1.

INTRODUCTION
About the organization:
About VF VF Corporation was found in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1899. Today, VF is the worlds largest apparel company and is the market leader in branded apparel including jeans wear, image wear, contemporary, outdoor and sportswear. Its stock is traded on NYSE under the symbol VFC. VF is more than the world's largest apparel company. It is a dynamic, global powerhouse with more than $7.7 billion in annual revenues, over 30 dynamic lifestyle brands and over 47,000 associates working in locations across the globe. Our brands are sold in more than 150 countries through 47,000 retailers in all channels of distribution, from mass to department to specialty retailers. In addition, we own and operate more than 780 retail stores. Many of our brands also sell products directly to consumers over the Internet. Sourcing and manufacturing are managed through our Global Supply Chain organization, which oversees the production of 500 million items annually at more than 1,400 owned or sourced facilities in locations around the world. History of Arvind Mills The year 1930 was when the world suffered the great depression. Companies across the globe began closing down. In UK and in India, the textile industry in particular was in trouble. At about this time, Mahatma Gandhi championed the Swadeshi Movement and at his call, people from all across India began boycotting fine and superfine fabrics, which had so far been imported from England. In the midst of this depression one family saw opportunity. The Lalbhais reasoned that the demand for fine and superfine fabrics still existed. And any Indian company that met this demand would surely prosper. The three brothers, Kasturbhai, Narottambhai and Chimanbhai, decided to set up a mill to produce superfine fabric. Next they looked around for state-of-the-art machinery that could produce such high quality fabric. Their search ended in England. The best technology of that time was acquired at a most attractive price. And a company called Arvind Limited was born. Arvind Limited started with a share capital of Rs 2,525,000 ($55,000) in the year 1931. With the aim of manufacturing the high-end superfine fabrics Arvind invested in very sophisticated technology. With 52,560 ring spindles, 2552 doubling spindles and 1122 looms it was one of the few companies in those days to start along with spinning and weaving facilities in addition to fullfledged facilities for dyeing, bleaching, finishing and mercerizing. The sales in the year 1934, three

years after establishment were Rs 45.76 lakh and profits were Rs 2.82 lakh. Steadily producing high quality fabrics, year after year, Arvind took its place amongst the foremost textile units in the country. In the mid 1980s the textile industry faced another major crisis. With the power loom churning out vast quantities of inexpensive fabric, many large composite mills lost their markets, and were on the verge of closure. Yet that period saw Arvind at its highest level of profitability. There could be no better time, concluded the Management, for a rethink on strategy. The Arvind management coined a new word for it new strategy Reno vision. It simply meant a new way of looking at issues, of seeing more than the obvious and that became the corporate philosophy. The national focus paved way for international focus and Arvinds markets shifted from domestic to global, a market that expected and accepted only quality goods. An in-depth analysis of the world textile market proved an eye opener. People the world over were shifting from synthetic to natural fabrics. Cottons were the largest growing segments. But where conventional wisdom pointed to popular priced segments, Reno vision pointed to high quality premium niches. Thus in 1987-88 Arvind entered the export market for two sections -Denim for leisure & fashion wear and high quality fabric for cotton shirting and trousers. By 1991 Arvind reached 1600 million meters of Denim per year and it was the third largest producer of Denim in the world. In 1997 Arvind set up a state-of-the-art shirting, gabardine and knits facility, the largest of its kind in India, at Santej. With Arvinds concern for environment a most modern effluent treatment facility with zero effluent discharge capability was also established. Year 2005 was a watershed year for textiles. With the muliti-fiber agreement getting phased out and the disbanding of quotas, international textile trade was poised for a quantum leap. In the domestic market too, the rationalizing of the cenvat chain and the growth of the organized retail industry was likely to make textiles and apparel see an explosive growth. Arvind has carved out an aggressive strategy to verticalize its current operations by setting up worldscale garmenting facilities and offering a one-stop shop service, by offering garment packages to its international and domestic customers. With Lee, Wrangler, Arrow and Tommy Hilfiger and its own domestic brands of Flying Machine, Newport, Excalibur and Ruf & Tuf, Arvind set its vision of becoming the largest apparel brands company in India. About VFABPL VFABPL, i.e., VF Arvind Brands Pvt. Ltd. designs and markets branded apparel. It has strong denim wear brands like Lee and Wrangler. It has launched a new brand, VANS, in the Indian market. VFABPL is a part of the no.1 branded apparel company VF corp. The company sells its

products through multi-brand outlets and exclusive brand outlets. Arvind Brands Ltd. which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Arvind Mills Ltd formed a joint venture with US based VF Corporation for marketing various brands owned by the US firm in India. VF holds 60% stake in the JV Company and the new company is called VF Arvind Brands Pvt. Ltd. Arvind now holds 40 per cent stake in the JV Company. VF Arvind Brands was founded in 2006. In 2006, VF paid roughly $33 million to Arvind for transferring its licensed operations of Lee and Wrangler to a JV majority owned by the American fashion behemoth based in Greensboro, California. In the course of the JV, which is over four years now, VF has charted an independent business strategy unlike in the past when it heavily relied on Arvind. The corporate office at which I have done my SIP works the VF way. About Wrangler In 1904, C.C. Hudson and his brother Homer formed the Hudson Overall Company. They set out to produce the best quality and durability work clothes for railroad workers in the east coast of the United States. This commitment to details and quality translated over to the eventual introduction in 1947 of the Wrangler Brand specifically targeting the rugged cowboys and ranchers customers. Over the past years, Wrangler products represented unrivalled quality and durability. Today after 100 years of continued success, Wrangler is still carrying the same pioneering spirit and attitude of its founder C.C. Hudson. From its deep-rooted rodeo imagery and cowboy heritage, it has evolved with the times to become a wardrobe staple for todays urban cowboy, with style and functionality in equal measure. As one of the leading denim players in the country, Wranglers designs feature innovative styles, fits, silhouettes and washes that are cutting edge. Despite the inevitable adaptations over time, Wrangler still firmly believes in its brand philosophy Do it your way. The brand has been among the first entrants in the Indian denim wear market, and many till date confuse it as a homegrown brand. Though Wrangler is one of the oldest denim brands in India, it had lost its way in terms of image building and collections in the 1990s. When VFABPL took over the business, they went back to basics of the brand business and reworked the same. In India, Wrangler owns only its denim manufacturing units. All other categories of product manufacturing are outsourced.

