Here you will get to read interesting marketing related facts and trends going on throughout the world. Stay tuned on every Sunday for my new article over something happening in the world of marketing in some corner of the world. 

Retailing in India is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for about 10 percent of its GDP and 8% of employment. India is the world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. Traditional retail will hold a major share of 75%, organised retail share will reach 18% and E-commerce retail share will reach 7% of the total retail market.

It’s interesting to know how the mall industry survived Post Covid with inset of huge online shopping options. This gave rise to heavy Shop & Win campaigns, discounts, Sales in shopping centres. The concept of rewarding a person against his/her shopping proved as a foundation for Loyalty programs. The first full-scale loyalty program of the modern era was by American Airlines' who launched their Frequent Flier program in 1981. That was the period when people were excited and intrigued to know about the discounts and offers. They were eager to shop more for gaining more discounts which was initially the main agenda of such programs. Even today people do love discounts but in a way more straight manner. They are hesitant to follow a certain procedure to gain something which also is subject to many factors which we will see in the further part of this research.

The rewards, goodies, gifts cards, brand vouchers, discounts, offers like buy1 get 1 are the ways of incentivising customers which gives rise for up-selling.

Up-Selling is the motive of a Salesman. A Sales person have Sales targets, to achieve it they have to let a customer shop additionally more which results in upselling. The agenda is to convince the consumer to change his thought which he had made up while coming to shop about shopping a particular thing of a particular amount and letting him shop for add-ons or upgrades in return of some incentive. This gave rise to Shop & Win Campaigns.

Due to the inset of Covid-19, retail as a whole industry has faced a huge set-back. The recoveries are the ones judged and harassed post the Mall opening. It’s interesting to know the struggle of this industry in India where a huge share of retail market is getting captured by online shopping sites.

The Covid-19 has offered a huge challenge to Malls as it is a large enclosed shopping area which is the first to be sealed under the mandates for Covid-19. The fear in minds of consumers were the basic hurdle, it was highly important to build back the trust.

The Dove brand released an ad showing a black woman removing her top and changing into a white woman after using the body wash. This sparked outrage among the brand's social media followers with hashtags such as #DoneWithDove(Mulcahy, 2019).The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty has been called a lot of things, from a “game changer” and “a breath of fresh air”, to “hypocritical”, “sexist”, and “sneaky”. (In-mind.org, 2014) The ad was removed by Dove and the brand publicly apologized for its misdemeanour(Mulcahy, 2019).

The main controversy behind the Facebook Ad was the perception of beauty according to Dove. The controversy lead on the grounds of racism, feminism, mis-conceptions, Social-comparison and fake beauty standards. Many people on social media said they took the ad to mean the black woman was less clean than the featured white woman which aroused racism. Feminist standpoints have identified social systems that serve to reproduce the dominance of white.

Ads do more than sell us products, they can shape our values and thinking, especially in aggregate (Pollay, 1986). This can create mis-conceptions and fake beauty standards. This is what happened in the dove campaign where it arouses the un-necessary societal barriers and starts a social comparison on basis of colour. Dove sought to challenge dominant beauty norms by depicting "real" women with "real" curves in their advertisements. However, it is argued that these “real” women appear similar enough to pre-existing ideals that they too would be accepted by most beauty standards, suggesting a failure on Dove’s account to truly widen the definition of beauty(Heiss, 2011b). This is evident in Dove’s casting calls, which read: no tattoos, no scars, flawless skin, beautiful hair, and bodies that fall nicely between “not too curvy” and “not too athletic” (Odell, 2010). Moreover, there have also been claims that Dove engages in digital re-touching of their ad campaigns (Helm, 2008), explicitly in contradiction of their ad campaign’s message. 

