WHAT'S HOT

One way to wield influence, is to be the dominant player in some area. Here are a few, and their niches:
--3M: Sticky notes, transparent tape.
--China Mobile: 70 percent of China's mobile phone market.
--Intuit: TurboTax has almost 80 percent of the consumer tax preparation software market.
--Microsoft: 90 percent of computer operating systems.
--Nielsen: TV ratings.
--Japan Steel Works: Ultraheavy forgings for nuclear reactor vessels.
--Jarden: Playing cards and toothpicks.
--YKK: Half of world zipper sales.

Gliding thoughts!

Ever wished that there was a cook-book for life? There could be a sweet tiramisu when you were in pain. Everything would have been ok by doing by the book. The world’s best chefs are some people who have made their own recipes and have become known for them. These were the recipes which were the first and became the last word. Many things they made, they didn’t have the slightest clue what it would be. Similar is life. You make your own recipes. Believe in them and when you strike gold; the world will know you by these very great actions. Believe in the recipe of life that you want to achieve. No problem if you fail. At least you tried. What’s wrong in failing anyways? Everyone does. But one day you will be able to show the world how your tiramisu tastes, the recipe for your life. Good or bad you should not care much.

Quality awareness about Indian Brands- Research Paper

"Local brands show what we are; global brands show what we want to be." – Consumer Insight

There is a general agreement that source of prowess of successful companies is the presence of big brands in their portfolio. Every company wants to create & own the ageless brands & does spend a lot of money towards this objective. Yet, many top executives are not very comfortable with following a structured approach to branding.

Our research on the past successful and unsuccessful brands says otherwise. On a careful inspection successful brands show a lot of common threads. These commonalities led us to model the consumer behavior model that is the ultimate reason for the existence of any brand. Kevin Keller captures the essence of branding when he says “A brand resides in the minds of consumers”. A brand should move beyond its physical character to acquire a perceptual character hence representing itself as a means to achieve what is sought by a customer.

In this paper, we start by discussing what a brand is from the perspectives of the organization as well as the consumer. This gives us the foundation for building the models subsequently. Next we build a model for consumer decision making process and bring in the perspective of the Indian brands vis-àvis multinational brands. We touch upon the importance of various parameters in building the Indian brands and stress upon them with relevant examples. It’s not just the initial creation of a brand but the reinforcements, evolution and revitalization that ultimately decides the winners in marketplace.

We have also conducted a primary survey to analyze the quality perception and understand the
consumer behavior and hence, help us arrive at the model. We conclude the paper by discussing a framework which could help build the Indian brand both domestically and globally.

To see my full article, please visit:
http://www.brandcameo.org/search_result.asp?text_search=chain

Marketing of Luxury Brands

Luxury branding is a whole new ball-game altogether, both from the perspective of the marketer as well as the luxury consumer. It therefore becomes important to view it both in relation and isolation from the ‘regular’ goods marketing.

To achieve the above objective, we first look at how luxury goods are different from regular goods and then go on to explore some facets and trends of the luxury goods as well as their market and consumers. This finally sums up into a SWOT analysis of the luxury goods segment, thereby helping in obtaining a bird’s eye view of the exercise at hand.

Considering that the luxury concept has shifted to the ‘new’ meaning, we delve into that aspect to understand the drivers for luxury brands presently, as well in the time to come. This is followed by a luxury potential determination of the Indian market both in terms of quantitative growth factors as well as qualitative initiatives.

Post identification of the mindset of the Indian luxury consumer, we have conducted a synergetic strategy building exercise, in an attempt to make sure that there are actionable points, which will go on to ensure the best interplay between the 3 most important factors for a luxury brand, i.e. the product brand, the brand / reputation of the service provider and the price-value relationship of the luxury brand.

To see my full article, please visit:
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers.asp?pageno=3#top

Amen!

Tomorrow, being the death anniversary of St Valentine, lets buy pink gifts from pink gift stores; watch 2 movies so that the words pyaar or dil are cumulatively in the title about 6 times, and have an expensive but mushily meaningful dinner tonight, so that St Valentine's soul rests in peace.

What an irony....ignorant consumers and senseless consumerism has made this day into a Rs 1200 cr market in India.

God save the pups stuck in the mush muddy stupid love dipped day

George Carlin.

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate. It’s something which everyone feels, experiences & observes everyday but is so hard to put in succinct words as George has done.

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

Haleem!!

