Kolkata restaurant Mocambo refuses to serve dinner to a Mumbai based corporate executive and her driver

Kolkata restaurant Mocambo refuses to serve dinner to a Mumbai based corporate executive and her driver!

"How shallow and inhuman have we become ?

Last night being my last day in Kolkata decided to try out this popular restraunt called Mocambo' at Park Street .I decided to go with my driver -Manish bhaiya here whose great service and care throughout my stay in Kolkata for a week was excellent . ( Also yesterday afternoon he missed his lunch because I forgot to tell him to go for lunch - uncertain about the time it would take me to finish the meeting -he missed his lunch )
Guilty of my mistake . I decided to go out for dinner with him .
As soon as I reached Mocambo at around 8:40 PM . I asked the staff to give me a table for 2.

Staff : There is a waiting of 15 minutes .

Me : *as excited I was to try out this popular joint *happily agreed

Staff :* by this time they observed I was with Manish bhaiya * walked up to me and said it will take 45 minutes for the table to get ready .

Me : *little confused by time communicated *earlier ...now eagerly asked but you said 15 minutes

Staff : yes the table was going to get empty but they ordered for more food

Me : *peeping through the glass windows *but I can see some empty tables inside .

Staff : they are four seaters.. today is Friday we cannot give that table .

Me: ok

After waiting for 10-15 minutes . When I see people who came after me getting the table .

Me : why are you not giving me the table ?

Staff : Maam we can't give you a table

Me : But why ?

Staff : who are you with

Me : subtly pointing towards Manish bhaiya .

Staff : aahhh....Maam he is not properly dressed .

Me : * he was cleanly dressed in a cream trouser and a shirt tucked out .. And floaters *

I asked what is your dress code ?
Staff : we don't have a dress code .

Me : then ??

Staff :No No he is not properly dressed it's a fine dine restraunt

Me : *agitated by now *what's wrong with his dressing tell me and is there a written dress code he is not following ?

By this time Manish bhaiya understood parts of the conversation in English and by the daunting looks of the staff -walks up to me and says - 'Didi hum Nahi Khaenge aap Khana Kha lijiyega na '

Me : * hurt with his innocence and inhuman inconsiderate behaviour of the staff at Mocambo *

Me : call your manager give me a valid reason why he cannot come in .

Staff : goes and calls another person

Me : sir why can't he come in ?

Staff : because he is drunk

Me : *furious and baffled with the audacity of the staff *How do you know he is drunk ?

Staff : because my other colleague told me he is so

Me : on what basis due you make such assumptions . Did he drink in front of you or did you even go near him * they were standing 2-3 meters apart *He is driving me around since 8 o clock in the morning leave apart being drunk he is not even had food

Staff : but I know he is drunk

Me : prove it then

Me : what's your name

Staff : I can't tell you my name

Me : why ?

Staff : No No I can't it's just I can't let you in with him

Me : I Don't want to get in to your racist restraunt walks away with Manish bhaiya with deep grief in my heart on how Inhuman and shallow the world has become :(

Manish bhaiya is one of the finest human beings I have met in a long time he took good care of me and did his duty with all his heart. He is a simple man make 275 Rs a day for 12 hours of driving and sends more then half of the money back home . he has a difficult life Still he laughs a lot shares a lot of stories and is more human and empathetic then any I know .
To Mocambo staff and restraunt at Park Street Kolkata Which doesn't consider human as human and differentiates, discriminates and stratifies them into classes just because he doesn't fit into your description of a perfect customer. (doesn't own a iPhone maybe doesn't talk in English) I m sorry you don't deserve a fine human like Manish bhaiya sitting and eating in your racist restraunt .
(Disclaimer : This is entirely based on my personal experience and has no relation with my organisation / profession)"


Copied verbatim from a Facebook post by Marketing Manager of Tata Motors, "Dilashi Hemnani on September 10, 2016 at 12:08pm, Kolkata"

Weblink of her Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/dilashi.hemnani/posts/1204126152972589

With this single reported act, the reputation of brand 'Mocambo' has gone down the drains.
Verdict: Mocambo owners, management, staff deserves Stick!
Dilashi Hemnani deserves Carrot.

Is there anybody who's unmoved and have no qualms about dining at Mocambo, Park Street, Kolkata in future?
Will you boycott Mocambo?

StayUncle and now OYO Rooms to help unmarried couples find privacy in India.

While the moral police and the actual police acted as vigilantes over couples who wanted privacy in their bedrooms, StayUncle launched its services exclusively for unmarried couples who wanted a space of their own. Their tagline 'couples need a room, not a judgement' was welcomed and publicized. OYO rooms, a hotel aggregator launched their very own relationship mode hotel finding service in the light of its customers' demand.
OYO rooms featured the 'No Rooms For Unmarried Couples' policy till two months ago and the shift is being hailed as a progressive step. Hotels often turn away couples without definitive proof of marital status which can turn embarrassing and many often resort to rejecting locals so as to not encourage premarital sex. By using the aggregators relationship mode on their website and the mobile app, couples can get rooms with their local identity cards and it promises to be hassle free as they get to book only those hotels that welcome them as they are. No more 24 hours booking. No more running to check out before 12 noon. StayUncle offer customers an opportunity to book one of the 10 hours slots currently available - Morning (from 10am to 7pm) and evening slot (from 9 pm to 8 am). In both cases customers pay for 10 hours tariffs.

According to Huffington Post, 'OYO says that according to a rough estimate, 60% of the 6,000 hotels in 100 cities they have tie-ups with have been found to be couple-friendly. A customer can search for a couple-friendly hotel by logging into their account, clicking on the relationship mode in search preferences and then proceed to searching. They can also search for all the hotels in a city and filter the results by selecting the OYO for Couples option. According to OYO, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Goa and Delhi have the highest number of ‘couple-friendly’ hotels. Tourist destinations such as Manali, Shimla and Mussoorie also rank high in the list. A casual search reveals that there are 146 such hotels in Bengaluru, 113 in Delhi and 217 in Goa. Surprisingly, metropolises such as Chennai (27), Kolkata (54) and Mumbai (12) have lesser couple-friendly hotels than Jaipur (170), Chandigarh (141), and Pune (73).'

Kavikrut, the Chief Growth Officer for OYO rooms said in an interview to Quint that the move was simply a logical one. A lot of their customers reached the hotel and then realised that they could not check in due to the hotel policies. It was embarrassing for them to be denied a room and to have to look for another hotel. All they did was let their customers know which hotels welcome unmarried couples. When they tie up with hotels, they know their policies, but the customers don’t, and that causes problems.

There is currently no Indian law that prohibits hotels from servicing unmarried couples or local couples that belong to the same city or area as the hotel. "We analysed guest-feedback and realized that couple-guests were likely to face last-minute inconvenience on account of hotel-policies that were not communicated to them earlier," Kavikrut said as reported by Times of India.

The rise in the demand for AirBnB, breakfast hotels, serviced apartments, hostels, room aggregators and specific ones catering only to unmarried couples like StayUncle and Bengaluru’s Nestaway are pointing towards a rising trend. People looking for a private and comfortable time sans the moralistic high ground of the self-appointed guardians of traditions have a reason to cheer as they get more options to not get caught in awkward positions.

Quality Traffic & Compelling Content are the two most important components that drive sales online

The 2 important components to driving sales online are:
- quality traffic and
- compelling content.

H&M sets up largest Delhi store in Connaught Place

Overcast skies and a cool breeze made for a pleasant Friday, 2016-08-26. For H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) it couldn't have been a better day to set up another shop, literally.

The Swede fashion retailer opened its fifth store in the National Capital Region (NCR) to a full house. Located in the heart of the city, Connaught Place or CP, the outlet was thronged by excited shoppers not just from Delhi but also from across the country.

Spread across 28,000 square feet at the recently­renovated The Connaught High Street, the store has been designed keeping in sync with the vicinity's colonial character and vintage history, and blends fashion with the heritage of CP seamlessly. It is also offering a special opening week discount of 50 per cent on selected items.

The retail brand, which has nine stores across the country, is looking at increasing the count to 13. It also plans new stores in
Mumbai (Inorbit Mall in Malad), Pune (Westend Mall) and Chennai (Express Avenue).

But in an age of online shopping, will this work?
"We know that shopping is an experience for many people and hence we are concentrating on expanding our physical outreach. While e­-retail is not off the cards, for now we'd like to be able to offer the complete shopping experience with our stores across the country," Dhatri Bhatt, Head ­ PR, H&M, who was present at the store, said.

