The world is changing at a rapid pace and so is the Marketing world. And that is how we decided to come up with a MARkezine Edition which will capture the essence of things that are happening around.

2. February 2013
CONTENTS
Featured Articles Page No
Reader’s Message 1
Bottom of the Pyramid-Emerging 2
Target To Marketers
Effective Marketing Strategies for 6
Start-ups
Re-Thinking The 4P’S In The B2B World 11
Fight for mindshare of customers
Can brands be Immortal? 13
Crossword
Gamification- 18
An Emerging Trend in Digital Marketing

3. February 2013
Reader’s Message
Hello Readers!!
Team MARkezine is back with the February edition.
HUL’s advertising on ‘rotis’ at the Kumbh Mela - ‘ Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya?’. Isn’t it a fascinating idea to
advertise a product?
The world is changing at a rapid pace and so is the Marketing world. And that is how we decided to come up
with a MARkezine Edition which will capture the essence of things that are happening around.
We start the edition by recalling the term which was first coined by Dr. C.K Prahalad - Bottom of Pyramid.
We see the several aspects put to practice by FMCG companies like HUL. Next, we have pointers for the
budding entrepreneurs to engage in Effective Marketing for Start-Ups. Once the Marketing concepts for the
Start-Ups have sunk in we see how the 4 P’s differ for a Business to Business scenario.
In the previous edition we have discussed a lot around Brands and now is the time to debate a question like
Can Brands be Immortal? Let’s see the ease with which our readers will be able to think through the question.
What follows is “Gamification” unveiled.
And this is where we end with a promise to be back with fresh content from the Marketing space.
Happy reading..!!
Team MARkezine
Editing and Design:
Ishwarya Lakshmi | Sheeza Shakeel | Shivaraj
1 MARKezine C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

4. February 2013
Bottom of the Pyramid-Emerging
Target To Marketers
“Like the tip of an iceberg, the opportunity remains invisible to the corporate world.” —
C. K. Prahalad and Stuart Har
The phrase “bottom of the pyramid” was used by Over the next 40 years the numbers in Lowest Tier
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in his April 7, (BOP) could swell to 6-8 billion or more since the
1932 radio address, The Forgotten Man, in which he bulk of the world’s population growth is expected to
said “These unhappy times call for the building of come from this segment. Poor of today is the middle-
plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized class of tomorrow. Yet, this sector has been largely
but the indispensable units of economic power...that neglected by the corporations. The real challenge is
build from the bottom up and not from the top down, to visualize an active market when what exists is ab-
that put their faith once more in the forgotten man ject poverty. It is almost the equivalent of visualizing
at the bottom of the economic pyramid.”Bottom of a theme park where you see a swamp
Pyramid refers to the billions of people living on less One of the best examples to understand the impli-
than $2 per day, as first defined in 1998 by Profes- cations of BOP is that of Hindustan Lever Limited
sors C.K. Prahalad and Stuart L. Hart. The size of this (HLL), a subsidiary of Unilever. For over 50 years, it
largely untapped market is Staggering. Four billion catered to the needs of the top of the pyramid. And
people live on $1500 per year or less. then a local firm, Nirma, came into picture and soon
challenged HLL in its detergent business, by creat-
ing a new business system, a new product formula-
tion, new manufacturing process, distribution, pack-
aging, and pricing. HLL like most MNCs, initially
dismissed Nirma as a low end producer. It was not
thought to be a competitor in HLL’s “served market.”
But as Nirma grew rapidly, HLL realized both its new
opportunity as well as its vulnerability. Nirma was
attacking from the bottom of the pyramid. HLL has
to respond with its own offering for this market -al-
tering its traditional HLL business model.
The bottom of the pyramid is not a market that
(Source: http://www.phibetaiota.net/wp-content/
yields high margins. It is rather about volume (since
uploads/2011/04/economic-pyramid.jpg)
the unit sales are going to be high) and capital
C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP MARKezine 2

5. February 2013
efficiency.
Managers who focus on gross margins will miss the Assumption 1:
opportunity. Managers who innovate and focus on The poor are not our target consumers because with
the overall economic profit will be rewarded.HLL our current cost structures, we cannot profitably
then used the learned business principles to create a compete for that market
new detergent market among the poor in Brazil. The Assumption 2:
detergent brand “Ala” has been a huge success in The poor cannot afford and have no use for the prod-
Brazil. In fact Unilever has adopted the bottom of the ucts and services sold undeveloped markets.
pyramid as a strategic priority at the corporate level.
