markathon february 2013 issue

Marketing Magazine of IIM Shillong Volume 4 | Issue 8

Febr

uary

13

Mr. Patrick Barwise

Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing in London School of Business

Mr. Dharmendra Satapathy

VP and Head of Marketing, TATA Asset Management

Cover Story BIG DATA

Dear Readers, As we step in to the realm of the year 2013, celebrations have begun in our land of festivities with Makar Sankranti, Lohri and Pongal in the month of January, each bringing out the best from marketers across to capture the hearts and minds of consumers. The year 2013 will witness the largest congregation of devotees at the holy city of Allahabad. The irresistible attraction associated with the magnificent Kumbh fair has drawn researchers from Harvard Business School to study the factors of success of such a grand event.

This month also saw the celebration of the Republic that we are. However, the assault of the two shaheeds on the LOC sent shivers across the nation, urging many to question the bilateral ties of India with its neighbour. Huge uproar of criticism for the same was also observed in the social media circles, reinforcing its relevance.

Social media, in itself, has proven to have various implications on the Marketing domain. How does a marketer make the best use of social media for effective marketing? The answer lies in Big Data. Be it consumer engagement, consumer behaviour analysis or targeted promotions, big data is the most potential tool for marketers. This month’s cover story illustrates the key insights about big data, its application in various sectors of the industry and the challenges and opportunities posed by it to the marketers.

The corporate Vartalaap of this month features the interaction with Mr. Dharamendra Satapathy, VP and Head of Marketing, TATA Asset Management. An alumnus of Symbiosis Institute of Management with a diverse experience of more than 15 years in the field of Marketing, he has previously worked in the advertising field with the likes of Lowe Lintas and RMG David. He shares insights about his stint in advertising, media, PR and knowledge management at Tata.

For the academic Vartalaap, we have with us Prof. Patrick Barwise, Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School and chairman of ‘Which?’, the UK’s leading consumer organization.

Widely recognized for his publications on management, marketing and media, his book Simply Better, is widely appreciated and won the American Marketing Association’s 2005 Berry-AMA Prize. He talks about the latest trends including neuro-marketing and video ethnography.

We hope that you will find this edition of Markathon as informative and interactive as always.

As always, do send in your feedback/suggestions to [email protected]. Sit back and enjoy this issue! Happy Reading! Team Markathon

Team Markathon

FROM TEAM MARKATHON

THE MARKATHON TEAM

Editors

G S N Aditya Piyush Agarwal

Mayur Jain Sowmya R

Swati Nidiganti Umang Kulshrestha

Ashok A Kamalpreet Singh Saluja

Pallavi Prateek Gaurav

Shashank S. Tomar Swikruti Panda

Creative Designers

Priya Kumari Agrawal Rushika Sabnis

Sushree L. Tripathy Vaibhav Annam

mailto:[email protected]

markathon |february 2013

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CONTENTS

FEATURED ARTICLES

PERSPECTIVES

BAD PIGGIES – AIN’T SO BAD !! 4

BY SARTH RASTOGI | IIFT, DELHI

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INBOUND MARKETING 7 NIYATI MEHTA | GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

VARTALAAP 10 PROF. PATRICK BARWISE EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING IN LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

COVER STORY THE BIG DATA 14 ANURAN, ASHOK, SWIKRUTI | IIM S

VARTALAAP MR. DHARMENDRA SATAPATHY 21 VP AND HEAD OF MARKETING, TATA ASSET MANAGEMENT

WAR ZONE

EYE 2 EYE "AMAN KI ASHA: A PLAIN MARKETING GIMMICK OR A CONVICTION FOR HAPPY DENOUEMENT" 24

PUNITBHANSALI | IIMS ; GAURAVGULATI | DOMS, IIT-R

SILENT VOICE 25 IPAD MINI

SPECIALS

ADDICTED 26 SWIKRUTI PANDA & SUSHREE TRIPATHY | IIM S

BRAND STORY 27 SHASHANK TOMAR | IIM S

FUN CORNER 28 KAMAL | IIM S

UPDATES 30 PRATEEK | IIM S

perspective markathon|november 2012

BAD PIGGIES: AIN’T SO BAD

SARTH RASTOGI | IIFT DELHI

When it comes to marketing analysis of any

product/brand, almost instantaneously we, the aspiring

“Brand Managers” think on the lines whether P&G

came out with a different Ariel this time for “Bottom-

Loading” washing machines, did Colgate add pickle in

their toothpaste or did Dhoni launch a dye to color his

graying beard.

But there exists a category other than FMCG and

Consumer Goods where Piglets are really

angry for you spread the gossip that they are

at war with the human race by spreading swine flu and

when that was not enough, projected them as the

Mogambo of the gaming world. And yes, they are now

back to take back revenge, challenging the avian lovers-

If you smell what The Rock is cooking!!

Finland’s Rovio Entertainment, the company

that gave us Angry Birds has released yet

another masterpiece, a multi-platform

puzzle game- Bad Piggies. The game had a

big challenge to overcome the “sophomore

slump/jinx” a concept which seems almost

inevitable because of the Statistical

Phenomenon “regression towards the

mean” (excellently explained in an online

article titled as ‘Why Movie Sequels and

Remakes Almost Always Fail’ by Satoshi Kanazawa,

London School of Economics and Political Science). In a

nutshell, sophomore slump/jinx refers to an event when

a second attempt to re-enact an overwhelming success

of first attempt doesn’t live up to the expectations.

Spin-off versions of megahit game Tetris like Hatris,

Super Tetris etc. never really recreated the same magic.

The world is full of such examples that substantiate this

theory.

The game launched off with high fanfare and

gripped the attention of users who are

probably now busy helping piglets in

collecting egg shells. So much so was the

thrill and excitement level in the gaming

community that within just three hours of its

launch it soared to the top of paid iTunes App

Store charts.

Here is the analysis purely from the marketing

point of view of what helped the game to script

another success story- Many people

suspected that the new product would be a

different version of the main product Angry

Birds as were many of those which were

launched previously. Simple reason was

that analysts and reviewers held the view

perspective markathon|february 2013

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that Rovio won’t let go off the mega success and the

theme that was clearly a proven winner. Though the

game is a spin-off of Angry Birds, Rovio successfully

changed the rules of the game. The perspective was

different. This ensured that there was no imitation in

terms of storyline, but at the same time they were able

to leverage the previous successes. Where have you

witnessed this earlier? A glimpse of the James Bond

movie series is enough to corroborate that this is an

important factor. It is a very difficult line to tread but

successive James Bond movies have been repetitively

hit since each time people are taken to a different world

through a different plot theme.

Marketing works wonders when targeted at an

appropriate time. ‘Black Friday’ is popular in US just not

because users get brilliant discounts on the products

but also because it sort of unofficially marks the start of

the Christmas festive season. The popularity of Angry

Birds had given Rovio a huge leeway and there were no

major developments done by them during the three

years in between. Too much of Angry Birds merchandise

and advertisements had caused a fatigue in the minds

of customers. The timing of the launch could not have

been better since Angry Birds hangover was about to

get over.

The success of any game or for that matter sequel of

any product can be bolstered well if the product is able

to capture more audience than what it originally did.

This game goes a notch above Angry Birds in terms of its

ability to allow users to utilize their intellect to solve the

puzzles. The good thing is that people just don’t look at

it as a game but also as implementation of the rules

studied in Physics. The game play is more sophisticated

and people love the fact that Newtonian principles are

required to solve these. This has attracted those people

as well who thought Angry Birds was too childish to

play. In fact, one of the top rated reviews on Google

Play was- “Not my style of game, but well done. People

will enjoy this game a lot”. This shows that the target

segment that Angry Birds catered to has widened for

Bad Piggies and is something to cheer about.

