Creating equity

We have a lesson or two to learn from the Sony success story. Sony undoubtedly is one of the best and smartest marketer in the world. Here I'm referring to the success story of its mobile telephony business.

Sony first created the Walkman. Created a hugely successful brand out of it. Technology developed rapidly. MP3 took over the Walkman space. Sony quickly responded and launched the Walkman Phone. They regained their lost ground albiet with a new device.

Next they created the Cyber Shot. A leader in its category. As competition in camera/imaging technology heated up, Sony quiet smartly integrated their mobile phones with the camera technology to create another sub-brand Cyber Shot Phone. Am sure Cyber Shot phones will become a success story in due time.

Vaio is one of the best laptop brand in the market at the moment. And Sony has the potential to integrate its computing technology with their mobile phones. Probably a Viao Phone will be up for grabs very soon.

Mobile TV is the future. Sony already has an advantage there. Maybe Bravia Phones by the end of next year.

Sony is indeed breaking new grounds, everytime. And am sure these individual brands will add up to create a better brand equity for Sony in the near future. First movers advantage or smart thinking or both. Lot to learn from Sony. And it starts with this book.

Can you think of any other brands that has successfully integrated two seperate products/brands in it's own portfolio to create another niche product/ brand? Examples anyone?

Talent crunch no more

Today, I surfed Youtube the entire day. Was worth spending time with few thought provoking videos. The video below is a commercial for Monster.com and I must say it's a great piece of work.



Strategically speaking are job sites and consultants only about finding the right job to the right candidate or vice versa? Shouldn't they also partner with schools, colleges, corporates in creating and grooming more talents to meet the demand?

I feel its we, the people within the industry are to be blamed. Anyway, that's a different story all together. Can we try and make advertising a better place to be? Comments anyone?

Handmade perfection

Found this on Youtube. Brilliant. Absolutely awesome art direction. So I thought will put it up here.



Enjoy.

Lynx - The UGC Effect

UGC (User Generated Content) is touted as the new baby of the marketing world. Alex Wipperfürth's book Brand Hijack is a great read to understand the basic working principles of UGC. Well, at least it provided those basic seeds to me. And I am fan of his work. Visit his website here and you will find some very interesting white papers worth reading while getting bored at work.

This recent videos on Youtube is a great example of UGC at work. The Brand - Lynx.

Lynx Effect on Married Man


Lynx Effect in Real Life


I regret the quality of the video. Makes me wonder if put in the right context UGC has the true potential to bring people together. Any marketer in India, bold and wise enough to take it forward?

I also found this interesting Lynx Blow page.


Enjoy.

Driving School and more

This recent advertisement of Maruti Suzuki caught my eyes. A brilliant strategy by Maruti I must admit. Driving schools are not new - thousands of them infest our roads near any RTO office.

But what makes a Maruti Driving School so special?

1. A new revenue model for Maruti. Castrol Bike Zone was a similar move. Bring thousands of local neighbourhood driving school under your fold. Provide support and proper branding and you create a Maruti goodwill in the market. (Research shows new drivers generally tend to buy the same car, which they used to learn driving. Upgrade happens much later.)

2. Secondly, it brings new consumers under the Maruti umbrella. Registration gives Maruti access to a huge database of potential car buyers.

3. The process of procuring a driving license becomes easy (otherwise you generally have to catch an agent or bribe the RTO guy.) Maruti Driving School takes that headache from you.

4. Easier to push a particular car eg. someone wants to own a Esteem, learn to drive one at a Maruti School, fill in your papers, get a driving license and the keys of your new car will be delivered at your doorstep.

5. Since women drivers are on the rise, they feel safe and secured being trained with high-tech gadgets at a professional driving school.

I wonder if this model could be replicated by other players in the market. How about a Ford or GM Stunt Driving School (Chevy has a huge equity with our Bollywood Stunt Directors)? Or a Honda Drag Race Driving School? Or a Mitsubishi Rally Driving School? Or a Volvo Truck/Bus Driving School centered around "Safety"? Am sure there is merit in this idea and it can strengthen a automotive brands positioning in the market.

