OCTOBER SKY – THE SEQUEL

Waking up at 8 am on a Tuesday morning, I sip my morning cuppa tea and rub my eyes to see NDTV only to know that a big (self proclaimed) politician is arrested and a convoy is getting him to Mumbai. Here, arsons and broken cabs welcome him. The city of dreams is getting disturbed and the unemployed are doing some bit of work. The God in me wakes up and goes to the magical terrace where I last saw the silver lining. Sitting on the water tank I scan through the neighbourhood. Silence prevails almost everywhere. Suddenly I see a few mortals. They bash up the same panwaala who had been servicing their lungs since a coupla years! Wow I said. Gazing more toward the east I saw the newest mall in the area which sadly had a broken glass. The store manager was instructing the minions to shut the doors. Well I really didn’t have much to do. Thanks to the adventures happening in my town, I had to miss an interview. So I thought of taking a walk around and well...think!!

The lazy bum walks outta home. I was greeted by my dear gurkha who tried saying something (possibly in Hindi) to me which I didn’t understand (like always). His eyes were relatively bigger than usual. “Ahh warning” I thought and patted his back requesting him not to tell my mom I was out! As I step out of my complex, I saw a group of men who weren’t familiar. By their look I realised even I wasn’t familiar to them! Thanks to my attire and my “I’m-so-lazy-to-shave” look, they understood I wasn’t disrespecting them to go to work. I walk and walk, through the same streets that I had for years together! The streets look deserted. I suddenly see an array of Bajaj Pulsars. It had men...of different ages and shapes, front was a guy who was as slim as Kangna Ranaut. Also was a guy in the mid 40s who, well who looked like Kanagna’s grandfather!! I smiled, well, there are only a few times STP goes for a toss right!

Out of nowhere a cop came and stood next to me. He looked at me from top to bottom, I think 3 times. The fourth time he looked at my tee and was trying to read it, I guess. I was wearing a Tantra Shirt which said “Mera India Mahaan”. Was it wrong...I thought! The middle aged cop shook his head and asked me to return home. I guess he said to himself “Its time to rephrase the line”. Well thanks to my mom I had seen a lot of tele-soaps and trusted my visual interpretation exercises! But still the look on the face of the cop was weird. I was tempted to speak to him but since he looked a bit worked up, I went ahead.

As I yawned once again, not finding anything interesting, I found a chai tapri open. There were a group of men sitting there and they stared violently at me as I entered. “Chai” I said and the guys looked really annoyed as if I asked them to make it for me. I guess God has given us all a weapon called smile. As a kid, I used it in school when my teachers were pissed off with me. I chose to do the same. As I was about to, something better came to rescue. The Black & White BPL TV screamed that India had won the Mohali Test match. I grabbed my tea and stood next to the same guy, surprisingly even he could smile. We discussed how it was an all round performance. I sipped the tea and the God in me told me to dare to speak, but my mortality warned me to remain mum. I saw the screen as Dhoni, Tendulkar, Zaheer, Ishaan, Ganguly, Dravid, Shewag, Mishra were all dancing out of joy. Did they think which state they belonged to- I thought. My mortal-brother who was furious a while ago said “Great show! India is great. They screwed the Australians”. “Yaa ofcourse”, I said. He was my age and I’m sure he also wished that it wasn’t tea but vodka in our hands. But unfortunately even the wine shops were shut. Sipping tea, we sat, still elated with the India win. I somehow dared to speak. Let me be honest. I’m no superman- I was scared. “India is great”, I said. “Why Australians, we can even screw Indians”. Sometimes you say things which are not supposed to be said, just thought. I don’t know what disease you call it, but I have it in me. My very good friend, Vikram calls it keeda- you know. So I did this keeda and the guy asked me to repeat what I said. I said nothing and now did what I used to do in school- smile. Obviously it didn’t work.

I got up to leave but he asked (rather ordered) me to sit back. “2 chai”, he yelled.

“You know everyone is not as lucky as you”. Lucky and me- sure, I thought.

“Why do you think so”,I said as one of the minion got us tea.

