thot blurb - the indian planning collective

The Madness Starts at 9

2008-11-23T19:47:00.001+05:30

My friend, Vinay(Kanchan) has written this hilarious book - The Madness Starts at 9!!

The book is a satire on the corporate world. It is set in an agency, and is a humorous take on many events that happen in the life of the agency!

1. Vision Impossible - elaborates on the mind numbing nature of vision meetings

2. True Lies- looks at how in a interview process, both parties celebrate the 'creative distortion of the truth'

3. Wait Until Dark - is about how office parties can be used for furthering your career graph:-)

4. A myth called performance appraisals - is well, the name kinda says it all :)

5. Stumped - shows what happens in an organisation on the day when India plays a cricket match

6. I know what you did last summer - demystifies what really happens during summer internship

7. Murder by Numbers -dwells on how we inherently are intimidated by numbers, even though they have a critical role to play

and so on...You can get the Hindu review of the book here...

All the best Vinay! Hope you have a best-seller!!

Planner opportunities in Bangalore ?

2008-11-13T16:32:00.003+05:30

Hi

Just wanted to check if any of you know about any openings for a Planner in Bangalore? This is for a friend who is from Bangalore and has experience in Advertising and Market Research.Do let me know if your agency is looking for one or even in agencies which has current openings

COOL!

2008-06-27T15:16:00.010+05:30

Hello everyone. I started a new blog today on advertising. Yes. Now, for the first time i feel like musing a little deeper into advertising. www.bread-crumbz.blogspot.com
That is when it occured to me to take a look at our blog which i thought lay dormant. How wrong I was.

And good to know! A few month delayed but what the heck? Congratulations to us.

How come we havn't discussed the "Shivaji - The Boss" syndrome here?

You know what I found interesting?

Rajnikanth's super stardome has existed for many years now.
There was Padayapa, Chandramukhi, Arunachalam and many other similar iconic films - in tamil land - I lived in Chennai through some of these movies. I don't recall me or any of my friends wanting to catch his movies inspite of that.

But Shivaji changed all that.

Suddenly everybody just HAD to see the movie. I mean EVRYBODY. It didn't matter if they understood tamil or not. People flew down to cities that played the movie. Well, a small troupe of advertising professionals did fly down.

It was the first Rajnikant movie i saw at a theatre. In a Mumbai multiplex.

There are two things this phenomena brings to light

One ofcourse is the power of viral marketing and hype creation. You know, there was a clip from the movie showcasing some of his typical stunts doing the rounds in the email. It cracked people up and go "man! i have to see this man in action!"

Second, is our comfort with embracing who we really are. India is suddenly proud of itself. It no longer feels the need to be 'western' to be respected. Everything we shied away from before, we now flaunt.

Our villages, our colloquialism, our names, our attire, our people, maybe even our accents. We love it all.

PS: If the title of this post went over your head, in the movie, Rajnikant makes the word 'cool' sound like it is... well, the coolest thing to say. It's hillarious and good fun.

IPL & Politicians

2008-04-23T10:24:00.003+05:30

Can't get this IPL off my mind. But with all the hype,the media coverage hitting you first when you open the papers its really difficult to get it off. Now that IPL has become a career opportunity for a lot of young cricketers am sure the day is not far off when Raj Thakeray is going to demand that Mumbai Indians should be only from Maharashtra. Its really surprising how he failed to ride on the huge publicity of IPL and get a share of the publicity pie. Already there is a quota system in place for local players but as the days roll we are sure going to see reservation demands based on God knows even in IPL.

Any politicians listening. Its great time to get some media attention and stir up some controversy.

When was the last time you saw something so good #3

2007-11-15T07:29:00.000+05:30

i love soups. here's some food for thought for those of you who believe 'soup' is a growth area and want to understand it. Ask me why.

When was the last time you saw something this good #2

2007-11-09T06:51:00.000+05:30

The 'Surprises campaign' is a wonderful piece of work - the one with the 'magic box', the 'pineapple cake' and the 'man in the closet'. understated and hard hitting. stylish and accessible. strident and subtle. hutch to vodafone. few brands have handled the transition from an old established brand/name to a relaunched identity that retains, builds on and strengthens the great work done by the people on hutch, as vodafone has. we like. very much. the question for the time being is, what's not to like. answer in comments.

We Feel Fine

2007-11-07T18:17:00.000+05:30

A hectic week. Suddenly the agency is buzzing, papers flying, servicing guys screaming at production, creative throwing tantrums over brief, endless call from client, office boys running twenty times to publication for delivery of material. Madness of the festive season. But let me tell you, this is what brings you back every morning.

In between all these chaos, I managed to find "We Feel Fine." This web site offers the exploration of human emotions in six different movements. Madness, Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics and Mounds. We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from large number of blogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). All of this information is saved. The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions.

If you're not aware 'I feel' :-) you should explore this. This is really amazing and am sure the site will keep you glued for quiet sometime. Wondering if this is the future of communication? Different technologies joining hands to form new ideas and ways of interaction.

Wish you all a very happy, lightening and a cracking Diwali.

Call for entries #2

2007-11-07T09:31:00.000+05:30

what does this have to do with Planning? answer in Comments.

Call for entries #1

2007-11-06T09:32:00.000+05:30

what does this have to do with planning? Answer in comments.

ad noise #1

2007-11-05T11:22:00.000+05:30

saka face wash. taking the female out of male fairness products.

Introducing, 'When was the last time you something so good'.

2007-11-05T09:50:00.000+05:30

in which we are requested to post pieces of work so good, the only thing we're left saying is...when was the last time we saw something so good.

caveat emptor: stunts shown are performed by experts and should not be imitated.

Wanted: Young blood, some blood, any blood. And much oxygen.

2007-11-04T06:48:00.000+05:30

a stuttering, stumbling and gasping-for-a-lease-of-life collective of indian planners is in desperate need of fearless, generous and thotful infusions. interested parties are invited to save this blurb, which is languishing from the old indian weaknesses of individualism and the predictable inability to do much collectively.

Thot bubbled #64

2007-11-02T08:17:00.000+05:30

GLOBAL capitalism has worked many wonders, but where in the free world can one see 10,000 children dancing in synchronisation, dressed as eggs? (Answer in comments.)

Thot bubbled #63

2007-11-02T07:58:00.000+05:30

Eurabia: what a lovely word. that's john micklethwait of the economist on the change that is sweeping across europe and promises to gradually alter the face of brand building in the years to come. etc.

Thot bubbled #62

2007-11-02T07:39:00.000+05:30

i've often been told by people far far more important than i'll ever be that planning is about everything. well, here goes.

with love from craigslist.

to the girl on the metro with the cleavage - m4w

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2007-08-06, 4:28AM EDT

when you got up in the morning and got dressed, you chose to wear an outfit that partly reveals your boobs. you have a mirror. you knew. i didn't force you to wear it.

in fact, when you bought this item, you knew that you were going to wear it, in public, and it would be revealing your tits a little (or a lot). make no mistake, i applaud you for this. but what i'm getting at, is that we both know you were showing off your rack. don't lie, it's not very subtle. and don't pretend it's a fashion thing. it's a hooter thing.

so when you buy the top, and wear it, in the summer, in public, and you're going to stand in front of me, guess what.

I'm going to look at your boobs.

first off, you should be flattered. i looked at them because they are nice. you should be upset if you were showing off your knockers and i didn't look at them. actually, them being nice is why i looked at them repeatedly. the first peek was more of an instinct. guy-instinct. we can't help it. after that, we just want to see as much of it as we can. to us, boobs are like the Godfather parts I and II. we can watch them over and over and never get tired of them.

anyway, yea, i looked at your cans. a bunch of times, actually. now, i understand no one likes to be stared at. this is why i did in fact look around the rest of the metro to see if there was anything else interesting to look at. unfortunately there were no other hot babes, no bums, no cute babies, no one was wearing a Slayer reign in blood tour shirt. nothing. so i went back to your melons. sorry. it was a boring ride, and they were right in front of me. but i think you forget that i was nice enough to focus on your funbags, as opposed to alternating between them and trying to make eyecontact. now that would have been ungentlemen-like. i realise no one finds true love over a pair of jugs on the orange line. it's just not realistic. so i kept my head down, stood in a position as to be not overly obvious about my staring, made sure i didn't get a semi (i got real close once, but i handled it), and tried to be as polite about the situation as possible.

so anyway, i just thought you should know my point of view on what happened. i am not a pervert. i was just a man on a metro. a man who saw something that pulled his mind out of the daily routine, and i held onto it dearly (not literally, ofcourse, though that would have been pretty sick). but as you can tell from this long posting, i do feel slightly bad about my behaviour. so to make up for it, i have decided, with pain in my heart, to release you from my spank bank.

i think it is fair to say we are even now. i think i did see a hint of slight animal lust in your eyes when you gave me that annoyed look and got out of the metro. so if you are reading this, baby, i'd really like to take you on a trip... a motorboating trip.

ps: i'm all for godfather 3 too. the climax is what makes it all so very worth it. don't you agree?

Location: mtl
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Thot bubbled #61

2007-11-02T07:33:00.000+05:30

while reading this book i was reminded of the times i as a planner have been asked to take a judgement call on creative. when asked to look at creative, i look for the baseline because i tend to believe that the baseline is the oomph, the heart and the nub of the argument it is asking it's audience to buy into. it's the most important thing in the campaign. or...is it?

