EDITOR’S NOTE About this Edition > It is with great pleasure that Team Marksman introduces the new look design, for this year’s Summer Edition. While the world continues to come to grips with the new normal amidst the pandemic, the summer edition of The Marksman is here to bring a little attention away from all the negativity around us. Our cover story for the month focuses on the power of nostalgia as a marketing tactic in the age of millennial consumerism. We also take a look at how LinkedIn is providing us with tools to upgrade our skills and knowledge amidst the uncertainties of time. While most of us spend the lockdown binging on Netflix, we uncover the OTT giant’s real journey to the top. Our special feature this edition throws the spotlight on the InterFace Batch of 2020, as we bid them farewell, before they embark on their future journeys. We thoroughly enjoyed making this magazine and hope that our readers enjoy reading it even more!
CFA Winners > A very hearty congratulations to the winner and the runner up of this month’s Call For Articles. 1. Diptakshi Ghosh 2. Pushkar Raj You can read their brilliant pieces in the ”Featured Articles” section. We were overwhelmed by the responses that we received from all of you and encourage you to write to us with the same enthusiasm for all further editions as well.
EDITORS
THE TEAM
JEET
SAKSHIT
FAIQA
RUTVI
VYOM
ARNAV
PIYUSH
MOHIT
KRITIKA
MANDAR
SHAHRUKH
HARNEET
HARDIK
WRITERS
DESIGN
PIYUSH
CONTENTS KICKSTART We take a look into an up and coming start up – Shuttl, a bus shuttle service that has managed to become the lifeline of office goers in the metro cities.
MARKETING FAUX PAS At times, even the biggest and best brands can make some impulsive decisions that land into a Marketing Faux Pas. We take a look at how Burger King slipped up, causing a furore all around.
COVER STORY As millennial consumerism peaks all around the world, companies have unearthed the treasure chest that ensures maximum impressions – nostalgia as marketing tactic to grab market share.
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN Amidst the growing paranoia of utmost sanitisation, Himalaya aims to capitalise with their social message that focuses on wellness as a part of our daily lifestyles.
BRAND MARKIVE As Netflix becomes an increasingly significant part of lives, we uncover the story behind Netflix’s rise to the top of the media industry.
MORE THAN MARKETING The uncertain circumstances of Covid-19 has brought forth an opportunity to learn, upskill and develop ourselves; and LinkedIn is in the frontlines of giving us just that.
FEATURED ARTICLES This edition, our featured articles talk about two very interesting topics - Conversational marketing; and the changing scope of marketing via smartphones in the covid-19 lockdown period.
SUMMER EDITION SPECIAL Interface – the marketing committee of KJ SIM bids farewell to the members of the batch of 2020. We look into what Interface meant to each of them, and how it has helped them develop in their 2 years.
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Shuttl:
Stress Free Travel - MOHIT NAGDEV
Kickstart |
Summer Edition
Shuttl is an app-based commute service provider in India. It was founded by Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya in June 2015 in Gurgaon. Apart from Delhi the company operates in cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, and Pune, with plans of expanding to other cities as well.
Shuttl allows daily commuters to board a cost-effective mode of transportation to reach their destination. Unlike other commuting companies in the market , Shuttl shies away from the traditional car-pool model and uses buses instead. Their deploy environment friendly and airconditioned buses to ferry a substantial amount of passengers safely, on a daily basis. It is a better mode of transport over carpool cars as it is cheaper , more open and comfortable , and also generates way less carbon-emission making it a perfect commute for urban Indians .
The Shuttl app allows users to access timetables, track , and book seats for the GPS-enabled buses. The bus drivers also use the app and follow the routes mentioned by the by the app. Shuttl leverages on technology and focuses on safety, comfort and time-saving processes. All you need to do is install the Shuttl app for an easy commute. Shuttl operates in both B2B and B2C markets thereby expanding its consumer-base .
2 To increase their consumer acquisition, Shuttl uses the referral strategy. Users can refer a friend to Shuttl using a referral code where the friend gets Rs. 100/- as “Shuttl credits� once they sign in. In return, the users who referred, get up to Rs. 25/- on each paid ride that the friend takes. This strategy has in fact helped Shuttl a lot in increasing their user base and has turned out to be an effective word-of-mouth marketing strategy for success.
Kickstart |
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All in all, in an age where professionals across the spectrum rely on saving cost as well as time to get to their workspace, Shuttl acts as a saving grace, especially when you factor in the fact that it offers a great alternative for urban commuters to travel with ease , comfort and also an environmentfriendly manner.
