markathon may 2013 issue

Cover story | Indian Hockey – in a marketing soup? markathon|august 2012

Marketing Magazine of IIM Shillong Volume 4 | Issue 11

May

13

Ms Babita Baruah

Executive Business Director, JWT Delhi

Dear Readers,

We are curling closer towards the warmth of May. Air is fresh

and sunny. And when the bees are busy hoarding their honey,

most of you, our beloved readers, would be busy in their

internships. For some it would be a comeback into the

corporate world and for some it would be a dream beginning.

All the marketing enthusiasts out there would be going great

guns putting all their marketing knowledge into action. We

hope Markathon would have helped you gain at least a little

amount of that knowledge. Biggest business news of April

should be the Quarterly earnings report of Apple

Corporation. It reported its first dip in profits in almost a

decade bringing end to one of the greatest winning streaks in

modern era, at least for now. Also for all the sports fans

around the world, there was no shortage of excitement. Alex

Ferguson’s Manchester United has already won the EPL with

still one more month to go. In India, our own IPL’s sixth

season is making us glued to our TV sets with action packed

matches. Also it is turning into a battleground for the latest

Cola war. Pepsi has spent crores of rupees to bag the title

sponsorship and Coca cola is coming up with so many

strategies to bypass the anti-ambushing laws and to capitalize

the moment.

Yet again, the enthusiasm of the participants has been mind-

blowing. Our team is having tougher time every month in

deciding the winning entries. Your enthusiasm and

constructive feedback will help us only getting better and

better in providing you with a cornucopia of marketing

knowledge.

This month’s cover story is quite offbeat. It is about a film star

who has become a cult brand in the film industry. Our friends

at IIM Shillong have written a stupendous piece of article on

the journey of the brand Rajinikanth right from the launch to

this day. There are certain brands, which has defied all the

laws of marketing. Except for the product P, they never follow

the other P’s of traditional marketing mix. People never mind

paying high price; are never tired to go and find the product

themselves and they never look for promotions. One such

brand is Rajinikanth, who has been the undisputed box office

darling for more than three decades in South India. Do read

the cover story for a punch-packed article, similar to his

movies.

In this month’s Corporate Vartalaap we got a little candid

with Ms. Babita Baruah, Executive Business Director at JWT

Delhi. In this short and sweet tête-à-tête, Ms. Babita Baruah

speaks about her life and time in the competitive field of

branding. She also spills some beans about her forthcoming

book. Flip through the pages to read this intellectual piece of

interview.

Also we have the usual sections to keep you engrossed till the

last page. The Bookmark section will review you about “Data

driven marketing” by Mark Jeffery. Radical Thoughts will

speak about the most debated ‘Apple failing or not’ story.

Addicted will yet again give you a beautiful analysis of two

trending advertisements. Team Markathon congratulates the

winners and all the participants and you people make us what

we are.

With a host of exciting stuff lined up for you, waste no time in

taking on this delightful journey as you flip through the pages

of the latest edition of Markathon. As always, do send in your

feedback/suggestions to [email protected].

Sit back and enjoy this issue!

Happy Reading!

Team Markathon

FROM TEAM MARKATHON

THE MARKATHON TEAM

Editors Ashok A

Kamalpreet Singh Saluja Pallavi

Prateek Gaurav Shashank S. Tomar

Swikruti Panda

Creative Designers Sushree L. Tripathy

Vaibhav Annam

mailto:[email protected]

markathon |may 2013

3

CONTENTS

FEATURED ARTICLES PERSPECTIVES IS CULTURE THE NEW BUZZWORD FOR MARKETEER 4 BY ANSHUL KHANDELWAL, PRAFULL SRIVASTAV | INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN TRADE

MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR INSTANT MESSAGING MOBILE APPS 7 ZEESHAN HASSAN | IIM KOZHIKODE

VARTALAAP MS. BABITA BARUAH 11 EXECUTIVE BUSINESS DIRECTOR, JWT DELHI

COVER STORY

BRAND RAJINI 14 BHASKAR, NITIN AND SAVITHA | IIM SHILLONG

EYE 2 EYE DIGITAL MARKETING: DEATH KNELL FOR TRADITIONAL MARKETING OR JUMPING THE GUN?

22

PRATEEK SAVLA | IMT ; SAURABH KUMAR | NIRMA UNIVERSITY

SILENT VOICE MCDONALD’S HEALTH

23

SPECIALS

ADDICTED SWIKRUTI PANDA & SUSHREE TRIPATHY | IIM S

24

BOOKMARK PALLAVI | IIM S

25

HASTA LA VISTA 26 FAREWELL TO MARKETING CLUB BATCH OF 2011-2013

RADICAL THOUGHTS ASHOK A | IIM S

28

UPDATES 29 PRATEEK | IIM S

Anshul Khandelwal | Prafull Srivastava

Indian institute of foreign trade

The globalization of economies and trade intensification

has lead companies to communicate with consumers of

different languages and cultures. It has increased

transnational commerce, particularly due to the trade

agreements that have become operational. Thus, it has

become more common for companies to be selling their

products to customers in foreign countries. That is, a

company based in France might be doing business in

Chile, Kenya, and South Korea, while another company

based in South Korea may be doing business in

Australia, India, and Jordan. Within the framework of

international marketing strategies, advertising plays a

key role. It has to resolve a dilemma which can be

summarized in the following question: How can a

company sell a standardized product to local and

different consumers?

Should the companies tailor their advertisements for

each individual country or region that they do business

in, or standardise their advertisements for a global

audience?

This is a dilemma that every company faces. On one

hand, standardisation leads to cost savings, building a

single brand image, and maximum exploitation of a

good marketing idea. On the other hand, it’s a well-

known fact that customers worldwide have different

perceptions and likings owing to the geographical,

religious, cultural and behavioural differences. To tap

this nerve if the companies customize their promotional

strategies specific to region, the communication may be

more effective and lead to a larger reach. But this will

incur more time, cost and effort. So there will always be

a trade-off. According to a survey, several reasons were

given by the fortune 500 companies as to why they

undertake localization of their campaign.

Localization due to legal or cultural norms:

In most of the Muslim countries you cannot show

women and men in

close contact or

women in scanty

clothes. That’s

why Coca-Cola

shot its ad in 1989

with women in

fully covered

clothes adhering

to Muslim norms

and when the

Brazilian version

of the same ad

had to be shot the

models had to

change into bikinis!

Also several categories of products cannot be

advertised directly in a country because of the legal

60 65 70 75 80 85

To meet local customerexpectations

To reach more customersin markets they already…

increase value of brand

to meet regulatory or legalrequirements

perspective markathon|may 2013

the New Buzzword for Marketeers?

Is

Value in percentage

4

norms. For Example: Alcohol. In such cases the

company has to localize its promotional strategies and

advertise in a more subtle way.

To increase value of brand

Living standards are different in countries, a product

which is a mass product in one country might be

positioned as a premium product in another country or

it may be targeted for different age brackets.

Consider Volkswagen Jetta. Aside from the fact that the

model used to be named “Bora” in Europe, Volkswagen

also adapted its advertising strategy for the local mar-

ket. If you compare the commercials, you will notice a

subtle difference in approach. It’s the same car, same

campaign, yet the German commercial is clearly tar-

geted at an older demographic while the American ver-

sion is focused on price and attainability, aimed at a

younger audience.

Another such example is of Levis. While it is positioned

as a mass brand in the US, it is looked upon as a

premium brand in India. Hence the advertising

strategies also differ.

To reach more customers in markets they already

compete

One such example is Google’s Doodle. Perhaps no

company captures the taste of its local customers

better than Google. There is a doodle for every

occasion, for every country. From Diwali to Christmas,

Thanks Giving day to Kartini Day and from India Winning

the cricket World Cup to Spain’s crowning as the FIFA

Champs, there is a customized doodle to capture the

visitor. Google Doodle is not just for fun but a serious

business initiative for Google as it has shown to shoot

website traffic to more than 130% through organic

Google search mechanism alone.

