The future of Marketing and how should students prepare themselves for it

The future of marketing is good and bright - especially for students since it is continuously evolving and adapting to cultures, locations, economies, trends and sales of products and services. The problem that most students face today is on narrowing down to choose a specialization. They also want promising careers with fantastic packages to start with. The Marketing Industry like other industries too is facing the consequences of global recession but there is plenty of scope since innovation is constantly bringing new dimensions of doing business within Advertising or Market Research for that matter. Back in my days, in early 2000 it was a selection with hardly any choices – Science, Commerce, IT and Arts. Within Commerce it would boil down to Logistics, Finance, Economics or Marketing. At this stage, most parents are confused as to which specialization would benefit their child the most within Commerce. Throughout this decade it has always been considered that Marketing is mainly for students who cannot deal with complex things and it acts as an escape route for those who wish to have a more relaxed student life. Of course these things are not generic - as curriculum and specialization offerings differ from country to country, state to state, etc. It is very critical for the student and the parent/guardian to sit and chalk out the various options as soon as they are eligible for high-school also known as +2.

'Unfortunately Marketing has been looked upon as an escape route in education'

Ideally, a student must have the best of both worlds and opt for Science (Phy, bio, chem, mechanical, IT) or Arts (History, Literature, Mass Media) in their undergraduate studies and then do something even more creative (or which they have always longed for) during their post-graduate studies. But these things depend on the student solely and under no circumstance should they be forced to pursue something they do not like. The scenario in India is usually to please the parents, maintain a family occupation, join a family business of elders, or they are coaxed by friends to join a similar course which does not have any scope of mutual interest. Students must have at least a year or even 6 months of full-time work experience before they opt for a post-graduate course so that they can relate to things more practically when pursuing the same.

'Having work experience does matter'

Marketing as a subject or specialization has often been misunderstood by parents, employers, students and the world in general as something to do with sophisticated salesmanship. While that maybe a small aspect in the bigger picture – it has more to do with creativity, data, exploration, observation, planning, strategy and research where the latter is the most promising. Careers in marketing are promising and range from market research analysts, senior analysts, marketing engineers, copywriters, outdoor advertising specialists, digital marketing, social media marketers, media planners, account planners, account managers, client servicing, creative artists, post-production, marketing managers (client), creative designers, etc.  There is immense opportunity for Marketing when it comes to Post-Graduate studies. These are available in the forms of a degree, diploma or even certificate courses all over the world. It is surprising to see the success rate of certificate courses in Asia. At the same time, India is burgeoning with opportunities for marketers today and in the years to come - despite the population issue, depressing economy and rising corruption. Students must explore the internet, visit education expos, watch and read testimonials of students and in some cases ask their favourite companies to give them a list of recommended colleges, institutions or universities for the same.

Careers in marketing are promising and offer a wide range of occupation choices

Unfortunately the entire teaching scenario is very rigid and bureaucratic in India as lecturers now have to undergo various tests which inhibit them from expanding their career in education and they instead opt to work for corporate or private firms. The aim of the govt. is to have high-quality teaching carried across the country but there are far too many issues with this to discuss here and may need a separate blog. Another problem is that lecturers are forced to teach from books by authors who may have never even visited India in the first place and yet students have to learn (by-heart) various outdated concepts and theories. Employers fall for this trap too as they look for students who have scored high marks in marketing or its electives instead of checking how much they scored in individual presentations, practicals or live projects.

How should students pursuing Marketing prepare themselves?