Thot bubbled #60

2007-11-02T05:04:00.000+05:30

so i was talking to someone about a job in 'planning' and he took a little time out to tell me that people in the industry are far more hecked up than they ought to be about 'planning' - maybe it's all the insecurity of being in a 'job function' that is so very hard to easily justify.

oddly enough, as far as i have learnt and experienced, 'planning' is all about breaking down the silos that exist between the different functionalities in the marketing communications process and help come up with the most optimum solution.

all of which brings me quite nicely to my thot for the day: how many of us think 'planners' are just servicing people/doers with more time on their hands to think and little heart to, in a manner of speaking, get their hands 'dirty'?

if you ask the heavyweight i was talking to, he'd say, 'planning' is not 'planning'. he'd say 'planning' is 'creative'. 'planning' is 'servicing'. 'planning' is 'media planning'. 'planning' is 'administration'. 'planning' is 'everything', including 'servicing'.

"all that is very fine, just, please don't ask me to chase up on any artwork because i have no time for that kind of a menial task. but yes, if you're planning a shoot in sa or new zealand or the bahamas or someplace else exciting and exotic, better keep me in the loop."

it's true. i once worked with a very senior guy who wanted all the 'goodies' servicing had access too, minus any of the 'pain'. for him, 'planning' was, quite simply, 'no-shit' servicing. interesting. thots?

Thot bubbled #59

2007-11-01T05:45:00.000+05:30

if there's one thing india must tackle with development, it has to be better restroom facilities. here's an interesting blog devoted to understanding why restrooms, no matter what you sell, are such an important part of the branding strategy. your thots?

Thot bubbled #58

2007-11-01T05:34:00.001+05:30

festivization: from the verb 'to festivize'. what this means is to customize the corporate logo in an attempt to reflect the current obsessions. usage: google does divali.

'festivization' of logos, anyone? we have so many festivals. we have so many opportunities. then why is it that this festivization of logos is not something we do in india? or do we? does anyone know of any similar examples of communication of this kind in india? next question, does this kind of thing harm or help the brand?

i think it helps the brand. i think it tells people that we care, a bit, to reach out to you by festivizing our logos.

i'm curious to see some similar examples in india. are there? or are we just too conservative to attempt this kind of thing. google's festivization has really helped them transcend the 'coldness' of a technology company, no? some bad examples of the same.

Thot bubbled #57

2007-11-01T05:31:00.000+05:30

So, manishbhai thinks it's time to grow up and restart the blurb. who's in? for re-starters, i'll kick things off. let's go.

Wanted Young Blood

2007-05-18T11:49:00.001+05:30

Bates David Enterprise, Bangalore is looking for young blood to drive the creative arsenal. Call Creative Director at +91 80 2529 4228

If it is ‘Fucked’, it is in business!

2007-05-08T18:07:00.000+05:30

I am borrowing this from a part of what Osho Rajneesh said, upon being asked about the word ‘Fuck’. Someone among the audience found it a little difficult to accept how a spiritual guru could use this four-letter word so easily. What was said in reply to this is very simple and yet truly potent I have outlined a part of his reply here.
Just step back and think, perhaps there is no other word in the English or any other language that is so versatile that it can be used in multiple contexts and yet make perfect sense.
In language it falls in multiple grammatical categories
Noun
Mary is a fine fuck

Transitive Verb
John fucked Mary

Intransitive Verb
Mary was fucked by John

Adjective
Mary is fucking beautiful

As a word is so multifaceted that it can convey multiple emotions viz. Pain, Pleasure, Love & Hate just by the difference in the sounds that we make while pronouncing it.

Fraught “
I got fucked at the used car lot..”
Ignorance
“Fuck if I know..”
Trouble
I guess I am fucked now
Aggression
"Fuck you!"
Displeasure
“What he fuck is going on here..”
Difficulty
“I can’t understand this fucking job”
Incompetence
“He is a fuck off"
Suspicion
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Enjoyment
“I had a fucking time”
Request
“Get he fuck out of here..”
Hostility
“I am going to knock your fucking head off..”
Greeting
“How the fuck, are you?”
Apathy
“Who gives a fuck”
Innovation
“Get a bigger fucking hammer”
Surprise
“Fuck, you scared the shit out of me”
Anxiety
“Today is really fucked!”

To sum it up here is, perhaps, what makes fuck rock!

1. It is self-propelled – do not need a reason to say it (it’s like air, that’s everywhere). So much so that when one is not saying it one is busy thinking about it. In fact unlike ‘Love’ that has traditionally been rated higher than ‘Lust’ (at least socially!), “Fuck you!” as an expression beats “I love you” hands down!

2. It is ‘sticky’ – It is like a post-it note that can be put and pulled off anything.
In fact the other word that comes close to our four-letter miracle in this department is ‘Sex’.

Sex is as good a post-it in multiple situations and it has a natural tendency to show affinity for suffixes. Here’s a small battery - Sexonic, Sexiting, Sextravaganza, Sex-on-toast, Sex-on-rocks etc.

3. Traditionally contemporary – No other word has been contemporary for so long as the four letter extravaganza

4. Easy to pronounce/ say – I have never heard any one stammering/struggling to say it. Del Amitri wrote in one of their beautifully written songs – “It’s hard to say you love someone and it’s hard to say you don’t..”. Well, fuck is totally free from any such ambivalence

5.It is unisex and ageless - Perhaps the only word that makes men and women feel equally powerful. The only word that two (or three) different generations can be using in different contexts and still getting to say whatever they want to..

6. It is short & always meaningful – You can’t misspell it and even if you did you’d still be seen to be meaning something FCUK, fkuc, fukc..

There are and can be many more ‘potent power-ups in expression’ that Fuck delivers and as readers you may please choose to add a few of your own to this list, but the point that I am trying to make is that if we as creators and marketers can deploy our skills towards creating universal expressions for our brand that can become the language, we stand to gain a lot.
There are a few (though not exact) examples that have come close to attaining some of this charisma in their own way – I’m lovin it (For Mc Donald’s), Wazzup (for Budweiser), Amitabh Bachchan’s favourite “Lock Kiya jaae!” (Let’s lock it!) Ghalat jawaab/ Sahi jawaab” (Wrong answer/ Right answer for KBC, the Indian version of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire etc.. But unfortunately all of them faded away with time, or the communication campaign, they were introduced in.
The opportunity, is to create such a timeless, sticky and self-propelled brand vocabulary, that people feel like owning, modifying and propagating and the idea is to get the brand ‘fucked’, because if it is fucked, it is in business!

Nokia Charger

2007-05-02T14:40:00.000+05:30

Your best friend comes over to meet you after a long time, and before anything else he asks you, “Hi! Tere paas Nokia ka charger hai (Do you have a Nokia charger?).”

You get a call from your friend and before asking, “How are you?” he asks, “Where are you?”

On one side I am intrigued by the changing nature of our pleasantries and on the other I am surprised by our growing and insatiable desire to keep in touch with people. Even if it effectively means ‘sacrificing our presence’ at a place (and this sacrifice is not necessarily for ‘work’).
Someone has rightly mentioned, “being always accessible, makes us inaccessible”.
In times of Continuous Partial Attention (CPA) in place of being committed to people or places ‘we are committed only to being communicated with’.

There are people who are self-confessed net addicts wedded to their web mail account. They keep checking their mails throughout the day, even when nothing urgent is happening; they are in a constant state of ‘updation’!
As Steven Johnson has rightly pointed out - Aimlessness is the price we pay for interactivity. This is what seems to be happening with the click-happy young folk.

‘Continuous mediation by mail’ or any form of communication, including mobile phone, also interrupts flow of thought. As people connect more, they tend to behave more like ‘nodes’. These nodes ‘expect inputs and can interact’ but are not much of a ‘hub’ that ‘generates output’.

Contrary to common perception that communication expands social circle, our people preferences are actually getting solidified into sharply defined groups and many of us are beginning to be less inclusive than ever.
No doubt there are virtual communities, that are giving an entirely new meaning to socialization in cyberspace, but for people who are not seeking to connect with strangers on the net– hi fidelity has brought about privacy of highest order and ended up defining interest groups much more sharply than ever before.
It is only ‘wonderers’, who seem to be drifting in the open cyberspace. These ‘wonderers’ are wanting to align with some group or individual and many a times end up extending their communities in real world into the cyber space. So they end up scrapping the same set of people that they are anyway writing and forwarding e-mails to and keep exchanging texts with. I am sure you’d have been accosted at least once by someone you meet everyday, with something like, “Hi, how are you? Did you read my scarp?”

‘Scrap’ is one more thing that has gotten attached to an already over-bloated list of things that a user needs to keep checking (Email – personal & official, mobile text, voice mail, home mail box, missed call list and so on and so forth).
With so much communication happening, so much more to be said and so many mail and message boxes to be checked, can you really blame your friend for asking for a Nokia charger? ; )

Get Set GOA

2007-04-27T13:39:00.000+05:30

Can anybody share some learnings from Goa Fest for not so lucky people who were unable to make a dash to Goa

ET-HEWITT BEST EMPLOYERS 2007

2007-04-20T12:40:00.000+05:30

When will an advertising agency figure in the top ten one day? When we can go and sell internal communiaction and internal branding ideas, ideas to make the organisation the most preffered employer or the much sought after etc how come not one single agency figures as the best employer? Do we take our own people for granted or there is no interest to be there?

ibiza of indian masses

2007-04-19T15:26:00.001+05:30

Sand-filled Bata Sandak, vodka soaked Air Deccan boarding passes, tanned skin under the sleeved blouse of the Indian sari, wet edges of the Indian Petty Coat, condom packets that were not opened as planned..and a lot more
These are some images from the frontlines of Indian frolic!
Goa is the dream destination of the average Indian middleclass stags, kid-free couples, booze happy college kids and the young pot premis.

