Download - The marksman september 2011
EDITOR’S DESK SEPTEMBER 2011
Interface-the Marketing Club of K.J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
(SIMSR) proudly present to you the September issue of “The Marksman”. On this occasion, we
would like to thank all our readers for the overwhelming response for the past three editions.
The cover story for the September issue is “EVANGELISM MARKETING”. The article informs us
about how brands get personality and personalities become brands, and how people become
brand ambassadors just because of their belief and perception about it. It sure is a promising read
for those who wish to devour information beyond text books.
The secondary story, “Volkswagen - breaking the clutter” will talk about the marketing strategies
adopted by Volkswagen in terms of media and advertising after being a late entrant in the premi-
um segment of an already competitive Indian car market.
We also have articles covering the Re-branding of Hero Moto Corp ,Faith Marketing and Market-
ing of luxury goods. We would also like to congratulate Mr. Akshat Malhotra (SIBM,Pune)
for his article of Faith Marketing being the best entry amongst the many articles that we received.
Our regular section of bookworm, tweets and Buzz will surely appeal to all our readers.
With this issue, we would also like to welcome our Junior Marksman team, who now would take
the baton and ensure the Marksman light shines in the months to come!
Happy Reading!
Cheers!!
Team –Marksman
Interface - The Marketing Club of SIMSR
SEPTEMBER 2011 01
EVANGELISM MARKETING
Some brands enjoy a very strong word of mouth while others don’t. The answer
to this mystery might lie in what is known as Evangelism Marketing…
In an age where small firms struggle to
make it big and big Brands compete to be-
come even bigger, winning over the con-
sumers mind space and pulling them to the
market place is a game that has chartered
various dimensions. It is a constant race to
reach out through the TV, print media, ra-
dio jingles, outdoor promotions and others
to take control of all the senses of the cus-
tomers. But there is more to marketing and
promotion strategies than what meets the
eye. What influences customers to choose
a particular brand over another? Is it plain
advertising or is someone influencing them?
Some brands clearly get much more Word
of Mouth than others. This month, we try
to explain this trend in the light of Evange-
lism Marketing.
What is evangelism marketing?
Evangelism Marketing can be thought of as
an advanced form of Word Of Mouth Mar-
keting. Companies are turning the tables
around and are now working on developing
customers who believe so strongly in the
product or service that they freely try to
convince others to buy and use it. Hence,
the customers become voluntary support-
ers, actively spreading the word on behalf
of the company.
Unlike in Affiliate Marketing, where compa-
nies provide incentives in the form of mon-
ey or products to its endorsers, evangelist
customers spread their word and try to
attract new customers out of pure belief in
the product or service, simply to provide
benefit to others. As evangelists are not
paid to promote the brand, their beliefs are
perceived by others as trustworthy and
credible.
The word Evangelism means “bringing good
news”. It is a term associated with Christi-
anity and refers to a practice of spreading
information about a particular set of beliefs
to others in order to make them believe in
these set of beliefs. Hence, the marketing
term rightly draws from the religious sense,
as consumers are literally driven by their
beliefs in a particular product or service,
which they preach to others in order to
convert them.
Guy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist
of Apple Computer, is considered to be the
Father of Evangelism Marketing. He be-
lieves that people become evangelists simp-
ly to make the world a better place. Kawa-
saki is recognized as being one of the first
SEPTEMBER 2011 03
COVER STORY
to use evangelistic methods to promote a
brand through a blog, a concept which
spread like wild fire in the marketing com-
munity.
Creating Customer Evangelists
"Creating Customer Evangelists", a book by
Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, explains
how companies like IBM, Krispy Kreme
Doughnuts, The Dallas Mavericks, South-
west Airlines and many others have suc-
cessfully built their customer base with the
help of targeted marketing programs involv-
ing their biggest fans. These programs have
produced hosts of unofficial salespersons
who proved to be an inexpensive and pow-
erful marketing force. The book outlines
the framework for developing evangelism
marketing strategies in six simple steps-
1. Continuously gather customer feedback.
2. Freely share your knowledge.
3. Create effective word-of-mouth net-
works.
4. Encourage communities of customers to
meet and share.
5. Devise specialized, smaller offerings to
get customers to bite.
Focus on making the world, or your indus-
try, better.
A complaint from a customer is a god
sent gift!
Now as intriguing as it sounds at first, the
fact is that these Customer Care services
help convert already loyal customers into
influential and enthusiastic evangelists.
Customer Experience Research firm TARP
found that customers who complain and
are satisfied are up to 8% more loyal to the
company than those who had no problem
at all.
When customers become truly thrilled
about their experience with a product or
service, they become candid "evangelists"
for the company. This group of “satisfied
believers” can be converted into a power-
ful marketing force to become a growing
influence on customers.
Facebook Facebook
Facebook is increasingly becoming an inevi-
table tool for marketers. Reasons: Creating
a Facebook page is free of cost, very easy
and creates an instantaneous pathway to
evangelists.