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Burger King:
Lifetime free Whoppers?
Marketing Faux Pas | Summer Edition
- HARDIK TRIVEDI Burger King is one of the leading fast-food chains in the world, with nearly 12000 stores worldwide. It has always been in the media for its quirky and out of the box branding strategy. Majority of the time we have seen it compete with similar brands such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s. But a brand of such stature isn’t absolved from the errors they make. At times even a huge brand can make some impulsive decisions that lands them into trouble - A Marketing Faux Pas, if you will. And its these faux pas that we take notes of and learn from. So, what did Burger Kind do, you ask?
All this happened when the entire world was getting excited and prepped up for the Fifa World Cup of 2018. Such a sport events is a boon for brands to make their presence strong, if the right decisions are made at the right time. Imagine this, Lifetime supply of Free Whoppers to all the women who get impregnated by World Cup players. Sounds weird, right? Now when a global brand such as Burger King starts such a campaign, it makes you wonder what the reason behind it is. Well in this case, majority of the crowd deemed this to be clean fail, and, of course, rightfully one.
4 Advertising industry has a long trail of playing around sexist stereotypes, especially around such global sports events. Although Burger King claimed that this whole effort was just a joke, it made the brand ridiculously tasteless and people claimed it to be insensitive.
As anyone can imagine, this whole campaign backfired, backfired like crazy. The overall response was negative. The ad directly hurt women’s sentiments and the whole campaign was objectifying towards women. Marketing Faux Pas is a normal thing to happen with big brands too. But it’s quite unusual for a brand such as Burger King to come up with such a campaign, where in the main purpose is to get impregnated by players and in return receive lifetime burgers!
So what did we learn from this whole fiasco? We have seen numerous examples of big brands making campaigns that end up hurting sentiments of some caste or race or gender. We have seen examples of brands such as Burger King, Starbucks, Audi, and so many others. If thought from one perspective, it does give the brand a huge amount attention, albeit the negative kind. Seldom have we seen such campaigns resulting in a long-term negative effect on that brand. But, nonetheless, it’d always be better to respect all the consumers, irrespective of their cast, race, or gender, and that should be Marketing 101.
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Burger King’s campaign, naturally, was short lived. It yielded heavy criticism from across the globe. People criticised it for reaching too close to the realm of eugenics. Even after removing the ad, Burger King received plethora of angry responses from the public.
Marketing Faux Pas |
In addition to free whoppers, Burger King threw in nearly $50,000 making the whole campaign more questionable.
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Are We Really Lovin’ It? - SHAHRUKH SHAIKH
It’s All About Ad-itude |
Summer Edition
Why is McDonald's the leader in the fast food industry? It is their strong focus on customer service, response to competition, and use of marketing techniques that has built the bombastic brand that we know today. Well, tactics used by McDonald’s have helped it to grow significantly since its inception. McDonald’s has changed itself along with time and that’s the reason why it’s still relevant and popular amongst the masses. McDonalds has come up with many creative marketing campaigns that have not only driven footfall to their restaurants but have also increased their brand loyalty and engagement from the customers.
It has always followed the strategy of thinking global and acting local, with their localized menu, marketing campaigns etc. in order to pander to the local demands.. Reasons for McDonald's success around the world is adaptation as well as innovation. It has always come up with a variety of services and products that caters to the needs of the consumer market that is widely diverse, by focusing the offerings on people demographics, local and economic factors #TrulyIndianBurger was one such campaign launched in India to bust the myth that Mcdonald’s is a Western brand and that it has all the capabilities and resources to be as local as possible..
Businesses all around are unique, and a successful marketing campaign needs to play on the specific strengths of the business. McDonald’s do know that their strengths lie in areas such as familiarity, brand value and convenience in terms of price and access. As such, McDonald’s marketing campaigns really play on this heavily, successfully appealing to millions of customers every single day all around the world. And we are Lovin’ it.
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6 “Follow the Arches” was a campaign in Canada used to direct people to the nearest McDonald’s. It transformed the iconic symbol into directional outdoor boards. It is a playful example of how the arches are recognizable, even when people only see a portion of the logo. The campaign featured sections of the golden arches logo as the only graphic element paired with a simple instructional line.
It allowed them to transcend all language barriers and be immediately recognizable as the brand that it is.
