What's age got to do with it?

In the afternoon today, I got a full primer on PlayStation from Neo(age 6)(who lectures me regularly on mobile and video games, thinks am way behind on the learning curve...) and then a lil later my father(age 65) wanted me to help him install skype!! My younger brother is quite a blogger and a web 2.0 expert!! Quite a digital savvy family balanced only by the combined tech-unsavviness of my mother and mil:-)

As the Internet turns 40, our one preoccupation that all technology products and services will only have the youth as early adopters, practitioners and evangelists will be put to test regularly...Just when I was mulling over these thoughts over a crazily busy fortnite, my planner buddy Meraj sent me this NYT link - Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens. Worth a read and some reflection...

Archiving some nuggets from the article..

1. Surprisingly(actually not so surprisingly, if you pause to reflect) many teens in the US(do we have data for India as well?) are not that heavy users of twitter. As one of them says - "I just think it’s weird and I don’t feel like everyone needs to know what I’m doing every second of my life". Well am not teen by a wide margin but have similar thoughts about twitter...

2. Though teenagers fueled the early growth of social networks, today they account for just 14% of MySpace’s users and only 9% of Facebook’s. As the Web grows up, so do its users. The notion that children are essential to a new technology’s success is now proving to be largely a myth.

3. Adults have driven the growth of many perennially popular Web services. YouTube attracted young adults and then senior citizens before teenagers piled on. Blogger’s early user base was adults and LinkedIn has built a successful social network with professionals as its target.

If I look around at my digital habits and behaviour and many of my friends, the digital adoption curve doesn't always co-relate to our age in some simple linear fashion...On the other hand, India will be different because we are crazily young in age and outlook(as far as statistics go).

On another note, this reminds me of my interview with Javed Akhtar in Bombay when he brushed aside all this fanatical obsession of marketers with youth - "Aap logon ne youth ko hauaa bana rakha hai. Youth ko yeh chahiye, youth ko woh chahiye. Arrey saheb, youth ko toh khud he nahin pata ki usko kya chahiye:-)"

Life 2.0 - the new Game Box in town!

Have you installed the game box - Life 2.0 on your
biological hard disc:-) Chances are you already are an expert at Life 2.0 games…Am referring to the new(well for some of us)game culture that’s pervaded our lives.

And no, it’s no longer the game boys & geeks alone! It’s us ordinary un-gamers.
The other day, I spent a better part of the evening out-scoring my wife on her blackberry. Next morning, she spent a cool hour putting me back in second spot.

Games are as old as men. We have always loved competitive sport, the urge to set records and win prizes. But the big difference today is that our entire lives are the software for games!!

Till a few months back, monitoring(keeping score)of this blog's Technorati ranking was a game for me…Of course the allure faded when the scores started plummeting on a regular basis:-( A related game was to monitor the site visits on the home page!

People keep score of the number of Diwali sms they sent and received. Even the number of unopened e-mails!!

Many have developed a game even around cleaning their lotus notes mail systems. It’s a 100m dash against the lunch deadline.

Social networking provides many new competitive games. Try your skill at friend acquisitions at Facebook or even LinkedIn. Keep score of your growing community on couchsurfing.com LOL

Today, for a lot of youngsters and oldsters, dating resembles a gaming experience, with targets, life-lines and a score to keep!

Nach Baliye, Indian Idol, Jhalak Dikhla Ja are the new middle class games... The idiot box meets the mobile phone and lo a new national game is born! Cricket’s new poster boy - Twenty20 is all game, little sport!

As Wired magazine puts it, we are moving away from a society that creates goods to one that solves puzzles and plays games! So, what game are you playing this hour?

Facebook : Counterpoint

My online friend Satish at Naked NY commented on the Facebook Indigestion post...Said that my Facebook experience could be at dramatic variance with the teen sentiment/ relationship with Facebook!

So, I asked a young friend of mine to put her thoughts around the subject...Here's her take...

My virtual umbilical cord (and no, this is not about the progress in medical technology!)
"The age of the global citizen...half my childhood buddies are all over the world...i know at least one person in every continent(maybe even Antarctica..i wudn't be surprised) friendships made for life...with only a geographical barrier...bridged by something as technological as the internet."

