Saturday, March 15, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


When was the last time you saw "Customize your homepage" tab in a website. BBC has got into the action it seems. Now this is what I call leveraging the "Power of Web 2.0": True sense of engaging, collaborating and making the viewers a part of the BBC community. And I surely don't know about the future of this new move, but sure it made me free from crappy news clutter.

So what's next, huh?? "Herd behavior" from other players!!!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Marketing Overdose: Secrets Revealed

Though, I generally don't write about any industry specific news (though from now on I will), but this one shook me. Pharmaceutical companies spend about US $60 billion every year marketing drugs which is about twice the amount spend on research & development (R&D).

Yet we know next to nothing about where this money is going.

To expose where pharma companies spend this money, how it increases drugs sales, and why this irresponsible behaviour is putting consumer health at risk, Consumers International has produced a series of short films for the Marketing Overdose campaign.


To tell you the truth, I understood only 3 ways (though there can be many as such) by which they are maximizing profits:

  • Doctors working as active word-of-mouth agents since customers believe that doctors are only concerned of their health.
  • Through "Disease awareness campaigns" which is also helping them to by-pass certain rules and regulations of advertising and promotion.
  • By means of direct to consumer promotion like above video.
Check this page for further clarifications.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Indian Motorbike goes Viral with "Pulsar Mania"

Now this is what I call biking is all about (though parental guidance is necessary). Still Bajaj Auto has done it, I must say. Tagged as "PulsarMania", the campaign demonstrates the Pulsar's power, aggression and grace in a never seen before manner. Shot in Cape Town, the stunt team comprises the best riders across the world including AC Farias (World No.2), Matte Griffin etc.



Though, the video is there in the television but it's the power of the viral that is turning heads. I would agree with WatBlog who thinks that it has the basic elements to be viral.
  • The WOW Factor of putting the best bike riders of the world into a sleekly designed power machine (if I'm not going overboard).
  • It’s got the shareable factor - Every Pulsar bike owner is going to love this video and is going to become a pulsarmania evangelist and it’s not only them, it’s a video which makes every biker feel special.

  • The brand doesn’t shout at you at all - No bike specs, no mileage figures, no price. It’s for the spirit of biking and showcases Pulsar’s power, aggression and grace.

But one complain from my side. Why there is no dedicated site for this campaign? If they want it to be a secret viral thing then are those TV ads helping? Anyway, I just love the video.

Video Posted on: 6th March, 2008, about 40K+ hits in YouTube alone
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Creative Team: Abhijit Avasthi, Manoj Shetty, Rajneesh Ramakrishnan
Production House: Velocity Films, South Africa
Director: Lourens Van Rensburg
Music: Paul Norwood, Audio Militia


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Size of Indian Web 2.0 industry: An inconvenient truth

According to a report <link here>, Indian web 2.0 industry excluding the established, large global players like Orkut, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia et al, Indian 2.0 start-ups have a combined user base of about 1.5 million users.

Now a blogger has an interesting take on this abysmal data. After some amount of number crunching, it says:

Assuming an average of 10 pageviews per user (a random guess) at 1$ CPM (5$ for an American user parity adjusted), the Indian Web 2.0 industry generates a not-so-whooping 15,000$ per month combined.

At 10X revenues, the entire industry would be valued at an abysmal $1.8mn.

But still I'm kind of optimistic about the future of web 2.0 in India due to following 5 reasons:

  • A huge domestic market (Oh I heard India's middle class is infact bigger than US's total population)

  • Access to large intellectual capital and worthwhile talent base.

  • Decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

  • Venture capitalists are now pouring in lot of moolah into new Web 2.0 start-ups to find the future Google, Yahoo or MSFT!

  • Cultural shift as risk taking and innovation is being rewarded.
So let's see what future has in hold for us. As of now we have 5 aces in our pack.

Related Stories:

Monday, March 10, 2008

Demystifying Influencers: From Pyramid to Diamond Model

CNET Networks conducted a three-part study called "Understanding Influence, and making it work for you" (Download here). It explored the structure of social networks, methods of acquiring information and the motivations for giving/sharing/influencing others. Guy Kawasaki explains the basic tenets of the study in his blog post.

