Pan IIM Marketing Digest

The Looking Glass

Editorial
Dear Readers

THE LOOKING GLASS

In this edition
Measuring the Effectiveness of the Humour Quotient in Indian Advetising 3 ....6 Implicit Positioning and Surrogate Advertising .........9 Fake IPL Player: Redefining Marketing Effective Multi-tiered Promotions: Lessons From Santoor 4P's of Indian Theatre Marketing Neo-Political Marketing ....11 ....13 .....17 ....21

It gives us immense pleasure to bring out the first ever PAN-IIM marketing digest, with a joint effort by the Influencer Marketing marketing clubs of IIMs A, B, C and L. If you take time to look around, you would observe the importance of marketing in every sphere of your life. Starting from the time you get up in the morning, the brush, toothpaste you use, right up to the time you crash on your bed at night, just think of those countless brands that shape your daily lifestyle. Its a continuous tussle between those myriad brands laid across the horizon of consumer observation span. In a season where marketers are leaving no stone unturned trying to grab consumer attention, marketing automatically assumes utmost importance. The world is brutal. Its no longer about marketing your product right. Its basically a requisite for survival. If you dont do it, your competitors will. And the consumers have plenty of options. So, basically if you dont sell, your competitors will. We decided to come up with a collection of choicest articles contributed by students and industry personnel, which would highlight the trends of contemporary marketing. And for the same reason we decided to call the digest, The Looking Glass, because we feel it will give a true reflection of marketing, and the direction it is taking in todays scenario. The articles touch a wide array of topics which have assumed importance in the recent past. How has humour been used effectively by marketers? How do you sell educational institutes? What exactly did the Fake IPL Player do for KKR? How do advertisers resort to surrogate advertising? What are the trends in online marketing? These, and many more articles inside would keep you engrossed as you go through the pages, we hope.

Strategic Marketing for Educational Institutions..25 Welcome to Marketing, the third epoch! Sidestepping the Commoditization of Disruptive Innovations ........28 ...30

There are those who envision, and then there are those who work to make the vision a reality. We are proud to Sales Role in Fixed Income Securities Market 32 say that we had a team which did both. We would like to thank all those who were involved taking the digest to .34 the completion stage. There was a tremendous amount of co-ordination and synchronization put in by the market- Valuation of TV Advertising ing clubs of the 4 IIMs. At every stage of development we also received immense support from the faculty in the form of guidance and encouragement. Also, a very special thanks to Mr. Prakash Bagri, Director of Marketing, Ogilvy and Mather Trivia .36 Intel South Asia, for sharing his insights on the evolution and future of marketing, in the digest. In future we plan to evolve by bringing in greater participation from the industry and experts and initiating wider Low Cost Customer Acquisition distribution. Please do send us your feedback at looking.glass.mag@gmail.com. Strategies for E-businesses Yours Truly Mayank Jain, Prasad Gopal , Robin Joseph , Garima Mamgain
Is Recession the time to tighten Ad Budget? .37 .39 .42 ..44 ..48

State of the Market -A Comparative Study Does Green Marketing Sell? Men's Cosmetics

Team
Editors Mayank Jain (IIMC) Prasad Gopal (IIMB) Robin Joseph (IIMA) Amit Sharma (IIML) Design Yatish Misra (IIMC) Prativa Lama (IIMB) Rajkul Fulzele (IIMA) Pan IIM Team Piyush Mehta (IIMC) Brijesh Unithan (IIMC) Mafla Mudgal (IIMC) Nikhil Joshi (IIMC) Pratik Prakash (IIMC) Sanglap Bannerjee (IIMC) Abhishek Mohan (IIMB) Chayan Mukhopadhyay (IIMB) Gautam Attravan (IIMB) Shreshth Sharma (IIMB) Meenakshi Prasad (IIML) Saikat Mondal (IIML) Ganesh PR (IIML) Manoj Kumar Kamble (IIML)

Garima Mamgain (IIML) Rishi Varshney (IIML)

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Measuring the Effectiveness of the Humour Quotient in Indian Advertising

In this article, we explore the humour quotient in Indian advertising through the lens of certain television ad campaigns that have tickled the consumer funny bone in order to evaluate the effectiveness of such campaigns. We diverge from the traditionalist body of literature that brackets humour in advertising as risky and at best, as effective as other ads. Our contention is that an ad campaign based on humour stands out from the crowd and captures the consumer mindshare. Humour can come in many forms and the choice of the appropriate type is highly dependent on the target audience, the cultural bias, the choice of advertising medium and the product itself. Some of the more popularly used forms are: Personification: This is where inanimate objects assume human characteristics and the inherent humour in observing such behaviour is used to highlight some quality or the desirability of the brand. One such example is Pepsis Oye Bubbly campaign in which various objects such as the car stereo and the garage are shown coveting the Pepsi bottle. Exaggeration: Here certain attributes of the product are magnified out of proportion like the Fevikwik ads where the fisherman uses Fevikwik on a stick to catch fish, trumping the sophisticated fishing gear of the person next to him.

Our contention is that an ad campaign based on humour stands out from the crowd and captures the consumer mindshare.

INTRODUCTION When using humour to advertise a product, the main challenge for marketers is to link the advertisement to the underlying brand so as to translate consumer enjoyment to consumer purchase. This linkage is questioned by numerous researchers with the distraction of the consumer from the brand quoted as the chief flaw of such a strategy. We diverge from this view our contention is that the industry context and basis of competition is also critical to the nature of advertisements used. Our frame of analysis would be campaigns that are recognized for their innovative use of humour including Fevicol and Fewikwik, Happydent White, Vodafone Zoozoos, Idea Cellular, Frooti, Tata Sky, Sprite. TYPES OF HUMOUR Back in the 1960s, a golden rule in advertising, propagated by the founder of Prentice-Hall, was to never mix humour and advertising. Today, with the proliferation of product offerings, humour is increasingly being looked upon not as a distraction that trivializes the product, but as an effective means of distinguishing the product from the crowd and drawing the attention of consumer.
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Slapstick: This particular brand of humour deals with the ludicrous/exaggerated and presents situations where the humorous aspect of the ad, far from being subtle, strikes the viewer in the face, the Chlormint ads being a prime example of this. Other forms include sarcasm, comparison, pun, understatement and irony. However, there is a strong cultural context for such advertisements. Individualistic cultures like the US and UK typically feature advertisements having one or two dominant characters while in more collectivistic cultures like Thailand, ads revolve around groups. Similarly, the degree of uncertainty avoidance and the amount of masculine dominance in the culture of a country are key factors in influ-

Indian advertisements, in the past, have mostly derived their humour from the interplay between multiple characters.

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influencing the type of humour that can be successfully used in advertisements, with countries high on these two parameters tending to prefer slapstick or direct humour to subtle nuances and double entendres. Analyzing the Indian advertising scenario keeping this cultural context in mind, certain key trends can be identified. Given the traditional family oriented culture of India, Indian advertisements, in the past, have mostly derived their humour from the interplay between multiple characters. Also, in the past, humour has tended to be largely slapstick, based on filmy spoofs and ridiculous situations. This is part, can be attributed to the diversity of cultures and languages found in India. Humorous ads, therefore, must tread the thin line between keeping the cultural idioms of their target audience in mind and taking care not to offend the cultural sensibilities of any group. Slapstick offers an easy way out with situational humour having a broader reach while also ensuring that the punch line is not lost on the audience. EVOLUTION OF HUMOUR IN INDIAN ADS Over the years, there has been a gradual evolution in the use of humour in Indian advertisements. The most obvious change has been the increasing use of humour with advertising agencies increasingly trying to grab the attention of consumers through their funny bone. In 1993, only 28% of commercials were humour-based. By 2001, at least 46% tried to incorporate some form of humour. And while in most countries, funny ads have largely been associated with low-involvement products, in India, even high-involvement products like televisions and insurance have tried their hands at humour. A more subtle change that has been taking place is in the type of humour employed. From pure slapstick, ads are moving towards more intelligent comedy, with a more individualistic bent, be it the Vodafone Zoozoos, which cleverly depicted a variety situations, each with some link to a feature offered by Vodafone, or the Fasttrack Move on commercials, which perfectly capture the changing nature of Indian society today. India today is at a crossroads, between its traditional past and a more modern future, which perhaps explains the success of ads across the entire cultural

spectrum be it the group oriented Fevicol truck ad showing people stuffed into a truck, or the more individual oriented Fevikwik fisherman ad, from the slapstick Akai TV ads of old to the more subtle Camlin Marker ads, to the extent that even potentially controversial ads like the Axe series have found acceptance in India, which is viewed to be conservative. Case Studies: We examine the following advertising campaigns with a view towards illustrating the different types of humour that works in the Indian context and also to measure the effectiveness of these campaigns along multiple dimensions: Amaron, Frooti, Axe and Max New York Life Insurance. Our choice is driven by the different types of humour used in each of these campaigns. Amaron (Amara Raja) batteries: The iconic claymation advertisements with the catchy slogan of Lasts Long Really Long...Ting Tong captured the imagination of the public and acted as clutter busters in 2002. The Hare and Tortoise ad and the Kumbhakarna ad were aired on Doordarshan and other satellite channels and brought in tremendous brand awareness for Amaron batteries a new entrant into the automotives battery space in 2000. Interestingly however, the expected spurt in sales did not materialize. The product was a low involvement one with incumbent advertising focussing on the toughness and macho image of the car battery. The dominant player at that time, Exide, was well entrenched and Amaron did not manage to make a dent in their sales. The ad agency O&M went back to the same claymation studio in 2004 to come up with a follow up, the Pandu Mangal ad. The uniqueness of this ad was the universal nature of the humour the bumbling cop in pursuit of a wily thief was instantly recognized and appreciated across all segments of people. We also theorize that the humour was well received as it relied on simple age-old themes and had powerful visual imagery. This ad consolidated Amaron as a powerful brand and was a platform for their explosive growth post-2006. In 2006 Amaron reverted to a stereotypical performance based campaign using racing stars like Karun Chandok and Narain Karthikeyan. Our take is that the humour based advertising helped establish the brand awareness but did not add to the topline due to the low involvement of the car owners in the buying decision and the lack of product differentiation as the Lasts Long promise held true de-facto in the business.

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Frooti: The Digen Verma ad blitz that lasted for 15 days in February 2001 catapulted the brand into public imagination and generated a tremendous buzz across the country. The campaign was centred on a faceless college going guy called Digen Verma worshipped by his friends, girls and even peons in general everyone who knew him except for the stodgy old college professor. The teaser campaign combined with the new caption for Frooti Just Like That was aimed at repositioning Frooti from a kids drink to one for the youth. Hence, a rebellious theme was adopted in the campaign. The last series of ads in this campaign show Digen ordering Frooti (of course Digen himself is not shown on screen) this causes pandemonium across the country and everyone switches to Frooti immediately! This campaign was unique in the effective use of suspense (watch this space approach) and humour in engaging consumer attention through various innovative forms of media (messages telling Digen to remove his car from the parking lot were flashed in theatres, bus stops had posters asking if Digen would be on the next bus and so forth). A look at the sales figures show a marginal increase in the year the campaign was aired followed by steady increase in sales the market share decline was halted by this campaign though. Sceptics however claimed that the Digen Verma persona had become more famous and had marginalized the brand. Later, Frooti switched to their old theme of Fresh and Juicy which did worse than the Digen Verma campaign hence in comparison the use of a unique style of humour proved to be more effective for Frooti. Axe: Our inclusion of Axe is a little controversial as its ads have straddled a thin line between sexism and naughtiness in terms of the humour. We study it due to the unique nature of the advertising the same campaigns are aired worldwide and there has been no attempt to tone down the humour or modify it in any way for India. This dispels the notion that Indians are conservative in their humour of course the marketing for Axe was backed up by a great product too. The Axe effect in terms of sales and market share has been spectacular to say the least. HUL (the parent company)replaced their old deodorant brand Denim with Axe due to its spectacular success.

Axe is by far the naughtiest brand in India and is targeted at the male aged 16-25. The ads highlight various situations where the guy, usually an ordinary next door neighbour kind of chap rather than a hunk, gets pursued by different women. Seduction is the dominant motif here, with the women making the first move a bold idea for Indian audiences. Yet, it has captured the pulse of its target audience perfectly. Max New York Life: When Max New York came out with their advertisement featuring an overzealous dad with his young child as he exhorts the child to repeat words of increasing complexity, consumers sat up and took notice. The advertisement poked fun at Indians who have a propensity to push their children into various activities at a young age. Interestingly, the humour in the ad was well received wry humour had worked on Indian screens after a long while! The ad demonstrated two things one that Indians were willing to laugh at themselves and two, high involvement products could be advertised using humour. The sales of new policies shot up from the slowdown in October further the weighted new received premiums too shot up. The ad had worked its magic. Max New York followed it up with another humorous ad in Apr-2009, this time poking fun at the retired Indian male. CONCLUSION Thus, the use of humour, in products where consumer preferences play a vital role in selection, not only helps bring the brand into the consumers consideration set through increased brand awareness and recall, but also appears to translate directly to an increase in sales.

Kaushik Sriram is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Bangalore. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy and can be reached at kaushiksr08@iimb.ernet.in.

Rohini Ramachandran is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM

Bangalore. She holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy and can be reached at rohinira08@iimb.ernet.in.

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Influencer Marketing
Welcome to the age of influencer marketing. You might have witnessed and experienced it in the past its just that the term has become more visible. Youtube, blogs, twitter the tools can be many, the message is the same you are being influenced. Compared to traditional marketing practices, influencer marketing focuses on key types of individuals. It aims to take advantage of the influence these individuals have over the target segment, with these influencers becoming the centre of all marketing activities. marketing objective. WOMMA (Word of mouth marketing association) provides a handy classification of influencers based on how they derive their power of influence. Once the target influencer has been identified, the next step is to market the product to the influencer, to help increase the awareness among the influencer community. They then become well equipped to use their influence in favour of the firm. The third and final set of activities involves the use of these influencers to advocate to the target segment. Influencers can play a direct or indirect role in this process. What we see in case of contact lenses is an indirect approach where the influencer (optician) is raising awareness about the category and not the brand. To complement the strategy, the manufacturer might put some point of sale merchandising to promote its product. The third and final set of activities involves the use of these influencers to advocate to the target segment. Influencers can play a direct or indirect role in this process. What we see in case of contact lenses is an indirect approach

Imagine your next visit to your optician. After the regular eye check-up, he advises you to switch to contact lenses, informing you of the pros and cons. You wonder what this is leading to - is your optician working as an agent to some contact lens manufacturer? Well, the answer to this question can be both yes or no. He is just exercising his influence on your decision making. The motivation for such an action could have come from a manufacturer, in the form of incentives, such as higher margins. On the other hand, he might just be using his judgment and trying to help you out.

According to Duncan and Nick, these influencers may be potential buyers themselves, or they may be third parties. These third parties exist either in the supply chain (retailers, manufacturers, etc.) or may be so-called value-added influencers (such as journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisers, and so on) - Fig 1. Using Influencer Marketing The first and most important activity in influencer marketing is identification of influencers and evaluating their potential to serve the

Figure 1: Type of Influencers (source: WOMMA)

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where the influencer (optician) is raising awareness about the category and not the brand. To complement the strategy, the manufacturer might put some point of sale merchandising to promote its product. Industry Practices One of the most common applications of influencer marketing is in medicines and pharmaceutical products. In many cases, the active ingredient is common across companies, and the medicines are substitutable. Since the law prohibits any advertisements of prescription drugs, companies rely on prescriptions from doctors to drive sales. Hence, they send their representatives to disseminate information to doctors and give them free samples (you might have seen Physicians sample, not for sale printed on mini packs in your doctors clinic). Sometimes, the representatives even check up with local chemists whether the medicines being promoted are selling, before they make a visit. Even in categories where advertising of the product is permitted, like oral care, companies dont miss out on opportunities to promote their products to dentists. This is because an advertisement can rarely have the credibility, and hence the influence on the purchase decision, as compared to a suggestion from the consumers dentist. Another avenue that companies use to market themselves to influencers like dentists is sponsoring lectures on recent trends in oral care. Use of various dental associations to certify one brand of toothpaste or toothbrush is another example of influencer marketing. Colgate has done well in this regard in India. On a related note, Marico Ltd. has successfully used influencer marketing through cardiologists to promote its products, especially Saffola Oil. Saffola is a safflower based refined edible oil that promises to help control cholesterol for cardiac patients. When Marico launched this product in market, the biggest challenge it faced was that most of the customers were unaware about cholesterol. Cardiac patients relied completely on their cardiologists and family doctors for information (in WOMMA classification, these belong to

Category/Subject Matter Expert group). These doctors commanded a great amount of influence on their patients and most of the times their prescriptions acted as a command for the patients. Marico identified these doctors and dieticians as its influencers. Marketing to these influencers is done through various activities. Here we list some of them:

Figure 2: Saffola's use of influencer marketing 1. Product detailing and sampling to the doctors. Marico promoters visit these doctors and brief them about the product. They use product detailers and other research documents to backup their claim. Sampling helps in generating some trials if the doctors find the product claims appropriate. Essentially, its the same route that pharmaceutical companies take for their product. 2. Involvement with various medical associations and other such platforms. The visibility on such forums provides reach to a large section of influencer community. 3. Involving various key influencers to help improve the product offering and future product development.

