The Marksman Sept '12

Page >> 09

Page >> 13

NEW SECTION

Hall-Mark Campaigns Page >> 08

The Apple Samsung Battle What are its implications Page >> 16

Cat n Mouse Chase Are regional brands giving big pocket MNC s a run for their money Page >> 18

How are companies going out of their way for new product launches Page >> 20

EDITOR’S DESK Dear Readers, Unveiling yet another edition of your monthly dose of marketing. Hope our anniversary issue created its “MARK”. We ricochet with a deluge of information to satiate your marketing acumen. It is our ceaseless endeavour to outdo ourselves and serve our readers the best pot pourri from the marketing world. Hope it makes for a devouring read.

In our Cover Story we uncover the nuances of TAGLINE MARKETING and shed light on the raconteuring ability of a few words. Our Special Story on THE CURIOUS CASE OF WILL-i-am AND CURIOSITY presents brand building in a different light and harps on the power of innovative marketing.

We thank our readers for their overwhelming response to our CALL FOR ARTICLES. THE APPLE SAMSUNG BATTLE: WHAT ARE ITS IMPLICATIONS? is a comprehensive coverage of the topic. CAT-N-MOUSE CHASE: ARE REGIONAL BRANDS GIVING BIG POCKET MNC’s A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY? and HOW ARE COMPANIES GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY FOR NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES? are replete with illustrations which buttress the author’s point of view. We extend a hearty congratulations to the winners of our Featured Articles- Biswarup Saha, Isha Pandey & Ankush Gupta.

The eclectic mix of our MARK-ive, Its all about AD-itude, Tweets, Hall-MARK Campaigns, BookWorm, Rewind, SquAreheaD and Buzz completes this sumptuous issue.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. So together lets aim high and fly higher.

Cheers !!

Team – Marksman The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR

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SEPTEMBER 2012

TWEETS 03 Brand MARK ive 05

CONTENTS It’s all about BUZZ SqAreheaD AD-itude!

07 25 24 Bookworm Hall-MARK Rewind Campaigns 22 08 23

SPECIAL STORY

COVER STORY

The curious case of will.i.am & Curiosity 13

Tagline Marketing

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FEATURED ARTICLES The Apple- Samsung Battle: What are its implications? …16

THE MARKSMAN

Cat-n-Mouse Chase: Are regional brands giving big-pocket MNC’s a run for their money? …18

How are companies going out of their way for new product launches? …20

02

Brand MARK ive

IBM, originally International Business Machines, is a multinational computer, technology and Information Technology consulting company which has its headquarters in New York, United States. IBM is one of the few IT companies which has a history that dates back to the early 19th century. IBM makes and sells computer hardware as well as software with an emphasis on software and offers infrastructure services and IT consultancy services in fields that range from computers to nanotechnology. It is also known as the “Big Blue” for its official corporate colour.

1880s – The origin of IBM dates back to the 19th century, although IBM was registered in the state of New York in 1911 (June 16) as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company.

1910s - In 1911, IBM was merged with International Time Recording Company and Computing Scale Company of America. In 1915 the famous "THINK" signs, the slogan phrased by Thomas J. Watson Sr., were first used in the company.

1920s - The CTR (Computing Tabulating Recording Company) was renamed IBM International Business Machines Corporation.

1960s – The first men on Moon, land with the help of IBM computers and personnel.

1970s – IBM introduced “floppy disk”, the only medium to store personal data.

1980s – The brand IBM entered homes, schools and small businesses with the launch of the IBM Personal Computer.

1990s - In 1993, IBM recorded a net annual loss of $8 billion. Louis Gerstner, took reign as IBM's Chief Executive Officer on 1st April, 1993 (the 1st outsider since 1911) and helped the company miraculously turnaround in just 1 year.

2000s – “Watson” – IBM’s supercomputer competed on the quiz show Jeopardy, in the show's only human v/s machine match and won the 1st prize of $ 1 million

1930s – In the 1930s during the Great Depression, IBM succeeded in growing while the rest of the U.S. economy struggled.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Brand MARK ive DESCENT OF IBM LOGOS: IBM is known for one of the most notable and distinct logos in the world, simple yet very appealing, it goes with IBM’s global image.

