Friends on the Rise, Brand Friendship on the Wane(?)

Read this interesting piece on 'Survival of Friendship' on the Edge.org site!

It led me thinking!

1. Friendship isn't dying out: it's just changing, adapting to the changes in the world. As a boy and as a young man or even 5 years back, there were not too many friends I had. I was a relatively quiet kind of guy. Self/work obsessed and quite boring. But the internet and the blogosphere is gradually changing that.

There are many more people that I open upto now. Hey, I feel I am reasonably extrovert in my virtual skin. It appears that the medium is changing my persona. After more than 3 decades, my buddy list is finally growing:-)

2. I today have friends whom I know only through e-mail/ chats who are as dear to me as my school friends; friends from my first job! And the funny thing is that geography and physical contact are not as important as I thought they would be!

3. This Edge piece also talks about - Throughout our lives we collect and store information about specific individuals, so that — just in case we ever run into them again — we will know how to act. We even store information about people we have never met and whose faces we have never seen.

However, when it comes to brands, I feel marketers and advertisers devote far too much time on consistency and repeating the boring facts everyone already knows. Whereas, if we want the friendship of people/ consumers, we must tell them, engage them with small tidbit about the brands. No coincidence that the best brands have a rich heritage and lots of small stories!

4. Many mobile service brands/ many brands(in general) in India talk about customer friendliness. But when they send their bill statements or the bill alerts or even supposedly personlised communication, the tone and voice are not that of a friend.
It's that of a self-obsessed manufacturer, an aggressive marketer or just a stiff uncaring voice!

Quite a few Indian brands have an impersonal voice(if they have a distinct one at all!!). I feel, they quickly need to loosen up in this new brand world! Because the eyeballs are:-)

5. Till the time we don't give up our obsession with war terms - target/ captive audience, capturing market share, etc., we will have a tough time making brand friends.

So it is ironical that while people are opening upto total strangers and making friends, brand friendship(at least in India) appears to be on the wane...Brand relationships are increasingly transaction-oriented despite the hype created by ads.

P.S. One notable exception in 2006 - the new age brand/concept 'Couchsurfing.com'

The Net Effect

John(Grant) is doing a workshop on 'How has/will the internet transform marketing and retailing?'. On his blog he is looking for thoughts, POVs, foresights...

Here's my 'chawanni' of thoughts...
1. With increase in internet penetration, will the www become one giant Superstore?

2. Will there be a global homogenisation of wants? Like everyone wants an iphone at the same time. Then a neo-moto...Essentially global fads...Glocal fads...

3. Since the sellers connect with buyers, would we need marketing at all?
Does marketing need to be obsessed now with only authenticity, how to make the sale interesting, tone of voice and ensuring that technology keeps its complexities out of the way!!

4. Will all shop facades have the signage www.allshops.com?
www.bademian.com, www.ruddalsamosa.com(my school canteen), www.fabindia.com...

5. Will parking rates at malls drop(incentive schemes) and real estate become cheaper?

6. Will payment gateways be the next giants?

7. Will RSS mean ‘really simple shopping’?

8. Will mobile internet > internet through PC

9. Will Google sense my needs(though my search/ click prints), take intelligent orders and do home delivery.

10. Will ideas be traded? Will more services like Yahoo Answers come up on the internet?

11. Will it be cool/ a lifestyle statement to be off the 'net' for small/ long periods? LOL

Its fascinating to think about the future today. Since all of it may come true sooner than we think. It may not have the same shape though:-)

Kaun Hai The Baadshah of Hearts?

Just read Kapil's and pooR_Planner's posts on KBC3.

And since I found myself in front of the TV almost a full hour before the show started, just thought I would pen down why I like Shahrukh so much(mostly- I hated him in KANK and some other movies)...

The last time I took some time to think about SRK-fandom was in Bandhavgarh in the company of Shyam Babu(Benegal) with a group of travellers on a special 3 day boutique package arranged by my friend Ram.

We had debated the immense popularity of SRK, whom the intelligentsia loves to hate!

