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K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL. 2 | ISSUE IX| FEB ‘12

IS BRANDING THE WAY TO

ENTER RURAL MARKETS?

MARKETING THAT GOES BEYOND

DEATH!

NEW SECTION

Tete-A-Tete with Mr. K Ramakrishnan-VP of L&T

EDITOR’S DESK

FEBRUARY 2012 01

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

Dear Readers,

Welcome back to a brand new edition of your favourite marketing magazine and guide – THE MARKSMAN! In our endeavour to incessantly add more value to your reading, we now launch a fresh, informative yet entertaining section called “brand-Mark-ive” showcasing some never-before-heard facts and trivia about a brand. We kick-start this section with every marketers favourite brand – CocaCola. The cover story for the issue is Reverse Marketing, a concept which sees marketers move away from traditional forms of marketing which lure customers with a direct selling message in its communication. Instead, the focus is to let the customer find you. Our special story is on Marketing That Goes Beyond Death. Should you seriously contemplate killing your brand? Read on to find out more. Our featured articles of the month delve into the Nokia Lumia’s contemporary marketing strategy in the smartphone segment. Also question if Branding is the ideal way to enter rural markets. And who’s to forget, the trendy Newspaper war playing out in our own backyards. Flip those pages to read on! We would like to congratulate Sourabh Sahu (IIM - Indore) for being adjudged the Best Article of the Month. Our team caught up with Mr. K Ramakrishnan, Vice President, of L & T Limited, Hazira Central Services for a short tete-a-tete after his discourse on “The skills for being a manager and the need to be able to adjust to the changing paradigm”. Unwind with our regulars- SquAreHead, Bookworm, Tweets and its all about AD-itude!. Get inquisitive with Buzz and do not forget to write in with articles (check the last page for topics), your thoughts or suggestions. ¡Buena lectura! (Spanish for Happy reading)

CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 2012 02

CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 2012 02

TWEETS

03

FEATURED ARTICLES IS BRANDING THE WAY TO ENTER RURAL MARKETS? …12

MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY NOKIA FOR

ITS NEW NOKIA LUMIA TO BREAK THE CLUTTER IN THE

SMARTPHONES SEGMENT …14

NEWSPAPER BRANDS WAR! …16

BOOKWORM

18

SqAreheaD

19

REWIND

20

BUZZ

21

TWEETS

03

It’s all about

AD-itude!

04

Tete-A-Tete

06

brand

MARK-ive

05

COVER STORY

REVERSE

MARKETING

07

SPECIAL STORY

MARKETING

THAT GOES

BEYOND DEATH

10

NEW SECTION

Shahrukh Khan roped in as ambassador for Royal Stag Pernod Ricard India has signed Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan as the brand ambassador for its brand, Royal Stag. Shahrukh will work in tandem with his fellow Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, who has been its brand ambassador for the last several years.

TWEETS

FEBRUARY 2012 03

Google Removes Search, YouTube Content on Indian Court Order Google Inc. removed content from its India domains that was deemed objectionable by a New Delhi district court after a civil lawsuit against the owner of the world’s largest search engine. The content was deleted from domains .in and .co.in, while remaining accessible from other countries.

Flipkart acquires Letsbuy Flipkart, one the country's biggest online retailers, said it has acquired smaller rival Letsbuy in a cash and stock deal without specifying the value of the transaction. But people familiar with the matter said it was worth around $20 million.

Amazon enters India with junglee.com US online retail giant Amazon has made its first foray into India with launch of a shopping website, Junglee.com, as it tests the waters for a possible full entry into the nation's e-commerce market.

Microsoft warns users against Google's privacy policy changes Microsoft Corp slammed search rival Google Inc with full-page newspaper ads in the US, saying that recent changes at Google that allow it to internally merge the data it collects on user activity across services such as YouTube and Gmail are meant to allow advertisers to better target customers. Google has touted the overhaul it announced last week as a simplification of detailed but obtuse policies and a way to provide a better user experience.

