Are you a brand?

WPP Atticus 'Under 30 Essay' Contest 2009 entry

2011-02-03T01:36:00.000-08:00

“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up, 1936. Do you agree with the statement? Or disagree? Or both? Please be as specific as possible and limit your answer to 1000 words.

Understanding the context -

Before debating the degree of agreement with the given statement, it’s important to step back and analyse the circumstances under which F. Scott Fitzgerald had made this observation. An established, well-acclaimed author witnessed a steep downfall after years of literary stardom. His personal problems along with his alcohol addiction further catalysed the southward process. This resulted in a physical and mental breakdown, which forced the author on the path of self-expression and public confession through his writings.

Fitzgerald always imagined himself among the top literary personalities. Despite his continuous downfall, he brought alive his imagination through his writing skills and determination. In his own words, he saw the improbable, the implausible, often the “impossible”, come true. His observation - The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function – was inspired by his own life. He managed to see the light at the end of the never-ending tunnel of sadness and despair. Whether it was a reality or an illusion, he decided to chase it. Oscillating between emotions and thoughts as varied as success and failure, illusion and disillusion, dream and nightmare, Fitzgerald managed to walk towards the literary nirvana.

Dissecting the statement -

Fitzgerald’s observation needs to be analysed in two parts. Firstly, the ability to hold two opposite ideas in the mind at the same time reflects an individual’s capability to think rationally. Secondly, retaining the ability to function requires eliminating one of the ideas in the given context and determination to implement the other.

In other words, despair and opportunity can co-exist. It’s all about leveraging those opportunities. Remember, the half empty glass is always half full.

The opinion -

Having discussed the context, judging an individual’s intelligence on the basis of his/her capability to hold two opposite ideas and still retain the ability to function is not suggested. The first part signifies the ‘rationality index’ of an individual whereas the second part requires will power and determination. Is there is no correlation between rationality, determination and intelligence?

One of the brilliant corporate examples of rational thinking combined with determination is Nokia. In the late 80’s Nokia diversified into several new fields, mostly by acquisitions. However, in the early 90’s, the company ran into serious financial problems due to heavy losses posted by its television manufacturing division and other diverse business units (footwear, wood products etc). The situation changed from bad to worse when a suspected total burnout probably contributed to the suicide of Kari Kairamo (CEO, Nokia) in 1988. The situation worsened further when Finland underwent a severe economic depression in the early 90’s. It impacted Nokia as well.

Nokia decided to divest itself from all the diverse businesses and focus solely on the business of future – telecommunication. Today, the brand Nokia is worth more than $35billion. It required a great deal of risk-taking ability and determination for Nokia to convert a hopeless situation into an opportunity of a lifetime.

Managing two conflicting ideas is a challenge. If done successfully, the existing norms and beliefs are shattered and a more evolved and relevant belief system emerges. More recently, the established economic models of the West, once considered as the benchmark, gave up to the recession. What survived were the lesser mortals – India and China. The perceptions have changed and the Asian economies are more respected than ever before.

The alternate perspective -

Not every competitive frame of reference is black or white. On several occasions, two opposite ideas need to be analysed in the given context. Be it a graduate’s dilemma to choose between a high paying job and an opportunity that ensures steep learning curve, or a brand manager’s compulsion to focus on short-term profits rather than long-term brand building, these are few real life situations where both the options have their own pros and cons. In such scenarios, it’s not about elimination. It’s about selection. It’s about ‘constructive destruction’.

Fitzgerald’s observation also ignores people with high emotional quotient. Two opposite thoughts like ‘I am a nice person’ but ‘I was compelled to do a wrong thing’ result in emotional side dominating the rational side of an individual, thereby determining subsequent action. These actions can’t be benchmarked to judge the ‘intelligence’ of any individual.

Conclusion –

Fitzgerald’s observation needs to be analysed through three lenses – Context in which the observation was made, rational and emotional quotient of an individual, the process of elimination vs selection. Having done that, I believe that the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function can’t be a testimony to an individual’s intelligence.

The 4 E's of Digital Marketing

2009-09-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

While going through a power point presentation, I came across a very interesting perspective on Digital Marketing. By virtue of being a two-way medium and the advent of Web 2.0, the way we approach traditional marketing doesn't find place in the realm of digital consumer engagement process. It is important to see Philip Kotler's 4P's of marketing through the digital lens and see whether they pass through the digital filter.

The 4P's need to be replaced by 4E's in the basic digital marketing framework.

Product vs Experience: Unfortunately, digital is often used as a lead generating medium without any focus on brand building. Digital, if used judiciously, can be used to create an unforgettable brand experience that entices and encourages the consumers to not just consume the product but develop a long lasting relationship with the brand. A delightful brand experience can convince a consumer about the role of the brand in its life.

Price vs Exchange: The internet works on the basic principles of 'community living'. You share, I share. Its similar to the age-old barter system. You can't put a price to the content. Its available abundantly. More you share, more you would move up in the social hierarchy in the digital space.

Place vs Everywhere: Once your content/communication is out, it's everywhere. You don't select the touchpoints, the commmunity does it for you.

Promotion vs Evangalism: That's a dream of every marketing professional. You don't promote a brand on the digital space, you search for the brand champions.

ZooZoo-ism is the new religion

2009-06-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have decided to write about the latest sensation of the advertising world - ZooZoos (not sure about the origin of the name but I quite like it). The day I saw the first ad (click here to see all the ZooZoo ads), the planner inside me got curious to know the creative brief that the planner on the account must have given to the creative team. Whatever the brief might me, its creative manifestation has ensured that Vodafone continues to enjoy the consumers' affinity in the 'post-pug' era (click here to see the ad). ZooZoomania has taken over the imagination of the people. After a long time, I saw people waiting for an ad to come on TV .