(Source: EconomicTimes.com)

Saurav Ganguly Essilor's brand icon

French ophthalmic lens maker Essilor launched former Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly as the brand ambassador for their Varilux series of spectacle lenses in May 2016.
The company also added three new products to the Varilux range which was endorsed by former cricketer K Srikkanth till 2013.
Essilor India CEO Shivkumar J said, "With a yearly growth rate of 20%, India is a key market for us, along with China."

Patanjali becomes 3rd largest FMCG seller at Future Retail

Baba Ramdev promoted Patanjali Ayurved has become the third largest seller of FMCG products at the shelves of Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail.
Patanjali has become number three in sales at Future Retail's stores. The number one is HUL followed by P&G and Patanjali is at number three at our place, according to Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani.

Patanjali, which had started its association with the Future group in October 2015, is now followed by rivals like GCPL, Dabur, Emami.

Kishore Biyani confirmed that Patanjali sales are growing every month. It would grow 20 per cent this month from the previous month.

Besides, Future Group is also in talks for selling ayurvedic FMCG products of Sri Sri Ayurveda promoted by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Future Group, which has several companies in its fold including Future Retail, Future Lifestyle Fashion, Future Consumer Enterprise, etc is expecting to end the 2016-17 fiscal with Rs 26,000 to 27,000 crore in overall revenue.

Moreover, Future Group is also planning a major expansion of its southern supermarket chain Nilgiris by adding more products and taking the store count to 1,000 in next three years.

The group, which had acquired the Bengaluru-based Nilgiris chain in 2014, is also launching new products in bakery to strengthen its portfolio.

Source: PTI | Aug 25, 2016.

Bottled Water Set to Surpass Soda as Most Consumed Beverage in US

Bottled Water Set to Surpass Soda as Most Consumed Beverage in US.

‪#‎SecondaryResearch‬

JEWELLERY glitters but doesn't strike web GOLD

TRINKETS FOR PARTIES SELL ONLINE BUT FOR LARGE EVENTS LIKE WEDDINGS, BUYERS STILL HEAD TO THE LOCAL JEWELLER

When she was in a jewellery store a couple of years ago, Saroja Yeramilli noticed a young woman whose mother was forcing her to try and buy a large necklace. "The girl was frustrated and told her mother the jewellery wouldn't go with the western clothes she wears every day," says Yeramilli, who was working with Titan at the time. And every other young woman she met seemed to echo the sentiment. "But the funny thing was, all of them thought they were unique when they said 'I am not a jewellery person'," she says.
That's when Yeramilli realized there is a market for light, everyday jewellery that young women could shop for on their own. And in 2015, she co-founded Melorra, an online jewellery brand that targets young, urban Indian women.

The e-tail boom has put more products online than ever before. Jewellery too. But jewellery remains a small e-commerce segment despite Indians' love of gold. Industry estimates that online jewellery sales accounts for a little over 1% of the total purchases. But it has grown rapidly.

A Euromonitor report pegs the Indian online jewellery market at 5,310 crore, up from 1,000 crore in 2011. There has also been some intense activity in the space in the past few months, indicating that online players may be poised to increase their share in the 4 lakh crore jewellery market - BlueStone announced earlier this week that it has received 200 crore in Series D funding, while Titan recently bought a 62% stake in Chennai-based CaratLane.

Most startups remain predominantly purchase spots for fine jewellery and low-value precious jewellery . The big wedding market is still one they haven't been able to make a dent in. In a market where a sale can touch 7 lakh, online jewellery sellers say the average size of a sale is under 20,000.

"While high-ticket transactions do happen on our portal, most sales are in the range of 30,000 to 50,000," says Gaurav Kushwaha, founder, BlueStone, which did '250 crore in revenue in 2015-16. A substantial number of visits to online gold and diamond jeweller CaratLane are to browse and buy relatively small ticket items."There have been close to 2 million visitors to the website with a chunk of visitors discovering products online and making their purchases in our offline stores," says Avnish Anand, co-founder, CaratLane."Those who do purchase online, confine themselves to spending no more than rupees 20,000," he says. Customer issues about trust and the need to touch and feel jewellery keeps them from making large purchases online, he says.

ONLINE TO OFFLINE

That realization has made several portals establish offline centres. CaratLane, for instance, has 12 physical stores in major cities.

Voylla, backed by Peepul Capital and which sells fashion jewellery in the range of rupees 300 to rupees 10,000, started as an online-only player, but launched brick-and-mortar stores six months ago and now sees 40% of sales from them. With 48 offline stores in 20-odd cities, co-founder Vishwas Shringi expects offline sales to overtake online soon. "Online is growing fast, but the base is still low. Also, the primary driver of online sales is still pricing, it's still not a destination shop," he says.

Investors and experts note that while online is a great medium for jewellery purchase, it may not become the primary platform for wedding purchases.

Karan Mohla, executive director at IDG Ventures, says online is the right platform for jewels in the rupees 500-5,000 price bracket. "The medium has gained good traction for fashion accessory jewellery. This is a monthly-buy platform that will create loyalty among the customers," he says.Mohla adds that players like Voylla, Melorra, Velvetcase and Pipa & Bella have done well selling semi-precious jewellery. "These players have opened up the platform for sellers and designers, giving wider options for consumers."

N Ananthapadmanabhan, managing director of Chennai-based chain NAC Jewellers, which has been in the business since 1917, estimates that the average ticket size for wedding purchases is 7 lakh. "The highest value sales happen for weddings, but online portals cannot tap this market as customers would want to touch and feel the product, and make their purchase with a trusted offline retailer. It is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase," he says.

DIFFERENTIATING TO SURVIVE

Still, the scope for growth for on line and for newer ventures is seen to be huge. Startups are expanding their customer base by focusing on design and newer marketing strategies.

While single-brand start ups bet on innovative de signs, some players are aggregating numerous sellers on one online platform what are called mar ketplaces.

Started in 2012 as a single brand company, Mumbai based Velvetcase transformed into a multi-brand jewellery marketplace last July. Founder and former Microsoft Asia lead Kapil Hetamsaria says women were taking to shopping for jewellery online and he was finding it hard to cater to their various demands while retailing just one brand.

"The same women who were buying jewellery worth rupees 1 lakh also wanted 3,000-earrings. As a marketplace, we cover the entire price range now," he says. The marketplace model also helped them connect unorganized retailers, who are specialists in ruby , pearl and diamond, with end consumers. The platform has tied up with 300 sellers in 28 cities in India.

Innovations like 3D printing, customization and try-it-out options keep customers hooked. Melorra does not have an inventory and manufactures on a per-order basis in Mumbai and Jaipur. Yeramilli says they sell to almost 4,000 pincodes across India. "Apart from cities, we are seeing customers from smaller towns. People are willing to spend on unique jewellery designs. And the repeat buyers have shown that we are not a niche segment anymore," she says.

BlueStone's Kushwaha says they started a `Home Try On' option a year ago to address the problem of people wanting to feel and see the pieces. "It is a habit that takes time to change," he says.

Early starters like him will likely have an advantage. The cost of doing an online jewellery business is high and there's the constant need to innovate and invest in jewellery and website design.

"It is tough for newer brands to enter the segment, giving existing players a great opportunity to scale. Besides, unlike apparel or furniture, returns of goods purchased are fewer. And since the size of jewellery is small, logistics costs tend to be lower. These give the sellers 50% margins," Mohla says.

(Source: Toi Kolkata dated 2016-07-29. Inputs from Aparna Desikan, Anand J, Shalina Pillai, Digbijay Mishra)

Happy Birthday J.R.D.Tata sir

Happy Birthday J.R.D.Tata sir.
Keep inspiring us from wherever you are!

Ecosport, in India, sells on its own merits

In India, Ecosport sells on its own merits and not because of its Ford pedigree!

‪#‎MarketingGyanology‬
‪#‎IndianRoadie‬

The New Population Bomb

This time it is depopulation that will seal the fate of nations.
Though the global recovery is in its eighth year, there is not a single major region where economic growth has returned to its pre-crisis average. This expansion has been the weakest in post-war history , and economists have cited various reasons for it, including post-traumatic stress induced by the crisis of 2008.
While there is some merit in such explanations, they overlook the slowdown in working-age population growth, which is dampening economic growth everywhere. Until recently , population decline was concentrated in the developed world, but now, it is starting to hit even harder in big emerging countries.

