12.12.12, a very special date - worth remembering

Blog Entry: 398 

Interestingly Indians have taken to heart this date as it happens very rarely. It is supposed to be very auspicious as the numbers when added up come to 9, a very sacred number in Hindu mythology. Many expectant mothers are demanding caesarian operation so that their child will have the magical 12.12.12 on their birth certificates. But the mood has become somber after the astrologers have declared that 12.12.12 is actually a Chaudas Amavasya (No moon day) an inauspicious day.   

Certain dates, when written down in figures, have a very interesting appearance. It is important to note that throughout the world different formats are used to write down dates. Some common formats are:

• Month / day / year: English language
• Day - month - year: other European languages
• Year. Month. day: Chinese language

Of course, there is also a choice from the number of digits you chose to represent the day, month and year. Some of these are:

• DD                  -           two digit day of the month number
• (D)D                -           one or two digit day of the month number
• MM                 -           two digit month number
• (M)M               -           one or two month number
• YYYY            -           four digit year number
• YY                  -           two digit year number
• (YYY)Y          -           one, two, three, or four digit year number

From these many different date formats can be constructed.

Same number dates

These are dates which all use the same number. Some examples are:

• 7-7-77
• 9-9-99
• 01-01-01
• 02-02-02
• 03-03-03
• 04-04-04
• 05-05-05
• 06-06-06 or 6-6-6
• 07-07-07
• 08-08-08
• 09-09-09
• 10-10-10
• 11-11-11
• 12-12-12

Double dates

These are dates which consist of twice the same number.

MM/DD/YYYY and YYYY.MM.DD

All double dates of this form are in the past. The last of dates of this form was:

• December 31, 1231 (12/31/1231 or 1231.12.31)

MM/DD/YY and YY.MM.DD

• November 1, 2010 (11/01/10 or 10.11.01)
• January 10, 2011 (01/10/11 or 11.01.10)
• November 11, 2011 (11/11/11 or 11.11.11)
• January 20, 2012 (01/20/12 or 12.01.20)
• November 21, 2012 (11/21/12 or 12.11.21)
• January 30, 2013 (01/30/13 or 13.01.30)
• December 1, 2020 (12/01/20 or 20.12.01)

DD-MM-YYYY

Double dates of this form, always appear in the first 12 years of the century. Some close double dates of these form are:

• January 20, 2001 (20-01-2001)
•  February 20, 2002 (20-02-2002). Also  palindrome date
• March 20, 2003 (20-03-2003)
• April 20, 2004 (20-04-2004)
• May 20, 2005 (20-05-2005). Also first “digital” mirror date
• June 20, 2006 (20-06-2006)
• July 20, 2007 (20-07-2007)
• August 20, 2008 (20-08-2008)
• September 20,2009 (20-09-2009)
• October 20, 2010 (20-10-2010)
• November 20, 2011 (20-11-2011)
• December 20, 2012 (20-12-2012)

Information about the dates taken from: http://www.iwriteiam.nl/Dates.html.

New Products ideas from MBA students TAPMI, Manipal

I had undergone a training Programme at TAPMI, Manipal, India. One of the marketing faculty told us about new product ideas that his student had come out with. The two most interesting product ideas were

Wake up pillow: The most important for any student is the ability to wake up early in the morning. Students do set the alarm with all good intentions. The good intentions evaporate early in the morning. The students would simply shut the alarm of their clock and promptly go back to sleep. When they wake up it is already too late.

The wake up pillow is actually an alarm clock. The alarm clock is set inside the pillow. It can’t be reached at all. In that sense it is sealed. The alarm can be set with a remote which has to be connected to an electrical switch. The alarm would go off at the designated time. The noise level would keep on increasing with every 3-5 minutes. Most people would get up by the racket that the pillow is generating.

For the brave hearts who won’t wake up the pillow would continuously start shaking after 10 minutes and after 15 minutes the pillow will admister very mild but irritating electric shocks to the still in the slumber land sleepers. The only way to stop this pillow would be to walk up to the electric switch (set at some distance away from the sleeper) and switch off the product. By this time the sleeper is wide awake.

Auto dip: Drivers on a national highway have to be very careful. Driving at night can be a big hazard especially in India where there are not many 8 lane or even 4 lane roads. The roads have no divider between traffic going in two different directions. Many of the roads have two lanes with no dividers.

The vehicles coming from two different directions would blind each other with their bright focus lights. So it is an courtesy for one of the drivers to dip his head lights. This would make the other driver to see the dipped vehicle in low light. The driver would be able to gauge the size of the vehicle, its speed and also the caution he needs to take so that both of them can pass each other safely. The second driver would do the same (dip his head light) so that the first driver could see the second vehicle.

But in India it is very common to see that vehicle owners do not dip their head lights leading to blinding flashes of bright light. This leads to many fatal accidents.

The students of TAPMI came out with an very interesting product. They came out with a microprocessor controlled product that can be fitted into the headlight of a vehicle. The same product has to be fitted into all the vehicles that ply on the roads. When two vehicles that are fitted with this product came in contact (distance of 100 meters) one of the headlights would dip automatically (without the drivers intervention) for three seconds and would become normal again. The headlight of the second vehicle would dip automatically once the first headlight becomes bright. This would happen automatically.

What took my breath away was the simplicity of both the ideas. It once again proved that simple things are very difficult to achieve.

