STUDENT DECLARATION

I am LUCKY GULATHI student of M.B.A. here by declares that the project report titled “A

STUDY OF NEW DIMENSION OF DIRECT MARKETING BY FMCG COMPANIES” is

completed and submitted under the guidance of “Mr. Sudheer Kumar, Faculty of

Management Dewan vs. Institute of Engineering & Technology, Meerut” is my original

work.

The imperial finding in this report is based on the data collected by me. This project has not been

submitted to U.P.T.U., Lucknow or any other university for the purpose of compliance of any

requirement of any examination or degree.

LUCKY GULATHI
MBA IV SEM.
Roll no. 1331170014

Date

Signature

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who, directly,

made this research possible.

I would like to thank, my project guide Mr. Sudheer Kumar, Faculty of Management

Dewan vs. Institute of Engineering & Technology, Meerut who showed me the right path to

reach the final destination with minimum hiccups.

I extend my sincere thanks to my parents & friends who were always there with a helping

hand in times of need and who guided me and briefed me throughout my research.

LUCKY GULATHI

PREFACE

2
The motive behind this project, to know the retail marketing strategy adopted by the companies

in the market. I researched about companies’. In this project I analyze these strategy and done the

survey and give some recommendation and their benefits to increase their effectiveness.

I dedicate this Project Report to my loving Mother and my family, who gives me inspiration to

do hard work in the life.

This project report highlights the company profile, their group of companies, and survey about

the strategy.

I am surveying the different market and residential areas like. There are we find out the

consumer awareness about the Network Marketing

LUCKY GULATHI
MBA IV SEM.
Roll no. 1331170014

3
 CONTENT

1. Introduction 5-6

2. Objective of the proposed study 7

3. Industry overview 8-9

4. Major players in the industry 10

5. Britannia- its market share & overview 11-18

6. Direct marketing 19-60

7. Product mix 61

8. Britannia portfolio 62

9. Research methodology 69

10. Industry analysis 73

11. Finding 78

12. Products Mixed of Britannia 79

13. Communication mix 83

14. Conclusion 87

15. Bibliography 88

16. Questionnaire 89

4
 INTRODUCTION

“Sweet or salty. Soft or crunchy. Simple or exotic. Everybody loves munching on biscuits,

but do they know how biscuits began?”

The word 'Biscuit' is derived from the Latin words 'Bis' (meaning 'twice') and 'Coctus' (meaning

cooked or baked). The word 'Biscotti' is also the generic term for cookies in Italian. Back then,

biscuits were unleavened, hard and thin wafers which, because of their low water content, were

ideal food to store.

Therefore biscuits became the ideal travelling food since they stayed fresh for long periods. The

seafaring age, thus, witnessed the boom of biscuits when these were sealed in airtight containers

to last for months at a time. Making good biscuits is quite an art, and history bears testimony to

that. During the 17th and 18th Centuries in Europe, baking was a carefully controlled profession,

managed through a series of 'guilds' or professional associations. To become a baker, one had to

complete years of apprenticeship - working through the ranks of apprentice, journeyman, and

finally master baker. Not only this, the amount and quality of biscuits baked were also carefully

monitored.

As technology improved during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the price of sugar

and flour dropped. Chemical leavening agents, such as baking soda, became available and a

profusion of cookie recipes occurred. This led to the development of manufactured cookies.

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India Biscuits Industry came into limelight and started gaining a sound status in the bakery

industry in the later part of 20th century when the urbanized society called for ready made food

products at a tenable cost. Biscuits were assumed as sick-man's diet in earlier days. Now, it has

become one of the most loved fast food products for every age group. Biscuits are easy to carry,

tasty to eat, cholesterol free and reasonable at cost. The States that have a larger intake of

biscuits are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra and West Bengal, the most industrially developed states, hold the maximum amount

of consumption of biscuits

The Federation of Biscuit Manufacturers of India (FBMI) has confirmed a bright future of India

Biscuits Industry. According to FBMI, a steady growth of 15 percent per annum in the next 10

years will be achieved by the biscuit industry of India. Besides, the export of biscuits will also

surpass the target and hit the global market successfully.

Interestingly, as time has passed and despite more varieties becoming available, the essential

ingredients of biscuits haven't changed - like 'soft' wheat flour (which contains less protein than

the flour used to bake bread) sugar, and fats, such as butter and oil. Today, though they are

known by different names the world over, people agree on one thing - nothing beats the biscuit!

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 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED STUDY

 To study the promoting direct marketing techniques and companies to consumers.

 To study fighting negative images of the direct marketing industry.

 To study providing training and professional development opportunities to marketers.

 To study conducting industry research.

 To study hosting networking conferences for marketers.

 To study the promoting direct marketing, informing consumers of the safeguards that

exist, and promoting the DMA as their protector, contact point and regulator.

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 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

The Indian biscuits' market is estimated to be 1.1 million tonnes per annum and valued at

over Rs 50 billion. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits, the first

being USA. It is classified under two sectors: organized and unorganized. The present biscuits-

bakery sector in India looks like a battlefront. The battle being led by stalwarts like Britannia and

Parle with close competition from other companies like ITC, Nutrine, HLL Kissan, kwality and

even international brands like Kellogs, Nestle, Sara Lee and United Biscuits.

The biscuit segment has developed with large markets of mass consumption covering

over 90% of the overall potential market. The country comprises of huge unorganized sector.

Biscuits market on an average grew at 8% per annum in the last five years. The rural penetration

of the branded biscuits segment is also significant. Towns with populations of less than a lakh

contribute significantly to the industry's turnover, with some estimates placing it at 40%.

However, rural markets largely consume lower-priced varieties, and it is here that branded

biscuits meet with stiff competition from the unorganized sector.

The unorganized sector in the biscuits segment does exert pressure on the pricing policies

of the organized players. But only up to a point since the penetration of brands in this business

even in the rural areas is fairly significant. Therefore, the value for only the branded business

segment is more indicative of the industry's competitive pressures.

Three domestic players, Britannia, Parle and ITC, have thus far dominated the market—

with an average annual growth of 10-12%. According to the Federation of Biscuit Manufacturers

of India (FBMI), 60% of the total market is organized and the rest—unorganized.

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 As per a research conducted in 2006 though ITC was able to increase its market share by

a significant percent, Britannia still is the leader with highest volume of sales and value market

share. Researcher says that Parle has been Britannia’s toughest competitor. The biscuit market in

India still has lot of room for expansion from the existing players and the new entrants.

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 MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY

 BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD.(BIL)

 PARLE

 ITC Ltd.

 Surya Foods & Agro Ltd. (PRIYA GOLD)

In the 21st Century, Britannia strode as one of India's biggest brands and the pre-eminent

food brand of the country. It was also equally recognized for its Innovative approach to products

and marketing.

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 BRITANNIA- ITS MARKET SHARE AND OVERVIEW

BIL is the leading player in Bakery Products (Biscuits, Bread, Rusk and Cake), jointly promoted

by French food major Danone and Nusli Wadia. It enjoys market leader ship in Biscuits with 39

% market share in terms of value. It owns key brands like Tiger, Good Day and Marie Gold.

There are six brands contributing to 90% of its sales. Each of these brands generate sales

exceeding Rs.1 billion and these brands include Good Day, Tiger, 50:50,Treat, Milk Bikis, and

Marie Gold.

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 The company wants to give a special thrust on these brands for better margin. New

variants in these brands, attractive packaging formats and introduction of small SKUs are

expected to give volume growth in the domestic market. In the last year these brands achieved

double-digit growth.

BIL enjoys market leadership in all the sub-categories of biscuits, except in the Glucose

category where Parle is the leader. A recent strategic acquisition of 50% stake in Bangalore

based ‘Daily Bread’ gives footholds in premium breads, cakes and high end ready to eat foods

and snacks. BIL is looking forward to increasing its stake in it from current stake of 50%.