It’s All About Ad-itude |
Continuing with McDonald’s innovative and interesting adcampaigns, let’s shift our focus to McDonald’s in the west.
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Back To The Future: Marketing with a dash of nostalgia - PIYUSH MUKHERJEE
Cover Story |
Summer Edition
While time keeps pacing forward at a rapid rate, there are moments, more often than not, when we long for the emotional connection to landmarks from our past. A big draw comes from the familiarity of the classic TV shows we watched as children and the brands that we fondly used to love. Nobel winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in his 2010 book “Thinking, Fast and slow” observes how we, as human beings, constantly define ourselves through our stories, moulding them around significant events of our lives. It is due to this that familiar memories can invoke a longing for the past that always seems simpler and fonder.
Think about it! Who doesn’t love that warm feeling you get when you see something that reminds you of something from your past? Perhaps, it was an object or moment that you really cherished as a child, and represented happier and simpler times. Whether it’s the smell of your parents’ delicious home cooked meal or listening to a song from your younger days, there are many occasions, senses and social situations that have the ability to ignite the longing of yesterday to come rushing back, even if momentarily.
8 Believe it or not, nostalgia marketing is everywhere around us. Switch on the TV and chances are you will see an ad featuring an actor from a show you use to watch as a kid. Open up Spotify and you may hear a band sample a riff from a classic of the past. Essentially, nostalgia marketing aims to capture, or rather re-capture, audience’s attention by tapping into older and more familiar trends from the past; and there is clear evidence that it works. Hit TV shows like Mad Men inspired the 60s nostalgia to audiences worldwide while Netflix’s Stranger Things paid tribute to the retro 80s pop culture — and became a massive hit.
A keen understanding of the target audience and cultural milieu of the past is fundamental to nostalgia marketing. Advertisers need a sizeable sample of collective experience to tap into. For that precise reason, nostalgia marketing seems to resonate the most with millennials – consumers in their prime spending age, with sufficient memories and experience from the past to invoke the feelings of nostalgia. In an age of impersonal digital media, building social connections through nostalgia is an easy way for brands to leverage the optimistic feelings that often accompany walks down memory lane. To the consumers, it humanizes brands, forging meaningful connections between the past and present.
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Incorporating the element Nostalgia in marketing:
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Cover Story |
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While nostalgia marketing techniques can help prompt a desire to remain loyal to a brand, the most successful campaigns are also tied to a relevant trend or highlight the brand’s evolution. Brands who rush into employing retro strategies without placing the modern world in context may be seen as out of touch, or worse, irrelevant. The key is to create an emotional grasp using nostalgia while offering something fresh.
Disney+ recent marketing campaign, for example, featured a collection of tweets showcasing every movie and show that would be available on the streaming platform. The tweets gained rapid attention as people retweeted their favourite childhood movies and shows. The campaign not only exhibited Disney’s 80-year mark on the movie and TV industry, but also enlisted fans to share their Disney favourites from the past.
Successful campaigns take effort, and without authenticity even the best-laid plans will fall flat. How do you identify those special moments in time, those unique cultural events from the past that millennials crave? Nostalgia-centric marketing succeeds when brands keep a finger on the pulse of modern culture, listen to what people are talking about, and plug into those ideas to create new marketing campaigns.
Nostalgia as a tool is effective because it makes advertisements and marketing campaigns appear more down-to-earth and authentic to the audience. Take Microsoft’s campaign for its 10th version of the internet explorer, for example.
10 In an attempt to win over a generation loyal to Safari and Chrome, the ad took viewers down memory lane via famous 1990s fads and trends such as Trolls, Tazos, and Hungry Hungry Hippos. According to Slate magazine, this ad was considered the “definitive 1990s nostalgia video.”
After years of desperately trying to understand the millennial audience, marketers may have finally found the solution.. It’s hard to ignore what is clearly shaping up to be one of the most exciting trends in the field of modern marketing. When executed well, nostalgia marketing strikes a chord with millennials that other tactics just don’t.
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Looking Ahead:
Cover Story |
To this date, the ad has been viewed over 50 million times, thus showing us that the featured fads defined the 1990s childhoods for many users.