Different interpretation of symbols, nonverbal and

indirect verbal expressions

When a company designs a logo the first thing they

consider is their target audience. What are they looking

for in a product such as theirs? What are the tangible

and less tangible benefits to them? How can the

company make this promise both with and without

words? Answering these questions helps the company

to build a brand that is attractive to their target

customers. In this pursuit some companies have even

localised their logo!!

7up is one good example of this. Although, the

American and German 7up logos look similar they are

notably different. The American logo design is angled

for a feeling of movement. It uses a slightly lighter,

cooler shade of green with the red dot in the centre of

the word. The German version uses a sleeker, more

modern numeral with shiny bevels and the word ‘up’ in

the centre of the red dot. It is more of an image than a

word.

Both logos are appropriate for their audience and the

way the brand is marketed in the region in question.

Americans like a little fun and youthful charm in their

soda pop brands. This logo certainly delivers that. If you

look at the German 7up website, they are promoting

the sparkling beverage as a simple, clean choice. Their


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logo design is a good representative of that brand. The

German brand might not work so well in the United

States for another reason: it is vaguely reminiscent of

the 7-11 minimart logo that people are so familiar with

on this side of the world and no one wants a cheap gas

station flavoured soda!

In addition, many European markets prefer a simpler,

more business-like look. Logos marketing to this

audience must be more minimalist and ‘adult’ than

those that are so successful in the United States.

Another example is an advertisement for an American

fast food franchise, which showed a quintessential

Anglo-Saxon American character, a colonel who had a

goatee beard, and was pointing his right hand towards

the audience while making a victory (v) sign with his

fingers, that would have little resonance among a Saudi

audience.

All this arises from the fact that some countries are high

context while some are low context. They may have

different levels of individualism. So if a company wants

to fine tune their communication they have to localize

and keep these issues in mind.

Localization due to regional differences

For example, in many international alcohol

advertisements, probably produced in the U.S., the

drink is consumed out of a glass filled with nothing but

ice. However, Trinidadians commonly choose from a

host of mixers to add to their drink. Another example is

international advertisements for confectionaries, which

are often targeted to children. However, in Trinidad

women are the main consumers of confectionaries, so

they need locally produced advertisements that are

targeted towards women.

Degree of Localization

Instead of choosing between complete standardisation

and localisation, another option is to standardise

strategically and incorporate local elements wherever

required. Likewise, many multinational companies

choose to create a single marketing idea-typically

conceived by the American branch of its advertising

agency, based in a city such as Los Angeles or New York

that is then tailored for specific situations in the various

countries where a brand might be doing business. For

example Coca cola had a global campaign of bringing

happiness. The theme of the ads were same just the

setup was changed according to the countries.

Or companies can have the same advertisement and

just translate it to local languages. This is more feasible

in today’s world because of bridging gaps between the

countries. Today stars like Messi, Angelina Jolie, and

David Beckham are known worldwide and people can

relate to them. Also there are many firms which help

brands fulfil their global potential by providing not only

first class translation services, but by offering full

localization packages that embrace local language,

culture and brand. They not only just change the

language but provide up-to-the-minute local market

insights, as well as translation, subbing and

proofreading skills. For Example: Story.

So depending on the palette of the customer, either you

can export an authentic Chinese dish for the Indian

customer or you can serve him a Punjabi tadka Chinese

version of the dish!


6

Zeeshan hassan

IIM KOZHIKODE

With the emergence of new technologies comes a

whole new avenue of supplementary and

complementary products which try to create and snatch

a space in the market for themselves. One such recent

trend has been the development of smartphones with

platforms such as the Android, iOS, Windows,

Blackberry etc. No sooner did this technology came into

being, the techies around the world channeled all their

thoughts to find out ways to reach to the newly created

market. This was how the inception of the mobile app

took place. The penetration of smartphones in the

world market has been increasing at phenomenal rate

thus it makes sense for the app developers to cater to

the needs of this fast and dynamic group of people and

lure them into embracing their apps.

Quite recently there has been an explosion in the IM

(instant messaging) apps due to the entry of WhatsApp

and the likes. A possibility to attain huge profitability

lies ahead and so is the kind of effort required that goes

into it. Making the app fulfilling one’s need is one thing

but marketing it in this nascent market is the most

crucial aspect. A lot of new tactics have been used in

both online and offline space resulting into success or

the marketing liability for the companies.

Any day, the purpose of a texting app is to make people

using it to “stay connected”. This is why people

download it so that they can get in touch with others in

as easy a way as possible. This is a Win-Win situation for

both the company and the subscribers. The company

will attain more popularity if it can expand the

boundaries of its market and at the same time the users

will have bigger social circle and people to talk to if they

connect to more people. The company also will be able

to provide the users better facilities and functionalities

if the user base raise fast and accepting and

appreciating the company’s offerings.


7

Following are the various successful strategies used by

app companies to attract and retain users (The details

obtained are by observation of the social media

campaigns and otherwise).

WhatsApp

Initially, WhatsApp did not do any type of promotional

campaign. They prized their privacy. They were just a

bunch of engineers with a motto “Less talk: Let the

product speak for itself. Later on, it took the help of a

big PR company called Covered Co. for

strategic positioning and marketing

development by being covered in top tier

press releases and social media

marketing. Also they helped it in

designing goodies like t-shirts, bottles etc.

to be distributed at various events.

WhatsApp started off on social media

with posting things like the importance of

apps in general on smartphones, top 10

android app updates for the week, top

ten iPhone apps, updates about new

smartphones coming up etc. Then it

moved to more WhatsApp specific news like, WhatsApp

was chosen the best overall app in Mobile World

Congress. Then WhatsApp TV ads and other

promotional campaign started coming up. They also

started posts for openings for employment in their

company both (permanent and for the interns), this

showed the company is in a healthy state and is growing

exponentially, thus requires more and more people to

keep pace with its projects. The users also are

frequently updated about the latest version launch of

WhatsApp and the reviews about it. So they get to

receive the first hand information of the app and also

get to discuss the same with others. In its latest updates

they said ‘we are really excited about the partnership

with 3HK and new Roaming Pass we have introduced

together for customers to benefit most when roaming

and using WhatsApp!’, as a show of their customer

centric mindset.

It also started a WhatsApp confession page which has

attained more than 40,000 likes and with more than

3000 confessions. Since confession pages at different

levels were gaining popularity, WhatsApp took this

opportunity to develop the buzz. People like to read

confessions and the admin keep showing up and asking

people to try to speak their heart as much as possible.

People also get pegged at WhatsApp jokes page which

keeps posting funny pictures and text jokes making

people keep returning to it and keeps reminding people

to “keep laughing and make more friends” implying the

more use of WhatsApp and also by posting funny

conversation snapshots of the

WhatsApp itself. This received one of

the highest responses from public in

terms of likes and comments.

Another “WhatsApp stuff” page is there

which usually contains some fun,

creative, philosophical and as well as

intellectual videos. Apart from this a

number of movie and TV serial related

news and clips are displayed. They

would also sometimes take videos of

some novice performers from YouTube

and post them on the wall telling to rate the

performance out of 10, thus a lot of discussion goes into

it. A number of funny commercials and Indian ads are

also showcased. Quite frequently tells the users to

“Download Our App And Share Links With Ur Friends”.

The official blog of WhatsApp keeps updating the

customers how to obtain the best of the app and the

reasoning behind the various features of theirs service

in addition to the latest add ins. The posts from the

founders like “Why we don’t sell ads” gives a personal

touch to the customers and tells them that everyone in

the hierarchy is concerned about their well-being.

Wechat

With numerous

features, the most

fascinating being the

shake-shake feature to

meet new people by

shaking your phone

8


simultaneously with another random user, WeChat was

initially branded as Weixin in China in January 2011 was

re-branded in April 2012 with globally acceptable name

of WeChat. Today it caters to more than 100 million

users. The strategy for WeChat is to get the coverage of

the existing product/service and bringing out additional

features on a regular basis with upgraded version of the

application.

