Repositioning maharasshtra

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6 PAGE 1

Team Connoisseur

Chief Editors: Alok Bhargava
Chaitanya P

Assistant Editors: Viraj Venkatesh
Ronak Shah

Associate Editors: Snigdha Mathur
Ravi Walia

Staff Writers: Amit Motwani
Ankur Rastogi

Guest Writer: Sheetanshu Mishra

Cover Page Designed By: Ritika Jayaswal

Under The facilitation of
the Marketing Area
Chairperson : Dr Jayasimha K.R

Senior Marketing Forum Junior Marketing Forum
Alok Bhargava Akshat Surana
Amit Motwani Himanshu Arya
Ankur Rastogi Priya Sharma
Anshul Duggal Ravi Walia
Chaitanya P Ronak Shah
Niveditha TS Sampark Sachdeva
Preetika Verma Snigdha Mathur
Saurabh Jain Viraj Venkatesh
Uday Bajoria
Vishal Salecha


Content

Editorial ………………………………………………………………………………….3
Barack Obama’s marketing strategy
in the presidential elections………………………………………………….4
Cocooning in advertising……………………………..………………………..6
Impact of advertising on society in
the golden era……………………………………………………………………….10
Interview– Subhashis Nath,
Executive Director of Axis Risk Consultant………………………..12
Future of advertisement is
Democratic advertainment..………………………………………………..17
Repositioning of brand Maharashtra…………………………………….19
Interview– Siraj Dhanani,
CEO, PharmARC……………………………………………………………………..22
Ethics in advertising……………………………………………………………...24
Womentisement……………………………………………………………………..25
Advertising spending during recession………………………………..28
Advertisement Watch: Bharti Airtel……………………………………..30
Advertisement Watch: Kingfisher….……………………………………..31
Literature review…………………………………………………………………..32


EDITORIAL
Editorial Team
More than two decades ago when Black Sabbath front man Ozzy sang about
changes, the largest and the most talked about change in the history of humans had only just began.
Just like every other major phenomenon since the last century, even that ruthless giant globalization -
the biggest conqueror of all took a lot of time to trickle down to the Indian sub continent. A lot of ques-
tions arise at this juncture and the most important one is not if globalization will be successful in con-
quering India but instead whether will it end up as every other culture which invaded India.
Two schools of thought have been battling out to make the world believe that their answer to this ques-
tion is the correct one. The first school of thought and its outlook have been portrayed remarkably in
Nehru’s Passage to India. Proponents of this school argue that Indian culture is a cultural ocean which
engulfs every culture that comes in contact and makes it a part of it, so it can withstand any cultural
invasion.
They cite several examples from history but the most interesting example comes not from the Indian
mainland but from across the ocean – US of A. Throughout the history of United States underworld gangs
have been a pit stop for immigrants in the pursuit of the American dream – from the Irish gangs of the
19th century to the Italian mafia of the 40s and 50s and Mexican gangs of the present day. Only one
community of immigrants in particular have never associated themselves with criminal activities on a
broader scale – Indians. Armed with examples like this and the common knowledge that the descen-
dants of Indian ‘coolies’ of the British raj era are still attached to their cultural past, the proponents of
Nehru’s school of thought are all ready to celebrate their victory.
Unfortunately for them, the second school of thought has an increasing number of followers and accord-
ing to them Indian culture cannot combat the so called devil of western influences. Their fears cannot
be called baseless as a recent study shows that the couples visiting artificial impregnation centres de-
manding for Caucasian semen in order to have a ‘firang’ baby are on a rise.
The outcome of this intellectual battle can only be known with time but in this edition of connoisseur
we tried to capture the changing scenarios and trends in that area of marketing which is hugely depend-
ant on culture – Advertising.
The world is “mad about ads”. Believe me when I say this because for most of us, the touch point of
any organisation’s marketing efforts is its advertising campaign. These campaigns have a great percep-
tual power. If well executed, they can form the base for a product to stand for, from where its per-
formance can shine through. Advertising today is a mega bucks business as companies find it the most
prominent way of gaining competitive advantage. Ad films are today made on foreign locales’, have the
best bodies and faces in the world of glam showing their stuff and at times go beyond the purview of
what the product is all about. It is this, the at times over indulgence of marketing minds to show the
surreal in what could be a very simple product segment ( say a beauty soap) which has started a debate
about whether advertising is misleading or not. Whether the purpose for which it is there, which is to
educate the consumer about the product or the brand has somewhat been diluted. But then usually the
best ads are the one which blend simplicity and creativity, hence proving that the power of the mes-
sage is mostly in the message itself.
In this issue of connoisseur, we have tried to get experts from all across the spectrum, people related
to the ad world, PR agencies, industry experts from new domains like pharma research and BPO sector
and Fellowship students of reputed B-schools like MICA to share their thoughts on how Advertising is
shaping our lives today. This issue is as much theirs as it is ours. Without their insights, our labour of
love would not have come through.


BARACK OBAMA’S MARKETING STRATEGY IN THE
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Viraj Venkatesh
It is famously said that the only thing permanent in life is change. The field of
political marketing has evolved considerably in the last few years. Political Mar- keting basically refers
to marketing your political agenda and message across to the masses. The breakthrough in political
marketing has just been witnessed in the recently concluded U.S Presidential Election. American presi-
dential campaigns have a tradition of using innovative ways communications and are usually first to
bring to the market new media strategies, in many cases even before they’re used in corporate cam-
paigns. Few examples from the past are Abraham Lincoln who for the first time used newspapers for his
campaign and therefore was able to address a much larger audience. Theodor Roosevelt ruled the ra-
dio, Kennedy became a star of TV debates and finally Barrack Obama, the presidential candidate with
the largest use of the internet and specifically social media. Some people call him a social media presi-
dent. Barack Obama didn’t just win because he had a better campaign theme but the way in which he
carried out his campaign. Barack Obama targeted Internet and used it to full effect. His campaign man-
agers had a well designed plan in place. From Orkut to Facebook, you name it and Barack Obama was
everywhere spreading his message of change. Apart from this he used Mobile phone as another medium
to reach out to the masses.

After getting selected as the Democratic party nominee for
the President ,he built upon the campaign he had earlier
carried. This time he was against a war veteran named John
McCain. Initially political pundits did not give the inexperi-
enced Obama much chance of becoming the president. But
as time evolved Obama gained from strength to strength.
Also the Financial crisis damaged the reputation of Republi-
cans and it gave Obama the necessary space to launch an
all out attack on McCain.

Obama and his campaign strategists - realized the fact that besides the public appearances, rallies and
stump speeches that were necessary, there was another effective medium for connecting with the peo-
ple of the USA and that was the Internet. No other presidential candidate has been able to realize this
potential of the internet.

Website:

The official website, BarackObama.com was not only well designed but quite informative as well. The
presentation had been excellent; updates were continuous through the website including links to vid-
eos, articles and appearances of Barack Obama. The website did not remain just a brochure website; it
transformed into a platform from where anyone could make calls in support of Obama, volunteer, make
contributions and even register the vote. The my.barackobama.com section promoted the group of
Obama only.


Social Media:

The social media network developed by the Barack Obama campaign created more than 3,500,000
friends for Barack Obama. YouTube, the largest online video streaming site, displayed more than
134,000 subscriptions, and FaceBook showed more than 3,000,000 supporters.
The Barack Obama campaign presented a tech-savvy, intelligent face to their candidate, and the young
audience loved it. Obama volunteers formed Facebook groups, there was the famous ‘Donate your
status to Obama’ campaign in Facebook and Obama speeches went viral with the active participation of
the ‘geek-crowd’.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Whenever one searched for words “Barack” and “Obama” in any of the four search engines they were
stunned to have the presidential campaign website of Barack Obama to be the first in the list. This had
been made possible by a special team which had carried out the Search Engine Optimization activities
as effectively and efficiently as possible and this tactic paid good returns.

Pay Per Click (PPC) and Sponsored Listings:

In the Presidential election Barack Obama had been able to use the maximum potential of his presiden-
tial campaign website. Obama and his team made the best use of the sponsored listings that were avail-
able to them. This availability could have been through any source, be either bought or donated. Most
keywords related to the presidential election campaign were captured by the Obama campaign. The
only way any person could be ignorant of Obama was if he was staying on a remote island without any
communication with the outside world.

Blogging:

Blogging is yet another tool of internet marketing strategy that has not been given as much attention as
was required. But this was not the case of Obama’s election campaign. The official blog was very well
integrated with the website. Obama’s team constituted of active bloggers who continuously posted
relevant and latest articles every day.

It can be aptly said that Obama turned out to be the choice of America; but we can also say that this
choice has been marketed effectively and efficiently through the internet. This presidential election
campaign is sure to change the utility of the internet in the future not only to market the products and
service but also running the election campaigns successfully.

