the marksman - september issue 2014
DESCRIPTION
The Marksman Magazine, Marketing committee of K J Somaiya Institute Of Management Studies and Research, MumbaiTRANSCRIPT
K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL. V | ISSUE IV | SEPT ’14
MARKSMANThe
Colgate: Brand extension backfired
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
The Brand Domino’s
Rise from the dead
>> pg 06
>>pg 10
>>pg 12
>>pg 17
01 THE MARKSMAN
17
13
12
10
08
06
05
03
31
TWEETS
BRAND MARKIVE
BOOKWORM
SPECIAL STORY
RISE FROM THE DEAD
COVER STORY
AUTHENTIC MARKETING
MARKETING FAUX PAS
BUZZ
IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE
Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN
15
PIONEER
19REWIND
SEPTEMBER 2014 02
EDITOR’S NOTE
Dear Readers,
We welcome you all to yet another exciting September issue of our very own
Marksman!We have a series of exciting articles lined up for you this month.
Our cover story this month features Authentic Marketing talking, about it’s
significance and it’s relevance while marketing a product. This month’s special
story – “Rise from the dead”, talks about reviving the deceased brands and the
process of brand revitalization. Our Brand Markive, discusses about the world’s
most well - known food chain of Pizzas – Domino’s Pizza. In addition to that, we
even have our regular yet exciting sections on: Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude,
Squarehead, Hallmark Campaign and Faux Pass. Also don’t forget to check our last
month’s newly introduced segment Pioneer.
We are glad to inform you that we had received a great response for our
September’s call for Articles and after thorough evaluation, we have Akanksha
Kriti from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Vidushi Trivedi from
MICA and Anu Kaushik from Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management and
Research whose beautifully written articles have been selected to feature in this
month’s issue. And for all those entries which haven’t been featured this month,
we thank you all for your response and encourage you to keep writing to us with
the same fervor.
Feedback is always welcome and we would appreciate and acknowledge if our
readers keep writing to us. Stay connected with us on
www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.
Enjoy Reading!
TEAM MARKSMAN
The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR
@marksmansimsr
TWEETS
Coca Cola: A step ahead of
‘Open Happiness’
With the festive season around the
corner, Coca Cola Company has
conceptualized a new commercial
urging its customers to skip
formalities. The proposition of
“Celebrating togetherness” has
been an attempt to attract the
consumption at home and a step
into the future. The advertisement
is also seen as an alternative, if not
replacement for tea and coffee, at
home. The ad is conceptualized by
McCannWorld Group India.
Nescafe stutter for all hearts
The new Nescafe commercial around a
stuttering youngster has become the talk of
netizens in the past weeks. The company
has brought the emotional connect with
the line “It all starts…” in a better way. This
has been a shift from the actress Deepika
Padukone as the face of the brand. Nescafe
has served its coffee strong to the online
audience while embedding a social message
without being too preachy.
03 THE MARKSMAN
TWEETS
Facebook: Bandwidth Targeting
for Indian Market
Facebook has 1.32 billion users across
the globe and its India user base stands
at 108 million. About 93.1% of the
Facebook's global revenues during
April-June 2014 came from advertising.
To attract the Indian market, Facebook
has launched a bouquet of features
targeted at the Indian advertiser. Its
most recent introduction is the global
targeting capability, that enables
advertisers to reach people based on
the type of network connection they
usually use -be it 2G, 3G or 4G -when
accessing the platform. Called as
'Bandwidth Targeting', the feature is
available globally via the Ad Create
tool, Power Editor and the API tool on
the platform.
FreeCharge: Recharge with
returns
Remember the classic one liner: 'Paise
kya ped par ugte hain?’. FreeCharge, the
online recharge platform, has positioned
itself as a youth ally giving benefits of
coupons and offers on each recharge.
The mobile commerce company in its
well-knit maiden TV campaign offers
insight that youngsters are often
reprimanded for being reckless and
spendthrift by parents.
For every recharge done on
FreeCharge, the company gives
customers discount coupons from food
joints and popular retailers, equivalent
to the recharge amount, delivered to
their mobile, inbox or even doorstep.
The campaign is executed by Lowe
Lintas.
SEPTEMBER 2014 04
Volkswagen continues its solid tradition of subtle and innovative advertising – this time
without featuring the product at all. What could be faster than teleportation? That is indeed
whatVolkswagen depicts here – seamlessly, playfully.
IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE
Client: PenguinCreative Agency: Y&R, Brazil
05 THE MARKSMAN
Client: Volkswagen
Creative Agency: DDB, Mexico
Generations have grown up on Penguin’s books and cherish them fondly. Their latest adimpresses the power of proof reading simply and elegantly the power of reading.Companhia das Letras is Brazil’s largest publisher, 45% of which is owned by Penguin.
BRAND MARKiveDOMINO’S PIZZA
SEPTEMBER 2014 06
A journey of thousand miles begins with a
single step. A slice of this adage clearly
belongs to Domino’s Pizza. Who could have
thought that an investment of merely $
1000 would some fifty years later generate
revenues worth $ 1 billion? The American
franchise, with presence in more than 70
countries across the world and 10,000
stores under its belly, had initially started
out with just one outlet.
In 1960, Tom Monaghan, along with his
brother James, had bought a small Michigan
based pizzeria called “DomiNick’s.” After a
year into the business, James traded off his
half to his brother for a second hand car.
Tom Monaghan, now the sole owner, re-
christened it to Domino’s Pizza in 1965,
two years post which its first franchise
outlet opened in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Within
a decade, it quickly expanded to 200 more,
scrapping Monaghan’s original plan of
adding an extra dot to the logo with the
addition of every new store, the last dot
was added for the third franchise that had
opened in 1969.
It eventually turned global, opening its
first international store in Canada in
1983; the same year it celebrated the
opening of its 1000th store overall. This
was followed by a series of franchisees
mushrooming all across the world right
from down under Australia to upper
class Britain, scorching Africa and even
far east Japan. The year 1998 marked the
retirement of Tom Monaghan, who sold
the company to Bain Capital for a billion
dollars. Talking of big money, in 2004
Domino’s got listed on the NYSE under
the symbol “DPZ.”