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“Karo Wellness Ka Vaada” by Himalaya - HARNEET SINGH
Hallmark Campaign | Summer Edition
Emphasizing the message 'Your Health is in Your Hands', Himalaya's latest campaign captures how your everyday practices can have a big positive effect on your health and well-being. Highlighting the importance of adopting preventive care and staying fit to adjust to a new normal, the campaign urges everyone to make their health and wellness a priority. In the pandemic, not only social distancing, but more importantly, intensive care has to be taken as far as eating, traveling, and cooking is concerned. Statistics show that 44% of the Indian population was not even aware of sanitization techniques before this outbreak. So ensuing proper sanitization has now literally become a matter of life and death.
As grave as the situation around us is, it has also brought forward opportunities for the brands which always drive forth the ideology of wellness. India's leading Wellness company Himalaya, launched its latest campaign last week - “Karo wellness ka Vada' bringing to life its vision of ''Wellness in Every Home, Happiness in Every Heart”. Having earned the equity and trust of millions of consumers for the last eight decades, Himalaya remains committed to solving consumer problems through its herbal products backed by science and research. Adding to it, Himalaya reemphasizes the fact that unlike other players in the market, they have remained consistent with their pre-existing pricing of products.
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A month ago, a similar campaign hit the Indian ad-space which firmly stated the importance of hand wash and sanitizers. The campaign was #ThePurestGreeting – the ancient Indian tradition of Namaste, as a form of greeting. It is inevitable for Himalaya to take this opportunity to push its product into the highest selling category.
Hallmark Campaign |
Himalaya’s support for the people amidst the outbreak clearly depicts its priority of wellness of people. The different incidents captured in the wellness ka vada campaign communicate the message of wellness and how one can celebrate happiness and wellness with small activities.
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Siddhant More:
Founder – Mad Over Marketing - KRITIKA SHARMA Content is king & social media wears the crown. Despite its perpetual evolution, it will always have its one constant – PEOPLE. And our favourite #SocialDistancing era of 2020 could not overemphasize the importance of digital & online marketing to keep us all connected more than this..
Pioneer |
Summer Edition
Well the readers should take some time off 2020 as this Summer Edition Read on Pioneer is a perfect match for budding marketers like you! This edition we talk about the online startup - Mad Over Marketing (M.O.M.) & the marketing enthusiast behind it - Siddhant More, Founder of M.O.M.
The latest video (“tere charan kamal kaabu mein rakhle”) by #SaavdhanVishram nudging Indians to be wise & strong for living the new normal needs no introduction. Started as a Facebook page in 2012, that dealt with everything marketing, M.O.M. is an online platform today with over 1.5 million followers. 5 enthusiastic students from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, got together in the pursuit of a passion & M.O.M. was born over a college fest. Curating lovely marketing stories on Facebook along with being crowdsourced, the site has grown from sheer word of mouth since 2012.
14 Siddhant believes that elegant mix of brains is what’s keeping M.O.M alive. The team consists of five very different people with diverse and different backgrounds and exposure.
Siddhant More, also listed in the winners’ list of Top 30 under 30 by Social Samosa in 2018, considers Zomato & Durex as his digital marketing gurus. Setting the motivation mantra of “Work hard, make money & live the good life”, More looks forward to hijack the video marketing trend soon. Specially designed for the college and MBA junta, M.O.M popular brainchild - the MAD Talk - is one laughter ride that you would not want to miss. So if you wish to start something on social media, read what guys at M.O.M. believe: “If you want your endeavour to succeed, make the customer the king of your destiny.”
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With a heavy presence in US, UK, and the UAE, a lot of international content was being shared as well. When Facebook wasn’t a big enough canvas for sharing content, M.O.M. successfully sold one line of merchandise and started offering branding services to clients.
Umang , the tech guy, is the owner of ‘Icy Spicy’ restaurant in the Andamans. Snehal Kanodia is ‘The Creative Whiz’ of the group, Wamika Mimani, a student of IIM Lucknow is ’The Serious Strategizer’ and Nikhil Daga an IIM Kozhikode alumnus is the brain behind the appealing captions and status updates put up on the page.
Pioneer |
An XLRI Jamshedpur alumnus, a marketing intern at ITC Ltd & senior manager at Myntra Designs Pvt Ltd, M.O.M has come a long way setting targets & smashing them with hard work. Within a span of 8 months, the page had more than 10,000 fans already without a penny being spent on any form of advertisement. In just 2 years it grew to 80k engaged subscribers and the website got over 6 lakh views in just 40 days.