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Once these influencers become aware of the Top 10 Most Brilliant Marketing Screw Ups product and accept the effectiveness of the product, they do not hesitate in giving information about the same to their patients. Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it Saffola today is part of many a diet charts was read as "Suffer from diarrhoea." and diet-guides because of such activities. It is most probably the only edible oil that is recommended by doctors during consulta- Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an tion. Electrolux." Another, most common use of influencer Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not marketing in modern times is engaging techtoo many people had use for the "manure stick." nology experts during launch of new products. Most of the cell-phone manufacturers as well manufacturers of new age software When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used provide their product to these experts before the same packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful Cauthe product is formally launched. The excasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, perts are encouraged to write about the companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inproduct. The influence these experts comside, since most people can't read. mand over the tech savvy target segment helps in convincing early-buyers of the prod- Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the uct and thus generating the initial thrust name of a notorious porno magazine. required for the success of the product. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of Influencer marketing gives a marketer an "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the poopportunity to utilize resources beyond what tato" (la papa). is owned by the organization. This necessitates establishing professional and ethical norms on the marketers part. The power of Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in influence also comes with great responsibilChinese. ity of using this influence in the right manner. It is not uncommon to hear of companies providing excessive incentives to influ- Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it encers, to ensure that they promote only takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate." their products. The onus is on the marketer to define the ethical and professional boundaries and stay within them. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-kela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then reSo, in case you are looking to visit your optisearched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent cian anytime soon, at least now you know "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth." that he might be influenced by Bausch and Lomb to influence you into buying contact When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its lenses. ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you". Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to emAmmar Tambawal is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering barrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and fr om VESI T , B ombay and can be r each ed make you pregnant." at 8ammary@iimahd.ernet.in

Pritesh Jain is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad.

He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore and can be reached at 8priteshj@iimahd.ernet.in

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Implicit positioning and surrogate advertising

Advertising is widely accepted to be the most potent tool in the hand of a marketer. Whether it is to launch a new product, entrench an existing one, educate on the new salient features or create a new market, most consumer products manufacturers orient a considerable amount of time, energy and money to reaching out to existing and potential consumers though various media such as television, radio etc. as also new age media like the Internet and Out of Home (OOH) media. Origins In this context, one can imagine the predicament of a producer who is mandated to legally produce and stock and then has his hands tied by being denied the right to market the produce. This is a ditch that many liquor and cigarette companies have found themselves in after the Government of India passed a blanket ban on all advertising of intoxicants and harmful substances in mid 2002. Most of the large players adapted quickly to introducing what are termed as complimentary products which fell outside the ambit of the Governments regulation. The significant ones include 8PM Whisky (apple juice), Aristocrat Whisky (apple juice), Bagpiper (club soda), Haywards 5000 Beer (kit of darts which was the centrepiece of the advertising campaign) and Gilbey's Green Label Whisky (mineral water); and in this process was born a new trend of surrogacy in advertising which is commonly defined as advertising one product with the view of selling another Trends in surrogate advertising After the ban imposed on the 12 advertisements identified as surrogates by the Government of India, and the show-cause notices issued to Star TV, Zee TV and Aaj Tak in 2002 under the provisions of the Cable Television Regulation Act of 2002, the whirlwind of surrogate ads hitting the telly calmed down to a large extent. Advertisers started diversifying and shifted their focus to other adGLASS

The ban on advertising of tobacco and liquor introduced by the Government of India during the early 2000s has spawned a generation of surrogate marketing initiatives as corporations leant to sell without communicating to the consumer. Many in the industry have since started to diversify into areas where they can leverage their brands aspirational value; such as aviation, clothing and apparel and sports. However the surrogacy in advertising continues in the absence of a strong code by the ASCI and the government flip flops on the issue. The need of the hour is to come clean on the subject and develop an unambiguous plan of action

vertising avenues which often stretched the concept of brand extension to previously unheard-of levels. These include the mundane such as sponsoring events (without explicit advertising) and Internet advertising; the unconventional such as ITCs diversification into clothing and apparel as well as the far-fetched such as the Red and White Bravery Awards and other lifetime achievement awards instituted mainly to perpetuate brand recall among the target audience. One interesting trend which was observed in the mid 2000s was the socially responsible advertising taken up by many liquor companies. Several advertisements exhorting viewers to be responsible citizens and refrain from driving after drinking were seen by media analysts as a form of surrogacy. Media analysts have also often wondered aloud that the ambitious forays made by Dr Vijay Mallya in aviation, Formula 1 and related glamorous industries have as much to do with his desire to perpetuate his strong brand portfolio as the prospect of de-risking his business by diversifying. For the best part of this decade, the tobacco and liquor manufacturing lobby has been trying to persuade the government to relax the restrictions on advertising what are perceived as surrogate products. Finally, as late as March 2009, the Government of India decided to the hand a long rope under the stipulation that the surrogates have no product linkages to intoxicants. However on June 10th this year, the government tabled a bill to amend the Cable Television Network Act of 1994, which is likely to tighten the screws on surrogate advertising even further. Advertising Ethics The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) issued clarifications at various points of time that in accordance with the code laid for guiding

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If it has been established conclusively that cigarette smoking kills, why is it that it is available to anyone, irrespective of his or her age, at every street corner? ethical behaviour in advertising, the mere use of a brand name or company name which may be the same or related to a product put under advertising restriction may not be construed as reason enough to find the advertisement objectionable. An exception may however be made in case the product which is advertised is not freely available or is produced and distributed in minuscule quantities, which may not be sufficient to warrant advertising costs. Also advertisements must not contain direct or indirect cues for the product under advertising restriction. However many advertisers must still grapple with ethical dilemmas as the existing code leaves a lot of scope for interpretation. Voluntary abstinence A notable exception to the clamoring by the tobacco and liquor lobby and circumventing of stipulations to maintain sales is the conduct of ITC Ltd after the ban announced by the government. In 2001, ITC voluntarily opted out of the sponsorship deal that it had signed with the BCCI to sponsor the Indian cricket team and has since been de-emphasizing its cigarette brands in favor of other lines of business which are considerably more sustainable. It has also taken up large scale Corporate Social Initiatives in rural India, the crown jewel being the e-Choupal initiative, to enable the agricultural community to adopt a direct selling approach. Two sides of the same coin: Ambiguity of law Many in the industry question the practice of banning advertisements which effectively erodes the ability to sell while at the same time allowing production to continue. In an article published by The Hindu in March 2008 Ramesh Narayan, a communication consultant writes, The advertisers perspective is fairly straightforward. If it is legal to manufacture, distribute and sell a product, why should it be illegal to promote the sale of that product? I dont think anyone can answer that question convincingly.
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"It's difficult to digest that an industry which is allowed to sell its products, is banned from advertising the same products, despite the fact that the commercials carry health warning, advising the customers to use the product in temperance.", says Prof. Atul Tandan, Director, Mudra Institute of Communications in an article released in July 2002. While such questions make intuitive sense, the practicality of banning production of tobacco and liquor is unpalatable for the simple reason that these are very heavy contributors to Indias tax kitty and the revenue loss due to a ban on production will most likely be catastrophic. Also the increasing pressure exerted by the WHO as well as NGOs and health activists have forced the government to be seen doing something. As a result of this duality of purpose, the tug-of-war continues without resolution. The need of the hour The following measure will go a long way in easing the deadlock seen here: The ASCI should have an unambiguous guideline for differentiating acceptable and unacceptable forms of advertising with respect to surrogate products. Also the ASCI should be empowered to implement the guidelines and issue penalties for non-conformance. The government needs to take a stand on the issue. It must look beyond having the cake (the advertising ban) and eating (tax revenues) it. Advertising companies must take pains to understand the nature of the products and market that they are dealing with and must refrain from designing and propagating surrogate brands.

Nikhil Joshi is a 1st year PGDM student at IIM Calcutta. He

holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from University of Mumbai and has worked as a Software Testing Consultant with L&T Infotech. He can be reached at joshin2011@email.iimcal.as.in

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Fake IPL Player: Redefining Marketing

Lord Almighty along with the Calypso King decided to take the attack on to the Bubblies. The Phoren babas were happy when they saw Appam being slaughtered. Prince Charles of Patiala was all tensed up but Bhookha Nan and Kaan Moolu were having a very good time with Sandy Baddy Babe. This may sound gibberish to many. But those who have ever come across the Fake IPL Players blog at any point of time would be laughing their hearts out. This blog has became a sensation in the cricketing world. But at the same time it also made several great traditional marketers sit up and take notice. What is this hype all about? Just a couple of days before the start of the IPL 2nd season in South Africa, a blog was launched by an anonymous person, who claimed to be a member of the Kolkata Knight Riders Squad. Throughout the IPL he kept sensationalizing the intrateam conflicts. Humor and Suspense - his two weapons- made the followers want more of it. The result Although Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kept up their dismal performance, they have emerged as the strongest IPL brand. According to the IPL Brand Value Scoreboard 2009 published by UKs Intangible Business in collaboration with MTI Consulting, KKR tops the board with an estimated brand value of $22.3 million. As Richard Yoxon, the International Director of Intangible Business puts it Winning games is not enough to build a successful sports brand. Teams need to engage the local community, attract star players who inspire a wide audience and develop a strong marketing communication program. Further, according to a report published by Business Standard, the peak ratings of KKR matches on SET MAX channel were among the highest; at around 6 per cent of the total cable viewers above the age of 15 years. A source representing one of the sponsors summed it as From an advertisers point of view, we have got a lot of mileage and media space for the right and wrong reasons. The fact that it has managed to attract television viewership and on-ground support from spectators speaks a lot about the brand KKR. This may be a coincidence. But surely Fake IPL Player has popularized the two relatively new strategies of marketing Anti-Marketing and Buzz Marketing. Anti Marketing After studying marketing campaigns and trends for several years, Indrajit Jay Sinha, an associate marketing professor at the Fox School of Business and Austrian marketing professor Thomas Foscht, discovered that effective campaigns go against what traditional marketing preaches. They have together published a book Reverse Psychology Marketing: The Death of Traditional Marketing and the Rise of the New Pull Game, which identifies and analyzes the new marketing trends. According to the book -- Traditional marketing campaigns are focused around customer orientation. They offer too much choice, confusion and sales pressure, resulting in customers boredom, cynicism and irritation. Less is more with present-day marketing. Customers now crave simplicity, authenticity and exclusivity.

Fake IPL Player, a blog released by an anonymous blogger during the Indian Premier League (Season2), created a lot of furor in the cricketing world. But at the same time it stood out as an excellent marketing campaign for the Kolkata Knight Riders Team. Using the unorthodox marketing techniques of Antimarketing and Buzz Marketing, it could help KKR build up a strong brand value as well as generate enough TRPs on television. This article analyses the different new -age marketing techniques with reference to the case of the aforementioned blog.

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Fake IPL Player blog did exactly the same thing. Instead of blowing its own horn, the author tactically cooked up stories about infighting within the team. This created a sensation for the cricket crazy masses which in turn strengthened the KKR brand. As marketers put it Any publicity is good publicity. There have been a few examples of successful anti-marketing in the past. One such significant example is that of Steven Singer Jewellers. It has successfully executed a marketing campaign I hate Steven Singer. As a result it has become a landmark jeweler in the Philadelphia region. Buzz marketing Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information; instead of a calculated marketing pitch choreographed by a professional advertiser. Although the concept of Buzz marketing is not new, but the way Web 2.0 is used these days, it has opened up several avenues for the new age marketers. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, and millions. This was the case with the Fake IPL Player. The Fake IPL Player didnt spend a single penny. But he reached thousands. Overnight the blog became the talk of the town. He used a simple and free user friendly web resource, blogs, and spread through word-of-mouth communication. He realized the fact that getting one interested user (or customer) will eventually result in several others getting interested in the product. More than 8000 followers of the blog stand testimony to this fact. Uncontrolled Conversation: the mantra of new-age advertisements Traditionally brands discouraged uncontrolled conversation on social media and read too much into the controlled conversations in a simulated environment e.g. FGDs, In-depth

Interviews etc. But simulation and controlled conversations twist the facts to a certain extent thereby affecting the outcome of the data analysis as done by market research agencies. Uncontrolled conversation would let people vent out their emotions without any constraints. This would in turn give marketers better insights into consumer behaviors. Fake IPL players blog generated a greater buzz for Team KKR by encouraging uncontrolled conversation. Thousands of comments were posted in response to each blog post. This added flavor to the blog and generated further interest in the blog as well as in the KKR team. This in turn resulted in the soaring TRPs of the KKR matches. The lesson Some claimed the Fake IPL player was a real life cricketer while others, at the same time, considered it a marketing gimmick of KKR, Shahrukh Khan et al. Though he did reveal his identity in his own cryptic way, the Fake IPL Player remains anonymous as ever. Whatever it may be, it has surely taught all established and budding marketers a lesson. Its not about the big bucks spent on advertising and promotion, but about innovative marketing channels and creative strategies. Analyzing the right media channel and the right creative message is far more fruitful than some elaborate but outdated marketing and promotion practices. Welcome to the new fake world!

Praneet Gourav Mishra is a 2nd Year student at IIM

Lucknow specializing in Marketing and Finance. He is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Rourkela and can be reached at mishra.praneet@gmail.com

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Effective Multi-tiered Promotions: Lesson from Santoor

Trade promotions refer to any activity aimed at providing an incentive to the channel members for their support in marketing and distribution of the product. There are a number of tools available to the marketer for the same such as price -off, allowances, free goods, trade shows, sales contests, specialty advertising, etc. The importance of such measures stems from the fact that the retailer is willing to sell only those products which have a demand in the market and thus allow him to earn a profit. These measures incentivize the efforts that a channel member puts in for increasing the sales of a product and create a push in the channel which may lead to a higher sales turnover. The push effect is of special significance in product categories where the differentiation between products is not very high. One such category is the FMCG. for promotions across different Population groups (POP groups) and outlet types (Retailer or Wholesalers). Then we will describe Multitiered promotions followed by its application by Santoor brand. In the end we will consolidate the learning of the study. Trade Preferences for tions: Primary survey Promo-

Sales promotion is an essential part of any marketers activities. It can be classified as Trade promotion and Consumer Promotion The authors conducted a survey about trade promotion activities in the soap industry and found out that different types of traders prefer different kinds of promotions. Every company must offer promotional schemes which cater to the needs of all types of retailers. One approach of integrating varied promotional efforts is multitiered promotion. To show the effectiveness of this approach, we have shown the promotion efforts of Santoor soap in a particular quarter.