Which marketer/retailer/manufacturer doesn’t want

repeat business? It is a brand manager’s dream to

receive repeat business. With the ‘scoring’ system in

place, Bad Piggies ensures that people try to improvise

on their solved levels so that they can move on to the

next levels. How it helps Rovio is that even when there

are X number of stages in any version of Bad Piggies,

these translate into many more stages since people

strive for more stars. The replayability though may

sound as a very small factor but when looked from the

Rovio’s perspective, it gives the developers more time

to understand what people miss in the current version

and hence can incorporate them in subsequent

versions.


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A sustainable revenue model is a must for any company

but at the same time, a software product can’t be

released fully in the paid version. They ought to give

users a try so that they can do a hands-on trial of the

game and then

make a decision.

This is what

most companies

do when they

launch a new

product in

FMCG sectors as

well. To

popularize Zinga

(energy

beverage from

Hector Beverages), they had extensive

promotional campaigns in Bangalore so that people can

try it out. This created a demand for the product.

Similarly, if one looks at Bad Piggies, there were some

free versions launched initially with limited stages so

that people can try it out. Later, once users get

accustomed to it and feel the urge for playing more

stages, they can buy the paid versions from App Stores.

In a nutshell, the pricing model is very effective both in

creating demand and also in keeping the company

going.

In the clutter of noise that many promotions and

advertisements create, how can one differentiate itself?

You engage subtly with customers. Create incentives for

them to participate in the interaction with the brand.

With the advent of social networking and related

promotional platforms this can be done very

effectively. Rovio tapped this brilliantly and

this is corroborated by their strong

presence on Facebook. The level of

enthusiasm is pretty evident by the high

involvement of people.

Such creative contributions by the followers

bolster the creation of brand equity. Finally, the

spectacular launch of the game made sure that the

people were aware of the new game launch. One can

just imagine the kind of publicity a product would get

when the Taipei 101 Tower, one of the tallest buildings

of the world (second only to Burj Khalifa) and a

landmark skyscraper of Taiwan was painted green to

welcome the game. In Shanghai, the Citigroup Tower

was glowed with green light. In London, where the

game was launched at the top slot, Battersea Power

Station (a huge landmark) was taken over by the Piglets.

All of these efforts made sure that the game was a

success from its very launch. This gave immense brand

visibility and a great brand recall.

All these successful efforts show that Rovio has

left no stones unturned to gain favourable

presence and will surely help in its case to

achieve a valuation of more than $6

billion that it is aiming through its IPO.

Followers feel that the way things are

going, it may even achieve a valuation of

around $9 billion. If that happens, it will surpass

the ailing Nokia!!!


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Everything you need to know about Inbound marketing

niyati mehta | Great lakes institute of management

Gone are the days when you came to know about your favourite actor’s upcoming movie only through a hoarding outside a movie hall; or when you came to know about a new car’s performance through your vain relative. Marketing is no more restricted to advertisements in magazines, TV or outdoor media, which is what we term as ‘Outbound Marketing’. New age technology has brought in innovative methods of delivering value proposition of a company to its target consumer.

‘Inbound marketing’ is a term coined by Brain Halligan of HubSpot in 2005. It is a recent development in the field of marketing. Especially effective for small businesses which deal with high dollar values, long research cycles and knowledge based products, inbound marketing is a novel way of reaching out to consumers, earning their attention and increasing

brand/product awareness in market. The concept is based on the fundamental idea of

Earning the attention of prospective customers;

Making the brand/product widely visible/accessible;

Drawing customers to company website which houses content valued by these customers

As quoted by David Meerman Scott, Inbound marketing is how marketers "earn their way in" (via publishing helpful information on a blog etc.) which is in complete contrast to Outbound marketing wherein they "buy, beg, or bug their way in" (through paid advertisements, participating in tradeshows, issuing press releases, cold

calling or paying


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commissioned sales force).

This modern marketing strategy helps build strong

customer-brand relationship by giving the customer free and valuable information, thereby engaging them with different social media. This eventually helps in converting interested leads into prospective sales leads.

From the different modes of inbound marketing, we can understand that these modes are free of cost and highly targeted. People who are already interested in your product/ service/ company are the ones who will be looking at this content and hence the first obstacle is already crossed. Thus, the leads generated are of higher

quality in comparison to those generated by Outbound Marketing. Outbound marketing involves sending messages to the masses and so the probability of

ensuring that the right message has reached the right consumer at the right time is fairly low.

Another important attribute of this strategy is that it continues to provide valuable content to visitors or leads long after the content has been published and it does not require any further

investment (in terms of money). Once the company has created an authority over the website, social network or such similar channels, it needs to ensure that the content is regularly updated and upgraded in value so as to increase the efficacy of the tool and thus has to become an integral part of the organization.

Inbound marketing also lowers the cost per lead due to the following three reasons:

Inbound marketing focusses on digital media like website, emails, blogs etc., which have negligible cost

The method is more targeted because it is your prospect who seeks the company’s business and not the other way round like in outbound marketing

It is easier for companies to track leads and measure them thereby allowing them to analyse performance of their Inbound Marketing strategy and optimize it over time


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However this strategy faces challenges in terms of control. Many times, the company has to face criticism or unpleasant reviews from customers on the digital media, which are visible to potential clients and other users also. Such an incident dampens the brand’s image and the company has to undertake major rebranding measures and other damage control mechanisms to revamp the brand image. Besides this, sometimes the brand/product may get lost in the vast amount of information available on the internet. Inbound marketing also requires ample commitment and patience, since it take some time to convert interested leads into sales leads.

PROCESS:

At a conceptual level, Inbound Marketing comprises of five stages:

Attract traffic by publishing content through different media

Convert visitors to leads

Convert leads to sales

Turn customers into repeat customers

Analyse for continuous improvement

Inbound marketing agencies help companies build a precise, cost effective plan which would help the company achieve its goals. They optimize their websites, create blogs and fan pages, and create

campaigns to attract more prospects. After the creation of media platforms, these companies help measure, monitor and increase traffic and also assist in nurturing leads to maximize conversion.

All in all, we can say that Inbound Marketing is becoming increasingly popular among marketers as an efficient and affordable way to generate leads and increase a brand’s presence thereby resulting in increased sales. With the advent of Inbound Marketing, marketing has broken the chains of conservatism and taken off to conquer unexplored skies through ‘nouveau’ forms of communication.


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cover story | markathon|month 2013

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vartalaap markathon|january 2013

Patrick Barwise is the Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at

London Business School, and chairman of ‘Which?’, the UK’s leading consumer

organization. After having a successful career at IBM, he joined the School in

1976. He has been widely recognized for his publications on management,

marketing and media. His book ‘Simply Better’, won the American Marketing

Association’s 2005 Berry-AMA Prize and has been translated into seven

languages. His second book, ‘Beyond the Familiar’, was published in 2011. He

also works as a consultant, applied researcher, and expert witness and has

been involved in two successful start-up businesses. In this exclusive interview

with Markathon, he shares with us his experiences from the industry and

academia and throws light on some radical trends that will shape the future

including neuro-marketing and video ethnography.

An Interview with Prof. Patrick Barwise

Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing in London School of Business

vartalaap markathon|february 2013

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Focus on what really matters to

customers. In reality, customers rarely

buy a product or service because it

offers something unique. Instead,

they usually buy the brand that they

expect to meet their basic needs from

the category – smartphones or

mortgages or electricity – a bit better

or more reliably and conveniently

than the competition.

