Markathon October 2013 Edition

Dear Readers

After Raghuram Rajan it was goddess Durga’s turn to give the economy the much needed boost and she sure didn’t disappoint us with thousands of shoppers braving the rains, traffic jams and rising prices to flock to the high street and malls across metros and smaller cities dispelling the fear of a slowdown in demand this season because of the dual demons that inflation and interest rates are. Even the auto industry which has been gloomy for almost a year now due to the declining sales ended up smiling.

Staying true to the mood of the season, the Markathon team wanted to give an additional reason to cheer to its readers. After an intense brainstorming session we came up with the idea to publish some of the articles from the past that we would have loved to have in our magazine but couldn’t at the time they were sent.

So be ready to have a blast from the past for we have some really thought provoking and insightful articles ranging from a shampoo that cautions it is not for consumption to how the companies today are using the power of crowds to a fare on Facebook and Twitter with a ‘real’ twist.

It has been more than a month since Pepsodent sounded a cry of war against Colgate and a lot has been written and discussed about it but the opinion is still divided on its effectiveness. This time in the section “Eye2Eye” we see what the student community has to say about this.

For our “Vartalaap” this edition, we have an exclusive interview with the Vice President India and South West Asia of the brand which is on the mission to spread happiness, Deepak Jolly of Coca Cola. A Public Affairs professional with 29 years' of experience, Deepak  in this interview talks about the successes and challenges that Coke has come across in recent times and his journey so far in the company.

Check out what went wrong with Barbie’s boyfriend Ken in the second offering for our recently introduced section “Jab they Failed” and what we think about the book ‘Brand Leadership’ by the guru of brand equity David Aaker in the section “Bookmark”.

With so much in line waiting for you, wait no more and savor the delight that this latest edition promises to be. Your feedback is invaluable to us so keep us posted on what interests you and what doesn’t by writing to markathon.iims@gmail.com and we promise, like goddess Durga we too won’t disappoint you.

Happy Reading!

Team Markathon