There's something ethereal about wearing 'Cuba'. Suddenly its the streets of Havana, smoke filled and lit by the groovin', more than the lights. The bars are packed to hilt and dreamy women seem to glide by. The feeling's beyond magical.
How did I get there?
Before I explain, I gotta tell you about the power of brands to take you places. Brands bring with them an ability to prompt you to conjure up the unreal. They can transform your reality into fantasy. And consumers are more than willing partners to brands as the drudgery they face in everyday life begs an injection of fantasy. Brands that operate in a zone of the unreal do the conjuring act as there's nothing else that consumers can call for, while making judgements. For instance, what should I be judging the lip paint on? Its colour and tone or its ability to turn me into a diva?
Cuba's a perfume. The moment I wear it, I am traipsing the streets of Havana. Its smoke filled bars I see. Its music I hear and angels I witness. Now, that makes 'Cuba' more than a perfume. It makes it sheer magic! And I am hypnotised.
Reality check? I've run out of Cuba. Currently its me rummaging Alphy's closet to get me a perfume. I find Elizabeth Taylor's 'White Diamonds' tucked away at a corner. I sneak a squeeze.
Problem is, where do I go? :)
Wednesday 10 February 2010
Wearing Cuba means Walking Cuba
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Apology's just a good start
Akio Toyoda's note of apology featured in the Washington Post aims to achieve two things. It puts the company's response out there for everyone to take in, and also acts as a PR response to the negative publicity caused by the recall.
Akio's response has been quick and measured, and in so much, perfect. Yet what still remains to be seen is how it plays out. That is, how Toyota's cars in the future are going to be. Will they be blemish free? If yes, Toyota's would have dug itself out. Also note, GM and Ford are only getting better with their brands.
For the moment, I suspect sales will take a beating. Though in the long run, Toyota's bound to be back.
For now, its wait and watch.
Three Years & Counting
Its now three years since I started on this Blog. I wouldn't have known if Prof. Asha hadn't pointed it out. Thank you to her.
Its mostly been fun writing. Its been fun knowing that everything that happens can be material for my blog.
Thank you to all who've visited. Hope I can keep at it.
Have at it
'Afterwards I gave my son a huge hug; he had performed well all day. He fell into my arms in tears. To his young (and competitive) mind the difference between his team taking first and finishing in second place was the missed element in his routine.
My heart broke for my son. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. I have three sons and have wiped many tears over the years – some of them my own. Disappointment is part of life and salving the wounds of disappointment is part of a parents’ job description. Call it the bittersweet experience of parenthood; bitter because the tears we kiss away are always salty; sweet because these moments flavor our lives forever; they remain with us as parents and are part of the glue of trust that bonds our children to us.
I held my son as tightly as I could. I kissed his face and wiped away his tears. I whispered to him over and over again how proud I was of him–how proud his mother was of him. It had been a long weekend; he was emotionally and physically tired. I wanted to hold him up. I thought that if I held him tightly enough he might understand how deeply and utterly in love with him I am and that would make everything better.
I was recently asked to contribute some thoughts to a book aimed at young women aspiring to have it all: career, family and marriage. “What would you tell your daughters?” was how it was put to me. As it happens I don’t have any daughters; I have 3 sons and what I tell them is the same thing I would tell them if they were girls; it is the same thing I learned last week. Professional success is important; it can do wonders for our self-esteem to say nothing of our bank accounts. It provides us with status, luxury and comfort. None of these are bad things. However, at the end of the day life is about relationships. Never miss the opportunity to wipe away your child’s tears, or hug them in celebration. If you miss the opportunity to laugh with your best girlfriend until your sides hurt; make love to your spouse late into the night, sip tea with your grandmother; listen to your fathers old stories or any number of other wonderful moments because you are chasing professional success you will have missed a great deal. More importantly you will have missed the point. At the end of our journey on this side of the darkness neither our children nor anyone else will care about our degrees, awards or how much money we saved the company. Everyone will, however, remember the warmth of our hugs, the tenderness of our kiss and the spirit of our laughter.
Have at it.'
- Joseph C Phillips, 'Don’t Miss the Point and Don’t Miss Out'.
Sphere: Related ContentWhy Private isn't Palatable
I think the prospect of personal gain is a more powerful driver of co-operation than the idea of the general good... Exchange, though motivated by self-regard, spreads benefit far and fast across the planet...
Despite the fact that self regard 's our best chance at fair exchanges, it isn't easy convincing the average citizenry. Especially in countries trying to shrug off their socialist past. Take India for example. It isn't easy convincing people that their best bet for quality education is if private parties deliver it at a price of their choosing in exchange for a quality commensurate to that price. This is so, as when it comes education, its difficult to convince a citizenry used to governmentalised education that private parties can do it even better. Again, education as a service when tied to the prospect of profit making, renders it unpalatable. Its as if, how can education be sold at profits? Shouldn't it be given out of the goodness of a party's heart?
The unequivocal answer to goodness driving education is, its a pipe dream. To understand this better, look at the state of healthcare. That people today are convinced about healthcare doing better in private hands is because they've been able to see outcomes in a manner that's stark and clear. I can't believe anyone goes to a government hospital thinking the quality of health care is top notch. They do so solely due to the fact that its affordable, which in turn is thanks to subsidies. Now I am not saying that private healthcare providers aren't fallible. Of course, they mess up too, but to a far lesser degree. And so the average citizen who can afford healthcare in India prefers a private provider, because he knows his chances of getting cured are far higher.
Now such an apparent comparison of outcomes isn't possible when it comes to education. At least not to the extent of healthcare. Most 'top' educational institutions, especially in business are government run. Note, they've been around for years selling their services at subsidised rates. It is but natural they would be preferred. Private providers are recent. This is the transition period for business education, in India. Quality business providers will have to sell their education services at premium rates because the quality they deliver rakes in costs. For a while this may mean that its out of reach for the common man. But over time prices will rationalise, and a range of education services at different prices will be offered. The waiting won't be easy for buyers and so in the meanwhile private players will bear the brunt of the learner's angst.
But just like the way it is in other industries (when was the last time you trusted a consumer good that came out of a government factory?), private players will prevail. Because like Dr. Eamonn Butler said, 'The prospect of personal gain is a more powerful driver of co-operation than the idea of the general good.'
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 8 February 2010
Why we 'really' do what we do
'Third, while we share many of the same ideals, I think the prospect of personal gain is a more powerful driver of co-operation than the idea of the general good. In exchange, both sides benefit – or they would not do it. We only gain personally if we can make someone else better off too. Exchange, though motivated by self-regard, spreads benefit far and fast across the planet. It encourages people to build up and look after their productive resources, allowing goods and services to be produced ever more cost-effectively. It works, even despite the best efforts of politicians to divert it for their own ends. Plumbers get up at three in the morning to fix people's blocked drains because they get a direct personal benefit from doing it. Would they get up at three out of the goodness of their hearts?'
- Dr. Eamonn Butler, 'Capitalism or Socialism?'
Easy on the senses gets the Masses
Some time ago Anita said something remarkable. That in Delhi the most people read is Chetan Bhagat. Surprisingly, the last time I was at Delhi airport, the guy next to me was buried deep in a book. Needless to say, it confirmed what Anita had said.
There must be something about Chetan Bhagat (his site calls him the paperback king of India) that makes the masses want to read him. I guess Chetan is to Books in India, what McDonald's is to Fast food. Easy read. Not taxing at all. Truth is, you don't need a PhD to finish the book.
Easy on the senses is what the gets the masses. The moronic song and dance routine gets crowds. Heavy story line and its a trickle. If its masses brands target, sophistication can best be abandoned. Ditto for anything serious. Nice and easy is the way to go.
Personally, I can't get to reading Chetan Bhagat. Too easy, I guess. If its relaxing I want from a book, I still pick Sherlock and his ways. Last night, right before bed, I reread how Black Peter got speared by a harpoon, for the umpteenth time.
And then it was peaceful sleep.
Says something about me?
Sunday 7 February 2010
The Idiocy in Local Food
'Let’s get real, people: Globalization is the best thing that ever happened to mankind. Most of the edibles you enjoy on a daily basis come from thousands of miles away, grown in climates where you wouldn’t want to live: Coffee, sugar, chocolate, wheat, rice, cinnamon, vanilla — the list is endless. Civilizations have risen and fallen in pursuit of new foods. The Romans conquered North Africa to get access to its wheat fields; the Arabs invented international capitalism by gaining control of the spice trade; the French and the English colonized half the globe to bring home sugar and tea. The story of the last 4,000 years is the story of our quest for exotic foods.
And here comes the locavore movement to say, in essence, Let’s go back to neolithic times when we only ate what grew in the immediate vicinity. I say: Screw that. We worked hard as a species to gain access to every imaginable kind of food that this planet can grow. I’m not about to give it all up now just so I can feel a little more smug.'
- Zombie, 'The Elitism and Racism of “Local Food” and the Edible Schoolyard'.
Hari Sadu - Redux falls to Weber Curse
Its done damage earlier. Its done it again. Its the Weber curse.
First, the law. Weber's law states that the ratio of the increment threshold to the background intensity is a constant. So when you are in a noisy environment you must shout to be heard while a whisper works in a quiet room. And when you measure increment thresholds on various intensity backgrounds, the thresholds increase in proportion to the background.
Naukri.com had a brilliant commercial in Hari Sadu, Round I. Real funny stuff. Then they bring version II. Its falls flat. Hari Sadu, redux isn't funny. Worse, I couldn't even figure what the commercial was about till a magazine article explained it to me. For Redux to have worked, Hari Sadu and the story line had to be funnier. It wasn't. My bet is, give it a few days, the plug will be pulled on the commercial.
Let me now venture a guess on why Hari Sadu redux, or for that matter most reduxes fail. Creative ideas flower out of a process. Wallas' creative process, for example, consists of four stages, namely, Preparation, Incubation, Illumination and Verification. My guess is, when the agency working for Naukri started on an idea for their client, they started with a clean slate. They must have gone through the kind of stages Wallas' talks about to arrive at Hari Sadu and the story line. But the next time around when asked, the agency didn't have a clean slate to start with. They must have been briefed to build on Hari Sadu and ensure the communique centers on 'jobs being back'. With such a 'restricted' backdrop, creativity suffers. In fact the mind starts to turn more rational. Moving away from a zone of creativity, the mind now wanders a structured plane, thus losing out on an ability to be original. The result, is out there for all to see.
Hari Sadu, Round I made us laugh. Hari Sadu redux has us scratching our heads.
Saturday 6 February 2010
One's Staple is another's Scarcity
I noticed families of construction workers, living close to where we stay, slaving at a fire in the process of cooking. It was meat they were smoking. And my instant thought was, what an irony! The very same smoked preparations appear on snobby restaurant menus as delicacies at premium prices.
Its easy to see why.
It isn't easy for the rich to come by what's staple for the poor. The scarcity thus felt poses an opportunity that's been cashed in. The food's smoked delicately, garnished finely and served. A hefty bill follows.
One man's staple is another's scarcity. Therein lies an opportunity. The dirt and squalor of an Asian street is saleable to the westerner, who drops in to experience it, hoping nirvana is tucked away at some cubbyhole corner. The contrast is Asians gleeing in delight at walking down a neatly tiled street in some European country. The Westerner strips down on beaches to burn his bleached skin. He calls it a tan. The Indian on the other hand covers up in layers so he can climb the hills and take in the chill.
We desire what's scarce. As consumers too, we do exactly the same. For brands to rake in desire, scarcity becomes a must. If that scarcity's real, the job's easy. If it isn't, it becomes quite a task to keep the brand scarce.
Either way, the key remember, is in keeping consumers away from laying theirs hands easy, on what you sell.
Thursday 4 February 2010
What binds Shah Rukh & Gao Zhisheng
The story of Gao Zhisheng and Shah Rukh don't have much in common. Yet there's a similar streak that binds them together. Their stories talk about societies that can't guarantee freedom to its citizens. And such societies won't ever lead the world. Socially or business wise.
Business brands that rule are born out of acts of innovation. Such innovations flourish in societies that allow for varied and dissenting expressions. Its no wonder why the West has a stranglehold on innovation across business sectors. America, I believe, has nothing to worry from the 'rise' of China and India. For that 'rise' is essentially about consumers hungry for products and services. And if you were to closely watch consumption in these societies, you'd see western brands gaining in strength, day by day.
Shah Rukh must be accorded the freedom to have his movies screened.
Gao Zhisheng must be freed.
To know how you can put in your support to either, visit here and here.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Apparent & The Hidden
All of us move up levels on the Maslowian hierarchy. Which means our needs change and therefore the factors that motivate change accordingly. For example, when you sought your first job it was about working for a branded company that paid well. Pay was important. But years later, pay isn't as important as position. Its designations that now matter. On the hierarchy, from a lower 'security level' you've moved to 'esteem'.
Now when the move on the hierarchy plays out in front of you, its fascinating to watch it unfold. More so if its a li'l child in question. I am talking my three year old son, Jaden. Earlier his obstinacy centered around him wanting something as a response to a physiological need. Chocolates when he was hungry, though we disapproved. But now, its more than just a physiological response. This morning he insisted on having the complete pack of Ginger biscuits. He refused to share one with Alphy. He very well knew he wouldn't be able to finish the pack, yet wanted the whole of it. It wasn't so much satiating hunger he was insisting on, it was more a show of will that he wanted us to recognise and respect. Meaning, he wanted the power to dictate terms. Its more ego than anything else.
