IIMA Niche MarketingPrepbook

MARKETING

PREPBOOK
Niche | IIMA | 2022
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

STEP 1 STEP 1

Familiarize yourself with the basics of marketing, underlying concepts

and frameworks, common terminology and jargon. This will help you
understand anything you come across that may be related to marketing
a bit better.
STEP 2 STEP 2
We have included a few essential topics that are relevant to today’s

marketing world. Try to gain a surface level understanding of these
topics and how they impact the marketing of firms. We encourage you
to keep following these topics through various sources online and keep
yourself updated with the recent happenings, this will only help you
crystalize your ideas better in your interview.
STEP 3 STEP 3
Now that you yield the power of both theoretical and practical level
knowledge of marketing, it is time to step into the world of solving
cases. While these cases are not always asked in interviews, it is good
practice to try them out with a group as it opens up doors for new ideas
and information to reach you. These cases might also help you in GDs
that are based on marketing problems, and they teach you how to think
creatively, on your feet. Please refer to the final section of this book for
sample cases that you can practice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BASIC MARKETING CONCEPTS
Needs, Wants and Selling
Advertising and Marketing
The 5 Cs of Marketing
Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning
The 4 (+3) Ps
Retail Environments
The Distribution Value Chain
Distribution Channels
Test Marketing
SOME KEY FRAMEWORKS
Porter’s 5 Forces
Product Life Cycle
AIDA
6M
OTCE
ANSOFF Matrix
OTHER CONCEPTS + CURRENT TRENDS
Digital Marketing
B2B and Trade Marketing
D2C Marketing
Quick Commerce and Omni
Brand Management
Neuromarketing
SUMMER PLACEMENT PREPARATION TOOLS
Go-To-Market Strategy Cases
Ad Analysis
Repository of GTM Cases for Practice
PGP2 Internship Experiences
BASIC
MARKETING
CONCEPTS
Niche | IIMA | 2022
NEEDS, WANTS AND SELLING
Needs are the basic requirement of a consumer which are food,
clothing, shelter, air, water. When these needs are seen to be fulfilled by
a particular product it becomes a want.
For example, food is a need for a consumer. To fulfil that, they
want a Pizza from Pizza Hut. So, a “want” is what a company
provides to fulfil the “need” of the consumer.
Role of Marketing in this Need-Want Cycle

Marketing is a communication a company makes to
convince consumers that their need will be fulfilled by the product.
Marketing Sales
• Act of understanding the • Act of converting prospectus
market and consumer into actual paying customer
• Emphasis on product planning • Emphasis on selling already-
and development produced product
• Pull strategy to attract • Push strategy to convince
consumers towards your brand customer to buy product
• Customer-centric • Product-centric
• Revenue generated by • Revenue generated by reaching
providing right products to out to maximum consumers
right audiences
• Long-term • Short-term
• Cost center for the company – • Revenue center for the
marketing efforts require company – products being sold
money to be spent to improve brings money into the company
product, design promotions etc.
ADVERTISING AND MARKETING
While marketing is the process of identifying customer needs and
determining how best to meet those needs, advertising is the exercise of
promoting a company, its products or services through paid channels.
Essentially, advertising is a component of marketing.
Examples of Marketing Activities
• Market Research: Gathering information about the behavior of
potential and existing customers, analyzing and interpreting it. This
helps inform decisions of product development, improving customer
experience, finding new customers, identifying ideal/target market,
research market trends.
• Product Development: This includes identifying market needs,
quantifying the opportunity, conceptualizing the product, validating
the solution, and iterating the product based on consumer feedback.
• Distribution: The process of delivering products to customers via
various channels.
• Customer Support: These are the services offered to customers
before and after purchase of product/service.
Examples of Advertising Activities
Advertising can be bucketed into traditional and digital
Traditional
• Outdoor Advertising/Out-of-Home Advertising (OOH): Any
advertisement made visible to a consumer outside of their home. It is
a mass-market medium and supports broad messaging and branding
efforts. It is not targeted, and largely used to generate brand
awareness.
• Newspaper/Magazine: This includes display ads in magazines and
newspapers, and classified ads in newspapers. Some level of
demographic targeting is possible via these ads – based on the
language and nature of content, and geography of audience.
Magazines are usually read at leisure and kept for longer, giving
multiple chances to attract attention.
• Television: Television advertisements have the advantage of sight,
sound, movement and colour to persuade customers. They are
particularly useful to demonstrate how a product or service works.
Advertising is sold in units (e.g. 20, 30, 60 seconds) and costs vary
according to time slots, TV program, metro/regional etc.
ADVERTISING AND MARKETING
Digital
• Paid Search Ads: It involves bidding on keywords so that
advertisements related to specific keywords are placed at the top of
the search engine results page (SERP). With paid search, advertisers
only pay when their advertisement is clicked, providing the alter-ego
pay-per-click (PPC).
• Social Media Ads: Audiences can be targeted extremely personally. It
gives quick ROI because everything is done in real-time. With UTM
codes, data on where sales is coming from can be tracked.
• Native Ads: Banners and pop-up advertisements make it obvious
that they're trying to sell you something. Native ads camouflage
themselves by appearing as an almost-perfect match to the content
that surrounds it (e.g., articles/videos on websites that are already
hosting similar materials)
The Inter-Play of Marketing and Advertising
A successful marketing strategy typically dedicates resources to
advertising at multiple levels, placing corporate marketing
communications in various types of media. Advertisement is considered
paid media which involves a company paying a publisher to place
marketing communications. Examples of paid media include billboards,
broadcast and print ads, search engine ads, social media ads, and direct
mail or email.
Many successful businesses incorporate multifaceted advertising

strategies into their overall marketing plan. This is particularly true for
global companies, where marketing strategy and advertising placement
must take into account customers across the world. Though it also
applies to small and medium businesses, especially with the
affordability of digital advertising via search engines and social media.
In the case of start-up companies and other new enterprises, the

priority should be developing a marketing plan. If these organizations
spend too much on advertising at the onset—without an established or
sustainable marketing plan—it can be a disaster.
At the onset of corporate existence, it is paramount to define and
execute a marketing plan by identifying customer wants and needs.
That way, any future marketing or advertising efforts will have a
defined approach and a better chance of success.
THE 5 Cs OF MARKETING
The 5C analysis precedes any marketing effort. It is an understanding of
the broad environment in which the company operates – which is
essential before making marketing and/or strategy decisions.
It provides insights into what could drive success, exposure to potential
risks etc.
C1: COMPANY
The first C of the marketing analysis is "company." It involves looking
deeply at your company's operations.
It involves analyzing the product line, culture, goals, and the company's
image in the market. One can also consider the company's technology
and experience.
This analysis aims to see if the company is in the best position in the
market or not and whether it can meet customer needs. It also enables
the identification of the company's strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats, helping to create an apt marketing strategy.
To analyze the company, one can list down these points about the
company –
• List of major product lines and types
• The product variation from that of the competitors
• The competitive advantages the company has
• The brand's uniqueness
• The good and the bad points about your business as compared to
the competition in the market
• The customers' review of the brand or the business
• The long-term goals of the company (5-year goals)
Example (Apple):
• Major product lines: iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch
• Product Variation: IOS against Android
• Competitive advantages: Better brand value, no reliability issues
• Brand's uniqueness: Unique UI
C2: CUSTOMER
Customers are the soul of the business you are running. It is vital to
identify the customers and understand their needs and try to satisfy
your customers.
To stay in the market competition, you need to analyze the customer
and what made them purchase your brand. If you can understand your
customers, what they need, and how much your product meets their
needs, your brand will become much more effective, and you will enjoy
delivering your products.
If you are planning to target multiple marketing segments of the market,
try considering these points-
The ideal customer for your product
Setting up the target audience
• The group that is currently purchasing your products
• Segregation of good, poor, and no review products
• The reaction of your customers to your website and your products
• The effective promotion campaigns
• Points that attract the customers to your product are the price,
quality, uniqueness, benefit, etc.)
Example:
The customers of Spotify premium prioritize convenience and are
willing to pay to get that. They are generally fond of customization and
sharing their music preferences. The customers primarily belong to the
age group of 20-40, in urban areas, in the upper-middle and upper-
income categories.
C3:C3:
COMPETITORS
Competitors
Competitor is anyone who satisfies the same need as you.
To sustain yourself in the market, it is essential to know against whom
you compete. You need to find out if the competitors are a threat to your
company or if they are active competitors, as this will offer you a
competitive advantage.
You should check the number of competitors in the market. Research
them, work on your branding decisions, and construct your marketing
plan.
Here are a few points you need to consider while analyzing the
competition –
• The direct competitors
• Segregation of established and emerging competitors
• The strengths and weaknesses of your competitors
• Strategies made by the competitors
• the targeted audience of the competitors
• the social media presence
If you know your competitors' marketplace, the strengths and
weaknesses will give you a tremendous advantage to stay in the market
and plan your strategies accordingly.
Example:
The competitors of Honda Activa include TVS Jupiter, Yamaha Fascino,
and Suzuki Access. An emerging competitor of all these companies and
products is Ola Electric. Competitors that satisfy the same need
(transporting people from one place to another) like taxi and bus
services are also competitors.
C4:C4:
COLLABORATOR
Collaborator
This portion focused on every individual or organization that works to
create, promote, or sell the products. Categories include and are not
limited to :
• Distributors
• Channel Investors
• Service Providers
• Suppliers
This part of the 5C analysis not only brings to light the full extent of
how many people it takes to run your business, but it also allows us to
pinpoint who is responsible for a particular task, allowing us to hold
people accountable for critical areas. We can identify a collaborator
who is not collaborating effectively, and this might have an opportunity
to replace them to improve the system's efficiency.
e.g., Let us assume there's an organization XYZ that manufactures
leather bags and sells them on online platforms like Amazon, Myntra,
and their personal website. While deciding on the collaborators' list,
the CEO might ask themselves these set of questions:
• Who provides me with the material for the bags? : Vendor 1, Vendor
2, etc.
• Who is my delivery partner? : Delhivery, Ekart, etc.
• Who designs my products? : Designer 1, Designer 2
• Who handles my e-commerce platform? : ECommvendor1
• Who is my distributor or retailer for the bag?
• Who handles my distribution network?
• Who handles my inventory and warehousing
• Who processes my finances?
Based on these questions, the CEO might find the list of collaborators,
further deciding on the efficiency they are working on.
Example:
FMCG firms like HUL have multiple collaborators across their value
chain – manufacturers of products, distributors that supply to retail
outlets, marketing agencies that design ad copies etc.
C5: C5:
CONTEXT / CLIMATE
Context/Climate
The context section of the framework concentrates on the external
factors that aren't controlled by your own business. The manager must
pay attention to factors that can impact the business. With this, we are
not trying to predict the future but get a general sense of where the
market is headed.
These factors may include:
• Economic Trends
• Laws
• Regulations
• Social and Behavioural trends
• Technologies
An easy way to bucket and analyse all context-related factors is the
PESTEL framework (Political, Economic, Social, Technological,
Environmental, Legal)
Example:
A classic example of the same would be a case where Blockbuster
famously declined to purchase Netflix in 2000 for $50 Million. While
Blockbuster has gone out of business, Netflix has grown to about $4
Billion. Had Blockbuster been aware of the shifting industry trends,
they'd have made a fortune by purchasing Netflix.
STP
SEGMENTATION
Understanding the customer is a prerequisite to making a well-defined

product marketing strategy. The needs and wants of a customer differ
for every individual. To make sure that our product reaches out to the
right audience, it is imperative that we determine the most appropriate
way to describe and differentiate customers. This process is called
segmentation.
Segmentation allows brands to create strategies for different types of
consumers, depending on how they perceive the overall value of certain
products and services. In this way they can introduce a more
personalized message with the certainty that it will be received
successfully.
At its core, market segmentation is the practice of dividing your target
market into approachable groups.
Markets can be segmented in a variety of ways: -
• Demographic Segmentation: sorts markets based on elements such
as age, education, income, family size, race, gender, occupation, and
nationality.
• Geographic Segmentation: sorts markets based on geographical
boundaries. Because potential customers have needs, preferences,
and interests that differ according to their geographies,
understanding the climates and geographic regions of customer
groups can help determine where to sell and advertise, as well as
where to expand your business.
• Psychographic Segmentation: based on psychological aspects of
consumer behaviour by dividing markets according to lifestyle,
personality traits, values, opinions, and interests of consumers.
• Behavioural Segmentation: divides markets by behaviours and
decision-making patterns such as purchase, consumption, lifestyle,
and usage. For instance, younger buyers may tend to purchase
bottled body wash, while older consumer groups may lean towards
soap bars.
STP
HOWHow to Perform Segmentation
TO PERFORM SEGMENTATION
• Define your product - Ask the right questions - Is there a need of
your product? Who will the product be most relevant to? What is
the current market like?
• Segment your market- Based on the types of segmentation available,
try to divide the market into relevant target groups. You may want
to use a combination of segmentation types in order to compliment
your product.
SegmentationEXAMPLE
SEGMENTATION Example Of
OFCar
CARCompanies
COMPANIES
Different customer segments want different cars based on their benefits.
Car companies can use the behavioural segment. Companies may
segment based -
• Usage (sports, family car, etc)

• Income level (how much are people willing to pay, petrol vs diesel
cars vs electric cars)
• Lifestyle (whether or not a car is a status symbol to them)
• Place of stay (if staying in a mountain region, a small car will be
better suited for you)
TARGETING
Once you have segmented your consumer market, you may select one or
more of the relevant segments to be your final target group/ target
audience. Your target audience will essentially be the group of people
who will most benefit from your product, ultimately generating the
desired conversions.
Philip Kotler describes five alternative patterns to select the target
market. Selection of a suitable option depends on situations prevailing
inside and outside the company.
• Single Segment Concentration: Here, product is one; segment is one.
For example, a company may select only higher income segment to
serve from various segments based on income, such as poor,
middleclass, elite class, etc. All the product items produced by the
company are meant for only a single segment.
• Selective Specialization: A company selects several segments and
sells different products to each of the segments. This multi-segment
coverage strategy has the advantage of diversifying the firm’s risk.
STP
• A firm can earn money from other segments if one or two segments
seem unattractive.
• Product Specialization: A company makes a specific product, which
can be sold to several segments. Here, product is one, but segments
are many. Many ready-made garment companies prefer this strategy.
• Market Specialization: This strategy consists of serving many needs
of a particular segment. Here, products are many but the segment is
one. The firm can gain a strong reputation by specializing in serving
the specific segment.
• Full Market Coverage: A company attempts to serve all the customer
groups with all the products they need.
POSITIONING
Positioning a product simply means influencing customer perception
wrt the brand or product identity relative to its competitors. More often
than not, positioning is influenced by the segmented audience group
that you have targeted.
Depending on the type of product, you may want to position your
brand/service/product based on the following factors:
• Product Attributes And Benefits: Associating your brand/product
with certain characteristics or with certain beneficial value
• Product Price: Associating your brand/product with competitive
pricing
• Product Quality: Associating your brand/product with high quality
• Product Use And Application: Associating your brand/product with
a specific use
• Competitors: Making consumers think that your brand/product is
better than that of your competitors
Continuing the car company example, one can target different segments
uniquely by positioning the cars in a way that resonates with each
segment. Adventurous customers that often take trips to places with
rough terrain will want a car that is tough, durable, and highly shock-
resistant. New parents will want cars that are suited to their family and
therefore must be able to accommodate more than two passengers, and
must be safe. Customers that look at their car as a status symbol may
want something pricey and luxurious, that stands out from the average
car on the road.
STP
PERPETUAL MAPPING
A perceptual map is a chart used by market researchers and businesses

to depict and understand how the target customers view and feel about
a given brand or product.
Perceptual maps can also be referred to as product positioning maps.
A typical perceptual map is a two-dimensional graph with a vertical
axis (Y) and a horizontal axis (X). Each axis consists of a pair of
opposite attributes at each end.
Example:
THE 4 (+3) Ps OF MARKETING
After the analysis of the environment via the 5 Cs, and the selection of
target segment and positioning, the marketing mix is determined.
The marketing mix is a tool for considering the different elements that
go into promoting a brand and its products. It offers broad guidelines
for putting the right products in the right place, at the right time and
price.
Originally composed of 4 key categories known as The 4 P's (product,
place, price, and promotion), it lays out the foundation for marketers to
determine a brand's place within the market and build out the best
marketing strategies from there.
HOW How
THEThe Marketing Mix
MARKETING MIXHas
HASChanged
CHANGED
The marketing mix, now more than ever, is rooted in a deep
understanding of your target audience. The explosion of digital and the
rapid rate at which consumer trends change has transformed the face of
marketing.
Modeling your business using consumer insights ensures you deliver at
each stage of the marketing mix. This has spurred the creation of an
extended 7 "P" system founded on a deeper understanding of consumer
processes and the trends that shape their behaviors, attitudes, and
perceptions.
PRODUCT
It refers to an actual item being sold that satisfies the customer's needs
and wants. There are five levels to a product.
• Level 1 – Core Product: This is the primary product, and the focus is
on the purpose for which the primary purpose is intended to
e.g., A warm coat will protect you from rain and cold.
• Level 2 – Generic Product: A version of a product that contains only
those attributes which are absolutely necessary for it to function.
e.g., a warm coat that is about the right fit, material, rain repellent, high-
quality fasteners/
• Level 3 – Expected Product: The level of attributes that buyers
usually expect and agree to.
e.g., The coat should be really warm, protected from wind, and should
be comfortable while riding a bicycle.
• Level 4 – Augmented Product: This refers to all the other attributes
that set us apart from the competition.
e.g., a Warm coat in a trendy color, designed by some famous brand.
• Level 5 – Potential Product: This refers to the transformations that
the product might undergo in the future.
e.g., A coat that automatically allows the rain to slide down
PRICE
Price
The price in the marketing mix aims to capture your product's value to
the target audience and earn revenue from the sales. Each product offers
different values and utility to other individuals. So, choosing the right
price is crucial to serving your audience well.
Pricing decisions are influenced by many factors – organizational and
marketing objectives. Pricing depends on survival, market share, profit
maximization, maximizing market skimming, or product-quality
leadership), costs (most of the airlines increase the fares due to an
increase in Gasoline pricing), other marketing mix variables (the
product improvement and cost of promotion ), expectations of channel
members (commission demanded by petrol pump owners is also a
factor in oil pricing), customer interpretation and response
(psychological pricing by Bata Rs, 99.95; at times lower price leads to
the perception that product quality is lower), competition (Price of
Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola are often highly competitive), ethics, etc., A
company must set the price in relation to value delivered and perceived
by consumers.
Types of Pricing Methods
Some important pricing methods have been given below with examples.
• Value-based Pricing:
VALUE-BASED PRICING
With value-based pricing, you set your prices according to what
consumers think your product is worth. Starbucks has a massive
global customer base. Their brand awareness is so extensive that they
have become synonymous with good coffee-based beverages. However,
this is another example of customers associating more with
the name than the actual product. For Starbucks' customers, the value
of their product is based on:
1. The urban appeal of the product (a low price for a good social
image)
2. The design of the logo and the warmth of their shop interiors
3. The ability to socialize within shop premises without restriction
4. Their premium outlook that the company projects
Over time, Starbucks has priced its coffee higher, which has left them
with a higher-income-consumer base. It's the loyalty of that consumer
base that keeps the company going.
• Competitive Pricing:
COMPETITIVE PRICING
When you use a competitive pricing strategy, you're setting your prices
based on what the competition is charging. This can be a good strategy
in the right circumstances, such as a business just starting out, but it
doesn't leave a lot of room for growth.
Example for this type is the competitive relationship between Apple
and Samsung.
Apple released in October 2020. (iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone
12 Max – released in November) and phones Samsung released
in January 2021 (Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra). Since Samsung was
the one who has released their products later, they had the chance to
look at Apple’s prices.
With S21 and S21+ Samsung decided to go a bit below the price of
iPhones 12 and 12 Pro. On the other hand, Samsung felt more
comfortable with S21 Ultra and decided to go with the price of £1,329
which is considerably more expensive than Apple’s most premium
phone in this series – the iPhone 12 Pro Max cost £1,099 at launch. This
can be seen as Samsungs message that they are offering a phone with
better features than Apple offered a few months before.
• Price Skimming: PRICE SKIMMING