You may not realise this, but every time
you hit the like button on a Facebook page,
you become an Evangelist. When you in-
teract with other fans on a fan page on
Facebook, that interaction is sent through
your news feed, which goes to all your
friends, thus urging them to see what the
page is all about.
A fan page surfaces questions, problems or
issues that people are facing and can create
THE MARKSMAN 04
COVER STORY
an immediate fix-it list. It gives the company
a feel of what resonates with fans by the
number of comments and "likes" people
give on each post. Thus, a Facebook fan
page can be a strong indicator of how well
a brand is doing.
Apple took the first bite
The Evangelism Marketing movement start-
ed at Apple Computers in the 1980s, with
the launch of the original Macintosh. It was
Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, who helped
popularize the idea of a company evangelist
by uniting the developer community to
write software specifically for the Mac.
The primary function of an evangelist in the
early days of the Mac was to convince soft-
ware developers to write software for the
Macintosh. This gave rise to what is now
called “Software Evangelism”. Apple for-
merly had a "Why Mac?" evangelist site.
Then the company ran “Get a Mac”,which
gave PC users numerous reasons to switch
to Macs. Several third-parties still host and
maintain Apple evangelism websites.
What’s your Starbucks Idea?
Starbucks Corporation, the world re-
nowned Coffee company, opened its doors
to its loyal customers in 2008 by starting an
online community for them in 2008 called
My Starbucks Idea. This website was de-
signed to invite suggestions for products or
services and feedback from customers.
During it‟s first year, My Starbucks Idea
generated over 70,000 ideas through the
website and close to 50-60 changes were
incorporated based on customer sugges-
tions.
HOGS!
Harley Davidson has been into Evangelistic
Marketing for a long time now. Harley
SEPTEMBER 2011 05
COVER STORY
Owners Groups(HOGS), an initiative by
Harley Davidson is a common platform for
Harley fanatics to interact with each other.
This organization organizes local and inter-
national events like road trips, biking chal-
lenges, concerts, etc. for Harley lovers
around the year. It is a great place to find
people who share love for Harley Da-
vidson bikes and it has grown into a dynam-
ic community for biking enthusiasts.
Lady Gaga!
She‟s just 25 and with 2 Grammys, more
than 8 million albums sold worldwide, an
army of diehard fans, she has the whole
world singing to her tunes. Lady Gaga can
be cited as a shining example of Personal
Evangelism Marketing.
She doesn‟t like the word “fans” so she
calls them her “Little Monsters”. By giving
her fans a formal name, they can freely re-
late to each other and feel like they are a
part of an exclusive social group. She
doesn‟t like professional photographers tak-
ing her photos but its ok when her fans
take her photo.
In her concerts, she recites the “Manifesto
of the Little Monsters”, dedicating all her
success to her fans. The official little mon-
ster greeting is the outstretched Monster
Claw Hand. You would even find fans
showing each other the Monster Claw out
on the street. Quite the brand recall don‟t
you think?
Whether it‟s her performance art style
stage shows or her bizarre outfits, Lady
THE MARKSMAN 06
COVER STORY
Gaga has created mass hysteria across the
globe. With millions of followers on Twit-
ter and Facebook hooked on to every ac-
tion of hers, it‟s only fair to say that not
only is Lady Gaga an outstanding artist, but
is also a great Marketing Mind!
Evangelism Marketing in India
While we see Evangelism Marketing pre-
sent in a big way in the countries of the
west, the concept of evangelists is still in its
nascent stage in India. Digital evangelists
are now fast becoming the means for
brands to connect with consumers and cre-
ate a positive buzz around brands and new
product launches in India. Karthik Shriniva-
san, Mahendra Palsule, Gautam Ghosh,
Jairaj P- these are people who feature in
the list of India‟s 100 Most Influential Peo-
ple on the Web.
Interestingly, almost 50 of these top 100
are virtually unknown names who have
made a big impact on the Virtual World.
Big brands in India today realize that these
influencers on the web can make a big dif-
ference when it comes to selling their
products and services. Aditya Swamy,
Channel Head, MTV India in an interview
said “By giving early adopters a special ex-
perience, they seamlessly become brand
ambassadors.
When we launched Coke Studio, we
looked for hardcore music fans who were
active in social media to come and experi-
ence a recording first hand. MTV Roadies
has become a cult today. Getting to see
content before it goes on air is very special
experience for these fans.”
Evangelism Marketing can be particularly
beneficial for small businesses and start-up
firms. For instance, Yolkshire, a small busi-
ness in Pune witnessed a 20% hike in sales
after it was promoted on influential blogs.
Brands like Nokia, Reckitt Benckiser, MTV,
etc approach digital agencies like Prinstorm
India and Bloggers Mind to find bloggers
and tweeters who are the right fit for their
brands.
