MARKEZINE ISSUE XIV • OCTOBER’12

WORD OF MOUTH

From The Editors’ Desk Club MarkUp believes that the lessons learnt from history are in-valuable. They provide a backdrop for future learning. Capturing this essence, a traditional approach to word of mouth marketing and its evolution in the current aspect would be an interesting di-mension to explore. Today when an endorsement of a brand can be harvested in a way unlike any other with a simple ‘like’ option, it becomes quite interesting to observe the power of the almighty Word of Mouth. It is this sentiment of influence and virality that finds a clear reso-nance in falling dominoes. A gentle push growing in impact and effect, truly represents in essence the concept of Word of Mouth. We expected a plethora of perspectives would be shared; the vari-ety was indeed exciting. For this, we at Club MarkUp are grateful. We urge fresh participants to contribute in making Markezine a truly vibrant, diverse magazine. Moreover, October 2012 marks the onset of Marketing World Cup ‘12. The epic battle begins yet again, to test your skill and acumen. Get your battle axes out Marketers it’s time to prove your mettle. Glory is yours to attain; will this be just another missed opportu-nity or are you ready to take what is rightfully yours! We would also take this opportunity to reach out to our readers

for feedback to further this endeavour.

Thanks and regards, Ankit Gupta

Credits

Co-editor: Raunak Sancheti, Divyanshu Sethi

Design Team: Raunak Narang, Dhruv Chopra

Content: Aadish Kohli, Ramya Vasudevan, Shubham Gupta

Write to us at markup.imt@gmail.com

Follow us on :

MARKEZINE October 2012

Ankit Gupta

2nd year,

PGDM (Marketing)

IMT, Ghaziabad

Contents

From the Editors’ Desk ....................................................................................... 1

Word of Mouth 2.0 ............................................................................................. 3

Word of Mouth: Boon or Bane ............................................................................ 4

Influencer Marketing .......................................................................................... 6

Word of Mouth publicity for Movies ................................................................... 8

Word of Mouth and its Future........................................................................... 10

The ‘Word of Mouth’ effect ............................................................................... 12

Mark-e-feed: Risque Marketing ........................................................................ 14

Mark-e-feed: Loyalty Program– All glitter and no gold? .................................... 16

Mark-e-feed: Sensory Marketing ....................................................................... 18

Mark-e-feed: Catching the eye of the public ...................................................... 20

Mark-e-feed: VESPA– A new beginning ............................................................. 22

Mark-toon ........................................................................................................ 23

Ad-O-Holic 7.0 .................................................................................................. 24

WOW- Words On Wall....................................................................................... 25

MARKEZINE October 2012

5 3

Word of Mouth 2.0:

On October 21st, Mr. Anand Rai from Delhi

posted a photo on Facebook, about an old man

seeking dignified labour to support his family. Till

this photograph came along, all his posts had re-

ceived on an average 5 likes and no shares. In just

3 days it spread like wildfire and was shared over

40,000 times from his account and elsewhere.

This was Word of Mouth 2.0, the new communi-

cation marketers are focusing on.

WOM 2.0 is all about taking social networking to

a level where the traditional WOM turns viral and

your content gets shared faster than you envi-

sioned it. The recent Gangnam Style is another

example of WOM 2.0; everyone agrees the video

is quirky and fun but no one can pinpoint exactly

what they love about the video. It’s a fire which

caught on, right from the West Indies team to the

interest of Trollers on Facebook; everything was

done the Gangnam style!

Today’s generation thrives on unique content;

they want to be inspired, awed, ecstatic or even

disgusted through it. Facebook has understood

this need and created its product around this

need of its users to be heard and to be seen. Mar-

keters are already working on their Social media

strategies but WOM 2.0 is not just about effective

Social media networking. It works effectively

when your audience trusts the source the infor-

mation is coming from, when the information

seems like a personal account rather than a paid

advertisement. As Dr. Kotler says, “Word of

mouth will either make you or break you”.

Marketers have always engaged in WOM mar-

keting through –

Identifying influential individuals and get-

ting them to endorse the product

Offering free services or product trials to

build a buzz about product attributes

Developing regular PR channels to spread

information about products

In WOM 2.0, marketers have access to customers

24x7. This has changed the way WOM works; it’s

no longer just about the right people, it’s about

the right message. If your information is compel-

ling enough it will go viral on its own without the

need for an intensive marketing budget to boost

the buzz!

Marketers could work on the below parameters

to build a buzz about their brand.

Content – ‘Content is the king’ - if it doesn’t ex-

cite you, it doesn’t work for you. It is about the

associations your audience makes between your

brand and your content. Innocent Drinks is a bev-

erage company providing healthy beverage op-

tions, with a fan following running into 2 lakhs on

Facebook. Their posts are highly popular even

though they are rarely about their drinks.The

posts are fun, relate to current news and happen-

ings. The customers associate the brand today

with the same values.

Channel and Measurement– Since WOM 2.0 has

moved on to the Social Media, marketers have a

gamut of options available to them. Facebook,

Twitter, Pinterest are great channels for viral mar-

keting and excellent for measuring their effective-

ness. If it isn’t working, you move on to more

crowded pastures!

Involvement – Once you take your product/brand

out there and the word gets out, ensure you stick

around to control it lest it gets out of your hand.

Word of Mouth has evolved from a few spokes-

persons to viral marketing; it’s not going away

anytime soon and marketers should make the

most of it!

