Markathon_april-may2016

The months of April and May- scorching heat and dripping sweat. Yes, that is how the country looks at it with hopefulness in their eyes that it’ll rain soon. But well, the MBA community, especially the students, is on a different trajectory all together because it is not just summer, but a summer that will define them. It is summer internships!

With busy work schedules and sleepless nights, one only needs to relax by indulging into something we love. So here’s presenting a fresh issue of Markathon for all marketing lovers to indulge in!

While all corporations want to multiply revenue from each penny spent on marketing, it has become more and more necessary for them to understand how the smallest thing will make it or break it. To provide solution to such kind of needs, we have Neuromarketing, a field less researched and a topic less explored. This month’s cover story decodes the Whats and Hows of Neuromarketing and how businesses have been able to use it to create advertisements. The article also looks at some of the adopters of Neuromarketing over years and what can be seen in the future of this field. We congratulate Anithasree Munuswamy, the winner of our Perspective section for her article on ‘Why Insights and Micro Moments Matter’.

In the Vartalaap section this month, we have a tête-à-tête with Mr. Waqar Azmi, Founder and CEO of SutraHR, a Mumbai based HR-Solutions firm which helps the numerous start-ups in finding the right and the best talent required to fuel their ideas. He shared with us his vision and rationale on how they believe having a huge consumer base of start-ups is the best way to go rather than going

to the big giants of the industry. Over the years SutraHR has achieved many milestones and accolades for which, he says, only his team and his people have been responsible. To all those who believe in the power of People, this article is just a lens through which you get to know how that power can be driven.

In this month’s Radical Thoughts, we have a take on Political Marketing, a phenomena we witness very often but co-incidentally, look at it as very different from what we understand of marketing. Apart from this, we also have activities lined up for you to put your marketing knowledge to test, in the Fun Corner.

Lastly, we would like to thank all the people who sent in their valuable contributions for the magazine. This is what inspires us to continue to do what we love. With so much exciting stuff lined up, flip through the pages of the April - May edition of Markathon and do write to us on markathon.iims@gmail.com regarding any suggestions or feedback.

Happy Reading!!!

Team Markathon

The Markathon Team Editors Harsha Daga | Piyush Jain | Daksh Bhagat | Shubham Shukla | Sharad Srinivasan

Creative Designers Astha Kabra | Akshay Seth

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Contents Perspectives Insights & Micro Moments: Why do they matter?

Anithasree Munuswamy | MICA Ahmedabad

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Disruptive Marketing: The thing of tomorrow?

Anuj Mishra & Debayan Pal | KJSIMR, Mumbai

Neuro Marketing: the advent of a new era Sharad Srinivasan | IIM Shillong

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Mr Waqar Azmi Founder & CEO | SutraHR Interviewed by: Daksh Bhagat | IIM Shillong

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Is Apple’s move of entering the middle income segment with iPhone SE a strategic fit for the company?”

Venkatesh Ganeshan | TATA Consultancy Services & Nidhi Iyer | Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai

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Silent Voice

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Eye 2 Eye

Good Friday advertising debacle of e-commerce websites in India Nishat Alam | MDI Murshidabad

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Logoistic Piyush Jain | IIM Shillong

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AD-dicted Astha Kabra & Sharad Srinivasan| IIM Shillong

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Brand Story Akshay Seth | IIM Shillong

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Fun Corner Akshay Seth | IIM Shillong

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Jab They Failed Daksh Bhagat | IIM Shillong

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Vartalaap

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Specials

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Radical Thoughts Shubham Shukla | IIM Shillong

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Updates Harsha Daga | IIM Shillong

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Digi-Tally

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perspective

L

et me tell you beforehand that this article is not related to any recent development or trends in the marketing area. This is about me, a marketing student, having a take on two different concepts that I have come across and having a realization of sorts about how important it may prove to be in the future. As they say, perspectives are meant to vary and this may be right or wrong, but one thing is for sure – The smallest details sometimes make the biggest differences – and this holds very true in marketing.

Although the basic principles of marketing have remained the same over years, the rulebook keeps changing, as the needs, tastes and lifestyles of the consumers evolve. That might be a very clichéd sentence, but one cannot deny the truth in it. A few years back, Google came up with the concept of ‘Zero Moment Of Truth’ and ‘Micro-Moments’.

It says that there is a precise moment in every consumer’s purchase lifecycle/consumer journey, where there is an absolute need to know a particular information about the product/brand, which is termed as the Zero Moment Of Truth. The way consumers search for information online, their expectations from the brands and the way they make decisions about brands have changed. This entire journey of decision making is made up of a spectrum of moments which Google calls as ‘Micro-Moments’. Some examples of Micro-Moments are is-it-worth-moment, time-for-a-new-one-moment, where-do-i-even-start-moment and want-to-buy-moment etc.,. Marketers suggest that brands need to reach the consumers at each of these moments and capitalize on them for brand building and

Insights & Micro Moments: Why do they matter?

By ANITHASREE MUnUSWAMY MICA, AHMEDABAD

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business growth.

As a second year management student, with only a limited theoretical understanding of marketing concepts like Marketing mix, Porter’s five forces, BCG Matrix, Ansoff Matrix, AIDA technique etc., there is one thing which I can practically relate to, Consumer Insights. Now, before I delve into anything, I want to put forth my understanding of Marketing.

For me, marketing is an effort to build brands, create a need, increase the demand and push people into the sales zone. While that is one part of it, another part of marketing involves creating the message for the audience with appropriate content and transmitting it over a medium in order to communicate. An interesting phrase to be noted here is ‘Create a need’. This is where I believe that Consumer Insights play a very important role. Technically, Consumer Insight means understanding of a simple and deep truth about the consumer, based on their beliefs, experiences, behavior, needs, wants and desires that gives an opportunity for the brand to serve the customers more meaningfully and in a better way. If the target audience can understand the brand’s intention and their beliefs, it gives the brand a competitive advantage and business growth. So there is a brand and a consumer, each with their own set of beliefs and when they are set in harmony, it is a good sign for the brand.

Now that I have defined what I understand by consumer insights and micro moments, I realized that it is not just enough for brands to reach out to consumers in these micro-moments or derive mind-blowing consumer insights for success, but the brand’s beliefs should be in sync at every point and the insights should act as a trigger point in each and every micro-moments that the consumer faces. To make it clear, take for instance, the example of Dove. Dove’s campaign for real beauty is a celebrated success, because Dove believed that women in all shapes and sizes are beautiful. It reinforced that women should be happy with their real beauty. It targeted and tapped into a women’s thinking about beauty and tried to become a more relevant brand and tried to make women feel beautiful in their own skin through all its marketing campaigns. It created a conversation around women about real beau-

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me give a simple example that my professor had told us about in a strategic management class. ‘iD Fresh’ is a company based out of Bangalore that manufactures idly and dosa batter. The company raised around Rs 35 crore as funding from Helion Venture partners in 2014. As of November 2015, it sold around 50,000 Kgs of Idly and dosa batter every day. It was created out of a simple thought - people do not have the time to grind the batter for idly/ dosa, but want to have traditional Indian breakfast. Any Indian mother would be glad to have a help here. The result was iD Fresh’s hygienic and neatly packed idly/dosa batter for the Indian households. Probably it will inspire a women at work who is having a what-should-I-cookfor-dinnermoment or an I-willget-idlybatter-and make-idlyfor-dinnertonightmoment.

