IIM Shillong Markathon July 2012

Marketing Magazine of IIM Shillong

Volume 4 | Issue 1

A tribute to entrepreneurs

July 2012

MARKATHON

FROM TEAM MARKATHON Dear Readers, When we celebrate our birth anniversaries, we are excited and feel glad to complete our previous years of life, but there also lingers a shadow over us, the shadow of despair which makes you realise that you are now closer to the end of your life, however this is not the case when we celebrate the anniversary of the day when a thought became reality, a thought which was born to create and carry forward the legacy for years to come. Yes the thought we are talking about here is the thought of the first Monthly Marketing BSchool Magazine of India, which was realised four years back and came out to be known as Markathon. We are proud to carry forward the legacy of the previous teams and having lived up to the expectation of the The Road Less readers. As you go through this Travelled edition, we have tried to create an illustrious, memorable and delightful experience for you through our touché of design, diversity of work and the dedication of souls behind making it a successful celebration of our another year of commitment.

At this juncture, Team Markathon feels privileged to thank eminent personalities from the world of Corporates and Academia who took time off their tight schedules to give interviews and share insights with our readers. We would also like to express our gratitude to readers across the nation for their continuous support and enthusiasm. We extend our sincere regards to the faculty and the administration at IIM Shillong for mentoring us and supporting us throughout this endeavor. But ultimately what has been the backbone of achievements and recognition of Markathon so far is the team work and dedication among each one of us to make it big and better!

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference ROBERT FROST

With this theme, we are glad to present to our readers, the fourth Anniversary edition of Markathon which is dedicated to those, who had shown the courage to choose the journey different from others, on the path, full of risk and uncertainty. Yes, we are referring to the budding entrepreneurs, who, through their passion, enthusiasm and courage, were able to create successful start-ups in the country. The kind of vagueness under which these people put their heart and soul without the assurance of funds and infrastructure gives a totally different perspective of marketing from the ones given by the brains sitting in the boardroom of top notch corporate houses.

Going with the theme, our Vartalaap for this month features Ms. Shradha Sharma, Founder and Chief Editor of yourstory.in. After working at top positions in Times of India and CNBC TV18, Shradha started Yourstory.in to provide a platform to support entrepreneurial start-ups across India. Our Vartalaap from the academic world features Mr. Kavil Ramchandara, who is a famous professor at ISB and has specialization in resource building and competitive strategies of new firms and family businesses. He shares with us the marketing aspects considered by start-ups to make their business profitable and sustainable in future.

We have started a new section called “Fun Corner” and we truly appreciate Mr. N Krishna Chaitanya, PGP participant of 2013 batch at IIM Shillong for helping us in this effort through his remarkable acumen of quizzing. Hope you enjoy it! As we move forward, we sincerely request you to give us valuable feedback and suggestions at markathon.iims@gmail.com for further improvement.

Be ready and cautious for the incredible journey because this is “The Road Less Travelled”.

Sit back and enjoy this edition!

Regards, Team Markathon THE MARKATHON TEAM Editors G S N Aditya Piyush Agarwal Mayur Jain Sowmya R Swati Nidiganti Umang Kulshrestha Creative Designers Priya Kumari Agrawal Rushika Sabnis

CONTENTS

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FEATURED ARTICLES PERSPECTIVES SATYAMEVA JAYATE DIVYANSHU, KAUSHAL KISHORE| T.A PAI MANAGEMENT INSTITUE, MANIPAL E-COMMERCE: THE MECCA OF START-UPS PIYUSH, IIM S VARTALAAP SHRADHA SHARMA FOUNDER AND CHIEF EDITOR OF YOURSTORY.IN PERSPECTIVES VILLAGE LAUNDRY SERVICE BHAVI PATEL, PRM 32, IRMA FOOD FOR THOUGHT MAYUR JAIN, IIM S VARTALAAP DR. KAVIL RAMACHANDRAN PROFESSOR AT THE INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES MARKETING PRODUCTS OR MARKETING SPIRITUALITY DIVYA BHATIA, WELINGKAR, MUMBAI SMALL SETUP & BIG TALK… IS IT REALLY NEEDED? UMANG KULSHRESTHA | IIM S VARTALAAP MS. NEHA GANDHI FOUNDER AND ONWER OF MATSYA

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WAR ZONE EYE 2 EYE ARE START UPS OVER HYPED? Keshav S |IIM S| Disha Chhabra|IIM C SILENT VOICE DAILY DUMP

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SPECIALS ADDICTED UMANG KULSHRESTHA & G S N ADITYA | IIM S

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FUN ZONE RUSHIKA | IIM S

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UPDATES G S N ADITYA | IIM S

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“SATYAMEVA JAYATE” – MARKETING STRATEGIES REVISITED DIVYANSHU, KAUSHAL KISHORE| T.A PAI MANAGEMENT INSTITUE, MANIPAL INTRODUCTION Today’s Television industry is witnessing cut throat competition among TV channels to grab maximum viewership. Channels are trying everything from Family drama to Reality TV shows. The main point is that they are trying to grab maximum TRP (Television Rating Points). Higher TRP means higher viewership which in turn means that the channel can get more revenues from the advertisement aired during that program.

Amidst, the lull of IPL 5 and other TV serials and reality shows, “Satyameva Jayate” was aired on May 6, 2012 on various TV channels. The show, till date, has simply managed to catch the nation’s imagination. The TRP rating for the show was 4.27. More than the TRP rating, “Satyameva Jayate” has been, for good or bad, talk of the town.

Whatever be the media- news channels, facebook, twitter, newspapers, television etc., “Satyameva Jayate” has managed to grab attention.

Now the question arises - “what actually did ‘Satyameva Jayate’ manage to do to grab so much attention?” Was it the “content” or “promotion” or the “Iconic Image” of Aamir Khan or was it simply an excellent Marketing Strategy by “Satyameva Jayate” team.

MARKETING STRATEGY To understand the success of the show lets delve into the different Marketing Strategies used by the team of “Satyameva Jayate”.

1. Use of an appropriate Brand Ambassador – A Brand Ambassador forms an image of the product with which people associate or relate to. Hence, it is imperative for Organizations today to have those persons as their Brand Ambassadors who really relate to the product.

For e.g. Adidas has Lionel Messi and David Beckham as its Brand Ambassadors. Now, this makes sense as both Messi and Beckham, successful sportspeople, are endorsing a sports brand.

Let’s take the case of Aamir Khan, a renowned Bollywood Actor. Off late, he has done selective and meaningful films like Lagan, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots etc. If we scrutinize, we can observe that all these films have built an image of Aamir Khan as a person who is willing to take social causes and is searching for an appropriate answer for the problems prevailing in the society. So, seeing the content of Satyameva Jayate and the plethora of societal issues which it is taking up, there couldn’t have been a better Brand Ambassador/host for “Satyameva Jayate”.

2. Increasing Visibility of a Product – One of the strategies that marketers use to increase their market penetration is by increasing their visibility.

It is first time in the Indian Television history that a TV show has been aired simultaneously on different channels. The show is simulcast on Star Plus, Star World (with English subtitles), Star Utsav, Star Pravah, Star Jalsha, Asia Net, Star Vijay along with DD national and Eenadu TV. The show is also being dubbed in South Indian Regional language – Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil. All this has enabled a gamut of Indian audience, from different parts of the country, to watch the show

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together and this has led to an increase in the overall viewership of the show.

promotion to increase Brand Awareness among the target population.

3. Having a Great Product – Having a great product is a boon to a company. One may argue that a poor product can also be pushed through in market. But, sooner or later, such a product is destined to fail in the market.

The Marketing Team of “Satyameva Jayate” booked around 2000 slots in 27 hours costing around Rs. 6.25 crores, making it one of the costliest promotional campaigns for an Indian television show.

“Satyameva Jayate” is taking societal issues like dowry, child marriage, health problems and other such problems prevailing in the Indian Society. Thus, the content (product) of the show is quiet rich and the issues which are being raised in the show are acting as an eye opener for people.

