Schizophrenic thoughts

National Food Security Bill & Socialism

2011-12-20T20:42:00.000+05:30

An email that I received the other day reminded me of the labour crisis that my parents spoke of some months back.

The maid wouldn’t want to work at anything less than twice the amount we paid till last month. Labour supply for construction work is low and hence, an indirect rise in the demand of higher wages. Similar is the situation in Agriculture although, the effect might not have been that severe or even more in other places.

"Why not?" was the answer that I received when I asked, "Why is that so?" ....When you get to do less work for same amount of money under some scheme “MGNREGA” implemented by central government with guarantee of work for some x number of days then, why not?

These Schemes under “MGNREGA” were implemented by the government to resolve lower section unemployment in the society however, the implementation of the so called schemes have disrupted the labour market in a huge way.

Similarly another highly appreciated and lauded “National Food Security Bill” which is about to be launched by the central government under much fanfare may create a major and heavy disruption in the labour market. And the email(shown below) tries to explain how this can happen in a beautiful way.

"You must have all read this or would know of this but I still felt strongly and hence wanted to share……

Lesson in Socialism

An economics professor at a local University made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. The class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on the socialism principles". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A(substituting grades for Rupees - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were HAPPY. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Couldn’t be any simpler than that.

These are possibly the 3 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

2. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

3. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation."

So, the segment of population whom the government would supply the food at almost free/too low a cost tomorrow need not work the same amount of time they do today.

Let’s assume the market has 100 people working for 10hours today at a wage of 100 rupees a day. Hence, the amount of work in the market is 1000manhours a day or 30000manhours a month.

Once the “National Food Security bill” is implemented, some of them would be completely satisfied by working for 1hour a day instead of 10hours a day or by working for 1day instead of 10days. Since, this will give them 100rupees to take care of the basic requirements that they were earlier getting in 1000rupees. But, some would be ready/ambitious to work for 10hours a day everyday so that they can save the rest of money for some rainy day/betterment of lifestyle. However, the amount of work required in the market is still 30000manhours a month resulting in an indirect increase in demand of higher wages which have already gone higher due to the earlier schemes under “MGNREGA”.

No offense against reservations/Ambedkar. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar has brought in the reservations 60years back saying they will be removed in some 10years since, this period of 10years might have lead to upbringing of those backward sections in the society. But, everyone tried to play around and it has just become a political gimmick which may lead to a dangerous situation in the years to come. A day might be seen when who so ever is in the open category may ask for a reservation under a special status called “The Open category.”

Who guarantees that these MGNREGA and National Food security Bill will not be played with by future dynasties of politicians?

Open for Comments…

Vodafone Blue : Trying to replicate Airtel's HFZ??

2011-09-13T03:38:00.000+05:30

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I have read about the launch of new Vodafone Blue also known as Facebook Phone a couple of days back in India. Yet for the first time I viewed it on TV, I kept on asking myself "Why does Facebook want to advertise itself on TV?"

Yes, I had good amount of time to think by the end of which a Vodafone banner appeared for 3seconds reminding me of the new phone launch. It was approx. 2minutes 10seconds effort which more of takes you through some of the features/apps on Facebook to only realize at the end that these are gonna be available on the new Vodafone Blue.

Vodafone always had those cute 15seconds ads to inform of a new service/launch/offers. Even a service such as 3G, one of those highest on priority if you need to prioritize was also launched using zoozoo's and similar 15-30sec spots. However, this time it has deviated from an approach it always used since long time. Trying to move away from those that break the clutter might prove to be too dangerous for Vodafone.

What might be the reason for such a sudden and an altogether different move? Does Vodafone beleive that the launch of this phone is bigger than the launch of 3G or other offers/services it launched in the recent months? Definitely not. Or Is it trying to break the clutter? I really feel it's definitely not capable of with this ad and there isn’t any requirement since, this is the only one in this segment.

And what about the cost it is incurring on a 210seconds spot. Ok, many of those recent ads were played in the intial 2-3days for the entire length and later cut down to bits and pieces like Airtel's "Har Ek Friend Zaroori hain" or a Hero's "Hum mein hain Hero". But, I think the lyrics of this ad too are not something with which you can cut into bits.

