Yes, the world: of Digital spaces. Social changes. An Indian perspective by Sonal Jhuj

yummy packaging

2009-03-25T16:29:00.031+05:30

I find packaging design really intriguing, though sadly I don't know enough about the science (or the art) behind it.
But as a plain old consumer (who we in advertising lovingly refer to as a 'target') I have my favourites.

Good Packaging sells

While aimlessly wandering through Inorbit mall at Vashi, I came across a rather interesting store called 'Lush - fresh handmade cosmetics'.
If you think the concept's yum, wait till you see totally delicious copy on their packaging.

Their shampoo for curly hair is called 'Curly Wurly' (cho chweet! Ahem)

Check out the product description: This thick, rich marvel is so unlike any other shampoo that your hair will think it's discovered a parallel universe: one where curls soften, relax and shine on command... Apply lovingly, then rinse out thoroughly (this might take a little extra effort due to all the exquisite natural ingredients).

If it weren't for the constant threat of losing my job in this time of 'economic downturn' I would've totally picked up that Rs 800 bath gel (FYI)

It's okay to have some fun

(especially when everything in the world is so heavy and serious and blah)

So anyway, I couldn't afford the stuff so I went ahead and picked up a cheaper yet even more gorgeous bottle from Herbal Essences. It's a shampoo for curly hair. And guess what its called. 'Totally twisted' :)

No, not Brand X 'for curly hair'. Not Brand Y 'to get hair like celebrity A'.

Directions: massage my creaminess in. feel it hug your curves. rinse me out

Both Lush and Herbal Essences, through design and copy make you fall in love with your hair and by extension their product. There's something so utterly depressing about picking up a bottle that says 'for dry, damaged hair' (that'll probably never recover)

Oh and they've got interesting riddles and questions on their shampoo range, the answers to which can be found on the conditioners :) no wonder I spent so much time at their shelf.

Biotique's conditioner is called a 'hair salad' and that's somewhere between being confusing and cute. Depending on what you make of it.

Packaging disaster?

Tropicana changed their packaging. Removed the fruits. And received more brickbats than bouquets. There's a detailed case on the issue here.

I don't really have a point-of-view on this yet. But yes, I am living proof of the fact that good packaging sells. I haven't a clue what Totally Twisted is doing for my hair, but by God I love it!

PS: The Herbal Essences site is just as yum. check it out here.

you know you work in advertising when...

2009-02-25T13:55:00.009+05:30

1. You don't watch a movie, you look for product placement

2. You see little kids dragging big fancy balloons in a mall and instead of breaking into a the-world-is-a-happy-place smile you wonder if you can put your logo on the balloon

3. You don't understand why they bore you with the tv show, you're there for the ads anyway

4. You tell a client -'You need to look at the bigger picture, what you're asking for is too tactical' but what you really means is - we can't solve your real problems but we'll confuse you into paying us for something you don't really need

5. You come to office in a crisp suit and people look at you like you sold out

6. You talk about getting to know the consumer, but when your non-advertising pals give you advice about what kind of ads to make, you can't wait for them to shut up

7. Your last conversation with your kid neices ended with 'Is Ben10 cooler or are the Powerpuff's still a hit?'

8. You know what 'retro-fit' means and a lot of your research works that way

9. You know that slide design is more important than content.

10. You think (correction: know) you're evil and going to hell

Tips From The Pits - Part 1

2009-02-12T16:30:00.012+05:30

As a marketer you'll often come across some amazing marketing tactic employed by a local brand that clearly the marketing bigwigs are missing out on.

So Tips From The Pits will hopefully be a series (I hope to find more). And no, by 'pits' I don't mean that these companies or brands are bad, just that they're small timers who can probably teach us more than a thing or two.

Tizen Mens wear

I came across this ad in the local train that I travel to work by every day.

From

I was a bit far from the poster so the image isn't too clear, but here is what it actually says...