Now SRK if you realise is a perfect blend of grey/ crossover. Perfect for the times that we have been living...

SRK is a blend/ rich brew of
The man on the street meets the King

Indian Diffidence meets Rising India (Long before India Shining happened)

Talent meets Jugaad

Hero meets Villain Darr

NRI aspirations meets Rural India Swadesh

Bollywood meets Cool (Remember, how cool was earlier reserved for Hollywood actors alone). Of course, the general aesthetic contours of Bollywood have changed. And guys like Manish Malhotra have an equal role in it.

Dil Maange More meets Wahi hoga jo bhagya mein likha hai(Most of his love plots, including Chupke Chupke)

Flaunt meets Family Value The man & his family life

Honest Muslim meets Hindu Wife

Love meets Arranged Marriage DDLJ

Romance meets Commerce His marriage, Mannat, His paid-for-dances at weddings

Somewhere, when I was younger, I liked this grey shade honesty in SRK. The intelligence and his voluntary playing to the gallery for money! And then his blatant honesty in admitting it.

I love him because he is himself. Most times. Long before India Poised happened, SRK had the cheeky confidence that I thought only Pakistani fast bowlers seemed to have in the sub-continent.

I like him because he is a family man and loves his kids.

I like him because he doesn't time his cause marketing efforts with the release of his films. I have a feeling one other Khan does that.

I like him because he is gizmo-saavy. He is the new-age face of an archaic but immensely powerful industry called Bollywood.

I love him because he(along with Karan) knows the value of creating and perfecting an image. Look at the way he has re-invented his look from Deewana to Don. (Actually all of them have - Aamir, Salman...)

I like him because with so little acting talent, he can get a Nation's love and adulation.

Okay, back to KBC. I wasn't disappointed. Loved him, music video, humour, ada/ idiocy and all.

I think he was true to himself! All style, little originality but no pretence as well.

In the age where celebs are part of the larger community, the hug makes him more accessible(its actually using the Munnabhai jhappi!). I was myself appalled at the hug idea at first, but on TV it wasn't that bad.

KBC is a borrowed and heavily templated concept, little room for deviation. In an atmosphere where the critics, AB fans are all out to take his ass, poor guy better stick to the AB benchmark.

AB is a legend, SRK is the reigning King of Bollywood and that should be left at that...:-)

Like AB, SRK is a meta brand. He needn't do much now to enjoy that status.

As as I was about to end the post, my mother called me.(To remind me that it's Saraswati puja today)So, I asked her if she liked KBC3? She said she loved it. More than KBC 2. Because Shahrukh "khoob hasaya"(made me laugh). I agree. I laughed. Are those the jokes which a savvier, more intelligent audience would laugh at. Never. But KBC is to a different SEC. The SEC of mainstream India!

Which other star would have the balls to say on National TV that "Log kehte hain, main sirf style hoon, mujhe acting nahin aati hai. Sahi hai". (I am all style, no acting prowess) and that "Aap jo chahein main woh colour ka coat pehenooga, agar boley to petticoat bhi pehenooga"(I will wear any colour coat that you want me to. If you insist I will even wear a petticoat"

You can love him, or loathe him. But you won't be able to ignore 'The Baadshah' and he will drive the TRPs up for sure...Now Shahrukh don't let me down:-)

A Cocktail of Alleged Racism, Engineered TRPs and Resurgent Pride

Read this analysis by Vir Sanghvi of HT(Hindustan Times) in his Sunday column. I find him amongst the best planners(Indian) outside the advertising space. With decades of journalistic world-view, a well-travelled mind and a liberal POV, I love to see the world through his sharp lens.

This morning's analysis was on the Big Brother/Shilpa Shetty fracas! Was in two minds whether to write on it. But then John's(Grant) post on the subject made up my decision:-)

Below is a mish-mash of Sanghvi's opinions and my thoughts on the subject.