The following timeline was developed to carryon project for a 2 month period.

Project Work Plan Week 1: Studying the Business Environment Basic research regarding: Social Media scope and importance Apparel industry Market Growth and Trends Opportunities in the online space

Sources: Journals, Online Databases, Statistical Reports, Blogs and Forums Week 2: Secondary Research continues It involves Stake holder and competitor analysis Target group analysis Identifying the places where target audience are active

Gross Industry Analysis Behavior of apparel industry Competitor Analysis Competitors and their offerings Customer acquisition methods

Sources: Ad Campaigns of Competitors, Company Websites, Market and News Reports, Surveys, Blogs, Facebook pages. One day out on market research to study the behavior of target audience and other players in the market. Weeks 3&4: Primary Research Value Parameters in the industry Questionnaire design Market research Analysis Identification of need gaps and opportunities emerging Sources: On the basis of previous study, on the field: market research by interviews of users and competitors, statistical tools Up to 3 days for market research and 2 days for analysis Week 5&6: Preparing the concept Identifying the sites to focus on for the campaigning Find the companies to partner with to implement the strategy

Ad agencies and Consultants

Sources: Blogs, Online databases, news feeds Weeks 7: Financial Analysis Calculation of budget required to implement the project Calculation of ROI on the project

Week 8: Final Report Preparation of final report and the presentation of the Strategy for taking Wrangler on to the social media. The Indian Retail Sceanario

Fig.1: Share of different industries among the Indian Retail Market The India Retail Industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 per cent of the countrys GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment. The Retail Industry in India has come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. But all of them have not yet tasted success because of the heavy initial investments that are required to break even with other companies and compete with them. The India Retail Industry is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry. The total concept and idea of shopping has undergone an attention drawing change in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. Modern retailing has entered into the Retail market in India as is observed in the form of bustling shopping centers, multi-storied malls and the huge complexes that offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof. Modern retail in India could be worth US$ 175-200 billion by 2016. The size of the textile retail industry is $70 billion nearly thrice the size of the textile exports from India.

The Apparel Industry:

The textile industry occupies a unique place in our country. One of the earliest to come into existence in India, it accounts for 14% of the total Industrial production, contributes to nearly 20% of the total exports. Being the largest foreign exchange earner, accounting for more than 5 per cent of GDP and providing direct employment to 38 million people, primarily the weaker sections, it is the second most important sector only after agriculture. The Indian apparel industry plays a critical

role in the economic development of the country with its contribution to industrial output, export earnings of the country and the generation of employment. The Indian apparel industry has seen remarkable changes in the past few years and it is also one of the India's largest foreign exchange earners. The denim wear market is growing rapidly in the country. It is currently estimated at $1 billion and expected to reach $2.1 billion by 2015. The capacity for denim is expected to grow at 12 per cent annually to reach 1,130 million metres by 2015 from the current capacity of 640 metres. The key growth drivers are: The fast growing youth and urban population; denim manufacturing picking up pace with more large and improved units coming up; and more people wearing it to the work place. Denim brands in India see potential in all segments of the market lower medium, medium and semi-premium/premium. International brands like Levis, Pepe Jeans and Wrangler have seen steady growth over the years. Others like Mustang, Calvin Klein and Guess are also increasing their footprint. Mango, Zara and Marks & Spencer have introduced denim jeans at the entry level to attract first time consumers. Levis introduced its low-priced Signature brand in India a few years ago and has shown high growth in this segment.

Social Media
Social media is the use of web based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Social Media is one of many Internet marketing channels, one that has the amazing power to go viral. In the very least, it has the awesome ability to engage your audience in meaningful conversations about your product, issue areas, company, and brand. The simple concept of social media is people buy from people they know, like and trust. So, social media is the platform for the companies to gain trust with interesting things going on in the industry as well as that company. It can include stories about employees, why its a great place to work there, green policy, social responsibility policy, ethics, etc. Once the consumer feels connected with the blog, he/she indirectly gets connected to the brand.

Internet Marketing:
Internet marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales. Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, email marketing, and Web 2.0 strategies. It can be considered as the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the web. It is the use of Social media to engage our audience in meaningful conversations about your product, issue areas, company and brand. Social Media serves the following purposes: Learn more about our target audience

Increase Brand Awareness Influence the Influencers Monitor brand reputation Educate and inform customers about latest collections Improve Visibility

Fig.2: New Marketing mix Social Media Marketing Tools:

Some of the tools for social media marketing are: Blogs, Micro-blogging, Photo and Video Sharing, Podcasting, Presentation Sharing, Social Networking Sites, Crowd Sourcing and social bookmarking sites, Discussion forums, Widgets, Wikis and Brand monitoring. How to use these tools? Facebook fan page: A Facebook fan page is something we all have seen. Once a person becomes a fan on your fan page, your updates appear on his profile until he decides to remove himself from the fan page. A number of custom applications can be built on the fan page. Companies have even started using the fan page for e-commerce and competitions for promoting their brands. This can be done very easily using the static-FBML application and writing some very simple mark up. By the way, Facebook now is the 4th most popular site in India, overtaking Orkut. A Facebook application can be viral. Make sure you monitor the discussions going on about your brand. Twitter: Everybody seems to have a twitter account these days. India is number 2 as far as twitter usage goes. The businesses using twitter have to understand that twitters reach is truly global. How to do it??

