"Joker arrested trying to steal Batman" (and he succeeded!)

I came across this headline "Joker Arrested Trying to Steal Batman", on an Internet news website and for an instant thought that someone had written a movie review! I saw The Dark Knight this weekend and was amongst the many who was left spellbound. It is a good movie for all comic book superhero buffs like me; and it is also a good movie for other general audiences who want see a good entertaining flick. Christian Bale reprises his role of the caped crusader, Batman from the movie batman begins. But, the true Dark Knight of the movie is the character of the Joker played by late Heath Ledger.

This post is another one among the numerous blogs about which think that the Joker, and Heath Ledger have literally stolen the show from Batman. Ledger's portrayal of the psychopathic maniac who is least interested in anything other than destroying the very fabric of society is superlative, and I am not saying this to be sympathetic towards Ledger's untimely demise. The character is truly a villian and the kind which cannot be negotiated with. The painted face and constant lisp which the Joker has are but comic book rendering of a facade behind which the maniac thrives, and Ledger does superb justice portraying all this.

There has been speculation in the movie press that Heath Ledger deserves a posthumous nomination atleast if not an Academy Award win for his portrayal of the Joker. Irrespective of whether this happens or not, one thing that is certain is that the Joker has defenitely stolen Batman, and incredulously the actor's life was arrested!

Olympic Mascots...

Why do the mascots for the Olympic Games suck? Most of the the mascots for the summer Olympic games fail to impress me. As a hobby, I follow mascots for various sporting events around the world. The mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are called ‘Fuwa’ - five mascots which represent traditional Chinese elements of fire, wood, water, gold and earth. But I just don’t find these five interesting or cute enough. Read On

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Singh is King! The throne is his too!

So the UPA government has survived the no confidence motion. Whether the Nuclear deal is good for the country or not, is not something the common man can easily decipher. Many magazine editors, notably Vinod Mehta of Outlook has been strongly against the deal, saying that the deal ties India’s hands despite not being among the countries which have signed the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

But for the common man, I think all that matters are issues like increasing fuel prices due to the inflation. I for one am happy that Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government survived and we did not have a mid term election. Or even worse some Third Front had come to the forefront and India had a Prime Minister from one of the many ingreidient parties!

So, Singh is King!
Read On...
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It lands, creates a buzz... then disappears!

I have been doing a study on the outdoor advertising industry in India recently as a part of a consultancy assignment at work, and one of the catch phrases which people in this industry use to describe their business is

In outdoor, the medium is the message!

Interestingly today, I came across this article about a 7500 square foot ad which has been commisioned for Chanel. It is a whole mobile art pavilion which looks something like this...

Designed by a London based designer, this futuristic looking building has been commissioned by Chanel. And voila! amongst one of the many description of the building, one of them goes as follows,

The most important piece of art is the container itself!

Autorickshaw vs The Free Market!

Again, the autorickshaw driver refused to give me conveyance from the suburban railway station back home. I was late in the evening and maybe he was winding up for the day and the direction he wished to go was opposite to where I wanted to. So, I was stranded at the railway station, tired after a long day at work, with a daunting task of having to walk 5km back home. Should I curse the free market system? After all, it is this system which allows these autorickshaw drivers to decide if they are going to accept taking me as their passenger, based on the overall benefit they see in the transaction. Right?
I think not... Read on

StumbleUpon a pot of Gold!

I have recently installed the now famous Stumbleupon toolbar on my internet explorer, and man! is it addictive! All I have to do is indicate what my preferences are and voila! I can be directed to very interesting websites I never knew existed! This works very well when you have sometime to kill; you have finished reading all the updates on the regular sites you usually visit and don’t know what to find on the internet. (Ofcourse, Stumbleupon is not a substitute for going outdoors or reading a book, when one has time to kill; but it defenitely makes sense when its pouring cats and dogs, especially in Mumbai, where one dares not venture far from home, during the rainy season)
Stumbleupon is a very powerful tool according to me. Google currently makes money by... Continue

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Smaller State? No, Smaller Government is Better...

The American magazine has an interesting article on the topic of Geopolitics and how maps are being redrawn. The article titled “Map Quest” talks about the continual flux in the way the various nations of the world keep changing in their ideaologies and with it the economic conditions leading to different postures in foreign policy. Economic changes and the ambitions of the people of a nation always seems to have some kind of correlation. What seems to be interesting is the fact that this economic upswing and downswing seems to be of a cyclical nature.

Take for example the case of India and China; some three hundred years ago, the Indian and Chinese economies were the dominant economies in the world. America and Japan were nothing more that third world countries. During this period, most products that originated in the subcontinent and China were held in very high esteem. And true to the famous saying that ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’ the western businessmen actually copied the articles from the oppulent orient and sold it in their countries for a premium. Ceramic is a classic example of this kind of a situation. It was a product of China and some European entrepreneurs perfected a process to make cheap imitation ceramic and sold it to the western nations. Today, when the US is the dominant economy, we see a reverse situation. Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs are the one becoming competitive by manufacturing western products in a cheaper and better way! Continue...

