The Marksman October 2019 Edition by The Marksman

Dear Readers,

It gives us immense pleasure to present before you the October 2019 Edition of our glorious magazine, The Marksman. We have put together a compendium of interesting articles that would help broaden your perspectives on marketing. For this edition, our cover story is, “The Rise of Smart Assistance”. Artificial intelligence emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. Anticipating customer's next move and improving the customer journey leads to discovering functions enabling the generation of suitable outputs from respective inputs. Hearty congratulations to the winner and the runner up of this month’s Call for Articles, Punyakrit Ranawat (Welingkar Institute Of Management) and Manisha Modi (SIMSR) respectively, whose article has been featured in this issue. 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 October 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 Kickstart

Tweets

Marketing Faux Pas

Cover Story

Pioneer

Brand Markive

Special Story

More Than Marketing

Hall-Mark Campaign

It's All About Ad-itude

Bookworm

Featured Articles

Squarehead

KICKSTART -ABDUL MANNAN

RIVIGO Founded in August 2014, Rivigo is one of the fastest growing start-ups in India which provides express surface logistics all over the country. Rivigo has reached a headcount of close to 1700 employees in addition to a fleet of around 4000 truck drivers (the company refers to the drivers as Pilots) which are serving some of the biggest sectors across the Automobile, Pharma, Cold Chain, E-Commerce and Textile industries. Trucking logistics firm Rivigo is the eighth Indian startup to become a unicorn — valued a billion dollars or more — this year, after it raised $4.9 million from a South Korean fund, KB Platform Fund, according to regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Rivigo operates on a very unique operation strategy known as driver relay model or RAAS in which a single shipment is carried by multiple truck drivers. It uses various algorithm to allocate different driver to carry out operations depending on the availability of shipment ensuring that the drivers’ returns home at night. This algorithm uses intelligent driver allocation system to pick the right candidate for a duty based on multiple parameter including equitable distribution of driving hours, transit hours, and rest hours

Rivigo Services has raised $65 million in its latest round of funding by private equity firm Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners.

1 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

KICKSTART

The algorithm also considers driver performance and his driving behaviour for the job. This relay model being recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark office is an endorsement of our pilot-first model predicated on innovation at a technological and human level said Gazal Kalra, co-founder, Rivigo. This relay model decreases the transit time by 50-70% ensuring safety of the drivers and maintaining their productivity.

Rivigo is investing heavily in developing technology automation and machine learning with a belief that this will increase efficiency lower cost and would bring reliability in logistics sector. Rivigo has also started hiring algorithm trading professionals as well as artificial intelligence (AI) talent.

Rivigo becomes eighth unicorn startup of 2019, valued at $1.05 billion from $950 million in February last year 2 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

TWEETS TWEETS - Vyom Bhatnagar

Connection Lost, so is the trust!!! It started with JIO charging as per new rules of IUC, and it suddenly became the talk of the town. The user’s backlash was visible on social media and it was huge, and the competitors even take a dig at Reliance, however Jio tried to respond but it was not apt. In the consumer-oriented market where your product is dominant because of the pricing structure and you have mentioned that you are committed to give the product/services for free then charging even a 6 paisa is out of the question.This is the first mistake Jio did, and the second was it didn’t clarify properly to its customers. Airtel,Vodafone sees this is an opportunity and they have taken this to social media with some “savage tweets”, they clearly hit the marketing strategy of Jio.

Airtel, Vodafone sees this is an opportunity and they have taken this to social media with some “savage tweets”, they clearly hit the marketing strategy of Jio.

3 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

TWEETS

The fact that interconnect is a settlement between operators and not a consumer pricing matter. JIO need to cross some extra efforts to regain the trust .

TWEETS Reliance Jio responded Then it’s the time of Jio to respond, and they did but again finishing of Airtel was awesome when they quoted “You look cute in our Colours”. This dig was so much fun for Social Media Users. This latest chapter of telecom battles is now being fought on social media with JIO lagging and Airtel taking the lead. These company need to understand public perception is utmost importance here and there is always a connection between the customer and company. In this case the connection was lost, and the end-user did not take it in good manner. The fact that interconnect is a settlement between operators and not a consumer pricing matter. JIO need to cross some extra efforts to regain the trust .

