Not Done Make My Trip - Crass advertisement targets Pakistani cricket Supporters

This advertisement is in extremely bad taste. What the heck was the Make My Trip team thinking? Don’t tell me that your advertising team has not seen the proof. Maybe you thought it was pure bar trawl that would go down well with a couple of pegs of whisky. Common sense is not common. Coca-Cola or Pepsi would never commit such a Faux Pas.

Make My Trip is a professional company, and it is releasing such advertisements, and that too on the front page!!! Such a waste of money!!! It is not smart advertising; it is plain stupidity or pure Hara-kiri. Don’t make fun of sportspersons and supporters. Commiserate and say, “Hard luck mate”. Don’t gloat, remain humble and grounded.

Just for a second, let us assume that Pakistani supporters really had booked rooms using the Make My Trip app. Would they be thrilled if Pakistan gets thrashed and they get discounts as promised by Make My Trip?

I bet my bottom dollar they would not appreciate the so-called discount if it came at the cost of their team’s loss. A team that they have spent so much money and effort to come to India and watch an epic cricket month between the traditional rivals. If make my trip was genuine it could have offered a quiet discount with a “we are sorry” note and not made such a song and dance about the defeat. Make My Trip has lost the loyalty of many Pakistani people with such crass promotion.

Many Pakistani YouTubers like Sana Amjad and Sohaib Chaudhary are doing a better job than Make My Trip. Their YouTube videos are quite objective and don’t take the official Pakistani view of viewing India through Xenophobic glasses, Most of the Pakistanis featured in the videos come across as well-mannered people grounded in the present realities.

End of the day, cricket is a sport. Let us treat it as such. Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and Neeraj Chopra are great friends. In the world athletics Championships held in August Neeraj Chopra won the gold and Nadeem got the Silver but unfortunately there was no Pakistani flag available for Nadeem to drape around him and celebrate.

It was the gracious Neeraj who invited Nadeem to share the Indian flag, and both celebrated together. It brought a lump of happiness to the crores of viewers throughout the world who watched the drama unfold on live television.

I listen to Pakistani podcasts on Spotify and find them interesting. The podcasters are quite knowledgeable, and the Urdu is charming. The discourse about how Pakistan lost Bangladesh not because of India but due to the ill-treatment of East Pakistan by the West was quite an eye-opener.

We need to avoid stereotyping. If Pakistan is not doing well, it could mean big trouble for us. We need stable borders. This advertisement will hurt sentiments. make my trip should eat humble pie and say sorry. We are a hospitable country.

Let us respect our guests. Remember we did not go to Pakistan, but they visited us. Let us understand that it was the muscle of BCCI that made it possible.  We don't need such advertisements. Hyderabadis behaviour was much better. The crowd at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium supported both Sri Lanka and Pakistan. That is the way forward. Don’t make fun of the vanquished. Let us learn to be graceful. 

Vespa Scooter - Positioning Strategy

                                           Vespa Scooter The Ultimate in Positioning

What does Vespa mean in Italian? Most students don’t give the correct answer. Vespa in Italian means a wasp. An insect that can string and get away fast.

That was what the original Vespa was, a nippy beast that aimed and ruled the world of scooters. Made by the Iconic Piaggio & Company Vespa the scooter was elegant and designed as a unisex transport option for men and women. The dead giveaway is the design that allows women especially women who wear skirts and sarees to easily mount the vehicle and drive it.

The brand started to popularize itself as a style icon after Audrey Hepburn side saddled Gregory Pecks Vespa in the movie Roman Holiday. This resulted in catapulting the sales to over 1,00,000 in that year.

So, the initial ads had mostly women proclaiming their allegiance and singing paeons of glory about its ease of usage. Later it slowly started showing both men and women using it with the positioning tack being a twosome vehicle. Later on, it became a family vehicle.

When Vespa was introduced in India Bajaj faced a peculiar problem. Not many women rode scooters (in fact in the initial stages women were not driving any mechanical contraption except the bicycle).

Bajaj quickly changed tracks and projected Bajaj as the ultimate vehicle for the “Indian Man”. The motorcycle was for the rugged Indian and the Bajaj Vespa was the sophisticated urban equivalent driven by the man of the house and the wide and children demurely sat behind him.

The promotion was so spot on that Indian men took the persuasion seriously to the heart. And the product supported their beliefs. Bajaj Vespa was heavy, quite cumbersome, had unwieldy gears and it was not easy to master. And the master stroke. Bajaj scooter must be bent and shaken vigorously everyday morning for it to start. Something that only the akkada trained female wrestlers’ Indian women wrestlers could attempt. It was not for normal women. 

Thus, the unisex positioning was completely abandoned. First, it was Kinetic Honda that took the position and in later years it was Hero Activa that completely dominated this mind space. 

