Best of the lot

K.R.R. Rajendran, Student, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode

Gillette was adept in creating a new business segment in one of the fastest-growing economies. The product Gillette Guard carved out a new segment by giving better shaving quality to customers who had certain economic constraints.

Starsports.com too did something similar when it launched a new service to telecast live the IPL matches to smartphone users who could not watch the match on TV. Starsports.com understood the importance of live matches for the cricket-loving country. The promotional advertisements seem to be effective and promote its use by smartphone users. Improved connectivity, low price of data plans and higher public aspiration to use such technology implies that Starsports.com has clearly set a platform for new IPL match viewers. With growing competition and customer expectations, exploring ways to create a new market would always be a good alternative. This gives the flexibility to design the market as required and of course gives the first-mover advantage.

Rajendran wins a copy of the book Marketing As Strategy by Nirmalya Kumar