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Netflix:
The World’s Best Television
Brand Markive |
Summer Edition
- VYOM BHATNAGAR 22-year-old Netflix is a 190-billiondollar company which has 183 million paid subscribers with a revenue of 5.77 billion US dollars for this quarter. Lets make quick deep dive into its journey and understand how became a market leader. • Founded in August 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, Its First name was kibble. • They started with a business model of selling & renting DVD by mails. Soon Mr. Hastings decided to focus solely on renting only. • The company moved into streaming media in 2007, and entered Content Production in 2013. Guess the 1st show? None other than “House of Cards”.
But hey! Do not just dive into successes. Netflix has faced a lot of struggles, failures, losses as well. But like any other success story, it has grown from it. Imagine you were approached by a leading media distributor, offering 50 million dollars, but you decline the offer because you don’t want to change the name. Then suddenly you bump into the infamous dotcom crash and you lose one-third of your employees with 50% decline in revenues. Luck is not with you as you decided to go for an IPO. It didn’t go as planned and the company sold an additional share of 825000 at the IPO price of 15 $. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?
16 • • • •
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Netflix is more customer-centric than any other platform. It is integrated and innovative. They use Multi-channel marketing from Twitter to Snapchat. You name it. Netflix has invested time and effort in some memorable emails campaigns for eg. “Coming soon” in the emails for House of Cards Promotion. Netflix hired a cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken to examine how spoilers affect a person’s viewing habits. They spend more than $150 million on improving their recommendation system every year. In layman language “The algorithm of personalized menu”.
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bengaluru has started, what is called, ”Service for Healthy Use of Technology” (SHUT) clinic to treat Internet/streaming/social media addiction, further amplifying the aforementioned point.
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How did they do it? Well there are multiple reasons, but few to take note of -
The content and creativity at Netflix is really interesting and our mind craves for it. It has become a very regular part of our lifestyles now. In fact, it's injudicious use leads to addiction and, in some cases, even depression due to the lack of it.
Brand Markive|
While Netflix went through that nightmarish period, some good fortune was on its way. The company posted its first big profit of $6.5 millions against the sale of $272 million in 2003 and from this point on there was no turning back. From Video-on-demand, global expansion, leaving DVD business, Red Envelope Productions. They have it all.
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LinkedIn Learning - ARNAV MOHAPATRA
More Than Marketing |
Summer Edition
As this pandemic has progressed through its stages with a widespread havoc caused all over the world, many companies have decided to give back to the society in these tough times. Many professionals and students alike are facing an imminent threat to their respective careers due to this freak of nature which has resulted in the stoppage of all essential day to day human survival and evolutionary activities. People are feeling insecure and are somewhat confused about what the future holds for them. It is only in times of crisis do we see which companies actually care not only for their profits but about the well being of the society they function in and depend upon.
Many start-ups & enterprises are coming forward with innovative solutions to solve the new challenges in this pandemic. LinkedIn is one such company which came forward by giving a solution to the technical and knowledge based dearth faced by many professionals and students in these trying times. It started off by availing 16 courses which has now risen to 275 courses that aims to help and train professionals in various avenues such as relationship building, virtual meeting tools such as Cisco WebEx, Zoom, Microsoft teams etc. Providing relevant courses for free is a good step from LinkedIn, particularly with respect to utilizing virtual tools for connection.
18 A diverse set of skills can play an important role in this uncertain climate. LinkedIn through this initiative has helped many professionals and leaders around the world to cultivate and further grow on their knowledge base.
Summer Edition
In these times competition will always tend to increase due to growing number of layoffs and applications and limited number of openings. So people are trying to up-skill their own knowledge base through these courses so as to stand out from others which in turn can help them achieve their target.
More Than Marketing |
There is a strong need and appetite for people now more than ever due to present conditions. LinkedIn learning is trying to cater to this need right now through the vast number of courses offered through their learning forum. According to LinkedIn's third Workforce Confidence Index that covered 2,323 respondents, 63 per cent of Indian professionals will increase their time spent on online learning and the top three areas of interest include -- industry knowledge, career advancement and communication. Indian professionals are increasing their time spent on online learning as a response to remote working, a shrinking job market, the need for up-skilling, and the need to stay mindful through these challenging times.
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Ikea’s “Most Instagrammable Stunt”
Special Story | Summer Edition
- MANDAR MORYE Ikea is back again with a marketing master piece. As a brand, it has never been known to miss the opportunity to amaze us with their marketing campaigns. Digital and social media presence is something brands are particularly conscious of these days. Considering the fact that Instagram is one of the most widely used social media platforms, Ikea wanted to grow it’s reach with a new product that they themselves deem inexplicable Mupolash. An amalgamation created by combining their 4 most popular products – the mug, Pot, Lamp and shelf, the campaign seems to be inspired from the creative ideas of google, spotify, OkCupid, Postmates and others.