New product ideas

I had given my students of MBA ISM at UPES recently a project about New Product Development. They came out with three products. The products were

1.      Hair care taker: According to the students this was an electronic microprocessor controlled hair care consultant. The group claimed that this product was capable of letting the users know many things about hair care. The users can know about their dandruff status, when they would need a hair wash, the type of shampoo they should use and even the type of hair style they should sport. The group claimed that the product would be available at a cost of Rs 2500/- and it would be marketed through upmarket hair salons like the Habibs. 

2.      Pen +:The second group came out with an idea of a Pen+. Pen+ is an intelligent pen. This pen can be used on any surface and it works like an ordinary pen. This pen has a display that can tell the writer if he had committed any spelling, grammatical or punctuation mistake. It can scan copy and edit any matter. The pen comes with an internal memory. The one issue that is a bother is the different hand writings that the pen will encounter. The pen will have to get used to and learn to read the writer’s handwriting just like a voice activated automatic typing facility that is available in a laptop. The auto correcting facility when one is writing could create confusion in the writer. The cost of the product is Rs 1,995/-. 

3.      Easy Auto Wrap: The third group came out with an equally interesting product. They talked about an easy wrap product. According to this group the water in the overhead water tank of a house would become too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. The Easy auto warp can be wrapped around the water tank. The warp around would create an air pocket and would reflect the hot air in the summer thus ensuring that the temperature dose not increase in the summer and would see that the water does not lose the temperature in the winter by insulating the water tank.

But the problem would exist, how the auto warp will ensure that the temperature would reach a comfortable temperature in the summer before the auto warp steps in and controls the temperature from reaching uncomfortably hot level. Same would be the case in winter. The water needs to be heated up from the un comfortable level to a level that is comfortable for the water to be used for taking a bath. This product inherently has many issued that need to be tackled. The group claims that the product can save around 20,000 to 40,000/- rupees per year on less electricity usage.

All in all very interesting new product ideas. But they need to be worked upon. The products need to   be tested both in the lab condition and in real life. The customers should be willing to shell out the hefty money that is being demanded. Products will be a success only if the consumers feel an acute need and would feel stressed if they are denied the products. 

25 years (Silver Jubilee) of working

It was on the 7^th of December 1987 exactly 25 years ago that I started working. I  along  with  an Electrical engineer called Akbar were selected by a company called Indian Communications Network Limited (ICNL). We joined as Sales Executives for a princely salary of 1450/- rupees per month. We were paid a transport allowance of 300/- rupees per month.

I still remember that day very clearly. I and Akbar reported to the RSM (Regional Sales Manager) Mr. Ravindranath. Ravindranath welcomed us and asked us to report to Mr. Paramjit Singh, the FM (Field Manager). Network was the market leader in the field of electronic typewriters.

There are many things that I learned from Network and it was a memorable working experience. Many of my colleagues are still in touch (thanks to mobiles and Facebook). Ranganath, ASM (Area Sales Manager – Sales), Sudhir Rao ASM (Area Sales Manager – Customer Support and Service), T. N. Ravi Kumar, TM (Territory Manager), Raghunandan CS (Customer Support), Sakethnath CS (Customer Support). All moved on in life and have become successful in their own fields.

The things that I remember very well are the training that was imparted to the sales staff on Saturdays and the crib sessions organized by our RSM, Ravindranath. Ravindranath encouraged the staff to come out with at least one crib or complaint. Ajay Nadir once said that it was more than a month since we had a party. Much to our delight Ravindranath immediately arranged for an office party.

Marketing Research Demystified

Blog entry no - 394

One of the most interesting fields in marketing is research. Which is re searching or revisiting things that we think we know or assume that we know? Companies need to look at themselves with a more critical eye to find out things that they fail to see or refuse to see. In other words navel grazing or revisiting the blind spot in Johari’s window.

Sometimes in administering a questionnaire an interviewer or the researcher might be confronted with an quaint situations. It is a situation where the researcher knows that the information provided by the respondent is inherently wrong but can’t refute or say that the information is wrong. Any such action of refuting or contradicting the respondent would mean that the interview would be terminated. So what is the way out? The researcher has to be smart or street smart. Let us check out the situations where this happens.

Some aspects of behaviour would get more reported and some would be reported less. Respondents are smart and can figure out things that are socially acceptable. So things like reading books, textbooks, reading of magazines like Readers’ Digest, Business world, Business India and Business Today would be reported more than actual usage or readership.

Readership of pulp magazines and pornographic magazines and other socially un acceptable issues would be reported less. In such cases research with the concerned publishers for getting statistics of readership and subscription numbers would help. So if the subscription numbers are less by 30% an assumption that 30% reduction can be made for socially acceptable and popular magazines and popular magazines can be made. This is not an exact science but an approximation.

Milk consumption would be reported more than actual consumption. Answers to the question about milk drinking could lead to a situation where a family of four people is reporting usage of around 6-7 litres of milk per day. By any stretch of imagination that is a very high figure. A little bit of homework and a little bit of investigative leg work could lead the researcher to the milk vendor from where the family buys the milk. A comparison of actual vs reported milk usage can be plotted and the percentage of excess milk consumption being reported can be worked out.  

It is difficult to get to peoples’ real feelings. A question like “have you cheated in the examination” would normally get an indignant “no” as an answer. But a cleverly phrased question “Do you think that your friend cheat in the examination” would get a result. Thinking that the question is meant for his friend and not himself the respondent would give out his own opinion as that being the behaviour of the friend. The researcher would simply mark the answer as the opinion of the respondent himself. 

If the income is being reported less than the actual income the researcher only needs to look around the house. A big LED TV, wall to wall carpeting and even an address in a posh locality are shouting indications of the respondent’s actual higher income than the claim that is being made out in the questionnaire.