recycle fun

These days most companies are speaking about innovative ways to handle waste management and recycle products for the benefit of mankind.

Here's something that caught my eyes the other day. Pouffles made from industrial leftovers of rubber flip flops. Stools made from industrial leftovers of cork.

Good for the environment and good for mankind. Cheap, durable, innovative, attractive and great looking stuff that does wonders to your living space. It is eco-friendly, it has a story behind it (well you've something good to write about atleast) and it has all the viral properties to attract peoples attention.

This is truly a big idea. All the more reason why we in advertising should start looking forward to collaborate with designers more often. Go here to read more about this stuffs.

Anyone with more example like this or any innovative ideas on how to recycle and turn ordinary things into great utility goods, do post your comments.

Innovative changes in our lives

IBM recently unveiled its new study called "IBM Next Five in Five" - Five innovations that have the potential of changing the way people work, live and play over the next five years. So what are they:

• Remote healthcare access system from anywhere in the world: Now this is a big innovation. Imagine a Doctor keeping an eye on you 24/7/365 from somewhere in the world. WOW.
  
• Mobile Phones will start reading your mind: Intelligent phones which will adapt to the user. Termed as "presence" technology. Which means it will do things as per your preference. Well, do remember that features will vary based on price.
  
• Real-time speech translation: This is already happening in Japan and Korea. For example when you travel from Delhi to Rameshwaram and you don't know how to speak Tamil, don't worry. Your hand-held device will translate real time Tamil into English as you speak to the person for direction.
• There will be 3D internet: Hmmm, that means from now on I can walk the retail aisles in Ebay or Amazon. An assistant or an expert will be ready to help me out. Makes sense in a techno-ambivalent nation like India.
  
• Nano-technology will address environmental issues: Nano-technology has the ability to manipulate which I always knew. But now it will be able to manipulate the environment. Get you fresh drinking water, help grow more trees, etc. etc.
  

Out of the 'Big Five' I like only one - Remote Healthcare. I'd love to have a doctor attending me all the time. Though it might be pain in arse after sometime, but doctors are good people. In this case, I guess it will be a 'supercomdoc' monitoring me. I also think real time speech translation and mobile mind readers will become standard features like we have 2.0 megapixel cam, FM radio. Go ahead read the entire article here.

Start thinking digital, baby, but do remember not to become a humanoid.

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?

Munna ka mania

I love Maggi Noodles. Maggi has been a part of my daily staple diet for years. There were days when I had Maggi for breakfast, lunch, my evening snack, dinner. Whenever hunger strikes, open a Maggi pack. One primary reason for being a highly loyal consumer of Maggi is because of my horrible cooking skills. Cup-o-Noodles arrived after that and I embraced it with grace. When I sat down thinking and analyzing the reason why did I shift from one of my favorite brand to another, I realized, the answer lies in the format - innovative packaging and sheer convenience. While I need a vessel to prepare Maggi noodles and then clean it after consuming, Cup-o-noodles went a step ahead to eliminate that chore. Bingo. Instant hit formula for instant food. End of story. No more innovation from Cup-o-noodles and the brand is stagnant.

Now look at what Maggi did. It took them twenty years to become synonymous with noodles in India. When they launched first, it was quick and wholesome snack for kids. Maggi is an extremely popular brand all across India. How to take that popularity forward? First, Maggi gave away its ‘instant’ positioning to take the ‘health’ route. And now they are a snack food for adults. It kept on innovating with the product keeping in mind healthy food for different occasions. A classic case where the values of the parent brand is kept in mind and extended to various ranges and product lines.

2 minutes noodles in three variants to new format of noodles – Wheat noodles, Pulses noodles and now Rice noodles. They introduced Tomato sauce at first and then went on to create seven more variants of different kind of sauces. Creating healthy soup and then creating rejuvenating soups. New pizza paste, maybe pasta dressing and salad dressing will be offered in the near future. Truly an enviable case of brand extension.

Incase of Nivea the brand extension of the sub-brands are created borrowing from the equity of the parent. So, when Dove launches its hair care products in India, it will follow a similar formula - Draw from the parent’s equity.

If you have any other good examples of brand extension do feel free to share with me while I hum the Maggi jingle - “Munna ko mania hoi gawa.”