Crucible Dec 09

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Win a prize of

Rs. 1000



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Here's a little Quiz to test your knowledgeand if you get at least ten of them correct,you can call yourself a brand expert in themaking and if you answer all correct thenyou stand a chance to win a prize.

So ……..Ready? Page no. 3

Page no. 4

Page no. 6

Marketing During Recessionary Times Page no. 7

Multi level marketing

Page no. 9

Dear Readers,

The December issue of The Crucible is the last

one for 2009. We have been entertaining,

educating and enlightening you all for last three

months with the varied, informative and

interesting content we put into our magazine. The

magazine has received an overwhelming

response from all our readers and we are looking

forward to the same in the year ahead.

This issue of ' THE CRUCIBLE' is, as usual,

packed with some well researched articlesthrowing light on different genres of marketing

and yes, not to forget a must read article by

Associate Professor Jones Mathew. and last but

not the least we give you an excellent opportunity

to win a cash prize of Rs. 1000/- and upgrade

your knowledge by simply logging into 'THE

MINDBENDER CRUCIBLE QUIZ'. That's not

all- the person who is the fastest with all the

correct answers even stands a chance of winning

a surprise New Year gift. So, put on your

thinking caps and who knows, you might just end

up starting 2010 on a winning streak!!

We hope you will find this issue a judicious

combination of fun and information. Our editorial

team values your feedback and suggestions. So

do write into us at [email protected]

and let us know how you found this issue.

Wishing you all a very Happy and

Prosperous New Year.

HAPPY READING!!

SNAP SHOT

DISCLAIMER

All views expressed in this newsletter are the

personal views of individual students and do

not reflect any official or unofficial position of

IILM Institute for Higher Education. This e-

newsletter is managed and run solely by the

students of IILM.

mailto:[email protected]





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Here's a little Quiz to test your knowledge and if you get at least ten of themcorrect, you can call yourself a brand expert in the making and if you answer all

correct then you stand a chance to win a prize.

So Ready? Q1: The Italian company BARILLA is the world's largest maker of what?

Q2: In food and FMCG category marketing. What is LUP?

Q3: Founded in 1988 by Dr.Eli Harari and Sanjay Mehrotra, listed in NASDAQ on 1995.Identify

The company.

Q4: Which cleaning product first appeared in 1904 as an off shoot of monkey brand soap and has

the meaning “force, vigour”?

Q5: What is the new low cost arm of Jet Airways launched in May 2009?

Q6: Douglas Baillie was the former CEO of company X and new CEO is Nitin Paranjpe.Identify

the company X.

Q7: Which computer manufacturer launched ultra thin luxury laptop line “Adamo”?

Q8: Its origins go back to 1863, when a group of New York City buisnessmen raised $100,000 to

fund the National Union Life and Life Insurance Company. It lent money to build the

Rockfelle and the Empire State Building.Which companies are we talking about.

Q9: When Pepsi entered India, they introduced their own brand of Basmati Rice. Name it.

Q10: MaxHealthcare in collaboration with which company is starting the Anti smoking campaign

in India.

Q11: Interpret the world' is the tagline of?

Q12: Which company's name is derived from Voice Data & Phone?

Q13: Name the Microsoft's HARDWARE launched in 2000 and created by Seamus Blackley and

Kevin Bachus?

Q14: Which was the Unilever's first product in India?

Q15: UTV in association with which company brought out the campaign- Take Your Own Path.

Q16: Name the new brand launched by Frito lays in 2009?

Q17: Which brand sells 31 flavours signifying 31 days of the month?

Q18: Fevicol brand belongs to which company?

Q19: IMIEV is an electric variant of a car being launched by which company.

