"Eye-balls Marketing"

What sort of promotion is this? I would call it "buzz marketing" or cashing in on the sentiment. We can call it  "eye-balls marketing" too!!!!

Common Sense is not common, Thums Up Should have done this 30 years ago.

Common sense is not common. This we Hyderabadis knew for generations. So much so that Coca-Cola had five zones, North, South, East West and, Hyderabad. 

After a heavy Biryani nothing like a nice "Thanda Toofan". It is not a cool drink it is Tumps Up. Pity that Ramesh Chauhan sold the brand to CocaCòla. It would have given a run for the money both for Coke and Pepsi. 

The point is why wait for so long. This ad should have been released twenty years ago.

Hyderabad Metro's Suvarna Offer - 2021!

 

The art of observation has taught me many things. I got an SMS from HMRL and I was curious to know about the Suvarna offer. HMRL uses digital technology liberally and all smart cards are linked with the commuters’ mobile number.

Most regular commuters like me charge their cards with recharge worth excess of a thousand rupees. Earlier a loss of a smart card meant a loss of all the unused recharge amount. But now the minute a smart card is lost/stolen the commuter can immediately complain at the neatest metro station. Through an OTP driven authentication, the remaining value on the recharge of the lost/stolen will be transferred to a new card and HMRL will only charge Rs 50/- for the purchase of a new card.  

In a welcome move Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited introduced Suvarna offer on 18^th October 2021. Wanting to cash on the festival season, picking up of the passenger traffic, improved customer sentiment and increased footballs HMRL came out with two unique schemes under the Suvarna Offer. Under the first scheme regular commuters can opt for “pay for 20 trips and get 30 trips”.

In simple terms 20 trips for an individual  trip worth Rs 55/- can be bought for Rs 1100/- but for Rs 1100/- recharge the commuter gets 30 trips. Each trip cost comes down to Rs 37/- (33% discount).

This would mean a discount of Rs 550/- for 15 days and 1100/- for a month. This is very highly appreciable in time when energy costs are literally going through the roof. Allaying fears of a fare rise, HMRL has infact delivered a festival bonus to the commuters making metro fares equal to the cost of a bus travel.

But the catch is any travel irrespective of the distance would be considered as a trip. This would be a boon for regular travelers who travel between fixed station very day.  Regular travelers can utilize the get 30 trips for 20 offer by buying an additional card (for 50 rupees extra) and use it exclusively for their daily fixed office trips. The existing card can be used for unplanned trips.  

So, what does HMRL get from the scheme? It generates lots of good will which will/might lead to commuters commenting in the social media (like I am doing), posting about it and telling their friend, relatives and acquaintances.

The almost similar pricing of metro fares and bus fares might push the bus travelers to shift from bus travel to metro travel. The increasing petrol and diesel prices might make more personal vehicle users move to metro travel.

Regular travelers get a benefit of concessional travel. Finally, the biggest take could be a massive spurt in ridership due to cheaper fare could see increase in revenue through fares and this could lead to HMRL getting better revenues from its advertising, rental and other related income streams.

The only trick that HMRL is missing is a “travel as much as you can” card. Very popular in Delhi Metro, a travel as much as you want is a daily card that can be purchased for Rs 200/-. Commuters especially tourist would prefer a daily fixed fare card and this could mean brisk business on Saturdays, Sundays and on all public holidays. HMRL should definitely look into introducing a travel as much as you can card with a day’s validity.

Under the second scheme travelers in the green line can travel anywhere from M.G. bus stand to Jubilee Bus Stand for fares ranging from Rs 10 to 15/-. Suvarna offers’ validity is from October 18^th October, 2021 to 15^th January, 2022!

"Friends, Indians, Countrymen, lend us your Voice" Innovative e-Mail Campaign by Ola Scooters India!

"Any Publicity is good publicity including bad Publicity". Often used in Marketing, Publicity and awareness is the bloodline for any product/company. “Hate me or love me but don’t ignore me” is the Clarion call of modern marketers. 

Getting customer eyeballs is becoming exorbitant with the fragmented media and falling customer attention spans. Attentions spans are down to 8 seconds! It has become increasingly difficult to get into the customer's mind!

One product that got lot of free publicity, media coverage and enormous goodwill and built up curiosity among the general public was the “Nano” the world’s cheapest car, touted at a price of Rs 1,00,000/- rupees. 