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Krypton-86 vs The Infinite Wisdom

Jug Suraiya has an interesting article in The Times of India dated 14th, June 2008. It lambasts a research/survey which claims that atheists are smarter than theists. When I read the first few lines I was appalled; how could good ol’ Jug Suraiya do this. As an agnostic myself, I was offended that Jug Suraiya thought that Atheism/Agnosticism did not need intellect.
But after completing the whole article I was in splits. Jug Suraiya contends,

Atheism requires no special brain power. It’s as easy as falling off a log. It’s believing in a God who — omnipotently, omnisciently — creates all these horrors, and more (Hitler, Hiroshima, Mao, Pol Pot, the AIDS virus, sickle cell anaemia, Alzheimer’s, polio etc, etc), which requires adroit intellectual footwork

This indeed is funny stuff. But, however agnostic/atheist I am, there is a seed of doubt. For a believer, there is the blanket of blind faith which covers for all questions; for non-believers on the other hand, there is no such prodigal blanket of faith... Continue

UPDATE:

It is almost fascinating (as if by intelligent design!!) that I came across an article in today’s edition of The American after writing this post, about the culture war between believers and non-believers. Peter J Wallison, in the article titled “Lets declare a truce in the culture war” argues on a similar premise that both the believer and the non-believer are basically unable to prove or falsify the other’s belief. To quote the author,

To the extent that they believe in the correctness of their own position, both sides are simply relying on faith. The only truly rational position is that of the agnostic, who says there is no way to know and probably never will be

I very much agree with what the author contends on this topic. All the rhetoric from both the believer and the non-believer about the correctness of his personal belief and more so the incorrectness of the other side is unfounded and wasteful.... Continue

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Constraints, and the way to approach issues

Manangement techniques and aproaches argue that there are constraints which govern any business model and the businesses need to exploit their available resources to the maximum extent therby achieving the best possible outcome that is ‘allowed’, as defined by the limits imposed by the constraints.
A thought came to me when I was travelling on the local suburban trains here in Mumbai. Amongst the three suburban rail corridors which run in Mumbai, the Western Railway system is considered to be better than that of the Central Railway and the Harbour Line. Not that the Western Railway is any less crowded, but what one observes is that rakes on the Western corridor are better maintained and rattle and sway less, literally!
I was being thrown about on the Central Railway earlier today, between the Currey Road junction and Victoria Terminus; and this dichotomy came to my mind.... Continue

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Whose Plate is Half Full?

The Financial Times has a lead article on India’s rising inflation. The wholesale price inflation today (June 13th, 2008 ) hit a seven year high of 8.77%. This figure has crossed the anticipated figures by most economists and has got most policy makers tied up in knots over the impact on the economy. The major cause people attribute to the inflation is the rise in crude oil prices and to the rise in food prices. The increase in food prices in India has followed the international trend with around a 30 to 50% increase in the prices of commodities like rice, lentils, vegetables and milk.
The global food crisis which has been in the media for a while now has prompted many reactions from across the spectrum of observers. Policy makers in the government have gone on to increase price controls on food commodities to control the spiraling food prices leading to greater regulatory architecture coming into the market. Other reactions which have come to the media, mainly because of their comical nature, is the assertion of President Bush that food prices around the world are increasing as Indians are eating more!

One intriguing argument .... continue

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Green Marketing

An idea which has come of age is that of ‘Green Marketing’. This consists of the marketing of products which are environmentally friendly. The scope of this includes not only the communication process which needs to be specially focussed on promoting the product as being environmentally friendly, but also the necessary product and process modification so as to actually make the product ‘Green’. Today, awareness about global warming and eco consciousness is at an all time high. With the massive deforestation of the rain forests and the rapidly eroding greenery in our cities and countryside the eco systems of our neighbourhoods are changing for the worse. Under such circumstances, ‘Green Marketing’ is a way for companies to at least partially follow a ‘blue ocean strategy’.
To quote an example, consider the case of electronic component manufacturers in India who are a part of a global supply chain. They are suppliers to various companies in Europe and America, where it is now illegal to have electronic items which have certain levels of hazardous chemicals. The electronic product manufacturers are governed by directives like RoHS which stands for Restriction of use of certain Hazardous Chemicals. This law which came into effect on 1st July 2006 prohibits any electronic product to be sold in the market which fails to comply with the standards as described in the RoHS directive. In an industry that is dependent on the assembly of components sourced effectively by the diverse supply base, these laws have implications which are far flung. These and other such laws also offer a unique opportunity for companies to gain competitive advantages over others by being the first to organize the supply chain to be able to cope with the requirements. Many Indian electronic component manufacturers, who previously found themselves in a tough position wrung by all the proverbial five forces described by Michael Porter, in the wake of stiff price competition from Chinese manufacturers, have used this opportunity to find themselves a ‘blue ocean’ to regain their market competence.
‘Green Marketing’ is essentially a way to create a point of differentiation for one’s products. Companies which can successfully brand themselves as a ‘Green’ company and at the same time successfully integrate their supply chains to cope with the requirements of producing a ‘Green’ product can gain a sustainable competitive advantage in the market place of the near future. This will require significant investment in research of both product development and supply chain integration and also in effective communication strategy. An example of this would be the investments made by Toyota Corporation in the hybrid cars division.
Unlike many horizon planning strategies which are followed by companies, where the investments in research for the future may not always be passed on to current customers, the scope and scale of investment required for ‘Green’ products may necessitate such a measure. Successful ‘Green’ marketers will be those who will be able to identify the opportunity costs involved and avoid making the current generation of customers bear the costs for those of the future; although it might be in the interest of the current generation of customers in the long run to do so!

