Note from the Editors’ Desk

Big shout out to all!!

We at the Marketing and Advertising Club, Vinod

Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, are
proud to present MADazine, our annual
marketing magazine.

MADazine is a B-School magazine with a

difference. We bring to you insights from the
corporate czars, opinions from the who's who of
the marketing world as well as fresh ideas in
form of student articles.

We present interesting interviews from names

like, McDonalds, IBM, Uninor, Idhasoft and
Steris. They have opened a small but significant
window into their lives as key players in their
organization's success. We also have an expert
Madazine Team: section, where we bring in opinions of well
established professionals and academicians from
Editors-in-chief: their area of proficiency. In magazine we also
Anshul Bhatia have the unsullied opinions of the in house
Kanika Puri student body which also proves to be an
interesting read.
Editorial Team:
Ann Thomas
Ravinder Pal Dhillon We sincerely thank our dean and faculty who
Saurabh Agarwal have always encouraged students to think out of
the box and embark upon activities beyond the
Design Team: curriculum.
Ambuj Agarwal
A wholly student initiative, MADazine is our
Special Thanks to: attempt to be heard.
Aksha Middya (École
Normale Supérieure, Sincerely
Paris ) Editors

MADazine
 Interview: McDonald’s
Mr. Arvind Singhal
Director– Marketing,McDonald's India
(West & South)

Mr. Singhal is the Director– Marketing, McDonald's India (West & South). In this capacity he is responsible for
aligning the functional goals to the overall business objectives to achieve the company's annual targets. His
responsibilities include achieving top line & bottom line numbers for the organization & to lead all marketing
activities and programs nationally. He also aims to develop a world class marketing team to leverage
consumer understanding & fuel growth for the organisation.

Prior to joining McDonald's in May of 2007, Arvind was with Reliance Communications as Marketing Manager
of Reliance Mobile & Reliance Hello and was responsible for providing advertising support at National &
Circle levels. Arvind has also worked for well known brands like Nokia India Pvt. ltd, Marico Industries Ltd,
Asian paints (India) limited & Telco under various capacities.

An alumni of IIT-Mumbai, Arvind also holds a management degree from IIM-Kolkata. Arvind is passionate
about learning & his biggest strength is his integrity towards whatever he aims to achieve. He is always driven
by positive attitude in any sphere of activity - be it academics, sports or extra-curricular activities for which he
has won many awards throughout.

Arvind is an avid reader and spends his leisure time keeping himself abreast with the latest trends in business
around the world. He also likes to read and play golf & tennis.

MAD: Can you tell us about the business
model followed by McDonald's?
AS: Our operations are built on the four
blocks of Quality, Service, Convenience and
Value and everything that we undertake is
focused on delivering these enduring values
to our customers. At McDonald's our primary
focus is on providing our customers with
high quality products, served quickly with a
smile in a clean and pleasant environment at
affordable prices.
The full fledged McDonald's restaurants are
located in heavy footfall areas such as malls
and on high-street locations and offer the
whole range of McDonald's products. A true
family dining destination, McDonald's
restaurants ensure a fun-filled experience
for the entire family.
McDonald's Drive Thru restaurants are
designed to enable busy executives on the
move to grab a quick and convenient meal.
They are an integral part of McDonald's
business plan both in India and
internationally and McDonald's is well
positioned to expand on Drive-Thru locations
in major cities across the country.
McDonald's was the first to introduce this
concept in India.
Petrol Pump Alliance McDonald's has
partnered with Bharat Petroleum and HPCL
to set up McDonald's restaurant at select
stations in cities across the South and West.
McDonald's restaurants have been set up at
select fuel stations under the first of its kind
oil-alliance programme giving an option to
customers to enjoy McDonald's products
when on the move.
The Kiosk format has been leveraged in
metro cities and offers a selection of cold
desserts and beverages only. Kiosks have
been a successful model and contribute
around 2% of total sales. Currently
McDonald's has around 50 stand alone
kiosks and plans to open 20 more this year.

