Business is Marketing

Gen-Y is changing the marketing rules. This is the I-Me-Myself generation that’s grown up in the digital world. It buys brands like Mudd and Paris Blues, rather than Nike, Levis & Converse. Mudd, Paris Blues, In Vitro, Cement…do these ring a bell? Now consider the second list – Levis, Converse, Nike? If the names in the first list don’t ring a bell then, it’s sad, for your name just got transferred into the list of “the older generation”. The market is in turmoil and the best brands are losing their grip on the market. There is a whole new breed of shoppers from whom these once famous big brands are facing a shrug of indifference. Levi’s, an iconic brand, woke up to the harsh reality that it was losing its popularity and watched in disbelief its market share slide down & down. Nike’s sneaker sales are tumbling too, and it no longer remains the coveted one. Who is causing all this upheaval? It’s a new generation called “Generation Y,” which is changing the rules of the game. At ...

God sells... Wondering how? Ask those marketers all over the world, who are certainly going crazy peddling deities in all their extravagance and finery! A free Diwali invite for all. Come and enjoy the vibrant Diwali celebrations complete with light displays, and floating lan terns and a spectacular show of martial arts and kathak. Not just these, there would be scrumptious Indian cuisine and mehndi stalls too. The event has everything you possibly can think of, except one tiny detail – air tickets are not included. For this one’s not a Diwali mela happening in your backyard, but at the Trafalgar Square in London. Every year, thousands of lamps are lit all over this beautiful square, symbolising the return of Lord Ram back to Ayodhya, even as thousands of NRIs come together to celebrate “Diwali in the Square”. The ‘Festival of Lights’, yet another celebration in the United Kingdom is considered to be the biggest Diwali celebration outside India. It’s a non-stop entertainment mela with ...

It’s not enough to advertise. Companies like Unilever, Medimix and Reliance Comm. have focused more on changing consumer perceptions and succeeded. A recent study was done on children aged between three and five. Each child was given two samples of food, one in McDonald’s packaging and one in plain wrapping. The children found the food in McDonald’s packaging up to six times more appetising than the one in plain packaging. Fact was that other than packaging, both samples were identical! A survey was conducted and respondents were asked to recall a brand. Almost all could remember the brand and most of them claimed they saw the product being advertised on television. The company was confused, as they had never advertised on television! In another survey, the number of people who recalled seeing an ad in a prestigious publication exceeded its readership. Why do such things happen? The simple answer is – certain brands remain at the top of your mind and you think you saw them in places wh...

Want to break through the growing clutter of TV ads? Don’t just make ads; make larger than life ad films and spend the big bucks! Nicole Kidman, is running gazelle like, being pursued by paparazzi in a cityscape lined with billboards bearing her image. She ducks into a taxi to escape and orders the driver to drive. Little does she realize a sultry Brazilian is seated beside her. Kidman escapes with him. He does not know who she is. She claims to be a dancer. After four days of a fairy tale like life, she realizes she can’t escape from reality and needs to go back. And so she does, leaving the Brazilian wistful, remembering only “her kiss, her smile, her perfume.” The film finishes with a one minute rolling of credits. This film cost £18 million to produce. Its not a feature film… but a 180 seconds advert for Chanel’s No.5 perfume. The very same perfume which was made famous by Marilyn Monroe when she claimed that all she wore to bed was Chanel No.5. Today, however, with Britney’s perfu...

They’re tiny and therefore not as obvious. But they are certainly not to be overlooked. Here’s a peek into logo-power! Hewlett-Packard (HP) recently unveiled the new Compaq logo in Shanghai. In 2002, HP acquired its rival Compaq, creating a lot of controversy both inside and outside the company, one that had even cost its CEO Carly Fiorina her job. After 5 Years HP has finally found a good use of the logo. In fact, revival and up gradation of the Compaq logo is a part of the group’s strategy to help recover its lost market share. HP is using Compaq to protect itself from competitors nipping away at the low-end market; HP is being promoted as a premium top-end brand, while Compaq would be promoted as the simple and affordable PC. This way HP is ensuring that its price-sensitive consumers don’t deflect to Dell or Toshiba. What’s interesting is, although customers won’t see the new Compaq products for months, but from 2005 onwards the company has been working hard to make people understan...

For those who thought that the first mover advantage is the real thing, here comes a sensational eye opener... If there was one launch that the entire world had been waiting for with bated breath, it was for the iPhone! Its been one of the most well planned launches in the history of marketing. By deliberately giving scant information about the product, they raised the excitement level to an unprecedented height, with frenzied fans waiting endlessly just to catch a glimpse of the coveted product. Not surprisingly, iPhone created a record by selling 2,70,000 devices, just within the first two days of its launch. Yet, analysts predict that the success run may not sustain. Competition has already begun to work frantically on phones that will look and sound like the iPhone and probably be much cheaper too. Conventional business wisdom says, being first in the market allows you to set standards. In addition, you can gain economies of scale, get the consumers hooked on to your brand and gain...

There was a time when capitalism meant making profits, philanthropy be damned. But times, they are a changin’...and how! This is an area which is not new to Indian business houses. Long before Bill Gates, Microsoft’s Chairman committed millions of dollars for various social causes, Jamshetji Tata and his family have been following the principle of “give back to the people what you have earned from them.” Back then charity was a headache – something that the government was supposed to do. Yet the Tatas worked tirelessly towards the upliftment of the community. They were the first ones to think of Maternity Benefits and got it enforced as a law in 1946. In 2004, they spent Rs.45 crores on social service. Small surprise that India’s most loved and respected corporate house is Tata. Today, a lot many corporates are understanding the positives of being socially active. Bajaj believes in the teachings of the world’s greatest leader – Gandhi. They have instituated the Jamnalal Bajaj Awards wh...