The breakthrough rock-bottom pricing caught the world media attention and reams and reams worth of articles were written in newspaper and many Zillion gigabytes worth of TV shows and reviews were telecast about “The Nano”, All free!

After many years another product category that has caught the imagination of the Indian Public is the e-Scooter range on offer from Ola. 

The same type of hype is being built up and consumers are hungry to hear, see and learn about the new revolutionary scooter that promises to change the way we commute, especially on two wheelers in India.

Ola is cashing in on the hype. Today Ola has sent e-mailers to all its customers (existing Ola users). The first slide of the advertisement says “Friends, Indians, Countrymen” and the second slide says “Lend us your voice”. Does it ring a bell? 

Yes, it does, the words are from Mark Anthony’s speech when he pleads with the Romans to rise up against the murderers of Julius Caesar. Mark Anthony says “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears”.

Coming back to the Ola e-Mail, written below the second slide is the request, “The in-built AI-powered Voice Assistant on the revolutionary Ola S1 frees you from having to manually input instructions on the scooter's interface. 

To bolster this capability, we're collecting voice samples - across age groups, genders, accents, and even pitches. We would like a sample of your voice to make our scooter smarter. Thank you, and welcome to the revolution, for good”.

Wonderful way to engage and keep connected with the present and prospective customers. Valuable lesson to all marketers as to how to stay active in customer’s mind! As they say out of sight, out of mind! 

Vimpossible - Really

 

Vimpossible Advertisement. It is quite a mouthful. Good creative, impossible becoming Vim Possible. Appears nice in the Advertisement.

Punning with the word is alright but Vimpossible is sounding still like impossible. Will it leave any negative connotation with the users?

As an afterthought, it hardly matters. Most Indians luckily would not understand the word! Sneha with her winning smile will sail the advertisement through!

Dirty fight in Beauty business – Everything is Fair (pun intended) in love, war and Business!

I keep telling my students, ad nauseam “business is a war and it is a war without bullets”. Companies want to get business come what may and will use any reason, means, or method to protect their market share. They will fiercely defend themselves against any upstarts who threaten them and their holy grail – market share and profitability. 

Hindustan Unilever has changed the name of its popular “Fair and lovely” brand name to “Glow and Lovely”. So from now onwards Fair and Lovely will become Glow and Lovely and HUL feels that all the damage control has been done and that it has played a stellar role in defending and promoting the ‘black lives matter’ campaign. 

In reality HUL is only trying to minimize the effect of a possible negative backlash and does not want to be accused of racial discrimination. HUL definitely doesn’t want a tag that it popularizes a racial stereotype of beauty being associated with fair skin.  

But the ploy is not convincing HUL! Fair and lovely, Oops Glow and Lovely is a product that has become popular on the assumption that fair is beautiful and dark is ugly. After fuelling the insecurities of crores of customers and reaping rich dividend HUL simply can’t wish the problem away.

The elephant in the room is big, violent, and quite unruly. It simply can’t be silenced with a cosmetic name change. Just by saying Glow and Lovely will not suffice HUL! End of the day call it Fair and Lovely or Glow and Lovey it is finally a skin whitening cream!

The brand’s USP is based on skin whitening promise. Will the Indian consumer believe that glowing is loveliness? The problem does not end here for HUL. Would HUL promote dark skin and go into the conditioning business? If Indians get comfortable with their skin colour, there is no need for Glow and Lovely!

We are already dark and dusky we might not need HUL’s Glow and lovely to make us glow! A clean bath with good old Liril and a vigorous dab of good old talcum powder might suffice.

The problems don’t seem to end for HUL. They have renamed the men’s range of Fair and Lovely as Glow and Handsome and this tactic did not go well with HUL’s rival Emami. Emami with wisdom has already changed its Fair and Handsome brand’s (Emami’s skin whitening cream targeting men) name as Emami Glow and Handsome but have not yet introduced the same into the market. 

When HUL changed the name of its men’s Fair and Lovely to Glow and Handsome, Emami naturally is upset. Glow and Handsome will clash with Emami's Fair and Handsome and similar-sounding names could create confusion in the minds of the consumers. Emami is worried that the confusion in similar names could result in HUL walking away, a winner courtesy its more powerful and comprehensive distribution network.

The distribution muscle of HUL could cannibalize the market and eat into Emami’s market share and upset Emami’s apple cart in men’s skin whitening business. A business where Emami has been a prime mover and a market leader.

