INDIA WATCH: Stats and Trivia

Interesting linkIndia--stats--facts-and-trivia

INDIA WATCH- Consumer Profiles

This one is an useful sketch of the Indian female consumer and is dated 2010.
Snapshot-Juxt-Indian-Women-2010-Study 

Another interesting presentation on the Indian consumer
India_ConsumerRoundtable_web.pdf

It's still the Friday Afternoon Lecture Series

 Back in demand from its original avatar as the Friday Afternoon Lecture Series :)

The original Friday Afternoon Lecture Series

The "It's still  Friday Afternoon Lecture Series"

It’s  still  the Friday Afternoon Lecture Series J-1

Mad about Movies

This capsule is being sent from one professional to others and not as the weekly update from the GM of McCann Kenya.

Not surprisingly most of the people who have asked me not to stop this series seem to love movies and this one is addressing that passion.

Mad about Movies.

When a cat sits on a mat ….nothing happens, it is boring, where else will cats sit? But when a cat sits on a dog’s mat… you have a screenplay happening J..This short film from Denmark is one of the finest examples of storytelling that I have seen…and therefore in my opinion, one of the finest films I have seen.

http://moviebizz.blogspot.com/2009/12/little-man-short-film-from-denmark.html

Avatar was a world wide hit and became for a time part of the popular culture. This link gives you an overview of the technology that was employed in its making.

http://moviebizz.blogspot.com/2010/01/art-of-performance-capture-avatar.html

Enter the Dragon was one movie I watched a million times and never got tired of itJ. This clip is from the Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes. I liked it because it is an intelligent man’s take on bare knuckle boxing. Great way of shooting a fight sequence, Guy Ritchie in his element here!

http://moviebizz.blogspot.com/2009/12/sherlock-holmes-movie.html

I guess that will do for now. Till the next Friday … Have a nice weekend

Vinod Natesan

27^th May 2011

It’s still Friday Afternoon Lecture Series -2

OLD SPICE or NEW SPICE

Old Spice was a brand I was quite fond of as a teenager and that was clearly “Once upon a time in the 80’s in India”.The visual of a blonde beauty, staring transfixed at a surfer as he braved the seas, was etched for long in my mind and without really knowing it, the strains of the western classical piece “Carmina Burana”, were also playing in my head.  Later on, as a young professional in the 90’s I had a chance to work on the brand which was being marketed by the P&G India team and came to understand the imagery and thought process that went behind it. An anti-septic in function, the harsh lotion was positioned as a symbol of masculinity, a “cowboy of the seas” in a manner of speaking ! Splashing on the lotion without wincing, was the ultimate in machismo. The fact that it was scented and had a perfume, was the route to enhanced sexuality and masculine appeal!!

I had forgotten all about it till I recently saw the new TVC for Old Spice which I am told actually revitalized an almost anachronism of a brand. The campaign format has  very clearly it has undergone a metamorphosis, with the ad clearly targeting the lower income women who shop for deodorants for the men in the house along with the groceries (consumer insight?). The campaign worked apparently and won numerous awards internationally.   Most men I spoke to,  did not like the male talent (understandable  J), but the brand remained top of mind ..:)

http://mayanmuse.blogspot.com/search/label/Old%20Spice%20TVC%20by%20Wieden%20and%20K%20Portland

Bacardi and the power of music.

If music be the food of love, play on …wrote the Bard and this TVC by Bacardi does just that and was a huge hit in India in the late 90’s and literally skyrocketed the brand in the urban youth market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPzRuuADmpo&feature=related

 They continue to use great music J

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsb38_bacardi-mojito-ad_ads

Have a great weekend and be good this winterJ

Vinod

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…..

The rivetting music of Rahet Fateh Ali Khan

I heard this song in Vishal Bharadwaj's movie Ishqiya and was mesemerised by the lyricism that Gulzar had penned, but then I also realized that the voice had its own magical realism that gave a strange realism and made the pain in the lines  palpable. I soon learned that the singer was Rahet Fateh Ali Khan and that he inherited his unique voice, talent and skill from his illustrious father, the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.


This one is another favourite of mine from the movie Rajneeti. More piya mujse bolat nahee...


Jiya Dhadak Dhadak Jaye .. the song sent everyone's jiya dhadak dhadak and was a favourite of the romantically inclined. Forget the rather mushy and maudlin movie clip, the song stays in your heart for long and is probably the best choice for the eternal romantic who wants to serenade his love:)

Ore Piya.. man kyon udna laga re...nayanon bole dil ki jubaan...heavenly lines...and a voice that lends it body.


Lagan Lage tum se man ki lagan...aur lagan lage man ko is gaane se lagan :)


Naina Thag lenge...naiyon ki mat maaneyo re.. from another Vishal Bharadwaj classic Omkara

Woh jo muje khwab mein mile..use tu ab laga de gale ....

This is by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I liked this one  immensely. Sanu ek pal chiain na ave sajna tere bina is one honest rendition of the sorrow and angst that separation brings in its wake. There is an element of sufism here I think and is the allusion to the Divine and the need to be one with the Universal one that is hidden in the allegory.. a lot of Bhakti songs in Hinduism have a similar tenor.

Tere bin nahin lagta dil mera dholna...again on separation and its pain..

Rahat singing... mein jahan be rahoon.... teri yaad saath he..
.

Bol halke halke...

 http://youtu.be/DVZwBBk5E7A
The link gives you the song from Anwar which starts with the chorus Maula mere maula.. and then the song... ankhen teri .itni hasseen ke inka ashiqu mein ban gaya hoon, mujko basa le inmein too....
http://youtu.be/5-CH0MGOlDE
Tose naina lage mili roshnee... tujse man jo laga  mili zindagi

Man Bawra -- simply beautiful... great lyrics sung with feeling.


Jane kya chahe man bawra... don't know if it is Rahat who is singing it. But I loved it:)