Personal Billboards

How about a personalised billboard? The one which calls out your name and greets you very morning when you drive to work. Or remembers your birthday an wishes you when you come close to it. Mini USA is breaking new grounds with technology-meets-billboard-advertising.

Imagine a similar feat. on M. G. Road as Mr. Mohit Sharma approaches the Dickenson Road junction saying "Santrowale Sharmaji suprabhat, nashta kiya aapne?"

Read more here.

Axe Effect

Agency: Lowe Belgium

Via The Hidden Persuader

The issue is tissue

Ha ha ha ha ha .... Did my blog inspire the ad agency of Premier Soft Tissue to create this ad?

Healthy is wise and wealthy

Health consciousness is indeed a cause of concern for us Indians. A closer look at the figures below will explain why:

• 60% of the world’s cardiac patients will be Indian by 2010
• Every fourth diabetic in the world is an Indian
• 120 million urban Indians are seriously obese and Indian ranks among the top 10 obese nations of the world – 70% of diabetes in India is obesity - related
• 800000 Indians are diagnosed with cancer each year
• Strokes kill 2,000 people in India each day
• 5.1 million number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in India, highest in South Asia
• One in three teenagers has a bad eyesight, 30% have decaying teeth and 17% of the country’s 250 million adolescents are overweight

Take a look at the market figures according to a recent CII & McKinsey Study conducted in India:

• Health forms 12% of household expenditure. The third on the consumer’s spend list – higher than apparel and entertainment.
• What’s worrisome is that 76 per cent of the Indian population pays their medical expenses themselves, often wiping out family savings in one stroke.
• Only 20% is covered by health insurance. And the market for potential insurable lives in the country is 315 million.
• The boom in healthcare is slated to rise up to Rs. 208800 crore by 2012.
• The pharma retailing for nutraceuticals - everything from multi-vitamins, diet supplements, sugar substitutes to low fat etc. thepie has crossed Rs. 30000 crore.
• The medical tourism industry in India is currently worth Rs 1,500 crore and the country could well earn Rs 5,000-10,000 crore by the year 2012 and growing at an annualized rate of 30 percent.
• The beauty, fitness and wellness market is estimated to be Rs. 80000 crore in India.
• The fitness equipment industry is clocking an annual growth of 50 per cent.

No wonder modern India is growing conscious and aware about a ‘healthy lifestyle’. Call it wellness or healthy, a sudden upliftment of the old adage “Health is wealth” is hitting us hard. Companies are repositioning themselves to the health platform, new health products are being offered. Dabur, Himalaya, Marico, Nestle, HLL, Britannia, Kellogg’s, Pepsi, Amul, ICICI have joined the band-wagon. Basically, all hustle and bustle around the word ‘well-being.’

• Nestle now stands for Slim Milk.
• Kit Kat went Lite.
• Amul launched probiotic ice creams.
• Mother don’t scold anymore when snack on Kellogg’s.
• Atta Maggi is health bhi, taste bhi.
• Saffola Gold is champion of healthy hearty cooking oils.
• Knorr soup is nourishing souls.
• Sugar Free Natura is on media spend spree.
• Pepsi’s core focus is on Tropicana juices
• Dabur is doing a similar stunt with Real Fruit Juices
• Britannia says ‘eat healthy, think better.’
• ICICI Bank launched the ‘Diabetes Care,’ the first critical illness insurance policy in the world.
  

And the list goes on and on and on.

Why is ‘health’ a healthy brand platform?

The desire to reduce health-care costs is one force behind the rise of the wellness industry; the other is the growing demand from consumers for things that make them feel healthier. Lifestyle disease and disorder is really on the rise. So it makes tremendous sense for marketers to deal with consumer’s health concern to be relevant in-case they start losing their market shares. Hence the need for companies to go beyond physical fitness and enter into mental, emotional and physical wellness in their lives.

These changes were restricted to the F&B category initially, but there is a discernible shift from fairness to healthy skin, from beauty salons to spas that offer holistic health, and more male interest in all these categories. True, much of this is still niche, but waiting eagerly to come into full bloom.

