Verbum

Blogworks™

2007-02-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

Visit my new blog here

Farmers and blogs

2007-02-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

Farmers and blogs...

Read story here.

Read Story: You Tube plans to pay users

2007-02-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

You Tube has announced that it plans to pay users who produce and upload content on it's site.

Read story here...

Guru Yoga

2007-01-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

Guru Yoga: Read the post here.

Mission Possible

2007-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Mission Possible: Read here

Invitation

2007-01-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

Invitation: Read here.

Read : Overheard 1

2007-01-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

Is it a case of dumbing down of news or dumb news? Or both? The media has been working overtime since Ms. A and Mr. A of the B Family announced their plans to marry and I am told...

Continue reading "Overheard 1" »

Credibility & others...

2007-01-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I wrote a concerted post and though I really want to sit and write, I think that will only happen next week. Meanwhile...

A text message from a friend Sunday evening prompted me to switch on 'We the People' on NDTV. Blogs & Social Media were being discussed and while I only caught bits, I think most of the conversation revolved around what's already been said/ written on other fora: blogs & social media can be misused/ freedom of speech/ who is liable and so on. Barkha Dutt had also written on this subject in HT earlier. Some of this perhaps originates from personal slander and abuse that many amongst the media fraternity have been victims of, on an anonymous blog (now dormant)...

Continue reading at www.blogworks.in/blog:

Read at BlogWorks.in : Time 2.0

2007-01-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

Time(s) surely (are) is changing. Time.com moved to a new Web 2.0 format this week...

Acknowledging the new role that media is expected to play, Time.com has embraced news created by blogs and other major newspapers from across the world to feature 'THE AG - What's the news today!'

Continue reading...

India Online - 2007

2007-01-06T01:32:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy start to the year and even as the 'Cool List of 2006' post remains pending still, I have been thinking about what possible trends/ consolidation to expect online/ on the Indian blogosphere this year:

1. Year before last a client of mine was disapproving of my team's effort to get her brand visibility online. She thought it was 'easy' to get featured online and therefore didn’t count for much. I was quite amused by the reaction, as my own online experience had assured me of the medium’s power - my online writings have always been seen by more people; commented upon by more people; they stay around longer; can be linked; emailed... I can carry on. Coupled with the 'ease' of web 2.0, where I can do anything myself; put up anything on You Tube or Digg the power multiples, making the world truly flat. You are as good, as you really are! I think the online medium has arrived and will gain ground rapidly.

2. When we launched BlogWorks.in last week with the Blog the Talk series, IMPACT weekly agreed to carry the content in a 2 part series. We were able to reach an entirely different community of readers through the exercise and the talk was read by a much larger audience, in addition to those who were already online . I like this marriage of mainstream with blogs. As blogs produce more and more compelling content, the trend is going to gain ground.

Continue reading this post...

Navy Adventure at South Pole!!

2006-12-29T03:19:00.000-08:00

The Indian Navy Adventure Team is at it again. Did you know that the Navy's Adventure Teams also climbs mountains, goes trekking and conquers the skies... among other things? I didn’t! Not until a few years ago! Read on..

It is not for nothing that they call themselves Mavericks. Led by Cdr. Satyabrata Dam, a three member team from the Indian Navy – Vikas Kumar and Rakesh Kumar being the other two - successfully completed their ski traverse to the Geographic South Pole yesterday, making them the first team to have done so and also among those very few who have done two of the three poles. Cheers!

It was in 2004 that I first got exposed to the Indian Navy’s Adventure Cell -actually- Directorate of Adventure, Physical and Sports Activities (DAPSA)-, which under the stewardship of Commodore Bajwa (now retired) then summited Mt. Everest. I and my team were leading the communication initiative for the project along with Captain Sameer, who was managing the project cell. It was undoubtedly among the most memorable assignments that I have handled.

And the joys of technology – the last time around we had we had one of the team member’s speak with the media from the base camp. This time I got the news from a friend whom Satya called from the Pole yesterday, to inform her of the successful culmination.

Obviously it wasn’t easy – it took the team 2 weeks to traverse the 250 kms distanc(starting from 88º South), battling difficult weather conditions, to finally reach the Amundsen-Scott Base located on 90º South). The Indian flag is flying high!

Want to know more? Here you go: www.nausenaadventures.com

Meanwhile, I still await Sameer keeping his promise of inviting me for the Sky Jump -next time we meet, he'd said!

Blog the Talk - Impact of blogs and social on business & marketing in India!

2006-12-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

The launch of www.blogworks.in is a significant milestone in the ‘blogs for business’ journey that I embarked upon a couple of years ago – thanks to Prema ,Kishore and Guru (who has also designed blogworks.in and the blogworks blog). I wanted the launch of Blog\Works™ to reflect the collaborative power that the Internet, and more significantly blogs - as the new flag-bearers of the Internet - empower us with. Blog\Works™ - Blog the Talk discussion series was thus conceived and will feature the best of learning from the blogosphere and otherwise, through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

Edition 1 discusses the Impact of blogging and social media on Indian business and marketing. It was remarkable that each participant, from the heavy-weight (figuratively speaking) panel, confirmed within an ‘Aye’, within hours of my writing to them. Thanks all. The entire discussion happened over an internet messenger – apt, wouldn’t you agree? – both, the message and the method. Our panelists -in no order of preference! :) -

Toby Bloomberg: "A real live blogger", "Business blog evangelist" that's what people have called Toby. Toby is president of a strategic and social media consultancy based in the U.S. She has been a real live blogger since the spring of 2004 when she launched Diva Marketing Blog. As one of the most recognised consultants in this space, Toby's passion now is helping organizations navigate the blogosphere and developing social media/blog strategies that support their business goals. Toby is based out of Atlanta, USA

Govindraj Ethiraj: Journalist-writer, a keen watcher of the social media and technology space, Govind is the New Media Editor for Business-Standard. A keen blogger, he writes a popular blog at Dateline Bombay. Govind is based out of Mumbai, INDIA

Anurag Batra: A dear friend, Anurag is the Editor in Chief & Managing Director of the exchange4media Group - a special interest publishing company which publishes five titles including three titles in advertising, marketing and media domain- Exchange4Media.com , PITCH , Impact and two consumer titles Franchise Plus and Realty Plus . Anurag is based out of New Delhi, INDIA

Yours truly moderated the discussion. I too am based out of New Delhi, INDIA.

Without any further ado, edition 1 of Blog the Talk. Cheers!

Cool Tools 2006 - Slideshare

2006-12-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

As 2006 nears closure the mandatory countdowns and 'best of' have already begun - I too would like to remember the 'best of', but I don't want to think of macro events, I would like to think of tools, books, activities that made a difference to my life this year.

Let's begin with a 'tool':

"You Tube for powerpoint" - for me, the beauty of Slideshare is in its simplicity. After years of struggle to reach across presentations in ppt, acrobat and whatever formats, this one enabled me to, by allowing me to simply 'upload and share' - simple as that. Once can also embed in your blog or share a link etc.

There are that they could do better, of course, but I can see that they are working on them - they are fairly small and therefore reachable - you leave a message on their site, they bring about change.

To me, as an executive, the value of this tool even surpasses that of You Tube (not to be confused with the much larger impact that You Tube indeed has. ). It's amazing to see the different uses it is being put to. Sample this:

This shouldn't be very difficult - go ahead, do it!

2006-12-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

I normally don't write about 'issues' as I don't understand the intricacies well enough, but I got this on a forward from Rohini and decided to put it here:

Dear friends,

Urmila died.. and you are still holding your old woolens, blankets & shawls in your Almirah?

Don't ask me who was Urmila ? Thousands of Urmilas die every year because of cold. VASTRADAAN, our nationwide movement is primarily about making this basic need of clothing a matter of concern. Go to the best development sector websites or pick up any funding agencies brochures and you will find a range of issues right from domestic violence to global warming.Unfortunately clothing is never there in this list. Thus our task is to first draw attention to this issue.As a part of VASTRADAAN, we have been highlighting winters as an annual disaster for countless people who do not have enough to cover themselves. We are motivating people for our annual campaign RAHAT-WINTERS.

Please contribute as much as you can..

Tagged!

2006-12-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday Fun at Toby's Diva Marketing Blog and she's tagged me to join in. The theme being "What 5 Things You Don't Know About Me."

Now, let me think:

My best soccer kick came in a classroom (just before Mexico '86). I was in class 11 - the whole school heard the window pane shatter
I like imperfect noses (on women :) )
As a child (6 years old perhaps), I wouldn't drink water until I had ascertained that the water was 'chilled' to my satisfaction and I would do this by putting the tumbler to my cheek (emulating the little boy on the Kwality ice-cream packs/ ads, who did the same with an ice lolly). Very often, the tumbler would be returned many times before I was satisfied with the results, driving my mom and uncles mad - wouldn't dare try with my dad then :).
My favourite non-commercial fragrance is simple sandalwood oil - dab on a little to get your very own 'unique' signature
I haven't read ANY of the classics that EVERYONE is expected to read.

Toby, this is fun. Thanks.

Tagged are you: Amita; Rekha; Nikhil; Aishwarya; Govind; Rajaram

Of customers-unhappy ( and happy?)

2006-12-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

Earlier this morning, I was reading this article by Govind, most likely inspired by an experience that he had recently, and decided to punch in a post, mostly as a 'notes to myself' reminder, about very logical behaviour by consumers (including myself), the understanding of which marketers (including myself again) perhaps find so elusive that we spend a considerable amount of time, effort, money on paid research, rather than just closely observe ourselves and our surroundings:

Customer expectations are Dynamic

One of the young executives in my previous office was disappointed that his client score on the service quality index was stagnant for the last 2 quarters, where the team had consistently delivered better results. Smiling, my CEO explained to him that having delivered excellent service in the past, the team will now need to surpass that as the client expectations too had kept pace - the existing high service having become just STANDARD
Sometimes, the score can actually go retrograde for seemingly vague reasons - I found the customer relations team of my credit card company to be consistently exceeding my expectations, this continued for about a year or so. One day, delighted, I decided to speak with the floor manager and asked him who I could write to/ speak with, to communicate my feedback and congratulate? Obviously happy (how many happy customers actually call?), he asked me to be on the phone for a minute and managed to get the head of customer service to speak with me. The gentleman too was very pleased to learn that his team had done well and gave me his email id, upon asking. I told him that I would write the team a letter of praise - I did. I never got a reply or an acknowledgment from him. From a score of 10:10, I brought them down to 9:10.

Right now of course, they have earned my huge displeasure, for some other reasons.

As you gain height, the climb become Steeper

In one of my previous assignments we found that real journey had just begun, as we touched guest satisfaction of 90% - moving from 80% to 85% was a breeze; the jump from 85%- 90% took twice as long. To wow a customer is not that easy...

Unhappy customers need to be recovered Quickly

Will Govind fly the same airline again, by choice? That would also depend on what Jet did to control damage

At my aforementioned place of work, in hospitality, based on a daily audit of customer feedback forms, the head of quality would personally call up all cases of critically dissatisfied guests, the very next morning and offer apologies and corrective measures taken by the organisation. Remaining complaints would be mailed a letter, within 24 hours of feedback received, informing guests corrective measures taken
I rarely mention brands by name, but I think I need to mention my experience with Airtel and how I think they managed to retain me as a customer - this was a few years ago- I was 'furious' with the atrocious quality of connectivity, and handling customer care executives that Airtel offered. The list of complaints just kept piling. One day, simply livid, I somehow managed to get the head of customer care on the phone - we spoke for about an hour. Not just did she listen to me patiently, she made notes, thanked me for the feedback, gave me her personal hand-phone number, in case required for any future assistance and THEN, in about two weeks time, went on to actually execute many of the suggestions I had offered (a significant one, to protect user interest, was my request to display 98 100 98100 (instead of private/ blank/ etc) when a call actually emerged from their network (I had just had an experience, at that time, of someone trying to derive personal information, using a number that proved to be unreachable upon trying to call back). I called the lady on the handphone number she had given me, expressed my thanks, but she thanked me again in turn. I continue to be with Airtel - the general service of course is much better and so is the quality of customer care executives (though I wish they would quit reading the entire 1 minute goodbye spiel: "Thanks for calling customer care. Is there anything else I call help you with? I hope you have a pleasant evening!" even as I am saying...I have gotta ruuunnnn.

