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Tuesday, October 31

Ways of Seeing

The name of an excellent book by the art critic, novelist, painter, author John Berger. The book had been sitting on my book-shelf for a while. Suman's post yesterday got me thinking on the words vs visual space!

Some very interesting thoughts, quotes and comments from the book + few observations of mine.

1. In no other form of society in history has there been such a concentration of images, such a density of visual messages!(WoS)

And the pace of visual interaction is accelerating every day! In my case, from childhood till age 32, I would not have taken more than 1000 snaps. But since my son Neo's birth(he is 3 years old now), I would have clicked more than 2000 pictures!!

2. Advertising images might belong to the present. But they often refer to the past or to the future.(WoS)
Sometimes, they might even refer to imaginary landscapes like Marlboro Country!

3. Advertising is not merely an assembly of competing images, it is a language in itself which is always used to make the same general proposal - 'we transform our lives by buying something more'!(WoS)
At least that was the singular, dominant theme in the image era(read John Grant's book, After Image Marketing for a deeper understanding). You might also find my Oct 10 post on the Nu Lngvg of Brndg interesting!

4. Being envied is a solitary form of reassurance. It depends precisely upon not sharing your experience with those who envy you. You are observed with interest but you do not observe with interest - if you do, you will become less enviable.(WoS)

Try being friendly with the 'Gurkha/ Bahadur' at your society and watch your envy quotient plummet:-)

5. Advertising does not manufacture the dream. All that it does is to propose to each one of us that we are not yet enviable - yet could be.(WoS)
The very inaccessibility of luxury brands makes them so desirable.

6. Advertising's offer is as narrow as its references are wide. It recognises nothing except the power to acquire. All other human faculties or needs are made subsidiary to this power. All hopes are gathered together, made homogenous, simplified, so that they become the intense yet vague, magical yet repeatable promise offered in every purchase. No other kind of hope or satisfaction or pleasure can any longer be envisaged within the culture of capitalism.(WoS)
The many hundreds of hours of FMCG advertsing flit across the mind radar...Rin, Vim, Surf, Nirma...advertsings' ode to soaps and detergents!!

Another writer who has an incredibly sharp visual sense is Susan Sontag. She had a particular interest in photography and its uses. She produced two volumes of essays -- On Photography in 1977( I have an unread copy) and almost 30 years later, Regarding the Pain of Others, an extraordinarily timely analysis of our response to images of horror, suffering and war.

Any other interesting books, articles on the study of pictures, motifs, visuals...Keep them sending!

Monday, October 30

Indian Youth and PDA

A while ago I had asked one of my star planners(virtual) to do a small research into the PDA(public display of affection) habits of the youth. With a sample size of approximately 50 and the college city of Pune, the results one would think be largely representative of the shape of mainstream youth behaviour in the near future! Or is it?

So, while mass media blows up incidences of moral policing, there is a cultural shift happening among the youth as the findings show.(Not in any particular order)

1. Generally speaking, the length of the relationship does not matter in case of PDA. The sentiment seems to be - “I can hug my guy in public even if I know him only for a day”.

2. 97% of couples have confessed of having kissed in public within a month of going out with each other

3. Hugging and kissing are no longer meant for your special someone. It can be for friends too.

4.Cafes are a good spot for PDA. But multiplexes and discos are the top choice.(Understandably)

5.90% of the respondents feel that PDA is important and there is nothing wrong with it.

6. Hugging, Kissing (not pecking) are the top PDA activities. Pecking is passé. This is followed by sitting on your BF’s lap. Next comes holding each other or just holding hands.

7. Only 35% of the respondents are conscious of their surroundings
“If others have a problem, they can choose to ignore”
“I do have that thought at the back of my mind, but I care a damn when my guy is
around”

But the PDA phenomena is far from mainstream beyond the metros. I had a contrasting experience last week. I had gone to Muzzarfarpur in the Diwali break. A town 70 km from Patna. There, I happened to visit a family restaurant during the lazy afternoon hours! A proper place in the middle of the town with sit-down eating and with the facility of close 'purdah'(curtained) sections. In many of the purdah sections were couples romancing. But necking and kissing if at all was done strictly behind the veil of the curtain.

Also as the couple left the restaurant, the girl would get up first followed by the guy who would walk towards his bike after a gap of 2 minutes. They still do not want to be seen together in public( exactly like it was a decade and a half back)!

So, like in most things,there still are two Indias. One confident of itself. Where romance even sexuality is worn on the sleeve. And the BF/ GF is a status symbol. And the other where romance is a shadowy, sub-terranean activity. Indulged but away from the public eye. And both are mainstream Indias...

For related stories on the web( and they are few) you may check out Rashmi Bansal's web-site - youthcurry as well as the site sepiamutiny.

Friday, October 20

Am taking a Diwali break. The blog will be back on Oct 30th!

