Fake IPL Player, Real Conversations

Spent the last 30 minutes browsing through the Fake IPL Player's blog. It's incriminating, it's salacious, it's bawdy gossip at it's best/ worst!

Now whether it's a (a)real fake guy, or (b)a marketing ploy(I hope) or (c)an actual player blogger(rarefied chance), this guy/team knows how to create smutty buzz and generate conversation! Aren't you amazed at his site traffic and the thousands of comments from visitors and followers!

For quite some time, I have been arguing the case for conversation as brand content. But it mostly goes over the head of body-copy-only guys. Well the fake IPL player comes to my rescue.

Here are a few random thoughts which are floating in my little sleepy mind post lunch...

1. Context is Everything. The fake IPL player's blog gives a lot of inspiration to creating engaging alternatives to vapid 'Hilaa Denge', 'Dhikha Denge', 'Bataa Denge' ads on TV. He/she shows how gossip, locker room talk, the management vs. the player jibes can be engaging content as well. Maybe brands like Sprite, Levis, Axe can do more niche social media stuff which can draw lessons from this guy!

2. Don't Control the Conversation.Most Indian brands try to control/ avoid the conversation in the blogosphere/ social media and read too much into the controlled conversation(read FGD). This guy's posts have a thousand plus comments!! Comments by readers, visitors are part of the conversation. They add flavour/ spice to the conversation(even though here it degenerates into uncontrolled bitching:-)

Maybe brands like Mentos, Sprite(again), some of the bike brands(Pulsar for instance) could encourage a more intimate conversation with their niche audiences instead of merely pummeling the great looking, expensive ads. (Okay, I love the Tarsem(?) made Pulsar ad, but after the 13th viewing I now reach out for the remote/ or better still close my eyes. Instead guide me to the making of the ad web-site or the making of the bike(to the more engineering inclined DTSi variety)

3. Celebrity is One Of usWe knew(for some time now)that celebrities are not always on a pedestal. They lost some of their halo when they signed their 10th brand contract:-) But didn't know really that he/she is merely one of us.

The celeb can be reviled(SRK is called Badshah Dildo on this guy's blog- now how worse can it get from here). In contrast,the big brands largely treat celebs in an anachronistically sugar-coated way replete with a fake smile, fake swagger and fake talk!!

And the funny thing I feel is that all this bad talk and gossip from blogs like these won't really harm the celebs. But they will just make the Dish TV, Hyundai and sundry other badly made fake-talk-fake-smile ads even more boring for some of us!!

Celeb bashing might be more interesting than celeb grovelling!!

Well hats off to the fake IPL player and his blog!. You are giving us all real-time lessons in generating conversation(even though it's smutty). We need more brave brands and a mutant strain of journo-copy-writer-gossip-columnist to perfect this art for Indian brands.

NDTV (Reimagine)

Like many people I have gradually been edged out of TV viewing by a combination of inane content and crass packaging...But once in a while I do end up watching some TV.

So last evening I was watching "Oye, it's Friday" on NDTV Imagine. Honestly, the show needs to be rebranded - "Oye, it's Everyday" as I suspect it auto-repeats itself after every 18 hours or so.

In the hybrid genre of chat-shows, this show is everything you want/don't what it to be. A chat-show meets cheap skits meets bad jokes meets celebrity guests meets Q&A sessions replete with the now ceremonial band and canned audience participation.

Anyways, this post is not about the intrinsic quality of the show. I don't see too many of these to be able to compare or benchmark. Neither do I have the inclination nor do they deserve an analytical appraisal!

What hit me in the gut was the sight of "cheerleading girls" before every break. How I wished my 36inch LCD would shrink so that the gyrating pelvic thrusts wouldn't fill half my bedroom. And when young Neo sauntered into the room with the well-honed sense of ill-timing of a growing kid, I had to holler him out.

Have we become so void of quality content that the only recourse to boosting TRPs is to thrust heaving bosom and gyrating bottoms into national TV??

To what level would the TV channels stoop to shore up their TRPs!! What is worse, just one channel needs to introduce such irresponsible stuff before they become the norm.

Next we can expect, cheergirls in News Channels and maybe even in mythological soaps...And by year end maybe, it might even win the 'Media Innovation of the Year Award"!!

Please log onto www.makemyTVwatcheableagain.com to post your comments...I am afraid such a site doesn't exist at the moment but very soon we might have to reimagine!!!

Aamir - the blogger Khan

There is a sliver of a chance that I may get to meet Aamir(Khan) for my book. One of my close friends has promised. Maybe post the release of Ghajini...

So, while I keep my fingers crossed, I also decided to google all his interviews and other facts and trivia. He is a meticulous man I gather and I better be prepared.

And so I spent about an hour on his blog yesterday. I had stayed away from these celeb blogs earlier because in my own mind I just couldn't reconcile the Bollywood stars(so used to fame and manipulating mass media) with the simple, democratic and conversational act of blogging.

