MARKSMANThe

K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL. 3| ISSUE VI| JANUARY‘13

CROSS- SWITCH

Word ofMouth

hdsjdy Page 10

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EDITOR’S DESK

Happy Reading !! Team – Marksman The Interface – The Marketing Club of SIMSR

Welcome back to yet another exciting issue of your monthly dose

of marketing, ‘The Marksman’! We would like to thank all our

readers for the overwhelming response we receive time and again!

We promise to keep you all entertained and well read for the whole

of 2013!

To begin with, reaching out to the consumers in spite of the

numerous barriers they put up is the most difficult challenge for a

brand. So how do they cross those barriers and market

themselves successfully? Find out in our Cover Story on ‘Cross

Switch’ marketing.

Ever wondered why you instantly tend to use a brand

recommended by your friend? It’s called the power of ‘Word-of-

Mouth’ marketing which is our Special Story for this issue.

Did you miss the most exciting marketing conference of the year?

Catch a glimpse on what happened in the 8th SIMSR Global

Marketing Conference in our rewind section!

Go ahead and read some super stories in our regular section

Tweets, a super review on ‘All Marketers Tell Stories’ by Seth

Godin in our Bookworm section and many more interesting

sections to look forward to!

Read articles written by our very own readers! We would like to

congratulate the winners of our article writing competition Deepa

Sastry and Ghanendra Singh.

We look forward to some suggestions from all our readers! Get in

touch with us on Facebook and Twitter @marksmansimsr.

So don’t wait! Flip this page NOW!

Dear Readers,

01 JANUARY 2013

05 AUGUST 2012

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

CROSS - SWITCH MARKETING

10

SPECIAL STORY

WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING

17

TETE-A-TETE

27

REWIND

25

FEATURED ARTICLES

Tata Group after Ratan Tata …21

Brand Tendulkar : Will it sustain post his

retirement? …23

SquAreheaD

32BOOKWORM

31

BUZZ

33

TWEETS

03

It’s all about AD-itude!

09Brand MARK ive

05

THE MARKSMAN 02

Hall-MARK Campaigns

07

TWEETS

03 JANUARY 2013

In year 2008 Puma started its initiative named ‘Urban stampede’ which is

a running platform where various corporate teams compete against each

other. This is a relay format which awards the fastest running corporate

team which also acts as a team building exercise.

Rajiv Mehta, MD, says “it is the only national running property in India”. He

also adds that it is not a cut-throat competition but participants enjoy the

race. The registrations for this event have started and PUMA expects some

of the best companies on board.

R e a d y f o r i t s C o r p o r a t e F u n R u n

TWEETS

Photography equipment maker Fujifilm India has appointed Ignitee Digital

for its social media and digital communication.

Fujifilm hopes to get connected with the tech-savvy youth of India by

providing them with more opportunities to get connected with the brand.

Let’s see what value proposition will Fujifilm put forward to its customers

with its ideas and Ignitee’s approach.

India appoints Ignitee Digital for its social media campaign

Life OK recently completed a year in December 2012 and holds around

10 percent share in Hindi GEC market. Life Ok, which tried to have

shows which are not only entertaining but also relevant with a social

message, is intending to utilise outdoor marketing in year 2013’s

strategies.

Ajit Thakur, GM of Life OK said 'his biggest ambition is to rival Star

Plus‘.

L i f e O K d r e a m s t o r i v a l a g a i n s t S t a r p l u s

THE MARKSMAN 04

Brand MARK ive

ThinkGeek is the eponymous

reminder of all the brave souls

who waged a war against thick,

big books and stood out victorious.

It is a name that shows the word

‘Geek’ in a completely new light.

Let us think back and remember

that the modern heroes are not the

personalities for whom we brim

with adulation as they stand facing

the setting sun, their muscular

silhouettes giving them the aura of

Titans. The real heroes that we

admire today are the

The idea to come up with

something like this was

hatched by individuals who

were at the helm of the internet

revolution in the 90s. The

objective was to create a shop

selling those products which

would appeal to individuals

whose imagination spawned

great ideas and who had the

guts to put their ideas to test.

In short, it was meant for all

those people who have helped

create THIS oh-so-convenient

technology. (Which includes

this unscrupulously detailed

program code that makes your

screen look like it is showing

text in English language!)

and Batman scurry

back in the JLA

Tower and start

testing themselves

for abnormalities. We are talking

‘chaps-next-door’ with killer

determination and gritty

perseverance; the kindwhich would make Superman

about the likes of Mark

Zuckerberg, Bill Gates et

al. ThinkGeek is a brand

name that represents that

very innovative intellect.

05 JANUARY 2013

Brand MARK ive

operating system in 1995

transformed into this unique

online shop 4 years later after

implementing a multitude of

ideas and brainstorming

sessions.

Today ThinkGeek remains a

niche organization which

employs 26 people and-

believe it or not- 2 dogs named

Cisco and Rangely. The

makers of ThinkGeek assert

that these 2 “employees” are a

backup plan to ward off

solicitors and also provide

emotional release during

“puppy play sessions”.

ThinkGeek in an online shop

serving the needs of people who

are passionate about technology.

