Flip Service...

Finished reading the book Flip by Peter Sheahan. The book, as you may have guessed, is about doing the opposite of what conventional wisdom suggests.

Things to note...in no particular order:

- Sheahan says "there is no wisdom in crowds" and goes on to qualify that by saying crowds don't innovate but only validate an innovation. I don't, obviously, agree. To my mind, what is meant by "wisdom of crowds" is not that groups innovate as a single entity but that groups are a breeding ground for ideas as a consequence of conversations, combination of knowledge, brainstorming and so forth.

Happy to get that out of the way. Now, to some of the things I was able to relate to....

- Pg 65. "Only after making the decision emotionally do we call upon our cognitive processes to rationalize our behaviour" [Fascinating and quite true I guess!There are times when I've surprised myself after having to justify something in retrospect. But this could even be what Malcolm Gladwell's Blink is all about]

- As I read one of the chapters on how consumers decide to purchase something it made me ponder over how, many of us buy something not because we may identify with the brand and what it stands for completely but more because we want the world to associate us with that brand and what it stands for. (Drink Sprite if you want to be seen as a straightforward and blunt person. You may however not really be such a straightforward person! Drink Miranda if you want to appear a little crazy and lighthearted etc)

- The last two chapters were the most exciting part of the book. These were about "giving up control to get it" and "action before clarity". One of the examples that the author refers to, to demonstrate how giving up control can lead to success, is how TV programs have now changed with many reality shows now involving the audience and even letting them make decisions. For me, personally, the last chapter was a hard slap on the face. Sheahan has penned a very compelling and inspiring chapter on how we should not wait too long for clarity to emerge before doing something and sometimes it would be just right to take the plunge. He assures and convinces the reader that clarity will follow action. (That reminded me of some situations wherein I gave up on some colleagues who I thought will provide clarity and instead decided to let them come back with comments after we'd put something in place. Adopting such an approach is a lot less frustrating than waiting for information and understanding...though in the long run, it may mean more wastage in terms of time, effort and resources. Also, one needs to then grit one's teeth and bear the irony of accepting comments and inputs that could have very well been provided earlier)

ReTALE

I watched an interesting program on the Retail industry – specifically on innovations in Supermarkets – on the History Channel last week and found it to be fascinating. I think I missed the first part of the program and only managed to see the last 15-20 minutes of it but even that was so very exciting to watch.

There was talk about how supermarket owners once noticed customers struggling with their baskets when picking up items from the shelves after which someone invented the supermarket trolleys (the inspiration was a folding chair whose seat was replaced with a steel carrier). What surprised me was that it apparently took no less than 10 years for the trolley to then evolve into some of the versions we see today! Latter versions of the trolley had flexible backs in order to allow for another trolley to be rolled into it when being piled up. Then, they thought of double carriers, child carriers, trolley locks etc. With recent technological developments, some supermarkets are experimenting with electronic devices that fit into the trolleys and help customers a) locate the shelves that the products they want to buy are on b) scan their products on the fly and calculate their total purchase as they pick up their items thus saving a lot of time at the cash counter c) scan and even compare the stuff that they pick up with standard products etc

It is predicted that with the advancement of RFID technology, all the customer will have to do is walk out of the shop through a panel that automatically scans all the products in the bag and the customer’s credit card and deducts the amount owed by her! Wow! Imagine that!

One more aspect of supermarkets that the program covered was the design of the layout and the placement of products based on buyer psychology. (I’d earlier read about this in my marketing books.) Extremely intriguing stuff! Fresh fruits are placed right in front so they add to the colour of the place, the perishables that people are bound to purchase often are right at the back of the shop as that means people will have to walk through the aisles and may end up buying more than what they planned for (I don’t like such manipulation though), in-supermarket bakeries are encouraged as they lend aroma to the place and make people linger on while munching cakes and cookies etc.

