Rush Hour 2

Are you a star performer?
Is communication your forte?
Is crunching numbers your passion?
Do you have the drive to achieve results?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes...
Get ready...
Prove it!


check this space for further information

Get Viral !

Viral Marketing refers to any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to hundreds, thousands, to millions.

Viral marketing has also been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz,". The various media may also include video clips, interactive forums, newsletters, ebooks and images. The goal of a successful viral marketing program is to appeal to those who have high social networking potential i.e. people who are the thought leaders in their circles. They, then spread the message through their channels carrying the added trust of the person who is forwarding it. The basic idea is that when such an ad reaches a susceptible user, the person accepts the idea i.e. he gets infected and shares it with other, thus infecting them. The viral chain is thus formed, and the message spreads exponentially. It is effective as a means of drawing high response rates.

Viral Marketing can impact consumer behaviour by influencing consumer perceptions, attitudes and views, and is inexpensive in comparison to many other forms of advertising and marketing campaigns. With the decline of traditional marketing techniques, Viral marketing can be a useful technique of segmenting customers by the way the behave and feel. 

Viral Marketing in Practice:

Batman - The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight viral campaign was one of the most widespread of its kind. It included everything from websites for Gotham Cab company to a real life campaign for Harvey Dent. The campaign engaged people on a different level. And the results speak. It made ridiculous amounts of money at the box office and on DVD. Of course, there were other factors involved (Heath Ledger’s death, and just how great the film looked,) but the viral campaign succeeded in creating unprecedented amounts of hype.

Smirnoff- Smirnoff’s viral “Tea Partay” video was an instant hit. It features preppy, Ivy League white boys doing a rap about throwing a tea party. The video just begs to be shared with others, making it a viral success.

Vodafone - Vodafone’s ad campaign featuring the Zoozoo creatures have become an international sensation. Developed in India, the playful commercials have made their way to the internet and become viral hits. The campaign, “Make the Most of Now,” has become truly global as a result. The videos have collected millions of online views worldwide and firmly positioned the Zoozoo creatures as lovable global icons.

 

BMW, Dove, Samsung, Levi's the list goes on. Viral marketing has benefited several companies and agencies. However they cannot flood the web with a string of would-be viral campaigns.  They cannot overstay their welcome in a world constantly searching for that next “cool” thing.  Viral content is interesting, provocative, limitless, original, and  groundbreaking. The message conveyed matters and companies must not presume that they can simply create this type of content as they don't have the final say in what becomes the next sensation.  People like us do.

Additional Reading: 

THE MECHANISMS OF THE INFLUENCE OF VIRAL MARKETING IN SOCIAL MEDIA Business Horizons, May2011, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p253-263,

RannBhumi- The Battlefield

You walk into the auditorium. You smile a big smile. As promised, everyone in your class is in the same colour. Flags in hands, they wave at you. You take a seat with them, you jump out of it and then you cheer till you cannot anymore. Spirited, United and Passionate!

Color Coded

You had to see it to believe it.

“RannBhumi- the Quest for the Best” was organised by “NiCHE”-the marketing club of IMNU on August 19, 2011. The flagship event of “NiCHE”, in its second year itself, has made its place among the most awaited events of IMNU. True to its name, the event is a battle between the five sections of the first year MBA (Full-Time and Family Business Course) batch. What is at stake? The RannBhumi trophy. Each class has to brand itself. This includes class name, logo, taglines, song performances, dance performances- anything which the teams feel represents who they are. 

Five teams namely Crusaders, Igniterzz, Knighthawks, Phaerenikes, and Zephyrs fought hard for the title and the rotating RannBhumi Trophy. With their feisty presentations, the teams battled to claim the spot at the top as their supporters rocked the auditorium with their adrenaline-fuelled cheering.

Phaerenikes sing their anthem

While the Phaerenikes swept everyone away by their enthralling videos, Zephyrs shook the auditorium with their music. Igniterzz lit the stage by the virtue of their presence and Knighthawks did it with their humorous skit. Finally, the crusaders marched their way to a stunning performance. Each class tried to differentiate itself from the others-from painted faces to flags, from videos to class anthems, the event displayed all facets of creativity in the junior batch. Even as they had fun, in each team were visible the marketers in the making.

