SIMSR Marksman March 2013 by Zigu MBA

The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL. 3| ISSUE VIII| MARCH‘13

SPECIAL STORY

The

Page 12

COVER STORY

Page 08

Dettol vs. Vim : The Return of Ad Wars Page 18

You tube now entices Indian Marketers Page 20

Will themed malls work in a country like India? Page 16

EDITOR’S DESK Dear Readers, We are back with yet another offering from the world of marketing to overwhelm you with a deluge of marketing trivia and gyaan. In our cover story ‘Affinity Marketing’ we have explained the term affinity as marketers would use it. Affinity Marketing is target marketing process which is carried out by linking complementary brands so that both the products/services capture sizable market share. The special story ‘The Twitter Saga’ are the chronicles of Twitter’s journey in India that entails how all the brands/companies have turned towards it, to gain a competitive advantage and a share of the consumer’s permanent memory space. Our regular sections Brand-MARKIVE, AD-itude, Tweets, Buzz, Hall-MARK Campaign and Bookworm will satiate your need for a 360 degree perspective on marketing. In our call for articles our readers have sent in some interesting readings on ‘YouTube entices Indian Marketers’, ‘Themed Malls in India’ and ‘Dettol Vs Vim- Return of ad wars’ which dish out their perspective on the recent happenings in the marketing world. Read articles written by our very own readers! We would like to congratulate the winners of our article writing competition Shivani Agrawal, Glorin Sebastian and Ankit Bhardwaj. We are sure the menu card looks quite interesting to try out the servings. So go on binge on the 3 course marketing meal while we don on our aprons to come up with new recipes for you to try out in your marketing hands-on during your internship. Let us know your thoughts and be sure to come visit us at www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman for more of the latest integrative marketing news and stories. Till then keep feeding the marketing worm and all the best for your internship.

Cheers !! Team – Marksman The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR

MARCH 2013

CONTENTS

Hall-MARK Campaigns

SquAreHeaD

BUZZ

TWEETS

08 AFFINITY MARKETING

Dettol Vs Vim- Return of 18 Ad Wars

12 THE TWITTER SAGA

YouTube entices Indian Marketers

Themed Malls in India

It’s all about AD-itude

BrandMARKIVE

BOOKWORM

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TWEETS JWT INDIA AND FORD MOTORS FIND THEMSELVES IN THE BOOT! It’s not often that the big daddy’s of this mad ad world make mistakes. But a mistake like this one could surely cost JWT India something more than just money. Three controversial ads, created by JWT for Ford motors were posted online without their consent. One of the ads showed a caricature of reality stars the Kardashians, tied up in the boot of a Ford Figo being driven by Paris Hilton, and another featured Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher apparently kidnapping another racing driver. All the three ads received a lot of criticisms’ from the viewers, especially the one with the ladies tied up in the boot, following the recent violence against women in India. The ads were taken off immediately; however, the damage had already been done. Both the company and the agency received a lot of flak for this. The senior executives at the agency said that these ads were never meant to be created let alone released. It was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight. Well, looks like JWT needs to be a little more careful the next time over!

SHAHRUKH’S FROOTI CRAVING! Frooti has always been in the forefront when it comes to brilliant ad concepts and catchy jingles. The latest stint by Frooti was to rope in Sharukh Khan and get him completely lost in the taste and flavour of Frooti. The latest ad campaign of Frooti shows Sharukh Khan as the coach of a football team on a hot sweaty summer day. Sharukh is seen drinking the Frooti and he gets so lost in it that he completely forgets the boys(kids) around him. The 'kids' in the film are actually adults who, spellbound by their desire to drink Frooti, stare at Khan as a group of enthralled children would. The ad tries to potray how even adults can have cravings and get carried away by the smallest of joys in life. The ad campaign was first released on twitter and was an instant hit not only among the SRK fans but amongst most of the viewers. It was then released on television and has been receiving sure reviews since. Looks like Frooti doesn't need to go the aamstura way!