Q20: Sydney Herald and WWF initiated an event. Aamir Khan was the ambassador in India. Name

the event.

h

C ucible uiz

Click here to answer this quiz

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFBlWl9XUHctMEtJWjlWZVBqTU8tMXc6MA







4

Piyush Akhaja

Section H

There is a new marketingcatch phrase that's gettingrave word-of-mouthreviews. From articles in the

popular press toconversations in theclassroom,hugecompanies

to boutique marketingfirms, suddenly it seemsyou can't talk about newproducts without

addressing 'buzzmarketing.' There issomething almostempowering about theidea of being able to 'buzz'your way into the productspeople buy.

Buzzing: What Is It?Put simply, buzz marketing is the practice of gatheringvolunteers to try products, then sending them out into the worldto talk up their experiences with the people they meet in theirdaily lives. The idea is that the more people see a product beingused in public, or the more they hear about it from people theyknow and trust, the more likely they will be to buy it forthemselves. Of course, word-of-mouth has long been the waythat many people find their favorite products, or learn about anew favorite movie, book or restaurant. For years, peoplerecognized the power of word-of-mouth in convincing,influencing, affecting consumer behavior. It has morecredibility than traditional advertising. But it is a recentdevelopment by companies to try to create a structure around topractice, to harness and direct the way that word-of-mouth

spreads -- and to attempt to measure its effect on sales once the'campaign' iscomplete. Buzzingisn't really new. Thehype about thesedifferent kinds of buzz agents is what'snew.

In practice, buzzmarketing can takeseveral differentforms. Somecompanies identifyparticular types of

people to do theirbuzzing for them.Known as 'mavens' or'influencers' or 'earlyadopters,' these arethe people whonaturally set culturaltrends, who definewhat is cool before

the rest of the world even realizes it exists. But basically thereare people out there who can tell what's cool and what's not.We all know them -- the people who tell us about great

restaurants, or who have cool clothes before we have. "Tomake buzzing really work, I do have to believe that the personI'm listening to is discriminating, that he or she knowssomething I don't. Otherwise that person is not giving meanything new." Procter & Gamble pioneered this approach on alarge scale by recruiting hundreds of thousands of 'maven'

teenagers to create buzz about new products -- some asmundane as toothpaste. "P&G started this idea of manufacturing word-of-mouth. They recruited a quarter million

teens to talk about their products. Now theyare in the process of recruiting mothers todo the same thing because they havesuddenly realize that word-of-mouth is apowerful thing."

Other buzz marketers rely less on naturaltrendsetters and more on 'connectors.'Basically these are people who have biggercontacts than the rest of us. They have lotsof contacts in different circles, so word will

spread fast.

But Does ItWork?

Buzz marketing stands in direct contrast to traditionaltelevision or radio advertising -- the classic 'mass marketing'approach that is based on the premise of broadcasting amessage as widely as possible, assuming that this is the bestway to reach the largest possible number of interestedconsumers. Buzzing, which might also be described as 'micro-

marketing,' assumes that a person-to-person marketing messageis much more powerful because it is so personal -- and that itcould potentially reach more people than a broadcast message,if only it is buzzed about in great quantity by people who havevery long contact lists and no qualms about promoting productsto anyone who will listen.

That's why Vespa turned to buzz marketers to ride its scootersaround town and talk up their 'cool factor' when they debuted,and why Ford loaned its new Focus cars out to buzz agents forthe first six months of its launch. In each case, companieslooked for ways to gain high visibility and personalrecommendations through buzz.

Not every product can be effectively marketed by buzz agents;

however .It has to be an interesting one. Products do have tolive up to the hype, they do have to deliver. If these productsaren't delivering coolness, this will not over time is a crediblemethod. Products that fit this description are fashion items anditems of cultural interest such as TV shows, books and movies -- anything that connotes a sense of being in the know. Theyhave to be products where value comes from the socialinteraction. What you wear what movies you go to, what thingsyou read -- these are all influenced by social opinion.

The fear for buzz marketing is that, however successful it maycurrently be, the effectiveness of the approach will inevitablybe diluted through overuse and, dare we say it: too much Buzz.But look at pop-up ads and email marketing, which five yearsago, when you saw them for the first time, seemed interesting.