Right from the start, the menu was kept
very simple, serving just one type of
pizza crust, namely, regular in sizes of
12” and 16”, respectively, comprising of
11 toppings and a beverage option of
Coca Cola. This underwent a change in
the early 90’s with the innovation of
deep pan pizza.
08 THE MARKSMAN
BRAND MARKIVE
Because of market demand, they had
to adapt to the prevailing trend and
updated their menu by adding
Domino’s deep dish or pan pizza.
Around the same time, they also
introduced the first non-pizza item on
their menu, breadsticks, which over
the years made way for a hoard of
other side dishes, viz. Buffalo Wings,
Lebanese Rolls, Spicy Baked Chicken,
Calzone Pockets, Potato Smackers,
SpicyTwistyz, etc.
Although Domino’s had ventured into
India back in 1996 with its first outlet
in New Delhi, it gained momentum
only between 2007 and 2012, during
which time it changed the holding
company from Domino’s Pizza India
Pvt. Ltd. to Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd.
(which operates Dunkin’ Donuts as
well) and even came up with its IPO.
To cater to the tastes of Indian
consumers, it localised 50% of its
offerings. Over a period, it had gained
market leadership by acquiring 72% of
the market share, more than three
times that of its nearest competitor
and more than two and a half times
the slice it had a decade ago.
07 THE MARKSMAN
Trivia:
There are more than 34
million ways to create a single
Domino’s pizza.
In 1998, Domino’s launched an
industry innovation, Domino’s
HeatWave®, a hot bag using
patented technology that keeps
pizza oven-hot to the customer’s
door.
Domino’s is 96% franchise-
owned.
Domino’s is consistently
one of the top five companies
in terms of online transactions,
behind companies such as
Amazon and Apple.
India is the third largest
market for Domino’s just behind
US & UK.
COVER STORYAUTHENTIC MARKETING
SEPTEMBER 2014 08
In the bustle of management trends that
promise to revolutionise the field,
authentic marketing hasn’t yet been heard
of, at least not in the literature. This may
not seem surprising to the cynic (s/he
might even suggest it to be an
oxymoron), but this may be a good sign –
a relief, perhaps, of authenticity not having
already been reduced to a fad, given that
marketing trends are usually largely about
a change in focus and technique.
But that is not to say that it is not being
practised. With the magical charms of IT,
marketing and advertising have come to
what seems to be the ultimate frontier –
advertising that fulfils all its functions
without being advertising at all. The
Interactive Advertising Bureau defines
native advertising as comprising “paid ads
that are so cohesive with the page
content, assimilated into the design, and
consistent with the platform behaviour
that the viewer simply feels that they
belong”.
But is there money in this? You bet. As
of end of 2012, Facebook was earning
14% of its income through its
Sponsored Stories project. Not without
good reason -- says Sheryl Sandberg,
“[they] perform multiple times better
on both desktop and mobile than ads in
the right-hand column”. According to
Adobe’s Digital Marketing Blog, the
“multiple times” in Sandberg’s quote is
as much as 48 times. In short, it’s
working. In a relatively short time,
interest in native marketing has
snowballed such that more than 73%
members of the Online Publishers
Association now offer native
advertising options – with BIA/Kelsey
reporting spending of over $3.1 billion
this year.
But customer attention may not be so
easy to misdirect over time – the
Edelman Trust Trust Barometer 2014
indicates once again that consumer
trust is not as much a result of accident
or manipulation as of the value they are
able to find – depending on whether
it’s from government (lowest), from
media (next in line) or from social
service (high), on whether you are
Chinese or Singaporean (highest) or
Spanish or Russian (lowest). While
online search engines come up as
highest in trust, social media are lowest
in terms of source of information. Tech
and automotive are the most trusted,
while banking and M&E are the least
trusted.
Blends in so well, fishes can fly. [Escher, MC]
COVER STORY
10 THE MARKSMAN
COVER STORY
Besides, as Copyblogger’s April 2014 study
indicates, 49% online prospects have not
yet even heard of native advertising, with
only a 3% of them knowing what it is.
There are any number of statistics and
case studies floated around on the
acceptability of sponsored content, but
they have to be kept in this context –
simply because marketers are quicker to
discover methods/techniques than
consumers. The vast majority of
consumers are not opposed to online
advertising per se. Most of them recognise
that it is needed for the site’s main
content to remain free. For companies,
native ads offer un-interruptive value
through content. While this is certainly
true in many cases, the objective is to use
them not to increase general knowledge
on the part of the consumer but to
eventually lead to sales. As The Onion’s
fictional Publisher Emeritus T Herman
Zweibel puts it, may the ox of journalism
always be yoked to the cart of commerce?
Native advertising is what marketers are
turning to because authentic marketing is
often not worth the trouble. It belongs to
the family (marketing mix) but is the
subversive extreme – to at least appear
true/sincere.
Put more dramatically, native
advertising is the crafty grandson of
authentic marketing – young, promising,
results-oriented, but naïve and
vulnerable.
But what exactly is authentic
marketing? How authentic exactly is
one being asked to become?
Objective morality aside, there is no
significant agreement as to the way in
which the ‘authentic’ relates to the
organisation. For some, it is
transparency of process. No company
should lie or distort truths such that an
incorrect impression is given of a
product or service. That is, there
should be errors neither of
commission nor omission. For others, it
is being in line with the company’s
mission. In this context, authentic
marketing is surely being used as yet-
another-marketing-strategy (“look how
honest we are!”), but whether or not it
will be possible to practise authentic
marketing (actually telling the truth) is
up for debate. This, however, is one of
those cases where one simply has to go
back to the basics. Marketers will do
well to heed their Adi-guru: said Kotler
in the introduction to his Marketing
Management, “authentic marketing is
not the art of selling what you make
but knowing what to make”. With
native advertising, marketing will be
walking a tight rope -- the challenge
will be to balance the sustained
attention-by-misdirection with
providing genuine value. With great
power comes great responsibility.