If you set your prices as high as the market will possibly tolerate and
then lower them over time, you'll be using the price skimming strategy.
The goal is to skim the top off the market and the lower prices to reach
everyone else. With the right product it can work, but you should be
very cautious using it.
When Salesforce first came out, they were the only CRM in the cloud.
Armed with ground-breaking deployment and a target customer of a
large enterprise, Salesforce could charge what they wanted. Later, after
they'd grown, they were able to lower prices so small businesses could
sign up. This is a classic example of price skimming.
• Cost-Plus Pricing: COST-PLUS PRICING

This is one of the simplest pricing strategies. You just take the product
production cost and add a certain percentage to it. While simple, it is
less than ideal for anything but physical products.
For example, if a company sells sunglasses and they want to use the
cost-plus method to price their product, they might determine:
The total cost of production: The company adds their material costs of
$220.10, their labor costs of $56.15 and their allocated overhead of
$80.75 to determine their total production cost of $357.00.
The cost per unit: For the next step, the company divides its total
production cost by its output. In this example, they produced 20
sunglasses. $357.00/20 = $17.85.
The selling cost: If the sunglasses company applies a 30% markup to
their products, they can multiply their unit price by 1 x .30 to arrive at
$23.21. This number serves as the basis for a final consumer price of
$23.50 for a pair of sunglasses.
PENETRATION PRICING
• Penetration Pricing:
In highly competitive markets, it can be hard for new companies to get a
foothold. One way some companies attempt to push new products is by
offering prices that are much lower than the competition. This is
penetration pricing. While it may get you customers and decent sales
volume, you'll need a lot of them and you'll need them to be very loyal to
stick around when the price increases in the future.
Netflix is the perfect example of penetration pricing done right. We
have often heard people complaining about their Netflix subscription
prices going up or their one month of free subscription ending.
Nevertheless, despite occasional grumbling, people are completely fine
with paying the higher subscriptions for the unending flow of good
media content. Today, Netflix is a market leader constituting 51% of
streaming subscriptions in the United States. Other OTT platforms are
following suit by deploying penetration pricing to attract new
customers.
• Economy Pricing: ECONOMY PRICING

This strategy is popular in the commodity goods sector. The goal is to
price a product cheaper than the competition and make the money back
with increased volume. While it's a good method to get people to buy
your generic soda, it's not a great fit for SaaS and subscription
businesses.
At one time, you couldn't turn on your TV without an ad for Dollar
Shave Club telling you how much cheaper they were than razors at the
store. Although an aggressive marketing strategy and advertising like
that is unusual for the pricing model, they were nevertheless employing
economy pricing.
• Dynamic Pricing: DYNAMIC PRICING

In some industries, you can get away with constantly changing your
prices to match the current demand for the item. This doesn't work well
for subscription and SaaS business, because customers expect
consistent monthly or yearly expenses.
Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce platforms with more
than 300,000,000 active users as of October 2021. Amazon leverages the
large amount of data collected about users’ purchase behavior and
market trends to change their product prices every 10 minutes. It’s been
claimed that Amazon increased its profits by ~25% by leveraging
dynamic pricing strategies in 2016.
Other Pricing Strategies for Further Reading
• Product Line Pricing:
PRODUCT LINE PRICING
1. Premium pricing (Charging a high price, with good quality
product/service – like Mark & Spencer products)
2. Captive product pricing (Products that complement others, like
cheaper tooth paste and costly tooth brush, cheaper printer costly
cartridge)
3. Bait Pricing (Low price of one item to attract customers to store for
selling a higher priced item in the line, like Reality developers)
4. Price Lining (Different prices for different combinations – Tata Sky
gives different channels packages at different prices)
5. Volume Pricing (Rationale of Product range, like ice cream cup Rs. 15,
family Pack Rs. 50, and giant size Rs. 75)
• New Product Pricing:

NEW PRODUCT PRICING
1. Penetration pricing (Low price to gain market share and then increase
price, like Tata Telecom)
2. Price skimming (High initial price, in future price will come down to
parity, like films on release)
• Psychological Pricing:
PSYCHOLOGICAL PRICING
1. Reference Pricing (Pricing at moderate level a product kept next to a
more expensive product, so that customer can differentiate between
moderate and better products)
2. Group or Bundle Pricing (Package to contain two or more products
and the package is priced, like tour to Europe Price includes air fare,
transfers, sight-seeing, hotel, and food)
3. Multiple – Unit Pricing (in Big Bazaar socks with three pairs are per
unit cheaper than buying one pair)
4. Everyday Low Prices (Instead of declaring frequent short-term price
reductions, marketers keep the prices otherwise low, like Wal-Mart-
“Always Low Prices. Always.”)
5. Odd Pricing (Bata keeping price at Rs. 995.99 for women’s saddles
6. Prestige Pricing (Keeping higher price because customers believe that
a higher priced product is of better quality).
• Promotional Pricing:
PROMOTIONAL PRICING
1. Price Leaders (Keeping low prices of some products in the hope of
sale of other regularly priced items, like lower sugar price and regular
pricing for tea leaves, milk and cardamom)
2. Special Event Pricing (Most of the big stores announce lower prices
on the eve of Diwali, Id, Gurpurab, 25th December, 15th August)
3. Comparison Discounting (Company writing earlier higher prices
along with current lower prices for comparison by the customers)
4. Economy Pricing (No frills and low price, like Indigo Air)
5. Cash Rebate Pricing (Purchase air ticket from makemytrip.com and
get air ticket from makemytrip.com and get a cash back of Rs. 300)
6. Other Promotional Pricing Strategies (Includes Low Interest
financing, longer payment terms, extended warranties and Service
Contracts, and Psychological Discounting)
• Other Pricing Strategies:

OTHER PRICING STRATEGIES
1. Pricing variations (Early bird discounts, like ticket booking one
month in advance at lower price)
2. Optional product-pricing (Optional extra, like stereo price extra in
Alto Car)
3. Geographical pricing (Different prices in different geographies, like
Indian Oil charges different prices for petrol and diesel in different
cities)
4. Transfer Pricing (Price charged for intra-company or group
companies selling).
PLACE
Place refers to the point of sale. It is the location or kind of outlet a
product is sold at and also includes the distribution channel. Channel is
the mechanism through which the product/service is moved from the
manufacturers/service provider to the end consumer.
The decision is the key: A luxury brand like Louis Vuitton would want
to sell their products at their own showrooms where they can provide a
luxurious experience to their customers instead of Walmart or thrift
stores.
PROMOTION
Promotion
The promotional marketing mix includes all the offline and online
channels and methods you use to make the consumers aware of your
products or services. The main goal of promotion is to communicate a
product's or service's value.
The promotion channel includes TV advertising, banners, pamphlets,
email marketing, social media ads, etc.
The promotion mix contains four elements:
• Advertising (paid, non-personal communication through mass
media),
• Personal selling (a paid personal communication to inform and
persuade customers to purchase),
• Sales Promotion (to provide added value or incentives to consumers,
wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to
stimulate immediate sales),
• Public Relations (a broad set of communication efforts to create and
maintain a favorable relationship between organization and
stakeholders).
The promotion mix shall depend on the nature of the product market,
promotional budget, costs, availability of promotional methods, overall
marketing strategy, buyer readiness stage, and product life stage.
It is important to note that for every element of the promotion mix,
there accompanies a 'word-of-mouth- communication' (a one-to-one,
informal exchange in which customers share with one another
information about the product and company).
A promotion strategy may be 'push' (use of a company's sales force and
trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product.
The producer promotes the product to wholesalers, and the wholesalers
promote it to retailers. The retailers promote it to consumers), 'Pull'
(high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up
consumer demand for a product, consumers will ask their retailers for
the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers
will ask the producers) or a combination of the two (It focuses both on
the distributor as well as the consumers, targeting both parties
directly).
PEOPLE
Companies rely on the people who run them, from the managing
director to the front-line sales staff. Employing the right people is
essential because they shape your brand and its product offering.
Question to Consider: What kind of people best align with your
consumer’s values and realize the vision?
PROCESS
Process refers to the method or flow of providing the services to your
client. It's best viewed as something your customer participates in at
different times.
Example: Going to a fine dining restaurant, from the moment you arrive
at the restaurant, a valet takes your car for parking, and a waiter ushers
you to your seats and serves you a beverage. He then takes your order,
recommends the chef's special, and interacts with you multiple times
throughout your time at the place. The waiter plays a strong role in your
perception of restaurant service. Hence a key emphasis must be laid on
adherence to the process.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
While delivering services, there are not many physical attributes to
them. So we need to define the tangible aspects of the services. Physical
Evidence is the environment where service is delivered, where the
customer and organization interact, and any tangible aspect that
facilitates the performance of the service.
Some factors may include:
1) Packaging
2) Paperwork (Invoices, receipts, tickets, etc.)
3) Uniforms
4) Business Cards
5) The premises.
e.g., While going clubbing, you are stamped with the club logo on your
arms, the staff is dressed up in uniforms, and the club might have a great
ambiance through lights and music.
RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
Customer
Customer ExperienceJourneys
Experience Journeys –
– FMCG
FMCGVs
VsLifestyle
LifestyleBrands
Brands
In the current dynamic business environment, customer experience has
become an important tool for building a strong connection between the
lifestyle brand and the consumer. The new customer is much more
connected nowadays in an environment where convenience, hyper-
personalization, authentic storytelling, and seamlessness play vital roles
throughout the whole customer journey and in turn generate increased
loyalty and revenue growth.
The lifestyle brands specifically the direct-to-consumer(D2C) brands
utilize an innovative go-to-market approach that enables them to sell to
customers directly, without relying on middlemen or third-party
distributors. This eliminates the barrier between producers &
consumers, giving these brands greater control over their supply chain,
marketing, and customer experience.
Many brands including the likes of BoAt, Mamaearth and Licious, have
capitalized well on greater levels of data crunching & consumer
insights allowing for smarter decision-making & faster go-to-market.
Given this success, the D2C market is projected to grow by a staggering
50% in 2022 alone.
There has been a dramatic shift towards digitalization following the
global pandemic. This new environment offers consumers an easier &
more convenient personalized experience. But this transition is not
new; in fact, a few FMCG players have been leveraging this new channel
for years.
In the case of an FMCG retailer or manufacturer, the customer
experience starts at the discovery and education stage through to point
of sale. The experience continues through to post-purchase
engagementwhich includes quality, which makes up the majority of
exchanges, through inquiries and giving feedback. Customers may need
support at any point; sometimes individuals can go months or years
consuming the product before they need additional support beyond the
purchase. Thus, they contact the company in a time of need. This is an
absolutely crucial time as their experience at this stage can make or
break the relationship because any customer won’t recall the bad
product but will always remember the solution that the organization
found for them in a limited frame of time. This can help in building
brand loyalty and go a long way in ensuring sustained growth in the
future.
RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
IN-STOREIn-store
PRODUCT merchandising
MERCHANDISING
Although general merchandising can include product design,
packaging, online sales and branded promotional items, in-store
merchandising refers precisely to product merchandising in stores.
These include display setups, shelving layouts, space allotment and
other considerations for displaying and selling products in physical
retail locations.
A crisp, consistent and concise retail merchandising system can help
any organization in generating a robust market presence and can also
help in maintaining a loyal following that keeps retail brand equity
high.
A cohesive plan to increase in-store revenue should aim to build foot
traffic, up the total for each checkout, and convert shoppers into loyal
customers can include the following methods:
1. Create Experiential Displays
2. Start at the Storefront
3. Leverage Signage
4. Consider Promotions and Pricing!
5. Cross-Merchandise
6. Train Field Reps
7. Manage Campaigns with a Retail Execution Software
In-Store
IN-STORE Product Placement
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
In-store product placement is the art of determining where your
products appear within a retailer through planning, negotiation, and
design. It also concerns the spatial analysis of shelving and the use
of planograms, which are visual representations of product shelving that
help merchandisers maximize capacity.
The essentials of product placement in retail outlets:
• Put essentials at the back of the store
Encouraging customers to walk past all other items to reach the
essentials increases the chances of them giving attention to other items,
and ultimately, purchasing them as well.
• Place luxurious items at the store entrance
Putting luxurious items at the store entrance, at the time when people
are looking to put products in their trolleys encourages them to spend
more on such products. Another place for these products is near the
billing counter. Example: Chocolates and candies are placed near the
billing counter to entice customers.
RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
• Eye-level is the buy level
The items placed at eye-level are most likely to be purchased by people.
Therefore, it should be ensured that the best items are placed at the eye-
level.
• Place complementary products side by side
This motivates buyers to purchase the complementary items together.
• Give your consumer some room
Having wider and more spacious aisles encourages people to spend
more time looking at the products, resulting in larger order value.
Store
STORE Atmosphere In
ATMOSPHERE IN Supermarkets
SUPERMARKETS
In supermarkets, retailers must consider all the senses in shaping the
customer’s experience. Varying tempo of music affects average time
spent and the money spent in the supermarket. Slow music can lead to
higher sales.
Similarly, different fragrances are used in different areas to induce a
buying behaviour. For example: baby powder scent in the baby store of
a supermarket. Perfumes are regularly sprayed near the perfume
department to increase the number of visitors there.
Essentially, the store atmosphere should match the shoppers’ basic
motivations. If a customer is likely to be in a task oriented and
functional mind-set, then a simpler, more restrained in-store
environment may be better. On the other hand, some retailers of
experiential products are creating in-store entertainment to attract
customers who want fun and excitement.
The former is frequently seen in supermarkets such as DMart, where a
simple and efficient layout is there for the task-oriented customers. The
latter is generally seen in malls such as the Alpha One mall, where a lot
of customers end up visiting for fun and excitement.
Planograms
PLANOGRAMS
A planogram is a diagram that shows how and where specific retail
products should be placed on retail shelves or displays in order to
increase customer purchases.
By analyzing past and current sales patterns, a planogrammer can make
successful recommendations about the number of "facings" a certain
product should have on a retail display. The diagram will document
how high or low on a shelf the product should display, as well as which
RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
products should surround it. The resulting planogram is printed out as a
visual to be followed by the part-time help that is often hired to restock
retail shelves and displays. This gives executive management of a retail
store or chain more control over how products are displayed and allows
them to track and improve on the success of their planograms.
THE DISTRIBUTION VALUE CHAIN
Supply Chain Management is a complete cycle of chain management
starting from raw materials from suppliers to producers into finished
goods or services, continuing to distribution to consumers. Therefore, a
supply chain is very important in the economy because if one of the
producers, distributors, or retailers experiences a disruption, it will
have fatal consequences for consumers.
Given the importance of the Supply Chain, we will look at the role and
function of each component starting from Manufacturers/Producers ,
Distributors, Retailers and Consumers.
ThePRODUCER
THE Producer
The producer is a popular term in economics and business. Producers,

namely business actors who make, produce goods and/or services from
other goods and/or services (raw materials, additional/auxiliary
materials, and other materials) to be sold or marketed. Producers on a
large medium scale are often called manufacturers.
The production process carried out by producers, aims to increase the
added value of an object or create a new object that is useful to help
meet the needs of many people or consumers/customers.
An example of a small company producer is a furniture craftsman.
Furniture craftsmen buy wood, bamboo, and additional materials suchas
glue, nails to produce wood into furniture. The resulting furniture will
have a higher selling value, this is because there is an element of service
in designing, building to become furniture. Of course, it is worth much
more than just being sold as wood.
FUNCTIONS & ROLES OF THE PRODUCER

