Master P's - February

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THE MARKETING MAGAZINE OF IIFT KOLKATA

FEBRUARY 2008VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1


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Editors NoteMaster Ps finally has a structure and is a reality.

When we brought the idea of reviving Brand Wagon, start-

ing off with its most important feature the Master Ps there

were not many takers. Everybody in IIFT was skeptical on

whether it was just another spark to work hard, which

would extinguish in the days to follow or would actually

fructify. The participation was meager and each one had to

be personally convinced that what we are talking is seri-

ous. And when the magazine is finally out we could see

the brilliant effort that goes in painting a masterpiece! All

the sweat paid off and we are out with the fresh looking

Volume 2 of Master Ps before our set deadline. So this val-

entine season, we have fresh marketing thoughts andnovel ideas to ponder on.

Advertising to Millions of people around the world without spending a rupee Selling of

the same products through Co-operation rather than competition What marketing could be

several years down the lane Quizzed?? You know the answers to these questions, think a

little harder and you will find the connect, its hidden somewhere in your sub conscious mem-

ory. If you do not want to trouble yourself further, turn the pages and read how the basic

activities of the day like blogging and shopping can make your business bloat.

Guru of the month in this edition focuses on Theodore Levitt and his theory of

Marketing Myopia which has been practiced and preached by almost all successful

organizations in the present time. We have picked two of them and pitted them against each

other in our Big Fight.

There are many more articles which can stretch your level of imagination to a new

high, like the Axe effect write-up by Manoj Bharathi which showcases the amazing adver-

tisement practices of HUL, the power of Facebook and social networking and Indias gift to the

world : Tata Nano.

We sometimes doubt the marketing pillars set by Kotler but we believe that authentic

marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of

identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction

to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders.

Special thanks to Praveen for supporting us in organizing and rearranging the

templates and helping us with the Magazines Layout.

And eventually we are somewhat convinced what Milan Kundera had once said:

Business has only two functions: Marketing and Innovation

Editor

Master Ps

CREDITS

EDITORS:

AKAASH JAIN

SASWAT KUMAR SAHU

CLUB CO-ORDINATORS :

DEVESH BIJALWAN

GAURAV SHARMA

This issue is meant solely for internal circulation and not for any commercial purpose


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Unleashing the Marketing Atom Bomb

By: Aashish Jha Page 4

Tata Nano : An Insight

By: Saswat Kumar Sahu & Iti Mehrotra Page 6

Marketing Guru of the Month

Theodore LevittMarketing Myopia

By: Mohit Malik Page 9

Lights Camera Blogs!! A little more conversation

By: Trisha Vasudeva Page 12

Big Fight

Hindustan Unilever Vs P&G

By: Akaash Jain & Souvik Gupta Page 14

Product based to Thought based :Transformation

By: Praveen Dhawan Page 19

The Axe EfektBy: Manoj Bharti Page 21

Marketing in the Future : A perspective

By: Saswat Kumar Sahu Page 23

Book MarkBy: Abhinandan Kumar Page 25


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he middle of the twentieth centurywas a producers market withindustrial giants like Ford, IBM, GE,

P&G, etc. pushing whatever they

produced, into the market and forcing theconsumers to buy through their marketingefforts. The late twentieth century turnedout to be a consumers market owing to

the ever increasing competition fuelledby globalization to a large extent, wherein,companies tried to adapt themselvesaccording to the requirements of thesensitive customer, and customizationbecame the buzzword of marketingstrategy. The very first decade of thetwenty first century is now witnessing theconsumers market transform into anetworkers market.

There are networks everywhere -Distributors network, suppliers network,service providers network, client networkand last but not the least, consumernetwork. Everything, right from itsinception to its delivery, passes throughone of the above networks; in short,everything sells through a network.

As can be seen from the aboverepresentation, the three elements of the

value chain, collectively known as theMiddlemen, take up a sizeable share of thetotal price that amounts to around 60%.

With the increasing competition aswell as the retail boom takingplace, these different elementshave merged to give rise tohypermarkets where there is asingle middle-level entity betweenthe manufacturer and consumer.

This form of marketing is a part ofa larger domain, called DirectMarketing, a concept whichinvolves a minimum number ofentities between the manufacturer

and the customer

In this context where it is clear thatonly the big fish will win the race, thequestion of survival is being raised forthe common retailers and shop-ownersleave aside the scope of growth. In thisera, when the customer power is at itspeak, and competition has assumed akillers role, the only way to survive is tocollaborate, to complete each other instead

of trying to compete. The answer onceagain lies in building a Network.Routing the marketing efforts through a

network is what is called NetworkMarketing or Direct Selling.

The most cost effective way to deliverhigh quality products to the market is todistribute them through word-of-mouthadvertising one person tells anotherperson about a great product experience.The same way you share a story with yourneighbour about a great movie orrestaurant. Word-of-mouth marketing ishow companies that are part of the DirectSelling Industry operate.

Network Marketing is the product ofProsumer Revolution that has its roots inEurope and dates back to the early 90s.

Prosumer = Producer + Consumer

When the consumer takes oneself upthe value chain and directly becomesresponsible for the production and

distribution of what he himself consumes,he becomes a Prosumer. For example,when a consumer of daily use FMCG goodsenters into a partnership with the producer

Ms =Middlemen M ake Most

oney

It is not about competition but growth

which makes Network Marketing such a

hit amongst people

Network Marketing-

Unleashing the Marketing

Atom Bomb


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Here are some important facts aboutthe Direct Selling Industry:

1. It is a $100 billion global industry.

2. It has had over 19 consecutive years ofgrowth.

3. It has over 50 million distributorsworldwide.

4. Its sales growth has outpaced growth inretail sales for the past 10 years.

5. Seventy-five percent of the U.S.population has purchased goods or servicesthrough direct sales (more than the totalnumber of TV and internet purchases).

This industry is doing a lot more than justgrowing, the industry is thriving. It is onthe verge of explosion. There are about 20public companies in the Direct SellingIndustry. And, if you look at the results ofthese companies, you will see that most ofthem are reporting record sales andrevenues. And it's not confined to onespecific part of the world Asia, NorthAmerica and Europe are all growing.

"Direct selling is the perfect intellectual

distribution business for today's economy.A home-based business doesn't require astorefront, warehouse, employees or mas-sive back office support operations. It only

requires one person-you."

