TERM 1 PROJECT REPORT

MARKETING PLANNING - 1

Group 1 Section B
ABHISHEK GOYAL (10P061)
DEBAJYOTI MITRA (10P072)
HARSH GANDHI (10P076)
JAYANT BAHEL (10P081)
RICHA GUPTA (10P105)
SHANTANU DWIVEDI (10P110)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..3

2. Products………………………………………………………………………………………....5

2.1 Website……………………………………………………………………………………...5

2.1.1 Afaqs.com…………………………………………………………………………..5

2.1.2 Telecom Yatra……………………………………………………………………...6

2.1.3 Plug into Projects…………………………………………………………………..6

2.2 Afaqs Reporter……………………………………………………………………………...7

3. Marketing Environment………………………………………………………………………...8

3.1 Competitors………………………………………………………………………………….8

3.2 Target customer segment………………………………………………………………….9

3.3 Demand trends and consumer behavior..………………………………………………10

3.4 Distribution and promotional policies……………………………………………………11

3.4.1 Promotional strategies……………………………………………………………11

4. References……………………………………………………………………………………..13

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1. INTRODUCTION

A BRIEF HISTORY

Afaqs! was launched as agencyfaqs! on September 28, 1999 with the objective to make easier
the lives of professionals in advertising, media and marketing. Hence it was named agencyfaqs!
- 'faqs' being an abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. Most of the brand-related
questions that executives ask are answered on the site.

It is the only site in its segment to get an audit certification (from ABCE, UK) and is also the
leader in revenue. The company aims to be India’s most complete B2B 1site for India’s booming
telecom industry.

In May 2008 it was renamed as Afaqs! The name was shortened to reflect the changing nature
of marketing communications.

The prime movers behind the site are Sreekant Khandekar and Sandeep Vij.

Agency faqs has grown from just being an online portal to a fortnightly magazine catering to the
media and marketing professionals, it has also ventured into new market spaces such as
telecom marketing with products like “telecomyatra” and is also becoming a hot destination for
freelancers with its latest project “plugintoprojects”

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Business-to-business (B2B) describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a
manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer. Contrasting terms are business-to-consumer
(B2C) and business-to-government (B2G).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2b

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Pravin Gandhi, Managing Partner of Seedfund (he was also a partner at Infinity), said in a
statement: “Over the years, Agencyfaqs has become the de facto voice and vehicle of the
influential media and marketing segment in India. We see a strong future in how the brand can
grow from online and print to other mediums – and also from India to other geographies.”2

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http://www.vccircle.com/2007/10/23/agencyfaqs-nets-second-round-investment-from-seedfund/

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 2. PRODUCTS

Products

Website Magazine

Telecom Plug into Afaqs!

Afaqs.com
yatra projects Reporter

2.1 WEBSITE

2.1.1 AFAQS.com

There are various divisions of the main website such as news, advertising, media,
directories, community and jobswitch. Each division caters to a different demand of the
consumer visiting the site.

The websites inculcate in itself a lot of varieties in terms of serving content, informative news
and resources like contact details of Publications, Agencies, PR Agencies, Photographers,
Film Production Houses, TV Channels, Useful Sites etc. as well as Interviews, Media
Opinions plus news and info from other sources and its own news team as well.

Some of the most popular sections of the website are

a. Creative Showcase3- It is one of the largest hubs of Advertising Campaigns across all
forms of Media, including TV, Print, Radio, Digital and OOH. It is a place where any
creative person can upload advertising campaigns they are proud of - or enjoy - and
want to share with others. The best way to promote good creative work and that too for

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http://www.afaqs.com/advertising/creative_showcase/index.html

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 free. An Agency, an individual, a film production house, a brand or even an advertising
enthusiast can register and upload their campaigns on Creative Showcase.

b. Brand Search 4- BrandSearch contain the details of the agencies that handle about
4,500 brands and variants across the country.
c. Case Studies 5include the evolution of a brand or a campaign or what went into making
a brand a household name
d. JobsSwitch6 – It is a hugely popular section among the media professionals who are on
the lookout for new jobs

2.1.2 TELECOM YATRA7

Afaqs! Telecom Yatra is an Indian telecom portal launched by afaqs!.

Afaqs! Telecom Yatra provides the latest news developments on voice, VAS, technology
and allied sectors. More than that, it is a community site for telecom professionals to interact
by sharing their views and reading about the who's who of the telecom industry in India.

2.1.3 PLUG into PROJECTS8

Plug Into Projects is a service from afaqs!. While afaqs! is India’s largest advertising, media
and marketing portal, Plug Into Projects is aimed to be the India’s largest exchange for
businesses and freelancers in this domain area.

Plug Into Projects is over a year old and already has more than 3000 clients and over 5000
freelancers registered in over 12 categories

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http://bs.afaqs.com/perl/advertising/brandsearch/index.html
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http://www.afaqs.com/news/case_studies/index.html
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http://jobs.afaqs.com/
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http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/
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http://plugintoprojects.afaqs.com/

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2.2 MAGAZINE

Afaqs! Reporter – It was launched in 2005 as a print magazine that would capture the
essence of news in advertising, media and marketing every fortnight, afaqs! Reporter was
born as The Brand Reporter. It was later renamed to reflect the rebranding from agencyfaqs!
to Afaqs! in 2008.

