MICA has, over the years, adopted the new waves in marketing strategies and earned a reputation for churning out the finest marketers in the country. The ‘Mecca of Marketing’ this year hosts its annual marketing fest MICANVAS with a vision to #ReThink, the way marketing is being approached in the current ecosystem.
The digital era has thrown the market wide open for innovations and strategies to be developed. The digital natives have shown tenacity for making informed decisions and appreciate a more one-to-one communication from brands and companies at large. MICANVAS has understood these phenomena and has taken a step further to ‘Question the Question’. The fest has participants who engage the customers and question the followed normative pattern in marketing strategies.
Kotler’s proposed 5A Model breaks down a customer’s journey to truly understand how a brand can create a journey for the customer to become a partner in their marketing effort. MICANVAS has made an effort to center the fest on these principles and evolve as a unique fest.
AWARENESS is part of the old mantra but still actively relevant in the modern school of strategy as well. The fix of getting a space for your app on the consumer’s phone to the question of how shall I engage my target audience with my brand identity online, is a critical question in the current scenario. The digital native is on the move, the advent of the internet of things (IOT) has helped brands reach and deliver content round the clock. MICANVAS, this year, in association with DNA (English Print Partner) is to print the legendary Chhota-Canteen menu in the DNA newspaper format during the festival helping people ease into the DNA style and earn a recall for them.
APPEAL becomes an asset in the new marketing strategy. The consumer behaviour studies point towards how short-term memories can have an impact on the long-term consumer behaviour. It is vital that the brands and companies look to create micro-content and gain the recall space in the age of an aware digital native. MICANVAS did a series of online and offline activations centered around the #ReThink idea. The star-filled lineup of speakers was gradually released to the public through Instagram posts. In the saga of activations, MICANVAS in association with Diesel Fashion India Reliance Pvt. Ltd. launched a case study competition for B-School students focused on their Hate Couture Campaign. The campaign promotes individual identity in an era of social conformity on social media and therefore, was extremely appealing to the audience.
ASK is a stage which needs to be carefully manned by companies and brands. A ThingkwithGoogle study suggests that in U.S. 78% of holiday shoppers who visited a store turned to online search before going into a store. Customers key in searches such as “------- brands”, “-------- near me” and “How do I use --------”. The customer also looks up for community information on a product on various review websites and e-commerce portals as well. This reinforced with popular opinions from friends and family makes the new customer a challenging proposition for brands and firms. To tackle this MICANVAS associated with a host of local media influencers to talk about the event and gained critical earned media. Also, the flagship event, Topline’s Annual Biz Challenge – The case on Huawei and the Diesel case study competition helped MICANVAS earn crucial word of mouth in the B-School student community which sent event registrations to skyrocket past 6000, which is the highest ever registrations recorded for the fest.
ACT is definitely the part which delivers the numbers. The brands and companies have realized the need of personal touch, which is a prime demand of the modern consumer. The consumer, these days, might compare online product details and purchase at the nearest store or the consumer might compare product details and pricing offline at stores and make the purchase online (popularly termed as showrooming). In such a case the three new Ps - people, physical evidence and process, become vital for brands both online and offline. MICANVAS targeted its audience by hosting the fest on Dare2Compete, a popular competition forum, and used targeted promotion of specific events on Instagram to spread the word. The headliner act by Salim-Sulaiman was promoted in print and outdoor media driving up the demand for the concert.
ADVOCATE is the name of the game, currently, in the market. Most of the brands and companies are looking to maximize their earned media and strategize about the next big wave of the same for themselves. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an important part of any marketing strategy but it is vital to factor in the listening factor in this as well. It is important that a customer’s expectation is met at an adequate demand level by a brand or company. The firm should ideally work towards providing a desired demand level of product or quality to earn more advocacies from their customers. A customer’s journey from an acquaintance to a partner determines the kind of advocacy a brand or company receives on online forums, e-commerce websites and through word-of-mouth. The legacy of MICANVAS is MICANs themselves. Over the years MICANVAS has grown leaps and bounds and has been the pride jewel of every MICAN, who is involved in every aspect, of the festival. The buzz created by the current promotions through digital media partner The Quint, and multiplex partner Cinepolis helped Micanvas reach audiences in 6 cities. It has made MICANVAS the go-to fest for business school students.
While these five sub-aspects of the 5A strategy are individually challenging the beauty of this model is the cyclical nature of the strategy. Given that we are now entering the era of Gen-Z customer, it is vital to observe and question how we can further change the 5A model to suit the needs of the new generation and further redefine strategic marketing.
MICANVAS this year has looked to the 5A strategy to create, embrace and experience the magic of modern marketing for the participants. The fest will leave everyone questioning the question after three days of immersive learning for life and career.
#ReThink
Author - Prithvi Kanti Bandyopadhyay
Editor – Tanya Shridhar, Trishla Jhaveri