Term of the week: Marketing Myopia

A short-sighted and inward looking approach to marketing that focuses on the needs of the company instead of defining the company and its products in terms of the customers' needs and wants. It results in the failure to see and adjust to the rapid changes in their markets.

Dove: Redefining beauty.

Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever. Its logo is a silhouette profile of the brand's namesake bird. Products include beauty bars, antiperspirants/deodorants, body washes, lotions/moisturizers, hair care, and facial care products.

The Marketing Director of the company, Stacie Bright, had a moral problem in 2006. Here’s what the whole story is.

Earlier, Dove used to involve what the mainstream considered ‘beautiful’ models for the promotion of their products and it was quite obvious that such ads affected the self-esteem of a large chunk of females. In fact, Bright’s own daughter was one of those females whose self-esteem was adversely affected by this.

This was a major ethical issue. Bright and her colleagues knew that they had messed up big time.

Instead of quitting her job immediately, Stacie created a mock-advertisement using the company directors’ own daughters, with text alongside that conveyed the fact that these females didn’t feel beautiful.

Even though it was a really risky idea, Dove went ahead with it and publicized the ad campaign that conveyed the fact that everyone is beautiful, and not just the models who were considered to be so, by the mainstream crowd.

It purports to be "an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves". 

Dove doubled profits from £1bn to £2bn and turned the business of selling soap into a moral campaign.The cynical can take from this what they will, but the campaign genuinely came for a place that wished for change; using stories to make a culturally positive difference.

Share this post with all the 'beautiful' women in your life and make them realize that "They are more beautiful than they think"!!

"Create the need."

Ganesh Chaturthi Bonanza

Every year, as all Indians dwell in a festive mood for 'Ganesh Chaturthi', the Corporate World figures out ways of healthy promotion and building a favorable brand image.

Festivals are one of the many things that are found in abundance in India. And with them they bring along – opportunities to connect, for people, businesses and brands alike.

Every festival has something special, a story or a particular Lord associated, and that’s what lets brands to go creative and pop something up that lures the consumers, in the form of products, offers or promotions.

This year also, like all years, during the festival (August 29- September 8, this year), you must have come across several hoardings of Companies greetings for Ganesh Chaturthi, advertisements capturing the essence of the festival and companies giving attractive sales offers.

With the advent of social media, the canvas has loomed large and the strokes even more under scrutiny. Reluctant to lag behind in the race to befriend the stranger called consumer, my Facebook wall was filled with Ganesh Chaturthi wishes from almost every brand that had an Indian connection, during the entire Festival.

Most of them went by in passing for they just aimed to check the boxes, while a couple of them caught my attention as they played it well.

Brands like Chumbak and Oreo India have used the Ganpati festival to create engagement on Facebook.

Chumbak, a chain of stores that are famous for fridge magnets and other paraphernalia like keychains, mobile covers, wallpapers, shorts, tees, etc, always have been in the list of eye-catchers when it comes to handling and maintenance of their Facebook page.

This time around to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi, along with the wishes, they came up with a wonderfully designed cover page and an equally appealing display picture. It was a welcome change to see such an effort when all other brands did, was posting hackneyed images, available over the net.

What was more captivating was the fact that the display and the cover picture were not mere designs but products launched on the occasion of the Chaturthi. The cover page was a wallpaper, while display picture – a fridge magnet, the flagship product of Chumbak!

Another brand that intended to leverage on the occurrence a little more than ceremoniously, was Oreo India. They extended their already existing application meant to share recipes of exquisite dishes made out of Oreo to introduce a couple of recipes for “modaks” with Oreo biscuits as a major ingredient. It is noteworthy that “modaks” happen to be the favorite dessert of Lord Ganesha, and hence a quintessential part of the Chaturthi celebrations.

Further, they too had a specially designed cover & display picture, where “modaks” can be seen to be replaced with Oreo biscuits.

Lord Ganesha, more than for sincerity and being a remover of obstacles, is synonymous with fun, frolic and adorns the image of a deity that’s cute. The two brands that put the Lord and the festival to a good use are also fun and light in terms of their identity, and hence were in perfect sync.

Brands cashing in to bring about better engagement during festivals is not a new phenomenon. We have seen brand’s doing the same in the traditional world but most of these brands try to connect only by wishing fans or even sharing the same content that is already being shared at other pages. At the same time, if we go by the number of festivals in India then creating campaigns for all of them would not be feasible always.

Similarly, Oreo India didn’t do a huge campaign but has done better compared to others. The brand not only blended the festival of modaks with the Oreo brand but also promoted this with its fan base on Facebook.

