Hip Hop Grannies and Generational Mash-up

One of the entities under The Futures Company is Yankelovich - a leading consumer research company that has helped marketers understand consumer values and behavior since 1958. It has also done pioneering work in 'generational marketing'!

It's pretty cool that I am now working on projects with the Yankelovich dudes and getting a hang of 'generational marketing'.

Now one of the concepts on which we are currently working has to do with generational mash-ups. The grey zone where generational values, attitudes and behaviours seem to be cohabiting.

The 'Hip Hop Grannies' from China are a good example...

Generational Mash-ups. Maybe marketers for Lifestyle brands, travel, well-being should study this space of 'generational mash-ups' to unlock new spaces!

Cool Grey/ Silver.There also is a market for cool stuff for the elderly. From spectacles and watches, to hi-end fashion, the wallet-rich elderly are good targets not just for expensive but 'expensive and cool' stuff. It's just that we seldom look at them in a mashed up way! My 65 year old father has started wearing 'shorts', is now comfortable wearing the colour 'red'(no longer just greys and khaki for him) and I think sometimes uses the word 'cool' when he speaks to Neo!!

Baba Ramdev & AOLCloser home Baba Ramdev, Shri Shri Ravi Shanker and others are already transforming the lives of the elderly. And while they aren't exactly hip-hopping, there is a sea change in their attitudes and aspirations which mainstream brands may not be tapping into.

The kapal-bhaati and anulom-vilom have energised the minds of the elderly. They might be willing to experiment more than we imagine. Mascots - Zohra Sehgal. Amitabh!

Power of TV. While one of the most powerful media of our times - TV has been chained to saas-bahu and now the reality trash, there could be a welcome space for subjects around generational mash-ups...

Every time somebody or something crosses a neat boundary or silo, interesting/ provocative things happen/ can happen...

Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

Pepsico delivers another advertising dud. The new 7UP commercial, BBDO's opening shot is quite a let down. You can view the TVC on youtube here...

Though, I like the Bheja Fry. 7Up Try tag-line, found the plot bland and straight from the 80's! Countless fizz and non-fizz brands have done similar stuff to death...Don't know why they couldn't get a smarter rendition...

The little that I know of youth brands...
1. 38 trying to be 18 won't work.
2. Cool and dumb don't bed together!
3. Recycling works well for the environment, not for ads.

4. We live in an age where 80% of the brands are young. So, the really young@heart brands must lead the conversation. Through new stories, fresh insights(a la Sprite), new technology...Or simply a great(expensive) execution like the 2cr Thums Up fillum!!

But, maybe BBDO deserves the benefit of doubt. It's their maiden over.
So, Bheja Fry. Phir Karo Try!!

Joshi Saheb, Mudra and Dumbistaan2

I am a double amateur when it comes to appreciating music! But the songs of Taare Zameen Par and in particular the lyrics by Prasoon Joshi have been a constant earworm* for me this month!

The Filmfare award to him for best lyrics(for Maa)is well deserved. Though my favourite is 'Kholo kholo darwaze...' A matter of pride for the advertising industry...Congratulations Joshi Saheb! I am your admirer...(no I don't want a job in McCann planning...LOL)

Away from the glitz of Bollywood, Mudra won an award for Continuous Innovation and HR Strategy at Work by the World HRD Congress! Though it's a little difficult to tell from the HRD's pedestrian web-site and the India-centricity of the awards(in 2006)how global they really are!

But for an industry never really known for it's HR friendliness forget HR innovation this is good news! I hope others get inspired.

And finally I had to reproduce this e-mail sent by a friend of mine(inhabitant of youngistaan)...

hey (insert my name)....finally caught it on youtube...i watched it...n then i watched it again thinkin that maybe i'm slow n maybe i missed the point in the ad....but this defintely is one of the crappier ads SRK has done and lil ranbir is getting quite a reputation for behaving nonsensical...deepika looks way better in anythin else that i've seen her in...she looks like just another girl in this ad...all she hadta do was stand n look pretty but cudnt manage that here...they shud've gotten the same make up artist they used in OSO!!!! lines are drab...idea is moronic...acting is so-so...actually everything about this ad is crap...also read the interview by XYZ of JWT...XYZ may be able to sell the interview to a few weak minds but definitely won't sell any pepsi with this strategy...this calls for a change of agency, people!!!!

