of digs at McDonald’s.
Wendy’s has made it clear time and again that it uses fresh meat, the following dig was made at McDonald’s after they came up with the Quarter Pounder burgers.
“We like our tweets the same way we like to make hamburgers: better than anyone expects from a fast food joint”
In this tweet, Wendy’s used a meme based on the final scenes from “The Avengers: Infinity War.” The post was welcomed and well acknowledged by twitterboxes and the tweet obtained more than 234,000 likes and 76,000 retweets. 1 MARKSMAN
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FAUX PAS Sorry Vodafone, this time its Jio! “Actor ... well at least some are STILL saying so!!�
Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, the actor who is also the second most followed celebrity on Twitter with 24.7 million followers. It so happened that Mr. Bachchan addressed the issue of not being able to send and receive text messages to the Vodafone twitter handle.
Just when everyone expected Vodafone to address this issue, the official handle of Reliance Jio was the one who made the first cut to Bachchan's tweet. They said that they would be more than happy to help the actor by sending him a Jio sim card with instant activation through the e-KYC home delivery process. But before Bachchan could dwell into this, Vodafone India managed to resolve his issue.
2 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE TELEVISION AD
-AISHWARYA JAIN
Just a day ahead Independence Day, the Ad campaign of “Sadak Suraksha Jeevan Raksha” was launched. Beautifully scripted but more importantly beautifully enacted by Akshay Kumar, the ad is one of the more carefully planned manoeuvres in the astutely orchestrated strategy that is being rolled out to build Akshay Kumar into India’s Mr. Do-Good. It is an awareness campaign where Akshay Kumar has donned a Maharashtra Traffic Police uniform. He can be seen stopping the vehicle and then explaining the consequences of entering a oneway or no entry road. But the swag and aura that he carries while delivering the performance is incredible and unmatched! The use of “Acha ye tumhare baap ki road nahi hai?” with such simplicity and wit at the same time, can be flawlessly delivered by one and only Akshay. This is one of the best ad featuring a celebrity endorsee, result of which is massive reach across the globe to all his fans and followers.
The use of “Acha ye tumhare baap ki road nahi hai?” with such simplicity and wit at the same time.”
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OCTOBER EDITION
PRINT AD
This is the most audacious print campaign “Burning Stores” by Burger King which showed actual BK restaurants on fire next to the headline “Flame grilled since 1954.” The idea of showing one’s brand at its worst possible moment was ridiculously brave, or perhaps bravely ridiculous, with the tie-in to flame-grilling serving as the wink that pulled the ads together. “Burning Stores” simply took this idea to extremes. The pictures of actual burning outlets have been creatively used for the brand promotion and customer attention. Creativity at its best!!
"There’s a sense here of being more playful, more authentic, a sense that you can be a little bit more edgy in your communica -tion.” There’s a sense here of being more playful, more authentic, a sense that you can be a little bit more edgy in your communication. Embracing one’s flaws and imperfections is an act of bravery. This ad comes as an exception which created a corporate image that clearly stands out and happened to be the perfect print ad in this social media age.
4 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FAUX PAS -ASHWATH RAINA
McDonalds:Filet-o-Fish Ad
McDonald’s has pulled a UK TV advertisement that was held responsible for using child bereavement to sell burgers after it courted objections from grief support groups in united kingdom.
“McDonald’s has attempted to speak to its audience via an emotionally driven TV campaign, however, what they have done is exploit childhood bereavement.”
The advertisement in question induced around 100 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority(ASA) and sparked a reaction on social media with people discussing the same on both Facebook and Twitter. 5 MARKSMAN
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FAUX PAS
The ad was produced by the McDonald's UK creative agency Leo Burnett, and tells the narrative of a boy who is seen asking his mother about his late father in a bid to find out what the father-son had in common between them. He seems inquisitive and starts asking his mother about his father’s eye color, sporting prowess and matters of the heart, before his mum divulges that while they may have been different in lot of aspects, but his dad loved McDonald's Filet-O-Fish burgers too. Bereavement charity Grief Encounter said it was contented by brand's decision to remove the advertisement but had created a negative effect larger than the brand could imagine, also noting it had received in-numerous calls from parents of bereaved children over the Ad campaign.
