The Constant Observer

Foster's Strong - My new Love

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:30:00 +0000

So I was just hanging with a few friends the other day and it was a buddys 23rd birthday. He was going on and on about how he is getting older and he was depressed.

So we decided to pick up some beer and head to his place... once we reached the booze shop we saw the new fosters strong there and decided to try it out. I cant tell you how much fun we had. the beer was too good... was better than what I expected and everyone agreed with me. The cool part is after we cheered my buddy up he decided to throw a party next Saturday. Guess I'll be getting alot more Foster's Strong for the weekend.

Wake Up!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:03:00 +0000

"Live in New York Once, But Leave Before it Makes You Hard
Live in California Once, But Leave Before it Makes You Soft"
- Baz Luhrman, Everybody is Free to Wear to Sunscreen

This blogpost is nothing but a request...its a cry to tell you people reading this that "WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE" and only "WE" can make a difference...We in India see soo much happening around us that we have become stones and stones that are unmoved by anything.

My Personal Favorite : India is known for the spit stains lined up on the walls in our streets just as much as we are known for our cultural or ethnic diversity. We see people spitting all around us and all we can do is ignore them. WHY? WHY?

What happened to our voice...what happened to the fact that we can make a difference...All we have to do is stop people from spitting...you dont need to shout...you dont need to abuse...all u need to do is ask him "would you do this in your house"...social embarassesment in India is the way to make a difference.

We need to believe that we can make a difference...we can...its just that we think that small differences dont count...a person thinking about what you said the next time he is about to spit is a difference...

So please lets not be heartless...we are looking at India being an International hub...so lets make sure that atleast our house is neat and clean...and i dont think that this is something too much to ask for...Give your country or city something in return for what its made you...

To wrap it up...even though its a cliche

"Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You,
Ask What You Can Do For The Country"
- John F Kennedy

My Question at the WAT Conference that won me the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:45:00 +0000

I went to WATBlog's panel discussion yesterday and i won an iPhone 3G (thanks to AirMe)

I won because i blogged and tweeted about the event and i also asked a question that the Panel liked.

So my question was:

"If you look at the ad spend figures for India keeping in mind Internet and Mobile combined, they stand at 4% - the combined figure for ad spends with respect to print and TV are at 70%+. The adoption of the Internet and Mobile mediums are obviously much more than the amount of money that's spent on them so is ubiquity the only guarantee for Indian Advertisers? And if ubiquity is the only guarantee for Indian advertisers then how are we going to achieve that ubiquity? If you take into account the ubiquity of the internet all over the World (from a country perspective) then the Internet Boom and subsequently the rush of investor money to create services and more importantly deploy hardware by the laying of undersea cables actually led to most of the World being connected. Once the bubble burst - these cables were available at throwaway prices which empowered a lot of businesses the World over and changed the business scenario. So for ubiquity of digital services in India, will we go this way? Will we need this kind of a frenzied over investment in digital in this country to really make it reach everyone's mindspace or will we learn from that kind of an episode and be extremely overcautious? And how will that affect ubiquity?"

By the way - the question wasn't worded exactly in the same way but it was something to this effect.

Heading to the WATBlog Panel Discussion Today

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:10:00 +0000

I'm heading to the WATBlog panel discussion today and im going to try and win an iPhone with a question that i can hopefully prepare now!
More about it here.

Facebook Introduces Web Search via Live.com within the Network. Social Search beckons?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:40:00 +0000

I don't know if this is breaking news or if its been there for a while (i dint find a post about it) but it seems like Facebook has now started to search the web as well from within Facebook probably using Live.com technology.

When i was randomly searching for a potential client on Facebook today, something came up. It asked if i wanted to search the web or only search Facebook.

The results appear within Facebook. So its not redirecting to Live.com. As i see it Live.com has no real tangible benefit. No ads are being sold, no Live.com logo on the search page.

The only benefit is the association of Live with Facebook (Microsoft has paid a hefty sum for that!) which may make Live seem a little sexier. They have repeatedly tried to get more users stick into the Live.com search platform but no luck so far.

This again indicates that the guys at Facebook want Facebook to be the center of the average internet user's (and indeed PC user's) universe. It started with the start tab kind of application tab and now search. Applications have already ensured that users do more inside of Facebook and now with Facebook Connect becoming stronger along with Data portability into Facebook, it clearly shows that Facebook is looking to provide the user with everthing it can from 1 destination. A Facebook browser has been spoken about - they may do that at another stage only after looking at the success of Google Chrome. Till then they may be looking to capitalize on as much functionality for Facebook across browser to deepen user involvement.

The other thing that comes out of this is Facebook and Live together may be experimenting with social search where users recommend contextuality of results and recommend and rate things over time. No indication of that yet, but we may see that. Facebook already has the community - now they can create a search eco - system around it.

Orbit on the Rajdhani: Gives samples; asks questions; gets the placement wrong?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:28:00 +0000

Probably my second post about my trip to Pilani - the train journey taught me a lot.

One of the things i noticed was the sampling being done by Orbit Chewing Gum on the Rajdhani Express. On the way to Delhi, the placement was of another kind while on the way back to Mumbai - something else took shape.

On the way to Delhi the sample was provided at the end of the Journey - just before arrival. Along with that came a questionnaire asking if the Chewing Gum was provided with the meal tray (which was the desired placement as opposed to at the end of the journey). It also asks the standard stuff wanting to gauge customer involvement with the product. (a particularly funny question asks consumers if the Indian Railways is a good communications medium).

Obviously a lot of people would have ticked that the gum did not come with the meal tray as a result of which the railways would have been pulled up. On my way back to Mumbai - 3 days later, the gum was given with the meal tray.

I actually think that Orbit has got the placement wrong. The earlier placement of distributing it loosely and distributing it is 'free courtesy Wrigleys' works much better. It makes the gum stand out, gives it more goodwill, and etches the product in the consumers' mind. If it comes as a part of the tray, one can often mistake it to be something that is being provided by the railways - a part of the package (on my way back it came with the tray - and no questionnaire followed it).

