Drinkable Advertising

Drinkable Advertising History has been a great example of how technological revolutions have always surpassed the expectations of mankind. Be it the invention of cellphones or the advent of laptops, there were many miracles that took place in the course of civilization. However, back in 2015, Coca-Cola reached the ceiling of technological miracles when it came up with the unique way of having a drinkable advertisement. People are able to connect with a brand in a better manner when it has something to offer which others cannot. Advertising by giving the customers a taste of its product 'Coke Zero', Coca-Cola went a step ahead in connecting with its customers. Drinkable billboards, posters, tweets, scans - they left no stone unturned to connect with the people in a totally interesting and novel way! They partnered with Oglivy& Mather to come up with this creativity. Also, Shazam - a widely used application was used to match the water gulp sound frequency and "earn" a free coke! It is indeed commendable how a company can come up with various ways of advertising and branding which not only markets the product but makes one feel special to consume the good. Using technology in advertising is what everyone might do. But to do it differently is what only a few do. Back in 2015, this was definitely a major feat. However, with the upcoming days and improving technological inventions, we never know how competitive the advertising might get! Till then, as Coca-Cola says, “Next time you’re thirsty, drink an ad!” References: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/guerrilla-marketing/coca-cola-creates-first-ever-drinkable-advertising-campaign/

Three Ways Non-Profit Organisations Can Use Market

Three Ways Non-Profit Organisations Can Use Marketing to Generate Awareness and Donations Non-Profit organisations primarily exist to make a positive change to society. The term “Non-Profit” means their orientation is not towards earning profits, but to fulfil their mission, be it feeding the homeless, providing free education or medical treatment to the needy and so on.[1] They thrive on donations from the people who want to contribute to such causes in monetary terms. Any non-profit organisation faces two main problems: First, how to create awareness about its cause? Second, how to generate donations to fund those causes? In this article, I will suggest three ways Non-Profit Organisation can utilise marketing to generate awareness and donations:        i.          Create Realistic Campaign: This means create a campaign which is able to depict the cause among target audience in a realistic way. For example, “Worldwide Breast Cancer (WBC)” created a campaign “Know Your Lemons”, a creative representation of breast cancer symptoms in the form of lemons in an egg carton, which went viral when it was shared by a cancer survivor who benefited from this campaign![2]              ii.          Choose the Relevant Medium:        Once a Non-Profit has designed a creative campaign, how will they disseminate it? This can be done by identifying the relevant medium. i.e. a Medium of which your Target Audience is active user. Social Media is a powerful platform to reach out to target audience at a very low cost compared to traditional media (like Print, TV, Radio), which fits into keeping the operating costs at minimum possible for the non-profits. Another benefit of using Social Media is that the “Share” options on different Social Networks like Facebook, Twitter etc., add a viral dimension to it, which aids in spreading information and increasing awareness.    iii.          Add Persuasive Call-To-Actions     Whether a Non-Profit runs its campaign on Traditional Media or Social Media or on both depends entirely on its objectives and budget; but one thing which is essential and sets apart message of one Non-Profit from the other is the usage of appropriate “Call-To-Actions”. In the example shared earlier in this article, despite the tremendous success of this “Know Your Lemons” campaign, WBC (the Non-Profit behind this campaign) still found difficult to attract sufficient amount of donations[3] because nowhere in the campaign, in its image do you see any indication of this charity asking for any donations! Or even any claim that it is a non-profit! So, using such call-to-actions along with easy options to donate (like by online transfer, digital wallets, PayPal etc.) is essential for a Non-Profit to generate sufficient donations. Finally, it is about the consistency and persistence of a Non-Profit, which will take it places. If the cause is something people can relate to, and the Non-Profit does it well to convey its message, it will create both the awareness about its cause as well as attract donations to sustain itself towards its goal. [1] https://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-non-profit-organizations-747.html [2] https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/how-one-woman-using-lemons-educate-world-about-breast-cancer.aspx [3] https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/how-one-woman-using-lemons-educate-world-about-breast-cancer.aspx

