SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT

On
Indian Retail Sector: Communication Analysis
at
Reliance Jio Studios

STUDIOS

In Partial Fulfilment of
PGDM-IB – Batch XI

Under the guidance of

Project Mentor:
Prof. (Dr.) Asif Zameer

Submitted by:
Shlok Choudhary
113048
FORE School of Management

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 Secondary Research

Indian Retail: Major Players

Some of the major players in the Indian retail sector are:

Future Group (Big bazaar, HyperCity from K. Raheja group, fbb, Easyday Club,

FutureBazaar, Foodhall, e-zone, Heritage, Central, Brand factory)

K. Raheja Group (Shopper’s Stop, Crossword, MAC, Home Stop)

Tata Group (Westside, Star India bazaar, Landmark, Infiniti retail-Croma)

Avenue Supermarts Ltd. (D-Mart)

Aditya Birla group (Pantaloons Retail, More Supermarkets, More Megastore,

More own brands, Clubmore)

Future Group

Big Bazaar

Store Formats:

- Hypermarkets (278 stores across India)

- Includes Big bazaar, Fashion at Big bazaar (fbb), Food Bazaar

Move towards paid membership/loyalty program model (ala Sam’s Club) (Big

Bazaar Profit club and Future pay mobile wallet)

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Loyalty customers are engaged more personally through social media, which

has saved them mass media advertisement costs

Customers who come on these platforms not only have higher average billing

size but also higher frequency of visits through the year, translating into far higher

annual spends at the stores. Most of the customers on these paid loyalty platforms

visit Big Bazaar on an average 18 times in a year

“Online to Offline model”: Series of products whose prices go down on every

retweet, and the customers who retweeted could pre-book the product at the

stores

Move towards automation of decision making process (buying, supply chain,

promotions, store operations), with few fields related to innovation and creativity

which will require people

Big Bazaar believes in using ATL activities to leverage its BTL activities, which

primarily consists of occasion/event based promotional sales.

They also advertised their version of EDLP, called as “Har Din Lowest Price”,

which has 15 million views on YouTube

Almost all of their communication is used for amplification of BTL

BTL activities include the concept of “Har Tyohar mein Big Bazaar”, “Sabse

Saste Paanch Din” on the occasion of the Republic Day, “Public Holiday” Sales,

and some other sales activities

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The products are never heavily discounted, and the discounts are never given

across the board on all the products/categories, since it may be met with

resentment among the customers once the prices are brought to regular retail

levels

The exception is the “Sabse Saste 5 Din” event, when it’s a store wide sale and

the discounts are greater than usual

POS activities include offers which are along the lines of “Buy more, pay less”,

with offers such as buy products worth INR 1500 and above, get a discount of 5%

on the total bill value, 10% discount on total bill value of INR 3000 and above, and

so on

They also have a Big Bazaar loyalty card, and there are certain schemes under

which the reward/payback points get doubled

Bundled products are also made available near the POS which are generally

daily use items which are complimentary in nature

Brand Communication:

Big Bazaar’s brand communication is based on a more personalized interaction

with its customers

The advertisements are directly targeted towards the psyche of the Indian

consumers, who believe in the concepts of “Value for Money”, “Kirana store jaisa

shopping experience” (which can also be seen in the design of the stores), and

the inherent Indian values of family, relationships, celebration etc.

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Big Bazaar uses influencers sparingly, they rather have ads with a primary focus

on storytelling related to some kind of daily problem and how Big bazaar can help

solve it using their products

(Bazaar B. , 2018) (Retail, Big Bazaar, 2018) (Facebook, 2018) (bazaar, YouTube-Big

Bazaar, 2018; Bazaar B. , 2018; bazaar, Twitter-Big Bazaar, 2018) (bazaar, Instagram-Big

Bazaar, 2018)

fbb (Fashion at Big Bazaar): “India’s Fashion Hub”

fbb in contrast with Big Bazaar relies more on influencer marketing and targets a

much younger crowd of school kids, college goers, and young professionals

Varun Dhawan is the brand ambassador for Buffalo which is sold exclusively at

fbb (#OneWithTheMoment, which conveys the brand’s more adventurous side)

Many other influencers such as Katrina Kaif, Miss India winners, etc. have been

roped in by fbb

fbb was also one of the sponsors of Sunburn festival, Goa, 2016 (Hardwell

concert)

The primary campaign of fbb since the last one year is #BoldIsSexy, which is

also prominently displayed on the official website of fbb

BTL activities involve sales during festivals, and certain occasions, much like Big

Bazaar

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One difference in the communication is that Big Bazaar uses its ATL activities to

amplify its BTL activities for the most part, but that is a smaller part of fbb’s

communication strategy

POS activities include sale of accessories and complementary products (such as

socks for footwear, cufflinks for shirts, etc.)