A structured questionnaire was designed and was pre tested on a sample of 7 retailers at Hyderabad city. Out of 101 outlets visited, 9 said they are not interested in promotional offers so no further questions were asked about the promotions. The survey findings are summarized below: Deal Proneness: It was found that 91.08% of the traders were deal prone. Similar trend was observed across outlet types and POP groups. Deal Preference: It was found that 64.13% of traders prefer price-cut promotions while rest preferred gift based promotions like gift articles etc. Considering outlet type, 60.66% of retail outlets prefer price cut while 70.97% of wholesaler preferred price cut promotions. Across POP groups, FLP retailers were more inclined towards price cut (76.19%) as compare to lower POP groups (OLP 60%, 20K50K 41.16%). In order words lower POP group retailers were interested in gift based promotions. Time of Incentive: 56.52% of trade prefers instant gratification while rest prefers long term benefit. It can be concluded that

Within the FMCG sector, the advertisement campaigns that are run bring the customer to the retail store, yet at the point of sale there are numerous options available. At this juncture the retailer can have an impact on the purchase decision. Incentives offered to the retailer, by the company or the wholesaler, motivate the retailer to push the brand and affect the purchase decision favorably. Through our study we intend to find the relevance of multi-tiered promotions for such categories. We chose soap category (INR 6500 Cr) as it is the biggest category in FMCG segment. Within Soaps, Santoor is the 2nd largest brand in India in the popular segment, and also the largest brand in Andhra Pradesh with a market share of 37.07% of the total 3,374 tons per month. One reason for the leadership position attained is the multi-tiered promotion policy of the company. In this article we will present the primary survey conducted to identify trade preferences

there is a mix response in the market. Considering the outlet type, 67.21% of retailers prefer instant gratification because of

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wholesaler having considerate stocking capability and pushing power tends to opt more(64.52%) for long term plans due to extra margins involved. The same trends follow in various POP groups. Type of Incentive: It was found that 48.91% of trade prefers assured prizes while 51.09% of trade prefers to try some luck. The similar response was from retailers and wholesalers. Looking at the POP groups, the retailers from lower POP groups (20K-50K) were more interested (64.70%) in lucky draw. The wholesalers from Metro (62%) and OLP (71.42%) were more interested in lucky draw and bumper prizes. Leanings from the survey Preferences of traders for different promotions changes across outlet type and POP groups Customization of promotion schemes necessary for effectiveness of the same a mix of price based and gift based promotions to cater to the different needs of different traders Promotion schemes with different timelines are preferred by different traders due to their inherent nature (outlet type, planning horizon, etc) Multi-Tiered Promotion Multi tiered promotion refers to promotional schemes running simultaneously at the same time and complementing each other towards meeting the sales targets of the company. The different schemes may be price based or gift based, follow different timelines individually and complement each other. The offering of the different schemes is based on the discretion of the Sales Manager who may focus more on a particular kind of scheme for different traders keeping in mind their preferences. For example there is a weekly scheme (price or gift based) running which motivates retailers to buy higher stocks every week. At the same time, there is a monthly scheme wherein the retailer can win a gift on purchases of a specified number of units or earn a special discount. Now even though initially the retailer may think that the monthly target is beyond his reach and may focus on just the weekly scheme, by the last week of the month the weekly target achievement would have brought him within sight of the monthly target. This position may motivate him to achieve the monthly target as well, leading to higher
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sales for the company. If there is an appropriate multi tiered promotion mix, the company can effectively achieve its sales targets. To substantiate our proposal, we provide empirical data on the multi tiered promotion used by Santoor soaps during Jan-March 2009, in the Andhra Pradesh market The Santoor Way Santoor uses multi-tiered trade promotions with different time duration and promotion mix. We will measure the effectiveness by observing the impact of sales. The promotion schemes run by Santoor can be classified as in Table 2. Secondary Scheme Adding to the regular margins and primary schemes each sales officer has been allotted budget of Rs 15 per CFC for the secondary schemes. The Sales Officer can tailor schemes on the basis of it. These schemes are tactical in nature which is used by Sales officer to meet the sales target. The schemes are QPS (quantity purchased scheme) to give extra margins and offers for bulk purchase. The trade schemes used during Jan-May 2009 were: Specific trade plan Wipro regularly announced long duration (23 months) trade plan to motivate trade for bulk purchase. We will discuss Tambola scheme (Jan-Mar 2009) for this article, which involved a lucky draw for the prizes (Spark Car, Bajaj Motorcycle, Air Conditioner etc). The unique feature, early bird prizes to kick start the program was valid for a period of first 21 days. One Early bird Ticket for a zonal lucky draw was given if the trader obtains 50 Tambola tickets. The prizes were worth Rs 300 to Rs 6000. Effectiveness of the Multi-tiered promotion mix was reflected in the increased sales during the scheme period of as shown in Table 4.

During the Tambola scheme, the company also ran consumer promotions summarized in Table 5.

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Table 1: Parameters for Primary Survey

Table 2: Multi-tiered Promotion by Santoor (Source Personal Communication)

Table 3: Tactical Weekly Scheme "Secondary Scheme" (Source Personal Communication)

Table 4: Effect of Multi-tiered Promotional mix on Sales (Source Personal Communication)

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Flash Start This phase saw the launch of the Tambola Scheme, along with the weekly schemes (price and gift based) and consumer promotion. The long term schemes generally fail to motivate traders during initial period. In order to kick start the plan, Wipro introduced early bird prizes to give traders dual incentive to participate in the plan. The short term incentive though brought buzz in the market it was amply supported by tactical weekly schemes suiting both the preference, gift and price promotion of traders. The weekly schemes in the first two weeks brought them close to the target for early bird prizes leading to higher purchases in the third week. At the same time, higher push in the channel was complemented by a consumer promotion. So the traders were purchasing more to be eligible for weekly and/or early bird scheme while the customers were also demanding more of the soap. Thus, Multi-tiered promotion mix (weekly and early bird scheme) helped Wipro to motivate traders to purchase more so as to be eligible for another tier of incentive i.e. Tambola scheme in its first phase.

erences. They also were seeing higher customer purchases due to the rejuvenated customer promotion campaign. Thus we see that each of the schemes was complementing the others, with the choice of offering price or gift based incentives lying with the sales manager, the schemes. We see that the multi-tiered approach for promotional mix was followed leading to higher sales and success in the market. Conclusion

The conclusion of the study is that the trader preferences for promotion schemes vary, between price based and gift based incentives. The preference for the scheme horizon also varies with the size, type and nature of the trader. Some traders prefer short term incentives which provide instant gratification while some prefer long term benefits. To be effective, a promotion mix needs to consider all kinds of traders. Multi tiered promotion is an approach for the same, which can provide different types of incentives to different traders, vary the incentive horizon, and integrate every simultaMid slump During this phase, the weekly neous scheme towards the achievement of schemes ran as before, the customer pro- the overall sales target of the company. The motion also ran without change. The overall approach has been used in the market by Tambola Scheme was also present, without Santoor, and effective execution can lead to the early bird scheme. The benefit of such a better results. strategy was that traders who had built high stocks in the first phase were able to clear them out. The consistency of conAbhishek Sood is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Bangalore. sumer promotion was a deliberate attempt He holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce (Honours) from Sri to help trader in finishing their accumuVenkateswara College, University of Delhi and can be reached at lated stock as superior change in consumer abhishekso08@iimb.ernet.in. promotion would shift the consumer demand towards the freshly offered stock The Akhil Kumar Meshram is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM weekly benefits were for those traders who Bangalore. He holds a dual degree, Bachelors and Masters in were either not covered by the early bird Information Technology from Indian Institute of Information scheme, or were not interested in the long Technology and Management (IIITM) Gwalior and can be term benefits. They benefitted immensely reached at akhilkm08@iimb.ernet.in. with the continuing weekly offers. Late Push In this phase, the weekly schemes continued as before, the customer promotion was changed so as to motivate trader to purchase more and at the same time, there was an increased focus on the Tambola scheme. The traders, who had been utilizing the weekly schemes, and early bird scheme were close to the targets for the Tambola scheme and in their effort to achieve this target, they could utilize the weekly schemes which were mix of price and gift based promotion as per their pref-

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4Ps of Indian Theatre Marketing

Theatre has been the soul of Indian entertainment since Vedic times. The different forms of theatre acts in India have given an incredible and unparalleled versatility to Indian art and culture. The father of Indian theatre Bharat Muni who wrote Natya Shastra laid the foundation of structured training in field of theatre and dramatics between 200 BC and 200 AD. Theatre as an art form in India has its roots during the Vedic period. But in spite of such a long period of existence , theater groups are still fighting to make theater commercially viable. This paper discusses some aspects of Indian theatre , categorization of art , process of theatrical productions , 4Ps of theatre marketing mix , the needs of todays culture consumers , the difference between the high art and popular art , competitors to theatre and challenges faced by Indian theatre groups. Based on the comprehensive discussions with numerous theatre artists and theatre activists, the paper lays down strategic outline for a theatre marketing plan in India. Dharamveer Bharati and B.M Shah Kutiyattam in Kerala. Noted contemporary playwrights like Habib Tanvir, Vijay Tendulkar, and Mohan Rakesh, Girish Karnad, Mahesh Dattani, Badal Sircar, Dharamveer Bharati and B.M Shah revolutionized the art of story telling and modern theater. We must acknowledge the contribution of stalwarts like Prithivi Raj Kapoor, Sohrab Modi, Ebrahim Alkazi , Amal Allana, Om Puri, Naseerudin Shah , ShahRukh Khan, Manoj Bajpai , Atul Kulkarni, Yashpal Sharma and Sima Biswas, who popularized Indian theatre and then moved to the film industry.

Theatre needs mass marketization to make it commercially viable.

THEATRE: PRODUCTIONS CHALLENGES

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Digital marketing strategy coupled with accessible locations for staging live performances will help in attracting large number of audience in a timely manner and thus make Indian theatre a commercially viable business.

INTRODUCTION
Theatre is an ancient aesthetic practice in India. Surviving play texts and treatises suggest that theatre existed in the Indian subcontinent from the dawn of civilization. According to the Natyashastra of Bharata, an exhaustive treatise on the art of performance, drama was a gift from the gods to the humans.

McCarthy (2001), categorized arts in four broad sections i.e. Performing arts, Media arts, Visual arts and literary arts. The second figure shows the categorization of arts. Performing arts is further subdivided in to theatre, dance, music and opera. Media related arts are subdivided in to installation art, film production and the recent addition of computer/digital arts. Visual arts have been categorized into painting, sculpture and crafts. The last section, literary art is classified into fictions and poetry.

Any theatre production involves a series of rigorous steps. The second figure shows the steps involved in making a theatrical production and Theatre has travelled many centu- bringing it to the people. Theatrical ries in India. The different active scripts are conventionally sourced forms of theatre in India which are from historical writings or adapted still mesmerizing the art lovers are or written right from scratch. Once Bhavai in Gujarat , Yakshagana in the script is ready then it is subKarnataka , Nautanki in Uttar jected to production. Support and Pradesh and Bihar , Swang in inputs from musicians, choreograHaryana , Jatra in Bengal and phers, actors, costumes. Lighting Mohan Rakesh, Girish Karnad, and direction result in a presentable Mahesh Dattani,Badal Sircar , form of a theatre product.

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The second figure shows the marketing effort to reach culture consumers. The figure shows two triangles with a small and big base. The smaller base shows the existing marketing effort and the bigger base shows the intended marketing effort. The various new challenges in cultural consumption are: decrease in consumer time for leisure, expansion of consumer options for entertainment, expanded exposure to worlds cultural products, blurring the distinction between high and popular culture and changing patterns in public funding. These challenges in cultural consumption have created a tough competition for the consumption of theatrical products.

the masses. -As there is less and limited consumption of available high art, therefore popularity of art is limited and this results in a decrease in audience. As a result , those who want to produce popular art do not get sufficient funds to produce commercially viable popular art. PROMOTION The promotional strategies used by theatre production houses are very limited. Recently few corporate houses have started funding the theatre production houses e.g. Matrix cellular, Vodafone, Religare, and Mahindra and Mahindra. These corporate houses use extensive publicity and advertisements for popular art but it has not resulted in creating an enduring audience. The traditional form of publicity techniques used by theatre production houses are as follows: Occasional advertisements in leading news papers which occupy very small column width and do not create any lasting impression on potential audience. Small printed pamphlets are manually distributed outside the auditoriums. This only helps to inform the existing theatre audience. This localized and captive distribution does not create awareness to potential audience.

4 PS OF THEATRE MARKETING PRODUCT High art Vs Popular art: The principal problem with the consumption of theatre products is the distinction between high art and popular art. The prominent and talent rich houses of theatrical productions like National school of drama , Naya theatre and Rangshankara fail to distinguish between the consumption of high art and popular art. In fact the artists with prime talent in these organizations become so self obsessed that they never care about the consumption of their art for the end consumer. They keep on producing high art for which there is a limited audience and eventually no body is able to produce popular art. There are two prime reasons for this: -Those who can produce popular art in a commercially viable way indulge in producing self fulfilling high art, which is seen by a handful and eventually making it non consumable for

Few theatre production houses have started using cultural websites to promote their new productions on cost free basis. But the irony is that due to lack of funding and advertisements such cultural websites are struggling. The other means of promotion is through word of mouth. But word of mouth promotions by existing audiences are not able to generate enduring audiences. Due to lack of funding, theatre production houses use the cheapest means to promote their new products. And mostly the auditoriums which are used for such theatrical performances are situated in a few specific areas which are inaccessible to masses. Therefore minimal promotional efforts are nullified by limited access to theatrical arenas.

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PRICE Theatre in India has struggled to reach break even point. Theatre production houses who hire or have fulltime / part time performers in it incur the expenses as shown in table 1. On an average, a theatrical performance involves 3 to 4 lead actors and 4-6 support actors. Lighting personnel play a key role in designing the lights for the stage show and are generally hired by theatre groups externally for specific periods. In general the theatre production houses keep single show on Saturday and double shows on Sunday. This format is repeated for two weeks. This means that in general six shows are performed for each production. The capacity of the auditorium is approximately 350. The total expense of Rs 425000 is averaged for six performances in a span of two weeks. Therefore the average charge for each performance comes to about Rs 70000. And the average seating capacity of an auditorium is 350 , which means that in order to break even each ticket shall be priced Rs 200.It is difficult to ensure a full house in these performances and if the performance turns out to be a high art performance then the audience drops drastically and the production becomes commercially unviable. Therefore it is quite evident from the basic calculations that it is not profitable to run the theatre business with a specific and captive audience. Theatre needs mass marketing to make it commercially viable. PLACE The places where the theatre products are distributed need good acoustic arrangements, lighting facilities and pleasant ambience. Therefore theatre production houses rely heavily on a few select auditoriums. These auditoriums are generally run by government or small charitable trusts or some private hospitality organizations. Access to these places is limited to high end audiences who have taste for cultural products. The enduring audience for these places is mostly constituted by those who consume high art products and therefore theatre production houses that produce popular art products , stage them in available select places are not able to attract mass audience. High art audience does not attend such performances and thus creating a losing proposition for theatre production houses.

Product Place matrix The above shows the product place matrix for theatre productions. Following inferences can be deducted from product place matrix: High Art consumers are less and they reach accessible as well as inaccessible places for art consumption. Popular art consumers do not try to reach to inaccessible locations but will reach in high numbers to accessible locations.

STRATEGIES FOR THEATRE MARKETING It is a well accepted fact in marketing that if you have problems in more than 2 Ps of marketing mix then it surely means that the marketer does not understand the segment of consumers. In theatre marketing mix, it is evident that theatre production houses have serious problems with product, price, and promotion and place as well. The key strategies for effective theatre marketing are as follows: Correct segmentation of culture consumer for consumption of different forms of art. Based on the segmentation, the different sections of consumers should be targeted with specific theatre products and positioned in accessible locations. Cultural organizations such as theatre production houses or Government funded theatre schools should diffuse the boundary between high art and popular art. And theatre artist should produce theatre products related to popular art. Based on the cost of theatrical productions it is quite evident that it will be difficult to break even with existing high art audience, therefore theatre production houses shall make their products available at accessible places such as cinema complexes, shop-

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ping malls and other community places. Popular art lovers and high art lovers spend their time in public places such as mall and cinema complexes. The cultural organizations should partner with cinema complexes to stage the live performances in such places. The cinema complex owners like Fun cinemas, PVR, INOX etc should be contracted to spare at least one screen for live performance and promote theatrical products in such spaces. Theatre can become commercially viable by integrating mass marketing and mass consumption through low cost positioning, wide communication and deep distribution. India is home to various forms of theatre in different languages therefore a correct segmentation can help theatre become viable. Catch them young: All of us become a routine audience to film entertainment because we are exposed to it through television from childhood days and thus we become culturally habitual to it. Therefore a theatre culture needs to be cultivated in Indian society and this can be achieved by partnering with educational institutes. In western world, Theatre in education constitutes an integral part of educational curriculum, which helps in cultivating a strong theatre culture in the society. Theatre production houses, non profit organizations and Government shall introduce Theatre in education (T.I.E) as a compulsory subject in middle and senior school education. This will help in creating art awareness and art consumers in our society. Digital marketing: Theatrical products are plagued from poor distribution and access problems. One of the crucial issues related to theatre marketing is the booking of tickets. Recently in few select cities some theatre production houses have tied up with digital marketers to allow web based bookings but a large part of Indian theatre is untouched to digital marketing concept. Therefore a unified effort shall be raised to help theatre production houses to market their products digitally to art consumers.

