Brand Recall

Disclaimer: I have oft repeated that I don’t write about Financial Services as a category (refer disclaimers). But this is an exception and would discuss only the brand.

Pretty recently a campaign broke out in National Media for Union Bank of India. It was pretty visible at least to me. I saw the ad on TV, hoardings on my way & back every day! A fairly large PSU Bank has again embarked on a mission to remind the customers about the brand after I think 3 years.

The campaign features Aruna Vishy, Ajit Tendulkar & Manoj Singh. Celebrities. NOT.

India and Indian family system is much interconnected. We are more social that the average social animal of the west. Family values are based on strong bondage and interdependence is very high within the members of the family.

Unlike the west, it is almost impossible to live alone and manage your life with the kind of facilities that are (or are not) available and one tends to depend on their immediate family a lot more than most other countries. Kids are under the aegis of their parents even till 24-25, while the average ‘walking out’ age in the west is 18 (or less)?

Beautiful insight. Transalated into communication by Union Bank of India.

The campaign features some unlikely heroes in their own way. Vishwanathan Anand’s wife, Sachin Tendulkar’s brother, and Vijender Singh’s brother, who are publicly known to be the pillars of support for the well known gods of their respective sporting discipline.

However, they were not in public eye till date.

Reems of paper and documentation have been made about Ajit Tendulkar. Sachin never forgets to mention his brother every time there is an accolade that is showered on him. But never has he been considered a celebrity. Till one views this campaign, chances are that they wouldn’t have seen Manoj Singh (Vijender’s brother). While Aruna has been in public eye before, I don’t remember her endorsing any brand.

Brilliant idea. It seems to fit with the brand’s communication well too. As a bank they claim to share your dream. Moot point being that one’s dream is never one’s alone! At least in the Indian context. This I believe is a fantastic premise for a brand to take. Especially one in the financial services space and that too – a large PSU Bank. Brings in the consumer closer to the brand in more than one way.

Using celebrity spouses or family members seems to be picking up in India. I remember Viru’s mom, now Aruna, Ajit & Manoj and Indian Cricket’s first lady Sakshi Dhoni. Snooky but viable idea. Make celebrities out of celebrity family members and get them cheap (at least relatively). I also believe that Abhishek (Aishwarya’s husband) is endorsing a few brands right? (Ha! My sarcastic self has to peep up someplace!)

However, I believe that the execution has its own minor glitches. The TVC is way too breezy and doesn’t get to the point. In the pretext of making it very classy, the point about driving home the key message is almost lost because the TVC is not crisp. Clearly the story could’ve been told in a 30 or 20 seconder rather than a 40. It almost sounds like the creative vs client argument. Client wants the story told shorter and the creative wants that extra 10 seconds. Things haven’t changed much in the last 5 years at least on this front

In all, I believe it is a great insight in the Indian context, but a not so great execution.

Must admit however that the advertising from PSU entities lately have been creative & catchy. That however has to be a separate discussion by itself!

Do I write a customary RIP?

Do I write an Ode?

Do I continue crying?

Millions and millions of blogposts, commentaries & columns would’ve been written about you, who decided to leave the world a better place than when you transformed into a life form from a mere ordinary ‘fastest sperm’.

Just a couple of days ago, I mentioned that I am an Apple fanboy and rued whether you are bigger than the organisation you had created. I am from the school of thought that everyone in an organisation in dispensible. Thanks for changing that thought. You are not. And you are proof enough that I was wrong and inspiring enough to show that everyone who has the will to achieve, CAN.

I may have never used an iPhone or an iPad, but have always aspired to have one. You inspired me to do things which are the size of mountain (rooting a nook color for instance) just so that I can say it is ‘like an iPad’. Your creations have always been of aspiration value for me and the brand you have created is amongst the best in my mind. As a brand professional, I adore Apple and the marketing finesse that you have brought into peddling what seems innocuously simple but extremely complex creation of tech wizards.

I continue to take inspiration from the way the products you’ve designed, the marketing ideas that you’ve powered and the creative genius that you’ve exhibited.

Never before has a ‘business executive’ achieved a cult status as you have. A totally consumeristic economy like the USA has never been brought to knees with queues lining up on the day of launch the of any product. Never before has USA believed in cults. You made it happen. I respect you for your finesse.

