The title above leads to an article by John Quelch, a Harvard professor and renowned expert on marketing. This note from John, we felt was pretty badly written. One of the reasons we think, serious thinkers should avoid going pop.
Apart from the style of writing, we disagree with the content. MJ, for all his wonderful music, died a very poor brand. At the pinnacle of his fame (80s-mid 90s), he was a great brand, but we are not sure he will be remembered as one.
The last decade of his life, MJ did not create any entertainment or associate himself with any work that engaged , entertained or educated his fans. The 3 Es that all brands must continuously strive to deliver to remain consistent.
In fact, his actions took him into realms where even his staunchest fans could not but begin to suspect an unstable mind at work.
We loved his music and hold both "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" as masterpieces. We are saddened by his death, but we were equally saddened to see the brand already in decline from the mid 90s. We were hoping the brand would revive itself with the latest concert.
If anything (and with a heavy heart), we would present his life as a classic case in not only how great brands establish themselves, but how they fade away as well.
While we cannot offer any precise insights on what went on in his life, we think he started living in a virtual world filled with sycophants. Brand managers that get removed from their consumers should beware. It appeared as if, MJ felt he was above the rules of social living. Great brands reflect the society they live in and working from within, evolve social thinking.
Thanks for all the music and entertainment MJ. May your soul rest in peace.
Ritu, Venkat.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Apple's retail store success
A very interesting note (click title) on the success of Apple's retail stores.
We believe brands must have control over all elements of their customer engagement, especially distribution. This works for every brand, in every category- if you see the brand as a "leader".
Controlling distribution is seen as expensive keeping in mind the cost of space, staff and inventory. But it is a customer facing activity.
Outsource manufacturing, finance, logistics. Set up metrices to control the delivery. A 1 in a 100 error may still be acceptable.
But control and master your customer facing moments.
Leadership cannot be outsourced. Nor can the 4Ps (pricing, product, distribution, promotions (communications).
Ritu and Venkat
We believe brands must have control over all elements of their customer engagement, especially distribution. This works for every brand, in every category- if you see the brand as a "leader".
Controlling distribution is seen as expensive keeping in mind the cost of space, staff and inventory. But it is a customer facing activity.
Outsource manufacturing, finance, logistics. Set up metrices to control the delivery. A 1 in a 100 error may still be acceptable.
But control and master your customer facing moments.
Leadership cannot be outsourced. Nor can the 4Ps (pricing, product, distribution, promotions (communications).
Ritu and Venkat
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Pontiac- this ad cuts through clutter...
We are regular visitors to http://www.thoughtgadgets.com which reviews ads (in the US) on a regular basis. Its a great repository and worth a regular visit.
This Pontiac ad is pretty old, but worth a view. In our view, amazing.
Click title to view,
Ritu, Venkat.
And for lateral thinking in advertising, try this out:
http://www.thoughtgadgets.com/2007/12/sony-ericsson-tells-jesus-theyre-late.html
This Pontiac ad is pretty old, but worth a view. In our view, amazing.
Click title to view,
Ritu, Venkat.
And for lateral thinking in advertising, try this out:
http://www.thoughtgadgets.com/2007/12/sony-ericsson-tells-jesus-theyre-late.html
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Great brands take every opportunity to educate their customers
A very interesting note that arrived in our post. National Geographic gave us some tips on getting the most out of the time we spend reading the magazine.
Its a good way of making sure you get the most out of your investment.
After so many years, we still have not figured out all the features in Windows. MS does not care (it seems).
We cant figure out everything in my Nokia. We suppose they dont care either.
But Nat Geo cares. And we appreciate it. Take a moment to read the note. And remember , its always a good idea to educate consumers in any way you can.
Market leaders engage, educate and entertain.
Ritu and Venkat
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Twitter for market research
Twitter should get more intelligent (Wolfram Alpha?). If we are putting in a query from India, the results should be sorted so we get more relevant "Indian" results.
Anyway, we wrote a while back on how new media is allowing consumers to learn more about products and develop their own opinions. So that the role of a brand manager is likely to change in the future from an "instructor" to a "facilitator". http://rituvenkat12.blogspot.com/2007/10/age-of-brand-facilitator.html
We finaly got onto Twitter some weeks back and the first thing that struck us was :
- CHEAP MARKET RESEARCH! (Dip stick anyway).
We typed in a few brands...Nike/ Vodafone...and got a lot of twits that indicating what consumers were experiencing with each brand.
But most responses were "foreign" and we could not get an Indian feel to this. So we typed in a very well known Indian mobile services brand. And then things got very interesting.
People are twitting about its new services...its business plans etc. But mostly people are twitting about their experience of its products and services.
Mostly they are complaining. (we estimated 70% negative twits product/ services).
This is interesting, because the twitters are tech savvy, early adopters. They are passionate about technology and its usage. If they are complaining, its a good reason to look into why.
We are not sure if the brand manager at this company twits or even reads twitter. But he should.
But if Twitter could classify results relevant to the country of the twitter (India in our case), this would become a very interesting tool even for multinational marketing managers.
Ritu and Venkat
Anyway, we wrote a while back on how new media is allowing consumers to learn more about products and develop their own opinions. So that the role of a brand manager is likely to change in the future from an "instructor" to a "facilitator". http://rituvenkat12.blogspot.com/2007/10/age-of-brand-facilitator.html
We finaly got onto Twitter some weeks back and the first thing that struck us was :
- CHEAP MARKET RESEARCH! (Dip stick anyway).
We typed in a few brands...Nike/ Vodafone...and got a lot of twits that indicating what consumers were experiencing with each brand.
But most responses were "foreign" and we could not get an Indian feel to this. So we typed in a very well known Indian mobile services brand. And then things got very interesting.
People are twitting about its new services...its business plans etc. But mostly people are twitting about their experience of its products and services.
Mostly they are complaining. (we estimated 70% negative twits product/ services).
This is interesting, because the twitters are tech savvy, early adopters. They are passionate about technology and its usage. If they are complaining, its a good reason to look into why.
We are not sure if the brand manager at this company twits or even reads twitter. But he should.
But if Twitter could classify results relevant to the country of the twitter (India in our case), this would become a very interesting tool even for multinational marketing managers.
Ritu and Venkat
iPhone apps: Losing users within 30 days?
A very interesting note we read on www.thoughtgadgets.com. (Please click title to read).
We are trying to conceptualise this but at this time, its just worth reading and digesting slowly.
Ritu - Venkat
We are trying to conceptualise this but at this time, its just worth reading and digesting slowly.
Ritu - Venkat
From Spelling to Searching bee.
We take the spelling bee as an example to highlight why it is necessary to give up some skills of the past to learn new skills that will enhance the future.
Why do we celebrate the “spelling bee”?
Our children today have spell check on email/ on word/ xcel/ google and powerpoint. They complete close to 95% of their written tasks on these softwares.
Why do we celebrate the spelling bee? I am not sure we capture our surprise (dismay) at this. Infact we are surprised by the continued emphasis a lot of exams place (especially in India) on memorisation of facts. Perhaps in a country with very limited (PC penetration is about 5%) access to internet search tools, memorisation of facts is important.
But in the US, with a far higher degree of online search available through the PC or mobile phone, what’s the fun in continuing with a spell bee? (Wikipedia suggests this concept perhaps started in the 1700s with the emergence of reading and writing skills in the West).
Why don’t we have a “search bee” contest now for school kids? We ask them the most difficult questions, and the kids have PCs and access to any search engine (s) that they choose to get the answer in 3 minutes.
We take the spelling bee as an example to highlight why it is necessary to give up some skills of the past to learn new skills that will enhance the future.
We argued recently with friends of ours why the government should not incentivise the learning of ancient dance forms such as Bhrathnatyam and Kuchipudi. They were shocked.
“How can we lose our tradition like this? This is so irresponsible”, they said.
Our reaction was this:
- In the past 10,000 years, we have no ideas exactly how many forms of communication were learnt and forgotten(modified) as mankind evolved the complexity of his communication needs.
- In fact dance and songs, In ancient times lacking widespread reading and writing skills were only one way of recording stories and transmitting them. Now we have books/ photos and videos to do this recording and transmission. Why dance?
- What we know now is simply because we recorded in paintings or written form these cultural elements from the past 2000 years.
- But recording a cultural element itself preserves it for the future. Why force it to be learnt through incentives that can be applied to other educational and cultural needs.
- Why not create a museum for fine arts that has DVDs of every known cultural expression and detailed instructions on how to learn it in case someone wants to.
- But diverting resources to preserve a past in a country that lacks basic resources is a crime.
Anyway, we came back to this thought when the winner of the 2009 spelling bee in the US was announced on TV recently.
We are patenting our “search bee” idea. Its more relevant for the future.
Ritu and Venkat
Why do we celebrate the “spelling bee”?
Our children today have spell check on email/ on word/ xcel/ google and powerpoint. They complete close to 95% of their written tasks on these softwares.
Why do we celebrate the spelling bee? I am not sure we capture our surprise (dismay) at this. Infact we are surprised by the continued emphasis a lot of exams place (especially in India) on memorisation of facts. Perhaps in a country with very limited (PC penetration is about 5%) access to internet search tools, memorisation of facts is important.
But in the US, with a far higher degree of online search available through the PC or mobile phone, what’s the fun in continuing with a spell bee? (Wikipedia suggests this concept perhaps started in the 1700s with the emergence of reading and writing skills in the West).
Why don’t we have a “search bee” contest now for school kids? We ask them the most difficult questions, and the kids have PCs and access to any search engine (s) that they choose to get the answer in 3 minutes.