Don't drink and drive. Be safe.

Updates

I haven't updated my blogroll since long. Was reading Mr. Jon Howard's blog this morning and his updates reminded me of so.

Reshma Anand: She writes a wonderful research blog, which I found via Indiadrant.

Herd: Off let I've been reading Mr. Mark Earls' blog after I completed reading his latest book Herd - How to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature. A great writer, he opened my eyes to lot many new things and ways to look at a particular problem.

Cognitive Daily: I found this via Living Brands. Very interesting since I like to read more about the functioning of a human brain.

Anyone out there know the URL of Mr. Jon Steel's blog?

Immobilised

It had to happen one day. Unfortunately that day was yesterday evening. Vanished just like that. Stolen right under my nose. Well, I am speaking about my 5 years old Nokia 1100 'Made in India' phone.

My fault to leave it on the window near the entrance of my apartment in sheer excitement of the India/SL match. By the time I realised, it was gone. That lil black Nokia indeed stood for me (I changed the phone jacket twice in five years) It waked me up diligently at 6.30 every morning. Allowed me to be in touch with the world and listen to the voice of my loved ones. Though recently the battery was creating some nuisance, I must admit it was a tough toy. It survived several fall and Choco's bite. My real loss is my phone book. I don't have a backup. What a fool I am. So, I guess you understand the trauma and pain I'm going through at the moment.

Infact, this phone was performing so well and given my technophobic nature, I actually never had the desire or aspiration for any of those fancy gadgets out in the market. Mobile phone is just another phone, the analogy I always gave to my peers. Mine was a basic device which allowed me to make and receive calls, send and receive message and I was happy. It also allowed me to keep my monthly rental, nominal. Now do I sound like a laggard in the chasm curve?

The good news - I gifted myself a Nokia 6270 this morning. Don't know why. As I am writing I'm trying to justify my purchase decision as a consumer. Why did I buy this phone? Firstly, few of my friends recommended me this phone before. Word of mouth. Secondly, I'm loyal to brand Nokia. Checked out all that is available (even though I am loyal to Nokia) in the market and settled for 6270 at a discount of 10% from a friends shop. Loyalist but a value seeker. Thirdly, I wanted a phone with a decent camera to shoot all odd things on the street. Upgradation.

If any of you had to ask me what was that one reason that made me buy this phone, my answer would be, becoming techno-progressive from being a technophobic.

Since I don't have a backup of my old numbers (my itemized bill helped me in recovering some numbers though), I would be grateful if you can mail me your contacts once again. And I promise to keep a backup this time onward.

Ok, I'm off to fondle my new phone.

Character - Weak or Strong?

Well, I just completed reading this book. Carol S Pearson is a renowned author and Director of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership and a Professor of Leadership Studies in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Parkanother.

Her previous work "Awakening the Heroes Within," was also an interesting read. She spoke in great details about the classical archetypes of human behaviour and how brands seems to follow a similar trait.

The use of archetypes as a part of brand strategy is nothing new. A truly effective tool. At least in our country where the rate of Idol worship is high, Brand archetype actually allows us to create strong brand characters. Since advertising is the new form of entertainment, in-depth characterisation and storytelling becomes important.

Creators of great brands have intuited this simple truth. Madonna has always been the outrageous rebel. Jack Nicholson has always been the bad boy outlaw, while Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks is always perceived as the wide eyed innocent. All successful brands have a strong character. The archetype like those in classic mythology drives the brand’s behaviour, character, tone etc in the marketplace.