-- PAUL ZANE PILZER, AUTHOR "THENEXT MILLIONAIRES"

on a commission margin basis, and he

becomes the distributor of those products,

he starts prosuming.

Now, if this new distributor recruitsfellow customers in the same system againon a profit-sharing/commission/incentivesbasis, he starts doing what is calledmulti-level marketing, popularly known asnetwork marketing.

Generally, a small amount of fee(license, franchise, membership) is chargedfrom an individual who wants to become anindependent distributor and that entitleshim to carry out the operationswithin the flexibility of space and time.The levels of commission are determinedby the volume of business generated bythe distributor and the financial incen-tives model is more or less the same asthat of maximum fortune 500 compa-nies.

Network marketing companies havebeen in existence for over 40 years. Someof the largest corporations in the world arenetwork marketing companies, selling awide variety of products and services suchas legal services, insurance, cosmetics andnutritional products. Even telecommunica-tions giants US Print, MCI, and AT&T arebringing on millions of new customersthrough network marketing companies. It'sa dynamic and growing industry that many

traditional businesses are looking at andare pursuing as an alternative distributionchannel.

Aashish Jha


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TATA NANO : AN INSIGHT

The Nano has been unveiled by Ratan Tata at the Auto Expo. People consider this car to be

revolutionary, lets see what is so special about this car

rand India' in the global sphere is an

evaluation inevitable after the launch

of Tata's world's cheapest car 'Nano'.

Ratan Tata kept his promise made in 2003

and unveiled his engineering feat 'Nano'

on 10th January 2007, at the 9th Auto

Expo 2008 in New Delhi, placing India high

on the map of manufacturing

competitiveness, a tag that India hasn't

been really known for.

The world knew that brain wizards

have always been India's key skill; they

have been rightly utilized world over for

decades. Likes of Ferrari and Nissan have

used the intelligence of Tata's INCAT team,

to enhance engineering design of their

world famous machine. But may be Nano

will change this belief that Indian

innovation is incapable of a global product,

made entirely on home ground. Tata did

apply technologies from Germany and

other nations, but every single step of

innovating this 'cheap but the best' product

was carried out in India. It proves that if

given the conducive environment, Indian

manufacturing can be equally competitive

to any other in the world. India has arrivedbut is yet to place its foot firmly to survive

other competing nations. Global brand is

not just economy, but is complemented by

social, political and cultural characteristics

of a nation. To position Nano as a global

brand is the challenge that Tatas would

face when they venture into virgin lands

and to the land of stars and stripes.

When the auto-giants were busy in

providing customers with added features

and luxury, an Indian automaker was

thinking of expanding the customer base.

"Tata reinvents the wheel," ran a banner

headline on the front page of The Times of

India daily. Tata has given a new definition

of car to the world to ponder on and of

course a piece of thought to the new

Interpreters too. But is price the only

factor because of which Nano has received

all the praise? Praise for Worlds Cheapest

Car has been as much for its style and

engineering as for 1-Lakh price tag

"I think it's a moment of history

and I'm delighted an Indiancompany is leading the way." -

Anand Mahindra, M.D., M&M Ltd on

unveiling of Nano


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signaling India's intent to be more than

just a cut-price manufacturer. A lot of

thought process is involved in bringing

Peoples car into existence and finally

taking it for a walk on roads. Lets unveil it

by exploring the Cs which Tata has been

playing with.

Cost: The 1-lakh figure depends

entirely on volumes sold. The initial

production target for the year is 250,000

units which may later rise to 350,000. The

ex-showroom price of Tata Nano is Rs. 1

Lakh (2500 dollars) but the on-road price

of Nano in Delhi would be around Rs. 1.25

Lakh after adding VAT, road tax and other

local taxes. The price of two deluxe models

that will include air-conditioning and other

features will be announced later by the

company.

Nearest Domestic Rival of Nano is

Maruti 800, part of Japanese-owned Suzuki

Maruti stable whose base model sells for

about 4,800 dollars -- nearly double the

price of the Nano and the Nearest

International Rival is China's Chery QQ

which retails for 3600 dollars.

Channel:Tata will focus on selling

the car in India for the next two to threeyears, before eyeing Latin American and

Southeast Asian markets. India's car

market is a huge draw because car

penetration is just seven per 1,000 people,

compared to 550 per 1,000 in such

countries as Germany or 476 in France,

according to the Society of Indian

Automobiles.

People's Car Nano will be made on

the whole new line of experiment.According to the current production model

the Car companies supply the completely

built car units to their dealerships but Tata

Motors is in mood of a slight change of

plan. Tata Motors will supply the CKD

(Completely knocked down) kits to their

regional hub where they plan to set up an

assembly line. The car will be assembled

and delivered to the dealers from these

regional hubs which will help in avoiding

transportation cost which is around 5% for

a complete car. If this experiment remains

successful then this will set new benchmark

for Car companies in making their

production policies.

In the first phase, till the company

ramps up production, only a few dealers

(out of a total of 170 dealerships) in every

city\region may be short listed. New

dealers would be roped in the second

phase to meet excess demand. Thecompany also planning to do away with the

booking route and the car will be available

off-the-shelf.

Communication: Nano is presently

enjoying the attention of the entire world

because of its much talked about price. The

worlds cheapest car has forced the

automakers to catch up. At the Auto Expo

in Delhi, which gave Nano a grand opening,

the banner put by the company said

Peoples Car and not Peoples Car

emphasizing that it is a car meant not just

for some people but for a varied group of

people.

Most of the publicity which Nano is

getting is due to word-of mouth. And it is

not only the common man but all the big

shots of India Inc who are discussing this

wonder. Its being compared with i-POD

and Nirma and the huge impact these

products caused in their industry.

Car Model Ex-showroom Price in Rs.4 Hyundai Santro 2.70 Lakh

1 Tata Nano 1 Lakh 5 Maruti Zen Estilo 3.20 Lakh

2 Maruti 800 1.94 Lakh 6 Chevrolet Spark 3.25 Lakh

3 Maruti Alto 2.30 Lakh 7 Chevrolet U-VA 4.00 Lakh
http://www.surfindia.com/automobile/hyundai-santro-xing.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-zen-estilo.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-800.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-spark.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-alto.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-aveo-uva.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-aveo-uva.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-alto.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/chevrolet-spark.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-800.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/maruti-zen-estilo.htmlhttp://www.surfindia.com/automobile/hyundai-santro-xing.html


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The company officials in all public

statements have been careful enough to

stress on the motive of such a making, the

need to be our entertainment box.