Happy Diwali


Shubh Deepawali to all you guys. IndiAdRant will be inactive till 29th Oct.
Have a great week-end!

Cheers

Thursday, October 19

Creativity for a Cause

This one's for a small group of people who have been associated with the iVolunteer project at David. That's Priya, Steve, Meraj and to a small extent myself!

Today, we went to Salaam Baalak Trust's office near JJ Hospital. Heena and Kavita (two of the 4 street children,the team above have been mentoring) wanted us to see their night shelter.(Meraj, we missed you!)

We managed to reach the shelter, a lil late...But we had a whole gang - Sangram-who tagged since he wanted to brief Priya and Steve on Radio One!!, Jigar and young Malhar.

Some observations...

1. I saw children and their genuine smiles. Honest smiles. We in the advertising business live with 'Close-Up' smiles of happy, good-looking families. But a genuine smile is so much more rare these days!

2. Mamaji sang from his heart. And Ashreen/Afreen( sorry I may have mixed up her name) sang beautifully. In fact she had penned her own song.Again the experience was so different from the choreographed music based shows on TV.

3. There was so much pride and honesty when Kavita was telling us about the shelter and their day-to-day mundane activities.

4. Met Sonia - who had chucked up her Hutch job 2 years back and is now associated with SBT part time! Good to meet people chasing meaning not just money!

Coming back to creativity...And this part is relevant to all, beyond just the David iVolunteer team. Can we use our creativity to help children and other under-privileged sections of society.

Some action shoes...

1. Spoke to Misha. There is an opportunity to sponsor single parents. The project is near Bandra East. I am doing it. It would entail a cost of Rs 6K annually. Saurabh has also agreed to contribute. Josy was interested as well!

2. Sangram had a nice idea. The kids are really good in music. Can we ask our client Radio One to partner us in doing something for them. Raise awareness, reach out to sponsors. Spot some talent. Maybe make a small change in some one's life!

3. We also handle CNN IBN. Can we use Citizen Journalism to help the street children, prevent child abuse, do something special for the girl child!

4. Can we ask our client BBC to get some funding?

5. Can Tang do something for the SBT?

6. Intelenet also has an annual budget for social causes. Maybe Kumar can ask Sandeep to do their bit towards SBT...

If we all brainstorm, am sure we can come up with many more ideas.

It would be far more fulfilling to use our collective creativity for a cause...

Would be on leave for the next 10 days...So, most likely IndiAdRant would be shut from tomorrow. Happy Diwali!

Wednesday, October 18

Power of Stories

Some days ago, Meraj had sent this mail...I thought it deserved to be shared with the blogosphere...Read on!

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.

I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors). It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc. At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply." I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco. I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then). I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.

"The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview. There were six people on the panel and I realised then that this was serious business.

"This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realisation abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted. Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview."
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories."

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw "appro JRD". Appro means "our" in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).

Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?"
"When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murthy." He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me. "Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes." I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable. I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee." Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."

In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped.

He saw me and paused. Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni?" (That was the way he always addressed me.)
"Sir, I am leaving Telco."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune." "Oh! And what will you do when you are successful."
"Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful."
"Never start with diffidence," he advised me. "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best." Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly. My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.

(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives)

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004.

Tuesday, October 17

The One Way Street of Loyalty Cards

With orgainsed retail taking a lot of the print, TV and mindspace, there is a lot of talk about loyalty cards! including a piece in today's BS Strategist...

However, I feel that though the cards are catching up( I have about a dozen of them), the nuances of relationship marketing are not understood by most and ignored by the few who may have the understanding.

Before I discuss the subject of loyalty...let me share this brilliant book by Isabelle Szmigin( a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Birmingham) called 'Understanding the Consumer'.

My take on the loyalty card jhol( togther with scoops of gyan from Isabelle)...
1. Invariably when we talk of customer loyalty, we mean a captive allegiance.

2. The customer is merely manipulated. Encouraged to think that there is a relationship, when actually there is none.(Isabelle)

3. In reality, Loyalty Management is CRM for the store/ company, loyalty is profitability management for the company, loyalty is increasing the foot-fall strategy. The consumer in reality is the last person whom the marketer really wants to benefit.

4.Why aren't we honest and up-front. Lets just call it a convenience card or incentive card...or any other more authentic nomenclature!

5. All relationship marketing takes a passive view of the consumer. The relationship is 99.9% shallow and is never nested in an understanding of their social context and evolving goals.(Isabelle)

6. There is also a more sinister aspect to these loyalty cards as they move into schools and colleges to influence the taste of children with a view to form relationships at an early age..(Isabelle)

7. Do we honestly believe that in an age where families are breaking down, divorce rates are high, instances of multiple relationships(parallel and not just sequential) is on the rise, we can actually build loyalty through plastic and reward points!!