Advertisements play a significant role in how the public views the human body. The media frequently portrays the "normal" female body as having high cheek bones, even skin tone, long legs, and being free of fat, wrinkles, physical disabilities, and deformities. These narrow representations have contributed to individual and societal dissatisfaction with the actual lived bodies that comprise the majority of the public(Heiss, 2011b). When psychological closeness is manipulated, whereby the subject and target share similar attitudes and values to a high degree, the subject’s self-appraisal is consequently more favourable after viewing an attractive same- sex target than after viewing an unattractive same- sex target- this is due to the virtue of perceived similarity to the target this was the expected connect Dove wanted to acquire but lacked the veracious communication. (In-mind.org, 2014) Ads can wrap social values, it’s an ongoing ethical debate(Pollay, 1986). This resulted in criticism with regard to stereotyping beauty,Ethnic stereotyping & representation of minorities. Marketing communication agenda was to convey positives about real beauty but got debating societal views. 

While few would describe Dove as "promoting a philosophy of naive integration," many do, realising that the brand supports both good body image and traditional beauty standards. In other words, the Campaign for Real Beauty may be perceived as hypocritical, causing cognitive dissonance in some individuals. Consumers may purchase Dove because it promotes a positive message; yet, they may wonder what they are purchasing (skin firming lotion?). However, any cognitive dissonance in this scenario is readily handled; customers can rationalise away their cognitive dissonance by arguing that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best and that they are at the very least supporting a firm with "positive" ideals (Heiss, 2011).Providing the language and semiotic resources to also encourage consumers and others to join Dove in its fight against unrealistic beauty standards is another way that Dove can meet its needs. It is not important that people believe Dove's good intentions, but that the performance of playing out the good intentions helps Dove achieve its own goals as a company and empowers consumers. (Millard, 2009).

Key Learning:

To preserve the Brand image and keep the campaign agenda relevant, more unfiltered and less misleading posts should be developed. The emphasis on what we don't have/have can increase feelings of inadequacy, envy, dissatisfaction, and greed, as described in Richard Pollay's 'Distorted Mirror,' which should be considered while marketing beauty products. It is impacting the society in many ways especially inducing a factor of not required materialism. We should also be aware that these advertisements have inspired a desire for the things and services advertised to us, bringing us closer to materialistic culture. (Nairn and Opree, 2020)

For tracking trends in customer attitudes and behaviour of Marks & Spencer's tracking Data for financial year (FY) 20-21 is divided into Awareness, Attitude and Usage. Data was obtained via aided & unaided online surveys, marks and spencer’s official financial & annual reports for the said period. Information was also derived from interviews, blogs, marketing activities, loyalty programs, CEO statements and employee and customer reviews. We have applied metrics in the hierarchy of effects containing Brand awareness, Brand attitude and Brand loyalty. Social Media was a big source for determining brand awareness through views, likes, engagement, referrals, shares and tweets. Surveys helped in gaining the data determining Brand attitude and brand loyalty. Data was collected considering 3 major metrics of AAU model i.e., Brand Awareness, Brand Attitude and Brand Loyalty.

Brand Awareness

Table 1-

Here Buzz Score is related to the Brand Awareness and can be calculated further as awareness percentage%. Marks & Spencer’s Brand Awareness = 6.3 out of 10. This can also be taken as 6.3 / 10 * 100 = 63%

Brand Awareness of Marks & Spencer’s is 63% compared to the other high street clothing brands.

Marks & Spencer’s are closing down stores at a faster rate as online shopping has contributed 34.4% of total sales. Pandemic is judged as the reason for this closure (Mcdonald, 2021) This has resulted in giving space to other retailers ultimately pulling down Brand awareness of Marks & Spencer’s from 21.3 to 6.3 score.

Brand Attitude (Compared to competitors)

The chart besides shows top 9 UK retailers as voted by consumers. (ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY: M&S STEPS UP ITS SPRING STYLE AS CUSTOMERS LOOK FORWARD TO HOLIDAYS AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS, n.d.)We can derive that M&S clothing falls at number 3 competing with Boots and John lewis. This is important to understand the position of M&S compared to the competitors. M&S foods category is ranked as the best retailer which is helping clothing category to pick up brand awareness. (www.occstrategy.com, n.d.)

