Creativity by Sam Rufus as on 21/10/013

"In research you first have to find out what that it is that you've  to find out"

"Very difficult to change attitude but you can alter behaviour"

"Research is like a lamp post, not for us to lean on them but for light"

3 D's of thinking Disciplined -> Different -> and Deliberate. 

"More the volume of knowledge, more the area of the unknown"

"Advertising messages should be created for and directed at, the heavy using and high yield consumers in the category"

"Don't get people to try the product by convincing them to love the brand, get them to love the brand by convincing them to try the product"

Message >> Change in Attitude .>> Change in Behaviour 

"Strategy should evolve out of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower" - Al Ries  

Account Management by Shruthi Jain as on 19/10/2013

We are here as a catalyst between the consumer and the brand, that is precisely what we as a communication/advertising professional.

"Magic lies in the products" - Bill Bernbach


The Interface/Process

- Premium Ready Made Garments (PRMG) had seen a few years of rapid growth.
- Essentially for formals to be worn to office
- Formals defined in merchandising terms as a blue, white and strips



Allen Solly

-> Anglo - American brand that did not enjoy any franchise in India
-> Fashion forward brand in merchandise terms, in bold colours, every fits and in unusual fabric types
-> Priced in the premium segment


The Problem

-> Allen Solly did not fit the existing perception of a PRMG
-> The consumer was willing to pay high prices only for garments that were worn at formal occasions



Target Audience

-> Successful executives, self employed and businessman. Existing PRMG
-> Early adopters from relatively more relaxed workplaces like software and advertising
-> Psychographics : experimentative, ambitious, self assured


Communication Strategy  

-> Redefine the category itself - expand, expand the definition of formals to include then Allan Sollys unique merchandise.


Creative Solution

-> Use attitude statements to derive the 'different perception'
-> Use the merchandise effectively to make the point
-> Bring in the pro


Results

-> 238% value growth in 1995, 92% in 1996 and green 100%
-> High brand recall scores in the target audience
-> Allen Solly shows ever increasing acceptability
-> High loyalty points

"Great brands are made when great relationships happen with creatives and account planning"

"Your route map is decided by your research"

"You need to know your product and your consumers too"

 

Assignment : Create  A Case Study for Dissecting a (given) Brand...

Basic Construct 

Brand Definition
Marketing Objectives
Role of Advertising
Competition

Brand Definition : A vivid expression of the brand and it's real personality.

Marketing Aims : What is the problem/opportunity the marketing initiative has to tackle

Role of Advertising : What are we realistically trying to achieve through advertising

The Competition : Who is competing with our brand

The Target Market : Who are we talking to? What is the insight that can lead to an advertising opportunity.

Where are we ? : What is the brand and it's competitors position in the consumer minds?

Where we going? : How do we want our target to react/alter his opinion after he's seen the advertisement (not after he's bought the product)

The Buttons : What is the single, brilliant, simple, something that will bring about the change in the consumers opinion about the brand.

Support : Facts that support the button.

 


  







   

Creativity by Sam Rufus as on 14/10/2013

"Criticising is cutting with a knife, Critiquing is cutting with a spoon"

"The more often you do something in the same way the harder it is to change your ways for we're victims of habit"

1. White Hat

- What information do you have 

- What information is missing  

- What information would we like to have 

- How are we going to get that information 

2. Red Hat 

- It has to do with feelings, intuition, hunches and emotions.

3. Black Hat 

- It is the hat of 'caution'

- Prevents us from making mistakes  

- It is for critical judgements

- Points out why something is not profitable 

4. Yellow Hat 

- It is for optimism 

- Looks for feasibility, how something can be done 

- Looks for benefits (Not Obvious one's)

5. Green Hat 

- Creative Thinking  

- New Ideas

- For additional alternatives

- For putting forth possibilities

3 stages of thinking; Divergence -> Convergence -> Emergence

6.  Blue Hat 

- Process Control 

- Thinks about thinking

- Agenda for thinking

- Next step in thinking

 

Brand Positioning by Parveen Ahluwalia as on 14/10/2013

 "Percentage of Profitability should be of paramount importance." 

P's of Marketing
-> Product
-> Price
-> Place (Distribution)
-> Positioning
-> Promotion
-> Packaging

Distribution
-> B2C
-> B2B

=> B2C
           - Market Prioritisation (where your brand is first launched in small area, then move on to a state and then create a PAN distribution network, much like the Unilevers and ITC)

- Distribution (Primary)
- Retailers (Secondary)
- Consumers (Tertiary)

Multibrand and Multibrand - Multiproduct are the two kinds of retailers.