● To produce goods and or services according to the customer needs,
at a price that is in accordance with the added value provided.
● Provide added value to the value of the previous goods or services.
Thus increasing the value of the finished goods or services provided.
● Ensuring the quality of goods and/or services produced and/or
traded based on the prevailing quality standards for goods and/or
services
● Produce new, innovative goods or services to help consumers. For
example, cell phone manufacturers continue to innovate to create
new products to continue to help consumers.
● Creating products that help with existing problems, for example
producing environmentally friendly plastics.
● Provide true, clear, and honest information regarding the condition
and guarantee of goods and/or services and provide an explanation
● of the use, repair, and maintenance.
● Treating or serving consumers correctly and honestly.
● Providing and opening up employment opportunities as well as
being a place for economic activities to take place that is useful to
society and the state, in order to help achieve the prosperity of every
worker, company and ultimately help the State.
In the production process, producers are responsible for carrying out the
rules or regulations where they are located, in order to provide benefits
not only to customers but also to the communities around which the
producers operate.
TheDISTRIBUTOR
THE Distributor
This distributor is also called a distributor, which means that a party

can be in the form of a person or entity who buys products from
producers for distribution or distribution to direct consumers or
retailers such as stalls, shops, supermarkets, and others.
Distributors are parties who take goods in finished form from
producers, without any change or modification process that he does,
then sell again with the same goods and/or services. Sometimes, if a
process occurs, the distributor is generally limited to packaging.
Example: Distributor buys hand washing soap in the form of DRUM,
where each drum contains 50lt of cleaning liquid. Then the distributor
carries out the packaging process into 500 ml, 1-lt. packages, and so on.
In certain supply chains of goods, distribution does not only have one
level, but there are distributors who buy from producers, then there are
wholesalers who buy from distributors and then distribute to retailers
or consumers. Of course, this really depends on the needs of each
producer, the type of goods, the speed of distribution, the reach of the
target market.
Functions
FUNCTIONS andROLES
AND Roles OF
of the
THEDistributor
DISTRIBUTOR
● For producers, distributors have a role to help distribute goods and

services produced by producers to customers, both retailers, and
consumers, so those producers can focus on monitoring the
continuity of production and quality of goods.
● For producers, distributors also play a role in getting customers who
are in accordance with their area, and can serve customers better,
because of the close location between distributors and consumers or
customers. This can be done by conducting promotions in
accordance with regional conditions in each distributor.
● For Producers, Overseeing price stability, because an item that is
piled in one place can lower the price while in an area with difficulty
the price of goods tends to rise.
● For customers, the distributor’s role makes it easier for consumers to
buy the good/services needed. One of them is by building
distribution centers that are spread across every province. Thus,
producers located in only one area, such as Jakarta, can distribute
their goods throughout Indonesia with the help of distributors who
have a network of warehouses throughout Indonesia.
THE
TheRETAILER
Retailer
Retail or retail is the activity of trading or selling goods or services
directly to consumers or end customers. Goods purchased from retail
businesses will be used by consumers for personal consumption or
family and household purposes, not for resale business.
An organization or someone who runs this business is also known as a
retailer or retailer. In practice, retailers purchase goods or products in
large quantities from producers, or importers, either directly or through
wholesalers, to be resold in small quantities.
Currently, the term retail is becoming very common, due to the
proliferation of the retail business and is supported by the property
industry such as malls which are widely spread, so that the terms
modern retail and traditional retail have emerged. One of the
characteristics of traditional retail is that there is still a bargaining
process, while in modern retail the price is clear and non-negotiable.
Also known as the retail business, retail acts as a marketing
intermediary that connects major producers or large wholesalers with
consumers who buy in small quantities or units. After buying a certain
number of goods from a larger business group, the retailer or retailer will
resell the goods by setting a certain additional price for a profit.
Functions andFUNCTIONS & ROLES OF RETAILERS

Roles of Retailers
● Retailers serve as an important marketing channel for goods. The
right placement, banners, advertisements, offers etc. can be
implemented by manufacturers to increase sales in retail stores.
● Make it easy for consumers to get the goods and services needed.
● In offline retail or regular stores, the importance of store location is
generally emphasized, this is so that goods are easily accessible to
consumers. This is still evident in minimarket retail where store
location is very important to ensure the success of a retail store.
● With the development of online retail, it does not mean that offline
retailers will die immediately but must be adjusted to the type of
goods.
● Increase Value-Added Goods.
● Because retailers are the spearhead of sales to end consumers, it is
important to provide added value. For example providing services to
customers, especially loyal customers, customer promo programs,
providing installation services for items sold, or service guarantees
● Offering a variety of goods at various prices.
● Prices offered by retailers are generally higher than distributors,
because the role of retailers as the term implies is breaking down
goods into smaller units to be purchased and used for personal
consumer needs.
● Provide benefits for Producers and Distributors.
● Together with distributors and manufacturers, brand owners think
and try to make the goods offered sell quickly.
TheCONSUMER
THE Consumer
This consumer is the last chain of product flow or goods from a

production supply chain at the beginning. Consumers are parties or
people who use services or products to meet their needs. Consumers are
people who will only use these products without reselling them to
certain parties.
As users of products produced by producers, the role of consumers are
the most important, without the presence of consumers, all supply
chains will not work, therefore consumers are the key to the
sustainability of a product.
The Role of CustomersTHE ROLE OF CUSTOMERS

The consumer determines the success of the producer and his supply
chain. Because as the end-user of goods or services that have been
produced by the producer. A good or service from a producer that can
be received well by consumers can make the producer grow and
develop.
Consumers play an important role in creating an increase in the national
income of a country. Indonesia, with a population of more than 280
million relies heavily on consumption from local consumers to increase
economic turnover.
Producer Distributor Retailer Customer

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
These are the channels of distribution and logistics management
through which goods will flow from marketer to consumers.
Chain or path or route in the channels may be marketer to consumer
(through factory outlet or internet or company owned stores, or mail
order business or door to door sales, or multilevel marketing as done by
Amway), or marketer to retailer to consumer, or marketer to wholesaler
(also referred to as distributors) to retailer to consumer, or agent to
wholesaler to retailer to consumer. The organisations between the
marketer and the consumers are known as intermediaries. Each one of
them has an important role to play.
A Retailer is an important bridge with the consumers as he has much
stronger personal relationship with the consumer, holds a variety of
products, offers consumers credit, promote and merchandise products,
prices the final product, and builds retailer ‘brand’ in the high street.
A Wholesaler breaks down ‘bulk’, buys from producers and sells small
quantities to retailers, provides storage facilities, reduces contact cost
between producer and consumer, and takes some of the marketing
responsibility, e.g., sales force, promotions.
In some of the trades no trade is possible without agents. To illustrate,
in foods, jewellery, monetary products, metals, etc, agent is a must. But
in international markets, their role is undisputed. They (Commission
Agents) do not take title of the goods, secure orders, and (Stockist
agents) hold ‘consignment’ stock.
With the advent of the internet and WWW the concept of channels
has undergone a sea-change and there is a paradigm shift in marketing
and consumption. Through the internet marketer can sell to a
geographically dispersed market, target and focus on specific segments,
relatively keep low costs set-up, and make use of e-commerce
technology (for payment, shopping software, etc).
IMPORTANTImportant DECISIONS
DecisionsIN CHANNEL
in Channel MANAGEMENT
Management
Regarding channels, six basic decisions are to be made -direct or
indirect channel (in certain sectors, both direct and indirect channels
may be used. Hotels, for example, may sell their rooms directly or
through travel agents, tour operators, airlines, and tourist boards.
With centralized reservation systems, etc. the process of transfer of the
products or services is shifted from Producer to Customer or end user.),
single or multiple channels, length of channel, types of intermediaries,
number of intermediaries at each level, and selection of particular
intermediaries. Many marketers seem to assume that once their product
has been sold into the channel, into the beginning of the distribution
chain, their job is finished.
Yet that distribution chain is merely assuming a part of the marketer’s
responsibility; and, if they have any aspirations to be market-oriented,
their job should really be extended to manage all the processes involved
in that chain, until the product or service arrives with the end-user. All
these decisions have to be made by individual marketer.
Selection of a channel which is flexible, effective, and consistent with
the declared marketing policies and programmes of the firm is very
important.
While selecting a distribution channel, an entrepreneur should make a
trade-off analysis of the costs, sales volume, and profits expected from
alternative channels of distribution and take into account the factors –
• Product Consideration (Unit value, perish ability, consumer versus
Industrial Products, width and depth of product mix, and Existing
product versus new product)
• Market Consideration (industrial market doesn’t need middlemen,
number of prospective customers, geographic spread, and order size
of customers), and Other Considerations (Age of marketer,
availability of finance, Cost of each channel, and demand for the
product). The nature and the type of the middlemen required by the
firm and its availability also affect the choice of the distribution
channel.
A company prefers a middleman who can maximise the volume of sales
of their product and also offers other services like storage, promotion as
well as after-sale services. If the requisite kind of middlemen is not
available, the manufacturer will have to establish his own distribution
outlet.
Types
TYPES of MarketingCHANNEL
OF MARKETING Channel Distributions
DISTRIBUTIONS
• Intensive Distribution: Where every kind of retail outlet is used. For

example, Coca Cola uses Grocery Stores, Panwalas, and the
restaurant owners to market its beverages, and hul uses not only
grocery stores but also chemists to market its soaps and shampoos.
This kind of distribution is suitable for convenience goods, like
bread, butter, egg, newspapers, namkins, potato chips, etc.
• Selective Distribution: Only a few outlets in an area are to distribute
a product. It is most suitable for shopping products which include
consumer durables.
• Exclusive Distribution: Only one outlet in a bigger geographical area
is used to sell the product. Exclusive distribution is used for costly,
fashionable items whose sale is limited. There is only one Mark &
Spencer outlet in whole of Delhi.
MAJOR TYPES OF RETAIL STORES
• Mom and Pop Stores: These are the stores run by the family. India
has a large number of Mom & Pop Stores. The stores seen by you in
your colony or street, wherefrom you buy milk, bread, grocery,
stationary, medicines are mostly these kind of stores only.
• Department Stores: These are large retail firms, have wide product
assortment (mix), and organised into separate departments. Some of
them also engage in online business. The services are so varied that
many a times the owner leases out space to others for these services.
• Discount Stores: These are self-service, general merchandise stores,
regularly offering national, regional, and store brands at low prices.
They believe in volumes. Wal-Mart and Target are the two largest
discount stores.
• Convenience Stores: These are small self-service stores, open for long
hours, and normally carry convenience goods like soft drinks, snacks,
cigarettes, chocolates, newspapers. The stores run at Petrol Pumps in
India are convenience stores. Convenience stores may also be located
at the corner of your street.
• Supermarkets: These are big, self-service stores, carry a complete line
of food and non-food products (like cosmetics and over the counter
drugs), organised into efficient different departments, offer lower
prices than small neighbourhood stores),and central checkout.
Kishore Biyani’s ‘Big Bazaar’ comes very close to this category only.
• Superstores: These are an amalgam of supermarkets and discount
stores. They carry other routinely purchased items apart from food
and non-food products of supermarkets- food to clothing, appliances
to furniture, gardening equipment to artificial jewellery. Superstores
are spread over 2,00,000 square feet area. Those who shop there have
free parking. Sales volume is twice or thrice of supermarkets.
Bangalore’s ‘Bangalore Central’ can be put in the category of
superstore.
• Hypermarket: These stores are spread over 2,25,000 to 3, 25,000
square feet area and offer roughly 45,000 to 60,000 different types of
low-priced products. Roughly half of the space is allocated to
groceries and rest is meant for electrical and electronic appliances,
shoes, toys, house wares, hardware’s, furniture, etc. Space is leased to
banks and fast food restaurants. According to Wikipedia the
examples of hypermarket in India include India Sarvana Stores in
Chennai, Big Bazar, Trent, Landmark, Spencer’s Retail, Vishal mega
mart, Reliance Fresh, More, etc.
• Cash-and-Carry Stores: In India recently, some cash-and-carry
stores, also known as Warehouse Clubs, have opened. Important
among them are Bharati-Walmart (Punjab), Carrefour (in trans-
Yamuna area of Delhi). These are for members only and engaged in
wholesaling only. To keep prices lower than supermarkets and
discount stores, they provide little range of sizes and styles and
services. They do not advertise, except through SMS and e- mail.
• Warehouse Showrooms: IKEA, a Swedish firm sells furniture,
household goods and kitchen accessories through catalogues across
the world. Five important features of a warehouse showroom are
large, low-cost buildings, warehouse materials-handling technology,
vertical merchandise displays, large on-premises inventories, and
minimal services.
• Specialty Retailers: These stores offer wide assortment in few
product lines. In case of jewellery we have many such stores, like
Suranas of Jaipur, PC Jewellers of Delhi, Ramchandra Krishna
Chandra of Chandni Chowk, and Saboos of Delhi in sarees. These are
traditional speciality stores and deal in one product line. Another
category of speciality stores are known as off-price retailers, who buy
manufacturers’ seconds and off-season products at below-wholesale
prices for resale to consumers at deep discounts. One good example
is ‘Thapars’ who organise sale of such goods in Delhi.
• Chain Stores: These stores provide similar services or products, and
share a brand. They inevitably also share some degree of central
management, supply chains, training programs, personnel, etc. They
tend to either be parts of a single company or franchises, in which
individual store owners license the use of the shared brand, training,
and know-how. McDonald’s is the largest in the world in running
chain stores. Bata is another good example of chain stores.
• Multi-level Retailing: It is also called network marketing. It is a mix
of direct selling and franchising. Three notable companies in this
kind of business are Amway India, Oriflame India (beauty products),
and Tupperware India (food grade plastic containers). Amway has
over 5, 50,000 active independent business owners.
• Mail Order Retailing: The mail order business is not new to India.
Publishers and pharma companies have been doing it for a long time.
Recently Sky shopping, popularly known as the Direct Response
Television (DRTV) industry has also become very important form of
marketing through mail.
• Non-Store based Retailers: The mail order houses, online businesses,
vendors, and hawkers are examples of non-store based retailers.
DISTRIBUTION MARGINS AND PRICES
The margin for a distributor may range from 3% to 30% of the sales
price, the margin for the retailer may range from very little to 60%. This
all depends on the type of product and who pays for the marketing
activities.
However, not all margin is profit. To earn the margin, distributors and
retailers must make costs, for example for shipping, storage, financing
and of course selling the goods. They also have their overhead, leaving
only part of the margin as their profit. When negotiating with the
parties further in the distribution chain, this will have to be considered.
Average retail margin and distribution margin

Product category Distributor Retailer
Fast moving consumer goods 3-10% 8-40%
Clothing and apparel 15-30% 20-50%
Electronics like mobile phones 3-7% 3-7%
Electrical equipment and lights 5-7% 15-25%
These figures are indications and especially for distributors heavily

depend on the tasks that a distributor should do. For fast moving
consumer goods 3 to 10% may be fine for just the physical distribution,
but if the distributor also does promotional efforts, this percentage
should be much higher. Therefore we have to look into detail in the
various roles of the parties in the distribution chain.
DISTRIBUTOR PRICE
Distributor Price & RETAIL
and PRICE
Retail Price
The distributors and retailers should be able to cover their costs and
make a small margin. Therefore the next step is to list their activities
and add a value to it. These activities would include transportation,
packaging and unpackaging, storage, financing and marketing.
Sales, either in personal sales or by putting the product in their shops
Adding up the estimated costs of these activities will give you a good
basis for negotiations.
Wholesale pricing is the price that you charge retailers who buy
products in large volumes.
The entire goal of wholesale pricing is to earn a profit by selling goods at
a higher price than what they cost to make.
The retail price is what retailers set as the final selling price for
consumers. A retailer will mark up the price on wholesale ecommerce
goods to earn a profit, but it shouldn’t exceed what the customer will
pay for it.
TEST MARKETING
Test Marketing is a controlled experiment conducted by companies in a
carefully selected market to test the viability of their new product and
marketing strategy. It provides you an opportunity to learn, adapt and
refine your product. It is an important part of new product development
since businesses need some insight into the product's potential before
taking on the full production aspects of a product that may fail.
The objective of test marketing is to find the limitations and strengths
of the product based on customers’ reactions. It also helps us to
structure the marketing strategy of that product.
A test marketing campaign aims to predict the revenue model (sales,
profit, pricing). It shows you the efficiency of the product and the
promotional message.
BenefitsOF
BENEFITS of Test
TESTMarketing
MARKETING
First, it allows businesses to get customer satisfaction feedback on a

product or campaign from real-world consumers directly before making
a significant investment in mass production or widespread distribution
to a national market. This can help to avoid potential costly mistakes if
the product's performance leaves more to be desired or is not well
received.
Additionally, customer feedback can provide valuable, cost-effective
insights into different aspects of consumer behavior and preferences
that can be used to optimize the final product or campaign.
Test marketing also helps build buzz and excitement for a new product
or campaign, which can generate additional interest and demand when
it is eventually released.
TypesOF
TYPES ofTEST
Test MARKETING
Marketing
Consumer-Goods Market Testing: This test is conducted to know the

consumer behavior in terms of:
• Trial: Whether a consumer will try a product, at least once.
• Repeat: Whether the consumer will repurchase it after the trial.
• Adoption: Whether the consumer accepts the product and will
purchase it again.
• Purchase Frequency: How often the consumer will buy the product.
To ascertain these variables the following test are conducted:
TEST MARKETING
• Sales-Wave Research: Under this test, the consumer is offered the
product, again and again, free of cost. This is done to determine the
willingness of the customers to use the product every time it is
offered.
• Simulated Test Marketing: Under this test, 30-40 customers are
selected and invited to the store where they can buy anything. The
new products are placed with the old or competitor’s product and
then the consumer’s preference is ascertained through their selection
of the products. In case, the new product is not chosen by them, then
the free samples are given to the customers and are inquired
telephonically about their product experience after some weeks.
• Controlled Test Marketing: Under this test, the company select
certain stores in different geographic areas and ask them to keep its
new product into their stores in return for a fee. The company
controls the shelf position, displays, point of purchase promotions
and pricing.
• Test Markets: Under this, the firm chooses the representative cities
where the full-fledged launch of the new product is done starting
from the promotion campaign to the ultimate sales. Once it is
successful, the firm goes for the national launch.
Industrial-Goods Market Testing: This includes two types of market

