AUGUST 2011 01

EDITOR‘S DESK

AUGUST 2011

Interface-the Marketing Club of SIMSR would like to present to you the 3rd issue of ―The Marks-

man‖. First of all we would like to thank all for an overwhelming response to our magazine.

In this issue, we focus our attention to ‗Affiliate Marketing‘- an e-commerce version of the tradi-

tional agent/referral fee sales channel concept. Affiliate Marketing has made businesses millions

and ordinary people millionaires. Our cover story gives a comprehensive picture of the process

and the evolution of affiliate marketing along with the challenges faced by it.

Most of us are by now well versed with the Kotlers and the Kellers of the world, the best prac-

tice cases, the Nike‘s and the Intel‘s. Its time to get real. We live in country of mass social and

cultural diversity, and what works in one country may or may not work in another. Hence, with

this issue, we endeavour to bring about a little awareness and knowledge about the significant In-

dia, ―The Rural India.‖. In our sections of brands, this time around we focus on a irrepressible,

undeniable brand, ―Rajnikanth!‖ (Hope you don‘t MIND IT!)

Our regular section of bookworm section, tweets and Buzz will appeal to all. We would also like

to congratulate the winner of our featured articles, Sharad Deep! We also have a special Fac-

ulty section for this issue, where an article by Ms. Babita and Mr. Saurav, professors at Punjabi

University, has been featured.

We understand that ―knowledge‖ cannot be contained, and we would only be foolhardy to be-

lieve that we could encompass all of it in one go. Hence, we would be featuring 6 of the notewor-

thy articles received, on our facebook page (facebook.com/simsr.interface) and we promise you

they will be well worth your time!

A gold mine of knowledge awaits our readers!

Cheers!!

Team –Marksman

COVER STORY

AFFILIATE MARKETING…………………………………………………………….……....03

SECONDARY STORY

SOCIAL MEDIA– LISTENING OVER COMMUNICATION..……………...……….……….06

ALL ABOUT BRANDS

THE UTOPIAN BRAND– RAJNIKANTH..………………………………………...……….08

FEATURED ARTICLES

BRANDING PARADIGM FOR THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID

Sharad Deep, MDI Gurgaon……………... ……..…..11

TWO SIDES OF A COIN: Lehar iron chusti for Rural markets?

Pavan Kumar C (IIFT, Delhi),Varun Tejwani (SIBM Pune)……………….…..14

THE BURGEONING RURAL MARKET

Asim Kumar Verma, Kritika Chandra (IMT Nagpur)…………………..19

.

MIGRATION AND REVERSE MIGRATION-URBAN TO RURAL

Ms. Babita Singla, Mr. Saurav Bansal (Punjabi University)..………………….…21

REGULARS

BOOKWORM ………………………………………………………………….………….....26

TETE-A-TETE………………………………………………………………………………….27

REWIND ………………………………………...………………………...……………….…29

TWEETS ………………………………………………………………………..………….…..30

BUZZ ……………………………………………………………………...…………………...32

THE MARKSMAN 02

AFFILIATE MARKETING

With the advent of e-commerce new forms of marketing have emerged. Here we delve into intriguing

world of Affiliate Marketing. We feel that being an affiliate is a bit like being a commissioned sales person

online….! Read on to find more about it.

WHAT‘S AFFILIATE MARKETING?

Affiliate Marketing typically refers to an elec-

tronic commerce version of the traditional

agent/referral fee sales channel concept. It is

a web-based marketing practice in which a busi-

ness rewards one or more affiliates for each

visitor or customer brought about by the affili-

ate's marketing efforts. An e-commerce affiliate

is a website which links back to an e-commerce

site with the goal of making a commission for

referred sales. Affiliate marketing is a narrower

part of online (or internet) marketing.

The compensation or commission that an affili-

ate receives may be based on a certain value

for every exposure, visit (pay per click), new

client (pay per lead), sale which is usually a per-

centage of the item sold (pay per sale or reve-

nue share) or it may be a combination of any of

these. It is a modern variation of the practice of

paying finder's-fees for the introduction of new

clients to a business.

HOW DID IT EVOLVE?

In the mid-90's Amazon.com pioneered the

idea by enabling Web site owners to link to

their books and earn a commission if someone

clicks over from their Web site to Amazon and

buys the book.

The original idea on the "above-the-ground

Internet" was introduced by CDNow in 1994,

two years before the Amazon Associate Pro-

gram was launched. Adult websites used affiliate

marketing methods to promote their busi-

nesses even before CDNow. Now almost

every large e-commerce site has some sort of

affiliate program.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Affiliate marketing network includes three-parts

cooperation which involves a merchant (or he

is often referred as an advertiser, a brand or a

seller), an affiliate himself (or a publisher) and a

customer. Affiliate marketing works step-by-

step. An affiliate partner signs up to advertise

the merchant's goods or services in order to

direct a customer to the relevant web page

which contains the information about adver-

tised goods or services. For every customer an

affiliate gets affiliate marketing commission.

Each affiliate is given a unique link to paste into

his or her website, so the vendor can track

which affiliate is responsible for generating a

AUGUST 2011 03

Sale. An additional benefit of affiliate marketing

is embodied in the opportunity to create sub-

affiliate network (2-tier affiliate marketing). It

means that every affiliate is able to attract

more partners to work for him or her and

bring additional percentage from every

customer's action. In such a way, the affiliate

marketing sites develop a large program that

envelops many people all over the world.

AFFILIATE INTERNET MARKETERS

As e-commerce continues to evolve, e-

commerce affiliates are no longer restricted to

website owners. They also promote the other

business by writing articles for blogs, making

simple websites that provide consumers infor-

mation, and even making referral videos and

posting them on Youtube!

Affiliate marketers don't necessarily have to

be affiliate marketers specifically. Sometimes

such marketers can be the e-commerce web

site that actually sells the products and ser-

vices.

WHY AFFILIATE MARKETING?

No Development Costs- With a good

affiliate program, production expenses

are no longer an issue as the product has

been developed and proven to be good.

Best of all, this has all come out of the

merchant‘s accounts and not yours.

Do not need a lot of money to set

up- All anyone will require is a desk, lap-

top or computer, internet connection in

addition to word processing software in

order to get going.

Costs Involved- Generally it is usually

totally free to join an affiliate program,

and most the set up costs and shipment

costs will be met by the particular mer-

chant whose products you are advertis-

ing. Plus, as you do not need anywhere

to store goods, this is actually another

reason for joining an affiliate program.

Options- There are usually 1000′ s of

products and services that a person can

choose from. So finding the correct

products for possibly a site you have cur-

rently or maybe one in which you are

planning to create is immense.

