High Involvement purchase

It generally happens that whenever we plan to buy an expensive item,generally a high involvement purchase that we over spend or stretch our budget and take home an expensive item. why does this happen ???

Most research say that most of our buying decisions are taken at the store premises, Its the salesmen who plays with the consumers psyche, Think about it, how often has the salesman told you that Sir, this is only onetime purchase of your life? why compromise on it?

The consumer is confused and this solution for confusion is a high value purchase which he perceives as the solution and marketers have built over years that a high valued/priced item is of more superior quality. Hence a consumer ends up spending MORE !!

If you own an alto, the higher is the probability that you'll land up at Big Bazaar

As part of the retail course we were supposed to study two different formats of retail in the food segment. we chose Big Bazaar and Spar both located in Bangalore which share a similar format.
Both the stores are located in the same trading area consisting of many corporate offices and residential houses with individuals having enough disposable income.
A Retail format has different offering and a value proposition, this value proposition is based on the format type, whether its a convenience store,discount store or a category specialist. depending on this value proposition the process of segmentation is carried.
Ex: If you are a high value retailer offering high discounts then the segment you would be catering would be the value conscious customer who wants to spend his hard earnings but looks for discounts as he buys.Retailer/marketers looks for finding unique characteristics of the target segment to better understand these customers, and this is done by knowing their demographics(personal information like age income,sex,marital status etc) the other way of segmenting is by classifying customers according to their behavior pattern(how they shop,behave,lifestyle etc)

one interesting observation which we made today was that the segments which Big Bazaar and Spar were targeting were completely different. we could identify this by the behavior and lifestyle pattern of the individuals visiting the store.

Spar had customers who were looking for value, now value for a spar customer would be huge variety,availability of national and international brands. and value for big bazaar customer would be the best prices and high saving deals and big bazaar was able to do so with the retail mix it had a collection of in-house brands and minimal services which helped Big Bazaar to push down its costs and pass it on to the customer.
segmentation can be done by studying any similar pattern among the group of customers, we tried segmentation on the basis of their ownership of vehicle. It helped me to understand the customer lifestyle and spending pattern. now if you are wondering what am i saying ? think why a person own's an SUV(huge in size)??? as it enhances his image or helps him project the image of a powerful person. At the spar hypermarket were the powerful sedans and Muscular SUV's zooming in and out contrast to it in the big Bazaar parking there were hatchbacks, the entry level segment cars mainly from the Maruti stable. these are the customers who would be looking for value deals and this could be concluded from their choice of cars. It would be justified saying that both of them cater and satisfy their customer needs and are able to deliver their value proposition

Whats your Hunger Mood ??

Consumers insights are very essential for any marketer as it could be the next great positioning/ad theme or a great tag line. and these ideas come from customers,supplier or even the competitors. For valuable consumer insights companies conduct FGD's(focus group discussion) or talk to the customer. Most of the time it is a qualitative research conducted where consumers talk and express their emotions and these emotions form essential inputs to the marketer.

Cafe Coffee day which turns 13 this year is all set to reposition itself with new product offering and new store formats ?? now the big question is why is coffee day re-positioning ???

As rightly said by Harish bijoor a brand is repositioned for two main reasons fatigue and competition

Fatigue, when the brand has been for long in the market, it looks and feels jaded. Its this tipping point of fatigue that jolts brands to consider a re-positioning or re-branding exercise.
Competition : It is the ever-changing format in which brands live and thrive .Most brands are able to remain contemporary,relevant,original and innovative enough to fight competition.

Considering the case of coffee day which has been long here in the QSR(Quick serve restaurant) format and the intense competition from new format stores has propelled for a re-branding exercise.The new theme "Hunger mood" has its origins from valuable insight from customer, that customers have varied hunger desires or moods throughout the day.It has designed its new menu according to the customers appetite, If you are in a mood to have a light snack then they have Choco muffin, samosa and if you are in a diet mood then they have a different offering and if you are in an indulgence mood then they have offerings(new) like panneer Tikka sandwich. The menu is also region specific catering to the taste buds of that region. so next time you visit coffee day dont be surprised to see Chicken Chettinad Surprise,Andhra Chicken Puff,Mirchi Masala Chatka in the menu, It has brought in many new Indian snacks into its menu, this move could be to make coffee day more accessible and not confining to just few customers.

This campaign is launched at the right time as the brand has been here for long and has its own sets of loyal customers, with this new look and offerings the customer would be delighted and would stick for long. With coffee day planning to go global it needs a new fresh look which should appeal to the global audience hence
As a part of this re-branding exercise even the design and interiors will get a new look as the brand aims to go global it has got a new design which isn't limited to a geography boundary. The Hunger mood campaign has activated my taste buds :)just cant wait to taste the spicy exotic panneer tikka while sipping my all time favorite 'frappe'..

Pester me and I shall buy You this World

The sudden rise of income and the increasing class of working mothers has lured the companies to bring in new products for their "little prince" who uses his Pester power to influence the parents buying decision.now what is pester power its explained as the children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. This little kid is smart enough to play powerful tactics and scratch on the guilt of the parents who are unable to spend enough time with kids and want to compensate for this time.

