imtg markezine oct 2012
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IMTG MARKEZINE Oct 2012TRANSCRIPT
MARKEZINE ISSUE XIV • OCTOBER’12
WORD OF MOUTH
From The Editors’ Desk Club MarkUp believes that the lessons learnt from history are in-valuable. They provide a backdrop for future learning. Capturing this essence, a traditional approach to word of mouth marketing and its evolution in the current aspect would be an interesting di-mension to explore. Today when an endorsement of a brand can be harvested in a way unlike any other with a simple ‘like’ option, it becomes quite interesting to observe the power of the almighty Word of Mouth. It is this sentiment of influence and virality that finds a clear reso-nance in falling dominoes. A gentle push growing in impact and effect, truly represents in essence the concept of Word of Mouth. We expected a plethora of perspectives would be shared; the vari-ety was indeed exciting. For this, we at Club MarkUp are grateful. We urge fresh participants to contribute in making Markezine a truly vibrant, diverse magazine. Moreover, October 2012 marks the onset of Marketing World Cup ‘12. The epic battle begins yet again, to test your skill and acumen. Get your battle axes out Marketers it’s time to prove your mettle. Glory is yours to attain; will this be just another missed opportu-nity or are you ready to take what is rightfully yours! We would also take this opportunity to reach out to our readers
for feedback to further this endeavour.
Thanks and regards, Ankit Gupta
Credits
Co-editor: Raunak Sancheti, Divyanshu Sethi
Design Team: Raunak Narang, Dhruv Chopra
Content: Aadish Kohli, Ramya Vasudevan, Shubham Gupta
Write to us at [email protected]
Follow us on :
MARKEZINE October 2012
Ankit Gupta
2nd year,
PGDM (Marketing)
IMT, Ghaziabad
Contents
From the Editors’ Desk ....................................................................................... 1
Word of Mouth 2.0 ............................................................................................. 3
Word of Mouth: Boon or Bane ............................................................................ 4
Influencer Marketing .......................................................................................... 6
Word of Mouth publicity for Movies ................................................................... 8
Word of Mouth and its Future........................................................................... 10
The ‘Word of Mouth’ effect ............................................................................... 12
Mark-e-feed: Risque Marketing ........................................................................ 14
Mark-e-feed: Loyalty Program– All glitter and no gold? .................................... 16
Mark-e-feed: Sensory Marketing ....................................................................... 18
Mark-e-feed: Catching the eye of the public ...................................................... 20
Mark-e-feed: VESPA– A new beginning ............................................................. 22
Mark-toon ........................................................................................................ 23
Ad-O-Holic 7.0 .................................................................................................. 24
WOW- Words On Wall....................................................................................... 25
MARKEZINE October 2012
5 3
Word of Mouth 2.0:
On October 21st, Mr. Anand Rai from Delhi
posted a photo on Facebook, about an old man
seeking dignified labour to support his family. Till
this photograph came along, all his posts had re-
ceived on an average 5 likes and no shares. In just
3 days it spread like wildfire and was shared over
40,000 times from his account and elsewhere.
This was Word of Mouth 2.0, the new communi-
cation marketers are focusing on.
WOM 2.0 is all about taking social networking to
a level where the traditional WOM turns viral and
your content gets shared faster than you envi-
sioned it. The recent Gangnam Style is another
example of WOM 2.0; everyone agrees the video
is quirky and fun but no one can pinpoint exactly
what they love about the video. It’s a fire which
caught on, right from the West Indies team to the
interest of Trollers on Facebook; everything was
done the Gangnam style!
Today’s generation thrives on unique content;
they want to be inspired, awed, ecstatic or even
disgusted through it. Facebook has understood
this need and created its product around this
need of its users to be heard and to be seen. Mar-
keters are already working on their Social media
strategies but WOM 2.0 is not just about effective
Social media networking. It works effectively
when your audience trusts the source the infor-
mation is coming from, when the information
seems like a personal account rather than a paid
advertisement. As Dr. Kotler says, “Word of
mouth will either make you or break you”.
Marketers have always engaged in WOM mar-
keting through –
Identifying influential individuals and get-
ting them to endorse the product
Offering free services or product trials to
build a buzz about product attributes
Developing regular PR channels to spread
information about products
In WOM 2.0, marketers have access to customers
24x7. This has changed the way WOM works; it’s
no longer just about the right people, it’s about
the right message. If your information is compel-
ling enough it will go viral on its own without the
need for an intensive marketing budget to boost
the buzz!
Marketers could work on the below parameters
to build a buzz about their brand.
Content – ‘Content is the king’ - if it doesn’t ex-
cite you, it doesn’t work for you. It is about the
associations your audience makes between your
brand and your content. Innocent Drinks is a bev-
erage company providing healthy beverage op-
tions, with a fan following running into 2 lakhs on
Facebook. Their posts are highly popular even
though they are rarely about their drinks.The
posts are fun, relate to current news and happen-
ings. The customers associate the brand today
with the same values.
Channel and Measurement– Since WOM 2.0 has
moved on to the Social Media, marketers have a
gamut of options available to them. Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest are great channels for viral mar-
keting and excellent for measuring their effective-
ness. If it isn’t working, you move on to more
crowded pastures!
Involvement – Once you take your product/brand
out there and the word gets out, ensure you stick
around to control it lest it gets out of your hand.
Word of Mouth has evolved from a few spokes-
persons to viral marketing; it’s not going away
anytime soon and marketers should make the
most of it!