"Technology and relationships don't mix, like cold steel and heartfelt warmth maybe? Well, I'd beg to differ."

"School friends, college friends, colleagues, friends' friends, a lot of alliances you would best forget but there are just as many that matter so much."

"My best friend in 6th grade who left for boarding school in Shimla. Or another bestie who moved home to Japan when i was 14. My first crush who has lived in Colombo since we were 12, but i got in touch with again 7 years later...all thanks to Facebook."

"With such fast paced lives and with everyone in a different part of the world it's difficult to catch up for even a cursory drink, making the Boozemail application one of the largest used on Facebook."

With newsfeeds giving you a play by play update on your friend's lives(which you can update the settings of to ignore lesser acquaintances, and bring your inner circle into the limelight) to building an entirely virtual social life for the simple reason that, having a real one that functions the same way, is plain impossible.

"Facebook is what binds me to my old friends and actually helps me get closer to people I never got a chance to bond with earlier. You may realise that you and a casual friend may have similar interests from the groups you join, the applications you prefer, and a million other things considering Facebook is so customised you can read a person's personality just by visiting their profile page. for eg. Leena and I studied in the same class for 6 years in school, casual friends, but she only realised i was a fellow fan of The Doors when she read my status message. It simply said, 'Bhavna is: stoned immaculate'"

"Friendships are born out of sticky situations, escapades, lurid stories brimful of laughter and tears. Getting caught for bunking maths class and playing basketball instead or talking about your dreams and your passion over a cup of coffee while watching a beautiful sunset cannot be recreated even with the best graphics."

"We bond through sharing good times and the not-so-good (rather horrible, horrendous and torturous) ones and this is not an emotion that transmits through an LCD screen. So when you think about it, Facebook is nothing close to the real thing, but it's one hell of a replacement when the real world is out of reach."

Thanks B for sharing your thoughts...

ROI on Tribes and Other Bakwaas

Was generally checking out other planner blogs here...Stumbled upon the Diginative by Fran Hazeldine, a London planner.

His recent post/rant is on the Discovery Channel Tribe promotion...

I agree with Fran, I don't think Discovery got the essence of tribe.(The copy and the tonality is so outta place) Looks like they have trivialised the concept...While I do not recall an Indian example, this quick ROI approach to youth marketing is a global malaise.

These days I am particularly wary of clients who want to capitalise on 'social networking', do a 'cool' promotion or want to use 'youtube' for their brands...

Many of them are blatantly ignorant of the Web 2.0 spirit, hugely insincere in their intentions and their short-sightedness sucks big time!!

Big Idea : Finishing Schools for Rural Youth

Often I find advertising ideas to be quite small. Mostly, that's a limitation of our trade...But many-a-time a reflection of the size of our thoughts. Shackled as many industry minds are by a 30sec structure and generally inflated egos!

Therefore, I loved this 'finishing schools for rural youth to curb attrition' idea of Azim Premji!(read it in ET).

Wipro has set up finishing schools in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh on an experimental basis. Under this, students from interior parts are selected and given training in English and IT skills for 6 months.

These rural students are barely 10th/ 12th pass. Not typically eligible for any IT job. The 6 month training readies them for a proper job in the IT industry.

Wipro and Premji believe that apart from creating newer employment opportunities, the students from these rural finishing schools would be loyal, determined to prove themselves and a definite value-addition to the company.

Wipro, under another education programme imparts training to primary teachers and students. Till date, it has engaged in training 2.5mn children from the interior parts of 16 Indian states.

Both the efforts are great,laudable examples of the corporates giving back to society instead of merely creating islands of excellence...

Wish the communication industry too had the bandwidth, the vision and the money to do something similar...

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'!!

15% More Insights on Love Marketing. Hurry!

Yet another 'diary-page' from a young(er) friend of mine!

