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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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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Many entities which have started much after the independence of the country have made it big and have gone international. But from a brand perspective, I just wanted to review where India Stands.

It has been a roller coaster ride for the country and the last 63 years have been nothing less than crazy. The country has progressed and regressed at the same time.

With the Commonwealth fiasco that we are exhibiting to the world India certainly is not building a great image for itself. But there are areas where the Indian brand stands taller than many other countries.

Indian corporate growth has been par excellence. With global corporations acquired by Indian companies, Indians have created a mark for themselves in the corporate world. After all, who would have thought that Jaguar Land Rover would be once owned by an Indian multinational! That and the Corus buy probably showed India has not just software prowess, but also leaders in creating large business corporations.

India has proved itself to be a large enough market for large international corporations to set up shop in the country. With almost every large brand under the sun available here in this country, it is actually not required for the average Indian to visit foreign shores to buy some brands. Today, almost all cars including the hybrid cars that have been launched across the world get launched in India simultaneously. Even Hollywood doesn’t ignore India one bit. Starting Matrix Revolution (part III) almost all large productions in Hollywood gets released simultaneously in India, thus proving the worth of the country!

Indians have also made their mark in building brands. The brand marketing and business strategy world has had many stalwarts from India. The late C K Prahlad was a name to reckon with in the world of business Strategy and there are names which are today revered amongst business world. Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney is amongst the top 25 influential people when it comes to technology marketing and is with Kellogs School of Management.

Another area where India has scored very high and still does a great job of it is promoting India as a tourist destination. The Indian culture is a highly intriguing for people across the world and the tourism department has done a fantastic job of promoting the country. However, the brand moment of truth – when the tourists do visit the country – doesn’t leave them with a great experience many times. The latest internal campaign taken up by the Tourism Department doesn’t seem to have a great effect on people here.

There may be a million reasons why India may not be a great place to be associated with. Terrorism, corruption, living conditions, pollution etc may be great deterrents but India as a brand, Indian Brands and Indian Branding and Marketing personnel have made their mark across the world.

One more are where India and Indians should feel proud about!

Jai Hind!

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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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I am just unable to think of any advertisements apart from milk products from Aavin or Amul, uniforms by S Kumars or shoes by Bata. Maybe there were more, but can’t think of any more. Even Horlicks and Complan used to advertise to the mother with the message being good health for children.

Somewhere down the line the ‘line’ actually disappeared. Today every product can be targeted at children and they are!

I believe that it started with the retail revolution. We all would have seen the following even unfold in front of our eyes some time or the other.

Dad, mom and a young kid of about 4 to 5 years old visit the supermarket for buying provisions for the month. Generally kids are very inquisitive. But today’s kids are even more because the parents are genuinely unable to spend too much time with the child since both work! The little brat who is in control of neither parent runs around the store and pulls the store down for the big bar of chocolate. He is seen running away from the clutches of the mother and making enough noise to attract the attention of the fellow shoppers and the store attendants. Embarrassed, the mom hands him the chocolate from the counter just to keep the brat quiet.

What the parent calls ‘embarrassment’ is euphemistically referred to by the marketer as ‘Pester Power’.

Recently seven marketing companies (Hindustan Unilever, Coca-Cola India Inc, General Mills India, Kellogg India, Nestle India, Mars International India and PepsiCo India Holdings) have taken a conscious decision to promote a healthy and active lifestyle for children. Cadbury’s India has also committed to join the gang soon. These marketers have gone forward in signing a self regulation in which the main commitment is to not advertise any food and beverage products to children under the age of 12.

It is common sense that advertising unhealthy food products purely on its taste unmindful of the harmful effects that it may have on the child during its later years is not done. For instance excessive chocolate with high caffeine content results in an unhealthy child. So does that change the way these products get consumed going forward?

Children will be children and will continue to be adamant. They will still fight for that chocolate, but by not advertising such products during programmes targeted at children, one would expect that the kid wouldn’t know of it. So far so good! It is true that today’s children have much more opportunities to learn about a lot of things which we as children wouldn’t have heard about. Internet for instance, is a wealthy resource for children to learn anything under the sun.

