IPL – Innovative Performers League

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,

One of the factors to achieve greatness , is to stand the test of time , and that’s why Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright ever.

Even today the above mentioned quote from “As You Like It” is put to good use to generate billions of revenue , providing employment to thousands of people and most of all entertaining billions of people just using a bat & a ball.

Ruchi, asked me a few days before “what do you think of IPL?”.I had no answer then.I haven't had thought about it much .But the more I thought about it, I saw more drama than the sport itself. After watching Harsha Bhogle’s TED talk on IPL , my bro and I couldn’t decide whether he was favoring IPL or mocking it. But it did strengthened my opinion that IPL is more about business than cricket

IPL1 was good , IPL 2 was better, and I am sure IPL 3 would be even better ,not because of cricket but because of the controversies .

Social Media in your Hands

“Facebook zooms up mobile sales”

Don’t Believe Me?

Take a look at the ads of the all  the recent mobile ads. You will notice social media integration  especially Facebook ,(Twitter next) being highlighted as a prime feature.

Its true that consumers are particular whether their new mobiles have seamless social media integration. Gone are the days only Iphone used to have such things ,  even a budget phone costing around Rs.5ooo comes with Opera Mini browser and Java support and provision for Facebook application.

With better phones & faster GPRS, also  with 3G coming up, there will be a significant increase in Mobile browsing especially in terms of social networking.

  I think a lot of WEB oriented applications will have a critical role to play , than the megapixels & memory cards in the upcoming models.

What’s with the Brand thing?

Jeans – Rs. 499

Levis Denim wear – Rs. 2499

That’s a hell lot of difference in the price and very nominal difference in the product. So are consumers stupid to pay that premium price? Of course not they pay because they get a guarantee for its quality.

But we all know this.. don’t we? So why I am digging basics here?

Because when you say brand many consumers (at least in India) think of only Coke,Pepsi, Maggi, Levis, Nike, Reebok etc. But what about Local Brands who  are not really hip n happening  but still have a brand equity?

For example KPN travels is a well known transport service provider in south. I forgot brand KPN stands for their service  quality and did a terrible mistake of booking  in some other travels to save 5oo bucks,and what I got was the most pathetic travel experience.

If  I had been willing to the extra premium for the Brand KPN  I would have  had a return journey.I can say this for sure because  my onward journey was through KPN.From now I am not going to book in any other travels other than KPN. 

This experience made me observe many local brands I come across in my daily live, which I should be specific with, like for example I always prefer Adigas over Shanti Sagar (chain of restaurants) – Adigas is a lil costly but worth it & most of the Shanti Sagars suck big time.

The point is Big or Small, Local or Global, Branding is essential ,  important & worth having. Many of my batch mates are now managing  their family business and I strongly suggest them to develop a distinct brand,logo, etc (anyways, what’s the point of an ‘MBA’ running the business if its not branded?)

BTW Any idea how do Big brands protect their brands logo etc from being misused?

Because I saw , SONY brand crackers, Disney & Harry Potter  Fireworks and a Tamil magazine with a tweaked Google Chrome on it

Will/Can/Should Google sue these guys??

Macs on Air

Since my 5th headphone of my mp3 player has broke down,i switched to the FM in my mobile (only good thing left in it).Due to this I got two issues to talk about.

1. My favorite stations – primarily Radio Indigo and occasionally Radio One simply because of the language –English & Hindi.Two Tips to Radio Indigo –

• learn the sound quality from Radio Mirchi and Fever 104 .Except for the theme music, songs sound dull.
• plzz change your selection of morning songs.I don't want to listen gangsta rap , explicit rap or depressing alternative rock.Oldies and classics will do.This is the reason I switch to Radio One and not the ads between the songs

2. Coming to more serious issues –the ads.I have learnt some concepts in developing print and visual ads and I have tried to apply it too in my assignments.But I think Radio Ads is totally a different ball game.I don't understand the logic of telling the phone number breathlessly in the end .Why or How would the listener remember the telephone number? (only a really good fancy number has the slightest chance) .