Methinks every damn (routine) thing on earth can be made more exciting than it seems to be at first, provided we believe in and genuinely focus on improving the customer-experience and get the creative juices flowing! :-) Inspires me to ponder over improving some of the routine stuff I am involved in….

Note: Just realized that I'd made a whole bunch of mistakes in this post. Why was I in such a hurry to post it? Anyway, I've corrected all of them now. (Detects instead of deducts, later instead of latter....pshaw!)

Wassup Doc?

Three things that are capturing people’s (and my) attention of late!

Zoozoo

Google Wave

And…..Bing!

H’mm. The world needs its Zoozooz, Wavez and Bingz! :-) Have you been following any of these or, even better, predicting how the world is going to change after being subjected to one or more of these? Ah..well, Zoozoo may not necessarily change the world but it could definitely change the face of advertising!

Change Management = Made to Stick+Tipping Point

Here's an interesting post that brings together E 2.0, the curse of knowledge, evangelization and the 'Made to Stick' concepts. Thought I'd link it up here as it reminds me of my own pet concept of communicating something via a catchy acronym (or tag line) apart from reflecting some of my personal experiences on what constitutes a 'sticky' idea.

Extract from the post which in turn must be an extract from the book, 'Made to Stick':

===============================
Made to Stick: Ideas that are successful follow the SUCCES acronym..

Simple — find the core of any idea. Focus on that
Unexpected — grab people's attention by surprising them
Concrete — make sure an idea is real and not too theoretical
Credibility — give an idea believability allow people to test it themselves.
Emotion — help people see the importance of an idea by tapping emotions
Stories — Stories are great ways to achieve all above
===============================

Coincidentally, I've been pondering over these things of late as you can observe from some of my recent musings on twitter...(read bottom-up)

And, finally, I am convinced that these ideas when combined with the Tipping Point concepts will form a significant force in any Change Management initiative. I have been playing around with these ideas for a bit and, going forward, would love to carve a 'story' out of my experiences. Let's see where it goes...! :-)

I am quite convinced that Made to Stick and Tipping Point are two books that provide an immense amount of raw material for anyone wanting to embark on a Change Management initiative...

Communication and KM

Not bad. I am finally beginning to make good (on second thoughts, it should be "some" instead of "good"!) progress with the KM initiative. An application that's a lot better and effective as compared to the previous one. A newsletter. A blog. And now...a micro-blogging platform! Yeah! Going to be positive and will hope for the best. I think utilizing every possible communication channel that is available, is very critical for the success of any KM initiative! :-) Wish me luck!

Stains are Good!

Been a long time since I discovered and/or wrote about examples of paradox thinking. You may know this if you're a keen observer of advertising in the Indian Media......especially visual media. There was a time when all advertisers demonstrated the pain of removing stains from clothes. The advertisement would be focused on proving how easy it was to remove stains with the product under question as compared to other competitive products. Period.

And then....someone in the advertising world suddenly woke up and thought otherwise. He/she adopted paradox thinking and created a lovely advertisement that said "Stains are good!". It shook most of us. We were intrigued. We wanted to know why. We wanted to understand the logic behind it. We thoroughly enjoyed the first such ad. It showed two little siblings get closer when the girl fell into a mud puddle and the brother pretended to fight with the puddle for what it had 'done' to his little sister. There were more such advertisements following the resounding success of the first. The advts. revolved around how stains could bring people closer, stop fights on the road, and- the latest - stop someone's hiccups. (I wonder if I missed any other such advts. given that I am not a regular TV-watcher). The subtle message, of course, was that we should not avoid stains when they could do so much good and the product under question was anyway available for removing stains in a jiffy! :-)

I love all these advts. I am sure they've had an impact on most people. Proves that one of the best ways to bring some excitement into life is through paradox thinking. Have you experienced it?

Canara Bank can probably Bank on Cannes 2008...!

