The

MARKSMAN

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL V | ISSUE VIII | JAN’15

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>>Pg18

BRAND MARKive:

M&M

PIONEER:

Prasoon Joshi

>>Pg15 FAUX PAS:

ZUNE

SPECIAL STORY

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COVER STORY

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EDITOR’S NOTE

JANUARY 2015 01

Dear Readers,

The entire team of Marksman would like to wish you a very Happy New Year. We

would like to thank all our readers for their immense support throughout these years

as we bring to you the very first issue of the year 2015.

Our cover story this month is titled Strength Based Marketing popularly denoted as

Sbm. It’s a simplistic and direct form of marketing based on ones strengths whereby

one can undertake marketing just by utilizing these strengths and building on the

existing ones. So go ahead and read on how one can capitalize on their own strengths.

This month’s special story –“From E-tailing to Entertainment” discusses how various e-

tailing websites have ventured into the entertainment industry. Our Brand Markive, this

month is something which no one would want to miss! This issues Brand Markive,

needs not much of an explanation and to cut it short, it talks about the world famous

M&M’s. So go ahead and relish this month’s issue with our other regulars on: Tweets,

Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude, Squarehead, Hallmark Campaign, Pioneer and Faux Pass.

With immense pleasure, we would like to congratulate our this month’s call for articles

winner – Vani Chandra from MICA whose article has been chosen to be featured in

this month’s issue. And for all those entries which haven’t been published in this issue,

we thank you all for your response and encourage you to keep writing to us with the

same fervor.

Feedback is always welcome and we would appreciate and acknowledge if our readers

keep writing to us. Stay connected with us on www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.

Enjoy Reading!

TEAM MARKSMAN

The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR

@marksmansimsr

CONTENTS

03

05

07

09

16

15

13

25

20

18

03 THE MARKSMAN

# TWEETS

#Effie 2014: Ogilvy bags

agency of the year award

Ogilvy & Mather bagged the Agency

of the Year title at the Effies 2014

held in Mumbai on 16 January 2015.

It finished 31 points ahead of last

year’s winner Lowe Lintas +

Partners. Ogilvy’s winning tally

included two Golds, eight Silvers and

16 Bronze wins. The Company

received its two Gold wins for

Bournvita (Best on-going campaign

category) and Google (Digital:

Online/Mobile Communication

category).

#Twitter to sell ads on tweets embedded on other sites

The central idea is to reach the

millions of users who have not signed

up with Twitter, but see tweets

embedded on news sites and apps. It

could also boost ad revenue for

Twitter, which is looking to prove that

there is an appetite for its content

beyond its official user base. The

company also revealed its plans to

boost video content, encouraging

users and advertisers to upload video

to Twitter directly, rather than linking

off to third-party sites such as

YouTube. It also plans to introduce

video auto-play, similar to the way

videos automatically start playing on

the Facebook newsfeed.

TWEETS

#Snapchat launches Discover

feature, with news stories and

ads

Snapchat is all prepared to make

money by serving its users editorial

and multimedia content from major

brands such as CNN, Yahoo News,

National Geographic, the Food

Network, ESPN, Cosmopolitan etc.

with advertisements running along

the content. Snapchat’s new feature

named as Discover is an effort to

"build a storytelling format that puts

the narrative first" and emphasizes

that "this is not social media.” They

are counting on editors and artists,

not clicks and shares, to determine

the app’s popularity.

#SAP Introduces Marketing Gap

Analysis Tool

To help marketers make more

informed and educated decisions about

the technology they use, SAP has

launched a marketing gap analysis tool

in partnership with Raab Associates.

This tool enables marketers to take a

self-assessment by answering a series

of questions about their organization's

overall profile, their ongoing marketing

campaigns, and any other relevant

processes. The solution then processes

the information to determine the

organization's current marketing

technology foundation and offers a

number of recommendations for

strategy improvement.

JANUARY 2015 04

05 THE MARKSMAN

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

TELEVISION AD DABUR Vatika

Created by- Linen Lintas (Delhi) Produced by-Film farm (Mumbai)

There are lovely long locks, there are curly ones too. They are straight and cropped, we get

them dyed too. How precious they are to men and women alike. But, a man often goes bald

by choice and women rarely do. So when those locks are lost by a woman after a fight for

survival a part of her self-esteem is lost too. Well, that is the way it is with the world, a bald

woman is not a usual sight. This is not the first time that a brand has set out to salute the

courage of female cancer survivors. There have been bold advertisements earlier too. So

what’s new about this ad? What did it dare to do?