Finally, the moment came which every team was waiting for and Zephyrs walked away with the trophy, both in the best t-shirt category and the overall performance.

Zephyrs- Storming their way to the top

The event was judged by Prof. Sanjay Jain and Prof. Ashwini K. Awasthi and was a testimony to the solidarity of the IMNU batch 2011-13.

Courtesy

Mahima Singhal

Its Creative to be simple....

Just watched lot of commercials yesterday. The advertisers potray nothing but simple moments of our daily life but it all looks so noticed and special when you see these moments as a spectator. Was just wondering every moment we live carries a story, a special touch. We so much miss the little things in life. Every moment can be a memory, every memory a meaning...Its so beautiful, its so nice. There is so much fun in each of these, so much love and so much care. Also wonder, if its difference that is creative or simplicity. May be we carried away with assigning priorities to memories and experiences, so something's different, we call as creative and just ignore the simple cues in life. Ads yet identify them- these days it seems, it is Creative to be simple...Loved watching those ads..Made my day.. :D

Cine-Teasement

Hi Guys,

Hope you are doing well. NiCHE is back after a long summer break, back in action, back to business.

We held the first event for the academic year 2010-2012. 'Cine-Teasement' was targeted at welcoming the juniors (Batch 2011-2013) to IMNU the NiCHE way. Cine-Teasement was a fine blend of Cinema and Advertisement. The participants participated in teams of 3, they were supposed to pick a movie and a product at random from our list. The bottom line was to create an concept for an entertaining advertisement for the product chosen using the theme of the movie.

We filtered the participants on the basis of their round 1 performances and 7 teams entered the final round. The top 3 teams were announced and will be given the prizes. Hoping the enthusiasm created by this event gains momentum and we see similar or even better responses for or upcoming events.

On Behalf of NiCHE - The Marketing Club of IMNU,

Regards,

Romil Doshi :-)

Poster for Cine-Teasement

The Nine Best Story Lines for Marketing

Lois Kelly is the author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. This is her explanation of the top nine types of stories that people like to talk about. If you’re pitching your company to investors, customers, partners, journalists, vendors, or employees and you don’t use at least one of these story lines, you probably have a problem. And most likely you’re too close to what you’re doing, so you think that you’re uniquely “patent-pending, curve-jumping, and revolutionary.” :-)

1. Aspirations and beliefs. More than any other topic, people like to hear about aspirations and beliefs. (This may be why religion is the most popular word-of-mouth topic, ever.) Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy’s point of view about ending the digital divide is aspirational as is Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s views about how companies can grow by reducing pollution and creating more sustainable business strategies. Aspirations are helpful because they help us connect emotionally to the speaker, the company, and the issues. They help us see into a person or company’s soul.
   
2. David vs. Goliath. In the story of David and Goliath, the young Hebrew David took on the Philistine giant Goliath and beat him. It is the way Southwest Airlines conquered the big carriers, the way the once unknown Japanese car manufacturers took on Detroit, and the way social media is taking on the media giants. Sharing stories about how a small organization is taking on a big company is great business sport. Rooting for the underdog grabs our emotions, creates meaning, and invokes passion. We like to listen to the little guy talk about how he’s going to win and why the world—or the industry—will be a better place for it.
   
3. Avalanche about to roll. The mountain is rumbling, the sun is getting stronger, but the rocks and snow are yet to fall. You want to tune in and listen to the “avalanche about to roll” topic because you know that there’s a chance that you will be killed if caught unaware. This theme taps into our desire to get the inside story before it’s widely known. It’s not only interesting to hear someone speak about these ideas, they have the ingredients for optimal viral and pass-along effect.
   
4. Contrarian/counterintuitive/challenging assumptions. These three themes are like first cousins, similar in many ways but slightly different. Contrarian perspectives defy conventional wisdom; they are positions that often are not in line with—or may even be directly opposite to—the wisdom of the crowd. The boldness of contrarian views grabs attention; the more original and less arrogant they are, the more useful they will be in provoking meaningful conversations.
   Counterintuitive ideas fight with what our intuition (as opposed to a majority of the public) says is true. When you introduce counterintuitive ideas, it takes people a minute to reconcile the objective truth with their gut assumption about the topic. Framing views counter to how we intuitively think about topics—going against natural “gut instincts”—pauses and then resets how we think and talk about concepts.
   Challenging widely-held assumptions means that when everyone else says the reason for an event is X, you show that it’s actually Y. Challenging assumptions is good for debate and discussion, and especially important in protecting corporate reputation.
   
