Let a thousand flowers bloom

We are living in trying times – trying to get a job; trying to save our jobs; trying to save our monies; trying to keep our heads above waters. While certainly not a recession, the economy is certainly on slow-go mode. It’s more a recession of sentiments.

Truth be told, and I don’t wish to sound Johnny raincloud, this damn slowdown is sure to stay with us for another year or so, if not more.

Many talk about the difficulties of the middle class, the working class, the poor, the aspiring home owners and more. One segment that is facing the wrath of this slowdown, without getting the attention they deserve, is the MBA student who is about to graduate and is searching for a job in these troubled times. The unlucky one searching for a needle in the haystack; the sorry one searching for a buffalo in the middle of the night.

After investing two years and a few lakhs of their parent’s hard-earned money, after going through the grind of a grueling curriculum, after being on the verge of graduation and holding a million dreams of a prosperous job and a peaceful life thereafter, he/she is now left stranded with no jobs around, fewer takers and facing an uncertain future.

While my heart goes out for the about-to-graduate MBA, I also feel a bit disappointed in the attitude of many of them and feel let down by their dreams or rather the lack of it!

Whenever I get an opportunity I have been exhorting MBA students to be entrepreneurs and start a business venture of their own. I mean, why would anyone want to be an employee and take orders when they can be the boss and dictate terms?

I know many feel it easier said than done. Believe me; it’s as easy as it can be done. A fact borne out by the success achieved by many; so many, it doesn’t warrant a second mention here.

So, why would MBA’s gather cold feet about starting a business venture? Here are a few comments that I hear and here’s also what I tell them.

“I need to get some experience first. Let me work for some time and then think of starting a business of my own.”

I wonder if they would say the same to their would-be wife or husband. Will they pick their spouse based on prior experience and past track record? I mean, marriage and business involve the same level of risk. Why need experience in one when you don’t need or wish to have one for the other!

“Why the hurry to start something now? I am young; I have age on my side and can always start something later.”

One might have age on their side when they graduate. But will they have the fire when they reach, say 30? I doubt it. The young blood is risk-taking; the youth has fire in the belly; the inexperienced has the temerity to question established norms. As one reaches 30, one starts losing the exuberance of youth, get married, build a family and then it is all sunset for entrepreneurial dreams. How many of our successful first generation businessmen have started their businesses in their 30’s? A handful, if at all there are any. C.K. Ranganathan, promoter of Cavinkare, while talking to me about his entrepreneurial dreams said the secret of his success was the fact that he didn’t work for anyone and started his business right after college. He said he would have never been able to do what he had done if he hadn’t done it when he was 23. This is from someone who started from scratch and now runs a Rs.500 crore empire.

“I want to learn the business first. Let me learn it first working for others and then start something on my own.”

If you need to learn only by working for others, why would you do MBA in the first place? Isn’t MBA about teaching you the various facets of business and expose you to the art of running one? I wouldn’t agree MBA is just theoretical and one still needs practical knowledge. Then why have case studies in MBA curriculum? Why do projects? Why have summer internships? Why solve real-time corporate problems in the class? MBA is as practical as it is theoretical. Agreed, there is no substitute to experience. But I fail to understand why that experience can’t be gathered starting a venture of one’s own.

“I don’t have money now to start a business.”

Will they have money five years from now? Or ten years from now? And even if they do, they would be so comforted by that money, it would douse any entrepreneurial ambition that might be still left in their genes. Moreover, money has become the least of the obstacles for starting a business venture today. Banks are awash with money waiting for a good project. Angel investors are sitting with their office doors open for the next bright business idea. Venture capitalists are fishing around for that next gen entrepreneur. If you have the idea they have the money. And ready to help you run the business too.

My dear friend, we live in a great country that’s filled with the brightest minds the world has seen. We are at the threshold of golden opportunities. If only we could shed our inhibitions, gather our guts and fire our imagination, the world would become too small to accommodate our dreams and ambitions.

Venturing on your own has its risks, agreed. But it has its rewards too. The risks have, for a long time, been bloated and exaggerated by those who didn’t want to jump into entrepreneurship themselves. That shouldn’t stop you from realizing your dreams.

You can. And when you do, you would be big enough to employ tens if not hundreds or thousands of our fellow countrymen. Imagine what it can do to you; your family; this country. We can all reach the end of the proverbial rainbow – with money in our pockets, peace in our hearts, and prosperity in the nation. This country needs hundreds of C.K. Ranganathans. Take the plunge.

Let a thousand flowers bloom!

Readers’ choice: MM Awards 2

Regulars could recall the three categories that I threw open for readers’ votes for the Marketing Maayaajaalam Awards 2009: Brand Success of the Year, Marketer of the year and Expected Success in 2009. I didn’t venture my opinion but requested reader participation. While a few had cast their votes for the first two categories, there was hardly any entry for the third.

I could guess two reasons for the non-voting. One, no one wants to put themselves on the line and commit to something. Two, none of you feel there is any brand that could taste success in 2009, given the economic slowdown, falling sentiments etc. Either way, here is my choice for the three awards.

Brand Success of the Year 2008

Without a shade of doubt, 2008’s biggest brand success was the Indian Premier League (IPL). Be it the money it raked in, the interest it generated, the TV viewership it garnered or the advertising it attracted, IPL was the star brand of 2008.

Marketer of the Year 2008

Many had voted for Obama. Agreed Obama won. But guys, Bush had to lose. And that’s why Obama won. In other words, Bush had one of the worst ratings for a President in American history and had to lose. Any Pyjama or Uppuma would have won over Bush. That’s why I don’t consider Obama the Marketer of the year, though he did run a splendid campaign.