Shilpa Kulkarni

MBA, TAPMI, Manipal

Has work experience

in the travel industry

and is interested in

branding

Word of Mouth– Boon or Bane

Marketing and Public Relations are two proc-

esses which go hand in hand. PR strategies in-

clude a variety of methods to strengthen a busi-

ness' good will, credibility and its brand image.

The art of influencing public opinion, including

seminars, promotional activities, special activities,

product launches, advertisements, sponsorships

and media releases is a process which requires

astute thinking and strategizing. The underlying

objective behind all the PR activities is to publi-

cize businesses and their products, services and

its purposes. Word of mouth is one of the most

inexpensive and effective methods for promoting

business.

Advantages of Word-of-Mouth Publicity

The first and foremost tool used by Public Rela-

tions professionals is publicity. Until the last dec-

ade, however, the scope of word of mouth

(WOM) publicity was largely unexplored and ob-

fuscated by PR professionals.

WOM happens to be one of the most inexpensive

and effective techniques to promote any busi-

ness. A common man will tend to have more trust

on WOM publicity than the publicity by common

means of advertising. WOM marketing is more

than the mere creation of verbal propaganda; it

also makes public

relations and marketing easier. WOM publicity

incites people to share details, experiences, and

information about their personal lives, which a

shrewd public relations professional can exploit in

order to reach target audiences more effectively.

Pros and Cons of WOM

WOM attracts public attention and involvement,

be it through blogs, instant messaging, or media

coverage. WOM publicity, however, can have

both positive and negative effects. While good

WOM represents the opinions of satisfied cus-

tomers, WOM can also be used as a weapon by

dissatisfied customers (or competitors) eager to

destroy a brand’s image. WOM can work in both

ways for a company depending upon the satisfac-

tion level of customers. So, the company cannot

negotiate on quality and has to make sure that it

has satisfied customers so as to ensure positive

word of mouth publicity.

It is therefore prudent to monitor WOM closely to

prevent injury to a company’s brand name. PR

professionals use publicity to shape internal and

external opinions of organizations. They also work

to garner support from important members of

the public whose WOM has the potential to cre-

ate more hype than an advertisement.

MARKEZINE October 2012

6 4

Aditya Sharma

PGDIM

NITIE, Mumbai

This is the reason why some businesses like res-

taurant business endorse their business by rop-

ing in important people who have a wide accep-

tance in the public.

Potential of WOM

In order to ensure that WOM publicity efforts

properly achieve the intended results and reach

their targets, WOM should be tactically aligned

with business goals. WOM and publicity are mu-

tually beneficial. While WOM increases public

awareness of a company, media publicity speeds

up the spread and flow of WOM. WOM is propa-

gated at a much higher rate in public if PR works

in collation with them. People value integrity and

trustworthiness. The right WOM can help a com-

pany:

1. Exponentially improve trustworthiness

2. Garner trust

3. Enhance sales figures of the company

4. Develop attitude towards the product in the

customer’s mindset

5. Refine customer service

WOM vs. Advertisements

WOM publicity has the potential to influence

public opinion and buying patterns. It can con-

vince consumers to make decisions about a par-

ticular product or service which may or may not

fall in their circle of buying capacity. Media cov-

erage provides publicity through third-party en-

dorsements. If these endorsements are com-

bined with the hype created through WOM, the

product or service will likely score high in the

credibility ratings.

Surveys have again and again discovered that

most people make purchases based on the opin-

ions of others. Take, for example, products like

the Apple iPad or the services offered by Bank of

America. In the publicity campaigns for these

products and services, ads have taken a backseat

to the work of WOM strategies.

Tips for Creating WOM

The advertising and PR professionals can kick-

start their own WOM rather than waiting for the

public to do it for them. All they need is a power-

ful strategy for building widespread enthusiasm.

A WOM publicity campaign has to be a well

thought of plan and has to be implemented at

multiple levels in the market. It cannot be made

as a single source campaign but a multiple

source multiple effect campaign. An effective

WOM campaign begins with the following:

Focus Groups and experts willing to

give their insights about the product

Testimonials and endorsements from

satisfied customers

Creative Thinking and implementa-

tion

A small team of people acting as gen-

erators of the WOM publicity

Compelling and provocative story tell-

ing strategies.

A plan for enhancing relationships

with existing customers

MARKEZINE October 2012

7 5

Influencer Marketing

MARKEZINE October 2012

As a potential customer makes purchase decision,

he is influenced by different circles of people

through conversations with them, asking for advice

and imitating their habits. Such personalities are

called influencers. Consumer’s involvement with a

product determines the way the process in which

he searches information from external sources.

For an enduring involvement product, the con-

sumer will do an on-going search, for a situational

involvement product, the consumer will perform a

purchase-specific search, while for a low involve-

ment product he will acquire information pas-

sively. There are various reasons for which a con-

sumer goes for information search. Besides the

case involving high involvement products, consum-

ers search for information if

1. The perceived risks related to the purchase are high

2. It is a high priced product

3. Information search is cost effective

4. Less time pressure

5. The consumer is clear about the features s/he is looking for in a product

6. The brands have a lot of differentiation be-tween them

7. There are mainly 3 types of reference group influences on consumers.

Informational influence exerted by ones having

Expert power like an SME, a knowledgeable

friend or an expert celebrity

Comparative influence exerted by referent

power holders like a typical customer or a

symbolic aspirational celebrity

Normative influence that depicts the rewards

or punishments associated with the usage of

a product/service

Earlier, in the awareness phase, consumers were

influenced by celebrity endorsers, typical cus-

tomers or SMEs (like doctors), through television

advertisements, newspapers ads and other con-

ventional sources of advertising. In the action

phase, consumers were influenced by family and

friends. But with the advent of social media the

concept has changed a bit.