I also noticed that this gum competed directly with the mouth freshner already being provided. So most people stuck to the mouth freshner and either discarded it or put it in their bags (for their kids maybe?)

It would be better if they had underlined the value of that original 'mistake' and continued with it. I felt that the railway ushers hold great weightage in the passenger train eco system. Why not capitalize on that and buy markets (not sell products).

Where is your money being spent? Why?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:59:00 +0000

Out of the 8 colour ads in The Hindu (Delhi edition)- 6 were by the government (21/9/2008). And all the governments ads were larger than the 2 private ads (not considering small classified ads).

Why is the government advertising so much? Are private institutions not as interested or is the govt providing a higher rate? So many questions - maybe the media guys will know better.

I wont speculate; leaving you with a glimpse of all the govt. ads

Loose Change:

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:52:00 +0000

i came back to Mumbai from Delhi after my wonderful trip to Pilani where i conducted a few discussions on advertising, web 2.0 and social media. I came via the Mumbai Rajdhani (liesurely, to say the least). On board the train that does Laloo Yadav proud, we were served our customary introductory snack. I wont do into the details of what, why, and how. 1 thing on the plate caught my attention - 2 little eclair toffees.

I often remember my dad getting me such loose sweets after he returned home from a long trip. He always told me it was from the flight. I always relished them. Im sure on my train as well there probably were many dads doing the same as my dad used to make their little boys and girls happy. But this is not only about them. I shamelessly shunned aside the sweets despite thinking about what i've just penned down. It must take a lot to be a father. You need to really stop making yourself be the center of your universe i guess. You need to care about others as much as you care about yourself. Its difficult. Thankfully i have a while to go. And miles to cover before i get there.

Moments or Memories - Hunger and the Human Species

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:25:00 +0000

A few weeks back, i stumbled upon an interesting post by Saurabh Sharma. The post centered around making the point that increasingly, people were recording mass events from their POV along with the media highlighting a 2 way (or 3 way rather) communication paradigm.

Case in point, the recently concluded Beijing Olympics where there was a 'ubiquity of cameras, video recording devices, and mobile phones as the teams starting marching in.' With the prevelance of communication devices this is bound to happen since every individual wants to view an event as a 'piece of me' scenario along with the mass media scenario.

(Further fuelling this self recording spree is the fact that there are a multiplicity of social media vehicles to showcase these seemingly 'personal' moments and gain another step on the social ladder - but thats another post altogether - must add here; saw an interesting Album Title the other day - "What happens in New York.. goes on Facebook!")

Saurabh seems to be making the point that Every performance now seems to be turning into a two way show, that which is being watched and that which is being watched by those who are being watched. I think its safe to add here that its actually also being watched by the peers of those who are being watched themselves. He also noticed that people are choosing to record as much as they choose to experience the moment. He asks the question - is this a new behavior or is this something we always wanted to do but never had the tools?

I dont know if i can answer the question on a general level but on a personal level, i think recording less is a habit that has been 'learned' by me by becoming familiar with recording technology. I went to Kashmir and recorded 4 - 90 minute tapes and i will never see them again. I lost out on defining moments. Humans enjoy films and that tells me that we typically don't like to see more repetition of the same thing. We like to see less of more if you know what i mean. With new recording technologies maybe we try and capture as much as we can till we realize that we probably can't cherish it. More like the classic case of over - eating na? Or the kid who put his hand in a jar full of sweets and could never get it out.

What do you think?

The thought of multiple cameras also brings to mind a possible business model. Live streaming of events through multiple eyes using crawlers (and also bandwidth) that are probably twice as efficient as we know them today? Or to start off - just a timeline led amalgamation of multimedia content with the same tags to experience an event once its over. To the same, Saurabh adds - you could also provide a service that helps people learn the art of shooting and the joy of experiencing. Something like the recording basics, say "do not just look at the world through the lens". Or experience first, carry home later.

Do add your take on the possiblility of business models that can arise as a result of this multiple documentation.

The PC Application EcoSystem. Open - Source & the futuristic web user

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:21:00 +0000

In this post, reknowned marketeer Saurabh Sharma talks about the PC environement not having an app eco system - like the iPhone app store where applications are crafted in a way that they reflect function freed from form.

This according to him, has not happened yet because PC applications, have been dominated mainly by one software company viz. Microsoft. In the computing arena we are still carrying Microsoft influenced enterprise legacy on our shoulders.

I tended to disagree.

My response:

I think the function independent of form for PC's that you are talking about already exists. Look at the change in scenario coming about. We use so many web based apps. In my company atleast. We use Google Apps to host email (not outlook), we try using Google Docs or Zoho Docs as often as possible (not MS Office), for invoicing we use a web based invoicing tool, for Project Management we use a brilliant tool called Deskaway - it helps us simplify teamwork, it helps us manage projects, create milestones, tasks, responsibilities etc. - and it also acts like an online repository for client info (you should check it out). Then there is also slideshare on which we host our slideshows. I dont use Dreamweaver to customize my code - i do right off Wordpress. I use Wordpress/Blogger to help me convert text to code. I also use Comiqs.com to make comics and if the online version of photoshop becomes better along with my bandwidth - then il chuck the CS3 version from my laptop as well!

Point is - web based tools are making this revolution happen where multiple applications are being developed to satisfy multiple needs - almost to an extent of mass customization to the finest detail. It's fantastic.

Case in point - check out FireFox and the various Plugins - the directory and the use of some plugins is brilliant. FF has created a developer community that Apple can only dream of.

Saurabh responded by saying:

Web based application are the precursor to the freeing of function from the form in the Personal Computing Arena. I would be happy to see more of these being as mainstream enterprise solutions and everyday home applications. Part of the fact that they still do not dominate the market is perhaps to do with the fact that they are relatively new in the market and another part of it is to do with enterprise inertia to shift – the risk is bigger for a large enterprise than for a start up or home business.