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The McDelivery concept was launched by
McDonald's first in Asia markets,
McDonald's home delivery service enables
us to be accessible to consumers at home,
offices, colleges and pretty much
everywhere. This format contributes
almost 12% of the sales and it has the
potential to grow to 20% in two years. The
delivery service works through a standard
national toll free number to ensure similar
and easier access for customers.
MAD: What are the supply chain
management issues that McDonald's
faces?
AS: As I mentioned McDonald's is built
upon the foundation of QSC & V (Quality,
Service, Cleanliness & Value) and in order
to deliver QSC&V consistently, one of the
biggest hurdles was the limited availability
of an effective cold chain network in India.
Additionally, there were no processing
facilities as well as limited availability of high
standard raw products.
In order to overcome the same, six years
prior to the opening of its first restaurant, we
worked very closely with Indian farmers and
processing facilities to bring in the latest
technology in farming, processing and cold
chain through technology transfer
arrangement between our international
suppliers and Indian businessmen. Owing
to this foresightedness we don't have any
supply chain related issues at our
restaurants.
MAD: We only see the food services side
of McDonald's. Could you throw some
light upon McDonald's technological
side?
AS: McDonald's has established a scientific
centralised supply and logistics system
starting from the farmer level and the
onwards to the factory, distribution centre
and finally to their restaurants by educating/
training farmers, suppliers, distribution
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centres and employees in restaurants so
that high quality products matching
international standards can be delivered to
McDonald's customers, resulting in
customer satisfaction at the highest level.
MAD: McDonald's is known for its quality
management. How does McDonald's
ensure this?
AS: The USP of McDonald's is the Quality,
Service, Cleanliness & Value for money
which means we focus on providing our
customers high quality products, served
quickly with a smile, in a clean and pleasant
environment, and at an affordable price.
McDonald's India serves only the highest
quality products. The biggest change that
McDonald's brought about in food
processing in India is introducing the
concept of HACCP and GMP to its supplier's
way back in 1995-96
All McDonald's suppliers adhere to Indian
Government regulations on food, health and
hygiene while continuously
maintaining their own recognized
standards. All McDonald's products are
prepared using the most current state-of-
the-art cooking equipment to ensure
quality and safety. At McDonald's, the
customer always comes first. McDonald's
India provides fast friendly service- the
hallmark of McDonald's that sets its
restaurants apart from others. McDonald's
restaurants provide a clean, comfortable
environment especially suited for families.
McDonald's menu is priced at a value that
the largest segment of the Indian
consumers can afford.
MAD: Cafe Coffee Day has entered into
non food retail and also third party
product retail. What does McDonald's
feel about the same? Do we see
McDonald's following a similar path
soon?
AS: As a policy, we don't comment on other
brands and their strategies.
MAD: McDonald's has come a long way
from being perceived as a
predominantly children's restaurant to a
complete family restaurant. How did
McDonald's achieve this transition in
India?
AS: The starting point was to bring to
'Indian', 'values families and culture',
'comfortable and easy'. In short a 'friendly
place where families would love to e n j o y
and have a special time'. However, the onus
was to consistently build and protect
the brand while persistently committed to
fundamentals of QSC&V ( Q u a l i t y ,
Service, Cleanliness & Value). The first step
for the brand was to establish itself as a
familiar, comfortable place. Taking a cue
from the Indian family values, the year
2000 saw the first ever McDonald's ad aired
in the country.
In addition we divide the target audience
into adults and kids and cater them
accordingly. Our adult marketing would
consist of promoting our core products
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like McVeggie, McChicken and the Happy
Price Menu of Rs 20 onwards.
For our young patrons we roll out Happy
Meal promotions which would be of a toy
associated with either a movie or series of
cartoon on monthly basis which engage the
kids and create excitement among them.
MAD: Would McDonald's consider
opening a branch within the IIT campus
in Kharagpur?
AS: McDonald's India is a wholly owned
company managed by Indians. In the
Western Region, Hardcastle Restaurants
Private Limited owns and manages
McDonald's restaurants. In the Northern
and Eastern regions, McDonald's
restaurants are owned and managed by
Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private
Limited. The decision to open a restaurant
depends on customer base, the reach of the
supply chain network without hindering the
product quality and feasibility of the venture.
If we perceive a strong business opportunity
in opening a restaurant within the campus
we will definitely work towards it.
(via email)
 A Tryst with Time
I have been in this world
for a long time. I have
seen many things pass
by, but I have remained. I
am Gillu, and I will share
some pieces of my life
with you.
My earliest memories
are of the time when I would cling to my
mother for new toys. I used to wait
throughout the day for the ice-cream man's
bell and the toy-sellers booming voice,
never knowing whether they will appear or
not.
Growing up from the cradle to the streets,
one day a gust of wind brought with it a
colourful paper, which stuck to my face.
Irritated, I pulled it out and saw that the page
had the description of a party. I got excited
and thanked the colourful paper for
informing me of the party as I had already
missed a lot of them because I was never
informed.
I loathed the medicinal odour of the red-
coloured soap used in my house. But, at
that time it was the so called “good” choice
compared to the other soap available in the
nearby market. Life was easy with limited
assortments to choose from. We used
whatever was available even though I so
wanted a better smelling soap. My parents
always used to tease me by saying, “the
world does not run according to you, get
married and you will have bigger problems
than a bad smelling soap”.
One day my father teased me that he had
found the perfect match for me. I wondered
when he got the time to travel for this quest.
I was amazed to discover that a whole slew
of prospective brides were brought to him
by means of the matrimonial ads that had
started appearing in the newspaper
recently. It was fun to see his face balloon
with anger when I straightaway denied
MADazine
Ambuj Agarwal and Rashmi Gupta
VGSoM Class of 2011
marriage at that early age and went off for
stroll in the market to subside my agitation.
While in the market, I was delighted to find a
new soap that had a flowery fragrance. I
liked the new soap, but alas! It was very
difficult to find it in the market as it was
almost always out of stock. I was frequently
disappointed and had to revert back to the
red bar again.
Adolescence brought with it an attraction
towards the epicurean habits. My choice of
cigarettes started being decided by the
gigantic roadside boards proclaiming the
masculinity of people using the brand.
To fulfil my desires, I pestered my family to
purchase the latest sensation in the music
line; the radio. I could pass hours just
listening to the music that played on it. One
day I heard the description of my dream
house over the radio .I could not stop
thinking of my newfound desires even
though I knew I could not afford such luxury.
These dreams made me realise that in order
to make them a reality, I had to get a job that
paid well. I was myself surprised at the
progress I made in my job. With the earning I
had, I gifted my family with the latest luxury,
a television. Our family had a great time
watching shows together. While waiting for
the baseball telecast to start, I was delighted
to see the clock that was hanging in my
room being shown on the television, inside
the house of my favourite actress. After the
enthralling baseball match, I went to bed
late in the night with no intention of getting
up early.
Even in my dreams I could not help seeing
myself dancing hand in hand with the
actress and being embraced by her to the
tunes of peppy songs. The dream seemed
to last an eternity until I was interrupted by
the words “Kya aap is gaane ko apni caller
tune banana chahte hain, to dial Karen 1....”
I woke up and to my surprise I felt that it was
not the place where I went to sleep. There
was something like a television kept on the
table with something which seemed like a
mini typewriter, but it had no slot to put a
paper in.
I saw a person enter my room and heard
some tapping sounds, and the TV like box
flashed the picture of a beautiful girl, and the
face of the person brightened up. Gathering
all my courage, I got up and moved to the
person and asked, “WHAT IS THIS?”
He replied in a sanctimonious tone, “THIS
IS A WINDOW TO THE WORLD”, and with
these words he left me astounded to start
my pursuit of exploring the “magical box”.
Through this window I got up to speed with
the current world and came to know that it
could take me to anyone and any place in
the world in the blink of an eye. Gradually I
got engrossed in that virtual world.
With my acceptance of the new world came
something which baffled me a lot. Every
moment I found myself inundated with
offers from all sorts of brands via the
internet, e-billboards, SMS's. Now the life
was no-more easy like the time when I went
to sleep. This brought about a sensory and
mental overload even while making a
choice as simple as that of soap. While
earlier I knew which brand was good, but
now with the proliferation of brands where
each one proclaimed itself to be good, very-
good and excellent; “I was confused”.
Now I could get almost anything I wanted
delivered to my place and pay online. The
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shopping experience had changed but I still
longed for the old days when I could have a
look and feel of things. I could even tell a
company what I felt about them and what I
would want them to come out with.
Sometimes, later when I bought the product
again, I could find some of the things that I
had suggested.
I adored the brands which took care of me
and to show my love, I bought things for their
name. This habit grew unchecked and one
day I wondered, “What am I?”, “A Chalta firta
Ad of my beloved brands”. Then I realised
that the brands had completely permeated
my being,
“When I saw something, I saw a brand.
When I touched something, I felt a brand, to
the extent that even when I uttered a word, it
became an Advertisement (Thanks to social
networking).”
Through these social networks I have
observed many new phenomena bubbling
up. The most recent being that people are
becoming more and more concerned about
the environment and are trying to undo the
harm done, by going “Green”.
I find more and more brands claiming
themselves to be green and saying “We
care”.
Now, it seems that my time in this world
might come to an end soon. It feels good to
see that people are now concerned about
the future, and are doing their bit to protect
and preserve it. If the trend continues, I
might be able to rest peacefully forever.
 Click!
from Merely Online to going Viral with a Vengeance

Prithwis Mukerjee, PhD.