09 THE MARKSMAN
SPECIAL STORY
RISE FROM THE DEAD
Binaca, Dalda, HMT, Campa Cola do any of
these product names remind you of some
memories from the past. Brand
Reincarnation gives you a chance to relive
and experience the magic of these deceased
brands.
Brand managers put in their blood and sweat
to strive hard and create, nurture, maintain
and reposition their brands as and when
required. But a new practice is gaining
importance in the present day scenario of
taking a dead brand and giving it a new lease
of life. This is like walking on a two edge
sword where the brand should appeal to the
new generation of consumers and meet the
expectations of the ones who still
remember it.
Imagine Parle’s Gold Spot, which was
discontinued after Coca Cola acquired
certain cola brands from the Chauhans,
bringing it back to life. The soft drink has
some fond memories associated with the
people who are now in their 20s and 30s, in
parallel the brand will obviously look to
fulfill the expectations of the new age
consumers.
The happy news is a couple of brand
conservatives in the United States have
taken up the mammoth task and are active in
the business of brand excavation and revival.
Reasons of the Brand failure can be
attributed to several factors:
Marketing myopia can be one. At times
a brand is too blinded by its success
wears a pair of blinkers and sidelines
the consumer’s needs.
Also, sometimes a brand falters in its
positioning and gets rejected by the
consumers because it fails to connect
culturally with them. Kellogg’s made
this error of judgment in India. Then
there are brands which try to reinvent
themselves ignoring the customer EQ
towards the product and the brand per
say. The New Coke Versus Original
Coke rings a bell.
This amnesia can prove fatal for both
the small brands and the giants.
All of these errors give rise to the new
concept of Brand Reinventing. The new
buds buy the rights of a specific brand
name at a cost less than that of the
New IPhone 6+ trying to capitalize
upon its brand heritage, customer
recognition and historical relevance.
SEPTEMBER 2014 10
SPECIAL STORY
The roadmap of the Process can be laid
down as:
The first step involves extensive market
research to narrow down into products
that the firm terms as “dormant” i.e. out
of use; small in volume or occasionally
some that are stuck in bankruptcy cases.
While we feel that most brands can be
revived, some brands may just not be
worth the effort.
This is particularly true for brands that
suffer from lack of relevant
differentiation, low awareness, and a
negative image. The firm relies heavily on
inside collaboration and interpersonal
skills to carry out the acquisition
process.
The process is followed by Brand
Revitalization where monetary benefits
are taken care of in terms of seed capital.
The final step is the Strategic and
creative development of the ideas
derived in the previous two steps.
‘Scavenger entrepreneur’ a term coined
for the likes of Jeff Himmel, has led to
the development of the malted dairy
drink Ovaltine.
The product was brought from Sandoz
Nutrition Corporation, followed by the
active television advertising strategy
adopted by Mr Himmel of the Himmel
11 THE MARKSMAN
group dubbing the product as a “good-
for-you drink that tastes great”.
The product now has a $40 million hit
turnover and commands 29% of the
chocolate-drink-mix market,
outperforming Hershey's syrup.
Though a herculean task this emerging
trend is likely to grow and not die as a
fad. It requires efforts to rise from the
ashes and build up a new customer base
and make a successful product line out
of a dead brand and with more and
more companies investing in the same,
we can whole heartedly await to see the
revival of some of our favorite perished
brands from the past.
MARKETING FAUX PASColgate Kitchen Entrees-Brand extension backfired
SEPTEMBER 2014 12
Although product innovation and brand
extension is a crucial marketing strategy
that saves companies a lot of time and
money and gives an enriching experience
to the consumer, it backfires spectacularly
if companies fail to understand how their
brands are perceived by consumers. Brand
extensions often go out of plumb if the
company cannot align the product with its
brand, or if they cannot identify their
target market appropriately.
The objective was to make customers
aware of the new products and to achieve
sales of 5% within the first month of the
launch. The idea was after enjoying its
frozen food offerings consumers would go
out and buy its toothpaste as well. The
product was available in different sizes and
prices, but it failed as people could not
establish a link between Colgate as an oral
care brand and Colgate as a ready to eat
brand.
The market and positioning for the
parent brand and the brand extension
were different. The qualities of the
product were microwaveable, healthy and
delicious food at premium price targeting
the middle to upper social class. It was a
huge loss to the company as it wasted a
huge sum of money in commercial
advertisements and promotions. The
brand had conventionally been associated
with personal care and oral care, and the
customers simply did not buy the idea
that they should eat food offered by the
same brand whose products they
normally use to clean their mouths with.
The market segmentation was done in
two parts: Primary market and Secondary
market.
The primary market consisted of the
mothers of middle or upper income
groups whose children were above six
years of age, who had little time for
household work and preferred healthy
meals but find it difficult to prepare
meals. Secondary market consisted of the
young and single individuals who were
studying or working and did not live with
their family, and had no time to prepare
meals. While the idea seemed workable
on the drawing board, Kitchen Entrees
drooped with customers, who didn’t find
Colgate very appetizing. Colgate could
have conducted some more market
research and perhaps introduced its
frozen food products under a new brand.
Colgate
launched
Kitchen
Entrees, a line
of ready to
eat products,
in the US in
1982, hoping
to capture the
growing
market for
frozen food.
From the word go, the notion that
customer is king has been drilled into the
mind of every marketing student. We have
been taught time and again that customers
are the top-most priority for any
organisation. A simple thank you uttered
by a sales rep goes a long way in saying
that the company cares. However, TD
Canada took these simplest of concepts
and produced one of the most beautiful
campaigns seen in modern advertising.
Traditionally, banks have been associated
as being rigid institutions. Lately, the
banking industry has been seeing a radical
change, and banks have been making a
conscious effort in moving towards
customer-centric operations. TD Canada’s
#TDThanksYou campaign is a benchmark
for the same. They found a way to
acknowledge their valued customers in an
extremely personalised and compassionate
way, thus, ensuring that their loyalties
would remain strong for years on end.
