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8/9/2019 Master P's - February
1/26
THE MARKETING MAGAZINE OF IIFT KOLKATA
FEBRUARY 2008VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
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Editors NoteMaster Ps finally has a structure and is a reality.
When we brought the idea of reviving Brand Wagon, start-
ing off with its most important feature the Master Ps there
were not many takers. Everybody in IIFT was skeptical on
whether it was just another spark to work hard, which
would extinguish in the days to follow or would actually
fructify. The participation was meager and each one had to
be personally convinced that what we are talking is seri-
ous. And when the magazine is finally out we could see
the brilliant effort that goes in painting a masterpiece! All
the sweat paid off and we are out with the fresh looking
Volume 2 of Master Ps before our set deadline. So this val-
entine season, we have fresh marketing thoughts andnovel ideas to ponder on.
Advertising to Millions of people around the world without spending a rupee Selling of
the same products through Co-operation rather than competition What marketing could be
several years down the lane Quizzed?? You know the answers to these questions, think a
little harder and you will find the connect, its hidden somewhere in your sub conscious mem-
ory. If you do not want to trouble yourself further, turn the pages and read how the basic
activities of the day like blogging and shopping can make your business bloat.
Guru of the month in this edition focuses on Theodore Levitt and his theory of
Marketing Myopia which has been practiced and preached by almost all successful
organizations in the present time. We have picked two of them and pitted them against each
other in our Big Fight.
There are many more articles which can stretch your level of imagination to a new
high, like the Axe effect write-up by Manoj Bharathi which showcases the amazing adver-
tisement practices of HUL, the power of Facebook and social networking and Indias gift to the
world : Tata Nano.
We sometimes doubt the marketing pillars set by Kotler but we believe that authentic
marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of
identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction
to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders.
Special thanks to Praveen for supporting us in organizing and rearranging the
templates and helping us with the Magazines Layout.
And eventually we are somewhat convinced what Milan Kundera had once said:
Business has only two functions: Marketing and Innovation
Editor
Master Ps
CREDITS
EDITORS:
AKAASH JAIN
SASWAT KUMAR SAHU
CLUB CO-ORDINATORS :
DEVESH BIJALWAN
GAURAV SHARMA
This issue is meant solely for internal circulation and not for any commercial purpose
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Unleashing the Marketing Atom Bomb
By: Aashish Jha Page 4
Tata Nano : An Insight
By: Saswat Kumar Sahu & Iti Mehrotra Page 6
Marketing Guru of the Month
Theodore LevittMarketing Myopia
By: Mohit Malik Page 9
Lights Camera Blogs!! A little more conversation
By: Trisha Vasudeva Page 12
Big Fight
Hindustan Unilever Vs P&G
By: Akaash Jain & Souvik Gupta Page 14
Product based to Thought based :Transformation
By: Praveen Dhawan Page 19
The Axe EfektBy: Manoj Bharti Page 21
Marketing in the Future : A perspective
By: Saswat Kumar Sahu Page 23
Book MarkBy: Abhinandan Kumar Page 25
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he middle of the twentieth centurywas a producers market withindustrial giants like Ford, IBM, GE,
P&G, etc. pushing whatever they
produced, into the market and forcing theconsumers to buy through their marketingefforts. The late twentieth century turnedout to be a consumers market owing to
the ever increasing competition fuelledby globalization to a large extent, wherein,companies tried to adapt themselvesaccording to the requirements of thesensitive customer, and customizationbecame the buzzword of marketingstrategy. The very first decade of thetwenty first century is now witnessing theconsumers market transform into anetworkers market.
There are networks everywhere -Distributors network, suppliers network,service providers network, client networkand last but not the least, consumernetwork. Everything, right from itsinception to its delivery, passes throughone of the above networks; in short,everything sells through a network.
As can be seen from the aboverepresentation, the three elements of the
value chain, collectively known as theMiddlemen, take up a sizeable share of thetotal price that amounts to around 60%.
With the increasing competition aswell as the retail boom takingplace, these different elementshave merged to give rise tohypermarkets where there is asingle middle-level entity betweenthe manufacturer and consumer.
This form of marketing is a part ofa larger domain, called DirectMarketing, a concept whichinvolves a minimum number ofentities between the manufacturer
and the customer
In this context where it is clear thatonly the big fish will win the race, thequestion of survival is being raised forthe common retailers and shop-ownersleave aside the scope of growth. In thisera, when the customer power is at itspeak, and competition has assumed akillers role, the only way to survive is tocollaborate, to complete each other instead
of trying to compete. The answer onceagain lies in building a Network.Routing the marketing efforts through a
network is what is called NetworkMarketing or Direct Selling.
The most cost effective way to deliverhigh quality products to the market is todistribute them through word-of-mouthadvertising one person tells anotherperson about a great product experience.The same way you share a story with yourneighbour about a great movie orrestaurant. Word-of-mouth marketing ishow companies that are part of the DirectSelling Industry operate.
Network Marketing is the product ofProsumer Revolution that has its roots inEurope and dates back to the early 90s.
Prosumer = Producer + Consumer
When the consumer takes oneself upthe value chain and directly becomesresponsible for the production and
distribution of what he himself consumes,he becomes a Prosumer. For example,when a consumer of daily use FMCG goodsenters into a partnership with the producer
Ms =Middlemen M ake Most
oney
It is not about competition but growth
which makes Network Marketing such a
hit amongst people
Network Marketing-
Unleashing the Marketing
Atom Bomb
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Here are some important facts aboutthe Direct Selling Industry:
1. It is a $100 billion global industry.
2. It has had over 19 consecutive years ofgrowth.
3. It has over 50 million distributorsworldwide.
4. Its sales growth has outpaced growth inretail sales for the past 10 years.
5. Seventy-five percent of the U.S.population has purchased goods or servicesthrough direct sales (more than the totalnumber of TV and internet purchases).
This industry is doing a lot more than justgrowing, the industry is thriving. It is onthe verge of explosion. There are about 20public companies in the Direct SellingIndustry. And, if you look at the results ofthese companies, you will see that most ofthem are reporting record sales andrevenues. And it's not confined to onespecific part of the world Asia, NorthAmerica and Europe are all growing.
"Direct selling is the perfect intellectual
distribution business for today's economy.A home-based business doesn't require astorefront, warehouse, employees or mas-sive back office support operations. It only
requires one person-you."