So is this regulation going to change the world? Maybe not! But I am sure it is a step in the right direction. Few points that come to my mind:

For Kids & Parents

• By not exposing kids below the age of 12 (at least by these seven marketers) to advertising which doesn’t cater to them, it would help in reducing their role as ‘influencers’ in unrelated categories.
• I know of children who would ask for products where the advertisement is more appealing to them, irrespective of their worth. By stopping exposure of such ads to these children, we may reduce these instances
• The ads may not target the children, but even exposure otherwise can be harmful. For instance, it is very unhealthy for kids to get used to soda / Pepsi / Coke. But featuring children in these ads and exposing children to these products at young age would mean lack of health during later years. This may go down in numbers now.

For Marketers

• Products like ‘Happy Meal’ by McDonalds targeted at children may have to stop. However, McDonalds is yet to sign any such self-regulation.
• I am wondering what some product categories like Toothpastes for instance will do. They may have to change some product lines, some brand extensions may go out of the window, and a whole lot of advertising will change.
• Will this force (on a moral front) other marketers to do get into a self regulation? I am just being a devil’s advocate here. These marketers have done all they could to spoil the health of the kid and are now professing self-regulation. At one end it does sound like the USA imposing emission control on countries like India & China.

In any case, pester power may lose its power but will continue to stay.

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Anil Nair (Senior)

Mr. Anil Nair,  CEO & Managing Partner at Law & Kenneth India. Little introduction needed for people in the advertising and marketing industry. About 6 years back, Law & Kenneth (L&K) was considered to be a boutique agency. Today they are considered to be amongst the largest! A good part of that credit must go to this gent who was kind enough to answer a few questions for this blogathon. In fact, he is one of the inspirations for me to have started this writing attempt. Thanks Senior (as we all call him) for both pushing me to write again and for answering these questions!

1. With more and more clients looking towards the online medium, how do you think the amalgamation will happen between offline campaigns and online campaigns?
   It will happen simply because the effectiveness of separate campaigns for offline and online will stop yielding results. The only way ahead is media neutral conversations with consumers and this needs a total rethinking among marketing practitioners. Putting the TVC on Youtube or making a banner of the press ads are not what I mean by amalgamation here.
2. In this world of instant gratification, how do you think brands should mould themselves to be relevant? Especially in mainstream media.
   Move away from disruption to dialogue. Be ready to build relationships. Be honest and be brave.
3. How have brands been reacting to the sudden influx of online tools? Do they change their strategy or do you see a gap?
   I really can’t generalize this but very few brands have understood the role or opportunity of personal digital media like mobile internet. So they are currently being led by techno minded online experts who confuse the hell out of brand custodians by techno jargons and irrelevant applications. Many of them follow the herd and get lost in the virtual space. I have met few marketers who are really excited by the results that these online campaigns delivered.
4. How has Rural Marketing and advertising for the rural consumers changed? Is it still required to have specific campaigns for them or have they – in your opinion – been able to consume the campaigns which happen nationally with specific targets towards cities. Your views would be highly relevant in the telecom and FMCG sectors for example.
   Advertising guys always had this holier than thou approach when it comes to our brethren from hinterlands. Look at Bollywood! Do they make rural cinema and urban cinema? Brands have to make a choice about who they wish to have a relationship with. And once they do that they need to speak to the consumer in a tone and manner which is relevant irrespective of where they come from.  Am sure brands like Micromax and Bingo has managed to do that. The real problem is that most creative guys are creating communication to prove a point/impress the fellow creative crowd. The only thing marketers need to keep in mind is that they use the correct media to reach the rural consumers.
5. We have recently seen a large advertising organization group all its services under a roof (like the good old days!). Have we already come a full circle? Do you think the agency business will be re-cast again with being 360-degree approach rather than have specialists like we currently do?
   The future belongs to ‘media neutral, idea driven, fearlessly innovative, conversation creators’. The so called integrated or specialist groups have no clue on the Tsunami which is headed their way. The days of 360 degree big idea roll outs are over. The future is about participative, culturally relevant conversations at real time. Tell many how many brands or agencies are ready for a feedback from the consumer 2 hours from the time they have launched it. How open are they to listen to feedback and respond. It’s the end of the marketing as we knew it and thank god for that!

