MarkDarshak

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NITIE in Rankings ◆ 6th in Competition Success Review/GHRDC B-School Rankings, 2012 ◆ 7th in CNBC TV 18’s The A-List of B-School Rankings, 2012 and 2011 ◆ In the Super League in Business Standard B-School Survey, 2011 ◆ 7th in Mint-Coolavenues B-School Placements Survey, 2011 ◆ 5th in Business World B-School Rankings, 2010 ◆ 6th in MBAUniverse.com B-School Rankings, 2010 ◆ 7th by Wall Street Journal, 2009 ◆ ‘Best Management Institute of 2009’ awarded by Bombay Management Associa-

tion (BMA) ◆ 2nd in placements & 6th overall in Businessworld-Synovate rankings 2011

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FOREWORD

Greetings,

It gives me immense pleasure to bring forth the latest edition of Mark-Darshak ,the marketing magazine of NITIE by Marketing Interest Group (MIG ). During its 50 years of legacy , NITIE has been making its pres-ence felt in all the areas of management . MarkDarshak tries to capture this essence in the field of Marketing by bringing insights, business ideas, avenues and potential areas of this simulating field of management to the student community.

The current edition of MarkDarshak focuses on the theme of Festival Marketing. With the rising economy and income level, Indian buyers’ spending during the festive seasons increases manifold and marketers are constantly innovating new marketing strategies to entice the buyers. This edition also touches upon gamut of other events that have claimed a significant mindshare of the people and brings out the learning that these events encapsulate. MIG has tried to reach far and wide and encompass the opinions of the students from eminent institutes of the country on such matters.

I appreciate MIG, the Marketing Club of NITIE for bringing out the maga-zine for the benefits of the student community. I hope , MIG will keep the marketing enthusiasm among the students and take it to a greater height.

Prof. Ashok K. PundirConvener

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MARKDARSHAKFEBRUARY 2013 ISSUE

CONVENERProf. Ashok K. Pundir

EDITORIAL TEAMAditya VaishDevesh Singh

Hardik ChauhanMradul GuptaRaju Bhuyan

Sandeep NailwalSarvesh SharmaShikhar Singh

SonamSudarshan Choudhary

Surbhi JaiswalYuvika Pahuja

COVER PHOTOGRAPHSD. J. Baruah

Likhit Verma

An Initiative FromMarketing Interest Group

FROM EDITOR’S DESK

Dear Readers,

With the gleams of diyas and enchants of Quran, with smiles of people and sweets all around, with sharing of gifts and want for more things, with demands so high and buyer spending high, how can Marketers miss the chance.

In this edition of MarkDarshak we have tried capturing Festival Marketing. We did put in our best to present before you various aspects and market-ing strategies during festival time. This will not only expose you to another dimension but also broaden your vision and scope. We also tried putting in an extra tint of advertisement analysis.

It was an enriching experience for us.The support and enthusiasm you showed with your article entries was overwhelming. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the contributors.

We hope you all enjoy reading MarkDarshak current edition as much as we enjoyed making it.

Keep the Marketer alive in your soul.

Team MarkDarshak Marketing Interest Group

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CONTENTSCOVER STORY

6 Maxims for Success10 Festival turn MNC Local13 Riding on expectations16 Festivals and Marketing

AD INCISION

19 Shangri-La Hotel

FEATURES

21 Sustainability and Market -ing Strategies

24 Cause Related Marketing: New Tool for Marketers

CROSSWORD

27 Crossword

FESTIVAL MARKETING

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Festive Marketing : Maxims for Success Kanika Handa Rahul Kaushik

NITIE, Mumbai

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India, the very embodiment of unity in diversity in the world, is the ka-leidoscope of incredible cultures and spectacular festivals, traditions & rituals. Here, festivals are the oc-casions when there is massive drive among people to purchase gifts for friends and family. It is that time of the year when people loosen their purse strings, that too with the lesser restraint. Then, there are religious reasons because of which customer prefer buying in auspicious season. Even people prefer shopping during this period because of high cash flow and deal mindset. Also, there are payments of bonuses in many firms and government offices which fuels

shopping spree, especially in con-sumer durables and FMCG segment. People are on buying spree and com-panies are aware of this and each one tries to exploit this season window to maximum by floating lucrative of-fers into the market. Companies do not stay behind and splurge on their marketing and advertising activities to send across the message. There are competitive pressures because of which companies go full throt-tle in giving away attractive deals to its customers. Although growing consumerism has brought forth con-sumer who likes to buy throughout the year but festive season is special. Festivities along its glitz and exuber-ance also bring many marketing les-sons for the businesses.