McDonald’s confirmed later it had withdrawn the advertisement and would "review our creative process to ensure this situation never occurs again." The spot was also removed from all media, including TV and cinema, completely and spokesperson came out speaking that It was never their intention to cause any upset. Even though It had already issued an apology for the spot, but that wasn't enough for few audience who took to Twitter to complain.
Dr. Shelley Gilbert, founder and president of Grief Encounter, had said: "McDonald's has attempted to speak to its audience via an emotionally driven TV campaign, however, what they have done is exploit childhood bereavement as a way to connect with young people and surviving parents alike, unsuccessfully".
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COVER STORY RIGHT TIME MARKETING
The consumers today are always online, which means they are connected at all time through one or the other medium. And over past years, a growth in the use of Real-time marketing has been observed. One of the typical examples of real-time marketing is the reminder e-mail, which a consumer receives when a consumer leaves the shopping cart without checking out for payment. But, there are few unmatched examples of realtime marketing like Taco bell’s taco emoji engine, which on tweeting at the brand and including taco emoji sends taco GIFs to the users.
- ALVIRA SAYED
"Real-time marketing has successfully enabled organizations in gaining consumer’s attention and engaging them.”
7 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
COVER STORY
COVER STORY
" It is important to identify and understand the missing pieces of information which will increase the relevance of the communication to the consumers.”
Another example is Oreo which showed the strength of a real-time marketing strategy. During 2013 Super Bowl stadium power outage, the brand tweeted “You can still dunk in the dark”- considered to be one of the smartest tweets ever by a brand. Real-time marketing has successfully enabled organizations in gaining consumer’s attention and engaging them with the brand by focusing on the timing. But recently there is a shift from this strategy to Right-time marketing strategy.
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OCTOBER EDITION
COVER STORY
A huge bulk of user and consumer data is available, which is collected in real time, through which we come to know about their preferences and interests. But, one more important factor is the context which should be paid equal emphasis as timing. Rather than using a pervasive real time promotion always, marketers should shift their focus to consumer engagement at right time and the right platform when the probability of converting is the highest. There are 4 R’s of right-time marketing, which, when justified can help in coming to a solution to retain the consumer’s attention. First, The Right person: It is important to find out the right person to target. This can be done by collecting data through various platforms and knowing about the person’s demographic, psychographic and, socio-economic characteristics and then determining the strategy that can be Price used to approach the person. Big data analysis, feedbacks, in-market purchase signals are some ways to collect the consumer data. Second, The Right Channel: Now that the right person is identified, it is necessary to look for the right channel to communicate with the consumer. There are a number of channels used by consumers to research about a product and they use many platforms through which a communication can happen between a brand and them. So a right platform is to be chosen for communication with them. Some of them might be more active on Instagram, while others on a different platform. So the product promotion customized to them should be sent on these platforms to increase the likelihood of the conversion.
“If the customer interaction is done on the right time, it becomes an opportunity for the marketer and the possibility increases to the maximum and in turn it may also reduce the chances of churning, increase the customer loyalty and, boost the sales.”
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COVER STORY
“To identify the marketing strategy, some factors have to be determined such as the characteristics of the customer by knowing the history of that customer with the company, the buying patterns, inclination towards certain kinds of products.�
Third, The Right Moment: After ensuring that the right person is to be informed on the right platform, one must ensure that the communication reaches the consumer on the right time. Instead of bombarding the consumers with the messages all the time and at all the platforms, choose the right timing according to the data analysis done, when there is the highest probability of their conversion. Fourth, The Right Answer: By accumulating and integrating the right data about the consumer to know about their behaviour in the moment, the right answer could be identified to meet the expectations of the consumers. If the customer interaction is done on the right time, it becomes an opportunity for the marketer and the possibility increases to the maximum and in turn it may also reduce the chances of churning, increase the customer loyalty and, boost the sales.
10 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
COVER STORY
COVER STORY It is important to identify and understand the missing pieces of information which will increase the relevance of the communication to the consumers. Today, every now and then a notification or an alert is received each with some promising offers and the use of this extra information can help the marketers to convince their consumers with pertinent information specifically targeted for them.
