K J SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH VOL. VI | ISSUE IV | Oct’ 15

MARKSMANThe

OCTOBER 2015 01

EDITOR’S NOTE

Hola Readers,

Thank you so much for loving our magazine and looking forward to it with such vigor

and enthusiasm. You are truly a wonderful audience. It gives us great pleasure to

present to you the October issue of your very own Marksman. This edition boasts of a

range of varied articles lined up just for your reading pleasure.

Our cover story this month titled –Scarcity is the mother of Selling – deals with the

marketing methodology of using fear of scarcity to push sales. This month‘s special

story – ―The Highest Level‖ explains how companies at the top are using their power

to do good! With immense pride we would like to present to you our new baby

section – KickSTART that focuses on the startup – Zivame, this month! In addition to

that, we have the usual yet exciting sections on: Tweets, Bookworm, Buzz, Ad-itude,

Squarehead, Hallmark Campaign, Pioneer and Faux Pas.

We would also like to congratulate the winners for this month‘s Call For Articles –

Mamta Gupta and Udayan Dhavalikar, whose articles have been chosen to be featured

in this month‘s issue. And for all those entries that haven‘t been published in this issue,

we thank you all for your overwhelming response and request you to keep writing to

us with the same fervor.

Feedback is always welcome and we would acknowledge and appreciate if our readers

keep writing to us.

Stay connected with us on www.interfacesimsr.com/the-marksman

Happy Reading!

TEAM MARKSMAN

The Interface –The Marketing Club of SIMSR

@marksmansimsr

02 THE MARKSMAN

Contents

Tweets 03

It’s All About Ad-itude 05

Brand Markive 07

Cover Story: Scarcity Marketing 09

Special Story: The Highest level 12

Marketing Faux Pas 14

Hall-mark Campaign 16

Pioneer 18

Bookworm 20

Kickstart 22

Featured Articles 23

Buzz 30

BT Business has come forward to throw some light over the importance of relationships

from the business perspective. The video ad portrays how important support and

connection are for the global business community. ‖Relationships are everything. When we

connect, amazing things happen.‖-This is what has been portrayed in the ad. They have used

the tagline #seewhathappens as the campaign. Basically, it has been established that the

relationships between B2B and B2C businesses are each important on their own front and

also that technology is playing an increasingly important role as it is the backbone of all the

relationships. The different kinds of relationships are booming because of the reliance of

businesses on technology due to which the relevance of the campaign holds well.

TWEETS

OCTOBER 2015 03

First digital- led campaign by BT business

#relationships #BTBusiness

TWEETS

04 THE MARKSMAN

Avenues Supermarkets Ltd. owns the famous chain of D-Mart that is included in the top

hyperactive retail chains. According to the latest statistical data available, it can be deduced

that in 2014-15, the profit value or the revenue generated by D-Mart exceeded that of

major retail chains like Reliance and Trent Hypermarkets Ltd. The main reason which has

surfaced is that the supermarket chain D-Mart has constantly focussed on its competency

which is expansion in food and grocery only. According to the CEO of D-Mart, ―there is so

much opportunity in just doing this‖. Even the turnover ratio of the inventory reiterates the

success factor of the retail chain. Another major reason for other chains like Easy Day to be

unable to reach to the expected gain level is the high burden of rental costs which is not the

case with D-Mart as 90% of the stores are located in the properties of whose ownership

lies with the company itself. But the major reason of success factor of D-Mart lies in the fact

that they stick to what they started with.

D-Mart emerges as top retailer #CoreCompetency #DMartOnTop

Raymond took the premium clothing industry by surprise when it introduced its exclusive

made to measure service in 2012. Made to measure allows customers to customize their

ensemble according to their own personal taste. Raymond positions Made to Measure as an

exquisite craft, the labor of love between art and technology. This positioning is wonderfully

depicted through their recent print ad which appeared in a popular national daily. The

campaign was released in a teaser sort way wherein the initial creative was first shown with

the headline. Here there was no brand name or product name mentioned. This was an

instant eye catcher. After a few pages, the new creative was presented which flaunted the

brand in with an impressive tagline ‗Even Michelangelo would applaud‗. This was a bold

move on part of Raymond but worth the experiment. The creative shows image of the

sculpture of Michelangelo. The target audience here is clearly the educated and the

intellectuals who have knowledge of history and a certain taste in art.

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

OCTOBER 2015 05

KWIKNIC is a nicotine based chewing gum, quite ironically a product by ITC, designed to

help people quit smoking. The campaign for Kwiknic is conceptualized by Ogilvy & Mather

and comprises of three TVCs, of which two are on air currently. The advertisements

humorously depict the miscommunications arising due to people speaking incongruously

due to constant tobacco chewing.

