Markathon august

Markathon

august 2015

Contents Perspectives The Rise of Femvertising: A Trend to Stay Divya Naik | T.A.Pai Management Instiute Did you know that it costs approximately $40million to market an average Hollywood movie. Our pretty Bollywood lady Alia Bhatt announced engagement on twitter just before the release of 2 states. Producers of 2012 actually flooded the Subway to promote their movie. Also, Aamir Khan went missing before the launch of 3 idiots.

This month’s cover story will tell you these little tricks that are involved in the Showbiz. Also, it will throw some light in the different channels used by the production houses to reach out to you. Further we have more gyaan for you on the Showbiz in our monthly section Vartaalap, where we interact with Ms. Monika Tata, Hon. Secretary, IAA India Chapter. She shares her insightful experience in media marketing. Also this month, we bring to you the second dose of “Logo-istic” where we discuss the evolution of Airtel’s logo over the past 2 decades.

This edition’s Brand Story can be a real treat for you. It shares the story of Hershey’s, the company that sells 80 million Kisses a day. In Radical Thoughts this month we see some of the biggest blunders done by some great companies. And of course a regular dose of Updates is a must.

Always high on entertainment, this month’s “Fun Corner” will nudge your grey cells as you sit back to solve this month’s quiz. Lastly we would like to thank all the contrib-

utors for Markathon. The overwhelming number of entries that we have received for this month’s edition shows how Markathon has developed as a platform to showcase the best minds in the marketing domain.

With so many exciting stuffs lined up for you, flip through the pages of the July Edition of Markathon and let us know your comments and feedback by writing back to markathon.iims@gmail.com.

Cheers!

Team Markathon

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Marketing: Where Change is the Only Constant Ankit Pathak, Udit Bhatia & Sravan Janaswamy | IIFT

“COMING SOON” has arrived – A take on movie marketing Mehul Jogadia & Sumon Chaudhuri| IIM Shillong

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Vartalaap

Ms. Monica Tata Hon. Secretary | IAA, India Chapter

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Specials 16

AD-dicted Ansul Jindal & Kasturi Guha Thakurta | IIM Shillong

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Logoistic Gautam Gopal | IIM Shillong

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Brand Story Sumit Bedi| IIM Shillong

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Fun Corner Sagar Riaz | IIM Shillong

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Radical Thoughts Mohammed Fahd | IIM Shillong

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Updates Cheena Pasrija | IIM Shillong

Eye 2 Eye

The Markathon Team Editors

Cheena Pasrija | Gautam Gopal | Mohammad Fahd | Sumit Bedi | Vinay Jain

Creative Designers Ansul Jindal | Kasturi Guha Thakurta | Sagar Riaz

Start-ups: Promote Brand or Product?

Aditya Kansal | IIM Shillong & Tejal K. Sinkar | Welingkar, Mumbai

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Silent Voice

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Future of Mobile Marketing Chahat Shah | IIM Shillong

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perspective

During the earlier years, the only female target market for consumer goods companies were suburban housewives. Most of the ads during this age were sexist in nature with a Kellogg Pep cereal print ad declaring “So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!” Fast forward into the mid-’90s, more companies came up with ads which were much more focused on women as the target segment. One of the pioneers of such advertisements was Nike with their “If You Let Me Play,” ad campaign in which they came up with products specifically suited for women.

But the major breakthrough in femvertising has to be associated with the Dove’s real beauty campaign. Eleven years ago, in 2004, Unilever’s Dove brand broke new ground with this campaign .It tried to explore how its female customers perceived beauty and used real women -of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds—as the various faces of its marketing campaign. It expanded the traditional definition of “beauty”, and encouraged women to be comfortable in their own skin. This led to the advertising world embracing the concept of women empowerment and producing more ads with real life scenario, especially those concerning women.

The Rise of Femvertising A Trend to Stay By Divya Naik T.A.Pai Management Institute, Manipal

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dvertising has a pervasive presfrom conventional ads we see everyday in TV formats; they all play an important role in educatAccording to a survey, in USA an individual is exposed .Surely, advertisements play an important role as a meof “femvertising”.

ence in our day-to-day lives – to the new emerging online ad ing us about a product or a brand. to more than thousands ads each day dium to drive change and hence the rise

Femvertising is commonly defined as advertisements which en- dorses pro-women causes and promotes female empowerment. It is trending at the moment with companies coming out and championing various important causes that affect women in their everyday life .This way companies can to show support to one of the major segment of their customers-women. Few examples of “femvertising” ads are the Dove’s real beauty campaign as well as the Under Armour’s “I Will What I Want” ad. In these ads,they are trying to showcase real women with real life problems and these ads have been highly appreciated by all.

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Now such ads which target female consumers have been in presence for a long while now . But in 2014-the year of “femvertising”-there was an explosion of ads related to female empowerment which were well appreciated by all. Brands created ads which were impactful as well as meaningful to their audience. The reason why femvertising gained so much attention in 2014 is due to the power of ‘Social Media’. The digital revolution has created a seismic shift in the company’s approach to marketing.

Marketers have realized that a positive ad with a meaningful message can generate a lot of positive social reactions and create new brand loyalists. Companies now believe that it is important for their brand to stand for something more than the product itself. Social media allows brands to be held accountable. In the past, when an ad which offended a women or men’s sensibilities were shown, the viewer had no choice but to either stew silently or vent out their frustration at the TV. But in this present age of social media, it gives tremendous power to the consumers who can tarnish the image of a brand.

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Advertising which target women makes good business sense. Since women have traditionally always handled the household spending, and make most of the home-related purchase decisions .According to a survey, women control 85% of the purchase. Even after that, most of the companies still continue to offer them poorly conceived products and services and produce ads that endorse female stereotypes. Even though the advertising industry has come a long way from such ads which were mainly sexist in nature and filled with stereotypes, there is still a lot of scope left for change. According to a study conducted in 2012 by i-onWomen, 91% of women who were surveyed still do not feel that the companies are marketing effectively to them .According to the SheKnows Femvertising survey in September 2014, 81%of the women polled said that pro-female ads are important for younger generation to see.

