In this media frenzied world , it is quite important for every brand to understand where it currently stands , what is its current positioning and where the brand should be seen according to its identity,values and characteristics
For example , A premium and an exclusive brand cannot afford to advertise in a mass market , which ultimately leads to several repercussions .
First it loses its target customers , the brand values are diluted and the core purpose of the brand and what it stands for is defeated.

This post is actually based on an interesting incident from the book, Accidental Branding I read recently read , and incidentally based on my previous post on Product Placement .

It talks about , how a small TV serial episode managed to change a niche and an exclusive brand into a mass market brand and led it into its major crash.
Seinfeld ,one of America's popular sitcoms , had a tie-in with J.Peterman ,a designer brand for a product placement in an episode

The scene goes like this :

[On rainy street at night]

Elaine: (sob sob) (bumps into man with an umbrella) …

I don't even know where I'm going.

Peterman: That's the best way to get someplace you've never been.

Elaine: yes, (sob) I suppose, …

Peterman: Have you been crying?

Elaine: Yes, (sob) you see this (sob) woman, this manicurist,…

Peterman: Oh no, that doesn’t matter now. That's a very nice jacket.

Elaine: Uh, (sob) thanks.

Peterman: Very soft, huge button flaps, cargo pockets, draw string waist, deep biswing vents in the back perfect for jumping into a gondola.

Elaine: How do you know all that?

Peterman: That's my coat.

Elaine: You mean..?

Peterman: Yes, I'm J. Peterman.

J.Peterman was an exclusive brand sold only through catalogues sent to a few selected people.People considered the brand to be a premium and far differentiated from other brands.

But after the episode , millions of them watched it and enquired about the J.Peterman brand of clothes. The "catalog only" model didn't work out anymore , and he was forced to sell retail.

The sales grew rapidly thus paving way for more expansion across the United States.

The expansion forced the J.Peterman brand to lose its "Exclusivity" tag and hence became a mass market brand . Incidentally for that episode, it was said Seinfeld and Peterman himself
wrote the script

He wrote the script for his own fall ! What an irony

DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE HERE :

Episode - Part 1

Episode Part 2

The Business Plan Workbook: The Definitive Guide to Researching, Writing up and Presenting a Winning Plan

Publisher: Kogan Page | Pages: 416 | 2008-07-28 | ISBN 0749452315 | PDF | 2 MB

Written for entrepreneurs, executives, and students, The Business Plan Workbook is a guide to all aspects of business planning. Based on methodology developed at the Cranfield School of Management and using successful real-life business plans, The Business Plan Workbook brings together the process and procedures required to produce that persuasive plan. The case examples in this edition have been updated and include a cross-section of businesses at various stages in their development.

Indian Railways is one of the biggest organizations in the world and holds the record for the maximum no of employees employed under them. They have been quick to adopt changes, forecast demand in rail services and has managed to deliver constantly and moved on along with the times


Yet, their initiative to join the Internet bandwagon in providing Ticketing services and online information on trains may not be actually successful , compared to their forecasts and expectations.
The above failure is attributed to several reasons ,discussed below

• IRCTC(Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) charges a service charge of Rs.40/- per ticket in case of Second Class and Sleeper Class tickets and Rs.60/- per ticket in case of tickets of other classes , for booking online.

The Rs.40 charge may not be a big deal ,but the concept of shelling out more to book online is frustrating , when we are actually saving transaction ,labour costs.Even the cost of printing the ticket is ours.

When all firms are encouraging their customers to perform transactions online , to save from overhead costs,employee costs,costs incurred in physical locations etc , IRCTC is charging more when one books online.

Citibank actually introduced a scheme called "Suvidha" where it charged customers around Rs.150 evertyime they came to the bank to do a transaction and not online.
Similarly private airlines such as Jet or Kingfisher offers a far better deal online rather than booking directly in an office.
Railways has to understand that , when one books online it actually means , less crowd in booking offices, considerable less human resource required and subsequently cost per passenger comes down considerably which thereby increases profits

• Failure to integrate their reservation site and booking site. People usually log into southernrailways.org or www.indianrail.gov.in to check for availability and IRCTC.co.in separately to book the tickets . Indian Railways must integrate the sites , and provide an option for booking a ticket and linking back to the IRCTC website directly in that same page ,if the corresponding ticket is available. They may be two different departments / entities in the organization , yet it is a must to bring them together to increase traffic
  

• The southern railway and the Indian Railways website looks like a horrible mess ,with huge banner ads and matrimonial ads (even airline ads, which is a direct competition) and makes it look like a cheaply hosted website run by a small firm , and definitely not look like that of a 5000 crore turnover Govt Organization

• Server capcity and traffic handling capability of the Indian Railways website is extremely poor , with the server going offline several times a week . 40 % of the time , it shows a network or a database error.