"SMS Tizen to 56677. Example Tizen dadar to 56677"

This is why this one poster is just fantabulous

1. They know that men in the first class cabin of the train have a lot of time to kill during their long mumbai commutes. So they'll read my poster.

2. People who travel by locals generally prefer that mode alone and are more likely to visit shops/outlets that are close to a railway station. So why not give them info about my closest shop with respect to a railway station.

3. I can't list down all of my outlets, besides people aren't going to remember it all anyway, so let me tell them only what they need. Let me ask them for their preferred station.

4. Of course I wouldn't want them to forget the details so I'll just sms it to them

I don't know how many people have been to a Tizen showroom because of the poster, but I did send Tizen an sms. I know their address in Mulund now. It's stored in my phone because I have a lot of internal memory and don't need to delete every message as it comes (prolly the same for us all). So if tomorrow you ask me for a men's wear outlet in mulund, I might just forward the msg to you.

Or you could just sms tizen to 56677 :)

PS: I saw some cool jugaad tricks to get your business going, here.

Sony Pix - The brand that could have been?

2009-02-10T16:48:00.012+05:30

When I was studying at MICA, one of the projects that came to us was on Sony Pix (or Set Pix?).
We were told that Sony Pix simply could never match an HBO because it did not have blockbuster titles. It did, however, have some award winning movies.

So they said 'we tell stories'. 'Wow', I thought. That's smart. Interesting.

We tell stories.
There was something so powerful in this line for an otherwise lackluster channel. The movies had no great stars but surely... it had some stories?

I just simply adored the idea of watching a channel that tells stories and doesn't just show me Brad Pitt's armpits. (this worked well for the aspirational angle too where you want intelligent and heart-felt cinema?)

The we-don't-have-the-stars-but-we-have-what-matters approach sounded simply yum!

Missed the bus?
However I can't help but feel that where a channel could thrive around the 'we tell stories' approach, it still hasn't done enough to capitalize on it.

For example, if you told good stories but nobody had heard of their names, wouldn't you want to catch people and engage them with previews of the stories instead of sad TV listings, where I'd rather pick an HBO's MissionImpossible over you?

Also I can't for the life of me understand how the tacky promos for Chicks on Flicks would gel with your stand on telling stories? How in the world would calling women 'chicks' and movies 'flicks' work for you? Are you Star Movies? Cmon, you're more powerful than that. You tell stories, remember?

Why in your, otherwise lovely, 'The Pix Story' section, would you have Diamond Comics-like sketches in the corner to illustrate the point?

Bah! Nevermind. I'm just upset because I love Sony Pix and it's becoming a brand that-could-have-been.

Thankfully during my recent visit to Crossword with Sonali and Meenal, I saw this Set Pix branding.

Now that makes sense! Cuz you tell stories. Would be nice if somehow one could know what those great stories are ... could've added a link to your site there, but I'll shut up :)

PS: Sony Pix or Set Pix? Which is it?

One online community for young-ambitious-SEC-A-males coming up!

2009-02-02T11:53:00.013+05:30

Sit down. Take a deep breath. Know that this is not the end of the world. You will not lose your job over this. Another deep breath please.
It's official - most of your branded online communities are doomed.

According to a recent Deloitte study that I read about here, '35% of the online communities studied have less than 100 members; less than 25% have more than 1,000 members despite the fact that close to 6% of these businesses have spent over $1 million on their community projects.'

Now before you scroll right down to comments and begin to stab at your keys, let me assure you that I am not against online communities. Now, who in their right mind would be!

But I do have an issue with brands deciding to just 'create' an online community in the hope of building a loyal fan base. It's like they think online community's their jackpot. As if those 100 people in their community are like zombies waiting to watch every piece of advertising they send out.