Because of the spectacular success of IPL, I grudgingly have to give the Marketer of the Year award to Lalit Modi, the guy who ran the whole show; the accusations of corruption, arrogance etc., levied against him notwithstanding. I believe there is truth in many of the accusations leveled against him but the success he had achieved, coupled with the fact that there weren’t any other brand that had tasted half as much success as IPL, forces me to be objective and hand over the award to him.

Expected Success in 2009

This was a toughie. Not because there were too many brands vying for attention but because there is hardly any in the horizon which remotely even suggest victory at the turnstiles. I am afraid this award is going to go blank this year. That doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be any brand success in 2009. It just means the initial signs of all those brands launched in 2008 aren’t encouraging. (IPL being an exception).

Here is three cheers to all the winners; the ones of my choice and the ones of yours. Even if they don’t match mine!

The Marketing Maayaajaalam Awards 2

It’s that time of the year; the time when everyone looks forward to the New Year (this post being a trifle late notwithstanding). Yet, this blog looks at the year gone by and attempts to identify the winners, the losers and the jokers!

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the Marketing Maayaajaalam Awards. And the winners are…

Best TV ad of the year: Airtel

I am talking about the ad where the dad ties his wrist along with his son’s to convince his young son he wouldn’t get lost and the son doing the same later in life with an Airtel connection. Rarely do we see such powerful insights in Indian advertising. And even rarely do we see an ad that is strong on strategy while being cute on creative. Without a shade of doubt, the ad of the year!

Brand failure of the year: Kuselan

Kuselan was touted the next big Rajini film after the stupendously successful Sivaji. That Rajini kept insisting that his role in the film was less than 25% got drowned by the hype and hoopla around the film. And when fans turned up in theatres expecting to see Rajini all the way, they were in for a depressing disappointment. Expectedly the crowds gave the film a big thumps down. The distributors ended up with massive losses, the theatre owners with empty seats and Rajini with eggs on his face (sadly though, he didn’t deserve it since he had always maintained he was doing only a guest role in the film). Kuselan, this year’s biggest brand failure of the year.

The brand joke of the year: Airtel Digital TV

You have to hand it to Airtel for making us laugh. I don’t know about you. But I certainly enjoyed Airtel’s sense of humour. Airtel Digital TV! What an idea. What a joke!

Expected failure in 2009: Vivel

What is Vivel? Soap? Yes. What kind of soap? Everything. It has an ayurvedic variant; a natural variant; even a couple of cosmetic variants. Is that all? No, Vivel is a shampoo too. Serious? Yeah, Vivel has a range of shampoos. That’s it? No, Vivel has a premium variant too. Vivel de Wills. Great. What next? Vivel Filter cigarettes? Ladies and gentlemen, expect Vivel to flop without a trace in 2009.

To make this year’s awards a trifle more interactive, I am offering three categories to you to make your choice: ‘Brand Success of the Year’, ‘Marketer of the Year’ and ‘Expected Success in 2009’. Send in your choice, along with your reasons for selection, and let me see if it matches mine!

Remember, this blog is extremely democratic. It always welcomes differing views, countering viewpoints and varied opinions. Yet, the final decision would be unmistakably mine!

Filler 2

A Quality Engineer married an average girl.

After two tough years of life with her, he got angry and sent a note to his father-in-law stating: "YOUR PRODUCT IS NOT MEETING MY REQUIREMENTS".

The smart father-in-law sent an equally curt reply: "WARRANTY EXPIRED. MANUFACTURER NOT RESPONSIBLE."

Filler

A lady about 8 months pregnant got on a bus.

She noticed the man opposite her was smiling at her. She immediately moved to another seat. This time the smile turned into a grin, so she moved again. The man seemed more amused. When on the fourth move, she had the man arrested.

The case came up in court. The judge asked the man what he had to say for himself. The man replied, 'Well your Honor, it was like this: When the lady got on the bus, I couldn't help but notice her condition. She sat under a sweets sign that said, 'The Double Mint Twins are coming' and I grinned.

Then she moved and sat under a sign that said, ' Logan 's Liniment will reduce the swelling', and I had to smile.

Then she placed herself under a deodorant sign that said, 'William's Big Stick Did the Trick,' and I could hardly contain myself.

But, your Honor, when she moved the fourth time and sat under a sign that said, 'Goodyear Rubber could have prevented this accident'... I just lost it.'

The judge had just one thing to say: CASE DISMISSED!

The terrorists won. We lost. What next?

I had wanted to pen my thoughts about the terror strike in Mumbai, the day it occurred. Yet I resisted the urge since I knew my emotions would cloud my judgment (though it’s not necessarily wrong) and my post would just be filled with raging anger, bubbling patriotism and all that.

I wanted to let the dust settle down, literally and figuratively, to help look at the whole incident, or accident if you wish to call it, more objectively. I know everyone and his uncle, newspapers and magazines have all condemned the dastardly act, praised our country’s resilience and have even christened the killing of the terrorists as our great victory over terror.

Did we win?

Run the whole thing down quickly, will you. Terrorists land on the shores of Mumbai, past the patrolling navy and beyond the city police cordon; shoot down people in prime spots – railway stations, pubs, residential complexes and city roads; storm the most iconic hotels of the city; kill more than 200 innocent people, Americans and Jews included; hold out the army, commandos and the police for more than 60 hours; get international media exposure; cause an estimated Rs.50,000 crores of damage both to property and public image; help put the country back on the defensive; force Government to act tough on Pakistan giving them a valid excuse to pull 100,000 lakh of their troops from the Afghan border and move them towards India thus effectively letting Afghanistan-based Muslim militants to move into Pakistan at will. And do all this by losing just 10 of their men (or rather animals).

