West Bengal University of Technology

Summer Project Report

On
Brand Awareness and Promotion of ‘PEOPLE’ magazine

At

Outlook Publishing India Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata

By
Anand Kumar Pandey
WBUT Regn No: 071360709101022 of 2007 – 2009
WBUT Roll No: 071360709022

Army Institute of Management

Kolkata
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Certificate from guides

• Acknowledgement

• Executive Summary

• Chapter 1: The Company

o Industry Profile
o Company Profile
o Location Profile
o Brief Description of work

• Chapter 2: The Project

o Purpose and scope of study

o Methodology
o Chapter summary

• Chapter 3: Collection and Analysis of data

o Data Collection and Graphical Representation

o Data Analysis

• Chapter 4: Findings and Recommendations

o Conclusion
o Limitations
o Recommendations

• Bibliography

• Appendices and Annexure

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 Acknowledgement

As a Marketing students we have read a lot about marketing strategies of a company,

types of Marketing and selling processes but as a Trainee this was the first hand
experience on ground and it taught me what actually selling is and how a marketing
manager has to keep his eyes and ear open to sense market fluctuations and consumer
behavior. Whenever a product is launched there are hundred of activities to be
covered and to be continuously examined to assure successful sustenance in the
market.

First of all I would like to thank my company guide Sr. Manager Sales and
distribution Mr. Saurav Dutta for showing confidence in me, for giving me space to
decide on my own, for boosting up my knowledge and for showing me the true face of
market.

I thank our respected Director Dr. K. K. Choudhary for his encouragement and
invaluable tips that he gave us before starting the project.

I also thank Prof. Ashwini K. Pani, my internal project guide and all the faculty
members of our Institute for their invaluable direction, encouragement, support and
cooperation in carrying out this project work.
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 GUIDANCE-cum-COMPLITION CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Anand Kumar Pandey, WBUT Regn. No

071360709101022 of 2007-09, WBUT Roll No. 071360709022, has undertaken the
project titled

Brand Awareness and Promotion of People Magazine

under our guidance from 01-June-08 to 01-August-08 at Outlook Publishing India

Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata and has completed the said project successfully.

Mr. Saurav Dutta

Sr. Executive (Sales), Outlook
Organization seal Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.
(External guide’s full signature)

Mr. Ashwini K. Pani

Faculty, Army Institute of Management
(Internal guide’s full signature)
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 Executive Summary

Advertisement touches the mind, Branding gets the Heart

This project work is carried out on Brand Awareness and Promotion of People
Magazine, the new Celebrity Magazine launched by Outlook. The project was divided
into three parts first awareness creation and promotion of People. The second part was
to increase subscription selling of other outlook group magazines and Third part was
to find out the scope of People and analyze the attitude of consumers towards this
magazine.

Chapter 1 of the report consists of a general introduction to what the Print industry is
and how we have categories the magazines in the market. Later is containing an
introduction to the company Outlook with its vision, mission, lineage and different
divisions. Followed with the important publications of Outlook. Finishing the chapter
with a brief description of the work.

Chapter 2 of the report is the project profile it starts by giving the purpose and scope
of the project and the method adopted for the project.

Chapter 3 is concerned with Data collection and Data analysis with graphical
description of data collected regarding customer’s perception and acceptance about
the magazine.

Chapter 4 is containing conclusion of the project, the limitation faced by the project
and the recommendations of the Project work.
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1.1 Industry Profile
1.2 Company Profile
1.3 Location Profile
1.4 Brief Description of work
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 Introduction
1.1 Industry Profile

Magazines and Newspapers have been advertising media for more than two centuries
for many years; they were the only major media available to advertisers. With the
growth of the broadcast media, particularly television, reading habits declined. More
consumers turned to TV viewing not only as their primary source of entertainment but
also for news and information. Despite the competition from the broadcast media,
newspapers and magazines have remained important media vehicles to both
consumers and advertisers.