MarkDarshak Feb 2013 NITIE , Mumbai

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RIGHT MESSAGE

In the short season window, there is huge competitive pressure in the mar-ket. So the companies which succeed in sending across the right message at right time emerge as the winners. Message should resonate with the psyche of the prospective custom-ers and build up anticipation for the forthcoming celebration.

Cadbury, for example has pioneered the concept of branding in celebra-tory season with Cadbury Celebra-tions ad. Their Diwali commercial “Is Diwali Aap Kise Khush Kar Rhe Hain?” has been iconic one and sig-nifies the spirit and message of festi-val. Even Idea’s latest campaign says that festivals are good ideas irrespec-tive of faith.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Companies should walk an extra mile to make transaction, a pleasant expe-rience for customers during festive seasons. Many quick improvements can be made by providing fast deliv-ery, product customization, expand-ing opening hours over the festive season, offering flexible payment op-tions such as credit, and including

special offers. Also attracting newcustomers strengthens the business. For this new channels can be ex-plored. Traditional companies whose major revenue comes from physical stores can look for expanding on in-ternet. According to a research con-ducted by ASSOCHAM, e-Shopping during the festive season 2012, is likely to go up by 350% for a variety of products.


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PLANNING AHEAD

Companies have come long way in using marketing strategies. For any strategy to succeed, extensive plan-ning goes a long way. Regardless of how festive season affects the busi-ness, planning beforehand is the key to maximize sales. Here are some of the planning considerations that may help companies in boosting their sales. Firstly, companies should en-sure that they have adequate stock. During festive season, there is a strong surge in demand, which cre-ates extra opportunities for sale. In order to effectively convert these opportunities to revenue, companies need to maintain adequate inventory of buffer stock.

Secondly, companies should make an effort to hone customer service skills of their sales personnel. Sales team’s confidence needs to be boosted by offering refresher customer service training and announcing perks for good performance well in advance. Thirdly, in order to cope up better with increase influx of customers during the festive seasons, compa-nies should gauge whether the ex-isting resources are good enough to cover the festive season and if not then they should consider hiring tem-porary staff.

PRODUCT INNOVATION

Firms should carefully analyze their existing product range and see whether they sell just big ticket items or they have product suited for every budget. Firms can boost their sales by creating a new product category by bundling big ticket items with low cost products or accessories at the discounted rate. For example, a store selling smart phones might of-fer a cover or a bluetooth headset at discounted rate with every phone sold. Similarly, many courier com-panies launch new mailing services during festivals to effectively capture customer needs. For example, Indian post office came up with Rakhi spe-cial parcel service etc during Raksha Bandhan.


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SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE WAY

To ensure that the marketing cam-paign strikes the cord with the cus-tomer, using social media is an im-perative. The contest, teasers, polls and discussion on social media plat-form helps in creating excitement and anticipation among the cus-tomers. For instance, this Diwali saw many innovative cam paigns on twitter driving their branding strat-

egy along. On Twitter, trends like #DiwaliLights #MyCrackerMoment ruled among the social media enthu-siasts.

Festival marketing should take place in a way that it retains the essence and the message of festivals, pro-motes cultural harmony and nurtures the shared bond without commercial-izing it .


