Marktrix Club Session with Dove Brand Manager

The Students of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management were highly obliged to have one of their Alums from the batch of 2008 back in the campus and have an interactive session with them. We are talking about Ms. Soumya Donkada, Brand manager for Dove at Hindustan Unilever who spoke about the profiles which can be pursued in the field of marketing and also how to build a good resume. Apart from this she also gave us examples from her own experience- a journey from Sales profile at ITC to Brand Management at HUL.

She spoke on the importance of working in a Sales profile prior to working in the Marketing. Soumya started off with a sales profile in ITC and then moving on to Brand Management of Fiama Di Wills. The Marketers came to know how the two of the biggest companies in India ITC and HUL differ in their corporate philosophies. Managers at HUL are given a lot of freedom to take decisions as long as good decisions are more than the bad ones, whereas in ITC its the top management who takes major decisions. Also people working in different departments are familiar with each other in ITC which is not the case in HUL. 

Resume building was an important topic covered by Soumya. It is very important to have good extra curricular activities to get our CV shortlisted. At least one position of responsibility is required in the profile. Grades are very important for Finance and Consulting profiles. For Marketing profile a decent cgpa supported with good extra curricular activities is required. A good amount of time should be dedicated for Resume building. It is also possible for someone who is placed in B2B marketing to switch to B2C marketing in the future if a right amount of enthusiasm and attitude is shown.

At the end of the session she was presented with a memento. Having seen a live example of the success story one of our Alums,the budding marketers of SJMSOM were intensified in their pursuit of Marketing as a career. 

Comparative Advertising

One of my friends was planning to buy a new car in sedan category. Since I am also an avid car lover, he requested me to help him.   I decided to do a research on the existing sedans in the Indian market. I thought that it will be a very difficult task to compare all the cars, given that huge number of players in the market.  

Which one is better in fuel economy, which one is good in looks, which one is more spacious which one will be in my friends’ budget?  There were innumerable questions of this kind coming to my mind.  I thought it will be a daunting task to do this comparative analysis.

To my surprise I spotted some advertisements which specifically provided the details mentioned above.   Within few hours   I was able to shortlist some of the appropriate cars for my friend.

All this was possible because of the comparative advertising. Comparative advertising compares alternative brands on objectively measureable attributes. It identifies the alternative brand by names, illustration or other distinctive information.

I got much more insight on the subject of comparative advertising in the session of Marktrix club at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay.  Dr. Arti Karlo, PhD. from IIT Madras and currently a Faculty in SJMSOM, discussed about her research project which was about comparative advertising on 8th Feb 2011.

She told that though it looks easy but a lot of effort goes into any comparative advertising campaign.  The subject of advertising or the entity is broken into different dimensions. Each dimension is then divided into sub dimensions. It is then used to identify the unmet potentials of the product.

Finally, for a successful comparative advertising campaign, we have to see that the right comparison strategy and information processing mode is used.  All these things, if in place, augment the effectiveness of the advertising message.

A CA campaign between HUL and P & G for Dove and Pantene shampoos

During the session several advertisements based on both direct and indirect comparisons were shown to help the students understand the concept.  She gave an interesting example of comparative advertising between Audi and BMW. BMW advertised through various mediums that it has won the best car of South Africa award.  Audi retaliated by saying that, “Congrats to BMW for being the South African car of the year 2006 from the world car of the year”

BMW vs Audi car of the year CA

She also told that comparative advertising is a boon for the customer or consumer as it helps them to know in detail what a particular company is offering and what not it is offering.

In the end it was a very informative session. She answered a lot of question asked by the students. I was having a lot of doubts about comparative advertising which were cleared during the session.

The “Marketing ‘K’night” @ Marktrix Club, SJMSOM

The Marktrix club bid farewell to the senior club members with style and a touch of nostalgia as they passed on the baton to the new team. We had Prof. Dinesh Sharma who is our faculty coordinator and Prof. Arti Kalro who is our guide with us at the session. It was an interactive session which would help the new members to take the club to the next level.