• The "search for Information " process to search train names, schedules or timings can be quite a difficult task for novice users. Only those people who are aware of the "string and substring search" concepts , and actually knows the mechanism of the search may find their required information . If the whole string is entered with a slightly different spelling , it shows an error or "No records found" msg, to indicate No such train exists ,and does not offer any alternative trains or suggest some other info .

• Their "Spot your Train" feature, which indicates the exact position of any currently running training across South India is a brilliant concept (similar to the "track your flight feature in International flights"). Yet it has failed quite considerably with less support , and poor marketing . In a quick dipstick survey it was found that 90 % was unaware of any such feature in the Southern railway website.

If they could eliminate these errors ,and channelise their resources ,byr providing other services too, I guess they can reap in huge success and even convert some of the air travellers ,including foreign tourists to rail travel.

Probably they have to position their service offering , not as "just a train journey" but as an "experience" to savour

P.S - The last line was actually inspired from a true incident . The last time i travelled in a Shatabdi Express , the TTE actually loudly greeted all their passengers , like an air hostess and went and wished everyone a nice journey, personally

In the wake of the financial meltdown across the globe, the need for higher education is on the rise , and becoming critically important . Top Universities in USA are flooded with applications from students from all parts of the world.The skills required to make oneself successful in the work place, but also to gain an effective support system that will help long after graduation is important

After looking through several colleges, I happened to find Rasmussen College. Rasmussen College, Inc. is a premier provider of online and on-campus education serving students through multiple campuses in the Midwest and Southeast in the US and also 12 virtual campuses operated by its Deltak division.

Rasmussen offers students a broad range of quality programs ranging from certificate to Masters in nine educational departments and serves more than 7,000 students in fifty-states and five-countries

Rasmussen College Online offers over 35 online degrees that you can complete entirely online. Or, you can take a combination of on-campus and online courses to complete your degree. Some of them include an online degree in accounting and a certified public accountants and degrees. Among the several programs offered ,their key course is the online degree in accounting ,which offers a course to learn to manage the finances of small businesses, corporate offices, financial institutions . It also ncludes multiple facets of Accounting practices, including Corporate Fraud Analysis ,Governmental and Not-for-Profit Accounting ,Managerial Accounting ,Money and Banking Organizational Behavior Analysis ,Operations Management ,Strategic Management etc. and also elective courses that tailors to the education of our interests and career goals.They also offer a specialized online masters degree under several verticals such as Accounting , Business Management ,Crime Management, Digital Design and Advertising , Health Care/ Nursing and so on.
Rasmussen College also offers Placement Assistance while you’re a student at Rasmussen College .

The recently released "Quantum of Solace" has been touted as the "the next golden age of Bond movies" , with a fast paced ,realistic and a much "humane" movie . Starting from where it left, it has certainly accepted to be a far better movie compared to Casino Royale , with Daniel Craig delivering a powerful performance in the movie with his solid fist fights and chase sequences.

Yet, the movie seems to be missing on a load of factors , the usual Bond fan might expect to see.
For starters , the soundtrack of the movie ,"Another way to die", by Alicia Keyes is a major letdown , especially for a "Bond song" .Who could ever forget the 007 song composed by Moby for all those Pierce Brosnan movies ?

The next major factor that might affect the movie is the "In-film" Product Placement.
Product Placement esp in films , TV serials and games has been on a considerable rise the past years , with more corporate tie-ups and sponsorship deals between the production houses and the corporate companies and media agencies.

A product placement is a type of marketing/advertising , where corporate companies make a deal with the producers ,to make sure their brand /product advertisement appears on the movie in an indirect way , and follows a non disclosure policy

Some of the recent examples for Product placements that I have observed include :

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Hindi)- WorldSpace Radio
Life in a Metro(Hindi) - Shaadi.com
Fashion(Hindi) - Several fashion brands including Vogue,Lakme etc.
Chandramukhi (Tamil) - Tata Indicom

Hollywood :
Cast Away - Fed Ex
Devil Wears Prada - Vogue,Cosmopolitan, Star Bucks etc.
Minorty Report - GAP, Coca Cola
The Island - Microsoft
I-Robot - Converse

A James Bond movie particularly is quite renowned for introducing a whole new range of car models from famous brands , esp from the likes of BMW , Aston Martin, Volkswagen,Ford etc
This movie has certainly ain't been spared , with a whole new range of product placements throughout the movie . The audience were more tuned in identifying the brand names in cars,cell phones, alcohol,laptops,watches etc, rather than being absorbed in the thrilling chases and fights.

According to IMDB , the product placements and brand integrations for this movie include :

• Aston Martin DBS,Alfa Romeo and the Ford Motor Company including vehicle makes Volvo, Range Rover, and the new Ka
• Smirnoff Vodka, Bollinger Champagne,Heineken Pilsener Beer
• Sony Electronics & Sony Ericsson cell phones including the Titanium Silver Edition C902 Cyber-shot Phone;
  
• Virgin Atlantic Airlines
• Omega SA Watches, James Bond wears the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M; Swatch etc..
  