Also, I am curious how the market would be in the next 10 years. Would it be still dominated by one big application software company with many 'others' competing for the rest of 10-20% of the market or could it be that the stage shifts to web based applications.

I am also curious how platforms like Firefox make money. If money is not the motive than can it becomes a mainstream business model in the future? This is something that puts me in two minds about opensource. Is it commerce or plain activism to block dominance of big players, many times suppoered on the sly by another big brother who wants to counter the current number one?

My reply:

I think your concerns with OpenSource are valid. But i think plain activism led open source is not necessarily a reality that can be supported for too long. The world is too small and the buzzworthiness of information is much higher. It takes some time before Open Source becomes consumer friendly and the people who jump on to it initially tend to be more opinionated, more experimental and i would also say a lot smarter at a certain level. They would get the news if the open source project is activism led - and if the community decides that it's fine - so be it. You cannot dictate/ change the market, can you? And i think plain activism will not work at all - the open source project has to have some tangible benefit. Only then will people look to use/ contribute. It's sort of a chain reaction, isn't it?

Pseudo open source movements today are being championed by companies such as Google, Apple, (now) Rediff and Facebook - which i think is good for their businesses and in the long run also better for consumer because one is ensured that a market is created and if consumers find something valuable, returns are reaped (although there may be imperfections and these techonomies are not as 'free' as they should be).

Also, i think developers will flock to locations and develop open source to a large extent only if they are able to answer the question 'What's in it for me' - so for example, a lot of web development companies i know have developed an app on Facebook that they seek to make viral or they have a Firefox plugin that is really useful - then these open source economies become great to showcase skills with respect to platform and customer understanding for companies (just like our respective content and idea creation companies may keep a blog etc.) and consumers also benefit. Multiple small businesses are building on each other to create an eco - system that is mutually beneficial which i think is great. My economic understanding is still not sound enough to highlight glaring pitfalls - maybe you could enlighten me on that.

This i think is also a fundamental shift in the way we think. This may sound like faff but i genuinely believe that because of the internet and the openness of the weboconomy we have become a lot more utilitarian. In terms of the monetization bit - i think it is going to become difficult for more people to monetize more things because there (has always been) but there will be more stress on the intangible value of things.

I dont know how the market would be in the next 10 years but i certainly would like to see user groups using different kind of tailor made applications by different companies. But i suspect that will not be the case, we humans are a lazy, unadventurous lot. Most of us will use many applications by the same company and a few applications here and there by smaller peripheral companies. If one of the peripheral companies becomes very popular then maybe we will use more applications by that company. We are, i think (and i hope) on the long road to multiplicity of application use. I sincerely hope, that as mankind we can shatter the idea of '3-4 big players rule a market' - especially on the web. Hopefully, better distribution channels and more emphasis on Word of Mouth online because of obvious changes in the communication eco system, economies of scope will be higher.

I cant wait for tomorrow - and i love today.

Saurabh finally summed it up by saying:

On one hand we have this huge centrifugal force of open source that is brewing diversity, enabling newer niches, getting more and more 'micro' - a dream come true for many a advanced user. And on the other hand there is the impending challenge of a basic standard or operation. A basic common ground that can integrate everything seamlessly (without making us compromise too much!). By everything I mean Internet and Mobile Applications on one side and the new genre of RFID enabled devices and static objects that would need a common grammar to relate to, so as to be able to help everything in the room (and outside) to talk to everything else.
When your shoes will talk to my friends wristwatch - we would need both of them to agree on a basic grammar for their language of communication and operation.

As computing becomes ubiquitous we would need much more interoperability and greater the interoperability the deeper perhaps would be the need for a standard. I know that this word Standard sounds too Microsoftish, but I am sure that the future would not hinge on one enterprise to dictate the 'spelling' of the new universal communication Standard.
Lot of action awaits and I am quite excited!

Social Media Marketeers Should Pick Up a Lot From the Radio Guys

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:38:00 +0000

Social media conversational marketeers can learn a lot from the radio. It really has evolved as a medium over the last few years in india and they've become awesome at figuring out conversations that capture the pulse of the average 'metro' Indian. So they combine news with a 'gossipy' angle and then run a brand contest around it by sparking multiple sms ins and call ins. In 6 months i see social media conversational marketing at this stage as well. More brands will hopefully be willing to experiment with this radio of letters and it can become a marketing medium that mushrooms over time. Couple that with the power of sms community platforms such as sms gupshup and mytoday and it can really become a creative as well as more sticky medium.

The really awesome radio campaign that i remember was carried out by radio one previously called go 92.5 fm. They had jaggu go on a diet and he had to hit a certain mark by staying healthy so everyday there were tips, discussions et al - a lot of 'food' for content. The whole campaign was sponsored by Saffola (they got mentions within conversations as well) and it really cemented saffola's status as the healthy oil for healthy people. No idea how much they paid though - anyone?

This is something that social media technologies can enable brands to experiment with online. The audience is large enough. Roadies has done something interesting. There can be multiple variations to it i think.

major difference between radio and social media is that on radio even though you hear audience voices, they are selective. On social media, everyone has a voice so you have to be conversationally tactful - always. Radio is local. Social media is national and often international (though i dont see as much inter geographical community mixing as one would like)

picture at dhobi ghat

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Clicked this for my photography project. Its my wallpaper on the phone

Too long a day!

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:52:00 +0000

I actually wont be able to upload the pictures today... they're still not boastworthy. Will upload tomorrow for sure.

Today ive been exploring this blogging via the mobile phone thing and i find it difficult to create hyperlinks and add pictures easily among other things. So far thats a downfall.

But its extremely handy. The mobile as a power packet is a definite possibility!

designing at work

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:56:00 +0000

We've been designing for a pitch that we jump into tomorrow. Its for a company that makes sensor based bulbs, led lights, adaptors that are like swiss knives, bells, and switches. We've got 1 product to work with.. Will put up concepts later... Quite excited!

mobile blogging begins

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:16:00 +0000

ive configured the shozu app with my e71. Hope it works so i can keep
posting pictures to this blog. Apart from that, ive also started
moblogging. I'll try and post regularly.