More and more companies are entering into the kids market, be it in apparel,toys or FMCG goods.there is a sudden rise in the new products catering to the kids segment as the kids industry is worth around 2500 crores in India that's the reason many apparel brands like PUMA,adidas,Allensolly are trying to enter into this market.Britannia recently launched its new Malted drink ActiMind targetted at school going children and claims it as a perfect substitute for the routine Milk which kids don't enjoy drinking.I call it smart as parents are willing to spend and the parents would be happy if their kids drink a healthy milk drink rather than a Cola.now what drives these parents to buy those products for their kids ?

1)Desire to make their "Little prince" outshine in every field whether be it sports or education and the perception created by marketers that their products would help the kid to outshine.

2)Increasing spending power and parents compensating/satisfying themselves for the time which they are not able to spend with their kids.

and of course the powerful PESTER power at the store

Today's kid is more smarter than what we were, they know about all their parents weakness and how to harness it, hence the marketers leave no effort in promoting their product to the kids and bring in more products for the young ones. Be it Big B,Sachin or Dhoni everyone is ready to dance for this LITTLE INDIAN..

A must watch video about PESTER POWER

Market for dual sim handsets in India

The telecom major Airtel at last with much hesitation yesterday announced the 1 paise/per second tariff plan to compete against Tata's DOCOMO,Aircel,Reliance,Idea and MTS which have slashed their tariffs in some way or the other. This move was expected as the telecom giant was losing out in terms of new subscriptions to DOCOMO. This will reduce the ARPU(average revenue per user) and will also affect the profits of Bharati Airtel.

The current telecom market is flooded with 13 players and new entrants are pushing aggressively and finding a new proposition to enter the market, the latest being MTS and unitech's telenor soon joining the game. now the question is will consumer still buy a new connection when all the competitors are providing the same service. and what would be the new value proposition the new players will pitch in ? and what would be the industry profits ??

Deepesh is my 17 year old cousin in his high school who uses three connections and has two mobile phones. he is quick to grab any opportunity or scheme available. he uses
Airtel as it has an excellent coverage and this was his first connection.
Aircel as he liked the VAS(value added services).
and latest was DOCOMO for its 1 paise per tariff.

same is the case with Sandeep who has 4 mobile connections and is a P.G student. These days its not a big deal if a person has more than one connection. The consumer is opting two connections due to the marketers effort both the telecom operator who is slashing prices while adding new services and the marketing efforts of handset manufacturers who have brought in new handsets and cut down the prices drastically. due to both these factors the consumer today doesnt mind adding one more number or connection carrying an additional handset.But this implication doesnt apply across all the customers its just relevant to the innovators and the price conscious customer.

Analyzing the current market competition there could be huge demand for Dual sim handsets in India where as there are only few handset manufacturers making dualsim handsets mainly spice,emerging Indian companies like Micromax,karbonn and other chinese players.Now the question is why aren't major players like Nokia,Sony Erickson and LG tapping on this need. ??? when people are willing to own more than one connection.. It's high time for companies to launch dual Sim mobiles to tap this Market where as the Indian handset manufacturers are smart and have understood this trend, firms like Micromax and karbonn are providing dual Sim handsets at a reasonable price of Rs 4000/- targeting the rural market who look for value.

High end companies can launch dual handsets for two markets one is for the aspirational Indian who wants to own a smart phone and is an innovator.The other could be a low end model priced at 5000 having basic features to target the value looking customer.

with TRAI opening up the Market for new entrants the Indian consumer is for sure going to benefit and the day is not far when whole India would be connected for free !!!

U veda's Kismat Konnections

As i was flipping through the economic times yesterday i came across the financial results of Dabur limited, next to the ad was a huge picture of Vidya balan endorsing Dabur's new product range of skin care named as U-veda which means Ayurveda for you. The choice of the brand name really makes sense as there are many companies already using the Ayurveda name in their product extensions and U-Veda breaks the clutter and yet retains/leverages "Ayurveda".

The brand ambassador "Vidya Balan" was considered after a survey which was conducted among the target market as the most preferred personality. The company has launched a wide range of skin care products under the U-veda brand, the packaging has also got a new look which is impressive and uses the standard color(red and gold)which dabur uses it in al its products.Dabur is one of the successful brands in India which has captured a great market in the Chywanprash category and has carved a niche for its products. Dabur also has Gulabari range of skin care products leveraging the "Rose water power" . With existing product line in skin care"was it a wise decision to launch a completely new range of products" ???
The answer according to me is yes as the skin care market is worth Rs 2500 crores in India, It is relatively untapped and the penetration level is low.and all the international brands are queuing up to enter the Indian Market and dabur can tap this oppurtunity as well by leveraging the brand equity of Dabur.


U-veda's product target market is the tier 2 and tier 3 cities ladies who want to protect their skin and also use safe products and Ayurveda is percieved as being made out of natural ingredients hence women want to play safe on their skin. many companies have leveraged Ayurveda in their skin creams like fair and lovely, fair-ever and even soaps and shampoos are branded as Pure Ayurvedic by the companies these days.
U-veda is a safe bet ..well lets wait and watch whether U really like U-veda

Do You Face The Offisial Atyachaar

Offisial Atyaachar is the superb Viral from Makemytrip.com designed by EURO RSCG, The viral is targeted at all the office goers who make a good money but are overloaded with work left with no time for themselves.They have targeted the right audience as these are the people who make their travel purchases from the website's due to lack of time and ease of internet access.