It is important to note that it is crucial to leverage on these moments irrespective of the size of the business. Now, what does tapping into these micro-moments actually mean? In simple terms, it means just being there. With the advent of smart phones, it is even easier. Smart phones have changed the way impulse buying works. Most of us tend to have an immediate action to find out about a product, learn something new or to purchase something. Added to that, the patience of the consumers hits an all-time low when they are in this hurry and their expectations are high. So, as the consumers act on their need on the go, the brands that addresses their needs in each of the micro moments succeeds. Brands need to put themselves in the consumer’s shoes in each of these moments and understand them. Whether tapping into these insights and the micro moments will drive people down the sales funnel for sure is beyond my capacity to answer. What matters and what it does is, it creates a meaningful relation between the brand and the consumer, gives them a thought when they want to buy something and makes the brand cross their mind. It is about creating a value, it is about answering the ‘why this brand’ part of the consumer’s innumerable questions in their journey of purchase. It is about being a meaningful brand and not shouting it out loud. It is about going a step further, coming out of the comfort zone and delivering beyond what the consumer expects from you.

ty that lead to women loving the brand and becoming more loyal towards it. Now imagine a woman wanting to purchase a soap. If she sees Dove in a supermarket and knows what Dove stands for, she is not going to have an I-am-going-to-buy-Dove moment. Not guaranteed. But she will have a Oh-I-know-Dove-moment or I-need-totry-Dove-moment, only because she believes in what the brand stands for. Remember the Oreo cookies? ‘Eat the middle first and save the chocolate cookie outside for last’. It was based on a simple insight that children love what they instinctively discover for themselves. So simple, yet so true. Now a kid might not understand this insight and act accordingly, but a mother, who understands the brand’s intention will know that her child will like Oreo cookies for sure and it will surely influence her Will-mychild-enjoy-eating-this-cookiemore-moment while shopping at the grocery store.

One can look at the success stories of international brands like Uber, Airbnb and simple yet successful Indian brands like Cafe Coffee Day, Zomato, PayTM etc. They do not just have sharply defined target audience, but they have the target audience believing in the brand. They have tapped into the micro-moments of people like ‘will-CCD-be-a-good-place-for-a-cup-of-coffeeand-conversation-with-my-old-friend-moment ’, ‘Should-we-have-a-look-at-the-review-on-Zomatobefore-leaving-for-the-restaurant-moment’, ‘I-shouldprobably-learn-to-do-recharges-online-moment’. Any brand worth its salt has a purpose and belief that it carries since its inception and it needs to stay consistent with it, as it grows. Only then the brand will be able to capture the consumer’s attention in these micro moments.As Simon Sinek, a leadership guru rightly puts it, ‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’. In his famous TEDx speech titled, ‘How great leaders inspire action’, he says that the goal of any business should not be to do business with everyone who needs what the business offers, but to do business with those, who believe in what the business believes in. ‘Believe’ is the keyword here. This does not mean that the brand has to talk about in open and thrust its beliefs and insights in the faces of its consumers. It is done through differentiation, by carving out a unique selling proposition and coupling it subtly in advertising and other integrated marketing techniques.

Trusting that tapping into insights and micro-moments will work wonders for the brand leads to a more innovation-led business approach and executing new ideas. Let

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Disruptive Marketing: the thing of tommorow?

By ANUJ mishra & debayan pal K J Somaiya institute of management studies & research

“T

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he secret of change to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new - Socrates

The word ‘disruptive’ holds a much larger meaning and is more of a strategy ‘buzz-word’ than a marketing jargon.

Applying the same concept here, there can be two kinds of disruption. First is, when there is no market for a product and you create your market by the sheer power of advertising. For example, something what ‘Vanish’ did, that is, instead of competing in the existing washing detergent market, it created a new market segment and gained a substantial initial foothold. Another example is how ‘Happy-dent’ created a market for a ‘chewing-gum’ that keeps our teeth white.

The second kind is, when you already have a product designed for a target segment, but it still leaves a market untapped, which is then disrupted by someone else. If we take a look at ‘Oyo Rooms’, there were hotels before

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online platforms/apps became popular , but there was no one to cater to the needs of the budget hotel seekers, or maybe there was, but the idea was not properly advertised. ‘Oyo Rooms’ seized this opportunity and made a market for itself, which is now valued at more than $225 million. Another such example is the Duster that was designed specifically for the Indian market.

There were SUVs and there were people who wanted to buy SUVs even before the ‘Duster’ came out. But it was Renault that managed to identify a market which was untapped by the likes of Mahindra and Tata, and took the market by storm on July, 2012 by launching Duster.

It fuelled a segment of compact SUVs and grabbed 23% market share within a year. The Duster’s success

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was such that Renault had to triple production within months of its launch, going from manufacturing seven cars per hour to twenty cars per hour. The Duster’s success is more of a marketing achievement than the result of engineering excellence. Renault’s strategy indicated a coming-of-age era for the car industry in India with focus on customer-centric product development and the use of consumer insights to drive design, engineering and manufacturing. Renault identified a gap in the market and used the customer voice to develop an appealing product.

One such market, identified by Micromax, may have shown the art of how to do advertising, the quality of which ranges from the bland to the bad. One eminently forgettable ad featured Australian actor Hugh Jackman endorsing the brand. Yet, by working hard to get the tough price-value equation right, paying big bucks for international cricket sponsorship and launching up to 50 phones a year, Micromax has moved up from being listed in the bottom-five mobile phone companies in India by market share, to becoming the second largest in 2013, all based on market research data. In its initial days, Micromax realized that the Indian market needed a low cost smartphone and it discovered an audience which was untapped by major players like Sony and Samsung, and forcing the latter companies to launch their own variants of low cost smartphone. There are numerous other examples of disruption in India and abroad.

Some disruptive trends that I see in the coming years:

at a transaction, website visit, or conversation with an agent. The customer experience process encompasses the moment the customer becomes aware of company and it is comprised of multiple independent interactions, transactions, and contacts along the way, with customers using a variety of platforms in their buying process, in their daily lives. Companies will continue to find more ways to touch customer and impact his mind to buy their products in the future. The relative importance and impact of these new touchpoints need to be assessed and used by companies.

2 – Fight for shelf space on phones rather than Walmart: The real fight between firms will be to get their “app” installed on their target users’ mobile phones. It is notable how we have reached right to the most private object of a customer after penetrat-

ing the target market.

As marketers, we aim to steer consumers towards products and drive interactions—that goes for retailers and non-retailers alike. Now, connect this idea of a retail store’s highly coveted point-of- purchase shelves, with a mobile device.

In a store, the shelf is the touchpoint where the consumer meets the brand. In the digital marketing space, the mobile device becomes that point of interaction, or that “shelf.” With customers becoming more reluctant to install further apps in their phones, competition for this space will intensify.

For example, suppose ‘Tom’ has accounts in three banks.

He would probably not install apps of all three banks in his phone as he has limited space. Let’s suppose he in-

1 – Increase in touch points between product and customer: A customer experience does not begin and end

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perspective stalls apps of 2 banks only. He will then continue to use the installed apps & stop using the third one .

3 – Exponential increase in video content: With Facebook and Instagram starting to focus on ‘video content‘, these things are going to boom in an explosive amount, every other day a thing or two would get viral, advertisers will need to fight hard to get the user’s attention while not only competing with traditional competitors but also homemade content. Businesses can share their stories with an engaged audience in a creative, high-quality environment and drive desirable action with their ads.

Facebook, for instance is working on several initiatives to attract video advertisers on its platform. The company believes that video is an important part of Facebook’s experience. And while 100 million hours of videos are being watched on its platform daily, the social media giant is

now testing new pathways to enable people experience and discover videos they might be interested in. As video ad spending increases, Facebook is working on initiatives to provide various formats of video ads to marketers according to user behaviour. Some users watch the whole 30-second video ad with sound, while others watch shorter formats, without sound. Facebook is convincing marketers to work with different video ad formats to increase user engagement and generate higher value for the ad.

It provides the option to have a short ad with sound off or a longer ad with sound on, and any other options in between. The company is working on making marketers adapt their video advertising to its platform, which is different from TV advertising. Its ability to convince marketers to use different formats of video ads on its platform will be key for its success in this space.