Today the unisex choice for scooters is firmly the Hero Activa and in that category, Bajaj has no product offering either in the male scooter category or in the unisex category.

Of course, Bajaj Chetak is trying to come back in an electric version and it remains to see if its ploy succeeds. 

Sad sad legacy for NTR in his centenary year

Feel very sad for NTR. Especially in his centenary year. 

Sometimes I feel NTR committed a huge mistake by entering politics. If he did not enter politics his name and fame would not be sullied by his own family members and they are still at it even now. We would remember NTR the same fond way as we remember SV Ranga Rao and Savithri. 

But now things are different. His entry into politics, his first betrayal by Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, his trauma,  his bewildered stay out of power, his neglect by his own sons and daughters, his return to power, marriage to Lakshmi Parvathi,  his second betrayal by CBN and his own family members and his inglorious death leave a bad taste in the mouth.

But we don't even let our great actor rest in peace. We could not get him a Bharat Ratna. Every day he is in the news Albeit for the wrong reasons. Lakshmi Parvathi his legally wedded wife not being called for the release of the 100 rupee coin kicked up a new controversy. 

Not a day goes by without someone mentioning his betrayal by CBN. And the bickering in his family. His own sons have been sidelined, the one person who resembles him and could do some good for the party is sidelined and Nara Lokesh says he is the real grandson and that he has the voice and the appeal of NTR. Siva Siva. 

Yesterday his daughter Purandeshwari admitted on television that NTR was betrayed and backstabbed by his family members including her husband. She too needs to accept the blame for what happened. 

All in all a sad legacy for  NTR undoubtedly one of the best actors if not the best Telugu actor ever. May your soul rest in peace NTR garu.

Keywords: NTR Centenary, Politics, Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, Lakshmi Parvathi sidelined, Chandra Babu Naidu, NTR Betrayed, NTR Family, Bharat Ratna Controversy NTR's Rs 100 coin, Nara Lokesh,  Purandeshwari, NTR Legacy

Crazy Pre-wedding Shoots!

Originally published on 03-08-2023

This is supposed to be a pre-wedding shoot. They are lying down in a burial pit. This gets the gold medal, the silver goes to the couple who got themselves smeared with mud and the bronze goes to the couple who had their shoot in the Chettha kuppa (dump yard).

Gold Medal 

Silver Medal 

Bronze Medal 

8 of my books get published.

It is a fulfillment of a task that I had thought about for years, "To bring out all my articles in book form". 

Even though it took time, It finally fructified today. Thanks are due to my family members who have always stood by me and supported my endeavour. 

Thanks are also due to Zarar Sir, Ritu Madam, Jitender Govindani sir, and all my colleagues at ICBM-SBE for their continued support.  Thanks are also due to Aziz and Govind who tirelessly supported me in this mammoth exercise. 

Finally, I want to thank all my friends and readers for constructive feedback.

Y.Srinivas Rao of Any Design, Bhanu of SS Digitals, and Krishna Rao the binder also were very helpful in bringing out this set of eight books.

All reactions:

45Vasundhara Nanjappa, Krishna Panyam and 43 others

MARKETING IN ACTION - PVR Cinemas watch 10 movies for 600 rupees

I would say a wonderful innovation. Many like me feel that Rs 200/- for a movie is too much of a cost. This innovation would bring people back to the big screen.

Right now available only in Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana. Kolkata, Gauhati, Pune, and Ahmedabad.

How does it work? You pay in advance. Most people will buy 2 tickets at least. That is Rs 1200/-. Weekdays only. So no problem with footfalls on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Most will not be able to watch 10 movies in a month. So they will watch maybe 5 or 6. So that would be Rs 100/- per movie. The concept is akin to loss leader pricing.

The crowds will be more and money can be made on food and soft drink sales. If the crowds come in WOMBAT might trigger more people to come in on Saturdays and Sundays.

Puzzling Behaviour - why do American kids cry when presented with a new Pet! is it an acquired habit

 "Why do American girls cry, when presented with a new puppy?". It is a common thread in all the videos. Is it Cultural or learned behavior, just like all the newly crowned Miss World and Miss Universes covering their mouths and bursting into tears the minute their win is announced.

Throw back advertising at its best - Red Label Tea.

What a lovely ad. It warms the heart. It is a "throwback ad". 

It is a yearning to go back to the age that we are forgetting.  An age where we interacted in person and with a heart.  Now we interact with heart symbols but with no heart. 

The takeaway - Red label is cleverly juxtapositioning itself as the ideal companion when we are "gorging" on social media.

In spite of what the ad says, the message is, "I am an add on, and enjoy me when you are on social media or with friends". A very clever ad indeed.