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To begin with… watch the ad. Then you will know the reason for my first statement.

Here’s what I think about the TVC.

Simple thought which has been executed with absolute finesse. The TVC has humor in abundance and leaves you with a smile if not a laughter. And in the process the TVC’s take away is very simple. Anchor Toothpaste keeps your dental combination strong. Period!

The casting is awesome. Though I don’t know if the couple look good together. I mean, I am not sure if they look cute as a couple etc. But they are brilliant actors. And the guy is just amazing. The tinkling smile even when he is walking towards a grave danger – which is expressed beautifully by the wife – is just damn funny.

The TVC is a creative exaggeration to show the strength that the product gives to your teeth.

Just a look back on what could have happened behind the scene!

Afaqs state that the brief for the campaign was:

Anchor provides consumers with a relatable benefit, namely the proposition that one’s life is a whole lot more convenient and enjoyable, if one’s teeth are taken care of. Evidently, it emphasises the benefits of having good teeth in the context of one’s overall life.

I am sure the discussions between Marketing & the Agency would have revolved around humor as a tool. While the brand has dabbled many other platforms viz., targeting kids, 100% vegetarian and even celebrity endorsement (Kajol, again targeting kids), this time they have decided to ‘grow up’. They claim that their TG is ‘the family’.

In any case, the discussions could have been based on the following factors:

TG: The family (OKAY… This is plagiarism! )
Product: A dental care toothpaste for the entire family
USP: 100% vegetarian
Take away: Anchor Toothpaste gives you strong teeth that it can help you bite into anything without getting hurt. (Sounds very familiar? I have seen a Vicco Vajradanti TVC conveying the same message but in a boring fashion. If you don’t trust me, go to the nearest multiplex. They all play the Vicco Vajradanti ads still… Yes. The same old ones).
Creative thought: The tagline for the campaign is ‘Daant fit toh life fit’.
Potential route: Humor.

Though the pointers above do not constitute the brief for the campaign, I have attempted to just understand the thought process behind the storyline. While many tooth pastes have claimed to result in strong teeth (and many will continue to), it is the story telling that has made the difference thus bringing some kind of freshness to this category.

The TVC shows a good looking new wife trying to get to the man’s heart through his stomach. Another cliché, of the woman of the house trying to woo the man and shows the dependence that she carries with her always. The man – the typical tired hardworking gent who gets back to the house to be with his wife. Importance of family – another cliché. But what makes it memorable is the coming together of all these clichés to make a unforgettable story and that’s where they have scored.

The creative agency is Ogilvy. And they have done what they have done almost for every large and successful brand. They are the specialists of stating the obvious! Some examples: Fevicol Sticks, Sumo is large etc. They have stuck to the formula and have come out tops with a very memorable campaign. The creative mind behind this is Abhijit Avasthi. Mr. Avasthi is walking his predecessor’s footsteps and walking well. Good on you mate! And good one Ogilvy.

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Kiruba Shankar – who was once referred by Gul Panag as a Twitter Superstar was kind enough to answer a few questions.

Kiruba Shankar

A few pointers on the questions. I think that Kiruba is a good example for personal branding. And I have tried to bring out that aspect here. If you see his Bio, you will see that this man is multi-talented. Pity Maniratnam hasn’t met him yet :p Or has he?

Why waste your time? Here goes the interview!