Have a big meeting today with a design firm.

I plan to start reading Chomsky today.

Kudos to Cathay Pacific! - Now that's what i call Customer Care

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:11:00 +0000

So my girlfriend happens to be on her way to LA via Hong Kong for a tiny job (its a whirlwind tour really - 3 days in all!) -- anyway she's off to LA and today happens to be her birthday (please drop your wishes as comments! - she will love it i am sure - and its an excuse for me to get her to look at this blog!)

When she was checking in, the lady at the Cathay counter welcomed her with a smile and wished her Happy Birthday. She was also presented with a card. It really showed her that the airline cared - and guess what! - she spoke about it! She told me and i am pretty sure she will tell her family and 2 more friends for sure. And here i am - telling you about it! So a card which probably cost Rs. 20 - half a US$ is likely to reap greater returns - much greater than expected!

A lot of organizations collect Data - very few organizations manage the data well! Data mining, management and analytics on the consumer end is all about resulting in an end process that transcends in consumer delight. I hope other firms are looking and listening.
(If you'd like innovative ways to manage your data and delight consumers - call on FoxyMoron)

The following example also shows why viral marketing is important. I wrote about a social media wasteland that has been created - at the same time, reality bites. No matter what the ideal situation is, people will talk, write, tweet etc - so delight your customer and it's likely that your base will be more loyal, and also shout out loud. You don't need to give your customers 50% discounts always - delighting them through simple things can go a long way. With consumers being increasingly interconnected mostly due to Web 2.0 tools and the sharing barriers to entry limited - prepare yourself - get your brand in the YAPspace.

I need to spruce up this blog - a bit!

There's Already More Than We Can Read - So Duh! Why are you Writing?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:26:00 +0000

By conservative estimates, the New York Public Library alone has over 5 Crore Books!

On an average, a person probably reads about 5,000 books in his lifetime.

So why are we incessantly creating more content every day. Often - in various fields, mankind has gone to the depths of knowledge and grappled with some of the most important questions and yet, often; most of us love to air our opinions on everything under the sun - speaking without listening and observing. Speaking for recognition, speaking to just oil the mental machinery, speaking almost always - just for the heck of it! (possibly this piece of writing comes in the same category - it does, actually)

Maybe speaking and being heard is a desired necessity. Something that sparks off a sense of importance, a sense of instant immortality - a chance to be remembered. So you have about one blog or more being born every half second!

The result is content that is churned out - most of which bases itself on pop culture crap or conventional wisdom. While a lot of the content that blogs churn out is interesting, useful - very little of this content actually has lasting value.

So should we be blogging? Or should we trying to gather more information and contemplating more than the average human being - listening more, observing more - and 'doing' (observing and listening is also 'doing' - but people conventionally think of the 2 as extremely passive) ? Should we be reading few more of those 5 crore books in the New York Library!?

Wavering a bit - just looking at the sheer numbers is humbling - 5 crore books in one library = millions of hours of contemplation - much more than we can imagine. With the lower barriers to entry and the blog - as a - book phenomenon; i seriously sometimes question the value in what most of us consume. The social media/ web 2.0/ blogging revolution has most certainly made us poorer readers (note, i am completely aware that we read faster and that we read more) and we often cannot determine the depths of value in pieces of work.

I guess blogging has it's place in the mass media spectrum - and it satisfies the inherent need that everyone has. With respect to value, i think people will place more value in the future (near future) on ability to collate and piece together information and make sense of it - in the larger perspective.

Blogging i think for all at some base level is a means of expression and more. So a few got on board. But what about the others who couldn't do so on a consistent basis. Well for them, the stuff they shared is now being compiled as a feed and being made into a life blog. Sharing options are easier - feeds are easier to access. So one part of blogging is moving towards just a compilation of expression.

While this is great, it still probably does not hit the sweet spot of the lowest common denominator. So lo and behold - before you know it - we'll probably have an aggregator that makes a big deal out of every click we make out fingers perform on that mouse (which is soon to be obsolete btw). The result will be a ton of senseless information and too many inflated egos trying to make a point with every click.

Have we gone any further?

I think i'll read one of those books now. Or maybe sit still, and think. I rarely do that these days.

Kiruba on Blogging and a little more:

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:52:00 +0000

I met up with Kiruba Shankar - THE MAN when it comes to the Blogosphere in India. Received his famous card as well.

Kiruba did a quick session on 'Why You Should Blog' - i jotted down a few points. I will not add too much. To read my thoughts on Blogging in the last 10 years - check this post.

So Kiruba feels that the collective intelligence of the audience is much better than the speaker which is why he let other do the talking.

So the conference was all about anectodes.

Some of the things that came out of the anecdotes:

Be a thought leader in your field. Provide valuable content. That can be done by even challenging the thought leaders, ensuring that the right tags are placed, if you're on WP, use the All in One SEO Pack. Use Post slugs appropriately.

(i said i wont add but i saw an IPL Blog with the slug '-ipl' at the end of every post. The content was relevant wrt to the tags and slugs so obviously the blog was a success)

Interestingly and not surprisingly enough, Kiruba had the best anecdote:

He spoke about an orthopedic surgeon on YouTube – he records video surgeries by giving discounts to his pattients. He then puts up these videos online. He thus has started to get clients from the US – people who were over 60, whose medical insurance has expired. He books tickets for them, books rooms. They find him credible, they have a better experience at a better price. They are 80% of his clientele.

If you want a blog to become successful:
- Don’t drum yourself down; just start!
- Whatever you write, there is an audience!
- Start writing and continue writing and don’t bother about site stats.
- Link to big blogs – trash big bloggers.
- Be a thought leader. Be the best. Or try.
- Blogging as an identity check for getting hired. Be a thought leader. The big guys are looking. Your blog can get you hired.

Blogging is also about purity of intention.

Don’t have the time for a full-fledged blog? Start a MoBlog, or a MicroBlog. SMSGupshup and Twitter await.