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 UNWAVERING GROWTH

Despite of immense competition, BIL has managed stable growth in its top-

line. Last Year most of its pillar brands have achieved double-digit growth. This was due to

Market-specific promotion activities, new products and variants in existing products, and a

variation in packaging formats.

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 ‘OOH’ CONSUMPTION MARKET

Britannia is playing aggressively in the ‘Out of Home’ Consumption market, which has

Enormous potential. The low unit products help in broadening the customer base. Small and

convenient SKUs attract more consumers to consume these, while they are outside the home.

Chota tiger has been launched at Rs.2/- for 50 gms similarly Marie gold has been

launched at Rs.5/- for 75 gms, 25 gms of Little Heart at Rs.4/-.We believe that ‘OOH’ category

will contributes about 7-8% of total sales in next two

to three years.

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 MARGIN EROSION

Due to steep rise in input costs especially in wheat, sugar, oil etc. we had seen margin erosion in

last few quarters but we believe because of good monsoon across the Country, should stabiles or

reduce the prices of these commodities. Management is looking for increase the proportion of

high end products like ‘Greetings’, which would help in margin improvement and also improve

its product mix.

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 NEW FRONTIERS

Britannia is planning to increase the proportion of high end products and enhance newer

attractive packaging formats for High end products. Beside this last year its sale through modern

trade format grew by 100 % and BIL is trying to enhance display for products in modern trade

outlet.

As stated earlier Britannia is playing aggressively in the ‘Out Of Home’ Consumption

market, which has enormous potential and with acquisition strategic share of “Daily Bread” BIL

is now holding brand ‘Deluca’ in India. Britannia’s Exports are very low it was just 0.50% and

0.62% of total turnover in 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively but last year its export turnover

grewby56% year-on-year basis and we estimate its export turnover will contribute at least 1.5-

2% of total turnover in next two to three years with the help of ‘Danone’. BIL also wants to

diversify into other areas of foods from biscuits and cakes and to become complete food

company. We believe Britannia’s innings in these new frontiers help to grow fast.

Category wise break up of Biscuits:

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World Per-Capita Consumption (in Kgs)

17
Biscuits Productions (in Tonnes)

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19
 DIRECT MARKETING

Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional

characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it attempts to

send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media. This involves

commercial communication (direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing) with consumers or

businesses, usually unsolicited. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving

purchases that can be attributed to a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing

involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable positive (but not negative) responses from

consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.

If the advertisement asks the prospect to take a specific action, for instance call a free phone

number or visit a website, then the effort is considered to be direct response advertising.

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 HISTORY

The term direct marketing is believed to have been first used in 1961 in a speech by Lester

Wunderman, who pioneered direct marketing techniques with brands such as American Express

and Columbia Records.[citation needed] The term junk mail, referring to unsolicited commercial ads

delivered via post office or directly deposited in consumers' mail boxes, can be traced back to

1954.[1] The term spam, meaning "unsolicited commercial email", can be traced back to March

31, 1993,[2] although in its first few months it merely referred to inadvertently posting a message

so many times on UseNet that the repetitions effectively drowned out the normal flow of

conversation.

Although Wunderman may have been the first to use the term direct marketing, the practice of

mail order selling (direct marketing via mail) essentially began in the U.S. upon invention of the

typewriter in 1867.[citation needed]

The first modern mail-order catalog was produced by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872.[citation
needed]
The Direct Mail Advertising Association, predecessor of the present-day Direct Marketing

Association, was first established in 1917.[citation needed] Third class bulk mail postage rates were

established in 1928.[citation needed]

Direct marketing's history in Europe can be traced to the 15th century. Upon Gutenberg's

invention of movable type, the first trade catalogs from printer-publishers appeared sometime

around 1450.[citation needed]

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 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers, because in many cases its positive effect (but

not negative results) can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out one million

solicitations by mail, and ten thousand customers can be tracked as having responded to the

promotion, the marketer can say with some confidence that the campaign led directly to the

responses. The number of recipients who are offended by the junk mail/spam, however, is not

easily measured. By contrast, measurement of other media must often be indirect, since there is

no direct response from a consumer. Measurement of results, a fundamental element in

successful direct marketing, is explored in greater detail elsewhere in this article. Yet since the

start of the Internet-age the challenges of Chief Marketing Executives (CMOs) are tracking

direct marketing responses and measuring results.[citation needed]

While many marketers like this form of marketing, some direct marketing efforts using particular

media have been criticized for generating unwanted solicitations. For example, direct mail that is

irrelevant to the recipient is considered junk mail, and unwanted email messages are considered

spam. Some consumers are demanding an end to direct marketing for privacy and environmental

reasons,[citation needed] which direct marketers are able to provide by using "opt out" lists, variable

printing and more targeted mailing lists.

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 Channels

Newspapers, radio, television, email, internet banner ads, pay-per-click ads, billboards, transit

ads. Some direct marketers also use media such as door hangers, package inserts, magazines,

And according to Ad Age, "In 2005, U.S. agencies generated more revenue from marketing

services (which include direct marketing) than from traditional advertising and media.]

Direct mail

Main article: Advertising mail

See also: Direct mail fundraising

The most common form of direct marketing is direct mail, sometimes called junk mail, used by

advertisers who send paper mail to all postal customers in an area or to all customers on a list.

Typical junkmail

Any low-budget medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be

employed in direct marketing. Probably the most commonly used medium for direct marketing is

mail, in which marketing communications are sent to customers using the postal service. The

term direct mail is used in the direct marketing industry to refer to communication deliveries by

the Post Office, which may also be referred to as "junk mail" or "ad mail" and may involve bulk

mail.

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Junk mail includes advertising circulars, catalogs, free trial CDs, pre-approved credit card

applications, and other unsolicited merchandising invitations delivered by mail or to homes and

businesses, or delivered to consumers' mailboxes by delivery services other than the Post Office.

Bulk mailings are a particularly popular method of promotion for businesses operating in the

financial services, home computer, and travel and tourism industries.

In many developed countries, direct mail represents such a significant amount of the total

volume of mail that special rate classes have been established. In the United States and United

Kingdom, for example, there are bulk mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that

are substantially lower than regular first-class rates. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers

must format and sort the mail in particular ways - which reduces the handling (and therefore

costs) required by the postal service.

Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out

following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For

example a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf

related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of

database analysis is a type of database marketing. The United States Postal Service calls this

form of mail "advertising mail" (ad mail for short).

Telemarketing

The second most common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in which marketers contact

consumers by phone. The unpopularity of cold call telemarketing (in which the consumer does

not expect or invite the sales call) has led some US states and the US federal government to

24
create "no-call lists" and legislation including heavy fines. This process may be outsourced to

specialist call centre.

In the US, a national do-not-call list went into effect on October 1, 2003. Under the law, it is

illegal for telemarketers to call anyone who has registered themselves on the list. After the list

had operated for one year, over 62 million people had signed up. [3] The telemarketing industry

opposed the creation of the list, but most telemarketers have complied with the law and refrained

from calling people who are on the list.

Canada has passed legislation to create a similar Do Not Call List. In other countries it is

voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing may have passed telemarketing in frequency at this point, [citation needed] and is a

third type of direct marketing. A major concern is spam, which actually predates legitimate email

marketing. As a result of the proliferation of mass spamming, ISPs and email service providers

have developed increasingly effective E-Mail Filtering programs. These filters can interfere with

the delivery of email marketing campaigns, even if the person has subscribed to receive them, [4]

as legitimate email marketing can possess the same hallmarks as spam.

Door to Door Leaflet Marketing

Leaflet Distribution services are used by extensively by the fast food industries, and many other

business focusing on a local catchments Business to consumer business model, similar to direct

mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area, and costs a fraction of the amount of a

25
mail shot due to not having to purchase stamps, envelopes or having to buy address lists and the

names of home occupants.