Never before (in my life) have I seen a more inspiring speech than your Stanford address. Never before have I seen anyone so honestly presenting such beautiful thoughts so succinctly and authentically. It was a bit of a let down that you read out from a paper. But proof enough that you have bothered to put to paper thoughts that were really profound, applicable and honest. I adore you for your honesty and simplicity.

Never before have I seen such beautiful simple presentations of a new product like your introduction of the Pods & Pads. I still remember the ’small pocket in jeans’ that you used for introducing the Nano. Your presentation skills are a lesson to be taught to everyone before stepping into the real world.

Never before have I felt like Ekalavya – to be learning from continuously (both from you and from the brand you’ve created) but never worked with you. If I am allowed to borrow Bill Gates’ words, I would be ‘insanely fortunate’ to work with you side-by-side. Alas! I wasn’t. But hey! That is something half the world would be dying for and would give both their arms for. I am one of them. Simply put… A fanboy!

You will be sorely missed. I must be honest in saying that I have not stalked you like many else would have. But on the same vein, I must also tell you that I have always looked up to you for inspiration, learning and your most oft spoken skill… determination.

And never before have I mourned for someone I have never met, like I did for your passing. I couldn’t control my tears. I cried alone.

I hope, I will join the dots too. And when I do, I will shed one more tear.

In your honour.

Thank you for walking this earth! Let the heavens shine with your prowess!

Disclaimers:

• I AM AN APPLE FANBOY
• I adore Steve Jobs and respect all the work he has done
• I give due credit to all the employees of Apple for their contribution towards iconic creations from that stable!
• I have never used iPhone (any version). I am a Blackberry boy owing to work & workplace considerations. The Apple products I’ve used are the iPod & MacBook Pro. Awesome creations.
• Am a fan of Android after I recently rooted my Nook Color and made it a Tab running on CM7

Searched for ‘Apple iPhone 4S’ (news) just a short while back. This is what I get.

Mixed response to a new product launch. iPhone Fanboys seems to be a disappointed lot this time around. Despite the fact that the liveblog crashed prompting apologies, the latest version of the product hasn’t kicked up the kind of good PR that is so very typical of the iconic product.

Steve Jobs resigned recently.

Is there a connection?

The first product launch after Steve Jobs has resigned has failed to create the positive buzz that the brand is always known for. In fact, Washington Post has called the 4S ‘underwhelming’.

Somewhere in my mind, I am led to believe that Steve Jobs after all WAS greater than Apple itself.

Recent events at Apple have not been very promising. With Steve going on a prolonged medical leave with Tim Cook at the helm of affairs, (with the stock is trading at $400+ levels) and subsequently announcing his retirement / resignation, the organization has suddenly plunged into difficult times. I am sure they had time to put things in place, but it seems like a missed opportunity.

Anything Steve used to do when he was at the top job used to generate a larger buzz. Even his medical condition. So much so, the stock prices used to fluctuate every time he went on a medical leave. Tim Cook certainly had a large shoe to fill and one needs to wait to find if he eventually can.

Apple Stock price movement (courtesy Yahoo Finance). The blue dot was the day of Steve Jobs’ resignation. And the preceding fall was because of the speculation that Steve was hanging up his boots.

It seemed to be picking up well and the market seemed to have digested the fact that Steve is not in great health to manage the company. But the stock is now back to sub 400 levels. And one needs to wait and see how Wall Street reacts to the subtle response to 4S by the critics.

Check the stock price movement in 5 years. Astronomical! From sub 100 levels to $400. Steve Jobs has done what would otherwise be called ‘IMPOSSIBLE’. To produce iconic products is just one thing. To make it a fantastic business proposition and provide such shareholder value is just another.

It may look like I am just viewing this from one side of the mirror. But Apple meant Steve Jobs to many (almost  all). And the fact that 4S has had a lukewarm response from critics just reiterates it.

Steve has had a chequered history in Apple and when he came back to Apple, he became larger than life. He has been in the limelight (for all the right reasons) and his fanclub only increased with the advent of social media. The second line of Apple leadership was almost invisible considering the gigantic stature that Steve had. Mixed results are common given this kind of a scenario. One needs to wait and see if Tim Cook can live up to the reputation of the man he succeeded.

And the result of 4S is not the parameter to judge it. Hopefully this is just a blip.

