Marketing Notes

 Types of Media:

1. Owned: Owned media is any web property that you can control and is unique to your brand. One of
the most common examples is a website, although blog sites and social media channels are other
examples of owned media properties too.
Channels like social media and blogs are extensions of your website, and all three are extensions of
your brand as a whole. The more owned media you have, the more chances you have to extend your
brand presence in the digital sphere.

2. Earned: If owned media sites are the destination then earned media is the vehicle that helps people
get there. What good is a website or social media site if no one is seeing or interacting with it? That's
where earned media comes in. Earned media is essentially online word of mouth, usually seen in the
form of 'viral' tendencies, mentions, shares, reposts, reviews, recommendations, or content picked
up by 3rd party sites.
One of the most effective driving forces of earned media is usually a combined result of strong
organic rankings on the Search Engines, and content distributed by the brand. First page rankings
and good content are typically the biggest drivers. Rankings on the first page of the search engines
place your owned media sites and content links in a position to receive higher engagement and
shares, which is why a good SEO strategy is crucial.
When it comes to brand content, interesting, informative content can come in all shapes and sizes.
Whether it be a blog, infographic, video, press release, webinar or e-book, the bottom line is that the
content has to be worthwhile in order to receive the valuable earned media; which is why a
great content strategy is also important.

3. Paid: Paid media is a good way to promote content in order to drive earned media, as well as direct
traffic to owned media properties. Paying to promote content can help get the ball rolling and create
more exposure. Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer advertising that could
potentially help boost your content as well as your website. Another way to gain more exposure for
your content is to pay influencers to tweet or share your links, impacting the reach and recognition
your pieces receive. Using retargeting, Pay Per Click and display ads is an effective and more direct
way to drive searchers to your owned media sites like your website, to help increase traffic and/or
conversions.
 Brand Campaigns (Common)

1. Kan Khajura Tesan, HUL: http://www.kankhajuratesan.com/

Objective: Reaching to media dark parts of the country

FMCG is one of the biggest and the fastest consumed categories in both rural and urban marketed
of India. Rural market constitute a significant chunk of sales of all major FMCG companies. Even for
HUL, success of its brands and products in rural markets is very important for its overall success in
India. Bihar is one of the biggest markets for HUL and it is imperative for the FMCG giant that it takes
its brand communication to both the urban as well as huge rural customer base of the state.
However, the state is one of the most ‘media dark’ in terms of penetration of newspaper and
television. Barely 20% of the households had access to television in the state. Add to that the frequent
power cuts in the villages, the television medium also couldn’t be used properly to reach out the
potential customers. Hence, HUL had to come up with some innovative idea of taking its brand
adverts to its consumers through some other popular and reliable channel.

Strategy: Dedicated mobile radio station

In the year 2012, HUL had done a very successful activation for its detergent brand Wheel where
customers were asked to give a missed call to a certain number and then they were fed back with
romantic and husband-wife jokes which went well with customer segment in which Wheel operated.
The campaign was a huge success with the brand receiving over 3 lakh missed calls from over 25
thousand unique numbers just in the first month of making the campaign live. The success of this
missed call campaign laid the seed to what would go on to become the biggest rural market
campaign of HUL – Kan Khujura Tesan (KKT) Kan Khajura Tesan was launched by UL in 2014 and it is
India’s first free and on-demand entertainment mobile radio station for the company for the past 3
years. KKT works by asking customers to give a missed call to a specific number (18003000123) and
they then received a call back within 15 minutes. The call back would feed the callers with free radio
offering music, news, jokes and the latest from Bollywood. More importantly for HUL, the 15 mins
capsule of entertainment was interspersed with radio adverts of HUL’s mass consumer brands such
as Lifebuoy, Ponds and Close Up. Thus, this medium offered a dedicated medium to HUL to talk about
its brands to its customers and it could circumvent the hurdle posed by low penetration of
conventional media.

Outcome:
The KKT was an instant hit amongst the rural masses of Bihar reaching about 8 million people in the
first 6 months of its launch. By August 2014, the channel was expanded to other states, such as UP,
Uttrakhand, MP, Orissa, etc. With over 1.85 crore subscribers, it is one of the fastest growing media
channels in India and claims to be adding 40000-50000 new subscribers every day. All the missed
calls emanating from this mobile station gives HUL huge bunch of data. Through this data, HUL has
access to other useful information such as the frequency and time of the day when the calls come,
the repeat callers, and perhaps most importantly, the exact point during the capsule at which the
caller decides to hang up. With their brand adverts embedded in the capsule, the data also shows
the number of ad impressions for a particular brand. Thus, apart from building equity with the
consumer and engaging with them, Kan Khajura Tesan potentially provides HUL with invaluable
information and insight into a unique segment that is seen by FMCG companies as the consumer base
of tomorrow.

Learnings:
High penetration of mobile phones has made the device a very interesting media to reach out to the
customers. Given the fact that customers are also willing to spend significantly on downloads for
entertainment and infotainment purpose, companies should look to tweak their brand
communication keeping the mobile users in mind. Content on this media is of utmost important since
 the window of reaching out to the customer is limited. While content ideally needs to be customized
to incorporate the regional flavour, Bollywood is one common theme which cuts across customers
of almost all ethnicity. Hence, KKT tied up with Bollywood movie launch campaigns to increase its
penetration amongst the customers. This media can also be used for PR activity to galvanize
customers on common social evils. For example, KKT made an appeal to pledge against corruption
by giving a missed call on its toll-free number 1800-30-000-123. Since corruption was a social evil
which struck a chord with every Indian, KKT received over 72 Lakh missed calls from over 32 Lakh
Indians, pledging against corruption between 13th August 2014 and 17th August; which was a World
Record of Maximum Number of Missed Calls in 120 hours.