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TWEETS HOW TO RESPECT THE WOMEN OF MUMBAI CITY! Starring:The Mumbai Police A brilliant initiative was taken up by the Mumbai Police and Ogilvy Mumbai with a public service campaign that tackles the sensitive issue of violence against women occurring recently in India. With the Mumbai police facing a lot of issues and having fingers pointed at them for every second rape or murder case happening in the city, Mumbai Police came up with a campaign that attempts to restore the faith that has been lost in the policemen .The campaign aims at teaching the people of the city how to behave and respect the women around them. The campaign which has five films tackles the issue of harassment and abuse that women tolerate because they might be afraid of the consequences. The campaign addresses the women directly assuring them that their complaints will be taken seriously and resolved. The ads also show the several helpline numbers where women can call in case of any emergency situations. Hats Off to the Mumbai Police for taking this step to make this city a safer place to live in!

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Brand MARK ive Evolution of brand “Titan” This is the era where different brands of watches are redefining time in their own stylish ways. For customers owning a particular brand of watch is like making a statement. TITAN is the leader of Indian watch industry today and its evolution in style and design choices is exemplary. At the time when the brand HMT ruled India years ago in 1970, people had very few choices for watches and they were used only for functional purposes. Later TITAN came in existence offering world-class designs. The brand equity of Titan skyrocketed and they even moved into the jewellery and eye-care category. Their usage of sophisticated technologies and commitment to excellence help them deliver best products in the category. Titan watches were launched leveraging TATA brand’s reputation which helped them gain the trust factor. With an offering of around 150 different models of watches TATA gave customers what they really wanted, advanced technology. Also it was very important for the brand to have sustainable design choices and styles to cope in international market which is followed by Titan. Titan not only offered variety in their products but they also developed strong distribution networks. Starting their own outlets and franchisees paved a new way of retailing watches. In addition to this the quality of customer service, coaxed customers to switch from international to Indian brand. Classique, Spectra, Fastrack and Exacta were the four brands offered by TITAN with careful segmentation.

Titan is one of the most valued brands in the consumer durables category. The communication strategies used by Titan connect customers to the brand. Current brand ambassador is Bollywood actor Aamir Khan and campaigns around him are smartly developed. From consumer durables category Titan moved to fashion space i.e. jewellery and eye-care. People believe that there is many more to come considering that this achievement is done in only in two decades

MARCH 2013

Hall-MARK Campaigns Kotak Mahindra Campaign “Kotak Mahindra” recently launched its campaign where in users can have an account co-authored with their brand mascot Subbu. Users can share their comments, tips on Facebook and Twitter. Vinay Pathak who is known for his comic timing portrays the prudent Subbu in this campaign. At the base of this campaign is the 6% interest rates on savings that Kotak Mahindra proposes where as other banks have it as only 4%. This happened after RBI deregulated the saving account interest rates. Kotak wanted to emphasize this through promotional campaign.

You first like their Facebook page and then you are greeted by the ‘Save with Subbu’ app on the home page. There you can share your tips, you also can view various other tips shared by other people along with their credentials. You can comment or reply to these tips and sort them too on the basis of most-recent and most-liked. The “My account” tab on the top of fb page helps you manage your tips. Your tips will get added only after approval. Once you get 10 saving tips Subbu will look into your entries and find out the best of them. If he likes any of your entries, that entry gets a t-shirt and might also feature in Smart-saving books. This campaign helps Kotak Mahindra imbibe the importance of savings account and highlights the importance of banking with Kotak. The twitter page for this campaign is not as active as the fb page as there is no sort of compulsion to follow their twitter handle but again it is the brand’s own call. With this latest “Save with Subbu” campaign the bank has been successful in increasing user participation. Also giving rewards to the best tip and excellent user experience on social media has helped the bank to keep users enticed to them.