This film is set in a hospital. A tobacco-chewing man is running helter-skelter outside the

operation theatre when the doctor informs him that his father is saved by God‘s grace

(―Bhagwan ki Daya Se‖). However, when the man tries to inform his family members, they

misconstrue it as he has passed away (―Bhagwan ko Pyare ho Gaye‖). The sick father then

comes around on his wheelchair to say ―Kwiknic Chabao Theek Se Batao‖. The ad is spot on

in positioning Kwiknic chewing gum as the new way to stop chewing tobacco.

IT’S ALL ABOUT AD-ITUDE

06 THE MARKSMAN

Television Ad

Client: ITC Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

BRAND MARKiveRolex

OCTOBER 2015 07

Rolex, a luxury segment of watches is a Swiss

brand known for its quality and exclusivity.

Rolex, SA Company was founded in 1905 by

Mr Alfred Davis and Mr Hans Wilsdorf who

were neither Swiss nor watchmakers. Initially

the brand was named Wilsdorf & Davis and

later got officially registered as Rolex in

1905.The company name was officially

changed to the Rolex Watch Company during

1919. It was later changed to Montres Rolex,

SA.

In the initial years Mr Hans Wilsdorf and his

brother-in-law, Mr Alfred Davis imported

Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to

England and placed them in quality cases

made by Dennison. The main aim of the firm

was to produce affordable watches but the

taxes and duties levied on them in great

Britain were very high and were increasing

the cost since the boxes in which these

watches were packed were made of gold and

silver .

The Wilsdorf & Davis Company then

decided to move out of Britain and

established their headquarters in

Geneva, Switzerland. .

Rolex was also awarded the best

innovators in the field of watches as it

was the first company to produce the

first self-winding watch; the first

waterproof watch case; the first watch

to show two time zones at once; the

first wristwatch with a date on the dial

and most importantly the first

watchmakers to earn the coveted

chronometer certification for a

wristwatch. Rolex was one of the

most well-known brands even in the

earlier times since their watches were

quite unique and were designed by

best of the engineers using latest

technology. Rolex achievements

became even greater as it became the

record holder firm to produce

watches with the most certified

chronometer movements. Rolex also

began to develop an original quartz

watch movement which was the first

of its kind the world had ever seen.

BRAND MARKive

08 THE MARKSMAN

Innovation was now a part and parcel for Rolex. They were known for their designs and

therefore have become one of the most expensive brands in the watch segment today.

Rolex has also made a reputation in watches suitable for the extremes of deep-sea diving,

aviation and mountain climbing. Sports models include the Oyster Perpetual Sea Dweller

2000. Rolex signed Roger Federer as their brand ambassador in 2004, the main reason

behind the signing was that the Tennis Ace was a Swiss national and always ruled the game

just as Rolex ruled the Watch Industry . Rolex certainly is now a brand for the CLASSES and

not the MASSES.

COVER STORY

With the festival season coming up, the

market is filled with offers and deals you just

cannot resist. Amazing discounts and freebies,

all for a limited time! Ever wondered why you

rush to the store every time you get to know

about such deals or discounts? Well it‘s not

because of the offer but the fear of losing out

on such a great deal. Yes! Marketers use the

fear of scarcity to sell their products. The

technique is common that it finds a mention

amongst one of the most effective ways of

marketing a product.

Scarcity refers to any limitation placed on a

product or service with the goal of increasing

sales through pressure placed on the

consumer. The fear of missing out causes

people to make the decision to buy. The

limitation can be a time based deadline or a

limited quantity, often mixed with some kind

of perceived benefit for acting quickly, like a

reduced price, a bonus item, or an increase in

status (you got in, where others missed out).

It‘s a fairly simple psychological premise. ―We

don‘t have many of these left I‘m afraid, you‘ll

have to buy it now if you want to.‖ is the

simplest and most extreme example. Tell the

customers that a product or deal is available

only for a limited time, and they rush to

purchase.

This principle can be commonly used in two

broad methods:

1. Limited-number - Item is in short supply

and won‘t be available once it runs out.

This creates a sense of urgency amongst the

SCARCITY MARKETING

- Scarcity is the mother of selling

customers and they act fast. It is a smart

way of telling people that the product is in

great demand. Thus, it not only helps in

pushing sales, but also increases the value

of the product in the minds of the

customers. It includes two highly effective

techniques like:

a. Only X items left: When the customers

read or get to know that only a few items

are available in stock or in that offer/deal,

they buy the product without much

research or thinking. Especially if the

discount value provides huge benefits in

price, this is the best technique to use.

b. Out of Stock: What customers hate more

than losing out on a deal is to wait for the

product until it comes back. This is why

sellers prefer keeping the ―Out of Stock‖

tag on the product page/shelf so that

customers know that they have missed it

this time. As soon as the product reaches

the store/website again, these customers

will rush to but it because of the fear that

they might miss out again. Product sold,

problem solved!