We take the spelling bee as an example to highlight why it is necessary to give up some skills of the past to learn new skills that will enhance the future.
We argued recently with friends of ours why the government should not incentivise the learning of ancient dance forms such as Bhrathnatyam and Kuchipudi. They were shocked.
“How can we lose our tradition like this? This is so irresponsible”, they said.
Our reaction was this:
- In the past 10,000 years, we have no ideas exactly how many forms of communication were learnt and forgotten(modified) as mankind evolved the complexity of his communication needs.
- In fact dance and songs, In ancient times lacking widespread reading and writing skills were only one way of recording stories and transmitting them. Now we have books/ photos and videos to do this recording and transmission. Why dance?
- What we know now is simply because we recorded in paintings or written form these cultural elements from the past 2000 years.
- But recording a cultural element itself preserves it for the future. Why force it to be learnt through incentives that can be applied to other educational and cultural needs.
- Why not create a museum for fine arts that has DVDs of every known cultural expression and detailed instructions on how to learn it in case someone wants to.
- But diverting resources to preserve a past in a country that lacks basic resources is a crime.
Anyway, we came back to this thought when the winner of the 2009 spelling bee in the US was announced on TV recently.
We are patenting our “search bee” idea. Its more relevant for the future.
Ritu and Venkat
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Bharti- MTN merger
Why? And why now?
Bharti (India's largest mobile service company) has announced plans to pursue once again a merger with MTN of South Africa. (click title to read more on this).
Bharti is a phenomenally successful company. WIth 100 million subscribers in India, revenues of USD 8 Bn and profits of USD 1.7Bn, it is by far the leader in the Indian market.
I am proud of this company which has set new standard in the business. It was the first company to completely outsource its IT infrastructure and hence reduced hugely its costs. Thereby giving customers prices of Rs 1 per minute of talk time (2 cents per minute).
Now, It wants to expand globally, and is looking at emerging markets as a first step.
I wish the company every success, but i am not clear why they should want to do this.
India has 300 million subscribers and this is expected to rise to 600 million in another 5 years. Bharti can double its subscriber base in India itself. Why go out?
If costs need to be reduced, they can be done in India, as the size of the company's customer base doubles. If this is urgent, why not merge with AT&T?
Is it about management resources? I dont think Bharti needs to look out of the country to get that.
In addition, i dont think the company has exhausted all sources of growth in India. Value added services are still in nascent stages, customer segmentation and customer service can be improved, there are new businesses such as IPTV where Bharti is making a play.
Surely the company is confident it has the resources to handle the demands of the Indian market as it ventures abroad. This is a very interesting and exciting move. And i repeat i am proud of this company and its ambitions.
The Indian press this morning is full of stories of how the merger will be executed and what the final company will look like. But take a minute folks, and help me answer two basic questions:
Why? And why now?
Venkat
Bharti (India's largest mobile service company) has announced plans to pursue once again a merger with MTN of South Africa. (click title to read more on this).
Bharti is a phenomenally successful company. WIth 100 million subscribers in India, revenues of USD 8 Bn and profits of USD 1.7Bn, it is by far the leader in the Indian market.
I am proud of this company which has set new standard in the business. It was the first company to completely outsource its IT infrastructure and hence reduced hugely its costs. Thereby giving customers prices of Rs 1 per minute of talk time (2 cents per minute).
Now, It wants to expand globally, and is looking at emerging markets as a first step.
I wish the company every success, but i am not clear why they should want to do this.
India has 300 million subscribers and this is expected to rise to 600 million in another 5 years. Bharti can double its subscriber base in India itself. Why go out?
If costs need to be reduced, they can be done in India, as the size of the company's customer base doubles. If this is urgent, why not merge with AT&T?
Is it about management resources? I dont think Bharti needs to look out of the country to get that.
In addition, i dont think the company has exhausted all sources of growth in India. Value added services are still in nascent stages, customer segmentation and customer service can be improved, there are new businesses such as IPTV where Bharti is making a play.
Surely the company is confident it has the resources to handle the demands of the Indian market as it ventures abroad. This is a very interesting and exciting move. And i repeat i am proud of this company and its ambitions.
The Indian press this morning is full of stories of how the merger will be executed and what the final company will look like. But take a minute folks, and help me answer two basic questions:
Why? And why now?
Venkat
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Titan FAST-TRACK Repulsive advertising
Marketers must use their common sense and judgment as they try to connect with audiences.
Titan (a well known Indian brand of watches) has a collection targeted to the youth called FAST TRACK.
We saw an ad for this brand yesterday with the tag line being "move on". Here a young boy and girl meet, have a one night stand (suggested) and then, as the girl tries to build more intimacy, the guy runs off (very fast)... this it appears is a ploy from the girl to drive the boy away...as she wants to "move on".
Repulsive. This is the strongest critique we have done on this blog. But we are really offended by the treatment of young people (and if we may add, condoned) in the ad. Is this really what connects with our youth in India today? Or is this the best output an adman and brand manager keen to sensationalise in the name of connecting with youth.
We have not yet found the ad on the internet, but it appears that an add on the same "move on " concept has been aired before. An example can bee seen at http://rshuba.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/move-on/
Here we cringe at the casualness of the break-up. Is this what "moving on" means to the youth today? Is this what it should mean to youth today?
Coming back to the "one night stand ad", lets assume this is what market research is suggesting connects with the youth today. The girl chasing away the with whom she has spent an intimate few hours? So that she can find the next target. If this is the case, something is wrong with our society. But the point is that a marketer must use judgment to decide whether he wants to build on this insight or he wants to transform this insight.
Is this attitude of young people correct? Would the brand manager want his children behaving like this? Is the answer is yes, he should find help. If no, then the marketer must use his ability and resources to bring positive transformation.
Why cannot young people "move on" from failure or success to take on the next challenge? Is that not a reasonable condition to "move on" from? Lets face it - unplanned pregnancies/ multiple partners/ teenage sex...these are all trends on the decline in the West. Are we saying, the very "internationally aware" youth of urban India have not plugged into the declining rates of these trends?
Wake up Titan, multiple partners have been declared passe!
"Titan" is a reputed brand name that in our books has completely lost dignity with the Fast Track ads.
Ritu and Venkat
Titan (a well known Indian brand of watches) has a collection targeted to the youth called FAST TRACK.
We saw an ad for this brand yesterday with the tag line being "move on". Here a young boy and girl meet, have a one night stand (suggested) and then, as the girl tries to build more intimacy, the guy runs off (very fast)... this it appears is a ploy from the girl to drive the boy away...as she wants to "move on".
Repulsive. This is the strongest critique we have done on this blog. But we are really offended by the treatment of young people (and if we may add, condoned) in the ad. Is this really what connects with our youth in India today? Or is this the best output an adman and brand manager keen to sensationalise in the name of connecting with youth.
We have not yet found the ad on the internet, but it appears that an add on the same "move on " concept has been aired before. An example can bee seen at http://rshuba.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/move-on/
Here we cringe at the casualness of the break-up. Is this what "moving on" means to the youth today? Is this what it should mean to youth today?
Coming back to the "one night stand ad", lets assume this is what market research is suggesting connects with the youth today. The girl chasing away the with whom she has spent an intimate few hours? So that she can find the next target. If this is the case, something is wrong with our society. But the point is that a marketer must use judgment to decide whether he wants to build on this insight or he wants to transform this insight.
Is this attitude of young people correct? Would the brand manager want his children behaving like this? Is the answer is yes, he should find help. If no, then the marketer must use his ability and resources to bring positive transformation.
Why cannot young people "move on" from failure or success to take on the next challenge? Is that not a reasonable condition to "move on" from? Lets face it - unplanned pregnancies/ multiple partners/ teenage sex...these are all trends on the decline in the West. Are we saying, the very "internationally aware" youth of urban India have not plugged into the declining rates of these trends?
Wake up Titan, multiple partners have been declared passe!
"Titan" is a reputed brand name that in our books has completely lost dignity with the Fast Track ads.
Ritu and Venkat
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Indian Elelctions 2009 - Part 2
India has learnt to reward performance in civil administration.
A great great job by the Indian government in organising safely and efficiently this massive democratic exercise. A 1 billion strong country voted, and the results announced yesterday give a clear direction of a stable government for the next 5 years.
1. We will be investing in the Indian stock market tomorrow.
2. The results surprise us a little, but give us so much more optimism.
At preliminary analysis, the three national level parties (The BJP/ COngress and the Left) have put together returned with the same number of votes as the last election. The left, although touted as a "national party" is strong in the states of W. Bengal an Kerala..with a few pockets of visibility across the country.
So the Indian middle class, which votes basically across these three parties kept to expected lines. There was s shift from the BJP and the Left towards the Congress which saw the Congress emerge as the single largest party with 201 seats, its best performance in 25 years.
The BJP's right wing agenda was rejected and the Left's left wing agenda was taken down. The Centrist Congress collected handsome riches.
The total victories of the regional parties remained the same as last year, but we see some interesting trends:
- In states such as Bihar (tradionally very backward, but making economic gains in the last 5 years), the voters have voted for the incumbent's track record of good governance and development. In Bihar, the incumbent has gained votes across caste and community lines. We believe this is also because (and we will try to get some more data) parties have fielded candidates that represent various caste/ community and religious sentiments.
In the past, political parties could also be defined by a community as the majority of its members belonged to a certain community. This gave advantages in terms of winning votes of a particular community, but being closed to others. Hence the rise of fractured politics in a number of areas in India. The recent elections have shown political parties including within their folds, greater representation of the diversity of the communities they govern.