Shilpa Kulkarni
MBA, TAPMI, Manipal
Has work experience
in the travel industry
and is interested in
branding
Word of Mouth– Boon or Bane
Marketing and Public Relations are two proc-
esses which go hand in hand. PR strategies in-
clude a variety of methods to strengthen a busi-
ness' good will, credibility and its brand image.
The art of influencing public opinion, including
seminars, promotional activities, special activities,
product launches, advertisements, sponsorships
and media releases is a process which requires
astute thinking and strategizing. The underlying
objective behind all the PR activities is to publi-
cize businesses and their products, services and
its purposes. Word of mouth is one of the most
inexpensive and effective methods for promoting
business.
Advantages of Word-of-Mouth Publicity
The first and foremost tool used by Public Rela-
tions professionals is publicity. Until the last dec-
ade, however, the scope of word of mouth
(WOM) publicity was largely unexplored and ob-
fuscated by PR professionals.
WOM happens to be one of the most inexpensive
and effective techniques to promote any busi-
ness. A common man will tend to have more trust
on WOM publicity than the publicity by common
means of advertising. WOM marketing is more
than the mere creation of verbal propaganda; it
also makes public
relations and marketing easier. WOM publicity
incites people to share details, experiences, and
information about their personal lives, which a
shrewd public relations professional can exploit in
order to reach target audiences more effectively.
Pros and Cons of WOM
WOM attracts public attention and involvement,
be it through blogs, instant messaging, or media
coverage. WOM publicity, however, can have
both positive and negative effects. While good
WOM represents the opinions of satisfied cus-
tomers, WOM can also be used as a weapon by
dissatisfied customers (or competitors) eager to
destroy a brand’s image. WOM can work in both
ways for a company depending upon the satisfac-
tion level of customers. So, the company cannot
negotiate on quality and has to make sure that it
has satisfied customers so as to ensure positive
word of mouth publicity.
It is therefore prudent to monitor WOM closely to
prevent injury to a company’s brand name. PR
professionals use publicity to shape internal and
external opinions of organizations. They also work
to garner support from important members of
the public whose WOM has the potential to cre-
ate more hype than an advertisement.
MARKEZINE October 2012
6 4
Aditya Sharma
PGDIM
NITIE, Mumbai
This is the reason why some businesses like res-
taurant business endorse their business by rop-
ing in important people who have a wide accep-
tance in the public.
Potential of WOM
In order to ensure that WOM publicity efforts
properly achieve the intended results and reach
their targets, WOM should be tactically aligned
with business goals. WOM and publicity are mu-
tually beneficial. While WOM increases public
awareness of a company, media publicity speeds
up the spread and flow of WOM. WOM is propa-
gated at a much higher rate in public if PR works
in collation with them. People value integrity and
trustworthiness. The right WOM can help a com-
pany:
1. Exponentially improve trustworthiness
2. Garner trust
3. Enhance sales figures of the company
4. Develop attitude towards the product in the
customer’s mindset
5. Refine customer service
WOM vs. Advertisements
WOM publicity has the potential to influence
public opinion and buying patterns. It can con-
vince consumers to make decisions about a par-
ticular product or service which may or may not
fall in their circle of buying capacity. Media cov-
erage provides publicity through third-party en-
dorsements. If these endorsements are com-
bined with the hype created through WOM, the
product or service will likely score high in the
credibility ratings.
Surveys have again and again discovered that
most people make purchases based on the opin-
ions of others. Take, for example, products like
the Apple iPad or the services offered by Bank of
America. In the publicity campaigns for these
products and services, ads have taken a backseat
to the work of WOM strategies.
Tips for Creating WOM
The advertising and PR professionals can kick-
start their own WOM rather than waiting for the
public to do it for them. All they need is a power-
ful strategy for building widespread enthusiasm.
A WOM publicity campaign has to be a well
thought of plan and has to be implemented at
multiple levels in the market. It cannot be made
as a single source campaign but a multiple
source multiple effect campaign. An effective
WOM campaign begins with the following:
Focus Groups and experts willing to
give their insights about the product
Testimonials and endorsements from
satisfied customers
Creative Thinking and implementa-
tion
A small team of people acting as gen-
erators of the WOM publicity
Compelling and provocative story tell-
ing strategies.
A plan for enhancing relationships
with existing customers
MARKEZINE October 2012
7 5
Influencer Marketing
MARKEZINE October 2012
As a potential customer makes purchase decision,
he is influenced by different circles of people
through conversations with them, asking for advice
and imitating their habits. Such personalities are
called influencers. Consumer’s involvement with a
product determines the way the process in which
he searches information from external sources.
For an enduring involvement product, the con-
sumer will do an on-going search, for a situational
involvement product, the consumer will perform a
purchase-specific search, while for a low involve-
ment product he will acquire information pas-
sively. There are various reasons for which a con-
sumer goes for information search. Besides the
case involving high involvement products, consum-
ers search for information if
1. The perceived risks related to the purchase are high
2. It is a high priced product
3. Information search is cost effective
4. Less time pressure
5. The consumer is clear about the features s/he is looking for in a product
6. The brands have a lot of differentiation be-tween them
7. There are mainly 3 types of reference group influences on consumers.
Informational influence exerted by ones having
Expert power like an SME, a knowledgeable
friend or an expert celebrity
Comparative influence exerted by referent
power holders like a typical customer or a
symbolic aspirational celebrity
Normative influence that depicts the rewards
or punishments associated with the usage of
a product/service
Earlier, in the awareness phase, consumers were
influenced by celebrity endorsers, typical cus-
tomers or SMEs (like doctors), through television
advertisements, newspapers ads and other con-
ventional sources of advertising. In the action
phase, consumers were influenced by family and
friends. But with the advent of social media the
concept has changed a bit.
