MARKMANTRA_IIFT_September_2010

MARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBER MARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBER

MARKMANTRAMarketing Magazine of IIFT Kolkata

BWBRANDWAGON

ISSUE 4 | September 2010

MARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBERMARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBER

Editor’s NoteDear Readers,

I am pleased to release the 4th issue of

MarkMantra. Issue after issue me and my team

have been working hard to make this magazine

better and better. With the help of new editing

team we feel much more equipped and confident

to deliver better.

This issue is close to our heart since we had

done few major changes. We have incorporated

new columns to enrich the understanding of

few concepts which are not that easily available

elsewhere.

Vikram and Snehal have come up with an

interesting article on T24 the buzz word these

days in the telecom and retail industry. They will

tell us what T24 is all about.

International marketing is very important a

concept to know. Time has gone where domestic

players used to focus on domestic markets, now

domestic players are exploring international

markets to survive domestically. With such an

environment around us, International Marketing

is truly of great importance. Hence, we have

introduced a new column on International

Marketing which will deal with the strategy used

by various MNCs to market their products and

services internationally.

I am thankful to Mr. Vivek Gupta for his precious

time giving us his interview and sharing with us

his experiences. Vivek, the Managing Director

of a online shopping portal called KOOVS has

explained what it takes for a firm set-up in

Singapore to operate its business in India.

We are launching our first ever competition

through MarkMantra, To see the creativity side

of all the marketing enthusiasts we are inviting

print-ads for KOOVS. The two best entries will

take home certificates and cash prizes.

Jayant of 1st year MBA at IIFT has explained

what Marketing 3.0 is all about. As an ending

note, we are listing down all the recent product

launches in our special column LAUNCHPAD.

I hope you will thoroughly enjoy this issue with

its rich content.

Happy Reading,

Praveen Kumar G

EDITING TEAM

Managing Editor

Naveen Gupta

Associate Editors

Arvind yadav

Gaurav Gudka

Radhika Ravichandran

Vipul Saini

MARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBERMARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBER MARKMANTRA | SEPTEMBER

CONTENTS

Banking on Marketing 4

Marketing Terms Exposed 7

International Marketing 8

Telecom: Dissolving Boundaries 10

Corporate Interview 13

Print-Ad Competition 15

Marketing 3.0 16

Launchpad 18


Banking on Marketing

How often have we walked into

the bank feeling that it’s a chore

to be completed and gotten over

with at the earliest? Banks aren’t really

places that attract you the way perhaps

shopping malls do, through it’s a common

thread of money running through it all.

Money needs no marketing; it’s perhaps

one thing that is inherently designed

to attract people.

However, investment

options for money need

their share of attention-

grabbing approaches

and we see banks often

portraying the same in

the media. Banks are

trying to build valuable

brand images with consumer-oriented

advertising and distinct product lines.

Banks can no longer be order-takers,

which was the characteristic of the old

banking industry. Today, banking across

all segments of people – be it rich or poor,

urban or rural – first and foremost requires

walking hand-in-hand with the customers

and understanding their concerns. Given

the financial crisis the world has gone

through, nothing can substitute an element

of trust in the mind of the customer about

the bank’s advisory services offering a

wide gamut of financial products.

Despite what many believe, a bank’s true

brand value isn’t about its logo, tagline

or its glossy financial products brochure.

Instead, a bank’s genuine potential is

reflected through multiple components, all

of them necessary - including customer

interactions, employee communications

and corporate philosophy, and not just

Are Banks Customer Friendly? Do Banks attract customers ? Do Banking services talked about ?


advertising and marketing efforts. Banks

cannot merely show flashy advertisements

on T.V or print self-congratulatory full

page ads in the national newspapers

bragging about the number of branches

and get away with it.True marketing for

a bank happens when a customer steps

into a bank. The ambience at the bank,

the tone of the bank employee and

their willingness to listen, the level of

assistance offered, the speed at which

the transaction is executed without any

unnecessary obstacles – all this goes a

long way in creating an experience which

the customer will either appreciate or

never want to relive.

In the world of banking, Jyske Bank brings

in a difference. Jyske Bank, Denmark’s

third largest financial institution, invested

400 million Danish kroner (equivalent to

54m euro or 72m USD) to redesign and

brand their bank as an experience bank,

when asked by management to double

the number of retail customers. As you

enter its branch office, you encounter the

smiling face of a Jyske advisor standing

behind a PC monitor on a countertop.