This means that:
1. if governance has been good, it makes it easier for the population to vote for the party through a candidate it is comfortable with.
2. That if the governance has not been good, the local population can indeed find alternative political parties tat are fielding candidates that represent at the basic minimum, the community of the voter.
This allows us to rationalise what has happened in another "under-developed" state- Uttar Pradesh, which is a close neighbour of Bihar.
Here, it has been widely felt that the state government was corrupt and inefficient, but has been voted in the previous elections on the basis of the caste and commnity equations it had correctly identified.
Lack of development meant that people wanted to find an alternate political party.
Each of the alternatives that gained (including the Congress) clearly had learnt lessons from the past and fielded candidates that closely represented the communities from where they stood.
This voting on community lines is what we are afraid of. But in this election, this issue was SECONDARY. The fact is that, largely the Indian voter voted for good governance. Where the local party had been governing well and developing the state, the party was voted for.
This bodes very well for the future. re-election will depend on good governance. At city, state and country level.
India has learnt to reward performance in civil administration.
We are hopeful and optimistic for the future.
Our broker will be a happy man tomorrow morning.
Ritu and Venkat
A great great job by the Indian government in organising safely and efficiently this massive democratic exercise. A 1 billion strong country voted, and the results announced yesterday give a clear direction of a stable government for the next 5 years.
1. We will be investing in the Indian stock market tomorrow.
2. The results surprise us a little, but give us so much more optimism.
At preliminary analysis, the three national level parties (The BJP/ COngress and the Left) have put together returned with the same number of votes as the last election. The left, although touted as a "national party" is strong in the states of W. Bengal an Kerala..with a few pockets of visibility across the country.
So the Indian middle class, which votes basically across these three parties kept to expected lines. There was s shift from the BJP and the Left towards the Congress which saw the Congress emerge as the single largest party with 201 seats, its best performance in 25 years.
The BJP's right wing agenda was rejected and the Left's left wing agenda was taken down. The Centrist Congress collected handsome riches.
The total victories of the regional parties remained the same as last year, but we see some interesting trends:
- In states such as Bihar (tradionally very backward, but making economic gains in the last 5 years), the voters have voted for the incumbent's track record of good governance and development. In Bihar, the incumbent has gained votes across caste and community lines. We believe this is also because (and we will try to get some more data) parties have fielded candidates that represent various caste/ community and religious sentiments.
In the past, political parties could also be defined by a community as the majority of its members belonged to a certain community. This gave advantages in terms of winning votes of a particular community, but being closed to others. Hence the rise of fractured politics in a number of areas in India. The recent elections have shown political parties including within their folds, greater representation of the diversity of the communities they govern.
This means that:
1. if governance has been good, it makes it easier for the population to vote for the party through a candidate it is comfortable with.
2. That if the governance has not been good, the local population can indeed find alternative political parties tat are fielding candidates that represent at the basic minimum, the community of the voter.
This allows us to rationalise what has happened in another "under-developed" state- Uttar Pradesh, which is a close neighbour of Bihar.
Here, it has been widely felt that the state government was corrupt and inefficient, but has been voted in the previous elections on the basis of the caste and commnity equations it had correctly identified.
Lack of development meant that people wanted to find an alternate political party.
Each of the alternatives that gained (including the Congress) clearly had learnt lessons from the past and fielded candidates that closely represented the communities from where they stood.
This voting on community lines is what we are afraid of. But in this election, this issue was SECONDARY. The fact is that, largely the Indian voter voted for good governance. Where the local party had been governing well and developing the state, the party was voted for.
This bodes very well for the future. re-election will depend on good governance. At city, state and country level.
India has learnt to reward performance in civil administration.
We are hopeful and optimistic for the future.
Our broker will be a happy man tomorrow morning.
Ritu and Venkat
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Indian elections 2009
Its the day the results will be declared. The 1 Bn strong jury will of course come out with a split decision. Today we will know exactly what.
There should be no surprises. India will once again be governed by a coalition. In a note we wrote after the Nov 11 attacks in Mumbai we argued that politics in India is multifaceted with "national level" issues having a limited impact on elections and hence creation of governments.
The outrage after the Nov attacks took maybe 80% of Air Time on all news channels, but move away 150Km from the big cities, and people were already too far from Mumbai.
We believe, India votes on three philosophies.
A. The rich, well educated "elite" is largely a cynic. These folks have perhaps the lowest turnout. They don't care (anymore). They believe that any government formed will be just as inefficient. They want business to thrive and their well paying jobs to be secure. "Government, get out of the way" is the motto.
India will not go the socialist way anymore. The performance of the finance and commerce ministries are extremely critical for any government to have a semblance of functioning. Hence, no matter who wins, governments ensure that the F and C ministers will be the best available candidates. That's all the "upwardly mobile" Indian expects from the govenrment. "Get out of my way, make F and C work". The real work will be done by the bureaucrats of the Indian Administrative Service, so most ministers do not matter.
B. Then there is the middle class, which was made of mostly employees of the government sector. These folks, we believe always voted for the Indian National Congress, but found a choice with the emerging right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The middle class voter (the ones we have known all our lives) rarely ever change their voting habits. It took the BJP many many years to enter the national debate. We do not see a third "national party" anytime soon. So the choice is one or the other.
C. And then , the rural voter. Largely farmers, but more and more people involved in the manufacturing and rural service economy.
These folks, mostly, vote by familiarity. Familiarity of community. There are about 3000 communities in India. Each community is seeking its own voice and this is causing extreme fragmentation of the vote bank at the rural level.
Indeed the two main parties- Congress and the BJP have been facing this vote bank fragmentation not in the cities, but in the rural areas- where community based voting has found a very strong foothold. Promises of more subsidies and fair "representation" of community leaders takes predominance over national level issues.
Caste and community, being seen as easier ways to get elected, means that the current lot of rural politicians does not have to focus on development. Subsidies will do. Perhaps, the trickle down effect- and increasing awareness will change this equation. But it will take time. The "minorities" have only recently found voice (maybe in the past 4 elections), so they will want to cherish if for a while longer, before giving up their interests before broader national issues.
The last Indian government was a coalition of more than 20 parties. We would be surprised if today's results threw up a small coalition.
But if the past 5 years have been any indication, we (of the cynical "government should get out of the way" class) should look forward to some robust growth in the next 5 years.
Ritu and Venkat
There should be no surprises. India will once again be governed by a coalition. In a note we wrote after the Nov 11 attacks in Mumbai we argued that politics in India is multifaceted with "national level" issues having a limited impact on elections and hence creation of governments.
The outrage after the Nov attacks took maybe 80% of Air Time on all news channels, but move away 150Km from the big cities, and people were already too far from Mumbai.
We believe, India votes on three philosophies.
A. The rich, well educated "elite" is largely a cynic. These folks have perhaps the lowest turnout. They don't care (anymore). They believe that any government formed will be just as inefficient. They want business to thrive and their well paying jobs to be secure. "Government, get out of the way" is the motto.
India will not go the socialist way anymore. The performance of the finance and commerce ministries are extremely critical for any government to have a semblance of functioning. Hence, no matter who wins, governments ensure that the F and C ministers will be the best available candidates. That's all the "upwardly mobile" Indian expects from the govenrment. "Get out of my way, make F and C work". The real work will be done by the bureaucrats of the Indian Administrative Service, so most ministers do not matter.
B. Then there is the middle class, which was made of mostly employees of the government sector. These folks, we believe always voted for the Indian National Congress, but found a choice with the emerging right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The middle class voter (the ones we have known all our lives) rarely ever change their voting habits. It took the BJP many many years to enter the national debate. We do not see a third "national party" anytime soon. So the choice is one or the other.
C. And then , the rural voter. Largely farmers, but more and more people involved in the manufacturing and rural service economy.
These folks, mostly, vote by familiarity. Familiarity of community. There are about 3000 communities in India. Each community is seeking its own voice and this is causing extreme fragmentation of the vote bank at the rural level.
Indeed the two main parties- Congress and the BJP have been facing this vote bank fragmentation not in the cities, but in the rural areas- where community based voting has found a very strong foothold. Promises of more subsidies and fair "representation" of community leaders takes predominance over national level issues.
Caste and community, being seen as easier ways to get elected, means that the current lot of rural politicians does not have to focus on development. Subsidies will do. Perhaps, the trickle down effect- and increasing awareness will change this equation. But it will take time. The "minorities" have only recently found voice (maybe in the past 4 elections), so they will want to cherish if for a while longer, before giving up their interests before broader national issues.
The last Indian government was a coalition of more than 20 parties. We would be surprised if today's results threw up a small coalition.
But if the past 5 years have been any indication, we (of the cynical "government should get out of the way" class) should look forward to some robust growth in the next 5 years.
Ritu and Venkat
Thursday, 14 May 2009
the language of an organisation
Blog post 100. Its a milestone for us. We don't write for a living, but we see enough around us that merits debate and discussion. And we make some time to put out our point of view.
100 ..and counting....we're grateful.
The language of an organisation is a simple concept. Each organisation uses vocabulary which is very specific. Some companies use "we" more than "I"..others use "suggest" more than "lets do this". Still others use "lets discuss this" while others stick with "you can do this...or you can't do this".
Its been a long time since either Ritu or I changed jobs, but a friend of ours changed jobs recently. Moved from consulting to industry. I noticed that as a consultant he used certain words very casually:
- home working
- connecting on sametime
- "deck" to refer to a set of powerpoint slides
- "play" to refer to participation in a market
- "billable" hours
We spoke after his third day on the job and he referred to a conversation he had at work earlier in the day. When asked for his advice on a new project, he listed out his approach with numerous instances of "i think we should do this"...." i think we cannot do that..." etc.