To identify the marketing strategy, some factors have to be determined such as the characteristics of the customer by knowing the history of that customer with the company, the buying patterns, inclination towards certain kinds of products and to know whether or not the trends on social media influence the customer. Other than these, it should be known that which platform does the customer prefer for purchasing- online or offline, how loyal is the customer to the brand and how much does the customer spend in general. Also, if the customer makes more purchases when some offers are availed or visits the online or offline store without any discounts and coupons and, what are the reviews for the regular stock. When all these questions are answered the marketers get a clear idea of how to approach the customers. There are several examples of brands which have come up with excellent right time marketing strategies such as Baskin Robbins. When the iPhone X was launched and the prices were touching skies, Baskin Robbins came up with a meme saying “Apple is out of reach? Go for Mango,� and it certainly won our hearts. This witty marketing got the attention of many at the right time. 11 MARKSMAN
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COVER STORY
COVER STORY
Not just this, while millions of people tuned in to watch Prince Harry marrying Meghan Markel, hearts of almost all the ladies must have been broken but Ikea took the advantage of this opportunity to save the day with their chair called Harry and said in a creative “Don’t worry, Harry is still available.” Not just this, it also promoted the Pruta food container by saying “When you’re stuck with leftover cake from 600 wedding guests.” The ad ran after the day of wedding and reminded the people that they are there for their everyday problems. When it comes to creativity, one brand that comes to our minds is Amul. It is the master of making well thought out puns on buzzing events. From paying tribute to the president to replicating the famous wink of Priya Prakash and, from movies to politics, Amul has shown us that it is the leading edge of creativity and can go to any extent to sell its ‘utterly butterly delicious’ products and specifically the butter. Such brands have done excellent job in grabbing the attention of the consumers while targeting the right audience, on the right platform and at the right moment. And today, when the customer is online 24x7, Social media marketing is crucial to build the presence of the brand and make a connection with the user base on those platforms. And many companies have successfully built their social media fan base by knowing what their consumers want. And sometimes it is important to be funny for immediate reaction of the consumers. With innovative ideas and analysis, right time marketing can help the marketers in effective marketing communication.
12 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
PIONEER -
AMAN PANDEY
BRIAN ACTON Brian Acton was born on 17th Feb 1972 in Michigan (USA). His mother ran a freight shipping firm. She was the one who advised Acton to start his own business. He has a degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. Earlier he also studied in University of Central Florida and University of Pennsylvania. Brian Acton started his career from the scratch in the year 1992. He first worked with Rockwell International as a system administrator. He later went on to work as a test engineer with companies like Adobe Systems and Apple. In the year 1996, Brian Acton was hired by Yahoo Inc. He was the 44th employee of Yahoo. In the year 1998, Jan Koum was hired by Yahoo Inc. who later became the co-founder of WhatsApp along with Brian Acton. Brian is an American Computer Programmer and an Internet Entrepreneur.
“Close to the EDGE by Yes. Such a Fun tune to play on Bass�
13 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
PIONEER
Brian was rejected by both Facebook and Twitter in the year 2009 for getting a job. A couple of years later, not letting the disappointment sway him, he possessed an entrepreneurial spirit with an optimistic attitude, that better things are still on his way. He founded one of the most used smartphone application today, Whatsapp. Ironically, he later sold it to Facebook for a whopping $19 Billion in shares and cash. If he would’ve got selected there at Facebook or twitter then there would’ve been no “Whatsapp” for us. Till the time he was working with Facebook for “Whatsapp”, he said that India is a great marketplace for them to test the network with low Internet Connectivity, especially the functioning in low end devices and how they can make any product better and data efficient. He quit Facebook on November 2017 to join Signal Foundation, he said that there is a great need of ensuring privacy and secure communication.
“People want chat histories. They’re a permanent testimony of a relationship.”
Brian Adam, on 21st March tweeted #deletefacebook. This tweet was in response to the privacy loss of 50 million Americans by the firm Cambridge Analytica that used Facebook as a tool in order to promote Trump Campaign in 2016. Brain quit Facebook because of its leniency towards the privacy of its users. Brian Acton’s life is an excellent example of hard work and determination. His story teaches that you never know what is coming in your life next, just don’t forget to try harder tomorrow, as one rejection can push you to next level of acceptance, which is in the case much more valuable in all the possible ways.
