Children and Camphor Poisoning. Of Extreme Importance to Parents

It was yesterday that I got a shock when I called India. A very close relative's child of 2 years while happily playing suddenly fell silent, showed difficulty in breathing, vomited and had convulsions and tremors on the right side, froth at the mouth and simply showed a glazed look, did not speak and showed no recognition of people. They rushed her to the hospital and by the Grace of God had a helpful neighbor who drove their car and called in the hospital in advance of the emergency. The child had become almost silent and still by the time they reached the hospital. A pediatrician was waiting and asked the grandparent who was with the child if the child had been given any tablets or had consumed camphor. The grandparent remembered the child playing with a box of camphor and trying to swallow a piece when she was asked to spit it out, but did not catch the child repeating it again. The doctor asked her if the tremors that the child showed were on the right side and the answer was yes. The child was instantly put on oxygen and taken into the emergency room. She was put on intravenous fluid ( saline drip) and in half and hour showed consciousness and immediately complained about the drip and tried to snatch it away, this time much to the joy of the grandparents and parents around her because the child was back to her usual mischievous feisty self.! 
This was quite a scare for everyone and a revelation that the innocuous camphor could be  deadly enough to cause death.
I am attaching a link to this article and pasting an extract for the benefit of anyone and everyone with children and also for those who like to keep themselves informed. Information of this kind is life saving.
Camphor Poisoning Symptoms 

• Camphor oil has many medicinal effects. It is considered to be an effective analgesic, a stimulant and a laxative. It is an anti-depressant, an anti-inflammatory agent and an antiseptic. However regardless of these medicinal effects, camphor can be harmful. In an article published in Pediatrics, May 2009, by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, it states, "Scientists have known for some time that camphor can cause serious health problems, including seizures."

Research Study

• According to researchers of a new study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University entitled "Children Vulnerable to Toxic Effects of Camphor-Containing Products" published in Pediatrics, May 2009. "Inappropriate use of camphor or camphor-containing products may be a common cause of seizures in young children." The study calls for efforts to educate communities about the hazards of camphor and to stop the illegal marketing of camphor products.

Allergic Reaction

• An allergic reaction to any drug is a medical emergency; seek medical attention immediately. The signs of an allergic reaction to camphor include itching, hives and shortness of breath or tightness in the chest, along with swelling of the face, mouth and tongue.

Warning

• Exposure to the toxic fumes of camphor should be avoided, especially by people suffering from seizure disorders. Camphor should never be taken orally; this could cause tachycardia, urinary retention and albuminuria (the presence of protein in the urine), along with elevation of liver enzymes. Camphor toxicity can develop in five to 15 minutes. This is a life-threatening emergency. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and burning in the mouth and intestines, later leading to confusion, hallucination and convulsions.

Building Emotional Equity for Brands

The issue of building  an “emotional connect” with the consumer arose when technological advances made it easy for people to replicate the technology in real quick time. Development of communication infrastructure also ensured that technological innovations diffused down to other geographies and segments quickly and with less lead time. Situations of product parity arose and the idea of an Unique Selling Proposition became history. The era of Unique Selling Presentations and Unique Selling Personalities came into vogue. Appealing to the emotions was the tactic adopted. Companies like Foote Cone and Belding came  out with strategic tools like the FCB Grid, which classified products into emotional and rational categories with associated purchase behavior being linked to whether it was the head or the heart that ruled!

In the recent past, the Hofstede’s framework was used by some agencies to understand the core essence of brands and the value they espoused and personified.

The latest probably is Kapferer, who came out with a prism which detailed the various facets of a brand including its physique and personality and the relationship it had with its consumers.