We know at such times our response has to be thoughtful. Deny, and we dent his identity, acquiesce and we may be setting ourselves up for more unreasonable obstinacy in the future. What did we do? We let him have the whole pack with the condition that once he's finished, if there would be biscuits left, they'd go to mom.
Its interesting how most motives have within them an element of our desire to dictate identities. On the surface responses may seem as reactions to apparent needs, but they aren't. Its important for us to gauge the needs that fall in the territory of esteem. This understanding is imperative to marketers too. Consumer don't buy purely on functional considerations, there's almost always a hidden psychological motive that comes along. Brands that are able to connect are ones that can uncover hidden motives. The Soft Drink isn't just about thirst, its about personality. The Denim trousers aren't about clothes, but attitudes. And so on.
Brands that score are brands that uncover. The apparent and the hidden.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 1 February 2010
Reference prices did Newsday in
A redesign and relaunch that costs four millions dollars for sales of $9000.
Shocking?
You bet. The brand in question is the Newsday website that went for paid subscription to their content and ended up having 35 people sign on in three months. The Dolans who bought the New Island daily and relaunched its website wouldn't have done so if they had an inkling of the concept of 'reference prices'.
Consumer use reference prices as basis for comparison. That is, they compare the asking price with what they have as a reference price. Now the reference price could either be internal or external. Internal reference prices are drawn from memory for comparisons, whereas external prices are ones taken off competing brands. What's the reference price when it comes to new content online? Zilch. Surfers currently pay zilch for news content. If that were so, why should they be paying for such content just because its on a redesigned news site? They won't and they didn't. That's why Newsday.com is in trouble.
To get consumers to pay, Newsday will have to have content that is differentiated and worthy of payment. That is difficult to come by when the same news content hits news sites around the world and is available for free. Sure, Newsday.com can come up with news analysis, but hey, even that's available for free elsewhere.
I am not too sure if anything can save Newsday except maybe all news sites turning into pay sites. That, at least for now isn't going to happen and even if it were, I am sure someone who has access to the very same news will then propagate it free of cost.
Shall I say R.I.P., Newsday.com?
What's it with Tim Tebow Ad?
'The real problem with the Tim Tebow ad has nothing to do with football, nothing to do with the legalities of abortion on demand and nothing to do with all the people now living, walking, talking breathing.
It has everything to do with the value of each and every human being, the unknown possibilities of every conceived child and the profound weight of the decision that mothers and fathers made when they chose to conceive.
In the end, abortion proponents are forced to focus only on the mother’s financial, physical and emotional well-being. If they, even for one minute, stop to consider the non-choice of another human being (not to mention fathers), all their arguments to women suddenly fall on deaf ears.
Tim Tebow, with quite astounding football prowess, is one child who was allowed to live. And grow and prosper. And succeed. To the delight of his parents and his family, friends and football fans.
Since 1973, 51 million Americans just like him were not given this privilege. They were killed by abortionists before they had the chance to show what they could be.
And that is a message that the abortion lobby cannot dare let come to light.
Therein lies the problem with the Tebow ad.'
- Kyle Ann Shriver, 'Former Fetuses Unite: So What, Really, Is the Problem with the Tim Tebow Ad?'
Sunday 31 January 2010
The unfair in Fairness creams
'Fairness creams do make you temporarily lighter skinned. But for how long? How fair we are is not only genetically determined but is also dependent on factors like pollution, nutrition and everyday exposure to UV rays. Also, medication for common ailments like diabetes, hypertension and asthma may cause your skin to darken a bit. No whitening cream can help anyone battle clinically related skin-darkening. While using fairness products, the skin has to be constantly protected from sun damage and, as any good doctor will tell you, as soon you stop using these potions, the effects reverse. Which means, you are signing up for a lifetime use of potentially risky products to stay fair. Does your insurance policy cover expenses to treat dermatological allergies or irreversible damage to the body due to extensive use of whitening products? Or do you plan to give them up after retirement, or perhaps after your daughter is married? It’s not a feminist, class or race debate anymore—at least not exclusively. It’s a health and safety issue. Perhaps it is time to be fair to ourselves.'
- Shefalee Vasudev, 'So What If You Aren’t Shahrukh, You Can Still Be An Ass'.
Toyota rider recommends Public Transport
I had earlier recommended being wary about do-gooders saying its their good that matters more to them than anything else.
Here's a recent report on a do-gooder who recommends we use public transport while he takes spins in his Toyota Corolla. The man in question, TERI honcho Rajendra Pachauri, former railway engineer, is wealthy beyond belief. Oh, he's a preacher too. Who never practices.
He rides around in a Toyota Corolla leaving behind great carbon footprints, whilst we, according to him, are supposed to fall in love with public transport.
Though disgusting, I guess its still good advice.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Junk Science of Climate Change
'Science is based on three fundamental pillars. The first is fallibility. The fact that you can be wrong, and if so proven by experimental input, any hypothesis can be—indeed, must be—corrected.
This was systematically stymied as early as 2004 by the scientific in-charge of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Change Unit. This university was at the epicentre of the ‘research’ on global warming. It is here that Professor Phil Jones kept inconvenient details that contradicted climate change claims out of reports.
The second pillar of science is that by its very nature, science is impersonal. There is no ‘us’, there is no ‘them’. There is only the quest. However, in the entire murky non-scientific global warming episode, if anyone was a sceptic he was labelled as one of ‘them’. At the very apex, before his humiliating retraction, Pachauri had dismissed a report by Indian scientists on glaciers as “voodoo science”.
The third pillar of science is peer group assessment. This allows for validation of your thesis by fellow scientists and is usually done in confidence. However, the entire process was set aside by the IPCC while preparing the report. Thus, it has zero scientific value.'
- Ninad D Sheth, 'The Hottest hoax in the world'.
The Marketing Opportunity in 'Rejection'
Brands that get turned down for spots on Superbowl are as lucky as the ones that make it. Thank consumer curiosity for that. GoDaddy was the first to recognise a PR opportunity in their rejected commercials. The knew viewers would be as curious to watch what was turned down as the ones that finally ran on Superbowl. And so they put their 'banned' commercials up on their website inviting viewers to go to there and watch them.
Consumer curiosity if tapped into well, can have huge payoffs. Because curiosity led engagements are active. Consumers take the initiative to respond. They become active participants and therefore tend to turn fertile ground for brand engagements that will be remembered. Viewers will remember GoDaddy because they took the time to find their 'banned' commercials.
It may have been curiosity that prompted viewers on to the GoDaddy site, but it was marketing acumen that had GoDaddy see an opportunity where others saw rejection. And that, note, is what deserves applause.
Saturday 30 January 2010
Gift of India is Gift of Gratitude
The gift of India is the gift of gratitude. Living in a country where you are constantly reminded of how many people are less fortunate than you are, the result is, you stay grounded. You know what you have is what you need to be thankful for. If food comes plenty on the table, you still know there are many homes with no tables, worse, no food. If its a car you drive, you know there are places where roads don't exist and feet's all that takes people place to place, via non-existent paths.
These extremes go a long way in making India truly 'real'. What you see around is no illusion, its stark reality. This is one, and I believe the only reason why products and brands in India won't be taken for granted as is common in the west. A bottle of soda doesn't mean much, there. In India, its still a luxury and so is consumed with care, at least by the masses. For many, its even a treat.
This is why people in India spend time fixing the 'real', not fretting 'bout issues that's in vogue with many in the west. For example, Socialism sits pretty with many in Hollywood, because they've no idea what its like to wait in lines for rationed products. I bet they don't even know there's something called kerosene. Which is big in India, among lower classes as the all important fuel that powers their lamps and stoves. Bet Hollywood doesn't know that to get kerosene, many in India line up at government stores where they are rationed.
The misery that the masses live out in India is no fun at all. Yet that very same misery is what forces someone like me to count my blessings. That misery is at heart of my belief that products and brands at Indian home are treats. The knowledge that they don't come easy for multitudes is humbling.
Sure, my prayer for the future is that homes in India are dotted with brands. Though I fervently hope, when that day comes, gratitude won't get the boot.
Sphere: Related ContentEquality means Equal Poverty
'As long as the poor have not been getting poorer, which they clearly have not, and everybody’s standard of living is rising, why does it matter that the rich are getting richer? So what? Of the top twenty billionaires in The Sunday Times Rich List, more than half are self-made. Why do we begrudge them their success?
The central contention of the report is that inequality is at its highest since the war. In what screwed-up, quango-ish world does anyone think that we were better off in the 1940s, when everyone was broke, rationed and enslaved to a non-consumerist domestic drudgery?...
The problem is not the existence of inequality, but the absence of social mobility. It matters not one jot that Sir Philip Green has a yacht and you have a plastic bath duck. What matters is that the conditions exist to allow you to work towards yacht ownership if that is what you want. Aspiration and education are everything in this debate, not handwringing about some notional measure of inequality.
How do you legislate towards a more equal society anyway? What does it look like? Perhaps it means taxing the rich out of existence, or at least forcing them overseas, so that the only people left are those whose income Ms Harman approves off. Perhaps it means more state handouts, so that aspiration becomes irrational. Rich white men live longer. That is just so unequal. Do we need means-tested euthanasia for the over-65s? Let’s all mainstream some equal mortality figures.'
- Antonia Senior, 'Who wants equality if it means equal poverty?'
I'd rather write than speak. You?
A temporary hitch in connectivity at home sees me not being able to post, at least from home. At work, work's overwhelming. I could catch a breather now and so am writing.
Writing's such a thoughtful act. Far more than speaking. I need to think better and clearer to write. I can be daft up there and yet talk. Currently I owe an apology to two of my former students. Both wrote in to me sometime back and I haven't replied as yet. Maybe, I can speak to them. But I decide not to. Writing's so much better. And I want to write to them. So, my apologies, Yukti and Vamshi. I hope you read this. I will be writing soon and I want to. Hope you guys are as patient.
Written communiques are used by brands when the elaboration likelihood is greater. Print Ads work when you want to convince the consumer using a rational argument. Like I said, writing is thoughtful, and so should reading be. Speaking isn't, as much. And that's why commercials work when the elaboration likelihood is lower and when consumers aren't at their cognitive best. Speaking is less thoughtful and so is listening. Therefore commercials must limit the content of voice overs so the listener can understand better and easier.
I for one, prefer writing over speaking. Though the latter's easier, the former is what I want at.
Y & V, it would have been easier if we talked. I'd rather write. Hope you'd rather read! Oh, and wait!
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Societies that laze, not labour
The newly opened elevated expressway that connects BTM to Electronic city at Bangalore provides a convenient ride. An added advantage of the expressway is that its made the roads below less congested. That's because quite a few vehicles now take the elevated expressway. But then, despite all these enhanced conveniences, one thing hasn't changed.
People's attitudes. On the expressway and below it. Let me explain. Riding on the expressway that has two clearly marked lanes, I watch vehicles dart back and across on the lanes. No indicators, no lane discipline. Below, vehicles continue their mad rush which has gotten madder as the congestion eases up. Despite the increased speeds, I still watch in horror people jaywalking. Its a casual amble that I witness, when I see people cross roads perilously as vehicles rush by.
I guess, some things don't change. And this lack of change can be attributed to the concept of inertia. The desire to continue in a state of motion or rest.
The worst enemy of 'new' products or brands that come into a market is consumer inertia. A phenomenon that keeps consumers at their current products and current ways of behaviour. For example, Kellogg breakfast cereals don't just face Indian palates that refuse to switch. They face Indian attitudes too. For most people in India breakfast is something that appears on the table, courtesy moms or housemaids. Kellogg happens differently. You pick your bowl, grab the cereal box, fill it up, top it with milk and a sweetener. Then dig in. Its all done by you. When was the last time breakfast in India was done by the lazy eater?
The harder of aspects for brands to change is attitudes. Attitudes are what precede exhibited behaviour. An attitude of waiting at the table for breakfast means Kellogg's may be shunned. Because the eater has to do it himself. That's exactly what its like in many Indian classrooms too. Spoon fed kids don't know what its like to do the bulk of the learning on their own. And so if they are asked to, they balk. They throw up their hands in the air and wonder why there's such a diktat. Like I said, they'd rather be spoon fed.
Now, attitudes such as these aggregate and show up in society. As one that has a populace that lazes more than labours. Such societies I believe have a chance in hell to lead the future.
Pity.
I know.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
To know the Master, know the Dog
"But surely, Holmes, this has been explored," said I, "Bloodhounds-sleuth hounds-"
“No, no, Watson, that side of the matter is, of course, obvious. But there is another which is far more subtle. You may recollect that in the case which you, in your sensational way, coupled with the Copper Beeches, I was able, by watching the mind of the child, to form a deduction as to the criminal habits of the very smug and respectable father.”
“Yes, I remember it well.”
“My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the passing moods of others.”
- From 'The Adventure of the Creeping Man'.
Monday 25 January 2010
What Prayer really is
Listening to a prayer by a guest who's come home from Kerala brought back memories. Of listening to my grandma's prayer. She then lived at our ancestral home in a village. Her prayers I remember were more about safety and protection. She asked God to keep her loved ones and their property safe from any harm. To shield them from any evil that could be round the corner. Now this I remember was different from prayers I would listen to, when I was back home in Cochin, a city. People there prayed more about what they wanted, that could better their standard of living. It wasn't about safety. It was either jobs, or better jobs that they asked for. I guess they did that because they knew that better jobs paid more. And more money meant better products and services at home. Bettered standards of living.