As they say, if advertising is the religion, ZooZoo's are the God :)

Thankfully, O&M, the creators of ZooZoo, extended the thought beyond the mass media and built communities and fan groups (click here) on the social networking sites. The official fan page of ZooZoo on Facebook has more than 3lac fans. (Shahrukh Khan's fan page has around 2.5 lac fans. Click here).

The challenge, however, is to carry forward this euphoria and ride on it as far as possible. Few top of mind options-

- Advertising is nothing but creative storytelling: ZooZoo's became popular because everytime they appeared on television, they had something fresh to tell. People waited for those new 'stories'. Use digital media to tell new and innovative stories about ZooZoo's, by the ZooZoo's. Nothing stops Vodafone to tell interesting ZooZoo stories in 140 characters. That could in fact, attract people to create their own ZooZoo stories. Did I just hear ZooZoo comic?

- Offer what consumers want: People love those 'irrational noises' - the ZooZoo talk. Is there a possibility to do something around that? Can we take it on to the mobile platform? How about ZooZoo based VAS offerings?

- Come out of the television, get in to their homes (and hearts): Indian answer to the 'firang' Barbie. Believe me, its gonna be a hit.

All said and done, one thing needs to be taken care of in the long term. Hutch (and Vodafone) streched the whole 'pug' story too far. From 'pug-o-mania', it went on to become 'pug-o-phobia'. Avoid that in this case.

Waiting to see more stuff on ZooZoo. Hope the entertainment continues.

Brand Busting in One minute

2009-06-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

Brands cannot be created overnight. It takes years to convince the consumer about the role of the brand in its life. A single-minded focus is what is required to build a brand. A brand needs to identify an emotional truth about the consumer that it can associate itself with. This emotional truth or emotionale helps the brand to connect with its target consumer. If the consumer experiences that connect then the journey towards advocacy begins and ultimately that consumer becomes the brand champion.

However, if the brand doesn't do justice with its loyal consumers in terms of their expectations then the consumers never forgive the brand.

Recently, I had a very disappointing experience at McDonald's. I went to McDonald's Mumbai Central outlet (station premise) and ordered potato wedges. That day McDonald's was running a promotional scheme under which they promised that if they failed to deliver the order in one minute, they would give away a coke free. Great!

But to my disappointment, just to ensure that they don't cross the one-minute benchmark under any circumstances, they were serving cold, stale stuff which was already kept ready.

My reaction - A big thumbs down!

How can they serve someone cold potato wedges/french fries?

- Never forget the fundamentals: Quick service is not the necessity but quality food is. McDonalds can offer a quick service but not at the cost of the quality. Consumers go to McDonalds to have a quick bite, not to have food that is prepared in 'quick time'. Quick service is just an add-on.

- Don't chew more than what you can: Dont make promises if you are not equipped to fulfill them. Either you install more equipments or get more employees to keep your words. If you can't, then don't make unrealistic promises.

- Understand your consumer: Understand what's important to your consumer. Any promotion or offering should be properly analysed and then only be implemented. It doesnt make any difference to consumers' life if it gets its order delivered in one minute or one and half minute.

It takes years to build a brand but just a minute to bust it.

Me-too Blogs!

2009-05-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Having watched a lot of me-too ads, me-too brands and me-too products over the years, I wasn't surprised when I saw a 'me-too' blog. Following the stupendous success of the Fake IPL player's blog (click here to see), another blog called 't20worldcupmole.blogspot.com' (click here to see) has come into the limelight. The author claims to be a part of one of the teams participating in the T20 World Cup.

My initial reaction - hmmm...let's wait and watch.

The initial response to the blog is nowhere comparable to the FIP blog. This blog only has 2 followers and hardly around 100 comments. But passing any judgement at this point of time about the popularity/following of this blog would be too premature. Once the World Cup begins, then only we would get a clear picture.

Few random thoughts on 'Me-too' stuff -

- 'Differentiate or Die' Or 'Diferentiate & Die': Its all about cracking that 'insight' basis which a branding idea is developed. The insight/branding idea for two different brands may be silmilar, the execution needs to be different and obviously better (Sorry, Mr. Jack Trout). Differentiating your brand just because your competitors' have already postioned themselves in a certain way is definitely debatable. Two different brands can own the same idea and still execute them in a completely different way. Two brands can still survive without infringing into each other's territory.

- Trust your consumer : You don't need to get defensive in case their are any similarities between the two ideas. Recently, Ad-pundits have pointed out lot of similarities between the latest Loop mobile campaign and the Vodafone (then Hutch) campaign. So What?? How does it make a difference. Leave it to the consumers to decide. If the consumers find a better emotional connect in the recent campaign compare to the earlier one, they will accept it otherwise it would be forgotten just like most of the other campaigns.

Take it lightly!

2009-05-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

A very simple yet effective WEBSITE created by Ogilvyone India for the brand Cadbury's Perk. Click here to see.

P.S: Don't miss the loader

World's smallest 'learn-by-earning' University

2009-05-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

Yes..you read it write. Sumit Roy (my Account Planning teacher at MICA) runs world's smallest learn-by-earning university called Univbrands. Check out his website here. Read an article on 'Aha' trees - A tool devised by Sumit for doing brand research and generate consumer insights. Click here to read the article.

Digital News Lifecycle

2009-05-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting post about the Digital news lifecycle. It talks about how breaking of the 'breaking news' on the social media platforms is no longer a news. In fact, these days, if a news appears in mass media before it is twittered, then definitely its a matter of surprise.