But what I was interested in is the marketing or advertising takeaways from the white paper.

The study provides three key marketing takeaways:
  1. Two unique characteristics of information that influencers value are that the information is unique and trusted.

  2. Shape your marketing messages for the larger network of moderately connected users, not just the few highly connected individuals at the top.

  3. Make content actionable for users.

But these theories may have some loophole. For instance, a meme originating in Facebook may or may not catch and have a world wide reach. But it may catch on in particular group and spread to other similar groups by virtue of the fact that a highly connected individual in a group on Facebook is also in a group of like minded individuals on MySpace.

So in a niche group context, the meme will spread. If enough niche groups catch on and the meme has a wide enough appeal it is likely to take of on a grander scale.

Th
is can only occur if you have a large number of highly connected individuals in a niche. Without highly connected individuals there would be no way to connect outside of the specific niche group with other groups.

I would suggest that a highly connected individual must also be a highly active group member that also has a high degree of credibilit
y within a group in order for a meme to spread (thanks to one of the commenter).

Other than this in country like India, there is a high chance that this theory may not be put into practice as such since demographics is widely varied, so different customers will consume the same product in different ways.

Note: In case, the pdf downloading plays crazy with your mind, shoot me a mail at sampad.s@gmail.com. I will send a fresh copy of the white paper ASAP.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Video: Twitter Simplified

For all those who just could not figure out what is twitter or explain the use of twitter, CommonCraft guys have come up with a 2 minute explaination. For India specially, Twitter is populated mostly by techies (not that I have a problem) but would love to see Indian marketers using it to stay connected.



In case, you want to add me in your Twitterverse, then just hit the "follow" button.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Product packaging telling a story

Here a small little story for all those marketers who believes that only spending millions on advertising does all the trick, which also helps them to rest their right side of the brain.

"...about a year ago, when Jamie Leventhal was trying to convince big chain stores to stock his new line of shaving gels for young men, a buyer from Target asked a crucial question: How much would he spend on advertising?

“I told him we would not spend a single dollar,” Mr. Leventhal said.

The buyer was stunned until Mr. Leventhal pulled a prototype out of his briefcase. The product, called NXT (pronounced NEXT), is sold in an arresting triangular container that lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The plastic is tinted blue, and when the AAA batteries in its base are lighted, the whole thing looks like a miniature lava lamp or a tiny fishless aquarium." (Courtesy NYT)

I don't know about you, but surely it would have caught my attention; if not making me buy it. The story I will be telling myself will both be contextual (in terms of it's social appeal) as well as object desirability. Now did a traditional advertising miss both? I believe it does most of the times. When brands get creative with packaging, the work of the marketer becomes much more easier as customers do the rest by passing or spreading the story which we told to ourselves. Now that's what I call putting the thinking hats on.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Why fashion brands never lower their price

Have you ever wondered why big fashion labels never lower their prices? Infact, they have consistently raise their prices over the years. According to a research by The Economist, people do not just say they enjoy expensive items more than the cheaper ones but they actually enjoy them more.

In the present scenario, there is a thriving market worldwide for fake luxury goods, even in India. Not only for luxury items but also for anything and everything which is catching attention among consumers. Cheap imitations is killing the market. That's why all those advertisements like "Kill Piracy and buy originals CD's & DVD's" for music and blah blah. But still the fashion labels won't budge. They will infact keep their prices high if not keep increasing it.


From the above, 3 possibilities come out for this type of action:
  • The big "Exclusivity factor" for their customers which the famous fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, RL etc bank upon.
  • The power of selling more of less (at least this is what is perceived among customers).
  • Consuming for the purpose of showing off among fellowmen.
That's why most people go to Tiffany's not to buy those crafted jeweleries but for the "Blue Box" which people talk about and hence spread the word.

So, there are many considerations to keep in mind while pricing like the demand curve, cost, environmental factors, differentiation, profit, revenue targets etc. In addition to supporting the realities of the marketplace, pricing is information that supports the product positioning. When buying something close to the the high end of the possible price range, the enjoyment we derive from the product signals another kind of social information that says -- because I'm worth it.