It was seen that due to the above strategies Barack Obama was quite successful in spreading his
“Message of Change” and thus it could be aptly said that Obama turned out to be the choice of Amer-
ica. Also the point to be noted is that his campaign managers even after his success considered the web
to be an important tool. His weekly address to the Democrats after being elected was posted on You-
tube and it earned a record no of hits. Thus all in all we can see how Political Marketing with the help
of digital media has set a new benchmark in the political campaign. People have already started calling
“Barack Obama as the most successful Marketer of the 20th Century”.


Dr.Varsha Jain
COCOONING IN ADVERTISING
Research Fellow
MICA
Abstract

After globalization many Multi-national companies have entered the Indian market with their products.
For these products companies have to develop different advertising strategies to promote them. Every
available media including newspapers, magazines, television, radio and even the internet are flooded
with advertisements. But if, the advertisements are not as per the need of the consumer and if the con-
sumer feels that the advertisement is irrelevant then this irrelevancy turns into a cocoon, which means
that consumers have overlooked the advertisement. This becomes a major problem for the advertisers.
The present article will highlight on cocooning in advertisement and the strategies which can be used
by the advertisers to deal with the cocooning of consumers in the best possible way.

Introduction

Life is full of little annoyances like ringing of the mobile phone in a meeting, kid singing a song in the
class or advertisements in between the favorite serials, movie or TV show. With the help of technology
consumers try to reduce these annoyances; for example when advertisements are aired on the currently
viewed channel then the viewer switches to a different channel which is known as zapping. In this case
consumers are not at all affected by the advertisements. They have a layer around themselves which
prevents them from all the information or advertisements which they perceive as irrelevant and this
protective layer is known as cocoon. They prefer to be in their cocoon when the information is of no
use for them. Many consumers even register themselves for “do not call register” wherein they do not
get any call form the advertisers on their mobile phones. This is a troublesome situation for the adver-
tisers. Many advertisers are responsible for creating such a situation as they keep on bombarding the
consumers with advertisements whether they like it or not.

If the information is perceived as useful for the consumers then they will break the cocoon and come
out of it. Like for example if there is a diabetic patient and an advertisement comes about the Cadbury
Lite - a sugar free chocolate as shown in the Figure 1 then it will be preferred by the consumer. A dia-
betic patient is forbidden from eating sweets or chocolates or anything with natural sugars in them but
it is common human tendency to crave for the forbidden. Thus, an advertisement of Cadbury Lite cap-
tures the complete attention of a chocolate craving diabetic as it satisfies one of his/her needs.


Cocooning is a dominant lifestyle trend which is used by the advertisers to understand the consumer
psyche. Today’s consumers form their own cocoon and then they connect themselves with the external
world. Thus they try to strike a balance between the inner and outer worlds. In a way they are able to
control their life with the help of cocoons as they don’t access all the available information they get.
After analyzing each and every aspect of that information they make cocoon for few aspects. They
even do so as they are protected from the unpredictable and hostile environment. Even consumers
don’t mingle with all relatives, neighbors, colleagues as they have become very self centered. They
want to live in their own minimum interaction world.

Today’s consumers live busy lives with relentless pressure to perform.
They have numerous activities to perform at office as well as at home.
Time which they have is not sufficient to cope up with their high de-
mands. After working for an entire day and coming back home it is a
common tendency to do only those things which they are fond of. They
collect all that information which will be useful for them; may be
through different advertisements. But they will show interest in the advertisement only when they need
the information from that advertisement. For example when an individual is planning a vacation and
he/she comes across an advertisement of Cox and Kings then that person will actually give complete
concentration as the information in the advertisement is now perceived as useful.

Involving Consumers

Faith popcorn has focused on the cocooning trend for the first time in the year 1981. It was said that
home is a cocoon for the consumers which they use to hide themselves from advertisements. Consider-
ing this aspect a household cocoon can be developed which can be updated constantly by the advertis-
ers. This is a permeable cocoon which can be based on the interest of the consumers and the kind of
advertisements they would like to see at a particular time. For example, consumers can be asked such
questions like whether they would like to buy a car and if they say yes then advertisements related to
cars can be shown at that time. If they say no then they will not be shown any advertisements. This can
happen only when consumers are involved in the decision. Same concept is used by the Dell computers
where they involve their customer at every step. Another example would be the Body Shop. It involves
their customers in each and every stage right from the stage of product development.

Understanding Consumer

Before giving any information to the customers the most important aspect which the advertisers have to
consider is the need to understand customers. Then only information perceived as relevant can be given
to the consumer through advertisements. For example a marketing consultant needs information re-
lated to new job openings. He/she will also need information related to business which can help them
in their professional life. A housewife will not need the same information and if it is given then she
will make cocoon for this advertisement. Housewives will be more interested in the advertisements re-
lated to household products. Different consumers will have different cocoons depending on their needs.
Therefore, advertising cannot be generalized or done for the masses. Understanding of consumers is
very important before designing any advertisements for them. Their wants and needs are to be dis-


cussed by the advertisers in detail. Advertisers can also put themselves in consumer’s cocoon so that
they can understand consumer’s desires and can collect more information related to them.

Cocooning Model

This will benefit both the consumer and the marketer. For consumers it will work as they will tell the
advertisers what kind of message they want to receive and even for advertisers it will work as it will
help them in making a database which will help in generating and delivering the campaigns. It will be
cost effective and potential conversion rate will be higher. More profits can be generated by serving the
consumers in the best possible way. Therefore, it is win-win situation

When consumers do not want to watch advertisements they mute them. Now, to watch the favorite
show without commercials consumers can be asked to pay small amount of fees. So, for that particular
time period the commercial will not come but rest of the time it will be on air. This will help the con-
sumers as they will watch their shows without any commercials and for advertisers also it is good as
they will save their advertising cost and will be using more consumer friendly approach.

If some consumers want commercial for 12 to 15 minutes so they can have an option where they can
click and they can get new brands in different product categories. There may be some other group of
consumers who are willing to watch the commercial and give instant feedback. For them some benefits
can be given which can motivate the consumers to watch commercials and can inspire them to give
more constructive feedback.

All these strategies are feasible only if latest technology is used like using SMS to take immediate feed-
back from consumers. It will make marketing more interactive and informative. For example, ICICI Pru-
dential sends the messages to their clients related to their new policies through mails. They also collect
consumer’s feedback which helps them in making the advertisements. Push based strategies can cause
destruction in the mind of the consumer and can affect the advertisers business. Lot of planning is re-
quired from the marketers so that the message can easily reach the consumer. Marketers can succeed
only when they will allow the consumers to take control over the advertising messages. This can happen
only when they will understand consumer’s cocoon. If this strategy is used by the marketers then in fu-
ture consumers will simply fall in love with the commercials as they will be able to get relevant and
timely commercials and they will wait for the advertisements to come on air.


Consumer Cocooning and their Social Class

In the affluent class consumers have comparatively less cocoons. They always work in order to get con-
nected with the external world. They are the early adopters of products; they consume luxury goods as
they have high purchasing power. They are even early adopter of cultural changes. They develop new
consumer trends in the market. Rich consumers use the products first and then usage trickles down to
other classes of society. Affluent consumers are more focused on inner life and personal identity and
their position in the society. Middle class consumers are laggard’s consumers. First they analyze the
product, its reputation in the market and take feedback from the users of that product. They do so be-
cause switching costs are high for them due to financial constraints. Cocoons for this class of consumers
are different from the affluent class as their needs are different. Advertisers need to understand con-
sumer’s social class to understand their cocoon.

Connectedness

As consumers interact and connect more with the external world, the act of cocooning subsidizes. Con-
nectedness means linking oneself with the external world and is about relating oneself with the bigger
world rather than confining in an inner narrow landscape. The challenge with the marketers is to con-
nect with the consumers. Two way dialogues can be developed to interact with the consumers. New
methods of communication are to be developed among all the stakeholders - consumers, partners, re-
tailers and distributors. It is necessary to interconnect the advertising message to consumers by market-
ers. They need to understand the reason of their buying, where they buy from and where marketers will
find them.

Conclusion

In order to deal with needs of the consumers and to combat cocooning consumers have to be involved in
the making the advertisement by understanding their likes, dislikes and their desires so that the out-
come is effective. Advertisements have to be consumer specific and should provide timely and relevant
information. By understanding the consumer needs at a micro level, using the latest technologies and
by adapting a complete consumer centric approach advertisers can change cocooning from an obstacle
to an opportunity and can en-cash the trend.


THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON SOCIETY IN THE
GOLDEN ERA
Ravi Walia
It’s a Question of “HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED OVER THESE YEARS”.
How did the Advertisements bring about a change in the society and adapt, to the changing Indian
society?
As Arundhati Roy rightly said, “India simultaneously lives across 400 years”. We have diverse cultures,
people and attitudes in the same country; this makes us one of the world’s most attractive markets.
During the 70’s, Indian market was suppressed by unfavorable government policies. People accepted
things as they were (waiting for a telephone connection for two years). Supply was much less than the
demand, so advertising had a limited role to play. Back then, society was also perceived to be heavily
divided on the basis of caste, gender, education and various other stereotypes.
India suffered due to these drawbacks. The result was a much lower progress rate as compared to other
countries like Malaysia who had attained their freedom many years after us.
Then came the era of exponential growth, the shining 90’s. We realized that it was time to open the
doors to the world. Globalization and liberalization came as a breath of fresh air to the people of India.
The economic environment had come out of predominant Government control. A free market ensured
competition and quality.
People longed for things like peace , equality and innovation. They found them in the advertisements,
touching their lives every day in many ways.
Advertisers used the opportunity to sell and consumers savored luxury and utility. This was the era of
liberalization and competition brought about the best in advertising. Various channels of communica-
tions like internet, newspapers, billboards radio, TV etc. were the means to deliver.
What we see is what we are likely to believe the most. Our minds learns to filter out the repetitive and
mundane images it captures but if a concept, is out of the box and appeals to the senses, it registers.
Sometimes persistent levels of exposures can also deliver the goods. The viewer sees the ad so many
times, that the jingles and visuals are imprinted in the memory. That is why ads have a prominent influ-
ence over the society
When KS condoms and barely dressed models first appeared on TV, people talked about them all the
time. There was opposition from various sections but the show went on. Like every revolution the ad
revolution encountered resistance too. But these Ads had done their job.( e.g The Close-up last wish
kiss ad campaign was followed by a streak of kissing scenes in bollywood). Issues which were considered
“Taboos” earlier (onscreen intimacy, female drivers) were losing their hype.
The time period between 1993-2003 is the golden era in terms of growth for inda and can called the
golden era for advertising.
Some of the classic cases of ad impact on the society are discussed here-
• Hamara Bajaj ad campaign was focused on the deep rooted Indian values. This campaign gave
a boost to the sales, everytime it was aired, despite the fact that bajaj had nothing special to
offer against its competitor’s products.
• Celebrity endorsements came out as the new mantra during this period. Even pesticides and
cobweb sightings could not hamper the consumer trust.
• Pepsodent’s children campaign gave nightmares to the market leader(colgate) by focusing on
the new opinion leaders-the children
• Nokia and Reliance changed the dynamics of owning and using a mobile phone.This is probably
one of the best examples of converting luxury into basic needs and simultaneously empower-
ing the common man.


• Jargons and clichés for the common man like yeh Dil Maange more(pepsi),Badhia Hai(asian
paints) and Zor ka Jhatka(mirinda).These and many more left a lasting mark on the society.
These expressions have been used by people to express themselves and connect with the
masses. Vikram Batra captured the imagination of an entire nation by saying –yeh Dil Maange
more in Kargil.
• Social impact of advertisements has been big. Thanks to our ads, having a girlfriend/boyfriend
seems mandatory now. The increased visibility and exposure has worked not only on young-
sters but across all age groups and sections of our society.
• In the year 1993, being a housewife was a common. Come 2003, being a working women and
balancing work with home is the buzzword.
• Beauty products were perhaps the most successful in capturing the anxieties and desires of
the junta of looking good.
• Health Awareness has grown. The noblest contribution of advertisements would definitely be
health awareness. The overwhelming response to polio vaccine campaign is a proof of the in-
fluence of advertisements on the society. Similar awareness has also been spread about AIDS,
Malaria and TB etc.
• Though hockey is our national sport , cricket truly unites us. By pumping heavy resources on
cricket, advertisers have not only glamorized the game but also given a whole new dimension
to the connection between the sport and society. As it is sometimes said that our cricketers
carry the pride and expectations of a billion people.
• Many advertisements are solid sources of inspiration for the society, motivating people to fight
and achieve. e.g NGO’s working for street children
• VDIS (voluntary disclosure of income scheme) was one of the most influential ad campaigns in
the history of Indian advertising. It proved to be one of its kind and accomplished work worth
years for the income tax department.
Cleanliness Ad campaigns have left a lasting impact on the minds of many Indians. Similarly, Milk Coop-
erative Society’s “pee sakte hai roz glaas full” milk campaign increased milk consumption in the coun-
try.
Certain ads focused on distinct Indian identities and brought out the sense of pride associated with
these identities. It ranged from the Indian married women (icici prudentaial) to religious sentiments in
day today activities(pray for India to win a cricket match) to an army man fighting for the country. This
united the society and engraved a sense of belongingness to a nation so diverse.
India as we know encompasses a kaleidoscopic diversity on so many planes that it fascinates the deni-
zens of the world.
Advertising during this golden era, has reflected and reinforces a sense of Indianness in our society.
The things which are now being identified as typical Indian culture have been developed during the ca-
tharsis in this era. This shown by the scores of Indian words which are included in the Oxford dictionary
every year and the admiration of foreigners for our culture and industrious people.
As in Maslow’s hierarchy, people moved on to fulfill their psychological needs once their basic utilities
were satisfied. The Indian society also evolved and has became home to the luxury goods markets. E.g.
Feel like god, Avenger bike by bajaj brings out the grandiose feeling attached with biking. Buying to
satisfy self worth e.g.-diamond solitaire also picked up during this era.


“ENTREPRENUERSHIP IS ABOUT MINDSET AND
RISK TAKING ABILITIES.”
Subhashis Nath
Executive director
Axis risk consultancy
Subhashis Nath is the executive director of services
Axis Risk Consulting Services Ltd. Apart from servicing multiple clients
in India, Subhashis currently also leads engagements and manages rela-
tionships with several Fortune companies in the US market. Axis Risk
Consulting is today a 100% subsidiary of Genpact .Subhashis has been
technical faculty at various international training forums of Andersen
and Ernst & Young in the US, UK, China, Hong Kong, among other coun-
tries. He has also been to leading business schools in India like ISB, FMS,
IIM (L), MDI, IMI, to talk on subject matters of Risk Management and in some of them as fac-
ulty of MDP programs. Currently Subhashis is also an external faculty at IMT Ghaziabad.
Connoisseur staff writer Ravi Walia interacted with Mr Nath and given below are the ex-
cerpts from the interview.
Connoisseur: Your startup company is now a subsidiary of a NYSE listed billion dollar company. How did
you conceive the idea of your company?
Subhashis Nath: Having been fortunate enough to work with Andersen for about 10 years and then with
the Global Center of Excellence of Ernst & Young in the US, I was confident that we Indians had it in us
to deliver the highest of global quality standards and without any doubt our professionals also have the
hunger to success and grow as professionals. In 2004 when the Enron fiasco had triggered off a regula-
tion in the US markets called Sox, one kept hearing that the cost of compliance for large corporates was
there to say and while everybody wanted to achieve and maintain compliance, they were concerned
that very high compliance costs would make businesses unviable or significantly less profitable. It is
with this background that we conceived the whole idea of setting up an Indian risk consulting outfit
with the vision of growing it to be a India for Global service delivery model organisation, i.e., it would
be an Indian outfit which would have global clients who would be serviced by teams of professionals
flying from India to the client location and completing projects onsite. Today one actually takes great
pride in seeing this model work very effectively. We have already for a reasonable number of global cli-
ents who we are serving the US, Europe and Asia Pacific regions sending teams from India, and each one
of our initial global customers has provided feedback saying that they are delighted at the quality of
service and would look forward to increase business partnership with us.
C: What are the main aspects of success of brand Axis?
SN: A Brand is as good or bad as what the customer perceives it to be. In my view, we at Axis have
never gone about consciously working on building Brand Axis. We have always maintained that we need
to stay focused on delighting our customers on a daily basis, and that would create a very strong bunch
of brand ambassadors in form of our customers. We refer to this as customer centricity. We have grown
because we have continued to grow with our customers and more and more customers have either in-
troduced us to more customers or alternatively have agreed to be references for our new client pitches.
In both the situations, it is our customers who have told others in the business community that Brand
Axis stands for quality service delivery.


