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s a management student you will be exposed to all facets of management in the first two semesters. In the second year of your programme you would need to choose your area of specialisation from the five streams: - Marketing,

Finance, Human resource, Systems and Operations. As we prepare to delve into the world of marketing, and get an insight into the nature of work one can expect when you choose a career in Marketing, let us understand the significance of this most important aspect of business. All activities consume money other than marketing and sales. Marketing can be the defined as the art of creating and satisfying customers at a profit To put it simply, all functions of the marketer should be aligned to meet the present and future needs of the customer. The diagram below demonstrates the controlling function of the customer and the integrative role of marketing in a typical organisation. Marketing can further be divided into four sub categories. 4 Market Research Product/ brand management Advertising. Sales & Distribution CUSTOMER CENTRIC ORGANISATION

The World of Marketing

4 4 4

Market Research:
In order to tailor new products or retool existing products one needs to know the pulse of the customer. We have to ascertain what his needs and wants are. What does the user experience when he tries a new soap, tastes a new cola, sees a new Ad on television? These are questions youd love answered as a marketer. But what does an organisation do when the users are ten million, spread across the entire country and speak 14 different languages!! Lifebouy is such a product!! In such a scenario, the Market Research specialist comes into play. He targets the right sample size, sieves and analyses data, and relevant latest information. This is the basis for important corporate decisions. Research is the key to product development and innovation. MR decides what the taste of Pepsi should be. MR translates in McDonalds selling veg Aloo tikki burgers in India. MR tells you how many people watched the India Vs South Africa match on MAX television- (TRPs- Television Rating Points). Market research therefore forms the backbone that reinforce marketing decisions.

The World of Marketing

Product/ Brand Management:

Once the product is designed and fine-tuned as per research findings, the marketer decides the product design, brand name, price, packaging and the advertising proposition. The Brand managers job is to orchestrate such marketing functions. He is responsible for both revenues and profits the brand generates. As a product manager your challenge could be to successfully launch a new brand. Lets take the example of the fiercely competitive product category of toothpastes. Anchor white toothpaste is a successful brand launch, only because of its unique positioning of 100% vegetarian. The brand team identified the need for vegetarian toothpastes especially in the predominantly vegetarian Gujarat belt. And now the brand is selling high volumes in this region. Alternatively the challenge could be to manage an established brand. The objective then would be to keep the existing brand interesting and relevant to current users. Lets take the example of Lux. Lux is the soap for Stars. This has been the Lux advertising proposition for over two decades, but the Lux star has always the latest heroine. So Lux today is not associated with Hema Malini- but with Amisha Patel, Karishma, Rani Mukherji or Madhuri Dixit. The product itself has moved with the times and extended to a Lux- face wash, and other Lux variants.

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The product/ brand managers job is both exciting and challenging.

Advertising:
The brand manager is the caretaker of the brand within the organisation. He works closely with the Advertising Agency to create, design and release an advertising campaign. e.g. to launch Pepsi Blue, the Pepsi Ad agency along with the Pepsi brand team would have first come up with the big idea- to launch a limited edition Cola, thats blue! Blue because its the colour of the Indian Cricket Team. Truly a big idea, it turns the Cola market on its head - a cola is supposed to be a dark, mysterious, brown not a light kerosene coloured blue. But launching this variant strategically during the World Cup ensures that one billion Indians think of Pepsi every time they cheer the Indian team!! Automatically Pepsi has moved out of the traditional media buying of x number of spots on MAX @ Rs. x. Theyve moved to a branding that extends itself to anything that the Indian team touches! The Ad agency actually creates the Ad, writes the copy, the catchy punch lines, designs the TV commercial, shoots and executes the commercial/ print Ads. These are the guys who make those swanky looking Ads; make Aamir Khan do the Punjab da puttar! Priety Zinta drive a Santro..Zip..Drive. Write lines like, Surf excel hai na? or Doondthe rah jaoge. As a fresh B-school grad in an Ad agency, you could be part of the client servicing, media or creative team. You need to understand therefore how each of these teams function? Lets assume your client - Liril needs a new TV commercial. The client servicing team is the interface between the agency and the client (brand). They sit with the brand manager Liril, understand the clients requirement, and then go back to the agencys Creative team with this advertising brief. The creative team then develops creative options ideas and copy for the commercial. This does its rounds between the agency and client, till all details are agreed and the Ad is executed by the creative team. Now the media team steps in and works out a media plan for the Ad. Campaign- which TV channel, how many ads spots, which TV serial to sponsor/ advertise on, all this is planned by the media team. Once approved by the client, the media planning team also purchases the media slots. Ad Agencies are exciting and glamorous, but definitely a lot of hard work.. And yes late nights too!! shop hoping to buy it. If its not available, chances are youll buy a tube of Fair and Lovely. The Fairever marketing team has lost out, their Ad. brought the customer in, but what sold was the competitors product. Worse, you as a customer perceive Fairever to be below the mark as it was not available at your favourite store. There are three basic channels of distribution that can be used to distribute products from the company to the customer. The choice of channel depends on factors such as - the target market for the product, the product value and need for demonstration. The first type of channel is the company to customer with no intermediaries, this is used by Direct marketing companies like Eureka Forbes, Insurance Cos. All service segment companies directly interact with the end user. E.g. Travel, Hospitality, Healthcare, Banking, Education etc. Automobile, television, refrigerator, (white and brown goods) manufacturers use the second level of distribution. These products are sold via dealers as they require demonstration and one to one convincing. The third is level of distribution through Marketing is one of the highest paid of all professions. Give a man a fish and hell eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and hell eat for a lifetime. are

distributors and retailers, all products available at kirana stores, departmental stores and provision stores are distributed Moving through this Goods

channel. Typically all FMCG- Fast Consumer distributed like this. As part of the S&D team, you would need to ensure that the product is available to every potential customer. You would also ensure that at the shop, your product is well displayed at a prominent place. The sales team is the ears and eyes of the company. They carry market information back to the centralised marketing cell. Armed with a B-School degree, and information on marketing opportunities. Do make a well thought out decision and step into the wondrous world of marketing. - Simi Malhotra

Sales & Distribution:

Once the product is produced, and appropriately packaged, priced, branded. It needs to reach the end user! it needs to be distributed. This is the task of the sales and distribution team to ensure product availability. Lets look at how vital the role of distribution is. You see an Ad on TV about a new cream called Fairever, and go to a
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