The terrorists won. We lost. Period.

The terrorists wanted to achieve all of this and they succeeded. They might have planned for more and we might have stopped them. But whatever they wanted, they got. In short, they won; we lost.

Before you get angry and scream at me for blasphemy and downright lack of patriotism, hear me out first. I am seething with anger too. Unlike most of you, I am angry not just because we lost our people, property and our pride. I am also angry because we lost. And I am angry because we needn’t have had to.

This country’s military intelligence had let us down. Or if they had to be believed, the Navy and defense had let us down. Or if they had to be believed, the Central Government had let us down. And if they had to be believed the State machinery had let us down. And all of them together had let hundreds of innocent people down.

But for all of them, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan would have gone home to be with his parents. A certain Mr. Bannerjee would have gone back to Kolkatta to get married by the end of this month. Mr. Kapoor would have gone back to his office to continue being the Chairman of Yes Bank. And hundreds of others would have gone back home to their loved ones.

Alas, those were not to be.

All of us, you, me, the politicians, the media….the entire system let this great country of ours down. Down the bloody drain.

The politicians made the intelligence apparatus serve their ends and means; the Government, including the Prime Minister’s office, sat on intelligence reports about a possible strike. The media, by covering the entire gruesome attack live, were giving out valuable military information and strike possibilities to the terrorists inside the hotels helping them dodge the commandos. The whole system had gotten immune to all these killings and has learnt to restrict them to mere statistics. And you and me are guilty too for not questioning all this and letting this country rot all these years.

We lost the Mumbai battle. But we haven’t lost the war yet. There is yet hope. Don’t expect the politicians to change; don’t hope for the Government to wake up. But we can. You and me!

The seething rage among us had scared the politicians and the Government apparatus. They have gone into a hiding. Did you notice there was hardly a politician who appeared on TV or were available for an interview. They are shit scared to face the public.

If only we could sustain this pressure. If only we stand united and show our clenched fists and controlled anger at them, the Government and the politicians would act. They would know they don’t stand a chance against us. Remember, we have a powerful weapon among our midst. A nuclear Armageddon. It’s called our ‘vote’. It’s called our ‘voice’. If only we could unleash its power, it will reverberate far more than was heard in the corridors of the Taj.

And once we clean up the mess in our country, we can go hunting. Across the border, if it has to be, and search for all those militants and catch them by the scruff of their necks and first thank them for helping us unite together and then ‘kill those bastards’ one by one!

We owe it to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and a hundred others.

The dosa brand and the visa scam

Saravana Bhavan never fails to dish out hot stuff - within their restaurants; and outside it as well. Chennai’s arguably finest restaurant is in the news again.

But before I get to the news, a few words about Saravana Bhavan if you know precious little about this brand.

Saravana Bhavan was started in 1971 by a guy named Rajagopalan, who started his life as a shop boy and dreamed of making it big in the restaurant business. And boy did be make it big or what!

His hotel – the first choice in south Indian dishes and the last word in taste - became synonymous with impeccable quality and exceptional service. It never advertised in the mass media. The brand’s customers did. Saravana’s customers could never stop talking about its variety of its menu; the delicacy of its offerings; the precision of its servings; and the warmth of its service.

Saravana Bhavan became a case study in more ways than one. Not just in marketing classes and discussions. But in HR practices too. Each one of its employees handpicked from interior Tamil Nadu is trained, ruthlessly, it looks so. Yet treated with utmost care. I understand every employee is insured; given a month’s pay along with leave to visit their loved ones in their hometowns.

No wonder the brand has grown. To more than 50 odd branches – not just here in India, but also all across the globe. If my memory serves me right, Saravana Bhavan has more than a dozen branches in the U.S. alone. And continues to grow at a rate that could put a South American inflation to shame!

Did I say Saravana Bhavan is in the news? Correction; the brand isn’t. Its owners were earlier, and now are again. First, a few years back, its owner Rajagopalan, was caught in a murder case. He was accused of killing a husband whose wife, he had wanted to remarry. That Rajagopalan had a few wives already serving him is another matter altogether. The man who prides in serving 14-idlies, 7-uthampams wanted the same variety in his personal life as well, I presume! The case is still in court and expected to be that way for another decade. His arrest and the case itself continues to hog the headlines to this day.

One of his two sons, Sivakumar, is now in the news. Reason: he had allegedly fabricated visas for four of his employees to take them to the U.S. and get them employed in Saravana Bhavan restaurants there. The press, that constantly craves for brutal rapes, gruesome murders and downright deceptions, has found this news a godsend. It has been hogging the news like it’s the end of the world.

Now, did Sivakumar try to cheat? Is he involved in human trafficking? Did his dad encroach on another’s marital property? Did he murder? Who knows? Who cares? Who bothers?

Not me, definitely.

I don’t care if he and his dad did or didn’t. I don’t give much to their sexual habits or secretive ways. But what interests me is its impact or, more precisely the lack of it, on the brand, Saravana Bhavan.

If you had expected all this negative publicity to impact the brand, you are right in expecting so. Most brands get too intertwined with their founders or the management. Case in point: Kingfisher and Vijay Mallya, Cavinkare and C.K. Ranganathan, Infosys and Narayanamurthy etc., But no, not Saravana Bhavan. The brand continues to march ahead as if nothing happened around it.

I was in two of its outlets these last few days. And it has been business as usual. In fact, I suspect business has even picked up. I had to wait before I could get a chair to park myself to feast on Saravana’s sumptuous offerings. And this was in one of its outlets that had a seating capacity of close to 150! And I was there around 4 P.M. – hardly lunch time you would call.

