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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

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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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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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This is a very difficult goal to achieve, because to see God formlessly is not a simple task. So Shankara Bhagavadpada, in his wisdom promoted the concept of giving God a form before worshipping. Dwaitham as it was called was meant to make the path to God simple. When the human mind cannot concentrate on a formless God, make it concentrate on a form like us would make meditation simpler.

It is strange and almost supernatural that Shankara has put forward a great branding concept too.

Dwaitham in the branding world is common and many times very helpful in making the essential connect with the consumer.

One of the first examples of Dwaitham in branding that I learnt about was Gattu. The mascot for Asian Paints. I can still remember the character created by R K Laxman though Gattu has ‘retired’. Naughty, colourful and ever ready to take on the challenge of painting a house, Gattu resonated a vibrancy that no other paint brand of that time. The brand still stands for all that, but doesn’t carry Gattu anymore.

The Maharaja of Air India is another character that has now been retired but can never be forgotten. Curiously, the character was created to be used in notepads by Mr. Umesh Rao of JWT, but became the official mascot of the brand.

Nipper of HMV, Bibendum of Michellin, Tux of Linux, Ronald McDonald of McDonalds, Fido-Dido of 7-Up and the Onida Devil are all characters that have brought the brand live in front of our eyes. While many points of view float around about the longevity of these characters, to me they would live forever.

A few examples. Fido-Dido was once retired about 10-12 years ago. I remember from my school days, this cute little line drawing character jumping out of the notepad and gulping down 7-Up like a cool dude would! But unfortunately, they retired him once and the brand was almost lost in the mélange of aerated drinks markets that we live in. After a hiatus of about 10 years, Fido re-appeared. And the brand was visible again. People started remembering the brand and the sales numbers reflected it. However, the brand managers confused it by featuring Mallika Sherawat, whose value systems does not match with the ‘cool dude’ attitude of 7-Up. Pity they retired both Fido and Mallika and brand is somewhere in the oblivion again.

Another classic example of brand connect through an imaginary character is ‘Chintamani’. I am broaching a topic in Financial Services, which is against my policy. But am giving a special mention to Chintamani because through this character, the brand was able to connect with the consumer and his problems beautifully.

But another R K Laxman classic is ‘The Common Man’ of Times of India. It is almost impossible for any of us to imagine the newspaper without the common man and the way in which the brand mascot connects with the consumer – by living the problems that a common man faces and shown with satire. The brand Times of India at one point used to stand for that satire, that questioning mind and challenging the authority. Today, it has morphed into much more both on the positive and negative side, however, the common man has and will always stand tall in my mind. For it was the common man that gave a ‘physical shape and size’ to Times of India as a brand.

I would like to end this post with another great mascot. Mickey Mouse. Perhaps Disney and Mickey Mouse have merged because the mouse brought out everything that Disney as a brand wanted to and still stands for. The brand was brought to life by Mickey Mouse and perhaps would remain to be amongst the greatest examples of Dwaitham in the Brand World.

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I learnt that the western world views brands very differently from the eastern world. At least till the 80s or even the 90s, the western world indulged in ‘Product Brands’. For them each product was a brand unto itself. So you would find that any related product would only be line extensions. A classic example is Gillette.

Gillette is a product brand. It is so entrenched in ‘shaving’ as a category, that it would be impossible for any human being to consider Gillette as let’s say, a shampoo. The brand just doesn’t seem to fit the bill when it moves out of Men’s Shaving Care area.

Even large business houses which are considered ‘Gods’ of Brand Building like Coke in my argument would be a single product Brand. Other products are all with a different brand name. Consider this, Mazaa, Thums Up, Sprite, Fanta, Limca, Minute Maid, Kinley, Georgia.

But as we move towards the right side of the world map, we find that brands extend beyond a category and get into every possible space of business (products or services) and have been BLOODY successful. A homegrown example is Tata.

The Tata Group is a conglomerate of about 150 companies held by Tata & Sons. The businesses vary from Steel to Software to Salt. Multiple companies operate with the same brand name and the brand gets extended within and outside the line of products that they operate in. Another recent example is Reliance. You would find that all their operations are under the same name (barring Vimal maybe).

Is culture the answer?