1. Add value
If you're a client and your brief to your digital agency is 'i want an online community for young ambitious SEC A males' then let me assure you that you're not going to get anywhere with this social-media-thing.
Any community must add value. Must provide info/entertainment that the person actually needs.
No, wallpapers and screensavers of your latest canned juice don't help. No ambitious-SEC-A-male wants to stare at wallpapers of your often not-so-cool product.
And adding a 'send to friend' link cannot help your cause if that's all you intend to offer.

2. Know 'why'
It's really important to figure out why you're asking for an online community anyway.
Is it because
- You want to do something with this social-media-thing
- You believe that people who join your community will just go nuts about your product
- Gang of Girls did it (personally i could write a book about why GoG isn't a great case study, but whatever!)
- You just want one and that's that!

If you want a community because your aim is to just spread the magical powers of your brand around, think again. Communities that are created without any clear value-add don't really go anywhere. And if your community starts and ends with your brand then your entire process is oriented around how many more people can you attract, instead of what you're giving to all those people who are already a part of your community.

Communities grow when people who are already in them decide that it's a damn good place to be in and call-in their friends.

Couple of things you may want to do
1. Be specific. What kind of people do you want in your community. It's great to want millions in your fanbase, but then often a handful of strong believers are better than hordes of drifters.

2. Or else just use existing communities to peddle your goods. Why create another facebook when it already exists. You don't always have to start from scratch. Don't reinvent the wheel as Manish always says.

And no, you cannot blame your digital agency if your community doesn't pick up.
We'll just re-direct you to this post!

Brand soundtrack or item number?

2009-01-27T12:50:00.010+05:30

It's a no-brainer that a good soundtrack can make people want to stick to the channel when your ad is playing. I did that for Parachute's Gorgeous Hamesha and even the karo zyada ka irada for Max New York Life.

So it comes as no surprise that I am completely bowled over by the Discovery campaign 'I love the whole world'. So much so that I want it as my ringtone, caller tune, soundtrack for life and whatever else there is!

The song makes me want to give Discovery a BIG hug and definitely adds to brand. In addition to being informative, discovery to me, is now totally lovable.

I can't help but compare the rather expensive Hero Honda music video 'dhak dhak go'. The video had its moments with people coming together and it perhaps even had some optimism about the future of our young nation... blah blah. But it didn't really evoke any sentiment, much less a download.

Oh and you can download the official mp3 and video of I love the whole world from the discovery site. So you can viral it around. That's something Hero Honda missed on their site. (I couldn't find it, if you can then lemme know)

Sentiment vs Information vs Item Number
Music, to my mind, is about a sentiment, a feeling. And if you use it to just force your brand down someone's throat you'll be left with a B-Tex type of khujli ad and nothing more.
Though I must confess I am not sure how much good a soundtrack does to a brand in the long run, but it sure helps memorability of an otherwise run-of-the-mill campaign.
Of course one runs the risk of turning the soundtrack into an item number. Complete with background dancers, confetti and disco lights. And then just like with item numbers, another brand comes to replace yours the next week.

Perhaps like Airtel and Puma (Paulo Nutini's 'New shoes') more brands need to look at their soundtrack more seriously. It might just allow their brand to live well beyond the measure of media spends.

A PR story?

2008-12-19T18:19:00.013+05:30

I have no clue what this new milk brand (Sach) in the market is (see image). I've been away from the net/newspaper etc lately. But I did go to Big Bazaar and see this new milk with Sachin's photo and signature on it.

Is it PR or just a coincidence that there has been news of an award to Sachin for his good health and his love for milk before a match?

"tendulkar likes hot milk with turmeric before a match"

"Sachin Tendulkar is healthiest and happiest person in India"

"Milk is the secret of Sachin's fitness"

Maybe it's pure coincidence or have I become too cynical?

Fly from left

2008-12-10T11:35:00.011+05:30

You always learn as you go. You always over-do and then simplify and then over-do. It's a vicious cycle and why should powerpointing be any different!