Markathon: From a Systems Engineer to a Marketing

Director, what were the turning points in your

inspirational professional journey? And what

motivated you to come back to academia?

Patrick: As an IBM Systems Engineer, I worked in the

team providing sales and service to Barclays Bank, a

key account. I was never a real techie. My interest was

in helping the bank increase the performance of its

IBM systems through better operations management

as well as faster, better-tuned hardware. I was always

more interested in people than technology. Then at

business school, my best subject was finance but I

chose to work in marketing because it too is about

people. Rationally, no-one with the choice would

work in marketing rather than finance because it’s

less well paid, more difficult and riskier. But I’m glad I

chose marketing because it’s about people; people

are infinitely interesting, and one never stops

learning. As for becoming an academic, I fell in love

with London Business School as an MBA student and I

place a lot of value on personal freedom i.e. the

freedom to work on what I want, and academia offers

you that. It was the right choice for me.

Markathon: As an expert in the field of media and

broadcasting, in your opinion how will the role of

television change in the times to come? What will be

the key to making it a relevant and effective medium

going forward?

Patrick: There are a lot of myths about the digital

revolution in television. In reality, unlike print media,

television is in extremely good health. What is

changing, more slowly than

most people believe, is the

distribution of TV content. But

the content itself, what

people watch as well as how

much, when, where, why,

with whom, and even how

they watch, has changed

very little in the last fifty

years in markets like the

USA and UK. The two

main changes have

been the huge

increase in the

number of channels

(so viewing is now spread over more channels,

although very unevenly) and the improvement in

time-shift technology with the advent of digital video

recorders. However, even in homes with DVRs and

broadband, over 80% of viewing is still live and most

of the rest are the same programs time-shifted using

the DVR or a catch-up service such as the BBC’s i-

Player. Total viewing has actually increased in the last

five years, mostly on the main set in the living room.

Similarly, TV advertising has maintained its share of

display advertising despite the huge growth of online

advertising. Of course, on-demand and mobile

viewing are growing and there are lots of interesting

developments, but the big picture is very robust.

Markathon: Your book “Simply Better: Winning and

Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters

Most” has been highly recognized and widely read.

Can you share some highlights of the book with us?

Patrick: “Simply Better” has won the American

Marketing Association’s annual book prize for the best

book in marketing. It has sold well in English and has

been translated into seven other languages. The core

message is simple and obvious: focus on what really

matters to customers. In reality, customers rarely buy

a product or service because it offers something

unique. Instead, they usually buy the brand that they

expect to meet their basic needs from the category –

smartphones or mortgages or electricity – a bit better

or more reliably and conveniently than the

competition. The practical implication is that, if you

have to choose between (a) doing what Peter Drucker

said in 1954 – meeting customer needs – and (b)

differentiating your offer from the

competition, you should always

choose (a). That simple message

goes against marketers’

obsession with differentiation

but the evidence to support it

is overwhelming and a lot of

firms have now taken it on

board. The twist is that

when it comes to branding

and advertising – that is,

communications about

your offer, as opposed

to the offer itself – it


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really is important to be distinctive in order to “cut

through” all the noise from the other brands. The

sweet spot is found when your offer meets

customers’ basic needs better than the competition

and you also have some nice unique features or

benefits and distinctive branding and advertising.

However, the most important part of this is an offer

that meets customers’ basic category needs better

than anyone else’s offer.

Markathon: Your paper “The one thing you must get

right when building a brand” deals with the most

dynamically changing channel of branding. Do you

think big data analytics can play an important part in

social media marketing?

Patrick: We made two points in that article. First,

marketers have overstated the role of social media in

advertising but understated its role as a source of

customer insight and as a way of improving customer

service. Even in the US, 90% of consumers’

conversations about brands are offline, mostly face to

face. Even online, consumers don’t like companies

invading their private space. There are some branding

and advertising opportunities, but they’re fairly

limited. The second thing we said is that all this has to

be embedded in your overall management of the

brand, which we illustrated using the framework of

our more recent book “Beyond the Familiar: Long-

Term Growth through Customer Focus and

Innovation”. This builds on “Simply Better”, putting

the conclusions into a practical management context,

with a strong emphasis on having an open

organization in which market insights – including

things you’d prefer not to hear – flow freely through

the organization, reach the decision-makers and are

acted upon. Big data analytics will have a growing role

within this, not just for social media data.

Markathon: What are the key measures to making a

campaign go viral in the world of social media?

Patrick: It’s difficult. The main principle is that you

need an idea that is so compelling that people will

pass it on. It should also be relevant to your brand

positioning and appropriate. An established brand

shouldn’t do a stunt that goes viral but damages its

brand equity. As always, you need good execution.

And usually, you need a publicity campaign, typically

using traditional media and PR, to publicize it. Most of

the successful examples use humour. The best ones I

know are Blendtec’s “Will it blend?” and TNT’s “Daily

dose of drama”.

Markathon: What role can video ethnography play

in efficient design and implementation of marketing

strategies?

Patrick: The main benefit of video ethnography is that

it unobtrusively records what people do in their

natural environment, say at home or in-store. That’s

especially important if their actual behaviour differs

from their claimed or self-perceived behaviour. For

instance, most DVR owners think they watch far more

time-shifted programmes than they actually do and

rarely watch commercials. The reality is very different.

Video ethnography can also help explain behavior, for

instance, by showing viewing within the context of

other family members, perhaps with differing

programme preferences. Another advantage is that

the video clips are great for illustrating these

behaviours to a management audience. The main

downside is that analyzing the data properly is very

time-consuming so sample sizes have to be small.

Relatedly, I recommend that all managers, not just

those in sales, service and marketing, should have

direct customer contact in order to bridge the

“empathy gap” between managers and customers,

especially in some markets. This encourages customer

understanding and customer focus throughout the

organization, not just for marketing.

Markathon: How do you think neuromarketing can

redefine the process of getting customer insights?

Patrick: Neuromarketing, behavioural economics, big

data, online brand communities, metaphor elicitation

and all the other new ways of developing customer

Other new ways of developing customer

insights should mostly be seen as ways of

supplementing, not supplanting, traditional

market research.


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Be infinitely curious, always on the

lookout for new ideas and

opportunities, but don’t assume that

the latest thing is as powerful as its

proponents claim. Spend time with

customers as well as looking at data.

insights should mostly be seen as ways of

supplementing, not supplanting, traditional market

research. In a few cases, new methods do largely

replace old ones. For instance, online surveys and

brand communities are usually better, cheaper and

much faster than telephone or face-to-face surveys

and focus groups. But neuromarketing isn’t yet at a

stage where it can really replace traditional research

methods in new product development, website

improvement or advertising evaluation. Instead, it can

provide additional insights and questions for further

testing. The main neuro methods at this point are eye

tracking, various biometrics such as heart beat and

skin conductivity, and EEG. Their main advantage is

that they provide continuous data and tap into fast,

automatic, subconscious processes. The limitation is

that the results are hard to interpret, although that

hasn’t stopped some vendors from making some

strong claims that should, in my view, be treated with

caution. The dirty secret of traditional market

research is that it asks people to provide conscious

responses about behavior that involves a lot of fast,

subconscious, automatic processes, both cognitive

and emotional. For instance, from the time someone

sees a house or car to the time when they know if

they’d like to buy it is maybe ten seconds. That’s hard

to research, but neuromarketing and other new

methods will increasingly help us do so.

Markathon: What are you working on now?