One way or the other, they are getting emotionally attached to the show. Also, the soulful singing of the likes of Ram Sampath, Sona Mohapatra etc. adds an icing to the cake. The title track of “Satyameva Jayate” is also appreciated and liked by the audience at large.

Also, the promotion campaigns were premiered on You Tube and later its theme song was promoted across 300 theatres after the national anthem. Also, “Hungama Digital Media Entertainment” developed an official software application for the show, thereby allowing apple users to stream songs and videos of each of the episodes. However, suspense was maintained over the content of the show and it didn’t get revealed to the audience before its first episode was on air.

4. Having a product at right place at the right time – A product, however good it may be, may fail, if it is not at the right place; at the right time. So, a marketer has to make sure that his product is delivered at the right place at an appropriate time.

Now, in the case of “Satyameva Jayate”, the show is aired on Sunday at 11 am. This is an appropriate time for broadcasting the show as people are free and at home on Sundays. Being an informative, family show, they do like to watch it together. Moreover, the morning TV viewership slot doesn’t offer any competition and this slot has remained vacant over years, after the epic series of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The response to “Satyameva Jayate” by the people has been, till date, phenomenal. Social media such as facebook, twitter etc. is now flooded with discussions and views about the show. Politicians, journalists, TV shows, news channels etc. are all giving comments and expressing their views. Off late, everything has not been hunky dory for the show, but a faction of society is pointing fingers on the intention and the content of the show and Aamir Khan in particular. We might never know the truth behind all these allegations, but one thing that has clearly emerged is that the Marketing Strategy of “Satyameva Jayate” has hit the bull’s eye and it has succeeded in demonstrating that if Marketing Strategies are well planned then the “product” is an instant “hit” in the market.

5. Appropriate Promotion of a Product - Promotion is necessary to create brand awareness, brand loyalty and improvement in sales. Companies usually use a strategic

CONCLUSION

May the truth prevail, Satyameva Jayate!

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E-commerce: The mecca of start-ups Piyush Agarwal | IIM S The e-commerce sector in India is booming, we’re seeing it all around us, but, is it here to stay? A recent research done by Forrester, a leading global research and advisory firm shows that by 2016, the e-commerce industry in India will be more than five times the current size. The report says “India is set to grow the fastest within the AsiaPacific Region at a CAGR of over 57% in the year 201216.

There is much that can be written about this sector, growing almost at the speed of light, but I’ll try to refrain myself from taking up the whole magazine and highlight a few important aspects of this industry from a marketing perspective.

penetrations of debit/credit card. Today, COD is a norm in all the e-commerce companies.

On time delivery: The biggest setback for an e-commerce venture compared to its physical counterpart is the delivery of the final goods. This is one of the primary reasons why people refrain from purchasing online. Now a days, the delivery times have been drastically improved with support features such as order tracking, etc. Still, we are yet to achieve same day delivery supported by e-commerce ventures in US. User experience/customer support: Companies have become all the more customer centric by investing in support features like user friendly interface for the websites, call center, online support, order tracking and

What are they doing right?

Although e-commerce has existed in India for well over a decade, we’ve seen a resurgence past 2007. The success can be mainly attributed to their growing attention to detail and process innovation some of which I’ve highlighted below.

Introduction to Cash on Delivery: This was perhaps the most fruitful innovation in the e-commerce sector. It served two purposes, first, it got those customers to purchase online who were otherwise wary of online transactions because of the presence of online scams.

Second, it helped bridge the gap between the low

most importantly very customer friendly return policies.

Branded products at heavily discounted prices: The cost advantages that these companies enjoy through leaner operations and direct buying from the vendors are directly reflected in the end pricing.

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Product Mix in the e-commerce market Currently, Indian e-commerce companies trade in Quadrant 1 and 4. Every day, more and more product categories are being added to these quadrants. The biggest challenge lies in moving towards quadrant 2 and 3 which are much more profitable but equally demanding in terms of infrastructure.

Biggest Challenges faced The e-commerce sector has come to be evolved into a cluttered segment in recent times with everyone taking a plunge into the seemingly “low-investment-fastgrowth” industry. Some of the major challenges faced by the industry today are highlighted below Capital Intensive: E-tailers are expected to stock a much larger range of products than their physical counterparts. Also, since delivery time is of utmost importance, some excess inventory has to be stocked which requires a high capital. So, you either get investors, put your own money into it, or you’re out.

Low profit margin: The outside world believes that ecommerce is a high margin industry because they don’t have to spend on a physical store and all other expenses that come with it. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. The fact is, most, if not all of these companies are running in red (Yes, the list includes Flipkart and all other Karts and Marts).

They’re all losing investor’s money and are hoping to kick everyone out of the game after which they can start making some profits.

Some factors attributing to the low margins are highlighted below

Unit Economics: In e-commerce, there are many additional costs which significantly reduce the relatively high sourcing margin (margin from vendor) to a very low effective margin. Costs like payment gateway cost, shipping & handling and packaging lower the effective margin and hence more often than not the e-tailers tend to make a loss on the fast moving products with have a low selling price like books and cosmetics.

Cash on Delivery: The logistics companies actually charge the e-tailers to collect cash on their behalf. Since COD is almost like a qualifier to become a successful etailer, this cost is inevitable. The fixed amount charged by these logistics companies could actually vary from INR 30 to INR 150 per package. So, not only is the cash tied up with these logistic companies, add to that the plight of the returned goods which is much easier for a customer in case of a COD deal.

Lost or damaged articles: This cost is pretty selfexplanatory. In the home delivery model, the chances of lost or damaged goods are also very high adding to the plight of an already very low margin business.

Marketing Marketing in the e-commerce world is very different from the traditional marketing. It requires a much deeper technical knowledge and terms like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) replace the traditional pneumonic like 4Ps and 5Cs. The main purpose of marketing for an e-commerce venture is to drive traffic to its website.

There are many ways to do it, but it requires a lot of expertise, analytics, experimentation and research dollars. The second main purpose of marketing in e-commerce is to build trust which needs a lot of time and effort.

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An Interview with Ms. Shradha Sharma Founder and Chief Editor of Yourstory.in

Shradha Sharma is the Founder and Chief Editor of Yourstory.in, which is a platform for budding entrepreneurs and start-ups in the country. She was one of the youngest Assistant Vice Presidents at CNBC TV18 and Brand advisor at Times of India, before this, Shradha shares with us the story behind Yourstory.in and her vision for the future

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Markathon: Tell us the story behind, “yourstory.in”.

What factors led to its conception?

How do you manage to give a platform to someone else’s idea/product?

Ms. Sharma: I started this in 2008 before which I was working with TOI and CNBC and in both of these media and other mainstream media, I did not see anything concrete happening to support entrepreneurial startups which were coming up from across different parts of the country and there was no platform where people can know about what companies are coming up, and their challenges and this is surprising since there are so many of them doing such interesting stuff but there is no voice/platform for them and that led me to start this. I thought that moving forward there would be more and more start-ups and more entrepreneurs in the country, so why not create a platform which becomes their voice and share their stories and news on what is happening in these sectors and these start-ups to get everything that is happening all over India at one place. So, that is the story behind yourstory.in.

Ms. Sharma: The whole idea of me being an entrepreneur was to create a platform. From the very name “YourStory” and the forums we have, it is clear that once your story gets built, then automatically our story gets built! The premise is that if the entrepreneurs whom we support become successful, then I become successful as an entrepreneur. In India, all of us in this materialistic and consumer driven economy are trying to do well, all of us are trying to succeed and all of us are trying to get the best of the best in our lives. In this state, all beginners and entrepreneurs need tremendous support. They are very much driven and need the support, but if there is no platform to support them, their drive cannot be sustained. . All entrepreneurs, including me have a common need to promote themselves, but unless there is a voice, it does not happen. The premise is that if I help and support these people, the goodwill stays with me and in turn helps me. So, there is no kind of divergence or convergence, because if you succeed, then I succeed as an entrepreneur.

Markathon: How important is a forum like Techsparks for entrepreneurs. Can you share a few examples of startup which have made big from this forum?

