A Time To Reflect

charukesi February 29th, 2008

Some odds and ends for the weekend…

A compilation of Indian blogs on marketing, social media and advertising. Good weekend reading. I know / know of many of these people but not their blogs, or even that they had one, so it’s been a nice surprise to discover some of them…

And from The Chasing iamb (who also admits - and why blog names should not be picked in a hurry) - sound advice for the freelancer. Where was the iamb when I needed this advice when I was starting out as a naive, will-cringe-and-die-before-I-discuss-money freelancer? Possibly chasing something else.

Heck, I may as well admit, I am still that way. Earlier as a researcher, now also as a travel writer. So this stays bookmarked and becomes daily reading. Repeat after me, you are a freelancer for the freedom and choice it affords you. Not so you get desperate and panicky if no work comes your way for a whole week, month, year. Okay, maybe not year. Go read now. There is a reason I have linked to it twice.

And while on this (rambling without purpose - and is there any other way?), today’s Mumbai Mirror, reporting on the Deshmukh son’s wedding (notice the url ends with english-skin-custom. So nothing. Just thought I’d point it out. I told you I was rambling) in Mumbai says among other things - The state Cabinet was represented by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil and his colleagues. Marketing Minister Harshwardhan Patil was playing host for the Deshmukhs.

Marketing Minister? What does a marketing minister do? Does he have weekly / monthly / quarterly targets? And sales support? What about business development? And most importantly, what does he market?

• Advertising , Branding and Marketing
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charukesi February 28th, 2008

The Tibetan book of living - in Mint Lounge last weekend…

Available online here. Or head to my travel blog - Itchy Feet…

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charukesi February 27th, 2008

Time was when, finding myself otherwise jobless (which is all the time) I used to head to rediff.com for my daily dose of entertainment. Insipid stories, terribly written out - but the comments following the articles making every moment spent on the site worth it.

It just seems to be getting worse… The problem is when good writers sneak in their pieces when no one (viz. me) is looking - and the same kind of comments show up.

In February, Sidin’s hilarious How to score a Valentine’s date in 10 days! attracted 86 comments, ranging from the mildly abusive…

v-date,bulshit
by Supriya mehta on Feb 09, 2008 12:31 PM | Hide replies

Hi,Ithink your analysis about girl is totally incorrect,& u has enough time to spend , making showoffs, did you personally ever tried the same,kindly lets us know the result,it’s a totally rottan idea.

…to the sincerely woeful…

Valentine’s Date
by cute plumcake on Feb 09, 2008 10:52 AM | Hide replies

Sidin these are cheap tricks yaar… to find a soul mate you need to be truthful to yourself and lovable..

I mean, how can one not feel all warm and fuzzy about ‘cute plumcake’?

Immediately after that, Anita’s travel piece on Top romantic spots for a perfect Valentine’s Day. The comments which are as always irrelevant or rude, suddenly take a turn towards ‘down with western culture’ - India survived for corers of years without vanentines day. Only two hundred year old country like USA is teaching us the way of expressing such love. New generation is falling for it.

Corers of years. Indeed.

This commenter Jayant Tilak goes on and on, to end with - Only those can respond, who can give their very considered opinion. No foolish comments expected please.

And poor Palani was disappointed, he expected to find out about erogenous spots and found himself reading about cool getaways instead - and suggests rediff has manipulated the title to attract readers like him - why not call it places instead of spots, he asks.

I mean, what? When is rediff going to get a comments filter or any kind of policy at all? On writing, reading, commenting…

So, here is what I have been wondering - why would good writers want to write for rediff?

• - New media
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charukesi February 26th, 2008

I came across this piece on how advertising agencies position themselves - most of it seemed rather obvious or desperate to me (but that is the cynical advertising-industry-watcher in me speaking) - for instance a brand’s best friend? hey, isn’t that supposed to be the customer? And hey, that is anyway why you are the chosen agency for that brand…

I was trying to find positioning statements of Indian ad agencies and haven’t made much progress so far. But driving back to Bombay from Pune, I spotted this on the expressway.

A bold, provocative statement. Written by someone with great confidence and plans for the SMG brand. And as risky as the proposed business decision…

Personally, I found it the kind of attention-seeking statement that immediately raises my heckles - for I was reminded of this signboard on a shop window - Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come to us. What do you think of such a statement?

More : As Apu points out in her comment, none of these is really a ‘positioning’ statement - at best, they are tag lines, much the way keeps my skin smooth is for a soap brand - that is the very least I expect from a soap. And going by the tag lines, there is little to differentiate one agency from the other.

Given that, I think the Starcom statement is atleast, well, different. Provocative, as I said, cheeky and makes you want to stop and think about it. So what makes them so brashly confident? What is it that they can offer that makes the risk worthwhile… I wonder if an additional line about the risk-benefit pay-off would make this whole ad more balanced, acceptable…?

• Advertising , Branding and Marketing
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charukesi February 21st, 2008

The lesser known Dubai, in today’s HT Cafe… (as always, link valid only for a week, so read now, else see photo and sigh deeply in regret for having missed the article)

More photographs from the colors and chaos of Dubai here…

You can read the article here…

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charukesi February 19th, 2008

Pepsi does it again. Proved that when you hit rock bottom, it is still possible to plumb newer depths. And there I was, thinking it couldn’t get worse than Oye Bubbly. Following that, John Abraham appeared with Shah Rukh Khan in a mercifully brief Chacha-Bhatija campaign and with winter came blessed relief from Cola advertising.