Few excerpts:

The Digital News Lifecycle -

1. Twitter Alert: A bystander (accidental citizen journalist) will break the story via Twitter.

2. Blog Post: News organizations and bloggers will pick up the story and write a quick blog post about it, often with a link to the tweet or the photo.

3. Article/ Package: News organizations will convert the story into a 300 word newspaper article or a 3 minute TV story.

4. Context: Bloggers, news organizations and Wikipedia contributors will quickly start compiling background material on the story.

5. Analysis: Bloggers and news organizations will offer in-depth analysis on the story, and news organizations will often interview the bloggers who have broken the story or provided the most context on it, as part of their analysis.

6. Conversation: The conversation will continue in the comments sections of blogs and news websites, on Twitter and on social networking, social voting, and social bookmarking websites.

7. Customization: The entire story, across multiple formats and sources, will be available as an archive that can be searched by tags, accessed in various formats, including RSS feeds, and recombined to provide context for future stories.

As the news story will move through its lifecycle, both the depth of the story and its reach will increase, hit the peak in the context or analysis stage, and then decrease thereafter, as the interest in the story decreases. The story will move from alert to analysis in an hour, a day, or a week, depending on the nature of the news. The conversation and customization stages will in the domain of the long tail and go on almost indefinitely, driven by search.

Click here to read the entire post.

Communication: Then & Now

2009-05-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Source: Mike Keefe Cartoons

Wolfram Aplha is just 'another' website

2009-05-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read it right. All the hype and talk around the new so called Computational Knowledge Engine - Wolfram Alpha aka Google Killer is nothing more than a euphoria before every new launch. When Cuil was launched, it was also termed as the next 'in' thing. We all know what happened to it. Viewzi also died unceremoniously (well, almost).

After having experienced the new search engine, my point of view on it is very clear, Its just another website and nothing else. When you input any query, you get 'crap' and tonnes of it. The kind of absurd facts and figures that you get would be of no interest to any normal internet user. Take for instance, if you search for advertising. This 'search engine' shows you the input interpretation, typical word frequency, synonyms, narrower terms, broader terms and a complex looking synonym network. Click here to see. What the hell? Mr. Wolfram, I want to search the knowledge on the internet. What you have done is, you have converted a simple dictionary into a complicated looking 'search engine'. I don't need a mathematics based search engine to know synonyms or definitions. Disgusting!

Take another example, I wanted to visit Reliance communications' website. When I typed Reliance Communications, it showed the message - 'Wolfram Alpha is not sure what to do with your input'. See here. Hell. When I typed Reliance, it showed me some absurd details about a US based company. Click here to see.

My reaction - a big thumbs down.

The reason why Google has managed to capture the imagination of the internet audience is -

- Simplicity: Its not about complex coding and algorithms at the back end, the internet user cares a hell about it. You give me what I want, not what you want to show me. Filter the crap. Don't show me irrelevant stuff and most importantly, present it in a simple, easy to digest way.

- Innovation: Google always builds on its existing offerings and simplifies things further. Its ability to innovate has made it what it is today. Showing synonyms and definitions is not innovation. Its using high-tech stuff to take you light years back.

It would be interesting to see whether Wolfram Alpha would be able to compete against Google or not but one thing is clear, someone who prefers simplicity, would stick to Google.

Hail Google!

And the winner is...Fake IPL Player

2009-05-18T04:05:00.000-07:00

I thought of writing this post when the news of someone called ‘Fake IPL player’ blogging about the inside stories of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp broke out. However, I managed to resist the temptation of blogging about the current superstar of social media (read Fake IPL player). Before doing that, I wanted to see how far the story would go, whether there would be any interesting twists and turns in this unconventional Bollywood type suspense-thriller and whether some intelligent brain, cricketing or otherwise would be able to catch the protagonist of the story red-handed.

To everyone’s surprise, Fake IPL player has become more popular than the celebrated cricketing stars. It seems Fake IPL player has got real intelligence (and balls).

A lot of people have been talking, writing and closely following each and every post that our blogger writes, I managed to bring out few observations which I believe were crucial to the success of this blog. Click here to access the blog.

- Content is the king: In my earlier post I have emphasized on the importance of having content which is interesting and meaningful to the target community. The digital audience is waiting for the content that they can talk about, share and most importantly contribute. Whenever they get such opportunity, they build on it, contribute with more related content, invite others to share their views and obviously react to them.

- Its about conversation: More than 7200 followers, 110,000+ profile views, 13000+ responses to the poll and hundreds of conversation threads following clearly shows that the conversations are happening and people are enjoying them too. Initially, I thought that the Fake IPL player would keep the conversation one way and restrict himself to the posts about the KKR camp. I was wrong. The F-IPL-Player actually responded to the comments and queries posted by the people. Had he not responded to those comments, the blog wouldn’t have got the popularity that it has got. Atleast I think so.

- Relevance of the content: Given the hype-hulla around the event, the glam quotient and the million dollar underperforming babies, the blog became the central point to get all the information about the much talked event. Whether it’s the racial discrimination within the KKR team, the romantic encounters of Kishen Kanhaiya or the onfield antics of Appam C******, the blog talks about everyting.

Whether the Fake IPL player would reveal his identity, as he has promised, is yet to be seen but one thing is clearly evident, Fake IPL player is the real superstar of the social media.

My First Experiment

2009-05-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

The verdict is out and it’s a success. After being in the digital communication space for more than a year and having talked and seen a lot of interesting stuff, I finally decided to create a viral on my own.

Given the nature of the online medium, you cannot control the message. Once the communication is out, you can just hope that you find favour among the people who get exposed to it.Any communication which is not viral-able, is a waste. With that rule in mind I started thinking of what possibly I could do that can become a viral.