This is a critical turning point.Worldwide, growth in the working-age population has collapsed, from an annual average of about 2% before 2005 to an annual average post-war low of around 1% this year. This one percentage point drop in population growth is likely to take a roughly equal chunk out of potential economic growth, which means that the world needs to reset its expectations.

The world as a whole should probably expect long-term GDP growth more in the range of 2.5% than the post-war average of 3.5%, and emerging economies should expect average growth more in the range of 3% than 4%. In China, even 6% growth is no longer a reasonable target, since its working age population is not just growing slowly , it is shrinking.

To clarify the economic impact of population decline, i looked at all the economies that have sustained a GDP growth rate of 6% for at least a decade since 1960, and found 56 of these “miracle“ cases. In three out of four such cases, the population of working age people ­ ages 15 to 64 ­ was growing at a pace of at least 2% a year. It is thus unlikely that an economy will grow faster than 6% a year if its working age population is growing at less than 2%.

Today , the population is growing this quickly in few countries. In the 1980s, 17 of the 20 largest emerging economies had a working age population growth rate above 2%, but that number fell steadily from 17 to just two, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, in this decade. Through 2020, all the major emerging economies are projected to have working age population growth rates below the 2% mark, including India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand.

In India, the working age population is expected to grow at an average rate of 1.5% over the next five years, which is below the average level associated with economic miracles. A world with fewer fast-growing populations has to expect fewer economic miracles. Even where the population is growing faster than 2%, including smaller economies like Kenya and Bangladesh, leaders cannot assume that population growth pays off automatically for the economy .

It pays off only if political leaders create the conditions necessary to attract investments and generate jobs.In the 1960s and 70s, high population growth in Africa, China and India led to famines, high unemployment, civil strife and fears of the “population bomb“.Rapid population growth is often a precondition for fast economic growth, but it never guarantees fast growth.

Since 1960, the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 to 2.5 worldwide, and even more sharply in emerging countries. In India, it dropped from 5.9 to 2.5. This decline was fuelled by rising affluence and education among women, many of whom decided to put off having children to pursue a career, and by aggressive population control policies.

China introduced its one-child policy in the late 1970s, and saw its fertility rate drop from 3.9 in 1978 to 1.5 today .That is well below the “replacement rate“ of 2.1­ the rate required to keep the population stable. Already nearly half the people on earth live in one of the 83 countries where the fertility rate is below the replacement rate.

In three of the top 20 emerging countries, Poland, Russia and China, the working-age population is not just growing more slowly , it is already contracting. In 2015, the working age population shrank in China for the first time since the UN began keeping records in 1950.

Population decline is thus high on the list of reasons, alongside rising debts that amount to nearly 300% of GDP and a massive investment binge, to doubt that China can sustain rapid GDP growth.Beijing knows this, which is why it rescinded the one-child policy last year.

It is, however, too late to defuse the depopulation bomb. Countries with shrinking populations rarely post strong economic growth. Looking at nearly 200 countries since 1960, there are 698 cases in which data for both population growth and GDP growth is available for a full decade. Of these cases, there were 38 in which the working-age population was shrinking, and the average annual GDP growth rate for these countries was just 1.5%.

In only three minor cases ­ Portugal, Belarus and Georgia ­ did the country manage to sustain GDP growth of 6% or more. This suggests that demographics will all but rule out rapid economic growth not only in China, but in many major countries.

(The writer, Ruchir Joshi, is head of Emerging Markets, Morgan Stanley Investment Management. This article has been adapted from the latest issue of Foreign Affairs and published in The Times of India, Kolkata edition on 2016-03-14)

OOH for jeweller in Mumbai

"I did not choose my husband. But I can choose my jewellery."
A very effective 'Out Of Home' (OOH) advertising copy with high 'top of the mind' recall for a jeweller in Mumbai.

What if Mirinda condom is launched?

What if Mirinda launches 'condoms' with the same tagline it uses for its orange flavoured carbonated soft drinks.
It might be a super-hit!
The target audience for both the product categories can easily relate to the brand positioning tagline, viz. 'Zor Ka Jhatka Dhire Se Lage'.
‪#‎BrandPositioning‬ ‪#‎MarketingLessons‬ ‪#‎MarketingGyanology‬

What if Pepsodent condom is launched?

If HUL decides to launch Pepsodent condom with the same tagline as its toothpaste, the brand communication cost can be drastically reduced.
The target audience has been bombarded with the positioning tagline, viz. Raat Bhar Dishum Dishum ever since his/ her childhood & will easily relate to the words for the new product category.
Only the context stands changed wink emoticon
‪#‎BrandPositioning‬ ‪#‎MarketingLessons‬ ‪#‎MarketingGyanology‬

Duracell escalator advertisement in Romania

A great advertisement for Duracell in Romania.

Amul launches flavoured cheese spreads to attract youths

Amul launched nine great flavours of cheese spreads with full page print advertisements in leading national dailies in February 2015.
India's urban youth population is clearly the target audience.

DNA drives data storage

We've seen storage media go from 8-inch floppy discs capable of storing 80 kilobytes of data to portable drives that now hold terabytes. But despite the vast increases in storage capacity over the last quarter century, the next step in the evolution of data management could be powered by a completely different ­ and yet familiar medium ­ DNA.
Just 1 gram of DNA is theoretically capable of holding 455 exabytes ­ enough for all the data held by Google, Facebook and every other major tech company, with room to spare. It's also durable. DNA has been extracted and sequenced from 700,000-year-old horse bones, according to Jacob Aron at the New Scientist.
Swiss scientists have been experimenting with DNA storage and find that data in DNA form could last 2000 years if kept at a temperature of around 10 °C. Of course, it's still on the expensive side, but that should change if the tech takes off.

For more: newscientist.com




Creating a winning Content Marketing Webinar Series Strategy

Webinars are a top B2B marketing tactic. To meet or exceed your demand generation goals, rather than doing a "1-off" webinar, you should consider the benefits for creating an ongoing multi-webinar thought leadership series.

A webinar series is a perfect vehicle to “breathe life” into existing content such as case studies, white papers and research reports, etc. When done right, it will amplify your brand, thought leadership and most importantly, help drive fresh new sales opportunities to your door. ​

Deliver great 'customer experience' for positive WOM

Deliver great customer experience for positive 'word of mouth'.

What if Dr.FixIt condom is launched?

If a condom is launched with the brand name 'Dr.Fixit', success is assured because of the apt positioning tagline.
The target audience can ill-afford to forget the hard-hitting phrase!

#MarketingLessons #MarketingGyanology

What if Coca-Cola condom is launched?

If Coca-Cola were to launch a condom, they could have easily communicated with their target audience using their existing 'brand positioning' tagline, 'Open Happiness'.

Surprisingly, the positioning tagline(s) of numerous brands can be interchanged almost seamlessly with condom as a product category.

#MarketingLessons #MarketingGyanology #MarketingPundit #LaughAloud

The Blue and White gimmick

Mamata Banerjee's battle with Left has resemblance of the Pepsi-Coke marketing wars.
While the Left (Who claims that they are 'The Real thing') painted the town red when in power, Mamata's party (TMC believes they are 'The right Choice') has gone ahead and painted Kolkata's footpaths, dividers and fences all Blue and White.
However, unlike the Cola wars where the consumer benefited because of lower price, here one only sees money getting frittered away in these wasteful self indulging gimmicks!

What if Amaron condom is launched?

'Brand Positioning' is my favourite topic in marketing.
Surprisingly, the positioning tagline(s) of numerous brands can be interchanged with one particular category of product, almost seamlessly. The product is 'condom'.
‪#LaughAloud‬ but read on to enhance your knowledge in marketing.
Here's the 1st of the series. How about an Amaron condom?

‪#‎MarketingLessons‬ ‪#‎MarketingGyanology‬

Omnichannel marketing strategy

Omnichannel marketing strategy.

Good Ad Bad Ad: Nike Football OOH - BMW crushed

Good Ad Bad Ad: Nike Football OOH - BMW crushed: Nike Football - BMW crushed.

Verdict: Expensive but outstanding OOH promotion.

'Only Coffee' chain serves filter coffee on National & State Highways in Tamilnadu

Thanks to the efforts of G. Samyraj, you can now drink hot filter coffee when you are driving on the National and State Highways in Tamil Nadu.

