Week 6

The last week of the course builds on the lessons from previous week. The reading materials about google and facebook demonstrates the fact that these companies have figured out how to utilize the data (Big Data) captured over time and very frequently to predict consumer behavior pattern. With facebook's ad revenue surging, it is clear that facebook is capitalizing on the huge customer base and their behavior on its website to help businesses influence customer behavior.

Article on Googlenomics was very insightful and provided key data as ad revenue and also provided some insight into how the free products from google make money for google. More internet usage means more money for google and that concept seems to support various freebees from Google.

Business Model | Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the few non revenue generating companies which has been valued at over 2 Billion USD. This is strange and some of the businesses question this assessment. What we fail to realize is that the world is changing. Pinterest with around 100 minutes of engagement with average customer during a busy schedule shows a huge potential for marketers to tap into the customer base and monetize the customer engagement. It is perhaps a little early to say if this is go down the path of Facebook where it took a while for Facebook to come up with a plan to monetize the huge customer base.

Pinterest has a few things working for it. Despite presence of other social sites, it found a customer segment which was not too interested in words and chose pictures and videos to communicate. This helps a lot of B2C companies to market to such companies. The prospect of tapping such companies for revenue generation is perhaps a big reason for its high valuation.

Today's generation typically go for coolness factor. One of the reasons why Pinterest seems to be popular is because there is no fuss no muss with the apps on mobile and tablet device which makes it very convenient for users to use. Pinterest by virtue of being so lite as an app and designed for mobile devices has the luxury of either investing or enhancing the site to understand customer behavior and use the data for predictive analytics. This can very well be sold as a service to business houses. There are various other ideas which can help Pinterest monetize. A careful approach would be to not go in all the directions and focus on a specific way to monetize without losing on the coolness index.

Week 5

Week 5 introduced us to the concept of Big Data. Market segmentation is no longer a concept to rely on. Each customer is unique and has a behavior which requires marketers to understand the customers as an individual rather than treat them as a part of a bigger segment. This has become essential in the recent times and has generated a lot of interest from the marketers.

Each individual in today's worlds leaves behind multitude of data and if there was a way to consolidate the data, predictive analytic can be used to guess customers behaviour and introduce targeted ads and promotions. This sounds fantastic on the paper but the challenge which the perpetrator of this concept have realized is that data is huge and has multi dimension which makes it really not possible to manage it the traditonal way using  data bases and run reports to visualize it.

There are huge challenges in integrating the data and and also convincing businesses on Omni channel experience. Various organizations have adopted big data strategy and have failed and learned. This phenomenon will continue till this concept is more matured. The two aspects of Big data is
- management (here technology comes into play)
- Usage of data to convert into money (here is where visualization and predictive analytics comes into play)

The articles this week provides a very crisp step by step process to implement a strategy but the problem we have seen in the industry is lack of expertise and experience of individuals in implementing these.

Business Model Canvas | SapientNitro

SapientNitro is a new age digital agency which is redefining storytelling for always on world. SapientNitro uses four pillars to connect with the clients and deliver solutions for them which are far more engaging with the end customers. These pillars are strategy service, expertise in building brands, experience in creating customer experience, being a technology powerhouse offers capabilities to build robust platforms to help build brands and create engaging customer experience.

SapientNitro's revenue stream is by offering customers services related to marketing services, multi channel commerce that includes content, commerce and collaboration (CCC) and technology platform delivery. SapientNitro was one of the first companies to bridge gap between marketing and technology by offering services which were backed by technology but offered business goals of creating better brand and acquiring more customers.

With offices worldwide, SapientNitro offers both onsite and offsite services were some of the managed services are delivered from low cost centers to keep the cost low and add benefit of round the clock delivery. The calculation suggests that SapientNitro with aroun 150-200 clients is generating revenue around 700-800 million USD at a margin of 15%.