Very active on Facebook, IPL association through fbb Stylish player of The

Match award (latest post: Ambati Rayudu CSK vs Bangalore 24th April 2018)

Food Bazaar

Very few Food Bazaar stores in India, 2 in New Delhi, 1 in Ghaziabad, 1 in

Bangalore, and 6 stores in Mumbai

No ATL activities on digital platform or TVC, print ads are also not present, most

of the promotion occurs through Big Bazaar stores themselves

Very little advertising, some digital presence but that is meant for foreign

locations

HyperCity

HyperCity has 20 stores across India and serves customers in three main

product categories, which are food, home, and fashion

HyperCity has a very distinct feel compared to Big Bazaar, it offers a larger

space with well-placed aisles and states that it wants to give shoppers an

“international experience”

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It used to be owned by the K. Raheja group, but was bought by the Future group

for INR 655 crores in 2017

The stores are generally 80000 sq. ft. in area, but the newer stores which will be

opening from 2018 onwards will be almost half the size, at an approximate area of

40000 sq. ft. due to a constraint of space

The Facebook page of HyperCity also has a review section meant for both the

physical stores as well as the online store. There are several negative reviews, but

the overall rating stands at 3.8 on 5 from 250 reviews

ATL activities involve mostly digital media and print media, with little to no TVCs

No use of influencers for promotion

Digital promotions focus mostly on the food component, specially the

international food products, with the communication directing viewers towards

trying out new/exotic experiences

The last campaign was on the occasion of Diwali, which was

“#HarDilRoshanKaro”, which included the Indian family, and also suggested that

HyperCity was a one-stop solution to all Diwali celebration needs (fashion, food,

décor, gifts)

HyperCity wishes to generate 10% of its revenue through International Foods

this year

Revenue stands at approximately $140 million

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Kishore Biyani expects HyperCity to generate 10% of Fortune Group’s profits,

and contribute to 12-15% of their sales

Easyday

The Easyday Club is a series of stores which cater to specific localities in each

area

The store sizes are much smaller than Big Bazaar or HyperCity, and can be

classified as a convenience store (store sizes from 2500 to 5000 sq. ft.)

There are Easyday markets too which stock a wider variety of products and may

be classified as supermarkets, however, there are very few of them. The first one

opened in Ludhiana

The tagline of Easyday club is “Naye Andaaz Wali Aapki Pados Ki Dukan”,

clearly positioning it against the mom & pop and local convenience/general stores

They have a membership based model (annual fee INR 999), similar to Sam’s

Club, but non-members can also shop (as of now)

Their communication is mostly digital, and print media

The ads are mainly focussing on the extra 10% discount on bill value available to

members, as well as the “WhatsApp pe Order” service that they provide to

members

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Their communication is similar to Big Bazaar, and they use their ATL activities to

leverage their BTL activities, which revolves around membership-based benefits

Easyday has 600 stores across 117 cities

Each Easyday store has a membership cap of 2000 members

Biyani plans on making Future group a 1.5 trillion rupee venture by 2022 through

Easyday expansion strategy (10000 stores with membership capped at 2000

clients, may be increased later)

Heritage Fresh

They have a membership model similar to Easyday club

The Heritage Fresh chain mainly operates in the Southern India and has 124

stores concentrated in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai

The store size varies from 2000 to 8000 sq. ft.

Digital presence only on Facebook and Twitter, no official YouTube channel

Communication through digital, print (newspapers and flyers), as well as BTL

activities such as cooking competitions, on-road promotion etc.

The communication is mainly centred around the fact that the store stocks only

fresh produce, and to an extent the membership benefits

The ads do not have any kind of personal touch, and are mostly informational in

nature

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One thing to note is that apart from Fashion at Big Bazaar, no other store uses

influencers for communication

e-Zone

E-zone is a series of consumer electronics stores which are either stand-alone

stores or a part of large group-format stores such as Big Bazaar, Central, etc.