Now they are at the point of tremendous annoyance. They wentfrom clever, path-breaking and really, truly creative to thisincredible annoyance where now, people have just thrown outthe baby with the bathwater. And there is no question that buzzmarketing is poised to go exactly the same way.

Buzz marketing needs to be used very judiciously for it toremain effective, otherwise people will become so skepticaland annoyed by it that they will become completely immune tothe marketing virus that marketers are trying to spread.

What's the Buzz About Buzz Marketing?



5

Vikas Kumar Jain

Section G

Yes, green marketing is a golden goose. As per Mr. J.

Polonsky, green marketing can be defined as,

"All activities designed to generate

and facilitate any exchange intended

to satisfy human needs or wants such

that satisfying of these needs and

wants occur with minimal detrimental

input on the national environment." Green marketing involves developing and

promoting products and services that satisfy customers wantand need for Quality, Performance, Affordable Pricing andConvenience without having a detrimental input on theenvironment.

Green marketing refers to the process of selling

products and/or services based on their environmental benefits.Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in it

or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendlyway.

The obvious assumption of green marketing is that

potential consumers will view a product or service's"greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision

accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of greenmarketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more forgreen products than they would for a less-green comparablealternative.

Definition suggests,

Three keys to successful green marketing

1) Being genuinemeans that( a) that you are actually doingwhat you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaignand( b) that the rest of your business policies are consistentwith whatever you are doing that's environmentally friendly.

2) Educating your customersisn't just a matter of lettingpeople know you're doing whatever you're doing to protect theenvironment, but also a matter of letting them know why itmatters.

3) Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means

personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendlyactions, normally through letting the customer take part inpositive environmental action.

Next, keep in mind that for greenmarketing to work

Be aware of and concerned about the environmental

issues that your product addresses.

Feel that by using your product they will make a

difference, as one consumer or in concert with all other

consumers. This is called "empowerment."

Believe your claims. This is true not only for

businesses in general, it's especially true for green

businesses, where claims are often intangible and a

history of misleading claims has left a negative legacyfor legitimate companies.

There are basically five reasons for whicha marketer should go for the adoption of green marketing. They are -

1. Opportunities or competitive advantage2. Corporate social responsibilities (CSR)3. Government pressure4. Competitive pressure

5. Cost or profit issues

Challenges Ahead 1. Green products require renewable and recyclable material,

which is costly

2. Requires a technology, which requires huge investment in R

& D

3. Water treatment technology, which is too costly

4. Majority of the people are not aware of green products and

their uses

5. Majority of the consumers are not willing to pay a premium

for green products

Green marketing should not neglect the economicaspect of marketing. Marketers need to understand theimplications of green marketing. If you think customers are not

concerned about environmental issues or will not pay apremium for products that are more eco-responsible, think

again. You must find an opportunity to enhance you product'sperformance and strengthen your customer's loyalty andcommand a higher price. Green marketing is still in its infancyand a lot of research is to be done on green marketing to fullyexplore its potential.

"Progress is possible,

No one can stop it, but

obstacle is there, we have to face it."

Amartya Sen

“Green marketing is the marketing of products

that are presumed to be

environmentally safe”

Green marketing and its challenges



6

Neha Nagpal

Section H

With the Internet beingtop of mind and as wefind that marketing

budgets are beingdiverted away from

traditional advertising spend into Internet expansion, we foundthe America Direct Marketing Association's Study - 10 BestBets to Boost Your E-Commerce bottom line - a useful andinformative study to share with you.

Retailers are focusing on factors that make their Web sites

more profitable rather than investing in features that do notprovide a return on investment.

The Internet continues to be an enormous area of growth andexpansion for direct and interactive marketers. As a result,many marketers are continuing to invest in their Webcapabilities as a strategy to grow their businesses.