Approached by Starbucks, they collaborated with it,

putting question to fans: “How are you feeling today?"

the response was in the form of an emoticon and then

Starbucks replied with a song to match their mood.

Campaign added to Starbucks 270,000 WeChat friends

in 4 weeks.

WeChat on social media has created country specific

pages on Facebook like WeChat India, WeChat

Australia, WeChat Malaysia, WeChat Thailand etc.

among the first were the Indian and Australian pages. In

general it gave the WeChat updates of launches, asking

users what they enjoy most about WeChat, and

WeChatApp tip of the day to better the customer

experience.

WeChat India contains India specific promotions like use

of mythological characters, Hinglish expressions, cricket

players, political parties and their members, Rajnikanth

jokes, movie clips and photos, Indian festivals etc. They

keep reminding people to send voice messages. They

also providing updates about several contests

conducted by them using their QR code on Facebook. It

showed the WeChat snapshots where people are talking

to each other about WeChat services, thus giving more

credibility to the customers about the cool services

provided by the app.

Another contest where a question was put “What do

you think has been India’s proudest moment since

independence?” and prizes were distributed to touch

the heart strings of the Indian’s.

A near similar thing happens on WeChat Thailand but in

the local vernacular i.e. Thai and on the WeChat

Malaysia page with a mix of English and Malaysian

language. In Malaysia, they tied up with dominos so the

users get 1 Regular Pizza when they purchase it at

Standard Menu price.

Indonesia is a country with lowest internet penetration

rate so WeChat aired TV ads and it claims to have

started adding 90,000 new users per day after this.

MessageME

The additional features/strategies here are context-

related, such as photos, locations and doodles. Users

can also easily share songs and music/videos with each

other straight off iTunes or YouTube. It is one of the

apps that have had the quickest growth to reach 1

million users. A great insight drawn is that people love a

sharing media for instance in the US alone, more than

10 million doodles were shared, which the company is

trying to make its competitive advantage as. They are

not willing to put ads on their app but instead thinking

of raising money by using stickers which are popular

among the Asians and used heavily by LINE and Kakao

Talk.

Social Media: It started with social media in 2012

launching its beta version of the app. It gave latest

updates and functionality of smartphones and the apps

in general. Then it moved to more MessageMe specific

updates like “MessageMe is faster and easier than

traditional text; you've got to try it to get it so check it

out now: messageme.com.” twitter links are also given.

It shares the links of other tech tracking websites and

blogs where MessageMe was covered like Mashable,

Simultaneous promotion of movie and WeChat

9


How did others do it?

What are our marketable

competencies

How do we market those competencies

TechCrunch, Bebga, Edublogs etc. The MessageMe blog

went live on March 9, official source for all the latest

news and happenings with MessageMe.

They had a feature where people can connect to each

other using their PIN. This resulted in people

commenting on the MessageMe page their PIN’s. They

also created a buzz where the famous American rapper,

Soulja Boy, was shown quoting his MessageMe PIN so

that others can connect to him.

The HackPSU Contest: MessageMe tried to increase its

presence by going to the school students (The lower

end of the target market). The students were required

to represent their school and get an opportunity to win

a FREE iPad Mini. The procedure was- downloading

MessageMe and inviting friends from the respective

school to the app to create a New Group Chat to

represent the school. The HackPSU participants with the

largest group for their school will be entered into a

raffle to win the iPad. Winning such a contest was a big

thing for school students thus it resulted into a large

scale installation of the app with less spending.

As was said the best feature for MessageMe’s

popularity is the doodle facility, so even in their blogs

they picked up some of the most creative doodle that

were made by the users and showcased in their blog so

as to appreciate effort, creating a sense belonging to

the company.

Takeaways

We see that marketing in this

space is as of yet very nascent

in stage. People are still trying

to discover how to reach to

their customer better. Many of the ads and the

promotion campaign that have been tried went viral

while a great many of others failed to produce results.

In general what the upcoming companies are doing is

that they are closely watching the successful

companies/campaigns to find out what has been

successful for others then see what we have to offer to

the customers and finally how do we market our

competencies. Thus by asking the right questions they

will get the right answers.

The first step to the promotional campaign is to create

awareness about the offerings we are making. This

creation of awareness will lead to building of trust if the

service shows consistency of performance. Generally

this trust building happens mostly by Word of Mouth

when we hear about the richness of the service by our

peers and colleagues. Thus making a great texting app

preferably with differentiation is imperative.

After the trust building process, it will result into repeat

usage of the texting app which will further help in

creating awareness among the user base and expand

their network. It is worth noticing that just creating

awareness by spamming the customers can backfire as

well. So awareness campaign should be done

spasmodically.

Thus we see a lot can be learnt by looking at these

examples to reach to a coordinated and coherent

approach. First step is to make a great app and then do

consistent pre and post launch promotion with various

different channels. With this hard work put in we can

built a hugely successful mobile app going viral and

claiming large-scale acceptance by the users.

Creating Awareness

Trust Building Repeat Usage

10


cover story | markathon|month 2013

10

vartalaap markathon|january 2013

An Interview with Ms. Babita Baruah

Executive Business Director, JWT Delhi

vartalaap markathon|may 2013

Ms. Babita Baruah is Executive Business Director, in JWT Delhi, leading a

team that manages Nokia, Nestle and local businesses. She has over 16

years of experience in Advertising and JWT, also having being a part of

regional and global JWT network teams — Unilever’s Sunsilk, Knorr,

Radiant, J & J’s Listerine and Band Aid, besides a portfolio that spans

across categories from FMCG to Finance.

Ms. Babita is one of the 12 Indian women recipients of the British

Chevening Scholarships in 2004 and a Campaign India “A” Lister as one of

the top 500 influential marketing professionals in India for 2010, 2011 and

2012.

She blogs regularly on Advertising and takes guest lecture sessions in

leading Indian management institutes like IIM Shillong, SP Jain, Mumbai,

IIFT Delhi and MDI Gurgaon.

She is also in the process of publishing her articles in a book titled

‘Unbehave’.

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Markathon: With more than

16 years of work experience in

the field of marketing and

advertising, which experience

do you cherish the most? Why?

Ms Babita: I cherish the

opportunity of the British

Chevening Scholarship on

Women and Leadership in the

U.K, in 2004. It was a privilege

to be one of the 12

professional women to win

this. This has impacted and

influenced the way I work, the

way I look at challenges at work

and in life.

Markathon: In the journey to

becoming the VP and Executive

Business Director at JWT Delhi,

you have to your credit many

successful campaigns and

brand launches of the likes of

Unilever, Godrej, Kotak, Aditya

Birla Capital, Kingfisher Airlines, Kelloggs, Wills, Nokia

amongst others. Could you share the most challenging

assignment you took up and brilliantly accomplished?

Ms Babita: To say that a campaign was successful

because of me will not be right as all work in an

agency is team work. I have been lucky to have some

of the most talented advertising professionals as

partners, and yes, we have had many successful

campaigns to our credit as an agency. Without naming

a particular brand, let me suffice it to say that we

work/have worked on leading brands across

categories- each one coming with its share of

challenges. It requires in depth consumer

understanding, use of insight generating and branding

tools, and finally of course, an impactful campaign;

Creativity that works for the brand.

Markathon: Your paper titled "Effectiveness of Brand

Advertising as influencers of socio-cultural

trends in India" has been widely read and

recognized. In today's era how far do you

feel brands are going to cash in on these

socio-cultural trends to get their revenue

boxes ringing?

Ms Babita: Brands have a human side and

increasingly, this side is coming to the

fore, because of the change in the brand

conversations. It is no longer enough to

just talk “product”, the brand is much

more than a product. So brands cannot be

isolated from socio- cultural trends.

However, it is not with the ambition of

getting revenue boxes ringing directly. It is

more long term, more a way of expressing

the human side that resonates with

people and make the brand the preferred

choice. It’s like saying we like to hang out

with people who are like us, who we like

talking to. The conversation then, has

more meaning and more credibility.