“Look at this young fellow”, he pointed to the kid. “You think he can ever go to a convent like you.”

I scanned the minion like the cop scanned me a while ago. He was wearing an oversized, brownish, once white for sure, tee which read “I love NYC”.Ofcourse li'l Johny didn't know of Sub-prime crisis- I smiled

“Who is to be blamed for this- you, me or the ones on the streets.”

“Thats the problem with YOU guys” he sipped his tea and said, “You don’t want to be held accountable for anything”

His “YOU” made me feel a bit outlandish. I was a part of this town right from the time I made my first friend, held my first book and well since ever.

“There are just 30 lakh of us in Mumbai, out of a crore of junta. You guys take away our jobs”. His eyebrows curved as serious as they could get.

“Brother, you first said luck, then you blamed it on others. What is it that we are doing? I mean, has anyone hurt you in any ways? Or stopped you from studying?”

“Yes, our bad luck has stopped us from studying. Thanks to you guys who took our seats in good schools”

The “YOU” was getting a bit heavy to handle and I requested him to stop it. He seemed to be least interested in a fight with a lazy bum and agreed.

“Really”, he said as he took his last sip.”This had to happen someday. Else no one would understand us ever”

As I kept my empty glass on the broken table, I said “You know what. The problem is not you or me. The problem is our impressionable mind. Our mind wants to hear what it really wants to. The reality is we all are afraid. Afraid to sacrifice. All of us, right from the generation which brought independence to India. The problem with “us” Indians is we expect external factors to gift us with our wishes.” Somehow I was satisfied by stressing the “US” word. It basically showed our lines of argument.

I continued “The real problem with India is that to actually be competitive, we need ONE generation to sacrifice and only slog. And till now, none of the ‘whole generation’ is ready to do that. Then when things around us don’t happen as we like, we throw the blame on others and chicken out saying- Hey its not my fault”
He raised his finger and was about to say something. But suddenly we heard a window break and police siren. He walked out but looked back. I know he wanted to say something. I knew what. I just nodded and showed him a thumbs up- a gesture to show that no one was right or wrong- its just how one thinks. The problem is when we try to enforce our thoughts on others around us. The tapri-guy said “Vaibhav dada ke account mein”. Possibly Vaibhav was his name or it was the name of his mentor. Who knows?

I last saw him get on his bike with 2 more of his friends behind him. A small wheelie and off they go. Free chai, I thought. While leaving, I saw the tiny one who was cleaning the table. I bent down and asked him his name. With a pouring left-nose, “Chotu” he said. I wish God sometime gives ‘Chotu’ a name. I wish he goes to school and someday won’t go out to fight. Afterall Chotu himself didn’t know about his existence- let alone his religion and community!

Some discussions better not happen!

DREAM RUN !!!

Dreams are not what you see while sleeping, dreams are what don’t let you sleep. Reality of life, well this one liner gives you a minute of sensation if not anything. But it really gives brand managers across segments a chance to relate their brands to something known as an emotional intelligence. A recent attempt for one such emotional connect of following your heart and fulfil your dream was by India’s fastest growing mobile service provider TATA Indicom.

Tata Indicom, announced it’s newly launched Brand Positioning “Suno Dil Ki Awaaz”. The new brand communication is focused on Emerging India and ‘empowering people to listen to their hearts and follow it. The campaign which spins around the emotional quotient is perfectly crafted to ensure that people believe in the brand – Tata Indicom.

Brand managers these days are using unconventional strategies and a contemporary attempt being this one. The first TVC shows a young athlete running through a country side when she gets a call from her coach who asks her to come to the city for preliminary rounds of selection process. Well, this was launched sometime close to the Olympics when the whole of India was acquainted with history called Bindra and started believing in the fact that India is more than the Bombays and Delhis. So far so good. But then came the part 2 of the TVC which shows the girl reaching the city (possibly Chennai) where her same coach guides her to come to the stadium. Great! It stirs you up, the voice over strikes a chord and the brand manager’s desired ‘emotional intelligence’ mission is achieved. Well, for once you might say that the fairy-tale episode looks like a take away from the Saif-Priyanka Ponds campaign but theres something which makes it a unique campaign. Analyze this.