1. You were working in the corporate sector for a long time. What made you take this shift into launching your own company?
   You are right. I’ve been in the corporate world for over 12 years. That’s a long time to get used having the luxury of having one’s bank account get replenished at the beginning of every month. I should really thank the economy downturn for helping make my decision to become an entrepreneur.  The recession made things difficult in the last company that I worked in.I chose to opt out and instead of taking another 9 to 5 job, I chose to pick up projects on my own. I had consciously been building up my business contacts and was focused on building my own brand. This greatly helped when I branched out on my own.  I soon realized that it perfectly matched my multi-interest lifestyle.  I was my own boss and I chose my schedule.
2. With two kids it must have been a tough decision. How did you manage your initial years? (I know it is a personal question, but there are people who are unable to do this! Includes me!)
   Actually, it was not a tough decision at all. That’s the beauty of not having choices   If I had to feed my family I had to get in the projects. That kind of pressure actually helped me a lot in getting my firm up and running quickly.
   The initial years were quite adventurous. We had to keep running fast to stay in the same place. My biggest support system was my wife. She quit her job too and joined me at my startup. Having an understanding and supportive wife is a huge bonus.
   We had a very strict rule that we will not delay the salary of our employees even by a single day. There were half a dozen times I had to pawn my wife’s jewelry to pay the employees’ salaries. We always pay ourselves the last. But magically, we would bounce back every single time. We were also gifted by a very loyal associates who put their best into the job.
3. How big is your firm? What all services do you provide and how competitive is the market that you operate on?
   We are a dozen people strong. We run a very lean organization and our overheads are intentionally kept very low. We run our operations out of two double bedroom flats in Chennai.
   We are a Social Media Consultancy. We help large corporate companies leverage the power of Web 2.0. We help evaluate, strategize and execute plans on corporate blogging, podcasting, enterprise wikis, online community building, reputation management and research.  We are extremely passionate about this medium and that greatly helps us walk the talk.
   The competition isn’t very high. We are amongst very few pure-play social media focused organization in Chennai and even across India, there aren’t many.
4. On a daily basis there is some new technology or the other cropping up. How do you manage to keep in touch with all this? How inquisitive are you?
   I follow a few sites like TechMeme and Mashable that really feeds me on the latest trends in technology and social media space. It also greatly helps that we run the Social Media Research Lab and that gives us sufficient reason to keep our ears close to the ground to learn the latest stuff.
5. There was a point when you used to have blog entries on a regular basis. Lately, you don’t blog as much?
   There’s a huge difference when you did something as an hobby and when you did something for a career.  The effect is telling.  Besides, Twitter and Facebook have cannibalized my blogging. Its so much easier and quicker to say the thing I want to say.  However, blogging is my career and if I don’t blog enough, I’m not practicing what I’m preaching. Atleast for that sake, I will get back to active blogging.
6. How do you think creating an online personality has changed over years? And how has its effect on the offline world been? (Being a blogger and being known and being a tweeter and being known. How do you think things have changed)
   I don’t think creating an online personality has changed much. What has changed though has been the tools that helped you express your ideas.  Its without doubt that building one’s own brand is an extremely wise investment for the future. By building one’s brand online, you’ll soon realize that it starts to open many doors in terms of business and helps it easier to make good connections.  An online brand has a huge rub-off in the offline world.
7. Few words about your book on Personal branding that’s coming up?
   It’s a tweet book published by Happy About, a California based publishing house run by Mitchell Levy. The book contains 140 nuggets of information about personal branding. The book will be published in the later part of 2010.

So that’s that! My first interview! I hope the questions were relevant! Comments would be really appreciated!
My special thanks to Kiruba Shankar for taking time out for my blogathon.

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Just a few days back, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) started a teaser campaign for its leading Shampoo brand Pantene. Dubbed ‘the mystery shampoo’, it claimed that 80% of women preferred this mystery shampoo over any other shampoo according to some study. Here is the Mystery Shampoo Launch Video.

Pantene - Mystery? ((C) Raza Sayed)

I view this as a consumer.

I have been seeing these teaser hoardings for the past few days. There was a report in Bombay Times that Neha Dhupia was attending a promotional event for P&G and one of the images carried there clearly had the mystery shampoo creative as the backdrop. Putting two and two together, I could figure that it was Pantene.

Being so far away from the FMCG world, I could figure that the mystery shampoo was Pantene at least 4 days back. I am sure HUL would have done it the day the first set of vinyls went up for the teaser. After all, that’s their business!

Me as a consumer drove past the hoarding. I did nothing.