I'm sure its a dream run for marketers and advertisers for their brands to be featured in a James Bond movie,which will be watched by millions of people across the world , but when it comes to the average moviegoer , I guess they'd prefer to watch an "original" movie rather than a "sponsored" brand movie.

So next time , in a movie ,the hero drinks a "Starbucks" coffee rather than just a coffee , you know what it is !

We belong to a society , which has managed to build a closed surrounding, that resists change in any form. We desist moving into a new city or neighborhood , desist moving away from familiar groups ,desist moving into a new job or workplace,desist coming out of our personal space,afraid of breaking open the wall we have built all these years & fear of meeting someone for the first time and try including them in our group . We are cast into a particular form and shape and want to stay in that state eternally, meanwhile shaping others too in the process.
We expect people to behave in a particular fashion with us , and mold them according to our likes and dislikes.


We hate and despise new rules and legislation brought out in our society, schools, colleges, workplace and the country itself. We do not like someone to dictate terms on how do we do things.We want to do it in the same way we have been doing all along. We take a considerable time in adapting ourself to a particular habitat and its tough to force upon ourselves a new change , even if its meant for the positive side.How many times you have given this quizzical look , when your friends remark , "you have changed" , and retaliate saying "Definitely No". What better pride can you display than to say "I havent changed a bit. I'm just the same"

Dr.Meredith , in Grey's Anatomy says "

Change. We don't like it. We fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying, but here's the truth sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything.

This new "change" eventually raises a lot of questions to question the validity of change and do we really need to change?
How often do we find ourselves in a situation asking the inevitable "IF ? " question .
"If I did that , If I had said that, If i had known that information, If I had told him the truth , If I hadnt done that , If I had managed to reach in time " , the list is endless.Only to later realize , "If" is just nothing but a two letter word for futility.You cant do anything about.
If one has to change ,it has to be for the future and not for what he has been in the past.

As Sidney Sheldon quotes " Future is like clay. It has to be molded day by day. Past is like a bedrock stone.It is immutable"

Even travelers and globe trotters , who has seen most parts of the world , actually discover life and find solace only in their own homes, no matter where it is or how small it is .
They may need a break , yet find their own feet only within the confines of their little home.

The line from Wayne's world summarises everything : We Fear Change

Yet , the same "Change" interestingly has been responsible in deciding whos the most powerful man in the world.
Barack Obama ,the first black president of the United States has successfully shown,what "Change" can do - to win a presidency , by assuring people , that Change is good, and it is there in the offing !

Is there a single Ferrari fan on earth who wouldnt have shed a sympathetic tear for Massa ?

Who in the world would have thought , that the F1 championship title would have been decided in the last corner in the last lap of the final race of the season , which actually leads us to the question, Who was the best man of the race ?

Was it Felipe Massa who drove an impeccable race , leading it from start to finish. Or is it Lewis Hamilton , who stole a championship , with the help of Timo Glock, who "incidentally" had a Tire Temperature problem causing him to slow down and give way to Lewis .

Was it the man who pounded his heart with his fist,lifted the trophy and showed the thumbs up to the millions of Ferrari Fans across the world , when he knew he lost a championship by one point or the man who claimed his maiden championship with a defiant aggression and domination.

Microsoft has released a new "cloud" computing service , where the data and the application will be stored in the giant data centers across the world , and not in the user's system
The chief aim of the software is to allow developers to build new applications which will live on the internet, rather than on their own computers , so that it can be accessed anywhere, from any device.

"Cloud Computing"


Several companies with massive data centers "rent" their space to other businesses who wants to build rapidly growing online applications without needing to invest in more servers,when the traffic expands
For personal users , their data and many of the applications they use could be stored online "in the cloud, which can be accessed from anywhere across the globe

Interestingly , Amazon and Google has already been in the cloud computing business, where they rent out their data centers for developing online applications for social networking sites, mobile phones, and E-Commerce transactions
Amazon created the model with its "Elastic Cloud Service" , while Google quickly adopted it and created a whole different suite of programs for online advertising and search. One of the notable applications was Google Docs, where people can create Spreadsheets and Documents online and store it in the Google server , which can be accessed anywhere anytime.

Microsoft was quoted saying

"Our customers still want to be able to choose to have their software offline, on their own computers, as well as online in the web cloud"

"We believe deeply in on-premises software and we believe deeply in this new world of software in the cloud," said Ray Ozzie.

Several critics and investors been constantly criticizing Microsoft for its failure to embrace the internet when it actually exploded, when companies like Google and Yahoo rose to fame and reaped billions in profits .
Will this be a new strategic paradigm shift for Microsoft to fight the competition and can they succeed? Lets wait and watch !