14 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
SPECIALSTORY STORY SPECIAL -MOHAK SHAH FLIPKART VS AMAZON
We live in a day and age where activities that probably took hours or days to complete are now just a click away. Do you want to book a movie/event ticket? Just use BookMyShow. Want to watch your favourite movie? You have Netflix for that. Want to stay updated with what your overseas relatives are up to? Use Facebook! The world has become smaller and connectivity is ever growing with advance in technology happening every single day. The Mobile Phone has become a very essential part of human life, one which people are having a hard time letting go of. And this advancement in technology has now given rise to brand rivalries across many verticals in the market. There have been many trends and fads over the years when it comes to applications that make human work easier. One such type of application is The Online Shopping Stores. While on average a person had to travel 15-20 minutes away to a grocery shop to buy his/her groceries and then work extremely hard to bring back everything, now the process just takes a click to get things delivered at your doorstep.
“Some of the biggest names in this vertical are Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart (now bought by Walmart), Shopclues, Snapdeal etc.�
15 MARKSMAN
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SPECIAL STORY
“ Industry witnessed higher growth this time compared to last year,” said Ujjwal Chaudhry. This was driven by multiple drivers, key being a larger shopper base from tier 2+ cities. Affordability and loyalty schemes introduced by e-tailing players also played a huge role.”
The above statistics show that E-Commerce has become a big part of the Millennial Lifestyle. Spending hours at the superstores does not make much sense nowadays. There are many E-Commerce Companies that are now going head to head nationally as well as globally with the aim of capturing markets around the world. They have an incessant drive to do better than the other at any cost, hence leading to most of these companies being in losses. Some of the biggest names in this business are Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart (now bought by Walmart), Shopclues, Snapdeal etc. These players have been there in the market for years now, trying to figure out strategies to make sure they do better than the others. This has led to cut throat competition in the market, leading to decreasing prices of products. The month of October 2018 witnessed two of the E-Commerce giants go head-to-head in their Festive Sale Offerings. Flipkart went ahead in full flow with its ‘Big Billon Days’ Sale, while Amazon had its Great Indian Festive Sale. Both offered products at the lowest of prices, which lured in a lot of Indian audiences. Indian people are very price conscious, and these discounted offerings have worked really well in getting even the people who were apprehensive about E-Commerce stores in India to start buying online.
16 MARKSMAN
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SPECIAL STORY The marketing strategies used by both the companies were equally interesting. Flipkart seemed to have concentrated more on Above-The-Line (ATL) Marketing while Amazon paid attention to both ATL and BTL. Flipkart’s strategy was to rope in influencers/celebrities from all the different parts of the country in order to appeal to people staying in each and every corner of India. Flipkart managed to get stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt who have a mass appeal and leave an impression in the minds of people, also they roped in stars like Sunil Chhetri and Sourav Ganguly, who are idolized in the North-Eastern States. They also managed to get Diljit Dosanjh, who is extremely popular in the NorthWestern states, to advertise their Big Billion Days Sale and signed up other stars like Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza etc to increase their reach. ‘Ab India Hoga Budget Se Mukt’ became very familiar among the population of India. While Flipkart spent humongous amounts to rope in a plethora of stars, Amazon tried to use some YesterYear Classics to give the audiences a sense of nostalgia and depended on the selling power of these Stars. The First Advertisement saw the 90s superstar of Bollywood, Govinda, dancing to tune of his classic song from the 90s, while the ones released later on saw Shilpa Shetty dancing on a rendition of ‘Chura ke dil mera’ while Karishma Kapoor endorsed the Sale by grooving to a version of the smash hit ‘Tan Tana Tan’ Flipkart clearly won this battle as their advertisements got a lot more recognition and were imprinted in the minds of the Indian Audience. The advertisements were absolutely everywhere: Be it Google, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even Saavn. Such aggressive marketing war has rarely been seen in a country like India before.
October witnessed two of the ECommerce giants go headto-head in their Festive Offerings. Flipkart went ahead in full flow with their festive sales
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SPECIAL STORY
Flipkart’s strategy was to rope in influencers/ celebrities from all the different parts of the country in order to appeal to peope staying in each and every corner of India
Amazon outperformed Flipkart on the digital side though. Amazon managed to bid and get the highest ad rank on almost all the advertising networks. Amazon paid so much attention to their online strategy that they ranked higher than Flipkart even on the ‘Big Billion Day’ Sale keywords for almost all the days. Amazon also was ahead in terms of the display as well as native advertisements that were published across the digital ecosystem across India. “The industry witnessed higher growth this time compared to last year,” said Ujjwal Chaudhry, engagement manager at RedSeer. This was driven by multiple drivers, key being a bigger shopper base from tier 2+ cities. Affordability and loyalty schemes introduced by e-tailing players also played a huge role in converting the visitors into shoppers. Customers seem to have given up on their ‘try before buy’ thinking by becoming more inclusive about brands that are available online only. The fact that Flipkart and Amazon have already surpassed last year’s festive numbers in the first 2 days speaks volumes! This ‘Clash of Titans’ India is surely enjoying. While this war is far from over, the only winner here seems to be the customer!
