Let me be a train. No logo please!

I am sure many of you must have read about the decision by South Western Railways to auction the rights to have a train named after brands!! So guys, brace yourself for Kurkure Mail, Pepsi Express, LG Rajdhani, Ujala Local and more...

The initiative, called Brand Train, basically entails the use of a train as an advertising space, where the brand name would feature in all of that particular train’s announcements, reserved tickets, reservation charts and so on. As of now the deal is limited to certain summer specials, but if successful the experiment could be enlarged to embrace more trains.

In fact there was a debate in the TOI on this...It's one of those stupid marketing ideas that have no concern for environment sensitivity. Yes, It may earn the railways some money but at the immense cost of 'aesthetic, visual and cultural pollution'.

1. Argues an emotionally charged Kautilya Kumar( don't know who he is, as TOI doesn't believe in sharing details about its writers and contributors)- What’s in a name? A lot, particularly if the name invokes an imaginary space rich in culture and geography.

Imagine the Netravati Express being renamed after a soap or a sari? Or Rupasi Bangla being prefixed with the brand name of a coffee or a condom?

Netravati and Rupasi Bangla stimulate our imagination. The former, a river that cuts through the Konkan, invokes a world that is lush, green and fertile.

The name captures the sound and the silence of a river that links the Sahyadri to the Arabian Sea. Rupasi Bangla celebrates the memory of a great poet; it captures the landscape of Jibanananda Das’s evocative poetry. A train thus becomes a bridge connecting a traveller to the cultural memory of a people and the natural wealth of a place.

2. Train names reflect geography, culture; make us realise our diversity...I don't think there is any space or sense for marketing/ advertising to enter anywhere near a train.

It's an utterly ill-thought, idiotic idea that must be protested against and nipped in the bud.

Also, with the laws of diminishing returns having already set in the over-stimulated out-door landscape, we need more surprise and sensitivity in the creative expression of commercial messages.

Mere plastering the logo won't sell more soap, sandals or saris!

Will Street Meet Strategy?

Was speaking to David, our regional training head in the morning. Predictably like most non-Indians he too was struck by the vibrant colour and diversity of our country.

Later, on board the flight to Delhi, came across a feature on street art in the in-flight magazine JetWings!

There is so much ingenuity in the street. Something which we must capture while we tell our brand stories. The 'Street' is far more original, colourful, messy and alive than the manufactured images in most of our ads...Picture from Jetwings : Paining on a house wall in Calcutta by the popular local artist, Ajay Kar
Picture : Paintings on the bodies of trucks
This is a really unusual cross-over of ethnic cultural motifs and practical messages. A medium which has barely been tapped into by big brands.
The format is very Indian, very street and the content 'very native Indian wisdom'!Picture : A mural at Bandra Reclamation
Any form of street art not only produces a gallery of colourful images but also provides a platform to explore regional variations.

Will commercial communication tap into street art or will we just allow homogenised electronic-age images to smoothen all our diversity into a blander, uniform landscape...

The Disposable Culture

Read this write-up in Brand Equity yesterday(14Mar) on the rising disposable culture. Nothing really new...It's just that the change has been dramatic and quite rapid...

As a child in a middle class house-hold, I remember we used to preserve everything - old newspapers, Amul Spray tins, plastic milk packets, old stationery, diaries, ball-point pens, old clothes(to be exchanged for new utencils) ...

Contrast this with today when relatively expensive cellphones are upgraded in 6 months to a years time!!

1. Its clearly been a move from a 'mindset of scarcity' to a 'mindset of consumerism'

2. As Santosh said in the article, as a nation we are going through a 'I am what I have' syndrome.

3. Perhaps the change is best captured by the middle class iconic brand Bajaj Auto's tagline. It changed from - 'Value for Money for years' to 'Inspiring Confidence'!

4. In under a decade, the replacement cycle for TVs and other consumer durables has come down from 8-10 years to 4-5 years!

5. However, we haven't lost our VFM mindset completely. Rarely would an Indian throw a durable. He would most likely upgrade to a newer durable/ gadget by exchanging the old one. The mindset still is 'Iska kuch toh mil hi jayega'!