I remember ‘Advertising’ classes by Santosh Sood during my IMT days. Nothing sells anything better than SEX & RELIGION. Only our advertising industry has taken the former too seriously. It is not a recent phenomenon though. One would obviously remember the MR Coffee & Tuff Shoes ad blasting from the past. Today it is a completely different spectacle altogether. I had once blogged about Religion, Sex & branding, but it looks like today’s rant shall remain with SLEAZE.

Recently, a prominent tweeter from Bombay tweeted about such ads being played during prime time (dinner time) on TV. It seems that the sleaze makers in this case had gone overboard and made it difficult for her to have a quiet dinner with her kids in front of TV.

Think of this. You watch TV with your children and this ad plays on TV.

And the resultant questions from the kids may not be a palatable discussion that follows.

Sex education is very unlike the Americas. We have human anatomy discussed in Standard VIII (unless it has changed recently). And schools are not strictly co-education yet. We don’t teach them what it means to reproduce (which partly explains our population burst). And the responsibility is completely vested with parents and is never approached as education. There is no formal, common system of making a child understand this. And we expose them to this:

Amrutanjan Roll-On balm ad by soumyadipc

One has virtually given up on the ‘Deo’ category where the only way to sell is by showing women running behind men in a very pied-piper-ish fashion. AXE started it and we have other brands doing the same. Many industry colleagues have different views about it. But Amrutanjan? Guys, I loved your last campaign based on ‘Funny videos’ where people fall during unexpected moments and ‘Be Ready’ was a fantastic tagline. A proposition to die for. You lose that for this? Mr. Shambu Prasad – I wish we were in touch after our DAV days. I have a few things to talk to you about the iconic brand that your forefathers created!

And Parachute! Whoa! Another iconic brand, which sold a commodity available at the nearest kirana store, branded it and virtually replaced the coconut oil tin cans with brilliant packaging (including the Re.1/- bubble pack available in pan shops) has gotten sleazy with their new product.

Well, there is a difference. The Amrutanjan TVC looks like it has been made like a B grade Boolywood film, while the Parachute TVC has obviously been given a ‘classy touch’. Almost soft porn-ish. Another great comparison would be Gramathu Virundhu by Paravai Muniyamma as against Nigella Lawson cooking up those delicious pastries and digging her chocolate stained dental combination into the awesomely soft lit cake with oodles of flowing chocolate. But hey! Porn is porn is porn.

And all this talk about sensuality is a vague attempt in evading the obvious. Impulse woman was sensuous. Singapore girl was sensuous. Liril girl was sensuous (and certainly bold), but I believe that we have somewhere crossed the thin line between ‘being sensual’ and ‘outright sleaze’.

I am no authority (yet), but I think AAAI can probably look at this seriously. I might be barely scratching the surface, but some ideas (or at least discussion starters) could be:

• A common ‘story board approval’ body by AAAI like the censor board. This can be debated till cows come home, but at least a starting point.
• A common forum where viewers can register their complaints for such campaigns to be quarantined to some restricted channels and not be allowed to be aired in GECs, news channels, kids channels etc.

Also, creative guys. Please get creative. It was fun when AXE did it. It is not when Wild Stone, Adiction and a whole host of others do the same. We also call it plagiarism. J

And marketers – Dudes! Seriously, you buy this S&*% from the creative agencies and put money behind it on media? I think it is just a lazy idea! A better brief to start with can be a good point to begin with.

I respect a condom company for coming up with this:

They are talking sex. But they are talking sensuality. Ain’t it? And I am bloody sure they sell well!

Q.E.D

If you are wondering what a Zoo is doing in a ‘Brand blog’, I would strongly suggest that you visit Singapore Zoo. That said, this is NOT a comparison between an ailing loss making government venture and a successful, profit making, world renowned… guess what! Government venture! Yes. The Singapore Zoo is also a Government venture and they have managed to make it extremely profitable by an awesome marriage between wildlife scientists and marketing professionals.

I had visited the Byculla zoo this Sunday last for the sake of my nephew & #SidNanda (my son Siddharth as tagged on Twitter). I was thoroughly disappointed and my obvious human mind compared it with the Singapore Zoo and my fond memories of that place. I remember names of the animals that I have interacted with and their trainers too! The place is a destination and I would certainly visit there as often as I can!