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Independent variable: Organizational structure and design Dependent variable: Organizational citizenship behavior In an organization where the organizational structure is such that the employees of different ranks treat each other equally, giving respect to each other and every other employee can be reached out easily for help and feedback, encourages the employees to work to their full potential without hesitation in asking questions on doubts or performance.  This kind of organization structure provides a sense of belonging to the employees. For ex- Paytm, the CEO of the organization does not have a dedicated cabin for him and he sits with the other employees in one of the cubicles, hence promoting communication and equal respect for every employee in the organization. Independent variable: motivation –dependent variable : productivity In a stock brokerage firm, broker interact with customers regarding investment but few customers are always skeptical to take risk. So broker tries to motivate them to take more risks by giving real life examples in order to get more profit. As a result it improves the productivity of brokerage firm. Independent variable: values and attitudes –dependent variable : Deviant workplace behavior In most of the organization, we see many employees increase their work productivity when financial closing is near to get a better rating and band in the organization. This shows they bring change in their values and attitudes towards the organization. But when they don’t receive the good bands as per their expectation, they start behaving very casual and don’t put much effort in their work. This shows deviant workplace behavior. Independent variable: communication –dependent variable: productivity In most of the group tasks if there is not proper and consistent communication among the members regarding the tasks, the productivity of the group goes down. It is important to keep everyone in the loop regarding the activity. Not only it is found that  there should be consistent communication in the hierarchy to improve the productivity of the organization.   DEPENDENT VARIABLE: PRODUCTIVITY, JOB SATISFACTION Perception is the approach or stimuli of a person towards a situation depending upon his/her ability, attitude, expectations and past experiences which will affect the way the individual performs a task. In an organization, an employee’s perception about the work, the company and the culture will affect his/her morale and performance. A person with positive perception will enjoy the job and hence will work to the highest potential which again improves the productivity, incentives or wage hike and increases job satisfaction.

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Independent variable: Organizational structure and design Dependent variable: Organizational citizenship behavior In an organization where the organizational structure is such that the employees of different ranks treat each other equally, giving respect to each other and every other employee can be reached out easily for help and feedback, encourages the employees to work to their full potential without hesitation in asking questions on doubts or performance.  This kind of organization structure provides a sense of belonging to the employees. For ex- Paytm, the CEO of the organization does not have a dedicated cabin for him and he sits with the other employees in one of the cubicles, hence promoting communication and equal respect for every employee in the organization. Independent variable: motivation –dependent variable : productivity In a stock brokerage firm, broker interact with customers regarding investment but few customers are always skeptical to take risk. So broker tries to motivate them to take more risks by giving real life examples in order to get more profit. As a result it improves the productivity of brokerage firm. Independent variable: values and attitudes –dependent variable : Deviant workplace behavior In most of the organization, we see many employees increase their work productivity when financial closing is near to get a better rating and band in the organization. This shows they bring change in their values and attitudes towards the organization. But when they don’t receive the good bands as per their expectation, they start behaving very casual and don’t put much effort in their work. This shows deviant workplace behavior. Independent variable: communication –dependent variable: productivity In most of the group tasks if there is not proper and consistent communication among the members regarding the tasks, the productivity of the group goes down. It is important to keep everyone in the loop regarding the activity. Not only it is found that  there should be consistent communication in the hierarchy to improve the productivity of the organization.   DEPENDENT VARIABLE: PRODUCTIVITY, JOB SATISFACTION Perception is the approach or stimuli of a person towards a situation depending upon his/her ability, attitude, expectations and past experiences which will affect the way the individual performs a task. In an organization, an employee’s perception about the work, the company and the culture will affect his/her morale and performance. A person with positive perception will enjoy the job and hence will work to the highest potential which again improves the productivity, incentives or wage hike and increases job satisfaction.