This area is called the AskBar. In a Jyske

branch practically everything is called a

“Bar.” Even the till has been renamed the

MoneyBar. At the AskBar you can get an

orientation either from the bank advisor

or from a short video. Or you can just

proceed into the rest of the bank, at the

centre of which is the aforementioned and

seemingly essential CoffeeBar, where

they serve some very fine coffee for free.

There, from the big plasma screen, you

can watch the news (via RSS feeds from

various prominent newspapers around

the world), weather reports, and so on,

while you help yourself to the coffee.


Another integral part of the new Jyske

“bank of the future” is something called

the Theme Island. This is where you pick

up “packages” that describe the bank’s

“products.” Jyske has made an attempt

to make its products physical by putting

them into boxes like software boxes or

DVD boxes, to make intangible and often

complicated things like investment options

easy to understand and interesting to buy.

Anyone can walk into the bank, just like

they would into a coffee shop, read papers,

hang around and maybe even check out

some new products and services the

bank offers. The packaged products have

a barcode that you scan on specially

designed computers which will then show

you a small movie about the product and

what it has to offer. The conference rooms

in Jyske Bank branches also feature huge

wall-mounted plasma monitors. These

are touch-screen controlled. Customers

can stroll into a conference room with

coffee in hand, and a bank advisor can

show them video presentations or use the

touch screen to help them calculate what

their mortgage payments might be, for

example. Jyske Bank is a bank, a store,

and a modern library. It is the place where

customers become smarter, inspired, and

experience a straightforward atmosphere.

Jyske not only managed to double its

base, it also managed to get so much

free press for its efforts that the bank’s

awareness skyrocketed.

Banks in India still have a long way to

go to creating a memorable experience

for the customer that matches up to the

kind of experience a fine hospitality set-

up like Jyske Bank would offer. However,

there is always the scope of creating

an environment that encourages the

employees to be truly concerned about

the customers. The banking industry does

not have many points of differentiation

because the nature of product offerings

is more or less similar. But they can

differentiate by providing high quality

service which in turn will lead to customer

satisfaction.

The banking sector has a huge role to

play in safeguarding the prospects for

economic development across the globe.

Financial awareness in India is still in its

infancy where the masses are concerned.

People still need to understand the basics

of financial planning and how best they

can create, manage and sustain wealth.

Banks have a very important role to play

in the new India that is growing at a

pace which was never seen before. The


need of the hour is to go beyond merely

selling depository services and financial

products. It’s not really about selling,

it’s about creating value. If marketing in

banks comes up to this, the day isn’t far

when banking will become an enjoyable

experience for the customers and the

ambience in the banks will begin reflecting

a warm and welcoming environment.

Going the extra mile is what is ultimately

going to bring the customer back again

and again, something that even the best

of brand taglines can never do.

Wriiten By

Mehak GandhiMBA IB (09-11)

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

Tryvertising:

It is a term actually used to make the

consumers familiar about the product be-

fore they actually buy it by actually mak-

ing them try the products. It is actually a

new breed of product placement in the

real world, integrating the goods and ser-

vices into daily life in a relavant way. In

this way the customers can actually make

up their minds based on the experience,

not on messages.

Product Placement:

Is also sometimes known as embedded

marketing, where the products are con-

texually placed in movies, television seri-

als or news. This method is very effec-

tive as it is able to make a “emotional

connect“ and better dovetailing with the

relevant content.


International Marketing


Written byArvind Yadav

MBA IB (10-12)Indian Institute of Foreign Trade


Telecom: Dissolving boundaries

It is rule of game called “Treasure hunt” that if you are not finding the hidden

treasure then either search for new locations in the vicinity or expand the vicin-

ity. Something similar is happening nowadays in the telecom industry. They are

now crossing the telecom domains by aligning themselves with other sectors or by

establishing themselves in new geographic locations in search of revenues. Earlier,

ARPU was very dominant factor for telecom industry but it is not the exact measure

of profitability. But now telcos have realized it is not only about the ARPU but the

minutes of usage i.e. time for which subscriber is using the network. More the net-

work is used, more the revenue is being generated by the operator. The importance

of co-branding is reiterated with the latest developments in the Telecom industry.