4- We saw the integration of YouTube with full-fledged entertainment media by “On air with AIB”, this gap is going to reduce soon and companies have to identify newer avenues where their customers are hooked up on TV taking

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their cue from TV’s pioneers, the celebrities behind viral videos on YouTube are making deals with sponsors who pay from Rs 300,000 for a single video to Rs 6.5-7 Crore for larger campaigns in the US. Digital audiences get turned off by traditional commercials, and YouTube personalities won’t make anything that would drive fans away. Firms have to redesign their advertising strategy to suit new age audience and its behaviour. The satirical and self-insulting nature of “On Air with AIB” immediately connected with the target audience.

5- Entry of Netflix will create more need for on-demand video content, companies will need to identify what their target is watching online and will have to place their products on these specific media for online advertising, and the recent boom in video streaming is a fantastic news.

Netflix and the like have proven that the demand for

premium content cannot satisfied by TV alone and thus have given advertisers a new media channel to run their heralded video commercials. The scale of this incremental video consumption is enormous - Netflix alone has 25 million subscribers who consume an eye-popping 33% of all internet bandwidth. Yet despite the enormous surge in demand for premium TV shows and movies, the supply of ads has been scarce. Hulu is the lone service to sell ad-space alongside this content but offers only a fraction of inventory when compared with the same programming on TV. No surprises that limited inventory is in high demand, and Hulu has over 1,000 paying advertisers. The Netflix Effect, or the scarcity of ad-space alongside ultrapremium online video content, has a profound impact on the economics of digital media.

6- Need of greater integrated marketing communication: application of consistent brand messaging across both traditional and ever increasing non-traditional marketing channels such as phones, PlayStation, SMART-GPS, Internet of things, etc and more radio channels in cars and

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er considered to be role models, but our Prime Minister has changed that and now his one picture, a selfie from his iPhone can lead to increase in demand for the same.

His style of clothing can create a new line of clothes, it’s important that firms tap these new models, in another example just imagine the amount of credibility a pseudo marketing lead CSR campaign will have when it gets itself associated with someone like Medha Patkar or Anna Hazare.

With the popularity of mass culture, a large number of public figures appear in public view, widely and well known by the public. Generally speaking, public figures with relatively high popularity and reputation are the representatives of a certain field, which gives these public figures a high personality charm and exemplary role in behaviour. In marketing communication, communication power and persuasion will be better by selecting public figures for the endorsement of the certain public service advertising.

using different promotional methods to reinforce each other will become more and more important.

7- Increase in number of set top boxes will soon provide DTH providers with lots of data, and increase in the amount and dependence of real data analytics will increase. It consists of dynamic analysis and reporting, based on data entered into a system less than one minute before the actual time of use. Real-time analytics can provide up-tothe-minute information about an enterprise’s customers

11 – Rise of YouTube: YouTube can be an incredibly powerful platform to house the ammunition to ignite word of mouth. In that regard, it’s very TV-esque, but the ability to comment, like a video, or post a video response means that the experience resonates that much deeper. It gives

and present it in a way so that better and quicker business decisions can be made -- perhaps even within the time span of a customer interaction.

8 – Increase in set top boxes can also lead to rise in advertising specially focused on certain geographical regions, that means on a national channel two people in different states might be seeing different advertisements. In spite of the fact that many companies find themselves competing in an increasingly global market, many successful businesses find it advantageous to advertise locally. Hyperlocal advertising lets you hone your message so that it targets those people who share a neighbourhood. Hyperlocal advertising tends to cost less because it reaches fewer people. This lower cost allows you to place more ads in local media and at the same time provides an opportunity to smaller players to advertise and promote themselves.

people the means to experience each video on their own terms. You cannot push same advertisements that you pushed on T.V., on YouTube. On YouTube users have (mostly) option to skip video, so advertising and marketing companies have to design their ads separately for YouTube keeping these things in mind.

9 – With economy rising, people’s aspirations will change, so companies have to increase perceived value of their product with respect to increase in its target audience’s disposable salary and this will be especially true in case of luxury segments. They have to increase the perceived value of their products, this will demand generation of disruptive advertising for these firms.

As with any format, it wasn’t too long before advertisers discovered that experimenting with the nuts and bolts of the interface could be surprising, positioning the brand as innovative and being entertaining in its own right With results like that, it’s not surprising that YouTube has become a must-have element in video campaigns.

10 – As the percentage of youth increases and becomes more aware of its surrounding, people will recognise previously unsung heroes, for example politicians were nev-

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Cover Story

By

Sharad Srinivasan

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‘Neuro Marketing’ :

The advent of a new era

MARKETING BUDGET

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orporations for ages have been creating & tapping into the needs & wants of customers effectively. In today’s day and age, it has become fairly easy for businesses to keep track of the buying patterns of consumers and accordingly vary the supply of specific products in specific markets.

What is emerging as the real challenge for them today is to answer questions like, “Why is our product preferred over our competitor’s?” or vice versa or “What part of our marketing/ad campaign is leading to increased demand & what part of it can be done away with?”.

The challenge of answering questions like these is being taken up by a nascent field called Neuromarketing, which uses the tools of neuroscience & psychology to determine why we prefer some products over others. Raw brain data is helping researchers unlock the mysteries of consumer choice and eventually helping corporations augment their existing Market Research & Marketing techniques.

What is Neuromarketing?

The foundation for Neuroscience & its subsequent application in Marketing can be dated back to the early 1950s when two researchers at McGill University inadvertently discovered an area of

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april-may 2016 enced by factors like store displays or bands. Uncovering of these hidden elements of consumer decision making is what Neuroscience is mandated to do by the corporations who have started to adopt it.

How to get into consumers’ minds?

1. Eye Tracking Cameras are used to monitor where people look when confronted with a particular marketing stimulus amd are applicable to a wide range of uses including testing adverts or packaging. They can also be used in stores the rodent brain dubbed “the pleasure centre”.

A group of lab rats were given the chance to stimulate their own pleasure centres via a lever-activated electrical current. Shockingly, the rats pressed the lever over and over again, hundreds of times per hour, foregoing food or sleep, until many of them dropped dead from exhaustion. Further research found pleasure centres exist in human brains, too.

Most humans are a little more complicated than rats, of course. But we are largely motivated by what makes us feel good, especially when it comes to our purchasing decisions. To that end, many major corporations have begun to take special interest in understanding how the human brain can help them better understand consumers.

The understanding among researchers in this field is that, people are fairly good at expressing what they want, what they like & how much they will pay for it. But they’re not very good at understanding where that value comes from, & how and when it is influ-

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to determine what grabs people’s attention on shelves and displays.

2. Implicit reaction times Used to test how quickly people respond to survey questioning. Useful for providing greater insight into how confident respondents feel about their answers.

Easily integrated into most online surveys.

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cover story 3. Biometric testing Covers heart and respiration rate monitors, and galvanic skin sensors that pick up tiny changes in sweat levels. Useful for showing intensity of emotion as people’s physical state changes in response to a marketing stimulus.

4. Facial coding Cameras pick up slight changes in facial expressions as people watch a piece of media or look at a de-

sign. Easy to incorporate into online surveys if respondents have webcams.

5. Brain scanning Includes MRI scanners and electroencephalograph (EEG) machines. The most sophisticated neuroscience technology but also the most expensive to use and least scalable. Useful if brands want a forensic

understanding of how marketing stimuli affects the brain.

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april-may 2016 The Early Adopters 1. Kimberley – Clark - Testing of Marketing Stimuli FMCG giant Kimberly-Clark has already put neuroscience at the heart of its market research as it operates in sensitive areas of personal care for which consumers are not always willing to open up.

Driving this paradigm shift is global chief marketing officer Clive Sirkin, who has suggested that traditional research methods such as customer surveys do not provide true insights into behaviour because the responses derive from the rational, conscious part of the brain – also known as the System 2 brain.

And to gain a fuller understanding of how consumers behave, marketers must also understand the System 1 brain, which is continually computing information and shaping responses at a subconscious level.