2. Narendra Modi’s 2014 election campaign:

Narendra Modi’s campaign team has used some very innovative and timely decisions that has
helped give high visibility and add potent muscle to the election campaign. Here are some of the
strategies that have worked.

1. Understanding Consumer Insights: We always say that marketing has to be based on consumer
insights. Recently, you must have seen advertisements of Fogg deodorants where they
differentiate themselves from competition saying that we are ‘All deodorant. No gas” vis-a-vis its
competitors. This is something they learned through consumer research. Similarly, the campaign
managers of the BJP conducted consumer research. They found that the brand value of Narendra
Modi is much higher than that of the BJP. Therefore, they took the decision to project Narendra
Modi instead of projecting BJP or the NDA in all their campaigns.

Right now, after the victory, it all seems obvious. But 6 months back, when Narendra Modi was
anointed the prime ministerial candidate, it was not that obvious. In fact, it was controversial.
Even some of the senior leaders from the BJP were against the decision. The fact that they went
ahead with their decision is a masterstroke. The campaign managers realized that Brand Modi is
more powerful than brand BJP.

2. Getting the Best Minds on Board: Second, they hired the best-known names in Indian
advertising. Sam Balsara, Prasoon Joshi, Piyush Pandey. These people have a wealth of
experience behind them. They have run successful campaigns with hundreds of brands in their
lives. They took sentimentality out of the picture and looked at this as business. They decided
that their client was the BJP. If BJP was any other brand, how would they sell? Having these
experienced senior people like the trio certainly helped.
3. Catchy Slogan: There are slogans in marketing. Nike has ‘Just do it’. Similarly, BJP decided to have
a catchy slogan. ‘Ab ki Bar, Modi Sarkar’. It was extremely catchy. It was easy on the tongue.
Everybody could say it. Even the non-Hindi speakers could understand what it stood for and they
could easily articulate it. So, it resonated with everybody.

4. Integrated communications campaign: This involves the use of multiple methods of media but the
message you send out should be a unified one. This was done brilliants by the BJP and their
campaign managers. The message was Brand Modi and what he stood for. They ran TV ads, print
ads, radio ads, they used YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. They targeted different audiences and
segments. They used TV to reach the average man. They used Internet to reach out to the
youngsters who are online most of the time. They reached rural people through road shows and
rallies. Narendra Modi himself addressed hundreds of rallied throughout the country and he also
has a great ability to communicate. Just like Bill Clinton. He had an innate tendency to connect
with the audience. I see the same thing with Narendra Modi.

5. Word of Mouth: There was a clear perception that Modi was a doer. He could get things done.
There was a widespread perception that that there was a policy paralysis with the previous
 government. Modi and his team took advantage and leveraged his image as a doer. Even things
like word of mouth and viral hits like Kolaveri Di did not use any marketing. It just spread among
people. There are a lot of migrant laborers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh worked in Gujarat and
when they went back home, they spread positive word of mouth about Narendra Modi and his
team.

6. Database Marketing. Particularly in important states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, what the
campaign managers did was collect huge database and they worked on reaching out directly to
the people. It also greatly helped that the opposition ran a very lacklustre campaign run by the
opposition party. All these factors mentioned above resulted in a landslide victory. While
advertising and marketing alone did not help, but in my view, they were major contributors.

3. Amul:

Introduction
Amul represents a fantastic success story before us and it shows, cooperatives can be an integral
part of economic growth in developing nations. It has been established from the case of Amul that
government can be an important catalyst, policymaker and moreover a support institution but
should not be a market player in itself. In every cooperative segment government interference
should not be as it hampers the institution building and obviously decision-making process also. Daily
milk sale is an essential part of India’s farmer’s income having cows/ buffaloes. Before Amul, entire
process starting from collection of the milk up-to selling it and collecting payments was infected with
inefficiency and unfairness. Role of middlemen was so strong that farmers had to sell their milk on
their prices. In these conditions, farmers were so much exploited and on the other hand, there was
no alternative option rather than forming farmer’s own cooperative. Amul has organized over 10,000
village cooperatives, designed and implemented multiple interventions along the value chain.
Together these cooperatives bring thousands of litres of milk to market daily, which makes them the
leading player in the Indian milk industry.

Evolution of Cooperative
AMUL was formed in 1946 and this brand name has been managed by Gujarat Co-operative Milk
Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) which is jointly owned by 2.6 million milk producers in Gujarat.
GCMMF is India’s largest food products marketing organization. It is a state level apex body of milk
cooperatives in Gujarat which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve
the interest of consumer by providing quality products which are good value for money. White
Revolution of India was a historic success because AMUL business concept was part of it. Every day,
AMUL collects 447,000 litres of milk from 2.12 million farmers (many illiterate), converts the milk into
branded, packaged products, and delivers goods worth Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) to over 500,000
retail outlets across the country. Today, AMUL is a world player because of its high quality products,
vast co-operative network, indigenous technology, marketing strategy & member farmer’s belief.
Amul has transformed the process for millions of small farmers by using an automatic, computerized
collection system which reduces the time for weighing, quality testing and payment processing from
a few hours with payment days later, to five minutes and immediate payment. Each day, milk is
collected no more than 10 miles from the farmer, with this nationwide, decentralized, collection
process. Amul developed a computerized quality testing machine, which makes the process
transparent and fair to the farmer, and buys exclusively from women—a decision which has
increased the status of the women, while developing a positive brand image for India's largest food
products business. AMUL is a name widely recognised and respected, not just in cities and towns,
but in villages as well. AMUL is a company that strongly pushes itself as an Indian company. For its
own sake it works well because it relies extremely heavily on domestic sales. One reason that AMUL
is the giant it is because as said earlier it’s built on the back of a co-operative movement. It
encourages women and farmers to collect milk from their cows and pass it on to them for a price.
That way it has been able to morally empower them. The flipside of the same movement has been a
very strong source as the starting point to AMUL’s supply chain. By managing milk supplies from the
cattle farmer and sending it straight to the factory, it’s been able to eliminate the middleman. This
gives AMUL an edge over its competitors. They used this strong supply chain for maximising their
market share and also, started making such consumer products that have traditional market. They
always anticipated the right type of product at the right time. Most of these products remain to be
products derived from milk like butter, cheese, packaged milk beverages, chocolates; etc.