This campaign was carried out by Ogilvy social labs. Ikea’s mugs, pots, lamps and shelfs have always been known to get very high impressions on social media platforms. Assuming that if they combine all these four products, It would be the most “instagrammable thing ever made”, as they claim. The Mupolash comes in white colour, which is considered the most instagrammed colour. The product is made of 100% biodegradable material and was crafted through 3D printing. The product’s use has not been specified by the brand.
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People who wished to get this product had to click a picture with the concept in their homes, using Ikea’s Mupolash AR Instagram filter and post it using hashtag #monIKEA or #mijnIKEA and Tag IKEAbelgium.
Special Story |
The production of the product was planned strategically by Ikea, So as to augment the effects of the campaign. The product is also displayed in the Museum of Gent. Apart from the one in the museum, four others were created for the Uber limited edition Line.
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Conversing With Customers - DIPTAKSHI GHOSH
Featured Article |
Summer Edition
In an environment where customers are spoilt for choice, the business that makes it easier for them to purchase wins. Being a customer’s primary source of information is a top priority for any business, as it allows it to determine how it wants to frame information about itself out in the public to create the right type of impression in the minds of its potential customers. Query forms on websites have been a common theme for many years. Yet, Drift 2018 Lead Response Report showed 58% of companies not following up with form fillers. This would mean that a large number of potential buyers are lost or pushed towards a competitor’s brand.
The mindset of how individuals wish to interact with business entities has changed immensely over the past couple of years. Earlier, waiting long for a business to revert to queries and having a generic engagement experience in the process was the norm. Now people want personalised, quick and easy engagement experiences where they can interact with businesses on their own terms without being bombarded by thousands of unimportant emails and notifications. People want businesses to treat them as valuable assets rather than just a fleeting customer. Such a change calls for something that would bridge the gap between these new customer needs and a business’s existing marketing systems.
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22 Conversational marketing has taken many forms in this day and age, beginning from AI-controlled chat boxes on websites, to the classic email subscriptions
Email marketing has remained a trusted way of communication and marketing. Yet, it is often used for sending marketing newsletters to people who may not be the target market, leading to waste of time and financial resources. A way of using emails more in lines with conversational marketing would be to survey potential customers to identify their specific needs and demands so that future email communications to these people can be personalised to generate interest and build long term buyerseller relationship.
Featured Article |
Conversational marketing allows businesses to interact with potential customers on a one to one basis, simulating a feeling of talking to a person for the customer. It also allows customers to get prompt replies to their queries and make purchase decisions quickly, unlike filling query forms on company websites and hoping for a response several weeks after the purchase desire has disappeared or the customer has found a substitute.
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Featured Article |
The power of conversational marketing heightens when combined with the reach of social media. Social media websites and applications have become places where people go to seek advice on products and services and also to interact with businesses directly. A strong presence on social media can allow businesses to convert interest into sales in a very short period. For a well-established direct connect with a person online, conversational marketing is a valuable tool.
By automating its Facebook Messenger chatbox using an AI named Blue Bot (BB), KLM has made it significantly easier for people to plan trips, bookings and staying updated on flight information. Such a strategy helps in cultivating long term customer relationships and in building a positive brand image and brand loyalty.
24 With people not being able to physically reach out towards products they would want to inspect, verify and purchase, it has become increasingly important for businesses to reach out to potential customers and pull them into their marketing and sales pipelines, instead of hoping for customers to self-generate interest towards a firm’s product offerings.
Conversational Marketing does not emphasize only on making it easier for customers to purchase from a business but also highlights the need for building a constant sense of loyalty and support in the minds of customers by providing them with the best form of customer experience. Conversational Marketing is not a science but rather an art of tailoring content marketing ideas following the needs of today’s consumers.
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The current situation of global lockdown has furthered the need for implementation of conversational marketing techniques.
Using areas of the Internet such as Instagram is a way to converse with consumers has a high level of potential. By automating Instagram Direct Messages, businesses can swiftly answer questions that might have generated in the minds of people by seeing their advertisements online and increase the chances of sales conversion.