Be a Part of the Web 2.0 Revolution!

Web 2.0

view presentation (tags: satyajeet singh web2.0 web)

PS - If you need help setting up a MoBlog, MicroBlog, Blog, Website - like Blog or a completely integrated Web 2.0 & Social Media Solution, call on FoxyMoron

Broad Based Mobile Advertising Models in India

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:17:00 +0000

SMS Based Ads – Plain SMS Texts Coming as Ads and Offers. They are extremely annoying and over time users become blind-sided. Within SMS ads there are new innovations such as Click to call etc – check more on Yahoo!’s mobile advertising strategy on this video.

SMS Based Contests – Inviting responses and getting users on mailer lists and then sending out updates. While this strategy ensures some sort of engagement, the tendency is to use that database to send SMS Based Ads. Care must be taken while framing messages. (This includes framing of Short codes etc)

Branded Mobile Applications – Creating useful applications that can be branded. Without operator support this is difficult.

Display ads and Sponsorships within Mobile Applications – This is another model that could be followed especially by the bigger brands. Within applications that are viral they can sponsor certain activities. For example sponsoring IM or sending out mass IM’s within applications related to social networking that invite people to an event and hosting a branded event.

SMS Based Communities around topics that can be used to have plug a variety of brands in a portfolio discreetly. For this a platform such as SMSGupshup can be used. For example – a community on Internet in India owned by someone from Reliance could be used to plug BigAdda, The BigB Blog, Zapak, Big Maps, Big Flicks, Reliance Mobile etc. The moderator however must ensure that he gets into the trust circle of users and refrains from making it seem like spam.

Ads within Community Messages – This is again the SMS Gupshup Model where relevant ads that synergize with content being sent out by group owners are placed in messages. So the idea is to place ads within content that people like to consume. A better model than the SMS based ads model. Again people might get blindsided.

Location Based Ads on Mobile (for Search) – Ads could be sent out on mobiles when people search for locations. So nearby locations can be advertised. This virtually totally opens up the platform for anybody and everybody with a local listing to sign on.

WAP Portals & sites catered to Mobile Phones – While they are handy, they rarely have a pull effect. Noone wants to visit a branded WAP portal from their mobile phone. An effective strategy could be to use Micro sites developed specially for mobile and drive engagement.

Bluetooth Advertising – This is something that I’ve noticed in Phoenix Mills. I get messages on my phone if my Bluetooth is tuned on. Bluetooth trackers can be placed in locations where individuals spend some amount of time and only location based offers can be sent to people whose Bluetooth is on.

Voice Response Contests – Similar to SMS Contests. Simplicity for the user is greater.

Ad Sponsored Calls - Before a consumer's call connect's, a short 15 second ad can play. The advertiser can thus off set some of the consumers' call cost while creating reach, and possibly some engagement. This is generally an opt - in model.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Please add to it. Some of the things may have slipped out of my mind.

Everyone is looking at the Whooping numbers on Mobile at this point of time. The numbers are definitely slated to grow but at the same time, one will also see that advertising on mobile will grow increasingly intrusive. It already is. With so many options and avenues available for advertising one wonders how people will react to mobile advertising. What actions will consumers take? Your guess is as good as mine.

One thing is for sure. Only content that provides value will be accepted. The Mobile is a personal, conversational medium and to get into a person’s ‘individual space’, you need to provide value and engagement. That is easier said than done. But there are avenues and means to doing that. People on the mobile are searching for content (as is true on any medium) but the line between ads and content will blur even more with the blitzkrieg of mobile advertising.

Your thoughts and opinions – extremely valued. Please feel free to share exploratory theories.

Technorati Tags: advertising models, Click to Call, india, LBS, mobile advertising. location based advertising, sms advertising, sms gupshup, WAP Portal, yahoo

Social Media – Conversation is Key

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:48:00 +0000

An International Study that revolving around teens recently conducted by PEW Internet says this:

Girls Blog More than Boys.

Girls Post more Photos than Boys.

Boys post more Videos than Girls. (Almost twice as Many)

The %’s are given on the PEW Report. I doubt these statistics are very relevant for an Indian context primarily because the Socio Cultural differences. (To get an insight into Indian Customers, have a look at my post on Pop Cultural trends in Internet India).

What’s relevant however is the motive behind the actions that young boys and girls are taking.

About 47% of all teens interviewed said that they had put up content in public places at least once and 89% of all teens said they comment on content atleast “some of the time”.

The key to note here is that content uploaded by teens is almost never about professional appreciation. Its mostly for creation of conversations.

Marketeers need to realize this in order to capture eyeballs on the Internet. They key is to create content that allows users to create conversations.

FoxySights will hopefully release a report soon on the Social Media Usage trends of the sexes and also age groups in India.

Marketeers must also realize the value of qualitatively tapping and participating into these ‘conversations’ that young boys and girls are creating and leverage value. The key is to be specific and target the right conversations in the right way.

For more information contact FoxyTact - A Division of FoxyMoron.

Technorati Tags: commenting, conversation, PEW Report, social media, social media optimization, uploaded content, foxymoron

The Internet and Pop Culture? Google’s Search Trends for India – 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:43:00 +0000

The Internet is quickly becoming a ‘cultural index’ – it is starting to represent us as a culture with its scope getting broader every single day.

I had written quite a bit about the number of Internet ‘users’ and about the number of people accessing the Internet online – and it would be safe to say that so far, the Internet has not really percolated into the Indian psyche. So it does not really yet qualify as a cultural indicator – it does however indicate what is on the mind of India’s moderately rich and moderately educated.

Over the years however, with more penetration and enough integration with the mainstream media coupled with its razor sharp accuracy, I think the Internet will be able to tell us how Indians define Pop Culture. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the widespread cultural elements in any given society. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires and cultural 'moments' that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream.

Google has released a Report called the Zeitgeist Report (Zeitgeist literally translates as the ‘moral and cultural climate of an era’). The most popular and fast-rising search queries submitted to Google by Indian users is the criteria considered whilst deciding on the Google Zeitgeist list.