Super Duper Hype.. but its become a huge marketing endeavour every year.. specially since last few years...from greeting card companies to cell phone companies, to even banks use this occasion!

i came across this while i was googling - HDFC is offering a new variant of Gold Bar - an attractively priced 2.5 gm Heart-shaped Gold Bar.
HDFC Bank Credit Card holders would enjoy one per cent cash back on every 2.5 gm Heart shaped Gold Bar, bought by swiping their credit card!

Valentines day till a few years back, i didn't even know, but by the time i was passing out of school which was about 8 years back... it had started catching up big time at the archies and hallmark level.. now i think it has crossed all boundaries...

i saw the hutch hoarding at bandra with pink heart shaped balloons all over - i think was for downloading lovey ring tones or something for valentines.. i personally wanted to puke..

valentines is not just about lovers.. its about LOVE across genders across age and across relationships but unfortunately the marketing has stuck to focussing on lovey couples and it begins and ends at that.. hotels have special dinner meal offers and parties.. its anywhere and everywhere and u just cant miss it...

personally valentine is just another day in the year and it is bloody annoying wen people have to find a day to make it gooey and say things to their girlfriends or boyfriends.. in anycase in a city like bombay u mite tend to feel left out because the hype is so bloody much and people are so for it that u cant avoid it..

the reason why valentines so big here i think is solely because of the mad marketing because and the media hype around it within the country because otherwise its not such a mad thing abroad.. its big but people don't treat it stupidly.. i remember going out and catching a movie with my girlfriends (all of us single and no boyfriends to go out with he he)..this year i think will be going out for dinner with my girlfriends again.. ha ha.. lol!

thats about it.. i guess the media exposure and wanting to ape the western culture bit has gotten the people down to following such days including fathers day motherdays and blah blah.. these are undoubtedly great cashing days for various companies without doubt..

chalo nothing more that is coming to my mind..

Picture courtesy a colleague who was kind enough to model for indiadrant:-)

Gift Wrapped Love with 25% extra Romance!

The new India that the world loves to talk about is not just young. It's madly in love!
Or so the $65-90 mn that were spent around Valentine Day last year suggest. (The figure might be puny compared to global 'mush-market-index' but then our Valentine market is in nascency)...

Well, the decibel levels of v-marketing have risen dramatically this year. The day that stretched a week is now a full month. Pretty soon, we may have the Year of the Valentine!

There are more hearts per person in Bombay today. There are red-n-pink hearts everywhere and love messages on sms and buildings/ bill-boards wrapped with heart-shaped-balloons.

Of course, there is much money to be made from mush. But what nauseates me is the 'lowest-common-denominator' of love-communication. Looks like marketers and ad agencies are catering only to age 16, starry eyed kids. It's the dumbing down/ in-your-faceness of the Valentine communication and the cluttered shelf space of love that sucks!

Commerce > Romance.

Being on the other side of 30, I asked few of my young friends to pen down their feelings on V-Day marketing...for a better/ balanced perspective!

Here is a page from the diary of a young friend...She is young, very bright, very blunt. Definitely not a silent consumer(as they say, not me:-) of 'mush marketing'!

Love sells. It's as simple as that. If it didn't we wouldn't have so many jewelers selling diamonds on the anniversary gift concept. And guess what, it works! I mean I would never imagine a practical man like my father could buy my mom diamond earrings for their anniversary, but then again it was their 25th year and they love each other…so see what I mean, love sells because everyone seems to be so smitten by, well, love!

And now coming to Valentine's Day, that fateful day in the middle of the shortest month, it can also be identified as the biggest brand for love, its byproducts being cards, gifts, and other moronic lil pink n red objects floating about like chaos (ref. to ancient Greece where it was believed that chaos was the mixed matter the Universe was made up of before the Big Bang).

Wait a minute, I hope you don't think I'm another political party with an anti-love agenda, actually I'm quite mushy in my own right. What makes me queasy is the desperate search for a Valentine a week before Feb 14th.

This has now resulted in a phenomenon known as "the friendly Valentine". It starts with a Valentine'less' guy who just can't seem to find a chick no matter how much Axe he sprays all day long. He then uses his devious mind to come up with a plan to save face- ask one of your best friends! They'll never let you down. And even if they try to you can always say "yehi dosti, yehi pyaar???" Cheesy, I know, but works like a charm. Said best friend gets emotionally blackmailed and desperado has a date.