Is there a lesson for us marketers here? You bet there is. Especially to family-led businesses. The lesson is this: Distance yourself from your brand. Nurture your brand and help it grow and all that. But don’t put your face to the brand. Let the brand have a face of its own. Remember, it could be your baby, but it is public property. It will outlive you; it has to. It grows independently of you. And grows faster. Spreads wider. Lives longer.

Even if you treat yourself on others’ wives or transport human parcels.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaairtel

“Did you see the latest Airtel ad?”

“The mobile one?”

“No, the other one?”

“You mean landline?”

“No, damn it, the new Airtel ad.”

“Broadband?”

“You moron, I meant the new Airtel ad. The one for DTH.”

“WHAT? You mean, Airtel and Direct-to-Home?”

Surprise, surprise, Airtel – the brand that moved into mobiles, lengthened itself into landline and broadened into broadband is now extending itself into DTH. On second thoughts, after seeing many of its first and second cousins extending their brands, maybe it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Not, definitely me! Brand extensions have ceased to irritate me any longer. Not that I am buying into it any more. Just that I have given up all hopes of finding a half-decent, common-sense filled MBA who realizes the folly of extensions and avoids it like a plague.

Somebody please tell me, the logic of this Airtel extension.

They are all in telecommunications, you say? Just because there is one ministry that handles all the four products – mobile, landline, broadband and DTH – is no reason the consumer sees it together.

Telecommunications has ceased to mean anything specific any more. When consumers want a phone that they can carry, they simply call it a ‘mobile’. When the want a phone at home, they call it a ‘telephone’. When they want to get connected to the Internet they call it ‘broadband’. And when they want to watch TV with their own dish, they simply call it ‘DTH’. Four separate categories; four separate needs. Hence, a need for four separate brands.

Agreed Airtel has been a stupendous success so far. But that is because their competitors are all extended. Indicom, Reliance, BSNL et al are all three – landline, mobile and broadband. Vodaphone is only into mobiles, but they have been changing their names and colours more often than their brand managers have been changing their shirts. And hence, it trails Airtel.

But, so is the DTH segment. All the key brands are extended. Tatasky is an extension – a brand that means salt at one end and automobiles on the other. Sun Direct is an extension – worse, Sun means South Indian channel. No wonder, it sells, if at all it does, only in the South. DD Direct is an extension – and a Government brand, killing whatever chances it might have had of survival.

That leaves Dish TV - the only specialist brand in the DTH segment. Agreed, it has been promoted by Zee, but it doesn’t have it in its brand name. I expect Dish to lead the pack for sometime to come.

Dish TV is already a leader. And by extending themselves, its competitors have ensured Dish stays that way - a leader, for some time to come!

Customer Service, my foot!

Landmark, Lifestyle, Globus, Westside, Odyssey…What’s common among all these stores – other than them being big and famous?

None offer adequate place for customers to sit and take a break while shopping. This, in spite of, of many researchers who have time and again proved that ‘customers who stay more in a store end up buying more too’. Yet, finding a chair in most outlets is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. Agreed, some of these stores have a café tucked in somewhere. But that’s the point. Do you expect a customer to walk all the way to a third floor to sit in a café to rest – a café that’s probably slightly bigger than a bathroom – assuming the stores have one in the first place!

Even worse, stores like Landmark and Odyssey have removed their café from their stores. Reason: the cafes weren’t making money. Thank God these stores haven’t yet removed their parking lots since they don’t make money as well!

If the customer is the king, as is fashionable for us marketers to claim, then why the hell don’t we offer him a throne in our kingdom?

Don’t think the customers don’t care or not taking note of this. Here’s the voice of a hassled customer who finally found a store that offers him a seat to sit and place to rest. It’s a department store chain in the U.S. of A that is well known for customer service – Nordstrom. A chain that specializes in shoes, apparels and the works and is rated (arguably) the best in customer service. The customer in question is a Seattle writer named J. Glenn Evans, who penned this poem, entitled “A Place to Rest” after a visit to Nordstrom.

I followed my wife
while she shopped
From store to store
from window to window
she went

I the great man
was spent
The flesh pulled on my bones
like two bags of cement

At last I found a chair
Heaven only
could have been more fair

Of all the stores
Nordstrom was best
They gave a husband
a place to rest!

Proof yet again: Extensions don’t work!

For all of you out there, who still believe in the credibility of brand extensions and the validity of its success in the marketplace, here is some more bad news.

Proof, once more, that Brand Extensions work like communism – perfect to preach, pathetic to practice. Put simply, it’s a concept that never works – it never did; it never will!

Two blogs ago I had written about the ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding’. The next blog post – i.e., the recent one - was not a continuation, in the strict sense of the word, and was titled ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’. Two blogs; yet two completely different topics and content, though the second one looks like an extension of the first.

Note, if you have not already done so, the similarity of the titles. And therein lies the problem – not to me, but to quite a few, who mailed me or called me asking me why I have not yet updated my blog.

Do you realize the problem, their problem that is? They have not seen the second post. But why? Simple. They read my blog ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding’. Subsequently every time they logged back, what did they find? ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of …’ which made them believe they had read it already.

But they hadn’t. They just assumed it was the same as the one they had read earlier. The recent post’s title sounded similar to the previous one and hence ended up confusing them. Just like how brand extension confuses in the marketplace.

One more proof, if I could add in a quirky way, that Brand Extensions don’t work!

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

There are times when Brand Extensions seem to work. Not in the field of marketing though. But when writing marketing books!

The head of the anti-extension brigade - Ries and Trout – wrote a book ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’ which was subsequently extended by Ries and his daughter 20 years later as ’The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding’.