“In compiling the 2007 year-end Google Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of search queries people from India conducted on Google. To come up with this list, we looked at several thousand of 2007’s most popular searches, and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2006.

“For example, Deepika Padukone’s popularity online soared in 2007. We also gave a proportionately higher score to searches with more traffic increase. Separately, we also computed the most popular queries in 2007 by volume,” Google said.

In terms of the ‘fast rising’ search queries, Orkut topped the list – cementing its position as the youth icon. We have written a lot about Facebook and its innovations, but for now, among Indian users, Orkut wins because of its simplicity.

2007 Zeitgeist list for India (Fast- Rising Search Queries in 2007)

01. Orkut

02. YouTube

03. Gmail

04. Map

05. Google

06. Indian Railways

07. Yahoo Mail

08. Technology

09. Yahoo

10. Zapak

The key to note is that Indians are networking online.

YouTube is in second place – which shows our affinity for the idiot box. Again YouTube is content in a social context. Social Internet Media can be identified as one mega trend atleast for Indian users.

One can also say that since Orkut and YouTube are higher than Gmail and Yahoo Mail, Web 2.0 seems to be slowly gaining precedence over Web 1.0.

The Indian Railways is interesting – what is more interesting is the absence of any airline. It really does seem that the Railways are successfully defending their market share.

Zapak is another extremely interesting name there. Skeptics have questioned Zapak’s spending strategies – I’m a firm believer that the spending on Zapak is justified and it will have innumerable cross media benefits for Reliance ADAG once it becomes a sizeable brand.

Here are the Individual Category Lists

Category Lists

Top 10 Bollywood Celebrities

01. Aishwariya Rai

02. Salman Khan

03. Hrithik Roshan

04. Katrina Kaif

05. Shahrukh Khan

06. Mallika Sherawat

07. Priyanka Chopra

08. Kareena Kapoor

09. Rani Mukherjee

10. Deepika Padukone

Top 10 Movies

01. Spiderman

02. Sivaji

03. Dhoom 2

04. Om Shanti Om

05. Chak De India

06. Saawariya

07. Harry Potter

08. Ghost Rider

09. Bhool Bhulaiya

10. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

P.S. Spiderman at No.1 – Bollywood needs to take note and learn a little more bout targeting the Internet Generation.

Top 10 Places of Interest

01. Kerala

02. Singapore

03. Goa

04. Australia

05. London

06. Dubai

07. Rajasthan

08. Jaipur

09. Kashmir

10. Ooty

Indian Places are the megatrend

Top 10 political leaders

01. Mahatma Gandhi

02. Abdul Kalam

03. Sonia Gandhi

04. Indira Gandhi

05. Rabindranath Tagore

06. Pratibha Patil

07. Subhash Chandra Bose

08. Rahul Gandhi

09. Sarojini Naidu

10. Mayawati

Top 10 Sportstars

01. Sania Mirza

02. Maria Sharapova

03. Sachin Tendulkar

04. John Cena

05. David Beckham

06. Cristiano Ronaldo

07. Rahul Dravid

08. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

09. Sourav Ganguly

10. Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova as a ‘sports’ star :p? Sania Mirza at the top comes as a surprise - considering our affinity for cricket - and we won the 2020. Does this indicate something?

Technorati Tags: gmail, google zeitgeist report, internet in india, orkut, pop culture, web 1.0, web 2.0, yahoo, youtube

Technological Innovation and Leadership – The Guide to Successful Innovations (The 5th of a Many Part Series)

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:34:00 +0000

In the previous 2 parts we briefly touched upon branding innovation and how that is essential to the longevity and revenue capitalization capability of an innovation. We also touched upon the dangers of over branding innovation. Let’s now get back to the product development aspect and try and dwell further into the World of Generic Benefits.

In today’s post I am going to try and outline these ‘generic benefits’ that consumers would probably want with respect to technology. Obviously my list will not be the last word and I would appreciate it if you can add to the depth and quality of the article.

At the most fundamental level, I think the three benefits that are generic in nature especially with respect to New Technology Are:

Freedom of Choice

Cost Minimization

Help

Freedom of choice fundamentally refers to choice with respect to the number of options in a marketplace. Technology, especially service led technology has the option of providing multiple choice enabling the risk perceived for a potential consumer to fall since the possibility of finding the best ‘fit’ is more.

Cost Minimization refers to the reduction of three kinds of costs. Switching Costs, Risk Costs (those were dealt with in ‘freedom of choice’), and attention costs.

Switching Costs are costs associated with changing technologies. From existing technologies to new technologies. So essentially from the point of view of a technology company there must be forward integration.

If one takes the example of the Mac OS, which is built on a Linux platform, there was a significant effort taken to ensure that there was compatibility of programs and applications.

The efforts included a tie up with Microsoft for key Windows related programs such as Office, Messenger, Outlook etc. The result was the creation of an extremely strong brand called Mactopia (love the word play!) developed by Windows.

There has also been an advance in terms of the Mac’s ability to run Windows on its hardware. Thus if someone wants a Mac for its design but is slightly apprehensive about its OS, he can use the Mac OS as well as the Windows OS simultaneously.

The Apple Stores across the World take great pains to educate potential users about their OS – the way it works, its benefits, features etc. At most stores, they have video tutorials and also ‘Genius Bars’ where consumers can talk to Mac Experts. All these efforts are brand building efforts but more importantly they are efforts to reduce the ‘switching costs’ associated with buying a Mac.

Switching costs exist primarily in the mind and that’s where they must be dealt with.

Under cost minimization, there is also the existence of attention costs, which need to be minimized. From a purely usage perspective, a user may need to pay a lot of attention to detail in dealing with information supplied by the firm.

The trick is in managing information provided to the consumer and also intuitively addressing the problems that a user might anticipate before hand.

In such a scenario – simplicity is the key. Especially if a technological innovation has an interface.

