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