Goa is not a destination, it is not a holiday, it is not about nature even. Goa is an expression of the state of the contemporary Indian middle-class mind. It is like that window in the secluded room of self-expression that has been opened for the first time.

Everyone goes to go, and almost all of them have their own reasons..

The 40 something govt officer is going to Goa on holiday with his wife - finally their only son has entered the regional engineering college and they gift each other a breather (and a Breezer!)

The 18-year-old first year college kid is going there with his friends, in a hope to finally ‘do it with the firangs’ there. This is his first ‘adult picnic’ and perhaps the last out of town tour before career and life pins him down..

The 22 year old, MBA, young media executive from Kanpur, now working in Mumbai is there to experience how does it feel to be with young guys and girls all by yourself -away from Mommy and Daddy and Bhaiyya and Chachi.. She doesn’t drink but in Goa she will try the Breezer, sweet girls can have Breezers, ‘it is more juice than alcohol’!

The 50 something trader of recycled plastic bags from Ulhasnagar is looking forward to some ‘fun’ with his beer buddies from Ulhasnagar. This is their annual break, and the next time they are venturing out it is going to be Thailand..

Russian mafia and rising property prices aside, Goa is a fantastic example of how a tourist destinations needs to be built, or gets built somehow.
Goa is also a great showcase of India’s enjoyment culture and how it has surpassed everyone’s imagination..

Goa is the new Shirdi of funseekers and no one is complaining, not even the Jehadis!

Thot bubbled #56

2007-04-17T14:32:00.000+05:30

Redemption is Advertising is redemption.

Save by choice; Print by chance

2007-04-16T13:44:00.000+05:30

You are in a hurry because your boss for an urgent meeting has called you and the meeting room is in the building across. You want to save the document that you’ve been working on before you leave. And in this state of flux you click on the ‘save’ icon on the top left corner of your word or PDF document only to realize that you have by mistake clicked on the ‘print’ icon which is sitting right next to the ‘save’ button.. And off you go..

You run to the printer to collect those pages that you never wanted to print, at least not now or desperately try to cancel the print command by going to the ‘printer properties etc..’ in the tool bar at the bottom right corner of your computer monitor.. But by the time your ‘rescue operation’ is completed you’ve lost precious time (remember boss is waiting!) and perhaps even more precious paper is wasted along-with the expensive ink in the printer cartridge.

This I am sure is not an isolated example and many of us, if not all, have gone through this misery. I believe we should not just blame ourselves for being careless and clicking the wrong icon. In fact it could partly be attributed to the proximity of the ‘Print’, and ‘Save’ icons in almost all the application softwares that that we use regularly these days.

I am curious that in these times of intuitive interface how come we are still living with this design anomaly?
May be I am thinking too much but I am sure not stretching this beyond its relevant context when I think that it could well be a conscious arrangement between paper manufacturing companies, makers of printers and the application software giants to keep it this way. Win-Win-Win?!
Because if we were to attempt a monetary quantification of the number of documents that are printed by mistake it might add up to a lot of money for both the printer (cartridge) and paper (reams) guy. Needless to mention, that the application software company could be getting a fixed ‘royalty’ on ‘the expected number of end user ‘errors’. Among the three, they could have well figured (basis some kind of pattern/trend analysis) the number of errors that an average user is expected to commit. May be this is ‘over-think’ may be it is the most obvious that we never think about. Whichever way it is, there is room for improvement and we should not wait for an MS Office Open Source or Adobe Open Source to come and fix it for us.

Thot bubbled #55

2007-04-14T10:02:00.000+05:30

Why India will never be much more than a back-office of the world and why China will always be way ahead of us in the game? Because Indians just do not know how to work together. We're so used to having the freedom to pull one and other down, we've forgotten that the best way to move forward is together. Case in point is the latest fracas out here. Instead of encouraging one and other to set aside our differences and nurture something worthwhile, we're all busy doing our own thing. Indians, we disgust me. Maybe we'll learn something from Calvin & Hobbes.

Thot bubbled #54

2007-04-10T16:31:00.000+05:30

We love you Kajal. And Blaiq.

Thot bubbled #53

2007-04-07T10:27:00.000+05:30

Thotblurb of the Month - the voting

2007-04-06T11:45:00.000+05:30

Here are the nominations for Thotblurb of the Month for March 2007.

1. New links on the sidepanel #4

2. One horse, many races

3. The cusp runneth empty

4. The Long Tail of brand communication

And here's the ballot box:

Voting will close Thurday 12th April 2007.

Thot bubbled #52

2007-04-05T16:39:00.000+05:30

This one's for Blaiq.

Thot bubbled #51

2007-04-05T13:43:00.000+05:30

If there's a 'Thotblurb of the Month', why not a 'Thotment of the Week'? Definition of Thotment; noun and neologism for thotful comment. Will it help improve the quality of comments? Let us all give it a bit of thought. A bit.

The future of marketing

2007-04-05T10:45:00.000+05:30

A slideshow on the future of marketing by Businessweek.

Creative Director 2.0

2007-04-05T09:04:00.000+05:30

This week I'm posting a commercial that's been much seen and much heard over the last few days, especially during the cricket matches. This is the Motorola ROKR Music Addiction commercial featuring Abhishek Bachchan.

This is the ballot box:

Last week's results: The Thumbs Up brigade for the Nike Cricket commercial squeezed ahead by a wafer thin margin of 2 votes when voting closed.

(If you would like to see a particular piece of creative featured in the column, do mail me and I'll be glad to include it in the coming weeks.)

Tell the story like the man in the box

2007-04-04T17:11:00.000+05:30

Thot bubbled #50

2007-04-03T10:59:00.000+05:30

'The product is the brand'. I wait for the day when we will have products that don't need brand names to elevate them. The way I see it, nowadays, brands are what make the products seem better than they are. And then there is a no-brand brand called Muji (from Japan). Take the price tag away and there is nothing more than the product to speak for it. It takes commitment, thought and great marketing skills to come up with a product that doesn't need a brand name to sell it. Which brings me to what I think is a tricky question: Do brand names try to gloss over product inadequacies? Apologies for not being clearer. But then, this is an illusion of branding I am trying to unravel and understand. Feel free to jump in. (Google key words: Muji+Businessweek.)

Thotblurb of the Month - Nominations open

2007-04-02T10:17:00.000+05:30

Time to put in your nominations for the Thotblurb of the Month shootout later this week. Just a recap of the rules. Only posts from Thotblurb posted in the month of March are allowed. Anyone can nominate a post - including the writer himself/herself. Any number of nominations are welcome.

Do submit your nominations as comments to this post. Nominations will end 5th Thursday 2007. And here's a list of all the contenders.

Shift happens...

2007-03-31T22:41:00.000+05:30

Discovered via Talent imitates, genius steals

Baby Corn & Red Wine

2007-03-30T17:31:00.002+05:30

Go to 1998 and think about two things - Baby Corn & Wine (any - white or red).
How many of us would have imagined that we would start buying baby corns every time we visited the vegetable wallah?
How many of us would have imagined conservative Marwari and North Indian families would begin putting this as a regular ingredient in their mixed vegetable preparation?
Leave aside baby corn. Think about wine. There is nothing in a bottle of wine that should qualify it as a great idea for a typical Indian drinker –
It does not taste great (pardon me wine aficionados)
It does not hit you like Old Monk & Bagpiper used to and still do
It is not cheap again like the Monk & the Piper

But still almost everyone is Wining & Dining Sula (or Château) & Baby Corn

Did they achieve this feat by using the most celebrated celebrity?
Did they achieve this after understanding how the consumer is so much wanting to have wine & baby corn but no one is giving it?
Did they achieve this by developing the most creative and strategically correct marketing communication campaign?

Perhaps none of the above three comes close to describing the mystery behind this mean feat.
All that baby corn and red wine did was to become content in place of communication. Wine became editorial, there were magazine recipes that made a hero out of the tiny baby corn, national and international chefs dished out the ‘corn & wine logic’, a couple of research reports in the newspapers about how wine was healthy and good for liver & brain & kidney & lungs – basically everything that we have inside us and yes the wine warriors threw parties for those who anyway liked wine and ensured that the rest of the world who had been sleeping when the former were sipping the wine got to see in ‘the news’ morning after.
There you are. Corn & Wine are the new age food & beverage cult.

It is very difficult to make people do something totally new; it is very easy to make people do something totally new.
We pick what we believe!

Thot bubbled #49

2007-03-30T17:13:00.000+05:30

This thought bubbled from Roop's nice post on creating equity. My question is this: Is Sony a great marketer or not much more than a great creator of products? Related question: Can a great creator of products not be a great marketer? I tend to believe Sony is better at creating products than marketing them. Yes, Sony is one of the best brands in its marketspace but I think this has less to do with their marketing than with their ability to create superior products. Does that make sense? In fact, I think most Japanese companies aren't that good at marketing. What they're really, bloody good at is creating good-to-great products for less. Hmm...is the ability to create great products not part of the ability to market?

Thot bubbled #48

2007-03-30T17:04:00.000+05:30

Why would entertainment suppliers have trouble with people posting clips of their stuff on Youtube? It's not like these clips are eating into their revenue stream. As far as I can see, it's free advertising. Or do they believe the people who watch clips on Youtube will start subscribing to their feed when they realise that they can't see it, grainily, for free on Youtube? The latest case of this foolishness is the ICC demanding that Youtube pull down all clips of the on-going World Cup of Cricket '07. Any thoughts that can help me deconstruct this puzzle?