#TDThanksYou
When ATM Got a New Meaning
Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN
At four different locations, TD placed its
“Automated Thanking Machines” that
surprised every customer who tried to
transact through it. The first such
wonder was when the ATM started
conversing with the customers on issues
closest to their hearts. This was followed
by some very special gifts popping out of
the ATM that were tailor made for each
customer.
13 THE MARKSMAN
A mother sending money to her daughter,
who was suffering from cancer in
Trinidad, was presented with air tickets
to meet her. A Blue Jay baseball fan
received a team jersey, glove, ball and hat.
Further, his favourite player, the very
famous Jose Bautista, himself appeared
from behind and invited the astounded
customer to pitch live in Blue Jay’s
upcoming game. A mother of two
children even received piggy banks with
air tickets to Disneyland.
These were just a few of the many
examples; interestingly, across TD’s 1,110
outlets, over 20,000 employees gave out
envelopes with $20 to their customers
throughout the day. Special awards for
longest-associated customers were given,
and the staff even clicked selfies with
them.
SEPTEMBER 2014 14
This “we love our customers” campaign
immediately went viral on the social
media platforms and garnered a
staggering 3.5 million views in just a few
days.
Touching and caring are seldom used as
adjectives for a bank, but TD
revolutionised its image and quickly
became synonymous as a bank that does
care after all. A very similar campaign
was WestJet’s Christmas Miracle.
Although the value propositions were
poles apart, the underlying feature of
making the customer feel special
remained constant. A single master
stroke by TD has been successful in
creating partnerships that will stand the
test of time. We as marketers will be
looking forward to what they come up
with next.
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN
BOOK WORMWho Says Elephant can’t dance? Inside
IBM’s Historic Turnaround-Louis V.Gerstner, Jr.
OCTOBER 2013 19
In the August edition of THE
MARKSMAN, Book Worm spoke about
the story of McKinsey and its influence
on American Business. Today let’s talk
about the book written by a living
legend who had a considerable stint in
McKinsey and later became the SUPER
CEO of IBM; Louis.V.Gerstner Jr -
Chairman and CEO,1993 - 2002. In
1992, IBM was caught in the cobweb of
its Mainframe Business which was
headed for obsolescence. The overall
organizational issues that ranged from
lack of vision and strong leadership skills
to policies and bureaucracy added to its
misery. However, Gerstner’s shrewd
strategic decisions helped the company
to rise from the brink of bankruptcy and
propelled back to its business with a
thumping victory.
His memoir, “Who Says Elephant Can’t
Dance?” talks about his role in IBM's
competitive and cultural transformation.
The book takes us through five different
sections: Grabbing Hold, Strategy,
Culture, Lessons Learned, and
Observations. It gives us insight about
disaster recovery planning and short
term and long term planning.
In the depth of crisis, identifying and
resolving key strategic issues is what is
critical for stabilizing the company. The
chapter ‘Grabbing hold’ talks about how
he managed the same and curtailed the
revenue loss within the first couple of
years. He sold unproductive assets to
raise cash and re-engineered certain R&D
divisions for new products. The book
also mentions Gerstner‘s meticulous
planning involved in communication with
the media. His iconic statement, “The last
thing that IBM needs is a vision” created
a positive wave and share holders started
to believe his capability to turnaround the
company.
The pivotal sections of the book are
Strategy and Culture. Gerstner says
“Until I came to IBM, I probably would
have told you that culture was just one
among several important elements in any
organization's makeup and success along
with vision, strategy, marketing, financials,
and the like.
15 THE MARKSMAN
BOOKWORM
However, I came to see, in my time at IBM,
that culture isn't just one aspect of the
game; it is the game. In the end, an
organization is nothing more than the
collective capacity of its people to create
value.”
IBM, due to its global presence was
challenging for Gerstner to align every
business unit to the common organizational
objective. The organization which initially
authorized its various divisions to rebrand
and advertise its products themselves was
disallowed during Gerstner’s tenure. This
strategic decision helped the company to
portray it as a single large brand rather
than individual divisions providing cutting
edge business solutions. He was
instrumental in changing work culture. His
most proud accomplishment was to bring
IBM closer to its Customers and inculcate
Customer Centricity in their employees,
break up fiefdoms and align compensation
with performance.
Gerstner identified that IBM’s unique
competitive advantage is its ability to
provide integrated solutions for customers
rather than selling the proprietary system
hardware that had once built IBM in the
preceding decades. This was his Midas
touch which boosted the company to
develop middleware technologies which
eventually led to the rise of market
capitalization and profits. Gerstner thus
made the elephant to dance.
In the ‘Lessons Learned’ section,
Gerstner provides advice and key
takeaways which can be applied to any
industry. One of them is: “A successful,
focused enterprise is one that has
developed a deep understanding of its
customer's needs, its competitive
environment, and its economic realities.
This comprehensive analysis must form
the basis for specific strategies that are
translated into day-to-day execution.”
The book hence gives a lot of guidelines
across areas like Strategy, Marketing,
Planning, Leadership and Communication
which can come handy to all managers. It
is a unique case study in managing a crisis,
and a thoughtful reflection on the
computer industry and the principles of
leadership. Overall it is precise, well
written, thought provoking and a real
page turner.
SEPTEMBER 2014 16
PIONEERMahendra Singh Dhoni (Mahi)
17 THE MARKSMAN
“Anhoni ho gayi honi, aur main ban gaya
Dhoni!” Our very own Captain Cool,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD), is one of
the most valuable assets of India. An
aggressive attacking batsman, a reliable
wicketkeeper, and a level headed captain;
he is the man with the Midas Touch.
He led the Indian cricket team to many
unforgettable victories: the 2007 ICC
World Twenty20, the CB Series of 2007–
08, the 2010 Asia Cup, the 2011 ICC
Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC
Champions Trophy. His credentials are
clearly excellent, but how did the little boy
from Ranchi become the 22nd most paid
athlete in the world? Brand Dhoni has
emerged as an almost fool-proof formula
to promote any product.