Hey guys...I didn't make that up:-)

*Earworms is a term for a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes "stuck" in a person's "head" or repeats against one's will within one's mind...Check wikipedia for more details here

Dil Peechha Karta Hai Dil Ka....

Watch the video here!
Tere ishq mein apni manzil ka...thus goes the new viral video from SimplyMarry.com! Watch it here on FireandIce.co.in

Simple, clean, hummable track with cute animation - dil karta hai forward karene ka... Ab yeh 'Youngistaan Hai Meri Jaan!'

The Hidden Rules of Coolfacture 1

Read a very interesting and academic article on the subject of Cool in the Knowledge@Wharton series(also covered in the Brand Equity yesterday)...

Some gleanings from the same mashed-up with a couple of my own home grown observations on this very interesting area of 'Cool manufacture'...

1. New research(from the Wharton studies) provides insight into how consumers use products to signal membership in social groups, but swiftly abandon those same products when the original message is diluted as other groups co-opt the trend.

Most visible in fashion perhaps...

2. People make inferences about others based on the products they buy, and when lots of similar people adopt a product, it can gain meaning as a social signal.

3. The Internet with it's 24X7 connectivity makes the signaling process faster, product trends can explode across mass markets more rapidly than ever before. At the same time, the enormity of those markets can also turn off the original customer base quickly.

This has implications for youth brands. Every marketer wants to do a 'cool viral' these days. But we must understand that our product/ product category must be amenable to a 'cool' communication. Plus there is always the danger of over-doing it...

Coolfacture is an art which the likes of Steve Jobs have perfected. It does not follow mass market rules.

The recent Pepsi commercial with both SRK and John Abraham is a nice, entertaining ad. Better than the average stuff Pepsi generates these days. But it may not be cool for the edgy youth!!

4. 'Cool variants'. Today, cool may come in many variants. 'Desi cool' for the masses, 'Global cool' for the classes. 'Cross-over cool'. And each market may be substantially different from the other.

Going forward Indian and Asian brands need to re-interpret the definition of cool.
While 'Coolfacture' might never become an exact science, its good to generate some rules when dealing with the youth categories....These are interesting times. All old tight-definitions need to be re-looked and over-hauled!

Day 4 - Boot Camp Bytes

And today, finally the meat of the boot camp. The often mis-understood, mis-managed, and 'black-box' subject of digital creatives...

Just came back meeting my college friend and his cute 3 year old son Yash. He reminded me of Neo!!My friend's adorable son - Yash. High-point of the day- Yash's squeal of delight upon seeing his new toy car...

Back to the workshop...Some of the key observations/ learnings of the day, in no particular order...

1. Digital creative, UGC, content in general forces us to ask the question - what business are we really in? Or more specifically what business do we want to be into...

These convergence days are exciting times. Bollywood meets MTV meets advertising meets Web 2.0 meets mobile content meets UGC meets PR meets something new every day! So, where do we want to go today:-)Paul and Brian from RightClicka, the social media experimental lab epicentred on music!!

2. As an industry and as my specific discipline(account planning), we have always been obsessed with the study of popular culture. But now with digital technology and democratisation of creativity, there is this huge opportunity of inventing popular culture...But are we ready as an industry to harness it. Don't think so:-(

3. The digital creative companies of the future need to be open-sourced. Their structures must be more collaborative and experimentative. And they must model themselves on software companies - projects, teams, constant learning and open to out-sourcing!

4. Digital Creative also demands that many of us wear multiple hats. Strategy and creative hats, project management and IT hats, strategy, creative and tech guru hats, project management and story telling hats. Successful models will have to burn their silo walls is what I feel.Our two Chinese interpreters for the day(at the back). I am liking the multi-culturalness of this boot camp...

5. We need 'cool scouts' - guys who are constantly on the look-out for 'cool content' & 'Cool Inventors'. And many of our current agency creatives may not be the guys who can invent 'cool'. These guys are scattered in music, movie, gaming industries...We need to hire/ work closely with them on digital projects.

6. I also strongly feel that 'the One Line proposition' led thinking has to give way to 'Multiple line/ context conversation' led briefing...Small ideas will coalesce to form the Big Idea! Digital Creative might also be of a 'Shoot-then-aim' mould!

This is the most complex topic as any real change demands structural changes in our business without disrupting the regular work and revenue streams. Balancing deep change with quarterly revenue targets:-) Tough task because as an industry, with all the back-slapping and PR around new tools, our fundamental structure( am restricting myself to mainstream agencies/ networks) hasn't changed in decades...