Responsibility campaigns as they call it are ones wherein the product proposition is

attached to a cause. But, somewhere the reality is always concealed behind unusually

idealistic situations or a cloth. Dabur Vatika in its latest ad campaign titled ‘brave and

beautiful’ dares to announce that some women don’t need hair to look beautiful. This ode

to brave women indeed strikes an emotional chord as it takes immense courage to resume

normal life post a chemotherapy. The protagonist of the film is seen hesitant and

reminiscing about her gorgeous hair in photographs and mirrors. But the support of her

family and colleagues who still find her beautiful sans her hair is support enough for her to

stand stronger.

However highlighting something exactly opposite to a products proposition is wise or not

is still debatable.

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

Sometimes it is the minimal that speaks the most and this minimalistic print

ad for Nivea night cream is proof enough that an idea can sell on its sheer

creativity. And creativity can be as simple as a round box of Nivea night

cream set against a navy blue background, its cover slightly displaced to

reveal a crescent moon made up of its content. Minimum cost, excellent

product ‘placement’-literally and the result is effective.

PRINT AD

Company-Nivea

Advertiser- Beiersdorf AG

Country-Netherlands

JANUARY 2015 06

BRAND MARKive

M&M

07 THE MARKSMAN

We small pellets of happiness…

All of us, no matter what our age, are huge

fans of candies; be it the gummy bears or the

Hershey bars or the chewy éclairs or the

jelly beans. But, out of all these, one of the

vintage remains that small, vibrantly colored,

button shaped, sugar coated beads of

chocolaty happiness known as M&M’s.

A fistful of these can elevate us even from

the darkest of moods and transport us back

to the times gone by. It is a well known fact

that the most amazing inventions are

spawned from wars, but it’s surprising to

know that even these awesome, seemingly,

childish bits of candy were born in the

throes of the Spanish Civil War.

Forrest Mars Sr., son of the founder of the

Mars Company and the Milky Way Bar

moved to England in the year 1932 and

began manufacturing Mars bars for the

soldiers

However one of the biggest issues facing

the chocolate bar industry during those

times were the dip in sales summer after

summer as the bars used to melt in high

temperatures. Hence, when Mars

encountered soldiers eating chocolate

beads with a hard sugar coating, he was

visibly thrilled. The idea of developing a

chocolate item which would be resistant

to melting had immense prospect in terms

of revenues.

On returning to the States shortly

thereafter, Mars joined hands with

Hershey’s Bruce Murrie which ensured

him a steady flow of resources throughout

the Second World War. The partnership

hence gave the candy its name M&M’s.

Because of its resilience the government

soon sanctioned it as a compulsory ration

for soldiers and by the time the war

ended everyone was hooked to it like the

Pied Piper’s tunes.

Soon after the war, the brand jumped from

strength to strength and after being

introduced to the general public Mars

even bought out Murrie’s shares and

brought it under the umbrella of his

father’s Company, Mars in the year 1964.

However, he never changed the name and

that has stuck on till date.

JANUARY 2015 08

BRAND MARKive

Today the brand has been ranked as one

of the most recognized and loved candies

world over, even surpassing the flagship

Mars Bar of the parent company. The

brand has continually innovated and

improvised its portfolio of flavors and

today it has close to twenty eight

variants, the most famous being milk

chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut and

pretzel.

Over the years, some imaginative

marketing has evolved the brand image

and help expand its roots. Personification

of the candies and giving it faces has

helped to develop creative storylines and

increased the scope for merchandising.

Apart from this the brand also sponsors

its own team in NASCAR and offers

various options of customization to its

customers. Specialty stores in some parts

of the United States also enhance the

choice that it offers to its patrons. Special

packaging, wider choice of colors, unique

messages on each pellet, and a whole

spectrum of hues are just a few such

options.

Some major brands recognized all over

the world were also due M&M’s; Minstrels,

Skittles, and even Cadbury Gems, are

some such related products.

The appeal of this brand is only

accentuated when one gets to know

about its colorful history and the

developments of different colors that

have happened over the years. However,

apart from its appeal another force has

perpetually risen uphill; its popularity.