Around 52 % of women on whom the survey was carried out, had purchased a product because they liked the way the ads portrayed women .Also, 71% believed that brands should be held responsible for using their ads to promote positive messages to women and girls . It is no longer a matter of standing up for a cause to portray a company as socially responsible. But it is a matter of positively supporting the consumer whose loyalty they seek. There is strong indication that women are looking to support those brands which represent them more realistically.

Femvertising is actually effective as it not only sends out a positive message but also helps increase the company’s revenues. Various pro-woman ad campaigns has resulted in improving the company’s bottom-line. Dove‘s Real Beauty campaign, which was started way back in 2004 has been credited in part for the increase in the company’s revenue to $4.5 billion from $2 billion. Nike also saw an increase of 15% in its quarterly revenue after they started catering to their women customers3. With women controlling majority of purchase decision and also the positive sales responses we see to these ad campaigns, it is logical that companies would opt for femvertising. But that is not the case, with pro-female ads forming just a small share of the millions of advertisements that are produced every year. One of the reasons for this maybe the fact that the advertisement industry is largely led by men and only 3% of creative directors are women .So, there is a need for more women workforce in advertisement industry.

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perspective An emphasis on women as a target market—understanding and fulfilling women’s needs might help the company differentiate itself from the rest and this might be the key to their breakout growth, improve their loyal customer base and also help increase their market share. Once the companies realize the potential of the female economy, they will explore a whole new range of commercial business prospects that would serve the women’s needs. According to a study, women purchase products and services from companies that try and do well for the world-especially for other women. Brands which promote emotional as well as the physical well-being- whether directly or indirectly protect the environment, take initiative to provide education and care for the needy will benefit and form a strong, deep connection with their women customers.

With the increase in their purchase power, women are no longer ready to compromise and settle for products which fails to fully meet their requirements .Women have gradually started resisting being stereotyped; they want the companies to know that they all are different and they can’t be lumped together into “all women” category.

One good thing about the femvertising ads is that on one hand they inspire and empower women but at the same time they aren’t alienating the male population; the movement impacts the men positively. Men are interested in making sure that their women and girls are empowered, have a healthy body image. Many pro-women ads such as Dove’s or Pantene’s have been highly appreciated by men, with them praising the brands for their efforts.

Feminism is surely having a moment right now. Even celebrities are openly admitting to their feminist beliefs. It is very easy for the companies to be fascinated by the appeal of “capitalizing” on a new trend. Marketing to women by championing the feminist ideals has never been more timely than right now. But the marketeers need to be careful regarding this particular proposition and treat it very carefully. While bringing feminist issues to the forefront is definitely a positive approach, it does have a significant risk if the brand isn’t genuine about it.They need to understand the nuances behind these issues. Their attempts to portray themselves as pro-feminism might backfire. Women do have plenty of purchasing power, a fact that was till recently ignored by the companies .But in appealing so openly to the power of that group, so that they can sell more product, companies are taking the risk of turning women off completely towards the company’s efforts. Also the ads should have a relation with what value proposition the company offers to its customers. If they don’t, then that the campaign won’t be that much of a success. One such company, which produces shampoos, championed the cause of women empowerment but its consumers couldn’t relate to the ad campaign. It is a tough balance to strike —the message that a brand is spreading through its campaign should be perfectly aligned with what it’s selling.

Companies spreading these empowering messages through their ads need to walk the walk and talk the talk, by initiating programs that can help women and girls; make them more empowered. Dove, who’s Campaign was one of the first mainstream femvertising ad campaigns, has partnered with organizations such as the Girl Scouts and Girls Inc., which offers program that helps build a girls self-esteem .Women will support companies that are genuine in their efforts to support other women. Brand which use feminism just to promote their products without any genuine interest in the subject might face backlash. Inauthentic support cheapens the idea of women’s equality, and that is dangerous to the feminist movement itself.

Regardless of how one feels about brands using pro-feminist messages in their advertisements, ”femvertising” is trending right now and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon . Femvertising is here to stay.

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perspective

Marketing: Where Change is the Only Constant By Ankit Pathak, Udit Bhatia & Sravan Janaswamy IIFT

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rands have assumed the role of a mother, a friend and even a guardian angel”

The changing consumer tastes A catchy song, some fancy cartoon characters and a storyline that shows them trying foolish steps and ending up hurting themselves. No, this wasn’t a promo for an upcoming Disney movie. It was an ad campaign launched

by Metro trains in Melbourne, Australia, promoting rail safety. The campaign, launched with the theme, ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ was an instant hit and was soon trending all over on the social media.

A decade or two ago, who could have thought that those boring text laden railway safety posters get so interactive? Perhaps, that’s the beauty of marketing, it gives you more than expected. The marketers have realized that their job is not to promote the products but to promote the utility that their product serves. When Nike launched its campaign, ’Just Do It’, somewhere in the late 1980s, it had similar objectives in mind. Before that it exclusively catered to the sports professionals. But in the 80s, a

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trend to stay fit emerged among the masses and Nike struck at the right time to gain an edge over its primary competitor ‘Reebok’. The ‘Just Do It’ campaign was targeted towards the health conscious people for whom fitness mattered and were willing to toil for it. It encapsulated the feeling that they had, when they were half way down the exercise routine and were about to give up. But then, somewhere from deep within, a voice emerged and coerced them to go on. That voice was ‘Just Do It’. And it still inspires people. Here Nike didn’t directly promote its brand or product but the very utility that it served. As a result, its sales shot up from $800 million in 1988 to over $9.2 billion by 1998.

However, the trends have changed over the years.

Now brands don’t just sell articles that you buy when you need them but they have assumed the role of a mother (Johnson and Johnson’s), a friend (Bagpiper) and even a guardian angel (Max New York). Companies

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have realized that demand or trend may change but a relationship lasts forever, that’s why the campaigns are now addressed in such a way that the customer believes that the brands care about him. When P&G designed its ‘Thank You,Mom’ campaign for the 2010 Winter Games, it didn’t had any particular product in mind. The campaign was aimed to present the brand as the sponsor of moms who toiled and sacrificed to prepare their babies to shine at the world stage. As Mr. Pritchard, P&G Global Brand Building Officer, told in an interview, “We found a lot of times that when people know a brand is from P&G they feel better about the brand”, he further added, “And when they know P&G has all these brands, they feel better about P&G.” That’s how he succinctly sums up the shift that marketing has taken now.

something so simple that people had kept ignoring it. The ‘Tap Water’ campaign by UNICEF was one such initiative.