There are twelve archetypes at work with possible brands that fits the bill:

• The Caregiver - Johnson & Johnson, Saffola
  
• The Lover - Victoria's Secret, Moods
  
• The Creator - Apple, Fabmall
  
• The Hero - Nike, Nokia
  
• The Outlaw - Thumbs Up, Kingfisher
  
• The Magician - Disney, Yash Raj Films
  
• The Ruler - Microsoft, ITC Cigarettes
  
• The Jester - 7Up, Mentos
  
• The Explorer - Royal Enfield, Cafe Coffee Day
  
• The Casual Guy - Proline, Timex
  
• The Innocent - Bata, Dove
  
• The Sage - P&G, The Hindu
  

Santosh Desai in a recent article mentioned how characters in our advertising and communication have become so predictable and cliched. We had our own share of memorable, distinct and easily recognizable brand characters in Lalitaji, Lola Kutty, Sunil Babu's neighbour, Gattu, Amul Girl just to name a few. But those were good old days.

This book provides interesting insights about how important it is to understand the archetype of your brand. Probably understanding and using a brand archetype can give us a headstart in the story telling process.

So what's your archetype?

Wait or Suffer

Guys, there's a new viral out in the market. Called Waitorsuffer.com, it has some videos up in its website. A torture man seems to be torturing people around for those who cannot wait. It's for some FMCG foods company which is launching a new top secret project.

I suspect is for the launch of ITC Foods 'Bingo.' I might be wrong. Whatever it is have a look and you might understand how activation channels are being created in India.

When loyalists switch

Today’s Economic Times has an interesting article, The Unfaithful, which I thought is worth a mention. The ultimate nightmare for marketers is when their brand ambassadors switch brand loyalties. Recent examples of such incidences have come as a shock to the industry:

Virender Sehwag – From Coca Cola to Pepsi
Rahul Dravid – Samsung to Sansui
Sachin Tendulkar – Britannia to ITC Sunfeast
Saurav Ganguly – LG to TCL

Though this phenomenon is not new in the world of marketing, I’m only worried about the dichotomy of the situation. I’m not bothered much about the cola companies since people are aware of cola wars and spoofs, so they don’t take it too seriously. Moreover, colas are fun. In the case of buying electronic goods for a household, not sure how much can a cricket star influence the buying decision. High value purchase is an involved and informed decision, therefore today’s tech savvy consumer know exactly what they are looking for. They do justify every penny they spend contrary to the popular belief that they won’t mind spending more. 2k more for a mere 220 W extra not makes much sense. But yes, 2K more for a 29’ instead of a 21’ makes sense.

But the situation is different when it comes to foods and kids. From a consumer’s point of view, Sachin is synonymous to Britannia, as also in Boost. In fact kids still remember some of those memorable commercials. Now that he’s endorsing Sunfeast, what will be its impact on the consumers? Will the concerned mothers start believing Britannia ain’t good anymore or will they think Sunfeast is a star attraction?

I don’t have an answer to this question. But what’s happening for sure is that celebrities are losing their credibility. A cause of concern indeed.

Tigers in tension

The Indian sub-continent is very hot at the moment. Everyone is sweating over the Cricket World Cup. The minnows are the new majors. Bangladesh is the new Tiger. Pakistan is knocked out, Bob Woolmer is dead, Inzy has declared his retirement. Sri Lankans are beating opponents miserably. And back at home, Dhoni’s new house under construction is now rubble. Effigies of Viru are being burnt and Dravid have been asked to keep his gob shut.

Emotions are high to be very honest. We Indians love our cricket. No wonder cricket stars are often the highest paid brand endorsers for the love and patronage they get from the Indian fans. What happens if India fails to win? No, am not bothered about the game or the shattered Indian pride. Am more concerned about the brands and the millions being paid to our cricketing stars.

Withdrawing all ads featuring our failed stars on air and print is an easy solution. What about the brand association that has already been created in the minds of our consumers? How will brands react to that?

• Will people like to wear ‘Mayur Shewang Suitings’ anymore?
• Will people buy a Skyline Apartment that Dravid says matches his lifestyle? Or believe what Dravid has to say on behalf of the Bank of Baroda?
• Will people still associate Yuvraj as the Hero of all two wheeled Hondas?
• Will kids agree that Boost is the secret of Sachin’s energy?
• Will people now start looking at sports beyond cricket?

