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It is true that many times the best sample size for a market research activity is ‘1’, but can we really do that when we choose media? Here’s a small example: Data says (at least if we still can trust RAM) that Radio One is the leading FM Channel in Bombay (yes, I refuse to call this city Mumbai. If you don’t like it, watch Russel Peters for the reason). However, the CEO prefers Malishka of Red FM over “Who’s that unknown RJ in 91.1 FM, which claims to be no.1? It is very Indianly common to have hoardings from the Airport to Office (even if it is just for a few days) for the ‘senior management’ to see & feel happy about during branch visits. It surely keeps the bosses happy!

That apart, it always is a good idea to take a hard look at one’s own media habits. It may just help plan better the next time you write the brief for the campaign plan.

That’s what I am planning to do now. How do I consume media? What do I watch? What do I do? Maybe some planner may get some idea from what I do (unconsciously). My routine can (hopefully) be the trigger for dropping that self-proclaimed omnipresent media vehicle! Here goes:

My demographics:

Age: 37

City: Mumbai

Occupation: Marketing head for a Financial Services Firm

SEC: I don’t believe in this classification. But am earning well.

MHI: ahem! See earlier point!

So what do I do everyday?

• 6.00 am to 7.30 am: The first media that I consume is Vijay TV. Judge me if you must, but Vijay TV in the mornings broadcasts spiritual stuff and it helps keep my mind clear of all the nonsense like corruption, accidents, murders, scandals and other such ‘outrage inducing’ news. So Vijay TV it is!
• 7.30 am: Yes. I do read ToI. But I just browse. I don’t find their editorial engaging enough. Not for me at least. Also, owing to business considerations, their news is filled with negativity. Read point 1 for what I would like to avoid and TOI is filled with it anyway. Lately, even the sports coverage has scandals as the pivot. But yes, I browse through that paper for just being abreast.
• 7.30 am: My modified Nook Color which is now an Android Tablet. I access NDTV app, Economist, Huffington post, NYT for a bit of world coverage. I prefer to read the politics and broader economy items rather than most other categories. Sports comes in too.
• Economic Times: Being in Financial Services, it is imperative for me to read this paper. Thought the colour is mildly yellow, this pink paper is a must read for me to ‘be in the know’. Also, this is the largest circulated / read (both are different) newspaper and I handle retail. QED.
• The Mint: For me, this is intelligent reading. This newspaper is actually where there is limited or no jargon and complex financial events can be understood, albeit with a little effort. Must read
• Google News: A site that is ‘almost permanently’ open on my computer to get my dose of news. I read through articles of varied topics through Google News and it’s constantly updating feeds
• LinkedIn: Provides me with business updates through links posted, people with whom I am connected and business related news.
• Twitter through the day: In intermittent spells, I tweet and read tweets. I follow some news junkies, stand up comedians, advertising, PR & digital media folks, and some politicians too. Most times, twitter is my first source of breaking news. In that same vein, Facebook is almost relegated to a weekly once kind of activity or ‘only when there’s time’.
• I also frequently visit Quora, Mashable & Rediff (not necessarily in that order) for reading about anything under the sun.
• Infrequently, I also read blog posts when someone tweets their links. Not much time.
• My evenings are typically spent with Raymond / AFV, followed by MasterChef Australia. Food is the new porn (as my wife called it) and Masterchef is the epicenter of it all for me! Despite knowing the result, one is always drawn to the edge of the seat with this programme. I try my best not to miss it. Also, I toggle sometimes with Super Singer on Vijay TV. Those singers are by no stretch of imagination ‘amateurs’. Continuing with porn takes the logical next step to Nigella Lawson. I may never eat a morsel of what gets cooked in Masterchef or Nigella’s show, but I seem to be relishing it with glee!
• Back to Nook Color, news & other apps before I crash.
• I drive to work & back. Outdoor is dangerous for me to keep track of! But hey! This is Bombay and traffic is always ‘almost still’. So I do watch out for the billboards too! I am generally a safe but distracted driver! J

I have conveniently and consciously left my personal life out of this!

So, does that make a generalization? Not at all. It is how I seem to be sharing my time with the various media vehicles that I consume / come across.

If this helps anyone while making a media plan, ping me.

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• How aggressive, in your opinion, have both the brands been, in marketing their various chocolate variants?