What do you buy there? Well, here

goes! Their shop includes

Chocolate Flavored envelopes

with Note Cards, The Legend of

Zelda Mints, Squirming Tentacle

USB, Electronic Guitar T-Shirt

(Which can actually be

strummed!), Assassin Creed’s

Tomahawk, Da Vinci Wood

Catapult … and the list goes on.

This amazing online store is a

subsidiary of VA Research, a

company found in 1993 by 2

Stanford Graduates Larry Augustin

and James Vera. The ThinkGeek

site however became public way

later in 1999. VA Research today

is called Geeknet and is based in

Fairfax, Virginia. What started as

an experiment in an Open sourceUNIX like

THE MARKSMAN 06

Hall-MARK Campaigns

A promotional campaign done by WALMART and MARS has come to highlight

because of its innovative style. This campaign put together a good cause with

promotional campaign and managed to connect with consumers effectively. The

interesting fact was that the target consumers influence the buyers only by

wagging their tails.

Yes, this campaign focused on dogs!

It served as an “edutainment” opportunity for pet owners and brought to light the

plight of stray dogs. The idea for the campaign was generated after an analysis

revealed that there were 90 million pet owners who shopped in Walmart but only

60% purchased pet food and 40% purchased pet supplies there. This presented

as a huge opportunity for both Walmart and Mars.

Mars Pet care is a Brussels based conglomerate which is most popular for its

dog food Pedigree. In fact Mars is the biggest pet care provider in the world with

presence in 50 countries and employing 33000 employees worldwide.

&

07 JANUARY 2013

Walmart decided to come up with a campaign

that not only highlighted Mars’ pet care

business but also promoted both the brands

as ‘Caring’.

As a result, a shopper marketing campaign

called ‘Pets Love Walmart’ was initiated

whose core objective was to raise money to

create shelters for stray pets.

The campaign utilized print as well as digital

media to reach out to consumers.

Hall-MARK Campaigns

In the first leg of the campaign, Walmart hosted a weekly event that educated

shoppers about proper health care. In addition, all Pedigree packages

comprised of a QR code that directly donated a bowl of food to a shelter. The

code allowed shoppers to find ways of donating food to different pet shelters.

This promotion enhanced Mars pet care sales by 25% and a survey also

revealed that Walmart was indeed adjudged as a ‘caring brand’ and created

a recall value when it came to pet care food.

THE MARKSMAN 08

It’s all about AD-itude

Fever 104 FM has come up with this vibrant and colourful print ad which sends

across a very useful message, “wherever you go, reach happy”. It has come up

with three print ads which aim to target the college going teen, the home maker

and the office going executive. The print ad is full of colours which makes it

extremely catchy. The message is that the 40 minutes of non-stop music help

you reach college, make breakfast or reach office taking the monotony away,

replacing it with a sense of refreshing vivacity and making the journey more

interesting.

MEDIA: PRINT

CLIENT: FEVER 104 FM

CREATIVE AGENCY: BRANDS ON E

MEDIA: TVC

CLIENT: KURKURE

CREATIVE AGENCY: JWT

Kurkure, known to be the perfect Indian namkeen snack was launched in 1999,

and is today identified as a new age crunchy snack, with the very well known

and funny tag line “Tedha hai par mera hai”. Its brand ambassadors so far have

been Juhi Chawla as well as Kareena Kapoor who are full of beans and they, in

the true sense, embody the vibrant and electrifying essence of Kurkure. The

journey now continues with Kurkure launching a brand new TV Commercial

introducing the new age Kurkure family that is dynamic, alive and energetic

and would connect with the youth of today. Parineeti Chopra, Kunal Kapoor,

Farida Jalal, Boman Irani, Ramya Krishnan, and Shivansh have been

introduced individually in teaser ad commercials which are currently on air.

This all new family kurkure ad commercial is

considered to be its biggest ad campaign till

date. The advertisement hopes to break

new ground by targeting multiple age

segments simultaneously; cementingKurkure’s standing as the “universal snack”.

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CROSS SWITCH

DECIPHERING THE CODE

“Cross-switch” is an approach- including strategies, tactics and tools to get

through the barriers put up by the consumers and maximize the results of a

marketing campaign.

FLIPPING THE SWITCH

In this day and age, businesses are struggling to get consumers to pay

attention to their brands. It’s no longer enough to simply use multiple forms of

media to deliver the same message or campaign over and over. It’s easy for

consumers to sift that out and likewise it fails to take advantage of the power

of some other forms of media especially digital media.

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF CROSS COMMUNICATION

In this era of over flowing information consumers detach themselves from

information if they feel it has nothing to do with them. Then , they put up what

we call an INFORMATION BARRIER.

And to ensure that the message reaches the consumers “The Drawing Out

Approach” is used by presenting information that is intriguing, with which the

consumer wants to become involved, unlike the traditional breaking in

approach

The consumer who has put up Information barrier

The “Drawing out” approach

which forces consumers to pay attention to their marketing messages.

Cross switch approach is a way to provide added value and create

engagement with consumers and that’s a big part of where cross switch

communication fits into today’s and tomorrow’s environment. It gives

marketers powerful new ways to draw consumers out and make the more

involved.

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The key to drawing consumers out

from within their barriers is to

create SCENARIOS that move the

target.

In this way the consumers take

interest and actively seek out for

information, and before they know

it they are fans of the brand

enjoying an active brand

experience leading to a purchase.