Source : Microsoft

Ever wondered having a fancy number , with a stylish number plate for ur car ? Browsed countless designs and yet returned unsatisfied?

With this motto of offering a personalised service in providing number plates, Northumbria Numbers was established in 1995 in the Border County of Northumberland also known as "The Secret Kingdom" .Northumbria Numbers offers the best service in the Cherished Numbers business , with a massive selection of private number plates .

One can search for ageless car registrations, prefix type personalised number plates and current style number plates and design it according to his car and type .One can also choose from Car Manufacturer number plates, Personal number plates and Professional number plates .
These Personalised number plates come at a wide variety of styles and price ranges.
So go ahead and choose one now !

US software giant Microsoft has posted profits and sales figures well above analysts' expectations.

The firm made a $4.37bn profit during the first three months of its financial year, up from $4.29bn a year ago, while turnover rose 9% to $15.06bn.

Finance boss Chris Liddell said Microsoft had demonstrated the strength and diversity of its business model "in a challenging economic environment".

However, the company also warned that during the next three months it was unlikely to meet the estimates of Wall Street analysts because of the economic slowdown.

(Source : BBC)

The Indian nation might be in the progressive shift from being a developing nation to a developed nation but the state of retailing has never shown even the slightest change of improvement.

With investors and retailers predicting that India is steadily increasing on the organized retail sector (which currently owns only 5 % of the total market) , the facts and the reality actually proves the contrary

• Lack of parking space (even for hypermarkets ) - Did they even plan one while building it?
• Edible products that has crossed the expiry date
• Domination of cheap store brands , with the major preferred brands (of superior quality) not even in the visibility zone ,or worst case not available
• A complete disarray of product arrangement and a pile of garbage strewn across the floors
• Torn, faded and worn out dresses due to old stock
• Nonexistent customer service or worse rude and smirk replies
  
• Poor Lighting facilities , difficulties in navigation across the store
  

and the list is endless


Organized retailing is not about opening a string of 100 supermarkets across the country.
Its about running at least one store very efficiently
Its not about boasting a 10000+ footfall every week . Its about a single buyer being satisfied with his shopping inside the store
It's not about opening a store in every area in the city. Its about making the people come again frequently, a factor that drives them towards the store

A recent visit to Subhiksha supermarket , made me experience all the above.
Employees on a verbal fight with each other , non availability of any snacks(including biscuits)
soft drinks and milk products and several other products, bill counter person refusing to accept money ,because she doesn't have change(can u believe that it happens in a supermarket ? )

As far as a premium fashion/apparel store is concerned(for eg.Pantaloons, lifestyle,Globus ) , we don't need a person to stand behind us to get the right size dress.
We need a person who can suggest a style of dress that suits our personality. The role of "Shopping Advisor / Assistant" is virtually nonexistent in any of the stores

The above idea was basically inspired from three sources :
1 - www.cdshirts.com : The talk to us column which contains the "I need help to find me a shirt" link , which identifies the user's taste and personality and suggests a couple of designs that can go well with the person
2 - Jennifer Anistons Role in F.R.I.E.N.D.S , where she is a shopping advisor in Ralph & Lauren
3. www.jcrew.com

No wonder people prefer the flea market than these "superficial stores" . The hassle in bargaining in a flea market is much less compared to the horrible store experience in these organized retail stores

Contrary to my previous article on the financial meltdown, and people losing huge amounts of money, I have tried to write about a new concept called the Nouveau riche

Nouveau Riche is a term of reference used by the already rich to describe people who had the capacity to become rich by actually working for it rather than by patronage and inheritance.

This term also refers to the fact that the concerned individual was previously of a lower socioeconomic rank, and such wealth has given him the means for the acquisition of luxuries that were previously unobtainable with his income.

The world has seen millions of these kinds of people, who have got something in them, to achieve their dreams and passions, with a ingenious business ideas and made billions in the process

Some of these billionaires include the greats like SAM MOORE WALTON, CARLOS SLIM HELU, RICHARD BRANSON, DAVID PACKARD etc

Considering the example of Sam Walton, the founder of the world’s biggest retail Mart, Wal Mart.

Starting as a small retail store, he has now built a huge empire of hypermarkets across the world.

On the other hand, Richard Branson has a different story. Beginning with a student newspaper at age 17 and a record label to which he signed the Sex Pistols in his mid-20s, Branson has built the Virgin Group into an international conglomerate of some 350 companies, many of them still tiny but all of them combining for more than $8 billion a year in sales

When asked about his business ideas , Branson quotes

"The conventional wisdom is you should specialize in what you know and never stray from that, but no other brand has become a way-of-life brand the way Virgin has. And it wasn't us setting out to become a way-of-life brand, it was me continually being interested in learning new things. We've got people all over the world who are coming up with great new ideas, and trying them doesn't actually cost us a lot relative to the overall size of the group." So they try. In the process Virgin has developed a business method that Branson calls "branded venture capital," whereby he starts and manages all manner of new companies under the Virgin name while partners provide most of the investment.