Ms. Sharma: I will explain through our statistics. Last year we had 30 Techsparks companies and out of that 14 got funded, 1 got acquired, and 1 went on to acquire a company in Europe. Techsparks gave them a lot of visibility and access to the investors. We‘ve set up meetings with the investors and introduce them to the corporates, so that they can get businesses. So we manage multiple points rather than an event where people can showcase their strengths and show that they had some meaningful turnout and there is a definite deliverable that the company was able to achieve. Thus, we study what they require and then try to find the right match. We have conducted Techsparks in various cities and last year it was a great testimony that some of them got funded. Some of them went on record to say how Techsparks has helped them and I urge you to go to yourstory.in and look at these testimonials. We have a record of testimonials like these from a number of entrepreneurs.

Markathon: Being an entrepreneur is one thing, managing a platform for entrepreneurs is another.

Markathon: From your interaction with different startups, what is your observation about the different marketing practices being followed by startups for reaching out to a wider audience base? Which one would you say is the most effective and why?

Ms. Sharma: Startups basically do not have money of the level of an SME or a large enterprise. That itself limits startups on the marketing or the marketing strategies that bigger organizations go for. So what I have seen is an evolving practice to use social media and in India primarily three platforms: twitter, facebook and linkedin. We ourselves have seen the power of these media, because going forward people will consume information from their mobile devices, through internet or computers. How many of us get up in the morning and read newspaper or how many of us have time to sit and watch TV? So globally it is an accepted phenomenon that people consume information on the internet and smartphones and I have seen startups are leveraging those options very successfully but in the last three and a half years I have

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seen more and more startups trying to use it more effectively. Reasons being, one it is low cost, then it gives access to so many people. How to leverage social media effectively is again a challenge, because in India people have now started using it not just for personal networking but for business purposes.

Markathon: Product, Price, Place and Promotion – How would you say these four elements of marketing mix are treated differently for a startup when compared with a large enterprise?

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Ms. Sharma: I think going forward the challenges for startups should decrease rather than increase. As people understand the whole startup culture, there is increased awareness and acceptance among people. In IIMs, for example, no body used to look at startup firms, everyone used to target consulting firms and financial firms. But now in every campus at least there will be five percent of students who would not be averse to exploring a startup. Every year I think it is going to become better for entrepreneurs. The only thing that startups should consider or keep in mind is that they should not build products out of emotion or passion but look at the market viability because it is very important to build something that is actually needed in the country or outside.

Ms. Sharma: These four P’s are definitely very different for a startup. As a startup you need to have a very compelling product because you have to get more consumers. You are not an HUL or a P&G where you can come up with variants and experiment, advertise and We have created something called cloud story, then see how it works. For startups you have to sell it, sell it we have student story, we have Techsparks, we to people who would not be very willing to buy have just launched India’s first failure from you. So it becomes very important to summit. In India we keep talking about have a compelling product. The way you how Silicon Valley has a great build your product and the money culture and India doesn’t, so you spend on it have to be we thought let’s do it, The only thing that startups different. Place, in the age instead of sitting here should consider or keep in mind of internet doesn’t have and keep talking about much part. And most of the is that they should not build it. So we started the startups are coming up in the first failure conference. products out of emotion or software space, the great We will keep innovating passion but look at the market leveler today is the place. With and seeing what is the internet, everyone is having viability because it is very demand, like we saw cloud equal opportunity to display and important to build something is a big thing and sell their product. Price, as I have entrepreneurs are all willing to that is actually needed heard from a lot of startups, people enter this space so we have in India shy away from paying for a cloud space for them. Students lot of products, say apps, as compared need a lot of support, they are to people in US. While in India we have such an amazing very excited about startup space but don’t have the collection of Apps, people outside India are buying resources, so we have something for them. So we will them but not in India. But that is something that you keep trying to meet the demands of changing times. have to manage and plan. Promotion, as I said with social media everyone is at the same level. That is a great advantage for startups.

Markathon: Going forward, what difficulties do you envision for startups? How do you plan to accommodate them via your story?

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Village Laundry service Bhavi patel | IRMA

Village Laundry Service (VLS) and their flagship brand called “Chamak” are the fruits of Innosight Ventures’ disruptive innovation methodology. The idea behind the formation of the VLS was to explore the building of a retail chain of small forms of laundry that assures clean and hygienic washing, drying as well as ironing; all in a matter of a turnaround time of 24 hours to the customer.

VLS today has annual revenues to the tune of more than Rs 50 lakh, more than 50 employees, more than 15000 customers, and a marked social impact.

Akshat Mehra, an IIM-C graduate had worked for nine years with Procter and Gamble (P&G), where he used to be the brand manager for their laundry business of Ariel and Tide detergents for seven of those nine years. Later, he decided to move to India, and began working for Aditya Birla Retail Ltd. During this time, he also made a decision to take the entrepreneurial plunge and got in touch with Innosight Ventures, which is an early stage venture incubator based out of Singapore and India. Innosight Ventures is founded by a Harvard Professor, Clayton M Christensen, who specializes in disruptive innovations.

An idea struck Mehra when he came across a subset of the population that required cleaning of their laundry as they did not have enough time to do it, and also has a desired a fairly decent quality. This was of course, the great Indian middle class. And while aspiring for quality services, they also don’t want to make their wallets lighter by hundreds of bucks that would generally go for a high quality dry cleaning and laundry service. Majority of the population with this unmet need, Mehra found, had come newly to the city, and was desperate to have daily chores like laundry to be handled, while they struggled for their job and life balance. Housewives were also regarded as potential targets.

In early 2009, they went to several parts of India and tried to find out more about the lives of the people they really wanted to change – the washer men. They visited dhobi ghats. They indeed found it to be a fascinating sight. At the ideal dhobi ghat, the clothes are washed with home-made soap and by slapping against the rock or with the small bat, then the clothes are hung out to dry on a very long clothes line that would run across the whole landscape of the ghat, and then the dried clothing would be put down on the ground and sorted piece by piece. But the worst part of the scene is the water. Most dhobi ghats are around ponds or lakes or rivers. The water there is generally a murky dull green, so dirty that if one really saw it, perhaps they would never ever go to a washer man again to get their clothes washed.

The major aim then became to involve the bottom-of-the-pyramid population, both as entrepreneurs or service providers as well as customers. The focus was decided to be on tier I cities and gradually move down to tier II and II cities as well.

And so came the idea of the village laundry service (VLS), to provide quality laundry services to the target customers at affordable and competitive prices. Once the idea had formed, next came the question of how to differentiate the venture from traditional and conventional washer men, after all, whatever the VLS would do is what the washer man already offers. But the washer man does not take care of hygiene and so the VLS kiosks decided to use surf excel or Ariel detergents in a manner that it was clearly visible to the customers and the customers could see their clothes being washed by well-known detergents. The second point of differentiation came in the form of time. A normal washer man comes in every week or fortnight, collects new clothes to be washed and returns the old clothes that are now washed and clean. But VLS offers a 24 hour turnaround time. The third point of differentiation was VLS promised no damage to clothes 11

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and thus, they use front loading washing machines which are technically regarded as better than top loading washing machines for the clothes. VLS uses steam ironing which is crisper and lasts longer. The clean, ironed clothes are wrapped in wrinkle-free packaging that helps retain the ironing till the clothes are used.

Chamak began its journey with a network of small and compact portable kiosks 8ft by 4ft in size, which were designed by the VLS and are now patented across seven countries. Each of these kiosks contained a top-loading washing machine, a dryer, an ironing table, an iron, weighing scales, water electric motors, and a storage space for clothes. The incubation venture began in Bengaluru and within six months it had gained immense popularity. Today, VLS is immensely popular and operational in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Understanding the time advantage was the major advantage it had to offer, the company has developed a home service module, which it calls as ‘Chamak direct’.