I understood from him that in a consulting organisation, he could be as direct with his own team members (not with his clients, of course) and he extended that to the new company, only to get some very shocked looks from across the table.
The language of the orgsanisation.
Sure, most organisations have English as the official language. But "I" and "we" are both English words. So are " i believe we could" and " i think we should".
When you change jobs, do you try to figure out what language your organisation speaks? Are they direct? Are they consensus driven? Are they comfortable working on sametime? Are they comfortable working across functional silos? How do they show respect? Is it to hierarchy or to capability?
How much senior management talent is from the outside rather than home grown? How old is the company?
Without an effective understanding and usage of the language of an organisation, it is impossible to integrate into it. No great ideas will ever pass through an organisation whose language one has not yet learnt.
I remember a relative once telling me (almost two decades ago) why he had taken so much trouble to learn the American accent, when he relocated to the US.
"They just don't understand our way of speaking English", he said to me. " So i learnt to speak their way".
I remembered that today. When i thought of how groups of people develop their own language. You move to a new neighborhood, you have a new language. New country- new language. New school- new language. New project- new language.
So new company? Better learn the new language.
Venkat
100 ..and counting....we're grateful.
The language of an organisation is a simple concept. Each organisation uses vocabulary which is very specific. Some companies use "we" more than "I"..others use "suggest" more than "lets do this". Still others use "lets discuss this" while others stick with "you can do this...or you can't do this".
Its been a long time since either Ritu or I changed jobs, but a friend of ours changed jobs recently. Moved from consulting to industry. I noticed that as a consultant he used certain words very casually:
- home working
- connecting on sametime
- "deck" to refer to a set of powerpoint slides
- "play" to refer to participation in a market
- "billable" hours
We spoke after his third day on the job and he referred to a conversation he had at work earlier in the day. When asked for his advice on a new project, he listed out his approach with numerous instances of "i think we should do this"...." i think we cannot do that..." etc.
I understood from him that in a consulting organisation, he could be as direct with his own team members (not with his clients, of course) and he extended that to the new company, only to get some very shocked looks from across the table.
The language of the orgsanisation.
Sure, most organisations have English as the official language. But "I" and "we" are both English words. So are " i believe we could" and " i think we should".
When you change jobs, do you try to figure out what language your organisation speaks? Are they direct? Are they consensus driven? Are they comfortable working on sametime? Are they comfortable working across functional silos? How do they show respect? Is it to hierarchy or to capability?
How much senior management talent is from the outside rather than home grown? How old is the company?
Without an effective understanding and usage of the language of an organisation, it is impossible to integrate into it. No great ideas will ever pass through an organisation whose language one has not yet learnt.
I remember a relative once telling me (almost two decades ago) why he had taken so much trouble to learn the American accent, when he relocated to the US.
"They just don't understand our way of speaking English", he said to me. " So i learnt to speak their way".
I remembered that today. When i thought of how groups of people develop their own language. You move to a new neighborhood, you have a new language. New country- new language. New school- new language. New project- new language.
So new company? Better learn the new language.
Venkat
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Advertising Jujitsu in India (Vodafone versus Airtel)
The #1 (Airtel, 85 million subscribers) and #3 (Vodafone 60 million subscribers) are dominating the airwaves with their ads for value added services. (VAS).
The Indian Premier League (Cricket) is on and this gives advertisers plenty of eye balls to target. With the wireless service provider business still growing (adding 8 million new subscribers each month), its this industry that has dominated the ad spots.
None more than Airtel and Vodafone. And here is where we see some serious JIJITSU
Airtel has two actors as its brand ambassadors...Mahadevan and Vidya Balan. Their ads can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKD0L9tS-Zw
Vodafone, recently started using "egg headed" characters..in a puppet-animation format. They are called the Zoozoo ads
and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSBmKUm0pk
We think Vodafone has outmaneuvered Airtel.
1. Its "zoo zoo" ads come at no "celebrity" costs. They seem to be created at very low cost.
2. Animation allows the storyline to be exaggerating- creating better humor and shock content. (as opposed to Airtel which has been relying more on emotional appeal)
2. Low cost of production is implying that for 3 of Airtels' VAS story lines, Vodafone has launched more than 20.
4. In the Indian advertisement market (usually seen to be fixated on celebrity endorsements) Vodafone has moved the conversation to content.
It has stood out. It has created a new reference for advertisement development.
We insist however, that neither company's approach is really encouraging consumers to try value added services.
Both companies are describing their value added services to the consumer. But their story lines are not compelling enough for people to overcome the price and uncertainty barrier. Consequently VAS penetration is less than 1%. (estimated from the Indian Telecom department's qtrly review).
Given that there are more than 300 million subscribers and 100 million phones capable of accessing the internet, this low penetration of VAs is a problem.
Our solution is based on the fact that the Indian consumer is clearly interested in "bang for the buck", and in India, the buck is very hard to come by.
Building up a new category requires marketers to define the role and relevance of the category in the consumers life, at a particular price point.
Trials are very key to building new categories. Value added services must entice consumers to try them.
1. Mobile companies must allow a few hours of "free trial time" while consumers get used to a service.
2. A call center that takes consumers through every step and only activates charges when the consumer confirms his interest.
3.Killer content.
It comes back to great brands being built on the promise of "engage, educate, entertain".
Else these ad wars and karate-jujitsu will only make for entertaining viewing...and transfer of wealth from shareholders to advertising agencies.
Ritu and venkat
The Indian Premier League (Cricket) is on and this gives advertisers plenty of eye balls to target. With the wireless service provider business still growing (adding 8 million new subscribers each month), its this industry that has dominated the ad spots.
None more than Airtel and Vodafone. And here is where we see some serious JIJITSU
Airtel has two actors as its brand ambassadors...Mahadevan and Vidya Balan. Their ads can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKD0L9tS-Zw
Vodafone, recently started using "egg headed" characters..in a puppet-animation format. They are called the Zoozoo ads
and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSBmKUm0pk
We think Vodafone has outmaneuvered Airtel.
1. Its "zoo zoo" ads come at no "celebrity" costs. They seem to be created at very low cost.
2. Animation allows the storyline to be exaggerating- creating better humor and shock content. (as opposed to Airtel which has been relying more on emotional appeal)
2. Low cost of production is implying that for 3 of Airtels' VAS story lines, Vodafone has launched more than 20.
4. In the Indian advertisement market (usually seen to be fixated on celebrity endorsements) Vodafone has moved the conversation to content.
It has stood out. It has created a new reference for advertisement development.
We insist however, that neither company's approach is really encouraging consumers to try value added services.
Both companies are describing their value added services to the consumer. But their story lines are not compelling enough for people to overcome the price and uncertainty barrier. Consequently VAS penetration is less than 1%. (estimated from the Indian Telecom department's qtrly review).
Given that there are more than 300 million subscribers and 100 million phones capable of accessing the internet, this low penetration of VAs is a problem.
Our solution is based on the fact that the Indian consumer is clearly interested in "bang for the buck", and in India, the buck is very hard to come by.
Building up a new category requires marketers to define the role and relevance of the category in the consumers life, at a particular price point.
Trials are very key to building new categories. Value added services must entice consumers to try them.
1. Mobile companies must allow a few hours of "free trial time" while consumers get used to a service.
2. A call center that takes consumers through every step and only activates charges when the consumer confirms his interest.
3.Killer content.
It comes back to great brands being built on the promise of "engage, educate, entertain".
Else these ad wars and karate-jujitsu will only make for entertaining viewing...and transfer of wealth from shareholders to advertising agencies.
Ritu and venkat
Monday, 4 May 2009
The workplace... silos or collaboration?
We were reading a note on how engaging today's workplaces are for employees. It suggested that current work place structures are a turn off for the new generation of employees coming into the workforce.
The argument being that Gen Y employees, young, energetic, idealistic seem to look for more collaborative work places...technologically alive...and often get put off by silos and IT firewalls.
We thought about this and came up with a counter question... if all work places got re-designed for the Gen Y, what would happen to Gen X? Should we expect them to change? Should we help them to change? Or should we simply replace them? (not possible numerically, unless you are in India or China)
Should we simply ignore the Gen Y employee?
If you're working with a business unit that has been around 20 years or more, don't expect a dynamic flexible environment. Be ready to see around you a lot of folks that have been around 20 years. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"....people have risen over time and doing a set of things that they expect will carry them another 20 years. Most of these units work in silos. With defined boundaries and control structures.
Find out when was the last time the organisation reworked its business process to keep in touch with its customers. Remember, you can do this before you join, and its your responsibility to do so.
Companies that are young, probably got created by young people who are more adaptable to "matrix" structures/ collaboration...or simply the lack of hierarchy.
But the surest sign of whether you fit in or not is to compare your work experience in years with the age of the business. If you've worked many years, be careful of joining a start up. If you're entering the workforce, be sure that established companies will work in established ways.
Re-organisations may lead you into silos/ or into collaborative environments. Unfortunately, what works for employee A, may not work for B. Be aware of this as you enter a workplace. Sure, you may want to change the DNA of your workplace. But the only way you will get to do that is to gain credibility by imbibing the current DNA.
Are you ready for that?
Ritu and Venkat
The argument being that Gen Y employees, young, energetic, idealistic seem to look for more collaborative work places...technologically alive...and often get put off by silos and IT firewalls.
We thought about this and came up with a counter question... if all work places got re-designed for the Gen Y, what would happen to Gen X? Should we expect them to change? Should we help them to change? Or should we simply replace them? (not possible numerically, unless you are in India or China)
Should we simply ignore the Gen Y employee?