Ohh wait, did I say Airtel?

Are they by any chance trying to replicate Airtel's HFZ song to get a similar anthem for Vodafone? I doubt this can be of any match to HFZ but, still are they trying to replicate and failed miserably?

Open for Comments

Money back Health Insurance: A huge Misperception & a blunder

2011-08-26T20:36:00.021+05:30

Never go by the name: It doesn't mean that a girl named "Santhi/Shanti"(meaning Peace) would be a peaceful person. She could be as dangerous as the notorious killer in your mom's never ending TV serial or She can be as cute as your girlfriend during Kindergarten days who always knew S for Sugar but, never knew S for Shopping.

Many (including the so called regulators) always say that Financial Literacy levels in India need to move north at a better pace than what it is currently moving at. However, irrespective of the level it reaches people need to understand some basic facts. One of them is to “Never go by the name”.

There has been a recent advertisement from IndiaFirst Life Insurance company that shows a person eager to injure himself in order to avail Health Insurance benefits at least on the last day of the policy. And the VO says "Are akalmand IndiaFirst ka moneyback health insurance nahi suna. Ye deta hai protection ke saath returns claim kiye bina." (Haven't you heard about moneyback health insurance from IndiaFirst. It gives returns without claims along with protection)

The perception about this product from the ad that many customers carry is that, "this product will give all the money back as well as a health cover". But, hardly is there a customer who's trying to ask a basic question "At what cost will I get the money back?"

The kind of uneducated sales that happened in the Life Insurance Industry in the past is majorly responsible for the misunderstanding or the misperception the customers have today with words which turned into nouns over a period of time. You say Moneyback and the customer heard it as "a guaranteed product which gives all the money back irrespective of any happenings in the environment / market and the risk that the company takes on his/her Life/Health."

The primary fact is everything in this world has a visible or an invisible price tag hanging around it’s neck. And the risk that any company in the world takes on a person's health via a health policy has a price to it as well. Let's say the industry average price is "X" for a cover of "Y" for your age. So, Would IndiaFirst Life give all the money back by charging you only "X" and at the same time take risk on your health for an amount "Y"?? Not Unless RBI has given a franchisee of minting press to it allowing it to print as many notes it needs.

Hence, the extra cost (quantitative) that you would pay to get the money back is a primary factor to be considered. How much is this extra cost? And are there any extra benefits by paying this extra cost that you can get out of this product that, other products don't have (Qualitative) would be a secondary factor. And "Is this the only product in the market and If not, Is this the best product in that category?" would decide if it is a marketing blunder from IndiaFirst Life.

As far as my understanding goes, the extra amount that you would pay in this product is definitely not worth it from the view of both Quantitative and Qualitative factors. And, this is not the only product in this already born but recently rediscovered category. If you are trying to market a product into an already born but recently rediscovered category, you need to ensure that your product is the best. Else, your balance sheet shows the marketing costs for profits shown in someone else's balance sheets. This is something similar to what happened with Aegon Religare in 2008. It has marketed heavily on K.I.L.B (Kam Insurance Lene ki Bimari) to make customers understand Human Life Value concept and the actual Life cover a person needs which made customers rediscover the term plans category. But, the bad part was Aegon Religare was a new player in the market with hardly any credibility and it's quotes for term plans were not among the lowest in the Industry.

Similarly, ICICI Prudential Life has at least a 10times better product called "Heath Saver"(launched in 2008) that can be compared to Moneyback Health Insurance from IndiaFirst Life in the so called already born but recently rediscovered category. A small ad/viral campaign with a fraction of cost by ICICI Prudential at this stage can make huge holes in the marketing balance sheet of IndiaFirst Life.

The product to keep it simple is a Health ULIP. The money that you pay is divided into two parts: Charges and Net Investmenet. It has 3-4 charges under various heads. Premium Allocation charge which is 13% in the 1st year and 2% from 2nd year. Admin charge of 1.8% which increases at 5% per Annum. Fund Management Charges of 1.35% across all funds irrespective of Equity or Debt (1.35% is too high for debt). And it's Morbidity charges are around the average Industry health insurance costs but, it charges you for morbidity charges of everyone under the floater plan although it gives you a floater cover only. This means if you opt for a 3Lakhs floater cover, you pay the sum of morbidity charges for all the members covered calculated on 3Lakhs each as per their age although all the members can in total only claim 3Lakhs. Hence, the primary factor which is quantitative suggests that you can get a better Health Insurance product in the market easily for a lower cost.

I use the word "better" since this product of IndiaFirst Life comes with a number of limitations and conditions which you don't see in a normal Health Insurance plan. To list a few: Limitation on maximum cover during the plan term, Co-pay of 20%, limitation on Surgery fee, etc., Limitation of maximum cover during the term as 5times the Annual Sum Insured is the worst part which means, if you take an annual cover of 2Lakhs the sum of amounts you can claim in this policy is maximum of 10Lakhs over the years post which it automatically gets terminated. Hence, you can decide if there is a need to pay higher morbidity for lesser benefits and other extra charges to manage your Net Invested funds that gives you back the market value of money which is not guaranteed as the actual perception is??

But, India is still a country with a very minor population under the category of financially literate and many of those who are slightly financially literate also do not understand the basic facts: “Never go by the name”.

We need to really wait and see if ICICI Prudential Life will get(if it doesn't take) advantage of the marketing blunder from IndiaFirst Life or will IndiaFirst Life use the misperception to it's advantage and sell a product in the same way as the uneducated sales of past decades.

Open for Comments

Will Nicorette really help Indian smokers??

2011-01-30T18:50:00.007+05:30

Johnson & Johnson has recently launched Nicorette in India and has been targeting smokers to use the same to quit smoking. But, will using Nicorette solve the real purpose of Indians who want to quit smoking? I don't think so in an Indian scenario.

One of my earlier roomies is a regular smoker and I am a person who ensures even not to shake hands if a person hasn't washed his/her hands after smoking. So, a condition imposed on him when he moved into our room was to go downstairs every time he wants to smoke. Apparently we lived in the first floor which was not much of a problem but, definitely a problem during the midnight or early morning. Let's consider this set of people who need to go out of home/office to a near by place to smoke as set-A.

My new office is good distance away from a place where people need to go for a smoke (outside the main gates). Definitely good enough pain for all those smokers. Let's consider this set of people who need to go out of home/office to a distant place to smoke or those who need to smoke secretly so that family members don't observe as set-B.

And there are a group of people who don't care about where, what and why of smoking and there aren't many who question them too. Let's consider them as set-C.

There are a couple of reasons why people want to quit smoking? First (set-1) is for the commitment given to family/friends(post a big gyan session/debate). And second (set-2) is self realization. And an extra reason where a person(set-3) wants to avoid smoking for time being is to ensure you don't create a bad image of yourself in the eyes of certain people at a certain place/point of time(cultural sentiments or sentimental cultures). In Indian scenario, though you may classify a person into set A/B/C/1/2 there, is a minor portion of a reason (set-3) which automatically creates a major issue. People in both the sets A & B will eventually fall into the sets 1 or 2 or 3.

And set C if at any point of time will move into Set-A or Set-B which will eventually lead into set-1/2/3. Looking at the products in debate a normal cigarette on an average makes a person consume 1mg of Nicotine where as Nicorette comes in 2mg and 4mg packs depending upon the type of smoker you are.

In the case of self realization as well as the gyan session/debate for Set-A and set-1/2/3 combination, the end purpose is to avoid the ill effects of smoking of which a major chunk comes from the substance Nicotine present in the Cigarette/other products but, it some how adds up the set-3 reason as well. To avoid the ill effects or under self realization in reality, the self restraint comes into picture rather than a requirement for a gum to replace smoking. Might be there is a 20% chance that this group will use Nicorette but, there isn't really a requirement for the smoker to move in for the gum which might make him/her addicted to the gum and this might make those in set-1 to just use it as a diversion (especially for those involved in gyan/debate) but, the intake of nicotine hardly reduces for this group.

In the case of Set-B and set-1/2/3 combination, it's a mere comfort level for the person in question. Hence, you can expect a good number of smokers (40%) to use Nicorette for the cravings rather than for the reason to quit smoking and this might eventually lead to addiction towards gum which becomes more comfortable and might be the person who had actually come down from 8 to 5 cigarettes per day due to the comfort levels might move towards nicotine levels which might have come from 15 cigarettes a day.