Social influencers who exert their influence in

the awareness and consideration phases are the

typical consumers who write about their experi-

ences in social platforms. They operate through

their different forums, twitter accounts, blogs

and Facebook. Consumers can relate to them

and they influence not only the purchasing deci-

sion but also the brand affinity of the consumer.

8 6

Subhankar Kar Chowdhury

PGDM Marketing

and Systems,

IIM Lucknow.

5 years of work

exper ience at

Wipro. Interned at

Headstrong in con-

sulting

Key influencers, who are experts in any desig-

nated field, exert influence through their blogs,

Twitter or expert comments on different con-

sumer feedback sites. They influence not only the

purchasing deci-

sion but also the

brand affinity of

the consumer.

Peer influencers

who are typically

family members

or friends influ-

ence both the

con s id erat ion

for a brand and

the purchasing

decision of the

consumer. As

consumers are

spending a lot of

time on social media and since it is the only plat-

form where a conversation can take place, social

media and influencer marketing have become

integral part of each other.

Nowadays with many information sources and

advent of technology, it is getting difficult for

brands to push messages easily. In such an envi-

ronment, actions by a brand speak louder than

advertising. It is ‘do vs. push’ strategy where in

rather than conveying product benefits repeat-

edly, brands encourage ‘doers’ to act in a manner

which would influence peers. ‘Doers’ are the

knowledgeable and influential personalities in a

particular field. For example, for an individual

wanting to buy a motorcycle or engine oil, a

member of a biking community would be a ‘doer’

and a bike manufacturer or an engine oil com-

pany would try to promote such a personality to

go on biking trips or adventurous ride. This would

propagate a message that the particular brand

encourages bikers, and with the help of influen-

cers this helps in

creating an emo-

tional connect

with its target

group. So, with

the advent of

social media

marketing, influ-

encer marketing

is becoming an

important tool,

which today’s

marketers can-

not neglect.

References:

1) Henry Assel, Consumer Behavior and Mar-keting, Cengage Learning

2) Prahalad, C.K.; Ramaswamy, Venkat (2004) The Future of Competition. Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1-57851-953-5.

3) http://www.whatsnextblog.com/2008/10/fis-kateers_how_a_social_community_became_a_veritable_sales_force/

4) http://www.customerthink.com/blog/my_personal_definition_of_business_with_customer_value_co_creation

5) http://www.tremor.com/

6) http://www.socialbakers.com/

MARKEZINE October 2012

9 7

Word of Mouth publicity for Movies

I am a big movie buff! But with so many disas-

trous experiences in the past I decided not to watch all the movies and go for only the selected ones. The selected ones were which my close friends and family members recommended, took reviews from blogs etc. This review taking ap-proach made me realise, I am actually watching movies only after I like the review unlike before. Pick up any film from the Paan Singh Tomar to English Vinglish, the verdict is out – ‘A good film has found its way amongst the audi-ence, even if a little late’. Its business may have ranged from coverage to super hit but the makers don’t have any reason to complain. This also means that if a film has been left ignored and given a cold shoulder by the audience, it has been done deservedly so. A film was all there to be grabbed, if the audience didn’t catch it then that was for a reason. The indications were pretty much there, though on a much lesser scale, when Riteish Deshmukh-Genelia D’Souza starrer Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya hung on reasonably well to find an average status for it at the very start of the year. It has to be noted that as a solo lead, Riteish had scored for years and after a tepid beginning, his musical romcom managed to find an audience in the long run. Ditto for Paan Singh Tomar which is the clas-sic case of even those not being ultra-confident

who had invested in it. Irrfan Khan and Tig-manshu Dhulia took it upon them to keep the flag flying high which means there was yet another success added to Bollywood report card. The epitome of word of mouth resulting in an ex-ceptional affair was Kahaani which was a hero-less, song-less film with pregnant leading lady and a director, with two flops behind him. The Vidya Balan starrer didn’t take a start but audience were left mighty impressed. The film turned out to be a super hit while enjoying the best word of mouth of the year so far. Close on its heels was Vicky Donor which didn’t do that much promotion. Well, just imagine trying to sell a film about sperm donation, featuring a new-comer and directed by a filmmaker who wasn’t following Bollywood diktat!

MARKEZINE October 2012

10 8

Aditi Nayak

MBA,

Wellinkar Institute of

Management

Interested in

Marketing

Similarly who would have ever thought that a film starring Paresh Rawal as the central lead would comfortably march towards the 50 crore mark and that too with a director (Umesh Shukla) with whom the earlier pairing (Maharathi) was a re-sounding flop? Well, Akshay Kumar thought so and though he must not have been too pleased by the film’s opening day collections, thumbs up by audience soon after, was good enough to make the team smile again. Today, I am sure that Gauri Shinde, Sridevi and Balki are going through similar emotions, with their English Vinglish, finding good patronage from the target audience which wasn’t as forth-coming on the opening day and was perhaps waiting for their peers to announce the verdict. Well, now that the verdict is out and the film is finding huge growth in word of mouth, it has only added on the beautiful trend that has started de-veloping this year. In the times when bets are being placed on block-busters material films crossing 100 crores in 4, 5 or 6 days, it is always heartening when deserving films (made at 25% of the budget that biggies

carry) make half of that in 4, 5 or 6 weeks. It only means that even in the times of multiplexes and quick bucks, if a film is good enough, audience won’t let it disappear in a jiffy.

In a way this word of mouth publicity is back in

trend as it was in the 1912s, when the first Indian

movie was released. At that time there were no

advertisements, no promotions. But only the

word of mouth publicity!