8. If the store staff is not helpful, if the AC in the store invariably never works, if you fail to recognise the customer whenever she comes to return a defective item, if you never suprise or delight your regular customers....a piece of plastic is never going to build any loyalty for your brand! Its just a 7 letter jargon...

9. I feel as marketers and communication guys, we are getting de-sensitised with the reckless use of concepts like customer engagement, customer affinity, loyalty, reward...We must not abuse them as gimmicks or mere words...sans any meaning or intent!

Let me end the post with a quote I found in Isabelle's book from a letter to the editor of NYT.
"Dear Sir, I have seven loyalty cards. Does that make me more loyal or less" :-)

Monday, October 16

Branding Gyan from Javed Akhtar

A while ago, I had picked up a book on Javed Saheb by Nasreen Munni Kabeer(the writer who has penned a biography of SRK as well). This one's on conversations on Hindi Cinema with Javed Akhtar.

Now, Javed Saheb as we all know is among the finest script writers, a fine lyricist. But according to me he is also a first rate planner. Over the years, he has displayed his intuitive understanding of the nuances of branded communication, especially during his script-writing days with Salim Khan. And is adept at integrating people, places, concepts, brands, celebrities in memorable concoctions. After all with Salim Khan, Javed Saheb was instrumental in building one of India's biggest brand - the Angry Young Amitabh.

Am recapping some gems which I had gleaned from this book...I would recommend this book to all. It is simple and yet has a fine texture of thoughts...

1. "There is one more state in the country, and that is Hindi Cinema. Just like Punjabi culture and Rajasthani culture may differ but we understand the diference, their cultures are not from a different planet. In the same way, Hindi cinema's culture is quite different from Indian culture, but it's not alien to us; we understand it. The nearest example for a non-Indian to understand is the Western in Hollywood."

2. Sample his thoughts on the brand personality of Vijay from Deewar!
"The only way that people who have been hurt very badly save themselves is by hiding their emotions. If they show them, it would hurt even more. So they develop a kind of hard crust, but behind that hard crust they are soft people.

3. On the brand - Deewar
"It is very difficult for Vijay to express his love for Parveen Babi. It is equally difficult for him to express his love for his brother or mother. There is a storm raging within him so he has closed the doors. That is how such characters feel safe. They build a Deewar between themselves and their emotions!

4. And on that most famous of dialogues - 'Mere pass ma hai'"Perhaps Ravi( Shashi Kapoor's) dialogue would not have worked quite as well without Vijay's monologue that preceded the punchline. You have to orchestrate a scene. If you try to bombard the listener's sensibility all the time, his sensibility will be so battered that when you want him to feel something he'll be too tired."

Memory fails me. Will add more to the list above...soon.

Sunday, October 15

couchsurfing.com - Welcome to Concept Brands

I know this brand or shall I say concept for precisely 12 hours now. And I have already interacted with it 6 times! Have spent $25 online(it's significant for me as this is just my 2nd online payment!!). Emailed to an existing consumer/ experiencer/ concept buyer of this brand.

More on couchsurfing.com. It's a non-profit web based company. CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and live in other members' homes! When you surf a couch, you are a guest at someone's house. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation, a penthouse apartment or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. Stays can be as short as a cup of coffee, a night or two, or even a few months or more. When you offer your couch, you have complete control of who visits. The possibilities are endless and completely up to you.

At 8:25 am I did not know of this concept. At 8:30 am I first chanced upon the brand in the DNA( actually it was Shilpi). At 8:45, I hooked onto the internet and checked out the web-site. At 9:00, I had e-mailed Arvind Sengupta, an Indian who is living in Vienna for the past three years and a member of CS!

At 9:15 am, I was copying my 16-digit Visa code into the payment page. I willingly put $25 into the CS concept(brand). Equal to an years supply of soaps and detergents from HLL the trusted FMCG brand!

At about 1:30 pm, while surfing again, I edited by profile. The site asks you to answer some profound, meaningful questions. And not just how many credit cards you own and other bugging Qs. So, I filled my mission on life, what learning I have had till now and what I do to earn a living...The profile is still incomplete and I made a mental note of going back to couchsurfing.com later!

At, around 6:00 pm, I was being the couchsurfing.com spokesman with my friend Suman! I felt I knew it better than my 2 year old tooth-paste brand 'Meswak' and my 8 year old TV brand LG Golden Eye(maybe unfair comparisions, but nevertheless).

It reminded me of what John(Grrant) had written in hisOct 10 post. Post Modern brands being ideas not products and standing for something!

Back to 8:45pm, couchsurfing.com is important enought to be my day's post.