If I have to consider all facets of marketing (not just communications), I believe that Cadbury’s has been relatively more aggressive. In my opinion, their distribution strengths far exceed that of Nestle. Also, regular promotion strategy for new products and festive seasons are highly catchy as compared to the Nestle stable. The focus shown by Cadbury’s in having different SKUs in the chocolates segment is again superior. You will always find something at every price point by Cadbury’s and I think it starts at Rs.2/-

• Though Cadbury Dairy Milk(CDM) occupies a major share of the entire market, one doesn’t see advertisements of variants like Fruit & Nuts, Crackles or Wowie. Do you think that affects the consumer mindset in anyway?

Not necessary to advertise the other variants. The strategy could be to get the consumer to ‘ask’ for a particular (maybe the cheapest) variant in your stable. Since Chocolates are ‘low-involvement’ & ‘high-impulse buying’ products, they would almost always be ready to pay that Rs.10 or Rs.20 extra to go for the other variants. Especially Wowie, which I have never seen advertisements of. But consider this scenario when a family is walking through the aisles of a super market looking at CDM & the kid spots Wowie. The consequences will be far higher than the parents can imagine if the kid doesn’t get it! J

I always go to a store with the determination to not buy chocolates, but end up buying a crackle or Fruit & Nuts. Not as much of CDM though it is evergreen!

• What are your thoughts on Nestle Kit Kat’s squirrel commercial? Do you think Nestle’s recent marketing campaigns have been able to oust the impact of Cadbury in the crunchy chocolate category? ( Cadbury: Perk, 5 Star Crunchy. Nestle: Kitkat, Munch)

The Squirrel commercial was heart warming. No doubt about that. The insight, the creative & the execution were to perfection. But the campaign could not survive the onslaught of Cadbury’s muscle of being present all around the Nestle communication, distribution and the variants at every price point. Though Kit Kat is a lovely product, I think they must do something far reaching like the Jesus in Kit Kat (Dutch viral) to outdo the effects of Cadbury’s. The products from the Nestle stable are as good or better, but should have more muscle or that ‘one great idea’ to outdo Cadbury’s.

• Nestle launched fresh campaign for Bar One late last year. Would you consider it a wise move considering their product faced competition from both CDM, and 5 star?

It is a variant in a similar price point. I think it was a good move by Nestle to launch the Bar One chocolate as against the 5 star. Bar One has again been in the market for way too long, but has almost been forgotten. Also, the issue with Nestle is that there is no over arching brand identity as compared to Cadbury’s. People will always remember 5 star as a Cadbury product, but not many realize that Bar One is a Nestle product. Their chocolate category communication requires rethinking.

• Despite not much competition in the Milk chocolate category, we hardly see any marketing activity for Nestle Milkybar? What does that say about consumer demand for the category?

In my opinion Milkybar is a smaller niche as compared to the dark chocolate market. This is a very acquired taste and is very evolved in many other markets. India is still a dark chocolate market and would take a long while before there will be activities in this space.

• In general, which are the best marketing initiatives of each of the brands that you like the most?

Cadbury’s – 1^st of the month campaign & festival campaigns are great. Their latest ‘Khane ke baad kuch meeta ho jaye’ is not exactly as great as their ‘sweet uthao, majaa lo’ campaign. However, their support to these campaigns are just inspiring.

Nestle – I believe that their Kit Kat Squirrel campaign was very heart warming. Also, their old campaigns still ring in my head!

• With CDM Silk getting popular in the market, do you think it would make the cut to the premium chocolate category( imported chocolates)? Or we are still far from that?

Not exactly. ‘Chocolates’ is a not a requirement market. It is not a necessity. Hence the urge to try the new one will always be there. One can expect slightly lesser levels of loyalty in the consumer as against to most other ‘foods’ category. So we are far from creating great / successful barriers for say a Ferroro, bounty, Mars or Snickers. They will find their own space in the average chocolate eater’s stomach!

• Any last words on how do you perceive the market for chocolates growing as an observant of consumer behaviour.

As a rank outsider, I believe that the chocolates market has grown leaps and bounds with (not in any particular order):

• Frequent abroad travels by many
• Availability of different SKUs at every price point
• Easy availability
• Distribution in-roads (you can now find chocolates at local chaaiwala shops too)
• Variants to address the different palettes

It will continue to grow as long as the consumerism that the Indian markets have witnessed since 1991 continues and probably far longer than that.