THE MARKSMAN 04

No need to have a Merchants Ac-

count- As an affiliate marketer, the mer-

chant you are selling the product or ser-

vice to will carry all costs, as well as han-

dle the processing of all payments. So

you never have to be concerned about

any possible charge backs, fraudulent

purchases or losing your own merchant

account completely as an affiliate. Plus,

no longer will you be worried with col-

lecting and storing names and addresses

of customers along with their credit card

information, as this will be all

done by the merchant who you

are affiliated to.

No middlemen- The advan-

tage of this method of market-

ing is that it cuts out the mid-

dleman but it does require the

affiliates to have a high degree

of trust in the software and

people behind the e-commerce

web site in question.

WHERE IS IT BEING USED?

Some e-commerce sites, such as

Amazon.com run their own affiliate

programs while other e-commerce

vendors use third party services provided by

intermediaries like CommissionJunction.com,

and LinkShare.com to track traffic or sales that

are referred from affiliates. Some businesses

owe much of their growth and success to this

marketing technique.

There are different technological solutions

available for merchants who are considering

adding an affiliate strategy to their online sales

channel. Some types of affiliate management

solutions include: standalone software, hosted

services, shopping carts with affiliate features,

and third party affiliate networks.

CHALLENGES….

Revenue Generation Time

In spite of its availability, affiliate marketing

might require some special attention for the

first time before it starts working and bringing

some income automatically.

Spamming

In its early days many internet users held nega-

tive opinions of affiliate marketing due to the

tendency of affiliates to use spam to promote

the programs in which they were enrolled. As

affiliate marketing has matured many

affiliate merchants have refined their

terms and conditions to prohibit affili-

ates from spamming. Many affiliates

have converted from sending email

spam to creating large volumes of

autogenerated webpages each de-

voted to different niche keywords as

a way of SEOing their sites with the

search engines. This is sometimes re-

ferred to as spamming the search en-

gine results.

Click Fraud

Click fraud is a type of Internet crime

that occurs in pay per click online advertising

when a person, automated script or computer

program imitates a legitimate user of a web

browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of

generating a charge per click without having

actual interest in the target of the ad's link.

Click fraud is the subject of some controversy

and increasing litigation due to the advertising

networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.

AUGUST 2011 05

Something to

ponder over…..

"I want to add

some affiliates to

my website."

"I want to add

some affiliate

products to my

website."

"I want to add

some affiliate links

Social Media as the name suggests is media with social interaction. This medium‘s reach is

growing by leaps & bounds. There are many facets which is intriguing the marketer about

this platform. Two prominent aspects are –

A place to communicate about brand, and features which it offers.

A place to listen to consumers

The later aspect is been overlooked by many brands currently. Marketers are known for

talking, not listening. Many are forgetting that it provides great opportunity to learn at a

grassroots level what people really think about a brand, products or services. Indeed, listen-

ing to the groundswell of consumer-generated content is the new marketing. This does not

imply that tools like focus groups, user surveys or other research instruments would be

passé but the new medium would provide better understanding of consumer behavior as

this space provides unbiased and free opinions.

Some of key characteristics of listening -

Why listen -

People are using various means like

Facebook post, Twitter‘s tweet or

various blog posts‘ blogging about

their experience positive or nega-

tive with a product or service.

The conversations are influencing in

multifold. There is avalanche effect

due to peer influences.

If negative reviews or comments are

not handled with care in nascent

stage it might lead to complete dilu-

tion of brand.

What to listen for -

Share of voice - This is a measurement of how much and to what degree people

are talking about you. This will help in understanding the buzz about brand

and its competitors.

Social media - listening over communication End of one sided communication

All readers would at least be having a facebook or twitter profile, moreover it would have been

reviewed by you at least once in a day. This is reach & voltage of media called Social Media.

THE MARKSMAN 06

AUGUST 2011 07

Tone of voice - This is a gauge of whether the conversation is largely positive or nega-

tive and is often referred to as "sentiment analysis." If the sentiment is positive, re-

ward those who speak well of you. That will presumably encourage them to do

even more. If the tone is largely negative, it is incumbent upon you to get to the

root of the problem, if, in fact, a problem exists. Fix the problem and the tone will

likely change. If it's misinformation that's being spread, you must engage the critics

and correct their misunderstanding.

Trends over time - It is important to monitor both the above metrics, over the course

of time in order to see the effects of advertising, marketing and PR.

How to listen -

This listening can be done via using free tools like ‗Social Mention‘ or ‗RSS feeds‘ etc or paid

tools like ‗Radian 6‘ or ‗SM2‘. There can be manual finding which can be strenuous but very

fruitful as this can help in overcoming the flaws of technical tools.

This sums up that, One Can‘t Afford to Ignore the

Conversation Any Longer, there is a conversation

happening in any brands‘ honor PARTICIPATE IN IT.

Social media listening over communication

―Yen Vazhi, Tani Vazhi!‖

The above quote is in Tamil. Understandably,

they mean nothing to a vast majority of Indi-

ans, who have absolutely no knowledge of the

language. However if one mentions these four

words to someone from

Tamil Nadu, in all prob-

ability the person would

break into a wide smile.

The emergence of the im-

age in the person‘s mind,

of a young man challenging

the evil intentions of a

femme fatale would be the

reason behind the smile. .

After all, when the words

have been mouthed by the

greatest Tamil actor of all time in his 150th film,

which has been one of the biggest blockbusters

of his career, there is something to smile

about. He is the only person in the world, his

fans believe, who can say ―My Way is the

Unique Way‖, which is what the above words

mean, in, well, his unique way. When someone

aged 60 years, acts as leading man in a movie,

which, in this day and age is able to gross 216

crores in the first week itself, there must be

something special about him. For his viewers,

his audience he is ―Thalaivar‖ or God. For his

directors, his producers, his co-stars he is the

Utopian Brand- one that repositions, reinvents

and ensures over-normal returns. His name is

Rajnikanth.

RAJNI: The Brand

The journey of this brand called Rajni, what we

might call in marketing jargon as PLC or Prod-

uct Life Cycle, has been extremely unconven-

tional. Anyone who has encountered PLCs in the

course of study or business would know that the

curves are S-shaped, the reason why these curves

are called S-curves. There is an inception followed

by a rapid growth phase, which is followed by a

period of stagnant growth, which then culmi-

nates in decline. In Rajni‘s case, there have

been periods of stagnant growth, but decline

has never crossed his path. The minor hiccups

that have come his way may be treated as

small kinks in his progress curve, but they

have never been able to dent his upward

climb. This is because here is a brand that

competes not with other brands in the mar-

ket, but with itself. Each successive film

grosses more than

the previous film,

which has lead film re-

viewers and critics to

rightly mention: ―Only

a Rajnikant film can

break the record of a

Rajnikant film‖.