Featured Article |
The need for expansion of these techniques of marketing from high valuation businesses to small, indigenous business entities has increased in this day and age since increased competition forces firms to make themselves stand out of the crowd.
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Smartphone Marketing: Lockdown Version
Featured Article |
Summer Edition
- PUSHKAR RAJ From travel to construction and from entertainment to education, almost every industry is feeling the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike the recession of 2008, this pandemic situation brings a sudden collapse of demand under many sectors thus putting an unprecedented situation in front of marketing and advertisement teams of various companies. Here are a few insights into the effects of such a situation on brand marketing done on smartphone platforms and how marketing efforts can be made effective. Social Media will play an important role: With most people confined at their homes with good internet penetration and high mobile usage, consumers in countries like India can be targeted through social media.
It would be well advised to use social media to increase the brand visibility through organic means. Each social media platform needs a different type of content to attract target customers. Platforms like Linked-In can be used for increasing B2B contacts or to source employees with specific skills to work for the companies, while platforms like Facebook should be more focused on end consumers. Educate your Audience: Many brands are educating their customers about the current situation and how to keep themselves healthy. This is a way to gain trust amongst their existing customers and build a better bond with them.
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26 Be careful of Email Marketing: While a message from the email can be a way to highlight the company’s efforts towards a nation and society’s upliftment in difficult times. However, any divergence in the communication can be treated as a spam message from customers and during times of a lockdown where human psychology is more susceptible to treat a spam message in a much negative way.
Communication needs to be empathetic: Tell your customers what you are doing to help them rather than what you are doing to sell them whether it is cutting rates or allowing health workers to jump the line. Brands, if they stand up and speak up for their brand's right, now they will have a disproportionate impact because the others are being silent and if it's functional like Dove, to wash hands more often and for 20 seconds that's the new rule you have to do tops and bottoms in between the fingers or for HP donating digital printers to hospitals, that's the sort of responsibility people will remember and will have a longlasting impact on consumer’s mind. So, any video or communication should have an empathetic touch to it.
Featured Article |
Remote Customer Service: In uncertain times like these, it is also important to retain the customers and for that an effective customer service is the demand of the hour. A customer relation department should be equipped with technological changes to contact its customers like, in cases when the customer and service officials need to have a face to face contact, it must be accomplished through skype calls on mobile phones, etc.
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Featured Article |
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Picture: Blue dart web page illustrating an empathetic message to readers.
Avoid being frivolous: While a slight tinge of fun in the marketing content like online games, quizzes, etc. is not going to harm the customer’s sentiments for the brand and may indeed help them to recover mentally and emotionally in these tough times. However, a toocasual approach in the marketing content may prove catastrophic for the brands. Such an approach can be seen as irresponsible and insensitive. Re-optimize content you’ve already created: Stop putting your ads next to disturbing news. It seems tough to avoid an ad position next to a corona causality report in an enormously negative environment.
However, web pages should be screened with any negative word which might be associated with the current scenario. Re-optimizing blogs and landing pages that rank in search but not in positions that drive traffic to your site is one of the best ways to show content marketing ROI. The coronavirus lockdown is an ideal time to audit your content and get started on a big re-optimization project. This will ensure that your content ranks for keywords that matter when demand for your products and services bounces back.
28 Experiment, test, and run: These are unprecedented times and what previously may have worked for firms may no longer still be as effective. So, now more than ever, it’s important to experiment, test and run. While testing, firms should think about the minimum viable product approach (i.e. fail fast, learn fast).
While such uncertain time may tempt businesses to go dark as sales are affected in each and every sector, however, such a time is a great opportunity for the businesses to increase their brand awareness and to bounce back with a much greater punch post lockdown period.
Summer Edition
That is getting a small test out quickly, learn, revise, and retest until firms are confident that they got a consistent successful strategy. The following areas can be tested to improve the current marketing strategy: Headlines, Copy, Call to Action, images, Colors, etc.
Featured Article |
Use PPC Advertising: It probably depends on your industry. But, now could be the perfect time to increase your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. More people than ever are on the internet, giving a greater chance for your ads to appear before relevant pair of eyes. This can give you a tremendous competitive advantage
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Farewell:
Interface, batch of 2020
“Being a fresher, Interface gave me the opportunity to learn the marketing domain in every possible aspect. Leading the same committee a year later gave me a sense of achievement that will always stay close to my heart. Interface has not only given me a learning experience but also a new family!”