Microsoft India ties up with Ybrant Digital Microsoft Corporation India has appointed digital marketing solutions and services company Ybrant Digital as its advertising sales house as it expands activity to non-metro cities such as Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Goa.

It’s all about AD-itude!

FEBRUARY 2012 04

those who voted in these elections. Show the voting sign and get a coke free! It is not only an image booster but also a marketing master-stroke. This is a good initiative to make sure that the youth become socially responsible. The young generation is conceived apolitical, so this ad makes them more responsible. Resonating the core idea of anti corruption movement this ad aims at galvanizing the young against corrupt politicians.

PR INT

TVC

Unlike most countries cigarettes are sold loose in India and so all cigarette shops have electric lighters fitted for smokers. The ad shows how the lighter itself can be used as the medium to ask smokers to quit smoking. So the regular lighter was changed with the chanting lighter. The music it played was a chant which is sung when someone dies in India. “Ram naam satya hai!” The ad shows the recording of smokers’ reaction when they light the cigarette. The purpose of the ad is to show these people that each time they light a cigarette they are actually taking a step towards death. Ad seems Very Effective!

Advertiser: CPAA india Advert title: Chanting Lighter Creative Agency: Ogilvy India Cancer Patients Aid Association this time tried something new and instigating to spread the awareness against cigarettes amongst smokers.

This is an innovative print ad campaign by McDonald’s in Mumbai, Thane & Navi Mumbai. This is very apt for this voting season. McDonald’s came up with this ingenious idea of giving free cokes to all

brand-MARK-ive

FEBRUARY 2012 05

Coca Cola was first formulated by John Pemberton at the Eagle drug and Chemical Company and called it Pemberton's French Wine Coca after getting inspired by Vin Mariani. It was sold as a patent medicine that was believed to cure many diseases, morphine addiction, impotency and headache. The non-alcoholic version of the French Wine Coca was sold for the first time in 1886 at the Jacob’s Pharmacy. Coca-Cola which means “to make mouth happy” in Chinese is called “Coca-Cola” because of the original ingredients used in the medicine, Coca leaves and Kola seeds. The Coca Cola logo was created by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885 who came up with the name and chose the logo’s distinctive cursive scripts. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script was the dominant form of formal hand writing in US. The Coca Cola bottles are often referred to as “Hobble-skirt Bottles” because of its resemblance the bottle contours resembled to a dress from the early 1900s. Coca Cola is credited with inventing the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in a red-and-white suit.

NEW SECTION

This new section is dedicated to a particular brand stating some mind boggling facts and other trivial information about the company and aims at increasing one’s knowledge quotient.

The name of the flavour base included in the secret formula for 'Coca-Cola' is referred to as 7X which only a few people know. Concentrate for 'Coca-Cola' is made in a number of centralized production facilities, and is exported to all countries in the world that bottle 'Coca-Cola'. Although 'Coca-Cola' is enjoyed ice-cold around the world, in Hong Kong it is also served hot as a remedy for colds. Some unusual uses of Coca Cola include as a grease stain remover, rusty bolt loosener, toilet cleaner, spermicide, odor remover, medicine, and many more. The company champions various CSR initiatives such as rainwater harvesting, restoring groundwater resources, going in for sustainable packaging and recycling, and serving the communities where it operated. The Coca Cola Company presently offers a portfolio of more than 3500 products in over 200 countries. Last year on May 4th 2011, Coca Cola celebrated 125th anniversary by creating the World’s Largest Single Building Illumination in their headquarters at Atlanta, thanking people around the world.