Another nauseating symptom of Valentine fever is overt displays of affection, a frantic search for the perfect gift with "to our eternal love" on the card. By the way, Webster's just called, they're changing the definition of eternal to "a time period equivalent to a month or in rare cases, a few more".

Let's get this straight, I don't mean don't celebrate your love or your "beautiful journey together". All I mean is that when the axe falls on it, we shouldn't find that the glue that held it all together was made of gift wrap paper and greeting cards.

Valentine's Day is not a competition for the best gift or the biggest bouquet. It's a day to celebrate the fact that every time your special someone calls and that assigned ring tone rings, you feel that tingly feeling waking every part of you, or every time you walk together in the rain, you feel your senses coming alive. No corporate firm can package that and sell it to you in a box. The same way, you can't buy love. So when are we going to stop trying?

Family is the New Friend

One of the great things about Indian culture is that we import stuff/ concepts/ lifestyles/ trends and almost always give a spin to it...

So, while elsewhere in the world, Friends might be the New Family, in India 'Family is the new Friend'. That's the verdict of a nation wide survey done by India Today-AC Nielson-ORG -Marg(browse the Feb 19,'07 issue)!

Have summarised some interesting facts and nuggets from the survey.

1. Parents become the new pal as young Indians, often transiting cities in pursuit of colleges and careers, seek emotional solace in the families they leave behind.

2. Family Longing. The percentage of people who would like to live in a joint family has gone up to 74% this year, from 68% in 2006!

3. For a generation that lives on take-aways, the uncertainty of blind dates/ speed dating/ divorce and constant job-hopping, stability doesn't come easy. Parents might be a convenience to have around, they might just be a mere sounding board or the last resort when everyone stands you up, but at least they are there. And that seems to be comfort enough.

4. Sociologist, Yogendra Singh, professor at JNU, says this reciprocity among India's youth, where the family is concerned, exists because parents in India are extremely supportive of their children, unlike in the West, where children are expected to be independent at a very early age. As a result, despite the influence of modernism, India's youth prefer to stick to family and traditional values...

And technology(be it the Internet or mobile or low cost airlines) is playing it's small role in keeping even the diasporic Indian family intact...

A Teen Girl's Rant on PDA

My Oct 30th post was on 'The Indian Youth and PDA'. Of course the observation lens was that of a 30+ guy! After the post, I had asked a teen friend of mine to pen her thoughts on the subject( hey crowdcasting in action:-) which she did beautifully. So sharing her note with the blogizens with her permission of course!

Here we go!

Love and affection are, according to me, the most private of emotions, a moment between two individuals that means more than the world to them, not exactly the kind of stuff you flaunt to the world. It's not supposed to be a fashion statement, it's not supposed to be "cool", there aren't supposed to be any ulterior motives here, but I guess that's what it's come to now.

I know there are those moments when ur wid that special someone and you can't help but give them a hug or a brief kiss but don't turn it into a full-on A rated flick. Believe me, your audience will NOT appreciate it(even if they ARE your best pals).
P.D.A. is rampant in the younger sect, I mean real young. Think teeny boppers, high school and junior college kids, I guess puberty hits hard. I'll admit my friends and I weren't exactly discrete(some of us still aren't), but we've pretty much grown up now.

Then again there's the thrill factor. I know of a chick who likes getting it on in public just to see the heads turn. Not quite my idea of fun, but to each his own I guess. It's fun to let go sometimes but choose your spectators carefully, you don't want to end up grounded or, even worse, in the slammer.

P.D.A. can also be perceived as territorial and people may see it as a silent warning saying,"Back off, or else!" You would might as well make like a dog and bare your teeth and growl. Another perception of the overt affection you're showering is that of a facade to hide your insecurities regarding your significant other.

And when it comes to being intimate with friends, I've noticed women usually share a closer bond, but now in the age of the "metrosexual man", guys are getting increasingly comfortable with the idea of gettin mushy with their pals. But you don't just go and force a bear hug on someone you barely(pun not intended) know. it depends on how comfortable you are with the person and the kind of equation you share with them.