2. Deadline (Limited-time) - Item is

only available during that time period. The

limited time offers are equally effective in

OCTOBER 2015 09

are only available for short periods of time,

usually 24 hours, and offer a hefty discount

on regular price. That is all you need to

drive sales - A very short deadline, a

discount and a sense of exclusivity for

those quick enough to pounce on the offer.

eBay’s Auction Sales

An auction has a time and quantity based

limitation. The countdown timer for the

auction to end spurs bids that increase

price. There‘s one item and multiple people

bidding for it, so there can only be one

winner. This is like a perfect storm of

scarcity, and thus eBay became a huge

company. People believe that the prices

quoted on eBay are very less and the offer

is very limited because of the hundreds of

buyers bidding, and works the trick of

selling the product in a flash.

COVER STORY COVER STORY

“Promise, large promise, is the sol of an advertisement. “

- Samuel Johnson.

the service industry as they are in product

selling. A smart way to make people act in

the moment is by telling them that the offer

will probably not be available the next time

they think about buying a product or a

service. Examples include auctions such as

on eBay or clearance sales of popular stores

which last only a day or two.

The most popular are the ―While you are

here‖ offers which require the customers to

take instantaneous decisions, mostly in favor

of the seller. The special discount on the

online course which is available only during

the free webinar prompts subscriptions like

nothing else. It not only looks easy to plan,

but is very easy to implement and manage

too. Some of the current trends in online

shopping are heavily driven by the scarcity

model.

Here are some of the most popular

examples of scarcity marketing we see every

day:

Amazon’s “Only X left in Stock” Trick

So you have your eye on this beautiful time

piece available on Amazon but just can‘t

decide whether to buy now or save for later.

You know what helps? The ―Only 5 left in

Stock‖ warning sign written in bold red

letters! You know that if you do not order it

now, you will probably not get the same deal

for a really long time. No one really knows if

there are actually 5 pieces available or it‘s a

trick, but it seems to work every time.

Groupon’s “Grab the Deal” Approach

It seems that Groupon works exclusively on

the principle of scarcity marketing. Deals

10 THE MARKSMAN

COVER STORY

Apart from these, many sellers and outlets also choose to create a sense of scarcity to

compel sales, sometimes willingly and sometimes simply because the product is scarce.

Imagine that you are getting an amazing deal on your flight to home and it says only a few

seats left. You know that an airplane has limited seats, and thus you act quickly – pay and

grab the seat before the deal closes.

In all, the idea of using scarcity for selling a product is a smart technique if used properly. The

only thing to consider is whether your product qualifies for creating a fear of scarcity in the

minds of the customers or not. If yes, then all you got to do is put up a limited offer tag and

a stop watch on sales – your product goes out of stock itself!

ScarcityOnly Few Left

Out of Stock

Deal of the Day

Holiday Special

Discounts Clearance Sale

Auctions

Clinch the Deal Offers

OCTOBER 2015 11

SPECIAL STORY

THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Companies begin as new entrants, face

immense competition and threats from rivals

and have an unending desire for growth.

Companies move forward from new

entrants to settled players, from settled

players to the key players and from the key

players to market leaders.

It is very similar to spiritual progress when

one moves from me to we and from we to

us all. When one moves to the top, views

change. Instead of catering to customer

needs, catering to humans is the aim. Instead

of giving its serving and instead of merely

satisfying it‘s creating happiness and

spreading love. This in fact is the basic of all

endeavors that we undertake as living

entities on earth. IKEA the Scandinavian

multinational furniture producing giant has

―Improving everyday life of many people by

providing service to as many as possible‖ as

their vision.

This relates to making life better. Similar is

the case with FMCG leader Unilever. Its

mission is ―To add vitality to life. To make

people feel good and get more out of life.‖

Thus spreading happiness and improving life

is their aim. It is not that such visions are

limited to only a particular field or some

businesses. Consider any business that is a

leader in its field and you will find the link

with humanity either directly or indirectly.

What has an airliner like jet Blue have to do

with bringing humanity back to the skies or

The Coco Cola Company relate to when it

says open to happiness. It is the broader

picture that they see which other players

fail to recognize

12 THE MARKSMAN

SPECIAL STORY

Back in 1895 Ardeshir Godrej started a company manufacturing locks with a vision of ―Made

in India products‖ today the company has diversified into a number of fields and operates

under the vision of ―A Godrej in every home and every workplace‖ and a mission of

―Enriching the quality of life everyday and everywhere‖. Businesses need to recognize this in

order to widen their scope, to see things differently and to get on the top. Today we need

to enlarge our visions to explore the unexplored, to see the unseen and to do what cannot

be done. You need not have a business to apply this. Ask yourself what your vision is? Does it

connect in any way to serving humanity, betterment of life and spreading love and happiness?