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The Decision Maker

The famous economist Adam Smith once noted “having money gives one the ability to ‘command’ other’s labour”. This is a succinct way of explaining purchasing power and is very relevant for anyone who is trying to chart a career in marketing. Why? The answer is simple; marketing works best when those who you are marketing to, have the purchasing power, i.e. the ability to command your labour in exchange for their money.
But for marketers, is it sufficient to target those that have the money, to make a sale? Again, the ‘invisible hand’ theoretician had wise words for us. He warned us not to ignore the thrifty housewife’s contribution to the economy as she compares prices at a local store. For instance in India and most other countries of the world, men are the income earning members of the family and have the control over the expenditure of this income. But it is not difficult to observe that the majority of what the household spends on is decided by the women. So, as a marketer it makes more sense to catch the attention of the women and thereby influence those who have the control over the strings of the purse, rather than the men who may be the purse bearers. This need to capture the decision maker’s attention is a refinement over the traditional target audience definition which marketers identify while developing their strategy. If the traditional market segmentation is done based on demographic variables like age, gender, income bracket etc, the emphasis on targeting decision makers requires the marketer to create a special value proposition to those who may not be the end users, but rather the key influencers in the buying process.
Examples of this can be seen in the advertising schedules of many products and services. Advertisements for Star Cruise vacations are actually broadcast on channels like Cartoon Network and Pogo to catch the attention of children who then influence their parents to go on these vacations. The creative for a medicinal product which aids in the reduction of male pattern baldness actually addresses the woman, negotiating with her to purchase the medicine for her husband!
This emphasis on the decision maker also necessitates a different approach to the metrics of media plan. From a traditional Opportunity to See (OTS) measure of exposure to the target market segment, marketers are now moving towards more experiential marketing platforms. The experience which the decision maker has of the product or service becomes of paramount importance and media planners now look for Opportunity to Experience (OTE) components before deciding on the marketing plans.
For example, when Financial Times (FT), position themselves as a paper read by the CEOs, by organizing symposiums of global leaders, they are essentially conveying to their advertisers that the ‘Decision Makers’ are reading their paper and endorsing it; and hence add more value to their product. Gone are the days when the circulation and readership numbers of the newspaper, among target demographic audience could have helped attract more advertisers. If ICICI bank uses the catch line that they are ‘the most preferred bank’ among younger corporate decision makers, it is because they want other such people with high disposable incomes to bank with them.
And thus the value of the ‘Decision Maker’ is the critical variable in a marketer’s formula. Market research firms like AC-Nielsen ORG MARG now provide companies (like ICICI bank) with a Decision Maker’s Survey (DMS) to aid them in identifying the ideal channels for communicating to the ‘Decision Makers’ directly!

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Private Labels

Private label pose the biggest threats to branded FMCG businesses. The normal margin structure in a typical FMCG supply chain today is as follows. The margin for the carry and forwarder (C&F) is ranges from 1 - 4%. That of a stockist ranges from 4 - 9% and that of the retailer ranges from around 8 – 17%. Also as the channel of distribution has gained prominence in the consumer’s mind due to pervasiveness of their reach, the retailer increasingly calls the shots. In such an environment, consumers increasingly face the pinch of higher prices. Hence, the best way for the retailer to add value to the consumer would be to remove the price burden he bears. The solution – creation of private labels. This makes good economic sense too as is indicated by the following table

Just as an indicator one can observe, that private label business of Wal-Mart is USD 126 billion. This figure is greater than that of the total sales revenue of Nestlé’s which is considered as the largest FMCG manufacturer brand in terms of sales.

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"Dissolve like Sugar in Milk" ... Ideas for FMCG

What is important today in terms of branding in FMCG products? With the clutter of products on display and available for consumption, there is increasingly a trend of consumer indifference towards your product. When the product life cycle is also very short, what becomes important is creating a sustainable brand. One solution for this can be explained with this story.

Legend says that when the Parsi immigrants from Iran landed in Gujarat, India many centuries ago, they approached the local King to seek permission to stay in his country. The King who was not very keen on letting foreigners to settle in his land showed the Parsi leader a bowl of milk filled to the brim and said that like this, there was no space for more people. The Parsi leader not to be outdone mixed some sugar into the milk and told the King that his people would dissolve into the society like the sugar and while remaining invisible, sweeten the whole experience!

Similar to this, what is required to help reduce consumer irritability towards FMCG products is that they need to become less in your face, but at the same time be give the consumer a sweet experience!

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The Beginning of Idea Architecture...

Idea Architecture by Anand Rao (Me!)