Ads I like to hear are

• Tuborg –fun starter nights (btw its a beer ) good music, nice voice and she does not mention its a beer,but we get the hint..
• GRT stylus jewellery – a slow ,long,nice song, sung in style.
• McDowell's Accessories – starts with cheesy French lines followed by really classy voice bringing the international feel and “Paris” helps a lot.

Ads which are not worth hearing:

• Open magazine – just what the hell is the magazine about ??,I am sure the magazine sucks big time just like the ad.
• Mac Ads (this has nothing to do with my MS bias) – first of all i am surprised to “hear” ads for Macs-And the so called confessions neither sound cool nor realistic.

Best of all they finally say the cool dudes say thanks mommy for Mac and thanks daddy for the Mac.Aren't Macs supposed to be owned by cool dudes??

I am not disrespecting their love or gratitude for their parents but i don't picture any college guys with Macs,showing off “look My Mom bought this really cool Mac for Me” . Do bike ads or mobile ads feature guys say “thank you Mommy”??Either be cool or cute don't try to be both,but if u really want to people to switch, be logical, at least for technology products.

Other Ads weren’t worth remembering :P

If there are any basic rules or framework for radio ads kindly let me know,I will be most obliged.

E-MEDIA edges Mass Media

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)’s recent report “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2009-2013” says worldwide advertising spending will reach $421 billion in 2009.This is a serious drop in ad spending as the total stood $479 billion in 2008.

The ad industry is expected to start recovering only in 2011 and yet the projected figure of $467 billion for 2013 is still lesser than 2008 total which means tougher times are ahead.

Not so surprisingly, Television stands at top maintaining status quo while print has declined and expected to decline further, while Internet advertising is expected to have a positive outlook.

Interestingly,Video games advertising, although in the last position, has grown considerably and is expected to grow further proving its the not the least among the ad medium lot.If one had followed the last US elections,they would be aware that Obama’s ads featured in Burnout Paradise and Madden 09.

Moreover recession has forced companies to be more strict on ROI from advertising ,which has lead to a rise in BTL campaigns.

Vibhor who works for a marketing firm tells me that, recession has indeed helped them.Since many companies are favoring BTL campaigns , they are tuning towards cost effective marketing solutions provided by his company rather than mass media.

With the amount of clutter rising in all types of media, its indeed a major challenge for firms to design their media mix within their promotional budget. Market segmentation has become very critical than ever before

B.T.M. BITES

Severe time crunch,limited electric supply and almost a decade old desktop are my top 3 excuses for the brief hibernation of blog.

Anyways let me quickly run through the things i wanted to blog but couldn’t.(in random order)

• Bing is doing better than expected but Google still rules as the default search engine,but when comes to niche search Bing may shine better and since Bing now throws up Twitter search results, which may or may not be better than Google results but definitely different from it.
• Some brands just live forever ,like MJ(not me  but the original moonwalker).
  • Mass Media had a good week as  MJ’s “mystery death” was “breaking news”  for more than 2 days,tribute stories,special shows,continuous coverage,cover story…imagine the ad revenues for that two days.i heard even newspapers got sold out in some parts of US (newspapers are on verge of becoming historical artifacts esp. in US)
  • MJ’s sudden death also resulted in sudden surge in the sales of his albums.
  • “I Was At Glasto 09 When Jacko Died” T shirts were being sold the very next day of his death (i am sure the idea did not come from an MBA marketing)
  • But some MBA’s are already drawing up business plans to make his Neverland ranch into a music museum cum theme park which would “pop” profits. I am sure  this MJ mania will continue foe some more time because he was not just a pop singer  but a  iconic brand himself.
• When the world was watching US going Ga Ga over the new smart phones, a startup in Madurai(my hometown ) has  rolled out Red Chery , a Indian alternative for Black Berry.  Red Chery fetches corporate emails to your mobile which is what Black Berry is famous for.
  • Although the firm  says “Red Chery stands for 'Revolutionary (red) Change Enabled Reach for You’ it is obvious that it wants to be associated with  Blackberry one way or another
  • Rajiv and me have had many discussions about this type of branding using the opposites of the existing brand – (black-red;berry-cherry) –we think it will work if a brand wants to remain as a follower acting as an alternative (usually low priced ) –ideally it should be termed ‘reverse branding’ since it already has another definition, we could call it opposite branding or mirror branding(same but reversed).
• Videocon has a renewed logo,which I personally think is  not suitable for a consumer electronics company but looks like logo of a health food brand.
• Sony’s Walkman was named as the top music invention of last 50 years which is  like the first generation of portable media player
• I tried the new Opera.. nothing great.you can skip it… i recommend  the latest FireFox 3.5 RC.