At one end you are creating a hypothetical situation about the small-town-fairy tale gal who wants to make it big in life. She does this by ‘suno dil (tata indicom) ki awaaz’. At the other end, they have roped in a celeb-rella from different areas who’ve chased their dreams. The likes of which are Karan Johar(Director) , Lalit Modi (IPL brainer), Himesh Reshamiya (producer-composer-singer-actor-and many more!!), Prachi Desai (Rock on fame) till now. Wow! I don’t know what text-books call such a dual positioning but I’d say its a multi-level positioning. What you do as a brand is tell people to believe in their dreams. And if they don’t believe you, bang them with realtime success stories. One way or the other they ought to believe in you (read your brand).

My verdict-
1. Great attempt but somehow in today’s scenario, if it ultimately doesn’t boil down to sales, its a futile attempt. So keep a check on your ad-spends and don’t just run TVCs like crazy. I mean why do you wanna reinforce the same statements by different brand ambassadors?
2. Another reality check is, if you sill wanna go with it. Make sure that the TG can associate to the ambassadors. Eg: don’t show Himesh’s TVC between cricket matches- show Lalit Modi’s and show Prachi Desai’s bit in between the saas-bahu shows.
As a case, a good attempt on cashing on Emotional Intelligence!!!

Ref:
Press Release

NOW THAT’S A CH-OFFERING

If you hunt Webster’s for this one, chances are you’ll never find it. Just close your eyes for a minute and think, you’ll know what this means! For sure we’ve all gone through, rather are going through it. Right from the days of Parle Kissme, Coffee-byte, and Melody-hai-chocolaty to the ‘Shaadi-aur-tumse-kabhi-nahi’ Ravalgon paan pasand, wow we’ve relished them all. But that was a different genre all together. Slowly Cadbury’s put in our brains that chocolates are not just for kids. Why? Not just for making us happy but also to induce sales. If we speak of current market scenario, the Indian ‘taste-bud-share’ is dominated by Perfetti-van-melle’s SKUs the fav being Alpenlebe.

A couple of thoughts I’d type here. We got most of these candies priced at Ps.50 or Re.1. First point to ponder is why are most of the candies priced at these two points always? Ever since the time we remember. Is it because as kids, our purchase level restricts us to spend maximum Re.1 on a candy. Well, clearly this is an industry where one ‘takes’ the market price, but hasn’t there been a product clearly even from major players Cadbury and Perfetti which could charge a premium on their offering?
For the sake of speculation, Cadbury’s has recently launched a new offering called CADBURY SHOTS which are these little balls of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate encased in a crispy sugar shell. Their TVCs cheaply showcase the mann-mein-laddu-foote liner.

Well, can they ever think of some other type of extension? I mean yaa we all love Cadbury but we also need to move ahead of cashing on the dairy milk thingy. The history of Cadbury dairy milk can never be replicated by the company and they wanna make the most out of it in some way. Anyways it is priced at Rs. 2 and the only justification for it is that one pack has 2 shots in it. Well that boils down to the Re.1 per shot again. Isn’t there any chocolate which can command Rs.2 on a single unit?



Well my gray matter found one reply and that came in one of the companies which had long ago positioned its chocolates as ‘Gift for someone you love’. Remember Nope? Ok their chocolate bars were washed out of market when giants Cadbury and Nestle stocked all possible SKUs in the general stores and simultaneously in our mouths. Yes thats Amul! So our very own desi brand is back with an offering which is Rs.2 for one unit – something which I was talking about. So what is it all about- lets catch a glimpse...ahem to tell you, this is an EXCLUSIVE DASHBOARD REVIEW which you possibly won’t find anywhere on net!