But, the way Nicorette is being advertised or promoted there's a huge sale of product in the offing for J&J and a similar rise in the levels of nicotine in people. As they say, it doubles up your chances of smoking but, I believe it will also double up the levels of…… And shouldn’t this pack too have a deadly picture of a skull as on a pack of cigarette?? Bring back Anbumani Ramadoss and Gulam Nabi Azad on screens J

Have I missed any other Sets D/E/F.... or 4/5/6.... Open for Comments

Dilemma of Multiple regulators

2011-01-16T14:09:00.013+05:30

I met a friend of mine recently at a reunion and we started a discussion on workplace. The discussion took some turns to a point when I asked him, "Why don't you people try and make it simple for customers/organizations? Why can't you and RBI be on the same line or make a common forum/requirements/documents etc?"

And the reply made me almost drop my glass. He said, "I am not aware of any RBI. By the way, who is RBI?" I am not surprised because he isn't aware that RBI is Reserve Bank of India but, I am really surprised to see in reality of what I always only heard of. A clash of “ego” between the regulators. I think anyone who's in my place would have had the same feeling knowing that the friend I am speaking about works with another very famous regulator in the world of Indian financial sector.

Have you ever thought of how many copies of PAN, address and other proofs do you submit in a year? Almost every time you want to get into a financial instrument or open a new bank account or take a new telephone/mobile connection / Insurance policy / Loan. Why can't we replace these with a single instrument / single time documentation that is maintained on a particular depository? Yes, it is very important that the details (the so called KYC) are verified and the norms are adhered to. But, there is a better way to do the same and make it convenient for customers which is very much possible. The sad part is the very much possibility is made impossible by the egoistic regulators who always try to prove a point that they are the superior ones / they are not any inferior to others.

This has been to a certain extent done well when, SEBI has made it mandatory for every customer to be KYC compliant and updating the KYC through any intermediary means "you can transact with any intermediary for investments by just quoting your pan number." This is really a wonderful solution within the investments circle but, still I believe this is just done as another paper work rather than following it as per actual requirement. For example, as of now updating KYC at CDSL doesn't have the ways to track the expiry date of address proofs in case of rent agreements given or a latest bank statement given. Might be these additional checks are required to take it to the next level. Might be it can track the expiry date and automatically your KYC turns into "Not Verified" on the expiry date of an agreement. Might be the rule can be changed as KYC to be updated every 3years. These sort of additional checks would make it very much fool-proof and will be useful to any other organizations like banks/data companies rather than to re-verify themselves.

But, updating KYC on CDSL(depository) today doesn't mean you need not do fresh KYC while opening a bank account or for a existing account or for a mobile connection etc., which is very much like doing the same work again and again. Why can't we have the same suffice for a bank account or a mobile connection? Some intermediary has definitely checked the proofs and has done the verification of KYC and it should be a fool-proof one.

Assume you walk into a bank to open an account or a mobile store to take a connection only with a photograph and you were able to open the account / take the connection without any further verification? How much time will it save for customers as well as how much time will it save for the companies in verifying address / identification? The company pulls your data from a common depository and if it says verified, you are given the connection / your account is opened without any further hassles or documentation? So, why can't all these people use the same resource? Aren't they re-doing the same work which already some other organization has done might be very recently or a month back or a year back for the same customer?

But, in today's Indian environment that looks very difficult due to almost single reason: Loss of importance for a regulator. Every one feels superior to each other or else atleast on par and definitely want to be in the light. Obviously SEBI will not allow RBI/TRAI to get into what it believes is it's turf of investments. RBI will not allow TRAI/SEBI to get into what it believes is it's turf of banking. TRAI will not allow RBI/SEBI get into what it believes is it's turf of telecom. A clash of Ego and a clash on loss of identity or a gain of identity for the regulators.

If this kind of co-ordination/ego issues are resolved, many hours are saved for the customers / organizations and might be you will see the lower costs to organizations make your savings bank account get 3.75% rather than 3.5% or 100sms extra on the same pack. I hope some day these equations change to make life simpler.

Open for Comments

Innovation & Fooling at the same time...

2010-10-31T10:28:00.013+05:30

“Jeevan Suraksha Ka Naya Nazariya” or "Redefining Life Insurance" is what Bharti Axa is trying to position itself as, through the very recent campaign on claim settlement. Is claim settlement that easy a thing so that every claim can be settled within 48hours?? Or Is Bharti Axa investing in the almighty bonds/stocks of the companies floated by the gods that gives them a returnof more than 365% per Annum to guarantee 1% per day as interest??

I think the answer for both would be an absolute 'NO'. If not, then are they trying to fool around with customers or Are they innovating across the claim settlement process in the sector?? Do we call it Finnovating or Foolovating??

There are two sides for an Ad always. 1.What the Ad exactly says? and 2.What does the customer perceive out of the Ad? There is always a difference in both these many a times. But, it is not always as different as it is in this case. Difference between fund value of a ULIP and the claim settlement process.

Fund Value in a ULIP is the current market value of the money invested in Equity/Debt/Mixed funds after deduction of all the charges from the money that a customer pays as premium. Sum Assured is the Life Cover that the customer has in a certain plan which was typically around 5-20 times the Annual premium prior to Sep 2010(post Sep 2010, it has become around 10-20 times due to change in rules). And most of the ULIPs have a death benefit equal to the highest of Fund Value or Sum Assured and comparatively very less number of ULIPs have a death benefit equal to Sum of both Fund Value and Sum Assured(Illustration in the 3rd image below).

On death of a customer, once all the documents are submitted by the nominee (claim is raised) the company decides upon payment of the claim and then pays the death benefit. The Claim might take more time if the company feels that there is some form of fraud either surrounding the death or while taking the policy. If the company finds that the customer/advisor has done a fraud while taking a policy (not disclosing any pre-existing illness, other health problems etc. while taking the policy which might have caused the death) the company can with hold payment of Sum Assured but will pay back the Fund Value as it is something the customer has invested and there is no cost involved to the company in it.

Now, most of the times fund value is less than the actual Sum Assured on Death unless, customer has used features such as top up(a process of adding extra money to only invest without increasing Sum Assured prior to Sep2010. Post Sep2010, the rules have been changed by IRDA to mandatorily increase Sum Assured on every top up), fund value grown at huge pace (i.e., 3Lakhs invested over 3years growing into 7Lakhs which is above a nominal 5Lakhs of Sum Assured/Life Cover).

Now, coming back to the Ad: 1.What does the Ad say exactly? - It shows a very much disturbed lady trying to get a claim settled upon death of her husband which is not taken in right sense / snubbed by the company executives. Meanwhile, Bharti Axa adds an emotional touch on claim settlement and the background voice says "the company would settle the fundvalue within 48hours of claim documents being received" with the executive telling the lady that the cheque would reach her in 48 hours. And the screen shows that it would pay 1% interest per day on fundvalue for every day above 48hours. This doesn't speak of Death Benefit being settled in 48hours or any timeline for the same and it doesn't speak about the term plans(plans with high cover with a very minimum premium), endowment plans(plans where death benefit is always very high compared to what customer has paid till date).

2. What does the customers perceive out of the Ad? - Looking at the financial literacy in India and that too in a sector predominantly dominated by LIC agents for 50years without educating the customer, the perception for even an above average customer is very different from what the Ad actually says. This is because of the backdrop on which the Ad starts(Problems with claim settlement), Bharti Axa executive shown as coming to help to understand and saying the cheque would reach within in 48hours, no clear disclaimers or lound signals in the Ad saying this is only to guarantee a fundvalue in 48hours and not the whole of death benefit, term and endowment plans etc. The perception for most of the customers seems to be that the Death Benefit would be paid or the claim will be settled in 48hours or else with 1% interest per day for the delayed period. Ofcourse, there are all those disclaimers that this is only for a ULIP and only the Fund Value etc, on the website but, how many customers would log into the website to check the details on disclaimers??

So, Are they trying to fool around with customers or Are they innovating across the claim settlement process in the sector?? I say innovating because, the company needs to pay the fundvalue to the family irrespective of fraud or genuinity of the policy holder's statements while taking the policy. Then, why should the companies take so many days to process the fund value as well?? They can definitely redeem the units and settle the fund value within 2days and then continue their investigations or further processes to settle the rest of the claim amount which is definitely not the case with the Life Insurance industry in India today.

They receive a claim from the family. Once, all the documents seems to be in place the process of looking into the claim starts and it might take anywhere between 7 to infinite days to complete the investigation process in case of any problem. So, it would be better to lend a helping hand to the family with the fundvalue with in 2days which might help many families on immediate costs incurred. Then, why not settle the fundvalue in 48hours??

Can, other Life Insurers in India learn from them or atleast do something that they are always good at(copying the products from other companies products most of the time) by copying the process of Bharti Axa... Or Can IRDA mandate companies on such issues??

But, still the small corner of ethics asks, Should we call it Innovating or Finnovating??

Open for Comments

Some things never change...

2010-10-17T13:13:00.014+05:30

Over the past weeks, there have been new branding campaigns for LIC and Indian Railways.. So, what's the similarity in both apart from the image or reality that they are government organizations??

I have seen the website of LIC over the past 2years. Till a couple of months back, it had remained the same slow, erroneous, semi-updated kind. The premium calculator that gives quotes whenever it feels like, the speed is definitely so slow that can make you sleep by the time a brochure opens up. But, I have seen it yesterday post the new campaign from LIC about the online services, payments etc and the change is amazing. It's a perfect 10 on 10. LIC has definitely got it right on making sure that, it is in line with what it has been advertising.

But, there was another campaign too. That's about it's wonderful polices and why go anywhere else?? when you have LIC... Yes, it has some of the best policies in the Life Insurance space.. Yes, it might have had or not in reality but, yes, definitely deep inside the layers of some customers brain/

memory/mind.. whatever you call it. The campaign makes sense and this would have worked better off a couple of years back but, might not be in today's changing

India

.Financial Literacy ratio in

India

had been on an upward slope since the past 2years and many of those who never understood A,B,C of Insurance and Investments today would explain different concepts of planning better than those number of trained Agents. Ofcourse, the ratio we are speaking of is still low. But, we need to understand that it is on an upward slope and especially with the fighting regulators the pace will grow further. Hence, it is very important for you to understand what have you been suggesting the customer today. Else, once he/she is educated in the next 4-5 years he will look back and say

what crap am I holding since past years?? This is what many say today which they held due to pressure from Dad, Uncle or friend. Obvioulsy, after 4-5 years a person might understand that a term plan would make a better Insurance and he would be satisfied if the ULIP he would have held has given atleast comparable returns within it's peers and Endowments would be nowhere on that day. If not exactly 4-5 years, it will happen 10years down the line depending on how fierce would the regualtor and companies battles are..

A similar mistake was done a couple of years back by a player called Aegon Religare. It has come out with what a financially literate customer would love and is in line with reality..

A lovely and superb campaign "KILB?? Kam Insurance Lene ki Beemari.." This has educated many customers to a certain extent on understanding how much cover should they have and why??

But, the company should have understood that a person whose Human Life Value would have been 50Lakhs would not have enough income to pay 3Lakhs a year to take an endowment plan or ULIP that can give 50Lakhs cover. And term plan would be the only solution available at 10,000 per Annum to give a 50Lakhs cover. What happened next is a disaster for the company but, an easy sale for the industry without advertising. The term plan sales picked up across the industry and better off than what Aegon could sell

.. Why??

1.Aegon is relatively a new player in the Indian market, 2.Term plans are always compared on premium as there is no return of premium in pure term plan and Aegon is not the cheapest. If it's not the cheapest why should I go with a new player. And the first thing many customers did was to check quotes from LIC as well as other major palyers and settled on one. Yes, this campaign gave Aegon a really good brand coverage but, the brand image it gained versus the potential business it lost doesn't seem too good for me. What should have been the strategy??