Here, the VLS employee would come and collect the dirty laundry from home and deliver it back to home once they were cleaned. Below the excellent service that VLS provides, lays the power of state-of-the-art technology, which is well connected through mobile phones, web portals and mobile-based point of sale applications. Unlike the conventional washer men, the charges are based on kg of laundry and not on the type and number of clothes. Each kg of clothes cost around Rs 40/- and they would even inform the consumer through SMS once they have been cleaned.

Sushil Mungekar, the MD and CEO of VLS, who took over in May last year, recalls that the prices of per kg of laundry when they started were INR 30/- and the total earnings of their first day of operation were INR 67/-.

He says that the name Chamak was decided because it was short and easily recognizable across all Indian languages. Former CEO and founder, Akshay Mehra, who is now in a consulting role at Innosight’s Singapore office still shares a strong bond with VLS and recalls how it had been difficult to get a lot of men to join them, since most of the washer men strongly believed that washing clothes was something their wives did and no amount of convincing would help. This is still one of

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the major problems that VLS faces when it has to recruit employees.

Today, the VLS follows a franchise model of growth.

One kiosk franchise would cost anywhere between 1 and 2.5 lakh depending on how many franchises are being opened. VLS also gives discounts if a person wants to open four-to-five franchises. Once a person takes up a franchise, VLS provides a full-fledged kiosk, complete with everything from washing machine to detergent, dryer and everything that the kiosk requires.

Then it depends on the person taking the franchise as to whether he or she wants to run it themselves or they want to hire someone to run it. Marketing support is also given by VLS. If the washing machine or drier breaks down, then VLS has an assured guarantee to have it replaced within 24 hours. Each kiosk can handle about 36 kg of clothes over a span of 12 hours.

Customers are charged INR 60/- for delivery within 24 hours and INR 100/- for express service.

Everybody has ideas. Moreover, with competitions like TOI’s Power of ideas and so many venture capitalists out in the market, more and more people are getting inspired to take the entrepreneurial plunge. But it is not always the idea that is the key to success. A good idea is definitely important, but also important is the execution of the idea. VLS has had an excellent execution of the idea, and that is one major key to its success. VLS has been successful in understanding the real pain points that it is trying to address in its target customers, and a has had a continuous interpretation of what it all means, has identified what the idea would serve while ensuring that the customer is delighted and the service offered is differentiated from what already exists in the market.

Chamak already has Bengaluru under its belt, and the current focus is on Mumbai, with plans of including Pune, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata soon to follow. The management feels that funding is not at all an issue in operations. The ultimate ambition of VLS is to open a Chamak booth in every city across India.

VLS also has a rewards program for its employees in order to ensure the highest possible level of service to the customers.

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Food For thought Mayur jain | IIM S At quarter to three in the early morning hours, when a major part of India is happily snoring, the Land of Gandhi, the origin of textile makers, the city crazy about food, Ahmedabad, is out gratifying the food connoisseurs with its eccentricity.

A street food vendor offering his unique “Maggi bhajiya” (Fried dish of Maggi noodles mixed in besan) remains occupied by a variety of audience from rickshaw walas to Hyundai Accent walas till the clock goes past four. The Indians’ love for food and more strikingly the unique proposition led to the success of his business.

Today when there are innumerable options of food offerings and competition is at its peak, the new comers in this sector are thinking radically to run their show unlike the previous times when such ideas were driven out of necessity and urge. Sarvana bhawan, a start-up in Chennai which dates back to 1981, was ideated by an ordinary cleaner and today has respectable network of 31 outlets in India and 38 across the globe. It originated with an idea to open a store at a place in Chennai where there was a dearth of vegetarian restaurants and is now one of the top restaurant chains in the country.

Similarly the famous “Tunde ke kabab” in Lucknow which has been maintaining a 90 years old legacy was created by Haji Murad Ali (who apparently had one hand) out of a challenge to make the softest and most succulent kababs for an old Nawab. The old and established players are minting money owing to the well established brand and the eternal love of Indians for food but it has not been easy for start-ups to come up in this segment until they have something exclusive to offer. Today when still around 70% of the Indian ‘eating out’ market size is under unorganised segment,

start-ups with new ideas and business models are trying hard to gain success and make a mark. However the success mantra has been “innovation”, be it in food, service, concept or experience.

To showcase the level to which this sector has grown owing to rising competition and need of innovation, a startup, “Just Mexican” recites the perfect story.

The concept and not the business (as claimed by the founder) of ‘Just Mexican’ was materialised 3 months back by 2 Gujaratis, both MBAs from New Jersey. These 2 highly educated and economically well offs, applied all strategic concepts to offer scrumptious Mexican food in the form of an ideal offering to their customers. Although it falls in the category of any other roadside vendor but the efforts undertaken and the strategies implemented beats any food chain. It directly targets the college goers and those who have a taste for Mexican food. A food truck which appears like a high class roadside van has been strategically placed opposite to the renowned CEPT University in Ahmedabad.

Mexican food is generally served only in high class restaurants but ‘Just Mexican’ has brought it to streets in fresh, hygienic and delicious form at easily affordable prices served by elegant service men. Right from the name ‘Just Mexican’, the exclusivity has been developed by learning recipes from food consultants in

13

perspective perspective

Mexico and procuring few of the raw materials like cheese and sausages through import. The cooks are trained but kept unaware of how and from where the sourcing of raw materials is done and how the final dish that goes to customers is prepared. The final dish makers work as per standard instructions of the owner and have no idea of how the material used in making the dish has been cooked. The opacity within the chain is kept to ensure that similar products are not copied by any other players. Quite unusually, people with no prior cooking experience are selected to form its cooking and preparatory staff so as to maintain standardization of taste and quality by ensuring avoidance of personal judgments and experience in manipulating the recipes.

The order is taken on a form which helps in capturing the consumer preference data and is further analyzed to gain consumer insights.

Tokens are issued as per the order numbers which are shown on a digital display which gives the count of the orders processed at any time and encourages service men to process the orders faster.

The counter is generally jam packed and has soared high in popularity just through radio interviews and its coverage in local newspapers.

The attributes of this entire business doesn’t seem to match with any other street side vendor which has given it an edge, in the city where even high class people prefer eating along the roadside. The brand name earned through two food trucks with a mere investment of around INR 8 lakh, within three months of its start, has been used to sign-up 4 franchisees with zero investment from its founder. The owner is earning from three sources, viz. one on the margin over the raw material supplied, second over the fixed royalty and

markathon | November markathon | july2011 2012

third through variable margin as per the sales. Although it is difficult to comment on the future position of ‘Just Mexican’, but the entire concept and total product offering looks promising for it to be among the famous chain of restaurants nationwide.

The above example showcases the gravity of complexity involved in this sector in making a start-up successful in the current period of fierce competition and market saturation. There are issues like funds availability, high real estate cost, and lack of supply chain infrastructure in the country but as far as someone is able to offer something unique and succeed in targeting the taste buds of food lovers, these issues can be dealt easily. The current situation in the food start-ups sector should be

taken as a challenge by the budding entrepreneurs to emerge with the power of INNOVATION.

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markathon | july 2011 2012 markathon | December

An Interview with MR. Kavil Ramachandran professor in resource building and competitive strategies of new firms and family businesses | ISB

Dr. Kavil Ramachandran is a renowned business professor specializing in resource building and competitive strategies of new firms and family businesses at the Indian School of Business. He also has consulting experience in family owned business as well as on SME development at international organisations such as the World Bank, ILO, DFID, SDS and ATI. In this exclusive interview with Markathon, Professor Ramachandran throws light on the essential attributes of a good entrepreneurial venture, and shares with us the challenges being faced in SMEDevelopment

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Vartalaap

Markathon: Product, Price, Place and Promotion – How would you say these four elements of marketing mix are treated differently for a startup when compared with a large enterprise?

Prof. Ramachandran: I think there are two dimensions.

One is that whether it is pricing, place or distribution, or promotion, when you talk about a start-up, what I have in mind is a good entrepreneur, not any business.

