‘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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Web 2.0 is a complex matrix, interconnecting web tools and thus a wonderful platform for a meaningful conversation. For many users, tools like Facebook or Twitter starts as a ‘fun thing’. But the number of serious users who use these tools to speak about brands, offerings and what can now be termed ‘word of the written word’ a.k.a ‘www’ as a substitute for ‘word of mouth’ is not a joke anymore.

An article in a recent prominent daily mentioned how scared Bollywood is about ‘twitter’. Because the success (or the failure) of many movies are decided by Twitter and not trade reports anymore.

Should this be the case, how should one treat the online space? My two cents:

The web is the most democratic place in the world. However it affects (and gets affected) by the ‘real’ or brick & mortar world!
The online world is very democratic experience. Users have the power to say what they want and the power to accept / reject what the other users are saying. A living example is Shashi Tharoor. What led him to be the most talked about junior ministers also led him to his fall from grace.

The same media which eulogized his tweeting habits helping a little girl in faraway Trivandrum get monetary support bashed him with front page news over a scandal which cost him his ministerial job.

Lessons: Response – real time. Affects you in the real world and can continue to chase you for a while.

I heard a recent incident when a friend of mine tweeted about an issue with his iPhone and Apple started ‘following’ his tweets. Within a couple of days, Apple sent him a direct message with a link to upgrade his software. Response was real time and you have a customer who speaks about the brand. Online and offline!

1. There are no rules. The rules are made as you go along
   Ever watched The Matrix – the movie? Morpheus tells Neo, “I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it”. These tools are available for you to use and with good knowledge! It is up to the marketer to make the rules. Since the online world is the best democracy, one will have people on both sides opining about every step of your way. However, if it does good to the brand, the rules are right. If it leads to continuous discomfort, it means that there is an immediate need for tweaking.
2. The response is real time. So better be prepared to respond in real time
   The online space is extremely transparent and puts you on the pedestal immediately. Every move on the web is noticed by millions of users and provides them with an opportunity to react or respond to it immediately. A prominent blogger wrote about his good experience with an online travel portal and how helpful they were offline. The travel company’s response (which was real time) and the mix (online and offline response) coordinated well saved a potential disaster leading to a great experience. Result: Happy Customer. Now, get on your feet!
3. Be a child. Learn everyday
   The online space changes the field every day. If one doesn’t learn and learn at the speed at which the world teaches you, chances are, that you are being left behind. So if you are still thinking ‘blogging about your offerings’ would be a great way to reach out to millions, think again. Twitter and Facebook have taken over a while back? And if we think Twitter and Facebook are permanent, maybe we would be wrong again.
4. Product life cycle is short
   A interbrand report last year listed the top brands in the world and there are just three brands under the category ‘Internet services’ in the top 50 viz., Google (7), Amazon (43), and eBay (46). It is mighty difficult for an internet services company to sustain the pace with which users move. Add to it the cultural and geographic differences and the task becomes even difficult. It is important to re-invent and re-invest continuously to be up the curve. Google is a live example of that. Very few realize that Google offers thousands of services for the internet. Being a search engine is just one business vertical for the brand.
5. Be up the curve and ride the wave
   Easier said than done! It is important for identifying patterns on user movement from one service to another. When Facebook was launched not many realized how big it is going to be! But now we see that applications within Facebook like ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Farmville’ (sounds outdated now!) are growing in numbers with millions of people joining everyday and thousands sustaining their stay! Maybe observing these patterns provide for excellent opportunities. Stupid how much ever it may sound, I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for farming companies to provide ‘tools & ideas’ for Farmville users. There are many individuals who have taken a fancy to organic farming as a hobby and produce their own crop for their consumption. Providing tips to them and ‘virtual equipment’ would help growing their brand with them, however small the returns are now!

Well, thinking of a product line for ‘Mafia Wars’? How about Reid & Taylor suitings and Set Wet Gels? The big baddie is gifted by the mentor with Suitings and Gel to make him look cool!