Markathon: Do you believe that

businesses and their marketing communication today

can achieve ‘shared value’ without diluting their own

brand value? What in your opinion is crucial in

achieving this tough balance?

Ms Babita: Shared Value and Social good is of

paramount importance. As they say, People, Planet,

Profit are the 3 Ps. And one cannot coexist anymore

without the other. A Brand Value can only be

enhanced and never diluted with shared value. But

what comes in the way of brands and shared value is

the excel sheet and the number game (sighs). A

shared value is not a tactical promotion or a CSR- it

has to be the brand philosophy. A religion. Only then

will it have the impact brands desire from the market.

Brands have a human side

and increasingly, this side

is coming to the fore,

because of the change in

the brand conversations.

It is no longer enough to

just talk “product”, the

brand is much more than

a product.


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A Brand Value can

only be enhanced

and never diluted

with shared value.

Marketers should “stalk”

consumers. Period. Hang out

where they do. Listen. Participate.

Be a part of their lives. I am

amazed at how few of us actually

spend time on social media- we

still regard it as “after hours”.

Markathon: As the official blogger of Campaign India

which has grown to become the voice of media,

marketing and advertising community in the

Asia Pacific, what is your take on

astroturfing? Does the reducing

difference between

‘popular sentiment’ and

‘manufactured public opinion’

worry you?

Ms Babita: Journalist William Greider has

described Astroturfing as "democracy for hire." I

have personally endorsed and believe in direct

communication and conversation. Straight from the

heart as they say. While I have not been involved in

one, I have done extensive reading on this and one of

the things that stand out is that this is people-poor

and cash –rich. Which means information and

messaging will most often be tailored to suit specific

needs of those who fund. And therefore the funders

gain more than the message recipients.

However, I always believe that we ourselves can

shape a tool into positivity. For example, Astroturfing

can be used for genuine social good causes by various

bodies to lend credibility to the message. For instance,

say a vocational skills drive by various bodies which

creates a solid semi skilled workforce for corporates

as well, but creates shared value.

Markathon: Being listed in the "Top 500 Influential

Marketing professionals in India” for 2010, 2011 and

2012, what is the one quality you possess and nurture

as a marketeer that has driven you along this growth

path consistently?

Ms Babita: Honesty and straight talk.

I have spoken my mind and not fallen prey to shaping

my conversations to outguess the corporation or the

industry. You see, it is important to be fearless. Fear

drives us to areas and actions we would never do if

we are not constrained. To me, these values ensure

that our relationships with clients and brands are

honest and whatever communication we create is

credible.

The pitfalls to this- well, I have my share of critics. We

all do. That’s why the need to be fearless and

focused on what drives us most (says with a

smile).

Markathon: Apart from a

successful career as a business

woman, you take out time for students at

leading b-schools to share your perspective.

What according to you should the aspiring marketeer

of today focus upon to feel the pulse of their target

and bring in solutions beyond time?

Ms Babita: I teach to learn. It is my passion. An

unfulfilled dream.

Teaching helps me get different perspectives and hear

the voice of the young. The next gen so to say.

Marketers should “stalk” consumers. Period. Hang out

where they do. Listen. Participate. Be a part of their

lives. I am amazed at how few of us actually spend

time on social media- we still regard it as “after

hours”. It is not. And not just social media- we need to

be everywhere she goes.

Unless we shop where she does, laugh with her, cry

for her, we can never bring in solutions.


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Imagine this scene. The Sun is still down. There is a

closed gate. Outside, people are thronging the street

in thousands, waiting to barge inside the building with

the same fury as a raging bull seeing the matador

waving a red flag. The frenzy is around a launch.

Ask a college goer in USA to guess what it was, and he

would say: “That’s the line for getting the first pieces

of Apple iPhone 5”. Ask the same question to a college

goer in Chennai, and he would not only say that it’s

Enthiran first day first show we are talking about, but

would go on to brag about how he was there, right at

the front of that line. Not only Enthiran, this is a ritual

that is followed during release of all the movies of

India’s biggest matinee idol, Superstar Rajnikanth. Sky

high cut outs, meters and meters of garlands, tons of

flowers, gallons of milk poured on his banners and

ear-deafening crackers are common during the

release of a Rajnikanth starrer, and would go on for a

week.

If there is any brand in India that can give even Tata a

run for its money on its day, it’s Brand Rajini. And we

have thousands of reasons for our argument. Results

of a nationwide poll conducted by

Headlines Today on who is India’s

biggest Superstar revealed that

Rajinikanth won the poll hands down.

(Yes, beating the likes of King Khan,

Aamir Khan, Big B and others).

Rajinikanth has more than 150,000 fan

clubs across the country (of

course, few in Japan too), which

is more than any other star. And

when he was taken ill a year

back, the whole of Tamil Nadu

offered prayers and special

poojas for his quick recovery

(including the three of us).

During the time of elections,

politicians from all major

parties would be wary of his

statement, which has the

potential to decide the

fortunes of the election.

Believe us, the list will go on.

At least in South India, ‘Rajini’

signifies a huge, admired, tested,

loved and even worshipped concept; it is consumed

and cherished by consumers of all age groups,

genders, communities and religions.

Rajinikanth quantum-leaped to super-stardom

through wholesome and original entertainment and

then evolved and acquired cult status through

friendliness, humility and down-to-earth

characteristics that every brand dreams of. Brand

Rajini is analogous to the much talked about global

corporate brands. The only difference is that

corporate brands are more prominent, well

researched and talked about, while brand Rajini has

remained out of the limelight.

We now take a look at the launch of ‘Brand Rajini’, 38

years ago.

Brand Rajini: the launch

Not all brand launches end up being a success. In

particular, failures outweigh success stories in the film

industry. In the 1970s, the odds were against Shivaji

Rao Gaekwad (later, Rajinikanth) ever becoming a

Tamil star, let alone becoming a Superstar. It was an

era of two matinee idols, MGR and Sivaji Ganesan,

holding strong foothold in the industry.

Alongside, Kamal Haasan was already grabbing

headlines with his versatility and great

dancing skills. Finding space between them

was not going to be easy for Shivaji Rao, who

hardly knew the language. The first ever

movie frame he appeared in, carried an

ominous subtitle ‘Abaswaram’ (off-

key). No one ever imagined that the

dark horse who slipped

unassumingly into the celluloid

world, would later go on to rule

the box office while creating

his own niche.

The launch of Brand Rajini

dispels many branding

perceptions. Brands are usually

conceived for a target audience in

mind, but Rajini had none. Brand

Rajini did not have the luxury of a big

launch, or even a launch for that matter. It

did not use its own name but an adopted

one (that of an upright lawyer Rajinikanth,


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portrayed brilliantly by Sivaji Ganesan in 1973

Magnum Opus, Gauravam)

Why did Brand Rajini stand out?

Differentiation

Establishing individuality was at the nucleus of Rajini’s

work and speed was the name of his game. Armed

with these traits and his exquisite dialogue delivery,

Rajini pronounced differentiation loudly to the people

around.

A comparable differentiated global brand launch

would be the launch of transparent soap as early as

1789, by Pears.

Narrowing Focus

After attracting consumers through its brand

differentiation and characteristic traits, Brand Rajini

realized that style and substance were the core

strengths that needed to be kept in focus. A Brand

signifies trust and hence has the duty to live up to

expectations. Brand Rajini did so, sometimes even

exceeding expectations. Soon, Brand Rajini’s focused

style became the talk of the town. Fans tried to

emulate elements of his style: twist of the glasses,

chucking of the cigarette to the lips, lighting of

matchstick using only one hand. Most failed, but those

who succeeded presented them in front of their

friends with Rajini’s characteristic punch line: ‘How is

it?’ (‘Ithu Epdi Iruku?’).

Starbucks is a comparable global brand that narrowed

its focus to brewed coffee which helped them to

establish themselves strongly. Subway, focusing only

on submarine sandwiches, while

initially offering almost anything for

the customer on the go, is another

example.