Brand building of Amul

Advertising of AMUL has been excellent till today as they know the pulse of a common Indian as well
as modern youth. Certainly, it has helped that those responsible for keeping the AMUL name in the
public eye have used considerable imagination. ‘The taste of India’ campaign has proved to be a trend
setter. In today’s world the brand name serves in as a contract towards a common consumer. It is
the assurance to the buyer that her specifications will be met. It is the seller’s assurance that quality
is being provided at a fair price. You have to renew constantly your brand to use it as a contract.
When the brand fails to meet the customer’s expectations then the contract loses its value or we can
say that faith of consumer dips. AMUL has constantly reviewed its marketing and branding strategy
that it’s contract with consumers never dishonoured. It is also a fact that when AMUL first thought
of exporting to West Asia and even to the United States, it was because of the loyalty of AMUL
customers who, even when far from home, still craved our ‘taste of India’. Survival of the brand
depends upon its quality and if it does not equal or exceed what the buyer expects the sell drops.
Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the “core benefits” – the things consumers
expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. While selling food product, the brand must
always represent the highest hygienic & bacteriological standards. Taste is topmost characteristic
and it should be just delicious. A customer will be always satisfied a lot if he gets what he pays for.
AMUL has always cared for common consumer and supplies far better-quality product than others.
The price tag of AMUL products have always focused to increase its market share and certainly not
at the cost of exploiting the consumers. Even when adverse conditions have reduced supplies of
products like butter, AMUL have resisted the common practice of raising prices, charging what the
market would bear. Availability is another important criterion for increasing the sale. If company
spends a lot to create a positive brand image but the distribution network is unable to supply the
customer who wants to buy it, then the whole campaign can fail like anything. Over the years, AMUL
have built what is probably the nation’s finest distribution network. It reaches hundreds of cities and
towns through a cold chain that not only ensures that products are available, but they reach the
customer at the farthest end of the country with the same quality. AMUL used not only TV campaigns
but also road and poster campaigns. That’s why it has very deep reach in rural / urban areas of the
country. Occasionally, companies can commit some mistakes – or, its customer may think they have
made a mistake. But progressive marketing strategy always says that customer is always right. AMUL
have very efficient complaint redressal system. They always listen to customer complaint and correct
it as it can be. For more than fifty years, AMUL has served its consumer with higher degree oof
commitment. Established as a super brand of India, AMUL means quality, value for money,
availability and service.

Amul range of Products

AMUL defending its turf has changed retail environment, striked out on its own, with AMUL Outlets
or parlours to deliver consumers total brand experience. Launched in 2002, there are now 400 AMUL
parlours across the country, which contributed 3% to the brand’s total turnover last year. AMUL
parlours are today present on campuses of Infosys, Wipro, IIM-A, IIT-B, Temples, Metro rail and
railway stations in Gujarat. AMUL is the largest milk brand in Asia, marketing more than 30 different
brands of dairy products like cheese, ice-cream, condensed milk, ready-to-eat pizza, beverages etc.
AMUL Kool and Kool Café are doing well. AMUL has done well defending itself against names like
Mahananda, Vijay, Milma and other co-operative milk brands and also against FMCG and F&B brands
like Britannia, Nestle and Mother Dairy. AMUL has largest chunk of market share of more than 86 % .
 AMUL has introduced a number of diverse range of varied products like cooking butter, low fat
butter etc along its main product. Hence covering all the segments in which a competitor can enter,
thus creating strong barriers and in turn playing offence to defend its market position AMUL ice
creams has 24.75 % market share in caparison to Mother Dairy share of 8.66% & the market leader
HUL- kwality walls share of 28.22%. AMUL is constantly engaged in deriving its counter strategy to
grow its market share. AMUL has offered Pro-biotic Ice-creams for health-conscious individuals. This
can be a promising product to keep family healthy and strong. The product was launched with this
in view. AMUL chocolate market share is merely 10 % compared with 70 %share of the market leader,
Cadbury. AMUL is reworking its strategy in the chocolate category to push its chocolate product
sales. AMUL's strategy is to identify the market gaps and fill them suitably.

Conclusion
Three key practices are there behind the success of AMUL. The first, that Amul has developed a
strong brand and implemented its marketing strategy towards strengthening it constantly. The
second that AMUL presented traditionally accepted milk products with a brand value as well as
targeted sustained growth for the long term depending upon matching supply and demand. Third,
that Amul never compromised on professional grounds and separated decision making and
management into two folds. Member Farmers were always involved in decision making and
controlling the giant and on the other hand, professional managers and technocrats were appointed
to run the management.

4. Mentos – Dimaag ki batti jala de

About Mentos
At the time Mentos was launched in India, there were not many good mints around with the sole
exception of Polo, which was not doing too badly. Mentos is a soft chewy mint produced by the
Dutch Confectionery Company – Van Melle, but Van Melle was taken over by the Italian giant Perfetti.
Even before the take-over, Van Melle had an aggressive campaign pushing its pet product Mentos in
Holland. Mentos was almost like a sacred cow in a continent known for its mint consumption. One
must understand that India is not a land of mint munchers, Indians are more noted for their pan
chewing be it the betel leaves, or the infamous gutkaa. In this context, creating a brand image of a
mundane mint was all the more difficult. Perfetti Van Melle needed an aggressive strategy to build a
brand name that the country’s youth could easily identify it with. The fact that they chose the age
group of 18 to 34 years clearly proves that.