‘Anything but ordinary’ is a brand platform through which M&S is launching new spring collection this year(2022). The need to keep innovating by mitigating any additional costs is identified by marks and spencer’s next move. They are trying to place the brand in a segment which can connect with ordinary people. Not one, but three love nicknames for Marks & Spencer reflect the strong emotional connection people have with the 137-year-old department store and, by extension, the Simply Food façade(www.occstrategy.com, n.d.)Data for determining Brand attitude was determined through the brand ratings.

Brand Loyalty

Marks and Spencer’s stands 5th in trust ranking 2021 competing with Boots, Waitrose and John Lewis. (www.occstrategy.com, n.d.) Degree of loyalty differs with demographics of customers. For better understanding of UK market and customer behaviour let’s look at the factors contributing to increase in brand loyalty according to female and males (Chart mentioned below) From the chart we can derive that need, quality and price are the 3 driving factors of brand loyalty not only for females but also for males. Boots and Waitrose are leveraging on these factors for increasing their loyal customers. (Statista, n.d.)

Situational Analysis using AAU Model

Awareness-

1) UK consumers are pretty much aware about Marks & Spencer's clothing brand offerings.
2) M&S scores 6.3 (63%) in buzz score which can be considered as brand awareness
3) M&S is competing with Primark, TK Maxx, NEXT and TU Clothing in terms of Brand awareness

Attitude-

1) M&S is on 3rd position in Brand rating by UK consumers
2) The attitude towards the brand is like a high street clothing brand with mid-priced products
3) John Lewis and Boots are major competitors here

Usage-

1) M&S ranks 5th in Brand loyalty
2) Boots, Waitrose and John Lewis are the major competitors here
3) M&S has re-launched loyalty program of sparks card by eliminating the confusing bits for customers
4) M&S has launched 'shwooping' which enables a customer to donate their old clothes which is re-used and re-cycled.
5) All clothing items that customers donate are sent to Oxfam to be resold in one of its shops or online, to be reused via its social enterprise in Senegal or to be recycled into new materials, which are used by businesses such as M&S’s mattress filling.

Instagram Reels have become the new way to promote anything and everything you want. The process of getting a good reach in short period of time has bolted down to posting a reel by using the below steps. The steps below covers the way of posting a reel which can assure you either a good acquisition or retention rate on Instagram. 

Step 1 : Music in trend 

This step is to first choose the music which is trending on Instagram reels. Generally the mistake which is done is that the shoot is done first and then the music is decided which should be other way round. The right music can give you directions to shoot your reel, it could guide you to understand the possible transitions you want to make. Instagram featured music gets trendy and lands you higher views. If you are a regular user of Instagram yourself you will come to know exactly the songs getting repeated and circulated in the reels. People tend to make reels of the music featured by the platform which gets viral in less time. The more you listen to something the higher it is getting trended. This is why you can choose such music for the reel and accordingly plan the footages you need.

Step 2 : Quality content

This is a choice which you should make during your reel making process. Remember anything which looks good, sells. Visually appealing content gives the viewer a sense of having what they see, which releases an emotional quotient for the content and with the music you provide it elevates the experience and lands you more views and likes. Anything shot on a professional camera or iPhone 11 and ahead versions have the quality which is required for content today. Now when you are sorted with the equipment you need a vision for shooting these videos. The vision is something you can learn by indulging in consuming available content out there and practicing it. Quality content and right vision to shoot will fuel your engagement on Instagram. The content to be shot depends on the context of the page. You need to set a tone for your page at least you should know - why I am creating a reel. The content shot for making business has to be planned and executed accordingly. It again depends on the target group you want to promote content for. 

Step 3 : Time of posting

When you are satisfied with the music and the way your reel is shot, now is the time for understanding the strategic way of posting for achieving more reach. This is the time of posting on Instagram. A healthy page can be identified by its engagement rate. The engagement on your page depends on the number of people online at that exact moment, which means the time of posting gets related to the engagement rate for your page which ultimately results in a good reach. Now the time of posting is dependent on the location you are in while posting, the kind of pages you follow, the online traffic who are live at that moment and the kind of content you are creating. The Instagram algorithm prioritises recency, the Instagram algorithm is a set of rules that determines how content on the platform is ranked. It determines what content appears and in what order on all Instagram users' feeds, the Explore Page, the Reels feed, hashtag pages, and so on. This is why hitting on exact points which are in alignment with algorithm needs to be done. Relevancy, interest in the content and behavioural patterns of your followers are important factors to take in consideration while understanding Instagram algorithm. This resembles in understanding the time of posting on Instagram. 