1. Sanghvi - "Lets not pretend the fracas is because Indians(in general) are concerned with racism in England. They can burn down an entire block of flats in the East End of London without a single educated Indian giving a damn about all the poor displaced Bengalis. They can beat up hapless Gujarati children in Leicester and it won't even make it to the Indian papers. Compared to the kind of racism that Asians in Britain sometimes have to face, the Big Brother abuse is kid stuff!"

myTake - Was not really aware of the extent of racism prevalent in Britain. In the wake of the Big Brother hue and cry, many skeletons are tumbling out of the closet.
But agree with Vir, Shilpa's case appears to be one of 'designed racism'- made-to-order for reality TV fare!!

2. Sanghvi - "The real reason we(read middle class India) are so shocked is because Shilpa Shetty is not a British Asian. She is one of us. And each time her housemates call her names, the slurs tap into the collective insecurities and resentments of English-speaking India."

myTake - Sanghvi has got it bang-on. This controversy(I can only pontificate on the Indian side of it) has little to do with racism in Britain. For glued-to-prime-time-TV-middle-class-India, the abuse comes at a time of resurgent pride and sundry accolades from the world. Calling names at a time of 'booming economy' and the season of great self-congratulation. And that's where it hurts middle class India.

3. Sanghvi - "Each abuse brings back memories of having to stand in immigration queues at Heathrow or JFK, never quite sure of how the official behind the desk will behave; of applying for visas and having to prove that we are not going to become waiters in some Southall curry shop"

myTake - Well, haven't been to the UK; so can't comment on the immigration queues and the sore points raised.4. Sanghvi - "This episode reminds us of the awkwardness we feel each time we meet a Brit or an American and they tell us they can't understand what we are saying because our accent is too strange; of the abuse the young people who work in our call-centres have to face when Americans realise they have been connected to Gurgaon or Bangalore.

myTake - Fortunately, in my limited interaction with Brits and Americans have never faced such a problem. However, am aware of the abuse faced by the BPO industry. But my guess is those incidents are few that are generally blown out of proportion and context for political mileage. But they need to be condemned nevertheless.

5. Sanghvi - "And at some subliminal level, memories of the Raj have been burnt into our DNA. We remember the era of Whites-only clubs, of having to defer to some British half-wit even though we speak his language so much more fluently than he ever will, and of sadly recognising that no matter how well we do, the white man will always think that he is better simply because he is white and we are not."

myTake - I was born into Independent India. So I don't quite have the Raj memories. But while growing up was acutely aware of the disparity between the 'First and the Third' worlds. And while Sanghvi is at his vitriolic best, a lot of his sentiments are sadly true. The furore in much of Europe over LN Mittal's take-over of Arcelor had less to do with commerce and more to do with the colour of his skin!
So, yes I agree with Vir, the Big Brother reaction is a cumulative reaction of a simmering middle class.

6. Sanghvi - "Over the last decade we have told ourselves that India is the flavour of the new century. And then suddenly we see one of our better actresses, being humiliated by white trash. When we(middle class India) take up for Shilpa, we are responding to centuries of humiliation and hurt. We are serving notice that the old days are gone and done with. This is the new India. And we don't take this kind of crap any longer."

myTake - But for the fact that this particular episode was engineered for TRPs, the lead victim has been paid a whopping Rs. 3.5cr, I agree with Sanghvi's observation.
A sharp back-lash from resurgent India was bound to happen sooner than later. This media blown event just proved to be the right trigger.

7. Sanghvi - "The Indian reaction is not about racism. It's about Nationalism. About our coming of age as a country. About a new pride in ourselves. Within a month the Big Brother controversy will be forgotten. But am glad it happened. It told us something about ourselves. And more important, it told the world that the new India will not allow itself to be messed with."

myTake - Yes, indeed this is not about racism. Indians, themselves are fairly racist!It's about the pride of being Indian. And its getting manifested through Bollywood - "Rang De Basanti' is a story of a Nation awakened; mass media(TV channels and newspapers are running sundry campaigns to celebrate 'Rising India'. And everywhere its this constant chant of 'India Shining'.

Of course this resurgence story is the story of just one amongst the many Indias. But this is the dominant India that's young, has money, goes to the malls, buys foreign brands, spends more than saves and watches reality TV.