Not only is he a house-

hold name in Tamil Nadu, but also in neighbour-

ing Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The

entire country connects to his name; associating

him with his uniquely styled dialogues and man-

nerisms. Rajni can arguably be considered as the

only Indian actor having a substantial Japanese

base, which was built after his film Muthu (1995)

was dubbed and released in Japan. Films namely

Baba (2002), Chandramukhi (2005) and Sivaji

(2007) were also released in Japan, which greatly

consolidated his position as a leading Asian star.

THE MARKSMAN 08

The Utopian Brand: RAJNIKANTH

The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan

Singh, on a visit to Japan in 2006, acknowl-

edged the role of Muthu in forging positive re-

lations between the two nations. Infact, Rajni

received a remuneration of 26 crores for his

film Sivaji, which catapulted him to the posi-

tion of 2nd highest paid star in

Asia after Jackie Chan. Rajni’s

2005 film Chandramukhi

which is to date the longest

running Tamil film, having

run at the theatres for 800

days, was dubbed in German

and released in all German-

speaking nations.

The way his latest film Enthi-

ran is grossing, it is expected

that the curve would bend

higher still. For artistes who have been in the

industry for 35 years, achieving this trend is an

aspiration. For Rajni this has been a reality:

having acted in over 150 films in Tamil, Kan-

nada, Malayalam, Telegu, Hindi and even Ben-

gali, over a period of 35 years, his popularity

and his saleability refuses to wane. Not to for-

get the Hollywood movie Bloodstone produced

by Ashok Amritraj in 1988, which featured

him in a supporting act. In 2007, Asia week

named Rajni as one of the most influential per-

sons in South Asia.

All these facts make one wonder, how did the

Rajni phenomenon come about and what were

the reasons behind it. Fan frenzy is not new to

the Tamil industry. Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini

Ganesan and more prominently MGR were

one of the greatest actors who enjoyed great

popularity levels among the masses. One may

recall that MGR’s ill health and subsequent

death unleashed a flurry of death, suicide and

chaos all over Tamil Nadu. But Rajni’s popu-

larity seems to surpass that of all his three

predecessors. In this respect one may recall the

movie

Thalapathy, in which

Rajnikanth co-starred

with the Malayalam

superstar Manmooty.

The film initially

showed Rajnikanth

getting killed trying to

protect his friend Man-

mooty, who later

takes revenge for his

death. However, when

this movie was re-

leased in Tamil Nadu, there was widespread

discontentment, and two or three screens

were burned. The producers had to later re-

make the film, with Rajnikant surviving, and

Manmooty dying, and the former taking re-

venge.

All this cannot be attributed to screen pres-

ence alone. This calls for a ―product analysis‖.

RAJNI: ―The Product‖

To understand the adulation that Rajni com-

mands, we should first ascertain who the per-

son is, what his origins are and how he

reached the pinnacle of Tamil cinema. In other

words, in order to fully appreciate Rajni as a

person, one should know the story of how a

bus conductor named Sivaji Rao Gaekwad be-

came the superstar Rajni.

The point worth mentioning first is that the

biggest superstar of the Tamil film industry is a

AUGUST 2011 09

The Utopian Brand: RAJNIKANTH

Maharashtrian. He was born in Bangalore, and

was the youngest child of his parents. His

mother died when he was aged 5 years, and

what followed was an impoverished childhood.

To make ends meet, he served as a coolie in his

community. After some basic education, he

joined the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus

conductor. His passion for acting was noticed

and deeply encouraged by his friend and co-

worker Raj Bahadur. It was with his help that

Rajni came to Chennai, to try his luck at acting,

and subsequently joined the Madras Film Insti-

tute. It was there that one day, the renowned

director K. Balachander noticed him and casted

him in his first Tamil movie Apoorva Raagangal:

The Beautiful Raga (1975). The role however

was that of a cancer patient, with low screen

presence.

RAJNI: ―The value-add‖

One of the major contributors to the immense

popularity of Rajnikanth is his humility and pious-

ness. Ego and starry airs are unknown to Rajni-

kant. During breaks he hardly ever rushes to his

air-conditioned makeup room. Instead, he pre-

fers to sleep on the sets, even without a pillow,

merely covering his eyes with a wet cloth. Eve-

ryone in the film unit from the spot boy to the

director, share an equal rapport with Rajni,

which goes on to show his down-to-earth atti-

tude. He never comes to functions with a reti-

nue behind him and even prefers to drive his

own car. He is known to be a very religious per-

son as well. Apart from that, his philanthropic

activates have also contributed a lot towards en-

dearing him to his audience. His stand on public

welfare issues such as the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu

Kaveri water sharing verdict, protesting

against which he undertook a fast have also

won him a lot of respect in Tamil Nadu. The

great man that he is, he has also thanked the

Karnataka Govt, and the Kannada film indus-

try for their receptiveness, when his 2008

film Kuselan was released there.

CONCLUSION

The intent behind this article is to showcase

a brand which has defied all the theories

that brands generally adhere to. The brand

has repositioned itself from time to time.

Any marketer would love to possess a

brand in which he would be comfortable to

invest a figure around 160 crores, since at

the back of his mind he knows that the

brand is so strong that it will break-even in

the first week itself, and the brand goes a

step further and breaks even in the first day

itself, quoting Enthiran figures. Nothing is

more profitable than a brand that will sur-

prise you every time, as Rajni once men-

tioned in an interview: ―Yesterday I was a

conductor, today I'm a star, tomorrow what

I'll be, only He knows!"

I am one of his biggest fans, the reason why

I have written about him. When a Ma-

harashtrian goes over to Chennai, becomes

the greatest star the Tamil film industry has

ever produced and inspires a Bengali to

write about him, there must be something

about him. That, is Rajnikanth for you.

THE MARKSMAN 10

The Utopian Brand: RAJNIKANTH

Branding Paradigm for the Bottom of Pyra-

mid Market

-Sharad Deep, MDI Gurgaon

Introduction

The rural population in India accounts for 74.3 percent of the total population.

With increasing consumption patterns in the rural areas, all marketing compa-

nies have realized the importance of rural marketing in the last decade or so. A

simple example demonstrating

Figure 1: Rural Areas - Increase in usage from 2001-02 to 2009-10

this can be given by highlighting the Nirma vs. HUL scenario of the 1980s when Nirma took a

huge market share from HUL‘s Surf by playing on lowest-priced brand factor. In response, HUL

came up with segmentation strategy to win back part of its market share. Thus, HUL learned the

hard way that different brands need to be created for different segments of the society.

With diverse cultures, classes, creeds, languages and festivals rural India can be further divided

into regional segments. These segments tell us the stereotypes that could be found in rural

towns and villages.