Written by | Vikram Singh | Snehal Gajbhiye | Symbiosis Institute of Telecom

Management


Telecom in Retail

It is well known fact that consumer ac-

quisition cost is much more than retention

cost and hence Telco’s are also looking

for different innovative and loyalty based

programs to retain their customers. This

may prove to be a better technique in-

stead of using all your money for market-

ing, branding and advertising as telecom

industry enjoys one of the most lowest

customer retention rates. Tata Teleser-

vices is among the very first operators

to enter into a strategic alliance with Fu-

ture group to bring about a new marketing

concept of “Retailer-Telco partnership”

under “T24” brand. T24 simply means

talk for 24 hours which is a loyalty based

program in which consumer will buy more

to talk more or talk more and buy more.

This concept is similar to petro cards in

early 2000s which was joint effort of pe-

troleum and credit card companies like

HPCL-ICICI Bank credit card and IOC-

Citibank credit card where customer is

getting exemption from the surcharge

imposed on fuel, 15% discount on pollu-

tion under control check, 5% discounts on

Exide batteries, MRF tyres. Future group

is also giving a thought to have collabo-

ration with fuel companies, free electric-

ity offer for those who have purchased

electric appliances from Future retail out-

lets. In the era of increasing competition

only option left with the operators is to

gain as well as to retain. Same strategy


can be followed by Airtel with Easyday

as well as Reliance with Reliance fresh.

As a matter of fact that Virgin Mobile tar-

gets mostly the youth sector so they have

decided to have tie-ups with electronics,

consumer goods, apparels, restaurants,

consumer goods. But still there is lot to

be explored and achieved in this concept

of co branding. For example: Companies

giving international SIM like Airtel has re-

cently launched World SIM for interna-

tional roaming can also collaborate with

Airlines.

Telecom in Media

Way in which telecom entered into re-

tail sector, same way it has entered into

media and multiplexes. Vodafone Tues-

days: a concept in which Vodafone cus-

tomers are being awarded 2 movie tickets

at price of one on Tuesdays with Satyam

cinemas in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai. Loop

mobile is also providing similar kind of

services with Cinemax multiplexes and

Sterling multiplexes on Fridays. One can

also purchase a combo pack of regular

Popcorn & Coke at just Rs. 50. Through

this tie-up with all 13 Cinemax theatres

and Sterling Cinema in Mumbai, Loop

Mobile subscribers located anywhere in

the city will be at convenience. While the

procedure to avail this is very simple, the

scheme is open at a first come first serve

basis cueing subscribers to book the tick-

ets well in advance after receiving the

Mcoupon.

Bundling of Services

Most people think telecom is restricted

to voice calls but there are lot of things

under umbrella called telecom like DTH,

wire line, wireless, VAS, Broadband. So

operators like AIrtel, Tata, Reliance which

are in all the verticals can gain an added

advantage by providing discounts on ac-

cess of all these services from the same

operator. This is bundling of services.

Moreover if we observe the scenario in

European countries, we find that they

have started convergence of all these

services on single platform which not only

saves on the cost but also reduces sub-

scriber churn and provides retention.


Q1. Could you tell us about Koovs and its

business model?

Koovs Singapore Pte. Ltd. provides an online

platform for mass dealings of products & services

at an exceptionally great bargain. It assists all

Merchants (big/small) through personalised

consulting, and packaging their products &

services into lucrative e-commerce saleable

People usually confuse E-commerce with only

having ‘www’-presence and ignore the possibility

of offline associations with complementary

businesses. Perhaps exploring the offline

association for any E-commerce is the most

important piece of advice I would recommend to

all new ventures.

Q5. Reasons for choosing Singapore as your

attractions so that they can get

more business and benefit from

economies-of-scale.

At the same time it helps its

Customers in availing amazing

products & services and gives

individual customer a great

buying power through demand

aggregation strategy.

Q2. How do you communicate with your target market?

Always moving ahead with our new strategies,

Koovs’ competitive-advantage has made it

unbeatable in Singapore because of its strategic-

partnerships through which we have managed

to affiliate ourselves with indirect channels of

Government support. In addition, we deploy all

major E-commerce expansion tactics through

revenue-sharing affiliation programs, linking up

with several social-media and social-networking

websites like Facebook, Twitter etc.

business center?

Singapore is the world’s fastest

growing business destination.

Its dense demographics

and high currency valuation

makes it an attractive choice

among many APAC and SEA

countries. It offers many

challenges and opportunities at

the same time and thus gives

an immense grooming platform

for entrepreneurs like me.

Q3. What are some of the Promotional

strategies you employ in Singapore?