REFERENCES

1. http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/press-centre/2012/november/coca-cola-be-gins-the-christmas-countdown.html2. http://www.mxmindia.com/2011/10/the-diwali-ads-that-crackle/3. http://www.campaignindia.in/Video/323392,ideas-next-big-idea-festi-vals-are-a-good-idea-irrespective-of-faith.aspx4. http://www.paulwriter.com/articles/item/728-marketing-festivals-mak-ing-memories5. http://newindianexpress.com/business/news/article1316464.ece6. https://bizhub.anz.co.nz/resources7. http://www.cadburyindia.com/in/en/brands/chocolate/pages/cadburycel-ebrations.aspx

AUTHORS:

Kanika Handa Rahul Kaushik PGDIM-NITIE,Mumbai

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Festivals turn MNC Local

Akanksha Garg IIFT, Kolkata

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Imagine walking alone in the mar-ketplace lit with all possible colors but feeling blue, missing home and cribbing on not getting the leave to be at home and gorge on delicacies. And there lies standing with arms open; your favourite donut stop but you just turn your face away from the usual favorite cinnamon ones, to come face to face with the Indianised Diwali special offering by them. The gulab jamuns, coconut,boondi la-doos spread over the innocent donuts lit your face like nothing else can do at that time. You gorge on them still missing home but a smile lingers on. You feel in sync with the festive spirit that’s floating in air all around you.

Whatever origin a festival may have , today in the globalized world where family size is shrinking like econo-my ,festive time signifies the occa-sion when you get to meet people ,be with family and relax before u enter into the maddening race again. It has to be convergence moment when all emotions meet and create the magic charm of festivity all around. The potion of that charm is created at the marketing head offices of numerous firms that wait with batting eyelashes for the festive season to arrive.

Emotions run high and even the most logical of the person gets trapped in the lucrative hot deals that every company is giving. Even the busi-ness gifting orders munch away the major supplies and may be this is the time in the whole year, when they are ready to compromise on their budget in lieu of impressing their clients and associates. Be it brick and mortar or the online retailers ,all lines up with better than the best limited offers with one eye on your pocket over-flowing with the bonus money and another on zeal to buy.


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Shopping is often associated with the cravings and sometimes advised as great stress busters. At such emotion-al peak periods, going local seems to be one idea which companies are fol-lowing ‘religiously’.

Pepsico India’s popular snacks brand Kurkure has launched two new fla-vors Jhalmuri and Tokmishti Jhal specific to the Eastern India on the occasion of Durga Pujo. These fla-vors have been inspired from the local cuisines of the region and are limited edition product. They have combined it with a contest for voting the favorite chaat walas that would churn out all the more delicious chaat out of it and named it ‘Kurkure chaat khao Helicopter mein jaao’ program – experiencing Kolkata during Pujo in a tedha way! On the similar lines ,Dunkin donuts in its few ini-

tial months since entry has gone ex-perimental by introducing localized donuts adorned with boondi, coco-nut and gulab jamuns straight out of typical Diwali sweets palate. Even chocolates which were never mixed

with traditions have found their inev-itable place in the Raksha Bandhan or Diwali gifting with advent of Cel-ebration collection by Cadbury’s.

In India where cricket is treated as religion and star players are wor-shipped as gods, I can even term the blue world cup Pepsi as part of fes-tive marketing to pay homage to our greatest religion that unites all and make us patriotic. This concept is not just restricted to Indian markets or any a new fad, the festive spirit has enveloped many brands from years.


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Big Sales start from the Boxing day or Christmas eve with discounts spread all over the street. Though it is not always the case when holiday/festive marketing result into positive sales.

Like Coca-cola that has frequent-ly rung in the holidays with special can designs but in 2011 it has come up with snow white cans instead of red for regular coke in sync with the Christmas spirit and awareness program for endangered species of po-

lar bear. This packaging change backfired in this case when some consumers complained that it looked confusingly similar to Diet Coke’s silver cans and consumption of such canned coke by diabetic patients led

to its roll-back.

Marketing touches the heart of the customers and strikes best when heart is vulnerable and pocket is ready to spend even extra note to get drenched in festive colors.


AUTHOR:

Akansha Garg MBA(IB)-IIFT,Kolkata

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Festive Marketing : Riding on expectations

Keshav Sridhar IIM, Shillong

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Festivals aren’t a joyous occasion only for the consumers but also for companies. No matter how bad sales have been, these events assure a spike in demand thereby improving cash flow temporarily.As the name suggests, festive marketing involves all marketing efforts undertaken by companies to maximise market share during the festive fever.

