Scribbles from the Tissue Roll # 2

I was wondering if vigorous bowel movement has anything got to do with great ideas. I've seen you invariably get some of your best ideas when you're alone and lonely inside the loo, sitting on a shit pot. Jokes apart, lightening struck me once again last evening when I was cleaning up my alimentary canal.

I was thinking about the changing face of Indian out-of-home media, ambient media, billboards and communication in general. Maybe my sub-conscious mind was silently working on the huge billboards of Chennai as the pressure inside my arse started rising. And then I drifted to urban chaos, visual clutter and architecture. How the charming face of a city can change with irresponsible advertising? How does a urban development planning department of Govt. tackle these issues? Is pulling down billboards a right solution? Etc. etc.

Architecture has defined humanity for ages. It has helped define culture, communities. It has helped define people and places. It has created icons and landmarks. Architecture has created awe-inspiring wonders. Monuments and buildings that stand tall for centuries to tell us a story.

Which brings me to the question - What are the learnings from architecture that we can use in brand building and outdoor communication?

Let's take Absolut Vodka as an example. For years they have invested in creating an icon out of the Absolut bottle. They have done some brilliant outdoor campaigns but in the process they've also added to the visual clutter of a city. However they never thought that "In an Absolut World" they should be doing something beyond billboards.

'In an Absolut World' all your offices across the world should look something like this:

You don't need billboards once you have created this, right? You don't create clutter but add to the aesthetics of your urban landscape. It can become the greatest communication ever possible by Absolut. An icon that will remain forever on the face of earth. Now don't ask me about the construction cost, ROI etc. Those are immaterial if you love your bottle so much. Or maybe Coca Cola should think of doing the same for their HQ at Atlanta. You might argue, isn't this the same thing what BMW Towers has done in Germany and Nike Town in the US? Well, similar but way beyond.

Let me give you another example - Taj Mahal Tea from the house of Levers can do so much more. India is infested with tea stalls all over the place. How about creating Taj Mahal tea stalls like the picture below.

My poor photoshop skills but if executed well, I assure you, it'll make the brand more interesting and exciting.

So all said and done "potty thoughts" is not always crap, eh?

Cheers.

Absent from blogosphere

At times life can be really hectic. So absolutely no time to blog, even worse, no time to read what others are writing. You get so little time to do so much more and you sit back wondering 'why with me?' Anyway. Been traveling like crazy. Consumer contact program at Chennai one day, Cochin the next day to understand retailer's grievance and so it goes ... Rich experience though.

Meeting people from all over south India to find out what makes them choose, select, buy and buy again a particular product or brand is indeed an enriching experience. They have so much to tell you. You have so much to learn from them. Now I realize why it's not an easy job being a planner. Sure research agencies does their best to enlighten us but meeting people in-person and figuring out how they use a product in real life, the preparation, the process and what the brand actually mean in their lives, honestly, I don't think any research agency actually captures that in-depth. It business for them, not passion (if you know what I mean.) And let me assure you, you'll never find any real depth in a research ppt unless you do it and see it for yourself. The sheer amount of knowledge and learning is mind boggling. Plus you get to try out all the authentic south Indian dishes at their houses. It's like Consumer Couch Surfing. I mean it is fashionable and up-to-date to say Consumer Couch Surfing rather than saying you're doing an anthropology study or an ethnographic study. Isn't it?

This is no bollocks. I think every advertising professional in our industry, be it a creative, planning or servicing - must do a stint in Consumer Couch Surfing. It should be a part of their KRA's. The only reason why am saying this, it will save lot of time and energy of our often worthless endless hours of closed door 'brainstorming session' in the conference room. We honestly don't know a shot about our consumers. The results actually reflects that. Anyway. Just my poor way of thinking. But something inside me tells me, it is a smarter way to work.

So what is Consumer Couch Surfing: To put is very badly, it is surfing the couch of your consumers and spending time with them at their place and living their lives for some days.

How to be an effective Consumer Couch Surfer:
- Understand the requirement of your brand. Why you want to do a study? What you want to study, observe, learn and gain from the exercise? This is the first stepping stone, so be clear in your head.
- Identify a strong market and weak market for your brand. You need to do your study at both this places and compare the same to generate your own hypotheses, theories, deductions etc.
- Understand your audience, demo, psycho and emographics.
- Based on your understanding of your audience and which market (strong or weak), you need to identify a person or family you want to stay with. The most important point to note here is, the person or family has to be a complete stranger. Someone whom you never knew and be living with them for the first time
- Find out a way to communicate with them in case you don't speak their language
- Never bug them with questions, it is a slow process not a rapid fire FGD
- Follow and obey the rules they have in their house
- Be an active part and contribute to their lives each day
- Make sure you win their respect and trust

I think that's what I am doing at the moment. And it is helping me in more ways than I ever thought was possible. This will continue till end of March. Will write another post on my first experience with Consumer Couch Surfing. Hopefully, I'll be able to share my learnings with you in a months time.

Cheers.

Scribbles from the Tissue Roll # 1

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm glad to present you Scribbles from the Tissue Roll. Tissue Rolls is not about wiping your arse in the loo. It's all about quick observations from things that are seen on Indian television channels, read in the newspapers, heard on radio stations, watched on the streets, seen on the retail shelves... It covers almost anything and everything that attracts my eyes. Things that are insignificant in nature but has the potential to make a difference in our lives. Will try to keep it interesting, insightful and fun but I request you to also share your observations on trivial issues that you think are highly eligible for hanging on Tissue Rolls here.

So here goes the first edition:

Parle Musst Bites - One great snacking product from Parle Foods. The product was launched with some good communication which were enjoyable and hilarious to watch. However, little effort has gone to sustain the momentum of the communication. Even lesser effort has gone in to build a holistic brand out of a good product. Well, maybe because of high marketing and media budgets involved in building a brand. Maybe other reasons unknown to us.

Musst Bites is positioned as a snack food too tempting to part with. Fair enough. Now, look at the packaging. The communication says something that doesn't reflect on the packaging. Maybe the packaging was done before the communication strategy was finalised. This are small things that make a huge difference in the brand building exercise. It's not about a Big Idea anymore.
Well, they have some characters at the back of the pack? You see it? Why did they create those characters in the first place? Did they do it to fill the gap? Does it have some other meaning? Or are they meant to sitting static on the pack? Why not use these characters to do something? Hmmm... something as simple as stickers maybe? Or badges? Or caps and t-shirts for kids- your core target audience? Maybe amplify the 'Too Tempting' theme to do some really nail biting cutting edge stuff. Contest. Game Shows. Mobile Games. Short Videos. Sad but true, they don't even have a website mentioned on their packaging either. Grrrrr... the list goes on. These things don't cost you a bomb in an era of social media. What are you waiting for??

Mind you, if you plan to use any of the ideas mentioned here, be decent and kind enough to drop me a mail or pay up the royalties. Ha.