4 Taxes {Central Excise Tax; Sales Tax; Octroi; VAT}

9/10 Brands today launch their products in a phased manner.

East is the smallest market for any product because there are 7 North - Eastern States out of which only Assam will be addressed owing different factors.

Roll Out will be done likewise => City Wise => Zone Wise => State Wise => National.

"Appointment of Distributor as my first partner is key"

 
- Exclusive Outlets (also known as flagship store) is fairly a new phenomenon.

- Modern Trade (Large Format Retail (LFR) Stores : Shoppers Stop, Big Bazaar)

- Online

- Direct Marketing

All of the above are the channels of selling/General Trade.

"With online, the caveat is High Involvement-High Impact and High Product"

"Marketing make plans as to how to sell"

"Marketeers are salesmen, but salesmen are not marketeers"

B2B - Direct/Institutional, it's usually bulk order; B2B  in any business automatically becomes a key account.


-> Company Owned Company Operated (COCO)
-> Franchisee Owned Franchisee Operated (FOCO)
-> Company Owned Franchisee Operated (COFO)

With COCO => Everything is under control but price/cost of doing so is high.

FOFO => control takes a hit, but it is the fastest to expand and the cheapest way to do so.


Sales Planning
-> Setting up annual targets (sales) = Financial Year
-> Quarter wise targets (Q1 - Q4)
                                                - Volume
                                                - Value in terms of INR/Year

-> Monthly target (M1- M12)


Total Revenue = Top Line      


Expenses are two kinds
- Fixed
- Variable

Total Revenue - Expenses = Gross Profit - Taxes = Net Profit


Sales Revenue

Multiplex
- 4 Auditoriums
- 400 Seats
- Priced at 100/- INR
- 10 Shows

One Day (assuming all shows are house-full) would invariably mean 1600*100*10 = 16000000

Sales target ill have to drawn/planned like the following:

M1 -M3
-> 50% Occupancy * 5 shows/day
-> 70% Occupancy * 3 shows/day
-> 90% Occupancy * 2 shows/day

Sales Projections will also have to take the following factors into consideration:

"What have I done in the past, what is my competition doing?"

"Whilst setting up Sales Target, it has to be achievable and realistic and if you're entity doesn't reach it's target it automatically adds up into the next target"

Organic : Existing Business from Existing Clients

New Business : New Business from New Client.


Sales Plan, A business plan always involves assumption, always.

Risk Factoring is part of Business Planing.


Brand Positioning  

How the consumer thinks of a brand is Brand Image

"Old doesn't mean it's the best"

Brand Positioning
It is a long term ("I don't change positioning overnight")
It has to be timeless
Extendable across media (same message needs to driven across media)
It is benefit oriented (Single benefit at that, it always have to talk about just one thing)
In a product parity market, you've to create a distinct perception about/for yourself.


You have to be different
You've to create a preferential attitude towards yourself
Repeat Purchase => Thus yielding Brand Loyalty

"Values (of the Brand) are the intangibles"  

Benefits are three kinds;

• Rational 
• Sensory 
• Emotional  

Emotional Benefit is the same as what we call 'Core Value' and this is the only attribute that vary from one another in a product parity market.

Two (essential) questions that need to be answered...

Who am I? (Brand Positioning)

Why prefer me? (Advertising Positioning)     

Brand and Advertising Strategy both combine to form Brand Positioning.

"Positioning must give an intangible benefit to the consumer. Position should help a brand stand out from it's pack"

"Silence is the most powerful emotion"

"On the basis of positioning, advertising will be created"   

The Road Map

- Positioning Strategy
- Advertising Strategy
- Communication Strategy
- PR Strategy
- Digital Strategy
- Activation Strategy
- Direct Marketing Strategy
- Sales/Promotional Strategy
- Customer Loyalty/ Relationship Strategy


Brand Plan/Brand Strategy/Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy => Marcom Strategy

Digital Media by Saurabh Parmar as on 07/10/2013

"Never make a page for anything that is short-lived"

It is generally perceived that the people who use twitter, are known to be evolved on all things internet.
Average media spends on twitter is pegged at 5-6 lakhs on an average, when in comparison with Facebook, where you can buy media for as little as 1$

Self -Serving Advertising is based on the following:

Content
Campaigns
Applications
Customer Service Approach
Band Building + Lead Generation

Graph Rank Algorithm ...

Edge Rank -> Primary Algorithm, identifies the pages that you interact with the most. Reality is that less than 10 - 20% are even seeing your posts even though they're your fans.

Search Engine Optimisation; Signals are the things that come up on Google search.