Students need to prepare themselves by reading. Yes, READING. They need to read business based newspapers, magazines or even books written by prominent practicing managers. Secondly, watch marketing or advertising related videos on Youtube or TED or similar channels. Students should look up campaigns, awarded advertisements or campaigns, trace the development of the campaign and the agency responsible for it. They could start by looking up their favourite brands or companies and then follow the steps I mentioned above. Students need to watch MOVIES - yes, in my previous blog I've mentioned some of the movies or documentaries a marketer must see. Finally, students must learn to OBSERVE their surroundings, when they are travelling by bus, on the train, on a bike or driving. Insights only come from observation and then can be developed into an idea from there. Students opting for Market Research or Media Planning must be fairly good in Maths, not crazy scientific stuff - but simple arithmetic and basic statistics. On the other hand, students who wish to opt for Advertising or Digital must be creative by making a dummy portfolio with their own artwork, their own website, or instead maybe a few examples of copy for an existing brand or print advert or have a list of fresh ideas for existing brands. Students pursuing Marketing should also be connected on SOCIAL MEDIA platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. They must also read and start writing their own BLOGs to become better in expressing themselves on various issues. Finally, in order to be recognized as a professional in any industry - an online identity is required and students must spend some time creating their LinkedIn profile.

Practical knowledge triumphs over theoretical knowledge 

As discussed in one of my blogs earlier this year, practical knowledge triumphs over theoretical knowledge and the same applies to post-graduate marketing studies. Today employers are looking out for candidates who can join them right away with hardly any time spent on training. I at this point too, must engage in a bit of marketing and it’s the truth - Northpoint Centre of Learning aims at achieving this for employers and giving the benefit of instant placements for the students with packages starting from 6 lacs p.a. Check their website, read the testimonials or ask people in the marketing industry and I am sure you will agree with me on the same.

Immediate placements from 6 Lakhs p.a

The Northpoint Centre of Learning offers the most unique course in India that offers a certificate in Marketing Research partnered with Nielsen. The course is 11 months (full-time) in duration out of which the students must engage in a 45 days Internship with Nielsen, a 2-week sales stint and work with a client company for 60 days. It also has over 100 faculty from Nielsen who are practicing managers imparting actual knowledge to students. Students who successfully complete the course are instantly placed with Nielsen starting with a handsome package.

Best education offered for Advertising within India

Northpoint also offers its flagship program – Advertising Management that is packaged in a unique way which no other college in India offers. The 11-month program has three different specializations – Advertising, Media or Digital. The program caters to the requirements of the industry as Northpoint has 16 Industry partners such as Lowe Lintas, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy and Aegis Media to name a few. The course requires students to only refer textbooks to look up classical theories or get different perspectives and are only taught by practicing managers throughout with the inclusion of a 40-days sales stint, 2 week rural stint and 100 day internship with a leading agency. Each specialization only focuses on that aspect of the business helping the student be more focused and be a specialist in whichever line he/she chooses.

For any more queries, feel free to comment or question me.

Quresh Moochhala is a resident professor at Northpoint Centre of Learning - Khandala, India. He lectures in Marketing Research, Advertising, Communications and Business Management.

10 Movies that teach more than Marketing Textbooks

10 Movies that teach more than Marketing Textbooks

“Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.”

– Stephen King

Over the ages, people have always had a tendency to understand a story or an event through pictorial representation or animation. In the last forty years or so, Motion picture films (movies) have allowed viewers to get a better perspective of a textual piece of work or story in print. At the same time, most people would disagree by saying that the book is always the best and the movie leaves out finer details, so many ideas, facts and morals which you can only identify or realize once you have read the book.  

In today’s academic era – the student with the support of evolving technology has in a way grown lazy to read through pages and would prefer to view a video clip with narration on YouTube or watch a movie with actors play out their roles with the light and sound in the background. The argument will always have two sides as bookworms and movie lovers will defend their opinions. However, from an academic context, there have been several movies which help you understand a situation, event, philosophy or a simple fact much better than a textbook would. Firstly, we have movies on Classic Literature adapted to movies, then comic-books, historical events, sci-fi, poems, fiction novels, biographies, etc. that smash the box-office or are complete flops.

Here is a list of marketing based movies that I would recommend people who wish to understand advertising or marketing research better especially a particular theme or topic. No particular order follows but I have selected the ten movies that come to my mind for those who want to learn, or experience marketing and advertising through them.