Marketers are only happy to embrace anything that’s happy and healthy. Therefore every brand and category is trying to draw upon the benefits of a healthy living. And over a period of time more companies will try to bank on the health platform with an array of new products to lure the Indian consumers.

Now that you have understood the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how marketers will target you with their next less sugar, low fat, high fiber offering, I’ll go and get my apple before my doctor turn against me.

Enlighten your mood

Yesterday I went to Harima (Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar) for lunch with my parents. Dad is going back to Kolkata, so I decided to take my parents out. My dad's a fish freak like most other bongs. But then I had a motive to choose this particular place for lunch. I wanted to observe his sushi eating experience and reaction. His first reaction,"With Wasabi anything can go." Lol.

In the table next to ours was this woman in veil. I was quiet surprised to see a Muslim lady in a Japanese joint. She was doing something with small light bulbs and explaining it to a gentleman. I became curious when she started arranging those small light bulbs into an abstract shape. I went to her and asking what's it all about. In a sweet tone of voice she said, "I enlighten things." Wow. Indeed you do Lady.

Meet the beautiful, Miss Zareena. She's from Dubai. Come to India to exhibit her work "Light Arts." She is an artist cum entrepreneur who works with glass and light. All kinds of glass. All kind of lights. All hue of lights. The room is her canvas and she can transform it within hours through her work of art. She went on to explain me her work. How light plays an important role at workplace, at home, at social gatherings etc. etc. Interesting and insightful conversation. She showed me photographs of her exhibition on her laptop and allowed me to take her picture (which I have put up with her permission.) One of her work is truly fascinating. Called 'Neonile,' it is an arrangement of many medium size neon tube on a huge wall. River Nile was painted beautifully on the tubes where the wave gently ripples when the tubes are 'switched-on' in certain order. Another work that is liked was a cluster of 60W bulbs, painted red, stuck together which looks like a bud. She calls it, 'Blud'. The best part, when the bulbs are switched on, the bud blooms into a flower.

I left my parents to their table and spend almost an hour chatting with her. Amazingly gutsy woman who had to break-away from her in-laws and make a career on her own. And now she is looking forward to expand her light boutique to different places. She plans to get her website done and start writing about her work and her life. I said I might come handy in getting her website done, she invited me to visit her exhibition to see her work of arts.

I'm going to spend my entire day today at her exhibition and see how she does these amazing things. Btw, the latest issue of Economist has a great article on how colour builds language and language builds colour.(You need an id to logging. If not, I can mail you the text.)

Happy Republic Day.

You said it

"We are now in a situation where we are short of stories, not customers."
Cedric Prouve (President - The Estee Lauder Company)

Simplicity Rules

Simple evocative ideas which translate into great brand communication. Get inspired. Do great work. Awe and woe the consumer.

Freeze kiya jaye, Compaqda

SRK’s first KBC episode is over and am sure entire India (okay few million atleast) must have been glued to their TV screen watching the Badshah doing his comical stuff. I understand SRK has is under tremendous pressure to excel Big B. But in the bargain he ended up taking the tone of voice and posture of Senior AB. Originality zilch. Few occasional cheap jokes and cool sounding phrases, SRK got nothing more to offer. And I guess other episodes won’t be any different, though it’s too premature for me to comment.

‘Lock kiya jaye’ has become ‘Freeze kiya jaye.’ Hug is the new body language for saying alvida (goodbye). Lenovo is changed to Compaq. Videocon and Santro are the main sponsors. Therefore more SRK during ad breaks.

But did you guys notice one thing which I did?

The winning amount cheque that he is signing belongs to Union Bank of India. Now isn’t that a little mismatch given the fact that SRK is the new brand ambassador of ICICI bank.

Freeze kiya jaye Compaqda?

Wait and watch

India has always been a fascinating country for marketers. With more than 1.2 billion population, marketing in India has a different charm all together. Now look at the watch market for instance. India is the most promising markets for the watch trade across the globe with penetration level of 25 watches per 1000 people, as compared to global average of 250 watches per 1000 people.