THE ADVENT

Nikolaimark also known as St Nicolas market was known to be established 500 years ago and it became very fa-mous during the 17th century as one of the first Christmas market of Austria. The less prominent markets were dat-ed to be in existence from as early as 13th century. Shortly, travellers began to carry forward this idea to Vienna, France, Germany and other parts of Europe. Similar cultural event is titled the ‘Mela’ began in India where pock-ets of event assemble at one geography and offer products & entertainment, all themed on the festival, such as Mehndi during Diwali etc.

CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Festivals stand for celebration.The celebrations call for a spirit of to-getherness and exchange / deliv-ery of gifts and consumption as a group. This is a time where the marginal propensity to spend will increase. Also, products which match best with the concept of ex-tended self and specific to the fes-tival in the offing (auspicious) will tend to be picked off the shelves.

Also, given its auspicious nature, heavier investments such as pur-chase of cars, motorbikes etc. take precedence on these days. What is to be understood is that people find it as the right time to get something new or replace old ones. To drive home the point, a SIAM report says that car sales have grown by 23% last month (October 2012), the highest in the last 22 months, with most of them wanting to take delivery on the eve of Diwali.


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CHANGING TRENDS

Companies no longer wait for Dusshera or Diwali to unleash price cuts and promotions. Attractive schemes last all through the year. Festivals are moments when there is a pull effect for the companies, the push efforts are kept all throughout the year. Moreover, what was origi-nally a family activity, shopping has now become more fragmented within families. The traditional vis-its to stores have subsided given the hectic lifestyle of people and varying tastes. E-Retailing is slow-ly emerging currently constitution 0.1% of total retail sales in India and is estimated to grow to around 8% by 2020 (TechnoPak estimates).

MARKETING PLOTS

Festival specific promotions take the form of exchange offer, assured gifts and massive price cuts. Brands also go to the next level of either getting in newer products in their lines or accentuating the festive feelings through strong TVCs.Dur-ing the Diwali of 2010, Coke got in the campaign of ‘Come home on Deepavali’ which reached out to the youth population to stick to their cultural roots. Mondelez (until now

known as Cadbury India) launched the ‘iss baar jaakar milenge’ dur-ing the 2011 Diwali, a competi-tion to encourage Target Group (in Mumbai) to visit their folks at Delhi. Winners were flown to Del-hi in a chartered airline. The event was popularised through Facebook and Radio stations. Winners Maruti had recently launched its Alto 800 and offering discounts of up to Rs 30,000 on all variants of its Estillo. Even small time players cash in on such opportunities. Many jewellers come out with huge banners or re-ally brief TVC to reach out to con-sumers and occupy the mind-share (See attached print ad of PC Jewel-lers for Dhanteras).


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CONCLUSION

While we know that the marketing mix given by the 4 Ps decide the ba-sic strategy, it is to be understood that companies might tweak all Ps during a festival. Products might change (like Starbuck’s petal Gulab Donuts for Diwali), prices as well (Samsung consumer durables for Diwali), place might change depending on season-ality or demand spike (make-shift shops for selling crackers) and most importantly &certainly, promotion (endless examples).

Marketers also focus on another P, the packaging of every ser-vice / product to seemingly strike with the chord of the mass sen-timent. This is the easiest way to reach out and draw consumer attention. After all, chocolates don’t become tastier and neither do cars get faster, one has to un-derstand that emotions ride high and only that is to be exploited.


AUTHOR:

Keshav Sridhar PGDM -IIM Shillong

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Festivals and Marketing

Abhishek Kumar Purvi Chaudhary IIM, Lucknow C

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Introduction

Oxford dictionary defines festivals as “a day or period of celebration, typi-cally for religious reasons” or “an or-ganized series of concerts, plays, or films” and thus it imperative that fes-tivals holds the attentions of compa-nies so well as they mark an increase in level of euphoria experienced by a typical customer. A happy customer according to certain studies is willing to spend more. But the challenge still remains to make them buy the prod-uct among various product classes (relevant to celebration) and from a plethora of choice and thus the com-petition among the marketers.