Social influencers who exert their influence in
the awareness and consideration phases are the
typical consumers who write about their experi-
ences in social platforms. They operate through
their different forums, twitter accounts, blogs
and Facebook. Consumers can relate to them
and they influence not only the purchasing deci-
sion but also the brand affinity of the consumer.
8 6
Subhankar Kar Chowdhury
PGDM Marketing
and Systems,
IIM Lucknow.
5 years of work
exper ience at
Wipro. Interned at
Headstrong in con-
sulting
Key influencers, who are experts in any desig-
nated field, exert influence through their blogs,
Twitter or expert comments on different con-
sumer feedback sites. They influence not only the
purchasing deci-
sion but also the
brand affinity of
the consumer.
Peer influencers
who are typically
family members
or friends influ-
ence both the
con s id erat ion
for a brand and
the purchasing
decision of the
consumer. As
consumers are
spending a lot of
time on social media and since it is the only plat-
form where a conversation can take place, social
media and influencer marketing have become
integral part of each other.
Nowadays with many information sources and
advent of technology, it is getting difficult for
brands to push messages easily. In such an envi-
ronment, actions by a brand speak louder than
advertising. It is ‘do vs. push’ strategy where in
rather than conveying product benefits repeat-
edly, brands encourage ‘doers’ to act in a manner
which would influence peers. ‘Doers’ are the
knowledgeable and influential personalities in a
particular field. For example, for an individual
wanting to buy a motorcycle or engine oil, a
member of a biking community would be a ‘doer’
and a bike manufacturer or an engine oil com-
pany would try to promote such a personality to
go on biking trips or adventurous ride. This would
propagate a message that the particular brand
encourages bikers, and with the help of influen-
cers this helps in
creating an emo-
tional connect
with its target
group. So, with
the advent of
social media
marketing, influ-
encer marketing
is becoming an
important tool,
which today’s
marketers can-
not neglect.
References:
1) Henry Assel, Consumer Behavior and Mar-keting, Cengage Learning
2) Prahalad, C.K.; Ramaswamy, Venkat (2004) The Future of Competition. Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1-57851-953-5.
3) http://www.whatsnextblog.com/2008/10/fis-kateers_how_a_social_community_became_a_veritable_sales_force/
4) http://www.customerthink.com/blog/my_personal_definition_of_business_with_customer_value_co_creation
5) http://www.tremor.com/
6) http://www.socialbakers.com/
MARKEZINE October 2012
9 7
Word of Mouth publicity for Movies
I am a big movie buff! But with so many disas-
trous experiences in the past I decided not to watch all the movies and go for only the selected ones. The selected ones were which my close friends and family members recommended, took reviews from blogs etc. This review taking ap-proach made me realise, I am actually watching movies only after I like the review unlike before. Pick up any film from the Paan Singh Tomar to English Vinglish, the verdict is out – ‘A good film has found its way amongst the audi-ence, even if a little late’. Its business may have ranged from coverage to super hit but the makers don’t have any reason to complain. This also means that if a film has been left ignored and given a cold shoulder by the audience, it has been done deservedly so. A film was all there to be grabbed, if the audience didn’t catch it then that was for a reason. The indications were pretty much there, though on a much lesser scale, when Riteish Deshmukh-Genelia D’Souza starrer Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya hung on reasonably well to find an average status for it at the very start of the year. It has to be noted that as a solo lead, Riteish had scored for years and after a tepid beginning, his musical romcom managed to find an audience in the long run. Ditto for Paan Singh Tomar which is the clas-sic case of even those not being ultra-confident
who had invested in it. Irrfan Khan and Tig-manshu Dhulia took it upon them to keep the flag flying high which means there was yet another success added to Bollywood report card. The epitome of word of mouth resulting in an ex-ceptional affair was Kahaani which was a hero-less, song-less film with pregnant leading lady and a director, with two flops behind him. The Vidya Balan starrer didn’t take a start but audience were left mighty impressed. The film turned out to be a super hit while enjoying the best word of mouth of the year so far. Close on its heels was Vicky Donor which didn’t do that much promotion. Well, just imagine trying to sell a film about sperm donation, featuring a new-comer and directed by a filmmaker who wasn’t following Bollywood diktat!
MARKEZINE October 2012
10 8
Aditi Nayak
MBA,
Wellinkar Institute of
Management
Interested in
Marketing
Similarly who would have ever thought that a film starring Paresh Rawal as the central lead would comfortably march towards the 50 crore mark and that too with a director (Umesh Shukla) with whom the earlier pairing (Maharathi) was a re-sounding flop? Well, Akshay Kumar thought so and though he must not have been too pleased by the film’s opening day collections, thumbs up by audience soon after, was good enough to make the team smile again. Today, I am sure that Gauri Shinde, Sridevi and Balki are going through similar emotions, with their English Vinglish, finding good patronage from the target audience which wasn’t as forth-coming on the opening day and was perhaps waiting for their peers to announce the verdict. Well, now that the verdict is out and the film is finding huge growth in word of mouth, it has only added on the beautiful trend that has started de-veloping this year. In the times when bets are being placed on block-busters material films crossing 100 crores in 4, 5 or 6 days, it is always heartening when deserving films (made at 25% of the budget that biggies
carry) make half of that in 4, 5 or 6 weeks. It only means that even in the times of multiplexes and quick bucks, if a film is good enough, audience won’t let it disappear in a jiffy.
