Happy Diwali !!!

!!! Happy Diwali Everyone !!!

"May The Festival Of Lights Illuminate Your Lives"

Diwali is a very important time in India which brings all the members of the family together wherever they are. I am going to my hometown Madurai to see my parents after a long time. will be back after a week.

Welcome Freshers 08-10

I just came from the fresher's party and it was a much needed break after a long time.It was a delayed due to various reasons but finally became a reality thanks to the tireless efforts of  the Student Governing Council @ ABS.Apart from the dinner & dance,the freshers also showcased their various skills through a series of creative programs.I could see a lot of promising talent and hats off to them for their fabulous performances.

                Welcome- Batch of 2008-2010

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"

Under Dogs vs Barking Dogs

Some speak softly, some speak loudly and some... well they bark, because they are loud enough to be heard  but still others can't figure out what they are saying.And even if they are asked to stop 'barking' they wont because they cant hear due to their own  noise!!

You can find such people in busy traffic junctions,fish markets or in Group Discussions at job interviews. Since GD's are usually elimination rounds,students tend to speak more (or bark) to make sure they are not out.So the underdogs who don't have the ability to bark or don't like cutting people off will be out inspite of having something to say.

So what to do when people start barking at each other?

• If there is one or two,ignore them and discuss among yourselves at a medium sound level.They will realise soon & join.
• Quality matters,not the  quantity-If you have a good point suddenly raise your voice level (don't shout) and once the barking stops continue with a clear tone and be straight to the point,because the barking may start again.
• If you can, try to politely interject that they have spoken well and its time  to  hear it from their friends.But make sure you don't cut off any of the underdogs(who don't bark)
• If you already know the group, before the GD have a unofficial huddle and stress that no one should be barking.
• Usually the selection will be done after all the groups are done.It is not necessary that from each group somebody will be selected or eliminated,they may select the whole group or eliminate a whole group also. So the pie is bigger than many people think and it can be a win-win situation  within the group atleast.

How Stressed are You?

Stress is one of the most common and neglected disorder.             In today's busy world,everyone from CEO of an MNC to school kids are stressed about something.Its important to identify the sources of stress,is it work,social life,money or psychological so that one can de-stress themselves.

The institute of HeartMath has a online survey that helps the user to identify the stress areas . Dr. Rozman, a founding member of IHM says "With all that people are going through today, managing stress and emotions is vital for helping to offset the anger, judgments, anxiety, blame and resentment - and make good decisions,People do have the power to help themselves and this Stress & Well-Being Survey can help."Take the demo survey here.

Some tips to reduce stress

1.Exercise atleast 15 mins daily

2.Listen to Music

3.Take a lot of fluids(healthy ones)

4.Break the routine(change the usual restaurant)

5.Organize the work area,throw away unwanted things.

6.Take a slow walk preferably alone

7.Call up a old friend and say hi

8.Get unplugged for an hour once in a week.  (no mobile,TV,Internet,if possible loose the ipod too)

9.Take a small trip atleast once in a month

10.Get a Good Night sleep

Would you Love to Live A Lie?

Sony and Microsoft are the latest entrants to the set their worlds  in cyberspace with their Home and Xbox Live Experience virtual worlds.

Started from Linden Labs's Second Life,the cyberspace is being filled with lot of virtual worlds.Why do users enjoy living in a virtual world which they know it is not real? Because there is something called Ideal Self and the Actual self (Higgins1987) These Virtual worlds help the user to exhibit his Ideal Self which he wants to attain.

This brings in the main factor of how marketers work, they Lie. Seth Godin says All Marketers are Liars .Sure ,because people  like to hear lies which they want to hear .A successful marketer is one who tells the exact lies the consumer wants to hear.

Its ok to lie as long the customer loves to hear it but if they lie about toxins in the product  then  reality will strike!!

Boost Your Creativity

The bad thing about creativity is it can't be taught.But the good thing is it can be nurtured and the best thing is everyone has it in one form or other.Creativity is not about  colours or images,that's art.Any body who can approach a problem differently can be said creative.A boy/girl who finds new ways to express their love also can be deemed creative.