Well, let’s hope for the best. Let not another minnow take the pants off our Indian team and send them back in bermudas. If it happens, India for sure will lose its reputation as a cricket crazy nation. And brands will have to re-think about their advertising and celeb endorsement strategies.

Boys in Blue, now bite your own words ‘Ladega to jetega.’ Good luck.

Eddfest of poor marketing

“Did you know 'The Beasts of Metal' are coming to Bangalore?” was one buzz doing rounds among music lovers, well, hard rock lovers to be precise in Bangalore. At last, VH1 and newspaper ads announced 17^th March as the date of the great gig. Ticketpro.in managed to sell most show tickets. Early adaptors bought their tickets well in advance while the late majorities awaited until the last moment. ‘No tickets available’ was the next buzz and frenetic call from friends in Mumbai & Delhi forced me to press the panic button. I called up people in media, sponsors and friends working in agencies if they could help me with just two more passes for the show. No one is a real friend – no one in the media could help me with two free passes. Surprisingly, tickets were always available at Planet M, so without spending anymore time calling people for help, I picked up three tickets for myself and my friends. That was on Thursday, the 15^th of March.

Image by www.hindu.com

Main sponsor of the show was Royal Challenge from the UB Group. Co-sponsored by VH1, Nokia, Reliance Mobile and Sanyo. Other sponsors were Levis, Pepsi, Radio Indigo and NDTV 24x7.

A look at the promotional materials and you could tell brands have just lent their logos to the event. Few Reliance Mobile, Radio Indigo and Nokia banners were all that I could see on the way to the venue. No one took the effort of creating a brand experience in sync with Eddfest. Probably, Levis was the only brand that managed to converse with the audience inside the venue. The Levis stall was selling official Maiden merchandise. Pepsi was official beverage supplier; thirsty head-bangers stormed the Pepsi stall to find all drinks over. It was Kingfisher bottled water instead of RC that was being served in the venue.

And mind you this isn’t the first time.

A captive audience of approx 40K gathered for 5 hours. What a brilliant opportunity lost for brands I wonder. So much could be done but I guess no one thought about it. Lending the logo doesn’t always help much.

• Nokia: When you know music connects, why not use this platform to CONNECT. Well, N93i is an entertainment phone right? You could have made huge dummy of N93i screen for the live action. You could have announced an N93i Best Bootleg competition. (I could see almost everyone trying to capture the guitar gods on their mobile cam)
• Reliance: You could have done so much beyond those banners. Mobisodes of Iron Maiden for all your mobile and broadband customers
• VH1: Why no special Iron Maiden show/songs on the channel during the week?
• Sanyo: You know you have so much to do to get a strong foothold in the Indian market. Your LCD panels were the perfect product to bring alive the experience. Several LCD panels could show the live action to audiences standing at far end
• Indiatimes: Am sure Iron Maiden search in Google and Youtube was an all time high during the last one week. No brand have used web effectively. The show was powered by Indiatimes.com yet nothing much on their website except a banner ad. Webisodes is such a brilliant idea. Live webcast of Iron Maiden playing live at Bangalore for the world at large. Technology has advanced. Industrial compressions of video files is very much possible, why not use it as streaming video? Pay few dollars and watch it online as it happens
  

Well, all said and done, the show wasn’t worth the money spent. Only 90 minutes of Maiden on stage to hear 666, Fear of the Dark, Run to the hills, 2 minutes to midnight wasn't what the audience expected. Young rockers from Pune, Mumbai, Goa, North East, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Jakarta and Singapore were indeed very disappointed. They obviously expected more head banging. “You don’t’ need to wait another 17 years to see us again, we’ll be back soon,” was the only hope that Bruce Dickenson gave us all.

And before I end, hope brands which sponsors these shows from next time will try going, ‘Where eagles dare.’'

ARCB Media Inc.

Rusta Media is a wonderful example of interactive communication. T0 sell media space and time for SABC Channels in South Africa during ICC World Cup, Tequila\Johannesburg created this website.