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Classic conundrum! But fun topic.

The panelists were:

• Mr. Ravi Banka – CMD – Eggfirst Advertising and Design Pvt Ltd
• Mr. Raghu Bhat – Founder Director – Scarecrow Communications Ltd
• Ms. Mansi Trivedi – Associate Planning Director – Saatchi & Saatchi India
• Mr. Rizwan Khatri – Founder Consultant – Arkay’s Media Solutions
• Mr. Shashi Sinha – VP – Sales & Marketing – Laqshya Media
• Mr. Mukesh Anand – Principal Consultant – RK Swamy BBDO
• Mr. P K Anil Kumar – Senior Creative Director – McCann Erickson
• Yours Truly

The moderator was Mr. Prasen Agali – VP – Golbal Business Development – Greaves Cotton

I spent almost a week debating within myself if I have to go with the flow or instigate a debate. I guess being in front of students, it is better to start a discussion than be diplomatic or ‘correct’. So I finally decided to get a bit theoretical and stick to the topic in spirit. I made a PPT not because I believe in it, but because it helps me organize my thoughts rather than anything else.

Must admit that I fell in love with the campus. Awesome. Period.

The event started well with regular pleasantries, bouquets et al. Prof. Ashok K. Pundir (Associate Dean) and Prof. B M Ghodeswar (Prof. God as named by Mansi Trivedi) had kind words for the panel, the students and the institute.

Instead of getting to specifics on who spoke what, I would just like to share a few snippets from the event. It may not be exactly possible to share who said what since I wasn’t exactly taking notes, but was focusing on listening and sharing. Wherever possible, I have shared the names too.

• Raymond’s case study – A very lucid presentation on how strategy and creative worked together to re-create the magic that was the brand in a fairly crowded market and with awesome competition like Vimal, Reid & Taylor etc. Mukesh Anand also entertained the crowd by playing all the TV commercials to loud applause!
• Ravi had varied examples predominantly in the print & outdoor space on how creativity and strategy go hand-in-hand in making winning communication pieces
• Rizwan’s presentation argued that creative is more important especially when it comes to special situations (like in categories where the product is short lived). His examples on movies taking the highly creative platform to generate a fan base albeit for a short time, was very entertaining.
• Anil shared his thoughts extempore. I am pretty sure that his thought on comparing creatives with short skirts went well with the students. There was an uproar of laughter amongst the audience!
• Shashi Sinha was also extempore. An awesome speaker. His speaking style was fast enough to make it interesting, but slow enough for the students to comprehend, enjoy & savour each word. Lots to learn from the way he spoke. To have thoughts so organized in his mind to speak extempore this way is a great talent. He argued that creativity is the most important piece since the intended message would not reach if it is not creatively said.
• I had my presentation (which will be shared through slideshare shortly) arguing that it is the strategy which needs to be put in place first and the main point of argument was ‘Great Advertising is more important than Great Advertisement’.
• Very unfortunate that Mansi & Raghu couldn’t share their presentations owing to lack of time. But they made up well during the discussion!
• Raghu’s first visiting card (with the address being Coffee Day, Dadar / Barista, Shivaji Park) is etched in my mind forever. I hope I get the balls (pardon the language / slang) someday to take a plunge like that!
• Raghu quoting his experiences with clients on creative thoughts backed by strategy would certainly be a great learning experience for the kids
• Mansi’s original thinking is commendable. When the discussion veered towards Digital marketing, she summed up with the thought that every individual working on the brand 9including servicing, media, admin etc) must be aware of the digital platform and the campaign for it to be successful.
• The question hour (?) had impressive challenges. One question was about conflicts between strategy (planning) & creative. While Rizwan argued about the maturity with which agency professionals handle it, Mansi & I felt that a conflict is necessary for improvements and great ideas to flow.
• Another question was on NITIE’s brand building efforts. We all were of the view that NITIE is famous enough that all seats are filled and the students get placed before day 3 of placements. Also, every touch point of the alumni is a brand moment of truth. Mansi argued that they need to focus on how they need to harness thought leadership to create a sustained brand for NITIE.

