Brand Identity Crisis Suman Sourav | IIM Shillong

February at B-schools is usually a month of Lucknow for their contributions to the Perspec- celebration, fests, events and of course the pre- tive column. Under the Perspective column we cursor to Spring and Farewells. Amidst these analyze the concept of Hashtag Marketing and merrymakings, we bring to you yet another edi- how its growing significance can be leveraged tion which is full of wonderful insights from the under various contexts. We also talk about the world of marketing. The Marketing Club recent- different facets of fashion blogging and emerg- ly completed another edition of its social media ing trends in fashion networking. competition “War of Brands” under the umbrel- la of its online conclave, Jingstad – Tantalizing We congratulate Arpita Nandy from JBIMS and Creatiity. A new event format, Ulta-Pulta, has Ritika Bansal from IMI for their Eye2Eye entries been added to it. Check out our social media cor- on the exploitation of social issues by brands for ner for more on it. the purpose of marketing. Under the Brand Sto- A lot has happened in the past one month. Be it ry, we cover the history of Tanishq and the path the upcoming IPO of SnapChat and Whatsapp’s ahead. Discover the story behind the evolution entry in digital commerce, or the Unilever Merg- of the MTV logo under the Logoistic section. er and P&G breakup. The commercialization of Apart from these, we have the Catch and Miss, ISRO’s successful launch by brands – free piz- Digitally and Fun Facts corners to engross you. zas for ISRO employees – will be something we discuss in the upcoming edition, where we shall For this edition’s Vartalaap we get the privi- also talk about the branding strategies adopted lege of speaking to Mr Kanishk who is leading in the state elections. the Business Development at Flock, a Direct-i company. We got some wonderful insights on Coming back to the present edition, we discuss Start-up and technology trends from him in the the evergreen concept of brand identity and its domain of B2B selling. significance on our cover story with some contemporary examples. We congratulate Shivangi Cheers! Singh from Amity University and Subhra Pra- Team Markathon tim Halder and Parth Mistry Harish from IIM E “ Our very D

Hashtag Marketing: 01 On the rise Subhra Halder& Parth Harish | IIM Lucknow Building a profitable 05 fashion blog Cover Story Shivangi Singh | Amity University 09 Brand Identity Crisis Suman Sourav | IIM Shillong

Eye 2 Eye ARE SOCIAL ISSUES LIKE FEMI- 20 NISM, LGBT RIGHTS ETC. BEING EXPLOITED BY BRANDS FOR MARKETING? Vartalaap Mr Kanishk Kumar Abhishek 14Sr. Associate Director Flock.co Arpita Nanda Ritika Bansal Interviewed By: Himanshu Chugh & Archita Singh JBIMS IMI, New Delhi IIM Shillong MARKATHON IIM Shillong Markathon january 2017 Andar Ki Baat Top 5 reads of the month

SpeciaLs 27 Articles which you just cannot afford to miss Logoistic 19 The Story of MTV’s Logo Raghav Dhanuka | IIM Shil- long AD-dicted 20 Catch & Miss advertisements of the month Suman Sourav & Ravitej Vadlamani | IIM Shillong Digi - Tally Let’s look at our 25 social media marketing

Marketing Gyan Fun Corner 21 To get the brain tickling Aditya Kumar Jain | IIM Shillong Brand Story Updates 22 Tanishq 23 Fresh from the Arnav Khanna | IIM Shillong Marketing World Suman Sourav| IIM Shillong

Hashtag Marketing: On the rise! By Subhra Pratim Halder & Parth Mistry Harish iim Lucknow Paytm has earned a remarkable market share in India with its appealing call-to-action hashtag advertising named as #PaytmKaro ‘Hashtags’ are an effective form of labelling or tagging tool to identify as well as group one’s content on social network and microblogging services. Hashtags start with a ‘#’ symbol, followed by an un-spaced phrase which archive each post containing that phrase into a single steam of metadata. As they turn people’s posts into clickable links, it begins to group people and focus on a targeted set of audience based on similar taste and preferences of post. Hashtags are becoming a prominent part of social-media culture, having the potential to drive individual psyche and actions for a particular cause. Naturally, it is becoming a worthy exploring area for market research, giving rise to a new cult called ‘hashtag marketing’ to create value out of individual posts on a public platform.

Hashtag marketing is based on tracking the on- Chat hashtags are very catchy one-to-many con- going trend behind the real-time social media versation tags, used by celebrities or companies traffic, which improvises consumer awareness, to talk to their followers about a subject matter. makes the content more searchable and encour- As the hashtag collates all the tweets or posts con- ages to discuss more about the tagged themes/ topics. Nowadays, social media teams of the tech-savvy firms are coming up with five broad level hashtag marketing strategies to meaningfully engage with their target audiences name- ly – Brand Hashtags, Trending Hashtags, Chat Hashtags, Content-reflecting Hashtags and Call-to-Action Hashtags.

Brand hashtags are effective in letting others know what users feel about the brand: its service and value offered. Not only it denotes a sign of customer retention, but also create awareness among the followers. Companies try to develop a concise and unique hashtag – which captures the essence of their brand and is related to their business, so as to encourage further circulation among the social media users. #Justdoit from Nike was a hit in brand hashtag that engaged users in conversations and stories on a topic.

Trending hashtags are a kind of automatic feed on social media platforms that display topics trending for a while. Facebook and Twitter have trending walls on two different sides of the screen and it changes constantly with more outreach through one’s contacts or followers. Trending hashtags are getting more informa- tive & let users know about a particular happening in any part of the world at any point of time. From consumer’s point of view, trending hashtags are becoming widely accepted tool of customer feedback and grievance redressal on a public platform. It brings a sense of urgency to the cause and wider acknowledgement by other users sharing the same concern. Trending hashtags are also acting as a popular- taining it on a single page, the users find it very ity meter with which marketing teams quanti- easy to locate and access other users sharing the tatively measure the penetration of its product/ same notion on that page. This is going to be the service on a real time basis. While every up- most prominent advantage of hashtag marketing coming offering tries to create a buzz through that – It connects like-minded people and drive consistently trending on social media, it also their consumer perception based on the stream of invokes a fierce competition in order to attain posts that arrive with the tag. the topmost slot. The most pertinent example There has been a significant rise in the use of chat of this trending hashtag is found in media in- hashtag for promotional purposes by celebri- dustry where news bulletins take reference ties, politicians and many more personalities in from the hot topics trending among its users public life. Be it a film promotion or an electoral and prefer to telecast news on similar themes campaign or simply a Q&A session, followers are to earn maximum television rating point (TRP) kept engaged regularly to strengthen the support and to capture maximum viewership in that base for the cause. particular timeslot. As a healthy practice for more public involve