Festivals broadly diving fells into two cat-egories, (i) related to cultural or religious sentiments like Diwali or Christmas and (ii) celebration for promotion of causes and views a such as Cannas film festival or To-matina.

Festivals with religious or

cultural values

According to behavioural physiologist, a crowd can alter the judgment criteria of a person. More elaborately a person will tend to go with a group judgement while ignor-ing their own. This lays a large onus on the shoulder of marketers to direct communica-tions which convey the messages regarding movement of their brands while deciding the campaign during festival periods.


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Festivals also make some product relevant which otherwise find no buyers rest of the year. For instance clay containers for lighting are only in demand during Diwali only. This gives an array of profitable product for short term introduction along with main products or as free gift alongside the main product. New limited lines are also introduced to different one product during these seasons. Companies also try to in-troduce their produce as substi-tutes for the traditional item as was done by nestle with their chocolate coated dry fruits or electric lights for decorating homes. The packag-ing also undergoes minor changes to enhance the feel of association with the certain festival. Depend-ing on the type of festival different products or services shows a surge in demand. Effect of media is also paramount in deciding the pattern and consumption behaviour of fes-tivals. Take for example Christmas, probably the biggest and most prof-itable business in the world. Films and other media made it a custom for people to dress in Santa and oth-er related costumes. A near home example will be private Holi gath-erings made famous by Bollywood movies.

Taking of small products, festivals

show an increase visibility from small companies through various means like Newspapers and Radios or by simply offering better mar-gins to retailers and wholesalers. Big brands try to counter this by running various promotional offers during the seasons and also try to make their products synonymous to the celebra-tion or a vital part of it. The main efforts are invested in breaking the extra clutter created due to efforts of capturing the biggest pie.


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Festival are usually occasion where people go out of home to do shopping for themselves and family but some-time the current infrastructure is not able to handle the same. Thus many people want to shop or gather infor-mation for the products from the con-fined of homes and offices. So the mar-keters need to strengthen their online presence but more importantly their inventory management and delivery system needs to be more efficient than usual as an extra happy customer will be extra unhappy if they don’t get de-sired product or service.

Commercial festivals

Many festivals are promotional in na-ture, like Cannes which is organized to promote certain view or few other are conducted just to increase tourism in a particular geographic area. Take for example the bull race and bull fighting festivals in Spain. They promote tour-ism as well as differentiate the country from the other in the area. Similarly many festivals are sprung from some historical or social event but now are

moulded to act as an economic pros-pect. Carnivals in countries like Bra-zil, Venice, Germany are famous ex-amples. Carnivals are sprung from travelling shows and evolved to cur-rent shapes. Many more examples can be cited including thanksgiving and Valentine day. Some of these events are organized and some are relatively disorganized without a tangible or co-herent purpose but they increase the demand of various product classes like food and beverages, cloths, hotel and allied services etc. The incoherent nature of these festival types present opportunities which can be tapped by using innovative ideas.

Festivals are one of the vital elements of social structure which the human society maintains and thus they are never going to be out of fashion. Com-panies spend a major chunk of their marketing budgets to make the festive season sparkle for them too. All that is required is an impactful reach with lots of creativity and market is going to embrace you with open hands.


AUTHORS:

Abhishek Kumar Purvi Chaudhary IIM Lucknow

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Shangri-La Hotel

Devesh Singh NITIE,Mumbai A

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Advertisements are the best way to communicate to your customers. A good advertisement who not only help increase sales for the company but help building an image in the minds of the customer.

NEW SHANGRI-LA - IT’S IN OUR NATURE

Youtube Location : http://tinyurl.com/625gfpd

The Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts began in 1971 with their first deluxe hotel in Singa-pore. Today, with 72 hotels and re-sorts throughout Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East, and Eu-rope, the Shangri-La group has a room inventory of over 30,000 and is Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group. The given ad encapsulates the serenity and service for which Shan-gri-La hotels and resort are

renowned worldwide.