As I said, this game is a heady cocktail of alleged racism, engineered TRPs & glocal non-events, big moolah for marketers and resurgent pride among the wallet-heavy middle class India:-)

Mumbai Marathon

It's that time of the year again. Mumbai will put on its shoes and run tomorrow! I won't. Missed the deadline...Not that I am keen runner:-)

Around 27000 participants, 1700 marathon runners, 7000 half marathoners, 17500 dream runners, 2500 60+ guys, 300 on wheel-chairs...

I had done this ad for the Standard Chartered marathon last year(unpublished)...

Related post: Me Mumbaikar, Me Marathoner

Ads Everywhere

Had read some interesting pointers onJohn Dodds post - Madison Avenue RIP, few days back. He had commented on this NYT article. Essentially the article talked about this craze among marketers to sell ads on any/ all new space - be it a video screen in a taxi, a turnstile, the examining table in a doctor’s office or eggs!!

With all this globalisation and the consequent shortening of time lag in any marketing adoption, I feel India is not very far behind in this sensorial assault by marketers/ advertisers.

Was in Bangalore yesterday for a meeting. Between the airport ride and the time spent in Cafe Coffee day and even the bus ride to the aircraft parking, it was difficult to dodge ads. They were everywhere. In your face between the amusing to the annoying!

Here's a small sample!
There was this little boy dressed up as a Dalmatian in front of a retail store!! Ostensibly trying to attract traffic/ foot-fall/ buyers/ whatever.
I found it appalling. At par with the inhuman bill-boards at Mahim creek.Next was this 'message for Tata Indicom's Internet service' on the napkin holder in the restaurant at the airport.
Quite apt(since the airport and most parts of Bangalore support wi-fi connectivity), done subtly and therefore low on AQ(annoying quotient)

Then, there were these 360 units for the Bollywood movie 'Salaame Ishq'(a simple film based quiz on the table coaster and as an insert with the coffee bill) which I thought were quite interesting. However, since I am biased against this movie itself, there was little connect. However, the medium itself is quite good/ intrusive for very-short-shelf-life products like a Bollywood film.

And then there was this Bajaj Allianz insurance ad on the luggage tag. Absolutely the worst place to put an ad. It's not at eye-level. Once you put it, there is no apparent reason to look it over. It's too frivolous a medium to advertise a concept like 'insurance'.I guess in this game of 'ads everywhere' we need to keep in mind some basic rules.

My take - 1. Be the first to use a new medium but avoid duplicating. Step out before it is clutter.
2. Try never to annoy folks. They are leading busy and streeful lives.
3. Be authentic, not pushy
4. Appeal to the intelligence of the consumer and not treat them only as eyeballs
5. Always respect who the brand is and what the context is. What worked for Adidas did not work for that Bank in the NYT article...Be sensitive.
6. Avoid information/ communication overload.

We must remember Simplexity > Simplicity > Complexity...

Two Indias Among The Many

I love the new Times Of India campaign - India Poised. Gulzar's lyrics and the English version penned by Aggie, both are very good. Check out the videos on Indiapoised.com

There is no one way to describe the current growth/ phase of India. It's an interesting mish-mash of Elephant and Tiger paradigms...And therefore the two India route makes a lot of sense(and has been handled with a degree of sensibility)!

Definitely one campaign, I wish I had done.

Though, Amitabh in his nth commercial is straining the boundaries of celebrity endorsement. But he is a Meta Brand and can do no wrong:-) Gulzar saheb as always is awesome...

I've Just Been Tagged

As I was about to go to bed, just thought I would check my gmail and I discovered that I had been tagged by Neil Perkin- a marketing director based in London. Thanks Neil. Feels good to know that people whom I do not know(in person) have an interest in my thoughts, ideas and observations(often from the ordinariness of life around me). As I first discovered on John's(Grant) blog - “Tagging is this meme/viral that is going on for few weeks now where bloggers share 5 interesting personal stuff and then pass it on to 5 other bloggers.”

Before I tag 5 people I know, must download the few thoughts that are swirling in my head.