Marketing strategy for a competition

The strategies to increase the reach in terms of both registered teams and voters in an event or competition are as follows: 1) The major problem in this situation is reaching out to the different colleges and universities for their students to participate in such competitions which in turn helps them in showcasing their talents and improve the brand value of the institution as well. There could be many solutions to this problem:  (a) Appointing Campus Ambassadors of the respective colleges and providing them the certificate for their good work. They will be provided a layout of the whole process. The top performing CAs can also be awarded some prize money according to the number of participants from their respective colleges. This will help us in having a structured approach towards connecting with the participants. This will help us in trending among the colleges with the help of the network of their students. (b) Appointing marketing teams according to zones and cities who will contact the different college administrations or the student bodies. This is a more direct approach to the problem as we are directly contacting the participants. This will help us in increasing the efficiency of the process but the cost may vary on the basis of transportation and contacting the different bodies of the institution.  (c) Creating awareness through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc., YouTube and Google AdWords. This will help us in connecting to a wide network of people all around the country. This will also help in increasing the number of voters for the competitions. We can use web analytics tools like Google Analytics to easily identify what location our website traffic is coming from. On the basis of this analysis, we can target some specific regions of the country. 2) Now, we have to provide the participants with the basic information regarding the competition. We will have to inform them about the whole process of participation, results, prizes etc. There can be two approaches to this step: (a) Emailing the participants directly and sending the attachments about the whole process with it. This will ensure that everyone gets all the information about the competition. We can also conduct interactive webinars to ensure that participants have no doubts regarding the process. (b) Sending the pamphlets and posters to be displayed on the notice boards of the respective colleges or informing about the process through the college administration. This is a traditional but effective method to increase the number of participants. 3) We can create hashtags to be attached with the advertisement created by the students. This will help us in trending on social media and we can also track the trending situation about the submissions. We can also create and share some video content to be displayed on the official handles of the competition on various social networking websites. This will also help in increasing the number of voters for the competitions. 4) We can create social media campaigns comprising of challenges by YouTubers, celebrities etc. e.g. Skybags #Bagtheball Challenge, ALS Ice Bucket Challenge etc. This plays a major role in trending on the social media platforms nowadays. We can also use some paid marketing like mentions on twitter by famous pages etc.

7 Ps of Marketing

The beauty of a market is that it is constantly evolving. The things or services which were once considered a symbol of prosperity and uniqueness are no longer in the picture. So, we would have a look at how 7 P’s are redefining marketing. 1. Product: This category includes the product as well as the service we are offering. All products have a life cycle and the marketer needs to align his/her strategies based on the phase that product is undergoing. With online e-market, a marketer to reach out to a large number of people in the country and target different segments at the same time. Online marketing is the future. The more rapidly the firms align their policies considering online customer base the better it is for them. 2. Price: If you are a new entrant in the market, pricing can help you to gain unique position in the market. When two products offer similar benefits the one with lower price is likely to achieve more sales. The war of P&G’s detergents(Arial, Tide) with HUL’s detergents(Surf Excel, Rin etc.) in the last decade is very good example. 3. Place:   Online shopping has eliminated the need to go to the market as you can order a product by sitting in your home.  Some points to ponder are: ·         Where does customer both current and potential, look for services or product? ·         How do you access the different distribution channels with different strategies? ·         Which online store should we use to sell our products? 4. Promotion:  Online retail giants like Flipkart, Amazon offer a discount on particular days e.g. Big Billion days. So, brands have started to give more discount on these special sales days and promotion occurs on the other hand.  Customer also acts a promoter if he likes the brand. 5. People: It has two dimensions: Internal working staff and outside customers. When employees believe in the products or services a firm offers, it’s is highly likely the employees will perform better. Now the firms do look at the lifetime worth of a customer, popularly known as CLV.

OYO - An Ace in Hospitality Industry

OYO started its journey in January 2013 under the vision of Ritesh Agarwal to improve the hospitality and hotel business. In 2016, OYO brought the concept of early check-in called sunrise check-in at 6 am, and also recently rolled out OYO Captain, a personalised concierge service in the budget hotel category. It expanded its presence to more than 22 cities in India so that customer can set OYO as their preference, no matter which city they travel to. OYO introduced the new concept of short-term homestays, a model similar to Airbnb and has its presence in more than 10 cities under this segment like Udaipur, Goa and Shimla that attract innumerable tourists. OYO has been constantly keeping a check on customer needs and preferences by gathering insights and feedback from the customers. Customers feel their opinion heard when they see OYO making changes accordingly. Customers have the privilege of getting easy hotel bookings on arrival as well and do not have to preplan. Most of the customers have been recorded to book hotels either just before arrival or on arrival by the Data Science Team of OYO. Data Science team has been working mainly on segmenting its customers, identifying their needs, How OYO can cater their needs and finally why customers will prefer OYO over its competitors. This has helped OYO create a customer-centric image amongst its customers and has also succeeded in gaining their trust. OYO has been working hard on gaining customer attention through various strategies like it has not only expanded to every corner of the nation but it's marketed itself well by big hoardings with OYO trademark placed almost on every partner hotel, making its presence and market share felt very well. Providing services like complimentary breakfasts, early check-ins, free quality toiletry kits and discount coupons to new customers have not only maintained its existing customer base but gathered new customers as well. Easy cancellation and on arrival bookings on mobile app access is also contributing to winning customers for OYO.