The brand featured today is AMUL CHOCOMINIS. Well CHOCOMINIS- The fun shaped Chocobites, as they call it comes at Rs.120 per box for 400 gm. Now you’ll say who will buy it at Rs.120 and the purchase will be restricted for special occasions only. Well not really, coz Mera Bharat Mahaan! Although the box clearly says INSIDE CONTENT NOT TO BE SOLD LOOSE. It doesn’t take any efforts for our neighbourhood Baniyaa to sell off the SKUs for Rs.2 per piece. About the impact of the product- I am sure, since they haven’t utilised their advertising muscle for this offering yet, Amul surely hasn’t launched it at ‘pan-India’ levels. Clearly, they should take a cue from this gesture of the kirana stores and have some sort of plans to launch single piece for Rs.2 per since the market is there, ripe for the taking. The TG here is not the kids but college-going youth who have a relatively higher disposable income (on chocolates and generally in eatables category).

Firstly the possible desired positioning by AMUL for Chocominis –
“Like the erstwhile ‘Gift for someone you love’ platform here is another offering from India’s largest dairy house, a promise of taste and happiness for those special occasions and being sugarless- at the cost of no calories!”
Dashboard recommends Amul to do coupla things in months to come.
1. The product is gaining momentum and with festivities (not Diwali, I am talking about X’mas time frame), escalate the launch possibly in other cities too, if you haven’t yet – more tastebuds deserve it!
2. Rethink about the single packs again. If you are restricting the purchases to festivities – which seems to be the possible trick- RETHINK.
3. The youth like it- a small observation, the box finishes by a cycle of 2-3 days. When I asked Mr.Baniyaa about this he said the order cycle is pretty hectic.

There are days when guys come and pick the whole pack so there is a dual demand- for whole packs and for singles too. What will AMUL do with the brand is eventually is upon the top ranked brand managers there but I’ll just say one thing – Please don’t underestimate the brand equity of Chocominis- for once it is the only ch-offering which is at a unique price point.

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY

Attitude- we use the word so often. As marketers, we always face situations where only Attitude can come to our rescue. If someone asks me what is Attitude? I would say it has to be Clint Eastwood in the 1970 blockbuster “THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY” What he might have never thought was...how apt the title was! Nope today’s doashboard funda isn’t about the movie but just a thought on the increased positioning efforts by the Indian Banks, given the sorry state of Indian Economy. So we are talking about sinking (UGLY) economy, the Major Investment Banks falling (BAD) and the traditional Indian Banks which are now reinforcing their “low-risk-trust-me-I’m-good-for-you” image in the minds of the customers (GOOD). So who comes to rescue – my gurus - Ries-Trout with their gift to the marketing bibliography “POSITIONING”.

Well do you remember those early days of an ATM in India when ICICI boasted of its presence in umpteen locations? Then slowly came in the concept of credit cards and other financial products. Also the meaning of banks for an average Indian changed from mere deposits to a complete investment kitty where he could now think about investment and returns. Until now if you ask about decent ad spends and positioning efforts, ICICI would top in the brand recall and next would be HDFC.

Just a touch up on the banking industry before we proceed. It has been growing faster than the real economy, resulting in the ratio of assets of commercial banks to GDP increasing to 92.5 per cent at end-March 2007. Ever since the banking operations had been opened to the private sector in 1990s, the new private banks have been increasing its role in the Indian banking industry. Simultaneously, driven by the expansion of the middle class population, increase in private banks and the burgeoning national economy, the domestic credit market of India is estimated to grow from US$ 0.4 trillion in 2004 to US$ 23 trillion by 2050. With such a favourable scenario, India is likely to emerge as the third largest banking hub in the world by 2040, says a Pricewaterhouse Coopers report.

Wow, now coming back to the positioning of the banks. Banks are primarily a HIGH INVOLVEMENT THINK PRODUCT. We touch upon a few banks which have off late been advertising to catch the eyes (read minds) of people. Possibly one bank which tried positioning itself long before others was BANK OF BARODA calling itself India’s International Bank – pretty straight but no major impact despite getting Dravid on the block. Remember Dravid saying “Taking advice is great. But the point is whom you take it from!”. Then comes the the fabulous recall-intensive TVCs of Bank Of India. Wait a minute- can you forget Sunil? There were many to follow this, this bhaisaab TVC and this one too when they spoke about their telebanking services !!Then came this stealer for Education Loans. Well if you were to see these days, banks like IDBI Bank and Union Bank of India flooding with TVCs which speak volumes about the trust.

