World's most outrageous Product Promotions

Enter half-naked and leave fully dressed: On January 2, 2012 hundreds of customers lined up outside the store of Spanish brand Desigual at their Regent Street store dressed only in their underwear. No matter what the weather is the customers will have to wait in a queue only in their undergarments. The first lucky 100 in the queue will walk away with a free outfit (one top, one bottom). The customers will get an hour shopping spree to pick out the perfect outfit, plus 50% across the store on all summer collections, a great reward for embarrassing themselves. A fair trade for the humiliation, especially as this stunt goes down at 9 am on one of the busiest streets in London,

But as a brand Desigual is renowned for its fun loving philosophy and bold collections, this is a great way to get noticed. When they first did this ‘Enter half-naked and leave fully dressed’ event in Barcelona in 2006 hundreds of people turned out and the craze has since been hosted in Madrid, New York, and Amsterdam, and as well as London Berlin and Stockholm

Giving Away Cars free – Oprah Style: On 23^rd November 2010, TV host Oprah Winfrey gave away free her studio audience 275 Volkswagen New Beetles Monday as part of "Oprah's Favorite Things" promotion. Unfortunately, her audience members could get their cars immediately as Winfrey gave them 2012 New Beetles. At that time the new version of the iconic curvy little car has not yet been revealed to the public.

On the show, Winfrey showed only a silhouette of the new Beetle. Winfrey owns and drives a New Beetle and approached the automaker to arrange giving away the cars on her show. Volkswagen was only too happy to oblige the TV queen. Volkswagen donated all the cars, plus money to cover taxes and fees for all of the audience members,

In 2004, Winfrey gave 276 Pontiac G6 cars to her audience. At that time audience members were able to go out to the parking lot and inspect their cars immediately.

Giving Away Cars free – Daewoo style: In late 1995, Daewoo India the company that made Daewoo cars in India realized that it needed to give its flagship model Cielo a strong push to improve the sales. The company devised a innovative promotional campaign, called the ‘Diwali Bonanza scheme’ for corporates, offering one Cielo free on purchase of every ten cars.

This was followed up with a lottery scheme for individuals, wherein the winner was awarded a car. But it led to customers to look at the car with suspicion.

To top it all Cielo announced a test drive scheme to lure the buyers in April 1997. The scheme entitled all car owners to participate in a draw where 200 Cielos were given to the winners for 18 months. On completion of this period, the winners had the option of either buying the car by paying 70%of its original on-road price or returning it to Daewoo. The company claimed to have successfully tried out this scheme in the UK and Korea earlier. The scheme was intended to enhance Cielo’s credibility in the marketplace. However, the low finance rates and the test drive schemes faced the same criticism the free Cielo scheme did. These effectively doomed the fate of Cielo in India. It got branded as a cheap car that no one really wants and finally exited out of India. 

Thai English

I had taken a group of students to Bangkok. The guide was impressing the student about the precautions that they should be taking when they are going out in the night. He told them to be careful and to be good boys. The parting shot of the guide was “get lady in the room by 8 in the evening”. The students were immediately very inquisitive. Here is a guide who is telling them to get a lady and that too directly to their rooms! 

I asked the guide so to what he meant by his statement. He gave me a quixotic look and said “ It is very simple.  Well they can wash their face, change their dress and get leady for the evening meal”. Then it struck me the guide meant READY when he said LEADY. When he said Leady my students understood it as lady.

Some Thai people have difficulty to pronouncing the r r r sound. So READY becomes leady and Camera becomes Camela.  As soon as the bus stopped my students would sing “take care of the Camela and get lady to leave in another one hour”. The Thai guide took the good natured ribbing in his stride and started to converse in bits and pieces of Hindi by the time our tour got concluded. Talk of the mixing of the cultures and of languages. The students taught his to sing the latest Hindi film songs.  

Low Cost Promotions - Part - II

Coco-Cola Badge

8. COMMUNITY SERVICE: Nothing brings the company to the attention of the people faster or more favorably than community service. Give sponsorship to local festivals like the Ganesh Chaturdhi and Dussera. 