References:

http://

arti-

cles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-

10-17/box-office/34524447_1_english-

vinglish-gauri-shinde-sridevi

http://www.marketing-made-

simple.com/articles/word-of-mouth-

advertising.htm#.UH1tTlGQROI

11

MARKEZINE October 2012

11 9

Word of Mouth and its Future

Word of mouth involves direct interaction with

speech as the medium of communication and

trust as the basis of marketing. Those who have

used the product, experienced the service, wit-

nessed the event, visited the place, met the per-

son etc…share their experiences. It takes a con-

siderable amount of time and capital investment

to develop a “brand image” and takes even longer

to sustain that image.

Word of mouth on the other hand puts the credi-

bility of the endorser at stake. It takes time for

the good word to spread from one mouth to an-

other. Various laws have been formulated to elicit

the impact of word of mouth:

Sarnoff’s law: (Radio Listeners) A network

with 100 people is 10 times as valuable in

terms of reach as a network with only 10.

Metcalfe’s Law: (Ethernet) The network

value grows as the square of the number

of users. 100 users communicating

amongst themselves.

Reed’s Law: (The Law of the pack) A net-

work of 100 people can talk not only with

each other (as stated under Metcalfe)

but also within groups of 2^90.

As per the above laws it’s obvious that the future

of word of mouth lies in social media. Today our

accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Linked-

Inn, Blogosphere etc… have become the face of

the consumer. Word of mouth is a response to

some kind of stimulus. The stimulus could be

some kind of experience, special service, privi-

lege, discount, rebate etc. received by the cus-

tomer. An innovative approach could be an online

website where only the official brands will regis-

ter themselves; for example Indigo, Spicejet, King-

fisher, Jet etc… Now, in the airlines segment a

user can register only under one of these airline

brands. The users can then show their loyalty by

making comments about their brand or about the

competitor’s brand. Every company can provide

their followers with the necessary arsenal needed

for the battle. The basis of this suggestion is the

football banter prominent among the youth all

over. Brands can also organize various events and

invite this army of loyal customers to participate

in it. This will give the customer a sense of be-

longing and will guarantee the word-of-mouth

promotion. Trust and credibility are the most im-

portant tools which are the essence of word-of-

mouth promotion.

MARKEZINE October 2012

12 10

Himanshu Varandani

MBA,

Great Lakes Institute of

Management, Chennai

Trust can be generated by encouraging customers

to express their views about the brand on various

social platforms. These views need not always

speak highly about the product.

Credibility about a brand can be generated when

great stalwarts express their views about a brand

eg: ShashiTharoortweeting his experience of trav-

elling in JetAirways gives credibility to the product

among his followers.

As long as peo-

ple continue to

ask the “Have

y o u … . ? ” t y p e

q u e s t i o n s

among their

peers and rela-

tives the word-

of-mouth cam-

paign is suc-

cessful. For in-

stance:

Have you tried

this? Have you seen this? Have been there? Have

you done this? And so on…

Curiosity: Curiosity is a key element of keeping

people engaged with the brand. People keep ask-

ing what’s next and this becomes the topic of

their conversation.

Surprise: The most important element is giving a

memorable experience to a customer. The “taken

aback” customer is the focal point of word-of-

mouth promotion campaign. A free gift, a dis-

count, a rebate, an online mention on the official

page etc. does the trick.

Special treatment: Companies can provide spe-

cial treatment to highly active and influential cus-

tomers to encourage them to go viral all over the

internet. An airline company can offer free cook-

ies to customers who have been tweeting on a

regular basis about the company. They can even

offer these customers a special chance of visiting

the cockpit and taking pictures with the pilot.

Thereby making the customers feel obliged to

promote the brand.

Innovative and

I n t e l l i g e n t

c a m p a i g n s :

Customers ad-

mire the

brands which

create smart

and different

campaigns that

“make them

think”. Funny

and humorous

campaigns cre-

ate a buzz

among the customers.

Provide forums, scripts, secrets, information,

giveaways or something of value to the custom-

ers to enable them to blog about the brand and

talk about it.

References:

Social Media Marketing by Dave Evans

MARKEZINE October 2012

13 13 11

The ‘Word of Mouth’ effect

Imagine a situation wherein there was no TV, no

radio, no press, no advertising on the back of taxis

or bus-stops, no email spam (!!!), no e-

newsletters, blogs, social networking sites, no

banner advertisements and no telemarketing,

how would people share views and form opinion.

Well the answer is, "By talking to each other"…

Yes through Word of Mouth!!!

Word of mouth is essentially about customers

sharing their own experiences or reporting the

experiences of others. There are hundreds of

ways to get people talking, but you need one to

change your business forever. Something silly,

Something special that is worth talking about.

Why does word of mouth marketing work?

What would hold more importance while choos-

ing a fine-dine restaurant, a doctor, a gymnasium

or a new mobile phone—an online review or the

suggestion by a close friend. Even with the in-

crease in the number of review applications and

sites, research results have confirmed that Word

of Mouth recommendations for products or ser-

vices made by friends, co-workers, or neighbours

that an individual knows or trusts is still the most

effective way to win new customers.

One has to admit, that WOMM works, it gener-

ates curiosity and makes one want to know more

about the product. If the companies can get the

individuals who are not associated directly with

the company, to generate buzz by praising the

virtues of their product or service publicly, the

results could be highly prof itable.

Word of Mouth is useful not only for those cus-

tomers who are seeking reviews about a particu-

lar product/service but can also drum up new in-

terest. An endorsement by the right person,

someone with known credibility in a particular

industry or in the public eye could trigger off a

tidal wave of profit.