The agencies then approach them to pre-
view and evaluate the brands and create a
buzz about them. In turn, they are provided
with incentives that range from providing
exclusive content and first hand reviews, to
freebies and pay checks. They actively ask
bloggers for feedback and use their net-
works to reach out to a larger community.
Reckitt Benckiser used popular gadget and
gaming bloggers to tweet and blog about
their new game Urban Thrill. The company
created the game so that it could connect
with the youth. The incentive to play was
that winners would get a ticket to a desti-
nation of their choice. By engaging the gam-
ers through blogs and twitter, the game in-
creased its online players four folds in just
two weeks, thus creating more awareness
and buzz around the brand.
SEPTEMBER 2011 07
COVER STORY
fɔlksˌvaːɡən - The People‟s Car
Volkswagen‟s marketing team focuses on
its key brand pillars- innovation, to make a
strong impact throughout the roll-out in
India. Innovation was showcased not only in
Volkswagen‟s product introductions, but
also in its communications and advertising.
Road block in newspaper- When it first started in India in November
2009, it combined its campaign with Times
of India to bring out a successful roadblock
that blocked out other ads and filled up the
entire paper with its own ads, wholly or
partly in thirteen of the twenty two pages
of the newspaper. This roadblock did grab a
lot of attention and created awareness for
the brand.
VW Polo- Hole in newspaper
The Times of India had a car-sized hole in
its special edition, courtesy the Volkswagen
marketing team who drove their New
Volkswagen Polo through the eight pages.
The hole, when aligned with the main edi-
tion showed the Polo car.
The advertisement did stand out, and must
have caught the attention of every reader.
One doesn‟t know if Polo, the company
that makes the popular mint candy called
Polo- a mint with a hole, was happy with
the innovation. But after this, one can ex-
pect advertisers to drill holes in other
newspapers too.
World‟s First Talking newspaper The advertisement was carried in some 2.2
million copies and a small talking device
was attached to it. The talking newspaper
ad created a sensation in India, and gar-
nered worldwide attention for taking print
advertising to a new level.
But other than the initial shock of having to
hear from your paper – the novelty wore
off quickly – as there wasn‟t much detail to
the voice message, other than usual mar-
keting information.
Volkswagen-Breaking the clutter
Redefines innovation, grabs maximum eyeballs, the most talked
about!! Message innovation or just another media innovation?
THE MARKSMAN 08
SPECIAL STORY
Till date it is one of the most discussed and
blogged topics and the most searched sub-
ject amongst the online community. So it
wasn't just the ad that did the talking but
got its readers talking about it too!
Volkswagen (Toy car on logo) Bill-
board The Billboard had a VW logo and a small
model of a Jetta which navigates through
the logo and traces the path cut out inside
the VW. This hoarding was an honest ef-
fort at doing something innovative and
catching the attention of potential custom-
ers.
Better if paid attention to details!!
The company is trying to promote the
brand more than the car itself as it can be
seen in the picture the model car of Jetta
was hard to notice. The model car moves
so slowly that it takes some time for you to
figure out if it is moving or stationery.
How it could have been better?!
If their primary objective was to familiarize
people with the logo of the brand, they
might have just fared better by displaying
only the logo and done without the car in
motion or they could have made the car
glow in the dark or used a bigger model to
make Jetta noticeable.
Volkswagen Jetta- paint it Silver
With the launch of the new Volkswagen
Jetta, Volkswagen came up with an adver-
tisement printed on silver sheet that ac-
companied TOI.
The jacket connotes the USPs of the all-
new Jetta. Silver is VW communication col-
or , thicker cover represents the quality of
the car, and glitzy looks stands for the all
new design of the new Jetta.
On a Downside: The excitement created
by the media and the information provided
by VW about Jetta is not that exciting.
Glitzy silver printing diminished the appeal
of the car itself. Silver foil printing is new
but the link between that and Jetta does
not get established to a layman.
#anything4jetta- This campaign has
taken Twitter by Storm
Grey Digital has designed a social media
campaign, wherein users need to post a
wacky tweet on what they would do to win
SEPTEMBER 2011 09
SPECIAL STORY
the all-new Jetta. There are multiple ways
to participate, including mobile (texting or
recording a message), posting one-liners,
pictures and hilarious videos. The more ac-
tive the involvement, the better are the
chances of winning.
Volkswagen‟s proposition for the all-new
Jetta was simple- that one can do anything
to drive VW. VW decided to test their
proposition with a simple question: Would
you do #anything4jetta?”
GOOD Number Score- Over the first
three days, the campaign recorded 54,000
Tweets. Peak activity was as high as 2,900
tweets an hour, and the website received
100,000+ views in three days. The
@volkswagenindia account also netted an
incremental 4,000 followers, fostering a
community for future activities.
Das Auto- The Car Through such campaigns VW clearly sends
out a message that it is not ready to com-
promise when it comes to innovation, be it
in its products or its advertising. Even its
simple tagline evokes attention bringing
both things to the front, one; that they are
a superior German engineering company
and two; that they have full confidence in
their product lines when they say it is THE
car and not A car!