testing:
• Alpha Testing (within the firm): Alpha testing is done within the
firm by test engineers or employees who check the marketing mix of
a new product and fix the issues arising in any steps of launch.
• Beta Testing (with outside customers): Beta Testing is done with
the customers where they are asked to use the product and give their
feedback on its usage. The other way to test the business goods is to
introduce it to the trade shows and observe the reaction of
customers to it. Also, these goods can be tested at distributors and
dealers showrooms the attention of the customers can be gained.
WHEN
WhenTO
to TEST MARKET?
Test Market?
There are four major factors that should be considered in determining
the efficacy of test marketing:
• Cost and Risk of Product Failure: It is necessary to weigh the cost
and risk of product failure against the profit and probability of
TEST MARKETING
• success. For example, at Cadbury Typhoo Limited, they have test
marketed 24 products during the past three years, during this period
they have also successfully launched 4 products nationally, but
without the utilization of a test market phase. In each case of
launching nationally, the costs and risks of product failure were low.
• Planned Investment Required: The difference in the scale of
investment involved in the test versus the national launch route has
an important bearing on deciding whether to test. Of the products
Cadbury have launched directly into national market, very little
difference in manufacturing investment was called for whether they
opted for a test or national launch. On the one hand, where plant
investment for a national launch is considerable, but only slight for a
test market, the investment risk favors the test launch approach.
Apart from the investment in plant and machinery that may be
involved, every new product launch is accompanied by a substantial
marketing investment that varies with the scale of the launch. New
product launches call for heavy advertising and promotional
expenditure; they require sales force time, attention, and effort; and
they need shelf space in wholesale and retail outlets, which is
sometimes obtained only at the expense of the space already given to
the company’s existing products.
• Likelihood and Speed with which the Competition will be able to
Copy Your Product: Another factor to be considered is the likelihood
and speed with which the competition will be able to copy your
product and pre-empt part of your national market or overseas
markets, should the test be successful. Competitors will be
monitoring your test market, and where they have the technology,
they will be developing their own versions of your product—and
marketing it if you leave the opportunity open for them to do so.
Within two years of the start of Cadbury’s successful test market of
a children’s chocolate line (Curly Wurly) in the United Kingdom,
the company has seen identical competitive versions of the product
appear on Canadian, Japanese, West German, and U.S. markets.
• Possible Product Failure and its Effect on Existing Brands: Moreover,
if a new product fails, the costs of rebating and reclaiming unwanted
stocks from customers have to be faced, along with those costs of
writing off unwanted and unusable materials and packaging. Top
management should also take into account the possible damage that
TEST MARKETING
a new product’s failure can inflict on the company: its reputation in the
eyes of consumers and customers may be blemished, which is a real if
not quantifiable danger. The foregoing marketing costs—or risks—are
reduced by limiting the new product launch to a test market. The cost
of concentrating sales force priorities on an unsuccessful new product,
and of allowing profitable existing products to lose some share of
market as a result, can be greater than the more visible cost of a piece of
unwanted machinery.
WhereTO
WHERE to TEST
Test Market?
MARKET?
A good test market geography should
• Mimic National Pattern: So that the results are representative and
can be used to guide actual decisions about the product on a national
scale.
• Have No Unusual Competitive Activity: The competitive activity
should be at a representative, average level in the region chosen for
test marketing. Any unusual activity may lead to biased results.
• Not Have a Negative Connotation: Consumers in certain areas have
negative connotations of certain products and services. Such
geographies are not good for test marketing because they will bias
the results. For example, non vegetarian products cannot be test
marketed in Gujarat.
LENGTH
LengthOF
of TEST MARKETING
Test Marketing
One question frequently asked is: How long should a test market run?
The answer will depend on the length of time it takes to judge the
product’s performance against the company’s objectives for it. Time
must be allowed for sales to settle down from their initial honeymoon
level; in addition, the share and sales levels must be allowed to stabilize.
After the introduction of a product, peaks and troughs will inevitably
stem from initial consumer interest and curiosity—as well as from
competitive product retaliation.
Sufficient time should be given to iron out any deficiencies in either the
product or the marketing program. If the advertising is not
communicating, then new advertising will have to be developed and
implemented if the product is to be given a proper trial. If the package
design lacks impact, this too can probably be corrected during the test.
TEST MARKETING
Time must also be allowed for planned levels of distribution to be
achieved. To illustrate, Exhibit I gives the distribution figures reached
during test market by two new Cadbury confectionery products. One
was subsequently judged successful and was therefore extended; the
other failed to meet the criteria laid down and was later withdrawn.
The reader can see that at least for the first six months there is no
appreciable difference in the relative levels of distribution achieved, but
thereafter distribution of the unsuccessful product begins to tail off.
While some clear success and failure can be identified sooner, we place
little weight on test market results achieved during the first six months.
After that, the pattern of repeat sales begins to establish itself and
accurate predictions become possible.
EXAMPLES
Examples
• How Tesla did purchase intent testing for a car that wasn’t designed
yet: In 2016, Tesla tested purchase intent in a unique way: they
announced the Model 3 (which wasn’t designed yet), and people
could put down $1,000 deposits for it. Around 400,000 people did
that, which gave Tesla the confidence that their car would sell – and
the money they needed to develop it first.
• Mallow & Marsh uses Attest to develop and test delicious products:
Mallow & Marsh make marshmallow treats with a lot of love and
very little compromise. Their creative marketing team has ideas for
new products and innovations on a daily basis. Mallow & Marsh
uses Attest as their go-to agile market research tool, testing and
validating new products and multiple concepts throughout the
development cycle. And as a small company, ROI is crucial.
SOME KEY
FRAMEWORKS
Niche | IIMA | 2022
PORTER’S 5 FORCES
It is a strategic framework used to analyze the industry. It tells us how
competitive the industry is and is it worth it for us to enter this market
at a given point in time. All 5 forces are interdependent and ultimately
contribute to industry rivalry which is at the core of this model.
• Industry/ Competitive Rivalry: It helps gauge the level of

competition in the industry looking at number of competitors, how
they operate and how their product compares with yours.
• Bargaining power of Suppliers: It helps gauge the power or leverage

that suppliers hold- how much will you be affected if they increase
prices or reduce quality of products. The number of suppliers plays an
important role in deciding their power.
• Bargaining Power of Buyers: It helps gauge the power that buyers

hold over you. It depends on the number of buyers present in the
market. For example, if buyers are few, they have more options to
switch to alternatives and thus hold greater power.
• Threat of New Entrants: It gauges how easy it is for a new and

potential rival to enter the industry. The barriers to entry may be
determined by factors like how much it costs to enter the market, what
efforts need to be put, what technological advantage do you hold.
• Threat of Substitutes: It refers to how easily customers may switch

to alternatives for your product. The switch could be due to lower
price, better quality, both, or an unexpected entry of a new product in
the market.
PORTER’S 5 FORCES
Let us take the example of the Sportswear industry to understand the
model better:
• Context: The industry is in the maturity phase of the industry

lifecycle model (Similar concept to Product Life Cycle)
• Current Competitors: Nike(+converse), Adidas(+Reebok), Puma,

Under Armour, Asics; Current Market Share of top 4: 38% (Hence
the industry is not highly concentrated as it is less than 80%)
• Threat of New Entrants: Low
• Barriers to entry:
1. Global level: High, due to existing large players in the market
2. Local level: Low to Medium (You can target specific needs of

customers, lower investment in Marketing)
• Threat of Substitute products: No immediate pressure but

sportswear is more towards being trendy and hence constant
changes or new trendsetters are bound to emerge.
• Bargaining power of supplier: Main Raw material is cotton, synthetic

material, rubber. Nike and Adidas buy much larger quantities, have
higher bargaining power and hence can buy raw materials at a
relatively cheaper rate. However, the number of suppliers is large,
therefore low pressure from them.
• Bargaining power of customers: Large options are available at the

disposal but only a few brands have been able to be differentiators.
The focus is more on perceived value (which increases for eg. when
Puma signs a contract with Virat Kohli) and brand recognition.
Success is dependent on marketing investments, differentiation,
brand recognition and quality perception.
The above-mentioned points are built over a long period of time as these
firms have already spent millions of dollars to be successful in this
competitive space globally
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
The 5 stages of the Product Life Cycle are given below
Characteristics ofOF
CHARACTERISTICS the Stages
THE STAGES
• Product Development:
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
1. Investment is made
2. Sales have not begun
3. New product ideas are generated, operationalized, and tested
• Introduction: INTRODUCTION
1. Perceived comparative advantage of new product relative to the best
alternatives available
2. Costs are very high due to increased advertising and distribution,
sales activity to induce trial
3. Slow sales volumes to start
4. Uncertainty for the customer due to lack of product standardisation
5. High Financial risk for the firm
6. Little or no competition (new product)
7. Demand has to be created
8. Customers have to be prompted to try the product- since they lack
information about benefits, and behavioural change requires
additional prompts
9. Product makes little money
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
GROWTH
1. Designs are improved
2. Changes in the price-performance ratio
3. Costs reduced due to economies of scale
4. Sales volume increases significantly
5. Profitability begins to rise
6. Public awareness increases
7. Retention becomes more and more important
8. Competition begins to increase with a few new players in
establishing market
9. Increased competition leads to price decreases
MATURITY
1. Costs are lowered as a result of increasing production volumes and
experience curve effects
2. Sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached
3. New competitors enter the market
4. Prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products
5. Brand differentiation and feature diversification is emphasized to
maintain or increase market share
6. Profits decline
DECLINE
1. Market leaders make money
2. Loss leader is a common strategy
3. Costs increase due to some loss of economies of scale
4. Sales volume declines
5. Prices and profitability diminish
6. Profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution
efficiency than increased sales
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
StrategiesFOR
STRATEGIES for Each
EACHStage
STAGE
• Introduction:
1. Establish clear brand identity
2. Connect with right partners to promote the product
3. Set up trials
4. Take the first mover advantage and price the product or service as
high as we believe we can sell it to
• Growth:
1. Improve the product quality
2. Adding new features to capture the market share
3. Strategize the price to maximize demand and profits
4. Increasing networks to cope with the demand
• Maturity:
As the sales peak, the product reaches a saturation phase and a change
in marketing strategies is required to prolong the product life.
1. Market Modification: Enter new markets, Win-over competition
customers, convert non-users
2. Product Modification: Adjusting the product features, prices etc to
differentiate from the competition
• Decline:
Change in consumer preferences, technological advancements over time
will lead to decline stage of the product. In such a scenario, the
organization may choose to:
1. Save money by reducing promotional expenditure on products
2. Reduce network expenditure that sells the product
3. Implement price cuts to reduce the inventory of the product
4. Wait for the competitors to withdraw first.
5. Sell the brand
Example for PLC stage:

Let’s take an example of Yogurt
• Introduction:
1. Available in health food stores
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
2. Functional and plain packaging
3. promoted as a health food
• Growth:
1. Now available in supermarket chiller cabinets
2. Packaging gets a makeover
3. Added new flavours blueberry, apple etc.
• Maturity:
1. Product re-invented by adding fruits, nuts etc.
2. Available in different packages and sizes
3. Promoted as a fun snack and luxury treat
• Decline:
1. Brand available in selected stores only.
AIDA
The AIDA model is an important marketing framework that helps
marketers plan out their marketing campaigns. AIDA describes the 4
stages that a customer goes through, starting from becoming aware of a
product to finally purchasing it.
The 4 stages form the acronym AIDA -
• Awareness: This requires grabbing the attention of the consumer. In

order to do this, a marketer first must understand the needs and
wants of the consumer and the product can then be positioned
accordingly, thereby grabbing the attention of the consumer. The
idea is to grab the attention of as many people as possible, leaving a
strong impression on their minds such that they think of your
product when they need something related to it. Businesses use
commercial advertising, print media, radio, etc to attain this.
• Interest: Once you have grabbed the attention of many of your
audience, you would want to generate their interest in the
product/service you have to offer. A marketer tries to deploy
strategies and build interest in the customer by providing more
information about how the product/service can cater to their needs
and wants. It is important to focus on what is most relevant for the
given target group.
AIDA
• Desire: Now that the consumers have a fair interest in the
product/service, a marketer's objective is to instil in the customer,
the desire of wanting the product. It is important to make the
customer realise ‘why’ they need the product and what is its value to
the customer. Purchasing decisions are often driven by emotions. In
order for a potential customer to buy a product, they must feel some
emotion towards the product. Marketers and advertisers can use this
to their advantage to promote their product by associating it with a
particular emotion. For example, mouthwash can be associated with
fear - a lack of using mouthwash can lead to poor oral hygiene. Or
associating an instant noodle (Maggi) with nostalgia. A customer
may relate to such emotions and start desiring the product.
• Action: Now that the customer desires this product, a marketer
would want the customer to perform some action. An action can be
buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, participating in some
contest, etc. One strategy is to make the customer believe that if they
don't perform an action, they might miss out on the opportunity
currently available - such as cheaper price, free shipping, etc. This
creates a sense of urgency among the customers, and they end up
performing the desired action immediately. For example, Netflix
uses persuasive text to get customers to use their free trial.
As depicted above, AIDA can be thought of as a funnel leading the

customer to perform an action (buying) after first grabbing their
attention (awareness). The funnel narrows down as we go through the
different stages. This is because it is highly likely that many potential
customers will drop out of the funnel at any given stage. For example,
you can grab the attention of many customers, but not everyone will be
interested in the product. Among those who are interested in the
product, not all will desire it. And among those who will desire it, not
many will end up performing an action.
6M
The 6M is a framework to analyze any piece of promotion or
communication. It consists of 4 stages, each of which have 2 sub-parts:
STRATEGIC INTENT
• Mission – What is your objective of communication?

As a marketer, first you need to have a clear idea about your mission of
the communication. It implies having a solid target for the main goal of
the campaign. If you know what you want, it will help you keep in line
and work accordingly. Otherwise, you may get distracted and share a
message that is not aligned with your targeted goal.
If you want to generate sales, try to align all your communication
messages focusing on that. There should be the same messages in all the
media you are using for the campaign.
The idea is to not let your messages stray from the end goal. If your
campaign objective is to increase brand awareness, then messaging
should be more along the lines of “Learn More” rather than “Apply
Now.”
• Market – To whom is your communication addressed?

A market is nothing but a mix of your potential and actual customers.
When you are targeting your customers, make sure you are doing it
right. Otherwise, your communication may end up not getting the
expected results. Your message should be suitable for your target
market.
For example, use copy and visuals that is interesting and
understandable to your target audiences. Do not try to be creative with
your CTA (Call to Action). If you fail to make your customers
understand what they need to do, the aim of your communication
becomes ineffective.
The idea is to ensure that you are speaking to the right target and
crafting messages that are specific to them. For example, when writing
an e-mail to your target audience, consider using personalization (i.e.,
You are eligible for a scholarship, Heather!), copy that is versioned
based on segmentation, and customized CTAs to be more effective.
Identifying the target market is critical to achieving marketing goals.
The right audience saves companies’ costs and time.
Strategic Execution
STRATEGIC EXECUTION
• Message – What specific points must be communicated?

Crafting a perfect message is an art and can help you get more than your
6M
expectation from a campaign. You need to spend enough time
understanding your customers before crafting the message. You need to
give the message they want to receive. Try to figure out their needs and
want so that your message will be attractive and appealing to your
target audiences. You should be specific and clear about your offerings
because most of your customers will not spend more time on this. So,
your message should have an attractive hook that increases the curiosity
of your customers as they get the message. The idea is not to give your
audience more than necessary. For example, juniors will be interested in
gathering insights about your school, while seniors will want to know
about deadlines, open house dates, and specific steps for applying. The
right message differentiates the company from its competitors.
Media – Which vehicle(s) will be used to communicate your message?

Modes of communication play an important role in a marketing
strategy. Understanding your target audience and the types of mediums
they use, helps marketers select the right medium of communication.
Medium of communication can be of two types:
One-way communication – is used to create awareness about the
product by giving information regarding the features and benefits if the
product or service being promoted. This type of medium allows little
interaction, the customer may choose to pay attention to the message or
may choose to ignore it. Example – Television, newspaper, magazine,
radio, etc.
Two-way communication – is a more effective communication channel
allowing more interaction between the product/service provider and the
consumer. Vehicles of this type of communication channel help the
buyer advance towards making a purchase decision. The service
provider can interact directly with the consumer, monitor their
understanding/interest and spend more time on answering queries
related to the product. Example – Personal selling, advertising, direct
marketing, direct email, push notification, PLA, etc.
Strategic Impact
STRATEGIC IMPACT
• Money-How much to spend on message communication?

Budgeting the marketing campaign is a key step toward executing the
campaign. Marketers must understand the objective of the
communication, market targeted, message to be delivered, and medium
in use so as to strategize money allocation in the best way possible.
When determining where to spend, marketers should keep the
following factors in mind –
6M
1. Audience accessibility and desirability
2. Audience size and heterogeneity
3. Audience receptivity
4. Task complexity
5. Message complexity
6. Message virality
7. Media clutter
• Measurement – How will the impact be assessed?