Safe and comfortable on road vehicle are

the primary concern for Tatas is to assurethe consumers that they have not

compromised on the quality front and Nano

is nothing less than what their neighbors

have.

Tata Nano

Manufacturer Tata Motors

Also called The People's Car

Production 2008present

Predecessor none

Class City car

Body style(s) 4-door Kei

Layout RR layout

Engine(s)

2 cylinder petrol Bosch multi

-point fuel injection (single

injector)all aluminium

623 cc (38 cu in)

Transmission(s)4 speed synchromesh with

overdrive in 4th

Wheelbase 2,230 mm (87.8 in)

Length 3,100 mm (10.2 ft)[1]

Width 1,500 mm (4.9 ft)[1]

Height 1,600 mm (5.2 ft)[1]

Curb weight580 kg (1,300 lb)-600 kg

(1,300 lb)[2]

Fuel capacity 15 L (4 US gal/3 imp gal)

[2]

Designer I.DE.A Institute

The car already has its own website with

promotional campaigns like design your

car, suggest a celebrity, write a slogan.

Commodity: Initially it was

conceived as a low-end 'rural car,' probably

without doors or windows and with plasticcurtains that rolled down. Something close

to an auto-rickshaw, with an extra wheel.

But with the progress in the development

cycle, the company realized that there was

a scope of delivering the so-called-

Impossible and gravitated towards a car

like everyone expects a car to be.

The snub-nosed car keeps in the tradition

of the Fiat 500, Nissan Micra and the

Smart. Nano designed with a family inmind, has a roomy passenger compartment

with generous leg space and head

room. When Tata made its vow to build a

$2,500 car, many Western auto executives

ridiculed the project, dubbing it a four

wheel bicycle. They arent laughing

anymore. Tatas model is a real car with

four doors, a 33-horsepower engine, and a

top speed of around 80 mph. The

automaker claims it will even pass a crash

test. And while the car probably wont win

any beauty contests, its no ugly duckling

either, according to the handful of industry

insiders who have been given a glimpse.

The key is Indias low-cost engineers and

their prodigious ability to trim needless

spending to the bone, a skill developed by

years of selling to the bottom of the

pyramid. After all Small is beautiful and

Ernst Friedrich Schumacher was a

benevolent visionary.

Source : www.wikipedia.com

Saswat Kumar Sahu Iti Mehrotra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automakerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automakerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_carhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RR_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_%28engine%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_centimetrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchromeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.DE.A_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.DE.A_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-autocarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_weighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Nano#_note-TimesOfIndia_Specshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchromeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_centimetrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#Multi-point_fuel_injectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_%28engine%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RR_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_layouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_body_stylehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_carhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaker


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Marketing Guru of The Month

Theodore Levitt

MARKETING MYOPIA

yopia or near short-

sightedness is a refractive

defect of the eye which

occurs when light entering the eye

focuses in front of the retina instead of

directly on it.

Big deal!! Confused?? What does myopia

have to do with marketing? Well, the two

did not have any relation until 1960, when

Theodore Levitt came out with an article

which was published in the Harvard

Business Review (HBR), 38 (July-August

1960) titled Marketing Myopia which

highlighted the fact that most companies

around that time had a wrong notion of

marketing and how some of them ended

up paying a huge price for defining their

business too narrowly i.e. they suffered

from Marketing Myopia. The question

which now arises is that exactly what was

so special about that article? The answer

is that it had a huge impact on companies

and its popularity can be ascertained from

the fact that HBR has sold more than

265,000 reprints of the same.

Businesses, Levitt argued, declinenot because of saturated markets but

because of the wrong policies and

objectives as set by the top management.

He gave a classic example of railroads in

America which declined because they

assumed themselves to be in the railroad

business in a narrow sense and not in a

broad sense of transportation business.

Even, Hollywood at one point of time,

suffered from this myopia as many film

companies tried to reject TV rather than

seeing it as an opportunity. The problem

again was the narrow definition of being


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in film business rather than entertainment

business. He also gave positive examples

of companies like DuPont who succeeded

because of their intense focus on the

customer and his needs. His words are an

authoritative and insightful statement

about the purpose of an enterprise. They

go far beyond the hackneyed belief that

business exist only to make money.

He listed examples of a few industries

which were initially labeled as growth

industries and looked very promising at

one point of time but which eventually lost

out to their competitors. These include the

dry cleaningindustry (losing to synthetic

fibers and chemical additives), the grocery

stores(the supermarkets getting the better

of them).

Levitt classified four conditions or

beliefs or rather misbelieves which led to

the companies getting affected by the

disease-Marketing Myopia.

More population more growth

Population grows in all countries, in

some like India; it grows at a high pace

while in some, it grows slowly. Producers

are bound to feel that an expanding

population ensures an expanding market

for their products too. With this wrong

belief comes the complacency of not giving

due attention to marketing. In this context,

Levitt gave the example of the petroleum

industry, the industry was asking for

trouble by focusing on improving the

efficiency of making its product and not

really on the real need of improving thegeneric product or its marketing.

We, and only we are unique

Levitt challenged the petroleum

industrys assumption that there was no

challenge to its major product i.e gasoline.

The initial promise shown by gasoline

as the potential of lighting the kerosene

lamps around the world was dealt a major

blow by Edison as he invented a source oflight which was totally non-dependent on

crude.

The point Levitt was trying to make

was that a product can become obsolete

pretty quickly and companies and

industries need to keep this in mind. In

Levitts words, If a company's own

research does not make it (the product)

obsolete, another's will.

Make it cheap, cheaper, cheapest

What is often the case with large

companies, production gains in focus

compared to marketing and to make the

matters worse, the companies make very

little distinction between marketing and

selling. Levitt said that a companys

product should emerge as a consequence

of the marketing effort and not the other

way round. Interestingly, in this regard, hegave the example of Henry Ford who he

said was more of a marketing genius than

a product genius. Ford had himself said

that he did not consider any costs as fixed.

In Fords words, We first reduce the price

to the point where we believe more sales

will result and then go ahead and try to

make the prices. The point is that

companies should not get carried away by

the potential profits which are promised by

achieving low unit production costs and

forget about marketing.