Farewell, Batch of ’20 |
Summer Edition
- Sasha Shrimanker, Convener
“Interface personified my MBA journey. My experience was filled with love, laugh, opportunities, hardships, struggles; every bit of it, totally worth it!”
- Alisha Singhvi, Co- convener
“A place where I met wonderful people, shared great enthusiasm and truly understood the essence of Espirit De Corps. To reiterate, the bonding at Interface is like wine, it just got better with time. Cheers!”
- Rohan Mendon, SGMC Head
“The experience with interface has been something which actually has introduced me to marketing and broaden my network. It gave me the opportunity to work on different domains, plan & organize events, and discover completely new things”.
- Aman Pandey, The Pitcher Head
30 “A splendid journey of a naive fresher becoming a marketeer.. The two years have given me ample opportunities to learn, apply, bond and prove. Interface has become a family and played a key role in making me what I am today”.
- Aishwarya Jain, Comstrat & Markforum Head
“The IFC journey has made me an overall better marketeer, I have worked with some excellent interfacians and would cherish this experience for my entire life”.
- Imran Shaikh, Marksman Head “Interface has helped me change from being confused about what to do, to know exactly what not to do. Learning new things to making some good memories with people here. I've been part of an irrefutable experience”. - Avisha Gandhi, InterResearch Head
“Interface has been an integral part of my Post-grad. I have learned a lot after joining this committee. Once an Interfacian, always an Interfacian!”
- Nitesh Kabra, Navikaran Head
Farewell, Batch of ’20 |
- Umang Golchha, Design Head
Summer Edition
My journey in interface was like travelling on a large ship. We faced many turbulences like all organisations, but together as a team we sailed through. Now we are left with all the amazing memories made throughout we’ll cherished forever”.
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“It started with cracking up the first ever sponsorship as a team for a series of important events. The aspects that came across are work delegation, people, conflict and time management. The most important gift I have gotten is good friends and a lifetime of memories.
Farewell, Batch of ’20 |
Summer Edition
- Yash Patel, InterResearch Head This committee has vividly instilled in me the facts of what and how Marketing should be - of its infinite and inventive nature. The committee offered boundless opportunities that MBA students should certainly capitalise on and prosper in this field
- Sakshi Anandani, InterCompete Head
“Interface is truly the place marketing comes alive. Working for various verticals helps you be updated with the latest buzz in the field.
- Devarsh Muni, SGMC Head
“Interface helped me stay conscious of many brands and their marketing strategies and in turn how we can use those to build up Interface as a brand within and outside SIMSR.
- Alvira Sayed, Social Media Head
“Meeting like-minded marketing enthusiasts and building the interface brand together was a splendid experience”.
- Sakina Jariwala, Social Media Head
32 ”There's learning at every phase when you are an Interface member. You build your network and get the best guidance from your seniors and pass it on to your peers and juniors. Every event taught us the importance of teamwork, decision making, essentials of being a good leader and time management”.
- Anuradha Iyer, The Pitcher & Corporate Communications Head
Interface is not just a committee but a complete organisation in itself.. It has made me realise how important it is to make change your new comfort zone and never give up on something until you succeed. Will definitely miss all the fun we had together as a team.
- Sushrut Haldavnekar, Corporate Communications Head To the Batch of 2020, The past one year has been a period of immense learning and growth, thanks to the relentless effort of each and every amazingly talented member from the graduating batch. They helped us learn the various nuances and develop skills that, we now realize, are going to stay with us forever. They have provided exemplary guidance towards understanding the values that Interface, as a committee, stands for; and it is owing to all their hard work that the we, the batch of 2021, feel prepared to take on our new roles, and keep the spirit of marketing alive at Interface. We wish you all the best for your future endeavors!
- Team Interface, Batch of ‘21
Farewell, Batch of ’20 |
- Surabhi Adapa, Senior Member
Summer Edition
“Interface would be one of the most memorable and enriching part of my mba”.
CALL FOR ARTICLES MARKSMAN AUGUST 2020 EDITION The Marksman provides one and all the opportunity to discover their hidden talents in the literary field through our “Call for Articles”. For the upcoming month, the articles can be sent on any of the following topics:
o o o
The influencer strategy – Post pandemic branding. Customer retention, loyalty & advocacy. Privacy vs personalization – A marketer’s dilemma.
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 August 2020
/interface_simsr /interface_simsr www.theinterfacesimsr.com /linkedin.com/in/interfacesimsr www.fb.com/simsr.interface