If you're working with a business unit that has been around 20 years or more, don't expect a dynamic flexible environment. Be ready to see around you a lot of folks that have been around 20 years. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"....people have risen over time and doing a set of things that they expect will carry them another 20 years. Most of these units work in silos. With defined boundaries and control structures.
Find out when was the last time the organisation reworked its business process to keep in touch with its customers. Remember, you can do this before you join, and its your responsibility to do so.
Companies that are young, probably got created by young people who are more adaptable to "matrix" structures/ collaboration...or simply the lack of hierarchy.
But the surest sign of whether you fit in or not is to compare your work experience in years with the age of the business. If you've worked many years, be careful of joining a start up. If you're entering the workforce, be sure that established companies will work in established ways.
Re-organisations may lead you into silos/ or into collaborative environments. Unfortunately, what works for employee A, may not work for B. Be aware of this as you enter a workplace. Sure, you may want to change the DNA of your workplace. But the only way you will get to do that is to gain credibility by imbibing the current DNA.
Are you ready for that?
Ritu and Venkat
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
The power of an Apology
Please click on the title to read this note by Peter BREGMAN that we came across on the Harvard business's blog site. A very nice note on the power and the need of an apology.
We thought Peter should have gone further. Giving an apology , in our view is only step one. Something more should follow.
We hear customer service reps now start the conversation with " i'm sorry this has happened, i will try to solve it". What we tell them is "this happened last month as well....and a few months before..."
How do you accept an apology that is automated and built into a response?
How do you distinguish between a sincere apology and "systematic" one?
What stops us, over time, from getting skeptical about apologies?
An apology must lead to a correction in behavior. If this does not happen. In fact, an apology is only relevant when the apologiser understands the error of his way and the better course of action. And then decides to implement that course of action.
It used to be said that it takes courage to apologise. That's no longer true.
It takes courage to apologise and ensure the mistake is never repeated again.
Ritu and Venkat
We thought Peter should have gone further. Giving an apology , in our view is only step one. Something more should follow.
We hear customer service reps now start the conversation with " i'm sorry this has happened, i will try to solve it". What we tell them is "this happened last month as well....and a few months before..."
How do you accept an apology that is automated and built into a response?
How do you distinguish between a sincere apology and "systematic" one?
What stops us, over time, from getting skeptical about apologies?
An apology must lead to a correction in behavior. If this does not happen. In fact, an apology is only relevant when the apologiser understands the error of his way and the better course of action. And then decides to implement that course of action.
It used to be said that it takes courage to apologise. That's no longer true.
It takes courage to apologise and ensure the mistake is never repeated again.
Ritu and Venkat
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Building up a comprehensive theory of business
After 3 days of debate, and at the cost of sounding pompous, we decided to go on with the title. Do read on.....
PART A: Why industries and companies exist
- All organisations are in the business of processing information. Be it the software business/ tire business/ pharma...industries rise from the ability to convert matter from one form to another.
- Industries differ in the type of information they process.
- Within industries, companies differ in how efficiently they process the information.
Effectively, all competition boils down to innovation, which is the application of creative and original thinking to business issues.
When innovation ends, businesses become commodities.
B. The role of organisation structure:
Within companies, organisational structures are created to maximise the efficiency of information exchange. Two critical drivers of structure are therefore:
- people
- information technology
Organisation structures inherently move in the direction that best aligns its people and its information technology. Organisation structures fail when this match of people and information flow is misaligned.
i.e.
A command and control system fails when the maturity and competency of people is high and they demand more "lateral" freedom. If the access to information within the organisation is also easy, rigid structures come in the way of development of people and ideas.
A matrix structure fails when the employees have not yet learned the benefits of collaboration. Furthermore, if information is not easily available, the "gate keepers of knowledge" inherently become the power centres. The matrix fails.
When processes and systems of an organisation are insufficient for information to flow freely (horizontally and vertically) in an organisation, "politics" becomes critical.
C. Organisational Politics
Politics in an organisation, like in all other fields, is the development of power "implicitly". Implicit power is necessary when:
- explicit power is not well defined.
- explicit power is not efficient (i.e. the processes prevent recognition of the value creation within the organisation).
"Perception management", an integral part of office politics, becomes important when an organisation lacks transparency - in structure (information flow is weak and hence the performers and non-performers are both invisible) and in its processes (definition of value adding activities is actually not clear so people don't know what is expected of them).
D. Talent management:
Given that (and this is true mostly of developing economies) the number of higher level educational institutes has not kept pace with economic growth, talent is indeed scarce.
Unless organisations invest to develop talent,
- the talent it already has will disappear, seeking more competent companies.
- the dissipating talent will be hard to replace
- insufficiently trained people will be elevated higher up the organisation.
All three are key reasons to why industries rise and fall over time.
Lack of talent means lack of innovation means lack of excitement means exodus of talent.
Industries commoditise for lack of ideas. Period.
Ritu and Venkat
PART A: Why industries and companies exist
- All organisations are in the business of processing information. Be it the software business/ tire business/ pharma...industries rise from the ability to convert matter from one form to another.
- Industries differ in the type of information they process.
- Within industries, companies differ in how efficiently they process the information.
Effectively, all competition boils down to innovation, which is the application of creative and original thinking to business issues.
When innovation ends, businesses become commodities.
B. The role of organisation structure:
Within companies, organisational structures are created to maximise the efficiency of information exchange. Two critical drivers of structure are therefore:
- people
- information technology
Organisation structures inherently move in the direction that best aligns its people and its information technology. Organisation structures fail when this match of people and information flow is misaligned.
i.e.
A command and control system fails when the maturity and competency of people is high and they demand more "lateral" freedom. If the access to information within the organisation is also easy, rigid structures come in the way of development of people and ideas.
A matrix structure fails when the employees have not yet learned the benefits of collaboration. Furthermore, if information is not easily available, the "gate keepers of knowledge" inherently become the power centres. The matrix fails.
When processes and systems of an organisation are insufficient for information to flow freely (horizontally and vertically) in an organisation, "politics" becomes critical.
C. Organisational Politics
Politics in an organisation, like in all other fields, is the development of power "implicitly". Implicit power is necessary when:
- explicit power is not well defined.
- explicit power is not efficient (i.e. the processes prevent recognition of the value creation within the organisation).
"Perception management", an integral part of office politics, becomes important when an organisation lacks transparency - in structure (information flow is weak and hence the performers and non-performers are both invisible) and in its processes (definition of value adding activities is actually not clear so people don't know what is expected of them).
D. Talent management:
Given that (and this is true mostly of developing economies) the number of higher level educational institutes has not kept pace with economic growth, talent is indeed scarce.
Unless organisations invest to develop talent,
- the talent it already has will disappear, seeking more competent companies.
- the dissipating talent will be hard to replace
- insufficiently trained people will be elevated higher up the organisation.
All three are key reasons to why industries rise and fall over time.
Lack of talent means lack of innovation means lack of excitement means exodus of talent.
Industries commoditise for lack of ideas. Period.
Ritu and Venkat
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Luxury Fashion Executive Domenico De Sole: 'Stay the Course with the Brand'
(Click link to read the artical)
Published April 15, 2009 in Knowledge@Wharton, this is an interview with Domencio De Sole, the chairman of Tom Ford International, and the person believed responsible for the turnaround of Gucci in the 80s.
A fascinating discourse on brand management. Some excerpts.
Knowledge@Wharton: What kind of strategy would you suggest a luxury goods company follow?
De Sole: The strategy for all luxury goods -- and I think excellent managers understand this strategy -- should be the traditional set of managing for cash in difficult times. Watch your costs very aggressively. But, at the time same, stay the course with the brand. Discounting prices really doesn't make a lot of sense. At the end of the day, it is imperative for luxury companies to deliver good value. It doesn't mean the price has to be lower. Just make sure that whatever is delivered is a good value -- great quality, great fashion, great brand.... The savviest people know that the number one [strategy] is to stay the course.
Knowledge@Wharton: In what ways do you think that the financial downturn has changed consumers? You started out talking about this, about how consumers are now pushing back on price. They are much more sale and discount conscious. Will this be a long-term change or, as you touched on earlier, might they revert back to their old ways once the recession is over?
De Sole: Again, nobody knows the real answer. But my instinct tells me that this difficult time is going to last. It's not going to be fixed in a few months. I think that people obviously are very concerned. But my experience is that at the end of the day, the consumer forgets. People love luxury brands. Historically, if you think about it, during the Stone Age, people were buying bracelets and earrings made of stone. So it's something that's part of human nature. My sense is that things will get back to being good. The real issue is, that it's going to last some time. I think that it's going to be a year, or two, or three. But nobody knows.
ritu and venkat
Published April 15, 2009 in Knowledge@Wharton, this is an interview with Domencio De Sole, the chairman of Tom Ford International, and the person believed responsible for the turnaround of Gucci in the 80s.
A fascinating discourse on brand management. Some excerpts.
Knowledge@Wharton: What kind of strategy would you suggest a luxury goods company follow?
De Sole: The strategy for all luxury goods -- and I think excellent managers understand this strategy -- should be the traditional set of managing for cash in difficult times. Watch your costs very aggressively. But, at the time same, stay the course with the brand. Discounting prices really doesn't make a lot of sense. At the end of the day, it is imperative for luxury companies to deliver good value. It doesn't mean the price has to be lower. Just make sure that whatever is delivered is a good value -- great quality, great fashion, great brand.... The savviest people know that the number one [strategy] is to stay the course.