Social Media Press Release Templates

2006-12-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

The world has moved on. From just a checklist that needed a communication to be evaluated on whether it covered '5 Ws and the H', the very dynamics of crafting a media release have changed in the last few years. Not just is it pertinent to create specific media messages for specific audience, emergent media has brought about the need for new formats in which we need to deliver media material, say the press release. The importance and value of Hyperlinks, Tags, Social Bookmarking, User Vo te on Content, for online content to be found through search and otherwise, has been understood.

Enabling the public relations professional now, are the 'social media press release' templates, which make the task of crafting messages for the online, and particularly social, media. I discovered about a couple of the new options, here.

Check these out:

PRX Builder
(Free to use - go register)

Edelman has its Story Crafter, but presumably only for its client - differentiator when there are free versions available? But then I haven't obviously used the service to be able to comment. This is what you see:

Go craft your release.

Compelling - Community!

2006-12-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

I was with a client yesterday, sharing the idea of a community concept on the blogosphere, and we were discussing pros and cons about a marketer's participation in a 'community' concept, over limiting the presence to just a blog 'owned' by the marketer.

There are, in my opinion, a couple of compelling reasons, favouring the community logic:

The first, is the simple concept of 'you scratch my back, I will scratch yours' - media is becoming prohibitively expensive and as against spending precious dollars promoting just your property, marketers stand to gain from a collaborative effort - everyone benefits, more.

Second, the community usually sees bigger participation of/from users, than what an individual brand may be able to garner, as it caters to many different needs, tastes etc.

Third, analytics - this is the decisive reason in my opinion - consider this...

I write about FM/ Radio quite often on my blog and at this moment 8 of the 9 FM stations, except Fever 104 (and that got mentioned just now, so all 9) feature on my blog. Given that I sometimes feature high on FM related searches, many of these queries land on my blog.

Now using simple tools, I can tell you which one among these is the most searched radio channel; where are these searches originating from and much more. This is valuable information for a marketer. Possible because ALL stations are mentioned on my blog. The same rule applies to a community blog - you can learn much more about your competitors, by being in a community. Simple!

Listening? Not yet!

2006-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

It would seem that most Indian marketers choose to simply hide behind the reasoning that "Volumes don't justify," for not acting on customer feedback:

After years of leaving feedback after feedback, I still cannot get a shirt with sleeves in length that fits me
After years of leaving feedback after feedback, I still cannot get trousers in waist size 33"
Last winter, I couldn't find a pullover in ANY Indian brand that was less wide at the wais t, than at the chest - they seem to only be designing for the unfit male - I had to finally settle for a foreign label that cost me a bomb. Shame I think.

This one beats me:

After years of feedback, I still cannot get a coffee bar to serve me soup (even a pour hot water in cup, over a sachet 'maggie' variety, sold at a premium over listed price?) as they are a 'coffee bar', then why serve tea and assortment of other drinks? Simple logic that every time a guest wants to have something liquid, it doesn't necessarily have to be 'sweet' doesn't seem to cut ice.

To be continued???

2006-11-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

You see I am no bar star, and it turned out to be a bad idea to have hit the pub Sunday. It was a bad case of weekend lag when I woke up - I was going to be late - quickly showered and rushed out - there wasn't even time to stuff breakfast. R was to be collected at 10, but the gramps champ ahead of me had other plans, it seemed. He was driving at 20 miles/ hour, obviously uninterested in the Monday morning chaos around him.

R, a compulsive shopper, and otherwise a definitive catch and release (2) artiste, had decided to catch the doorbuster sale early and I was to play driver. So there I was, attempting to drive from my downtown apartment to her rather yupscale neighborhood, in what was certainly a CLM, but refusing R is not an option, really.

As R got busy Poppin' Hundies, I headed to the food court. I hadn't eaten in 15 hours and behaved like a true tryptophanatic - luckily I wearing my Thanksgiving pants. I took out the crackberry from my pocket - a guy's got to check his mail - yelled at the Ringtone DJ sitting on the table across, asking him to shut-up. There were over a hundred mails waiting a reply - trying to be a Super Mario means you pay the price - can't even have breakfast in peace anymore.

To be continued...???

So, what's come over me today? Well, a couple of months ago I discovered www.urbandictionary.com - the site is, as you can tell, a dictionary of 'slang' - created by users themselves. I get a daily word in my inbox, usually quite amusing and I find the creative usage of words quite fascinating. The piece above has just been weaved together using words from the daily pop-ins', pretty much in the same sequence as they appeared in my mail, in a reverse chronological manner.

So, it’s not really a story but I will continue, if you like. Let me know.

Go see some breathtaking work!

2006-11-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

(click pic to enlarge)

This panorama print ( 6.0' x 1.0' approx), which greets guests home, was gifted to me by my friend Amit Pasricha a few years ago, and has always been a conversation piece.

However, greedy me is now eyeing some of his new work which has evolved into something truly unique...(click pic to enlarge)

(click pic to enlarge)

People; landscapes; movement: breathtaking!

Go see!

Loyal Customer?

2006-11-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

I find it funny…

How can the marketer 'own' the customer? Why should the customer be referred to as 'loyal'? "You are our loyal customer, you deserve to be rewarded," we say. Isn’t it derogatory to the customer? Shouldn’t the marketer be loyal instead, and hopefully the customer would reward by buying or if are really lucky, continue to buy and endorse to others.

This large multi-national bank that held my salary account, had extended me a huge overdraft facility, but then, I moved out of my job - the f & f settlement was in process and the cheque was expected any moment. In the interim, I decided to use the overdraft facility and a crucial Service Tax cheque, with last date for payment due, was in the queue.

Calling to enquire about receipt of my f & f cheque, I was informed that I was short of funds and the pending cheque would be rejected. The overdraft had been reduced by half. It took half-a-day of requests, follow-ups etc. to get the bank to just HOLD the cheque for another day. My expected f & f cheque arrived the same day, bringing a pile of money and the cheque was cleared.

Of course, it is the bank’s money and they don’t owe me anything to be so generous as to clear the cheque with no funds in the bank, but I think they owed it to me that someone wrote to me/ spoke with me just to keep me informed that they had reduced my overdraft limit.

I settled my account with the bank, the same day, and moved the remainder of my money to another bank. I am not likely to bank with them again – too tiny to matter? Of course, but it is those small-subtle things that make a customer stay.

I don’t know if he would agree that this episode could be called breach of loyalty at all, but to still borrow his words - Ashwani may have said something like this “The cup was great, but the coffee was cold”. Doesn’t help.

The hospitality business has great learnings to offer I think:

You are as good as my last experience with you – you may have served me a agreat meal yesterday, but today the soup sucks and I think you are no good. Consistency matters.
Wow, the food is great but why is the AC so cold (it could also be “Why is it so warm?”
Wow, perfect food, perfect service… but hey, there’s no soap in the loo?
Great view from the room, nice bed and room service is great, but hey, why must I suffer the noise if the gentleman next door has a bad case of a Delhi Belly?

The hospitality business appreciates a smile from a guest - they know that they must have done something right to earn it.

I also think they understand the value of surprise:

When I go to a restaurant, I expect great food; great service; great ambience – that’s what I have paid for. Then one day, the chef walks out of the kitchen, surprises me by greeting me by name and offers to prepare anything special – doesn’t matter if it is not in the menu. Ummm - the meal was just perfect; dessert and coffee follow (the coffee has been specially brewed by her). The cheque doesn’t cover dessert and coffee – “You have our guest many times, the dessert is on the house today. Hope you enjoyed your meal”.

Accumulated reward points, to be redeemed at milestones (only to find that the item you received costs half the ascribed value) are not a patch.

excited

2006-11-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

As blogworks.in gets ready to go up (hopefully 1st week of Dec), I am naturally excited by the new possibilities that it brings along. Last 2 days have been terribly exciting as we -just- concluded the first in the series of many panel discussions that I hope to feature on my new business blog.

1st episode of 'Blog the Talk' features one of best recognised blogging consultant from the US, a very senior journalist - a keen watcher of the new media space, a very dear media publisher friend of mine and yours truly moderating.

Wait a while to read the 'very insightful' talk, but I would like to share the 'series logo' with you.

Tell me if you like it, I do! :)

The King is Dead. Long live the King.

2006-11-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

I quite like Pierce Brosnan - enjoyed him as Bond and otherwise- but yesterday, watching Casino Royale, I didn't miss him one bit: Daniel Craig fills the slot quite neatly - may I dare say, perhaps even better than Brosnan.

Bond itself is changing, like a friend put it, "He is much more real, more vulnerable. When he gets hit, he gets cuts on his face".

Anyway, it is non-stop action, stunning special effects et al, but my take-away from the movie was this chase sequence towards the beginning...

Who is this guy? I have not seen anything like this, in a long time!

See trailer here! Doesn't do justice to the movie though.

Official blog.

Needlessly...

2006-11-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

I think I was needlessly worried when I wrote this post about Second Life. It just amuses me now - read this AdRants post, linking us to this :).

Verbum: Drive to Jaipur - the Sariska route.

2006-11-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Verbum: Drive to Jaipur - the Sariska route.

Memories...

Technorati- Dave Sifry's report on the Blogosphere

2006-11-13T19:47:00.001-08:00

Technorati CEO and founder Dave Sifry's quarterly status report 'State of the Blogosphere - Oct 2006' is out. The results are fascinating and you can find them here .

I am putting together key points that caught my attention:

Technorati is today tracking 57 + million weblogs
Over 55% blogs are active (updated at least once in 3 months).
The blogosphere is now doubling every 230 days.
There are 100,000 new blogs appearing every day.
1.3 million posts, every day (about double the volume last year)
Top 50 media have 3 blogs, but top 100 have 12, however, by the time the list reaches 5000, it is dominated by blogs.
Persistance pays off in blogging, like in everything else- there is a direct corelation between 'High Authority' and longivity of a blog (though it is obviously not the only factor).
Of all blogs, English only contributes 39% ; 33% blogs are in Japanese and another 10% in Chinese.

Read the full report.

Idea -exotic monkey - ad.

2006-11-13T05:26:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the new Idea cellular commercial?

The one with the exotic monkey child who steals the sleeping man's phone, hangs it around its neck and then selectively takes it to a basement; light house; jungle etc., all places you'd typically the network to be weak.

The man's obviously in demand, for the phone keeps ringing (great network), but our protagonist, scared/ tired of the constant ringing, travels all the way back to the man's house (man's still asleep), leaves the phone, heaves a sigh of relief. The phone rings again, the man picks up the phone...

Point 1- There is a true lesson here: Only 'man' wants a hand-phone; everyone else thinks it's useless. Agreed.

Point 2 - Does it in anyway resemble the Hutch (puppy follows the boy - our network follows you, wherever you go) ad. Sure the treatment is different, and the execution is indeed very classy, but is the core 'network' idea the same?

Let me know what you think.

"The post is no longer what it was..."

2006-11-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

Indiapost has done some great work, rediscovering itselt, but I just lost all text for this post and I am in no mood to punch it again just now :).

WOMMA Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines

2006-11-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

Indian marketers are beginning to acknowledge the fact that blogs are here to stay and are trying to explore how they can be used for marketing. The fact that US, and some of the other markets, have been exploring this domain ahead of us, offers learning...

Whilst unethical players bring dis-repute to any industry, the very premise on which Conversational Marketing is based, gets challenged if ethics and transperency are compromised - the impact is prompt and usually severe.

To help marketers & advisors know what would be the right thing to do as also to protect the consumers rights, WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has released a discussion draft for public comment' of its 'WOMMA Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines - prompting us to remember that: Consumers come first, honesty isn't optional, and deception is always exposed.