Kimberly-Clark uses methods such as facial coding and implicit reaction times to tap into the System 1 brain. The biggest challenge that has been thrown down to their consumer Insights & services department is to say ‘no more focus groups’ in order to get

a richer & fuller understanding of human behaviour.

A case in point is the TV advert for its Andrex brand in which children describe what it feels like to wipe their bottom. As the advert was of a sensitive nature, it was extremely important to gauge the implicit reactions of people to make sure Andrex was getting

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the tone right. The company tested the clip on a sample of 150 people, measuring their facial expressions and the speed of their responses to survey questions to determine how confident they were in their views.

The level of detail extracted from test results helped them understand right away which parts of the advert needed to be tweaked with & improved.

2. Frito lay – Cheetos Junk-food giant Frito-Lay, in 2008 turned to neuroscience to look into how consumers respond to Cheetos, the top-selling brand of cheese puffs in the United States.

Using EEG technology on a group of willing test subjects they found that consumers MAReating Cheetos respond KETstrongly to their fingers turning orange with residual cheese dust. The EEG patterns indicated a sense of giddy subversion that consumers enjoy over the messiness of the product orange with residual cheese dust.

Armed with this insight, Frito-Lay launched an ad campaign called “The Orange Underground,” featur-

ing a series of 30-second TV spots in which the Cheetos mascot, Chester Cheetah, encourages consumers to perform subversive acts with Cheetos. The campaign ended up being awarded the 2009 Grand Ogilvy Award from the Advertising Research Foundation.

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3. The Co-operative Group - Visual planning In addition to testing marketing stimuli, brands are using neuroscience to inform their work in the planning and design stages.

The Co-operative Group is one of several brands to have recently worked with creative agency Coley Porter Bell on a new ‘visual planning’ process that aims to tap into the System 1 brain.

The process required both the client and the agency to discuss a brief in intuitive, emotional and visual terms as opposed to the strategic and rational language of the System 2 brain.

The process involved intensive meetings in which

the agency team encouraged members of the Cooperative’s management to talk about the brand’s own-label products in irrational terms. This included discussing what the brand would be if it was an experience, a season or a day.

After interrogating these concepts and coming to agreement about which fitted the brand, the teams introduced visual elements to determine the pictures, colours and textures that should represent the own-label range.

The company believes that although bringing emotional language into a corporate setting seemed strange initially, it helped them get into the mind-set of the consumer & agree upon a common platform.

This also enabled the brand to roll out the designs quickly as both the Co-operative and the agency developed an instinctive understanding of the range.

Co-operative Food has since worked with Coley Porter Bell on visual planning for its new in-store designs and layouts.

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cover story Potential Shortcomings Global Scalability of Observations Neuromarketing can provide important but complex data to companies that target a global audience.

While product testing may provide similar neural responses in people of different regions, the marketing implications may be very different.

For instance, expressions of happiness in some Eastern cultures are expressed as a sense of calm or peace, whereas in some Western cultures, happiness means jumping around with joy and excitement.

So two totally different fMRI results might actually mean the same thing—or two totally different stimuli may create the desired effect of profound happiness, but for different reasons. If you get an excited effect in an Eastern market, it may not be a good outcome, even though that was the effect you wanted in a Western market. On the other hand, a sense of peace might be misconstrued as a failure.

Future & Ethics of Neuromarketing When talking about an area of study as intrusive as Neuroscience where do you draw the line as a researcher?

Nonexistence of appropriate laws, would in all probability lead to corporations taking undue advantage of the available technology to pry into the minds of consumers. In the recent past there have been examples where an ethical angle has been brought into the picture with discussions on consumer behaviour analysis/supervision.

1. Facebook Facebook conducted research in 2012 in conjunction with two US universities, Cornell and the University of California at San Francisco, on nearly 700,000 users to see if it could alter the emotional state of users and prompt them to post more positive or negative

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april-may 2016 updates by manipulating the news feed. The results found that people who saw more negative content were more likely to post negative updates, with the same result for positive content.

This subsequently led to an uproar amongst users who questioned the intent & authority of Facebook with respect to the research.

Facebook defended the research saying the social network though it was “important to investigate the common worry that seeing friends post positive content leads to people feeling negative or left out”.

However they did admit the firm did not “clearly state its motivations” in the paper and has apologised for any anxiety caused.

2. OkCupid The revelation that dating website OKCupid had experimented by putting the ‘wrong’ people together intensified the debate about how brands influence – some would say manipulate – their customers.

People rated as “bad matches” by the site’s algorithm were told that they were “exceptionally good” matches. The site found that, as a result, people acted as if they were good matches by sending each other more messages than they usually would. Users were told their real compatibility rating afterwards.

In contrast to Facebook’s apologetic response, OKCupid co-founder Christian Rudder bluntly said, “If you use the internet you’re the subject of hundreds of experiments at any given time, on every site,” he said.

“That’s how websites work.”

The Way Ahead For a field of study, that is slowing beginning to impact how contemporary corporations run their Marketing activities, to be bogged down by ethical issues due to a lack of clear legal definitions would be a sad sight indeed. But at the same time, corporations using Neuroscience should live by the saying, ‘With great power, comes great responsibility’. Overstepping the unmarked boundaries would be counterproductive to the industry as a whole.

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vartalaap

april-may 2016

VARTALAAP An Interview with Mr Waqar Azmi

Waqar Azmi completed his engineering in 2006 and pursued his entrepreneurial ventures. He noticed that a generic job portal doesn’t give access specifically to a startupfriendly professionals’ database and this was a huge problem for most of the StartUps. Seeing a huge gap in the market, SutraHR was established to help other startups in finding a solution to the biggest problem faced by them.

SutraHR

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Founder & CEO IIM Shillong

vartalaap

We launched the Top100 StartUp list & are coming up with Top30 angel investors soon

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april-may 2016

Markathon: While most young people today prefer to go for a Master’s degree/look for a high paying job after their engineering, you chose to be an entrepreneur. What was your motivation behind this dream?

com, retail, healthcare etc with extensive requirements and substantial profit margins. Why did you not choose them but targeted this very niche sector, whose growth is compared by many to a bubble that may burst anytime?

I always knew, I wasn’t the smartest kid out there.

During my middle-school years, my dad realized that for me the need of the hour was to come out of my shell. Hence he got me admitted me to a boarding school in Delhi. During my 3 years stay in Delhi, several instances shaped my personality. My apparent flare for technology and my affinity towards trying something different led me to trade stuff ranging from cell phones to Nokia engage games, video game CDs, plugin software and various kinds of marketing software. While in college, I always had a feeling that my chances of campus placements were bleak. With my intrinsic passion for entrepreneurship, I decided to try out something that will not only solve my problem of finding the answer to the very popular question, ‘What are you doing these days?’ but will also solve the problems faced by the masses at large. I think it has been a great journey till now.

When SutraHR was born, I was about 22-23 years old.

Fortunately, in our nascent stage itself, we acquired some credible clients with heavy budgets. I suddenly accumulated a lot of money in my bank account with no idea on where to spend. My boarding school taught me a very non-materialistic way of living life, with a not very big social circle and I always used to find it very difficult to mingle with strangers. With SutraHR, I got to interact with young entrepreneurs, responsible for being the harbingers of change, with great ideas to execute. Hence it wasn’t definitely about money, but about what one really loves doing.