6. Of course, the disposability index will vary widely within the same family. While the youngest members would believe in the use-and-throw religion, the grand-mother would still be using Amul Spray tins for keeping the pulses even while she might have upgraded to a new camera phone:-)

7. On a personal note, my new Nokia E-50 is my 6th phone in 7 years and yet when it comes to raddi(old newspapers), I hate to give it away free:-)

Ironic then how even with a new disposable mindset and with vastly shortened durable upgrade cycles, Gillette is still facing problems with its disposable razors in India!

The End Of A Century

On Tuesday night, Lower Parel's(Bombay) Century Mill had it's last shift. I of the India Shining generation, I of the 10% GDP, sensex tanking at 14K generation have little to do with the mill and the lives supported by them. Except for the fact that my agency is in a former Mill(Kamla) compound...

Yet, this article by Soumitra Ghosh in HT on Thursday made me pause and think. Don't know what else can a feeling of one achieve...

Some heart-felt comments/observations from the article...

1. On the last day, as the mill was about to be closed forever, ironically the only source of light for the workers wanting to read about labour rights and exploitation, came from across the street - from the lifestyle store NOSTALGIA!

2. The worker in the picture above - Jagannath Ganpath Kamble, a resident of Chawl no. 14, with a partial disability had this to say -" I joined the mill as a fitter when I was 20. Now. I am 52. In 1982, I lost part of my middle finger while greasing a machine. but I felt a strange sense of pride when I saw the blood rolling down the machine, That is what the mill meant to me."

3. "How come we are making losses? This(Century Mills) was the only mill that was continuously modernised in the country. Clothes are always in demand. Are we headed towards a naked civilization?" asks a 54 year old worker, who has been working at the oldest and the biggest mill in the city for the past 36 years"

4. "Yeh company zabardasti ko voluntary bolna sikhaya. Jaisa murder karke log khud kushi bolta hai", says a 47-year old mill worker and one of the 6000 to accept VRS.

5. The government decided to allow the mill owners to sell the lands(600 acres of prime property in the heart of the city) so it would draw in sky-high real estate rates.

But the sale(of mill lands) has only pushed the prices upwards, making the mill lands graveyards for the workers and vineyards for the super rich -says a worker.

6. "Just as one stops feeling any emotion the day death visits a loved one, I too don't feel anything," says 32 year old worker Santosh Parab, in a whispering voices.

As I said earlier, I don't know what I/we can do apart from looking at the razed mills as I/ some of us cross the Lower Parel fly-over every day.

This is the grim other side of the retail boom. The stories of lives affected adversely, buried in the inner pages of the dailies while the Walmart-Bharti/ Reliance Retail and the Future Group grab column cm on pg1.

What makes the Global Indian Manager Tick?

Offline or online, India seems to be the flavour of the year/ decade! At least the select media that I manage to consume suggests so! As always there is lots of genuine interest as also loads of hype about the not-so-large consumerist India which gets equated to the entire nation!

And in this 'India Shining' story are regularly covered the talented Indian managers - globally in hot demand! In fact today's CD(Corporate Dossier with the ET) once again talks about this breed/ brand.

Since I have nursed a desire like many of us to work in a global/ regional set-up, I found it interesting to probe what makes these successful Indian managers tick!

There are the poster boys - Rajat Gupta of McKinsey, Rana Talwar(ex Standard Chartered Bank) and the latest entrant Indra Nooyi of Pepsico!

The new kids to the club are the likes of Bharat Puri(former CEO of Cadbury India) now in Singapore with regional responsibilities, Siddharth Verma(former Reebok CEO) heading the company's ops in Japan. The list keeps on ballooning...Well even in advertising, with the likes of Asit Mehra( ex-Lowe now Omnicom) making headlines from time to time!

As we move into the future, it will increasingly be very important to have skills that work on a global scale.

Some reasons why Indian managers tick.

1. "Knowledge, expertise, analytical flair and cultural adaptability set the Indian managers apart" - Sanjay Nayyar, CEO - Citigroup India

2. "The ability to take on a lot of responsibility early in their careers, willingness to quickly adapt to new businesses and cultures and highly flexible in their career and location choices are the key attributes that set them apart" - Mohit Nayyar, Associate Director HR, P&G India.