C: After being successful with your self-promoted company why did you decide to sell your stakes to a
large NYSE listed corporate?
SN: This is possibly the most common question that I answered for the first year after we sold our
stakes in Axis Risk Consulting. As I have said earlier, our sole vision while setting up Axis was to build an
Indian organisation that would serve the globe. While we managed to build Axis to a 180-200 odd or-
ganisation on our own and we were considered serious players in the Indian market and we had also
started working with some of our customers in countries outside of India as well, we were convinced
that if we wanted to take it to the next level where we would be considered as serious players in the
global market, it would require us to have a access to global leadership of large corporates all over the
world. It was a difficult tossup between continuing to remain a partnership which we could have grown
slowly and yet profitably or selling our stake to become part of a wider organisation that would allow us
to quickly reach out to the global markets and grow much faster. We chose the later as we felt that
would better for the organisation that we were trying to create rather than think of our selfish motives.
We were also responsible for career aspirations of all the people in the organisation. Today’s younger
generation is very ambitious and we felt that we owed it to all those who took a leap of faith being with
us when we started Axis and to be able to deliver to the career aspirations of our people we need to
grow quickly as well. Let me also go on to add that we still take no less pride in saying that we built
Axis from a concept to a large global risk consulting service provider and remain as passionate of con-
tinuing to build Axis as when we started. We created Axis, we built Axis and today we continue to grow
it aggressively, for it to be a significant player in the global market.
C: In an economic downturn like the present one, how difficult it is to become an entrepreneur?
SN: This is indeed a very interesting question. I have a view that the current employment scenario is
likely to give rise to many more entrepreneurs than what India has seen before. You suddenly have a
large number of extremely bright and competent young professionals from the BFSI sector and from or-
ganisations like Satyam and CITI Group, who for no fault of theirs are finding it difficult to keep them
meaningfully employed. This situation is very likely to result in small groups of professionals getting to-
gether and trying to develop business models of their own. I am confident young Indian professionals
will not fall short of ideation, and bad as the financial markets may look, it would never be difficult to
get funding for mid size business ideas as long as they have string business cases and models backing
them up, and as long as the investors feel that there is a strong team to build the project and organisa-
tion. Entrepreneurship has always been about two things – mindset and risk taking ability. It is the risk
of giving up what you doing and starting something new which may or may not work, and hence comes
with a Cost Benefit Analysis. The current scenario makes the risk taking ability required for entrepre-
neurship look less risky as even corporate employments do not seem to be very secure and stable any
more. All having been said, it would be needless to add that these are difficult times, and entrepre-
neurs would need to really buckle down and grind it out in the initial years to be able to reap the bene-
fits in the longer run. The initial years of an entrepreneur are always tough, and the current economic
situations can only make the initial years tougher.


C: In the light of the current recession, how does Axis Risk Consulting keep its people motivated?
SN: These times of downturn are in fact those moments of truth when our clients are really looking for
trusted business advisors and partners. They expect us to be able to relate to their business needs and
deliver solutions that are most effective appropriate in the current context. This makes it mandatory
for our people to be very focused in their client service delivery and things like quality and efficiency
get heightened importance and visibility. The most effective way of keeping people motivated is to pro-
vide them the bigger picture of how their day to day activities contribute to our overall organizational
growth and how it becomes all the more critical in such times of recession. We look at communicating
more with our people and also trying to engage them in more of organizational matters to create an
increased sense of belonging and contribution to the organisation. The sense of achievement of advising
and partnering with clients who are going through difficult times in their respective businesses is a
unique high in itself which helps keeping our people highly charged up in such times.
C: There are fears that the recent fiasco in Indian corporate governance (Satyam) and the World Bank
ban on Wipro will hit Brand India. What are your views on this?
SN: The biggest problem with us Indians over years in my view has been the fact that we lack self re-
spect and very clearly can do with much more of nationalistic feelings. Did an Enron ever make the
world say that the Americans are a bunch of crooks and thugs, has the recent sub-prime fiasco which
has rocked almost all of the US and Europe and barely touched India make the rest of the world turn
around and say that the Americans and European business leaders are a bunch of incompetent and low
integrity professionals? If not then why does a Satyam incident make us feel that it should hit Brand
India? As the statutory auditors for the last 8-10 years, PwC feels good in saying that the two partners
in question may be at fault but the rest of organisation is clean, (and I am not passing any judgments on
PwC here), but we as a country want to ponder and deliberate over whether this is about Raju, the re-
lated parties or is it about Brand India. In my view, frauds have happened and will continue to happen
all over the world, and many of them have been of scales larger than Satyam, and such scams do not
determine the brand of a country. We Indians need to take pride of all the good the country has
achieved in the last many years, and be able to confidently say that we as a country do not endorse or
tolerate any such fraudulent practices and behavior and we will do whatever it takes to act against such
people/ organisations, but as a country we are definitely a high integrity country with the lineage of
greats like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. In my view, if we Indi-
ans let Satyam affect us, it will, if we want to go on record that Satyam is something we do not endorse
and we will do whatever it takes to act against those who are wrong, and then such incidents should not
affect Brand India in any way.

C: Can India lose its position as an outsourcing hotspot to other developing countries like Philippines or
Vietnam?
SN: Outsourcing is an ever evolving concept. Many if not most people still view outsourcing as a voice
based call centre activity. To the contrary, in my definition, outsourcing is all about an organisation fo-
cusing on its core competency and allowing lost cost service providers to deal with all non core activi-
ties. The range of such non core activities that can be outsourced to a third party service provider is
getting wider by the day and more and more specialized and diversified skill sets are being called upon
to be able to increase the spectrum and volume of such outsourced activities. If this understanding is
clear then one would be able to better appreciate that India’s ability to remain the global leader of
outsourcing business does not lie in its ability to remain the most cost effective option, as over time
other countries like Vietnam, Hungary, Romania, Philippines may prove to be cost effective, but in its


ability to continuously engage in innovating thinking to be able to continuously identify newer range of
outsourcable activities and stay ahead of the rest of the world. Over time it would be ideation that
would differentiate and provide the continuous first mover advantage in newer and better ideas and it
will not be about cost over a period of time.
C: How do you see Ad budget/ marketing spends of companies vary in times of recession?
SN: Recession is a time when people look at every possible opportunity to re-look at discretionary
spends to be able to improve their bottom lines. It is critical to understand therefore what is discretion-
ary spend – I would define it as any money that a corporate spends at its own discretion but which if not
spent is unlikely to affect the corporates overall business objectives such as, growth, profitability, em-
ployee morale and retention etc. Hence, these spends are essentially ‘good to do’ things that corpo-
rates usually spend in good times and try and hold back to the extent required and possible at difficult
times, such as recession. Therefore to answer this question, one really needs to ask the question – what
does marketing spends/ Ad spends really contribute to the business objectives of the organisation? If
these spends are required for the organisation to profitably grow as per their plans, then such expenses
would continue irrespective of times of recession. However, if the management’s evaluation is that the
return on these spends is not commensurate and these spends are not contributing to overall growth or
profitability objectives, then they may choose to cut down on these spends. In my view during times of
recession, almost all spends are likely to go through the filter of return on investment or cost benefit
analysis to decide on whether or not to incur any expense and ad budgets/ marketing spends are likely
to face the same rigors of justification.
C: Being a successful manager yourselves, how important do you think is a MBA degree?
SN: I have very high regard for professional qualification of all forms, and for sure MBA. It provides a
strong technical understanding of various business models that form the basis for corporate decisions in
various facets of business – marketing, HR and finance. However, it is very important to recognize that
real business life is lot more dynamic and complex than what any text book can capture or conceive.
This is where I feel that most Indian MBA programs lack corporate interaction and experience sharing,
which is critical to making a successful Manager. A strong Manager needs many attributes ranging from
technical to business acumen, to people and communication skills and many more. Some of these are
qualities that can be learnt and trained more easily and some of these are qualities are more difficult
to acquire and master. I feel very strongly that our MBA schools can do a lot more in making its student
managers better all rounded managers than what they currently do. Being brutally honest, a Manager
cannot be successful if he cannot manage people, customers, peer group, and communicate extremely
effectively, no matter how strong he may be technically, and yet there is very little focus on such cur-
riculum in any of the Business Schools in the country. No doubt MBA degree is useful, but it can be
made to be a lot more useful and effective, if the time spent on campus is effectively utilized by the
faculty and the student managers to better hone softer skills that are essentials of a successful man-
ager.

C: What advice would you give to fresh MBA graduates and for first year students (who have time to
plan)?
SN: Without sounding like a teacher, following would be my top 5 suggestions:
Make the most of this time in terms of developing strong communication and teaming skills.Force the
institute to have programs that help you improve in these areas, and take initiatives as a student group
to build programs, events around these skills.