Professor at Vinod Gupta
School of Management

Prof. Prithwis Mukherjee is an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and has gone on to
pursue management from University of Texas – Dallas. He had 18 years of experience in the software sector.
He took up teaching professionally in the year 2008 and teaches various technology related subjects to
students in management schools. He is an enthusiastic blogger and likes to be in touch with the
advancements in the technological world. His multi dimensional personality is best described as “Imagineer”
as he likes to call it.

Print media is fast losing out to its online
cousin -- at least that is the story in the more
developed societies. Actually, the word
developed has a rather embarrassing
connotation to the extent that it implies that
we in the non-developed world are
somehow barbaric, but if we can swallow
our pride on this, then it is a fact there is a
gulf of difference between the markets of
North America, Western Europe and some
pockets in the Far East on one hand the rest
of the world on the other. What is this
difference? First, per capita income and
buying power and what is most important
for the purpose of this article, broadband
penetration.
Broadband penetration translates into a
change in lifestyle -- eCommerce, net
banking, social media
and of course in the way
we consume information,
and it is this last change
that is cause of much
grief in the upper
echelons of media
ownership. Print media is
feeling the heat as it loses
market share to online
media.
What does it mean in terms of advertising?
Before we answer that question, let me ask
you what is the business that Google is in?
You may say search, you may say online
video -- through YouTube, you may say
cloud computing, but if you are really
perceptive you would realise that it is a pure
play advertising company. In fact if you cut
to the chase, then all media companies are
advertising companies -- their main
business is to sell ads. Or for that matter to
sell advertising space to mainline
businesses, and the content they carry is
simply a way to increase the value of the
space that they sell. The COST of an ad in
college magazine is the same as that in
Economic Times but the PRICE that ET can
charge for the same ad is far more than what
a college magazine can charge, simply
because it is surrounded by information that
a far larger number of people would be
interested in. The hook is
the same but because the
bait is better you catch
more fish and so you are
willing to pay more for the
same hook. In case of
Google, they sell ad
space packaged inside
their search engine or
YouTube videos and
since these are very
popular, their ads can be
priced higher. ( In reality, Google's ad

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service has some pretty advanced features,
but that may not be very relevant to our
discussion here )
An extension of the same logic allows us to
see that putting an ad in an online journal is
more likely to be effective than an
equivalent ad in a print journal and this logic
is apparently correct because Google ( and
other online ad servers ) seem to be
growing in strength at the cost of the
traditional media.
Case closed. QED. Or is it?
Let me ask you a question : I presume you
are an active user of the web but tell me how
many times have you actually clicked on an
ad on a web page? I will not answer on your
behalf, but in my case it is very, very rare.
When we search the web, we are more
interested in reading the page we looked
up, or watching the movie we wanted, who
bothers about clicking on that pesky ad?
Perhaps it is different in the more
"developed" societies where the change in
lifestyle is more substantial and where
many more things are being done through
the online route, but back home, here in
India -- and by extension, in areas that are
geographically or demographically similar -
- clicking on an ad is an exception rather
than the rule. Someday, oh surely someday,
we shall overcome this indifference and
click on an ad just as we have started
visiting Pizza Hut or Cafe Coffee Day, even
though the food or beverage they serve is
not substantially better than what is
available in the friendly neighbourhood
dhaba! But until then, is there a way to make
people click on a link?
There is! Social media sites like Orkut,
Facebook or the more eclectic sites like
Slashdot and Digg! When we visit
Facebook or Slashdot we are actively
looking for sites to click on because they
have been referred to us by our friends!
When I visit Slashdot -- and I am the geeky
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kind that loves difficult to find information on
an assortment of eclectic topics -- I actually
click on the link that my friends, even
anonymous "friends" have recommended
simply because I have developed a level of
trust in their judgment. It is more likely than
not that the sites that I am pointed to would
be of interest to me. In a more mundane
sense, so is the case with Facebook. If
someone I know recommends a book, or a
video or an article in Facebook, I am more
likely than not to go and check it out.
So, unlike the ad of Google AdSense that
are routinely displayed next to a article in an
online journal, the strike rate -- or click-
through-rate as it is referred to -- is far higher
in social media and this is where we hit the
sweet spot in online marketing. And what
makes it even better, is not only do I click on
link, if I like it I recommend it to my friends
and the chain continues -- and you have the
genesis of viral marketing.
But can viral marketing be used as a
substitute for direct, in your face advertising
of traditional products from say FMCG
products or white goods? My social media
friends may be intrigued by my references to
o_bcNayontara, my wife's musical band, or
c9llthe Road to pSingularity, my explanation
of the cosmos or may even click on a link
that tells them to save the last 1411 tigers
left in India but would they forgive me if I ask
them to visit a Sunsilk ad? or a DoCoMo
c o m m e r c i a l ? U n l i k e l y.
That then is the real challenge to viral
marketing. How to make it palatable and not
an imposition on my "friendship"? The trick
is -- or should be -- to blend the ad into an
ambient environment that is fundamentally
useful or interesting. Google does it by
blending the ad into its search results. Some
movie directors do this by blending lifestyle
products into the lifestyle that is being
portrayed by the actor -- 007 and the Aston
Martin, but on the whole, it is easier said
than done.
Viral marketing is nice. It gets you the clicks
that you would never have got in a
traditional online ad but the real difficulty is
to use this powerful medium to advertise
traditional products like detergents or
services like insurance. How can one
achieve a harmonious blend of soft social
media advertising and the hard ads that
actually pull in the big money? The answer,
as in the case of all such difficult questions,
is that it is not easy. There is no silver bullet.
One approach could be to build niche social
networks -- not around hard products or
services, but around broad based themes.
For example around health insurance or
prepaid telephone tariffs or around
personal grooming or even around
consumer grievance redressal. Such
networks, if managed honestly and without
overt bias may provide the platform on
which viral marketing techniques might
come of age and grow of out of amateur
adolescence and into commercial
adulthood.
Physical creation of such networks is not
difficult. Services like lxhzNing and
v0m5SocialGo will allow you to create such
networks very easily -- and with all the usual
bells and whistles like friends, blogs,
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forums, videos, chat, mail and what not --
but the next challenge is to enroll a critical
mass of people to participate in the network.
Alternatively, one can work on building sub-
networks withing the more traditional public
networks like Facebook where flexibility is
less but the reach is far higher -- it already
has millions of members! Fan Pages and
Causes within Facebook could be looked
upon as such sub networks, but the difficulty
is that the major public networks are not very
tolerant of blatant advertising -- unless of
course they are designated as ads and paid
for. But in that case, the viral effect is lost
and it becomes just another online ad.
Net-net, the potential of viral marketing on
social media is huge but making it really
work calls for ingenuity, experimentation
and of course hard work. The field is so new
that there is very little hard theory, only
anecdotal folklore to guide the intrepid
explorer and the best way to learn about it is
to jump in and try out various options till you
get a feel of how the whole thing works.
On the web, there are many things that are
free but unfortunately, a lunch certainly is
not one of them.
 Marketing your Band
Online