9. BADGES AND NOVELTIES: Any company can easily and inexpensively produce badges, bumper stickers, book covers, book markers and other novelty items for distribution in its area. The company can imprint its business name and the first names of the customers on many of these products at little cost and distribute them for free. Or it can tie its novelty program into a contest: once a month and can offer a prize to any individual whose car happens to carry one of its bumper stickers or badges with peel-off coupons, redeemable at its place of business.

10. CELEBRITY VISITS: The company may be able to arrange to have a local media celebrity, public officials, or entertainment personally even a fictitious cartoon character or clown-visit its shop. The celebrity can sign autographs, read stories to children, perform cooking demonstrations, or perform any one of a hundred other traffic-building activities.

11. CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS: Companies should celebrate major public holidays with special sales. Celebrate some of the offbeat holidays as well. Once the company find the "right" holiday, it can sponsor a special sale or special product and arrange for special media coverage of the holiday event.

12. GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE: Can the company open sales information booths at community fairs and festivals? If the company has the people and the time, it can target regional fairs or even trade fairs.

13. MAILING LISTS AND GREETING CARDS: Once the company begins establishing a committed clientele, it can gather their names on a mailing list. It can save the names from its mail orders and telephone inquiries. Eventually, it will be able to send product circulars or even catalogs to the people on its list. Holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries make nice greeting card occasions. Greeting cards create enormous goodwill and keep the name of the company in front of its customers.

14. SCAVENGER HUNTS: If the company wants people to buy NOW, it should offer them an unbeatable deal. If they bring an old product, a small appliance, a book, whatever-to it, the company should give them a worthwhile discount on a comparable new item. Or it can stage a general purpose scavenger hunt.

15. PARTIES: Everyone loves a party. Why not celebrate the anniversary of the business or some special holiday by offering free snacks and beverages?

16. SEMINARS: In this information hungry age, people love to receive advice, especially about their personal needs and hobbies. If the company sell health foods or runs fitness classes, perhaps it can offer "wellness" seminars during lunchtime in its area's business community. If the company is in an interior decorator business, perhaps it can offer one-hour decorating workshops to any group of ten people who will gather at its office.

Low Cost Promotions - Part - I

Low cost promotions: Many marketers think that promotions need to be costly and the company has to spend big dollars to get noticed. But an innovative brain can beat the odds at getting eyes balls at a very low price. Al that needs is a different type of thinking.

1. One rupee shirt: This was a promotional tool that was tried out by a Hyderabadi retailer Fantoosh. This promotion was highlighted in the press but the real eye opener was the big crowds that thronged the shop and the shoppers were delighted at the offer. The offer was true; they were offered shirts at one rupee only. Of course there was a condition the offer only for the first 100 customers.

The crowd became unmanageable and the police had to be called in. The police had to resort to lathi charge. This created lot of publicity in the press and the shop got instant recognition. Obviously Fantoosh was indulging in loss leader pricing. They were offsetting the obvious low price of the 1/- rupee shirt with the publicity and positive word of mouth that the offer generated. They were also hoping that once the customers come in they would buy many other clothes along with the 1/- rupee shirt.

2. Cycle rickshaw borne signboards: We were strolling in the roads of Allahabad. Allahabad is a typical Uttar Pradesh city: It was evening and people were rushing home. I was attracted to an unusual sight. A cycle rickshaw puller was cycling a cycle rickshaw. The cycle rickshaw has a lighted sign board advertising a local retailer CITI STYL. I thought the idea was a brilliant one. The cost of the sign board would be minimal, the cycle rickshaw moves at a slow pace and it attracts tremendous attention.  Other low price promotions include.

3. Free gifts: People love to receive "free" items, especially items they can use to gain knowledge or improve their lives.

4. NEWS CREATION: Is it possible that the company is selling an unusual product?. Did the company win any awards?. All these can be highlighted in the press.

5. EVENTS:  The Company may be able to attract the attention of the media or crowds by having a special promotional event. A fitness classes for example can have a celebrity instructor day.