Abhishek and Divya opened the session with a brief about the Marktrix club and a small video that showcased the past achievements and events held over the year. Brief snippets of events that our close to all of our hearts- I Quiz, Abhyutthan, Nirvikriti and Continuums, brought enthusiasm amongst the members. 

 What followed was something that was totally unexpected by the seniors. We had certificates of appreciation and excellence for them and also a few awards as tokens for the hard work they had put in the entire year and brought up the standards of the club.

Abhijit,Meghna,Jitesh and Kundan were given the title of the “Marketing Dexters” of SOM for their dedication in various events that the club had conducted over the years.

Nishant got appreciation as the best “e-Marketer” for his superb work in making the Marktrix events visible to the outside world.

Saurabh was awarded the title of “the most Creative Marketer” for his creative campaigns and designs that made sure that our club remains vibrant not only from within but also from outside.

The little awards ceremony was totally unexpected and brought smiles to our seniors’ faces who were otherwise expecting the session to be a normal KT (Knowledge Transfer).

Then Prof. Dinesh Sharma talked to us about the things we must do as a team, some of the things that our seniors had planned but due to various reasons could not put into action. We discussed various issues ranging from club sessions to events to industry research. It was a good interaction wherein everybody poured in their suggestions and concerns as to how to take the club a notch higher. Sir also talked to us about ways in which we could make a collaborative effort to invite more marketing companies to campus. He appreciated and commended the efforts of the previous team in bringing the club to this level.

Prof. Arti Kalro then gave us a few words of encouragement and suggested ways in which we could greatly improve our image and position in terms of a brand. We are extremely lucky to have her on board and be a part of our efforts towards making marketing a big thing in SOM.

The session ended with an air of nostalgia when Swapnil thanked his team members for their support and work and passed the baton to us. The senior team had done a superb job in making our club “ The Most Enthusiastic Club” in SOM. To add to the nostalgia Abhishek recited a few lines that he had written down himself which were apt for the occasion.

It went like

 “हम रोक लेना चाहते हैं मुट्ठी में रेत को,

ये जानकर भी कि,

वक़्त का ये लम्हा,

आखिर में गुज़र जाएगा.."

A photo session followed and post that we proceeded for Dinner at Gul Mohar where a grand buffet was awaiting us. We talked, laughed and discussed things over dinner and bonded in a way that we had never done before.

The seniors felt it was a farewell but we call it just a “Marketing ‘ K’night”. The name itself suggests the enthusiasm of the marketers of SOM. It was a party to thank the Marketing Knights of SOM 11 that they had done a fantabulous job and we would carry forward the name and the fame of the club and make it known as the most enthusiastic club in not only SOM but in the entire B School circle.

Marketing Continuum 2010

24th July 2010, Marketing experts from various industries delivered lectures to a packed auditorium at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT- Bombay. The topic under discussion was “Marketing 3.0:From Relationship to Collaboration”.
Mr. Mahesh Murthy, CEO-Pinstorm, spoke of the state-of-the-art digital tools that can help manage brands in real time. Using Google trends and ad-words, it is possible to determine which keywords are “in” at any moment and then design an ad campaign around them- guaranteeing high online visibility. This requires fast turnaround times on the part of creative teams so that the Fy can respond to short-lived internet trends.
Mr. Vikrant Khanna, VP- Bharti Airtel, discussed the use of social media in marketing today. He suggested that “crowdsourcing” i.e., sourcing innovative advertising ideas from regular people rather than experts, has been experimented with, and will soon be the order of the day. According to Mr. Atul Sinha, VP, Britannia, innovation from the public could be sought for products as well as for their packaging or advertising. He deplored the slow rate of innovation in the FMCG sector and hoped that this will soon improve.

Mr. Vivek Sharma, CMO- Philips India, stressed the need for market research in order to reach out to the “bottom of the pyramid”(BoP). He suggested that products should be specifically designed for the rural consumer instead of merely stripping down an urban product to basic functionality. For a marketer, immersion in rural life could be very helpful in order to determine unstated needs of BoP consumers.