His endorsements range from Pepsi to
Reebok to Orient Fans to Reliance
Communications. His saleability is not
just because of his impressive track
record, it is also because of his ability to
connect with the masses in one way or
another.
His ability to convert anything that he
endorses into a prospective way to
connect with people has definitely
worked in his favour. An example is the
‘Believe’ campaign started by Star Sports
which includes memorable lines like:
Mujhe yakeen hai ki sirf sheher chote hai,
wahan ke log aur unke khwaab nahin’ (I
believe that only towns are small, not
their people and their dreams).
SEPTEMBER 2014 18
PIONEER
As the captain of the cricket team in a
country where cricket is not merely a
sport, but a religion, his job is not easy. He
excels in fulfilling this responsibility. His
honesty highlights the humble roots that he
comes from. His commitment towards his
team-mates, his followers and his country is
exceptional. MSD understands the psyche
of a complex nation and the emotions
attached to this wonderful sport.
He understands that in this nation,
cricketers are heroes, and the nation will
always look up to its heroes. He strives to
maintain his image as Mr. Dependable, on
field as one of the best finishers in the game
and off field by setting an example in all his
endeavours.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has created a niche
for himself in a way that he is now
irreplaceable, and this is what makes him a
pioneer.
When his actions reinforce the words
spoken by him, a country truly
believes in having the courage to
chase its dreams, come what may.
There is immense respect for any
person who fights seemingly
insurmountable odds to eventually
excel beyond expectations, and MSD
is the perfect example.
His constant experimentations with
his looks through his myriad of
hairstyles has been another way by
which Brand Dhoni has evolved. It is
the first time that an Indian
sportsperson has dictated trends that
were hitherto an area ruled by
Bollywood stars or models. His unique
sense of style, his unmatched
confidence paired with his consistent
cool demeanour is what has made
Mahi a success.
REWINDA Sales Pitch for Sales
19 THE MARKSMAN
Normally a dull and lazy Sunday morning at
SIMSR was transformed into a state of
excitement and enlightenment with the
successful workshop conducted by Team
Interface and the representatives from
Mercadeo Education Pvt. Ltd. on the 14th of
September, 2014.
With distinguished speakers like Mr.
Anshuman Mishra (Manager-KPMG,
Business Advisor to firms like Nike, Emami,
M&S, Fonterra, DuPont, Sab Miller) and Mr.
Himanshu Chauhan (more than 6 years of
experience in Sales & Marketing in sectors
including Insurance, Education & IT), the
workshop had to be an instant success. The
speakers’ erudition and experience on sales
and marketing drove the session to new
heights. The student participation and
enthusiasm was also commendable.
The session started with the age old
question that circles around in the mind of
every MBA student—Sales or Marketing.
A show of hands confirmed that there
were only a few takers for sales. People
were looking for profiles with core
marketing like brand management and
market research and analysis. But are
sales and marketing really that exclusive?
With the examples and illustrations that
followed, it became quite clear that both
are intertwined. But without the desired
sales, even the best marketing plans can
go for a toss.
The speakers spoke passionately about
the growth paths and career prospects of
sales as well as marketing. Why are the
CEOs of many major companies from
sales? Why such a skewed preference
towards sales executives? These
questions were also effectively answered.
A detailed description about the
certification program CSFA and why it is
required for students was also explained.
In the end, play time was conducted with
loads of goodies for the participants. All
in all, it was a very interactive and
informative session.
Another show of hands in the end
showed that a lot of people were
convinced how important sales is and
were inclined to pursue that as a career
option. If this was not an effective sales
pitch, we don’t know what was.
Tete -a-TeteMr. Anshuman Mishra & Mr. Himanshu Chauhan
SEPTEMBER 2014 20
Here’s an excerpt from the interview with
Mr. Anshuman Mishra (Manager-KPMG,
Business Advisor to firms like Nike, Emami,
M&S, Fonterra, DuPont, Sab Miller) and Mr.
Himanshu Chauhan (more than 6 years of
experience in Sales & Marketing in sectors
including Insurance, Education & IT),
Q1. What led you to move from a
successful career in marketing to form a
training and certification company?
Mr. Chauhan: It’s about an idea coming up.
An idea that comes through your heart.And
about being successful marketers, when it
comes to entrepreneurship, with any idea, it
is all the skills, finance, operations, HR, and
collaborating all these skills which have
many challenges. Life is full of
entertainment, but it is only entertaining
when you have challenges, so it’s all about
accepting challenges.
Mr. Mishra: Why entrepreneurship, it’s
fairly simple. I read a quote a while back
which said that you either have a dream
and you follow your dream or somebody
will hire you to make their dream come
true. So that’s the reason. And about
Mercadeo, it was high time somebody did
this. Whatever professional success I have
today, much of whatever success my friends
have today is purely because of what we
studied in marketing, and there was nothing
which was going back, no feedback.
So one night we got this idea, why don’t
we create a marketing answer to CFA.
Q2. How do you differentiate your
certification from others such as that of
the SMEI or SMPS (Certified Professional
Services Marketer Program)?
Mr. Mishra: When we took up this idea
about three years back, exactly the same
bit of research went into how do we
make CSFA different or special. One
thing about SMEI or SMPA is that it
predominantly targets working
professionals. So they assume that you
know sales and then work a little bit out.
This is a course which is aimed at giving
you a lot of knowledge. There’s a proper
reading compilation and there’s a lot of
research that has gone into that and it is
mainly focussed around business school
students.That’s essentially the difference.
Mr. Chauhan: Also, sales is a very
important aspect of marketing. But the
topic of sales is often misunderstood.
21 THE MARKSMAN
Tete -a-Tete
Mr. Mishra: When we started, I didn’t havea number in mind. I had a reasonablecareer. It isn’t the money which is drivingus. What we’re looking for is that this
actually helps you when you walk into your
summer interview to get that edge over the
others because you’re much more prepared
in that field. What we have in the
certification is very different from what you
read in Kottler.