Orkut is a great example with respect to reduction of attention costs. Because of its simple interface and “everything is accessible” approach, a person who is barely literate can sign up and use the site with relative ease. Compare that to Facebook, where there is still a lot of confusion with respect to how to go about things (at least for the average Indian Consumer).

One needs to remember that ‘attention costs’ are extremely culture specific and they depend on the socio economic demographic of the target audience.

Attention costs then also overlap into the concept of Help. Help is inclusive of the actual process of adoption and induction of the innovation into everyday life. In a sense it encompasses switching costs, choice, and attention costs. Help I think is something that happens post purchase.

So in the case of Mac, help effectively comes through existing customers who are passionate loyalists. For companies that are not as fortunate, the investment may need to be huge. Processes need to be put in place. The best ‘help’ however, I think comes from loyalists and actual users themselves. So it may not be a bad idea for innovative technology companies to invest heavily in their users to make them loyal – they quite obviously have benefits for processes as well.

Help - and attention costs, i think will be the biggest costs to be paid by Indian Innovators especially because customers will be toe stepping into New Technology and probably need to be encouraged all the way - just like a swimming coach encourages his/ her student to get into the water for the first time.

Freedom of Cost and Cost Minimization then translates into:

1) Customization/ Personalization

2) Convenience

3) Participation

4) Anticipation (intuition)

5) Compatibility

6) Easy trials

7) Easy use

8) Benefits that can be learnt while being seen

I will deal with these off shoots in the next part.

They key to note from this part is that the greater the freedom of choice for an innovation, the lower its costs (everything included), and the more comprehensive and intuitive the help, the greater ‘seem’ the generic benefits to a consumer. And as a result – the more likely it is that an innovation will succeed.

Technorati Tags: apple, facebook, generic benefits, Innovation, leadership, mac, orkut, Technology, windows

Technological Innovation and Leadership – The Guide to Successful Innovations (The 4th of a Many Part Series)

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:30:00 +0000

In the previous part we raised the Shakespearean question – to Brand or Not to Brand?

Well here are some insights on how that answer could be dealt with – and hopefully prevent Innovators and Brand Managers from meeting the same fate as our dear friend Hamlet.

The 1^st Criteria – is it a significant advance?

The innovation should be one step ahead of the next best – and it should also REPRESENT a significant advance, Representation of the advance is key. It has to be directly tied to the use experience. The innovation should also be News Worthy. This will adequately generate a word of mouth buzz for the brand, which is essential if the brand wants to build equity. Thus again going back to our Google Gears example – no other application allows you to club the world of Online document applications with your desktop. So essentially it’s a clear generic benefit – something never seen or perceived by users in the marketplace. Something that effectively becomes newsworthy as a result. Notice that the representation aspect here is key.

Zapak games is another company which has quite a few innovations. Again understand that their innovations are culturally rooted and hence have a clear newsworthiness in built if the company gets it even marginally correct. Consider the Bipasha game – there are games, there are games, and then there are games with Bipasha. Not saying that there haven’t been games with film stars in them but Bipasha touches the cord of the Indian on 2 levels – the cinematic as well as the sexual. So it stands out and thus has the opportunity to become an effective brand. So even tough their games do not really have a ‘significant advance’, they do have an advance with respect to the user – they REPRESENT an advance for the user – touching his emotional, psychological, and cultural chords.

The 2^nd Criteria – Do the Customers care?

The innovation needs to be an advance that is meaningful to customers. Meaningful enough to change their buying behaviour and loyalty patterns.

That can be best done by the creation of a new category altogether.

Again we go back to Google Gears. It addresses the heart of the online document application problem. It WILL alter the way people view document applications.

There will be online document applications, offline document applications, and there will be applications that work online and offline as well – a new category.

Zapak here should take some flak for its ZapakMail. It did not have any relevance to new customers – it was supposedly fast. But so what? Gmail is fast as well. And so is Hotmail. And users already have accounts on other services; why in the World would they migrate to Zapak. In a sense Zapak did not pay the switching costs of consumers.

The other problem with Zapak was that its Media Planning was primarily targeting the existing email user. That is what came out of the media planning atleast.

They had one ad for the new user – the one that compared Zapak to a Postman. But that ad was shelved because of protests. So they only had the ads that target existing users running on TV.

Ideally they should have been growing the pie because they are not really innovative – they are ‘me too’. And pushing a ‘me too’ benefit is never the smartest idea.

The 3^rd Criteria – Will it merit Investment over time?

An innovation worth branding often warrants investments over time to extrapolate more benefits, build the brand, and engage users. The investment that a brand receives, more often than not is directly proportional to the revenue stream. In some cases there may be exceptions when the brand is to play a key strategic role. This is particularly true for media and business conglomerates where there is a lot of cross business activity.

In general though, the input a brand receives will often be based on its current and potential business size.

So if the numbers do crunch well enough then then the innovation is simply not worth branding. Quite obvious isn’t it?

This kind of a decision is often the most difficult to make and is often based directly on criteria 1 and 2. I think the best position for an innovation to be in is one where it creates a sub category and provides an active benefit to the customer. The revenue making potential then automatically comes with the building up of loyalty however businesses must make sure that they can capitalize soon enough before other “me too’s” flood the marketplace.

Technorati Tags: branding innovation, generic benefits, google gears, innovation in technology, rocket raja, zapak games, zapakmail

10 Years of Blogging – Where we are now? Where we may be in the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:21:00 +0000

I read my first blog about 4 years ago. A few of my friends had signed up on MSN Spaces and Blogger and decided that it was incredibly funny to put in anecdotes of their personal lives – be it their girlfriends, their drunken escapades or just some random football match, which they thought was ‘newsworthy’.

A blog is an ongoing narrative – updated by a user or a group of users.

To continue my story – I noticed that the blogs my friends had were extremely restrictive in nature – they had a niche audience, niche content. That essentially led the immature me to believe that blogs did not really have the potential for too much reach.

That was till I accessed what is think is the richest blog in terms of political content – www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com. I was directed to the blog by a friend – who himself had been directed by a friend. Soon all my friends were recommending the blog to anyone they knew who was remotely interested in the Internet.