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Its all about AD-itude! A father is manoeuvring through the rough terrains of a village lane on his hands to finally reach a temple. The purpose- to thank the almighty that his child turned 5. Strange, isn’t it? A child turning 5 would not mean a great deal to many of us but every year 2 million children under the age of 5 fall prey to infections like diarrhoea and pneumonia. This poignant picture of a village called Thesgora is the new TVC by Lifebuoy, who has adopted the village to spread the message of hygiene. Thesgora has one of the highest rates of diarrhoea in the country. The campaign titled ‘Help a child reach 5’ has struck a chord with the viewers and showcased Lifebuoy’s step towards corporate social responsibility. The ad hit 1.4 million views in just 3 weeks on Youtube. That’s what I call marketing with a social flavour!!!!!

MEDIA: TVC CLIENT: LIFEBUOY CREATIVE AGENCY: LOWE LINTAS

MEDIA: OOH CLIENT: BACARDI AGENCY: WEBCHUTNEY Seems like a lot of brands are on a spree to demonstrate their softer side through corporate social responsibility. Bacardi has experimented with a fun and interactive digital and on ground campaign. At a pub in Delhi, patrons were asked to test whether they were ‘drive ready’ by walking on a yellow line belted by lasers. If they blew the siren by falling off, they were proffered with a chauffeur to drive them back. Bacardi provided approximately 85 chauffeurs to the sloshed!!!! The activation was extended into an app which also tested people’s readiness to take the wheel. Bacardi tied up with cab providers like Meru and Ola Cabs to render a cab through the app. This campaign called ‘walk the line’ champions responsible drinking without being too preachy. The brand has plans to ratify the activation in all major cities in the coming year. Bacardi sure knows to blend a piquant cocktail of marketing and social responsibility.

MARCH 2013

THE IDEA

C O V E R S T O R Y

Affinity marketing is a marketing methodology that utilizes the available complements (preferably) to bolster sales of a service or product. This statement clearly indicates that this is not a marketing technique that we are unaware about. The name is suggestive and there is no red herring in it to make us try and think out of the box. The concept works is fairly simple. You pair up 2 complements/brands and then market them together. It is a symbiotic relationship that helps promote both the products with the promotional effort of one. Affinity Marketing is a niche concept. But as business intelligence suggests collaborative partnerships are gaining importance; it is gradually evolving into a norm. However it is certain that the concept is not the result of the current economic boom that we see today at the global level. This is a method of marketing that initially evolved as a contingency- a preventive measure- to revive an industry whose sales started to dip precariously.

THE HISTORY Pick up your Shoppersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Stop Citibank credit card and you have an affinity marketing product right there in your hands. Credit card collaborations have been hugely successful and it comes as no surprise that it were the credit card companies in the 1970s which came up with the successful use of the idea in the first place. Given the simplicity of the concept, it is quite possible that companies earlier would have clubbed products and marketed them in single offering. However, the instances are few, almost negligible. Well they certainly popularized the idea considerably. Card sales were plummeting and these companies needed to put a fresh spin on sales cycle.

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COVER STORY Why? For one, the world economy was not as robust in the first half of 20th century as it is today. Fewer companies and competitors existed. To think of working in collaboration with another company/product was unthinkable. So they collaborated with other companies to extricate themselves from their plight. In the process they popularized the idea of affinity marketing and hence the credit of bringing the idea to light goes to them. Surprisingly, the idea has been around for a very long time now and yet, not many businesses used it to leverage their sales and increase revenues till the turn of the century. Before we dive headlong into it, let us circle the concept like a proverbial eagle taking stock of its potential target. Only in this case we intend to get a bird’s eye view of the whole idea and occasionally swoop down to analyze the details in depth.

HOW IT WORKS? One of the best examples of the success of Affinity marketing hails from the technology sector. The case of Intel marketing itself along with other popular computer brands has become legendary. As a result, the chipmaker has today become synonymous with fast computing and reliable microchip technology. However the situation was different in 1991, when Intel was struggling to keep its profit margins. Denis Carter initiated ‘Intel Inside’ campaign to boost the popularity of Intel brand. The company tried to collaborate with IBM initially. But after the computer maker refused, it went with the newly formed Compaq. The Compaq computers started printing “Intel Inside” logo along with Compaq logo. The brand familiarity increased and consumers started expecting branded PCs to have Intel chips. As a result, other computer companies which used Intel chips also became a part of the campaign. Intel managed to thwart the competition then and also managed to beat the threat of the emerging Cloud technology. It drove consumers towards powerful computing too. The Harvard Business Review case on the campaign has become a classic B-School case today. Its success can be measured from the fact that even 2 decades after the initial launch, the campaign is still effective. In 2012, Intel logo appeared on the back of newly launched smart phones in India, UK and Russia.

