From the editors’ desks:

Senior team:

M arkMantra welcomes you to a happy and a joy-

ous new year with its February edition, cover-

ing the hottest and the most exciting events in

the ever changing world of marketing. The year

gone by witnessed the kind of influence that marketing cam-

paigns have on consumers and we have tried to analyze the

various aspects involved in positioning Brand “Modi”.E-

commerce was the buzzword last year and industry re-

mained in the news at all times. We have tried to bring out

how marketing remained at the core of all this with the big

players like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon slugging it out for

the pole position through innovative marketing campaigns

and strategies. The old age adage “A Customer is always

right” is getting stronger with time and we have tried to ex-

plore this theme with special piece of writing where we take

you through the intricacies of customer care .This edition

also focuses on some of the rising trends in today’s world

such as Minimalism, Cause Marketing, Luxury Marketing and

Health Marketing. Marketing campaigns have become cen-

tral to the success of movies being released at the box office.

As marketers, it thus becomes extremely importance to un-

derstand the execution of the strategies that have been de-

signed keeping in mind the increase in the number of such

cinemas. Some brands make us fall in love and define a

whole new way of life for us, etching their names in our

mind. We take a look into some of these legendary brands

that have defied all the obstacles have risen from the dead to

achieve immortality. With our trivia section we have tried to

intrigue you with some lesser known facts of marketing. For

our existing readers we hope you enjoy this edition of our

magazine as much as you have in the past and for our first

timers we hope that MarkMantra becomes your Lovemark.

Junior team:

MarkMantra Feb 2015

Arjun Singh Mehta

Samarth Vikram Singh

Saurabh Vyas Prateek Shrivastava

Harshit Vyas Ipsita Gochhayat

Shatabdi Banerjee

Supratik Chakroborty

2

#Being NaMo 4

Good Marketing Or Good Content? 8

Sell Healthy, Stay Healthy 12

Death Is For The Mortals 16

Minimalistic Advertising 24

Customer relationship Management 29

Cause Marketing 34

E-Commerce Glut 38

Challenges In Indian Luxury Market 42

Fun Zone 44

Table of Contents MarkMantra Feb 2015

3

N arendra Modi has been in news

for all possible reasons. Modi has

enjoyed his equal share of notori-

ety as well as adulation. Some-

thing which cannot be ignored is his growing popu-

larity. Ever since he has delivered the most unprec-

edented poll results he has become the poster boy

of Indian advertising. This has made him more

than just a Prime Minister for people who take

their Marketing classes seriously.

Modi’s tactics, campaigns and strategies are being

included in B School syllabus. Top B Schools are

revising their marketing and strategy pedagogy to

include lessons on NaMo. Several case studies on

BJP's marketing strategies, usage of technology,

single point authority and media management,

Brand Image enhancement, Product Positioning

and understanding target audience as well as

product development are being developed. Some

of these concepts were earlier taught using Barack

Obama but now are being re-written to suit Indian

audience.

Let’s try to understand some of the marketing fun-

das which Narendra Modi implemented

“Successfully”

Be a constant innovator

As a marketer, innovations have to be pulled out

continuously. Innovations in pricing will attract

consumers. The customers remember the brand

for what it did for them during the tough times and

&

PRIME MARKETER

PRIME MINISTER

MarkMantra Feb 2015

4

remain loyal to the brand in the long-run. BJP dur-

ing few of their rallies charges a minimal fee to lis-

ten to Modi’s address. The funds thus collected

were donated to Disaster ravaged states. This is

where Cause marketing strategy proved to be deci-

sive.

Be an Expert of Digital Content and

Embrace Technology

It is extremely stupid to wait for your audience to

reach to you. If your audience does not read news-

papers, you do not ask them to change their be-

haviour. You do not wait for them to start caring

about you and get interested in you. Instead you

get outside your comfort zone and reach them in

theirs.

It is necessary to choose the medium of marketing

wisely. With increasing internet penetration, multi-

plying sales of smartphones with simultaneous fall

in their prices, digital medium for campaigning is

turning out to be the cheapest of all. The signifi-

cance of Digital media is touted to be the next big

thing for any marketing department of a company.

No wonder this has now entered the domain of

politics also. Narendra Modi was undoubtedly the

most tech savvy CM and now as an PM, he uses

this channel for variety of purposes. He is the first

Indian politician to have more than 2mn followers

on micro-blogging site Twitter. He has at over

3.5mn likes on his Facebook page. He uses

Google+ Hangout, Pinterest, Tumblr, and YouTube

etc. to connect to his audience. His dedicated so-

cial media team takes care of the content which is

to be posted in order to have a wider reach of his

messages.

Understand the Target Audience

“Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkaar, Achche din anewale

hain” - these 2014 Narendra Modi slogans had

caught the fancy of millions. They were engineered

after understanding voter feedback to increase the

top of the mind recall. According to a survey con-

ducted by the party, Modi’s recall value was al-

most 22 per cent more than the BJP. The party had

a new market to tap into and several stakeholders

needed to be communicated with. The campaign

was all designed after proper marketing research

which then became viral. The purpose of such ta-

glines was to find resonance with everyone, includ-

ing the first time voters.

Subtle Branding

The marketing heads in the party aptly used the

humble background of Naren-

dra Modi of that of a tea sell-

er. This point which other

parties often joked about was

completely turned around to

MarkMantra Feb 2015

5

reinforce the image of a person who rose through

the ranks by his determination and sheer dedica-

tion. A common man finds such a person more ac-

ceptable. This differentiated Narendra Modi from

his opponents in a manner similar to what brand-

ing does to a product.

Single Point Authority

In our Distribution chapters, one topic that we fail

to forget is the hub and spoke model. The design

of such a model is highly efficient for a variety of

reasons. By centralizing control, the company can

afford smaller staffs which concentrates on man-

agement from a central location. Narendra Modi

keeps himself involved in all the committees within

the government. Be it Make in India or inter-

ministerial decisions, the PMO is the single point

contact for various schemes launched by Narendra

Modi. This helps him to hasten the process of deci-

sion making which in turn helps him to come true

on his promise of efficient governance.

Brand Repositioning

Repositioning is done by companies for keeping

their product relevant in the times of changing cus-

tomer needs. All companies continuously try to

associate themselves with something people are

already familiar with. Coca-Cola did it with the

word ‘Thanda‘, Maruti tried to associate itself with

the catch phrase ‘Kitna deti hai‘ and Oreo associ-

ated itself with the ‘dunk biscuit before eating’

ritual.

Similarly, the parties need to considerably alter

their strategies to make them contemporary. One

such move was executed by him was ‘Chai pe

Charcha’ campaign which took the advantage of on

ground kiosks to gather people in the offline world,

and connect them to party leaders and people

from other towns. The Brand repositioning lesson

is not limited to India. In all his foreign trips he

tries to reposition India to bring in investment.

4P

Let’s see the applicability of 4Ps of marketing in

Narendra Modi’s journey thus far. In general elec-

tions, the products are various leaders from differ-

ent parties. BJP had projected Narendra Modi as

its core product. The party in itself was just a gift

wrapping and not the product. This was intelligent

since it is difficult to define a party as a product

because party has so many members however it is

fairly easy to characterize an individual. The previ-

ous government couldn’t find a clear core product

and thus confused the voters. Let’s talk about an-

other ‘P’, Place. Modi had addressed 437 rallies;

MarkMantra Feb 2015

6

and many more through digital medium. Any CSO

would have been proud if the number had been

the count of retail outlets of a distribution channel.

The point is, his campaign tour covered the entire

length and breadth of our country. Promotion was

sharp, to the point and built around the issues

which troubled the voters. Channels for promo-

tions were designed as per the target audience ex

TV shows for house wives while FB for youth. The

last ‘P’ Price in general is what the customer is

ready to pay for the product or the service. In the

case of elections, it was the value of Modi's prom-

ise. It was what he was going to deliver.

From all the above illustrations, we can infer that

lessons we study in Marketing are all applicable

even in Politics and the one who uses them effi-

ciently surely ensures more success. Our own

Prime Minister is the very proof of it. He may not

have undergone a formal coaching in the concepts

of marketing but still he is marketer in his domain

of expertise. In MBA parlance, he is a marketer

who tries to design his services based on the prob-

lems faced by his customers. He along with being

the Prime Minister of our country is an ideal Prime

Marketer. So the next time when he is in news,

look out for subtle Marketing or Brand manage-

ment lessons. It might help you for your case stud-

ies, assignments or tutorials.