What's fascinating about prayers is that, inherently they are designed to seek solutions to felt needs. For my grandma what was an immediate need was better security. Especially since she stayed at an ancestral home that was almost half a mile away from a neighbour's home. She knew this meant she was at the mercy of any mishap like a break in. She needed protection. She asked for the same from God. And God did answer, I guess. I can't remember of a break-in, ever. But for a city dweller the immediate need was a washing machine or a microwave oven. That cost money. And money came from jobs. So that was what was asked for, from God.
Now I think faith's a good thing. But one thing's for sure. Faith or whatever you call it finally translates into our selves seeking solutions to apparent needs. It may be divine intervention that's sought, but what remains as a backdrop to the act is human needs. Its hard for us to resist asking god to fulfill our desires, because we are wired to seek solutions to our biogenic and psychogenic needs.
Now on my part, I think prayer should be more an expression of gratitude to what we have, than a plea for what we don't.
I know, easier said than done.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday 24 January 2010
What's physical is what attracts
We think Jaden looks mighty cute. That shouldn't be a surprise. After all, we are his parents. But then we witness this phenomenon time and again when we take Jaden out. Perfect strangers are drawn to Jaden. They tousle his hair, or nudge his cheeks, trying to show their affection for him. Why, there was this one time when two girls walked up to us and asked if they could kiss him. He was a baby then. We were taken aback, but decided to let them have their wish. Soon they were on their way grinning broadly. I wonder what Jaden must have felt. I guess he was too young to even know. Nowadays he's more tuned in, but doesn't care too much for people's overtures.
Saturday 23 January 2010
Priyanka Chopra is an actress
The joke ain't on Priyanka Chopra winning the best actress award for 2009, the joke's putting her in the company of greats like Mohanlal and Mammooty. And the latter's what the best actress award's done. Bollywood, in fact, has swept the 56th National awards. My take? Bollywood and acting is akin to saying Barack understands what's it like to run a business.
When such asinine announcements are made, its the awards that lose credibility. I know its happened before, and so it was bound to happen again.
But then again fathom the response if this were to happen in the business and consumer world. Imagine if the JD Power surveys put the rickety HM Ambassador in company with Suzuki SX4? Bet JD Power then can kiss itself goodbye. I know the national awards will carry on, asinine acts and all. After all when the government's got to do with something, its never really any good.
Isn't it?
The Thrill is Gone!
Takin a cue for Drudge's headline, my pick for the weekend is Blues legend B B King's 'Thrill is Gone'.
Note, community organiser turned President of the United States Barack Obama plummets like never before. Rasmussen polls show that 25% of the US. voters Strongly Approve of the way Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18 (see trends).
Also, Obama is seen as anti-business by 77% of U.S. Investors.
The Thrill is Gone!
Oh, and Hail BB King!
Sphere: Related ContentFriday 22 January 2010
The common thread's Consumer Value Creation
It isn't easy teaching two courses at the same time. For me, currently, the two are Business Strategy and Internet Marketing. In fact, to slide from a certain business context in the classroom to another isn't easy. Business Strategy is more firm oriented, whereas Internet Marketing is function oriented. Yet what saves the day for me is the fact that despite different perspectives, the connect between the two contexts can be spotted if I try. Of course, that's what I do and so I see it. For example, the Internet as a revolutionary interface has had a big hand in firms altering their strategies. Tesco for example, uses the Internet to provide for an added retail interface to shoppers who want to shop for groceries via the Internet, when they don't have the time to go to an offline store. So Tesco's retail business model is such that the brick and mortar Tesco store 'complements' its click and mortar sibling.
The common thread across business functions is their orientation towards creating value for the consumer. And so it wouldn't matter if you work in, or study one function or the other. The focus always is on optimising on value delivery to consumers.
For me, teaching multiple courses is delightful to the extent that it opens up varied business contexts that I can access, that illustrate the pursuit of consumer value creation. The study and teaching that I engage in thus becomes a fascinating exercise.
Though I must hasten to add, at the end of the day, I am exhausted. Out of breath, but never out of drive.
Amen to that!
Sphere: Related ContentThursday 21 January 2010
Overcoming Perceptual Barriers
Mobility barriers are what stop firms moving from one strategic group to another in an industry. The concept of strategic groups and mobility barriers has acute relevance to firms trying to move into newer product categories or businesses within their own industries. Such strategic moves have to be carefully mapped in terms of opportunities that a firm can capitalise on, and internal competencies it can leverage.
But I believe there's an added perspective to such moves. What about the relevance such moves have from a consumer's perspective? Maybe internal competencies and opportunities that exist justify such moves. But will the consumer be as forthcoming? Would there arise perceptual barriers that put a spanner in the works?
I believe so. Let me demonstrate. In India most car majors entered the market either with small cars or sedan category cars. Over time, they moved to other strategic groups within the industry. The small car players graduated into sedan categories and vice-versa. As I mentioned, the added important consideration here is about consumer perceptions that follow such moves. Do consumers look at the car majors that graduate into sedan categories in better light vis-a-vis the ones that move down from sedans into small cars?
Let me first term the consumer driven barrier that encourages or discourages strategic moves as perceptual barriers. Which of the two moves face greater mindset barriers? I believe the 'small to sedan' move encounters greater perceptual barriers as compared to the 'sedan to small' move. That is, perception wise, consumers are more acceptable of sedan-to-small car category moves. A car major that's entered India with a sedan category car and subsequently moves into the small car category faces greater acceptance among consumers. Even to the extent that consumers may be willing to ascribe a premium on such small cars. For example, Toyota entered India with sedan category cars. It now intends to bring in a small car. I believe Toyota's small car will be awaited and then accepted more wholeheartedly. Not so for a major like Hyundai, which currently is extremely popular in the small car category, but has never found acceptance for its sedans. Consumers in India are unwilling to accept Hyundai as a sedan. However, they will continue to extend their patronage in the small car category.
Perceptual barriers, I believe are as critical as mobility barriers when it comes to strategic moves within an industry. Breaking a perceptual barrier is as important as overcoming mobility barriers. Else, a company may come up with a new product, but acceptance wouldn't necessarily be forthcoming.
Which means products, but no buyers. And the blame's not on products, but on perceptions.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Wagon Rides in India
'As for you, you return, your bladder unrelieved, to your berth and wonder why an emerging superpower can't have vacuum toilets on its trains, which apparently are running at a profit. You do more. You admire the genius of the Indian State that turns railway travel into a scatological circus. The State as crap-artist .
You are an optimist. You see no reason why trains in India can't be cleaner, why the Common Man-even if he is genetically programmed to prefer a LCD TV to a clean toilet-can't travel like he belonged to a society that can send a rocket to the moon whenever there is money to spare.
You lie there and think, staring in the dark at the berth above, that even as you thought, 1.5 crore people crisscrossing the holy, Vedic land in 900 trains daily are spraying crap at over 100 kilometres per hour across the length and breath of the nation. The nation through which Ganges flows! The nation of pure vegetarian food! And purer ghee! The nation of Brahmins who bathed thrice a day! The nation of perpetual hand washers!
Overhead, the sturdy black beetles of fans whir unstoppably through the pestilential air. You want fresh air. You tug at the glass window. It doesn't open. Ah, never engage with recalcitrance. You give up and look out. There is a full moon rising through the trees like a frisbee. It looks clean, white, beautiful. Another country. And you know for sure the train you are on is not going anywhere near it, no matter how fast it moves.'
- C P Surendran, 'Tale of a wagon tragedy'.
Its hard to remember, harder to forget
Work at work, and at home is beginning to overwhelm, especially since Alphy isn't well and in bed. The one thing I am guarding against is losing my temper with Jaden as he continues being his naughty self. Don't get me wrong, he isn't the destructive kind at all, yet work pressures sure can get to me.
The other day, a near spank Jaden had to endure left me not happy with myself. I mulled over my behaviour and knew I let the pressure get to me. The sour feeling I had about myself left a lousy taste that lingered overnight. Waking up to find Jaden sleeping like an angel and knowing he had surely forgotten my behaviour provided some solace. It was interesting knowing that he'd forgotten the incident, whereas I found it hard to erase from memory. For his age, it hadn't affected him, for mine, it left a sour feeling that was hard to wipe away.
In the consumer world too, most incidents or engagements will be forgotten. I forgot what happened at my retail store last month. I have a foggy memory of having shopped there, though I can't remember the details. Yet amongst this forgetful normalcy, some consumer engagements will be remembered. The delightful and the nasty ones. A delighted customer will remember enough to be back. The hurt one's gone forever. Now as much as possible, marketers must ensure customer encounters are made memorable. So they remember. So they come back.
Moreover what's fascinating is the fact that as much as its hard to remember, its harder to forget. And in the latter lies a marketing opportunity.
Of a lifetime. And its called Customer Life Time Value.
Monday 18 January 2010
What's not ordinary is what gets you talking
The weekend saw me take an official trip to Lucknow. Returned late last night. The flight into Lucknow was a pleasant but a long one. The trip started from Bangalore, on to Calcutta, then to Patna and finally to Lucknow. Whew! Now I must say Indigo does a great job with its flights. Decent flying and smart service on board.
And then there was this interesting incident on board. From Patna to Lucknow we had the former Railway Minister, also the former Chief Minister of Bihar as a co-passenger, sitting in the row beside us. Now it was my first time seeing Laluji and he turned out to be just the way he is on TV. He smiled at us and I guess we felt grand. Since returning back from Lucknow I must have narrated this incident to a quite a few people I came in contact with. The reason's pretty simple. After all, its not everyday you have Lalooji as a travelling companion, that too plonked on a seat beside you.
The Marketing angle to this whole incident is interesting too. Indigo did a great job in flying. Maybe the next time I scout for tickets, Indigo will be on my radar. But what got me talking was an incident on board, that was out of the ordinary. This incident loosens my tongue and I so go about repeating the story to people I know.
Brands must know that great performance may instigate loyalty. But then they must also know its what happens out the ordinary that gets the customer talking. About the brand or about its place in a story, to others. Such talk is what spreads the word about the brand to other possible customers. On my part, I mention Indigo because Laloo as on board. My narration of the story features Indigo, as an airline that did a great job at flying. This talk of mine paints a possibility of my loyalty, but more importantly, opens up an opportunity for the airline in terms of possible new customers. Because you read my story and maybe next time you consider Indigo as your airline of choice.
Thursday 14 January 2010
Survival matters, in Haiti
At times, brands don't matter. In fact, nothing does, except survival.
Praying for Haiti.
Sharon's Catherine Tramell vs. Meryl's Joanna Kramer
You could say its because I am besotted by her, but I recommend you don't 'cos she has an IQ of 154. The tabloid press may have reported her remark as being a backhanded compliment, but I recommend you not be be swayed, and instead analyse it for the 'marketing logic' it carries.
This is what Sharon Stone said about Oscar winning actress, Meryl Streep, "I think that's why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to. I look at her and I think, I'm chasing my kids, I've moved my parents in with me, I'm coping with food spills - that looks like me in real life. Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that's what I look like. To me, that looks true."
Sharon in saying what she said, has demonstrated the difference between what's termed 'Identification' and 'Aspiration'. We identify with what we are and aspire (read, desire) to be what we aren't. Meryl's who women viewers identify with, and Sharon's who they aspire (desire) to be.
Why Meryl's plenty on screen is because its the 'mass consumer effect'. Hordes of women, from middle and lower part of the class divide see her as embodying their lives. So they take to her, big time. Her movies are the kind they watch, thus, in effect giving her even more opportunities for roles on the silver screen.
Sharon's a contrast to Meryl. If not many, there surely must be women who desire to be Catherine Tramell. Maybe not literally. But at least that's the fantasy. Sharon plays such fantasy parts to perfection. With smoking hot looks and an attitude to match, Sharon's the one who can effortlessly get women to want to be in bed with a hidden icepick. The only hitch is, the Catherine Tramells can't come in mass consumer proportions. The opportunity on the sliver screen for such characters is limited, and therefore Sharon has to wait, while Meryl's continuously on song.
The marketing lesson in Sharon's comment is noteworthy. That if its identification that you can employ, it'll be mass consumer proportions that you get. If its aspirations that are being built, niche is what you can expect.
Pic: Wikipedia
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday 12 January 2010
Why Car searches begin online
Despite low Internet penetration level, according to a Google study, every third car buyer in India’s top cities start their search on the world-wide web. Four out of every ten new car buyers and three in every ten used car buyers use the Internet to do their initial research before making the purchase.
Let's figure why.
The reason why the Indian car buyer's (for that matter, any car buyer) online is twofold. One, their product involvement is high due to the purchase risk involved. This risk may be financial or even social, and so consumers actively seek external information about various available car brands. The information thus gathered helps them spot the right car brand, better. Two, the genesis to this search is the Internet simply due to the convenience it offers the searcher. The consumer doesn't have to move a muscle to access information about car brands, online. But whats important to note is that this search may only contribute the formation of the consumer's primary consideration set. Further evaluation of the brands in the set may require the consumer seek relevant reference groups. It may even result in a visit to the considered cars' showroom for a talk with the dealer and a test drive.
High product involvement means the information search by the consumer is active, external and widespread. The Internet is where such searches start, but surely not where they end. Curtailing the search would require the consumer go beyond confines of Internet into the real world.
'Cos that's where there's more information. And of course, the cars.
Sphere: Related ContentThe herd in Avatar viewers
People experiencing depressive or suicidal thoughts after viewing Avatar has more to do with Friedrich Nietzsche's Herd Mentality than anything else. Note, the exhibition of such thought has overflown on Avatar forums. More than a thousand posts have appeared following a thread titled, "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible".