Creative Director 2.0

2007-03-29T09:03:00.000+05:30

You've read or heard about Marketing 2.0, Agency 2.0, PR 2.0 and probably even Brands 2.0. Here's an opportunity to redress the balance by extending the new world's most travelled suffix by introducing it to a corner of the advertising world that's managed to insulate itself from the ebb and flow of changes happening around us.

And I am referring to creative. What's the role of creative in this world of social media and user generated content? What's the role of the Creative Director in this new environment? But most important of all, who is the Creative Director-in-charge when we are awash with brand messages, some from expected sources and most from unexpected sources?

The right question to ask I believe is 'who isn't the Creative Director?' In a world where there are no defining boundaries between media and audiences, creators and users, producers and consumers - and in agencies of 'creative generalists', everyone who comes into contact with a brand message and affects the way it's made or transmitted (from his inbox to those of his friends', for eg.) is a Creative Director.

It's a change you'll not hear about from anyone - especially not from the creative themselves. Because as the reigning high priests of the advertising world they'd like to believe that all offerings to the Gods have to be made through them. But a process of democritisation - a spreading around of authority, power and the keys to the temple - is what's happening everywhere in the world of advertising; and creative are not going to be immune from it.

So what can we - planners, agency-folk, evolved creatives, and plain old consumers of advertising - do to hasten the inevitable? For starters, we can prepare ourselves to carry out the responsibilities we will eventually inherit by practicing the creative director's craft - right here, right now.

And what's the creative director's craft? In another context, legendary Hollywood director Sidney Lumet quotes that a director's only job is to make decisions. And so it is with advertising too - there may be better ideators, writers, art directors, filmmakers, web designers around him/her, but it is the creative director who decides what makes the cut and what doesn't.

Not too difficult a skill to practice and cultivate, isn't it? Which is why I'm introducing this new weekly feature called 'Creative Director 2.0' Each Thursday, I will post a creative piece here and will pose you a simple question (via a poll) - thumbs up or thumbs down? There will be reasons, enhancements, questions about brand tone etc and rants you will want to share - and please do leave comments and incite a debate - but the essential question to you is : 'You are the Creative Director calling the shots. Would you let this ad go through?'

I want to start with a commercial that has evoked some pretty sharp response - it's been on air for some time now and you would have seen it. For those who haven't, here it is:

And here's the ballot box:

Voting closes early morning (IST) of next Thursday, 5th April 2007, when it will be time to announce the winner of this week and exercise our opinion over the fate of another piece of creative :)

Thot bubbled #47

2007-03-26T10:09:00.000+05:30

Is execution the new idea? I saw 300 and the only thing about it that wowed me was the way it looked. Which brings me to another related thought. What is more important in advertising: looking good or saying something substantial? Put simply, are looks more important than substance? Caveat: dig deep before you answer this one. (Incidentally, research has conclusively proved that good looking people are more successful in life.) Aside from that, I also watched The Namesake a day after and even though the latter is a much better and a more nuanced tale well told, I can bet my last petro-dollar on 300 turning out to be a bigger grosser. Why?

Self-help Tsunami

2007-03-23T11:30:00.001+05:30

When I got to know that a westerner was surprised to see the titles in an Indian bookstore I was curious. He was surprised by store’s extensive focus on business and non-fiction books. This is in sharp contrast to what a typical western bookstore is selling.
If Crossword is a good sample then I must confess that his observation was precise. The Indian book reader seems to be on a self-help & non-fiction spree.
A quick look at the sections and the titles being promoted reveals that we are reading a whole lot of business books. Be it finance, marketing, HR or operations; books on HOW TO sell, crack that job interview, grow faster, get that corner office, SPEAK ENGLISH and a lot more, the list is endless.

While most of the ‘non-textbooks’ have traditionally been bought for leisure reading, we have a new crop of readers who started reading books (other than text books) much later in life, They have not been brought up on the Famous Five, Hardy Boys, Enid Blyton etc as kids and have not read Ayn Rand, Sydney Sheldon etc. as youth or young adults. They started much later (late 20s or early 30s) and their decision to read books was a result of realization that if they have to get ahead in their profession/occupation – they need to know more than what their qualification (Engineer or CA or anything else) taught them. Thus began the journey of adopting a new habit – reading books that help.
You’d find these 20/30 something in suburban trains/buses, immersed in Shiv Khera’s You can win or Covey’s 7 habits or The 8th habit, while clutching the overhead handles as the laptop bag hangs from their shoulder over the crumpled blue shirt. I also see them in the long and winding boarding queues at airport terminals.
These are, as some consumer behaviour books and demo/psychographic surveys call, ‘the aspirers’.

Equally interesting is the attitude of these aspirers towards the reading habits of their children. Instead of focusing only on the textbooks (like they once themselves did) these parents want their children to read fiction. Why? Because they believe that a lot of English early in life, be it in the form of reading, talking, at school, or with a teacher, or interaction with a more well-traveled and proficient uncle/aunt has therapeutic properties. It prepares you for the world outside the classroom and the world beyond Indian shores.

I do not know why but I can’t help thinking about China’s one child policy in this context. Out there it was a Govt. regulation not have more than one child, in India, it seems, parents have self-imposed the ‘Must Learn English Language’ policy on their kids.

In this future full of aspirer households, I am curious about the future of light/leisure reading & regional and the National languages. We just might be moving to a non-Hindi urban India in another 10-15 years where the preferred mode of interpersonal communication becomes English and reading, among aspirers, becomes predominantly non-fiction.
For every trend there could easily be a niche counter trend and I won’t be surprised to see mushrooming of training institutes that promise to groom children or grandchildren of these aspirers in the ‘innocence and originality of our mother tongue’ be it Hindi or our native language.

Also, these hyper-ambitious adults might look at different leisure activities (viz. going out, doing something) in their free time, instead of staying home & reading fiction.

Again there could be a niche counter trend to this that could, well, be about staying home or going to a reading lounge (not library), where you meet like-minded people, discuss and debate ideas, concepts from what they are reading or thinking..
Hyper-speculative I’d say but very likely.

Thats accountability!

2007-03-22T17:27:00.000+05:30

Google is experimenting with a new proposition for advertisers: if you don’t get results, you don’t pay.
The company said on Tuesday that it would expand a test of a system that allows advertisers to pay only when an ad spurs a consumer to take an action, be it purchasing a product, subscribing to a newsletter or signing up to receive a quote from a mortgage broker or car dealer.
The vast majority of advertisers now pay Google when a user clicks on ads that are displayed alongside its search results or on other Web sites, while some are billed based on how many people view the ads.

“We’re optimistic that it will be something that will be very compelling for advertisers,” said Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management at Google. Ms. Wojcicki said the system would also give participating Web publishers a wider choice of ad types for their sites.

Thot bubbled #46

2007-03-22T09:13:00.000+05:30

Ok, now does this mean we're going to be working less or working more? I thought technology was supposed to give us more free time. I guess that's just another canard conjured up by advertising people like us to sell technology. Anyway, any answers?

What archetype are you?

2007-03-21T21:12:00.000+05:30

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 part of brand strategy is nothing new. A truly effective tool. Archetype makes sense 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 archetype would you be?

Thotblurb of the month

2007-03-20T22:42:00.000+05:30

Inspired by Russell Davies' 'Post of the Month' competition, I am planning to put together a 'Thotblurb of the Month' competition every month for stuff posted on Thotblurb.

All the rules remain the same - except only posts from Thotblurb are allowed. Anyone can nominate the posts including the writer himself/herself - any number of nominations are allowed/welcome. I will write out a nominations open post at the end of every month where you can leave your nomination as a comment or you can mail it to me.

We all (including non-contributors to Thotblurb) vote on it and decide the 'Thotblurb of the Month.' The winner will be enshrined in a sidepanel created just for these outstanding posts.

What do you all say?

Planner Survey 2007

2007-03-20T22:17:00.000+05:30

From Fallon Planning Blog:

"Heather LeFevre at Martin Agency conducts an informal survey that is designed to let us all see what planners at different agencies think about their jobs, understand what drives salaries, and hopefully learn more about how our discipline is changing.

192 people participated last year.

Please only take the survey if you are working as a planner (freelance and those who work outside the US are welcome), and your answers stay anonymous."

To take the survey, click here.

To receive the results by email, click here.

Thot bubbled #45

2007-03-20T10:54:00.000+05:30

People often say what Planners do is very theoretical and far-removed from ground realities. In fact, people often say theory is all crap and best kept aside. I think the reason reality is so different from theory is precisely that. If you pay enough attention to theory and find the right ways to apply it and create a more optimum reality, theory will not be confined to just theory. Theory is only theory because we're encouraged by lazy people to forget it when dealing with reality. Theoretically speaking, I may be wrong about this. How about a reality check?

Eco is Luxe

2007-03-16T14:32:00.000+05:30

Environment consciousness is at best a luxury in a developing country like India.

We might shrug this off by calling it a shortsighted view but there is truth in what I just said. It is a luxury because
·We have a country where we need to reach food for living to a LARGE number of people and we can’t depend on flimsy paper bags to carry it, we need poly-film to help us reach it intact and reach it cost effectively.

·We have billions who need to be kept warm thus we need to burn fossil fuel & firewood

·We have millions who want to celebrate their festivals with all the fanfare and we can’t ban all the firecrackers

·We have innumerable thirsty throats that need clean and bottled water and we can’t deny it for there is a dip in the water table

We are a country that has an over-grown population & an over-developed democracy but an under-developed economy and stilted governance & public administration. This disequilibrium is that is at the root of many of the challenges that we are facing as a nation and an ecosystem!