In a way this word of mouth publicity is back in
trend as it was in the 1912s, when the first Indian
movie was released. At that time there were no
advertisements, no promotions. But only the
word of mouth publicity!
References:
http://
arti-
cles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-
10-17/box-office/34524447_1_english-
vinglish-gauri-shinde-sridevi
http://www.marketing-made-
simple.com/articles/word-of-mouth-
advertising.htm#.UH1tTlGQROI
11
MARKEZINE October 2012
11 9
Word of Mouth and its Future
Word of mouth involves direct interaction with
speech as the medium of communication and
trust as the basis of marketing. Those who have
used the product, experienced the service, wit-
nessed the event, visited the place, met the per-
son etc…share their experiences. It takes a con-
siderable amount of time and capital investment
to develop a “brand image” and takes even longer
to sustain that image.
Word of mouth on the other hand puts the credi-
bility of the endorser at stake. It takes time for
the good word to spread from one mouth to an-
other. Various laws have been formulated to elicit
the impact of word of mouth:
Sarnoff’s law: (Radio Listeners) A network
with 100 people is 10 times as valuable in
terms of reach as a network with only 10.
Metcalfe’s Law: (Ethernet) The network
value grows as the square of the number
of users. 100 users communicating
amongst themselves.
Reed’s Law: (The Law of the pack) A net-
work of 100 people can talk not only with
each other (as stated under Metcalfe)
but also within groups of 2^90.
As per the above laws it’s obvious that the future
of word of mouth lies in social media. Today our
accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Linked-
Inn, Blogosphere etc… have become the face of
the consumer. Word of mouth is a response to
some kind of stimulus. The stimulus could be
some kind of experience, special service, privi-
lege, discount, rebate etc. received by the cus-
tomer. An innovative approach could be an online
website where only the official brands will regis-
ter themselves; for example Indigo, Spicejet, King-
fisher, Jet etc… Now, in the airlines segment a
user can register only under one of these airline
brands. The users can then show their loyalty by
making comments about their brand or about the
competitor’s brand. Every company can provide
their followers with the necessary arsenal needed
for the battle. The basis of this suggestion is the
football banter prominent among the youth all
over. Brands can also organize various events and
invite this army of loyal customers to participate
in it. This will give the customer a sense of be-
longing and will guarantee the word-of-mouth
promotion. Trust and credibility are the most im-
portant tools which are the essence of word-of-
mouth promotion.
MARKEZINE October 2012
12 10
Himanshu Varandani
MBA,
Great Lakes Institute of
Management, Chennai
Trust can be generated by encouraging customers
to express their views about the brand on various
social platforms. These views need not always
speak highly about the product.
Credibility about a brand can be generated when
great stalwarts express their views about a brand
eg: ShashiTharoortweeting his experience of trav-
elling in JetAirways gives credibility to the product
among his followers.
As long as peo-
ple continue to
ask the “Have
y o u … . ? ” t y p e
q u e s t i o n s
among their
peers and rela-
tives the word-
of-mouth cam-
paign is suc-
cessful. For in-
stance:
Have you tried
this? Have you seen this? Have been there? Have
you done this? And so on…
Curiosity: Curiosity is a key element of keeping
people engaged with the brand. People keep ask-
ing what’s next and this becomes the topic of
their conversation.
Surprise: The most important element is giving a
memorable experience to a customer. The “taken
aback” customer is the focal point of word-of-
mouth promotion campaign. A free gift, a dis-
count, a rebate, an online mention on the official
page etc. does the trick.
Special treatment: Companies can provide spe-
cial treatment to highly active and influential cus-
tomers to encourage them to go viral all over the
internet. An airline company can offer free cook-
ies to customers who have been tweeting on a
regular basis about the company. They can even
offer these customers a special chance of visiting
the cockpit and taking pictures with the pilot.
Thereby making the customers feel obliged to
promote the brand.
Innovative and
I n t e l l i g e n t
c a m p a i g n s :
Customers ad-
mire the
brands which
create smart
and different
campaigns that
“make them
think”. Funny
and humorous
campaigns cre-
ate a buzz
among the customers.
Provide forums, scripts, secrets, information,
giveaways or something of value to the custom-
ers to enable them to blog about the brand and
talk about it.
References:
Social Media Marketing by Dave Evans
MARKEZINE October 2012
13 13 11
The ‘Word of Mouth’ effect
Imagine a situation wherein there was no TV, no
radio, no press, no advertising on the back of taxis
or bus-stops, no email spam (!!!), no e-
newsletters, blogs, social networking sites, no
banner advertisements and no telemarketing,
how would people share views and form opinion.
Well the answer is, "By talking to each other"…
Yes through Word of Mouth!!!
Word of mouth is essentially about customers
sharing their own experiences or reporting the
experiences of others. There are hundreds of
ways to get people talking, but you need one to
change your business forever. Something silly,
Something special that is worth talking about.
Why does word of mouth marketing work?
What would hold more importance while choos-
ing a fine-dine restaurant, a doctor, a gymnasium
or a new mobile phone—an online review or the
suggestion by a close friend. Even with the in-
crease in the number of review applications and
sites, research results have confirmed that Word
of Mouth recommendations for products or ser-
vices made by friends, co-workers, or neighbours
that an individual knows or trusts is still the most
effective way to win new customers.
One has to admit, that WOMM works, it gener-
ates curiosity and makes one want to know more
about the product. If the companies can get the
individuals who are not associated directly with
the company, to generate buzz by praising the
virtues of their product or service publicly, the
results could be highly prof itable.