Assumption 3:
(Source- Presentation by John Ripley, Senior Vice
Only developed markets appreciate and will pay for
President, Unilever, at the academy of management
new technology. The poor can use the previous gen-
meeting, August 10, 1999)
eration of technology
Before Corporations could convert the poor into a
potential customer base, they need to re-examine Assumption 4:
their dominant logic - the core set of assumptions The bottom of the pyramid is not important to the
and practices that are embedded in the firm. The fol- long-term viability of our business. We can leave
lowing were identified as some of the widely shared Tier 4 to governments and nonprofits.
orthodoxies that must change:
3 MARKezine C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

6. February 2013
Assumption 5: Bank and Danone build next year a yoghurt factory
Managers are not excited by business challenges in Bangladesh. Hindustan Lever has been investing
that have a humanitarian dimension. in a distribution network of women in remote areas
to sell soap, toothpaste and washing powder in their
Assumption 6:
villages
Intellectual excitement is in developed markets. It is
hard to find talented managers who want to work at All this is based more on mutual benefits rather than
the bottom of the pyramid what critics ‘assume’ good for the poor. For Instance:
(Source- Japan External Trade Organization, 2009_ USAID wanted to use the Hindustan Lever network
BOP_Executive Research Associates) to distribute malaria medicines but HLL believe in
Because of these assumptions the market opportu- asking the network first what they needed most. They
nity at the bottom of the pyramid has remained in- found that diarrhoea was a bigger problem. Now the
visible. It is often treated as irrelevant with no use of network also distributes a cheap water purification
products, no buying power, no knowledge of brands product that can deal with 8 -12 litres a day, enough
and difficult to reach. It is like the well-known story for an average family in the country side. To tap this
of the person who finds a $20 bill on the sidewalk. market managers must first develop a commercial
Conventional economic wisdom suggests that if infrastructure tailored to the needs and challenges;
the bill really existed, someone would have already which will comprise of Creating buying power, shap-
picked it up. Like the $20 bill, the BOP also defies ing aspirations, improving access, and tailoring lo-
conventional economic logic— it represents a large cal solutions— the four elements intertwined .Inno-
and unexplored territory for profitable growth. vation in one will leverages innovation in the others
According to Lirneasia research, 41% of the BOP in
Sri Lanka owns their own phones and 21% of them
are mobile phones. Another 31% is planning to buy
a phone. But 28% is not planning to buy, mostly be-
cause they cannot afford to buy. This can be a pri-
mary market for telecentres in Sri Lanka, according
to Prof Rohan Samarajiva of Lireneasia. The growing
awareness among the big corporations regarding the
profit potential of BOP can be seen in the initiative
taken by them lately. Free Energy Europe developed
(Source- Strategies for the bottom of pyramid: Creat-
cheap solar panels for the remote markets in Brazil,
ing sustainable development_C.K. Prahald, Univer-
Kenya and Indonesia. Fiat and Tata are develop-
sity of Michigan Business School)
ing cheap cars for the Indian market, that will costs
100.000 Rupees.Unilever developed for the same In this article have just been able to sketch the out-
market Anapurna Salt, salt with jodium, Grameen line of what seems to be the biggest potential market
C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP MARKezine 4

7. February 2013
opportunity in the history of commerce. It would
also mean lifting billions of people out of poverty
and destitution; eliminating the root cause of social
discrimination, political chaos and environmental
meltdown in short fostering sustainable develop-
ment!!
“The quality, efficacy, potency, and usability solutions
developed for the BOP Markets are very attractive for
the top of the pyramid”
Submitted by:
Esha Gupta
TAPMI (2nd Year)
References:
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: An
Alternate Perspective –Anand Kumar Jaiswal
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/publications/data/
2007-07-13Jaiswal.pdf
http://www.economist.com/node/18863898
5 MARKezine C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

8. February 2013
Effective Marketing Strategies for
Start-ups
try experts, start-up ex-
perts, entrepreneurs. By
discussing on the idea
they will be able to fig-
ure out the nitty-gritty of
the business, understand various small aspects that
one needs to take care before starting. The better you
know the idea, the better you can connect with your
business and thus you can build better relationship
with the customers as you will be able to connect to
their needs and expectations and your venture.