Work from home (WFH) made me take a shot at Haleem yesterday over a sumptuous lunch. My aunt who goes for a kill every time a new recipe challenges her ego of being the best cook made me try it. In true sense she learns/replicates dishes which she likes/tries outside to perfection.

Just for the starters the city of Hyderabad is known for its delectable haleem, which is available only during Ramzan. The porridge which has many pulses, wheat grain, lots of ghee and of-course meat is considered very nutritious; another reason it is considered the mainstay during the Holy month of Ramzan. The entire prep takes more than 8 hours and traditionally is cooked in the ‘bhatti’. It comes in both the sweet and salted version and is still served for breakfast in the homes of the Arabs living in Hyderabad. A vegetarian derivative of haleem has dry fruits and vegetable.

For those who would like to cook this at home; recipe is mentioned below:
Ingredients:

250 gm mutton/lamb; 1 cup wheat-soaked overnight, drained, pounded & husked;

1 tsp chili powder; 1/2 tsp turmeric; 1 tbsp channa dal- soaked for 1/2 hour; 1 tbsp moong dal-soaked for 1/2 hour; 1 tbsp masoor dal-soaked for 1/2 hour; 1 tsp coriander powder; 2 onions-sliced and fried crisp; 4 tbsp ghee; 2 tsp ginger-garlic pastesalt to taste

Method: Take a heavy-bottomed vessel and heat 8 cups of water in it. When the water starts boiling put in the drained dal, wheat and mutton along with the ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder and salt. Cook over slow fire till the mutton is tender then mash the mutton. To this mixture add the crushed fried onion. Heat the ghee and pour it over the Haleem. Sprinkle lemon-juice before serving - serve hot.

I would request my aunty to make the dish again and very soon, though I would like to try the sweet variant this time. My burpometer will give the Haleem 3.5/5.

SOS after OSO (Om Shanti Om)

Well today was a case study straight out of experience and not just some MBA gyan..The title 'How to sell one of trashiest Bollywood movies ever made and earn a fortune instead' explained and executed to perfection. Pure genius and hype inspite of utter shit. Om Shanti Om seemed like Oh Shit Oh no more!! Just for the record in terms of story, OSO was an utter disappointment. No strength of character. It seemed as if as few imbecile friends who in a zombie frame of mind worked on the story plot. Anything put anywhere and overall movie in disarray. I personally never liked the songs so they for me were never a face saver. The only upswing was the multi-mega -entire Bollywood(31 stars) casted ‘Deewangi Deewangi ‘ song and maybe the much hyped 6 pack Sharukh song ‘dard-e-disco’ which would have only made his son Aryan and some skin starved female fans happy. Ms. svelte Padukone hardly has a 20 minute screen presence and parts which I think any actor can do. No doubt the girl is tall and pretty but there was nothing much to her otherwise. Shreyas Talpade, I must say also had a next to nothing role. Single man movie like Chak De! India, OSO was completely driven by King Khan.

It was disappointing to know that an actor of SRK's caliber does not know which script has some sense or is a step forward. Just the other day I read his interview saying that I set my own bench marks through the movies I act in. I am sure he would have left all his fans with edge marks waiting to get out of their cinema seats out of desperation and frustration as to what crap they were being served.

This brings me to the important point that it won't be a surprise that OS still rakes in a lot of moolah. In-movie advertising by ADLABS, TAG, MAYBELINE, AUDI, NOKIA,FILMFARE and many more which I might have missed would have already paid a bomb making Farah Khan's triplets smile with full gusto inside her tummy. Ms. Padukone and Mr Shreyas Talpade would have been more grateful to get a role in this hyped movie so as to oblige Farah with a low fee's. Shahrukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment which has been under the scanner in the past would have made the entire casting bill to bare minimum. With sets and locations which were hardly expensive and glamorous,,SRK,Gauri and Farah have pulled a fast one on the public. Another reason why so many screens have been booked for OSO so that the money is churned before the truth spreads through word of mouth.

But one thing which amazes me is the audacity and conviction with which Farah khan has promoted her infuriating creation and projected it as one of the finest. Hats off to Farah for her ability to fool the audience and SRK's charisma which I am sure will make this hopeless, below par, stale movie as one of the most hyped and may be one of the highest grossers this season...I

Deep-valley of darkness

HAPPY DIWALI!!

1. The report card on the ambient air quality on last Diwali night prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) highlights the plummeting peaks of noxious pollutants like Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (PM10 - RSPM) and Nitrogen –di-Oxide (NO2) on Diwali night of 2006 as compared to the previous years. But even as the city was preparing to shower accolades to growing environmental awareness, the unexpected rise in the sulphur-di-oxide (SO2) levels shocked, exposing dark trends in the Indian cracker market.