Word of Mouth is useful not only for those cus-
tomers who are seeking reviews about a particu-
lar product/service but can also drum up new in-
terest. An endorsement by the right person,
someone with known credibility in a particular
industry or in the public eye could trigger off a
tidal wave of profit.
Some Examples of Word Of Mouth Marketing
Particularly in India, people rarely find their way
around a city using maps or written directions.
The usual practice is to leave home with a vague
idea of destination (street numbers, Locality, ap-
proximate distance etc). Along the way, Indians
would ask strangers – mainly auto rickshaw driv-
ers, who know the city well, about their destina-
tion
Perfetti Van Melle to maintain the word-of-
mouth for its Big Babol amongst Indian children,
had to keep on introducing something new and
exciting for children every few months like
Picture Stories, Comic book, Magic candles etc
MARKEZINE October 2012
14 12
Nidhish Gupta
PGDM,
IMT Ghaziabad
Sony TV in order to promote itsnew serial, `Jassi,’
planned `flash mobs’, wherein groups of 15-30
people went into high-traffic areas such as Big
Bazaar and Apna Bazaar and called out for `Jassi’.
They also promoted it through groups of women
on the train who struck up seemingly impromptu
c o n v e r s a t i o n s a b o u t ` J a s s i ’ .
The serial and particularly the character “Jassi”
aroused a lot of curiosity amongst people even
before the 1st episode was aired and this led to a
definite increase in the viewership.
Star Network established itself in India through
the serials ‘Kahani ghar ghar ki’ and ‘Kyunki Saas
bhi Kabhi bahu thi’. These serials generated a
huge word-of-mouth because they led Indian
women to identify themselves with the charac-
ters in the serials. These serials became regular
talking points in the Indian households, women
gatherings etc. to the extent of mad craze and
helped Star Network to climb to the number one
position from being a distant third.
Other commonly adopted techniques for Influ-
encing Word of Mouth a rediscussion of the prod-
uct on internet blogs, through product placement
in movies or at social and sporting events, discus-
sion of the product on LinkedIn, Facebook and
internet chat rooms etc.
While a positive word of Mouth can help a com-
pany significantly in terms of promotion, sales
etc. similarly, a negative word of mouth can do
much more damage than can ever be imagined.
With customer’s increasing indifference to tradi-
tional advertising, Marketers can no more afford
to convey the information about their product to
the customers as was done earlier.
15
MARKEZINE October 2012
15 13
Mark-e-feed:
Risqué Marketing: A risky proposition in India
Almost all the advertising in the world involves
creating the drama or an over the board story
around the product which reflects the exagger-
ated benefits associated with the usage of that
product. There is nothing wrong in creating theat-
rical effects if that confines within the limits of
humour, levity and creativity but a creative work
lands in troubled waters when it decides to play
with and disturb the strongly held beliefs, norms
and standards.
India is a country where many countries and
many centuries co-exist at any given point of
time.A collage of over hundred sensibilities India
was never a single nation but a continent in its
own right. It is impossible to communicate, leave
alone attract, the entire population of the country
with one single message. Indian subcontinent has
always been a land mine territory as far as experi-
mentation with the morality is concerned and a
brand has to tread very carefully in order to con-
nect with the consumer. Indians believe in power
of tacit words and hence explicit content may not
register any place in the Indian mind.
There are a few ads which are outright obscene
and deplorable according to Indian standards.
The most infamous ads in this arena come from a
men’s deodorant brand called Axe which keeps
on reinforcing the idea that the usage of its prod-
uct invariably helps alluring the females towards
the user and the ads have evolved over the years
around this basic message only. Along with the
objection to the sexually explicit visuals of the
ads, the most important aspect which drew atten-
tion or rather protest was the unabashed execu-
tion which successfully brings the males to be-
lieve that such an effect can be replicated in real
life to a certain extent. This very fact even
brought the brand to litigation when the brand
promise was not even remotely delivered. And
for that matter, it becomes imperative for the ad
agencies to carefully design the concept keeping
in mind the criterions set by Advertising Stan-
dards Council of India (ASCI) which is a self-
regulatory voluntary organization of the advertis-
ing industry in India. The council’s objective is to
maintain and enhance the public's confidence in
advertising. Their mandate is that all advertising
material must be truthful, legal and honest, de-
cent and not objectify women, safe for consum-
ers - especially children and last but not the least,
fair to their competitors.
Meenakshi Arya
PGDM, IMT Ghaziabad
A food technologist
from CFTRI with work
experience at a micro-
ingredients company
called International
Specialty Products,
Mumbai.
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MARKEZINE October 2012
Most Ad agencies believe that an original idea
cannot be straight jacketed into the boundaries of
morality and principles of any particular society. It
should be free flowing as well as used for the pro-
gression of the human race which otherwise will
get stuck with age old norms and standards. Like
how ad world has moved on from showing
women doing household chores in earlier part of
twentieth century to both the sexes enjoying all
the aspects of life there is a need to accept that
nothing is standard and standards are bound to
get changed once someone somewhere thinks
beyond them. Also, there is that fine line between
being hilarious and obscene and when it is
crossed depends not upon what is being shown
but what is being perceived and understood.
At the end of day, the purpose of advertising is to
induce an intention to purchase but does this
kind of advertising ensure that? Well, for low in-
volvement product it does because the focus is
not on the product features but on the brand im-
age. For example, mountain dew ads are always
associated with over the top audacity and creates
unique image for its users. The scene is com-
pletely different for high value products which
require quite a good amount of research. Risqué
marketing may not work for them beyond brand
recall because of prominent role of attributes and
linked benefits in buying process. All said and
done, the last word should ultimately come from
the consumer who has to go through all kinds of
communication being hurled at them and then
screen it carefully to absorb the right kind and
leave the rest as frivolous visuals.