Interesting is the way Rusta Media shows coconut branding, roaming goat branding, restaurant branding, beach imprints and umbrella branding. Well they ain't selling any of those expect their Radio and TV though but as you know inspiration can come from anywhere.

My inspiration: Abandoned Roaming Cow Branding in India (we have millions of them, don't we?) As long as I take good care of them, I don't think CUPA or PeTA will come running behind my arse. ARCB Media Inc. is the name of my new project. Any Vulture Capitalist interested?

New beginning

This was pooR-Planner's corner till today afternoon. Time to move on. New office, new people, new clients and new challenges awaiting for me. Last one year at TBWA\ was truly a roller coaster ride. Pitches, pitchers, powerpoints and late night pizzas were fun. Some fond memories, few bad ones but then we rocked day-in day-out. Will miss my green chair though.

Blaiq on Elongating Tail of Brand Comm.

Our very own IQ has done a wonderful piece of work by extending The Long Tail Theory of Chris Anderson into brand communication and Brand Building.

It's worth spending some time reading and understanding his point of view. A refreshing new way to look at brand building. A great effort by Blaiq.

Cheers Mate.

Entertainmnent@home

So, I went for dinner at Bulu’s place. Bulu is one of those creative guys who don’t blog. He gives a simple explanation for not blogging, “I don’t have enough time to think, write and fill my web dairy.” Well buddy, do you read any blog? “Yes, reading is my source of inspiration.” Fair enough. Then we started discussing boring stuff like work, latest scandal in his agency etc, when suddenly Bulu’s four year old daughter Sonia came running inside “Papa I want to watch Finding Nemo.”

Bulu picked up his phone called someone and order the DVD, turned back at young Sonia and said, “It’ll be there tomorrow morning, you can watch it once you’re back from school.”

Bulu used an offline method to hire a DVD from an Online DVD Rental company. The concept of Online DVD rental is not a new concept. A new category in India though, which is gaining popularity. Netflix, Blockbuster, Lovefilm, Quickflix are some of the popular Online DVD Rental brands in US/UK/Australia. In India, VC’s and Angel Investors found Online DVD Rental a lucrative business to bank upon. Madhouse, SeventyMM, Catchflix, Cinesprite, Moviemart are few such companies to open shop in India. They follow the same business model - Get online, fill registration form and pay a fee, decide a plan and select your movie. Most of them are regional players and unlike the west they don’t use postal service for logistics. However the good point is that you can call, send SMS or queue your list in the website for the DVD's to be delivered.

Common brand proposition – India’s first online DVD rental company + No Late Fee + Free home delivery + largest collection

If you put together all of them, their customer base adds up to a million approximately. Given that India’s favorite pastime is watching television and cinema, the number seems insignificant.

I found few basic challenges that these companies need to overcome soon. A quick look at the movie list and you’ll find the same old movies enlisted on every website. No major differentiation in offering. Movie channels air the same movies and even show new releases then why do I subscribe you? To watch movies at my own convenient time. Not a strong enough reason. As a customer if I want to watch a French or a Japanese movie, what do I do?

Logistics is a big issue. They are unable to deliver on time therefore cannot reach smaller towns. Ultimately end up making big promises and a growing list of unsatisfied customers. Another issue is the penetration of Broadband on optical cable backbone with set-top-box. As they gain momentum, services like video on demand, pay per view will pose a severe threat.

No proper customer segmentation based on age, individual viewing or family viewing, what genres of movie does a person like, customer recommendation etc. Atleast this would have given them a fair amount of knowledge and insight about their own customers.

Lastly, internet penetration in India is low. Therefore as a company you limit yourself to a set of niche audience from the very beginning. And honestly this internet savvy audience is in no mood to watch ‘Mard’ or ‘Dil Main Dard’ ordering from the net.