TETE-A-TETE

FEBRUARY 2012 06

Mr. Ramakrishnan is currently the V.P of Larsen & Toubro Limited, Hazira Central Services, Surat. He spoke to students on “The skills for being a manager and the need to be able to adjust to the changing paradigm”. He had the audience excited about future avenues that await them. He spoke at length on the importance of communication, active listening, risk mitigation and sustainable efforts. The talk was extremely engaging and inspiring. Mr. Ramakrishnan shared his experiences and learning and left us with some food for thought. Our voracious team Marksman caught up with him after the lecture for additional insights. Sir you graduated as a B.E. from VJTI and joined L&T. To that regard, does a good manager really need to be an MBA? In today’s context MBA is important because it helps learn all the facets of management which would be missed out otherwise. But I would rather prefer a person who has worked in the industry and then undertakes MBA because it helps them hone their skills and experience. In order to sustain oneself, they say it is important to unlearn one’s b-school learning while entering the corporate world. What is your take on this? I think that most things you have learnt at college or school stand you in good stead while working also. I don’t think there is any unlearning as such. It is just that you learn a lot with experience and maybe something very theoretical may have to be unlearnt. What should SIMSR do to ensure students adapt easily to corporate life that awaits

Mr. K Ramakrishnan,

VP of L&T

them? Primarily, interaction with people who can share their experience about corporate world with students. Their exposure needs to be increased while there should also be soft skill training given to students to meet the expectations of the industry. We need people who can communicate clearly and effectively. As far as theory goes I think b-schools are doing a decent job but I reckon soft skills do not receive their due importance. How different is the work environment in India as compared to the European countries you have worked in? There are quite a few things we can learn from other country nationals: 1. Value of time is very high 2. Interactions had to be specific and to the point 3. Commitment had to be very specific 4. Discipline not just in terms of time but, walking on the road, or driving. Do work ethics get compromised when it comes to sales and marketing department? Yes. I am being very upfront while saying this. There may be customers who give you some indication in some way to help their business. So there is a very thin line or shall I say there is a grey area where I don’t think any company can confidently say that they haven’t strayed into. So there yes there is a bit of aberration or a deviation but generally it is ethical. Marketing is a very dynamic field with change being the only constant. How to you keep yourself updated and stay in the thick of things? Well in many ways! Reading up and interaction with people are very informative means. Especially in the Business Development field, you need to spend more time in person with the customer. Meet, see the site and understand the client’s requirements. It is imperative to understand the change by being in it. No substitute for that! Also you need to be at the right place at the right time. Prove yourself, prove your worth, accept challenges and turn them into successes. It’s a demanding result driven world, we need to be prepared for it!

should be and the only way they could reach their full potential was to purchase a certain product or service. Companies did not worry that this technique was turning many consumers off since there were plenty of marketing dollars going around and they knew that they would convince at least a small group of consumers to try their product by these hard-sale tactics. However, when more became scarcer and consumers started shopping more carefully, these companies found the hard sales tactics simply no longer worked. Reverse marketing works by not using hard sale tactics. In some cases, reverse marketing means no salesmanship at all. Instead, reverse marketing allows consumers needing your product to come to you by showing them that you are concerned about what they need and that you are savvy enough to help them meet their needs.

COV E R

S T O R Y

FEBRUARY 2012 07

It is a marketing concept which companies use to create such an image of the company that the potential customers will seek the company, rather than the marketers of the company seeking the customers. This is done mostly by using traditional advertisements, print advertisements and online media but the main difference lies in the fact that here companies put out their content at a location where people will find it while searching for the product instead of directly advertising to sell the product. The ‘Law of Attraction’ as people say is the basis of Reverse Marketing. In words of Leenders and Blenkhorn, Reverse Marketing is “an aggressive and imaginative approach to achieving supply objectives”. The purchaser makes the initiative in making the proposal. Reverse marketing is a technique that when used properly can build your client base simply and easily. However, in order to use reverse marketing effectively you have to have a clear understanding of the concepts behind it.