Sahil Makhija,
Musician,
Mumbai

Sahil Makhija alias 'Demonstealer' has been part of the growing Indian underground metal scene for almost a
decade. He is the vocalist and guitarist of one of India's most well known and popular metal band 'Demonic
Resurrection'. He also fronts India's only Humor Metal band called 'Workshop'. Sahil Makhija also has a solo
project under his own name as well as another where he plays the drums called 'Reptilian Death'. In 2005 he
set up Demonstealer Records, an independent record label set up to promote Indian Extreme metal bands
along with Demonic Studios where he produces and records bands himself. To top it off he also works with
Furtados Music as their artist relations manager and product specialist.

I'm a college drop-out. I never studied
marketing or anything even remotely related
to it. However, I'm told that I'm good at it, and
good enough for someone to ask me to write
this column about it. Whatever I'm managed
to do is simply because it was necessary. I
formed my band 'Demonic Resurrection' in
the year 2000 when the Indian indie scene
was starting to pick up. Bands were finally
starting to write original music and some of
them even recording it and making albums
to sell. It's because of this movement that I
felt the need to market my music and my
band.
In the old days, bands relied on TV, print and
radio to market themselves and due to the
astronomical costs of these media, they
were unable to do any of this without the
support of a record label. Fast forward to the
20th century, the Internet has picked up, less
and less people are buying music and the
internet has connected and created a global
music community. It's the perfect platform to
market yourself to people anywhere in the
world, and it doesn't cost you anything (apart
from the net bills, computer costs and
electricity). In and around 2000 there was no
Facebook or Orkut or a gazillion other social
networking sites, there was no myspace and
ReverbNation for music. We had Mp3.com,
where artists could upload their music and
profile and people could listen to it for free.
Back then, ICQ was the instant messenger of
choice and chatting on yahoo chat was a big
deal. One of my strategies in those days was
visiting all the metal chat rooms and
individually messaging people asking them
to check out my band. While a lot of people
cursed me and blocked me, there was a large
number of people that did take the time to
listen to it. Some of them became fans,
otherwise gave me some kind of criticism or
praise, all valuable inputs for a budding band.
Around the same time Gigpad.com, a portal
for Indian bands opened up and they had a
forum where everyone could join and post
stuff. Again, this proved to be a great platform
and it was easy to talk about what's going on
in the scene. To be honest, there was no real
marketing whiz behind getting the band
noticed in the start, it was just straight out