WHAT MAKES IT WORK

PUTTING CROSS SWITCH INTO PLAY: Real Cases

In 2006, Nissin, which sells a staggering 25 billion packs of noodles a year,

had something special to do to celebrate Cup Noodles’ 35th Anniversary.

Hence, the Freedom Project where Nissin tried to position the humble Cup

as a symbol of freedom, since the pour-and-eat meal had "brought about a

worldwide revolution in food culture."

Nissin Food Products Ltd: CUP NOODLES ‘FREEDOM PROJECT’ PRODUCT PLACEMENT

11 JANUARY 2013

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Using campaigns which included a

series of commercials and longer films,

as well as posters and a range of

multimedia elements, all based on an

animated tale created by Katsuhiro

Otomo, the legendary manga artist and

anime director.

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION:“HARMONY FOR TOMORROW” CAMPAIGN

The project was able to fulfill its

objective of changing impression of

young people about CUP

NOODLES.

Their image of actual ‘CUP

NOODLES’ product became both

active and empathetic which was

indicated by consumers comments

such as “feels lively”, “energetic” and

“always new”.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Cross switch approach is not just a sales

promotion method to build short-term sales. It

can also be used for brand communication

when the theme at first glance may be difficult

to follow.

This strategy was used by Toyota’s CSR

campaign to achieve greater proliferation of

their activities.

An integration of television commercials, the web magazine &

advertisements, train station advertisements was incorporated to form

paths along with distribution of digest versions of web magazines which

led to the company establishing its goodwill and empathy with broader

range of consumers.

Cross switch goes to AmericaThe scion XD “Little Deviant” campaign

Cross communication tactics were deployed for “Little Deviant” campaign

where an array of innovative elements conveyed a sensational narrative to

underscore the xD’s non-conformist personality.

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xD was the aggressive five-door urban vehicle, the newest model from

Scion. Through a series of outdoor spectaculars, print ads and TV spots

the xD was personified using little deviants monsters. The story brought

the audiences along for the ride on their website where they could

navigate old school style games.

Manga Magazines“Don’t Search !” – Jump Square Inaugural Issue campaign

For many years, sales of Manga magazines had been driven by the

strength of their stories. This example of jump square however

demonstrates that even in the case of a magazine that always had

particularly strong content, sales volume could still be increased drastically

by creating an advertising device to attract readers’ attention and draw

them out.

Challenging Environment

In recent years the sales of Magazines have faded somewhat probably in

part due to the growth of internet, mobile phones and electronic gaming.

This case is about a comic style magazine, which succeeded in gaining

extremely high sales in this age where magazines don’t sell as they used

to. A totally innovative plan was sought for the advertising of Jump

Square’s Inaugural Issue.

The ‘Stay Away’ Message

About three weeks before the release of the

magazine, a rather dramatic and startling TVC

was broadcasted where the words “Jump Square”

appeared in an Internet Screen window, crossed

out by an “X”, with an accompanying voice-over

as follows: “This is a request. The inaugural issue

of Jump Square will be released shortly , but

please don’t search for “Jump Square” over the

internet.

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It is human nature to want to do what you are told not to do. Right?

The commercial caught interest of people and they began searching for the

words “Jump Square”.

At first, all they saw was a text page with a “Request from the Editorial

Division”. Seeing this the reaction of non-core members was predictable,

however the core readers , their reactions were opposite.

When they saw the message they became even more convinced that there

is something wrong. They searched for the same words not once, twice but

three times in a row. Finally, those readers were led to a hidden site that

began with the message –

“We give Up”. We are just no match to your determination and enthusiasm.

Building the Buzz

Core readers quickly posted comments on blogs and other sites describing

how they discovered the “hidden information”. In no time the discussions of

the hidden site spread like wildfire by the WOM on internet!

Further WOM Tie-ins were created using mobiles phone sites and

advertisements in Tokyo train stations. It didn’t stop there. The hidden site

provided open access to mobile site, where the readers could view the

entire manga story before the publication date, which said “Read one story

from the Inaugural issue for free and pass it on to your friends ”Connecting

all the pieces of promotions with their very unique TRAIN CAMPAIGN

created a buzz which was irresistible.

The readers could participate in the Manga Relay, where they could read

every segment of the serial only by getting off the train at each station.

THE MARKSMAN 14

Once the campaign was underway, the information about the new Jump

Square traveled by WOM from non core readers to prospective readers and

further to friends and acquaintances.

“Sold Out”

The inaugural issue of Jump Square was released in November 2007. The

original printing was set at 500,000 copies but the analogy was sold out and

a second printing of 100,000 copies was released later.

As a result of this campaign, we can say that it is safe to say that

consumers actively and independently access information about

advertisements that catch their interest.

Cross communication in this case was very innovatively deployed, The

consumers were drawn out from their information barriers by making

special tips and “ insider information” available person-to-person from core

to manga fans, first by concealing the information and later rigging up its

demand which corroborated the belief that there's nothing better than

searching hidden information. Another idea was also confirmed that the

“information gap” between core and non core readers would lead to ripples

and the information would pass from core to less interested readers.

The CROSS in Cross Switching- Is what makes it different

On the basis of four elements, it is easy to solidify the contrast between the

traditional media mix and Cross switching namely; Contact Point planning,

breadth and depth , scenarios and Media insight.