I have written in Blogs R Ushow blogs are changing our world, one tag/post at a time:-) and also about Blogging in India - Facts and Future.

Few new thoughts(and emotions), in no particular order...

1. Before Aug 18, '06 - the day I wrote my first blog post - Viruses of the mind, I was largely a lonely planner in a country where I feel there are plenty of planners but planning itself is in a stage of nascency. Well, we are planning to change that. Tomorrow might be a beer meeting(at Sports Bar)of at least 8+ planners(inter-agency). Looks like a first for Indian planners!

2. While there was Google and YouTube and sundry technology to get unfiltered and abundant data, as a non-geek, there was little I could do to connect with a global brain/ conversation/ POV(that's what I feel the blogosphere is turning out to be for me). And POV(new) is in short supply in the media space. Don't just go by the ra-ra press and mass media self-congratulaory gurgitations(of the media, by the media, for the media)!

3. I haven't read the James Surowiecki book - 'Wisdom of the crowds' beyond a few pages but funnily enough have written on the subject. And what a journey these last 6 months have turned out to be. The wisdom of the crowd through the blog world is a humbling experience. In the past 6 months, have gained/ gleaned more than I did in the last 6 years(maybe, most thoughts/ analysis these days are coloured by the recency effect.)

The blog world allows one to think like a micro-consultancy of one!

On Google amongst the millions of (lately badly matched data)pages, one still doesn't learn/ discover as one does linking through the nodes of the blog world.
It's like searching through the 'mind of people'(and it's more decent and fun and not as macabre as it may sound:-)

4. I haven't had much time to read too many blogs. Think am slow and am still low on experimentation. But John(Grant and Dodds), Russell. thotblurb are staple diet...
They keep me pre-occupied through the day and the week-end!

5. Coming back to the lonely planner syndrome. With the conversations in the blog world, I feel lonely no more:-)In fact, soon the problems might be of never being alone.LOL

Blogs are also the Low Cost Carrier of thoughts. They flit and travel at the speed of electrons. I feel there is so much positive energy all around. Some of the best minds are connecting and much good will happen sooner than later...

6. Why aren't more Indian planners a part of this. But that's one strange thing about many Indians(at least within the advertising/ media fraternity). We are too hierarchy driven(excluding the young planners on thotblurb:-). When I started my blog, I passed on the link to six of my ex-colleagues(no soured relations here:-) and 'three' of them didn't even bother to reply. The most enthusiastic response was from a planner friend who is at ChiatDay(therefore not in India technically).
I find most of the media guys(over 30) wanting in collaborative working. The few times when they do, its purpose driven. WIIFM(whats-in-it-for-me)variants!

7. The average number of thoughts I entertain on any given day has shot up dramatically. Does 'Technorati' measure that:-) I realise I also have become more observant because of my blog...And I sorely needed that...

And more aware of issues that I wouldn't have cared/ had the time to think about.

8. Blogs have also allowed me to discover my voice. It even forces me to be true and honest at all times. As a culture we find it difficult to retort and be aggressive(although we argue all the time - read the Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen). IndiAdRant has helped me release the pent-up emotions and thoughts...

And now let me get back to the tagging business. Okay 5 interesting facts about me...
Although as I trudge through the web, I realise every day how boring I am compared to the rest of you! And Neil, you make me look even duller:-)

1.I believe am as good(or bad)a creative as a planner. But agencies in India stuck as they are in the narrow silos are unwilling to buy my creative services LOL
This piece of creative strategy won us the account at TBWA Mumbai. Of course the great rapport which the branch head enjoys with the client had helped.

2. My favourite planner is Javed Akhtar and the planning book(Indian) is Talking Films - Conversations with Javed Akhtar(he is amongst the best Bollywood script-writer, lyricist and poet of our times!

3. I have changed my career 4 times in the last 12 years - from a 'network marketer' to a 'school teacher', 'computer engineer' to a 'creative strategist'.