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OCOTBER EDITION
BRAND MARKIVE -SHAIVEE SHEKHAR
PEPSI: THE GAME CHANGER PepsiCo does not need an introduction, mostly because its red, white and blue logo is one of the most recognised logos around Pepsi’s red, the world. white and Originally called ‘Brad’s Drink’, it was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in the early 1893, in New Bern, North Carolina. It blue logo is had started off as a drink which was sold at his drugstore. He had one of the envisioned this drink as a fountain drink that would help in most digestion and boost energy. recognised After receiving positive response for his drink, he began to logos around advertise it in 1898 and renamed the drink to Pepsi-Cola. The the world Pepsi-Cola company was founded in 1902. After it had taken off in United States, the company decided to export the drink to Mexico in 1907. Post World War I, the company went through a rough patch, during which it was reorganised and reincorporated on several occasions in the 1920s. The company invested in sugar and was declared bankrupt in 1923 due to the collapse of sugar prices. In 1931, Pepsi was taken over by Charles G Guth. Guth was also the founder of Loft Inc, a candy manufacturer and a soda fountain chain. He revamped the company, had a chemist formulate a new drink, set up new bottling new operations and began merchandising hugely successful 12-ounce bottle for five cents, twice what Coke offered in its 6-ounce bottle. This 12-ounce bottle was cleverly advertised by Pepsi as “twice as much for a nickel.” This jingle became an instant radio. This went on to be recorded in 55 languages was amongst the most effective ads of the 20th century by the Advertising age. Its popularity continued to increase even in the Post War era. In the 1960’s it increasingly started targeting baby boomers. This was marked by its first ad “Pepsi Generation” which appealed to the younger demographic. This was followed by Pepsi launching its first diet soda, which was also targeted at young people. For their more mature consumers they came up with a series of “Pepsi Challenge” commercials and in store tastings.
19 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
BRAND MARKIVE
The company evolved in different ways. Pepsi went on to acquire Mountain Dew in 1964, and later merged with the snack manufacturer Frito Lay. Pepsi also touched the milestone in 1974, when it became the first US product to be produced and sold within the U.S.S.R.
Now, Pepsi has become bigger and more diversified way beyond what Caleb Bradham could have imagined. In addition to the Classic Pepsi Cola, consumers even have the option of Diet Pepsi, plus varieties without caffeine, without corn syrup, flavoured with Cherry or Vanilla. Pepsi now also competes in the lucrative sports drink market with Gatorade, Amp energy drinks, and Starbucks coffee beverages.
“Twice as much for a nickel” became one of the most effective ads of the twentieth century”
THE LATEST PEPSI LOGO
20 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
BOOKWORM - ALISHA SINGHVI
THE LOST ART OF CLOSING According to Anthony Iannarino, many sales professionals lack the art of productive conversations with clients, even though seller’s word makes or breaks sales. “The Lost Art of Closing” is a magnificent piece that makes it a must read for every aspiring sales or marketing professional. It outlines his well developed closing strategies, provides numerous field-tested conversational nuggets that any sales professional can use in order to attract and retain clients. “Always” or “Never” Be Closing? Finding the best out of many ways to close a sale can at times be confusing for a salesperson. There are many recommendations that are stated to resolve such dilemma of “Always be closing” or “Never be closing”. In such cases, What does a salesperson ought to do when faced with such conflicting choices? Sellers often get terrible advice, not just from frauds or inexperienced poseurs, but also from the veterans in the field. Pushy, manipulative salespeople usually work the always-be-closing side of the sales street. That advice usually feeds their insatiable hunger for commission. Such salesperson are usually more focused on luring the clients to agree to commitments even before they’ve gained their trust, delivered value added services or earned permission to even make such requests. They often end up rolling over their client’s often-legitimate concerns and feel that they are immaterial. Although, the tide shifted with the emergence of social selling, content marketing and inbound sales. The sellers are no longer in-charge and the cards have shifted in the hands of the clients. Hence, these salespersons have started opting for a completely opposite approach of “ Never be closing” tactic, where the seller passively puts client in charge of the selling process, which may meander along and thus never amount to a concrete deal.