So here are 2 very clear stages in the life of a powerpointer (in this case - me)

Stage I
Wow! Animations!
I am ashamed to admit that I animated everything. I was fascinated by all that one could do on powerpoint.
(At one point of time I even created a whole animated video of sorts of a house and twinkling stars) :D

From fonts to pictures to linking videos and animating everything with the more laborious 'typewriter' or 'fly in from left' animations available, often character by character (don't smirk, you know you've been there too)

Stage II
Powerpoint Detox
Having gone over the top in most presentations, I have come to realize the importance of good clean designs.

Sure, everyone's already told us that we ought to stick to one point per slide... but when a client expects 1000 answers to his 1000 problems what is one to do!

So here are two powerpoints I'd like to share to help get ahead of the learning curve :D

1. Good Powerpoint design
It's a LONG ppt but it makes its point. Though I doubt I'd ever take the trouble of profiling my audience as this ppt suggests, but I guess if you're speaking at an important place you may want to.
Good PowerPoint Design - for business presenters

2. Death by powerpoint
I love this one :D MUST WATCH!

Death by PowerPoint

How do you go back?

2008-11-27T16:20:00.006+05:30

How do you prevent all that's happening at Mumbai right now? I for one have no answer. Not yet anyway. For now I just feel numb.

After over a hundred people have died, security officers killed and India held at gunpoint...

How does one go back to work to sell soaps or deodorants that make such little difference to the nation and our collective future?

CC: The Best CYA trick of all time

2008-11-24T15:11:00.006+05:30

CYA is an in-built program that runs in every professional's lazy-ass body.

It's short for 'Cover Your Ass' and it's just the thing to employ if you're too scared of getting into trouble. (which by the way makes you a wuss according to me)

CC is great when you want to say something to someone but think it'd be a good idea for others to overhear just so that everyone's on the same page.

But sample this....

ME is sonal
CHA is the man Covering His Ass and CC-ing 5 people who have absolutely nothing to do with the project.

---
MAIL1: 13:02pm
me: Please confirm that this is okay. (nobody CC-ed)

MAIL2: 13:10pm
CHA: Please add these images, they're missing. Let me know if you need anything else. (CCs 5 ppl + CEO for no reason whatsoever. Did he expect the CEO to take my case for not adding those images?!)

MAIL3: 13:11pm
me: Thanks. I'll be taking care of the final prints and submissions tomorrow. It'll all be within deadline. Will send you a copy. (had to CC those 5 +CEO. sigh)

MAIL4: 13:13pm
CHA: Just to check, you'll incorporate the images in the final prints right? The ones I just sent you! (5 ppl CC-ed + CEO)

---

I'm thinking GAWD! of course I will. I just replied to your mail!

By now I was pulling my hair out because there was no way I was going to CC 5 people to just say "yes". So I just called him up and replied.

This is a typical exmaple of CYA where you feel safer about your ass knowing that the big fish know you did your bit and did it on time. You know... lest some scumbag try to pin the fault on you.

Tch. Tch.

Wuss!

CorpTalk can be all Ha Ha Hee Hee

2008-11-19T09:36:00.006+05:30

'Bad, server. no donut for you' or something like that is what you get when orkut screws up. Or 'oops...' when gmail acts up.

I love a company with a sense of humour so here are a few examples I came across that I'd wanna share...

Mable's shows you this when the page's not found. Quite cute.

Sample this. Dilmah tea has it's CEO picture and a line that says "one CEO who makes his own tea" :)

Any others I don't know about yet?

Who cares who the advertising is for!

2008-11-10T15:55:00.008+05:30

We advertisers hate to face it, but it's true - we don't know shit about the consumer.

Well we may know... but when it comes to describing the people who are most likely to buy our product, we fail miserably.

We describe stereotypes. Not people.

We think 'youth' is an ipod-toting, yo-ing, french bearded teenager in shorts-that-run-to-his-ankles.
Of course we could not be more wrong. Surely the youth of the country don't fall into this category.