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down to earth 1 on 1 approach with people
saying 'hey check out my band'. However 5
years down the link the online world has
changed too and we have everything from
Orkut and Facebook to Twitter to Myspace
and ReverbNation, the list of tools and
websites that allow you to promote your
music are endless.
So how do you get started and what do you
do to get noticed? To begin with, every
band needs to do the most obvious thing -
write some music and then spend some
money and get it recorded. Remember, a
band is an investment. So unless you have
written good songs and those good songs
are recorded well, no amount of marketing
in the world can help you. If you have a great
song that is recorded badly, no one will want
to listen to it. If you have a bad song that is
brilliantly recorded, you still will have no one
giving 2 cents for it. Remember, don't get
sucked into loving yourself, be critical and
make sure you create something musical
that is worth people's time and money
because you do want people to come back
to your website. So once you have this bit
ready, you need to get some other stuff in
place. Stuff like good photographs of the
band live and in the studio, a well written
bio, some goodies like wallpapers, artwork
etc. Once you have done all that, target
Facebook, Orkut, Myspace, ReverbNation,
Twitter and Youtube. Set up a band
account, fan pages, profiles, tweet, update,
share. With ReverbNation you pretty much
have everything you need and you can link
your Facebook, Myspace and Twitter
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accounts to automatically update. Then you
need to start sharing these links with your
friends, get on forums and communities and
paste your link or even better use the
ReverbNation widgets to post actual music
players on blogs etc. Keep recording your
performances and upload videos on
youtube. Remember, the more content you
have the more people view it, also its very
important to keep updating your fans.
Speaking of fans, one of the most important
things is to always take the time and trouble
to talk to your fans online through Facebook
or Myspace and take time to reply to their
emails. As a fan I know if my fav musician
writes back to my email I become an even
bigger fan. Loyal fans can even be enlisted
in your street team which you can create in
Reverbnation. In fact Reverbnation is
probably the best band building website as it
gives you EVERYTHING that you need right
from mailing list functions to online store, to
selling your music etc. So make sure you
are on Reverbnation.
With all this stuff online to help you promote
your music the possibilities are endless, but
more than online marketing it's how you are
in the real world. How hard does your band
work to put up a great gig, how hard do you
guys work to stay back after the show and
sell your merchandise directly to fans, or
how many autographs you sign and how
you spend time and interact with these fans.
If you do all this offline you are pretty sure of
a successful career considering you have
the most important thing in place, which is
'Great Music'.
 Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Indian Market
“Why read fiction? Why go to movies? Soft drinks
industry has enough roller coaster plot-dips to make
novelists drool” – Jesse Myers in Beverage Digest
July 1985
The history, the romance, the struggle, the courage,
the endurance, the confidence and the competition
characterizes the presence of an industry which no
one in their wildest imagination had dreamt would
last so long. Beginning in 1886, when a tumultuous,
inventive, clamorous and neurotic new America got
a taste of a “nerve tonic” invented by an obsessive
chemist in the pursuit of the perfect medicine, to late
1890's when a worthy adversary was born, and to
the present; change, aggression and controversy
have been the order of the day. That “nerve tonic”
was Coca-Cola, the obsessive chemist John
Pemberton and the worthy adversary Pepsi and the
adversity has not decreased an iota even after 100
years.
Indian Soft Drinks Market
1970's and early 80's—the entry and exit of Coke
India has proved to be perhaps the toughest battle
st
ground for the Cola giants. Coca-Cola was the 1
international soft drinks brand to enter India in early
1970's. Indian market was dominated by domestic
brands, with Limca being the largest selling brand.
Cola was the largest selling flavor with market share
of 40%, Lemon drinks 31% and orange drinks only
19%.
Up till 1977, Coca-cola was the leading soft drink
brand in India. But due to norms set by the Foreign
Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), Coca-Cola left
MADazine
Prabodh Sharma,
VGSoM Class of 2010
India and did not return till 1993 after a 16 year
absence from the Indian beverage market. FERA
needed Coca-Cola to reveal its secret concentrate
formula as well as reduce its equity stake which was
not acceptable.
Pure drinks, Delhi launched Campa-Cola, to take
advantage of Coke's exit and by the end of 70's, was
the only Cola drink in the Indian market. In 1980,
Parle, another major Indian player launched
ThumsUp, the drink which till date is most popular
soft-drink in India. Pure Drinks strongly objected to
ThumsUp being called a “soft” drink as it felt its taste
is too strong. For over a decade, Parle led the Indian
soft-drinks market, with its market share reaching a
peak of 70% in1990.
Late 80's and early 90's— Pepsi's struggle to
enter India
Pepsi saw the exit of Coke as a God send opportunity
to capture then estimated 900 crore market of India.
India was then a highly regulated market with
International trade constituting only 6% of GDP in
1985. Foreign trade was subject to import tariffs,
export tariffs and quantitative restrictions. Foreign
direct investment (FDI) was restricted by barriers like
upper limit equity participation, restrictions on
technology transfer, export obligations and
government approvals. Any foreign investment had a
lot of political sensitivity to it. By the time PepsiCo
began its negotiations, the upper cap for equity
holding in Indian companies was 40%. PepsiCo
realized it'll have to be creative to enter the Indian
markets.
Attempt 1: In May 1985, PepsiCo joined hands with
the RPG group to form Agro Product Export Limited.
It planned to import Cola concentrate and sell soft-
drinks under the Pepsi label and in return offered to
export Juice Concentrate from Punjab. The
government rejected the proposal due to its using a
foreign name and importing the concentrate.
Attempt 2: Pepsi decided to play the Punjab Card by
promising to invest $15 million in Punjab, establish
an Agro Research centre (costing Rs 1.55 crores), a
potato and grain based processing unit (costing Rs 8
crores) and a fruit and vegetable processing unit
(costing Rs 5 crores). Benefits and proposal
included better market for rice, wheat and fruits in
Punjab, creation of 25000 jobs in Punjab and 25000
more in other areas. In 1988, government agreed.
PepsiCo entered as Lehar Pepsi and by 1991, it was
clear that most of its promises were just on paper.
The company did improved the productivity in India,
introduced farmers to new technology, established
agriculture research centers in Jallowal and Channo
(in Punjab) and Nelamangla in Karnataka and
invested more capital than promised (by the year
2000, total investment was Rs 18 billion), but the
picture on many other aspects was gloomy. The
planned operations in Punjab were delayed and as a
result, local farmers had to bear a combined loss of
Rs. 2.5 Million. Pepsi paid only 0.75 Rs/Kg of Tomato
compared to open market price of Rs 2/Kg.
Employment was provided to only 783 people as
compared to 50,000 promised (although company
claimed it to be 26,000 due to direct and indirect
operations). It began exporting tea, rice, shrimps,
glass bottles, leather products as against fruits and
vegetable products. There was a even a show-
cause notice to Pepsi by the ministry of commerce.
Luckily for PepsiCo, in 1991, the government of India
liberated the economy on grounds of severe foreign
MADazine
exchange crisis and Pepsi was freed from all the
commitments it had made during entry.
Re-entry of Coca-Cola in 1993
On the 26th of October 1993, Coca-Cola re-entered
the Indian market having acquired some of the
leading Indian soft drink brands from Parle, namely
Thums-Up, Maaza, Limca, Goldspot & Citra. These
brands joined Coke's portfolio of international brands
i.e. Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Schweppes as Coca-
Cola India took control of the top soft drink brands in
India from the very beginning. From 1993 to 2003,
company invested US $ 1 billion in India.
The beginning of Cola War
For the Cricket World Cup 1996, Pepsi was not the
official sponsor of the tournament, Coke was. But
Pepsi had a whole pool of best players roped in as
brand ambassadors from the sub continent and
abroad. The ad campaign of “Nothing Official About
it” rocked the country and despite Coke being the
official sponsor, it was Pepsi which hogged the
publicity.
In 1998, with the release of blockbuster movie “Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai”, Pepsi took out another ace from its
sleeve, featuring Shahrukh, Rani and Kajol in its ad.
The punch line was “Yeh Dil Maange More” which
was an iconic line and struck a chord amongst the
people.
Coca-Cola countered by spoofing the ad, using
Sprite, to hilarious effect. Pepsi responded with a
spoof of its own, starring Azhar and Jadeja hitting on
the Coke line of “Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink
Only Coca Cola” with the punch line of “More More
Cricket, More More Pepsi”. Coke again hit back, this
time with Thumbs Up ad. They portrayed the
cricketers as monkeys and ended the ad with “Don't
be a bunder (monkey) Taste the Thunder!” Situation
turned ugly with Pepsi going to court and finally
ended with Coke withdrawing the ad.
The Cola wars went on full-fledged till 2003, when a
