This document summarizes a presentation made by six students to Prof. Neelam Kinra about the company Guru.com. It provides background on how the freelancing industry has modernized and increased demand for qualified remote workers. It outlines Guru.com's services for connecting independent professionals with projects and its competitors. The document also summarizes Guru.com's timeline, funding, and growth. It discusses advertising objectives and strategies for Guru.com to attract both independent professionals and hiring companies.

1. Guru.com
PRESENTED TO:
PROF. NEELAM KINRA
Presented by :
 Goutham
PGP28070
 Niraj Kumar
PGP28311
 Noopur
PGP28326
 Suresh Majji
PGP28344
 Uday Kiran Pappu
PGP28108
 Udaykiran Edikoju
PGP28304
1

2. Industry
More
Companies
to
outsource
Pre 2000
 Traditional Industry
 Only flexible contemporary workers
 Clerical workers
Post 2000
 Industry modernization started
 Knowledge based employees
 Qualified workers
Several
projects
to get
outsourced
More IPs who
would need
the services of
talent
facilitators
2

3. Jan
Company – www.guru.com
million Independent Professionals
 Offers a gamut of supporting services like Tax
James Sluvet
guidance, health insurance discounts, career
advice, etc.
 Earns revenue by charging companies for each
project posted and ads displayed on their
website
 High satisfaction level among the hirers
March
Timeline of events in 1999
 Offering Website service that caters to 25
• Thought of Freelancer
service marketplace
• Completed business plan
& started raising money
June
• Completed 3 million
USD funding
Nov
• Raised 16 million USD
 Primary mediums : Print direct mails, email, and
Jon Sluvet
online banners with unique message for each
Dec
group of customers
• Went live for the first
time
3

4. Competitors
Freeagent.com
• Launched in August 1999
• Expected to have 150,000 registered users in 12 months
• Provided project matching and back office support
eLance
• Other IP project marketplace
• Used the bidding model to earn revenue
Monster.com’s TalentMarket
• Mass Full-time Online Career Sites
• 10,000 bidders bidding for 143000 IP’s at any one time
• Received fee on the basis of size of contract
eWork
• Other IP project marketplace
• Used the bidding model to earn revenue
4

5. AD MANAGER’S PLANNING
STAGES
Increase the percentage of hirers
$12 million
Age-25 to 55; educated,
aim to be independent
COMMUNICATION
OBJECTIVES
AND POSITIONING/
(Or Repositioning)
•Awareness
•Information
•Attitude
Lure IPs by promising
better work-life balance
SIX-STEP EFFECTS SEQUENCE
(In Reverse Order)
PROFIT
Gain more market share of
The increasing IPs –expected
To exceed 2 bil. By 2005
More enrollments from both
IPs and hirers
Position as guru marketplace
With investors
Awareness
Attitude Change
Depict IPs working & relaxing
at the same time
Edgy and irreverent
message
Track by estimating IPs beyond
earlier enrollment rate
By print or TV
Through the
Media
5

6. Ad to sales flow
Communicate the nontraditional idea of
working from home
Host hirers willing to
pay for quality work
Brand to be perceived as a
reliable area to look for work,
not just to Post resumes
Only hirers pay; induce them to
purchase by swelling the
number of IPs
ADVERTISING
IMMEDIATE
SALES
25% of projects had been
matched, level of user activity
higher than average
NEW
CUSTOMERS
6

7. Ad campaign objectives
What is the communication in the Ad?
“We understand Gurus. We know what makes them tick, what they want out of life, why
they became gurus in the first place and what success smells like to them. What do you
think”
What is the Target Segment for the Ad?
“To reach both Gurus and hirers separately”
How do we reach to the target segment?
“TV, print, Radio”
How much do you need to spend?
“$12 million”
7

8. Ad campaign Objectives
 It must capture the attention of the





consumer
It must create the awareness
It is assumed that learning (Cognitive
effect) must occur before attitudes are
formed (Affective stage), which will
lead to behaviour (Conative)
Its based on Feel-Learn-Do hierarchy
We can place the ad’s of Guru.Com in
the second quadrant (High
involvement and Emotional
thinking)
Public Relations need to be
addressed 250 mil. impressions in
the first six months
Lavidge & Steiner Model
Cognitive
Awareness
Knowledge
Affective
Preference
Conviction
Conative
Purchase
Action
8

9. Medium
TVs and print media are the most effective means of communication
TV
 TV propagates an emotional
Print

Print media relates more
information

Spreading ads across
publications could access broad
range of specialists

Gurus are prolific readers

500000 subscribers for a
magazine—then read by
another million who borrow it
appeal more effectively
 But there is an attached
concern:

Right people watching at right
times

More costly owing to short term
market
9

10. Message
Tone of offline
advertising needs
to be edgy but
clear
People should
know exactly what
guru.com does
Notion of
empowerment of
crore IPs: an
abstract conceptneeded to be
crystal clear
Gurus and hirers
bombarded by
number of
messages–
therefore a more
direct approach
needed
10

11. Ads
• Aspirational side of being an IP to be communicated
• The idea flows as
 There was a
consistent
wariness of not
communicating
what’s not feasible
 Nothing like ―sign
up and get a job‖
Engaging
Authenticity
Visual
profile
11

12. Foote Cone bending Model
High
Rational/Thinking
Emotional/Feeling
• Creative Strategy:
Demonstartion
• Creative Startegy:
Emotional
Involvement
Media Startegy: Long
informative
Media Startegy: Emphasis
on pictures,TV
Learn-Feel Do
Feel-LearnDo
Do-LearnFeel
Do-FeelLearn
Guru.com
• Creative Strategy:
Reminder
Media strategy: Small
space adds
• Creative Strategy:
Attention
Media strategy:
TV/Newspapers
Low
12

13. Do-Learn-Feel Hierarchy
Model: Do-learn-feel (responsive?)
Possible implications
Test:
Sales (no of customer acquisitions)
Media:
Small space ads
10-second ID’s
Radio; Point of Sale
Creative:
Reminder
Ad campaigns 1 & 2 satisfy the criteria of small space ads and also 10second ID’s but campaign 3 doesn’t satisfy the criteria as there is too much
information to grasp in 10 seconds
13

14. Ad Effectiveness testing
 Verbal vs Visual
 Ads 1 & 2 are balanced
 Ad 3 has too much text
 Layout of Ad Copy components
 No problem with any of the ads
 Written copy/fonts/size etc.
 Smaller font size in Ad 2 reduces its effectiveness
 Positive vs Negative Ad copy appeal
 All the 3 ads have positive appeal
14

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