10 Principles for Ethical Contact by Marketers

I will always be truthful and will never knowingly relay false information. I will never ask someone else to deceive bloggers for me.
I will fully disclose who I am and who I work for (my identity and affiliations) from the very first encounter when communicating with bloggers or commenting on blogs.
I will never take action contrary to the boundaries set by bloggers. I will respect all community guidelines regarding posting messages and comments.
I will never ask bloggers to lie for me.
I will use extreme care when communicating with minors or blogs intended to be read by minors.
I will not manipulate advertising or affiliate programs to impact blogger income.
I will not use automated systems for posting comments or distributing information.
I understand that compensating bloggers may give the appearance of a conflict of interest, and I will therefore fully disclose any and all compensation or incentives.
I understand that if I send bloggers products for review, they are not obligated to comment on them. Bloggers can return products at their own discretion.
If bloggers write about products I send them, I will proactively ask them to disclose the products’ source.

Given that it is a discussion draft, I suppose it may undergo some changes but it's a very good checklist to follow.

Do read these posts on hyku and Florida Venture Blog.

Savvy Marketers?

2006-11-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

I feel frustrated (or amused, depending on my mood) when:

I walk into the 'largest' bookstore in town and it is playing LOUD music.
Each time I ask for a book at another 'large' bookstore, attendant/s have a blank look on their face.
I am expected to buy music without being able to sample it (and can't help feel guilty when I meekly request the store to open a copy for me, but adding that I may not buy if I don't like it).
We take the elevator in a mall and the staff is busy speaking with each-other, loudly.
We eat at a pizza chain outlet (this happened a few years ago) and the staff delivers a personalised note -complete with drawing of a pierced heart- along with the cheque "It was lovely to have such a wonderful couple dine with us." or something like that (I was out for dinner with my sister and this one brought an amused smile.Their pizza was (and remains) good though and the staff is quite cool now).
A tele-executive informs me that they have generously approved a loan for me, based on my past purchase record - the purchase happens to be a medical test I ran.

You have an amusing customer service or marketing related anecdote to share? Leave a comment or drop me a line:

Transparent is the promise

2006-11-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Many of us have been tracking this, but if you haven't yet heard about the Walmart 'fake blog' controversy that both Walmart and Edelman found themselves embroiled in recently, go here (Excerpt: ...a blog ostensibly authored by a couple traveling across America in their RV and spending nights parked in WalMart parking lots turned out to be a fake blog, the brainchild of WalMart’s PR counselors at Edelman).

Not just did it impact credibility for Edelman's me2revolution initiative and Edelman per se, Steve Rubel, who writes his very popular Micropersuasion blog and is now employed by Edelman, also found himself at the receiving end of brickbats - this is what he had to say.

The controversy is far from over as these (1, 2) would suggest.

Tricky, the blogosphere, and leaders will need to tread with even more caution. Richard Edelman has acknowledged the error and brought about change .

Focus is on WOMMA code of ethics.

We are all learning...

Update 03 November 2006: Edelman Membership Put on Review

(WOMMA has responded this week to issues of disclosure and ethics surrounding Edelman’s recent blogs for Wal-Mart by placing Edelman’s membership on review. The following letter was forwarded to Richard Edelman and Rick Murray on Monday- text here). Source: www.womma.org

Mark Knopfler is Screenplaying

2006-10-30T19:26:00.000-08:00

I discovered Screenplaying (Mark Knopfler) in 1996, via a music recommendation in India Today (?). I usually don't buy music because a magazine asked me to do so, but something about that little review prompted me to go out and do so with this one. Screenplaying went on to become my all time favourite (Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits being favourites anyway). I often joke that I am perhaps the single largest individual buyer of the album in the country, having gifted a copy to all those who are dear to me. Copies have increasingly become difficult to locate and I just pick them up when and where I find them. They come in handy! Screenplaying is a complition of Mark's works from the movies - among those rare works that can make people cry, smile or laugh just depending on their mood at the moment.

Vox Populi

2006-10-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Vox is a free blogging service that promises to become the standard. Officially launched now.

Many have so far refrained from setting up a blog because they don't want to share their content with everyone online. Vox changes that and allows users to set the privacy level - share it everyone or share it with just a slect group
Powerful social networking features
Fussy about customisation? Don't just choose from a variety of templates, but also decide which side of the page you want your navigation bar etc.
Integrate - text with voice & video and import photographs & videos from Flickr, YouTube and more...

Nice. Read more...

[Origin: <>

Irreverent

2006-10-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

A CEO (Boman’s voice?) is addressing the shareholders meet (this is financial results time in real life too). Against all trends from a booming market, the company has made a loss, the CEO informs us, quite pleased with the achievement. But what is this (?) –shareholders are cheering him with a thunderous applause. Even as the news goes from bad to worse, the applause only gets louder.

The CEO sums up the performance by announcing that company has gone bankrupt- shareholders are overjoyed.

Even as I wonder which company is advertising its product, the voice-over reminds us “Mirchi sun-ne wale always khush!”.

Smiled all through the promo- great voice, tremendous surprise value (at least the first time you listen to it).

Mirchi at its irreverent best.

World Record!!

2006-10-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Part of an ad campaign from an online matrimony site.

I found this quite funny. As compelling a reason as any, to get married. Go on, support a noble cause :).

Joining the conversations...is easy!

2006-10-24T01:14:00.000-07:00

Knowing what is the customer/ user saying about you is very powerful input for a marketer to improve user experience, and that tracking blogs allows us to do that quite easily is something that I have believed for long.

This episode shows how easy it is, and why more companies should be doing so:

I wrote this post on my blog sometime ago, to which someone added a comment, saying...

"Why don’t you consider writing about some of the new “India 2.0” sites that are creating a little buzz as well?Eg: www.ilaaka.com and www.onyomo.com "

(Update: Nikhil informs me that our friend who posted the above comment has been spamming everyone with this message :) ).

I did that and wrote ...

"...Onyomo is a nice concept too and the sms option is great but success depends on how comprehensive is the service - for eg. I searched for Seeds and plants - got none. Searched for riding school and got an eatery. But, that will get sorted out over a period of time I think."

A couple of days ago, someone who works with Onyomo, googled his company name and found my comment.

Addressing the points raised by me, he left a note

"Hi Rajesh,

We at Onyomo have been working hard to build a useful and innovative service. Even though the things you searched for are not yet covered by our search engine, sooner or later our search will cover these categories. We're always on the lookout for suggestions regarding the data that people may want to search...

... However, as you noted correctly, these problems will get sorted out sooner or later.We've also launched an SMS Search service in Delhi/NCR and Bangalore where you can search from you mobile phones on the move.

I sincerely hope that you'll like our service..."

I was mighty impressed with the proactiveness shown by the team and visited the site again, posted another comment on my blog, in which I also asked the gentleman, were he to visit my blog again (wanted to see if he did), to drop me a line for a few suggestions that I had.

This morning, he had obviously googled 'Onyomo' again, visited this blog soon afterwards to read my newest comment and promptly dropped me a line.

I have just replied back to him. I do not know how useful my suggestion would be but I am richer for the experience.

Nature reasons to be in Delhi just now.

2006-10-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

A fabulous Diwali it turned out to be, rained briefly and the temperature has come down- mornings chilly, afternoons pleasant, evenings breezy. Delhi is the place to be in right now.

Noticed the strong fragrance in the air- evenings-Saptaparni is blooming in abundance wherever you go.

Saptaparni
(image: www.astro.caltech.edu )

We walked the Asola-Bhatti wildlife reserve last week, on an invitation from Rekha. Right here in Delhi, an opportunity to see Black Bucks, Neelgais, Jackals, a variety of birds etc. in somewhat natural surroundings. Our lead introduced us to Dhau, growing low - like a shrub- but about 15-20 years old - he said that the tree has a natural tendency to grow in this manner when grazed upon. The walk was supposed to begin at 5.00 pm but could only begin at 5.45 pm and it was dark soon, so we walked about 7 kms through the forest to finish by 7.30 or so, by which time the moon was out. Planning to go back again, with a different group, later this month or early next month.

Coming down the Railways Museum flyover, the Belgian Embassy & the Rose Gardens on your left, you hit my favourite round about (at the moment) at Shanti Path. Floss Silk is abundant and in full bloom. Pictures can't do justice - go visit!

(image: www.coralsprings.org)

Take a detour to Janpath, and just before you hit the round-about next to Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, park your vehicle on the corner and look up - hundreds of Flying Foxes call these tall Arjun trees home.

Blogs for Marketing

2006-10-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

My 'blogs for business and public relations' journey started about a year and half ago and soon thereafter I penned this article (first published for our internal newsletter at Genesis Burson-Marsteller where I was employed until recently). So much has already changed for the Indian blogosphere that many things that the article mentions sound dated. Each day has been new learning.

Anyway, I was invited to speak at a seminar yesterday on 'Blogs for Marketing'. It was great fun to work on this presentation. As luck would have it I was gifted a copy of Naked Conversations (Robert Scoble/ Shel Israel) by a friend and that was very useful too.

Slideshow:

Do write me your feedback so I could imbibe that into my future sessions. I am not able to share the Blog/Works proprietary methodology as I hope to retain that as a differentiator.

Update: Am replacing the presentation and only a sampler is up now. Write to me if you are interested in the entire presentation.

Can I do without a Second Life?

2006-10-10T04:22:00.000-07:00

From the time that Alok first mentioned it to me; to reading his post; to the time that someone sent me a link showcasing a virtual demo on it; to the time that I finally logged on to test it out myself, Second Life has compelled me to think more and more about the future.

Second Life is quite surreal - a virtual world where you choose who you are, meet real people (behind their chosen avataars), test out real products (in a virtual environment), spend real money to buy virtual money that allows you to buy not just virtual land and virtual stuff but lets you conduct real business and also convert the virtual money, you may have earned, into REAL money. Fascinating but also a bit scary.

I signed up, but haven't ventured in, yet. There are reasons - let me share:

I think of Second Life as Sims meets the Terminator series- vision of a future that is dominated by techonology so much that there are two classes of people - one who understand technology (rulers) and others who don't (slaves) :). Second Life makes it very real. Growing the way it is, the day may not be far that to succeed in business you have to be on it? A marketing device that you cannot do without! I don't know.

My points:

1. People who do are not comfortable with technology have a distinct disadvantage (but then, like someone said just now, that's true even today :) ).
2. The economy of the future will be controlled by a 'company'? How powerful will that company become.
3. I have been reading about 'game-like elicitation methods' of research (which I am quite fascinated with) - you think you are playing a game but your mind is being mapped; movement patters sharing with the researching party who you are, what you may buy. Doing so with virtual money on Second Life gives the company much more power to read the mind, spending habits, so much other data - all the time that one is on it. Wow - how may it be used?
4. Even as we are beginning to wonder about work-life balance as we find it difficult to cope with demands and rigours of our present day life. It doesn't seem to likely to get any easier and then another life that demands more time and attention (which it will get because it promises to earn us more money).

I am not sure about what else, but I haven't stopped thinking about the implications and am still coming to terms with it - though I must confess it is the most powerful one that I have come across lately.

Your favourite FM radio channel - take the survey.

2006-10-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

Radio One, two, three...eight!

2006-10-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Delhi now has 8 FM stations. 5 of these sound like they were clones of each other.

Three new stations have launched in Delhi, in quick succession. Hit 95 that came a couple of months ago, New Big 92.7 from Adlabs and Radio One 94.3 were launched last week. My two bits:

Radio Mirchi

Which has been the undoubted leader, for long, has seen a few things change for it recently - star RJ Nitin, moved to Red FM a couple of months ago (he still doesn't sound like he's settled though. Have people actually switched to Red FM to listen to his morning slot would be difficult to say at this moment but a loss for Mirchi nonetheless.

In the short term, the new launches will impact Mirchi most - particularly New Big 92.7 (more about that ahead)

Radio City

Status quo on programming - nothing new after they introduced Mehak in the morning slot and Life ki Dhun, a show with Sonu Nigam sometime ago.

Red FM

Significant gains in the last one year (but):

Had been losing out to Mirchi and Radio City on advertising as: The 'listnership' surveys conducted so far have really taken into account 'brand recall' and not really actual listernership.