So what do Online DVD Rental companies do to secure a bigger pie of the Indian market? Here’s my take on how these companies should do marketing:

We are infested with tens of thousands of neighborhood CD Shops serving us pirated VCD/DVD’s. A great opportunity lies in bringing them under your fold. How? A more effective online-offline business model.

• Create a franchisee business model. These stand alone neighborhood shops will be more than willing to be a part of brand and instantly give you a multi city presence (Also save you the cost of setting up several warehouses)
• Create brand retail outlets. Ask them to junk all pirated VCD/DVD’s and you provide them with original copyright legal versions. (Use PR effectively and ensure that people are aware you care hence serve the best)
• Create a call center and your brand shop is the delivery point (aka a Pizza Corner)
  

Once you put in place these basic infrastructures, you’re ready for marketing 2.0.

• Tie up with LG, Philips, Samsung, Videocon, Onida and Sony Home Theatre Systems for one year free subscription with every purchase
• Remember what Reliance Communication did? Handset + Subscription @ Rs. 501/-. To penetrate in smaller towns offer a DVD Player free with two years of subscription. Buy DVD players in bulk from a manufacturer, brand it and sell it along with your subscription. It allows you to enter Non-DVD player owning households immediately. You reach to a larger audience
• Exchange scheme – Pay for a year's subscription and bring along your old VHS Player, walk out with a brand new DVD Player
• Since computers are also touting themselves as a complete home entertainment device, tie up with HP, Compaq, Zenith, Acer, Lenovo to increase your subscription.
• Tie-up with Filmfare magazine and create a Filmfare Award Winning Collection. One years subscription of Filmfare gets you a Online DVD rental subscription or vice versa
  

Once you’re ready with your marketing 2.0 effort, it’s time for revenue generation 2.0

• Producers are spending a fortune on advertising their movies in different media. Use your website for advertising these flicks. Make money
• Use your DVD jacket/DVD envelope for advertising. Make money
• Use your brand shops for advertising. Make money
• Use your movie catalogue for advertising. Make money
  

Now that you’ve made money and I dare say lots of them, use your brain and start segmenting your customers based on genres and likings and make an enviable list of movies. Include world cinema, foreign movies etc. a collection that will draw customers to you by itself.

Before I end, if you think these are difficult ideas to execute, the easiest solution will be to hire me as a consultant. Will someone please write back to me on this soon?

Update: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Coffin Zone

Fade up with telling it's employees to quit smoking, an IT company in India has gone ahead and installed this wonderful ceiling poster.

Smart way to convey a message., isn't it?

Transmedia in action

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Ready Food & Thoughts

The packaged food section in any retail outlet is worth spending some time these days. Typically in a retail store, the food section is segregated into five shelves – Snacks & Savory (which includes all your biscuits, cookies, chips, chocolates, cakes etc.), Breakfast (which includes cereals, breads, soups etc.), Condiments (which includes ketchups, pickles, mayonnaise, jams, spreads, salad dressing etc.), Cooking Aids (includes tomato-onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, curry paste, biryani paste, instant mixes etc.) and Ready Meals.

In the past few years the last shelf of the food section is getting filled with fancy looking packages of ‘Palak Paneer,’ ‘Dal Makhani,’ ‘Navaratan Korma,’ ‘Chicken Hyderabadi,’ ‘Awadhi Biryani’ and all those yummy dishes which Mom used to cook for us at home once upon a time. ‘Ready-to-Cook’ or ‘Heat-n-Eat,’ whatever you call it is in high demand at present.

So what if mummy cannot cook a good Chinese dish or a great Dal Makhani, ‘we’ll-make-your-mom-a-super-chef’ is every brands big promise. A closer look and this section will give you a clear overview of the changing Indian food habits especially among the urbanites.

Stressful life due to late working hours, working couples hence no time to cook, lack of culinary skills among the new-age home-makers are some common reasons which come to the fore-front in every consumer research. And food brands like Aashirvaad, Knorr, MTR, Priya Foods are quick to respond to this changing food habits with a range of offerings.