There was yet another very strong reason. Since my childhood, I saw my dad working for large corporations, his struggle to climb the corporate ladder, how he was forced into office politics, all the bureaucracy and the obsolete policies in place. I have always been a very agile guy, someone who doesn’t like being restricted from anywhere. I was myself working for a startup before Sutra, and I know how difficult it gets to get the best talent for startups. I considered this to be a very interesting problem to solve. Now that we

Markathon: Sutra focuses on working with startups and SMEs. Since years, MNCs have been operating in sectors such as technology, e-commerce, tele-

I decided to try out something that will not only solve my problem of finding the answer to a very popular question “What are you doing these days?” but also solve the problem of the masses MARKATHON

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vartalaap

april-may 2016

have been operational for 10 years and have seen 3 similar other lists. Another unique listing is our proup-down cycles and even then startups keep throw- motional activity ‘Startup of the day’ and ‘Super HR of ing challenges at us, this keeps us going. the day’. As startups are mostly in their nascent stage, any recognition given to them would provide them Markathon: Both SutraHR and SumHR have with a sense of achievement. Capturing this feeling, achieved milestones. You are parallely running a we sent across certificates to all such startups, and service-oriented and a product-oriented business. they certainly became our loyal partners.

How different are these two with regards to the branding aspect?

Markathon: Have you used any traditional modes of promotion at Sutra? If yes, which ones do you feel In 2009, Jay, the co-founder of SutraHR, suggested has been really effective? If not, do you plan to use that we need to do something in product space. We any post further expansion? realized that the startups we were hiring for, started demanding other aspects of HR like software to han- On the traditional aspect, we have inserted pamphlets dle attendance, performance management, payrolls etc. Though recruitment still remains the greatest challenge for any organization, we decided to build payroll software by the name sumHR, which would act as another arm of SutraHR. Jay, with his very strong product background, invested the profits from our business in sumHR. SutraHR is focussed on hiring for startups whereas sumHR is a much broader concept which aims at solving other HR issues. Both into newspapers, participated and organized a few events the businesses are B2B only but sumHR will be pur- and also done banner advertising but haven’t received any chased only once, and can be renewed later while great ROI. Over a period of time, we have realized that we hiring is a process which is almost never-ending. So, never received any great results from any such campaign.

Not really sure if it’s really unfortunate or we are just not the clients for the two are approached in a very dif- good at it. Rather, the attempts at doing something unique ferent manner. have always led us to success wherein not a lot of money Markathon: Promotion is an important aspect of the marketing mix. With the cut-throat competition in the market, we see the cost of promotional activities rising day by day. How important and costeffective is promotion at SutraHR? Have you ever been inspired by any brand campaign? If yes, did you inculcate the same here at Sutra?

We are proud of the way we position SutraHR. We have always used cost effective and value for money marketing strategies that will generate a long term effect. We are pioneers of the concept of the ‘Top 100 startups’. Our basic idea is to ride on other people’s horses or in other words grab their popularity.

We’re badass at it. We proudly wear it on our sleeves of whatever we do, however we achieve it. You can hate us, love us, but can’t ignore us.

We launched the ‘Top 100 startup’ list and now people are coming up with top 50 angel investors and

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The ‘Jugaad Marketing’ that we do gives us a lot of mileage

was involved but value generated was really high. It’s just all of those tactics, or like we call it as the ‘Jugaad marketing’ that we do, which gives us a lot of mileage.

Markathon: We hear about marketing strategies that change people’s perception of brands/services.

What is that one marketing strategy in your eyes that revolutionized Sutra?

The one strategy that revolutionized SutraHR and increased our reach is the ‘Top 100 startups’ list that was released by SutraHR, in which startups were recognized on the basis of certain parameters and benchmarks. It brought us close to the thought leadership in the market. Startups began competing in order to get on the list of Top 100 startups as it started giving them acknowledgement. People wrote to us in order to get included in the list. The idea of distribution of certificates to the nominees, which they would just frame and hang on their office walls helped SutraHR

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vartalaap

april-may 2016

achieve milestones. While this campaign went for Markathon: Who do you consider as the strategic around 3 years, certificates reached offices of around competitors of Sutra? Where do you think are you better/worse than them?

250 startups, which is pretty remarkable.

Markathon: With the rising concept of digital media, and the greater penetration of internet amongst the masses, how effective do you feel is social-media for the start-ups? Don’t you feel it is a direct attack on their security wherein there is no scrutiny and accountability of the content that gets published over the internet?

Before social media, people wouldn’t generally know what other people would talk about them, be it good or bad. As a brand, what you can do at the max is to filter, what you can take in and work upon and some things that you probably don’t need to give attention to can be kept aside. This is applicable to everyone, from a cricketer, an actor, an organization to a student. Feedback is always beneficial to growth. Look at how these kids of stars are being able to build a brand for themselves, at such an early stage. Nothing of this sort existed in the past. Sometimes, people do make a lot of personal attacks, but that’s all a part and parcel of how things function.

Markathon: Human Resources in itself is very difficult to be quantified. You drive an HR services business. How difficult is it for you to market it?

Let’s consider the two businesses together. There is a definite need existing in the market. Acquisition or marketing is not as big a challenge for us as was attaining operational efficiency. Talking about HR, since it involves the human aspect it makes it all the more difficult. The amount of variance involved makes this business really complex. Hiring is a challenge for most of the startups, a problem which we are trying to solve.

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That’s a very good question, I believe. I have thought a lot about this. Previously, other HR firms used to pose a huge challenge to us. But, these days that’s not the case. Rather it is most of these niche portals like iimjobs, naukri, Linkedin, angelist, etc. As startups are gaining popularity, everyone wants a piece of this cake. People directly applying through a career site is a challenge because a resume directly reaching the client is free-of-cost which will surely give the maximum utility. What SutraHR offers is end-to-end handling, servicing, scheduling and even replacement, that too free of cost. It is important to understand that while from iimjobs or any other such portal, you just get a resume while from us you get a candidate.

Markathon: What would be your advice to the budding marketers who want to make it big in the industry in the coming years?

When you start a business, you should not worry too much about where you will reach. It is a combination of a number of factors. Somebody discovers an idea, matches the market demand, gets it right and sails through. You should be very clear why you are doing this, and you need to be ready to get married to it or be associated to it for a long run. Most people pursue entrepreneurship for the wrong reasons. If the idea is to make a lot of money, then the reality is that you will end up spending more money to execute the business idea rather than on yourself or your family.

There needs to be an inner passion and a willingness to solve the problem at hand end-to-end. It should become the biggest purpose of your life.

Interviewed by: Daksh Bhagat | IIM Shillong

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eye2eye

april-may 2016

Is Apple’s move of entering the middle income segment with iPhone SE a strategic fit for the company?”

VENKATESH GANESHAN BUSINESS CONSULTANT TATA CONSULTANCY SERVIES Iphone has been a premium-aspiration product following hybrid pricing strategy - charge premium for new product version adopting skimming strategy. Upon introducing subsequent version, reduce price of the previous version and focus on market-penetration strategy to gain volume. Thus, Apple is in a position to have product life-cycle of 3 years and above in smart-phone segment which is not seen among competitors. Due to sluggish sales of iPhones, Apple introduced iPhone-SE, priced lesser than their previous version having upgraded processor capability, targeting first-time smart-phone buyers in emerging economies. It is a major shift in Apple strategy. Though the market size of the targeted segment is high, introducing a new product in lowprice-segment by line-extension will not satisfy the aspiration need of the customer which has been the USP of iPhone. Reason being the communication strategy used for iPhone-SE is iPhone at low-price.

Secondly, iPhone-SE is priced moderately low with good features. So there arise the risk of cannibalization on prior iPhone models. Also the previous version of iPhones were sold second-hand in $300 - $500 range. IPhoneSE cannibalize this segment as-well because customers can purchase iPhone-SE instead for the same price.

Thus hampering re-sale option for customers who aspire to purchase newer iPhone versions. Line-extension of a premium brand product to mass-marketing strategy does not fall in sync. Premium brands play high margin gamecharging premium for the brand name they carry. They should focus on strengthening the brand image rather than to capture higher market share. Instead of line-extension and diluting the existing brand, Apple could have come-up with a new sub-brand, focus on marketing activity for the new product, instead of diluting the brand equity of the existing product line – iPhone.

NIDHI IYER GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, CHENNAI At first it feels that mass market and Apple is an oxymoron. But then, when has Apple followed the conventional path anyways. Launching SE is definitely a good strategic move for Apple, because of the following reasons.