E-Zone’s expected turnover for the financial year ended on 31 st March 2018 is

INR 540 crores, up from INR 450 crore recorded the previous year

Almost INR 260 crore was brought in from West Bengal, which is around 57% of

the total turnover

The store size is on the smaller side, with area being 6000 sq. ft. to 10000 sq. ft.

The Facebook page has 328651 likes and 321846 followers, and the latest post

was about Sourav Ganguly buying a Samsung Galaxy S9, with around 31 likes

and 8 shares

The YouTube channel hasn’t been updated since January 2017, the latest

uploads being Gaurav Gera’s Chutki and the Shopkeeper segments for the BOPO

(#BookOnlinePayOffline) campaign

The e-Zone campaigns mainly focus on the fact that buying electronics from a

brick-and-mortar store is better than buying them online (“touch and feel”)

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No real use of influencers apart from Gaurav Gera (whose Chutki was very

popular in 2016-17 due to the Kapil Sharma show)

The ads are generally quirky yet they perform a very similar function which Big

Bazaar ads also do, which is amplification of BTL activities through ATL

communication

POS activities mainly consist of membership cards (4 points is equivalent to

Re.1), as well as complementary items, such as SD cards, pen drives, other

accessories

FoodHall

FoodHall is a premium food superstore which operates in very select locations in

the country (major malls, or in group formats such as with Central)

There are currently 9 stores in operation, 4 in Delhi-NCR, 3 in Mumbai, and 2 in

Bengaluru

The products may be classified as premium food items, both Indian and

international foods, such as cheeses, wine bottles, chocolates, breads, etc.

Very little ATL activity, some BTL activities (Master chef live cooking broadcasts,

etc.)

POS activities limited to impulse purchase items placed near the check-out

counters, such as candies, chocolates etc.

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Central

Central is a lifestyle fashion store which has more than 500 fashion brands, both

national and international

These are the largest stores that Future group has, with a size of 100000 sq. ft.

and above

There are currently 41 stores located all over the country, with the majority of the

stores in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities

According to a statement by Kishore Biyani, Central is going to stay and expand

as a brick-and-mortar model, and is not looking to move into the online retail

space just yet

Central stores are, in most cases, stand-alone, and not a part of shopping malls

(with a few exceptions)

They also have a new format called as “HD”, which has a better look & feel, and

houses more premium brands

The revenue for Central stood at approximately INR 2400 crores in FY 17, and

expected to grow to INR 3500 crore in FY 18 Central wishes to add 2.5 million

sq. ft. at an investment of around INR 250-300 crores in the year 2018, which

would take the total number of stores in the high-forties, also expanding into more

Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities

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Central has its own YouTube channel, “Centralandme”, which again acts in a

similar way that Big Bazaar ads do, which is to amplify BTL activities (sales, new

stores, new brands, new collections) using ATL activities

There are various advertisements for the brands such as Primadiva, Hey

Fashion, Morpankh, Navras, etc. which all cater to different categories of women’s

fashion such as Indian ethnic wear, Western wear (daily and party-wear), etc.

Central also does store launch videos, the Kolkata Central launch campaign had

10 videos which were released, right from a 1-minute teaser to the final video,

titled “Nomoshkar Kolkata”

The video contained iconic elements of the city, such as Park street, Hooghly

river, Howrah bridge, etc.

The store launch video for Indore, however, was mostly about the store itself,

and had no build-up (audio-visual)

Most of the communication targets the younger crowd of college students, young

professionals, young couples

The Facebook page has 1.156 million followers, and the posts are once again

focussed on promoting their BTL activities such as sales, new collections, etc.

They have other BTL promotional activities as well, such as a dance competition

with Spykar vouchers as a reward which featured choreographer Awez Darbar,

which was done to promote Spykar’s “Young & Restless” campaign

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The POS activities mainly involve a rewards program similar to that of Big

Bazaar (4 points is equivalent to INR 1)

There are also certain schemes such as members getting additional points when

purchasing goes above a certain threshold, such as getting 50% more reward

points when purchases worth INR 6000 and above are made, and so on

Most of the sales counters are located close to accessory counters/kiosks

Brand Factory

Brand factory is a large fashion retail store format under future group, and is

India’s largest “discount” retail chain

It had 50+ outlets in more than 22 cities as of 2017, and plans on expanding to

more than 100 stores by the end of 2018

The store sizes are on the bigger side, with sizes ranging from 70000 sq. ft. to

150000 sq. ft.