Last but not least …

• Twitter’s potential was unleashed when US Govt requested the micro blogging site to postpone its weekly maintenance as Twitter was the only source of real time updates on Iran elections where news channels and other traditional media sources were restricted.Looks like Twitter has arrived….

MS Laptop Hunters-new Ad Campaign

When Microsoft joined hands with CP+B to launch a Ad Campaign it was nothing but a $300 million mistake.Now again MS along with CP+B ,is back with a new ad campaign called “laptop hunters” .

MS says the ads feature “real people” choosing the laptop which has all the features they are looking for,within their budget (not surprisingly, they all buy a PC after considering a Mac) MS claims the ads are ‘completely unscripted’ but many don’t believe it. Even i don’t think they are completely unscripted or that the “consumers” were made to believe that they are taking part in a marketing research.

Microsoft Videos: Laptop Hunters #2 – Giampaolo

I think the authenticity of ads are not really a problem,as long as it convinces viewers that PC offers more value for money than a Mac (that’s again is debatable :p ). But as i have said earlier Mac is luxurious and not everyone needs it. Unless you are a graphic designer or something like that,an affordable PC is good enough for a normal user(the mass market) who just uses to surf the net, play media and type documents.. :) what do you think ? ;)

Lessons From A Slumdog Sales boy

An MBA or any similar management degree teaches you basics of economics,accounting,finance,marketing,human resource management,research methodology,business strategy.

Often B-school graduates,get a shocker when they enter into the corporate world and find there is a huge disconnect between the theory they studied and the tasks they perform on the field.Does that mean theory is irrelevant? definitely not.Its your ability to link the concepts and their relevant applications ,to see beyond the documents to get the big picture and the idea behind it.

Here,look how the uneducated “slumdog sales boy” (does is it sound offensive ??) sells small handiworks to the foreign tourists.

As a marketing graduate I am able to  identify the some of the concepts which are relevant to this boy’s strategy.

• He understands the customer segments namely domestic and foreign tourists
• He has targeted a niche segment i.e. foreign tourists who would be more profitable even though the sales volume might be low
• He understands that many others will be selling the same item and his only way is to pitch it differently i.e. in international marketing terms “communication adaptation”
• His multilingual ability gives him a competitive advantage over others selling the same item because business strategy tells us that distinctive capabilities are difficult to imitate than distinctive resources which are the main sources of competitive advantage.      So what’s the big deal ?….

If you are doing field sales and feel that all those concepts you learned are going to waste …think again…may be you can use those concepts and models to design your own selling procedure according to your industry. who knows ? if it clicks it may become a SOP in the  company itself….

Remember Knowledge is Power only when Applied correctly…..

Ikiller from Toshiba

When rumours about Dell's Smartphone were spreading,Toshiba a significant player in laptop category has launched a smartphone err..pocket PC..Iphone killer..(the differences are narrowing)

When Sony entered the mobile market ,mobile was seen as extension in consumer electronics.Soon LG & Samsung followed suit.

Then came Apple with its Iphone and changed the rules of the game.Since the difference between smartphones & ultra compact PC's is getting smaller day by day,many laptop firms are entering mobile space. Its not more like a product category extension but more like product line extension.Now this phenomenon has seriously affected core mobile manufactures like Nokia , Motorola etc.