But yes, the youth is definitely more physical in expressing their affection for friends. Come to think of it if kids of the previous generation were ever sighted hugging their peers, it would be majorly speculated and probably turn into a bit of juicy gossip. But even this evolution, I think, is limited to a minority of the urbane stratum.

So, although i agree that P.D.A. should not be banned(I believe in Freedom of Expression- Article 19), I think using P.D.A. as a tool to get attention or to make a statement is just wrong. You're ruining the sanctity of the relationship. And on a cheekier note, a piece of advice to all the ladies out their, lavishing their love on their worse halves in the eye of the public, "Don't fake it too often girl, he just might catch on!"(pun definitely intended).

In the last few months while interacting with younger minds, I have realised that their language, their canvas and their voice is so refreshingly different that often research done on youth by older guys loses the flavour as well as insights!

Someday when any of you drops in at David, I will take you through a teen girl research which two of my trainees had done this summer. A hand-crafted piece of 'Research as Art' not a power-pointed document. It reverberates with 'teen spirit'! I think it's the best research done on the young teen girl that I have seen in India!

Indian Youth and Technology

This is well second in the series...The first one was Indian Youth and PDA. Once again carried by a very enthu planner(virtual)!

Though the sample was very select and skewed towards the upper strata, the findings are interesting and the fringe is where the action is!

1.The young uns do not consider a walkman, disc man a gadget anymore, even though its their first gadget. The ubiquitous mobile, their PC, iPod, etc. are the new gadgets.

Every generation takes the generic low-tech stuff for granted. The 'Gadget' tag is then reserved for the lil hi-techy stuff!

2. This is interesting - the non-earning youth change their mobile phones more often than the earning ones( baap ka maal, gaddhe mein daal, as my class X maths teacher Mr. Fernandez would say). They buy a new one every year( sometimes within a year). The shelf life of a mobile phone is reducing every day. Remember, it's a fashion accessory for them and not just a phone!

3. Mobile is a requirement at 16. Most parents have promised their kids a mobile for their 16th birthday!

4. On a 4 GB ipod, one only listens to about 50 songs max and the 2500 songs in it are not replaced for over a year sometimes. Chris Anderson's The Long Tail in operation. BTW, Harshal have you bought the book? I am planning to do so over the weekend...

5. The 'Gamer' has arrived. I think he is getting mainstreamed( what say?).He seems to live in a completely virtual world, he is not interested in anything close to real world. Not interested in current news updates, stereotype movies etc. Only a Matrix will excite him. He will only shop swanky watches, bikes, and live as closely to the virtual world he indulges in through the PS2 or the X Box.

Even on television 'the Gamer' watches only animated movies and Cartoon channels.

Meraj, do some of your IIT friends, fall in the geek/ gamer archetype...I personally don't know any of them!

6. Orkuting has a very high frequency, but does not seem to have depth. i.e the youth log onto to it EVER SO often … but do not have lengthy conversations. It fulfills the need to stay in touch with everybody.

They find friends on orkut and call for a chat in a messenger; coz chatting on Orkut looses privacy!

7. Online shopping - Lack of a credit card seems to be the obstacle. Immense scope for product innovation in credit cards here!
Most people, who claim to dislike online shopping, have never tried at all.

8. Good ole TV in death throes. The thrill of catching up with your fav serial seems to have vanished. Good time for DTH entry and TiVO!

9. Androgyny seems to be the trend. Like in shopping habits, in acquisition of gadgets and that hitherto male bastion -Gaming( though in India it might take a while).

Even the mobile handsets seem to be morphing towards a rounded edges, feminine feel and yet a masculine core. Guys what would be the most androgynous handset in the market?

10. The collapse of age. The kids are displaying adult like behaviour. The adults wanna play. My father is a case in point!

Have you noticed other trends. Do share...

It would be great if all of us could append our own changing media/ gadget acquisition habits. Love to compile and analyse the direction we are moving! Although this does give some sense!

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.