 The logo that was used from 1924 to 1946 aims to suggest a globe encircled by the word "International" showcasing IBM as an international brand.  In the logo that was used from 1947 to 1956, the known globe was substituted with the three plain letters "IBM” which highlighted IBM’s simplified structure.  The logo that was used from 1956 to 1972 emphasized IBM’s bold, continuous and grounded approach.  The striped logo was first used in 1967, totally replacing the bold logo, highlighting the dynamic culture at IBM.  The logo in 1972 was developed by graphic designer Paul Rand, making IBM’s logo one of the most recognizable logos in the world.

DID YOU KNOW?  In 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer designed by IBM won the second six-game match against world champion Garry Kasparov.  IBM set up its 1st office in INDIA in 1951. It re-entered India in 1992 with a Joint Venture with TATA after its exit from INDIA in 1970s.

MARKSMAN

IBM’s near Death and Rebirth! – The World’s Most Successful Corporate Turnaround!

IBM, had one of its toughest time in the early 1990s. In spite of recording a profitable year in 1990, in the year 1994, the company recorded a loss of close to $16 billion due to the changing dynamics in the IT Industry. The company had money to sustain for just another 100 days. The reason behind the sudden shift in fortunes was attributed to its elephantine size, an easy going work culture and an inability to integrate the business effectively to offer a gamut of solutions to its customers. The company had to do something fast and that’s when Louis Gerstner took hold of the company and over the next decade brought the world’s largest and the most successful corporate turnaround.

With this Louis Gartner had been successful in making the elephants dance to his tunes. With Gartner in IBM for around a decade, the company expanded by around 40% with majority of the growth coming from the services and consulting division. Also, the stock price of the company increased by 8 times during that period. His vision led the growth of services and consulting of IBM and propelled the company back to its triumphant ways. Louis Gerstner will always be remembered in the company and also across the world in times to come as the architect of one of the world’s most successful corporate turnaround stories.

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Its all about AD-itude!

50 branches of Mother’s pride and Presidium schools spearheaded a 2-month activation called Teacher’s Touch, with intent to thank over 2500 teachers for their selfless dedication, on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. The activation started off on 1st July,2012 and ended on Teacher’s Day i.e. 5th September,2012.

The conceptualization by Out of the Box, India which started off as a crusade, metamorphosed into a festival of celebration to thank teachers for their endless support.

The concept of the ads was to highlight how teachers have the vision to determine what their students can become in future and also to showcase their determination to help the students identify their passion.

The campaign also aimed at spreading the vital message that it’s the ‘Teacher’s Touch’ that ultimately creates leaders.

To throw some light on what the activation was about; the first stage urged teachers to leave a thumbprint on a poster, to honour teachers and their teaching. This was eventually followed by a special SMS service, which involved sending special messages to teachers every morning at 7.30. Further, all the teachers were photographed by professional photographers, who captured a special expression of each one of them and life size banners of these photographs were displayed on the corridors of every school.

Also teachers were given personalized books that saluted their work and effort, along with a personalized mug embossed with the message, ‘I have the Touch’.

Media: Print Client: Presidium Schools Creative agency: Out of the box, India

Marico’s Nihar Naturals has recently launched its new campaign “Chhotte Kadam Pragati ki Aur” in partnership with CRY India. The campaign aims at enabling and helping its consumers to take the step of providing opportunities to underprivileged children, for a bright future.

The TVC, created by BBH India starts off with the Brand Ambassador ‘Vidya Balan’ walking up to two children who are studying in the open, giving them both a cup of tea and encouraging them to study.

She then provides a voice over, introducing Nihar Natural’s new initiative offer whereby each time a consumer buys a bottle of Nihar Naturals, 2 percent of the proceeds will be contributed to the education of underprivileged children.

The campaign thus provides consumers across India a channel, through which they can do their bit for the society and enables them to participate in its growth and progress.