Recognize that a Manager who leaves his backbone back at home when going to work, is never re-
spected by his peer or juniors. Even while on campus, do not live a life where you do think cause that is
the way it has been. If you feel things need to change, develop the skill to voice your views, get buy in
of a wider group of people and speak up for it. Believe me friends, this is something that you would
need to do the rest of your life in the corporate sector if you wish to be a leader – don’t bother though
if you want to be led, then just take it easy and soak in all the fun of campus life.
Think hard on what you wish to do in life, and select your specializations and employment opportunities
accordingly. Do not go with finance because it is considered to be glamorous. Do not sit for placement
interviews because the employer has a great brand or pays great compensation – think of what you want
to do. Believe me, I have seen many cases of people changing tracks early and later in career since ini-
tially they went with what the world said was the right thing to do, till they finally realized that they
were making a mess of their life and then chose to change. I respect such professionals for the fact that
they have the courage to change (many of us don’t and continue to live the misery through our lives),
but also pity the fact that they lost out on valuable time in their careers.
Learn to work hard and play hard. I can talk from my experience of seeing many a successful business
leader - those who don’t manage to play hard while working hard, usually lose their zest much sooner
than the others. Life in our times can be brutal in terms of being demanding, competitive, and stress-
ful. If you can’t balance work and play, it just gets that much more difficult to deal with.
Lastly, I hate saying this, but have to add, please do not ever compromise on integrity. When I talk
about integrity, I am not referring to the lack of integrity that the Raju’s of the world demonstrate, but
at a very basic day to day level, I feel the biggest thrill comes from people saying that if Mr X has said
so then I am sure that has to be right. It allows you to walk around with your head held high and comes
from practicing integrity in your day to day dealings and not from managing financial transactions hon-
estly.
C: How can a college like IMT Nagpur or a student build its brand image?
SN: I have said this is to every B School that I have interacted with. While some schools today have the
benefit of a Brand, it would take nothing for a School to transform its image if only any batch or may be
couple of batches decide to put their mind at it. I say this with utmost conviction having done so both
in my high school and college graduation days. I would request the current student managers to reflect
on who they think image of a B School matters to - the employers, students who are applying and fac-
ulty who chose to teach at IMT. It may appear like multiple combinations of chicken and an egg situa-
tion, i.e., how do you change the image in front of employers unless you have better students, how do
you get better students unless they feel placements are good and how do students perform better
unless faculty improves, and there can be more of such combinations. But at the end of the day, all
that matters are the employers who hire from IMT Nagpur. I would strongly urge the current students to
start planning of ways to attract and increase corporate interaction. Reach out to a few organisations
and try and start partnership programs with them so that they are confident of ready pool of resources
and thereafter make brand ambassadors out of those initial set of organisations with whom you partner
to increase corporate visibility. In a nutshell, there is no short cut to brand image change other than
achieving significantly more enhanced corporate visibility.


Suman Srivastava
THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISEMENTS IS DEMOCRATIC ADVERTAINEMENT
CEO,
Every article written on the future of advertising speaks about technology. And Euro RSCG India
every article on advertising and technology speaks essentially about media is-
sues of targeting, reach and interactivity. Well, I am not going to talk about those issues. I’m going to
assume that my readers already know about all that and are planning to throw up the next time some-
body mentions the interactivity word again.
So let me focus on two other issues that technology will pose instead. One is the democratization of
advertising. And the other is the challenge of creating short form entertainment for an increasingly
impatient and marketing savvy customer.

Advertising will make markets more democratic

I think the biggest difference that technology will bring to advertising is that it will reduce the advan-
tage that large advertisers have in the mass media world. Today Levers, Proctor, Coke, Pepsi etc have
a competitive advantage because they can pour large monies into building brands. They have made
the price of entry in their categories so high that it is beyond the means of small companies even if
they have an exciting and innovative new product.
In the future, small advertisers will proliferate. The media of the future will be so fragmented that no
advertiser can afford to dominate it. In fact no advertiser will be able to ram their communication
down the throat of their audience. It will be the audience that will determine what advertising they
want to see and this will mean that they will gravitate to work that is entertaining or adds value to
them. Or both. In this, the large advertiser will have no natural advantage over the small guy.
In fact, consumers will not be able to determine very easily if the advertiser is small or large. Today
the production values of a TV commercial and the frequency of it gives you a pretty good idea of how
deep the marketer’s pockets are. But if you watch a video on You Tube or get a message on your mo-
bile, then it is more difficult to assess the financial capabilities of the backers of that message.
This is a good thing. Economists talk about an utopian state of “perfect competition” where there are
large numbers of buyers and sellers and where the market forces determine prices. Market forces also
determine which products will survive and which won’t. Today this situation is a pipe dream. The re-
ality is that most markets are characterized by Oligopoly – a state where a few large players dominate
every major industry.
But democratization of advertising will push the global economy more towards the state of perfect
competition. Thus advertising will help make the global economy more efficient.

Advertising agencies will be the source of entertainment

Everyone talks about the crisis of advertising. But let’s for a moment focus more on the crisis of the
entertainment industry. People are getting increasingly impatient with long form entertainment. Peo-
ple are watching less TV – and cribbing more about it. They are also reading less of newspapers and
getting overwhelmed with the proliferation of outdoor media.


On the other hand, they are gravitating to short form content. They’re playing more games (the
gaming industry turnover now exceeds the turnover of Hollywood!), they’re making friends at social
networking sites and they’re enjoying video and audio content from sources like You Tube, iTunes
and so on.
The question is – who is creating this new content? Hollywood and Bollywood are good at making
long form content and are out of their depth in creating entertainment which is just couple of min-
utes long. The technology companies are good at creating the means of creating entertainment,
but don’t know how to populate it.
And what of the famous, user generated content? This is a much over hyped phrase. At first glance
it seems that users are creating all this fantastic content on You Tube that other people can go and
watch. But this way of thinking does not hold up on closer scrutiny. The most watched videos on
You Tube were the video diaries of LonelyGirl15. For months people thought that they were watch-
ing the unscripted & web-camera produced videos of an ordinary 15 year old. Turns out that the 15
year old was actually a model and the whole show was scripted and produced by a TV production
house as an advertisement for itself. They have certainly succeeded in getting themselves noticed
by lots of people.
Let’s look at other content on the same site. Euro RSCG London made a commercial for Citroen
(Alive with technology). This is one of the most parodied videos on You Tube. Similarly, the work
done for Dove (Evolution – the making of real beauty) has spawned a lot of wonderful videos (Slob
Evolution).
So the picture you now get is that the best of the user generated content is actually generated by
professionals – often from the advertising industry. And the rest of the compelling content is cop-
ies and parodies of stuff created by professionals.
This is a huge opportunity for the advertising industry. For us 30 seconds is a necessity, 2 minutes
is a luxury and 7 minutes is a crime. For movie and TV content producers, 7 minutes is a segment,
23 minutes is an episode and 120 minutes is the least you need to make something decent. The
consumer is tending more towards 7 minutes and less.
However there is a change that we need to make. We need to move from being brand and message
focused to being customer and entertainment focused. That way our messages are more likely to
hit home.

Conclusion

It is obvious that the future of advertising lies in new ways of connecting with customers. What be-
comes obvious after just a little bit of introspection is that these new ways of connecting will lead
to new opportunities for new kind of agencies and for a new breed of clients. Let’s drink to that.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 6
PAGE 19

REPOSITIONING OF BRAND MAHARASHTRA Ganapathy Viswanathan
GM, 20-20 Media
To the rest of world when you think of fascinating tourist spots in India
the only thing that comes to mind is the Taj Mahal the historic monu- ment in Agra. That no longer
holds true and every state has made their representation and mark in International tourism to draw
tourists to India. Each state has chalked out their own marketing and communication strategy to posi-
tion their state in the best and most unique manner to woo tourists. While Kerala was the first to start
in the most aggressive manner Maharashtra was one of the late starters to promote the state as an at-
tractive tourist destination. The state has made rigorous effort over the last 6 years to get recognition
as an important tourist destination in the world.
It‘s all about perceptions

One is really surprised that a progressive state like Maharashtra ignored tourism for many years. The
state is always perceived more as an industrial state with major focus being to encourage industrial pro-
jects. Also since Mumbai is seen as the financial capital importance to promote the state as a tourist
attraction never figured high on the agenda. Even though Mumbai is connected very well with the rest
of world with world class infrastructure tourists only disembarked at Mumbai as the transit point to
reach other tourist destination in India. This is despite Maharashtra having world heritage sites, rich in
history, Buddhist caves, a 730 km coastline, pristine beaches and hill stations. Since these destinations
did not have any image associated with them unlike Kerala or Goa, the tourist spots never figured in the
consideration set of the traveler. Therefore the first task for the state was to re position the state,
heighten awareness and get the brand into the consideration set of potential tourists.

Rebranding Maharashtra

Positioning the state was a tough challenge. As the state did not have any one unique offering unlike
other states such as Kerala which was known for its beautiful backwaters, Rajasthan for its forts, Goa
for its beaches and the Southern states for its pilgrimage sites positioning the state differently was not
easy. When we probed with some consumers about the travel destination in Maharashtra we found the
state had little of everything beginning from its forts, beaches, temples, heritage, pilgrimage, and wild-
life sanctuary and hill station. The state also had a strong connect with Bollywood .We had the option
of positioning Maharashtra as a 70 MM holiday experience but we felt that would strongly skew towards
only Bollywood and will be more Mumbai centric and thereby missing out some of the other attractions
in the state. Since the state had plentiful to offer as travel spots it was decided to position the state
has SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE which gave rise to the new slogan or tagline MAHARASHTRA UNLIM-
ITED.A new logo and identity was created which was then used in all the print and collateral communi-
cation. The logo was a typographical design using very bright yellow and touch of orange color supple-
mented by neat and contemporary typeface to depict an earthy look.