Sample this shopping cart that a middle aged, lower middle class family checked out at Shoprite. (accompanied by their 2 young children)

1. 3 Lux soaps
2. 1 pair of brown socks for the kiddo
3. 1 Dove soap
4. 1 pack Kamasutra (x20)
5. 1 Gatorade
6. 2 Amul Kool's
and more...

Now for the life of me I'd have never figured

They'd prefer a Kamasutra over the more mildly advertised Moods

That the lady would refuse her daughter a small pack of pencils but splurge on a much more expensive Dove soap presumably for herself

That they'd be the sorts to buy Gatorade (what with their kids not having any say in the purchase process, from what I witnessed)

So maybe we ought to focus more on making our ads more appealing rather than spending too much time defining that ideal target consumer. Because there sure as hell isn't one.

I found myself a new job

2008-11-05T09:46:00.007+05:30

If there's one thing that really makes my blood boil, it's people littering city as if the world's a garbage dump.

On a recent train journey to Pune a lovely young (seemingly educated) couple threw a whole lot of stuff out the window into the 'universal dustbin' that is the world around us.

I thought to myself... (even though it was bloody hard to think with my temper rising by the second)

'Maybe I should just stare at him and he'll get the hint.'

So I gave him the stare. But he just looked confused :D

'Maybe I should wait till he decides to chuck something else out and stop him then.'

So I sat and waited for him to start to chuck something out again. God! Those were the longest minutes of my life as he slowly munched his food on his soon-to-be-out-the-window-paper-plate.

Just as he reached out the window to chuck his plate I screamed

"WAIT-WAIT. DONT-THROW-IT-OUTSIDE!"

and I reached for his plate in an attempt to force it out of his hands and throw it in a dustbin. (totally filmy I tell you!)

So basically he apologized, and took it to the dustbin himself (I think!) and went on to tell another kid in our compartment to do the same and not chuck junk out the window.

He said to me

"Thanks for reminding me"

( which of course caused a big smug grin to surface on my face which I tried my best to hide with a book I was reading)

So I've decided that since I'm probably not going to be doing anything great for India, I might as well just take on the job of a cleaner.

Last evening I picked up two ticket stubs that this lady threw on the compartment floor. She noticed my clean-up-act but didn't say anything. As for me, I was happy that 2 less ticket stubs littered mumbai last night.

Bulldozed!

2008-11-03T12:08:00.006+05:30

human bull dozers exist.
it is a fact.

we have seen them.
been bull dozed by them.
and some of us may even be them.

perhaps it is only my experience, but most bull dozers tend to be middle aged aunties, not more than 5 feet in height. elbowing their way through a crowd with their head ducked low so as to enhance the bull dozer effect, I suppose.

They have a very purposeful look on their face. their eyes fixed on one imaginary point ahead, to which they must reach within seconds.

Upon reaching this imaginary point of course, and having elbowed scores of people in the process, they stand nonchalantly, as if they had been there all along. Their ducked head finds a dancer's height as their noses now reach for the sky in a futile attempt at regaining dignity.

you'd think she's the sweet next-door aunty who smiles and helps little kids along. But then your crushed toes and bruised ribs tell a different story.

here are a few tips on how to avoid the bulldozer

1. look out for sudden and magical separation in crowds. much like moses and the sea. you'll know a bulldozer's heading your way.

2. quickly check the people around you. if there are any middle aged women under 5 feet, try and steer clear of them.

3. look out for anyone with their elbows out. they look a bit like angry chickens out for revenge. also they tend to charge the most when trying to catch a bus or train.

as for me, i'll just buy a relispray. Does that help with bruised ribs?

the really short story

2008-10-23T13:29:00.007+05:30

Khyati showed me a site that runs a contest for the best short story. The only catch is that the story needs to be really short. 140 characters to be precise. A typical SMS limit.

My first thought was that it's interesting, but I wondered if it would be any good.

So I visited their winners page and am now eating my words :D

Sample this!