5. Anxieties. Anxiety is a cousin of the avalanche about to roll, but it is more about uncertainty than an emerging, disruptive trend. Examples of anxiety themes abound: (1) Financial services companies urging baby boomers to hurry up and invest more for retirement: “You’re 55. Will you have your needed $3.2 million to retire comfortably?” (2) Tutoring companies planting seeds of doubt about whether our kids will score well enough on the SATs to get into a good college. Although anxiety themes grab attention, go easy. People are becoming skeptical, and rightly so. Too many politicians, companies have bombarded us with FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) with no facts to back up their point.
   
6. Personalities and personal stories. There’s nothing more interesting than a personal story with some life lessons to help us understand what makes executives tick and what they value the most. The points of these personal stories are remembered, retold, and instilled into organizational culture. Robert Goizueta, the respected CEO of Coca-Cola, said he hated giving speeches but he was always telling stories—often personal ones about how he and his family had to flee Cuba when Castro took control and had nothing more than his education.
   Similarly, when Steve Jobs gave the commencement address to Stanford University in June 2005, he shared his personal story and life lessons. That commencement address, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish,” was talked about on thousands of blog and was published verbatim in Fortune magazine. It helped us see Jobs in a new light.
   
7. How-to stories and advice. Theoretical and thought-provoking ideas are nice, but people love pragmatic how-to advice: how to solve problems, find next practices, and overcome common obstacles. To be interesting, how-to themes need to be fresh and original, providing a new twist to what people already know or tackle thorny issues like how to get IT and marketing organizations to work together despite deep culture clashes between the two.
   
8. Glitz and glam. Robert Palmer sang about being addicted to love. Our society is more addicted to glamour and celebrity. Finding a way to logically link to something glitzy and glamorous is a surefire conversation starter. For example, tagging on to the widespread interest in the Academy Awards, Randall Rothenberg, former director of intellectual property at consultancy Booz Allen-Hamilton, last year talked about the similarity and challenges between creating new “star” product brands and movie stars.
   
9. Seasonal/event-related. Last, and least interesting but seems to resonate, is tying your topic into seasonal or major events. Talking about industry predictions around the New Year, advertising during SuperBowl season, executive compensation reform when an executive of a well known company “resigns” with an especially bloated compensation package are examples of this type of story.

Source: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/07/what-people-tal.html#axzz1D3dRb8Pl

Starting a Business: Role of NICHE MARKETING

Starting a Business: Role of NICHE MARKETING

The role of marketing in business may surprise you. Many books and seminars on marketing begin on how to develop the Marketing Plan. You shouldn't begin thinking how you are going to market something until you first determine if you have something to market. You also need to have the ability to develop and service your product; will it work the way you say it will work; are there no adverse legal ramifications? Finally, can you sell of offer it for a profit?

Finding your Niche Market

1.     What kind of things are you interested in? Tennis, Books, Music.....

2.     Do these interest border on Passion? Football, Writing, Collecting.....

3.     Where is your Knowledge base? Is there any subject or topic that you know a lot about?

4.     Are you the person people come to for answers - asking your advice or opinion?

When you pursue a business that you are passionate about, something you really like to do, your chances of success in business increases dramatically.

Many people make the mistake of developing a product first, then trying to find a market. That is backwards. You must first find the demand, and then fill it. This will guarantee the success of your product, as people are already looking for what you are about to develop. By filling this need, you can actively focus your energies on marketing to the audiences that will provide the highest sales profit.

I. Finding the Right Markets:

Examine your list. You now must research and find markets that relate to your list of interests. Brainstorm a list of general, potential markets for each of your interests. Do not be concerned if your markets seem too broad or general. Utilize friends, family and the Internet - searching keywords related to your interests.

II. Research the Competition:

Now that you have your list of specific markets, it's time to examine the competition - both online and off. Take a look at how well these businesses are marketing themselves to the market segment. How organized and professional looking are their sites?