4. On my current to do list, the most exciting item is to start a picture blog for my 3 yr old son - Neo.
5. Sometime soon, I want to start a social communication agency. Looking for partners and some funding! I might call it SCAM - Social Communication And More LOL

Okay now to tagging 5 of my fellow Indian planners
Saurabh Sharma(Inquiring Eyes)
Roop Mukhopadhyay( Tissue Issues)
Meraj Hasan(On Movies books, music, poetry and life)
Fink
Pooja Nair(Seeing Things Clearly)

cheers
M\

The Mumbai Festival

14-28 Jan...It's on! Meraj/ Harshal - what's on offer this time around?

Video Police

Read in the TOI today that the Canadian police posted a nightclub surveillance video on YouTube, hoping to generate leads in the murder of a 22 year old concert-goer. 13 days and 17000 hits later, the police nabbed the suspect.

Both the Canadian and the US police have actually been using the YouTube for this purpose consistently. And in more than one case the suspects have turned in!

With upto 35mn visitors a month, the YouTube video travels far and wide. An ad on TV will have a frequency of 3-4, but on YouTube, the video stays as long as as one wants it to!!

So, while many youth brand marketers in India are still nervously waiting on the edge of new technology/ new culture, examples such as these from the other side of the planet teach us how to tap into popular youth culture to serve our needs!

Arranged Love, Love Arranged

I have written earlier on the subject of marriage portals and how these portals are more about family psychology than technology!

The Great Indian wedding is amongst the most colourful, engaging, furiously-reinventing, cross-over social concepts of our times. And therefore of utmost interest and curiosity to me. Found this very well written and researched piece by Tavishi P. Rastogi in HT Brunch.

I have tried to summarise the main points raised over this business of 'arranged love' or better still 'love arranged' marriages.

A recent survey of 603 young men and women in Delhi and Bombay(between the ages of 17 and 25) revealed that a staggering 93% approve of arranged marriages!!A generation ago, metro India rebelled against the very idea of arranged marriages. So, why does Gen Now want Mummy-Papa to find them spouses?
Many cultural/ societal/ individual shifts have been happening often at high pace that have resulted in this...

1. Defiance --> Compliance
Then - The caste/sub-caste restrictions on marriage were far more stronger; so young couples in love had to necessarily rebel.

Now - The new nuclear family parents are far more accomodating and relenting to inter caste/ even inter religion marriages...hence, love is accepted and complied with and almost invaribaly accompanied with the pomp and panache of an arranged marriage! I just attended one such marriage in Mangalore last week. In fact at the sangeet, the love story of the bride and groom was enacted as street theatre with the accompaniment of Bollywood music in front of parents, elders and close friends and relatives!!

2. Risk Takers --> Risk Averse
Then - Love was worth taking the risk of parental disapproval and societal flak.
Love marriage was an emotional decision!

Now - Career obsession by both partners, extremely busy lives and a comfortable lifestyle are too tempting to risk over the mundane but necessary subject of marriage.
Arranged Love marriage for many is a 'considered decision'.

3. Social Decision --> Individual Decision
Then - Part of the angst among young couples was that almost everybody(except the groom and the bride) had a role and decision/ veto power. Arranged marriages involved joint/ consensual decisions.

Now - Arranged love/ love/ love arranged are individual decisions, aided by the internet/ open source parents/ nuclear lifestyles. Diasporic joint families are more for props in the back-drop of a well choreographed sangeet than for 'decision making'.

4. Life Partners --> Lifestyle Partners
Then - Arranged or love marrianges were to get a spouse as life partner.

Now - Young men and women today are looking for perfect spouses/ complete packages/ perfect 10 partnerships that will complement their carefully constructed lifestyles.

5. Hi Tolerance, Lo Expectations --> Lo Tolerance, High Expectations
Self explanatory. Bound to happen when marriages are increasingly being treated as lifetsyle choices/ decisions!

6. Then : Arranged = The arrangement of finding a nice match(status & family compatibility) done by elders

Now : Arranged = The convenience of a finding a safe match(individual compatibility and parental acceptance)

For an increasingly consumerist culture, the market forces are bound to intersect personal spheres. Therefore, marriage contracts, arranged loves, and lifestyle partners are it's natural fall-outs...