That's why no wonder we always keep all these brands on the top of our mind. And now the question is how companies from other categories will learn this trick, especially in country like India where the saying goes "Saasta hain toh accha hain" i.e. the cheaper, the better.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Is Technology and Innovation overrated?

Ok. So here is my 100th post. Would have been happy to post it in last month. But due to my excessive traveling, could not post it. So all apologies to my viewers.

By and large, we have heard this a million times (if not zillion) that innovation, technology and stuff like that can save a dying company from seeing its doomsday. Matter of fact, today's businesses will agree to my above statement any time of the day. That's why companies started using CRM, latest techie products and what not. But I have a different opinion about this one.

I believe that standalone technology or innovation can never save a company from withering away. What technology does is it gives the company a shot at marketing. Marketing to those who want to listen and those who will spread the message around. No wonder countless companies with innovative and ahead of it's time products failed (e.g. DVD's had a hard time vis-a-vis CD's beacuse of bad marketing ) and on the hindsight products with less technologically advancement succeeded. So technology alone can never guarantee success. Infact if a company believes that having a superior & technologically advanced product will sail them through, then they are wrong. It can only guarantee that you can employ better, effective & efficient marketing programs/communication strategy.

Any takers. Comments are welcomed!

Related stories:

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


When was the last time you saw "Customize your homepage" tab in a website. BBC has got into the action it seems. Now this is what I call leveraging the "Power of Web 2.0": True sense of engaging, collaborating and making the viewers a part of the BBC community. And I surely don't know about the future of this new move, but sure it made me free from crappy news clutter.

So what's next, huh?? "Herd behavior" from other players!!!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Marketing Overdose: Secrets Revealed

Though, I generally don't write about any industry specific news (though from now on I will), but this one shook me. Pharmaceutical companies spend about US $60 billion every year marketing drugs which is about twice the amount spend on research & development (R&D).

Yet we know next to nothing about where this money is going.

To expose where pharma companies spend this money, how it increases drugs sales, and why this irresponsible behaviour is putting consumer health at risk, Consumers International has produced a series of short films for the Marketing Overdose campaign.


To tell you the truth, I understood only 3 ways (though there can be many as such) by which they are maximizing profits:

  • Doctors working as active word-of-mouth agents since customers believe that doctors are only concerned of their health.
  • Through "Disease awareness campaigns" which is also helping them to by-pass certain rules and regulations of advertising and promotion.
  • By means of direct to consumer promotion like above video.
Check this page for further clarifications.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Indian Motorbike goes Viral with "Pulsar Mania"

Now this is what I call biking is all about (though parental guidance is necessary). Still Bajaj Auto has done it, I must say. Tagged as "PulsarMania", the campaign demonstrates the Pulsar's power, aggression and grace in a never seen before manner. Shot in Cape Town, the stunt team comprises the best riders across the world including AC Farias (World No.2), Matte Griffin etc.



Though, the video is there in the television but it's the power of the viral that is turning heads. I would agree with WatBlog who thinks that it has the basic elements to be viral.
  • The WOW Factor of putting the best bike riders of the world into a sleekly designed power machine (if I'm not going overboard).
  • It’s got the shareable factor - Every Pulsar bike owner is going to love this video and is going to become a pulsarmania evangelist and it’s not only them, it’s a video which makes every biker feel special.

  • The brand doesn’t shout at you at all - No bike specs, no mileage figures, no price. It’s for the spirit of biking and showcases Pulsar’s power, aggression and grace.

But one complain from my side. Why there is no dedicated site for this campaign? If they want it to be a secret viral thing then are those TV ads helping? Anyway, I just love the video.

Video Posted on: 6th March, 2008, about 40K+ hits in YouTube alone
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Creative Team: Abhijit Avasthi, Manoj Shetty, Rajneesh Ramakrishnan
Production House: Velocity Films, South Africa
Director: Lourens Van Rensburg
Music: Paul Norwood, Audio Militia


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Size of Indian Web 2.0 industry: An inconvenient truth

According to a report <link here>, Indian web 2.0 industry excluding the established, large global players like Orkut, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia et al, Indian 2.0 start-ups have a combined user base of about 1.5 million users.