Nietzsche's 'Herd Mentality' categorised people as belonging to two herds. One consists of people who subscribe to religious points of views and the beliefs therein. These in turn dictate their actions. The other, The 'Avatar-depressed kind', lend themselves to be influenced by media. Media communiques set the basis for what they perceive as right and wrong.
Avatar and its message has preyed on the people belonging to the latter heard, convincing them that human race will be responsible for the destruction of whatever is 'natural', in the future. The herd, buying into this story, huddles together to wail, as seen in the threads on the forum. I don't think we need to be unduly worried, as I guess they'll wise up pretty soon.
And then, we have Oliver Stone and Hitler to look forward to. When that happens, there's real material there, to be depressed.
China in the Auto seat
China's now supplanted the U.S. as the world’s largest auto market after its 2009 vehicle sales jumped 46 percent. Goes to show how economic growth averaging nine percent's behind greater consumer and industrial buys.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 11 January 2010
Perceptual Blocking on a Bus ride
The most stressful a bus ride gets for me is when there's a psycho driving and I sitting up front, am witness to his insane manoeuvres on the road. I try my best not be hassled by the bus' swerving and weaving. But I tell you, at times your body involuntarily flinches as the bus gets too close to another vehicle. The best way to manage this stress, I found, is to close your eyes and let your ears tune into music from an MP3 player.
This 'defense act' of mine comes close to being termed as perceptual blocking. Note, mine is a conscious act. Perceptual Blocking is about consumers protecting themselves from being bombarded with stimuli by simply "tuning out", blocking such stimuli from conscious awareness. They do so out of self protection because of the visually overwhelming nature of the world they live in.
Perceptual blocking is one reason why marketers need to careful using, for example, fear appeal as content in their communiques. Push the fear too hard, and consumers will block out the 'fear-instilled' stimuli. That is, if the image in the advert is too macabre, then rather than shocking people into compliance, it would only have them shielding their eyes from what's featured.
Perceptual blocking is our way of ensuring that we aren't overwhelmed by all the stimuli around us. Stimuli that our senses can respond to. Its what helps us maintain a sense of balance in an otherwise uneasy world of stimuli overload.
Its also my way of ensuring I have a stress free ride on a bus.
Sunday 10 January 2010
The experience of Natural User Interface
'But I believe we will look back on 2010 as the year we expanded beyond the mouse and keyboard and started incorporating more natural forms of interaction such as touch, speech, gestures, handwriting, and vision -- what computer scientists call the "NUI" or natural user interface. This process is already well underway through the proliferation of new touch screen phones and PCs, and in our growing reliance on voice-controlled in-car technology for communications, navigation, and entertainment...
While Project Natal will transform the video gaming and in-home entertainment experience, I believe it only hints at the potential of the technology behind it. In the near future, computers will do more than work at our command: they will work on our behalf, acting as assistants that understand what we want and possessing the intelligence to carry out complex tasks in a way that accurately reflects -- and even predicts -- our preferences and intentions.
Simply put, NUI is about easing discovery so that the computing technology that surrounds you acts as a more natural and dynamic partner, not a tool, for helping you work, live and have fun. And, I believe these advances will help usher in a new generation of human-computer interaction this decade.'
- Steve Ballmer, 'CES 2010: A Transforming Trend -- The Natural User Interface'.
Saturday 9 January 2010
By George, Consumer Hell or Happiness?
'This is the consumer society taken to its logical extreme: the Earth itself becomes disposable. This idea appears to be more acceptable in some circles than any restraint on pointless spending. That we might hop, like the aliens in Independence Day, from one planet to another, consuming their resources then moving on, is considered by these people a more realistic and desirable prospect than changing the way in which we measure wealth.
So how do we break this system? How do we pursue happiness and well-being rather than growth? I came back from the climate talks Copenhagen depressed for several reasons, but above all because, listening to the discussions at the citizens’ summit, it struck me that we no longer have movements; we have thousands of people each clamouring to have their own visions adopted. We might come together for occasional rallies and marches, but as soon as we start discussing alternatives, solidarity is shattered by possessive individualism. Consumerism has changed all of us. Our challenge is now to fight a system we have internalised.'
Oh, I think I get it, George. We replace a consumerist society with one that pursues happiness and well being, not growth. But pray, how do I get to happiness and well being? Oh, it dawns on me. I meditate, mull over my cosmic being and go back to being a caveman. That should do me and the rest of the world a whole lot of good. But then, I decide not to. I'll tell you why. Because while I am ready to go back to chomping on carrots and sitting cross legged, I am not sure if the ones who preach the cross-legged carrot solution are themselves doing what I do. Plus the solution's bogus. We should know it by now.
I'll let James Lewis illustrate what I've said.
'BBC’s climate doom correspondent Paul Hudson asked plaintively a few months ago: “What happened to global warming?” Wrote Mr. Hudson:
'This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might the fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998. But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.'
Here’s a guy who built a glittering career on global warming fraud. That BBC headline should have collapsed the whole fraud right there and then. After all, the Bolshie Beeb has been leading this charge for decades. Paul Hudson’s public confession is like Gorbachev finally ‘fessing up that Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Fidel, Kim, Pol Pot (and Obama) had it completely wrong after all. All those 100,000,0000 dead people and nothing to show for it. The Beeb’s Orwellian Ministry of Truth has been pushing global warming every single hour of the day for lo these many years. Now the New York Times actually had to go out and find an honest man to break the news to its readers (John Tierney). Its global frauding correspondent, Andrew Revkin, has resigned and fled the scene of the crime.
Scientists used to be poor but honest, but that was when they slept in garrets and dressed in grungy sweaters. Today they have glittering dollar signs where their eyeballs used to be, like a Vegas slot machine, and their magic number has 13 zeroes: ten trillion dollars for climate fraud. That’s an official estimate from the “Stern Review,” authored by distinguished British fraudocrat Lord Nicholas Stern in 2006. The same number also comes from the skeptical side, from the Marshall Institute, which has done careful economic projections about the cost of “global warming” abatement.
That’ll be ten trillion dollars, please. Cha-ching! Shall I wrap up that planet or do you want to eat it here? Ten trillion buckarooneys is why all those green fraudsters jetted into Copenhagen, and that’s why they kept going for a while even after Climategate ripped open their fraud for all the world to see.'
Coming back to the consumer hell George Monbiot was talking about, let's see it for what it really is. Let me illustrate. Guess George likes his croissants every morning. Biting into a warm flavourful croissant must surely give George his moments of morning delight. But what George fails to see is what's happened in the background, that has him, or for that matter any of us, savouring these palate pleasures. Note, the croissant must have been made from the finest of wheat. To grow such fine wheat, someone needed to make a machine that could till the fields, reap the crop, thresh it and then get it into a powder form. Making those machines would surely have required someone to mine an ore and turn it into material that then becomes part of the machine. The powdered flour that becomes dough, that turns into a baked croissant, again have machines to thank. I could go and on. But I guess, what I want to say is crystal clear.
Also, I hope this too comes across loud and clear. Industrial activity is a result of man's ingenuity. It takes people to come together in value creating tasks for industrial activity to flourish. Such activity mustn't be frowned upon. For it is what's truly noble. This very act is what's at the heart of human prosperity. At the heart of human happiness and well being. Of course, natural resources will be used in such activity. And they must. After all the earth is a gift from the Almighty to mankind. Again, not all industrial acts result in win-win outcomes. Some do have their ill-effects. But tell you what, as we progress, we will only see the act get better. That means resources will be utilised better, and more efficiently. Plus used resources will be replenished better.
If you don't believe me, then you don't believe in the power of human ingenuity. That, trust me, is more worrisome.
Friday 8 January 2010
Passive Learning & Recall Triggers
Its interesting that despite there being close to fifty songs on my MP3 player, every time I play them, I know the sequence in which they will run. I mean, as I listen to one, I know what's the next one, and the next, and so on.
Now I've never actively tried to learn the sequence. What's happened is, my memory passively picked the sequence as I played the songs over and over again. The sequence set into my memory through repetition. This sort of learning is termed Passive Learning. What's important to note is the fact that, should I try and remember the sequence when I'm not plugged on to the player, I can't. The sequence comes to me only when I listen to the songs.
Most mass media communication used by brands facilitate passive learning. Should you ask consumers to retrieve and recall such passively learned material, in all probability they won't be able to. But what saves the brand and makes it part of the consumer's consideration set is an encounter with it at the store. Because its merchandised well.
For low involvement category brands to make it to a consumer's consideration set, passive learning must work in conjunction with great merchandising that acts as a recall trigger. One without other isn't good for brand. For it may result in either the consumer not recognising the brand on a shelf and therefore not considering it, or not encountering it on the shelf and therefore despite the possibility of recognition, failing to feature it in his consideration set.
Thursday 7 January 2010
3 to a Nation of Idiots
'Yet I found Three Idiots far too preachy, far too sanctimonious and far too much of a caricature. It lampoons and trivializes our higher education system as an unrelieved arena of bad teachers, suicidally pressurized students, manic success-oriented parents and evil money seekers who care nothing for learning but only want grades so they can get big jobs and Lamborghinis. Such a caricature is, as we all know, far from the truth. Although a liberal arts degree doesn't compare to an engineering degree, my own experience of higher education at St Stephen's College and Oxford University, is that it is an immensely enriching experience, consisting of many idealistic teachers and the excitement of new ideas is something for which there is no substitute.
Yet a film whose central message is "the education system sucks", "we learn nothing at our centres of excellence" and "teachers are unable to teach and only want to ruin students lives," is a rather dangerous film. Three Idiots disdains the rigour of study, pours scorn on wanting to better oneself through the sadhna of learning and instead seems to suggest that to be happy in life we all need to drop out, sing songs under the night sky and not bother with studying hard because studying hard is a waste of time. As a former IITian has pointed out Rancho, in the film mocks Laplace Transform, the equation written on the blackboard, as an example of rote learning. Yet without Laplace Transform, Hirani's computer would not boot up! This former IITian says he has never come across a teacher like Prof Virus, and believes that in its fashionable disdain for education, the film is dangerously juvenile.'
- Sagarika Ghose, 'From Three Idiots to a Nation Of Idiots'. (HT: Ashutosh)
Aamir needs Branding lessons
If the Chetan-Aamir feud's an engineered one, the biggest loser will be Aamir. To know why, you first need to know what Brand Personality is. Brand Personality is a set of human characteristics that become associated with a brand.
Aamir's quite the Bollywood brand. Some one's who's crafted his image carefully. He's tried to build himself up as the thinking, honest, sincere actor. That's the personality he's carefully crafted for himself. Sample his blog post;
'Have been going through your responses post the CB controversy. Some sincere and some insincere. The insincere ones I choose to ignore, but I am very keen to respond to those of you have had very sincere queries, questions and even assumptions. I am very keen to present my side of the story, why I said what, why I feel what I feel, and what is the difference between a book and a screenplay, what I feel about ethics of this issue, fair play, morality etc. The whole gamut. I would also like to present some very interesting evidence.
However I would not like to do this right now.
The reason is, that first of all, I think that it is very important that we distance ourselves from this incident to be unemotional about it, me included. Only then will we be able to examine the merits of the case in an unbiased and clinical manner. I am a very emotional person and find it very difficult to be clinical, so for me distance is most important.'
J. L. Aaker in his work, 'Dimensions of Brand Personality' (Journal of Marketing Research), identifies five basic dimensions on which consumers base brand Personality. They are, Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication and Ruggedness. The dimensions that apply most to Aamir the brand, is 'sincerity' and 'competence'. Sincerity as a dimension in turn is a make-up of facets such as, Down-to-earth, Honest, Wholesome and Cheerful. Competence is driven by Reliability, Intelligence and Success. Aamir the brand will suffer on one of the two mentioned dimensions, should it be known that the feud was a hoax. Aamir then may no longer come across as 'Sincere.' On competence, he may continue to score. But sincerity will take a beating. The Personality he's carefully crafted may crumble.
Of course, even if the hoax is true there's no way to find out, unless one of the parties coughs it out (almost impossible, I must say). And even if one party sings like a canary, the other can play the denial card.
Its evident from the way Aamir's singing on his blog, he doesn't want any semblance of the hoax story to stick to him. 'Another reason is that I would not like any more undue publicity for or against anyone. A few responses have expressed that maybe this is a controversy that we have cooked up to get publicity for the film. This stance of mine should satisfy them too.'
I bet Aamir has had takeaways from this controversy. In the coming times, he's bound to shut up more often, than go yakety-yak. If he persists with the yakety-yak, I'd recommend he takes a lesson in Marketing, maybe two in Consumer Behaviour.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday 6 January 2010
Who's the real Idiot?
Nikhil's question got me thinking. It had to do with the movie, 'Three Idiots'. He wanted to know if all the bad blood that the Chetan Bhagat-Aamir/Hirani/Chopra feud had generated was publicity good enough to help sales. For the book and the movie. The answer is a resounding Yes. Nikhil's follow up question then was if publicity on its own was good enough a tool in generating awareness for any brand. My answer's a Yes and a No. Publicity, if carried by almost all media houses can generate maximum awareness. But if its limited in its 'carriage' (read, picked only by few media houses) then its reach may be curtailed, therefore limited. This would then require that mass media vehicles be used and Ads run so as to generate greater reach.
But where publicity scores over advertising is in its effectiveness. The consumer's engagement with a media story (read, publicity) is an active one. The Chetan-Aamir controversy has generated enough heat to have eyeballs glue to news screens on TV and print stories in newspapers. This is in contrast to mass media advertising. The consumer's engagement here is passive. And so the communique lacks the ability to generate 'active' interest. In other words, in all probability our eyeballs ignore the commercial on TV or the print Ad in a newspaper.