Stray thoughts then on concept brands.
1. They exist in the mind. They excite us and invite enthusiastic particpation as John says!
2. They don't have nationalities. Or manufacturing dates. Or expiry dates. Or packaging in the conventional sense.
3. If you buy into the concept. They can be trusted immediately. They grow exponentially and not sequentially. Unlike a bar of soap interacted sequentially through the monthly grocery list.
4. No fancy ads required. No ad agencies...
5. They have a conversational tone. There are people behind the brand not companies.
6. The core of the brand is a concept. Not a one-line chiselled, much debated proposition. No tag-lines needed either.
7. No company owns the brand. A community does.
8. You can belong to the brand and the brand belongs to you from day one. More importantly, you want to belong!
9. It doesn't preach you. You learn and preach and reach(out).
10. The brand makes you feel good. It expands you. You want to explore.

Interesting, how much I want to talk about this 12( well 12 and a half) hour old concept(brand).

Anais Nin had once said that 'When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.' It's time now to think about brands not only through the narrow lens of product( largely FMCG) and service brands that we have worked with, read and internalised case studies. It's time to expand our world-view to include post modern concept brands!

In this new era, looks like we will have to unlearn all of what we learnt about brands! Exciting times ahead!

Saturday, October 14

Tom Peters and Training Ideas on 50% Discount

Read an article in HT today on the increasing need for training in the ad industry. There were the usual suspects with the usual sound bytes. To be honest agencies have woken up to the need. Nevertheless its too little and too late!

In an earlier post, I had commented on what ails the advertsing industry. Read Agency 2.0. This one's more actionable thoughts than theorising...In a 'CREATIVE Industry' training's the 'BORING STUFF' but something that's very close to my heart...I am no expert on the subject. But then my limited experience might be of some help to the young guys entering the ad world!

Tom Peters has some very interesting 'action shoes' in his book - 'The Circle of Innovation'(you can't shrink your way to greatness). Good recipe for low cost but highly effective training.

1.Big Budgets vs Big Imagination. All is not lost even if the budgets get slashed. Lack of money can be compensated by infusion of management time. Mentoring, week-end teaching, on-the-job training, training through e-mail/ web-based systems, knowledge sharing systems and other stuff can be equally effective. Training is a mind-set, an attitude not a programme.

With the right leadership, training can very easily be changed from an 'Annual Off-site Drill' to a 'Regular Pill.'

2.Best-in-world thinking. Training must be beyond skilling. It must focus on instilling bigger dreams. Larger world-views. Not merely measured by the annual cannes tally. In employee satisfaction, in strategic thinking, in the boldness of our ideas. Future glory lies in competing on the world stage. Infosys, Tatas and Reliance are doing that. Why can't we?

3.Bring in outsiders. Piyush roped in a cutting-edge Bollywood dirctor for a recent training session. With the industry's powerful network of clients, it would be great to tap into this available pool for training needs. An outsider's view always expands the perspective!

4.Think Portfolio Quality. Tom Peters says there is a need to 'Think Portfolio Quality' for all professionals. And no, he is not talking of the creative portfolio. We need to instill in servicing. planning, IT, production, finance a sense of doing superlative projects and not just routine jobs well executed.

Every employee should be evaluated on the basis of the quantity and quality of projects done rather than mere experience and the execution of routine tasks.

A planner portfolio might consist of - stellar new business pitch research and wins, A rigorous category research, white papers on the consumer/ category/ brand, use of a new technique of insight mining. Most of us are already doing it. It just needs a more aware tracking and doing! We are as good as our recent portfolio!

And lastly, we can keep on lamenting or start using the free resources that are lying in the agency-system for use. As Aldous Huxley said - “Experience is not so much what happens to you as what you make of what happens to you."

So use e-mail to reach out to people several layers above you( within and outside your company) to learn and get guidance. Use the agency intranet to augment college education. Attend industry fora to get a hang of landscape changes.(Sadly, there were just a handful of visitors at an Ad Club organised media seminar I attended few days back!).

Overs the years, I have sort of followed these two rules.
(1) It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. Harry S. Truman
and (2) A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. ~Chinese Proverb

Till the budgets fatten, these thumb rules might help!

Friday, October 13

We don't forget, we just don't remember

As the newspaper fattens, the TV channels multiply, the favourite web-sites, blog list balloons, a look at how we remember stuff/ brands becomes essential survival knowledge...

There is this Estonian-born psychologist by the name of Endel Tulving( check out wiki for more on Endel if you are interested), whose episodic memory theory can help brands improve their awareness and recall!

Endel's memory theory is actually quite simple. Memory has two components he says- (1) Memory trace - the actual information about an event, experience that stays in the mind. But that which gets weakened over time. (2) Retrieval Cue - something in the immediate/ current situation that reminds us of the event.

The theory can be used to study brand memories very well. And measures can be taken to strengthen both the memory trace and retrieval cues...

Common sense would tell that better brand engagement, better customer experience, more personalised service, a refreshing piece of relevant communication would leave a stronger 'brand memory trace'.

And brand symbols - say the McDonald golden arch, Ronald McDonald, the colour schema of the interiors, the combo boards and posters, the unique smell of the burgers and other fast-food all go in building strong retrieval cues for the brand.