Mr. Sridhar T., AVP-Idea Cellular, also discussed BoP marketing and said that collaboration and customer engagement are essential and that an aura of intrigue surrounding a product can create interest.

According to Mr. Prashant Pandey, EVP-GSK, engaging and involving rural customers can also be achieved through street plays, movies and fairs.

The seminars all highlighted the importance of “co-creation”, as a joint venture between organizations and the interested public. The speakers also stressed the importance of the rural consumer in both product development and marketing.
The event was also accompanied with a pre event named SCORPIO Zeitgeist , an advertisement making competition, witnessing a massive participation from all over India .The event was a huge success as evident from the feedback given by the judge Ms. Deepa Arjunan, DGM SCORPIO Brand “Zeitgeist received a tremendous response from all of you: future strategists, innovators - and hopefully - passionate crusaders, who will drive transformation and steer India to greater heights. Entries received for the Zeitgeist contest, reflect enormous research, hard work and imagination. The ideas are inspired and original and each video was distinct and different from the others. And though we enjoyed them all, it was definitely an effort to pick out winners – a tribute to your creativity.” said Ms. Deepa Arjunan.

Feedback for Zeitgeist from our Proud Sponsors

Zeitgeist@Marketing Continuum

‘Cars are probably the most symbolic of all consumer goods. They are not about getting from Point A to Point B. Rather they are about who we want to be and where we want to go. Cars are about our own personal piece of the good life, a visible embodiment of the Indian dream. And that is what the Scorpio is – an aspiration, an object of desire, a possession that says “This is who I believe I am” - Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Zeitgeist captured the essence of Scorpio, a brand that exudes style, thrill, power and panache, that resonates with Indians because, in so many ways, it represents the evolving India. Zeitgeist received a tremendous response from all of you: future strategists, innovators - and hopefully - passionate crusaders, who will drive transformation and steer India to greater heights.

Entries received for the Zeitgeist contest, reflect enormous research, hard work and imagination. The ideas are inspired and original, several of them bring a smile to your face, and each video was distinct and different from the others. And though we enjoyed them all, it was definitely an effort to pick out winners – a tribute to your creativity.

Every one of you has contributed to the success of Zeitgeist; and Congratulations to all of you for that. We hope you will continue to fuel your passion in all your future endeavours !

Scorpio Team

Results for Zeitgeist...An advertisement making competition organized at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

1st Prize: Team Stormers from SIBM Banglore

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJCI1N-ywsQ&feature=player_embedded)

1. Cash Prize of Rs 3000
           2. Wild card entry to I-Quiz going to be organized next month
           3. Invitation Mahindra's The Great Escape Car racing gameshow.
           4. A gift Hamper from M & M

5. Certificate

2nd Prize: Team Road Razors from IIM Lucknow

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkTmFwB32AI&feature=player_embedded)

1. Cash Prize of Rs 2000
            2. Invitation of Mahindra's The Great Escape Car racing gameshow.
            3. A gift Hamper from M & M

4. Ceretificate

3rd Prize : Team Thunder from SJMSOM

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmR0wXl_b9c&feature=player_embedded)

1. A gift Hamper from M & M

2. Certificate

 

Guest Lecture by Mr. Ravindra Shahane- 16th March

Cadbury Dairy Milk , Parle G ,Hamara Bajaj , Ye dil maange more

Or I may say NOTHING ELSE WILL DO , THE ERA OF SEDAN’S IS OVER

Some brands attract so much awe that most of us forget to look beyond the brand per se. Every generation has its own set of cult brands which define the consumer preference in a flash.