Start-up built up by the words ‘start’ and ‘up’ where
Some simple questions that one needs to ask one-
both the words are innovative and creative. It means
self is Why this IDEA? Why THIS Business? What
starting from scratch and rising upwards and reach-
DIFFERENCE will it make in the society/market?
ing the zenith. For several people it is the source of
What PAIN-Points does it solve? How MUCH cost-
their zeal that drives them towards excellence and
ing, sales and profits will we achieve? The more you
competence. And to drive their start up towards suc-
ask business to yourself the more the idea will get re-
cess it needs proper nurturing, operations, care and
fined and the more chances are there for its success.
most of all marketing. Unless and until the buzz for
2. Market Analysis
the start-up is not built in the market it is difficult
Several times start-up
to drive them forward. Once it becomes famous and
fails because they study
people know of it then the real boom come. Many
their market incorrectly
a times we see that the start-up rise so fast, that it
and make false assump-
becomes unmanageable and thus the buzz fizzes out
tions which later lead to
soon and the start-up gets lost in the dark. Now in
severe consequences.
order to reach the zenith lets ponder upon the points
This will help entrepre-
that can lead to proper marketing and thus sustain-
able success of start-up. neurs remove their biasness towards their product.
All the macro and micro - environment trends should
1. Get the Idea Right be checked and looked for while doing the research
Before setting up the business one must brain-storm like demographic, economic, technological, political,
on the idea strongly. For this one must talk to indus
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9. February 2013
social, cultural, material supply, etc. Now there are your business and start
some points to consider selling your brand. Now
choosing market: the brands can be built
i. Market Size: Is the segmentation and targeting on name, logo, idea, slo-
done correctly to meet the demographic needs. Are gan and design of your
the customers aware of your product? company. This is the
way to build way into
ii. Market Potential: What is the potential of the mar-
the customers mind and heart. This can be done by
ket, will it be able to sustain the needs of the market.
crafting meaningful positioning statements.
iii. Market competition: Is the competition to fierce
Now in order to market the brand you need to decide
that your product might get eliminated?
the key points or POD that you are going to highlight
iv. Value proposition: Is your value proposition when you are going to build your brand. The Tag-
strong and unique enough to make its way into the line, logo, name has to catchy that can easily high-
market. light the idea and get the attention of the customers.
3. Setting appropriate Targets: Here the market research done will help what your
Be sure to make the customers are expecting, how you can align your
targets objective and product according to their needs. And best of all, it
achievable. It should be will provide deeper insight how you should advertise
consistent with the com- your product and services to the target customers.
pany line of thought and Being a start-up one needs to start marketing at
product/service. The moderate costs but using the techniques which pen-
targets can be set by etrates the market and reaches to customers.
benchmarking the product against the competitors Some of the points that can be considered are
so that you can see what all area are going good and following:
what needs improvements. It can be anything that is i. Build public relations:
achievable and clearly defined as in 1000 new sign- The best way to be known in the market is to be in
ups or new customer in coming quarter. Along with the market. The more you know and have reached in
this the short term objectives should be aligned to the market the more you will be able to connect to
the long term goals. Also the conversion rate should your potential customers. This can be done through
be measured so that more realistic and aligned tar- distributing leaflets, brochures, pamphlets and oth-
gets can be set next time. er traditional advertising that makes your product
4. Create your Brand and start building awareness known. Again flashmob is a new and innovative idea
of it: to market your product and create a fan-following for
Now that you know the Point of Difference (POD) your idea.
that your start-up is going to solve. You establish
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10. February 2013
ii. E-mail marketing: customer to use your product/service repeatedly. For
Try to get the list of emails of the potential custom- this some scheme or card and other innovative ideas
ers. Through this technique you will be able to reach can be put together so that the customer stays with
directly to them. The best way to do it is personalize your brand for a long time. It is a well-known fact that
the idea according to their needs. In order to avoid it costs more to attract new customer than to retain
the spamming of the mailbox one need to take care the existing one. This make the more reasons to cre-
of the points that are: ate loyalty program looking at the cost constraints.
• Make sure the mail is being sent to the correct tract new customer than to retain the existing one.
customers only else it can lead to the negative adver- This make the more reasons to create loyalty pro-
tising of the brand. gram looking at the cost constraints.
• The subject of the mail should be persuasive vi. Create your own website:
enough to attract the attention of the customer while With your website you can reach to the customer
he is skimming through the mail anytime they want to, can provide the detailed in-
• Always put the unsubscribe link or option in the formation of the product/service. It can be personal-
mail. Also try to get the feedback from the customer ised according to the customers want and needs so
at this point in time that why does he want to unsub- that greater brand association can be built with the
scribe and what else he needs to be customised that start-up. You can showcase the unique selling point
it makes itself useful in customer’s perspective. of your product and how it actually solves their prob-
iii. Personalising the product and advertising: lem or meet their needs. Here it can be done in detail
If one is launching advertising one should go for two what in advertising and other methods can’t be done.