The ad starts with a man trying to make his way in the difficultmoun-tains and climatic conditions. He is shown making his way through thick snow covered terrainswith his stick, tired and directionless, pushing him-self. Wild snow dogs are shown camouflaged with the surroundings, howling and following the character in his journey. He survives a night in the open in chilled killing winds, but not for long and loose strength to continue any further and thrashes on the snow bed unconscious. Soon the pack of wild dogs comesand lied around him giving him the warmth he needed.Thus, saving his life.Thus, saving his life.A perfect de-piction of the company’s ideas “To Embrace Stronger as One’s own.Its in our nature”


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Since, Shangri-la are a luxury hotels they obviously have all the high end facilities but one thing their target cus-tomers won’t compromise on are the services they are being offered. Hence, rather than showcasing their world class facilities they kept the theme on service, embracing everyone with their services and kept the message very simple.

No use of words but still advertiser is able to grab the attention of the audi-ence throughout the advertisement by strong and meaningful use of audio and catering to the human emotions and sentiments.The advertisement gener-ates a sense of bonding.

The advertising mantra, AIDA, is strict-ly adhered to. This is one of the reasons for its bonding with the viewers. By showing a suffering man, the advertise-ment draws the attention of theviewers. When the character fails to walk any further and ends up unconscious, it cre-ates sadness inthe minds of the viewers. When the tagline is spouted, it builds, in the viewers, adesire to know more. This desire often leads to actions.

The commercial’s message is wound around the tagline of the company, makingthe product and brand as much a part of the advertisement as the rest of thecharacters and the concept.

As hospitability industry is all about service you provide to your consum-ers, advertisement communicates this thought perfectly and hence defines what you want your product to be as-sociated with.The product and brand areimprinted in the minds of the consumer,and introduced to the view-ers such that itsub-consciously enters their minds without any jarring high-lights on the product or brand

This advertisement also does what the majority do not. It focuses on the emo-tions and sentiments. The sentiments, actions and emotions of the people are-highlighted and showcased throughout the advertisement in one form or anoth-er. Theproduct is kept discreetly tucked away and does not overpower the com-mercial.

The advertisement leaves people with a warm feeling. This feeling also trans-fers tothe product and brand. Thus, this advertisement can definitely be called anadvertising success. AUTHOR:


Devesh Singh PGDIM-NITIE, Mumbai

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Sustainability and Marketing Strategies

Sudarshan NITIE, Mumbai

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Sustainability is a major concern for marketers in the 21st century since marketing strategies and activities are inextricably linked to the future of the natural environment that sustains all life. The scope of sustainability is broad, and companies worldwide are being held responsible for issues such as reducing consumption of scarce resources, not harming the natural environment, ensuring sustainable supply chain management, reducing climate change/impact, sensing con-sumer concerns about sustainability, increasing global economic stabil-ity through sustainability, and proac-tively managing business processes to protect the natural environment. “Sustainability” is an ambiguous and politically charged term, yet it is de-fined in general as consumption that can continue indefinitely without the degradation of natural, physical, hu-man, and intellectual capital .

Sustainability is not “about” the inte-

gration of ecological, social and eco-nomic issues, nor is it “about” wide-spread consultation nor is it “about” improving quality of life. It’s about maintaining or sustaining something and hence in order to sustain some-thing it may well be necessary to integrate ecological, social and eco-nomic issues.

In present marketing world consum-ers are conscious about their shop-ping choice and prefer sustainable or green products that provide benefits to themselves, community as well as their lifestyle. According to a recent study mainstream consumers have shown an interest in environmentally friendly products and are suggesting the manufacturers and retailers fol-low suit with more of these products. The underlying question is “How can firms achieve competitive advantage by use of sustainable business prac-tice as marketing strategy?” the an-swer is very simple i,e To the extent


“The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous and enduring and thus more intelligent, even competitive” – Paul Hawken

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that sustainable practices are desired by consumers, firms can use them as bases for marketing strategy if they can adopt them differentially and de-fensibly. Firms are mainly left with 2 options ,one among them is invest-ing in development of more energy efficient and environmental friendly products or donating money in an en-vironmental NGO.