The print media are not intrusive like radio and TV, and they generally require some
effort on the part of the reader for the advertising message to have an impact. For this
reason, newspapers and magazines are often referred to as high-involvement media.

Over the past several decades, magazines have grown rapidly to serve the educational,
informational, and entertainment needs of a wide range of readers in both the
consumer and business markets. Magazines are most specialized of all the advertising
media. The wide variety makes magazines an appealing medium to a vast number of
advertisers. Although TV accounts for the largest Dollar amount of the advertising
expenditures among national advertisers, more companies advertise in magazines than
in any other medium. Users of magazines range from large consumer-product
companies such as Procter & Gamble and General Motors, which spend over$400
million a year on magazine advertising, to a small company advertising scuba
equipment in skin Diver magazine.

Classifications of Magazines
Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS), the primary reference source periodicals for
media Planners, divides magazines into three broad categories based on audience to
which they are directed.

Consumer Magazines: These are bought by the general public for information or
entertainment.
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Farm Publications: The second major SRDS category consists of all the magazines
directed to farmers and their families.

Business Publications: These are those magazines or trade journals published for
specific businesses, industries, or occupations.

1.2 Company Profile

The Outlook Group of Magazines

Our Vision: Leadership through empowering individual thought.

Our Mission: To be the largest Magazine publisher in India.

To be the most profitable magazine publisher in India.

Our Lineage: Part of Rajan Raheja Group. A large diversified group.

Employee strength of 3000 Leaders in most business endeavors.

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 The Outlook Umbrella

Internet division
Magazine division Events division Books division

Outlook English
Outlook Hindi
Outlook Money
Outlook Traveller Outlookindia.com
Outlook Business Outlookmoney.com Outlook Money
Marie Claire Outlooktraveller.com Personal fin. Show OLT getaways
People OLM awards - Delhi
Organize Fashion - Bombay
Events - Bangalore
OOO - Hills
Outlook Classis
The Layman’s
Guide to
Insurance &

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OUTLOOK’S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:-

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 OUTLOOK STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Vinod Mehta

President & Publisher: Maheshwer Peri

Executive Editor: Bishwadeep Moitra
Business Editor: Alam Srinivas
Features Editor: Nandini Mehta
Foreign Editor: Ajaz Ashraf
Senior Editors: Ajith Pillai, Sunil Menon, Anjali Puri
Political Editor: Smita Gupta
Bureau Chiefs: Saba Naqvi Bhaumik (Delhi) Smruti Koppikar (Mumbai)
Books Editor: Sheela Reddy
Deputy Foreign Editor: Seema Sirohi
Assistant Editors: Satish Padmanabhan, Namrata Joshi, Manisha Saroop

www.outlookindia.com
Executive Editor: Sundeep Dougal
Software Engineers: Anwar Ahmad Khan, Manav Mishra
Web Designer: Praveen Uprety

Senior Special Correspondents:

Arindam Mukherjee, Lola Nayar, G. Rajaraman, Anuradha Raman, Bhavna vij-Aurora

Special Correspondents:
Saikat Datta

Correspondent:
Shruti Ravindran, Raghu Karnad, Debarshi Dasgupta
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Mumbai: Payal Kapadia, Shuchi Srivastava, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

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Bangalore: Sugata Srinivasaraju

Chandigarh: Chander Suta Dogra
Bhopal: K.S. Shaini
Hyderabad: Madhavi Tata
Kolkata: Jaideep Mazumdar

Editorial Manager: Sasidharan Kollery

Library: Alka Gupta

Business Office:

VICE PRECIDENTS: Suresh Selvaraj, Indranil Roy

Assistant Vice President: Alok Mathur

General Managers:
Anup Dwivedi (Production & Systems), Vidya Menon (Advertising)

Deputy General Manager: Gaurav Vashisht

National Heads:
Himanshu Pandey (Business Development), Alex Joseph (Retail), Gitanjali Singh
(Marketing)