Finally, it can be concluded that Indian theatre which exists in various forms in India has huge potential. It can be marketed to a mass audience if proper segmentation of high art consumers and popular art consumers is done. Digital marketing strategy coupled with accessible locations for staging live performances will help in attracting large number of audience in timely manner and thus make Indian theatre a commercially viable business. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author is thankful to the theater actors, directors and writers from Delhis National School of Drama, theatre production house ASMITA, Delhi, Rangashankara, Bangalore and Prithvi theatre, Mumbai, for the inputs provided.

Mukesh Sharma is currently pursuing his one year full time

MBA (EPGP) from IIM Bangalore. He has spent more than 10 years in automotive industry. He runs a non profit theatre group, Performer Group, in Delhi. He has acted, directed and produced various plays of social relevance in Delhi.

Marketing Jokes!!!
Two women were shopping. When they started to discuss their lives, one said, "Seems like all John and I do anymore is fight. I've been so upset I've lost 20 pounds." "Why don't you just leave him then?" asked her friend. "Oh! Not yet." the first replied, "I'd like to lose at least another fifteen pounds first." Marketing moral: Ya gotta have a goal! A retailer was dismayed when a competitor selling the same type of product opened next-door to him, displaying a large sign proclaiming "Best Deals." Not long after that, he was horrified to find yet another competitor move in next door, on the other side if his store. It's large sign was even more disturbing"Lowest Prices." After his initial panic, and concern that he would be driven out of business, he looked for a way to turn the situation to his marketing advantage. Finally, an idea came to him. Next day, he proudly unveiled a new and huge sign over his front door. It read, "Main Entrance!" The Difference Between Optimism, Pessimism & Marketing The Optimist says, "The glass is half full." The Pessimist says, "The glass is half empty." The Marketing Consultant says, "Your glass needs re-sizing."

CONCLUSION

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Neo-Political Marketing
Political marketing, simply put, is marketing designed to induce people to vote for a particular individual or a political party. It attempts to accomplish this by influencing citizens thoughts on various issues. Although political marketing uses many of the same concepts used in traditional marketing, it is different in the sense that ideas and concepts are sold in political marketing, rather than products and services. What is interesting to observe is the evolution of political marketing through the embrace of new technologies and distribution possibilities. In this article, we attempt to provide a sense of these changes. Different aspects of political marketing in the US are studied with emphasis on Barack Obamas widely lauded campaign. The corresponding aspects are analyzed in the Indian scenario as well, while attempting to understand the reasons for the differences observed. We also provide certain observations on whether the Indian politicians can take a leaf out of Obamas book. There are numerous examples to illustrate that Obamas campaign team understood the power of the new media, such as the citizen journalists. When one blogger asked to go to the media section at a Hillary Clinton rally in Boston he was turned away (because he was "not a real journalist") and had to cover it from the back of the crowd. In contrast, Obamas campaign brought him up to the media section where he was placed with print reporters from the major dailies and TV crews from the networks.

Obamas landslide victory in the recent US elections has brought forth the effectiveness of strategic, well -designed political marketing. Starting from the usage of an effectively delivered, consistent message across the different phases of the campaign, to leveraging the reach of modern technology in raising funds from millions of common people, Obama has perfectly demonstrated the art of implementing a successful marketing strategy. Though the Indian socio-political scenario is not exactly the same as the US, our politicians could surely benefit by taking a leaf or two out of Obamas book.

President Obama leveraged his website, user generated content, blogosphere and video games to engage not just the donors and volunteers but all the citizens. A trademark of Obamas campaign was his appeal to the undecided voters and uncommitted supporters through the Join Now campaign in his website. The use of social networking sites, especially MyBarackObama.com during the campaign as a message board for local rallies, a virtual phone bank INTERNET & OTHER MEDIA USAGE where Obama supporters could call Emerging media and social networks undecided voters in Pennsylvania are changing the rules of marketing. and a place to raise money. With Marketers across industries are slowly more than 2.6 million friends in beginning to understand the impor- Orkut and Facebook, the Obama tance of this new media. However, one campaign also capitalized on the well needs to realize that social media is known social networking sites. Such not changing the face of business mar- efforts were rewarded by the positive keting alone, but that of marketing it- buzz that Obama received in the bloself! Its effects can be felt far and wide, gosphere. For his efforts, Advertising and one of its most acclaimed applica- Age recently named Barack Obama tions was its use in Barack Obamas Marketer of the year, outperforming brands such as Nike and Apple. 2008 presidential campaign. Some reasons for Obamas success were his willingness to experiment with new communication tools and his understanding of the need for an evolving communication strategy. If President John F. Kennedy pioneered the use of speech writers and a shift to television, and President Ronald Reagan harnessed the power of television to communicate his messages, Barack Obamas team can be credited with pioneering the use of internet, social networking sites and mobile phones in a political campaign. However, Indian politicians too have not been far behind in their efforts. It was just 5 years back, in the 2004 general elections, that the internet was used for the first time in Indian politics. It started with the India Shining campaign of the BJP. Nearly 5% of the BJPs campaign budget was allocated to the e-campaign, for revamping its campaign website, pushing out text messages, prerecorded voice clips and emails to its database of 20 million email users

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and 20 million phone users, and offering campaign-related mobile ringtones for download. Though BJP lost the 2004 elections, the efforts can be considered to be successful as it set the stage for the use of advanced technologies in an election campaign. Since then, the demographic profile of Indias electoral base has changed and the usage of technology for attracting voters is increasingly being accepted by the masses. This time around, a number of politicians have launched their own websites. The list includes prominent politicians such as L K Advani (lkadvani.in) to lesser known names such as Vijay Kumar Malhotra (http:// vkmalhotra.in/) and Mr. Ananth Kumar (http://ananth.org/). According to the BJP, LK Advanis website has become very popular and receives over 250,000 hits per day. Advani is also on Facebook, Orkut and YouTube, while his colleague and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, uses tools such as podcasts, Twitter, Google SMS and widgets. Indian National Congress youth wing leader, Rahul Gandhi, has over 3,000 supporters on Facebook. The Advani@Campus initiative seeks to build a grassroots volunteer campaign to contact and mobilize young voters in thousands of college campuses across the country The leftist Communist Party of India (Marxist) is not too far behind either. Though the political party does not favor digital technologies (since it replaces human labor), it has shown a clear preference for cyberspace-enabled propaganda (vote.cpim.org) for their election strategy of 2009. The CPI(M) has even admitted that since 54% of the Indian voters are youngsters, the internet may be the best medium for reaching out to them. Parties have even gone to the extent of wooing those not residing in India, such as the website created by the Telugu Desam Party (http:// www.tdpuk.com) for U.K. based non-resident Indians. Indian National Congress has taken a step ahead of just promoting the party and has chosen to project India as one of the most technologically advanced nations. Through its Jai Ho video campaign, based on a song taken from the much acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire, Congress has shown the way to go for election campaigns in India. In terms of using technology as a means of garnering volunteer support in India, the Congress party, during the most recent election, had set up 50 internet kiosks in the State of Gujarat, to kick
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start the campaign and to register youth party members through the party website. The advantage of these campaigns lies in its cost-effectiveness. Traditionally, the urban youth have been known to shy away from elections. Now, the politicians have found a way to reach them without stretching their election budgets. Fortunately for them, these methods are slowly finding more acceptances from people who represent different walks of life. The youth leaders can convey their messages to a larger section of the masses and attract more audiences through social networking sites, internet sites and blogs. In the Indian context, the usage of internet kiosks can be made more effective, by having a vernacular medium of interaction and training programs can be conducted for the people who havent accessed the internet before. Sites similar to MyBarackObama.com, can be used to maintain a rapport with undecided voters. Also, given the increase in the number of bloggers in India, the opinion of citizen journalists about the party can help increase the number of volunteers, as more people would read and be influenced by microblogs. FUND RAISING Traditionally, fundraising for elections has majorly relied on industrialists and lobbyists. This applies both in the US and Indian contexts. Take for example, George Bushs fund raising campaign for the American presidential election in 2000. He successfully created a muscular network of bundlers (designated by him as Pioneers and Rangers), each of whom committed to bring in $100,000, $200,000, or more from friends and associates. These bundlers were typically highpowered CEOs and lobbyists. The Indian context is not very different. Apart from the significant portion of funding that comes through black money, a huge share comes from formal business funding. In fact,

the recent tax exemption to the corporate sector for political funding is expected to significantly raise the contribution from this sector and bring about higher transparency. In the
recent parliamentary elections, the major backers of the Congress party were the Aditya Birla group and the Tatas, while the BJP received substantial funding from the Sterlite group of Anil Agarwal and the

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Gujarat-based Adanis. In fact during the period of 2003-07, the two parties raised close to Rs. 53 crores through such sources. In this context, Obamas fund-raising strategy stands quite unique. Almost half of Obama's unprecedented $639 million in funds raised from individuals came from small donors giving $300 or less. The role of internet in Obamas fundraising cannot be overemphasized. The internet provided a quick, cheap and far less intimidating way of fund raising for political novices as compared to getting big cheques written. Notably, some of Obamas campaign groups had set up systems by which donors could have their credit cards billed automatically in easy-to-budget monthly amounts of as little as $20. The significance of Obamas viral fund raising wasn't just in driving up dollar totals. It is widely accepted that such a personal approach in massive fund-raising resulted in millions of donors feeling personally connected to Obama. They later turned into door knockers and phone bankers to support his campaign. There are very good lessons for Indian politicians in Obamas massive viral fund raising. There is a huge section of the Indian middle class that keeps itself aloof to politics. If our politicians are able to tap in to this segment, even funds of the order of Rs. 20 - 50 per household would result in a huge fund due to the sheer size of this electorate. But here we also need to pay specific attention to the Indian context. Unlike the US, internet penetration is quite low in India. So the parties need to think of other cost-effective means of fund raising. Mobile phones, with their rapidly growing penetration among the Indian middle-class, can be a good option. Political parties can probably enter into agreements with mobile service providers and raise funds through premium rate SMSes (the way reality television programs make people send premium rate SMSs to express their support to specific candidates in the show). MESSAGE STRATEGY There are two main parts to the success of Obamas message communication strategy. One is the content of the message and the other is the consistency of its delivery. The content of Obamas message was one of hope, change, and inclusion ideas that resonated with the majority of Americans reeling under a crisis of confidence both in the economy and in the nations identity in terms of its foreign policy. In spite of the fact that there were lots of issues where
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Obama could have attacked the incumbent government, he did not take up a negative campaign dwelling on just the opposition. Rather, policy details on how to achieve the change he sought to deliver formed the major focus of his campaign. However, he did not fall shy of attacking the incumbency and the opposition when it was needed. Consistency in message also played an important part in the success of Obamas campaign. This consistency was manifested across the various platforms of message delivery speeches, debates, infomercials, and blogs. Through this lesson in successful integrated marketing, he was able to achieve coherence in the minds of the public. In fact, marketing strategist David Meerman Scott recalls asking a group of 300 people in Riyadh to think about the one word that that they felt the Obama campaign stood for. The unanimous response from everyone was CHANGE. Had that exercise been repeated for John McCain, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Mitt Romney, it is fair to say that people would have had a hard time figuring out a word, let alone the word being the same. Even supposedly smaller aspects of the campaign such as the logo (shown in Exhibit 1 below) were used to communicate the same message to the public: the O standing for Obama, the blue and red colors used to represent the US flag, the red stripes indicating farmlands, and the Os whitespace symbolizing the sun shining over the plains evoking sunrise. On the other hand, as can be observed, there is very little symbolism present in the other candidates logos. On the contrary, in India, we find that there is both a lack of content and inconsistency in the messages communicated by most political parties. However, there is no dearth of vague symbolism attempting to bring together citizens and communities of diverse characteristics under a common umbrella. Consider the example of the BJP, whose purported aim is to bring in Ram Rajya (Rule of Ram). While such a concept draws upon mythology and peoples beliefs bringing to their mind some kind of a vision of an idealist society, it does not really say anything about the policies to be adopted by the party in any domain such as education or foreign policy. On the other hand, the Congress choice of the Aam Admi (Common Man) appears to be more appealing and in tune with how a vast majority of the voters perceive themselves. Consistency in the message conveyed at the national level is something that is seriously lacking. With the necessities of coalition politics and rise of regional players, a

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partys message and what it stands for often gets lost in the scramble for power. This was witnessed during the run-up to the 2009 election results as each party, from small to the large, kept their options open. As Shekhar Gupta puts it, we have entered an age of ideological fungibility. While it is not fair to criticize this and probably irrelevant to compare with the Obama campaign (very different political systems and socio-economic structures), it does appear probable that the confusing messages and inconsistency between what is conveyed and what is done to take advantage of short-term benefits will only result in diluting and alienating the supporter base of a party and erode its brand value. The marketing story of the Obama campaign as well as those of the other aspiring politicians in India and the United States can be considered to be immensely successful, irrespective of them winning or losing. This is because of the increasing application of technology and marketing concepts in a field like politics, which has a lower preference among the MBA graduates, at least in India. However, there is still a long way to go before we can start talking about having branded politicians and parties which command a huge brand value!!

Thirteen amazing facts about Google

Google receives daily search requests from all over the world, including Antarctica. Googles Home Page Has 63 Validation Errors. Dont believe us? Check Google Validation The infamous Im feeling lucky button is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button. Due to the sparseness of the homepage, in early user tests they noted people just sitting looking at the screen. After a minute of nothingness, the tester intervened and asked Whats up? to which they replied We are waiting for the rest of it. To solve that particular problem the Google Copyright message was inserted to act as a crude end of page marker. The name Google was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for Googol. Google has the largest network of translators in the world. Employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model. Google consists of over 450,000 servers, racked up in clusters located in data centres around the world. Google started in January, 1996 as a research project at Stanford University, by Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were 24 years old and 23 years old respectively. Googol is a mathematical term 1 followed by one hundred zeroes. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasne. Number of languages in which you can have the Google home page set up, including Urdu, Latin and Klingon: 88 (Eighty Eight) Google translates billions of HTML web pages into a display format for WAP and i-mode phones and wireless handheld devices.

Abhilash Sridharan is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Bangalore. He holds a Bachelors degree in Metallurgical Engineering from IT-BHU Varanasi and can be reached at abhilashsr08@iimb.ernet.in.

Arun Manohar is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Bangalore.

He holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and can be reached at arun.manohar08@iimb.ernet.in.

Venkatasubramanian S is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM

Bangalore. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from CEG, Anna University and can be reached at venkatas08@iimb.ernet.in.

Vivek R is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Bangalore. He holds

a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from College of Engineering, Anna University and can be reached at vivekr08@iimb.ernet.in.

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Strategic marketing for Educational Institutions

Apart from a few conspicuous exceptions, the answer to all the above questions lies in one simple word, education. And hardly anyone would disagree with me when I say that it holds much more prominence in the Indian context. Yes, thats true. Throughout your lifetime, education is one of the most important things, rather the most important at some occasions, which goes on in your mind either consciously or subconsciously. Our parents spend their lifetime earning with their sweat and blood to ensure a decent and possibly the best education for us. But does the role of education as an economic agent limit itself at the educational institutes only? Lets just have a quick look around us before we jump to a conclusion. Or lets just turn on our Television sets. And ahoy!!! We are flooded with companies providing services like education loans, child life insurance and many more. So, I guess we can safely assume that education as an economic agent goes much beyond the primitive concept of schools and universities. Now that we have established the importance of education as a self sustaining and most importantly, a supporting agent to other industries and services, lets just contemplate what exactly the education sector is doing for its own popularity or publicity. But before we critically examine and draw conclusion in the later part of this article, I would request the readers to treat education as just another industry. By saying this, we in no way are trying to undermine the importance of teachers and our Alma Mater in our lives. We will always be indebted to them for what we are today. But my request will lead us to a logical and thoughtful analysis of strategic marketing in the education sector. Monastic orders of education under the supervision of a guru was a favored form of education for the nobility in ancient India. The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform. The priest class, the Brahmins, were imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, were trained in the various aspects of warfare.The business class, the Vaishya, were taught their trade and the lowest class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages.The book of laws, the Manusmriti, and the treatise on statecraft the Arthashastra were among the influential works of this era which reflect the outlook and understanding of the world at the time. Apart from the monastic orders, institutions of higher learning and universities flourished in India well before the common era, and continued to deliver education into the common era. Secular Buddhist institutions cropped up along with monasteries. These institutions imparted practical education, eg. medicine. A number of urban learning centres became increasingly visible from the period between 200 BCE to 400 CE. The important urban centres of learning were Taxila and Nalanda, among others. These institutions systematically imparted knowledge and attracted a number of foreign students to study topics such as logic, grammar, medicine, metaphysics, arts and crafts. Following independence in 1947, Maulana Azad, India's first education minister envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system. The next big breakthrough in the education sector came with the privatization of education in India. Along came a new wave of colleges mushrooming through the length and breadth of the country. Education as an industry was seeing a new dawn with some big corporate names entering the arena. This was essentially the time when the need of differentiation arose.