But HUL didn’t rest. And as the clichéd term goes… ‘Rest’ is history. Just that ‘rest’ here has a different meaning. I am sure none of the employees of HUL handling shampoo brands would have slept post the first teaser. Their minds would have been on an overdrive trying to figure out how to kill competition. And ‘pop’ came the idea in someone’s mind. Just that as a consumer I can’t figure whether the idea was generated at HUL or at Ogilvy. But wherever it came from, I think it was a gem.

From what I can deduce purely from experience this would have been the sequence of events:

Day 1: Emergency meeting – HUL internal
Presentation (however crude format) on all facts gathered about who is running the campaign. Data collation on what study was being used to make a claim that 80% of women prefer Shampoo X over any brand in the HUL stable.

Brainstorming session (however long) to put together facts / finding chinks in the competition’s claim. A parallel session on briefing the Agency.

Day 1 – Part 2: Emergency meeting – HUL marketing + Ogilvy servicing + Media buying agency servicing team
Urgent brief explaining the teaser campaign by P&G and the need to kill the campaign! The session would impress upon Ogilvy why the campaign should be out in the open within the next two days. The session would also include briefing the creative team on the key message. The message here is:

Kill the mystery. Claim it to be ‘Dove’.

(Why would they have chosen Dove as against say, a Sunsilk? Dove is a premium brand and fits the sensibilities of this event. Also, Dove being a large brand internationally, the claim to be ‘No.1’ can be substantiated through some study or the other. Sunsilk probably doesn’t fit the bill here.)

The media agency is in parallel put on an emergency job to get all hoardings across all cities where P&G has taken the teaser campaign live and is asked to revert with options before the same night to approve sites.

Day 1 – Part 3: Ogilvy Mumbai office – Dove servicing team + Dove Creative Team
War Room feel – That’s what it would have been at the Ogilvy offices. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the HUL team would’ve been at the Ogilvy office to take decisions if necessary so that precious time is not wasted. High energy, high voltage, raging tempers and some alcohol. That is precisely what the room would smell and feel like.

The Ogilvy creative team (copy + art) is sitting together and creating layouts. A few options, which will fall within the overall Dove brand guidelines are being churned out. A very happy chic looking almost 30 year old lady with beautiful, flowing, silky smooth hair (obviously). Simple two line message to drive the point home. And the glorious pack-shot with a sign-off!

The same campaign is also conceived as a TV Commercial. A simple few slide story board is made with existing images so that this can be executed in a single day with stock shots and music.

Images & video courtesy: HULs old shoots. Existing images which were shot (read ‘mass produced’) during the past and not used for whatever reason.

The HUL executive in all probabilities slept at the Ogilvy office till the final layout is approved. The final layout is also sent to the senior brand manager who would have approved it from his Blackberry smart phone.

Day 1 – Part 4: HUL + Media Agency
The outdoor team reverts with all possible available sites (which are as close to the P&G sites as possible) with photographs, costings etc. A quick TV plan is also put up with a focus on garnering high GRPs. The job for the media agency is easy considering that HUL would have existing inventory which would already be committed and all they have to do is a bit of rescheduling. The decision process on the media plan is completed. The same is communicated to Ogilvy so that they can make the artworks in the specified sizes.

Day 1 – Part 5: Ogilvy Mumbai + Media Agency offices
Late night! Studio and the creative teams are working together in finishing the images and getting the artworks completed for the media agency to execute. You must note that not all the hoardings have the same woman. They have chosen deliberately to feature different women for different artworks. All artworks made to the specific sizes are saved in the FTP server Ogilvy which is downloaded by the Media agency. The media agency then sends it to the various cities electronically so that the Vinyl printing can be done locally and executed the next day itself.

Day 1 – Part 6: Ogilvy Mumbai + A swanky studio (like Prime Focus)
A quick edit of existing footage of these beautiful girls endorsing Dove is put together using complex video editing softwares. The HUL executive is doubling up between the agency office for layouts and the studio for the final edit. An mp4 of the video is uploaded so that the senior brand manager can approve it from wherever he can download it. If need be he/she makes a trip to the studio to approve the final edit.