Strategy
The policy makers at Perfetti were wise enough to grasp the point that there’s only so much one can
harp on the qualities of a mint and that’s not going to build a brand name. Having understood that,
they embarked upon a theme that described very little about the product itself but simulated
situations in which the Mentos consumer was shown to be having greater presence of mind and that
was indirectly attributed to consuming Mentos mints. Most ads in this category generally talked
about fresh breath or the more tongue in cheek suggestion that mints help a guy attract a girl. That’s
where the Mentos ad deviated from the other ads in this category. “Mentos doesn’t talk about the
functional benefit at all – it works on a psychological level, where people associate the brand with
the imagery of ‘smartness’.” Perfetti India’s association with the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, the
people behind the ‘Center Fresh’, ‘Center Shock’, ‘Alpenliebe’ commercials, is perhaps the best thing
that happened to both. O & M’s expertise has helped Perfetti develop a brand name in mints which
many were sceptical about. They conceptualised a theme, which didn’t need the product to be
shown, but delivered a strong message about the product.

Commercial
The commercial opens showing a college boy who is late for the class running and at same time trying
to tuck his shirt in. The class is already in progress and the lecturer is busy scribbling something on
the board. As the boy enters the class he attracts the attention of the rather stern lecturer who
 consults his watch and hollers at him “‘Ab aa rahe ho’? Get out! (Is this the time to come to class? Get
out!)” The boy leaves the class while his classmates look on sympathetically. You have a male
voiceover uttering: “‘Yeh hain aam zindagi’ (This is ordinary life.)” The ad then switches to the next
scene where the same boy is again shown scampering to the class, obviously late again. Here is the
crux of the whole commercial. The boy instead of entering as usual decides to make a smart move.
The lecturer is once again shown busy writing something on the board. The boy taking advantage of
the situation starts walking backwards towards his seat. When the lecturer turns around the boy is
halfway through the hall but appears to the lecturer as though he is about to sneak out under his
very nose. Irritated, the lecturer barks, “‘Kahaan ja rahe ho’? Sit down! (Where do you think you’re
going? Sit down!)” Mission accomplished, the ‘smart’ boy casually takes his seat, while a girl sitting
next to him smiles, admiringly. The voiceover makes a telling statement, “‘Yeh hain Mentos zindagi’.
(This is the Mentos life.)” The boy acknowledges the girl’s appreciation by placing an empty wrapper
of Mentos on the desk, with the voiceover giving the final message: “Mentos… ‘Dimaag ki batti jala
de’. (Mentos… Makes one think fresh.)”

Expert Opinion
If you care to observe, nowhere the consumption of Mentos is shown, yet the ad sends a strong
message across about the product. The Group Creative Director is Abhijit Avasthi of O & M and the
brain behind the concept. Execution was done by Rajesh Krishnan of ad filmmaker, Footcandles. It is
interesting to note what Krishnan has to say, “I found the Mentos script so interesting, all it required
was simple execution. The only thing that mattered was that the idea, that is the clever joke, should
come through at the end of it. When other ads shout so much, we kept the execution simple. We
thought of taking a different approach in the belief that ‘Silence speaks louder than words’.'' This
particular ad has been so successful that it has been decided to dub in various languages and shown
across Asia and other European countries. That's a feather in the cap of Perfetti India. There have
been other ads of Mentos recently, but this particular one takes the cake because it features a young
college student, which many of the country’s youth identify with. Mentos maybe a breath freshener,
but the message the brand image conveys is ‘think fresh’.

5. Fevicol
6. Pepperfry
7. Ogilvy and Mather India
8. Forsman and Bodenfors
9. Ceat Tyres
10. Marlboro (Phillip Morris)

 Company Analysis

1. AB in Bev (2008): Interbrew (Belgium), AmBev (Brazil) and Anheuser-Busch (United States)

Site: http://www.ab-inbev.com/
Brands: Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Fosters, Beck’s and Leffe
Annual Report: http://www.ab-inbev.com/content/dam/universaltemplate/ab-
inbev/investors/reports-and-filings/annual-and-hy-
reports/2017/03/AB%20InBev%20Annual%20Report%202016%20-%20Financial%20report.pdf
Global Annual Sales: 55 Billion USD (2017)
India Annual Sales:
Global Market Share: 28%
India Market Share: 27%
Number of brands: 400 (including SABMiller brands)
Competitors: Miller Coors, Heineken International, Carlsberg Group, Tuborg brewing company
Listed: Leuven, Belgium
Recently merged with SABMiller

AB-in-Bev is a Belgian - Brazilian beverage and brewing company with global headquarters
in Leuven, Belgium. Additional main offices are located in New York City, São Paulo, St.
Louis, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Toronto, Buenos Aires and others. The company was
enlarged in October 2016 when AB InBev purchased SABMiller and concluded a merger of the two
entities. It was the world's largest brewer even before the acquisition of SABMiller and is considered
one of the largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in the world. The estimated
annual sales for the company in 2017 will be US$55 billion; prior to the merger, AB In Bev had realized
US$45.5 billion in revenue in 2016. The company is expected to have an estimated global market
share of 28 percent, according to Euromonitor International. The company has recently announced
a commitment to secure 100% of its purchased electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

Corona: Mexican beer brand (pale lager) manufactured by Grupo Modelo and AB-inBev.
Budweiser: American style pale lager is the highest selling beer brand within the United States
Hoegaarden (wheat beer): from Hoegaarden, Belgium
Foster’s: Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed brand of lager with its origin in Australia. It is
owned by the international brewing group AB InBev, and is brewed under licence in a number of
countries, including its biggest market, the UK, where the European rights to the brand are owned
by Heineken International.