HUL has taken Emami to the court of law and contents that it has the right to use the name Glow and handsome and that it has registered the name a long time ago. HUL argues that it has already launched Glow and Handsome and that Emami is only in the testing stage and that it has not formally launched the product. The skirmishes have started and watch this space for more action.

Wrong timing wrecks Myntra Campaign

Timing is everything. With perfect timing, a word can become a missile, without it could become a missile that does not detonate! The recent Myntra advertisement is making waves for all the wrong reasons. (the credit for making me aware of this advertisement should go to my colleague at Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Mr. K. N. Srinath. It was Srinath garu who posted the advertisement on my WhatsApp).

The advertisement says “Grand clearance sale, 50 to 80% off, from 29th Feb to 3rd March”. It also says “SALE is LIVE, LOWEST PRICES EVER”. What a funny coincidence, the dates for the 2nd test match between India and New Zealand were from 29th February to 2nd March 2020. The Coup d’état was Virat Kohli in his undies extolling the lowest prices. Virat Kohli, the brand ambassador of Myntra.  

The sale was from 29th Feb to 3rd March 2020. Is a coincidence? Well, it is not. The creative people from Myntra and the advertising agency thought that they had a coup. The company would have planned and conceptualized months in advance, inventories would have been piled up, and Myntra’s warehouses spruced up, expecting a considerable inflow of orders.  

The creative hotheads at Myntra and the advertising agency did everything right. They thought that India would stream roll New Zealand. The widespread expectation was that New Zealand would whimper, curl up and surrender at the feet of the mighty Indians.

“We would emerge victorious. Virat Kohli would be basking in glory”. Myntra thought that they could bask too, in reflected glory. Boon of having a celebrity endorser – the rub-off effect. The positive energy, the glamour, the aura of the celebrity would create a spin-off to the brand endorsed. All Myntra had to do, was to wait and the see moolah roll in – at least in theory!

Myntra proposes and Indian cricket team disposes. Indians performed the way that most cricket experts were expecting. The performance was subpar and both the test matches ended in a whimper. The Indian tiger was tamed and was meowing like a tame pussy cat, and the New Zealand Kiwi’ sprouted enormous wings and became a deadly eagle – proud, stately and precise at execution of well laid out plans.

At the end of the tour, the Indians looked tired, dispirited, desperate to get away, and Virat Kohli was fuming. He was shouting at the spectators “I will show them (New Zealand) what it is when they come to India”. If it were not so tragic it would have been downright comical.

Virat Kohli own form nosedived, and his captaincy was in a scanner. His tactics of not having the inform K. L. Rahul and Wriddiman Saha were being questioned. Virat Kohli was at his low, and his stock had taken a hit, at least temporarily. He was the cynosure of all eyes, for all wrong reasons.

To Myntra’s horror, their campaign had suddenly become a butt of jokes. People started reading between the lines. The Indian team was in its lowest ebb. The advertisement says “End of the season sale”. It appears as if the Indian cricket team is at the end of the season and it is being sold off. And what is Virat Kohli saying “LOWEST PRICES GUARANTEED”.  Is Virat Kohli himself available at the lowest price?

Myntra learns a lesson, the hard way. Celebrity endorsement is a double-edged weapon; it cuts both ways. Just like a positive rub-off, there can be a negative rub off too. Myntra missed a trick. By the end of the first test match, the writing was on the wall. The Indian cricket team would get a dubbing. Myntra could have put the campaign on hold or cancelled it altogether. By going ahead with the campaign, they have created waves – for the wrong reason.  

Marketing in Action - Corona Beer and Zica Car from TATA MOTORS

Most of my students of management, especially marketing students, think that mistakes committed by companies should not be committed in the first place.

They conclude saying "these are such basic decisions, why could they not have anticipated such an event". They seem to think everything is orderly and clockwork-like precision watches. What they fail to understand is that the business world is dynamic and fraught with uncertainty.

This Mexican brand of beer could not have even imagined in its wildest dreams that a deadly virus would be named after its famous brand - Corona. And the result, the stock nosedived by 8%. Whom does the company blame, nobody but its fate? That is why Business education is still called Masters of business administration. It is an art and not a science.

A similar fate was forced on Tata motors when it withdrew the name of its car named Zica which was exactly a virus-like Corona that led to many deaths in the year 2016.

Tata was forced to rename its car as Tiago. The loss that Tata would have incurred - many crores, opportunity cost and wasted time, effort and money in brand building the name - Zica.