To get down to basics, there is a simple technique to arrive at the possible emotional areas and the kind of personality that a brand could possibly look at.  I came across this when undertaking a repositioning of a luggage brand in India. This was referred to as the Attribute Consequence Value chain. Qualitative in nature it probed consumers as to what  attribute they looked for in a product ( luugage in this case) and then what benefit it gave them. The second answer was the “consequence”. Sometimes there were more than one consequence. The next probe was on what this benefit meant to them in their everyday life and to the people they were. It was finally linked to a value that they held dearly. So a rugged luggage product had the consequences of durability and the ability to protect. Durability meant savings in financial terms , which then meant that the decision was sensible and there was emotional pay off in being seen to oneself as sensible. For others, the money saved meant being a good provider since it could be used for other purposes and giving the family something they liked and wanted. Being sensible and being good providers were linked to the individuals value systems, in the first instance using one’s brains and doing the right thing was a key value, for the second person, being a good provider/ father/ mother was  a value and his/her dharma.

In fact Volvo’s benefit of being a “safe” car was leveraged in one memorable advertisement as being a loving father, because he invested in his own safety!

ENDS..

TECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING NEW PRODUCT IDEAS

Grumble, Grumble, I wish….

Last weekend, I got a call from a friend of mine who works with an advertising agency. He was conducting a workshop for his client who was an established player in the telecom sector and his agenda was to help them identify new product opportunities through a “new ideas” session. He mentioned the “six hats “ of De Bono and the like. I then remembered a session I had attended in 1992 at Mumbai (then Bombay) which was taken by Mr. Pranesh Mishra, who was the head of Pathfinders India at that time. He had covered a variety of research techniques including new product identification. The technique he had recommended was simple and effective enough for me to remember after two decades.

The “Grumble, Grumble” technique:

Most corridor conversations in office are sometimes grumble, grumble sessions with people grumbling about everything that makes them unhappy and the more intense it is the quicker it moves up the “grumble” chart and the more widespread it is the more the number of people who grumble about it. Taking this to research, respondents in focus groups and one –on –one interviews are asked to grumble about a product that is in discussion. For example “grumble, grumble, my soap gets soggy after a while” is an example. “grumble , grumble my cellphone  battery goes off too fast” or “grumble, grumble, my network connection goes off in the middle of a conversation”. These are clearly articulated needs of consumers which are unmet and which needs to be reengineered by the marketer through product and service augmentation. Sometimes these may result in completely new product initiatives.  If not corrected it offers a competitor a clear opportunity and a gaping hole in the armor from where he can launch an attack. In India a low cost brand called “Nirma” which was galloping away with increased volumes and market share was stopped dead in its tracks when a grumble session done by its competitor ( unilever)revealed that the detergent was so strong it left the users hands with blisters. Unilever immediately counter –attacked with its own low cost product WHEEL, which promised a strong clean with no damage to hands with a clear negative reference to its competitor NIRMA ( Mene mangi this safai, tune di hathon ki jalan?- I asked for cleanliness and you gave me blisters?).” Captain Cook”, another brand in India, launched its branded salt on the platform of “free flowing  salt“ when its research revealed a grumble of “sticky salt” among the users of its key competitor “ Tata Salt”.

The I wish  I had…Technique

Most girls, if they met with a “fairy God mother”  would give her a wish list. Not quite unlike Cindrella. Santa Claus would be too childish for them and the wish list would not be toys.  Mills & Boon the publisher of romantic novels came out with its carefully formatted novels which catered to a specified “wish list” of many young women with regard to their idea of a life partner, married life and romance, which was in the realm of “possible fantasy”. The tall , dark, handsome stranger with immense wealth and means, who would choose her over glamorous and even immoral women who threw themselves at him and with whom they would happily  raise a family and enjoy the “good life”!!

The same technique applied in research, when focus groups are given mood boards or stimuli related to the product and asked to make a wish list could result in insightful responses that could lead to product augmentation, new product (line extensions) ideas or even brand extensions.

The introduction of the walkman would have clearly come about as a consequence of someone wishing that he could listen to music “he/she wanted to listen to, when on the move without depending on the whims and fancies of a radio host”. Similarly the concept of an ATM would have been the response to millions who would have immediate and easy access to their savings account money  on their wish list.

There are many other techniques that go with these including word associations, role playing, story completion exercises and tactics that Nuero Linguistic Programming people use to identify neural maps  (pictures generated by the sensory nerves) that people have of products and services.

I think this will suffice for now.

ENDS…..