But not all investments were created equal. With manycompanies feeling the effects of the economy, the pressure is

higher than ever before to turn any expenditure of time, money

and resources into a positive effect on the bottom line.

So, if you're looking to invest in your Web site, how do youpredict what areas will produce the best return on your

investment? What do you develop, improve or enhance in orderto maximize your bottom-line impact?

Following are the top 10best bets that onlineretailers are doing to

build their bottom lines:1. Develop content that

addresses the nuances of productcategories, customer base and

distribution channels. This isespecially important for productcategories such as electronics, forwhich consumers need detailedinformation to make a buying decision.

2. Use interactive

technology to add value to theonline shopping experience andincrease sales. Zoom, colour changeand/or multiple-dimension

technologies are frequently used onsites that sell computers, sportinggoods retailers, department stores,mass merchants and apparel and accessory sites to give

shoppers the sense of seeing the "actual" product and willminimise their perception of risk.

3. Minimise thenumber of clicks

to checkout and improve"quick-to-shop" times to

avoid cart abandonment.

Research indicates thattoday's shoppers wantrapid service and easynavigation. With so manye-tailers to choose from,consumers appear to belosing their patience for

difficult-to-use Web sites.

4. Communicatewith customers

via targeted e-mails that include merchandising

tactics and provide timely and accurate responses to customer

service inquiries. E-mail is fast-becoming the communicationsmedium of choice for many consumers. As a result,investments in technology and customer service will reap manylong-term benefits.

5. Invest in search technology that allows

consumers to search by multiple factors (e.g. department,

keyword, price, recipient, theme, and occasion) and deliversresults that match the search request. Often, consumers come to

a site with a particular item or product category in mind. If thatproduct is difficult to find, you risk losing a customer whocame to your site ready and willing to buy.

6. Encourage additional purchases byoffering relevant cross-sells and up-sells throughout the site.Cross-and up-sells are extremely effective tools to increaseyour average order sizes - but relevance to the customer and/or

purchase is critical to achieve success.

7. Offer timely gift services. As shoppers

become more confident in and savvy about shopping online,the convenience of shopping for gifts drives customers to thesites that offer superior gifting tools and services. Somefeatures to consider include gift certificates/cards, giftsuggestions, gift centers, gift registries and comprehensive gift

searches.

8. Provide real-time online information about product availability and order status. Eliminate time-

consuming customer serviceinquiries and potential customerfrustrations by enabling customers

to monitor their own orders.

9. Structurepromotional offers

without forfeiting profitability.

Increase your average order sizethrough creative offers (e.g.condition free delivery on order

size).

10. Consistentlyintegrate multi-channel efficiencies for

customer convenience and operational cost savings. Offer a"Store Locator" or "Request a Catalogue" option on your Website. In-store return and in-store pick-up capabilities, as well asinformation about store events online, can also create aprofitable synergy among channels.

e-commerce



7

Jones MathewAssociate Professor (Marketing)

The global economy continues

to be asphyxiated by recession.For the uninitiated, in a 1975 New York Times article,economic statistician Julius Shiskin suggested several rules of thumb for identifying a recession, one of which was "two down

quarters of GDP". In time, the other rules of thumb wereforgotten, and a recession is now often defined simply as aperiod when GDP falls (negative real economic growth) for atleast two quarters. Some economists prefer a definition of a1.5% rise in unemployment within 12 months. But that is theflip side of being economists: you agree to disagree oneverything.

A lot of economic bloodshed happened in the United States

over the past 2 years. The Lehman Brothers collapse triggeredthe concatenating set of events, the reverberations of whichwas bound to hurt many countries including India. Predictably,many of the problems are happening in the financial sector butanalysts had rightly predicted that consumer markets are goingto face the music in the near future too.

The last three quarters have given marketers sleepless nights.For the past one decade, Indian marketers were enjoyingvibrant consumer markets which were heavily supported by anaggressive credit market. Banks were luring consumers withloans and prompting them to buy as if the world was going toend tomorrow.The euphoria is slowly dying down and the credit crunch istaking its toll on the consumer market too. Probably the worsthit haves been housing and real estate companies which havefaced the most heat, be it DLF, Unitech or Parasvnath.