Regional Managers:
Anand Trial, Arokia Raj, Arun Singh, Swaroop Rao, Moushumi Banerjee Ghosh,
Rakesh Mishra, Uma Srinivasan, Yogesh Mohan

Senior Managers: B.S. Johar, Kabir Khattar, Mohit Sharma, Runa Sinha

Managers:
Anita Sutrave, Anjeet Trivedi, Basab Ghosh, Chetan Budhiraja, D.R. Wadhwa, Darryl
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Arahna, Mukesh Lakhanpal, Pankaj Sahni, P.S. Rawat

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Associate Managers:
A.G. Subramaniam, Bobby Mathews, Chetana Shetty, K. Srikkanth, Sanjay Narang,
Shashank Dixit, Shekhar Pandey, Vinod Joshi.

OFFICIAL ADDRESSES

Head Office
AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
Tel: 26191421; Fax: 26191420
E-mail: outlook at the rate outlookindia dot com

For editorial queries: edit at the rate outlookindia dot com

For subscription helpline: yourhelpline at the rate outlookindia dot com
For other queries: queries at the rate outlookindia dot com

OTHER OFFICES

Mumbai Tel: 3061 2222

Kolkata Tel: (033) 40085011 to 5015; Fax:22823593

Chennai Tel: 2466 1134, 2466 2316; Telefax: 24662873

Bangalore Tel: 2558 2806/07; Fax: 25582810
Hyderabad Tel: 2337 5776; Telefax: 23375676

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The Important Publications of Outlook Group:

OUTLOOK ENGLISH:
Launched in 1995
Frequency: Weekly (forced the market leader to change periodicity)
Circulation: 2, 56, 454 (ABC JJ 03)
Readership: 1.6 million (NRS 2002)
Price: Rs.15/- (forced the market leader to follow our pricing strategy)
Attracts highest advertising amongst news/current affair magazines.
Forced ITE to try new things
Friday release; they are missing out on the news day FRIDAY.

OUTLOOK MONEY
Initially launched as Intelligent Investor in 1998.
India’s first and largest selling personal finance magazine.
Circulation - 102,556 (ABC JD 01)
Created a niche, where none existed in the country
Brand promise.
We are about creating wealth and hope.
To help readers with information on how to “Invest well”, “Borrow wisely”, &
“Spend smartly”.
Jargon free language makes it a magazine for the common person.

OUTLOOK TRAVELLER
Launched in 2001
Periodicity: monthly
Priced at Rs.50/-
Circulation - 55,000
The first significant travel magazine aimed at the Indian Traveller.
Premium pricing helped to reach out to a focused audience, who seek high quality
content.
Commercial viability with low dependence on advertising

OUTLOOK HINDI
Launched in October 2002.
Invitation pricing: Rs.10/-
14

Print order: 1, 50,000.

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Target audience: evolved Hindi reader.

Product to mirror the Changing life style.
Strong parallel editorial, which is empathetic to the target audience and it would not
be a translated version of OUTLOOK (English)

OUTLOOK BUSINESS
Launched in April 2006.
Periodicity: Fortnight
Invitation price: Rs. 15/-
Target audience: Management executives, Businessmen, people related to corporate.
Product having the mix of Business and Investment Research.

MARIE CLAIRE
Launched in June 2006
France based Magazine.
Published in 25 countries, 13 languages across 5 continents and reaches 16 million
Readers per month
Periodicity: monthly
Invitation price: Rs. 75/-
Target audience: sec A+, Thinking class.
Product to give women new arsenal to live in the changing times.

1.3 Location Profile

Since it was a newly launched magazine it was very important to check out the
location profile to get a rough estimate of the preferable class and scope of magazine
in the market.

Sex ratio: Out of total population of thirteen crore eleven lakh four thousand seven
hundred, 48% are females. It means the sex ratio is not very high.

Literacy Rate: Since it is a magazine the literacy rate also plays an important role
hence women constitutes of 46% of total forty seven lakhs sixty nine thousand, five
hundred ninety one.