Inspired by the recent Domino’s incident which took the entire digital space by storm, I chose Facebook to do the experiment. During my MBA days at MICA, I met and interacted with lot of talented people who were really passionate about MICA. Due to this reason, I chose to talk to this closed community of MICAns. For that I developed a Facebook application – Which MICAn are you? This application calculates your MICAn quotient based on few questions and tells you what kind of a MICAn you are. (application to be submitted to the directory)

Few thoughts that passed through while I was thinking –

- Don’t tell people what you want to say, tell them what they want to hear: MICAns cherish every single moment that they lived at MICA. Talking about those moments in some form or the other would definitely appeal to them. All the answers in the quiz reminds of those moments – be it the nights spent playing counterstrike or those pfaffy lectures.

- Never tell a person that he is an idiot, he wont pass that to his friends: There are lots of things, good and bad, which we want to tell people. If your message or communication or content offends them, they wont viral it. Make sure you convey the most offending thing in a lighter tone. E.g. You can’t tell someone that he is a womenizer but you can definitely say that he is a ‘palaash-gal’ lover (contact a MICAn to know more about Palaash-gal)

- Understand your TG, their likes and dislikes: As I mentioned earlier, MICAns are really passionate about MICA. No matter what, you can’t hurt their sentiments in any way.

- Positive or Negative Word-of-mouth – You can’t decide: Well, the experiment itself was a big risk. Talking about MICA to MICAns! I was lucky that the community accepted and viralled it. My job was to initiate the conversation, which I did, but beyond that I had no control over it. It was the community which took it forward.

Hope to do more such experiments using this interesting medium and share the learnings with everyone.

The latest source of inspiration - Youtube & Google Images

2009-05-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

Of late, the way research is carried out in the advertising agencies has changed drastically. Two of the most popular sources of 'reference' that I use are google images and youtube. However, the reference is not just restricted to inspiration but can be seen explicitly in the creative output. Recently I came across an article that talks about the instances when the creative manifestation was very much similar to the orginal source of inspiration (read youtube). Click here to read the article.

Google 2084

2009-04-24T04:18:00.001-07:00

When I saw this picture, it reminded me of one of the most atrocious movie of recent times - Love Story 2050...LOL :).

Given Google's dominance in the space and its capability to innovate continuously, the scenario reflected in the pic above is not very unrealistic. Hail Google!

Checkmate!

2009-04-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

A smart one pulled off by BMW. Brilliant! You need not fill pages to prove your point. Click on the pic to enlarge it.

The other side of our Superheroes

2009-03-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Even the superheroes become mortal when the going gets tough. Recession has forced our superheroes to look for alternate careers :)

Be a Digital-Celebrity!

2009-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

As the url of this blog - 'Are you a brand' suggests - it's all about creating a niche for yourself, whether in the real world or the digital world. Creating a brand out of oneself is a long term proposition which requires a carefully thought out plan and its meticulous implementation. A Digital Celebrity in the virtual space is same as a brand in the real world.

How to be a Digital Celebrity or How to create Brand 'You'?

Owning your share of real estate in the virtual world is the first step towards achieving the stardom. Be there on Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and what-have-you and let people know about your presence. The logic is simple - Be visible. These destinations help you create your own circle of influence, which might create the ripple effect, if used judiciously.

In the Digital space, everything is public, be sure what content you are putting up on various social media platforms. Every picture that you upload on flickr or every video that you share on Youtube tells a million things about you. Be careful!

Engage yourself with various communities. Be active and contribute constructively. Let people get exposed to your way of thinking.

As the rule says - Low risk, Low return - High risk, High return. Do not hesitate in voicing your opinion in public forums and on socially (or otherwise) relevant issues.

Last but not least, own a domain name (www.yourname.com), if possible.

When Social Media turned pink...

2009-02-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

A lot has been written/talked about the 'Pink Chaddi Campaign' which was launched in India by a group of youngsters against the anti-valentines day forces. The campaign got tremendous support and momentum primarily because of the reach of various social media platforms. Such was the impact of the information disseminated through various social media avenues that a large number of people actually sent 'Pink Chaddis' to the Sree Ram Sena office, thereby helping the objective of the campaign.

I have put together some info about how social media amplified the impact of the campaign and made it hugely successful. Enjoy

The Earned Media

2009-02-17T01:23:00.000-08:00

You don't need to be an advertising expert to deliver result worth Rs.10 after spending the same amount. The challenge is to earn that extra bit which adds to the final effectiveness equation. The clients' money can be used either to buy media or create 'owned' media. However, an effective advertising campaign generates 'Earned Media' or in simplistic terms 'Word-of-mouth' which differs it from other vanilla campaigns.

Putting it mathematically,

Earned Media = K x (Bought Media + Owned Media)

However, it is necessary to keep in mind that this word of mouth or Earned Media doesn't come for free. The initial push required to create that talk value needs money to be spent judiciously. The best example of Earned Media that I have ever seen is the all time bollywood classic 'Sholay'. The movie made using a lavish budget of Rs.2crore (in 1975) was trashed by the critics as soon as it hit the theaters. In fact, it was labeled as 'Choley'. What led to this movie becoming one of the all-time grosser was a strong word-of-mouth. Thirty Three years down, Sholay has already earned more than Rs.400crore (adjusted to inflation).

The foundation of any advertising campaign is a media neutral branding idea which cuts across any given medium. A good branding idea generates a good amount of word-of-mouth. In fact, this could be used as a yard stick to gauge the effectiveness of the branding idea. However, quantifying word-of-mouth is still a long shot.

Consumer is still the king!