Launched on the World Water Day 2007, the campaign has raised more than $2.5 million till date to support UNICEF’s initiative to provide drinking water to poor children.

The campaign involved asking people to donate $1 along with their restaurant bill to help UNICEF provide potable water to a child for forty days. The idea behind the campaign, was very simple as explained by Mr. David Droga, the agency founder and creative head of Droga5, the agency behind the campaign. The idea struck his mind when once, upon a casual visit to a restaurant, he was served a glass of drinking water by the waiter, as soon as he took his seat. He put on his thinking cap and wondered that despite so much branding of the water by the companies, one of the largest consumed water, i.e. tap water, remained unbranded. He soon brainstormed to find an idea to brand the tap water and came out with the ‘Tap Water Campaign’ of UNICEF, where people were asked to pay $1 for that complementary glass of water.

Doing it with a rapture Marketing is about capturing the imagination of the populace. As the imagination can move forward in leaps and bounds, so marketing has to keep pace. But the challenge has shifted to a different level in the twenty first century, with the emergence of digital technology and social media, the demarcation between the regions has dissolved and this intermingling has posed forward a complex situation for the marketers who now have to cater to a more informed and an ever more global audience. As Marshall McLuhan puts it, “Historians and archaeologists will one day discover that the ads of our time are the richest and most faithful daily reflections any society ever made of its whole range of activities.” One of the most remarkable marketing campaign of 2014, i.e. the election campaign of BJP stands a testimony to his statement.

Even after all these evolutions, the fundamental principles of marketing remain the same. The difference lies in understanding the subtleties and implementing them in innovative and creative ways. The most successful of campaigns aren’t the ones which involved some rocket science, but they are the ones which captured

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Towards a digitized ecosystem Digital marketing has emerged as one of the greatest disruptors ever, in the field of marketing. The advantage offered is that the marketers can more interactively engage with their audience and the scope for targeted marketing enhances manifold. Digital marketing offers huge depth and breadth in terms of achievable synergy. Here, the brands don’t have to invest huge amount of money to get noticed. If the content is good, the consumers themselves act as promoter and in the virtual world; it doesn’t take long for something to go viral. The marketing is usually content driven here and is almost impossible for a brand to force something down the throat of a customer until and unless he likes it. But a thing that necessarily needs to be there in a successful digital campaign is creativity and innovation. The ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’ took the concept to a new level. It elicited donation for the ALS

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Brands have to maintain a constant vigil on social media to monitor the news, posts and tweets trending about them. But sometimes this promptness can also be a cause of concern for the brands and may result in embarrassment. Flipkart burnt it hands multiple times when it tried to address the consumer grievances on twitter. One of the famous trolls occurred when a consumer complaint that he was facing problems with the payment gateway while trying to buy an iPhone. When Flipkart asked him to share the details, he replied that there is no Kidney on Delivery option that the people keep talking about.

As 19th century US author Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it, “This time like all times is a good one, if we but know what to do with it.” The marketing has seized to be an isolated department in brands and now it has shifted more towards the overall functioning of the brand. It involves coherence and a single mistake or non-alignment to the central image can turn into a fiasco. But at the same time, it presents an epochal opportunity for the markets to foray into the segments; they have never gone into before. Marketing has gone through many changes but the challenges and opportunities faced in the present time have been unprecedented. Any reluctance on the part of marketers to adapt to the changes can be suicidal, like the Kodak and Nokia case. The twenty first century has made the marketers realize the intransigency of presence like never before. The brand can be the leader in a segment on one day and can be finished the other due to lack of imagination. So, marketing has to integrate itself with the brand in such a way that neither the employees nor the customers can distinguish between the two. This is going to be the key in the coming times. Because only in such a case, it will be able to form a long-term relation with the customer and gain the loyalty, which is much needed to survive in the long term.

patients through an interesting challenge, which was circulated through the online world. The participants had to pour a bucket of ice over them within 24 hours of receiving the challenge, and if, however, they failed to do so, they required to make a donation to the ‘ALS Association’. The campaign saw the likes of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, Akshay Kumar, etc. participating and the others like Barack Obama, David Cameron, etc. who politely declined and chose to make a donation instead.

Collage: self-composed But along with the perks, the digital world also has its disadvantages. The dissatisfied customers can badmouth the company to a much larger extent than they were previously able to do. Amul was at the receiving end in one such incident when Ms. Neha Tomar posted a pic on her Facebook account on 10th October, 2014, showing a packet of ‘Amul Gold’ milk along with another image attached with it, which depicted a hardened elastic material which she claimed to be the same milk, gone rancid. The matter was soon in public domain with a litany of comments thrashing Amul, which later came out with a clarification accusing Neha to have forged the post and images. Although Amul showed promptness in the above case to divert a fiasco but this incident highlights the potential of the digital media to tarnish the image of a brand by any common dissatisfied customer. A flurry of outrages happened when Flipkart failed to satisfy the customers during its mega sales on ‘Big Billion Day’.

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cover story

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Cover Story

By

Mehul Jogadia & Sumon Chaudhuri

IIM Shillong

“COMING SOON” has arrived – a take on movie marketing

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t’s the weekend, and you’re out with your friends, lost in the banter and laughs, having a good time. Your taxi halts for the nth time in traffic, you look out of the window and see a bus drive past you, on it a poster that catches your attention. It’s about some movie starring a popular actor who just can’t act. Memories of your girlfriend asking you if you had seen the first look of the same movie come rushing back to you, she’s also shared the trailer for the film on her Facebook you recall. Reluctantly, you make a mental note to check out what’s all the fuzz about before the next time you talk to her. Someone in the cab says something and your thoughts fizzle out in the laughter.