4 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FAUXFAUX PASPAS -FAIQA SHAIKH

DOLCE & GABBANA : FASHION>PEOPLE ? The Italian Luxury Fashion house founded in the year 1985, catering to the fashionistas and the elites of the world for decades, came under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons in the year ending 2018. Fashion just like food has the potential to unite the world in more ways than one. People can relate to fashion. When marketing for the same becomes culturally insensitive companies face huge backlash.

Being Fashion Forward is one thing and being culturally sensitive is another.There are ways of opening new horizons for people without being condescending. Dolce & Gabbana had planned for the biggest fashion event in their history, a one hour ode to China ‘The Great Show’. Their intentions were to penetrate the Chinese markets and grow the brand in this nation. What started out as a business strategy to grow markets turned horribly sour when they launched a video campaign on multiple platforms. Featuring an Asian woman whose eyes were purposely narrowed to make her look more authentic, the videos aimed at introducing China to the European culture via food. The woman was clad in Dolce & Gabbana clothes while she clumsily tried to use chopsticks, referred to in the video as ‘small tiny tools’ to eat pizza, spaghetti and cannelloni 5 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FAUX PAS

The video narrative was in standard mandarin done by a male voice but had an extremely condescending tone and also included hints of sexually suggestive lines. Social Media users all over the globe began condemning this marketing attempt, calling it condescending, culturally insensitive and racist. Under worldwide backlash Dolce & Gabbana removed the video immediately from all its platforms, but the damage was already done. People began considering this brand as one which had no respect for culture or women. ‘The Great Show’ was cancelled as D&G faced a total boycott in China.

A PR mishap can cost a brand its entire reputation, the loyalty of an entire nation as well as a lot of money already invested. Brands should think twice before releasing any media.

Only when the founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana came out with a public apology to the entire nation and the fashion industry did matters come to a rest.

This marketing Faux Pas of D&G teaches us an important lesson, that before you think of people as potential consumers, you need to think and treat them as fellow human beings. Equality is the basis of all transactions and relations.

6 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

COVER STORY - Mohit Nagdev

Smart Speakers and Voice Assistants : For Better or For Worse The digital age has given rise to various new technologies . One of these innovative technological development are Smart speakers and Voice assistants . These are devices which listen to our voice commands and assist us in those tasks through their speaker output like listening to music , asking about weather conditions and what not . The use of such devices like Alexa , Google Assistant, etc. has been increasing rapidly . These devices offer a great way of user-friendly interaction Ex- users need not to press any button. It can be really helpful for people who are not technologically updated such as old people who can simply call out to the devices and implement tasks . Keeping the elderly in mind , Alexa in India, collaborated with Orient Fans, has launched Alexa-enabled fans which can be switched on and off, as well as the speed of the fan can be modified through Alexa by voice commands .It also helps in reducing screen time for the tasks on a regular basis by offering new features at a continuous rate .They are also very cost-effective devices as cheap as 2K. The best part is these devices can also be linked to smartphones and extend the applications of the mobile phone through its services like making a call to a person .

MARKSMAN

Smart Speakers

and Voice Assistants are bringing people together , making them independent and even getting

us to look up from our phones .

OCTOBER EDITION

COVER STORY

Another advantage it has is that it is a convenient way to listen to podcasts , radio and news updates which can provide a better experience on the speaker rather than on screen . But that’s not all these devices do .There is other side of the story too it has been found that they breach privacy by listening to our private conversations which could be potentially be used by companies for making data analysis . These devices are typically associated with various apps providing various features who may be getting hands on our audio data for analyzing user behavior Collect data from the web searches , content seen , music choices, etc. and use these data sets for analysis . The sad These devices part is users are also not aware when and what data they collect and analyse have collected , with whom it will be shared and how they user data and use can control that being shared. Sentiment analysis is the analysis of the voice beyond the words where the emotions that in product are behind the words, the tone and the mood are being innovation and recognized . Not only that other things like level of health marketing . and other aspects of the user’s personality are captured.