And out of the blue, this. Youngistaan? And just in case you start looking on the map for it, Youngistaan is not a place, it is an attitude. Ah, ok. Not a newly formed state, adjoining Chattisgarh. Youngistaan, a (moronic) state of mind.

As the name suggests, it represents a world of the youth, where the young generation likes to be in control. It brings forward their never failing attitude, their desire to take on challenges and the power to turn things around. Right. I am still trying to figure out which part of the name suggests all this to the brains (heh?!) behind this campaign. What it does suggest to me is a slight desperation…

Look at me, I am young. At heart. Eh, Speak up, will you? I don’t hear very well these days.

Give me steady sensible thanda matlab Coca Cola any day…

• Advertising , Branding and Marketing
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charukesi February 15th, 2008

Browsing through TV channels this evening after a long time, I saw an ad for secondshaadi.com (alright, so it has been ages since I watched television, not counting peripheral vision soaps when I find myself in Chennai). Old woman, old man, young girl, small kid, each of them talks to someone off-screen, listen to me… Indian “culture” being what it is and all that, this website sounds like an interesting idea. For one, it starts off with expectations being practical and realistic - no fair, convent-educated, homely… And both partners know (hopefully) what they are looking for and why they are on that site.

I immediately hopped over to the site, and what do you know - they have pages devoted to tips to make the second marriage successful. Surely, the apprehension and uncertainty is much more. This article says that secondshaadi.com had 20000 registered users within four months of launch. The brain behind this, Vivek Pahwa says here, While 30 per cent of our registered users are woman, 58 per cent are from top seven Indian cities, 30 per cent from smaller cities and 12 per cent from overseas, showing all parts of the society are welcoming the idea. Especially women in smaller towns - for whom the “stigma” is possibly stronger. The article also mentions other niche websites - positiveshaadi.com for HIV positive people, and idontwantdowry.com.- which incidentally, has women who have registered - so a site for those who do not want to give or take dowry. Now to go check these sites out.

• Pot-pourri , Society & Development
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charukesi February 13th, 2008

Just 1,411 tigers in India - and the National Tiger Conservation Authority says if error margins are taken into account, the tiger population may range between 1,165 and 1,657. And to think the government has been “serious” about conservation since Project Tiger was started in 1973 - for thirty five years now. But oh wait, the government has been serious about poverty removal and education for all for many more years than that. So…

Here is the sole tigress I spotted at Ranthambhore…

Have a look at Aditya Singh’s fabulous photographs of tigers at Ranthambhore park - Aditya along with wife Poonam run Ranthambhore Bagh - soon such photographs are all we may have left of these gorgeous animals.

• Indiawatch
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charukesi January 28th, 2008

This month, a cover story in Windows & Aisles (the inflight magazine of Paramount Airways) - ‘ballet in the backwaters‘…

And in HT Cafe, an ode to the sun - a piece on Konark ‘the wheel of time‘ (Though why it was filed under ‘Indian Odyssey’ I cannot understand - ‘Indian Odissi’ was what I thought it was… heh!)

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charukesi January 23rd, 2008

I have been interested in the idea of Ayush since I first heard about it - a collabortion between Arya Vaidya Pharmacy in Coimbatore and Unilever. I was tempted to visit the local centre in Vashi for a while now, but somehow I was sceptical about the idea of corporatized Ayurveda. I mean, how authentic can branded, neatly packaged ayurveda be. Not for me, well dressed (in spotless clothes - where does all the oil go?) women and feather touch massages with pleasant smelling, even fragrant oils. That is cosmetic, a feel-good massage if you will, even when sold as the “ancient science of ayurveda” - as it is all over Kerala and Goa. For me, the genuine stuff is that which is oily, smelly and otherwise sensorially unpleasant! In other words, therapeutic and healing.

I finally walked into Ayush here at Vashi after two whole weeks of insomnia thanks to one of the worst attacks of fibromyalgia in recent times. I was tired of living with the pain and not being able to escape for the usual eight hours at night either. I was tired of not sleeping all night and waking up feeling exhausted. and I was tired of the double life I was leading - trying to be “normal” and cheerful through the day while fighting the pain. But that is not new for me, And that is neither here nor there.

At Ayush, I am happy to discover all the familiar and comforting elements - including the smelly oils and the awful kashayams and a doctor with a reassuring heavy Malayalam accent - packaged well and presented in a do-good meets feel-good manner. I have been going there for two days now and I am willing to give the treatment course a chance. As long as the authenticity of the treatment is preserved, I have decided I do not care if the attendants wear spotless uniforms and the medicines are given out in an Ayush branded carry bag (though what is inside is the real thing - as I know from several months of consuming them).

There is something to be said for consistency, a range of such clinics across the country, supported by the solid knowledge of the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy. And who better to take this as a project than Unilever with its distribution reach and range of products that include bestsellers like the safe-for-skin Hamam. Apart from therapies and traditional medicine, they also have a range of products - from the website, the Ayush Spa Range is classified into products that protect (Rakshak), nurture (Poshak) and eliminate or reduce discomfort (Naashak) - and this too I am willing to overlook kindly, having experienced the treatment at the center.

• The World of Indsight
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