–three types which caters to the personalised needs vii. Responding to customer’s feedbacks, queries
of the customers and its affluent group. and grievance asap:
iv. Discounts, Coupons and packages: As already been told retaining existing customers
These are attractive to induce the customers to pur- along with adding new ones should be the prime’s
chase or use your product. The packages, coupons focus of the start-up. To retain the existing one, one
should be competitive in the market that actually need to make sure their loyal customers is never dis-
forces the customers to change their brand and pur- satisfied or angry on the service they are offering. For
chasing habit. this they have to respond to the feedbacks, queries
and grievance as soon as possible by setting 24*7
call centres, self-help service and others.
viii. Develop partnerships based on mutually
beneficial objectives:
Being a start-up with limited budgets, one very
v. Creating a loyalty program: useful method to promote it will be to develop part-
There should be some strong motivation for the nership and tie-up’s with others so that both sides’
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11. February 2013
mutual benefits can be taken care. Through this one searching one gets linked to that page. Also setting
can advertise and promote each other brands and up the appropriate analytic tool is necessary to ana-
strengthen their ties which can be harnessed later. lyse the need of the customer and what we are pro-
Analysis viding thus providing a way to improve.
ix. Online marketing:
Online marketing in itself is so vast that for a start-
up it will be difficult to cover all the aspects. Though
there are some important things that one need to
make sure are properly covered in all aspects. d) Content marketing: It is developing interest-
a) Social Media: Today the world is rotating ing, creative and relevant content in your website,
around Facebook, Twitter, Google plus. Most of the blogs, social pages which can be used as an effective
people are today using social media to connect, in- way to market the start-up. By reading these articles
teract and express themselves to the world. This is the target customers can associate themselves with
not only cheap, but also effective in promoting your the brand.
brand value. It also helps in creating brand aware- e) Setting up Blogs: By having up the blogs the
ness and connection with the consumers. You can reviews, feedbacks and other minor details can be
give the latest updates, offers, products, promotions scripted. This is also a way to retain and encourage
on the go to the consumers and the persons follow- new customers to use the product or service offered.
ing you will be able to follow and like, comment and This can be done by identifying the right content
provide feedback to you upon which one can re- writers which can keep others engaged with the
spond instantaneously. product.
b) Keyword Marketing or Adwords: Whenever f) Creating a Press Kit: One of the major success
we search for any product or service online we use factors for the start-up is to keep the media engaged
certain keywords like ‘online electronic market’. Now with latest product offerings, promotions and others.
this is where one needs to be proactive and bid for This will keep your start-up coming in the news, talks
such keywords which are used when searching in and other events which will help create the buzz with
search engines like Google, Bing etc. When you pay the start-up which in turn will help them to gain new
for the keyword your website appears higher in the customers.
search list which in turn raises the chance of hit on g) Webinar, Newsletters, eBook/Guides: This
your website. can be same as press kit in which you provide the
c) Google Adcrawler: Google while creating the documents and articles to the customers directly
index for its search it looks for the meta- keywords which they can access from their websites. This will
associated with the page. For this the pages must help the customer know more about the product and
have appropriate tags linked to them so that while create the brand loyalty and affection towards it.
9 MARKezine C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

12. February 2013
Adopting all the above marketing strategies with
personalizing those techniques according to the
start-up will not help building the brand but also
help in new customers and developing brand loyalty
to them.
Submitted by:
Ravi Ranjan
IMT, Ghaziabad
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13. February 2013
Re-Thinking The 4P’S In The B2B World
product technology and quality even though these
are no longer differentiators but are simply the cost
of entry.
It underemphasizes the need to build a robust case
for the superior value of their solutions.
It distracts them from leveraging their advantage
as a trusted source of diagnostics, advice and prob-
lem solving.
3. Introducing The “Save” Model And Its Feature:
It is not that the 4P’s are irrelevant, just that they
1. Introduction:
need to be reinterpreted to serve B2B marketers. As
It’s time to re-tool the 4P’s of marketing for today’s
the chart below, today’s market demands the shift of
B2B reality. As a framework for fine-tuning the mar-
emphasis from products to solutions, place to access,
keting mix, the P’s-
price to value and promotion to education-SAVE, in
• Product
short.
• Place
• Price
• Promotion
have served the consumer markets well for half
a century. But in the B2B world, they yield narrow,
product-focused strategies that are increasingly at
odds with the imperative to deliver solutions.