The subsequent implication is, the 'recall power' generated through publicity is far greater than what's garnered through mass media advertising. That in turn means that publicity has greater chance of ensuring that the brand in question features in a consumer's consideration set.
Here's something to note. If some reports are to be believed, the Chetan-Aamir feud was an engineered one. If that were so, the real idiots include the one writing this post. :)
Tuesday 5 January 2010
The Believer & The Skeptic
It seems the US. winter of 2009-1o could turn out to be their worst in twenty five years. What bad timing, for the warmists! The winter had to come at a time when the world was beginning to doubt global warming. And more so since it was just a li'l while ago that we had Climategate.
Will the winter drive a nail into the Global Warming coffin? I doubt it. Yet what it may do is increase the number of doubters, thus putting a spoke in the wheels of the green-industrial complex.
About time.
Brands too face a certain amount (maybe even large doses) of skepticism when they come up with claims. Can a fairness cream truly get you a job? It may get you a mate in India. But a job? I am sure there are those who believe there's a direct correlation between the colour of your skin and your job prospects. As to whether its a majority or just a minority can be ascertained by whether the brand's flying off shelves.
In India, fairness creams are being lapped up left, right and center. Guess that means there is a correlation between skin colour and job prospects. Or maybe it means majority belief is almost always wrong.
My vote's on the latter.
Sphere: Related ContentMorality & India
Partha Sinha's articles, according to me are a must-read, though I may not always agree to his point of view. His perspectives are downright insightful.
Sample this one on 'Ethical Branding' in India. I for one agree, totally.
'In India, the sense of right and wrong is a more fundamental discourse than anything else. We can ignore information, we can ignore observation we can even ignore objectivity. But we mostly succumb to the social code of morality and try to justify every action from that point of view. The concept of morality always has an undertone of either religion or politics. Indian society is fundamentally governed by an overdose of religion and politics and, hence, morality is always the default force. Some scholars argue that in Hinduism morality and law is often one and the same and can be used interchangeably. I think this viewpoint is the source code for our misplaced sense of morality...
The biggest advantage of Indian morality is that it’s mostly symbolic. Without doing anything meaningful or acting responsible in any manner, a brand can create a token sense of morality. Be it reminding people of their filial responsibilities, or allegedly taking sided with darker women or even representing the interest of the less fortunate. And more often than not this morality is disseminated only through advertising. So far we were used to ‘claim level’ ingredients in our product – the next thing brands will use to differentiate themselves would be a ‘claim level’ morality.
Ethical branding in India is a far cry. What we are likely to witness a lot in the near future is that brands trying to exploit our misplaced sense of morality to create a symbolic high ground.'
Sphere: Related ContentSunday 3 January 2010
Navigating a Cultural Maze
Navigating consumer markets in developing countries is like walking the hot tin roof. One false move and you're in soup. The key to getting the walk right is knowing to respond to 'cost' and 'localisation' pressures. Pressures exerted on business models when they operate outside of their parent location (read, in global markets). The former, I feel is far easier than the latter.
Especially if the market in question is India. Its far easier to craft a low cost business model to take on the mass consumer than it is to localise as per regional requirements in India. That's because the diversity is so overwhelming its easy to slip up while operating in a particular region. The variables that contribute to this overwhelming diversity are cultural, sub cultural, religious and linguistic in nature. What's important to note for marketers is that these factors of diversity go to the core of an Indian's identity. Mess up with them, and an Indian will perceive it as an attack on his identity, and so in all probability will retaliate. The retaliation will be justified as it will be seen as an issue of a very identity being challenged, being called into question.
Its no wonder than Google is trying to balance the 'freedom to express' and 'the need to curtail' act, in a cultural hotbed like India. As much as Google allows for free expressions, in India its wizened up and moved to curtail what may be deemed as offensive to cultural and regional sensibilities.
Note WSJ's story on Google in India, 'The incident shows the treacherous terrain Google must navigate as it expands in India, the world's most-populous nation after China and a major growth market for Web searches, online advertising and mobile phone software. As Google broadens its reach, it must increasingly tweak the way it operates to suit new cultures. While authoritarian countries pose well-known challenges, Google is learning that even democracies such as India can be fraught with legal and cultural complications. Its experience here could serve as a precedent for other Web companies.
The nation of 1.2 billion is the world's largest democracy and in principle affords free speech to its citizens. But the country has a volatile mix of religious, ethnic and caste politics and a history of mob violence. So, the government has the authority to curtail speech rights in certain cases. India's Constitution encapsulates that gray zone: Free speech is subject to "reasonable restrictions" for such purposes as maintaining "public order, decency or morality."
For business models to work in India responding to localisation pressures is an imperative. The only time when this may not be required is when the cultural variables that differentiate, ease up or even vanish. Will that happen? Surely it will, though it may take a decade or two. Increasingly its being seen, especially in the metros, that newer generations take lesser to an inherited cultural identity, in comparison to its predecessor. The transition of deriving identity from culture to deriving it from what's globally practiced and accepted may happen over the coming decades.
And when that happens, Business models may not have to respond as much to localisation pressures as to the pressures to go one up on competitors who will come from all corners of the globe. The battle for the consumers in such times will be fought more on how brands differentiate via innovation than on how they align themselves to cultural sensibilities.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday 2 January 2010
Carbondioxide & Climategate
'Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere...
Many climate models also assume that the airborne fraction will increase. Because understanding of the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide is important for predicting future climate change, it is essential to have accurate knowledge of whether that fraction is changing or will change as emissions increase.
To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data. In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.
- ScienceDaily (The research is published in Geophysical Research Letters.)
The pride in Solutions for Masses
What the Chotukool and Swach represent is as important as what they are.
Chotukool is Godrej and Boyce's breakthrough nano refrigerator. The ChotuKool is like no other fridge. It does not have a compressor. It runs on a battery. Utensils and bottles need to be loaded into this 43-litre cool box from the top. It weighs only 7.8 kg and costs only Rs 3,200. And, of course, it is Candy Red in colour.
Swach is the Tata Group's water purifier priced for the masses. The Tata Swach – Hindi for “clean” – meets U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, and doesn't require running water, electricity, or boiling. Tata's water filter grew out of a decade of research and development. It uses paddy husk ash as a matrix, bound with microscopic particles of silver to kill the bacteria that cause 80 per cent of waterborne disease. Tata Swach is cheaper than boiling water, cheaper than bottled water, and 2.5 times less expensive than Hindustan Unilever's low-cost Pureit filter. Tata will sell two versions of the 19-litre Swach container, priced at 749 rupees ($16.11) and 999 rupees ($21.48), depending on the material. The filter itself costs 299 rupees ($6.43). It will purify 800 gallons (3,000 liters) of water – enough for a family of five for a year – before it automatically shuts down.
These products are ones to be proud of. Because they take solutions to a set of people who are otherwise untouched by innovation and its fallouts (read, products and services). What the Chotukool and Swach represent is the ingenuity of private enterprises that consider masses a viable consumer segment. Viable in terms of developing innovative solutions based on a cost-driven business model, while guaranteeing profitability. Its also important to note that these innovations sprout sans any governmental help or interference. Goes to show why the best bet to rural development lies squarely on the shoulders of private enterprises that must be allowed to flourish in a manner unfettered.
Therefore its time we in India rethink our dependence on government. And design systems that allow for more private entrepreneurship to flourish. I can bet they will, and in the process create the kind of solutions that Chotukool and Swach are, so long as private, free (thank god for Indian democracy) individuals are allowed to tap into their own ingenuity.
Friday 1 January 2010
Life imitates Art!
Just as I thought Day One was going down quiet, a news conference pops up on screen where a producer plays the exact part that protagonists in his movie play. That of idiots.
Ask me why. Because he almost went berserk during a news conference and asked the media people to shut up. Ask me why. Because they asked him whether his movie was based on the book written by Chetan Bhagat.
As for Vidhu Vinod Chopra's behaviour I must give him credit for playing out the title part of his movie to the hilt. His behaviour goes to reinforce what I've always believed about Bollywood, the nincompoopiest movie industry in the world. I label the producer what the title states, because despite being some hot shot guy at Bollywood, he forgot the simple rules of any engagement,
that its better to shut up and show the world you are an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt,
that its better to shut up and let controversies die a natural death than to go berserk and set it on fire,
that when you are seen as an established group of biggies, it isn't wise to take on a single person because that would then give rise to a Goliath vs. David perception in the minds of viewers. And you know in a Goliath vs. David battle where the common man's sympathies lie. The Blogosphere tomorrow, and beyond will demonstrate what I am talking about.
The best response for Aamir and gang was to lay low and not go public with their ranting and whining. It makes them all look like you know what. Now the other two actors in the movie, I must add, played dumb to perfection during the press conference. After all they too had to play their parts. That's why it wasn't without reason that the movie was titled what it was.
'Three Idiots'!
I say, add more numbers to that!
Thursday 31 December 2009
The Hope for next Year
Globally, its been the year of the marketer. Its been a year where perceptions have dictated realities. Thankfully, as we end the year, the 'real' reality is breaking through and so I end it with a sigh of relief.
Barack Obama became president purely on perceptions. Built by marketing magic. As a product he was carefully crafted, and then positioned as a saviour. An adoring liberal populace lapped him up, lock, stock, and barrel. Global Warming is the other fraud that's been perpetrated successfully around the globe. Led by the liberal Mr. Warmist, Al Gore. The marketing juggernaut that took this canard around the world's been so potent, it almost had everyone fall for it, even buy into it .
The concept of Universal health care (or Universal anything) comes next in the line of fraudulent propaganda. The Barackian world that's built on universal happiness is one that's, unlike Global Warming, beginning its journey. Add to it the belief that, inherently there isn't any evil and so there are no rogue states or rogues, you have another of the flawed Barackian world view.
But as I mentioned earlier, thankfully the world's seeing what's a myth and what's real. Barack's popularity has taken a nose dive. Climategate is out there for everyone to see, thanks to the hacker. Universal Healthcare is being doubted. And Iran has just witnessed a full scale rebellion from the opposition ranks.
So, though we end the year as one of frauds, we begin the next with a hope that world citizenry will wake up to what's real and what's mere propaganda. I for one would be happy waking up tomorrow to a world that sees Obama for who he really is, Global Warming for what it really is, and Universal healthcare for what it entails.
That's a year I welcome.
Happy New Year, folks!
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday 30 December 2009
Know One, you've known All
'I know what I want, but I won’t tell you. I listen to my parents and then try and do my own thing. I think God is great but Google is greater. My friends are everything. Hanging out with them is therapy . It’s prayer for our teenage souls. I get about 4000 rupees per month as pocket money. But that’s not enough. My curfew at home is 10.30 pm. I could do with some more time. I don’t lie to my parents. But I just hide the truth. My studies and career are important to me. I hate it when teachers don’t give me full marks even though all my answers are right. They are so idealistic, just like my parents. If I get pissed off with my friends or parents, I just give them the silent treatment. It’s better than going on a hunger strike. (That’s what my parents do!) I love my music, it is oxygen. I carry it everywhere I go. I also like my parents music. I love old hindi music. Of course I think about issues like the environment, recession and 26/11. But I don’t know what to do. What should I do? I wish my little sister would be more responsible . Why should I have to clean her mess. May be I am selfish. But what the heck, I can’t keep waiting for the things I want. Any way the world is going to end in 2012.'
That's Josy Paul describing eighteen year olds, marketers are trying to get to, in India. In fact the characterisation forms part of a story in the ET on the children of liberalised India. Eighteen year olds who were born the year India opened its economy up. The story says that these eighteen year olds have marketers befuddled, especially when they try and decipher their psyches.
I beg to differ.
In fact nothing can be easier than knowing ther mindsets and what they want. Simply because the variables that would otherwise have slotted them into different categories, as in the past, have been wiped clean. And you can pin that on the phenomenon of 'Americanisation' of India. That is, it wouldn't matter which Metro city in India you go to, eighteen year olds are doing the same thing. Sporting sneakers, glugging cokes, squeezing into denims, lounging on sofas sipping Cappuccinos, hanging out at multiplexes and sweating it out at window shopping. The outdoor Westernised image is almost complete. You can even extend that to indoors. They are watching American format Indian sitcoms or reality shows, tuning into music that's got an international feel, and logging on to social networking sites swapping mindless information about themselves with other eighteen year olds.
And so for the marketer, the 'one size fits all' theme works fine with them. Now this is unlike what was applicable to the previous generation. Cultural variables ensured they were never alike. And so product formats had to be altered to appeal to a specific regional psyche. That isn't as I mentioned, required for the current eighteen year olds. Cultural variables have faded into oblivion. What remains is the exhibition of standardised behaviour that gets repeated across geographical divides.
Josy and the rest of marketers should be thanking their stars that the cultural divide is easing up, for this generation. It only makes their jobs easier. Because knowing one kid, means you know them all.
How much more lucky can a marketer get?
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Weber teaches me a lesson
Alphy thinks I am a master at the stove. She relishes the dishes I make. The other day it was my deft hands working on a roast dish that turned out near perfect. But then I let it get to me. I make it again the next day, and though Alphy likes it, she isn't as impressed as the day before. I am chastened and I've learnt my lesson.
Weber taught me the lesson. Let me now share it with you.
Weber's Law states that the ratio of the increment threshold to the background intensity is a constant. So when you are in a noisy environment you must shout to be heard while a whisper works in a quiet room. And when you measure increment thresholds on various intensity backgrounds, the thresholds increase in proportion to the background.