There is a difference between any business and an entrepreneurial one. Anybody starting a “me too” product or service is also considered an entrepreneur, but they are actually business people. Entrepreneurs look at this scenario differently. A good entrepreneur will look at either pricing or promotion more innovatively but one thing common among all good entrepreneurs is that they normally see whether they can get a cause to the people or solve the problems of the customers in a better way. Essentially an entrepreneur is trying to find the solution to a customer’s problem. They try to eliminate existing or emerging dissatisfaction of customers.

So entrepreneurs will look at the entire value chain and process of offering the value from this angle. They send across the message that “I am here to eliminate your problem/dissatisfaction”, which maybe in terms of price, product features, distribution channel, packaging, communication, promotion or any other thing. So a good entrepreneur will look at all the 4 Ps and see the extent to which existing or potential customers are unhappy about them and they will find a solution which is superior, thereby eliminating dissatisfaction or discontent of any kind. This is the basic measure which decides whether a firm is a make or break. For instance if you take the way products are introduced , the distribution channels they use or the pricing strategies they take, in any of these cases you will find the same thing. Take the example of Naukri.com. Why did it become successful? Because there was no way, the potential recruiters and potential employees could get connected just through the employment news available at that time. There was a place-related problem there, so naukri.com came and settled that. So if you take any of the successful ventures you will find that the key dimension is that the entrepreneur is eliminating dissatisfaction of the customer in several ways.

markathon | july 2012

The second dimension I mentioned is that, through several phases these get evolved. Many entrepreneurs start with an idea but they don’t have a clear strategy or vision. We teach them that, because in practice, strategy evolves as they start testing out their ideas, talking to more people, getting into the market and they get more insights to sharpen the value mix or sharpening of the 4 Ps all of which happens over a period of time.

Markathon: Innovation in product design and innovation in marketing the idea: what role does each aspect play for an entrepreneurial firm? Which one would you say is more important?

Prof. Ramachandran: It depends on the value offering.

There may not be any product innovation per se. If you look at Cavin Kare, they are the pioneers of pouch packaging .This pouch revolution was brought about by Ranganathan of CavinKare. He did not have a product but brought an innovation in packaging. If you look up the story of CavinKare and the Chik Shampoo you will notice that there was a huge set of customers who were dissatisfied with the bottles in which the shampoo was available. So the innovation could be either in product or process and it depends on what kind of problems you are trying to solve or what kind of dissatisfaction you are trying to eliminate. When Microsoft or Facebook came, they were product related whereas when the FedEx courier service came, it was not a product offering but rather a process offering. My point is that it could be any one of this and you cannot say this is more superior or important than the other, it depends.

Markathon: We understand that networking is important for establishing a successful entrepreneurial venture. Is that under the assumption that word of mouth (WOM) is the most effective media for advertising a startup?

Prof. Ramachandran: No, not necessarily. Networking means several things. An entrepreneur needs a lot of resources. Resources could be finance, technology, and insight into different things such as process of marketing, process of manufacturing or process of offering the services. It could also mean some form of emotional support, say, when you are down. So

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Vartalaap

markathon | December 2011 markathon | july 2012

and Government departments, and the other is network support provides that and within the network individual entrepreneurs. At the institutional level, also you would find that some of the networks are very consulting is for policy development whereas at the strong and some weak; some are closer to you while individual level it is more of problem solving, more some less close to you. Thus it is a mix. How you would often in terms of strategy. So there is a huge difference, want to use the network depends on the venturealthough in the Government or institutional point, maybe for publicity, marketing, promotions. But use of policy development is guided by a business strategic network for publicity is only a small part of the network direction. Here the challenges are more. You have to resource. If you take network as a resource, one understand that the livelihood or the life of somebody component of it could be used for publicity, propaganda is involved in that. You have to understand the or advertising by WOM and the relevance of it also dynamics of the multiple forces acting on a firm. It could varies from product to product. For instance, you want be strategy, marketing, finance, operations, etc. or it to have trust in the service, product, and quality and if could be relationship among the key members, so this is there is a WOM recommendation about that product much more dynamic and therefore very exciting. Family you go by that. But in certain products you don’t need businesses are closer to the entrepreneurial challenge that. Say you are buying a car, if you look for the and to me the more exciting part is working with midspecifications and if you are buying a food product and sized businesses, be it entrepreneurs or family it is an established company you are look for only the businesses. That is where the challenges of growth ingredients of it. So for some cases WOM publicity will come, so you have to transform the entire organization, be very important and in some cases it may not be. It need to look at competition more also depends on the market segment closely and intently. and market distribution. If you have one customer in Markathon: Your advice to our Ahmedabad, one in Shillong, A good entrepreneur will budding entrepreneurs? one in Delhi and one in look at pricing or promotion Hyderabad, there is no Prof. Ramachandran: You keep more innovatively but one question of WOM your antennae on, pick up signals publicity for that, it may thing they see is whether from around you, in terms of not happen.

It is looking at opportunities. In a they can get a cause to the contextual but in general changing society and growing people or solve the problems you can say that WOM economy, opportunities are there of the customers in a better publicity is an effective time and again. And you look at means of communication. It way. possible areas where customers are is cheap and cost-effective but dissatisfied because in my opinion, it may be the appropriate customer dissatisfaction is the source of mean for some products/services or opportunity. may not be.

Markathon: You have been involved in consulting, family owned as well as on SME development at international organizations such as the World Bank, ILO, DFID, SDS and ATI. How different have these two experiences been?

Prof. Ramachandran: My involvement can be split into 2 parts, one is organizations such as World Bank, ILO

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perspective

markathon | November markathon | july 2011 2012

Marketing products or marketing spirituality Patanjali ayurvedic ltd. – fmcgand herbal retail market DIVYA BHATIA | WELINGKAR, MUMBAI Babas, spirirual gurus and Ashrams along with spreading their teaching have now also started selling various personal care products. Some of the famous products along these lines include the Osho slippers, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali personal care products, Asaram Bapu’s products, Art of living shampoo, conditioner and tonic syrups. So the question is how spirituality is connected with consumer products? The teachings of these gurus revolve around mind, body and soul and when one starts taking these learning; they start becoming conscious about their body and overall health. As a result they start relying on organic products rather than the chemical formulae being sold by multinational corporations. One of the companies which has strong base in these lines of product is Patanjali Ayurvedic Ltd. Products which we will be analyzing in detail.

PATANJALI AYURVEDIC LTD. PRODUCTS Patanjali Ayurvedic Ltd. has a portfolio of more than 800 products. Out of these products 250 are medicinal products, 100 products range from cosmetics and toiletries and other products range from vital products to spices. Amla and Aloevera juice are their major base ingredients. The last year’s turnover of 2011 was INR 450 crores with a net profit of INR 100 crores. There are four manufacturing units in Haridwar which are currently processing 250-300 tons of raw materials, running at only 25% of their total capacity. They are planning to take sales to INR 2000 crores in the next year which is more than many of the multinational companies present in India.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS Initially these products were sold through Arogya Kendra, Patanjali Chikitsalaya and Swadeshi Seva Kendra. But now Baba Ramdev is expanding his business and these products will be sold in open market through retail stores. Baba Ramdev launched the products in NCR region and now they will be available in open markets of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, West Bengal, Bihar, UP, MP, Gujarat and Utharakhand.

He has appointed a whopping 600 distributers at state levels.

SWADESHI LINE OF SWADESHI KENDRAS

PRODUCTS

THROUGH

He has given name to his movement as Swadeshi in an attempt to associate it with Mahatma Gandhi. Swadeshi Seva Kendras are located in rural India and run by selfhelp groups who also sell the products. Swadeshi Kendras are set up in villages having populations more than 3000. These Kendras act as a source of economic empowerment and employment generation in villages.

COMPETITORS Apart from the already existing similar products from Babas and Ashrams, Dabur and Bajaj are two companies which have also established themselves in India as Ayurvedic companies. These products are now giving challenge to the Ayurvedic products introduced by the Ashrams and yoga gurus. With the amount of money these multinationals spend on above the line (ATL) advertising, it becomes difficult for these small entities to compete with the big MNCs. 18

perspective perspective

GROWTH DRIVERS Distribution channels: Products are not only sold through ashrams but also in supermarkets. Some of products also have online presence. As these products are associated with ashram, some shops keep shifting their base according to the institute’s national programs. Products are even sold through mobile vans and through devotees’ homes using multi-level marketing.

