Dr. Vijayesvaran Arumugam at IVPP 2026, hosted by Parul University!
Marketing across the whole organisation!
Meet the marketing veteran – Dr. Vijayesvaran Arumugam of IMU University of Malaysia taught Parul University’s students about how the entire marketing channel works in each organisation. He visited IVPP 2026 and taught students of Parul University by showing classic examples of Coca-Cola & Pepsi. He asked, “What is marketing, and how does it function across an organisation?” and argued that marketing isn’t a single-level activity; it reaches the market through an entire product cycle, followed by revenue and demand prediction!
He has presented it through a structured organisation, divided into primary activities & support-driven activities. Primary activities include inbound logistics, manufacturing, machinery, outbound logistics, and customer relationship management. Support activities include human resources and management happening at all levels!
Customer relationship management - 80 & 20 principle.
Dr. Vijayesvaran introduced them to the 80-20 principle that allows students to identify the customers who deserve greater focus and effort, in sync with all the customer groups. Making people aware of a product and helping them understand its value, he explained, is part of the marketer’s complete responsibility toward the customer and the market, connecting distribution with marketing communication.
Brand competitions - a classroom activity!
To enliven the entire session, Dr. Vijayesvaran set up a brand competition among the students wherein he divided students into pairs, such as Apple versus Samsung, Coca-Cola versus Pepsi, Toyota versus Honda, and Puma versus Adidas, and so on. Then, students were told to identify the marketing choices on display. How brands are targeting their markets wisely across online and offline channels, nationally and internationally. From identifying their brand history, logos, names, and the evolution of marketing activities, they had to identify and debate how each one is differently positioned. This activity was designed to increase brand awareness among them, with an eye on what to focus on next!
The Pepsi Challenge and New Coke
The Coca-Cola and Pepsi rivalry carried much of the teaching. Dr. Vijayesvaran explained the Pepsi Challenge, the blind taste test that placed product experience at the centre of the campaign and showed how a single marketing activity can move across channels, from a public tasting to recorded footage to advertising. He then discussed Coca-Cola’s response, the introduction of New Coke, and the return of the original formula as a case of how a strong consumer reaction to a change in a familiar product can lead a company to reconsider its approach, bringing the discussion back to the central principle of understanding the customer.
Building a brand beyond the product
Dr. Vijayesvaran showed how marketing operates at two connected levels: the product and its characteristics, and the wider identity a company builds. He examined how Coca-Cola and Pepsi attached themselves to different audiences and lifestyles: Coca-Cola to sport, relationships, and shared experience, and Pepsi to youth, music, and popular culture, using celebrity-led advertising such as Michael Jackson to connect the brand with youth culture. He drew out the role of emotional storytelling, where an advertisement builds a memorable sequence of people and relationships rather than stating a product message, and the use of humour and comparative advertising, which makes a rival part of the conversation. Across the examples, the drink stayed the same while the advertising built meaning, lifestyles, generations, and experiences around it. Explore the BBA in Marketing and MBA in Marketing programs at Parul University to build your expertise in brand strategy, consumer behaviour and marketing.