Assessing the impact of a campaign helps in figuring out the overall
performance of a campaign. The learnings from the same help a
marketer plan new campaigns, strategize budget allocation, media
selection, or message communication improvement.
The following marketing metrics help marketers measure their
campaigns –
1. Advertising – Gross rating points = Reach * Frequency
2. Direct marketing – How many responded to the campaign and how
many placed an order?
3. Sales Promotion – Return on investments, redemption rate, cost of
redemption
4. Personal selling – Total sales/ no of visits and calls
5. Public relationship – maximizing the impressions
6. Digital marketing – selecting a correct and apt digital channel
OTCE
The OTCE framework is used to analyze ads.
• Objective (& Observations): Whenever a company decides to run an
ad, there are certain objectives in its mind that it wishes to achieve,
understanding which often requires some browsing about the
brand's current operations.
• Theme: By watching the ad in the first go, you can clearly pin-point
at its tone. Some of the types are: Fact-based, Emotional, Humor and
Testimonial. These types determine the impact the ad has on the
viewer and hence, they need to be aligned with the objective. The
background music helps in generating elements of suspense, fear,
happiness, etc. Hence, it needs to be in alignment with the theme.
• Characters: Every ad has some characters. They can be celebrities,
common folks or animated characters. The choice has to match the
objectives set. For example, a new brand ought to choose celebrities
for generating maximum awareness.
• Evaluation (& Emotions): The final step is to just look at the above
and Visuals and Message and analyze if they all go well together.
Generally, there are two kinds of visuals worth evaluating. First is if
the ad is able to capture the setting of the story in the initial part
itself, it becomes comfortable for the viewer to understand it. The
second visual is the brand identification. Using different elements of
the ad, the brand name can be highlighted even before the ad ends
with that disclosure. The words used/said by the characters or
highlighted on the screen lay a lot of impact on the subconscious of
the viewer. They need to be voiced such that the objective gets
captured by the viewer. Sometimes, you may also need to check by
running some figures if that ad was able to achieve the awareness
rate it wanted or the sales data. But, often that is not possible to do
outside of the company.
The
THEInterplay of OTCE
INTERPLAY and the
OF OTCE 6Ms
& 6Ms
OBJECTIVE (O): Every advertisement connects the dots through
characters, text messages, background music, emotions, etc to develop
the Message (M) it wishes to convey through the chosen Media (M).
Observing these journey points and connecting them provides a holistic
understanding of the firm’s objectives behind the ad.
THEME (T): The context in which the advertisement is made and the
message it wishes to convey through it. It displays the intent which
includes the Mission (M) and Market (M)
OTCE
CHARACTERS (C): The human and non-human (mascots,
superheroes, etc) elements that convey the message effectively to the
audience
EVALUATION (E): The actionable impact the ad generates in our
minds through the various emotions displayed by the characters. The
actionable impact it generates can be in terms of Money (M) or
Measurable (M) under different KPIs defined during the ad design.
ANSOFF MATRIX
A framework for strategic planning that helps executives devise
strategies for future growth.
It is used along with other business and industry analysis tools like
PESTEL,SWOT, PORTER’S 5 FORCES to support more robust
assessment of the drivers of business growth.
How to achieve the above-mentioned goals:
MARKET PENETRATION
• Increasing marketing efforts or streamlining distribution processes
• Decreasing prices to attract new customers within the market
segment
• Acquiring a competitor in the same market
Examples:
1. Netflix and other OTT platforms reduce subscription charges for
students by providing student discounts.
2. Byju’s acquisition of Akash in the JEE NEET edtech market.
Byu’s provides online coaching for JEE and NEET and Akash does the
same but with both online and offline medias. Akash is believed to be a
market leader in terms of NEET results across India. The acquisition
helped Byju’s reach more students with their existing mode and also
through offline infrastructure of Akash. They even got access to data of
ANSOFF MATRIX
students which will help them cross selling other products and services
like test series, preparation material,etc for other exams.
MARKET DEVELOPMENT
• Catering to a different customer segment or target demographic
• Entering a new domestic market (regional expansion)
• Entering into a foreign market (international expansion)
Example: OYO hotels expanded their existing business model to cater
to the customers in USA, UK and 80 other countries. Oyo does have it’s
presence in 800 cities across the globe including important locations
like Times Square in New York. The risk associated with this was quite
high and hence they were forced to focus on fewer territories across the
globe after the pandemic as the revenues were not as expected.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
• Investing in R&D to develop an altogether new product(s).
• Acquiring the rights to produce and sell another firm’s product(s).
• Creating a new offering by branding a white-label product that’s
actually produced by a third party.
Example: Covishield by Serum Institute of India. As they were already
catering to the existing market through various vaccine offerings. SII
already manufactures polio, malaria and many other such vaccines. They
acquired production rights by the name Covishield from Oxford -
AstraZeneca to manufacture it in India and supply it across it’s existing
Indian and foreign markets. The risk involved was medium taking into
consideration the context of the pandemic and the demand for the
vaccine across the globe. But the risk was associated with the side
effects if observed any post vaccination.
DIVERSIFICATION
• Related Diversification – Where there are potential synergies that
can be realized between the existing business and the new
product/market.
• Unrelated Diversification – Where it’s unlikely that any real
synergies will be realized between the existing business and the
new product/market.
ANSOFF MATRIX
Example: Reliance Industries diversifying to mobile network through
Jio. Reliance industries is focused on Oil and gas industry primarily.
They diversified by disrupting the Indian market with the launch of Jio
4G. They are now ready to launch their 5G services in India and ensure
entire coverage till the end of 2023. Diversification involves a very high
risk and requires substantial monetary reserves in the beginning to
develop and maintain a unique positioning and competative prices.
Hence companies with deep pockets like Relaince, Tata, ABG, Adani,
Mahindra, WIPRO tend to diversify to generate new income streams
apart form the existing ones and hedge their risks.
OTHER CONCEPTS
& CURRENT TRENDS
Niche | IIMA | 2022

DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, refers to advertising
delivered through digital channels to promote brands and connect
potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital
communication.
ADVANTAGES
• Cost Effective: Digital marketing is economical and most effective
way to promote your business as compared to traditional marketing.
With limited budget you can create content & start your campaign.
It is you who decides the budget which can even start from
something as low as Rs.50/- depending on your business.
• Real Time Results—The moment your ad is live, you can view the
performance. Additionally edits can be done in real time. This way
you can understand the situation and take necessary action
• PPC– PPC stands for Pay Per Click. It is a model where the
advertiser pays the publisher each time their ad is clicked. Google
Ads is the best and easiest platform for PPC.
• Targeting—In case of traditional marketing there is no way to
determine the number and the type of people who saw your
billboard. With digital marketing it is not easy to target audience
based on their interest, location, behaviour etc. You can create an
audience based on your business model and push your ad to the right
consumers.
• Measurable Results—Be rest assured about the analytics and reports
through digital marketing. You will get the most accurate & realistic
data that will help you in reaching your goals as well forecast your
future sales
• Conversion Rates: It’s much simpler to get conversion online as the
customer views the ad & takes action.
• Easy Interface: Setting up ad accounts, building a website, managing
social media have become straightforward and clear-cut with easy
user interface.
DISADVANTAGES
Disadvantages
• Privacy/Security—Privacy is one of the biggest concerns when it
comes to Digital channels. When you click on a product on an
ecommerce website, you see the same product following you in most
of the website/social media channels (remarketing/retargeting)
DIGITAL MARKETING
PAY-PER-CLICK
Pay-per-click refers to paid advertisements and promoted search engine
results.
One of the other things that differentiate pay-per-click from SEO is that
you only pay for the results. In a typical PPC model like a Google
AdWords campaign, you will pay only when someone clicks on your ad
and lands on your website.
Content MARKETING
CONTENT Marketing
Content marketing uses storytelling and information sharing to increase
brand awareness. Ultimately, the goal is to have the reader take an
action towards becoming a customer, such as requesting more
information, signing up for an email list, or making a purchase.
“Content” can mean blog posts, resources like white papers and e-
books, digital video, podcasts, and much more. In general, it should first
and foremost provide value to the consumer, not just advertise the
brand or try to make a sale. Content marketing is about building a
sustainable, trusting relationship with your customers that can
potentially lead to many sales over time, not just making a single
transaction.
Affiliate Marketing
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing utilizes the ever-growing popularity of industry
experts and social media influencers. In working with these third-party
influencers, your organization will collaborate to promote your
products or services for compensation. In collaboration, influencers will
engage their audience with posts, blogs, or videos to bring in more
business for your organization and create new leads.
E-MAIL
Email MARKETING
Marketing
Email marketing is about creating compelling campaigns for increased
conversion percentage. Email marketing allows for increased level of
personalisation and gets attention since the user is highly involved
while scrolling through his/her inbox. Some appealing email marketing
techniques include.
• Create a Sense of Urgency – Writing email copy that lets your
recipients know that time is running out to get a special deal or that
there are only a limited number of the offer available, can increase the
number of people clicking through to your website.
DIGITAL MARKETING
• Personalize Your Email – Setting your emails and subject lines up to
incorporate the recipient’s name is a proven way to increase open
and click through rates. (A sample subject line: “Katie, a special offer
just for you.”)
• Let Recipients Set Their Preferences – Allowing users to specify how
often they want to hear from you can help keep some of your email
subscribers subscribed to your list and clicking on your emails.
B2B AND TRADE MARKETING
HOW B2B MARKETING WORKS
The first step of B2B marketing is letting other companies know that
your business exists and you have a product or service which will
benefit them. In addition to increasing brand awareness, B2B marketing
gets companies interested in your brand and nurtures prospects – with
the goal of converting them into customers. Ideally, they will develop a
valuable relationship with your brand for many years.
Because B2B products and services tend to be more complex (and

expensive) than those designed for consumers, developing long-term
relationships is critical.
Many B2B marketers use traditional strategies, like attending trade

shows or employing a team of sales reps, to build and nurture these key
relationships. Combining those strategies with digital tools helps them
market to many businesses without losing their personal touch – it's the
best of both worlds.
WhoUSES
WHO UsesB2B
B2BMARKETING?
Marketing?
Any business selling to another business uses B2B marketing. Any

company trying to sell to other companies uses B2B marketing to help
promote its products or services. While these companies aren't as
diverse as all those using B2C marketing, there's still quite a range of
products, services, and industries involved.
WHO ARE B2B CUSTOMERS?
Everyone in business needs supplies, inventory, and tools to run

effectively and serve their customers. This makes every business around
– whether it's a corporation on the Fortune 500 list, or a freelance web
designer working in their home office – B2B customers.
Whether you’re selling office supplies, paper for the printer or

consulting services, you are both a business and a customer of other
businesses.
(https://www.repsly.com/blog/field-team-management/trade-
marketing-everything-you-need-to-know)
Many businesses fail to develop proper strategies for marketing

products to the wholesalers, distributors, and retailers that bring them
to the consumers, a phenomenon known as trade marketing.
Traditional and
TRADITIONAL Trade MARKETING
& TRADE Marketing
While they are similar, traditional marketing and trade marketing
require different approaches and have different end goals. The goal of
traditional marketing is to market to the consumer, whereas the goal of
trade marketing is to market to the retailer.
WhatISisTRADE
WHAT Trade MARKETING?
Marketing?
Trade marketing is a B2B marketing strategy to get a product onto store
shelves. This is done by making other businesses recognize the value of
your product and convincing them that helping you sell your product
will ultimately help them make money too.
The purpose of trade marketing differs from that of traditional

marketing, as it is not focused on the final sale. Instead, trade marketing
focuses on how that final sale is made. You need to get your products in
front of consumers before they can make the decision to purchase them.
Who
WHO UsesTRADE
USES Trade MARKETING?
Marketing?
Trade marketing is executed by manufacturers and directed toward
“supply chain partners”: distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. While
trade marketing is important for a variety of different industries, it is
especially vital for those working in the consumer-packaged goods
(CPG) space, where heavy competition and a struggle for shelf space
make standing out of the crowd that much more difficult.
Typically, trade marketing is more important for companies that

concentrate their sales in brick-and-mortar locations rather than in e-
commerce because e-commerce businesses often do not have to worry
about physically getting their product onto shelves. Still, e-commerce
businesses engage in trade marketing on some level, as they may still
work with supply chain partners other than retailers in their sales
process.
Why
WHY is TradeMARKETING
IS TRADE Marketing Important?
IMPORTANT?
Firstly, if your product doesn’t make it into retail locations, it will
definitely not make it to consumers. It is imperative to establish
positive, long-lasting relationships with supply chain members, as,
without these relationships, it is nearly impossible to compete with
other brands.
Another reason that trade marketing is so critical is that it is sometimes
a business’s best bet at rising above the noise of its competitors,
especially if the business is an FMCG. With so many different brands
selling similar products, businesses must rely on trade marketing to
demonstrate the advantages of their brand to those parties who help sell
it for them.
Examples
EXAMPLES OFofTRADE
Trade Marketing
MARKETING
Each trade marketing example is a common method for helping brands
secure valuable retail partnerships and store facings.
• Trade Shows: Trade shows are the perfect place to carry out trade
marketing efforts. They are a place to put your product on display,
draw attention to it, and get a foot in the door with key supply chain
partners. Trade shows also offer networking opportunities and can
help you form relationships that will benefit your business.
• Trade Promotions: Trade promotions are associated with trade

marketing as well as traditional marketing. They include coupons,
bulk deals, and other special incentives to buy. Capitalising on trade
promotions is essential when there is nothing that makes your
product inherently more valuable than its competitors.
• Advertisements: Advertisements play a major role in increasing

brand awareness and establishing brand recognition. The more
recognised your brand is in the market, the more power your
company gains with the supply chain partners.
While trade marketing still follows many of the fundamental principles

of traditional marketing, its different aspects require a unique approach.
The purpose of trade marketing is not to make an end sale but rather to
find partners that can help you along the way. Understanding how to
approach trade marketing and constructing a comprehensive strategy is
the first necessary step to proving your product is more than another
brick in the wall.
D2C MARKETING
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) is a retail model where brands sell directly
to new customers. It skips the wholesale middlemen and eliminates the
need to join forces with big retail brands and brick-and-mortar stores.
DTC brands keep their own products in stock and, when a customer
makes a purchase, the brand is in control of sorting, packaging, and
shipping the product. They don’t have to rely on third parties to deliver
the goods. This gives them the power to communicate with customers
directly and take charge of the entire fulfillment experience. The DTC
model removes several steps of the buying cycle to speed it up and
provide a slicker experience for loyal customers:
• Traditional wholesale/retail model: manufacturer > wholesaler >

distributor > retailer > end consumer
• DTC model: manufacturer > advertising/website > end customer
SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLE
• Mamaearth: The Mamaearth company is an Indian unicorn brand

and is based out of Gurugram, Haryana. It was to provide toxin-free,
natural baby care, skincare, haircare products, and more for babies
and everyone else.
DIGITAL-FIRST COMPANY
Digital-First Company
As the name suggests, a company that incorporates digital-first
practices places an emphasis on publishing content onto digital media
as opposed to traditional media. For example, a company may prioritize
creating content for their blog or Instagram account instead of a print
ad. Essentially, a company that emphasises direct digital
communication with its customers is a digital-first company.
ADVANTAGES
AdvantagesOF BEINGDigital-First
of Being DIGITAL-FIRST
• Cost-Efficiency: One of the most notable attributes of a digital-first

strategy is the ability to drastically reduce costs. For example,
modifying a print advertisement or asset often takes far more time
than people realize. In this scenario, changing the text/design and
then sending the asset to the required destination will typically take
at least a day. Digital assets also increase the flexibility of marketing
strategy, increasing the opportunities present.
D2C MARKETING
• Insight into Your Audience: Digitally published assets enable one to
garner far more information about the audience. This typically
includes gender, geographic location, interests, etc. This helps in
optimisation of marketing strategy to better target the audience in
the future.
• Deeper Storytelling:
Print media does a great job of storytelling on its own. After all, a single
picture can be particularly groundbreaking. While a print ad can single-
handedly tell a captivating story, this medium functions best if it can
direct your audience to learn more by going online. Digital assets have
the advantage of being dynamic as opposed to static. This is important
to consider due to two factors:
· Your audience can interact with the content
· The content has the potential to always provide the most current
information
Let’s consider the aforementioned campaign for awareness of
environmentally-friendly products in this context. You might use a
statistic in this medium that references global pollution. As time goes
on, though, this ad will have to be revised as the mentioned data
changes. Additionally, the consumer won’t be able to learn all they can
about your cause without visiting your website unless your collateral is
text-heavy.
Digital media provides an additional layer to brand storytelling that
simply can’t be overlooked.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: Physical media is notably

inefficient when it comes to consumer engagement. There are
multiple steps your audience needs to take in order to get into
contact with your brand. Even calling a business phone number
often requires the customer to navigate through various questions in
order to get the information they’re looking for. In a digital-first
company, though, it’s as easy as sending an email or direct message
on social media to the brand. The main advantage here, though, is the
capability to establish a more human connection. These forms of
communication are often more personal and establish a two-way
conversation that will lead to a better overall experience.
D2C MARKETING
Challenges Faced
CHALLENGES FACEDbyBYD2C
D2CBrands
BRANDS
• Turning Site Traffic into Customers: Barely getting visitors to the

website is never enough to sell products to them. This is one of the
most common challenges for all D2C companies. This gap emerges
due to the following reasons:
1. E-Commerce site traffic is not aware of the D2C brand by default

2. Not taking the prospects through an expected journey
3. Not engaging the traffic enough to direct them in sales funnels
4. New prospects are often sceptical about making a purchase
5. Being a new e-commerce site, your brand doesn’t have enough social
validation (reviews)
6. Undiscovered and assumed gaps between users and sales
conversions
• Attracting New Customers and Retaining them: Retaining the new
customers the brand has attracted is a grave challenge given the wide
variety of alternatives available to a consumer.
• Building Customer Loyalty
SHIFT TO DIGITAL AND HOW IT’S HELPING D2C BRANDS