The Roast on the first day set a threshold to Alphy's taste buds. Which was pretty high, I must say. After all, don't I have magic on my hands? The sad part is, that was the reason to my downfall. For the next day's roast to garner praise it had to raise its taste level beyond the just noticeable difference as relevant to the taste threshold set. I guess the second day's roast couldn't do that. And therefore the praise dried up.
The lesson I've learnt is, to keep the praise pipeline running, I got to either, a) not repeat a dish after a high taste threshold's been set or, b) burn the dish the first time around.
The latter's a dangerous road to take, the former sounds sensible. What I'll do, I guess is any body's guess. Or is it?
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 28 December 2009
Why Worldspace is exiting the World
WorldSpace radio is shutting down. I am not surprised. I had predicted this some time ago. Now that the service is folding up, its time to analyse what went wrong, why the business model didn't work.
The reasons are straightforward. If the mass listener was the apparent target segment, the value proposition just didn't cut ice with him. Because he doesn't want to pay (he has access to free FM) and the justification of variety for the price charged isn't agreeable to him. 'Variety at a price' contravenes the 80-20 principle. 80 percent of listeners tune into 20 percent of music going around. Its the same old movie music that they want, and listen to. Not classical, not jazz. Not instrumental. FM gave listeners exactly that, sans a price.
Now if the niche listener is target segment, the business model isn't financially viable. Inflows from subscriptions isn't be enough to keep operations afloat. Which means other streams of revenue have to be explored. Radio advertising perhaps. but then again, its a Catch 22. Advertisers will come only if there are enough listeners. Listeners will come only if the service is free. 'Free' requires the business model be supported by advertising revenues and not subscriptions.
The larger lesson in the Worldspace story is one of business models. That you can't have consumer align themselves to the way you do business. Instead its your business model that must align itself to what consumers need. And also, that the model you pursue must supersede competing models that aim at creating and delivering value to your set of consumers.
Sunday 27 December 2009
Sin Taxes shield the Sinner
Its often that I hear people berate products and services for the state they find themselves in. Obesity, for example is blamed on junk food. Never on the fact that people who gorge on it aren't responsible enough to stop. Its always something other than the person in question that's at fault. And so what's the solution society comes up with? Tax Fast food. Such taxes are what's known as Sin tax.
Taiwan's now leading the way in imposing sin taxes. Its planning the world's first tax on junk food in a bid to encourage the public to eat healthily and cut obesity rates. The Bureau of Health Promotion is drafting a bill to levy the special tax on food deemed unhealthy, such as sugary drinks, candy, cakes, fast food and alcohol. Revenue from the tax would finance groups promoting health awareness or subsidise the island's cash-strapped national health insurance programme.
In other words, tax the producer to protect the junkie. Note the product in question is perfectly legal. So how stupid can that be? To stop such foolish initiatives one must understand why products are always blamed, never people.
The fight against flab is a universal one. In fact the motivation to be 'slim' on the part of an individual requires us to understand what's set as goals by that individual. The hierarchy of goals dictate that people have, as apparent to them, a subordinate and a focal goal. The subordinate goal would be to exercise enough, so as to achieve the focal goal, which is to get to a slim figure. What may not be apparent is the superordinate goal, which is to find greater acceptance amongst peer circles, or to appear desirable, by being slim. What may happen is, the person in question may not be disciplined enough to dedicate time for exercise. This in turn will keep him in the flabby state without progress. That means a probable social ostracisation that he faces, continues. The subsequent result is a bout of depression that that will then translate into the employment of a defence mechanism. Called 'Projection'. This sees the individual redefine the depressing situation by projecting blame for his own failure and inabilities on to the most convenient scapegoat available. Fast Food.
Thus, the defence mechanism of projection practiced on a large scale turns into legislation. The Sin tax.
Sin taxes are a reflection of society's inability to accord blame where it should be. The pity is, such societies walk down a road that leads to irresponsible behaviour being practiced on a large scale. By its citizenry.
'Do the crime, don't do the time, 'cos your aren't responsible!'
Now that's what should be truly depressing.
Saturday 26 December 2009
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Social Justice
'This country was founded and then fostered by people who valued liberty highly: immigrant generations and their immediate children. As time has passed, Americans have become more removed from that overwhelming concern. The majority of earlier generations (or their parents) had direct personal experience of what lack of liberty felt like, and therefore were willing to defend liberty at almost any cost.
Perhaps too many Americans today have grown accustomed to the blessings of liberty, and do not feel it to be threatened. Perhaps there is no way to transmit that original fierce love of liberty to succeeding generations who have not personally felt the pain of its absence. Such Americans appear very susceptible to the idea that a vast country such as ours has the moral responsibility to guarantee health care to all its citizens as an additional inalienable right — whether they can pay or not, whether the country as a whole can afford it or not, whether it will cause substandard care for the majority or not, and whether it will end our ability to make our own medical decisions or not — and that only government is equipped to do this, even if it means taking from each according to his ability, and giving to each according to his needs, and even if the entire endeavor is impossible to carry off.
Have Americans decided that liberty is passé, and that equality and fraternity — or the pretense of both — are far more important? To paraphrase Churchill’s famous statement about Munich, in which he is purported to have said that “the government had to choose between war and shame. They chose shame. They will get war, too.”
Our government has had to choose between liberty and social justice. They chose social justice. They will get neither.'
- Neo-Neocon, 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Social Justice'.
Sphere: Related ContentBe Afraid. Very Afraid!
Its isn't as much the act as its aftermath. Being on a plane that has a passenger trying to blow it up is downright scary. But then the scare's limited to who's on board. The aftermath on the other hand sends shivers down all probable fliers of the future. They will have their hearts in their mouth when they fly. Because the memory of an attempted blow-up will be fresh in their minds. In behavioural terms this is called the Recency effect.
My gut tells me, post this attempted blow-up incident, airline traffic's bound to suffer. Anxiety levels amongst fliers will surely be high.
Another fall out to this incident will on the Obama image. Already portrayed as weak on terror, this incident will only go to further that image. After all, the great O has on cards such asinine acts such as the close of Gitmo and the circus trial of terrorists in New York. Add to that the appeasement of rogue states, and the O weakling image is complete.
But what should be truly frightening is the fact that for O, it isn't just an image. Its what he really is!
Therefore be afraid. Very afraid!
Sphere: Related ContentFriday 25 December 2009
Thursday 24 December 2009
Jesus the Socialist
'Jesus of Nazareth was not a symbol. Neither was He just a good teacher as some who do not fully accept His teachings about Himself like to claim. As Paul the Apostle put it, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst." (1Timothy 1:15)
The call of Scripture is to do for other people, as we would like to have done unto us, but that call is personal, not corporate. That's because only people can be compassionate. A government check too often brings dependence and a sense of entitlement. A personal touch builds relationships horizontally with others and vertically with God. ...
Anyone young enough to have living grandparents or great-grandparents should take a few minutes this Christmas to ask them what life was like when they were growing up. How many presents did they receive? Unless they came from wealthy families, they didn't get much by today's standards and they were probably more satisfied than we who have more than we need.
That's the thing about stuff: we know it doesn't satisfy, but we gorge ourselves on it anyway hoping the marketers are right and somehow it will bring satisfaction.
What those "wise men" brought were symbols -- gold, frankincense and myrrh. What they symbolized was the grandeur of the baby who would become a man and who, in the words of John the Baptist, would "take away the sins of the world." (John 1:29)'
- Cal Thomas, 'Jesus the Socialist'.
Soul Brands
Watching the movie 'Miracles' for maybe the third or fourth time, I realise how I never tire of seeing such movies over and over again. In fact, the other day I watched 'The Count of Monte Cristo' again. I've done this in the past with movies like 'Remember the Titans' and 'Shawshank Redemption'. I realise I do this because these movies connect at an emotional level. Maybe 'emotional' is not the right word. Such movies connect at a 'soul' level. The triumph of the Human Spirit that comes through such movies connects at a 'soul' level.
I wonder if brands can ever do that? Surely brands can and do evoke emotions, but can they connect at a 'soul' level? Such connects are ones that 'move' you. Takes you back to the entity in question over and over again.
Soul Brands are those that connect at a deep level. They sear into our psyches. My gut tells me if this were possible it would be more for service brands than product ones. After all, its what people do that moves us. And service is about doing. In all the movies I mentioned, the protagonist/s act in manners that move us. We rejoice with them in their triumphs. Such joint celebration is what's the hallmark of a 'soul connection'.
Probably the genesis to a 'Soul Brand'. That's if brands can.
'Please do not sell'
'And yet who can deny that while our media has much to be proud of, there is increasing public disenchantment, not just with its slant, shrillness, sermonising and sensationalism, but with its core value, namely integrity. It is hardly a secret that the media is capable of misjudgement and laziness. However, what the aam aadmi seldom doubts is the “news” it transmits. That trust, alas, is breaking down.
I am not referring to the blurring of news and opinion, which itself violates the time-honoured principle: News is sacred, comment is free. However, even when news and comment are mixed up, it is possible for the alert consumer to separate the two. At any rate, even in the most advanced of democracies, the media does carry ideological/party bias, which is reflected not in the editorial pages, but in the news columns. That practice, however deplorable, a free press can live with. ...
I am not unmindful of the difficult times the media industry is going through. The market is too crowded, the advertising cake is too small, the economy is too sluggish. We are all furiously engaged in finding new and innovative ways to augment our dwindling revenues. Outlook (like others) is neck-deep in this skirmish. As you may have noticed, the Outlook ‘Spotlight’ feature is sponsored, the client has almost full editorial control. The only redeeming aspect is that the reader can easily spot it, since it is clearly marked on the page. News for sale is not. The purpose here is to pass off sponsored news as professional news.'
- Vinod Mehta, 'Please do not sell'.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Judge not. Possible?
The other day a discussion on TV about prying into celebrity private lives had Gul Panag defend Tiger Woods and the scrutiny he was facing in the media. Her take started with a treatise on the game of golf, about how many people didn't really understand the game, and the finesse required to play it. Tiger, according to her, is the greatest golfer ever and her admiration she said stemmed from his play. About Tiger being judged, she said it wasn't anyone's business.
I am amused.
Really, Gul, the fact that people rarely understand Golf elevates it to the status of fine art? Tell you what, it requires the masses not to engage, to elevate anything to a status of high rank. Don't you agree?
I am irritated too.
At the condescending nature of the discourse. We need the hoighty-toighty's of the world to remind us our lack of class. Because, guess what, we don't play golf. Or maybe because we've never nibbled on a canape'. Or nursed a glass of sour tasting vintage wine. Or sat through a bout of shrilly yet depressing stage play. That makes us mere mortals, doesn't it.
Dare I say, sensible perhaps?
The scene reminds me of the liberal-conservative divide. Conservatives have to take to bumpkins like Sarah and George. Liberals, ah, of fine class, take to Obama. For you see, George and Sarah are the winking, hunting types. Obama, on the other hand, is a fine gentlemen given to gasbag sermonising that liberals sing paeans about.
Oh, I missed the judgement part. Judgements, members of the jury, are but natural. For our senses constantly takE in stimuli, coherently interpreting them based on our personal faculties, thus forming perceptions. Otherwise termed judgements. This is, as I said, but natural. Its impossible to stop being judgemental. Sure, we may or may not verbalise it. For that's our choice, but we still engage in judgements. When people judge the sexcapades of Tiger, they are but reacting to what's being presented as stimuli to their senses, by the media worldwide. Should they resist the temptation to judge? I don't know. Frankly, I don't care.
As consumers we make judgments all the time. About products and services. Based on what we receive as stimuli from the marketer. The judgements that fleetingly stay in our short term memory to be soon lost can be termed mere 'perceptions'. The ones that reach the long term memory turn into 'attitudes'. Note, 'attitudes' based on 'judgements' can either make or break a brand.
As far as Tiger goes, let me assure Gul there's nothing much to worry about. For these are perceptual judgements that won't reach long term memory. As for tomorrow, its going to be another celebrity doing another dumb thing. It is but natural to them. The media will surely splash it on its pages. Tiger will then be forgotten. And you can rest in peace.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 21 December 2009
Who wants to save the planet?
TERI honcho Rajendra Pachauri was on NDTV a few minutes ago. On being asked about the Telegraph article that featured him without the best of characterisation, Pachauri feigned righteous indignation. He threatened action against the publication. On being asked whether he was contemplating legal action, Pachauri hesitated for a moment and said he wasn't committing to anything, but would surely respond to the paper's characterisation.
Pachauri going after the Telegraph? That'll be the day. Most do-gooders in the world, who do greater good for themselves than the ones they profess to care about, shy away from any action that puts them in the 'wrong' kind of spotlight (read, investigations into their activities). Any legal action they threaten to take risks them having to lay bare what they do. Its wishful thinking that the Al Gore warmist types would want that.
Transparency is not easy for the ones who claim they care more for something other than themselves. Because they really don't. You gotta be an airheaded liberal to believe Al Gore wants to save the planet.
Brands too, that profess to care about you, lie. They don't. In fact, I'd say they don't have to. All they have to do is solve a consumer need better than their competitors and trade that solution for the consumer's money. Such trade is fair. Solutions for the consumer, at a price.
The right to the price brands seek is their's. The right to purchase, or not to, is the consumer's. A world that works on this principle is the world we must seek. Not one filled with do gooders who seem to suggest they are doing what they do out of the goodness of their heart.
Fat chance.
Sphere: Related Content'Courage under Fire' holds; there's proof!
I predicted it.
'But Berlusconi needn't fret. This is only natural considering there are many in Italy who detest him. Despite the scorn heaped by his opponents, the bloody attack and its aftermath of exhibition of 'courage' will only cement Berlusconi's popularity with his supporters. They will see him as a 'courage under fire' kinda hero.'