Mr.. Chauhan: Another thing that we
have included is that in the certification is
that not only academicians have
contributed but also people who have
more than 8–10 years of experience in
sales and marketing have shared their
insights. It isn’t just theory and
fundamentals. Its viewpoints coming across
from different experienced people.
Q4. How do you reconcile sales targets
and your own conscience?
Mr. Mishra : That mainly depends on
where I’m working. Typically what you do is,
you need to be convinced about what you
want. Sometimes you do it for the money. If
I’m selling cigarettes and I have a target to
match, and I cannot advertise. You may think
it’s immoral or unethical, but there’s a
target to be met. Often the targets are not
achieved by your campaigns or promotions,
but by how much your distributor is
actually able to push it.
As far as the conscience is concerned, it is
your call.
Even when you can pick your subjects,
what you pick is mostly brand
management or consumer behaviour
because you’re always thinking long
term. You’re not thinking what you’re
going to do immediately after you
leave MBA. So, Anshuman brought this
point into the business idea that this is
one thing that has been completely
ignored, at least in the first year of
MBA. And when you go for an
internship in a sales/marketing field,
this is the profile that you get. This is
what we want to bring into
perspective.
Mr. Mishra: You keep studying Philip
Kottler, and you get a rosy picture
about marketing. So the image I had
was that I would pass out, I would sit
in a conference room with Aishwarya
Rai, and we would design a nice ad to
sell coke. When we go out the world
is completely different. And I’ve seen
guys who are very good at marketing
fail. When you join marketing, what
you essentially do is sales. All your life,
you’re prepared for the BCG matrix
and the Ansoff matrix, which I’m sure
everybody is good at. But that’s not
what we’re going to do.
Q3. Will your growth strategy
typically depend on a critical threshold
of people from the top rung institutes
doing your courses?
FEATURED ARTICLES#ALSIcebucketchallenge: Marketing lessons for
a social cause
-ANU KAUSHIK
BHARATI VIDYAPEETH
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
AND RESEARCH, NEW DELHI
Creating an appearance for product and
services or providing content awareness
through utilising diverse channels of e-
marketing, the question arises, is it enough
for any organisation?
In today’s changing situation with the
changes in trend, it appears to be not
sufficient for any organisation or individual
who’s using the latest technology called
web to just create content anymore;
achievement lies in making substance so
effective that it will captivate the crowd
and persuade them to spread the
expression.
Therefore, the quest is on for a “formula”
that gets individuals attention, and
how a brand positions its cause that
succeeds is worth gaining from.
What do you get when you bring
together a basin of ice, access to
online networking and one non-
benefit mission for disease
awareness?
The ALS ice bucket challenge—
This brilliant idea was given by a
former Boston College baseball player,
Peter Frates living with ALS
(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—the
disease), who understood the value of
social networking and initiated this
revolution for a cause with his unique
idea.
In this challenge, individuals post their
videos online featuring themselves
while dumping buckets full of ice water
over their heads for bringing a cause to
light and for donations to ALS; they
further challenge their
friends/companions to dump water on
themselves, a typical stipulation is that
challenged participants have 24 hours
to perform and if not done within that
period, they forfeit by donating certain
charitable financial amount.
SEPTEMBER 2014 22
Understand the importance of social
media:
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was an
immaculate storm of online networking,
superstar and grass-roots generosity,
creating typhoon-quality viral social
engagement amid the pooch days of
summer. It also demonstrated how social
networking might be useful, harnessed,
coordinated and oversaw for a social
cause.
As indicated by Facebook, between June 1
and August 17, 2014, in excess of 28
million individuals have joined the
discussion about the Ice Bucket Challenge,
including posts, remarks or likes to further
promote it on a large scale. More than 2.4
million people have been identified
imparting and sharing the ice bucket
challenge among each other.
Whether you’ve chuckled at your
companion’s response to the icy water or
initiated to take the challenge yourself,
posts related to it are all over the place.
This activity has accomplished something
that is each advertiser’s fantasy: turning
into a web sensation and catching wide
consideration of the country in just a
month or two.
Thus, each advertiser spreading a cause
needs to learn where the best
combination lies? Is it in innovation, like by
giving a platform to some different idea or
bringing change/an excitement through
freshness for the audience?
A further lesson for marketers to
understand how ALS ice bucket
challenge has capitalised through social
media is given:-
Utilise perfect timing—Summer is
the mainstream time for getaways, and
a lot of people are delighted in a more
loose work plan. By understanding the
need of the customer, challenge started
at such a time when students were
enjoying their school vacations, and
their were augmented hours of daylight
permitted individuals to partake in the
Challenge and feature their super
splashing after-work. An Ice Bucket
Challenge would have never been
successful in the winters. Therefore, its
initial start in summer proved as a
perfect time for the challenge to
engage thousands of people.
FEATURED ARTICLES
23 THE MARKSMAN
Recognize the objective—The objective
of the ice bucket Challenge is to extend
mindfulness and raise money for ALS
research, and its prosperity has surpassed
introductory desires. The objective is
straightforward and clear, and the challenge
doesn’t oblige many efforts from members:
going online to participate or donate
doesn’t ask for much exertion.
Today’s buyers like straightforwardness and
immediate information. They ordinarily
won't take the time to peruse through a
whole article, pamphlet or page to
comprehend a message. Advertisers: your
companion is straightforwardness.
It’s extraordinary, basic and
sufficiently insane-
The #Alsicebucketchallenge feels like a
healthy natured clip featured on YouTube
and other platforms. It provides an ease of
finishing with the client’s assent; it is to a
great degree entertaining to watch; and it
has an extraordinary follow-up message.
Alongside a pinch of light heartedness, the
#Alsicebucketchallenge is likewise
exceptionally straightforward and simple.
No email, no entering and no external site.
Low responsibility is amazingly vital in case
you’re attempting to get an expansive
number of individuals involved. It’s,
additionally, another method for “becoming
a web sensation.” Instead of one bit of
extraordinary content being shared again
and again, every video is viral inside
that member’s prompt circle, and it is
linked by an easy, excellent hash tag.