India, a nation of more than 1.3 billion people with diverse cultures and
preferences, is one of the largest retail markets in the world. India’s rise
in online shopping is fuelled by the 639 million strong internet
population, demonstrating a 24% y-o-y growth. India has added 80
million online shoppers in the last three years alone to reach 130 million
today. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated online adoption
amidst the temporary closure of physical retail stores and the growing
wariness for public places. In this backdrop, online spending in India is
expected to grow at a CAGR of 35%+ from $39 billion today to $200
billion over the next 5 years, also supported by internet and payment
infrastructure developments.
Digital transformation can be a difficult task to conceptualize. If it were
as simple as taking traditional marketing approaches and moving them
online, most companies would have transformed into digital
powerhouses by now. Instead, going to a digital-first approach means
tailoring your marketing specifically to the strengths of the digital
environment and everything that entails.
D2C MARKETING
In many ways, D2C brands represent the original promise of digital
commerce — the ability to cut out the middleman and go straight to the
customer. Bypassing the traditional store model allows companies to
have complete control over how they reach their market, but it comes at
the cost of providing all of their own exposure. As a result, D2C brands
invest more into promotion as a percentage of revenue than just about
any other class of companies. Because these investments represent such
a large portion of the operating budget, every dollar has to work harder
and win more customers. That means pushing past traditional
marketing and embracing digital transformation.
D2C brands such as Lenskart, Licious, Zivame, BoAt, Wow Skin
Science, Healthkart, Mamaearth, MyGlamm, Sugar, IncNut, Country
Delight, among others, are occupying niches, and creating aspirational
brands and extraordinary value in their respective sectors.
D2C and
D2C & E-COMMERCE
E-Commerce
While e-commerce can be seen as an umbrella term for commerce, it can
be segmented in B2C and D2C commerce channels.
D2C refers to a company that sells its own products directly to the end
consumer. This means D2C companies distribute their products to
customers within their own channels. Today, the main channels are
D2C websites, social media platforms, and mobile apps. Simply put,
D2Cs are brands that set up websites to sell their own products.
They’re particularly common in industries like fashion, luxury goods,
and consumer electronics.
B2C ecommerce involves companies that sell products to users online

through a third party’s website. Unlike the D2C model, the producer
isn’t using their own platform or channel to sell or distribute their
products. B2C brands use wholesalers, retailers, or distributors
throughout their supply chain to get products to the end customer.
By utilizing D2C, businesses could offer customers a modern experience
tailored to their preferences and behaviors from end to end.
QUICK COMMERCE AND OMNI
QuickCOMMERCE
QUICK Commerce
Popularly termed as the next-gen of e-commerce, it is categorized as a
unique business model where there is a very narrow order placed and
delivery window. With millennial Z, ruling the digital ecosystem, the
delivery cycle has been replaced from a 1-day delivery window to a 10-30
minutes time frame.
Difference Between Quick Commerce And E-commerce
‘E-commerce’ refers to the online purchase, or sale, of a good or service,
which can take 3-4 or longer days to deliver, whereas Q-commerce aims
to deliver in a 30-minute-1-hour span.
SALIENT FEATURES
Salient OFQuick
features of QUICK COMMERCE
Commerce
• Speed: Compared to a conventional retail outlet, quick-commerce
companies are able to get goods to customers in a fraction of the
time.
• Round-the-clock services: To meet the dynamic requirements of
customers, Q-commerce is subjected to offer round-the-clock
services with complete 24-hour operation services.
• Convenience: Time is the biggest constraint in today’s fast-paced
world, so convenience and comfort becomes a contributing factor in
choosing quick commerce. Whether it is an impromptu party or last-
minute grocery requirements, quick commerce is the new saviour
OMNICHANNEL
Omnichannel
Omnichannel is an online sales approach that uses multiple channels
and gives customers a unified experience across all channels no matter
which digital device or channel they are using. The customer may start
from one channel and move to another as a progression of their online
journey. Omnichannel aims for full integration between all channels and
the primary focus is on the customer instead of the product.
ADVANTAGES
Advantages OF OMNICHANNEL
of Omnichannel
• Cohesive Message: You provide your customer with a cohesive
message about the brand. No matter where the customer encounters
the brand, the message is always similar.
• Understanding customer’s journey: It allows you to collect and
merge customer’s data from multiple channels and then gives you
insights on what kind of customer’s are interested in your product.
• Personalize the customer’s experience: By understanding the
customer’s journey we can create a personalized experience for the
customer. This helps in better retention of the customers.
DifferenceFROM
DIFFERENCE from Multi-Channel
MULTI-CHANNEL
A customer buying on an online shopping mart might leave his cart half
full and then quit shopping on his laptop, later that day he opened his
app and ordered some new products. In a multichannel approach, the
customer will get reminders from the firm about the cart that he left on
the laptop. However, omnichannel aims to integrate his shopping
experience on the backend and integrates his app, and website data into
one.
Omnichannel Multi-Channel
• Customer Centric approach • Multichannel strategy uses as
that uses all kinds of channels many channels to get the word
with customers at the center. A out about your brand. More
customer can use social media, focused on selling product
app, website etc. and across multiple channels and
purchasing experience will be less focused on customer
consistent experience.
• Smooth customer experience • Without primary focus on
and increased amount of customer experience, retention
retention and referrals. might be less
• Consistent brand voicing and • Inconsistent brand voicing
hence customer becomes
familiar with brand values
• More cost centric as building • Lesser costs as we are more
seamless customer experience focused on building marketing
requires experimentation at the strategy than the process
backend without disrupting
customer’s experience in front
end.
HOW TOto
How BUILD
BuildOMNICHANNLE CAMPAIGNS
Omnichannel Campaigns
The idea is to create a seamless brand experience across different

marketing channels that customers use. Customers' behaviors shape
this strategy because it depends on how they interact with your
business. Hence, understanding your channel message and audience
plays a key role in deciding on a good omnichannel marketing campaign.
So figuring out the channels they use and where they interact with you
is critical to the success of your campaign.
There are three broad steps that can be followed to build your
omnichannel presence -
• Step 1 – Onboarding: It is imperative that marketer treat their
customers like they treat new acquaintances in order to build a
trusting relationship in the long run. When a customer first comes
on your platform the customer must have a smooth onboarding
experience. Remember - first impressions make or break the deal.
For eg. a warm welcome makes the customer feel comfortable. Try to
personalize that first encounter. Use their names in the welcome
emails (Dear XYZ) to make it feel more personal.
• Step 2 - Activate First-Party Data: Every customer engagement
provides us with insights that we can then use to enhance future
interactions. This could be the types of content they click on, the
channels they engage with, the apps they use, or their buying habits.
In marketing terms, these behaviors are called First-Party data.
These valuable insights can be used to personalize every
interaction. For eg. If a customer doesn’t open their email, you can
advertise or engage them via mobile applications instead. Looking at
the app browsing history, if the customer responds best to
#Whatsnew, you can tailor your campaign and message to share
information and optimize engagements around new releases. First-
party data helps you make the experience less generic and more
human. Some First-Party information tools are Customer
Relationship Management System (CRM) or Customer Data
Platform (CDP). Many companies have in-house analysis tools that
help them track metrics they think will best aid their strategy-
making process.
• Step 3 - Measure your Marketing: No marketing campaign can last
forever. The customer and the market are continuously changing and
hence, learning, understanding and evolving is also a key part of
marketing campaigns. In marketing, learning comes from
measurement. Measurement helps marketers understand what is
working and what is not, to help them strategize better and drive
customer lifetime value. These can be done through both individual
and aggregate insights.
EXAMPLE: AMAZON
Amazon’s stated mission is to be “Earth’s most customer-centric

company”. For Amazon, that means expanding its channels and creating
a unified omnichannel experience.
There are two key principles to Amazon's omnichannel success.
First, Amazon focuses on the customer experience. They use data to
create personalized, responsive interactions, no matter which channels
their customers are engaging them in.
Second, they focus on integrating their channels in the backend. This
goes beyond inventory and central fulfillment. It includes connecting
customer data and fulfilling customer's wants in whichever channel
they prefer.
For example, Amazon leverages online data for physical brick-and-
mortar stores. The store is a physical extension of Amazon.com, using
unique displays based entirely on customer data. They designed their
stores around their customers by showcasing what they are buying and
what they are loving.
• Reviews - The whole store is premised on items sold on

Amazon.com with 4 stars and above rating.
• Sales Data -Sales data is used to identify top selling items, and
helps keep inventory turnover high.
• Customer Data - Lastly, customer data such as Most Wished For
items are identified and displayed.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
What is a Brand?
A brand is how an individual perceives a product or a service based on
their experience. It is much more than a name or a logo; a brand is the
recognizable feeling these assets evoke. Branding constitutes consistent
and deliberate efforts to build a brand's ecosystem. It requires brand
managers to leverage a brand's various elements and assets to make the
brand a part of the consumer's life. The elements and assets of a brand
include its logo, brand ambassador, slogans, taglines, colour palette,
packaging, etc. These elements and assets are vital to building brand
awareness and recognition. They are what sets a business apart and give
it character and personality.
WHAT DOES A BRAND MANAGER DO?
A brand manager wears many hats and has broad and deep knowledge
of strategy and tactics across branding and marketing. Their goal is to
ensure that every touchpoint of a company conveys the right message
consistently across all marketing channels and communication to its
customers. Keeping your messaging, imagery, and visuals aligned
ensures all your communications reinforce each other.
You’ll see some of these typical duties listed in brand manager job
descriptions:
• Manage public relations, including building relationships with
media outlets, influencers and non-broadcast aspects such as
customer service.
• Maintain a consistent company image through various marketing
initiatives and channels.
• Manage branding costs, implement a budget and price up advertising
campaigns. Data analytics here can inform you about the health of a
brand.
• Oversee content creation and social media accounts, ensuring brand
consistency—complete research into public perception.
• Analyse market trends to understand what consumers want now or
will want tomorrow- Complete research into industry trends.
• Communicate with other company executives, including product
development, product marketing, and other marketing teams. Work
with the R&D team for product formulation and development.
• Communicate effectively for cross-departmental collaboration.
Ensure the whole company understands the importance of brand
awareness campaigns.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
• Establish clear brand guidelines for advertising campaigns, websites,
PR releases, and even your internal emails.
KELLER’S BRAND EQUITY MODEL
What makes a brand strong? And if you had to make yours stronger,
would you know how to do it? Keller's Brand Equity Model is a helpful
tool for a brand manager to analyze these factors and strengthen your
brand.
EXAMPLE OF APPLYING KELLER’S BRAND EQUITY MODEL

Julie has recently been put in charge of a project to improve an under-
performing product. The product is a high quality, fair trade, organic
tea, but it's never achieved the sales and customer loyalty that the
organization expected.
Julie decides to use the brand equity pyramid as a framework to turn
around the brand's performance.
• Step 1: Brand Identity
1. Julie first examines consumer perception that is generated through
communication shared by the company.
2. She target customers are mid to high-income, socially-conscious
women.
3. After careful analysis, she knows that she is marketing in the correct
category, but she realizes that her marketing efforts aren't fully
addressing customer needs.
4. She decides to change the messaging from "healthy, delicious tea," to
"delicious tea, with a conscience," which is more relevant and
meaningful to her target market.
• Step 2: Brand Meaning
1. Next, Julie examines the product's meaning, and looks at how the
company communicates that meaning to its customers across all
touchpoints.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
2. The performance of the tea is already moderately high; it's a single-
source, fair trade tea of a higher quality than the competition's product.
3. After assessing the organization's service effectiveness, however, Julie
is disappointed to find that many customer representatives lack
empathy with customers who complain. So, she organizes a
comprehensive customer service training course to improve responses
to customer complaints and feedback.
4. Last, Julie decides to post personal stories from the fair trade farmers
who grow and pick the tea on the company's website. By doing this, she
aims to educate customers on how beneficial this practice is for people
around the world.
• Step 3: Brand Response
1. Julie has to understand how the company’s products are judged by
the consumers on a rational level and an emotional level.
2. She realizes that perceived quality might be an issue. The tea itself is
high quality, but the pack size is smaller than the ones her
competitors use. Julie doesn't want to lower the price, as this might
make customers devalue the product's quality, so she decides to
offer more tea in each box in order to surpass customer
expectations.
3. She also decides to enhance the tea's credibility by becoming fair
trade-certified through an independent third-party organization,
which she promotes on the company website and product
packaging.
• Step 4: Brand Resonance
1. Julie has to understand ways with which a brand can build a deep,
meaningful relationship with the consumers.
2. She knows that her target customers care deeply about fair trade.
She decides to promote the organization's efforts by participating in
a number of fair trade events around the country.
3. She also sets up a social networking framework to involve
customers in the organization's fair trade efforts, and she creates a
forum on the company website where customers can discuss issues
surrounding fair trade. In addition, she commits to championing the
efforts of other fair trade organizations through partnerships.
REBRANDING
Rebranding is simply when a company makes some changes in some of
the elements of the brand such as its logo, slogan, color theme etc as a
statement to the world that they are changing. Rebranding helps refresh
a brand, reach out to more audience and make its presence felt.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
A good manager knows the right time to rebranding a brand. There can
be several reasons. -
• When your company merges with another brand
When two companies join forces, chances are that those
companies already had their own logos. A redesign is, therefore,
necessary to showcase the best qualities of each individual
company. Example - When Continental Airlines and United
Airlines joined forces, They decided to keep the name United
Airlines, and the logo incorporated Continental Airlines' global
icon. Another rebranding took place a few years later and they
dropped the word Airlines. The brand is now known as United
with the global Continental icon.
• When your company gets acquired by another company: Example -

When Facebook took over Instagram in 2012, the photo-sharing
company kept its name but slowly started to take shape into a
slicker, much more digital version of its original self. In a couple of
years, the company changed its logo to what it is today.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
• When there is an upper management change/appointment of a new
CEO: Example - In 2017 The Huffington Post saw a change in
leadership after Arriana Huffington resigned as CEO. When Lydia
Polgreen (editor-in-chief) and Jared Grusd took over the helm, the
brand saw its sites first ever redesign in its 12 year history. Not only
did the logo change, but the website saw an overhaul reflecting the
change.
• When your brand acquires a wrong/bad image: Example - When

Burberry lowered its proces in the 90s, what was supposed to be a
luxury brand, was slowly being associated with ‘chav culture’, a
pejorative term for hooligan-like youths with lower social status,
poor etiquette, and unamicable behaviors. They underwent a major
rebranding spree, embraced innovation, added some of the most
attractive faces and soon regained its image as high fashion.Through
it all they maintained the same logo until 2018 when they gave a
modern look to their logo despite their 90s infused fashion.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
• When you want to reach a new audience: Example - The interests
and personlaities of demographics are constantly changing.A
professional rebrand could be necessary if a brands TG has changed
over the years. MTV’s was largely popular among teens in the 80s
and 90s. But those kids now had teens of their own. So they
reaserched the market, hired journalists and millenial influencers and
changed their image to reach out the kids of today (change in TG).
• When you mission changes: The mission statement of a product

might change over time, as the product itself evolves/changes.
Example- Airbnb. What we know as an alternative stay for vacations
and experiences away from home, started as an app to help budget
travellers find a spare couch to sleep on. When people started listing
more upscale, upbeat properities, the company had to adapt. From
couches to beach-front home, the company rebranded itself to fit
their new mission. They used their core principles to create a new
logo and “Belong Anywhere” as their slogan.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
• When a brand needs to stay relevant: Example - Brands don’t want
to fall behind and become forgotten. A change in logo can help create
that publicity. Apple has changed its logo several times in the past
many years. While the shape has remained the same, the fill has
changed to keep their customers happy/engaged.
SUSTAINABLE BRANDING
Sustainability branding is the process of creating and maintaining an
identity of a specific product, service, or business that reflects the
special added value in terms of environmental and social benefits.
These days brand managers must create the perfect balance of social
change, environmental change, and economic change to further the
business, the brand, and the society. A sustainable brand is in the
business for the long haul. It creates enduring, long-term authentic
values aligned with the well-being of all people.It is conscious of the
impact its operations and processes may be having on the planet; so it
creates solutions that work towards reducing that impact.
Consumers are aware of sustainability and are ready to embrace
sustainable products and services.
Examples of sustainability initiatives include:
• Developing sustainable products and services
• Creating positions like Chief Sustainability Officer
• Publishing sustainability reports

INCLUSIVE BRANDING
Consistency is the key to effective marketing. With companies trying to
be more inclusive and more diverse in their workforce, their brands
should reflect the same company ideas, values, and mission.
BRAND MANAGEMENT
Diverse and inclusive marketing is marketing that aims to speak to a
larger audience of potential buyers by looking past preconceived
notions of gender, age, race, income, sexuality, language, and religion
(among other things). It targets individuals from all walks of life, by
seeking commonalities outside of these social labels.
While inclusive marketing and inclusive branding help in reaching out
to a wider audience and caters to the modern buyers, it is impprtant for
a brand to remain consistent with its image. Tokenism distorts the
brand image created over the years. Successful brands should not just be
inclusive to save face or to go with the trends, but should actually stand
strong wrt their values.
Fast fashion brand H&M faced a lot of backlash when In 2016, Swedish
investigative journalists revealed that workers as young as 14 were
toiling in the company's Burmese production plants for more than 12
hours a day. They found that the children were being paid as little as 15
cents an hour, which is less than half the minimum wage.
In another incident, H&M’s had to close several of their stores in South

africa when some of them were even vandalised by protestor for
showing a racist advertisement.
NEUROMARKETING
What is Neuromarketing?
The field of neuromarketing, sometimes known as consumer
neuroscience, studies the brain to predict and potentially even
manipulate consumer behavior and decision making.
“Neuromarketing” loosely refers to the measurement of physiological
and neural signals to gain insight into customers’ motivations,
preferences, and decisions. Its most common methods are brain
scanning, which measures neural activity, and physiological tracking,
which measures eye movement and other proxies for that activity.
APPLICATIONS
Neuromarketing can include the evaluation of specific advertising,
marketing, packaging, content etc. to more accurately understand how
customers react at the nonconscious level. It can include applying
knowledge obtained from neuroscience and cognitive science research
to make marketing more effective without testing specific ads.
ADVANTAGES
• Filling in the gaps: By easily highlighting blind spots, it provides a
better understanding of customers’ behavior as well as insights on
why very often they don’t ‘walk their talk’. Data, which mainly
originates from the unconscious reactions of respondents, can tell a
lot more about their true desires and attitudes than consciously
controlled answers to questionnaires.
• Improved reliability of results: Customers can lie (consciously) but
their brain can’t, because they can’t control their unconsciousness.
Neuromarketing helps to penetrate the domain of the unconscious
and thus get more reliable data on customers’ motivation and true
reactions to the product, design of website or packaging. Series of
academic studies have demonstrated that brain data can predict the
future success of products more accurately than can traditional
market research tools such as surveys and focus groups.
DISADVANTAGES
• Ethical concerns: Some people think that neuromarketing is getting
inside the brain of customers. It ‘learns’ behavior patterns and makes
smart outcomes and critics flag ethical boundary violations.
• Availability of specific skills: The more specific knowledge is
available, higher the quality of insights that can be achieved. Some
time ago it was necessary to have a scientific background to be able
to interpret the waves and graphs neuro-tools provides but with the
reports becoming easier to understand it has become more
accessible. One still has to make some effort to sort out what all
these heatmaps, statistics, and metrics mean.
NEUROMARKETING
• Expensive equipment: While the cost has decreased overtime, it’s
still a considerable amount of money for equipment required,
especially for a small company.
• Privacy: People want to have control over the data they share. It’s
quite doubtful whether an incentive to make customers happier
through the improvement of the product and buying experience can
be called a crime. Any attempt to gather customer data
unconsciously given is considered interfering with their right to
privacy and personal life.
NEUROMARKETING TOOLS
• EEG (electroencephalogram): It reads brain-cell activity using

sensors placed on the subject’s scalp; it can track changes in activity
over fractions of a second, but it does a poor job of pinpointing
exactly where the activity occurs or measuring it in deep, subcortical
regions of the brain (where a lot of interesting activity takes place).
EEG offers a high temporal resolution for the detection of slight
changes in brain activity at relatively low costs. It evaluates the value
of a marketing stimulus by measuring affective valence (if a stimulus
is perceived as more positive or negative), the probability of
memorization, the degree of attention, and engagement (personal
relevance).
NEUROMARKETING
• fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging): It uses strong
magnetic fields to track changes in blood flow across the brain and is
administered while a person lies inside a machine that takes
continuous measurements over time. An fMRI can peer deep into the
brain but is cumbersome, and it tracks activity only over the course
of several seconds, which may miss fleeting neural incidents.
However, despite its high spatial resolution, it presents very low
temporal resolution. Also, it is a very expensive technique, restrictive
and intrusive (the patient must lie down and be still inside a
machine) and not portable.
• Eye tracking: It can measure attention (via the eyes’ fixation points)
and arousal (via pupil dilation).
• Facial-expression coding: (reading the minute movement of muscles
in the face) can measure emotional responses.
• Biometrics: Heart rate, respiration rate, and skin conductivity
measure arousal.
SUMMER PLACEMENT
PREPARATION TOOLS
Niche | IIMA | 2022