If not try to link your vision in each area to these basic values and experience the difference.

―I do not want India to

be an economic

superpower. I want India

to be a happy country” –

JRD Tata

OCTOBER 2015 13

MARKETING FAUX PASAirbnb: Passive-Aggressive much!

Airbnb, a room letting platform,

has revolutionised the mechanism of lodging

industry. The platform provides an interface

between ‗hosts‘, who want to rent out a

couch, a room or even their house in order to

earn a little extra cash, and ‗guests‘ who are

not just looking for a less expensive stay

option but also a different experience. Airbnb

earns by charging a rather small fee to both

the hosts and guests for arranging the stays

and by doing so the fairly new-fangled lodging

player has already netted an estimated

valuation upwards of $20 billion. Nonetheless

there's no rose without a thorn and this

couldn‘t be truer when it comes to Airbnb‘s

current stance in its mother city of San

Francisco.

As the judgement day on Prop F draws

closer, Airbnb is getting more aggressive

in its bid to get the proposal sacked.

However Airbnb‘s latest marketing stunt

backfired when instead of rousing

gratitude, the ads that popped up on

billboards, bus shelters and bulletin boards

around the city, ended up offending the

people of Frisco.

The ads all refer to the estimated $12

million in hotel taxes that the company

has paid to the city in the last year,

suggesting ways that various departments

could spend the money with a fairly smug,

"You're welcome" message to them. This

passive aggressive strategy caused a big

social media conflagration, leading to a

public apology by Airbnb and immediate

takedown of all such ads, sending Airbnb

in some serious damage control mode.

14 THE MARKSMAN

MARKETING FAUX PAS

What is Prop F?

Proposition F or the ‗Airbnb Initiative‘ is an initiative targeted at short term rentals in the

city of San Francisco. The proposal would be on ballot for San Franciscans on November

3, 2015. A Yes to Prop F would mean restriction on private rentals to 75 nights per year

and imposition of provisions designed to ensure that private rentals are paying hotel

taxes and following city code, something which Airbnb has not really been paying

thorough attention to in the past.

Prop F targets websites such as Airbnb, which feature rental listings nation and world-

wide. The campaign opposing Proposition F has received a whopping $8.4 m in campaign

contributions as of October 2, 2015 out of which 96.6 percent was donated by Airbnb.

However this ad campaign has made Airbnb come off as a smug and greedy enterprise,

playing directly into the hands of its opposition.

OCTOBER 2015 15

Hall-MARK CAMPAIGN

Be Brave And Beautiful - DaburVatika

In this era of clutter advertisements and

marketing where each brand tends to

propagate only the functional and

emotional benefits of the products, Dabur

Vatika has taken the marketing world by

storm with its ‗Brave and Beautiful‘

campaign. The campaign is a tribute to the

women who have battled cancer and is a

peek into the life of a cancer survivor and

the many odds that a woman is faced with

during this trying phase of their journey.

The campaign comprises of a short 4-

minute video. The video shows a bald

woman, a cancer survivor who is hesitant

to go out because of her low self esteem

and confidence. But with her husband‘s

support she musters the courage to face

the world. Fearing rejection, she goes to

her office where to her surprise, she is

welcomed warmly by her colleagues, thus

underlining the idea as to how immediate

and genuine support from family and

friends can help the survivor muster

strength to battle all odds.

The advertisement ends with a message

stating ―SOME PEOPLE DON‘T NEED HAIR

TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL‖ highlighting the

idea that beauty is not always what you see

outside, a lot of it is what is inside. The

melodious background song called, ‗Tu faulad,

Tu phool‘ sung by Salim Merchant makes the

advertisement all the more effective and

appealing. The campaign calls upon people to

share their cancer survival stories that could

act as an inspiration for millions of others

battling the same gruelling disease.

As soon as the campaign was launched it

immediately gained attention as it appealed

people on an emotional level. The video was

uploaded on a Friday and by Monday the

video got viral. The Campaign is a unique

attempt to garner brand awareness. It is

pretty common for brands to market their

products by supporting a cause that

highlights the value proposition of their

products.

16 THE MARKSMAN

HALL-MARK CAMPAIGN

But how often do we come across a brand

that is bold enough to roll out a campaign

that supports a cause which is exactly

opposite to the value proposition its

product offers. The answer is almost never.

Who would have imagined a hair product

brand supporting a campaign for bald

women!!! But with the new campaign Dabur

Vatika has brought in a new concept, one

that is both novel and bold, that great brands

not only differentiate but also bring a

difference in the lives of the people.

