Marketing Booster Shot | 25 July 2011

25 JUL 2011
Issue # 42

Paul Writer Marketing Booster Shot

Yo!

I was writing a brief for a website, and in a nostalgic mood visited the Way Back Machine, an archive project. The 1999 Infosys website brought back happy memories - all of us in the marketing team pitched in, we used psychedelia inspired images (it looked good, really) and we felt we were part of the brave new world. And then I visited the 2004 website of a start-up I was part of, Quintant , and realized that not much has changed since then for corporate websites. If anything, they look duller. And yet, if you look at how we communicate and acquire information, it is (a) non-sequential (b) specialized as per media - we use a combination of sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Slideshare.net to collect info across various formats. Shouldn't corporate sites reflect this?

Nikhil Rungta pointed me to this 1950s Barbie commercial , another piece of vintage advertising. It looks rather like it's been made by pasting the print ad with the radio jingle, even to the extent of a hand coming in to move the dolls. Clearly by someone who understood print and radio, but not video. And remember this was made after all kinds of classic movies - so it wasn't for lack of technology. But are we guilty of the same inability to adapt? Applying what's worked for us in the past without learning the language of the new media? Are CMOs becoming the marketosaurus rex?

That's partly why our next conclave is called The Futurist CMO . Hosted in association with IBM and with corporate partners such as Dell, Vdopia and Unmetric, we are going to focus on the modern aspects of marketing, showcase CMOs who have done things differently and chart out a method for our survival. We just added Poorva Joshipura, VP - International Operations, PETA as a speaker - PETA is known for its unconventional marketing that is as far from stodgy as you can get. She joins senior marketers from firms such as Airtel, Avantha, Bata, Dell, Essar, IBM, Infosys, ITC, NIIT, SAP, TCS, Barry-Wehmiller, Tupperware, Vedanta and many more. If you're interested in joining us on Aug 25-26 in Gurgaon, register here , or email me to explore speaking opportunities and the Hall of Fame.

This July, with five Sundays is termed the money-bags month. Don't ask me why. But hope you've had a prosperous month and all the best for the weeks ahead!

Have You Applied to the Futurist Marketing Hall of Fame yet?

Successful marketing campaigns are those that integrate the power of the digital media with the reach of the legacy channels. Futurist marketers are those who understand that social is a subset of online and design their digital presence accordingly. Success comes
to those who understand the language of this new media and are able to tell their stories powerfully using these new tools.

The Futurist Marketing Hall of Fame recognizes those campaigns that have stepped away from legacy tools to create marketing programs that define the future of marketing. The Hall of Fame recognizes the team that has architected and made this program a reality.

The Futurist Marketing Hall of Fame is open to all brands/firms that have implemented their futuristic marketing campaigns in India. Submissions must include campaigns that were executed Jan 2010 or later.

Click here - for more information on eligibility criteria, process and submission guidelines.

Click here - to download the application.

Executives leading marketing at these companies will be recognized among their peers at the Futurist Marketing Hall of Fame Awards ceremony to be held at The Futurist CMO Conference in Oberoi, Gurgaon between 25-26 Aug, 2011.

Fortune "for" the Bottom of the Pyramid - S. Sivakumar Group Head, ITC Limited talks about e-Choupal Version 3.0 and more

Speaker Interview by Jessie Paul

For those familiar with ITC's eChoupal, a concept that revolutionized Indian agricultural system, its newest version 3.0 is making an attempt to do three new things. By integrating mobile devices into the eChoupal network, delivery of crop management advisory services is being personalised to individual farmers. Through Choupal Haat - a specially designed interactive engagement platform - communication with rural consumers is deepened. Finally, they are replicating the lessons from their experiences in agribusiness to connect rural youth to job markets through an internet-cum-mobile-phone transaction interface.

In this interview, ITC's e-choupal, Sivakumar talks about the biggest investment one needs to make in building communities - actions that build trust. He adds that while the world was talking about Fortune "at" the Bottom of the Pyramid, ITC eChoupal walked Fortune "for" the Bottom of the Pyramid before talking "at"! Mobile is just a delivery platform to expand scale and stay connected. Click here to read more.

How to Deal with a Dumb Idea

By
Sridhar. R

How do you look at new ideas? Sridhar emphasises that there are only plus points and practical implementation concerns to an idea. There is nothing called a dumb idea.

Of course, no one might be willing to accept this. In fact, managers might feel that soft-peddling the issue of 'dumb ideas' would bring down their company's quality standards. There is nothing like calling a spade a spade.

Most often, the idea may not be dumb but the person with the idea does not communicate it well. The idea itself could have promise. We tend to throw the baby with the bathwater. We end up confusing form with content. We could also dismiss an idea as 'dumb' just because we have not thought about it or we had never thought of it that way before or we have not understood it. So what would you do if a young colleague approaches you with an idea and you think it is dumb? How should you handle the situation? Click here to read more.

Brands Need to Recreate Themselves into High Impact Innovators - In Conversation with Sunder Madakshira, Vice President Marketing and Communications SAP Labs

CMO Speak by Jessie Paul

Sunder Madakshira, Vice President Marketing and Communications SAP Labs believes that compelling communication of the ROI and marketers being 'the Linchpins' (a term coined by Seth Godin), are the immediate imperatives for the industry.

Customer and consumer intimacy and understanding of business are cornerstones of a marketer's thinking process. Marketers of IT products and services have been traditionally weak in these areas. This could cause of loss of place for marketing on the corporate strategy table. And that possibly could be the reason why marketing budgets are the first to be slashed in times of crises.

Referring to IT brands, Sunder felt that the brands had to recreate themselves and quickly change from "low cost, low value" players to "high value, high impact innovators". Click here to read more.

Proactive Health - the Mantra for Building a Healthier India - Sameer Kaul, Vice President Marketing, Dr Lal Pathlabs on Do's and Don'ts of Healthcare Marketing

CMO Speak by Jessie Paul

Dr. Lal Pathlabs have been in the business for over 60 years ever since Padma Shri Dr. Arvind Lal pioneered the concept of medical diagnostics in India. They have a network of 1000 centers and around 70 labs pan India catering to over 7 million customers per year, making them leaders in healthcare sector's diagnostic sphere in terms of reach, market share and customer base.

In the last 3 years, the marketing team worked towards making Dr. Lal Pathlabs into a consumer brand that is increasingly focused on customer centrality; adopting the outside-inside thinking approach where customer is central to business strategy.

Sameer Kaul believes that sounding too commercial and too much marketing can alienate the audience. Healthcare calls for sensitized marketing with a boundary drawn on the amount of marketing. In foreign countries, there are laws limiting health care marketing where one can't advertise a brand, and can only promote a category. Since it is not the case here in India, healthcare marketers have to be proactive and mindful about this. Click here to read more.

Enjoy!

Jessie Paul
CEO, Paul Writer
www.paulwriter.com - India's only community for B2B marketers
2500+ members | 50+ contributors | 250+ articles

Visuals sourced with thanks from Flick'r. Acknowledgement provided in the main article.