The Traditional Way of Advertising

The old way of advertising was based on companies actively trying to convince people that they needed their product. To do this companies would use what is known as the hard sale method which simply means they would go out of their way to tell people that their product or service would in some way improve or enrich their lives. Many times in order to sell their product the hidden message in these advertisements were that somehow the consumer was less attractive, less successful, or they were enjoying life less than they

How Reverse Marketing Works

quality customers who are ready to buy, especially after seeing that a company is knowledgeable and helpful about a product they wish to buy. A similar example of reverse marketing would be to put up an unbiased review site, with links to your web page for more information or a similar product to those you are reviewing. Strength of this type of reverse marketing is that customers searching the topic can find someone who first demonstrates their knowledge on a topic with helpful information and links at the bottom to check out their online store. Companies can also use search engines to advertise their products when the customers are looking for that kind of product on the internet but here is a word of caution; paid links on search engine does not serve the same purpose as reverse marketing because people often don’t like to open them as they are displayed separately. People respond much better to content when the main purpose of it is not an actual advertisement. The success of the Reverse Marketing Campaign usually depends upon the ability of the seller to showcase the benefits of their products in most unbiased way. The company can project the unbiased views by either writing it themselves or they can take help of professional websites to write unbiased reviews for them. This will not only create a positive image in the mind of the customer about the product but also induce them to put the product in their consideration set. A good example of this will be reviews of automobiles present on the websites. In this ever changing world of information technology where people have easy access to information on internet, will you prefer to search reviews about product on internet before making a purchase decision? If the answer is yes then you can surely understand the importance of an unbiased good review of the product and the extent to which it can affect your purchase decision.

Instead of advertising your business and trying to convince people that your product or service is better than the competitors, you offer them helpful information in solving their problem or need. This way you are giving the consumer practical advice they are looking for at no price. Then at the end of your advice you include a little information about yourself including your website. Since you have talked about their specific issue and using an answer to their query, the consumer does not feel as though you are trying to sell them anything. Those that decide that your product or service is for them will then click on your link to see what you have to offer. And since you were the one that offered them helpful advice they will be more tempted to buy from you. Reverse marketing works simply because you are helping the consumer achieve a goal they themselves have without trying to force them to buy anything. The consumer comes to you, not you to them. An example of reverse marketing would be a company that sells health related product such as water purifiers, adds to their web site a long E-book or essay about subjects that potential customers are searching for on search engines. Compared to just putting a banner ad up on a web site, reverse marketing can attract very high

COVER STORY

FEBRUARY 2012 08

Using the Unbiased Approach

towards using the products of Dove. This approach did wonders for them and it was very successful. The concept of Reverse Marketing considerably changes the traditional buyer-seller relationship. The traditional relationship, where the seller takes the initiative by offering a product, is increasingly being replaced by one where the buyer actively searches for a supplier who is able to fulfil its exact needs. This again emphasises the fact the market is greatly moving towards customer centric orientation. Reverse Marketing can be a very useful tool for companies to succeed in such changing environment. But there are some important points that should be considered before using the reverse marketing tips. First, a new entrant should be very careful in trying this because customers pay attention to those products which are there in their awareness set. Dove and other reverse marketers have been successful because they are already established brands and people know how good they are. Secondly, the most important point, the products should be good enough to speak for themselves.

COVER STORY

FEBRUARY 2012 09

A wonderful example of Reverse Marketing is success of ‘Dove’. Usually, cosmetic companies advertise their products by convincing the customer about how their products will improve their flawed looks. If you're dark, they'll make you fair. If you're pimply, they'll clear it up. If your skin is dry, they'll moisten it. And the list goes on and on. Basically cosmetic companies tempt you to find the flaws in you, criticize your looks and create this impression that you're quite ugly overall, and the only way to make yourself more desirable is to use their products. But Dove chose a different approach, though they might not be willingly doing Reverse Marketing but effect was nonetheless same. Instead of pointing at the flaws the skin, Dove asked women to come together and celebrate their beauty. You will now notice, how very less coercive Dove ads seem as compared to the ads of other cosmetics brands. It's a completely different, novel approach to marketing altogether. Dove rarely uses models, which are viewed as plastic and artificial. Dove uses 'real women', beautiful, but not extremely