Media: TVC Client: Marico’s Nihar Naturals Creative agency: BBH India

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Hall-MARK Campaigns

Hippo hit a sixer when it launched the Indian food league campaign this IPL season .This year, Hippo’s fight against hunger started with our national obsession Cricket, marinated with our national fixation with Food!

This campaign revolved around the rivalry existing between the cities/states participating in the IPL, but with a twist.

People’s emotional connect with their city was channelized via FOOD. Hippo had a dedicated micro site where people could login with their respective Facebook/twitter ID and enter the tastefully done Hippo site. The menu card consisted of teams in IPL like Pav Bhaji for Mumbai, Idli Sambhar for Chennai, Dal Bati for Rajasthan, etc.The ‘Today’s Special‘menu card consisted of the match scheduled for the day. So say, if a match between Delhi daredevils and Kings XI Punjab was on, they would simply say Papdi Chaat Delhi vs. Aloo Paratha Punjab. By referring to the specialty dishes from that region people immediately connected. And the ‘free’ hit that people received was the Hippo Bean bag. The Hippo bean bag was a giveaway for the audience who posted their comments and posters on the site.

THE MARKSMAN

NEW SECTION

This tempting offer was taken up by a lot of fans .People unleashed their creativity with loyalty for their teams dripping from each of their comments. @KeshavSingla ROSH GOLLA is delicious.....It’s just like Hippo... GOL GOL Hippo...Gol Gol Golla @RajdeepBarman rosh golla is the best sweet in the world. khabo golla, jeetbo re!!! @RinaChoudhary Hippo says today Idli Sambhar will win as Idli is lighter than fatty roshgolla and can swim better in sambhar.

These were a few tweet based comments during the final match between Chennai super kings and Kolkata knight riders.

Hippo cleverly leveraged our love for snacking through this campaign. While cricket is our religion, Hippo knew Food is not for our thoughts but for our stomach. So it served two flavors with one spoon. The flavor of our regional specialty and that of our spicy cricket moments. And we are not complaining!

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YOU LIKE IT...IT LIKES YOU | VALUES STRONGER THAN STEEL

| JUST DO IT| I'M LOVIN' IT

C O V E R S T O R Y

A tagline is nothing but a short set of words that companies use to associate themselves with their company or brand. It communicates the highest priority message about your brand identity, in a reminiscent manner. It presents a precious opportunity to communicate point of differences, solutions or benefits, promises on everything from letterhead to website. The fact is taglines, good taglines, do an important work that no other element in an ad could possibly ever do.

They can punctuate, urge, crystallize, energize, intrigue, raise the bar and most importantly provide the crucial

barbed hook at the very end of the advertising experience—that memorable little brand byte that stays with you when everything else within the ad has faded from your memory. When you think about it, for at least the last 75 years, no other advertising genre or element has been more sustainable, more powerful and more engaging than the tagline (with the possible exception of the jingle which very often is a tagline put to music.)

A tagline is a very important element of branding. It can be one of the best brand communication tools, if used right. However, you don’t always need a tagline to have a successful brand. Some big brands such as Google don’t use a tagline. But a fine tagline is the single-most powerful, condensed, petite expression of your brand that you can ever have.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

COVER STORY Taglines show their real worth when you want to bring your brand in front of people and ally with them in little space and time. The tagline is the first impression that your brand creates. However, a tagline is not an explanation and it shouldn’t tell a long story. It needs to inculcate the feeling you want people to have about you. For that reason, you should take great care in creating one. The key is having a clear idea of what your brand stands for.

Taglines are the first step and an integral part of brand building campaign. Their value builds for years, and over time, a nice tagline can be your best as well as least expensive form of advertising. If your company name, logo and tagline are all working together as they should, they definitely become an ad in and of themselves. Then it doesn’t matter what your company does, your tagline creates an opening expression. People will keep in mind this slogan even before a company name.

The point to be noted is that, like food, literature and art, the tagline can be meaningful and priceless. And more so today than ever, as the explicit sell becomes less present in ads, the presence of the tagline becomes more important. It is very often the sole bearer of the brand’s message.