6. CHARITY TIE-INS:  Is the company launching a new product? Is it trying to increase visibility among a particular segment of your customers? The company can offer its product to one or more local charities as a  prize or for use at a fund raising event.

7. CONTESTS: The Company can offer a desirable or unique item or even several items as contest prizes. First the company should find a contest theme that ties into its business. A soft drink shop might offer a cola drinking contest. A photographer might offer a young model contest.  

Marketing lessons from Kellogg Positioning strategy correction

Kellogg strategy correction: Kellogg very quickly realized that it made a mistake by taking the traditional Indian breakfast head on. It was too much of a risk and a Himalayan task of overcoming eating habits inculcated over the centuries. Kellogg took a leaf from the marketing strategy of Nestlé’s Maggi two minute noodles.

The USP of the Maggi noodles is that it is fast, convenient and a fun product. It is convenient for the mother to prepare and it is very attractive to the child to consume. At the same time the mother is very careful about what her child eats. Maggi noodle is positioned as the ideal snack between the time the child comes home and dinner. It is given to the child as a hunger quencher when the child comes home. The child’s hunger is satiated but only till the dinner time. Maggie’s strategy was brilliant and it paid off.

Kellogg did a quick re think. It latched onto the supplement positioning. It came out with a campaign which stated that Kellogg corn flakes come in where the Indian breakfast stops. In other words if the Indian breakfast gives the child 85% nutrients the rest of the nutrients can come from Kellogg. The positioning of the food supplement was taken by Kellogg. It was saying to the Indian consumers “eat whatever breakfast you want to eat but to get that extra nutrition have Kellogg”. 

Definitely a climb down for Kellogg. Its advertisement says that it. The advertisement shows a small child eating the traditional Indian breakfast and the ticker quickly adds and shows 85%. That is the amount of nutrients that the child had received. The next shot show the child on his tricycle going to a mock petrol station and he gets a fill of the rest of the 15% nutrients from his smiling mother, courtesy Kellogg. 85% of nutrients from Indian breakfast and the rest 15% of the nutrients come from Kellogg.

Over the next few years Indian cereal buyers were introduced to Kellogg’s Wheat Flakes, Frosties, Rice Flakes, Honey Crunch, All Bran, Special K and Chocos Chocolate Puffs – none of which have proved to be very popular.

Kellogg India also attempted to indianize its range. Its Mazza branded series of fusion cereals, with flavors such as mango, coconut and rose, met with lukewarm response. It also introduced less priced packs priced at Rs10/-. This strategy might work in a price conscious market place like India.

Recently Kellogg has decided that it would take the route of repositioning. It has now come out with a campaign that says that its corn flakes are very good for people who want to lose weight. Its has  repositioned its corn flakes as diet food and according to Kellogg consuming its cornflakes for two weeks could lead to a weight loss of 2.5 kgs! (watch the advertisement).

Marketing lessons from Kellogg’s Indian experience

Kellogg’s is a name to reckon throughout the world. It is the company that introduced the concept of Corn flakes as a breakfast item throughout the world. They have taken on markets where corn flakes has never been very popular as breakfast and converted them into corn flake eating nations over a long period of time. They are experts in changing breakfast eating habits of customers’ across the world.

In the early nineties Kellogg came to India with lots of hope and confidence. The Indian organized breakfast market sector was expected to roll over and die. After all Kellogg’s annual turnover was so big that the Indian organized breakfast sector was written off even before the skirmishes started.

Kellogg did lot of home work and launched its products in India. They had the best products, packaging and their marketing strategy was excellent. The advertising campaign was handled by a leading Indian advertising agency.

Kellogg did not do as well as expected. The witch doctors (read marketing research firms) were called in. The research findings were very surprising. The areas where Kellogg went wrong include: 

1.   Kellogg pitched itself as an alternative to the regularly consumed breakfast. The Indian breakfast is heavy and there is a feeling of fullness at the end of an Indian breakfast. What with oily Parantas, Puris and Dosas, the feeling of fullness is real and not imagined. Kellogg’s Corn flake breakfast does not give that feeling of fullness and that went against the grain of having a total breakfast. In short after having a corn flake based breakfast the Indian consumers were still hungry. 