HSBC is engaged in a multipronged environmental effort, including lob-bying to regulators and government agencies, a green investing partner-ship with high profile NGOs, another partnership for conducting research into climate change, opportunities for employees to engage in research for these partnerships, retro fitting of branch offices, and developing and promoting green products, such as paperless checking, with some pro-ceeds going to environment-related charities. (GreenBiz,2007)

A recent survey of leading multina-tional corporations showed the most common efforts in sustainability targeted lower energy use, reduced solid waste generation, and reduced air pollution (ClimateBiz, 2007). Because the market is vigilant in ex-amining sustainability for example PepsiCo, HCCB, Asian paints, Glen mark etc.

The fundamentals of segmentation, targeting and positioning don’t go out the window when sustainability walks through the door. Sustainabil-ity can be integrated to marketing strategies in a very simple way by simply following the basics of busi-ness.

The very first rule is to refocus on the target audience because the tar-get for sustainable product develop-ment should not be some other group of conscious or green consumer but the loyal customers of your product. They are the one who buy and asso-ciate themselves with your product. Nike has targeted its recycled and waterless dyed apparels to athletes and sports oriented people instead of targeting a different group and it has been a huge success.

Adding to it the consumer should get value of their money instead of getting a greener and pricier product than the core product. Thumb rule is “its not about greener, it’s about bet-ter”.

Sustainability is rarely a viable point of difference. Even if it is it has to be aligned with the need of custom-er and should be economical viable. And as any good marketer knows, a point of difference is only valuable


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if customers value it. Practically, sus-tainability is just not the main pur-chase driver for consumers.

Existing source of differentiation has to be the foundation upon which sus-tainability activity should be built. Toyota created a brand synonymous with dependability and durability. The success of the Toyota Prius hy-brid car was certainly because of its long-held attributes alongside inno-vation and eco-friendliness. One oth-er vital rule is that the aim shouldn’t be to improve brand’s reputation or build consumer trust but to reinforce what you stand for in the minds of target audience. Ariel laundry deter-gent had always promised superior cleansing capacity. Its Turn to 30° campaign promised that even at low temperature, “With Ariel, you still

get outstanding results.” Thus, the brand strengthened its positioning while encouraging an environmen-tally friendly change in consumer behavior.

In a nutshell it can be said that Sus-tainability marketing is about de-livering good value to customers and ensuring that the brand remains viable over time. Good intentions are just the start, and authenticity and credibility are a given, but one shouldn’t forget the basics. Market-ers have the power to create a more sustainable economy through their influence on product development and purchasing decisions. It’s high time to follow these well-honed tools and fundamentals of marketing in to the sustainability business.


AUTHOR:

Sudarshan PGDISEM-NITIE, Mumbai

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Cause Related Marketing New Tool for Marketers

Apoorv Sharma Raju Bhuyan

NITIE, MumbaiFea

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When you see veteran actor Anupam Kher in P&G Shiksha advertisement appealing you to buy a P&G product so that a poor village girl Vidya can go to a school, you might make up your mind to buy P&G products next time you visit the shelf. Shiksha, P&G India’s “cause marketing” initiative that has been running successfully for the last 8 years, has already helped 280,000 underprivileged children access their right to education. The program has built & supported over 140 schools across India and do-nated Rs. 22 Crores in the last 8 years. Under the scheme, every time a consumer buys a P&G product - Tide, Ariel, Pampers, Whisper, Olay, Vicks, Gillette Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Pantene or Duracell - P&G donates a part of the sale proceeds to NGO partners who work for better education for the underprivileged children in India.When launched in 2003, Shiksha got a fabulous response from the consumers and sales of Shiksha labelled products reached 20 lakh units.


INTRODUCTION

Cause marketing or Cause Related Mar-keting (CRM) is a common marketing strategy involving corporate houses and Non-Profit Organisations for mutual ben-efits. For corporates, it is a good way to attract consumers and create a good brand

image whilst addressing social issues.Cause Related Marketing (CRM) can be-come an integral part of the corporate so-cial responsibility strategy of an organiza-tion.

The term Cause related marketing was first used by American Express in its 1981

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campaign on Statue of Liberty Restora-tion Project. They donated 1 cent for every transaction via an American Express card, and $1 for every new card purchased. The result was phenomenal: In just three

months, the Restoration Fund raised over $1.7 million. American Express Card us-age rose 27% and new card applications rose by 45% compared to the previous year.