Volkswagen Gallery
POLO
JETTA
BEETLE
THE MARKSMAN 10
SPECIAL STORY
What you all associate with Tommy Hilfiger,
Nakshatra, Armani, Nike, Titan, Levis, Wran-
gler, Bausch and Lomb, Adidas, Ralph Lauren,
Marks Spencer, Prada and Christian Dior !
Luxury has
never been
someth ing
easy to de-
fine, yet this
m y s t e r y
concept is
someth ing
highly de-
sired by one
and all alike. Luxury goods give the owner
the psychological benefits of esteem, pres-
tige and status.
MARKET INSIGHTS
Luxury good market in India is one of the
most diverse and challenging market. The
size of the luxury market in India is around
$7.5 billion in 2009 & it is estimated to
reach $30 billion by 2015. In India there is a
great untapped opportunity for luxury busi-
ness. Five out of ten wealthiest person of
the world are from India. 1.7 million Indi-
ans qualifies as rich. Subdivision as (super
rich, sheer rich, clear rich and near rich).
These rich people can be well targeted by
brands. India is still a virgin market for lux-
ury goods. Companies like Swatch,
Montblanc and Chanel are only ones repre-
sented in limited way.
Source : www.cpp - l uxury . com ,
www.siliconindia.com
“Why do I need to know how the watch market is doing? I‟m
in the business of luxury”, Patrick Heiniger, Ex-CEO Rolex
MARKETING OF LUXURY GOODS
LUXURY PRODUCT MARKET
Source: A.T Kearney Research Report
HOW TO MARKET LUXURY
GOODS?
The 3 important features of a luxury brand
are:
1. The brand itself
2. The reputation of the product or ser-
vice provider
3. Price-value relationship of the luxury
brand
And they have great story to tell Clearly marketing of luxury brand is more
than selling a product. When you buy a
branded bag or branded watch the purpose
is not that you need bag that can be served
by a normal bag or that you need to know
time. So beyond the function there is
something else. You need to have sense of
SEPTEMBER 2011 11
FEATURED ARTICLE
- Divya Bhatia,Welingkar Mumbai
superiority. Real attraction has been to be
associated with something authentic and
genuine.
Source: Experiential luxury report
Unity marketing, 2008
Source: A.T Kearney Research Report
LUXURY CONSUMER
X-fluent (extremely fluent)
Spend the most on luxury and are most highly invest-ed in luxury living
Butter-flies
The most highly evolved luxury consumers. They search for meaning and new experiences and have the least materialistic orien-tation
Luxury cocoon-ers
Are focused on health and home. They spend most of their luxury budgets on home-related purchases
Aspirers Those luxury consumers who have not yet achieved the level of luxury to which they aspire
Temper-ate Prag-matist
A newly emerged luxury consumer who is not all that involved in the luxury lifestyle
THE MARKSMAN 12
FEATURED ARTICLE
CHANGING TRENDS:
E-MARKETING
Initially Luxury brands had very less online
presence. There can be reason for very
less online presence as luxury brands are
investing very much on their stores; they
want to give physical surrounding and per-
sonal attention of luxury to customer. For
them luxury is not only in their
products but also in their stores.
But now trends are changing,
luxury brands along with exclu-
sive stores are also benefitting
by use of internet marketing. Wider audi-
ence, easy access,
Convenience, time saving, research and ad-
vertising are some of the benefits of E-
marketing.
www.luxurionworld.com , India‟s first
portal to cater the needs of consumer of
luxury brands. Act as two way communica-
tion between brands and consumer.
AD WORLD
Luxury brands are focusing on their exclu-
sive customer. The message of their adver-
tisements is pretty clear.
If you need to ask how much our stuff
costs, you can't afford it. Most of print ad
of jewelry featured a close-up of a hefty
gem and read the straightforward text, but
there won‟t be mention of price.
Brands are coming with slogans like:
RAY BAN: GENUINE SINCE 1937
TITAN: BE MORE
ASMI: FOR THE WOMEN OF SPIRIT
SANGINI DIAMONDS: HEERA HAI SADA
KE LIYE
All these slogans show that brands are fo-
cusing on authenticity rather than price.
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 SEPTEMBER 2011 13
FEATURED ARTICLE
GENDER BIAS
Initially all luxury brands were quite famous
among females. But now brands are also
looking towards male consumer. Items
such as cufflinks, belts, wallets, luxury
wines, champagnes and cigars are now on
the wish-lists of many Indian men seeking
luxury brands.
COUNTERFEITS
Do they affect the brand? They have both
the positive and negative effects on the
brand. I think they don‟t damage a luxury
brand much in a negative way. No one go
for counterfeits if they have ability to buy
the original one. A person purchases the
brand not because of the product but for
experience.
But you see people carrying fake product
on the streets, this may affect the brand!