But if we need to change our core/ DNA to digital then we will have to disrupt our work, thought and administrative structures...Else the smaller, nimbler, smarter 1st generation digital shops will always enjoy a lead over the agency...

Of course much of this change might be messy, evolutionary, revolutionary...or forced upon by business imperatives...

But whatever be the outcome, digital content/ creativity/ market/ business model is an exciting playground. I am loving it!!

New Age Brands Have a Different Ning!

A little late in the day(48 hours back to be precise), I discovered the online social networking brand Ning introduced to me by my new digital partner and co-conspirator(John Lambie)!

Okay, back to Ning. After 48 hours I try to discover more about it. Google for the site but find that it's down for repairs. However, I still end up liking it. Because it's got a sense of humour and a message that's warm and human. It's also got a cute little bear trying to repair the site...

Ning like a person apologises for the technical snafu and directs me to the Ning blog and enthusiastically gives me an approx. timing when it would be up and running...

In fact this is what the message reads - At midnight tonight, we're going to take Ning offline to add a few new features. We'll be back in action by the time the bars in California close and you'll be free to resume your late night social networking.

Guys my 10 year old credit card company, 7 years old mobile service provider company, my 8 year old bank none talk to me like this - in a normal voice that's full of life, zest and quirkiness!

I like the brand feel of Ning...Here's the post in 48 hours for Ning...Never wrote one for my bank or the credit card, etc.

I guess as we step into this new age/ digital lifestyle era, brands even while they ride mass media vehicles need to have a human voice. Stuffiness of the analog, hierarchy driven marketing era won't get brands love marks from customers!!

Are we incapable of building iconic youth brands?

When I look around, all I see are 'phoren' brands that attract the youth.
Limca, Gold Spot, Campa Cola, Citra, Thril( the cool Indian brands of the 70s and 80s) have long been bought and killed by Coke.

Thums Up is the lone survivor among Indian cool drink brands!. In beers - Kingfisher is the market leader, but lacks edginess of any sort...

In cosmetics, Lakme had lost its sheen but seems to be on its way back. Elle 18 is visible but is it cutting edge?

In watches - Titan was a cool brand yesterday...but with the entry of Swiss and other foreign brands, its relegated to being a mass player...but again don't think has the attitude, the advertising edginess to be called a 'cool' brand...

All the hip jeans brands are 'firang'...

Actually these thots came while reading the interview of Shailesh Chaturvedi in ET - the CEO of Tommy Hilfiger India.

He lists a few reasons why there are no iconic Indian youth brands to talk about...with a dash of my own two cents!

1. The issue of sustainability - "Youth market demands constant innovation. Many Indian brands like Proline, Titan, Woodlands, Flying Machine, Liberty shoes started with energy and unique product and communication ideas but most of them could not sustain the tempo and the Indian youth migrated to the 'sexier', innovation-driven phoren brands...

2. The fear of loss of existing core customers - As the existing core users of a brand start to age(Papa-isation), their tastes change incrementally/ gradually...But the newer, younger users may want a complete make-over...Most Indian brands in order to protect their current franchise change incrementally and thus fall off the youth radar...

3. Universal Common Language - In a wired world, the young follow the same language offline, online, in gaming and chat rooms, on the cricket field...In a Bollywood meets Hollywood world, they are more comfortable with brands that traverse seamlessly in the connected eco-system...Indian youth brands clearly are not spending enough to create that aura/ texture around them!

4. Older youth icons in India - For a nation that boasts the largest percentage of youth in the world, our icons are strangely quite old.
In most researches, its Sachin(in 30s), Amitabh(in 60s) and the Khans(all in their 40s) who top the ratings!! I have always wondered why all youth Congress/ BJP leaders are in their late 30s and 40s:-)

And while all of them have mass appeal, none of course have the attitude of an 18 year old...

5. Cool brands are created by cool people with artistic sensibilities - Maybe, with our ultra emphasis on analytical skills and data-dependency, many of our brand and marketing managers are becoming purely analysis/ research driven and risk averse...

6. In fact there isn't an exact word for 'cool' or 'attitude' in Hindi! Don't think there exists one in regional languages as well. It's as if we have reconciled that 'cool' is an import item...

We can copy cool but seem unable to create them anymore...Ramesh Chauhan of Parle was the last cool creator it seems...Maybe Kishore Biyani, when he upscales might create a 'cool Indian youth brand'!!