But alas I was wrong as far as Aamir's blog is concerned. This khan gets it. I mean he really gets blogging!! While many of my clients and few of my digital savvy colleagues(from past and present)still don't get it:-)

1. The posts are written exactly in the manner one would imagine Aamir to talk in say an interview.

2. The posts sound real. He talks about his anger and helplessness at the Mumbai blasts. How he felt screening TZP in Seattle for the IDA (International Dyslexia Association). Even the fact that he couldn't sleep one night because of ants in his bed:-)

Now this isn't rocket science. The being real part. But brands and brand managers seldom get it right.

3. It's okay to make mistakes.Blog posts are never meant to be perfectly crafted messages. Often they are random thoughts. They are the first opinions. They are amateurish. They might reveal mistakes and flaws. They can have spelling errors. Aamir's posts have spellos. He even spells the movie Memento as Momento and later acknowledges the error:-) Brands too must learn and adopt this degree of humanness when they want to converse through the medium of social media. It is more important to be human and share honest feelings than to be correct and share dessicated facts...

4. Inviting feedback. Bollywood stars or any stars for that matter have largely communicated from a pedestal. That's part of their mystique. Yet when one blogs one has to be receptive to feedback. From the commoner. The audience of One. Aamir does. Even the micro-feedback of giving indents in his paragraphs for better readability:-)

5. Contextual. Again brands arrogantly assume their primacy all the time. That they are the centre of the universe/ conversation. Whereas when you blog(the general sort of blog), context is everything. The content is a variegated play of life, your work, the important and the trivial thoughts...Again, I have found it difficult for clients and their brands to appreciate the context when it comes to any form of social media.

So, if nothing else, star bloggers like Aamir can teach marketers how to converse with their audience. One on one...

However, on the content front, I was largely disappointed. I don't think he has articulated his thoughts as well as he acts in his movies:-)( on the basis of the 4-5 posts that I read randomly...)

You may want to read a few of his posts - 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'It's a bird, it's a plane' - by Abbas Tyrewala, 'Ghajini'...Ah, you will will have to register and then log on...a bit annoying!

Roadshow Romeo : 5 1/2 Thoughts

Didn't really think could get around to doing a post during Diwali break. But here I am...typing hard on the clanky keyboard while Neo sleeps...

1. Saw Roadside Romeo yesterday - Neo, his mama and myself in a theatre in Patna called Ashok - Rajdhani Ka Gaurav. It's a 59 year old theatre that doesn't hide it's age. Musty, somewhat smelly but full of happy memories from my childhood!!

2. You can read a quick review by Subhash K Jha here...

3. I enjoyed the movie and so did Neo. Though not sure, who liked it more...LOL. Technically, (with my limited exposure) I feel it's perhaps the best made Indian animation fillum till date. The Disney magic touch is definitely there. And the arranged marriage between Yash Raj films and Disney has worked!!

4. Though it's a bit difficult to slot the movie for any particular age-group. It's needlessly romantic/ syrupy for a kiddy film. 5 year old Neo was yawning through the second half...Too simplistic and linear for the movie buff. Too Bollywood for the animation purist. But I guess this is the first of a new wave. The Bollywood effect on animated movies has just begun. Maybe this is how Bollywood could enter the global movie market.

5. Javed Jaffrey as Charlie Anna is just too good. His seasoned voice brings great vigour and vivacity to the slum-lord's role!! Maybe there is life beyond the movie for Charlie Anna.

51/2. Neo has declared he will watch it again on VCD, so there you are - the TG has given a thumbs up! But the Rajdhaani Ka Gaurav didn't have pop-corn(Unpardonable)!!!

Cricketainment : T20 Ishtyle

Reams have already been written on the T20 and its effects, implications and the aftermath...

Just thot shud do some tukbandi to add to the noise/ fun:-)

Yahaan cricket hai kum, entertainment hai plenty
Welcome to the BRAND new world of twenty twenty.

Alag alag team mein saare favourite star
Kisko cheer karen, kiska karun intezaar?

Ekta Kapoor ko laga hai gehra jhatka
Finally KSBKBT ka TRP hai atka!!

Dada aur SRK har din naya episode dikhayenge
T20 malik ab dressing room mein bhi jaayenge!

Bechara Charu Sharma, ho gaya raato-raat sack
Mallaya Saheb ka kehna - nahin tha business ka usko knack!

Sony ki dabi kismet, bahut din baad jaagi
10 sec ke 10 lakh, Sony ne ab maangi!!

T20 ka mausam itna ho gaya hai cool
Ki inflation ki maar bhi log gaye hain bhool!!

Cricket, entertainment, marketing ka yeh hai naya 'achaar'(pickle)
Pata nahin agle mahine se hum kya karenge yaar:-)

Youngistaan - Quite Dumbistaan

Saw the new Pepsi film on air. It's been talked about in ET and agencyfaqs

I found it quite dumbistaan. Though, my wife says am too old to evaluate 'youngistaan':-(

SRK is wasted and frankly as Deepika's bade bhaiyya, in the immediate aftermath of the sizzling pairing with her in Om Shanti Om is a bit off-putting!!

Ranbir looks stupid as always! But maybe, it's just me and my blogistaan that thinks like this...