Patrick: I do corporate and conference presentations

and workshops on the messages in “Simply Better”

and “Beyond the Familiar”, to help companies

improve their ability to

do customer-focused

innovation. I’m the

Chairman of Which?,

the UK’s leading

consumer

organization. One of

its most exciting

projects is “Right

Choice”, the Indian

equivalent of

“Consumer Reports”

in the US and

“Which?” and “Which? Online” in the UK. I have a

visiting fellowship at Oxford University to work on the

future of public service broadcasting, especially the

BBC, in a digital world. I’m involved in a number of

policy areas, especially the investment case for getting

people online, partly so that they’ll be able to use

online public services. I work as a consultant and as an

expert witness in legal cases such as the current

dispute between Apple and Amazon about whether,

as Apple claims, the term “app store” is a brand name

rather than a generic term. In addition to Which?, I

also do a number of other pro bono activities

including advising a fantastic project (CleanStar

Mozambique) to encourage Africans to switch from

charcoal to locally produced bio-ethanol as a cooking

fuel. If that succeeds, the health, environmental and

economic benefits will be huge.

Markathon: What would be your advice to our young

readers who aim to become successful marketers?

Patrick: Read widely but critically. Always ask, “What

evidence does the author have for what he or she is

saying?” Be infinitely curious, always on the lookout

for new ideas and opportunities, but don’t assume

that the latest thing is as powerful as its proponents

claim. Spend time with customers as well as looking at

data. Understand that the questions in marketing are

always much the same – why would someone buy

this, how much will they pay for it, how can we ensure

that they know about it and can easily buy it, etc. –

but the answers are very specific to the particular

brand at that particular moment. So don’t assume

that something that worked in one context will

necessarily work in another. Markets are

unpredictable and their response to significant

innovations is hard to

research, so try and use a

fast-cycle test-learn-adapt

approach. Make good

connections with

colleagues in finance,

operations, sales, etc.

Successful marketing is

about collaboration. Be as

evidence-based as

possible: remember the

words attributed to Ed

Deming, father of total

quality: “In God we trust. All others must bring data”.


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When you plan to service your Ford Car keeping certain expectations in mind, you will be really surprised when you go to the Ford service center. The reason is Ford people have actually heard you and have taken measures to meet your expectations. But you may wonder how? Now this brings to the concept of the biggest buzzwords of the past year- The BIG DATA. Ford actually uses large amount of data, which it collects from various means to answer the need of its existing and prospective customers. In this field of Big Data and Analytics, Ford has become a technology leader, at least among the automobile companies. It all started in a boardroom six years ago during a meeting between CEO Alan Mulally and Ben Ford. Ben Ford had just borrowed USD 23 Billion by mortgaging to save his company. The duo decided on two things. One is to become a fuel-efficient automaker and the next one was a crucial one- to become the technology leader using IT to leverage their business. That is when Ford started collecting details regarding its customers and their preferences. It uses different ways to collect the data. It has an in-car communication system which can be augmented with different kinds of apps which in turn can feed data to the ford’s insight lab. We would suggest you have a look at infographics on the internet before you proceed to read on. It would give you a feel of how big the Big Data actually is, if any of you are aliens to the concept.

Demystifying Big Data:

Amazon Kindle, we would say, is an awesome device. It’s compact, sturdy and reliable and backed by an excellent service by Amazon. When the device faces a technical glitch and you register a

complaint you would receive a call from the service team in no time. We bet you this conversation would

be a no-nonsense call unlike usual customer center calls. The customer service executive would have the right data about the customer, which makes the conversation much easier. Amazon has been collecting data about customers right from the day they register on its website. It not only records his monetary transactions but also his product views, comments, ratings and everything he did on their website. Such data

collected over a long time and with petabytes of data of many other customers, Amazon is using this ‘Big Data’ to build relationship with its customers.

The term “Big Data” can be seen quite frequently while browsing different tech sites, in the advertisements of technological giants like IBM and SAS, and various other sources. It is linked with the promises of efficiency made by these giants. Searching for big data in Google returns approximately 841 million results. But what exactly is big data? According to IBM, each day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is generated from various sources like sensors recording climate information, social media posts, purchase and other transaction information, cell phone GPS signals, etc. This data, according to IBM, is big data. But this definition seems a bit complicated, and does not completely capture the essence of the term. So let’s simplify and understand what big data is. As the term suggests, big data refers

to an enormous amount of data. But exactly how huge is this data? And is it logical to assign any fixed quantity to it? There is no exact answer to the first question, and therefore it is not logical to assign a fixed number to this data. From an operational perspective, big data is data that is so huge


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that it cannot be captured and processed by traditional database management techniques. The data that is considered as big today might be not big

in the future due to technological developments. Therefore, stating that the data is greater than a certain number of terabytes or petabytes will only provide a restricted definition of the term. Also, the size of the datasets used in different sectors like manufacturing and retail are different, and so are the conventional datasets used by them. The size differs from sector to sector. Considering this, big data for different sets can range from a few dozen terabytes to multiple petabytes.

Why has Big Data become suddenly so important?

“You cannot manage what you don’t measure”.

Rightly pointed out by the great statistician W. Edward Deming and later by Peter Drucker, effective management of any resource depends on the ability to measure it. And this is where the role of big data comes into play. If the huge amount of data that is generated can be measured and analyzed, the benefits that can be realized will be enormous. Google and Amazon understood it long back, and have since become experts in utilizing it. Even the storage of data can yield a lot of benefits. As expressed by Peter Norvig, Google’s director of research, “We don’t have better algorithms. We just have more data”

So now comes the million-dollar question. How is this article relevant to the function of marketing? How does it help marketers to improve sales, ROMI,

understanding the fickleness of customer’s changing needs etc.?

Trending rule of the game: Creative marketers wearing “Big Data Analytics Spectacles”

In the age of information-abundance where technology is advancing with every blink of eye, the warehouse of real time data is multiplying at a rate never witnessed before. So much so that, 90% of the total store has been created in the last 2 years. There was a time when marketers had to solely depend on humongous surveys like mall-intercept interviews and laddering with focus groups, incurring huge costs to apprehend the possible gaps or trace the unstated needs of the target pool and stay ahead in the industry. Although this way seemed to have worked all these years, somehow the method misses out on the instincts of the customers as the questions deliberately framed, restrain the ability to express or hint at their unstated needs or so to say, the leads for discontinuous innovation.

Big data analytics on the other hand, instead of directing the responses in a fixed arena, observes what the people at large had already done or are planning for the future. This store of large unstructured real-time data will guide to incorporate the expectations of the customers in strategizing aligning with the vision of the organizations. Implicitly the relationships are developed and nurtured when the consumers see their needs being correctly foreseen and met even before they had themselves ascertained it.


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Big Marketing Insights from Big Data

Target user profiling:

Customer profiling involves understanding, trying to understand behavior individually, understanding the

intent of their actions, predicting their actions, connecting the demographics with the effected behavior etc. This kind of profiling is far more precise in enabling the predictions than traditional mode of primary survey.

Support at every phase of customer life cycle:

As CRM is fast coming into picture and every organization at its own level is trying to track the buying behavior, by offering membership cards, this mode, though being an initial investment, helps in leveraging on the CRM, to retain the customers through-out their life-cycle by moulding their offerings as the customer traverses several phases in its life. This strategy if deployed may reap great

returns as acquiring customers is far more costly and uncertain than retaining new ones. Several inter-departmental connections can be corroborated by sending the social media analytics directly to product development department or by sending the social needs straight to the sales force.