pesticide controversy forced Coke and Pepsi to
fight on the same side in so called “India's New
Cola Wars”.
The Controversies
Presence of Pesticides: In 2003, the Centre for
Science and Environment (CSE) findings stirred the
beverage industry in India. CSE claimed to find
dangerous levels of pesticides in all the 57 samples
of 11 soft drinks brands collected by the organization
from 25 different manufacturing units of Coca-Cola
and PepsiCo spread over 12 states. The study found
a cocktail of three-five different pesticides in all the
samples - on an average 24 times higher than norms
laid down by government-run Bureau of Indian
Standard (BIS). Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Kerala banned the sale of
Colas in schools, colleges and government
departments, and other states also took adversarial
measures.
The day after the CSE's announcement, Coke and
Pepsi came together in a rare show of solidarity at a
joint press conference. The companies attacked the
credibility of the CSE and their lab results, citing
regular testing at independent laboratories proving
the safety of their products. They promised to
provide this data to the public, threatened legal
action against the CSE while seeking a gag order,
and contacted the United States Embassy in India
for assistance. They roped in major film stars to
explain their purity to public. Despite all these
measures, sales dipped by as much as 80% in some
regions. The soft drinks industry took over a year to
MADazine
get back on the growth track.
Ground Water Crisis: Coca-Cola was recently
accused of ground water depletion in many areas of
the country. Coca-Cola's bottling operations – which
extract hundreds of millions of liters of water from the
groundwater resource – have significantly worsened
the water crisis as groundwater levels have dropped
sharply since Coca-Cola started its operations. The
company was also accused of indiscriminately
dumping its toxic waste into the surrounding areas –
polluting the water as well as the land. The Coke
reiterated its commitment to trim down water usage
and take steps towards environment sustainability
and farmer's welfare. However, activists retort that
Coca Cola is in the business of water usage and
wasting, creating a luxury product largely for the
middle class. They are unlikely to put water concerns
over profits, until they are forced to.
The road ahead
Amidst various allegations and controversies, the
soft drinks industry in India, supported by its booming
economy, strengthening middle class and low per
capita consumption, is growing at a cruising pace.
The focus has shifted from carbonated drinks to Fruit
drinks, with both the companies launching Lemon
drinks in 2009-10. In the next few years, the fruit juice
category is likely to carry the growth flag forward as
consumers become more health conscious. The
companies are likely to take more steps to deal with
environment sustainability. But the Cola wars are
here to stay. We as customers can be assured of
superior products and hilarious ads in the process.
And are we complaining?
 Telecom Marketing Strategy
Telecom sector ecosystem consists of Infrastructure
side OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturers ) ,
ODM's (Original Design Manufacturers), Silicon
Players , Mobile Operators ,ISV's (Independent
Software Vendors) and Device side Handset
Manufacturers and Consumer Electronics Players .
This ecosystem value chain is key to the survival of
any player in the Telecom Domain .
Looking at the Telecom Value Stack each player is
trying to consolidate its stack offering to survive the
tough competition in this ecosystem .The entry
barriers in the ecosystem have been thrown apart by
the open sourcing of these elements of value stack.
Clear Example seen can be Google acting as
prosumer and commoditizing the Operating sytem
like Android and
throwing the platform
open for innovation .
Monopolies of certain
Handset Manufacturers
like Nokia and Apple are under threat due to this
change in the rules of the ecosystem game .They are
also changing their strategy and first move seen is
MADazine
Deepak Jhamb
VGSoM Class of 2010
that the legacy Mobile Operating System like
Symbian also becoming Open Sourced .
Looking at the Complex picture of this B2B Business,
the onus is now on the 3-Pillars of the Company
namely – Business Development , Marketing and
Sales Team to utilize their Engineering expertise to
hit on to the ecosystem where they can act as a
differentiator and position themselves with
something substantial with rapid time to market cycle
and move away from the general low cost
outsourcing tag.
Business Development team' s task is to build up the
Strategy Roadmaps to Revenue for the Service or
Product Offering . They usually are the people good
with Strategy and industry knowledge so that they
can start creating the funnel and qualify the leads to
convert them into customers by the time the funnel is
closed or the deal is through .They have to support
the Marketing and Sales team throughout the funnel
process when the contracts and
charters are being prepared for new
projects with the clients . Marketing
team runs through various Campaigns
with the help of Business Development
Team and generates leads through the
Web Marketing Tools and spreads the
initial awareness about the company
and its offering . Marketing people are
generally good at polishing and
communicating the value of offering across the
customer segments through various medium's like
website , emailers to Trade Shows and Social Web
Marketing .Sales team consists of very experienced
people who have lots of industry contacts in the
ecosystem and these people are real masters in
communication with clients and their task is hard
selling and negotiations to complete the top line
number targets .These 3 –pillars along with the
engineering team support run through and manage
various projects which bring on the revenue for the
company .Essentially Telecom Marketing stands on
this base and with the
rapid changes going
on in the value chain
of the ecosystem ,
everyone has to be on
his toes to cut
through the
competition . Trade shows , client relationships ,
targeting the ecosystem powercentres, website
marketing , emailer campaigns , Telemarketing
Campaigns are very essential components of
MADazine
Telecom Marketing . Joining appropriate Forums and
actively participating and contributing in forums
activities is essential for a company to build a
goodwill to attract new business . Building around
and finding the core competency in the value chain
along with value stack consolidation is key to the
company's strategy in Telecom ecosystem .
Platform to work is also a key question for building up
the Telecom ecosystem strategy and with plenty
around
, companies have
lot to think about
and that's why the
puzzle keeps
complicating with
the innovation
making everyone rethink about their strategies .
Platforms to choose from for Handset OEM and
system Integrators .
 Web Analytics Tools – Know thy
Visitors!!!
Neha, a Garment Fashion Designer published her
new dress design on her blog. In just a week, her
post got more than five hundred unique hits. She had
always believed in showcasing her creativity to the
world. However, even after a month of her publishing
that design, no one had placed an order for it. Neha,
unsurprisingly, was very confused. If so many
visitors were visiting her post and they liked what
they saw, how come there weren't any orders
placed? What's going wrong here?
Websites facilitate interactive information sharing,
interoperability, user-centered design and
collaboration on the World Wide Web. This new form
of web communication is also changing e-commerce
through the number of hits and online
advertisement. But amidst the talks of hits, visitors,
most popular post etc, the relevance of visitors is
often left out. Marketing is most commonly defined
as understanding needs, creating and delivering
value to the
t a r g e t
segment.
Ta r g e t
Segment
applies as
much to the
o n l i n e
marketing as it applies to the conventional
marketing.
Probably Neha didn't realize that though her post
was getting hits and appreciation from visitors, she
was missing out on the Target Segment!
MADazine
Aditya Zutshi,
VGSoM Class of 2011
Analytics Tools show the website owner how people
found the site, how they explored it, and how the
owner can enhance the visitor experience. With this
information, the owner can improve the website's
return on investment, can increase conversions and
make more money on the web.
Picture this- everyday before you call it a day, with a
single click, you get to know how visitors found your
site and how well they interact with it. You compare
the behavior and profitability of visitors who were
referred from each of your ads, keywords, search
engines, and emails, and gain valuable insight into
how to improve your site's content and design,
however large or small your site, and however you
drive traffic to it - whether it's unpaid search, partner
sites, AdWords, or other cost-per-click programs an
analytics tool tracks it, from click to conversion.
One of the most users friendly Analytics Tool is
Fig. 1:Summary of Website
Google Analytics and provides complete package of
analytics service free of cost. All you need is a Gmail
Account and you're good to go! The tracking process
begins with logging on to Google Analytics
(www.google.com/analytics) and adding a new
website profile. Having entered the URL of the
website you wish to track, Google Analytics gives
you a script that you need to paste in the code of your
website or blog, and it starts working its magic.
Figure 1, shows some statistics of a personal blog --
performance whether by usage metrics, return visit
numbers, or time on page. It provides information on
visitor interaction with the site, the type of visitors,
and information about how they are viewing the site.
Other information includes Benchmarking, Map