It's been ages since I wrote about advertisements, a subject I love thinking and talking about. I've been fascinated by ads and have been occasionally sharing my thoughts on the good and bad ones on this blog. But it's been a long time since I watched an ad that I found to be really awesome. Ah...well, that's partly because I haven't been watching any ads at all in the first place. ;) I'd probably be walking past the TV into my room and only an ad that had a true magnetic appeal would have made me stop and look. Anyways, I caught up with more TV than usual in the past few days and came across an ad that I think is definitely excellent material. It struck a chord in me immediately. Made me smile.

Canara Bank is undergoing an Identity and Brand makeover that sounds exciting. It has made a few ads to reach out to the people and communicate its new 'attitude'. I saw two different ads on the same theme and suspect that there probably are some more on the same lines. The ads are extremely good. I loved everything about them - the theme, the storyline, the actors, the art et al. In case you've not seen any of them, underlying this new branding exercise is the theme "We all change for the ones we love". The communication highlights the change of the Canara Bank Logo and that they've adopted more cutting-edge technology but have retained the smile that's on their lips while servicing customers. Hmm. The ads that I caught on TV were:

- A South-Indian woman meticulously learning Punjabi (mainly through soliloquy; commenting to herself on general day-to-day things that she does) much to the surprise of her husband. The climax of the advt. is when they go to the airport to receive her son and Punjabi daughter-in-law that - one would assume - they meet for the first time ever, and the mother-in-law welcomes her in Punjabi. Cute! :)

- A young woman learning the basics of cricket and even purchasing the Indian Team's Blue T (and optimistically checking with the shop-keeper if the T is available in pink ;-) :-D). The climax is when the hubby is watching a match and expresses disappointment about a shot and the wife while casually walking past the place says "He should have hit a square slice!"... :-) only to be corrected by the husband. Very cute! :)

Both the ads are wrapped up with the tag line "We all change for the ones we love". Very cute ads, both of them. Kudos to the team that conceived and made this. I can't stop admiring them for now. :)

Makes me think that the Canara Bank ads will probably make it to the top of the Cannes list this year! Good luck to them!

PS: Well, that may have been the story of the ads. But I've always - naively, perhaps - expected organizations to live their ads. To reflect the spirit of their communication in every way possible and have - obviously - been disappointed more often than not. I hope Canara Bank did enough to help its employees imbibe the spirit of their new identity and brand and reflect a 'real' change - which is what will bring true merit to their ads.

Paradox - Tagline

Late realization....but, Adidas seems to have used paradoxical thinking for its tagline.

Nothing is impossible is the way we all know it....
Adidas says "Impossible is nothing!"

What? :-)

Blogging Philosophy

Skip this post if you’re not interested in complicated thoughts about the marketing of blogs :)

A recent comment from a new friend in blogosphere indicates that I may not be doing enough to market this blog. It’s funny, but I am one of those people who are immensely attracted to the concepts of branding and advertising (ethical and genuine campaigns only) and have invested a lot of time and effort in marketing and branding - for example - KM initiatives in my organization. But when it comes to my blog, I am not very keen to market it or brand it. I’d rather keep blogging like nothing mattered and let blog-readers enter this blog at their own risk. I don’t want to be sued for ‘over selling’ a crazy blog :) Amusingly enough, I had just started brewing something about my blogging philosophy when this comment was dropped on my blog. Here, I present you with the complete post that has been sort of re-brewed to suit the context that the comment brings in.

Live for a cause, not applause; Live to express, not impress.

I think this is the same as saying “Be yourself” because I believe that we are not intrinsically attracted to acknowledgement and fame. It is the society that we live in which intoxicates us with these qualities. Anyways, the people who are lucky enough to have retained the quality of intrinsic motivation would agree with the phrase above, whole heartedly. And the fact is that a person who lives for a cause is the one who will truly get applauded. And a person who lives to express rather than impress is the one who is truly impressive.