2. Disadvantages Of The 4P’S Tool From The B2B
Perspective:
In a five year study involving more than 500 manag-
ers and customers in multiple countries and across
a wide range of B2B industries, it was found that the
4P’s model undercuts B2B marketers in three impor-
tant ways:
Figure: The “SAVE” Model
It leads their marketing and sales teams to stress
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14. February 2013
4. Preparing For The Shift: with the development and delivery teams. Motorola
Motorola Solutions, a pioneer of the new framework, Solutions required that specialist teams concentrate
used SAVE to guide the restructuring of its market- on solutions and coordinate their approaches to spe-
cific customer needs. This ensured that functional
ing organization and its go-to-market strategies in
boundaries did not determine the firm’s solutions.
the government and enterprise sectors. Along the
5. Conclusion:
way the firm identified three requirements for suc-
B2B marketers who continue to embrace the 4P’s
cessfully making the shift from 4P’s to SAVE.
model and mind-set risk getting locked into a repeti-
tive and increasingly unproductive technological
arms race. The SAVE framework is the centrepiece
of a new solution-selling strategy-and B2B firms
ignore it at their peril. Firms therefore, should seri-
ously think about implementing the “SAVE” model
to re-align its marketing strategy in order to cater to
the demand of the existing market needs.
4.1. Solution 1:
First, management must encourage a solutions Submitted by:
mind-set throughout the organization. Many B2B Arjyama Choudhury
companies, particularly those with an engineering Mdi, Gurgaon
or technology focus, find it difficult to move beyond
thinking in terms of “technologically superior” prod-
ucts and services and take a customer-centric per-
spective instead.
4.2. SOLUTION 2:
Second, management needs to ensure that the de-
sign of the marketing organization reflects and rein-
forces the customer-centric focus. At Motorola solu-
tions, this led to the dramatic reorganization of the
marketing function into complementary specialities,
allowing focus on each element of the SAVE frame-
work and alignment with the customer’s purchase
journey.
4.3. SOLUTION 3:
Third, management must create collaboration be-
tween the marketing and sales organizations and
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15. February 2013
Can brands be Immortal?
The brands, unlike prod- services can die. Brands have the potential to liber-
ucts and categories ate the companies from the limitations of category
can be immortal and or product life cycle and its destruction of sharehold-
can outlive the corpora- er value.
tions. The management Given the intense interest in brands developing off
should focus more on brands and build them as a late and how to preserve their asset value, the CEOs,
capital and look at them as an intangible asset of the CFOs and directors of all companies must appreci-
firm. ate with much greater clarity the financial implica-
The balance of shareholder value has shifted irrevo- tions of the brand management.
cably from tangible assets to intangible assets. Intan- The key role of marketing in this context can be
gible assets account for a growing proportion of the said to reside in managing a company’s customers
companies’ market value, as corporate performance by identifying, influencing, acquiring, serving, sat-
and profitability are driven more and more by the isfying and retaining them at a profit. The product
exchange and exploitation of ideas, information, ex- of this process would be the ‘customer capital’ – the
pertise and service, and less and less by control over company’s customer base and to a large degree, the
physical resources. Intangible assets include a host present and future value of the business, as it is usu-
of elements like patents, strategic alliances, custom- ally its prime revenue generating asset. The man-
er lists, employee know-how and other forms of non- agement should be keenly aware of, and planning to
physical assets, but in many companies these days, mitigate, the risk factors for the company in terms
the most important intangible asset is the ‘brand’. In of the rate at which it is winning or losing custom-
fact, in some sectors, brands comprise up to 70% of ers and the rising, or falling, future revenues that im-
the companies’ market capitalization. plies. The nature and strength of a brand’s relation-
Experts consider that the concept of brand life cycle ships with its customers can vary significantly over
is an old-fashioned and outmoded one. There can be time and according to factors beyond the control of
product and category life cycles, with their charac- marketing that may affect either the company or the
teristic phases of birth, growth, maturity and decline. customer or both. These factors might include the
But brands, if desired, can be immortal. A company’s economic climate, social trends, technological ad-
relationship with the customer is based upon much vances, product or service performance, competitive
more than the functional performance of the prod- activity, editorial coverage and word of mouth as well
uct or the service that the company provides. This as customer life stage, employment and personal ex-
makes the brand immortal, while the products and perience, to name a few.