For those who think that despite reverse marketing, customer may buy another product and all these efforts go in vain. Yes, it is possible but then companies spend big bucks on direct marketing schemes, which determine their success rate. Reverse Marketing will still be an easier way to win customers and create a good image in market. Success Story of Dove

so, to add a touch of realism to the ad. And it is this appeal, the seeming genuineness of women, the lack of coercion, and the lack of this artificially created sense of inferiority of women to the models in terms of looks, that drew more and more women

S P E C I A L

S T O R Y

FEBRUARY 2012 10

Vampires are all the rage right now from books to movies to sitcoms; everyone seems to be hooked onto these resurrected creatures. Fictional although they might be, but their popularity after death is something to take note of. Although it takes a lot of imagination to understand the world of vampires, we can see something a bit more realistic in the world of marketing going on. It is marketing after death.

What is it? Two words to sum it all up are “Michael Jackson”. He might have been the greatest performer of all times and a pop revelation and always surrounded by controversy (which isn’t always a bad thing!) the fact of the matter is that his music sales had been on a downward spiral since long and he was in a lot of debt. But post his untimely death on June 25, 2009, a lot changed. Along with

the shock, mystery behind the death and condolences, another thing that came was a sudden spurt in music sales. Everybody suddenly remembered him only for the great artist he was which resulted in a huge increase in sales of his music. All radio stations started playing his songs and other artists who wanted to be a part of this surge gave tributes to him further adding to it all.

SPECIAL STORY

FEBRUARY 2012 11

Well it is pretty evident that dying to market your product is not a very viable option, but yes, it still can be utilized, and it is something that is being done well. “Limited Edition”, these words mean exclusivity to the customer and a license to overcharge. Luxury car makers are doing this since long, making a few hundred cars of a type which are slightly different than the standard car and charging huge amounts for it and then discontinuing with it. The Rs 14Cr Lamborghini Raventon is a perfect case in point with just 20 cars having being made. As people know it will no longer be available, it justifies the premium. Similar is the case with vintage cars and even antiques in general. The fact that a particular thing will no longer be available generates a push in people to lap it up while the existing stock lasts. So in conclusion one can say, killing a brand or rather making something new to prematurely kill it is a highly effective way to make people buy the product. May it be its snob value or the exclusivity or the collectability, all we can say is “Offer valid till stocks last”.

Can it be milked?

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 12

IS BRANDING THE WAY TO ENTER

RURAL MARKETS?

-Sourabh Sahu, IIM-Indore

Well, before I come to the specific issue of getting a good sales-figure in rural India for any business, let’s look at some strategic pitfalls that these companies go through in rural India. Most marketing men adopt a few ‘quick-fix’ strategies before venturing into the Rural markets with their brands. They merely strip down all the ‘so-called’ frills from the product currently being sold in urban and believe that the product is ready to go rural. Just extend their brand to low cost packs, or merely modify the packaging marginally. Also, use cheaper packing material, adapt the urban advertising or offer meaningless sales promotion giveaways. All these and more are just short-term measures to enter the rural markets. And if one believes that these will ensure success in the rural markets, it can but remain only as wishful thinking. What then is the route to building a Brand In rural? The answer to the above question is what our marketers today call ‘Rural Branding’. A route that is sensitive and appropriate to the needs of the rural consumer. The Next obvious question is how it is done. I Believe, that you can Build your Brand in Rural only if you build the following five attributes Into your product: Build Customization Customizing or reverse-engineering your product to suit the needs of the rural consumers is the key to success in the rural market place. One needs to first go into the rural markets to find out the wants, needs, aspirations and dreams of the rural consumer, meet up with the villagers and create a product that is relevant to their needs. It also means we not only need to ‘engineer’ a product that appeals to him but also need to go back to him for ‘ratification’ of its relevance. Build Empathy / Relevance Building empathy for your brand begins with the Brand name. It is important to seek out a Brand name that is preferably vernacular, that is in tune with the ethos of the market