The initiative has helped Dabur Vatika fulfil

not only its Corporate Social Responsibility

but it has also helped it increase the brand

awareness of Vatika by 11%. The Campaign

is perfect example of customer

engagement and how great brands appeal

to the emotions of the consumers. It

makes Vatika not only a socially conscious

organisation but also an innovator.

OCTOBER 2015 17

PIONEER

Mark Zuckerberg

And who doesn‘t know this guy? Mark

Zuckerberg, one of the five co-founders and

CEO of social networking website Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984,

in White Plains, New York, in a comfortable,

well-educated family, and lived in a village

nearby to Dobbs Ferry. Before the birth of

Facebook Mark developed various other

software like ―Zucknet‖, a messaging

software which was used by his father. After

completing his graduation at Exeter in 2002,

he enrolled at Harvard University. By the

end of his second year he had developed a

reputation of go-to software developer on

campus. He developed other software

known as CourseMatch, Facemash.

Birth of Facebook

Zuckerberg along with his friends created a

site that allowed users to create their own

profiles, upload photos, and communicate

with other users. The group ran the site—

first called The Facebook - out of a dorm

room at Harvard until June 2004. After his

sophomore year, to dedicate his full time to

Facebook, Zuckerberg dropped out of

college, moving the company to Palo Alto,

California. By the end of 2004, Facebook had

1 million users.

Rise of Facebook

On receiving a whooping amount of $12.7

million investment from a venture capital

firm Accel Partners, the popularity of

Facebook gained a boom. And it is because

of this investment Zuckerberg could grant

access to other schools, colleges, high

school and international schools, thereby

increasing the membership and users of

the site which reached 5.5 million users by

the end of 2005. And this huge user base

started attracting various other big

companies who wanted to advertise on

the very popular social networking site.

Some big firms like Yahoo and MTV

Networks had a prying and keen eye on

purchasing it from him, but he was focused

on expanding the site, developing more

features etc.

18 THE MARKSMAN

PIONEER

And after this there was no looking back.

According to present statistics Facebook

has 1.23 billion active users monthly, 945

million mobile and 757 million daily users.

Mark, the philanthropist that he is has

started Internet.org as his share to the

betterment of the society. This initiative

of his is mainly to provide internet access

to 5 billion people who are not

connected to internet as of the day the

venture was going to be launched i.e. in

2013. It aims at creating new jobs and

opening new market by using three tier

strategy. Mark ranks #7 in Forbes 400

with a net worth of $42.5 billion as of

2015. He is #4 richest in tech as per

2015 and ranks #22 amongst the

Powerful people.

―My goal was never to just create a company.

A lot of people misinterpret that, as if I don't

care about revenue or profit or any of those

things. But what not being just a company

means to me is not being just that - building

something that actually makes a really big

change in the world.‖ - Mark Zuckerberg

―Advertising works most effectively when

it's in line with what people are already

trying to do. And people are trying to

communicate in a certain way on Facebook -

they share information with their friends,

they learn about what their friends are doing

- so there's really a whole new opportunity

for a new type of advertising model within

that‖ - Mark Zuckerberg

OCTOBER 2015 19

BOOKWORMGlobal Content Marketing

- by Pam Didner

Pam Didner is a leading Global Content

Marketing Strategist, renowned speaker and

the author of the book ―Global Content

Marketing‖. With some great years of rich

experience, Pam outlines the best practices

and provides an informative and detailed

roadmap for functioning in today‘s world.

Her book is well structured and she

possesses an engaging writing style, with a

number of case studies throughout

contributing to the message. The chapter

topics in the book revolve around the 4 P‘s

of the Global Marketing cycle –

Plan – strategy before the execution

Produce – to create content that matters

Promote – to distribute content in this

digital era

Perfect – to measure and optimize in order

to drive the maximum impact

Each of these four components of content

marketing are further illustrated by multiple

case studies from big brands like SAP,

LinkedIn, Intel, etc.

The book is strong in substance and is of

great value to business leaders who interact

with their marketing groups, as it provides

deep insight into ensuring the marketing

and business objectives align.

20 THE MARKSMAN

Pam provides a holistic view on content

marketing right from planning to execution

and measurement. She believes that having a

strategy is important, but having a strategy

with the local team‘s buy-in is even more

vital. Working together in tandem to align on

objectives and goals and acting with clear

roles and responsibilities are the key

requirements for global content marketing.

The key takeaways from the book include –

Building a high performing team is vital for

scaling content marketing. Though each

region and business unit may require

different content, there must be strong

alignment between the teams to develop a

well-oiled content creation machine.