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16. February 2013
So, the concept of customer capital can be used to Capitalism has created a vested interest in keep-
build a bridge between the inputs of business and ing brand alive, and every year as the cost and com-
marketing strategy and the outputs of revenue plexity of creating brands increase, this interest
growth, profitability and shareholder value. strengthens. Thus, the companies’ success increas-
One major risk that a company takes by using this ingly depends on the longevity of their brands. But
concept of replacing the asset of brand equity with successful brand management would require a full
the capital item of the customer capital, would be of understanding within the company of the value of
shifting the role of marketing towards the short term a brand. Only if the value of the brand is known and
and taking the attention away from the longer-term fully appreciated will there be less of a tendency to
building of shareholder value through brand equity. allow it to wither away, a direction would be found
Another key issue would be if there is a universal to preserve its value and safeguard the historical in-
means of calculating the customer capital. This en- vestment made into it. If this can’t be done, it will be
tails knowing the value of a brand’s customers and sold off to somebody who can make better use of it,
the likelihood of recruiting or retaining them over a but at a full value and not at the distress value. The
given time period, which is a function of the brand’s problem here is that most companies do not have
competitive strength. For companies having a direct accurate understanding of the value of their brands,
relationship with the customers via catalogues, di- and therefore allow them to decline, while retaining
rect mail or internet, it is easier. But for brands sold ownership.
through wholesalers, retailers and other intermedi- The death of a brand through re-branding exercises
aries the calculation is hard to build into a forecast of becomes unavoidable in many cases as the original
customer capital but has massive implications for it. brand has been allowed to become too old-fashioned
or competitive to be sustainable. The rebirth exer-
cise is a lot easier in retail due to habitual shopping
patterns and the fixed nature of outlets combining to
ensure that the new format starts with an inherited
customer footfall. It is rare outside retail, but killing
off a neglected brand can sometimes be the only way
to save the business. Well-managed brands never get
to see such a situation.
The few beneficial brand deaths are very much the
exception that proves the general rule of the value
of brand immortality. More usually the demise of a
brand signals the destruction of shareholder value,
through a reduction in the intangible asset base of
the company. The CEOs, boards of companies, their
C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP MARKezine 14

17. February 2013
investors, analysts, advisors and journalists who quired by the Dutch company Akzo Model, the Cad-
write about them, all need to take a much closer in- bury’s Dairy Milk, Thums Up, etc. Often it is the ex-
terest in the role of marketing and communication pectation that those brands may be better off in the
in the creation and maintenance of brands and in the hands of another corporation that is responsible for
12% of all shareholder value the account for on an av- the extinction of the original owner.
erage across all of the world’s stock exchanges. Brands are sometimes allowed to die, often justi-
fied by the spurious mantra of the brand life cycle.
Though it is not possible to rejuvenate every strick-
en brand, and within a multi-brand company it may
not always make commercial sense, there’s too much
grievous bodily harm done to brands and sometimes
outright brand slaughter. The brands though indeed
have unlimited potential to be immortal, and their
death is usually a result of the failure of imagina-
tion and/or investment by their owners. A firm must
In his book Why most things fail, Paul Ormerod puts know how to cheat brand death, not just in its old
forth a persuasive case for the inevitable mortality of age, but also in its infancy and all stages in between.
corporations. He draws intriguing analogies with na-
One of Damien Hirst’s most celebrated works is a
ture and extinction of species. He says, that as with
shark preserved in a vitrine full of formaldehyde.
human life, good care can starve off the inevitable
The title given to it is, The physical impossibility of
for a while, but, eventually time catches up with them
death in the mind of someone living. Brands are like
all. His analysis suggests that there is a continuous
sharks, they keep moving to stay alive, and the role
extinction of companies at the rate of about 10% per
of brand managers would be to ensure that they keep
annum, but every so often there is a dramatic peak,
moving and in the right direction, at the very least,
during which in a short period very large numbers
going with the flow of market evolution, riding the
go out of business, as many as 60% in a single year.
waves of competition and modulating communica-
Companies also disappear due to mergers and ac-
tions in tune with the ever-shifting consumer senti-
quisitions.
ment.
However, on the last page of his book, Ormerod as-
of the strategic marketing tools that has uninten-
serts that almost all brands fail eventually. I would
tionally done more than any other development to
beg to differ here. Why should brands die? Time and
perpetuate the myth of the mortality of brands is the
time again, we have seen brands who outlive the cor-
Boston matrix, with its widely known but little un-
porations who created them. For instance, KitKat,
derstood categories of ‘stars’, ‘cash cows’, ‘dogs’ and
confectionary bar first created by Rowntree and now
‘question marks’.
made by Nestle, or the Dulux brand which was ac-
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18. February 2013
The application of this matrix to the brands comes and the consumers.
with an assumption that at some point of time when
the category growth falters, a brand will progress to
the cash cow status, and thence fade. But since the
tool was for category management and not for brand
management, it can create a self-fulfilling prophecy
that growth falters so marketing support is cut and
so growth falters further and so on. A powerful anal-
ogy to bring this point to life is that of an aircraft in
flight and the plane’s fuel supply is cut off and the
engines stop. But the fact is that the place would not
fall out of the sky immediately. It can indeed glide for
sometime before inevitably hitting the ground. The
same thing would happen to brands whose invest- 2. A brand image belongs not only to the brand but
ment in marketing and communications is cut off. also to all those who have knowledge of that brands.