Find out twitter audience in your vicinity using services like Nearby Tweets and target them. Also make sure you have information going out continuously on twitter, or else your tweet will be nowhere to be seen on your followers wall. Blog: Try to understand the focus of your blog. Some companies try to put up quality information about the industry they are in. This gives them an edge and leaves the audience thinking that your brand understands what it is doing. Other companies however, have used their blogs to show the human side of the company. With a number of their own employees blogging about the fun they are having working in your company helps the audience relate to your brand in a human way. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is more of a professional social networking platform. To embrace LinkedIn, create an account and try to see how everyone else is getting involved in it. LinkedIn already has 3.4 million users in India. LinkedIn, in the years to come can be a major replacement for the job finding and posting sites. You even have facilities to upload your resumes, create groups and polls. Most of the alumni meets these days happen through LinkedIn. For business networking, LinkedIn is the way to go. Now that your twitter account can also be integrated with your LinkedIn account, there is a little bit of conversation going on there too. Wikipedia: It is one of the most important mediums to monitor. Make sure the information out there is correct and try to edit if you feel the information has been tampered with. Blogs and Forums: Leave comments on other peoples blogs. There are a lot of Q and A sites on the internet in which people ask questions about your brand which are to be regularly monitored. Make sure you answer all the queries people have about your brand in the various Q & A sites. Make sure you take a look at them. The forums are also a major source of Buzz about a brands positivity or negativity. Mobile social networking sites: not yet taken off in India. But will soon. Monitor activity about the brand in the internet every day. Photo and Video sharing sites: Picasa photo sharing may return more to you if you are targeting the Indian audience. Making videos is a costly affair. BRIEF:

Try using Social Media as your first level of feedback Listen to people and answer them Show the human face of your brand through social media Do not overdo it Combining your social media campaign with some social cause.

Social media has no direct ROI but is great for: Brand building Relationship management Product development Reputation management Customer interaction Customer feedback

Customer support Community building Defensive SEO Yes! Bury your bad press with positive UGC

SMM follows LEAD concept: Listen, Experiment, Apply and Develop.

Results:
There are three types of results in interactive measurements. Outputs: Impressions, Share of voice, Tone Outcomes: Attitude shift, Behavior Change, Expanding reach. Business Reach: Sales, Revenues, Reputation

Fig.3: The benefits of a strategy plan for social media marketing Successful Social Media Marketing Strategies: 9

Strategy of our competitor: Levis Levis allows Facebook users to like products on Levis online store and its Facebook page (which has nearly 4,328,095 likes) and share their favorite items with their friends. Levis promotes retail offerings with geo-targeted event advertisements on Facebook. They also have a Twitter account with around 7,020 followers. They use it to post up to the minute information on their latest products, deals and exclusive events. Let's review some of their creative social media campaigns that generated a more engaging experience for their customers. Levis Guy and Levis Girl Levis introduced a Levis Guy, 24-year-old USC graduate Gareth who engages consumers on twitter. He has around 8,100 followers and is responsible for responding to and engaging in conversations about the Levis brand on Twitter. He also posts announcements about competitions and promotions on his YouTube channel which has over 31,550 views. The company also introduced the first Levis Girl back in 2010, which served as a female counterpart to Gareth. She acted as the new face and voice for Levi's Women in the digital space. She won the role after submitting a video showing off her unique style and personality. Levis Curve ID Levis is also getting consumers to try on some jeans virtually in a new in-app promotion with the Facebook game Mall World, designed to promote the Curve ID brand. For Levis, which introduced Curve ID jeans in the fall of 2010, Mall World was a perfect fit with the new brands targeted 18- to 24-year-old demographic. Waterless Another notable campaign was a Levis and Water.org partnership offering a branded app that taught users about saving water. The goal was to engage the users, provide more network exposure, promote the page, and eventually increase product purchase. The idea was a WaterTank game developed by Levis to support Water.org efforts to save water and support the organizations clean water projects across the globe. By playing the Levis WaterTank game, users can complete a series of tasks to unlock water for Levis to donate $250,000 around the world as part of Water.org s mission. The game included tasks such as: 1) Like Us 2) Visit a Levis store 3) Pledge to wash my jeans every 2 weeks instead of each week 4) Tweet Us 5) Visit water.org to answer questions about water 6) Find a Watertank QR code in any Levis store and scan it to show Ive checked out a pair of Levis Waterless 7) Make a donation to water.org 8) Ask two friends to join me in playing Watertank The game helped in increasing the number of likes, unlocking more than 66 million liters of water, and generating a feed story for each challenge completed resulting in more exposure for the brand. Levis Film Workshop Moreover, Levis launched The Levi's Film Workshop - a place for collaboration and creative production that celebrates the craft of filmmaking. Everyone is invited to access the Workshop's equipment rentals, edit suites and other resources free of charge. It is promoted as a tab on their Facebook page. They also have a Levis Workshops Twitter account which posts updates and responds to users tweets about its series of community-based venues for collaboration and creative production. Juxtapoz x Levis Levis has also teamed up with Juxtapoz, in the spirit of street art and graffiti to bring an enhanced version of what you have come to expect from Juxtapoz magazine. One of the brilliant art works done was The Levis Sculpture by Ian McChesney.

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Levis FreeForm Levis promotes on its Facebook page Levis FreeForm - a place where the users can share their stories about things and people who inspired them. This was also reflected on the Levis Guy youtube channel which shows the integration of their social media strategy across different channels. They also use their Facebook page to promote new job openings, polls, manage community discussions, and allow the customers to write reviews of Levis. Downsides Levi's is clearly active on social media; however one potential threat could be the fact that they are leaving their social media efforts to a few people, rather than it being part of its culture's DNA. The Twitter link from their official website links to TheLevisGuy twitter account and not the companys official account. Levis CEO - John Anderson - for example does not have any social media existence although I think he should be out in front, at least on Twitter. Success Factors I think personalization was a key success factor in Levis social media activity. A number of high profile campaigns have utilized the personal engagement of a particular character or person and proved to be quite successful, most notably Old Spice. It has been proven that having a 'Human Voice' in social media helps build customer relationships and positive word of mouth. Their creative campaigns on Facebook are the fuel that drives their social media activities. Levis integrated engagement strategy with Twitter, Facebook and Youtube has a huge impact on creating and informing brand ambassadors who help drive sales through their own actions and word of mouth.