These insights into the user’s behavior can be utilized by company for product improvement and content development. Amazon, Alexa used these datasets and offerd medicines to people who were ill based on their voice characteristics . This shows the potential of improvement in technology and how helpful these devices can be in the future . As these devices have western accents before ,they try to incorporate regional accents as well as provide availability of regional languages like Hindi in India . 8 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

COVER STORY

Although these devices increasing their means of interaction ,with the human. Some people may began looking at these devices differently and may form a different kind of relation with technology .This is especially true in case of children who would start interacting with these devices from a very young age .

Price

People also have a problem when searching for content online . Using these speakers , people are able to review a few options . Therefore , the developers will have to customize the devices and the search algorithms to show only the top and recommended search results for the convenience of users. Although the users may not prefer to shoponline through these devices because of the visibility constraint.

These devices exert a humanlike behaviour in the form of great user interaction . They are also modifying search results to show only limited results that are recommended as it adjusts well with voice speaker devices .

9 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

COVER STORY

People would be more likely to open up and have conversations with these devices . This will pose a threat as users may share information harmful to them . Therefore some safeguards need to be put in place . Despite of the various benefits offered by these devices , they need to safeguard users information to survive in the long run . If not then, privacy breach will be the major issue. Therefore, companies need to market themself as safe and secure devices which do not share user information and respect their privacy.

The companies need to make the users aware on data collection , its purpose and with whom the data is shared .This is necessary for maintaining user privacy and successful adaptation of the product in the long run.

The industry should make it clear to the users about their the use of data and how it is implemented in the form of product innovation and development. Users should be provided control over sharing their data and with proper communication between consumers and industry can further improve the product itself. In the long run , it is in the companies hand on how they market themself for their products and change the shape of industry.

10 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

PIONEER - Siththardhan

THE TALE OF KYLIE JENNER

Kylie Jenner has emerged as one the fastest growing entrepreneur with a billiondollar company and hundreds of products under her belt. The most intriguing part is that she has achieved this feat just at the age of 21 overtaking Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg who hit the figure aged 23. Her company Kylie Cosmetics, was founded in November 2015, just around three and a half years ago. She currently has 148m followers on Instagram, ranking her the 7th most followed person on the channel. The list doesn’t end here, she is the most viewed person on Snapchat and currently one of the biggest youth icon of America. Being the youngest member of the super-rich, idolatrous Kardashian-Jenner family she has had an unquestionable advantage over her competition, of which most other business owners can only dream. Her success story is that a big brand like herself is promoting another brand that eventually resulted in tremendous market impact.

The youngest member of the superrich, idolatro us KardashianJenner family is the most viewed person on Snapchat and the current youth icon of America

MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

PIONEER Today her current net worth is around a billion dollars. So where did it all start? Just like a fairy tale, her success story wasn’t one with ups and downs like other entrepreneurs, her family has been the backbone for this journey. Jenner launched her $29 Kylie Lip Kit, a liquid, matching lip pencil stick, with a fitting beauty brand on November 30, 2015. The company made a revenue of 420 million dollars in just 18 months. Her release from her holiday collection in 2016 cost about $19 million a day. In contrast, Kardashian West received an estimated $14.4 million in sales from its new make-up brand, KKW Beauty. What is astonishing is the rate at which her success and market flourished which is indeed inspiring. “ I feel like my makeup is definitely more young, fun. And it’s just different,” Jenner said in an interview with Forbes. Kylie never did any innovative or different approach of marketing and just went with the conventional methods of marketing.

The company made revenue of 420 million dollars in just 18 months at its first launch of the product.

Her pretty face and her wealthy background all turned into a big success just because of her consistency and constant connection with customers. When Jenner was named one of the most influential teens of 2016 on Time Magazine, she told the publication that she has been most inspired by her older sister. Kardashian West is “so dedicated, she’s so smart, she’s such a businesswoman and she’s always doing something and thinking of new ideas,” Jenner said. “She has inspired me to have a great work ethic.” With today's teens and millennials struck with social media and daily mundane life, Kylie Jenner is definitely a teen role model one can aspire to become. She is a perfect combination of beauty and brains and kylie cosmetics has a long way to go where this marks the beginning of the legacy. In the future, Kylie plans to pass down her business to her daughter Stormi who is a year old currently.