Arjun Singh Mehta

MBA(IB) 2013-15

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Achievers at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

IIFT Kolkata wins the

TCS

“Bank Of The Future”

Ideation Challenge

K.B Shriharsha being

felicitated for the

same

7

G one are the days when a movie

would stay running in a single

screen theatre for months and

may be for years even. We no

longer have a ‘DDLJ’ or a ‘Sholay’ raking in moo-

lah in slow burn. The human needs have changed

and so have the human fantasies. From the

1960s high-on-drama stories to larger-than-life

setups today - Bollywood has changed along with

it.

There were days when a movie release was a less

talked about activity attracting less stars and less

media. It included a music release prior to the re-

lease of the movie which was eventually followed

by a full fanfare premier. That’s it!

But now the activities prior to the movie release

and its promotion in this period involve as much

activity, hard work and planning as it does in mak-

ing a movie in the first place. Today the hype and

hoopla that surrounds a movie starts right from

the storyboard and continues till the fag end of he

screening, editing and recording processes. Well!

As marketers we must find interest in the beauty

with which it is orchestrated with a heady mar-

“Old Indian movies are like seasoned wine…the older they get the

better they seem- Not because of their brilliance rather because

of the shitty movies that are being made today”

MarkMantra Feb 2015

8

keting mix. Today’s heavy ATL and BTL marketing

techniques are usurping silent Friday releases of

yore, because the shelf life of the films or the

time for which they remain screened in theatres is

getting smaller and smaller every season. With

the number of films being made each year rising,

this is ought to happen. Today it’s the very first

holiday or the first weekend that decides the fate

of a film. In fact, certain movie makers, producers

and actors strategically plan to release their mov-

ies on important festive dates to attract more au-

dience. The benchmarks like Silver Jubilee, Golden

Jubilee etc. have lost their sheen and have been

replaced with the ‘100 crore club’ or the even

bigger the ‘200 crore club’.

A lot of film marketers have engaged in a lot of out

-of-the-box marketing ideas. A point that beckons

a mention here is that the pre-release promotion

budget of movies now account for close to 30 to

40 percent of the total budget allocated for the

movie. This, in itself, is a testimony to the fact that

film-makers today consider the marketing of a

movie almost as important as the art of movie

making itself. Superstars from names as big as

Shah Rukh Khan to as old as Amitabh Bachchan to

as hot and ravishing as Deepika Padukone - we

have all the stars coming up and promoting their

films on the small screen, a few weeks before the

release of their movie. This is a trend today and no

superstar has remained untouched, not even the

unusual and eclectic Amir Khan. Though he has not

been on the reality shows promoting his films, he

has followed his own ideas for doing the same

thing differently. For example, 3 Idiots, the highest

grosser till date in Indian cinema, saw Amir Khan

go on a promotion spree. 3 Idiots employed vari-

ous marketing strategies: from online release of

the film, association with insurance products to

Sachin Tendulkar endorsing the film. Another very

innovative marketing tactic used by the 3 Idiots

team involved pasting stickers reading “Capacity: 3

Idiots” on the back of 10,000 auto rickshaws. This

was considered well aware of the fact that the au-

to rickshaws, being one of the most important

commuting modes, would provide a lot of visibility

to the movie.

All in all, with the lifespan of the movies at the

Cineplex getting shorter each season the produc-

ers of the movie now devise ingenious promotion-

al strategies to breakeven at a faster pace. This

present and changing face of Indian cinema brings

a very important question to the fore. Has Indian

cinema lost its artistic value and the only motive

behind cinema is to pander to the audience desires

and garner huge profits.? Is marketing a movie to-

day more important than making an inexplicable

masterpiece?

While there are no clear regions of black and white

that define answers to the above questions, there

MarkMantra Feb 2015

9

are certain grey regions that throw a good deal of

light on them. One of the biggest myths in Indian

cinema is that there are actors who can turn

around a movie. In Bollywood, this is very wrongly

stated that stars can make a movie hit. We have

the most popular of the actors facing failure and

giving flops. In the end the only fool proof way of

making sure that a movie is accepted by the audi-

ence is good story telling. A good story properly

told will always hold the public’s interest.

Another popular misbelief is that good music and

heavy pre-prelease promotion by the actors will

give a brilliant first 2-3 weeks to the movie. Indus-

try today is replete with examples of movies like

Heropanti, Entertainment etc. (examples from last

year) which in spite of heavy marketing did not do

much at the box office.

While good cinema and classic work of celluloid is

still present today, it is becoming rare and some-

thing that is categorized as parallel cinema rather

than commercial cinema. India has never seen a

dearth of talent in the world of art. There are

names like Satyajit Ray, Dr. K. Vishwanath and Ma-

ni Ratnam among others who have been known

for achieving a great deal at the box office while

balancing elements of both popular and art cinema

at the same time. But it’s disheartening to learn

that recent movie releases like ‘Ship of Theseus’,

‘Sulemani Keeda’ etc. offered a different story on

the platter but because of their not-so-

commercialized set up and marketing practices,

they almost went unnoticed. Films like these are

testimony to the fact that good and meaningful

cinema still exists in India. It is the short sighted-

ness of the commercial players in Bollywood that

has brought us to a stage where the script and the

storyline of the movie have taken the backseat and

presentation and marketing have come to the fore.

In fact, the audience and the movie makers have

come into such a symbiotic relationship where

they seem to have signed an unsaid agreement of

accepting whatever is offered to them. Unless

there come a few film makers who commercialize

good meaningful cinema (movies of the likes of

MarkMantra Feb 2015

10

Swades, Rang De Basanti, Gangajal) and revive the

tastes of the Indian diaspora, this relationship

would seem to continue.

The point to be driven home is

this – No one can deny that in

the modern era of filmmaking,

both aspects of a good story

and a working marketing plan

are equally important. Pres-

ence or absence of one of

them can only bring partial suc-

cess to a movie. The idea is to strike the right bal-

ance between both and give the audience a movie

that not only has a good story worth remembering

but also has so good pre-release promotion plan

that they are left with no choice but to succumb to

the temptation of watching it, at least once. Only if

this balance is maintained, there can be an indus-

try that’s modern and technology driven and yet

maintains its sanctity by offer-

ing some of the best works of

celluloid.

If all of this happens only then

can we dream of taking Bolly-

wood global and making it real-

ize its true potential.

Harshit Vyas

MBA(IB) 2014-16

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Achievers at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

Team Red Devils From IIFT Kolkata

wins the Nokia-Wipro Brain Storm

Control your Environment Challenge

2014

11

I n late ‘90s, there emerged from a new con-

cern that instantly unleashed across the

world restlessness like never before: the

concern for health! It touched India a little

late and how! There were brands that introduced

entire categories and changed the food habits of

millions of Indians. And then there were others that

introduced variants or changed their positioning to

cash in on the trend. There were some who rose to

prominence and relevance thanks to the fervor.

The Path-Makers

The story of health food dare not start without the

mention of the company that experimented, re-

searched, failed and excelled in this category. Kel-

logg’s made a brazen entry into the Indian market

in 1994. It was a time when breakfast for an Indian

meant hot parathas or steaming idlis. This meant

that Kellogg’s was a brand new product and had

no competitors; it would have been the market-

er’s paradise but for the fact that it also meant

that the company had to promote not just the ce-

reals but also the very idea of having them for

breakfast. At first launch, novelty purchases made

sales soar but this was not here to stay. The high

profile launch didn’t help either. Too adamant to

cut prices and too blind to do their research, the

cereals giant kept churning out new variants, all of

which sank without a trace. The ads that they

launched tried to tell that the Indian breakfast did-

n’t have the necessary nutrients, which backfired

big time and the audience promptly shirked off

the idea of switching to cornflakes. Could they get

more wrong?

However Kellogg’s soon made amends. It intro-

duced smaller Rs 10 packs of each variant and

started offering free gifts for children with most

of its packs. Promotional activities like Kellogg’s

MarkMantra Feb 2015

12

Breakfast Week attempted to sensitize Indian

population to the importance of a healthy break-

fast. Positioning changed from it being just

healthy, to a “healthy, tasty and easy-to-

prepare” alternative. Over time, it offered “Iron

Shakti” and “Special K Diet for women”. Today

Kellogg’s is synonymous to breakfast.

Another giant to spot the jackpot was Britannia,

which sensed the upcoming market for health con-

scious consumers in India. In the entire $3 billion

worth Indian biscuit industry (which, by the way,

ranks the third largest in the world!) it was the first

to attempt a combination of health and taste in

the biscuits segment. It experimented with a num-

ber of concepts under the brand of NutriChoice

and restructured its product portfolio by 2005. Its

positioning of biscuits as healthy and tasty snack

option between meals is now being adopted by

many more brands but Britannia is keeping clear of

the competition through new variants like Multi-

grain and oats and ingenious marketing strategies

both on TV and in print (remember the ads that

claim Nutrichoice Digestive to be halfway between

a plate of salad and a pizza slice and those of the

Health Starter Kit?)