Day 2 – Part 1: HUL Marketing meeting
Briefing session to the in-house PR team with facts on all chinks in the competition campaign is conducted. Also the in-house team is briefed on the speed with which the HUL marketing team along with the creative and media agency executed a perfect campaign to kill the teaser by competition. The PR team puts together a press release and also contacts key journalists (Times group in this case) to break this news a day before. ET is chosen since it is the largest circulating business paper. Relevant pictures of the campaigns are also provided with enough information so that the publication can carry a photograph if required.

Day 2 – Part 2: Recording and Editing Studio + Media Agency
The final digitized version of the TV commercial (TVC) is reached to the channel offices and given a special request to air the TVC starting the first available slot in the HUL inventory. Executed with finesse, the TVC can go on air starting the next day afternoon (and if lucky the morning itself).

Day 2 – Part 3: Media Agency offices across the various cities chosen
Printing of vinyls and installation of the vinyls in the various sites chosen by HUL late into the night so that the campaign breaks the next morning.

Day 3: Campaign day
Campaign is out on the outdoor medium. Campaign is out on TV.
A press report is carried on the front page of Economic Times stating the HUL has broken the P&G campaign.

Two high-adrenaline days leading to a perfect spoil. And this is the result:

No Mystery - Dove ((C) Raza Sayed)

Day 4: P&G retorts saying HUL is maligning P&G products. HUL snaps back saying P&G is using a research conducted in Thailand which has no relevance to India. P&G pulls back usage of the Thailand research and uses another AC Nielson report with a similar result.

Who wouldn’t want to work with HUL if this is how interesting life would be?!

Note:  The sequence of events are purely from my imagination, based on what ‘could’ have happened based on my experience. The actual sequence of events may be very different (and probably more efficient). This post is to try and share how this whole event could have unfolded for the benefit of people who don’t work in the marketing function. I am willing to stand corrected should there be anyone from HUL or Ogilvy shares their experience on this campaign.

NOTE: I FEEL COMPLETE AS A BLOGGER TODAY. A DEAR READER RAZA SAYED HAS BOTHERED TO TAKE PICTURES AND SEND THEM TO ME. THANKS RAZA. I FEEL HONORED.

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‘Cause this is thriller, thriller night
And no one’s gonna save you from the beast about strike
You know it’s thriller, thriller night
You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

These above lines were immortalized by the King of Pop – Michael Jackson. I would attribute the success of MJ to an external factor. Agreed he was awesome with his music and moves, but what brought him to light and reached him to a larger audience was something he had no control on.

MTV

I think MTV was a game changer of the 1980 thus opening up many new avenues of livelihood apart from being a trendsetter concept in itself. Some of the many firsts which can be attributed to MTV include:

• Music Videos
• VJ a.k.a Video Jockeys
• Music Awards
• Musics News
• Music Promotion

MTV changed the way people viewed many things, including life. MTV became a rage and its influence on the young is a still debated topic. With the advent of MTV, new and specialized genres started getting its place under the sun. Not just on TV, but on every other medium. It would be fair to say that MTV has influenced every one of us in a very strong way. I must admit that I am!

There is another concept which is silently doing what MTV did in the 1980s. We are about to see the world operate very differently owing to this phenomenon. People will think differently, communicate differently and operate very differently. And that is…

WEB 2.0

Though there is no difference in the technology between ‘World Wide Web as it existed before’ and Web 2.0, the difference is in the interactivity. The power of the internet has become manifold owing to its interactivity and its omnipresence. We now have the web with all its interactive features in almost every single carrier and medium you can think of.

Interactivity, which forms the core of Web 2.0 can now be seen everywhere. An example of interactivity and Web 2.0 at its best is something that you and I use everyday. It is called Facebook. I am just attempting to explain how Web 2.0 will change the way we function with Facebook as an example here.

Communication
Facebook has just changed the way people communicate. With the advent of e-mail, we lost the Postman (at least a large section of the population did). With the advent of Facebook, we now have a communication tool, which is many-to-many and is available at the comfort of your desk. So if I have good news to share, I just put it up on ‘FB’ and I have communicated it to many people. And all my ‘friends’ on FB would congratulate me right there! Many-to-many communication platform right in front of you!