G. Samyraj and his fellow-villagers identified spots on the National and State highways in Tamil Nadu, sat there from six in the morning to eight at night to count how many cars passed that way per hour. If the math worked, they opened a coffee outlet there. Not just any coffee, but Kumbakonam Degree Coffee!

G. Samyraj who came up with this initiative belongs to Zameen Devarkulam, a village 10 kilometres away from Kovilpatti. He worked for nearly a decade in the Middle East before returning to his village, where, he was pained to see fellow farmers struggling and in debt. He decided to do something about it. Eight months ago he set up his first Only Coffee outlet at Mangalamedu. Today, he has eleven of them up and running, and manned by people from his village.

The outlets are called ‘Naidu Coffee Inn' and as 'Only Coffee’. A dark blue board announces their presence. “We picked quiet spots where people in cars could stop and enjoy a refreshing cup. I am a coffee priyan and I love the idea of others like me enjoying a satisfying coffee, in the middle or end of a long drive. Kumbakonam Degree Coffee is a trade mark of Tamil Nadu and we serve that. It is like coffee made at home.” Frothy, piping hot, filter-coffee is served in gleaming pithalai davara tumblers. There is sugar-free substitutes for diabetics. “Sabari Malai pilgrims, and so on, are served in disposable cups,” explains Samyraj. The beans are procured from Chikamagalur and roasted at Virudhunagar from where they are delivered to the outlets where they are ground. Now Samyraj plans to go a step further to standardise flavours. He is working on setting up a unit where the decoction is centrally made. “So that the coffee will taste the same in all our outlets.” The R& D is underway and Samyraj hopes to get this plan off its feet soon.

What’s coffee without an accompanying snack? “Vegetarian bajji bonda will also be available. And we plan to centralise the grocery supplies as well. Only the vegetables will be sourced locally,” says Samyraj. The outlet proudly declares that it uses sunflower oil for frying and that the oil is not recycled. There is also a telephone number on teh board in case anyone has complaints. “We want feedback. That way we are alert about the service we provide. And we have communication with our customers.”

Samyraj insists Only Coffee stands for transparency and quality. Along with his business partners R. Anandhan and A. Kalpana, he is now on the lookout for franchisees. “We will set up the outlet for them and even have two of our trained staff to be with them for a month to show them how the café is run. We will supply the coffee powder and the grocery items too. Investors need approximately two lakh rupees that includes a deposit.”

Samyraj hopes that not too long in the future there will be at least a hundred Only Coffee outlets in Tamil Nadu. Till that time, he says, he and his team members will ensure that hot filter coffee priced at Rs 15 is served to the customers with a smile.

For details email
akvfarms@gmail.com or call 9940627322/ 9443911011

Content source: The Hindu.

Selling mountain to mangroves for tourism in Bengal

Disgusting bill-board of West Bengal Tourism seen at Gariahat Road (South of Ballygunge Phari, opposite ITI) in Kolkata on 15th September 2014.

Winning an election and trying to sell a state for tourism are very different ball games.

Can the sarcastic smile of an ubiquitous politician staring at you from the billboard be motivation enough to choose Bengal (with terrible road-infrastructure) as your travel destination over other professionally marketed states.

Left me wondering who's the target audience for such #RottenMarketing initiatives.

A pictorial representation of the visual communication from the billboard is here for your perusal. Decide for yourself if the 'out of home' advertisement from West Bengal Tourism appeals to you or your friends with similar demographics & pychographics?

#MarketingPundit #MarketingGyanology

What sets you apart from the competition

What sets you apart from the competition?

#MarketingGyanology

Haldiram's 'namkeen' packed on 1st Sept 2014, available on 31st August 2014

Haldiram's (Nagpur) Namkeen packet of 17 gm supposedly packed on 2014-09-01. However, it was available in the market on 2014-08-31.
Consume the next pack at your own risk.
Such acts and omissions deserve no pardon from we customers who are the king or queen.
P.S: The glaring fact has been brought to light by none other than popular TV actress Dolly Bindra.

Send Secret Promotions With Instagram Direct Messaging

Send Secret Promotions With Instagram Direct Messaging

Instagram is a one-feature wonder, which I love; but many marketers have a hard time figuring out how to use the platform to make money, grow their subscribers or build their email list.

Instagram’s new direct messaging feature can help.

Send private messages to share select offers to your Instagram followers.

Within the direct messaging feature, you can send a private message with up to 5 pictures to up to 15 people at a time. We’ve been using direct messages for follower appreciation, secret promotions, even text responders to build email lists.

Because VERY few marketers have caught on to this tactic, the conversion rates are incredibly high!

Socially Tag People Who Are Involved With Your Content

Socially Tag People Who Are Involved With Your Content

If you want to build stronger connections with high-value contacts, take your activity across more than one social network.

This will increase your visibility by giving you a stronger presence in several social networks.

First, know whom you’re targeting. Generally, I look to connect with bloggers and content creators, but it’s even better if you’re networking with thought leaders and prospects.

This tactic works best if you keep sharing your content in the days, weeks and months after it was published.
Next, make sure you know where those people are active. There’s no value in mentioning someone on a network they pay no attention to.

Watch the timing to take advantage of all opportunities. After you share content in one place, wait to see if it’s re-shared or generates comments. Then cross over to another network to thank and mention people who engaged.

The key is to watch for actions on one network and respond to them on another network. Here are some examples:

They share your content on Twitter and you thank them with an invitation or message on LinkedIn.
They like your post on Facebook and you thank them next time you share the post on Twitter.
They comment on your post and you thank all of them with a mention when you share it on Google+.

The combinations are endless and two things can happen when you employ this tactic:

1. The people you target may share it again on the second network. This is likely because they like it.
2. They may follow you on the second network. Now, you connect to high-value contacts on several networks, not just one.

Smart marketers think cross-channel constantly. They’re diversified, yet targeted. They don’t put all their eggs in one social network, but they’re very focused on specific opportunities, connections and potential collaborators.

Spot the 'stars' vis-a-vis 'laggards/ deadwoods"

Inspired, rather disgusted on seeing a bill-board at Rashbehari Avenue - SP Mukherjee Road crossing in front of Kalighat Metro Station in Kolkata on 28th August 2014.
The outdoor advertisement by West Bengal Tourism was trying to sell Digha as a destination point.

Don't let valuable data go waste

Consumers are constantly creating and consuming extraordinary amounts of data. Hundreds of millions of mobile phones weave infinite tapestries of data, in real time. Each purchase, search, status update, and check-in layers the web world with more of it.
How we respond to this opportunity defines not only our success or failure but also our future.

BJP Brand Marketing Campaign for Lok Sabha Elections 2014

BJP Brand Marketing Campaign for Lok Sabha Elections 2014.

Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar (as the message) in a non-responding ATM Customer Advice slip of State Bank of India in Kanpur.


#LokSabhaElections2014 #HowIndiaTravels #MarketingPundit

First seven seconds of an advertisement

First seven seconds of an advertisement are the most crucial in capturing a consumer’s attention and can boost a consumer’s opinion of the brand by 15 % to 20 %

#MarketingPundit

Job openings for twins as 'Front Office Executives' - Weird Advertisement

Quite a weird advertisement for job openings as 'Front Office Executives' for an Automobile dealership in Pune, India.

Why do you think they want only twins (M/M, F/F, M/F) to apply for the job. What could be the logic?

I am baffled!

#HowIndiaTravels

Friends are like BRAs - Nonsense!!

We may not be too far off from a TV commercial where the lyrics of the jingle of a lingerie brand could be:
"Har Ek Friend BRA Hota Hai"!

The advt copy of the print advertisement sucks ..... I wonder what has been the kind of response.

Incidentally, a few years ago, a bill-board (on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, opposite the NUJS Kolkata Campus) of the same brand was frequently mutilated by a group of elderly morning-walkers seeking small doses of wayward pleasure.

Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors!!!

Never underestimate your Clients' Complaint, no matter how funny it mightseem! This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer Care Executive.

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors: 'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy. It is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies. Every night, after dinner, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.

Every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get anyother kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the icecream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem.

Toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla thanany other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in freezers right inside the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka ...... time was now the problem - not the vanilla icecream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock".

It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the gentleman got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking. Don't just say it is " IMPOSSIBLE" without putting a sincere effort ....What really matters is right attitude and logical perception.