Without a doubt there are millions of businesses

that have a proven track-record of E-commerce

venture. But that’s not the case with many

businesses that are trying to sell products &

services in a competitive market.

To penetrate a saturated market like in Singapore

one needs to have ideas lucrative enough to divert

CORPORATE INTERVIEW

Vivek Gupta, MD, KOOVS


traffic towards his E-commerce platform. At Koovs

we strongly believe in strategic-partnerships. One

of our partners is Recycle Machine Enterprise

(RME), run by a group of philanthropists. They

deploy their recycling vending machines in most

crowded and posh areas of Singapore. And the

people who use these recycling machines to

throw in plastic-garbage are rewarded by Koovs

coupons whose price may vary from $1 to $20.

Even big-corporate cannot compete with Koovs

in rewarding people with such a hefty offer for

recycling a used plastic-garbage.

Thus, Koovs is playing a big role in the ‘Green

Singapore’ promotions by the Government.

Likewise, in India Koovs has over 30 corporate

tie-ups (IBM, Cisco etc), over 20 affiliate

partnerships (Lootmore, Foodiebay, Accentium

etc) and many strategic-partnerships (Myntra,

Ferns & Petals etc). On a similar note we are

proceeding on to new territories.

Q4. What are the future prospects and growth

avenues your company is looking at?

With the pace our start-up venture Koovs is

expanding we expect it to be among the top

service selling E-commerce venture in South-

east Asia by Feb 2011. Koovs’ altered strategies

and innovative ideas have been successful till

date and most likely will outperform the top-most

regional competitors.

As of now we have presence in India and

Singapore. And we are up for a big launch in

another big SE Asian country soon.

Q6. How are you targeting customers in India, or

other countries: International marketing aspect?

Koovs is among the early starters of Group-

buying websites in India. Today it is a very

renowned and popular venture. Also it is the first

and the only Group-buying company to expand

overseas. Although our regional operations target

location-specific market but the internal sharing

of expertise and resources that we have acquired

over a period of time gives us the edge over

competition.

Q7. What was your prime motive in becoming

an entrepreneur?

I consider myself an above average risk-taker

and an opportunist. Being an aggressive doer

who can relatively easily deal with today’s

struggles without getting distracted by future

rewards or lucrative substitutes during failures, I

would say, in one word, it’s the ‘job-satisfaction’

that was the prime motive behind becoming an

entrepreneur. And the love for the ownership and

willingness to take responsibility of activities/

tasks help me deals with the ‘motivation’ part.

This interview was given by Vivek K Gupta

an IIT grad who had done his MBA from

Nyenrode Business University & Kellogg

School of Management. Presently he is the

MD of KOOVS.


PRINT-AD Competition

Design a print ad for the promotion of Koovs. To know more about Koovs, please refer to the

interview of MD Koovs published in this edition. For further detail visit at koovs.com.

Prizes

The top two entries would receive certificate of appreciation and prizes worth Rs 500 each.

Rules

1. The maximum number of members in a Team may be two.

2. Please send your entries with subject line as well as document name as

<Koovs>_<TeamName>_<Institute name> to [email protected].

3. The last date of receiving all the entries is 25th October 2010.

4. The entries would be judged by the IIFT professors and the shortlisted entries would be sent

to Koovs MD for final decision.


The Next Level : Marketing 3.0From Products to Customers to Human Spirit !!

Marketing, today, has really come of

age – from being ‘product centric’

(Marketing 1.0) in the industrial age to

being ‘customer centric’ (Marketing 2.0)

until recently. But the world is fast reaching

an inflection point, at which a complete

shift will occur in the way customers are

perceived and in the way marketing is

done. And to stay ahead of the curve,

brands will have to evolve themselves

to survive in

the renewed

market, to think

on their feet

and express

their benefits

through ideas,

service and

entertainment.

Welcome to the world of Marketing 3.0

– the ‘human centric’ era. Today, we are

witnessing a transition from the information

age to the ‘age of participation’, and

hence it is imperative for the marketer to

look at people not just as customers, but

as ‘humans’, who are active, expressive,

anxious and conscious. No longer is

the purpose restricted to identifying and

fulfilling only the needs and wants of the

customer; now it’s vital to identify and

fulfil their deepest anxieties and desires

as well.

