Brand Recall » Personal Updates http://brandrecall.org/blog Brand Recall - Thoughts on Marketing and Branding Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:06:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Move Over Economic Times – Most Trusted Brands http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/09/08/move-over-economic-times-most-trusted-brands/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/09/08/move-over-economic-times-most-trusted-brands/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:06:42 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=562
  • Tribute to one of the greatest person brand ever! I am just sitting in a dome theatre and blogging...
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    Sachin Tendulkar

    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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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/09/08/move-over-economic-times-most-trusted-brands/feed/ 0     Krishna’s Lessons on Brand Management – Afaqs! http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/27/krishnas-lessons-on-brand-management-afaqs/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/27/krishnas-lessons-on-brand-management-afaqs/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:22:23 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=560
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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/27/krishnas-lessons-on-brand-management-afaqs/feed/ 0     And that’s that? http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/21/and-that%e2%80%99s-that/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/21/and-that%e2%80%99s-that/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:26:27 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=558
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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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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/21/and-that%e2%80%99s-that/feed/ 0     Video killed the radio star. Twitter killed the blogger? http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/09/video-killed-the-radio-star-twitter-killed-the-blogger/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/09/video-killed-the-radio-star-twitter-killed-the-blogger/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:47:05 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=509
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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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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/09/video-killed-the-radio-star-twitter-killed-the-blogger/feed/ 0     Rural Marketing – where are we headed http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/06/rural-marketing-%e2%80%93-where-are-we-headed/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/06/rural-marketing-%e2%80%93-where-are-we-headed/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:12:54 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=498
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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:

    1971 1981 1991 2001
    Total Population (in Mn) 548.2 683.3 848.3 1026.9
    Rural Population (in  Mn) 524.0 628.8 741.6
    As a proportion of total population 76.7 74.3 72.2

    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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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/08/06/rural-marketing-%e2%80%93-where-are-we-headed/feed/ 0     And so it starts! http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/22/and-so-it-starts/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/22/and-so-it-starts/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:30:58 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=409
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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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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/22/and-so-it-starts/feed/ 0     Blogathon Dates http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/19/blogathon-dates/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/19/blogathon-dates/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:56:58 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=394
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    So this time  around, I am committing to dates. I have been working in the background, but I think I could have done a bit more to ensure that this effort culminate as activity. So this time around, by committing myself to dates, I hope to live up to it. So here goes…

    Blogathon start date: 22-July-2010
    Blogathon end date: 21-August-2010

    So that’s that! I hope to achieve this milestone if not for anyone else, at least for my own benefit! Cheers

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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/07/19/blogathon-dates/feed/ 0     Blogathon http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/06/11/blogathon/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/06/11/blogathon/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:02:30 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=391
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    • There will be one post a day.
    • Decently researched posts. No pfaff
    • There must be a mix of online & offline marketing topics (at least that’s the idea)
    • There must be a mix of Indian and International brands
    • At least two interviews (prominent people in the online and offline world)
    • At least two topical pieces. Based on events in recent past or events that are about to hit us.

    I don’t know yet about the rest. But this is a discipline I am planning to set on myself. I hope to succeed!

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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2010/06/11/blogathon/feed/ 0     CMO Council Award http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/22/cmo-council-award/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/22/cmo-council-award/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:29:42 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=283
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    The awards have been instituted by the World Brand Congress and the awards ceremony was held in the Fortune Landmark Hotel, Indore. Obviously, with the lead sponsors being Dainik Bhaskar and Indira Group of Institutions, the awards had to happen in Indore.

    How I landed it is a small story in itself. I had received an invitation for submitting entries a couple of months back from the CMO council. I wasn’t very keen to participate and I just left it be. But a few colleagues of mine were very persistent that send an entry for this. I did and do I feel happy now? I feel ecstatic! I got the award for ‘Best Young Marketing Professional’ Award.

    I had to make a 2500 word write-up on the work that I had done in the past along with a detailed CV for the jury based in US to take a decision. Here are some pictures!

    Receiving the Citation from Chetan Receiving the award from Sandeep CMO Council's Best Young Marketing Professional Award The Trophy The plaque on the trophy The citation
    This award is certainly a great encouragement for me to try harder rather than to rest on laurels of the last year! Thank you CMO council!

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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/22/cmo-council-award/feed/ 5     Reading Room – The Brand Reporter http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/16/reading-room-the-brand-reporter/ http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/16/reading-room-the-brand-reporter/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:18:28 +0000 Nanda Kishore Sethuraman http://brandrecall.org/blog/?p=273
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    My article in 'The Brand Reporter'

    My article in 'The Brand Reporter'

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    ]]>     http://brandrecall.org/blog/2009/11/16/reading-room-the-brand-reporter/feed/ 2