The Eastern philosophy of branding endeavors to ‘milk’ the brand’s value to the fullest. It stems from our culture (I presume). The eastern world is more occult and has never run behind materialistic pleasures (until the last couple of decades, maybe). We have limited needs and have never been the gluttonous consumers that the west has always been. To us, we need to get the full value of every paise spent. Thrifty that we are, we end up milking the brand to its last drop of blood.

The West is the consumer. The use & throw world. And brands are treated pretty much the same way. Gillette would spend separately for Mach II, Mach III and shaving gel because each of them is a separate brand. Each has a separate P&L account and hence spends on them would be mutually exclusive. So what if Mach II would be retired or phased out once we put 3 blades in that small space!

The west has to use and throw the brand. The value of the brand would be lost once it gets phased out for whatever reason. However controversial it may sound, I think it is very difficult for any American company to straddle a brand across product categories successfully.

I am sure there are people who think otherwise. Any views?

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For many, these guys might look like the morons of the marketing world. To be honest, I have felt that way a few years back. And then it dawned into me that there is a very deep sense in what these guys do. Especially, after I happened to interact with some of the consumers. I must admit however that this is not based on any structured research. But Prof. Malay Chaudhuri (who taught me Market Research in campus) once told, “The best sample size for a research sometimes is 1”. I tend to agree with him.

When was the last time you bought salt? Do you remember what brand you bought? Can you remember the last occasion when you bought ‘rock salt’ or ‘powdered salt’ which didn’t carry a brand name and was packed in newspaper by your friendly neighborhood Kirana store?

Anil, Lion, Idhayam, Jeyam, Sakthi Masala, Gold Winner – You may not have heard these names outside Tamil Nadu. But within the state, these are names which the woman of the house swears by. These are brands, which I have learnt to admire lately for their ingenuity. A simple comparison between these two concepts shows that these marketers have borrowed generously from the Salt phenomenon and have executed seamlessly to taste success (pun intended).

Packaging started playing an important part in both these phenomena. Having the words ‘A trusted name’ would make a lot of difference in reaching out to large number of people. With packaging playing an integral part of brand building, they didn’t let go of their South Indian-ness and added a lot of color, brightness and attractiveness to it.

Once common salt became a ‘branded item’ and ceased to be a ‘kirana store’ buy, these brands started innovating concepts with respect to Salt. For instance, my salt is ‘whiter’ than the competition, OR one pinch of my salt is better than a spoonful of the other and so on.

Not the kind to be left behind, these smart marketers found once concept after another. I believe there is a ‘Z’ Technology to clean Tur Dal. Wow! It sure is something like the PUF which was in every refrigerator, but was made famous by Godrej.

There is a Urad Dal brand which claims that Idlys made with this brand is more ‘fuller’ than the others. I am yet to figure out how, but the brands are just hitting the right nerves.

There is another ingenious attempt. The brand is Lion Honey. Lion is a brand under which the company peddles ‘dates’, ‘date syrup’, honey, oats and many other food items. He was the first to attempt positioning Honey as a substitute for Sugar. The brand had their TVCs running which had honey replaced in almost every sugar usage including honey being mixed with milk, during cooking etc. This was also tried by a larger brand at a later date – Dabur – featuring Big B & MSD.

These brands have grown multi-fold that they can afford large advertising budgets. Today, almost all these brands feature celebrities (read film stars) and have well produced TVCs backed by a very impressive on-air presence.

Branding of essential commodities such as sugar, salt, pulses, spices etc, does the same job as branding any other product, say, T-shirts. It takes the pain out of buying. The consumer gets to choose amongst the many brands available and is able to make the purchase with a confidence that the product would be free of malicious content, adulteration etc.

Branding commodities help in achieving a straight line supply chain, thus making availability easy and the pricing affordable. By adding more value to the product (not just as a brand) but in say nutritional value much as iodized salt did to the salt industry, health is certainly a platform that the consumers would benefit on.

And moving up in the chain, branding helps create higher value for these products. This ensures that the manufacturer and the farmers who actually cultivate these items are benefited immensely.

As a consumer I have always been hit by their communication every time I get in front of the idiot box (especially with my mother around). And when I do look at it from a Marketers’ perspective, things fall in place.