2.   Indian breakfast is known for its variety. There can be 30 types of Dosas (there is a restaurant in Hyderabad that offers 99 types of Dosas!) or Idlis, Parantas or other types of native Indian breakfast items. Indians are used to a variety and one item that is eaten will not be on offer for the next two or three weeks. Asking Indians to have the same type of corn flake based breakfast was too much of a cultural change for the Indians to accept.

  3.   Indians have spicy and hot food for breakfast. To ask them to eat the sweet tasting and cold corn flake breakfast was too much of a sweet breakfast for the Indians to digest. 

4.   Kellogg in its advertising campaigns hinted that the Indian breakfast was not nutritious and that Indian breakfast was not very good for health. This deeply hurt the sentiments of the home maker. The home makers said to themselves “We have eaten and served the Indian breakfast for decades and centuries. My family is doing fine”. Once the home maker’s ego was hurt they psychologically turned themselves against the concept of corn flake based breakfast. 

  5.   Kellogg corn Flakes have to be consumed with cold milk. Indians have be taught right from their childhood that milk has to be consumed every day and that milk should always be consumed hot. In a tropical country that is very logical. If the milk is bad once it is heated it will become undrinkable. So for the Indian family eating corn flakes with cold milk was unbearable. So hot milk was poured over the corn flakes. Once hot milk is poured the corn flakes become soggy and there are no longer tasty and edible.

5 Ws and 1 H of communication

In journalism and in reporting the Five W's and one H is a concept in news style, research, and these are regarded as basics in information-gathering.

The "Five W's" and one H were memorialized by Rudyard Kipling in his "Just So Stories" in which a poem accompanying the tale of "The Elephant's Child" opens with:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

It is a formula for getting the "full" story or report on something. The maxim of the Five W's and one H is that for a report to be considered complete it must answer a checklist of six questions, each of which starts with the letter W:

Who is it about? (The person or the persons involved in the story are very important. Readers are very interested in the human element and a story without a human interest is as tasty as an Indian curry without the famous Indian masala!)

What happened (what's the story. What really happened? The story has to be told clearly and lucidly. The story should have a logical flows and the ending should be lingering)

Where did it take place? (The location of the story too very important. Did the story take place in a local area, in the state, or in the same country? Many stories are read only if there is a local interest. Yes stories are also read which are not local in nature but the event has to be so important that boundaries are no longer significant. For example the earthquake and the Tsunami of Japan is a gripping read for any person in the world.

Students being deported from a country will not attract much attention. But Indian students being deported from USA will grab headlines as it concerns the Indians and they being departed from the land of opportunities or God’s own country makes the story even more gripping.

When did it take place? (When is the issue of immediacy. The story has to be told and told as soon as possible. News stories lose their charm once the news becomes dated. Yes the same new can be used again if there are further developments or of the story keeps continuing).

Why did it happen? (Why is the motive or why the story has to be told. Why explains the story and makes it logical. In one of the Sherlock Holmes story Sherlock is placidly sitting and smoking his cigar at the scene of the crime. The scene of the crime is a palatial building where a murder has been committed. There is plenty of hustle and bustle around him. Detectives are everywhere. They are looking for foot prints, finger prints or any other clues. In short they are busy as bees.

This irritates Dr.Watson, Sherlock's trusted deputy. He says “Sherlock why don’t you do something?” Sherlock replies “Why should I do anything the murder has been solved” “Solved” gapes Watson “how” “Why didn’t the dog bark?” says Sherlock. This opens a new process of thinking. Sherlock rightly argues that the pet dog never barked when the murder was being committed. His deduction which is later proved is that the pet dog will only bark at strangers and as it did no bark it means that somebody known to the dog or somebody from the house has committed the murder.