In all, a very enjoyable session. Would love to interact more with the students. It keeps us close to academia, fresh thoughts from students and helps us be on our toes always. Maybe one of these students might rise like fire in the Marketing and advertising world. Arms wide open. Welcome my friends!!!

Thanks are in order to Prof. Ashok K Pundir, Associate Dean (Placement), Prof B M Ghodeswar, Dean Academics, Vijay Baweja & Shruti Sharma who coordinated with me and the many other students whose names are not mentioned here.

Thanks to Mr. Prasen Agali for moderating the panel. Some great questions which initiated further discussions and arguments and hence the learning!

Thanks to all the fellow panelists. Fun engaging with each one of you!

Update: Have added the presentation in slideshare. You can download it from here.

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To the right of the greatest person brand is your's truly

I happened to meet him at a corporate event conducted recently and I thought I should share it with everyone here!

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I think that I have been able to actually read, learn and understand a lot of issues and subjects before posting anything. The pressure was again because I had some senior colleagues from the industry reading these posts. Some learnings:

• I could have used more images
• There are some days when the posts didn’t achieve the level of quality that I would have wanted. But still…
• This forced me to learn about a lot of other categories that I otherwise would not have. Something like an annual exam which we used to dread while in school. So I was under pressure to learn and say the right things
• I tried different styles. Some were good, some weren’t and some outright pathetic. There were a few who commented about it on FB because they didn’t want to hurt me in public . Thank you!
• I tried writing with word limit and still make sense. I am sure I could do with some improvement. Working on it.

I owe some thanks:

• Anil Nair – He pushed me to write again.
• My wife – a photographer who doesn’t like blogging , but still allowed me to take my time on the machine and with books when possible
• Everyone who commented on my posts (either here or on FB). A special mention to Raza who actually bothered to click images of the Pantene & Dove controversy for this blog.
• Wordpress – The most amazing blogging tool.

This is not the end. Just the beginning. By going through this experience, I think I have realised that I enjoy writing about Brands and Branding as a subject. It may not be every day, but it would certainly be more often than what was history. On that note…

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It was true for a long time. People ended up seeing music rather than just listening to it. Music Videos were a rage. They could see the stars in flesh and blood dancing in front of them at the comfort of their homes. Music proliferation with the advent of national and international channels meant great fame for the performers. Media became as big as the musician itself. They thought the airwaves will forever be filled with digitized signals containing audio and visuals.

And then Radio found its own space to co-exist.

When Weblogs (blogs) came to existence, everyone had one. It was like there was a surge in writers across the world. Every e-mail signature had a blog ID as part of it. Many lost steam after a while, but some wrote on. Some were on and off (like me). But blogs were still around with a fairly sizeable number of readers.

Then came Twitter! A 140 character invention, which took the world by storm. Everyone jumped into the bandwagon. It took me many reports about the November 26 attacks on Bombay to get on to it. I read reports about how people used Twitter to inform the world about what was happening inside the Taj Mahal Hotel. On many other occasions I saw the use of Twitter where people informed their status from inside a disaster zone. It was too good for me to stay away. I started my twitter account.

I had started to tweet and was learning the ropes, not that I am a pro yet! My topics of interest were quotes, news and satire. Twitter is filled with them. I realized that I was making friends through Twitter, attended Tweet-ups and wrote everything in 140 characters. At one corner of my mind, I felt that the blogger in me was giving up. Though I was not a regular in writing, I believe that some people like the way I write. I have been published a few times and it always is a good feeling to see your name on print or on a popular website.

I was actually a #ShamelessAddict in Twitter language. But I could figure that many of the popular bloggers were straddling both these worlds with consummate ease. It took some effort for me to get away from Twitter and to concentrate on blogging again. But today I find that twitter is actually helping me in my blogging too.

I have now connected my blog to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Network Blogging using Hootsuite & Facebook. With every post, the link for the post is automatically posted on Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. Network Blog pulls data from the blog entry and posts an excerpt on Facebook. Many benefits and some issues.

Today I get a lot of traffic from Twitter and Linked In. Many read the blog post as part of my Linkedin profile too. The post is available as part of Network Blogs on Facebook. So many read it there. I have added a wordpress widget called SocioFluid which helps in posting the link to many social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and many more.

I have been writing today on a daily basis as a part of this blogathon and I am able to gain new friends, new associates and I am known within the professional circle because of these community building tools.