Business students wake up. The real world is very different from what you read in the books or what you read in case studies. Be ready. The world is full of surprises.

Fearing the Free! - The Puzzling case of the FREE "NO PARKING" boards

The most often repeated saying from an Economist! “there is no free lunch in this world”. If anyone offers free lunch, there is always a tag (or a price) attached. Finally, someone pays for that free lunch, many a time we pay the price! 

First used in the saloons of the USA, free food was offered which were high in salt (e.g., ham, cheese, and salted crackers). The customers who ate the free stuff ended up buying a lot of beer (as salted products induce thirst). An Eatery offering a free lunch is likely to charge more for its drinks!

People park their vehicles illegally in front of apartments in India, creating problems for the apartment owners. It is quite a nuisance to navigate when someone else has parked their cars and motorcycles right in front of the apartments, on the road itself. 

Many companies have come out with a very innovative idea (at least creative from their perspective). These companies make small metal boards which say “NO PARKING” and to promote themselves they have the name of the company and their product or service also displayed on the same metal sign. In many cases, the boards have the address and the phone numbers of the company sponsoring the metal board. So far, so good!

These companies employ urchins to fit these boards on the gates, boundaries or on the small curbside gardens fences of the apartments. No permission is taken from the owner/s or the apartment owners' association. And adding salt to the festering wound, the board is ridiculously loaded in favour of the advertising company. 

NO PARKING SIGN occupies only 20 to 25% of the space and 75% space is used up for advertising! But surprisingly these boards are tolerated and even welcomed! They are hung up grotesquely and are an unwelcoming eyesore! 

Apartment owners and apartment owners’ associations welcome these as they are FREE! One of my friends wryly commented, “we Indians, we will even drink Phenyl if it is free”. I added, “not only will we drink the free phenyl we would sell the empty phenyl bottles to the raddi (recycler) guy and try to get some money!” 

My conviction that this is not a fair deal has meant that I have never allowed anyone from getting free publicity from our house. As soon as they are fixed, I scrupulously remove the offending NO PARKING boards and throw them away in disdain! 

But it is a cat and mouse game. The boards are back like unwelcome guests, and I need to be extra vigilant to see that our curbside garden fence is pristine and free of unwanted graffiti! 

I wanted to share some snaps of gates with these ugly no parking boards. Surprisingly the apartment owners have caught on! The watchmen are cleaning the gates and throwing all the no parking boards into the dustbin. What a waste of resources. The creativity, the effort, and the money spent on making and seeing that they are fixed are wasted. Money down the drain. I found only two new ones “Green Leaf Stores and Swiggy”. These may have been fixed only today or at best yesterday! 

Some companies may laugh at my assumption of the waste of resources! They would snigger, “It only costs 10 rupees for each board, and it is worth the effort, even if they last for a day or two”. But they are missing the point. They are alienating people and creating a negative image for themselves. 

I have taken a silent vow not to patronize these companies which brazenly fix these no parking signs and that too without any permission. In the process of fixing they damage the foliage of these small gardens. 

But all is not lost, the companies can get the owners on their side. It is all a matter of planning. There are 1200 plots each ad-measuring 400 to 500 square yards in Matrusri colony, Miyapur. That is a whopping real estate as far as NO PARKING SIGNS are concerned! 

Most apartments have small curbside gardens, and most of these gardens are fenced. But the gardens are not well maintained as most apartments do not employ trained gardeners and are at the mercy of the apartment watchman for the upkeep of these small green lungs (curbside gardens). 

The companies that want to put up the NO PARKING signs can enter into an agreement with the owners, employ gardeners and maintain these small gardens and then request if they could put out a board that says NO PARKING (50% of the board), and the rest 50% space can be used up to advertise the products and services of the company. This way, it is a win-win for all. 

Marketers need to look at problems more objectively and come out with innovative solutions that solve their problems and as well as solve the issues and concerns of the customers whom they want to serve. 

Sometimes being simple is the most challenging thing in the world - Customer Delight at Starbucks and at a restaurant

.Most people in marketing think that CRM and customer delight is very academic and involves technology and a lot of planning. Given below are two incidents where technology was not involved at all. The service providers provided customer delight because they believed that the job they were doing was not for money or recognition. They loved their job and wanted their customers to enjoy the moment.