Connect: I know of friends from the fifth grade with whom I connected through FB. If not for FB, I would probably have not gotten in touch with him ever. Especially since he lives in faraway Athens now!

Play: With online interactive games like Farmville and Mafia Wars and many others that I have never bothered to find out about, one has a very different way of connecting with his / her friends and make new ones. Farmville for instance is so addictive (apparently!) that I know of people who have spent eight hours a day just to ensure that they reach the next level faster. I am sure they would have learnt a thing or two about farming, but I think the intention was to make friends, spend time (euphemistic way of putting it) and have a bit of fun. Today, games have taken a very different plane and connect people very differently.

Those were just a couple of examples of how Web2.0 can change the world. But I am going to delve a little deeper on how Web 2.0 can change the way marketing would be affected in days to come. So here goes…

FB has a very active market place. I once wanted to sell something away and I had put it up in FB marketplace. I would have received as many as 15 calls in less than a week. And I am not the most active on FB. If I can get to have as many responses, then an active marketer can milk FB to its hilt. Here’s an imaginary situation:

Sabyasachi Mukherjee (SM) has just launched his new Winter collection (is it winter collection now?) and has decided to launch it online. So you now have videos of the entire collection shot in the cozy comfort of his home draped on a few friends (read: top models) and uploaded on Youtube and has been FBed (well, that’s the term dudes) at 10.30 am on 28-July-2010. Guess when he can get the result for his collection?

1 month later?
15 days later?
1 week later?

All of the above is wrong. He would get the result real time. Same day, same moment! Because there is a ‘like’ button in Facebook which has changed the way people express themselves. So SM would know the marketability of his collection real-time and would also get comments on why the collection is good or bad. What needs to be considered is his readiness to change the collection according to the tastes of the larger audience and ensure that the collection is a success. It will also help him understand the niches which he needs to cater to with his designing.

For instance, there might a few hundred people who might like the collection and would also be willing to pay a premium because it appeals to their sensitivities. But there might be a thousand others who would believe that they would not take a particular outfit because it costs more than what they are willing to pay.

Going by the above imaginary example, Facebook is now the source and soul of the Marketing Mix. Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

Here you have Facebook, which helps you in taking a product decision. SM has created a collection and has tested his line using FB (consumer research) and has tweaked his collection a bit to cater to the larger audience and has also got ideas for his new niche line owing to a few people specifically giving comments on what they would want.

Price decision has also been arrived at using FB. He now has a section of people who are willing to pay a premium because they like some items in the collection and with a little tweaks they would get what they want. So SM tweaks the collection both ways to cater to a niche and to also to a larger audience and prices the two collections differently. He makes his money and retains his elite client base. Best of both worlds!

Place – Obviously all this has happened in an imaginary market place which was created using Web 2.0. Today, web based sales enabled by Web 2.0 tools like FB, Amazon, eBay etc form almost 20% of physical retail sales. My sincere apologies to calling FB, Amazon & eBay as ‘tools’, but honestly that’s what they are! These Web 2.0 tools are amongst the largest market places in the world today. With instant results!

Promotion – Less said about this the better. We have almost every product or service peddled on the internet. From books to insurance policies availability of these offerings on the internet has opened up the requirement of promoting them using these same tools.

Web 2.0 being the core of your marketing mix is not far off and is already a reality with many products / offerings. And Web 2.0 is changing the marketing world in the same way the MTV of the 80s did to culture. I am sure there is more to discuss here, but for now that’s that!

Note 1: One of the regular (!!!!) readers of this blog Mr. Vasudevan had suggested that I delve deep into one of the topics rather than discuss many points as bullets. I am planning to take his advice and will probably attempt to provide my views on Web 2.0 as a marketing tool in my subsequent posts.
Note 2: Some parts of this post were inspired and influenced by a discussion which I had with “Senior”. Yes! We refer to him as Senior and he also goes by the name Anil Nair. He is a founder member of a leading communications, advertising and marketing firm Law & Kenneth.

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