And yes, one more thing! For a brand that's so Youngistaan and all that, it forgot to upload the TVC on either agencyfaqs or youtube-istaan!! LOL

C2B2 + OSO

I saw the movie(musical) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang(C2B2) with little Neo in Munnar some days back...Loved it.

From wikipedia - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 feature film with a script by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, and songs by the Sherman Brothers, based on Ian Fleming's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which he wrote for his son, Caspar!!

It's the enchanting story of a Magical Car. The film was directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli, of the James Bond films fame!!

Back home was flipping through the TOI and the weekly column by Santosh(Desai) called City City Bang Bang written in his inimitable style and the trademark command over the language...

With C2B2 fresh in the mind as a different back-drop:-) couldn't resist capturing my stray thoughts on the subject of OSO and nostalgia entwined with Santosh's observations.

1. SD - "At a time when there is so much talk about the future, why are we looking(through films like Om Shanti Om) so much to the past? Shouldn't this be a time to reimagine the future in new terms rather than sigh nostalgically about dog collared shirts and polka -dotted trousers?"

My own hypothesis about OSO is that it's amongst the most successfully marketed 'remix/pastiche' Bollywood products of recent times.(see post on OSO) There is a huge charm of the re-mix. We have now lived through a re-mix decade as far as songs are concerned. Here comes the first re-mixed movie.

And it's different from a remake. Farhan's Don was a remake...OSO is a remix. Where the story, the structure, the context are all remixed to give a pastiche product!

2. SD - "We take the reality of the 70s and paint on it a coating of the hyperseventies. The seventies we remember are all electrons and sound rather than flesh and blood... An actual 70s movie is not aware of its temporal displacement and takes itself seriously. In doing so, it becomes fodder for retrospective irony. What we like most about the 70s movie is that it's behind us safely enough for us to enjoy it. It exaggerates our bumbling inadequacy and now that we are perched atop some affluence, now that our vantage point is lofty, we can chuckle with affection at who we were then."

But what of the generation who don't remember the 70s. Or who are born in the 90's or like little Neo( all of 4 years) who adores SRK and dotes on Shanti:-)what product have they consumed in OSO. Obviously, it's not nostalgia. It's slick, entertaining paisa wasool low brow remix.

That's the product and that's it's allure...It just has a veneer of the 70s. For that matter Farah could have chosen a veneer of the 60s or the 50s. My guess is the final product could still have been the same!

3. SD - "But the question is whether nostalgia is at all a form of memory. We have no desire to remember the past in most other arenas. Memory when intact seems to be inadequate. It is only when it is reconceived that it interests us. And that is perhaps key to the nostalgia we are seeing today.

OSO celebrates our present by going back and irrigating our past."

Finely argued and eloquently expressed. But the remixed OSO I maintain has just a veneer of nostalgia. In a frenziedly active and globalising Bollywood, remake and remixes are a quick way to capitalise on old successful block-busters - be it a Don, Devdas, or OSO!! More commercial interests than a conscious attempt to celebrate the present by going back and irrigating our past.

4. SD - "The images of the past when examined closely reveal themselves to be pixelated with the sensibilities of today. We look back as a way of looking ahead. In that, perhaps, OSO is set in the future."

I totally agree that the movie has the sensibility of today. But OSO is definitely not set in the future. It is perhaps set in the past and definitely set in commerce and marketing!!

As a movie and as a cultural signpost OSO is low-brow, maybe even retrograde like the Ekta Kapoor serials. Of course a zillion times more slick and entertaining than the saas-bahu soaps!!!

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:-)

The Future of Bollywood

That's a pretty grandiose post title...But have been wondering about it for some time. And my Q list grows longer...

What is the yield point of Amitabh Bachchan as a celeb endorser?

Is Karan Johar the new meta brand?

What's the genetic difference between pop-celebrity brands and big Bollywood stars?

How much of Bollywood is enough? Will it ever be enough?

How will the spheres of Bollywood and Hollywood interact in the near future?

At TBWA,had been part of a scenario planning workshop conducted by Gavin Heron, the Shanghai office head! The one in Bombay was centred around Bollywood. I remember we had asked interesting questions...In fact our group had come up with this interesting concept - hotfactory.com, a possible world where hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia and Ramgopal Verma met...

More questions...
Why is Bollywood experimentative?...Is this largely because the industry is/ was so unorganised with pots of hawala money and D Company funding...Therefore, with greater corporatisation, will Bollywood lose its edge, it's risk appetite...

Will Bollywood need account planners? What will the job title/ the role be? Are there existing jobs that we don't know? Can we create some - any ideas?

Will Percept Picturescope be the company to watch for?

Should one send his/ her CV to Dharma productions, e-mail SRK:-)

Will Farhan Akhtar/ Aditya Chopra continue to invent 'cool' and agencies continue to research them with awe, admiration and with time lag?

With the democratisation of creativity and technology will Bollywood still be controlled by a few Khans and Chopras?

Will the centre of Indian entertainment and content universe be still Bollywood in 10 years time?

I have been trying to put these Qs and few possible As together in a longer article...But till now there are more Qs than As...Hmmm:-(