Broadcast faxing

A fourth type of direct marketing, broadcast faxing, is now less common than the other forms.

This is partly due to laws in the United States and elsewhere which make it illegal.

Voicemail Marketing

A fifth type of direct marketing has emerged out of the market prevalence of personal voice

mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. Due to the ubiquity of email marketing, and the

expense of direct mail and telemarketing, voicemail marketing presented a cost effective means

by which to reach people with the warmth of a human voice.

Abuse of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an abundance of

"voice-spam", and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating consumer voicemail

marketing.

More recently, businesses have utilized guided voicemail (an application where pre-recorded

voicemails are guided by live callers) to accomplish personalized business-to-business marketing

formerly reserved for telemarketing. Because guided voicemail is used to contact only

businesses, it is exempt from Do Not Call regulations in place for other forms of voicemail

marketing.

Couponing

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Couponing is used in print media to elicit a response from the reader. An example is a coupon

which the reader cuts out and presents to a super-store check-out counter to avail of a discount.

Coupons in newspapers and magazines cannot be considered direct marketing, since the

marketer incurs the cost of supporting a third-party medium (the newspaper or magazine); direct

marketing aims to circumvent that balance, paring the costs down to solely delivering their

unsolicited sales message to the consumer, without supporting the newspaper that the consumer

seeks and welcomes.

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 Direct response television marketing

Direct marketing on TV (commonly referred to as DRTV) has two basic forms: long form

(usually half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly

referred to as infomercials) and short form which refers to typical 0:30 second or 0:60 second

commercials that ask viewers for an immediate response (typically to call a phone number on

screen or go to a website).

TV-response marketing—i.e. infomercials—can be considered a form of direct marketing, since

responses are in the form of calls to telephone numbers given on-air. These both allow marketers

to reasonably conclude that the calls are due to a particular campaign, and allow the marketers to

obtain customers' phone numbers as targets for telemarketing. Under the Federal Do-Not-Call

List rules in the US, if the caller buys anything, the marketer would be exempt from Do-Not-Call

List restrictions for a period of time due to having a prior business relationship with the caller.

Major players are firms like QVC, Thane Direct, and Interwood Marketing Group then cross-

sell, and up-sell to these respondents.

One of the most famous DRTV commercials was for Ginsu Knives by Ginsu Products, Inc. of

RI. Several aspects of ad, such as its use of adding items to the offer and the guarantee of

satisfaction were much copied and came to be

considered part of the formula for success with short form direct response TV ads (DRTV)

Direct selling

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Direct selling is the sale of products by face-to-face contact with the customer, either by having

salespeople approach potential customers in person, through indirect means such as Tupperware

parties.

Integrated Campaigns

For many marketers, a comprehensive direct marketing campaign employs a mix of channels. It

is not unusual for a large campaign to combine direct mail, telemarketing, radio and broadcast

TV, as well as online channels such as email, search marketing, social networking and video. In
[5]
a report conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, it was found that 57% of the

campaigns studied were employing integrated strategies. Of those, almost half (47%) launched

with a direct mail campaign, typically followed by e-mail and then telemarketing.

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 DIRECT MAIL MARKETING

Design and format

Direct mail permits the marketer to design marketing pieces in many different formats. Indeed,

there is an entire subsector of the industry that produces specialized papers, printing, envelopes,

and other materials for direct mail marketing. Some of the common formats include:

 Catalogs: Multi-page, bound promotions, usually featuring a selection of products for

sale.

 Self-mailers: Pieces usually created from a single sheet that has been printed and folded.

For instance, a common practice is to print a page-length advertisement or promotion on

one side of a sheet of paper. This is then folded in half or in thirds, with the promotional

message to the inside. The two outside surfaces are then used for the address of the

recipient and some "teaser" message designed to persuade the customer to open the piece.

 Clear bag packages: Large (often 9x12 or bigger) full-color packages sealed in a clear,

plastic outer wrap. The contents show through the clear bag, giving the potential for

maximum initial impact. Clear bag packages can be extremely effective and are very

affordable based upon the campaign open-rate.

 , and printed digitally for faster Postcards: Simple, two-sided pieces, with a promotional

message on one side and the customer's address on the other.

 Envelope mailers: Mailings in which the marketing material is placed inside an envelope.

This permits the marketer to include more than one insert. When more than one

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 advertiser is included, this is often called "marriage mail". Valpak is one of the largest

examples of a marriage mail service.

 Snap Mailers: Mailers that fold and seal with pressure. The sides detach and the mailer is

opened to reveal the message.

 Dimensional Mailers: Mailers that have some dimension to them like a small box.

 Intelligent Documents: Programmable mail pieces built dynamically from database

information production.

Advantages and disadvantages

Many people respond positively to direct mail advertising and find useful goods and services on

offer. Traditionally, this was more http://www.unicon.in/ true in rural areas where people had to

travel many miles to do their shopping and direct mail and mail order shopping was a major

convenience. However, some people dislike it, in the same way as with telemarketers' calls and,

as noted above, e-mail spam, and some jurisdictions like the US have laws requiring junk mailers

to withhold their offerings from residents who opt out.

Advantages for marketers include the following:

 Targeting - Historically, the most important aspect of direct mail was its ability to

precisely target previous customers. If a suitable list was available, it could do a good job

of targeting prospects.

 Personalization - Direct mail can address the customer personally and be tailored to their

needs based on previous transactions and gathered data.

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 Optimization - Because of its direct accountability, direct mail can be tested to find the

best list; the best offer; the best timing (and many other factors). Then the winning tests

can be rolled out to a wider audience for optimal results.

 Analysis - The bulk mailing is large enough to allow statistical analyses. For example the

results can be analyzed to see in detail the performance of individual offers in say a

squinch report which shows sales per square inch. With suitable media or source codes,

the performance of lists can be captured. These enable better selection of offers and lists

for future mailings.

 Accumulation - Responses (and non-responses) can be added to the database, allowing

future mailings to be better targeted.

 Advocates make the following arguments ...

o Efficient use of advertising dollars

o Highly selective, targeted and personalized

o Flexible

o High quality reproduction

o Response easily measured

 87% of consumers are either “very” or “quite” satisfied with the products

they buy through Direct Mail

 56% of consumers said that value for money was the main benefit of

buying through Direct Mail, whilst 63% said convenience.

32
 Disadvantages include:

 Cost - The cost per thousand will be higher than almost any other form of mass

promotion (although the wastage rate may be much lower). Also, development costs in

database acquisition/development. It is however important to note that despite the

production and development cost, direct mail can be very profitable, if executed

correctly. Lastly, when comparing different media costs, return on investment is the best

measure.

 Waste - Large quantities of paper and plastic are thrown away (see below).

 Alienation - Some recipients resent direct marketing being "forced" upon them, and

boycott companies that do so. Moreover, they may obtain Prohibitory Orders against

companies whose direct marketing mail they find offensive.

Targeting

Advertisers often call direct mail "targeted mailing", since mail is usually sent out following

database analysis. For example a person who purchases golf supplies may receive direct mail for

golf related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. When

direct mail uses database analysis, it is a type of database marketing.

Advances in computing and communications technology have significantly impacted the direct

mailing industry in recent years. As computers become more powerful and databases become

larger, new opportunities arise for direct mail companies to perform more in-depth processing of

33
their mailing lists. Mailings can be targeted based on location and demographic data. This allows

mailings to be targeted more specifically and potentially increases response rates. Web sites are

appearing which allow clients to create their mailing lists interactively using map-based

interfaces.

Personalized URLS

Personalized URLs, also known as PURLs, are personalized websites used in conjunction with

direct mail that are designed to gather information about the person that visits it. Marketing

companies find this useful when testing marketing methods and response rates.