-- PAUL ZANE PILZER, AUTHOR "THENEXT MILLIONAIRES"
on a commission margin basis, and he
becomes the distributor of those products,
he starts prosuming.
Now, if this new distributor recruitsfellow customers in the same system againon a profit-sharing/commission/incentivesbasis, he starts doing what is calledmulti-level marketing, popularly known asnetwork marketing.
Generally, a small amount of fee(license, franchise, membership) is chargedfrom an individual who wants to become anindependent distributor and that entitleshim to carry out the operationswithin the flexibility of space and time.The levels of commission are determinedby the volume of business generated bythe distributor and the financial incen-tives model is more or less the same asthat of maximum fortune 500 compa-nies.
Network marketing companies havebeen in existence for over 40 years. Someof the largest corporations in the world arenetwork marketing companies, selling awide variety of products and services suchas legal services, insurance, cosmetics andnutritional products. Even telecommunica-tions giants US Print, MCI, and AT&T arebringing on millions of new customersthrough network marketing companies. It'sa dynamic and growing industry that many
traditional businesses are looking at andare pursuing as an alternative distributionchannel.
Aashish Jha
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TATA NANO : AN INSIGHT
The Nano has been unveiled by Ratan Tata at the Auto Expo. People consider this car to be
revolutionary, lets see what is so special about this car
rand India' in the global sphere is an
evaluation inevitable after the launch
of Tata's world's cheapest car 'Nano'.
Ratan Tata kept his promise made in 2003
and unveiled his engineering feat 'Nano'
on 10th January 2007, at the 9th Auto
Expo 2008 in New Delhi, placing India high
on the map of manufacturing
competitiveness, a tag that India hasn't
been really known for.
The world knew that brain wizards
have always been India's key skill; they
have been rightly utilized world over for
decades. Likes of Ferrari and Nissan have
used the intelligence of Tata's INCAT team,
to enhance engineering design of their
world famous machine. But may be Nano
will change this belief that Indian
innovation is incapable of a global product,
made entirely on home ground. Tata did
apply technologies from Germany and
other nations, but every single step of
innovating this 'cheap but the best' product
was carried out in India. It proves that if
given the conducive environment, Indian
manufacturing can be equally competitive
to any other in the world. India has arrivedbut is yet to place its foot firmly to survive
other competing nations. Global brand is
not just economy, but is complemented by
social, political and cultural characteristics
of a nation. To position Nano as a global
brand is the challenge that Tatas would
face when they venture into virgin lands
and to the land of stars and stripes.
When the auto-giants were busy in
providing customers with added features
and luxury, an Indian automaker was
thinking of expanding the customer base.
"Tata reinvents the wheel," ran a banner
headline on the front page of The Times of
India daily. Tata has given a new definition
of car to the world to ponder on and of
course a piece of thought to the new
Interpreters too. But is price the only
factor because of which Nano has received
all the praise? Praise for Worlds Cheapest
Car has been as much for its style and
engineering as for 1-Lakh price tag
"I think it's a moment of history
and I'm delighted an Indiancompany is leading the way." -
Anand Mahindra, M.D., M&M Ltd on
unveiling of Nano
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signaling India's intent to be more than
just a cut-price manufacturer. A lot of
thought process is involved in bringing
Peoples car into existence and finally
taking it for a walk on roads. Lets unveil it
by exploring the Cs which Tata has been
playing with.
Cost: The 1-lakh figure depends
entirely on volumes sold. The initial
production target for the year is 250,000
units which may later rise to 350,000. The
ex-showroom price of Tata Nano is Rs. 1
Lakh (2500 dollars) but the on-road price
of Nano in Delhi would be around Rs. 1.25
Lakh after adding VAT, road tax and other
local taxes. The price of two deluxe models
that will include air-conditioning and other
features will be announced later by the
company.
Nearest Domestic Rival of Nano is
Maruti 800, part of Japanese-owned Suzuki
Maruti stable whose base model sells for
about 4,800 dollars -- nearly double the
price of the Nano and the Nearest
International Rival is China's Chery QQ
which retails for 3600 dollars.
Channel:Tata will focus on selling
the car in India for the next two to threeyears, before eyeing Latin American and
Southeast Asian markets. India's car
market is a huge draw because car
penetration is just seven per 1,000 people,
compared to 550 per 1,000 in such
countries as Germany or 476 in France,
according to the Society of Indian
Automobiles.
People's Car Nano will be made on
the whole new line of experiment.According to the current production model
the Car companies supply the completely
built car units to their dealerships but Tata
Motors is in mood of a slight change of
plan. Tata Motors will supply the CKD
(Completely knocked down) kits to their
regional hub where they plan to set up an
assembly line. The car will be assembled
and delivered to the dealers from these
regional hubs which will help in avoiding
transportation cost which is around 5% for
a complete car. If this experiment remains
successful then this will set new benchmark
for Car companies in making their
production policies.
In the first phase, till the company
ramps up production, only a few dealers
(out of a total of 170 dealerships) in every
city\region may be short listed. New
dealers would be roped in the second
phase to meet excess demand. Thecompany also planning to do away with the
booking route and the car will be available
off-the-shelf.
Communication: Nano is presently
enjoying the attention of the entire world
because of its much talked about price. The
worlds cheapest car has forced the
automakers to catch up. At the Auto Expo
in Delhi, which gave Nano a grand opening,
the banner put by the company said
Peoples Car and not Peoples Car
emphasizing that it is a car meant not just
for some people but for a varied group of
people.
Most of the publicity which Nano is
getting is due to word-of mouth. And it is
not only the common man but all the big
shots of India Inc who are discussing this
wonder. Its being compared with i-POD
and Nirma and the huge impact these
products caused in their industry.
Car Model Ex-showroom Price in Rs.4 Hyundai Santro 2.70 Lakh
1 Tata Nano 1 Lakh 5 Maruti Zen Estilo 3.20 Lakh
2 Maruti 800 1.94 Lakh 6 Chevrolet Spark 3.25 Lakh
3 Maruti Alto 2.30 Lakh 7 Chevrolet U-VA 4.00 Lakh
http://www.surfindia.com/automobile/hyundai-santro-xing.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-zen-estilo.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-800.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-spark.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-alto.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-aveo-uva.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-aveo-uva.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-alto.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-spark.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-800.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-zen-estilo.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/hyundai-santro-xing.html8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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The company officials in all public
statements have been careful enough to
stress on the motive of such a making, the
need to be our entertainment box.