For starters, the competitive landscape is evolving rapidly.

So it can’t complacent to minor % of elite customers. The only way to continue to reap benefits is to enter fresh segments.

While Samsung’s flagship is argued to possess outstanding design and top-class performance, a pocket friendly size and ease of operation differentiate iPhone SE, certifying that good things can arrive in small packages too.

The cannibalization of iPhone 5S is not a major problem, as the model was anyways two years old and it is always better to have the top line in the family’s kitty then losing it to strangers.

In fact it can actually price iPhone 5S at a higher price, than it would have in the absence of SE. The old model’s rates would have been expected to drop, but SE being targeted to different set of customers still gives a good room for making margins in iPhone5S. Having lower margins is not an issue for giants like Apple.

Moreover, it isn’t really a cheap device.

It is just considering premium to be a relative term, which actually speaks of the flexibility and foresight that the brand possesses.

In spite of the trade-offs with respect to price that eventually punches the bottom line, by getting more people to purchase iPhones, the chances to sell other Apple products such as Watch, iCloud or TV devices would swell, thereby supporting the ecosystem monetarily.

Smaller size might rattle the user experience but as I said before, let’s not forget we are discussing the same brand that once sold the shrunk music devices as hot cakes.

Topic for the next issue: “Does Sponsoring huge events get the required ROI for newer brands in the market (For E.g.: VIVO sponsoring Indian Premeir League)?” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 10th June 2016. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry.

Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!

MARKATHON

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By pIYUSH jAIN IIM Shillong Starbucks, founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971 is an American Coffeehouse Chain which operates in 23,768 locations worldwide (as of Jan 2016).

The company was first named as Pequod after a whaling ship in Herman Melville’s American classic, Mobi-Dick. But the name was peculiar so they changed it to Starbucks, on the chief mate on the Pequod.

Starbucks is considered to be the first of “second wave coffee”, initially distinguishing itself by taste, quality and customer xxperience, while popularizing dark roasted coffee. But because of expansion and globalization, they now use automated espresso machines to endure higher efficiency and safety.

1992-2011

History of the Logo

2011-Present

1971-1987

The year 2011 marked 40 years for the company and start of a new era for them. The latest version is seen to have removed the Starbucks woodmark around the siren. The image has been enlarged and the central part which was black before changed to green. The reason for removing the woodmark, as seen by some, can also be because of the case that was filled

by Rat City Rollergirls team who had claimed that Starbucks logo has been copied from theirs.

Starbucks has been looked upon as the premium coffee shop by many but at the same time it has been no stranger to controversy in the recent years. While entering the Saudi Arabian market in the year 2000 they had altered their logo keeping only the crown. But after sometime they announced that they will be using their International logo in Saudi Arabia. And in early 2006 and 2008, Starbucks had temporarily reintroduced its old brown logo on paper drink cups. This move was done to show the people their rich heritage from the Pacific Northwest and also to celebrate their 35 years of business in 2006. This logo had sparked controversy because of Siren’s bare breasts but as this was a temporary move it did not pick up a lot steam in the media. The uniqueness of their logo is the image of the siren which signifies maritime history of coffee and the seaports of Seattle from where this coffee chain originated.

The first logo, used from 1971-1987, had an image of a ‘twin tailed mermaid’ named as Siren and was Brown in colour. In this logo the Siren was topless and her twin tail were fully visible. Greek mythology has it that sirens lured sailors to shipwreck off the coast of an island.

This logo was used by the original Starbucks founders to lure coffee lovers from everywhere. The logo read “Starbucks Coffee . Tea . Spices”.

1987-1992 After being acquired by Howard Schultz in 1987 the logo was changed. In this version we saw the colour of the logo change from Brown to Green. It was a nod to the Alma-Mater of the three founders, the University of San Francisco. It was used from 1987-1992. This version also saw Siren’s breasts covered with her flowing hair but her navel was still visible, the fish tail was also cropped slightly. The logo got a business look to it which was a bit complex before.

It was during this time they added handcrafted espresso beverages to the menu.

The third version of the logo was used from 1992-2011. This logo had a close up view of the twin tailed mermaid. In this version the navel disappeared from the design. This version has only the vestiges of the fish tails. It was during this time they became a publically traded company.

silent voice

december april-may 2016 2013

Last Month’s Results WINNER NISHAT ALAM || MDI, MURSHIDABAD

honorary mention ABIR NANDI || IIM SHILLONG

THEME FOR NEXT SILENT VOICE: The Ongoing United States Presidential Elections War LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 10th June, 2016 EMAIL ID: markathon.iims@gmail.com Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only.

MARKATHON

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Theme: Good Friday advertising debacle of E-Commerce websites in India

Congratulations!!! Vivek receives a cash prize of Rs 1000!

AD-dicted AD-dicted

december april-may 2013 2016

By SHARAD SRINIVASAN

By ASTHA KABRA IIM Shillong IIM Shillong PRODUCT: OPPO F1: Selfie Expert PRODUCT: Coca Cola : Taste the feeling

POSITIONING: The phone one should buy to click the best selfies.

POSITIONING: Feel the emotion at heart with Coke CREATIVE AGECY: Sra Rushmore

CATCH

CREATIVE AGENCY: Not Available

CONCEPT: The advertisement opens with Siddharth Malhotra walking into a supermarket. With a parched throat he heads straight for the Coke bottle and gulps it down in a go. The girl at the cash counter gawks at him while he finishes the coke thouroighly enjoying watching Siddharth finish up his coke. She is then stumped as Siddharth appears before her and just to relive the feeling of watching Siddharth have the coke, the girl hesitantly offers him another free Coke as he is their ‘Lucky Customer’.

Both of them then look at each other and exchange broad smiles. The advertisment closes with Siddharth Malhotra drinking his second coke and the screen displays Coca Cola : Taste the feeling and the advertisement leaves you as refreshed as having a Coca Cola does.

VERDICT: Catch Coca Cola is no stranger to receiving accolades for brillaint TV Commercials. This advertisement marks the Indian version of their ongoing global campaign ‘Taste The Feeling.’

With a very youthful approach towards the TVC endorsed

by Siddharth Malhotra, all the points worked well in favour of the brand. The advertisement which was launched in March this year has already garnered more than a lakh views from netizens so far. The TVC successfully conveys the change in positioning by Coke from ‘Open Happiness’ to a global umbrella ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign. Along with this it conveys the youthful approach Coke has towards its products and its customers. All in all, this brilliant ad manages to convey its message with charm and happiness along with a desi angle.

Markathon believes like always Coca Cola get full points for this one too.

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YouTube Link:: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=nVtWGS1bAtU

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 6Mip2i22Csw

CONCEPT: The advertisement features two Bollywood stars, Sonam Kapoor & Hrithik Roshan. The scene shows Sonam Kapoor outdoors in a picturesque location. The miniature waterfall, beautiful foliage & musician in the background make it an apt place for clicking a selfie & Sonam Kapoor does just that. At once Hrithik Roshan appears on screen, seemingly adjusting lights (which also have appeared out of thin air) like a professional photographer would, to fine tune the brightness of the selfie. Once the picture has been enhanced with perfect lighting, the scene is zoomed out which shows that all this was happening inside the front cam of the phone. The advertisement ends with the selfie on screen and the tag line OPPO F1: Selfie Expert flashing in the background.

MISS

VERDICT: Miss Markathon believes the advertisement leaves first time viewers scratching their head as it summons more questions than shedding any light on the USP of the product.

Only after a google search & a consequential understanding of the feature-rich front 8 MP camera with a Beautify v3.0 tool, a special software to brighten display to bring out a flash-like effect while taking a selfie, does Hrithik Roshan’s miming antics in the front & rear of Sonam make sense. In our opinion any ad that needs so much explanation does not work. It is a classic example of how ads nowadays featuring celebs are close to being tagged as too much of a good thing. All in all, Markathon believes the advertisement could have been made more creative and easy to understand.