Now its happened.
Reuters reports on Berlusconi's popularity rise, post attack. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's approval rating has risen back above 50 percent after an attack against him sparked a wave of sympathy even among opposition voters, an opinion poll showed on Sunday.
Brands, note the lesson in the Berlusconi attack story. The 'Courage under Fire' image story.
NB. - There's now a charge that the whole thing was faked. Read the conspiracy theory here.
Sphere: Related ContentWish your customer your competitor
Was out of Bangalore and at a different city last weekend. I thought the trip had many pluses. I experienced a different cultural fare, took in new sights and sounds, and most importantly ways of consumption. I went to a cinema to catch the late local fare. Sadly the movie turned out to be dubbed South Indian kitsch with lots of drama. Needless to say, it was numbskullish. The saviour was the audience. Its fun to be at a run down cinema where's there's lots of hooting. The same can be said for the mites in my seat.
Hours of fidgeting. Brilliant experience.
But the biggest plus was the fact that the trip got me to appreciate Bangalore, more. The next time, there's load-shedding at the most inconvenient of times (which was early this morning) at BTM, where I live, I may not complain as much. After all there are cities in India where electricity is like the Haley's comet.
Brands should, if I may say, at times wish their customers went to their competitors. That's is if they know they are far superior in value-delivery vis-a-vis their competitors. For the customer's experience with the competitor will only make them appreciate you more. Even to the extent they come back to you and stay put, with you. In fact, its best way to seal loyalty.
I should know.
I don't think, at least for now, I wanna live anywhere in India, except Bangalore.
Sphere: Related ContentThe dilemmas we face
The most profoundest of dilemmas that we face in life are the simplest. Yet, if you carefully pick them apart, you would find how 'weighty' such 'simple' dilemmas are. Like last evening at the Patna airport I was unlucky enough to be in the midst of a face-off between the airport (if you can call it that) authorities and the CISF security personnel. The airport personnel waved me in to the security check, but the CISF guys needed a break and so wanted me to go back. As I stood there mulling about this stand-off, I had good mind of giving both the parties a piece of my mind. I wanted to tell them how I didn't care what either party wanted, and that all I was looking to was to plonk my behind on to a chair so I could take some rest. It didn't matter if it was the waiting lounge (if you can call it that) or the check-in lounge. I also wanted to remind them that weren't doing me, the customer a favour, and that their blessed paychecks they get to do what they do, came out of my taxes.
But I remained mum. Because I knew any sort of protest may have these government officials go beyond the call of duty to make my flying experience miserable. Like for example, they could rummage through my bag till kingdom come, during the security check, looking for non-existent aviation wrecking material. I'd already had the experience of these guys confiscating most of my toiletries when I flew in to Patna. So, like I said, I stayed shut. Thankfully, I had a decent flight.
Brings me to the profound dilemma I was talking about. The one, King Solomon talked about. 'There is a time for everything; a season for every activity under heaven'. Lori Hoeck says it best about the 'time' dilemma, and so you can read her take on it here. The particular one I faced, is described in Ecclesiastes; 'a time to keep silence, and a time to speak'.
I picked the former. I was right in doing so. Yet such acts aren't easy. Especially if they take a toll on your esteem. Mine didn't take a hit, because I'd like to believe I am okay without any 'recognition'. I mean, my esteem's okay most of the times when I have to smoke the peace-pipe, even when I think I don't have to.
Business, as in life, too throws up such scenarios. The difference is, if the roles are reversed, I mean, if someone else is at the receiving end, I feel the ones with the power to intervene, must do so to prevent esteem-kills. Let me illustrate. I remember this time, working at the Taj managing a Midnight-snack session at my restaurant. Two louts walk in a little after midnight, drunk, swearing at everyone in sight. I wonder why they aren't in the first place stopped at the gate. In the restaurant they proceed to insult every steward in sight, ordering them to get food and more drink. The stewards come to me, telling me it wouldn't easy for them to serve such drunk guests. I agree. I tell them not to extend any service. After a bout of intense swearing and threatening, they leave, going to the lobby and reporting me to the manager on duty. The MoD then comes to the restaurant and asks me extend service to the louts in question. My reply remains the same. No service. To cut a long story short, I get reported, faced the management next day, who cajole me to think about my decision. To keep the ignoramuses happy, I say, I will, though in my mind I am convinced I was right.
At times, I witness guests being extremely rude. And I mean 'extremely'. Their rudeness, tolerated by a business house takes a toll on the service personnel's esteem. I believe at such times the right thing to do is to kick such louts out. It only affirms to the service staff that firm cares about them. That bolsters their motivation to serve other customers better. Bowing to 'customer pressure' and taking what's being dished out isn't easy. It may be easy for people up the hierarchy. Not so for people lower. Because its the ones lower down that face the music. The higher-ups can, of course, post-incident sermonise.
In closing let me restate the dilemma I was talking about. 'A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.' At the security gate, it was a time to keep silence. At the restaurant, it was a time to speak and kick the louts out.
Wisdom is knowing what, when, and not mixing the two up.
Friday 18 December 2009
The Copenhagen Buffoonery
'But boy! Was this crass, or what? The apocalyptic document revealing that even if the Western leaders hand over all the climate Danegeld demanded of them, appropriately at the venue of Copenhagen, the earth will still fry on a 3C temperature rise is the latest transparent scare tactic to extort more cash from taxpayers. The danger of this ploy, of course, is that people might say “If we are going to be chargrilled anyway, what is the point of handing over billions – better to get some serious conspicuous consumption in before the ski slopes turn into saunas.”...
This week has been truly historic. It has marked the beginning of the landslide that is collapsing the whole AGW imposture. The pseudo-science of global warming is a global laughing stock and Copenhagen is a farce. In the warmist camp the Main Man is a railway engineer with huge investments in the carbon industry. That says it all. The world’s boiler being heroically damped down by the Fat Controller. Al Gore, occupant of the only private house that can be seen from space, so huge is its energy consumption, wanted to charge punters $1,200 to be photographed with him at Copenhagen. There is a man who is really worried about the planet’s future.
If there were not $45trillion of Western citizens’ money at stake, this would be the funniest moment in world history. What a bunch of buffoons. Not since Neville Chamberlain tugged a Claridge’s luncheon bill from his pocket and flourished it on the steps of the aircraft that brought him back from Munich has a worthless scrap of paper been so audaciously hyped. There was one good moment at Copenhagen, though: some seriously professional truncheon work by Danish Plod on the smellies. Otherwise, this event is strictly for Hans Christian Andersen.'
- Gerald Warner, 'Copenhagen climate summit: 'most important paper in the world' is a glorified UN press release'.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
The call to Liberty
At a time when a state government in India is mulling 'forcing' voters into polling booths, I recommend people listen to what Congressional candidate Lieutenant Colonel Allen West has to say.
Listen up! (Video above)
Bajaj Scooter, an icon? Me, the Pope?
I am not too sure how serious Rahul Bajaj is when he says he is not fully convinced of his company's decision to phase out scooters. I guess he is just being politically correct. After all, he is supposed to sound sad, isn't he? Rajiv Bajaj, on the other hand says what makes perfect sense, that he cares less for emotion and more for logic as the scooter business isn't profitable anymore. Elsewhere I hear the decision of exiting Bajaj scooters being portrayed as the end of an iconic brand.
Iconic brand? Did I hear right?
Far from being an iconic brand, Bajaj scooters represents what was consumer choice in socialist India. In the socialist state that was India, consumers had no choice but to buy the 'only' brand on show. Thus engineering its iconic status, thanks to the 'one' choice exercised.
Rahul's right. Logic's what's required. A logic that centers around the only entity that matters. The customer.
Monday 14 December 2009
'Courage under Fire' a must for Brands
Its a pity that Silvio Berlusconi had to have his teeth broken, nose fractured, and lip bloodied. Yet in many ways, Berlusconi should be thanking the mentally deranged guy who did this to him. Because it gave him an opportunity to show the tough guy he was, despite cowardly attacks. In fact, it seems after the attack Berlusconi tried to climb on to his car to show he was all right, before being driven away.
Smart.
Post attack, within hours, some 20,000 people had signed up to Facebook groups lauding Mr Tartaglia, the attacker as a hero. But Berlusconi needn't fret. This is only natural considering there are many in Italy who detest him. Despite the scorn heaped by his opponents, the bloody attack and its aftermath of exhibition of 'courage' will only cement Berlusconi's popularity with his supporters. They will see him as a 'courage under fire' kinda hero.
Brands too fall prey to 'attacks'. From opponents or even plain loonies who just can't stand the brand. We know of loonies like the PETA attacking KFC, Greenpeace taking on Apple, and so on. At such times, its wise to respond either by ignoring the loony in question or by shrugging off the 'hit' and exhibiting studied defiance. Note, any response to attacks must be dignified and elegant, not reek of amateurish retaliation. That is, it mustn't be an eye for an eye.
Consumers like people are enamored by courage and grace under fire. That requires that at certain times, people and brands respond. Measuredly and with dignity. That may mean standing up and showing your supporters you're okay, or releasing a statement via the media, that as much as you are hurt by the attack, you aren't fazed. That you would continue to strive at giving your customers even better value for their money.
Saturday 12 December 2009
The need to 'Score', the need to 'Scorn'
'Tiger is a star, a sexy pretty-boy, a famous athlete, the biggest name in golf. He can get girls in any city, any port, any hour of the day or night. He did not want an extra-marital affair. He wanted multiple affairs, multiple one night stands, multiple, ongoing sex contacts to juggle. He wanted non-committed sex with a series of women (eleven so far and counting), whom he had no intention of marrying.
To Tiger, sex is a sport, like golf, a form of entertainment, another way of scoring. He is no different than all the other alpha-male rock stars, actors, politicians and businessmen...
But aren’t these adult sexual matters private? Why pry? Why does the media go after these private matters and, in so doing, destroy lives?
Because we, the people, just love to read about powerful people’s sex lives. We like to see someone ruined, brought low. There, but for the grace of God, go I; or, he deserves it, who does he think he is? How dare he mess with our illusions?
We, the people, want to know if one of our ostensible heroes is not as wholesome as he pretends to be; we want to know when they are low and crafty dogs.'
- Phyllis Chesler, 'Tiger’s Sex Score'.
Friday 11 December 2009
Why Gore's rabble rousing works, and doesn't
In the past I've talked about why scare tactics (read, fear appeal) may or may not work, when used by marketers. Let me now restate the 'Protection Motivation Model' to explain why Al Gore and his cohorts get away with fibbing. The interpretation of the model will also help explain why Al Gore's god to liberals and charlatan to conservatives.
One approach to the curvilinear explanation of fear is the Protection Motivation Model. According to this theory, four cognitive appraisal processes mediate the individual's response to the threat: appraising (1) the information available regarding the severity of the perceived threat, (2) the perceived probability that the threat will occur, (3) the perceived ability of a coping behaviour to remove the threat, (4) the individual's perceived ability to carry out the coping behaviour.
Now consider the canard of Climate change. Rabble rousing that Gore and his cohorts whip up surely hits home for some (read, liberals). The 'severity of threat' perceived by liberals rocket. Let me illustrate both the rabble rousing and the severity perception.
Rabble Rousing, Exhibit 1, Architect - Al Gore:
When John Dickerson asked Al why the Copenhagen Climate Summit matters, this was the response;
'We face the gravest threat that civilization has ever confronted. It’s global in nature and requires a global solution. Increased CO2 emissions anywhere, whether from China or the United States or from one of the countries that is burning its forests like Brazil or Indonesia from wherever the emissions come, they have the same effect: They trap much more heat from the sun, melt the ice, raise the sea level, cause stronger storms, floods, drought, bigger fires, generate millions of climate refugees, destabilize political systems, threaten the growing of food crops and cause a number of other catastrophic consequences which, taken together, threaten the basis for the future of human civilization on the Earth.'
Rabble Rousing, Exhibit 2, Architect - Diane Francis (who thinks its isn't climate change, its population, in Financial Post);
'For those who balk at the notion that governments should control family sizes, just wait until the growing human population turns twice as much pastureland into desert as is now the case, or when the Amazon is gone, the elephants disappear for good and wars erupt over water, scarce resources and spatial needs.'
Severity Perception, Exhibit 1, Architect - Thomas Friedman (NY Times)
'When I see a problem that has even a 1 percent probability of occurring and is “irreversible” and potentially “catastrophic,” I buy insurance. That is what taking climate change seriously is all about...
But if we don’t prepare, and climate change turns out to be real, life on this planet could become a living hell. And that’s why I’m for doing the Cheney-thing on climate — preparing for 1 percent.'
Now that the liberals have played out the first two parts of the model, that is, provided shrilly information about the 'threat' and shown that there's a perceived probability the threat would play out, what remains is the 'response'.
'Follower' liberals believe there's coping behavior that can remove this threat. Which reads something like this; Pay more taxes to government (call it carbon tax), enforce usage of products and services that's labelled 'green' (never mind that its the Al Gore types pocketing the moolah), elevate the likes of Streisand and Sarandon to dictating business and social policies...; the list seems frighteningly endless.
Liberals again believe the perceived ability in carrying out this 'coping behaviour' is strengthened if we fall, blinkers on, rank and file, behind the likes of Gore. Oh, and yes, their saviour Barack Obama.
Now that we know why liberals are freaked out at Climate change, why is that conservatives don't seem to be concerned? The answer's simple. They know Al Gore and his cohorts are fibbing. That Climate Science is Junk Science. That the charge man can control weather is hogwash.