Parts of Beer:
1. Barley: The Body and Soul; Malted Barley is one in which the starch has been converted into sugar
2. Water: The integrity or purity of beer
3. Hops: The spice of beer; Conical spices that give the beer a bitter taste and contribute to its aroma
and foam stability, of two types: Bitter hops or aroma hops
4. Yeast: Ale Yeast or Lager Yeast: The fermenter and flavour
5. Adjunct grains, sugar, spices: The enhancers
Advertisements:
1. Best buds: 2014 super bowl & Lost Dog: 2015 super bowl:
The target audience for Budweiser is the proud American who believes that the country’s
greatness lies in its sportsman spirit, humility, hard-work and patriotism.
 This is evident from the colours of Budweiser and the kind of events it advertises in, like
the superbowl and sponsors the Budweiser clydesdale.
 The brand is the one true homage to the American spirit. Countryside, horses and cowboy
hats give the brand a very typical American feel.
 The campaign serves the TG well because it is essentially a kind of brand that a young
group of friends would like to wash down their throat over the dinner table. The union
between the horse and the dog displays that Budweiser gets not only a dog and a human
together, but also a dog and a horse, which is the basically the punchline of the brand.

Diversity, Inclusion, Shared Dream, Improving Community, Initiatives: LAGER, Veterans at Ab in

Bev, Equal Pay

Why ABin Bev?

 1. Benefits of working for a global market leader with footprints across the world map
 More visibility in terms of the end product of my work
 Better systems for my personal growth: for example, the GMBA program that has been
charted out for us
2. Working in the Alcoholic beverages industry means working in a very regulated space. These
hindrances are an opportunity for me to differentiate myself from my competitors by developing
a specialised skill set not easy to find in the market.
3. Cultural fit: From what I make out of the company, it believes in 2 key principles
 Diversity and Inclusion
 Being a responsible company and working towards a shared goal
I fully subscribe to both the core values of the company
 I am an economics and statistics graduate who hails from a Chinese family having lived in
states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and worked in Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
 I have worked on ground in the skill development landscape for a national organisation
such as the NSDC. I totally concur with the initiatives taken by AB in Bev in terms LGBT
movement, breaking the glass ceiling and equal pay. AB in Bev is a good company to work
with.
Why you?
1. Culture fit: Because I believe that I am the perfect personification of your company’s values of
responsible and collective growth; communitarian perspective
Example: Work Experience, Volunteering work
2. Ownership and Honesty: Because I am sort of a person who will accept if I do not know
something, but if you ask me again I will be prepared with an opinion.
Example: Constant increase in marks during my schooling years
3. 100 % Focus: Whatever few things I have done in my life, be it sports, academics or work, I have
done it with undivided attention and everything else has taken the backseat then.
4. I might not bring a lot of technical skills on to the table just yet relative to my peers, but I do bring
three things
 A clean slate; no kind-of unlearning is required so as to learn GCPL’s way of doing business
 A high propensity to grasp things at a quick rate
 Lots of energy 😊

2. Reckitt Benckiser: Reckitt and Colman PLC (UK) and Benckiser NV (Netherlands) (1999 merger)

Site: https://www.rb.com/about-us/
Brands: Dettol, Strepsils, Air Wick, Durex, Harpic, Clearasil, Vanish
Annual Report: https://www.rb.com/media/1447/annual-report-and-accounts-2005.pdf
Global Annual Sales: 9.89 Billion USD (2016)
India Annual Sales:
Global Market Share:
India Market Share:
Number of Brands: 20
 Competitors: GSK, Bayer, SANOFI, Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Anheuser Busch, Nestle, L’Oreal
Listed: London Stock Exchange
Johann Benckiser founded a business in Pforzheim, Germany in 1823. Its main products were
industrial and consumer goods industrial chemicals. Ludwig Reimann, a chemist, joined the business
in 1828 and married Benckiser's daughter. Benckiser died in 1851 and the business came under
Reimann's ownership. Reimann opened a new chemical plant and, in 1858, moved it
to Ludwigshafen. Under Reimann's descendants the business grew rapidly in the latter half of the
20th century: it acquired Coty, Inc., a North American beauty products manufacturer, in
1992. Benckiser's other products included Vanish and Cillit Bang. It went public in 1997.

Reckitt and Sons started in 1840 when Isaac Reckitt rented a starch mill in Hull, England. He
diversified into other household products and after his death in 1862, the business passed to his three
sons. In 1886, Reckitt opened its first overseas business in Australia. The firm was first listed on
the London Stock Exchange in 1888. Harpic Lavatory Cleaners was acquired in 1932, and that same
year, Dettol was launched.