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Wrong Mathematics : Research +

Development Consumer Needs

Although R&D is a factor which

deserves to be given attention but Levitt

argued, as was in case of the electronicsindustry, that R&D was being paid too

much attention. He pointed out the

problem with the electronics industry at

that time as the fact that it was riding only

on a wave of R&D without the surfboat of

good marketing. When products are

technically challenging and complex,

marketing gets downgraded to the label of

something else that needs to be done but

only after the entire production process iscomplete.

A reason for this could be the fact that

various marketing researches attempt to

study consumers consumers which are

generally unpredictable, finicky and

sometimes, even stubborn. While in

comparison, technical researches deal with

more controlled variables which can be

measured a bit easily. All this eventually

leads to consumer needs getting astepchild treatment at the hands of science

and technology.

So, a firm, a company, an industry;

whatever it is that one is involved in, one

can find that these misbelieves and wrong

notions still exist in one way or the other.

This disease of Marketing Myopia is as

common today as it was in the time whenLevitt wrote his famous article. So,

companies should learn from the examples

pointed out by Levitt and realize the

importance of marketing. As clichd as it

may sound but prevention is certainly

better than cure.

Mohit Malik


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Lights, Camera, BLOGS!!! -

A little 'more' conversationanbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone

and Conversational Marketing.

How do you relate the three of

them? Yes, I know the actor and actress

were going around but how does

"conversational marketing" fit in??? The

simple answer is that all three of them are

good things waiting to make it big!

So what exactly is conversational

marketing? "Conversational Marketing is

the engagement of social media by a

corporation to promote their product or

brand," says Wikipedia. Social media here

refers to any medium which can engage

the consumer in a dialogue, which is done

primarily through online forums or blogs.

Conversational marketing has been a very

successful phenomenon in the West where

companies like Microsoft, HP and Dell

practice it religiously and thrive on it.

The development of Microsofts blog

warmed up their icy public image and

allowed consumers and executives to

develop a relationship that would be

otherwise unheard of in any other media.

Closer home, flipkart.com, an online

bookstore on the lines of amazon.com has

been leveraging on it successfully.

The Microsoft story

channel9.msdn.comwas started byMicrosoft employees in April, 2004 as a

discussion forum to promote conversations

among Microsofts customers. Robert

Scoble is the sites star blogger, whose own

site http://scobleizer.com/ attracts over

3.5 million visitors annually.

And the keyword here is

"conversation". It is imperative that

companies wanting to use this tool,

participate in conversations, rather than

always talking and never listening. In fact,

blogs are increasingly becoming

indispensable in corporate communications.

Blogging creates an emotional connection

amongst the people from all around the

world who have never ever met each other,

in ways that press releases cannot

accomplish. Lack of blogging is an

indication of companies that do not wish

to have a dialogue with their customers,who do not want to connect to their

customers in the fastest and the closest

way possible. That indication is

perceived as condescending and is

being shunned more often by custom-

ers.

Remember -

Hapless immediate honesty beats refine

delayed comments

Conversation beats press releases
http://scobleizer.com/http://scobleizer.com/


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Business, as we know it, is evolving.

From a paternalistic relationship, where

customers get what they are given by

companies that make decisions for them to

a cooperative relationship where customers

and companies collaborate on products and

services, the change has been drastic.Consequently, the unyielding and

transformative power of blogs cannot be

emphasized more.

The shift from aggressive in-your-

face marketing to lowered voices spoken in

credible tones has been possible because

companies (finally) realise that - People

listen better and longer when you just talk

to them and listen back. But whats in it for

the company? Reduced response time to

consumer demands and an easier

evaluation of consumer behaviour.

Another area where blogs score over

other conventional methods of marketing is

credibility. The previous monotonous

expert insight is suddenly softening

through this informal platform. And with

the consumer being able to talk to the back

- end person, he instinctively puts in good

faith in the organisation. This is the precise

reason why transparency and authentic

blogging are encouraged and corporate

bloggers are advised to steer away from

anything that may seem forced and of

course, dull. And of course, these

conversations gain credibility as more and

more people join in.

Blogging is also a very powerful tool

in niche markets. The mantra in niche

markets is influence the classes and not

the masses and because of the efficiencyof Technorati and PubSub searches, it is

easy for like-minded people to find niche

experts. Suppose you had a political blog

and you only had three measly

readers. They just happened to be the

heads of government in the United States,

China and India and each read you every

day, trusted your word and adjusted their

own courses accordingly. How many more

readers would you need to have influence?Using it for businesses depends on your

creative genius.

Blogging [is] the sex god of the

Information Age. While word of mouth has

always been the most credible way to

expand awareness and adoption, blogging

fits into all this as the most powerful word-

of-mouth delivery mechanism to date. As

Yossi Vardi told us, Blogging is word of

mouth on steroids.

- Excerpt from Naked Conversations by

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

People want to be part of the process.

Period. And the smart marketer cannot

afford to overlook this fact! So heres to

Ranbir Kapoor's perfect abs, Deepika

Padukone's picture perfect dimple and the

virtual world being inundated by blogs!!

Because all said and done, they are the

superstars - in - the - making!!

Suggested Readings : 1) Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

2) The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke,Doc Searls,David Weinberger and Rick Levine

Trisha Vasudeva
http://www.rageboy.com/index2.htmlhttp://www.searls.com/http://www.evident.com/http://www.evident.com/http://www.searls.com/http://www.rageboy.com/index2.html


14/26

14

Hindustan Unilever Vs Procter and Gamble

Unilever may be losing the battle toProctor and Gamble around the world,

but when it comes to India it will take

P&G a valiant effort and a lot of luck to

move ahead in the market dominated

by Hindustan Unilever Limited (a

subsidiary of Unilever). The rivalry

between the two has been going on

worldwide for years and is heated up

in India too.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is Indiaslargest FMCG with an array of household

brands which include Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf

Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's,

Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up,

Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-

Annapurna, Kwality Wall's, etc. These

products are manufactured in over 40

factories with an association of 2,000

suppliers and associates and 6.3 million

retail outlets reaching the entire urban

population and around 250 million rural

customers.

Unilever has a presence in India since

1885 when it used to export Lifebouy, Vim

and Pears to India. It started operations

from the country in 1931 after which it has

continued to expand its portfolio of

products and at present have 35 brands

under its ambit.