Some Examples of Word Of Mouth Marketing

Particularly in India, people rarely find their way

around a city using maps or written directions.

The usual practice is to leave home with a vague

idea of destination (street numbers, Locality, ap-

proximate distance etc). Along the way, Indians

would ask strangers – mainly auto rickshaw driv-

ers, who know the city well, about their destina-

tion

Perfetti Van Melle to maintain the word-of-

mouth for its Big Babol amongst Indian children,

had to keep on introducing something new and

exciting for children every few months like

Picture Stories, Comic book, Magic candles etc

MARKEZINE October 2012

14 12

Nidhish Gupta

PGDM,

IMT Ghaziabad

Sony TV in order to promote itsnew serial, `Jassi,’

planned `flash mobs’, wherein groups of 15-30

people went into high-traffic areas such as Big

Bazaar and Apna Bazaar and called out for `Jassi’.

They also promoted it through groups of women

on the train who struck up seemingly impromptu

c o n v e r s a t i o n s a b o u t ` J a s s i ’ .

The serial and particularly the character “Jassi”

aroused a lot of curiosity amongst people even

before the 1st episode was aired and this led to a

definite increase in the viewership.

Star Network established itself in India through

the serials ‘Kahani ghar ghar ki’ and ‘Kyunki Saas

bhi Kabhi bahu thi’. These serials generated a

huge word-of-mouth because they led Indian

women to identify themselves with the charac-

ters in the serials. These serials became regular

talking points in the Indian households, women

gatherings etc. to the extent of mad craze and

helped Star Network to climb to the number one

position from being a distant third.

Other commonly adopted techniques for Influ-

encing Word of Mouth a rediscussion of the prod-

uct on internet blogs, through product placement

in movies or at social and sporting events, discus-

sion of the product on LinkedIn, Facebook and

internet chat rooms etc.

While a positive word of Mouth can help a com-

pany significantly in terms of promotion, sales

etc. similarly, a negative word of mouth can do

much more damage than can ever be imagined.

With customer’s increasing indifference to tradi-

tional advertising, Marketers can no more afford

to convey the information about their product to

the customers as was done earlier.

15

MARKEZINE October 2012

15 13

Mark-e-feed:

Risqué Marketing: A risky proposition in India

Almost all the advertising in the world involves

creating the drama or an over the board story

around the product which reflects the exagger-

ated benefits associated with the usage of that

product. There is nothing wrong in creating theat-

rical effects if that confines within the limits of

humour, levity and creativity but a creative work

lands in troubled waters when it decides to play

with and disturb the strongly held beliefs, norms

and standards.

India is a country where many countries and

many centuries co-exist at any given point of

time.A collage of over hundred sensibilities India

was never a single nation but a continent in its

own right. It is impossible to communicate, leave

alone attract, the entire population of the country

with one single message. Indian subcontinent has

always been a land mine territory as far as experi-

mentation with the morality is concerned and a

brand has to tread very carefully in order to con-

nect with the consumer. Indians believe in power

of tacit words and hence explicit content may not

register any place in the Indian mind.

There are a few ads which are outright obscene

and deplorable according to Indian standards.

The most infamous ads in this arena come from a

men’s deodorant brand called Axe which keeps

on reinforcing the idea that the usage of its prod-

uct invariably helps alluring the females towards

the user and the ads have evolved over the years

around this basic message only. Along with the

objection to the sexually explicit visuals of the

ads, the most important aspect which drew atten-

tion or rather protest was the unabashed execu-

tion which successfully brings the males to be-

lieve that such an effect can be replicated in real

life to a certain extent. This very fact even

brought the brand to litigation when the brand

promise was not even remotely delivered. And

for that matter, it becomes imperative for the ad

agencies to carefully design the concept keeping

in mind the criterions set by Advertising Stan-

dards Council of India (ASCI) which is a self-

regulatory voluntary organization of the advertis-

ing industry in India. The council’s objective is to

maintain and enhance the public's confidence in

advertising. Their mandate is that all advertising

material must be truthful, legal and honest, de-

cent and not objectify women, safe for consum-

ers - especially children and last but not the least,

fair to their competitors.

Meenakshi Arya

PGDM, IMT Ghaziabad

A food technologist

from CFTRI with work

experience at a micro-

ingredients company

called International

Specialty Products,

Mumbai.

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MARKEZINE October 2012

Most Ad agencies believe that an original idea

cannot be straight jacketed into the boundaries of

morality and principles of any particular society. It

should be free flowing as well as used for the pro-

gression of the human race which otherwise will

get stuck with age old norms and standards. Like

how ad world has moved on from showing

women doing household chores in earlier part of

twentieth century to both the sexes enjoying all

the aspects of life there is a need to accept that

nothing is standard and standards are bound to

get changed once someone somewhere thinks

beyond them. Also, there is that fine line between

being hilarious and obscene and when it is

crossed depends not upon what is being shown

but what is being perceived and understood.

At the end of day, the purpose of advertising is to

induce an intention to purchase but does this

kind of advertising ensure that? Well, for low in-

volvement product it does because the focus is

not on the product features but on the brand im-

age. For example, mountain dew ads are always

associated with over the top audacity and creates

unique image for its users. The scene is com-

pletely different for high value products which

require quite a good amount of research. Risqué

marketing may not work for them beyond brand

recall because of prominent role of attributes and

linked benefits in buying process. All said and

done, the last word should ultimately come from

the consumer who has to go through all kinds of

communication being hurled at them and then

screen it carefully to absorb the right kind and

leave the rest as frivolous visuals.