2009-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

For all the advertising, brand promises and marketing budgets, if the marketers don't get their fundamentals right, their beloved brands are bound to get screwed in the long run. What marketers fail to understand is that just by spending zillions of dollars on advertising won't get them near to their targets. All the marketing efforts go in vain if the end consumer is not satisfied.

Few days back, I saw Aegon Religare Pension Plan's latest TV commercial. For all the clutter and undifferentiated offerings in the category, the brand actually took a very fresh and innovative approach. I immediately SMSed the customer care to get in touch with me, so impactful was the communication. Fifteen days down, nobody called me. The bubble got burst and I decided not to engage with the brand anymore.

A marketers' interaction with the consumer can be divided into three stages: Pre-Sale, Sale, Post-Sale. Unfortunately, the entire marketing thrust is on Pre-Sale and Sale and the Post -sale period is completely or partially ignored. Probably, the concept of Customer Lifetime value is not an exciting proposition for them. Just a lil bit of 'Hi-Hello' with the consumer after receiving the cheque from him could go a long way. After all, the cost of acquiring a new customer is much higher than the cost of a new customer acquired through referral by an existing customer.

Advertising Pfaff

2009-01-21T03:31:00.000-08:00

A planner's point of view on advertising....

Freakout Virgins :)

2009-01-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

Just saw this new Burger king campaign - Whoppervirgins (www.whoppervirgins.com) ...Simply mindblowing. Before this, Burger King had done another viral campaign- Whopperfreakouts (www.whopperfreakout.com) which was a huge hit within few days of its launch. Have a look.

Enjoy!

Adultdost vs Gajodhar

2009-01-12T00:57:00.000-08:00

In this post, I have tried to analyse two virals that I came across this month. TataSky, in order to promote its Active Darshan pack, launched a viral microsite called as http://www.adultdost.com/.

Interesting...isn't it!! The reason why I found this interesting was due to two reasons:
1) For a company as traditional and conservative as Tata, associating itself with something which suggests a pornographic gateway was a bit (in fact a lot) risky.
2) Promoting the Active darshan pack by making use of a completely contrasting way from a content of view.

The moment I saw this viral, I immediately showed it to my colleagues and they passed it on further. Such impactful was the viral. Suddenly, the marketer inside me began to analyse the numbers involved with the viral. The making of the viral including the development and creative would have cost 20k at max. From the ROI perspective, I would rate this viral as one of the best that I have seen in recent times. Brilliant!

Another viral that I saw was Gajodhar (to promote http://www.oktatabyebye.com/) which was nothing but a spoof on Aamir Khan starrer 'Ghajini'. To be honest, the first few frames put me off completely and the reason - Webchutney. The moment I got to know that this was a Webchutney creation, I told to myself, 'Not again' :(

However, I continued watching the viral till I realized that I had once again wasted my precious 5 minutes on a stupid Webchutney viral.

There are tons of reasons for not liking this viral:
1) I have seen similar brainless, stupid virals before
2) Taking advantage of opportunity is fine but creative banckruptcy is not
3) I didn't bother to viral it!!!

Creating a viral just for the heck of it I believe is nothing but fooling around with clients money. Virals from a marketers point of view give a better ROI, however, in the long run, brand can't be sacrificed for ROI.

CEO talk!

2008-11-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

Today morning, all of us at Tribal DDB got this mail from Tribal DDB Worldwide's CEO Paul Gunning. A must read...

This week I’m sending you a slightly different version of my weekly letter. I won’t focus on office openings or creative awards…I will return to that next week.

This week I want us to ask ourselves questions. How much do we really know about our clients’ customers? And what are we doing to learn more? Technorati just issued their “State of the Blogosphere 2008” report and cited the existence of 133 million blogs. They also noted that 90% of them write at least once a month about a Brand, Book, Music or Product. That is over 100 million postings, many of them about our clients. Are we listening? More importantly, are we listening and bringing that knowledge into our messages and experiences?

Google released their earnings last week and again, we saw explosive growth in search. Consumers, for the most part, are screaming their interest when they type in search queries. They are often indicating serious intent to buy. Do we know the top search terms that drive our clients’ businesses? Should we use those terms as copy points in our advertising? What can that search behavior tell us about the consumer and their relationship with our brands? What does it tell us about our clients’ competitors?

Often clients hand us their target profiles. Sometimes it comes with deep rooted research and segmentation data, but have we matched that up with who visits their web sites? Is it the same person, or someone a little different? Have we developed Personas that reflect the face(s) of the site visitors? Have we examined site behavior to see which piece of what our consumers tell us is the most valuable content (by visits and time spent) and which is not important at all (exit pages)? Have we looked at site side search queries to see if we are missing something substantial? Is there a consumer site path analysis that would challenge the current wisdom of which products are supported the most and which are left to fend for themselves? Do we impart that knowledge to our clients? I am optimistic with the changes that Google Analytics has made to their tool set. It may not be perfect but their attention to the product indicates they too believe site side analysis can reveal many hidden insights.

Finally, do we know where most of the linked and unlinked traffic comes from? Is there a particular social network that is becoming a rising driver to our site? And do we know why it is that way? Hitwise, Compete and other intelligence gathering tools can show us these facts. And from them, we can garner more knowledge about the consumer, what they care about and what they are thinking about as they interact with our clients’ brands.

There are hundreds of tools and resources we use to be the experts on the digital behavior. Ask yourselves if you are using the right ones. But most importantly, ask yourselves if you are using them to better our product in service to our clients. I guess the shortest question is; Are we listening?

Have a safe week. More office and awards celebrations next week…and a few surprises in store!

PG

'Jo bola wohi Sikandar'

2008-10-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

In India where about 2.4 million people are suffering from AIDS, the awareness about the preventive measures is dismally low.