As a CEO, chief marketing officer and chief creative officer, Jenner owns 100 percent of Kylie Cosmetics, while her mom Kris Jenner serves as the company’s chief financial officer. MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

BRAND MARKIVE -Yash Sancheti

Disney: The Happiest place on Earth The story of Disney began in 1923 as a joint venture between Walt Disney and his brother Roy as ‘Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio’. The company faced hiccups in their journey as certain shortcomings in distributions nearly sank the company, but the creation of Mickey Mouse in 1928 changed Disney’s fortunes. Around this period Disney launched many other characters like Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck which would prove to become very famous. After winning its first Academy Award for Best Cartoon, World War 2 shifted Disney’s efforts to producing propaganda films for the U.S. government.

Mickey Mouse highlighted what Disney as a brand represented, ‘kind-hearted with a happy go lucky attitude which was perfect to capture family hearts’. The postWorld War 2 period was a slow one until the 1950’s when Disney’s first live-action film, ’Treasure Island’ and ‘Cinderella’ were produced. This period also saw the debut of ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ to a national TV audience.

Mickey Mouse highlighted what Disney as a brand represente d, ‘kindhearted with a happy go lucky attitude which was perfect to capture family hearts’.

13 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

BRAND MARKIVE Disney as a brand did not stop at making cartoons and films; they expanded the ‘For Family’ image with the opening of Disneyland. The idea was to provide a live life-like experience of all their film and animation associations. The theme park provided Disney with an excellent platform to build brand associations with consumers through multiple senses.

The purchase of ABC networks in 1995 transformed Disney into a massive media corporation.

The brand continued to grow larger by involvement with more media opportunities such as television, music, liveaction filming, and distribution. The purchase of ABC networks in 1995 transformed Disney into a massive media corporation. Since then Disney has acquired Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox to name a few. Disney will soon be launching it's on-demand streaming subscription service to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.

Disney’s success can be attributed to the fact that they have constantly adapted and modified themselves, but at the same time keeping the core of their brand image intact. Disney’s net worth is estimated to be $130 billion. While most companies make a physical product first and then create a story around it, in the form of ‘content marketing’, Disney’s marketing has been exactly the opposite. 14 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

SPECIAL STORY -Amit Gupta

Different stories mulling on single use plastic Despite several effort of banning of plastic bags in the past by the governments, Mahesh Singh, vegetable vendor in Mumbai refused to comply with it. “Sahab!! Nothing is going to change in our country”, he said. But now he can see the transformation customers are bringing white bag, moreover he also put the symbol of no use of plastic bag in his small shop. It all started on 15-August-2019 when our Honorable PM Narendra Modi announced the elimination of single use of plastic.

As of now mainly it is awareness and meetings drives is going on. Dilip Kushwah, medical shop owner in Mumbai when asked about the drive,” he told there is not much clarity what to do and what not, he want small size plastic bottle used for medical purpose should be exempted from the single use plastic category. Similarly Reema, who buy the milk pouches while returning to the work told as it is easy to carry, it may be conundrum if there is ban on single use plastic. At an individual level , Diwali is coming, Seema, house-wife in delhi, told Why not pack those gift in cloth bag this time or every time. Her society also took pledge not to use plastic Cutlery in parties. MARKSMAN

It all started on 15August-2019 when our Honorable PM Narendra Modi announced the elimination of single use of plastic. Why not pack Diwali gift in cloth bag this time or every time.