Out of the total present demand of more than 30 million units, the ‘organised’ sector supplies only 14 million units valued at $203 million while the ‘unorganised’ sector (read illegal) is worth $232 million. Over the past couple of years the watch industry have shown a decline in growth rate until last year when the market grew by 14.73 per cent in 2006. All kudos goes to Titan for its brilliant marketing initiative. At present there are more than 20000 watch retailers in India. The watch industry is estimated to be Rs. 2750 crore in 2006 and expected to become Rs. 4750 crore by 2009.

Seems like Titan is the only Indian watch maker doing all the marketing juggernauts? Wonder whether HMT is lost forever? Or will India become the new battle ground of Cartier, Omega, Rolex, Tissot, Swatch, Citizen and the numerous other luxury watches opening exclusive boutiques in India? Or can we see a complete brand revival of HMT? I guess we’ll have to wait and watch.

Do anyone of you remember any HMT print ad or a TV commercial?

Music for the ears

The Indian music industry is growing through sea-change these days. Traditionally a cassette and CD playing market, India is suddenly waking up to the potential of digital music. Recent example of digital music by films like KANK, DON, Jan-e-Mann, and Salam-e-Ishq are prime example of the growing demand in digital music. The crucial point is that promoting an album in the physical format is expensive, while the money that accrues from digital sales is all profit because it is one file that is downloaded again and again.

Physical sales of CD’s and tapes dwindled to Rs. 720 crore from Rs. 1081 crore in 2001. Though the number of CD’s sold has gone up from 10 million in 2000-01 to 36 million in 2005, the fall in the sales of cassettes has been drastic. On the other hand sales of mobile music – ringtones, true tones, full track downloads and video clips – have zoomed to Rs. 450 crore with 300 million downloads per annum. This figure is set to double over the next 12 – 18 months.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on entertainment, the mobile music industry in India will be the largest at Rs. 3600 crore by 2009-10.

India, with its mobile consumer base of 130 million, is witnessing a boom in the consumption of mobile music. This segment s likely to contribute Rs. 120 crore to the bottomline of music companies this year, while consumers will pay up to Rs. 450 crore for downloading music on their phones.

This is another reason why marketers should bank on this growing category. No wonder, mobile companies like Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson are increasingly focusing on music playing mobiles.

And how exactly can they benefit? Maybe start creating more memorable jingles, brand songs, memes, signature tunes etc. which can be downloaded as music on the move. Maybe create a database of consumers who like certain brands and send it as free gift.

Digitization allows music companies to cater to specific needs of consumers. For instance there is a significant market for old classical music by artists and consumers are willing to pay different amounts for multiple devices. Not to forget the advantage digitization allows in combating piracy. To check piracy now phones are designed such that once a track is downloaded, it gets locked on the handset and cannot be forwarded enabling any kind of revenue loss.

Digital music (online and mobile) will outsell physical music in India by the end of this year. It will be largely defined by the growth in the mobile music sector. With new delivery channels of music such as FM stations and WAP sites emerging, entertainment companies, music publishing companies, production houses and equipment manufacturers are waking up to a booming music market. This revenue stream has given lease of life to some very old music companies too.

After music, it will be the digitization of our favorite Bollywood flicks. What’s next? Mobisodes of K serials?? Podcast of Sri Sri and his meditation techniques???

Technology you’re truly transforming.

Simplicity

This recent ad of TVS Scooty Pep+ caught my eyes. A simple proposition, "Now in 99 colours." End result a simple eye catching colorful ad. Brand simplicity is indeed making a come back in the Indian advertising scene.

Cool Hunting - JWT Style

This is great compilation of great ambient media at work. JWT Cool Hunting Team.

Multi-functional

The multi-functional iPhone for a good laugh.

Overwhelming Response

Tata Sky is indeed doing well. So well that they cannot provide adequate service to it's new customers. It got me thinking after seeing this ad. Why feel sorry and apologise when you can actually celebrate. This such a brilliant example when marketing, advertising and PR can work together to create a real buzz. Developing consumer content using this issue of 'overwhelming response,' is such a fantastic idea.Occasion like this seldom happen and when it does, it's important to bank on it to send the right signal at the right moment. And what better way than to involve consumers to spread the right buzz instead of a negative feeling of being neglected, left out or a poor standard of service which might loom large in their mind.