Of course no trend completely replaces the earlier patterns or basic human needs, values and aspirations...

Truth Well Told - About what we do and not about McCann

Saurabh has this interesting post on How to explain to your Nani(granny), what planners do...Do read it! A problem all of us face at some point/ all times...

However, for some time now, I have held a contrarian view on the subject...

Why do I need to explain what I do to my bua, or nephew the way 'planning' is...

Does a NASA scientist or somebody who worked on the 'Genome' project or a professional bird watcher do that. Maybe/maybe not...

Why this insecurity/ anxiety/ constant need to justify what we do? Lets Chill!
The more convoluted the world thinks our job is, the better - the sundry accusations of self-indulgence notwithstanding!

Well what do I say to my circle of influence/ dependency(currently)

To my father - National Planning Director(guess he loves the words - National and Director). He still hasn't fogiven me for not sitting for the IAS:-)

To my mother - consumer research bordering on psychology..she is a psychology prof!!

To my brother - even paced life, okay money, a career I am passionate about. Don't think these days he cares(he is 22 and at P&G)

To my wife - no need to tell, she now knows an equal measure and though she is in HR, at times she is quite analytical like a planner...read - little room to BS her!

To my distant relatives - neighbour to SRK. "I must be doing sth good" LOL

To my nephews and nieces. I make the ads you see on TV. Truth(part) well told:-)

To my friends in marketing. You have the money, I have the time/fun...

To my son. My office is as good as your play-school. The only time he loves his planner papa more than his mamma...But then I am lucky with my office design...

To my students/ any student...account planning is a sexy career. You do what you want. Even some creatives/creative types now want to be planners LOL

Lets enjoy the art-n-craft...

Keep it simple and yet mysterious...
Pensive and Passionate
Gyan and Guts
Power and Power-point
Sensitivity and Soft power
Strategy and Tactics

The more I think the more I feel, Account planning is a huge continuum between 'Being a Rockstar' and 'Being a loser'.

Any thots/ vehement disagreements/ convivial convergence on the last comment!!

Grey Worldwide - Life not the Agency

While flipping through the India Today Special Issue(Jan 8 - 2006 Year of Remixes),these two images struck me most! And once again there was this acute sense of realisation that no part of our world/ brand world is black and white any more. Just about everything is a shade of grey...

For many years now, grey has been the dominant colour of popular culture. And in most of the lingering images of 2006, it's position in our lives and in mass media has been cemented.

1. Sanjay Dutt, the likeable star(the 'bechaara son' of Sunil Dutt and Nargis) of the years biggest block-buster-Lage Raho Munnabhai and the proponent of Gandhigiri is actually facing conviction under TADA! Similar fate awaits the darling of the Bollywood fraternity- Salman Khan...

2. News TV, founded on the values of 'Sabse Tej', 'Sach Dikhate Hain Hum', Haqeeqat Jaisi, Khabar Waisi' has actually become 'Tamasha TV in it's relentless lust for TRPs and sticky eye-balls.

So, every jhatka of a dance bar girl, the macabre child deaths in Noida, the unfortunate fall of a boy in a ditch make for 'Breaking News' and high-decibel coverage!
News TV is the new grey zone between reportage, activism, sensationalism and ludicrousness!

3. Politics has always been in the grey zone of 'criminalisation' and 'vote bank politics'

4. Prime time entertanment(saas-bahu serials) has been in the grey zone of 'slick-and-high-decibel-marketing, 'idiocy', idea-bankrupcy' and 'regressive themes'.

5. The newspaper brand that starts the year with a 'Let there be light' slogan ends the year with 'I will get into scandals' resolution!! It's a strange variegation of light and darkness here. LOL

6. Colas have now been in the grey zone of glamour, pesticide controversy and credibility-under-question celebrity endorsements.

7. Consumer behaviour has been in the grey zone of 'brand indifference' and brand-slutness as Marian Saltzman calls it!

8. Companies are invading the blogosphere as well. Flogs-fake blogs are grey!
Few silly corporate attempts to penetrate Youtube, myspace, orkut are grey marketing examples...