The following article: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1991/09/09/75462/index.htm

describes in detail dozens of such entrepreneurs who made it to the big. The Nouveau Riche in the list is so comprehensive and has managed to cover almost every single billionaire across the world from almost every country . It is really worthwhile and enlightening to have a quick read over it

A very interesting article I came across in the net , when I tried to figure out what actually happened to the billions of dollars the multinationals held , which they seemed to "lose" in a matter of days. Even the financial institutions and major banks shut down because of lack of funds .So where did this money go?

The answer was simple : There was no money in the first place ..

Here's the article :


"It's in people's minds," Shiller explains. "We're just recording a measure of what people think the stock market is worth. What the people who are willing to trade today - who are very, very few people - are actually trading at. So we're just extrapolating that and thinking, well, maybe that's what everyone thinks it's worth."

Shiller uses the example of an appraiser who values a house at $350,000, a week after saying it was worth $400,000.

"In a sense, $50,000 just disappeared when he said that," he said. "But it's all in the mind."

Just hours after my last post on embracing your competition , arch rivals Kingfisher and Jet Airways has announced that they will form a Code Sharing Agreement and a Joint Alliance.

(Just exactly like what "The Waking Life" propagates - Many people from different parts of the world come up with a similar thought flow at the same time - a thought process that travels across the world into minds, and strikes up a corresponding design)


With a steep rising prices in aviation fuel, the global financial meltdown and the sharp decline in the airline traffic , both Kingfisher and Jet Airways has come to realize that it is not sustainable to run the airline business in the long run, by competing against each other, after suffering a loss of $988 million between each other.

In fact , they have done the opposite. They embraced each other with a mutual agreement for both national and International flights and also sharing expenses in buying aviation fuel, despite retaining their individual brand identities.
Vijay Mallya himself has come out in the open , joining hands with Naresh Goel and proclaims that Jet Airways is a brilliant airline and vice-versa

This agreement leads to better seat utilization ,joint fuel management,crew sharing,optimization of flight routes and schedules and flight frequency and reduction in operating expense for both

With the current deal , the two companies now control 4 of the top airlines in the industry(namely Jet Airways ,Kingfisher, Sahara(Jet Lite) & Air Deccan (Kingfisher Red) )
and thereby easily have a combined market share of more than 60 % ,and with a intended strategy to increase the prices , its just a matter of time ,for the profits to come rolling in

P.S. I had actually assumed that embracing your competition was mainly advantageous in the retail sector. But it turns out , its true in any vertical or industry,as evident from the current post.

With the onset of Dussehra, Navratri and Diwali season, I decided to pick up a few apparels from the recently opened "Style One" store in Adyar , Chennai.
(note the stress on "Pick up" ,to denote the fact that Men still don't like to shop !)

After the purchase , I headed off directly to the nearby Sangeetha restaurant for dinner,where I noticed a strange thing. Almost 50 % of the people there had a Style One Bag or an Odyssey bag (the neighborhood apparel and book stores respectively) , which made me wonder , why wasn't this phenomenon converted into an opportunity . It was so obvious , that everyone failed to see it.

The phenomenon described here is not limited to the above locality alone. It happens everywhere ,across the world. How often ,being a restaurateur or a coffee shop owner , you have noticed people walking in with loads of shopping bags after purchasing from the nearest apparel store ? And have you done anything about it to keep the trend going ?

It's time that these restaurants or coffee shops located near the market place to embrace these shops and strike up deals , whereby these shoppers are given discount coupons or special offers in these restaurants/coffee pubs whenever they shop from these nearby stores for a certain amount

This acts as a win-win situation for the restaurants , the retail stores and the shoppers too (who anyways end up in the local deli for a quick bite. For the restaurants it directs more "targeted customers" to their place even during the lean hours , offering discount coupons for purchases acts as an added advantage to the retail store , and for the shopper its a mix of both

Offering a discount at a restaurants or a coffee shop is literally unheard thus giving a unique value added advantage to them.

For example, a Starbucks or a KFC or a Pizza Hut can tie up with multiple retail stores in different areas and offer specialized discounts . For each of the various outlets, they should have a corresponding retail tie up , who offers Starbucks discount coupons for every purchase.
The retail store can be a book store or an apparel store or even an accessory store.
All that matters is , whether the target profile of the retail store matches to that of the restaurant/coffee pub, and in most cases it does .


Exploring this opportunity might pose another serious question ? Can a retailer embrace another competitive store in the same street/locality?