Highway Star

Anisha Motwani (Dir Mrkt – GM) on her article in ET mentioned about ‘bringing back the car spirit to life.’ She goes on to explain how marketers are obsessed with car features which often restricts them from exploring stronger brand ideologies out the territory of functional benefits.

The car market in India is evolving. More players are coming and consumers today are flooded with option. From a consumer point of view, they love extra features in their cars for the money that they are spending. Car purchase is an involved process, an indulgence, a reflection of the owner’s personality. But have car brands moved forward to match the car’s personality with that of the consumer’s. Well am not sure. A quick check at the recent car communication revealed this. I’ve photoshopped the brand logo. Can you differentiate?

Features, great car shot from every angle, nice background. Little boxes of feature shots of engines, power steering, alloy wheels, seating arrangement.

Let’s break clutter, bring a celebrity and brand will have a personality. A payoff of ‘Happy car, happy family’. Low EMI, 0% interest, 100% finance. Pffts.

‘Massification’ of catch phrases like “Go Fida” “Josh Machine” “That’s performance” “Daddy’s Biiiiiiiiiiiiiig Car,” “Pure Exhilaration.”

‘Where is the philosophy?’ as Ms. Motwani asks, I’ve just one question to ask her, isn’t your brand doing the same thing what you’re raising question about. TV is often used to build an imagery of the brand, so 'a lovely jingle with a newly wed couple holding hands,' or 'two top notch celebrity dragging their car over a cup of coffee,' do help in grabbing eyeballs and if consumers really buy-in to a philosophy, where is your brand's philosophy?

Worldwide car brands have managed to create a unique philosophy for themselves and millions of consumer has bought into that. Volvo for safety, Honda and the power of dreams, Nissan and shift_, Skoda and its obsession with quality, BMW and stability. Why not in India, are Indian car buyers any different from their western counterparts?

In a journey called life, it is the brands core value that walks hand-in-hand with its consumer. Indians will still buy car, the category will still rally price equity, newer models with more features will gain share but they won’t ever call themselves or their car a Highway Star.

Look for Blue

Johnnie Walker 'Blue Label' - For those who know what to look for

Experience is everything

W+K was given the task to revive, 'My-daddy-uses Old Spice.' The agencies answer to freshen the stodgy image of Old Spice male grooming products is this.

"Experience is everything" campaign will take a cheeky look at modern masculinity as it seeks to extol the virtues of Old Spice as a brand family. Old Spice was losing out to Axe which banks on Sex Appeal.

Research aimed at the target consumer found something unexpected: the Old Spice brand’s legacy was a benefit rather than a burden. The reason was that younger consumers tend to seek out venerable products they perceive as cool because they are authentic; examples include Converse sneakers and Lee jeans. “Previous generations loved Old Spice and had a more emotional attachment to it.” "You can either be authentic or trendy and they have had to invent a personality." To underscore authenticity for Old Spice, the campaign gives a prominent role to the brand’s original trappings and trade dress, including the cursive script logo, the clipper ship from the fragrance bottles and the vintage whistled commercial jingle.

The theme of “Experience is everything” is meant to convey “that with our heritage and history, Old Spice is uniquely positioned to get you that experience.

Read the entire news here.

A novel canine idea

This guy, Wasiff Khan is giving sleepless night to companies like Pedigree, Eukanuba, Purina and others a run for their money, well, at least in Mumbai city. He has already made news with NDTV covering him for his novel idea - 'Dabbas for man's best friend.' Home delivery of freshly prepared cooked dog food. A graduate who didn't know what to make of his career is now running a flourishing business in the heart of Mumbai city. His clients include top Bollywood stars and industrialists. He offers customised food as per the wish of the owner and charges anywhere between Rs. 30 - 120 depending on the menu. His future plans include cookies, cakes and cat foods as a part of his product extension.

Watch out for this guy. Single handedly Wassif has taken up the task of giving big established pet food brands a run. And with more celebrities joining his list as clients, Wassif surely knows how to bark a success story. Woof!