'The baby's fine,' the midwife says, touching her hand. 'Bit of a scare there, but he's a little fighter. Have you decided on a name yet, Mrs Hitler?'

By Uta Coutts, Hitchin, Hertfordshire

'I love you,' she says just before he places the pillow over her face and presses down, hard. As her cancer-gaunt body stills, he feels his heart break.

By Uta from Hitchin in Hertfordshire

'Aren't you the musical one son' said Dad. 'Don't know where you get it from.' Mum's blush rose as the postman passed the window, whistling tunefully.

By Julie Forest

'I'm home' I yelled, entering the house. No response. In the kitchen my wife sobbed and hugged our son. 'Daddy's dead' she whispered, looking through me.

By Gail Lockwood

Visit the site for more.

I propose a short story contest on my blog. Lemme invite a judge. Who knows, there may be prizes :)

war of sponsored links

2008-10-20T20:22:00.007+05:30

Okay so Airtel and Big TV and TataSky are all busy shoving their plans down our throats and I'm not sure who's really winning. But Airtel sure has all the right moves.

A search for tatasky or bigtv resulted in an Airtel sponsored link each time :)

Are the rest of them sleeping?

PS: I did find tatasky+ sponsored links in some searches. So only bigtv is asleep then.

back to basics

2008-10-20T12:50:00.006+05:30

In a world of clutter, how does one little shop in Bandra stand out?

Whenever I go by SV Road Bandra, I can't help but notice this little shop that is in the buisiness of healing broken bones.

It's such a simple, clutter breaking... and err.. pretty straightforward shop sign :D

1. It visually depicts the services offered
2. Is understandable even if you are illiterate, thereby increasing number of possible customers :D
3. Shows smiling faces signifying positive results
4. Shows that it's for both men and women, so women need not shy away

Anything else I missed out? :D

Next time you go by the road, try ignoring the shop with the weird picture of a man and woman with broken arms. You just cant :)

PS: I had to juggle with the steering wheel and the camera in a Bandra jam, but thankfully I managed a decent shot.

I <3 Tag Clouds

2008-10-16T14:54:00.011+05:30

I must confess I love tag clouds. I think they’re an amazing way to visually compare factors. They show the importance of one factor by making it bigger than the other words and often even changing the colour of less important factors.

Wikipedia says: “ A tag cloud is a visual depiction of the word content of a site. Tags are usually single words and are typically listed alphabetically, and the importance of a tag is shown with font size or color.[1] Thus both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. The tags are usually hyperlinks that lead to a collection of items that are associated with a tag.”

Brand Tags

Recently I was introduced to Brand Tags. Yes, I know it’s been around forever and most of you use it already… blah blah
For those who don’t know brandtags read on.
It’s a cool little site (experiment) which asks visitors to type in one word that they associate with a particular brand name. So if Colgate pops up you type in one word that you most relate to the brand (I said white).

You can also go through the brand list and see what people have to say about a brand. And it’s all shown to you in the form of a cool tag cloud like this one for casio ---------------------------------->>>

There is an option for you to add your brand to the list to see what people have to say about it.

Wordle

I found wordle through Gautam and I think it’s very cool.

All you need to do it type out words and the ones that occur most in your write-up will be showcased prominently in your tag cloud. It’s fun and looks very cool.

It’s great for client presentations when you want to show brand perception findings. For example I can put the findings of a recent FGD done for a hospital to showcase what people generally think of hospitals-

PS: this is a wordle of this post :)

an afternoon with shyam benegal

2008-09-29T19:11:00.005+05:30

"tell him I hated Bose, but loved Making of the Mahatma"
"tell him I'm looking for a good role in the movies"
"he might just offer you a film"

Sorry people. I did not tell Shyam benegal any of the stuff you asked me to.
Actually for the most part I kept my mouth shut and my ears open.

He spoke about many things, from the distasteful reality shows on TV today to the reason why 'ramdev ka sajjanpur' became 'welcome to sajjanpur'.