Sources through which visitors arrived on the website

www.adityazutshi.com -- for the last 2 months and
Overlay, New vs. Returning Visitors, Languages,
gives the viewing pattern of visitors, but that is not all.
Visitor Trending, Visitor Loyalty, Browser
You also get information of the sources which led the
Capabilities, Network Properties, and Traffic
visitors to your website. With more and more
Sources. It also gives information on the pages in the
companies going for Search Engine Optimizing for
site and how visitors interact with each one and the
their websites, using efficient tags is of utmost
time spent on page, landing and exit page
importance. Analytics tools let you track the
information, and a navigation summary for pages.
keywords that visitors searched with and arrived on
If you ever meet Neha, don't forget to advice her to
your website. This insight can be used to alter the
use an Analytics Tool to measure the performance of
tags and drive more and relevant traffic.
her blog! As Ken Blanchard quotes, “Feedback is the
This is not all! Analytics Tools like Google Analytics
breakfast of champions”
have over 80 reports to help gauge the site's

MADazine
 Interview: Idhasoft
Mr. Alok Pathak
CEO

Mr. Alok Pathak, an alumnus of IIT Bombay has had a diverse work experience spamming well over thirty
years. After twenty years in the Indian Navy, he entered the industry as a Deputy General Manager in the Tata
family. In 2007, he started Idhasoft, which is now a well established name, especially in the US market. Apart
from being the CEO of Idhasoft, he is also the Managing Director of Prism Informatics, an Indian company that
Idhasoft acquired as part of it's strategic expansion plan in late 2009.

MAD: How does Prism Informatics certification and is likely to get it in a year's
segment its vast client base? time.

AP: Our customers are segmented by size,
by the business domain they belong to and
by geography.
30% of the customers are Fortune 1000 –
many of them spread across several
continents.
SME customers are few in number.
Business domain wise customers are
spread in Retail, Supply Chain, Fashion,
Apparel and Footwear, Education,
G o v e r n m e n t , Te l e c o m , H i g h - t e c h ,
Manufacturing and Pharmaceuticals
Industries.
MAD: What are the various promotion
strategies you use in the B2B Business?
AP: Our major promotion strategy is low
intensity marketing and cross selling.
Through inorganic growth we have acquired
over 1500 customers. Our average revenue
size from these customers varies from 50K to
2 M dollars. A large no. of these customers
have an average budget size of over 5-6 M
dollars. This presents an enormous
opportunity to Idhasoft for cross selling and
mining the existing customer base. A
dedicated team educates our customers
frequently about the services of Idhasoft that
are not currently being used by the customer.

MAD: How has upgrading to CMMI level 3 MAD: How has the recession affected
certification affected Idhasoft's business Idhasoft and Prism Informatics? What are
and operations? your predictions for times to come?

AP: Upgrading CMM level 3 brought a much
needed credibility to our development
centres since majority of large clients have a
process that dictates minimum qualification
for selecting IT partner.
Idhasoft is now embarked on CMM level 4
AP: Recession did impact Idhasoft very
adversely as a large portion of our revenues
came from SMEs at that time and that
created trouble as even healthy companies
had stopped spending in IT due to fears of
recession. However recession also caused a
vacuum of mid-sized IT service providers in

MADazine
the US because many IT companies could
not sustain the recessionary pressures. So
an adverse impact of recession and a
positive impact of vacuum created by the
demise of small companies helped Idhasoft
maintain its Revenues.
Prism was born in Recession and therefore
it could leverage the opportunity of
acquiring companies at a low cost.
Currently both Idhasoft and Prism have
resumed their aggressive growth.
MAD: Idhasoft is one of the fastest
growing companies in the world. Can
you shed some light upon the business
model of Idhasoft?
AP: Idhasoft business model is akin to co-
option model wherein a large no. Of small
sized companies came together to form a
reasonable sized entity. Common
infrastructure, marketing and sales helped
margin improvement.
MAD: Please throw some light on the
latest trends in the ERP industry.
AP: ERP is becoming more business
centric and more vertical based as opposed
to generic solutions. Just to emphasize this,
earlier ERP made claims to service the
Retail vertical, and now further specialized
packages have helped to provide very
business centric solutions to fashion
industry, apparel and footwear, electronic
retail, pharmaceutical retail chains within
the retail industry. This trend will continue
and ERP solutions will become even more
MADazine
specialized.
MAD: Please suggest some ways in
which an ERP Package like SAP or
ORACLE could improve the Education
system in India?
AP: I am not too sure that an ERP package
stand-alone can improve education system;
I think India has chosen a right direction by
first making education a fundamental right
and by creating a brick-and-mortar model to
accommodate a large young population.
Probably in the second phase, three to four
years from now, specialized ERP may
emerge to support the education system
management.
MAD: What are the strategic advantages
of using an ERP or IT package in the
retail/manufacturing or supply chain
industry?
AP: ERP helps exercise best business
practices and necessary controls. These
measures help respond quickly to any
change in business environment, thereby
enabling management to take on-time, on-
budget decisions.
MAD: As CEO of an upcoming Software
products and IT services provider, what
is your daily schedule like ?
AP: I work 12-15 hours a day and there are
no holidays. The passion to grow the
company drives my work schedule!
(via email)
 Ambush Marketing
As per Oxford dictionary, the word 'ambush' means
'The act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to
attack by surprise' and this is exactly what a firm
does on its competitors when it employs 'ambush
marketing' strategy. Bayless coined the term
Ambush Marketing in the year 1988 to first describe
to describe the purposeful and false association by a
company not sponsoring an event toward the end for
deriving benefits similar to those afforded to official
sponsors. In a narrow sense, Schmitz (2005) defines
ambush marketing as the direct efforts of one party
to weaken or attack a competitor's official
association with a sports (most generally though not
limited to sporting events) organization acquired
through the payment of sponsorship fees.
However the most interesting definition in lay man
terms was given by Abram Sauer in his article
'Ambush Marketing: Steals the Show'. He says that
'Imagine you throw a party and invite heaps of
brilliant interesting people. Your roommate fails to
help with the planning or cost. Imagine the night of
the party your roommate shows up and claims up co-
sponsorship. Imagine watching in awe as the
freeloader takes credit for your expense and effort.
Now imagine the party just cost you $20m.'
Ambush marketing is indeed a major threat to
sponsors and has done some serious damage to the
sponsors in the past. Most marketers feel that they
would rather do ambush marketing than have it done
to them. What makes ambush marketing so effective
for the ambushers is the fact that the attack on the
sponsor is from the competitor who is least expected
MADazine
Sourabh Agarwal
VGSoM Class of 2011
to cause any damage to the sponsor since the
sponsor is generally a large corporate firm. However
this might not always be the case. The most
appropriate example of a well established large firm
applying ambush marketing is that of Nike. Nike has
been at the centre of many an ambush marketing
campaigns against other major footwear companies
such as Converse, Reebok, and most frequently on
Adidas.
Perhaps of all sporting events in the history, The
Olympics can be easily singled out as the event most
troubled by Ambush marketing campaigns. Be it the
American Express in 1992 Olympic games, or Nike in
the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, or most recently Li Ning in
the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Out of all the
ambush campaigns around Olympics, the one that
cost the sponsors the most was 2008 Olympics
where the sponsor, Adidas, suffered heavily due to
an ambush attack by a lesser known Chinese brand
Li Ning. Li Ning was a former Chinese gymnast who
won six medals- including three gold- during the
1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles. Since retiring
from the gymnastics, he had also become a
successful entrepreneur. Capitalizing on his
personal brand equity, he founded Li Ning, an athletic
apparel company that specialized in footwear and
clothing. He was a natural choice for lighting the
Olympic torch at the Beijing Olympics. Because of
this most people thought that Li Ning (the company)
was the official sponsor for the games whereas the
reality was that Adidas was the official sponsor of the
event. As a result Li Ning got more publicity and
advantages of the event without even paying for the
rights and Adidas lost a great deal of benefits and
money because of this.
These kinds of activities increase the work and the
responsibilities of the International Olympics
Committee (IOC) by many folds. Not only do they
have to lure the companies to sponsor the event but
they also have to make sure that the companies get
as much benefits as they expect out of the event
sponsorship. Not only do they have to come up with
marketing strategies to give them maximum
exposure but they also have to be on their heels to
protect them from ambush attempts from their
competitors. What makes their task more
challenging is the fact that the sponsors are
generally ambushed by the competitor who is least
expected to cause any trouble. They have to ensure
that the competitors don't associate themselves with
the event illegally. After all it's not only the Sponsor's
money that is at stake but also one's country's
reputation and integrity.
However, it is not only the organizers of the event
who are supposed to keep a check on ambush
marketing campaigns. The organizers have a
number of important priorities, of which
sponsorships is only one. The sponsors should
shoulder this responsibility alike as it is in their best
MADazine
interests. Not only should the company plan
efficiently in sponsoring an event but it should also
take every care in noting down the competitors move
in and around the event. You cannot even afford to
ignore your smallest competitor because if you are
an international firm, there is a large chance that you
might be ambushed by a local company. What
makes matters worse is that once ambushed you are
stranded in a lone island. The ambushed company
over-reacting to an ambush can look like bullies.
They might hurt the sentiments of the people of the
country. This might do them more harm than doing
any actual good.
Frequently, the most debated issue is whether or not
is ambush marketing ethical. Different marketing
professionals look at these issues in different ways.
For some it's a virtual necessity in modern
competitive business practice. There are very limited
options when it comes to competitive advertising and
when the resources are limited then the best way to
gain the most out of your investment is by resorting to
ambush marketing techniques. Also some believe
that in sponsoring an event the company only buys
the rights to attach itself to the event but the company
doesn't get the ownership of the consumer's mind
per se. Hence, it's widely accepted and followed by
reputed firms, advertently and inadvertently.
The first proud association we have once we are in here is with the 'Brand IIT'. And
from there on, we live, breather, eat, wear, walk and talk brands, marketing, retailing,
advertisements etc etc etc!