Moral of the story "Try to Fix the Bug instead of making it as a Known Issue".

Delivering 'personalized experiences'

Delivering 'personalized experiences' is a challenge for all marketers.

The Telegraph celebrating Father's Day 2014

A very catchy advertisement by The Telegraph (Kolkata edition) on Father's Day 2014.
Very relevant!

Made in China - Mastering Fakes

Made in China.
To sell, the Chinese guys are going over-board to fake anything and everything.

#LaughAloud
#HowWorldTravels

Business card of Durex India

Business card of Durex India with a high 'top of the mind' brand recall.
Kudos!!

Organic quinoa, local greens and sustainable seafood are leading the takeout line

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill shot up 12% after the company reported a nearly 26% spurt in its quarterly profit. For the fast-food industry , this was fresh evidence that the world of Big Macs and Doritos Locos Tacos has room for a menu with healthier-than-average food and higher-than-average prices.
But it came as no surprise to a new generation of smaller fast-food chains that are coming up fast behind Chipotle and its peers, and taking its “food with integrity“ mantra even further.

A handful of rapidly growing regional chains around the US offer enticements like grass-fed beef, organic produce, sustainable seafood and menus that change with the season. Most promise local ingredients; some are exclusively vegetarian or even vegan.

And despite the higher costs and prices, all are thriving and planning national expansions, some directed by alumni of fine dining or of fast-food giants like McDonald's. After decades of debate about the empty calories and environmental impact of fast food, the farm-to-table notions that have revolutionized higher-end American restaurants have finally found a lucrative spot in the takeout line.
The result? Farm to counter.

“This is not a passing fad,“ said B. Hudson Riehle, the research director for the National Restaurant Association. Locally grown food and sustainability were the top two customer priorities reported this year in the group's annual poll of American chefs.

These ambitious new chains make up only a sliver of the nation's $683 billion restaurant industry. But all are within its swiftest growing segment, “fast-casual“, whose offerings are marketed as a rung or two higher than those of Burger King or Taco Bell: fewer frozen and highly processed ingredients, more-comfortable seats, and (sometimes) healthier food.

Fast food is served with a halo of virtue nearly everywhere these days: Subway introduced wholesome-sounding “nine-grain“ bread in 2009, and McDonald's made itself the country's largest buyer of apples when it started selling apple slices in 2004.

But in order to be green enough for today's customers, and to justify charging $12 for salad, the newer chains promise an even more exalted level of nourishment.

By adapting to the seasons, by eliminating genetically modified ingredients and mainly by serving “real“ food. That means no protein powder shakes, turkey wraps and egg-white omelets, the staples of standard “healthy“ chains.

“Good food doesn't have to be expensive,“ Adam Eskin, founder, Dig Inn, said. “It's not calorically defined. It's not about being vegan or vegetarian. It's just knowing where your food comes from and exactly what's in it.“ Some of these terms are little more than buzzwords and branding: “Naturally raised“ is not a category recognized by the Agriculture Department, and it is debatable whether consumers should be concerned about the amount of growth hormone in a tablespoon of cheese.

LYFE Kitchen has a mission to go with its name (an acronym for Love Your Food Everyday). Each of its 10 restaurants has a wall of fluffy herbs growing in the dining room, uses china instead of plastic and keeps all entrees under 600 calories. “We want to be the place where the vegan can come for the portobello burger with almondmilk cheese, with the Neanderthal friend who just wants a really good cheeseburger,“ Mike Donahue , co-founder, LYFE Kitchen, said. “We want to beat the vegetarian veto, where one person gets to decide where the whole group is going to have lunch.“

For SweetGreen, which has 27 outlets, the target customer for their seasonal, local salads is an active, in-the-know type of any age -conscious achiever. SweetGreen also uses apps to predict customers' behavior. “We've been bringing in a lot more men since we added these,“ Nicolas Jammet, co-founder, said, pointing to steaming canisters of organic wild rice, quinoa and farro.

(Courtesy: NYT News Service)

Poll of Facebook users by GfK Roper released by Associated Press/CNBC

A poll of Facebook users by GfK Roper was released by Associated Press/CNBC on 15th May 2012.
The survey, found that 83 percent of Facebookers surveyed said they “hardly ever” or “never” click on Facebook ads, and more than half of them feel that Facebook is a "passing fad."
Part of that distrust, stemmed from concerns about privacy and the site's handling of user-created content, with three in five users surveyed saying they have little or no faith that the company will protect their data. Only 13 percent trust Facebook to guard their data; only 12 percent would feel safe making purchases through the site.

World's #1 brand in 2010

I've read people talking of Ipad, Wikileaks, Blackberry, etc as the world's #1 brand in 2010.
However, I'd say that the #1 brand in 2010 is Hero Honda from India.
They have become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and had the guts to cut off their marriage of twentyfive odd years with Honda (Japan) in December 2010. The Hero Honda motorcycle brand will cruise all alone on world highways from now onwards. Cheers!

Richard Branson knows that 'Virgin' can benefit from any sort of publicity - even if he jokes on himself

Any brand owner looking to learn a lesson about getting noticed should just follow Richard Branson.
The head of Virgin has a penchant for publicity that keeps his name popping up in the press with uncanny regularity.
His latest gambit is silly but it's still making headlines. Branson bet AirAsia owner Tony Fernandes that his Virgin Racing Formula One team would finish higher than Fernandes' Lotus Racing team. The loser of the bet agreed that he would dress up as a woman flight attendant for the winner's airline.
Well, Sir Richard lost, and Tony is playing out the bet for all it's worth.
Fernandes told the UK's Daily Mail that "it's time for Richard to start preparing himself for some hard work and the likely pain of high heels." He added, "Many years ago Richard Branson employed me so I'm looking forward to him sucking up to me as a stewardess!"
Branson, who's redefining internal brand engagement by publicly answering questions from Virgin employees to honor his 60th birthday, will experience what his female in-flight crew experience by serving as a flight attendant for a rival airline brand — down to dressing the part.
Travelers can buy a ticket to be served by Sir Richard on an upcoming AirAsia flight on its Kuala Lumpur/London route. Seats will be made available through an online charity auction that will raise money for a charity of Branson's choice.The 60-year old Branson has already received his uniform and flight attendant badge from Fernandes.
Keith Collantine, editor of Formula 1 website F1 Fanatic, commented to the Daily Mail about the publicity stunt, "Richard Branson has always been a master of marketing. He knows that this brand can only benefit from this sort of publicity — even if the joke's on him."
A veteran at embarrassing himself through marketing stunts in order to promote his many brands, his self-mocking ways only endear him to the public — Virgin Airlines just topped a ranking of brands based on emotions and passion expressed by consumers on social media.

Lalit Modi (of IPL fame) would have done a better job in organising & marketing the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010

If Lalit Modi would have been given the overall charge of the Delhi Commonwealth Games in October 2010, Delhi would have been very very different. Possibly every member of the Indian contingent would have had some brand backing him/ her.
Surplus from brand sponsorship would have been sufficient for India to think of bidding for the 2020 Olympics. Moreover, a major part of the infrastructure would have been ready in Aug-Sept 2010 itself.
With Modi around, our athletes from remote corners of India would have been marketed well & would have had access to good track & field practising venues nearer to their homes.
Its all about marketing and marketing and marketing....
Corporates can't be expected to spend money to fill the coffers of the organising committee headed by one Suresh Kalmadi!!

The payouts by most 'mystery shopping' companies in India are pathetic. Haven't they heard of the saying "throw peanuts & one gets monkeys"!!

To do the 'mystery shopping' one needs to sit in front of a computer with internet for 30 - 45 minutes to get a hang of the brief. The mystery shopper then spends Rs.200 or more on transportation to & from the location/ outlet, another Rs.100 - 200 to buy basic food or the cheapest merchandise as proof of the visit to the outlet. The shopper also has to click a couple of pics of the shopping venue and rush back home or office to upload the findings online which takes between 45 - 90 mins within 8 - 12 hrs of completion of the mystery shopping. The travelling time, in addition, varies a lot.
The shopper is generally reimbursed by the agencies a sum of Rs.250 - 400 for the entire task after a gap of 2 - 3 months.
The brands/ clients pay the agencies a substantial amount and what the shopper & the brands get in return are stale peanuts.

How To Tackle Negative Comments While Managing Community In Social Media.