Figure 2: Rural India - Different People, Different Culture

AUGUST 2011 11

Branding paradigm for BoP markets

Figure 3: Branding Paradigm

Prof Rajagopal has given this branding paradigm for BoP markets. He says that brand passion is de-

rived from behavioural factors namely personality, image, reputation and trust (PIRT) as well as

marketing mix of the product. Because of this brand passion, there is a consumer pull effect mak-

ing the brand more tensile. Also, since rural consumer is slow in accepting a new brand, Prof Ra-

jagopal says that a new brand will face sluggishness in the beginning and later become strong when

loyalty increases. He further says that the aggregate buying power of BoP market is very large al-

though per capita sales may be lower.

Whenever a company wants to penetrate a BoP market, it needs to keep the following things in

mind: consumption needs, lifestyle and societal indicators. In order to inculcate brand loyalty, BoP

brands need to focus on two things: low price strategies and standardized products. The reason

being that the rural segment is highly price sensitive and also that they are not able to differentiate

between many products. We now look at each step of the above mapping to understand the im-

plications of branding at each level:

1. Knowing the Consumer

The segmentation shown in Figure 2 tells firms that they need to adopt multi-brand strategy in or-

der to cater to different consumer needs of different rural markets. This would be useful in fight-

ing off the huge unorganized sector which has monopolized the Indian rural market. Firms need to

conduct periodical surveys so as to identify the changing needs of rural consumers as they move

from Innovators to Early Adopters to Early Majority because at each stage, the behaviour changes.

THE MARKSMAN 11

AUGUST 2011 13

2. Awareness

At this stage, the consumer becomes aware of the brand. Firms need to follow ag-

gressive branding – BoP brand strategy requires an attacking sales force, intensive advertisements and

sales schemes. Rural people can be exposed to a new brand through the following media:

3. Information: Firms should extend the product line enveloping the mass market segments in or-

der to provide more shelf space to brands and narrow down competition to emerge as brand lead-

ers. In these markets brand equity is determined by the consumers in reference to perceived use

value and value for money measures.

4. Inquiry: A consumer wants four things from a brand:

1. Affordability i.e. price advantage

2. Social status i.e. if his reference group will approve of the brand or not

3. Perceived Use value i.e. in what ways can he use the product

4. Quality confidence i.e. if the brand will serve him in long term or not

5. Consideration: For a brand to enter the consideration set of a consumer, it has to exhibit cer-

tain favourable attributes like packaging, taste, smell, appearance, ingredients. The uniqueness of the

brand in these aspects is desirable here.

6. Purchase: In order to entice the consumer BoP brands need to have better packaging. Rural peo-

ple want ease of storing a package more than urban people. Moreover, keeping the various segments

and their distinguishing characteristics (Figure 2) in mind, the sales people need to modify their selling

techniques.

7. Enjoyment & Advocacy: Coca-Cola recently declared that it will sell its products in rural area

where there is severe power shortages by using eKoCool – a solar energy driven chest cooler. Thus,

Coca-cola is solving two purposes for rural people:

It is providing a source which can keep things cold

The solar energy can help light up their homes.

By satisfying their basic convenience need of electricity, Coca-Cola has devised a win-win situation

wherein it is doing CSR activity as well as enhancing its brand value.

So, to conclude the discussion we can say that firms need to follow the above stated paradigm in or-

der to succeed in the Indian rural markets keeping in mind the cultural diversity and propensity to

spend of the rural consumers.

Sangamjagalamudi, a village around 15 kms from Tenali town in Guntur district

of Andhra Pradesh was in the news recently for the launch of a product which

attracted attention from National media. More than 100 men, women and chil-

dren gathered recently under a canopy on a narrow street to watch a promotional film

from PepsiCo Inc. In the film, a teenage girl sits in her bedroom, tired and listless. Based on her

symptoms—fatigue, breathlessness and an inability to concentrate on studies—her mother con-

cludes she is anemic. She explains what anemia is, how to look for it (examine your tongue and

the whites of your nails and eyes) and that iron-rich foods such as spinach, chicken liver, lentils

and a squeeze of lemon can help.

Then the pitch: Also helpful are two new snack foods from PepsiCo fortified with an iron sup-

plement. One is a cookie; the other is like a cheese puff.

Composition: Lehar Iron Chusti is an extruded snack and a sweet biscuit that are richly fortified

by Iron. The products are made with wholesome local ingredients like grains, peanuts and jaggery.

To sell the cookies and puffs, PepsiCo has hired a woman in each of the 84 villages targeted in

Andhra Pradesh. The women go house to house each week to pitch the health message and are

accompanied by a sales agent armed with the products.The project in India is part of a broader

global push by PepsiCo into healthier

snacks and beverages around the globe.

The small, single-serving fortified-snack

packs are designed for low-income

emerging-market customers, selling for

two rupees, or about four cents.

The Target Audience- Women be-

tween the ages of 15-49, 55% of whom

are suffering from anemia.

The objective is clear: to test-market

affordable products that fulfill a health

need of bottom of the pyramid (BOP)

consumers. The potential market size:

over a billion consumers. The bulk of

PepsiCo's $60 billion in annual revenue still comes from products such as Pepsi-Cola and Lay's

THE MARKSMAN 14

Pepsi Launches: "Lehar Iron Chusti, a fortified

iron snack” for rural markets. Will it

work?

Pranav Kumar C, IIFT Delhi

FOR

A billboard at a market near Athota, India, advertises

snacks under PepsiCo's Lehar Iron Chusti brand.

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

potato chips that the company describes as "fun for you.'' But it launched a

Global Nutrition Group last year and Chief Executive Indra Nooyi aims to more

than double revenue from "good for you'' products to $30 billion by 2020. India will be the first

country in the PepsiCo system to target the value segment

with multiple products. In line with this they are looking for

next billion consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. What are

the gaps? What are the offerings? And what's the business

model required to reach these consumers? Late management

guru C K Prahalad brought the fortune at the bottom of the

pyramid to the fore and many companies, primarily consumer

goods marketers, have been looking at ways to make inroads

into this market.

Outside of India, Pepsi has ambitions for other healthy foods.

In China, the company recently began rolling out "Quaker Congee,'' an oatmeal variant of the rice

-based breakfast staple. PepsiCo is looking at launching a new beverage for some Latin American

markets that combines fruit, oats and dairy. It also says it's trying to identify nutrient-dense staple

crops in sub-Saharan Africa that can be used in locally produced snacks.

Will it work?

PepsiCo is adopting a twin pronged strategy of Vertical movement and selling them at Cheaper

Price Points which is likely to be a success in long run.

GOING VERTICAL:

NourishCo, PepsiCo's vertical in partnership with Tata Global Beverages, has just rolled out its

first product, a lemon-flavoured glucose-based drink, called Gluco Plus, in Maharashtra. It is

priced at Rs 5. An innovation vertical has launched biscuits and snacks priced at 2 under the Le-

har Iron Chusti brand. This line-up of healthy foods is targeted at women under 'Project Asha',

PepsiCo's codename for Nooyi-commissioned plan to develop low-priced nutritional foods for

the poor.