Develop a plan up front. This exercise of

planning, editorial calendaring, and defining

your audience, personas, resources and

competitors is hugely valuable for large

content marketing teams.

Bookworm

Produce efficiently. Even big companies

generally have limited resources for

content marketing. Content can be

efficiently and effectively created through a

number of techniques like outsourcing,

repurposing, and translating, etc.

Focus on promotion as much, if not more

than production. Promotion is more than

half the battle in content marketing.

Perfect through optimization and

measurement. Content marketing must be

measured based on its impact. Pam has

defined impact in terms of business goals,

marketing optimization and internal

communications.

The takeaways from each chapter are

clear and actionable. Didner wraps up

things with a chapter on Skills and another

one on the future of global content

marketing. The book has taken into

account the unique challenges facing every

global content marketer and has perfectly

shown how to address each one of them.

OCTOBER 2015 21

In this modern world when the females in

India still feel discomfort and embarrassment

about lingerie shopping, something is surely

wrong. To change the way women feel about

this and revolutionize lingerie shopping,

ZIVAME came to help (ziva means radiant in

Hebrew, zivame means ―radiant me‖). It is the

first online lingerie retailer in India which is

changing the way females buy intimate wear

and they have made it ―cool‖ to talk about

this category. Started in late 2011 by Richa

Kar, the founder and CEO with borrowed

money (Rs.30 lakh) this start up is currently

valued at $100 million!

An engineer from BITS Pilani and a

management grad from NMIMS, Kar started

Zivame after she quit her high paying

corporate job in SAP where she worked with

the Limited (which owns the brand Victoria‘s

Secret). She studied the Indian lingerie

market there and realized the discomfort

associated with it and felt it was the most

neglected part of any Indian woman‘s

wardrobe and that is when she chose to

work on these gaps. Started with just one

hire, this Bangalore based start up is now big

and growing with over 200 employees, a

good product mix of around 5,000 styles, 50

brands and 100 sizes. Kar is now on her way

to open 100 physical stores in India for a

personalized experience (just like Victoria‘s

Secret), with women requesting for

consultation and fittings, as she believes ―this

would enhance customer connection‖.

ZIVAME

KickStart

22 THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

One of the challenges in this mismatch

lies in the inability to capture customers

as individuals and focussing not only on

transaction data but also their

preferences, interests and beliefs. So, to

overcome these underlying problems

companies are now embracing big data

to solve the personalisation challenge

with the ultimate goal being to leave

consumers feeling less like a test subject

with the barest illusion of privacy and

more like a special valued patron of the

brand who manages to snag the best

and this undoubtedly requires a great

collaboration of left brained number

crunching and also good right brained

creativity!

INDIAN EXAMPLES USING BIG

DATA

A plethora of Indian Start-ups have

started using big data to their advantage.

One such example being of Social Cops,

a data technology start up, started

collecting micro level street sanitation

data from citizens in Delhi. They then

used this data to rate areas on

cleanliness and create performance

initiatives for the cleaners in Delhi.

Subsequently, performance improved

and there was a boost in attendance

rate. Today, social cops has built an

extensive data exchange that has

multiple uses-from governments

deciding healthcare allocations or a

marketer pondering which villages

OCTOBER 2015 23

Is Using Big Data Marketing A Must These Days?

Mamta Gupta

- SIMSREE

WHAT IS BIG DATA?

Data means information and when one

attaches the word ‗Big‘ with it, it simply

implies handling humongous amount of

information. The right data at the right

time if utilized effectively and

appropriately can help people make

better and faster and smarter decisions

and lead to new concepts and ideas.

With unlimited data pouring in day by

day to all of us all, it‘s gullible to become

seduced by the illusion of certainty and

objectivity it provides. But ultimately the

collation of data will only provide a

description of what has happened. The

challenge is to look at the data available,

analyse in-depth and come to an original

conclusion or a novel concept or an

idea that shall help in future prospects.

Bigger, endless and better data gives us a

more clear insight, and better

understanding of our world and

subsequently a more solid foundation to

build bigger, better and original ideas.

WHY BIG DATA?

According to one of the research

carried out by KPMG, about 80% of

Indian CMO‘s believe they have a holistic

view and understanding of customers

but only 22% of customers believe the

average retailer understands them.

a brand of soap should be introduced. It is

also working in collaboration with HUL for

an information delivery project targeted at

pregnant women.

Petoo, a start up in Bengaluru, uses big data

analytics to predict consumer behaviour,

reduce food wastage and speed up the

home delivery time ; in addition to

capturing data like the weather and

estimates the number of orders in a day.