Pepe Jeans:
Strategy: Buzz Marketing Network 1. Photo and video sharing on Flickr and YouTube. 2. A twitter account with up to date information on what is happening in the jeans culture. 3. Integration of all the three networks on Facebook fan page with present campaign Win a trip to F1 Brazilian GP. Result: About 4.5 lakh likes on the Pepe Jeans London Facebook page. Not much activity is found on Indian pages of Pepe Jeans.

Dell:
Strategy Implemented: Brand Monitoring

1. Listen and Respond Approach: It has a squad of 42 employees who spend their
workdays engaging with the communities on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. 2. Collective Design Approach: Dell has a site IdeaStorm. The site lets anyone sign in and offer suggestions and vote other people idea up or down. Result: According to a study Dell commissioned from measurement firm Visible Technologies, negative sentiment toward the Dell brand has dropped from 48% in 2006 to 13% in 2009.

Airess & Church:

Strategy: Twitter marketing Campaign

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1. A Global campaign called the Perfect Pair, where the contestants have to 2. Native Soil Campaign: Every design in the collection released during the
campaign was named after a specific place in United States relating a characteristic of the denim to a particular feature of a place. Result: 5000 unique monthly customers to the site and 3,197 followers on twitter. design the perfect pair of jeans.

Coca Cola:
Strategy: Well connected Social network 1. The home page of Coka Cola is not just coke.com, but it is google.com, hyves.nl, twitter.com, youtube.com, facebook.com, studyviz.net 2. Fan focused approach: Interaction with and among fans at the fan page. 3. Campaigns based on earning sustainable relationship unlike the traditional campaigns which abandon the audience they have amassed upon completion. Result: In Facebook alone, 4,600 photos, 95 videos, 5 lakh likes, 90,000 comments in just 6 months and in aggregate 7+ minutes of engagement for app session.

Fastrack:
Strategy: Digital Marketing 1. Web address is displayed on Bikers dont cry TV commercial. This site features polls, contests and User Generated Content. 2. Banner ads and online advertising on the internet content websites, social networks, blogs, video sharing sites and mobile phone screens, through SMS, MMS and later on, location-based services. Results: The brand has successfully established as a fashion accessory rather than a watch. Students and youngsters could relate to the brand and they called it an affordable brand but not cheap.

Red Bull:
Strategy: Content Aggregation 1. Default landing Tab After liking the page the default tab offers a prominent invitation to explore the world of Red Bull at Redbullusa.com. 2. Athletes Tab It aggregates the tweets from Red Bull sponsored athletes and can be narrowed to view updates from athletes from a specific sport. This tab brings the content on to Facebook Result: Red Bulls posts are on the whole more about promoting Red Bull produced content, including promotional videos and athletes.

Adidas:
Strategy: Online advertising and digital marketing

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1. Launched an online football sport marketing campaign through online game titled Danger Makes Legend and associated with Facebook. 2. It just follows its mission (to be No.1 sports brand in the world) on the social media also. It has different Facebook pages for different sports and each consists of profiles and website links of famous sportsmen of the particular sport. Result: Adidas is successful in expressing its strong relations with sports among its target audience. Tracking Growth: How to know it is working? The following are the measuring metrics: o o o o o o Blog posts Reader comments Twitter mentions Twitter followers Facebook fans Links

o RSS subscribers
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Google trends Alexa rankings Search results Nielsen buzzMetrics Inbound traffic Clickthroughs Video views Channel subscribers Video embeds Slideshare views Tags Digs Stumbles App downloads

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Podcast subscribers

Outsourcing can be considered an option to save time and money. The following social tasks can be outsourced: 1. Posting of content, including articles, events, photos, and starting discussion groups 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Moderating comments on blog submitting written content across platforms Find and follow key persons on twitter Submitting and promoting video Writing and submitting press releases, Podcast creation assistance, including iphone app Video creation assistance Re-tweet relevant tweets Tracking statistics on a weekly or monthly basis Measuring campaign success Setup of profiles, and associated alert applications Finding other professionals with specializations

Digital Marketing:
Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using all forms of digital advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital Marketing Pull Vs Push There are 2 different forms of digital marketing, each of which has its pros and cons. Pull Pull digital marketing technologies involve the user having to seek out and directly select (or pull) the content, often via web search. Web site/blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are good examples of this. In each of these examples, users have a specific link (URL) to view the content. Pros: Digital Marketing and Power Users of the internet are an integral aspect to the United States economy. Interactive Media is a form of art and creative inspiration.

Since requests are inherently opt-in, the size of content is generally unlimited.

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No advanced technology required to send static content, only to store/display it.

Cons:

Considerable marketing effort required for users to find the message/content. Some types of marketing content may be blocked in mixed content scenarios (i.e.: Flash

blockers) Push Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as well as the recipients (the user). Email, SMS, RSS are examples of push digital marketing. In each of these examples, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users (subscribers) in order for the message to be received. In the case of RSS, content is actually pulled on a periodic basis (polling), thus simulating a push. Pros:

Faster delivery - push technologies can deliver content immediately as it becomes Consistent delivery - some push platforms have single content types, making it difficult for Better targeting - since push technology usually justifies subscription, more specific

available.

the user to block content by type.

marketing data may be collected during registration, which allows for better targeting and more personalization.

Better data - marketing data can be correlated to each request for content, allowing

marketers to see information such as user name as well as demographic and psychographic data. Cons:

Smaller audience - push technology not implemented on common platforms generally Higher cost - less popular platforms may have higher implementation costs. Lesser discoverability - smaller audiences mean fewer views mean less visibility in search

need client and/or server software before content can be created, distributed, and/or viewed.

engines.