How did it happen? (How is the modus operandi. The modus operandi is critical as it tells the reader how the entire story unfolded and how it was planned and executed. How become very important for the police as the modus operandi is like a signature tune and many criminals tend to repeat their modus operandi. A repeated modus operandi make it easier for the police to nab the concerned criminals.

Product Adaptations - factors to be considered - Part II

9. Differences in cultural standards and difficulty of using the product:  An American company was marketing automatic shavers in Japan. The American company quickly realized that the Japanese hand is much smaller than the American hand and retooled the automatic shaver to fit the hand of the Japanese (17).

Six yard saree had always remained the final frontier as a dress for the women from the western world. It was the exotic Indian dress that the western women always liked and admired but were wary of - the saree is difficult to drape. They were always apprehensive about the saree; they would never know when it would slip off their body. They need not worry any longer. Zipped sarees (18) are now available. They can be worn as easily as jeans and they snugly fit the body. Is it said that Madonna wears the zipped sarees and likes them a lot.

Same is the case with the dhoti for the men and children. It is now possible to buy zipped dhotis (19) and appear to be like an Indian. Body piercing and tattooing is like the coming of age ceremony akin to an initiation process into the world of adulthood. Customers bear the pain. It is painful but the tattoo has to be worn to show that the person is an adult.

One fashion that is never going out of business is to have the name of the loved one pieced at various places. But a problem arises - what happens when one changes a partner? In steps the Indian art of Mehendi (20). Mehendi can be branded in America as temporary tattoo. Intricate designs can be made and the wearer could wear the names of the loved one with pride. The temporary tattoo would fade off and it could be replaced with a new one. If the tattoo is not liked it reversal process is very painful and expensive. But Mehendi being temporary the wearer need not worry about the permanency of the design or the name.

10. Availability of other products, Greater or lesser product integration:  Products need accessories to make them work better. For example American made printers and copiers will have to be adaptable to use locally available paper and toners.

11. Availability of materials, Change in product structure and fuel: In most countries cars mostly run on petrol. But in India because of governmental policies diesel is cheaper than petrol. Cars imported to India should have the option of using diesel as a fuel (21) or should develop diesel models to be competitive. Same is the case with generator sets that are imported to India. In india kerosene is a cheap fuel and a generator that can run on kerosene (22) will be a big hit.

12. Power availability and resizing of product: Radios exported into Africa need to be resized. Power supply is erratic in Africa and batteries are not easily available. Thus it is imperative that radios sold in Africa be provided with a self winding mechanism (23) so that the users can enjoy their service for longer time.

13. Product redesign or invention: MacDonald the fast food giant is a master of product adaptation. They had to make the adaptation of completely dropping the hamburgers (24) in the Middle Eastern countries where the word Pork is hated.

Mac Donald serves beef, mutton or Chicken that too only halal meat (25) respecting the local sentiments. Similarly in India Mac Donald faced huge problems. Pork and beef are disliked. Muslims do not like pork and Hindus do not like beef. Thus in India Mac Donald serves mutton or chicken only (26), no beef and no pork. It also serves vegetarian burgers. It has named its vegetarian burger as Mac Aloo Tikki (27) a very popular version of its Mac Donald burger.

Product Adaptations - factors to be considered - Part I

The following factors have to be considered which may necessitate design changes when dapting products for foreign markets. The factors are: 

1. Environment factors: FMCG products in India have to be rugged and face the vagaries of nature and rough transport and not so good storage capacities. This has led to the introduction of liquid chocolate (8) in India. Similarly in India people drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right hand side. Indian cars exported USA will have to be left hand drive (9) as driving in USA is on the right side of the road.

2. Product specifications: 110 volts and 220 volts (10). Exporters should be careful in exporting or importing products from other countries as these products may not work or might be severely damaged if suitable technical adaptations are not made.

3. Level of literacy: Remotes have to graphic and pictorial (11) in low level literacy countries. Level of literacy also can mean remaking and simplification of the product. The Television remote needs to have to be the commands in the local language (12).