Sentiment analysis:

This front of the big data analytics can be used to influence and guide the possible response of the target group. In a nutshell, this helps to bring in some level of predictability in otherwise immensely risky propositions. It has been observed that these sentiment analysis governed strategies reduce the failure rates to some extent and can even raise the level of impact expected at times.

Many of the leading companies are using the analytics in big way to ensure tangible ROI soon. Big retailers who play by attracting volumes are using these for their sales and pricing decisions. The mining of the big data can point towards simple planogram of the retail layout, which can work wonders on the sales. Wal-Mart and Kohl even anticipate appropriate timing of store sales, volume picked up item-wise and

appropriate sales-force requirement. Linkedin's ‘People you may know' on the right-hand side bar achieved a click-through a rate of 30% higher than any other prompts used on that page making it a hit-service. The number of Google queries about housing and real estate from one quarter to the next turns out to predict more accurately what's going to happen in the housing market than any team of real-estate forecasters.

However knowing the power of this tool, it is equally challenging to be able to use this mode to raise the


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capabilities of the organization. With several modes like mobile apps etc. as data is being collected, many marketers fail to ascertain the data that they would need. Even if this level is cleared, they fail to deduce actionable inferences from them. Further they fail to use this share and utilize the data effectively. It has become very important to fit the data into metrics for measuring the marketing ROI.

So, merely knowing "X customers like your product" is no more as important as knowing "why those X like it". Big data is going to unlock all such mysteries, as the CMOs are going to spend more time on technology than the CTOs. Data driven marketing has established itself in the lexicon of marketing buzz. So, big data is not an end but a mean to outflank all the competitors and rise to a level where one can benchmark industry standards on entirely new paradigms.

BIG DATA IN RETAIL:

Earlier in retail sector, when a product did not sell it was removed from the line. Enter Big Data. The managers now can know the reason behind the failure of the product. So they can take measures to increase the sales by readjusting the price, introducing

different SKUs etc. Big Data in retail essentially means a means to find why a sale has not taken place. Is it due to wrong pricing? Is it due lack of promotions? Or is it due to store display? Earlier it was really hard to

track this information but with the advent of Big Data, collecting and analyzing unstructured data have become possible. Big Data may help retail in many other ways too. Retail sales mainly depend on in-store and online purchases. But any sales cannot be successful unless the product is delivered on time.

There are several firms offering Predictive analysis applications using Big Data variables like first day delivery, previous delivery data and real-time delivery data. These applications provide delivery schedules based on the previous data allowing managers to take

corrective actions. And this is unbelievably advantageous as the managers can prepare to meet customer expectations and maintain a high operational efficiency, which is essential in predicting the customer demand. For example, using Big Data, a retailer may use in store cards, purchase history etc. to predict when would a customer need to refill his or her ration. Here’s another very interesting and somewhat unsettling example. Last year a 15 year-

old girl in Minneapolis, USA went to her local Target store and purchased unscented body lotion. Target assigns every customer a guest ID number. Target maintains a history of everything that person buys along with demographic


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information. Within a few weeks, Target mailed the girl coupons for pregnancy and baby-related items. The girl’s father was infuriated and accused the store manager that he was encouraging his girl to become pregnant. Store Manager was clueless and apologized. After a few weeks the store manager called the father again to say how sorry he was. But this time the father apologized. It turned out that Target using its Big Data analytics knew more about the family than what the father did. The girl was indeed pregnant. It seems pregnant women buy a lot of unscented body lotion. The Target’s analytics was so good that it could predict so much from what other females buy. But really when this news was published it received a lot of negative feedbacks.

BIG DATA IN E-COMMERCE:

Another industry, which has seen huge potential in Big Data, which is also the pioneer in using the Big Data, is the ecommerce industry. Earlier we had given the example of how Amazon Inc. uses Big Data to grow its relationship with the customers. There are many such examples of various ecommerce firms, which have been benefitted from Big Data. One of the prominent features of this industry is the Omni-channel or Multi Channel supply chain. Big Data analytics enables ecommerce firms to take advantage of these channels and ensures the customers get the product they want. In the ecommerce industry price has been one of the key drivers. Since there are many websites offering price comparisons among different online shopping portals, it is necessary to keep the price appropriately to win customers. Big Data analytics help in this regard too. Real time pricing is possible using Big

Data, which can give us the edge over other competitors by knowing their pricing strategies and reacting in seconds. And finally ecommerce websites connect one-on-one with customers thereby creating

a chance for customization. This is specifically used by many online fashion websites to provide services to the customers.

IS BIG DATA A REVOLUTION OR A RUSE?

So far we have lavished and even deified the new incarnation of large chunk of data called Big Data. But has the Big Data lived up to its perceived status? We would argue that Marketing as a domain has not fully utilized the blessing of Big Data. But it is still very early to say that Big Data for marketing is an utter failure. Data has been around since a long time. The amount of data that we have been generating back since decades was already increasing at an exponential rate. Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a poem titled “Huntsman, What Quarry” way back in 1939 that addressed the question of Big Data:

‘Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,

rains from the sky a meteoric shower of facts…

they lie, unquestioned, uncombined.

Wisdom enough to leach us of our ill is daily spun;

but there exists no loom to weave it into a fabric.’

Even before the advent of computers our planet was having a tough time handling the huge mounds of data. Usually this data is not only meaningless but sometimes it turns out to be oppressive unless we can


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question and connect it into meaningful dots. One part of the reason for the situation we are in, can be attributed to the marketers themselves. It indeed boggles our mind that even in 2012 there are still marketers out there who don’t capture the most basic customer data such as name, mailing address and email address, but that’s precisely what is happening.

People actually love to be data-driven but still many don’t make use of it. This raises a question whether these data would serve our marketers’ cause at all. The reality is that unleashing the power of Big Data is itself a nightmare. The failure of big data at the moment is still in what it takes to get there. Many firms think that their company would become a data driven firm as soon as they purchase a Web 2.0 Big Data solution and are of the notion that within few days they would have colorful graphs popping out on the monitors in all the computers, which is the cozy picture painted by many of the technology vendors. Such firms use human tendency of craving for anything big- Big Mac, Big Gulp and now it’s Big Data.

Big Data was formed on the premise that more is always better. The success of Big Data cannot be measured in terms of zeta bytes. It has to be measured in terms of the ability to understand those data and use them for our decision-making. Just because you have so many technologies at your disposal it doesn’t mean that you should be collecting it all the time. Data can be collected and stored at every blink of our eye. But does that necessarily mean that you should do it? It’s a sure no. It is essential that companies figure out how to interpret the data before

procuring and storing it in huge server farms. It goes without saying that time spent in collecting the data is the time that could have been better spent on understanding the data, which is the need of the hour.

So these are some recommendations given by the experts in the industry before a company should embrace Big Data

A phased approach rather than a radical change is always suggested in early stages.

Focus on data that can more easily be turned into actionable insight and deployed

Hire the best data scientist and statisticians around, as they can understand your data better than you

Learn from other projects like CRM and you provide a conducive environment wherein the people and process are adaptive to new technology

The Data scientists are so optimistic about Big Data and its future. They believe Big Data will help marketers decide how we eat, how we vote, how we stay healthy, how we spend, how we keep our privacy (how we lose them as well) and so on. To witness these we have to wait and watch how well we utilize the data around. Depending on the future

happenings, we might even come up with an article titled “How Big Data revolutionized Marketing?” or “Why Big Data turned out to be a ruse?” in one of our future editions. Cheers till then.

cover story |The Big Data markathon|february 2013

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Mr. Dharmendra Satapathy, VP and Head of Marketing, TATA Asset Management is an alumnus of Symbiosis Institute of Management with more than 15 years of industry experience in the field of Marketing. He has previously worked in the advertising field with the likes of Lowe Lintas and RMG David. Currently looking after the advertising, media, PR and events at TATA, he has also been responsible for knowledge management, registering two significant trademark IPs. One of the IP branded as “Prof Simply Simple” has become quite a rage in the financial services industry. The second registered IP is "Intellect", a magazine explaining macro-economic trends and analysis in a layman language. In this exclusive interview with Markathon, he talks about various TATA group initiatives and shares valuable insights from his vast industry experience.