"Now, Digital is all about video content generation"

Campaigning : Anything that runs for a (specific) period of time and whose research objective is to gain traction.

Best Buy Case Study

Best Buy's followers count went up to as much as 40, 000 followers.

Online Reputation Management

Salient features of the 'Twelpforce'

-> Capturing conversations across the web
-> Collect relevant conversation and group them
-> Analyse conversations to derive group specific insights
-> Map conversation to derive intelligent insights for the brand


You've a plethora of Social Media and Marketing tools, some of them being:

Sysmos, Radian 6, 360 Simplify..          

Account Management by Shruthi Jain as on 12/10/2013

"Organised, ethical practises need to be treated as something of paramount importance in a service industry like ours"

"Head of the company will always have to stand up for the ethical practises for a simple reason that law, in most cases holds more than one person accountable and it is invariably the senior most in any organisation that is held responsible"

"When it comes to complying with ethical practises with respect to 'kids', it is more or less well in limits for a backlash will be larger if it isn't"

Vampire Advertising : When one dude remembers the ad well, but forgets the company that is responsible for the said ad.   

Brand Perception: Understand your consumer, what is visible is what it is. 

Engage 

Brain

Before 

Opening 

Mouth   

"You first have to understand what is already given"

Account Management 

"How to develop healthy relationships with client"

Relationships are built on the following pegs:

• Care   
• Understanding 
• Attitude
• Trust
• Respect
• Risk
• Responsibility
• Expectations

Understanding 

-> Understanding your client's needs

-> Understanding your client's agenda

-> Understanding your client

(Usually the brand takes a hit when you get the brief in it's entirety wrong)

"Your relationship with your client is the bedrock of all your works" 

"We've to adopt to the client and his ways, it is a buyer's market, you've to be subservient with your client"

"Your client is a friend" 

                                   -> Understand that your client is a fellow human being (talk to your client's!). 

*Read up on Shakti from Unilever (A Harvard Case Study)

Trust

Your client shouldn't tell you what their problem is, you should be able tell him what is their need. 

For every requirement that you've been entrusted with you need to deliver as many times as that. That is understanding. 

"It's NOT a job but a Commitment"

-> Develop a 2 way relationship. Mutual trust

-> Earn that trust

-> Always promise what you can deliver 

-> Under promise and over deliver 

Another important facet that you always need to remember, is ROI from the client's perspective if you're not delivering on that front you're doing yourself and your client a big disservice. 

Care 

-> Client's don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.  

"Brands are subjective needs", Care for his professional needs" 

-> "What have I done (or going to do) today for my client"  

Delivering work on time is an inherent given. Period. 

Expectations 

-> Understand your client's expecatations

-> Deliver beyond expectations

-> Surprise your client (it does your firm a whole lot of good)

-> Never take a client for granted. 

"Always look from the client's perspective"

What a client wants from you  

-> You will lead the process of envisioning and executing an excellent advertising programme. 

-> You will be an independent and highly competent expert on the consumer.

Agencies will always start by assuming that they don't need to 'Understand' your consumer.

-> You're expected to be intellectually honest.

-> You will lead your organisation to get the work done on time and done right. 

-> You're expected to be an example of excellence

True test of whether you're doing well with your client is to know for sure if your client will walk with you, if yes, then pat yourself, if not, you're not there yet but then this is to be done only to know if you're doing well or otherwise but it shouldn't be actually practised, simply because it isn't ethical. 

Attitude 

-> Think of your client as your friend

"Start by being a better person. Period"

-> Isn't it easier to work with friends than with enemies

-> Substitute the word client with a friend in this presentation

Risks and Responsibility  

-> Good client relation isn't just agreeing with clients and taking quickest way out of the problem. 

-> It is about intellectual honesty, understanding the needs of a consumers and the pursuits of excellence

-> It is inherent risks involved in everything we do and our responsibility is identifying, managing and coping with those risks

Respect 

-> Earn your client's through technical competence as well as personal integrity 

Rules will be and have to be complied with. 

->  Renew that respect everyday 

-> Demand mutual respect  

Signs of a Healthy Client Relationship 

-> Your client seeks your advice on marketing matters beyond your direct responsibilities

-> Your client includes you in internal 'team' meetings 

-> Your client calls you in advance to tell you the 'real' issues

-> Developing a relationship is vital aspect of our business

"In the people industry , relationships are sacrosanct"

-> Often it makes the difference in a new pitch

-> One that is constantly nourished, cherished and nurtured

"A healthy client relationship is the starting point of a great creative work"  

Design Elements by Brahmachari as on 03/10/2013

"You highlight only one element, not two" 

Contrast 

Any form of communication, some materials or ideas must be more than others. Contrast can be achieved by size, shape, tone, texture and direction. 