This is the Marketing and Advertising Club of VGSoM, and as the name suggests,
we're a bunch of people who are MADly passionate about perfecting their skills in the
field of marketing management.

The MAD club is not just an internal affair of the VGSoM students. It is an interactive
platform for the students, faculty, a host of companies and the marketing experts out
there. It creates an even mix of in-house and inter B-school events related to new
concepts, strategies, time tested ideas, brand awareness, advertisements and so on.
“Marketing takes days to learn, and a lifetime to master.” That is why MAD club gets in
touch with the masters of the art while organising guest lectures and workshops on
marketing. The topics covered in such interactive sessions ranges from 'How an
advertisement is born' taken by the giants in advertising - JWT to 'Customer Value
Management' at TATA.

MADISON Avenue, the flagship event of the MAD club, is getting bigger and better
every year. With participation from B-schools across the length and breadth of the
country, Madison Avenue brings case studies, marketing challenges, quizzes,
workshops, guest lectures and much more on a single stage. As they say, marketing is
not an event, but a process. And so when MAD Club organises JADE, the quizzing
event, the team name is a brand; and taglines are not just answers to the questions
but the identities of your special brand.

If business is all about two functions - marketing and innovation, MAD club at VGSoM
is about looking for innovative ways of marketing. The driving forces of MAD are a few
inquisitive and creative minds that are not just into accepting the given; they learn,
analyse, improve, change and question...for they believe there is no end to
Marketing.

MADazine
 Vinod Gupta School of Management
IIT Kharagpur
Vinod Gupta School Of Management was founded in 1993 when IIT Kharagpur realized the
need for IITs to produce managers who could lead organizations in a dynamic technological
environment where change is a way of life. Founded with a generous contribution of Mr
Vinod Gupta, founder Infocom, USA along with an equally generous support from
Government of India,VGSOM started functioning with a batch size of 30 students. Over the
years VGSOM has grown heaps and bounds and now attracts the best management talent
in the country. We have been consistently ranked as one of the best management
institutions in India and envision to become one of the best management institutes in the
world.

History
VGSOM came into existance in 1993 when IIT Kharagpur realized the increased
importance to impart managerial skills to the best engineers of the country.Modelled on the
Sloan School Of Managment,MIT,USA VGSOM has in a short span of about 15 years
already become one of the best management institutes of the country.Founded with a
generous of Mr Vinod Gupta,ex CEO,infoGROUP,USA (IIT Kharagpur,1967 batch)along
with equal support from Government Of India,the school started classes with a small batch
of about 30 students.Over the years VGSOM has grown leaps and bounds and is now the
largest B School within the IIT system.

The foundation stone of the School building was laid in 1994 by the then president of
India,Mr Shankar Dyal Sharma .The School moved to the new building in December of
1996.Over the years the school has moved beyond the sphere of regular MBA
programme.The school regularly organizes a no. of seminar,MDP programmes and
workshops for managers and other management teachers across the world.The School
has to its credit many consultancy and sponsored projects which helped in the ultimate aim
of social progress of the country.In a step to move beyond traditional borders,VGSOM tied
up with the Royal Danish Embassy,Dhaka in 2000 to provide MDP programmes for mid
level managers in Bangladesh.Since then the institute has been regularly organising MDP
programmes and seminars to cater various needs of industry.

MADazine