Matrimony.com is an online matrimony site

with 150 customised websites, call centres

and even physical outlets and an estimated

3 million users. The onerous task of getting

relevant messages across to appropriate

individuals was getting incredibly

complicated when IBM applied its predictive

tools to segment data, assign weightage and

build campaigns around these which then

helped the site run a campaign encouraging

users to update their profiles with more

information and updating the same,

something that significantly enhanced their

chances of finding a match.

In 2006 Maruti Suzuki realised that their

dealers had huge collection of data that

needed to be aggregated, organised, cleaned

and then analysed This was accomplished

through streams of databases from phones,

credit cards,, and even airplanes, because of

which they managed to sell 50000 extra

cars purely because of data mining.

FUTURE SCOPE

(Fig 1: Big Data Market Forecast,Wikibon)

Big data is what they all call the incessant

incoming of data and has become the buzz

word in industries today and to cater to

them in an easier way at a mere distance of

a single button click where you can find all

information related to user which makes it

easier to handle them. The graph denotes

the amount of money that is been pumped

in for Big Data and forecasts that‘s close to

84.69 Billion Dollars would be pumped in

for Big Data by the end of 2020 (Fig 1).

But is it yet another fad? Many theorist and

researchers put their findings that only 20%

of enterprise will use more than 50% of the

total data they collect to achieve

competitive advantage over others.

24 THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

OCTOBER 2015 25

FEATURED ARTICLE

Therefore a more prudent path to successfully leveraging big data solutions is not through

investing billions of dollars on large volumes of disparate and vague data, but also picking

sharply, relevant and well-defined problems, by making use of existing data and bringing them

together to solve the problem thereby bringing delight to customers and profitability to

business. Big Data without doubt is the world tomorrow but with it, data handling and

protecting would become and equally important concern which forms the base of Big Data

FEATURED ARTICLEVolkswagen: Requiem for a dream?

Udayan Dhavalikar

-IIM A

In 1978 Hubert Selby, Jr. wrote a novel

about a group of people who become so

addicted to their dreams that they lose track

of reality and ultimately let their lives spiral

out of control. He named it ―Requiem for a

dream‖ literally meaning a celebration of

dead dreams.

Fast forward to 2009, Martin Winterkorn‘s

obsession to make it big in the United States

(US) automobile market reverberated so

deep within his organization – the

Volkswagen Group - that at some level a

decision was made to pass the Environment

Protection Agency‘s (EPA‘s) emission norms

by hook or by crook. The result was the

creation of a unique software which when

fitted into Volkswagen‘s diesel cars caused

the vehicles‘ nitrogen oxide (NOx) output to

meet EPA standards during regulatory

testing while producing upto 40 times more

during regular drives. And so for 6 years,

backed by the green car subsidies and tax

exemptions, Volkswagen sold 480,000 cars in

the US. This continued until the EPA, armed

with the evidence collected by a group of

scientists funded by the International

Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

served Volkswagen a Notice of Violation

(NOV).

26 THE MARKSMAN

To be sure this isn‘t the first time, nor will it

be the last time, that a body corporate has

violated the law of the land. For Volkswagen

however this is a matter of concern. As a

group of engineering companies, it was

expected to keep focus on manufacturing

better and cleaner automobile engines.

Instead the focus deviated and it

manufactured ―defeat devices‖ that made the

engines only appear to be better and cleaner.

Why did Volkswagen allow this violation to

happen? Could it not foresee the possible

negative consequences on its brand? Did it

actually believe that the ―defeat devices‖

were the only way it could sustainably win in

the market? Was it so blinded by its short-

term US revenue targets that, as had

happened in the novel, it was willing to

throw away all its long-standing credibility in

the process? Unfortunately, corporate

wrongdoing is never a matter of a single act

or a single violation. Instead, it exists as a

continuum of bad judgments and sequential

contravention of rules.

OCTOBER 2015 27

And so as investigations proceed in this

matter many more skeletons are feared to

topple out of the Volkswagen cupboard

damaging its life story. Unfortunately, the

Volkswagen story has been crumbling bit

by bit far too long. It started in 2005 with

Porsche‘s stealthy moves to acquire

Volkswagen and continued with the Piech

cousins dispute for control of Porsche

which in turn came to fore over the

dispute over Winterkorn‘s continuation as

the CEO. In 2008, Volkswagen group‘s

labour leader was found guilty of bribery

and embezzlement of company cash for

activities as varied as prostitution.

Interestingly, Prophet, a management

consultancy firm, conducted a survey in

Germany after the emissions scandal

broke out. It revealed that 65% of

Germans still trusted Volkswagen and the

excellence of its cars. This reiterates Prof

Garel Rhys‘s view that Volkswagen(

meaning ―People‘s Car‖ in German), its

board and its German customers, are

psychologically nationalized. They believe

Volkswagen to be bigger than a body

corporate and instead see it as an agency

of the state. This promotes a culture of

―command and control‖ within the

organization. The problem lies herein. The

goals of an organization are viewed as the

objectives of a nation, deviance from which

is a hit to the ego.

