Being chair of the Ladies Circle this year, I hosted, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore a very interesting Marketing workshop at the premier college of marketing itself. One the building itself is so gorgeous with its stone build, and two the building impresses one to the T, no wonder architect BV Doshi was so celebrated, he made spaces that would raise the spirit, and how! After strolling across the whole campus and marvelling at the beauty of the space I finally settled into one of the state-of-the-art lecture rooms in the campus and began to listen to one of the most interesting conversations in marketing. Ofcourse the subject of marketing in itself is ridiculously interesting as it hinges on the subjects of psychology, economics, scale, and the privileges associated with the appeal to the masses.
On that subject, the professor began talking about the Marketing pyramid or umbrella and what is at the Bottom of the Umbrella is titles BOFU, in the middle is MOFU and right on top is TOFU. So every marketing material or advert as we can call it for the benefit of ourselves, is targeted as a part of this umbrella, not with that knowledge every poster I see I classify in my head as BOFU, MOFU or TOFU. So the first stage posters that call out on information about a place, event or enterprise is BOFU and is vague, kind-of generic, but tries to capture the concept of the idea, whereas TOFU on the other extreme is highy targeted to an audience who’s response is elicited and taken to the stage of executing the action of selling that is the endgame of marketing. MOFU as surmised is something in the middle.
The idea that a marketing umbrella could be so wide was something that piqued my interest. As a case study of successful marketing models is that of Parachute hair oil, so when one says coconut oil in India, Marico Industries’s Parachute brand comes right in our minds, and specifically that used for the hair. Though Parachute coconut oil can very well be used for cooking it never springs up to the mind in that reference. That’s successful marketing that leverages the idea that once in the mind is enough, for when the time to buy arrives, the customer will reach out to the brand firmly lodged in the mind with no further thought. The lazy mind is supported in that case to not have to think and that’s the ultimate marketeer’s win!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 