“Sales can be a very rewarding career because, properly done, it requires that you help people get results that they couldn’t have achieved without you.” 21 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
“ A good salesperson now sounds like a good general manager, and someone who could work in their client’s company. They have a greater depth gravitas.” The author has given great importance to The Power of Commitment and stated that failure to each commitment that the seller makes to the client, slower the selling process and can even kill the deal. It defines the various kinds of commitment that any efficient sales person ought to make in the course of the complete selling process.
“Sales can be a very rewarding career because, properly done, it requires that you help people get results that they couldn’t have achieved without you.”
The commitment for TIME, EXPLORE, CHANGE, COLLABORATE, BUILD CONSENSUS, INVEST, REVIEW, RESOLVE CONCERNS, DECIDE and EXECUTE is elaborated by the author. The startling piece of work by the author brings forth six crucial factors of a proper mind-set that are important apart from the right sales approach. These factors are confidence, caring nature, persistence, speaking from a client’s mind, embracing concerns and the ability to realizing other’s point of concern.
This book refines the concept of “Sales Advances” and goes beyond the micro aspects of sales by suggesting a logical sequence to the effective and efficient making of profitable sales for both ends. It is a fantastic reference and tool for every new or experienced salesperson and simply hits the bulls-eye. Tactful, specific and applicable advice in a minimum amount of words. All in an area that every sales professional can find value. 22 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN -
RITESH KAUSHIK
KELLOG’S - NOURISH YOUR DREAMS Kellog’s has recently come up with a new campaign that speaks of relatively different issue that many other brands have not touched upon well, especially in the way this campaign did, called Nourish your dreams. It features Sania Mirza who is now an expectant mother, speaking to her to be born baby about how the world outside is like in terms of the expectations and stereotypes that exist even from a child because of his or her background. She asks the child to be fearless and to enjoy full freedom in choosing his or her profession as per his or her wish, without being concerned about the child’s famous parentage.
“Kellogg’s new ad campaign shows the relation between a mother and her to be born child, relating it with brand offering.”
“Kellogg’s as a brand, truly celebrates this rejuvenated mind-set of people who strive towards a better day and a better quality of life. I feel our brand partners in their daily triumph of eating better by providing them with the right nourishment for their day. Therefore, when I came across this opportunity, I thought it was a great way to celebrate #NourishYourDreams where a mother reassures her future child that she will continue to nourish his/her dream despite pressure from peers and society,” shares Sumit Mathur, Director Marketing (CMO) – India at Kellogg Company.
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The campaign is simple yet very interesting as it puts a point across so well. The relation of a mother and her would be child has been shown in such a manner, that viewers - especially the women who are in an expecting stage – feel an urge to listen to the conversation. Featuring Sania Mirza in specific has also been a major cause of adding to this relatability is that people want their children to touch the goals they have in their own ways. The campaign has connected well with the new parents and has reached 2 million+ views across platforms in a short span of time.
“Kellogg’s as a brand, truly celebrates this rejuvenated mind-set of people who strive towards a better day and a better quality of life.”
With Diwali around the corner and majority of the brands trying to add the same element, this campaign does get extra points for its uniqueness and having something relevant and relatable to show except for Diwali.
24 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
KICKSTART - AMIRTHAVARSHINI
MEESHO A few years after graduating from IIT-Delhi, batchmates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal founded Meesho, a hyperlocal, on-demand fashion marketplace, or the “Swiggy for fashion” as is called by them. Meesho enables small businesses and individuals to start their online stores via various social media channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram etc. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and was one of the only three Indian companies to be selected for Y Combinator in 2016. In Feb 2018, Forbes India featured Meesho’s founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in its 30 Under 30 list of young achievers.
“The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and was one of the only three Indian companies to be selected for Y Combinator in 2016.”