Platinum in pooR’s country

Today the sentence “A man is known by the company he keeps” can easily be interpreted as “A man is known by the card he keeps.” Yes, credit card is fast becoming an expression of a person’s personality and interest. Premium cards are offering everything from exotic holidays at luxury beach resort, Swiss watches, Mont Blanc pens, exclusive dinner at fine restaurants, and access to premier golf clubs as bait to lure high net-worth individuals.

It is estimated that 700000 individuals in India with liquid wealth of US$ 100000 and this number is expected to grow to 1.1 million by 2009. Platinum is the new platform to woo these high income-high spending consumers. Almost every bank now has a Platinum card in its product portfolio. American Express, Citibank, ICICI, Standard Chartered, HSBC, HDFC, Deutsche Bank is eyeing this growing base of HNI’s to get a share of the pie.

What are the banks doing to justify the high membership fee that they charge? Banks are offering ‘refined lifestyle.’ According to a recent American Express Study on Indian affluent entitled, Inside the Affluent Space: Changing Lifestyle Expectations of the Affluent in India reveals an increase in disposable wealth and access is creating lifestyle competition among the ultra rich. With a keen eye for quality products and experiences, they expect to receive tangible recognition of their product use and value for money. The lifestyle, spending power, needs, desires, aspirations and service expectations of the super-premium customer in India are very similar to that of his or her rich and famous peers around the globe.

In order to get more Platinum members, banks will need to reinvent their approach. And what will that be? Maybe very soon they will start offering Porsche Roadsters, Adam A700 Jets, Kiwi Alloy Yachts, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945, Black Dragon Edicion Especial Gurkha, Molasses Reef Villas, Hublot Big Bang, Bvlgari Zero Collection, and Tibaldi Fulgor Nocturnus. Now, even if this cannot satisfy your sparkling new HNI’s, dear bankers shift your focus to micro-credit and rural development.

Tagged in blogosphere

I've been tagged by Blaiq in his last post. The basic rule of this tagging game says that I need to tell my readers 5 things about myself which they don't know yet. Five things which were a closely guarded secret until now.

1. I'm good at clay modeling and painting (both water colour and oil in canvas)
2. I've written two full length feature film script but unfortunately I couldn't sell it to any producer.
3. I used to play saxophone and harmonica in my school band, I run out of breath pretty fast now. I am part of a underground folk-rock band in Bangalore called 'U2pia' and write lyrics at times.
4. I became the second runner-up, twice, in The Telegraph Chess Championship held at Kolkata in the under 17 category.
5. I'm a biker, I get out of the city whenever I've the time with my dog Choco, who is trained to sit on my bike.

The later part of the game is much more tricky. I've to tag five more bloggers. Hmmm...okay I tag Avinash (aka Ubermaniam), Raghu of Why Disbelieve, Kapil and his korner, Gururanganathan and how he rulz rock, and Dhivya S.

Crowd Pulling

Over the past few years, the advertising agencies in India are getting sleepless night on the 'talent crunch' issue. When it comes to looking for fresh new talents, agencies are headed nowhere. Everyone has their own perspective about this problem.

While cleaning my desk today, I came across an article in the BusinessWeek magazine dated July 2006 on Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is the unofficial name of an IT enabled business trend in which companies get un-paid or low-paid amateurs to design products, create content even tackle corporate R&D problems in their spare time. According to Eric von Hippel, "user-centered innovation." But unlike open-source software, crowdsourced work is managed and owned by a single company that sells the results. Good example of Crowdsourcing is Gettyimages, CafePress, Goldcorp, P&G's InnoCentive.

Crowdcasting seems to be the new catch phrase of 2007. Sitting between Broadcasting and crowdsourcing is Crowdcasting. The process of crowdcasting uses a combination of push and pull strategies to first engage an audience and build a network of participants and then harness the network for new insights. These insights / concepts can include new product ideas, new service ideas, new branding messages, or even scientific breakthroughs. These insights are extracted from participants' submissions. To be most effective, crowdcasting usually takes the form of a competitive event with a compelling prize.

Can advertising agencies draw example from this to create an internal process/system which can bring in people to volunteer? In the long term can this become a HR policy for advertising agencies to tackle the talent crunch? Advertising agencies do follow another similar path. They hire freelances to do the job, well but that is restricted only to creative. Why not follow the same with other departments like servicing, planning, interactive, media, new media etc.