Similarly, my oft-repeated( I promise not to repeat it within the next month) example of the iPod has a large number of retrieval cues in the environment.

In future, with media and brands mutating and morphing, there will be a greater need to systemmatically build an eco-system of retrival cues. Maybe the post on 'Nu Lngvg of Brndg' was a retrieval cue for this post:-)

Thursday, October 12

Hedonistic Treadmill and Customer Service

I had picked up this book - 'Mind Watching : Why we behave the way we do' a while ago. There I had sampled a concept called 'Hedonistic Treadmill'. As I paid my MTNL broadband bill yesterday, I experienced the theory in action!

Coming back to the H Treadmill. What it essentially says is that 'pleasant experiences increase our level of happiness a little each time they occur.' Therefore, for experience E2 to get the happiness level of E1, we need greater stimulation from E2.

The chapter talked of the story of the 'chocolate addict', who finds a job at the chocolate factory. He is allowed to eat as many chocolates as he can. In the beginning he feels he is in paradise. But a year down the line, even the thought of chocolate ceases to be pleasant!

So, there we are. Happiness and customer service follows the law of diminishing returns.. McDonalds, Wills Lifestyle, Jet Airways, O Calcutta are all my personal benchmarks for good service...And yet with each subsequent visit, the same customer service level gives me a little less joy! They are doing a fine job...It's just me that's weathered a little...

An American psychologist by the name of Harry Helson also talks about a related phenomena of 'Adaptation Levels'. He argues that all of us have an 'adaptation level', a point of neutrality corresponding to what we expect to happen, our expectation being based on our past experiences. If what happens is the same as our expectation or 'adaptation level', we feel neither happy nor unhappy. If what happens is better or worse than expected, its only then we feel happy or unhappy!

Now compare your experience with the following diads - MTNL and Airtel/ Hutch, Railway 3AC and Air Deccan, Inter State Govt. Buses and say Raj Travels, Udipi and McDonalds...Our adaptation levels are quite different for MTNL, Indian Railways, the Udipi and govt. buses!

I feel there are valuable insights for service brands...

1. Maybe marketers need not give their best on 'Day One'. Because then they will face the law of diminishing returns. They need to calibrate their service levels and inject perceptible levels of improvement with regular periodicity.
It's actually possible to get more loyalty by giving less in the beginning.

2. All brands are not equal. Brands with different customer 'adaptation levels' need to focus on different areas of customer service. Taking a stray example, the average customer is not expecting lightning speed service from MTNL. They would be better off giving me better connectivity and honest prices!

3. Last mile and visible customer service becomes very important in this game of hedonistic treadmill! Once again it's a question of doling out surprise and small packets of 'joy' rather than clinical consistency in customer service.

The comedian Dave Gardner had a nice thought in this space - 'Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.'

Wednesday, October 11

Happy Birthday Mr. Bachchan

It's Neo's bday today! And he shares it with Big B. Like most of us, Amitabh Bachchan has been an integral part of our growing up years! Post 2000, AB ver2.0 has had some acting patches even better than his 'angry young man days'.

Just read a longish interview of AB with Khalid Mohammed. Must admit the questions lagged AB's answers... I would have preffered Vir Sanghvis' interrogation!

AB lives in the media glare 24X7. Everything that is to be known about him is known. At 64, the sexier, spicier stories about him are long over( but for bit roles like Sexy Sam in KANK). Therefore, am listing only the few new thoughts that raced my mind as I glossed through the sundry AB images in the dailies.(I shudder to switch on the TV, where I am sure they would be doing a minute by minute update on AB's Bday). Poor man. Leave him alone. Let's not smother him with our TRP obsessed affections:-)

Here are stray thoughts on brand AB, before I am sucked into making arrangements for Lil Neo...

1. New Nomenclature. Amitabh Bachchan - the actor, the icon, the era is far richer than the current appellaton that media has foisted on him - 'Big B'. AB is not just 'Big'. He is 'Great'. He is a medium in himself. He is a cross-over between youth and old age, between high-brow and low-brow. A unique cross-over between Bollywood, TV and Advertising.

Every usage of the appellation 'Big B' in fact actually littles AB and his achievements in a way.

2. The medium is the message. If I were AB's brand manager, I would have recommended forming an ABTV 2 years back. (With high profile friends of AB, I am sure funding would not have been an issue.)

Imagine no more keeping track of the number of brand endorsements.LOL
The mechanics would be simple - brand managers and agencies need to answer a short quiz on the brand fit between 'Brand X' and 'Brand AB' at 'Jalsa'. (Of course, one could always pay more to match the brand horoscope!)

3. Exclusivity vs Exposure. Brand AB will soar higher with a little selectivity, not indiscriminate exposure. Of course AB has justified over-exposure in the past with his 200 odd crores of pending debt. But,increasingly the argument sounds tenuous. Mr. Bachchan, at 64, you can afford to be a lil slow. Focus more on the quality of 'Black' rather than the grey zones of 'Boom'. Exclusivity had helped you in your younger days. It will do 'bigger' wonders now! Even Abhishek is raking in big moolah!