Vital role of Celebrities—The
promotion got to be viral after some of
the biggest celebrities and sports
figures responded to the call, including
Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Sheryl
Sandberg, Oprah and many others.
Their massive following permitted the
Challenge to explode from one
country and expanded worldwide.
Naturally, pulling in a varied blend of A-
list famous people and celebrities who
have risen to the Challenge, their
followers chose it likewise helping to
generate more funds.
The call to activity is fun and
free—Although donations are
supported, there is no piece of this
fight that requests clients purchase or
giving personal information to
participate. The main thing it stipulates
is “spill water over your head or
donate.”
Thus, the last lesson for advertisers is
this: The trap isn’t to duplicate or copy
an incredible crusade; it is to gain from
it and consolidate the lessons into
future thoughts. The
#Alsicebucketchallenge is fun, it’s for a
decent cause, it had the right timing, it
doesn't compel and it’s new. The
greatest lesson from this ice storm is
that individuals like to connect with
individuals and not with organisations.
FEATURED ARTICLES
SEPTEMBER 2014 24
FEATURED ARTICLESThe art of making a viral video:
AIB genius of the year
You are yet again working late. After
handing over the report to your manager,
the long day at the office seems finally
over and you step out to fetch your car
from the parking lot. On your way back
you ponder silently about your hectic life,
pray for less traffic on the road and scan
through FM stations at the signal. On the
crowded street, vendors are trying to
make their final sale for the day and the
menacing auto rickshaws and
motorcyclists try to nudge and get ahead
of the other cars. Irritated drivers keep
honking while mendicants take an
opportunity to make some extra pennies
at the traffic signals. You aimlessly listen to
the radio jockey talking or to the several
commercials being played between songs.
Finally, you reach home, remove your
uncomfortable heels or the suffocating
neck tie and relax on your couch. Now,
how much attention did you pay to the
street vendors, the beggars, the radio
commercials on your way home? You
ignored them all in plain sight.
To make a video go viral, we need to
think like street performers. Street
performers grab the attention of the
people who have no time yet they are
eager to see what follows. These
performers perform some unbelievable
tricks that get the onlookers engaged.
Similarly, the internet is filled with a
plethora of digital media. If you want to
make people watch your work, there
needs to be a surprise element that
engages them.
This video showcases Alia Bhatt’s self-
deprecating humour that surprised the
social media circle. Let us analyse the
reasons for the success of this video:
It’s all in the name!
Howsoever good the content of your
video may be, it may end up being
ignored because the name did not grab
the eyeballs. The title of this video,
‘Genius of the Year’ instantly brings to
attention the following characteristics
about the video—
25 THE MARKSMAN
“I believe in crying for people and laughing
at myself”
– Alia Bhatt
VIDUSHI TRIVEDI- MICA
•It acknowledges the popularity of the
Bollywood super-hit ‘Student of the Year’
and indicates the reference of this video.
•It’s a pun on the word “Genius” given
that Alia has been a Twitter victim for all
the Dumb Indian Blonde jokes.
•The title gives out a vibe of a fun-filled
experience to its audience.
StoryTelling
It is important to grab the viewers’
interest in the first five seconds. In the
words of Jon Steel— “People are
inherently complex, emotional,
unpredictable creatures, whose
relationships with each other and the
things (including brands, products and
advertising) around them are more
important than the things themselves.”
(Steel, 16 March 1998)
Thus, storytelling helps form the
relationship of our
product/advertisement with the
consumer. Our story must be greater
than our products because this is what
binds our consumers to us.
The backdrop of this video was the
episode of Koffee with Karan Season 4,
where Alia sputtered the name ‘Prithviraj
Chauhan’ when asked who the President
of India was. Ever since, she has been the
butt of all jokes. This video depicts Alia’s
efforts to correct her ‘dumb’ image by
working hard to improve her general
knowledge.
This video tells you the story of a
journey from failure on national television
10 THE MARKSMAN
of an upcoming Bollywood star to
redemption in the most humorous way
possible.
By making fun of herself, Alia leveraged the
negative publicity by exaggerating it further
and eventually won the hearts of everyone.
Emotional Rollercoaster Ride
Once the viewers’ attention has been
grabbed, it is necessary to keep them
intrigued for long. It is imperative to engage
the audience emotionally—to make them
smile, then sad and again make them laugh.
Alia starts off with an emotional dialogue “I
had thought that day would be the best day
of my life…but…” and the video shows
that even her family and friends started to
crack jokes on her. Thus, the funny video
also had its share of contrasting emotions
that kept the audience interested.
There is little doubt that Alia has already
been successful in Bollywood. Many
youngsters look up to her. The negative
publicity spread a wrong message to the
nation that successful Bollywood stars are
ignorant and have low IQ.
SEPTEMBER 2014 26
FEATURED ARTICLES
Now, Alia showed her followers that she
accepted her shortcomings and did
everything she could to inspire the youth.
Her career was strong before and will
continue to be after this video, but in the
eyes of the audience, she emerged as a
strong, wise, young and successful Bollywood
actor.
Touch Hearts with an idea that
Connects
This video not only makes us laugh
but it also shows Alia doing what most
of us will refrain from doing—
admitting our flaws and taking
corrective measures.
This video is a courageous attempt
made by the actress of not finding the
easier way out but handling the
situation head-on. We all fear being
talked badly about, and the video
shows you, how one should take
criticism.
Using all possible social media
channels
As it had been the internet world and
mainly the youth who had targeted
Alia with a series of jokes about her,
creating a video on the same
communication medium helped it
reach out to her critics. The video
gained popularity across YouTube,
Facebook,Twitter, Blogs and Posts etc.
Keep it simple and stupid
Our audience is not keen on watching
something that is grave and requires
immense concentration. They want to
watch something that helps them relax
and forget the hectic mundane life.
This video uses simple and witty ways to
convey the message to the viewer—from
the way Alia cries to her work outs in the
‘mental gym,’ all the jokes being cracked
on her such as “she is suffering from an
acute state of Darsheel Safari.” Even
though the end is dramatic and heroic, her
crying out in a state of being overwhelmed
makes you smile. Key is to keep it simple
for the viewers to be able to easily
understand and laugh at.