Proctor and Gamble, an Americanfirm has had its presence in India since

1951 when it was selling its product Vicksthrough an industrial license to an Indian

firm Richardson Hindustan Limited (RHL).

In 1985, RHL became its Indian subsidiary

and since then have launched products like

Ariel, Whispers, Clearsil, Pantene, Head

and Shoulders, Rejoice, Tide and many

more into the country. Its worldwide

acquisition of Gillette has also helped it

gain significant footage into the country.

Venturing into the Indian Markets

Hindustan Unilever has been in the country

for as long as anyone can remember. Over

the years they have shown a phenomenal

growth. Their products have become an

integral part of the country and used by

everyone in every strata of the society.

They have presence in products ranging

from body care, fabric care, tea, coffee,

processed foods, toothpastes, etc out of

which it commands # 1 market share in 8

categories, and that too by a significant

margin and it holds # 2 market share in 3

of the categories. The strength of HUL lies

in its distribution network covering 6.3

million outlets, an unmatchable portfolio of

brands, innovation and R&D capabilities of

the parent company, the understanding of

the Indian urban and rural psychology and

its huge capital reserves by which it canchallenge any competition.


15/26

15

Procter and Gamble has two divisions in

India, the hygiene and health care division

and the home products division. Its

hygiene and health care division has

products like whisper sanitary napkins,

Pampers diapers and Vicks. They have

been the biggest revenue earners for P&G

ever since the inception of the company in

India. In their home care division they

have fabric wash and the hair care

products which include Pantene, Tide, Ariel,Head and Shoulders which are renowned

world over. These products though have

found their journey a little tough because

of the prevailing market competition from

HUL. P&G benefits from its very strong

international presence and the research

abilities of its team but what the company

needs to work is ,on competing if not

overtaking HUL in its distribution network

and to establish a connect with the Indianconsumers.

Leena Chitnis, Luxs first brand Ambassador (1929)

Hair Care Segment

In the hair-care segment, two of

HULs biggest brands, Sunsilk and Clinic

Plus are pitted against P&Gs Pantene ProV,

Head & Shoulders and Rejoice.

The Rs1,500 crore shampoo marketgrew by just 6.6% during 2006-07, but

HUL and P&G do not seem to have signifi-

cantly benefited from this growth. HULs

share in the shampoo market registered a

marginal increase from 46.9% (in terms of

value) in the March quarter to 47.5% in the

June quarter, while rival P&Gs share

dipped from 25% to 24.8% in the same

period.

HULs best-selling brand Clinic Plus

continued to lead the segment with a

31.3% market share, the share of Rejoice,

a mass-market brand of P&G, slipped from

2.6% to 2.3%. P&Gs Pantene, however,

increased its share by 0.6 percentage

points to 12% in the June quarter over the

previous quarter. Dabur India Ltds Vatika

had a share of 4.9% while the share of

smaller brands such as Nyle and Ayur

stood at 1.6% and 3.2%, respectively.

Pantene and Head & Shoulders have

both targeted the anti-dandruff market

segment. However, they have always

catered to a niche segment of

upper-middle class and upper class users.

On the contrary, HULs Clinic Plus has been

an anti-dandruff shampoo for the masses.

With sachets being available at 50paise

and 1 Rupee, Clinic Plus has grabbed a

huge chunk of users, thereby catapulting tothe top. However, P&Gs shampoo for the

masses, Rejoice didnt work much in their

favour despite innovative advertising.

Some of the top-selling brands of shampoos

31.30%

12%

2%

4.90%

49.50%

Clinic Plus

Pantene

Rejoice

Vatika

Others


16/26

16

Fabric Care

In the fabric wash sector also, this

competition is pretty much strong. HULs

low-priced brand, Wheel, dominates the

laundry segment, but with rising incomes,

consumers are now shifting to mid-levelbrands from rivals such as P&G and Nirma.

HULs market share in the detergents

category also fell by 2.5% to 35% in the

quarter of June07 compared to the year

-ago period. The primary reason for HUL

losing market share is that while the

company has a varied brand portfolio, its

rivals, big and small, have focused on

certain niches and are pushing growth

aggressively in these categories. While thetop-end players such as Procter & Gamble

are getting aggressive in premium

categories, mid-rung players such as Dabur

are muscling in with their value-for-money

strategy.

However, HUL is trying to strengthen

its fabric wash portfolio against arch rival

Procter & Gamble India (P&G).

First, it is migrating its flagship brand

Rin Supreme bar to the premium brand

Surf Excel bar to strengthen its presence in

the Rs 5,000 crore Indian fabric wash

category. Currently, HLLs Rin competes

with P&Gs Tide while Surf Excel directly

competes with P&G's Ariel in the premium

wash category. This move will build on the

brand recall that Surf Excel enjoys at the

pinnacle of the fabric wash category.

Next, HUL will also launch its

international fabric care brands Comfort

and Domestos to take on P&G's Ariel &

Tide. Hence, HUL is trying hard to evade

any competition from its major rival.

Skin Care

The skincare market in India is worth

Rs2,100 crore by sales revenues and HUL

has several brands in the segment

Lakme, Ponds, and Fair and Lovely. Ponds

have specifically remained a top segmentbrand and to compete with it, P&G has

launched its popular range of Olay into

the market. Whether it affects the market

share of HUL is yet to be seen, but it will

definitely add another direction to the

rivalry between HUL and P&G.

Price Wars

If they can do it then why not us?

Both the companies had been slashing

their prices to grab a higher market share

when it comes to the nearly saturated

domestic detergent market. There has

been a price war between the two majorsin the detergent segment for years, which

has now eased off, but will their rivalry end

in the near future?

The price war started in 2004 when

P&G cut the prices of detergents by over

50% to ramp their volumes. While the

price of Ariel had been slashed from Rs 70

to Rs 50 for a 500 gm pack, Tide was

available at Rs 23 for a 500 gm pack, down

from Rs 43 earlier. P&G had changed its

strategy of being value focused -- to

betting big on volumes.

HUL responded by slashing the prices

of their premium brands Surf and Rin.