If you had enjoyed my previous post – the extended brand ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding’ – you would probably like the original – the mother brand, if you will – ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’.

Enjoy the extension. Extend the enjoyment!

The Law of Leadership: It’s better to be first than it is to be better. Close Up came first; stays foremost in the tooth gel category, even after some 35-odd years in the running!

The Law of the Category: If you cannot be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in. Having failed to enter the fairness cream category first, Emami carved a new category out of it to be the first – male fairness creams!

The Law of the Mind: It’s better to be first in the mind than to be the first in the marketplace. Krack was not the first cure for cracked heels though it certainly feels like that.

The Law of Perception: Marketing is a not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions. Samsung, I am told, makes high-end TV’s for Sony. Try telling that to those who think Sony makes the best TV’s in the world!

The Law of Focus: The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind. Dettol was ‘protection’. Dettol is ‘protection’. Dettol will be ‘protection’. And successful too!

The Law of Exclusivity: Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect’s mind. Contrary to what many people think, Mercedes and BMW don’t mean the same thing. Mercedes means prestige. BMW means ambition!

The Law of the Ladder: The strategy to use depends on which rung of the ladder you occupy. Clinic Plus is the leader and can try and attempt category expansion. Other brands shouldn’t.

The Law of Duality: In the long run, every market becomes a two-brand race. Proof: Pepsi Vs Coke.

The Law of the Opposite: If you’re shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader. Remember the famous Avis’ ‘We are No. 2; we try harder’ campaign.

The Law of Division: Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories. Children’s TV channels, for instance, are splintering into English channels (CN, Pogo), Tamil channels (Chutti TV) etc.,

The Law of Perspective: Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time. ATM’s when they were launched failed. But banks persisted and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Law of Line Extension: There is irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand. Sunsilk continues to be extended like Draupathi’s saree – without an iota of success, if I may add.

The Law of Sacrifice: You have to give up something in order to get something. Fair & Lovely is the queen of female fairness creams. Fair & Lovely Men’s Active is not going anywhere – except maybe back to Hindustan Unilever factory!

The Law of Attributes: For every attribute, there is an opposite effective attribute. If Coke is old, then Pepsi is young; If ‘The Hindu’s is ‘honest and old-fashioned’, Deccan Chronicle is ‘sleazy and modern’.

The Law of Candour: When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive. Dettol burns and unashamedly admits it. Consumers like that.

The Law of Singularity: In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.

The Law of Unpredictability: Unless you write your competitors’ plan, you can’t predict the future. Who could have possibly thought a few years ago that the largest manufacturer of cameras in the world would be………….Nokia! Yup, Nokia it is now.

The Law of Success: Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure.

The Law of Failure: Failure is to be expected and accepted.

The Law of Hype: The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press. Dove shampoo is projected as a runaway success in the marketing pages of business magazines. The story has a different ending in the retail shelves!

The Law of Acceleration: Successful programmes are not built on fads; they are built on trends. Suffola built a brand riding on ‘health’.

The Law of Resources: Without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground. Krd Rys, packed ready-to-eat curd rice, is languishing for want of funds, a receptive market notwithstanding.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

I just finished reading a fascinating book – The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Authored by Al Ries and Laura Ries.

Written in typical ‘Al Ries’ breezy style, the book summarizes the fundamentals of branding. 22 of them to be specific. Most of the laws given in the book are basic, rudimentary and so fundamental that you know most of them – and forgotten many of them too!

Which is why when you read all of them again - in one go, with lots of examples – you realize how much they make sense and how simple Branding actually is.

22 laws might sound a tad too many but the book is worth giving a try. Here are the 22 laws – with a brief description of each one of them. If it interests you enough, you would go and read the entire book. If not, you still would have got the gist of the book – thanks to this blog!

1. The Law of Expansion: The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope.

2. The Law of Contraction: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

3. The Law of Publicity: The birth of a brand is achieved with publicity, not advertising.

4. The Law of Advertising: Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy.

5. The Law of the Word: A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.

6. The Law of Credentials: The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

7. The Law of Quality: Quality is important, but brands are not built by quality alone.

8. The Law of the Category: A leading brand should promote the category, not the brand.

9. The Law of the Name: In the long run a brand is nothing more than a name.

10. The Law of Extensions: The easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on everything.

11. The Law of Fellowship: In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands.

12. The Law of the Generic: One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name.

13. The Law of the Company: Brands are brands. Companies are companies. There is a difference.

14. The Law of Sub-brands: What branding builds, sub-branding can destroy.

15. The Law of Siblings: There is a time and a place to launch a second brand.

16. The Law of Shape: A brand’s logotype should be designed to fit the eyes. Both eyes.

17. The Law of Colour: A brand should use a colour that is the opposite of its major competitor’s.

18. The Law of Borders: There are no barriers to global branding. A brand should know no borders.

19. The Law of Consistency: A brand is not built overnight. Success is measured in decades, not years.

20. The Law of Change: Brands can be changed, but only infrequently and only very carefully.

21. The Law of Morality: No brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best solution.

22. The Law of Singularity: The most important aspect of a brand is its single-mindedness.

The Quiz Fizz

So you took the Marketing Maayaajaalam Quiz after all. I am not going to ask your scores. Keep that to yourself. I intend answering some of the questions raised and comments shared by some of you, with the fond hope that they were raised and shared for that very reason!

Q.1: The ads were probably not intended for us. If the brand is not for us, why should we even recall it?

Fair point. I completely agree with the two who had raised this point. But tell me, if we, marketing students, can’t recall the brand names of the ads that were quizzed, are we to expect the layman – the advertising illiterate, if I can call them such, even if they are the target audience, to recall it with aplomb. Moreover, I had a fair array of categories from which I had picked the ads for the quiz. Don’t tell me you are not the target audience for a Good Day or a Mobile Store or a Citi Card or a Brylcreem! And most of you couldn’t recall these brands from their ads. Sad.