Socio-economic class distribution: Out of a sample of 1628, class A+ contained 9.3%

and classes A contained 7% of the population. 14%-15% of the population lies in A-
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class.
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Female Occupation: since the reader of this magazine is bold and independent it is
worth considering the workingwomen population, which is 16% of women
population.

Values and Attitudes:

Sec A Sec A+
Seeking quality Seeking luxury and outgoing
Disturbed by vulgarity & western influence. Fashion Conscious, bolder and
Liberated.
Media Reach:

English Magazine 16.4%

Women magazine 1%
Hence, putting all these together it leaves a little place for People in Kolkata market
but the marketing strategies and correct market segmentation can make it a successful
brand.

1.4 Brief Description of work

At Outlook the work was to create awareness and promote the magazine named
“People”. It is an America based magazine, which was launched for the first time in
India, it is basically a Celebrity Magazine. We had to think and find the scopes as in,
where the entire magazine can be promoted. Was supposed to visit places and try to
create space for People. Basically it was Relationship marketing through which we
can get long-term customers.

Also had to check consumer’s perception about the magazine, check the scope of it in
Kolkata’s market and get the feedback for the magazine through conducting a
questionnaire survey.

Along with this had to promote the subscription sale of other Outlook group
magazines like Outlook Business which again was a new product, Outlook Weekly,
Outlook Money, Outlook Traveller, Newsweek which is a foreign magazine whose
distributor in India is Outlook.

At the end suggestions and recommendations were to be made to increase the sale of
16

the product by finding new areas, which can be explored and new ways to reach the
target audience, and to create the image of the product on minds of consumers. One
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more important and critical task was product differentiation.

 .

2.1 Purpose and scope of study

2.2 Methodology
2.3 Chapter summary 17
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 Project Profile
2.1 Purpose and scope of study
Marketing is concerned with identifying the customers for the firm’s product’s or
services, determining what they need and want, planning and developing products and
services to meet their needs and wants.

Relationship Marketing is the practice of building long term satisfying relations with
key parties – customers, suppliers, distributors, - in order to retain there long term
preference and business. Smart marketers try to build up long term, trusting, and
“win-win” relationships with valued customers, distributors, suppliers and dealers.
They accomplish this by promising and delivering high quality, good service, and fair
prices to the other parties over time. The rapport between the marketer and the buyer
will be based on the credibility of the seller and his sensitivity and promptness in
meeting changing customer needs. Relationship marketing results in strong economic,
technical and social ties among the parties. It also cut down on transaction cost and
time. Hence, it is a strategy, which could be extremely useful to the marketer to satisfy
and retain customers.

Now a days when market forces are so dynamic one need to have set of customers on
whom he can rely upon but then to maintain the long term relationship one need to be
innovative and fast.

Objectives:
• To check the level of Brand Awareness of People,
• To promote People in Kolkata,
• Subscription Promotion of other Outlook group magazines,
• Make an analysis of consumer’s perception about the magazine.

2.2 Methodology
The whole project was broken into three parts
• Promotion of People
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• Subscription Promotion of other Outlook Group magazines

• Analysis of Consumer’s perception about People.
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2.2-1 Promotion of People-
Firstly the Target Segment was defined
Sec A+: Seeks luxury
Outgoing
Fashion Conscious
Bolder and Liberated
Takes their own Decisions
Working
Thinking Class

Then Places were decided where the magazine can be promoted

Target Places
Beauty Parlors
Fashion Design Institutes
Boutiques
Jewelry Shops
Corporate

Promotion Plan Followed

A promotion plan keeping view of all the target places was designed

1. Beauty Parlors: Big chain parlors were targeted to promote the Magazine.
Permission to keep kiosks at one corner and to hang few posters was supposed
to be taken. Subscription discounts were also offered. Parlors like Lakme,
Glamour beauty parlor, Green Trend, Anushka, Kaya skin clinic and Dreamz
were visited.

Under sales promotion plan 40% off on the cover price was offered on
subscription of one year.