4. Big Causes.Counting good health, good luck and a steady stream of projects, it is nevertheless unlikely he would have an active working life of more than 5-10 years(I pray for more though...). I know he is an actor. But the greatest Indian brand can be better used than selling beverages, baniyan or bandh gala suits alone!

I think the country would do well with more pulse polio campaigns. Use of brand AB for more social advertising. Using AB strategically in the rise of the Indian 'Soft Power' status and some 'India Shining' concepts. And it is here that I feel, brand AB can still be 'BIGGER', age notwithstanding.

Because no matter how many quanti tools we might invent for celebrity management, it is highly unlikely that India would have another Mr. Bachchan.

5. 360 AB.Even as you laugh off my ABTV concept, think of the possibilities of AB Radio, AB Times, AB Communication/ Acting School, AB as an avid blogger on the media landscape, AB as corporate trainer, Walk-with-AB programmes, AB on motivational tapes and DVDs, AB as the official evangelist for Bollywood...

AB is the rare case of a celebrity that is 'infinitely elastic'. They don't have an AB equivalent even in Hollywood...Happy Birthday Mr. Bachchan!

Tuesday, October 10

Nu Lngvg Of Brndng

A while ago, I had written about some words losing meaning..., I carry on from there...

There are some brands that have started to create a language of there own. Case in point being Motorola, iPod, Absolut...

Razr(Razor) is the third most popular hand-held device in the history of man-kind after iPod and the Blackberry. Launched in end 2004, sales are 50m strong! But razor was no branding fluke from Ed Zander's stable...The branding continues with SLVR(silver) - the slim candy bar shaped alternative to RAZR's clamshell design, the KRZR(crazer), a narrower version of the RAZR that went on sale in America last week. The PEBL(pebble) - With chic simplicity, this subtly stylish Moto adds a calming convenience to one's everyday travels( that's what the web-site says...)

Motorola's next move is a new range of phones called SCPL(scalpel) - a low cost slim line phone aimed at customers in the developing world.

1. This branding nomenclature has an indelible 'moto' stamp on it.
2. The transition from 'Motorola' to 'Moto' itself is a brilliant cross-over from the old and techy world to the youthful energy of design and consumer lingo!
3. It's cooler and more relatable compared to the number science of Nokia( okay they have Vertu and stuff)
4. The nomenclature sums up 'mobile world-views'- razr, pebl, scpl, etc.
5. It provides a language and grammer of communication which stands apart.
6. It's a word and visual short-hand...

Similarly, the iPod has invented an eco-system around 'i' - itunes, iphones, italk, ithis, ithat, ieverything...

On surface, the Absolut strategy looked deviant and a one-off - that of grammatically incorrect brand names and sub-branding(Rasberri, Citron, Vanilia...)But you notice them, remember them, talk about them and they stand aprt in the vodka world! And there's the classic master of the trade- McLanguage!

It's a smart move. To invent new brand languages. Some other abused letters are 'X'( xtra, xtreme, now the Titan xylys - it already might be too late, too little) and 'e'( the entire internet and info e-brigade brands)

But the trick again is to be a lil deviant and the first to start a trend.

I am betting on 'y' - yNow, yGiveup, yBranding, y360, yTV, yDiscount, yBull-shit, ySlog, yBlog, yWork, yCricket, yIndia... hmmm yNot

Monday, October 9

The CEO as Brand Ambassador

Read an article on the subject in the Indian Management- Oct issue

The following sketchy ideas and examples were traded:

1. The CEO as the rescuer of the beleaguered brand(eg. Rajeev Bakshi and Pepsi)
2. Source credibility of such campaigns
3. From Vijay Mallaya to the MDH masala owner, a wide array of CEOs have tried to be the face of their companies with varying degrees of success.

I have my set of thoughts on the subject. Not in any particluar order.

a. The game is about a long term commitment. One can't just play superman saviour or 'CEO as post-it' in times of crisis.

When a Narayan Murthy gets into the Bangalore city management committee, he is believable. When a Rahul Bajaj speaks his mind, he is listened to. But the MDH masala CEO is reduced to a patriarchal caricature in his TVCs. At times, Vijay Mallayas' glamour quotient over-shadows his commitment to his brands!

b. CEO brand endorsement is as much about 'Competency Endorsement' as it is about 'Position Endorsement'. When Kiran Majumdar Shaw talks about bio-tech and its role in the Indian economy, we believe her, but Rajeev Bakshi might be looked at sceptically when he becomes the defence lawyer for Pepsi!