Knowledge@Wharton: In what ways do you think that the financial downturn has changed consumers? You started out talking about this, about how consumers are now pushing back on price. They are much more sale and discount conscious. Will this be a long-term change or, as you touched on earlier, might they revert back to their old ways once the recession is over?
De Sole: Again, nobody knows the real answer. But my instinct tells me that this difficult time is going to last. It's not going to be fixed in a few months. I think that people obviously are very concerned. But my experience is that at the end of the day, the consumer forgets. People love luxury brands. Historically, if you think about it, during the Stone Age, people were buying bracelets and earrings made of stone. So it's something that's part of human nature. My sense is that things will get back to being good. The real issue is, that it's going to last some time. I think that it's going to be a year, or two, or three. But nobody knows.
ritu and venkat
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Lessons for Indian retailers from Why we buy (Paco Underhill)
Indian demographics tilted towards the youth (and reduced wealth in older age) makes for a phenomenally different shopping experience, compared to the West.
I went back to Paco's "Why we Buy" recently, after reading his book "Call of the Mall". I was disappointed with "Call of the Mall", and went back to Why we buy to understand what it was that i enjoyed about the book when i read it in 2000.
Paco's book in 2000 was a mix of social observation and science fiction. India had maybe 3 malls back then, so it was interesting to read what we believed would be the future of Indian retailing (the science fiction part). I have always believed that Indian retailing will not pick up till we have better road connectivity. Else malls would be located in the city center where high real estate prices and immense competition would severely limit their sustainability. (this has been the case to this day)
In 2009, as i re-read the book, i still felt a bit of "science fiction " to it.
But Paco makes an interesting point. Understand your customers and build the shopping experience around it.
This got be thinking about what the profile of the Indian mall shopper is today. Specifically, the grocery shopper in the new super(hyper) markets springing up around the country. Young family: Age 27-40; husband wife with zero, one or more kids.
No baby boomers!
No single male or female shopper (very very rare).
This is a very homogeneous profile.
The aged in India are financially less well off, and would often avoid driving on the manic roads to go to a super market 15 miles away. The mom and pop store in India is definitely continuing to thrive with home delivery options keeping his customers loyal to him.
Young men and women, who live with their parents, do not shop for grocery.
Independent men and women order home delivery or shop closer to home, thereby maximising leisure time on the weekends.
The literacy rate in India is low, and it implies that a number of couples in the 35-50 age group have only recently gained upward mobility. Their use of technology is limited. A stores have a lot of "help".
1. self check out counters are non existent.
2. store workers weigh and price all non-packaged goods (fruits and vegetables. This also helps to control pilferage.
Home and apartment sizes are very small, implying that households have to shop at least once a week. Since both the husband and wife work, shopping is then a chore that has to be done. The browse to buy ration ( amount of time browsing a category before buying a product) is very low. Decisions are made on brand recognition and price. Period.
(Interestingly, supermarkets have not yet begun to integrate play areas or eating areas within the store in an attempt to prolong the visit. The idea so far has been to maximise store space with as many products and brands as possible. Consumers in a rush want convenience, not choice. The Indian grocery shopper is always in a rush)
Given these characteristics, i am surprised that malls:
- do not package all goods, including fruits. I believe this comes from the belief that Indians like to feel everything before they buy. True of my parents generation, not of mine. (and my parent's generation does not visit the super market)
- have too many brands.... when the browse to buy rate is low, this is not a good idea.
- do not offer home delivery options (within a 5 km radius for example)
Why we buy continues to be a fascinating reading and extremely relevant for a market taking its first steps to becoming a consumption society.
venkat
I went back to Paco's "Why we Buy" recently, after reading his book "Call of the Mall". I was disappointed with "Call of the Mall", and went back to Why we buy to understand what it was that i enjoyed about the book when i read it in 2000.
Paco's book in 2000 was a mix of social observation and science fiction. India had maybe 3 malls back then, so it was interesting to read what we believed would be the future of Indian retailing (the science fiction part). I have always believed that Indian retailing will not pick up till we have better road connectivity. Else malls would be located in the city center where high real estate prices and immense competition would severely limit their sustainability. (this has been the case to this day)
In 2009, as i re-read the book, i still felt a bit of "science fiction " to it.
But Paco makes an interesting point. Understand your customers and build the shopping experience around it.
This got be thinking about what the profile of the Indian mall shopper is today. Specifically, the grocery shopper in the new super(hyper) markets springing up around the country. Young family: Age 27-40; husband wife with zero, one or more kids.
No baby boomers!
No single male or female shopper (very very rare).
This is a very homogeneous profile.
The aged in India are financially less well off, and would often avoid driving on the manic roads to go to a super market 15 miles away. The mom and pop store in India is definitely continuing to thrive with home delivery options keeping his customers loyal to him.
Young men and women, who live with their parents, do not shop for grocery.
Independent men and women order home delivery or shop closer to home, thereby maximising leisure time on the weekends.
The literacy rate in India is low, and it implies that a number of couples in the 35-50 age group have only recently gained upward mobility. Their use of technology is limited. A stores have a lot of "help".
1. self check out counters are non existent.
2. store workers weigh and price all non-packaged goods (fruits and vegetables. This also helps to control pilferage.
Home and apartment sizes are very small, implying that households have to shop at least once a week. Since both the husband and wife work, shopping is then a chore that has to be done. The browse to buy ration ( amount of time browsing a category before buying a product) is very low. Decisions are made on brand recognition and price. Period.
(Interestingly, supermarkets have not yet begun to integrate play areas or eating areas within the store in an attempt to prolong the visit. The idea so far has been to maximise store space with as many products and brands as possible. Consumers in a rush want convenience, not choice. The Indian grocery shopper is always in a rush)
Given these characteristics, i am surprised that malls:
- do not package all goods, including fruits. I believe this comes from the belief that Indians like to feel everything before they buy. True of my parents generation, not of mine. (and my parent's generation does not visit the super market)
- have too many brands.... when the browse to buy rate is low, this is not a good idea.
- do not offer home delivery options (within a 5 km radius for example)
Why we buy continues to be a fascinating reading and extremely relevant for a market taking its first steps to becoming a consumption society.
venkat
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Targeting your consumers through appropriate distribution
I read this note a couple of days back (i am sure it was the businessweek online, but i am unable to trace a link to it and put it here for perusal) about HP (the computer guys) using different types of retail outlets to get closer to their customers.
Eg: a fashion/ clothes store for young women. HP places its products here- the ones that have fancy prints all over- and allows the women to use the hardware and software to try various outfits "virtually".
We think this is a wonderful idea. Ritu and I are not "mass market" marketers. We like to think about goods that cost upwards of USD50-75 a unit, hence cause consumers to think about their purchase. For brands that operate here, we recommend complete ownership of the distribution channel. i.e go online or have your own exclusive stores. Retailers take away control. If yours is a product that requires consumers to be educated, do it yourself. No retail.
What we like about HP's idea is that it allows you to be present in a wider range of stores, closer to the consumer that you want to reach. The consumr you want to reach.
Targeting your distribution. That's an exciting idea. We talk of targeting communication al lthe time....this is a step further.
And you're not keeping your entire range there. Just a relevant product that gets consumers excited about computers, feel at ease with them, and check out these new machines from HP.
What other applications can i think of? Sampling coffee in a high end retail store...where the lady (or gent) has to wait while the better half is getting the fitting correct.
Its an intresting line of thought and we will reflect more on this.
Ritu and venkat
Eg: a fashion/ clothes store for young women. HP places its products here- the ones that have fancy prints all over- and allows the women to use the hardware and software to try various outfits "virtually".
We think this is a wonderful idea. Ritu and I are not "mass market" marketers. We like to think about goods that cost upwards of USD50-75 a unit, hence cause consumers to think about their purchase. For brands that operate here, we recommend complete ownership of the distribution channel. i.e go online or have your own exclusive stores. Retailers take away control. If yours is a product that requires consumers to be educated, do it yourself. No retail.
What we like about HP's idea is that it allows you to be present in a wider range of stores, closer to the consumer that you want to reach. The consumr you want to reach.
Targeting your distribution. That's an exciting idea. We talk of targeting communication al lthe time....this is a step further.
And you're not keeping your entire range there. Just a relevant product that gets consumers excited about computers, feel at ease with them, and check out these new machines from HP.
What other applications can i think of? Sampling coffee in a high end retail store...where the lady (or gent) has to wait while the better half is getting the fitting correct.
Its an intresting line of thought and we will reflect more on this.
Ritu and venkat
Monday, 13 April 2009
marketing during an economic boom & disposable income sensitity tests
Price sensitivity tests must be accompanied by disposable income sensitivity tests as marketing teams develop the business case for launching new products.
Ok, this comment may sound very eccentric. We can't put a fix on it, but we think the logic is correct. We will continue to work on it.
"Marketing in a recession. Sales in a recession. HR in a recession." We are reading these headlines everyday. Prominent management gurus giving their inputs on how to maximise shareholder value in a recession/ downturn when consumers and employees lack confidence. We dont dispute most of these writings, except the ones that advice management to "re-look" pricing and make pricing "more attractive" (read discounts/ bulk deals etc) in a downturn.
Our take is this. Marketers should be as careful of how they market in a "boom" as they are in a "bust". More so in a boom, because these phases of expansions set up expectations (over optimistic) of the success of a brand or marketing approach. Fundamentally, does economic health determine how good a product is functioning?
-Was a Porsche a better car in 2007 than today?
-Is my Axe effect any less now than last year?
- Are the Himalayas any less beautiful today than 2 years ago?