Q.2: It’s perhaps a myth that advertising boosts sales.

Yup, it is absolutely unfair to expect advertising, by itself, to drive sales. After all, advertising is one of the four ‘P’s on offer – all collectively aiming to make the consumer buy. It would be grossly unfair if we expect ‘advertising’ alone to do the job of garnering sales when the other three ‘P’s goof it up. All four ‘P’s need to work in harmony to galvanize a sale. But advertising is the biggest tool in the marketer’s arsenal to stop the consumer and make him/her look at the brand. If the advertising does the ‘attracting-the-consumer-bit’ but fails to add the brand name tag to the advertising, how is the consumer supposed to recall the brand name and buy it? Advertising better establish awareness and build knowledge about the brand in the consumer’s mind. That’s its job. Anything less, and the advertising ceases to be called such.

Q.3: An ad might be the first one to be recalled while its competitor might be the leader in the category.

This happens in many categories. To me, it’s the sign that there is a close competitor breathing down the leader’s neck. Pepsi ads are remembered while Coke is the leader (in most countries). It is a telltale sign that the leader’s leadership is being questioned and the follower’s brand is gaining momentum. A warning to the leader to get its act together. A motivator for the follower to keep pushing. If Vodaphone’s ad and brand recall are higher than Airtel, Bharti better start buckling up.

Q.4: There was nothing unique about the brand name for me to recall it.

That’s the whole point I am trying to drive through this quiz. Call it the fizz of this quiz! The ads in question do not have a property that they can claim to be their own. No clear identity. A lack of a clear and unique thought that envelops the ad and shouts the brand’s name. A singular thought called a ‘Selling Idea’. The one unique concept on which the brand’s advertising is built. A singular thought that ties up all streams of communication across multiple mediums. A powerful idea that unites all brand advertising for a reasonable period of time. A persuasive thought that easily identifies the brand name no matter what medium the communication is on. For Axe the idea is - ‘For young men who like to play the mating game and would like the girl to make the first move’. For Surf it’s ‘dirt is good’. Ideas that are relevant to the consumer; unique; differentiated; and persuasive. Importantly, a Selling Idea is something that represents the brand’s promise. And when the brands that have these unique Selling Ideas advertise, we don’t miss them. No matter how infrequently we see them or how feeble their media decibel levels are.

So…is there anything for us from all this. I think there is. I think the ads, many of the ones quizzed and most of them in general, are creatively cute but are fundamentally flawed. Most, if not all, are bereft of a ‘Selling Idea’. And hence your poor scores when quizzed! The fault lies not with you but with the brands.

Now, take this test. See, if you can identify the brands that the following ads are trying to promote.

1. The ad that starts with a jingle: ‘Washing powder ______’

2. The detergent ad that questions the whiteness of the dress of the person on the screen subsequently followed by a streak of white patch/light passing over the dress making it milky white.

3. The ad with lots of kids drinking something with a jingle in the background that has three interesting words in it: ‘Ipaang Gupaang Japaang’.

4. A dentist talking to a kid/kids about the virtues of strong teeth with some experiment – two shells being smashed to prove the strength of one of them or two chalks immersed in a liquid and one breaking easily when attempted and the other one staying strong.

Did you score better in this version of the quiz? If so, do you realize why you did better this time around?

The Marketing Maayaajaalam Quiz

What’s a good ad? Is it the one that we love to watch often? Is it the one that is cute, cool and contemporary? Or is it the one that we love to talk about?

If ‘advertising’ is use of mass media to persuade consumers, I urge you to take the Maayaajaalam Quiz. Given below are the creative situations of a few ads - from very popular and very visible advertising that are currently on air. Try and figure out the brands these ads are for?

1. A housewife returns home, searches for her husband and goes around the house calling out his name – Sanju Sanju.

2. In a crowded station, as the train is about to leave, a TTE suddenly gets into a mood and starts dancing as the entire crowd watches him completely amused.

3. A man runs naked through the street and picks up clothes and stuff from shop to shop.

4. Dhoni gets down from his car and starts walking through the village and is greeted by everyone – each with a peculiar hairstyle.

5. Actress Hemamalini and her daughters talk about how they get good, safe and clean drinking water at their home.

6. Bridegroom cries as she leaves her family along with her new husband, sits in her car and the bridegroom switches her shoulder and she starts smiling and he switches her on again and she starts crying again.

7. People from all walks of life – shoppers, people standing in a cue, people at a fast food outlet, all keep swaying from side to side.

8. A young couple checks their new house and the husband, keen on impressing his wife, tries to ask the electrician there some technical questions to prove his competence only to find the electrician answer even more technically and the husband sheepishly agrees and leaves the place along with his wife.

9. A father sees her daughter off after marriage, waves at her and seeing her cry, starts making faces at her and makes her smile.

You would have seen these ads, and seen it many a times - especially with their heavy exposure during the IPL matches. You probably even like a few of them. But the question is, were you able to get the brand name right!

To help you, here are the answers.

1. Max New York Life Insurance
2. Good Day
3. The Mobile Store
4. Brylcreem
5. Kent Water Purifiers
6. Crabtree taps
7. Citi Card
8. Standard Electricals
9. Gitanjali Maya

So, how much did you score? If you scored low, what does it mean?

I am back...

…from hibernation!

I could give a lot of excuses for this two-month lull: hectic traveling, heavy workload, heightened pressures and so on. And true too. Yet there’s another hidden reason – my laziness!