Many complain that the Gen X and Gen Y have become used to excessive exposure to brands and the brand life has shrunk considerably. This many take as the legal reason of ever expanding portfolio of many businesses. Such myths were put to rest this Tuesday at SJMSOM when the distinguished team from Mahindra and Mahindra unfurled the secrets of Brand Management and Portfolio management to the students and shared the story behind the success of SCORPIO, BOLERO and XYLO brands. The team comprised of Mr Ravindra Shahane, Miss Deepa Arjunan & Srijith Jagdish who had varied set of interests and responsibilities and the interaction provided an unique opportunity to see how various stakeholders gel to make a brand success. Mr Shahane was instrumental in making Bolero the no.1 SUV in the Indian market and is currently handling the XYLO brand. He gave us insights into how the entire idea of Scorpio originated from a market survey of Bolero users. He gave insights into how Bolero was rechristened into its new avatar and what all back end work was done to impose its renewed image. The buzzing question amongst the students regarding the internal cannibalization between Bolero and Scorpio was dispelled when Mr shahane talked about the segmentation and positioning efforts that M&M had put before launch of Scorpio. He illustrated on how Bolero has been targeted at town customers who are graduating to a new Bolero, this helped them to position Bolero as an entry level SUV. The talk was made lively by the video clippings that M&M have used in the past to promote Bolero and Scorpio. Scorpio according to him was designed for the aspiration of young professionals with the “NOTHING ELSE WILL DO “attitude. The concept of directly taking on cars segment in terms of luxury, restoring ruggedness and the power associated with an SUV was the idea behind Scorpio. This idea was backed with a lot of product innovation and features that were added to Scorpio which helped M&M to position Scorpio as a High end SUV with luxury and style associated with it.

Mr Shahane also enlightened us with the extensive methodology that is followed at M&M before launching a new product . With reference to XYLO he explained how hundreds of M&M marketers went on to live with the customers observing their daily activities and discussing their needs to better understand what a customer wants in a product. This all effort culminates when marketers and all other stakeholders in a firm sit to identify a gap between the customer needs and the products in the market which the new product can cater to.  The feature to customer preference matrix clearly depicted why XYLO was destined to succeed. The positioning of XYLO in the MUV segment and challenges faced from Innova and Tavera, the other players in the market were analysed based on the matrix. His insights on the threats from foreign entrants in the SUV/MUV segment of automobiles and how it is different when an Indian firm launches a new product in the market vis-à-vis a foreign player coming up with a new product were very enlightening .

Miss Deepa talked more on brand positioning and communication. She talked about how the advertisements related to Scorpio , Bolero and Xylo originated  . The conceptualization of the commercials for both Scorpio and Xylo were more on the aspirational quotient and how Xylo is being targeted at young achievers who want best of everything they buy . The online initiative before the launch of Xylo and pre launch advertisements putting forth “THE ERA OF SEDAN’S IS OVER “ attracted a lot of why’s and how’s from the audience . She also stressed on how Scorpio winning toughest terrain rallies across the globe is being used in communications. The stories behind the making of most of the advertisements were very enjoyable. She also talked about how people see Scorpio as their identity. The special editions of Scorpio being a run-away success proved her right.

If the conceptualization and communication part was not enough to flatter the students , Mr Srijith put forth the sales side of the story . Maintaining a uniform appeal at every touch point with the customers is important but to know that M&M paid such extra attention would have surely taken it to the Dream firm list  of many sitting there . Mr Srijith explained how M&M created a shop within shop environment at their dealers to sell Scorpio and XYLO. A typical space selling Scorpio was converted into a gym while one selling XYLO was converted into a Disco to give the intended feel to the consumers as was communicated by the media advertisements.

This was followed by round of thought provoking Q&A session with the range of questions asked ranging from technically deep questions on post sales feedback to future of customization of cars, The threat that foreign entrants bring and unique opportunities for Indian brands on foreign soils . The questions were many but the answers were more than the questionnaire desired .The involvement was such that the entire night would have fallen short. But in the end the time constraint left many questions unanswered but even more minds full with intent to find answers to them. To call the session a success will be a gross injustice and the unending roll of claps was a living testimony of the same.  It would not be wrong to use the famous adage “THEY CAME , THEY DELIVERED  and THEY CONQUERED THE HEARTS OF THE SJMSOM students .