Lets speak about IDBI Bank first. If you have seen the TVC (click here) you will notice what it says: “Not just for the big boys- Banking for all” Ahh so who really are the big boys? Are they the “high risk- high return” customers they are talking about? Or is it a taunt to the Big IBs whose corpses are in our minds or rather in the news discussions happening? It has to be someone – but the positioning is clear – “We are banking for all”. Just like their TVC shows football isn’t just for kids but even for the baby elephant.

Next in block is the Union Bank of India – they’ve had 2 TVCs. One shows the father arranging for cab early morning for his son (see here), who insisted on doing things all by himself. Another one a cute kiddie collecting broken tooth and sowing it for a golden tooth in return(see here). The tag line says “Good people to bank with”. Desired positioning here is to show that “our services are like the ones your family members do to you. So grow with us like you grow with your family.” The golden tooth shows clear sign of INVESTMENT and the father-getting-cab phenomena speaks about the RETURNS. Thus with these two TVCs running I’d give a thumbs up for the unknown-brand of UNION BANK.

Also probably the last in the class of the GOOD but certainly not the least, we have a thriller from the ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (RBS). Wow with Sachin as the brand ambassador, a straight warning to the existing players as the voice over says “Once in a lifetime, there comes a player who changes the rules of the game”. Their website says, "Like Sachin Tendulkar, we believe that actions speak louder than words. That's why we've become one of the largest banks in the world with a reputation for helping customers get things done".With the tag line saying “Make It Happen” the positioning is not too clear but certainly it says one thing for sure- In the mushy bank-TVCs, here is a player who means serious business.

So...hopefully the Good gets better and we see a further buoyant Indian Banking system and if not- what are marketers for, they’ll position it appropriately for you!!!

36- TILL I PLAY

7th October midnight, swaying my head to Bryan Adams, as he rightly says “Wanna be young, for the rest of my life...18 till I Die” browsing through my regular news updates last night, my eyes popped at the statement by a gentleman who has been my role model when I was in my teens. The headlines said “This will be my last series...Thanks for all your support, hopefully we’ll go on a winning note-Thanks”. Shattered I re-read between lines. Confirmed, yes, the man who has possibly fought the toughest politics in sport, Saurav Ganguly has announced his retirement. Weird but true, as Bryan’s voice echoes in my ears, dada’s accolades run flashes in my brains.

The sinister from Behala who spearheaded the arguably lethargic Indian squad in the dawn of the millennium, announced his retirement in a rather haphazard manner. By far the most successful captain of India, taught the Indian team that overseas Test matches can be won and not just drawn. The legend who displayed those goose-bump-deserving unorthodox cover drives down the ground, and the dream run of the 2003 South Africa World Cup when we were in the finals (we can’t forget the horrible Zaheer first over either). His 1996 Lord’s debut alongside Dravid, the sublime maiden century and Geoffrey Boycott jumping out of his seat at every drive that came off Saurav’s bat which read V 400. Phew man, all those Chappell-finger row and the controversy of swinging the shirt, dada you have seen it all. But guys, my agenda of writing today is not stating the stats. But before you go ahead, check the fabulous strokes of Ganguly here

Let me come back to track. Dada has been the brand ambassador of umpteen brands, from Pepsi to Sonachandi to Britannia. Dashboard fundas revisits where it all started and will draw a Product Life Cycle for Dada and see if the moves were correct at those stages of his life. As I always say, just an attempt- I am no Kotler! My thoughts go back to a distinguished speaker @ our marketing fest Parivartan who spoke about how the personality of a brand keeps changing from time to time. True, as humans when our life, priorities and roles keep changing, a product is just an inanimate object. Let us now have a check on the brands he endorsed during the different phases.


fig:Kindly replace sales with ‘feathers in cap’

INTRODUCTION: 1996 - LATE 1999 FROM LORDS TO DALMIYA
PERSONALITY – YOUNG AND READY TO TAKE IT HEAD ON
Dada actually started his career as a teenager in Australia in 1992 when he allegedly refused to carry drinks on fields. Wow! A seal on his head says “I’m a No-non sense guy”. Not anything in particular but this stage of his life he gathered the attributes for future endorsements. With the likes of Sachin and Dravid, Ganguly’s sudden bursts of aggression came to notice in the eyes of the selectors, if not the advertisers. Late 1999 Sachin stepped down & Ganguly was chosen to head a young in-experienced Indian team. The best was just to come.