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 13

and the social milieu it will sell in. And the same logic applies for the color, the slogan and every aspect of communication. They must strike the right chord with the rural consumer! Build Recognition There are two issues that need to be addressed while Building Recognition into a Brand targeting the Rural Market. The need for protection against the rampant prevalence of duplicate or parasite brands. The need to physically demonstrate the use of a product in view of the high involvement of a rural consumer in the purchase process. Build ‘Word-of-mouth’ Strong word-of-mouth for a brand can be built through executing customized events within the village revolving around the core message of a Brand, appealing to the core target group. Build Access Reaching the rural consumer with their products and services remains the biggest challenge to an average marketer. I am sure as the days go by, the compulsive need to enter far flung rural homes will provoke marketing men to come up with more creative solutions for cracking this problem of Building Access. To conclude, Building a Brand in Rural India will continue to pose the biggest challenge to the marketing fraternity in the years to come. Hence, the Art and Science of Brand Building in rural needs to become an integral part of the learning process in the innumerable Management Institutions across the nation.

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 14

MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY NOKIA FOR

ITS NEW NOKIA LUMIA TO BREAK THE CLUTTER IN THE

SMARTPHONES SEGMENT

Bring it on - All or Nothing: Virendra Sehwag goes for it all. If the leather lands in his territory, he swings his willow like a swaggering blade. If he connects, he is considered to be a game changer but if he fails he is murdered for not playing by the books. By planning the largest marketing budget on a single phone than it has ever done before, Finland based and world’s largest phone manufacturer, Nokia has gone for a zero sum strategy.

Jet Airways flying with Nokia Lumia colors

The Amazing Everyday: Be it a smile or the tears, moments are amazing. ‘The Amazing Everyday’ campaign aims at capturing those precious moments that happen in our lives every day. Nokia held events across 5 major Indian cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The campaign in financial hub included a dance performance by a foreign troupe. In the political capital, Nokia organized a mega musical event. Gurgaon was also up for the treat when Lumia pre-orders were distributed by tennis sensation Sania Mirza. Few lucky Gurgaon locals also received free XBOX 360 to mark the

The Game Changer: Apple, Samsung, Sony, HTC all claim to possess unique brand names in the Smart phone category. Since Nokia already missed the Smart phone wagon, it had to take bold measures to ensure it stays in the race. Nokia started off in style. The marketing extravaganza began with glittering Lumia phone displays across Delhi Metro stations. After covering railways, it was the turn of aviation with Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 bearing the colors of Nokia Lumia. It also featured the names of the employees who came up with the marketing idea.

Bollywood came calling with Shahrukh Khan tweeting that Lumia is an awesome phone. This marketing strategy seems reasonable given that King Khan’s opinion might influence his 1.5 million twitter followers.

Shahrukh Khan’s tweet praising Nokia Lumia

Abhishek Shukla, NMIMS

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 15

Fun Week: All thanks to Lumia launch, it was a fun filled candid week for the Nokia employees. It began with ‘Wow Monday’ when a life size Lumia was kept in the office and people had to tap on it to receive gifts such as chocolates, Rubik’s cube and laptop stickers. Then came ‘Kinetic Tuesday’ where scooties were placed around Nokia office for employees to experience the ride. ‘Surprise Wednesday’ was a treasure hunt when employees ran around the premises searching for magic boxes. It was time to turn on the dancing shoes with ‘Foot Tapping Thursday’ where employees showed their dancing moves. It all ended on a delightful note when the office was closed on Friday so that employees can attend the launch events. Will it work? Is it desperation on Nokia’s part which made it market Lumia on such a grand scale? Will the marketing strategy be enough for Nokia to regain the telecom throne? Let the clock turn and these questions will be answered. But one thing is for sure. Nokia has turned the marketing notions on its head. With it’s out of the book play, Lumia has grabbed the eyeballs. Nokia did lose the Smart phone battle but it has surely won the Marketing war.