A brand is a promise of a product/ service experience. It is based on a product and its differentiation (or lack of it). If the promise is maintained and communicated/ delivered over time, the brand becomes a signal. Fine.
Why then do consumers opt in and opt out of products, often siting economic conditions as the key. We believe that the value proposition of these consumer changes. In a boom cycle, the consumer feels richer and freer to purchase certain products which seem "an indulgence" when money is tighter. These are risky consumers and marketers must identify them early. Hence price sensitivity must be in conjunction with disposable income sensitivity to a product.
These fickle consumers will cause sales to rise during an expansionary period and decline during a recessionary period. This means that factories produce more when demand is higher, and less when it is lower.
Profits will rise in a boom, and fall in a bust. The number of consumer rises in a boom, and falls in a bust. This should not be surprising to a company. But it often is.
In fact, if the marketing processes included a sensitivity simulation of the economy on future purchases, all of these swings would be built into the business model for a new product.
1. The marketing team must start with a definition of the "core consumer" set for a product. The people for whom the product is an essential part of life.
2.Then identify Identify how sensitive the customer to a change in his disposal income. Not price sensitivity. But income sensitivity. What happens when the consumers income falls be 15%, 30%, 50%. This is a critical lesson for us from the current business environment.
3. What this will mean is that the business has identified a "economy independent" set of consumers around which its business is to be built. any new consumers in a "boom" should be taken as a bonus, and these earnings set aside in a war chest.
Any decline of consumers in the "bust" should be offset not by lowering pricing and inflating demand, but by digging into the war chest to continue R&D and marketing expenses in a low volume environment. (A sort of "oil surplus fund" that Russia created some years ago, to put aside its oil surpluses for a rainy day.)
Why should a business not work that way?
Adjust production to changes in the "peripheral" consumer set that a brand has attracted, but be focused on the core group. Pricing has no significant role to play in a recession. At least no more significant than during an expansion.
Ok, this comment may sound very eccentric. We can't put a fix on it, but we think the logic is correct. We will continue to work on it.
"Marketing in a recession. Sales in a recession. HR in a recession." We are reading these headlines everyday. Prominent management gurus giving their inputs on how to maximise shareholder value in a recession/ downturn when consumers and employees lack confidence. We dont dispute most of these writings, except the ones that advice management to "re-look" pricing and make pricing "more attractive" (read discounts/ bulk deals etc) in a downturn.
Our take is this. Marketers should be as careful of how they market in a "boom" as they are in a "bust". More so in a boom, because these phases of expansions set up expectations (over optimistic) of the success of a brand or marketing approach. Fundamentally, does economic health determine how good a product is functioning?
-Was a Porsche a better car in 2007 than today?
-Is my Axe effect any less now than last year?
- Are the Himalayas any less beautiful today than 2 years ago?
A brand is a promise of a product/ service experience. It is based on a product and its differentiation (or lack of it). If the promise is maintained and communicated/ delivered over time, the brand becomes a signal. Fine.
Why then do consumers opt in and opt out of products, often siting economic conditions as the key. We believe that the value proposition of these consumer changes. In a boom cycle, the consumer feels richer and freer to purchase certain products which seem "an indulgence" when money is tighter. These are risky consumers and marketers must identify them early. Hence price sensitivity must be in conjunction with disposable income sensitivity to a product.
These fickle consumers will cause sales to rise during an expansionary period and decline during a recessionary period. This means that factories produce more when demand is higher, and less when it is lower.
Profits will rise in a boom, and fall in a bust. The number of consumer rises in a boom, and falls in a bust. This should not be surprising to a company. But it often is.
In fact, if the marketing processes included a sensitivity simulation of the economy on future purchases, all of these swings would be built into the business model for a new product.
1. The marketing team must start with a definition of the "core consumer" set for a product. The people for whom the product is an essential part of life.
2.Then identify Identify how sensitive the customer to a change in his disposal income. Not price sensitivity. But income sensitivity. What happens when the consumers income falls be 15%, 30%, 50%. This is a critical lesson for us from the current business environment.
3. What this will mean is that the business has identified a "economy independent" set of consumers around which its business is to be built. any new consumers in a "boom" should be taken as a bonus, and these earnings set aside in a war chest.
Any decline of consumers in the "bust" should be offset not by lowering pricing and inflating demand, but by digging into the war chest to continue R&D and marketing expenses in a low volume environment. (A sort of "oil surplus fund" that Russia created some years ago, to put aside its oil surpluses for a rainy day.)
Why should a business not work that way?
Adjust production to changes in the "peripheral" consumer set that a brand has attracted, but be focused on the core group. Pricing has no significant role to play in a recession. At least no more significant than during an expansion.
Friday, 3 April 2009
if you care mr.ceo, show it
For over a year i have struggled with the customer service approach of a large mobile service provider whose network carries my calls.
My monthly billing is very high (compared to Indian usage rates) and i should be easily among the top 5% of their customers in terms of revenue generated. And yet, i am treated with suspicion, and made to feel irrelevant.
A bill goes missing, i am told it will take 8 days. Since i have already paid the bill and only require a copy for official records, i ask why 8 days to send a bill by email. No reason...its policy. So i talk to the supervisor...." i will do it for you today (and only because its you)", he says. 24 hours later, nothing. So i call back, a new supervisor promises the same. 24 hours later nothing. By now i am feeling like they are taking me for a ride. No one seems to be interested in solving the problem...just closing the call.
So i call some friends working in the company and behold- the bill appears the next day.
And all this while, i am left with a feeling of helplessness. When i want to report the incident to the supervisor's manager, i am given an email id which says that i should get a response in 8 days. I want to be heard today. Not 8 days later.
I am bitter. I know that this company has perhaps the best network in the country, i cannot shift. So i must continue to suffer their indifference.
Bitterness, frustration are outcomes of a sense of helplessness. I felt the same way when i met the school bully! Till i threw my first punch at him.
What right does a company, that exists because i buy its services, have to make me bitter?
On a marketing blog, my own feelings are irrelevant. What's useful is that i have reflected now on what customer service processes should achieve:
- listen to the customer. Understand his problem.
- treat the customer as you would like to be treated. Dont mess with his time. And behave as you would if you were standing in front of him, and not in some undisclosed part of the world.
- empower the customer (and your front line staff to solve problems, not just pass on the buck). If you can, give the customer some alternatives and let him choose his solution.
- close the issue in the first call. Or stay with the customer and the issue till it is closed.
I do not spend time with people that do not respect me.
I had a vastly different customer service experience with the Taj group of hotels, just as recently. (www.tajsafaris.com). I had a problem with a policy, the lady at the desk said she could not sort it out. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She could not sort it out and suggested i email. When i said i would not email, she offered to connect me to her boss.
In an ideal world i would have liked her to sort out my problem. But i noticed that this was an organisation where senior management were not afraid to come in front of their customers. They did not hide behind emails. I got his mobile number and called.
The gentleman said he understood the problem, and would look into it and get back to me. If there was a reasonable chance of sorting it out in my favour, he would.
I dont care anymore that he does not sort out my problem. But by giving me his mobile number and direct email id, he showed that he trusted me. He heard me out.
Some organisations may be in the service business and some may be in the manufacturing. But all customer service departments are in the customer contact business. There can be no excuse for not respecting the one reason why a company is in business. The customer.
Venkat
My monthly billing is very high (compared to Indian usage rates) and i should be easily among the top 5% of their customers in terms of revenue generated. And yet, i am treated with suspicion, and made to feel irrelevant.
A bill goes missing, i am told it will take 8 days. Since i have already paid the bill and only require a copy for official records, i ask why 8 days to send a bill by email. No reason...its policy. So i talk to the supervisor...." i will do it for you today (and only because its you)", he says. 24 hours later, nothing. So i call back, a new supervisor promises the same. 24 hours later nothing. By now i am feeling like they are taking me for a ride. No one seems to be interested in solving the problem...just closing the call.
So i call some friends working in the company and behold- the bill appears the next day.
And all this while, i am left with a feeling of helplessness. When i want to report the incident to the supervisor's manager, i am given an email id which says that i should get a response in 8 days. I want to be heard today. Not 8 days later.
I am bitter. I know that this company has perhaps the best network in the country, i cannot shift. So i must continue to suffer their indifference.
Bitterness, frustration are outcomes of a sense of helplessness. I felt the same way when i met the school bully! Till i threw my first punch at him.
What right does a company, that exists because i buy its services, have to make me bitter?
On a marketing blog, my own feelings are irrelevant. What's useful is that i have reflected now on what customer service processes should achieve:
- listen to the customer. Understand his problem.
- treat the customer as you would like to be treated. Dont mess with his time. And behave as you would if you were standing in front of him, and not in some undisclosed part of the world.
- empower the customer (and your front line staff to solve problems, not just pass on the buck). If you can, give the customer some alternatives and let him choose his solution.
- close the issue in the first call. Or stay with the customer and the issue till it is closed.
I do not spend time with people that do not respect me.
I had a vastly different customer service experience with the Taj group of hotels, just as recently. (www.tajsafaris.com). I had a problem with a policy, the lady at the desk said she could not sort it out. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She could not sort it out and suggested i email. When i said i would not email, she offered to connect me to her boss.
In an ideal world i would have liked her to sort out my problem. But i noticed that this was an organisation where senior management were not afraid to come in front of their customers. They did not hide behind emails. I got his mobile number and called.
The gentleman said he understood the problem, and would look into it and get back to me. If there was a reasonable chance of sorting it out in my favour, he would.
I dont care anymore that he does not sort out my problem. But by giving me his mobile number and direct email id, he showed that he trusted me. He heard me out.