Btw TGO1 is the first mobile to run on Qualcomm Snapdragon platform using a Windows Mobile 6.1 OS.It has a 1ghz mobile CPU with a 3d UI.Looks pretty impressive.See demo below...

Lets see whether it kills competition or killed by competition....

Principles Of Web 2.0 Marketing

Professors, SALVATORE PARISE , PATRICIA J. GUINAN and  BRUCE D. WEINBERG have given  new insights of marketing in the WEB 2.0 era. After interviewing more than 30 executives and managers in both large and small organizations that are at the forefront of experimenting with Web 2.0 tools, they have  identified a set of emerging principles for web marketing .

• Don't just talk at consumers -- work with them  throughout the marketing process.

• Give consumers a reason to participate.

• Listen to -- and join -- the conversation outside your site.

• Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell.

• Don't control, let it go.

• Find a 'marketing technopologist.'

• Embrace experimentation.         

                                              Read Full article here

Sell Bread When There Is Traffic Jam

I was listening to Radio Indigo today and the RJ was asking what do people (especially in cars) want when  they are stuck in traffic.Traffic in Bangalore is one of the worst ones in the country(even ex-pats agree).Many listeners were calling in and giving suggestions like pollution masks, magazines, DVD's etc.

One of the interesting suggestions was given by some girl named Ashwati.She told everyone will want to eat something during times in which they are stuck in traffic.Biscuits,chocolates or salted snacks or some munchies like that.She even mentioned even though it is obvious,nobody is doing it.

When I thought about it I found it really practical. The idea is that morning many skip breakfast, in evenings they would be tired  and would be rushing to eat something.But when they are stuck in traffic they cannot get out of their vehicles to go into some shop to buy the munchies.  

That's a great news for fast food vendors out there to add more sales.Think about it,people who have small shops on busy junctions can  have a tray lined with branded snacks which will be easily picked by consumers. The kiosk vendors like steamed corn or Frankie rolls freshly prepared stuffs neatly packed could be sold very easily.

"Every adversity is a opportunity for those with a positive attitude"

New Bond Vs New Coke

Prof Ray says "The 'Quantum of Solace' Bond is one that's turned Rambo, and that's a no-no."
As a bond fan, I too said no no when Bond became like Rambo & Bourne.However QOS has got the opening amongst all Bond movies and still raking up the box office to become the most commercially successful Bond film ever made.

Unlike the new coke,the new Bond has become a hit in the market by breaking all box office records by previous Bond movies. Does that mean they have got the balance of retention & alterations correctly? May be or may be not, but for me the next one will not be a Bond movie but a decent action movie. (See My review of QOS)
Which made me think what if the new coke was actually successful but a considerable population missed the classic version?

Of course ,they can sell two versions of coke at same time but when it comes to choosing only one of them which what will you choose? Will you choose to serve the existing market where your brand has a strong positioning or jump on to the new segment where you have to alter the brand image? I think it will be the sales figures which will have a final word. So its highly probable that atleast the next couple of Bond movies will be packed with nothing but action.

Iphone-not so "happening" in India

When Apple set 100,000 as its sales target for the iphone in India for the period till Dec 2009,they thought they are being humble because of the fact that in India around 120 million handsets are sold every year of which 4 to 5% are smartphones.

But now they realise that it will be very hard to reach this modest target.Livemint.com reports that only 11000 iphones have been sold so far out of the 50,000 of the initial shipment.

So what went wrong? Is it the price? not really...because Nokia's iphone killers are doing well although they are priced same or even more(30k+range) than the iphone in India.Its too early to quote numbers of the N96 but sales is brisk according to sellers.

Two main P's that Apple got wrong are Promotion & Place-that is they did not communicate properly to the Indian consumer why they have to pay three times more than the US price.Also only the service providers  promoted and not Apple despite its retail presence. And Airtel and Vodafone thought since its The Iphone it will sell by itself and only a low level of promotion was done(only some printads ands billboards that iphone is available)    

Then Place i.e. distribution, when retail is growing in India,Iphones are sold only through the service provider outlets and not through other mainstream retailers.Meanwhile the availability of Nokia phones is much much greater in the Indian Marketplace.