MARCH 2013

COVER STORY It must be pointed out that Intel might be a stalwart in the PC industry but did not venture into the mobile technology earlier. However despite the late entry in 2012, it is using its 2 decade-old campaign to bring the familiarity of the brand to the phone. The mobile companies are also facing tough competition and hence they also stand to benefit from the Intel brand. Why this affinity marketing campaign has worked is because it was realized earlier on that the market was evolving and companies would have to switch to a “pull” strategy rather than a “push” one. Hence it would not be the design team but the marketing team that would call the shots. In case of Intel, its customers (PC companies) knew the brand well. However competitors like AMD had emerged and hence alternatives were available for PC manufacturers. This directly affected Intel sales. Denis Carter realized that key decisions would be driven by consumer feedback and hence it was important to make them aware of the Intel brand.The rest-as they say-is history!

COLLABORATION VS. COMPETITION In today’s business scenario, the conventional standalone marketing campaigns have become cliché. There are way too many players in the picture (Need we remind you of the number of Insurance companies in India?). Therefore collaboration becomes important. This makes Affinity marketing all the more important. Two organizations working together to boost their sales ride on the popularity wave of one another. As any surfer knows, two big waves come together to form a bigger, more potent wave. The effect of Affinity marketing is the same. Hence it does not come as a surprise if we see a lot of lesser known brands being marketed with popular ones in the near future. This is quite evident in case of insurance companies venturing into the Indian market. The country has a huge market opportunity. However there are a few well established Indian companies. Hence the likes of Tata AIG, IFFCO Tokio, Birla Sunlife etc. have collaborated to find foothold in the country.

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COVER STORY The choice of complements and the marketing campaign both hold immense importance. A hugely successful campaign involved pitching the Gillette M3 shaver with Duracell batteries. The shaver runs on batteries and hence the parent company (P&G) decided to market them together. Both brands are powerful and hence worked well together. The move became one of the highly regarded marketing campaigns in FMCG sector.

THE DOWNSIDE We have seen credit card companies exhaust the idea of affinity marketing. In fact a new credit card bearing the name and logo of any new company does not interest us at all. We have credit cards from various banks which have been branded along with TV Channels(MTV), petroleum products(BP, Indian Oil), retail shopping( Shoppersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Stop) etc. However the collaboration has become ineffective. If one runs through the history of Affinity Marketing, the same tactic revived the credit card sales in the 1970s and then died down. Then it resurfaced in 1990s and got exhausted within a decade. We see this well played out in India as well. The possibility of this tactic being successful in future is slim because the process has apparently lost its charm in the credit card field. To boost sales, now credit card companies have turned to a different tool altogether- Analytics. In future where affinity marketing will become a norm, reviving the credit card collaboration just might not work. Sadly but truly, the indiscriminate use of affinity marketing by credit card companies has rendered its effect null and void. If the choice of complements or strategy is not right, the whole campaign fails. For example in 2000, Mitsubishi Japan co-branded Pajero Mini with Charles Schultzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Peanuts characters (to complement Miniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image apparently. The result, though cute, came under huge flak and was highly criticized.

IN CONCLUSION Affinity Marketing is the umbrella concept for cross marketing and co-branding. But it does not dictate terms on the choice of brands to be marketed with.