Emotional Connect

Rajinikanth played a character role

in “Aarilirunthu Arubadhu Varai” -

there were no histrionics. His

Hunter’s role in “Thaai Meethu

Sathiyam” won him the hearts of

MGR fans. In him, the fans of Sivaji

and MGR saw a common friend.

Brand Rajini won the war but

without a battle. With acceptance from both sides of

the coin, there was no need for a toss. From then on,

there was no stopping Brand Rajini. Apple does not

sell products; it sells the brand, evoking in people’s

minds a mix of hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Similarly, Rajini’s admirers don’t go to watch just

movies; they go to watch Rajini himself. Brand Rajini

sells itself - the products are secondary to the brand.

Powerful taglines

Every successful brand has an awesome tagline.

Indeed some brands have taglines which are more

famous than the brand name itself. You know which

brand we are talking about when I say 'Just do it', or

'I'm lovin' it', or 'Connecting people'.

In the case of the superstar, the tagline is replaced by

his punch dialogues. 'Yen vazhi, thani vazhi' ('My path,

is a unique path'), 'Naan oru dhadava sonna, nooru

dhadavai sonna maathiri' ('If I say it once, it’s as good

as saying it hundred times'), and other such punch

dialogues became such a rage as they were deeply

associated with the character as such. Also, unlike

normal

dialogues

which

are

fleeting

in

nature,

these

dialogues


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consistently appear during milestone moments in the

movie.

Consistency of Communication

Excellent brands have a positioning in the market

which they are always aware of. Coke ads have always

been about 'Enjoying'. For years together now, Amul

has been following a template of doing a parody on

anything which is making news through its cartoon

strip like ads and people love it.

The Superstar has been the epitome of consistency

and reinforcement. Most of his movies fall into a

template of good-vs.-evil, with an introduction song, a

fun-filled first half, trouble and pain followed by a

climax where the good finally triumphs. Right from

the first instant, the audience knows that the hero is

going to win, but they still stay glued on to see how.

Even the trademark way, in which his name is

displayed, right at the beginning of the movie is an

example of this consistency.

Delivering an experience

People know that the coffee in Cafe Coffee Day is over-

priced, but still go there because they cherish that

experience. The silencer technology which mutes the

engine sound in bikes is ages old, but still Royal Enfield

retains the classic thud-thud sound in its engine as its

part of the experience of driving a Bullet.

What Rajini offers you is not just a movie, but rather a

movie watching experience. The very fact that it is so

hard getting a First Day First Show ticket makes it all

the more exciting for everyone involved to try and get

one. And it almost feels like a mini-victory when the

ticket is in hand.

Brand Rajini’s Point of Difference (POD) was that it

was desirable, it differentiated and it delivered.

What does Brand Rajini offer for different target

groups?

BRAND RAJINI’S VALUE

The latest Forbes India’s top 100 celebrity list was

topped by Shahrukh Khan and even featured Sunny

Leone at number 71 but did not have a place for

THALAIVAR (that’s how his fans refer to him as, which

means leader). So does it mean that Brand Rajini is

not worth it? No! The simple reason can be explained

by taking the example of Apple Inc. There is not much

frenzy around Apple products throughout the year but

before the release of any new Apple product, there is a

big hullabaloo surrounding it and the brand speaks

volumes for itself. But that does not mean

that at other times of the year the brand

recall is poor. There is always awe for the

Apple products. Similar is the case with Brand

Rajini. The craze amongst the media and

audience before a movie launch is

unparalleled, but during other times of the

year too, there is always the admiration for

this man. Even though Forbes India knows

the value of this brand, it cannot quantify it,

as one of the basic parameters - “Revenues

from endorsements” is N/A for Rajinikanth.

This makes one wonder more about how he


17


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is still able to sustain the BRAND that he is. Read on.

SUSTAINABILITY

It’s his other face behind the humungous on-screen

ones that makes Brand Rajini a sustainable and

inimitable brand – SIMPLICITY! The man does not like

to wear glamorous clothes or use costly phones for

that matter. He is content with wearing rubber

slippers and dhoti — that’s the real him. Yet another

reason why he is the most celebrated brand is his

impeccable success record at the box office. This may

bring the question of “What about his failure movies

then?” But only his ardent fans know what this man

has done to shield his producers from financial

troubles at such times.

GLOBAL PRESENCE

Every brand tries to target the domestic market

initially and then gradually moves towards capturing

the global market. But for Rajini, in spite of a not so

great nationwide brand presence (read courtesy

Rajinikanth jokes circulating throughout North India)

the case is different. He has a strong and unbelievable

fan base in Japan. The 1996 release “Muthu” started

the way for the brand. The movie ran for a record 23

weeks with a 90% occupancy throughout and also

made it to the coveted broadcast list of NHK. It was

also publicly broadcasted in 2002 in Japan which was

something very new to the otherwise conservative

Japanese public broadcaster. Since then, Rajini is a

name known to every household in Japan. The irony is

that the movie was never publicized as a Rajinikanth

movie in Japan but after the release of the movie,

Brand Rajini grew all by itself.

One may think “Why is brand presence in just one

country and especially Japan, celebrated so much and

written about?“ The answer is that “Muthu” is the

first and the only successful Indian movie released in

Japan. This is a territory yet to be conquered even by

the likes of Shahrukh or Salman Khan and Bollywood

is still hoping to tap the Japanese market.

A brownie point for the readers: The Rajini brand

loyalty is so high in Japan terms, we call this “Brand

Power”. but it’s more startling to know that

Rajinikanth has not visited Japan even once till now. In

marketing In marketing terms, we call this “Brand

Power”.

Let’s get down to the 4P analysis of “Brand Rajini”

Product:

In his early days, Rajini defied conventions and that

defined this star. He started having punch dialogues

for himself, had his own style for even a simple walk

or while flipping cigarettes and these worked wonders

for this conductor-turned-superstar. He made

everyone feel like a superstar. Also what sets “Rajini -

the product” apart is his humble nature, simplicity and

the variations in the roles he has portrayed over the

years.


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Price:

Price was never a bothering criterion for this brand.

Producers never hesitated to pay him even if it was a

huge sum. Why? Because there was always the

guarantee of recovering your money from a Rajini

movie in spite of it being a box office hit or flop. He

was a man of his words and returned money to

distributors and producers if his movie failed. So in

such a WIN-WIN situation, the miniscule topic of price

never cropped up.

Place/ Position:

So what’s the segmentation and targeting for Brand

Rajini? “UNIVERSAL” it is. Only a very few products

can be of same utility to all sections and strata of the

society. Rajini is one of those elite products. You could

be a class A, B, C audience in a movie theatre but the

madness is the same across every fan

for every Rajini

movie. Such a

positioning is

another reason

behind the success

of the phenomenon

“RAJINI”.

Promotion:

Is there a need for

any promotion for

this legendary

brand? Well we

don’t think so

and so does Rajini. Unlike the Hollywood and

Bollywood heavyweights, he has hardly

promoted any of his movies. Brand Rajini is a

class apart here as well. He does not seek the

audience, the audience seek his divine Darshan

and do all the promotion they can. This in turn

makes the media do free publicity for his

movies.

So with all the marketing Gyaan from Kotler et

al., 4P analysis has never been so idealistic for

any brand right? Well that’s Brand Rajini for

you.

Brand Rajini: Decline and resurgence

Now, it seems as though Brand Rajini is immortal.

Hold on. There have been ups and downs even for this

brand. Let us have a brief analysis on the decline of

the brand. Looking through his career graph spanning

38 years, one can identify three periods in which

Brand Rajini was on a decline.

The years 1979 and 1980 were

tough for Rajini.

Volumes of

films,

the

fan


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frenzy, non-stop work, new found wealth and other

such circumstances - Brand Rajini was going through a

rough patch. Rajinikanth was declared by media to be

in a critical mental health situation. There were

reports of non-cooperation that disturbed directors.