While separate operations, sales and marketing teams have been set up for the verticals, Pep-

siCo has further split its go-to-market (distribution) model into three divisions. There's a pre-

mium arm for distributing Tropicana juices, Gatorade sports drinks and Quaker oats; a mid-rung

one for aerated drinks like Pepsi and Slice and snacks like Kurkure and Lays; and a division cater-

ing to mass products like Lehar Iron Chusti. This strategy to set dedicated sales teams helps in

Communication and marketing for these products in a different way yields significant flexibility

AUGUST 2011 15

PepsiCo is adopting a twin

pronged strategy of Vertical

movement and selling them at

Cheaper Price Points which is

likely to be a success in long

run.

FOR

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

when it comes to areas like packaging, as the firm can write labels in Telugu, a

language which is widely-spoken in Andhra Pradesh, on Lehar Iron Chusti. In

short they are acting like local players, but offer products that don't compromise on taste or

quality."

CHEAPER PRICE POINTS

This involves attempting to provide goods appropriate for the 330m potential buyers moving

from the "C"-level demographic into the more affluent "B"-level socioeconomic category. Low-

margin products like Iron Chusti will obviously not be profitable in the beginning, but PepsiCo is

hoping that the products will achieve scale in about 24 months. The success of PepsiCo's core

business of snacks, such as Kurkure and Cheetos at Rs 5 was a resounding success. They are the

fastest growing among PepsiCo's foods arm and contribute 45-50% to the division's foods sales.

More broadly, as three-quarters of PepsiCo's customer base buys goods both from its food and

beverage stable, there are considerable possibilities for incremental growth, and hence, Lehar

Iron Chusti provides ample of growth opportunities for the company in the long run.

THE MARKSMAN 16

FOR

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

Pepsi Launches: "Lehar Iron Chusti, a

fortified iron snack” for rural mar-

kets. Will it work?

-Varun Tejwani,SIBM Pune

Another blunder in the making: PepsiCo‘s Iron Chusti

It has been reiterated in books, journals, magazines and by management

gurus all across India that the rural consumer looks for value and not for

price. Almost all major FMCG companies in their foray into the rural

market have forgotten this important lesson in rural marketing. They

have more often than not introduced small SKUs to capitalize on price points. Reduction in price

with reduction in quantity or size does not increase value for the rural consumer. Hence, almost

all of them have failed to capitalize on the growth of the rural market.

Lately, I was surprised to see that PepsiCo is foraying into the rural market with its Iron Chusti

snacks and cookies. To address the problem of iron deficiency in the rural India, PepsiCo India

inspired by the global PepsiCo head Indra Nooyi in their ―noble‖ mission to transform into a

―good for you‖ products organization has launched these iron supplementing snacks and biscuits.

The brilliant minds at PepsiCo have found a market gap and decided to address the need profita-

bly.

However, they have gone wrong in understanding the rural consumer. They believe that they are

delivering value to the rural consumer. My question to them is- What is value to a rural con-

sumer? To be more precise, what does a rural con-

sumer look for in a snack? Is it protein fortification,

glucose content, vitamins or is it something else? If

he doesn‘t look for all these, then no amount of

communication or convincing can lure him into buy-

ing it.

Let‘s take the example of Parle G. Parle G does not

sell in the rural market because of the glucose con-

tent or ―G mane genius‖. The rural consumer does

not look for glucose content or mental benefits in a

biscuit. It sells primarily because of the quantity it

offers and at the price that it offers that quantity. ―G mane Genius‖ may work really well in the

urban market but not in the rural market.

Coming back to value in a snack for the rural consumer, value merely stands for 2 things in the

rural market:

Quantity (filling ability of the snack)

Taste

AUGUST 2011 17

AGAINST

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

Quantity: Compare 100 grams of Parle G to 24 grams of

Iron Chusti biscuit and compare 30 grams of Haldirams to

10 grams of Iron Chusti snack- it is quite clear that value is

not delivered.

Taste: Rural consumer still finds it difficult to adapt to the

taste of a Kurkure

which essentially uses all Indian spices. He is happy

with the tastes of Haldirams Namkeens and Lehar

Moong Dal because the origin of these namkeens is

local. How do you expect the same consumers to

like snacks the taste of which resembles cheese

puffs?

Lastly, if a rural consumer was looking to cure his/her

condition of anemia, he/she would be advised by the doc-

tor to eat spinach like Popeye and not to get 7 milligrams

of iron from Iron Chusti snacks. In Rs. 5 of spinach, one

can get a month‘s dosage of iron where as Rs. 5 of Iron

Chusti can‘t even supply the daily requirement of iron.

Hence PepsiCo has failed to deliver on all counts this

AGAINST

THE MARKSMAN 18

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

The Indian economy which was once dependent on foreign

aids and supplies is growing with a fast pace of 8 %. The huge In-

dian population which was once a curse for the whole nation has

given immense opportunities for all the marketers of the nation.

The rural market that was untouched till recent years has become lucrative and is now attracting ma-

jor companies like ITC, HUL and Godrej which are investing huge funds to tap the market. The

whitepaper published by CII-Technopak estimated the growth of the rural market at 25% a year with

the size of the market standing at US$425 billion in the year 2010-11 which was US$220 billion in

2004.

The Union Budget of 2010-11 also increased the fund allocation of National Rural Employment Guar-

antee Act to US$ 8.71 which says a lot about the government focus to boost the rural economy. The

Indian rural market has given a unique chance to

marketers to enhance its sales and spread it

wings to few areas that were inaccessible few

years back.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd which started ―Shakti‖,

its rural initiative in the year 2001 has been able

to reach 80000 villages in 18 states. The re-

sponse of the people in these villages has been

overwhelming for the company. The recent re-

port released by Nielsen India said that the de-

mand of personal care products grew at faster

rate in rural market than the urban market.

Fig 1. A Typical Rural Haat

Insight into Rural Customers

The intensified competition and moreover stagnant phase of growth has forced companies to pene-

trate the urban market. The improved lifestyle and rise in purchasing power of the rural consumer

have further encouraged the markets. The breaking up of joint families into nuclear families has re-

sulted in demand of consumer durables like TV, refrigerator and washing machines. Though most of

the products released by companies in the rural market have been the original version but in most of

the instances they have been forced to adjust them according to the needs of the rural consumer.

The unique uses developed by the consumers in the villages have also forced them to do the same.

The popular black hair dye of Godrej was being used by the villagers in Raipur to polish their cattle so

that they could fetch higher prices in the cattle market. In another situation the lamps ignited by

kerosene were comfortably adjusted to use mosquito repellant mat Good Knight.