1)   The Corporation – Although this movie is a documentary from a psychiatrist point-of-view where the patient is a ‘corporation’, it looks at society in large from an ethical standpoint and how covert techniques are adopted by marketers to get their brands into our homes. You will actually hate some of the best global brands or companies after watching this.

2)   The Joneses – This movie’s theme centers around stealth marketing and word-of-mouth done by a fake family in an upscale posh neighbourhood to influence them into buying various products.  It combines familiar notions of product placement and the sort of real-life undercover marketing efforts that have occasionally caused a minor uproar (years back Sony had its agents ask strangers on the street if they would mind taking a picture with their new Sony Ericsson camera phone?).

3)   The Pirates of Silicon Valley - Pirates of Silicon Valley is a true-story movie about Bill Gates and how Microsoft got started and also about Steve Jobs and how Apple got started. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs performed many unethical actions during the beginnings of Microsoft and Apple. The movie showcases their salesmanship and marketing skills along with the ad campaigns they created which have made them household names today. For more info, refer my previous blog on Steve Jobs and the hype he created.

4)   POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – This is the third movie by Morgan Spurlock of ‘Super-Size Me’ fame who produces a movie through sponsors and shows how product placement in movies takes place behind the scenes. A good watch for Market Researchers and entertainment marketers. See my earlier blog entries for more info on this movie.

5)   How to get ahead in Advertising – This movie came out in the late 80s and questioned advertising ethics through a dark comedic stand. Although much has changed in the Advertising Industry, it gives a nostalgic view on the golden era of advertising.

6)   Minority Report – A sci-fi movie set in the future where Marketers and advertisers have developed artificial intelligence applications using retinal scanners that can home in on a consumer's desires, determine which sales pitches work best and expand a company's market base using customized, targeted ads to consumers in the streets or their homes.

7)   Branded (The Mad Cow and Москва 2017) – Although the movie flopped earlier this year, it has a few scenes which are really interesting in the reality-based world of entertainment that we are witnessing.  It looks at the advertising business and the dark realities of why certain campaigns are hyped globally and how it is inter-connected to so many other products and services as well. Ignore the monster killing during the second half and pay attention to the scenes where the consultant gives his gyaan (knowledge) to businessmen on manipulation.

8)   The Social Network: The Movie – The true-story based (debatable) movie on social media giant Facebook, it touches on various themes like entrepreneurship, creativity, management, ethics and overall marketing. The best scene according to me is the one at the restaurant where the Napster founder Sean Parker gives the hero certain tips to market his website better. Also, interestingly Sony produced the movie which they advertised through Twitter instead of Facebook –go figure!!

9)   Glengarry Glen Ross – A Phenomenal movie with strong dialogues based on a play which shows two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a trainer to "motivate" them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired.  The movie revolves around manipulation, greed and lies for survival packing powerful performances.

10)  What Women Want – I was hesitant to add this in the list, but really after watching this movie years ago, I wanted to be a Creative Director at an Agency. The movie gives a detailed look at how traditional AD agencies function and the fun that goes into preparing a pitch to the client. The added bonus is the fact that Mel Gibson can hear women’s thoughts and he uses them to his advantage at the ad agency where he works.

Other notable movies among many, that have insights and showcase marketing or advertising skills/strategy are:

• Freakonomics – The Movie: Based on a book, watch this and you will want to read its sequel.
• The Century of Self – A documentary which helps understanding the marketing psyche.
• Mad Men – (TV series) - It shows the Advertising Industry in the late 60s to early 70s.
• Thank You For Smoking - It is about a lobbyist of cigarettes using heavy spin tactics.

Do feel free to comment and recommend any more movies with marketing or advertising as its main theme.

Images have been used for reference purposes only.

Prof. Quresh Moochhala is a lecturer at The Northpoint Centre of Learning. He lectures students in various areas within Advertising & Market Research. In academics, he believes in practical knowledge over theory.

Perception at Ad agencies

Where Do Ideas Come from?

Can Marketing learn from Religion?