I promise I won’t hibernate hereafter. You would see frequent updates here. If frequency means ‘every fortnight’.

I am probably making it sound like there’s a whole bunch of guys out there who wish to see me here often. I got a few calls; received more than a couple of reminders and presume there are a few good souls who wish to see me write often. God bless you nice souls…and hope you have a satisfying sex life till 80!

This time, I wish to continue on the Hindu Vs TOI issue that we discussed a few blogs back.

Times of India, indeed, has been launched in Madras on April 14th. It's too early to comment on what TOI has done, how people perceive it etc., Let’s give it some time and see how things unfold.

But what’s interesting is not what TOI has done. But how The Hindu has reacted.

The venerable ‘Maha Vishnu of Mount Road’ has slashed its price downwards. The weekday paper is now Rs.2.50 – down from the previous Rs.3.25. The Sunday edition is just Rs.3 vis-à-vis the previous Rs.4.50. Note the TOI is Rs.2 on weekdays and Rs.3 on Sundays.

You call it panic? You call it smart pricing?

I call it competition. I call it capitalism. The consumer can now laugh all the way to the bank. Even if it is to deposit a mere 75 paise every day!

All this makes me wonder why these newspapers were charging so high all these days; fleecing us all this time. Recall how these newspapers jacked up their price at every given opportunity, with an apologetic sounding due-to-increase-in-newsprint-rates-we-are-forced-to-increase-our-price blah blah.

To put things in perspective, newsprint prices have just increased world over by around 35% in the last few weeks.

Whatever be it, if any of you needed any proof on what capitalism can do to you and me, here is it in black and white….and literally too! Competition benefits consumers!

Now just imagine the scenario if only we let foreign newspaper brands launch their editions here. Envisage the ensuing competition. Visualize the consequent price war. Picture the payback to us consumers. Who knows, there might even be a newspaper that would pay us money to read it.

Wishful thinking you laugh?

Today if a Virgin mobile could pay us 10 paise for every minute of incoming call, why not a newspaper tomorrow pay us Re.1 for reading it every morning?

Caution: Brains at work!

A smart marketing idea is always a big turn on! I intend bringing to you, on and off, some of the smart ideas that I come across or have heard from elsewhere. Who knows, these ideas could well help your brands, or at the least, would help you be aware of some smart brains at work.

Don’t forget to share the smart ones you come across as well.

Here are a few to begin this series….

Touch-it Paper in Ogden, Utah - Phone no. (801) 394-430 - makes cards on coloured, heat-sensitive paper. When you touch them, they change colour. People like to play with them, so they keep them, show them around, and remember them.

High Life, a brewpub in Philadelphia, U.S.A, offers a ‘Master of Beer Appreciation’ (MBA) Certificate. Customers have to have their transcripts stamped by sampling four new brews a month. Eventually customers get a degree and a T-shirt declaring their mastery. At last, a chance to get a meaningful degree, I suppose!

The Hawaii Prince Hotel greets new registrants with a hot, moist, steamed washcloth. It’s a great extra, and it gets them considerable word of mouth and publicity as well when they have speakers or writers who stay with them and then tell the story.

Champs-Elysees, a restaurant in Sausalito, faxes the day’s specials to customers in the morning, and then takes phone or fax orders for delivery or pickup latter. A real hot idea, pun intended!

Breaking News: The Hindu Vs Times of India

Being an avid reader of The Hindu all these years, for the first time I am going to guess its headlines! Or rather what they should or would be doing in response to TOI’s entry.

TOI is indeed wooing consumers with a reduced subscription fee and some freebies thrown in as well. They might end up picking a few trials.

But what matters is who would be the first buyers of TOI – the innovators, so to speak. I believe the initial TOI triallists would be largely from The Indian Express or Deccan Chronicle. These guys are flirts. They flirt with papers. They just flirted with DC in response to their reduced price offer, didn’t they? And here is another newspaper, a supposedly reputed one, offering a paper at around the very price they are paying for currently!

Oh yes, a few Hindu readers too would give TOI a try succumbing to the novelty factor, reduced price and freebies. But the question is, ‘will they stop buying The Hindu’? My take on that would be – NO. I think TOI would end up being the second paper in their households. Many of us picked up Deccan Chronicle induced by the ‘Rs.99 offer’. But that didn’t stop us from buying The Hindu. We read DC as the second paper and when we realized The Hindu was unquestionably better, we stopped renewing the DC subscription.

Which is why I don’t suppose The Hindu should panic and reduce its price; not right away at least. After all, it not only enjoys leadership. It also entertains loyalty.

So what does this mean to The Hindu?

For starters, it gives them time. Time to understand how the few initial triallists perceive TOI; its contents; its gossips and whatnot. If TOI brings in a few new things that consumers perceive The Hindu lacks, they can always add it without affecting the brand’s basic positioning and thrust. For instance, if TOI brings in breeziness and gossip that appeals to the young, The Hindu can always add it as a separate supplement. That way, ‘The Hindu’ could bridge the need gaps without breaching its basic positioning.

The Hindu should also counter TOI with an Integrated Marketing campaign of its own. Not just through advertising. But also through a concerted effort in schools with its Young World and Quest supplements; a well-orchestrated programme in A&S colleges, B-Schools, Engineering Institutions with its Education Plus; a direct marketing effort in the very neighbourhoods TOI is targeting; convening special events, activities around The Hindu’s core positioning. All this and more to counter TOI’s launch efforts and also extend its lead – both in market and in mind terms.

Does all this sound too simple? Would The Hindu be made vulnerable if doesn’t match TOI’s price, at least initially? Am I underestimating the power of TOI?

