Dotcom Marketing in India

The Dotcom Marketing Mania Contd...

Commented David Appasamy, General Manager, Satyam Online, "Some dot.com advertising has been focused and some less so." Some advertisements had a packaged communication strategy, with a focus on brand differentiation. For instance, a popular South Asian community portal, chaitime.com launched a campaign named "chai peeke bol" (have tea and speak) in May 1999. It was a 6 x 8 feet virtual wall, which allowed students from six cities in India to flash their messages on chaitime.com. There was a grand prize for the college that flashed the maximum number of messages, and customized T-shirts, free head messages, tattoos etc, for all those who registered on the site. Analysts felt that this was an event, which was difficult to manage.

However, Dr. Jayesh Vaidya, Managing Director, chaitime.com justified it saying, "We do not offer any physical product. This is the only way users can relate to us in the physical world." In metros like Delhi and Mumbai, outdoor advertising like banners, kiosks and bill boards were used more widely. In Delhi, since billboards were banned, the money was put on kiosks and bus shelters. In Mumbai, dotcom companies' hoardings were more than those put up by the brick and mortar companies. For every brick and mortar hoarding, there were four to five hoardings from dotcom companies. Prior to the mushrooming of dotcoms in India, this space was used by the FMCG companies. A senior executive at indya.com explained." Outdoor advertising is cheaper than conventional media and it has good reach because the billboard always screams out."

For effective marketing, dotcoms adopted promotional strategies of brick and mortar companies like conducting meals, etc. Hungama.com an entertainment site established 560 cybercafes to promote traffic to its site. A placement site jobsahead.com held job meals in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi where recruiters met potential employees. Baazee.com placed kiosks in high traffic areas to educate markets and consumers. Jaspreet Bindra, chief operating officer, baazee.com said, "Everything can't be done on the Web.

For some things, you need off line capability." Brainvisa.com, involved in career counseling to high school children conducted aptitude tests online for which it charged Rs 500. Additionally, it also conducted these tests in schools across the country. There were also some dotcoms, which ignored traditional advertising and looked at innovative ways of marketing – word of mouth, referrals etc. – to increase traffic.

Dotcom Marketing in India - Next Page >>>

Case Details

Case Code : ITSY006
Themes: e-Business
Case Length : 08 Pages
Period : 1990-2001
Organization : Equus Advertising, Hungama.com
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Information Technology (Electronic Commerce)

Free Case Studies

Business Strategy
Finance
HRM
Insurance
IT and Systems
Marketing
Operations
Leadership
More Case Studies >>

Micro Case Studies

Business Environment
Finance
Business Strategy
Human Resource Management
IT and Systems
Marketing
Operations
Micro Case Studies >>

Free Resources

Micro Case Studies
Free Case Studies
Articles
Interviews
Book Reviews
Glossary
Online Quiz
More Free Resources >>

Case Related Links

Best Selling Case Studies
Business Case Studies
Learning With Case Studies
Cases Used in Textbooks
Prize Winning Case Studies
More Case Studies >>

Case Studies and Management Resources