Safe and comfortable on road vehicle are
the primary concern for Tatas is to assurethe consumers that they have not
compromised on the quality front and Nano
is nothing less than what their neighbors
have.
Tata Nano
Manufacturer Tata Motors
Also called The People's Car
Production 2008present
Predecessor none
Class City car
Body style(s) 4-door Kei
Layout RR layout
Engine(s)
2 cylinder petrol Bosch multi
-point fuel injection (single
injector)all aluminium
623 cc (38 cu in)
Transmission(s)4 speed synchromesh with
overdrive in 4th
Wheelbase 2,230 mm (87.8 in)
Length 3,100 mm (10.2 ft)[1]
Width 1,500 mm (4.9 ft)[1]
Height 1,600 mm (5.2 ft)[1]
Curb weight580 kg (1,300 lb)-600 kg
(1,300 lb)[2]
Fuel capacity 15 L (4 US gal/3 imp gal)
[2]
Designer I.DE.A Institute
The car already has its own website with
promotional campaigns like design your
car, suggest a celebrity, write a slogan.
Commodity: Initially it was
conceived as a low-end 'rural car,' probably
without doors or windows and with plasticcurtains that rolled down. Something close
to an auto-rickshaw, with an extra wheel.
But with the progress in the development
cycle, the company realized that there was
a scope of delivering the so-called-
Impossible and gravitated towards a car
like everyone expects a car to be.
The snub-nosed car keeps in the tradition
of the Fiat 500, Nissan Micra and the
Smart. Nano designed with a family inmind, has a roomy passenger compartment
with generous leg space and head
room. When Tata made its vow to build a
$2,500 car, many Western auto executives
ridiculed the project, dubbing it a four
wheel bicycle. They arent laughing
anymore. Tatas model is a real car with
four doors, a 33-horsepower engine, and a
top speed of around 80 mph. The
automaker claims it will even pass a crash
test. And while the car probably wont win
any beauty contests, its no ugly duckling
either, according to the handful of industry
insiders who have been given a glimpse.
The key is Indias low-cost engineers and
their prodigious ability to trim needless
spending to the bone, a skill developed by
years of selling to the bottom of the
pyramid. After all Small is beautiful and
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher was a
benevolent visionary.
Source : www.wikipedia.com
Saswat Kumar Sahu Iti Mehrotra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automakerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automakerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_carhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RR_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_%28engine%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_centimetrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchromeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.DE.A_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.DE.A_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchromeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_centimetrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_%28engine%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RR_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_carhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaker8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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Marketing Guru of The Month
Theodore Levitt
MARKETING MYOPIA
yopia or near short-
sightedness is a refractive
defect of the eye which
occurs when light entering the eye
focuses in front of the retina instead of
directly on it.
Big deal!! Confused?? What does myopia
have to do with marketing? Well, the two
did not have any relation until 1960, when
Theodore Levitt came out with an article
which was published in the Harvard
Business Review (HBR), 38 (July-August
1960) titled Marketing Myopia which
highlighted the fact that most companies
around that time had a wrong notion of
marketing and how some of them ended
up paying a huge price for defining their
business too narrowly i.e. they suffered
from Marketing Myopia. The question
which now arises is that exactly what was
so special about that article? The answer
is that it had a huge impact on companies
and its popularity can be ascertained from
the fact that HBR has sold more than
265,000 reprints of the same.
Businesses, Levitt argued, declinenot because of saturated markets but
because of the wrong policies and
objectives as set by the top management.
He gave a classic example of railroads in
America which declined because they
assumed themselves to be in the railroad
business in a narrow sense and not in a
broad sense of transportation business.
Even, Hollywood at one point of time,
suffered from this myopia as many film
companies tried to reject TV rather than
seeing it as an opportunity. The problem
again was the narrow definition of being
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in film business rather than entertainment
business. He also gave positive examples
of companies like DuPont who succeeded
because of their intense focus on the
customer and his needs. His words are an
authoritative and insightful statement
about the purpose of an enterprise. They
go far beyond the hackneyed belief that
business exist only to make money.
He listed examples of a few industries
which were initially labeled as growth
industries and looked very promising at
one point of time but which eventually lost
out to their competitors. These include the
dry cleaningindustry (losing to synthetic
fibers and chemical additives), the grocery
stores(the supermarkets getting the better
of them).
Levitt classified four conditions or
beliefs or rather misbelieves which led to
the companies getting affected by the
disease-Marketing Myopia.
More population more growth
Population grows in all countries, in
some like India; it grows at a high pace
while in some, it grows slowly. Producers
are bound to feel that an expanding
population ensures an expanding market
for their products too. With this wrong
belief comes the complacency of not giving
due attention to marketing. In this context,
Levitt gave the example of the petroleum
industry, the industry was asking for
trouble by focusing on improving the
efficiency of making its product and not
really on the real need of improving thegeneric product or its marketing.
We, and only we are unique
Levitt challenged the petroleum
industrys assumption that there was no
challenge to its major product i.e gasoline.
The initial promise shown by gasoline
as the potential of lighting the kerosene
lamps around the world was dealt a major
blow by Edison as he invented a source oflight which was totally non-dependent on
crude.
The point Levitt was trying to make
was that a product can become obsolete
pretty quickly and companies and
industries need to keep this in mind. In
Levitts words, If a company's own
research does not make it (the product)
obsolete, another's will.
Make it cheap, cheaper, cheapest
What is often the case with large
companies, production gains in focus
compared to marketing and to make the
matters worse, the companies make very
little distinction between marketing and
selling. Levitt said that a companys
product should emerge as a consequence
of the marketing effort and not the other
way round. Interestingly, in this regard, hegave the example of Henry Ford who he
said was more of a marketing genius than
a product genius. Ford had himself said
that he did not consider any costs as fixed.
In Fords words, We first reduce the price
to the point where we believe more sales
will result and then go ahead and try to
make the prices. The point is that
companies should not get carried away by
the potential profits which are promised by
achieving low unit production costs and
forget about marketing.
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Wrong Mathematics : Research +
Development Consumer Needs
Although R&D is a factor which
deserves to be given attention but Levitt
argued, as was in case of the electronicsindustry, that R&D was being paid too
much attention. He pointed out the
problem with the electronics industry at
that time as the fact that it was riding only
on a wave of R&D without the surfboat of
good marketing. When products are
technically challenging and complex,
marketing gets downgraded to the label of
something else that needs to be done but
only after the entire production process iscomplete.
A reason for this could be the fact that
various marketing researches attempt to
study consumers consumers which are
generally unpredictable, finicky and
sometimes, even stubborn. While in
comparison, technical researches deal with
more controlled variables which can be
measured a bit easily. All this eventually
leads to consumer needs getting astepchild treatment at the hands of science
and technology.
So, a firm, a company, an industry;
whatever it is that one is involved in, one
can find that these misbelieves and wrong
notions still exist in one way or the other.
This disease of Marketing Myopia is as
common today as it was in the time whenLevitt wrote his famous article. So,
companies should learn from the examples
pointed out by Levitt and realize the
importance of marketing. As clichd as it
may sound but prevention is certainly
better than cure.
Mohit Malik
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Lights, Camera, BLOGS!!! -
A little 'more' conversationanbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone
and Conversational Marketing.
How do you relate the three of
them? Yes, I know the actor and actress
were going around but how does
"conversational marketing" fit in??? The
simple answer is that all three of them are
good things waiting to make it big!
So what exactly is conversational
marketing? "Conversational Marketing is
the engagement of social media by a
corporation to promote their product or
brand," says Wikipedia. Social media here
refers to any medium which can engage
the consumer in a dialogue, which is done
primarily through online forums or blogs.
Conversational marketing has been a very
successful phenomenon in the West where
companies like Microsoft, HP and Dell
practice it religiously and thrive on it.
The development of Microsofts blog
warmed up their icy public image and
allowed consumers and executives to
develop a relationship that would be
otherwise unheard of in any other media.
Closer home, flipkart.com, an online
bookstore on the lines of amazon.com has
been leveraging on it successfully.
The Microsoft story
channel9.msdn.comwas started byMicrosoft employees in April, 2004 as a
discussion forum to promote conversations
among Microsofts customers. Robert
Scoble is the sites star blogger, whose own
site http://scobleizer.com/ attracts over
3.5 million visitors annually.
And the keyword here is
"conversation". It is imperative that
companies wanting to use this tool,
participate in conversations, rather than
always talking and never listening. In fact,
blogs are increasingly becoming
indispensable in corporate communications.
Blogging creates an emotional connection
amongst the people from all around the
world who have never ever met each other,
in ways that press releases cannot
accomplish. Lack of blogging is an
indication of companies that do not wish
to have a dialogue with their customers,who do not want to connect to their
customers in the fastest and the closest
way possible. That indication is
perceived as condescending and is
being shunned more often by custom-
ers.
Remember -
Hapless immediate honesty beats refine
delayed comments
Conversation beats press releases
http://scobleizer.com/http://scobleizer.com/8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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Business, as we know it, is evolving.
From a paternalistic relationship, where
customers get what they are given by
companies that make decisions for them to
a cooperative relationship where customers
and companies collaborate on products and
services, the change has been drastic.Consequently, the unyielding and
transformative power of blogs cannot be
emphasized more.
The shift from aggressive in-your-
face marketing to lowered voices spoken in
credible tones has been possible because
companies (finally) realise that - People
listen better and longer when you just talk
to them and listen back. But whats in it for
the company? Reduced response time to
consumer demands and an easier
evaluation of consumer behaviour.
Another area where blogs score over
other conventional methods of marketing is
credibility. The previous monotonous
expert insight is suddenly softening
through this informal platform. And with
the consumer being able to talk to the back
- end person, he instinctively puts in good
faith in the organisation. This is the precise
reason why transparency and authentic
blogging are encouraged and corporate
bloggers are advised to steer away from
anything that may seem forced and of
course, dull. And of course, these
conversations gain credibility as more and
more people join in.
Blogging is also a very powerful tool
in niche markets. The mantra in niche
markets is influence the classes and not
the masses and because of the efficiencyof Technorati and PubSub searches, it is
easy for like-minded people to find niche
experts. Suppose you had a political blog
and you only had three measly
readers. They just happened to be the
heads of government in the United States,
China and India and each read you every
day, trusted your word and adjusted their
own courses accordingly. How many more
readers would you need to have influence?Using it for businesses depends on your
creative genius.
Blogging [is] the sex god of the
Information Age. While word of mouth has
always been the most credible way to
expand awareness and adoption, blogging
fits into all this as the most powerful word-
of-mouth delivery mechanism to date. As
Yossi Vardi told us, Blogging is word of
mouth on steroids.
- Excerpt from Naked Conversations by
Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
People want to be part of the process.
Period. And the smart marketer cannot
afford to overlook this fact! So heres to
Ranbir Kapoor's perfect abs, Deepika
Padukone's picture perfect dimple and the
virtual world being inundated by blogs!!
Because all said and done, they are the
superstars - in - the - making!!
Suggested Readings : 1) Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
2) The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke,Doc Searls,David Weinberger and Rick Levine
Trisha Vasudeva
http://www.rageboy.com/index2.htmlhttp://www.searls.com/http://www.evident.com/http://www.evident.com/http://www.searls.com/http://www.rageboy.com/index2.html8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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Hindustan Unilever Vs Procter and Gamble
Unilever may be losing the battle toProctor and Gamble around the world,
but when it comes to India it will take
P&G a valiant effort and a lot of luck to
move ahead in the market dominated
by Hindustan Unilever Limited (a
subsidiary of Unilever). The rivalry
between the two has been going on
worldwide for years and is heated up
in India too.
Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is Indiaslargest FMCG with an array of household
brands which include Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf
Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's,
Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up,
Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-
Annapurna, Kwality Wall's, etc. These
products are manufactured in over 40
factories with an association of 2,000
suppliers and associates and 6.3 million
retail outlets reaching the entire urban
population and around 250 million rural
customers.
Unilever has a presence in India since
1885 when it used to export Lifebouy, Vim
and Pears to India. It started operations
from the country in 1931 after which it has
continued to expand its portfolio of
products and at present have 35 brands
under its ambit.
Proctor and Gamble, an Americanfirm has had its presence in India since
1951 when it was selling its product Vicksthrough an industrial license to an Indian
firm Richardson Hindustan Limited (RHL).
In 1985, RHL became its Indian subsidiary
and since then have launched products like
Ariel, Whispers, Clearsil, Pantene, Head
and Shoulders, Rejoice, Tide and many
more into the country. Its worldwide
acquisition of Gillette has also helped it
gain significant footage into the country.
Venturing into the Indian Markets
Hindustan Unilever has been in the country
for as long as anyone can remember. Over
the years they have shown a phenomenal
growth. Their products have become an
integral part of the country and used by
everyone in every strata of the society.
They have presence in products ranging
from body care, fabric care, tea, coffee,
processed foods, toothpastes, etc out of
which it commands # 1 market share in 8
categories, and that too by a significant
margin and it holds # 2 market share in 3
of the categories. The strength of HUL lies
in its distribution network covering 6.3
million outlets, an unmatchable portfolio of
brands, innovation and R&D capabilities of
the parent company, the understanding of
the Indian urban and rural psychology and
its huge capital reserves by which it canchallenge any competition.
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Procter and Gamble has two divisions in
India, the hygiene and health care division
and the home products division. Its
hygiene and health care division has
products like whisper sanitary napkins,
Pampers diapers and Vicks. They have
been the biggest revenue earners for P&G
ever since the inception of the company in
India. In their home care division they
have fabric wash and the hair care
products which include Pantene, Tide, Ariel,Head and Shoulders which are renowned
world over. These products though have
found their journey a little tough because
of the prevailing market competition from
HUL. P&G benefits from its very strong
international presence and the research
abilities of its team but what the company
needs to work is ,on competing if not
overtaking HUL in its distribution network
and to establish a connect with the Indianconsumers.
Leena Chitnis, Luxs first brand Ambassador (1929)
Hair Care Segment
In the hair-care segment, two of
HULs biggest brands, Sunsilk and Clinic
Plus are pitted against P&Gs Pantene ProV,
Head & Shoulders and Rejoice.
The Rs1,500 crore shampoo marketgrew by just 6.6% during 2006-07, but
HUL and P&G do not seem to have signifi-
cantly benefited from this growth. HULs
share in the shampoo market registered a
marginal increase from 46.9% (in terms of
value) in the March quarter to 47.5% in the
June quarter, while rival P&Gs share
dipped from 25% to 24.8% in the same
period.
HULs best-selling brand Clinic Plus
continued to lead the segment with a
31.3% market share, the share of Rejoice,
a mass-market brand of P&G, slipped from
2.6% to 2.3%. P&Gs Pantene, however,
increased its share by 0.6 percentage
points to 12% in the June quarter over the
previous quarter. Dabur India Ltds Vatika
had a share of 4.9% while the share of
smaller brands such as Nyle and Ayur
stood at 1.6% and 3.2%, respectively.
Pantene and Head & Shoulders have
both targeted the anti-dandruff market
segment. However, they have always
catered to a niche segment of
upper-middle class and upper class users.
On the contrary, HULs Clinic Plus has been
an anti-dandruff shampoo for the masses.
With sachets being available at 50paise
and 1 Rupee, Clinic Plus has grabbed a
huge chunk of users, thereby catapulting tothe top. However, P&Gs shampoo for the
masses, Rejoice didnt work much in their
favour despite innovative advertising.
Some of the top-selling brands of shampoos
31.30%
12%
2%
4.90%
49.50%
Clinic Plus
Pantene
Rejoice
Vatika
Others
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Fabric Care
In the fabric wash sector also, this
competition is pretty much strong. HULs
low-priced brand, Wheel, dominates the
laundry segment, but with rising incomes,
consumers are now shifting to mid-levelbrands from rivals such as P&G and Nirma.
HULs market share in the detergents
category also fell by 2.5% to 35% in the
quarter of June07 compared to the year
-ago period. The primary reason for HUL
losing market share is that while the
company has a varied brand portfolio, its
rivals, big and small, have focused on
certain niches and are pushing growth
aggressively in these categories. While thetop-end players such as Procter & Gamble
are getting aggressive in premium
categories, mid-rung players such as Dabur
are muscling in with their value-for-money
strategy.
However, HUL is trying to strengthen
its fabric wash portfolio against arch rival
Procter & Gamble India (P&G).
First, it is migrating its flagship brand
Rin Supreme bar to the premium brand
Surf Excel bar to strengthen its presence in
the Rs 5,000 crore Indian fabric wash
category. Currently, HLLs Rin competes
with P&Gs Tide while Surf Excel directly
competes with P&G's Ariel in the premium
wash category. This move will build on the
brand recall that Surf Excel enjoys at the
pinnacle of the fabric wash category.
Next, HUL will also launch its
international fabric care brands Comfort
and Domestos to take on P&G's Ariel &
Tide. Hence, HUL is trying hard to evade
any competition from its major rival.
Skin Care
The skincare market in India is worth
Rs2,100 crore by sales revenues and HUL
has several brands in the segment
Lakme, Ponds, and Fair and Lovely. Ponds
have specifically remained a top segmentbrand and to compete with it, P&G has
launched its popular range of Olay into
the market. Whether it affects the market
share of HUL is yet to be seen, but it will
definitely add another direction to the
rivalry between HUL and P&G.
Price Wars
If they can do it then why not us?
Both the companies had been slashing
their prices to grab a higher market share
when it comes to the nearly saturated
domestic detergent market. There has
been a price war between the two majorsin the detergent segment for years, which
has now eased off, but will their rivalry end
in the near future?
The price war started in 2004 when
P&G cut the prices of detergents by over
50% to ramp their volumes. While the
price of Ariel had been slashed from Rs 70
to Rs 50 for a 500 gm pack, Tide was
available at Rs 23 for a 500 gm pack, down
from Rs 43 earlier. P&G had changed its
strategy of being value focused -- to
betting big on volumes.
HUL responded by slashing the prices
of their premium brands Surf and Rin.
Before that also, P&G had slashed prices of
sachets of Ariel and Tide from Rs 3 and Rs
2 to Rs 1.5 and Re 1, which boosted the
sales of these detergents by almost
100%.The market penetration in the
detergent market is 88% for the whole of
India which leaves very little scope for
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The price wars drastically improved the penetration of detergents in the interiors of the country. The war
carried on for three years severely denting the bottom line of both the majors
expansion, but with more players vying for
this share the war is set to heat up again.The detergent war is over but it
seems the rivalry will never end as it is
now shifted to the shampoos market. There
have been huge incentives like free bottle,
price cuts and massive advertising when it
comes to hair care products. P&G has its
presence in the market with premium
brands like Pantene and Head and
Shoulders. It has also introduced Rejoice
in the Indian market. It has beencompeting with HULs Sunsilk and Clinic
Plus which together hold 48% of the
market share. Head and Shoulders is P&Gs
anti dandruff range of shampoo which is in
direct competition with Clinic Plus and the
market share says it all. Even when it
comes to promoting the product, both are
again slugging out each other. Head and
Shoulders has just re-launched the product
with Kareena Kapoor as the brand
ambassador, so HUL approached Priyanka
Chopra to do the shots for Sunsilk.
Media Wars
Even when it comes to grabbing the piece
of media space, Hindustan Unilever Ltd
(HUL) is the No. 1 advertiser in terms of
advertisement spends. The company spent
a total of Rs 1,137 crore on TV and print
together, though it includes their entire
product portfolio. Procter & Gamble (P&G)has spent this year Rs 235 crore on its TV
and Print ads.
P&G acquisition of Gillette
P&G -Gillette deal which occurred in2005 is resulting in the former getting a
significant boost both to its scale of
operations and range of products in the
Indian market. In India, Procter & Gamble
and Gillette India Ltd continue to operate
as separate companies financially.
However, they have integrated their
businesses with common key personnel
including board of directors, managing
director, chief financial officer, etc. Thismay strengthen P&G's hand in the ongoing
war for market share with Unilever arms in
the Asian markets, particularly with
Hindustan Lever in India.
In India, P&G will continue to be a
midget, in turnover terms, when compared
to Hindustan Lever. The two P&G
subsidiaries in India (P&G Hygiene and P&G
Home Products) today generate a com-
bined turnover of about Rs 1,100 crore,just a tenth of Hindustan Lever's sales.
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Gillette Series, Oral B, Duracell or
Pampers, they give a definitive
contribution towards enabling a
child's right to education. How much
of this money they collect actually
reaches the intended user or
whether the companies really care or
they are just populist measures have
been a matter of debate for long, but
as far as they are benefitting and
earning respect from it, they will
continue to fight over these social
initiatives as well.
What does the future hold for the com-
pany and its consumers?
Unilever's Indian Subsidiary HUL, isthe largest FMCG company in this country
and has been around for long. P&G India is
also one of the largest FMCG companies
here and between HUL and P&G, these two
companies covered almost 85% of the
market. However things are starting to get
tougher for these two giants. Many regional
players have sprung up in the last decade
and they have managed to establish
themselves in their own states and have
eaten up a large chunk of HLL's and P&G's
customers. Will the Nirma story repeat
itself by some other small player, is
something we can just wait to see. Cost
cutting measures have been useful for the
consumers but have severely affected the
bottom line of both the FMCG majors, and
with competition in all sectors from other
majors like ITC, Godrej, Dabur and small
local players things look tough for both
these majors unless they use their
strengths and try to capture the new
markets rather than slugging it out for
what is already saturated.
Gillette India's operations are adding
another Rs 600 crore to that number. That
Gillette's portfolio of shaving razors, gels,grooming products and toothbrushes has
no overlap with that of P&G in India
(shampoos, detergents, feminine hygiene,
cold medication) is a positive sign. The
addition of Gillette's businesses will help
P&G expand its portfolio and acquire a
more extensive distribution network, a
must-have in its competition against FMCG
behemoth Hindustan Lever.
Corporate Social Responsibility
When it comes to showing their
responsibility towards the nation, both
have been proactive here as well.
Hindustan Unilever has been running
several social projects such as Project
Shakti which is for the upliftment of women
in rural India, Lifebouys Swasthya
Chetana for education about health and
hygiene, Greening Barrens for water
harvesting and conservation.
Proctor and Gamble, not wanting to
be left behind, came up with their own list
of social initiatives like Project Drishti for
vision restoration, Project Poshan for
fighting malnutrition and the latest being
Shiksha in partnership with Child Rights
and You (CRY), which is for education of
underprivileged children. Every time a
consumer buys a large pack of Tide, Ariel,
Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, Vicks
VapoRub, Whisper, Gillette Mach 3 Turbo,Souvik GuptaAkaash Jain
8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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search for better alternatives
to the bread and butter flashy
ads. Now what we see is a
complete transformation! As
we will discuss, now the
advertisement on website is
not just limited to visuals and
words, but they have taken
shape of promotional videos and
applications. Some of the websites that we
are talking about is YouTube.com and
Facebook.com.
Both these websites are unique in the
sense that the biggest of the IT firms of the
USA have shown interest in them and have
actually bought stakes for astronomically
high prices. Google bought YouTube in
November 2006 for $1.65 billion when it
had no source of profits. It was just a free
video downloader with
hundreds of infringe-
ment cases lying
pending. In the same
way, Facebook was
launched out of Harvard
College as a social
networking site. Now itcommands a price of
more than $15 billion if
anybody is interested
in buying it. And curious
thing is that its just a
website with no income. All it has is a user
base. Microsoft and Li Ka Shing (owner of
Hutchison Whampoa) have already bought
stakes in Facebook hoping it to be a future
cash cow.
IDEAS, NOT PRODUCTS
Coming back to advertising, YouTube
seems to be bringing another revolution in
the space of online ads. As it is a video
based website, so the promotions are also
accepted only in video form. It might sound
like a cumbersome process but its actually
quite a success. The videos are uploaded
by the advertisers and YouTube is paid tokeep them under promoted videos. Another
pattern to note here is that products have
ow many times have we heard that
online advertisement is the next
big thing? Maybe this is not the
case for the western countries but in India,
it is still in a nascent stage. We all have
experienced the irritating ads that appear
while surfing the website. Be it moneycon-
trol.com or yahoo.com, those flashy ads do
nothing but distract. Sometimes I think no
one would click on these ads because they
are so irritating, covering a
major portion of the screen
and hiding the closebutton
in the most unidentifiable
corner. Selling air tickets to
magazines, rat poison to stock
research, these ads are selling
anything and everything underthe sun. But the opportunities
in online advertisements have
been discussed a lot of times.
How they are targeting the
consumer and how successful
they have been, is now a part of many
B-School case studies. So what we are
looking for is the way internet is proving to
be an innovative platform for various kinds
of promotions.
GOOGLE STARTED..REST FOLLOWED
Google was the initiator here. It took
the advertising community by storm by
something called AdWords. Yeah this was
the exact reaction when such an
advertisement technique was launched. It
took promotions to a new level by
eliminating the visual part of the ad and
concentrating on words only. The success
of AdWords forced the other companies to
PRODUCT-BASED TO
THOUGHT-BASED:
TRANSFORMATION
Picture: Mark Zuckerberg,founder of Facebook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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taken a backseat in such advertisements
and ideas are put forward. Example:
Promotion of music videos
Raising of social issues
Movie trailers Election campaigning
Yes it does sound strange but
YouTube has become one of the most
popular medium of election campaigning.
US elections are round the corner and both
parties, namely the Democrats and the
Republicans, along with independent
candidates are putting up their videos to
create awareness of their propaganda.
Common man is shown supporting issuesbeing raised candidates so that people can
easily relate to them. Such a technique is
new in the online advertising space. Also,
large production houses are using it as a
platform to promote their upcoming
movies. Earlier, trailers were shown only
on TV which is definitely more expensive.
But now, these trailers are uploaded on
the website and are available to vast
audience to capture interest. Rambo 4 is
one such example. The home page
included a 2 minute teaser as a promotion.
Well, all of use YouTube to check out
interesting videos, be it Metallica or Alizee.
This easy availability of videos has led to
widespread unrest in the music industry
which claims copyright infringements. But
now life has come full circle for YouTube.
Banking upon its tremendous popularity
among the youth, pop stars are promoting
their video through it. Latest example is ofJessica Simpson who has uploaded its
latest music video Outta my head.
SELF-MARKETING
Not only this, YouTube seems to
empowering people to raise social issues.
Of course its a different matter that
people have also marketed themselves
through it. People take their videos
showcasing their talent and upload it. Nowwhat we see is emergence of Internet
Celebrities. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and
songwriter named Esme Denters was
signed to a recording contract by Billy
Mann, based on her YouTube
performances. And for Brook Brodack, her
comic videos on YouTube landed her a
contract with NBC to host a late night
show. Now that is not what we get to see
every day. And we have many more
examples of people who have captured
upon the real essence of Self-Marketing.
SOCIAL NETWORKING-CUM-ADVERTISING
Social networking site Facebook.com
has also launched an innovative design to
help companies market their product. It
allows corporate to build their pages and
profiles. They would be provided with userpatterns and habits through Facebook
Insights. It gives access to data on activity,
fan demographics, ad performance and
trends that better equip marketers to
improve custom content on Facebook and
adjust ad targeting. This way they can
target a set of customers by
communicating with them informally over
the website.
This is not just about advertising but itactually encompasses the whole marketing
strategy with it. Now the think-tanks of the
marketing department have been put to
work to fork out ways to capture maximum
page visits and video view. Products will be
sold through conventional platforms but
idea propagation require a break-through
technique and websites like Facebook.com
and YouTube have come just at the right
time to bank upon it.
Praveen Dhawan
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Disclaimer :
Since I run the risk of being ostracized or
maybe even witch hunted by someextreme feminists around here once this
article and the ads that go with it are
published, I'd like to dissolve myself from
all blame and put it squarely on the
demanding editor and his deadlines. :)
y quizzing partners favourite
question, one that he keeps
dropping around to people
always is:
What is Unilevers biggest selling
brand worldwide??
The poor souls whore quizzed,
sometimes blurt out lifebuoy meekly,
much to the questioners delight while
there are some others who scratch
around and zero in perfectly
saying.aaahAXE.
Indeed, AXE, or LYNX as it is known in
the UK, Australia, New Zealand andIreland was first launched in France by
Unilever in 1983. Inspired by its
success there, it rolled out into the
rest of Europe from 1985 onwards ,
it was then released and the success
replicated in Latin America, Asia and
of course lastly in the USA. (Whew,
IMM case study anyone ?!)
And well, before you stopreading. Im not embarking on one
of those meandering and pointless
brand analyses with a swot analysis
as an add-on. Ill merely showcas-
ing what its best known for : its
amazing advertising.
S imp ly m ind b l ow ing
unbridled creativity, working its magic.
To frame it in technical lingo great
breaking the clutter advertising. And all
this, around the central concept that this
product makes you a chick-magnet.
Now, come onisnt that every guys
dream?!
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Another reason, why these ads alsoseem to have clicked is that they have this
sophistication mixed with irreverence
approach, something that typifies this
present generation of yuppies.
Axe ads perfectly reach out to this hip
urban male, whose mind, lets admit, is
most of the time fixated on the other
gender.
But, in case your are wondering how
youve missed these ads here, wellthey
were never there in the first place, India-
by axe advertising standards is ultra
orthodox territory.
A lot of Axe work abroad seems to
work on a scarcely disguised premise and
most of their campaigns are, as Wikipedia
puts it..sexually charged.
The Indian ventures on the other
hand have been comparatively milder and
axe has often chosen certain religious
festivals to launch a few of their ads tailor-
ing themselves to the local situationlike
the one released on janmashtami
Of course, they cant get too
confident. In this land of valentines daybaiters and crooked cultural police who
take their self taken job of moral policing
rather seriously, these campaigns can be
an easy prey .
But of course, all said and done, as
youthcurry, a famous India blog puts it.
if one had to be a brand manager at a
behemoth FMCG somewhere, Id rather be
at Axe than be anywhere else...this beats
selling soap hands down :)
Manoj Bharathi
The Indian Versions of the Axe advertisements
could not match the boldness followed
everywhere else, but this did not deter them from
bringing in their true concept
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Iaint Nostradamus to predict the
future, or Kotler to redefine the
ways of Marketing. I had heard a
consultant saying that Marketing is about
thinking, its about passionately knowing
your milieu and providing the consumers
what they want; not selling what the com-
panies produce. This article is the offspring
of this thought and is not a report by any
consulting agency. As my friend puts it: Anidea clicks; its never thought of!