We start this article with a few obvious yet interesting questions. What was the first thing that came to the minds of your parents when you were a 4 year old toddler playing around expertly with the Lego building set gifted to you by your aunt? What was the most important question facing your family when you had set foot in class Xth or XIIth? And going by the current trends, what was on the top of your mind when you were in your final year of graduation?

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The need to provide students with a cause/ motivation to join college ABC instead of the competitors XYZ was what propelled the education sector to turn towards big time advertisement in electronic, print and other modes of mass media. And now, education is a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ever more creative ways to satisfy student needs and preferences. With the continuing rise in the preference for flexible distance learning, educational institutions are finding that when students and faculty have significantly different cultural backgrounds and learning styles, the expectations of the learning experience can be unfulfilled. But when you see education as an industry, the main questions that come up are: How far are educational institutions really customer-oriented? Do they choose the most appropriate market segments for their organizations strengths? Is there consistency between the segments targeted and their product offerings? How far are they aware of the complexities of the decision processes of the buyers? Is it appropriate for educational institutions to become marketing-oriented? So in the light of the above questions lets now analyse the different possibilities in the education sector where marketing can be applied to get favourable results. The main sectors picked are foreign education setup and distance learning programs. The first sector we pick up is the foreign education sector. According to the latest statistics, 2.2 million students study abroad worldwide and the numbers are estimated to grow beyond 3.72 million by 2025 (IDP, 2007 forecast). The leading 3 destinations for international students reap in excess of USD 45bn$ annually. But dont let these mind boggling figures confuse you. Being truly international is no longer an option. Positioning and focus in a competitive environment, creating and investing in assets to support internationalisation, global partnerships and alliances and creating a brand dialogue with the students are a few among many initiatives of the foreign universities. The traditional marketing approach was primarily based on the focus of sales, globetrotT HE LOOK ING GLASS

ting by sales representatives and agents, scholarships & use of alumni. Amidst all this little or no attention was paid to the quality of infrastructure inline with the need of international students in the home university. However, this approach is now facing many problems, some of which include increased competition from the national (& not only international players) and a focus on the students demands with increasingly available choices and information. Hence, to change this we require a resource demanding transformation process. The foreign universities need to rethink their strategies and invest in quality infrastructure, staff and facilities. Also, with an increasing number of international universities offering similar courses at similar prices at multiple locations, the threat of commoditization of education looms large. The pertinent question which the foreign universities must ask themselves is can they differentiate themselves on the student experience instead of qualification? The answers to all these questions have been found out by the foreign universities in the following ways: Going alone is becoming increasingly difficult so renewed focus on partnerships and collaborations Growth of private sector provision and transfer of provisions from public sector to private sector Joint venture ships public-private partner-

Renewed focus on experience, reliability, safety and employability of foreign students Interoperability- credits and recognition between home universities and foreign institutions Improving the cultural outlook of the universities Focus on networking through internet like social networking sites

Moving on, lets study the application of marketing principles, to the educational institutes, through the very famous 4P approach and analyse what can be their differentiating factors : -

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PRODUCT Some authors suggest that education is a product. For example; Kaye suggests looking at distance education as a product instead efficiently use our resources, the needs of the student/ consumer should be assessed. By doing so, we can learn from the students and then apply that knowledge to attract future students while meeting the needs and improving upon the services offered to the current students. The products have a different name, logo, colour and physical attributes. We can say that distance education institution is a brand and a brand is a way of differentiating one product from another; the greater the perceived similarity of products, the more important the brand in establishing the differences. Some schools will clearly feel that they are different from others, or that the market perceives differences, which makes it less important for them to establish their corporate identity. PRICE This concept embodies more than a value that someone will pay for it. The meaning associated with price changes is contextual. Institutions have different pricing policies and all institutions compete against each other to increase their application and enrolment rates. Pricing policies will impact student choice between institutions. PLACE It is a means of getting the product into the consumers hands. The personality of the place sends messages to the target audience. The vehicle which is used to reach the students can be a physical location or a virtual space where the connection speed of internet used, e-mail, can serve as a differentiating mechanism. PROMOTION Promotion is a means of communication between the seller and buyer. It includes advertising, public relations, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotions. If one higher education institution wants to enrol more students than other, it will need to use corporate advertising or engage in activities that create a liaison between the students and the institutions. Publicity provides media coverage to the institutions and visibility can create confidence about an institutions reputation and quality perceptions.

Moving on to the last section of the article, we shall see the future of marketing techniques in the educational set up. The first point we consider here is the referral system of marketing which though has been used for quite some time, finds an increased relevance in the current scenario. As more and more foreign universities are wooing students of Indian origin to pursue courses offered by them, referral marketing may be an Innovative tool in their marketing efforts. For this we should be well conversed with the concepts of relationship marketing. Relationship marketing, as the name suggests, means developing long-term bonds with users by making them feel good about how an institution of higher education relates to them. The idea is to develop and maintain strong personal relationships, feelings based on positive interactions and perceptions. In many ways relationship building and maintenance is the essence of marketing. The marketing exchange process is used to build and maintain positive relationships with continuity and consistency. A good way to begin relationship marketing is to build concentrated core groups of key target audiences and focus attention on that group, with the idea of creating a "ripple effect" as members of that group help carry the school's messages to their friends, associates and colleagues. Referral marketing i.e., making use of existing students to canvass for potential students is being practiced by foreign universities. The existing students are perceived as important among stake holders. Hence, the concept of referral marketing can be a boon for the Indian educational set ups which are struggling to retain their students in the wake of increased foreign competition. So much is the importance of marketing in the educational set ups that there have been research papers about quantifying the demand forecast in the future. I would like to wrap up this article by a simple yet powerful quotation : marketing is not about trickery or even insincerity, its about spreading ideas you believe in, sharing ideas you are passionate about, and doing it with authenticity. Its important to realize thats it is easier to grow with happier people than it is to find new strangers to accost -Seth Godin

Mafla Mudgal is a 1st year PGDM student at IIM Calcutta. He

holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and can be reached at maflam2011@email.iimcal.ac.in

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Welcome to Marketing, the third epoch!

The first epoch of marketing was the most stretched. The early seeds of our profession were laid somewhere in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and continued till the early part of the last century. This was the period when products started being invented to meet basic human needs the electric bulb, the motorized car, the safety pin and thus set the stage for elementary definitions. This era was also completely product centric, and focused on manufacturing a car provided transportation, a bulb light and so on. Much of marketing revolved around ensuring the transfer of the good from the manufacturer to the user and all the elementary functions required to make it a success, including availability and communication. In India, we experienced this era much after independence given the overall shortages and a nascent manufacturing industry being set up. The second epoch of marketing saw many success stories through the late 19th and most of the 20th century. This epoch also saw the transition of marketing from selling products to establishing brands. The advent of more players saw the resultant increase in options, and led to the need for differentiation. It could be in terms of the rational like form, feature, cost, shape, size, color or even in terms of irrational, emotional, psychological attributes. The holy portals of most marketing theories, philosophies and frameworks as we know it today were built for this era. You thus had the 4 Ps of marketing, defined your target segment and build a brand positioning statement and tried to build consumer loyalty. This period actually saw the maturing of marketing thought into an important field of theory and practice from both academicians and business. The progress of fast moving consumer goods like soap, tooth-paste, detergent etc provide a graphic representation of the evolution of the second epoch of marketing. Even today, many marketers continue to derive succor from the building blocks of
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We are in the middle of a great revolution in marketing deed and corresponding thought. I must admit it was a struggle not to call this Marketing 3.0. However, this sobriquet has already been usurped by many marketing scholars and practitioners of the current era to define different aspects and offshoots of internet led marketing. I am not going to suggest that all marketing in the current era is equal to internet marketing (though much of it is related to the internet in some way or the other), and thus the need to stay away from the debate of Marketing 3.0. Instead the heralding of the third era of marketing! To reach the tenets of the current era, it is important to give a quick dekho into the past from my perspective and that will also help lay the evolutionary path.

this era. ,Some of it leading to micro - segmentation, and consequently brands making that extra effort to establish consumer connect, and moving from the rational to the irrational and then beyond. This leads us to the third epoch of marketing. What is it? When did it start? Was it the advent of the internet? Ill address the questions in reverse. As I said at the start, no this is not just about the internet and internet marketing. The advent of the internet was perhaps the catalyst for change and accelerated the transition of marketing from the previous era. Infact, as often said the internet is to the 21st century what electricity was to the 20th. The ground-work of this marketing era had thus started a couple of decades earlier and we are now in the midst of it. This epoch is all about Experience Marketing. This epoch marks the demise of classical marketing thought, and instead brings to the forefront multiple possibilities in the sphere of marketing. There are three different vectors of change in this epoch, best represented as the evolutions across consumer expectations, customization and computer or technology innovation. Consumer behavior and expectations have changed dramatically over the last few decades. Today consumers are (always) accessible, connected, demanding, empowered, intelligent, skeptical and even vengeful. They lack patience, have no loyalty and are pressed for time. They dont wish to be interrupted, sold to or campaigned any more. The basis of products, brands and thereby marketing has changed completely. The old and dated concepts dont hold any more. A brand has to be creative, engaged and hopefully relevant. This epoch continues to question the gospels of marketing thought. As one of the senior managers of this company put it: What happens to the principle of 4Ps of marketing, if three out of the four Ps are zero? The brand and company in question? Google! Their products are free, the

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Epoch Time-Period Marketing Focus Proposition Appeal Association Life-cycle

First 1760 1850 Product Functionality Rational Availability Eternal

Second 1850 - 1980 Brand Differentiation Emotional Loyalty Long

Third 1980 till today Experience Engagement Sensory Commitment Ephemeral

company doesnt really advertise and there isnt any specific placement of its products. This epoch of marketing is based on a foundation of technology, and the immense possibilities that technology can enable. And the internet provided the catalyst for bringing these possibilities to the vast multitude of humanity in the best, fastest and most impactful manner. The onset of this era is perhaps best reflected with the emergence of a brand whose experience can't be equated with any sensory aspect touch, feel, hear, see or taste. An ingredient brand which signifies trust and reliability, and a promise of technology innovation. And a brand which has constantly stood as guarantor of break-through computing performance. The brand in question? Yes, Intel. The Intel brand has created the worlds best known, longest ever and most extensive co-operative marketing campaign Intel Inside and its signature bong is heard every minute, somewhere in the world! In todays era the marketplace has become cluttered with a plethora of choices. At the same time consumer demands have evolved to a level of soya milk froth free decaf latte granularity. Technology innovation is the driving force behind this accelerated evolution. And there are technology tools which help marketers meet this role. Customization and personalization is de rigueur for a brand to stand out amongst the clutter. Though marketing has to be noninvasive, the brand has to still attempt engagement and interaction with the consumer. Today, consumers expect their brands to be honest, transparent, socially conscious, environmentally friendly, participative, co-operative etc and in return they reward you with their time, attention and hopefully, their money. This has to be unobtrusive, responsible, apolitical and still impactful. Today, brands shouldnt seek loyalty, but instead hope that they can interest and engage the consumer and thereby win their commitment. In other words, in this era the one who stands out (and it could be a brand, product or service and more likely a combination of all the three) is one which is able to engage with customers in a holistic manner appealing to their senses and thereby establishing an emotional connect with them. The brand experience
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is what it does, where it fits in ones life and most importantly how it makes you feel. Many brands are redefining their framework from being a packaged good to a complete service. Personal products brands moving onto personal care are one end and Luxury brands extending their portfolio to provide a range of accessories and accruements is another. This is the new realm of marketing. And as marketers we need to define what really we wish to create in order to make an impact here. We therefore need to figure out a complete engagement plan with the consumer appealing across different touch points, and to multiple senses. We need to provide a holistic experience which communicates the tenets of the brand and expect the consumer to thus connect with it, and hopefully when she needs spend time or money to acquire it. The Marketing Epochs if tabulated across different brand elements would look like the table shown. Above.

Mr.Prakash Bagri is currently Director of Marketing, Intel South

Asia. We, as editors of this digest, are thankful to Mr.Prakash, an expert with more than a decade of marketing experience, for sharing his industry insights on the evolution and future of marketing.

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Sidestepping the Commoditization of Disruptive Innovations

We live in a world today, where every organization is constantly on the lookout for means to differentiate itself from the others that comprise its industry; for ways to achieve sustainable competitive advantage; and in very, very simple terms, for ways to survive. In this milieu, one often comes across strokes of genius, which in the blink of an eye, set a particular market player apart from the crowd; and in the process, redefine the way business is done, and even looked at in that industry. An event of such a scale and scope, is often what one would call a disruptive innovation. Todays business environment is characterized by intense competition, directed primarily at the basic need to survive. In such times, firms continuously watch out for avenues by which to gain competitive advantage over other industry players. Disruptive innovation, referring to a concept that can radically alter the trajectory of the industry itself, is an attractive alternative for firms. However, we consider the next phase wherein these very innovations could get commoditized, with more players engaging in similar endeavours. We look at the factors that could help prevent such a phenomenon, and the means to effectively leverage upon the marketing function. A disruptive innovation is one which breaks the continuing stream of incremental i mprovements an d changes, to radically alter the development, and very conception of said product/service/industry. And as is the case with any mine that strikes gold, this newly irresistible area becomes the hotspot for all firms considered worth their salt. In industries unlike Pharmaceuticals, where a concrete protection mechanism (read Patents and the like) is absent, the competitors are quick to replicate the product/service/model, with augmentations inherent to their respective firms. Thus, what had been a breath of fresh air to consumers a week back, is suddenly spreading all around, and halfway to becoming the next homogeneous commodity. And with that of course, over time the idea loses its initial sheen, wearing itself off from overuse and exploitation. Economists and game theorists would refer to this phenomenon of decaying valuation as Tragedy of the commons or Decreasing marginal profitability, both of which symptomize the winding trails of commoditization. And it is here, that we endeavour to step in, and if not devise a way out of this piece of oft repeated history, then at least sit down with it, and get to know it better! Marketing as a function plays a key role in the effective delivery of any value proposition, be it a product, service or in any form for that matter. After the core operation, it is marketing that ensures that the target consumer segments are reached; and that the external gaps in value delivery are minimized. Given the significance of marketing, we would look at the core issue through two viewpoints: 1) Managing innovations in the marketing domain, so as to be able to derive sustainable competitive advantage from them. 2) Capitalizing on core innovations by leveraging upon a sound, directed marketing campaign. Coming first to marketing innovations, one can readily observe that the marketing strategies adopted by a firm should be determined to a great extent by the existing brand perception that it enjoys. Discounting cases of deliberate image makeovers (which entail a separate, dedi-

cated campaign altogether), one can see that a gauche mismatch between

the brands identity and the new offering portrayal can lead to undesired confusion and ambiguity in the impressionable consumer psyche. Thus, due consideration to this factor, and adequate preparedness for the same is necessary to ensure that an ingenious innovation does not backfire, and then to make matters worse, play straight into the hands of the more suave competitors. Coming to the issue of commoditization with respect to disruptive innovations, we can see from the very outset, that such a mass replication is possible only when the entry barriers for such an introduction are either too low, or easy to transcend. Thus if a retail chain were to offer a drastic 70% off Sale once a month, then it alone would not serve the purpose of truly differentiating it in a sector growing at a frenetic pace.