Brand factory always has discounts, ranging from 20-70% on various brands, as

well as houses 200+ brands

Shopping at brand factory is different from shopping at Central; Central is

positioned as a more premium shopping destination, while Brand Factory is more

for the budget conscious buyer who still aspires to wear popular fashion brands

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Brand factory uses print media, digital media, BTL, and some OOH activities as

a part of its media mix (with some radio advertising thrown in during additional

sale season and around festivities)

The advertisements target the younger crowd of college goers, young

professionals, as well as younger couples

Unlike fbb, which also advertises while keeping children as a part of their TG,

Brand Factory and Central do not explicitly cater to children (though they do have

“Kids” section in their stores)

The advertisements, similar to other future group store formats, target on

amplifying the BTL and POS activities using ATL techniques

The crux of the communication is that customers are always going to get some

kind of discount at Brand Factory, and every day is “good-to-go” as far as

shopping is considered

Brand Factory has not used any influencers in its advertisements

The POS activities include memberships as well as tie-ups with other rewards

systems such as PAYBACK, which give customers additional benefits of points

which can be redeemed at a later date of purchase

The advertisements are quirky, yet some of them seem to be slightly strangely

executed

The most recent campaign by Brand Factory is “#MadeForMumbai”, to

commemorate 10 stores in the Mumbai and suburbs region

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The communication focuses a lot on elements strongly associated with Mumbai,

such as Vada Paos, Cutting Chai, as well as the Dabbawalas

The communication also reinforces the Brand Factory mantra that it’s always a

good time to shop regardless of the “Sale season”

The previous major campaign was during the winters, which was “#KTPD” or

“Khade Thand Par Dhoka”, the ads communicating the nuances people face

during winters in a fun way

The other campaigns were around Eid which was the #SpreadSmartness

campaign, which communicated the problems customers face during the gifting

season and how Brand Factory solves those issues, the tone of the advertisement

was humorous

Most of the Brand Factory campaigns that garnered maximum response from the

customers were on the digital platform, and thus their primary advertising

platforms are digital (Facebook and YouTube), and print media for more frequent

BTL sales promotion

Aditya Birla Group

Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd. (now Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd.)

Pantaloons has 209 retail stores in 78 cities across India

It is a medium store format which generally operates through shopping malls

(and very few of them operate as stand-alone stores)

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The store sizes vary from 10000 sq. ft. up to 25000 sq. ft.

The ABFRL also encompasses Madura Fashion & Lifestyle Ltd., which has

several brands such Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England,

People, Planet Fashion, The Collective, Hackett London, Simon Carter, and

Forever 21

The first four brands mentioned above have sales in excess of INR 1000 crore

each. Apart from these, Pantaloons also houses several exclusive brands

The revenue for ABFRL for FY 2016-17 was INR 1615 crores with a Y-o-Y

growth of 12.5%

Pantaloons does some TVCs, but they are a one-off event, and they mainly rely

on digital and print media for their advertising and communications

There is a difference in marketing communication as compared to the Future

Group stores; Future Group primarily focuses on using ATL to promote their BTL,

however, Pantaloons Retail mainly focuses on the product itself, since they have a

lot of exclusive brands, and seldom focus on “seasonal sale” etc. through the

audio-visual media, most of the advertising is focussed on the new collections and

brand reinforcement purposes

That is not to say that they do not promote their BTL at all, they just use ATL for

that purpose less often as compared to Future Group

The sales and other BTL activities are advertised mainly through print media, as

well as POS methods close to the kiosks

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Pantaloons does not use influencers as a part of their marketing communication,

it used to do so pre-2010 but not recently

Pantaloons targets the younger crowd of students, young professionals, as well

as kids. However, for kids advertisements, the communication directly goes out to

the consumer and not to the customer (the parents, who are the buyers in most

cases). However, the ads do target older siblings as well, who may or may not

indirectly play the role of influencer/customer

The Pantaloons Facebook page has 2247215 followers, which gives them a

huge customer base. The communication is both promotional as well as

informational (style tips, right fabrics for the right weather, etc.)