At present the websites which cater to the travel needs are yatra.com, makemytrip.com, cleartrip.com, irctc.co.in.. these are the website which have the maximum market share and in terms of brand recall its makemytrip.com and yatra.com which are leading. The reason why yatra.com has a better brand recall is due to the fact that it has an Indian name and is short.where as makemytrip offers better services and has been leading in terms of bookings for Flights.. makemytrip is very aggressive in its expansion plans and has recently added up bookings for railways through their website.The user interface is much much better and way ahead to other sites.

Its very tough for a website to build a brand as its a service and they dont have any physical existence and people cant measure their efficiency.hence it becomes very important for a website to have a great brand recall(ability to remember the website name) as this helps to drive traffic to their website, remember the "Harisadu campaign" of naukri.com. that was a cult and has become an integral part of people live that they use this word quite often to describe their bosses.even makemytrip.com is following the same lines of naukri.com and has used humour appeal and tapping in the right emotion of the offisal atyaachar which an office goer faces..

Back to Offisail atyaachar The video and the lyrics are amazing and apt to any office setting, they have used right props and word,,.This viral other than playing on internet has a website for the people who are frustrated with their work and bosses, users can get cool downloads,a contest where in they can give funny names to their boss, this campaign was run offline in Delhi at a popular mall where users were given base ball bats and a office setting , The contestants can break those computers and office furniture showing their anger against their boss, :)
Thats sounds so cool....every one has a self within ready to fire the bosss.. check out the website @
http://www.offisialatyachaar.com/

Logos of different countries bidding for 2016 olympics

Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are all bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The successful city will be announced in Copenhagen on 2 October.

Zoo Zoo on my Reliance

Prashant gets a Rs 50 voucher for recharge of Vodafone and is surprised to see the Zoo-Zoo sticker on the recharge Vouchers, he gives me the sticker and it's so appealing that i paste it on my Reliance CDMA handset :),and today i was surprised to see many people sporting similar stickers on their handset as i did.

A small thing like voucher can also be an important element in Brand building exercise as it's a consumer touch point, a consumer should be reinforced with the same message/image when ever he comes across any of the companies Communique, be it a visiting card,uniform of the staff, packaging etc, companies spend a lot on the details and effort in designing these elements across all the communication materials and various consumer touch points. and the details about the color font, logo size are emphasized in the Brand manuals which the agency insists to follow strictly as this would help the brand building and consistency in image/feel.



Now coming back to Vodafone brand building exercise, the company came up with its new character ZOO ZOO this summer with a lot of hype and it was well accepted by the audience and generated a favorable image about the brand. Vodafone is cashing on ZOO ZOO's success by placing them across all its communiques, it also gives a free ZOO ZOO cd with recharge vouchers of Rs 350 and now it has come up with these new innovative vouchers reinforcing the brand identity and making the association more stronger.

The story of a Father and Son

A Marwari or a gujju business man always encourages/enforces his son to visit his business when ever the little thing is free and leaves no chance in introducing him to all his clients and stake holders.The son after his education(though he hardly studies) joins the business and the father indulges in generating awareness among his clients about his son, that he would be the face of business and slowly leaves the game to him and over a period he is as popular as his dad this is due to the fact that people associate him with his dad and over a period all those credibility,trust and image which is associated with the old man pass on to his Son...

This is how Brand associations work, companies actually create perceptions and make people follow those perceptions.

If you remember the name Bajaj some 15 years back with the image and the product line(scooter)in which bajaj was into.. would you buy a pulsar at that time if it was made by Bajaj, the answer is NO..because of the inbuilt perceptions that Bajaj can only make scooters and not bikes.

But lately Bajaj has broken all these perceptions and how it did this is quite interesting.



It first had technology tie-up with Kawasaki and launched all its Bike under the name of Kawasaki-Bajaj..it told a story to the people that they have tie-up with kawasaki and they are technologically competent to make a Bike..

After kawasaki Bajaj performed well slowly it launched its Flag-ship Brand Pulsar under the Bajaj Umbrella,this bike performed well and was well accepted by the people and its superior performance evoked favorable image in the minds of customers,associating Bajaj as a superior bike maker which is now competent enough to make bikes.(just like how people started associating the fathers characteristics to the son)
Now Bajaj has a great market share and is doing equally well compared to its competitors and it has made people associate Bajaj with Superior technology.and as a part of this strategy it has changed its whole look right from its logo to the product line(it no more makes scooters).

That was a successful story told by Bajaj to the world

Line Extensions and brand recall

Naukri.com, part of the Info edge group which has its business operation in many online ventures.Jeevansaathi.com,policybazaar.com,shiksha.com to name a few, these are the very few online ventures in India which have succeeded and are doing good, the reason for its success is due to their careful selection of brand elements,operational efficiency and first mover advantage.

They have a great brand recall in all the domains which it operates and it is very important for a website to have a great brand recall as this is the only thing which can be their USP, that is how easily are customers able to remember the name of the particular website.Online companies are very careful while choosing the domain name as this is their face or office address, Now info edge group is very smart at this as all their domain names start with Indian names or are in words that a common man uses like Naukri for a Job and for matrimonial its jeevan saathi, they try to use phrases which a common can easily relate to the purpose of the website and there by the brand recall is enhanced..and also the word of mouth becomes easy for a simple name.

naukri.com has many line extensions catering to different job markets or different customers based on the users current job. like Firstnaukri.com caters to the job aspirants who are applying for a job for the first time and the domain name is perfect and could be remembered easily by the target market and it also has some connection to naukri with its name being added in the domain name hence people can relate it to Naukri.com,the parent Brand and the trust and credibility of the parent brand can be passed on to the extension.