• Branding essential commodities may just be a category starter
• Branding essential commodities adds its own value to the consumer, manufacturer, supplier and the economy alike.
• It is absolutely fine to copy a strategy as said by the legendary Sam Walton. Just be sure that the execution is better. Or at least, ensure that the execution appeals to the sensibilities of your target audience.

So when you enjoy your meal the next time (especially the South Indian meal), you can rest assured that a marketer has touched your life and your tummy .

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I used to live in a place called Mambalam Road, which was once an integral part of a thriving industry. Film Hoardings.

There used to be two large players in this market with the largest being J P Krishna. Almost every single hoarding in the state for all large banners Tamil Film banners including AVM, Satya and Devar used J P Krishna’s services. The speciality? These hoardings were hand painted and will look so real and beautiful. And it used to be a sight to watch these painters at work because being a film fan I used to get to see the posters / photographs before many others. Also, the size used to amaze me. 40ft hoarding will be actually hand painted. WOW!

Come to think of it, that was all they did for promoting a film other than PR. Those were not the days of TV promos because there were only 2 channels. DD local and DD National . Moreover, the film industry wasn’t run by professionals. They were just the creative kind and all they could think of, was film making. So the rest of the departments including marketing weren’t their greatest strength.

I am amazed at the speed with which the Movie Marketing Industry has taken over the Movie Making Industry in current times.

Nowadays, a movie budget includes the marketing budget and the number is substantial enough to ensure that enough visibility is garnered in the first weekend itself. Considering that 50% or more collections for a movie happens in the first weekend (or maybe the first 2 weekends), it is important to have a very high intensity burst and the marketing functions for these film houses do the job brilliantly.

Icing on the cake? They actually employ advertising agencies and they get really creative in promoting a movie. With many aces up their sleeve, I thought it would be worth discussing a few here.

PR – This is something that goes on an overdrive before a movie release. We Indians are suckers for celebrity secrets and the problem is that the movie marketers know it. So before the release of a film, you would end up knowing almost every dirty secret (of which I would assume that more than 60% would be fabricated) will be shared with the publications with enough pictures. Sometimes, not sharing any detail of the film will be the PR activity itself. And many times, it would be some controversy. Take the case of Raavan. The film was mired with enough controversies to ensure that enough people spoke about it. Starting from Junior AB claiming to have done a stunt and some swimmer from Bangalore claiming to have performed the stunt to Senior AB launching a desperate attack on Mani to say that the Hindi edit wasn’t great, PR was on an overdrive. Maybe it is this overdrive that cost the film dear, but the function did its job beautifully. Unfortunate that the strategy didn’t work.

Trailors – With the idiot box taking over as one of the largest modes of promoting a product / service, it meant that the 30 second cut of the film must be so slick that you would want to endure 3 hours of the same thing. So the idiot box edits are nothing short of awesome to make you want to watch the film.

Reality Shows – The world today is nothing short of The Truman Show. With reality shows garnering more TRPs and GRPs than your favorite serials movie houses started connecting with these shows to promote their films. After all, this would mean that they get to promote the film for half hour (or one hour in some cases) in the given channel. So you can find the key cast of a film participating in a reality show just to ensure that their film gets talked about.

Online – Starting from a full fledged website for a film (example: www.idiotsacademy.com) to taking over the twitter accounts of key members of the cast, the online promotions side of the movie house has its hands full. Sonam Kapoor just before the launch of Aisha started sharing images from the film in the pretext of finding out how she looks with everyone. The good looker that she was, the film did get a positive opening owing to her strategy of sharing images through Twitter. Every film today has a Facebook page too. Social media today forms a key part of every film’s marketing strategy.

Just to be sure that we don’t leave out… Print happens too!

However, it is refreshing to see that movie marketing has taken a leaf out of advertising for products and indulge in creative and innovative ways to promote. Furthermore, these campaigns get considered for Advertising awards. The campaigns for Paa & 3 Idiots won accolades at Emvies for innovative usage of the media.

Film stars go to any length (figuratively and literally) to promote their movies. One of the Emvie winner ‘3 Idiots’ got it for Aamir travelling the length and breadth of the country many times in disguise and the competition was to identify him. This kind of made the character blend with the masses, thus ensuring larger audience for the film.