ment, ministers and celebrities have started in- So, in order to sell company’s products or teracting more often on social media and sense encourage events that don’t have brand rec- the mood of the public before the release of their ognition, marketers apply content-reflecting product e.g. – Budget document or film release. hashtags to boost its online presence. Users In this way, followers are getting updated and searching for similar kinds of hashtag to define meaningfully involved as a support base for the their moments, gets the relevant hashtag in a product or person. The core philosophy behind short time. Companies strive to have their own the chat hashtag marketing is that followers are content-reflecting hashtags for its niche line of passionate and providing them an open interac- products on social media. For example, a café tive forum to network with each other and have by the name Moonshine Café and Bar in Del- chat with the person himself is nothing less than hi has leveraged its social media presence by adding value in the marketing process. using the hashtag #partyhard in its Facebook posts. People searching for posts with this tag, are taken to a page where Moonshine Café and Bar has its presence; thereby increasing the number of views on its Facebook page.

Content-reflecting hashtags become more valu- able as more and more users start to post it online and it becomes an early result for any hashtag search. An early result not only provides an advantage of determining the positive consumer behavior but also a possibility of becoming a sensational trend on the social media. And the last but not the least is the most traditional form of hashtag i.e. – Call-to-action hashtags.

Content-reflecting hashtags are neither brand specific nor appear to be trending much, but come handy in optimizing contents while searching a particular place, person or event as such. They simply relate to your post content and act as the nearest associated meanings to it. For example, #partyhard, #partytime are two content- reflecting hashtags which denote the jovial state of the person and denotes a particular timeframe i.e. party time. As these hashtags relate with all kinds of party, the generalization is more and brand identity gets missing in them.

They are meant to promote any specific action among the online community. Higher the number of target audience performing that action, the more it gets visible on the digital media. Market- ers generally use this as a very effective tool to build the image of a brand by linking it with a campaign of doing a specific activity and asking users to perform that activity. These users then post the same hashtag and may ask other users to perform that action and re-post it. Hence, the chain continues like a pyramid. And voila! Who The hashtag #NoShaveNovember is promoted is benefitted? Of course the purpose for which it with a view to donate to Matthew Hill Foun- was done. dation by embracing the beard and moustache and letting it grow unhindered for the entire Call-to-action hashtags generally start with a month of November. The donation raised as verb and followed by a few words as additional an opportunity cost for shaving in the entire information. Some of the most successful call- month is utilized in educate people, saving to-action hashtags circulated on Indian social lives & aid patients fighting cancer. The cam- media are – #NoShaveNovember, #SelfieWith- paign gained a lot of momentum on social me- Daughter, #IceBucketChallenge, #PaytmKaro and many more. The core philosophy behind these hashtags is to transform tweets or posts into action and motivate others to follow the same. When these hashtags are implemented in reality, it becomes a word of mouth and spreads a virtual-space movement for a cause.

The recent post on Demonetization by Paytm dia due to the effective call-for-action hashtag, asks the audience to use its payment app for which touched the nerve of youngsters and transacting at petrol-pumps and promotes the spread awareness. same with its famous hashtag #PaytmKaro used Call-to-action hashtags ensure a sense of par- for its entire stream of products. The advertise- ticipation and the users feel that they are get- ments telecasted on TV and digital media assure ting associated to an important cause. When commoners not to worry about any excess fee a conducive consumer perception prevails, and encourage them to use Paytm for transport, marketers harness the power of mass public grocery, consumer goods & service center trans- participation to experience a huge surge in actions. In the wake of demonetization, Paytm their campaign – be it a product promotion, or has earned a remarkable market share in India sales drive or simply an awareness with its appealing call-to-action hashtag adver- campaign. tising named as #PaytmKaro.

By Shivangi Singh Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University Uttar Pradesh

Venus devotees have much to cheer about. It pays ments merely include access to the internet and a to have a keen eye for beauty and putting your most supporting device. It came as no surprise, hence, fashionable foot forward and how! As the doors for that creative, business-minded and tech-savvy many avenues have opened up all at once by the ‘fashionistas’ took to blogging for channelling mere virtue of a click, world has shrunk considerably their passion and brought forth the unique and and the fashion world has wisely taken a cue. Added dynamic field of fashion blogging in all its glo- to it is the portable convenience of smart phones and ry. Today, fashion blogs form the community of similar devices, most-viewed handing in a blogs in the winning strat- country. Their egy for a busi- return-on- ness to not just investment, earn money in terms of and sell prod- time, energy ucts but to get and money, is the customers exponential hooked-on for compared to a 24*7 com- that of a tra- plete digital ditional text- entertainment centric blog. in the form of Soon after retail therapy, these blogs where they feel free to window shop without guilt or are converted into web domains with URLs and judgement getting in the way. And it all begins with eventually, extended into an online fashion brand a simple Blog. or an apparel-accessory store in collaboration Web-log or ‘Blog’ can arguably be cited as the best ex- with existing online retail chains. Money starts ample of ‘Freedom of Expression’, being the platform pouring in as the social media following expands where anyone can talk about anything; the require- and the bloggers are catapulted to fame within

MARKATHON 5 IIM Shillong perspective february 2017 miniscule amount of time. All a fashion blogger ion blog, determination towards it and the ability to essentially requires in order to create a success- stick with it through a rocky start and tough times ful fashion website is a clear-cut, well thought out is called for. digital marketing strategy. Maximize Visual Content and SEO: Successful bloggers understand that the web au- A quick Google search about the ‘top fashion dience has an acute attention span and strategize blogs of India’ illuminates the success quotient of effectively around this phenomenon. Fashion blogs by the names, “Stylish By Nature” and “Look- bloggers typically opt for posting maximum visual ing Good Feeling Fab” and a visit to the websites content in proportion to text with large font. Basic is sure to leave one impressed by the amount of digital marketing techniques of ‘Search Engine Op- hard work and smart work that goes into carving timization’ are made use of and so are features like their niche as top fashion blogs and in the process, tagging and labelling. attaining several blogging awards, which are listed and elaborated upon in a strategically placed sec- Strategic Social Media tion on the website. Learning from example, it is Marketing: fairly easy to examine the basic skeleton of a winning digital marketing strategy for a fashion blog. Once the domain name is successfully integrated Focus on Regular Delivery of Content and Original- with the blog portal, it is pivotal for the blogger to ity: increase the web presence of the blog as well as its creator. This is performed by strategic and selective socializing. Social media marketing is the best marketing tool as it is personal- ized and binds together the best workings of traditional and modern day marketing techniques. Fashion bloggers then create the blog’s Facebook page and Twitter handle and integrate the blog with their Google Plus account. Images are posted by the dozen on Instagram and Pinterest and videos about photo-shoots and upcoming blog posts are The foremost step is to pay attention to your brain- uploaded to the blogger’s YouTube channel. The child. Best blogs are made by the most committed blogger’s LinkedIn account can be used as a one- bloggers, who leave no stone unturned to nurture stop space for all these web links, apart from the what they have created and take up the responsi- blog itself. bility with all the seriousness. Being regular with posts is a pre-requisite followed by a thorough un- Guest Blogging and Networking within the Blog- derstanding of all the features of the blog portal ging Community: being used and by large, maximizing its best us- Once the social media accounts are set in motion, age. Being original is another high criterion for ef- the blogger can interact with fellow fashion blog- ficient fashion blogging as copy-pasting content gers via various online communities and ensure or fashion styles are not only unethical but also greater visibility for his/her website. A common self depreciating. Before starting with a marketing digital marketing strategy is to comment on fellow strategy, it is crucial to create a product worth be- fashion bloggers’ posts in exchange for their ‘Likes’, ing marketed and for creating a highly read fash- views and comments.

MARKATHON 6 IIM Shillong perspective february 2017 the blog with Google Ad Sense ensuring money per click in exchange of giving up a small space on the website to advertisements which match the content of the blog. On most fashion blogs, Google displays advertisements of successful fashion retail chains such as, YepMe.com, Jabong. com, Myntra.com, et.al. On completion of this stage, the website works as a commercial one with its URL, bringing in monetary benefits for the creator. Naturally, the fashion blogger’s sub- sequent concern is getting Guest blogging is another lucrative marketing maximum clicks, views and followers. option in which one blogger invites the other to Branding: make a post and promote one’s blog on the other’s website and vice versa. These blogs, categorized as The tool which comes in handy now is every ‘Special Posts’, are then promoted highly on all so- marketing enthusiast’s favourite. Branding plays cial networking websites and consequently, garner a path-breaking role in the success of a fashion an increased amount of views being fetched from blog functioning on a make or break oscillation. both the bloggers’ followers. The fashion bloggers’ As most content on a fashion blog is visual, fash- ecosystem thus creates a co-operative atmosphere ion bloggers achieve largely by getting a firm grip which works with the motto, “I succeed, and you on Graphic Designing and user-friendly software succeed”. like, Corel Draw, work well in this situation. Careful branding includes developing a unique style and this is done by making sure all the images carry the website’s name and logo. The header section of the blog is a graphic-design software gener- ated image displaying the name of the blog, its logo and the name of the fashion blogger- content designed strategically for the website’s promotion and enhanced web presence.

Strategic branding of a fashion blog also includes writing with a unique style. While some prefer to start the post with a salutation, others prefer to begin with a quote on fashion. It is important to stick to the unique style of writing in order to let the followers imbibe the brand. Maintaining a unique style of the blog, as in its look and feel, basically Monetizing the Blog: how it is presented to the viewers, holds a place of importance. While most blog portals offer myriad Established web presence guarantees followers of templates to choose from, the crème-de-la- and high viewership. Next step in the basic yet crème of fashion blogging develop their own style: elaborate marketing strategy, and one which fetch- a look which appeals to their creative minds. Final- es maximum profits for the blogger, is to connect ization of exclusive look and feel gives birth to a

brand. In turn, establishment of a brand paves the ery 10,000 followers on Instagram, they put up a way for a triumphant e-commerce store. thank you note or a creative graphic image; same goes for increased number of followers of the website, a certain number of views, likes or any other landmark. Suc- cess of the blog acts like a glue, bringing more followers and creating a chain of happiness-in- duced whirl. It has been clearly demonstrated by statistics that celebrating milestones in- creases viewership be it a blog, television channel or any other digital media. More than anything else, it helps boost up the blogger’s morale as they get ready to set Profitable Product Reviews: foot into the highly competitive universe of online retailing. A major part of any fashion blog is product reviews. Fashion bloggers often indulge in self promotional Sponsored Posts and Tie-Ups: activities, online door-to-door campaigning, in a manner of speaking, and ask established fashion Setting up an online fashion retail store includes retail chains to send them hand-picked bits and high amount of interpersonal networking and pieces from their collection with the purpose of tie-ups with major brands. At first, it begins with reviewing them, which basically includes posting requesting the followers to place orders with the pictures wherein they have styled those prod- fashion blog as it provides its brand’s unique ap- ucts and making a blog post about the same. This parel, accessory or make-up products and/or ser- works as a double-edged marketing sword as both vices. Once this initiative takes flight, tie-ups come the blogger and the retailer get their share of fame into action. Requests are sent to major retail chains through double promotion. It is an intelligent mar- and fellow bloggers to give space to their products keting strategy as it covers all social networking and services on different websites. The market- websites at once- the blogger gets featured on the ing strategy being whole-heartedly implemented, retailers much followed website, Facebook page, the collaboration works wonders and establishing et.al. while the retail chain gets free promotion and own brand is no longer a dream.As with all things eagerly advances to seek the next opportunity of fine, the vibrant trend of fashion blogging comes the same type of marketing through the bloggers’ with a flipside. “A finger is cut to save the hand”; network. literary beauty is cast aside in awe of graphic imagery, words are sparse and often written with poor Celebrating Milestones on Social Media: taste in faulty grammar while images are shot with a DSLR camera and photoshop-ed to perfection. It “Nothing succeeds like success” and nothing cre- is a fine example of online guerrilla marketing in ates more ripples than happiness. A clever market- which no expense is spared and no social networking strategy often adopted by the fashion blogging ing website is left behind in order to create a visual community is to celebrate every milestone. For ev- fashion experience.

IIM Shillong MARKATHON 8 IIM Shillong cover story february 2017 Brand Identity Cover Story Crisis

During a time of increasing item commoditization and decision, branding is a simple route for individuals to get MARKETINGthrough the clutter. Brands are progressively satisfying in- BUDGETdividuals’ requirements for connection and identification – needs that customary organizations are attempting to meet. As branding can form the deciding factor for purchasing of an item, the marketer should deal with it in the same manner followed by the artisans in their craft. Each brand conveys a picture and has an identity, which ought to be imparted vi- ably to the target group. A brand is a guarantee that the organization can keep. A brand that buyers trust will likewise serve to diminish perceived risk and post-buy cognitive dissonance. It is because of the formation of brand identity and image in the customer’s brain. An association, in this way, through advancement looks to pass on certain identity and image for a brand. Brand identity is the novel ar- range- By ment of Suman Sourav brand affiliations that the brand strategist tries to make or keep up. These affiliations speak of what the brand stands for and imply an implicit guarantee to the customers. The communication between the company and the consumer regarding brand identity and brand image has often been used interchangeably. Brand identity begins from the

cover story february 2017 organization as an organization is in charge of a brand’s identity as it develops or changes after some making a differentiated offering. With unique el- time. These traps can frame a kind of identity crisis ements the organization tries to distinguish itself and if not recognized and tended to can start to have by differentiation. Accordingly, the brand strate- a detrimental affect on how a brand is seen. Many gist has a tendency to make the brand position brands and especially youthful brands attempting to its identity and image through the communica- set up themselves in their market may at first have a tion process. decent or infectious name, or story behind their brand. Brand strategists endeavor In any case, for the most part, to guarantee that the brand they have a genuinely little or image of their item is the specific offering. As they do same as the brand identity. well and develop, they hope In a sense, the consumers’ to extend or stretch out their discernment about the brand products or services, and this image is exactly what the is the point at which the in- strategists need the brand convenience can begin. to be seen as. Marketing The warning signs of brand mix strategy assumes an im- identity crisis is when people perative part in building up are confused about what a a brand identity. Through particular brand stands for. brand identity, an organization tries to pass on its Marketers can’t see how their brand is different from uniqueness and peculiarity to all. Brand identity the competition – or, worse still, they feel their only is made of brand vision, brand culture, position- option is to copy it. When a brand isn’t sure for whom ing, personality, relationship, and introduction. or what it stands, it’s likely its customers won’t either. But, brand image is the aggregate of the impres- The factor that pushes brands towards identity crisis sion that consumer sees from many sources all include: of which consolidate to shape brand identity. It is the aggregate impression of an item in con- Inconsistency: sumer’s brain. Brand image is an arrangement of Brand identity crisis arises from not being consis- affiliation typically sorted out somehow to like tent at every touch point, which confuses consumers it. Brand and they don’t identity know what and brand to expect and image are where to ex- fundamen- pect from. Not tal for a sol- ensuring that id brand. the brand has a Brand iden- single “person- tity is the ality” across creation of all the channels manage- used is one of rial activity the major force and brand towards brand image is a identity crisis. manifesta- Doing a Black- tion of the Berry: Brand view of the Identity crisis consumer. also arises from In any case, not many brands prevail to strike playing catch-up game in competing markets. Black- that balance. Berry played this game in the tablet and mobile mar- There are common traps that frequently happen within ket and hired singer Alicia Keys as a creative figure-

MARKATHON 11 IIM Shillong cover story february 2017 head, then parted ways with her after just one year, “woman-about-town,” resulting in a confused brand which had done little to make BlackBerry’s brand identity of the soap. identity stand out. VIP VIP started selling Carlton and VIP at the same stores. Not con- It was im- sidering portant for the impact Carlton of each to have a change: separate Without identity looking at so that what mat- consum- ters the ers under- most to the stand what brand and it stood its custom- for. VIP ers, one confused cannot de- consumers cide what by selling needs to be done first, which complicates matters un- VIP, Carlton, and Aristocrat, which was their mass necessarily, and loyal consumers will not know what brand,in the same stores. Also, this leads to the de- to expect. crease in sales for the VIP as it was suffering from Not getting the timing right: Consumers want to identity crisis. Moving to handbags didn’t help ei- know when brands are ready, so marketers not get- ther, as it needed to create a distinct identity to be- ting the timing right when launching anything new come successful. or different results in falling into the trap of over- delivering. GAP In making spin- Companies that off brands like faced Brand Banana Republic Identity crisis and Old Navy, Cinthol GAP made an ex- Cinthol is a traordinary show- contemporary ing with regards brand and was to differentiat- launched by po- ing out-of-office sitioning itself wear and minimal as a masculine effort clothing. soap with USP of Be that as it may, protection from the accomplish- body odor. But ment of these soon it realized that it had to experiment by trying out brands appears to have come to the detriment of the new things and coming out with different variants to core GAP offering. GAP was known for innovation be in tune with the changing consumer trends. With in its products, but with a campaign like “Dress Nor- the fast changing times and the growing power of to- mal” and unrelated offering against its core compe- day’s women, Cinthol was repositioned to appeal to tency, it faced a classical example of an identity crisis the women. Cinthol has flip-flopped between the ma- as target consumers were not able to decide what the cho male, the bubbly fresh family, and the confident brand stood for.

JC Penney The JCPenney brand has suffered mightily in the last couple of decades. A key culprit in this decline is its decidedly mixed marketing messages, from multiple taglines suggesting different positioning to introduc- ing private labels like Martha Stewart Living wares and Walt Disney products. Also, the “Everyday” pricing structure didn’t help much either. JC Penney faced a brand identity crisis: was it reasonably priced, off- brand clothing for the family, or was it the Walmart of department stores, with something like “every day low prices” on pretty much everything?

RadioShack has tried its hand in just about every possible combination of consumer electronics one can imagine. From PCs to walkie-talkies and electronic MARKETINGrepairs to remote telephones, RadioShack has dunked BUDGETits toe into a wide range of waters. The issue was that consumers were just confounded by this rotating en- tryway of business identities. Does one go to RadioShack for MP3 players and TVs or for cell phones and stereo wire or radios? When someone thinks of buying something at RadioShack, the answer doesn’t strike immediately, and when it does, it’s a gray area at best.

Barnes & Noble, is a large retail bookseller in the United States. It evidently let its eyes drop from the opposition sufficiently long to totally miss the coming of quick-fire online orders and digital reading devices. Playing catch-up was difficult, so they started operat- ing in board games, toys, and home decor items. But, Barnes & Noble, attempting to dilute its core offering with the bevy of other products, is now confusing the much pursued consumers in a hyper-competitive marketplace.

Kanishk is an entrepreneurship & strategy evangelist with a diverse executive experience across businesses and cul- tures. Currently, Kanishk is leading the Business Devel- opment initiative for Flock– a Direct-I Company in the North India, as Senior Associate Director, Enterprise Sales. Kanishk has been closely associated with the Product firms throughout his professional assisting both International & Na- tional clients with their Business Requirements. He started his journey with Zycus, and subsequently forayed into the Start-Up ecosystem with his stint with Zostel & Zo Rooms A thought leader, he speaks at various industry forums, and con- tributes to editorials for his views on Start-Ups & Technology trends. Gifted with a big-picture vision and a can-do attitude, he enjoys translating an idea into achievement and a powerful entity.

vartalaap february 2017 vartalaap “ It’s never an individual who is “ successful, but the team.

Markathon:What does it take to be a suc- - Ability to Build Lasting Relationships cessful sales executive? - Social Influencing Capability with a Vision Success is a very relative term, I see an Effi- - Accurate Forecasting cient sales executive to have a constant zeal to learn & update their knowledge arsenal Lastly, it’s never an individual who is suc- with respect to their potential clients and cessful but the team. A successful sales ex- not just with news. ecutive wins as a Team and not as an individual. It’s never a client you acquire but a We must change the perception of tradition- friend you win for life. al sales executive trying to sell a product/ commodity to an Informed Business Advi- Markathon: What are the challenges faced sor who understands the needs of his/her when it comes to B2B selling? consumers. A productive sales consultant achieving/over-achieving his targets in to- B2B Sales ecosystem has a completely dif- day’s times will be the one who is a social ferent set of requirements, deliverables & influencer, using technology to its best to challenges viz-a-viz a traditional B2C Sales connect the missing dots. Thanks to the Cycle. The consumer is the organization penetration of the social media and multi- which have sophisticated & detailed pro- tude of digital channels, we have educated cesses in place to execute the needs. The consumers today. These consumers at times Sales Cycle tends to be longer & complex in are much more aware of the product/com- a B2B scenario owing to multiple stakehold- modity & the peers in the space being intro- ers and their understanding of the products duced to them, even before you make your being offered. Understanding the right set first connect with them. The connect can be of stakeholders and then working your way furthered by analyzing & understanding the to understand the potential mental blocks data that resides within the CRM tools. they might have during the sales cycle is the need of the hour. The marketing channels The ABC (Always Be Closing) approach must are limited and making connect with the give way to ABH (Always Be Helping) in 2017 stakeholders without trespassing their per- and beyond. A successful sale cum busi- sonal space is one of the biggest restrictions ness advisor must work diligently to bring one could come across. I believe one also a smile to their clients and transform their needs to make perfect sense of the abun- business challenges. An awesome mentor is dant data to make a possible human con- the cherry on the cake to guide one through nect with the potential consumers. the journey. Few of the traits displayed by We need to subscribe to just one golden an effective sales advisor: rule, No One Wants to Be Sold Anything. An effective Business Development team is the - Constant zeal to Learn one which ensures the solutions/sugges- - Holistic Understanding of the Market tions they provide to the consumers should

MARKATHON 15 IIM Shillong vartalaap february 2017 impact the efficiency & topline of the orga- While we have our peers like Slack working in nization. similar domains, we at Flock are solving an imperative business challenge of teams “to Markathon:What are the key competencies Communicate Efficiently” in a unique way. of Directi, how does a customer relates to Di- With Technology at the Heart of Business recti when he purchases “Flock”, what is the for Direct-I, we understand the consumer cross connection? expectations from a product like Flock. It must be intuitive enough to be used by all Direct-I has had a beautiful and an event- and one. I personally have witnessed some ful journey which the audience connect of our respected peers shut shop and alter with. All Direct-I Businesses are boot- strapped, with none of the portfolio companies having any external debts/ More than 80% of the buying pro- investments. We have had phenom- enal success with BigRock & Media. cess is expected to occur without Net which put us on top of the Indian Startup ecosystem. Bhavin & Divyank any direct human-to-human inter- Truakhia serve as the poster boys for the Startup community, not raising a action by the year 2020. single dollar in VC fund and creating $1.4 Bn Cash Rich enterprise. We at Direct-I are employing over 1500 employees their course in their journey. across 8 cities. The company has invested in multiple category leading global brands We are Nimble, Agile & Responsive to Our across business areas as diverse as web Customer’s Needs. We work with our clients presence (domains, hosting, cloud-infra- and understand their business needs as we structure), online advertising, communica- suggest some hacks to ease their day to day tion & collaboration (voice and messaging) tasks. Flock has been designed beautifully and payments (benefits and compensation). to be a smart messaging application for the “Intelligent People, Uncommon Ideas” the masses, with a very Slick Interface and yet tagline says it all. packed with a lot of functionalities to facili- tate a usual day’s task. We have a simple yet Positioning Flock as a part of the Direct-I robust Flock Development platform which Group companies brings a lot of credibility can be used to Create & Configure Integra- & trust with it, the 2 most important attri- tions with some of the applications you use butes needed to build a strong foundation very often. for a lasting relationship. Having silently served the industry for over 18 years, we When it comes to the True Value that needs understand the pulse of the industry which to be drawn out of the implementation of enabled us to bring Flock closer to the con- such an application, we ensure we work sumer needs & expectations. We are one of with our clients and their teams educating the most innovative companies in the world them on how Flock could be best used to as- working on challenging ideas and bringing sist them in their day-to-day transactions. them to life. Thereby, eliminating the dependency of the end users to switch on multiple platforms to Markathon:Who you see as the closest com- communicate. petitor to your product “Flock”, what strategies do you follow to gain a higher market Markathon: How is the pricing of a product share in such competitive scenario? like “Flock” done, how do you convert customers who use the free platform to buy the paid

MARKATHON 16 IIM Shillong vartalaap february 2017 eye2eye services? ing Flock get the best tech & product support to identify areas to better structure & Unlike yesteryears, we are staring at the streamline the communication channels. Freemium SaaS economy wherein more and more software products are being offered at Markathon: Young MBA graduates in India a Freemium level. A de- aspire for roles cade ago, there were in marketing limited options to ex- Technology is best only when.. over sales, plore when it came to what is your technology solutions it brings PEOPLE view on this and the time invest- segmenta- ed in the implemen- together! tion? tation of the software products. Just More than a couple of years ago, 80% of the buy- a lot of emphasis was given to the behind ing process is expected to occur without any the firewall implementation of the software direct human-to-human interaction by the solutions. When we fast forward to present year 2020. day scenario, I witness an openness and ac- There has been a great divide between the ceptance of the industry to the SaaS model marketing & sales teams on the said seg- of software deployment. We are in the era mentation of roles. Having said that, I believe where we are witnessing a lateral shift of the in the true impact technology will create to typical service engagement of One-Time Im- enhance the connect with the audience. It is plementation & Annual Maintenance Con- but imperative for both the teams to work in tracts give way to a more flexible monthly conjunction to achieve the desired results. subscription fees. The consumer today is Long gone is the era, where the two teams in complete control of the scenario and de- used to work in silos. The organization that mands the best service from the provider, will lead the revenue curve will have a team unlike the yester-days of sticking around which shares the KPI’s. In fact, in Direct-I with a poor service provider because of the we are setting the perfect example wherein huge costs incurred already. the Marketing teams come together to connect with the clients and the Sales teams Flock is a simple, intuitive, effortless to im- work in tandem with the Marketing team, plement, communication platform and Free to leverage the Social Media channels and to use! We are the flag-bearers of the Free- instantly connect with the potential con- mium model with little/no cost of consumer sumers. In today’s times, we need more of acquisition. The product has a natural con- Business Advisors who can connect with nect and stickiness with its audience. We the larger audience and influence the same want our customers to first understand the with their thoughts. These influencers need value Flock brings on the table even before to have a sound understanding of technol- they think of any underlying cost with the ogy channels to best leverage the same to product. We have come up with some nomi- drive revenue for the organization. nal subscription plans for the Enterprise feature requests which are placed at the As per the conflict of Marketing over Sales, comfort of the end user. my two cents for the MBA candidates would be to take a holistic approach and work As we bring to life a Freemium model, we with just one goal “Drive Growth, and just are constantly engaged with our clients and do whatever it takes to sell the product.” chalk out a 120-day success journey. Dur- The teams must work as one to achieve the ing the course, we ensure all the teams us- Best results.

MARKATHON 17 IIM Shillong eye2eye february 2017 ARE SOCIAL ISSUES LIKE FEMINISM, LGBT RIGHTS ETC. BEING EXPLOITED BY BRANDS FOR MARKETING?

Today, the only way to create differ- When Airtel launched its Boss TVC - entiation is when brands target peo- The Smartphone Network Ad in 2014, ples’ mindsets emotionally along leveraging its data plans, smartphone with the functional proposition. Unlike the advertise- usage as well as women empowerment it received both ments of 90s and early 2000s, where only men in media flak and appreciation. were portrayed as active and having leadership skills, Though it correctly displayed its fundamental theme of adventurous and independent leading to gender ste- valuing relationships, it ended up showing the female reotyping; today’s advertisements challenge traditional protagonist working in the kitchen even after a long day thinking in order to eradicate narrow-minded thought at office AND it still was able to influence Indian custom- processes. ers. Myntra’s Bold is Beautiful series for its in-house brand Anouk highlights the issues of single parenting, eve- What if the advertisement had been vice-versa i.e. the teasing, partner selection and gender discrimination at husband had been the boss and the wife sub-ordinate? workplace. Dabur Vatika’s Brave and Beautiful demol- ishes the stereotypical idea of beauty; Havells’ Respect This advertisement is an example of the fact that with Women series focusses on the idea that women’s space time brands continuously try to leverage the issue in is not restricted to the kitchen; Tanishq’s “Nilofer” high- hand, may make an impact but are just not always right lights female entrepreneurship and Hyundai’s Life is in portraying the issue correctly. Brilliant and Ariel’s Share the Load advertisements aim Today, with over 460 million internet users alone in India, to highlight the perfect work-life balance that the pres- we witness heightened awareness of social issues owing ent generation couple needs to maintain. to social media’s unfailing strong presence. Social Media Importance of Anouk’s advertisement of partner selec- gave the common people a medium to be heard on, to tion cannot be overplayed especially in a country where speak out their minds, and share content and views just homosexuality remains illegal as per Section 377 of In- with the click of a button. dian Penal Code. LGBTs face ample problems in India which are not faced by non-LGBTs. As marketers, the opportunity was in utilizing the new Whenever brands are marketed around the issues of channel of digital media along with the focus on content equality in every field irrespective of gender, the adver- creation for the youngsters. Since the youth resonated tisement ensures that the issue is not lost behind the with LGBT rights, feminism, abolishing child labor, mar- brand advertised. keters in an attempt to leverage the channel, sensitive Some outliers like Fair and Lovely focus on facial beauty awareness of people have ended up exploiting the so- exploiting “feminism” concept but most brands do not. cial issues. They utilize “feminism and LGBT rights” concept but Be it Dabur Honey’s Jealous Husband ad, Kellogg’s shut don’t exploit it, as the social impact created; indicated down fat talk ad, Airtel’s Boss TVC all in an attempt to ad- by the viral reach and shares of these advertisements dress the social issue have bruised it instead. cannot be measured by amount of revenues that the brands generate for themselves.

Topic for the next issue: “Are luxury brands striking the right chord in India?” Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is 15th March 2017. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry. Winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 500 each!