In an online business its very important to get the domain right as its necessary in building a great brand..

Why Do We Purchase A Luxury Brand

Brands are an integral and important part of our daily lives, Brands help you to enhance your image by possessing them, the reason why do we shell out an extra buck for a brand, even though the satisfaction or the core benefit which we derive is the same. For example a decent watch(unbranded) would cost you Rs 350-800 and it would serve the core benefit that is make you read time as good as to any other premiuim brand like TITAN,TOMMY HILFIGER,POLICE. but the difference between the price range is huge even though both the devices solve the same problem in a similar fashion.

Strong and powerful Brands have this capability to command a premium in the market due to the Image which they have built or due to the superior brand Image.now an individual always has two personalities that is the actual self that is what he is at present,,,An indivdual always aspires to move or upgrade his image to someone or some personality he admires that is called his Ideal self which he carves to achieve. How can an individual achieve or upgrade his Image ??? the answer is Brands help individuals to achieve their Ideal self by transferring the qualities or characteristics of the brand to the user. for example if the user is driving a landrover its implied that he loves sports and wants power over things. and his need of gaining power is tapped and fulfilled by land rover, he feels better and a sense of power when he rides the SUV, The SUV satisfies the EGO needs of the user.Marketers try to position their brand on these image or personalities targetting those individual aspiring to achieve their Ideal self.

How important are Associations for a Brand

Its very important for a Brand to have the right brand association or the right people to be associated with the brand as these people's image and credibility affects the brand personality and even the ambassador endorsing the brand.

Kiran bedi is a strong personality in India with characteristics like sincerity,honesty and sophistication a women who has done few commercials on social causes and issues relating to women and polio.It was quite unusual for me to see Kiran Bedi in an advertisement for a fairness/anti-marks cream Nomarks. The commercial starts with kiran Bedi walking and explaining about the product and pitching the product as a True/honest cream.Kiran bedi is known for her boldness and fearless attitude..Nomarks as a brand doesnt have any of the characteristics that kiran bedi has, if kiran bedi was a small town girl who had made big in the beauty/glamour industry then it would have made more sense for the brand to associate with such kind of a personality.

The idea or thought process behind using kiran bedi as a brand ambassador could be to transfer or associate Nomarks with characteristics of Kiran bedi, but the product as such is a low-involvement product with little or less brand image, and a consumer would never feel proud/special that she is using a NOMARKS cream. If No-marks was a product which would add or enhance the user image then yes kiran Bedi could be a right choice.
Its very important for a personality like kiran bedi to have the right association as the credibility which she has gained for years could be affected due to the wrong choice made.

Aping the West

The best part about being home is access to T.v and Great food..while i was watching T.V, I came across Himesh Reshammiya after a long time and this time without his unusual cap and long hair, he was looking decent in his new hairstyle,but the image which he has built over years is so strong that we just can't break the association of Himesh as a wierd and unusual guy. The song has some unusual lyrics in English "man ka radio" the song tries to copy 50 cents and other pop bands..the video starts with Himesh walking with a negro women completely oiled, i just cannot understand what made the director to choose that girl in that song when the song is supposed to be a sad song...it makes the video more sick.. I think the director wanted to create an image in the minds of the viewers of a modern day song which is shot abroad hence tries to provide cues like negro girls around men,and girls wearing bikinis to show westernized approach and to go in sync with the song which is partly in English and hindi. the lyrics are really funny, I think Himesh is actually a good actor as he manages to put up a sad face all through the song even when the lyrics are so funny.. hats off himesh,,,

But the truth is he still makes money and popular among all sec b and sec c cities..

All Marketers Are Liars

The title of the book is what made me read this book,anxious to know how godin calls marketers as liars i read this book, As i was reading the book i felt that it was more of the concepts which we learn in our marketing classes, packaged in a way that could be understood by the ordinary man or the consumers. the book revolves around the concepts of

World view : That is nothing but the receivers field of experience.

people notice only the new : That is the concept of relative threshold

consistency : standardization.

Splitting the community : positioning differently and not in lines of the market leader

the book is a must for all the marketers and gives a proud feeling and a sense of responsibility that we marketers have towards the society as this modern world is completely driven by marketers.

India Shinning

Happy Independence day FRIENDS... Its the 62nd year and today the world looks India as one of the superpower, high on intellectual capital.I Attended the flag hoisting ceremony at my college this morning which was followed by the cultural events..

There was an opening Vande Mataram song which reminded me of my school days and to be honest i still dont know it.. after few dance numbers and speeches we had another group of people singing the Vande Mataram track of A.R.Rehman and to my surprise everyone was singing it(even me). followed after it was the recent track..."Jai Ho" and even this was liked by the crowd.what do you call this the Recency effect or the magic of A.R.Rehman ? ? ? ?

The Best Assignment

Print ads made by Group 6(Pavan, Sumanta,Nupur,Praneeta,Lokesh and of course me)










Assignments in B schools are generally given to evaluate the performance of students and help them to gain subject knowledge even i have been doing assignments since one year and trust me i have found many new sites where you can easily download previous work(scribd, soople,slideshare).trust me guys you get all management stuff here,in case you need more sites you can always contact me.

In management terms, I used to do review of literature but in the process of review of literature i got used to the two supreme commands ctrl + C and ctrl + V thanks to bill gates who made my jobs more simple.