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Fig.4: Digital Marketing Mobile Marketing:

This refers to marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone. Mobile marketing is broadly defined as the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication or distribution of any kind of promotional or advertising messages to customer through wireless networks. More specific definition is the following: using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value for all stakeholders". Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network. This can also be called as wireless marketing. Different forms of mobile marketing include: Mobile marketing via SMS Mobile marketing via MMS In-Game Mobile Marketing Mobile web marketing Mobile marketing via QR codes

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Mobile marketing via Bluetooth/Infrared Location based services

Fig.5: Mobile Marketing

The most common mobile media content categories in use today include: Portals Email Weather News/politics Search Business/finance (especially since the recent economic downturn)

In Game Advertising:
In-game advertising (IGA) refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product. IGA can be integrated into the game either through a display in the background, such as an in-game billboard or a commercial during the pause created when a game loads, or highly integrated within the game so that the advertised product is necessary to complete part of the game or is featured prominently within cut scenes.

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Fig.6: In-game Advertising

Due to the custom programming required, dynamic advertising is usually presented in the background; static advertisements can appear as either. One of the advantages of IGA over traditional advertisements is that consumers are less likely to multitask with other media while playing a game, however, some attention is still divided between the gameplay, controls, and the advertisement. Consultancy with In game advertising:

IGA Worldwide Entertainment.

Delivers

Dynamic

In-Game

Advertising

in Sony

Computer

IGA Worldwide Strengthens Market Position with Additional Capital and new AAA Gaming Titles.

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2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
An exploratory research was conducted to find out the social media tactics used by different brands. As a part of the research store owners were interviewed to find out the response of online advertising. Personal interviews of target audience were taken by the use of questionnaire filling. This research was used to find out the knowledge of social media among our target group and also their awareness about Wrangler. The questionnaire also targeted at identifying customers needs that can be satisfied online. Primary Data: The data is gathered through questionnaire based survey. All the respondents lie within the age bracket of 19-30. The average age of respondents is 24. Secondary Data:

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For the purpose of study, data has been collected from journals, articles on the web and published data. Population of the study: A total of 120 samples were examined for the survey. Sample population includes students, employees and businessmen. The selected samples are from the metros. Sampling Techniques: Samples are collected using Stratified Sampling technique. Young people from metros who have purchased a premium brand jeans at full price are selected for study. Most of the respondents were students and young professionals. Also, people who are bikers or who have biking as their aspirations are targeted. Scales used in Questionnaire: Likert family of scales using labels such as: Good, bad, average etc. Ordinal scale.

Statistical Tools: Descriptive analysis Factor analysis Cross tabulation Chi-square test

The following Steps are followed in the Exploratory Research that is developed with respect to brand preference based on discussions on social media. Several academic and trade literature was reviewed and identified the psychological factors that influence the customer preference to online advertising. Owners in outlets are also interviewed to find out the response of their social media advertising offers. An attempt was made to find out the factors that consumers feel is important in selecting a brand and also on the factors that a user wants. Implementing these factors will increase the awareness of the brand. Questionnaire is designed in such a way that the respondents personal information is not asked much in detail thus the respondents were feeling comfortable to answer the questions without any hesitation and we were able to avoid the unwillingness error. Survey Questionnaire is attached in the end.
Persona of our target audience: Name: John Age: 23 Place: Mumbai Personality Traits: Student Nuts about Biking Into Brands

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Rugged yet Fashionable Has an individual sense of style Blogging, Surfing Net, Being part of Social Networking Hanging out with friends at malls, discos, pubs, movie theatres, cafes

3.

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

Analysis:
The survey was taken from 120 respondents of which 90 are male and 30 are female. All the respondents are in the age group of 18 to 30 and the average age of respondents is 24. There are 80 students, 32 employees and 8 businessmen among the sample taken for the survey. Survey proved TV Commercials still stand as a major source of information for the customers. Particularly in apparel industry banners and hoardings are the major source of information about the brand. Fastrack, Nike and Apple are among the most preferred youth brands.

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Fig.7: Respondents preference among youth brands

Among the apparel brands Levis tops the respondents preference followed by Pepe Jeans. Wrangler stands fourth among the seven brands surveyed.

Fig.8: Respondents preferense among apparel brands

Out of the 120 respondents, 68 used Wrangler atleast once and the remaining 52 have never used the brand. Out of the 68 respondents who used the brand atleast once, 42 rated their experience as Good and 14 rated Excellent and 12 rated it as average.

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14 42 12

Fig.9: User experience of Wrangler Brand

As far as social networking is concerned, Facebook tops the list and Orkut follows it. Other social sites such as Linked in, Twitter and photo sharing site Picasa and video sharing site Youtube all have almost equal preference of over 50%. Only 8% of the respondents follow bikers related blogs which accounts to only 9 respondents out of surveyed 120. Some of the blogs they follow are Teambhp, IndianCarBike, Royal Enfield Club, Wing Riders, TripBullet, Pulsar stunt mania, bikersfun house and bikers social.

Fig.10: Percentage of respondents who follow bikers related bolgs

Another interesting fact was over 70% of the repondents used mobile media to access social networks. 66% of the respondents said online advertisements do not pursuade them to make a purchase. 60% of them preferred peer reviews as a source of reliable information.

Do the advertisements on social sites persuade you to make a purchase?

Fig.11: Preference for online advertising

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Do you consider peer reviews on social sites as reliable information?

Fig.12: Percentage of respondents who follow prefer peer reviews

Over 50% of the respondents prefer to see freebies, offers and latest collections related information on the web. 60% of the respondents prefer to recommend their personal brand to their friends on social media.