The answer is Yes. According to Al Ries and Laura Ries , it actually leads to expansion of the category . As per the 22 Immutable laws of branding , Law of Fellowship quotes ,

"The best way to build a brand is to welcome other brands"

The best place for a second place brand must be in the opposite of the leading brand store, in the same street .When the top brands of the same category lie in the same area, the area becomes more popular for that particular category and more targeted traffic comes in .
People who were displeased with the competitive store might walk in and end up buying in your store , which wouldnt have happened in the first case
Rather than being a destination driven store,having low traffic or walkins , it gets converted to a category specific store in a related area ,which also leads to a far better conversion rate(Conversion rate = no of people who actually buy / total walk ins)

I just happened to watch a beautiful movie called P.S. I Love you and was quite amazed by it
Never for a minute thought it to be so beautiful and emotional about love .
What really struck me in the movie was a particular scene , where Daniel asks "What do women want ?" and Hillary Swank replies "This is a sacred secret. Here it goes -
We have no idea what we want."

It's not only true for every women in the planet , but for every consumer. Until you give them something to try out and experience it , they may never be able to exactly articulate what they need.

So how does focus group discussions help ? They help in extracting cues.To identify the gap between their needs and the currently available product. It does not necessarily translate to what exactly they need in a product.

For example , When you ask them what do u need in a new food product to be launched , they might reply good quality , cheap , healthy ingredients , etc
But ultimately the only food they end up buying is the tastier one or the one which has a better packaging design and looks good.

Therefore building a product based on a consumers choice and preference may be suicidal sometimes. The same holds in differentiation. There are a million ways to differentiate. Probably one can come out with a blue colored ketchup ,or a circular shaped T.V or worlds thinnest laptop, which doesnt even have a DVD player.
So whats the use ? Do I benefit with a new variant or different color ? Of course not !

Differentiation for the sake of differentiation is a pretty useless thing.When Coke came out with the New Coke , it bombed in the market. Sometimes it is attributed to the "resistance to change" by the people . But the key factor is , the product has failed to satisfy any unrequited need .
This is where the Walkman succeeded. It answered the need for music on the move

So remember , differentiation maybe important , but whats more important is constantly searching for cues to develop the "most needed" product and not the "most wanted" product !

Blue Ketchup anyone ?

The burst of the Internet bubble a decade has caused an enormous no of companies to become virtual and do business online. With the World Wide Web being cluttered with a massive no of websites offering similar services, it was imperative for new companies to innovate, differentiate and add value to their product.This caused a paradigm shift from a single product offering to "an end to end complete business solution"

The latest addition to that is www.moveme.com. A very interesting company that caught my eye which offers a wide range of services from offering local customized information to a complete monthly planner in moving our homes and also offering tools to do the tasks - such as Mail Forwarding Forms, Change of Address letters, Voter Registration

Their other core services include free mortgage quotes, where one needs to fill in the requirements and type of home one needs and the site comes up with an impressive list of quotes in the specified range These mortgage quotes are differentiated from fact that they give you a quote from your existing provider as well one of their own which offers better deals. Other services includes removal quotes which helps in detailing on services provided by renowned Removal companies in the area and transport facilities to shift home

They also provide a detailed guide on setting up technology components inside the house and appropriately named the Geek Squad, home instructions, storage facilities, change of address instructions and so on.

An indispensable site for home owners which provides great service by a customized planner, where you tap in the addresses you are moving from and to, the date you are off, and in return you receive a personalized planner advising you what to do and when . Incidentally the site has also won - Yahoo Innovation Award and the Yahoo People's Choice Award. No wonder !

As the five red lights illuminated, there was a gleaming smile across Bernie Eccelstone's face . With the stunning success of the Singapore Grand Prix, the whole world witnessed a spectacular event next only to the Beijing Olympics reassuring a secure future for Formula One, despite the threats of a rebel grand prix series . Fernando Alonso pulled off a surprise win and emerged as victor, from a 15th place start, despite cribbing about the circuit, and the difficulties in overtaking in the street circuit, during the post qualifying round of interviews.

(Pic taken by me in Dec 2006)

Singapore

An extremely beautiful travel destination and a central hub for several connecting flights, Singapore is one of those rare cities, which mixes business and pleasure in a perfect blend and gives a memorable experience for anyone who goes there even for a day. Singapore has come a long way down, in making sure the race was conducted in the best possible way , with awesome lighting effects , excellent road conditions and wonderful organization creating several records in the process.

The Start

With a clean start by the top three of F1, it was bound to be a predictable race with the near impossibility of overtaking in the Anti-Clockwise Singapore street circuit. But with the retirement of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, the sport has become anything but predictable. Pole Positions in qualifying has literally become meaningless with almost every team (except Force India of course. lol..) having a fair chance to win the race or at least a podium finish despite their starting position.

With the crash of Nelson Piquet Junior, it was the turn of the inevitable safety car to lead the race, as the huge leads built up by the Ferraris and McLaren came crashing down.