This is pretty much what I have intended my blogging philosophy to be like. Blog for a cause, not applause. Blog to express, not impress. There was a time when I did not dwell upon what my blog-readers might say or want before blogging my thoughts – because I knew nothing about my blog-readers and even whether there existed any, apart from my close friends. That, perhaps, made my posts sound extremely raw, honest, unfiltered and crazy. I did not consciously market my blog except for a couple of instances wherein I was eager to get feedback. But as I started getting attention from a handful of people who happened to visit my blog due to serendipitous endeavors, there were admittedly occasions when I had to think twice before expressing myself and I felt myself focus on what my blog-readers wanted as much as what I myself wanted to talk about. Now, this is akin to what we call a customer-centric approach. Nothing wrong about it, mind you. But, at times, it can stifle one’s inner voice a bit. Unless one has the maturity and intellect to draw a balance between the readers’ expectations and what one really wants to talk about. One ought to learn to take the feedback, queries, inputs et al and do with it what it deserves – see it as an encouragement, opportunity to think different etc. Even if one is temporarily affected and influenced by the attention one is getting and that is unfortunately hampering one’s natural style, if one is the intrinsically motivated types, time will certainly take one back to one’s original style.

All said and done, I’ve, admittedly, been fence-sitting when it comes to deciding between consciously marketing my blog versus not doing anything about getting more people into my blog due to such complications. I don’t want to consciously market my blog on the lines of a product with a huge branding and advertising budget. I am clear about that. I might mention it in some forums – as a part of my signature - mainly to quell my curiosity in terms of how many minds have similar views/ counter views and learn from those. At the same time, I realize that not inviting people actively does not help me tap into the potential knowledge that I would gain access to via feedback, comments, additional sources, and blog networks etc.

Whew! All this thinking about blog-marketing drains me somewhat. I don’t think I enjoy thinking about it too much. I think the best thing to do is to let the traffic come in naturally and at its own pace while leaving a few scattered messages about the blog in appropriate forums. Leaving comments on other blog-posts and linking to other blog-posts are two things that will improve one’s blog-network but that is something you ought to do only when you have a genuine opinion.

What’s your blogging philosophy? Is there something I can learn from you? :)

Maaza Mango

Have you seen the latest advt. for Maaza? I think it's a cool one! :D

Scene 1: Gardener and his dog are sober. Gardener narrates a story - He and his dog have been deprived of the fun they used to have when in earlier times they chased away kids who used to steal mangoes from the garden. Now, Maaza has become a wonderful substitute for real mangoes...so there are no more naughty kids to chase. (There may be a flaw in the logic here.....but I choose to ignore it. If kids can pay for Maaza....why did they not pay for the mangoes? :-) )

Scene 2: Gardener replaces mangoes with bottles on trees. :) Kids come back to steal Maaza and the gardner and his dog are given back the joy of chasing the kids all over the place... :)

CNN IB-N-DTV

Rajdeep Sardesai now stares out of huge Billboards across Bangalore at passers-by and has an extremely determined look on his face. Can’t help wondering if the determination comes from wanting to prove himself right to someone in particular. The CNN IBN ads are everywhere. Or are these ads for Rajdeep himself? Things seem to be happening to him and CNN IBN ever since he walked out of NDTV. The tagline “Whatever it takes to stand up and ask why?” is pretty creative and so is CNN IBN’s effort to do things different – Citizen Journalism etc. But the icing on the cake was a recent mailer that said CNN IBN has beat NDTV as the most viewed News Channel. What’s it all about? The words battle, ego, subtle, wash, dirty linen, and public come to one’s mind. I may be wrong. But then, I may even be right!

 

To add on to the CNN IBN positioning, the news channel does project itself as a channel with a conscience and responsibilities that go beyond just reporting. That may have a political connotation to it, but it is something that I think will appeal enormously to the involved and passionate viewer…

Music Musings

I have immensely enjoyed watching the Zee TV Musical Programme, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for the past few months. (It is now drawing to a close.) So much so, that it is this programme that ushers in my weekend much before it actually comes. The weekend starts on Thursday for me. The music never fails to keep me awake and excited. For the uninitiated, this is a singing contest involving a few music directors as the mentors of the wanna-be Sonu Nigams and Shreya Goshals.