There are two reasons why a student doesnt find it interesting to do assignments

1) The topics are damn boring
2) Every one gets the same marks, we all lie in the same normal distribution curve

I still remember the comment on my assignment made by the faculty finance which said

RELEVANCE IS LIMITED TO IMAGE(image was the logo) ONLY

Initially i used to write my own stuff (atleast for marketing) but its ridiculous that your friend who copies from you and copies some stuff from the internet gets more marks than you.. the result is you also start using the Internet.

I Could relate it and explain it with some H.R Concepts in it.. if your efforts are not recognized you no more feel motivated to do the same

Consumer behavior is the new course which is taken by the genius...Hmm i would say him the CHAMP (Ray Titus). He gave an assignment to all the groups to make print ads for 6 products, out of which we had to choose any 3 products. The products were

1) Kia Motors
2) Mc Donalds
3) Listerine Tooth Paste
4) Anti Smoking
5) Promoting exercise
6) Pepsi one

we had to makes two ads one emotional and other rational for the same product. It was the coolest assignment which i got,it was a group assignment and we had to make 6 ads.. it was superb working with such a lovely team. This blog is dedicated to them( Pavan,Sumanta,Nupur,Praneeta,Lokesh )

How does this place sell ??

In a restaurant business service is the main component which sells, people prefer better service than food when they are dining at a restaurant and it is much more than just filling your stomach it's all about an experience.services constitute about 60 % in a restaurant business.
Generally what do people expect from a good restaurant ???..of course great food, great ambiance, hygienic food and above all great service/ and what if you get only good food ?? and the other three requirements are missing would you go there ?... most of your answers would be hell NO..Including mine, till few days back when i came to know about this place called Bobby da dhaba...form my friends..so one fine day we headed towards it..this place is located near Gurudwara at ulsoor lake(bangalore).It was very tough for us to locate this place which is a small hut..and the interiors are creepy...with only one bulb lighting the whole place..and a capacity to accommodate only 30 members at a time...you are supposed to wait for 1/2 hr minimum before you can sit inside..and where do you wait for the rest of the time...plush Sofa's...with magazines,,,don't even think of it...you are made too stand on the road and if you are lucky u have a rock at the entrance which can accommodate two of you...so look for the rock..as you wait.. while you enter the dining area a waiter would come and give you a slip to write your order on that slip and give it to sardar ji inside who is the owner of this place(i guess) i never dared to ask any thing as he is so fierce and shouts even if you are standing near by him...the food is awesome they have a limited menu..and that's their core competency i guess which made them stick to those items only..the food is amazing,,,,after your long wait on the roadside..u need not feel shy as you wait on the road side as you'll find many like u...as you wait on the road you'll find a punjabi restaurant adjacent to bobby da dahaba ..(I forgot the name..)which is empty and much hygienic than our booby da dhaba..people who get scared of the line at booby da dhaba end up landing there... hmm nice strategy...to pull few customers...

As as a marketing student i always try to find out what is so unique about this place..it's not just the product which always sells.. as you have many more places in the city which sell great punjabi food.. Is it the whole unique setting which pulls the crowd...the owner has not changed the setting even he can afford to do the same..or is it the word of mouth publicity which people have created that makes people visit this place..or is it the price(100 rs /person) which is dominating factor,,i always feel like speaking to the owner of this place,,, but can't until he stops shouting,,,,

Google it out and you'll find reviews about this place on Burp and you can even spot them on Google maps..

How marketers exploit FaceBook

Lately i have been watching that more and more users are switching from orkut to facebook and discussion about those quizzes and applications are common among the youth today Face book is growing at an incredible speed all over the world with more and more people adding facebook to their daily life.Facebook was started in early 2004 by a Harvard graduate Mark Zuckerberg and it had 700000 unique visitor at that point of time soon mark made into the forbes billionaires list at a very young age when most still strive to get a job, well thats the power and result of innovative thinking which only few in the world are blessed with.

In India Facebook has become popular only after 2006 registering a growth of 230 % in the year 2007,but it's way behind it's competitor Orkut led by the Giant Google which is three times as big as Facebook and has been much popular for its controversies it faced as a platform for pornography and facing assualt from many communities and news channels.
Facebook has been riding safe and is eating away orkut's share.The USP of facebook is that it came at a time when the market of orkut was saturated and people were were bored of orkut, after its much popularity in the west and we Indians have this psychology of rating things which people do in the west as cool and follow it. Face book has unique content,awesome application and these all application can be shared by all your friends played simultaneously and also the User interface is much better than Orkut.these all factors led to the tremendous growth of Facebook.any networking site is successful and can sustain growth only if it can monetize from the website and encashes the huge network of registered users with marketers.
Indian companies are no less in exploiting these huge advertisement platform. companies like SBI,Chings secrets,NDTV, Starplus and many more have started placing ads based on the user demographics. the best thing about Facebook advertisement is that it is more targeted according to the user demographics and in between the application and also it places the advertisement according to the topic you are discussing for example your talking about a new movie,the system will generate an advertisement of PVR cinemas. and also it becomes easier for the company which is advertising to measure the traffic on the website through the advertisement. companies even have their profile's on facebook companies/brands try to interact with their followers and post the latest updates on their profile.MTV in India has done this successfully.Globally its Microsoft which handles the advertisement business of Facebook even in India it is handled by Microsoft.
The user demographics show that there are near about 40 % users who are female compared to orkut which has only 30 % and even in U.S there are 54 % female users one more interesting fact is that there are 45 % percent users who are more than 26 years old. This is a great platform for the marketers to advertise their brands.Still facebook has a long way to go as orkut users from India constitute of 30 % users globally where as this number is very less in the case of facebook which has only 1% users from Indian.