Why should I believe you now? Where were you earlier? What's your POV as a consumer on the risks of pesticide contamination?

c. PR has a bigger role to play than image-based communication. The right environment, a POV on larger macro issues, thought leadership and the subtlety of messaging are required to make CEO-brand-ambassadorship work better.

d. It's more about long term strategic communication than short-term tactical usage and gains.

e. The CEO must find his own style, voice, tonality and the preferred medium. I can expect Narayan Murthy or Azeem Premji maintaining his own blog as the Infosys/ Wipro 'Thought Architects'. Even Biyani on retail would be quite credible!

f. CEOs' deeds are more important than their words. I would prefer Ratan Tata over Mukesh Ambani even though the latter is the recipient of the 'ET Businenessman of the Year award 2006'.

g. Obviously, it won't work for companies where CEO tenureships are short.

We as agencies again largely do not have an opinion on the subject. Even when we do have, our distance from the corner office is directly proportional to our say on the subject. Pity, because in a wired, connected and warp-speed changing world, CEO as brand ambassadors assume great importance!

Saturday, October 7

Hiding behind verbal foliage

I am back to reading the TOI( on and off). I think the newspaper has improved in the last 6 months. There is more to read at least in the weekend editions. Okay, I admit this improvement is relative to the general fare available today!

There is a section called Consumer Edge that comes every Saturday. Came across an article called The New Product Evangelist. And stumbled upon some ‘planner gibberish’ - words that weigh a lot, but mean very little!

Sample the following!

1.Prosumers are today's value brigade. Beyond this value equation based on price though, there is the bigger picture, which is in the realm of intangibles.

2. Today's consumers cannot be propositioned. They need in a brand a promise of sustained tenure of togetherness.

3. A brand must be good to cohabit with. It must create that space where brand and prosumers can keep each other company.

It’s my personal belief system that communication that reaches out and connects needs to be simple. Indian planners have often been accused and rightly so of needlessly and volubly berating the obvious.

Better planning doesn’t need longer presentations. Or complicated words embedded in convoluted thoughts. It needs innocent eyes. Sparkling insights. And a human voice.

Let’s be very clear. Our task is to simplify and not to contribute to the marketing noise! And lets not hide mundane ideas behind verbal foliage!

Friday, October 6

How much information is needed in a brief?

A creative brief is well meant to be brief:-) However, most samples brim with information. Background information. Information about the category, competitive information, product information, TG information, lifestyle information, cultural trends information and many other information sources!

There is a default school of belief that thinks that analysis applied to a mass of information will provide an AHA answer without much effort.

However, I believe the brief should not be treated like a bank vault. It should just have enough information. Same as the minimum amount needed for your PSU savings bank account! Background information should be supplied as required and requested, not FREE with every brief.

Too much information bogs down thinking and leads back to existing ideas. This is true for planners, creatives and creative strategists!

The best briefs deal with brand issues at the level of 'innocence'. They deal with concepts and macro issues. Once the creatives come up with some ideas, then further information might be useful if these ideas need to be fine-tuned.

You might discover that a brilliant creative idea might not be implementable because it violates some brand guideline or existing category norm or client diktat. However, it is much better to risk such wastage at a latter stage rather than pack your brief with information in the hope that it will lead to a better idea.

True to a briefs' original spirit - Less is More.

Other thoughts - We must also increasingly use visual language to build our concepts. Words have extreme limitations. They are bad at communicating shades of meaning. Briefs must not be seen as close-ended systems. They should be used as 'Thought Prototypes'. Tinkering templates for the creative-planner team to build upon rather than the problem-definition-cum-proposition white paper used as swipe card at the creative department window sill!

Thursday, October 5

New Age Brands Are Wired Differently

Many of you must be aware of the Google Word Master Challenge 2006. A creative writing contest held across 9 cities last Saturday!

I spotted the contest in the print ad on one of the infrequent days that I read the TOI( mental post-it: read TOI more often!). And was among the 400 odd people who participated at the National College venue at Linking Road.

It was like going back to college. Google - the brand whose only(and now inseparable)presence is the minimalist web-site that we use 50 odd times a day, every day, was present as a campus brand. Young, scholarly, smart. There were no in-your-face banners. Just few young guys sporting Google tees. No announcements. No messy registration. It was quick and helpful like the online version of the brand.

There was a brief power-point presentation. More visuals than words. Again the presentation template was clean and clear much like the brand. The contest itself was great fun and quite challenging. One had to construct a story/ scenario on one of two topics with 20 key-words each. The topics were 'Innovation' and 'Anger Management'(something similar). You had to use the 20 words just once and the word boundary was between 150-200. If one strayed either ways, marks were deducted. I think I fared quite well:-)

An hour of intimate interaction with this new age brand, No taglines. No USP. Just a broad territory of creativity + knowledge + fun + play.

Well before and after the event, WOM was in action. Google across its centres actively roped in about 2500-4000 tuned-in audience. They got an equal number(pages) of user-generated content, potential employees and a further boost to their knowledge/ creative brand status.