So what should a marketer do in times of recession? A coupleof things. Most importantly, train to be Recession Ninjas!

Recession Ninjas Take Time Out to

Introspect Recession is a good period for marketers to take an objectivelook at their brand portfolio. When there is euphoria, valuetakes a backseat and consumers indulge. When tough timescome along, consumers tighten their purse strings and valuecomes to the driving seat. This is the time to see which brand in

your portfolio offers more value to the consumer. If your salesare plunging like a man in a quicksand trap, its time to re-engineer the brand's value proposition.

Recession Ninjas Invest in brandsusually the initial reaction by marketers in response torecession is to cut marketing cost. On the contrary, I believe itis time to invest in brands. You will be heard when all othersare shutting their marketing mouths. Bargain with the mediafor the rates and invest in building your brand. Seth Godin saysit’s

“ An opportunity of a lifetime.”

This is the Grand Launch of Tata DoCoMo GSM services inIndia. Just in over two days, one could see huge hoardings of this campaign. It affirms the fact that

"Branding Should Never Take ABackseat, Especially During

Tough Times”.In fact- it must be the key investment avenue. Provided that its

done thoughtfully and only on key brands.Further, launching a new product/ signing a deal are also goodattempts during such times. The reasons are many:

Branding to attract – Customers, Investors andEmployees

While your competition might play safe, customerswant some real cues to make decisions. You give themone.

Customer affinity/loyalty is least during suchdownturns, hence plucking them off (from others)becomes easy

But one needs to be conscious of the investments made here.

It's prudent to be Selective and Creative. Selective in terms of identifying and putting money behind the most promisingbrands and creative in terms of the campaign design anddelivery. Even selection of the channels and the event is criticalhere.

The Zoo Zoo advertisement from Vodafone comes to mind too.With very little investment, brand recall achieved wastremendously high. It's become sort of a phenomenon.

So here's the mantra Beware the Quick sands and

Re-engineer Your Brand's

Value Proposition

Don't cut down on brand building

investment (personal or institutional)

when tough times hit you. Be selective

and creative! (Put your money behind

the creative aspect rather than in

investment in absolute rupee terms).

Marketing During Recessionary Times



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Recession Ninjas Get Paranoid

Sometimes!

India is still not yet out of recession but this is the time

marketers should beparanoid. Only thosebrands will survive whoeither preparethemselves for arecession even duringthe sunny days or whotake recession as abattle with regular war-room strategizingto beat it to a pulp. So meetyour brand managers andask them what to dowhen your organizationis in the throes of a recessionary phase. Have plan B, C D andE ready.

Recession Nijas Cut Costs Wisely Even if you are selling a premium brand, cut costs. But cutcosts, not investments. Invest in your brand, put out a lot of advertisements but cut cost in media, raw materials etc. Striveto lower your brand's break-even points to new lows.

Cost cutting should have a

bearing on improving

productivity

Recession Ninjas Appreciate the Value

of Partnering with Stakeholders

You may not be able to

survive recession on yourown. So partner yourstakeholders be it yourlenders or customers oremployees or your channelpartners. Create anecosystem of trust andkinship and face thedownturn together. It willbe worth it.

Recession Nijas Trade Up or DownSuper Luxury brands are often less affected by the downturn.

Those who can

afford aMercedesare not

going tobuy aMaruti800. It's

those brands

aiming at themiddleclass whoare going to behit the most bythe downwardslide.

So brands somewhere in between superluxury and low-priced, need to sit up because it's time to get

your drawing boards out. Remember Walmartmakes more money during therecession than during good-times.

Recession Ninjas Listen to Their

Customers

Your customerswill tell you howto beat recession.Only thing is thatyou have to ask them. At leastunderstand them.So whencustomers starttightening their

purse strings, youcan do that too.They will also tell you how much they can pay you. Listen tothat and act accordingly.