If sales of iphones is to be pushed it should be done immediately by collaborating with other organised retailers  because the time is running out and before you know it consumers would have forgotten the iphone.

LCD-LG's Conspired Dealing

LG Display Co Ltd, Sharp Corp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd have pleaded guilty in a price fixing conspiracy of Liquid Crystal Displays between the period from September 2001 to June 2006

ZDNET reports "The price-fixing conspiracies affected millions of American consumers who use computers, cell phones, and numerous other household electronics every day," Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's antitrust division, said in a statement. 

Electronic majors like Apple, Dell & Motorola are the most affected companies due to this price fixing conspiracy.While Chunghwa is paying US$65 million and Sharp a fine of US$120 million,LG Display has agreed to pay a US$400 million fine, which is the second-highest antitrust fine ever imposed.

Observers say that during 2000 Korean & Taiwan companies were producing excess LCD glass which forced sellers to sell US$5-10 below the cost . So the companies agreed to a price fixing collusion which resulted in the increase of prices.

Whatever the reasons may be now LG, Sharp ,etc might lose many of its valuable customers like Apple ,Dell etc unless they do a intensive damage control.

Is Quality only @ Premium Price?

Recently I had the chance to discuss with my marketing classmates about 'Is Premium Segment Marketing the only way to establish product quality'

The logic behind the point is that the consumer may raise the question that 'if it is a high quality product then why is it priced lower' because  the consumer has a perception that if it is low priced then it is a 'cheap product' & if it is costly then it must be good. Does that mean is it necessary to have premium products to justify that the brand has a higher quality? Not necessarily, companies might charge premium price for a similar  product by enriching the marketing offer with value added services.

Of course catering to the premium segment will help the brand to establish its product quality when it moves to the mass market. There are companies who have established quality in spite of their products priced lower.  For example,Dell came with the low price tag than HP or Sony for laptops of the same configuration. Of course there are differences in the product design,service etc,but Dell has earned its trust among consumers that it offers quality.Dell is now  tapping the premium segment with its  XPS series which has a price tag around Rs.1 Lakh.

It is necessary that brand of the product or the company should have a good reputation among consumers regarding quality & not as a "cheap brand"

Do you see Favouritism?

Favouritism happens in two ways

1.When the boss or superior,has some social needs or expects any other favour,he consciously rewards people who will fulfill those needs even though others are better qualified.Like hiring a assistant just because she is sexy .

2.When a person performs better before his boss or superior,he makes a good impression.So many times unconsciously bosses tend to give better appraisals to such people even though others would have performed at the same level.For example:When all the assistants are equally qualified,the sexy one has the edge and wins the job with a smile. She has enough experience and has a great smile too!!

If you see any favouritism try and figure which situation is it ,the first or second.If it is the second,try and be cheerful in your next interview and have a great smile. If it is the first,just be happy you escaped the situation and be confident that a better one will come along to prove yourself.

Extending this favouritism to brands,even though two brands score good on functional parameters, consumers may favour one of the brands because it connects with them emotionally. The competitor's product is just as good but it does not have the happy factor which will make the consumer feel good about the purchase. For example a Creative Zen player offers a little more for a lesser price than the Apple IPod.But owning a IPod makes the consumer look "cool" while the Creative Zen is just a good player,it won't be able to satisfy the consumer's social status needs.

Nokia on a New Song

Its Mobile & Music frenzy everywhere.Yet another  blow for  Iphone  from India's beloved Mobile Brand Nokia.

Nokia unveiled its latest Hi-Tech Touch Music phone-the5800 XpressMusic(know unofficially as Tube)

Apart from Stunning features like 3.5G wireless,one touch photo&video sharing,Virtual Qwerty keyboard and a Stylus,Surround Sound,etc what makes the phone special is that it "Comes With Music"-the groundbreaking plan from Nokia where users can  enjoy unlimited music downloads from Nokia Online music store at no extra cost.The fee is included in the price of mobile itself(approx 279 EUR)

When Apple itunes was launched @99 cents per song it revolutionized the music business.Now with such a scheme it is believed that Music piracy will be reduced at a considerable rate.I think with more and more music phones coming into the market,the next thing will be video content exclusive for mobiles.So by this time next year there would be video phones everywhere.