Chumbak, on the other hand, lost out on the opportunity. Neither the brand promoted the products launched for the occasion nor it spoke about them with its fans. The brand could have tried the ‘Promoted Posts’ and the ‘Facebook Offers’ to build a buzz. Facebook Offers could also drive offline engagement to stores as well. Even though the brand had genuine and interesting content for the occasion but it lacked in promoting. Today, you not only need good and genuine content but also the will to ensure that your content gains maximum visibility!

(a few excerpts have been taken from an article 

by Pooja Mishra in www.lighthouseinsights.in)

What do you think about brands leveraging engagement during festivals? Do you think they could improve upon it or do let us know if you know a brand who does it well. Comment below.

When the World's third richest man markets pot-growing spaces!!

Warren Buffet, the man who became a billionaire by investing in Ice cream, candy and soft drinks is now ready to experiment his hand in the production of bazooka(marijuana). His company subsidiary Cubic Designs Inc. has sent hundreds of fliers to weed dispensaries in Colorado, Washington, and California offering to help growers expand the number of plants they cultivate.

Some marijuana growers independently contacted the company inquiring about the "mezzanine systems”. That’s how company came up with the idea of taking this to a new level and actually doing its marketing on a larger scale.

The biggest problem here was contacting growers because “growing pot” is still secretive at many states in the U.S.A. The company knows that if everything goes right with it, they are going to make a hell lot of money. 

“Double your growing space,” one flier reads in capital letters, while another page adds, “Grow your profits.” – The Week 

The decision looks more benefial as with the time acceptance of marijuana in the U.S is increasing. Two states, Colorado and Washington, legalized possession and recreational consumption, and are among 23 where it can be used as medicine. Warren Buffet did not respond to an interview request from Bloomberg Businessweek but the 84-year-old billionaire is reportedly known for giving his company's offshoots a large amount of autonomy when it comes to operational decisions.

The social media trends show that “Pot-heads” are really happy with the company’s initiation.

What are your views about this innovative yet questionable step?? Feel free to share with us.

Traditional Marketing Strategies aren't working anymore?? Its an era of 'Content Marketing'

Consumers have shut off the traditional world of marketing. They skip television advertising, often ignore magazine advertising, and now have become so adept at online “surfing” that they can take in online information without a care for banners or buttons (making them irrelevant).

Here enters 'Content Marketing', which is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without direct sales promotion. It is non-interruption marketing. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.

Jose Vasquez, a serial entrepreneur and tech enthusiast is dedicated to helping startup technology companies get the direction and momentum they need to succeed. As the founder of "Build. Brand. Blast.", Jose has established a collective resource for tech entrepreneurs to consult when brainstorming, creating, launching, or expanding a new business. He has some vital inputs with regards to Content Marketing which is explained below.

Content marketing gets a lot of buzz these days, and for good reason. It only costs time to create, it sticks around forever, it helps your search engine rankings, it improves your visibility, it reinforces your brand, and it encourages people to buy from you, in short all in one small package.

That being said, certain types of content work and certain types do not. Be sure you're using these eight types of content in your strategy:

1. Opinion pieces. Even if it's controversial, state your opinion boldly. You'll get attention and encourage discussion no matter what.

2. Company accomplishments and directives. Press releases are perfect for capturing these, but you can also run with them in blog posts.

3. Instructions and guides. "How-to" articles are incredibly popular, especially if you include step-by-step instructions with pictures and videos.

4. Statistics and trends. Infographics are the best content medium for these, but you can also analyze them in a blog. Be sure to reference all facts appropriately.

5. Product spotlights. If you have a new product featured, or are using something new in your business -- write about it! Be as objective and informative as possible, and don't make it a sales piece.

6. Business interviews. Interview someone within your company or someone big in the industry.

7. Specific advice. If your customers or your audience have common problems, write an advice-style column to address it.

8. Questions and answers. Short Q&A features are very popular, and are great for optimizing your website for long-tail keywords in the form of questions.

Below are the "Don'ts":

• Pushy or blatant sales content. Your blog shouldn't be home to digital sales flyers. Your goal is to be an authority, not a billboard.
• Copied or plagiarized content. Never copy and paste unless you're quoting someone, and if you're expanding on someone else's content, be sure to put your own spin on it.
• Keyword-stuffed content. If you pack keywords into your blogs for the sole purpose of gaining ranks, you'll be fishing for a Google penalty and alienating your readers.

It will take some time to find your voice and perfect your strategy, but once you do, you'll be reaping the benefits of your hard work in no time.

Marketing term of the week- Cartel

A Cartel is a formal, explicit agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. 

Cartels usually occur in an Oligopolistic industry, where the number of sellers is small (usually because barriers to entry, most notably startup costs, are high) and the products being traded are usually commodities.

Cartel members may agree on such matters as price fixing , total industry output, market shares ,allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid rigging ,establishment of common sales agencies, and the division of profits or combination of these. The aim of such collusion (also called the cartel agreement) is to increase individual members' profits by reducing competition.