(Excerpt from discussions initiated by Pervara Kapadia, Independent Social Media Marketing Consultant in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)

Check out http://pervarakapadiaatmoney.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-tackle-negative-comments-while.html

Trishma Singh wrote:
The only idea that comes to my mind when I first read this discussion topic is to follow the "get well soon therapy" approach of the Hindi movie: Lage Raho Munnabhai ... gift a bouquet of roses to the person who cant understand your viewpoint.
One cannot get everyone to accept and conform to one's viewpoint.
The negative comments can also be tackled by supporting and winning the influence of those community-members who are posting/ commenting in the affirmative.

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
Absolutely Trishma, I would agree with you that the rest of the people in the group would also understand and be able to counter the negative comments. On a lighter note yes send them a bouquet.

Deep Banerjee wrote:
@Trishma: I love the way you expressed it all and the suggested solution. You deserve a hug ....:))
However, some people have a very nasty habit of posting derogatory negative comments. These creeps flare up even more when they realize that their back is to the wall and have been reduced to a minority vis-a-vis community-members who are posting/ commenting in the affirmative.

What should be the first priority of a marketing head - brand syntax, business results or customer insights? What is your formula for a nascent brand?

t(Excerpt from discussions initiated by Rahul Sinha, Marketing Head, Birla Sun Life in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
Customer Insights should be the first priority of a marketing head.
For a nascent brand, the market segmentation has to be flawless. Accordingly, the brand's positioning stance has to be worked out.

Rahul Sinha wrote:
Another view - If you do not know your Brand Syntax (what is at the heart of your brand), customer insight will be a map but you would lack the purpose. Hence the first goal should be to determine the brand syntax. Positioning will require both. So a chicken and egg? Which first?

Deep Banerjee wrote:
Before I typed out my comment, I pondered a lot over the superior choice - brand syntax or customer insights. I chose the later. I felt that a product/ brand should be conceptualized with the customer in mind. His demographic, behavioral and psychographic profile assessment is extremely important. That will dictate the brand communication language, methodologies, expenses, etc. All said, I too agree that it’s a chicken and egg story.

Alok Sud wrote:
I agree, knowing your customer is first and foremost priority. Once you know the Target Audience you are chasing, the nest logical step would be creating a value proposition to attract the customers, the brand syntax would then need to be worked out and thereafter the rest of the stuff follows. Without a clear understanding of the customer nothing would work, however great the brand syntax / architecture.

"You Just Can't Beat a Bajaj". Read why …..

(Excerpt from discussions initiated by Deep Banerjee, Marketing Support Consultant, Marketingpundit.com in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
Once upon a time in India there was Bajaj Scooters which had a gala time because of the licensing raj and the proximity of its head honcho with the top political bosses in New Delhi between the 1960s to mid 1980s. However, the entire category of scooters from the Bajaj stable comprising of Bajaj Chetak, Bajaj Super and Priya scooters have been laid to rest years ago.
The erstwhile head of Bajaj Auto, seen often in his crispy outfit (who has left the reins of the co. to his son) did nothing to stop the black-marketing of scooters by his own dealers. In 1972, a Vespa150 scooter (then a product of Bajaj Auto) priced at Rs.3600 was openly sold by the authorised dealer at Rs.5500 and that too after a waiting period of 7 - 10 years.
I still remember the sons of our family priest near Asansol taking up black-marketing of Bajaj scooters as full time profession. As a child in middle school in the early 1970s, I would hear them with awe, their tale of booking 20 odd scooters @ Rs.500 each, a hell of a lot of money those days.
There was a time when Bajaj Scooters were sold with no tyres or tubes encircling the spare wheel at the back inspite of the customer having paid the full price. It was a case of take it or leave it.
In 1983-84, he scuttled the success of a truly good product LML Vespa100 by openly advertising and lobbying that unlike a Bajaj150 scooter, a Vespa100 can't carry 3 or more persons up a steep road. Were scooters ever meant to carry more than 2 persons?
Vespa PL170 failed because of the same negative publicity. I wonder if the Advertising Standards Council of India existed then.
Innumerable pillion riders of Bajaj150 scooters have had fatal falls and have got run over by other vehicles after the metal bracket supporting the spare wheel which also used to double up as a back rest for pillion riders snapped abruptly. Nobody dared to report or challenge a Bajaj then.
If it were today, the great businessman of yesteryears would have tasted the true wrath of customers.
Wasn't their tagline something like, 'You just can't beat a Bajaj'!!

Rahul Sinha wrote:
Well written, Deep. Another perspective though - Bajaj made the common man aspiration go beyond the ATLAS cycle. And Bajaj served the common customer well. The waiting period of 7-10 years crashed to a few months for those who shelled out the Rs.1200 premium (I remember this for Chetak, the most popular model). Wasn't this the market opportunity then? Either you took it or someone else will. It is despicable as per our current standards but a done thing those days.

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
Hi Deep good food for thought. Its all about monopoly. It’s similar to the times when Doordarshan was in existence. There would not be much entertainment and almost half the matter was censored. Post the satellite TVs coming in, Doordarshan soon changed its entire system to be around 24hrs 7 days a week. I remember the time when Pears Soap commercial was censored by Doordarshan as a kid was taking bath, wonder today what they have to say.
Similarly, Bajaj was also the [shall I say] victim of monopoly.

Micromax, Karbonn, Maxx, etc have grown. Has Nokia become complacent? Is IPL the next brand building platform (these were key sponsors)?

(Excerpt from discussions initiated by Prasun Banerjee, Marketing Director, Haier India in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
There are 2 distinct questions that you have posed.
I'd say that Nokia indeed had become very complacent and possibly had started believing that they will have a never ending gala time on the Indian turf. They have literally been caught off-guard. It would be interesting to watch how with the kind of deep pockets and technical capability Nokia has, how they plan to fight back.
Cricket is religion for the Indian mass. So IPL is a good vehicle to reach out to the mass to build brand awareness. Brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Maxx, etc have spent hundreds of crores collectively in IPL. They reaped the initial results. Now they must concentrate on customer engagement and post sales service for goodwill and sustainable results. A discerning customer & a brand fanatic like me will never get carried away just because their names were splashed all around during the IPL.

Rahul Sinha wrote:
Micromax, Karbonn and Maxx underline the same point - if you become complacent, competition will nibble your market share - their phones are good, they have the same features and they are priced unbelievably low. Initially the perception would be of low quality (how can they make this at this price?) and later the perception will be I have been cheated by my current players (how can I be caught like this?). Both the cases, the customer will try to avoid these new players (either to stay away from bad products or to stay aligned with his world). If these three however ensure they have good product and they offer good after sale service, WOM will take over in 12-18 months and then it will be all the way down for the competition.
IPL could become the next place for brands to make an entry but then all big stages will be similar. (a new serial, in program at SRGMP, etc.). IPL does give the ideal platform for someone to step in and talk about their new offers.

Has any of the Healthcare Service Providers in India embraced Social Media Marketing, whatever may its objective be?

Has any of the Healthcare Service Providers in India embraced Social Media Marketing, whatever may its objective be? (Excerpt from discussions initiated by Deep Banerjee, Marketing Support Consultant, Marketingpundit.com in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)
Please cite vivid examples and share additional insights which we may not be aware of. If you have chanced upon such examples on the internet, let's have a summary of the SMM efforts along with a hyperlink of the same, if possible.

Deep Banerjee wrote:
The same message was posted by me on my Facebook wall inviting more feedbacks. My young friend Trishma Singh, a fresh b-school passout and presently a trainee with Novartis India Ltd sent me the following link http://www.facebook.com/letsdecongest?v=wall&ref=ts . The link takes you to an wonderful Social Media Marketing initiative 'Lets Decongest' by Otrivin, an OTC brand from Novartis India. Although Otrivin is not a Healthcare Service Provider, nevertheless its a great initiative by a brand from the healthcare category and it deserves an applause.

India Leads the Way With New Social Media

India Leads the Way With New Social Media (Excerpt from discussions initiated by Pervara Kapadia, Independent Social Media Marketing Consultant in the ‘Children & Youth Marketing’ group on Linkedin.com)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
Yes. However, social media etiquette is pathetically lacking in most of our Bollywood celebrities. A Priyanka Chopra is there on Twitter more to promote herself than anything else. With a only movie or event round the corner she Tweets like mad promoting herself as the girl next door.
The very next moment she shuts herself off. It would be prudent on my part to comment that she has all the traits of most people from the 'bimarU' states.

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
Hi Deep, Yes I would agree with you on this. When it comes to most of the celebrities it ends up being 'Fans and Followers'. Literally. most of the time there is no response etc. The reason i can say this is whenever you ask people who are out of our field they seem to have a view that Social Media is something that you 'follow' your celebrities. Most of them answer this way.
And naturally in India still Social Media is seen as a 'broadcasting - a one way communication system'. There are brands [FMCG et al] trying to get into a dialogue mode but still the whole scenario is 'broadcasting mode'. Now with little or no knowledge what can we expect others to do.
India is still to reach the basic understanding of 'engagement' - which involves 'listening' and not just doing a monologue and rantings of the mind. While I say this there is no doubt a couple of brands trying - one needs skill sets - just opening a profile page and starting to type does not make sense. A celebrity perhaps gets away because of other reasons due to appeal to other senses. But a soap brand could not get away with this and hence has to concentrate and try harder.

Writing correct English is absolutely important for success in Social Media Marketing

Writing correct English is absolutely important for success in Social Media Marketing. What do you'll have to say? (Excerpt from discussions initiated by Deep Banerjee, Marketing Support Consultant, Marketingpundit.com in the ‘Marketing Pundit’ group on Linkedin.com)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
I just read a nice and relevant article http://bit.ly/dw3ixV

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
Hi Deep thanks for the article. It brought me to the fact that our English went hey wire with the commencement of emails. In fact proper letter drafting and addressing people correctly went for a toss. Add to this with SMS we are totally out of proper English. And what’s more we have a new language 'what say d'huh!'. 'tks for d article' and so on...

Avijit Roy wrote:
The genesis of social media marketing lies on correct English otherwise you won't feel like reading it as it looses its sanctity.

Deep Banerjee wrote:
Dear Pervara & Avijit, just after the CBSE/ ISC results were announced in mid 2010, I paid a customary visit to a couple of schools in Kolkata. During the course of my discussion with a lady principal & some teachers in a school, I asked them about the secret of 90%+ average marks being scored by most students.
Somebody said that the instructions for awarding marks are very clearly laid out. For example: Macbeth by William Shakespeare is passe. Even if the child writes 'Sex'+'Pear', full marks need to be awarded. This is not a story that I've fabricated.
We are backdated or outdated. What say?

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
A very good question Deep. Infact the recent talk about changing the percentage system to grade system itself had gone through so much of criticism. Remember? So yes we perhaps are a scared people who do not wish to move ahead too fast.
But if you see we as a country are very re-active not proactive. We are not having the forecast though trust me we do not lack it if we encourage it. See for instance any calamity it will be attended to. But we will never be prepared for it.

Trishma Singh wrote:
Flawless communication is the soul of Marketing. English, no doubt, is extremely important when it comes to social-media marketing. What we fail to understand here is that clear, concise and fluid communication in our local languages is slowly emerging as the next big tool in this arena ... what with google, facebook being offered in hindi, tamil, etc.

Pervara Kapadia wrote:
So true Trishma. In fact we need to follow the brand that we are working on. The Brand Personality is critical. While correct English is a prerogative, talking with the consumer in the brand language is also important. Add to this as you have rightly shared consumer language and attitude / behavior is also crucial to know how you should converse.

Rahul Sinha wrote:
I believe that the most important attribute in any marketing is telling the recipient what you wish to say - simply and emphatically. If this can be done by even a sign/ symbol or mnemonic, it is fine. Many a times, a smiley can do the job. After all you are able to follow road directions across the world thru road signs and you can understand most of the traffic signs innately. Simplicity is needed rather than right grammatical knowledge.

Recall a few brands which flourished because of the licensing raj and gagging of free economy & innovation in India between 1960s and mid 80s

Can you'll recall a few brands which flourished, thanks to the licensing raj and gagging of free economy & innovation in India. Never mind if such brands still exist or have been laid to rest. (Excerpt from the question posted by Deep Banerjee, Marketing Support Consultant, Marketingpundit.com on his Facebook.com wall)

Deep Banerjee wrote:
“I can think of one such brand as SERVO from Indian Oil whose only USP was lower pricing & dadagiri on the distribution sphere.”

Pradeep Narasimha wrote:
“Another set of Brands are HMT Watches and HMT Tractors both of these brands were leaders in their respective categories. Unfortunately both of them were put to rest by TItan and Mahindra Tractors and TAFE Tractors.”

Deep Banerjee wrote:
“HMT watches is a perfect example. There used to be a long waiting period to buy a HMT watch ..... now gone into the history pages.”

Sandip Samanta wrote:
"Thums Up ?? This brand got so big that Coca Cola had to retain the brand when they returned. Indian Oil's (Servo) initial success was due to its monopolistic stranglehold on the market."

Pradeep Narasimha:
"Allwyn Watches, Allwyn Refregirators, Allwyn Nissan LCV Trucks and Amdhra Pradesh Scooters Limited - Vespa PL 170, etc etc ..."

Rahul Sinha wrote:
"Yup. Two of my favorites in this list are: Doordarshan and Weston TV. Also Premier Padmini, Ambassador, Bush TV, Murphy Radio, Hind Cycles, Avon Cycles, Lambretta, Godrej Refrigerators, Keltron, Bata, Beetel, Department of Telecom, Indian Airlines, Park Avenues, etc. Most of them crashed as duties got cut, new players entered, prices moved as per market (often down) and new technologies entered India. Thank Manmohan Singh for that."

Suggest brands which could ultimately withstand the licensing raj in India between 1960s to mid 80s which had crippled all innovations & creativity

I can think of a few age old (25 yrs+) Indian & MNC brands which are still very strong, viz. Boroline (steadily losing out), Horlicks, Bournvita, Complan, Castrol CRB for diesel engines, Maggi, IITs, IIMs, Castrol GTX (youngest of the lot) ......
Can you'll suggest some more which could withstand the licensing raj which had crippled all innovations, creativity ... (Excerpt from the question posted by Deep Banerjee, Independent Marketing Support Consultant, Marketingpundit on his Facebook.com wall)

Partho Samaddar wrote:
“Eagle brand bear, got crippled.
Old Monk rum, still going strong.
Cherry Blossom shoe polish going strong.”

Trishma Singh wrote:
“Maruti: the Indian family car and all its latest avatars..”

Prasenjit Ghatak wrote:
“Britannia (ting ting ti ting), Thums Up, VIP luggage (even Aristrocrat), Camlin, Vicco Turmeric, Bajaj, Bata Auto, Tata, Nirodh condoms, Shilpa Bindi, and mig8 be even Benimadhab Sil's Full/Half Panjika (they sell over 1.5 million copies), Burimaa's Chocolate Bomb & Cadbury Eclairs & 5 Star & the list continues.”

Deep Banerjee wrote:
“‎@Trishma: I suppose you meant Maruti800 which in the next 2-3 yrs will be totally phased out.
@Prasenjit: The panjika (almanac) is a very good example. Which is Burima's Chocolate Bomb??
‎@Partho: Cherry Blossom from Reckitt is still the market leader. During our college days there used to be a very non-veg joke relating Cherry Blossom with a famous lady model of yesteryears.”

Prasenjit Ghatak wrote:
“Burimaa Chocolate Bombs are still found in the market during Pujas, but sold under scanner (due to the ban on Sound Crackers). You must be remembering Dulal Chocolate Bomb which was there but the brand faded out after a massive fire in their factory in Dankuni more than a decade ago.
Dulal’er Taal Mishri is a brand that’s still available in West Bengal.”

Manidip Banerjee wrote:
“I like the indegenous ones like Burima and Dulal. What about Xerox, Godrej, Hero Cyles, Lux (celebrated 50 years), Bata, Kwality!! What about food brands like Aanadi, Golebari, Aminia, Peter Cat.”

Doctors & Social Networking

A doctor's success can't be measured only by his work duration or by how much he earns. He's not running a factory to churn out prescriptions & medicines.
Good and ethical docs need to be social enough & should be an affable person. Patients & their relatives should be comfortable with him. He should be a good listener and should be able to communicate freely with his target group (TG). His soothing words & gesture should be able to take the misery & panic out of every single patient partially. After all the doc's very existence, opulence, social recognition is all because of his TG.
Isn't this all an element/ characteristic of good Social Networking..what say???
Social Networking activity is in no way an advertising .... be rest assured.