It’s often hard for people to step back and look at religion objectively. The very title of this blog post is interesting yet slightly disturbing.

Disclaimer 1: I consider myself religious and do not want to offend any religion or any particular group, person or faith

Disclaimer 2: I am NOT an atheist nor am I promoting their ideas

I simply observe, analyse and interpret things in order to lean more. Effective Communication with an open-mind is the key and the cornerstone for understanding this matter further.

Politics and Religion have always been the oldest strongest examples of marketing that man has ever known. The irony is that today most people do not even know it completely and yet they follow it, adapt to it, spread news about it, live by it, die for it, rebel against it, be indifferent towards it or simply ignore it. You may be already getting second thoughts on reading this further and that’s the whole point because you have already subscribed to some religious school of thought or political party for or ideals for that matter. Let’s compare marketing and religion in general and leave politics for another blog. 

MARKETING	RELIGION
It creates needs and fulfills wants to achieve customer satisfaction profitably	It fulfills basic needs for your soul, then promises bliss and eternal happiness at the cost of sacrificing certain desires, lifestyle or habits (and in some cases wealth too).
It contains concepts and jargon which most people think they understand	It is based on concepts and has a lot of terminology which most people do not know how to interpret and simply follow others
It focuses on brand building and has logos	It focuses on making the faith and its followers stronger and they do have symbols to differentiate
Its roots stem from psychology	It revolves around philosophy, ethics, cosmology, metaphysics and jurisprudence
It is a science with artistic values	It is a science and the way we study, practice it becomes an art
It caters to products and services	It caters to the human needs and soul satisfaction
It is run by agencies and businesses	It is run by trusts, individuals, families, empires or communities
Has different forms and stages	It is layered and going in-depth makes one a sage or fanatic
We are exposed to it since a young age	We are exposed to it since we are born and till we die
Different cultures adopt different styles	Different religions have sub-faiths, cults and schools of thought
Results in Gaining rewards or suffering Losses	Promotes good deeds and repentance and shuns evil
Stories & claims are reinforced again and again	Stories are narrated time and again to reinforce faith
Advertisements are paid for and non-personal in nature	Charities, donations and trusts fund religious causes and community building in general
Uses various tools to execute ideas into action	Uses relics, literature, spirituality and in some cases blind faith
The idea is to make customers loyal to a brand through advertisements & promotions	Every religion wishes to attract more followers by having a display of festivals, pilgrimages and auspicious periods.
Messages are often misunderstood by audiences	Most of the time verses taken out of context and misinterpreted
Uses social and digital media today	Every religion has it follower base or forum online.

The above were just some of the thoughts that one can think of, there are plenty otherwise. There may be some who disagree and you are free to read on or close your browser or go to another website/blog as you are reading this. Anyway, so in a nutshell one would observe that people need a sense of belonging to something much larger than life, media and popular culture help us to do so, it becomes a societal norm to follow a school of thought(s), larger numbers encourage more interaction and participation (sheep mentality) and stories are narrated, reinforced time and time again to drive a point. Wouldn’t you agree that marketing and religion fit the above statement?

If not…. leave the blog or else continue to read on.

Much of the business and marketing world clearly has taken cues from what religion has done successfully for centuries. Religion successfully gathers people globally to publicly brand themselves as followers and work without any compensation through word of mouth marketing to attract new members to their religious brand of choice. Most studies show that religion even affects consumer behavior.

So as marketers, what can we learn from religion:

1)      Strengthen the brand by creating a following: Digital tools and social media when used creatively have helped brands over the years, yet Religion has existed successfully in many forms for centuries mainly because people desire to belong to something.

2)      Be open to collective ideas: The new generations Z are not satisfied with relics, claims of their forefathers. Many of the current religions and large businesses are already relics in the mind of today’s young digital-born generation. The successful businesses of tomorrow will not be the ones that mimic the religious institutions and businesses of the previous generations with a pure top-down approach.  The way moving forward is to collaborate ideas from all your stakeholders into the mix – include everyone, especially your customers and front-line workers.