There were reports of violent incidents too. Brand

Rajini was in the news for the wrong reasons. With

Dharma Yuddam (War for Dharma), Brand Rajini

bounced back; Rajini proved that he was not a snuff

box and scripted a spectacular recovery.

The second instance of signs of decline of

Brand Rajini was around the time of

release of Baba (2002). A local political

party spread the propaganda that Rajini

set a bad example for the youth in the

movie; theatre screens were burnt; film

reels were snatched. Brand Rajini had

failed with Baba. But the brand made an

unprecedented move by personally

repaying the producers and distributors for

their losses. By accepting the truth of

failure, Rajini won the hearts of many. But

predictions that Baba was Rajini’s last,

spread like wildfire. Three years later,

Rajini would launch his film Chandramukhi

in 2005, which would run for 800 days.

Brand Rajini was resurrected, yet again.

Last but not the least, Rajini turned 62 on

12.12.12 (Yes, his fans went berserk that

day, needless to say). But the age signifies

only one thing. In spite of being treated as

God by his fans, this man will also age and

will have to retire one day. It is also clear

from the number of movies he has been doing off late

or the kind of roles he has been choosing. But why is

the brand on the decline? In an era where

commercials and endorsements makes or breaks a

celebrity’s popularity, Rajini has consciously made

the decision not to endorse any product or brand.

This literally means that he has not told his audience

which car to drive or which energy drink is the secret

behind his success. But on the other hand, it also

means that there is a decline in the Brand Rajini and

eventually audience cannot recall the brand. Ten

years down the lane, Sachin can still be in touch with

the audience by endorsing brands but the way ahead

for Rajini is not going to be smooth. Neither can he

act in more movies nor does his personal policy of

not endorsing brands is going to help him.

So is Rajini bothered about all this? Well we don’t

think so. All that he would say is “Aandavan

nallavangala sodhippaan, aana kai vidamaatan! (God

will test the endurance of good hearted, but will never

let them down) “

Will Brand Rajini still survive the test of time? We’ll

have to wait and watch.


20


10


21

Saurabh Kumar

NIRMA University

Topic for the next issue Eye to Eye: “Pepsi' 160 Crore IPL bet: Marketing Masterstroke or Miscalculated

Mayhem”

Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 18th

May, 2013. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry

1 crore 7 lakh 15 thousand 2 hundred 99. These are

the number of ‘likes’ on Vodafone’s Facebook page. In

other words, this is the

measurable target audience,

with which Vodafone has a direct

communication link. Cost? Rs.0.

Digital Marketing has come a

long way from early 2000s, when

it was only about advertising. In

the past 5-6 years, the rise of

Social Media, Web 2.0 and

smartphone affordability, has made it more about the

experience you give to your customers, how relevant

they feel you are, and, the curiosity you can generate

in their mind. Also, it is way cheaper. Twitter,

Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube only require a good

internet connection to kickstart your marketing

strategy. Globally, traditional marketing is dead. In

India, however, it still rules & digital marketing , still in

its infancy, is mostly used as a supplement.

However, this will change soon, as, the fundamental

cited advantage of traditional marketing, that anyone

with a newspaper, television or radio can, learn about

your brand, is being increasingly threatened by the

rise of internet connected socially aware &

smartphone totting youth, which, comprise 60% of

our population. The fact that internet penetration,

has gone from 1.65crores in 2002 to 12.1crores in

2012, and poised to grow to 37 crores in 2015, further

strengthens this argument. Pepsi, in stark contrast to

its earlier strategies, has created a digital leg called

'Pepsi Shot 60' allowing users to upload films, perform

virtual jigs and a range of activities to get them

involved, as a part of its new ad message “Oh yes

abhi!” To conclude, going ahead, digital marketing will

surely transform from its current position of

supplementing the traditional marketing, to, being

supplemented by it and has undoubtedly, sounded a

death knell for traditional marketing.

Digital Marketing is mid-way between the death knell

and jumping the gun for traditional marketing. As a

death knell can be said as a

bell rung to announce a

death. But Digital Marketing

cannot erode the traditional

marketing just like that.

There are enormous reasons

for the same.

Firstly, the number of people

who are tech savvy is

minuscule in regard to the one who prefer and trust

Traditional Marketing techniques. Moreover, there

are products which cannot be brought without

undergoing manual touch and feel.

Jumping the gun is required sometimes for change.

This leads to inventions, growth and development.

Still in this modern and changing era Digital Marketing

is not something which is done too soon. A proper

thought must be given before launching a product.

Both pull and push digital marketing strategies are

used in this case.

This is similar to traditional marketing where people

either see the advertisement and go for buying or

people are pulled by the brand name and its quality.

After coming up of lucrative offers from e-commerce

websites, things selling have gone innovative.

Over all it is an appreciable move and helps to grow

and nurture. Just after starting a marketing campaign

online the sales may or may not go up. At the end of

the day, whether the campaign is Digital or

traditional, quality matters at the end. Along with

quality, brand, price and satisfaction are the other

criteria.

war zone | eye 2 eye markathon | may 2013

Dig

ita

l ma

rket

ing

will

tra

nsf

orm

fro

m it

s cu

rren

t p

osi

tio

n o

f su

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enti

ng

tra

dit

ion

al m

ark

etin

g A

t the en

d o

f the d

ay, w

heth

er the ca

mp

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n is D

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l or tra

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atters a

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d

22

Prateek Savla

IMT

15

NEXT THEME FOR SILENT VOICE: “Sleepwell Mattress” LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 18th May, 2013

EMAIL ID: [email protected]

Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only

This time we have introduced a new rule: 30 % weightage will be given to the popularity of your print

ad on Facebook We would upload your entry on Facebook (as soon as we receive); send the link to

you; you need to share your entry and get as many likes as possible for the same before 25th May EOD

Remember, only creative and whacky stuff sells on Facebook !!

Silent Voice

LAST MONTH’S RESULTS

Theme: “McDonald’s Health”

WINNER: Prafull Srivastava

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata Congratulations!!! Prafull receives a cash prize of Rs 500!

Saurabh Kumar |Institute of Management, NIRMA University

war zone | silent voice markathon | may 2013

23


PRODUCT: Dove’s Real Sketches (part of the Real Beauty

Campaign)

POSITIONING: “You are more beautiful than you think.”

CREATIVE AGENCY: Ogilvy Brazil

YouTube Link

Ad-dicted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

PRODUCT: Park Avenue

POSITIONING: “Zara Soongh Ke Toh Dekho”

specials | ADdicted markathon | may 2013

Sushree tripathy | IIM S Swikruti panda | iim s

CONCEPT:

The ad has been very beautifully conceived showing a

former police sketch artist, who is capable of giving real

face to someone’s description. To his villa, women come

and try to describe themselves, their face’s appearance,

as they perceive. Then in a while some strangers who

had a short encounter wit/h these ladies are invited in

and they try and describe them. So, two sketches

culminate for the same woman and each of them come

back and notice that their version of others’ description

is more affable and congenial. This experience makes

them realize that their self-perceptions are harsh. They

should start appreciating themselves for the beauty they

sprinkle in life every day and feel nice about it.

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Catch

Women, generally perceive themselves as the more

resilient ones. They tend to be the first one to love

selflessly and sacrifice endlessly if need be. But in the

process many tend to lose themselves. They tend to

forget the beautiful aura that they are capable of

creating with their real beauty. This beautiful ad by Dove

has vividly brought out such emotional tumult by this

unconventional mode of sketching only by hearing to

descriptions. They have used the monotonous mode of

description of beauty with a few repetitive adjectives,

which defeats their own claim of standing for real

beauty. But the message to millions of women to

wheedle them to deeply introspect and recognize their

wonderful self is extolled.

CREATIVE AGENCY: Publicis Ambience, India

YouTube Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9CQ8bXDZo

CONCEPT:

Every other brand in the men’s deodorant space today

conveys, through its ad film, that you can just spray the

product and sit back while women swoon over you.