The Crucial difference between the two approaches of Integrated Marketing

Communication and Cross Switching is that in cross switching the entire idea

or the message is essentially a jigsaw which has to be pieced from different

sources to complete the communication which the brand is trying to do.

Results were evident with the comments-

“I read them all”

“I read it on Platform 4 at Shibuya Station”

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WHEN SHOULD IT BE PUT TO USE

This approach works for brands with little news, for instance Brands that

have undergone minor renovations, Brands in categories where differentiation

is difficult.

When it’s difficult to attract consumers interest in the brand, it becomes

important to draw out a clear path that draws consumers out and this strategy

is apt to achieve that goal which uses Core Idea as a key to create a scenario

for effectively moving the target to action.

This core idea is a campaign’s Central Theme, designed to capture

consumer’s hearts, which expresses the allure, novelty and the power of the

campaign in simple terms.

Thus by using the same media , we can have a standard Push based

communication plan which is the IMC or we can have the Cross Switch

which will aim purely at creating a pull based impact .

It’s effective when level of involvement is high as compared to low

involvement , as then, the consumer would be straight away put to point of

purchase.

IMC purely aims at using different media to communicate the same

message in order to drive reinforcement of the key message in the minds of

the consumer.

THE MARKSMAN 16

Her friend Anita from work came up

to her one day and asked her,

“Why do you look so stressed

Lalitha. What’s the matter?” She

explained the anxiety she was

feeling because of moving away

from home and her family and

living in such a big city all by

herself. Anita told her, “Hey, it’s

alright! This city can make anyone

feel lonely. I and a couple of friends

are going to spend our day off

tomorrow at the Sva Spa andSalon. It’s the best spa in this city

and a day spent there will get you

all relaxed. You should join us.”

Lalitha instantly agreed since she

needed some time off to pamper

herself. The day after the visit to

the Salon, Lalitha felt like a new

person. She thanked Anita for this

wonderful recommendation.

+ 5 Points for Sva Spa and Salon

Why Brands love those “Big Mouths”

Lalitha, a 27 year old recently got

recruited in one of the biggest

MNCs as the HR Head in the

financial capital of India, Mumbai.

Born and brought up in Darjeeling,

Lalitha was going through a bit of

a culture shock when she came to

live in Mumbai. The extremely fast

paced life of this city was

beginning to give Lalitha the

Heebie - jeebies. Being an

introvert and it being her first time

in a big city like Mumbai, Lalithastarted feeling a little left out.

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THE MARKSMAN 18

SPECIAL STORY

Months passed by and Lalitha was now getting in tune with the hustle and bustle

of this city. Over the months, she had become good friends with her neighbours,

all of them within the same age group. Preeti, one of her neighbours, once came

over to her house and told Lalitha, “I went to see the movie Life of Pi yesterday. It

was a brilliantly made film and you should definitely not miss this one. But don’t

go to Cinemax in Wadala. The sound and the 3D effects of the theatre spoiled

my movie experience completely.”

+ 5 Points for Life of Pi -5 Points for CineMax

Being relatively new to this city, every time Lalitha was confused about

something like a good restaurant to eat at or a good place to shop from or a good

coffee place to go to and spend time alone at, she would turn to her friends,

colleagues or neighbours for a recommendation since she knew they would tell

her the right place to be at and the places to avoid. +5’s for all those good

recommendations and -5’s to all the bad ones!

So why exactly are we rating these places and giving them these points? It’s

nothing but what the marketers proudly call ‘Word-of-Mouth marketing’.

The oldest and the most precious form

of marketing for any company, Word-

of-Mouth (WOM) marketing has grown

to become an important part of the

marketing plan of a brand. Since its

inception in the form of Storytelling,

WOM marketing has become more

than just that. With the digital platform

becoming the ‘next big thing’,

consumers now have the power to

voice their opinions about the brands

that they use on various social

networking websites, over the

telephone, via emails and various

other ways.

Brands are becoming increasingly

aware of this Empowered Consumerand have therefore become very

cautious in every marketing move they

make. One bad thing said about

their brand in any part of the country

could hamper their brand and affect their sales.

SPECIAL STORY

19 JANUARY 2013

So why is Word of Mouth marketing becoming so important especially in a country like India?

Indians are known to live in a very closely knit society. All the people living in one

locality may belong to different cultures yet when it comes to choosing a product

or a particular brand they listen closely to what the others living around them

have to say about those brands. Trust plays a very important role while choosing

any particular brand.

A ‘Brand’ for an Indian consumer represents a trust mark and guarantee for value

for money. Hence if recommended by a close friend, peer, colleague (word of

mouth), the consumer is more likely to choose that brand over others. A recent

survey showed that more than 70% of the consumers in India tend to consider

recommendations from their friends and colleagues before buying any brand.

Brands recognise the importance of the use of Social Media as a tool for Word-of-Mouth marketing

We have come into a great era where a

brand has moved from an intangible

thing to a tangible and measurable

entity as we enter into the digital age

and the smart phones age. Increase in

the use of the digital platforms and the

use of smart phones has literally given

the future of all the brands in the hands

of the consumer. Hence, every brand

recognises the importance of keeping

their consumers happy and satisfied.

Getting the feedback from their

consumers has become as important

as planning the right market strategy.