In today’s times, the brands are entering a period of 3. The image of the brand is highly subjective and
retailer power in which only strong brands, i.e. the no two people however similar would have the same
brands which are more valuable to consumers than view of the brand.
competitive brands and the brands that have added
4. To build a global brand, therefore, is a contradic-
value and would be able to sustain healthy margins.
tion in terms and impossibility.
These values are increasingly becoming non-func-
5. People form conclusions about a brand as a result
tional, and the creation of integrated brand person-
of uncountable number of different stimuli, many
alities that unite non-functional and functional val-
of which are beyond the control or influence of the
ues would become essential. This brand personality
product owner.
must be unique and should be constantly develop-
ing to stay unique in order to remain salient and 6. Brands, unlike products, are living, organic enti-
profitable. ties. However, they change imperceptibly, every sin-
gle day.
Jeremy Bullmore has provided with an image of
what a brand is and how it is made. He says that peo- 7. Much of what influences the value of a brand lies
ple build brands as birds build nests, from scrap and in the hands of its competitors.
straws we chance upon. A number of his key conclu- 8. The only way to begin to understand the nature
sions are as follows – of brands is to strive to acquire a faculty that only the
1. Products are made and owned by companies while greatest of the novelists possess and that is so rare
brands are made and owned by people, the public, that it has no name.
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19. February 2013
9. It is universally accepted that brands are a com- they are well-managed they can as well be immortal.
pany’s most valuable assets, and yet there is no uni-
versally accepted method of measuring that value. Submitted by:
10. The only time one can be sure of the value of a Bhavi Patel
brand is just after it has been sold. Institute of Rural Management, Anand
11. Brands are not hierarchically inferior to compa-
nies, in fact, if companies are managed as brands
only then can they be hopeful of success.
One of the key observations here is that brands are
increasingly outside the control of marketers. We
live in an era when consumers, in the chat rooms and
social networking sites of the online world, increas-
ingly mould brands, rather than their owners. This
isn’t so new, since people have always overlaid their
own thoughts and experiences on the marketing-
created image of brands which sometimes has had
destructive consequences. Co-creation is a very real
fact of life for brands. They feed the online and of-
fline buzz that shapes perceptions and hope to miti-
gate any adverse impressions.
This process is increasingly distant from the old-
fashioned view that advertising alone builds the
brands, which formed the ‘what you tell them is what
they think’ school of marketing. Today, advertising
is only one of the influences that may condition the
consumer views of a brand, but is likely to work pow-
erfully only if it works in tandem with other influ-
ences. This realization has led the marketing world
into an uncertain field of co-creation and there have
been mistakes along the way.
Thus, a clear corollary of Bullmore’s bird’s nest anal-
ogy, and his insight that brands exist independently
of the corporations, products and services they de-
rive from is that brands can therefore outlive them. If
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20. February 2013
Gamification-
An Emerging Trend in Digital Marketing
What is Gamification? Gamification is using game
tactics in real life scenarios to achieve some prede-
fined roles. It includes giving incentives to people,
giving them discounts based on points accumulated
etc. At the car was station, we get a free car wash for
every 10th car wash. When we fly by a particular
airline, we get some points with the promise of op-
portunity to redeem those points to get some incen-
tive. Gamification is reward-participation system.
From very small activities like Facebook page likes,
blogs, tweets etc to big scale activities like bulk buy-
ing, exchange offers, can bring rewards for the us-
In the new era of marketing, the marketers are busier ers. Rewards can vary from virtual points, discounts
in selling incentives rather than products. A study on articles, special promotional goodies etc. These
shows that consumers are getting attracted towards rewards are the main attraction for the consumers.