AUGUST 2011 19

THE BURGEONING RURAL MARKET

Asim Kumar Verma, Kritika Chandra (IMT Nagpur)

Even the consumer durable like washing machine has been put to use for unintended usages. In

some regions of Punjab and Haryana, it was used to churn the buttermilk to make lassi.

Winning Strategies

The company focusing on the rural market should

tweak its four P‘s of marketing to win the market share.

The rural market prefers simple and easy product with

core benefits speaking volumes about the product. The

packaging needs to be convenient and should be dura-

ble to make it suitable for long distances. Sachets and

smaller stock keeping units (SKUs) have really revolu-

tionized the local rural market. The consumer durable

goods should be easy to use and instructions should be

well explained in the local language. LG was quick to

analyze it and launched Sampoorna television with

Devanagari script and ability to catch weak signals,

which reaped huge success for the company.

Fig 2. Washing Machine being used to make Lassi

The pricing holds an important key among the four P‘s for a rural market because the rural con-

sumers are considered to be the most price sensitive. Each and every customer evaluates the

price of the product with the value derived from it. Some of the major companies like HUL,

Godrej and Tata reduced its stock keeping units to cater to the market. Godrej introduced its

leading soap brand Cinthol in 50 gram packs with a price of Rs. 4-5 and HUL launched Lux in 25

grams pack especially for the markets of Bihar and UP.

The distribution channels of the company should be made robust to tap the rural market. The

distributor should be willing to go till the last mile to deliver the product to the customers. The

Kosi floods of 2008 in Bihar had jeopardized the distribution channel of the major companies giv-

ing a unique opportunity to the local bakery & biscuit manufacturers. To avoid such situations the

companies should have local warehouses and try to decentralize the distribution as much as pos-

sible. Many companies have been able to build penetrative distribution channel that has catered

the rural market well. Here, the marketing strategy adopted by Ajanta is worth mentioning which

sells its toothbrushes even through local betel-shops and chemist stores.

Rural market holds unique untapped opportunities for the marketers. But the winning strategies

adopted in the urban market might not be a success in the rural market too since the customers

are completely different with different requirements. Moreover the awareness and increased pur-

chasing power is making them well informed customers with unique needs. One who is able to

deliver value at minimum cost will be the winner in the long run.

THE MARKSMAN 20

MARKETING AND REVERSE MIGRATION: URBAN TO RURAL

Babita Singla (Assistant Professor)– babitasingla.bfcmt@gmail.com

Saurav Bansal (Lecturer)– sauravbansal.bfcmt@gmail.com

Punjabi University, Patiala

Executive Summary

Retail‘ is the new tale to tell in India now-a-days. If we view the consumer markets as a

Pyramid (standing upright), people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) are the main constituents

of these markets. As the global markets have begin to slowdown, Mr. C. K. Prahlad suggested

that four billion poor can fuel the engine of next round of global trade and prosperity, and can

also be a source of innovations. Sadly people at BOP have been ignored by the companies by

considering them irrelevant, have a low disposable income, hence low buying power. So,

companies are in continuous search to find the answer for question i.e. How best to tap the op-

portunities available in this segment? This paper is written with special focus on Buying

Behaviour of people at BOP.

It is imperative to understand the needs these people have before jotting down any marketing strategy as

needs leads to demand, which in turn in satisfied by the product or service.

Characteristics of Market at Rural

Zone

Highly Price Conscious – Generally, price

is sole determinant of selection in this cate-

gory as people at BOP mind every penny

they spent. Hence, they look for value for

money.

Generic Product for Basic Needs –

Needs of these people are very basic in na-

ture, hence they also require very generic

product to satisfying their needs. They are

not fascinated by each and every product.

Low Brand Loyalty – Generally, no brand

loyalty is observed in this market because they do not have that much money to follow a particu-

lar brand. In some cases, where the brand is very cheap, they do exhibit some amount of brand

loyalty like for example in case of India i.e. Nirma Washing Powder.

AUGUST 2011 21

Challenges at BOP

Main challenges in this market can be summarized as:-

Illiteracy prevailing in this section of society becomes a challenge for the companies to communi-

cate their value offerings to them.

Counterfeit or Look alike Goods makes it possible for companies to fool them. That is why we

see many companies just changing a letter in the brand name or creating a name with the same

ascent of that of a famous brand.

Unorganized Market i.e. small ―Haats‖ and shops at every nook and corner presently caters to

the needs of the people at BOP.

Lack of Knowledge and

Capabilities about market,

its synergies and 4 A’s –

Availability, Affordability,

Awareness and Access

poses a great challenge.

Huge Potential – In terms

of market size and in order

to inject a new life to the or-

ganization, this market offers

a huge potential for growth.

Poor live in high cost/low

quality economies. With re-

spect to India, potential of

this market can be summa-

rized as under:-

Strategy of Execution

To target and tap this oppor-

tunity a different mindset is required. A standardized ‗western‘ marketing mix offering cannot be

employed in this scenario. So, we will understand their behaviour with the help of Engel –

Blackwell Miniard Model.

THE MARKSMAN 22

The exposure to information regarding a general product in this segment is very low,

hence very little attention regarding the communication. They accept what is provided

to them and are guided by their past purchase behaviour. This in turn becomes their con-

sideration set and a part of their memory.

Figure: Engel-Blackwell Miniard Model

As this market is characterized by daily wage earners, whenever the need arises to buy a

particular product, they go for very limited external search or no search at all regard-

ing the options, and hence there is no evaluation. They go for Internal Search i.e. their

memory. Now, if a particular product satisfies their needs, they become the regular user

of that product. They also spread positive words about the product which serves as ex-

posure for the product among their peer group.

Stimuli Influence-Low

External Search- Limited

Exposure-Low

Attention-Low

Comprehension-

Low

Acceptance-High

Retention-High

Mem-

ory

Need

Recognition- Regu-

lar

Search- Lim-

ited

Alternative

Evaluation- No

Beliefs-

Strong

Attitude-

Positive

Intention-To

buy product,

Purchase Deter-

mined, Conven-

ient outlets

Outcomes

Dissatisfaction Satisfaction

AUGUST 2011 23

Detailed Marketing Strategy encompasses:

Anti-Precision Pricing: Precision Pricing involves truly understanding the tradeoffs be-

tween price, volume, and profit, and then systematically identifying highly targeted oppor-

tunities in which well-managed pricing can increase profit and boost growth. What it re-

quires is a rigorous, consistent, and insightful focus on that basic but critically important question:

How much will customers buy of my product, and at what price?

Fig: A Typical Precision Cloud

Many companies offer their smaller customers net prices that are as good as or better than those

offered to large accounts. Precision pricing helps dispel such clouds.

Different customers frequently place different values on products and services, as well as on spe-

cific components of an offering. The keys to capturing such value are:

Fig: Keys to Capturing Value

THE MARKSMAN 24

The companies need to take the exclusion decision in a very calculated manner since negli-

gence in this aspect can lead to loss of market share.