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brand story

april-may 2016

Brand Story AKSHAY SETH | IIM Shillong

I

magine closing your eyes at the end of a busy day & getting transported to the great outdoors. The outdoors - Where there are no narrow cubicles or boxed cabins to hold you back. A place where you are free to run, to jump, to yell, to touch the dew on the grass & to feel the breeze on your face. A place where you can “Come Alive”. Now think of a brand whose products you cannot but carry to your outdoor trips.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention and Wildcraft follows this adage very well. It was started out of a garage in Bangalore in the late 1990s by engineer & outdoor enthusiast Dinesh K.S.. He wanted to create quality outdoor equipment which could be afforded by the Indian middle class. In those days, outdoor gear was mainly imported & was too expensive. The few indigenous goods were of poor quality. And because Dinesh & his friends would regularly go on outdoor incursions, they knew what sort of equipment was needed. Today, after 20 years of failures & successes, Wildcraft is sold in 130+ exclusive stores & 3000+ Multibrand Retail Stores across the country. More importantly, it has top of the mind recall when it comes to most outdoor equipments.

Interestingly, the fortunes of Wildcraft are tied with those of Bangalore. Their first product was a dome tent, but they needed a product to bolster their brand into sustenance.

The IT boom came to the rescue. Laptop bags became a much-demanded commodity & Wildcraft got a product to scale up. An organized outdoor gear industry did not exist before Wildcraft jumped into the fray. Wildcraft built the industry as they went along. Today the company has three manufacturing units in the country – two in Karnataka, one in Himachal Pradesh with 3000 plus employees on its rolls. Recently the company opened an exclusive store in Imphal, Manipur conveying its vision to penetrate all corners of the country.

It provides adventure buffs with products that meet their every need. A product range that started from the humble backpack, it has moved on to rucksacks, sleeping bags,

MARKATHON

to outdoor clothing for both men & women. It now sells climbing gear like carabiners, ropes, etc. Wildcraft has managed to achieve product customization to a level that successfully differentiates it from foreign brands like LaFuma, Millet, Quechua, Berghauz, Coleman, North Face & Hi-tech. Its rucksack product line has a naming convention based on Indian Glaciers like the Wildcraft 65L rucksack Gangotri. It builds its products by researching into Indian body shapes, unlike other brands that copy & apply their tried & tested formulas on the Indian Market.

Unlike other consumer goods, outdoor gear has a greater word to mouth marketing effectiveness. Paying customers tend to trust trusted brands more than unknown products. Wildcraft runs a blog to create quality content on outdoor experiences. It invites experts of different outdoor sports like trekking, trail running & rock climbing, etc. to help them design more better products.

Wildcraft’s aspirations came to a head at the end of 2014 when it unveiled a newly designed logo, theme, additions to its product line and its fast mass media campaign. The idea behind it was to change the perception of Wildcraft from being a bag-only company to a head-to-toe supplier.

The company’s Chief Marketing Officer Simeran Bhasin describes the new logo eloquently; the Wildmark reflects the brand’s passion for the outdoors, represented in free and spontaneous strokes while the hand-drawn strokes represent the simplicity, liberation and the raw energy of the outdoors. The colours represent rawness of stones and the energy of the sun.

In 2016, Wildcraft it launched its line of wearables, a GPS tracking device called SPOT. The company closely follows all latest trends. E-Commerce is also a critical part of the company’s strategy. Currently, it contributes to 16% of the overall sales. Also reflecting the importance it puts on online as a channel, the company plans to build online digital marketplaces with the support of e-tailers like Flipkart, Paytm & Amazon.

Sequoia Capital has understood the ambition of the promoters & has invested 70 crores in the company. With the industry growing leaps & bound, the only direction this company is going is up.

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fun corner

april-may 2016

AKSHAY SETH IIM Shillong

MARKATHON

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jab they failed

april-may 2016

Jab They Failed DAKSH BHAGAT IIM Shillong

S

Apple Iphone 5C

teve Jobs very rightly said, ‘Apple can never go cheap’ and its one of the most successful products, the IPhone, has not only lived up to its brand name, rather has gone way beyond that. Owning an IPhone has become a status symbol for many, and with its latest gold and rosegold variants it seems Apple wants its customers to buy themselves a luxury rather than an ordinary mobile phone.

In 2013, Apple launched its technologically advanced variant 5s and yet another ‘Plastic Perfected’ variant, iPhone 5c which no one could have apprehended. It tried to target audiences with a taste bud for a fun, funky, budget-conscious handset that would facilitate them to climb the Apple ladder. It had high hopes from this experiment, but sometimes it’s better to not move out of your comfort zone. Apple makes product for people who care about design, simplicity and a great experience-people who wouldn’t mind paying a fortune for these aspects.

So where did they go wrong?

For brands of the cadre of Apple, creativity can be a double-edged sword. The launch video of the iPhone 5c featured Jony Ive explaining how the variant was ‘unapologetically plastic’. Was it an attempt to cover their ass? Surely, it aimed at heading off the potential negative by boldly proclaiming it as a positive. But this particular phrase was so interesting and memorable that it had a special mention in almost every article that highlighted the lacklustre demand of iPhone 5c. Apple would have never intended that. Considering the fact that the apparent rival series Samsung Galaxy had been always criticized for being too plasticky and missing that premium build required to compete with the classy iPhone, this was a risky move to say less. Apple’s surprise decision to launch a budget model is often attributed to the pressure the company faced from both the industry and analysts. It was launched to target an entirely different market segment and the aim was to increase the sales volume, enhance the margins available to retailers and operators. It would have acted as a gateway to an entirely new market where cell-phones were available at throw away prices. But, Apple has never cared about market shares. IPhone 5s, the flagship model

MARKATHON

launched in conjunction with iPhone 5c was available for only $100 less than the latter but was way better, both in terms of looks and features. IPhone 5c also lacked the Touch ID fingerprint scanner and the speedier A7 processor, both of which were found in 5s. Moreover, iPhone 5s was the only smartphone to have the fingerprint scan feature at the time of its launch, wherein users can easily unlock the phone by placing their thumb on the model’s home button.

Apple, while launching iPhones, has somewhat followed a retail strategy of positioning itself in three tiers – position one being the ‘brand new’ headset, position two being the previous ‘flagship’, and the position three broadly suggesting the ‘free with a two year contract’ model.

Before the announcement of iPhone 5s and 5c the following three positions were occupied by the iPhone 5, 4s and 4 respectively. With the launch of the new model, the expectation was that the existing models would make way for the newer models in the upper levels of the hierarchy while iPhone 4 would take the exit. Though not completely, but the market did respond according to the company’s anticipations. But, the iPhone 5 was replaced by iPhone 5c, with exactly same specifications but with a plastic casing instead of the premium aluminium body of the predecessor. Instead of launching a single new product that would bump everything down, Tim Cook debuted two new products, moved the 4S down a rung, and ended the life of the iPhone 5.

Tim Cook believes that Apple should take iPhone 5c’s failure as a lesson that it should make cell phones only for the premium buyers and shouldn’t even bother about those who can’t afford. It’s quite clear that Apple faced issues while explaining the role of iPhone 5c. Adding to the spice, the mainstream media who had created the story of Apple needing a budget handset took charge of pushing the model into their narrative of a cheap phone.

That was never the anticipated role of 5c. Imagine Audi or Nike releasing their budget-friendly variants! It surely will cause negative repercussions on their loyal customer base as well.

Another important consideration is that 5c was really superior in a number of aspects. Had a competitor would have brought it to the market, it surely would have been a grand success, provided it was priced correctly. Surely, the regular Apple buyers wouldn’t have settled for something that was low on premium and performance, but the 5c could have been a great entry model for kids or low income demographics.