People memorize taglines for products from their early childhood. In fact, some taglines become so deep-rooted in the culture that they are familiar to people who hadn’t even taken birth at the time the tagline was dynamic, and who never used the product.

Whenever a brand is born, it very often suckles at its tagline teat. Also, when a brand dies, the legacy it leaves is usually the tagline. To quote just one of countless, if earliest, examples, when Standard Oil was taken over by Amoco, and then by BP, what did people retain of the original brand? “You Expect More From Standard, And You Get It.” Granted, those of us who still retain that tagline are starting to die off; nevertheless, it far outlived the brand.

Because no other component has the latent to convey this much unforgettable touching stuff about the brand with such a communicative economy. If the aim is to find a hook that will succinctly express your brand, and your customers’ attitude towards it, nothing else works as well as a tagline.

THE MARKSMAN

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COVER STORY No image, no headline, no punch line, no celebrity spokesman, no viral video, and no nothing sticks and communicates like a good tagline. Mostly, it is often the tagline alone which makes sense of the words and/or images which precede it.

And while the tagline, on the face, may express the benefit or the brand bond on a deeper level, it itself can be a critical component of that very bond or benefit. The tagline satisfies a deeply engrained, inherent human desire to wrap things up tidily and with a twist. This universally shared desire is often most sensitive in advertisers themselves. They just love that short and snappy, catchy, crystallized expression of what their brand is about. Apart from the corporate ego of it, a good tagline can assist everyone in the company stay determined. Satisfying this desire to wrap things up efficiently and with a twist, by itself, may or may not be sufficient explanation for using a tagline, but it certainly is, at a minimum, a happy by-product.

Nike was founded in 1978. While it was clear that Nike was a brand focused on footwear and sportswear, no one knew precisely what it stood for until 10 years later when the "Just Do It" campaign was launched.

Right away, the message began to echo. It was no longer about just a shoe or a pair of shorts; it was about a state of mind. You don't have to be an athlete to be in shape or tackle an obstacle. If you want to do it, just do it. That's all it takes.

This tagline is a proof that a brand needs to give itself time for a tagline to marinate before anyone can truly understand what it means to its audience.

Cadbury Dairy Milk encapsulates a gigantic breath of emotions, from shared values of family togetherness, to the personal values of individual enjoyment.

Essentially, it stands for goodness.

In 2004, the `Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ campaign was launched, seeking to increase CDM consumption by making it synonymous with traditional sweets (Mithai). Having Amitabh Bachchan as the face and voice of the brand, the campaign went on to become a very huge success.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

COVER STORY People could relate to the commercials that were published to promote Cadbury Dairy Milk. How many can forget the `Pappu Pass Ho Gaya’ advertisement? The country cheered on as Pappu fell in love in the ‘Pappu Love Test commercial’. Then came`Miss Palampur’ and the country celebrated the beauty pageant with a difference. The ‘Kenya’ commercial that was aired in 2008 celebrated the true spirit of cricket and that of true sportsmanship. In 2009, it aired another commercial under the `Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ platform, called the `Pay Day’ commercial.

In the year 2010, the `Shubh Aarambh’ campaign was launched, drawing lines from the traditional Indian tradition of having something sweet before starting off with something new.

With `Shubh Aarambh’, Cadbury took forward the Dairy Milk journey a step further into the hearts of its million lovers.

If the tagline were no longer filling a need, it would have no endurance value and would plainly disappear. But taglines continue to dominate the advertising arena as they have throughout the course of advertising. The need is clearly still there. The task of advertisers and the tagline writers they rely on is to revalue the tagline, to dig deeper to find the nugget, to spot the little piece of pith that rings true, that emanates from the true voice of the brand.

The point is taglines are here to stay and that too for good reasons. Our environment is saturated with lot of commercial messages. The need and desire to be quicky and entertaining in the broadest sense is surely increasing exponentially.