Personalized URLs are generally printed on the direct mail piece in the format

JohnSample.domain.com or domain.com/JohnSample. They recognize the individual who is

visiting the site and can welcome them by name. They also have the ability to obtain and

disperse detailed and specific information pertaining to the individual looking at the site.[12]

Personalized URLs are assigned to individual recipients based on the direct mail campaign

database and are included either as the only variable or as one of several variable fields in the

larger variable data printing communication. When recipients of the direct mail piece log onto

their PURL, the information from the campaign database is used to tailor the web page

experience to that specific recipient. They are referenced by name, and the graphics, text, offers,

and other information on the page can also be tailored to them personally, based on the

information in the marketer's database.Studies have shown that people prefer to get additional

information online, so Personalized URLs create a seamless way to connect the printed piece to

the Web.

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 Business-to-Business Mailings (B2B)

Business products and services have long used direct mail to promote themselves. Traditionally,

this worked in one of two ways. As a direct sale, therefore precluding the use of a salesperson or

a retail store, or as a method of generating leads for a sales force. The former method was ideally

used by products that were easy to sell, was familiar to the prospect and needed no

demonstration. The latter method was used for large ticket items or for those that needed

demonstration for example.

Opting out

Several organizations offer opt-out services to people who wish to reduce or eliminate the

amount of addressed advertising mail they receive. In the United Kingdom, the Mailing

Preference Service [13] allows people to register with them for removal from posted as opposed to

hand delivered mail. In the United States, the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference

Service [14] functions similar to telemarketing do not call registries, though mailer participation is

voluntary. Several nonprofit organizations, such as 41pounds.org, offer opt-out services as well.
[15]
Some organizations are lobbying for a mandatory Do Not Mail registry in the U.S., similar to

the United States National Do Not Call Registry.

In response to a US Supreme Court ruling (Rowan v. Post Office Dept., the United States Postal

Service provides enables an applicant to obtain a Prohibitory Order, which gives consumers the

power to stop non-governmental organizations from sending them mail, and to demand such

organizations remove the consumers’ information from their mailing lists.

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In Canada, the highly-publicized Red Dot Campaign offers advice on reducing unaddressed

advertising mail. The campaign focuses on advertising the Canada Post policy to respect "No

Junkmail" signs, noting that this policy is not promoted by Canada Post itself. The name "red

dot" refers to an internal marker used by Canada Post to indicate which households do not wish

to receive unaddressed ad mail. The UK Royal Mail also offers an opt-out service, though it

sparked public outrage by warning that unaddressed government mailings could not be separated

from advertisements, and those who opted-out of the latter would stop receiving the former as

well.

Several websites critical of junk mail have guides for people interested in reducing the amount of

junk mail they get, such as the Center for a New American Dream and Simple Stop.

36
 THE PURPOSES OF DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS

The purposes are generally.

 Promoting direct marketing techniques and companies to consumers.

 Fighting negative images of the direct marketing industry.

 Providing training and professional development opportunities to marketers.

 Conducting industry research.

 Hosting networking conferences for marketers.

 Promoting direct marketing, informing consumers of the safeguards that exist, and

promoting the DMA as their protector, contact point and regulator.

 Trying to ensure that their members create consumer confidence.

 Advising how companies should use information by operating within the terms of Data

Protection Acts.

 Lobbying against Data Protection Acts which protect data against redistribution.

 Lobbying against laws forbidding e-mail address harvesting.

37
 Controversy

Direct Marketing Associations have attracted controversy, as they purport to defend and promote

spam, junk mail, and telemarketing, which many consumers find irritating and intrusive. The

DMA has a political action committee that makes political contributions in order to further its

causes. The DMA asserts that the mass-mailings done by its members are both economically and

environmentally beneficial (the latter because they supposedly reduce the number of car trips

taken by shoppers who would otherwise shop at conventional stores).

Telemarketing legislation: The United States telemarketing industry was affected by a national

do-not-call list, which went into effect on October 1, 2003. Under the law, it is illegal for

telemarketers to call anyone who has registered themselves on the list. After the list had operated

for one year, over 62 million people had signed up. The telemarketing industry opposed the

creation of the list, but most telemarketers have complied with the law and refrained from calling

people who are on the list.

Canada has passed legislation to create a similar Do Not Call List. In other countries it is

voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service.

FEDERATION OF EUROPEAN DIRECT AND INTERACTIVE

MARKETING - Your unique resource for pan-European direct and

interactive marketing

38
The Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing (FEDMA) was created in 1997 by

a merger two bodies-the European Direct Marketing Association (est. 1976) and Federation of

European Direct and Interactive Marketing (est. 1992).

FEDMA is the single voice of the European direct and interactive marketing industry. Its

national members are direct marketing associations (DMAs) representing users, service

providers and media/carriers of direct marketing. FEDMA also has more than 200 direct

company members.

 Today, direct marketing strategies (via mail, telephone, Internet and direct response) are an

essential tool for companies to approach, inform and retain customers, as well as providing

customer relationship services.

The development of sophisticated databases, telemarketing and e-marketing has made direct

marketing increasingly popular as a marketing strategy and has encouraged strong investment.

The direct marketing sector represents an annual expenditure of over 100 billion euro and

employs over 2 million people directly, and many more indirectly, within the EU.

Database marketing

Database marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential

customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for

marketing purposes. The method of communication can be any addressable medium, as in direct

marketing.

39
The distinction between direct and database marketing stems primarily from the attention paid to

the analysis of data. Database marketing emphasizes the use of statistical techniques to develop

models of customer behavior, which are then used to select customers for communications. As a

consequence, database marketers also tend to be heavy users of data warehouses, because having

a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model can

be built.

The "database" is usually name, address, and transaction history details from internal sales or

delivery systems, or a bought-in compiled "list" from another organization, which has captured

that information from its customers. Typical sources of compiled lists are charity donation forms,

application forms for any free product or contest, product warranty cards, subscription forms,

and credit application forms.

The communications generated by database marketing may be described as junk mail or spam, if

it is unwanted by the addressee. Direct and database marketing organizations, on the other hand,

argue that a targeted letter or e-mail to a customer, who wants to be contacted about offerings

that may interest the customer, benefits both the customer and the marketer.

Some countries and some organizations insist that individuals are able to prevent entry to or

delete their name and address details from database marketing lists.

Sources of data

Although organizations of any size can employ database marketing, it is particularly well-suited

to companies with large numbers of customers. This is because a large population provides

greater opportunity to find segments of customers or prospects that can be communicated with in

40
a customized manner. In smaller (and more homogeneous) databases, it will be difficult to justify

on economic terms the investment required to differentiate messages. As a result, database

marketing has flourished in sectors, such as financial services, telecommunications, and retail, all

of which have the ability to generate significant amounts transaction data for millions of

customers.

Database marketing applications can be divided logically between those marketing programs that

reach existing customers and those that are aimed at prospective customers.

Consumer data

In general, database marketers seek to have as much data available about customers and

prospects as possible.

For marketing to existing customers, more sophisticated marketers often build elaborate

databases of customer information. These may include a variety of data, including name and

address, history of shopping and purchases, demographics, and the history of past

communications to and from customers. For larger companies with millions of customers, such

data warehouses can often be multiple terabytes in size.

Marketing to prospects relies extensively on third-party sources of data. In most developed

countries, there are a number of providers of such data. Such data is usually restricted to name,

address, and telephone, along with demographics, some supplied by consumers, and others

inferred by the data compiler. Companies may also acquire prospect data directly through the use

of sweepstakes, contests, on-line registrations, and other lead generation activities.

41
 Business data

For many business-to-business (B2B) company marketers, the number of customers and

prospects will be smaller than that of comparable business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. Also,

their relationships with customers will often rely on intermediaries, such as salespeople, agents,

and dealers and the number of transactions per customer may be small. As a result, business-to-

business marketers may not have as much data at their disposal as business-to-consumer

marketer are accustomed.