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Put another way, if such an initiative is not backed with the requisite supply chain and sourcing efficiencies, it wont be long before the firm starts to bleed. And to make matters worse, other more lean competitors could then launch a similar programme, only more aggressively and credibly positioned to deliver. To take the previous example one level higher, there might be a phase where all industry players are more or less in similar phases of maturity and efficiency. In such a case, a soundly backed discount sale initiative would be easily replicable, and this could over time lead to a flood of such offerings, and even to the consumer growing increasingly indifferent to them. When such a stage is reached, it is the beginning of the end of the value for what had once been a unique innovation; the commoditization has kicked in.

source comes to the fore, as a point for potential differentiation: the people in the firm. Thus, it may be seen, that often it is the firms human resources that form the core of its marketing strategy, highlighting how the people contribute to adding unique value to the
particular firm. Examples of this strategy abound, from Intels Superstars, to Googles famed 20% time policy. And with this, strategically aligned HR processes enter the fray for sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, to conclude, one may note that disruptive innovations by themselves, developed on an unsustainable model can never be of use to a firm. On the contrary, such an effort shall more often than not end up being in the firms detriment. Further, such endeavors must be based on fundamentals that are intrinsically hard to replicate for others. Finally, the marketing strategies should be designed in a way that does not conflict with the image of the firm, and if it is aimed at a repositioning, then it needs to be adequately armed.

Thus, to counter the forces that lead to a collective exploitation of an idea that an enterprising firm brings to the market, the firm in question must ensure that there is more going for it than just the first-movers advantage. That is, the innovation must be rooted in something that is quintessential to the firm, like its unique work culture, leadership vision or even something more tangible like restricted access to sources/ suppliers. Further, it must be noted that if such a commoditization were to indeed take place, then it is not only a loss for the firm that introduced the concept, but more significantly it is an opportunity lost for the industry as a whole. And the solution to this problem is not to form a cartel and fleece the pennies out of a society slowly starting to walk on its aspiring, middle class feet; rather, firms would need to constantly innovate in a manner that accords to each one of them a niche pocket through which to grow, overlap and compete. With time, consolidation is inevitable in a fragmented industry, and in the case of one that is concentrated, one can then look forward to epic marketing battles, a la the Cola wars. In either case, firms would be required to dig deep and come up with some one thing that is unique in them.

Anand Justin Cherian is a 2nd year student of IIM Calcutta, specializing in Behavioral Sciences and Systems. He holds a Bachelors degree in Information Technology Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology. In his free time, he likes blogging, painting and photography. He can be reached at anandj2010@email.iimcal.ac.in.

Varun is a 2nd year student of IIM Calcutta, specializing in

Marketing. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi college of Engineering. Prior to joining IIM Calcutta he has worked with IBM and Royal Bank of Scotland, for a total of 3 years. He can be reached at varun2010@email.iimcal.ac.in.

Sarang Shahane is a 2nd year student of IIM Calcutta, specializing in Marketing and Finance. He holds a Bachelors degree in Information Technology Engineering from NIT Durgapur. Prior to joining IIM Calcutta he has worked with Amdocs Ltd for nearly 2 years. He can be reached at sarangs2010@email.iimcal.ac.in.

In this regard, when it comes to differentiating yourself, especially in an industry where the core product/service is easily commoditized (low cost airlines, retail etc.), one essential reT HE LOOK ING GLASS

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Sales Role in Fixed Income Securities Market

A brief background of the market The market for fixed-income securities issued by Indian companies is limited and illiquid. The liquidity falls exponentially below the highest investment grades. Hence the most active sellers of these securities are large Indian corporates with good credit ratings. The largest and active buyers are mutual funds, insurance companies, government agencies like LIC, IFCI, IDBI, UTI, EXIM, etc. Smaller buyers include PE firms, specialized banks, etc. The liquidity in this market also depends on the issuer and the sector of the issuer. For example, debentures issued by manufacturing companies with assets as collateral are preferred and need to pay lesser interest than those by IT services companies. The deals are arranged by brokers like Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, ICICI, etc. in the OTC market. They are in touch with both the buyers and issuers of such securities throughout the year and work to service individual client needs. However since a number of brokers are active, there is significant competition in this arena. Usually, the only criteria used for choosing between competing brokers is the price they negotiate for their clients. The quickest broker to provide an acceptable price wins the deal. Clearly, the way to win as a broker is via superior sales strategies. So how do you differentiate? Information asymmetry The sales manager for Nirma uses the power of his brand to sell his product while a Big Bazaar uses the volume of sales as a tool to offer lower prices and entice buyers. Here, information is the salespersons biggest sales tool. Being an OTC market, there is significant information asymmetry and it is very important to be well aware and well connected. By performing market information dissemination, brokers perform a service for their clients in hope of getting business. They perform price discovery for each security and negotiate an agreement to pocket a commission. Through their intimate knowledge of client preferences and history, they perform number of additional value added services like connecting preferred sellers to issuers, providing kickbacks on older deals, doling out favors, disseminating market information to clients, etc. Personal relations This is an important differentiate which helps clinch deals. Trust by your clients in your evaluation of the market will get you business. This is developed by knowing your clients well and being able to read what they do not say. For example, there can be very different meanings when person A says that It looks difficult to do this deal than when person B says it. If person A was a Japanese, it would mean a refusal to do the deal while if person B was American, it would mean an interest in negotiating further. Knowing your client is how this difference can be judged. Personalized service By understanding the needs of the issuer and customer a priori, brokers can signal a personal interest in the business of the clients. For example, brokers track when a large commercial paper (CP) issue bought by client XYZ from issuer ABC is about to expire. As a result, they can proactively ask ABC if they would like to again raise money by issuing a fresh CP two weeks before the maturity. Simultaneously they can track what XYZ intends to do with the inflow of money at maturity and if they can fix up a deal with another issuer. They can perform superior price discovery, work faster to sell securities and clinch deals without too many competitors even

Sales jobs and financial wizardry jobs conjure up very different images in our mind. However there is a confluence where one needs to use skills needed by both these job roles when you work as salesperson for fixed income securities. What roles and challenges does the nascent Indian market provide? And how do you successfully establish yourself as a good salesperson? The author shares his experiences and learning acquired while working as an analyst with Merrill Lynch this summer.

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coming to know of the deal. Also, by knowing the urgency of the situation and more information than competing broker, one can get a better deal covenants, spread positive reviews of the clients and enhance or tarnish their image. Employing these three strategies can consistently get you deals and clients in this market and help you become a successful securities salesperson.

Siddharth Chaudhari is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT,
Bombay and can be reached at 8chaudharis@iimahd.ernet.in

QUIZ ANYONE??
1. Geophysical Services Incorporated (GSI) a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry during and after World war II, made a foray into electronics and designed products for the US army and navy. How is the company today better known as? 2. Karl Elsener, the founder, started this company to create work in the sparsely industrialized central Switzerland. In 1897 the product was created and legally registered in the small village of Ibach. Since that time it has become well -known in more than 100 countries for precision, quality, functionality and versatility. Name the product and company. 3. Living in the crowded streets of Old Delhi, Davinder Kumar Jain, understood the potential of the pen manufacturing way back in the early 1960s. At the age of just 19, DK started producing fountain pens, a writing instrument that deeply fascinated him, thus laying the foundation of the largest manufacturer of writing instruments in India. Identify the company/brand. 4. Originally called New Lord & Company, this company was born as a small tailoring shop in the year 1947. A couple of years later, it was bought over by Mr Arjan Daswani. Under the aegis of Daswani, the company transformed itself into a mega shirt store. Today, its one of the established names in the Indian fashion industry and claims for bringing international acclaim to Indian tailor craftsmanship. Which brand/company is being talked about? 5. The enterprise could be considered to have started in 1901 when William aged 21,drew up plans for a small engine that displaced 7.07 cubic inches and had four-inch flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedalbicycle frame. Over the next two years William and his friend Arthur labored on their little bicycle. What company was founded by William and Arthur? 6. This company, originally known as Standard Oil of California, or Socal, and was formed amid the antitrust breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. It was one of the "Seven Sisters" that dominated the world oil industry during the early 20th century. It is now one of the worlds six supermajor oil companies and the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world. 7. The way in which Frank Robinson wrote the name of a product was so elegant and original, it was decided to use his handwriting for the logo of the product. Name the product that even today uses Robinsons script as its trademark. 8. After serving in the subscription department and as a copywriter for Esquire, he left in January 1952 after being denied a $5 raise. Took his biggest gamble in 1953 by raising $8,000 to launch his business venture. Made an appearance on a popular TV series. Has a species of rabbit named after him and is known as one of the worlds bestknown womanizers. 9. Born on June 7, 1975, she did her schooling from Bombay Scottish School and later on joined Mithibai College. She was not interested in academics and ventured into television at the age of 19. Soon changed the face of Indian television industry and completely dominated it. Awarded with Ernst & Young (E&Y) Startup Entrepreneur Of The Year award in 2001. Answers
1. Texas Instruments; 2. Victorinox (Original Swiss Knife); 3. Luxar Pens; 4. Chirag Din; 5. Harley Davidson Motor Cycles; 6. Chevron; 7. Coca Cola; 8. Hugh Hefner; 9. Ekta Kapoor

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Valuation of TV Advertising
The slowdown in the Indian economy has meant that more and more firms are looking to control expenditures seen as unnecessary and adding little value. For most firms, its the promotional and advertising budgets that get hit first. In such a scenario, managers need to justify their advertising spends and meet required advertising ROI targets. This calls for an accurate way of measuring advertising effectiveness. Effectiveness is essentially measured through the advertising mediums reach. For TV, advertisers want their ad to be seen and hence the task is to find the cost of reaching an eyeball. The primary indicator used in TV advertising deals is Cost per rating point or CPRP. Another parameter, Cost per thousand impressions or CPT may also be used. The following terms will be useful to understand the valuation of ad deals. Universe The Total/Actual number of people in a defined target audience. TV rating points (TRPs) These are measured by audience measurement agencies like Television Audience Measurement (TAM) and these help to express the viewership for programming on television in numerical terms. TRPs take into account two factors: 1. Reach- The number of viewers for a particular program 2. Time Spent- The amount of time spent by these viewers watching the program Example: Consider the universe to be made up of 4 viewers A, B, C and D. The following shows the viewership details for a TV program. Person A B C D Time Spent 6 0 8 5 TRPs= TRPs= 47.5% or 47.5 TRPs This is can be construed in two ways: 1. 47.5% of the target audience watched the program for its entire duration (i.e.10 mins). 2. The entire target audience watched the program for 47.5% of the program duration. The first meaning suggests that TRPs give the percentage of the target audience that has been reached by a program and hence also reached by the ads shown in the program slot. Gross rating points (GRPs) GRPs represent the sum of all TRPs achieved in a period. Hence, GRPs are not program-specific and can be calculated for a diverse set of TV programs. Cost per rating point (CPRP) CPRP represents how much it would cost to deliver one target rating point, or 1% of target audience, i.e. a TRP of 1%. That is, CPRP represents the price charged by a TV channel from an advertiser to deliver a TRP of 1%. In the Indian TV industry, this CPRP is for a 10 second slot during a program. Cost per (CPT) thousand impressions

The author stresses the importance of advertising effectiveness in the face of tighter promotional and advertising budgets. Advertising effectiveness of a medium is primarily measured through its reach, that is, how many of the companys target customers the medium reaches, and for how long. A system of metrics is discussed, one that focuses on calculating the cost of reaching one intended eyeball. The article explains how ad deals between TV channels and advertisers are valued based on these metrics. The author then compares CPRP and CPT and explains how using one method over another may be advantageous based on whether one is a marketer or a TV channel.

It is the cost of delivering a thousand impressions. For example, a viewer watching a 10-second slot in which an ad is shown would be one impression. Minutes Available 10 10 10 10

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Valuation of an ad deal A television channel has an estimate of the ad inventory that it wants to sell in a year (or more). This ad inventory refers to the total ad time it can sell, say 10000 hours in a year. The channel sells a portion of this inventory to advertisers in long-term deals of 1 year (3 year deals are less common). The channel promises the advertiser a specific number of GRPs that it will deliver during that one year and the advertiser is charged a price for these GRPs. Value of the deal= CPRP X GRPs X total number of slots Each of these slots is of 10 seconds. The issues that form the focus of the negotiations are the number of GRPs and the CPRP. If the slots sold by the TV channel fail to provide the promised GRPs, the TV channel compensates by giving the advertiser bonus time, i.e. ad slots free of cost. If instead, more than the promised GRPs are delivered, the advertiser would have to pay some extra for the extra GRPs. These details are thrashed out in intense negotiations between channels and advertisers. Calculating CPT The cost per thousand impressions is an indicator of the absolute reach of the TV medium. It is calculated as follows: CPT= total value of the deal/ number of people reached (in thousands) Since 1 TRP means that 1% of the target audience is reached, the total number of people reached can be found out using the universe size. Number of people reached= TRPs X universe size Whats the right metric- CPRP or CPT? It depends on whose point of view we consider. Most deals today are done using CPRP as the measurement metric. TV channels claim that this system of valuation is unfair since CPRP is based on rating points, which indicate only percentages of the target audience reached. Considering that the target audience watching these channels is increasing in absolute terms, more people have to be reached by the TV channels to get the same TRPs. TV channels are thus demanding a shift to using CPT in negotiating ad deals with advertisers.

Marketing Gyan!!
Canned beer was first introduced in 1933, in New Jersey. The types of horses that have been utilized to name Ford automobile products are Bronco, Mustang, Pinto, and Maverick. The first supermarket was located on Long Island, Jamaica Station, New York. The King Kullen Store was a product of the Great Depression era and supermarkets have evolved tremendously. The products were set out on pine boards resting on boxes. McDonald's first restaurant was located in Des Plaines, Illinois. It opened on April 15, 1955. Drive-through service was initiated in McDonald's stores in 1975. Today, it is featured at almost every unit that also has parking. The first television commercial appeared on July 6, 1941. It was a commercial for Bulova watches. The Romans had a goddess, Juno Moneta, who was the goddess of Warning. She warned the Romans of dangers. The Romans were so appreciative that they set up a mint in her temple. The name Moneta in the old French language was "moneie" which eventually became our word for money. McDonald brothers' names are Maurice and Richard. They owned a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Nike was the ancient Greek goddess of victory. Dilated pupils are a good indicator of excitement. When training salespeople they can be taught to use indicators of product interest by looking at their customers pupils. B.M.W stands for "Bayerische Motor Werke 7 Up was invented by C.L. Grigg and was named as 7 Up since it contains '7 natural flavors' and carbonation.

Amogh Bhole is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad. He

holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering from VJTI, Bombay and can be reached at 8bholea@iimahd.ernet.in

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Ogilvy & Mather Trivia

1. The Asian Paints The Asian Paints Exterior Emulsion campaign sought to upgrade cement paint users, in a traditionally low involvement category. O&M leveraged the brand's interior equity and its association with beauty benefits to position its exteriors portfolio as Time Proof Beauty paint The brand grew by 43% and the sign off "Badhiya Hai!" has become part of popular consumer lexicon. 2. Center shock Before the launch of Center Shock, the confectionery market in India was on the road to decline. Within the confectionery market , the chewing gum segment was showing a 23 % decline. (AC Nielsen Report). Under these circumstances Perfetti India Ltd. decided to launch a product that would "shake up the market". The most startling facet of the product, Center Shock, is its sour tastein fact, sour beyond exceptional. So much so that it shakes you up. The creative challenge was not just to communicate this in a manner that establishes this beyond doubt for the young audience, but also to make it memorable. And above all, shake them up. The central thought of the campaign, "shakes you up", was taken forward in on-ground promotions and media innovations. As a result of this campaign, Center Shock went from being a "no brand" to the No.1 brand in the chewing gum category As a result of the campaign, 19 districts reported over 50% booth coverage after February round; 2.8 million children were immunized in January and additional 6 million in February, as compared to November 2002 round. Over 90% respondents reported that the Amitabh spots were a major influence in motivating them to come to the booth. 4. Sprite The clear lime drink Sprite stands for honesty, confidence and simplicity. They needed to connect with the teen and make the brand aspirational. This was done by positioning Sprite as the No Pretence drink - clear, honest and straight up - what you saw was what you got. The tongue-in-cheek campaign helped the brand grow by 62% during the campaign period. 3. Pulse polio The campaign against Polio was designed to create a strong feeling of responsibility amongst parents and shake them out of their inertia so as to ensure maximum turnout on the National Immunization Days. It used the angry man persona of Amitabh Bachchan, the screen legend of Indian cinema to admonish parents for their irresponsible behaviour and apparent disregard for the safety and happiness of their children.