As advertising adapts to increasing pressure to communicate even more concisely, and to up the entertainment quotient, the tagline becomes a more and more valuable means to achieve those ends. And so true to itself -

“A good tagline is one of the least expensive forms of marketing you can develop and use.”

THE MARKSMAN

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the curious case of will.i.am and S P E C I A L S T O R Y

curiosity

On 28th August 2012, Earth received a voice message from Mars.

SETI(Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) would have had a field day had it been from the Martians or any aliens we have come to perceive so well; thanks to Hollywood’s rich embellishments!

But this signal-despite its extra terrestrial origins-turned out to be a song called Reach for the stars, performed by an artist called Will.I.am. The focus of this article is on the buzz surrounding this phenomenon. But before that, a glance at our protagonist..

Will.i.am is famously known as one of the singers of the pop group Black Eyed Peas. As a solo artist he has composed music which ranges from rap to electro-pop. His work has earned him 7 Grammys and a recognition which few musicians of his caliber have been able to achieve. But this talented musician also has his hands in many other pies.

One would surely remember him as a mutant with teleportation ability in the movie “X Men Origins-Wolverine�. If one would think harder, images of him appearing in music videos alongside artists like Snoop Dogg, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl Cole & Justin Timberlake would also come to mind. What might not come to mind is the fact that Will.i.am is also the Director of Creative Innovation at Intel, the microchip giant! He also owns a clothing line called

i.am.

This versatile artist has made his mark not only as a singer but also as a master collaborator. He has promoted the brand Will.i.am unlike any other musician. He has been involved in projects whose breadth ranges from politics to microchips. One of the latest collaborations has been with the soft drink giant Coke with whom he partners to promote the brand EkoCycle.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

SPECIAL STORY This branded line of products would comprise of luxury goods made out of recycled Coke bottles. With Ekocycle, the singer has brought his creative designing sensibilities to create high end products with value additions.(Did we forget to mention that he had attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in California?). This product line will go “live” the following year.

CANDID SCRUTINY Will.i.am’s new song “Reach for the Stars” debuted worldwide on 28th August 2012. This song is quite different from the kind of music that he is associated with. However, it is not the song that raised eyebrows. It was the song’s mode of unveiling that made history.

The song was streamed via the Mars Rover Curiosity!!

Curiosity “played” the Will.i.am song on August 28th and it was unveiled in the form of a video at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory based in Pasadena, California, USA. The collaborative effort came to fruition with the joint effort of NASA, i.am angel( a non-profit organization owned by Will.i.am which is dedicated to "transforming lives through education, opportunity and inspiration") and Discovery Education. According to Will.i.am, the song Reach for the stars is special. It is not the typical pop song of a genre that the singer is known for. It has more of western traditional composition which combines a lot of elements of orchestrated symphony.

From marketing perspective, this latest move of the helmsman of the Black Eyed Peas is brilliant. He has managed to bring the elements of CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility), brand development and market expansion in one act. His objective- to reach out to children and make higher education more appealing-has been quite successful. The mystical images of another world coupled with a song that stirs introspective strings has already won the hearts of millions. The sincerity of the campaign is evident, but here is another thought- the singer has thus increased his market base by a huge quantum in one bold move. The “intellectual” strains of the song have appeals to all age groups. The platform for its projection, the music and the cause, all add to the depth of the promotion of the Will.i.am brand which now stands out amongst all musicians. In one majestic swipe, the singer has earned the respect of the scientific and academic community too.

THE MARKSMAN

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SPECIAL STORY The artist’s modesty in contrast with his flamboyance also adds to the favorable image.

In doing a charitable act, he has managed to attract audience who may or may not have been interested in his music earlier.

His face has become symbolic as a singer cum humanitarian of NASA. This balance of personality commands loyalty. It is a feat which is certainly difficult to achieve with negligible investment.

Another observation is the sheer brilliance of the concept which otherwise was not possible at any level of investment cost.

(For the benefit of the science newbies, who might not know much about Curiosity, here is an (offbeat) explanation- Curiosity is one of the most sophisticated vehicles doing off road runs on one of the farthest terrains known to man- Planet Mars!