Funny, how living in this 'Grey World' we still create 'pure' brand worlds/ brand keys and virtuous brand values laundry list...

Fig. The ad for Suzlon in ET today(the wind energy guys). Look at the pure world they are alluding to. A world that today exists only within the glossy pages of a magazine often not read!!(Suzlon is here just a representative example.)

- Would a grey world need a new brand thinking lens?

- What would today's kids call grey when they grow up?
Will it matter then?

- Will grey work in the long term or will there be a backlash...

- What is the threshold limit/ boundary of a grey world?

-Is this a meaningless question in an India Poised(the new TOI campaign) - that's drunk on its youthful exuberance, new found envy from the West and a general middle class(biggest market) self congratulatory mood?

- Once again Bollywood found its grey icon long before corporates or advertsing did. SRK in his various roles in movies like Darr, Baazigar, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Don2 has been the Grey Baadshah for a decade now...

The public has accepted him. Will the consumer do the same? And aren't they anyways the same:-)

Guys, if you get the time do rack your grey matter on the grey world!

Related Post : McHealth and Brand Grey Zone

2007 - Fifty Drifts

Happy New Year guys! Just back from a trip to Mysore, Nagarhole Game Park(a tiger sanctuary 100km from Mysore) and Mangalore(attending a beach wedding of a friend). The trip was exotic, relaxed and refreshing! Though on occasions, I did miss the blogosphere. But not much:-)

I wrote this post(hard copy version)in a restaurant called Machchli Mela(inside the Summer Sands resort) overlooking the Someshwar beach, Mangalore!

Actually was trying to summarise all my thoughts on all the things in 2006. Here's my list of swings, trends, run-of-the-mill observations, comments on agency life, life, world of brands, buyers, marketers, et al!

The list is heavily skewed to my way of thinking, pet obsessions/peeves, observations. No tall claims of trend forecasting here!( and in no particular order either).

Here are the 50 drifts for 2007...Some are happening, some may take a while longer and few are from the attic of my personal wish-list:-)

1. Foresight > Insight
2. Planner + Creative > Art Director + Copy Writer
3. Stories > Slides(power-point)
4. Brand Quirks > Brand Values
5. Many to Many Conversations > Dialogues > Monologue
6. Being Personal > Brand Personality
7. Design > Analysis
8. Brilliant Execution > Correct Strategy
9. Random > Permanence
10. Collaboration > Competition
11. Culture > Core Value
12. UAE(Unique Amiable Experience) > USP
13. Designers > Account Planners
14. Mobisodes > TVCs
15. I > We > I > We
16. Employees > Companies
17. Karan Johar > Prasoon Joshi > Santosh Desai
18. Outdoor > Indoor
19. Experience > Analysis
20. Consumer Psychology > New Technology
21. Pop-up stores > In-store branding
22. SRK > Aamir
23. Future Group > Bharti-Walmart
24. Time > Money
25. Attention > Time
26. Trust > Attention
27. Soft Power > Raw Power
28. Expertise > Experts
29. Pop(Everything) > Everything
30. Bollywood > Cricket
31. Krssh > Superman
32. Hanuman > Krssh
33. WPP(in India) > Omnicom(in India)
34. Air Deccan > Air India
35. Blogs > Flogs
36. RSS feeds > Newspapers > Breaking News
37. News TV > TV Soaps
38. Shaadi.com > Shaadi Points
39. Digital >> Analog
40. Tactics > Strategy
41. Relationship > Reason
42. Being Creative > Being Right
43. Surprise > Consistency
44. Vigour(Energy) > Rigour
In brand thinking
45. Simplexity > Simplicity > Complexity
46. KBC3 > KBC 2 > KBC 1(?)
47. Fashion > Features
48. Blink > Consideration
In brand choice/ selection
49. Beer > Cola
50. 2007 > 2006

I am sure there are umpteen areas I have over-looked...But am working on the next 50!
cheers