Vjbreathes

Terrorists by themselves cannot function and survive. They need people and resources to carry out the front end and back end operations. A powerful vision, network, dedication and perfection of execution are a rough summation of all that’s involved. They have already conquered Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat and Hyderabad in the recent times. Though the scale of loss in terms of life and property may not be huge; the impact of course was tremendous. A feeling of insecurity, helplessness and fear has certainly encroached the minds of the people. ATC(Anti-terrorist cell), STF(Special task Force) and OCG(Other Govt Agencies) have failed to do anything more than press releases and press conferences after the blasts ad other acts of terror. Their excuse is that the terrorists are more equipped, sophisticated, skilled, educated and armed. Though one community is being blamed, the problem lies with the system that is involved in identifying, re-locating, training, transforming and inspiri...

Wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day!!!! Waking up to the TOI, whoops, I found about 7-8 one fourth page mommy-daughter or mommy-son ads, and yes, the best one was probably the Zero-B ad(That’s my choice of the day because of the spacing and the placing) Products and services are catching up and cashing on the opportunity. All in all, TOI had about 35 mommy senti ads (including the Classifieds and the Bangalore times section). Well, that’s a very good number. Mommy related advertising is mainly applied in the following areas mainly: 1) Diaper 2) Clothing 3) Water purification 4) Toys 5) Household items including electronics like washing m/c, refrigerator etc 6) Baby food 7) others..... {IT JUS GOES ON AND ON......} Constantly, the trend of “cashing on” occasions and events like the Mother’s Day, Children’s Day, Martyr’s Day, Independence Day, World Mohan’s Day {World AIDS Day}. Etc to promote services and products is intensifying and magnifying. The fine art of influencing existing a...

The brand ambassador Quagmire: With niche marketing getting more focus than ever before, the puzzle of hiring, managing, changing and associating brand ambassadors is a major ponder point for companies. Brand consultant Harish Bijoor is of the opinion that brand effectiveness differs with different stages of the product life cycle and is subjective to the segment and company goodwill. Further, Prof.C.K.Prahlad has given out his opinion that companies need to ensure n=1, and R=G. That’s mass customization and individual focus to ensure higher satisfaction amongst customers and promote loyalty. It’s further stated in a few cases that brand ambassadors involvement for product/service promotion is very much necessary. But then, I sincerely feel that this kind of phenomena is noticed in a mere 2-3% of products (FMCG, clothing etc) and high involvement goods, luxury goods are absolutely independent of celebrity endorsement (Jewellery, housing, furniture, automobile etc). Further, increased p...

It’s so strange and so obvious that attitude matters so much. With protests happening in New York protesting against the Chinese policy of Tibet when the Olympic flame entered NY or models protesting naked for PETA or people in Carolina protesting against pollution people in that part of the world seem to be doing a great job compared to our people who have only been fighting each other over Hoggenkal, over language over caste and so on. The attitude side of life becomes very important and we need to realize that burning buses, breaking street lights, burning vehicles is not at all the solution to any of our problems. On an estimate the Govt of India has lost about 65 crores due to rioting and damage to govt property in the year 2003.(Data for succeeding years is not available).That again translates to the fact that we pay taxes, they get buses or street lights, we burn them and govt collects the booty again! It pains me, time and again to say “MERA BHARAT MAHAN”. It is simply an emb...

Appearances do matter they say, but it’s not all about appearances. It is also about the content. The more evolved the better. Ok…… Wondering why all this gyaan? Yesterday I overheard two housewives (Who are usually louder) speaking to each other on branded tea. This happened when I went to buy some household items at a kirana store nearby. For our convenience let’s assume their names to ‘Ratnamma’ and ‘Nagamma’ ie; Rats n Nags for short. Here goes: Rats: I wonder why we have to buy branded tea like “Taj Mahal” and “Red Label”. Nags: That’s extremely simple. It’s because they’re branded and that means quality assured. Rats: But then there are local brands like “X” that are equally good in terms of quality and you can literally get twice the quantity for the same price. Howzzat? Nags: But still by buying a local product you could be giving scope for error. Rats: Well, the fact that a brand did well last time and the fact that it’s a well known “brand” does not ensure it’s performance ev...