OCTOBER EDITION

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

Experts believe that without clear-cut roadmap and timeline to meet 2022 deadline to eliminate plastic waste is now only an aspirational in nature

MotherDairy Milk item based organization Mother Dairy, formed a 25-feet tall Ravana using plastic waste gathered from households in Delhi and NCR, which was later dismantled and sent for recycling. Also, Mother Dairy organized an awareness march, during which people took a pledge to reduce plastic usage. Mother dairy urged customer to buy token milk from vending machine in order to cut plastic usage. Mother Diary believes that consumers will gradually move away from packaged milk. EcommerceRecently, Flipkart along with Amazon India has also announced that they are commitment to eliminate single-use plastic from its packaging industry by June 2020. However experts believe that without clear-cut roadmap and timeline to meet 2022 deadline to eliminate plastic waste is now only an aspirational in nature. CK Mishra, Environment Secretary said” three things need to happen-the move away from single-use plastics, the availability of alternatives, and greater uptake of recycling of plastic waste"

16 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

MORE THAN MARKETING -Piyush Mukherjee

Adidas – #RunForTheOceans Each day, almost a truck load worth of garbage is dumped into our oceans, It is said that in another 30 odd years, our oceans will have more plastic that it will have fish. Today, we are that crucial crossroad where the fate of our oceans, in fact the entire planet, hangs in the balance. There is no way one can run away from the problem. In fact, Adidas suggests we run for the problem. In collaboration with Parley Ocean School, Adidas has been raising money to help educate young people on ways to reduce marine pollution. The buzz was initiated back in 2018 when Adidas announced that they would be making nearly 11 million shoes using recycled ocean plastic. This was then followed by Adidas releasing popular commercial sports team jerseys using the same material.

Adidas has been donating $1 for every kilometer people run to save the world’s oceans from plastic waste.

Last year, Adidas and Parley raised roughly $1 million for educational efforts on reducing and removing ocean plastic and this year they want to raise that number to $1.5 million

MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

MORE THAN MARKETING

Runners could join the movement by signing up for the Run for the Oceans challenge on the Runtastic (Joyrun) app.

This year, the campaign aimed to unite several runners from various locations to boot up and run for the oceans to raise its increased target of $1.5 million. Held between June 8th and 16th, Adidas contributed $1 for every 1 kilometer that each runner ran to Parley Ocean School programmes. “Run for the Oceans is an opportunity to celebrate the oceans, a place where runners unite to dedicate their time and energy, and generate investment towards saving our oceans this year, for our new activist platform, a global stage for the next generation of creators, leaders and thinkers,” Parley for the Oceans CEO and founder Cyrill Gutsch had said in a release.

With such a fantastic, nay, runtastic initiative, Adidas deserves all the accolades that it’s been receiving. As the voice of our future, we, the youth, are the most powerful ambassadors to ensure that the word is a better place to live in for our future generations. It is exactly this notion that Adidas has banked on, and has been successful in. 18 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN -Arnav Mohapatra

TIKTOK - #EDUTOK Nowadays, consumer experience is key and to elevate this factor firms come up with new advancements in technology and back it up with appropriate campaigns to support a certain cause. Bytedance owned TIKTOK , a content provider with around 200 million plus Indian subscribers has come up with a knowledge-based campaign with a sole focus on non-pro creators who want to initiate a change.

EduTok campaign will support

all those independen t creators and influencers Since its initiation, it has seen a positive response with over 42.5 billion views in a span of four months. TikTok who want communicated that this effort is to empower TikTok users to to share create meaningful and inspiring content on and around important and stuff that needs to be addressed. Various their themes touched by the users are on education, health, knowledge wellness, safety, motivation etc. So a new set of independent and bring creators have acknowledged this campaign. Users all over India are taking advantage of this campaign for guidanceout and ahelp on different aspects and areas of development. Users in Chennai and Bhopal are going positive through motivational content, while users from Amritsar are using #EduTok for career change. related content. Users from Kochi and Delhi are majorly in for un-boxing and tech hacks. While there is a special #EduTokMalayalam with around 70 million views to it. MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

TikTok’s EduTok campaign aims to enhance its reputation and it’s image. TikTok is trying to discover new issues and cases for wider acceptance.

Popular creators and influencers like Geet, Sophie Chowdhury, Dr. Animesh , Awal Madaan are inspiring other users to get in sync with the #EduTok campaign. For instance, Geet, India's first actress on a wheelchair, talks about disability awareness and women empowerment, Sophie as a Bollywood actress herself urges her followers to follow a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Animesh, is using this platform to spread awareness on Rural health and hygiene. Creators and influencers like Dr Animesh, Geet and Gunjan are acting as Idols of change for this humongous community of TikTok users. Voot Studio has also joined hands with this campaign to bring out a positive change in the Indian ecosystem. TikTok is now a household name due to it’s relatable content and focus on pressing causes and problems in our society. This brilliantly executed campaign has helped this firm regain popularity and also has a hand in re-structuring the brand’s image of being an “Over-engaging” and a medium for people to be overly pretentious.