One other complication is that B2B marketers in targeting teams or "accounts" and not

individuals may produce many contacts from a single organization. Determining which contact

to communicate with through direct marketing may be difficult. On the other hand it is the

database for business-to-business marketers which often include data on the business activity

about the respective client.

These data become critical to segment markets or define target audiences, e.g. purchases of

software license renewals by telecom companies could help identify which technologist is in

charge of software installations vs. software procurement, etc. Customers in Business-to-

Business environments often tend to be loyal since they need after-sales-service for their

products and appreciate information on product upgrades and service offerings. This loyalty can

be tracked by a database.

Sources of customer data often come from the sales force employed by the company and from

the service engineers. Increasingly, online interactions with customers are providing B2B

marketers with a lower cost source of customer information.

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For prospect data, businesses can purchase data from compilers of business data, as well as

gather information from their direct sales efforts, on-line sites, and specialty publications.

Analytics and modeling

Companies with large databases of customer information risk being "data rich and information

poor." As a result, a considerable amount of attention is paid to the analysis of data. For instance,

companies often segment their customers based on the analysis of differences in behavior, needs,

or attitudes of their customers. A common method of behavioral segmentation is RFM, in which

customers are placed into sub segments based on the recency, frequency, and monetary value of

past purchases. Van den Poel (2003) gives an overview of the predictive performance of a large

class of variables typically used in database-marketing modeling.

They may also develop predictive models, which forecast the propensity of customers to behave

in certain ways. For instance, marketers may build a model that rank orders customers on their

likelihood to respond to a promotion. Commonly employed statistical techniques for such

models include logistic regression and neural networks.

Laws and regulations

As database marketing has grown, it has come under increased scrutiny from privacy advocates

and government regulators. For instance, the European Commission has established a set of data

protection rules that determine what uses can be made of customer data and how consumers can

influence what data are retained. In the United States, there are a variety of state and federal

laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, (which regulates the gathering and use

43
of credit data), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (which

regulates the gathering and use of consumer health data), and various programs that enable

consumers to suppress their telephones numbers from telemarketing.

Advances in Database Marketing

While the idea of storing customer data in electronic formats to use them for database-marketing

purposes has been around for decades, the computer systems available today make it possible to

gain a comprehensive history of client behavior on-screen while the business is transacting with

each individual, producing thus real-time business intelligence for the company. This ability

enables what is called one-to-one marketing or personalization.

Today's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems use the stored data not only for

direct marketing purposes but to manage the complete relationship with individual customer

contacts and to develop more customized product and service offerings. However, a combination

of CRM, content management and business intelligence tools are making delivery of

personalized information a reality.

Marketers trained in the use of these tools are able to carry out customer nurturing, which is a

tactic that attempts to communicate with each individual in an organization at the right time,

using the right information to meet that client's need to progress through the process of

identifying a problem, learning options available to resolve it, selecting the right solution, and

making the purchasing decision.

Because of the complexities of B2B marketing and the intricacies of corporate operations, the

demands placed on any marketing organization to formulate the business process by which such

44
a sophisticated series of procedures may be brought into existence are significant. It is often for

this reason that large marketing organizations engage the use of an expert in marketing process

strategy and information technology (IT), or a marketing IT process strategist. Although more

technical in nature than often marketers require, a system integrator (SI) can also play an

equivalent role to the marketing IT process strategist, particularly at the time that new

technology tools need to be configured and rolled out.

New advances in cloud computing and marketing's penchant for both outsourcing services to

third-party agencies and avoiding involvement in the creation of complex technological tools has

provided a fertile soil for Software as a Service (SaaS) providers to centralize the marketing

database under a hosting service model that incorporates functions from CRM, content

management and business intelligence under one offering to automate the marketing process.

45
 DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

Specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the

advertiser, that is, the customer responds to the marketer directly. This is in contrast to direct

response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is

marketing in which the marketer contacts the potential customer directly.

In direct marketing (such as telemarketing), there is no intermediary broadcast media involved.

In direct response marketing, marketers use broadcast media to get customers to contact them

directly. It is direct response marketing because the communications from the customer to the

marketer are direct, this differentiates it from simple direct marketing in which the

communications from the marketer to the customer are direct, but do not allow for instant

feedback.

Like direct marketing, direct response seeks to elicit action. It is inherently accountable since

results can be tracked and measured. Furthermore, direct response campaigns perform best if the

underlying strategies and tactics are highly competitive.

46
 Characterized By

Direct response advertising is characterized by four primary elements:

 An offer

 Sufficient information for the consumer to make a decision whether to act

 An explicit "call to action"

 Means of response (typically multiple options such as a toll free number, web page, and

email.)

Media

One common form of direct response marketing today is the infomercial. Companies such as

Script to Screen, Hawthorne Direct, Guthy Renker[1] and International Shopping Network

specialize in infomercials. Infomercials are also known as direct response TV commercials.

Short form direct response commercials have time lengths ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Long form infomercials are 30 minutes long. Infomercials try to achieve a direct response via

television presentations. Viewers respond via telephone or Internet, credit card in hand. Noted

infomercial personalities include Cher, George Foreman (with the George Foreman Grill), fitness

guru Jack Lalanne, inventor / salesman Ron Popeil, Billy Mays, Tony Robbins, and Vince Offer.

An offshoot of the infomercial is the home shopping industry. In this medium, a home shopping

host will showcase a product directly to the viewer, and encourage them to purchase the item.

Noted pioneers in this industry include the first home shopping host, Bob Circosta; Bud Paxson

47
and Roy Speer, founders of the first home shopping channel HSN; and Joseph Segel who

founded America's most successful home shopping channel QVC.

Other media, such as magazines, newspapers, radio, and e-mail can be used to elicit the response,

but they tend to achieve lower response rates than television.

Mail order describes a form of direct response in which customers respond by mailing a

completed order form to the marketer. Mail order is slow and response rates are low. It has been

eclipsed by toll-free telephone numbers and the internet.

While certain media, as mentioned above, are commonly used in direct response campaigns, in

fact, direct response is media neutral, provided the campaign comprises the four main elements

of direct response, it classifies as such. Furthermore, direct response is organization neutral,

which is to say that it is practiced by organizations of all types and sizes, regardless of industry.

Principles

Direct response ads like infomercials can be contrasted with normal television commercials

because traditional commercials normally do not solicit a direct immediate response from the

viewer, but instead try to brand their product in the market place.

Improving the appeal and uniqueness of an offer is a first step for improving response. An offer

must be targeted such that its appeal is relevant to the wants or needs of the audience, so the

choice of media or list carries similar importance as the perceived value of the offer.

48
There are many other best practices and techniques used to achieve results including but not

limited to the use of urgency, clear and compelling copy, and graphics and design which

reinforce the message.

49
 Introduction

Marketing has pretty much been around forever in one form or another. Since the day when

humans first started trading whatever it was that they first traded, marketing was there.

Marketing was the stories they used to convince other humans to trade. Humans have come a

long way since then, (Well, we like to think we have) and marketing has too.

The methods of marketing have changed and improved, and we've become a lot more efficient at

telling our stories and getting our marketing messages out there. EMarketing is the product of the

meeting between modern communication technologies and the age-old marketing principles that

humans have always applied. Before we move ahead let us have a look on what direct marketing

is all about. Once clear with the concept of direct marketing we analyze the importance of web

2.0 technologies in meeting the goals of the organizations.

What is Direct Marketing?

Direct marketing is a form of advertising that reaches its audience without using traditional

formal channels of advertising, such as TV, newspapers or radio. Businesses communicate

straight to the consumer with advertising techniques such as fliers, catalogue distribution,

promotional letters, and street advertising.