MARCH 2013

THE TWITTER SAGA S P E C I A L S T O R Y

Twitter seems to be the new rage and the other social media websites are going to be passĂŠ. The social media website is gaining momentum and popularity in India slowly and eventually. We find more and more people joining twitter these days. From teenagers to old people, everybody is on the roll to join Twitter and why not? It is an extraordinary platform to connect directly to the celebs & the companies/brands. It is not just the people who are getting on board with the frenzy but celebs/ companies/ brands too. Celebrities find it an amazing platform to connect to their fans and to promote their work, be it films, theatre, shows, sports events etc. The news just reaches a million fans in a fraction of second of tweeting it. The companies/ brands also find it an apt platform to release a product, spread a word, promote or campaign for a new product or variant and to even register complaints. It is an amazing platform to get in touch with your consumers and know as to what they feel about your product. It would help to build a relationship with the customer

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and also help product to the consumers, an efficient way to (Customer Management)

improvise the liking of your effective and develop CRM Relationship

This is exactly what the companies are targeting these days. Almost every brand, every company on twitter are running competitions on a weekly basis, some on daily basis. This helps the company get a lot of promotion and campaigning and of course the cost involved is less than the conventional methods of promotions adopted. It just needs a dedicated team of members managing

SPECIAL STORY their twitter account and communicating directly with the consumers. The viral marketing that is happening on twitter these days is something extra ordinary. The product becomes a “trending” topic in a few minutes and then there is no looking back. There could not be a more effective and efficient way to spread a word to the consumers that too in a few minutes and with minimal cost involved. The give-aways generally range from something as small as a movie ticket to something as big as a smart phone. For the consumer, it is just spending a few hours into tweeting and helping the company in a way to make the product viral and he/she gets himself/herself a goodybag!

What more can a consumer ask for! Moreover, it is up to the consumers to follow the brand of their liking, so that he/she is passionate about making it viral in turn winning himself/herself a goody-bag from the brand.

#Twitter Trends Star Plus’ “#NachFinale” Contest Star Plus recently had its “#NachFinale” contest on twitter. All that the follower had to do is tweet as to why he/she would watch the “Nach Baliye” finale on Saturday i.e. 23.03.2013. The followers sent Star Plus a barrage of tweets from all over India. The contest started at around 10 in the morning and ended at 8 in the night, just when the “Nach Baliye Finale” happened. Star Plus gave away around 5 I-phones to the winners.

MARCH 2013

SPECIAL STORY The contest resulted in making “#NachFinale” at number one position not just for Saturday but for the next 3 days. It resulted in an incredible following of Star Plus and the finale was a grand hit!

Audi’s “#ILoveAudi” Contest Audi’s “#ILoveAudi” contest is surely the talk of the town (twitter). The entire twitterati has gone berserk about the competition. Audi has targeted the youth as they see the youth as their prospective customer. Audi has been giving out I-phones & I-pads to the winners of the contest. Ever since Audi launched the competition, the number of followers has increased two-fold and Audi has been “trending” ever since. This has led to an amazing brand recall and brand awareness that no amount of promotion would have done, that too with such low costs incurred.

This surely has been a contest for Audi with the best ROI.

Y_Films’ “#MDKM” (Mere Dad Ki Maruti) Contest: Yashraj Films launched “#MDKM” contest just before the launch of the movie. The winners were gifted with two tickets for the movie in their city. For a low budget movie like “Mere Dad Ki Maruti” this worked well as it turned out to be a perfect PR exercise. The movie also succeeded in achieving free word-of-mouth publicity on twitter as well as elsewhere. People responded and showered good words about the movie on twitter making the twitterati realize that it was an entertainer. The contest worked perfectly well for the production house as well as the audience.

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SPECIAL STORY There have been a hundred contests running on twitter recently. The best part about the contest is that people respond as the brand is talking to them directly. Consumers come closer to what they like the most. It is a winwin situation for both parties. For the companies it is a cost effective way of promotion, they can reach customers and prospects around the world. It also helps in target marketing. Twitter helps you locate people with similar interests and helps the company target the potential customers. Twitter also provides expertise. It can be used to establish your expertise/core.

competency in the respective field which in turn helps to build credibility and this leads to gaining customers and clients The principle of immediacy works well for twitter. It helps you to deliver your message at any point of time, day or night without any delays. Currently it can be termed as the best feedback mechanism & online reputation management. Though it is working extremely well for the brands as well as for the consumers both benefitting sufficiently from the contests, time will tell if it is just a fad or is here to stay!

MARCH 2013