20 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

It’s all about Ad-itude - Shivani Thakur L'Oreal Paris , The Damage Expert L'Oreal is one of the largest brands in the world for cosmetic and beauty companies and is evolving ever since it was founded in 1990. L'Oreal Paris total repair 5 shampoo is one of the high performing brands with a notable amount of market share. It has efficiently delivered to its targeted consumers who are the women facing hair related problems. L'Oreal Paris Total Repair Shampoo is enriched with cream ide-cement formula. It helps resolve five signs of hair damage – hair fall, roughness, dryness, dullness, and split ends. The promotion is effectively done and the targeted population i.e. upper-middle-class can relate to the brand. Also the distribution channels are well established and the supply is efficiently managed to the need of consumers.

Aishwarya Rai , Sonam Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and the new one to join the legacy of brand ambassador is Deepika Padukone

We live in an era where more than 90% of women are facing an abundant of hair problems. This is very well known by the company so they promote themselves with a tagline ‘5 problems 1 solution’. This one tagline is more than a decade old. The pricing policy of the company meets the customer’s expectations in accordance with the product variation. It has decided to maintain competitive pricing. The company also encourages volume pricing policy. And the pricing is set with close competition to its substitutes.

MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

The Brand resonates its image with these celebrities and so do its sales and profits. The unique feature of being sulfate-free gives L'Oreal Paris a clear cut market share of above 50%. At present Nestle has a 30% share in the company. The marketing strategy and brand promotion are profoundly clear, they focus on the upper-middle class of the women. Their segmentation is clear to attract the women who want to see lustrous hair. Looking for a product that can solve multiple hair problems.

It is a damage expert which nourishes and makes the hair stronger, silkier and smoother giving it a lustrous shine thus boosting overall confidence

The company has a distinct distribution policy that helps in providing products to its consumers. The supply chain policy of the company responds to demand and necessity and mostly bulk quantities. It is acceptable by the consumers and is easily accessible, also affordable to its targeted consumers the awareness for the value of the product is evident in the consumer market.

22 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

BOOKWORM - Yash Poddar

FACTFULNESS by Hans Rosling

BOOKWORM

Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, in his book Factfulness, together with Anna Rosling and Ola Rosling, explains how people have incorrectly perceived the current world situation and advocates the use of facts to burst these bubbles of misconception. He asserts that the world is much better than we think and provides an explanation of why this happens by taking a practical view of ten instincts that distort our perspective.

“If you really want to change the world, you have to understand it”

The book offers insights as to how we have a tendency to divide the world into two (usually us versus them), how we interpret information (where bias interferes), how we perceive progress negatively believing that most things are getting worse. By saying the world is a better place than we think doesn’t mean there are no concerns right but by taking a fact-based approach we can worry less and focus on finding and solving more significant concerns. He argues that conclusions made according to data are not arguable and data determine the validity of any assumption. The book has been applauded by the likes of Bill Gates who himself reviewed the book quoting “One of the most important books I have ever read - an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” 23 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

BOOKWORM

Author – Hans Rosling

He presents you with 13 general questions upfront which should be known to everyone. The inability to score in the test itself creates a lot of intrigues to read the book. He keeps sharing the stories of his lifetime, childhood, travel and related topics which make the reading interesting. The book teaches us how to dig deeper into the data by considering the majority and not looking at the extremes or comparing the average.

He warns us about 10 instincts that hamper our perception and mentions them as rules of thumb to remember before analyzing or coming to any conclusion.

“This book is my last battle in my lifelong mission to fight devastating ignorance.” -Hans Rosling

10 Factfulness “Rules of Thumb” Gap Instinct Negativity Instinct Straight Line Instinct Fear Instinct Size Instinct Generalization Instinct Destiny Instinct Single Instinct Blame Instinct Urgency Instinct A must-read book for managers, advisors, business students, analysts, observers and in fact the youth who aspire to be the drivers of change, to be able to understand the environment around and its variables.