2. If I take 4 metros with a conservative population of 6 crores. Assuming a nuclear family of 4 each, I would have 1.5 Crore families. Assuming 30% are BPL (below poverty line), I have 1.05 Crore families lighting Diya’s. Assuming 5 diya’s a family, it works out to be 5.25 Crore diya’s. Assuming one diya consumes 10 gms of medium quality oil, we have the 4 metros consuming 5,25,000 kgs of oil translating to Rs. 3.15 Crore@ Rs60/kg of oil burnt this Diwali by just the 4 metros alone. I know its too less knowing how rich a country we are…


3. Another interesting thing about Diwali is the relevance it holds now. It’s a grave question which shamefully I can also not answer. The festival of lights or the day actually Lord Krishna killed Naragasura…..guess it’s the things of the past. The Diwali which most of the people enjoy is more of card parties, extravagant show-off of self-wealth and of course holiday from work, to empty one’s pockets on social obligations and of-course to contribute to the traffics snarls. Ocean of humans under the mad ness of Diwali crazily shop and crowd every possible empty speck of the town.

4. And then there are sweets and more sweets and sweets which do not end the rest of the season. Hygiene, health and quality of ingredients are key issues here. From diesel to chalk powder - just about anything can end up in mawa, which is an essential ingredient for north Indian sweets. Hygiene is another major issue. Just yesterday I went to my colony market to collect 1 kg pack of milk cake much against my wish. And there the much famous local sweetshop help was busy alternatively rubbing read cleaning his hands on his groin and filling the innumerable boxes which lay in front of him. Flies on mawa and khoya being kneaded with bare hands just beside a drain are sights common around this time…which raises the important question as to where are the health inspectors?

Well the above views are just observations which atleast made me ponder and in no way, I think go against the Diwali spirit or any others POV. But I honestly hope that atleast next year GOI should ban manufacturing and sale of crackers or atleast have some sort of regulation on the noise and pollution levels. Even though the impact of Diwali pollution is short term, given the scale and magnitude of bursting of crackers it is important that the regulators monitor and set benchmark to minimize hazards.As for the sweets, shopping and festivities ….well I would say…….it will be Happy Diwali always…I

Net-worked-up

I thought this was it...but then my friends and my close cousin made me find another new networking site 'Facebook'. Though I might be outdated in getting to terms with the new addictive trends seeing how my younger cousins have taken a lead over me, but then is there an end to the number of SNS's as they are called. My first impression of the entire front-end was....it’s too complicated but I am still being pushed to see through the outer shell to experience a whole new innovation which is attracting the world. I am still far from using it and will see how I like it in due course.

Sometime in my first year of MBA, I joined Orkut and Linked-In. Again I was a laggard in knowing what these were and how they worked. But my experiences with both have been great. Atleast I do not forget birthdates of my close friends not to forget how many old friends I have regained touch with. I feel amazed at the number of people from the smallest towns of the country on Orkut. But as I see and hear there appears to be a transition happening from orkut to facebook. My reasoning says that as many offices and colleges do not know about facebook vis-à-vis Orkut, people still have the freedom to use a similar platform to do things which company/college authorities feel otherwise. At the same time I think it is very important to have the right kind of people joining to enjoy the real offerings of the site. Another reason why other SNS's such as Hi5 & ryze never took off in India that much. Infact one of my seniors from college has started a concept of offline meetings of like minded people which I am sure would be a lot of fun. Though I have never attended one of them, I plan to in future.

But I feel there a lot of crap existing on many of these SNS's which is irritating as shared my many of my female friends. Many people who are +30 also share the feeling that the old ways of picking the telephone and connecting is any day better than these new amusing ways which have no utility. But this is changing as I see when I go around Linked-in. With the mélange of interfaces available one can balance utility with idle time pass. The recent valuation of Facebook which is now worth $15BN - judging from the fact that Microsoft has reportedly just bought itself a modest 1.6% chunk of the company for a staggering $240M goes to show the importance of the these sites as revenue source from ads beamed at around 48 mn users which facebook alone commands.

But I am sure I would come across many more such SNS’s in the future. Just a month back I came across Shelfari which I have “again” joined but never used and so has been Myspace which inspite of being touted s the #1 SNS is unheard in India. But as of now I am keen on exploring more of facebook...Hope to see u there soon..I