MARKEZINE October 2012
15
Mark-e-feed:
Loyalty Programs – All glitter and no gold??
“Customers are issuing a very clear warning to
marketers. Give me relevant communications
that reflect my history and connections to you, or
we will go elsewhere with our business”.
These are the bold words of Sandra Zoratti, VP of
Global Solutions Marketing, InfoPrint Solutions
Co., a joint venture of Ricoh & IBM. A recent sur-
vey shows that most marketers are doubtful
about the effectiveness of customer-loyalty pro-
grams, while they believe that they are still as im-
portant as any other ace marketing instrument up
their sleeve. Or are they?
In a competitive market, rarely would one find an
organization that says it’s completely satisfied
with its current customer base and profitability,
especially when the competitor is lurking just be-
hind you, waiting for you to make a mistake and
pounce on to your “loyal customer base”. Cus-
tomer loyalty programs have thus become one of
the biggest market acquisition and CRM assets in
business, cutting across major sectors like Airline,
Retail, Hospitality and Gaming.
The consumer enthusiasm to embrace these loy-
alty programs has grown steadily over the recent
years. According to a survey by USA Visa research
services, almost half of general purpose credit
cards offer a reward program. This pervasiveness
of loyalty programs has caused marketers to be-
lieve that such programs may be a necessary cost
of doing business in certain industries. However,
with a large number of loyalty programs doled
out so frequently by competing companies, are
firms merely giving away their profits in a desper-
ate struggle for market growth, like the airline
price war in the early 1990s?
A Loyalty program is a program run by the mar-
keter that allows consumers to accumulate free
rewards as incentives for making repeat pur-
chases with a firm. Such a program is not benefi-
cial to the consumer for a single purchase. Re-
search shows that these programs do significantly
impact the repeat purchase behaviour. A reward
program, added to excellent service with easy
and quick earned rewards, takes the consumers’
minds off the price. Hence, consumers do not
hesitate in purchase even at the cost of spending
more. The more the customer gets engaged in
the loyalty program, the higher his switching
costs tend to become, further boosting repeat
purchase from the same brand.
Research by ‘Bain & Company’ claims that loyal
customers are more profitable for an organiza-
tion. Apart from price sensitivity, profitability is
believed to be generated by reduced servicing
costs, increased spending, and the favorable rec-
ommendations are passed on to other potential
customers by these loyal buyers.
While the generalist notions of customer loyalty
and increased repeat purchase tend to make it
apparent for companies to follow aggressive loy-
alty marketing, it is however important to first
take into consideration the effectiveness of these
programs with respect to the alternate competi-
tive programs before doing so.
S Vignesh
PGDM,
IMT Ghaziabad
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MARKEZINE October 2012
Most studies examine a single program in isola-
tion, when in reality multiple loyalty programs are
often offered by competing firms. Consumers
holding loyalty program cards from competing
chains reduce the share of wallet and customer
lifetime for the focal chain. Thus as a competitive
firm resource, a loyalty program needs other
complementary resources to realize its value fully
and to create competitive advantage. Loyalty pro-
grams do not always lead to beneficial outcomes
for the offering firm and it is only high-share firms
that experience sales lifts from their loyalty pro-
grams. Another factor that needs to be observed
is the market saturation of loyalty programs.
Crowding the marketplace with loyalty programs
can diminish the return of an individual program ,
as customer tend to redistribute frequently from
one loyalty program to another depending on
competitive reward schemes offered. It therefore
becomes imperative for each organization to first
analyse the cost of program per individual versus
the return per individual projected.
While these numerous researches repeatedly aim
to gauge the effectiveness of customer loyalty
programs, the exact conclusion is still unclear.
The impact of loyalty programs tend to vary
across different customer segments, and tends to
show significance performance variance in re-
sponse to the competitors loyalty programs,
which eventually with time, tend to erode the dif-
ferential gains. The future of these loyalty pro-
grams, however, seems to be still heading in the
positive direction, with ever evolving programs
like Amazon Prime (which tripled its subscriber
base within a year) and Shoppers Stop First Citi-
zen Loyalty Program ( which achieved a path
breaking 25 Lakh customers in 2012 ) paving the
way.
MARKEZINE October 2012
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MARKEZINE October 2012
18
Mark-e-feed:
Sensory Branding: A case in point
Sensory branding is an emerging discipline for
the marketers. The idea is to engage the custom-
ers through one or more senses and going be-
yond the conventional marketing media of sight
(sometimes Sound) thus developing strong
brands with memorable connections. Consumers
show different behaviors with different brands
because of their like/dislike towards the same.
Developing an emotional connect with them is
therefore necessary for a healthy and long lasting
relationship with the brand.
With the plethora of information available, many
conventional branding messages are no longer
effective. A “times-square effect” – an overload
of visual messages- challenges marketers to make
their messages to be heard above the din. Add to
that the dynamism, limited time and a thin line of
difference between virtual and real world — sen-
sorial appeal will play a vital role in engaging con-
sumers towards brands. The key to involve them
is to create a buzz around your brand and pro-
voke conversations about it. In order to achieve
it, marketers need to bring the branding a level
up from the traditional media of sight (or sound).