Bing- getting ready for the assualt

Microsoft successfully launched bing this year with much fanfare, positioning it as a decision maker rather than just being a search engine. Initially Bing challenged the giants google and yahoo for their market share and to that many laughed. Now after six weeks bing has gained it's self respect, the search engine has been positively rated by many blogger's,techie's and favourable write-ups from influential writers for the quality of results,also the design and it's features.Reports from more than half a dozen companies that measure search and search advertising all point to upticks in Microsoft’s business since the release of Bing. Microsoft said on Monday that its internal numbers showed its search traffic growing 8 percent in June. (ComScore, whose reports are closely watched, is expected to release figures for June on Tuesday.)
Still, Bing remains a distant third in the search engine race. It has to triple its audience to catch Yahoo — and grow eightfold to match Google, which accounts for 65 percent of searches in the United States.Analysts say that Bing’s solid start gives Microsoft a chance to finally sharpen its assault on the search business although it has a long time to go. this great start of bing can actually lead to the partnership of yahoo and bing a.If this happens then google would have a serious competitor to think of..as of now Bing has to fight alone it's been less than a month after Bing’s release, Microsoft beat Google and Yahoo to a hot new area in search: It became the first major search engine to index new postings from popular Twitter users almost immediately. The move has helped amplify the buzz around Bing. well lets see if bing can actually bang bang google :) (i know that's a bad one)...

Few quotes that speak about leadership

Few quotes defining leadership
“It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” (Douglas Adams)

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.“ (John Quincy Adams)

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” (Andrew Carnegie)

“Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system.” (Stephen R. Covey)

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him….But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did it ourselves.” (Lao Tzu)

“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.“ (Talleyrand)

“A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.” (Russell H. Ewing)

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” (Warren Bennis)

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” (John Fitzgerald Kennedy)

‘The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” (Peter F. Drucker)

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” (Thomas Watson)

‘Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women.“ (Groucho Marx)

“You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that’s assault, not leadership.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

The story behind Google chrome

Internet in India

Is there any thing called " BRAND LOYALTY"

I have been a regular customer of the neighborhood pharmaceutical store and have known the owner since the past 8 years and one fine day i see a new store coming up where there was a banner offering the customers a Discount of 10 % on the purchases and i started buying from this discount store (medplus) and as days passed on the traffic in this new store increased effecting the sales of the old pharmaceutical store. now the big question is when there was a trust and a good relationship with the old store why did i stop going there...?? I think the most obvious reason is the fact that the store was offering discounts and with its pricing strategy it was getting in more customers a consumer will always look for rational benefits and how is he benefiting from it..
many U.S stores were closed due to the same story where in Walmart used to come up with a store with deep discounts and sweep the market as a result many neighborhood stores were closed down not able to compete with Walmart , in few small cities people formed groups and protested against walmart and were successful at it.. Walmart is known for its ruthless competition.. this story would follow in India also as most of the retail sector is Unorganized and Walmart would compete fiercely with Indian retail giants..for sure there would be a battle among the retailers to gain share of the pie...It's the consumer who would be gaining from all this but what about those businesses that constitute 94 % unorganized retail sector...????

Whats BING ????

Many say that BING stands for BING Is Not Google...others say it stands for But Its Not Google.

Bing is the new search engine from Microsoft replacing MSN, Microsoft has positioned BING as a decision maker rather than a search engine, Google is the market leader and has been a clear winner of search engine all over world, Google has replaced the word search. people often say that i had GOGGLED on this.This is the kind of positioning which Google has earned over years and Google stands to what it has positioned itself.. But most of the times a user is overloaded with information while he is searching and with the advertisement and unnecessary sites (which have registered with Google ad sense) these sites come on the first page as they are paid sites. Microsoft wants to en cash on this and wants to provide more relevant search unlike Google.. for me Bing can never be google...lets see if Bing can do IT or just lose it to Google again..

check it out at www.bing.com

Power of Internet

Internet has been a boon for all the start ups and many businesses to market themselves today the cost of marketing on the internet is 80 % lesser than other traditional mediums of advertising. the benefits of Internet marketing is that they can be more personalized, made more interactive and yes they are cheaper. Video marketing is most recognized and useful as it is cost effective ( it cost nothing to post a video on youtube) and it spreads faster than any other channel.that's the power of internet.There are many benefits for the companies to engage in Video marketing. they can explain about their new product and its features. Google always does that when ever it launches a new application it has a small video embedded on the web page explaining features in a very simple way,i was going through this website of commoncraft They make video's explaining about the companies new features or products and its made very simple. Start up companies which cannot afford high expenses of promotion are choosing youtube as a medium for promotion they have the link of the video on their site also and quite often a user choose the video instead of going through the site for getting a knowledge about the company.