III. Meet the Market Demand:

Now it's time to find the greatest need. There are several ways to research this:

1. Research Keywords

To narrow down your niche market, utilize tools such as:

• Word Tracker
• Overture Term Suggestion - gives a list of related searches and how many times those terms were searched in Overture during the previous month.

Search for terms that are frequently searched for by your target market - but are not being used effectively by your competition. This competitive analysis will expose untapped needs and help you avoid marketing to heavily saturated markets.

RULE: When competing in a saturated market, define and maintain a tightly focused niche market for your business.

If you find there are many web sites marketing a similar product and not enough people are actually buying to make your product idea profitable, it is better to find out before you launch your Marketing Campaign.

2. Newsgroups, Discussion Boards, Chat Rooms

Be still, and listen. People will TELL you what they like and don't like; what they're looking for. These forums are frequently visited by people seeking advice. By monitoring these discussions you will discover the "hurts" that need to be filled.

This is a great way to find potential products or service ideas. If the same question is repeated, there are probably hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of people wondering the same thing. Some good places to start:

• Thread Watch
• Webmaster World
• Cash Keywords
• Google Groups

A search in any of the major search engines will provide several good boards and chat rooms.

3. Customer Use

If you already have an established customer base, send out an email survey . 80% of your continual sales come from 20% of your client base. Statistics have shown that up to 36% of your current client base will purchase form you again if you have something similar to offer.

4. The Reviews Are In

These sites are used by people to either rave or complain. This makes it a gold-mine of information of how the public perceives the competition.

• Consumer Review
• Consumer Search
• Opinions

5. Competitive Analysis

The purpose of Competitive Analysis is to determine which business strengths are needed to be competitive in the market. You also need to determine how the competition will react to your strategies BEFORE you implement them.

Your competitors could be your greatest source of inspiration. Once you have chosen your area of interest - start a thorough market research.

To analyze the competition, gather information on:

1.     Their Competitive Market Share

2.     Their Current Strategies

3.     Future Goals

4.     Where they are vulnerable

5.     What will provoke retaliation

6.     copies of all their marketing materials

The more you find out, the better you'll be able to find a weakness, and then develop a strong Unique Selling Proposition. Make your product better, faster, easier, safer, and more cost-effective. Do whatever it takes to entice customers to buy your product or service over your competitions.

IV. Customer Analysis: How Accurate Is Your Research?

At this point, determine if your research is accurate? Talk to members of the market and confirm it.

• How big of a problem is it for them?
• Is it a minor nuisance, or is it something they would pay to obtain a solution for?
• How much is that solution worth to them?

1. Validate your information: get on the phone, run surveys, chat in newsgroups. Do research to see if anyone else is currently offering a solution to this problem. If they are, what are they charging and how good is the service?

2. Customer Interest: Find out if customers are interested in the product or service. It may be that there is already enough products in that niche, but it lacks in services to help use the products.

3. Determine the general price range. Can you offer a price advantage? Determine the price-sensitivity of your future, potential customers. If the competition is constantly cutting costs to gain new customers, this is a warning flag.

4. What gender is your potential market? What is their income level? What level of education do they have? Their geographic location? These are important factors in order to determine how lucrative your market will be, as well as how to best approach and advertise.

5. Most importantly, what motivates the market to buy? Do they react to a price drop? When you understand your audiences' motivation, you'll be able to appeal to what motivates them to buy.

Conclusion:

Remember to find the problem before you try to develop a solution. It is much more lucrative to find out what your potential market is searching for and then filling that need.

• Choose a niche market from your interests
• Research keywords to find what the market is already searching for
• Research existing niches and improve on existing products
• Survey current customers for potential products

Your business success hinges directly on choosing a product that the public already wants and then providing it. 

Source: http://www.designchefdirectory.com/tips/niche-marketing.htm

Famous Marketing Blunders

Famous Marketing Blunders

Cracking an international market is a goal of most growing corporations. It shouldn't be that hard, yet even the big multi-nationals run into trouble because of language and cultural differences.

·       Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

·       Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish where its translation was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

·       Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "manure stick."

·       When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as they did in the U.S., with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read. Yikes!

·       Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious naughty magazine.

·       Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts." In this case, however, the name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.