Strategy based on Research:

Based on the analysis of the survey, the strategy for social media marketing can be done as follows in four different but overlapped phases. Phase 1: Research & Communicate Phase 2: Enhance your presence Phase 3: Conversation & Conversion Phase 4: Maintenance & Analysis

In a Nut Shell: Start with the Goals Before you can create a strategy, you need to identify what you want to accomplish with social media marketing. Here are some common goals to give you an idea of what Im talking about. Increase brand awareness Build authority Learn more about your target audience Gain inbound links Educate and inform customers Improve customer service Monitor brand reputation This list could go on forever, but youve got the idea. Dont start your social media campaign until youve clearly established and made a written record of these goals. Create a Strategy Based on Research Again, blindly jumping into social media is a terrible mistake that can create major setbacks. You need to spend time doing detailed research and creating solid strategies that will enable you to reach your goals. The research process includes: Determining if your target audience is online Figuring out where they are Examining the successes and failures of other social media campaigns

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Creating realistic timelines Establishing a method for tracking results

Once youve done all this research, you can start building the actual path (strategy) for reaching your goals. Building Relationships- At the end of the day, social media is all about building relationships. Whether your goal is to simply increase brand awareness or to gain inbound links for your website, you have to build relationships to do it. This means you dont just show up on the social network of your choice blasting your marketing message. Thats not going to get the job done. In fact, its going to make everyone hate you. You have to treat social media users just like you would people in real life. Get to know them. Interact without promoting. Help each other out. Only then can you start to achieve your goals. Creating a Schedule- Remember what I said at the beginning of this post? Tweeting, blogging, or posting on forums haphazardly isnt a social media strategy. You need to set up an actual schedule. Not only will this help you stay committed and on task, but creating a social media schedule also improves your campaigns efficiency. Youll no longer be wasting time getting on sporadically and making up your strategy as you go. Staying the Course- Too many times, companies view social media as a quick fix. The reality is social media is a marathon not a sprint. Remember, its about building relationships. This requires constant connections over a long period of time, just like any other relationship. You cant expect to gain valuable insight, increase brand awareness, or build relationships with people who will help promote your content in a matter of days. It takes months. Years even. Stick with it! Measuring the Results- How you measure success depends on which goals youre trying to achieve. For instance, if your goal is to increase brand awareness and to maintain a positive reputation, you can track results by using conversation discovery techniques. Whether this is setting up Google Alerts for any time your brand is mentioned or paying a company to do it for you, the point is that you need to have a strategy for monitoring your results. By taking the guesswork out of your social media monitoring, you can see exactly how your campaign is performing. Phase 1: This phase consists of Research Strategy Detailed Launch Plan Integrated Tactics High-level Social Media Objectives While we will outline several objectives for the CDA meeting, it is important to identify the key objectives for social media overall as they pertain to the customer development cycle: 1. Awareness - we will use social media to help make targets in this space aware of the new offers and latest collections. 2. Comprehension - we will use social media as a tool to spread buzz about the product or brand, and recruit new product/brand enthusiasts. 3. Conviction - we will use social media to strengthen current relationships with key trade media contacts and KOLs, as well as create new relationships with emerging opinion leaders in the growing blogosphere. 4. Advocacy - we will use social media to create a dialogue with the customer to instill loyalty and build/strengthen the relationship with current customers.

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Fig.13: Social media Network

Phase 2 Community Building: Establish or Enhance a Presence This phase consists of: User Experience Design Graphical Elements & Photography Copywriting SEO Metadata Social Media Platform Development (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Integrate the traditional media with social media to build a community.

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Fig.14: The total online community

Enhance your presence by relating all the accounts on different social networking sites Explore Photo and video sharing sites which are more related to our business.

Keep the conversations going

Markets are getting smarter, more informed and more organized. People are more informed about the products through conversations than from the vendors. The networked markets know more than companies do about their own products. Companies that do not involve in any conversation about their products will die. Your participation in those conversations will help you to remove any negative opinions about your brand. For a better control of your brand you must participate in the conversations. Once you trigger a conversation you should not leave it.

Phase 3: Engagement and Conversion Develop editorial calendar, Develop online media, Build, enhance relationships, Build, enhance the networks and Develop forward-moving content. Use the tools such as Blogs, Videos, Podcasts, Photos, Offers/Promos, Webinars and White papers to improve engagement and that results in conversion. The other effects: Long tail Effect Reach the small communities on the web. Connect with people Reach people where they are. Keep Brand Positioning Keep brand awareness to relay offline marketing campaigns Generate more traffic Enlarge the targeted segment. Much more than before: Leverage current marketing results Get better Brand awareness Get better brand management Get better User Stickiness Get better quality products Get more sales Phase 4: Maintenance and tracking

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It is a very important phase. The success of the strategy has to be regularly tracked. Some of the metrics that can be used are: Management & Updates Traffic Analytics Search Rankings Followers, Friends, Subscribers, etc. Conversations/Comments Lead Generation Sales Conversions Tracking the success depends on the goals set. These results can be used to make modifications in the strategy. In a Nut Shell The total strategy can be depicted in a nut shell as follows: It consists of six elements: Listen, Create, Present, Broadcast, Measure and Adapt. It in turn depends on following parameters: Context, content, Visual Story, Channels, Outcomes and Approach.

Fig.15: SMM Strategy in a Nut Shell

These four phases act as a road map for successfully implementing a social media marketing strategy that could cater to all our target audience. It can also be able to improve brand visibility and awareness.

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4. FINDINGS AND INFERENCES

Based on the data collected from the agencies, the budget requirements and the return on investment calculations are done. The calculations are as shown below:

Calculation of ROI:
Features provided by agency Discovery, Meetings, Strategic & Tactical Marketing Plan, Consulting (required) Details Client provides, review of existing messaging, positioning, & tactical plans

Messaging, Positioning & Content Website Maintenance and Enhancement

Optional Custom Scope including ecommerce, content management, advanced functionality as necessary As Required

Custom Lead Generation Forms

Website Tracking & Analytics SEO Paid Search Content Management

Custom analytics solution based on demand generation requirements and reporting objectives Ongoing Optimization, Link Building & Content Marketing All Keywords Includes analysis of content authoring systems, repurposing requirements, timed content and staged content Selection of platform to meet specific needs and workflows; training and implementation on platform Full Program with Objectives and Audiences by Channel Monthly Analytics, Social Analytics, Sales alerts, & Auto-emailed Reports Implementation of robust platform depending on needs; complete campaign creation and execution