Here is an article Blaiq has written on the same topic recently. Manish has also shared his thoughts on the crowdcasting here. Do send your comments, would love to hear new methods of crowdcasting which can benefit both you and the agencies.

Pure promotion

Kidstuff Promos & Events conducted a recent survey to find out what role do pr0motions play in influencing buying behaviour. Of the 2612 consumers in 10 cities, 47 per cent of people go for repeat purchase if there are offers. Promotions do help in creating demand for a brand but also help convert a future purchase intention into action.

The retail end of the survey, conducted across 820 stores in 10 cities, shows that promotions work well in modern retail outlets. Interestingly, about 59 percent of mall-goers had participated in a promotion through SMS and over the telephone, 44 percent through a contest, and only 28% used the traditional scratch cards.

Source: Businessworld Magazine

Heals faster

'Jesus Heals' faster when you wear his brand of bandage.

Via Dan Germain

Good 'Jobs'

The long wait has ultimately come to an end. Apple's celebrity CEO Steve Jobs announced in the Macworld Conference, SF, the launch of iPhone, describing it as "the ultimate digital device."

“Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone,” he declared, showing off a thin handheld device with a 3.5 inch screen that displays touch-screen controls. Mr Jobs said it would play music and video as well as display email and act as a better handset for browsing the internet than anything else available. Watch the keynote here.

Price: 4GB $499 with a two-year contract; 5GB $599 with two year contract. Shipping in June (to groans from the audience) to US; Europe by Q4, Asia in 2008. Confirms partnership with Cingular.

Battery life: 5 hours talktime/video/browsing; 16 hours audio playback.

Accessories: headphones with mic for handsfree, tiny Bluetooth headset.

Guys call up all your friends and families, right now in the US and book an iPhone for yourself before its too late.

I'll call you from a iPhone ;-)

What exactly is new media?

A friend of mine send me the above images. 'Wow,' was my first reaction upon seeing this lovely creation. It also forced me to think about the much talked new media. Isn't this a wonderful example of new media?

Imagine brand message popping up on the windshield of cars kept at parking lots at the cost of dirt. Yes, Dirt.

The artist behind this wonderful art. I've no clue who he is. But whoever he is, he sure must be a good man.

Recycled ‘Seconds’ thought

Overheard in a second-hand scooter market —

Customer: Bhai, mera saat saal purana scooter kine da vik jaauga? (For how much will my seven-year-old scooter sell?)

Scooter dealer: Rate taan laa laange. Pehlaan grahak taan laab layiye? (We’ll fix the rate afterwards. Let’s find a purchaser first.)

No hyperbole. This is the state of affairs in market at present.

I was thinking about the ‘second-hand’ market in India for a long time but didn’t know how to put it in context. In his latest post, “Predictions for 2007,” John Grant mentioned about how a ‘second-hand superbrand’ can create opportunities for itself by extending the lifecycle of consumer products.

Over the last five years, second-hand market in India has gained immense popularity but restricted only to certain categories like automobile, books, apparel & accessories, footwear and furniture. Maruti’s ‘True Value’ and Arvind Mill’s ‘Megamart,’ Primus’s ‘Pennywise’ have managed to create a niche for them. Indian middle class are deal seekers; they are always looking for VFM products.

Well, I was thinking how to bring the thriving ‘chor bazaars’ of India into the fold of a modern retail banner. A typical ‘chor bazaar’ in Mumbai or Delhi or a ‘Sunday bazaar’ in Bangalore or a ‘College Street’ in Kolkata has some amazing items/books up for sale. Rare artifacts and items are available at a dirt cheap rate provided you really know the art of negotiating. Why not bring this dealers and shop owners under a “branded” banner? Restore, reconstruct these items for sale, add a seal of quality and service and sale them in the market. An excellent business model, this will make. Future Brands, are you listening???

Seconds Brand as a strategy can help in many ways:

• Get first time buyers into your brand’s fold.
  
• Provide them the assurance of quality and they will be more than happy to stick to you.
  