Increasing awareness on lifestyle diseases: Ayurvedic products are always preferred to cure lifestyle diseases.

Lifestyle disease such as back pain, knee joint pain, tension headaches etc. are increasing these days considering the kind of sedentary life style lead by people. Thus increase in lifestyle disease is increasing usage of Ayurvedic medicines.

Trust: Though these products take time to establish themselves in market, but they can be sold as Niche products. Being associated with ashrams, the followers of Ashram automatically start using these products. And ashrams already have a large consumer base which run into millions, thus forming a huge captive base of consumers. Most of products are sold on no profits or in some cases the profit made is used for charity. This builds a feeling of emotional attachment and respect for the brand.

Building business by profits: Profits made by selling the products are reutilized to develop the business further.

This business model is not just helping the company grow but also giving employment opportunities to people in rural India thereby boosting their standards of living and overall economy of people.

Less expensive products: Products are cheaper because there is no middleman in between and raw materials are directly taken from farmers with overhead costs being very low.

CHALLENGES BEING FACED Government probes into Baba Ramdev’s business leads to negative publicity of their business. Image of a business is associated with the image of the person leading it, so any negative rumor or information about Baba Ramdev will affect Patanjali’s business. Due to his

markathon | November markathon | july2011 2012

recent campaigning against government, government retaliated by putting various roadblocks in his business.

Various inquiries are being made against him and his business under the Foreign exchange management Act (FEMA). Income tax notice has been given to Baba Ramdev saying that all the selling activities of Patanjali Ayurvedic products are commercial in nature, so no tax exemption can be given. Recently there were accuses on some members having fake degrees. As products are to be consumed, all Food & Drug safety Regulations apply to them as well.

CURRENT TRENDS IN BUSINESS Baba Ramdev is exploring various channels for their products ranging from postal delivery to online ordering and selling in Indian markets to International markets.

Various steps taken by Patanjali Ayurvedic Ltd. are: Packaging: Patanjali Ayurvedic limited has recently joined with world’s leading packaging solution company Tetrapak. The company has launched its very first product, Amla juice packed in Tetra packs.

Going International: To sell new products in international markets Baba Ramdev has acquired a company named Herbo Ved in US. Expanding reach: Various Chikitsalaya and pharmacies are opened by Baba such as Brahamkalp Chikitsalaya at Kripalu Bagh Ashram, Kankhal and Divya Pharmacy.

Use of latest technologies: Products are made by latest technology employing quality control test and microbiological test.

FUTURE OF AYURVEDIC PRODUCTS This Ayurvedic line of products can establish strong roots in the country and also in international markets, India being known as the origin of Ayurveda. Baba Ramdev is a promoter of Yoga and also emphasizes the benefits of eating herbs and healthy products in his preaching. He is trying to make a statement that “prevention is better than cure”. The various other methods of mass advertising like newspaper, television etc. can also be used by Baba Ramdev. Apart from FMCG they can venture into other product areas. For example, recently Art of living has launched a computer named “enlighten”.

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perspective

markathon | november 2011

SMALL SETUP & BIG TALK … Is it really needed?

Umang Kulshrestha | IIM Shillong “My very own Business Empire! Oh Yes, It’ll be a huge setup with a few hundred employees, a hi-tech and magnificent office located in the posh area of the city, great contacts, big shot corporate meetings and above all, a constantly escalating bottom line! But, how would that be possible, I’ve just started … Aah … I’ll play clever, will make it appear big, we’ll see!”

The skepticism behind “you” being the fresh, inexperienced, not so grand and big would actually lead you to “success” drives and you to a series of “if and but” questions. “What competent businessman would believe a young punk right out of college?” Or “What if my “business” is never taken seriously once they know that “my business” is just “me” and no other employee!” which is a reality in a number of cases. So what do you do? You seem to have no choice but act big and bluff!

Any young entrepreneur when starts off wants to get a considerable hold of the market for which a decent client base is a must and in order to build that base, one starts stretching the truth a little too much to act, render and in fact even believe in the “we are a known and reputed organization” manner. Now here, what happens is that after a point of time, with this so called recently developed small client base (mainly through word of mouth initially), continuing bluffing about the image of your organization is like treading in risky waters. At first it appears that a little, insignificant innocuous lie should be fine but gradually the realization dawns that you are playing a game of chicken with a lot of potential business where a slight leak of information or breach of trust would lead to

such an image loss in the market that it would be next to impossible to go ahead.

It’s not just the fibbing about the scale of operations but also the “supposed” illusionary resume up scaling that happens. Now if I am a paper manufacturer whose paper is bought by another organization that again passes on the final rolls of paper to a third organization which eventually transfers its product, tissue papers to a printing press which prints them for Domino’s, then I can go ahead and claim that “Domino’s is my client”!

Building trust via deception can never take you too far!

Not just that in retrospect would it appear dumb and embarrassing but also in the process, a constant “back of the mind” fear keeps haunting you from within.

So what do we do? In this age of innovation, entrepreneurship and agile business models in order to cater to the changing demands you anyway do not need the clients who are impressed by your size, rather, it is important to find like-minded people that fall in the ambit of your own size and then grow collectively because this is how greatest of business setups have established themselves, through mutual benefits and interests. Not only would this be a far more challenging and interesting task but would also assure you the sense of security that your clients always know who they are dealing with. Relationship building with customized services for the client is a great advantage available at hand in this case.

“Smaller an opportunity greater is the challenge and sweeter is the success!”

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Vartalaap

markathon | December markathon | july 2011 2012

An Interview with Ms. Neha gandhi Founder and owner of Matsya

“A studio potter by profession and a passionate lover of Indian cultures, rural life & traditions, Neha Gandhi has worked with several NGO's and organizations in the craft industry managing various tasks from Business Development to design to project management. In 2009 she initiated "Matsya" an extension of her personal & professional experiences which serves as a bridge between grassroots artisans and urban customers. In this exclusive interview to Markathon, she shares with us these very experiences and her advice to budding entrepreneurs�

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Vartalaap

markathon | july 2012

Markathon: It is said that “necessity is the mother of innovation”. How would you relate this to the birth of Matsya?

their primary source of income” . What measures do you feel are required to bring back dying craft forms and sustain these businesses?

Ms. Gandhi: The handicraft industry is the second largest occupation in India and most of the people are dependent on it for livelihoods and it is mostly unorganized sector. So what I released while I was working at the grass root level with people, there is a big gap and there needs to be some kind of a bridge that can build this gap. As I have been working and growing in the industry I felt that I could be that bridge for this entire sector. That’s where I started Matsya.

Ms. Gandhi: Growing urbanization and industrialization that is happening all over the country, it is not only impacting the livelihood of people but also bringing an end to this dying craft. Today nobody is ready to do embroidery, because they are going to factories and earning 300-400 Rs. So unless people are encouraged and made aware of the importance of this craft, the situation will not change. Many NGOs are working to revive this art form, create more awareness and work with these artisans and craftsmen to keep this art alive.

So they have taken the responsibility of keeping their work going and we at Matsya have taken this responsibility of selling their stuff at no cost no profit kind of margin.

Markathon: What are the different hurdles that you came across during this business venture?

Ms. Gandhi: They were more of challenges rather than hurdles. When I initiated Matsya it was something very different than what it is today. It is something very different from what I had in my mind. This entire journey of entrepreneurship has been a learning experience, the changes that one adapts to while sharpening skill set or to understand how to nurture this kind of initiative, those were the biggest challenges.

Also I am still facing challenges for getting connected to the right market and to get connected to the right people to work with.

Markathon: Apart from the great amount of visual appeal, the work of artisans and craftsmen often have a history based on the place of origin. In your experience how much impact does the history and culture of the place of origin have on purchase behavior?