While consumers are finding it difficult to distinguish

one deodorant ad from another, Park Avenue in its

latest campaign attempts to break away from this

parity. It shows a man taking the product instead of a

woman, along with him as a romantic companion out to

dinner, parties, vacations and much more. The ad urges

the viewers to spray the new Park Avenue deodorants

just once with the line ‘Zara soongh ke toh dekho’ and

guarantees you would fall in love with it and carry the

product with you wherever you go.

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Miss

While the ad was a pleasant detour from the myriad

of Axe-like ads, a number of flaws at the execution

level made this ad miss the cut. The tagline ‘Zara

Soongh Ke Toh Dekho’ aims to focus on the actual

retail level behavior of consumers while deodorant-

shopping. It hopes to get consumers loyal to other

brands to smell the product at the retail-level once

and consequently change their brand preference.

While the cast, humour and the look & feel of the ad is

very ‘English’, the rustic Hindi line suddenly comes

from nowhere and offers the ad a strange appeal. The

puzzling combination of an "international English

voiceover" and "a very Indian brand promise" may just

be what brings this nice premise many notches down.

24


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9CQ8bXDZo

Data-Driven Marketing The 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know

-Mark Jeffery

Review by Pallavi

Price Rs.1719

eBook: Rs.491

In this post collapse economic era, every department under the microscope is looking for results. The challenge of providing concrete results is amplified further in case of marketing due to the abstract nature of branding and awareness, and when times are tough is often one of the first to face the scissors. Marketing in these uncertain times will become much more rigorous and each campaign will have to prove its ROI. And how will you do this, Mark Jeffery, a lecturer at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, has an answer.

Summary

Jeffery’s book ‘Data-Driven Marketing: The 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know’ is a result of research conducted with hundreds of marketing executives on return on marketing investment (ROMI) .He lays out his case step-by-step and shows how organizations can deliver significant performance gains from marketing. His survey of 252 firms capturing $53 billion of annual marketing spending forms the foundation for this book. With a key focus on using data to drive profits, he compares and contrasts the leaders and the laggards in terms of financial performance and how they use data to drive their marketing activities.

Data driven marketing accomplishes the one thing that is most critical in modern times when it comes to running a marketing organization - using data to drive profits. In his book, the author stresses the critical relationships between business and information technology and how, when joined together, these two forces can truly revolutionize business results and he explains it in a way which is easy to follow for ‘non-IT’ people aswell. Fundamental to the 15 metrics described in this book are the use of enterprise customer, operational and transactional data as the book rightly points out the power of “Voice of the Customer” data and how its continued mining is important to driving marketing strategy. The metrics in the book are defined for both tangible and intangible value parameters and are versatile in the sense that they are industry agnostic and are equally

applicable businesses both small and large. But given all its advantages, first thing that comes to mind when it comes to ‘big data’, is the cost associated with implementing it. Jeffery has a simple solution to this “…you don’t need 100 percent of the data and a multimillion-dollar infrastructure to get stared. The key is to focus on collecting the right data. Ask what are the 20 percent of data that will give 80 percent of impact? Start there. Then show the quick win in order to get executive support and secure funding for the next stage.”

Organization

The book is divided into three parts. The first does the ground work including how to overcome the obstacles to data driven marketing. The second part elaborated the 15 metrics to improve marketing performance which include financial and non-financial metrics. There are also metrics to measure customer life time value and how to measure ROI on internet marketing. The third part takes it to the next level by explaining how to use these metrics.

Verdict: 4/5

It is extremely well thought out and easy to understand, and the cases presented in the book highlight the significant impact data-driven marketing can have on an organization. It highly readable and practical but it is a big book and sometimes it becomes dry.

Bottom-line This easy to follow book addresses the 3 key aspects of metrics development, Why you need metrics, What to measure and How to measure. It covers the essential concepts that take marketing from an art to a science. Churn, Internal Rate of Return, Take Rate, Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Satisfaction, WOM, CPC, CPM and more. However, the book shines in its focus on the forest and not the trees. This is not the book for you if you want to know the complexities of how to measure customer conversion rate or what are the best ways to measure your web traffic. But, if you want to understand how these items fit into your overall marketing picture board and how to put the tons of data available today to work and get closer to your customer — it is a perfect addition to your marketing library.

specials | bookmark markathon | may 2013

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Intra B school event | War of brands markathon|november 2012

2012

Hasta la vista | Farewell to Marketing Club Batch of 2011-2013 markathon|may 2013

Swati Nidiganti

Working for marketing club was always so

enriching, thanks to the brilliant set of people

who are both talented and internally

motivated

Markathon was very close to my heart, for I am

a writer and Markathon was one of the biggest

motivations to join the club.

Marketing is a very demanding field, any

amount of knowledge can be insufficient, so

the more you read the better.

Umang Kulshrestha

Marketing Club, IIM Shillong gave me the

opportunity to learn and apply marketing

skills and techniques.

Markathon gave me motley ideas, updates,

marketing gimmicks of various companies etc.

because we had read not just to write ourselves

but also read various monthly entries which

proved to be such huge learning for all of us.

Rushika Sabnis

Marketing Club is among the most active and

fun clubs on campus. Right from the magazine

Markathon to Godsellers to the events are all

unique and was a great to be associated in

each of them

Markathon is a compilation of thoughts and

ideas of various B school marketing enthusiasts

and corporates.

Designing for Markathon was the best memory

for me.

Sowmya R

Marketing Club conducts events, arranges guest

lectures and undertakes live industry projects.

Markathon is a one-of-a-kind monthly

marketing magazine that provides a

comprehensive yet insightful read to a

subscriber base of over 4000.

Be passionate about whatever you do, there is

no better way of marketing.

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Intra B school event | War of brands markathon|november 2012

2012

GSN Aditya

Marketing Club is a unique platform that has

helped all of us bridge the gap between

classroom learning and the real world

Markathon has been instrumental in laying

the foundation of our club. It gets bigger and

better every year

Every meeting where we sit down to plan any

of our events and in some cases judging the

entries of our competitions is a treasured

memory

Mayur Jain

Marketing Club is a platform which gives you

passion, liveliness and motivation

Markathon leaves no effort in rejuvenating and

capturing the minds of not only the marketing

enthusiast but even beyond

My fondest memory in the club would be

conceptualizing GodSellers, an event which

gives IIM Shillong the liveliest day on campus

Piyush Agarwal

Marketing Club is an awesome group of

"un"like-minded people, each one more

passionate about Marketing than the other.

Markathon is a must read for any Marketing

enthusiast.

"Innovation and Marketing" are the only two

important business functions. Rest are all

detailing

Priya Agrawal

Marketing Club is one club that believes in

freshness of ideas and always goes one step

ahead to bring exciting, lively and creative

events to bring out the marketing guru in all.

Marketing is one stream where you follow your

instinct, passion and creativity

The job appeal is more close to heart for

marketers and that makes marketing a fun

career to pursue.

Hasta la vista | Farewell to Marketing Club Batch of 2011-2013 markathon|may 2013

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specials | radical thoughts markathon|january 2013

10

Apple is still better than

Samsung, Google or

Amazon. The best.

Ashok A | IIM S

I can imagine the amount of hues and cries that would

be generated by supporters of Samsung, Google and

Amazon and also by Anti-apple gadget lovers on

reading this article. Even my club members and

friends would call this an extremely biased piece of

article, for they know how big a fan of Apple I am. But

I pray you not to jump into a conclusion before

reading it fully. I am ready to accept the fact that

latest Apple products like iPhone 5 and iPad mini did

not evoke the usual awe the previous Apple gadgets

have generated. And also Apple has reported its first

ever dip in profits in almost a decade, though the

company attributes it to low margin iPad minis. But to

write off a company which gave us the incorrigible

iPods, game-changing iPhones and iPads, ever

awesome Macs, most convenient iTunes stores, novel

retailing experience at Apple stores, as a company of

bygone time like HP or RIM or Yahoo is a blatant, half

cooked and ludicrous accusation.