Before that also, P&G had slashed prices of

sachets of Ariel and Tide from Rs 3 and Rs

2 to Rs 1.5 and Re 1, which boosted the

sales of these detergents by almost

100%.The market penetration in the

detergent market is 88% for the whole of

India which leaves very little scope for


17/26

17

The price wars drastically improved the penetration of detergents in the interiors of the country. The war

carried on for three years severely denting the bottom line of both the majors

expansion, but with more players vying for

this share the war is set to heat up again.The detergent war is over but it

seems the rivalry will never end as it is

now shifted to the shampoos market. There

have been huge incentives like free bottle,

price cuts and massive advertising when it

comes to hair care products. P&G has its

presence in the market with premium

brands like Pantene and Head and

Shoulders. It has also introduced Rejoice

in the Indian market. It has beencompeting with HULs Sunsilk and Clinic

Plus which together hold 48% of the

market share. Head and Shoulders is P&Gs

anti dandruff range of shampoo which is in

direct competition with Clinic Plus and the

market share says it all. Even when it

comes to promoting the product, both are

again slugging out each other. Head and

Shoulders has just re-launched the product

with Kareena Kapoor as the brand

ambassador, so HUL approached Priyanka

Chopra to do the shots for Sunsilk.

Media Wars

Even when it comes to grabbing the piece

of media space, Hindustan Unilever Ltd

(HUL) is the No. 1 advertiser in terms of

advertisement spends. The company spent

a total of Rs 1,137 crore on TV and print

together, though it includes their entire

product portfolio. Procter & Gamble (P&G)has spent this year Rs 235 crore on its TV

and Print ads.

P&G acquisition of Gillette

P&G -Gillette deal which occurred in2005 is resulting in the former getting a

significant boost both to its scale of

operations and range of products in the

Indian market. In India, Procter & Gamble

and Gillette India Ltd continue to operate

as separate companies financially.

However, they have integrated their

businesses with common key personnel

including board of directors, managing

director, chief financial officer, etc. Thismay strengthen P&G's hand in the ongoing

war for market share with Unilever arms in

the Asian markets, particularly with

Hindustan Lever in India.

In India, P&G will continue to be a

midget, in turnover terms, when compared

to Hindustan Lever. The two P&G

subsidiaries in India (P&G Hygiene and P&G

Home Products) today generate a com-

bined turnover of about Rs 1,100 crore,just a tenth of Hindustan Lever's sales.


18/26

18

Gillette Series, Oral B, Duracell or

Pampers, they give a definitive

contribution towards enabling a

child's right to education. How much

of this money they collect actually

reaches the intended user or

whether the companies really care or

they are just populist measures have

been a matter of debate for long, but

as far as they are benefitting and

earning respect from it, they will

continue to fight over these social

initiatives as well.

What does the future hold for the com-

pany and its consumers?

Unilever's Indian Subsidiary HUL, isthe largest FMCG company in this country

and has been around for long. P&G India is

also one of the largest FMCG companies

here and between HUL and P&G, these two

companies covered almost 85% of the

market. However things are starting to get

tougher for these two giants. Many regional

players have sprung up in the last decade

and they have managed to establish

themselves in their own states and have

eaten up a large chunk of HLL's and P&G's

customers. Will the Nirma story repeat

itself by some other small player, is

something we can just wait to see. Cost

cutting measures have been useful for the

consumers but have severely affected the

bottom line of both the FMCG majors, and

with competition in all sectors from other

majors like ITC, Godrej, Dabur and small

local players things look tough for both

these majors unless they use their

strengths and try to capture the new

markets rather than slugging it out for

what is already saturated.

Gillette India's operations are adding

another Rs 600 crore to that number. That

Gillette's portfolio of shaving razors, gels,grooming products and toothbrushes has

no overlap with that of P&G in India

(shampoos, detergents, feminine hygiene,

cold medication) is a positive sign. The

addition of Gillette's businesses will help

P&G expand its portfolio and acquire a

more extensive distribution network, a

must-have in its competition against FMCG

behemoth Hindustan Lever.

Corporate Social Responsibility

When it comes to showing their

responsibility towards the nation, both

have been proactive here as well.

Hindustan Unilever has been running

several social projects such as Project

Shakti which is for the upliftment of women

in rural India, Lifebouys Swasthya

Chetana for education about health and

hygiene, Greening Barrens for water

harvesting and conservation.

Proctor and Gamble, not wanting to

be left behind, came up with their own list

of social initiatives like Project Drishti for

vision restoration, Project Poshan for

fighting malnutrition and the latest being

Shiksha in partnership with Child Rights

and You (CRY), which is for education of

underprivileged children. Every time a

consumer buys a large pack of Tide, Ariel,

Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, Vicks

VapoRub, Whisper, Gillette Mach 3 Turbo,Souvik GuptaAkaash Jain


19/26

19

search for better alternatives

to the bread and butter flashy

ads. Now what we see is a

complete transformation! As

we will discuss, now the

advertisement on website is

not just limited to visuals and

words, but they have taken

shape of promotional videos and

applications. Some of the websites that we

are talking about is YouTube.com and

Facebook.com.

Both these websites are unique in the

sense that the biggest of the IT firms of the

USA have shown interest in them and have

actually bought stakes for astronomically

high prices. Google bought YouTube in

November 2006 for $1.65 billion when it

had no source of profits. It was just a free

video downloader with

hundreds of infringe-

ment cases lying

pending. In the same

way, Facebook was

launched out of Harvard

College as a social

networking site. Now itcommands a price of

more than $15 billion if

anybody is interested

in buying it. And curious

thing is that its just a

website with no income. All it has is a user

base. Microsoft and Li Ka Shing (owner of

Hutchison Whampoa) have already bought

stakes in Facebook hoping it to be a future

cash cow.

IDEAS, NOT PRODUCTS

Coming back to advertising, YouTube

seems to be bringing another revolution in

the space of online ads. As it is a video

based website, so the promotions are also

accepted only in video form. It might sound

like a cumbersome process but its actually

quite a success. The videos are uploaded

by the advertisers and YouTube is paid tokeep them under promoted videos. Another

pattern to note here is that products have

ow many times have we heard that

online advertisement is the next

big thing? Maybe this is not the

case for the western countries but in India,

it is still in a nascent stage. We all have

experienced the irritating ads that appear

while surfing the website. Be it moneycon-

trol.com or yahoo.com, those flashy ads do

nothing but distract. Sometimes I think no

one would click on these ads because they

are so irritating, covering a

major portion of the screen

and hiding the closebutton

in the most unidentifiable

corner. Selling air tickets to

magazines, rat poison to stock

research, these ads are selling

anything and everything underthe sun. But the opportunities

in online advertisements have

been discussed a lot of times.