Later that night, you switch-on the TV to find that the trailer for the movie with ‘the dude who just can’t act’ is everywhere. That favourite comedy show you love watching on the weekends has ‘the dude who just can’t act’ as the special guest for the night. The next morning, you pick up the newspaper hoping to catch-up on some headlines and there it is – a full front page ad of the same movie with ‘the dude who just can’t act’ in his khaki shirt and aviator glares. You receive a text message from your girlfriend; she says she wants to go for a movie. Later that evening you watch ‘the dude who just can’t act’ beat the crap out of bad guys. Wow! What a movie, you wonder.

The advertising of a film in simple terms is known as film marketing.

Stripped down to its basics, it is an art and science of convincing consumers to buy movie tickets. This seemingly simple activity has gained much significance, and the way in which a film is promoted can have an enormous impact whether or not it is successful. Add to that the seasonal and cyclical nature of the movie business. The most awaited films of the year are released only during the festive

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season, or over the holidays. With so many big budget movies vying for the attention of the same audience, over the same period of time the job of a movie marketer is very challenging. He’s got to ensure that his film stands out from the pack.

Nowadays, the marketing spend on movies has skyrocketed, in fact one studio head calls it, “the single most discussed and debated issue in Hollywood.”

Historically, the average cost of marketing a studio movie in the U.S. was $4.3 million in the 1980’s ($12.4 million in today’s dollars). By 2007, it had shot up to nearly $36 million. If the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) still tracked spending on P&A, that number would be upwards of $40 million today for medium-size films like The Fault in Our Stars or Tammy according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Bros. Marketing Chief, Sue Kroll, believes that the paradigm for movie marketers has begun to shift. them. We are seeing significant changes in the way “We have to be more inventive about how we reach we spend across all platforms. It’s a patchwork quilt. consumers,” she says. “Moviegoers are very savvy.

It never gets boring.”

You have to figure out new ways of appealing to The most preferred platforms for movie promotions are newspapers, television, spot ads, internet, theatrical trailers & other media including cable TVs, radio, magazines, billboards, etc. One of the more interesting movie marketing strategies is the publicity stunt, an orchestrated/ pre-planned media event where someone does something incredibly silly, funny, outrageous or spectacular to draw attention to the opening of the movie. If you’ve seen any of Sasha Baron Cohen’s movies you wouldn’t be surprised at what Mr. Cohen can do to promote them.

Movie marketing has evolved considerably over the years. It began with something as basic as a poster on a wall or a billboard that attempts to draw attention, and subsequently revenue for a particular movie. With the passage of time, we see more and more innovative practices, used by movie marketers to attract their target audience. From tying up with products in order to develop a collaborative marketing strategy that would be beneficial for both parties, to showing up on popular TV shows, to piggybacking on a superstar’s fan base on social media, movie marketing has grown and evolved not only in terms of creativity, but also in terms of scope. It has been clearly observed that there is a direct correlation between the revenue a movie earns and the success of its marketing efforts. There have been several brilliant examples of creative

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movie marketing practices that have not only managed to garner a great deal of attention and money, but have also revolutionised the way we think about marketing in general.

One of the most longstanding and effective ways in which movies are marketed is a device known as “the trailer”. The Blair Witch Project is an excellent example of how to build up hype and use teasers to instil enthusiasm regarding the release of a movie amongst the audiences. The sheer enigma surrounding the release of the movie, primarily due to its positioning of being live footage obtained from the camera of amateur videographers who end up in a horrific situation, makes this movie marketing campaign legendary. The ability of the movie marketers to immerse the audience in a shroud of mystery and horror, through the development of a website and an excellent trailer, was an outstanding example of how trailers should be used to build up excitement regarding a movie. Even though their positioning didn’t end up to be true, there was no way the marketing campaign would indicate otherwise to the audience.

Another important tool that movie marketers are beginning to use more and more, is Guerrilla Marketing. Movie like 2012 have managed to utilise this technique very effectively in order to generate awareness regarding the movie. Subway stations were flooded with large 2012 posters that covered the entire length of the station wall. However, that wasn’t it. In order to make it literally appear as though the subway stations were flooded, they extended the posters to the subway floors as well.

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Marvel has also recently adopted the guerrilla marketing technique for the promotion of their latest feature film, The Ant Man. Miniature billboards on tiny stands were placed in strategic locations throughout the country, to promote the film with means that were in accordance with the theme of the movie – big things come in small packages.

In the Indian context, the medium of communication of the movie’s positioning is what becomes very crucial. This is the reason why we often see actors and actresses involved in the movie, make efforts to promote the movie. Appearing on television shows for the sole purpose of promoting a movie, for example, has become commonplace nowadays for most Bollywood superstars. However, we still manage to see certain out-of-the-box marketing gimmicks that have worked exceptionally well. Alia Bhatt’s engagement announcement on twitter, in order to promote 2 States, and Vidya Balan showing up at the ticket counter of Fame Cinemas in Mumbai, to sell tickets for Kahani, were certain examples of ploys that managed to catch the audiences by surprise. Campaigns like the “Aamir’s gone missing” campaign for 3 Idiots, is another example of how celebrities went above and beyond the call of duty in order to promote their movie.

Therefore, we see that movie marketing has evolved from the simplistic measures that were earlier used, to well thought-out and planned strategies in order to increase the revenue that a movie generates. Movies manage to generate considerable following and recall in the short span of time that it runs in theatres. As a result, the effects of the marketing team are significantly amplified, be it good or bad. Therefore, it becomes extremely important for marketers, especially in today’s world, to understand these nuances in order to understand how to make a substantial and long lasting impact in a limited time frame.

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VARTALAAP An Interview with Ms. Monica Tata With nearly 25 years of experience, she has worked as part of the leadership team at Star, Turner and HBO. Her efforts were validated when she was recognized as ‘Next 30’ most powerful women to look out in 2010; and was also adjudged as one of India’s hottest young executives of the media industry in 2009 by Business Today and adjudged amongst the top 50 influential women in media, marketing and advertising by a leading industry magazine - IMPACT in 2012 and 2014. She has also received Women Leadership award by World Women Leadership Congress in 2014. She was judged amongst India’s top 100 important people in the industry by Digital Studio a leading magazine in Broadcasting and Production.