Getting back to Byculla, I read in the papers that there is a plan to revamp the zoo at a cost of Rs.150 crores. Here’s the link.

I am sure this money can be put to good use. And once done, by allocating some budget for marketing the place, it can be a grand success. Here’s my list of suggestions (albeit unwarranted).

• Today the zoo is just a large garden with enclosures where we can’t find the animals half the time and is ill-maintained. The place first needs a clean-up, laid pathways (flooring was very uncomfortable for pushing a pram), lacks sanitation & drinking water facilities, lacks dust bins etc. By keeping the place clean, half the problem can be solved. No need to cut / uproot / move any of the vegetation! Basics handled would be half the problem solved.
• The place needs a route plan: Think Super Markets! The retail industry is a science by itself! Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop & Hypercity have mastered it. The way the shop floor designer guides you through your essentials, fringes, not-required but good to have, absolutely not required but I will buy it, and finally those smalls nuggets at the billing counter including the gums, chocolates etc which parents cannot refuse their children while waiting to pay up. Whoa! It is an awesome ride into a human mind. The zoo can take some examples from here. Segregate the animals, birds, insect worlds separately and have a floor plan and guide the visitor to go every place.
• Sign boards & indicators: The zoo requires boards. People must know what they are seeing inside the enclosure. And for heaven’s sake, it is not ‘just’ lion. It can be an African or Indian Lion and they have zoological names. A plain simple Lion won’t do. What are you going to teach the children that visit? I am sure teachers of today would cringe to take their wards to this zoo because of some uncomfortable questions on the species. PLUS, they make awesome advertising opportunity. Most companies have CSR initiatives today and this is one fantastic way to tap it.
• Shows: Seeing a monkey jumping inside a cage is fun. But when you are interacting with it, it is another! I still remember the first Orangutan that kissed me. His name is Surya and he was 4 months old when I first held him in my hands. When I went to the Singapore Zoo the second time, I made it a point to meet Surya again. Only this time he was 7 years old and was a grown up. More stronger and more agile and more beautiful than ever before. I cherish my having met him. Now isn’t that an experience? By letting kids interact with these animals, the zoo would help them in understanding the importance of conserving nature and by pricing it right, you end up making some money too! Trust me, children will make their parents pay for it!
• Shops inside: Why haven’t we learnt to sell wares & merchandise? It is pretty much the same across all national parks & animal houses across the country. I remember the shop from Sanjay Gandhi National Park. It is a shame. Not enough merchandise, not priced right, not visually appealing. It is a shop for the sake of having a shop. Here’s my idea. Outsource it to a private apparel brand. It could be Nike, Adidas, Reliance Trends, Wills Lifestyle, Trent… whoever! Outsource it. Don’t charge them rent for the first 3 years, but charge them from the 4^th year onwards. They must sell only Zoo based merchandise in the store. But they must come up with ideas & merchandise that would make people want to yank their wallets out. The business plan for the brand should be to make it profitable in three years time and then share the profit with the zoo authorities. It is okay if you don’t make money in the first three years. You are not making money from it anyway!
• Food & relaxation joints: There are a few dirty ‘some trust’ sponsored cemented benches which are perennially covered with algae. People will leave the zoo earlier if they are tired of walking. Provide place to sit. Create space for food joints. Same rule as above. Maybe with a one year moratorium. Vadapav, Dabeli stalls with ice-creams while enjoying the pleasant coolness of flora & fauna well within the city of Bombay! Think of the potential. That would make people stay longer, visit again and thus more business.
• Transport facilities to the zoo: Two buses painted in zoo colors can go around town picking up people for visits. They can also be given on hire for school children planning to visit the zoo. Make it a package for the schools to visit the zoo on a regular basis. An entire school cannot visit the zoo on the same day. But each school has at least 1000 children. In batches of 100, you have 10 visits from each school by having an annual tie-up. With a tie-up with even 50 schools, your ticket sales at the zoo would bring in a small fortune. Won’t it?
• Transport facilities within the zoo. Battery trains, golf carts etc. Just to ensure that even if the place isn’t large, it gives the feeling of largeness. One can walk through the zoo in no time, but by planning the pathway to be long and winding, you can make it interesting enough to make people pay a small fee for these rides!
• Entry fee: At Rs.5/- the zoo is not keeping the unnecessary crowd out. And is not earning from it either. By having the fee to a slightly higher level, it would keep the wastrels out and also ensure that there’s more revenue coming in. I wouldn’t mind paying Rs.50 to go to the zoo if the facilities are good. So improve the facilities and charge higher. Having shops inside would also help add to the revenue!
• Corporate tie-ups. Each section Primates, birds, cats, other mammals, reptiles etc can be sponsorship opportunities. Let’s say Reliance Trends wants to have the apparel store inside, then they can be asked to ‘adopt’ the Reptile farm for a specified period. By having such tie-ups the revenue for the zoo will go up, the entry fee can be kept low and higher foot falls generated.
• Bring in local heroes (not the Salman Khan types) who have done a lot of work towards environment protection as part of the core team. Snake catchers like Ibrahim, Vijay Raghavan, Anand Mohite etc have done great work in the concrete jungle called Bombay. I am sure involving them in doing shows at the zoo would be great. They would get their due for the work they do, and the zoo would be able to get more footfalls.
• Social Media: Less said about this the better. Creating a FB page or twitter handle (there I said it!) would be a bit more helpful. I still remember the Bronx Zoo Python that escaped and the twitter handle which freaked out on it. If an imaginary twitter python can shake the room, then think what social media can do for a live animal!?!?!
• Bring in the Animal World Celebrities. If Steve Irwin was alive and is visiting Byculla Zoo to play in the crocodile pool, I am sure there is a huge bunch of people who would pay to visit on that day! We have Romulus Whitaker and Alphonse Roy who still do similar or greater work! Why can’t we have a celebrity day at the zoo?
• BMC runs the zoo. Why can’t they have a zoo day?! Or something equivalent! By having a special promo drive for the zoo, the authorities would be able to make the place a much loved destination.