This is a subject which makes even the dudest of the dude blush in public, parents hate to talk about it and teachers try to ignore this topic. Overall, talking about this issue is still an uphill task.

In the first ever, BBC World Services launched 'Condom Condom' ringtone to increase the awareness about AIDS. The idea was simple; to create an interesting, engaging and yet unoffending way of communication. The campaign 'Jo bola wohi Sikandar' was launched with the 'condom, condom' ringtone at the core. The website http://www.condomcondom.org/ , where the ringtone can be heard, has till now received more than 2.5 million hits and the ringtone has attracted 270 thousand downloads in just 2 months.

Last year Tribal DDB India had launched a campaign on World AIDS Day called as 'Protected Entry'. Before entering into the website, the visitor was asked to choose a condom to protect the cursor before entering into the website. The idea was simple, 'no protection, no entry'.

We already have 270 thousand 'Sikandar' ready to fight against AIDS. Come, join the battle.

Hunt for the most Extreme Man U fan in India..

2008-10-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

This one's for the ultimate, most fanatical, the craziest of crazy fans of the Manchester United football team. No, it's not one of those run-of-the-mill contests. It's what guarantees the devout fan, a trip to the Mecca of football fanaticism, Old Trafford!!

The contest invites the most ardent fans to participate by filling in a form and sending 1-5 photographs to showcase their fan skills. This is perhaps because at Nike Football and Manchester United they believe that a story needn't be worded at all times. Sometimes it's just the expressions or the unexpressed!

The contest invites one of the biggest fan fights of all times. The fight for sure goes with the very spirit of the game!

In case you are one of those football maniacs who swear by the Manchester United team, then this is your one chance. Go, make that dream, of watching your favouritest players battle it out in the middle, come true!!

Logon to http://extrememanufan.nikefootball.in for further details.

This post is written by Neha Srivastava, Account Executive, Tribal DDB India

The hidden connection

2008-10-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

Who says Technology is only for geeks? Bullshit!!

Baba Ramdev has gone a step ahead and used Google Chrome's reference to motivate people to live a healthy life. It happened in Gurgaon in this fashion :)

Who teased whom?

2008-10-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

The teaser has finally ended. This interesting/intelligent/funny/opportunistic story of who teased whom? would definitely be discussed in the advertising fraternity for a long time.

Airtel DTH's launch teaser 'Come home soon', which was conceptualized by JWT was killed unceremoniously by Reliance Big TV, just two before its launch. DDB Mudra, which handles the creative and media duties for Big TV, overnight conceptualized a spoof on the Airtel teaser and walked away with all the glory.

There is still one day left for the launch of Airtel DTH. It would be interesting to see how Airtel and JWT together face this situation. As of now, its party time at Mudra.

Google goes conventional!

2008-10-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

While the Lever's and the P&G's of the world are contemplating a cut in their marketing and advertising budget, Google has surprised one and all by shifting away from its unconventional word-of-mouth way of gathering free bytes.

Recently, Google launched an out-of-home campaign in Japan called “Google de dekirukoto” (”Things you can do with google”). When most of the companies are struggling to convince the ever-demanding consumer to buy their products, Google is trying really hard to educate people about how they can make use of their free services.

Click here to see the campaign.

What an Idea!!!

2008-10-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I happened to watch the new Idea commercial based on the theme ' Mere number Mumbai ka to main Mumbai ka', I actually thought of changing my telecom service provider and join the Idea bandwagon. Its a killer campagin to say the least. Hats off to Idea and Bates 141 for conceptualising such a brilliant campaign.

In the world's largest city specific launch campaign, the Telecom operator, Idea, painted the entire Mumbai yellow. Mumbai being a city of migrants, the concept would strike that emotional chord sooner than later.
The campaign is diametrically opposite to the ongoing anti-north Indian movement by the two political parties who are trying to revive their political fortunes. The campaign includes every Mumbaikar and gives them a feeling of pride and a sense of belonging to the Nation's Commercial Capital.

Idea has proved that we don't need to prove our loyalty to any city or a state, just having a mobile number is enough. What an Idea!

Goooogle Krome!

2008-09-18T02:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I came across this article on Google Chrome. Its a pretty good read so thought of sharing it with everyone. Click here to read the article.

Advertising 5.0: What's your future??

2008-08-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

Most of the traditional advertsing agencies are up for a shock in the near future if they don't change the way they operate. People have been talking about this future change and trying to figure out the reason behind it. Technology, as widely believed, is not the only factor responsible for this change. Our consumer has changed. Our consumer has become more non-cooperative. Days are gone when creating a micro-site supported by judicious media planning could do the trick for the brands.

Today, it is important to study our consumer in detail. The study of human and human nature by the advertisers is essential if they wish to command respect from their clients. The future of advertising will see a seismic shift in the role of advertising agencies.

The Advertising 5.0 agencies of the future would either be the creator of the ideas ( C-agencies) or the placer of those ideas (P-agencies). These C agencies will solve problems and create ideas that grow brands. The rest of the agencies will have to settle as the placers of communications.

The C agencies will require account strategists who have enough creative and intellectual bandwidth to design complex campaigns for the clients. These account strategists will work in tandem with their P agency counterparts and will bring life to these ideas through multiple channels.

The paramount question for all of us should be, How many C-agency ideators do we have right now in our ranks? If we don't have few, then we are up for a rude shock in the future.

The 'Bindaas' Search!!!

2008-08-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

I 'm loving it... The coming days in the digital space would be full of action and most importantly take digital innovation to a completely new level. Imagine a search engine that combines Yahoo and Google search together, displays alexa ranking and categorizes it based on Tech Cruch posts, Web screeshot views, simple text views, Timeline views, site information view, video x3 view, 3 D photo cloud view and so on. Yes.... the new search engine viewzi does it all.