It is a well known fact that music celebrities have a way of showing off by the use of their vehicles. Now picture a SUV sized vehicle on a distant planet playing a Will.i.am song! ………The singer certainly has earned bragging rights which will not be surpassed anytime soon. )

NASA-despite immense budget cuts- would never allow its assets to be used for music promotions (or for that matter, any other commercial purposes) at any cost. Even if it did, the price would be too steep for any business to break even.

Now bearing in mind that his collaboration with Coke Ekocycle(high end products made out of recycled bottles) is due for launch next year, this brand image enforces both loyalty as well as increase in sales. The Curiosity broadcast comes barely a month after the Ekocycle announcement and it clearly depicts the brand reinforcement strategy adopted by Will.i.am.

Over the years, Will.i.am has diversified his interests and successfully promoted himself as a solo artist and a celebrity who has myriad facets to his personality. The Curiosity chapter has added another feather to his (signature) hat!

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SEPTEMBER 2012

FEATURED ARTICLES

The Apple-Samsung Battle: What are it’s implications?

-Biswarup Saha, IIM Kozhikode The viral photo (shown below), circulated on Facebook, most aptly sums up the situation post the judgment in the Apple-Samsung patent infringement case.

While Samsung and Apple were battling in and out of the court, Nokia, pioneer of the smartphones, was lagging behind in the race for the numero uno position in the smartphone segment. However, Nokia with its Lumia series with Microsoft’s Mobile Windows OS is planning to make a big comeback.

Into the Future The mobile phone industry has mainly three interdependent stakeholders with variable dependence as shown in the above figure. These players are – the equipment manufacturer (handsets), the software developer (OS), and the network provider.

Any dispute between two players in a sector, affects all the players in the remaining two sectors.

The first and most publicized implication is the business ethics. Apple executives claim that this case will serve as a reminder to all those who reap the rewards of someone else’s idea.

Customers However, the most interesting implication in this regard is how the consumers will react to this judgment. The Samsung Galaxy S III has sold over 20 million units in 100 days. Analysts say that the new Apple iPhone 5 will sell approximately 10 million units in a week. The impressive figures suggest that each product has its niche customer base. One may also conclude that customer will not get involved in the quagmire of legalities between the two giants.

MARKSMAN

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FEATURED ARTICLES Handset Manufacturers The verdict in favor of Apple has increased the awe for the company. The trial has brought a lot of publicity to the company and its product. This has worked well for the September 12, 2012 launch of the new iPhone 5.

This development has left its competitors in a rush. Nokia and Motorola have launched, between themselves, five smartphones, a week before the launch of iPhone 5. The companies hope that this gives them a “potent weapon” in the global mobile industry. However, analysts have given them a thumb’s down because they lack the ‘wow’ factor. Did Nokia and Motorola compromise on product features and capabilities for a quick entry in the market?

Software Developers The case in point, pitted two of the world’s most used OS – Apple’s iOS and Google’s android –head-to-head. The verdict has actually affected the distribution of the android OS. Since phones operating on android have very similar physical characteristics as those of iPhone, mobile manufactures will be vary of using android. Two likely outcomes are that handset manufacturers will look for newer platforms, like Nokia’s tie up with Microsoft for the Widows Mobile 8 platform for its Lumia smartphones, or develop newer OS in-house, like Samsung’s BADA.

Apple vs. Google One of the parties in the case is Apple the other being the collaboration between Samsung and Google. The entire episode has been dubbed as war of hardware.

“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Steve Jobs told his biographer. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.”

One of the most affected players in the case is undoubtedly, Google. So, one has to ask, who was Apple’s intended target?

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SEPTEMBER 2012

FEATURED ARTICLES

- Ankush Gupta, IMI Delhi, PGDM Recently, the famous American rapper, Will.i.am, launched his latest soundtrack on planet Mars. The song is titled ‘Reach for the stars’ and was broadcasted in an unprecedented manner by NASA’s rover Curiosity stationed on the surface of mars.