There were a few learnings I took back from Riverbend Blog:

- It was consistent in content (quite different from the randomness I experienced on the other blogs I read)

- It was something that concerns individuals

- I actually felt like I was gaining something (generic benefits – for all those who may be reading my ongoing series)

- It was extremely personal, yet in a sense objective.

The key to note here is that blogs have the ability to connect with users on a very intimate level.

There are other macro social changes that blogging has brought about in terms of the Media Space:

- Content is not top down anymore. Not only do news makers, the news media, and ‘the big guys’ create content.

- There are no barriers to entry if you have a brain, a computer, and an internet connection.

- The consumers will essentially be as big creators of content as the ‘creators of content as we currently know them.

- The ‘control’ in terms of who owns the share of voice in the media is changing.

The Blogging revolution must not in no way be confused with the Social Networking phenomenon.

The obvious similarities between blogging and social networking are that both are platforms where consumers are the creators of content.

Social networks however, work on a platform where that content automatically becomes a property of the Owner of the network and hence they can generate data about existing users, target them with ads, and keep all the revenue.

With blogs however, the content rights lie with the creator. Ads can be placed by the creator – and the revenue is also all for the creator.

With blogging, Corporate Blogging too has taken precedence. Corporate blogs are giving established companies and obscure brands alike the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. More importantly, these companies are enjoying tangible returns in their blogging investment in the form of increased sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation.

In a sense, the blogging revolution has also created the marketing sub category of Viral Marketing. As I said earlier – a genuine blogger writes with the enthusiasm and orientation to provide value and connect with his or her audience. The blogger shares useful and engaging content —the latest information, help, discussion topics and ideas. The way audiences responds to that content is key. When customers start commenting, posting or tracking back to a blogging community, it can have a viral effect —spreading out across the blogosphere. And trust me – the unique engagement that blogs provide essentially spreads to all corners of the World.

Here are what I think are the Most Key Technical Developments in the Blogging Scenario so Far:

- Content Management – making it easier to upload content, making it quicker, enabling, the posting of video, photos, and other value adds that make the user hooked.

- AdWords – Quality MUST be paid for.

- RSS Feeds – Synchronize what you read. Get more from one location. Know what blogs are doing without taking the time to actually visit them.

- Trackbacks – people who link to your article can be tracked down – you can connect with people who think on similar lines. Creating a virtual mesh of individuals.

In the future, I think there will be a few changes in the Blogging Scenrio:

- Blogging as we currently know it may have a complete overhaul. There will be less text – theres a certain amount of tediousness with text – I see more multimedia related content.

- We already are seeing ‘video blogs’ on platforms such as YouTube where people have their own shows.

- One may also see a lot of MoBloggers – people blogging from their mobiles as mobiles generate capability – random observations, pictures, videos perhaps. I also think that with the advent of MoBlogging, blogs will become even more personal and interactive than they ever were.

- I think there will be 2 ends of the spectrum. 1 of the casual mobile bloggers or casual internet bloggers, and 2^nd of the Specialized bloggers such as WATBlog, TechCruch, Alootechie etc. So that differntiation between specialist and generalist will be even more clear in the future and you may even have tools to differentiate the two.

I think the trends of team blogs for specialized blogs will multiply.

Technorati Tags: blogger, blogging, bookmarking, corporate blogging, moblogging, msn spaces, RSS, social networking, the future of blogging

Mahesh Murthy on Marketing a Start – Up

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Sethi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:08:00 +0000

Mahesh Murthy spent some time at Proto.in - he spent time telling start - ups about marketing strategies.

If you don’t have a product that is great, don’t even bother.
Marketing has to be built into the product.
Word of Mouth has to be built into the product.
That can come through a clear, deep observation of human behaviour and also intuition in my opinion.

Here's a SlideShow that might help:

What's Next In Marketing & Advertising

view presentation (tags: digitalthinking accountplanning planning strategy)

According to Murthy, “The ultimate testimonial is a satisfied customer”

All advertising agencies, if Murthy's advice is anything to go by, then a lot of tech product stat ups are not coming to you. “If you need to advertise then you need to die”, he says. Technically he's right because if the product is great then word of mouth will spread and people will take to the product anyway.

Does your product solve a real world problem? This is taken into account in the above placed Slideshow as well.

Spend as much as possible on the product, spend as little on advertising.

Price:
Charge, and charge a lot.
When you’re small, have super premium products. According to Mahesh, Competition will not be worried if you are cheap. They will be worried if you are expensive.

The thinking is simple. Larger companies have more resources, more economies of scale and thus competing with them on price parameters is not necessarily the best way to upscale them. Companies with your competition have more than just the direct price they pay. They have switching costs as well.

For a while, Mahesh was quite generic often talking about the importance of great UI without giving any direct tips.

What Is Social Interaction Design?

view presentation (tags: design consumergeneratedmedia communities communication)

A Ppt which should help with respect to Social Media Design.

So Mahesh asked the question - Where do i get my first customer?
- Events
- Conferences – become a speaker, a media partner (have a blog! - call us)
- Go to places where your customers have stalls.
- Don’t pay for events/ conferences

According to Mahesh - “Your competence as a marketer is inversely proportional to your marketing budget.”

Rajiv also often says that when you are boostrapped, the most innovative ideas come out - and you find innovative ways to make them work.

Here's a few more tips:
- Be seen as a thought leader (Blogs, industry study, industry data, reports)
- “You can almost never be successful by following a trend”
- Choose a field where you are the trend setter
- Don’t start anything that is quoted as the ‘next big thing’ in the press. If its written about – it’s too late.
- Do not expect to be covered for the 1st 2 – 3 years of your life.
- Don’t ape.
- There’s almost no merit in doing a copy – paste company.
- Where there’s a need to being local and culturally relevant – then do that. But don’t do aped generic products.

No one can outline hot trend setters.

Be a great speaker. That's something you can learn from Mahesh Himself.