This is not the case. Counterfeit might
allow us to offset non exclusive image of
the brand. But counterfeits are very
strongly used to measure market de-
mand. One of the reasons you know that
a luxury brand is healthy, is when it has
attracted a good deal of counterfeits.
RESEARCH
The main question which bothers luxury
brand is: To what degree we ask the cus-
tomer what they want?
Brands do not spend much on research.
Most of luxury brand are fashion brands
and they believe fashion is not about
giving consumer what they want, it is
about changing the things.
But now in changing trends brands do
involve themselves in simple research focus
group, surveys, sales data etc.
Clothing, Fra-
grances, Premi-
um Footwear,
Home Electron-
ics, High End
Watches, Mobile
Phones
Jewelry, Cosmet-
ics, Skincare, Lin-
gerie, Handbags
And Mobile
Phones
By marketing luxury brands at large scale brands are making themselves available to large
number of people. So the question which arises is
“Making luxury goods affordable to large number of people decreases its value”?
It was case in the past. In the present global world brands are selling large number of
products. The trick is to get as many sales as possible, but while maintaining a very high
level of quality and also using price to maintain that exclusiveness
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 THE MARKSMAN 14
FEATURED ARTICLE
The alarm bell rings exactly at the time you
set it up but you still feel a little sluggish.
You take a shower, dress up meticulously
and get ready to head towards the exami-
nation center. Of course, today is the D-
Day, for which you prepared year long.
And you don‟t want to mess up with any-
thing. You leave home
and suddenly 15
minutes down the drive
you recollect that you
have forgotten to wear
the amulet given by
your mom on the ad-
vice of that distant aunt
of yours. Is it wise to go
back home or is it get-
ting too late? You figure
it out that without
wearing it; anyways
there is no chance of
you excelling into exam.
So you rush back to
home as you have now
decided to take that gi-
ant leap of faith this
time.
This is the power exercised by lucky
charms, amulets, gemstones and different
yantras laming to bring all the happiness
and success of the world to you. And many
of us will even pay a premium price to use
these products. The global market size for
spiritual products and services is estimated
to be approximately $100 bn. And most of
it is highly unorganized, especially in the In-
Strategies of marketers selling spirituality and related
products and services
Faith Marketing
dian context. Absence of a market leader
also signifies it to be a blue ocean unex-
plored by many entrepreneurs. India being
considered as a land of snake charmers for
ages has now become an IT superpower,
yet the belief and attitude shared by many
Indians regarding spiritual products remains
unshaken.
Many of us will go
that extra mile to
buy these products
as if they are a pana-
cea for all of our
problems. All we
need is some expert
opinion and advice
to choose which
product to use and
when. Branding this
product category
can help in increas-
ing the credibility of
these items. An
interesting thing is
that you pay a pre-
mium price to buy
such products which doesn‟t gives even a
fraction of guarantee that they will fulfill the
requisite you were looking for. Since it is
impossible to tell with absolute certainty
about whether any such product will serve
its purpose, the best way to promote it is
using the recommendation of opinion leaders
such as Astrologers, Palmistry and Feng
Shui experts, Taro card readers, Zen and
meditation experts. The advertisements of
the same can also be placed among vehicles
Source: http://1.imimg.com/data/4/4/MY-
977126/religious_10471168_250x250.jpg
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 SEPTEMBER 2011 15
- Akshat Malhotra ,SIBM Pune
FEATURED ARTICLE
of mass media such as newspapers, maga-
zines which will eventually help in spreading
the word-of-mouth publicity among masses.
The typical Indian consumer always yearns
for value and feels more confident about his
purchase if it satisfies this basic premise. To
increase the value factor, these products
can be coupled with jewelry which guaran-
tees some certain monetary returns to the
customers and also to enhance the aesthet-
ic value since the mystical power of these
products can‟t be assured in a quantifiable
manner to the customers. For this purpose,
liaisons can be formed with large jewelry
houses such as Gitanjali, Tanishq, D‟Dmas
for below the line promotions.
Since special products coupled with special
features come at a premium price, custom-
ers now demand an extended period of
service as well. Hence, to resolve the post-
purchase dissonance if any, a help line is a
must. Added to this, offers such as a “free
consultation with our astrology expert eve-
ry three or six months till one year of
purchase” can be clubbed with the prod-
ucts. Not only this, during non-peak hours,
similar help line can be used for telemar-
keting and providing consultation by
charging a nominal fee from subscribers.
How can we forget to formulate an online
marketing strategy? An interactive website
can be used so that customers themselves
can browse through vast collection of
products available.
Most of these products have a certain ritu-
als on how and when to use it using man-
tras, shlokas etc. These methods can be
provided on the website as a part of the
package and as a limited feature for every-
one else. Social media and public forums
can be used to increase awareness among
the users and inviting people to interact
with each other on real time basis where
everyone can share their expert opinion,
myths and ideas with each other.