Colors have a direct influence on consumer be-
havior. For e.g., Color red, increases the pulse and
the heart rate, it raises the blood pressure and
stimulates appetite. So restaurants prefer red
color environs vis-à-vis any other colors. Likes of
Pizza Hut and few others follow the same. Star-
bucks does it in a unique way in order to create
repeat purchases. Customers’ personal interac-
tion at Starbucks’ coffee shop where the brand is
associated with a sensory experience stimulating
a strong, positive, and distinctive impression
across all five senses. In this case multiple sensory
cues are tapped; lighting, furniture, interior fur-
nishings, music, coffee and aroma, which all con-
tribute and complement each other as if a sen-
sory orchestration. When the sensory experience
is maximized, the store atmosphere creates a
compelling experience that consumers will want
to repeat through repeated visits.
The success of movie “Avatar” is not because of its great direction and technology used but be-cause the stimulation and the sense of being in the thick of action in a fictional story is what the achieved thereby allowing the audience to touch and feel - literally. (There have been instances when great technology and innovation hasn’t been able to mes-merize the audi-ence). Touch can be manipulated through texture, softness, materials (in case of clothes), weight, comfort etc. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, with its signature “Snap, Crackle, and Pop,” By introduc-ing a distinctive sound to its breakfast cereal, the company integrated four senses into its product: taste, touch, sight and sound. Schweppes, which, in its long-running “Sch you know who” cam-paign, linked the “Sch” in its name to the tell-tale rush of gas emitted by a soda bottle that is being opened. Parle’s attempt at sensory branding was Krackjack.
Rakshit Suri
PGDM, IIM-K
5 years of work experi-
ence with Wipro Tech-
nologies and has
worked on consulting
projects during his
internship with Head-
strong.
MARKEZINE October 2012
19
The biscuit with the dual taste of sweet and salt in one is probably one of the earliest examples of sensory branding in the Indian context (which was followed by 50:50 from Britannia). Anything that tastes sweet and salt at the same time, peo-ple recall 50:50 instantaneously. Visual images are more distinctive when matched with a sound/smell. Brylcream’s “A lit-tle dab’ll do ya” radio jingle, “Intel-inside” cam-paign and their four tone melody helped creating a positive image in the consumer’s mind and more than that it created more brand recalls. Our very own Britannia with its “ting ting tee ding” , titan created the magic with the violin, Pillsburry doughboy’s giggle, MGMs lion roar, windows start up music, Cadbury’s sweet music in the recent campaigns all raise the level of en-gagement a tad higher resulting in greater in-volvement and sense of ownership of these brands. Lush, the handmade cosmetics company epito-
mizes sensory stimulation. Smell increases the
customer’s connection with a brand. It creates
an instant connection and it is known that 75%
of all the emotions are triggered by smell. Pass
the entrance of a Lush store and you are hit by a
rush of fragrance. They don’t believe in packag-
ing, so the soaps lie down like big blocks on the
table so that customers can touch and feel the
products. This way they engage their customers
at a level higher than the existing ones.
Our emotional and cognitive responses are af-fected by our feelings from seeing, hearing, tast-ing, touching, and smelling. This becomes even more effective for the products (remember ABC Model) where the cognition precedes the affect. Marketers can change the sequence by making
the consumers feel (affect) first through senso-rial experiences and then let the emotional re-sponses dominate their rational thinking. All brands try to gain the top of mind and alter the decision making process of its buyers, and sensory marketing just reinforce their cause. So, the main idea is that each sense ignored is an avenue of communication not utilized.
Mark-e-feed:
Catching the eye of the public : Live Advertising
Live advertising is the concept of using people
participation and props to create an ad that hap-
pens live and in a public area. There are very few
records of live advertisements as it is still rela-
tively unexplored. Honda created a live Ad in
South America with the theme “Difficult is worth
doing” when they got an elite team of sky divers
to create the name Honda in sky diving formation
In the Summer Olympics of 2006, Adidas created
an outdoor ad by enlisting climbers to race up 33
story buildings in a vertical climb for a Winner’s
Prize of $10,000.
The latest advertisement to catch people’s atten-
tion has been that of Coke in collaboration with
‘Skyfall’, the latest James Bond movie slotted for
release on 26th October 2012 in the UK. The ad-
vertisement has people undertaking an adventure
to win their free ticket for Skyfall. It starts when a
passerby goes to a vending machine at a railway
station in the UK to get a bottle of Coke Zero. Out
comes the bottle along with instructions asking
him to reach Platform 6 in 70 seconds. This is the
James Bond adventure offered to the consumer
to spice up his life. It transports him from his
mundane daily life into a more exciting one for 70
seconds. “Unlock the 007 in you” seems to be
quite an apt tagline for the ad.
What are the advantages that live advertising
offer?
Live Attention: Nothing grabs more attention
than an ordinary guy doing/getting something
extraordinary in public. Live ads attract attention
through the newness of the process and the sur-
prise element.
Every viewer is a new viewer: Unlike television
advertisements, live ad-
vertisements are viewed
by people who pass
through when the event is
happening. Hence, there
are very few chances of
the event being viewed
by the same group of
people.
Mary John Thalody
PGDIM,
NITIE, Mumbai
A mechanical engineer with
experience in operations and
teaching.
Naresh Jawni
PGDIM,
NITIE, Mumbai
An Electronics engineer with
3 years work experience in
the IT industry.
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MARKEZINE October 2012
More cost efficient than tradi-
tional print or TV advertise-
ments: Booking slots on prime
time, creating a repeatable ad,
buying print space all take
money. All this is eliminated
when the ad is performed willing
by the consumer or by locally
hired actors/stunt people.
Chances of going viral on the so-
cial media space: With YouTube
causing videos to go viral, the
imaginative concept of a live Ad
has all the chances of marketing itself on virtual
space. The Coke Zero ad is an example garnering
1,375,397 views in two days since Oct 18, 2012
when it was published on YouTube.