2. Fashion Design Institutes: As it is a Celebrity Magazine and can be easily

related to people indulged in fashion related activities, fashion Institutes with
good scope were the next targets. Institutes like,
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(i) Fame Institute of Fashion Designing, Salt lake

(ii) National Institute of Fashion Technology, Salt lake
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(iii) Wigan and Leigh College, Alipore

 (iv) National school of Design, Camac street
(v) Pearl Academy of Fashion, Park street
(vi) Institute of Fashion Technology, Kolkata, were visited

Plan with these institutes was to prepare a presentation presenting features of the
magazine and its usefulness to them, apart from those increasing subscription sales
within the students and subscription for Institute Library and teachers.

Special subscription rates were offered and 40% off was offered on Bulk sale.
The main purpose of this exercise was to create awareness and spreading word of
mouth and hence magazine was offered to the library as complementary copy.

Boutiques: Generally boutiques send invitations, information of new stock and

other gifts to their potential customers. The plan was to visit such boutiques and
convince them to use the magazine as medium i.e., they can send the magazine
with a letter on its cover page stating the name of their shop with the message of
thanks or invitation. The monetary benefits to them was calculated and presented.
The plan was a success because bulk order of 500 magazines of June issue was
given by a newly opened boutique. It was one of the best ideas to promote and
reach the right consumer.
Discount on cover price was offered on bulk sale, discount varies from 20%
to 40% on number of copies ordered above 500.

2.2-2 Subscription Promotion of other Outlook Group magazines

Since Outlook is a known Brand in Indian market it was not a problem to tell people
what it is. To increase sale of other magazines including Outlook Business, Outlook
Weekly, Outlook Money, Outlook Traveller, Newsweek. Places like Hotels and
Corporate offices were targeted.

1 Hotels: Five star hotels with good number of Executive and suits were visited
since these hotels keep the magazines in their rooms as a service offer were
made to increase there consumption as reasonable prices were offered. The
hotels visited were

GRT Grand
Le Royal Meriden
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Radisson GRT Hotel

The Park etc.
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 Under Promotion plan special rates were offered for the entire Outlook group
Magazines. Copies were promised to be delivered directly from Outlook with
discounts of 40% to 50% off cover price of different magazines.

Corporate offices: Basically IT offices with good employee strength were visited,
permission for kiosk set up was taken Subscription Discounts and Gifts for were
offered to the employees. The company’s visited were
HCL -6 Branches covered- more than 80 subscriptions were sold
CTS – 3 Branches covered- 55 subscriptions sold
Satyam-6 Branches were to be covered- figures not known
Infosys Ltd. - 9 subscriptions sold

The promotion schemes for this group was

i. 49% cash discount on cover price.
ii. Assured free subscription gifts like Reebok shoes worth Rs.2690,
Travelling bag on the spot and lucky offer to win a hp laptop
iii. Special extra gifts.

2.2-3 Analysis of Consumer’s perception about People Magazine

Questionnaire Drafting:

Structured and planned questionnaire was drafted keeping in view of all the objectives
of survey. Questionnaire was divided into parts containing different areas of interest
like to check the impact of launch activity, strength of sales and distribution
department, response for Ads in the magazine, and consumer’s perception about the
magazine and feedback.

Data collection:

Source of Data collection:

1. Primary source: data was collected through Questionnaire by conducting personal

and telephonic interviews.

2. Secondary source: Secondary data source used for Data Collection were Media
Market Guide by RK Swamy BBDO 2007.
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Sampling: Sample size was 100 out of which 20% of sample sizes were subscribers
rest were picked up by convenience sampling. Data collected was both qualitative
and quantitative by nature.

Analysis of Data:

Data was analyzed and conclusions regarding consumer perceptions were made and
presented with the help of graphs.