And Mirchi had significantly higher recall, as did City. Red suffered on share of advertising coming to it.

However, has got Nitin now (quite a coup), but unless it quickly associates his presence with the brand, an average listener may still associate him with Mirchi and RED may actually 'contribute' to Mirchi's recall. Tricky :)

Has added 'Superhits' to its name in a loose manner - Superhits Red FM 93.5. Great move. Will it bind it tighter, we will see.

Has benefited from these and many other new initiatives (much more advertising support and general buzz), but remains number 3 and now there's new competition to battle.

AIR FM Rainbow

My favourite - varied programming, ranging from music in several genres - western, jazz, western classical, oldies et al, to interesting talks and stuff. Lovely voices, who come prepared (even if sometimes read from a script) and are a delight to listen to. However, not commercially driven.

AIR FM Gold

Infotainment and India -news, analysis, talks, Indian music - film, classical, folk, carnatic etc. - not commercially driven again but channel for the masses - takes feed from AIR I think.

The new players

New Big 92.7

Disappointing launch, I must confess. Some very desperate sounding fillers - one with a duplicate? Amitabh voice playing a taxi driver, and other similar stuff. Nothing new in terms of programming, though my ears popped up at the mention of 'Live coverage' of the upcoming Champions Trophy cricket. Not so much about cricket - I met a top sport journalist friend of mine yesterday and he said that its a great idea. Red too has signed up one of our most flamboyant ex-cricketers - one of my favourites - speaks very well too.

I personally think the opportunity is about 'LIVE' - live concerts and others. Let's see who does it first.

However, given that they have Abhishek and that the so called 'listenership' surveys actually work on brand recall, it is likely to gain in aided recall and that would impact the ad pie.

Also it is an ADAG company after all - they will spend.

Radio One 94.3

Same as New Big, minus Abhishek and ADAG money. Still early days, let's see what they do.

Hit 95

Did they start at Hits 95 or I made a mistake? Anyway, the only private channel that at least sounds different from the rest, even though programming is limited to just music. Some advertising trickling in. SMS your request and they play your song - seems like a day long proposition, unlike specific time slots at which the other stations take requests. I find this nice.

To sum it up - to me none of the private channels even seem interested in differential programming; everyone seems to addressing the lowest common denominator. Song after song, peppered with inane chatter - what about engaging the audience?

Your favourite radio channel! - Take the poll here: (Closed)

Results here : http://indeverbum.blogspot.com/2006/10/your-favourite-fm-radio-channel-take.html

It's magic!

2006-10-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Magic appears to be a favourite name with Radio stations!

Choko La is good for you!

2006-10-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

Ajay and I have been discussing a proposal and he suggested we meet at Choko La,Basant Lok Complex. I haven't been to the Priya Complex in a bit and had missed out the place until now - what a discovery. Ajay informs me though that the place has been around for over a year now.

From the moment I entered the outlet, the romance was evident - rich, warm interiors, a professional touch about things that told me that I could trust their quality. My focus was clearly on the desserts and I reversed the sequence and ordered a Philadelphia Cheese Cake before my soup.

There are very few places in Delhi that can claim to do authentic cheese cake. This one clearly was - texture, flavour, sweetness - Perfect. Much better than anything I have had in the last 3 years, at least.

I also packed a few French Macaroons - Mango and Raspberry. At slightly less than Rs. 20/- a piece, these were clearly expensive and a huge let down for me, a friend and my father who tried them- excessively sweet and nothing else.

Am going back, soon and telling my foodie friends.

BTW- we also discussed the proposal :).

Testing ' 43? new features' of the Scorpio :)

2006-09-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

I have known it for a bit now: My next car is going to be a Scorpio!

So having made up my mind to go ahead with one, I contacted a dealer for a test-drive, to figure out if my dad could get in and out comfortably. After not keeping the appointment on a couple of occasions, the young lady from the dealership arrived one morning along with a vehicle and the driver.

I asked her if I could drive it off-road (where we stay, allows us the luxury of wide smooth roads, and yet unmetalled surfaces and fields are not far off either). She was hesitant and I didn't push.

We set-off on our little journey. The handling was super light, and the vehicle managed the curves ok- I asked my father to buckle up tight - and decided to push the peddle. As the girl listed out the 43 new features of the 'all new Scorpio' we went over a bump - not great speed, but not slow either- and the young lady, the driver went up flying. "The suspension is not good," I complained. A little baffled, and still rubbing her head, she replied, "Sir, pehle se to bahut improve kar diya hai hamne".

We zoomed around some, I made some crazy turns. Finally, mostly happy, I turned back.

I asked her if she had been on a test drive like this before. "No", she admitted.

"What did you think, I will drive a SUV at 40 kms/hr?" I asked, smiling at her in the rear view mirror.

Haven't picked up the vehicle yet, but the all new Scorpio/ with 42 new features/ it will be - the suspension needs to be still better I think :).

Polo Trivia 3

2006-09-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Ask anyone who's been to polo in Delhi- the best polo action, for some reason, happens at the far end :).

What Jaipur Polo Ground needs, is this:

or this:

Images: 1. videoprojecteddisplays.com 2. videoscreens.net

Blogging by brands - help needed.

2006-09-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

I am speaking on 'Blogging by brands' at a seminar, and have been looking for case-studies of brands (nicer if the campaigns also ran in India) that have used blogs - campaigns/ pro-active blogging. I have a few examples with me already, but what better way to look for more, than by putting up a request on a blog?
Please write in to me at rajesh(dot)lalwani(at)gmail(dot)com if you know of any.

Blog now?

2006-09-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the discrimination that many Chinese companies face in overseas markets, multinationals have, on many occassions faced a rough time in China.

A Reuters story in yesterday's Business Standard reports "Public anger in China over a popular skin-care line has become a public relations headache for Procter & Gamble." P&G had to suspend sales of its SK-II cosmetics line after traces of potentially harmful chemicals were found in the products. The company's office was attacked and its website hacked after it went back on its undertaking to give customers their money back pending further word from the watchdog.

Ahead in the same story Sylvia Mu, research manager with research firm, Euromonitor International says "...(.) Customers are starting to question the quality of other (other than SK-II) premium brands."

This is not the only time that brands have faced a backlash in China, there have been several others. However, is it really about China or is it a clear message that the consumer is not going to tolerate the tiniest bit of nonsense on part of the brand and manufacturers will need to be much more honest, much more responsible.

If impact of the ongoing cola controversy is any indicator, the Indian consumer too is today more aware and much more demanding.

In such a situation, marketers are looking for mediums that can reach their message in times of crisis, when few are willing to feature their voice. Blogs could be great way to reach 'your message, in your voice'.

So, start a blog when hit by a crisis!? It may help to do it much earlier, when there is still time to gain credibility and trust of stakeholders, through conversations.

Cinema going experience- is the customer not the queen?

2006-09-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Even as multiplexes expand their presence into B cities and serious talk is now beginning to be heard about cinemas going digital, I think the overall movie going experience has however come down over the years, in cities like Delhi.

The quality of screen, projection and sound is all superb, but what about service quality? I have been thinking about this for the last couple of months and was on a specific lookout today as we went to watch 'Devil wears Prada'.

Compare your cinema going experience with one in any hospitality environment - a restaurant (fast food, casual or fine dining), hotel/ resort; an airline or for that matter any other service industry segment, I think the customer is being short changed in the first. For example, even though the entertainment tax got cut substantially, the ticket price has stayed constant. But let's forget the ticket price completely today and just concentrate on the experience...

My innumerable attempts to buy a ticket over phone have always yielded the same outcome - failure (phone is off the hook or no one picks it up); irrespective of which brand you try it with, the payment gateway on their websites doesn't work (irritating if you have spent 15 minutes, each, registering on respective sites); there's a queue at the ticket counter but only one window, of three, is manned; even when reasonably free, the staff at the counter doesn't even look you in the eye as they talk to you, leave alone smile - the voice is harsh and untrained; the guard's touch doesn't differentiate between a college student, me or my father - it's equally rough; the washroom floor is wet; carpet inside the cinema smelly; airconditioning gets too cold and needs to be switched off from time-to-time. This is my personal experience with several multiplexes, but ofcourse there could be exceptions and experiences may vary.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to reach out to the cinema manager when the young gentleman manning the ticket counter arrogantly said he only had front row seats left, but his body language was telling me something else. I asked the cinema manager if that was true, he apologised and gave me 2 tickets for the back row!

It's not all complaints, there are a few nice experiences too. Last week, after waiting in the queue for about 7-8 mins (and after being told by everyone that Lage Raho Munnabhai is sold out) I decided to opt for 'Devil wears Prada' and even as the gentleman manning the counter punched my request into the computer, I asked availability of LRM tickets for a show later that evening. He stopped, looked at the chart, gave me 2 tickets of LRM that I wanted- for the current show! I was speechless!

I remember this instance, a few years ago, when I had gone to meet a good acquaintance of mine - head of marketing for one of the multiplex chains at that time - he had called for a fizzy drink for both of us, but upon finding it flat not just did he send it back, but also asked his staff to recalibrate the dispenser immediately; I left my feedback with him about smelly bathrooms at their flagship property and the problem had disappeared next time when I visited the cinema hall.

I asked the guard manning the gate today, if they ever greeted their guests with a 'Good Morning/ Afternoon/ Evening' etc. and if they had received any training towards that - the answer was a 'No' on both counts.

I am convinced that a great customer experience has nothing to do with big monetary investments, rather is about training & empowering the staff to delight the customer with little things when they are least expecting it, as my Munnabhai experience would perhaps validate.

Promise? Or just a punchline?

2006-09-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

I was listening to FM today...

Radio has always thrived on non-traditional & local advertising and one of the prime advertising categories on radio these days, thanks to the continuing boom in the economy, is real estate. There is a constant flurry of ads by builders and land developers, one more obscure than the other, but each claiming to have your and my vishwaas, as if trust was an overnight phenomenon, their right (almost) from the moment these companies were born. It doesn't seem to matter to them that we haven't even heard their names before.

However, an appealing ad 'on air' for the last couple of days is Bank of India's new campaign - the voices are engrossed in an engaging conversation that would usually take place between close friends or relatives, except that one of them eventually turns out to be a banker, from Bank of India, bringing cheerful news (about money of course :) ) to an account holder- Rishton ki Jamaa Poonji. I truly hope it is like this at BoI and that is not just a punchline. My own experience with the banks has been very different and I would happily switch to a bank that invests into relationships - am tired of negligent bankers, intrusive tele-sales agents, recorded voices...

It made me think though - when finalising messaging for clients, the biggest challenge is to identify a true differentiator (What's the offerering? How are we really different? Reasons that the recipient of this information should believe us?). It is an intense exercise and from this is supposed to come the unique promise of a brand. A lot of advertising today seems to just invent a punchline, without much worry about whether the brand really stands for or fulfill the promise?

So just catchy advertising or truly about 'wealth of relationships'? I will have to open an account to find out! Might just :).

Niloufer's work!

2006-09-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Laughter

Urn

I can see these for hours!

Don, remake!

2006-09-08T03:43:00.000-07:00

Shah Rukh Khan was on Radio Mirchi promoting the Don remake. "This Don is more evil," SRK promised. Even as he spoke about the how and why it came about, I was already drowned in memories of the original.

Don is such a cult movie for many among my generaton - or even my dad's - "This is where we entered the cinema hall," commented my father as we watched the CD yesterday, reminding me that we had first seen the movie during a vacation in Bombay. Amitabh Bachchan, playing Vijay, was earning his daily bread as he performed 'Eee hai Bambai Nagaria'. It was an innocent movie I think. Don and his gang's badness was limited to smuggling gold and stuff - maybe kill once in a while but no narcotics and terrorist stuff the and Amitabh's portrayal of him made him a friendly character. I think Amitabh is perhaps the only actor who can play the baddie and still not be seen as bad.

The new Don promises to be much darker but I hope some of the original charm wouldn't be lost.