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A few weeks back, we had LinkedIn opening an office in India. And close on its heels, we find Facebook opening its Hyderabad center. And by trending topics like #awesomeindianthings, #nithyananda etc, we are making @twitter hear us too. I won’t be surprised if they open shop here soon!

China Vs India

India may not have as many internet users. China surely beats us on this statistic. India doesn’t match up to the telecom infrastructure of China either. Certainly not. But what was always touted to be out weakness, could well turn out to be our strength. The slow but open environment for business. The battle between India and China (literally and metaphorically) is just hotting up. And news like this at the wake of internet giants like Google looking to divorcing the dragon should hopefully put India higher up on the investment map.

It has been a while since the Indian internet user has loitered around waiting to be recognized. We have had way too many stalwarts in the internet space, who have done some pathbreaking work whether it is on the technical side or on the user experience space. But the elephant was always ignored owing to the Government apathy to promote business in this space and provide a conducive environment for foreign investments. Notwithstanding all this, India’s internet population has been ever growing, ever hungry and has provided a platform / rationale for larger organisations to start operations in India.

What’s in it for us users?

Awesomeness! We will have local presence of LinkedIn, Facebook and hopefully Twitter reducing the gap between our needs (which are very different from the average American) and the offerings by the site.

• I won’t be surprised if a linkedin.in would provide India specific networking opportunities, jobs etc
• There is a huge scope for offline events (at least from LinkedIn) to promote job searches, corporate networking etc.
• I also see an opportunity for Naukri / Monster India / Shine and other job search brands to tie-up with LinkedIn
• Facebook applications will be Indianised. Think Farmville with ‘verkadalai’ and Mafia Wars with ‘Varadaraja Mudaliar’.
• Local companies will tie up with FB to peddle their wares / services through facebook (FB can see revenues from India sooner)
• You won’t be served with “Anglicised looking Lose 15 pounds in 4 weeks ads. They would now read Lose 30 kilos in 3 weeks instead. This would mean a huge opportunity for Indian SEM, third party market and will be available at Indian rates.
• Offline advertising by these organisations would further propel the burgeoning OOH media apart from the traditional media spaces.
• And many more!

Having said that, a lot more can be done to promote business entities in the Internet space in India. The government should take these cues to help (if not overtly, at least by providing a conducive business atmosphere) such organisations to start shop in India. This should help open up more business verticals, employment and in a small but significant way the economy.

What should the Government do?

• Not to belittle what has already been done, telecom infrastructure (thanks to Rajeev Gandhi & Sam Pitroda) has grown leaps and bounds. But there is still a lot more ground to be covered. And with technology know-how in access, leap frogging should not be a problem
• Simplify the process of setting up a business. I know of a brilliant entrepreuner, who is yet to get his company’s bank account opened because the Registrar of Companies (ROC) is delaying the registration of his internet based education company www.ivarsity.net. Without a bank account, the company’s time to market will get extended and business plans go awry. Finding an angel investor or a PE fund to grow the business will become that much a bigger challenge.
• And for heaven’s sake (and for the sake of business), get the 3G auction off the ground

There could probably be a lot more, but I think that addressing some of these fundamental issues would go a long way in making the elephant tackle the dragon by its tail. Do you agree? Drop in a comment and we can discuss it!

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Web 2.0 lends itself to create a complex matrix, interconnecting web based tools thus a wonderful platform for a meaningful conversation. For many users, tools like Facebook, Twitter etc, start as a ‘fun thing’. But the number of serious users who use these tools to speak about brands, offerings and what can now be termed ‘word of the written word’ a.k.a ‘www’ as a substitute for ‘word of mouth’ is not a joke anymore. A recent report in a prominent newspaper (Mint) outlines how people are creating conversations about brands, without knowing that they are. Well, in this case, the user / blogger is not the kind who did it unknown, but the fact is, many are!