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2.3 Chapter Summary
Promotion of a product is the integral part of marketing strategy and for
effective promotion; creating or building a brand is essential. The chairmen of Nirma
Ltd. Mr. Karsanbhai Patel says, ‘Brand is not merely a product, it is dynamic
phenomenon, a revolution and a philosophy’. At the market place it is the brand that
sells and not the product. Brands can be considered as sustainable competitive assets
and hence Brand building is nothing but strategic key to wealth creation. The
crowding of ‘Me Too’ consumer good brand has led to the development of branding
as the essential promotion tool for competitive differentiation.

Branding goes beyond the execution of advertising and logos, touching practically the
every area of an organization from internal employee communications and operational
facilities to dealerships, the Web, as well as the products services that are being sold.
Branding is about how one’s business motivates the consumer to make a buying
decision. And all this requires effective communication of the Brand.

The objective in Outlook for Institutional buying was to create customer relationship
that are broad and deep- broader than the traditional link between a salesmen and a
purchasing manager, and deeper than a teenager’s emotional attachment to a particular
brand of designer jeans. In relationship those emotional bonds are replaced by shared
goals and common values. Here what we expect from the customer is not the one time
transaction but a long-term relationship and commitment and so he.

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3.1 Data Collection and Graphical Representation
3.2 Data Analysis 24
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3.1 Data Collection for Product:

The data collection for product was carried for one and half week it included
Questionnaire preparation, deciding on sample to be taken and sample size. Survey
was conducted based on the questionnaire. The major points considered for data
collection were:

• 100 Persons of age group 19-35 were questioned and surveyed.

• Persons who were surveyed were housewives, students and salaried.
• Qualification of the sample class was Graduation and above
• Monthly income of households surveyed was 20,000+
• Direct as well as telephonic interviews were used as tools.

The data collected can be seen as under:

1.

Share of Respondents

21%
31%

Students
Working Ladies
House Wives

48%

• As can be seen 31% of the sample size were students of Fashion Institutes;
Degree colleges etc.
• 21% were housewives with income of household more than 20,000. And,
• 48% were working class.
• The sample was divided in these three categories because these form our target
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segment.
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2.
Class Of people Surveyed

20%

Subscribers
Others

80%

• 20% of the population surveyed were the existing subscribers of People, since
the magazine was new so it was done from the objective of avoiding any
sampling error (let’s say most of the people have not read it we will not be able
to get there response.

• Rest 80% population was chosen by convenience sampling by visiting few

households and offices as well as education and other institutes. In areas we felt
we can meet our target class.

3.
Brand Recognition

23%

Brand Recognition
Never Heard

77%
26

Out of the population surveyed it was found that 77% people recognized the brand
they have seen the pops, hoardings, Banners of the product. Rest 23% was still
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unaware of it.
4.

Is It Different from other magazine

42%
Yes
No
58%

This question was very important because there are many celebrity and fashion
magazines in the existing market, so our sustenance in market lies on how
successfully we differentiate our brand with the other brands in the market. And the
response was quiet satisfying for a product with so less market space and cluttered
with so many similar looking products and with an age of 1 and half month to
convince 58% of the surveyed people that it is different.

Features liked

45
40
35
30
25
Series1
20 40
15 26.67
10 20
5 13.33
0
27

Way of Tips and Trends Articles and Topics Adds

Presentation covered
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.
Here comes the response of readers about the magazine and in their view what makes
People different from its competitors.

• Really aspiring. They were amazed to know few facts, which they never heard
Major chunk of population believes that the articles and topics covered in the
issues are and thought of which the magazine brought in front of them. This
chunk constitutes of 40% of the population surveyed.

• Next credit goes to the way of presentation i.e. the packaging, paper quality, the
editorials, ads presented; photography etc.26.67% people think that the whole
package with the presented is recognizable.

• Rest 20% and 13% think Tips and Trends and Ads covered are good.

6.

Market share for Outlook English

Other's
7%

The Week
21%
IndiaToday IndiaToday
46%
Outlook
The Week
Other's

Outlook
26%

This graph represents the market share of outlook English; the market is being lead by
India Today with circulation coverage of 46% of the market followed by Outlook, in
words of my project guide Sr. Executive Mr.Saurav Dutta in Outlook “we do not want
28

to be the first because from they’re no way goes to upward all comes down”.
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7.