Am salivating, cannot wait!

Selling your blog? :)

2006-09-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Polo Trivia 2

2006-08-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

A polo teams consists of 4 players who play with 'handicaps' between -2 (beginner) to + 10 (highest level of proficiency). Combined total of all handicaps make the team 'handicap'. A team playing with a lower/ weaker combined handicap would be credited, at start of play, a calculated number of goals to compensate for the difference (I will talk about the calculation process in another post). A level playing field has now been established, literally. No adjustments are however made in an 'open' tournament.
A game is played for 4/5/6 chukkers, depending on whether it is a low or a high goal game.
Each chukker is of a 7 minute duration.

(polo shot image courtesy http://www.polo.co.uk/)

In the News! ( Name of a piece I wrote :) )

2006-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

The current issue of Impact-the marketing, advertising & media weekly features a piece by me titled - In the News!- under their Insight/ My View section. Here is the text. Do leave your comments if this was useful.

In the news!

A gentleman known to me, CEO of a mid-sized company, was looking a bit anxious when I met him recently to discuss their communication needs. He felt that his company wasn't being featured enough in the media. "Why should the media talk about your company?" I probed. "Because we are the largest and the best", was his confident reply. "But the media did cover that prominently when you became the largest player in your segment," I reminded him, "What's it that the company has done recently, to be in the news?" I asked.

Being in news is not the privilege. It is (or it should be, I think) the result of being responsible for action or plans that readers/viewers should know about. However, being in the news may not always be needed or even be necessary.

Being in the news out-of-context could mean an easy loss of reputation, built over years. A top television journalist, an icon, a pioneer in the truest sense of the word and much respected at one point in time, is today, referred to the media- in a slightly condescending and frivolous way - as 'the most persevering partygoer'. Does it affect her reputation as a cutting-edge, prolific debater of serious issues? I think it does - at least among some of her viewers. Should she party less? - NO - we are merely talking about 'being in the news… for the wrong reasons'.

There is growing concern among communication professionals on adoption of the 'paid coverage' phenomenon by one of the largest media houses in the country. What if more were to follow suit? How would products/ organizations/ people find a mention in the media?

In a way, the practice by the said media group, besides throwing open the debate on the ethics and correctness of it- some believe that, maybe it's ok to charge for covering a party, but who is answerable if the media charges a fee for promoting a product, which the consumers will then PAY for and buy? - has brought out the need to adopt a more holistic approach to public relations.

The media is today, but one way - albeit a very important one - to reach out to the stakeholders. More and more people & organizations are today managing their relationships through personal, contextual efforts- seminars, talks, events, scholarships, employee rewards, newsletters, sponsorships, case studies, white-papers, CSR initiatives and now, of course, blogs. Change as they say, is always for the better, for it has brought out the need to explore many of these latent tools, hitherto not invested into by that many.

Talking about investments, many organizations and corporates are today investing in 'properties' that will give them not just domain leadership and recognition, but also news value. The Fortune 500 list of world's largest corporates is such a property for the Fortune Magazine. Every year corporates strive to make it into the list - their leap into the big league. The report is read by millions, quoted extensively by the world media, but it doesn't end here - the magic continues. Most, if not all, of the 500 organizations featured in the list, ALSO, extensively quote their respective positions in the list - in press articles, company newsletters, corporate presentations etc- thereby generating even more credibility, recognition, recall for the FORTUNE brand.

Properties like this, however, take large investments, careful and consistent nurturing over years. Properties are a 'time' phenomenon and it takes time to establish one.

However, small beginnings, with very little monetary investment, can also reap rich rewards. A few years ago, we identified one such possibility for a dot.com client. The client had always been keen to project the site as a tool for research, so we thought "Why not do it ourselves?" A quarterly 'trends survey', giving customer insights in that sector, proved to be not just a wonderful way to showcase the research capability of the site, but the findings were extensively quoted in the media adding to the site's credibility and traffic.

Efforts like this can and will hopefully manage to beat the 'paid coverage' phenomenon irrespective of how many media houses adopt it, for the media needs news and views, and anyone who gets it new, topical or relevant information that the AUDIENCE maybe are interested in knowing more about, will get featured.

School Chale Hum - Link to Sanjay's post

2006-08-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

Must Watch!!!

Sanjay posted this at VentureWoods. I first saw this 2-3 years ago at the Film Festival Venue lobby. I am addicted to it. You might get too. Enjoy!

Polo Trivia 1

2006-08-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Delhi Polo season typically begins late October, however, for me the countdown has alredy begun.Some polo trivia to warm you up:

1. Did you know polo is perhaps the only game in world in which use of the left hand (active in play, holding the mallet) is forbidden!? The reason is simple - to ensure fair play. If a player was using the left hand to play, it would be extremely difficult for an opponent, riding to the right of this horse, be able to reach the ball at all.

2. In polo, like in any other equestrian game, horses have 'right of way'. A player crossing the line of an opponent would immediately be given a foul against, on grounds that this kind of play could be dangerous for the horse and/or the player.

3. Check out the polo shots here.

(polo shot image courtesy www.polo.co.uk)

Blogging for Business!

2006-08-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

In little over a year or so, since I first started to speak about it, I have seen corporates and organizations become much more receptive towards the need to adopt blogs as an important tool to engage with key stakeholders. Businesses have already started to see blogging as a 'should do' initiative. However, many are still unsure as they find the blogosphere uncontrollable. The need is to understand that they are being spoken about irrespective! The way to reach your voice is through participation.

There will of course be reactive blogging by brands, companies and business leaders in response to being spoken about on the blogoshpere, but I think marketers and corporates who adopt blogging proactively will benefit most.

Blogs are an opportunity for marketers to engage with the consumers first-hand, to establish context - by sharing and seeking perspective - in a two-way communication process that is closest to word-of-mouth and yet broad-based. Similarly, corporates can establish thought leadership, influence policy, engage with prospective employees and more through proactive blogging.

Blogher!

2006-08-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

It seems I missed on putting up on this blog my most significant discovery of recent times, though I did post it on Venturewoods :)

"Segmentation on the blogoshpere has started…

I chanced upon Blogher today. A collaborative site- “where the women bloggers are”. I quite liked the thought… a nice attempt to get women bloggers to blog together on a wide variety of subjects. Marketers love segmentation.
Bloghim is taken too but no site up. Will men ever really talk on one platform like women so often do? I somehow don’t see that happening!"

Got an event to promote?

2006-08-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to pick one of old my old articles that appeared on Rediff.com a few years ago. This is really one of my favourites for the simple, fun format in which I wrote it for the younger audience it was meant for...

The piece was actually written via sms prompts that I saved for myself, driving to work a day after an event we were managing. The event, a virutal book launched was itself the culmination of a series of mad things on that project - a commemorative book that took long to complete; leading to the idea of a multimedia presentation, as the virtual unveiling of the book; a presentation that was executed in less than 48 hours, from concept to completion, and with brilliant effect; and then, files that went corrupt and other assorted electronic disasters even as the countdown had begun! And then, it all became smoooth again, just a few MINUTES before start! :)

The event itself is another story. For now, hope you enjoy the piece - got an event to promote?

Mirchi Saawant!!!!!

2006-08-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

I was rattled out of my slumber when I heard, hold your breath, Rakhi Saawant on Mirchi this aftertoon. Listeners from ALL Mirchi stations were tuned in, the RJ happily announced and went on to flirt with RS. The woman can't speak to save her life, but hold your breath again, she also sang! We have really lost it now!

Delhi Metro and the city facade.

2006-08-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Travelling on the Delhi Metro yesterday, I was reminded of the question that keeps popping up from time-to-time - whether all Metro tracks should have been laid underground. Recently there were reports that the Metro columns across the city will be decorated with murals and colour in effort to blend them with the city. I believe some segments have already been beautified (?).

No doubt that the Metro has changed the city facade, sometimes impacting the very character of places we grew up with, so much so that they are unrecognizable. Yesterday however, I saw things from a Metro passenger's perspective, peeping out from the window...

We seem to be a city of hoarders. Bar a couple of terraces, each and every terrace enroute had unnecessary, unpleasant paraphernalia scattered around - heaps of bricks; cartons; rotting chaarpais, twisted window & door frames, tyres, rags and so on - none of this seemed in a usable condition. It just sat there, rotting and seemed like it had been there, forever! An eyesore. The couple of terraces that were clean, or better still, had some green, stood out like an oasis in a desert.

I wonder why we stack unnecessary stuff and if there could be a penalty imposed if you keep your terrace dirty? Or, I suggest that the Metro travelers unite and demand that all Metro tracks be laid underground ( :-) ), for Delhi doesn't look that green, traveling on the Metro!

It's ok for milk to be unsafe, but colas should be safe! Waah!

2006-08-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

Without taking away from whatever CSE is perhaps attempting to do, I think the whole approach is biased. I cannot but laugh when the CSE says, "The fact also is that standards for pesticide residues are set based on nutrition that the food provides. We cannot compare apples with soft drinks. We cannot compare milk with soft drinks. Milk is essential and it gives us nutrition. But soft drinks are non-essential, non-nutritive. They should not have pesticides. They are unsafe, asserts CSE. No amount of scientific skullduggery can deny that. "

So, it's ok if milk is not ok? I do not agree. My belief is that Indian milk is amongst the most dangerous product going around today, nutrients or no nutrients. I am no authority on the subject but whatever I hear is scary and no one else wants to touch our milk but we consume it, and give it to our children, without much thought. Some hard measures are needed. Will they happen? Not until the consumers become more aware of their rights, and the havoc that products out there can play with our present and future health.

I WILL keep coming back to milk from here on!

Hits 95.0 - New Radio Station, New Delhi

2006-08-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

I discovered Hits 95.0, per chance, a couple of days ago and speaking to a friend yesterday, told her to tune in too, only to be told by her that her brother works for them :).

The station, in its search for a differentiator, promises 'no talk, no ads, only hit music' (something like that) and the packaging from the on-air promotions sounds that of 'world music' station - they play a mix of hindi, popular, world music. Mostly Good and I have been telling my friends to tune in...

No talk, no ads? Too good to be true? Seems like that on the face of it. I wonder what the revenue stream is and how long can they sustain like this. Maybe they will get the numbers first and then get on with the ads - good approach too. I know what I would have liked to do - anyway - enjoy the uninterrupted music, while it lasts!

Life 2.0?

2006-08-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

I was thinking what about Life?

Radio Mirchi Visual Radio - behind the curtain promotion

2006-08-03T04:28:00.000-07:00

I just put the phone down after talking to a friend who heads one of the stations for Radio Mirchi. I wanted to congratulate 'someone' - actually 'anyone' - from that team for having come up with, what I think is the most outstanding promotion on Radio that I have heard in the longest time.

I am talking about the Visual Radio, 'behind the curtain', promotion that's on air right now.

In typical theatre style, a man's voice is whispering prompts to someone supposedly making a speech. Nothing short of outstanding - it is funny and yet not crass as most of the other stuff on Radio is these days. Breaks the clutter and in its earthy approach, such a sophisticated rendition .

It manages to bring a smile on my face each time, however many times I listen to it. As a matter of fact, quite like I used to, as a child, tune-in to television 15 mins before Chitrahaar to just watch the ads and then move on as the songs rolled out - I am, these days, tuning into Mirchi just in the hope of catching the promo and then...maybe move on! :)

Fab!

Beauty of Simplicity

2006-07-10T23:45:00.001-07:00

(Mirrored on VentureWoods.org)

As a communiction professional, it has been an endeavour to help corporates and brands keep their visual and text communication simple. To convince them that ‘less is more’ :)

I regularly rework my own and my colleagues copy to make it shorter by 20-25%. It can work magic.
I chanced upon this article a couple of months ago. Talks about why and how google keeps its home page simple, and more. Really one of my favourites.

Enjoy.

(What did bring a smile to my face was that the article itself is over 3000 words :) - but worth it, I promise.)

Tea Boutique?

2006-07-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite stores in Delhi/ I like to call it a boutique/ is Aap ki Pasand in Darya Ganj. Located diagonally opposite Golcha Cinema, the store is a veritable treasure-house for tea lovers.