Group appeal rather than targeting an individual can lead to success.

Products offered to BOP markets must have localized content and firms need to capture larger

volume leads to larger profits.

Conclusion

Therefore the strategy should be culturally sensitive and relationship based. This can in-

clude:

A unique business model tailored to the local market.

Identification of the real needs of consumer and product adapted to them.

Remove the infrastructure problems faced by BOP consumers.

Adopt a participative approach.

The above framework is general and should be tailored as per the needs of the company and type

of the product.

References:

India's Rural Poverty and Possible Solutions – Y S Rajan

The ‗Bird of Gold‘: The Rise of India‘s Consumer Market – Mckinsey Global Institute, 2007

Prof. Dr. Hermann Simon, (2003), ―Pricing: It’s the process – The call for a Profit Renaissance‖,

Simon Kutcher & Partners, October 7, 2003.

James P. Andrew, J. Kevin Bright and Henry M. Vogel, (2002), ―Precision Pricing for Profit,

Growth and Advantage‖, The Boston Consulting Group, September 2002.

Alex Pratt, (2007), ―The Price is right (or is it?)‖, Director Publications Ltd., February 2007.

Anderson, C. 2005. Long Tail vs Bottom of Pyramid

International Marketing At The Bottom Of The Pyramid, Richard Fletcher, University of

Western Sydney

Working with the Bottom of the Pyramid: Success in Low Income Markets: Confederation of

Danish Industries: Copenhagen V.

AUGUST 2011 25

Be The Elephant is the second in a series of books written

by Steve Kaplan. This book focuses on growing businesses of

all sizes. However, most of the information focuses on small

businesses that want to grow larger.

What will make you buy?

Three things make this book a worthwhile investment

It is concise: Usual business books like to over-explain

things. Be the Elephant luckily is less than 220 pages.

It provides tools: Helpful, simple tools for business analy-

sis like Calculators, Business Success Quotient (BSQ),

Business Assessment Model(BAM).

Website - the book is backed up by a website (http://

www.differencemaker.com) that has templates for the

tools.

Why wouldn‘t you want to buy?

The coverpage is coated thick with exaggerated superla-

tives and overpromises of success like: A foolproof road

map to success. Don't grow your business without it.

The statement (whether) "you run a $5 million consult-

ing business or a three person bakery" then this book

will help you is an exaggeration as someone running a $5

million business has far past what this book has to offer.

Steve Kaplan is founder of The

Difference Maker Inc., which pro-

vides a wide range of business

tools to help companies of all

sizes succeed.Kaplan developed

and used his Bag the Elephant

strategy as the owner of a small

business, first landing contracts

with one of the biggest Elephants

of all, Procter & Gamble, and then

many other big customers before

selling his company. Over the last

decade, Kaplan has refined his

strategy with 23 businesses he has

led and the more than 100 com-

panies with which he has con-

sulted.

Know more about the book

at:

Available in SIMSR library.

Classification no:658.049

OUR RATING

THE MARKSMAN 26

BOOKWORM Be The Elephant: Build A Bigger, Better Business by Steve Kaplan

Key Quotes:

―In business, there‘s no standing still. Avoiding growth goes

against the laws of nature; you‘re either growing or dying.‖

―Growth is not only desirable, but necessary. To last, you have

to grow.‖

―Being an owner and being a leader are not the same.‖

Mr. Shankar Subramanian—Product Manager, Onida

AUGUST 2011 27

It all began with just a vision. In the year of 1981, Mr. GL Mirchandani and Mr. Vijay

Mansukhani started a company called Onida with just a goal of manufacturing televi-

sion sets and going beyond convention. With the passage of time, superior products

and the combination of a distinctive voice, a cutting-edge advertising strategy, and

purposeful marketing ensured that Onida became a household name.

The common perception was that Onida was a focused TV manufacturer. But then

with a knack for spotting a gap in the market, Onida realised that there were undis-

covered needs and wants in other categories of consumer durables as well. Discover-

ing these latent synergies enabled Onida to provide customers with a wider range of

products under the ONIDA brand including washing machine, air-conditioner, DVDs,

LCD, mobiles and

LEDs.

Mr Shankar has over 11 years of experience in the area of sales,

marketing and business development in the white good sector.

An aluminus of IIM Calcutta, he is adept in conceptualizing

Strategies for business development and developing new market

segments for maximizing sales growth. Having worked in BEN

Q, YAAS Wholesale India Pvt. Ltd., Samsung, Bluestar, LG Elec-

tronics and now Onida he has significant experience of handing

large business operations profit center management at all India

level.

Markman: How do you think customer demands have evolved over time?

A. Customer demands have evolved based on the life cycle of the product. From window ACs,

the customers are now moving towards Split ACs and from CRT to LCD TV. The demand is

transforming towards more technologically advanced products that define their lifestyle. Emphasis

is also being given to features such as energy –efficiency and convenience.

Marksman: What are the challenges in the current consumer durable industry?

A. The consumer durable industry is flooded with choices for the consumer and the major challenges

include product and feature differentiation and cost- effective communication to the customer. The

customer today has multiple options within the same category and it is challenging to not only focus

on acquiring new customers but retaining the old ones. The affordability of the customers has in-

creased over the past 10 years which provides an extra stimulus to the demand prevailing in the mar-

ket.

The company and the industry also has to face challenges from the retailers‘ end. In the competitive

times of today channel management is emerging as another big challenge. It is imperative for the com-

pany to provide adequate margins to the retailers while ensuring that customer demand and aware-

ness about the product and not retailer margins is the driving force to generate sales.

THE MARKSMAN 28

Marksman: Onida has done away with its all famous Devil and the tagline ‗Neighbour‘s

envy. Owner‘s pride‘. What was company‘s rational behind this decision?

A. The devil was launched at a time when the industry focused more on product based advertising and

at the time of liberalisation when owning a television was considered a big thing. However with the

entry of foreign players product differentiation became more challenging and neighbours no longer

benchmarked their neighbours with the choice of appliances

From the more competitive approach, the brand is now focusing towards the softer aspects of things

which is getting quite visible in our communication strategies and processes. We are trying to position

the brand as one that understands the customer‘s needs through our tagline ‗Tumko Dekha to yeh de-

sign aaya‘

Marksman: What are the most promising products in the consumer durable industry?

A. LCD TV are expected to grow at the rate of 30% while Air Conditioners and Microwaves are

emerging as the next best promising goods expected to grow at the rate of 20% over the next 5 years.

These products are emerging as the key growth drivers for Onida.

Marksman: The current market penetration of LCD TV and ACs is only 2%. How does

Onida plan to overcome this challenge?