Some food for thoughts that brand managers are trying to encash:

Convenience with self care

• Homemaker is still in control therefore her contribution and value addition is paramount
• Help the home maker by making speciality dishes easier to prepare thereby offer a wide range of cooking aids which are time consuming and a laborious process

Reinventing the past

• Bring back retro eating or traditional dishes which grandma’s used to make. For the younger generation and new-age homemakers retro eating as a concept can be fun. There is an association with foods that are additive free, pure and often brings back the nostalgia in a dinner table.

Provenance

• In the age of information, consumers will increasingly care more about where their food comes from. Therefore always give a brief history of its origin, nutritional value etc which will only show your transparency

The above three points are the most visible values being offered by most RTE brands at the moment. But the common concern for every brand manager in this category is how to induce more trials? Consumers are still skeptical about ready food packed in retort pouch. The fear factor of preservative and taste haunts them. Are you doing anything to banish that fear?

Since wet sampling is a costly affair and product bundling promotion doesn’t always ensure a repeat purchase probably you should start thinking about “Food Miles” for all your consumers.

Anyone for dinner tonight, at the China Town??

Web Power

Finally marketers in India realized the potential of worldwide web. “Something interactive karna hai,” is the common cry in all client corridors. Most big agencies have set-up their own interactive department and clients are very excited the moment they hear interactive. Therefore, communities building, post a blog, share a picture, post an opinion, invite or send to a friend etc. are fast picking up, marketers and their advertising agencies have decided to do something meaningful with the medium.

The latest in the bandwagon is Mentos. Quirky but err interesting.

Gang of Girls was a break through piece of interactive work while Being Girl was an immediate answer from P&G since they didn’t want to be left behind.

No doubt, the web is a powerful branding tool. Since there’s lot of information about it on the internet and several books by renowned branding gurus, I thought I’ll let you know few practical things to keep in mind (which I learned while working on an interactive project) while creating a powerful brand experience on web:

• Express the brand’s personality as effectively as possible. Being an interactive medium it actually gives you that freedom
• Think about the content first, technology, html, flash etc. can wait
• No one likes to wait for eternity for your page to open. Try to grab the attention of your visitors while the home page is being downloaded
• The website should reflect the brand’s core values because it gives that opportunity to the visitors to forge a meaningful relationship
• Give out interesting information about the brand which will keep your visitor engaged and allow them to dig deeper
• Try to put photographs of real people. Gives authenticity to the message
• Feedback is important, it provides you with valuable information about what they like and what they not

Axe is one brand which has always been at the forefront of web experience. They have always managed to keep visitors engaged.

Nike is another brand which offers a similar experience. TicTac in USA is another good example.

Marketers in India are truly experimenting in the virtual which is a good sign. Well, will someone also try experimenting in the real world, please?

Sex don't sell anymore

In the latest issue of The Economist, I found this article very interesting. A challenge to the old adage, “Sex Sells,” Ellie Parker and Adrian Furnham of University College London carried an experiment which explains sexually enticing commercials don’t help people remember it.

They carried their experiment on 60 young adults and exposed them to a series of telly episodes which had both titillating materials and no such eroticism. During the commercial break the respondents were exposed to series of advertisements which again had both sexual implicit content and the ones without. It was found that men were most likely to remember sexual advertisements whereas women were more likely to remember non-sexual advertisement.

Now I don’t know how much of it holds good for us Indians but one thing is for sure ‘Sexing Up’ ads won’t work in the long run. Though we created Kamasutra, we don’t like too much of explicit ‘Kama’ on screen. The recent spate of Bollywood item numbers seem to have a dominating effect on every Idiot Box channel and it doesn’t go well when it comes to family viewing. Often slap-stick humour doesn’t work either.

We Indians are evolving. We are in a period of realism. Building aspiration through fantasy is no more the rule of the game. We are moving from being a value seeker to an experience seeker. Selling erotic dreams might not be an effective route anymore, especially with product categories like body care/hair care, fashion etc. Smart lines like, “Are you game?” “Get naughty” may not do the trick anymore.