I do not claim to be a tea connoisseur but I like my cuppa and I like it different from time to time. Assam, today; tomorrow it can be earl-grey (no milk)... I can go on. Until some time ago, my meals were not complete without a nice cup, but I have had to give up that habit on account of my stomach ache that just refused to go away.

I visit the store, whenever I can - among the things I like to do whenever I just want some time with myself. Day-before was such a day. I ordered a few packs of Masala Chai (the best I have found anywhere) and settled down to indulge myself with some great tea, prepared as only a tea taster's establishment could, with the lot of TLC.

Camomile iced tea came first (priced, unbelievably, at just Rs 20/-). Nice champagne colour and soothing, tender flavour. I wanted to try more and settled for a cup of Darjeeling summer flavour - best had without milk, the 'summer' is more full-bodied than the milder spring option. I prefer spring, I decided. A wonderful half-an-hour sipping through fine tea, flipping through the 'wildlife' issue of Times Journal of Photography, I could easily be in heaven.

Though they now accept orders over the net, I would gladly stay a touch and feel person!

Contribute to Trees of Delhi

2006-06-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

Write to me if you would like to become a contributor for my new blog Trees of Delhi.

Optical illusions

2006-06-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

I have forever been fascinated with optical illusions. Check these out :)

Red FM/ Mirchi/ Radio City - Differentiator?

2006-06-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

My colleague Atul and I were chatting yesterday about the new Radio City RJ, Mehak, who recently took over from the insufferable but, for some reason very popular 'Aage P, Peeche P - Pratap! ("Something quite endearing about the guy, even though he talks a bit much.” I have been told).

While we began on the subject of who made for better (or worse) listening, from among the two, the subject quickly drifted on the why and how of the need to introduce female voices during the morning prime time hours.In my opinion, a couple of years ago, in absence of any clear programming differentiation, and attempts to confuse brand recall with listnership were giving Mirchi an advantage over the 2 other private channels.

RED FM was perhaps finding itself particularly badly hit, with brand presence/ and resultant recall/ perhaps being the lowest. However, it felt that it had equal listenership, but every-time anyone on the street was asked the question about which channel was playing or they played, Mirchi would be the most often quoted brand (who cares about or remembers the frequencies anyway!)Advertisers were flocking to Mirchi.

In attempt to change things, RED FM did a re-jig. It changed it tagline to 'Bajate Raho' - nice and catchy. But also did some really inane stuff (which continues) like "Yeh prayaas hai ABC or XYZ ko raaste par laane kaa" ( I think the Prayaas has fallen flat on its face), but I think introducing Simran was a smart move (personally though- I am no great fan of her). The name had instant recall from DDLJ, and a female voice would be a great differentiator, instantaneously answering the ‘which channel is playing' question- a clever way to stand out and change advertiser perception.

I have a feeling it has worked. The channel is far more alive with advertising and promotional messages etc.Then last week... Radio City introduced Mehak :).

Back to our conversation...

I finished sharing my above logic with Atul and said that listeners would again wonder 'you who?' and Mirchi, with the inimitable Nitin, would benefit... but lo and behold, what do I hear this morning? Mirchi had a woman's voice too instead of Nitin!

I hope Nitin had just taken a day off. If not, all three private FM channels will now have a female RJ in the morning – really creative! And a cutting edge differentiator that would be!

Horse Aficionado

2006-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Found this in my yahoo mail. Might revive the project sometime :)!

Good Fun.

2006-06-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

It’s good fun, I tell you
On a journey,
once again.

Oh, why? you say.
Simple;
Because, I must.
Because,
you ought to stretch,
to grow taller
Drop a few leaves,
to earn a new burst.

Trust me,
I done this before.
Go try,
I tell you. It’s good fun!

Anoushka Shankar!

2006-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Listening to Pt. Ravi Shankar play, as I work on my computer, I am reminded of a performance that I attented recently at Sirifort - Pt. Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka in concert.

I hadn't heard Anoushka perform earlier and had so far written her off as a much hyped, pretty face, in news because of her legendary father (not that I understand Indian classical music and its intense depths and soft subtleties, but I believe that I can tell good music from bad when I hear it).

The auditorium full to capacity - it was an ICCR event. Anoushka appeared in her shiny pants, short kurta attire, lending further credence to my aforementioned opinion of her. I quickly realised how biased AGAINST looks and how unfair to genes you were born with can one be.Her fingers moved effortlessly as they matched her father's and the accompanists in their rendition. Her sitar didn't quite sound the same as Panditji's. It had a unique, young, sound to it.

There was energy in how she sat erect, held the sitar and played it, or in pointing technicians to manage the sound, she kept the rythm even as Panditji would pause momentarily to adjust his sitar. The accompanists and her father would challenge her by increasing the pace and she would join the game, much to everyone's delight.

Genes? Talent and training? Perhaps all, either ways I stand corrected and she has earned herself a new fan. I am going back next time she is in town or I am in one where she is performing!

Tree walks

2006-06-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Armed with my latest purchase 'Trees of Delhi - a field guide' by film maker turned naturalist- Pradip Krishen, I have been going out for tree walks :). Actually the book has become my permanent companion - with me as I drive around town, in office (where I promise myself to find time and read at least a page during lunch,but that never happens) and of course during the walks...

The tree journey started while I was at Habitat. My friend Arshiya Sethi would organise Tree Walks on Sundays, with Pradip himself. Fascinating it can be to discover the survival tactics that trees deploy to win over another and yet it's mutual dependence on other flora and fauna that keeps them going. And hugely satisfying it is to finally be able to tell which tree is it, that stands tall in front of you - the book is fast becoming my bible!

Last Sunday I went to Lodhi Gardens and, after some persuation, was able to convince a maali to show me around. Turned out to be fruitful visit. I was richer by knowledge on 20 + varieties and then today I drove to Defence Colony to see one of the rare samples of Sita Ashok that we have in the city.

I am hoping to pick up one of these babies someday to capture the images. Magic it will be!Meanwhile, the walks continue...

Blogs- Power to the People

2006-06-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Before this one goes from the e4m page:

Where have all the voices gone?

2006-06-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

I grew up watching(but mostly just listening) Komal GB Singh read the 9 p.m. news on Doordarshan. There was this amazing dark-honey like quality of her voice, that made you forget whatever else was happening around you. I still remember when I once called her on the phone, many years after she had given up reading the news, I was so nervous, my hands were shaking.

Cut to today - pick any channel of your choice (do we have a real 'choice' in picking one? The only choice I really exercise is NOT tuning into any of them). But, for academic purpose, let's pick ANY. You can't tell from another, and for good reason I suppose, they are also relaying pretty much the same news, read by untrained, karkash voices who think it is quite ok to call Subzi - Subji or Bazaar - Bajaar. It's quite ok, perhaps, to speak like that on the street...but on a national telecast on a leading, HINDI news channel?

But hey, the worst culprits for me are the private FM stations - the combined cacophony of the music they play AND the voices. RJs are supposed to be like this? But hang on a sec. AIR FM - Rainbow?! Muaaah - Muaaah - Muaaah! Some of the voices there are a different story altogether...but why do they have to read from a script??- I recently listened to one of the regulars on 'Matchless Music Hour', Kiran, read out a list of concoctions, supposed to make you beautiful from the outside and inside, one after another -I promise you - for 5 non-stop minutes! Kiran, I wouldn't have heard or believed any of it, had it not been for the voice! Sigh!

Why can't we too have a rating system for celebrities?

2006-04-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Endorsement Index (2004)

If you don’t have a great idea, get a celebrity to endorse your product, says one line of thought. But I wonder if the solution is as simple as that. The whole subject of brand ambassador-celebrity endorsement is intriguing. And, several questions come to the fore as one digs deep into the subject.

Take, for instance, the US where 20 per cent of all TV commercials feature famous personalities. Celebrity endorsements there are, as a matter of fact, not directed to push sales alone but to grab the attention of remote-happy television viewers. Hence, close to 10 per cent of television advertising budget in the US goes for celeb endorsements.

In India, Bollywood and sport personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Fardeen Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Bhaichung Bhutia rule the mind-space and airwaves.

It is interesting to see Amitabh ‘touching’ our hearts with Nerolac; making a fervent pitch for peace in the public service message released after the Gujarat riots; playing the matrix for Reid & Taylor; doting grandfather in the new Cadbury’s commercial, and so on.

As an endorser, he fulfills all the FRED objectives, namely, Familiarity (target market is aware of him, finds him friendly, likeable and trustworthy); Relevance (which says that there should be a link between the endorser and the product as well between the endorser and the audience); Esteem (the polio endorsement, for example, is successful as the masses see him as a credible name-face-voice); Differentiation (in all his projections, he is seen to be one among the masses, and yet he towers above them. He is different). His appeal is universal, lesser mortals merely cater to specific niches…

So, which celebrity should one go with? Who should be the spokesperson for your product? Who caters to which niche? Does it always happen by trial and error? Should a corporate organisation pay for individual research to find logical fits for their needs/brands?

The US has a popular index, called the Q score, that summarises various perceptions and feelings that consumers have in the form of ‘likeability’ measurements. It measures familiarity and appeal of performers, characters, personalities, etc.

So, how about developing an index in India that would aid companies in reaching out to their respective audiences? The index could be classified on the basis of demographics, psychographics, and geographical demarcations. It would have to be relevant to advertisers and brand managers (who have used any of the known celebrities as endorsers; they could check out the measurable value addition), representatives from respective fraternities/domains, peers, media, etc.

The index could be based on a rating that takes into account agreed parameters/attributes, past-present media coverage/favourability and relevance, ground situation in terms of successful/unsuccessful seasons/tenures, future prospects, etc.Additionally, the index could look at whether endorsements attributed to a particular celebrity have caused a clutter.

Once the rating system and index is in place, interested parties could subscribe to the report covering these aspects periodically.

However, as for the ‘Q score’ process, there are certain criticisms. So, at the very outset, some of those concerns need to be addressed. For instance, if a survey is based on the views of a majority of people who are highly familiar with a celeb, the results may be skewed, particularly if the results are calculated with simple ratios. So, if the celebrity is very well liked by only a small group of people who know him, their Q rating will be high. However, in advertising and communicating to a wide audience the celeb in question may not be effective.

In such situations, one would have to develop a better-informed, measurable rating system. But, is the market large enough to justify the expenses?

Meantime, a whole new celeb endorsement opportunity has cropped in the backdrop of ‘Shining India’. The ‘High & Mighty--Power List 2004’ of India Today threw up several faces like Infosys chief Narayana Murthy. He was yet again the most admired business leader among the youth, according to the ‘Annual Management Student Study’ conducted by Brand- Comm. Perhaps, Narayana Murthy could be a brand ambassador for the Indian Army which is trying to attract talented youth.

May be, renowned heart specialist Dr Naresh Trehan could put in a word with the influential NRI community to invest in infrastructure in India.
Anyway, several corporate icons are already endorsing products, brands, organisations and causes.

And, why not get TV journalists--the new world crusaders, some of whom enjoy tremendous rapport and credibility with their audience, to endorse brand and products.

With the general elections looming large, how about getting young, suave, techno savvy politicians to double up as endorsers? Some of the top names in the domain are already successful professionals like journalists, lawyers…every marketers best defense!

Movie Merchandise- Things have since changed and I am happy for that..

2006-04-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

The Business of Movie Merchandise

No longer is film merchandise merely a promotional tool used to boost the fortune of a film at the box-office. Worldwide, it has proved to be a successful hook for film studios, itself making healthy contributions to a film’s revenue streams and sometimes (albeit rarely) generating even more than the box-office collections themselves.
Consider this — tied along with the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the worldwide sale/licensing of Harry Potter merchandise has touched US $ 1 billion - figurines, food tie-ups, posters, accessories, comic strips, stationery to magic kits and home furnishings featuring Harry and friends from the Hogwarts school.