Direct marketing attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of

intervening media. This involves communication (direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing) with

consumers or businesses. It is focused on driving a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct

50
marketing involves an emphasis on traceable, measurable, positive responses from consumers

regardless of medium.

Why do we need direct Marketing?

For many companies or service providers with a specific market, the traditional forms of

advertising (radio, newspapers, television, etc.) may not be the best use of their promotional

budgets.

For example

A company which sells a hair loss prevention product would have to find a radio station

whose format appealed to older male listeners who might be experiencing this problem. There

would be no guarantee that this group would be listening to that particular station at the exact

time the company's ads were broadcast. Money spent on a radio spot (or television commercial

or newspaper ad) may or may not reach the type of consumer who would be interested in a hair

restoring product.

This is where direct marketing becomes very appealing. Instead of investing in a scattershot

means of advertising, companies with a specific type of potential customer can send out

literature directly to a list of pre-screened individuals. Direct marketing firms may also keep

email addresses of those who match a certain age group or income level or special interest.

Manufacturers of a new dog shampoo might benefit from having the phone numbers and mailing

51
addresses of pet store owners or dog show participants. Direct marketing works best when the

recipients accept the fact that their personal information might be used for this purpose.

52
 Different Channels of Direct Marketing

 Direct mail

 Telemarketing

 Email Marketing

 Door-to-Door Leaflet Marketing

 Broadcast faxing

 Voicemail Marketing

 Direct response television marketing

 Direct selling

 Integrated Campaigns

Web 2.0 and Direct Marketing

Today's Web technologies offer richer, more interactive methods for midsize companies to

target new audiences and measure marketing results.

The advent of Web 2.0 characterizes the shift in the World Wide Web from a collection of

static sites and experiences to a global space where broadband connections and multimedia

applications deliver deeper content and richer interaction between individuals. Some of these

Web 2.0 services and companies have appeared out of nowhere to quickly change the

dynamics of Internet marketing and advertising.

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For example, the online video sensation YouTube was founded by two young California

entrepreneurs in February 2005; less than two years later it was sold to Google (in October

2006) for $1.65 billion.

This is good news for midsize marketers, because new applications such as blogs, wikis, and

online video advertising can level the playing field with larger companies, since these tools

are far more affordable than traditional advertising methods. Yet, given the wide array of

options, confusion reigns when it comes to selecting Web2.0 marketing for businesses.

As the Direct Marketing Association puts it, Web 2.0 includes:

 Social Networking sites

 Blogs

 Podcasts

 Intelligent Press releases

 User-generated content

 RSS feeds and Wikis

A cool appraisal of Web 2.0 marketing for businesses can help ensure that the company

spends its Internet marketing dollars wisely. The overview below provides some of the more

popular online marketing methods and how one can take advantage of them.

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 Social networking sites

Characterized by YouTube, Face book, and MySpace, these sites allow people to upload

content such as videos or personal profiles. Wildly popular with young people, marketers are

starting to invest in social networking advertising.

Microsoft provides the digital advertising technology for Face book, the second-largest

networking site.

Marketing on such sites helps companies reach a younger, arguably more fickle audience that

is beginning to ignore traditional advertising.

For example, Unilever promotes its Axe deodorant on a My Space page dedicated to what it

calls "Game killers" — people who interfere with a young man's efforts to find dates.

Blogs

Online journals of commentary and chat, blogs are everywhere on the Web. The corporate

world is now using them to subtly market their products or develop a brand image. Microsoft

engineers blog about Windows Internet Explorer and other products,

For example, while General Motors runs a blog that discusses topics ranging from auto

racing to car design.

If executed correctly, blogs give marketers a chance to build an informal dialogue with

customers. Companies can test new product ideas, for instance, to see how customers react.

Blogs are generally inexpensive, too, costing perhaps $2,000 to $5,000 for design. To be

55
successful, marketers must spend time regularly updating blogs, which makes them a high-

maintenance option. As well, Blogs must be honest. Wal-Mart posted a blog about a couple

travelling across the United States and parking their motor home at Wal-Mart stores. But it

was revealed that the blog was a fictional story written by Wal-Mart's public relations firm,

and the retail giant wound up with a major credibility problem. With blogs so common — it's

estimated that 35 million of them clutter the Web — it's tough to distinguish ones from all

the others. The best bet is to drive traffic to blog by marketing it through other channels, such

as within e-mail newsletters or online ads.

Podcasts

Podcasts are audio programs that can be downloaded and played anytime on an MP3 player

and they can hold a user's attention like a good book.

For example, Whirlpool has developed a series of 20-minute "American Family" podcasts

that cover topics such as making Halloween costumes or managing a gambling addiction.

While not directly "selling" Whirlpool products, the podcasts attempt to give consumers a

reason to know and like the Whirlpool brand before they shop for a washer or dryer, says

Audrey Reed-Granger, Whirlpool’s public relations director, who creates the podcasts.

"These are people who want to listen to good programming while in their cars, or as

background when they're working at home," she says.

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Since marketers can only measure the number of podcast downloads, it's impossible to know

whether people actually listen to them, warns Eric Weaver, director of strategic marketing for

the Seattle marketing firm Girvin.

Intelligent press releases

These "direct-to-consumer" press releases about products or company services can be written

with search-friendly terms and then placed with online news sites that index or "aggregate"

them and send headlines to subscribers.

A company selling marketing tools or services, for instance, might write releases with terms

such as "accelerate sales cycle" to direct search-engine users to company information.

Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 will create opportunities in this area, as it has features that

simplify subscribing to news feeds.

News feeds and releases have saturated the Internet, and it can be difficult to make the

release to stand out from the rest. Make sure to invest in high-quality copywriting services,

so that the press release headlines and storylines are credible, compelling, and appropriate to

the customer base.

57
 Targeted advertising

Search-engine advertising — where companies pay to have their Web site displayed on

search-engine results — has been big for several years. But now companies can target their

ads within the context of what people are reading online. Using technology and services from

companies such as Ad Valiant, Touch Clarity, and Pulse 360, for example, a mortgage

company's ads might appear in articles about home improvement or real estate. It can also

target ads to readers within a geographic area, such as states where the mortgage company

operates.

Most targeted advertising contracts stipulate that the advertiser pays a certain fee per click. In

case an ad generates a surge in clicks, be sure to set limits on what one is willing to spend

without notification from the marketing company.

Measuring the results

Web 2.0 marketing has one great advantage: Technology today makes it easy to measure

results. For example, through conversion-tracking services, Web traffic can be analyzed to

determine how many site visitors actually do what marketers desire — read about a product,

order a product, or subscribe to a newsletter.

Click Tracks, one online tracking service, charges $500 for a package that measures basic

activity on a Web site, according to the company's site. For companies posting blogs, firms

such as BlogPulse and Technocratic can help them track who is linking to a blog site and

what's being said about it.

With so many options available — and most of them priced at a small percentage of the cost

of television, print, or radio advertising — experts advise experimenting a bit to determine

58
which method or combination of methods suits your customers. With the right approach, a

company can take advantage of Web 2.0's incredible reach and the opportunity it affords to

connect with customers in an entirely new way.

Web 2.0 as a channel for Brand-building

Web 2.0 is paving the way for integrating direct and brand marketing, Enabling real-time

dialog with customers and the joint creation of content that increases and improves brand

awareness and perception, and generates sales and leads.

The below given statistics were collected from the personals involved direct marketing:

 84% of respondents use it to raise brand awareness.

 82% use Web 2.0 tools to increase brand preference.

 83% use Web 2.0 to generate sales.

 80% use it to generate leads.

As a brand builder or marketer, ignoring Web 2.0 is ignoring some of the best tools you can

find in managing your 360 degree (touching every touch point in your marketing matrix with

an appropriate relationship) marketing strategy and your reputation online. Understanding

your customer’s buying habits and interests, mapping current trends, getting free feedback

and reviews, testing out new concepts on focus groups for free, managing your brand’s

reputation through proper message management, distributing viral messages and ideas

quickly.

59
 Web 2.0 as a channel for Consumer engagement

 85% of respondents use Web 2.0 to engage their customers and rate it as a highly

effective mechanism for customer engagement.

 84% of our respondents use Web 2.0 to create a community of loyal customers, and they

find it very effective for doing so.

Reference: Study: Web 2.0 Awesome for Integrating Brand and Direct Marketing, DMA

One of the best ways to shepherd your brand online is to actively listen to and participate in

the conversations. You can’t control the message, but you can improve the conversation

about your brand online. By actively listening you can learn what your customers care about

and get smarter about designing and delivering services that delight your audience.

Six Steps to Market via Web 2.0:

 Learn about social media.

 Create a Web 2.0 marketing plan.

 Participate! Join the conversation.

 Be remarkable, be mention worthy.

 Be a part of the multimedia wave.

 Monitor engagement and learn as you go.

The internet has multiplied the speed and reach of interactive communications, opening

opportunities that were only fantasies two decade ago.

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 Essential outcome of Web 2.0 technology is Customer convincing

Customers

The four P’s of marketing have been overshadowed by the one P of Web 2.0, i.e. “People”.

Today, customers trust each others’ word more than they trust the sellers. Sellers have for

long been infamous for overestimating and exaggerating about their products. Therefore, it’s

a great idea to let people talk about a product amongst themselves. In the process, a great

product sells itself! That explains the popularity of websites like GadgetsGuru.in,

Mouthshut.com etc. Increasingly, companies are capitalizing on this idea of “Customers

convincing customers”, and reaping the benefits in terms of reduced effort and expenditure

on selling a product.

The future

Increasingly customers are taking the control of marketing communication. They have

strong opinions and preferences on the kind of communication messages they wish to receive,

as well as the frequency and the medium through which they wish to be contacted. Web 2.0 has

brought sellers and customers on a common platform and made possible a close look at customer

behavior and preferences. In the coming years, marketing will be more targeted and customized

as per customers’ likes and dislikes. Current economic downturn has further increased interest in

web 2.0 technology, because companies have realized Web 2.0’s benefits and are counting on

extending their gains and reducing costs. More & more companies are incorporating direct

marketing methods into their standard business model. With the increase in familiarity and usage

of internet, introduction of Web 2.0 technologies and the suitability of these technologies to

direct marketing, the future of direct marketing looks bright!

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 PRODUCT MIX

Product mix is a combination of products manufactured or traded by the same business house to

reinforce their presence in the market, increase market share and increase the turnover for more

profitability. Normally the product mix is within the synergy of other products for a medium size

organization. However large groups of Industries may have diversified products within core

competency.

The Biscuits Industry is huge altogether and further comprises of various segments and

sub-divisions to cater various type of markets and consumers.

62
 BRITANNIA PORTFOLIO

GLUCOSE BISCUITS

 TIGER

 CHOTA TIGER

 TIGER CHAI BISKOOT

 TIGER ROSEMILK CREAM

 TIGER BRITA ENERGY POPS

 TIGER CHOCLATE CREAM

 TIGER ORANGE CREAM

 TIGER COCONUT ENERGY

 TIGER ELAICHI CREAM

 TIGER KESAR CREAM

 TIGER BANANA

CREAM BISCUITS

 TREAT CHOCO GELO

 TREAT DELICIOUS DATES

 TREAT APPLE PUNCH

 TREAT FLAVOURED TANGY ORANGE

63
 TREAT STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED SURPRISE

 BOURBORN TREAT

 TREAT ELAICHI FON

 TREAT JIM JAM

 TREAT MANGO MISCHIET

 TREAT MASTI ORANGE

 TREAT PINEAPPLE PRANK

NUTRI CHOICE BISCUITS

 NUTRI CHOICE 5GRAINS

 NUTRI CHOICE DIGESTIVE

 NUTRI CHOICE CREAM CRACKER

 NUTRI CHOICE THIN ARROWROOT

 NUTIR CHOICE SUGAROUT CHOCLATE

 NUTRI CHOICE SUGAROUT LITETIME

 NUTRI CHOICE SUGAR OUT ORANGE CREAM

64
 MARIE BISCUITS

 MARIE GOLD

 VITA MARIE GOLD

MILK BISCUITS

 MILK BIKIS

 MILK BIKIS CREAM

65
 GOOD DAY BISCUITS

 GOOD DAY CHOCONUT

 GOOD DAY BUTTER SCOTCH

 GOOD DAY HONEY & RAISIN

 GOOD DAY CHOCLATE CHIP

 GOOD DAY RICH BUTTER COOKIES

 GOOD DAY RICH CASHEW COOKIES

 GOOD DAY RICH PISTA BADAM

50-50 BISCUITS

 50-50

 50-50 MASKA CHASKA

 PEPPER CHAKKAR

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 LITTLE HEARTS

 LITTLE HEARTS CLASSIC

PURE MAGIC

 PURE MAGIC

67
PRODUCT COMPARISON

68
69
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The information obtained for the study is from secondary data sources. Secondary data

comprises of information obtained from annual reports, journals, and brochures of different

FMCG Company’s. It also includes organizational manuals and other important documents

maintained and published by various FMCG companies.

It also includes information collected from websites, business magazines, business

newspapers etc. Moreover it also contained information’s collected from the various pamphlets

published by different FMCG companies.

Research Design:

A research design specifies the method and procedures for conducting a particular study.

It can broadly be defined grouped as Exploratory Research, Descriptive Research and Causal

Research.

An Exploratory Research is a preliminary investigation, which does not have a rigid

design &focuses on the discovery of the new ideas.

A Descriptive Research is a well structured study undertaken when the researcher wants

to know the characters tics of certain group.

A Causal Research is undertaken when the researcher is interested in knowing the cause

effect relationship between two or more variables. In this research the descriptive research is

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used to analyze the different outlets that answer “who, what, when, where and how” of the

subject under investigation.

Data is the key activity of marketing research. The design of the data collecting method is

backbone of research design. Data constitute the foundation of statistical analysis and

interpretation. Hence the first step in statistical work is to obtain data.

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Data can be obtained from:

1. Secondary Data

Secondary data:

Secondary data are the data, which already exists somewhere. Secondary data provide starting

point for research and after that the advantage of low cost and ready availability. Secondary data

can be divided into two types:

1. Internal data

2. External data

When researcher uses the data that has already been collected by other data are called secondary

data. Secondary data can be obtained from journals i.e. internal sources report, government

publication and books, professional bodies etc. Internal data are reports and memos generated

within an organisation to facilitate its operations and annual report. External data are those

specially produce for outside consumption.

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 DATA COLLECTION

1. Data collection through web sites and books.

2. Sampling Decisions

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 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Results of the survey of various class of respondent conducted by us shows that the biscuit

market industry in the urban sector of India is broadly classified into 4 major categories.

Responses indicate that Britannia covers the maximum portion of the Pie chart indicating its

market share to be 38 percent.

Parle G the second largest share holder with 31 percentages is catering to diverse

palettes of rural as well as urban India.

ITC,s Sunfeast trails the share tally with a market share of 21 percent.

Others category constitutes Biscuit industries that have very small percentage of market share

.Industries like Priya Gold , Duke , Anmol etc comprise of only 10 percent of the urban market.

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Estimated related share of various brands of the biscuit (urban) industry in India.

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 Age wise consumption pattern.

Age Wise Consumption Pattern

Age wise consumption pattern of the urban biscuit industry can be classified broadly into four

major segments

Segment I (Below 17 yrs)

Segment II 17 - 22

Segment III 22 – 30

Segment IV 30 and above.