·       In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

·       Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.

·       An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).

·       Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in Chinese.

·       The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth." 

       When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

·       Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

·       In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead."

·       Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off."

·       When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

·       Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

Super Bowl advertising is risky business

Under Armour shares were pummeled after the company announced advertising buys that would hamper earnings, including a commercial during Super Bowl XLII costing about $5 million. Garmin received publicity for its Super Bowl spot — the wrong kind. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School named Garmin’s commercial (which cost $2.4 million to buy) the worst among scores of Super Bowl ads broadcast. 

Despite all the hype about their creativity and an ability to reach television’s largest audience (93 million viewers) annually, Super Bowl commercials are risky ventures. Millions of dollars are dropped in less time than breaks between NFL plays, and the result may be viewers’ yawns and media pans. Which makes one wonder: Considering all the major sporting events during the year, isn’t there a better way for companies to spend their ad money?

True, certain sports events don’t really lend themselves to commercial buys. For instance, the Kentucky Derby on ABC draws nearly 14 million viewers, but it lasts only two minutes and no spots appear during the horse race. In golf, The Masters — broadcast by CBS — limits commercials to a handful of sponsors.

But other marquee matchups offer solid opportunities. During the 2007 World Series sweep of Colorado by Boston, Fox received about $400,000 for each 30-second commercial and attracted roughly 17 million viewers per game, a better deal than the Super Bowl in terms of cost per viewer. The upcoming Daytona 500 is drawing about $550,000 to $575,000 for each 30-second commercial, with close to 20 million viewers likely for the Fox broadcast, again a better bargain. How about a major PGA Tour event, where the average price for a 30-second spot is less than $200,000 and companies can reach the coveted male demographic with six-figure incomes? Spreading millions of dollars across half a dozen other major games, races and the like can make more sense.

The unrivaled exposure of Super Bowl ads means a commercial that alienates can heavily damage the sponsoring company. In the past decade, ads have been lambasted for being everything from racist to homophobic to inappropriate. Particularly at risk is a company making its advertising debut during the game in hopes of establishing a national reputation. It can be battered if the commercial lands short of the standard that has been established. And the high stakes of the event mean agencies can take the fall for a bad ad. For instance, Cramer-Krasselt resigned from the CareerBuilder account after ads failed to make USA Today’s Top 10 Super Bowl commercials. 

 Not only are Super Bowl ads expensive to purchase, they are often pricey to produce. Audi told USA Today it paid anywhere from $500,000-$1.5 million just for the right to use “The Godfather” imagery in this year’s ad. Anheuser-Busch shoots more than twice as many commercials as it uses and then spends money to test them in focus groups around the U.S. Well-known celebrities who appear in Super Bowl ads, such as Justin Timberlake and Carmen Electra, demand a premium fee.

The Super Bowl hasn’t always been the ad showcase it is today. The Apple commercial “1984” a quarter-century ago helped focus viewers’ attention on the spots. According to Michael MacCambridge, author of “America’s Game” about how pro football became the country’s most popular sport, the Super Bowl game in Pasadena 15 years ago changed everything.

”I think Super Bowl commercials became more prominent around the time that the NFL decided to add A-list pop stars to the halftime entertainment — with Michael Jackson performing at Super Bowl XXVII in 1993,” he said. “Emphasizing the halftime show ensured that the game would transcend sports; it took the largest TV audience of the year, and made it even broader and younger, setting the stage for commercials that would make news on their own terms.”

Companies such as Anheuser-Busch — which buys so many commercials every year that it pays only about $2 million for each 30-second spot — have become synonymous with the Super Bowl. Because of its over-the-top Super Bowl presence, the brewer has earned value just from the fact many fans assume Budweiser is the official beer sponsor of the NFL (it’s not — Coors is). And in the day of the Internet, ads will be watched online millions of times after the game, so their life, and thus impact, is seemingly limitless today.

Still, Super Bowl ads are a roll of the dice. And, if God forbid a game breaks out between the ads, and Eli Manning throws a last-second touchdown pass to shatter a New England perfect season, who’s going to talk about a Kraft commercial the next day? Spreading the risk among a number of prime sporting events may be the smarter move.

By David Sweet

Source:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22881813/ns/business-us_business/