IAA, India Chapter

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Hon. Secretary

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I think there is not a yes or a no to that, it also depends upon how we are defining aggressive marketing in a given scenario and it also depends upon what the objective of the marketing campaign is. Sometimes you are launching a new product or a new proposition, at that time aggressive marketing is important because you need to get that message across through a large base of consumers and then you need to come up with a marketing strategy that caters to that aspect of the consumer behaviour. Although sometimes there is a launch of a product variant of a product that exists in the market or there is launch of a new season of a T.V series that is already existing, then aggressive marketing is both a waste of money and effort. So you really need to identify the objective of your campaign and create communication accordingly, thus I think the answer to your question would vary situation to situation.

out of the brand to be constantly present in the consumer’s mind because it is a very competitive market and constant brand recall or brand presence it required to convert sales. If this is the market scenario then consistent efforts of communication are required. But if it’s not the case than there is definitely a threat of overkill, because every campaign has a tipping point and beyond that point it is a waste of money and energy.

That is why, it is very important that you are very dynamic in your approach. You should have clear objectives in your mind and although you have set of goals and targets to achieve, you need to be flexible about them. Like in my experience, I have witnessed that at times, although the marketing budget was set for 2-3 weeks but the required GRPs (gross rating points) was not achieved in that, then you need to extend the campaign or in some cases if it is achieved before time than you should be bold enough to understand that although you have a budget, it would make more sense to ease out right now. So you need to keep evaluating your campaigns regularly, espe-

promos of a show are a very integral part of “ Initial the communication designed for the consumers Markathon: In case, for an existing brand, the brand recognition is already quite high, then in that case, do you think aggressive marketing would be a good move?

I don’t think we can ever be judgemental about a marketing campaign till we know about its core objectives, as in the present case, may be it is expected

cially if the mediums are as dynamic as digital media or television.

Markathon: How do Television channels segment and target their audience?

So how a channels segments and targets depends

“Aggresive Marketing is important for a new product or idea launch” MARKATHON

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Markathon: Do you think “aggressive marketing campaigns “ can hamper the long term positioning of a company or a product?

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upon the genre. For eg. Hindi entertainment channels are usually very focused about their target audience. It is usually between the age group of 25-55 and it usually SEC BCD. So now they would be very focused about this target audience, now if SEC A men or SEC A women watch their channel than its good , but still they will create content which appeases their target market. If they are missing on SEC A OR Apus, they don’t mind. While an English channel usually focusses on male 22-45, majorly SEC A or SEC A plus.

Now their content would be completely different and the kind of movies or shows they would run on that channel would be usually in sync with their overall targeting. So it completely depends upon the genre we are talking about.

Like entertainment channels have cut out a different audience, sports have it differently, news channels have it differently and then they work out their content accordingly.

Advertisers slot their advertisements in a similar fashion, if their target audience is women of majorly SEC BCD, then they will probably slot it in a Hindi entertainment channel during a show that matches their exact specifications.

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Markathon: There is a change in the content of movies and soap operas made a decade ago and now? Do you think the current scenario is more people centric than product centric and major emphasis is on building connect?

It’s not just about the functional aspects but the emotional connect that you build for your product

Markathon: Do channels have a systematic mechanism to evaluate if they are able to reach their target audience or not? May be the product was targeted at someone and it was consumed by someone else.

Absolutely there is, so all these years there was this one bible that the industry used to use and it was called, TAMS- Television Audience Measurement system . But as of, early this year, it has been changed to BARC- Broadcasting Audience Research Council. So that’s the third party which does the analysis of your channel or show. Like you would have heard of TRPs , it comes from them. So it is not just about ratings, they do an in-depth analysis of what the audience is watching, when are they watching, and where are they watching it. Then there are departments which analyse that data accordingly, in coordination with other factors like geography etc. and come up with the overall strategies. This data is also used to evaluate promos as well. Initial promos of a show are a very integral part of the communication designed for the consumers. So if a show is about to be launched then usually in depth research is done on the kind of audience the promos have reached. So if the tar-

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get was young women, they evaluate how much of the population reached matches with the target audience. Then it entirely depends upon on the broadcaster if they want to take the research analysis on face value or not. As at times too much of analysis leads to paralysis.

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vartalaap

Absolutely and that is how it should be, because the audience and the consumer is so much more intelligent these days and they are exposed to so much.

They go through so much Indian as well as international content. So there is a change in their consumption pattern, like even if you see in movies, the movies which used to work in 1980s or 1990s, they will not work today. On the same lines you couldn’t have thought of a movie like Queen to be such a huge success, 10 years ago. So there is an evolution of taste amongst the consumers. The consumers want content which they can understand easily and they can relate to. So it is about the simplicity and relatability of the content. It’s not just about the functional aspects but the emotional connect that you build for your product. As emotional connect is the best connect you can build with your consumer. For e.g. If you need to advertise a bottle of water and you say thatthis a blue bottle and the water in it is pure, it just costs 10 bucks and it is Bailey, come buy it. Then there is a huge chance it won’t work, but instead if you build a story around it, on how the water is coming from the mountains just to your home and it brings purity and positivity in your home, it might connect with the customer well, and he might think that it is a good option for a bottled mineral water.

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vartalaap

august 2015

Taking it further, there is a great advertisement by Tanishq, in which a dark women is getting remarried and it is showcased that her daughter makes a fuss to be with her during some crucial ceremonies. It shows how his husband to be is sensitive towards it and handles the situation, now these kind of advertisements do make connect and it conveys a beautiful message. Now it is both beneficial and responsible on the part of the advertisers, brands and agencies to come up with content like this. Another such ad, is an HDFC ad where they showcase a woman talking about having a house and how is

she planning for it. Buying a house has always been a man’s job according to the Indian society but it is advertisements and products like these that not only create a strong place in the mind of the target audience but also encourages them to break the norm.

Markathon: What would be the revenue split for a television channel between advertisement and distribution?

Markathon: What will be the one advice you would like to give to our readers?