a lesser quality product but with some extra incen- They help to increase sales, create brand awareness,
tives attached to it than a higher quality without brand reputation and easy advertisements. Accord-
incentivized product. Incentives drive purchase be- ing to Gabe Zichermann, CEO and founder of Gami-
havior. It makes one buy more than desired and in- fication Co, Gamification consists of three Fs: fun,
creases level of loyalty for a brand. Gamification is friends and feedback. He says that Gamification is
the technique to capture this increasing desire for like making everything feel like a game. Siemens,
incentives. Plantville, SAP and IBM are just a few examples cited
A large number of organizations are using Gamifica- by Forbes 2000 that have implemented Gamification
tion techniques now days. Gamification helps com- techniques and have seen considerable changes in
panies to encourage employees for better job per- the employees’ performance. A research shows that
formance, crowdsource ideas and even train people. by 2015, 50% of the companies will be using Gami-
The world is getting filled with Gamification ideas. fication techniques in innovation methods and 70%
Attracting customers, influencing behaviors, modu- of big companies will use Gamification techniques
lating beliefs, in almost every sphere, Gamification in next three years while small companies won’t. A
techniques are playing its role. research by M2 says that Gamification will increase
from $100 million in 2011 to $2.8 billion in 2016
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21. February 2013
Gamification: Is everything a game? doing better and told about his contacts performance
Understanding the user’s behavior, their source of The app is using gaming techniques (reward, com-
motivation and use of techniques to reward them for petitions, achievements, progress tracking, challeng-
es and the like) to make the person do something. It
motivates and rewards as a way of doing something,
and it is this element of Gamification that is most
interesting and exciting for brands.
Getting the right motivation and rewarding the be-
havior marketer wants, give people more reasons to
doing things that ultimately helps to achieve the aim spend time with your brand and to tell others about
is the real benefit of Gamification. Every job should it. Understanding the
involve element of fun. Games are thought of as fun,
motivation of customer and push or prompt them
they include elements of competition with others
to buy and to engage them in meaningful ways, re-
and with you, and ultimately they result in a win-
warding them for the things that they do that benefit
ner.
them.
Using the techniques involved in games which make
Gamification:
them such addictive and successful is the way to pro-
Not only about offering free stuff, it’s about status
vide value to brands. Gamification in social media is
not about your brand finding the next Farmville; it is
about something more complicated than this, but ul-
timately something that should be more successful.
The most critical thing in marketing: Understand-
ing what people want to achieve and their behavior
when they do so. Gamification uses game mechanics
to help people get where they want to get (and in-
deed where marketers want them to get) - rewarding
and motivating them along the way. Take a simple
example: An app on the phone tracks the run of a
person sending it to the twitter account, so that peo- During a statement at TNW 2012 Gamification CEO
ple can see the updates like duration and distance Gabe Zichermann suggested that companies must
of run. first understand what it is about video games that
The person is also told when the distance covered is engage consumers.
better than the previous weeks. The upshot is that “It is not just throwing some badges on your website.
the person is rewarded for doing well, pressured into Although badges are important, they are not the
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22. February 2013
only thing we need.” there is engagement of digital technology. So Gami-
The belief among marketers that free stuff drives fication-application of reward structures to manipu-
consumers is wrong. In fact, the critical reward that late behavior, plays a considerable role in their life.
marketers can offer consumer is status, followed by There are examples of various e-commerce websites
ower over their peers, free stuff and cash prizes.Take that we come across daily like inkfruit.com, flipkart.
two scenarios com etc, all of these use Gamification methods to in-
In scenario A, consumer is given a free cup of coffee crease their businesses. Using points system to in-
In scenario B, consumer is given the privilege to crease sales is a very common practice now a days
have the coffee at Starbucks where he/she is given and it is going to increase as the penetration of digi-
special treatment which will give consumer a status tal marketing will increase. Several other examples
quotient like small games to earn points and promote the
product, games to increase awareness etc are very
It is observed that humans who are emotional beings
prevalent now days.
would choose option B anytime. This psychology of
offering customers status above their peers develops In international scenario as well some very famous
long term brand loyalty rather than rewarding them services like foursquare, BART (Bay Area Rapid
with free stuff which is a quick gain. Transit) system are using Gamification techniques.
Gamification- Trend in Digital Marketing Foursquare uses gaming techniques to encourage
people to get engage in very small activities like
checking into their locations, creating a network or
community of people. BART in San Francisco uses
foursquare services to bring a new perspective of
public transportation. Starbucks uses its own reward
system in digital marketing and is creating a good
number of loyal customers. Nike and several other
brands are using gaming techniques to increase
their presence in digital world.
Conclusion:
Generation Y, which is commonly referred to as “mil-
lennial” or the “Net Generation” has grown up with
video games. They have special inclination towards
gaming techniques in marketing. This means that
Gamification has special impact on their life. They
expect digital intervention in almost every sphere
of life. In workplace, market, social life everywhere
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23. February 2013
Gamification is a relatively new technique to at-
tract customers and to get hold in digital marketing
world. As generation Y has taken the lead, there is
a need to provide them the similar kind of action in
and outside their work environment and with the ad-
vent of digital marketing, Gamification’s importance
has increased three folds. So there is a need to imple-
ment Gamification techniques in digital marketing
to capture the market.
Submitted by:
Ayush Gulati
Guneet Singh Arneja
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
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24. February 2013
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C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP