www.lucidconfusions.com is finally live and ready to go. I moved by blog from here to my own domain – lucidconfusions.com.

My focus will remain the same – marketing, customer service and technology. Thank you to everybody who visited me here. Come take a look around my new place. If you like it, you can bookmark me and even subscribe to my RSS.

Happy Thanksgiving!

• one customer service executive of a web company banged the phone down on me because I asked her for a clarification. She was kind enough to say thank you before she did it.
• a restaurant refused to take our dinner order even though we were above the minimum order limit even though they have delivered the same order twice before in the last one month. The man on the other end went on to deny that they have ever honored such orders. (Wow, now we are liars!)
• Chennai autorickshaw drivers continue to demand that random figure that comes to their mind, when I want to hire them for a trip. It is amazing how they do it!

To think that this is the same country that manages some of the world’s best customer service centers and is also called a service-oriented economy. What happened? What are we missing? Do we really have to be taught to be courteous and respectful?

I don’t look at good customer service as a choice. It is an attitude. The same attitude when a unwelcome guest visits home. You don’t like him there but you still are courteous, kind and respectful to him.

If you look at the bigger (country-size) picture, there could be other possible reasons for this lack:

• Education. Indian education really does not focus on services. Students (in primary, secondary and college education) are forced to excel in subjects they probably will never ever use in their whole lifetime. (But that may be why we get some of the best technical people around. A different point altogether.)
• “Let the other guy do it” attitude.
• “Everybody else seems to be doing it” attitude.
• Slack in administration machinery.

And I am sure there are more reasons. What do you think are the (deeper) reasons for poor service from a country’s perspective?

www.campaignforrealbeauty.co.uk has three campaigns –

Onslaught says – “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does”

Evolution – the real beauty workshop, that shows people getting made for ads and magazine covers.

Pro age – “too old to be in an anti-aging ad”

These are powerful and authentic stories. Stories you want to believe is true. Stories you know, could be true. Authentic stories reach out to people. It is no wonder that Dove, a UniLever brand, is one of the best-selling world over.

Reminds me of what my Brand Management professor said a couple of years back – “It is not the consumers who get tired of the brand image or marketing message but the marketers.” Marketers spend so much time with their brand – they think even their audience is getting tired of it. They could not be more wrong!

As a marketer, I admit, one should be aware of the signs when the branding goes bad or needs a little shine. But change, for the sake of change, may not be the best decision for a brand. After all, it disrupts the very essence that branding is supposed to establish – trust. When a consumer sees a brand he trusts, he is comfortable. Don’t take that away from him!

It is like borrowing empty jars from them and filling your content accordingly, depending on the size and shape of the jar. Only when the content is relevant to the user, will they ever show interest. And interest evokes action.

New blog posts are added on top of the page/channel and the older posts scroll down. Good idea..but I noticed that the movement continues when you are not on the page as well. Well, it makes sense for a website that is trying to capture more than 1000 posts every second.

Marketing and advertising students will find this useful.

The three things that you must check out are:

• Shopping Malls
• Places to see
• and Food (of course!!)

Shopping Malls: Dubai is supposed to be the shopper’s paradise. You can get anything you want there – branded or fake, chinese or american..you name it, you will find it. If you are looking for good bargains on electronics, watches or gold, try Mina Bazaar. A full set of streets lined with shops, where you have work on the bargain. Hypermarkets are very popular. Carrefour and Lulu are huge and you will find some good deals there too, if you don’t mind the crowd. Spinneys and Mercato are nice too if you want a peaceful shopping experience.

Make sure you visit the Dubai Duty Free shops at the Dubai airport. In fact you should get all your chocolates, alcohol and smoke from there. There are two advantages here –

1. Your check-in luggage will be lighter
2. Dubai Duty Free have good deals

The Mall of Emirates is also a popular hangout. It also has an indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai. Another place I visited is the City Centre Mall. Both these malls have Carrefour.

Places to see:
I was recommended to visit Sheikh Zayed Road. And it is definitely worth one. It has all of Dubai’s sky scrapers, including the soon-to-be tallest building of the world, Burj Dubai. There is the seven star hotel, Burj Al Arab. I don’t know if you can go in but it is worth the sight from outside, especially after dark. There is a beach near the hotel. You can get a good camera angle from there!

I just enjoyed the long rides in Dubai. There are also some good amusement parks and of course, the indoor ski slope (both places, I didn’t go!)

The artificial islands, Palm Jumeirah and Palm Jebel Ali are for real. You may have seen the Google Earth pictures. For a man-made structure, they are quite impressive. Entry is restricted to residents and officials on the island. So we were able to see only the main trunk road of one of the islands – Palm Jumeirah.

Food:
You should try lebanese cuisine. I missed it!! It’s basically clean and healthy food – not much spice and no much oil. You should definitely try the shawarma. I love it. Laban is Arabic for buttermilk and is available in tetra packs and plastic pet bottles. It is awesome. A famous company is Almarai.

You should also try out the Indian and Pakistani restaurants too. The biriyani you get there is very different from the ones you get in India. We visited a place called Karachi Darbar – nice place and good food.

If you are keen on Indian vegetarian food, there is the whole host of Indian vegetarian restaurants in Dubai including Saravana Bhavan, Vasantha Bhavan and Sangeetha for the South Indian fare.

If you like chocolates, you will find all variety there. Another must-try is the date biscuit. They are called Maamoul. It is biscuit with serious filling of fresh dates. I absolutely go nuts over this. My favourite brand is Al-Karamah. A box of 16 biscuits costs around 7-8 AED.

Other pointers:

Stay. Hotel apartments seem a good option. They have all the amenities – phone, washing machine, microvave oven, electric stove etc. We stayed at Golden Sands in Bur Dubai.

Communication. There is only one provider – Etisalat. A new mobile connection would cost 165AED plus recharge. If you have a contact in Dubai, check whether they’ve a free sim card and just recharge it.

Internet. Hotels will have Internet but they’re very slow..even late in the night. We used to frequent an internet cafe in Al-Ain centre in Bur Dubai. They have wired and wireless connections and you can either use your own laptop or one of their desktops. The speed was decent enough and an hour cost 10 AED.

Language. If you know English, you can get around town without much issues. Knowledge of Hindi or Malayalam can have its special benefit. Lot of Indians and Pakistanis there, especially as cab drivers.

Also remember that UAE follow a Sunday to Thursday week. Most of the other GCC countries follow the Saturday to Wednesday schedule. Some companies in the UAE still follow the same schedule.

Hope this helps someone who is visiting Dubai. If you have anything to add to this list, please feel free to add as a comment here.

Update:
Transportation:
Taxis and buses are available as part of the public transport system. The buses look comfortable and in some places, even the bus stops are air-conditioned! Like I mentioned in my previous post, taxis are not freely available everywhere, everytime. There can be a waiting period before you get one. The other way is to book a taxi via telephone. But during peak hours in peak seasons (like Gitex), they don’t even pick up your call! I guess all their taxis are taken.

I don’t know about bus charges. But taxi fares start at AED 3 and during night hours, AED 3.5.

1. Order in traffic. I just enjoyed the rides there. No complications. Drivers follow lanes. No cuttin red signals. They’ve cameras in place literally everywhere and hefty fines if you break the rules. (and it’s obvious that you can’t bribe your way out of it!)
2. The malls are big and they’re open till very late in the night.I was able to finish my work and still enjoy a good time at the mall. The supermarket opposite my hotel was open 24hours. That was very convenient, even during the month of Ramadan.
3. The roads are really good. Highways have ten lanes! You can drive at 120km/hr and not worry about the next pothole.
4. Taxi meters. Seriously. They’re cute. Touch screen. With GPS. At the end of the journey, a bill is auto printed. Even the taxi light above the car is controlled by this meter. (Note: taxis can be difficult to get at peak hours, especially during Gitex.) The other advantage is that there is no haggling when hiring a taxi. I hate Chennai auto rickshaw drivers for this. There is always a waste of time and energy before every auto rickshaw trip I take in Chennai. In Dubai, the only problem you will face is finding a taxi soon enough.
5. Food seems relatively cheap. A subway beef sandwich (beef is unavailable in Indian Subway) is just 10 AED and a McDonalds BigMac is 15 AED (including drinks and fries). You may be able to get something cheaper or at the same price in India but there is more purchasing power available to the people there.