And, who can forget Ghost Busters, Jurassic Park, ET-The Extra-terrestrial - ‘stuff’ that legends are made of, literally, for they stood out for their innovative merchandise, as much for their box-office collections.
Synergy is now the key, as web technology is linking the studios and merchandising in ways never thought possible before. Web viewers are already able to link from devoted sites to buy their favourite toys.
Cut now to the Indian film industry and the situation is totally different.

Despite the fact that India produces more films than any other country, film merchandise has not really been pursued seriously as a revenue option by filmmakers. Not without reason though, for there lies (or lay until now) an inherent difference in how films are made here...

Unlike Hollywood, which operates on a ‘studio’ format - as a corporate unit, India has essentially been an ‘individual/producer’ dominated industry. Also, down-the-trodden-path, formula stories of our mainstream cinema were consciously targeted towards a rural/semi-urban audience, where merchandise is clearly an urban phenomenon. Add to that, the general aversion to hiring outsourced talent, bringing along promotional ideas alternate revenue streams.

All these contributed to non-existence of broad-based merchandising industry. There were sporadic instances of creative bursts, but nothing substantial or lasting.

More recently, there have been much-hyped auctions of film posters-jazzed up/rare/or sometimes purely common-selling as pop or kitsch art. The future of film merchandise however, lies not in auctions catering to a minuscule audience and generating even more minuscule monies, but in identifying, introducing, producing, retailing, promoting creative mass merchandise options in Indian films.

Let us see why this is likely to happen too.

Look at success stories of the last couple of years and it isn’t difficult to tell that it’s creative stories and treatment that has worked - ‘formulas’ haven’t. A new genre of filmmakers has taken centrestage. Karan Johar, Aamir Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali among others. They are creative, marketing-savvy, see the entire world as their market and are changing the rules of the game. They are also beginning to look at merchandise seriously and some have already had a reasonable degree of success.

Lagaan and Bend It Like Beckham have also shown us that if you ride a bigger wave (Cricket and Football respectively) then chances of success go up anyway. Imagine merchandise possibilities that both these films present. Imagine Lagaan II and the spectrum of merchandise that it could promote - board and video games, posters, accessories, comic strips (why, even an open ended one, propose your ‘own’ end to the story. The best option is released yet again!). I specifically mention these two names to highlight the contrast: Lagaan - high budget, mainstream and at the other end of the spectrum Bend It Like Beckham, small budget, crossover nullifying doubts that merchandise is a big film phenomenon - no it isn’t. It is a ‘great promotions, phenomenon. And obviously, a ‘great film’ phenomenon too.

Let’s look at how multiplexes too, besides offering a world-class cinema experience to the filmgoer bring about new possibilities: a) They present a filmmaker a viable option - release niche films targeted to an urban audience, thus changing the tilt, b) Form an ideal platform for retail/display/ promotion of film merchandise.

Sustained efforts from the film industry have recently resulted in lowering of entertainment tax in many key centres, such as Delhi, not just bringing more people into cinema halls and more often, but also ‘freeing’ a certain notional amount from the filmgoers budget, that could now be manoeuvred towards merchandising options.

Like multiplexes, other emergent retail options in the form of malls, food-courts, coffee bars, gift outlets, pubs, similarly present ready channels for retail/promotions. Technology is not too far behind, with Internet penetration increasing rapidly and online ticketing kiosks coming up at prominent city centres, usage of which would certainly not be limited to dispensing tickets

Horsing Around... : A piece in FE - much prefer my unedited version though

2006-04-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Horsing around is serious business (2003)

Unedited as I wrote it :)

M.F. Hussain loves to paint them; Dr. Vijay Mallya is passionate about them; our Finance Minister doesn’t find it too ‘taxing’ to take an afternoon stroll to watch a ‘chukka’ or two. Horse aficionados all!
For thousands of years man has been fascinated by this beautiful and captivating creature- the horse. Almost divine in their perfection, horses have been considered the ultimate symbol of elegance-power-pride.

Big Monies… high stake racing.

There is a lot riding here, with on-course attendance of 2 million each year; an estimated 1000 million rupees in betting turnover; prize money in excess of Rs. 200 million each year (the highest, compared to any other spectator sport in India-the Indian Derby and the Poonawalla Breeders Multi Million alone give out prize money of 6.8 million rupees and 6 million rupees, respectively).
Although horse racing is where the big money is, one sport that retains the quintessential romance of the horse and yet is certain to get your adrenalin pumping is Polo and it is this segment that we shall try to cover in this piece.

Right place… at the right time.

As we step into another polo season (Delhi season kicks off in the 1st week of November this year), I cannot help think how much has changed for the game in the last 4-5 years. Polo has seen a revival of support and it has been extraordinary, to say the least.

It began a few years ago, when concerted efforts of the army; corporate patrons; royal families, who had worked tirelessly on promoting the game, bore fruit.

But, another phenomenon taking place at the same time, was perhaps equally responsible for the turnaround – an array of high-end domestic and multinational brands - Omega, Hyundai, ABN Amro to just name a few - that had arrived in the late 90s and the new millennium, were trying to capture the mind-space of their target audience, but were increasingly faced with a ‘clutter’.
The effort, therefore, was to find niche opportunities that would effectively reflect the core personality of their brand. Patronized by aristocracy-royalty & the elite-people who live best-of-the-best plus one- polo gave them such a niche.

Many of these marketers adopted a more holistic strategy and associated with more than one activity. For example, many like Seagram who were associated with Golf, came to be associated with Polo and vice versa.

Corporate funding started to trickle in and with brand association began a new process of communication-Direct Mail, advertising, PR initiatives, side events including fashion shows and live bands added new colour to the game.

While, diehard polo lovers ‘lived the season’ on the polo grounds anyway (even moving city to city as the circuit moved), high ‘society’ had now adapted it too. Media swung into action to cover the game and contributed its share. Success begets success, as they say - what started as a trickle, has now become a wave.

The combined whiff of cigar smoke, expensive perfumes, crisp air and horses of course… that greet you on the ground, surely make for a heady combination…but, what’s a real turn-on is to see the sheer numbers in which crowds gather to watch a ‘final’. A combined sea of royalty, army, ‘society’, bureaucrats, diplomats and expatriates…

A new generation of players has now taken forefront, come as they do from diverse backgrounds – polo sons (only a rare daughter or two, still); royalty; army; civilians… They all have one thing in common though-young, talented, bubbling with enthusiasm, media savvy, they see the world as their playground and backed by new corporate monies that are coming in… polo as a career.
Thanks to tips from veterans and the experience gained by playing with a string of high goal players from overseas, the quality of our players, and therefore the game, is again touching glorious heights.
It makes an interesting study to see how some of the corporate sponsors and patrons have benefited from their association…

Jatin Ahluwalia, who heads Marketing and Corporate Communication for Ericsson India, says "Polo gives us an opportunity to associate our brand with the understated exclusivity of the game and also allows company top brass to spend quality time with clients in a relaxed setting."

In some cases the game has had a far-reaching impact… The young heir to Jodhpur’s royal family, Yuvraj Shivraj Singh- a fine polo player himself and a patron, has devoted considerable amount of time, effort and money in reviving Jodhpur polo. Shivraj, who is currently in Moscow helping with the revival of the game there after decades of dormancy, feels '' Bringing polo back to Jodhpur hasn’t just been the realization of a long cherished dream my father H.H. Maharaja Gaj Singh and myself, but has also given the city an opportunity to showcase its rich culture and heritage to the guests who come visiting".

Timed as the ‘season’ is during the Christmas-New Year Holidays, it hasn’t just put the city back on the polo map, but has also given a huge boost to the tourism opportunities for Jodhpur. Now who can resist polo combined with Rajasthan sands and legendry Rajput hospitality.

Also, notice the differences in how the association manifests itself for say… McDowell’s Signature, a brand from the UB stables-owned by the flamboyant Dr. Vijay Mallya. The brand’s youthful energy and vibrancy reflects in their celebratory communication-the signature of success. On the other hand, led by patron and captain Naveen Jindal, the young Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power, Team Jindal… personifies teamwork and the power of steely determination. There are many more examples like these.

This is however just the beginning. What with… new sponsors lining up; a 6 month circuit touching 5 cities- Bangalore – Delhi - Jodhpur- Jaipur – Delhi – Mumbai, in that order; new polo facilities being commissioned by hotel chains and even polo players themselves… like the Kalaan brothers, who have set-up the Haryana Polo Club on the Delhi-Pataudi road, just off National Highway 8 (opportunities are in abundance and it won’t be long before a creative sponsor decides to host a car rally to the venue, practically prompting and leading the way. High Tea on arrival… followed by an exciting game of polo. What better way to spend a Sunday winter afternoon).

Imagine too…big screen display on the grounds; walkie-talkies to facilitate conversation between umpires and referee; player endorsements; all woman polo or woman-a-side matches; mainstream television coverage… why, even picture alerts on mobile phones, particularly as the ‘season’ moves from city to city.

Just the beginning… so ride them to a gallop my friend or step aside as they thunder past. For, horses… as they say in these charmed circles… have ‘right of way’!

Drive to Jaipur - the Sariska route.

2006-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Another Memorable Day (August 1998)

Another memorable day on the road was a drive that I took to Jaipur one rainy August morning. The year, if I remember correctly was 1998. I was to reach Jaipur for some urgent work that my sister needed me there for.

I woke up to a thunderous morning, heavy rain lashed the windows of my bedroom. I quickly showered, packed something to eat and started… my watch read 7.00 a.m. The roads were empty and I managed to quickly reach the highway.

It wasn’t long before I had reached Manesar- then a 45 minutes drive from Delhi-to find vehicles lined up, until as far as the eye could see (for those familiar with NH No. 8, the construction work going on at that time, to convert it into a 4 lane expressway, had taken its toll, with frequent traffic jams and accidents. It was one such day.)

“The traffic stopped last night due to an accident and hasn’t moved an inch since,” informed a local resident. “So, what’s the best thing to do?” I queried. “Turn back, while there’s still time… before you know, there would be as much traffic behind you, as ahead.”

I knew, he was right. I struggled with the gears and after a few minutes of maneuvering, managed to free my car of the jam and was now speeding back…I knew there was an alternate route to Jaipur, through Sohna-Alwar, but had never been on that road earlier. With the car (my little Maruti 800) in urgent need of service and the persistent rain, the odds were not in my favour, but I did not have much of a choice. I HAD to reach Jaipur. So I took an about from the 36th milestone and on to the Sohna-Alwar route, the road was narrow and in terrible shape, the rain did not help. I reached Sohna and much to my surprise, despite the rain the place was swarming with families- arriving in vans, buses, and cars, for what was their idea of a picnic.

Soon, I had left the traffic behind and in contrast to the highway, there was almost no traffic, just an occasional state transport bus ferrying rural passengers. The scene started to change and I suddenly noticed that I had not seen a telephone booth for a long time, soon I noticed another change in the landscape, the tube-wells that I had seen along the highway on my previous visits had been replaced by pulley operated open wells and I could see women, children filling water. These small hutments kept making an appearance every 10-15 minutes. The road had now become really narrow and remained unwaveringly bumpy.

However, the heavy downpour of an hour ago was now intermittent rain and I started to relax. The scenery of lush green fields, of hillocks in a distance as I left behind a village, was wonderfully soothing and I was lost in the beauty and had drifted, when something brought me back to my senses- I don’t know what- but, I had just missed ramming, head-on, into a tractor trolley. “I would be more careful.” I promised myself, before continuing my journey.

Passing by another set of hutments, I saw an old man, sitting on the porch of his tiny hut- he must have been 70…80, difficult to tell. He was sitting there, just sitting, eyes open, looking aheadn of him, not doing anything and I tried to imagine what must be going through his mind. “What must he be thinking? Was he thinking?”, I asked myself, trying to make a comparison with ‘us’-city folk-is there a moment when our mind stops thinking? Always thinking. Always on the run. “What it must be to just relax-not think-not worry about something-about anything? Just be?” I did not have an answer.