Sold, in over hundred countries across

the globe, M&M’s is a favorite amongst old

and young alike and no matter what the

occasion, these small pellets of happiness

are nothing short of heavenly vice.

COVER STORY Strength Based Marketing

09 THE MARKSMAN

Admirable as these are on paper, the report

clarifies that there is substantial evidence

that in practice advertising involves

subconscious manipulation, promotes

socially and environmentally damaging

norms and, for all practical purposes, forces

attention due to its pervasive/invasive

nature.

The most obvious, immediate and readily

acknowledged effect of advertising is an

increase in awareness of a product or

service. Because this communication is

designed with the idea of selling, as opposed

to ‘purely’ for information or entertainment,

it is often successful at exactly this.

However, by the fulfilment of this very

function, both market share as well as

market size are augmented. Therefore the

first argument stands in need of re-phrasing

at its best. Whether it is fruit juice or

cigarettes that is the subject of an

advertisement, its effect is largely to

increase the product’s acceptability and

subsequent use. Combine this fact with that

of the ‘necessity’ of selling and the argument

of being a cultural mirror sounds dubious at

best. An advertisement now seems to be a

recipe for (in)forming masses (such that

some may say the word carries the same

meaning with its ‘m’ silent) to the desired

mould, give or take a few dents of random

variations, judgment errors and predictive

misses.

The great late comedian Bill Hicks once

said, “if anyone here is in advertising or

marketing… kill yourself”. This

sentiment is not as rare as it is radical –

from Hicks’ audience appreciating the

point to medical studies on the adverse

impact on children’s diet – it is

undeniable that marketing and

advertising have sweaty hands, if not

outright bloody. A recent study titled

“Think of me as evil?” undertaken by the

Public Interest Research Centre and the

WWF in the UK addressed this

conundrum. As it points out, the

traditional theoretical defence of

advertising has employed three

arguments:

1. Of causing redistribution of

consumption;

2. Of being a cultural mirror;

3. Of promoting choice.

JANUARY 2015 10

COVER STORY

Even when marketing and advertising have

been applied to less controversial ends, the

rhetoric has often been either one of

solutions to negative problems or of

temporary fixes. As blogger Greg Faxon

points out, from products supposed to make

you drop dangerous habits to those that are

supposed to single-handedly transform you

into a desirable or attractive you. Whatever

the merits of these aims and claims, it is

striking that there is a paucity of what has in

recent times come to be identified as a

strengths-based approach. The basic idea can

be found across continents, contexts and

continuities – from the Tao Te Ching’s “seeing

the universal harmony amid great pain” to

Norman Vincent Peale’s enthusiastic

exhortation to positive thinking – that there

is much more to life than healing wounds.

The field lays a definitive emphasis on

cultivation, enhancement and fulfilment

rather than fixing, maintaining or

preventing -- the classic example being

that of teaching to fish rather than fetching

a fish. But will not teaching to fish alienate

or even perhaps annihilate the market

then? Perhaps. But not without creating

genuine value, an investment of goodwill

and a new market (that of teaching to

fish).

‘Marketing’ itself is an orientation that has

been described as a late 20th century

development in the field of business. Much

earlier, say in the wake of the industrial

revolution, production defined the

paradigm, then leading to the sales

paradigm with growth in affluence, leading

in turn to the marketing concept paradigm

with growth in choice.

Quite recently the next shift seems to

loom over the horizon -- relationship

marketing. As Seth Godin describes in his

We Are All Weird, that the current paradigm

is “addicted to mass… and there’s no mass

available” – that is, the bell curve is

fattening and flattening.

Moreover, it appears that brand loyalty is

not as strong a phenomenon as sometimes

claimed to be. According to a recent Ernst

& Young study entitled “This time it’s

personal: from consumer to co-creator”,

the connectivity brought in by the web has

transformed the way the consumer relates

to companies, brands, products and

markets.

In our own times, and in the context we

uphold as sacrosanct, a movement by the

name of positive psychology has been

unfolding and

developing this idea within the space of

psychology. Its leading proponent has often

been said to be Martin Seligman, who

outlined the term in a scientific context in

1998 while he was the President of the

American Psychological Association.

These will appear highly unrealistic even toan

optimist, and rightly so. However, they arenot

without precedent. SbM for Price has already

been adopted by some restaurants, albeit

largely unsuccessfully so far. As it turns out, a

good deal depends on the collective sense of

egalitarian obligation. While SbM for

Promotion may seem to be a recipe for

decreasing rather than increasing sales,

exactly the opposite has occurred in the case

of one company that did go ahead and try it.