MARKEZINE October 2012

15

Mark-e-feed:

Loyalty Programs – All glitter and no gold??

“Customers are issuing a very clear warning to

marketers. Give me relevant communications

that reflect my history and connections to you, or

we will go elsewhere with our business”.

These are the bold words of Sandra Zoratti, VP of

Global Solutions Marketing, InfoPrint Solutions

Co., a joint venture of Ricoh & IBM. A recent sur-

vey shows that most marketers are doubtful

about the effectiveness of customer-loyalty pro-

grams, while they believe that they are still as im-

portant as any other ace marketing instrument up

their sleeve. Or are they?

In a competitive market, rarely would one find an

organization that says it’s completely satisfied

with its current customer base and profitability,

especially when the competitor is lurking just be-

hind you, waiting for you to make a mistake and

pounce on to your “loyal customer base”. Cus-

tomer loyalty programs have thus become one of

the biggest market acquisition and CRM assets in

business, cutting across major sectors like Airline,

Retail, Hospitality and Gaming.

The consumer enthusiasm to embrace these loy-

alty programs has grown steadily over the recent

years. According to a survey by USA Visa research

services, almost half of general purpose credit

cards offer a reward program. This pervasiveness

of loyalty programs has caused marketers to be-

lieve that such programs may be a necessary cost

of doing business in certain industries. However,

with a large number of loyalty programs doled

out so frequently by competing companies, are

firms merely giving away their profits in a desper-

ate struggle for market growth, like the airline

price war in the early 1990s?

A Loyalty program is a program run by the mar-

keter that allows consumers to accumulate free

rewards as incentives for making repeat pur-

chases with a firm. Such a program is not benefi-

cial to the consumer for a single purchase. Re-

search shows that these programs do significantly

impact the repeat purchase behaviour. A reward

program, added to excellent service with easy

and quick earned rewards, takes the consumers’

minds off the price. Hence, consumers do not

hesitate in purchase even at the cost of spending

more. The more the customer gets engaged in

the loyalty program, the higher his switching

costs tend to become, further boosting repeat

purchase from the same brand.

Research by ‘Bain & Company’ claims that loyal

customers are more profitable for an organiza-

tion. Apart from price sensitivity, profitability is

believed to be generated by reduced servicing

costs, increased spending, and the favorable rec-

ommendations are passed on to other potential

customers by these loyal buyers.

While the generalist notions of customer loyalty

and increased repeat purchase tend to make it

apparent for companies to follow aggressive loy-

alty marketing, it is however important to first

take into consideration the effectiveness of these

programs with respect to the alternate competi-

tive programs before doing so.

S Vignesh

PGDM,

IMT Ghaziabad

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MARKEZINE October 2012

Most studies examine a single program in isola-

tion, when in reality multiple loyalty programs are

often offered by competing firms. Consumers

holding loyalty program cards from competing

chains reduce the share of wallet and customer

lifetime for the focal chain. Thus as a competitive

firm resource, a loyalty program needs other

complementary resources to realize its value fully

and to create competitive advantage. Loyalty pro-

grams do not always lead to beneficial outcomes

for the offering firm and it is only high-share firms

that experience sales lifts from their loyalty pro-

grams. Another factor that needs to be observed

is the market saturation of loyalty programs.

Crowding the marketplace with loyalty programs

can diminish the return of an individual program ,

as customer tend to redistribute frequently from

one loyalty program to another depending on

competitive reward schemes offered. It therefore

becomes imperative for each organization to first

analyse the cost of program per individual versus

the return per individual projected.

While these numerous researches repeatedly aim

to gauge the effectiveness of customer loyalty

programs, the exact conclusion is still unclear.

The impact of loyalty programs tend to vary

across different customer segments, and tends to

show significance performance variance in re-

sponse to the competitors loyalty programs,

which eventually with time, tend to erode the dif-

ferential gains. The future of these loyalty pro-

grams, however, seems to be still heading in the

positive direction, with ever evolving programs

like Amazon Prime (which tripled its subscriber

base within a year) and Shoppers Stop First Citi-

zen Loyalty Program ( which achieved a path

breaking 25 Lakh customers in 2012 ) paving the

way.

MARKEZINE October 2012

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MARKEZINE October 2012

18

Mark-e-feed:

Sensory Branding: A case in point

Sensory branding is an emerging discipline for

the marketers. The idea is to engage the custom-

ers through one or more senses and going be-

yond the conventional marketing media of sight

(sometimes Sound) thus developing strong

brands with memorable connections. Consumers

show different behaviors with different brands

because of their like/dislike towards the same.

Developing an emotional connect with them is

therefore necessary for a healthy and long lasting

relationship with the brand.

With the plethora of information available, many

conventional branding messages are no longer

effective. A “times-square effect” – an overload

of visual messages- challenges marketers to make

their messages to be heard above the din. Add to

that the dynamism, limited time and a thin line of

difference between virtual and real world — sen-

sorial appeal will play a vital role in engaging con-

sumers towards brands. The key to involve them

is to create a buzz around your brand and pro-

voke conversations about it. In order to achieve

it, marketers need to bring the branding a level

up from the traditional media of sight (or sound).