And this is where social media plays a

very important role. As rightly quoted

by the famous Author Andy Sernovitz,

‘A happy customer is the greatestadvertisement’

SPECIAL STORY

Here’s how Word-of-mouth marketing has evolved over the years

Word of mouth 1.0

Word of mouth used to revolve

around the idea that one

satisfied customer goes and

tells friends and family about the

service that he has received.

Word of mouth 2.0

Brands then capitalised on the

potential of word of mouth

marketing by developing strategies

to actively gain brand advocates

and set up affiliate models of

selling, rather than simply using

paid-for advertising. The rise of

online shopping, comparison and

review sites, social media, and

experiential marketing all helped

the spread of word of mouth.

Word of mouth 3.0

More recently, brands have started to

put their business in the hands of the

consumer. Affiliate selling has moved

from agencies pushing out links to

drive sales to consumers becoming

the curators of their own websites.

They recommend and share

products on a variety of platforms,

whether that is through virtual stores,

apps or online store fronts, and earn

rewards, points and cash.

Also making use of the full potential

of Social media, a brand can become

a consumer’s favourite in a matter of

a few months. Even though newer

and better ways of marketing have

been found a marketer should not

forget the effectiveness of something

as basic as Word-of-Mouth

marketing. After all life is all about

going back to your roots and this

form of marketing is nothing but the

roots or as we like to call it the

beginning of marketing.

So what is the future of Word-of-Mouth marketing

in India?

As long as the Indian consumers

continue to trust the opinions of

their friends and family for making

their purchase decisions, brands

will have to ensure that they keep

working hard towards gaining all

those +5 points from every singleconsumer that they come across.

THE MARKSMAN 20

FEATURED ARTICLES

When Ratan Tata took over the reins of group, he had the challenges of fire-

fighting the group’s satraps, coordinating and streamlining the diverse activities

of over hundred diverse holdings into a cohesive group in the turbulent times of

1991 economic liberalization and most importantly, reasserting the Tata

alchemy of values like trust and commitment. Though the succession was

fraught with various issues, his stellar performance as a leader and visionary

made the Group’s fortune grow over 20 times in his 20 years at the helm.

While the successor is the first in

the lineage to not have a Tata

surname, it’s all still in the family.

With the Jewel (Read: Ratan)

passing on the crown of the salt-to-

software conglomerate to his

successor Cyrus Mistry, the latter

sure has his task cut out for him.

Ratan Tata transformed the

respected, predominantly domestic

Tata Group into an internationally

recognized House of Brands. The

enterprising chairman picked up the

iconic Jaguar and Land Rover

marques on one hand, while

launching the world’s cheapest car,

Nano on the other. With the leadership

now changed, Mistry needs to

strategize on holding firm the $100

billion business empire, the big getting

bigger on account of over $20 billion ofdeals in 2000s by Ratan.

If one was to relate these verses of Nishkam Karma Yoga from Bhagwad Gita to

contemporary corporate landscape, there would sure be a mention of Mr. Ratan

Tata, the doyen of Indian Business. Things were different when Ratan Tata was

handed down the baton of the Tata Group by JRD from what they are now when

he goes on to do the same to Cyrus Mistry. One thing that hasn’t changed – Tata

stepped into the shoes of a giant in 1991. His successor will do likewise.

21 JANUARY 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES

25 January 2013

While the brand Tata is a

force to reckon with, there

is a need to read into the

numbers of the graphs

The ill-timed purchase of Corus, capital

locked up in a mega power project facing

coal supply issues, the telecom arm mired in

telecom industry’s regulation and price wars

of competitors and the ambitious cheapest

car project yet to strike the chord for revenue

realization will keep Mistry busy in

strengthening the top line. While the Corus

and JLR deal led to a $14 billion debt

burden, Corus is financially a separate entity

from Tata Steel and hence the impact could

be arrested. However, there is a need to

discipline flirting with ambitious takeovers in

times of volatile economic environment. The

slowdown in the West can have an

undesirable impact on Tata's revenues. In

this background, Tata Group may be seen

having lesser radical moves in the coming

decade than it did in the previous stint of

chairmanship.

Nevertheless, once the

scene recovers in the long

term, there are various

spheres where the new

Chairman could think of

taking the Tata brand bigger

like the Retail (Trent Ltd.,

Croma, Tata Starbucks and

Star Bazaar) and the

Aviation (there was a

previous unsuccessful

attempt of tie-up with

Singapore airlines) with FDI

being opened up.

Meanwhile, there is a need

to hold up the core values of trust, integrity

and commitment to community service. In the

harsh world of international competition, the

group may face increased pressures to

relook the community aspect since

businesses are there to generate profits for

its charitable trusts (Tata Sons) to distribute,

rather than to be charities themselves.

The task the new leadership faces is every

bit as great as that faced by Ratan Tata

when he first took office; he will have to

perform a delicate balancing act by building

on the values and reputation bequeathed,

while at the same time translating those

values into a tangible economic form of

business competitiveness. One can sure

hope for the Tatas to keep going strong as

ever, even without a Tata at the helm.