Despite all the glitz and glamour, it was a bad day for Ferrari and its million fans across the world. Ferrari's chance of a championship victory, with Felipe Massa on the lead, was almost doomed, after a horrific pit stop incident, when one of the pit crew failed to take the fuel pump from Massa's car, meanwhile Felipe was given the green signal to go.

Adding fuel to the fire, the steward handed him a "Drive thru" penalty, further inhibiting his chances to finish in the top 8 .The problems didn't just stop there .Kimi Raikkonen driving a near perfect race , was forced to wait behind Massa in the Pit stop, while the safety car circled the circuit as the debris of Nelson Piquet Junior's Renault was picked up . It was further followed by a 150 mile crash by the Finn and his chances of qualifying to the top three were also over.

The woes for Ferrari continue for the nth time, with several pit stop problems, engine failures, signaling problem, mismatch in communication (as evident from the fact that Kimi and Massa came in the pits at the same time) and so on.

As far as Lewis Hamilton is concerned, yeah I do admit you're a rival to me and I must hate you, just as the way I hate Arsenal, while supporting Manchester United.But I have to give it to you.You're simply terrific, aggressive and determined to the max even in a car like McLaren!

Hope to see several F1 races there in the future , though with a modified circuit and track conditions.

After a brief hiatus from blogging , I felt it’s appropriate to come up with a social awareness article , esp after the nomination of Taare Zameen Par to the Oscars.
This article details on a very crucial issue that quite a few children face these days – Facial Tics

Facial Tics usually happens when eyes or facial muscles move in a repetitive, spasmodic way. Found mainly across children these Facial Tics may increase as a result of stress, tiredness, or high energy emotions, which can include negative emotions, such as anxiety, but positive emotions as well, such as excitement or anticipation

Some of the common tics found usually in Children are Eye Squinting, Eye Blinking, Mouth Twitches , Compulsive grunting , wrinkling nose and so on .

These tics are quite repetitive . They appear for a short period and vanish and then reappear after sometime . Some of the problems faced by children suffering from these tics are :
1.Public humiliations such as being picked on,
2. Singled out in public gatherings or schools and
3. Made to feel different and weird . This may cause the child to go in deep stress. Despite the availability of several drugs and medications, the harmfull side effects of the drugs are the chief cause of worry in the minds of the parents who are often left in a dilemma, whether to get the treatment done or not.

After much research , I seem to have found a promising option for parents searching for an effective solution to their child’s problem of facial tics. It’s a company called www.facialtics.com , offering an easier, safer and a much effective answer to Facial Tics .With a proven and tested method, the company offers a guaranteed relief from facial, motor and vocal tics in less than 72 hours. They offer a natural and easy approach in eliminating facial , motor and vocal Tics , that doesn’t cause any side effects and in a much cost effective way .

By getting to the source of the problem, the solution helps in causing a positive long term impact on the child.

Have you ever wondered how to prevent a major dampening in sales especially when it pours heavily or during a rough weather climate ? Or given up , after being frustrated and attributed the problem to external factors - "The Nature"
It's just not you but it's the same across the world

People do tend to stay indoors in a bad weather and refuse to go out and shop

An insight already picked up by the "Restaurant and Pizza Chains" who suddenly came up with a free home delivery service , to cover up for those canceled lunch and dinner dates or meetings

So what do you do ,if you have a retail store.How do you make the guy sitting on the couch enjoying the weather, come out , travel in that rain ,snow or blizzard and walk into your store and buy something?

Simple. Offer a "Customized Day" sale !
To be more precise , introduce a "Rain Day Sale" - Offer a 25 % flat discount sale or a free gift ,on any rainy day ,applicable throughout the year . Be it the rare downpour in the hot summer or the monsoon rains in Winter ,the rule still applies .

The level of customization is endless in this. It can be anything from a "Snow Day sale" to a
"1st of the month day sale"
Apart from converting a major calamity into an opportunity , it also gives the store a distinguishable advantage from the others
The store thus gets a strong association with the word rain in the minds of the customer and hence increases the top of the mind recall



So remember , the next time it need not be only the umbrella guy who makes the most when it rains.It can be even you !

A recent tragedy, just across my street ,makes me wonder what that actually meant to a lot of people.

Saravana Stores , a huge retailer in T.Nagar Chennai , caught a major fire early in the morning due to a short circuit . (One of the reasons I was perturbed was not because of the actual fire but due to the fact that , the whole area was kinda choked with police vehicles,fire engines ,road blocks and so on.)


It may not mean a lot to me , if Saravana Stores goes out of business the next day.
But it sure well raises quite an eyebrow and a concern to their target segment - The masses

It doesnt have any loyalty offers. They dont have frequent discount sales.They do not offer the best customer service or the "ultimate shopping experience" or the best quality products.
Despite all of that , they have managed to build a massive empire , as one of the biggest stores in Chennai offering everything from furnitures to clothes to jewelry
Not exactly defined as a hypermarket though , they have managed to create the impression of selling their products at the cheapest price ever possible.
Something what Wal-mart in the US has also achieved quite considerably

What these brands has successfully built upon over the past years , is a clearly defined target segment , a unique positioning and a hardcore loyal following and more importantly , an emotional bonding

One of the most definitive success factors for a brands to become sustainable over time is for people to have a emotional bonding and a unique position in their mind about the brand.