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radical thoughts

april-may aug 2014 2016

becomes a very important contributor to the success of your party. Your brand needs to mean something.

In fact all your speeches, interactions, fonts in the manifestos and colors used should convey the same message about your brand. Your brand needs to have a story. The reason a huge number of people were able to connect with Prime Minister Narendra Modi SHUBHAM SHUKLA | IIM Shillong was the rags-to-riches story of how he rose from bePolitics & Marketing : How to play ing a chai Walla to a potential competitor for the top post of the largest democracy in the world. So a poyour cards right? litical brand needs to be constructed meticulously as In the recently concluded election in 4 states of India- it can go a long way in influencing the outcome of an Assam, West Bengal, Puducherry and Tamilnadu we election. again saw the nation get involved in one of the most entertaining sports in our nation- no, not cricket but c) Using the right channel: the game of democracy. Politics is all about market- You may have the perfect offering and a great brand ing- letting the electorate know about your plans for but if you are unable to communicate this to the development, trying to understand what a particu- electorate effectively then all this comes out to be of lar electorate is looking for, basically it is an effort by not much value. You need to use different types of a political party or candidate to convince people to channels to reach out to different classes of voters. adopt their brand and its value proposition for a BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effective period of 5 years. Let use of the sous now explore some cial media was of the important factouted as one ets of political marketof the key reaing: sons for it coming to power in a) Know your the 2014 Lok audience: Sabha elections.

As in the marketing of Radio has to be any type of product, used in order to knowing your customreach far-flung er or electorate in this areas of the case is very important. country where This is because the the electorate behavior and expecdoes not have tations (needs) of voters varies across geographic access to television or the internet. The visual appeal as well as economic sections. For urban voters good of the television medium can also not be discounted. governance and accountable politics is a major de- The â&#x20AC;&#x153;India Shiningâ&#x20AC;? campaign of the Atal Bihari Vacider on the party that they vote for. For the rural jpayee led NDA government instantly comes to mind. poor section which is the biggest voting segment in Hence using the right channel and using all channels the country, the cause of voting is social-that is how effectively in an election is as important as it is in the the government can provide them support through marketing of any ordinary product. food distribution networks, welfare schemes etc. It is We can see that political or electoral marketing is very important to understand your electorate so that not very different from how an FMCG product may you can tailor your offering of ideas according to the be marketed albeit with more far-reaching consepeople who are voting in the constituency. quences. Hence political parties need to realize the importance of marketing and we as the electorate b) Building your brand: also need to be on guard against marketing gimmicks According to reports, you only have 7 seconds to form and focus on the real issues at hand and what is best an impression. Hence the branding of the campaign for our constituency as well as the nation.

Radical Thoughts

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december april-may 2016 2013

New Product Launch

Updates

By HARSHA DAGA IIM Shillong

Bentley rolls out its latest SUV Driven by the aggressive growth in the luxury car segment in the country Bentley is all set to capture the high-street with its first sports utility vehicle, Bentayga, in India at a price of Rs.3.85 crores. Positioned as the “world’s fastest luxury SUV” Bentayga has already received bookings in three digit as revealed by the Exclusive Motors Managing Director Satya Bagla.

VOD is the way to go With the latest development at Viacom18, Voot is the latest video on demand platform with over 17,000 hours of network content. With Hotstar and Netflix fueling this industry, Voot has a large audience waiting for quality content. The website and applications does not only feature shows from its running channels like Colors, MTV, Comedy Central, etc. but also categorizes the best-of-the-best episodes and shows based on its genre such as romance, drama, comedy, kids and so on.

New Brand Launch Quench your thirst with Coco-sip Manpasand Beverages Ltd. is now entering into the coconut drink segment with its new brand Coco Sip. Being one of the first players to dig into the unexplored packaged coconut water domain in the country, it has the edge owing to the success of its fruit juice venture including names like Mango Sip and Fruits Up. In the initial phase, the drink will be accessible by consumers through over a 1000 retail outlets as well as some special retailers with whom they have strategic tie-ups.

Market Development Tranquini is here to soothe us As opposed to caffeine based energy drinks, Tranquini promises relaxation and freshness of the mind and body. Backed by natural herbs and ingredients such as green tea, chamomile and lavender, the one-year-old Austrian brand is all set to step foot in India at a price point of Rs.95 for 300ml posing a direct competition to brands like Red Bull and Urzaa.

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december 2013 april-may 2016 Thanks to the e-tailers, international brands are now available in India The e-commerce giants are at constant loggerheads when it comes to India. The situation turns out to be the best for consumers in terms of variety as well as accessibility. Mizuna sportswear, a Japanese company has entered into an exclusive deal with Flipkart and Myntra, whereas, on the other hand we have Jabong striking the deal with Mexx, an Amsterdam based fashion retailer.

Ad Watch A 360 degree approach to domestic violence Advertisers are now experimenting with the latest Youtube 360 where vitual reality becomes accessible to all. With the campaign, “Do not look the other way”, a brilliant job has been done. The video keeps you engaged and leaves you with a hidden message in order to create awareness against domestic violence in Russia.

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjHG8EyQctM

HE Deodorants Pays Respect In times when femvertising, as they call it, is very popular; can you imagine how a brand for men can explore it? Well, He Deodorants is the answer to it. In a video featuring Vir Das, the brand astonishingly speaks against the stereotypical ads where women are objectified. Interestingly, he takes a dig at not only such baseless deodorant ads but also blasts other product categories including motorbikes and fruit juice. And very truly, the ad leaves you refreshed, just like a deo should! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD_NeCRV9MQ

Neil Patrick Harris’s new found friendship with Siri A brand as top-notch as Apple and a celebrity as glamorous as Neil, the advertisement is a hit in itself. Very swiftly is the usage of Siri displayed in the video to complement the wit of the character. It not only highlights the ease of use due to hands-free access to Siri but also the high quality of the product. Keep it simple they say, keep it up we reply!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z90nZtd1AmM

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Brand Watch Instagram gets a new look It is not often that a brand changes its logo, however, it is very often seen that whenever they do, people have a lot to say about it. From a more solid and detailed logo with a rainbow patch to a simpler representation of the classic camera, the application conveys its ease of use. However, the buzz generated out of it was unmatched. Not just talking about it, but people indulged in re-creating it in their own way with trending hashtag #myinstagramlogo

Ever wondered how socialism smells like? Here’s the answer Samajwadi Party, to mark four years in power, launched four fragrances with each of them capturing the essence of a particular region in Uttar Pradesh. The limited edition perfumes will go by the name of Samajwadi Sugandh. An unusual move, though not very unique as only recently was a perfume called Leaders Number One, inspired by Vladimir Putin, launched in Moscow, whereas similar launches were earlier seen in America and Canada as well. A great example of political branding though!

Articles are invited

“Best Article”: Anithasree Munuswamy | MICA Ahmedabad She receives 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 absolutely anything related to the world of marketing but it should be an original work that is not published elsewhere. 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 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.

The last date of receiving all entries is 10th June, 2016. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAME(S)>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@gmail.com.

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Facebook page has been buzzing all month. Check out some of our posts here!

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To keep up your Marketing Quotient do follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markathon.iims/ MARKATHON

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bidding a farewell to our wonderful seniors.

Thank You for the wonderful memories. All the Best Kasturi Guha Thakurta The 'HR' Head Glue of the Team

Sagar Riaz The Designer Creativity ki koi 'fight' nahi hai

Anshul Jindal The Player Jab Dil Maange More

Cheena Pasrija The Innovator Bringing 'Bright' Ideas to the team

Vinay Jain The 'Kewl' Dude Yo Bro. What's up?

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bidding a farewell to our wonderful seniors.

Thank You for the wonderful memories. All the Best Sumit Bedi The Optimist Mr Funny Bones of the team

Gautam Gopal The Party Animal Partying Since Iron Age

Mohd Fahd The Quiet One Silent Killer of the team

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