Patagonia, a Californian apparel entreprise,

urged its customers to consider whether

they really needed to buy a new jacket when

they could simply reuse or recycle an already

used one. It even ran an ad explicitly saying

“Don’t Buy This Jacket” while asking

customers to pledge to “wrest the full life

out of every Patagonia product by buying

used when you can”. The result? People not

only signed the pledge but also bought more

jackets. It of course helped that Patagonia

was well-known for its commitment to

ecology, but it is likely that there is more to

it than consumers rewarding a company for

this not-so-unique attitude.

11 THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY

The survey asked thousands of consumers

to rank factors that affect their feelings

about a brand. It validated the theory

underlying relationship marketing, which is

that the customer is willing to form a

relationship with a brand as long as the

highest ranking factors, namely price and

quality were congruent (as has been found

to be the case in developing countries);

and that the customer is willing to sustain

this relationship only on the basis of this

congruence (as has negatively been found

to be the case in developed countries). The

report highlights the need for engaging in

dialogue with the consumer, personalising

services and involving customers so as to

make them business partners (relevant

especially in R&D).

Any marketing trend is essentially a call to

focus on a particular facet of marketing –

there is bound to be an X Marketing that

has a drift contrary to that of Y Marketing.

The fundamental message of strengths-

based marketing is to utilise and build on

existing strengths.

For instance, taken to its logical conclusion

in terms of the 4 Ps, SbM for Promotion

would not urge the viewer to go buy the

product at all for it would involve a

laborious imploration or an attempt to

exploit some weakness on the part of the

consumer. SbM for Price would be a Pay-

What-You-Want model – it does away

with fear or retribution as its basis (“how

will people pay if not by ‘force’?” and “how

will my undertaking be compensated if

nobody pays?”). It is based on commanding

rather than demanding payment.

JANUARY 2015 12

COVER STORY

To return to the question implicit in the

beginning – is marketing evil? Yes, in the

same way as any other tool is, for it

depends on its user. The power to

persuade carries with it the responsibility

to never mislead. The new paradigm moves

ever closer to consumer satisfaction by

basing business decisions on what is of

value to people rather than a primary

focus on targets. It is a smarter approach

in that it leads the way to greater returns

in the long term while minimising

customer distrust, difficulty and defection.

As Jay Baer says in his Youtility, “Just be

useful – create things of intrinsic value and

your customers will keep you close.”

SPECIAL STORY

From E-tailing to Entertainment

After a record breaking $25 billion IPO in

New York, Alibaba is flying over to Los

Angeles, Hollywood. The e-commerce

behemoth is diversifying into making movies.

The Chinese tech giant recently announced

its first film which will be based on a short

story by writer Zhang Jiajia whose latest

work went viral and made waves on the

social media. The company plans to leverage

its marketing prowess to promote its

entertainment arm.

Renowned names like Wong Kar-Wai and

Tony Leung are said to be associated with

the new film, a romantic drama called Bai Du

Ren which translates into “The Ferrymen.”

The film will be made under the banner of

Alibaba Pictures Group, which acquired a

controlling stake over ChinaVision Media

Group last year. China’s internet giants are

battling to control the entertainment

content in the world’s second largest film

market, where online videos rule the roost

and where last year’s box office sales surged

36%.

Here’s how Alibaba plans to integrate the

entertainment offerings with its e-

commerce business – Big Data. Alibaba has

307 million active customers shopping on

Taobao and Tmall, its main Chinese e-

stores. It can tap into this data trove to

ascertain the target viewer’s profile,

preferences, location etc. In order to do

so, the company has already reorganized

and formed a separate data division

consisting of 800 employees specifically

dedicated to mine the data. Since last year

Alibaba has also started channelling

investments to crowdfund movies at the

same time giving insights on what people

wish to see as entertainment.

13 THE MARKSMAN

We’ll help you channel your usage

SPECIAL STORY Once the content to be provided and

viewers are narrowed down, marketing

messages can be targeted at them through

the company’s shopping platforms. Alibaba

sites are a first stop for anybody buying

online in China and most of its revenue is

generated from selling advertisements within

its platform. The company would also work

with retailers that sell merchandise on its

platforms to design and sell products related

to entertainment offering. Further, Alibaba’s

mobile payments platform will be pressed

into service to facilitate online ticket sales.