GROWTH: 2000-2003 THE GOLDEN DYNASTY
PERSONALITY – AGGRESSIVE BRAND LEADERSHIP

As the millennium unfolded, there were new advertising strategies and celebrity endorsement seemed to be the talk of the day. This was prob’ly the best era of the Ganguly dynasty. He came across as a true leader – sailing through the rough weathers. Sometime during this period brands like Hero Honda, Britania, Airtel, LG , Pepsi caught him when he lead the Dream run World Cup. A young Indian team and the aggressive Dada, remember the Hero Honda commercial where all of them were working out and in the end dada comes and reiterates that he is the captain. Wow clear show of muscle power by Hero Honda that yes, other bikes are on the streets but I am a leader. Pepsi cashed on a lot on the Men in blue campaign. A Lot of PR, Sourav was a part of it. Click here for all pepsi TVCs.

MATURITY: 2004-2006 THE CHAPPELL-FINGERING
PERSONALITY – RIGID - SURVIVOR

These were probably the worst days in his career. His mentor- Greg Chappell going out of the way to screw up Ganguly’s image. Endoresements also took a back seat. But the “TOSS KA BOSS” campaign first kicked off during the ICC Champion’s trophy. Later the loyalist Pepsi brought out a gem of a campaign when he was rested. It said “Hoo Haa India...apne dada ki baat sunenge naa”. Man thats the appeal pepsi wanted to create just before speculations said Dada will be back in the team. The ad fitted well and suddenly struck an emotional connect with the TG. Click here to see the senti dada, it gives me goosebumps even today!Also a few social campaigns like UNICEF were what he did.

DECLINE: 2006 ONWARDS MOMENTS COME MOMENTS GO
PERSONALITY – DOWN BUT DETERMINED
Chirag computers, Pogo Potato Chips , Puma, Videocon,
Ok, a sluggish period no doubt in his career. With the overtly hyped Kolkata Knighriders losing out in IPL cheaply, brand Ganguly might have been forgotten. Or not really coz the latest statement from Globosport Chief Aniraban Das Blah, said “Ganguly’s brand value is set to go up. By announcing retirement he has towered over all controversies.” Seems like an year ago he wasn’t sought after but now it seems that the brands which wanna show wualities of LEADERSIP and NATIONAL PRIDE are vying for dada. Percept Talent Management which managed brand Ganguly says that Ganguly took away Rs.1.5 Cr per ad but this might increase.

Well my take, since we are talking about PLC here, its time to reposition Brand Ganguly and thats mostly in the hands of the caretakers of this mammoth of a brand. Ideally his re positioning should be that of a guy who has “BEEN THERE DONE THAT”. Ideal companies (read Brand Ganguly’s customers) which could use him are the capital goods say like cement cos or steel cos which have been the backbone of the nation’s progress just like Ganguly and have seen the fall and rise of the field. Another arena where Ganguly could be utilised is the financial services because they can relate to the unpredictability of life and ups and downs connected to it. And what more he is the ideal voluntary retired guy they could find. Nokia which already has Ganguly (credits to KKR) in their kitty can use him as they have been present in the thick and thin of India’s much touted telecom success. Well what is Sugar free Natura doing? Instead of Bipasa Basu, they could use him. Waseem Akram is busy endorsing Kalorie-one.