This little story tells us how marketers all over the world are doing things differently, trying to make an impact on the public and making their presence felt. ‘Reach for the stars’ is a depiction of the singer’s love for science, technology and space exploration.

And could there be a better way than to collude with the finest aeronautics agency in the world and make magic happen 150 million miles away from the surface of the earth?

This is just one of the many examples of companies thinking out of the box and defying all conventional logic to make things happen for them.

Samsung’s latest release – Galaxy S3, also under the limelight for a series of patent infringes, claims to be ‘Designed for humans’. The message they intend to convey is clear - that this handset has everything a human being needs in life – and nothing else – there are no supernatural claims. Even the launch of this product was held independently at an exhibition centre in London, instead of the regular worldwide Consumer electronics show.

With so much of clutter in the market space, the average consumer’s mind may be perceived as sponge soaked in water, and so various brands are trying to squeeze this sponge as hard as they can to make space for themselves. The quest for launching products differently is not new. Back in

MARKSMAN

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FEATURED ARTICLES 2007, the advertising team of Steven Spielberg’s film Transformers roped in the famous illusionist Franz Harary to demonstrate the transformation of a car into a 30 foot robot live on stage in front of hundreds of people, thereby hinting at what was to be expected in the movie and thus creating worldwide curiosity and interest.

In light of the social media rampage, companies all over the world are trying hard to get their hands on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and YouTube to break new grounds in innovation and strive harder than ever to exceed customer’s expectations. A near perfect example is that of the soundtrack ‘Kolaveri Di’, a viral marketing campaign by the producers of a Tamil film titled ‘3’. Now whether this actually was a leak, as claimed by the organization, or not, is a big debate, but what they managed to do was to create a mass presence of an otherwise limited Tamil film industry.

Another on-going ad campaign is that of RIM, called ‘people-action’ in which they are trying to revamp Blackberry’s alert icon ‘splat’. The strategy they have followed is lurking out bits of information every now and then through newspapers etc., trying to create a sense of curiosity among the general public. This may also be looked at as an opposite of viral marketing.

Whether they will successfully manage this or not will have to be left to the future, but one thing is for sure – there is no room for relaxation in this ever changing dynamic world.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

Bookworm The New rules of marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott

David Meerman Scott is a Marketing Strategist, an advisor to many upcoming companies in marketing technology.

He is also the author of many e-books, article in Huffington Post, blog titled Web Ink Now which is ranked as one of top marketing blogs. He has also published many books such as Newsjacking, Real time Marketing and PR , Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, World Wide Rave( having co-authored the last two with Brian Halligan) etc. He is also keynote speaker at many corporate events.

About the Author:

He is currently working as recovering marketing VP of two publicly traded US companies.

About the Book:

This book talks about how social media and online marketing are changing the rules of marketing and transforming the marketing landscape from mass markets to niche markets. It talks about the Long Tail of marketing and PR which is basically about catering to niche markets and reducing production and distribution costs. It is a very good guide on how to use the emerging marketing and PR techniques for anyone who wants to market their products.

The book covers everything from networking sites to blogs as a means of marketing and includes good examples of companies who have used the new rules of marketing and PR to market themselves. It also talks about how not adapting to these new rules can hurt companies. The downside is that having taken too many examples to explain makes the book repetitive thereby a bit tedious in some parts. Also the book covers mainly the U.S landscape, so how these new rules apply in emerging markets like India are not covered. In all the book is a good read and explains the intricacies of new age marketing & PR well.

Rating : 3/5

THE MARKSMAN

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Rewind Brand-O-Mania For the first time Interface conducted a CSR Event in association with the Rotaract Club by organising a Brand Equity Quiz “BRAND-O-MANIA” for Rotaract Club members and students of SIMSR on 9th September, 2012. It gave a platform to the budding marketers to showcase their mettle.

A total of 60 teams participated from SIMSR and Rotaract Club. The first round was a shortlist round on the basis of which top 10 teams were selected. In the second round the 10 teams vied with each other in the CONNECT round followed by dumb charades.