Now a blogger has an interesting take on this abysmal data. After some amount of number crunching, it says:

Assuming an average of 10 pageviews per user (a random guess) at 1$ CPM (5$ for an American user parity adjusted), the Indian Web 2.0 industry generates a not-so-whooping 15,000$ per month combined.

At 10X revenues, the entire industry would be valued at an abysmal $1.8mn.

But still I'm kind of optimistic about the future of web 2.0 in India due to following 5 reasons:

  • A huge domestic market (Oh I heard India's middle class is infact bigger than US's total population)

  • Access to large intellectual capital and worthwhile talent base.

  • Decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

  • Venture capitalists are now pouring in lot of moolah into new Web 2.0 start-ups to find the future Google, Yahoo or MSFT!

  • Cultural shift as risk taking and innovation is being rewarded.
So let's see what future has in hold for us. As of now we have 5 aces in our pack.

Related Stories:

Monday, March 10, 2008

Demystifying Influencers: From Pyramid to Diamond Model

CNET Networks conducted a three-part study called "Understanding Influence, and making it work for you" (Download here). It explored the structure of social networks, methods of acquiring information and the motivations for giving/sharing/influencing others. Guy Kawasaki explains the basic tenets of the study in his blog post.

But what I was interested in is the marketing or advertising takeaways from the white paper.

The study provides three key marketing takeaways:
  1. Two unique characteristics of information that influencers value are that the information is unique and trusted.

  2. Shape your marketing messages for the larger network of moderately connected users, not just the few highly connected individuals at the top.

  3. Make content actionable for users.

But these theories may have some loophole. For instance, a meme originating in Facebook may or may not catch and have a world wide reach. But it may catch on in particular group and spread to other similar groups by virtue of the fact that a highly connected individual in a group on Facebook is also in a group of like minded individuals on MySpace.

So in a niche group context, the meme will spread. If enough niche groups catch on and the meme has a wide enough appeal it is likely to take of on a grander scale.

Th
is can only occur if you have a large number of highly connected individuals in a niche. Without highly connected individuals there would be no way to connect outside of the specific niche group with other groups.

I would suggest that a highly connected individual must also be a highly active group member that also has a high degree of credibilit
y within a group in order for a meme to spread (thanks to one of the commenter).

Other than this in country like India, there is a high chance that this theory may not be put into practice as such since demographics is widely varied, so different customers will consume the same product in different ways.

Note: In case, the pdf downloading plays crazy with your mind, shoot me a mail at sampad.s@gmail.com. I will send a fresh copy of the white paper ASAP.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Video: Twitter Simplified

For all those who just could not figure out what is twitter or explain the use of twitter, CommonCraft guys have come up with a 2 minute explaination. For India specially, Twitter is populated mostly by techies (not that I have a problem) but would love to see Indian marketers using it to stay connected.



In case, you want to add me in your Twitterverse, then just hit the "follow" button.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Product packaging telling a story

Here a small little story for all those marketers who believes that only spending millions on advertising does all the trick, which also helps them to rest their right side of the brain.

"...about a year ago, when Jamie Leventhal was trying to convince big chain stores to stock his new line of shaving gels for young men, a buyer from Target asked a crucial question: How much would he spend on advertising?

“I told him we would not spend a single dollar,” Mr. Leventhal said.

The buyer was stunned until Mr. Leventhal pulled a prototype out of his briefcase. The product, called NXT (pronounced NEXT), is sold in an arresting triangular container that lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The plastic is tinted blue, and when the AAA batteries in its base are lighted, the whole thing looks like a miniature lava lamp or a tiny fishless aquarium." (Courtesy NYT)

I don't know about you, but surely it would have caught my attention; if not making me buy it. The story I will be telling myself will both be contextual (in terms of it's social appeal) as well as object desirability. Now did a traditional advertising miss both? I believe it does most of the times. When brands get creative with packaging, the work of the marketer becomes much more easier as customers do the rest by passing or spreading the story which we told to ourselves. Now that's what I call putting the thinking hats on.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Why fashion brands never lower their price

Have you ever wondered why big fashion labels never lower their prices? Infact, they have consistently raise their prices over the years. According to a research by The Economist, people do not just say they enjoy expensive items more than the cheaper ones but they actually enjoy them more.