Alibaba has a lion’s share of the digital ad

market, far more than Twitter, Yahoo or

Amazon.

Though Alibaba is not the first e-tailier to

venture into entertainment. Jack Ma’s

nemesis Jeff ‘Amazon’ Bezos did it a couple

of years back through his Amazon studios

which is into comics, movies and mainly

television shows.

Incidentally, Amazon just won 2 Golden

Globes for the comedy TV show

“Transparent” which it showcases through

its own Netflix like streaming service,

Prime Instant Video. For a number of

consumers, the Golden Globes news may

have been the first time they realized that

Amazon is into showbiz as well.

Netflix is another online based company

that expanded into content production.

Best known for “House of Cards” featuring

Kevin Spacey, it graduated from renting

DVD’s to online streaming and eventually

producing original content. Following the

footsteps of Netflix which upended the U.S.

entertainment business with algorithms

that give people tailored suggestions on

what to watch, both Amazon & Alibaba are

trying to leverage their data to target films

and in the former’s case, TV shows to its

customers.

JANUARY 2015 14

15 THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS Zune by Microsoft – A Tech Failure by a Tech

Giant

“Zune is a big investment for us,” Bill Gates,

Microsoft’s chairman had said this at the time

of its launch, adding, “It’s a vision that will

carry us forward for years.”

Yes. A big investment it was. It was also a

blunder that may be on top of Microsoft’s

“Things to erase from the permanent

memory” list.

Microsoft Zune was the Windows makers’

answer to Apple’s iPod. Launched in

November 2006, this line boasted of having

portable media players as well as digital media

player software for Windows PCs. Other

services included a music subscription service

called "Zune Music Pass" in addition to music

and video streaming services for the Xbox

360 gaming console via the Zune Software.

It started off in close cooperations with

Toshiba and though there were a few features

which were appreciated like the Zune’s ability

to allow sharing of songs over WiFi, the Zune

faced a lot of critique for being bulky and

having dull, unattractive colours.

What followed were several attempts by

Microsoft to make Zune a competitive

product in the market, with successive

updates that introduced features like

touch-sensitivity in its initial versions. In

the versions that followed, it had more

features like tagging and purchasing songs

heard on FM radio, several games and

support for audiobooks were added.

Microsoft also tried to increase the

popularity of Zune through several tie-ups:

McDonalds, to encourage WiFi sharing and

subsequently with United Airlines, which

gave the passengers a feel of what the

product is, what its functionalities are and

how they work.

But even with these regular updates and

seemingly sincere attempts, Zune was

discontinued on March 5, 2011. There may

be several reasons that may be cited: the

almost impregnable market situation

created by the competitor, the glitches

caused by the comparatively complex user

interface, the limited range of colours or

variants provided or just the image of the

company as a follower of an innovator.

Whatever may be the reason, Zune was a

product which certainly had potential, but

failed to create a massive impact on the

tech geek’s psyche.

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN Vodafone Fakka – Recharge Revolution

Disappointment is when you don’t get your

favourite candy or chocolate in the store you

go for shopping. Annoying is when the

shopkeeper gives a candy which you least

preferred in return when he doesn’t have

small change in his cash register. Well, the

situation is similar in Egypt as well or may be

even worse. The shopkeepers give a wide

variety of products in addition to candy such

as a piece of spare vegetable and in certain

extreme scenario, even a button. So if a

customer is shopping for a product worth 7

British Pence and he pays 10 British Pence, he

will not be getting the balance 3 British Pence

in return. He will end up in getting an

irrelevant product in return. Needless to say,

customers are left confused and frustrated.So

how Vodafone capitalized this opportunity?

By Introducing Vodafone FAKKA (Egyptian

slang for “Small Change”)

Check out the video for the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-

ts=1422411861&x-yt-

cl=84924572&v=BqOsYNilElY

Egypt is a poor country with over 20% of the

population below the poverty line and the

people have low disposable income.

Vodafone’s target market comprises of this

low income population for their new product

called Vodafone FAKKA. These are very low

denomination prepaid cards, known as micro

credit recharge cards.