I would be very happy to wear a ‘I <3 Byculla Zoo’ Tee which glows in the dark and has the face of a beautiful tiger. Won’t you?

Note: The article in today’s paper does not attribute any amount of the Rs.150 crore towards any kind of marketing activity. BMC would do itself a world of good by allocating even a small amount towards promoting the zoo and thus increasing its own usefulness and provide an awesome destination in Bombay! Think again!

I recently attempted to make a purchase on a baby products website www.letbabyplay.com. It was quite harrowing and hence just felt like documenting it. And also comparing this failed transaction with a competitive website www.firstcry.com.

The arrival of #SidNanda (as my 6-month old son is referred to on Twitter) has heralded many changes at home and after a couple of falls, we decided to give him a safe place to sleep. We zeroed in on Hauck made crib / travel cot. Being Indian, we looked for the best deal and found it on www.letbabyplay.com. The site quoted the price as INR.4,425/- and when I was making the purchase, I was offered a further discount and the credit card was charged only for INR.4,335/-. Happiness… thus far!

Let Baby Play Order

I got a mail as promised. But the merchandise which was to reach in 5 days didn’t. The website quotes a mobile number as ‘customer care’. I did call the number of the 3^rd and the 4^th day to find out status of the delivery, just to find out if the material has left Delhi. The call was picked by a girl who couldn’t speak English to save her life and Hindi wasn’t much help either because I figured that her knowledge about the product or the service was at its nadir.

After a bit of hollering, I got a mail from ‘Aditya Agarwal’ stating that the purchase made on the site has been cancelled. No reason quoted!

I called the number again and insisted on speaking with Aditya and during that conversation, I figured that they couldn’t manage to get the merchandise from the distributor. Obviously, they were operating on a no-material-on-site policy. No warehouse, no stocks and all purchases were being serviced on a transaction basis. Fail whale alert!

He was polite though and confirmed to me that he has not charged the credit card company and promptly reimbursed the funds that were charged to my card. The best part of the transaction undeniably!

Cut to www.firstcry.com

Smooth transaction. Call center was actually a call center. They called back to confirm the purchase. The cost of the same product was INR.4,425/-, which wasn’t different from the earlier site. And I actually got the material at home on T+2 basis.

Note: I have no financial or material interests with First Cry. I just am a satisfied customer having dealt with them once.