That would be passion and passion. Follow what you are passionate about. I have been a big propagator of that, I am a big believer of that and I am a live example of that. If you are really passionate about something, there is very rare chance you won’t succeed at it. So if you really are doing what you believe in and what you love, everything would follow. Fame, fortune and money is a by-product and if that becomes

your goal then you are starting in the wrong direction. It might work for you but there is a huge chance you won’t be happy in that scenario. So in case you want to be happy and successful, follow your passion. Passion has been my mantra and that would be one advice that I would like to give to any budding executive.

Currently the ratio is 60:40, in favour of advertisers by large. I am talking about the industry average, for certain broadcasters the skew might be different. But the ratio used to be 80:20 and 70:30 in the favour of the advertisers earlier, so it is shifting now. Globally, if I speak it is 70:30, in favour of the broadcaster or the distributor. So we are way off that bench mark and we need to work on that balance. The distributors favour this majorly because such a high share of advertisement in the revenue model adds to a lot of ambiguity as money coming from advertising could go really up or really down. It is not fixed. So you need a better split to manage your risk, at least what is needed is a 50:50.

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Interviwed by: Cheena Pasrija & Vinay Jain IIM Shillong

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eye2eye

august 2015

Start-ups: Promote Brand or Product?

Tejal K Sinkar Welingkar, Mumbai

Aditya Kansal IIM Shillong What is it that you remember after you visit McDonalds, is it the product range or the brand name of burger giant. It’s the name McDonald’s right. That’s the power of a brand. Now considering today’s vibrant world with new startups coming each day you need to carve out a niche for yourself and the way to go for it is through branding. It’s the brand which sticks to the mind of the people. Products produced by a brand are an important, but they need to be aligned with the image of the organization and the branding is the perfect route to success for a new product in the market. In today’s market people associate each product with the value they would get by acquiring that product, branding is that one thing that multiplies value manifold.

You need to communicate what you stand for, what you offer and for that the brand is the perfect platform.

For instance consider UBER, it offers a product that is a cab sharing service. Now that’s not the complete product range for Uber. They have many specialized services which Uber represents but if it only promotes its products it might not be able to bring the customers onboard. The products are important, no doubt about that but what’s more important is to be known to people and people recall by brands. Take a moment and think, what is it that you remember more, the brands or the products (again by their brand name). So for startups who want to grow need to build a brand for themselves so that people recall them and use their services and products over and over again. In the end it’s the brand what matters to the customer so it’s of utmost importance for startups to create a niche for themselves and build an iconic brand.

The trend of start-ups is picking up in India and is expected to get much more competitive in the upcoming years. Keeping this trend in mind all the start-ups need a solid marketing campaign in order to gain a strong consumer base. It puts all the start-ups in a dilemma whether they should promote their brand or their product? Before we get into solving this dilemma let us first understand the difference between a brand and a product.

A brand is a unique sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image and differentiating it from its competitors. Over time, this image becomes associated with a level of credibility, quality and satisfaction in the consumers mind. A product is a good or a service created to serve a need or satisfy a want. These definitions clearly indicate that a brand differentiates a product from its competitors. For a start-up one should ideally promote its product. Let the consumers know what your product is, how different it is from its competitors and the most importantly how does it satisfy their want or need. After a period of time when people have tried your product, made repeat purchases and became your loyal consumers you can then promote your brand. Since by then people know what your brand offers to them. If you start directly by promoting the brand your prospective consumers wouldn’t really know what do you do as a brand?

You should also keep in mind “the continuity of positioning” while promoting your product or brand. The consumers associate your product or brand with that positioning and changing it would mean losing a large chunk of consumers. If you take these points into consideration and map a marketing strategy it would hit the bull’s eye.

Topic for the next issue: “Should Microsift make its e-mail (Outlook) free?” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 10th September 2015. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!

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silent voice

december august 2015 2013

Last Month’s Results

AD-dicted AD-dicted

PRODUCT: Apple iPhone 6

december august 2013 2015

By Ansul Jindal IIM Shillong

By Kasturi Guha Thakurta IIM Shillong PRODUCT: Nivea Lip Balm

WINNER Chahat Shah || IIM Shillong

honorary mention Rahul Deepak Devarapalli | IIM Trichy

THEME FOR NEXT SILENT VOICE: Life at a B-School LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 10th September, 2015 EMAIL ID: markathon.iims@gmail.com Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only.

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Theme: The Future of Mobile Marketing

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

POSITIONING: Let’s Go Indian CREATIVE AGECY: Ingram Micro

POSITIONING: Best Friend Forever

CATCH

CREATIVE AGENCY: Interface Communications

CONCEPT: The TVC shows a bridegroom getting ready and proceeding to reach his wedding venue. He is shown using a new iPhone 6 to connect with his bride-to-be until finally meeting her at the wedding venue. The ad starts with the groom clicking a selfie with his new iPhone 6, and sends it to the girl via iMessage (messages of Apple devices). The girl replies by sending him a picture of herself, but she carefully avoids to show her face, since it’s considered bad luck for the groom to see the beautiful bride before the ceremony on the final day.

The couple are later shown keeping in touch via FaceTime, the company’s video-chatting service, as an enabler for a shared experience while away from each other, but again, the girl is careful not to show her face to the groom. The 60 second commercial finally ends, when the two meet at the altar and a voiceover that says: “We know how hard it is to wait for something special. Which is why we offer the iPhone 6 on easy EMI.” VERDICT: Catch Apple plays up the aspirational appeal of its phones, showing a glamorous Indian bride using Facetime, Apple’s video calling feature, to send coy flashes to her groom of a henna-ed hand or skirt hem before their wedding. Though we feel that Apple could have done much more than project just a ‘marriage’ in the ad like highlighting some important features of the device, we liked the ‘un’Appleness of the ad. After the ad went on air, a few fans took to Twitter and voiced out their opinion which was very much in favour of this ad being Indian.

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R

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

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7kxXVnAtnOQ

CONCEPT: The song celebrates everyday moments shared between friends, enacted by Chopra and her pals. It talks about the fun and fights friends have and how they’re overcome because of the bond between them. The theme shifts to the relationship between dry lips and Nivea Lip balm, as the message ‘Just like me and you, lips need BFF too’ is spelt out. What follows are visuals of the young women braving extreme weather conditions, their lips protected by Nivea. The ad shows the many colours available for the product and how suing them will solve various lip problems. The ad ends with the line best friends forever, the statement they have tried to position the product around.