Normally, prepaid cards are set at

dominations of around 10, 15, 50, 100

Egyptian Pounds (roughly 1, 1.5, 5 and 10

UK Pounds). These micro credit cards

would be priced from 0.5 Egyptian Pounds

(5 British pence), to 3 Egyptian Pounds (30

British pence) and everything in between.

JANUARY 2015 16

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

Vodafone positioned the product in such a manner that it is not perceived as

"Vodafone for poor people" instead as one which gives value to everyone. It fitted the

shopping behaviour of all poor consumers who shopped most of the products in

neighbourhood kiosks and grocery shops. Positioning of the micro recharge cards invited a

whole new distribution system which helped them to harness the unexplored market.

Vodafone gained 46,000 new outlets that had not carried any telecommunications offers

until then. The micro credit recharge cards were available in every nook and corner like an

FMCG Product. This fuelled the unprecedented growth of brand Vodafone.

The ad campaigns and other promotional activities were a huge success in

communicating the required message to people. The average revenue per user increased

by 7% and the total revenue exceeded the original target by 510%.

Needless to say, VODAFONE FAKKA hence proves to be a great example of how a new

product has to be positioned and how the value should be delivered to each customer. In

short, it proves to be a perfect example of this edition’s Hall-Mark Campaign.

17 THE MARKSMAN

JANUARY 2015 18

PIONEER Prasoon Joshi

The mind or the heart? Happiness or

satisfaction? Money or achievement?

If there was to be a survey of people’s

thoughts today, these could have easily

topped the list- in consideration as well as

in number. You see numerous people fighting

the same battle, and then, you look up at

Prasoon Joshi, and you murmur, ‘here is

someone who won at the same’.

Prasoon Joshi is a name known to all- the

Asia Pacific Chairman & CEO of McCann

Worldgroup India, writer, poet, lyricist,

screenwriter, author, advertising guru,

achiever. A unique mixture of elegant

commercialization and strict poetry-he is

the perfect recipe for any working mind’s

role model and any beating heart’s

inspiration.

He began his ‘career’ with Ogilvy & Mather,

in Delhi. In 10 years, he became the creative

director of their flagship Mumbai office. In

2002, he joined McCann-Erickson as the

executive vice-president and national

creative director. By 2006, he was the

executive chairman for McCann Worldgroup

India and regional creative director for Asia

Pacific. What more? By then, he had written

3 books and had become a part of 9 movies

which had hit the screen and many more

were soon to achieve critical acclaim and

monetary success.

Remember Coke’s ‘thanda matlab Coca-Cola’? Asian paints’ ‘Waah Ramesh Babu..Naya ghar…badhiya hai’? Saffola’s ‘Abhi toh mai jawaan hoon’? All of these were the brainchild of the same guy. A spree of intrigue that has rightfully earned him the title of an “Ad-Guru” and the thread of control of PM Narendra Modi’s multi-faceted marketing-cum-promotional campaign, which is considered as the primitive reason of his famous victory. Add to that Silk Route’s ‘Dooba dooba rehta hoon…’,Taare Zameen Par’s ‘Maa …’, Delhi-6’s ‘Rehna tu…’, Rang De Basanti’s powerful lyrics and dialogues and you will see a winner of 3 Filmfare and 2 National Film awards.

PIONEER

His career reflects strategic planning and in-

time adaptations to the worldly changes. The

decision of joining an advertising agency

clearly involved pursuing his dreams as also

keeping a check on reality. While most quick-

achievers seem in a hurry, Joshi kept his

calm- the decision to do selective

(successful) movies and a handful of

(successful) campaigns is a sign of the same.

Today, he is the most sought after man in the

commercial-creative world and the latest

name in the prestigious list of Padma-Shri

winners. Rightfully so, isn’t it?

19 THE MARKSMAN

JANUARY 2015 20

BOOKWORM Age of Propaganda: the Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion

Anthony Pratkanis and Ellliot Aronson

New York: WH Freeman (2001), ISBN 0716731088; pp. 416

As a sample of how interesting it is, they

introduce a scenario wherein students acting

as fundraisers go door-to-door asking for

money. For some households, they would say

“even a penny would help!” -- the result of

which was a net increase of rather than

decrease in donations received.

In their historical exploration they draw

upon numerous cases of use of these tactics

(e.g. emphatic appreciation) by politicians,

sales agents, advertisers and others who

appeal to deep emotions and stir irrational

feelings to manipulate perception to their

own advantage. They elaborate four

strategems for influence: pre-persuasion,

source credibility, constructing and delivering

a message and controlling emotions.