THE MARKSMAN 22

FEATURED ARTICLES

Brand Tendulkar: Will it sustain post his retirement

Sachin Tendulkar the name which does

not require any further introduction and

that has gone beyond cricket to such a

level that cricket has become religion in

India and Sachin is the only god of that

religion. His iconic personality and

splendid performances took cricket to a

whole new level and he was one of the

reasons for a huge follower base for

cricket in India. To be like him is the

aspiration of many players and dream

of many youngsters.

Every brand has its own core identity

and in Brand Tendulkar determination,

perseverance, durability, confidence,

maturity, excellence are the

attributes which have made this

brand one of the most trusted brand

in the country and all over the world.

His unquestionable ability and

remarkable longevity has made him

the face of more than 25 brands in

his 23 years career. He charges

between 9-10 crores for one

endorsement, is currently earning

around Rs. 200 crores annually

through these endorsements and is

holding around 17 endorsements

products

So what will happen to Brand Tendulkar, after his retirement?

In short term, definitely there will be

some impact on the brand

Tendulkar as brand will pass

through the repositioning phase.

Earlier, brands which targeted

youth and used attributes like

energy and agility to attract the

target group will lose their interest

in brand Tendulkar and will go away

but brands which stand for

- Ghanendra Singh, IIM Indore

23 JANUARY 2013

FEATURED ARTICLES

durability, tradition, excellence and are

required to be trusted by consumers

will rope in Tendulkar as their

endorser. To associate with Brand

Tendulkar, Companies will focus more

on his personal attributes and interests

and his past performances will no

longer attract the marketers. For

example, Sachin’s fondness for trendy

cars, stylish watches and apparels is

well known and companies based on

these kind of products will try to cash

in on the opportunity.

endorsed brands and will get

converted into a niche brand. It will

develop the attributes of elegance,

style, sophistication and great trust.

It will be the perfect choice for

companies which are perceived as

premium and enjoy a high brand

value and strong brand equity in

market. Although the number of

endorsement per year will surely

decrease but Tendulkar as a brand

will strengthen its place in the

market.

One more dimension which is also

interesting and will impact the Brand

Tendulkar in the long run is the

stance he will take, after retiring from

all formats of cricket. Will he remain

attached to cricket by way of other

roles like commentator, umpire or

coach or will we see him in the

parliament as our leader or will we

see him as a social worker or does

he have other plans. So Brand

Tendulkar still depends on him and

his future steps will decide his brand

position in a better way.

Definitely with time Brand Tendulkar

will sustain and will maintain the

aura around it. And with time it will

be able to convert itself into a

premium personality brand.

In long term the brand will pass

through the transition phase from

young, energetic brand to credible,

reliable and classy brand. As his fans

and followers will not be able to see

him regularly as he would not be

accessible to the public as he was

earlier, the only way people can

consume this brand will be through

interviews, guest appearances in

cricket matches and brand

endorsements. This will create a huge

opportunity for different brands to use

this iconic brand.

With time Tendulkar as a brand willstand out from rest of the sportsman

THE MARKSMAN 24

REWIND

The 8th SIMSR Global Marketing Conference was conducted by SIMSR, in

collaboration with its academic partners- College Of Business & Public

Administration California State University San Bernardino, USA; Xiamen University

China; The Management University of Africa.

It was a two day marketing fiesta held on the 4th and 5th of January 2013.This

marketing conclave played host to industry czars and academicians and research

scholars who shared their papers on diverse subjects. The theme this year was

“Marketing Metamorphosis Transforming Lives … Nurturing Lifestyles”, equating

marketing to the butterfly effect, where an insignificant action may actually

snowball into great extraordinary results.

A dance video from Korea reached millions of viewers and turn into an

incomprehensible hit, social networking media emerged from just being networking

sites. All these changes were what we need to adapt to with an evolving change in

the dynamic marketing arena.

DAY I – Day one began with the Keynote Speaker Shri Sameer Satpathy, Vice

President, Marketing, Marico India and Shri Tarun Chauhan, Managing Partner,

JWT, Mumbai, who shared inaugurated the events and their worldly insights. Soon

we moved onto our tracks which consisted of various themes like Social Media, E-

Commerce, Retail Management, Consumer Behavior, Integrated Marketing

Communications and many more. The researcher presenters ranged from

professors, to students to academicians.

8TH SIMSR

Global Marketing Conference

25 JANUARY 2013

DAY II - The second day was abuzz with a few more tracks to go and the much

awaited panel discussion.

The panel discussion was graced by revered panelist from across diverse fields

like

Mr Sanjay Arun Kawale - Marketing Group,

Senior Expert, Director of ZTE India Wire line

Mrs. Feng Yuan - ICBC Bank, Mumbai Branch

Mr Shui Bo - China Shipping India Pvt Ltd

Dr Satyendra Upadhyay - Consultant ( India China Trade Relations ) &

Professor of Chinese Language

Mr Sanjiv Sarin : Regional President of South Asia, Tata Global Beverages

Limited, Bengaluru, India

Mr Sudhakar Desai : Vice President – Risk Management & Director Bunge

International.

The main theme for the Panel Discussion was Doing Business in Asia, where our

respected guests shared their opinions on the future of marketing the contrast

and as well the similarities between the Asian markets.

It highlighted various changes that marketing will witness and how we need to

adapt ourselves to it.

These two days were packed with learning’s and wisdom shared by all a part ofthis event. There was never a dull moment with panel discussions, presentations,lectures and think tanks help our gain meaningful vision.