Market share-Outlook in regional magzines

IndiaToday-Hindi
33%

IndiaToday-Hindi
Outlook-Hindi
Other's
58% Other's

Outlook-Hindi
9%

This market again is lead by India Today with a share of 33% followed by 9% of
Outlook it shows that Outlook has got a lot of potential in this market to increase its
share.

8.

Market Share-Competitors of Marie Claire

Society
9%
Savvy
29%
Savvy
Stardust
Society

Stardust
62%
29

The major competitors of People in the market are

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 • Stardust targeting upper class and fashion conscious people, priced as Rs.50
It’s a monthly magazine.
• Savvy mainly targeted at upper class educated women, priced as Rs.50.
• Society it is the magazine whose target segment covers upper middle class,
upper class. It is the exact competitor in term of target segment covered 9% the
market. It is priced at Rs.50.

People-

• Target Segment
Sec A+: Seeks luxury
Outgoing
Fashion Conscious
Bolder and Liberated
Takes their own Decisions
Working
Thinking Class

Pricing: Rs.30 for Fortnightly Magazine.

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4.1 Conclusion
4.2 Limitation
4.3 Recommendation
31
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4.1 Conclusion:
Before concluding let’s see what readers have to say about the magazine after its first
issue

“I’ve spent four years reading celebrity magazines that make me feel insecure and
incomplete. Most magazines make you feel like a sex object or worthless as a women
unless you have a perfect body and large bank account. Your magazine is the first I’ve
heard that’s for smart, intelligent and beautiful women who live real lives and want to
read a real magazine. I loved your articles. Thanks for being elegance of French, the
sauciness of the Americans, and mixing it with the exuberance of us Indians to give us
a magazine that will provoke all empowered women of India to live their lives with
courage”.
Anita Sharma

“Your style pages and ads are equally lavish, and seemingly interchangeable. The ads
seem to be more in number! That said, the product has style and serve. I like the way
real people pop out from those stylized pages. Good luck and God bless!”
Sabita Bose

“People looks stunning and clean. I am sure you’ll have readers who are not
sensuously driven but are driven by life”.
Benedict Gnaniah

But this is not the end story few of the readers said that the magazine does not have
depth, it tried to put of everything but nothing in complete. But most of these
respondents were from middle and upper middle class who were, actually not targeted
by the magazine; hence one thing which is very important for the success of People is
proper product differentiation.

Differentiation is the act of designing a set of meaningful differences to distinguish

the company’s offering from competitor’s offering. As soon as one is convinced with
the product and services he is offering, he can convince the customer.

Another important thing is identifying market segment and selecting Target markets.
In target marketing, sellers distinguish the major market segments, target one or more
of these, and develop products and marketing programs and schemes tailored to each
segment. Instead of scattering their marketing effort they can focus on the buyers
whom they have the greatest chance of satisfying.
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Hence, People has been able to leave an impact, now what is left is to try to reach
potential customers, convert potential customers to preferable one’s and give them
what they want.

4.2 Limitation:
1. While carrying out the project the biggest challenge faced was to break the
mindset of People being just another Celebrity magazine. But this is not just
another Celebrity magazine. It is a moment that happens once in a lifetime or a
lifetime that could happen in a moment. And it took a lot of time to explain this
fact.

2. Another challenge faced was the westernized look of the magazine, many
people resists a westernized appearance; so changing mindset of people was
another problem.

3. Getting appointments again was time consuming.

4.3 Recommendations:
According to 2002, Research International survey on Indian women, east resists a
westernized appearance for women. But self-choice is emerging. New influences are
quite strong in some areas – anniversaries and so on, it means they are opening up.
Still there is a lot of male participation in household chores in Kolkata. People there
are quality conscious, are optimistic and accept society as it is.