The first incident happened when we visited USA in 2008. Padma and I were shopping at Walmart for our daily staples. The Walmart that we went to in Rosewood, Pleasanton was huge. It would be the size of two football fields. We had a pleasant but tiring shopping experience, and our shopping cart was full. We took a pit stop at the Starbucks in Walmart itself.

We ordered coffee and were waiting. The Barista was within our vicinity. Suddenly Padma piped in, "Did you get bread? We have no bread at home". Seeing my crestfallen face, Padma gave out an exasperated sigh. "I knew it. Why don't you go and get it?"

The bull (Taurean) in me reared up its head. "No," I said and dug in. The bull had found its resting place.

Padma had a hard glitter in her eyes (Afterall, she is a Capricorn and the goat too can be stubborn). "Your wish" she shrugged her shoulders "you are the one" she twisted the sword deep into the torso "You and the children are fond of bread. I can always eat rice and be contented".

Hearing all this was the pretty barista. She walked up to us and set down our coffee. She enquired "you missed buying bread?" I nodded my head, slightly irritated. She said, "Enjoy your coffee" and disappeared inside. Within seconds she was out, and she was wearing inline skates. She took two dollars from me and off she went like a silver bullet.

She was back within two minutes and in her hand was a fresh loaf of bread. Without a word, she gave us the bread and went back to her serving station. We were so stunned that we could not even thank her for the service. She took a little more pain so that her customers loved the Starbucks experience. Even though the incident happened over twelve years ago, it is etched in my memory as if it had just happened last week.

The second incident happened to my facebook friend, Rebecca Forster, the famous novelist. Rebecca was partying on 31st December night at Hay 19, Redondo Beach, a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California,

They were at a neighbourhood pub/restaurant. Rebecca and her friends ordered food and our their darling waitress says "it's four hours till we ring in the new year".

Rebecca's group has a hearty laugh and tell her that they are too old to stay up until midnight and the waitress goes away. Rebecca and party had a great meal promptly at nine o'clock the waitress comes charging out of the kitchen blowing her horn and yelling "Happy New Year". Since it was New Year in New York, she decided to bestow it upon Rebecca and friends and in California. Rebecca writes "It was hilarious. She was so cute and made our night. Good food, drink and a fabulous waitress. It's the little things in life, that matter, isn't it? HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE". Wow, Rebecca, she made your day, and you made our day. Happy new year!

Cadbury - Do Nothing Advertisement - Absurd to say the least!

I just watched the latest advertisement for Cadbury Five Star - Do Nothing. Surprisingly Cadbury has taken irrelevance and being in-the-face to the next level!

Sad to think that this is the brand that gave us some memorable advertising campaigns like Cadbury Cricket. The advertisement starts with an old lady on a bench. Just a few feet away is an upstart youngster nonchalantly eating a Cadbury Five Star.

The old lady's walking stick falls on the ground, and she asks the youngster to pick it up. The youngster responds 'yes Maa Ji" AND DOES NOTHING.

The old lady resignedly gets up walks to the stick and picks it up. A large piano crashes and hits the bench that the lady was occupying JUST SECONDS BEFORE! The bench is blown to smithereens.

The old lady is shell shocked — the thought "what if" races in her mind. "I could have died". She looks admiringly at the youngster and says "thank you beta, For doing NOTHING."

The youngster breaks out into a smile " you are most welcome" is his cheeky reply.

I am surprised and mildly shocked. Cadbury is mocking the tradition of respecting and helping elders. And it is glorifying, condoning, justifying and even rationalizing the act. It is saying that if the youngster had helped the old lady, she would have died. This is absurdly twisted logic.

Wish Cadbury came out with a better campaign. Doing nothing and consuming Cadbury is a great concept. You don't need a reason to eat Cadbury. Brilliant idea, Eat Cadbury -Chumma or like they say in Tamil Simply like that. But the execution stinks to high heaven.

Hallmark Greeting Card Company had popularized the concept of No Occasion Day. On that day people sent each other cards chumma simply, in other words just like that!

Come on, Cadbury. You have a harrowed reputation to protect. Don't sully it with such advertisements. Give us campaigns that we are proud of and which we show in our classrooms to inspire youngsters to take up marketing/ advertising as a career. Not campaigns that mock our traditions and values.

India's eBook reading habits 2019

Very interesting stat by Amazon. South India reads the most books with Andhra Pradesh being the only south Indian state not making the list. Of course Maharastra, Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh made it too. Guys don't shoot the messenger. Not my research, data as given by Amazon!