An Interview with Mr. Dharmendra Satapathy

VP and Head of Marketing, TATA Asset Management


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Markathon: Having spent more than 15 years in the world of advertising and communication working on different campaigns, which is the campaign that is closest to your heart? Why is it special to you? Mr Satapathy: I would first like to mention that a campaign is not about advertising and mass media. A campaign is about an “idea” that gains ground and relevance. In my experience, I have seen this happen with the Prof Simply Simple program that we started at Tata Mutual Fund. The idea was to make financial products relevant for the masses. To do this we thought of a “jargon buster” product and named it Prof Simply Simple. We created PowerPoint presentations – simple and short ones and mailed it across to our colleagues who in turn forwarded them to their stakeholders (distributors) and likewise it reached investors. Over a period of 6 years more than 125 stories have been created and Prof Simply Simple has become one of the most popular properties in the financial fraternity. Four books of Prof Simply Simple have been printed; one of them published by CNBC has become a bestseller. More than 1 lac lessons have been downloaded from our website. There have been more than 10,000 fans on the Facebook page. We have had fans from University of Yale and Taiwan writing to us about their delightful experience. About 20 Tata Group companies have been subscribing to our lessons and the Tata Group has recognized this effort as a promising practice. And for all this to happen we would have spent just about 50 lakhs in 6 years which can be primarily attributed to printing. Thus, what started as an internal communication became quite a brand within the financial fraternity. This is a vindication of the popular adage in marketing that “A brand is not created by the manufacturer but by the consumer”. It is the consumer that has made Professor Simply Simple what it is today.

Markathon: Today there are a number of players emerging in the Asset Management sector. What marketing strategies does Tata Asset Management employ in this dynamic scenario to stay ahead of the competition? Mr Satapathy: In the asset management business, the key factor of success is fund performance and product

innovation. We have created some innovative product features like the dividend trigger for one of our funds called the Tata Equity PE Fund. The moment the net asset value (NAV) of the product increases by 5% or 10%, a dividend is triggered. Thus the investor clearly understands the conditions under which he can expect to receive a dividend. We also have a product called the Tata Balanced Fund which provides monthly dividends. These product features address a specific segment of investors with a specific need gap.

Markathon: Can you share few of the innovative BTL communication strategies employed by the Asset Management firms? Mr Satapathy: The Professor Simply Simple example mentioned above is one of the most innovative BTL strategies employed in the Asset Management industry. We also publish a magazine called “Intellect” which is positioned as “Economist Made Easy”. What we do is select some key macro-economic events which are in the news and decode such stories for the readers/investors. Markathon: A low penetration level is one of the leading issues facing mutual fund sector in India. What is Tata Asset Management doing or planning to do to overcome this hurdle? Mr Satapathy: Plans are underway to focus our attention on smaller towns for market growth. We also plan to focus on financial education as a mode to connect with potential investors and become relevant to them. There are plans to create and support new kinds of distributors who in turn will help to pry open the market potential. Markathon: The common regulatory principle of increased transparency is likely to increase the product commoditization and reduce margins in some countries. What will be the implications in the Indian mutual fund industry? How does Tata Asset Management plan to make way in this changing environment?


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Knowledge Management is vital in all industries but particularly important in

industries where the product is a sold product instead of a bought product. If someone is recommending something

it could always be due to some vested interest.

Mr Satapathy: Differentiation is not brought about by operating in “secrecy”. Differentiation is primarily brought about by having the right intentions and developing values that support that intention. Brand is more about intangibles that make a tangible difference to the end customer. Hence, regulatory requirements for transparency are not a constraint to brand building and service delivery. Markathon: Asset managers’ success depends more on factors such as maintaining a strong infrastructure to support regulatory, investor and marketplace expectations. How has your prior experience in the advertising field helped you with a creative bent to bestow you all the success you have today? Mr Satapathy: The creation of two popular intellectual properties Prof Simply Simple and Intellect is a function of expertise cultivated through past experience in advertising and brand building. My experience in advertising gave me the conviction that for long term sustained success the relationship with potential investors is most vital. Hence, we went about building strong linkages with the end investor through our learning products. Today, our position stands vindicated in light of investor friendly policies framed by SEBI. Markathon: You have two significant IPs to your credit. One of them is Prof Simply Simple which has gained ground in the financial services industry. Can you throw some light on it and the essence of Knowledge Management for an organization in the current scenario? Mr Satapathy: Knowledge Management is vital in all industries but particularly important in industries where the product is a sold product instead of a bought product. If someone is recommending something it could always be due to some vested interest. Hence, it is important for the buyer to understand the product well and we have tried to do

this by spreading knowledge in a manner which makes it relevant. However, knowledge management is a broad subject. It is about using technology to spread right practices and ensuring that the organization

does business in a consistent and up-to-date manner. The Intranet is a tool that is often used for this purpose where best practices are shared. These days, social networking sites contribute to effective knowledge sharing.

Markathon: You have a

wonderful initiative of the magazine “Intellect” on

macro-economic trends and analysis in layman language to your

credit. What inspired the concept and according to you how important is consumer education in marketing financial services? Mr Satapathy: The concept of Intellect emerged when we realized that it was difficult to understand what was being written in the media. Since newspapers often report matters without explaining it, people tend to avoid such pieces and hence do not get to know about new things happening the macro-economic landscape. Specialized magazines such as the Economist on the other hand do a thorough job but are rather complex to decipher. We wanted to launch a product in between these. And Intellect quite beautifully fell into the slot. In the financial services business, consumer education is paramount if we wish to stop the malaise caused by mis-selling. Markathon: What is your advice to budding marketers reading this magazine? Mr Satapathy: Budding marketers need to understand that advertising, media, internet etc. are merely tools. Marketing truly takes birth with a “cause” that helps enhance the life of a consumer. The cause should be the nucleus out of which should emerge the “marketing campaign”.


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Aman ki asha: a plain marketing gimmick or a conviction for happy denouemenT?

‘Aman Ki Asha’ is a campaign started with the vision to strengthen the ties of harmony between the two Asian arch rivals India and Pakistan. The two countries not only share common history but the emotions are

similar on both sides of the border. A great saint once said ‘Once a thread is broken, even if you try to tie it back, the tubercle always remains there’. After the partition in 1947 and three wars, the two countries were never able to

share the same level of comfort and trust. Incidents like the beheading of Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army can never let the people on both sides of the border to live in peace. ‘Aman ki Asha’ was an initiative by leading media houses of both countries to curtail the hatred and bitterness between the citizens of the two countries. The Indian angst for Pakistan is rooted in the belief that the common Pakistani citizens, Pakistan’s Army, Pakistan’s politicians and fanatic extremists are the same. There are few personnel at the top level of administration in the Pakistani Government and Army who don’t want ‘aman’ and constantly make attempts to hamper any peace process initiated between the two countries. The Pakistani ‘awaam’ is also against these acts and it wants the two countries to live peacefully instead of wasting resources on fighting, use those resources for the betterment of common people. The only motive of ‘Aman ki Asha’ was to bring the people of both countries closer, to rise above political and regional issues and work for the betterment of common lives. In order to achieve this, musical shows were organized where artists from both countries performed on a common platform expressing solidarity. Such initiatives taken by non-governmental agencies signifies that the common population of both the nations is willing to break the shackles of border issues separating them and unite to emerge as peaceful collaborators.