4. Level of Income: A low priced functional color TV (13) or a functional mobile high in feature but low in price (14) is the need in poor countries. Customers demand acceptable quality and cheap products, In India 80 percent of mobile phones are priced below US $ 40.

5. Level of interest rates: Investment in high quality products and services might not be financially desirable. Banks entering into countries that have high interest rates will have to re work their portfolio and products to meet the local conditions and tastes.

6. Level of maintenance: Most countries might not have the expertise that is needed to provide the level of maintenance that is needed for the product to work optimally. The company has to produce a product that is so rugged that hardly needs any maintenance.

7. Climatic differences: Products used in plain lands and high lands have to be adapted to face the climatic conditions of coastal places and also the travel by the sea. In one case the Indian electric poles (15) had rusted by the time they reached the port of destination.

8. Isolation:  Some products have been in isolation for so long that they have developed peculiar standards. First these market have to be standardized before new products can be introduced. It is said that Indian Air force pilots getting trained in Russia would be asked to switch on and off switches of their fighter planes for many days before they were allowed to fly. Why? Russian off position of the switch would be the on position in India and vice versa (16). If this training is not given the Indian pilots would leave the plane on the tarmac with the engine in the on condition!

Product Adaptations - examples

There are many places in the world where water is not available but there are few places in the world where coca-cola is not available. So it comes across as  a surprise that Coca-cola company was caught napping when it found out that its name ‘Coca-Cola (1)' was translated in Mandarin as ‘bite the wax tadpole’. Its illustrious competitor Pepsi did not fare any better. Pepsi’s slogan ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation (2)’ was translated as ‘brings your ancestors back from their graves’. 

Pepsi also found that its sales people had innocently put up a poster of Pepsi on a wall. The poster said ‘wish you were here (3)’.  The idea was that the poster had to be put up all the franchisee locations. But the location where the poster was put up was the local cemetery. These are cases where communication adoption has to be attempted.

An exporter had sent its baby food packets to Africa. The product did not do well at all. The reason – like all baby food products the package had a picture of a baby. This triggered the Africans. They have never seen a baby food package. They thought that package had meat of the babies and not food for the babies (4). A case of mistaken communications or mis-communication. Similarly the  Chevrolet Nova automobile was introduced in Latin America as 'no va'. Nova in spanish means 'won't go (5)'.

A lady had gone to Japan and found a local sign that was very cute and artistic. She had the sign printed on her Tee shirt and wore it. The Japanese that she met gave her suggestive giggles.Many guffawed and gave her a huge smile and a knowing leer. The lady was non plussed.  She brushed it aside as locals being overtly friendly. Her friend exclaimed in horror when she saw the T-shirt ‘Do you know what your tee shirt is saying. In Japanese it is saying Fresh milk sold me (6)!”

A product that is perfectly good for one market may have to be adapted for another. There can be many reasons for this. Physical conditions may be different. Functional requirements may vary from market to market.

In some cases cultural factors are very important. For example, Mattel Toys of USA wanted to sell their Barbie Doll in Japan. But the Japanese did not buy the American favorite doll. Later the firm introduced a modified Barbie – slightly oriental eyes and a more girlish figure (7).

There are certain items, generally ethnic products, which sell in the foreign markets, precisely because these are foreign. Indian handicrafts or handloom fabrics are examples of such products. There are also specialty items which have become so famous that they are automatically demanded by the foreign consumers, for instance, Darjeeling tea, Scotch whisky, French perfumes or Danish cheese. For such items, no change in the product itself is required for marketing in overseas, though changes in packaging may often be called for.

Many items however may require some adaptation for making the suitable to the foreign markets. Some obvious examples of product adaptation are differences in voltages (110 or 220) and right hand or left hand drive. Adaptation may pertain to size, functions, materials, design style, color, tastes and standards. Sometimes this could be done easily and at low cost but at times it may cost the company heavily.

Marketing Communications– The case of Perrier Mineral Water in USA

 Tennis fans watching French Open distinctly remember the water cooler prominently displaying the word “Perrier” the king of mineral water in the world.