Image and Positioning of Reckitt Benckiser:

Ad Campaigns:
 Durex, Turn Off to turn On campaign: Target Group: Mature audience, professional couples
trying to rediscover their personal intimacy in light of hectic professional responsibilities,
symbolized by the smart phone; The message it tries to convey; how does RB and Durex come
across as
 Air Wick, Home is in the Air: Mature audience, for the diaspora longing to plug back to their
roots, their home. A father in the midst of war; use of science and technology. Air Wick tells
you the importance of your home, change lives by connecting to your children.
 Do the Rex campaign, Durex India: Target Group, Colours, Brand Ambassador, Jingle lyrics,
tune and language

3. Godrej Consumer Products Limited

Product Portfolio: Goodnight (Fast Card, Power Shots, Fabric Roll On), Protekt hand sanitizer and
hand washer, Cinthol (Soap, Deostick), Cinthol Women – Alive is Awesome, Godrej No. 1 (Nikhar:
Soap for women, Germ Protection), HIT (Gel Stick, ), BBlunt – Lab meets Fab, Godrej Expert
Original Powder Hair Colour – Personality ka sawaal hain, Ezee, Aer

Goal: Emerging Markets FMCG Leader; the only place where market share can be broken

Strategy:
1. 3X3 approach, Emerging Markets and Competencies (Asia, Africa and Latin America vs Home
Care, Personal Wash and Hair Care)
2. Expansion by acquisition:
 Market Country of Acquisition/ Stake Category
Operation Partnership
1. Asia Indonesia Megasari Group - Home Care
Middle East - - -
SAARC - - -
2. Africa South Africa Rapidol - Hair Colour
Nigeria Tura - Personal Care
Pan Africa Darling Group 51% Hair extensions
3. Latin America Argentina Issue Group - Hair Colour
Argentina Argencos Group - Hair Colour
Chile Cosmetica Nacional - Hair Colour
4. Europe UK Keyline Brands - Personal Care

3. Goodwill through CSR: Mangroves: Owner of Mumbai’s largest privately managed mangrove
forests, Udayachal: Education, Teach For India, associated with WWF, Anti-Malaria campaign
Core Values: TBCOBS
1. Trust: Connect to Locks
2. Be Bold: Innovation and Expansion in to emerging markets
3. Create Delight
4. Own it: 100/0 principle
5. Be Humble: Roots
6. Show Respect: Roots

Positioning and Image of the Company:

1. 120-year young group: Rightly captures the value-matrix of trust and energy the company
transmits to its products, customers and employees; although been built on the strong and
trustworthy ‘lock’ foundations, the company now aspires to provide an accessible array of
products to the emerging youth segment (Gen Y and Millennials)
Proof: Colours of Godrej, History Timeline: Rooted company, strong emphasis on values

2. Antevasin; It’s different: Antevasin in Sanskrit means ‘One who lives at the border’; GCPL aspires
to look beyond competition and status quo by creating dynamic and participatory models for
innovation; for example: its head office, situated in Vikhroli, away from most of the FMCG
headquarters like ITC: Kolkata, HUL, PnG  right at the hub

3. One of the PoDs for GCPL has been the way it has come out of the Lala companies image, through
its focus on youth in its products, type of consumers it wants to serve and communications
campaign

Product positioning
Cinthol: young, energizing and for the youth segment; the language is English or sometimes Hinglish
which means the product is trying to communicate modernism to its consumers; lot of energy in the
advertisement, people dancing, and bold dressing: women are wearing bikinis and bare bodies
Goodnight: ready to access, convenient and for the busy corporate youth who has minimum time to
spend on house chores; dependable products that focus on quality and ease of use; safety from
insects and adds a motherly feeling to the product by being corporately responsible
HIT: ready to access, convenient and for the busy corporate youth who has minimum time to spend
on house chores; dependable products that focus on quality and ease of use; safety from insects and
adds a touching feel to the product by being corporately responsible
BBlunt: Lab meets Fab For the urban, bold, experimental, upper-middle class, sophisticated office-
dwelling woman who does not have a lot of time to spend on personal care, but values it equally
 because it gives her the confidence to succeed at work, relationships and life in general; really chick:
Talks about topics that young and confident women talk about; evidence: quickies, work life balance
and sex life communicated English and the dressing sense is smart and snazzy
Ezee; ragdo mat, take it easy: Liquid detergent that takes it easy on your clothes without taking it
easy on the dirt, directly comparable to something like Tide ki safedi campaign which is more of a
hard-hitting advertisement; Usage of colours that are light and sober which gives the product a
warm, cozy and fresh feeling: something that newly washed clothes give you; sumo wrestlers in
campaign

Why GCPL?
1. It provides me with the best launchpad to launch my career:
 3X3 expansion strategy, GCPL is expanding its operations and expanding fast through
acquisitions  growth stage of life cycle  120 year young organisation  more
opportunities to lead from the front
2. I believe I pass the test of cultural fitness for GCPL with flying colours:
 Antevasin: One who resides at the Border  Mrs. Nisaba Godrej; move beyond competition
and towards excellence; still humility is deeply rooted in everything that Godrej does
 Vikhroli Example
 The value matrix which is so integral to the goodness of GCPL; the most that resonates with
me is ownership for what I have done; completely agree to the 100/0 principle at Godrej.
3. The kind of initiatives the company has taken towards making a responsible impact on lives:
 My work experience in the skill development sector
 Sustaining the Mangrove forests in Mumbai
 Participation in TFI
 1 Rupee for Malaria campaign
4. Godrej India Cultural Lab

Why me?
5. Culture fit: Because I believe that I am the perfect personification of your company’s values of
responsible growth through constant innovation
Example: Work Experience, Volunteering work
6. Ownership and Honesty: Because I am sort of a person who will accept if I do not know
something, but if you ask me again I will be prepared with an opinion.
Example: Constant increase in marks during my schooling years
7. 100 % Focus: Whatever few things I have done in my life, be it sports, academics or work, I have
done it with undivided attention and everything else has taken the backseat then.
8. I might not bring a lot of technical skills on to the table just yet relative to my peers, but I do bring
three things
 A clean slate; no kind-of unlearning is required so as to learn GCPL’s way of doing business
 A high propensity to grasp things at a quick rate
 Lots of energy 😊
Recent News:
1. Adi Godrej receives Golden Peacock lifetime achievement award for ethical leadership
2. May, GCPL ready to launch new soap and hair colour products in order to strengthen market
share in India and Indonesia by end of year: Category penetration would be the short-term
strategy at home markets
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/gcpl-to-launch-new-products-in-soap-hair-
colour-segments/article9697546.ece
3. Nisaba Godrej elevated as the chairperson of GCPL
4. GCPL expanding its anti-malaria campaign to Madhya Pradesh
5. Sales Growth: 19% as of first quarter of 2017
4. Marico