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it”– Eleanor Roosevelt.

The above quote sums up the current scenario between the two neighbours – India and Pakistan. Drenched in bloody stains to become independent, the rivalry between nations goes long back in history, to the cultural roots. The wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999 have always hit the healing wounds. Military attacks in cease fire, cross border terrorism do not help the cause either.

Considering the above scenario, ‘Aman ki Asha’, a campaign to energise peace process between the two countries has proven to merely be a marketing tool. Considering India, where Islam is second most practised religion after Hinduism, there is unstated harmony among the two. Playing on the soft emotional spot, this campaign has been able to attract the attention of many eyes by organising music concerts involving famous singers, featured Indo-Pak sporting events, elaborate coverage in newsprint and TV channels. But the unchallenged fact is that the ultimate body to implement the peace process are the government officials.

The aim of the campaign should have been affecting the officials in the both countries. The results of a recent people-to-people verdict have shown that there is an average rating of 3.65 for the Indo-Pak relations on the scale of 10, where 0 is hostile, 5 is neutral and 10 is friendly. Considering the facts, this campaign is merely taking advantage of the situation to its benefits. The recent brutal killing of Indian soldiers underlines the mentality and the tension prevailing on the border and the effect of the gimmick campaign called – ‘Aman ki Asha’.

war zone | eye 2 eye markathon | february 2013 Th

e m

otiv

e w

as to

brin

g th

e pe

ople

of b

oth

coun

trie

s clo

ser a

nd to

wor

k fo

r the

bet

term

ent o

f the

wor

ld. Playing on the soft em

otional spot, this campaign has been able to attract the attention of m

any eyes.

Punit Bhansali IIM Shillong

Gaurav Gulati DoMS, IIT Roorkee

Topic for the next issue’s Eye to Eye: “Coke’s new Obesity Campaign: Honesty Served or Campaign Backfired”

Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 15th February, 2012. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry.

24

war zone | silent voice markathon | april 2012

15

NEXT THEME FOR SILENT VOICE: “Johnson’s Baby Soap (Fictional)” LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 15th February, 2013

EMAIL ID: [email protected]

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

Silent Voice LAST MONTH’S RESULTS

Theme: “iPad mini”

WINNER: Anupriya and Vikash Kumar Singh

CCS National Institute of Agricultural Marketing Congratulations!!! Anupriya and Vikash receive a cash prize of Rs 500!

Karun Sethi | Manish Arora| DoMS, IIT Roorkee

HONORARY MENTION

war zone | silent voice markathon | february 2013

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PRODUCT: CEAT SUV Tyres

POSITIONING: Exceptional grip and stopping power

AD AGENCY: Anup Chitnis, Ogilvy & Mather

YouTube Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK-u0V7Uveo

CONCEPT: “Kahan rukna hai, pata hai” campaign is

intended to associate the brand with social-cause

(corruption) in light humor. A shrewd politician tries to

tempt a veterinary doctor into something as weird as

(no idea why on earth) illegal vasectomy. At this

moment, the doctor seems to rush through a rapid

flash back, surprisingly though, not through any of his

lessons of morality in school, but an encounter with a

dumb donkey standing idle on the road, when the

strong grip of the CEAT tyres of his SUV saves him from

meeting an accident. Stunned by the flash back, he

denies the politician’s offer and says “Kahan rukna hai,

pata hai”.

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Miss

These days associating a brand with the social

awakening phenomena has become more of a cliché

among popular brands, as previously a similar theme

was observed in the campaigns of Idea Cellular, TATA

Tea etc. Such associations attempt to immediately earn

the stature of a socially-responsible brand. But

compared with previous campaign by CEAT- “Roads are

full of idiots”, the current campaign does not create a

similar impact. The instance of corruption in animal

vasectomy has not gone down well with the audience.

Moreover, the humor rates very low on the scale of

fatigue factor.

Ad-dicted

Swikruti panda | IIM S sushree Tripathy | iim s

PRODUCT: Coca Cola

POSITIONING: “Khushiyaan lutao crazy kehlao”

CREATIVE AGENCY: McCann Erickson, India

YouTube Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEWtpYtpv4

CONCEPT: The latest ‘Crazy for Happiness’ ad by Coca

Cola was launched as part of their global ‘Open

Happiness’ campaign. Set to the upbeat jingle ‘han

han main crazy hun’, the ad opens with the line ‘If

being kind to strangers is crazy’, shows people from

all walks of life engage in random acts of kindness to

spread happiness and then goes on to say ‘then call

me crazy’. It features real life characters committed

to doing good deeds, such as Abhishek who travels to

the other side of the town to feed stray dogs every

day and Palak, who holds concerts to raise money to

treat sick children. Finally the brand asks ‘Are you

crazy enough to make the world happier?’

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Catch

In today’s world marred with apathy, little acts of

kindness seem crazy and the ‘Crazy for Happiness’ ad

strikes the right chord by encouraging people to care

for others and spread happiness. Another of its

winter ad campaigns (Umeed wali dhoop campaign in

Dec 2011), experts say its untimely launch could be

aimed to de-seasonalise the brand and give it a new

brand personality to drive sales in the off-season.

Besides being well-shot, the heart-warming jingle and

real life role-models have added to its emotional

impact helping it create the buzz that it has. The

brand furthers its association with optimism and joy

through this ad, urging people to celebrate being nice

to each other, to be a little crazy and open happiness.

specials | ADdicted markathon | february 2013

26

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK-u0V7Uveo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEWtpYtpv4


10

BRAND STORY: FASTRACK SHASHANK TOMAR | IIM S Fastrack has been rated as the fourth most exciting brand by Brand Equity in 2013. The youth focussed brand has registered wide presence across the country through various multi brand outlets and over 125 exclusive Fastrack outlets, built on an asset-light franchisee model and positioned as a one stop location for fashion accessories.

Launched in 1998, the brand was a flanker, positioned as the fashionable face of Titan watches to offer affordable fashion for the youth and promoted as ‘Cool watches from Titan’. The re-positioning strategy used in 2003-2004 to target the executive segment as well as the casual watch segment backfired and sales fell to an all-time low. This led to another re-positioning attempt in 2005, targeting the trendy, ambitious and attention seeking 15-25 age group, when the brand signed in John Abraham as the brand ambassador and promoted itself through a 360 degree media blitz through television, outdoor events and promotions to change the perception of watches being a functional tool to being a fashion accessory. The brand asked ‘How many you have?’ referring to the urge of variety and constant change demanded by the youth and made the logo more energetic while removing the Titan tag. Consequently, Fastrack was launched as a separate business unit in 2005.

The brand witnessed true marketing successes with its numerous successful campaigns like ‘Are you on it?’, ‘How many you have?’, ‘Sweet no more’ and ‘Fastrack: tees’. Fastrack struck the right chord with its

‘Move on’ campaign, wherein it leveraged on young people’s aversion to commitment related to relations, jobs or accessories. The brand has played the sex card very smartly, showing a lot less skin than an average deodorant ad, but it reaped huge recognition through its ads showing the role reversals of the fairer sex in the modern world.