Like the ecosystem maintains a dynamic equilibrium with itself so is needed an equilibrium between Democracy, Economy and Ecology. Today, none of these is in harmony with the other.

The challenge is not limited to a developing nation like India. Even developed nations are facing it though in different ways. Let’s talk about the much talked about Organic Wave. Why is there a backlash to Organic food with questions being raised as to what is the real organic?
Is milk and meat from cattle that roams and feeds on ‘live’ grass (that is not grown with pesticides) and comes back to the cattle-shed in the evening to be milked, more organic than the cattle that does not have to leave the shed and feeds on similar pesticide free grass which is pre cut? Perhaps yes perhaps we do not know.
A more fundamental question to ask is that why can’t we afford to send the cow out in the fields? The answer usually would be “we do not have the luxury of time to do that because demand waits for no one” (not even till cows come home!). And what does this overbearing demand represent? This demand represents the large population that needs to have their morning cup of milk every day regularly and in good quantities. The large population (a species called humans) has grown ‘inorganically’ and has an inorganic agenda for survival, but it wants to live healthy – organically. It is perhaps a huge paradox of our times because a species that ‘lives’ inorganically (medicines/ vaccines/ surgeries/ implants/ augmentations etc.) cannot realistically have a ‘lifestyle’ that is organic (food etc.).

When these challenges are rampant in developed nations (US) with small population base (density 31/sqkm) how can we be surprised to see the adverse impact of this rampant population growth and the subsequent degradation of environment in over populated (density 329/sq km) & under developed countries like India.

Challenges facing a developing country go far and wide beyond over-population. We have problems to address as as rampant migration, lack of education and sometimes-even lack of regulations . Together all of them pose a much bigger challenge than what brands can realistically handle.

Eco friendliness is a luxury that brands in developing countries cannot afford, not at least in the short term!

The way to approach this challenge is to not just look at the responsibilities of brands and marketers but to look at what role does government have to play in solving these fundamental challenges.

For brands and marketers a more realistic target would be to create perceptions of eco-friendliness for themselves based on their activities, no matter how micro they are, and hope that this also leads to a larger set of people becoming conscious of their responsibilities towards environment in one way or the other.
No wonder we have public and private initiatives like the DTC Bus service in Delhi, which is the largest CNG, bus service network in the world. There are brands like Allen Solly and many others that promote only recycled paper bags. We even have hospitality chains like Ecotel Hotels that have been certified as completely environment friendly. British Petroleum has launched Oorja - a smoke free chulha for rural markets in India. The chulha burns the fuel optimally and reduces the smoke dramatically.

It is interesting to note that while eco conscious brands, products and marketing seems to connote luxury at the top-end, which in turn triggers adoption; at the bottom-end eco friendliness has to stand for efficiency and value to attract trials and adoption.
Though all of these might look like small steps but they are all in the right direction.

The long march to eco responsibility has just begun and we have a long way to go. The good news is that we at least know the direction we need to take.

The Long Tail of Brand Communication

2007-03-16T11:52:00.001+05:30

Over the last year, WIRED editor-in-chief Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory (and book) have been widely discussed, debated and acclaimed. In fact, the Long Tail is now considered as one of the most influential economic and business ideas in recent times.

For the past few months I have been busy at work extending the first principles of the Long Tail thinking into brand-building and brand communication. After much thinking, writing and chiselling, I finally managed to ship out a paper on the subject a few days ago.

In its short time since it was formulated, the Long Tail theory has found application in every possible field, but this (as far as I know) is the first application of the idea to brand-building. And this is what Chris Anderson himself had to say about the paper.

I would love to hear your views and comments.

Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit

2007-03-13T15:45:00.000+05:30

CUSTOMERS bought $9.6 billion worth of apparel online in the United States last year, according to Forrester Research, the Internet consulting firm. But not one of those customers tried anything on first.
That is one reason that online purchases represent a paltry 5 percent of overall apparel sales. Customers return 30 percent of the clothes they buy online, industry executives say.
So why not have a Web site where users can provide their basic body dimensions and style preferences, then see all the available clothing that would fit well and suit their taste? (It is an idea so obvious that one wonders why it isn’t an established part of online shopping already: merchandise returns would drop, customers might well be happier and the Web site would earn a commission for every sale.)
That is the approach of a new Internet company, myShape.com, which has recorded the measurements of about 20,000 women in a five-month trial period that ended Sunday. The women shopped from personalized clothing collections matched to their style and fit preferences and body dimensions.

DABBA WALAS OR MBA WALAS

2007-03-13T14:38:00.000+05:30

today morning I was watching a program on tv about Mumbai Dabbawalas. Their penchant for accuracy and customer service. Much has talked about and written about them. They are a case of reverse take on MNCs like HSBC claiming to be the world's local bank. Here is a home grown institution that is showing way to world about logistics, cusotmer management and six sigma etc....stressing that local insights can work on a global platform.

Another example that comes to my mind is our good old laloo, who turned a white elephant of indian railways into a proud,profit making jumbo and is taking classes for management students.

as Gandhiji said India does (also) lives in its villages: my reading -the true potential of our country is just not the big minds of corporate world, it can be the home grown talent without managment degrees...be it laloo or the dabbawallas

The cusp runneth empty

2007-03-09T20:02:00.000+05:30

A research agency is doing research and is perceived to be credible; but their insights & recommended ideas are usually bordering obviousness and general knowledge! Research agencies have always had the credentials but sometimes they miss ideas and insights.

A creative person is developing ideas but many a times his ideas are set aside under the pretext that they are ‘wild’, ‘super niche’ or too ‘edgy’ and not based on real consumer insightCreatives have the ideas but sometimes they are seen missing the insights

A planner is trying to turn the obviousness of the research agencies findings into insights, ideas & executable consumer knowledge.Planners are supposed to have both (at least the insights) but they do not have research agency credentials to stake a claim to consumer knowledge

Given this from the above three, Research Agencies are best placed to own insights because they have the consumer credentials and the research processes. What they need now are some people who can think creatively and generate ideas as well - people who are at the cusp of ‘logic-analysis’ on one side and ‘magic-creativity’ on the other. There is a huge opportunity in deploying resources to own this cusp of creativity and analysis.

With these people in, the last three slides (before the thank you slide) in research presentations would start looking much more actionable that they ever did in the past.

New links on the sidepanel #4

2007-03-09T10:46:00.000+05:30

1. Thotblurber Talk : This first one is not one link but an entirely new sidepanel entry with an automated feed. I have aggregated all the XML feeds from all our blogs and stuck it up as a sidepanel titled 'What Thotblurbers are posting on their respective blogs'. All posts we enter at our respective blogs will show up as links in one convenient location. Clicking on the post title will take you to the respective blog, of course. The feed is currently stuck on a couple of my posts (not by design) and on Jayanth's entries. It will scroll down as people post new things.

2. The 51 Best Magazines Ever : I love magazines in all forms and sizes (some more than others, of course.) Which is why I was thrilled to find this shortlist by Good Magazine. This selection points not just to the cream of the crop - but also highlights when they were the cream of the crop. Discovered via Yahoo Picks!
Filed under : 'Ten'tative links

3. Changing World - India Rising : Produced by BBC and Public Radio International, 'The Changing World is a weekly series of audio documentaries that explore multiple aspects of a single global issue. Last week's issues focussed on India and the changes taking place here. The two episodes provide an interesting viewpoint on India and offer interesting sound bites for presentations.
Filed under : 'Ten'tative links (I have additionally filed the 'Changing World' home link under Planner Resources)

4. Case Study Addict : Leland Maschmeyer writes one of the better planning blogs around - it's full of insight, new angles and most interesting of all (to me, at least) , scientific analogies. Leland has recently kickstarted another blog assembling together in one place what he calls the ad man's crack - case studies. It is a collective blog and if you would like to add or submit your own case studies, you can write to him. More details here.
Filed under : Planner Resources

5. The Cluetrain Manifesto : This isn't a new link but I just wanted to highlight it. In 1998 four Silicon Valley thinkers got together to write a declaration (and subsequently a book) that I still think is absolutely essential reading for all marketers, advertisers and especially planners. The manifesto created waves and much discussion - the website that started it all is now enshrined as a 'Read only' landmark on the net.
Filed under : Planner Reading

Another one on 'Convergence' (from an article in The Guardian)

2007-03-09T10:22:00.000+05:30

Today's mobiles already allow you to tell the time, arrange your appointments diary, watch filma, play games, and take pictures of your blocked sink that you can send as jpegs to your plumber, who will text you back a ludicrous estimate, which you can check by using your phone's calculator function.

I like the chosen example...'blocked sink' and plumber's 'ludicrous estimate'...trippy, I'd say!

Air Conditioning of the Internet age

2007-03-08T17:42:00.000+05:30

Read this interesting analogy in the NYT.

WI-FI service is quickly becoming the air-conditioning of the Internet age, enticing customers into restaurants and other public spaces in the same way that cold “advertising air” deliberately blasted out the open doors of air-conditioned theaters in the early 20th century to help sell tickets.

One more thotblurber

2007-03-07T09:05:00.000+05:30

Jayanth Govindraj heads strategic planning at Y&R in Abu Dhabhi. An engineer who started his career in Philips before crossing over into advertising, Jayanth has worked at JWT and Y&R in India. His domain expertise is in Telecom; he has over 10 years of experience with brands like BPL and Airtel. He considers knowledge management and sharing essential to planning - a point of view that should make him feel at home here at Thotblurb.