Pantaloons also congratulated Sonam Kapoor on her wedding on their page,

and mentioned the pieces as well as the fashion designers from whose boutiques

those designs come from

They have started a campaign on the occassion of mother’s day, which has the

hashtag “#DressLikeMaa” to show how mothers have influenced their kids’ sense

of style and fashion

The Instagram page and Twitter handle are both very active. The twitter handle

mostlyy posts the same content which is on the Facebook page, whereas the

Instagram account mainly focuses on the new trends and the various collections

which are updated on a regular basis (116k followers on Instagram, 30.6k

followers on Twtter)

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Even on these channels, the communication is mostly directed to the youth,

however, as we can see from the mother’s day campaign, Pantaloons also does

indirect marketing of products (in this example, parents are most likely the

consumers)

On the occasion of completing 20 years as well as Dussehra, Pantaloons had a

new campaign which was “Pujo Mane Pantaloons”

This was of significance since the first store of Pantaloons opened in Kolkata in

1997

The ad shows several elements of the typical Durga Pooja celebrations in

Bengal, which include shopping, dancing, event planning, etc.They were able to

integrate the Pantaloons shopping experience into the preparation of the festivities

The ad was also shot in Bengali, so they kept the regional theme intact

throughout

As a part of their POS activation, they have a four-tier Pantaloons Reward Card,

as well as Pantaloons gift cards which can be redeemed at any Pantaloons store

across India

The loyalty program comes in the form of the Pantaloons Green Card, which has

4 levels, 1 star, 3 stars, 5 stars, and 7 stars. They have also partnered with

PAYBACK rewards points

The 3, 5, and 7 stars programs include an instant discount of 3, 5, and 7%

respectively on the billing amounts, and there are several other benefits that come

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as a part of the Pantaloons loyalty progam. the upgrades happen at annual

shopping amounts of INR 8000, 20000, and 40000 respectively for each

subsequent tier

More

More is a retail store format under the Aditya Birla Retail Group which competes

against Big Bazaar, Reliance fresh, and other similar retail chains

More has 523 supermarkets as well as 20 hypermarkets across India

The hypermarkets have store sizes ranging from 50000 sq. ft. to 70000 sq. ft.

More has 4 in-house brands which are exclusively sold at its stores, which are

Kitchen’s Promise, Vow, Feasters, and Selecta Premium

Sales for the Aditya Birla Retail Group amounted to INR 4194 crores in FY 2016-

17, with a Y-o-Y increase of 21%, and the net loss incurred was INR 644 crores

The losses are mainly due to acquisition of Trinethra, Fabmall, as well as

Jubilant’s Total Super Store, and thus the financing and borrowing costs incurred

(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/aditya-birla-group-to-

issue-rs-2800-crore-equity-for-cutting-debt/articleshow/63552827.cms)

More does not have a dedicated YouTube channel, and has minimal promotional

activities through the audio-visual medium

More does have a Facebook page which has 159207 followers

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The posts mainly focus on the BTL activities which is sales and offers on

different days

Every now and then, more posts updates about its stores in different locations

across the country, the message consisting of an invite to shop at the said store.

The stores covered are generally the newer stores which have yet to gain traction

More also promotes its BTL activities on Facebook, which includes upcoming

sale events and coverage of the events which took place in the recent past

In spite of Facebook posts, most of the brand communication takes places

through print media, and is centered around the BTL activities such as special

shopping days (with greater discounts)

The motto of More (and Aditya Birla Retail Ltd.) is” Quality 1st”

They advertise their in-house brands through POS activities as well as print

media (flyers, newspapers, etc.)

Their POS activities include Clubmore, which is a free-to-join loyalty program,

and offers additional discounts as well as points (which can later be redeemed) at

any More store. the members also receive push notifications and text messages

about any new offers (and sometimes upcoming offers as well) which are available

in stores. These offers are exclusive to the Clubmore members and are over-and-

above the existing offers

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The POS also consists of cross-selling, up-selling, and re-selling of its in-house

brands, with some upselling resulting from initial samples of their Selecta brand

which consist of premium quality tea, pulses, pasta, etc.

Avenue Supermarts Ltd.