In the present scenario, there is a thriving market worldwide for fake luxury goods, even in India. Not only for luxury items but also for anything and everything which is catching attention among consumers. Cheap imitations is killing the market. That's why all those advertisements like "Kill Piracy and buy originals CD's & DVD's" for music and blah blah. But still the fashion labels won't budge. They will infact keep their prices high if not keep increasing it.


From the above, 3 possibilities come out for this type of action:
  • The big "Exclusivity factor" for their customers which the famous fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, RL etc bank upon.
  • The power of selling more of less (at least this is what is perceived among customers).
  • Consuming for the purpose of showing off among fellowmen.
That's why most people go to Tiffany's not to buy those crafted jeweleries but for the "Blue Box" which people talk about and hence spread the word.

So, there are many considerations to keep in mind while pricing like the demand curve, cost, environmental factors, differentiation, profit, revenue targets etc. In addition to supporting the realities of the marketplace, pricing is information that supports the product positioning. When buying something close to the the high end of the possible price range, the enjoyment we derive from the product signals another kind of social information that says -- because I'm worth it.

That's why no wonder we always keep all these brands on the top of our mind. And now the question is how companies from other categories will learn this trick, especially in country like India where the saying goes "Saasta hain toh accha hain" i.e. the cheaper, the better.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Is Technology and Innovation overrated?

Ok. So here is my 100th post. Would have been happy to post it in last month. But due to my excessive traveling, could not post it. So all apologies to my viewers.

By and large, we have heard this a million times (if not zillion) that innovation, technology and stuff like that can save a dying company from seeing its doomsday. Matter of fact, today's businesses will agree to my above statement any time of the day. That's why companies started using CRM, latest techie products and what not. But I have a different opinion about this one.

I believe that standalone technology or innovation can never save a company from withering away. What technology does is it gives the company a shot at marketing. Marketing to those who want to listen and those who will spread the message around. No wonder countless companies with innovative and ahead of it's time products failed (e.g. DVD's had a hard time vis-a-vis CD's beacuse of bad marketing ) and on the hindsight products with less technologically advancement succeeded. So technology alone can never guarantee success. Infact if a company believes that having a superior & technologically advanced product will sail them through, then they are wrong. It can only guarantee that you can employ better, effective & efficient marketing programs/communication strategy.

Any takers. Comments are welcomed!

Related stories:

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


When was the last time you saw "Customize your homepage" tab in a website. BBC has got into the action it seems. Now this is what I call leveraging the "Power of Web 2.0": True sense of engaging, collaborating and making the viewers a part of the BBC community. And I surely don't know about the future of this new move, but sure it made me free from crappy news clutter.

So what's next, huh?? "Herd behavior" from other players!!!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Marketing Overdose: Secrets Revealed

Though, I generally don't write about any industry specific news (though from now on I will), but this one shook me. Pharmaceutical companies spend about US $60 billion every year marketing drugs which is about twice the amount spend on research & development (R&D).

Yet we know next to nothing about where this money is going.

To expose where pharma companies spend this money, how it increases drugs sales, and why this irresponsible behaviour is putting consumer health at risk, Consumers International has produced a series of short films for the Marketing Overdose campaign.


To tell you the truth, I understood only 3 ways (though there can be many as such) by which they are maximizing profits:

  • Doctors working as active word-of-mouth agents since customers believe that doctors are only concerned of their health.
  • Through "Disease awareness campaigns" which is also helping them to by-pass certain rules and regulations of advertising and promotion.
  • By means of direct to consumer promotion like above video.
Check this page for further clarifications.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Indian Motorbike goes Viral with "Pulsar Mania"

Now this is what I call biking is all about (though parental guidance is necessary). Still Bajaj Auto has done it, I must say. Tagged as "PulsarMania", the campaign demonstrates the Pulsar's power, aggression and grace in a never seen before manner. Shot in Cape Town, the stunt team comprises the best riders across the world including AC Farias (World No.2), Matte Griffin etc.