Swiggy and Netflix - Me too strategy, complimentary products and Generic competition

Always told my students to watch ads and learn from them. "Watching ads is the most fun one can get with their clothes on". Not my phrase, taken from an ad guru.

The picture is from a TV Ad of Swiggy. The ad urges us to cook some dishes at home and get some from Swiggy. I think Swiggy is taking our criticism that they are weening us away from the so-called healthy home-cooked food a little too seriously.

So if you can't avoid the bandwagon, jump into the gravy train! Swiggy is meeting us halfway. It is telling us to cook at home but spice up our meal with some side dishes, courtesy Swiggy. Reminds me of Kellogg.

Kellog quickly understood that it can't be a substitute for the elephant in the house, the Indian breakfast. So instead of fighting the Indian breakfast, it became me too. Eat whatever you want to (grudgingly accepted by Kellogg) but eat me too. From being I, me and myself, it wants to be me too. Like from a single hero film to a multi starrer!

Similarly, Netflix is pitching itself as a genetic competitor, one who is competing for the same time spent. It is telling us not to try to get hangover by partying on 31st December 2019. But what about the hangover that we get from binge-watching mind-numbing TV soaps, serials and movies. Food for thought. Bring it on marketers, loving it!

There is no Free lunch in this world - Swiggy, Zomata and Uber Eats - Food delivery Apps.

There is no free lunch in this world. Food delivery platforms like Swiggy, Uber and Zomata are not really giving any real discounts. Given below is the menu card of Ocean of Bakes a popular bakery at Nizam pet crossroads.

The rates at the bakery are at least 40 or in some cases 50 per cent less than the rates mentioned in the food delivery platform apps. So end of the day the customer is not getting any deal at all. Food delivery apps are simply encashing our inherent impulse behaviour and may I add our laziness to walk, drive and eat at the restaurant and enjoy the ambience.

Add to that cost the additional tax charged as tax (usually at 10%}), delivery charges, tip to the delivery boy and annual gold fees, the customer is ending up paying at least 20% extra! Good for thought. Let us get out and enjoy food as it should be enjoyed at the restaurant itself along with family and friends.

Tiger by the Tail - The art and practice of Comparative Advertising, Nagarjuna Cements takes on Lalitha Jewelers

Twins separated at birth. Not by a long chance. This is the MD of Lalitha Jewellers popularly called Gundu Garru. The rags to riches of the MD of Lalitha Jewellers may or may not have appealed to the masses but the claim of low cost, the comparability of the products and the sheer repeating (or brainwashing) of the campaign have had the desired results. Gundu sir has become an advertising icon by his own right.

Now, this guy is the imitating Mr.Kiran of Lalitha Jewellery. He is definitely not the MD of Nagarjuna cement. He is a model and Nagarjuna cement is unabashedly imitating or aping Lalitha Jewellery MD. Right down to the bald pate, rimless spectacles and even the blue t-shirt. imitation is the best form of flattery.

The Nagarjuna advertisement is trying to run down Lalitha Jewellers. I don't understand the logic. Nagarjuna cement and Lalitha Jewelers are in different product categories and Nagarjuna's cement brand promise is different from the brand promise of Lalitha Jewellers. Lalitha Jewellersis about smart buying and long-time investment, whereas Nagarjuna cement is about strength and durability. The persona of Lalitha Jewellersis that of the elder person of the house, whereas the persona of Nagarjuna cement model does not fit with that of a Monagadu (a tough guy) cement a brand persona that Nagarjuna cement has painstakingly built over decades of its existence.

Things to ponder Nagarjuna cement. Time your creative department went into overdrive.

3M, KFC and HIL, what is in the name - Everything

A key element of Marketing is observation. Why did Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company become 3M and why did Kentucky Fried Chicken become KFC?

First of all, short names are easy to remember and easy to pronounce and stylish too. But the most important reason was 3M moved away from minerals and mining business and did not want to appear like a laid back mining company.

Similarly, KFC did not want to get tied down to a place Kentucky and did want the customers to even utter that dirty five letter word "Fried" hearing which all its customers recoil in disgust. It is as if they have taken a bath in fried oil. So it is KFC.

Just now Dhoni was out pitching for HIL, earlier called Hyderabad Industries limited. So Dhoni stylishly says HIL and a diehard Hyderabadi like me has a small frown. Yes, I would have been happy if Dhoni had said Hyderabad Industries limited.