GO-TO-MARKET (GTM) CASE SAMPLE 1
Problem Statement:
Starbucks has primarily focused on the experience & high price offerings. But to
increase their revenue, they plan to introduce a mid price range coffee in the Indian
market. Identify a suitable customer segment and develop a GTM Strategy for
Starbuck’s Mid Range Coffee.
Develop a GTM Strategy for Starbuck’s Mid Range Coffee?

Purpose: To know about the company’s vision, customer base and other
factors
to make a synergic strategy.
Company: Worldwide brand, Focus on quality.
Customer: People who want ambience & high-quality coffee – Premium
segment Competitors: Other Coffee & Beverages joints – CCD, Costa
coffee, McD &Dunkin Donuts Collaborators: Coffee bean manufacturers,
Friendly & Knowledgeable employees Context: Aspirational needs of
middle-class people to try premium products.
Functional Painpoint: Lack of a branded coffee outlet for middle class

people ( Poor quality coffees provided at bakery, cafes etc. )
Emotional Painpoint: Aspiration to try out Starbucks’ coffee at least once in

their lifetime
Segmentation: Middle class families in Tier 1& 2 cities, College Students in

tier 1 & Tier 2 colleges, Software professionals working in IT Parks
Targeting: College students in Tier 1 colleges
Positioning: Bringing quality coffee to everyone
7 P’s FRAMEWORK
Product: Price: Promotion: Place: People: Process: Physical Evidence:
Same quality of Affordable pricing Social media Premier institutes 2 employees per Standardizatio Kiosks with
coffee (No for colleges. promotion: Since our like IITs & IIMs Kiosk for servicing n multiple modes of
compromise in Slightly higher target audience is would be tried in & maintenance. payment
quality) pricing students, social the first phase.
Offerings in small, than café’s available media is the right In the next phase,
medium & large in campuses like channel. NITs & other
cups. Packaging: IITs & IIMs institutes shall be
Same cups used in included.
Starbucks store.
Ambience is not
provided due to the
low pricing –
Kiosks would be
setup.
Problem Statement:
Prepare a GTM strategy for a refreshing soda inspired from “Jal Jeera”. While
remaining a fizz drink, the soda is a healthy alternative since the drink is made
using natural extracts & high-quality ingredients.
THREE POTENTIAL CONSUMER SEGMENTS FOR TARGETING
Ethical Junkies Healthy Hypers Connoisseurs
Income Middle Upper-Middle Upper-Middle
Demographics College Students, Young Working Adults A family person - Parent Working Professional
Quick Refreshment breaks between

Occasion Social Festivities, Guest Serving Option During Meals, Drinks
work/class
Functional Needs Quick Energy Surge, Fizz Sensation Yet another healthy option Light Accompaniment, Drink Mixer
Psychological Status, Prestige, Sense of making a

Less Guilt, High Status Pride in maintaining health status
Needs sophisticated choice
CONSUMER PERSONA
Arun is a corporate guy, living Hema is a caring mother and a Ajay is a working professional
away from home in a Tier-1 city loving wife. She loves going on with strong views and opinions.
with evolving living standards. He YouTube to adapt to new He actively seeks to stand out
seeks out the better version of the healthier options and likes promoting from the crowd and makes sophisticated choices.
products he’s known all his life. For example, he them among her family and friends. She seeks For example, while enjoying a drink he prefers to
likes street food, but now, prefers eating it from variety however; her behavior restricts potential avoid Cola as a mixer and chooses Ginger
an AC restaurant. He feels less guilty and prouder refreshment options for her and her family. Ale/Whiskey Sour. He regards himself highly for
of his choices. this choice.
‘Ethical Junkies’ Are The Most Preferred Segment Followed By ‘Healthy Hypers’
Parameters Ethical Junkies Healthy Hypers Connoisseurs
TG Size 8 4 1
Targeting the Right Segment
Repurchase frequency 9 3 1
40 Connoisseurs
Healthy Hypers
Ethical
Ease of Penetration
Growth Potential 7 8 7 Junkies

20
Sales Potential 24 15 9
Competitors 5 8 9 0
USP Relevance 7 5 8 0 10 20 30
Changes in Trend 5 6 6 Sales Potential
Ease of Penetration 17 19 23
POSITIONING – HIGH QUALITY SODA WITH NATURAL INGREDIENTS Product Price Place
250 ml: This product offers Vending machines in
No One-time more status in terms offices and public
Fizz that is quick consumption of packaging and places
Fizz
completely natural premium quality, Canteens in
475 ml: thus, will be priced educational
leads to unrealistic 1.5x - 2x in institutions and
Multiple
positioning Consumption while comparison offices
ensuring with Alo Fruit and Kirana stores
preservation of fizz. Paper Boat Food Outlets
Artificial Natural
Ingredien
Promotions
Ingredien
ts ts
Additional value is • Promoting to spaces that attract educated audience such as workspaces
and colleges
thus added through a
• Introducing multiple ways of consumptions (mix reecipes) through
high-status positioning influencers
• Institutional Tie-ups with high-end restaurants to maintain the
An unrealistic
premiumness of the product
position
Fizz
Problem Statement:
Stylex is a American Fashion brand entering into the Indian market. They are a
sustainable clothing brand. Assessing the Indian market, identify a target segment
and provide a GTM strategy for Stylex.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING & POSITIONING

Segmentation & Targeting
Segment Appetite for Knowledge about Price Sensitivity Segment Revenue potential
Practical Purchaser
experimentation sustainability Attractiveness
Tier 1 High High Low High 150 Cr. Stylish Shopper
Tier 2 Medium Medium Low- Medium Medium 4.87 Cr. Fit Fanatic
Tier 3 Low Low Medium Low 2.46 Cr.
Positioning Customer Persona
The Stylish Shoppers (Tier 1 cities)

Timeless Classics: High Price would be our Target Segment for the
Fashion designed to last for multiple seasons following reasons:
Sustainability benefits: Premium Fast Fashion

Our Position • Open to experimentation
Longer the fashion trend, higher reselling opportunities Clothing
• Prefer their own unique style
High Durable clothing: Trendy
The material is also made to last longer which lasts longer Classy • Early adopters of trends
(new purchases due to damages is prevented) Budget Fast Fashion • (Sustainability being the recent wave, they
Local brands without Clothing would be our Marketing Mavens)
Sustainability benefits: emphasis on sustainability (Favours frequent purchase
High quality increases the circularity of the product – Low quality material) • Less price sensitive
(no of times it can be resold/refurbished
Low • High Brand Conscious
Price
Sources: https://www.euromonitor.com/article/analyst-pulse-survey-personal-style-shapes-apparel-shopping
Product- Pricing-Promotions-Place
Product
Colours:
Categories Formal Informal Ethnic Material Usage
Basic colors with a neutral tinge

Shirts Unisex T- Material sources to be replicated
(Non-flashy). So that they can be
Trouser Shirts Nil as per US Stylex model
worn at multiple occasions.
s Jeans
Product: Casual • Plant based recycled cotton
Men • Organic Hemp
Shirts
Organic fibers • Organic Linen
Product Categories
Place Promotions : Target Marketing Filters
Unisex T-Shirts
Shirts
Cities Trouser Jeans Age Category Sustainable Product Purchase of second Attitudes:
Kurtis SareesPurchase hand apparel
Target Audience: Mumbais
Minimalistic lifestyle
Delhi Gen Z High High
Wo Environmental
Tier 1 cities Kolkata Millennials High High
men Conscious
Stylish Shopper Chennai Gen X Medium Medium Curious &
Bangalore
Boomers Medium Low Knowledgeable
Place: Malls in Tier 1 cities Demographic Targets Psychographic
Targets
Promotions
Target Get
• Use target marketing though Instagram to reach out to specific users • Add credibility to your brand through certifications like ISO, GBB, etc
Marketi Certifi
• This will ensure high ROI on marketing spend • Collaborate with sustainable brands & orgs for popular reach
ng ed
Price: Sustainable products with high durability will incur high cost of manufacturing. Hence premium pricing would be followed
Sources: https://hbr.org/2021/07/the-circular-business-model#:~:text=The%20circularity%20matrix%20does%20not,level%20to%20change%20and%20adapt.
AD ANALYSIS
Any applicable framework can be used for ad analysis – AIDA, OTCE,
6M, etc. However, these frameworks serve only as a guide, and actual
analysis of ads may be done in a self-created framework (which is
usually a combination of the different frameworks that best suits you).
GENERAL READING
https://deckofbrilliance.com/
How to use this source?
Deck of Brilliance is a tool used by creative professionals to generate

ideas. It classifies ads into 52 categories according to their objective and
links ads that exemplify the strong execution of the given objective.
Advertisers must be creative to reinvigorate brand awareness and

purchase intention without affecting the brand. They are asked to
develop new campaigns with objectives aligned with management
demands. Objectives for advertisers are constantly changing, and a
higher awareness of these objectives and examples of their execution
expands the pool of ideas that you have gathered about ads.
For example, Bournvita moved on from their “Tayyari Jeet Ki”

(“Preparing to Win”) ad campaign to the “Get the Message” ad
campaign in late 2021. The communication went from being
motivational for targeting mothers to raising awareness about children’s
mental health while still being in tune with the overall brand of
Bournvita. It is highly likely that they exposed themselves to various ads
that try to achieve the same objective while coming up with the new
campaign. Putting yourself in the shoes of advertisers like these will
invariably help you look at ads from more unique and interesting
perspectives.
Also, going through these ads makes prep just a little bit less tedious.
The next section shows a few sample ad analyses. However, as

mentioned earlier, please note that most people gradually build their
own framework to analyze ads – and the samples reflect those
differences.
AD ANALYSIS SAMPLE 1: LIZOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3OiGyuqgWg
TARGET
Target CONSUMER
Consumer
The target consumer for this product would typically be the primary
purchase decision maker of groceries, which in majority of Indian
households is the lady of the house, as also portrayed in the ad. The
product is targeted at consumers belonging to SEC (Socio-Economic
Class) A and B categories as is evident by the kind of home displayed in
the ad.
The ad is specifically targeted at mothers who are concerned about their
children and family’s health and pay great attention to their safety and
well-being.
Messaging
MESSAGING
• Functional Benefit- The ad compares the benefits of using Lizol with
respect to phenyl and mentions that it gives 10 times more benefit
than regular phenyl. Small text at the bottom also mentions that
Lizol kills 10x more bacteria than phenyl.
• Emotional Benefit- The ad shows a mother playing with her child
and also shows the entire family together at the end. It tries to
portray the care of a mother and signals that a mother who is
concerned about the health of her child and family would use Lizol.
Tonality
TONALITY
The ad uses simple language and comparisons to convey their message.
It tries to instill a feeling of concern in the minds of consumers to ensure
that the floor of their homes remains clean for their families which can
be achieved using Lizol as compared to regular phenyl.
Reason TO
REASON to Believe
BELIEVE
• The ad portrays the mother in the lead role, describing the benefits of
the product. Moreover, she is shown wearing a white coat which
signals that she may be from the medical field. The character ads two
layers of trust- first, by being a mother and playing on the fact that
mothers know best for their child and family and, second, by being a
doctor whom people trust for actions concerning health.
• The ad ends with the narrator mentioning that it is certified by
NIMA. Even though there may be a large number of viewers who are
not aware of what NIMA is (National Integrated Medical
Association), the mere mention of it gives a certain level of
confidence to the consumer that the product is checked and verified
by a relevant organization.
All these factors play an important role in generating confidence in the
minds of consumers to go ahead and buy the product.
METHOD
MethodOF ACTION
of Action
• The ad clearly shows the method of using the product- Product
added to bucket of water, mop dipped in it and then used to wipe
the floor
• Animation is used show germs on the floor and how they get
removed after using the product
STRUCTURE
Structure ofOF THE
the Ad AD
Problem (the story) -> Solution (product window) -> Payoff
Messaging at the end of the ad- shows the entire range of products
offered by the brand
SEMIOTICS
Semiotics
• The ad makes use soothing and calming background music which
adds to the positive message it is trying to convey.
• The colors used primarily throughout the advertisement are blue and
white, which are the colors of the product’s packaging. Using these
colors helps in ingraining the product in the minds of consumers.
Moreover, the color white conveys a sense of cleanliness which is
what the product promises to deliver.
• The ad shows a direct comparison with phenyl and encourages
consumers to choose Lizol over phenyl for more benefits. In one
frame. It shows a clear comparison of Lizol with phenyl by dividing
the frame into two parts.
• The ad shows the use of a mop instead of a cloth used for cleaning
floors which may also be an indicator of the kind of consumers the
brand is targeting- belonging to a more economically well-off
category.
• The ad begins with a dark background and suspenseful background
music showing the use of phenyl. It then switches to a colored frame
and more positive music as the narrator starts talking about Lizol.
• The ad has many shots of the mother playing with her child and the
entire family sitting on the floor to portray an emotional aspect- to
essentially show that the product is safe for the family and especially
the small child.
AD ANALYSIS SAMPLE 2: PUMA
Campaign
Propah Lady (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoVhnuCzHdA)
TARGET AUDIENCE
Target Audience
Urban, young (age 15-30), Indian, female, fitness enthusiasts
OBJECTIVE
Objective
• Establishing Puma as a symbol of empowerment and independence
for women
• Positioning the usage of their products as a representation of
women’s liberation from societal constraints
ANALYSIS
Analysis
• Play of Emotions – The ad uses a vignette approach – successive
flashes of short clips. This ensures that the audience’s System 1 is
triggered – and they experience the emotions of liberation conveyed;
but does not leave enough time for deliberative thought by System 2
– ensuring that customers do not question Puma’s association with
the emotion. Hence, they manage to condition the consumer into
naturally building a linkage between the positive emotions –
empowered, liberated, unapologetic, fun – with the Puma brand, in
an attempt to increase loyalty. Moreover, the selection of
ambassadors for the ad is interesting. They strategically represent
young, fit females from diverse domains – sports (Mary Kom, Dutee
Chand), Bollywood (Sara Ali Khan), transgender community (Anjali
Lama). This is an attempt to target every sub-segment of the target
audience and make the ad relatable to them. Moreover, having these
celebs flashing at quick intervals adds to the overall feeling of
celebration, pride, and individuality.
• Colour Scheme – An interesting aspect in many of the flashes is that
the Puma products and the statements of empowerment (such as
Her Place, Her Space, Does Push-Ups, Wears Push Ups, etc.) are in
bright fluorescent shades, which starkly contrasts the dull
background colour scheme. This is an attempt to position equate
Puma with the liberating phrases and contrast it with the dull
constraints society places on females. They are trying to say – ‘just
like these phrases that shine out and establish their place against a
dull backdrop, our products will help you shine out and establish
your place against societal constraints). Moreover, the ad, in general,
AD ANALYSIS SAMPLE 2: PUMA
has extremely loud, bold colourful flashes – again fitting in with the
idea of females standing out in each of their diverse colourful domains.
MUSIC
Music
The music is peppy, upbeat, and inviting. It alleviates the bold,
unapologetic vibe of the ad.
AESTHETIC
Aesthetic
The structure of the ad – that of rebooting and re-uploading the image
of a propah lady, in videogame style – is relevant for the demographic
targeted. It evokes a sense of nostalgia – by alluding to video games that
they played as children and re-invigorating that vibe.
CORE MESSAGE
Core / KEY
Message/Key IDEA
Idea
Puma challenges numerous gender stereotypes – through
acts/words/both. While most of these are concentrated around societal
expectations from those who identify as female (like sitting properly,
subduing sexual pleasure, being elegant, not making a scene, not
laughing loudly), it also mentions in brief, those from males (like not
crying). The key idea was to redefine a ‘proper lady’ and encourage
females to make their own rules and celebrate their individuality.
IMPACT
The campaign was a massive success – it generated widespread
conversation on social media, and with many women coming forward to
share unconventional pictures posing as ‘Propah Ladies’. The ad on
YouTube has garnered 18M+ views.
Concluding Remarks
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The campaign is a fresh take on gender stereotypes. Coupled with its

strategic celeb choice, it inspires women to break free from acting how
they are told to, and positions Puma products as the mechanism to
break free from those barriers. Link
REPOSITORY OF GTM TOPICS FOR PRACTICE
GTM of non alcoholic offerings of ABInBev
Should Starbucks target a low segment?
Should Amul diversify into bakeries?
InsideIIM focussing on the engineering / undergrad sector. Should it
have a spinoff InsideIIT or continue under the same brand?
Diversification strategy of aerated drinks companies (Pepsi)
GTM for new clothing line for children (under 13) by Raymond
Promotion Strategy for Xiaomi portraying as an Indian company to
manage anti-China sentiments
GTM for Swiggy Genie beginning operations in tier 2 city
Should Dove enter the male beauty market?
GTM strategy for chicken chips in India by PepsiCo
GTM for new ‘chakna’ – offerings by ITC
GTM strategy for HUL to foray into the Ready-to-Cook market
Adapting Amar Chitra Katha/Tinkle comics to stay relevant in
current times
GTM strategy for a new food outlet on campus
GTM for a new Mondelez product targeted at adult women
Ways for Nescafe to further premiumize its coffee offerings