An unprecedented coalescence of low-

cost computing devices, easily available

bandwidth and open-source has allowed

unlimited connectivity and interactivity of

corporations and individuals alike. So

today, the people are creating news, ideas

and entertainment as well as consuming

them. The means of marketing must now

evolve as the media itself evolves, and

as the marketer exercises little, if any,

control over what the customer sees.

The internet and the multifarious forms of

social media have enabled the customer

to see what a company is doing for the

benefit of the community as a whole.


Hence, collaboration with the customer is

called for to listen to his/her voice and to

capture market insights which can help in

distilling out a distinctive ‘cultural dynamic’

that has a significant resonance among

the various communities. Moreover, as

a natural consequence of globalisation,

cultural issues urgently need to be put at

the core of a company’s business model.

A steady rise of the ‘creative society’ has

also necessitated that the products and

services must overreach the satisfaction

of needs to deliver an experience that

touches the customer’s spiritual side as

well. The customer isn’t just the king,

but s/he’s also the R&D and product

development head today. Hence, it

is imperative for companies to create

personal communications with the

customer by promoting their freedom to

talk about the company and its brands.

The customer today demands collaborative,

iconic, and independent marketing

approaches. Sophisticated consumers of

today are creating the future’s creative

consumer markets, in which targeting

the mind isn’t enough, but the key is to

target their hearts. So, marketing must be

emotionally relevant and redefine its root

as a triangle of Positioning, Differentiation

and Brand. A clear positioning in the

customer’s mind will lead to a distinct

brand identity; strongly differentiating

your brand will give it a different brand

image; and a clear positioning bolstered

by a strong differentiation will lead to

formidable brand equity.

Companies must also realise that they are

a part of the society and the environment,

and must align their mission, vision and

values towards social responsibility.

Aspiring for sustainability will definitely

strike a chord with the people and this is

what people share on social networks.

Marketing 3.0 requires the companies to

create not only products and services,

but entire corporate cultures, which are

customer value driven at the fundamental

level. Instead of a linear relationship

between a brand and a consumer, an

interconnected linkage between company,

brand, employees, consumers and

community is the need of the hour.

Written ByJayant Rana

MBA-IB (10-12)Indian Institute of Foreign Trade


Product

LauchpadProduct 1

Company Name: Brabus, Germany

Sector: Automobiles

Company Profile: Brabus, Germany, is

a high-performance aftermarket tuning

company which specializes in Mercedes-

Benz, Smart and Maybach vehicles.

New Product: Brabus iBusiness Sedan

The latest products from Apple, New

Product: Brabus iBusiness Sedan

The latest products from Apple, including

the iPad, have all been integrated into

a Mercedes-Benz S-Class to create

the Brabus iBusiness. Not only does it

promise to be exciting to drive, but the

rear passenger compartment is fitted with

enough tech to make an Apple junkie’s

head explode. Steve Jobs, your stupid-

fast luxury sedan has arrived.

Launch Time: August 2010

Target Market: The ultra-premium class

who are tech-savvy especially Apple

lovers

Positioning: The new mobile office

Product 2

Company Name: Virgin Group, UK

Sector: Telecom, Aeronautics

Company Profile: Virgin Group Limited

is a British branded venture capital

conglomerate organisation founded

by business tycoon Richard Branson.

The core business areas are travel,

entertainment and lifestyle.


New Product: Virgin Galactic- Space

Travel along with 340 Virgin Galactic

Astronauts at a cost of $ 200,000.

Launch Time: Spring 2010

Target Market: Customers keen to reach

infinity and beyond are from all walks of

life – from trust fund teens, to a 78-year

old grandmother and who can afford the

USD 200,000 price tag on a single ticket.

Product III

Company Name: TATA Teleservices

Sector: TelecomCompany Profile:

Tata Teleservices

Limited is one of

India’s leading

private telecom

service providers that offers integrated

telecom solutions to its customers under

the Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon

and Walky brands, and uses both the

CDMA and GSM technology platform(s)

for its wireless networks.

New Product: DOCOMICS, a sequel to

TATA DOCOMO’s recently announced,

unique, industry first, m-Comics, enables

consumers to read full comics on mobile

along with special effects like character

vibration, sounds, zooming text bubbles.

at a nominal rate of Rs 15/- per comic

chapter.


Launch Time: Jan-Feb 2010

Target Market: TATA DOCOMO users

and customers with rich-media devices.

It is accessible through viewer application

platform for reading mobile comics.

Written byRadhika

MBA-IB (10-12)Indian Institute of Foreign Trade


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