The most popular TV network across the globe, Mu- ality shows. This is not just true of USA but also sic Television or MTV was first officially broadcasted for India where a number of reality shows are on 1st August, 1981 in the United States of America. being broadcasted on MTV although all are tar- It has a presence in more than 166 countries across geted towards the youth. 400 million households. The MTV logo symbolized one of the initial or potential impacts of shifting from 1981-2010 print media to visual media because of the animated identity that it provided. The reason behind the logo change is usually rebranding or modernization to adapt to the changing culture and we shall see how the MTV logo has successfully modernized its avatar and how the previous logos reflected the ethos of those eras. 1980

Before the official launch on 1981, MTV was supposed to be called The Music Chan- nel and the above logo was created by Manhattan De- sign in 1980 in collaboration with the creative director of the company, Fred Seibert. Although it may look refreshing, a strategic But finally the name was change in the 2010 logo is that the size has be- shortened to MTV. After come wider and fatter. Perhaps a symbol of the brainstorming on a variety wider network, the main reason behind this is of music notes and symbols to accommodate better imagery by widening for the logo they started fid- the aspect ratio so that more images can be dis- dling with the lette played in its output. rs M, T and V creating graffiti out of their combina- tions.

During the 1990s the content broadcasted started including music shows and award ceremonies and also commemorating major days, events and festivities. The design of the logo was such that it could easily depict such emotions and symbols. Who said that logos were nothing but static objects made to stand for a corporate identity. MTV showed that logos could speak and act, break and hark, get decorated and shattered and but still revive.

The MTV logo was a mascot, an animated character, a joker and a spokesperson, a kid and an adult. It tried to keep pace with the content being aired, subtly complementing the content. It shattered the very notion of logos and became a cult in itself.

After 29 years, the logo finally underwent a change in its design. The caption Music Television was removed Another reason for this widening was to adjust after 2010 from the logo because the brand had to the HDTV format so the trailing end of the ‘V’ eventually expanded into other genres to include re- letter was chopped and the bottom end of the entire logo was tailored. MARKATHON 14 IIM Shillong AD-dictedAD-dicted decemberfebruary 20132017

By SUMAN SOURAV By RAVITEJ VADLAMANI IIM Shillong IIM Shillong PRODUCT: Cadbury Choclairs Gold PRODUCT: Coca Cola

POSITIONING:Double chocolate blast with just two POSITIONING: Taste The Feeling rupees CREATIVE AGECY: CREATIVE AGENCY: Taproot Dentsu L&K | Saatchi & Saatchi CATCH YouTube https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=6Mip2i22Csw YouTube Link: https://www.youtube. com/ watch?v=AlFNsjVKVQ4 CONCEPT: CONCEPT: Entering a supermarket, Siddharth Malhotra The TVC features two central characters, the younger R romances the feeling of drinking Coca-Cola brother – the protagonist and his elder brother, who which catches the attention share a fun-filled, mischievous relationship with each of the female cashier. Watch- other. The younger brother is always on the lookout for ing him enjoying his ice cold chances to get his elder brother into trouble. But the el- MISS Coca-Cola, the cashier gets der brother always has that one effective counter attack lost in her thoughts and gets caught off guard when in his pocket - the double chocolatey Cadbury Choclairs Malhotra comes in front of her. To cover up she sponta- Gold. Each time the younger brother opens his mouth neously tells him that he is their lucky customer and has to complain, the elder brother tosses an irresistible Cad- won a Coca-Cola with the condition that he has to drink bury Choclairs Gold to shut him up. With rich visuals of it there itself. As he gulps his Coca-Cola, the cashier con- a double chocolatey blast, the entire film will leave your tinues to watch him in awe. taste buds craving for a Cadbury Choclairs Gold. VERDICT: Miss VERDICT: Catch Team Markathon feels that the concept of getting at- Markathon believes that the advertisement is enriched tracted to someone purely on basis of what they are by deep consumer insights “Mooh bandh rakhne ka drinking is a little far fetched. The idea of the advertise- double lagega”, which celebrates the power of the de- ment to showcase coca cola as an aspirational product licious double chocolate blast inside Cadbury Choclairs has failed in our opinion. Although the positioning state- Gold. The relationship between two brothers shown in ment of “ Taste the feeling “ is creative, we don’t believe the ad is so rich, it gives a pleasure to watch Chugli-khor it connects with what the brand has stood for over the little brother who believes that he has the upper hand, years which is to open happiness. Overall, the advertise- when in fact older brother had the perfect “mooh bandh” ment was mediocre in comparison to some of its more solution in the palm of his! illustrious predecessors. With the brand proposition of ‘Mooh Bandh Rakhne Ka Double Lagega,’ the whole idea of the campaign is to bring out the richness of the double chocolatey Cadbury Choclairs Gold emphasizing on more value at the price point of just two rupees. This versatile mix of emotions makes the commercial engaging, endearing and a pleasure to watch.

MARKATHON 21 IIM Shillong brand story february 2017 Brand Story Arnav khanna IIM Shillong Tanishq