• A service agreement which makes them feel that you really care even if it’s a used product (Big no-no to all ‘No exchange, no refund’ words)
  
• Build a loyalty program (a genuine one with no fancy plastic cards and redeem points)
  
• Extend the lifecycle of your product (copying from John Grant)
• Slowly upgrade them to newer offerings over a period of time

Here’s how some brands can benefit from a ‘Seconds’ Store:

• Apple/HP/Dell/IBM: Create an exchange program. Get all the old computers, restore them and sell it in tier II & III cities at a much subsidized rate. You as a brand help eradicate illiteracy and they will become your most faithful followers.
• Harley Davidson: It’s a cult brand and Indian bikers will embrace it with grace. (Let’s stop thinking about Govt. rules for the time being.) Complete knockout units (CKU) of Harley’s can be brought to India. A franchise (assembly unit) put things in place and sales at an unbelievable low cost. Hell’s Angel rules.
• Samsung/LG/Haier/Sony/Philips/Videocon: Restore all your used/defective white goods and reach out more people in smaller towns of India. Tie-up with Tata Sky and you’ll have a killer combo to enter the market.
• Singer/Usha/Merit: Restore all your old used/defective sewing machines and reach those people, out there. You’ll create employment opportunity for them; brand loyalty will be a natural part of this program. So will be your opportunity to create content.
• Hero Honda/Bajaj/TVS: Set up branded second-hand retail stores in Gujjri and other similar spare-part/second-hand 2 wheeler markets. Follow the Maruti ‘True Value’ model; you’ll create a new profitable revenue stream.

SULZER India Ltd, the Indian marketing arm of the Swiss textile weaving machinery major Sulzer Textil Ltd, is already widening its market base at the South Indian textile centers which have reported higher imports of second-hand looms. The growing number of used shuttleless looms imported by the southern weaving industry in recent months has inspired Sulzer India to strategize its marketing through customer-care for second-hand looms, as nearly 80 per cent of the projectile looms imported into the country were from the Sulzer stable.

They say consuming base of products and services in India is low, 60 – 70 million people at the moment which is expected to become 130 – 140 million in the next three years. I say, why wait for three more years?

Well, hire me and you’ll get 350 million more consumers into your brand’s fold ;-)

Just the beginning

Steve Jobs is expected to deliver his annual keynote today in the Macworld Conference at SF. Apple has a new teaser, already up in it's website. "Welcoming 2007," says a half Apple, "First 30 years were just the beginning." Err...are we missing out something here?

Rumor buzz has been in high gear. What will Apple do, launch a new cell phone or unveil a new iPod thoroughly optimized for video playback, new Macs, new softwares? Apple, in typical fashion, isn't saying a word instead allowing the buzz to gain momentum.

Whatever it is, keep your eyes open, Mac definitely has something up its sleeves. Question is what'll Steve unveil now?

While we wait for Steve's announcement, here's the new ad of iPod Shuffle. Enjoy.

Keep it simple

Simple yet powerful communication.

Say it softly

In one of the earlier post, I mentioned how colloquial conversation is changing. Here's a new campaign from UB Export Beer doing rounds in Bangalore City. Local bar is a common sight in Bangalore. It is interesting to see how people enter these dimly lit watering holes for a quick STANDING drink. More interesting is the way they speak to the barman and order their drinks.

After the UB ad surfaced on billboards, I went to few local bars asking people, "Do you know what is the meaning of 'Chiltu,' or any idea how did the word come into being?" I spoke to some ten local people and a very interesting insight came out from them. The word 'Small' in Kannada is called "chikkudu." People generally ask the barman, "Chill Chikkudu kodi" for a pint bottle of chilled beer. Almost everybody said the same thing. Interesting and impressive I must say.

It seems the ad agency of UB Exports very cleverly picked out that those words and created a good campaign. "Chiltu" as a word is really doing well with people at local bars here in Bangalore. Their previous campaign with Kannada Superstar Upendra saying "Ella okay, cool drink Yaake?" was a brilliant campaign. The localities did pick up that phrase. Now it's time for "Chiltu."

Keep your eyes open and if you come across something interesting like this, do post your comments here.

Catcher in the Eye

Via The Hidden Persuader