The start-up was also one of the growing Indian businesses to be profiled by Forbes Asia in the same year. In April 2018, Meesho was selected as a part of the first batch of Google Launchpad’s ‘Solve For India’ program for start-ups building technology solutions for unique Indian challenges. What traders and manufacturers have to do is create a marketplace on the Meesho app, while “resellers”, who are mostly housewives, promote and sell products from this marketplace within their own social network. They link their Facebook pages to Meesho in order to set up a mobile store. They then use messaging services like WhatsApp to chat with customers and can close the payment by sending them a payment gateway link through the messaging service. 25 MARKSMAN
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KICKSTART
�The platform is growing at a rate of 40 percent Month-OnMonth and around 1,000 sellers and 30,000 resellers are listed in it.� Sellers are charged a commission which is the source of revenue for the company and deliveries are taken care of by Meesho. The platform is growing at a rate of 40 percent Month-on-Month and around 1,000 sellers and 30,000 resellers are listed in it. Beyond the transaction itself, Meesho also alerts sellers when potential customers are viewing their store on the platform thereby giving them a chance to interact with the customers while it condenses new product listing alerts into a single message per day which is sent using a Facebook Messenger bot. This removes the irritating WhatsApp spam since only a fraction of products are relevant to a customer and could deliver a more qualitative interaction and, ultimately, sales.
26 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FEATURED ARTICLE -Upasana Ghosh
IIM Nagpur
B2I and its Implication B2I is the new buzz word in marketing strategy. But it has existed long before even when it was popular. We all know a vegetable vendor from our childhood days who would tell our mothers that he has kept aside some vegetables separately, especially for her. Later with digital penetration, Mail Merge leveraged the data and connected person’s name with the mail and everyone was awestruck. B2I evolved in Call centres as well. When a person would call to register a complaint but the agent already anticipates the reason for the call even before he utters a word based on previous data of user.
“Customer is king but data is its foundation. When a customer experiences exclusive treatment, it establishes a new bond with its provider.”
Customer is king but data is its foundation. When a customer experiences exclusive treatment, it establishes a new bond with its provider. This bond which is created, becomes lifelong connection. Incident of Lt. Russi Mody, chairman and managing director of Tata Steel is a great example here. Once when Russi Mody was entering his office, he stops his car by a worker and asks him: “Rahim, how is your father after operation?” Rahim was awestruck that a person of Mody’s stature has connected with him. This not only created a new bond with the employee but a behaviour to which Rahim will definitely be indebted forever. 27 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FEATURED ARTICLE
“People want themselves to be counted not as a mere number in the revenue/sal es growth but to be treated as a person with unique choice.”
Data has insights and it has got sophisticated. Personalised marketing is all about storing the data, gathering the data and pulling the data when needed at right time. In today’s world where there are too many choices for customer and products have become almost homogenous with very little difference, it has become hard for customer to make choices fast. People want themselves to be counted not as a mere number in the revenue/sales growth but to be treated as a person with unique choice. In a survey conducted by AgilOne, 79% of US customer stated that they expected personalised experience, whether it is an alert about a new product that matches their interests, a refill reminder, or VIP customer recognition. 28
MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FEATURED ARTICLE
More than half of consumers in the US and UK expected e-commerce sites to remember their past purchases. According to Accenture's 2018 Personalization Pulse Check report, nearly 48 percent of consumers – an increase over 40% said they have left a brand’s website and made a purchase elsewhere, because they were overwhelmed by too many options when trying to make a purchase decision. Accenture found that 73% of customers are generally alacritous to share their data with brands, and the way brands have communicated with them felt "too personal".
“Accenture found that 73% of customers are generally alacritous to share their data with brands”
Personalisation is about use of data to make life easier for customer. 4R’s is marketing is the best tool for personalisation: recognise, remember, recommend and relevance. These elements guarantee the customer gets integrated with your brand. With huge data available to achieve the goal comes greater challenges.
29 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FEATURED ARTICLE
“Nike created Run Club which connected customer with a purpose. The purpose was to encourage users to run even in the most difficult situations.�
The major challenges are how to leverage technology, organise the data and operationalise the decision. With the right data, we can capture the right market segment. Millennials or Gen Y segment, which is highly active on social media and uses internet extensively, is easy to target because their data can be captured easily. They want things more personalised than other segments and appreciate all forms of personalisation.