A. We have launched a new range of LED and LCD tv‘s in order to gain more penetration into the

market. Onida LED, with iCare technology is easier on the eyes due to being reflection free and is also

tougher than most other LCD‘s/LED‘s available in the market. With such product offerings, we aim to

gain a stronger footholds in the lucrative LED/LCD market.

With regards to the AC segment, we have launched world‘s 1st pre-cool AC, wherein you can switch

on your AC through a simple SMS even while you are away from home, and by the time you reach

back home, your room is well cooled. With this we aim at targeting the more affluent customers who

value a pre-cooled room over anything else.

Event: Guest Lecture-Onida

Speaker: Mr. Shankar Subramanian

Product Manager-Onida

Date: July,2011

Venue: Seminar Hall,SIMSR

AUGUST 2011 29

A RECAP OF INTERFACE EVENTS

Event: Guest Lecture-Wipro Consmer Care

Speaker: Mr. Abhishek Jha

Regional HR, Wipro consumer care

Date: August, 2011

Venue: Seminar Hall, SIMSR

Event: Nissan Student Brand Manager Contest Launch

Guest: Mr. Dinesh Jain

CEO, Hover Automotive India (HAI)

Date: June,2011

Venue: Red Auditorium,SIMSR

The Japanese car maker NISSAN announced the second edi-

tion of its ‗Nissan Student Brand Manager‘ (NSBM) Program

2011 in India and the press release of the event took place on

20th june,2011 in SIMSR.

Targeting the most talented young student crowd in the coun-

try, Nissan has invited over 150 colleges spanning 15 cities across India to participate in their

brand management contest that is looking out for 20 Student Brand Managers‘ from a total of

1200 shortlisted applicants. The 20-selected NSBMs‘ will work under Nissan for a period of a six

(06) months (July to Dec‘2011) and will play a key role in bringing the Japanese car brand closer

to both the student community and the public in general through their innovative marketing ini-

tiatives.

01

Google vs. Facebook Google and Facebook get personal in battle for social networking rewards. It is one month since

the launch of Google+, a belated attempt at a social networking tool that invites users to follow

friends' activities in their news feed and share favorite content by marking it "+1". If this sounds

familiar, it shows the extent to which Google is playing catch up with Facebook, which is brew-

ing a public offering next year that could value the firm at $100bn and, critically, has positioned

itself as the gateway to the web for many of its 750 million users.

Though Google+ is an intelligent attempt at a social networking tool, it seems a typical Google

product in that it is brilliantly, heavily engineered but lacks the human focus required for a social

network – the fuel that has propelled Facebook to 750 million users. Google and Facebook are

both keen to burnish their scientific credentials, ultimately the real battle is over cold, hard cash.

Google made 97% of its revenues, or $32.3bn, in the past 12 months from advertising. EMar-

keter, meanwhile estimates that Facebook's largely ad-generated revenues will grow from

$0.74bn in 2009 to $5.74bn in 2012 – yet the site has hardly begun rolling out truly personal-

ized, targeted advertising. If there is any of Google's lunch to be eaten, it is here.

THE MARKSMAN 30

Why Reebok bonds well with The Masses and the classes?

Reebok‘s marketing strategy to associate itself with the cricket frenzy Indians, instead of banking

on the aura of international sports stars to push its wares — which Nike, Adidas and Puma tried

doing unsuccessfully in India — proved to be a resounding success. Thanks to its association with

cricket, Reebok enjoys total brand recall and stickiness in the minds of consumers.

AUGUST 2011

Global beer companies battle it out: SABMiller goes hostile with $10 bn Foster's bid Global brewer SABMiller took its $10 billion bid for Australia-focused Foster's Group direct to

shareholders on Wednesday just days before the Australian brewer's annual results are set to-show flagging profits. The cash offer at $A4.90 a share was unchanged from SABMiller's first ap-proach in June, which was rejected by the Foster's board.

BCG hires McKinsey to advise it on how to become number 1

Strategy consulting major Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced today that it has hired the

services of the world‘s number 1 strategy consulting firm McKinsey to advise BCG on how to re-

place McKinsey as the number 1 strategy consulting firm. McKinsey has readily agreed to serve its

new client as professionally as possible.

Officer's Choice, McDowell's No1, Celebration, Honey Bee and Old Tavern top global

liquor chart Indian liquor swept the 2010 list of top-10 global spirits brands in volumes growth, taking home

the first five spots almost entirely on domestic sales. Allied Blenders & Distillers' (ABD) Officer's

Choice came in as the fastest volume generator with 2.98 million nine-litre cases added in 2010,

London-based research firm The IWSR said in its August report. The brand was ranked fourth in

2009.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GOOGLE-MOTOROLA DEAL: It Could End Up Being a

Disaster Google is now competing with its partners. And hardware manufacturing is an entirely different

kind of business than Google's core business. And hardware manufacturing is a crappy, low-

margin commodity business. And Motorola is massive--Google has just increased the size of its

company by 60%. And the deal appears to be purely a defensive move, not an offensive one.

Nestlé‘s mint Polo launched with a 'hole new fashion'

Ever heard of designer polo mints? As bizarre and whacky as it may sound, it‘s true. Nestle has

tied up with Goa-based designer Wendell Rodricks for its confectionary brand Polo's stylized

look. So it's not 'The mint with a hole' but a 'Hole new fashion' that has taken over.

Map the crossword with the visual and textual clues.

THE MARKSMAN 32

Across:

1. Asocial networking site aimed at teenagers

where are ‗credits‘ and ‗pixels‘ used as cur-

rency

4. The unique market research firm's logo has

this unique symbol

6. An automobile manufacturer whose name

means double dragons.

7. The Hindu and Jain mythology refer to this

company's name as the centre of the universe.

8. Hand block prints from Jaipur which is de-

rived from the Sanskit word ―to play‖

9. Mascot of which brand of cookies?

Down:

2. Manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fash-

ion accessories endorsed by Emma Watson

3. His collections of clothing and accessories

for both men and women are usually identified

by the presence of his multistripe signature

somewhere on each item.

5. The company which celebrated US landing

on the moon with "Its ugly but it get you

there"

CALL FOR ARTICLES

SEPTEMBER 2011

Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

a) Hero Honda Re-branding to Hero Moto Corp- Do you

like it?

b) How would you market " Indian Grand Prix " to cricket

fans

c) Marketing of Luxury Goods

d) Faith Marketing- Strategies of marketers selling spirituality

and related products and services.

*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references

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THE A-TEAM

COVER STORY Divya S

Shelani A

SECONDARY STORIES Hetal G

ALL ABOUT BRANDS Pramit G

BOOKWORM Rajat P

TETE-A-TETE & REWIND

Namita S Rishi M

COVER PAGE Vibhav S Niyati C

Hinal S Tilottama S

TWEETS Kavita S

BUZZ Rajat P

DESIGN Namita S Rishi M

Shelani A Rajat P