Friday Coffee - The Bangalore Chapter

2007-03-06T08:44:00.000+05:30

The revolution that's sweeping the world reached Bangalore last Friday. Roop and I met for our first Friday Coffee evenings (not mornings, unlike the way the British do it :) at the ever-welcoming Koshy's (a pre-independence coffee joint that goes by several names including Parade Cafe and Fish & Chips.)

Put two thot blurbers together and what else will they speak about? The conversation centred around Thotblurb, the direction it is taking, and the things we need to do to keep the momentum going. We had a few interesting ideas - but for more on those, you have to watch this space.

The much expected game of chess didn't happen - but with Ubermanian in town this week, I am expecting a three way contest to take place.

(Picture courtesy : Roy Sinai at Flickr)

Sex don't sell anymore

2007-03-05T13:27:00.000+05:30

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?

Children as Consultants

2007-03-02T12:03:00.000+05:30

I was reading the other day in an article on how children are the most creative and can come up with totally new solutions to a problem. Infact there have been tests conducted where different groups of people with different qualifications ( MBA's, Psyschologists etc ) are grouped with children and a problem or a puzzle is posed to them. Surprisingly the answers given by the children were found to be creative and also fresh. Is it because they have not been exposed to the loud theories, the complex business models, the jargons, the acronyms we pride ourselves with ?

That set me thinking and I asked myself. Does that provide us ( advertising agencies, consultancies, corporates ) an opportunity to work with children and look at bringing in some fresh and innovative thinking. Its not necessary that we restrict ourselves to children's products but look at some gripping problem the brand or the organisation faces. Long ago Candico had a team of chidren on board to work on product development.I am not sure wheter they still have. But that made for a good start. I am looking at taking it to the next level. The tough part is to present the problem I guess will lie in breaking the problem down to total simplicity and in a language the children will understand. Probably breaking it down into a simple story or an analogy to get it through them and allow the fresh solutions to emerge

Any takers ?......................

One horse, many races..

2007-03-01T16:35:00.000+05:30

You are a planner?

“So a planner makes presentations? “
“No, a planner is consumer’s spokesperson in any discussion about the brand.”
“Isn’t planner the category expert?”
“Actually planner is a client working in the agency.”
“Planner is a bridge between the creative emotions and business thoughts”
“Planner is there to engage the clients intellectually..”
“Boss, planner is just a sophisticated digital library”
“Think about it - planner is the new creative.”
“Planner is a lot of analysis and no action or direction..”
“Hello, planner is all about’ the direction’ dost..!”
“Planner is about the logic of that great ad which is actually beyond any logical explanation..”
“Planner is the agony aunt/uncle..”
“Planner is all ‘gyaan’ and nothing beyond..”

This is my ‘A’ list but I am sure there are many other roles that a planner is seen playing.. Are some of these better than others?
May be.
Is there just one definite role for a planner?
No.
Is there something that a planner ‘has to has to’ do?
Yes. Know the past, present & future of the user and his world.

Thanks to my discussion with young Rithika, I once again was reminded of all the myriad roles that a planner plays. But this does not mean that any one of these is a lesser role. All of them have their own significance at different points in time.

With some clients a planner needs to be more creative and adventurous while with others a planner needs to be rational and measured.

With some creatives we need to discuss the brief while with others we need to co create the work.

With some account management friends we need to write the presentation while with others we just need to discuss the direction.

With some global clients we need to be the face of our country’s creatives while with others we only need to lead the thinking.

A planner needs to be childish enough to think innocently and matured enough to be figuring the right direction.
At any point a planner must bring freshness to the table. No matter where the table is – in a client’s boardroom or a smoke filled room echoing with creative thoughts at 2 am in the morning!ong>

Jon Steel

2007-03-01T10:47:00.000+05:30
I am not sure if anyone of you got to hear this lovely presentation of Jon Steel to APG in London. Here's a link in the site www.accountplanning.net which has got some clips on the presentation. Its really very interesting

Anbuchezhian

Thot bubbled #44

2007-02-27T09:52:00.000+05:30
For the benefit on y'all and sundry, I shall be in India for 15 days starting the day after tomorrow. I shall miss you thotsters. Sniff.

Thot bubbled #43

2007-02-26T17:17:00.000+05:30

And they say negative advertising doesn't work. Does it?

Retail Bubble

2007-02-26T11:52:00.001+05:30
Suddenly its looks its all about Retail. Everybody wants to have a piece of this and everybody is scaling up like crazy. But has it helped in the ground level. I visited few of the leading retailers specially the super market formats and found service levels very pathetic, total indifference to the customer, no stock of fast moving products etc ? will i ever visit these outlets again? No way.

Will the small time neighborhood shops also fall a prey to this and convert themselves into franchisees of leading brands losing their identity? Will they also learn the lesson the hard way?

I was left wondering if this is another valuation game.Is to impress VC's? Is it that everybody is jumping on to cashout? or they really see some value add to the customer? Is it another Dotcom bubble thats ready to burst? can we do some crystal ball gazing?

Anbuchezhian

Knowledge to the people

2007-02-26T11:52:00.000+05:30
Two interviews with Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. The first one is an interview by New Scientist magazine. And in the second one, Jimmy Wales answers questions from the magazine's readers.

Both the interviews throw light on information systems, how to build them and the possibilities that abound. Well worth a read, or two.

No lungs to invest in eco-stocks!

2007-02-23T19:58:00.000+05:30

In the future there are no lungs! (and heart and kidneys etc. but more about these later).

We would not need to breathe air (oxygen) because we’d be getting the Oxygen to our cells (for whom we actually breathe) directly through an oxygen-making source attached/embedded in our bodies.
No breathing needed, is no air needed is no lungs required. I’ll not dwell on this ‘ultimate outcome’ of Genetics-Nanotechnology & Robotics (GNR), but I’d sure like to share what I believe could perhaps be the implications of this.

Ultimately we’d not be requiring our environment, as we love to call and click it, anymore. And environment is air, water, other animals & plants (the latter, again, are important for the oxygen that they make for ‘us’),‘natural sights’ (as for the last one we’d be able to create natural sights virtually and they’d be as good if not better!)
All this could actually happen as early at 2045.

Pardon me if I am making this sound too simplistic but I am just trying to summarize the key resultants of the present day technology explorations in fewest and simplest words possible.

What role does environment have beyond Survival (oxygen) and Aesthetic experience (those poetry inspiring & relaxing sights!)?
Off late it has come to acquire one more important role – Return on Investments. People are investing (these are really big people)in eco-stocks because they see our environment under extreme pressure in the medium term (those melting ice caps are a part of this). The natural outcome of this warming of the planet & melting of the ice due to our present day over-abusive industrial behaviour would be a massive clampdown on environment degrading industries.
That would be the day when eco-happy/friendly companies & industries would have their real value be acknowledged by the fuming chimneys of present day industries.

But as I pointed out earlier, this is only in the medium term (20-years) because in the long run we won’t need non-polluting windmills just as much as we do not want smokestack economies today. Computation will ultimately drive everything that is important. This primary foundation for future technology thus appears to require no energy.We'd be able to harness the information(yes!) stored in 'seemingly' dead objects like rocks and even trees. (More in 'The Singularity is Near')

That, dear reader, would be the day when our existence will surpass our environment.

Thot bubbled #42

2007-02-22T14:19:00.000+05:30

For some fashionable reason, I think, people love to diss the two-button mouse in favour of a Apple mouse with no buttons. But if I had only one hand I'd prefer the two-button mouse. It's the only way I'd be able to open a page in another window, among other things. Can anyone give me a few reasons why the Apple mouse is better than the two-button mouse? Of course, I'll go do some reading but instinctively...

Tough Job

2007-02-22T13:57:00.000+05:30
Discover more of Tom's brilliance here

Download dispersion #2

2007-02-22T10:11:00.000+05:30
Barenaked Ladies. Why? Not only are they an intelligent band that creates interesting and well-written music, they also support causes that mean something to our future. Even better, they're not like the Metallicas of the world that discourage downloads and knowledge sharing. (They're like Übermaniam.) This is a band that stands for a lot of things I believe in. Try them. Buy them. Tip: Start with 'If I had a Million Dollars'.

Thot bubbled #41

2007-02-22T08:24:00.000+05:30

No matter how many years of 9% growth rate we have achieved, we're still one of the most insensitive people in the world. While the Barenaked Ladies are organising eco-friendly concerts, our way of celebrating a win in a stupid cricket match (in Vishakapatnam against Sri Lanka) is to fling plastic water packets on to the ground. We fight over who should take how much of our pulluted rivers. And then, we celebrate like this. Herein lies the idiocy of India, and an opportunity to do a GREEN branding initiative. We love our cricket. And that's where we might be able to slip in a colour-coded message of eco-responsible cricket matches. (A la the RED campaign.)

Pardon the righteousness, but what on earth were the people throwing plastic water packets onto the ground thinking? Not much, I guess. After all, we're that finely developed developing country of people who believe there's always someone else from a lower caste who can be employed to clean up any mess we create. Who cares about the ground staff who have to pick up all the bloody trash after we leave? Not us. We're too busy intoxicating ourselves silly and popping-open bottles of champagne to celebrate some manipulated World Cup teaser campaign of a series victory.