I agree that it’s more risky to invest innew products during recessionary times.If you cannot, then cut costs. If yourcompany is the lowest cost producer then

you stand a chance of wriggling out of therecessionary bear hug, which in manycases have proved to be fatal, or at least,capable of choking the life breath out of the organization. So here's to greatmarketing in recessionary times! And tobeing a Recessionary Ninja!



9

Anish Nareyelvala

Section F

You see the adsall the time:

"Makemillionsnow, no

manager"

"Work on your own, start $12,000 per week."

Maybe you saw the ad in the paper, or maybe you received itby e-mail.

Yes, we're talking about Multi-LevelMarketing, also known as "MLM"

Once Legitimate, Now a Scam

Once upon a time, multi-level marketing was a legitimatebusiness which provided a way for small companies to get theirunique products to consumers in small towns and rural areaswhich had no access to these products. At this time, theproducts sold themselves, and the multi-level aspect was a wayof giving a small reward to those who had worked hard to buildthe organization. But the focus was always on the product.

Today, and especially with the growth of the internet, it ispossible for consumer to get about whatever they want atcompetitive prices. There is simply no real need for distribution"systems" as there once was, and indeed the focus of all the

programs is not on the products they sell -- which are usuallyeither bogus or are available somewhere else to the public atthe same or lesser prices. Instead, the focus now is solely onrecruiting new people to either buy into the program or else tobuy products that are grossly overpriced with the idea thatthose people will recruit additional people who will also buyinto the program or themselves buy the grossly overpricedproducts.

Thus, today just about all of the multi-level marketingprograms are scams. In today's internet economy, there issimply no need for multi-level marketing or the overpricedproducts that they sell -- meaning that the only thing they areselling are memberships in anticipation that futurememberships will be sold in the future, which is the classicdefinition of a pyramid scheme, and thus securities fraud.

Because products are available over the internet to everybodyat lower costs than ever before, claims that "Multi-LevelMarketing will take over the World!" are completely bogus.Indeed, the fact that no MLM schemes sell significant product

to anybody other than the people who bought into the programsis proof positive that MLM is a dinosaur in today's economy,and exists only by defrauding people to buy memberships inanticipation of being able to make a profit defrauding otherpeople into the program.

Indeed, as is discussed elsewhere, many of these programshave been broken up for securities fraud and the people in themnow have criminal records. So, save your Quartos and avoidMLM schemes.

Buying Into the ProgramSo you are being "hired" to sell products, and you have to buy

into the program? This is a sure sign that it is a scam. If theproduct is worth a darn, the company will make its moneyselling the product. No program that requires you to buy intothe program is real, meaning that all our scams.

If you have to buy into the program, forget it! It is not a realprogram.

Sales MaterialOften MLM scams have sub-scams within the main scam of buying Distributorships. One of these scams is the purchasingof advertising materials. Think about it: A company wants youto sell their product but they want you to pay for theadvertising materials? Especially with the huge profit margins

that the Top Guy makes with these programs, they should atleast pay for your brochures and tapes. If a company requiresyou to pay for advertising or marketing materials, it is a suresign that it is a scam. The very worst programs will evenrequire you to buy the "samples" of the product that you havepaid to be able to sell!

Only the Top People Make

Money The hard truth is that only the guy who sets up the program,i.e., the Big Cheese at the very top, makes any really goodmoney with these programs. Everybody who is selling for the

Promoter typically gets screwed.Nonetheless, the promoters of these programs will often havepictures of themselves standing next to their mansion, yacht,executive jet, whatever, to show their success. Yes, these arereal and they did make money by selling programs.Unfortunately, they made this money by cheating anddefrauding the people under them to sell these programs forthem -- you never see a distributor with anything other than abunch of credit card debt.

Multi level marketing

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Crucible Dec 09