Garry Burnett give some tips to boost your creativity

1. Ask questions- Polaroid cameras were invented when Edward Land's daughter asked him, 'Why do we have to wait to see the photographs?'
2. Serendipity - often chance solutions will present themselves - be vigilant - give your mind room to think. Leave something and come back to it - take a walk!
3. Avoid functional fixity. Look for the potential alternative uses and applications of everyday objects. Picasso took a bicycle saddle and handlebars and created a bull sculpture. 
4. Develop structures, experiment with different tools, templates, and forms. 
5. Ask Mother Nature. Many problems have already been solved by natural solutions (medicine, physics, aerodynamics, etc). Study natural processes for stimulation and inspiration.
6. Gather ideas, brainstorm, view no idea as useless, dictate to yourself, tell the story aloud, transcribe your own words and listen to playbacks of your own self-talk. Discuss with students how to fillet out the unnecessary, extraneous ideas in the editing process.
7. Play and experiment with associations and ideas. Philo Farnsworth had the idea for television while sitting on a hillside in Idaho looking at the neat rows of a nearby farm. It gave him the idea of creating a picture composed out of dots. He was 14 at the time and after presenting the idea as a science project, spent the next 7 years developing image projection through the cathode ray tube.
8. Persist! Never, ever give up. Everything, yes everything, has a solution. Edward de Bono's six hats thinking styles recommends 'green hat' thinking for creativity and innovation. All ideas are accepted without question in the innovatory stages and only really explored in terms of practicability at another stage.
9. Fail! Don't be afraid to fail - seek feedback, plan and draft work routinely. View failure as an opportunity to gain 'feedback' and merely a 'setback' to developing greater understanding and insight. Richard Feyman, a Nobel Laureate physicist said, 'To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can'.
10. Visualise! Use visual organisers and representations, re-order and solution-focus. Imagine the outcome before the work is complete. Einstein famously visualised his experiments eg riding on the end of a light beam to gain insight into time in relativity. Isaac Newton reputedly saw the full moon in the sky at the same time as a nearby apple dropped. This led to him speculating about the laws of universal gravitation and then in turn to developing the laws of mechanics. Eventually this led to him establishing mathematical analysis and modelling as the principal foundations of science and engineering.
11. Sleep on it! Activate your creative subconscious, incubate ideas by writing them down and returning to them, daydream. Review your idea or problem just before you go to bed and keep a pad or sound recorder beside the bed and record ideas that 'spontaneously' surface.
12. Stimulate your mind with multi-sensory information, have an eye for detail and note down incidents and phrases and keep a diary or notebook to record your research. Borrow ideas to spark your imagination.

This article originally appeared in Teaching Expertise, Issue 11 Spring 2006.

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. 

STRESS BUSTER!!!

I am giving my term end exams this week,so I was kind of feeling stressed out.My friend told me about this great product to help me to "cope up".

It wOrKs!!!

Smile!!! You Are in ICICI

Some of my friends  got a text message two days ago.

"US banks have fallen.ICICI money was in US banks.So rush to our nearest ATMS to save your money"

As dumb it may look,people did line up  before ATMS for checking  balances and withdrawing their money. RBI and Mr. Kamath  have reassured that their money is safe and stocks have gone up after some heavy losses.However the image of ICICI has definitely taken a hit in the minds of customers.

ICICI to restore its public image  had released a few ads-"A Billion Dreams ,A Billion  Smiles". This is a good move by ICICI.When your brand takes a hit,damage control must be done as quickly as possible.Although if the allegations are real, like the Chinese Milk Companies,it may take lot of  time and money and they may have to wait till the dust settles in. But in the case of ICICI,it was only the rumours   that affected the image so Its better to act quickly and clear things up front.

I wonder how will the Wall Street Giants will pitch themselves when the dust settles in.

International Non-Violence Day

October 2-The Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi is recognised as International Day of Non-Violence by the UN assembly.

There is not a single cause I would kill for    -M.K.Gandhi

Is Kandhmal Hearing????