Both the brands invested much on research and

trial and error until they finally got it right. They

managed to influence their target population and

change their inherent habits through intensive ad-

vertising and effective campaigns.

The Change-Mongers

The brands that later launched their products in

the footsteps of the path-breakers had the ad-

vantage of prior knowledge of what stuck and

what sank. They were spared the experimentation

and could safely go the proven way. This is the rea-

son most of these brands had similar positioning

i.e. the “healthy and tasty” bit.

After Kellogg’s the only high-profile launch was

that of Quaker, which brought ashore to India its

world of oats in 2006. Owing to its late entry into

the market Quaker has had lesser role to play in

reshaping food habits but it has been successful in

introducing oats to Indians’ daily life as a “heart-

smart” and “fibre-rich” food. It has similar posi-

tioning to what Kellogg’s later adopted- that of nu-

tritious, tasty and easy-to-cook breakfast option.

MarkMantra Feb 2015

13

To localize its products Quaker came out with ma-

sala and cardamom flavours and introducing low

priced packs. But Quaker is facing stiff competition

in this category with every other brand (Kellogg’s,

Marico, Nestle) having its eyes set on a share of

the 4000 tonne oats market.

Meanwhile, in early 2000s, Nestle was trying to

steer itself towards a “health and wellness” brand

and in line with this goal, Maggi launched its first

“healthy” product, the Atta noodles that posi-

tioned itself as whole wheat noodles with real veg-

etables. After this, it also launched Multigrain and

Oats variants. The recent ad from Maggi has ac-

tress and opinion leader Madhuri Dixit promoting

the noodles thus increasing its credibility and ap-

peal.

Similarly, burgeoning incidents of heart diseases

and hypertension has prompted innovators to

offer low-cholesterol oil as the solution. Saffola

introduced a range of low-cholesterol soyabean

oil in ‘gold’, ‘active’ and ‘tasty’ variants. It

launched a forum that goes by the name, Saffola

Life and holds recipes and tips for a healthy heart;

it launched the “Protect her Heart” campaign this

World Heart Day. It is a brand that has kept active

on social media through its campaigns for Masala

Oats (“The Other Side”) that it positions as the

“tasty oats”.

Another launch that comes to mind is that of Mc

Vitie’s, an exceedingly popular brand from Unit-

ed Biscuits, which launched its Digestive Biscuits

in 2010 and was faced with competition from

Britannia’s NutriChoice. The first challenge was

to carve out a place for itself in the otherwise

crowded health food category. So it chose a new

positioning. It claimed to contain more than 23%

whole wheat and the ads dramatically drove this

home with Bipasha Basu in the lead. Parle con-

fronted the idea of digestive biscuits with an ad

that said that they contained more fat and hence

were “tastier”. Parle Marie would have proved a

viable contender in the health race had it picked

a comparble duo to match McVitie’s Bips!

Each of these brands (other than Quaker) launched

their health product range for the wont of a signifi-

cant extension to their product line or because

they spied opportunity in this category. Maggi

came out with its nutritional noodles at a point

where it was losing its sheen to the likes of Top

Ramen. Saffola focused on heart care to build its

MarkMantra Feb 2015

14

brand and its campaigns tried to impress upon

people the need to live healthy. All these brands

played their roles in moulding the emerging health

food industry. They created demand through

awareness and then projected their products as

the only solution.

The Beneficiaries

Apart from the food giants that were spinning out

one product after other branded “healthy”, there

were a few that successfully came out of the oblivi-

on thanks to the trend and some categories that

emerged because of it.

Sugar Free was launched as early as 1988 as a

drug by its Ethical Drug Division but could only

market through below the line promotions due

to restrictions on it being sold as OTC. Post ’93

the drug could be sold OTC but it wasn’t until six

years later that genuine effort was made to

make it popular. The color of the pack was

changed from a depressing blue to vibrant yel-

low and it was modeled as an hourglass to reflect

the lower calories that it offered, thus position-

ing the sweetener not as a drug but as a fitness

alternative. It was now available in every random

grocery store and not just at the chemist’s. This

happened at a time when the Indian household

was attaining consciousness towards health and

the dangers of diabetes and the young Indian

was fighting obesity. Thus flung open the doors

for all things sugar free: desserts, dishes, ice

creams and what not. To top the entire effort,

celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor was roped in to

promote the brand.The wave of healthy eating is

not just limited to the FMCG. It is spreading to

services as well. Hospitals are riding on it and

insurance is selling like hot cakes. Health insur-

ance started selling in India once people were

aware of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and

heart ailments. The ads that insurance agencies

came up with also played a huge role in creating

awareness. The various food brands have over

the years tied up with various health agencies to

further their popularity. Quaker tied up with

Apollo Hospitals to offer free health check ups

for its customers and also launched 360 degree

awareness campaigns. Kellogg’s at its early stage

was associating itself with Indian Dietetic Associ-

ation to launch pan-India awareness pro-

grammes related to iron deficiency.

Conclusion

Over the years all the players in the health food

market have managed to succeed not just by the

virtue of “health” alone. The inseparable ingredi-

ent in the success of all the stalwarts has always

been the “taste”. The oats, the cornflakes, the

soup, the juice, the noodles and even the oil

have to be tasty. Guess the way to success in In-

dia is through its taste buds!

MarkMantra Feb 2015

15

Marketers now use innovative ways of marketing

their products. They target both children and the

mothers when it comes to children’s drinks and

food. Health drinks like Complan and Horlicks

give away freebies like tattoos and Gi-Joe toys. To

appeal to the price-sensitive Indian they come up

with small packs. Recently Knor came up with sa-

chets of soup promoted as the solution for

“ChotiChotiBhook”.

The health food market is at a shooting stage and

is currently recording a CAGR of around 20%. This

sector will expectedly swell to a Rs 22,500 crore

wonder by 2015.So people! The frenzy over

healthy eating is here to stay and this segment will

grow further in years to come. So grab a yogurt

and join the new health-conscious India!

Ipsita Gochhayat

MBA(IB) 2014-16

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Achievers at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

Anmol Garg From

IIFT Kolkata grabs

the pole position at

MDI Phalanx

Last Man Standing

16

L egends and Holy Scriptures have al-

ways favoured the Davids and not the

Goliaths. The most admired folklores

are about the protagonist doing the

impossible. But what happens to the mighty when

they falter??How do they resurrect themselves

from death??How do they regain their lost pride??

Time and Again, mighty brands have risen from

being “dogs” to “cash cows”, thus altering the

product life-cycle curve. They have wronged the

legends and have risen to become the Rocky Bal-

boas of their sectors .Let us try to analyse how

these Rocky Balboas rose from the ashes.

Old Spice:

From being Old and Weary to Old

and Sexy

Launched in 1938 by Shulton Co, Old spice was one

of the most loved brands during World War II. Its

oriental spicy aroma was a perfect embodiment of

masculinity which was defined by ruggedness till

1980s. It lost it sheen during the later half of 1980s

as the concept of masculinity changed and by early

1990’s it was looked upon as mature brand of old-

en days. As the brand grew older so did its custom-

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as

life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's

about how hard you can get hit and keep

moving forward. How much you can take and

keep moving forward. That's how winning is

done!”

- Rocky Balboa

LEGENDARY

BRANDS ARE

IMMORTAL..

BUT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

17

er base and Old Spice didn’t appeal to the youth. In

1990 as the last nail was being hammered in the

brand’s coffin , it was bought by P&G which be-

sides being a top FMCG company was also the

women’s deodorant market leader.

Consumer insights based on the research carried

out by P&G revealed that Old Spice was viewed as

a brand of a forgotten generation. Moreover its old

sailor image no longer appealed the youth. An in-

teresting insight, though, was that men remained

loyal to brands for longer period of time and they

loved brands which gave proof of their worth. Thus

the challenge was to make the rugged masculinity

appealing to an all new target customer base i.e.

(18-35 years of age) and cash in on their loyalty

by giving them proof.

One of the first innovative tactics employed un-

der Grass root Marketing Strategy was to launch

high endurance deodorant. During its prelaunch

campaign P&G chucked out the old sailor and chal-

lenged the target customer base to try out its new

deodorant range. This was followed by “Scratch

and Sniff” book covers which were sold to 5th

graders and above.