According to the Survey conducted the outcome of responses were based on various attributes

like Crispness, Size, Nutrition, Ingredients, Freshness, and Flavors etc. Below mentioned chart

(SPSS Study model) depicts various age segments Vis -a Vis their choices of tastes.

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77
80%
70%
60%
50% Below 17
17 to 22
40%
23 to 30

30% 31 and Above

20%
10%
0% Crispiness Nutrition Ingredients Freshness Flavours

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 FINDINGS

 Out of the 4 respondents whose age were below 17 yrs , 75 percentage of respondents

opted Flavour as their highest priority.

 In the age category of 17 to 22 , the respondents opted Flavour were 60

percent of the total.Rest 40 percent opted nutrition as their best alternative.

 People in the age group of 22 to 30 considered Nutrition (45%) as their best choice.

 In the age segment of 32 and above, 71.4% of the respondents considered Nutrition as

their best alternative.A mix trend of Ingradients and flavour was seen in this category as

equal percentages (14.3%) of respondents went for both.

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 PRODUCT MIX OF BRITANNIA

Objective : To study the product Mix of Britannia using convenient sampling based approach.

Findings : In response to the market survey of 110 respondents following observations

were recorded.

Top Three Britannia Products

Tiger 22 % share

Treat 19.4% share

Good Day 19.4% share

Besides top three products mentioned above 50-50 holds 13.9 percent.

Milk Bikkis and Time Pass another very favourate products of Britannia Basket of goddies hold

8.3 percent each.Further followed by Nutri Choice (5.6) and Greetings (2.8) percent.

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The Graph shows the percentage share of various products of Britannia .

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Products Percentage
Glucose 43.2%
Milk 5.4%
Cream 2.7%
Butter 5.4%
Chocolate 8.1%
Protein 2.7%
Salty 32.4%

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45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00% Percentage
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Glucose Milk Cream Butter Choclate protein Salty

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 COMMUNICATION MIX

For a successful product it is essential for the company to use the communication mix in the right

way. An effective communication mix includes the right message through the right message and

the time of the communication should be right. The companies communicate with their

customers through the promotional activities that they do from time to time. The companies use

this mix to be in constant touch with their customers and also to keep reminding them of their

presence.

The company needs to keep few criteria while designing the mix like:

• The target segment for a product needs to be kept in mind while designing a mix.

• The choice of media is very important as the advertisement has to reach to the masses.

• The objective of the communication has to be well defined as to whether it will be for a

new product or an existing product.

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 The elements of the marketing communications mix

Britannia’s communication mix has the following major components :

• Advertising

• Sales Promotion

• Public relations and Publicity

• Direct and Interactive Marketing

• Personal Selling

Britannia is a leading FMCG company which deals in bakery, biscuits and cheese products. It is

a very old company in the market and also enjoys the largest market share in the biscuit section.

Britannia spends a great amount on its advertisements for the various products it offers. It uses a

mix of all the media forms to reach the maximum consumers. They advertise through television,

print, radio and reach out to their target audiences.

Some of Britannia’s popular sales promotions campaigns are as follows:

 Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao which took 100 mega-winners to Old Blighty to watch

the Cricket World Cup at Britannia's expense. This was a very smart initiative taken by

Britannia to motivate consumers to buy more of Britannia’s product in order to increase

there chances of being selected for the tour. Which inturn helped the company to boost up

its sales before and during the mega event.

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 Britannia Rules! A day before the World Cup Of Cricket 99 began in England on May

14, 1999, one of Britannia Industries' senior-most marketing managers was spotted at

Mumbai's Sahara International Airport-escorting a gaggle of excited children, all of them

sporting Britannia caps, Britannia T-shirts, and other assorted Britannia paraphernalia.

No, he wasn't test-positioning yet another brand of biscuits on a group of unsuspecting

young 'uns in an airport lounge. Those kids were actually some of the 100 mega-winners

of the Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao contest, being flown off on charters to Old

Blighty to watch the World Cup at Britannia's expense. See Cricket. Sleep Cricket. Eat

Only Britannia (sic!).

 Another excellent example of sport personality craze and innovation came from

Britannia. The company recently offered a white marble free with every pack of Britannia

Treat. The marble has a caricature of a Indian Cricketer printed on it, an innovative

conversion of craze for cricket & cricketing stars exploited with a fresh perspective.

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 ASSOCIATED PUNCH LINES OF VARIOUS BRITANNIA PRODUCTS

Products Punch Lines

50-50 “Very Very Tasty Tasty”

Good Day “Ho gaya re Good-Day”

Littile Heart “Direct Dil se”

Marie Gold “Tea Time biscuit”

Milk Bikis “Eating Milk”

Neutri Choice “Swasth khao Tan Man jagao”

Time pass “Perfect partner for Time pass moments”

Tiger “Eat Healthy Think better”

Treat “Lovable devils”

The sales promotion strategy followed by Britannia includes gift like Toys included in its

packs of biscuit segmenting towards lower age group categories.

Another strategy followed by Britannia is increasing the weight of various product packs

from 60 gram packs to 90 gram packs at the same price tags.

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 CONCLUSION

The above mentioned study bears a judgmental mark on the product and communication mix of

Britannia biscuits. The perception of consumers indicates that Britannia is the undoubtful leader

of biscuit product in the urban part of India.

With its market share of 38 percent as compared to 31 percent by its competitive brand Parle, the

company has targeted all segments of the industry considering price, age and taste as primary

parameters of segmentation.

The study indicates that Britannia’s Glucose brands like Tiger has gathered maximum

popularity among various age segments. Neutrichoice launched in 2007 targeting towards overall

health wellness of adults did not found much popularity among others.

The attributes of Retailers studied in the report indicates that Britannia no-doubt as topped the

sales static among its competitors , its visibility stats proof its effective advertising strategies and

individual focus on segmentation.

Though ratings on companies effective delivery system and maximum credit periods

given to Retailers do not highlight a very good response , still the companies aggressive

marketing strategies indicates its seriousness towards advertising and brand promotions.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

 Kotler P., Marketing Management, Millennium Edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.

Magazines

 A&M

 Business Barons

 Business Today

 Business World

Newspapers

 The Economic Times.

 The Indian Express.

 The Business Standard.

 The Hindustan Times.

Internet website

 www.google.com

 www.indiainfoline.com

 www.HUL.com

 www.unilever.com

 www.altavista.com

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 ANNEXURES

Instruction

This questionnaire is about your personal experience so please read carefully

while attempting it.

Q1. Which washing powder you use for washing cloths?

(a)Rin (b) Tide ( c) Wheel (d) Fena (d)Others

Q2. Rin is better than any other detergent or Washing soap?

(a)Strongly Agree (b)Agree (c)Some What Agree (d)Disagree (e)Strongly

Disagree

Q4. The result of Washing cloths from Rin is different from other detergents?

(a)Strongly Agree (b)Agree (c)Some What Agree (d)Disagree (e)Strongly

Disagree

Q6. Choose number for ranking detergents.(1st, 2nd ,3rd, 4th )?

(a)Rin (b) Tide ( c) Wheel (d) Fena

Q7. Have you seen the Rin and tide ad?

(a)Yes (b) No

Q8.What do you think Rin was wrong and it should not do this?

(a) Yes (b) No

Q9.Have you change your detergent after seeing this ad?

(a)Yes (b) No

Q.10 you know the main motive of Rin after this ad?

(a)Yes (b) No

Q11What do you think this type of advertising should be banned?

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(a)Yes (b) No

Q12. What do you think these type of ad affects the consumers?

(a) Yes (b) No

Q13. Do you know what Is comparative advertising?

(a)Yes (b) No

Q14. Do you know about the Avertising Standard Council of India ?

(a)Yes (b) No

Please fill the following

Name__________________________________________

Occupation_____________________________________

Phone Number__________________________________

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