PS: My recco to Dada. Please have a check when you are endorsing the brand.
You are still the best, like those fabulous sixes you hit that sailed through long off, we will never forget you.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Hmm, Eid, Dassehra, Diwali wow! Festivity is at its best. I’m sure all of us have enjoyed the jalebis, laddus, halwa puris and yum! What not. Although thanks to my naratri fast, I should be away from sumptuous stuffs, I am permitted to fantasize about food. What happened today, well it is ashtami in which Hindu families invite kiddie girls called “kumaris” (relating them to Goddess Durga) and feed them with puris, halwa and chana. I have been seeing this since childhood and today was no different. There were kids in my house who were yelling at the top of their voices and were happy, generally happy, maybe coz they are back from school, maybe coz they are socializing (yea we did that too and now we go doping @ BOMBAY 72 East). I wonder when I was so happy or rather noisy! Anyways, two posts away in OCTOBER SKY, I spoke of the joy of kids. This post is definitely not about it. Its about Food...for thought.

Even after so many years of cherishing the puri, I never really thought how it is prepared. But as the wise man with grey hair once said, “Its only when the situation calls that the army runs”, I learnt to make puris. And what I learnt was something more than mere swelling of puris. I learnt a small aspect of life which I would call. Layers of Life.

As the neighbourhood aunt who always helps my mum was away, I was the only available option for help (trust me, mom wouldn’t have bothered to let me enter kitchen otherwise). So me enters the kitchen and walla what I get as instructions from mom is:- Heres the dough, theres the oil on flame and theres the rolling pin(belan). “Okiedokie” said the Sanjeev Kapoor in me and thanks to my common sense I start rolling the dough and make small balls out of it and flatten it. Then add flour to it on top and place it in the boiling oil. Wow, turn it around in the pan and what you get is the puri. I make a few of them in reluctance; my mom is disgusted and asks me to serve it to the kids. Without realizing, I gave it to the smartest kid of the lot. The kid truns to me and says “Bhaiya I don’t want this. Give me a good one!” Huh said the chef in me (read ego) and I told him to eat it silently. He said give me a good one and not a better one..either its grammar sucked or my puris were really bad. But thanks to mythology, I had to treat the kids like God. As usual, the real me gets ready for the challenge and I move towards the battleground (kitchen).



By then my mom, realised the fact that outsourcing the task to a loser like me just incurs additional costs (time and energy) and she better do the bit herself. A bit of reassurance and she permits me to take charge once again. Now the Sanjeev Kapoor in me says bingo, I learn the art of it as if my life depends on it. So I thought to myself, thats my customer- an 8 year old, if I cant satisfy him, forget the AIDA model and SPANCO model of selling. Armed with a rolling pin, and few consulting tips from my mom I understood that you have to layer the puris and thats when 2 layers are formed out of it when fried. Wow! I exclaimed, I might have eaten a zillion puris since childhood but never really thought how come out there are two layers in a single puri. Then the first one goes in for a deep fry, I twist it a coupla time, and then bring it out. It was fun really – well you know if a retired man had to clean the cobvebs, thats challenge for him too, isn’t it! I take it to the same kid and place it on the plate. And look at the li’l one with pride. It (almost forgotten that it was the one who challenged me) tears a piece and relishes into the chana. And finally the kid smiles. Yessss said me and the chef in me gets encouraged all the more. I got back to the kitchen and make around 20 more puris and boy I had fun.

Huh, you know what, at times life is about being naive. You just cant be the smartass SWOTing and PESTing every damn thing on earth right!! As the last kid leaves my mom turns to me and says “Good Job!” I say “Thanks Ma, If it wasn’t for crisis, I would have never known the culinary skills in me”