‘Propaganda’ is hardly used to carry positive

connotations, but the term itself refers

merely to a spread of ideas or doctrines.

Marketers may not therefore like to call

themselves propagandists, but creating

propaganda is much of what they are

supposed to do. Whether a particular

message ought to be disseminated or not is

another matter entirely – this book

addresses not the ethical or moral

underpinnings of propaganda but the

strategies employed to bring about success

through it.

Renowned psychologists Anthony Pratkanis

and Elliot Aronson wrote this book with the

“hope that knowledge about the process of

persuasion will allow all of us to detect and

resist some of the more obvious forms of

trickery and demagoguery”. Perhaps the

advice contained in the book may be more

valuable to practitioners who utilise

propaganda to various ends rather than to

those whom it poses dangers, for the latter

work harder at trying to influence us than

we to prevent any such influence.

Although it is not an academic work itself,

the book features analysis of various studies

in social psychology, marketing and law

coupled with investigations into cultural

history.

Selfie-Mania : How brands are using Selfies to enrich their

promotional activities

FEATURED ARTICLE

21 THE MARKSMAN

Vani Chandra

- MICA “Do you know?” is surely not the best way

to start a scholarly article, but here I am,

more than tempted to do so. So let us start.

Do you know who took the first Selfie? It

wasn’t Lady Gaga for sure. This unforeseen

but accurate answer to this question is

Robert Cornelius. A true photography

enthusiast who took a picture of himself,

and it became the first known photograph

of a human in American history. However

this unknowing father of selfie died

unaware of the phenomenon he had given

birth to.

Around 150 years later Selfies have found a

surrogate mother in social media. It is

interesting to study how Selfies evolved

over time to the point of becoming the

oxford dictionary word of the year in 2013.

The birth of the term ‘Selfie’ is even more

interesting. Just like Cornelius another

unassuming individual from Australia, in

2003, first mentioned the word in his blog,

thus giving name to this phenomenon of

taking self –portraits. As the popularity of

My-space grew so did the phenomenon of

taking self-photographs for the profile

pictures, however till this point the

photographs were being taken from a

distance.

As the technology of front- camera cell-

phones pervaded the markets, the ‘Selfies’

as we know today came into picture.

However till 2013, there was not much

ado about Selfies. The buzz that we are

experiencing today is the result of very

famous ‘Ellen de Generes’ selfie at the

Oscars on 2nd March 2014. Since then

Selfies have become ubiquitous. This

genesis of modern day narcissism has

sparked many a debates in circles of

sociology and psychology. As the critics

wait for its slow death, the marketers are

busy squeezing the juice while it lives.

The mother of all Selfies

2014 saw the eruption of promotional

activities centered on Selfies.

Marketers went full throttle in utilizing

the buzz created by this novice

phenomenon of personal branding.

A full- fledged study done on this

phenomenon, by UTS,Australia and an

advertising company revealed some

interesting insights.

FEATURED ARTICLES

JANUARY 2015 22

This study, done in a span of three years on

about 3 milllion Selfies claimed that with the

dawn of Selfies marketers are literally sitting

on a gold mine. According to the study

Selfies are popular because they are a way

of personal branding. People are eager to

promote themselves as a brand. With

enough ingenuity brands can now create

promotional activities which would have a

high involvement level within consumers.

Some of the most creative promotional

campaigns centered on Selfies proved that

this era of Selfies is not going to die soon.

Turkish Airlines’ successful campaign with

the living legends Lionel Messi and Kobe

Bryant is a perfect example. As these stars

took Selfies in some of the most exotic

destinations, the fortunes of the campaign

soared. #SelfieshootOut contest became

one of the most acclaimed campaigns of the

year by garnering about 130 million views in

two weeks. While the popularity of the

Selfies inspired Turkish Airlines to build its

own Selfshot app, apparel brand Urban

Weiner gave $10 coupons to customers

who would tweet their Selfies of the trial

room( obviously in an Urban Weiner outfit)

with #urban selfie.

India was not left behind in embracing

selfie love. HUL (to promote its

Ponds BB) created a selfie song and

urged women to be selfie ready. The

men also were not left behind with

the #LivewithFire campaign by

Reebok, where they were asked to

capture their ‘live with fire” moments.