It also distributed samples during skateboard

events and sponsored contest for high-school foot-

ball player of the year. This strategies helped P&G

push the product into the locker rooms. The next

gig was to place Old Spice in video games, includ-

ing Electronic Arts Inc.'s (ERTS) NCAA Football

2005. The outcome: deodorant sale slowly picked

up. However good times were yet to come as the

deodorant faced stiff competition from Right

Guard and Axe. In early 2000, Market research car-

ried out by P&G revealed that

body sprays and body washes had replaced soaps

and cologne when it came to male personal

grooming and that soap was a viewed as a gender

neutral item. Thus in 2007, it had to come up with

“Old Spice Challenge”. However, the trump card

was the 2010 “The Man Your Man Could Smell

Like” campaign by Wieden+Kennedy. The cam-

paign successfully shattered Old Spice’s boring and

weary image whilst keeping the legacy intact,

through humorous, unique, trendy and youthful

content.

MarkMantra Feb 2015

18

The campaign was kick-started with a single video

featuring Isaiah Mustafa. Witty offbeat and sexy

Mustafa talked to the ladies about how anything

was possible if their men quit the girly body wash

and switched to Old Spice through a humorous

screen play of backgrounds. The campaign, which

was launched online first and then hit the televi-

sion screens, went viral. It was “the” most

watched commercial during super bowl, as it had

both hilarious content and was well time i.e.

launched during super bowl. This was not all;

Wieden+Kennedy had kept their best kitty for the

last. It was a series of 186 response videos (an

online response campaign to tweets) which was

more adored than the original video as they were

personalized, real time responses to “question”

tweets. Moreover Wieden+Kennedy wilfully re-

sponded to “Ellen Show” tweet , hence provoking

the producers to screen it to millions during the

show. Thus they were able to garner publicity

without paying for it. The campaign’s success

demonstrates how well one can exploit social me-

dia platforms like You Tube and twitter whilst en-

joying free publicity. Personalization coupled with

real time responses and wit turned out to be a le-

thal combination pushing both sales and buzz up-

wards. Currently the campaign has been given a

new twist with introduction of a challenger “Fabia”

Lego Toys

Rebuilding the brand brick by brick

Started in 1930’s great depression, Lego continued

its dream run till 1993 when Chinese counterparts

stole its pie by manufacturing and selling toys at a

much cheaper price. Moreover with the advent of

the likes of videogames, the target consumer base

for Lego shrank. Now kids started using complex

toys at an early age and hence

would play with Lego toys for

less number of years. Lego

wasn’t ready to give up the

fight so easy. Lego went on an

innovation spree to rejuve-

BASED ON KAPFERER

AND KELLER BRAND

REVITALIZATION

GYAAN :

P&G successfully increased the brand

awareness through the viral videos

Created opinion leadership

went in for a distribution change i.e.

changed the way to reach target

audience

Changed brand elements : went in for

new products based on consumer in-

sights and a new campaign

Changed the target audience

Watched by more audience in 24

hours than Obama’s presidential victo-

ry speech

Total video views reached 40 million

in a week.

Campaign impressions: 1.4 billion.

Since the campaign launched, Old

Spice Bodywash sales are up 27%

MarkMantra Feb 2015

19

nate its brand. However it decided to do this by

adhering to experts’ gospel of innovation and so it

failed miserably leading to losses worth £ 300 mil-

lion in 2003 and brought itself to the brink of bank-

ruptcy.

In 1993 and the years that followed, Lego added

more toys to its product line, but its sales didn’t

improve. Thus the manufacturing and delivery

costs skyrocketed without revenue addition to sus-

tain the same. At the same time, consolidation

among some retailers and the phenomenon of big-

box stores

made it tougher

for company

leadership to

negotiate prime

shelf space for

Legos. Moreo-

ver they went

on to add Lego

range of elec-

tronics, interactive video games& jewellery and

started amusement parks & education centres.

They also entered into new markets which were

virtually competition free and niche segments.

They tried to boost sales by manufacturing exclu-

sive Harry Potter and Star Wars range of toys, but

this didn’t stick as the sales took off only when the

films or books were launched

and remained slack otherwise.

In 2003, Lego got a new team

which streamlined its brand re-

vitalization efforts. Following

divesture from theme parks

Lego outsourced manufacturing to Mexico to re-

duce cost. It gave up on the “Blue Ocean” ap-

proach of entering high risk “new product” catego-

ries and focused on “Red Ocean” approach i.e.

competing with Lego-like toys in 3D and on video-

games. It went forward to open retail stores.

Moreover it created Lego-themed board games

and straight-to-DVD films.

In 2006, LEGO regained its lost fame and became

the sixth-largest toy manufacturer of the world .Its

revenue increased to £717 million, an 11% in-

crease over 2005 with net profit of £123.5 million,

a jump of 6.5%.

Volkswagen

Beetle

The Love Bug

No one imagined that the Automobile Goliath of

BRAND REVITLIZATION AND STRATEGY SHOULD GO HAND

IN HAND

MarkMantra Feb 2015

20

1960s that left its competitors fumbling for market

share through the most innovative advertising

campaigns ever, would falter and would have to

revitalize itself with an innovative line of products.

Following its heyday during 1960s and 1970 with

record sales of 569,000 in 1970, darkness lingered

over the future of the brand in 1972 as VW faced

bankruptcy. The oil crisis along with tough compe-

tition from Asian contemporaries forced

VOLKSWAGEN to come up with conventional de-

signs- Passat and Rabbit. The worst was yet to

come for VOLKSWAGEN as the competition be-

came more fierce in 1980-90s. In early 90s the Bra-

zil and Mexico plants too stopped production of

Beetles and the sales plummeted to 49,000 units.

This was when VOLKSWAGEN California design stu-

dio’s manager, J Mays and designer Freeman

Thomas conspired to revamp the most loved

VOLKSWAGEN brand: THE BEETLE

The beetle with a new edge (Concept 1) displayed

in 1994 Detroit Auto Show received a huge and un-

precedented accolade. This was followed by a suc-

cessful prelaunch campaign “Drivers Wanted”-with

the tagline “On the road of life there are passen-

gers and there are drivers.” Considered as one of

the most innovative Ad Campaign (1995-2006) in

the history of automobile it was extended to Phae-

ton and others models too. Uniqueness of the cam-

paign lies in the fact that it portrayed driving a

Volkswagen as new way of living! It didn’t spare

anyone, be it those driving Japanese Cars or Cheap-

er American cars or those driving costlier European

cars other than German. It

achieved this feat through just a

minute long video!! The video de-

fines “drivers” as those who in life

make things happen, love chal-

lenges, enjoy risks and do not

MarkMantra Feb 2015

21

view car as just another mode of transportation.

Their cars are made for spirited souls and were

more drivable than the boring Japanese or Ameri-

can cars that focussed on taking a back seat and

were for the passengers who take what life throws

at them! Moreover the VOLKSWAGEN drivers were

a special breed who believed in getting their mon-

ey’s worth – i.e. German Engineering and not

those who would splurge on any other European

Brand. On probing we realize success of the cam-

paign lies in its rational as well as emotional ap-

peal. Rational being, Volkswagen was the sole

brand offering the benefits and the “feel” of Ger-

man engineering within reach.

Emotional: VOLKSWAGEN

offered excitement, a different

reason to drive and a different

way of living.Thus it acted as a

perfect launch pad for BEETLE as it had the most

unique shape in the automotive world — most ele-

gant design combined with innovative German

technology. Moreover it could also be used for

other cars models too!! The sales of the new bee-

tle jumped to 83,434 just one year after its debut

in 1998, moreover the campaign boosted the sales

BASED ON

KAPFERER AND KELLER

BRAND REVITALIZATION

GYAAN

VOLKSWAGEN SUCCESS CAN

BE MAPPED TO

New use for the product- different

way of living

Innovating the product-newer

versions

Distribution change- Creating a pre

launch platform through an innovative

campaign

Changing the brand elements

IT CHANGED THE PURPOSE

OF BUYING A VOLKSWAGEN

MarkMantra Feb 2015

22

of Jetta and Passat too. Since then VOLKSWAGEN

has come up with Beetle Convertible and Sports

model Turbo S along with others such as Phaeton.

Conclusion:

This is not all!!There are many other Goliaths out

there in the Biz world including our very own

Dabur and Bajaj Auto. For an age obsessed with

brand rationalization, prompting even giants like

P&G to downsize their portfolio, brand revitaliza-

tion or rejuvenation may be looked upon as an al-

ternative strategy- when carried out strategically.

This opens another Pandora’s Box – whether the

corporates should take the longer route of Brand

Revitalization or the shorter route of axing?

Which of the two is more feasible?

Shatabdi Banerjee

MBA(IB) 2014-16

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Achievers at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

IIFT wins ETiC (ET in Campus) Quiz, 2015

IIFT was represented by the duo

Kunal Malhotra and Viraj Bake of

IIFT Kolkata ,who defeated 83 participating

teams to grab the top slot.

23

Minimalistic

Advertising It’s Sparta all over again!!

L egends say that when Philip II of Mac-

edon implored Spartans, "if I bring my

army into your land, I will destroy

your farms, slay your people, and

raze your city” and threatened them to yield, Spar-

tans of Laconia sent a one word reply “If”

Confused?? So was I, while analyzing the witty

Durex, Zomato, Ikea and many more similar ads.

For a diehard Don Draper fan no sooner does any

new advertising campaign hits the stands, there

we go again being all Sherlock and start investi-

gating them. First look at this Durex Ad-and all I

could think was laconicism- simple and terse yet

witty precise and powerful! In the world of exces-

sive consumerism with overbearing ads, these are

the ones that create an ever-lasting impression on

the consumers. After all, “A picture is worth a

thousand words”; for this visual delivers every bit

of information one needs to decipher what the

brand is trying to tell. This form of advertising is

known as Minimalistic Advertising.

Minimalism employs the notion of “Less is more”.

All the visual noises are taken off the sight of the

viewer and the focus lies only on the central mes-

sage – what the brand or the product is trying to

tell you. Everything is clear and uncluttered. What

it achieves is what every marketeer wants – the

complete and undivided attention of the consum-

MarkMantra Feb 2015

24

er. Combine it with a dose of humor and voila! We

get a brand that has the top of mind recall like

never before. Not only with the print ad, minimal-

istic marketing though videos is also picking up

with the number of YouTube users

skyrocketing in the last few years.

No I am not going to analyze

aforementioned Durex ad and

spoil all the fun!! It’s open for the

readers to analyze!!

How would you react to a pink

colored can of Pepsi??? Colors

play a vital role when it comes to

advertising as consumers have

predefined notions regarding colors which have

been engraved in their knowledge structure. Dur-

ing the consumer’s decision he/she refers to such

color associations. Although the consumers may

not know the impact of the color combination

consciously, a marketeer fully appreciates its im-

pact on the subconscious knowledge structure. It

can be the differentiating factor for a buyer be-

tween one products and its rival. In minimalism,

generally three or fewer colors are used, re-

flecting its idea of laconicism.

Before we delve into the advertising aspect of

these designs, let us look at the origin of the mini-

malist designs.

Minimalism originated in Japan from the Zen phi-

losophy. It played an influential role in determining

the architectural designs in the US mostly in the

18th and 19th century. Minimalism essentially cap-

tures the idea of simplicity. The architecture con-

sisted of large empty spaces and white elements,

using minimum objects and furniture, all conveying

the simplistic attitude towards life. This idea of

minimalism then expanded to literature, music and

then ultimately to television

and print media where many

of the world’s leading compa-

nies have used it to perfection.

It is important to note that the

1950s-60s saw a change in the

way contemporary advertising

was being done, most notably

by the advertising agency

Doyle Dane Bernbach whose

motive was to promote the product by creating

ads based on artistic designs with a powerful and

logical presentation to gain the public attention. It

was a shift away from the previously heavy reli-

ance on the use of statistical data presented to the

public to sell products. Fresh and imaginative in-

sights with tremendous depend-

ence on art coupled with a creative

revolution led to the emergence of

the world-famous names such as

MarkMantra Feb 2015

25

Bob Gage, Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy, George Lois,

etc. who laid the foundation of minimalistic adver-

tising.

Volkswagen

The German automobile car manufacturer was the

pioneer of this concept wherein they started the

“Think Small” campaign in the year 1959.

Volkswagen is known for its crisp classic white

background print ads, which feature their world

famous automobiles along with a cheeky tagline or

a message to tickle the funny bone and also appeal

to those adventurous by nature. Volkswagen’s rev-

olutionary ads changed the way the world looked

at them. It helped to create a lifetime of brand loy-

alty and the “Think Small” ad was

voted by Ad Age as the best ad

campaign of the twentieth century.

The ad agency of Doyle Dane Bern-

bach (DDB) was the force behind this creative con-

cept. During that time, the VOLKSWAGEN Beetle

was known as the “Hitler car”. Do you think any-

one would have bought it after World War II? That

was the same problem being faced by DDB and

Volkswagen. They had to change the perception of

the car and the brand as a whole. Moreover the

1960s was known as the decade of BIG. From cars

to hairstyles, from Woodstock Concerts to families,

everything was big and as one can very well imag-

ine the advertising trend followed that train of

thought. So as we can see that there were multiple

challenges that had to be overcome.

Enter the “Think Small” campaign. These ads were

the exact opposite of what the people expected a

car ad to be. The automakers put a small car image

on huge empty white spaces. What this did was to

force the consumers to focus on the car along with

the printed text at the bottom. Not just this, the

car makers were brutally honest, joking about it

being the slowest hatchback in the US and using

the word “Lemon” and “Bug” to describe it. How-

ever it turned out to be the rebel car which that

generation of young people took an instant liking

to and along with the minimalistic ideals they gave

a fresh approach to see a car. The self-deprecating

humour and the

irreverent ap-

proach made it a

big which could

be clearly seen in

the sales figures.

Before this cam-

paign 150,601

MarkMantra Feb 2015

26

VOLKSWAGEN Beetles were sold in 1958 which

rose to over 1 million by 1963.

The given images show as to why Volkswagen de-

serves a standing ovation when it comes to fully

exploiting the concept of minimalism.

Apple

The world’s most valuable company Apple is one

of the big league organization when it comes to

the use of minimalism. Co-founder Steve Jobs was

known for his focus and determination on using a

simplistic and minimalistic approach in the styling

and designing of all Apple products which highlight

there elegance. Design to him was of utmost im-

portance and was one of the key elements of the

success story of the most valuable organization in

the world. Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive has

confessed to be inspired by Dieter Rams, the chief

designer at Braun who was known for his minimal-

istic designs and the rest as they say is history. Ste-

ve jobs regarded Jonathan Ive “to have more oper-

ational power than anyone else in the office ex-

cept me”.

Zomato

“There are two kinds of people in this world”

This campaign of Zomato saw the internet food

community going crazy with people sharing and

tweeting these pictures. With over 1 million of its

App downloads along with over 8 million visits per

month, it can be seen that the campaign was re-

ceived with much love and affection, helping raise

the brand’s goodwill to a great extent. One more

interesting thing that can be pointed out is that

creating such minimalistic ad campaigns do not

take up a major chunk of your advertisement

budget and hence it could become a very essential

digital marketing tool for all the start-ups.

Conclusion

With the advancement of technology, there is a

many fold increase in the ability of the advertisers

to develop new and innovative styles of minimal-

ism. Moreover an effective minimalistic marketing

approach has a huge impact on the audience,

some of them are mentioned be-

low:

MarkMantra Feb 2015

27

It helps marketers simplify choices for their

customers and eventually makes the buying

process a pleasant and a relaxed experience

thus increasing chances of a repeat purchase

and the possibility of word of mouth advertis-

ing

It helps establish trust between its products

and their users since the latter knows that the

company is not trying too hard to sell

People always love a great story. Through this

medium, one may tell a story not with winding

words but just with a few images and taglines

Information is everywhere but it is extremely

important to provide only the valuable and rel-

evant ones. A good minimalistic approach does

just that

Today digital media marketing plays a very im-

portant role in the communication strategy of all

organizations. Any brands worth its salt would per-

form very well if it sees the potential that the mini-

malistic marketing approach has to offer. All one

needs is creativity and the desire to make one’s

customer happy and satisfied, so that the brand

does not just create an impact, it creates a

lovemark.

Supratik Chakraborty

MBA(IB) 2014-16

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Achievers at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

Daksh Uday Shah Of Kolkata Cam-

pus Stands tall at

The Young Entrepreneurs in Fran-

chising Global Competition

He is one of the elite 50 who would

be attending the Next Genera-

tion Franchising Summit, at the

MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas,

Feb 15-18

28

“The best marketing doesn’t feel

like marketing”

T he above quote best exemplifies the

conundrum faced by most marketers

in today’s world. With increasing

number of brands vying for consum-

er attention, it is critical for them to remain rele-

vant. The well-known fact that it is easier to retain

customers than acquire new ones is gaining more

and more importance.

The transition to service based products has made

customer relationship management the prime tool

for retaining customers. The most successful

brands try and reduce the distance between them-

selves and the customers. It is important for them

to make the customer a part of the process of

change and engage with them accordingly.

What is Relationship Marketing?

By definition relationship marketing is the aspect

of marketing which focuses on customer loyalty

and long term customer engagement rather than

short term goals like customer acquisition and

sales maximisation.

It involves not only maintaining a long term con-

nection between the brand and the consumer but

also strengthening brand loyalty and most im-

portantly bringing ‘emotion’ into marketing.

The simple act of writing the name of the custom-

er on the cup won Starbucks many new customers

and more importantly created an everlasting bond

with its existing customers.

Relationship Marketing involves ingraining such

simple steps into the communication of a brand.

Singapore Airlines, American Airlines, Ikea

among others have been hugely successful

in retaining their customers and it has been

MarkMantra Feb 2015

29

made possible through their communication com-

bined with a superb service and product offerings.

According to many researchers and academicians,

marketing has been characterised by three differ-

ent waves since World War II. They are:

Mass Marketing- Focused on economies of

scale and mass products and services were ad-

vertised and distributed heavily.

Targeted Marketing- Led to the creation of

specialised products and services for niche au-

dience

Global Marketing- Targeted approach across

geographies. It was done when marketers real-

ised that consumers across globe have much

more in common than it was previously real-

ised. Led to the creation of global brands like

Coca Cola and McDonald’s

All three waves occurred subsequently and the

current millennium is characterised by the goal of

increasing profits rather than just increasing sales.

Creating and enduring a long term customer rela-

tionship will have better chances of equitable

profits.

Key Components

The goal of a marketer must be to enable a cus-

tomer reach the highest step in The Loyalty Lad-

der. Marketing cannot end at ‘Gaining a Custom-

er’. It must go all the way to making the customer

an ‘Evangelist’ of the product/service.

Steve Jobs brilliantly capitalised on the loyal-

ty ladder and through immensely powerful

product launches and presentations managed to

create a worldwide community of Apple fans.

Customer Database

Companies involved in providing services tradition-

ally maintain a very good database of their cus-

tomers. However, with the distinction between

products and services narrowing down each day

every company is now paying serious attention to

it. Every customer interaction must serve as a

source of customer information. With internet

transactions the order of the day, direct sourcing

of information has become much easier. It is now

imperative for brands to engage in Database Mar-

MarkMantra Feb 2015

30

keting. This can happen in form of one to one com-

munication with consumers and can begin with

simple steps such as personalised messages on

special occasions.

Based on the information in the database, custom-

ers can be segregated into values and those with a

higher and longer time value to the company need

to be targeted particularly. With the advent of Big

Data technologies which allows further refinement

of data, companies nowadays have access to much

more analysis and can thus focus their efforts in a

much better way.

Product & service customisation

The other component in maintaining a closer rela-

tionship with a customer deals with providing

choices and responding to individual needs. With

service offerings such as club memberships and

now even Mobile Postpaid plans (Idea! Plan and

Airtel myPlan) being customised to suit a particular

customer/group of customers, the time is not far

away when products will also be tailored according

to a consumer. The age of mass customisation is

being driven by technology. According to a brief

circulated by the consultancy Bain & Company ,

use of big data by retailers to offer a personalised

set of products to customers is the driving force

behind their success. Online configuration technol-

ogies, 3-d modelling and printing has made profita-

ble mass customisation a reality. According to

McKinsey, mass customization has the potential to

help companies increase revenue, gain competi-

tive advantage and build loyalty. Nike and Con-

verse offer such customisations, albeit at a higher

cost. The mantle for bringing such customisations

into mainstream has been taken up by start-ups

which try to stay lean and keep costs down. Indo-

chino, a Boston based company selling

31

made to order menswear, charges $29 to send a

tailor’s kit containing 16 fabric swatches, measur-

ing tapes and a $29 credit toward a future order.

By avoiding a brick and mortar presence, Indochi-

no is able to keep its prices down. Surely, the larg-

er brands with better capital and access to tech-

nology have a role to play in the coming days.

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs and schemes are especially de-

signed to make the customer stick to a product.

However, these programs need to be made with

not only good intentions but also clear objectives.

The modern day loyalty programs pioneered by

companies like American Airlines and Marriott

have gone beyond just attracting and holding cus-

tomers. The legendary Advantage of American Air-

lines has been a guide for nearly all service pro-

grams.

Loyalty programs not only hold customers but also

give treasure trove of information about the most

important consumers. Retailers have used this to

their advantage and currently enjoy the highest

loyalty as compared to airlines, hotels and credit

card providers among others.

Loyalty Programs need to be designed to maximise

customer value, not maximise earnings. A lot of

marketer confuse such programs with rewards.

Relevance becomes more important than magni-

tude. The success of such a program can be judged

on the basis of recommendations given by a

loyal customer, a metric commonly known

as ‘Net Promoter Score’. A higher score not

only results in more retention of customers,

it also leads to attracting more customers and con-

sequently a better growth rate. Between 2000 and

2003, Southwest Airlines had a recommendation

rating of 67 per cent and was growing at 5 per cent

per year at a time when the industry was in de-

cline.

The natural progression from Loyalty programs is

building a brand community. At this stage the cus-

tomer undergoes transition from being an

‘Advocate’ to being an ‘Evangelist’. When custom-

ers start engaging with each other based on their

love of a brand, it not only takes the brand to an-

other level but also ensures the long term sustain-

ability of the brand. It now becomes the responsi-

bility of the brand to maintain and elevate its

standards to keep the community together. Ac-

cording to a 2009 HBR article, brands must treat

communities as a business strategy rather than a

marketing strategy.

The success of Harley Davidson post its buyback in

1985 illustrates the business strategy of communi-

ties. The company refurbished its entire business

MarkMantra Feb 2015

32

model, organisational culture and governance to

drive its community.

Brand communities do not necessarily be driven by

love and common interests. Propagation of com-

munity takes place much further with embracing

conflicts. A glimpse at some of the famous brand

wars gives us the idea - Apple vs Microsoft, Xbox vs

Nintendo vs Playstation, iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy

etc. Such conflicts bring out the evangelists and

brand promotion takes place on a hitherto differ-

ent scale.

In conclusion

Technology has life cycles and so do products. But

a brand can live forever. To avoid falling into the

trap of lifecycles and ultimately a slow death,

brands must devise ways to continuously engage

the customer. Creating and sustaining brand loyal-

ty is the best way to maintain consciousness. It can

occur by creating a business strategy which re-

wards loyalty and grows business through loyalty.

It is important that consumers remember brands

fondly. Customer Relationship Management is

about winning and keeping customers which is a

never ending commitment.

Anmol Garg

MBA(IB) 2014-16

Indian Institute

Of Foreign Trade

Latest Events at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

National Agenda of

Entrepreneurship (NAE-2014)

Anurag Batra, Chairman, GBN

Media, Business World addressing

the audience

33

A couple of days back I walked into a

stationary store to buy myself a

notebook. As I scanned the sections

to pick the most suitable book

something caught my attention. I saw a notebook

with an advertisement printed on it that said a

rupee out of the total price of that book would

be donated for the

cause of a child’s

education. A happy

child’s face was

pleading with me to

pick this over any

other book available

in that store. At

heart most of us are

considerate and car-

ing. We all wish to

make a difference to

someone else’s life in any possible way. That

child’s smiling face had already made the deci-

sion for me. I finally bought that notebook, not

realizing that I had just fallen victim to a phenom-

enon called CAUSE MARKETING.

Cause marketing is a type of marketing (activity)

involving a symbiotic relationship between a

profit(able) business and a non (not for) profit

business for mutual benefit. Although this could

be easily confused with CSR (Corporate social re-

sponsibility), in essence it is quite different. CSR

activities in general can be termed as a form of

donation which are tax deductable and are the

most fundamental form of charity. Cause mar-

keting is a little different. Let’s take the example

of Pampers. They ran a campaign wherein for

every pack of diapers that you bought you would

be contributing towards a vaccination program.

You could see

“I support the

1 pack = 1 vac-

cine program!”

printed on every

pack of diapers,

urging its custom-

ers to pick them

and contribute to-

wards the cause.

This was philan-

thropy with a twist.

This kind of marketing ensures sales as well as

charity, which proves to be a win-win situation for

both the profit and not for profit businesses work-

ing in collaboration with each other. A cynical mind

could always question this sort of an arrangement.

It seems too good to be true. Does this kind of

marketing actually boost sales?

The answer lies in data and statistics. According

to a study done by Cone and Duke University’s

Fuqua School of Business, cause-related mar-

MarkMantra Feb 2015

34

keting can increase sales as much as 74% in cer-

tain consumer-good categories. It also states that

consumers spend twice as long looking at cause-

related ads than generic corporate advertise-

ments. This clearly shows that consumers are

paying more attention to cause messages and are

more likely to purchase such items. This is pre-

cisely the reason why a lot of brands are shifting

their focus to cause marketing.

Background

Appearing at about the same time as micro-

finance, the first cause-marketing campaign oc-

curred in 1976 through a partnership between

Marriott Corporation and the March of the Dimes,

a not for profit organisation that works to prevent

birth defects in babies. March of the Dimes' goal

was to increase fundraising for its chapters in the

Western U.S and Marriott's goal was to generate a

cost-effective public relations campaign and media

coverage for the opening of their family entertain-

ment complex, Marriott's Great America in Santa

Clara, Calif. The campaign was a hit. Since then,

cause-marketing expenditures by companies have

exploded from almost zero to over $1.57 billion.

Some of the most famous cause-marketing cam-

paigns are:

American Express Statue of Liberty Restora-

tion (1983): During a three-month period, Ameri-

can Express offered to contribute 1 cent for each

card transaction and $1 for each new card issued

and backed the offer with a substantial media

campaign. The effort raised $1.7 million to restore

the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Lee National Denim Day (1996 to the present):

A traditionally male oriented brand, Lee made

huge inroads with women by embracing the

breast cancer cause in a unique way: It empow-

ered consumers to organize workplace drives at

which employees contributed $5 for the right to

wear jeans to work on the first Friday of October.

Over 13 years, the program has raised nearly $75

million for breast cancer research and advocacy .

Live Strong Bracelet (2004 to present): When the

Nike and Lance Armstrong Foundation came up

with this idea to raise funds and awareness for the

super cyclist’s cancer charity, no one dreamed it

would become a worldwide fashion item eventual-

ly to be worn by presidential candidates, movie

stars, kids and grandmothers. To date, more than

70 million of the glorified yellow rubber bands

have been sold for a dollar each.

Indian Context

Several global consumer research studies indi-

cate that the Indian consumers are among the

most environmentally and socially conscious in

the world. In the National Geographic Globescan

Greendex survey, which measured the environ-

mental sustainability of consumption across 17

countries, Indian consumers obtained the highest

Greendex score. This survey also reveals that In-

dian consumers feel the highest levels of person-

al guilt about the environment with 45% of them

admitting to feeling bad about their impact com-

MarkMantra Feb 2015

35

pared with a global average of 28%.The Edel-

man Good Purpose study conducted across 16

countries suggests that 71% of Indian consumers

(compared with a global average of 43%), are

willing to pay a premium to purchase products

which support causes. The Nielsen Global Socially

Conscious consumer report also indicates that

Indian consumers score the highest on the will-

ingness to spend more on products from socially

responsible companies. Taking this into consider-

ation a lot of brands are trying to exploiting the

enormous market potential. ‘Shiksha’, a program

by Procter & Gamble, in association with Child

Rights and You (CRY) and Sony Entertainment

Television, which aims to support the education

of children in India is one of the best examples.

Tata Tea, one of India’s largest tea brands, start-

ed ‘Jaago Re’. It transformed tea from a means of

physical rejuvenation to a widespread social

awakening. The Jaago Re One Billion Votes cam-

paign, which was timed well with the General

Elections, spread the message of the need to

vote among citizens. It is estimated that over 6.5

lakh Indians used the platform to register as vot-

ers. Aircel launched the ‘Save Our Tigers’, a cam-

paign, which aimed at encouraging citizens to

blog about the depleting tiger population, and

stay up-to-date with tiger facts. Interested peo-

ple can also donate money to NGOs working for

the cause, like WWF India.

According to the Cause Marketing Forum, cause

sponsorship is expected to reach $1.84 billion this

year, an increase of 3.4 percent over last year. And

according to a recent Cone Communications/Echo

Global CSR study, more than 9 in 10 consumers are

likely to switch brands to one associated with a

good cause, assuming comparable quality and pric-

ing. Those are compelling reasons for companies

to tie their marketing to feel-good charities. But

the numbers tell only one part of the story. The

study revealed that about 70 percent of consumers

are confused by the messages which the compa-

nies use to communicate about their corporate

social responsibility initiatives. Moreover there

have been some infamous cases of Cause Mar-

keting failures that companies considering such an

approach should examine as cautionary tales.

KFC’s “Buckets for the Cure” tie-in with the Susan

G. Komen Foundation, encouraged people to fight

breast cancer by buying pink buckets full of fried

chicken. If press coverage was one of the goals of

the campaign, KFC achieved it in spades, though

not in the way the company would have liked. The

brand was pilloried as hypocritical for using fried

chicken to raise money to fight cancer and accused

of “pinkwashing,” with one blogger calling it

“another sad example of commercialism draped in

pink ribbons.”

Conclusion

Looking at all the dimensions it gets hard to judge

if a brand should or should not get into Cause Mar-

keting. At the end of the day it is the marketer’s

call and how they plan to communicate about it,

but one must be clear about their wishes to

achieve them in a holistic way. Consumer brands

MarkMantra Feb 2015

36

can serve as catalysts and critical platforms for

broad public engagement and support for a cause

or organization, but we cannot always get blown

away by that. It is quite clear that you cannot solve

an issue by purchasing soaps or detergents but

awareness can definitely be created. The first

cause of any company must be its own: to succeed

by making the lives of its customers and employ-

ees better through the products or services it pro-

vides. If they wish to support a cause with their

brand it will be successful, as long as it makes stra-

tegic sense and is well-vetted. Brands do not nec-

essarily need to support a non-profit organisation

or cause to legitimize their profit-making venture.

By achieving as much success as they can by doing

what they do best, they’ll be better able to support

the causes they wish to.

Ekta Deshpande

MBA-2014-16

SIBM,Pune

Latest Events at IIFT

MarkMantra Feb 2015

International Business And Trade Symposium 2014 -Flagship

event IIFT was graced by the presence of esteemed speak-

ers .The Chief Guest Mr. Sandeep Choudhary, Head of Mar-

keting and Sales, South Asia, Panalpina World Transport

and Guest of Honour Mr. Dasho Karma Tsering Namgyal,

Consulate General, the Royal Bhutanese Consulate in an in-

tuitive discussion with Dr K RangaraFeb ,Centre head

IIFT Kolkata

37

E -commerce has seen unprece-

dented growth as the sheer vol-

ume of interest by consumers for

online

shopping has grown

exponentially over

the last few years in

India. Industry which

started out in the

South has extended

to the northern and

eastern corners of

India as well. Indian E-

commerce is a USD11 Billion market and is ex-

pected to reach USD70 Billion by 2020, growing

at a CAGR of 37% over 2013-15. E-tailing which is

only USD2 Billion in size today will grow to be-

come a USD45 Billion industry. It took 110 years

for the number of land-line consumers to reach 1

Billion, 14 years for 1 Billion cellular users and 8

years for 1Billion internet users. The next disrup-

tion is coming from smart phones.

Online users in India increased from 140

Million in FY12 to 213 Million in FY13.

India’s Internet population is set to become 342

Million by 2015, and 400 Million plus by 2016;

making it the second largest in the world.

Consumer behavior in In-

dia is changing with higher

expendable income,

changing lifestyle, shifting

demography, rapid urbani-

zation, expanding Internet

penetration, growing con-

sumer cognizance and un-

orthodox promotional

campaigns. Impulsive buying pattern has increased

over the last few years as the time gap between

aspiration and fulfilment has shrinked with increas-

ing number of credit options like credit card, per-

sonal loans, EMI etc. In the past decade, consum-

ers in India have become more aware of the sur-

roundings and buy products only after doing their

own research over the internet regarding the use-

fulness of the products. Also through Smartphone,

product reviews are discussed by consumers be-

fore making buying decisions. Even selection of a

movie is often decided based on the ‘social media

MarkMantra Feb 2015

38

buzz’ rather than critics ratings. Women play vital

roles in retail sector and with the increase in finan-

cially independent single women, buying decisions

are not restricted by their requirements but as per

their preferences and interest areas. In order to

pursue women buyers, companies are introducing

gender neutral products even in segments that

were conventionally seen as male-dominated such

as automobile and finance. Consumers are becom-

ing more logical in their approach rather than be-

ing emotional and are looking at high-value prod-

uct that is able to meet their projections. They are

demanding higher services in exchange of their

money.

Sustainability of business strategies adopted by

the market leader depends on the level of con-

sumer faith in online shopping. Reverse logistics

and delivery concerns are the top two roadblocks

in online shopping. Moreover a large division of

Indian consumers are not yet willing to trust and

transact online. That conviction is still lacking and

needs to be built up by the industry. Till this is

bridged, there will be a huge imbalance between

the number of internet users versus the number

of online purchasers. In the US, 85% of online us-

ers transact online versus 8-10 % in India. Innova-

tion will attract customers and Cash-on-Delivery

service gave access to a large Indian market that

wasn’t comfortable with disclosing banking de-

tails online and where plastic money penetration

was low. While this step has managed to build

some trust with consumers, it comes at a price to

the industry.

Consumers buying behavior is changing and with

the improvement in infrastructure and strategies,

E-Commerce can reach to the next level in India.