I'll begin with the latter.

In his own words, people want 'evening entertainment' and to them Shyam benegal can probably only provide 'evening's gyaan' :)

To escape the tag of being 'serious' and heavy, the marketing team at UTV decided to alter the title to the more frivolous and easy going 'welcome to sajjanpur'.

For those who know Prof Mathew from MICA, would understand when I say that great minds think alike. The disappointment at the new generation's lack of 'world view' is both depressing and very obvious in the sentiments Mr Benegal expressed.

He is so right when he says we have become information gatherers for reasons known best only to us. That we cannot ever be wise with our concept of education which does not push us to read more and understand more perspectives.

I'm not sure if I found the meeting with Shyam Benegal inspiring or depressing, knowing what my life and career is and how it's heading in a direction as a meaningless as reality tv.
Maybe if my state of mind was more positive I'd be inspired. But right now I can't be anything but thoroughly depressed.

global perspective comes to the tv

2008-09-18T18:21:00.011+05:30

For as long as I can remember people have bemoaned the negative influence of the western world.

From asking the kids to leave the room when ‘the bold and the beautiful’ is on, to giving teenagers the stare when they’re watch Phoebe give birth to the children of her brother :D

Yes, western culture has influenced us. No, we're not delivering our brothers' babies.

Substituting punctuation with ‘like’ or whatever-ing ever unhandled-able situation; we are pretty American in our talk.

But just last night while watching Jimmy Kimmel Live on Star World I saw two videos which were picked right out of India.

Video 1: Dadagiri slap video

This is the one where a rather moronic TV host slaps a contestant, only to be slapped right back.

Video 2: Indian dance video

I’m sure plenty of American shows have picked up stuff that’s Indian and this isn’t the first time, but I still thought it was cool.

While I may not care for that awesome soap produced out of Taiwan, I am still open to watching something interesting on youtube irrespective of where it comes from.

Youtube's influence on TV programming

So in a way, the internet is opening up a lot of cultures to the world and thereby perhaps influencing even TV programming and making it more open. (by ‘culture’ of course I don’t mean values and snake charmers, but simply a way of living)

So while a Texan farmer may not surf youtube; through his TV he might just get to watch programming inspired by the world. He might just gain a perspective that goes beyond 'y'all' and double negatives.

Everyone talks about a global culture, but what's interesting is that it really does have a ripple effect that lasts beyond just the web. Making it a true 'culture' and not just a passing fad.

PS: i get that the dadagiri video is too silly to help me prove my point. Hoping you will overlook that :)

what's that smell?

2008-09-17T12:03:00.007+05:30

Recently I saw this Martin Lindstrom video about Crayola's odourless marketing mistake.

For those of you who did not use Crayola while growing up, here’s a quick refresher course.

Crayola is the coolestest brand of crayons in the world. They’re fun and they’re the bestest :D

And yea, they have a distinct smell that’s waxy and quite pleasant.

Crayola’s smell brings back memories of rainy afternoons spent colouring Cinderella books. Which is why Lindstrom’s video is of great importance. He tells us that Crayola no longer smells that way and neither do their stores.

A brand isn’t just the logo or the colour right? Smell is an important part, especially when it’s as distinct and happy like the crayola one.

I can only think of Lifestyle when I think of a brand with a distinct smell in India. Maybe Parachute would qualify too.

Anything else that comes to mind?

and the horror that is BigFlix: begins

2008-09-13T14:46:00.009+05:30

Okay so I know that I shouldn't have tried out BigFlix anyway. For the simple reason that Reliance cannot run a basic online business because their customer care is really the worst in the whole wide world. But anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. You know, try the one month rental and take it from there.

Day 1

I decide that I want to register for BigFlix. I go online, choose the appropriate plan. Register. I choose the pay-by-cash option in which a BigFlix associate visits you to collect the money within 24 hrs of registration. You're given an Order number.

