Meaty MAC club

Patriots (Batch of 2009-10) have recently inaugurated MAC (Marketing Acumen Club). Today (26july 09), we kick started the club full throttle, it was one of the most active and participatory session. Tempestuous colloquies of yesterday were now streamlined, fragmented gibberish of late night episodes now transpired into episodes of marketing. It was quite an extraordinary feat to get there, but, once we were there, it was only a moment of slight stand and the inclination of marketing on the table of history took us all on a reverse chronological trip.

 The quiz was an effective way to pull all the loose ends of conscience lying around like fritillaries on hedgerows to become part of a string. A string of marketing acumen, a nexus of uncontrollable passionate tirades on some of the historical traits of marketing, here we were, in the midst of it all.

Our batch mate Manjit, in his usual characteristic ease attempted to steer the discussion to within the perimeters of the case we were discussing.

• We discussed Dove as a brand, the evolution of the brand that positioned itself against the dry soaps of the Second World War.
  • Dove’s case is unique insofar that the brand improvised on every occasion that brought with it the acrid smell of disaster and demise.
  • Dove proffered the fairer sex with an offer they could not have refused. Dove as a brand got closer to all the women but the celebrities.
  • Dove celebrated its brand equity in women, who prided themselves in being naturally beautiful and despised the artificial and ephemeral impossibilities that only lasted as long as the celluloid did.
  • Dove’s campaigns on lifting the morale of all the girls between the age of 7 and 15 are testimony to the fact that Dove was a brand for the future.
  • The future generations adored Dove, as they matured, so did the brand Dove.
  • Dove’s open invitation for all the consumers to design an ad campaign was a great success, for now even the advertisements were customized. Dove was on a row of win-win treading.
  • However, Dove was criticized for its campaigns of esteem building, for they were not pragmatic.
  • Dove also faced concerns on the ‘natural beauty’ front, for the value addition to the normal women is more often than not, is in realizing the momentous celebrity glory, and not to realize that she would never outgrow herself
• In Quiz, we discussed
  • If SONY is derived from Latin (word for sound), what is the company that derived its name from Japanese equivalent of sound (Answer: Onkyo)
  • The brand that has no meaning ascribed to its brand name, for the founder needed a word that would mean nothing, except that it should be on everybody’s tongue, easy to remember(Answer: Kodak)
  • Name the brand of pocket watch used by Mahatma Gandhi which was acquired by liquor baron Vijay Mallya at a controversial New York auction? (Anser: Zenith-LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group)

All in all, the MAC club has been a great success, we had fun and learning. Thanks to Manjit for the initiative, thanks to Basant for the quiz.