The spring in Southern France from which Perrier is drawn was called Les Bouillens. Local doctor Louis  Perrie bought the spring in 1898 and operated a commercial spa there; he also bottled the water for sale. He later sold the spring to Sir Saint-John Harmsworth, Harmsworth closed the spa, He renamed the spring Source Perrier and started bottling the water in distinctive green bottles.

Harmsworth marketed the product in Britain at a time when Frenchness was seen as 'chic' and aspirational to the middle classes.

Soon Perrier spread its wings and went across the Atlantic. It went to the USA, the mother of all market places. The timing was perfect. The company did market research.  The 4 Ps were fine-tuned to a nicety, the pricing as perfect, the trade was told how to take care of the demand  and the launch was impeccable.

The results were disconcerting. The product was not doing as well as expected. The feedback was positive. There were no complaints about the quality or the price, promotion or  distribution. So  what was going wrong?

To understand what was going wrong we will have to delve deep into the psyche of a typical American. Americans are brought up on Coke and Pepsi. They find drinking water alien. The author's personal experience was very enlightening. When asked for water, most of the bartenders had a puzzled expression. Thy would hand out plastic cups. The plastic cups would have H₂0 written on them. The author himself had to go to the soda fountain and get a fill of water.

Amercians do drink water. But the water has to be colored. Adding color to the distinctively crystal clear Perrier mineral water would be going against the grain of the product itself. So what to do?

Taking the help of the American psychology a solution was arrived at. Americans have a fight going on with themselves all the time. America is filled with calorie filled goodies and quite frequently  a typical American would gorge himself on fatty foods and  wash it down it with  a huge glass of Coke or Pepsi. Then the guilt would step in. He/she would make a beeline to the nearest gym or a tread mill and try to work out the calories that he/she had binged upon.

Perrier hit upon a brilliant idea. Their next campaign talked about Perrier as a “zero calorie drink”. There was an underplaying of the word water and emphasis on the catch phrase “Zero calorie”. It was clearly saying eat what you want to eat but instead of washing it down with Coke or Pepsi have Perrier and save 300 to 400 calories as water is totally calorie free.

Perrier showed us how a product need not be tinkered all the time, One can subtly change the communication and the product could be set on the certain path of success.

Contradictory messages in communication – Part - III

This is the continuation of an earlier blog about contradictory messages. Contradictory messaging is one topic that interests me a lot. The topic is like a sleigh of the hand of the expert magician. The message says something and the understanding is something else. Savior the following

One professor wanted to show his students the ill effects of consuming alcohol. He brought some alcohol in a jar to the class and put it on the table. He then took some mosquitoes and some house flies and dropped them into the jar. The mosquitoes and the house flies struggled for a few seconds and died. The professor then addressed the class and said “what is that you have learned from this demonstration?” Somebody from the back tittered “If you take alcohol all the parasites and viruses in the stomach will die and our stomachs will become clean” The professor was speechless when he heard the answer.

Another professor said sarcastically pointing his pointer towards a student “at the end of the stick there is a fool’. The student said “which end sir?” Groucho Marx the famous critic once famously said “I don’t want to join any prestigious club that will accept me as a member”. Very succinctly said; the attraction of the club is only when it does not accept anyone as a member. Once a membership is granted the allure of being part of an elusive group is lost.

An actresses said “It is painful to be recognized. It is irritating to be mobbed and being the centre of attraction. People gape, made snide comments and pinch you”. But she quickly added that being recognized and facing all that irritants is much better than being ignored completely . The actors who walked into the sunset find it very difficult to face the reality where they are no longer the centre of attraction.

A mother was comparing notes with her friend “I have sent my son to the boarding school. He wrote a long letter saying how much he missed me. He was home sick and feeling so depressed that he is not able to eat. I feel very bad and upset. But I would feel very very sick and extremely upset if he was not feeling home sick”

The rule of the game is to understand the real message of what anyone says. One should be adept at reading between the lines. What is said is not as dangerous as what is not said. My boss once said to us in a meeting “If you don’t understand my silence you will never be able to understand my anger”