But as an afterthought that campaign would be a no brainer. How can Chennai captain pitch for Hyderabad? It would be the ultimate sacrilege! What do you guys say!!!???

Jyothi Bhavani - Gunfoundry - Bottom of the Pyramid - Sindhi Colony - Wheel of retailing - Common sense is not common!

Was at Jyothi Bhavani yesterday. It is a small Bandi at Gunfoundry, Abids, Hyderabad. On Friday I was explaining the concept of bottom of the pyramid and what a lovely example on Saturday. That is why I love marketing. It is easily demonstrable by illustrations.

This astonishing Bandi was serving mouth watering Vada Pav for just 10/- rupees. Me and Y. Srinivas Rao had two each and by the time we finished ours there was a sale of nearly 10 more! Mostly people, rushing on their jobs and school children.

Bhavani has cleverly identified its segment, customers including children whose impulse purchase cost is Rs 10/-. And there is a similar places close by where hot and piping veg biryani is sold at Rs 20/-.

Sindhi colony bandis were famous for Vada Pav. They were dishing out Vada Pao at Rs 10/-. Now they have priced themselves at Rs 25/-! Proving the wheel of retailing concept true, customers will come but slowly start looking for alternatives which might include MacDonald whose burgers start at Rs 39/-.

A small eatery cum take away centre near my house is manned by a surly owner who frowns on her customers like a teacher frowns on her errant school children.

But customers being customers, mostly software professionals take the flak as they are not adept at preparing evening snacks or are plump lazy!

Our 'lady of the evening snacks' bulldozes every one with her suspicious looks and most buckle under her wrath.

Just the other I visited her shop along with Madhusudan Kota who wanted to buy bellam jilebi. Our lady was at her surly best.

A meek guy in front of us asked for punugulu (a sort of snacks) and said that he wanted them for Rs 10/-). The lady said "At our shop a plate of punugulu are Rs 30/- and half plate is Rs 15/-". Rubbing salt in the wound, she added with a snigger "what will you get for Rs10/-".

The guy was stunned and his eyes started to water. The lady threw in 5 or 6 punugulu and handed it out to him as if she was she was doing him a favour.

The guy was humiliated. The place serves unlimited chutneys that the customers can serve themselves which is the only USP of the tiffin centre along with the proximity.

But the customer was a gentleman. He served himself with a very limited amount of chutney and rushed out of the place. Gone for ever. Lady, you have lost yourself three customers for a life time. YOU JUST HAVE PROVED "COMMON SENSE IS NOT COMMON"! WELL DONE LADY, WAY TO GO!

Marketing lesson for the day Advertisement we have been waiting for - Pretty 24

This I feel is the advertisement that we all have been waiting for. Pretty 24 hits all whitening creams right in the solar plexus! Coming of age of Indian advertising and hitting where it hurts the most. It is time we Indians don't feel inferior about our colour, rather we should celebrate our colour for which most westerners pay a fortune to get and call it tanning! We Indians are naturally tanned.

Marketing lesson for the day: Common sense is not common – Kohinoor’s - Meeta Pan, Kala Khatta, Juicy Strawberry and Silky Chocolate

My often repeated idiom -  Common senses is not very common. Kohinoor has introduced a new set of Condoms and to build up excitement and awareness of its new offerings, it gave them very saucy names, Meeta Pan, Kala Khatta, Juicy Strawberry and Silky Chocolate.

On the face of it, my readers might ask me, what’s the big deal? It is the worst deal. Kohinoor has every right to name the product as it likes and it is up to the Customers to like the products or not. But the product display in a medical shop raises the hackles!

As usual it was Madhusudan Kota who brought it to my notice. Let us remember it is not at a place that is secluded and away from the prying eyes of small children. But the display is right at the POS and very much in the face.

The product names appear innocuous but are very close to Meeta pan a toffee, Kala Khatta is a brand of ice-cream and worst of all Strawberry and silky chocolates look like brands of chocolates. Product categories that belong to the children and names that they are familiar with.  

What happens if the children demand these products from the parents? Imagine the embarrassment a mother would face if her small son or daughter ask for them seeing the product display! How does she explain the products to her inquisitive children?

Customers should not be put through such embarrassing situations, Kohinoor. Use some other media and don’t let your products embarrass people. In the modern world the possibility of a loyal customer changing into a virtual vigilante is just a Facebook post or a photo share away! You could become viral for all the wrong reasons!