Let me now illustrate what's 'sensible' response to the canard of 'climate change'. Response of people on whom Gore's marketing campaign's (read, fear appeal) had no effect.
The Unaffected, Exhibit 1, Architect - Roger Kimball (Pajamas Media)
'Nice work if you can get it, Al! And as for the scientific consensus, what is it? Al Gore pretends that he speaks for such a consensus. In fact, though, the consensus is more and more that evidence for anthropogenic global warming is not just overstated: it is essentially non-existent.
Ideologues like Al Gore have hopped onto the Climate Change bandwagon — formerly known as the global warming bandwagon — partly for reasons of self-aggrandizement (”The world is just about to end: only I can save it!”), partly in order to foster an atmosphere of emergency which can be used to rationalize political activism. It’s a mug’s game, but unfortunately, we are the mugs being suckered.'
The Unaffected, Exhibit 2, Architect - Gary Sutton (Forbes)
'Al Gore thought he might ride his global warming crusade back toward the White House. If you saw his movie, which opened showing cattle on his farm, you start to understand how shallow this is. The United Nations says that cattle, farting and belching methane, create more global warming than all the SUVs in the world. Even more laughably, Al and his camera crew flew first class for that film, consuming 50% more jet fuel per seat-mile than coach fliers, while his Tennessee mansion sucks as much carbon as 20 average homes...
To be fair, those reports are short-term swings. But the longer term changes are no more compelling, unless you include the ice ages, and then, perhaps, the panic attempts of the 1970s were right. Is it possible that if we put more CO2 in the air, we'd forestall the next ice age?
I can ask "outrageous" questions like that because I'm not dependent upon government money for my livelihood. From the witch doctors of old to the elected officials today, scaring the bejesus out of the populace maintains their status.'
The real fear coming out of Climate change shouldn't be about what will happen to the planet. Instead it should be about what will happen to us if we let the likes of Gore dictate policies. For if we let him get away with it, what we fritter away wouldn't the future of our planet, but ours. Our freedom and our liberty to choose what is rightfully ours.
The uniquely individual 'pursuit of happiness'.
Thursday 10 December 2009
The phenomenon of Brand Rejection
A discussion with Jati at the Univ. of Toulouse1 about Brand Rejection got me thinking. Current literature of the subject is pretty sketchy, though there's been research conducted. I have in past commented on 'Brand Avoidance'. Let me now turn to Brand Rejection.
Rejection can either be a pre-purchase or a post-purchase act. The difference between the two is critical in managing fallouts that come from rejection.
Pre-purchase rejections are driven by 'states of mind' (read, consumer psychological set) that form negative judgements about brands. That is, the consumer isn't favourably disposed to the brand in question even before he buys it. Again, this kind of rejection can either be a fallout of pre-purchase analysis of the 'known' set, or it can even be the brand being rejected summarily, sans any evaluation. Let me illustrate. Consumers, on evaluating brands in the known set, categorise some as being 'inept'. The inept set gets rejected. A contrast to this is the other possibility where a brand though known, doesn't find place in the set to be evaluated, because the consumer engages in 'summary rejection' driven by a psyche that isn't disposed favourably towards it. For example, the 'country of origin' can be a reason why the brand is rejected. Even before rational analysis. Such rejection can turn into a mass act, termed 'boycott'. 'Perceived associations' can at other times be the cause for rejections. Take the case of the clothing brand Hoelzer Reich, that has come under fire for using Nazi-esque imagery in their clothing. This resulted in their use being banned at the World Extreme Cage fighting sport. Nazi associations are frowned upon. Even a semblance of such association can prove fatal. Tommy Hilfiger knows what its like to be at the end of a rumor where he featured as having made racist remarks on Oprah. None of it was true. Yet the 'stain' wouldn't go away.
Post purchase rejections are based on consumption evaluations. Lousy value delivery can get the brand to be banished, even forever, from a consumer's consideration set. Like for me, Trackon courier is as good as dead. Once bitten twice shy, as they say.
Eliminating pre-purchase rejection requires a change to be effected in consumer psyches. Communication becomes the key in such scenarios. The audience in question has to be persuaded via communiques, to change their mindset. The chances of it happening are strengthened if the brand in question can use neutral sources (read, PR) to mouth the persuasive message. Post-purchase consumption based judgements (read, rejection) can only be changed by better value delivery. Communiques are of no help. Also, the 'once bitter, twice shy' consumer may be unwilling to take a chance, again. Which means, the lure to get the consumer to try has to exceedingly strong. Promos may be required to initiate a 'second try'.
As much as brands need to know reasons why they are preferred, they also need to decipher why they aren't. That is, if they aren't. And when they try and decipher that, the start would be taking cognizance of the fact that rejection could have been either a pre- or a post-purchase act.
Knowing that becomes imperative in knowing what to do. To change it.
Note: Read a paper of whether Brand Rejections exist, here.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday 9 December 2009
Tiger, Tiger, Going down!
For brand, image is everything. More so if the brand doesn't have any 'tangible' characteristics on which consumers can evaluate them. Like say, how can a Pepsi or a Coke be evaluated on objective terms? Most 'buys ins' to such brands are based on psychological evaluations, on how the brand can maybe aid the consumer 'project' or 'live' a certain identity. When Pepsi runs 'My Can' commercials it tries to appeal to youth living lives on their 'own' terms.
So if image is everything, is it surprising that brands are now abandoning the Tiger Woods bandwagon? After all, his image rubs off on the brand. And so if his image is taking a nosedive, brands don't want to go down with him.
Despite what Gatorade says, that's exactly why they have dropped Tiger. Also note, according to data from Nielsen Co., advertisements featuring Tiger Woods have disappeared from prime-time broadcast television and many cable channels following reports of his extramarital affairs. The last prime-time ad featuring the 33-year-old golfer was a 30-second Gillette Co. spot on Nov. 29. Woods also was absent from ads on a number of weekend sports programs, including NFL games.
Rats abandoning ship? I don't think so. Its brands doing whatever, to matter to consumers. And that's all that counts.
Tuesday 8 December 2009
The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom
Read the Adage white paper on 'The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom' here.
Sphere: Related ContentConsumer Learning to be wary of
There's only so much we can do in influencing Jaden, as he grows up. I mean in trying to instill what we believe is polite behaviour. For example, we try and prevent any kind of whining, telling him there are things he can have and things he can't. And then out of the blue, once a while, he comes home and tries tantrums to get something he wants. At first we would be surprised at his changed tantrum strategy. Because it is out of the ordinary for him. Then we realise, he's picked the behaviour from elsewhere. Watching some other kid use the tactic on his parents. And so he learns from observing such behavior (learned termed, vicarious learning) and then tries it home.
Our task now gets harder in trying to undo what's been instilled 'from the outside'.
Consumers too get material to learn from, about brands, from two sources. One's the firm's marketing efforts and the other's the socio-cultural environment. What remains within the firm's control is its own marketing efforts, which it uses to build right perceptions and attitudes towards its brands. But then, out of the blue comes along reference groups that reek the socio-cultural environment, exhibiting behaviour that is lapped up by the consumer. Leading to consumers learning something drastically different (hopefully not) about the brand from what the firm tried to cultivate. Such learning that may run at cross-purposes from the firm's efforts can be devastating to a brand. It now becomes important for the brand to undo such 'externalised learning' to reinforce what its being saying all along with its own marketing efforts. Else, the brand may even have to take the road of no-return.
Its for this reason that PR and Publicity becomes critical for any brand. Note, advertising can only do that much. For brands to cement learning in the minds of consumers, they have to use neutral sources in the socio-cultural environment to 'seal' the message.
As for us, we can only hope Jaden picks up what's polite behaviour through vicarious learning. For we will only be able to 'undo' till a certain time, a certain age. But again, we are comforted by the fact that a healthy, inclusive, tolerant and faith-filled environment at home should be the best defence to influences from the 'outside'.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday 7 December 2009
Real Men
'Real men need to fight the cultural scourge of swing fashion trends. Real men are not trendy. They’re classic. No one wants to see lithe and androgynous men. And no one wants to see a man’s chest hair, either.
More important than the silly trends and those that hawk them is the underlying cultural acknowledgment. There is no dressing up capitulating, weak behavior. Pictures of President Obama catching a football or lining up a putt with Tiger Woods or shooting a basketball with his campaign logo on it will not make up for the fact that his actions are weak and scraping. While there is no question that President Bush burnished his image with cowboy boots and brush clearing, it would have rung hollow had he not had the gumption to back up the image. President Obama’s problem is that the image and the action don’t match.
Real men demonstrate manliness — not from superficial photo ops. So men, either you got it or you don’t. Showing heavage will display nothing but insecurity or a strange disconnect from what normal women find appealing. Leave fashion trends behind. Embrace the kind of masculinity that is self-evident: decisive, common-sense action. It’s not something one wears. It just is.'
- Melissa Clouthier, C’mon Guys! Please Don’t Show Us Your ‘Heavage’.
The Climate-Change Travesty
'Skeptics about the shrill certitudes concerning catastrophic manmade warming are skeptical because climate change is constant: From millennia before the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1300), through the Little Ice Age (1500 to 1850), and for millennia hence, climate change is always a 100 percent certainty. Skeptics doubt that the scientists' models, which cannot explain the present, infallibly map the distant future...
The travesty is the intellectual arrogance of the authors of climate change models partially based on the problematic practice of reconstructing long-term prior climate changes. On such models we are supposed to wager trillions of dollars -- and substantially diminished freedom.
Some climate scientists compound their delusions of intellectual adequacy with messiah complexes. They seem to suppose themselves a small clerisy entrusted with the most urgent truth ever discovered. On it, and hence on them, the planet's fate depends. So some of them consider it virtuous to embroider facts, exaggerate certitudes, suppress inconvenient data, and manipulate the peer review process to suppress scholarly dissent and, above all, to declare that the debate is over.
Consider the sociology of science, the push and pull of interests, incentives, appetites and passions. Governments' attempts to manipulate Earth's temperature now comprise one of the world's largest industries. Tens of billions of dollars are being dispensed, as by the U.S. Energy Department, which has suddenly become, in effect, a huge venture capital operation, speculating in green technologies. Political, commercial, academic and journalistic prestige and advancement can be contingent on not disrupting the (postulated) consensus that is propelling the gigantic and fabulously lucrative industry of combating global warming.'
- George Will, 'The Climate-Change Travesty'.
The Copenhagen Circus
'According to the organisers, the eleven-day conference, including the participants' travel, will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of "carbon dioxide equivalent", equal to the amount produced over the same period by a city the size of Middlesbrough.
The temptation, then, is to dismiss the whole thing as a ridiculous circus. Many of the participants do not really need to be here. And far from "saving the world," the world's leaders have already agreed that this conference will not produce any kind of binding deal, merely an interim statement of intent.'
The only true saviour of the world is commerce. The hard of work of mortals (read, value creation) that ends up as goods and services that are then traded. For money that comes from earnings of another who's toiled in a similar value creating activity.
This is what's fair and noble.
Not the 'Save the World' hypocrisy of Al Gore types whose only desire is to fill their own pockets skimming off the scam they have engineered called Climate Change & Global Warming.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday 6 December 2009
Spirituality ISN'T me!
'Says Sri Latha, from Oneness University, “Spirituality means coming in touch with your inner truth, becoming conscious of what you truly are. Spiritual intelligence leads to emotional intelligence, which makes you a happier person.” She recommends, “We tend to block and escape emotional disturbances. Pay attention to your discomfort, probe deeper and change your own perception of the world around you.” As spirituality doubles up as pop psychology, in an “I, me, myself” world, we seem to have evolved to seeking a higher self. Says Los Angeles-based yoga guru Bikram Choudhury, “Yes, I’m the most important person for myself. If I die tomorrow, everything ceases to matter. Self-realisation is God-realisation. Spirituality is about creating a road between your mind and your own atma or soul. Spiritualism is all about learning to connect with your own spirit.” '
I am amused at the kind of hogwash that gets passed off as spirituality. I am even more amused that there can be takers for this kind of bunkum. Recommendations to get 'self-centered' is an act of selfishness, than selflessness. It only makes the spirituality-seeker even more blind to what's 'reality'. In fact the kind of 'introspection' these pop-gurus recommend can't and won't work. Simply because any act of 'looking inwards' has to be a post mortem analysis of a context or a situation.
My analysis of me has to be one where I try and decipher my own behaviour, in order to get to the bottom of what could have caused it. And my behaviour would have been exhibited during what I call a 'situation' which then becomes the 'context' for analysis. Of course, it may not always be possible for me to engage in this analysis on my own. That's when I should get into what's called therapy.
The pop guru's call to sit cross legged and zero in on your 'core being' is nothing but a whole lot of wasted time.
Business introspection too is situational. Contextual. Post mortem analysis is a must to better value delivery to consumers . To carry out such an act, the relevant business context is sequenced and studied. To see what went right or wrong. To know if a firm is part of a chain of activities that creates 'best' value for consumers. The introspection called for requires that the activities that make the chain be benchmarked against 'best-in-class' practices. A comparison to a best-in-class practice can point out what's being done right or wrong. The focus for the firm in question then becomes matching and bettering best-in-class practices.
Pop spirituality is the refuge of people who can't honestly introspect their own behaviour. Its a convenient way of bypassing what otherwise becomes the most trying of engagements. Coming face to face with one's own frailty. In the business world too, many firms put off such introspection, choosing instead to live the illusion of grandeur.
For firms, as for people, such illusions go bust. Sooner, if not later.
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