TOI is a leader all right. But that’s in a distant market. Far away from my mine and hence my mind. Here, The Hindu is the big shark. TOI is a new entrant – a small fry. You could say, “But look at what TOI did to Hindustan Times in New Delhi.” Remember, The Hindu is no Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times is a newspaper. But The Hindu is a habit! Didn’t they say old habits die hard!

And finally, from a broader strategic standpoint, The Hindu should jettison its conservative style and start becoming aggressive. To begin with, they need to now go and hit TOI where it hurts them most – Mumbai. The best way to counter competition is to hit them in their biggest market. That slows them down. I am not, for a minute, saying The Hindu, if launched, would eliminate TOI in Mumbai. But it would certainly stop TOI’s aggression in other markets if their own home turf were invaded.

Well, these are not what I expect The Hindu to do. Just a few things I would want them to do!

Will they do it? What would happen if they did? And what if they don't?

Time will tell. It’s interesting times ahead!

The Hindu Vs Times of India

Times of India is apparently readying itself to launch its Chennai edition. At Rs.2. These are unconfirmed reports though.

The average Madrasi has heard this many times before but this time it seems to be more real. TOI has been handing over advertising materials and soliciting subscriptions in select neighbourhoods in the city.

A few newsagents I spoke to confirmed TOI’s entry. One of them said something that is the subject matter of this blog: “Sir, The Hindu is planning to reduce its price and sell at Rs.2, to counter TOI”.

Assuming TOI would price itself at Rs.2, will the venerable Hindu reduce its price?

Why should it, some may ask. After all, it countered Deccan Chronicle’s Re.1 assault without reducing its price. And successfully too.

But this is TOI - with a respected pedigree and roaring circulation that has made it the leader among English newspapers in India.

Will ‘The Hindu’ be cheapening its image if it panicked and reduced its price?

Or, if it didn’t, and stay put at its current price, will its die-hard users ditch The Hindu. After all, The Hindu has been the reason why most Madrasis woke up! Will they wake up to TOI instead, to save a few bucks.

Will TOI pull the rug under ‘The Hindu’? Or would the grand old man of Mount Road send TOI packing back.

What do you think The Hindu should do?

The 2007 Marketing Maayaajaalam Awards

The 2007 Marketing Maayaajaalam awards for various categories in marketing and advertising have been announced. By me, of course!

…and the winners are…

Marketer of the Year

Maruthi Suzuki (For ramping up its image, literally, and growing into competing with the big boys viz., GM, Ford and Honda. First, from the small Alto to a redefined Zen growing into the superb Swift and now culminating into the sexy SX 4. The Maruthi men are back!)

Best Brand Launch of the Year

Sivaji (For spectacular hype, superlative build-up, smart distribution, slick presentation and superb packaging…. a tired and hackneyed story notwithstanding)

Best TV ad of the Year

The HDFC Prudential Campaign (If not for anything, at least for consistently building on a singular creative idea – Hold your head high up with pride)

Worst TV ad of the Year

Bingo (The guys at O&M who made those ads claim they attempted humour. In that case the Bingo ads win hands down in the ‘Sick Jokes’ category)

Best Baseline of the Year

Sivaji – The Boss (For capturing the essence of the film and its hero in two words. That the baseline proved yet again who the evergreen boss of commercial success in the Indian film industry is, is another matter)

Expected Success in 2008

Krd Rys (With increasing nuclear families, working wives and growing preference for healthy food, a smart idea from Hatsun Agro Foods)

Expected Failure in 2008

Dettol Herbal (Can Dettol and its inimitable hospital smell ever be herbal? Who are the geniuses in Reckitt Benckiser kidding?

I don’t expect you to agree with this list. Feel free to feedback. That’s the point of this blog!

And oh yes, here is wishing you a SUCCESSFUL 2008!

Neuromarketing: What lies ahead?

The early experiments in this field have already started to worry anti-marketing activists, some of whom are already mobilizing against the nascent field of neuromarketing. Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, a non-profit organization that argues for strict regulations on advertising, says "a year ago almost nobody had heard of neuromarketing except for Forbes readers." Now, he says, it's everywhere.

Over the past year he has waged a campaign against the practice, lobbying Congress and the American Psychological Association (APA) and threatening lawsuits against BrightHouse and other practitioners. He says it could eventually lead to complete corporate manipulation of consumers -- or citizens, with governments using brain scans to create more effective propaganda.

Could brain imaging show marketers how to effectively control our minds?

BrightHouse’s Reiman says no. “There is no possibility that in my lifetime we’ll be able to peer into brains and make them buy more. But businesses that do not use neuroscience are experimenting with failure. These studies will help to position companies as more consumer friendly.”

Chris Frith, Professor of Neuropsychology at the Institute of Neurology in London, prefers to look beyond the hype. “People have the idea that because you are using big, expensive equipment it is more real than asking what people think. They think they have got an easy way to get the information the want – a short cut. But it is very important to consider the subjective measures. If we see from scans that someone is happy, but they say that they aren’t, who do we believe?”

Montague agrees that ultimately behaviour is what matters. “Brain imaging isn’t more accurate than other techniques. You will never get rid of psychology and behavioural studies – that’s your ultimate end. But you do want more insight and imaging can provide it.”

Montague predicts that fMRI will become a tool for testing packaging, advertising and other promotional material. “If I am an auto manufacturer and want to change the curvature of the wheel well of my car model, how will my target 35 year old male respond? I will supplement my research with fMRI. And if I was buying something, I am ok with them using brain imaging to make me happier.”

Reiman prefers to dwell on the fundamental nature of neuromarketing research to date. “We can’t understand thoughts, but we can interview the brain and we expect what we will find will change the way companies work.”

Hopefully, for the better!