With the digital marketing spending worldwide close to 33 B USD, the prospect of growth for SapientNitro is huge and SapientNitro is making all the efforts to become agency of record for large corporations. Its competitive landscape includes both technology and consulting heavy belters and agencies. The combination of agency and technology aspect provides SapientNitro a unique spot and differentiates it from the rest.

With operations worldwide and offshore center in India, the cost structure is evenly spread between India and rest of the world.

Week 4

This week provided good insight into some of the start ups which were able to secure funding for their ventures in a market which is stabilize. The ideas which the entrepreneurs brought on the table were new and had a new way to consume the products which have been followed by various companies in the past.

While Dollar shave provided a good idea on how a neat idea can win confidence of venture capitalist it also points out the significance of digital presence in today's world for attracting new customers. A video can go viral and connect with each customer the way marketing honcho would aim for.

Warby parker articles were really interesting in the way it proposes that Showrooming could be next big thing for retailing. We have seen that some of the big e-tailers have realized the fact and have now chosen to go the brick and mortar route. What is interesting to note here is that these stores although designed to sell do not have kind of penetration to drive the volume. For example Microsoft stores are not that common.

This makes me believe that showrooming is indeed showrooming. The idea is to choose brick and mortar store as a channel for marketing. Connect with the customers and also show that the brand belongs to an elite club of the brand which is otherwise perceived as cheap due to the price differentiation which brands do online differentiator. One aspect which I do not see brands promote a lot these days is after sale service which a showroom can offer right then and there (like Apple). This is particularly important for the new age customers who are very impatient.

Another interesting aspect aspect of Warby Parker article is the fact that social media and online presence has been used to promote the B&M stores.

I must admit that the most impressive concept in this week was introduced by Hointer. Demonstrates how technology is bridging gap between online and offline shopping. This also provides food for thought for operators of brick and mortar shops to innovate customer experience to continue to connect their brands with customers and provide them an experience which is far more engaging than online. This video can act as catalyst for thinking on experience in stores across the board and might lead to more connection between online and offline shopping.

Week 1

Reading: Made to Engage

Great example of how engaging with the customers has taken over listening to the customers/voice of customers concept used in traditional marketing. Gives really good examples of how engagement with the customers can help sales and increase profitability for the company. The new concept of augmented reality (for example what google glass offers) opens doors for brands to engage more with customers. Some of the companies like Blippar.com are the front runners and they are already tapping on to such concept and luring brands to Blip their videos and Ads.

Retail and Services industry have always been the target for the concept of engaging with the customers. We now see that happening even with banking industry where banks are trying to do more and more with respect to engaging with the customers. Retail banks are taking clue from retail industry to provide an experience to the customers based on the customers journey. There is more focus on online banking and increased focus on studying customer's journey to get to online banking site. Usually a customer would start of with readung news, shopping on Amazon, checking emails and then perhaps get to online banking site. The financial institutions are realizing that the customers journey needs to be seemless and hence presenting orthodox websites might make it less engaging and hence banks needs to look at experience of customers on sites like Amazon and compare against that. Hence to engage customers more there is stress on enhancing experience and providing "remarkable" concepts which leaves an image of the brand in the minds of the customers.

Week 2

Finished reading article on Crowd sourcing. Very interesting article particularly the term crowd sourcing. This is so evident in the technology world. Ability of a company to exploit collective thinking and ability to motivate crowd to do the work helps immensely in this connected world. Something similar comes to my mind when we thinking about our Kelley Connect week. A company Carlisle paid Kelly school for a project and the students formed 20 groups to come up with a strategy of Carlisle's European expansion. Perfect way to source ideas from a targeted crowd.

Week 3

Just finished listening to Ted talk " How to get your ideas to Spread". Very good talk and stresses upon the fact that traditional way of marketing is making way to a more connected way of marketing. Marketers can find a sweet spot and market to them and with the new world where people are so well connected via social media or other media will be the ones who will take your ideas to the masses. This talk also shows how being remarkable is the key. Some of the quotes which makes sense are
- Safe is risky
- Being remarkable is safe