Technology has led to digitisation. Digitisation has led to customer attraction. Contextuality has hence become an important factor. Hyper personalisation is the evolution of customer engagement. It has powered furious growth of brands like Amazon, Netflix and Spotify. It has given customer customised retail experience. This incentive has led to higher retention of customer. The value proposition for customer thus created, is sustained for a longer time period. Nike created Run Club which connected with customer with a purpose. The purpose was to encourage users to run even in the most difficult situations. The Nike+Run app is free and allows user connect with other people and in return motivates them to continue their running. The updated App had a lot of features and users could set everything according to their own preference. Nike was thus successful in getting closer relationship with its customers. 30 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
FEATURED ARTICLE
FEATURED ARTICLE
Customer will look for protection of his data and he seeks that in the brand. With Right to Privacy, a proper data protection framework is important. The customer has the right to know how much of their data is being used. The customerrelationship will scale the performance of personalised marketing with time only when the relationship between customer and brand is scaled. And this relationship will scale only with the advent of trust. The future of personal marketing is not just in B2I but B2B as well. Understanding the different stages of lead nurturing, based on customer behaviour, is a key success factor in driving more B2B engagement. This will surely create implication on how the business create experiences for its user in future years. Thus, the data when used in right way can create results with huge ripples!
“The customerrelationship will scale the performance of personalised marketing with time only when the relationship between customer and brand is scaled. And this relationship will scale only with the advent of trust.�
31 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
SQUARE HEAD SQUARE HEAD - ANURADHA IYER
32 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
INDUSTRY EXPERT -VINAYAK SHARMA
MRS. VIPRA KHANDELWAL Mrs. Vipra Khandelwal has had an experience of over 8 years in mapping business requirements, designing customized solutions with strong analytical skills and ability to analyze business practices and define optimal procedures. Currently, Mrs. Khandelwal is a Senior Business Analyst at Ab Mauri India Pvt Ltd. She is an ardent analyst, with a flair for adapting quickly to the dynamic business environments; adopting pragmatic approach in improvising on solutions and resolving complex business issues. I was able to get wonderful insights from Mrs. Khandelwal in context of planning and executing marketing strategies and the opportunities for MBA graduates in the coming years. Some questions that she addressed are
“If you’re starting in your first-ever communication s position, then I suggest that you read as much as possible. Social Media Today is a great resource.”
Q. Since you are in the field of marketing and strategy from last 8 years, what are the tips you want to give to a MBA student? A: You will benefit greatly from reading the latest news on digital strategy. Technology changes really quickly and you need to stay ahead of the curve! If you use outdated social media strategies, then your reach will suffer. If you’re starting in your first-ever communications position, then I suggest that you read as much as possible. Social Media Today is a great resource. They track the latest updates in social media platforms. Q: What are the roles you perform in your organization? A: My major role is to consolidate the Budget for the three business units to build and anchor the annual budget for India. Along with it, my role is also to anchor the budget consolidation for South and South East Asia region. Apart from that, I anchor quarterly forecast reports and analysis of variances v/s budget for South and South east Asia region and develop the monthly report, to explain the variances of previous year with detailed breakdown of understanding of reasons, with robust variance analysis. These are major roles I am supposed to perform.
33 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
INDUSTRY EXPERT
“The business analyst career path tends to vary, as do the descriptions
from job to job.�
Q: For a MBA student, what are opportunities as a business analyst? A: Most IT jobs have a clear, specific job description and career path. However, the business analyst career path tends to vary, as do the descriptions from job to job. Most IT jobs have a clear, specific job description and career path. However, the business analyst career path tends to vary, as do the descriptions from job to job. If you have these qualities, then there are certainly multiple opportunities as a business analyst.
34 MARKSMAN
OCTOBER EDITION
CALL FOR ARTICLES FOR MARKSMAN NOVEMBER 2018 “Writers are always selling somebody out" --Joan Didion The Marksman provides one and all the opportunity to discover their hidden talents in the literary field through the call for articles. For the upcoming month, the articles can be sent on any of the following topics:
• Evangelism Marketing • Guerrilla Marketing • Marketing 4.0 * Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all the references are clearly mentioned. Kindly follow the guidelines given below: 1. One article can have only one author. 2. Your article should be approximately 800 – 850 (strictly adhere to the word limit). 3. The article must have relevant pictures that can be used to enhance the article. 4. Font Type: Gill Sans MT 5. Font Size: 14 6. Send in your articles in .doc/.docx format to marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu 7. Subject Line: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year. 8. 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: 25th November , 2018
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