The new positioning was then translated into print communication promoting each destination. Initially
the print campaign was promoted only in the domestic market but in the next stage efforts were made
to promote only the heritage sites in some select international markets. Here Ajanta and Ellora the
most famous heritage sites were showcased in a very interesting manner. In the next phase to dissuade
outbound tourist from visiting international tourist spots due to 9/11 a separate campaign was created


to benchmark Maharashtra with some of the other exotic locations in the world. “Why go anywhere
else?” was the proposition for the campaign. It was important that the campaign delivered credibil-
ity and it was ensured that the photography of the exotic destinations in Maharashtra transported
the same to the audience.

Next Big Leap

The repositioning and re branding lifted the awareness of Maharashtra but it was still not seen as a
happening destination amongst international tourists. The state also became suddenly ambitious to
double the tourist traffic from the global space. Since the state did not own one unique property
like other states the challenge to take it to the next level was a big one. The strategy was to ensure
foreign tourist not to use Mumbai as a transit port. This mooted the state to look at what Palace on
Wheels is doing to Rajasthan? The state also realized some pedestal or strong platform was required
to create a hook to pull the tourist. This gave birth to the idea of launching a Luxury train which
was the best and most viable option available as the train could travel across Maharasthra touching
all destinations in regal style. The train was branded as Deccan Odyssey and an interesting print
campaign was unveiled in some world class magazines in Europe, US, and other key markets in Asia.
A four ad print campaign showcasing stunning visuals depicted the way royalty traveled in the past,
on a train of elephants, palanquins, horse drawn carriages and boats hit some of the best magazines
internationally. To communicate the richness of experience premium and rich imagery were used
showing the ways royalty traveled in the ancient times. The print campaign was well supported by
online booking and marketing of the train through travel
agents in the international markets. Today Deccan Odyssey is
the jewel of Maharashtra. ‘Condensate Traveler’ one of the
reputed international travel magazine has seeded Deccan Od-
yssey amongst the top luxury trains in the world according to
the survey done by them.

The launch of the luxury train has definitely catapulted the
state in the world tourism map. The success of this has already prompted Kerala and Karnataka to
introduce Luxury trains in their respective states. The state has still got to do a lot to match the
world class destination. While airports are modernized and infrastructure is looked at closely the
passion to promote the state as hot tourist spots should not get dried fast.

While print campaigns and participating in travel exhibition will generate awareness but it is impor-
tant we must use our foreign offices and diplomats to promote the state. Credibility has to be built
among travel operators and foreign tourists about the state. Strong PR strategy needs to be evolved
through fam tours and diplomatic relations to make the state as one of the most attractive tourist
place. The state should look at tourism also an industry that will generate employment and earn
good foreign exchange revenues. The tourist arrival has really shot up in last few years. Today it is
close to 6 million but we are way behind to even Singapore who attract close to 10 million each
year. So where is the lacuna? Only continuous introspection, aggressive and friendly policies from
the government on the tourism front will help us in increasing tourist arrivals.


INTERVIEW
Siraj Dhanani
CEO, PharmaARC

PharmARC is a leading provider of sales and marketing ana-
lytics, and business consulting services to the global pharma-
ceutical & healthcare industry. They are pioneers of a unique
consulting model that leverages global talent to deliver inno-
vative, cost-effective, rapid turn-around solutions from their
delivery center in Bangalore, India.
With global economic slowdown and ongoing Satyam blues,
off-shoring businesses like PharmARC needs to be innovative,
novel and attractive enough to appeal to the needs and de-
mands of the client base which is quality conscious.
To tell us about how PharmARC wishes to approach the challenges and opportunities in the
current scenario, Connoisseur staff writer Amit Motwani caught up with Siraj Dhanani,
Pharmacist, MS (Mktg), MBA (NYU), Chief Executive Officer, PharmARC Analytic Solutions,
and this is what he had to say

Connoisseur: What do you feel is the future and scope of Pharma research in India?
Siraj Dhanani: Research in the pharmaceutical industry will grow along with the growth of the industry
in India. India, with the second largest population in the world, is currently the 5th largest pharmaceuti-
cal market by volume (and about 13th by value). As the Indian economy continues to shine, healthcare
and the pharmaceutical industry, in particular, is expected to see a higher growth rate than the GDP
growth rate. This growth in the pharmaceutical industry will be accompanied by an significant increase
in market research. Additionally, events such as India’s acceptance of product patents will significantly
increase the value of the Indian pharmaceutical market (with new innovative medicines now being in-
troduced in India), and further the scope for research activities in this sector
C: PharmARC Analytic Solutions is one of the pioneers in its domain with about 15 of the top 20 pharma-
ceutical companies in the world as their clients; on the other hand, there is hardly any Indian company
in the clientele list. What do you think is the reason of low investments of Indian companies in market
research?
SD: PharmARC specifically caters to the US and European pharmaceutical markets, as our expertise is in
business analytics and consulting in patented products. Asia-Pacific, specifically India, today form a mi-
nor, albeit growing, proportion of our business. As Indian companies (or Indian arms of MNCs) begin
launching patented products in India, we expect to see growing demand for our services in the Indian
market.
Traditionally, Indian pharmaceutical companies have sold generic (or multi-brand) products in the In-
dian market, due to lack of patent protection on products. The economics of the generics business are
such that there is very little budget available for market research activities. Also, in a multi-brand envi-
ronment, there is limited scope for business questions that are typically answered by market research-
how should I position my product, what is my target market, what is my competitive differentiation
from other molecules in the market, etc. As a result, investments in market research have tended to be
low historically in the Indian pharmaceutical market.


C: With US and some of the European countries experiencing slowdown, how much do you see the im-
pact on pharmaceutical industries?
SD: The global pharmaceutical industry has been facing difficult times since 2007- and the current eco-
nomic slowdown has exacerbated the situation for most companies. New drug approvals are declining,
and many blockbuster products are expected to lose patent protection in the coming 2-4 years. Addi-
tionally, the cost of pharmaceutical products is getting increasing scrutiny, and most players expect the
biggest and most profitable pharmaceutical market, the US, to become more price-sensitive. As a re-
sult, the pharmaceutical industry is in the middle of what can be described as a “perfect storm”- in
which the current economic crisis is just one ingredient. The industry is responding by focusing on cost-
efficiency and innovation like never before, and we can expect to see a very different global pharma-
ceutical industry in the next 5-7 years.
C: How much is PharmARC affected by the same and what are the strategic changes that PharmARC had
to make to adjust with the situation?
SD: A significant short-term negative consequence of the current downturn in the pharmaceutical indus-
try is that spending decisions are being deferred and budgets are being slashed- impacting our business
growth. However, we are more optimistic about the medium-term as our clients are looking at strategic
offshoring to become more efficient. We believe we are well-placed to take advantage of this move to-
wards strategic offshoring, and we are now going to be focused on actualizing some of these potential
opportunities for larger and longer-term offshoring contracts
C: With the ongoing Satyam blues, and WB declaring that they have banned four other Indian companies
(Wipro, Megasoft, Nestor Pharma and Gap International) as well, what effect does it make on the Indian
outsourcing industry?
SD: The Satyam situation and the WB ban, definitely are negatives for the overall Indian outsourcing
story- and the entire industry will need to work hard to overcome the perceptual bias against Indian
companies that these events have created. Having said that, our clients see this as a company-specific
issue and do not believe this necessarily tarnishes the PharmARC brand that we have created over the
last five years. However, such events will definitely increase the due diligence that customers do on
any outsourcing partner, and transparency and good corporate governance practices will gain a pre-
mium in the market going forward.
C: What do you feel are the most important areas in terms of advancements in pharma sector around
the world?
SD: The pharma sector has long been an innovation-driven sector, and I expect that to continue. The
genomics revolution of the late 1990s, will begin to bear fruit in the coming years- with concepts such
as predictive diagnostics, gene therapy, intelligent drug design moving into commercial application. On
the access side, I expect the biggest change in the US market, with the government getting increasingly
involved in pricing and delivery of pharmaceuticals. The focus on emerging markets as a viable business
opportunity will intensify, as these countries advance economically and their consumers increase their
purchasing power.