With the proportion of disposable income
increasing among Indians backed by the
ability and willingness to experiment with
the luxury products, this product category
is definitely poised to see some action hap-
pening in next few years. As according to a
Persian saying “Go and wake up your luck”
rings a bell with many of those who are
yearning to raise their bar of success and
happiness filled life. Amen!
Source:
http://www.oios.in/Om/astrology.jpg
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 THE MARKSMAN 16
FEATURED ARTICLE
After its formal separation from Honda
Motors, Hero Group recently undertook a
massive rebranding exercise to appropri-
ately position their parent brand “Hero” in
the market and transfer the huge brand eq-
uity, loyalty and connect that the brand
„Hero Honda‟ has enjoyed over the past 27
years of its existence, to the new parent
brand „Hero Moto Corp‟.
The 360 degree advertising, leveraging al-
most all forms of conventional media plat-
forms, ranging from print to electronic to
OOH to social media, seem to be primarily
focused on maintaining the customer con-
nect and trust that the brand is known for
since it launched its first product in joint
venture with Honda Motors of Japan in
1984.
One of the biggest challenges that the
group faced was to reposition the parent
brand “Hero”, which was traditionally asso-
ciated with bicycles, as a trusted brand for
motorcycles. All three brands, “Hero”,
“Honda” and “Hero Honda” trigger three
different emotions in the mind of the cus-
tomers.
Do you Like it?
Hero Honda Re-branding to Hero Moto Corp:
While “Hero” has been traditionally linked
with non-motor based conveyance like bi-
cycles, brand “Honda” is widely respected
for its technological sophistication and ex-
cellence usually associated with Japanese
brands in motor engine based vehicles. On
the other hand, “Hero Honda” stands for
an Indian brand with global quality and ap-
peal in the psyche of its target segment.
The advertising blitzkrieg intended to cre-
ate the same kind of psychological associa-
tion that Hero Honda created with its cus-
tomers. Hero Honda, riding on the back of
“Dhak Dhak Go” campaign, intended to
instill a sense of pride among its Indian tar-
get segment for owning an Indian brand
which directly appealed to people‟s heart
due to its superior, world-class engineering
and services. In the nutshell, it represented
the aspiration and confidence of an Indian
to take the world by storm and to an-
nounce with pride that we have arrived.
The new series of advertisements, through
its theme “Hum Mein Hai hero”, endeavors
to create the same connect with the cus-
tomers. By highlighting that we all have the
potential to excel and its more about confi-
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 SEPTEMBER 2011 17
FEATURED ARTICLE FEATURED ARTICLE
- Pratima Rani, IIM Kozhikode
dence in one‟s abilities than the abilities
themselves, the advertorials attempt to
push the real message, that “Hero” touches
and is inseparably intertwined with every
Indian‟s life.
A completely new and appealing brand logo
designed by London based Logo specialist
Wolff Olin's was unveiled to mark the new
nomenclature of the business enterprise,
„Hero Moto Corp‟, reducing its previous
name „Hero Group‟ to obsolescence. The
new logo and name underlined its inde-
pendent presence and identity in the Mo-
torcycle segment, and successfully con-
veyed the message that the brand was no
longer confined to bicycles and tricycles,
but had shifted its trajectory to the next
level of value creation and delivery. It also
endeavored to allay any fear among its ex-
isting and potential buyers that it may not
be able to be as successful in its new, self-
dependent technology avatar.
The series of advertisements, most catchy
among which have been the television com-
mercial with an attractive jingle by the cele-
brated Indian Music Maestro and Oscar
Winner A. R. Rehman, appropriately sup-
ported the message that Hero Moto Corp
has matured to the level where it can take
on the world on its own. The 2+-minutes
long commercial beautifully created by ace
film director Anurag Kashyap under the su-
pervision of Law and Kenneth Communica-
tions (India) Pvt. Ltd, are based on Indian
characters with strong determination and
spirit indulged in different acts of heroism.
It successfully portrays that Hero Moto
Corp has the confidence and expertise, like
resurgent India, to make big on the world
stage. Overall, the new rebranding exercise
seems to have hit the right chord among
the customers and though it is too early to
declare a verdict, it can be safely said that
till now, it has been largely successful in
avoiding dilution of brand equity of the
group and has maintained the customer
connect. And yes, I like it.
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 THE MARKSMAN 18
FEATURED ARTICLE
Company: McDonalds
Ad Agency: Leo-Burnett
Ad description :
The moon dazzling in the starry night sky
and hands (made of McDonalds‟ fries…lol)
raised in a prayer. This is how McDonalds
greeted everyone Eid Mubarak this year.
This ad takes the cake away for sheer
“simplicity”. Open palms and the Eid ka
chaand... these are the only two elements
which tell the entire story of the ad and
create an instant emotional connect with
millions across the globe. It‟s innovative,
effective and just with the use of three col-
ors -yellow, black and white, it sends out a
clear message: Celebrate Eid with McDon-
alds. McDonalds has for many years been
using such innovative advertising strategies
to capture the minds of the people. This is
a brilliant strategy of how well an Interna-
tional company connects with its custom-
ers on an emotional level by going
“Glocal”.