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3. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

The marketing environment is a highly ROI driven environment since it targets the marketing
and branding fraternity in India. The marketing environment is a highly competitive online
space with many online B2B service online portals vying for attention. Afaqs, though, on the
other hand, due to its massive recognition within the advertising and marketing industry stands
apart in terms of visitors and industry reach frequency.

3.1 COMPETITORS

Online competitors like exchange4media.com, Indiantelevision.com, audiencematters.com

and alootechie.com provide similar services though none of them match Afaqs.com on any
of the competing facets. Afaqs.com is clearly the market leader with the most visible
presence both online and offline. Competition also comes from the unorganized online
sector in the form of informative blogs and social networking sites which have a huge
following. Examples are galore in this sector since such platforms provide an easy contact
with the blogger. Eg: marketingpractises.blogspot.com, gauravonomics.com/blog,
http://indianbrands.blogspot.com, etc. An upcoming blog, ad-venture-india.blogspot.com
shows much promise in toppling such unorganized blogs with its rich content and decisive
market analysis.

S.No. Name Alexa India Rank (based on traffic)

1 Afaqs.com 409
2 Exchange4media.com 1341
3 Indiantelevision.com 3700
4 Campaignindia.in 7836

Source : www.alexa.com

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 Source : www.alexa.com

Major Competitors

3.2 TARGET CUSTOMER SEGMENT

The target customer segment primarily consists of advertising and media marketing
professionals and the media and marketing aspirants which are on the lookout for working
positions, both on a permanent and a temporary basis. Afaqs.com initially focused on only
publicizing permanent openings through its website since it did not consider publishing
temporary job offerings meaningful participation in the business line it was engaged in.
Over the years though, Afaqs.com researched visitors on its own website and observed
that organizations and professionals with temporary commitments were in high demand in
the industry. To bridge this need gap and to cater to this demand, Afaqs.com launched a
whole new service called Plugintoprojects.com, a new website catering to freelancers who
can easily get in touch with organizations looking for professionals for project basis jobs.
Since then, Afaqs.com has proactively catered to industry needs by providing numerous
online services. These cater to job requirements of organizations and advertising and
media marketing professionals.

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3.3 DEMAND TRENDS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Afaqs.com has the highest websites visits throughout the year amongst the major market
competitors. However, there are demand peaks during the financial year. Demand for
advertising products and services increases in the first quarter and the third quarter. These
peaks can be attributed to freshly allocated funds in the first case and the advent of the
festive season in the latter. There is a very evident fall in demand during the last quarter
since most of the firms are running tight on their advertising budgets. Catering to the need
gap of the consumers, Afaqs.com has also proactively come up with new products and
quality services from time to time which have become instant successes in the past.

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3.4 DISTRIBUTION AND PROMOTIONAL POLICIES

The distribution policies are in line with the target market. It does not need to market
directly to most of its revenue generating consumers. However, Afaqs.com markets its
products to prospective consumers in media and advertising institutes like MICA and other
mass communication institutes like IIMC, etc. Through partnerships and through
sponsoring various college level events, Afaqs.com makes its presence felt strongly across
the media marketing and advertising world of professionals, both upcoming and existing.
Media buying agencies find a strong online support in Afaqs.com to segment the allocated
advertising budget across various media channels like television, radio, internet, etc.
Afaqs.com also provides libraries subscription for media and management institutes.

3.4.1 PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

Afaqs.com has a strong online presence on social networking sites like facebook.com,
orkut.com and other micro-blogging websites like twitter.

 The online promotion strategies of Afaqs.com bear strong resemblance to the

following model of online marketing in the online space.

 It also services print advertisements in their own magazines like Afaqs Reporter
which earlier was named as Brand Reporter.

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 Afaqs.com also hosts a number of industry events throughout the calendar year
which is sponsored by various media houses and advertising agencies. Such
events provide a common platform for media and advertising professionals from
various sectors to interact; this indirectly and directly contributes to marketing
promotion for Afaqs.com. Sponsoring major industry events or initiative for
organizing events for industry are some of the promotional means employed by
Afaqs.com.
 An innovative promotional attempt through mobile widgets across platforms and
service providers has been hugely successful. This acts as a two-pronged strategy.
It helps retain the existing consumer base, and also helps attract new prospects
which find such widgets easy to use and navigate through.
 Afaqs! has also organized many annual events such as The Future of News, 101
Markets, Mobile Conversations and the Agency & Media Cricket League. Through
such activities, the company aims to be India’s most complete B2B site for India’s
booming telecom industry.

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REFERENCES

1. http://www.afaqs.com/

2. http://plugintoprojects.afaqs.com/freelancers/index.html
3. http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/
4. http://www.exchange4media.com
5. http://www.campaignindia.in/#
6. http://www.alootechie.com
7. http://www.indiantelevision.com/
8. http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/fullstory.asp?section_id=1&news_id=2084&tag=2&pi
ct=
9. http://www.vccircle.com/2007/10/23/agencyfaqs-nets-second-round-investment-from-
seedfund/

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