Though, the video is there in the television but it's the power of the viral that is turning heads. I would agree with WatBlog who thinks that it has the basic elements to be viral.
  • The WOW Factor of putting the best bike riders of the world into a sleekly designed power machine (if I'm not going overboard).
  • It’s got the shareable factor - Every Pulsar bike owner is going to love this video and is going to become a pulsarmania evangelist and it’s not only them, it’s a video which makes every biker feel special.

  • The brand doesn’t shout at you at all - No bike specs, no mileage figures, no price. It’s for the spirit of biking and showcases Pulsar’s power, aggression and grace.

But one complain from my side. Why there is no dedicated site for this campaign? If they want it to be a secret viral thing then are those TV ads helping? Anyway, I just love the video.

Video Posted on: 6th March, 2008, about 40K+ hits in YouTube alone
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Creative Team: Abhijit Avasthi, Manoj Shetty, Rajneesh Ramakrishnan
Production House: Velocity Films, South Africa
Director: Lourens Van Rensburg
Music: Paul Norwood, Audio Militia


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Size of Indian Web 2.0 industry: An inconvenient truth

According to a report <link here>, Indian web 2.0 industry excluding the established, large global players like Orkut, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia et al, Indian 2.0 start-ups have a combined user base of about 1.5 million users.

Now a blogger has an interesting take on this abysmal data. After some amount of number crunching, it says:

Assuming an average of 10 pageviews per user (a random guess) at 1$ CPM (5$ for an American user parity adjusted), the Indian Web 2.0 industry generates a not-so-whooping 15,000$ per month combined.

At 10X revenues, the entire industry would be valued at an abysmal $1.8mn.

But still I'm kind of optimistic about the future of web 2.0 in India due to following 5 reasons:

  • A huge domestic market (Oh I heard India's middle class is infact bigger than US's total population)

  • Access to large intellectual capital and worthwhile talent base.

  • Decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

  • Venture capitalists are now pouring in lot of moolah into new Web 2.0 start-ups to find the future Google, Yahoo or MSFT!

  • Cultural shift as risk taking and innovation is being rewarded.
So let's see what future has in hold for us. As of now we have 5 aces in our pack.

Related Stories:

Monday, March 10, 2008

Demystifying Influencers: From Pyramid to Diamond Model

CNET Networks conducted a three-part study called "Understanding Influence, and making it work for you" (Download here). It explored the structure of social networks, methods of acquiring information and the motivations for giving/sharing/influencing others. Guy Kawasaki explains the basic tenets of the study in his blog post.

But what I was interested in is the marketing or advertising takeaways from the white paper.

The study provides three key marketing takeaways:
  1. Two unique characteristics of information that influencers value are that the information is unique and trusted.

  2. Shape your marketing messages for the larger network of moderately connected users, not just the few highly connected individuals at the top.

  3. Make content actionable for users.

But these theories may have some loophole. For instance, a meme originating in Facebook may or may not catch and have a world wide reach. But it may catch on in particular group and spread to other similar groups by virtue of the fact that a highly connected individual in a group on Facebook is also in a group of like minded individuals on MySpace.

So in a niche group context, the meme will spread. If enough niche groups catch on and the meme has a wide enough appeal it is likely to take of on a grander scale.

Th
is can only occur if you have a large number of highly connected individuals in a niche. Without highly connected individuals there would be no way to connect outside of the specific niche group with other groups.

I would suggest that a highly connected individual must also be a highly active group member that also has a high degree of credibilit
y within a group in order for a meme to spread (thanks to one of the commenter).

Other than this in country like India, there is a high chance that this theory may not be put into practice as such since demographics is widely varied, so different customers will consume the same product in different ways.