Well, this is what I feel, what do you think?

Just cricket

Okay okay, I know I'm late. But Nike's latest crazy cricket commercial is actually a talking point now. Everyone is excited talking about it. Good work JWT. This telly spot captures the true spirit of Indian street cricket but Meraj pointed out something very interesting. Isn't the Nike Rugby spot very similar to JWT's strategic thinking. Idea indianization, Huh?

Hmm, like the legendary Paul Arden said in his book "Think Opposite," go ahead and steal the idea if you can make a Picasso out of it.

Whatever, it is good work for Nike from India and am sure it will keep ICC World Cup viewers in India entertained.

Russell's APSotW

Russell Davies is a good man. He has taken the trouble and pain to teach us (the pain in the ass people often known as planners in the agency) and help us learn the basics of account planning. Anyone who reads my blog must visit his blog everyday, it's an ORDER. Visit his blog and participate in APSotW, it will only make you realise there's a long way to go.

Seeing things differently

India is a rising star in the world economy. Industry pundits have enough to say about India’s growing stature as a superpower. Amidst all this hoopla, one question is bugging me for quiet sometime now. Do we (the people) really envision the future? Like most common people I’m trying to imagine possibilities. Therefore am thinking loud.

As an advertising professional, I often come across mission/vision statements of several companies in India. Surprisingly almost everyone has the same statement, proudly displayed in their reception/ conference area. Almost all the mission/vision statements have similar words; words like innovation, best quality, create value for customers and stakeholders, care for environment and society, become market leader, grow through diversity etc. etc. If you were given these statements and the company logos separately and asked to match them, am sure you wouldn’t figure out for the life of yours which belonged to whom. These statements are uninspiring, boring and meaningless because it is not a guiding philosophy either for the employees or for the consumers.

A vision must guide and bind a company in everything it does. A vision should always influence and inspire a company, internally and externally. A vision should always connect with its customer. Great brands have always had a great vision. And it is this vision that has inspired them to become the truly inspiring brand that they are today.

Here are few examples of truly inspiring visions:
Apple – Tool for creative minds
3M – Continuous innovation
Nike – Your aspiration and you
Pedigree – For the love of dogs
IBM – Solutions for a small planet

Often these simple yet powerful statements have transformed the company in all its aspect. Unfortunately in India you’ll hardly come across a company which has a unique vision. One reason which I feel is the failure of the management to see things differently. You first envision then you get to doing. Most Indian companies are too busy with doing things differently rather than seeing things differently before they begin. And if at all they see, they see a leaf as a leaf. But to a biologist it is cell structure, to a photographer it is an object, to a sweeper it is dirt, to a child it is toy, to an artist it is a canvas, to a gardener it is his labor of love, to a lover it is a tickling device, to a country it is national symbol and so on. Notice the difference? This is how you really create an inspiring vision.

No doubt Indian companies are going global. We still don’t have a global Indian brand. (For Christ sake don’t say Infosys and Wipro) In advertising we often run in search of that one big idea which will transform everything. But do we inspire our own people through our vision? Do we see things differently and translate that into our everyday thinking and working style. Until we find a truly inspiring vision for ourselves we might not find that one big idea which will transform the lives of others.

2020 vision for New India is to become a Superpower. What does superpower mean to you? Do you see India differently? Do you see a Made in India tag written on every product around the world?

Am I seeing things too differently these days? ;-)

Law on Open Minds

It's been a busy week for me. First a meeting in Mumbai and once back got cold. At the Mumbai airport I bought this book. My flight was delayed by 30 mins, so I managed to complete the first 20 pages sitting in the lounge.

Open Minds by Andy Law is truly an inspiring book. More so because I work in TBWA and how Andy Law denied to merge with TBWA. How he negotiated with Fred, how he created St. Luke's, the team and the works, it's breathe taking. This is a must read book. Provides food for thought on people management, negotiation with tough bigges and how to build something which you strongly believe in.

Grab your copy.