And the only thing one of our most celebrated cricket writers, Dileep Premchandran, had to say in response to this pathetic behaviour was this weak pun of a sentence: The crowd throwing water sachets in unison at the denouement of this match summed the manner in which Sri Lanka were swept away by a tidal wave of Indian shot-making. That pretty much sums up how much we care about the environment. Oh fuck it! I'm just yammering away into a consumerist void of 9% indifference.

Thot bubbled #40

2007-02-20T09:27:00.000+05:30
A small part of an article I was reading on Charles Simonyi had, what I thought was, this very big idea. It might useful to help us understand a Planner's role better: This has always been Simonyi's preferred vantage. In a career spanning four decades, every time he has confronted some intractable problem in software or life, he has tried to solve it by stepping outside or above it. Do correct me if I'm wrong. And for the rest of the piece, please go here.

New links on the sidepanel #3

2007-02-19T12:13:00.000+05:30
Five new links in the 'Ten'tavive links sidepanel, which features interesting but off-topic links. Interesting things to know but not necessarily important to take up permanent space on the sidepanel. Unlike the other sidepanels, links are organised last in, last out - and not in alphabetical order. And just in case you haven't guessed, the list will always be truncated to 10 links.

1. 20 Greatest Guitar Solos Ever, With Videos: Do I need to say anything else?

2. 60 Seconds in the Life of...: A really interesting idea though I have not once been able to catch any of the videos (something to do with Revver, the video-sharing site they use.) But nonetheless interesting because it got me thinking about something. What would a 60 second unedited, unscripted clip of our consumer(s) show them doing? What if we assemble such 60 second clips of all our target groups/consumers and share them with creative in the brief?

3. BeerAsia: One blogger's account of all the beers - good, bad and ugly - he has drunk while travelling through the Asia Pacific region.

4. Pinewood Dialogues: A collection of conversations where some of the most accomplished film directors of our times discuss their craft and work. Directors include Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet (my favourite), Robert Altman, David Cronenberg, etc.

5. The All-TIME 100 Albums: Apologies for the second music entry but this collection from Time magazine will serve as a good start for endless discussion/arguments.

All links found via Yahoo! Picks. If any of you do have interesting links you'd like to see added here, do mail them across or leave them in the comments below.

Hazardous for mind

2007-02-19T08:59:00.000+05:30
Your own Sign Generator. Via Life in the middle. Have fun.

Disturbing!

2007-02-18T20:22:00.000+05:30
Recently Pooja posted sthg about body lotions and that sparked off thoughts on the category - Besides, I work on a beauty brand so usually try to keep up2date with all that's going on.

So there are these ads for Pond's Age thingie lotion that keep getting in the way of my sunday PM telly schedule. man, they're disturbing. 1. They are so very dove 2. They are so very 5 yrs ago 3. What's with these women using cream for 7 days to get their husband's attn + use that as self validation

Is it just me? I'm all for beauty products, heck I'm a junkie myself - I have drawers of the stuff cause I buy things for packaging and scents and fun. But for ME - or cause I believe they'll do something purposive (ie conditioner to get rid of snags, sunblock with SPF60). which brings one to the whole.. women dont dress/ make them selves up for men... they do it for other women... hmm, actually we do it for ourselves.

My point is, this seems to be a bit of a negative/ defensive stance for Pond's age defying lotion. sure, look good.. but look good for you.. or feel so great that you're getting tons of attn & so the guy in ur life thinks, wow I'm so damn lucky! If I turn 35 and I need to get my husband's attn via face cream... uuuuhhhhh - that's it, grounds for instant divorce!

And I bet the stuff will sell - coz they're doing tons of sampling and events n have set up good looking counters in lots of stores. but even if it does sell, I personally feel it's doing women a disservice.

Incidentally, there's a new brand in the market called Dazzler. Ad = range shot + tag line 'for beautiful girls' - so either its to make us girls beautiful or anyone who is not using it isnt beautiful. personally, i wouldn't touch the stuff with a bargepole... so that's it, I'm off the beauty list there and doomed to be ignored by men in 10 yrs time. oh woe is very exclusively me!

Thoughts, anyone else? Would love to hear what other women think!

PS: If anyone worked on this campaign, no offence. just a personal POV

Thot bubbled #39

2007-02-18T13:08:00.000+05:30
What do you people think of this decision? And can someone find me some reading material that analyses this decision? I've been looking, unsuccessfullly. Meanwhile, your thoughts would be quite interesting. Here's my first-take on it.

Thot bubbled #38

2007-02-16T13:56:00.000+05:30
The cover of this week's issue of the Economist says we're seeing the beginning of the end of the cash era. What does this mean to marketing and marketing planning? The way I see it, off the top of my head, I think this means people will consume more. It means it's going to become easier for people to buy things. It means there's going to be more brands launched. It means more competition. It means it's going to become more difficult to make people buy into advertising. It means it's going to become harder to sell because it's going to become easier to buy. Oh no! The more things change, the more they remain the same. Jokes apart, what will the exponential growth is consumer credit mean in the short and the long run? I know, i know, in the long run we're all dead. Still, for arguments sake.

Again

2007-02-15T16:51:00.000+05:30
Its Axe in a towel.

Via Bestadsontv.com

Thot bubbled #37

2007-02-15T10:26:00.000+05:30
Sometimes I think sampling is the best way to build a brand. If you have a great product, the only advertising you might ever need to invest in is sampling. Example: Google. Once you get people to try a great product, they'll do the rest of the advertising for it. People love to seem smart. And the smartest thing anyone can do is ask someone else to use a good product. In this day and age of high cynicism, anyone who can recommend something worthwhile will always be appreciated. Hmm...I wonder what other categories could make the most out of sampling, more than any other media. Question: Should sampling be included as part of the media plan? Related thot: Tryvertising. Okay, this is going on for a bit. Anyway, it's worth investing some thoughts into. I think.

Download dispersion #1

2007-02-15T09:26:00.000+05:30
From today, I'll be pushing movies and other things, off and on, that Planners and wannabe creatives must torrent to expand their minds. Today's tip: Half Nelson. Download and disperse. As the great Übermaniam says "Knowledge has no purpose unless it is shared."

Effective Branding

2007-02-14T13:26:00.000+05:30
I am back from my self imposed exile. Sometime it feels good to be away from the digital dilemma of life. Anyways. I was reading this nicely written paper in Brand Channel. Amit goes on to explain Effective Branding as something which involves working on four important dimensions, namely:

The Functional Dimension
The functional dimension concerns the perception of benefit of the product or service associated with the brand

The Social Dimension
The Social Dimension concerns the ability to create identification with the group

The Spiritual Dimension
The Spiritual Dimension is the perception of global or local responsibility

The Mental Dimension
The Mental Dimension is the ability to support the individual mentally
He explains his framework with the analysis of the brand Airtel:

The Functional Dimension
The role of the technology is to make thing easier for the consumers. Airtel has been very successful in simplifying the use of mobile services by modifying the technology to suit the common users. Even the simplest of the consumer can use the products and services.
Airtel says, "Your world of communication just got simpler."

The Social Dimension
Airtel is a recognized brand to be associated with. I satisfy my esteem and it gives me opportunity to be a part of the culture. It is associated with high level of social value.

The Spiritual Dimension
"Building telecom, building relationships." It is important to be in touch with the relatives and dear ones but this is possible today through the mobile communication. Airtel encourages everyone to be more involved in building relationships and spread the happiness.

The Mental Dimension
Airtel gives me the opportunity to "Express Myself." The message is very clear to be open and daring to express. The expression gives me a lot of pleasure and an opportunity to think that I am a separate individual and have the right to communicate and express myself.
After reading the article few questions popped up. Do all brands fall in this framework? What happens to a brand when it does not satisfy the Social and Spiritual Dimension? What if the brands Mental Dimension is considered too mental from a consumer point of view? Is Cultural Dimension same as Social Dimension?

Can anyone share a better example which will fit this framework? Can any brand create these dimensions if it doesn't exist? (Pooja was discussing about a body lotion brand and how to derive at a unique brand proposition.) Can we create a hypothetical Body Lotion which satisfy this dimension chart? And can that lead to an unique proposition? Can we test that with people to see if it works?

I find this a very useful exercise and I am trying to fill in the blanks with several brands from different categories to understand whether this framework make any sense. Why don't you try out for yourself, you might come across something interesting.

New links on the sidepanel

2007-02-13T15:39:00.000+05:30
The first two will be familiar to those who visit Russell Davies' blog often. The remaining are suggestions from you all in last week's post.

1. Plannersphere Wiki: A wiki for planners, by planners. It's just a couple of weeks old, so there's not too much stuff as yet. But that shouldn't stop you contributing some of your own. The rules and password can be found here.
Filed under : Planner Resources

2. MediaFire: A file transfer service with no file size limit, no time limit, the ability to send multiple files at once and the ability to send to multiple people. Found in a comment at Russell's blog where he had initially posted a link to the brilliantly minimalistic Senduit - an alternative all you Mac fans might like.
Filed under : Planner Utilities

3. JunkCharts: Edward Tufte who runs this blog declares "chartjunk as an enemy of clear, informative graphics of data." He claims to be a junk artist dedicated to recycling chartjunk as junk art.
Filed under : Planner Fun

4. Lexical FreeNet: "A combination of thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, pun generator, and concept navigator. " You can use it to find words that fit whatever you are exploring or just go off on a tangent.
Filed under : Planner Reference

5. Jon Howard's Blogger's Digest Jan '07: Jon Howard helpfully puts together his list of the best blog posts from around the plannersphere every month. This is January's edition.
Filed under : 'Ten'tative Links

Thinking about brand propositions

2007-02-13T11:18:00.000+05:30

When deciding on a product/brand benefit to use as a brand proposition, what kind of research helps to ascertain whether the said benefit is a strong enough motivator for purchase and embrace?