How they are targeting the

consumer and how successful

they have been, is now a part of many

B-School case studies. So what we are

looking for is the way internet is proving to

be an innovative platform for various kinds

of promotions.

GOOGLE STARTED..REST FOLLOWED

Google was the initiator here. It took

the advertising community by storm by

something called AdWords. Yeah this was

the exact reaction when such an

advertisement technique was launched. It

took promotions to a new level by

eliminating the visual part of the ad and

concentrating on words only. The success

of AdWords forced the other companies to

PRODUCT-BASED TO

THOUGHT-BASED:

TRANSFORMATION

Picture: Mark Zuckerberg,founder of Facebook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg


20/26

20

taken a backseat in such advertisements

and ideas are put forward. Example:

Promotion of music videos

Raising of social issues

Movie trailers Election campaigning

Yes it does sound strange but

YouTube has become one of the most

popular medium of election campaigning.

US elections are round the corner and both

parties, namely the Democrats and the

Republicans, along with independent

candidates are putting up their videos to

create awareness of their propaganda.

Common man is shown supporting issuesbeing raised candidates so that people can

easily relate to them. Such a technique is

new in the online advertising space. Also,

large production houses are using it as a

platform to promote their upcoming

movies. Earlier, trailers were shown only

on TV which is definitely more expensive.

But now, these trailers are uploaded on

the website and are available to vast

audience to capture interest. Rambo 4 is

one such example. The home page

included a 2 minute teaser as a promotion.

Well, all of use YouTube to check out

interesting videos, be it Metallica or Alizee.

This easy availability of videos has led to

widespread unrest in the music industry

which claims copyright infringements. But

now life has come full circle for YouTube.

Banking upon its tremendous popularity

among the youth, pop stars are promoting

their video through it. Latest example is ofJessica Simpson who has uploaded its

latest music video Outta my head.

SELF-MARKETING

Not only this, YouTube seems to

empowering people to raise social issues.

Of course its a different matter that

people have also marketed themselves

through it. People take their videos

showcasing their talent and upload it. Nowwhat we see is emergence of Internet

Celebrities. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and

songwriter named Esme Denters was

signed to a recording contract by Billy

Mann, based on her YouTube

performances. And for Brook Brodack, her

comic videos on YouTube landed her a

contract with NBC to host a late night

show. Now that is not what we get to see

every day. And we have many more

examples of people who have captured

upon the real essence of Self-Marketing.

SOCIAL NETWORKING-CUM-ADVERTISING

Social networking site Facebook.com

has also launched an innovative design to

help companies market their product. It

allows corporate to build their pages and

profiles. They would be provided with userpatterns and habits through Facebook

Insights. It gives access to data on activity,

fan demographics, ad performance and

trends that better equip marketers to

improve custom content on Facebook and

adjust ad targeting. This way they can

target a set of customers by

communicating with them informally over

the website.

This is not just about advertising but itactually encompasses the whole marketing

strategy with it. Now the think-tanks of the

marketing department have been put to

work to fork out ways to capture maximum

page visits and video view. Products will be

sold through conventional platforms but

idea propagation require a break-through

technique and websites like Facebook.com

and YouTube have come just at the right

time to bank upon it.

Praveen Dhawan


21/26

21

Disclaimer :

Since I run the risk of being ostracized or

maybe even witch hunted by someextreme feminists around here once this

article and the ads that go with it are

published, I'd like to dissolve myself from

all blame and put it squarely on the

demanding editor and his deadlines. :)

y quizzing partners favourite

question, one that he keeps

dropping around to people

always is:

What is Unilevers biggest selling

brand worldwide??

The poor souls whore quizzed,

sometimes blurt out lifebuoy meekly,

much to the questioners delight while

there are some others who scratch

around and zero in perfectly

saying.aaahAXE.

Indeed, AXE, or LYNX as it is known in

the UK, Australia, New Zealand andIreland was first launched in France by

Unilever in 1983. Inspired by its

success there, it rolled out into the

rest of Europe from 1985 onwards ,

it was then released and the success

replicated in Latin America, Asia and

of course lastly in the USA. (Whew,

IMM case study anyone ?!)

And well, before you stopreading. Im not embarking on one

of those meandering and pointless

brand analyses with a swot analysis

as an add-on. Ill merely showcas-

ing what its best known for : its

amazing advertising.

S imp ly m ind b l ow ing

unbridled creativity, working its magic.

To frame it in technical lingo great

breaking the clutter advertising. And all

this, around the central concept that this

product makes you a chick-magnet.

Now, come onisnt that every guys

dream?!


22/26

22

Another reason, why these ads alsoseem to have clicked is that they have this

sophistication mixed with irreverence

approach, something that typifies this

present generation of yuppies.

Axe ads perfectly reach out to this hip

urban male, whose mind, lets admit, is

most of the time fixated on the other

gender.

But, in case your are wondering how

youve missed these ads here, wellthey

were never there in the first place, India-

by axe advertising standards is ultra

orthodox territory.

A lot of Axe work abroad seems to

work on a scarcely disguised premise and

most of their campaigns are, as Wikipedia

puts it..sexually charged.

The Indian ventures on the other

hand have been comparatively milder and

axe has often chosen certain religious

festivals to launch a few of their ads tailor-

ing themselves to the local situationlike

the one released on janmashtami

Of course, they cant get too

confident. In this land of valentines daybaiters and crooked cultural police who

take their self taken job of moral policing

rather seriously, these campaigns can be

an easy prey .

But of course, all said and done, as

youthcurry, a famous India blog puts it.

if one had to be a brand manager at a

behemoth FMCG somewhere, Id rather be

at Axe than be anywhere else...this beats

selling soap hands down :)

Manoj Bharathi

The Indian Versions of the Axe advertisements

could not match the boldness followed

everywhere else, but this did not deter them from

bringing in their true concept


23/26

23

Iaint Nostradamus to predict the

future, or Kotler to redefine the

ways of Marketing. I had heard a

consultant saying that Marketing is about

thinking, its about passionately knowing

your milieu and providing the consumers

what they want; not selling what the com-

panies produce. This article is the offspring

of this thought and is not a report by any

consulting agency. As my friend puts it: Anidea clicks; its never thought of!