occasion. Keeping with Lumia’s blue color, Nokia came up with ‘Blue Santa’ who distributed chocolates and coupons in malls. Another innovative marketing mantra was at display when toll was exempted for more than 15,000 cars at DND Freeway connecting Delhi and Noida. Then came in a chance for the social networking geeks to shine in the prize glory. Nokia organized a ‘Lumia Sky Party’ where winners from a contest held on Facebook were taken for a 45 minute ride in the Nokia Lumia brand Jet Airways plane.

Nokia Lumia taxi offering free ride to early

adopters

Sania Mirza promoting Nokia Lumia in a launch

in Gurgaon

I dare you to compete…the latest move of Indian Advertisement industry Over the years the Indian advertisement industry has remained apprehensive about its perception towards comparative advertising. That is the reason the number of comparative advertisements has remained in few hundred among millions of ads that has been made till date. However, among the plethora of varieties of ads techniques available, the comparative technique has been found to be highly effective (subject to few regulations); reason being multi-fold: Establishes value proposition of the brand Positions the brand as being better than its competitor(s) Get eyes rolling (maximizing target audience exposure and customer recall value) Competing through comparison works in interest of quality and price sensitive customers Market grows more mature and transparent

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 16

Newspaper Brands on War! Trisha Pandey, Shailesh J.Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay

The recent addition being The Times of India (TOI) vs The Hindu ad wars. On one hand “The TOI ad” screams its value quotient of how it keeps its readers engaged and not bored unlike its rival newspapers and on the other “The Hindu ad” positions its readers as informed individuals (Stay ahead with Hindu) compared to readers of other newspapers.

The Times of India vs The Hindu

FEATURED ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2012 17

The concept of comparative ads can be explained through game theory – Zero sum game -when one brand’s gain is equivalent to rival brand’s loss; Win-Lose- when one brand’s gain is more (or less) than rival brand’s loss and Lose-Win-when comparative strategy misfires hampering the brand repute. Misfiring happens when either the regulations are not met or the exaggeration to prove superiority is beyond limits of being truthful or justifiable. Thus return-risk tradeoff needs to be handled carefully while implementing comparative techniques; especially in an environment where customers have grown more awakened and empowered. Ads which earlier seemed to be highly offensive to Indian market is the reality of advertising today. The present day Indian advertising houses are gradually developing their knack to conquer this new territory of advertisement stage. The truth of Marketing is that the war should go on….and to win this war it is imperative to be open to change

The comparative ads can be direct if it directly names and attacks its competitors as had been the popular Rin vs Tide case or it can be indirect like the above mentioned TOI vs Hindu ad. Also a comparative ad can be targeted against a single rival, who is generally either the market leader or the nearest competitor in the market for instance the BMW vs Audi print ad or it can be an ad that targets multiple rivals at the same time-the Colgate Precision print ad.

BOOKWORM

FEBRUARY 2012 18

Ten Deadly Marketing Sins- Signs and Solutions

Philip Kotler

About the author: Philip Kotler (Chicago, IL) is the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at North-western University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the author of 15 books, including Marketing Insights from A to Z and Lateral Marketing , both published by Wiley.

About the book: In this book Philip Kotler recognizes ten most common mistakes that marketers make. Kotler covers each sin in depth as a chapter and provides signs to identify such mistakes and solutions to reverse them. These sins are explained in ten chapters and covers all the downsides that a company faces in the marketing domain. Each sin mentioned seems very simple but even the best companies have failed to practice these ideas and concepts. After having explained the sins, Kotler went on to prescribe Ten Commandments to all marketers. With these commandments marketers will learn how to stay market-focused and customer-driven, fully understand their customers, keep track of the competition, manage relationships with stakeholders, find new opportunities, develop effective marketing plans, strengthen product and service policies, build brands, get organized, and use technology to the fullest. The book is written in simple words and raises thoughts. Ten Deadly Marketing Sins is a best and valuable resource to all the marketers from the respectable thinker of the modern marketing age. However the author has been quite repetitive and the concepts are well known to a marketing practitioner. Nevertheless it would be good information for a beginner to get hold of the key theories and also for companies as even the big companies have failed at these concepts.