The second round gave us the top 5 teams who battled it out for the medals and the certificates. In the final round- Ad-mad round, which was pretty interesting, each team was given a product to be sold with 10 minutes at their disposal to decide the product name, tagline and an advertisement for the same.

The event was a big hit and gave a chance to the participants to brain storm and put on their thinking caps for creative ideas to make the ads.

Participants from Sydenham were the winners of the quiz with a team from SIMSR as the runners up. Both, Winners and Runners-up were given medals and certificates.

Inquizzitive Since its inception, Interface has been organizing ‘INQUIZZITIVE’, the biggest Business Quiz of SIMSR, every year.

This year 'Inquizzitive' was conducted on 24th August 2012. A whooping 90 entries were received, of which 6 finalist teams were shortlisted after a 30 minute mind boggling questionnaire round.

The quiz focused on four rounds i.e. TVC, Print Ad, Connect and Personality guessing. There were special goodies for the audience as well.

The event was a huge success and the winners came out with flying colors after a nail biting tie breaker round.

Certificates were given to all the finalist teams and cash prize was given to the winning team.

Vibhav Kamat & Rajnil Thakur (PGDM-Communications) bagged the first position with

Siddhartha Lodha & Mohit Sharma (PG-A & PG-B ) as the runners up!

THE MARKSMAN

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SquAreheaD

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SEPTEMBER 2012

BUZZ THE CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1. As per the Indian FDI policy for Insurance, FDI is allowed only upto 26%.

Aviva is a British company/brand. Name its Indian partner which owns 74%.

3. Tokio Insurance has a JV with IFFCO for General Insurance. With whom do they have a JV for Life Insurance?

6. Name the travel brand which Google has acquired from John Wiley to provide information on hotels and destinations.

8.

Jet has merged Jet-Konnect and Jet-Lite. Which brand name has been retained?

THE CLUES DOWN 2. Which company prides itself as the world’s largest digital satellite linked cinema chain?

4. Who has acquired Bharti’s Centum learning division?

5. FDI in retail is not allowed as per the current policy of the Govt. of India. With which Indian group is Wal-Mart collaborating to launch in India as soon as it is announced?

7. Which international corporate has 42 dots in its logo?

9. Most logos carry one icon. The logo of which company has as many as 25 icons with symbols such as sun, DNA, bee, flower and heart?

1. Dabur 5.Bharti 9. Unilever

2. UFOMoviez 6. Frommers

3. Edelweiss 7. Sony

4. Everonn 8. JetKonnect

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CALL FOR ARTICLES OCTOBER 2012 Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

1. The newspaper talks, shivers and even smells nice! Is this the new level of innovation in print media!

2. Gangnam Style - viral effect of the video.

3. Facebook vs LinkedIn – with Facebook entered in professional networking (Glassdoor) & LinkedIn to break into social networking. *Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are clearly mentioned 1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be from 500-600 words and MUST be replete with relevant pictures that can be used to enhance your article.

3. Send in your articles in .doc/.docxformat with font size 11 (Arial) to: interface.newsletter@gmail.com 4. Subject Line: Your Name_InstituteName_CourseYear.

5. Kindly name your file as: Your Name_Topic

The best adjudged article will be given a winner's certificate. Deadline for submission of the articles: 11:59 PM , 16 October 2012.

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SEPTEMBER 2012

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

THE TEAM COVER STORY

SPECIAL STORY

It’s all about AD-itude

Mandar Dongre

Vivek Misra

Nitya Kumar

SquAreheaD Pallavi Srivastava

Brand MARK ive Priyam Prasad

Hall-MARK Campaigns Smriti Sudish

TWEETS

BUZZ

Meeta Khatri

Nishant Singla

BOOKWORM Divya Damera

DESIGNING

PROOF READ

PROMOTIONS

Nishant Singla Divya Damera

Roma Sehgal

Richa Garg Mandar Dongre

Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.interface http://interfacesimsr.weebly.com/themarksman.htm

THE MARKSMAN

Website: http://interfacesimsr.weebly.com /the-marksman.html

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