Life After MBA

After struggling at the competitive exams(CAT.XAT.MAT) an MBA aspirant joins a B-School paying high fees so that for the rest of his life he is financially stable,but is he really financially sound?? right after completing his job his lifelong relationship with EMI'S will kick start as the graduate would be getting a job and paying his first EMI's for the bank loan which he has taken for his education until and unless he is the son of an affluent businessman he need not pay the EMI's but then if he was a son of an affluent businessmen he wouldn't have done his MBA in India nor he would have struggled for a MBA seat,
Back to the common Man,,,,The bank loans would always lure him to go for Extra money to increase his standard of living,tempted to this, again the new set of EMI's would start for buying the first car, then his own house, followed by his child education,marriage etc etc...do you still think that doing an MBA you would end up in a better financial position, most of the people would have a life time contract with the EMI's but a few people would stand out taking different paths, taking risky decisions leaving their stable salary for an Unknown path which is unstable,risky but would give them immense pleasure ,sense of satisfaction and above all huge returns.... this path is the Entrepreneurship.....and the choice is yours

Baba RAMDEV...perfect Marketer

Baba ramdev, the man respected by many Indian families for his contribution to Yoga is one of the Best Marketer, he teaches yoga by conducting free Yoga Camps all over the world, His target segment is not the common man but the middle income families, rich business families and the idle house wife watching TV.he has positioned himself as a man who wants to serve the society free of cost but look at his potential revenue centers right from charging/accepting donations for running ashrams, selling his VCD's and DVD's of his yoga practices,expensive medicines. He also consults people while conducting these camps, the consultation is free but the medicine prescribed is too expensive and the person has no choice but to buy the medicine, this is because of the fact that in the buying behaviour process the influencer plays an important role due to the credibility factor attached to the Influencer who is advising the buyer in his purchase. same is the case with the purchase of medicine, an individual purchases the prescribed drug due to the Credibility factor attached to Doctor. Baba ramdev VCDs are sold for 12$ and are shipped world wide and the promotion is done by the spiritual channels like Astha and Sanskar. That's marketing for us but social service to many people.

If you are drunk thats business for MERU CABS

Meru cabs, is a leading taxi service provider in India currently operating in all the metros, now the company has its target segment as the corporate clients and the luxury or tourists who visit the city, the company has identified a niche market for its services by identifying the need for people who are over drunk during the weekends, The company provides Taxi services to those who are drunk and are not in a position to drive themselves home, it smartly advertises by placing small notes on the table which have the following statements "If you are not able to read this lines properly its time to call MERU CABS". I was really impressed by the company and its ability to identify new market, In marketing it's all about identifying new markets and serving them efficiently. A niche is a profitable segment, all you need to do is identify the Niche , A niche segment is like a cash cow, you can milk the benefits for a period of time and there are little chances that your competitor copying the idea as the niche segment are less price sensitive compared to other segments and stay loyal to the company who are the first movers in the market.

INNOVATE OR DIE

One size fits all is not true for segmentation, you need to identify the different segments and target/cater to the segment which is the most suitable for your product/service, A single product cannot cater to the all the segments, you need to differentiate and position your Product/service according to what the segment needs, Marketing is all about identifying your target segment and catering to those specific target segments effectively, Companies providing different services generally alter the service or modify the service according to the target segment needs, yesterday while going through my college notice board I saw an advertisement of Safexpress (one of the leading logistics company in India), Campus 2 home was the new service which they were offering to the students who were shifting their luggage after the completion of course,

Product/service: Campus2home,

Service delivered: Shipment of your luggage, belongings from Campus to your location.

Target segment: Top 100 B-schools and other premium institution

Positioning: Hassle free transfer and a one stop solution.

They have tied up with IIM’s and other major colleges for business, in today’s competative world you need to identify the segments or potential segments and design your product/ service accordingly. There are many segments which are untapped in India and there lies a huge scope for marketers to develop their businesses.

It prays for u ...If u pay

Too busy with life, no time to offer prayers for the lord, the internet has solution for that

CLICK on this website and this will pray for u for a prescribed fee of $4

http://informationageprayer.com/

LMN---the emergency lemon refresher

Today in the canteen i saw a new tetra pack named LMN, my curiosity made me find out what that was and it was our humble drink Nimbu pani by the PARLE AGRO ltd the oldest makers of fruit juice in India.LMN is the SMS version of lemon and comes with a tagline “The Emergency Lemon Refresher” it is priced at Rs 10 for a 200 ml pack,The taste is not that great and didn't match to the home made Nimbu pani.The company has targeted the youth and adult segment currently its competitors are the road side stalls of nimbu paani and LMN has a clear advantage over the hygiene factor,packaging and availability, Parle claims that this will start a new war of non-cola beverages,even Pepsi has ambitious plans of its Nimbooz,we can see that there is a huge scope for business in the healthy fruit juice segment due to the change in consumer behavior towards healthy drinks even the flagship bnand of Parle has gone through major transformation.
Something about the product
LMN is a non-carbonated fresh fruit juice ,the first branded nimbu pani in india with richness of vitamin C and no artificial flavors

Reliance Infocomm GSM's...cheap marketing..

Recently my friend bought the new GSM connection of Reliance mobile attracted by the tariffs they were providing,there was a plan for STD of Rs650 in which u get 589 talk time and night calling to any Reliance network free between 11 pm to 7 am..the worst part of this plan is your network is completely busy the whole night and your call doesn't get connected ,,my Professor told me once that brand effects our daily life it was true..and i could see it by the way my friend was getting frustrated as he was not able to make any calls at night. companies should follow strict code of ethics and shouldn't lower the price to attract the customers and not issue connections if their infrastructure doesn't support the load of connections..