People is a Bold and beautiful magazine. Elegant, open-minded and pro-choice

freedom to experience and express. It believes in Individuality, want to break taboos,
ask uncomfortable questions and answer many of them.

So are we trying to meet two ends, yes and no, thanks to globalization people are
changing and so are there thoughts since it is a magazine which does not target each
and every women, it attacks the heart which forces the mind to think it’s a thought
provoking magazine.
33

I would suggest the company to follow few steps to give People a strong recognition
in consumers mind:
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 1. Outlook can go for Events Marketing by conducting Fashion shows for women
Fashion Designers and providing a platform to the upcoming talents under the
banner of People.

2. Since it is a magazine for thinking class, it should go for social cause marketing
i.e. conduct programme like concerts, seminars and meetings for awareness.

3. Visit Fashion Institutes, Offices, and colleges to promote the magazine.

4. Open kiosks in Malls on weekends offer special gifts and subscription prices.

5. It can go for social cause marketing dealing with issues like child marriage, girl
child education, girl child discrimination etc.

6. Can form the centre of customer community such as lion club, cosmopolitan
club etc.

7. Can form a People website inviting suggestions, stories and providing platform
to ladies where they can share themselves with others.

To be an evergreen brand what a product need is to give self-statement, emotion,

perception, pride and value to the customer then whether it is Mercedes, Barbie, Mc.
Donald’s or anyone else it will rule the market.

Hence, I would recommend People to get connected to hearts of Population.

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 Bibliography

Textbooks referred

• Marketing Management, Philip Kotler, Ninth Edition

• Brand Marketing Management, M.V.Kulkarni, Everest Publishing House
• Media market Guide, 2005, Media Direction (A division of R K Swami BBDO)
• Managing Indian Brands, S. Ramesh Kumar, 2nd edition
• Naresh K. Malhotra, Marketing Research, Fourth Edition, Pearson Publication

Internet sites referred

• www.outlookindia.com
• www.stardust.com
• www.ellenow.com
• www.exchange4media.com
• www.irs.com
• www.answers.com
• www.google.com

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Page 36
 QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Name of the Respondent:

2. Age:
i) Less than 20 ii) 21 to 30 iii) Above 30
3. Occupation:
i) Salaried iii) Business
ii) Housewife iv) Student
4. Monthly Income:
i) Less than 10000 iii) 20000 to 30000
ii) 10000 to 20000 iv) 30000 & above
5. Educational Qualification:
i) Graduate ii)Post Graduate iii)Any others( please specify)
6. Do you read Fashion Magazines?
i) Yes ii) No
7. If “Yes” then which magazine do you read?
i) Stardust iv) Savvy
ii) Society v) Any other
8. Why you read Celebrity Magazines?
i) For current Fashion Trends iv) Queries
ii) Beauty & Health tips v) Time pass
iii) Informative articles
9. How you get your Magazine?
i) Through Subscriber
ii) Through Newsstand (By self/ Through Vendors)
10.Have you heard about People?
37

i) Yes ii) No
Page
11.How you come to know about People?
i) Through Friends
ii) Through outdoor Adds (Banners, Boards)
iii) Through POPs in Retail outlets
iv) Through Magazine Executives
12.Have you subscribe for it?
i) Yes ii) No
13.If “No”, Why?
i) Cost Factor
ii) Same as other magazines available
iii)Can’t relate yourself to it
14.If “Yes”, what you liked about this magazine?
i) Way of Presentation iii) Articles & Topics
covered
ii) Tips & Trends iv) Adds
15.Do you feel it is different from other magazines available of its kind?
i) Yes ii) No
16.If “Yes”, in what lines do you feel it’s different?
i) Way of Presentation iv) Adds
ii) Tips & Trends v) Any other (please
specify)
iii) Articles & Topics covered
17.Did it satisfy your needs of reading?
i) Yes ii) No
18.Where do you think it needs improvement or change?
i) Way of Presentation iv) Adds
38

ii) Tips & Trends v) Any other

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iii) Articles & Topics covered