Well, there is a message for the old world, talent-starved and mostly-clueless agencies in all of this. A low cost particpative event for consumers as a brand-building-cum-recruitment strategy! Maybe I will discover my next planner and creative partner through a SchoolOfDavid event!

Wednesday, October 4

Planners' Thoughtware

There is the romanticized part of planning and then there is the grunt work! Everyone loves the open ended fabric of thoughts. But the bigger task is to tie these thoughts into a cohesive whole! Of course, this part is an acquired skill. It comes with practice and discipline. Just thought, would compile a list of sutras that I have found handy over my planning career.

Here, they are in no particular order...

1. To make knowledge productive, we will have to learn to see both forest and trees. We will have to learn to connect - Peter Drucker
2. There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it's getting done.
3. Talk does not cook rice. - Chinese proverb
4. Bailing water in a leaky boat diverts energy from rowing the boat.
5. The middle of every successful project looks like a disaster. - Rosabeth Moss Cantor
6. Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. - Buddha
7. Your best thoughts about work won't happen while you're at work.
8. We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication. - John Gardner
9. The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas. - Linus Pauling
10. Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein

Is this my exhaustive list. Definitely not. Will this be guidance for others. I hope so...What has worked for me, may not be the best sutras for other planners. But that's the lovely part of our craft. It's a whole lot of art! The sundry agency planning tools notwithstanding!

Tuesday, October 3

Giggles, Umberto Eco and the Law of Transgression

Well, here’s a factoid. This post has been written mid-air on-board flight 9W 462 Chennai - Bombay. The day had been a bit lack luster as the pitch presentation was to an uninspiring and confused client!

However, the trip was more than made up by the chance visit to Giggles, the biggest little book shop (as they call themselves) tucked away in a tiny corner of the Taj Connemara 100 ft from my first place of work, HTA Chennai on Commander-in-chief road. (Funny, how with the passage of time, even the worst phases of life acquire a nostalgic glow!)

I stocked up ‘Umberto Eco on literature’ (a book on the redemptive properties of good writing) and another Eco book titled ‘How to travel with a salmon and other essays’.

In-flight flipping through the pages of ‘How to travel…’ I discovered an essay titled ‘How to recognize a porn movie!’ and inside it the great insight of the ‘Law of Transgression’. It solved a 15 year old conundrum of mine!

Now, if you have ever watched a porn movie, you would have wondered why before every ten minutes of action, there are large sequences of men climbing into their cars and driving for miles on end, couples who waste an incredible amount of time signing at hotel desks or women who take eternity unhooking their uncomplicated lacy under-garments! At least I did, when I was graduating in Computer Engineering on the weekly diet of two pondy movies, one normal and the other XXX!

Therefore, it was a QED moment when Eco explained that for any transgression to work (here of course we are talking of sexual transgressions,it must be played against a back-drop of normality.
This way the transgression keeps the interest of the audience. Eco expounds that no-one can bear with an hour and a half of motorised action and hence the passages of wasted time are essential.

Okay, I admit this post doesn’t fit in my mash of diverse stuff under IndiAdRants.
Guess, it was one part boredom, one part beer and two parts the elation at the elegant/ logical solution of a 15 year old conundrum!

Monday, October 2

Gandhigiri : The new FMCG

I loved 'Lagey Raho Munnabhai' like most of us. I felt Rajkumar Hirani in a brilliant script had managed to tell the nation the dust laden, boring story of Gandhian values and tactics in a refreshing, relatable manner.

However, there was always a danger in using the symbolism and solutions of an era without regard to the original context and meaning. Bapu's preachings were radical and simple, but by no means simplistic. And more importantly they were directed against the might of the British Empire. Against larger goals and ideals.

In the first wave of lip-service since independence, the political class embossed Gandhi on currency notes, enshrined him on chauraha statues and enslaved Bapu in the police station photo frames with complete disregard to the actual values and thinking!

And post LRM, the media I believe has started another wave/ fad of 'gandhi-distortion'. Between, Hirani's brilliant film a month back and Gandhigiri Divas celebrated on at least two FM radio channels today, the FMCG-sation of Bapu is in full swing!

Expect more of the following stuff...
- Gandhigiri roses to win back your girl-friend/boy-friend( actual prescription on an FM radio channel.
- New improved Gandhigiri detergent to quickly wash off sins along with stains
- Gandhigiri vests as the honest inner protection gear!
- the Gandhigiri make-over contest sponsored by a mens fairness cream
(Brand tagline : Fair Cream, Fair Values)
- a 360 degree extension : Gandhigiri tattoos available only at select unisex salons. Offer open till stocks last!
- Tantra T-shirts celebrating the concept of recycling - Gandhi to Gandhigiri!

Unfortunately, mass media in our nation, today can trivialise anything for the sake of TRP and get away with it. And Gandhi is the latest victim.