C: You along with Amit Sadana (President, PharmARC Analytic Solutions) have played an instrumental
role in taking PharmARC to where it is, in just 5 years. What do you think is the secret behind this suc-
cess? What message would you like to give to the young managers and entrepreneurs?
SD: PharmARC was started with a very clear vision of what we wanted to be- a pharmaceutical consult-
ing company with a differentiated (and pioneering) offshore delivery model. This focus played to the
strengths that Amit and I brought to the table through our past experiences- so, sticking to our area of
competency was another key contributor to our success. A third factor probably would be the comple-
mentarity between Amit and I- we bring different skills and expertise to PharmARC, allowing us to fill
each others’ gaps. The most important element, in every successful business in my opinion, is timing
and luck- PharmARC’s timing allowed it to be at the vanguard of an offshoring movement in pharmaceu-
tical consulting, and establish leadership in this segment; and we have been extremely lucky to have
the team that we have managed to build over the past 5 years.
To all young entrepreneurs, my limited experience has taught me a few things that may be useful to
you. A brilliant idea is worthless without rigorous analysis and planning, and flawless execution, while
even a mediocre idea is worth millions if executed well. Analysis, planning, the grunt work of opera-
tions and execution, which appear un-sexy, are usually the key to any successful human endeavour, in-
cluding businesses. It’s more than likely that your venture, after 1 year or 5, will look nothing like you
had envisioned in your plans- that’s OK. Planning serves the purpose of evaluating all available informa-
tion and creating a map that guides your day-to-day actions- so don’t get discouraged by this. Finally,
enjoy the process of a start-up- at the very least you’ll learn a lot about yourself as a person, and if you
are smart, hardworking, and lucky, you’ll create a business you’ll be proud of!
Beyond this, I would only like to recommend my favourite business book to all budding entrepreneurs-
“Innovation and Entrepreneurship” by Peter Drucker.


ETHICS IN ADVERTISEMENT
Sheetanshu
Mishra
Is ethics in advertising an oxymoron? No more than "on-time airline arrival" or
"likable politician." There should be lawyers who are likable, trains that arrive on time and ad-
vertisers who are ethical. It just seems, based on experience, that these things are inconsistent.
Advertising is deemed "good" or "bad" based on its effectiveness. It is a "good" advertisement if it
gets the consumer's attention and induces them to buy the product or patronize the business. It is
determined to be a "bad" advertisement if it lacks sizzle, snap and sex appeal.
Yale law professor Stephen Carter says this about ethical advertising: "When we appeal to the baser
side of human nature in order to sell a product, we are not living the loving respect for our fellow
humans that civility demands. Instead, we are encouraging people to yield to their instincts, that is,
to behave like animals. The principal point is that those who prepare advertisements like those who
pay for them and those who publish or broadcast them must recognize the moral dimension of their
work."
For Example – When Godrej came up with a slogan for their product,Ganga soap (Ganga ki dhar
apke Dwar), It was deemed unethical by the court and the campaign was withdrawn. It was said to
hurt the religious sentiments of hindus.
In another happydent ad, a cow is shown happy chewing a gum from happydent. The hindu’s could
have reacted again but it passed of as a funny ad. Hence the there is a very thin line between being
ethical and unethical.

So how do we bring ethics into advertising? Million dollar question, especially if you happen to live
in India which has the maximum exposure to advertisements, close to 750 per week and it doesn't
take a second for a dark pallor to descend upon the kaleidoscopic diversity that India is recognized
for, ethnicity is more of an enigma than a question.

An ideal consumer is one existing in a free market economy, possessing a great deal of information,
a high level of education, and an ability to reason rationally in order to discern valuable information
from worthless information (Schudson, 1984). A consumer culture is one with a large number of
goods or one whose value is derived from a large number of goods (Schudson, 1984).Unfortunately
the ideal consumer exists in pages, everyone else has something that appeals to them, we're social
but still animals.

Studies have found that sexual appeals are used often in advertising. Sex does catch people's atten-
tion in advertisements, but usually without much brand recognition. Ethics plays a definite role.In
conclusion, There is no clear view of what is ethical and what is unethical when it comes to adver-
tising, but with careful consideration and planning, it is possible for advertisers to find a common
ground and use appeals without offending people in the process.


WOMENTISEMENT
Snigdha Mathur
In the past few years there has been more than enough hue and cry about the
need for achieving women liberation from the current male dominant world and doubtless to say our
society has even achieved it to some extent, thanks to the increasing literacy and some exceptional
women who have made a mark in multiple fields- technology, literature, art, etc. Now, there is hardly
any industry/sector where we wouldn’t find women - and the women: men ratio is improving in all sec-
tors in India. Several Indian women, like their counterparts in other countries, have made their mark in
international business and politics, too. The success of our women is no longer limited to our country.
The deeply rooted ideas about women’s roles are slowly shifting in India. The percentage of women
married before the age of 19, for example, has dropped sharply. And the Advertising and marketing gu-
rus are aiming at young, urban Indian women, who are earning their own money and are potential cus-
tomers for a host of products including name-brand clothes, cosmetics and new cars. But in this fast
paced world we feel that advertisers have missed a trick or two. Women have been sometimes por-
trayed as mere commodities trying to sell something.
If we try to look at the brighter side of this, one will find that though few, there are certain advertise-
ments which depict the 21st century women in its true colors. Women in certain Indian ads are being
presented in less dependent roles than they were before. Like for instance, an ad for a leading women's
fortnightly recently carried a delightful image of an ageing woman in bridal attire. It later transpires
that her daughter is getting her married again. This is an example of positive advertising that subtly
carries a social message. Many mother-daughter ads in recent times bear out female bonding, in effect,
subtly marginalizing the role of men by cutting them out completely from such ads.
But majority of advertisements, be it a bike ad or a Suitcase ad, one would usually find a female en-
dorser as a part of that ad, even when her existence in that ad is questioned at times. And the shocking
part is that there been not much voicing against this part of the advertising front. But as they say every
cloud has a silver lining we could say that Women in today’s world have equal status as men and thus
their entry in the ad is justified. But sometimes advertisers jump the gun and end up showing women as
mere objects and thus not realizing their intrinsic value. Another ad for male underwear shows a num-
ber of females with pseudo-coy expressions on their faces coming out of a washroom. Later it shows a
shot inside the washroom where a handsome male model lies prostrate with lipstick marks across his
body. These are Western concepts imposed on Indian ad scripts and prove that visuals need not neces-
sarily represent the social norms of a society.

Also, the manner in which fairness cream are being endorsed in the present times have just lead to
clearly marking a distinction between women with fair complexion and one with the darker tones, in
fact are trying to project the image that the women with a darker complexion are loathed by the soci-
ety and are mostly unsuccessful in any endeavors and the fairer are adored and successful. That is the
message from a growing number of global cosmetics and skin care companies, which are expanding
their product lines and advertising budgets in India to capitalize on growth in women’s disposable in-
come. A common thread involves creams and soaps that are said to lighten skin tone. Often they are
peddled with a “power” message about taking charge or getting ahead. Among all such product lines, it
has been Fair and Lovely, a Unilever product that has dominated the market for decades. However Fair
and lovely has come out with a men’s product seeing the popular demand.


Focus shifted from the husband (in prestige cookers.jo biwi se kare pyaaar wo prestige se kaise kare
inkaar.) to the women herself (futura ).This shows a demographic change in the buying patterns in our
changing society. The ads are following the change well and adjusting to new customer tastes and pref-
erences. The advertisers are keeping track of the evolving society and changing accordingly. E.g- Youth
is motivated to perform after being inspired from MS Dhoni so Adidas gave them “Impossible is Noth-
ing”. Similarly, the no nonsense guys love the mentos and sprite commercials.
High level of customer focus due to competition has transformed the Grahak to God(empowering).It is
OK to Borrow(loans).Ok to consume more and better. Advertisements have done their job of creating
demand and changing the viewpoint of the target audiences. These are the signs of a maturing society
In other words, it can also be said that ads merely tapped the imagination of the society. Advertise-
ments also had to change, to capture the attention of the society.
They showed what people longed for ,deep inside or something they might like to see.
When the people saw it around them, they followed it . Sometimes they loved it othertimes they didn’t
like it so much. But one thing is for sure, that is they have evolved after being exposed to the advertis-
ing experience
Change is like gravity, all you need is a little push in the right direction to fall free.
Marketers need to be able to curve things in their direction through advertisements so that they fulfill
consumer’s needs profitably. In the process, changing things around them forever .


Thereby, in a nut shell we can say that although Indian society is changing and the media seem to give
more equality to females in terms of the increasing number of female models shown in advertising to-
day, but they need to exercise caution and not get carried away and show women keeping in mind In-
dian values and culture.


ADVERTISING SPENDINGS DURING RECESSION
Ankur Rastogi
The malaise of Global meltdown has set its eyes on the Advertising Industry.
Highly affected industries are financial sector (non-insurance), manufacturing,
retail, realty. Although Ad expenses by FMCG is more or less stable and telecom and insurance sector
continues to increase its ad expense.
A clearer picture of the correlation between global advertising and GDP growth since the middle of the
last century can be mapped as: (Figure:1)

The worst is for India as it only accounts for $1 billion of the total of $120 billion Global Ad Industry and
also Internet Advertising spending is a petty amount in its basket. This is in direct contrast to the
world’s three largest advertising economies viz. USA, UK and Japan where Internet growth keeps head-
line advertising growth in positive territory; traditional media are forecast to deliver negative growth
for the second consecutive year.