5. ITC (Indian Tobacco Company)

Site: http://www.itcportal.com/
Brands: Wills Classic, Insignia, Kings, Sunfeast, Classmate, Wills lifestyle, Fiama, B Natural, ITC
Hotels
Annual Report: http://www.itcportal.com/about-itc/shareholder-value/annual-reports/itc-annual-
report-2017/pdf/ITC-Report-and-Accounts-2017.pdf
Annual Sales: 9.4 Billion USD (2017)
Market Share: 65% (Tobacco), 35% (FMCG)
Number of Brands: -
Competitors: HUL, Proctor & Gamble, Dabur, Nestle, BAT, Phillip Morris, Parle Agro, Britannia
Listed: BSE, NSE and CSE

Strategy: Strong focus on product mix

1. Product Width: ITC strives to develop network externalities (in terms of competencies in sales
and distribution network, capital expenditure or intellectual capital) through a diverse set of
businesses, reaping the benefits of diversification and economies of scale.
2. Product Depth: Serving customers across income levels and other such differentiators, ITC strives
to create products that are potential market leaders in each industry and sub segments of that
industry, be it tobacco, hospitality business or apparel.
3. Sustainability: E-choupal Initiative, Classmate Education initiative
Competition: Leela Hotels, Taj Hotels, Oberoi, International players like Ritz Carlton and Novotel
Values:
1. Trusteeship
2. Respect Customers
3. Ownership
4. Humility
5. Nation Orientation: Perhaps the only player in the FMCG area (except Patanjali) to lay stress on
nation building through its products; which means essentially meeting standards
internationally; thereby strengthening the Indian economy and society
Products:
Hotel Industry:
1. ITC Luxury Collection: Super deluxe and premium hotels located at strategic businesses and
leisure hotspots. Ability to pay is guaranteed and price is not an issue. Mostly in state capitals,
metropolitans and national hotspots for leisure for foreign business travellers, expatriates and A-
listers/ C level executives wanting a state-of the art stay
 Strong connection with the cultural ethos of the place where the hotel is situated; for eg.
Mumbai has ITC Maratha, Delhi has ITC Maurya, Kolkata has ITC Sonar
 Located in 11 locations
Tariff: 9000-10,000 per day
2. ITC WelcomHotels (Hotels and Resorts): Offering five star facilities to smart travellers who has
the ability to pay and is still looking for value of money. Located mostly in tier 1 and tier 2 cities,
for example: Jodhpur, Vadodara, Delhi, Dwarka
Tariff: 8000-9000 per day

3. Fortune Hotels: Mid-scale to upmarket, full service business segment

Location: Major metros, mini metros, state capitals
Tariff: 6000-7000 per day

4. Welcom Heritage: brings together a chain of palaces, forts, havelis and resorts that offer a unique
experience. WelcomHeritage endeavours to preserve ancient royal homes and the historical
Indian grandeur and opulence for the future Indian generations
Tariff: 4000-5000 per day

Differentiation in terms of Accommodation:

ITC One, Towers, Eva and Executive Club

Differentiation in terms of food: Peshawari and Bukhara, Westview and Dakshin

Sunfeast: Dark Fantasy and Choco-Fills, FarmLite Digestive, Dreamcream Biscuits

BNatural: Tropicana, Minute Maid, XS  hasn’t captured the health juices market
PaperKraft: High-end customised stationery offerings in Diary, Notebooks and Pens, Emphasis
on business class for professional purposes
Classmate: Mid-level stationery offerings for students
ITC Limited or ITC is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Its diversified
business includes five segments: Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Hotels, Paperboards &
Packaging, Agri-Business & Information Technology.
Established in 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, the company was renamed
as the Indian Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and further to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. The periods in
the name were removed in September 2001 for the company to be renamed as ITC Ltd. The company
completed 100 years in 2010 and as of 2012-13, had an annual turnover of USD 8.31 billion and a market
capitalization of USD 45 billion. It employs over 25,000 people at more than 60 locations across India
and is part of Forbes 2000 list.

E-Choupal Initiative: ITC's e-Choupal initiative is designed to make the power of the Internet
available to Indian farmers. The company places computers with Internet access in rural farming
villages, serving both as a social gathering place for exchange of information (choupal means
gathering place in Hindi) and an e-commerce hub. As of July 2010, services through 6,500 e-Choupal
across 10 states reach more than 4 million farmers in about 40,000 villages. The potential of e-
Choupal is also being tested through pilot projects in healthcare, educational services, water
management and cattle health management. In 2008, this initiative was recognised in the list of
 "Innovations to make markets more inclusive for the poor" in World Development Report Sep-2008
by the World Bank.