MISS

VERDICT: Miss According to Markathon, the advertisement will not be able to attract eyeballs. It comes across as any other ad for a beauty product. Though the song is a good attempt made, but the tune is not catchy enough to linger on your mind for a long time. The ad, according to us, has not been able to capture the analogy they tried to portray of the best friend relation. This theme has been used in the past several times in a much better way. We think, the ad will soon fizzle out without leaving an impression on our minds.

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eye2eye

july 2015

brand story

august 2015

Brand Story Sumit Bedi | IIM Shillong

By Gautam Gopal IIM Shillong Airtel India’s leading Telecommunication Company has expanded its operations in many other countries and is presently operating in more than 19 countries in Asia and Africa. The pace at which Airtel has spread its wings is truly remarkable and this goes on to prove their metal in the field of telecommunication business.

In the year 2010 Airtel’s subscriber base touched the 200 million mark which led them to change their logo. They switched from their Traditional Airtel logo which had black and white lettered on white and red background respectively to white lettered on a red background with a different “a” on it.

What is the relevance of doing so? What did earlier logo symbolise? In what way does the new logo make difference?

Pre 2010 logo Airtel came into picture in the year 1995 when the call rates were really high and the subscribers were ignorant of the va r i o u s application of mobile phones and the network provider’s services. Airtel being the budding company needed to show a lot of commitment to build a new subscriber base for them. Airtel came up with its first logo having two swoosh design, the idea behind having this logo was to represent coming “era” which went in tandem with their positioning, the tagline “touch tomorrow”.

In the year 2000 in order to rebrand itself Airtel had gone for a logo change. This logo was a symbol of innovation and leadership and was also called “flag logo “because of its appearance. The red dot over black “I” symbolised the importance of “innovation

Designed By MARKATHON Sagar Riaz, IIM Shillong

“which the company stands for, resulting in a sea change in their services. They took up the responsibility of educating its consumers through various campaigns about their services like – roaming, international calling, coverage area etc.

Post 2010 logo With the changing era and of mobile communication Airtel made another logo change. The new logo is called the “wave” and the whole rebranding campaign was done at a cost of around INR 300 crore with a new tune composed by A.R Rahman going along with its launch.

There are various other attributes that the new logo depicts which includes the feeling of being alive because of the curved “a” which depicts dynamism. The name was coined through an online contest “The name game “which lasted for six months and had seen a mammoth participation of almost 1.5 lakh consumers. The campaign created a positive buzz in public.

Contrasting colour combination of red and white, where “red “colour in the logo depicts passion and strength, which is the salient feature of Airtel since its inception in 1995.

The management believes that the alive nature of the logo brings customer closer to them. The new unboxed logo means freedom from boundaries as Airtel has found its presence as a leading telecommunication company in multiple nations.

The new logo resembles Vodafone and Videocon logo which has disappointed many but the way Airtel has been repositioning itself from “Touch tomorrow“ to “Express yourself” It is totally justified how the brand has evolved from being local to international.

Overall one can say that it is a positive step by Airtel to celebrate its 200 million consumer base. The rebranding strategy which it’s following through remodelling its logo is a step-stone towards a mark of globalisation and it’s a statement to other global players that Airtel will target the global market in their quest of becoming the global market leader.

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F

ounded in the year 1894, the Hershey’s company is one of the largest producers of chocolates in the world.

It sells more than $6billion worth of chocolates every year making it the 5th largest chocolate seller in the world.

Milton S. Hershey founded a caramel producing company and he used to buy chocolate as a coating for his caramel. In the year 1899, the founder was able to invent the formula to manufacture milk chocolates. So, finally in the year 1900 he sold the caramel producing business to start manufacturing chocolates. The company was established with the view to democratize chocolates and make quality chocolates (a luxury item back then) available to all. Within 5 years The Hershey Company had more than 100 products in its portfolio to offer the customers.

The tastes and names of the produts were mostly inspired by French Chocolates.

But it was finally in the year 1907 that the legendry Kisses chocolate was invented. The flat base with conical top shaped chocolate was an instant hit.

Not only the unique shape and name but also the extraordinary packaging caught the imagination of people. From the very first day each kisses chocolate was wrapped separately by hand to give it sort of a luxurious feel. The product was named Kisses because of the sound that machines produced while making the chocolate. Today, the company produces more than 80 million kisses per day.

Hershey’s is the only chocolate company in the world to have a theme park. Located in Pennsylvania the park was established in the year 1906 for leisure purpose of Hershey’s employees. But over the years the park has become a significant brand extension for Hershey’s helping it promote its brand among the kids.

In the year 1925, Hershey’s was one of the first companies to introduce the delicious chocolate syrup in the world.

The Hershey’s brand can boast of some unique incidents that are not common to most chocolate brands. Hershey’s

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was given 5 Army-Navy “E” batch for exceptional contribution in World War 2 as it provided ration bars to American soldiers. In the year 1948, US Air Force pilots dropped Hershey’s bars with parachutes to children while making runs of food in Berlin. Then in 1971, Hershey’s Tropical (a heat resistant chocolate bar) became one of the first chocolates to be taken to moon in Apollo 15.

Today, Hershey’s is a household name in North America.

This was not how it used to be. This huge expansion of the Hershey’s brand has been possible because of the great advertisement campaigns the company has undertaken since early 1960s. From the very first day the company has been obsessed with quality and that is something it advertises. All the advertisement is focused on quality and purity of chocolates. The tools with which they tell this might change but the brand communication is very clear.

Hershey’s is a great brand. It has produced amazing chocolates in the last century and has spread smiles on the faces of millions of people who have consumed the legendry brand.

Moving forward the company will have to reassess its channel strategy, as e-Commerce will dominate the retail space of the world. Also, it will have to constantly grow into emerging markets as the market in Western countries saturates. Also, it will have to come up with new flavors for the new geographies depending on the tastes of the people. Currently the company generates more than a billion dollars in revenue from the foreign markets but still the profitability is much lower as compared to the US market. Hence, the company should focus on ways to improve profitability in the overseas markets as well.