24 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE

Mumbai based business conglomerate Mahindra group, just by a small tweet by a youth, the CEO Anand Mahindra promised to replace its single use plastic bottles by the refillable steel ones and took on twitter to share it.

But before going ahead with the green marketing, let us first understand what the planet is going through. We all are aware of the limited amount of natural resources that the earth is left with, if not taken care of early, we also know what the consequences will be. A lot of industries dump the waste in oceans killing not only the marine life but also the people living nearby who get exposed to these disease creating and unhygienic waste. Plastic that ends up in the oceans has been causing immense damage choking and killing millions of fishes, turtles and other poor helpless aquatic plants & animals. The recycling rates in Developing and under developed economies are way below international benchmarks, such as packaging paper at 27%; plastics, 60%; and metals, a mere 20-25%. But in developed economies, the average recycling rates have reached 90 per cent. But more than 65% of the world population resides in the developing countries. And to make any impact in revolution, action needs to be taken by the industries of these developing economies. There are Youth marching Fridays for Future who across nations miss their schools and conduct climate strikes hoping for a positive and desired change to save our home planet. These shows the concern youth have for the planet and if the industries are to survive, they need to target these environment conscious youth. Consider the Mumbai based business conglomerate Mahindra group, just by a small tweet by a youth, the CEO Anand Mahindra promised to replace its single use plastic bottles by the refillable steel ones and took on twitter to share it. 26

MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE

Or the oral hygiene brand Colgate that has come up with toothbrushes made up of bamboo sticks replacing those with the plastic ones. Not only is the toothbrush biodegradable but also the packaging that comes with it is 100% recyclable. Though it seems like a small step towards sustainability, considering its mass production it definitely is a huge step. Though it has started this in Europe initially, it plans to expand it further in all countries it is present.

Nestlé, the Swiss Multinational Conglomerate Corporation which is global brand loved by all, takes them upon themselves to make their products environment friendly and a reusable source. As we discussed earlier how the harmful the plastic covers are to the environment, Nestlé made its contribution in saving our planet’s ecosystem by launching its new KitKat with paper wrappers instead of the plastic ones.

Nestlé made its contribution in saving our planet’s ecosystem by launching its new KitKat with paper wrappers instead of the plastic ones.

And talking about marketing, how can we not discuss about Amul whose witty marketing is missed by none. Participating in the Swacch Bharat itself and also making its consumers aware, Amul portrayed how plastic is damaging the environment and shouldn’t be used.

27 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE

The world is a good place, but let’s strive to make it better

Though a lot of plastic products are being replaced by paper which is recyclable as well as biodegradable, it does not mean that paper is available in abundance. Using paper costs trees. Hence to minimize the use of papers, the green marketing steps are taken not only by conglomerates but also by small institutes from small cities. Consider the image below, by cleverly the shaping the paper box in South American Continent and the paper green, it shows the more you use paper, the more trees are cut leaving less greenery.

28 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE - Punyakrit Ranawat Welingkar Institute of Management

Global Marketing and Standardization- Needed? The ability of a company to vary its marketing strategies from one country to another and across different cultures is global marketing or international marketing . On the other hand if a company can use its marketing strategies across borders without changing them then it is Global Standardization. If marketing strategies between two countries could remain the same, then things would have become too easy, but that’s not the case. Geological, Demographical, Psychographic, Cultural, Social, Behavioural and Value orientation differences are few of the many factors that come together to make it difficult for marketing teams to run standardized marketing across the globe. While the core product or service remains the same, the expected, potential and augmented realities of the product vary hugely between two countries and their consumers. For Example, a bank essentially facilitates deposits and lending, this could be a necessity in one country and a luxury in another. Thus, it is not only important to understand completely about the markets that the company is planning to enter, but also to make sure standardization without proper knowledge of the market doesn’t happen. Such standardizations have been seen and rejected in the past by consumers. It has often been seen that when developed markets dump their offerings in the developing markets without fully understanding the consumer or trying to cater to their specific problems, the consumers reject such offerings out rightly.