I believe the mobile  phone is becoming the greatest gadget of all times. Who would  have imagined that the mobile phone is going to influence the music industry or the software industry to such an extent. Corporates should look out for latest technological developments across industries which may  help them to take their businesses to new level. 

MS puts up new Window for a Life without Walls

Enter Phase 2 of MS ad campaign and its little relieving to get an idea about what they want to say.

MS windows launched an direct hit on Apple's ads through its "I am a PC" ads and at the same time released a series of print Ads featuring "Life Without Walls" tagline.
First the commercial ...From celebrities like Eva Longoria ,Deepak Chopra to African High School Teacher ,a cattle ranch owner say "I am a PC" rather proudly.The website says "if you are a PC we will celebrate you".
Now the obvious question is while Mac users may proudly say they are MAC's , how many people are really 'proud' of using a PC? Moreover MAC is a brand, PC is not a brand or trademark connected to Microsoft.Of course it would ridiculous to say "I am a Windows" but even if this line catches up,how it will strengthen the MS or Windows brand?
But one clever thing they have done is they have invited users to post their own videos saying "I am a PC " which will feature in Times Square,New York as well their website. Hundreds of videos are already in the website.

The print Ads make much more sense and give a clear message about Life Without Walls which points to MS' interest in Cloud Computing. In fact Live Mesh,an application which can connect your desktop,notebook,mobile & even a Mac!!(coming soon),is available as a tech preview.

Although it is not great,atleast phase 2 seems to make more sense as it has a clear message for the customers what they should expect from MS- a life without walls.

Microsoft Ad Campaign entering phase 2 : Seinfeld has left the Building

The widely discussed Microsoft Ad campaign is entering                phase 2 ..atleast that's what they say.

So, what now? First Seinfeld has been signed out. MS says they hired the popular comedian($10 million) simply to get people's attention.  Second it is said that "phase 2" which will feature the official campaign  will be more focused about the Windows brand unlike the first teaser  ads.       

  Actually the first ad of phase 2 will be a reply to "I am a PC" line used in Apple's Ads. Third Seinfeld will not return,Bill will feature on a few spots,Eva Longoria,Author Deepak Chopra & Pharrell Williams & around 60 MS employees will feature on  ads based on the tag line Life without Walls.

Well, certainly a buzz has been generated ,but not in a positive manner.We will never know whether they pulled the plug on Bill & Jerry ad series or it was "preplanned" as said by MS. We can't even say whether they were a failure or success as their intent behind is ambiguous as the ads itself. Anyway,the next ad is said to attack Apple,which is again considered by a bad move by experts because if MS responds to smaller rivals like Apple(in terms of market share) people may feel Apple's claims were true. But MS says all this is done to get the attention to the Life Without Walls campaign which is the real deal.

I just hope they know what they are doing!!

Microsoft's 2nd Ad :Bill & Jerry Connecting With Real People

The second episode featuring Bill & Jerry,shows their attempt to connect with a family by staying with them as guests. The advert is better than the first episode(shoe circus) and has received a positive response.Its still not funny enough nor it is informative as there is no mention about Microsoft or Windows. But it has got the attention of all those who thrashed the previous ad.Viewers say that they can now see that something new & exciting is going to come from Microsoft and their curiosity has increased much more to see the third instalment.

I think,its very smart ad, as MS & CP+B have got what they wanted.First ad made everyone to talk about it.The second has made them to ponder the idea behind the campaign. Now everyone is all eager as to what will be in the third advertisement.Also it seems the ads will get better and better as it develops,the first one was lousy and not at all funny as everyone expected ,the second one is still not that funny but better than the first.May be the next one will actually be funny.Lets see......