Business and Festivals:-“Holi-Day” People all over the world fail to understand the logic behind celebrating ‘festivals’ on a day-to-day basis. In India, each day is a festival of some sort. (Read Festivals are an excuse to celebrate each day, each moment). Festivals rather signify and mean prosperity, joy, unity and much more.{Celebrating festivals has got health reasons too} At the same time, each festival brings with it business opportunities. This Holi, India is expected to spend Rs.10 crores on mere colors solely. And at least Rs. 4 crores on Holi related purchases like masks, apparel, toys etc is expected to be spent. This Holi-day is definitely going to be a holiday, the 19 Mar 2008. And this relates to all market segments. Holi related products could mean toys, rangoli, masks, holi specific apparel and so on. And the fact that the same period coincides with Good Friday and Id-e-Milad is the icing on the cake. Marketers are all set to ‘Blaze off’ their products and services. The...

Business and Festivals:-“Holi-Day” People all over the world fail to understand the logic behind celebrating ‘festivals’ on a day-to-day basis. In India, each day is a festival of some sort. (Read Festivals are an excuse to celebrate each day, each moment). Festivals rather signify and mean prosperity, joy, unity and much more.{Celebrating festivals has got health reasons too} At the same time, each festival brings with it business opportunities. This Holi, India is expected to spend Rs.10 crores on mere colors solely. And at least Rs. 4 crores on Holi related purchases like masks, apparel, toys etc is expected to be spent. This Holi-day is definitely going to be a holiday, the 19 Mar 2008. And this relates to all market segments. Holi related products could mean toys, rangoli, masks, holi specific apparel and so on. And the fact that the same period coincides with Good Friday and Id-e-Milad is the icing on the cake. Marketers are all set to ‘Blaze off’ their products and services. The...

Many a times I tend to wonder how and why we stick to brands or change brands.Though, volumes of books have been written, discourses n speeches been given on this subject, it still seems to b a grt mystery.The memories of Parle Kismi, Shaktimaan, Lakhani,Camel crayons,Hero pens and all those brands still linger on . We grow with brands. Some stay, some get replaced and some of course, outline all others (classic ex: Cherry blossom shoe polish) and a whole " generation shift " happens with a 'brand set' shift. It's essentially transformation from Famous Five, Amar Chitra Katha to "X bOX" and so on. The transformation is moreso, gradual. Further, brand behaviour is very peculiar. They are vulnerable to several factors like brand ambassadors, brand expenditure and so on. An evolution of sorts keeps happening. Today, though my 'Parle Kismi' is mostly replaced by a 'Munch' or a 'Kit Kat' the memories still linger on . Frankly, someti...

The lessons that can be learnt from small time,street side idli-vada vendors are indeed grt. They give you lessons in JIT, Working capital management and in segmentation, targeting , and positioning and many more concepts. Well, each day morning before attending my class at 8.00 a.m, I have my breakfast at one such street side vendor, MURUGAN's. I am a part of his growing list of loyals,. which surprisingly includes executives from companies like Wipro,Convertgys, TCS and so on. He caters to the tummy needs of about 150 people each day. He opens his small store(which is actually the fuse room of an apartment, sized 15feetX15feet) at 7.00 a.m in the morning and closes by 11.00 a.m.His menu list is as follows: 1)1 Idli-Rs.2.50 2)1 vada-Rs.2.oo(small) 3)Dosa-Rs.4.oo 4)Chitranna-Rs.8.00(A rice based dish) 5)Puliyogare-Rs.8.00(A rice based dish) UNLIMITED SAMBAR AND CHUTNEY FREE! Well on an average each customer has a breakfast worth Rs.20/-, that totals to Rs.3,000 per day and Rs. 9...

You would be probably wondering , wat kinda title for a blog is this ... But ya , the mad rush for revenues has made corporates today , something like vandals .. Reading between lines . AM talking bout job cuts and down sizing .. Reference TCS , etc ..