US growth is forecast at just 1.4% while China growth is expected to be 26%. While growth expecta-
tions in North America and Europe have slowed significantly, those in Asia Pacific and Rest of the
World have been maintained or increased. This, points at the possibility that the developing markets
will play a major role in the world advertising growth. Thus, the importance of India far transcends
the numbers. There is too much to be done in India, for the advertising industry. In the past four
years, the consuming class in India (with monthly household income greater than Rs 5,000) has grown
at an average of 12 per cent. To tap this rapidly increasing consumer base through advertising, one
can imagine the ad spend required. Although there are clear indications of all the advertisers reducing
their ad spend, I strongly feel that the man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who
stops the clock to save time. In a recession period, like the current one, an organization should main-
tain its ad spending. This is derived from the fact that your investment in advertising vis-à-vis others
in your industry is increasing. Toyota does the same. They believe that this is the time to gain market
share. But more commonly practiced measure against the slowdown is cutting the ad expenses. In a
recession, the manufacturer feels the pressure to maintain profitability; if he doesn't, his stock price
will crash. To maintain his profitability, he reduces his advertising expenditure. Thus it negatively im-
pacts the Ad industry at large because of ripple effect.
The reasons and logics can continue. But what remains to be seen is how the ad industry will take the
recession bites and what new ways, if any, will come out to tackle such a situation in the future. Nev-
ertheless, I still have my fingers crossed to witness some sensory pleasing Ads in this hard time for the
whole world economy.


ADVERTISEMENT WATCH
BHARTI AIRTEL
Viraj Venkatesh

India’s largest Telecom Company, Bharti Enterprises, recently launched a corporate campaign with
the help of a TVC. The theme of this campaign is to convey the message of being a proud Indian to the
fellow countrymen. Apart from this, the other objective was to build the equity of the brand Bharti
among stakeholders.

The campaign coincides with the corporate rebranding of Bharti. Bharti has now diversified into many
businesses apart from telecom and hence the company felt the need to do so. The TVC expresses its
new brand identity and the brand motto, ’Big transformations through Brave actions’. The TVC starts
with the line “Proud 2B Indian, Say it with Pride we are Indians”. As it
moves along it gives an insight into our History and highlights the
achievements of Indians such as Aryabhatta- the inventor of digit 0, Jag-
dish Bose-who invented wireless communication, Vinod Dham-inventor
of the Pentium computer chip, and finally Mahatma Gandhi-a man who
fought a war without fighting.
The ad ends with the line” When you stand up for what you believe in,
you can change the world .If one Indian can influence the world to such
an extent, just imagine what one billion of us can do”.

The ad has been conceptualized by Percept/H .The ad was shot in black and white because it talks
about leaders from the past .The ad according to Bharti celebrates the achievements of Indians who
brought about major transformations through their thoughts and actions.
It also brings forward the potential held by a nation of a billion plus peo-
ple which somehow matches with the spirit of Bharti. All in all we can say
that this ad is somehow little different from the past ads because there
were no Bollywood stars and the glamour associated with it. In short it is
quite successful in conveying the message of their power to the fellow
countrymen in alignment with its rebranding strategy.


ADVERTISEMENT WATCH
KINGFISHER
Snigdha Mathur
Kingfisher airlines, recently launched a corporate rebranding campaign of King-
fisher Red(formerly Air Deccan) with the help of a print ad .This print ad of kingfisher Red clearly
depicts its primary motive to distinguish itself from other low cost airlines. The basic purpose behind
showing biscuits depicting low cost airlines, and a lavish snack treat depicting Kingfisher RED service, is
to very subtly put across their motive of establishing a low cost airline with élan. This ad reinforces the
dictum Kingfisher ‘King of GOOD times’. The services provided by the low cost airlines are not at par
with what is provided by other airlines, due to the concept of cost cutting. This ad challenges this es-
tablished norm marking a commencement in the aviation industry.
Compared to other airlines like Jet Airways which stresses on time performance and its world class
fleet, Kingfisher has always tried to portray passengers not as customers but as its guests. Its USP has
been its excellent service and the overall ambience. This ad shows that kingfisher is all set to give a
new class to low
cost airlines,
thereby establish-
ing a new concept
that even low cost
airlines can have a
chic appearance
and can carry it
with elegance.
Though there has
been much antici-
pation in the mar-
ket regarding this
merger, launching
Kingfisher RED
with such grace
leads to the begin-
ning of a whole
new chapter in the
aviation industry.
However experts
doubt whether this strategy of Kingfisher would succeed or not as passengers who travel by low cost
airlines are quite penny wise and do not get carried away by such advertisements. The image of the
common man’s brand ambassador R.K Laxman is still fresh in the minds of consumers as one of the
things associated with Air Deccan. Hence this rebranding exercise becomes more crucial and only time
would tell whether this advertisement is effective or not.


LITERATURE REVIEW
Viraj Venkatesh

MIT SLOAN MANAGEMNT REVIEW: Published by MIT Sloan school of Manage-
ment (Spring 2008 Vol 49 No 3)

How to win in emerging markets by Satish Shankar & Charles Ormiston
This article talks about the emerging markets like India and China and the strategies different compa-
nies should adopt while dealing with such markets. The author lists down the barriers which are faced
by different companies and highlights the strategies by companies like CocaCola, Unilever, Colgate-
Palmolive etc to capture a significant market share in these markets.

What the Media is really telling about your Brand by Grahame Dowing
The authors Grahame Dowing and Warren weeks point out the importance of the media in enhancing
the corporate reputation of the company. They highlight the different aspects of how a reputation is
measured like being in the America’s most admired companies. However they also lay down some other
parameters like how people and journalists talk about the company and examining the specific words
and phrases they use to describe and evaluate.

Harnessing the Power of Social Web by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li
This article clearly states about the power of Internet and how through various social websites like
Myspace and Facebook, the consumer is changing the rules of the game. The consumer through these
applications are defining their own perspective on companies and brands which sometimes is at odds
with the image a company wants to project. The article has several examples of companies like AOL
and Dunkin Donuts who have faced this problem.

The beneficient Dragon by Joseph Fuller
This article talks about the progress made by the Chinese economy in the last decade and highlights the
fact that contrary to the popular opinion China is not a danger to U.S economy as the U.S has found for
itself a new market for its exports.

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW(DEC 2008 Edition)

Fiat’s extreme makeover by Sergio Marchionne, CEO Fiat
This is a first person account by the CEO himself. He describes the turnaround of Fiat in the 4 years
since he has taken over. He describes various steps and the overall process of turnaround. The current
condition of Fiat is strong and he attributes it to the various steps taken in order to revamp the com-
pany.


Reinventing Your Business Model by Mark W. Johnson
This article highlights the fact that to maintain a thriving business one needs to recognize when it
needs a fundamental change. The point is conveyed by the article the example of Apple and how its
business model was essential in achieving record sales. The article ends with the author giving cer-
tain tips to CEO’S as to how to reinvent their business model and stay competitive in the market.

When you shouldn’t Go Global by Marcus Alexander and Harry Korine
Both of them being professors of strategic and international management at London Business
School, have written quite an informative piece on this topic. They highlight the fact that compa-
nies should not blindly follow the buzz of globalization. He points out the fact that many companies
have failed badly in their push for international moves. He illustrates it with the example of ABN-
Amro bank which acquired banks in various countries but has not been able to integrate it with its
parent network.

Indian Journal Of Marketing(January,2008)

Reality shows :The new Marketing Tool by Dr Debasish Sengupta
This article highlights the fact that how reality shows are fast replacing the daily Saas Bahu soaps in
Indian Television. The author says that the High TRP’S of the reality shows are evidence to this fact.
He further points out that the masses feel happy when a common man is transformed into a celeb-
rity and India being a country where celebrities are worshipped further creates hysteria, which
transforms into success for these reality shows. The author further takes his point by highlighting
how shows like Hero Honda Roadies and Kaun Banega Crorepati have been successful and thus prove
his point.

E – Marketing –Methods and Aplications by C Snethil Nathan
This piece tells us about the rapid growth of Internet in our country and thus the importance of ‘E-
marketing’. The author highlights the traditional methods of E-marketing like pop ups and intersti-
tials and then states the modern methods like Viral E-mail campaigns, interactive games or puzzles
and search engine marketing .The article ends by listing out the different advantages of E-
Marketing and stating the fact that as the Internet users continue to grow E –marketing would con-
tinue to expand.

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