Anything that is unnatural, that disturbs the viewer would automatically mean that the design is bad. Contrast should be created. By changing direction, contrast is created. 

Balance

Balance is a matter of weight distribution. Balance exist when the elements are placed with the sense of equipoise or counter balance. There's two kinds of balance: 

• Symmetrical Balance 
• Asymmetrical Balance 

Proportion 

The planning of a design starts with settling on a shape in which design elements will be arranged. The most pleasing shape is a rectangle. Proportion helps create a pleasing impression. It is related to balance but it is concerned primarily with division of the space. 

Rhythm 

Rhythm is achieved through the orderly repetition of any elements, size, shape, tone, texture. The eye will spot the rhythm and follow it's pattern. 

Harmony

Harmony exists in manual characteristics of the design element size, shape, tone and texture. 

Movement 

Movement of the eyes will always move as follows:

• Bigger --> Smaller 
• Dark --> Light 
• Coloured --> NON - Coloured
• Irregular shape --> Regular Shape      

Unity 

The individual elements of the design must relate to each other and to the total design. Without this unity, no design can register an overall impression.   

               

Media Strategy by Narayanmoorthy as on 03/10/2013

"You need to describe your Target Audience in such a way that the target audience needs to come out alive"

Media Strategy usually involves the following, in any agency (in principal) :

-> Target Audience 

-> Geographic Priorities 

-> Media weight and Delivery 

-> Creative Considerations

-> Scheduling 

-> Mandates

-> Priorities 

All advertising and communications centre around the consumer, it is indeed the most difficult to centre around too. 

in communication, the starting point is always the consumer, product is a wrong starting point. You'll always have to put yourself in the shoes of the customer or the consumer. Consumer benefit has to fulfil a consumer need. Understanding of the consumer need is of utmost importance and an important aspect of anything in the field of communication. Consumer is indeed the King. 

Consumer Immersion means to understand a consumer from various viewpoints, them being the following :

-> Demographics

-> Psychographics 

-> Lifestyle 

-> Influencer 

-> Purchase Process

-> Role of Retailer

Demographic is the most most basic distincter, such that it puts the 'numbers' in perspective. 

For e.g a demographic is noted like this --> Women (25 - 45); SEC AB, residing in Delhi (parameters can be added and with more parameters added, your target audience will become smaller). Your target audience should be substantial enough for your brand to survive meaning you should've a sizeable target audience and you shouldn't add so many parameters that your target audience will be too small a number to make much/any impact. 

Best Prospect => People who'll maximise your ROI (return on investment)

"Conversion rate in advertising is 1-2% at the max" 

You've to derive your demographics through a description of the consumer. 

Psychographics : 35 +, SEC A1, in Delhi. (for selling Gucci bags) Psychographics is about what they 'think'. Many media agencies run their own ways to bring about their own proprietary Psychographic survey. 

Target Group Index (TGI) is a survey that solely focuses on Psychographics, "Doing/offering prayers is good for my spiritual health" is an example for Psychographic statement. With Psychographics, you grapple with one true challenge that you cannot link to media. If it is capable, then only to a poor link to a media. 

"Lifestyle is what they do (Behavioural) it is capable of linkage to media"      

 TV, Print, Radio, Cinema and Outdoor were the 5 main Media, that existed and everything else you did was considered 'below the line' until the 2000 when Digital medium came to the fore.

"Medium can be defined as anything that can reach and influence a consumer" Thus lifestyle can and creates a medium if need arises. 

Golf helps me keep fit = Psychographic 

I play Golf to keep fit = Lifestyle 

Influencers         

Any and all product category will have influencers, sometimes they're strong and other times weak. An influencer can be as small as a 5 year old, and is known as 'pester power'. It is very important not only to identify the influencer and do something about it too. 

Purchase Process

Identify the role of retailers, because they influence your decisions and in most cases one negative comment will ruin your loyalty towards a brand irrespective of your loyalty towards the said brand since long. 

Assignment: Describe your Target Audience for Lux in a composition, not exceeding a sheet. (It is a Group Assignment)    

   

        

Frank Dance's Helical Model of Communication by Naren as on 03/10/2013

"If you're born today, you've limited expressions" 

It is a non-linear model of it was formulated in 1967. This model showcases the fact that we progress with age in terms of our experiences, our vocabulary and such. Just as the helical spring becomes big at the top, whilst the bottom remains small, this is in direct relationship to your experiences. No matter what, you invariably and always come back to your roots.