Company: Vodafone
Ad agency: Ogilvy &Mather
Ad description:
Storyboard: The ad shows a guy whose
day starts by checking his Facebook notifi-
cations. He is hooked on to Facebook the
entire day, updating his profile, uploading
photos, spying on his ex‟s new catch and
chatting with friends. "He's always on Face-
book"-is the theme song of this TVC that
promotes Vodafone‟s latest Facebook
Phone- Vodafone 555 blue.
The ad has highlighted all the special fea-
tures of Facebook like instant notifications,
status updates, pokes and so on. It instantly
makes a connect with the fast moving, so-
cial networking youth who are high on Fa-
cebook. In this ad, Facebook truly comes
alive in a grand musical Broadway like fash-
ion with a delightful background score to
go with it which makes it a fun watch.
It’s all about Ad-itude!
This is the new section we are introducing where we will be picking good advertisements that touched a
chord among the viewers.
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 THE MARKSMAN 19
NEW ENTRY
“Predictably irrational”, makes an insightful
read for all marketing enthusiasts. Nobody
has better explored the unexplained, irra-
tional consumer behavior towards decision
making like Dan Ariely. The book questions
the widely accepted consumer behavior
theory of utility maximization. It is engag-
ing, rebellious and ground breaking, yet
simplistic in thought and process.
Why to buy?
At the heart of every marketplace are its
people. The greatest skill a marketer can
have is an understanding of people and
what guides and influences their decision.
The book shatters many long held doc-
trines about consumer behavior. First, con-
sumers are independent individuals and
consistent in choice. Second, consumers
know what they want and thus their choic-
es are rendered predictable. Third, con-
sumers can gauge the value, as Ariely
writes, “we know all the pertinent infor-
mation about our decisions” and “we can
calculate the value of the different options
we face.” Dan, through this book has re-
vealed how people get swayed by impulse,
emotion and contextual feelings, falling prey
to anchoring effects, immediate gratifica-
tion, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and
endowment effect among others. The writ-
ing is riveting, funny, credible and smart.
Why you might not buy?
The book seeks to confirm irrationality
with experiments. But the most obvious
faux pas the book apparently makes, is of
simplifying the results and drawing conclu-
sions conveniently, ignoring other possible
unseen causes. Dan Ariely at times seems
to be making sweeping statements that
could go either way.
About the author
Dan Ariely is an Israeli American professor
of psychology and behavioral economics.
He teaches at Duke University and is the
founder of The Center for Advanced Hind-
sight
Rating
3.91/5
(Courtesy : www.goodreads.com)
BOOKWORM Predictably Irrational -
By Dan Ariely
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 SEPTEMBER 2011 20
BOOK WORM
Event: Guest Lecture-PepsiCo
Speaker: Mr. Tushar Srivastava, GM and
Senior Key Account Manager of PepsiCo, Mumbai
Date: Saturday, 3rd September, 2011
Venue: Seminar Hall, SIMSR
About the Speaker:
Mr. Srivastava has done his BA in Economics from Osma-
nia University followed by a PG Diploma in Sales and Mar-
keting from Rajendra Prasad Institute of Management Sci-
ences. After his stint at P&G, he worked at Kellogs India
as Area Sales Manager from 1998. He joined Pepsi in Oc-
tober 2006 as Key Accounts Manager in Modern Trade.
Topic of Discussion:
Discussion on Sales and Distribution channels of
F&B sector, structures implemented and problems
faced in the supply chain.
Takeaways: For the students of SIMSR, it was a great experi-
ence to have a speaker from an esteemed brand
like PepsiCo in the campus. Along with an engaging
talk, Mr. Srivastava answered a wide variety of
questions asked by the audience very enthusiastical-
ly. It was a much awaited event and greatly enjoyed
by SIMSRites.
Parting Words:
Inspite of all the glamour associated with it, PepsiCo and in
general, the whole F&B sector is not a very easy place to
work in. You have to be on your toes at all times making
sure that you are at par or ahead of your competition. Make
your future decisions wisely and I wish all the students here
best of luck for the future!
A RECAP OF INTERFACE EVENTS
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 THE MARKSMAN 21
REWIND
It‟s no secret that Google has been ramping up its use of the
Google Doodle. There seems to be a new one almost every day,
and this outing is, despite being animated, one of the less ambitious.
It doesn‟t sway with the movement of a laptop‟s accelerometer, or
let you play a tune by clicking your mouse, as previous efforts have.
It‟s just a dressed-up YouTube video. Google hasn‟t even bothered
to hide the player controls.
The proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger is shaping up to be
an iconic business case saga and a judicial milestone. They
take it as an easy way to become market leaders and gain
monopoly if U.S. Department of Jus- tice lets them go ahead
with it
Reports of the loss of an iPhone prototype, the second
instance in a year and a half, has created suspicion that the en-
tire event could be a publicity stunt by Apple to market the de-
vice. In April 2010, Apple lost an iPhone 4 prototype that went
missing in a bar just before its release. But Apple was lucky to
get it back after it had been sold by a finder to tech blog Gizmo
do for $5000. But this time Apple is having a tough time getting
back its iPhone 5, which was reportedly sold on Craigslist for
$200.
Automobile major Mahindra, on Monday announced
its five year association with the Buddha Internation-
al Circuit (BIC). Mahindra will provide 25 Scorpios as the
official support vehicles to the BIC, at its facility in Greater
Noida. In turn, BIC is supporting the popular Mahindra
„Adventure Initiatives‟ throughout the year like The Great
Escape, the Monastery Escape - off-road rallies. As per the
agreement, Mahindra will provide 25 Scorpios including 10
Scorpio VLX and 15 Scorpio Gateway to be used in the the
October 30 F1 races.
UK firm Reckitt Benckiser has overtaken
Wipro Consumer Care for the first time in
the 8,800-crore Indian soap market, as its germ-
fighter Dettol emerged the third largest soap
brand in the country. According to market researcher Nielsen's data,
Reckitt was the third-largest soap maker in the country with a 9.1% share in the market
in value terms in June this year, ahead of Azim Premji-promoted Wipro, which had 8.1%
share with brands such as Santoor and Chandrika. Wipro, however, said it is not con-
vinced by Nielsen umbers. Hindustan Unilever, with brands such as Lifebuoy and Lux con-
tinues to be a clear leader in the segment with 45% share, followed by Godrej Consum-
ers, according to Nielsen data.
TWEETS
SEPTEMBER 2011 01 SEPTEMBER 2011 22
THE CROSSWORD
THE CLUES for the questions
BUZZ Map the crossword with the visual and textual clues
Theme : Old Logos
•Across
3.Originally a phoenix with wings out-
spread to match the program‟s original
name: Phoenix. For legal reasons, the
name was changed and the logo was re-
drawn.
5.2nd largest Korean conglomerate after
Samsung and was established as Lak-Hui
Chemical Industrial Corp.
6.Started by several California banks as a
competitor to that of Bank of
America.
•Down
1.This logo for a concept came up in a
designing competition conducted by Chi-
cago based company on first Earth day.
Identify concept.
2.The Company is actually the acronym
of its Italian name and is based in
Turin, Italy.
4.Earlier name of the company was
CTRC, Computing-Tabulating-Recording
Company. What is the current name.
7.Began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co.,
Ltd, in Japan in 1920, and produced
weapons for the Japanese in the Second
World War
8.Founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade un-
ion, the German Labor Front and it was
called the "the People's Car".
9.Founded in 1906 in Rochester as The
Haloid Photographic Company by Ches-
ter Carlson.
Answers -
1.Recycle 2.Fiat 3.Firefox 4.Ibm 5.Luckygoldstar(LG) 6..Mastercard(across) 7.Mazda(down) 8.Volkswagen
9.Xerox
THE MARKSMAN 23
CALL FOR ARTICLES
OCTOBER 2011
Articles can be sent on any one of the following topics*:
a) All Marketers are liars! Please give your views either for
or against the topic.
b) Marketing without spending a single rupee- Old Monk. How
have they done this?
c) The 4Ps of Anna Hazare campaign.
*Please ensure that there is no plagiarism and all references are
clearly mentioned
One article can have only one author.
Your article should be for 500-600 words and MUST
be replete with relevant pictures so that it can be used to en-
hance your article.
Send in your articles in .doc/.docx format with font size
11 (Arial) to: [email protected]
Subject Line: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year.
Kindly name your file as: Your Name_Topic
The best adjudged article will be given a winner's certificate
with the noteworthy articles being published in the September
issue and on the Interface website / Facebook page.
Deadline for submission of the articles: 11:59 PM ,
12th October, 2011.
The Marksman is the newsletter of INTERFACE , the Marketing
Club at K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai.
Images used in The Marksman are subject to copyright.
The Marksman does not take any responsibility of any kind of plagiarism in the articles
received from students of other colleges.
To subscribe to "The Marksman", Follow the link:-
http://interfacesimsr.weebly.com/the-marksman.html
OR drop in a mail to [email protected]
Subject line: Subscribe: Your Name_Institute Name_Course Year
Contact us at: [email protected]
Website: http://interfacesimsr.weebly.com
Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/simsr.interface
THE TEAM
COVER STORY Tilottama Sanyal
SPECIAL STORY Hinal Shah
It is all about Ad-itude ! Tilottama Sanyal
Hinal Shah
BOOKWORM Niyati Chamyal
REWIND
Tilottama Sanyal
COVER PAGE Vibhav Shukla
TWEETS Upveen Tameri
BUZZ Sujit Mishra
DESIGN Vibhav Shukla
Yash Chamaria