I drove along, worrying now and then about the condition of my car-“What if a needed to make a telephone call? What if I needed to push the vehicle in case the car broke down? I would have had to walk miles before I could locate anyone and even then, there would be no guarantee that there would be a vehicle to tow the car, a service station”. I did not want to think…

Many villages and a few towns later, I finally reached a wider road and a road sign said- Alwar. The town was generally sleepy, but something that struck me immediately, were the really wide roads, almost disproportionate to everything around them, as if they had been prepared keeping in mind the traffic requirements 15 years hence. It was past noon and I was a feeling a little cramped so I decided to stop awhile. The rain had stopped too-for now.

Soon, I was on the road again. “There are two routes to reach Jaipur from here,” informed an attendant at the fuel station. “Take the Alwar-Jaipur road through Sariska Tiger Resort or reach Behror and continue back on NH-8,” he offered. It did not take me long to decide-despite the long route and the condition of my car- I decided to take the former. Sariska had decided it for me.

15 minutes on the Alwar-Jaipur road, I knew that I would be repeating this drive on many other occasions. The road had gotten smoother, the view more picturesque. It could only get better, for, I had not even reached Sariska. It had started to rain again, but I wasn’t anxious any longer...Soon, I could make out from a distance- machans in the fields along the road- Sariska was not far and images started to form.

I hadn’t been to Sariska earlier, so I did not know what to expect… “Will I actually see a Tiger?” I found myself thinking. I had no idea, but the thought was exciting and then as if to explain, how stupid I was being, I saw hordes women emerge from the woods with bundles of grass they had cut for their cattle. I laughed at my school-boyish enthusiasm.

I never did see any Tiger, but monkeys I did see…they were all over the place (I still fondly remember the second time on the same route- I had conned my father and sister, into us taking the route again, even though there really was no need, no traffic jam, I mean- that our car was ‘attacked’ by them, as I stepped out to click pictures of a little rivulet that I had taken an immense liking to, on my first drive. They had come in hordes- at least two dozen of them-drooling, to the whiff of coffee, as my father opened the flask. My sister had to take charge … quickly roll up the windowpanes, drive half a mile, before they gave up the chase and I could get back,into the car. But, that’s another story, for another day).

The drive progressed smoothly and I instinctively slowed down to savour the beauty. The rain had removed whatever little trace of dust the leaves may have gathered. I admired nature at is most pristine - little rivulets that had instantaneously gained volume, flowed over little bridges-gently kissing the road, exotic birds, green mystique, cows grazing. As I took the winding road, I wasn’t driving, I was gliding!

It was almost as if the heavens knew. I had barely left Sariska and was passing through this forest like stretch when the skies opened their doors again. I thought about stopping, but knew, it would be a while before the rain stopped. It was pouring really hard now. I could barely see ahead but then, when I was able to see… lo and behold, what I saw made me wish that I had taken the alternate route. “I may well have to go back to Alwar and do so now.” I thought in despair.

It was-a puddle-did I say “a puddle?”. It was a furlong of water ahead and there was no telling, how deep, where. Having once had a nasty experience-almost drowning, in a much more innocent looking ‘puddle’ that turned out to be a manhole under construction- I was wary. I did not want to go down in my car.Just when I was contemplating if I should turn back, I noticed, extended along this entire stretch was a mound of mud…almost like a wall; I could try and drive along it. Just one little problem though- my car would be tilted some 45 degrees to one side, as I drove. I decided to go ahead with it. Nobody could say,“ The guy did not try!”.

That, I lived to tell this story, is enough to say that many of my fears were unfounded, but also that I am a reasonably good driver. I reached the highway soon and rest of the journey carried on uneventful. My sister wondered if I had been to a car rally! The Rs. 1800/- bill on my steering/wheel-balancing/repairs would have more justifiable that way… but the I am certain that the thrill would have been considerably less.

Update- Nov 2006: We went for another drive on the road last month, but turned back just short of Alwar as I had to attend an event in Delhi that evening. The road is quite smooth, but the surroundings are not the same :).

Train to Jaipur - looking back!

2006-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

Looking Back (December 1997)

It was on a chilly winter morning that I was woke up to a shriek of the telephone ring. I had just returned to Delhi earlier in the morning from Chandigarh where I had gone the day before to sign up for a new assignment. Just one day at work in the new office and I knew it had been a mistake (only one among many others that I would make, in the next 24 hours).

“Well, at least I saw Chandigarh”, I had tried to reason with myself when I reached home bleary eyed at 3.00 a.m. Barely had I gone to sleep, when the phone rang. It was my father. He had called my hotel in Chandigarh, only to be told that I had already left and he was anxious to know what had happened. I told him.

“So come over!” he said, “Come to Jaipur for Christmas,” I suddenly remembered it was Christmas Eve. Promising him to come by the night train (something I hadn't tried before) and not the bus that I usually took, I went back to sleep.It was a windy, grey afternoon, as had been the case for the last several days-it had been perhaps the longest stretch without the Sun for Delhi in many years-I went to the Cantonment Railway Station, not very far from where I lived, and bought a ticket for the night train. I was to board the train from the same place at 10.00 p.m.

That evening, I started from home in time to reach the station at around 9.40 p.m. It was bitterly cold and I stood at the platform with only two other people around, one, the owner of a tea stall and the other a gentleman wearing army fatigues who was chatting with the stall owner. I went over and ordered a cup of tea. They were making some inconsequential chit-chat. I offered the man in uniform to join me for a cup and we got talking- the man, a C.R.P.F jawan was headed back home to Sikar, Rajasthan to join his family over the weekend.

For some inexplicable reason, I have found myself strongly drawn to Rajasthan time and again and I listened intently as he told me about life back home, about his fields, about the arid but beautiful terrain of his village. I absorbed the information and wanted to learn more...

When I looked at my watch again, it was almost 10 o’ clock. Unfamiliar with railway timings, I asked my companion if he knew anything about the train I was supposed to catch, and just as I was asking him, one chugged into the platform.

“Well, this is the one I need to be on,” he said picking up his bag. We shook hands and said goodbye. He was aboard in a minute. “I’ll see you in Sikar someday,” I called out as he waved at me. “Could this possibly be the train I am supposed to take too? ” I thought- a moment of doubt, I tried to shrug if off, but nevertheless walked towards the station master’s cabin.

A welcome change from outside the cabin was bustling with activity and I asked one of the assistants when the train was supposed to arrive. “Arrive?”, he looked up in disbelief. “This is the train. Run, It’s leaving now.”, he nervously offered.

I sprung into action. The train had gained speed. The C.R.P.F gentleman saw me running and waved at me yet again, obviously ignorant of my desperation to board the same train! Another person, already aboard in another compartment saw me running too, offered a helping hand and pulled me in… I was aboard and on my way-or so I thought.

I found myself inside a ‘goods’ compartment. Another man was asleep on one of the metal bunkers meant to keep luggage. “Rest awhile.”, the friendly hand advised, pushing the big metal sliding door close, before taking the other bunker. I was still trying to get used to the surroundings-it was, after all, my first time traveling in a ‘goods’ cabin.

I thanked him and dumped my bag on the floor and sat atop. “When do we reach the next stop?”, I asked him. “The next stop is Gurgaon, but it would be futile to try and get down there. It stops for just a moment,”, he informed me. “You won’t be able to board another compartment, there isn’t enough time. Rewari, is where you should get down to shift to your compartment.”, he was a nice guy.

Some time went by and I found myself hungry and looked inside my bag for something to eat. I found peanuts. Both my co-passengers were already asleep so I started to munch. “What a way to spend a Christmas Eve.”, I thought. This was merely the beginning, as I was to soon learn.

We reached Rewari and I alighted, rushed to locate my cabin but before I could, the train started to move again. Swearing under my breath, I boarded the nearest compartment. Passengers in this one were sitting, chatting among themselves,some were smoking, there was no indication that it was past midnight. I asked one of them “When do we reach Jaipur”. He looked amused and offered “Jaipur? This compartment does not go to Jaipur, it goes to Bikaner".

My heart sank “So this was not the train after all, I was right. What do I do now?" But, I had spoken…no, thought too soon. It was indeed the right train, he explained, only it segregates to become ‘two separate trains’ at another station further ahead- Loharu. One headed towards Bikaner and the remaining towards Jaipur. As ‘luck’ (?) would have it, this compartment was destined for Bikaner.

I patiently sat, my knees drawn to my chest to brace myself against the cold. After what seemed until eternity, we finally reached Loharu and I alighted once again, ran and even managed to locate my compartment. Only, it was already early morning and despite my knocking on each door (did I say ‘knocking’? I meant ‘banging’) nobody opened it for me).
Another army man, another helping hand, and I found myself in another compartment. Not mine, but a compartment. I was getting smarter, I did ask this time if this one was going to Jaipur. It was. Thanks so much!

Well, we were at the famous station where the train would be shunted, I was in a compartment that would go to Jaipur, what could go wrong now? I decided to just crash on any bench available. I did, nice cold breeze was blowing and I was shiverrring. I drifted into a fitful sleep but soon woke up again, to a sudden movement of the train, “Nothing, they are removing the compartments that would go to Bikaner.”, a voice informed me. “Good.” I thought, still half asleep.

I sensed some movement again, the train was finally moving, the process of removing the compartment had lasted long, but I thanked God, we were gaining momentum. Happiness was short lived, we came to a grinding halt again after 20 odd minutes. “Now where are we?”. We were back to where we had started. I could not believe it!! They had got us back after dismantling the Bikaner part and NOW we were ready to leave for Jaipur (Sigh!).

I woke-up hearing a steady hum of “Chai-Garam Chai”, we were at Jhunjhunu, a sleepy town in Rajasthan. It was 7.00 a.m. I finally shifted my baggage to my ticketed compartment and settled down…it had already been 9 hours since we started.

It was a bright sunny morning. I had not seen sunshine for more than twenty days and just soaking that warmth, that energy, made me feel good and I was already beginning to forget all that I had gone through not too long ago.

A while later, my eyes were shining even brighter, we were passing Sikar- I had kept my promise, albeit sooner than even I had thought myself possible- small hutments, fields on dune like land, farmers at work, flocks of cattle, peacocks, camel, deer, neelgais- a new day- my day was made!

The train made several stops, more people boarded and alighted at each, marching towards their respective places of work- traders, milkmen, policemen. Some chatted with me. They wanted to hear what was happening at ‘Dilli- the Capital. Seat of the Government’. I obliged most. I was feeling good…

How many bloggers?

2005-11-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

Any idea about how many people are blogging from India today?

How many in your city?

Please leave a word.

A good woman

2005-11-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

Just watched 'A Good Woman'. The movie is superbly crafted and Helen Hunt, of course, has the most beautiful nose in the whole world!

BTW- Wonder if anyone takes movie reviews seriously any more? I don't! I don't think this morning's HT City review even narrated the story properly, so wonder how the journo could ever deliver a credible review? Word of mouth remains so much more credible...

The 5 minute formula.

2005-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

:) Reminding myself about the 5 mins. formula - from an old email

I read about the 5 minute formula about a year ago. Every new assignment - presentation, writing, preparing for a class would leave me trying to push it to tomorrow- I would spend sleepless nights, wondering and anxious if i would be able to do it.

Then I read the 5 min thing, prompting me to just put 5 mins to a task before I close it for another day. I attempted it. It never remained 5 mins - i gave it much more, as soon as i started work. By the time the 5 mins---oops,1 hour - 2 hours were over, the task was almost done. It is the fear of unknown that is exciting and yet so daunting sometimes.
I am not saying that I have stopped pushing work to tomorrow-lol, but I know I can reach out to the 5 mins. formula when I want to.

Books - problem of choice!

2005-07-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

I usually like to read one book at a time. Right now however, I am struggling. Have read a couple of chapters from 'The monk who sold his ferrari', gifted by a friend - reads a bit artificial to me. Great learning I am sure, but sounds practised. Then last month I bought 'The book of Shiva' but have,again,just read a couple of chapters- purely lack to opportunity. Then day before I bought 'Blink' - this one I want to read - I think I already trust my insticts more than most people, but would like to learn anything more on that - good reading it looks like.