Marketing Automation Social Media Reporting E-mail Marketing

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Budget Range

From Rs.10.00.000/- per annum

Table.1: Features offered by Agencies Total Investment: Over all Investment: Company Website and Blogs: Website maintenance and up gradation SEO /organic ranking/ Google ads (30, 000*12) Social media: Monthly handling (50,000*12) Campaign cost(approx) Discounts/free coupons cost (approx) Mobile media: SMS campaign (2,00,000*5 paisa*12) Content Development Application development Discounts/free coupons cost (approx) Total Table.2: Record of Toal Investment Requirements 1,20,000 2,00,000 3,00,000 5,00,000 11,20,000 30,80,000 6,00,000 3,00,000 5,00,000 14,00,000 2,00,000 3,60,000 5, 60,000

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Tracking - Conversion Model:

Target = In-game advertising views + No. of Searches + Followers + Members = 3,00,000 (approx.)

Stage Target Lead (0.02 * T) Prospects (0.15 * L) Customers (0.4 * P)

Conversion Model 3,00,000 6000 900 360

Table.3: Conversion Model Calculation of projected sales:

Taking bill value for the year 2010 be 1900/- and for 2011 be 2000/ No. of customers 2010: 12,92,594 No of customer 2011: 14,22,194 Projected growth of customers over the year is 10%. Annual sales for 2010 for wrangler: 24559.2 lakhs. Annual sales for 2011 for wrangler: 28443.8 lakhs. A projected growth of sales over the year is 15.8%.

Calculation:
No. of Customers * avg. bill value

Pessimist: 360*2000 = 7,20,000/Optimist: 580*2000 = 11,60,000/-

Lets assume annual customer be 420. 470*2000= 9,40,000

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For the purpose of calculation the YOY growth in number of customers be 12% and average bill amount be increase by 6%.

YOY costs and Revenues:

1st year Cost 14,00, 000 2nd year 14,00,000 3rd year 14,00,000 4th year 14,00,000 5th year 14,00,000 6th year 14,00,000

Cumulative cost

14,00,000

28,00,000

42,00,000

56,00,000

70,00,000

84,00,000

No of customers with YOY growth be 10% Average bill value with YOY growth at 5% Revenue

470

526

589

660

740

830

2000

2120

2247

2382

2525

2677

9,40,000

11,15,120

13,23,483

15,72,120

18,68,500

22,21,910

Cumulative revenue

9,40,000

20,55,120

33,78,603

49,50,723

68,19,223

90,41,133

Profit/ loss

-4,60,000

-7,44,880

-8,21,397

-6,49,277

-1,80,777

6,41,133

Profit at the end of SIXTH year Table.4: YOY Costs and Revenues for six years
The above table shows the cumulative costs incurred for implementing the project and the cumulative revenues earned per year. Based on the above calculations, profit generation starts from the end of sixth year.

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5.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Strategy: Eligibility: A customer who has made a purchase of over Rs.3000/- in any Wrangler store gets an unique registration code which can be used in all Wranglers online programs to win gifts and offers. This code can also be used as a login ID into the games and other applications of the brand. Program 1: An online game named Ride The Challenge. It is an online racing game. The gamer has to take racing challenges from the other online opponents. The racer first goes to the Wrangler store and selects costumes and other safety accessories and takes up a challenge. As he keeps on winning he gets coins. After reaching certain amount of coins he gets Wrangler cash which can be used as a voucher to get price off in any Wrangler store. As he keeps on improving the level, he can unlock mystery gifts. Program 2: A community for bikers named Bikers Lobby. This is a social community or blog maintained by Wrangler where bikes and bikers related information is shared on a regular basis. This is the place where a biker finds someone of same interest as his which is biking. They can have chat and discussions and also they can share their experience with Wrangler and about bikes. The game here is when he gets logged in into the community he has to click on a Tab so called Wrangler Doorbell which he can click only once in 12 hours. When his clicks reach 500 he gets an offer voucher. A surprise gift here can include tickets to various bike racing sports held worldwide. Program 3: It is named as Price Tag This is a virtual store, where in the customer can check out all the collections. He can try different pairs to see how they match. He can also have information about prices. As a part of game, he has to find out the price tag of a piece in the latest collection. If he gets it right he owns the piece. This offer would run for one week after the release of a particular collection. He can guess the price only thrice during that week. As he logs in with the unique ID his tagging is recorded and is restricted to 3 times.

Agencies and their past Projects: 22Feet:

This agency provides the following services:

Web
strategy & consulting advertising & branding web designing web development search engine marketing search engine optimisation media planning

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social media marketing campaign monitoring & analytics

Mobile
mobile marketing solutions mobile application development mobile couponing

Some of their clients include: Wipro, Fastrack, Lee, Microsoft Advertising, Bisleri, Kingfisher, Lenovo, Peter England, CCD etc. Their projects include: 1. Lee: It has set up a micro-site to be at the forefront of the web/social media sector, which is intended to be an online hub for its image by better connecting the social media channels 2. Peter England: 22feet has helped the brand in segmenting the Indian market and positioning it in Mid-price category. 3. Fastrack: 22feet developed a Digital marketing campaign for the company which was well received by its target audience. 4. Kingfisher: has a very responsive Twitter presence, monitored by 22feet. Its very much interactive to its customers and almost every customer is addressed. Their Bangalore address: 88 KK Center Koramangala Industrial Area Bangalore, Karnataka India 080 6452 4997

WebChutney:
Webchutney works with leading companies in India by developing award winning and memorable experiences for brands to connect, engage with and build sustained relationships with their consumers online. The clients of this agency include: CityBank, Airtel, Tata tea, Tanishq, ESPN star sports, Yahoo, Google, HSBC, INTEL etc. Some of the projects taken up by this agency for its clients are:

1. ESPN star sports: With over 20000 tweets, influencers with over 50k followers
participated and won resulting in huge buzz for the activity. A website called Champions Ke Fans was created where fans are invited to show their passion and be the fans behind the man. It received a huge response. 2. Tanishq: WebChutney has developed an e-commerce website for Tanishq which lead to Sales of over Rs 3 crores within the first 6 months of launch. 3. Airtel: It has developed a Real fan you tube contest for Airtel which became the Most Subscribed channel with 500,000+ channel views in the first 30 days. 4. Tata Tea: With the help of this agency TATA Tea had launched their Jaago Re meaning Wake Up TV campaign in an effort to wake up an apathetic nation: Thousands of citizens have actively participated with the website and volunteers have fuelled over 200 + live projects. Their Bangalore address:

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New Bridge Center,777/D, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, HAL 2nd Stage, Bengalooru-560038. Phone: +91 80 4126 1861

Geek:
Geek is a creative agency dedicated to finding creative solutions for our clients through innovative design and Technology. Fastrack, Britania, Kingfisher and Durex Jeans are some of its important clients. Some of the projects carried out by this agency are: 1. Durex Jeans: I. Champ or Damp Facebook Game II. Bunny Blues encouraged players to click on multiplying bunnies and turn them blue (blue is the colour of the condom) to score points. 10 points resulted in 1 condom being donated. III. Created a denim wrapped vodka bottle with a button stating Click to unzip your attitude, Unzip you attitude being the tag line for the brand. Upon unzipping, user will be able to download the visual as a wallpaper 2. Fastrack:

I. II. III.
Their Bangalore address:

Fastrack Girl: Using the campaign imagery they were able to create the look and feel of the website. Peppering it with animation effects and graphics to add fun and youthfulness. Fastrack Bikers My EX Box: Created the look and feel of the website including the logo unit. 117,2nd Cross,4th Main, HAL 3rd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore 560075. Ph: +91 080 41256902

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6. CONCLUSION
Social media marketing is the most promised upcoming tool as a marketing promotion activity. It has a deep and long lasting impact in the mindset of the customers and it can be an effective strategy for maintaining uniform reputation among a vast section of prospective customers. The results may not be observed from the day one, but over a long run it can surely have a remarkable difference on the marketing promotion scenario. Once you set up a perfect set up with brand promotion, you can expect high volume of traffic and enhanced back-links as discussed earlier. This increases possibilities for sales conversion and helps you to attain better returns on your investments. Social media marketing can go to an indefinite depth by establishing reputation and enhancing your customer-base. It can directly affect your business returns with appropriate promotion strategies. With the huge radical growth of social networks and the enhanced adorability of such networks among internet population, the applications of SMM have attained high demand. People use it as a platform to promote products, brands and services. They adore it as a consistence way to stay in touch with their targeted customers. They reach out to share their resources with millions of the similar minds and there by create a network of thought-groups. In this evolving world of internet and social communication, this tool is the future of marketing and strategic promotion.

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Social Media Marketing - Research Questionnaire

I am an MBA student at SMS,JNTUH. As a part of my curriculum I am doing a market survey on social media marketing of Denim brands. Please spend a few minutes of your time to share your views on social media and youth brands. Please give your genuine response so that it can really help me understand the market and improve on the same. Name Age Gender Profession Which of the youth brands do you prefer? RedBull Fast Track Mountain Dew Sony Play Station Nike M Tv e-Bay Amazon Apple iPod Harley Davidson Toyota Mcdonalds Which of the following youth "apparel" brands do you prefer? Levi's Wrangler Lee Flying Machine Pepe Killer Other: Do you like advertising campaigns of your personal apparel brand? Yes No No idea about its advertising campaign

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If Yes, What interests you in the campaign? Have you ever used Wrangler? I used it once I used it for a period of time Never used it If yes, how do you rate your experience? Excellent Good Average Bad Terrible What is the major source which makes you aware of new products in the market? (select one which is the major source) Online advertisements Newspapers TV Commercials Word of Mouth Discussion on social media Other: Any particular features you liked/disliked about wrangler.(Like: price, designs, outlets, availability, quality etc) . Please select the sites in which you presently have an account Twitter Facebook Linked in Youtube MySpace Picasa Digg Orkut I follow blogs Other: Do you follow any bikers related blogs/clubs? Yes No If yes please mention the name How do you access social media? Fixed broadband connection

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Mobile data card On your mobile phone How often do you visit social networking sites? Daily Thrice a week Once a week Once a month Did the information you get about products on various social networking sites persuade you to buy the product? Yes No List some social media campaigns that interested you (Advertisement campaigns of brands that are showed on social networking sites)

What type of information do you like to see about apparels on the internet? (Rate each parameter according to your interest, 1-Low, 5-High) 1 2 3 4 5 Discounts, Freebies and other offers Brand Events Entertainment and Games Latest Collections Interactive Discussions (feedbacks & complaints) Promoters and brand ambassadors

Anything else you wish to know about apparels online While shopping do you consider the brands recommended by members on different social networking sites? Yes No If yes, for what sort of products do you consider your friend's suggestions? Household Electronic goods Apparels Fashion Accessories Gadgets Do you recommend your personal brands to your friends on social media?

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Yes No Finally, your comment on Brand Wrangler (if any)

Thank you very much for your time!!!

Bibliography:
1. The integrative marketing ebook, Survey by Unica An IBM company 2. 2011 Social Media Industry Marketing Report by Michael.A.Stelzner 3. Denims and Jeans .com 4. Forrester Researchs Consumer Technographics data, 2009 Forrester Research 5. http://www.hivemindinc.com/the-hive/pricing 6. Social media etiquette ebook by Radian6. 7. Online Social media principles by The Coca-cola Company.

8. Web 2.0 as a marketing tool, a Stanford case study, February 27th, 2009
9. The effect of Social Media, FMI journal,2009

10. Malhotra, Naresh, 2007, Marketing Research, 5th Edition, Pearson, India.
11. SPSS- An IBM Statistical Product

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