Viewzi offers a very interactive, innovative way of exploring internet which takes the entire search experience to the next level. The insight behind this new offering is simple - one size can't fit all. The vast information on the internet can't be presented in a boring text format, the way google and Yahoo do.

Try this new search engine, you need to see it to believe it.

Finally, KILB stops teasing!

2008-08-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

K.I.L.B : Kill interest, loose (eye) balls
- My colleague

O My God.... somebody please help these innocent clients. Somebody explain me the logic behind this. Mr. client, if you have excess money, give it to me but please don’t waste it like this.

I am talking about the new Aegon Religare Life Insurance campaign titled K.I.L.B (it was meant to be a teaser but turned out to be big dud). Why Mr. Client? Why? How could you approve such a disasterous execution. Ideally, a teaser campaign increases the curiosity levels of the people and when the teaser ends, it gives a 'wow' feeling. Alas! it gave me 'What the hell' feeling.

'kam insurance lene ki bimaari' aka K.I.L.B- sucks. Another culprit in the entire story is our very own Mr.Irrfan khan. Mr Khan, please stop playing yourself again and again. We have seen enough of you in Vodafone ads. Remember what happened to Nana Patekar.

Mr. Client, next time when you try a teaser, please come to Tribal DDB India. I assure you double impact in half the budget ,and Mr. Advertiser, start looking for fresh talent.

Beware Google: Cuil has arrived

2008-07-31T05:47:00.000-07:00

Cuil - pronounced as 'cool' (it's just a starting, get ready to be bombarded with the names of new Web 2.0 tools which don't sound like the way they are spelled!!), was lanuched on 28th of this month with a lot of hype around it. Last time, this kind of anticipation was seen during the launch of the i-phone.

Cuil.com is a search engine that provides a never-seen-before search experience. It gives you option to see search in 2 or 3 columns with relevant details. It shows thumbnail size images along with the links, however, their is no option for image search. The search engine backend, depending on the keyword, automatically categorizes the search under various headings.

Despite getting a volcanic start, Cuil is up against the giants like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL who have successfully maintained their oligopoly over the years.

As of now, Cuil has not monetized its services, the way Google does through adwords. Therefore, it needs to be seen how it performs in the long run. The biggest challenege is to have a dedicated pool of users for the advertising campaigns once it launches its ad-displaying services.

Wanna know who is bitching about you?

2008-07-17T02:37:00.001-07:00

Recently, I came across a very interesting tool that could add a new dimension to the process of measuring campaign effectiveness. Summize (www.summize.com) is a search engine that tracks the ongoing conversations on Twitter. Imagine, an advertising agency informing its client about the consumer’s attitude, positive or negative, after few hours of a new launch. Simply mind blowing!!! Although, the number of tweets is not large enough to represent the entire digital population, it is still a very useful tool for monitoring a brand.

Just like Google, Summize tracks the conversations through keywords. However, it does not show the total number of conversations.

Despite this, Summize is a great tool that allows marketers to know and understand consumers’ attitude towards their brand.

It's time to boycott all the news channels

2008-06-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

After years of dominance, Aaj Tak was finally defeated by India TV in the eyeballs game.

India TV claimed a channel share of 19.52 per cent and 19.7 per cent, respectively, for the two weeks in the CS 15+ target group; Aaj Tak garnered a share of 19.71 per cent and 17.77 per cent, respectively. STAR News stands third with a channel share of 17.37 per cent for the first week and 16.13 per cent for the second week.

Few days back, India TV, for the entire day, ran a story about a rare Shirdi Sai Baba video. They claimed the video to be authentic and invited calls, opinions and views from the public. Indian janta, being religiously inclined, immediately believed on this story.

Click here to see the video.

Two days later, Aaj Tak and Star News, trashed the entire incident by claiming that it was a fake animated video created five years ago.

Click here to see the video.

The images below clearly show the level of journalism in our country.

Any Comments???

Style, cool and Tashan: What's the difference?

2008-06-12T02:59:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: All the examples in this article have definite resemblance to either living or dead people. Any lack of coincidence or resemblance to real life characters is greatly regretted. Any dispute in this regard would always be welcomed*.

*Conditions apply.

Before I proceed further, I request all the software engineers and those who have even distinct interest in computers, to forgive me for the ruthless use of a programming language (without caring about the programming syntax).
#include
void main();
{
clrscr();
char you;
cout<< “Enter your level of Stycota*\n”; cin>>you;
If you=style
cout<< “ You have style”;
else If
you = style + imitation by others;
cout<< “ You are cool”;
else If
you= style + attitude;
cout<< “Tashan ve, Tashan ve, Tashan ve…”;
else
cout << “ Wannabe !!!”;
getch();
}

*Stycota is a term used to define the sum total of style, cool and tashan quotient of a person. It is dependent on the individuals’ internal and external locus of control. For further information, DO NOT refer to any dictionary or encyclopedia.

I am not a great writer but still pretending to be one, trying to make you understand the difference between style, cool and tashan.

Isn’t it cool, I know, that’s my style, full of tashan….
…or am I a wannabe?

Style is for everyone, the recent commercial of Brylcream is a landmark in many terms. It highlights the resurgence of the great Indian middle class. A young lad, from a village near Ranchi, comes back after making the entire country proud, fearing that everyone would think shehar ki hawa lag gayi. He gets the shock of his lifetime when he sees the entire village following the latest trends or style, which he thought was a bi-product of the urban culture, restricted to the higher SECs.