Should this be the case, how should one treat the online space? My two cents:

The online world is a very democratic experience. Users have the power to say what they want and users have the power to accept / reject what the other users are saying. A living example is Shashi Tharoor. A sporty remark made by the honorable minister on Twitter led to a long, raging controversy within 24 hours. The former diplomat handled with aplomb and probably believes that the controversy is history. But unfortunately, it is far from over. The same media which eulogized his tweeting habits helping a little girl in faraway Trivandrum get monetary support bashed him with front page news and unlimited airtime on how casual his approach has been to a particular measure taken by the Government. Lessons: Response – real time. Affects you in the real world and can continue to chase you for a while. The earlier link on this article outlines the response (this time positive) by a travel company to a prominent blogger when his ticketing was mishandled. Response – real time. Turned out to be a positive PR opportunity for the organization!

I heard a recent incident when a friend of mine tweeted about an issue with his iPhone and Apple started ‘following’ his tweets. Pronto! And within a day (or maybe two), Apple sent him a direct message with a link to upgrade his software. Response was real time and you have a customer who speaks about the brand. Online and offline!

• There are no rules. The rules are made as you go along

Ever watched Matrix – the movie? Morpheus tells Neo, “I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it”. These tools are available for you to use and with good knowledge! It is up to the marketer to make the rules. Since the online world is the best democracy, one will have people on both sides opining about you every step of the way. However, if it does good to the brand, the rules are right. If it leads to continuous discomfort, it means that there is an immediate need for tweaking. However, the response time available may not be high. Hence the need to be ‘on the feet’.

• The response is real time. So better be prepared to respond in real time

The online space is extremely transparent and puts you on the pedestal immediately. Every move on the web is noticed by millions of users and provides them with an opportunity to react or respond to it immediately. Consider the earlier example again. The prominent blogger here – Kiruba Shankar – blogged his experiences with Cleartrip – a travel company which provides ticketing services on the web. The problem was expressed online ‘in real time’ through Twitter. And the response was real time – through a combination of online and real world efforts. What could have been a potential disaster was resolved promptly leading to a ‘good experience’. Result: Happy customer. On your feet now!

• Be a child. Learn everyday

The online space changes the field every day. If one doesn’t learn and learn at the speed at which the world teaches you, chances are that you are being left behind. Though it is relatively easy to pick the threads and leap frog to be ‘with the crowd’, the lag will certainly have its effects. If you are still thinking ‘blogging about your offerings’ would be a great way to reach out to millions, think again. Twitter and Facebook have taken over a while back… a year maybe? And if we think Twitter and Facebook are permanent, maybe we would be wrong again. Probably there is something else that will come back to rule roost!

• Product life cycle is short

A recent interbrand report listed the top brands in the world and there are just three brands under the category ‘Internet services’ in the top 50 viz., Google (7), Amazon (43), and eBay (46). It is mighty difficult for an internet services company to sustain the pace with which users move. Add to it the cultural and geographic differences and the task becomes even difficult. So one needs to understand that the product life cycles will be short and it is important to re-invent and re-invest continuously to be up the curve. Google is a live example of that. Very few realize that Google offers thousands of services for the internet. Being a search engine is just one business vertical for the brand.

• Be up the curve and ride the wave

Easier said than done! It is important for identifying patterns on user movement from one service to another. When Facebook was launched not many realized how big it is going to be! Same case with Twitter. But now we see that applications within Facebook like ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Farmville’ are growing in numbers with millions of people joining everyday and thousands sustaining their stay! Maybe observing these patterns provide for excellent opportunities. Stupid how much ever it may sound, I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for farming companies to provide ‘tools & ideas’ for Farmville users. There are many individuals who have taken a fancy to organic farming as a hobby and produce their own crop for their consumption. Providing tips to them and ‘virtual equipment’ would help growing their brand with them, however small the returns be now! Well, thinking of a product line for ‘Mafia Wars’? How about Reid & Taylor suitings and Set Wet Gels? The big baddie is gifted by the mentor with Suitings and Gel to make him look cool!

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