DMart

DMart is a large stand-alone store format consisting of hypermarkets and

supermarkets

The revenue stood at US$1.86 billion in FY 2016-17, with a net profit of

US$74.64 million

The chain consists of 155 stores across Maharshtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhatisgarh, NCR, Tamil Nadu, Punjab,

and Rajasthan

DMart’s main focus of communication is on BTL and POS activations, and

recently it has not leveraged digital media as a communication channel

The primary ATL occurs through print (newspapers, brochures, flyers, etc.)

which communicates only about offers and promotions

There are a few TVCs in regional languages which were aired on regional

channels, and the communication is mainly focused on the fact that DMart carries

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a whole host of items from several categories, and acts as a one-stop solution to

most consumer needs

DMart has a Facebook page, but it has not been updated since 2013

DMart competes very aggressively on a price basis which contributes to its

burgeoning influence in the retail sector

DMart’s main TG are the no-nonsense, bargain hunter types of consumers

Their shares have shot up in value from an IPO price band of INR 295-299 (for

an IPO value of INR 1870 crores) in March 2017 to about INR 1450 in May 2018

DMart does not delve into loyalty programs, social media, analytics, etc. Their

main motive is to provide its customers with no-frills products from almost every

category and sell those products at low prices

The physical store location strategy also works in their favour: DMart sets up

shop in heavily populated residential clusters, unlike setting up a store in up-

market locations and malls

K. Raheja Group

Shoppers Stop

Shoppers stop is a mid size fashion retail store owned by the K. Raheja group

which is mainly known for their construction projects

Shoppers Stop is present in both brick-and-mortar as well as online app/website

formats, with the app released in 2016

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Shoppers Stop has a big presence on Facebook with more than 10 million

followers, the Twitter page also has around 145000 followers but it does not

garner as much engagement from the customers as compared to Facebook

On the occasion of Mother’s Day, they are promoting a hashtag

“#ShopWithMom”, and one of their latest posts congratulates Sonam Kapoor on

her wedding day

They also promote a lot of content related to Chennai Super Kings and sell CSK

merchandise exclusively

Shoppers Stop uses influencer marketing quite a bit, mainly in the form of

photoshoots

The influencers chosen are personalities such as M S Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja,

photoshoots with actresses such as Sunny Leone etc.

One of the important purposes of using social media by Shoppers Stop is the

promotion of BTL using ATL communication

However, there is a key difference between Shoppers Stop and other fashion

retail chains, which is the way they communicate

The other chains promote their sales and other promotions in a more direct

manner, with very obvious elements making up the part of the promotion

However, Shoppers Stop uses implicit elements as part of its BTL promotion, in

many cases

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Shoppers Stop has been struggling to minimize losses for a while now, and

recently, they have been shutting down unprofitable stores and resizing some

others

The store sizes have reduced from 55000 sq. ft. on an average to 45000 sq. ft.

The ads on YouTube are generally promoting their own exclusive brands, as well

as End of Season Sales

The ads generally feature professionally done photoshoots and don’t really focus

on the pricing component much (except for sales, and even then it appears as the

final piece of communication for a fairly short duration)

The target group is college goers, young professionals, young couples, and

young children (through their Mothercare brand)

The store has positioned itself as a premium departmental store with premium

offerings such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein jeans, etc.

Their communication strategy has been different from the competitors, yet the

sales are not picking up

The print ads have always highlighted the brand colours which are black and

white, and they’re present in almost every print communication piece, be it a sales

promotion, or opening of a new store

However, the black and white theme is almost entirely missing from their recent

audio-visual communication media, apart from a few TVCs, one of which was the

#StartSomethingNew campaign which was based on the idea of exploration for

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something new and always looking forward while not forgetting the essentials from

the past

They also advertise OOH, mainly using private transportation agencies as the

medium, which they generally do to promote their sales

As part of their POS activation, they have a rewards program which is called as

the “First Citizen”, which offers redeemable reward points on every purchase,

exclusive offers, and exclusive cash counters. The parking charges are also

reimbursable in the form of reward points against purchases made on the same

day

M.A.C.