3)      Kill the machine-logic - You are not great merely because you say you are.  Prove yourself in tangible formats so that your marketing messages can be backed up with case studies, testimonials, tangible proof, etc. Mainly, figure out new ways to learn and experiment with new ideas.

4)      Drop the negatives and absorb the positives – Every religion has some negative aspect over time due to its leader or follower(s). In marketing, the company may have a bad reputation but a wonderful product or vice-versa. Marketers need to take the positive of religion and not the negatives into their ideas, processes or designs.

5)      Don’t be pushy and Interfering – Many religions and faiths have been short-lived or had a great downfall where only part of their remains live up to the day as a reminder of their failure. Most religions are viewed negatively since they meddle so much. Trying to force yourself/your brand on people by knocking on doors and forcing your beliefs into areas they don’t belong does hurts your reputation and will backfire in the long term.

6)      Study sociology and history - The best marketers have a strong understanding not just of business and playing the corporate game, but more importantly of our culture and the bigger picture of how society has been and is currently functioning.  Studying everything in our world, from religion and politics to popular culture will help you be far more effective in creating strategic communications. Learn what makes ideas spread and learn the content archetypes for ideas that stick and apply it to your own marketing solutions. Learn where other companies went wrong so you don’t repeat that mistake.

7)     The Brand/Product/service Story attracts people – Religions all over the world have attracted followers by narration of heart-touching stories, narrations about personalities and miracles that have occurred in ancient or today’s times. If marketers call sell stories backed up with proof and have an emotional connect (at any level) – you’ve got yourself a loyal consumer.

No matter what your belief, faith or religion is – it is an undeniably powerful marketing force.  The answer to me is YES, marketing can learn from religion and hopefully this blog can serve as an eye-opener to the obvious truth and not to question religion; rather learn marketing from religion as a medium or vehicle to shape the very direction of our society. 

 

Social Impact Digital Marketing

So everyone is talking about 'Social Media' all the time and how it has brought people together digitally and how it has transformed lives, blurred borders, easy to market stuff, spreading the word and all that babble!! Be it Facebook, Twitter, BBM and a whole bunch of other wannabe sites and apps. Lets face it, most of us who use it have become addicted to this stuff through our phone, PC, browser and any other gadget having internet access. In other words you are a slave to the Social Media. But lets leave that for another blog.

A website which has come to my attention is Made in a Free World - and it is crafted really well - good design, usability, smooth transition (provided you have good broadband speed) and sends a strong message to the 'slaves' out there to become an 'anti-slave'.

No....its not related to the stuff I wrote at the top. That was just to catch your attention. Made In A Free World attempts to calculate the social impact of our lifestyle – not the entire social impact it would have, but merely attempting to measure how much forced labour it takes to sustain the way we live in our current situation.  Slavery isn’t much talked about today, but yet there is an estimate that there are 27 million of them.

Most people have heard about their ecological footprint or carbon footprint – which is a way of measuring your lifestyle’s demand on the eco-system and how much pollution you are contributing to the environment. 

Made In A Free World makes it easy: You fill out a nice questionnaire.  It looks at what you consume, what you own and gives you an estimated number of how many slaves that a supply chain would likely have. San Francisco creative agency MUH-TAY-ZIK HOF-FER and digital partners at London's unit9 have created an innovative calculator that allows you to figure out how many slaves are working for you. 

 

The number you are given represents the total number of forced labourers likely to be involved with creating your products,  looking at source countries, raw materials and the processing of the most popular consumer goods. I'm not going to talk about it here, because the geniuses at Made In A Free World believe in  transparency methods in what they do and explain it rather well.

A companion mobile app, called 'Made in a Free World', allows people on-the-move to make inquiries about what a brand's supply chain looks like from an ethical labor point of view and call attention to their questioning. For instance, checking in at a brand will create a post on both the brand's Slavery Footprint page and the main Slavery Footprint page. MUH-TAY-ZIK created over 1,000 individual brand pages on Facebook to aggregate the inquiries. 