REWIND

THE MARKSMAN 26

TETE-A-TETE

How has your professional journey been so far?

That is a very interesting question to answer from where I am today. I started

my career in sales in 90s. It was by sheer serendipity that I landed into a sales

assignment at Lupin Laboratories

Corporate Interaction With

Mr. Ajay Rawal

National Marketing Head,

JK Ansell , a Raymonds Group Venture

Mr. Ajay Rawal has a unique combination of

Rx, OTC and FMCG experience helpful in

fostering implementation of customer-centric

and growth-driven brand development

initiatives to fortify business He is recognized

for boosting sales and bottom-lines. He has

been awarded several times for creative

thinking and superior results. He has launched

well known brands with FMCG orientation. His

prior experience includes working with

companies like Paras Pharma, Novartis, IPCA

Laboratories, Lupin Laboratories etc.

He is currently the national marketing head with J K Ansell, a

Raymonds Group Venture. He recently visited K.J.Somaiya Institute of

Management Studies and Research and gave us his useful insights

into the world of Marketing. Here are a few excerpts from his interview:

27 JANUARY 2013

It was then, when I happened to see the brand managers coming in for

meetings, that I realized that I could do something more than mere sales

and I inquired my chances of enteringinto a marketing assignment as it

looked very glamorous to me then; which it isn’t now.

Today I would say that it is extremely essential for each one of us to

realize what one is passionate about, it is important to understand your

SWOT analysis before venturing into a new arena. Perhaps this one thing

is not really taught in the institutes. Following my passion, I pursued my

MBA and then my 1st assignment was with IPCA Laboratories in

prescription marketing. Marketing after sales helped me appreciate better,

while making strategies how would you actually implement it in the market

through the sales force. You need to have a proper understanding about

how all the partners in the channel work.

I then delved into consumer marketing (OTC). Then a major tenure of my

career was at Novartis wherein I had an opportunity to launch Calcium

Sandoz woman right from the scratch, right from the idea of the brand to

the packaging. After which I launched Calcium Sandoz soft chew, wherein

the challenge was to enable kids to consume the tablets. For all practical

purposes there are two factors which work, how do you enhance the

penetration and the number of people who consume your brand multiplied

by consumption.

I then had an interesting stint with PARAS pharmaceuticals which has

brands like moov, itchguard, setwet, livon, krack etc. And in just three

years and a half we really enhanced the business value by almost 200%

returns in 30 months wherein moov was one of the brands to touch a value

of 100 crores in 2 years from a value of 68 crores which I had taken up as

a personal objective. According to me, this would be an interesting case

study. I then moved to Mumbai with J K Ansellwhich is into the medical as

well as consumer business, the entity being a 50-50 JV between

Raymonds and Ansell of Australia, a leader in barrier protection globally.

The major brand that we have is Kamasutra Condom and KS Deodorants.

What is surprising to note is that our business of deodorants is actually

larger than the condom business, the way the line has grown. We have

grown our products with a belief “experiencing is believing”. Apart from

this, I teach courses like Brand Management, OTC, CRM in various B-

schools. Well, that is about my journey.

TETE-A-TETE

THE MARKSMAN 28

TETE-A-TETE

What are the factors that you look into before diversifying into a totally new

arena?

The 1st and most important research perspective is whether the category

would be received well by the consumers or not. However the other

perspective is that research is always under test conditions. So, many a

times research might not be the perfect solution. For instance, when the

concept of ATM machine was checked with consumers, it was an outright

failure! So, research is not the only solution, customer understanding is

paramount.

I would say that there are five basic pillars herein. The 1st being product

formulation, you should be able to give the consumer what they really desire.

2nd would be understanding the consumer psychology, whether the brand of

the product would be received well by them. 3rd and the most critical pillar

would be distribution ability. For instance, India has 85 lac FMCG outlets out

of which there are 42 lac grocers, 19 lac pan plus outlets and 5 lac chemists.

So, the challenge is how far can you effectively reach and distribute.

The 4th pillar is the sales force as there is a cost for everything. And last but

not the least is the level of advertisement as everything starts with

awareness. Keeping the mentioned points in mind and given the differences

between Raymonds and K S Energy Drinks, what unites us are our core

values. We believe that anything that encompasses our core values can be

launched. Keeping this in mind we have recently launched K S Energy Drinks

currently available in four cities i.e. Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and

Bangalore.

I would say that it is not a competition to Red Bull and the others but is

instead creating a niche segment. We have got a good understanding and

have developed a very good product. According to me it is the best

packaging available as far as any energy drink is concerned globally.

According to you, is sales a pre requisite to marketing?

In marketing you have to devise a strategy and then implement the strategy. An

interesting analogy that I would like to quote is that you read a book and jump

into the swimming pool.

29 JANUARY 2013

TETE-A-TETE

There are two basic factors I would like to stress on. 1st and foremost being

what is it that you really want to do. What is the nature of work that you

would be very keen to do? As glamorous as marketing seems to be, actually

it might not be so. Secondly, marketing is actually a left brain and right brain

opportunity. Hence you need to be both, analytical as well as creative. It is

important that you do a SWOT analysis of yourself that would help you

appreciate your strengths and weaknesses.

What is the message that you would like to convey to the marketing

aspirants in college?