This is in cases where the product does not have any unique feature (yet the product is as good as that of any other brand) so you have to force-fit the benefits of buying products from this brand...

Can FGDs really help calculate intention to buy? Do we have to partly follow intuition?

Is it a bit of a gamble at the end of the day?

E.g if I am a body lotion brand that repairs and softens dry skin. My product has no other promise to make. How does my ad agency find a proposition for me? Actually thats not my question. My question is how can one quantify the appeal of the benefit/proposition?

Big Brother,Corus, vodaphone

2007-02-12T17:04:00.000+05:30

Suddenly Britain & India seem to be in the news,more for the right reasons. We have had Big Brother, The Tata Corus deal and now its Vodaphone /Hutch hogging headlines.

The question is Should Vodaphone drop Hutch and switch over to Vodaphone in India or retain the branding of Hutch.

Anbuchezhian

Thot bubbled #36

2007-02-12T10:38:00.000+05:30
Bono does seem to know a thing or two about branding. He has 'RED' as the name for the campaign to make AIDS history. And now he's got 'ONE' as the name for the campaign to make poverty history. So much nicer than some tired weak line thrown in as an after-thought urging people to make this or that history. The great thing about brand-naming social causes? Brand names are easier to remember, and market, than sentences.

Thot bubbled #35

2007-02-11T17:02:00.000+05:30

In the confrontations between the creative and the servicing, I, the poor Planner, have often ended up feeling this way. Smile.

P2P, Friemily, UnI. Call me anything but Consumer

2007-02-11T13:20:00.000+05:30
Imagine if your visiting card said - Senior Producer. Or National Producer. Or Chief Producing Officer. Or Creative Producer. Or Art Producer. Or Market Research Producer.

The very thought is appalling!! And yet in the marketing/communication game of us vs them,we call the people who buy stuff/ experiences/ grocery/ dreams from us - 'consumers'.

Consumers. Its so inhuman. So degrading. So wrong. So incomplete!

Then is an entire lexicon which we have created- consumer insight, consumer behaviour, consumer research, consumer loyalty...And the edifice of our thoughts, strategies and communication is built on it!

I feel nomenclatures shape our world/ worldview. Seemingly innocuous labelling affects perceptions, thoughts and behaviours...But stereotyping simplifies. And therefore as marketers and communicators, its easy to maintain the divide. Us and them. Producers( of products and communication) and consumers.

Implicit are the rules...
1. They are a target audience
2. We make the rules.
3. We are smarter than them
4. They are stationary targets
5. They are waiting for our products and communication
6. We learn about them. They do not learn about us.
7. They can be loyal to us, if only we tried harder.
8. They can always be grouped in clusters to suit our mass media weaponry.
9. We can change the packaging of our products. And they will fall for them.
10. They have an insatiable appetite for hype, half-truths and bull-shit.
11. If you pray hard. The remote will disappear! Or at least they won't use them that often
12. They love the sound of our voice...

But everyone knows...The rules have long changed/ are changing(depends on where you are on the marketing map).
1. We are the new target. Of disloyalty. Of cynicism. Of derision.
2. They are making most of the rules.
3. They are much smarter than us. They didn't even give us time to realise this:-)
4. They are moving fast. We are the targets
5. They are having fun with change and technology. And are saying to us - "Get a life".
6. They have learnt all our tricks. They can now even make a super bowl ad for $12!!
7. Hype and half-truths never gets loyalty. They are loyal to their families and communities and passions not to bars of soap and toilet paper! Not even to their companies(most of the time)
8. They are as fragmented as shards of broken glass
9. They are saying to us - "When will you change the packaging of your thoughts?"
10. They say to us - "Boy, when will you ever get it. Why are you guys so dumb?"
11. Who needs the remote to escape your ads...We don't watch TV. We watch TiVO.We get RSS feeds
12. They don't give a f*** to what we have to say(mostly)!!

In this open source bazaar of conversations, of people-generated-content, a world with zero tolerance for hype and falsehood, we must find a new word for 'Consumer'. They are exactly like us. They are Us. We are them. People who work during the day and surf at night:-) People with families and stress, kids and budgets.

They are not on this earth to consume. They want authenticity. They want trust. They want to protect the earth and keep it green. They want to laugh and joke. Their loyalties can never be bought with a card. Yes they want discounts;they want 'beautiful images' but that doesn't define them.

They read many of the articles on 'how to capture eye-balls', how to capture a share of the target audience. And then they trust us even less. They shrug their shoulders. Because we don't get it! Even now.

So if they are us. Should we call this bazaar conversation P2P(people-to-people), Friemily(Friend and Family), UnI(You and I)...They aren't the best nomenclature. But at least they are better than 'Consumers'!

2007 resolution. As far as possible, avoid the use of this word/ mind-set:-)

Picture courtesy: Gettyimages

Thot bubbled #34

2007-02-11T11:22:00.000+05:30
So Air India has got itself another facelift. And, I think, they've got it wrong, again. The Centaur is not a symbol they should have gone with. A centaur is a symbol of cold. A centaur is aggressive. A centaur is alien. They should have worked with the Maharajah. The 'Maharajah' stands for all the good things Air India is best known for: Warmth, hospitality and history. Once again, some agency has made a killing at the expense of the Indian tax payer. Once again, Air India has lost a chance to fly high. Why did they jettison the Maharajah? Any thoughts?

I suspect, post the merger of Indian and Air India, they will drop the Centaur and go with the bold Chakra. they may even decide to call the new entity, Indian. Hmm.

Thot bubbled #33

2007-02-10T18:09:00.000+05:30
Isn't 'Dove' too much of a skin care brand to make much headway in the hair care segment? I'm sure HLL would have considered this disconnect. Question: Will the 'Dove' line of hair care products succeed in India? Laura Ries might say extending the 'Dove' brand name to hair care products is a bad idea. Is it? I think it is. Oops.

Selling Life Insurance

2007-02-10T15:31:00.000+05:30

Have been observing life insurance advertising in India. Its interesting to see how each brand has manged to present the same product in a unique way.....

ICICI Pru: suraksha zindagi ke har kadam par - Protection
Bajaj Allianz: jaisi zaroorat vaisa insurance - Customisation
Max Newyork: Your partner for life - Partnership
Om Kotak Mahindra: jeene ki azadi - Freedom
TATA AIG: A new look at life - New perspective
Aviva: kal par control - Control
SBI life: Zindagi hai jeene ke liye (life is for living) - Live
Met Life: Have you met life today?- Playing on the brand name
HDFC Life: sar utha ke jiyo - Self reliance
Reliance: 7 assan sawaal - Simplicity
Birla Sunlife: Your dreams our commitment - Fulfilling dreams
and it goes on...check out these two new entrants:-
Bharati AXA: Mera farz - Responsibility (on air these days...quite nice)
Shriram Life: Your partner for prosperity - Prosperity

Probably this simply means that the benefits of getting yourself insured are endless! :)

Thot bubbled #32

2007-02-10T12:32:00.000+05:30
We'll need to rethink a few things.

Thot bubbled #31

2007-02-09T18:01:00.000+05:30

Ask the right questions.

We'll need to rethink a few things...

2007-02-09T15:11:00.000+05:30
This wonderful video is curently at the top of the Viral Video Chart.

Thot bubbled #30

2007-02-09T13:02:00.000+05:30
Brands lend a notion of value to a common things. In which case, are people who wear branded products asking to be overestimated? And if so, what does that say about people who don't wear brands? I do. Not.

retailing & autorikshaws

2007-02-09T00:20:00.000+05:30
One cannot miss the autorickshaws in the major cities of India. They are all around you whether you step in from the train, the bus and even outside the airports. They have become a part of the city landscape. With so many (am trying to get the numbers) plying could they be made a part of the marketing mix? They actually are already. They carry ads in a display panel at the rear. Could we leverage this further ?

Can these auto's be used to retail impulse purchase categories like a chocolates / confectionery or even water bottles?
Brands need not wait for consumers to reach to them, instead they reach out to the consumers. This will also serve as an additional revenue stream for the auto rickshaw drivers / owners .

Any brand owners up for the experimentation. ?

You know you are a brand when

2007-02-08T18:23:00.000+05:30

Every brand owner or brand custodian aims to build a brand. But what is a real measure of a brand well built?

I am no authority on quantitative or qualitative research that sometimes attaches numeric values to the extent of joy that a brand creates among its intended consumers but here are three subjective measures that I’d like to share.

In some way they are organized in increasing order of their significance.

1. A consumer or employee dreams of the brand more often than once or twice.

Some Google employees actually dream of their company and office regularly. And these are dreams not nightmares ; )

2. When the consumer is ready to forgive the brand

If brand is a person & we love this person, than this person could play any of these roles viz. a friend, a guide, a relative, a mentor, a partner etc. In our lives there come times when some of these people that we know commit mistakes, might end up doing something unknowingly that upsets us. But we do not snap ties with these people just because of that one act of theirs. Instead we pardon them and move on.This is exactly the response that a ‘real’ brand gets from its loyal users when something goes wrong. If the user does not forgive the brand and moves away may be it was not a ‘real’ brand after all (at least not among this set of users).

3. When the customer begins to think what might the brand be thinking about him

This is my favourite. I do not know how many brands have been able to trigger such emotions or thoughts among their users. But if a brand can pull this off then we are talking brand equity or voltage or power at an entirely new level.