 

Apart from the interest that the music itself creates, there are a few other things that I have been intrigued by as well. Himesh Reshamaiah who is one of the music directors, who mentors, has been doing an awesome job of branding one of his students that he clearly wants to win the contest. Going by his flawless strategy, he could actually put a self-respecting brand director to shame. It is interesting to analyze his methods. As a caveat, let me say that he may have probably been naturally-inclined to do whatever he did and may not have done it by design. But the way he sold his product – a singer called Vinit – is uncanny. Perfect branding strategy, I would say.  He has used emotions, logic, drama, and body language to appeal to the subconscious mind et al.  Anyone who has been watching the programme continuously would know what I am talking about…

 

I am a great fan of Shaan, the programme host. He is a great host and an even greater human being. I’d actually go around asking people to vote for him rather than any of the wanna-be singers. ;) He is the epitome of humility and maybe a tough competitor to the Big B, a good blend of dignity Vs innocence.  Only a really humble and yet confident singer can call another peer singer as the ‘singer of today’.  Shaan referred to Sonu Nigam as the singer of today but interestingly enough, Sonu, however much I like him as a singer, has loads of arrogance and attitude. He may pass off for a self-proclaimed GOD to an Alien from Mars or whichever planet.

 

Here’s the most painful thing though. Today’s the grand finale of the programme (starts in another 30 minutes I guess) I’ve been watching for ages and I am not in a place where I can see the programme! :( If there’s anyone out there watching today’s episode, could you please leave your comments on this post and let me know who won the contest and what exactly transpired? Thanks a ton in advance!

Tongue in Chick!

Saw this board put up outside a chicken shop that showed a grinning hen dressed in a chef’s attire (apron, hat, knife et al). What a tongue in cheek advertisement, I thought! It sort of troubled me, I must say.  (With due apologies for making this satirical remark myself, it occurred to me that it can perhaps be called a tongue in chick advertisement in this particular case!). While on this topic, I have a feeling (from what I see and hear these days) that many people are turning to vegetarianism and that’s great news according to me! :-)

Talent over Hype

Talent over Hype

Methinks: There is a thin line of difference between Branding and Hype. Branding ought to be done not for 'cheating' or 'fooling' people but to simply COMMUNICATE CONSISTENTLY THE VALUES THAT THE COMPANY/BRAND STANDS FOR AND DO SO IN A CREATIVE MANNER...! PERIOD.

Advertisements/Selling and EQ Vs IQ

From Zig Ziglair’s newsletter:

People buy emotionally first and logically second!But sales people often (maybe most often) attempt to sell logically first and emotionally second (if at all). People won't buy in reverse order.You can explain why your product (or service, or your point, when talking to a colleague or family member) makes sense, or why your price is affordable, or your product is the best on the market, or your decision is best for everyone involved . . . but until the customer experiences the emotional desire to buy, you're not going to make your sale.Don't put the cart before the horse by trying to sell the logic first. Get people excited about what you're selling and they'll come up with the logic on their own! It's true. Think about a significant or unusual purchase that you recently made for yourself, your business, or your family. It might have been a new computer, a new car, a new set of golf clubs, an expensive vacation, or a special gift. Think about your buying process. Did you sit down and figure out how the purchase made sense before you got excited about making the purchase? Or was it the other way around?Yes, people get excited about what they want to buy, and then they figure out how to justify buying it. That's not always the best way to make a purchase because oftentimes we buy things we really don't need, or can't afford. But nonetheless, it's the way people buy.If you're selling something that people really do need, if you'll help them get excited first, you'll get more sales.Now that you understand why people buy, take a look at the five reasons why people won't buy from you:1. No need.2. No money.3. No hurry.4. No desire.5. No trust.It doesn't matter how good your product is, or how fairly it's priced. Where these reasons occur, a sale doesn't.
------------------------------------------------------
Methinks:

Well, well – how true! That’s why we need advertising. Don’t we? Ironically, but not surprisingly, one of the fundamental concepts in advertising - AIDA – acknowledges the above-mentioned ‘logic’. AIDA stands for Attract, Interest, Desire, and Action. Thus, it proves beyond doubt that advertising has got to grab the prospect customer’s emotions first and only then (but not in all situations) present a logical case. But it would be unethical to emotionally trick people into buying just because you want to make money! That does bother me a bit. If you don’t see a need for the customer to buy it, in my world, it would be unethical to ‘trick’ the customer emotionally just so you can sell and make yourself wealthier. If you do it you would be a politician – a demagogue. Influencing the customer to ponder over the need and see if it would resolve a problem he is facing is, of course, all right. If it is a competitive pitch, you need to first differentiate yourself from your competitors and then use the differentiating factor in your emotional pitch. If certain segments of the market can relate to your pitch and thereby ‘fall’ for it, that’s absolutely fine. You deserve the attention because you are ‘different’ and are catering to particular emotions and requirements. I find myself convinced that the very concept of advertising is about emotional pitches rather than logical selling except in a few rare cases. Even if you were to point out some advertisements based on logic alone, I would ask you to go back to it and examine it closely for you will see a clear emotional terrain therein. The problem arises when the advertisements lie/manipulate rather than influence. Advertisements ought to be ethical emotional projects but they ought to speak on the basis of sound logical reasoning that will deliver to the customer what he needs! This is an interesting and controversial topic, I must say…can you think of any interesting advertisements that prove a point or two?

LIGHTROOM | architecture and new media

LIGHTROOM | architecture and new media

Got this reference from another blog....nice site indeed!

A great advt.!

Have you seen this new ad on TV for Surf Excel? It was telecast, I think, for the very first time on the eve of Raksha Bandhan. I should say that the ad has bowled me over completely. The kids, the concept, the expressions….everything about it is cute! Kudos to the people who conceptualized the whole thing and to the folks who picked the children out from GOD knows where and got them to act it out so well! I was contemplating narrating the ad on this post, but no, on second thoughts, I decided I ought not to deprive you of the pleasure of watching the original on TV and experiencing it first hand! :). Don’t please miss it; especially if you are either a loving sibling or for that matter a loving parent.

Slogans That Are the Real Thing

Slogans That Are the Real Thing


Keeping with my fascination for taglines....here's an interesting interview by BusinessWeek (on taglines) with a marketing and branding expert.

Top 100 Global Brands!

Check out this link to get a hang of this year’s top 100 global brands. And now for the obvious question, when is an Indian company going to make it to this list? : Sob, Sob....

The top 10 global brands are:

Coke (beverages)
Microsoft (software products)
IBM (IT)
GE (conglomerate)
Intel (IT hardware)
Nokia (telecommunication)
Disney (entertainment)
McDonalds (food)
Toyota (automobiles)
Marlboro (tobacco)

Pepsi must be finding it extremely difficult to bottle its emotions…eh? ;) While Coke is the Numero Uno, Pepsi is only at #26!

Talking about Accenture and Intel – They are both present in the list.

Does somebody have the complete Samsung Story, please? I am impressed by business stories from South Korea. Korean chaebols have certainly made it big coming from almost nowhere...Samsung, LG, Hyundai…(please don’t forget to share links to interesting stories about these companies…if you’ve/you come across them)

Google has made an appearance for the first time (!) and is @ # 38.

PS: Click here for Business Week’s parent story on this brand-ranking exercise…

IT Advertising

How many software/IT products/services companies you know use celebrities to advertise themselves? I love Intel's unconventional and trend-setting advertisements despite their (Intel's) distance from the end-customer.

Here is Accenture using Tiger Woods to advertise themselves....and of course, I remember that Microsoft had used Narayan Murthy for their Windows XP campaign....hmmm....interesting! Who would have thought about a software/IT company using an actor/musician/sportsman to advertise their services/products...!