Colors have a direct influence on consumer be-

havior. For e.g., Color red, increases the pulse and

the heart rate, it raises the blood pressure and

stimulates appetite. So restaurants prefer red

color environs vis-à-vis any other colors. Likes of

Pizza Hut and few others follow the same. Star-

bucks does it in a unique way in order to create

repeat purchases. Customers’ personal interac-

tion at Starbucks’ coffee shop where the brand is

associated with a sensory experience stimulating

a strong, positive, and distinctive impression

across all five senses. In this case multiple sensory

cues are tapped; lighting, furniture, interior fur-

nishings, music, coffee and aroma, which all con-

tribute and complement each other as if a sen-

sory orchestration. When the sensory experience

is maximized, the store atmosphere creates a

compelling experience that consumers will want

to repeat through repeated visits.

The success of movie “Avatar” is not because of its great direction and technology used but be-cause the stimulation and the sense of being in the thick of action in a fictional story is what the achieved thereby allowing the audience to touch and feel - literally. (There have been instances when great technology and innovation hasn’t been able to mes-merize the audi-ence). Touch can be manipulated through texture, softness, materials (in case of clothes), weight, comfort etc. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, with its signature “Snap, Crackle, and Pop,” By introduc-ing a distinctive sound to its breakfast cereal, the company integrated four senses into its product: taste, touch, sight and sound. Schweppes, which, in its long-running “Sch you know who” cam-paign, linked the “Sch” in its name to the tell-tale rush of gas emitted by a soda bottle that is being opened. Parle’s attempt at sensory branding was Krackjack.

Rakshit Suri

PGDM, IIM-K

5 years of work experi-

ence with Wipro Tech-

nologies and has

worked on consulting

projects during his

internship with Head-

strong.

MARKEZINE October 2012

19

The biscuit with the dual taste of sweet and salt in one is probably one of the earliest examples of sensory branding in the Indian context (which was followed by 50:50 from Britannia). Anything that tastes sweet and salt at the same time, peo-ple recall 50:50 instantaneously. Visual images are more distinctive when matched with a sound/smell. Brylcream’s “A lit-tle dab’ll do ya” radio jingle, “Intel-inside” cam-paign and their four tone melody helped creating a positive image in the consumer’s mind and more than that it created more brand recalls. Our very own Britannia with its “ting ting tee ding” , titan created the magic with the violin, Pillsburry doughboy’s giggle, MGMs lion roar, windows start up music, Cadbury’s sweet music in the recent campaigns all raise the level of en-gagement a tad higher resulting in greater in-volvement and sense of ownership of these brands. Lush, the handmade cosmetics company epito-

mizes sensory stimulation. Smell increases the

customer’s connection with a brand. It creates

an instant connection and it is known that 75%

of all the emotions are triggered by smell. Pass

the entrance of a Lush store and you are hit by a

rush of fragrance. They don’t believe in packag-

ing, so the soaps lie down like big blocks on the

table so that customers can touch and feel the

products. This way they engage their customers

at a level higher than the existing ones.

Our emotional and cognitive responses are af-fected by our feelings from seeing, hearing, tast-ing, touching, and smelling. This becomes even more effective for the products (remember ABC Model) where the cognition precedes the affect. Marketers can change the sequence by making

the consumers feel (affect) first through senso-rial experiences and then let the emotional re-sponses dominate their rational thinking. All brands try to gain the top of mind and alter the decision making process of its buyers, and sensory marketing just reinforce their cause. So, the main idea is that each sense ignored is an avenue of communication not utilized.

Mark-e-feed:

Catching the eye of the public : Live Advertising

Live advertising is the concept of using people

participation and props to create an ad that hap-

pens live and in a public area. There are very few

records of live advertisements as it is still rela-

tively unexplored. Honda created a live Ad in

South America with the theme “Difficult is worth

doing” when they got an elite team of sky divers

to create the name Honda in sky diving formation

In the Summer Olympics of 2006, Adidas created

an outdoor ad by enlisting climbers to race up 33

story buildings in a vertical climb for a Winner’s

Prize of $10,000.

The latest advertisement to catch people’s atten-

tion has been that of Coke in collaboration with

‘Skyfall’, the latest James Bond movie slotted for

release on 26th October 2012 in the UK. The ad-

vertisement has people undertaking an adventure

to win their free ticket for Skyfall. It starts when a

passerby goes to a vending machine at a railway

station in the UK to get a bottle of Coke Zero. Out

comes the bottle along with instructions asking

him to reach Platform 6 in 70 seconds. This is the

James Bond adventure offered to the consumer

to spice up his life. It transports him from his

mundane daily life into a more exciting one for 70

seconds. “Unlock the 007 in you” seems to be

quite an apt tagline for the ad.

What are the advantages that live advertising

offer?

Live Attention: Nothing grabs more attention

than an ordinary guy doing/getting something

extraordinary in public. Live ads attract attention

through the newness of the process and the sur-

prise element.

Every viewer is a new viewer: Unlike television

advertisements, live ad-

vertisements are viewed

by people who pass

through when the event is

happening. Hence, there

are very few chances of

the event being viewed

by the same group of

people.

Mary John Thalody

PGDIM,

NITIE, Mumbai

A mechanical engineer with

experience in operations and

teaching.

Naresh Jawni

PGDIM,

NITIE, Mumbai

An Electronics engineer with

3 years work experience in

the IT industry.

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MARKEZINE October 2012

More cost efficient than tradi-

tional print or TV advertise-

ments: Booking slots on prime

time, creating a repeatable ad,

buying print space all take

money. All this is eliminated

when the ad is performed willing

by the consumer or by locally

hired actors/stunt people.

Chances of going viral on the so-

cial media space: With YouTube

causing videos to go viral, the

imaginative concept of a live Ad

has all the chances of marketing itself on virtual

space. The Coke Zero ad is an example garnering

1,375,397 views in two days since Oct 18, 2012

when it was published on YouTube.