Why ITC?
1. The Quality of Work: ITC gives me the opportunity to explore a unique offering in the FMCG
sector; to truly understand sales and marketing concepts in India with respect to Foreign Players.
I strongly believe in within-beyond approach to my career and that is something ITC has done, by
serving Indian consumers competitively and then looking outward, vis-a-vis competitors which
are more of an outside in approach
2. Cultural Fit
Why you?
1. Culture: Because I believe that I am a personification of your company’s values of responsible
growth
2. Because I am sort of a person who will accept if I do not know something, but if you ask me again
I will be prepared with an opinion.
3. Whatever few things I have done in my life, be it sports, academics or work, I have done it with
undivided attention and everything else has taken the backseat then.
4. I might not bring a lot of technical skills on to the table just yet relative to my peers, but I do bring
three things
a. A clean slate; no kind-of unlearning is required so as to learn ITC’s way of doing business
b. A high propensity to grasp things at a quick rate
c. Lots of energy 😊

6. Loreal

Luxe division (Georgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Diesel) , Consumer Products (L’Oreal Paris- upmarket
and for someone who gives adequate time to visit salons on personal care, Garnier- middle class
segment who uses personal care products as low involvement, Maybelline New York (Eyes, Face,
Lips, Nails) Active Cosmetics (Vichy Labs and La Roche Posay) and Professionals (Kerastase- Keratin
Treatment, Matrix Salon and Products, L’Oreal Professional)

Strategy: Identifying niche and untapped segments in the personal care division and striving to
become the market leader by providing scientifically proven, professional and sophisticated
offerings.

Values:
1. Scientific Treatment- A lot of emphasis on treating haircutting as a matrix between science and
art.
2. Commitment
Why L’Oreal?
1. I believe the companies’ strength lies in the amount of research and development it incurs in
order to develop world class products that are market leaders by virtue of superior quality of
 products. Relative to other players in the market, Price takes the backseat and product quality
takes the front seat. By joining L’Oreal I will get a clear visibility in terms of long-term value
creation for its customers and how to constantly innovate, since it is also a technology leader.

Why you?
1. Culture: Because I believe that I am a personification of your company’s values of dynamic and
responsible growth on a global scale
2. Because I am sort of a person who will accept if I do not know something, but if you ask me again
I will be prepared with an opinion.
3. Whatever few things I have done in my life, be it sports, academics or work, I have done it with
undivided attention and everything else has taken the backseat then.
4. I might not bring a lot of technical skills on to the table just yet relative to my peers, but I do bring
three things
a. A clean slate; no kind-of unlearning is required so as to learn ITC’s way of doing business
b. A high propensity to grasp things at a quick rate
c. Lots of energy 😊

7. American Express

8. Bennett Coleman

9. BCC

10. Gartner
 11. The Coca Cola Company

Markets: sparkling and still beverages Coconut Water, Aerated and Non-aerated beverages,
Organic Tea, Juices
Product Portfolio: Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Thums Up, Dasani, Kinley, Coke Zero Sugar, The diet
coke, Coca-cola life, Powerade, Lucozade, Kinley
Segmentation: Mass (general) marketing
Psychographic: Regular customers vs health conscious (Caffeine vs no caffeine, sugar vs no sugar,
calorie vs low calorie)
Flavours: Normal vs Vanilla vs Cherry vs Lime
Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Aspartame, Sucralose,
Ad Campaigns: Taste the feeling: Brand Reinforcement (Deepika, - Dosanjh, festivals and
relationships), Open Happiness: Brand Reinforcement (Siddharth – Alia), Drink an Ad: Coke Zero,
using technology (Shazam) to introduce a new product, Share a Coke campaign: Brand
revitalization amongst youth in Australia in order to boost sales and market share; India-Pakistan:
Small world machines; The last customer campaign: spreads happiness
Target: Gen X + Gen Y+ millennials across all income levels, cultures and geographies; takes an
active interest in immersing the millennials through the coca-cola strategy for schools (only for
secondary students); the company actively takes the ownership of responsibly introducing its
products to the budding generation.

Positioning of Coca Cola:

1. Youthful exuberance:
 Using technology to strike an emotional cord with the product’s consumers ensures long
term heart-share for the company.
2. Participatory model of development: A better world for everyone; the Coca-Cola company is a
change master in terms of environmental safety and health conservation.
Water-neutral initiative by 2015, 5X20 by 2020 (5 million women entrepreneurs), Project Last
Mile for African countries, rated 100% on Human Right’s Corporate Equality Index
3. Perfect Information of products: Bottling, ingredients (Each ingredient has been explained on
the site with regards to the safety standards and purpose of use) and the variety of choices the
company has on offer speaks volumes about the efforts its putting in this regard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/coke-zero-sugar-taste-
difference_us_597f71d7e4b00bb8ff3875d9

Future:
1. Fruit Circular Economy: Following the success story of Maaza and Minute Maid
 2. 11000 Crore breakup – 6000 crore in incremental raw material and 5000 in processing, bottling
and yield improvements
Why Coca Cola?
1. Glocal Impact:
 This company has a reputation of being truly glocal in its operations, and that is what I
want out of my career as well.
 20 years down the line I want a career which has made localised impact across the world;
in terms of improving the quality of life of the community
2. Long term interest:
 The Coca Cola leadership program at Harvard Business School
 In for the long haul
3. Participatory model of development: I see the company as an ideal destination to further my
interests, which is to carve out a niche in the heart and mind share of not just its consumers, but also
the world community at large. The kind of ways in which the company reaches out to the world,
opening its arms towards disadvantaged communities, projects such as the water neutral initiative,
5x20 and the Last mile project is something that resonates with my life goals.
Why you?
1. Culture fit: Because I believe that I am the perfect personification of your company’s values of
responsible growth through spreading happiness
Example: Work Experience, Volunteering work
2. Ownership and Honesty: Because I am sort of a person who will accept if I do not know
something, but if you ask me again I will be prepared with an opinion.
Example: Constant increase in marks during my schooling years
3. 100 % Focus: Whatever few things I have done in my life, be it sports, academics or work, I have
done it with undivided attention and everything else has taken the backseat then.
4. I might not bring a lot of technical skills on to the table just yet relative to my peers, but I do bring
three things
 A clean slate; no kind-of unlearning is required so as to learn Coca Cola’s way of doing business
 A high propensity to grasp things at a quick rate
 Lots of energy