M.A.C. is a professional quality cosmetics manufacturer who also owns several

retail outlets going by the same name

In India these outlets are operated by the K. Raheja group

In India they have 52 stores across 13 cities

M.A.C. has an India website which narrates the history of the brand, the various

products in its portfolio, and a store locator option (product information is also

redirected to this option)

The colour scheme for M.A.C. website as well as its stores is black and white

The store targets a higher income segment and most of its products are priced in

the INR 1500 to 4000 range

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M.A.C. does not have contract with a single agency, rather, it works with several

agencies, sometimes even simultaneously, on different campaigns

M.A.C. does not have any India centric communication channels, it has just the

international Facebook, Instagram pages, Twitter handle, and YouTube channel

M.A.C. is very aware of social causes and a lot many of their advertising

campaigns are based around them

The Facebook page has 19345505 likes and 19211051 followers, which is a

huge reach for the cosmetics brand

The posts are a combination of product promotions and quirky make-up ideas,

as well as photographs which just convey the brand story without highlighting any

specific product

They also talk about their affiliations with various events such as broadway

shows, movies, etc.

Very high user engagement, with each post generating thousands of likes and

several thousand views, with affiliation posts generating the maximum views and

likes

The interaction is two way, with M.A.C. replying to its followers in a highly

personalized manner, and almost every comment by a follower is acknowledged

by M.A.C.

The M.A.C. cosmetics twitter handle has 1.51 million followers, with the posts

being entirely different from what the content is on Facebook

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The Twitter page focuses more on influencers, fashion shows, and other

endorsements for the products, as well as a few informational posts

Good amount of user engagement on Twitter as well, with each tweet garnering

hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes

The M.A.C. Instagram page has 18.3 million followers, with each post generating

as many as 100000+ likes and a lot of comments

The posts here are yet again separate from what they have on Facebook and

Twitter

Most of the posts are informational featuring the vast range of M.A.C. cosmetics

products, as well as models wearing M.A.C. makeup (both images as well as short

videos)

The YouTube channel has 505k subscribers, with recent videos generating as

many as 4000-5000 views

The recent videos are promoting the new M.A.C. NICOPANDA cosmetics

collection, which is not available in India as of now

Most of the NICOPANDA videos highlight the various types of looks (gothic,

party, punk, graphic) which can be achieved, with a prominent M.A.C. signature

The other videos are either informational in nature, or makeup tutorials, featuring

famous hairstylists affiliated to the brand

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The tone of the videos is fun and will appeal to a younger audience, who is the

target of the brand

A lot of digital campaigns (in A/V medium) based on social issues such as racial

discrimination, gender sensitivity, etc.

They also have several campaigns which are entirely ran on UGC, such as the

“MACnificent Me” campaign from 2015

M.A.C. does a lot of PR activities, such as the story of a drunk boy who

apologized to his girlfriend by gifting her a 10 euro M.A.C. gift voucher, and other

similar stories

They also do branded content in fashion magazines, as well as a lot of OOH

activations and contests

The brand has a very colourful personality and positions itself as a brand for

young risk takers

CrossWord

Crossword is a chain of bookstores with a small to medium store size format

It is the largest retail bookstore chain in India

Crossword stores allow for customers to sit down and read a book at the store

itself (as part of their policy), which is a unique experience for readers in India

A typical Crossword store generally stocks anywhere from 8000 to 20000

different books at a time

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Crossword has also partnered with Raymond for an annual awards ceremony

called as the Raymond Crossword Book Awards, where each year Indian authors

are awarded in several categories, which are fiction, non-fiction jury awards,

popular awards, best translation as well as the Kotak Junior Children writing award

Crossword uses a black and yellow colour scheme for its stores and website, as

well as the brand logo

The communication from Crossword is fairly earnest and is meant to appeal to

the mature book lover rather than a casual audience, although they are also

welcome

The tone of communication is neither serious, nor quirky, but rather balanced

They promote their BTL activities through digital media, and have very little

advertising presence on TV, print, and other conventional mediums

They organize a lot of events at their stores, primarily book signing events,

premieres, book launches, etc.

The Crossword website has all the books they stock category-wise, as well as

recommendations made by Crossword

Books and other items such as stationery, toys, and vouchers can be purchased

from the official website as well

They have the track order feature which can be accessed by logging in to the

Crossword account

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They also promote their upcoming events on their website

The Facebook page of Crossword has 153647 likes and 151546 followers

The posts are mostly centered around BTL activities such as an author attending

a book signing event at one of their stores

The Twitter and Instagram pages have similar posts as that on Facebook,

however, they do not generate nearly as much engagement as Facebook does

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