MARKSMAN

Standardization without proper knowledge of the market doesn’t happen. Such standardizations have been seen and rejected in the past by consumers

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE Years back, Gillette took a focus group of Indian students in MIT and developed the ‘Gillette Vector’ for the Indian subcontinent. But the product failed miserably in India . The company did extensive research to find out why but answer was simple, Indian men don’t use running water to unclog the razor due to a shortage of water but instead use a mug. There are numerous such examples of marketing as an activity going entirely haywire because of standardization or not understanding the target consumer well enough. Marketing isn’t just about selling the product to the end user but also about developing the product with the consumer. A consumer’s inherent needs might seem alike on the surface, but the way she/he searches for alternatives in order to satiate those needs are completely different across regions. Although Global Standardization would help save a company lots of resources. Like it did for Red Bull . The standardization approach to marketing primarily relied on ‘Events Marketing’ technique. Red Bull promoted itself across all tournaments, sporting events and gatherings with a common theme, ‘It Gives You Wings’ and it worked for this company. But standardization still bears the potential risk of backfiring and causing the company to lose all those ‘Saved Resources’ in trying to fix things. Hence, the more important thing for organizations today isn’t Global Standardization but it is First-Time-Right (FTR).

The more important thing for organizatio ns today isn’t Global Standardiza tion but it is FirstTime-Right (FTR).

30 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE

So how does a company decide whether to use Global Marketing or Standardization? One can review their offerings on the basis of 7Ps and keep the consumer at the heart of this review process (See Figure 1). You will win half of the battle there itself. A positive result from the other half of the battle lies completely in the hands of the target segments. Global marketing and standardization should be kept in two different boxes. Today the pace of innovation has changed dramatically . The consumer has more information inhand (literally) than ever before. The fight between the competitors for the market share is tougher than ever before. Thousands of start-ups crowd in and out of the markets on a daily basis. In such scenarios, we see that companies are focusing their entire efforts on personalizing the product/service for the consumer in the best mannerisms and to the greatest extent . Something as small as an online ad which is pushed to the consumer only because of certain cookies that were picked up by a distant server when the user browsed over an URL is an example of personal marketing. In an age which calls on to high levels of content uniqueness, a company cannot afford to just put out general advertisements and hope to achieve fabulous sales. It will hamper the brand growth altogether.

Nevertheless, to achieve a successful Global Marketing campaign it should contain the following elements (Figure II):

1. Adequate Market Knowledge

2. Solid Marketing Plan

4. Local Communication & Customization

3. Legal Compliance & Permissions

Companies are focusing their entire efforts on personalizing the product/service for the consumer in the best mannerisms and to the greatest extent

31 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

FEATURED ARTICLE

Information can be dissipated in lesser time to more people. But because of this the consumer has too many options to select from. This not only makes it trickier for the marketing teams to execute strategies but also difficult to measure postcampaign results

1. Keeping in mind the likes, dislikes, preferences and tastes of the consumers as the markets change 2. Identification of crucial details about the local country in synchronization with the market plan drafting 3. Ensuring all approvals and permissions from the local governing bodies 4. Making region centric ads along with tailor made content for countries

Technological disruptions have made marketing both easier and difficult. Information can be dissipated in lesser time to more people. But because of this the consumer has too many options to select from. This not only makes it trickier for the marketing teams to execute strategies but also difficult to measure post-campaign results. Hence, companies need to understand the customer very well before taking a call on whether to choose between standardization or otherwise.

32 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

SQUARE HEAD SQUARE HEAD - HARDIK TRIVEDI

33 MARKSMAN

OCTOBER EDITION

CALL FOR ARTICLES FOR MARKSMAN NOVEMBER EDITION 2019 "You can make anything by writing" --CS Lewis 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:

• Big Data in Marketing • Campaigns and Experiments of 2019 and the People Behind Them • Mobile Web vs Mobile Apps: Where Should You Invest Your Marketing * 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 2019

/interface_simsr /interface_simsr /linkedin.com/in/interfacesimsr