How much of the marketing concepts that we are taught in the class room

actually used in the industry?

They are definitely used however it depends on the endeavour of the people

in the industry to use those concepts. For instance the BDI / CDI analysis,

PLC, BCG Matrix etc. enable you to appreciate various marketing

parameters. So, there is definitely some relevance. However what is

unfortunate is that a lot of people do not really devote their time and effort as

they take these concepts for granted. Though the executive judgement

method would still be the sole determinant but the concepts always play a

vital role in any organization.

Or, you go through a process of learning how to float, moving your legs and

learning over a couple of days. So, getting into marketing right away is the 1st

one and getting into marketing after sales is the 2nd one. The reason is simple.

You 1st need to understand how the sales force works, what is the type of

market, what are the retailer’s norms and demands and what is the manner in

which the distributor works. Without this basic information the chances of

success are bleak.

THE MARKSMAN 30

TWEETSBOOKWORM

All Marketers Tell StoriesBy Seth Godin

This book which comes from the marketing guru and entrepreneur, Seth

Godin,was a 2005 release, in which he says how all marketers lie and the more

believable ones are those who actually sell their product. The author has been

a regular blogger and has popular insights about marketing.

The idea for this book came to him during the 2004 US presidential elections.

He states that both the sides spun lies, however, the more believable ones

won. His holistic view on marketing is that if you want to promote your product

or service in this environment where television marketing radio marketing if

there are not working since it’s a amass media marketing tools. Seth talks

about the idea that in order to differentiate your product, you need to weave a

great story to sell your product.

Here you don’t need to focus on the product features and benefits. Some of the

examples that he uses are 80,000 Porsche, it’s the same exact car as a 30000

Volkswagen , but the reason people buy it is because of the story frame

surrounding it. Great stories and not ideas, features and benefits are what

spread from person to person, people like to tell stories and not product and

features.

The next idea is of a world view. When you think of mass marketing they are

not focusing on individual world view, and that’s why today in this environment

when we have so many choices, we need to focus on individuals. Then

ironically he talks about authenticity, where he says that if you are going to tell

a great story marketers need to stick to it, thereby moving from a fib to fraud.

This book will help you and will impart a lot of information. This 210 pages book

is a quick read to impact a business and will help in this eclectic marketing

environment. It has a persuasive story with vivid examples .This is for a

marketer looking to differentiate his story and understand his customers better.

31 JANUARY 2013

SquAreheaD

THE MARKSMAN 32

BUZZ

THE CROSSWORD

THE CLUES

ACROSS

DOWN

1A. Wikivoyage1D. Wegelin2. Edelman3.Lenovo4.HMV5.CoalIndia6.EIDParry7.PulpFiction8.Colgate

1. Name the oldest Swiss bank shutdown recently.2. Which is the worlds largest PRfirm, headquartered in London ?5. Which Indian company has beennominated for the notorious PublicEye Awards for worst companyworldwide for protection of humanrights and environment ?6. India’s first sugar plant was set upin 1842 in Nellikuppam, Tamil Nadu.Which company owns this plant now?8. From which company has Soft andGentle brand been acquired byGodrej in UK ?

1. What is the name of the travelguide, anyone can edit, started byWikipedia ?3. Which brand has become theworld’s largest selling PC brand bybeating HP ?4. Name this legendary music retailbrand which was opened on London’sOxford Street by Edward Elgar in1921. It is about to be closed down.7. Dialogues from which Tarantinomovie have inspired the words of theIdea jingle “u r my pumpkin,pumpkin, hunny bunny” ?

33 JANUARY 2013

CALL FOR ARTICLESFebruary 2013

Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:

*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and allreferences are clearly mentioned

The best adjudged article will be given a winner'scertificate. Deadline for submission of the articles: 11:59PM , 20 January 2013.

1. RIM rebrands to BlackBerry with launch of BlackBerry 10 : How does the future look?

2. The Graph search - Facebook's intelligent step3. Is creativity losing its edge on the data driven

marketing today?

1. One article can have only one author.2. Your article should be from 500-600 words and

MUST be replete with relevant pictures that can be used to enhance your article.

3. Send in your articles in .doc/.docxformat with font size 11 (Arial) to: interface.newsletter@gmail.com

4. Subject Line: Your Name_InstituteName_CourseYear.

5. Kindly name your file as: Your Name_Topic

THE MARKSMAN 34

To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:-http://interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman.html

OR drop in a mail/contact us at : interface.newsletter@gmail.comSubject line: Subscribe: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year

COVER STORYRicha Garg

SPECIAL STORYMeeta Khatri

It’s all about AD-itudePriyam Prasad

SquAreheaDTavishi Agrawal

Brand MARK iveVivek Misra

BOOKWORMSmriti Sudish

TWEETSMandar Dongre

BUZZNishant Singla

PROMOTIONSNishant Singla

Mandar Dongre

Hall-MARK Campaigns

Vivek Misra

PROOF READRoma Sehgal

REWINDSmriti Sudish

DESIGNINGRicha Garg

Divya DameraNishant Singla

TETE-a-TETEPriyam Prasad

THE TEAM

Website:http://interfacesimsr.com/the-

marksman.html

Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.interfacehttps://twitter.com/Marksmansimsrhttp://interfacenewsletter.wordpress.com

35 JANUARY 2013