Markathon: Your advice to budding entrepreneurs?

Ms. Gandhi: Entrepreneurship is something that cannot be taught, it is all within you. You should be patient in what you are doing and you should understand the root of the problem that you are trying to address and try to find sustainable solution. There will be a lot of times when you will not be able to accomplish what you had thought but it is only a matter of thinking positive.

There is nothing called as failure today but one needs to interpret that why it has not happened and then try to improve it in the next attempt. If you have a dream and you think it is going to bring a change then drive it.

Ms. Gandhi: There are two types of customer psychologies, one who likes the product then he is not bothered from where it is, how it is made and all, second one is the one who buys it for the related cause and all, in that case there is a very big impact if the customer is purchasing the product from the artisans.

Markathon: You have rightly observed during your stint with Behavioural Science Centre that, “embroidery had to be developed as a livelihood option among groups of women who are dependant on agricultural labour and seasonal saltpan work as

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markathon | |july june 2011 markathon 2012

war zone | eye 2 eye

Given the rising trend, many individuals take to entrepreneurship and end up battling in what was originally a blue ocean market.

workforce for the next 'big idea' into smaller teams doing independent businesses?

Keshav S IIM Shillong

A start-up, in a plain sense, is any

Before we begin to analyze

company in its nascence. The

this argument, let us first

concept

momentum

look at the basic definition

when the dot-com bubble grew

of the word “Startup”: “A

and many of these failed when

startup company or startup

the bubble burst. A start-up

is a company or temporary

could get into the trajectory of

organization

gained

growth stage only when

they focus on a market niche, either through offering or a business model. Obviously, taking down established giants is certainly not prudent. Given the rising trend, many individuals take to entrepreneurship and end up battling in what was originally a blue ocean market.

Next, formulation and implementation of business strategy is extremely crucial in defining a company’s success. Since the majority of such people begin with a motive to avoid being subservient, the long term strategy is not well thought of and they fumble midway. This leads to a decrease in the success ratio of start-ups thereby rooting out the motivation. Whilst agents of change harp on ‘getting out of the rat race’, the practicality of every third person raising an organisation is clearly infeasible. Face it, start-ups are over hyped.

Disha Chhabra IIM Calcutta

designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business

model”

(source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company “) .

Thus the very definition of the word has the idea of economies of scale and scope. For any economy to succeed, it needs to constantly innovate and find newer opportunities.

Today’s success stories were yesterday’s startups and today’s startups will be tomorrow’s new industries,

creating

new

opportunities

of

employment and generating societal benefits. The statement above assumes that if people did not startup their business, they would perhaps be contributing to a ‘big idea’ in a group. But here again there is a basic assumption which is violated.

Startups are born out of people who have a passion to start on their own and carve a niche for themselves. Thus, if they did not venture into their own business, they may not be effective team members contributing to a ‘big idea’ so to say.

Today’s success stories were yesterday’s startups and today’s startups will be tomorrow’s new industries.

“Are startups over hyped - Is it fragmenting our

Topic for the next issue’s Eye to Eye: “?”

Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 18th July, 2012. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry.

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markathon markathon||april july 2012 2012

war war zone zone || silent silent voice voice

Silent Voice LAST MONTH’S RESULTS Theme: “Daily Dump”

WINNER: Dr Paras Congratulations!!!Dr Paras receives a cash prize of Rs 500!

HONORARY MENTION

Rahul Singh| FMS, Delhi

NEXT THEME FOR SILENT VOICE: “Nexus 7” LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 15th July, 2012 EMAIL ID: markathon.iims@gmail.com Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only.

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specials | ADdicted

markathon | november 2011

Ad-dicted Umang Kulshrestha, GSN Aditya| iim s

PRODUCT #1: Bingo snacks

PRODUCT #2: TATA Tea

AD AGENCY: Oglivy India

AD AGENCY: Lowe Lintas

CONCEPT: Probably the most outrageous and over the top yet immensely entertaining ad campaigns that India has witnessed. Their Ads put exaggeration to shame. But they are very witty and have succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the market.

Launched in 2007, Bingo had a daunting task ahead in a market dominated by PepsiCo’s Frito Lay’s. The brand left no stone unturned and adopted a wide range of communication channels including, TVCs, print, OOH, Radio, Online and event based promotions.

Bingo Loud & Clear Campaign The products in this segment were not strongly differentiated and almost every brand offered an additional 15-30 % quantity of chips in every pack.

Hence communicating this was very difficult. Hence the brand adopted a medium that was never addressed before, The Railway Public Address system.

Considering the significant number of passengers waiting at railway stations every day, this was a very effective medium. They advertised their product on the public address system in a fashion similar to other railway announcements, which drove sales up significantly.

Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=434eGBLkA3 o

CONCEPT: TATA Tea has been into social reform and awakening mode with its “Jago Re” campaigns ever since 2007 when the focus was mainly on politicians and further in 2008 moved onto the theme of voting, creating a drive in the nation with it’s very “desh ko chalane ka job” ad until early 2009. This attempt to create a wave in the nation with the “Har subah bas utho mat, jago re!” notion got reinstated with the focus on corruption in the current campaigns.

Right from the contract mending a bumpy road ad: “Kyun na kharaab raste unke Contractors ke naam par rakhein?” to the plethora of events of bribery and fraudulence caught up in one ad alone, TATA Tea has been bang on target in reaffirming its objective of selling with an objective in mind. The Jago Re ad on admission describing how a student’s “education if not of engineering is complete but at least of corruption is” builds an impact time and again how India as a nation can succeed with the overall correction check in the mentality of citizens, right from elderly to children.

Though it’ll be challenging for the company to keep up the fervor of this theme for long but Lowe Lintas picked the right nerve of the nation. “Jaago Re” became the TATA Tea anthem being synonymous to waking up and getting fresh with a cup of TATA Tea but also had a deeper meaning associated with it i.e. to – AWAKEN.

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ECJrnqPcI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWU3TQnWOk8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wqw8AkBIlo

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fun zone | quiz

markathon | july 2012

1. Which famous Indian company started its journey through this book?

2. Connect:

6. Which Professional Tennis player endorses the brands of “Uniqlo” (a Japanese Clothing brand), “Audemars Piguet” (Swiss watch manufacturer), “Learjet” (Manufacturer of business jets) and the “Mercedes-Benz”?

7. A chain of consumer products such as furniture, handlooms, textiles, apparels, carpets, paintings, bakery items, oils and soaps produced by inmates of one of the largest complex are marketed under the brand name of “TJ’s”. What complex are we talking about?

3. The person in the picture (An alumnus of IIM A) founded a company in 1997 which became the first internet portal to be listed on an Indian stock exchange in 2007. Identify the person and the company.

8. Which airline came up with the Campaign of “When was the last time you did something for the first time”?

9. Which is the only product to have been endorsed

by Kishore Kumar?

4. What does the term “Greenwashing” mean?

5. Which upcoming product’s logo is this?

10. Which Switzerland headquartered company’s innovative products revolutionized the food processing industry especially in the area of cold supply chain

26

Answers to the Fun Zone – Know your brand

4.

The Power of Dreams

5.

Sense and Simplicity

6.

Emotionally yours

7.

Let’s uncomplicate

8.

High Performance Delivered.

9.

We know your game

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The New Sign of Success

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Experience certainty

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The happiest place on earth

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Collide With Destiny

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Do More with Less

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The Miracles of Science

27 Answers to the Fun Zone – quiz

A Passion to Perform

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British Airways Subway Deutsche Bank Honda Philips Sahara Apollo Munich Life Insurance Accenture Star Sports McDowells Signature TCS Disney Land Titanic Windows XP Dupont

Eat Fresh

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Flipkart; this was the first book sold by them.

These are all the official “Worldwide sponsors” for Olympics.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani; Info Edge The dissemination of misleading information by an organization to conceal its abuse of the environment in order to present a positive public image. It could also mean a superficial or insincere display of concern for the environment that is shown by an organization.