According to a Hootsuite blog the time of posting looks like this. 

Summing it all is having a good equipment to shoot on with the vision and a trendy music will give you a mark of good content and understanding the behaviours of your followers will strategically gift you with good engagement rates and reach. 

So go get there and start reeling today ! 

Brand equity has a direct impact on sales volume and a company’s profitability because the consumers gravitate towards products and services with great reputations. Advil by Pfizer tops higher than Tylenol in Brand Equity. (Aaker, 2012)

This can be seen in the below statistics of the latest UK market share where Pfizer ranks the top with 8.2% market share and Johnson & Johnson’s ranks 13th with 4.3% market share.

• Brand Awareness - Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare drove the discovery of its free branded "Tylenol PM Sleep Tracker" iPhone application in the US with a mobile campaign on AdMob's ad network. Tylenol is promoting the application as part of its "Get Ready for Bed" campaign. Tylenol PM Sleep Tracker ads across AdMob's network issued a call-to-action urging consumers to click through to the App Store to immediately download the application (www.ukessays.com, n.d.). They managed to spread awareness in 46.2% of iPhone users in the US but what about the 53.8% of non-iPhone users? (Statista, 2021). Tylenol should focus more on the following segment separately to spread brand awareness and boost up their entire portfolio.

Families with Children: Tylenol has an entire line of products geared towards treating colds and flu symptoms specifically for children. Even though the children are the users of this product, the consumer purchasing decision lies solely in the hands of the parents or guardians in that household.

Working Class: The working class is the biggest consumer of Tylenol’s Rapid Release pills because these consumers need fast pain relief caused by daily stresses at their jobs. They have spending pockets and buying authority.

The Elderly: Tylenol’s arthritis medicines are aimed to help relieve pain symptoms felt by the elderly. They are generally late adopters and once they find a dependable product are highly likely to stay loyal to it.

(www.ukessays.com, n.d.)

Advil marketing campaigns majorly focus on the age group of 18-35 the working class. Their campaigns are direct for the target group. They have recently promoted on Spotify a music app. Advil utilized Spotify’s powerful streaming intelligence and flexible ad formats to inspire listeners in moments when pain could slow them down. Advil is synonymous with pain relief to people all over the world (in other words, brand awareness is pretty high) so their marketing aims to ensure Advil remains a household name as younger consumers come of age. That’s why they teamed up with Spotify — not only to reach Gen Z and millennial streamers in real-time daily moments but also to drive them to a free concert (produced by Advil and Uber) where those fans could see first-hand that Advil “is a brand that doesn’t let pain stop me.” (ads.spotify.com, n.d.)

• Brand Love – Love for a pharma brand is more of in maximum relief and minimum after effects after the consumption. Tylenol contains Acetaminophen and Advil is a brand of ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is an NSAID(Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory Drug) This gives Advil an advantage over Tylenol. (Drugs.com, n.d.)

Advil is 3^rd in the list because of having instant relief and curing not only fever and body pain but also inflammation. Brand Love resides majorly in the emotional bonding which the brand has succeeded to create between its consumers and the brand. Tylenol’s recent commercial ad managed to create a emotional bond under its campaign named ‘care without limits’

Improving customer satisfaction i.e. fast and easy way to reach out when in need, can be the easiest way to increase satisfaction and ultimately the love. Focusing on the retailer and wholesaler network, maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders and building campaigns for separate target groups showcasing the exact communication of fast/easy/safe relief can be ways.

• Brand Associations – Tylenol thrives to associate with every consumer and convey that they can care and give relief. They have activities and programs set up for employees. Each year the makers of Tylenol award annual scholarships to well-deserving students pursuing careers in healthcare. (TYLENOL®, n.d.) 

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