You would be surprised how a simple lifestyle will reveal so many hidden supply chain horrors. 

Go ahead..give it a try and see how many slaves you have!!

And NO...I am not advertising for them and No again - I am NOT anti-consumer. If everyone stopped buying goods - it would only increase slavery than reducing it. The whole idea which most people would agree is to join brands and make them aware about these supply chain horrors. Improvisation and tweaking is what these brands need to do. As for me, I am simply engaging in a kind of social media awareness thingy.

Steve Jobs - a mere marketing tool for Apple !

 Steve Jobs...RIP....I admit contributed greatly towards the use of everyday computing and communicating and of course Apple!! The question is HOW?? which many people fail to do.
When it comes to Apple - I'm seriously thinking of buying an Ipad 2 or a MacBook Pro. The irony is Steve Jobs is just flashing at you when you think of Apple or go shopping for any of its products, but then again maybe not. On one hand you see these sleek, elegantly simple yet beautifully crafted pieces of technology. But then all I see is this whole load of stuff in books and magazines (even TV snippets) and so many people yapping about who he was and without him Apple would have been crap and so on and so forth.

Would Apple be what it is today without Steve Jobs ? 

 Most people I meet, know or come across or even read about - would say NO.

I think there is only a little truth in that !!
According to me and what I have researched and studied about him and Apple as a company makes me say he didn't know much about computers, designs or phones or even music devices. He practically knew nothing about making or developing things for that matter. What he did know - was how to make a hard-sell, usability of devices, crating consumer wants, simplicity (after he went on a spiritual trip), convince people to be minimalistic and make people use technology in a way which no one before him dared to. Lets face it - most eccentrics turn out to be geniuses in their own right.
Ever heard of the term Megalomaniac???

Steve Jobs was more or less responsible for that term being used at offices or in general because he was a MEGALOMANIAC. I'm referring to the years when Steve Jobs had long hair, wore dapper suits, sat bare feet in his office, had a bunch of weird habits, verbally trashed his employees, pitted his staff in nerve-wrecking competitions and so on. He and Bill Gates were the famous pirates of Silicon Valley back then enjoying their riches. Only Bill Gates turned out to be tad smarter and more business-minded than Steve Jobs who got lost in his conquest of glory. Ultimate result - Steve Jobs got Fired from Apple.
Anyway, we all know how he then came up with NeXT, his new journey and then ultimately how he returned to Apple. Think of it this way - you need to sell your stuff so you get back the best salesman, right?? That's exactly what Apple did. Steve Jobs created his new persona, his lifestyle in such a way which attracted people because of his new simplistic approach of doing complex things. This philosophy translated into most of Apple's products beginning with the iMac. As Apple's research wing got better and created its own persona in the computer market - it could now look at different platforms and technologies.

'Jonathan Ive' accomplished that for Apple.

Apple products are now all about design. Go have a look at designs by Jonathan Ive. Apple's rule is to get it out cool designs in the market when a new technology has just surfaced. The Walkman to iPod. The smartphone to iPhone. Tablet PCs to iPad. They let the consumers do the talking and there you have it - the most powerful marketing tool - 'Word of Mouth' at work. Add to that a launch or prototype demo by Steve Jobs and you had everyone drooling before it even hit the markets. Even their apps are given that Apple 'look' - even when you are looking at their app content or logos for that matter - sophistication which android apps can hardly ever achieve. 

My perspective on Steve Jobs changed when I watched the movie/documentary called 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' (pic attached). From a marketing or advertising industry perspective - Steve Jobs was the 'client-servicing guy' whereas the creatives, planners are a whole bunch of other people who were just happy taking the backseat and making heaps of money. He could go to any lengths to represent Apple for what it stood as. He never stopped dreaming and I guess he saw most of his dreams come true.So to all the client-servicing guys and gals who literally curse their careers every day - you could be a Steve Jobs someday!!

More on this in blogs to follow.