FEATURED ARTICLES
27 THE MARKSMAN
FEATURED ARTICLESAirtel's 'The Smartphone Network' ad
campaign: Women empowerment?
- AKANKSHA KIRTIIIM Kozhikode
"This is a classical example of denying menrights. The boss lady finds satisfactions ingiving extra load of work to her maleemployees and makes them work extrahours denying basic human rights to gohome after usual work hours. Then shemake a 2 min noodles and show that toher husband to cool him down.the poorand loving husband who is obviouslyhungry falls for her trap ! Dedicated to allhalf brained feminists"[1]
If this youtube comment pops up as a
question in KBC and one has to guess the
ad that is being referred to, chances are
many of us would find this question a
sitting duck. And, why not given the
attention this Airtel’s ‘The Smartphone
Network’ ad has received. According to
Unmetric, it suddenly became the buzz of
the town and became the most engaging
post from Airtel in the duration. (See the
statistics of youtube for the ad popularity)[2]
The vignette comment may sound
ludicrous to few, humorous to some,
just to others and innocuous to many,
nonetheless, it in itself symbolizes that
ad had stirred up a hornest’ nest
among feminist groups and had been
deftly able to capture first A –
Attention of AIDA model (Attention ->
Interest -> Desire -> Affect).
It has successfully cut through clutter
by striking at all time contentious issue
of women emancipation and
liberalization. One school of thought
finds the ad as portrayal of empowered
women who is breaking the glass
ceiling while adorning the seat of boss
and exuding authority and elegance
even while assigning tasks to his
subordinate (who in the meanwhile
turns out to be her husband).
SEPTEMBER 2014 28
The other school of thought takes it with a
pinch of salt and asks the important ‘WHY’.
Why a working lady (read wife) boss has to
be shown cooking food for her husband
while she is at home. Why the scene can’t
be replaced with her enjoying food at a
restaurant and ‘missing you message’. Why
can’t there be a cook serving food at home
and wife missing supper which she used to
take with her husband or why couldn’t the
ad end at simply a video call?
To answer these, let us look at existing
patriarchal structure of our society. Today,
many men desire for a wife a who is
educated, confident, assertive and
independent as Madhurima Tuli in the ad
but at the same time expect her to be
homely, subdued, sanskari enough to give
priority to home/ husband. Isn’t it a case of
split personality where lady boss has to
adorn two different masks to get
acceptance and mild down her success by
getting into the shoes of cook? Sadly,
answer is yes and the ad is conveying the
message, though subtly, that you may be
boss at office but at home you are wife and
have to juggle with household chores
notwithstanding of how hard you toil in the
office.(note that lady boss leaves her office
at odd working hours).
If ad agency has to show romance why
can’t it be shown with role reversals –
a female employee in the office and
her husband, considering her work
commitment, is cooking food for her –
hadn’t it been a better salute to all
corporate women who too work late
and work hard. This would have made
it a better ad with due appreciation to
dedication of women workforce of
the country and at the same time,
acceptance of ambition of women and
the fact that they equally have desire
to get recognition and honour at
work instead of conveying the
message that if you need to be a boss
at office you must be a subordinate at
home.
Cynics may say that it is just an ad and
should not be delved into with so
much scrutiny. But the pertinent
question is shouldn’t an ad just like a
movie be made with some social
responsibility?
FEATURED ARTICLES
29 THE MARKSMAN
SquAreheaD
SEPTEMBER 2014 30
31 THE MARKSMAN
BUZZ
4.
5. 6.
1. 2.
3.
PUZZLE
CLUES
ACROSS:
1. An e-commerce website
founded by Jack Ma
2. Name the parent
company of Royal Enfield
3. A popular brand which
belongs to swatch
DOWN:
4. Name the company that
announced Prasoon Joshi as
New chairman for Asia
Pacific region
5. Its common between
Micromax, Karbon, Lava,
Indigo
6. Aravind Limited is the
marketer for this famous
denim brand in India
Answers:
1. Alibaba, 2. EicherMotors, 3.Longines, 4. McCann
Worldgroup, 5.Indian, 6.Wrangler
Call for ARTICLES
CALL FOR ARTICLES OCTOBER 2014
Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:
*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are
clearly mentioned.
The best adjudged article will be given a Winner’s Certificate.
Deadline for the submission of article will be : 20th October 2014
1. One article can have only one author.
2. Your article should be approximately 800-850
words and MUST be replete with relevant
pictures that can be used to enhance the
article.
3. FontType: Gill Sans MT
4. Font Size: 14.
5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to
6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute
Name_CourseYear
7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic
1. #MakeInIndia : Its implications on the world
2. Filing patent infringements : Innovative
marketing strategy?
3. Deepika Padukone, TOI fiasco : Helping TOI
bounce back
SEPTEMBER 2014 32
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THE TEAM
TWEETS by
Kavya Dubey
It’s all about AD-itude by
Abhijit Sharma
Brand MARKive by
SankalpThakur
COVER STORY by
Akshay Peshave
SPECIAL STORY by
Shruti Gupta
HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by
Dhruv Maheshwari
PIONEER by
Sukanya Remesh
REWIND by
PalakThakkar
TETE-A-TETE by
Sukanya Remesh
Akshay Peshave
BOOKWORM by
Dilip Anatharman
SquAreheaD by
Abhijit Sharma
BUZZ by
VasundharaTewari
FAUX PAS by
Rishika Saxena
PROOF READ by
Minoli Sheth
PalakThakkar
DESIGNING by
RahulVangani
Shweta Panikker
Niharika Srivastava
PROMOTIONS by
Abhijit Sharma
The MARKSMAN is the
newsletter of INTERFACE, the
Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya
Institute of Management Studies
and Research, Mumbai.
Images used in THE
MARKSMAN are subject to
copyright. THE MARKSMAN
does not take any responsibility
of any kind of plagiarism in the
articles received from students
of other colleges.
The TEAM
33 THE MARKSMAN