Some issues that dissuade companies from try-
ing live advertising:
Unpredictability of external surroundings: The
advertisement is far too dependent on the
weather, the mood of the subject, the success/
failure of the stunt and so on. Failure has the po-
tential to backfire on the brand.
Permissions: Government laws and permissions
of different countries vary. This might pose a
problem to different stunts.
The response of the consumer: If the advertise-
ment involves performing a surprise on the con-
sumer without prior notice, there is chance that
he/she may respond unfavorably. This may lead
to bad media and bad publicity.
Live advertising has been initiated in India too.
The Ambi Pur “Freshness Surprise” ad had the
brand playing pranks on unsuspecting visitors to a
mall in Mumbai. Some visitors’ cars had unex-
pected Pujas performed on them by a hired
priest, some cars got decorated with flower gar-
lands and ribbons, others had pretty young ladies
walk around the car admiring it to the open
mouthed wonder of its passengers.
It is yet to be seen whether this new medium of
advertising will take off in India. Whether it does
or not, these visitors will definitely recall the
name Ambi ur for a very long time. And so will
anyone who sees that Ad.
Live advertising gives a brand the chance to en-
dear itself to the customer. The average man on
the street goes home smiling thanks to a brand
that’s made his day. What better way to make a
loyal customer? After all that is what marketing is
all about.
References
1. Collins,Oisin (This Coke Zero advert is easily the
coolest 'Skyfall' related thing we've seen yet)
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MARKEZINE October 2012
22
Mark-e-feed: VESPA - A new beginning
“If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll
never come up with anything original”
-Sir Ken Robinson
The nostalgia of the 60’s is back, flamboyance
and chic are in play, it’s the time for VESPA. Re-
membered as the flagship scooter of the tie up
between LML and Piaggio during the 90’s,it was
the second largest player with a 28% market
share. Come 2012 and scooters segment is ever
growing, the average middle class of the country
prefers scooters as a secondary vehicle along with
a four-wheeler especially for the women in the
family.
Looking at the above scenario and the upcoming
festival season, Piaggio has played their hand per-
fectly in launching Vespa TVC. Creating vintage
romance in retro style they have created a very
charming campaign putting their point across
with a colorful zest. It’s simple yet elegant; it’s the
old Vespa reminding you of the paved streets of
Rome, or the lip smacking hot pizza. A perfectly
well made advert for the urban youth correlating
to the premium pricing of the Vespa. Also this
price of the scooter drives it into a niche segment
and not a mass product, but more of a lifestyle
brand.
The effect of this TVC might not cause ripples for
low cost rivals like Honda Activa, Suzuki Access,
TVS Scooty Pep+ and Mahindra Duro. Piaggio has
promised to come out with a mass market offer-
ing late next year. Even if the sales might be low,
this has built tremendous brand equity for Vespa
and a positive step towards long run sustainability
of the brand. People have started talking about it,
a definite win for this new entrant.
The company produces the scooters at its facility
in Baramati, Maharashtra, which can produce
150,000 units a year. Plans are afoot to double
capacity in a year’s time. Piaggio has invested €35
million (around Rs 243 crore) in the facility and
plans to put in an additional €20 million to aug-
ment capacity. With the on-road price going to
upwards of Rs. 66,000 it is definitely not a sustain-
able strategy, while the market is very competi-
tive, only certainty in the scooter market is
growth.
Where could have Vespa done better, they hit the
nail with the appeal but I feel, the growth for this
segment lies in the young women who should
have been the target. The colors offered would
also appeal to girls, it is definitely considered a
feminine product in the Indian market. The big-
gest boom for scooters was the Priyanka Chopra
TVC ‘Why should boys have all the fun ‘, targeting
the correct segment and racking up sales for Hero
Honda. We need to wait and watch, the future of
this brand. But Piaggio has made a wonderful
start to their Indian journey.
Apurv Mehta
PGDM IMT, Ghaziabad
Member - Literature
club.
An engineer ex-
tremely interested in
new innovations in
technologies.
MARKEZINE October 2012
23
“
Mark-toon
Brands Glare,
But Word of Mouth is all you care!!!
Ad-O-Holic 7.0
Ad-o-holic 7.0, the annual Ad-fest organized by
Club MarkUp was held on September 1st, this
year. Ad-o-holic is a platform where budding ad-
vertisers are given an opportunity to compete
against students from the top B-Schools in the
Delhi/NCR region. This year’s theme, ‘What’s your
B(r)and Equity?’ saw the teams put in their hearts
and souls to take their bands to the top of the
music charts.
In the first round, an online round, the teams
were judged based on their creative skills and in
the second round, selected teams were invited to
IMT Ghaziabad campus to present their Advertis-
ing strategies. It did not take long for the judges
to recognize the creativity and analytic skills of
the teams. Innovation, imagination and ingenuity
of the teams were duly recognized and the team
from FMS, Octavia, consisting of Swati Saini,
Shubhashish Mandal and Abhijeet Singh bagged
the first place. The team from IMT Ghaziabad,
Urban Raga, consisting of Ankit Bansal, Priya Pod-
dar and Kasturba K.V was adjudged the runner
up.
Club MarkUp takes this opportunity to congratu-
late the winners and thank all the participants for
their overwhelming responses. We also want to
express our special gratitude to judges Jyoti
Kainth and Tripti Ghosh for their valuable support
and guidance. It was definitely a day well-spent
for us, the proud MarkUp-ites, and a day of great
learning for all the participants.
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MARKEZINE October 2012