Apple is still the best and one of

the most innovative companies in the

world. No other company has the

complete strength like Apple – software (

iOS, OSX etc.), hardware ( do I need to

name them?) and services ( Apple store,

iTunes store, iCloud etc.). Samsung may have

good hardware, Amazon may have awesome service,

and Google and Microsoft may be big shots in services

and software. But remember none of them are as

good as Apple when it comes to completeness.

Customers are fickle in their expectations. We

all know that. Whenever Apple announces a product,

they start fantasizing in their own way – credit card

thickness, laser keypad, holographic camera and what

not. But they fail to remember one thing; Apple gave

us the iPods and iPhones not by knocking at the doors

and asking what we expect in a music player or in a

mobile. Hundreds of best engineers, designers,

marketers, directors and one legend understood us

and changed the way we used the gadgets.

Apple launched the first generation iPhone in

June 2007 and it did not change much to it until it

launched iPhone 4 in June 2010. And there is an

underlying reason to it. The main idea behind iPhone

is to change the lives of the users. And that will not

happen only by iPhone or iPad. These iGadgets have

given rise to a whole new market around them - App

store with millions of apps, whole range of accessories

like docking stations, lenses, headphones and

paraphernalia of other things to make life easier.

When an iPhone user wants to purchase a sound

system, he always goes for a good docking station

rather than an expensive sound system. A budding

musician always can download a music app rather

than setting up a music studio, which is not possible

for him. So all this in combination makes life easier.

When Apple changes its design often, it becomes

difficult for these people to change very often and

ultimately this difficulty is transferred to the customer

as they will have to buy new accessories every time

they purchase a new gadget. That is the main reason

why Apple keeps the design constant for a

considerable amount of time. But technologically it

brings a lot of advancements and changes every

time – eyesight camera, lightning pin adapter,

Siri – all to make life awesome.

And critics say innovation at apple

is dead. The main argument they put

forward is the death of Steve Jobs. No

doubt he is legendary but he was not

always right. Many Apples execs like Tim

Cook, Jonathan Ive and many more helped

Apple grow by turning down Jobs’ decision

and these people are still there for Apple. In future,

Apple will always be great and it won’t be perfect.

And the critics who want to believe that innovation is

dead and buried at Apple will magnify these flaws.

The big 5 rivals of Apple – Samsung, Amazon, Google,

Microsoft and Facebook, have never come up with a

product which could make us say that Apple should

have done that. And Apple is clearly aware of its

shortcoming and will try to eliminate them.

On its way this year are iPad mini with retina

display, a new iPhone, an iWatch and an Apple TV.

And it’s going to be one awesome year of Apple mania

for every one of us. So Apple is not dead and will live

healthy for years to come.

specials | radical thoughts markathon | may 2013

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By Prateek | IIM-S

BRAND LAUNCH

Paint the world B’lue

Danone group, the French multinational has launched a

new restorative water drink branded as B’lue. The drink

loaded with vitamins and minerals targets the

increasingly fitness conscious segment who want to

drink more than just plain water. The brand has been

launched in two flavors – Apple and Guava. Being

priced at Rs. 30 for a 500 ml bottle, it will be interesting

to see if the brand can generate sufficient interest to

boost its bottom-line.

Dream new, ‘Dream Neo’

After ‘amazing’ people with its latest diesel sedan,

Honda introduces its latest 110cc bike called ‘Dream

Neo’. With this, Honda aims to woo the mileage

conscious, price sensitive customer base which dreams

of owning a bike. Honda, the second largest two

wheeler selling company looks to capture a sizeable

portion of the market share in the bike segment from

Hero and Bajaj with its new model.

It’s an AUDI

The sedan which oozes style plans to launch a special

edition variant of its A6 premium saloon marking sale of

6000 sedans in the country. The special edition looks to

delight the customers with state-of-the-art offerings

like 14-speaker Bose Surround Sound System, 4-Zone

Deluxe Air Conditioning and the likes for an enjoyable

experience.

BRAND WATCH

‘Ghari’ joins the premium segment

bandwagon with ‘Uniwash’

In a bid to destabilize the throne of HUL in the laundry

segment, Rohit Surfactants led Ghari launched an all

new Uniwash to lure the premium category customers.

This comes in as direct competition to Rin from HUL and

Tide from P&G. Ghari has been accepted with open

arms by the masses. Let’s see what lies in store for

Uniwash.

KTM 390 Duke: Sports bikers dream

After the success of KTM 200 Duke, the Austrian

motorcycle giant plans to launch a 375 cc road sprinter

soon in India. The street fighter will be offered in a

different paint segment than its earlier version has set

high hopes for the biker community with one of the

best power to weight ratio offerings. It will be

interesting to see how its rival, Honda and Kawasaki try

to woo customers and the price war that will follow.

KFC launches Lavazza coffee in UK

The war of tweaking menu to rope is customer is

getting hotter. After McDonalds successful coffee

campaign where it outdid Costa and Starbucks in UK to

become the biggest coffee seller in 2010, KFC seeks to

join the race with its latest lavazza offering in order to

change the perception that it offers chicken-only

products.

MEDIA

After Coke Studio, it’s time for PUMA cricket

studio

The sports equipment and apparel company launched

its cricket studio featuring Yuvraj Singh and Adam

Gilchrist. The stars discuss their on and off field secrets

and share their views to come closer to their fans. It

seems a nice initiative by Puma to engage cricket fans

online via their favorite cricketers.

Slice sheds the ‘Aamsutra’ campaign

The mercury is soaring higher and summer comes

calling. Mangoes are the flavor of the season and to

cash in on the craze, Slice has come up with a new

campaign “Iske Saamne Sab Pheeka Padh Jayega “to

urge the customers that it is the best in its category.

This comes as a counter measure to Frooti’s new

campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan. It will be

specials | updates markathon | may 2013

29

Articles are invited

“Best Article”: Anshul Khandelwal, Prafull Srivastava | IIFT

They receive a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation

We are inviting articles from all the B-schools of India. The articles can be specific to the regular sections of Markathon which includes:

Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena.

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

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

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

We’re inviting photographs of interesting promotional events/advertisements/hoardings/banners etc. you might have come across in your daily life

for our new section “The 4th P”. Send your self-clicked photographs in JPEG format only.

The last date of receiving all entries is 18th May, 2013. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAMES>_<INSTITUTE> to [email protected].

interesting to see how people respond to Slice’s new

campaign sans the sultry version of Katrina Kaif.

AD Watch

Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches

One of the most talked about campaigns globally from

the stable of Ogilvy Brazil has become virally within a

few days of its release. The ad features a trained artist

drawing two sketches of person: one based on her

description of herself and the other based on a

stranger’s description of her looks. The ad concludes

that you are more beautiful than your perception of

yourself.

The USP of this ad lies in the fact the brand does not try

to hard sell rather focus on its theme of “beauty”.

YouTube Link:


Pyaas Badhao with Limca

In its latest avatar, Limca continues with the “Pyaas

Badhao” theme. The ad features Kareena Kapoor Khan

who urges a young lad to profess his love for his dame.

The ad stands true to the ‘pyaas badhao’ theme and

connects well with the target audience via its fresh

appeal. It will be interesting to see if the ad helps the

brand in improving its bottom-line of balance sheet.

YouTube Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkLEgJJAWw

I feel up with 7UP

The ad comes in as a major disappointment and fails to

live up to its theme of “I feel up with 7UP”. The ad

features a girl standing on a road, who is cheered up by

a Kathakali dancer by offering a 7UP and performing

some dance moves. The feel up theme is never

conveyed and the ad falls flat on its face. Overall, a big

thumbs down.

YouTube Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfGlPwyN1_4

specials | updates markathon | may 2013

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkLEgJJAWw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfGlPwyN1_4

Please send in your comments/feedback to:

[email protected]

Visit: www.iims-markathon.in

© Team Markathon, IIM Shillong


http://iims-markathon.in/

markathon may 2013 issue

Documents

laws of marketing

marketing soup

marketing enthusiasts

data driven marketing

brand rajinikanth

cover story indian hockey

cult brand

corporate world