The brand pushed the design boundaries with different straps (made of denim, metal and synthetic materials), hands of the watches and cases and introduced various successful product themes spanning bikes, army, beaches, outdoor sports and

hip-hop music. Fastrack eyewear, while maintaining its attribute of being a premium brand, aimed to fulfil the gap between luxury brands (read as Rayban) and unbranded shades available for bargain in flea-markets, owing to its affordable price. In 2010, the brand was extended to include belts, bags, wallets and wrist bands in its product portfolio.

Next up in line is the brand extension into helmets, fashion footwear and apparel. It also has plans to venture into design and marketing of bicycles. The brand is also looking for extending its geographical presence to emerging countries like Brazil, China and Vietnam.

The dilemma facing the brand is about sustaining its position among the audience that loves to ‘move on’. It will be worthwhile seeing how long the TG sticks to the repetitive stand of the brand.

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specials | brand story markathon|february 2013

specials | Fun Corner

markathon|february 2013

17

4. This brewing company was established in 1847, and was the fifth largest brewing group in the world by the end of 20th century. In 1973, it adopted the advertising slogan ‘Probably the best beer in the world’. It acquired Tuborg breweries in 1970 and merged with Tetley in 1992.

Fun corner KAMAL SALUJA | IIM S

.

1. This company was set up to build cars for ‘the people’. Production continued throughout World War 2, but the company was on it knees afterwards and owed its rejuvenation to a British Army officer, Major Ivan Hirst. Cars like the Beetle, first driven before World War 2, were the basis of its renewed fortune.

2. This company traces its origin to 1888 and its world headquarters are at Armonk, New York. It produced a wide range of mechanical business machines, before gaining an early dominant position in the world of personal computers. In 2011, ‘Fortune’ magazine ranked it as America’s 18th largest firm

3. This company was established in 1865 to produce paper. Over the years, a diverse range of products followed and the modern company’s involvement with telecommunications started in 1960.

This provided the stepping-stone for the company to be an early producer of mobile phones.

IDENTIFY THE COMPANY Each question has three clues. Getting the answer on the: First clue gets you 20 points Second clue gets you 15 points Third clue gets you 10 points Do your own scoring out of 160 points and see how much you know about these Iconic companies



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5. This company traces its history to 1898 and its invention by a pharmacist called Caleb Bradham.

On three separate occasions in the 1920s and 30s, its biggest competitor today was offered opportunity to purchase the company, but they declined on each occasion. In 1931, the company entered bankruptcy – in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I.

6. The founder of this company was riding a New York elevated railway when he spied a shoemaker’s advertisement claiming, ‘We sell 21 styles of shoes’ and decided he could use such a campaign for his products.

He liked the number 57, so he used it and it’s been on company’s all products ever since. The company is now ranked first in ketchup in the US with market share in excess of 50%.

7. This company traces its roots to a textile manufacturing company established in 1839 as the Valley Falls Company.

Class A shares of this company sold for $140,803 as of January 4, 2013, making them the highest-priced shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is known for its Chairman, who is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century.

8. This company traces its origin to 1965 when a 30-year-old salesman saw a market for colourful clothes, and sold a younger brother's bicycle in order to buy his first second-hand knitting machine.

In autumn 2011, the company launched its new worldwide communication campaign, an invitation to the leaders and citizens of the world to combat the "culture of hatred", and created the UNHATE Foundation. The company's core business remains their clothing lines with a network of over 6,500 stores around the world

1) Volkswagen 2) IBM 3) Nokia 4) Carlsberg

5) Pepsi 6) Heinz 7) Berkshire Hathaway 8) Benetton Group

Answers



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specials | updates markathon | march 2012

BRAND LAUNCH

Axe’s new space travel campaign HUL’s personal care brand for men, Axe, launched its much talked about space campaign for its new Apollo fragrance launch. For this, the firm created Axe Apollo Space Academy (A.A.S.A.) comprising of space enthusiasts who will be competing for 22 tickets for space exploration. The company believes that there is no bigger hero than an astronaut and in this belief; it expects to create heroes out of common people. Videocon enters the tablet market with its V10 tablet The Indian multinational ventured into the tablet market with its latest model V10 to rage a price war in this super-competitive tablet arena. The model carries dual 2 megapixel camera and 10.1 inches screen to ensure user connectivity. Wrangler introduces moisturizing jeans

With a new chapter in product innovation, the apparel brand Wrangler introduced its line of moisturizing jeans which promises to leave the legs soft and smooth after usage. The new product line branded as “Spa Denim” consists of lots of skin care ingredients to prevent cracking and dehydration of skin.

BRAND WATCH

Mahindra unveils its new logo The auto giant came up with a new word mark recently to boost its visual identity. The older grey color word mark has been replaced with new grey color logo. The new logo signifies brand attributes of being global, technology savvy, modern and progressive, while retaining the old ones such as reliability, warmth, trust worthiness and caring nature.

Cadbury: En route to replace “mithai” With its advertising campaigns touting it to be more than just a chocolate, Cadbury is all set to create a niche for itself in the minds of consumers when it comes to celebrating the joys of life. Cadbury recently had a tie-up with traditional Indian “mithai” (sweet) shops in Kolkata to come up with 9 variants of sweets prepared using dairy milk chocolate to draw huge attention and appreciation from the consumers. Tesco introduces Baby brand

Tesco launched its “Tesco loves baby” brand which included products for children up to the age of three years. Its product line includes nappies, wipes, toiletries and weaning accessories. With this new introduction, Tesco is all set to pose a direct challenge to FMCG giants like P&G and Kimberly Clark, which have dominated this space for a long time.

MEDIA

Chevrolet cashes in on Liverpool and Manchester United for its latest campaign An ad campaign featuring star players from the renowned English football clubs Liverpool and Manchester United was recently launched by Chevrolet. The automobile firm which is one of the sponsors of Manchester United and is the official automotive partner of Liverpool has launched the campaign ahead of the clash of these two giants in the English Premier League. The coffee war is brewing The entry of Starbucks in India has shaken and stirred the growing coffee chain market in India. Starbucks has assigned its creative promotional responsibilities to JWT while the rival Cafe Coffee Day launched its successful TV campaign (the “Sit down” campaign) courtesy of Creativeland Asia. Lavazza has already roped in Law and

specials | updates markathon | february 2013

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specials | updates markathon | march 2012

Kenneth as its creative agency while Costa Coffee is still looking for one.

AD Watch

Coca Cola: Crazy Campaign The ad is about people coming together through acts of kindness. From sharing happiness with family to sharing happiness with strangers, the ad hits the right note with consumers. The jingle is catchy and helps in enhancing the recall value of the brand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLFXCHkGn2k Hero Glamour: Nain Mattaka Another nice ad from the stable of Hero Motocorp, the ad portrays the desirability of Indian males getting

enhanced while riding a Hero Glamor. The ad displays the features of the bike which increases its appeal and the hummable jingle helps creating a connection with consumers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Bhj-9pY9g Quikr.com: Miss Call Ad The ad tries to cash in on the popularity of Bob Biswas: an acclaimed character from the Bollywood movie ‘Kahani’ to drive home the point of putting items for sale on quikr.com. The ad very easily conveys its intent and is fun to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_9dZBhzwCY

specials | updates markathon | february 2013

articles are invited Best Article: “BAD PIGGIES – AIN’T SO BAD” : SARTH RASTOGI | IIFT, DELHI He/She receives a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation

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

Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena. Productolysis: Analysis of a product from the point of view of marketing. Strategic Analysis: A complete analysis of the marketing strategy of any company or an

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

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

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

The last date of receiving all entries is 15th February 2013. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAMES>_<INSTITUTE> to [email protected].

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLFXCHkGn2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Bhj-9pY9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_9dZBhzwCY


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markathon february 2013 issue

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