SIM-P-LAPPIE-FY

“Treeenk Treeeeeen Treeeen Trink” sounds familiar...Oh so you’ve forgotten the sound which our dearest D-Link 56Kbps modem used to make a decade ago when we connected it with our desktop and our MTNL Line. As a teenager I remember banging my fist on the table when it took ages to open the links I wanted. No doubt with the broadband this problem was solved. The high speed internet permitted not just the users but also the web designers to flaunt flash and JSPs on the web pages. Now considering Moore’s Law there had to be a day when we have our desktop giving way to the futuristic laptop. Wow, so a lappie gives you the mobility you always desired. Not until recently, you still had to sit tied at a place if you wanted to surf isn’t it. Not anymore! With almost 4-6 major players providing USB Modem services, owning a lappie actually gives you mobility across geographies.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, India has become one of the fastest growing countries in terms of the number of travels made within the country and between countries, by road and air. And here the communications industry found a profitable business opportunity. In this year's budget, union finance minister P Chidambaram has reduced the excise duty on wireless data modem cards by 16%. It is a significant move as far as the data card players are concerned, as it will encourage service providers to slash prices of their wireless data cards drastically. The government has targeted to achieve a data card subscriber base of 40 mn by 2010 from the current 10 mn subscribers. It was also announced in the 2008-09 budget that one lakh broadband-enabled common service centers in villages will be established at a cost of Rs 5,400 crore. All major service providers, including Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom, BSNL, and Vodafone, have launched data cards to tap the vast opportunity lying ahead. The players are offering data cards and USB modems at competing prices and different tariff plans to woo customers.

Ok. So now my reason to bring up this topic –how do you communicate this service? Its more rational an offering than a SIM CARD. If you closely observe Reliance NetConnect’s commercial, I’m sure you’ll remember one of those analogy questions you came across in the MBA Entrance Tests... MOBILE : SIM CARD :: LAPTOP : ???
Now this is an answer the smart marketers @ RCOM got and it was pretty simple- A USB Modem. Like you don’t walk out of the mobile store without a sim card you JUST SHOULDN’T walk out of the Laptop vendor without the USB Modem, clear strategy by the major player in this segment. The intention, clear “Reinforcing the fact that you DO NEED a USB Modem”. Go by the tag line of RIL Netconnect- Anytime, Anywhere Internet Access.

The TVC starts with the protagonist in an elevator with a laptop bag when a gentleman (most probably his boss) asks him if he got a new laptop. When the guy says yes, he asks him “GOT THE SIM?” The guy says yes and wonders whats a SIM gotto do with a laptop. This runs in his brain even when he is in the cab, the train, lol even a reflection of MI2. To end it he gets home to surprise his wife and she asks him the same –“GOT THE SIM”. The Voice over then speaks about the High Speed internet and then says “Reliance NetConnect...Aapke Computer ka SIM Card”

Theory time – now, the positioning is clear. In the minds of the consumers, I as NetConnect, position the product as a SIM CARD...remember the analogy example i quoted a few paras above. This is done since the number of laptop customers exceeds the number of USB Modem users. And I as a company want to induce the usage of NetConnect to ideally each and every Laptop customer and give him the much desired mobility in life. But is it the right move. Reliance Netconnect, with a speed upto 144 Kbps, has presence in over 15,000 towns and 4 lakh villages. The company in its latest move has also tied up with laptop manufacturers HP, Lenovo and HCL to bundle its data card. The company has sold 12,000-14,000 units a month over the last four months.

Now going by the strategy text books, such a move is purely a market leader for increasing the usage of the product. You increase the size of your market, hence you being a (say) 35% in a 50 crore market become 35 % in 100 cr market. Doubles your topline and economies of scale could reduce your costs which increase your bottomline. Simple, not so.Lets look beyond the textbooks now!

Remember the disastrous campaign of Pepsodent which spoke about brushing twice a day. What it did to the customers- they liked the cute kids, got the msg but used more colgate (existing leader in segment) than buy a pepsodent. Why am I saying this is that the USB Modem market is very new where leadership is undefined yet. Although RIL is a dominant player. TATA Indicom’s Plug n Surf is the closest and BSNL, Vodafone,Airtel are yet to get the mileage. So is it too early for Reliance to show their leadership when the market is cluttered and undefined? What if the users get the positioning of the product right but use a USB Modem (of any brand) than Reliance? Disaster!

But kudos to ADAG Group to be the first to reinforce leadership through accurate positioning of the product in the minds of the customers. The chain goes something like this Think of a Laptop -> think of a USB Modem -> think of Reliance NetConnect.
For the positioning I give it a full but only for the timing of the ad I bring the scores down:
3.5/5 is what I feel the brand truely deserves.