Some points:

• An online business model MUST have a workable support system offline. Without warehousing facilities, expecting to operate purely on JIT basis is not a workable solution in India at least.
• Customer care: Key in today’s world. We are great at bad mouthing. I am doing just that here and bad WOM is nothing short of murder for the brand. Letbabyplay.com is almost dead for me at least. The discussions with the lady carrying the customer care mobile left me perplexed after having swiped 4K plus.
• Size does matter (sometimes at least): LBP was entirely relying on suppliers and merely a platform. If that was the case, the link-up between the suppliers and the site should have been stronger. To manage this with greater control, one needs to have a slightly larger team of people with proper line-of-command. LBP seemed to be a one-man-operation.
• Site control: If a product is not available offline, then there must have been better controls to take it off the website. By further downpricing the product which is non-existent, one is digging his own grave… faster.
• The site also talks about ‘express delivery’ – a service which was non-existent. Why have it in the first place if the service is not provided?

Customer is key / king, is the motto of many organizations at least on paper. But to live it is another.

Many a times when we marketers are in the process of planning media for a campaign, the sword of dilemma hangs perilously close to our head. Our personal preferences!

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.

Over the weekend the latest issue of 4Ps would have hit the stands. I have been featured in an article called ‘Marketers@War’, which is about the marketing war between Cadbury’s & Nestle. The questionnaire that came by from the correspondent Shephali Bhatt and the answers I shared are here. The link for the final article is not up on the site yet. Will share once I get it!

• 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.

It was a pleasant surprise to receive an invitation from National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Powai. The invite was for a panel discussion on the topic ‘Advertising – Is it all about creativity or strategy?’

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.

I have been an Airtel customer since I don’t remember when! In fact I was using a mobile phone when incoming calls were actually charged! Now that must give an idea of how long in the history of telecom revolution my reference point goes. I must add that I have been exercising infidelity by being with Vodafone & Aircel owing to work considerations. But I am back to being with Airtel.

Well from then till about a few weeks back, Airtel has never ever told me how important I am to them. Not even once.

I am dead sure that a Vodafone / Loop / Aircel / (fill in name of your service provider) is no different either.

Today’s a different story!

I have received calendar(s) from Airtel. I urge you to note the ‘(s)’ when I say calendar. Yes. I got them twice. The same calendar which is personalized to have my name inscribed in different images in different formats! My name is written in the clouds, on filing cabinets, on car number plates, on chocolates and as firework bursts! Yum! Customer delight, right? WRONG!

• Sudden shower of love on your partner after ages of neglect would make her / him believe that you are cheating on them! The customer of today is not dumb. If these service providers don’t believe it, I would urge them to get on twitter. These same customers would be found calling your bluff in a public forum.
• Providing options on billing plans! This is amongst the worst that the current network can do to its customer. It is almost akin to telling him “Hey fool! I have been overcharging you till date. But since you want to go away from my network, I will now charge you what I should have been charging you ages back!”
• Providing upgrades / freebees – Well this is the least disruptive. At least, this may be seen as a genuine effort to keep the customer rather than letting them go.
• Not being helpful to a customer who wants to go. Recently, I read reports (unable to find the link) that service providers are not being helpful during the porting process and are disrupting calls during the process etc. This would result in only one thing! Even if the other service provider is bad, he/she will NEVER come back to you!

By doing any or all of the above these behemoth organizations are forgetting that they are forgetting the fundamental principles of marketing, customer service and management in general.

• Customer centricity – It is more important to have 5 absolutely delighted / satisfied customers than 45 disgruntled customers. In the name of business expansion, most telecom companies have done exactly that!
• Consistency – If you wanted to keep the customer happy, do that continuously. Not when the customer has suddenly become more powerful than you. Or at least has the power to say ‘no’ to you!
• Brand image – Consistency again! Every brand has gone through changes in logo, image and message at least 3-4 times in the last 10 years. It is (in my humble opinion) futile to change the brand image and the logo so many times! I agree that people have short memory. Which is more of a reason why a large brand should reinforce their existing message than changing their tonality and the message every four years.
• Attention to detail – It is important to do 4 things right as against 50 wrong. Just see these two images below and you would understand what I mean.

Mobile Number Portability has suddenly pushed telcos to understand the importance of ‘customer retention’. It is a great thing to have happened for the customer. However, it is sad that the telecom companies have been almost juvenile in handling this eventuality despite having had ample time to put their house in order!