Marketing is a societal process that is

needed to discern consumers' wants;

focusing on a product/service to those

wants, and to mold the consumers toward

the products/services. Marketing, as they

say is fundamental to any businesses

growth. The marketing teams (Marketers)

have the task to create the consumer

awareness of the products/services throughmarketing techniques; unless it pays due

attention to its products/services and

consumers' demographics and desires, a

business will not usually prosper long-term.

IMAGINING INDIA

Marketing is seen as a creative

industry, which includes advertising,

distribution and selling. It is also concerned

with anticipating the customers' future

needs and wants, often through market

research. Now when I thought of future, I

was taken aback by the ideas that punc-

tured my grey cells. I am wondering

whether the marketing trends will change

drastically and the new business models on

which we rely be topsy-turvy. May be after

a decade or two, the whole new scenario

would be different. Our country by then

would have embraced globalization on its

cultural and societal front too. There wouldbe lots of Americans and Europeans staying

in our societies and the right mix of

MARKETING IN THE FUTURE -

A PERSPECTIVE

occidental and oriental brand would be

found. Branding of Indian products would

be at par with the western brands. The

Tatas would be reluctant to consider a

buy-out offer from Orient-Express chain of

hotels as that would dilute the aesthetic

sense of Indians. And, the French

breweries would be craving to be in the

good books of Siddharth Mallya. Maybe,

Barclays would have bought all the teenyweeny private banks of India and must be

facing difficulties in managing the wealth of

the affluent Indians. An American child

would demand a pair of Kurtas and would

love to gift an Indian bracelet to his

girlfriend apart from aspiring to work

with Infosys. Advertising would have leap

frogged various stages. Psycho-wave

advertising would be rampant in the years

to come. If the BRIC report fructifies, this

would be no fiction.

So how will a marketer market his

products in this new age? All the

theoretical concepts imbibed from the

gurus of the last millennium will become

obsolete.


24/26

24

The usual concepts will not reap

profits and the usual consumers will

become unusual. The new consumer has

evolved who is much more complex,

sophisticated, and intelligent and is aware

of his surroundings. He is the new

consumer of India!

India is gripped by euphoria. Since

2003, growth has consistently averaged

above 8% and the country has been

growing faster than ever in the past few

years. There are more cars on the road and

planes in the sky. The electronic gadgets

have roped the customer from all directions

and the country is in the process of

Globalization.

The consumers are also keeping pace

with the growth rate of the country. The

urban class has revised its taste and is

enjoying the luxury that the poor cannot

afford, the middle class has bulged and its

aspirations have sky-rocketed and the rural

population has shifted, no more standing

as victims of the big bulls.The families are

changing, from joint families to nuclear

families. The new wife is no more a

house-wife but is a working lady. The child

is no more innocent about his dreams and

has more wants than never before. The

media is more active than it used to be in

the yester years. People have less time in

possession. More people are having the

taste of overseas and are venturing into

the virgin lands. Domestic airways have

changed the face of India altogether;

thanks to Gopinath that even an average

Indian can fly today. Information

technology has boomed and we find ample

of engineers to start up our own Silicon

Valley. The new education system has

strengthened our countrys Intellectual

capital. Inspite of the ethnic diversity

prevailing in our country, people stay in

harmony and celebrate all the functionsreligiously. A new religion has evolved and

is characterized by its beliefs, wants,

tastes, style and thoughts. Its the novel

religion of Class. Money has started to

show its new colour and the marketers

want to dive into these colour-bags.

The marketers are finding new

segments and new customers. There are

mainstream markets for the general public,

niche markets for a selected group ofconsumers, high-end market for the

affluent few and the rural markets for the

hinterland. The marketing tactics adopted

by the marketers have changed manifolds.

Different strategies and dissimilar paths

have been adopted to address the new

segments Internet revolution has taken

place. A major population has internet

access these days and the broadband

penetration in our country has risen.

E-marketing has taken the centre place

and e-commerce is the cynosure of all

eyes. The importance of brand has been

felt and the advertising industry is heated

up. Global values with local interest is the

theme of the marketers who are capturing

the market share by focusing on one-to-

one marketing tactics. Customers are now

treated as kings. Profit maximization and

cost minimization is only possible if

problems of the consumers are addressedefficiently and effectively in the market

where competition has exponentially risen.


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25

Word of mouth and social contagion have

started making bigger hits. Marketing, of

course, has always relied heavily on

instinct and intuition. It is also about

setting trends. Like the hush puppies in

The Tipping Point, a trend can be started

in a wink of an eye. Then effective

branding of products and services can woo

the new Indian consumer as they have

always been brand-conscious. Giving the

new consumer the best of the products

and services at the best of the prices is a

marketers dream. In the years to come;

advertising will reach the pinnacle point

and brands will have a global-stand. The

bottom of the pyramid concept of

Prahalad will be realized by the successfulcompanies and innovative marketing

concepts will peep in. The only way to

survive in this market is to innovate and

reciprocate effectively. India is in a

transformation phase; so are its people. So

the marketer has to handle the crisis

delicately and innovate new ways of

marketing.

Marketing has changed; organizations

are being called on to be increasinglycustomer centric and innovative to deliver

the growth that has eluded them in recent

times. I just want you to think, with your

minds and senses open. Ideas are floating

in the Air, unveil your spectacles of

ignorance and arrogance and see how the

Indian customer gets entangled by the

wonders of Marketing. For change is

inevitable!

Saswat Kumar Sahu

Title: Like the Flowing River

Author: Paulo Coelho

Like all his books, it is a great page turner.

Nice compilation of short stories and

articles that got published in various

magazines and papers. Short stories do

justify the name, but they convey a huge

meaning. Beautiful will be the first word

that will come in your mind once you read

the book. Philosophy, love and apathy in

daily life are the focus of stories. The

second part of the book becomes repetitive

as the author tries to stress on the same

points with different stories.

I found the story on Manuel most

interesting as each and every of us will

find the Manuel inside us. Autobiographical

approach and nobody wants to miss the

autobiography of the legendary author of

THE ALCHEMIST. The book ends with the

quote LIFE IS A JOURNEY. A must read for

all who ponder on the meaning of life and

have time for introspection. Guys go get

it! The stories are shorter than this review.

Reviewed By: Abhinandan Kumar

Book Mark


26/26

CREATIVITY AT ITS BEST

Documents

Master P's - February