Naye packet mei beache tumko cheej (nimbooz) purani

Apni chhatri tumko dedein kabhi jo barse paani
Kabhi naye packet mein bechein tumko cheez puraani
Phir bhi dil hai hindusatni
Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani

these were the lines running behind my mind while i heard about NIMBOOZ

Nimbooz...is the name of the new beverage launched by Pepsi in India and the product is already in test marketing in Gujarat,Nimbooz is the result of the much awaited product from the Pepsi and it was an out come of an extensive marketing research.the product is under the 7up Brand, the reason being the 7up brand equity has been reducing over the years due to the advent of sprite as market leader in that segment and by introducing Nimbooz which can be categorized as lemon drink segment it hopes that it can revive the Brand Image of 7up. Pepsi has been shifting its focus from a normal beverage(aerated drinks) to a health drink beverages and Pepsi claims that the Nimbooz contains pure and real lemon juice. Pepsi is coming out with new advertisement with a value proposition of "Ek dum Asli Indian", you might be interested in knowing the price of the Nimbooz..the Nimbooz is priced at Rs 10 for an 200ml pack 15 for an 350 ml pack..well i'm excited about Nimbooz and want to try it out...what about U ? ?

strepsils...first advertisemnent

This was a very old ad by Strepsils..found it interesting,,,
check it out

Slumdog and Country Of Origin Effect

Would Slumdog Millionaire be nominated for the Oscars if it was made by an Indian director? Would you watch the movie if it was an Indian release, The answer is NO. If it was MADE IN INDIA, The film would go unnoticed until & unless it has sex or shahrukh in it, why is that people are so excited of the movie now, that’s just because it’s nominated and won Oscars. The country of origin effect has a major role to play even in the entertainment business and it is clearly evident in the SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE success story as the movie was produced by a British director and released world wide it got huge appreciation world wide,Slumdog has brought great recognition to the Indian Film Industry and the god of music A.R.Rehman,soon rehman would be flooded with offers from worldwide and this Oscars opens door for the Indian Cinema worldwide, the day is not far when even movies would be outsourced to India...
JAI HO

Let controversies Do the Job

Controversy always excites people as it's human nature to give an ear to all the controversial news,Ask any one about the controversy he can give you all the facts and figures about it,ask the same person any national news he wouldn’t be able to speak as much, Marketers have many a times used controversial marketing to communicate,the key benefits of controversial marketing is that

1. You need not pay much to promote
2. Bad news or rumors spread faster than good news

Controversy, if planned right is an effective low cost marketing tool that gives your product excellent media coverage,If you can manage the media well and do not mind the extra dose of adverse publicity in the short term.


In India one person who uses this effectively is Mahesh Bhatt, before launching any movie he builds up controversy and floats in the media, the controversy he uses on the Actor ,most of the time Emraan hashmi or the actress or the steamy scenes which get free publicity by the media, I remember the movie Kalyug, which the director first planned to name the movie as Blue Picture which was called back and renamed as Kalyug, I watched the movie and the movie was a clean film and similarly the movie Paap was promoted and hyped due to controversial name,
The key in controversy marketing lies in being able to predict the danger point, and thereby controlling the outcome of the controversy – kind of letting the car run downhill in neutral, but knowing when to brake and halt before the momentum gets the better of the vehicle.

1 + 1 = 3 ....The AXE EFFFEKKKT

Axe is one of the most known brand all over the world and they have done it by always being unconventional in their products and their marketing communications. Their marketing communications always had a transformational appeal and to be precise sex appeal to it, which was well positioned according to the product and the target market.
After the success of chocolate variant, Axe this time came out with a new concept of using two variants, instead of one and experiences the new fragrance, this is something unique or strange and the big question is why will a customer buy two variants and then use it together?

A new campaign and other promotional strategies were created for awareness and curiosity about using two products together .Unilever’s agency developed a media-neutral campaign where “mixed fragrances” corresponded to “mixed women.”
The idea was to show men the power of mix and matching women with different tastes and preferences. The promotional campaign of TV and billboards and flyers that showed how men could match up different parts of the female body. In the second phase consisted of interactive billboards where men could vote on their favourite combinations through their mobile phones or the AXE website. And they were successful in Latin America after this launch. Will this AXE EFFECT work in INDIA ? ?

INNOVATION....is the name of game

Competition is intense and how harder you try your competitor imitates you in no time. This is the world of marketing,and you need to differentiate your self in this world of advertisement. Innovation is what drives the whole business,companies innovate new ways to maximize share of heart and how do they do it??
is by exploring all the untapped consumer touch points and trying to catch their attention by new media.shown here are examples of 3D advertisement which will soon be a part of our daily brand exposures. now what catches customer attention ???
1.you have to be different
2.channel or media device appeal
If you innovate and you are the first to do it, the customer will surely see what is this new thing ..?? as human is a curious animal,if something is new he'll surely pay attention and tends to remember for a longer time.change is the name of the game..do it or your competitor will do it.

THE BIG " M "

Mc Donald’s has the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants and it has been continuously accused of national problems like obesity in the U.S and it is really surprising that first page on Google image search displayed these images which really surprised me and it states the perception of few people towards this brand. The last picture of the fat giraffe was an anti-Mc Donald campaign when MC Donalds was entering Africa,conveying the message that it will lead to obesity problems in Africa as it did in U.S.....Surprisingly in India, we are not aware of all these issues and our Janta is crowded at all the Mc donald stores and loves to munch on the Burgers and MC donalds with their appropriate pricing is able to draw huge crowds.