Martin Winterkorn was the foremost

proponent of this culture. And so while this

culture has enabled Volkswagen to be the

world‘s biggest vehicle manufacturer, it leaves

scope for delinquency (on the part of officials,

business verticals and the body corporate) as

long as there is conformance to the revenue

targets.

Image: The breaking of Volkswagen‘s American

dream. Courtesy –The BBC

But this delinquency, sooner or later, entails

consequences. Volkswagen after a prolonged

denial has admitted to the violation, forced

Winterkorn to retire, set aside US$ 7 billion

for compensation claims and has planned to

refit its 11 million vehicles to meet emission

norms. Already the German media believes

that the Volkswagen has jeopardized the value

of the ―Made in Germany‖ tag and also

diminished prospects for the entire

automobile sector, including its competitors -

BMW and Daimler.

FEATURED ARTICLE

And so, as a ―Volkswagen veteran‖ and the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Matthias

Mueller is running against time to rebuild the original Volkswagen reputation in the minds of

the shareholders and the customers. Nonetheless, it may be too harsh to suggest a requiem

of the Volkswagen dream. After all, German companies like Bayer, Siemens and Daimler have

earlier come out of such controversies stronger and better.

28 THE MARKSMAN

FEATURED ARTICLE

SquareHead

OCTOBER 2015 29

BUZZ

CLUES

PUZZLEACROSS

DOWN

1. He has been elected unopposed as

President of Board of Control for

Cricket in India (BCCI) for the second

term.

4. This Computer-maker struck a deal

to buy data storage company EMC Corp

for $67 billion, setting a record in the

technology industry.

6. This company announced to acquire

Noah Consulting for 70 Million US

dollars

Answers:Across

1. STAR WARS 2. PANKAJ ADVANI 3. ASTROSAT

5. MATTHIAS MULLER 7. FREEBASICS

Down:

1. SHASHANK MANOHAR 4. DELL 6. INFOSYS

1. This movie breaks presale record

(earns $6.5mn) surpassing "The Dark

Knight Rises" or "Avengers"

2. India‘s ace cueist who recently won

2015 IBSF World Billiards Championship

in Adelaide, Australia.

3. India‘s 1st dedicated satellite for

astronomy research which was

successfully launched recently

5. He replaces Martin Winterkorn, who

stepped down as the CEO of VW

following revelations of the manipulation

of emission tests for its diesel cars.

7. Facebook's Internet.org is now

renamed to?

7. Facebook's Internet.org is now renamed to?

30 THE MARKSMAN

Call for ARTICLES

CALL FOR ARTICLES NOVEMBER 2015

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

*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are

clearly mentioned.

The best adjudged article will be given a Winner’s Certificate.

Deadline for the submission of article : 20th November, 2015

1. One article can have only one author.

2. Your article should be approximately 800-850

words and MUST be replete with relevant

pictures that can be used to enhance the

article.

3. FontType: Gill Sans MT

4. Font Size: 14.

5. Send your article in .doc/.docx format to

marksman.simsr@somaiya.edu

6. Subtitle line: Your name_Institute

Name_CourseYear

7. Kindly name your file as : Your name_Topic

1. Neutral Internet - A must for digital marketing

success.

2. Startup boom and the changing theme of Indian

advertising.

3. Growing consumer frustration over online ad

clutter - A threat to new age marketing.

OCTOBER 2015 31

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he-marksman.html

THE TEAMTWEETS by

Neha Sharma

It’s all about AD-itude by

Janhavi Kothari

Brand MARKive by

Vivek Gariba

COVER STORY by

Samarth Amarnani and Mansi Mahajani

SPECIAL STORY by

PriyankWani

FAUX PAS by

Shikhar Dubey

HALLMARK CAMPAIGN by

Dipika Soneja

PIONEER by

Ishita Shah

BOOKWORM by

Shruti Mohapatra

SquAreheaD by

Sampada Srivastava

BUZZ by

Kashyap Salvi

PROOF READ by

Shruti Mahopatra

Dipika Soneja

Mansi Mahajani

DESIGNING by

Kashyap Salvi

Ishita Shah

PROMOTIONS by

Janhavi Kothari

Sampada Srivastava

The MARKSMAN is the

newsletter of INTERFACE, the

Marketing Club at K.J. Somaiya

Institute of Management Studies

and Research, Mumbai.

Images used in THE

MARKSMAN are subject to

copyright. THE MARKSMAN

does not take any responsibility

of any kind of plagiarism in the

articles received from students

of other colleges.

The TEAM

32 THE MARKSMAN