Some issues that dissuade companies from try-

ing live advertising:

Unpredictability of external surroundings: The

advertisement is far too dependent on the

weather, the mood of the subject, the success/

failure of the stunt and so on. Failure has the po-

tential to backfire on the brand.

Permissions: Government laws and permissions

of different countries vary. This might pose a

problem to different stunts.

The response of the consumer: If the advertise-

ment involves performing a surprise on the con-

sumer without prior notice, there is chance that

he/she may respond unfavorably. This may lead

to bad media and bad publicity.

Live advertising has been initiated in India too.

The Ambi Pur “Freshness Surprise” ad had the

brand playing pranks on unsuspecting visitors to a

mall in Mumbai. Some visitors’ cars had unex-

pected Pujas performed on them by a hired

priest, some cars got decorated with flower gar-

lands and ribbons, others had pretty young ladies

walk around the car admiring it to the open

mouthed wonder of its passengers.

It is yet to be seen whether this new medium of

advertising will take off in India. Whether it does

or not, these visitors will definitely recall the

name Ambi ur for a very long time. And so will

anyone who sees that Ad.

Live advertising gives a brand the chance to en-

dear itself to the customer. The average man on

the street goes home smiling thanks to a brand

that’s made his day. What better way to make a

loyal customer? After all that is what marketing is

all about.

References

1. Collins,Oisin (This Coke Zero advert is easily the

coolest 'Skyfall' related thing we've seen yet)

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MARKEZINE October 2012

22

Mark-e-feed: VESPA - A new beginning

“If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll

never come up with anything original”

-Sir Ken Robinson

The nostalgia of the 60’s is back, flamboyance

and chic are in play, it’s the time for VESPA. Re-

membered as the flagship scooter of the tie up

between LML and Piaggio during the 90’s,it was

the second largest player with a 28% market

share. Come 2012 and scooters segment is ever

growing, the average middle class of the country

prefers scooters as a secondary vehicle along with

a four-wheeler especially for the women in the

family.

Looking at the above scenario and the upcoming

festival season, Piaggio has played their hand per-

fectly in launching Vespa TVC. Creating vintage

romance in retro style they have created a very

charming campaign putting their point across

with a colorful zest. It’s simple yet elegant; it’s the

old Vespa reminding you of the paved streets of

Rome, or the lip smacking hot pizza. A perfectly

well made advert for the urban youth correlating

to the premium pricing of the Vespa. Also this

price of the scooter drives it into a niche segment

and not a mass product, but more of a lifestyle

brand.

The effect of this TVC might not cause ripples for

low cost rivals like Honda Activa, Suzuki Access,

TVS Scooty Pep+ and Mahindra Duro. Piaggio has

promised to come out with a mass market offer-

ing late next year. Even if the sales might be low,

this has built tremendous brand equity for Vespa

and a positive step towards long run sustainability

of the brand. People have started talking about it,

a definite win for this new entrant.

The company produces the scooters at its facility

in Baramati, Maharashtra, which can produce

150,000 units a year. Plans are afoot to double

capacity in a year’s time. Piaggio has invested €35

million (around Rs 243 crore) in the facility and

plans to put in an additional €20 million to aug-

ment capacity. With the on-road price going to

upwards of Rs. 66,000 it is definitely not a sustain-

able strategy, while the market is very competi-

tive, only certainty in the scooter market is

growth.

Where could have Vespa done better, they hit the

nail with the appeal but I feel, the growth for this

segment lies in the young women who should

have been the target. The colors offered would

also appeal to girls, it is definitely considered a

feminine product in the Indian market. The big-

gest boom for scooters was the Priyanka Chopra

TVC ‘Why should boys have all the fun ‘, targeting

the correct segment and racking up sales for Hero

Honda. We need to wait and watch, the future of

this brand. But Piaggio has made a wonderful

start to their Indian journey.

Apurv Mehta

PGDM IMT, Ghaziabad

Member - Literature

club.

An engineer ex-

tremely interested in

new innovations in

technologies.

MARKEZINE October 2012

23

“

Mark-toon

Brands Glare,

But Word of Mouth is all you care!!!

Ad-O-Holic 7.0

Ad-o-holic 7.0, the annual Ad-fest organized by

Club MarkUp was held on September 1st, this

year. Ad-o-holic is a platform where budding ad-

vertisers are given an opportunity to compete

against students from the top B-Schools in the

Delhi/NCR region. This year’s theme, ‘What’s your

B(r)and Equity?’ saw the teams put in their hearts

and souls to take their bands to the top of the

music charts.

In the first round, an online round, the teams

were judged based on their creative skills and in

the second round, selected teams were invited to

IMT Ghaziabad campus to present their Advertis-

ing strategies. It did not take long for the judges

to recognize the creativity and analytic skills of

the teams. Innovation, imagination and ingenuity

of the teams were duly recognized and the team

from FMS, Octavia, consisting of Swati Saini,

Shubhashish Mandal and Abhijeet Singh bagged

the first place. The team from IMT Ghaziabad,

Urban Raga, consisting of Ankit Bansal, Priya Pod-

dar and Kasturba K.V was adjudged the runner

up.

Club MarkUp takes this opportunity to congratu-

late the winners and thank all the participants for

their overwhelming responses. We also want to

express our special gratitude to judges Jyoti

Kainth and Tripti Ghosh for their valuable support

and guidance. It was definitely a day well-spent

for us, the proud MarkUp-ites, and a day of great

learning for all the participants.

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MARKEZINE October 2012