What happens
Nobody comes to collect the money for 2 days. No phone call nothing.
A call to their customer care leaves me shocked because apparently they can't do anything till the time become a member. But I can’t become a member till the man comes to pick up the money.

Day 3-4 (don’t know which anymore)
I almost think of chucking BigFlix, but something makes me give them a second chance.
I decide to go to a reliance webworld and pay the money there so that they can activate my membership. It was obvious that nobody would come and collect it.

What happens
I walk around, find the damned store but they tell me they have some network issues and I'll have to come back tomorrow.
Thankfully, quite unlike a typical Reliance response, an employee agrees to help me out if I pay in cash and fill out a second form for membership so that they can do it all offline. I agree.
I'm asked to wait till afternoon the next day to receive my login ID and password to be able to order movies online.
God bless that man's soul.

Day 4-5
its afternoon and I haven't yet received the loginID.

I decide to call customer care and after explaining my problem thrice I give up and just ask for the reliance webworld's number so that I can deal with this myself.
guess what? They don't have the telephone numbers of their stores.
And like always, the customer care cannot help till I become a member.
Which I will become once reliance webworld inputs my request.
Which reliance webworld will do once I remind and threaten them.
Which I will do when I find their number!

*tearing my hair out*

PS: the nice guy at reliance webworld offered his personal number to me when I went there but I refused thinking I can always customer care. Naive!

Faith restored

Okay so I knew they'd come around! :) so my faith in bigflix was justified... to some extent.

they delivered my movies to me today.

but i still maintain that their customer service sucks.
I received no mail or call about my account activation and the call centre was hopeless.

Update: A bigflix delivery guy asked my friend for Dussehra bakshish :D that's really weird. God forbid Dominos Delivery guys start that too!

all smiles

2008-09-12T15:39:00.005+05:30

I started my day very early, traveled a great distance to deliver a talk on advertising and PR in the Digital Age. The talk was for distance learning students affiliated with MICA.
I think it went off well. Especially since I had the initial jitters of having to stare into a camera for 2 hours.

Just got a mail from a someone who attended the talk. So all's well I think.

And I just heard that an article I co-wrote with my boss got published in USP AGE. It's about our 72 hours in second life experiment. Do check it out if you can.
A low res wonky copy is available here.

So smiles all around. Plus it's friday. So there.

the sky is falling

2008-09-09T23:08:00.009+05:30

Doomsayers are plenty and very few bother to dispel myths and fears.

With all the major news channel and newspapers crying about the end of the earth because of the latest news on experiments with the LHC, people online are really trying hard to find out the truth.

Most, of course are googling out of curiosity, but considering the noise the media is making, I'm sure plenty turn to the Google Gods to provide them with some peace of mind.

Here are the top trends on google (last evening's) for people searching for the 'end of the earth' type scenarios. Quite amusing :)

Interestingly the US and UK searches don't reflect any such noticeable trends.

Of course it is possible that the US govt is keeping the doomsayers quiet since they don't want panic. And we in India cannot keep a secret and are yelling it off any mic we can get our hands on :D

So before the world ends and all that jazz, I thank you for reading.

Now go on. Add yourselves to the list of people googling for the end of the earth. These two links might help :)
1. survive 2012
2. LHC machine

You know you’re in the corporate world when…

2008-09-02T10:55:00.005+05:30

1. You start to look forward to the weekend from Monday itself

2. Repeating someone else’s idea louder than them, makes it your own

3. Saying polite hellos in the washroom is actually required

4. You’re giving ‘downloads’ at meetings instead of just ‘talking’

5. You smile and say your hellos to everyone and it’s called ‘networking’

6. You have to book a room 2 days in advance if a few of you just want to meet up and chat

7. The louder you talk, the more confident you seem and nobody tells you to keep it down

8. If you are upset you’re actually ‘stressed out’

9. Nobody bothers you if you have a scary looking excel sheet on your computer

10. You look happy and people wonder if you’re in denial