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.