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Is Recession the time to tighten Ad Budget?

Your outgo must be less than your income, and so if income drops, you must immediately take steps to reduce the outgo, this small lesson drummed into our heads as children sticks to us forever, and is carried forward into our professional life as well. Interestingly, the same lesson makes us susceptible during good times, when sales are on an upswing, to splurge and to try things that might not seem essential at other times. The same people resort to tightening their belts, trimming the excessive flab and cutting advertisement budgets, the minute sales dip a bit. Should this be the norm for Ad budget allocation? No, says former chief marketer of Coca Cola, Mr Sergio Zyman. He exemplifies the same with one of the marketing metaphors: Marketing money (Advertisement money) is like fuel in a car. You take the fuel out of the tank, the car stops, and with it so does the brand. So does that endorse the view that marketing expenditure should be held constant, if not increased during recessionary period? Mr Zyman again comes to the rescue. He juggles the same words, but this time taking a co mpletel y di ffe ren t stance : Marketing is like fuel. If the engine isnt working- as Coca Cola discovered with New Coke in the eightiesa full tank of marketing fuel is useless. With such diverse views, it becomes quite essential to dip our fingers into empirical data. Empirical research results show that the better course of action in a downturn is to sustain marketing communication or actually increase it. You get more bang for your buck when everyone else is laying low, and you come out of the recession faster with a healthier bottom line. Aggressive companies increased market share on an average of 1.5 points during recessions, while budget-cutters gained only 0.2 points. Roger Graham, professor of accounting at Ohio State University verifies that advertising expenditures during recession contribute to increased earnings by firms for up to three years. The greatest impact occurs in the year immediately following the recession and this impact is more pronounced for firms offering consumer goods or industrial products, as opposed to firms offering services. This entire philosophy works on the basic premise that advertisement is considered as a long term investment rather than as a short term expense.

The ongoing recession and the tightening of ad budgets by most marketing firms in India and abroad have raised a crucial question about what the stance should be during these trying times for businesses. This article discusses the benefits of having higher budgets for advertisement during recessionary pressures. It exemplifies its stance by taking into account customer perceptions about companies during recession and how big wigs in the past have pulled themselves up into a more strengthened position post downturn. The article ends with a word of caution stating that competitiveness and relative market position should be the most appropriate way to judge the situation before allocating ad budgets.

Advertising during recession provides a unique window of opportunity for investment in building strong brand equity, solidifying the customer base, gaining new customers and more importantly making inroads into the competitors territory. Most consumers perceive the lack of advertising during recession to be synonymous with the business struggling. This creates a negative perception in the minds of the customers who become more cautious about the present customer value proposition offered by the firm and more suspicious about the quality of goods and services committed to them. Likewise, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise during recession as being competitive or committed towards doing business.

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Therefore it becomes critical to advertise during recession, to maintain long-term positive consumer perception of the brand. Advertising not only assures consumers of the business reliability in a soft economy, but it can influence where and what they buy. In recessionary times, price loyalty is greater than brand loyalty, so instead of reducing ad budgets it would be advisable for companies to increase their spends on sales promotions and discounts. The top management has the unpleasant duty of reporting disappointing results during recession; then they offer encouragement by pointing out that all the cost cutting measures have been implemented, as if the stakeholders ascertained that they wanted all costs to be cut to the bone and get the ship in order. This leads to the notion where advertisements are considered a form of defensive insurance, and not as profit generators. Top management sets the whole marketing budget as a percentage of expected revenue, and when expected revenue drops, they see every reason to cut marketing expenditures. But this exposes the illogic of setting marketing expenditures based on expected revenue. The marketing budget is the cause, not the effect. Setting a higher marketing budget will get higher expected revenue for a company during bad times. Contrary to this opinion a recent survey by R3 which manages 100 of Asias top 500 brands points out that one in every four Indian companies have been forced to scale down their marketing and advertisement spending because of the ongoing economic crisis. But the hard lesson was learnt my most US companies during the 1981-82 recession. In an effort to come out of the red, during the ongoing slowdown advertisers and companies are turning to desperate measures to promote their products and increase consumer spending. Some advertisements like Pepsis Saturday Night Live have initially confused the consumers in an effort to break the clutter. Researchers are of the view that standing out in advertisements is imperative during recession even if at the expense of confounding customers. The zoo zoo ad of Vodafone might be along these same lines. Though it might seem that high spending on advertisements during recession might
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give a competitive advantage to a company, there are ample examples, when this did not work. Popular brands like Barclaycard, Renault Clio and Nescafe Gold Blend ran ad campaigns that generated acres of extra press coverage during 1981-82 recessions, but they all lost substantial market shares later on. The point to be noted here is the quality of the ads featured, and the relative weaknesses of competing brands are important as well. These two criteria should be delved into in detail before increasing ad expenditure during recession. The truth is that advertising effects cannot be isolated from other factors. While market leaders who may be able to garner resources during recessionary trends to fight price wars and sales promotions with competitors, may use the tactics of increasing ad budgets, companies facing tough choices should not be bullied into believing that advertising is a panacea. For them the engine might be too worn out to respond to the fuel. But then, the crux of the argument is that advertising definitely has positives attached to it. Using it you might not be able to get quite where you intend to be, but at least you will get to some distance along the right path!

Saikat Mondal is a 2nd year student of IIM Lucknow, specializing in Marketing and Operations. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jadavpur University. Prior to joining IIM Lucknow he has worked with Cognizant Technology Solutions for around four years. He can be reached at pgp24277@iiml.ac.in

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Low Cost Customer Acquisition Strategies for E-businesses

Search engines are a favorite for search engines Flipkart is cautious most of the startups. Getting listed about protecting their servers from on the first page of a relevant key- the noise users. word search (aka Search Engine Optimization or SEO) is unequivocally the top priority. It is important for Social Media has made a considerRedbus to be visible for the search able contribution for the increase in string Bangalore to Hyderabad and internet usage, especially for the Inkfruit would like to sell theme t- young users in India. It is an excelshirts to the gaming buff searching lent medium for businesses that are for information on Age of Empires. targeting the youth. Prasanth MoInkfruit banks on community inter- hanachandran, Executive Director actions and online thematic contests Digital Services at Ogilvy, cites the The first myth of online to keep the buzz around, which example of the 40,000 strong Zoozoo marketing is that it is cheap. helps it to be in the first page of community of Facebook to underFrom what we have learnt from our exploratory research search. Constant updates and add- score the importance of Social Media. ing linkage from other sites (creating Noel Manoj of BankBazaar.com beIndian online businesses typically spend around Rs 40 affiliates) helps Studyplaces.com to lieves that Social Media will have a keep up its ranking. BankBazaars major influence in Internet Marketto Rs 400 per customer efforts paid returns when it moved ing and purchasing tendencies. Prasacquired. Advertising online however is better in terms of from the 20th page of search to the anth from Ogilvy cautions about the the ability to send the message 1st page in less than 6 months. demographics of people using social promotes its site media sites. More than 40% of the to a target segment and get a BankBazaar through paid listings (aka Search users of Facebook and Twitter are faster response. The second myth is that what has worked Engine Marketing or SEM) as well. less than 24 years old and 50% of in the US will work in India. Many startups take the paid route to the users have an income below 2 We discovered that none of begin with as it is easy and the cost lakhs per annum (Vizisense). So, this the strategies that our per click for search engines is very medium might not be suitable for respondents used worked the low. Though search engines route a selling financial products. Social same way. There is no strategy lot of traffic to websites, there is a Media Optimization is inexpensive mix that fits all. While some catch as explained by Shiva Kumar, and builds loyal customers. However, strategies are generic and can VP Products & Technology of Flip- the volumes have been far from imbe used by all with little kart.com. Getting traffic is impor- pressive so far opines Akhil Chug of tweaking, others have to be tant but whats more important is StudyPlaces.com. tailored and customized to suit getting the right customers to your Social Bookmarking is a method for the product and the site, otherwise these noise users eat Internet users to store, organize, consumers. We talked to 10 up your bandwidth says he. With search, and manage bookmarks of Indian startup e-businesses close to 90% of traffic coming from web pages on the Internet. that are making news lately and gathered their opinions on Website Business First Second effective promotion strategies. Redbus.in Bus-Ticketing SEO Offline In this article we explore what promotion strategies have Inkfruit Designer Offline SEO worked for these companies T-Shirts and how they managed to use BankBazaar Loan Comparison SEO SMO them effectively. StudyPlaces Education Consult- SEM Email ants Careers-India Job Info SEO SMO FlipKart Bookstore SEO SMO Habits.in Lounge Viral SEO & Lifestyle Home-Designing Interior Designing SEO SMO ISchnell Education Software Offline SEO EasySquareFeet Real Estate SEO Online Community Based
Table 1: Ten E-businesses choose the strategies of their choice

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With over 100 million unique URLs bookmarked and 3 million registered users, sites like Delicious are routing substantial number

that some websites run through email databases available. Rediff.com chose television over internet to advertise its repositioning strategy. While the wisdom behind ignoring the offline marketing is debatable; offline advertising is indispensable for many sites. Many low cost untraditional options are now available for offline marketing. Credit card bills, electricity bills, bus tickets are being used to reach the customer. It is important to define your target customers and target only those who match your target spending and age levels says Prashanth, Ogilvy. Redbus.in struck a winwin deal when it started advertising on credit card bills. Advertising space is also available on buses, auto rickshaws, subway stations etc. For a company like Inkfruit, which gets most of its revenues through offline sales, advertising offline is extremely important. 45% of traffic to Inkfruit is direct (users type the URL of the website) and majority of this is contributed by offline marketing. The offline options include promoting in malls or shopping complexes where Inkfruit products are sold. If the segmentation is geographical in nature one can take advantage of the Direct Post facility of India Post that allows businesses to send mails to a certain pin code location at Rs 1.50

Figure 1: Contest of Inkfruit featured in a blog (Jain)

of users to different websites. However, the traffic from these sites to the Indian websites is negligible. Manu Avinash of CareersIndia.com says The social bookmarking sites have huge potential and of late we are getting some traffic from these sites. Amusingly, what used to be the bread and butter of an internet marketer a few years ago comes number three on our list. Email has to be used very cautiously. Opt-in lists (users who have accepted to receive promotional mails) can be either created by self or in the initial days bought from an agency. More than two emails per month may be considered as spam by users, warns Akhil Chug. It is important to communicate constantly with the customer and at the same time not be considered as a spammer. Apart from frequency, the timing of emails is extremely important. Mayank, Marketing Head of RedBus, says, Sending a mail about holiday ticket reservation two days before the holidays begin is useless but sending it two weeks before will bring in good traffic with very high conversion rate. Depending on the type of the product affiliates databases (like Zapak, Cricketnext etc) can be used to send relevant emails to their user base like what Inkfruit is currently doing. The click rate or open rate of mails sent through such tie-ups are at least 10 times better than random mail campaigns
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Figure 2 Redbus.in advertised at the back of an auto (information madness)

per article. Public Relations (PR) is a part of offline marketing strategy and is a combined responsibility of the company and the PR agency selected. According to Kashyap, Cofounder of Inkfruit.com, If your product is innovative and can create interest for the reader, creating a positive PR is not difficult.

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The extent that the media covers you also depends on who you have for backing. Selecting the right seed fund to promote and finance your company is a vital task. Right people can get you good PR and give you invaluable mentorship. Thats what TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) did for RedBus according to Prashanth from Ogilvy. Sasikanth Chemalamudi, founder of Habits.in says Having a very strong and close knit alumni network (of his Alma matter BITS Pilani) has helped Habits to increase its awareness. Technology intensive B2C or B2B products require lot of offline marketing in India, whereas in the US, the users being aware of such products, online marketing works effectively. For example, ISchnell is using only offline marketing to sell its product in India but for US & China they are relying on online marketing. Mobile marketing, which is in a nascent stage now, can drive the future of advertising. BSNL has already started wooing customers to opt in for promotional messages on their mobile in return for free call time. With the advent of Blyk, the UK based company which has pioneered the model, in India it only means more advertising over the phone. Mobile is a major channel in India as more users go online on a mobile than a computer for the first time. Hence mobile applications will add of a lot

of importance says Noel Manoj of BankBazaar. While all the strategies discussed so far are facilitators for directing the customer to the site, at the heart of the acquisition process is the product. Conversion of a casual visit to a desired action (sale, registration, spending quality time etc) happens only if the product that you offer is likeable and creates value to the customer. Customer loyalty on the other hand depends largely on the service component. Nothing drives your customer off to the competitors like bad service does. Bad service coupled with good advertising may help build the category and help the competitor prosper at your advertising expense.

Pradeep P N is a 2nd year student of IIM Lucknow, specializing in Marketing and Finance. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from BITS Pilani. Prior to joining IIM Lucknow he has worked with Juniper Networks India for around two years. He can be reached at pradeeppn@iiml.ac.in

Sarat Chand is a 2nd year student of IIM Lucknow, spe-

cializing in Marketing and Finance. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Osmania University. Prior to joining IIM Lucknow he has worked with Cognizant Technology Solutions & Satyam Computer Services Ltd. for around six years. He can be reached at pgp24058@iiml.ac.in

Identify the Ad!!

Identify the occasion??

Check Page 47 for answers

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State Of The Market- A Comparative Study

Media mogul, Rupert Murdoch was perhaps paying tribute to Gods Own Country when he trooped into the state capital to finalise the takeover of Matrubhoomi, a local Malayali daily. More noteworthy was the fact that this was the first time the billionaire had made a foray into regional daily. Something has changed, something had metamorphosed Brand India from the shy nonchalance of the 50s to the streetsmart self-advertiser of the new millennium the journey has well and truly come a full circle. The various states of the country have ramped up their efforts to position themselves as brands, as a full scale war culminates to catch the eye of investors foreign and home grown.
In this paper, the author attempts to identify the characteristics of the business climate in India that can help explain the different performance of individual states in terms of investment and growth. The paper summarises the efforts made by the various states in attracting investment. The author explores the investment climate in several typologies of Indian states and identify the key features of the various parameters that influence investors in India. The analysis shows that the states have significantly ramped up the marketing initiatives to attract investment.