When Titan Industries came out with their Tanishq tional jewellers, Tanishq introduced novel methods of range of gold watches and jewellery in 1995, they did testing gold purity such as X-ray Karatmeters instead of not imagine the scale this brand would expand to. To- traditional methods such as touchstone. Another point day, Tanishq has a very stronghold in the Indian Jewel- that worked in favour of Tanishq was the standardisation lery market. It created the trend of branded jewellery, in gold rates throughout India in its showrooms due to which almost a decade ago was nowhere to be found. its single manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Although it stumbled in its initial years, Tanishq cleared all the hurdles that came its way to become number one Advertising in branded jewellery segment. Now, after 11 years since Tanishq has been really creative with its advertisements. its inception Tanishq knows the pulse of its customers Initially, Tanishq also approached the market with the ra- and has a huge portfolio of jewellery collections for ev- tionale of affordable jewellery and to attract customers ery occasion. In fact in 2011, keeping up with the rapid give discounts on special occasions. Wedding is an occa- urbanisation and the changing life- sion of equivalent impor- styles of youth Tanishq came up with tance of any major festival its own sub-brand workwear jewellery in India, especially the role named Mia. Let’s look what the jour- that jewellery plays in the ney has actually been for Tanishq life of the bride. Overall, the ads portray the rela- Initial Downturns tion a woman has with her When Tanishq entered the market, jewellery. It captures the jewellery was perceived as an asset sparkle in the eye of every rather than a fashion accessory. Most Indian woman when she Indians at that time purchased gold sees a beautiful gold neck- from their local retailers. These retail- lace or a diamond ring. Be ers played the role of family jewellers it a gift from a brother on whom they trusted implicitly for generations. This per- Raksha Bandhan or a special anniversary present for the ception and trust was very deep rooted and required wife. huge efforts in terms of product proposition and retailing. Also, Tanishq found it hard to catch the pulse of Tanishq Now the market with its western designs with focus on the With changing times Tanishq has transformed itself with western market. Indians preferred heavy and traditional its customer centric approaches. Now, that Tanishq has designs over sleek and contemporary designs. Being a substantial market base in India, it is trying to diversify branded as western and elitist, Tanishq faced a lean its offering by creating various collection of designs for patch for the first three years. every occasion and purpose. They have Mia for working women looking for office wear jewellery, Queen of Turning point: Hearts, diamonds inspired by royalty, Niloufer for wom- Realising its gaps in product positioning and retailing, en wanting the classic beauty for everyday use. Other Tanishq decided to shift its focus towards the domestic important collections are Shibham, Zuhur, Inara and the market. It changed its design and added 22 and 24 carat latest being Rivah. jewellery from its initial offering of only 18 carat. Also, Tanishq recognised the ethnicity of the Indian market Being one of the brands from the house of TATA, Tanishq where every region had its own culture and traditions. has also been working towards social responsibility and The festivals were targeted according to regions - Durga has gone one step further to break stereotypes. Be it a Puja in West Bengal, Onam in Kerala and Diwali in the mother getting ready for her marriage or an office going North. Also, Tanishq started stocking typical designs woman facing the world boldly and at the same time be- from different parts of India. After testing the design in ing #bestAtWork. Tanishq, as a brand has evolved with the market Tanishq kept only the popular ones and sup- time. But in this ever changing world, consumer prefer- plied it to different markets. To gain an edge over tradi- ences changing with time and regions.

Conceptualized and launched by three brothers – Piyush, Gaurav, and Nitin Chhabra – Organic Smokes takes Ayurveda one level up, making Ayurvedic ciga- rettes. It is an Ayurvedic organic therapy for smokers. The product is available in online mode only, and it is the first time the company is going ahead in the Indian market. It is a very innovative product with a unique positioning of solving a major problem of youngsters who are working, smoking and stressed. The company wants to compete with ITC having an ultimate aim to help people get rid of smoking tobacco.

After Dabur and Patanjali Ayurved, it’s the remarkable entry of HUL’s Dove brand into baby personal care products. HUL feels that despite the huge number of children born in the India every year, the baby care segment has not been tapped to its potential yet, that’s why HUL aims to challenge the dominance of existing top players like Johnson&Johnson (J&J) in the Rs. 4,000 crore market. Baby Dove is available on Modern Trade, General Trade and Chemist channels apart from E-commerce portals and all the products are moderately priced between Rs.27 to Rs.210.

After Ola, US-based cab aggregator Uber has now launched ‘UberHIRE’ in nine Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune that will allow users to hire a cab for up to 12 hours. UberHIRE is a time- based offering that allows users to make trips punc- tuated with multiple stop overs. Uber’s local rival Ola had launched a similar service ‘Rentals’ last year, which is available in 85 Indian cities. With the Positioning of addressing the unique commuting needs of riders in India, especially that of tourists, business travelers, senior

PC maker HP launched its ’Omen’ range of note- books and a desktop to tap the growing community of gaming enthusi- asts in the country. Priced at Rs. 79,990 and Rs. 1.40,000 lakh, HP’s range will compete with the likes of Asus and BenQ, who have a strong line- up of gaming devices. HP is looking to leverage the Indian gaming market which has been expand- ing and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 per- cent in next five years. The positioning of the product is unique as it offers the features gamers rely on — power for battling MARKATHON 24 IIM Shillong digi-tally february 2017 digi-tally Our Social Media Pages have been buzz- ing all month. Check out some of our posts here!

1)How a 9 year old girl forced Dabur to change juice packaging over gender discrimination Women all over the world are demanding equality, they are protesting and resisting hoping that someday men and women would get equal opportunities. But this story of a Guwahati school girl is perhaps an indi- cation that change is actually happening Link: : http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/02/16/how-a-9-year-old-girl-forced-dabur-to-change-juice-packaging-ove/

1) 2) Snapchat thinks its ad are better than TV,here's why Snap looked around at its digital video competitors and concluded that the existing video ad options were horrible. So, they wanted to figure out how to capture the entertainment and creativity of television advertisements and the article talks about how they did it. Link:http://www.businessinsider.in/snapchat-thinks-its-ads-are-better-than-tv-her- es-why/articleshow/57009516.cms

3) 6 lessons from Donal Trump’s winning marketing manual Six important lessons from Trump's brand marketing playbook to beat the odds and overcome powerful competitors including giving consumer a job to pursue forgotten consumer. All the lesson that a today’s marketer needs to know. Link: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/donald-trump-s-winning-marketing-manu-

4) Customer loyalty is overrated Marketers spend a lot of time—and money—trying to delight consumers with ever-fresher, ever-more-appealing products. But their customers, it turns out, make most purchase decisions almost automatically. They look for what’s familiar and easy to buy. The article deciphers science behind Consumer decision. Link: https://hbr.org/2017/01/customer-loyalty-is-overrated

5) Internet economy: Reality check at start-ups While the number of Internet users is growing rapidly, the number transacting online isn’t increasing at the same rate, raising concerns whether Internet firms can attract enough new paying users to back investors’ rosy projections. The article gives a reality check. Link: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/zIAQXIug7KISsp7O4vc9KP/Inter- net-economy-Reality-check-at-startups.html february 2017

Articles are invited “Best Article”: Subhra Halder& Parth Harish | IIM Lucknow They receive a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation

We are inviting articles from all the B-schools of India. The articles can be absolutely anything related to the world of marketing but it should be an original work that is not pub- lished elsewhere. The articles can be specific to the regular sections of Markathon which includes:

•Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena. •Productolysis: Analysis of a product from the point of view of marketing. •Strategic Analysis: A complete analysis of marketing strategy of any company or an event. Apart from above, out of the box views related to marketing are also welcome. The best entry will receive a letter of appreciation and a cash prize of Rs 1000/-. The format of the file should be MS Word doc/docx. The last date of receiving all entries is 15th March, 2017. Please send your entries marked as

__ to [email protected].

MARKATHON 29 IIM Shillong IIM Shillong