Forget ROI .... extent of 'engagement' is most important in Social Media Marketing

The success of SMM is absolutely dependant on the extent of Customer/ Consumer Engagement.
For example, the kind of discussions that take place on this Linkedin Group by Windchimes "Indian Social Media Landscape" is ample proof of its success. The group has generated a lot of interest across the globe. Don't worry about quantitative & qualitative aspects.
Kaya Skin Clinic is still not generating profits. Nevertheless, the brand has successfully managed to connect very well with its target audience through the Social Media. With this kind of buzz all around, profits is just a matter of time. Their spend on Social Media, I'm sure is just a very small fraction of its overall marketing budget.
Another company doing great on the Social Media is Mahindra&Mahindra for their beast named Scorpio and also for Xylo and Bolero. Check them out on Facebook. They have redefined what customer engagement means.
In July - August2009, I promoted a Bengali feature film "Angshumaner Chhobi" thro' the Social Media, a first ever serious effort in Bengali cinema. In a short span of 4 - 5 weeks, there were over 25,000 interactions. The film got nominated for the prestigious Anandalok Puroshkar & went on to win awards at various film festivals.
What do readers have to say?

Managing India

The diktat from Indian corporates to their executivesis is very clear: "40 and nowhere to go". If u don't believe me, check out Linkedin.com. However, in India at 40+, the scion of a political family is still a 'baba' or a 'baby' and supposedly the 'most eligible bachelor'.
No wonders, lakhs & lakhs of 'murkho' chamchas feel that Didi at 50+ (... See Moresurrounded by her cohorts of stern faced pehlwans) is their only saviour.
Die hard bangalis still prefer to lobby around 'Dada' who according to them is the best thing that has ever happened to world cricket.
When will all these chamchas perish? They are not worth a drop of tear!!!

Panic or Marketing Innovation

Municipal elections in Kolkata on 30th May 2010. To attract eyeballs CPI(M) candidates have FIFA World Cup schedules printed on 2/3 space of their election banners. How will you define it - innovation or panic?

A Motivation to my own Agri Retailing efforts in the Hinterland

I am an individual, who eat, dream, sleep marketing by selling marketing ideas.
Yesterday, in a LinkedIn friend's blog I read about an agri-retailing venture, JKS Agrimall located 70 kilometers away from Hyderabad , in a small town called Jangaon. The mall is housed in a 3,000-sq ft space, and houses various brands neatly categorised with displays and price charts. It’s a mall — at least the name says so. The ruse of passing off a supermarket space as ‘a mall’ is quite common in big cities. But one can forgive the owners simply because of the genesis of JKS Agrimall. ‘JKS’ stands for ‘Jantha’ , ‘Kishore’ and ‘Santosh’ , three friends who have come together to start this supermarket retailing pesticides, fertilisers, seeds, sprayers and cement.
Articles of such kinds are a big motivator. The three friends had no B-School graduates to help on positioning, segmentation, etc. Yet 70 kms away from Hyderabad in the drylands of western AP, they have clocked Rs.25 crores of sales from one single unit. With a bit of hand-holding and professional marketing support, this venture can put the biggies to shame.
At present in the interiors of Midnapore in West Bengal, in a place called Hoomgarh near Garbeta, I am trying to hand-hold a 'perfect gentleman' to profitably run a 360* logistics hub primarily in fruits and vegetables trading. The project involves sourcing/ procurement of apples, oranges, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots, flowers, eggs, etc; stocking them in an only one of its kind in India multi-commodity cold storage of 5000 tonnes capacity divided into 16 chambers; branding and packing them and ultimately selling them in Kolkata and other parts of South Bengal and Orissa.
I should be able to keep readers abreast of future developments through the columns of this blog and also through the pages of my own website http://www.marketingpundit.com/.
Any innovative ideas from readers or brands/ companies looking forward to rural penetration are welcome.

Shakeout inevitable in the 'mall market'

There's bound to be a shakeout in the 'mall mania' in the very near future.

In 2001 - 2002, I used to stay in Veera Desai Road during my routine monthly visits to Mumbai. I haven't visited the area after that ... however, I find it difficult to believe from friends residing in Andheri (West) that there are more than 5 malls and multiplexes in that short stretch of road. The residents must be having a terrible time with so much of pressure on the already crumbling infrastructure.

Most of the mall owners have no clues about 'marketing'. Their concept of marketing is limited to publishing full page newspaper advertisements a couple of times while the construction is halfway through. Its a case of 'me too' jumping onto the bandwagon. These structures need to be positioned as 'destination points' with sufficient, I repeat sufficient open space to laze around. Once the young and not too young lovers and couples get tired of walking all around the place or whispering sweet nothings, they will go for the pizzas, burgers, chais, mochas, icecreams.... That's what I term as market creation.

However, do most of the mall owners care if the tenants earn their money or not? And when business of the tenants start falling, the mall owners waste no time in making statements of self pity - 'market conditions are bad'. Mall owners and tenants should continuously strive to project themselves as happening ones.

Readers in Mumbai, B'lore, Hyd, NCR who have had the fortune of visiting City Centre in Salt Lake and the misfortune of visiting Emami Landmark on Lord Sinha Road, both in Kolkata will know what I wanted to convey.

Castrol taught me the values of 'influencing the influencer'

I myself was with Castrol from mid 1985 - early 1992, fresh out of B-School. I had the great fortune of interacting closely with the great managers of yesteryears Dr.B.K.Barman, Mr.Dilip Kumar Guha, Mr.Ramesh Chandra Mahajan. They taught me hands-on about Castrol's (then, Indrol Lubricants and Specialities Ltd) strategy of influencing the influencer.
Irrespective of our hierarchy in the organisation, we had to visit a large number of roadside mechanics every week, spend time with them chatting about the virtues of multigrade oils, additives, et al and offcourse in their language. I loved getting under the gigantic trucks to help mechanics open the oil sump and collecting lube samples in special bottles for further testing in the labs at Paharpur, Wadala, Patalganga.
I have carefully preserved a couple of oil stained shirts as mementos along with the large number of certificates and trophies and ties. I personally love automobiles, the work in Castrol was a passion for me. I have heard and seen people joining Castrol from office automation companies and leaving in a few months since the system of 'influencing the influencer' was too much for their system.
There were no computers those days, yet the entire strategy was so systems driven. At one point of time in Orissa, I was commanding a 35%+ market share in the commercial vehicles lubricating oil segments. And that too, when the brands were priced 40% higher than the PSU oil company products. And mind it ... we were not even allowed to sell from the PSU petrol pumps.
During the past 8 years, as an Independent Marketing Consultant working closely with Youth and Children as target audiences and as the person behind the ideation and implementation of the only one of their kinds in Child and Youth Marketing activities India, viz. Inter School and College PowerPoint Presentation Contest (Powerplay and IT Kriya contests respectively), I have managed to convey the message and virtues of influencing the influencer to brands like LG Electronics - IT Divn, Nerolac Paints, Osram, TVS Motor Co., Eveready, Power FM, Rasna, General Mills and many more.

Bring back the Maruti Suzuki Esteem

The 1300 cc, three-box Esteem car from Maruti Suzuki was one fantastic machine. It was very low on maintenance costs and extremely good in fuel economy. Driving comfort was just too good. The pride of ownership was indeed an ego booster .... no wonders the little girl after the joyride in daddy's new Esteem (as shown in the TVC) proudly announces that its "My Daddy's Biiiig Car". In the Indian motor-rallying circuits, Esteem still calls the shots.
Why did the company want to bring in a 'forced obsolescence' with effect from early January 2008? In the product life cycle, the car was still in its growth stage, there was nothing to worry.
It is being heard that a three-box Swift is in the offing. However, I am sure that the new product being planned could have been squeezed in between the Esteem VXI and SX4. The media in no uncertain terms have spelt out that the introductory batches of SX4 is very poor in fuel economy.
Maruti Suzuki had earlier made the mistake of withdrawing the jelly-bean shaped Zen from the market for about a year in 2005 and replaced it with Zen Estilo. Estilo has just not been able to create an impact with customers. With competition hotting up in the small car segment, Maruti Suzuki needs to become far more market savvy in the higher segment and that's where Esteem figured.
Past and present 'Esteem owners', 'Esteem lovers' and marketing gurus, can we have a discussion on the topic please?
(Article by: Deep Banerjee dated 14th February 2008)