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: KIMBERLY CLARK
ADITI VERMA
Mode: Online
Division: Feminine Hygiene
Nature of Work:
3 Small projects
1) Content Marketing:
This was a relatively small project that only required me to work
parallelly. KC had been working on a new website for their Feminine
Hygiene division, and my work was about curating the content
provided by Ogilvy, etc., for the website. The content has to be relevant
to the millennial audience. It was a challenge, given the sensitive nature
of the topic, and I made suitable suggestions wich were taken up by the
creators to modify the content accordingly.
2) Influencer Marketing:
The project aimed to devise a strategy to make KC's Influence
Marketing approach authentic. I did a lot of secondary research on how
other successful brands, such as Mama earth, did Influencer Marketing
and took valuable takeaways about the Dos and Don'ts of the approach.
With that understanding, I performed FGDs and Surveys covering
themes like Social media usage, influencers they follow and drivers of
purchase, etc. I provided recommendations on how the company can
leverage this route for its upcoming new launch. I also got to interact
with a few well-known influencers through this project
3) Sales:
Although most of my internship was online, I did an offline sales
stint of about ten days in Delhi NCR to understand the trade marketing
part of feminine hygiene products. I covered around 60 outlets across
Chemists, General Trade, and Modern Trade to understand critical
factors such as product placements, customer hotspots, etc. It also gave
me a sense of how other FMCG brands do their in-store marketing and
promotional schemes
Placement Process:
CV Shortlist, GD process (Topic - Tokyo Olympics), PI Process (25-30
min)
I was interviewed by the Sales Director, the Marketing Director, and the
HR Campus Coordinator. A mix of HR and Technical discussions that
happened in a casual manner. Previous internship experience in
Influencer Marketing helped in the PI Process
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: KIMBERLY CLARK
Overall Experience:
It was a very small team that worked in the division. I was expected to
be independent and entrepreneurial. All my suggestions were seriously
considered. They expect their employees to be the ones taking the
initiative. Although I had to report all my ideas and actions to my
manager every day, I had enough creative freedom. Overall, it was a
pleasant experience.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: WIPRO CONSUMER CARE
RISHABH MENON
Nature of Work:
My project was on E-commerce and it was data-driven. I had to improve

the return on our ad spending. It required understanding of the previous
algorithm they have been using and also the whole process of
advertising in E-commerce platform. I spent 3-4 weeks understanding
the process and prepared an algorithm providing the solution. Excel
skills were required for the project. It was a good experience to work on
a live project.
Placement Process:
There were no HRQs. CV shortlist, GD and PI. GD was an Ad analysis.
Overall Culture:
I received great support in terms of work. The culture provided great
learning opportunities.
Overall Experience:
Great learning culture was made possible by the marketing team.
However, the HR process was not very impressive. Not much employee
engagement activities happened at the firm. Wipro also had an award
for the "Best Intern."
ASHISH DEOPA
Nature of Work:
Finding consumer insights for long lasting fragrance.
Decide positioning for Fabric Scent Beads and make a creative brief for
digital creatives.
Finalize digital creatives in line with the brief issued.
Recommend an appropriate pricing for the launch.
Placement Process:
We had one round of GD where we were shown an Ad for a soap brand
that Wipro has. We had to do reverse marketing to understand what
led to the creation of the TVC. We discussed how consumer insights
lead to finding human truths which are then used to identify functional
benefits, emotional benefits and RTBs. This then helps finalise a sharp
positioning.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: WIPRO CONSUMER CARE
The PI was a mix of behavioral questions and scenario based marketing
questions. I was asked about launching a new D2C brand, favourite
brands, some questions related to the GD and some questions related to
my personal and professional life prior to college.
Overall Culture:
Very co-operative. Feedback given at regular intervals. No strict
hierarchy. Everyone was very approachable.
Overall Experience:
Besides a slightly shoddy HR team, the internship experience overall
was good. It was not very hectic and I found it to be quite well
balanced. We got to work on a live project and because of that the
managers were highly involved in what we were doing. I also got to do
consumer research by visiting households. I also communicated with
other agencies such as the creative agency to discuss the briefs for
creatives.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: GODREJ
JAYANT SINGH
Nature of Work:
The chief project deliverable was to develop a customer acquisition
strategy for milk & other dairy products for Godrej's dairy brand
"Jersey" in Hyderabad. I led pilots for 2 different models, recommended
one of them, and crafted the SOP for its execution. The suggestions
made were implemented by the firm in entirety.
Placement Process:
I was selected through the Godrej LOUD program, much before the
summer placement process. Selection included a Personality assessment
test, CV shortlisting and 2 rounds of interviews.
Overall Culture:
Very family like, well spoken people who is considerate of each other.
Properly structured well laid out process for all the interns throughout
the 2 months. Although, the pace of work in the organization isn't the
fastest across the industry.
Overall Experience:
Exhausting! Working the markets is no easy ball game, It has its own
challenges. However, the fact that you get to learn while simultaneously
interacting with the last person in the organization and the CEO
directly is amazing. It made me feel that everything about businesses
and companies we study makes so much sense in the real world. An
amazing time, loads of learning, loads of fun!
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: RECKITT
SIDDHI YADAV
Nature of Work:
Primary brand tasks are to drive awareness and build education for the
product and category.
• Generate ideas that are in line with the brand tasks
• Ensure smooth execution of the launch campaigns
• Build and execute 2 new ideas for the launch that are aligned with
the brand task
• Timely execution and closure of launch plans including
o Media campaigns and creatives to be made for launch
o Plan and execute launch events with the sales teams
Placement Process:
GD, 2 rounds of PI. Reckitt PI was the most technical marketing
interview I had given, they have a separate round with HR (Just HRQs)
so the main round is actually focused on fundamentals of marketing.
Overall Culture:
A very high-strung organization, they follow sort of a start-up culture
due to their lean structuring. People are willing to help but are generally
time-strapped. Their motto is "Doing enough is just not enough"
Overall Experience:
I learned a lot because my project involved a lot of execution, but since
my deliverables were a little unclear initially, the timelines got
crunched. Also, the organization is such that things change instantly, so
I faced several challenges with being up to date on the latest
development. Still, I think I understood the reality of executing product
and market strategy.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: MONDELEZ
SHUBHAM PANDA
Nature of Work;
My project was on developing a sales analytics solution for the e-
commerce team at Mondelez. In this, I had to develop a dashboard
solution which can help generate insights at a overall category/brand
level , which was not the case earlier.
My 2nd deliverable was to work alongside one of the partners to
develop plans for scaling up.
Placement Process:
Online test-> GD -> PI
Overall Culture:
The culture was very employee friendly and was conducive for learning.
Overall Experience:
It was an overall good experience with lots of learning. I was exposed to
data driven decision making and this was a completely new experience
to me given I had no prior experience in data analytics.
UTKARSH ROY
Nature of Work:
• Objective of the project:
Direct Marketing is one of the most critical levers of using the first
party data (collected via various campaigns) and the projects dealt with
creating a strategy to deploy campaigns and communications that are
more personalized with the consumer base, inviting them to engage
more with our owned media sites and commerce platforms to drive
enhanced consumer experiences and stronger equity for the Mondelez
brand portfolio.
• The main approach to the project was as follows:
1. Understanding direct marketing as a tool for communication with
consumers.
2. Study of competitors to analyze how they are using direct marketing
channels.
3. Study of internal processes at Mondelez to gauge the current level of
deployment.
4. Proposition of best practices for each channel of communication.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: MONDELEZ
5. Formulating a strategy and implementing the strategy to live direct
marketing campaigns.
6. Setting of a framework for a loyalty program at an organization level.
• Conclusions/ Recommendations
1. Proposition of best practices for each channel of communication in
the form of a Brand Manager Handbook.
2. Setting up a framework for a loyalty program at an organization
level.“
Placement Process:
1. Simulation/Game round (sales based) + HRQ submission
2. Group Discussion - detailed, case based
3. Personal Interview
Overall Culture:
The culture at the firm was extremely good. People were helpful and
inclusive. As interns, we were given a lot of freedom to interact with
creative agencies and included in most office events. My interaction
with every Brand Manager helped me in a better understanding of the
organization as well as the brands. The work-life balance was also very
good. There was an average of 7-8 hours work per day, and you could
easily wrap up your work by 6 PM everyday.
Overall Experience:
The overall experience was good. The project was under the digital
marketing domain, and was new and exciting for me. Even the fellow
interns from other b-schools were good and competitive, and aided in
broader understanding of the firm. The only challenge I faced was
related to my manager's availability. The lesser time I got to review with
my manager, the more difficult it got for me to structure my end review
presentation. But it was easily overshadowed by the highs during the
internship.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: COLGATE
MAHI GANGWAR
Nature of Work:
• Objective: To ensure the launch of the website and propose
strategies for promotional aspects, improving search levers, and
designing a customer relationship management strategic plan.
• Methodology: Primary and Secondary Research for understanding
the consumer, market, project dynamics and the inter-departmental
workings to propose scalable and futuristic strategies
• Deliverables: Ensuring smooth launch of the website, designing SEO
and CRM strategy, and planning out the promotional strategy for
the brand D2C Website.
• Outcomes:
---> Best D2C practices and website features for more immersive on site
experience
---> Designing promotional calendar for 3 months with proper offers,
occasions, and frequency of offerings
---> SEO Strategy for on site search lever
---> CRM strategic plan for visitors, occasional shoppers, and loyalist"
Placement Process:
HRQ Submission, GD, PI
Overall Culture:
The overall culture is caring, collaborative, it enhances continual
improvement among processes, people, and overall vision.
Overall Experience:
It was a great experience. I got to learn a lot in term of how to present
myself, my views and opinions, and also how to create balance between
excitement and nervousness. HRQ was both related to personal life and
my stance on company's campaigns etc.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: AIRTEL
SAI KRISHNA KOTA
Nature of Work:
1. To maximize the user acquisition across through a centralized call
center across various LOBs of Airtel
2. Do a competitor analysis and recommend suggestions to improve
the Prepaid Delivery Ecosystem
Placement Process:
We had a test initially with questions such as 2 guestimates, aptitude
questions and reading comprehensions. This was followed by an
Interview shortlist.
The interview was for 35 mins, mostly revolving about brand
management, growth marketing, my resume
Overall Culture:
The firm encourages innovation very much and provides opportunities
to scale up our innovations and check their feasibility and fit. Despite
being such a large firm, employees are encouraged to be entrepreneurial
to the possible extent. No hard restrictions on dress code and timings of
office
Overall Experience:
It was a great learning experience. Since it was an offline internship,
lots of cross- and peer learning. Got a chance to see real life applications
of the concepts studied in the first year. Interacted with many
customers and stakeholders to know how things get implemented on
ground.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: HUL
PRIYANKA D
Nature of Work:
Scope of work & Deliverables: Helping create & set-up an AI enabled
Chat-bot on the brand DTC website, along with ideas to socialise this
tool for a seamless consumer journey
Helping create a seamless quiz flow on the brand DTC website, and give
recommendations on the best DTC website practices and references for
the brand.
Outcomes: Deployed DTC Chatbot for the brand, and provided a
scalable solution across other brands in the unit, Prepared and
presented DTC website guidebook
Placement Process:
HRQ submission, video interview and final PI round. The SAP
questions we did helped immensely while submitting the HRQs, the PI
revolved around my CV and my marketing experience, along with a few
questions on what I had answered in my video interviews
Overall Culture:
HUL for me was an amazing place to work for the following reasons:
1. A clear sense of direction right from Day 1, no scope for lost souls
2. Very clearly set deliverables
3. Helpful people even in cross departments and very quick responses
4. Encouraging environment
5. Ample scope for learning new things
6. HUL teaches you Brand Building
7. Ample time for preparing mid review and end review ppts"
Overall Experience:
I had an amazing time with HUL, got lots to learn and felt nice knowing
how receptive they were to new ideas, and also encouraging in terms of
providing right support at the right time. I would highly recommend
joining this place if given an opportunity.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: HUL
SHIRIN KUMAR
Nature of Work:
Objective - To understand the core reason for Rin Antibac's success in
2021, the relevance of hygiene proposition in the post pandemic markets
of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and find alternative propositions
for Rin Antibac that keep the variant relevant in the market in a post
pandemic context.
Methodology - Consumer work, data analysis, and concept testing
Outcomes - Concepts recommended for Antibac based on antiseptic
liquid like germ removal with the benefits of Neem, and for potential
new Rin variants with other ingredients like Aloe Vera - all after testing
with consumers
Placement Process:
Application form - HRQs
Virtual Interview with recorded answers
Interview
Overall Culture:
Flat hierarchies, smart casuals, very open and friendly environment.
Overall Experience:
My experience was filled with learnings ranging from work and brand-
related lessons to learnings about corporate culture and networking.
HUL is an incredible place to really exercise your potential and have the
room to experiment with different ideas and approaches and also your
own abilities till you arrive at a solution to any given problem.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES: COCA COLA
ABI PHOR
Nature of Work:
1)Monthly volume tracking. 2) Post launch analysis of Promo Campaign
Placement Process:
CV review, Video submission along with questions on Brand extension
Experience : Crisp & neat
Overall Culture:
"Processes are stringent with respect to financials.
People processes are mostly smooth. Flat hierarchy & hybrid mode of
internship. People are super approachable
Overall Experience:
Good experience. Would definitely recommend
THANKS TO OUR TEAM
ROHAN GIFTSON SATHYAMUKESH SHREYA
AMARTYA SEJAL UTKARSH
SHREYAS SEJAL SHELLY SAMEER
NAYONIKA AKSHIT GAGANDEEP

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MARKETING

Familiarize yourself with the basics of marketing, underlying concepts

We have included a few essential topics that are relevant to today’s

Role of Marketing in this Need-Want Cycle

Many successful businesses incorporate multifaceted advertising

In the case of start-up companies and other new enterprises, the

Understanding the customer is a prerequisite to making a well-defined

• Usage (sports, family car, etc)

A perceptual map is a chart used by market researchers and businesses

• Price Skimming: PRICE SKIMMING

• Cost-Plus Pricing: COST-PLUS PRICING

• Economy Pricing: ECONOMY PRICING

• Dynamic Pricing: DYNAMIC PRICING

• New Product Pricing:

• Other Pricing Strategies:

The producer is a popular term in economics and business. Producers,

FUNCTIONS & ROLES OF THE PRODUCER

This distributor is also called a distributor, which means that a party

● For producers, distributors have a role to help distribute goods and

Functions andFUNCTIONS & ROLES OF RETAILERS

This consumer is the last chain of product flow or goods from a

The Role of CustomersTHE ROLE OF CUSTOMERS

Producer Distributor Retailer Customer

• Intensive Distribution: Where every kind of retail outlet is used. For

Average retail margin and distribution margin

These figures are indications and especially for distributors heavily

First, it allows businesses to get customer satisfaction feedback on a

Consumer-Goods Market Testing: This test is conducted to know the

Industrial-Goods Market Testing: This includes two types of market

• Industry/ Competitive Rivalry: It helps gauge the level of

• Bargaining power of Suppliers: It helps gauge the power or leverage

• Bargaining Power of Buyers: It helps gauge the power that buyers

• Threat of New Entrants: It gauges how easy it is for a new and

• Threat of Substitutes: It refers to how easily customers may switch

• Context: The industry is in the maturity phase of the industry

• Current Competitors: Nike(+converse), Adidas(+Reebok), Puma,

• Threat of New Entrants: Low

1. Global level: High, due to existing large players in the market

2. Local level: Low to Medium (You can target specific needs of

• Threat of Substitute products: No immediate pressure but

• Bargaining power of supplier: Main Raw material is cotton, synthetic

• Bargaining power of customers: Large options are available at the

Example for PLC stage:

• Awareness: This requires grabbing the attention of the consumer. In

As depicted above, AIDA can be thought of as a funnel leading the

• Mission – What is your objective of communication?

• Market – To whom is your communication addressed?

• Message – What specific points must be communicated?

Media – Which vehicle(s) will be used to communicate your message?

• Money-How much to spend on message communication?

• Measurement – How will the impact be assessed?

How to achieve the above-mentioned goals:

Niche | IIMA | 2022

Because B2B products and services tend to be more complex (and

Many B2B marketers use traditional strategies, like attending trade

Any business selling to another business uses B2B marketing. Any

Everyone in business needs supplies, inventory, and tools to run

Whether you’re selling office supplies, paper for the printer or

Many businesses fail to develop proper strategies for marketing

The purpose of trade marketing differs from that of traditional