This certainly is a category where the bar is always high and is raised further with each large project. The film making business is creative and to advertise that you would again get creative. Sounds like the second level dream of Fischer in Inception.

Would certainly be fun…

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Living in Bombay brings its own idiosyncrasies. One of them is the various modes of public transport. No. I am not talking about trains. The reference points here are the Black-Yellow Taxis and Autos. The germ behind the movement is very simple. Three advertising professionals (Jaidev Rupani, Rachna Brar and Abhilash Krishnan) just decided to take the issue in their hands when they were facing the constant ‘nays’ by these ‘service providers’. Adding fuel to fire, a few weeks back the public transport system came under the mercy of the auto and taxi drivers when they decided to go on a strike demanding a fare hike.

Dubbed Meter Jam and designed like a reverse auction, Meter Jam is a reverse strike. While the taxis and autos be plying the road, the idea was to motivate the common man NOT to take either of these modes.

The movement appealed to the sentiments of the public because everyone has been affected by the ridiculous ways of these operators. It was initially promoted only through Social Networking Sites (SNS). But Six Degrees of Separation led this to become a national movement. Well almost!

To add fuel to the fire, news papers (read ‘tabloids’) picked up this cause and fanning it decently. With Mumbai Mirror starting it and Mid-day following right behind, the rest of the publications didn’t want to be left behind and covered it sufficiently. They actually interviewed the union heads and asked if they were afraid! PR picked up steam and the trio was nothing less than celebrities giving interviews to every channel / newspaper.

It has reached a peak and if you search for Meter Jam today, you would find the press articles before the actual site.

Meter Jam was held (or upheld) on the August 12, 2010. There are mixed reports on how successful the reverse strike was, but I felt the roads to be relatively easy to navigate. There were lesser number of black-yellow vehicles on the road and I personally offered a ride to a few colleagues on my way back.

The movement needed a mainstream support like that of PR for it to be known amongst a larger audience. It is absolutely true that it is not possible to build or retain brand salience only through Facebook and Twitter. It may be a very good starting point. Few reasons:

• The SNS user is looking at a quick bang. You don’t see a topic trending beyond say, 8 hours?!
• There still is a large audience outside SNS. Take me for instance. I have been bitten by the IT Policy bug and I don’t have connectivity to any social media (irrespective of the fact that I use them for official purposes too).
• The relevance of SNS may get restricted to a finite set of audience because amongst your connections / friends / followers, it is not a guarantee that everyone would be moved by your appeal. Striking the right chord at least for a movement should be more than just SNS.

The other one was a media sponsored movement along with an NGO of high repute. The NDTV Greenathon, which the channel conducts on its Flagship NDTV 24×7 every year, is generally a great success. The entire package is 360 degree in approach. The event is well promoted in all the channels owned or is part of the NDTV bouquet. The event is also taken on to other media including online. Today it is possible to connect with your favorite news personality through their website. They have their own social networking platform which is also activated during the Greenathon, which is conducted over a period of 24 hours.

Adding glamour is the presence of Bollywood personalities every year. They have some film start co-hosting it for the entire period, thus ensuring enough eye-balls for the key time-bands at least. The event is generally tied up with TERI and is in support of providing basic amenities in far flung villages of India. Some reasons why it almost always is a hit:

• Promoted by a large news channel, thus ensuring enough reach and visibility for the event.
• Presence of a celebrities (which Meter Jam lacked).
• 360 degree in approach thus ensuring a larger reach and awareness for the event.
• Sufficiently sponsored. With a lot of money going into running this ‘on air, on ground, online’ event, reaching and making it a success is not a great difficulty.
• Having a well known NGO brings in its own set of audience and credibility.

By bringing a serious issue out in the open, social movements take its own course to spread, propagate and in hopefully making this world a better place. However, not all such movements get to see as many reams of paper or footage time. Building a brand like ‘Jaago Re’ cost the Tata Group 2 years and sufficient funds to push the thought through. Even then, we had a key market like Bombay registering 34% votes in the general elections.

Though these social movements become large brands, effectiveness still depends on the buyer of the concept. Pity this is not a product / service.

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