Marketing is a societal process that is
needed to discern consumers' wants;
focusing on a product/service to those
wants, and to mold the consumers toward
the products/services. Marketing, as they
say is fundamental to any businesses
growth. The marketing teams (Marketers)
have the task to create the consumer
awareness of the products/services throughmarketing techniques; unless it pays due
attention to its products/services and
consumers' demographics and desires, a
business will not usually prosper long-term.
IMAGINING INDIA
Marketing is seen as a creative
industry, which includes advertising,
distribution and selling. It is also concerned
with anticipating the customers' future
needs and wants, often through market
research. Now when I thought of future, I
was taken aback by the ideas that punc-
tured my grey cells. I am wondering
whether the marketing trends will change
drastically and the new business models on
which we rely be topsy-turvy. May be after
a decade or two, the whole new scenario
would be different. Our country by then
would have embraced globalization on its
cultural and societal front too. There wouldbe lots of Americans and Europeans staying
in our societies and the right mix of
MARKETING IN THE FUTURE -
A PERSPECTIVE
occidental and oriental brand would be
found. Branding of Indian products would
be at par with the western brands. The
Tatas would be reluctant to consider a
buy-out offer from Orient-Express chain of
hotels as that would dilute the aesthetic
sense of Indians. And, the French
breweries would be craving to be in the
good books of Siddharth Mallya. Maybe,
Barclays would have bought all the teenyweeny private banks of India and must be
facing difficulties in managing the wealth of
the affluent Indians. An American child
would demand a pair of Kurtas and would
love to gift an Indian bracelet to his
girlfriend apart from aspiring to work
with Infosys. Advertising would have leap
frogged various stages. Psycho-wave
advertising would be rampant in the years
to come. If the BRIC report fructifies, this
would be no fiction.
So how will a marketer market his
products in this new age? All the
theoretical concepts imbibed from the
gurus of the last millennium will become
obsolete.
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The usual concepts will not reap
profits and the usual consumers will
become unusual. The new consumer has
evolved who is much more complex,
sophisticated, and intelligent and is aware
of his surroundings. He is the new
consumer of India!
India is gripped by euphoria. Since
2003, growth has consistently averaged
above 8% and the country has been
growing faster than ever in the past few
years. There are more cars on the road and
planes in the sky. The electronic gadgets
have roped the customer from all directions
and the country is in the process of
Globalization.
The consumers are also keeping pace
with the growth rate of the country. The
urban class has revised its taste and is
enjoying the luxury that the poor cannot
afford, the middle class has bulged and its
aspirations have sky-rocketed and the rural
population has shifted, no more standing
as victims of the big bulls.The families are
changing, from joint families to nuclear
families. The new wife is no more a
house-wife but is a working lady. The child
is no more innocent about his dreams and
has more wants than never before. The
media is more active than it used to be in
the yester years. People have less time in
possession. More people are having the
taste of overseas and are venturing into
the virgin lands. Domestic airways have
changed the face of India altogether;
thanks to Gopinath that even an average
Indian can fly today. Information
technology has boomed and we find ample
of engineers to start up our own Silicon
Valley. The new education system has
strengthened our countrys Intellectual
capital. Inspite of the ethnic diversity
prevailing in our country, people stay in
harmony and celebrate all the functionsreligiously. A new religion has evolved and
is characterized by its beliefs, wants,
tastes, style and thoughts. Its the novel
religion of Class. Money has started to
show its new colour and the marketers
want to dive into these colour-bags.
The marketers are finding new
segments and new customers. There are
mainstream markets for the general public,
niche markets for a selected group ofconsumers, high-end market for the
affluent few and the rural markets for the
hinterland. The marketing tactics adopted
by the marketers have changed manifolds.
Different strategies and dissimilar paths
have been adopted to address the new
segments Internet revolution has taken
place. A major population has internet
access these days and the broadband
penetration in our country has risen.
E-marketing has taken the centre place
and e-commerce is the cynosure of all
eyes. The importance of brand has been
felt and the advertising industry is heated
up. Global values with local interest is the
theme of the marketers who are capturing
the market share by focusing on one-to-
one marketing tactics. Customers are now
treated as kings. Profit maximization and
cost minimization is only possible if
problems of the consumers are addressedefficiently and effectively in the market
where competition has exponentially risen.
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Word of mouth and social contagion have
started making bigger hits. Marketing, of
course, has always relied heavily on
instinct and intuition. It is also about
setting trends. Like the hush puppies in
The Tipping Point, a trend can be started
in a wink of an eye. Then effective
branding of products and services can woo
the new Indian consumer as they have
always been brand-conscious. Giving the
new consumer the best of the products
and services at the best of the prices is a
marketers dream. In the years to come;
advertising will reach the pinnacle point
and brands will have a global-stand. The
bottom of the pyramid concept of
Prahalad will be realized by the successfulcompanies and innovative marketing
concepts will peep in. The only way to
survive in this market is to innovate and
reciprocate effectively. India is in a
transformation phase; so are its people. So
the marketer has to handle the crisis
delicately and innovate new ways of
marketing.
Marketing has changed; organizations
are being called on to be increasinglycustomer centric and innovative to deliver
the growth that has eluded them in recent
times. I just want you to think, with your
minds and senses open. Ideas are floating
in the Air, unveil your spectacles of
ignorance and arrogance and see how the
Indian customer gets entangled by the
wonders of Marketing. For change is
inevitable!
Saswat Kumar Sahu
Title: Like the Flowing River
Author: Paulo Coelho
Like all his books, it is a great page turner.
Nice compilation of short stories and
articles that got published in various
magazines and papers. Short stories do
justify the name, but they convey a huge
meaning. Beautiful will be the first word
that will come in your mind once you read
the book. Philosophy, love and apathy in
daily life are the focus of stories. The
second part of the book becomes repetitive
as the author tries to stress on the same
points with different stories.
I found the story on Manuel most
interesting as each and every of us will
find the Manuel inside us. Autobiographical
approach and nobody wants to miss the
autobiography of the legendary author of
THE ALCHEMIST. The book ends with the
quote LIFE IS A JOURNEY. A must read for
all who ponder on the meaning of life and
have time for introspection. Guys go get
it! The stories are shorter than this review.
Reviewed By: Abhinandan Kumar
Book Mark
8/9/2019 Master P's - February
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CREATIVITY AT ITS BEST