This, I say is style and the incident I just mentioned is nothing less than a revolution, its democratization of style. Style is about keeping up pace with the latest trends and happenings around us and not get alienated by them.

Thirteen years ago, when Raj said to Simran’s mother, “agar Simran ko bhagakar le jana hota to kab ka le jata, magar main Simran ko sabse ankhen chura kar nahi balki ankh milakar le jana chahta hoon”, it became a cult. That was style, Raj’s style.

But, what happens when someone adopts the latest style and expresses it in a unique way. Inspired by Raj, seven years ago, when Aakash a.k.a Bhuvan stormed into the wedding reception of Shalini and proposed her in the presence of two hundred flabbergasted people, it was stupefying. This I say is cool. Being cool is about expressing your unique selves while following the latest style. This metamorphosism of style in an eloquent way, which inspire others to imitate it, is cool.

When 21st century Bhagat Singh expresses navras of Hindi literature through his eyes, people get stunned. This I say is cool.

Scene 1:
Few years after Aakash’s wedding, ‘topless scene expert’ Radhe proposed to the love of his life.

Venue: Library Time: College Hours

Radhe says, “Tera baap nahi mana to ek bajaonga kaan ke neeche”.

Scene 2:
Few years before Aakash’s wedding, “Ek machchar..” man proposed to his love, “ Shaadi manayegi mujhse? daru peeta nahi, aurat ka shauk nahi, koi galat kaam kabhi kiya nahi, beedi peeta hoon, muh se badbu aati hai”.

This I say is style with attitude. This is Tashan.

Modern expression-ism can be characterized by,
Style, following the trends
Cool, owning a style in a unique way
And Tashan, style with a pinch of attitude

After creating this classification, I realize that there is one common feature across all three categories, i.e Wannabe. Anything in excess is bad for health, the same axiom holds true for style, cool and tashan. Bollywood’s Farex baby falls flat when he tries to make a style statement by wearing a T-shirt which says, “Believe me, I am a virgin”. Asking Computerji to freeze instead of locking an answer does not make it cool and writing ‘K...’ on you hand to prove your love is definitely not Tashan (reminds me of the famous Mera baap chor hai scene).

Therefore, do not overdo anything.

Tashan, this one word has changed the way brands are communicating. Style is no longer style, it has moved up the cool ladder and become Tashan. Haywards, Splendor have added this word into their repertoire. Tashan, I believe has got the export potential.

Having classified style, cool and Tashan, as strategy planners, how can we make use of them? We now have three different ways of interacting with our consumers. Can we take a step forward and democratize Tashan? After all, Tashan is for everyone.

72 hours in Second Life

2008-06-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

Coming Soon...

How young is....Youngistan?

2008-06-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

Youngistan - A brilliant concept, messed up completely by Pepsi. The creative guardians of Pepsi failed to go beyond the Pizza Huts and the MTVs of the world. The basis of Youngistan was the demographics of its TG i.e. youth rather than the psychographics. As a result, Pepsi missed out on a potential opportunity to broaden its consumer base.

The paramount question is, How to define the term 'youth'? What kind of people form Youngistan? Does age matter?

If one goes by the Pepsi's philosophy then I am its core TG, considering my age, education and occupation but if Pepsi notices my lifestyle, behavior, likes and dislikes, it would never ever spend a penny of its marketing budget on me.

Their is a huge segment of 'not-so-young' people whose lifestyle is much younger than the 'Pepsi Youth'. What about them? Shouldn't they be targeted by Pepsi? Youth is not restricted by the physical parameters like age but its defined by several intangible yet important parameters.

Pepsi needs to have a re-look at its strategy. The idea is simple...redefine youth, redefine youngistan.

Effective Advertising and Creative Advertising

2008-05-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

" Effectiveness and Creativity are NOT step-brothers"

" Sehwaag ki Maa Ka Message ", this campaign ( for Reliance Infocom launch) was thrashed by several critics and rated as one of the worst advertising campaign by several magazines.

A brilliant example of creative bankruptcy.

BUT, creative advertising does not mean effective advertising. Lets have a re-look at the " Sehwaag...." campaign.
1. It was one of the most talked about campaign of those times
2. Reliance enjoyed the top-of-the-mind recall after this campaign
3. It established brand Reliance among the masses (now Reliance is trying really hard to change its image)
4. I remember one of my friend screaming his lungs out, " India need Sehwaag ki maa ka message", when Ricky Ponting was belting Indian bowlers all over the park during 2003 Cricket World cup final (this campaign was launched in 2001).

This campaign sucked, if creativity is the judging criteria. But for me, its one of the most rocking campaign in the history that made Reliance a household name.

Lets talk about Happydent's new campaign ( the one in which an entire city is illuminated by Happydent) which was conceptualized by one of the most creative person in the Indian advertising industry. The entire industry went ga-ga over it, it created waves in several ad festivals and recieved critical acclaim as well. BUT, did this campaign help Happydent increase its marketshare? Was this campaign creative.....yeah, without any doubt.

Was this campaign effective.....Let's discuss.

Emotions in Advertising

2008-05-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

"Advertising is an art of manipulating the emotions of the people".
Products have rationales, brands have emotionales. This was one of the most important learning that I had during my post-graduation. Thanks Sumit!!, for putting this into my head.
Unfortunately, most people do not differentiate between a brand and a product. What is fastrack selling? Watches, accessories....no. Fastrack is selling fashion.
What is the brand Reliance all about? It's about ambitions and dreams. Tata is selling trust, volvo is selling safety.
Advertisers, apart from being creative, are the experts in exploting these emotions of human beings. Advertisers know that selling a product to the consumers is difficult but selling emotions is not. Remember Hutch (Vodafone) pug!!