Favourite Quotes:

“Marketing's work should not

be so much about selling but

about creating products that

don't need selling"

“Marketing is easy to

understand but difficult to

practice".

“Most of marketing is reduced

to a one-P function —

Promotion — not a four-P job.”

SqAreheaD

FEBRUARY 2012 19

REWIND

FEBRUARY 2012 20

We at SIMSR recently conducted our annual festival Melange- “where Ideas converge” on the 17th and 18th of February where more than 50 business colleges and 1,200 students participated enthusiastically in various management and cultural events. ‘Melange’ meaning a mix of culture, aimed at creating platform where ideas converged and gave rise to a novel experiences. The management events saw students drafting solutions to case studies, business plans and exploring their potential. Samridhi Social B plan competition with 10 teams in the finals was about making a business plan answering the problems of society as well as practicing course skills and developing awareness of social issues.

The event, running for more than 10 years now, was planned over three months by a team of 30 senior students. Among the most important workshop, the IMC colloquium was held by Prof. Isaac Jacob. It consisted of a round table of 45 minutes and a presentation of an advertisement project of 15 minutes for each of the 10 teams. Other workshop by MBA Skool and Scorpio King, which was about selling a Scorpio to the audience, were also a hit with students!

Each competition was judged by noted professionals such as the brand manager of Scorpio. A total of Rs.3.85 lakh in cash and 10 lakh in goodies were distributed during the fest. Through the day, students could visit the stalls and have fun with informal events while in the evening they danced and performed on the stage. The college band Mauj also put in an enticing performance. Melange was enjoyed by one and all alike!

A Grandeur which will live in our memories forever!

BUZZ

FEBRUARY 2012 21

DOWN

2. The logo is that of Mumbai Mantra, which company owns this production house?

3. “IHealthU” comes under the banner of which famous company?

6. The hood ornament shown is one of its kind for which famous car company? The picture shows Saint George slaying a dragon.

8. Which company owns this retail chain?

9. This Imperial Eagle used to the old logo of which bank?

ACROSS 1. The radio station shown in the

pictures is owned by which company? “The Week” magazine is also owned by this company.

4. The logo belongs to a company called XY. XY is also referred as Golden Y, Rainbow Y, Town Y, Silver Y and the official internet address exist in 75 countries. Identify the company XY.

5. This security company services stars like Mithun Chakraborty, SRK, Aamir Khan, Lalit Modi, etc. Identify the company?

7. This Indian company is the largest exporter of Roses in the World.

1.Malayala Manorama 2.Mahindra 3.Britannia 4.Yellow Pages 5.Ace, owned by Ronit Roy. 6.Rolls Royce 7.Karuturi Global 8.Bharti 9.Deutsche Bank

THE CROSSWORD

THE CLUES

FEBRUARY 2012 22

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1. How digital marketing is changing the face of conventional marketing ?

2. When fans attack – How companies Handle crises on Facebook

3. Innovations in promotion and marketing of Movies.

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COVER STORY Vibhav Shukla

SPECIAL STORY Upveen Tameri

It’s all about AD-itude Pallavi Srivastava

SquAreheaD Pallavi Srivastava

Tete-A-Tete & REWIND Niyati Chamyal

COVER PAGE Yash Chamaria

Tilottama Sanyal

TWEETS Upveen Tameri

BUZZ Sujit Mishra

DESIGN Tilottama Sanyal

BOOKWORM Hinal Shah

Brand-MARK-ive Sujit Mishra

PROMOTIONS Keith Mascarenhas

THE TEAM

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