3. The Indian education system emphasises learning the basics and on the left side of the brain rather than the right side which leads to greater analytical skills.

4. The other ace up his sleeve is his single minded drive to achieve success at any cost. Middle class ethos of a large number of these managers is reponsible for this hunger for both knowledge and success!

There is a down-side to the Indian manager as well.
For example the natural inclination of the Indian manager to over-intellectualise and his tendency towards too much debate at the expense of action sometimes is a deterrent to his rise.

Every management guru worth his salt is predicting that in the future all industries will be creative industries. And that's where an over dependence on the analytical skills will not be advantage 'Indian' anymore...

I also have some stray personal observations from my work environment - current and past. Word of caution.(Sweeping generalisations are never totally correct.) And of course the experience would be limited to the narrow silo of advertising that I am familiar with! Nevertheless...

1. Indians are still lousy when replying, attending to communication from strangers, people not known to them.

2. We are relatively speaking more 'hierarchy conscious'

3. We are quite uncomfortable discussing/ debating/ formalising/ learning about the softer side of our business. I often hear in training programmes the total cynicism to such issues. 'Yeh sab fluff/ faff/ gas hai'

4. Over the years we have become quite 'jugaadu' in our mentality. I see little desire to be 'original' in our thoughts and POV.

5. We might be efficient and effective managers. But our tribe sorely lacks in leadership.

6. We are also quite self-obsessed. Profit and personal goals and ambitions are the over-riding drivers. Social and environmental causes are generally not on the radar. Again my experience is the narrow domain of advertising.

In the future what might help us succeed globally is more right-brained thinking. Let's not forget that we would all be expected to be creative - creative servicing, creative planning, creative finance management, creative team management, creative leadership. Being creative will be our biggest skill/ asset.

Increased globalisation will also demand more collaborative thinking, more flexibility, more leadership and more visionary thinking!

India in Numbers

Mera Number Aayega
Numbers give a perspective to life around us. While I am not really quant-obsessed, I love relevant statistics. It helps close arguments. Vaidate hypotheses in new business pitches, etc.

Numbers help plug the gaps in thoughts. Hypotheses. And everywhere else!

Some India, Chindia and India Vs US numbers:

1. The median age for Indians is 24.9 years, compared to 32.7 years for the Chinese.
2. There are 17,189 colleges and universities in India, while the US has 4182.
Of course hundreds of them may have dubious infrastructure...

3. 23 mn Indians watch movies daily, against an impressive 20 mn in the US.
4. 86% Indians have access to clean water, in comparison to 77% in China. I am surprised!!

5. India has 32 Internet subscribers per 1000 people, China has 73
6. It takes a company 264 hrs to file taxes in India, compared to 325 hrs in the US.

7. 125 Fortune 500 companies have research bases in India, while China has a whopping 400 of them!
8. 300 TV channels in India in 2005 compared to 112 in 2000.

9. 12,500 single screens in India compared to just 1629 in the US. India has 250 multiplexes while the US has 1523!
10. 108 mn homes with TV sets in India. It's the same as in the US. But while India has only 51% TV penetration, the US has 100% TV coverage!

11. Among the English newspaper reading audience the men to women ratio is 65:35.
12. 7000 homes with people meters in India vs 20,000 in the US.

13.18.57 cr people listen to the radio at least once a week. Each person listens to an average of 90 minutes per week.
14. Indians spend 2 hrs watching the TV every week compared to 6hrs in the US.

15. Rs. 13,200 cr advertising revenues in India('05) which is 0.34% of the GDP while the global average is 0.98% of the GDP.
16. $30mn is the annual market for gaming in India('05 figures, the category is growing exponentially) compared to an enormous $10bn in the US.

17. 1050 movies produced in India. The US figure was 250 in 2005.
18. 11,000 visitors go to the Red Fort everyday compared to 16,000 visitors who troop daily to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

19. The size of the Indian animation market is $285 mn. The global animation market $25 bn in 2005.
20. Rs. 920 cr gross expenditure on R&D for every citizen. China spends 3 times more and the US 50 times more than us!!

Maybe its a good idea to compile them together...Chindia is a good turf to be experts at!

Do send me interesting stats if you are hoarding them on your server/ hard disk/ CD!

Source : India Today