All said and done Hershey’s is an awesome brand. It is a great case study for young marketing enthusiasts like us to learn and get inspired from.

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fun corner

august 2015

radical thoughts

august aug 2014 2015

Radical Thoughts Mohammed Fahd | IIM Shillong

Managing a marketing faux pas

Sagar Riaz IIM Shillong

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Marketing blunders have existed ever since marketing has been around, after all to err is human.

Therefore, try as a company might to steer clear of all marketing goof-ups, a marketing manager is likely to come across a marketing gaffe over the course of their career. Every year, dozens of companies make certain marketing mistakes. Many popular examples continue to be a major blot in the glorious histories of corporate giants one of which happens to be the Ford Pinto, a car model whose very name means a tiny penis in Portuguese. Additionally, following a series of explosions due to rear end collisions, a memo was leaked from a Ford executive claiming that it would be cheaper to pay reparations to injured drivers rather than recalling the vehicles, an incident that seriously damaged Ford’s customer friendly image. CocaCola is another giant who has garnered infamy at a few occasions due to poorly planned marketing tactics however in their particular case, Coke has repeated their blunders not just once but thrice. In 1985 Coke launched a sweeter variant in an attempt to win back younger drinkers switching to Pepsi however, the move backfired when the lovers of the original formula protested leading to a massive boycott & forcing the company to reintroduce their original formula as Coke Classic. Coke has also displayed an abject neglect for cultural nuances as displayed by their debacles in Dubai & China. The recent Adidas debacle following their sexist Manchester United female jerseys is another glaring example of a giant showing that no one is immune to such slip-ups &

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therefore it is important that people understand how to handle such a faux pas.

In order to do handle such an event a company needs to answer 3 important questions: Will the mistake cause significant loss in revenue now & in the future?

Will it tarnish the company’s image? Will it offend consumers? If the answer to all 3 questions is a yes, then the company needs to take immediate evasive steps. In the infamous words of John C. Maxwell, “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, & strong enough to correct them.” In order to accomplish these objectives a company needs to take certain steps. First of all, the company needs to act promptly & go into damage control mode. The longer the issue is allowed to linger, the more damage will be done. Secondly, if the issue has offended a community it is highly advisable to issue an apology. Thirdly, in order to control the ensuing chaos the company needs some good PR going their way & to do that they need to offer their consumers an incentive to forgive & forget. The incentive can be anything as long as it can help reduce or takeaway the spotlight from the gaffe. Lastly, the company needs to takes steps to ensure that such an event does not take place again & promote those steps publicly. Most often the mix-up is a result of multiple mistakes however the company needs to highlight the most glaring errors & tackle those to re-assure the consumer that their concerns are being taken care of. Internally, the company can create a system to detect patterns of mistakes early & detect the data while taking steps to ensure that all elements involved in the previous mix-up are taken care of. Large corporations know that at the end of the day, avoiding such situations over a number of decades is nigh possible however certain best practices have emerged over time & if carefully followed they can ensure that such situations need not result in significant loss of revenue & a bad lasting image in the minds of the consumers.

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updates

december august 2015 2013

Updates

updates

december 2013 august 2015

Media

Cheena Pasrija | IIM Shillong

Unilever faces social media protest

Brand Launch Reliance Brands to launch Japanese retailer Muji’s stores all across the country Reliance brands have entered a joint venture with Japan’s Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. to enter the rapidly growing Indian market. The leading retailer under the Muji brand will open standalone stores across major cities across the nation. The range of products which will be covered are clothing, furniture, stationary, kitchen tools, beauty items and many more.

Unilever is facing issues on all fronts now. Earlier the battlegrounds were bottom lines and shelf spaces but now they have a new threat, which might pose to be a bigger problem to them than the rest. Unilever was recently a target of social media ambush.

The producer of Dove soaps and Surf washing powder – Unilver has been ambushed by a 28-year-old Indian rapper, Sofia Ashraf. She has released a video against Unilever which has gone viral on web. The video “Kodaikanal Won’t” raised the issue of the environment damage done by Unilver in Kodiakanal and calls on Unilever to “clean up your mess”. It has managed to get 2.7 million views online and a response from Paul Polman, Unilever’s chief executive.

Ad Watch Major liquor giant Constellation Brands to launch a new wine in India

Not everything needs to be stored digitally- Canon Printers

Prosecco will be the name of the new wine that is all set to hit the Indian market which is being launched by the Global liquor firm Constellation Brands. The Indian wine market is expected to be one of the biggest wine markets in Asia in the next five years. As per Industry experts, a growing young urban population is definitely going to help reaching good sales in wine which is luring the brand to launch new product in India even though the high taxes are posing challenge.

Not all moments should be stored digitally, some of them are private and just for you. The ad emphasizes on maintaining privacy by preferring print-outs over digital storage. It is short, funny and creates an impact which lasts. Canon, with this strategy, is not just promoting its product but the printing industry as a whole.

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmle8852VZ0

Brand Watch 3 WPP Agencies chosen by Coca Cola for Its Global Ad Campaign Coca Cola has finalized the three agencies that will create their next global campaign after a total of 10 shops pitched their ideas earlier in the year. Coke has confirmed the names of three agencies which are Ogilvy New York, Madrid’s SRA Rushmore and Santo in Buenos Aires. The idea of the brand was to capture ideas from across the globe that will have an automatic connect with people from all geographies.

Aéropostale partners with Arvind Lifestyle to enter the Indian market Major US brand Aeropostale is teaming up with Arvind Lifestyle to enter the rapidly growing Indian market. The brand, popularly known as Aero is planning to come up with its first store in India in March next year. In all, the Company wants to open around 30 stores in India in the next three years and also want to be showcased at the e-commerce platform. India is a truly exciting retail market, driven by its growing economy and vibrant youth culture,” said Julian R Geiger, CEO of Aeropostale.

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Articles are invited

“Best Article”: Divya Naik | T.A.Pai Management Institute He 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 September, 2015. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAME(S)>_<INSTITUTE> to markathon.iims@ gmail.com.

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