Industry needs to figure out a way to offer value

equivalent to the price which consumers are pay-

ing and build trust. Gaining customers is not suffi-

cient but re-engaging them is where profitability

exists. This challenge would require the govern-

ment, consumer consortium and retailers to work

at devising trust seals and other process by which

consumers can evaluate each retailer.

In the recent past online shopping events like “Big

Billion Day” have garnered more attention than

any other form of E-Commerce site promotion in

India. Although it got marred for all the undesira-

ble reasons such as stock-outs, website inefficien-

cies, payment failures, erroneous pricing etc. In

short brilliant online and offline marketing strate-

gies hustle in lot of potential customers to the

platform only to disappoint them with operational

incompetence. According to website’s statement,

Flipkart achieved 24-hour sales target of $100 mil-

lion in gross value in just 10 hours. This achieve-

ment shows that Indian consumers are swiftly ac-

commodating to online retail format and being

very responsive to such campaigns.

Attempt was made to attract new custom-

ers online and engender the existing cus-

MarkMantra Feb 2015

39

tomers to purchase more. This was a perfect traffic

generation strategy. All the signals before the

events launch were indicative of a grand victory

and well on its way to achieve desired sales and

customer acquisition goal. But, unfortunately Flip-

kart suffered a setback.

It now plans to re-

attempt another mega

promotion later and

hopes to execute it

flawlessly. However, in

the entire clutter there

are definite bright signs

for Indian online retail.

Many small and big

traders raise concern

about the impact that

these kind of promotion activities will have on

the traditional retail business. E-retailers like Flip-

kart, Snapdeal, and Amazon etc. have been in-

dicted of predatory pricing by traditional brick

and mortar sellers. But if we look into the

legal aspects of these complaints then

according to Competition Act 2002, if

someone is not a dominant player, then

they can sell below cost just to stay competitive

or improve their market position .However, in

case if one is a dominant

player then selling products

below cost leads to an abuse

of dominant position which

has dire consequences in-

cluding payment of penalty

of past 3 years average turn-

over. In Indian e-commerce

industry none of the players

enjoy dominant market share. In fact they are

engaging against each other to offer a platform

to two kinds of parties - sellers and customers.

There may not be a case of predatory pricing

against the online retail companies as E-

Commerce players operate through Marketplace

models which are merely platforms.

If we look into the sustainability of these pricing

strategies and the funding of the discounts, E-

Commerce companies had adopted these promo-

tional activities for a limited term, varying from a

“In the beginning, e-commerce was

really about getting commodity

products online as cheaply as possi-

ble. Now, we’re moving into the more

exciting phase of e-commerce, where

it’s about emotional products—the

things that people really cherish.”

- JASON GOLDBERG, Founder and

CEO Fab.com

MarkMantra Feb 2015

40

day to three days. Paradoxically in the brick and

mortar market, clearance sales and heavy dis-

counts on limited occasions is a part of the trade,

so it may not be ideal to argue that this is anti-

competitive. As different e-commerce businesses

have distinct operating models and these facts do

not generalize the verdict for the entire sector,

law inquiries should be very fact-specific. Howev-

er, there is a likelihood of

other anti-competitive mal-

practices that the Commis-

sion can look into. For exam-

ple, Motorola signed a deal

which states that it will re-

lease all its Android phones

exclusively on Flipkart and in

the other case in which a

laptop manufacturer said that it will only provide

warranty and customer support to customers

who will buy a product from a specific e-

commerce site.

Brick and mortar stores can’t afford to ignore e-

commerce. A more prudent approach would be

to participate in the model. For example, Tata’s

retail store Croma sells not only through its own

store but also through other portals. E-tailing in-

creases the reach for brick-and-mortar stores

without heavy investment in purchasing distribu-

tion outlets. For participation, a brick-and-mortar

store owner can single out e-commerce stores

with maximum market penetration and trade

there. They can also trade on multiple e-

commerce websites. They should promote their

products online by explaining product features in

a better way, showing more images, providing

faster delivery and showcasing better customer

services for the product.

But in the long run, discounting strategies will

affect sustainability of Indian E-Commerce. Contri-

bution of offline channels to retail in India is very

high and big consumer brands will find it difficult

to deal with these channels at some point of time

if heavy discounting continues. Heavy discounts

will make the consum-

ers price sensitive and

not product value sensi-

tive which can have se-

vere dreadful impact.

Whether people accept

it or not, the effect of

this promotion strategy

marked a pivot point in

the marketing milestone of Indian E-Commerce. In

Indian markets we understand the relevance of

discounts on sale and it is the usual affair on fes-

tive sales. Flipkart took a fearless and smart move

to be the first among E-tailers. Amazon, Flipkart,

Snapdeal, eBay and other big E-commerce players

should and would continue to plan these types of

strategies to give big swings to the Indian E-

Commerce growth trajectory.

Manish Kumar Rajak

MBA 2014-16

FMS-Delhi

41

T he luxury market in India is a

tantalizing and largely unex-

plored opportunity for tradi-

tional western brands; and ac-

cording to ASSOCHAM, in 2013 India was an

$8.5 billion global luxury market and is esti-

mated to cross $16billion by 2016 with a

growth rate of 86 percent in constant value

terms between 2013 and 2016.

With the increasing number of high net

worth individuals and burgeoning upper

middle class segment called “HENRY” ( High

earning not rich yet

individuals) India has

become the most de-

sirable and lucrative

market for most luxu-

ry goods manufactur-

ers and investors. Still

many brands take time to develop and build

a market for itself; for example John Lobb

has partnered with Regalia Luxury group to

offer the “By Request” service in India which

allow the brand to open its store in India,

but if the customer is interested to buy John

Lobb footwear he/she can place an order

with a Regalia representative who in turn

will get in touch with the client to get the

order executed directly from Paris.

This brings us to one of the most important

questions as to why most of the internation-

al luxury brands see India as the biggest op-

portunity and yet take baby steps while in-

vesting in India. Reasons include the follow-

ing:

Lack of infrastructure: Luxury shop-

ping is about experiential shopping; general-

ly most of the luxury

brands prefer to have

their stores in high end

shopping streets like

The 5th Avenue in New

York City or Avenue

Montaigne in Paris or

Via Montenapoleone in Milan. The ambience

and the vibes that such locations provide are

totally nonexistent in India. Marco Bizarre,

president and CEO at Bottega Veneta ex-

pressed his sadness about the unavailability

of quality space in India to open stores. In

MarkMantra Feb 2015

42

India, most of the luxury brands are housed

in either of the 2 Luxury malls (UB city and

DFL Emporio) or five-star hotels. This quality

space comes with a premium price but it

does not cater to creating an exclusive am-

bience and experiential shopping which is

the Holy Grail for luxury.

High Import duties: Tax on imported

luxury goods ranges 20 to as high as 150 per

cent depending on the product. As per

Stefano Canali “More than three-fourths of

the expenditure on luxury by Indians is out-

side the country” as the same product cost

20 to 25% lesser in Europe when compared

to India. Though India has liberalized FDI

policy, few clauses like 30% of local sourcing

act as the detriment to luxury brands. One

of the most important qualifying parame-

ters for the brand to feature as a luxury

brand is its indigenous manufacturing in the

country of its origin. With 30% local sourc-

ing, this becomes a tough task and affects

the product’s brand positioning and quality

standards.

Counterfeit Products: Another ma-

jor hurdle for luxury industry is the counter-

feit products which are pegged at close to

Rs 2500 crores in India. Market for fake lux-

ury is growing at twice the times of genuine

luxury market which tarnishes the prestige

of the brand along with their tradition, iden-

tity and image. LVMH spends around 5% of

its revenue and has “60 people at various

levels of responsibility working full time on

anti-counterfeiting.”

Talent Crunch: With varied customers

shopping luxury, a key challenge is talent!

Geneva-based luxury industry, estimates

that India would need about 1.76 million

people in luxury market by 2022. A luxury

professional can’t be too ordinary to not

make an aristocratic customer slink away

and at the same time cannot be so sophisti-

cated to scare away the new customer!

Driving this balance in line with the brand’s

cultural customer experience is the biggest

operational challenge for any brand.

Every Luxury professional seems despond-

ent when the country is not meeting its eco-

nomic potential. Yet getting traction in the

Indian sub-continent has been a challenge

for every Western luxury brand that has

tried to crack this complex new market. But

for brands with staying power in India and

which better understand and connect with

the local Indian consumer by fine tuning

their specific positioning and shifting focus

from fighting against the constraints to in-

novating within their confines will eventual-

ly reap long term dividends.

Pragati Chauhan

&

Prajana Alva

PGDM 2013-15

TAPMI

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