Navachetna Microfin Services Ltd received Rs 1.5 crore from a few high net worth individuals and IT professionals. A day later, Tiruchirappallibased Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance Ltd (GVMFL) said it raised Rs 20.4 crore from MicroVest, Unitus Equity Fund and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. This is the second round for Grama, which had raised Rs 14.7 crore in 2008. These are not isolated events which can be ignored. State Branding has well and truly arrived and the investor today has been dazzled with fresher and innovative marketing blitz from the various states. Gone are the days when 26 January used to be the only day for displaying the resplendent riches of a region. Even states like West Bengal, which

There still remain a multitude of views on when India opened its doors to Foreign Investors but there is little to argue that it was at the turn of the millennium in 2001 that branding of states well and truly emerged. It would have been unthinkable some 15 years ago that 14 of the states of India now have brand ambassadors! THRISSUR- MAKING A MARK An idea still exists that the race to sell themselves remain restricted to the proverbial industrial Shangri la belt of Gujarat, Maharashtra and a few others like Karnataka and the national Capital Region. The arrow could not be more off the mark as even erstwhile obscure towns are rising to prominence in the mindmap of potential investors riding piggy back on a dazzling marketing campaign. Thrissur in Kerala, Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and Haveri in Karnataka are unlikely towns investors will be herded into. But they recently entered India's venture capital map, thanks to the impressive and aggressive campaigning of these states. On June 22, Thrissur-based ESAF Microfinance and Investments (EMFIL) said it landed Rs 12 crore from Dia Vikas Capital, an arm of Opportunity International Australia, while Haveri's

has been traditionally averse to big ticket investment, have joined the fast lane to woo investors. Appointing cricket star and hometown hero Saurav Ganguly as a brand ambassador to the state was just one of the many steps taken to attract the eye of the investors. Jyoti Basu the former chief minister of the state converted to capitalism late on an investment promotion trip around Europe and America, flying on Concorde, staying at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel and dining with inveterate capitalists at such firms as Price Waterhouse, Rolls - Royce and Merrill Lynch. Mr Basu was just one of a flock of Indian state chiefs who were realizing the need of the hour and stepping up to be feted as representatives of their country's open-door policy on foreign investment. In dark clouds of economic slowdown, silver lining emerged for Rajasthan as the western desert state attracted highest investment

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plans during October-December 2008-09 by corporate India, bringing a considerable shift in its ranking order, among the 21 India states Rajasthan is turning to be one of the most favourable investment destinations, carving top position in the third quarter of the financial year 2008-09 (October December), witnessing a major jump from 13th position in the same period of the financial year 2007-08, according to a paper brought out by ASSOCHAM. As India Inc expressed investment plans in Rajasthan, the state registered a major jump by 245.84 per cent during October-December 200809 as compared to the corresponding period of the last year (2007-08). The next big investment destinations also witnessed major shift as second place was occupied by Madhya Pradesh as compared to the sixth place last year. Orissa maintained its place at the top slot carving third position. The secret of the success was not to be found in JK Rowlings quiver but in simple marketing logic, innovation is the key to survival. Brand positioning has been important as every state has hired the best corporate houses to sell their state to the world as an investors dream. The state of Gujarat was perhaps the first to hit the ground running as they launched www.supportgujarat .com a website featuring a plethora of advertisements and support data highlighting the advantages of investing in Gujarat. Over 60 Accolades and Awards for Gujarat under Narender Modi from International and National Organizations for Best Investment Environment to Best Sanitation, for Innovations in Govern-

ance, Disaster Management, Best-in-class infrastructure, Energy Output, Reducing Maternal & Infant mortality rate. You are stupid if you are not investing in Gujarat, says Ratan Tata. Modi was voted the best CM in the country for three consecutive years by India Today ORG-MARG Survey. Gujarat has also been voted Best State by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. 100+ billion US Dollars MOUs signed in 2007 Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit. These are not mere facts but simply highlight the advantage and competitive edge Gujarat had over its rivals being a first mover. The idea has lived since Gujarat with all states ready to shell out millions even at times of global economic slowdown to gain a facelift which would showcase themselves to the world. Adman Prahlad Kakkar acknowledges the fact as he underlines the fact that quite a few advertising agencies and Brand management companies have been making big bucks owing to this branding-boom in India. Branding of states and nurturing and positioning of the brands is here to stay and is more than a passing fad, says business baron Vijay Mallya who himself has been an active player in the rebranding of Karnataka as a state which was more than Indias silicon valley. The stage has been set, the world is now watching . And the states of India are ready to stand up and be ADed

Sanglap Banerjee is a first year PGDM student in IIM Calcutta,he

holds a Btech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology Bhopal, and can be reached at sanglapb2011@email.iimcal.ac.in

Mega Investment Proposed ( Source: IPICOL, Government of Orissa ) Company Consolidated Electric Power Larsen & Toubro Ltd TATA Steel Ganapati Exports Ltd Hindalco Industries Ltd Indian Oil Company Nippon Oil Company MESCO Oswal Agro Ltd Utkal Alumina Ashok Leyland Consolidated Electric Power Neeleachal IspatNigam Limited Indian Seamless And Alloys Limited Orind Steels Ltd Proposed Project Power Steel Steel Steel Aluminium Oil Refinery Oil Refinery Steel Fertilizer Aluminium Oil Refinery Power Steel Steel Cold Rolled Steel Location Jharsuguda Gopalpur Gopalpur Duburi Kalahandi Paradeep Paradeep Duburi Paradeep Rayagada Haridaspur Ib Valley Duburi Duburi Duburi Cost(Rs Million) 160000 70000 65000 60000 50000 50000 50000 42690 42200 30000 24000 20750 15250 13770 11500

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Does Green Marketing Sell?

When Philips came up with CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights) Marathon in 2000, the product was immediately a hit even though it was charged at a price of $20 against $0.75 for regular incandescent bulbs. While many media reports accredited the eco-friendliness of this product (Green Marketing) as the reason behind its success, we believe that the benefits offered by the product in terms of saving power in the long run, capability of lasting for 5 years and the trust in the brand Phillips were the reasons for its success. The article attempts to explain consumers behavior in terms of preference and willingness to pay more for green products. mental impact of products they buy. Of these 50% of the respondents are willing to pay premium for ecofriendly goods. Organizations in developed countries have widely adopted Green Marketing practices, while consumer trends show that developing nations such as India and Brazil are not far behind. A study by Jain and Kaur (2004) has shown that though consumers are not fully aware of environmental issues, they are willing to prefer and pay more for products that are certified to be environmentally friendly. So how have organizations exploited this wave of environmental concern amongst consumers? Going Green Often green strategies are designed not only for environmental benefits but also for the benefit of the organization. We believe that strategies which benefit the environment as well as the organization may in fact help the cause, since they would be more sustainable when compared to pure philanthropic initiatives, otherwise termed as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The benefits of environmentally friendly strategies for the organization can be broadly classified as: Increasing profitability by commanding a higher price for environmentally friendly products Differentiating products based on environmentally-friendly attributes Increasing market share by developing preference for environment friendly products through advertising Building corporate brand image by associating with environment friendly practices and products

Dwindling natural resources and global warming have led many companies to innovate products that are eco-friendly. Marketers have mixed results about the success of such green products. We referred to several books, online articles and research papers to understand the mistakes made by marketers and to understand the consumers attitude towards green products. We concluded that eco-friendliness has varying influence on the consumers preference for green products. While ecofriendliness can influence consumers purchase decision for a low involvement product, it wont be sufficient to persuade consumer to buy a high involvement product. Understanding consumer behavior towards different categories of green products can help marketers innovate the right products and develop effective communication strategies.

During our research, we found that consumers behave differently for the products that require different levels of involvement. Before we explain this further, we must introduce the term Green Marketing. American Marketing Association defines Green Marketing as the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Green Marketing incorporates a broad range of activities including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes as well as modifying advertising. Other terms for green marketing are ecological marketing and environmental marketing. Studies in the US (Cramer, 1991) show that over 90% Americans are concerned about the environ-

Marketers have had mixed results while implementing eco-friendly strategies. While there have been huge successes such as the Toyota Prius and Philps CFL, there have also been innumerable failures that

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have disappeared into the oblivion. Green Marketing Myopia Many marketers get obsessed to develop number of product features rather than meeting customer needs, the condition termed as Marketing Myopia by Theodere Levitt(1960). Jacquelyn and Edwin(2006) build on this further to explain Green Marketing Myopia. They suggest that Green Marketing must focus on two objectives: improved environmental quality and customer satisfaction. Misjudging or overemphasizing one at the cost of the other can lead to Green Marketing Myopia. Such myopia can occur when products fail to provide credible environmental benefits. Introduced in 1989, packages for Mobil's Hefty photodegradable trash bags prominently displayed the term "degradable" with the explanation that a special ingredient promoted its decomposition into harmless particles in landfills "activated by exposure to the elements" such as sun and rain. Because most garbage is buried in landfills, allowing limited exposure to the elements, the claim enraged environmentalists. Ultimately, seven state attorneys general sued Mobil on charges of deceptive advertising and consumer fraud, and the company withdrew the product from the market. To help marketers maximize the effectiveness of green marketing strategies, we explain below how consumer behavior theories can be utilized. Understanding the Consumer Behavior of Green Marketing Though there are a lot of esoteric models explaining why or why not does green marketing work for different products and consumers, we found that basic consumer behavior theories can be easily applied to explain the effectiveness of green marketing in different scenarios. Before getting into theory, a primary question that arises is how do consumers benefit from purchasing and using environmentally-friendly products? Do all people have the same attitude towards the environment? In the field of green marketing, different studies have classified consumers based on different demographic, psychographic, culT HE LOOK ING GLASS

tural and personality variables. The most useful classification in the Indian context was found to be based on three parameters: concern for the environment, awareness of environmental issues and environmentallyfriendly behavior (Jain and Kaur, 2004). The key findings of this study show that though Indians lack sufficient knowledge about environmental issues, there is a generally high concern for the environment and most surprisingly, Indian consumers score very high on environmentally friendly behavior, especially with respect to conservation of resources (saving water, oil, etc.) and purchase decisions (buying greener products). The most important benefit that individuals seek from environmentally responsible behavior is the desire to act in an environmentally responsible manner. The attitudes that drive this need, resulting in purchase behavior can be broadly classified as cognitive and emotional. Environmental consciousness corresponds to the cognitive dimension of environmental attitudes, and Environmental Concern refers to the emotional dispositions as individual indignation about the destruction of nature (Hartmann and Ibanez, 2006). Based on these needs and segmentation, we analyze how green marketing can be effectively used to influence the purchase behavior of consumers for different types of products. Products (and services) can be broadly classified as high and low involvement for analyzing the consumer purchase behavior. Since the purchase behavior is totally different for these two types of products, the implications of green marketing can be different for these two types of products, which we bring out in the following sections. High Involvement Products Any product that is perceived as expensive, risky or has emotional value attached to it is considered as high involvement product. The benefits sought from high involvement products such as TV, cars, etc. are very different from that of low involvement products such as toothpaste, soap or paper napkins. While customers may purchase a eco-friendly low involvement product for the benefit of environment even if the price is marginally higher, they will not purchase high involvement green product for it just being eco-friendly. They will weigh attributes such

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as performance, brand, convenience and price against the competing products. If the consumer is required to make tradeoff on any of these parameters for environmental benefits, environmental product almost always loses. Many products that require customers to make such trade-offs have failed to establish themselves in the marketplace. So now the question is, how to make green marketing startegies be perceived as high involvement startegies? In two ways, first: it helps the companies make favorable image and second it reduces the post purchase dissonance. As per Fishbeins Multiattribute theory (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), consumers attitude towards a product is the function of consumers belief and the evaluation of the product attributes. If a consumer has a preference for certain attributes and if the product pronounces those attributes then there is a high probability that consumer will purchase that product. Thus, consumers having higher preference for green products are more likely to purchase such products over others. However, such customers are less than 2% in number and the mainstream customer wont buy just by that attribute. But if the product is equal to competing product on all other parameters then consumer may prefer the green product. Secondly, high involvement products have high probability of creating post purchase dissonance. It could be because of it being expensive than other competing products or because it rates closely with other brands on performance parameters. In such cases, consumers will look for balance in the psychological set by seeking supporting information or by distorting contradictory information. As per cognitive dissonance theory, when a brand does not meet expectations or when a competing brand is found to offer more benefits, the consumers will discount the negative information and rationalize their behavior/purchase. The product rated higher on eco-friendliness can thus help consumer reduce post purchase dissonance when the product is found to have defects or is weaker than competing brands on certain parameters.

Low Involvement Products Low involvement products are characterized as not being economically important, and involving low risk for the consumer. The purchase decision process for such products is thus relatively simple as compared to that of high involvement products. In contrast with high involvement products, green marketers can significantly influence the purchase behavior of consumers for low involvement products through persuasive advertising of environmentally friendly claims regarding their brand. For typical low involvement purchases like paper and detergents, elaborate evaluation of benefits of product and comparison with other products is usually not done. In the absence of marketing, such products are likely to become commodities, with little differentiation between products. To prevent this from happening, billions of ad dollars are spent by FMCG companies like Unilever and P&G, so that they can increase the involvement of consumers and create a brand preference for their products. A study by US researchers (Schuhwerk and Lefkoff-Hagius, 1995) has shown that advertisements with environmental appeals have significantly more impact on consumers who are less involved in environmental issues (as in case of India) when compared to advertisements with traditional feature appeals (like financial benefits). Once a brand preference is created, it may turn into purchase habits and result in brand loyalty for green products. In practice however, environmental advertisements have often failed to enthuse customers. Again, researchers have dug out a major cause for such failures to be the lack of veracity of the environmental claims made in advertisements. Consumers are found to be extremely sensitive to the credibility of the claims made by green marketers, and can quickly get suspicious about vague or ambiguous statements. Though governments have laid out strict laws to prevent marketers from making false claims, brands have to ensure that their claims are substantiated and phrased clearly to prevent the loss of credibility. Conclusion Based on secondary research, we have found that marketers have to adapt their

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green marketing strategies depending on the nature of the product. For high involvement products, environmentally friendly attributes may not be sufficient to persuade customers to prefer the product or pay a premium for it. Such products must match or provide additional value when compared with other products on various parameters such as performance, brand, convenience and price. In contrast, green marketing can offer benefits for low involvement products. Claims of environmental friendliness of products, if clearly advertised, can cause a shift in consumer preferences.

Ankit Thakkar is a 2nd year PGP student with marketing

specialization at IIM Lucknow. He holds Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from St. Xaviers College Gujarat and Post Graduate Degree in Information Technology from SP Jain, Mumbai. He can be reached at ankit.thakkar@gmail.com.

Nishant V Patel is a 2nd year PGP student with marketing

specialization at IIM Lucknow. He holds Bachelors Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Bangalore. He can be reached at nishant1@gmail.com.

Answers to quiz on Page 41 Top Left: Taare Zameen Par Top Right: United Colors of Benetton Bottom Left: PETA Bottom Right: Fevicol

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Mens Cosmetics

Look at that nest! Seems like she has never used a shampoo in her life. Ummeven I havent What??? Thus went a conversation way back in 1999 with a female friend of mine. I had, till then, never ever used shampoo. Not even Wipro Shikakai (where did that gem of an idea disappear? I wonder). I guess I had a constant layer of grime on my hair and any excess was washed away by water. Over time, like a bored married couple, everyone seemed ok with this arrangement. The grime actually provided volume to my hair, I discovered this later in the era of the shampoo. Back in those days, my idea well, not mine, my mothers actually- of moisturizer was sarson ka tel (most probably Dhara or Postman). In winters, I had to, under the strict commands of mommy dearest; apply mustard oil all over before taking a bath. It was a matter of little concern that my vests soon turned yellow and I went to school vaguely smelling of the same blasted oil. I had just started shaving secretly using Dads Philishave or so I thought. It didnt occur to me that my parents had observed the absence of my facial fur. Soon after, Dad bought me my first razor, brush

and Nivea shaving cream. That Nivea shaving cream was my first personal cosmetic tube. (Reproducing Chapter 5 of my autobiography?) Today, I have a dedicated table in my hostel room for cosmetics. I pretty much have a full range right from Himalayas Neem Face Wash to Lakmes sun protection lotion. I have migrated from water to Head & Shoulders shampoo with cool menthol and I use a Garnier Fructis cream conditioner afterwards. Its no secret that many men today spend almost as much as women on cosmetics. And its not because we are suddenly getting in touch with our feminine side, but we just want to look good and smell good. And if any woman or man wants to taunt our breed, I request that person to take a ride in a crowded Mumbai suburban train in the summer at peak time. It is our deodorated and eau-detoiletted arm pits your noses will search out amongst all the bacteria laden smelly arm pits which would surround you. But do men relate to cosmetics in the same way as women do? Industry insiders dont think so. According to Noella Gabriel, director of product and treatment development at the Elemis spa, Men are a hard market, but once you've got

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them through the door, they are very loyal. Far more loyal than women. So much for men being unfaithful. Though the Fair & Handsome ad evoked more than its fair share of snide remarks and jokes, it seems that Emami had done their homework. A study conducted by Emami Industries in the early 2000s showed that 29% of the users of fairness creams were men! I wonder how those 29% men managed to buy Fair & Lovely. Probably they took as much courage as buying that, than any other only-for-men latex products. Companies nowadays have gone beyond mere re-branding of their products. As it turns out, we have different skin than women. Hence, new products exclusively for men are hitting the shelves. In fact, biggies like Nivea, LOreal and Dabur are all expanding their businesses in the mens cosmetics segment. Nivea is focusing on its Nivea for men and LOreal has the Powerlight range of cosmetics to pamper men. The fact that LOreal used John Abraham, who no one in their right mind would term feminine, shows the transformation which

has taken place in the market. HULs Fair & Lovely, launched in 1975 and initially targeted at women, also came up with Fair & Lovely Menz Activ. And why not? The Indian male grooming segment is valued at Rs 750 crore and growing at a pace of 20%, faster than the global cosmetics market which is hopping along at 18%. Shahrukh sure knew what he was getting into when..well..when he got into that bath tub in the Lux ad. Men have come of age. And know which creams to buy to beat it as well. We might stand confused in the cosmetics segment of malls trying to decide which cream to buy. But the fact that we are standing there, actively deciding for ourselves and not pretending that the moisturizer is for our better halves is a sign of the changing times. But why did we decide to take all that pain in the first place? Well, I believe Garnier said it best Because I am worth it.

Ayan Ghosh is a 2nd year student at IIM Lucknow. He holds a

Bachelors Degree from National Institute of Technology, Surat and can be reached at pgp24125@iiml.ac.in