Windows 8 Novak Djokovic Tihar Jail Emirates Airlines Bryl creem Tetrapak

The Way to Fly

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Name the company/product which has the tagline

fun zone | know your brand

markathon | july 2012

markathon | july2012 markathon | march 2012

specials | updates

BRAND LAUNCH

the premium segment, and currently is associated with UEFA Champions League, James Bond, Rugby World Cup and Music through Green Room. The Green room will be held in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore

Nickelodeon to brand its characters on Mobiles, TVs and Fans The merchandising market is currently worth INR 562 crore and is growing at a rate of 30% year on year. Nickelodeon has launched merchandise in 40 categories comprising kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; eyewear, boxing gloves, view finder, lunch boxes, and other FMCG categories. So far, Cartoon Network has leveraged its strong brand value by extending into categories such as watches, footwear, eye wear and stationery among others. Nickelodeon has acquired 55 licensees over 40 categories. It intends to have 1,500 SKUs and 10,000 retail touch points.

Nickelodeon plans to launch its characters in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s footwear in partnership with Metro shoes

Google and Mindshare come together to launch Mobile Garage

Airtel and Opera to launch Co-branded browsers Airtel and Opera are set to offer a customi sed and co-branded version of Opera Mini internet browser for Airtel mobile customers across its operations in South Asia. Customers can now decrease their data transfer costs as they have access to Opera Mini's proxy-server-based technology to compress data.

The proposed browser is speculated to be 9 times as fast as any client-only mobile browsers on both 2/2.5G and 3G networks.

BRAND WATCH 28

Times of India outperforms the Hindu

Mobile Garage is a venture designed to use Google's mobile expertise to boost the use of mobiles by Mindshare's global client. It is designed to work across all aspects of the mobile ecosystem. It spans a range of functions spanning from search optimisation and app development, to strategy, planning and creative optimisation.

Mobile Garage will set up mobile hubs around the world to help Mindshare clients to gain access via dedicated teams to mobile strategists and product experts. The teams will consist of a mix of Mindshare and Google employees.

Times of India continued to be the leading English daily in India in terms of average issue readership (AIR). TOI sold close to three times as many newspapers as the Hindu. TOI was the biggest gainer adding 36,000 readers in Q1 2012, thereby taking its AIR to 76.52 lakh. The Hindustan times came a distant second by selling about half that of TOI with an AIR of 38.05 lakhs followed by The Hindu with an AIR of 22.33 lakhs. Almost all the English dailies registered growth in AIR in Q1 of 2012 except the Hindu and Deccan chronicle which witnessed a fall in numbers

Heineken launches Green Room music in India

IKEA poised to give India its largest FDI in the retail sector

Beer giant Heineken has launched Heineken Green Room in India to strengthen its position. The Green room comprises of various events showcasing international dance and music artists playing across the country. The beer brand is positioned in

Following UK based footwear firm, Swedish giant IKEA has pledged to invest INR 10,500 crore to set up a 100 % subsidiary in India. It plans to open 25 stores across India in two phases. Overcoming reservations against the 30 % domestic sourcing

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markathon | march markathon | july 2012

specials | updates

rule, IKEA is currently working closely with 70 suppliers and 1,450 sub-suppliers in order to meet this stipulation.

Amul unveils “Amul’s India”

advertisements. However, Sports channels are permitted to play Ads whenever there is a break in sporting action. These regulations shall be enforced as soon as they are published by the Official Gazette

On the eve of its 50th anniversary, Amul has launched a book celebrating the journey of its brand over the years and how it has transformed from a simple table butter brand to the magnum opus it is today. The book contains articles and a collection of Amul's most famous ads. The book highlights the making of the brand's communication, right from its evergreen slogan 'Utterly Butterly Delicious' to its socio-politically motivated ads of today. The book is published by Harper Collins and is available for Rs 299.

Art of Living foundation to venture into the Tablet market

Cinthol to get a new avatar

No more music on Channel V

Godrej plans to spend Rs 40-50 crore through Creativeland Asia to revamp its iconic personal care brand, Cinthol over the next 3 months. The media mix will comprise of ATL and BTL activities while extensively using various digital platforms. Cinthol was one of the strongest brands under Godrej in the 1980s and had popular celebrities such as Vinod Khanna associated with it. However, it has succumbed to the competition prevalent today.

Creativeland has previously worked on the hair colour brand Godrej Expert

While MTV is exploring branding avenues, arch rival Channel V has decided to reposition itself as a youth entertainment channel as opposed to its current positioning as a music channel. Currently, 25% of their programming mix consists of shows which are their proprietary content. With effect from 1 July 2012, the channel is going to air 100 % of proprietary content with no slots for music

MEDIA TRAI limits TV AD time to 12 minutes per hour Additionally any shortfall of AD duration in a clock hour shall not be carried over. The time gap between Ads needs to be at least 15 minutes. In the case of movies, the time gap cannot be less than 30 minutes. TRAI has also made it mandatory that only full screen Ads will be permitted. There shall be no part screen or drop down

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation has partnered with Bangalore-based EAFT to launch a special range of Android tablets branded as ‘Enlighten’. The tablets will be preloaded with a 16GB micro SD card containing content designed for the devotees of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The content will be regularly updated through the foundation’s website.

Ad WATCH Lowe Lintas and LMG to handle Daimler’s BharatBenz’s creative duties The 8 month process to select the media agency for BharatBenz has come to an end. The brand which is expected to spend about Rs 10 crore a year on its media requirements has awarded the contract to Lowe Lintas and Lintas Media Group, as they were keen to consolidate the creative and media duties with the same parent agency.

Daimler is set to enter the truck market with its first truck positioned as a ‘Made in India’ truck. The truck market is currently dominated by Ashok

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markathon | july 2012 2012 markathon | march

specials || updates updates specials

Leyland and Tata motors

Honda to Ride on dreams In an attempt to reach out to the common man, Honda has launched its new identity around ‘Sach kar denge sapne’ which is in line with its global positioning, 'The power of dreams'. Created by Dentsu Marcom, the TVC features actor Akshay Kumar narrating how every day is a race for the common man to achieve his dreams. Post the split with Hero, this would be Honda’s first attempt to reach out to its customers Click here to watch

MakeMytrip Makes a 100% promise Indian consumers booking hotels online are often concerned about the gap between what is being promised and what is being delivered. MakeMyTrip

has attempted to negate this through its new proposition of refunding 100% of the money if the customer does not get what he is promised. The TVCs convey the message, 'Jo dikhega, wahi milega' and promotes the guaranteed 100 per cent money back offer on the hotel bookings made on their portal Click here to watch

Flying Machine launches Fake Identity campaign The new campaign targets the youth and consists of 9 TVCs around the theme 'I am sexy, when I am me'. The TVCs show boys who are not pretentious and girls who can fake it easily. The crux of each TVC is “How people should be comfortable by being themselves”. The campaign will also comprise of a print campaign

Articles are invited “Best Article”: DIVYANSHU | T.A PAI MANAGEMENT INSTITUE, MANIPAL He/She receives a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation We are inviting articles from all the B-schools of India. The articles can be specific to the regular sections of Markathon which includes: • Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena.

• Productolysis: Analysis of a product from the point of view of marketing.

• Strategic Analysis: A complete analysis of the marketing strategy of any company or an event.

Apart from above, out of the box views related to marketing are also welcome. The best entry will receive a letter of appreciation and a cash prize of Rs 1000/-. The format of the file should be MS Word doc/docx.

We’re inviting photographs of interesting promotional events/advertisements/hoardings/banners etc. you might have come across in your daily life for our new section “The 4th P”.

Send your self-clicked photographs in JPEG format only.

The last date of receiving all entries is 18th July 2012. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAMES>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@gmail.com.

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Team Markathon

markathon | july 2012

G S N Aditya

Swati Nidiganti

Umang Kulshrestha

Piyush Agarwal

Mayur Jain

Priya Agrawal

Sowmya R

Rushika Sabnis

Please send in your comments/feedback to: markathon.iims@gmail.com Visit: www.iims-markathon.in

Š Team Markathon, IIM Shillong