“Cause Related Marketing adds another dimension to the strength of a brand. It provides an emotional as well as a rational engagement of the consumer with the brand. It provides a tangible demonstration of the company’s corporate social respon-sibility, its values and its ethics.” (Sue Adkins, International expert on CRM, Business in the Community)

CRM AS MARKETING TOOL:

The term Cause related marketing CRM is effectively cashing in on the consumer psychology relating to their social obliga-tions and has become one of the promi-nent strategy for marketers. A long term approach of strategic CRM harnesses a better public image for the company, acts as a product differentiator in the competi-tive market and gives the brand a com-petitive advantage. CRM is a useful tool for marketers beyond its traditional mix of price and product, as when price and quality are perceived to be equal, custom-ers choose products they consider socially

responsible.

Nowadays, organisations are integrating CRM with their corporate social respon-sibility scheme to create a greater impact on the consumers. This strategy acts as a good recruitment tool as employees pre-fer to associate themselves with organiza-tions having active participations in social causes.

Non-profit Organisations can ben-efit from brand partnerships not only through fund raising and other mar-keting resources that companies of-fer, but also through consumer donations

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as it creates awareness in the society regarding the issue. UNICEF has part-nered with P&G on Pampers’ “1 Pack = 1 Vaccine” campaign, and has been able to raise funds for 300 million tetanus vac-cines, which are helping to protect 100 million women and their babies from the disease around the world.

CRM FAILURES:

However, sometimes CRM can get a backlash from the consumers. Microsoft Bing created a backlash when it posted a message on Twitter, offering to donate $1 to Japan’s relief efforts each time some-one forwarded its message. The missive set off a firestorm of complaints from Twitter users, who accused Bing of using the tragedy as a marketing opportunity. While companies often want consumers to know of their efforts, only a daring few are launching ad campaigns to avoid any criticism of their intentions.

Massive advertising may portray a brand as more of an attention hogging product and less of a social cause. KFC’s “Bucket for cure” campaign for breast cancer treat-

ment was criticised for excessive cam-paigning like Pink buckets and negative image of KFC as unhealthy food.

CONCLUSION:

Cause related marketing when used judi-ciously , make it a win-win solution for all the stakeholders – the Company, Non-profits, Consumers and the Society. It is going to prove to be a useful tool for mar-keters in the years to come, but only when used with caution.

AUTHORS:

Apoorv Sharma Raju Bhuyan PGDIM-NITIE, Mumbai


27MarkDarshak Feb 2013 NITIE , Mumbai

CROSS-WORD

ACROSS:

3. India’s first Advertising & Marketing Agency who published

first Indian press ad in 1907

6. Marketing through Bagpiper Soda and Seagram Music CDs

7. Company who pioneered marketing research for consumer

behavior

9. Soap brand marketed as having 99.4 % Purity

10. Indian commission to curb misleading advertisement

11. Product/Market growth Matrix

12. More car per car

13. list of events that may occur when a consumer engages with

an advertisement

DOWN:

1. Dividing market into groups of consumers who have similar

needs

2. Worlds Largest Selling Biscuits by Volume

4. Juhi Chawla loves to eat Jhajhalo Hit in West Bengal and Usal

Pao in Maharashtra

5. The P which generates Revenue

8. Pricing Strategy Wall Mart famous for

10. The great Indian steward from Bobby Kooka

28

Marketing Interest Group (MIG)The Marketing Interest Group is a small step in the march towards enhance-ment of knowledge through peer learning. The idea is to bring the market-ing wizards of tomorrow to a common platform and share their wealth of knowledge and experience. Various methodologies used include simulation games, case study discussions and presentations by both students and emi-nent marketing specialists. MIG solely believes in spreading knowledge and generating a spark which eventually becomes a chain of thought and helps in developing marketing acumen.

Sudarshan ChoudharySonam

Yuvika PahujaSurbhi Jaiswal

Hardik ChauhanSandeep Nailwal

Raju Bhuyan Shikhar SinghAditya VaishMradul GuptaDevesh Singh

Sarvesh Sharma

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