As regards to the purpose of my writing, I am not doing this for Google Adsense. If I make money, I would welcome it, but I am doing this for my own satisfaction. This trains me in writing which I enjoy. And it helps me voice my opinions and interact with other professionals in the field.

The world always comes around. Just when you think video killed the radio star, FM became an inseparable part of your drive time. And when I thought Twitter killed the blogger in me, I run a blogathon. And Twitter is only helping me find more readers and interact with them on different platforms.

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Census 2011 may throw data which may startle us no end. While I do strongly believe that the UID project and its success may spell a complete revamp at the way we look at rural data, it is true that many marketers are shooting in the dark today. Just a small comparison – Technology changes have leapfrogged in the last 10-15 years and I have read somewhere that the innovations and technology inventions in the last 50 years of the previous century is five times that of history of mankind till 1950. If that is the pace we grow in, census once in 10 years is a bit of a mismatch. I do hope that the UID project taken up by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni would help track every citizen of India and the state of the rural markets in the country.

According to me, about 70 KMS from Bombay would be the beginning of rural India. And this doesn’t change drastically from any other large city / metro in India. Why? You drive 70 KMS away from Bombay and you will find that people don’t answer you if you converse in Hindi. They speak only Marathi. Hinterland begins. India is a country of countries bonded together by a thread – call it religion OR way of life.

Little surprise then, that a large organization like LG treats anything other than 7 large cities as ‘rural’. I must admit that I was shocked initially, but a bit of thought behind the process gives a clear mandate.

Here’s how Rural market currently looks:

Source: Census 2001

It is important to note that this data is at least a decade old and may not be true currently. However, we are just about working on our next census. My comments on that have already been shared.

The National Unique Identity Project embarked upon would hopefully clear the following:

• Provide a clear definition on what makes a market ‘rural’.
• Population trends in each of these markets
• Earning potential of people living in rural India
• Trends on which parts of the country are doing well as against the other
• Trends is employability of skilled and unskilled work force
• Trends on dependent population
• And many more

These solutions that emerge from the UID project should act as fodder for Rural marketers in India.

Notwithstanding all this, there are many companies which have done some path breaking work in Rural India. I am highlighting a few here.

Coca-Cola started bottling plants across the country, which started providing work opportunities for the rural youth (predominantly unskilled labour) and entrenched themselves firmly in their minds and pockets. By starting a smaller SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) of 200ml for Rs.5/- Coke was amongst the first to reach out to the throats of the rural Indian.

They had tweaked their communication also to cater to the rural sensibilities. The Aamir Khan TV Commercial in a paddy field is a case in point. Even today, Coke employs more than 9 languages in their communication. So it is hardly surprising that Coca-Cola is growing at 37% in the rural markets as against 24% in urban markets (Source: Guide to Indian Markets 2006, Hansa Research).

ITC E-choupal is another initiative which though looks like a social responsibility project it has proved to be a very successful venture. It is a win-win situation for the farmers, the buyers and ITC. It is an initiative which helps the farmers find the right price for their produce. They have very beautifully linked basic internet connectivity to mobile which triggers an SMS to the farmer’s mobile phone. So this is how (crudely put) it works.

The farmer over the year makes a produce of say 1 quintal of potatoes. During the earlier days, they used to carry it to the market where middlemen used to buy the produce as a bulk and would store / sell to the cities. It meant that the middlemen used to decide the price at which they buy the potatoes, which may or may not be a fair price. The farmers used to sell it at whatever price they used to get because they preferred getting rid of the produce than taking it back home!

Today the farmer toils through the year and makes a produce of say 1 quintal of potatoes. He holds it at home and is registered with ITC’s e-choupal. The e-choupal today has replaced the middle man. The system tracks the rate of potatoes in the city and quotes accordingly to the farmers as an SMS on the mobile phone. If the rate is palatable to the farmer, he brings the produce to the e-choupal center and sells it. So there is a fair deal for all, isn’t it?

I would be dealing with a few more concepts on Rural Marketing in a subsequent post.

Note: Apologies for today’s post at this hour. It was almost a race against time. I had way too many things happening today and I had to meet the deadline of a post before it’s midnight. I hope I have done a decent job. Please comment. Thanks

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Enough of philosophizing now. Let the run begin!

Psst… This is just an intro post. The first blogathon post is coming up right after this!

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