This is one of the same reasons which points out where Big Bazaar is failing.
Despite being a massive crowd puller , Big Bazaar has failed in creating a emotional bond over its customers.As long its the only hypermarket in town people would keep going to it. With the most horrible shopping experiences , poor services, and bad product qualities ,zero parking space Big Bazaar offers everything which you dont need in a hypermarket of that size

When Wal Mart ,Tesco or Spars comes in , I guess its jus a matter of time before people dump the Big B for the latter

And coming back to my main theme :

What brands would make me feel a lot if it goes out of business tom ?
1) Microsoft - I am totally addicted to its operating system and its Office Suite .
2) The Hindu - Not a day goes by without reading the Hindu
3) Google - A consistent solution provider for all my questions.
4) Philips - The best ever quality ,long lasting ,assured electronics company

None of the competing brands can ever replace these from my life.Cos they managed to create an emotional attachment , which possibly a Times of India ,or a Sony or as a matter of fact, Apple has completely failed to do so (Atleast for me !)

Experts agree that the recently concluded Beijing Olympics was one of the spectacular and finest Olympics ever conducted. China had poured in billions of dollars for the different events by building world class stadiums ,sports arenas and also for the opening and closing ceremonies

But what lies unknown is the fact , China had actually taken the next giant leap in achieving the impossible - To control the nature !

Rains and thunderstorms had threatened the closing ceremony in the Beijing Olympics.Yet ,China remained unflustered by it , and went ahead in firing rain dispersal rockets from the ground and huge planes to cover a large area
Around 241 rocket shells were fired in nine rounds from Beijin,Tianjin and Hebei to disperse the rain clouds ,
It is also believed that around 1000 rain dispersal rockets were fired for the opening ceremony

It just goes to show the advancement of technology and the power man has gained in these centuries , and a force that makes nature fear him

The concept of weather and climate control by man , as discussed in novels like Are you Afraid of the Dark by Sidney Sheldon and State of Fear by Michael Crichton
are almost becoming a reality .

If man conquering the moon was the first giant leap, then in my view controlling the nature comes a close second !

Next is what ?

The IPhone has arrived in a grandeur style in India with a hefty price tag of 30 k and 36 k for the two variants

The customer base in India , is basically dominant in the Late Majority and Laggards segment. The percentage of the Early Adopters and Innovators is a tiny one , and doesn't stand any comparison with the norms in UK,US & China.

( The Innovators are those who purchase the product at the beginning of the life cycle. They are not afraid of trying new products that suit their lifestyle.
Early adopters are those who are usually opinion leaders and naturally adopt products after the innovators )

The long queue of people waiting the entire night in US,UK to grab a copy of the IPhone (initially priced at $399 and $499) was clearly missing in India.
Reports suggest not more than a handful of people waited to grab the first set of phones .

Was it because of the innumerable "missing features" ?
No
The compatibility ,operator or operation issues ? No

There was only one obvious reason : The IPhone was way too expensive, even to those Innovators , who usually doesnt mind paying a price premium on products . The IPhone has joined in the list of yet another set of brilliantly designed products that failed because of the price tag.

[The Ford Fusion is a prime example and tops the above list. A wonderful car , perfect for the Indian roads, bombed in the market when people found out it was simply too expensive for 6 Lakhs]

Irrespective of its sleek design , 3 G,Gps,music player,touch screen etc, IPhone still faces a major threat from existing players like Nokia ,Sony and Samsung who offers more advanced features for just Rs.20000

Apple must have realised from their huge mistake of slashing the phone's prices by more than $ 100-150 after the first week, instantly causing irreparable damage of lost trust and faith from its early adopters.The people who stood all night along to buy the phone felt cheated at the price reduction ,though Apple gave them back talktime vouchers for the equal amount.The day is not quite far for Apple to make the same mistake here.

After talking to several people who already own the IPhone (bought from the US) ,a typical reply is "I can tell u 10 reasons why you should buy the phone. But I can also tell u 20 reasons why you shouldnt buy the IPhone

It's also quite clear that the phone is completely suited for the Indian scenario.
Peope can download songs only through the ITunes software (ur usual cut and paste stuff for normal multimedia phones doesnt work here )

A common pasttime for all Indian cell users is forwarding messages.
The innumerable "send this message to 10 people" sms's throughout the night is not possible in an IPhone.

You cannot share your pics with others through bluetooth

The phone comes only with a Vodafone or Airtel connection

Only Apple can change the battery

You drop it once and its gone ! Dead !

and the list goes on

Will you buy it ??