Some organisations may be in the service business and some may be in the manufacturing. But all customer service departments are in the customer contact business. There can be no excuse for not respecting the one reason why a company is in business. The customer.
Venkat
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Power Pricing
...by Robert J. Dolan (Author), Hermann Simon (Author)
A very interesting book indeed, I would recommend it to managers looking to sensitise themselves to Pricing without getting into very technical treatment.
As a pricing manager myself for the Western European region, I had the opportunity to apply a lot of pricing concepts. And the application of pricing is a tremendous source of competitive advantage.
For example, elasticity. How much more or less do consumers buy given a price decrease (or increase). Now consider a company that sells through multiple channels….wholesalers/ retailers/ the internet.
How is channel elasticity different for each trade channel. How much saving does awareness of this fact, generate for a company.
Product elasctities. Consider than you have 50 SKUs of a single product. Elasticity for toothpastes may not be the same as the elasticity for a “tooth whitening” paste or a “breath freshening” paste.
Or that a 200g paste has a different elasticity than a 100g paste. Do you capture such variations?
Then the entire notion of price setting itself. Does a new product always have to be priced high. (Not if the product category is old and very competitive!)
What market place parameters influence pricing? In the auto industry, for example, the Original equipment Manufacturers are never keen to give more than 30% of the component business related to a particular model to one supplier. They create competition.
How about the fact that some consumers hang on to really outdated car models (not as old as antiques, but old enough). The tires on those cars could be a very old design. Yet, the “hockey Stick” concept suggests that as the product enters its “end of life” phase, it may present an opportunity to increase prices so as to milk the last sales from its die-hard customers. Wow.
Another interesting topic was the flow of goods between countries. A “price corridor” is now the recommended answer, suggesting that some countries increase prices and others decrease prices so that the differential between them is low enough to discourage price flows. It raises a very deep question: Do grey market flows happen because prices are out of equilibrium or that supply and demand are not synchronised in a particular market. Figure this out before you attack pricing, else even the smallest differentials are sufficient for some intermediaries to act.
Consumer goods in competitive markets represent very interesting pricing challenges. My request to any practitioner is to start with the questions:
- What does this product do for the consumer
- How does the consumer value this benefit from the product?
Most of us take the market prices as a given while position new entrants. Its simpler. But knowing what value products create in the lives of consumers, and maximising this is a very important goal of the marketing team.
Venkat
A very interesting book indeed, I would recommend it to managers looking to sensitise themselves to Pricing without getting into very technical treatment.
As a pricing manager myself for the Western European region, I had the opportunity to apply a lot of pricing concepts. And the application of pricing is a tremendous source of competitive advantage.
For example, elasticity. How much more or less do consumers buy given a price decrease (or increase). Now consider a company that sells through multiple channels….wholesalers/ retailers/ the internet.
How is channel elasticity different for each trade channel. How much saving does awareness of this fact, generate for a company.
Product elasctities. Consider than you have 50 SKUs of a single product. Elasticity for toothpastes may not be the same as the elasticity for a “tooth whitening” paste or a “breath freshening” paste.
Or that a 200g paste has a different elasticity than a 100g paste. Do you capture such variations?
Then the entire notion of price setting itself. Does a new product always have to be priced high. (Not if the product category is old and very competitive!)
What market place parameters influence pricing? In the auto industry, for example, the Original equipment Manufacturers are never keen to give more than 30% of the component business related to a particular model to one supplier. They create competition.
How about the fact that some consumers hang on to really outdated car models (not as old as antiques, but old enough). The tires on those cars could be a very old design. Yet, the “hockey Stick” concept suggests that as the product enters its “end of life” phase, it may present an opportunity to increase prices so as to milk the last sales from its die-hard customers. Wow.
Another interesting topic was the flow of goods between countries. A “price corridor” is now the recommended answer, suggesting that some countries increase prices and others decrease prices so that the differential between them is low enough to discourage price flows. It raises a very deep question: Do grey market flows happen because prices are out of equilibrium or that supply and demand are not synchronised in a particular market. Figure this out before you attack pricing, else even the smallest differentials are sufficient for some intermediaries to act.
Consumer goods in competitive markets represent very interesting pricing challenges. My request to any practitioner is to start with the questions:
- What does this product do for the consumer
- How does the consumer value this benefit from the product?
Most of us take the market prices as a given while position new entrants. Its simpler. But knowing what value products create in the lives of consumers, and maximising this is a very important goal of the marketing team.
Venkat
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Backlash: How Early Adopters React When the Mass Market Embraces a New Brand
A very interesting note that appeared in the Knowledge@Wharton site (click title to view). Written by Wharton marketing professors David Reibstein and John Zhang who explain that a company could experience a backlash as its early adopters move on to other new products because of the arrival of the "mass market" consumers.
We believe this to be true and have written elsewhere in this blog of the need for companies to make a choice. Value or volume market share?
http://rituvenkat12.blogspot.com/2007/07/market-share-or-profitability.html
In a globally competitive market, no company has simultaneously gained volume market share while maintaining premium pricing. we think Starbucks went wrong there. We think Apple is at risk- so is Nokia.
ritu and venkat
We believe this to be true and have written elsewhere in this blog of the need for companies to make a choice. Value or volume market share?
http://rituvenkat12.blogspot.com/2007/07/market-share-or-profitability.html
In a globally competitive market, no company has simultaneously gained volume market share while maintaining premium pricing. we think Starbucks went wrong there. We think Apple is at risk- so is Nokia.
ritu and venkat
Friday, 20 March 2009
The Easiest Way to Change People's Behavior
Peter Bregman writes this on the Harvard Business blog (click title to read).
We really liked the note. It says you can change behavior, and we buy the argument.
The reason we discussed it however is that we decided to view this note given the context of working in multinational corporations where people are all not speaking the same language...literally. Some speak English, some have French as mother tongue, others Chinese, German....and sitting folks from across the world in a meeting is a very interesting experience.
People are embarrassed to make mistakes in public. When its their language that is full of mistakes, its really hard on them. As well as on the people listening. Are people able to contribute best in a foreign language. Should all 100,000 employees undergo mandatory english language training? At what cost? (time and money). Is this compensated by better productivity? Will our competitors not leapfrog us with incremental improvements in the meanwhile? How do we measure all this?
The organisation should have a common language.
But it is not as easy to achieve this as we would like. And its a fascinating, humbling experience to bridge communication gaps in a multicultural world (or country- India).
Think about it.
Ritu and Venkat.
We really liked the note. It says you can change behavior, and we buy the argument.
The reason we discussed it however is that we decided to view this note given the context of working in multinational corporations where people are all not speaking the same language...literally. Some speak English, some have French as mother tongue, others Chinese, German....and sitting folks from across the world in a meeting is a very interesting experience.
People are embarrassed to make mistakes in public. When its their language that is full of mistakes, its really hard on them. As well as on the people listening. Are people able to contribute best in a foreign language. Should all 100,000 employees undergo mandatory english language training? At what cost? (time and money). Is this compensated by better productivity? Will our competitors not leapfrog us with incremental improvements in the meanwhile? How do we measure all this?
The organisation should have a common language.
But it is not as easy to achieve this as we would like. And its a fascinating, humbling experience to bridge communication gaps in a multicultural world (or country- India).
Think about it.
Ritu and Venkat.
Disney features it's first black princess
I think Disney announced this way back in 2007 (not sure), but i read the note today (click on title).
And i think its wonderful. Disney is reflecting the diversity of society in its film. And its great. Beacause kids will see this film in huge numbers.
And they will see a market leader (market educator) and massive entertainer reaffirming the social context that they find themselves in.
I hope kids will be also assured that beauty has no color... and yet it comes in every color.
I hope kids speak about why such and such character was black and not the other one. And i hope that their teachers and parents tell them that good and evil have no color codes. To remove bias/ to mold behavior...we need to begin early.
This is a wonderful step. I hope companies in India take on this kind of role.
Market leaders ENGAGE, EDUCATE and ENTERTAIN.
Not just make fancy ads using the latest technologies. But remind consumers of the world they live in and of the impact that their every choice has on the world.
Saving the environment is a message that can be built into every product and service. Yet it is not.
Conserving Energy. Recycling/ Reusing.... its up to large corporations to take the leading role in shaping how future generations think.
For too long corporations have motivated consumers to pamper themselves and satisfy their every need.
Lets find some corporations that talk to their consumers about appropriate levels of consumption. About personal responsibility. And this can be made fun.
It just needs some real leadership.
And i think its wonderful. Disney is reflecting the diversity of society in its film. And its great. Beacause kids will see this film in huge numbers.
And they will see a market leader (market educator) and massive entertainer reaffirming the social context that they find themselves in.
I hope kids will be also assured that beauty has no color... and yet it comes in every color.
I hope kids speak about why such and such character was black and not the other one. And i hope that their teachers and parents tell them that good and evil have no color codes. To remove bias/ to mold behavior...we need to begin early.
This is a wonderful step. I hope companies in India take on this kind of role.
Market leaders ENGAGE, EDUCATE and ENTERTAIN.
Not just make fancy ads using the latest technologies. But remind consumers of the world they live in and of the impact that their every choice has on the world.
Saving the environment is a message that can be built into every product and service. Yet it is not.
Conserving Energy. Recycling/ Reusing.... its up to large corporations to take the leading role in shaping how future generations think.
For too long corporations have motivated consumers to pamper themselves and satisfy their every need.
Lets find some corporations that talk to their consumers about appropriate levels of consumption. About personal responsibility. And this can be made fun.
It just needs some real leadership.
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