Note: In case, the pdf downloading plays crazy with your mind, shoot me a mail at sampad.s@gmail.com. I will send a fresh copy of the white paper ASAP.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Video: Twitter Simplified

For all those who just could not figure out what is twitter or explain the use of twitter, CommonCraft guys have come up with a 2 minute explaination. For India specially, Twitter is populated mostly by techies (not that I have a problem) but would love to see Indian marketers using it to stay connected.



In case, you want to add me in your Twitterverse, then just hit the "follow" button.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Product packaging telling a story

Here a small little story for all those marketers who believes that only spending millions on advertising does all the trick, which also helps them to rest their right side of the brain.

"...about a year ago, when Jamie Leventhal was trying to convince big chain stores to stock his new line of shaving gels for young men, a buyer from Target asked a crucial question: How much would he spend on advertising?

“I told him we would not spend a single dollar,” Mr. Leventhal said.

The buyer was stunned until Mr. Leventhal pulled a prototype out of his briefcase. The product, called NXT (pronounced NEXT), is sold in an arresting triangular container that lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The plastic is tinted blue, and when the AAA batteries in its base are lighted, the whole thing looks like a miniature lava lamp or a tiny fishless aquarium." (Courtesy NYT)

I don't know about you, but surely it would have caught my attention; if not making me buy it. The story I will be telling myself will both be contextual (in terms of it's social appeal) as well as object desirability. Now did a traditional advertising miss both? I believe it does most of the times. When brands get creative with packaging, the work of the marketer becomes much more easier as customers do the rest by passing or spreading the story which we told to ourselves. Now that's what I call putting the thinking hats on.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Why fashion brands never lower their price

Have you ever wondered why big fashion labels never lower their prices? Infact, they have consistently raise their prices over the years. According to a research by The Economist, people do not just say they enjoy expensive items more than the cheaper ones but they actually enjoy them more.

In the present scenario, there is a thriving market worldwide for fake luxury goods, even in India. Not only for luxury items but also for anything and everything which is catching attention among consumers. Cheap imitations is killing the market. That's why all those advertisements like "Kill Piracy and buy originals CD's & DVD's" for music and blah blah. But still the fashion labels won't budge. They will infact keep their prices high if not keep increasing it.


From the above, 3 possibilities come out for this type of action:
  • The big "Exclusivity factor" for their customers which the famous fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, RL etc bank upon.
  • The power of selling more of less (at least this is what is perceived among customers).
  • Consuming for the purpose of showing off among fellowmen.
That's why most people go to Tiffany's not to buy those crafted jeweleries but for the "Blue Box" which people talk about and hence spread the word.

So, there are many considerations to keep in mind while pricing like the demand curve, cost, environmental factors, differentiation, profit, revenue targets etc. In addition to supporting the realities of the marketplace, pricing is information that supports the product positioning. When buying something close to the the high end of the possible price range, the enjoyment we derive from the product signals another kind of social information that says -- because I'm worth it.

That's why no wonder we always keep all these brands on the top of our mind. And now the question is how companies from other categories will learn this trick, especially in country like India where the saying goes "Saasta hain toh accha hain" i.e. the cheaper, the better.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Is Technology and Innovation overrated?

Ok. So here is my 100th post. Would have been happy to post it in last month. But due to my excessive traveling, could not post it. So all apologies to my viewers.

By and large, we have heard this a million times (if not zillion) that innovation, technology and stuff like that can save a dying company from seeing its doomsday. Matter of fact, today's businesses will agree to my above statement any time of the day. That's why companies started using CRM, latest techie products and what not. But I have a different opinion about this one.

I believe that standalone technology or innovation can never save a company from withering away. What technology does is it gives the company a shot at marketing. Marketing to those who want to listen and those who will spread the message around. No wonder countless companies with innovative and ahead of it's time products failed (e.g. DVD's had a hard time vis-a-vis CD's beacuse of bad marketing ) and on the hindsight products with less technologically advancement succeeded. So technology alone can never guarantee success. Infact if a company believes that having a superior & technologically advanced product will sail them through, then they are wrong. It can only guarantee that you can employ better, effective & efficient marketing programs/communication strategy.

Any takers. Comments are welcomed!

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