One of the most innovative uses of

Selfies was made by Axe deodorant in

its #KissForPeace campaign. Launched

during Valentines Day, the brand

urged the consumers to send their

‘kissing Selfies’. The selfie of the day

got a chance to be a part of the

glitterati at Times Square, New York

and win a trip to Berlin. The result

was thirty four thousand tweets for

the company.

It is interesting to note that Selfies

today are no more a fad. They are the

new phenomenon, an accepted “way

of life”. The once predicted selfie

fatigue is nowhere to be seen. The

young, the old, the tired and the

bored; Selfies have fascinated

everyone around. The experts, busy

researching its implications, are

convinced that this dawn of Selfies

has several behavioral implications. It

has challenged the perceptions of

self-image and personal promotions.

FEATURED ARTICLES

23 THE MARKSMAN

The brands too are amazed at the rate at

which Selfies tend to go viral. For marketers

this has opened up multifarious avenues for

gaining those precious “insights”. Brands can

now mine these Selfies for better

understanding of their audience. However

the biggest advantage is the fact that once

promotion-wary consumer is now ready to

promote the brand via Selfies.

For the sagacious brands Selfies are now a

tool with which they can create highly

engaging and impactful campaigns.

Use of selfie in brand promotional

campaigns

Info graphic on the next page

References:

http://www.responsys.com/blogs/nsm/s

ocial-media-marketing/4-companies-

use-selfie-marketing-reach-customers/

SquAreheaD

JANUARY 2015 24

BUZZ

CLUES

PUZZLE ACROSS

The space probe launched by Japan

(8,1) [Hint: may include a number]

Golf player Vijay Belongs to which

country? (4)

The company that bought Sterling

Resorts India (6,4)

The Australian cricketer who died

after he had suffered a severe head

injury due to a bouncer during a

match (7,6)

DOWN

The Indian to beat the computers in

mathematical wizardry (11,4)

The world’s largest cruise ship

terminal was unveiled in (5)

This automaker had to pay $70

million due to failure in reporting its

safety issues (5)

This pharmaceutical company bought

Ranbaxy Laboratories (3)

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

7.

Answers:

Across:

3.Hayabusa-2 4.Fiji 5.Thomas Cook 6.Phillip Hughes

Down:

1.Shakunthala Devi 2.Dubai 7.Honda 8.Sun

6.

8.

1 2

3

4

5

6 7 8

25 THE MARKSMAN

Call for ARTICLES

CALL FOR ARTICLES FEBRUARY 2015

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

*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are

clearly mentioned.

The best adjudged article will be given a Winner’s Certificate.

Deadline for the submission of article will be : 20th February, 2015

1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be approximately 800-850

words and MUST be replete with relevant

pictures that can be used to enhance the

article.

3. Font Type: Gill Sans MT

4. Font Size: 14.

5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to

marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu

6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute

Name_Course Year

7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic

1. PINFLUENCE – Leveraging Pinterest &

Prize Levels

2. Rise of the Undertaker – Future of the

Entrepreneurial paradigm

3. The Food, The Fad & the Funky – Lessons

from Zomato’s innovative advertising

JANUARY 2015 26

To subscribe to "The Marksman",

Follow the link:-

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OR drop in a mail/contact us at :

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he-marksman.html

THE TEAM TWEETS by

Vasundhara Tewari

It’s all about AD-itude by

Kavya Dubey

Brand MARKive by

Dhruv Maheshwari

COVER STORY by

Akshay Peshave

SPECIAL STORY by

Sankalp Thakur

FAUX PAS by

Sukanya Remesh

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by

Dilip Anantharaman

PIONEER by

Abhijit Sharma

BOOKWORM by

Akshay Peshave

SquAreheaD by

Vasundhara Tewari

BUZZ by

Palak Thakker

PROOF READ by

Minoli Sheth

Dilip Anantharaman

DESIGNING by

Kavya Dubey

PROMOTIONS by

Minoli Sheth

Rahul Vangani

The MARKSMAN is the

newsletter of INTERFACE, the

Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya

Institute of Management Studies

and Research, Mumbai.

Images used in THE

MARKSMAN are subject to

copyright. THE MARKSMAN

does not take any responsibility

of any kind of plagiarism in the

articles received from students

of other colleges.

The TEAM

27 THE MARKSMAN