It should have built up a decent brand name and then post that come out with KILB offering the cheapest term plan or atleast a competitive quote.Coming back to LIC, neither does it have low quotes for term plans nor does it have the best or competitive returns on it's ULIPs?? What would the customer be happy for 4-5/10 years down the line. For paying higher premium on term or for not getting comparative returns on ULIPs or for holding those endowments with least returns?? And is it worth to come out with a campaign "Why go anywhere else?" in such a situation similar to that of Aegon 2years back. It could have definitely come up with better products and offerings before saying, "why go anywhere else??"

And the same goes with Indian Railways.. With it's new campaign on cleaner and better railways to attract tourists during CWG is wonderful.. But, is it cleaner and better. The reality doesn't seem to be so. And should the tourists really carry back an image that was quoted by an Indian official last month, "Everyone has different standards of cleanliness.." And Mr.tourist, the wonderfully red colored pan marks and the over dumped garbage can are the extra cleaner and better railways and this is our standard of cleanliness???

If it comes to a new branding exercise within the country, apart from cleanliness are those train accidents / derailments once in every week as well as the controversy surrounding the ad that “No female is included in the human train”, “The ad is copied from an old ad for Hong Kong railways”

Why can't the LIC come on with better solutions and advertise or Why can't Indian railways cleanup and then advertise it as cleaner and better?? Why are they getting on to the same levels like BSNL (the broadband campaign & the agony of Internet connection) that takes 10days to a month to get a broadband connection but, advertises as the superior one with a bad quality??

Might be some things never change...

Open for Comments

Some reasons why CXO's pay needs to be capped..

2010-09-08T22:22:00.009+05:30

Our great ministers/MP's have been of the opinion that the pay of CXO's need to be moderated and a cap to be set for the same. Yes, the pay for CXO's should be definitely capped because:

1. The speed at which they take decisions and set the processes right is definitely infinite times less than the time CBI or any bureaucratic committee takes to decide if something wrong has happened or not. (Bofors, Babri Masjid,…)

2. They don't bill for their family trips or if they take someone along on business trips to other countries the way our bureaucrats do.

3. Because, the teams in their companies try to co-operate and co-ordinate rather than trying to unnecessarily poke at rules like the way our regulators do.

4. They don't hold such huge Swiss accounts like our so called MP's, MLA's and bureaucrats have.

5. They don't ask for the sales / employee MIS to be prepared as per caste, religion, etc like the census of India.

6. They don't call for strike / bandh in office for every silly reason or any reason.

7. They don't go to office or meetings daily followed by 20 vehicles filled with people shouting slogans.

8. Our MP's can't occupy their place because the CXO's aren't appointed by elections that can be perfectly rigged.

9. They never behave like hooligans in meetings / walk out of meetings without understanding the logic of other team members, like our assembly/parliament.

And if you start writing, the reasons would never end. And most importantly, they don't try to copy such foolish ideas from people like Obama without thinking twice on whether does it suit the Indian corporate world or not. This qualifies as the biggest reason for Salman Khurshid to try and push aggressively for a Cap on CXO's salaries.

Some of those who are gonna read this would think how can we link the beauracrats or the MP's working style to that of the CXO's. But, these bureaucrats are those who are controlled directly through the rules influenced by the so called MP's. And if they are not able to implement something efficient which is directly under their influence, how can they expect to change something that's functioning perfectly?? which brings us to a conclusion which might sound like, "Why don't you MP's (who behave like kids in thinking and Hooligans in functioning) leave the pay cap to the board as well as share holders.."

Open for some more reasons....

Pepsi Max is here; It's fizzier, Black & sugarless

2010-08-31T21:39:00.010+05:30

I saw an email some days back and immediately remembered my project of IMT days as well as the below post on my blog around March 2009.

"Yes, there are negative effects too if you introduce a new brand or some objections to it too. The cost of launching a new brand, the cost to company if the proposition fails in the market, etc.. But, if the product fails wouldn't it affect the image of Pepsi to an extent even if they withdraw fizzier Pepsi later on?? And if the cost of launching a new brand is too costly for Pepsi in these recession times why can't they start it with a limited edition which might have been called "Pepsi+" or "Pepsixyz"?? This might have helped them in covering up the extra costs to launch a new brand, etc and make sure that the product is placed well in the market", the post says.

This was what I felt strongly when Pepsi tried to replace Pepsi with a fizzier pepsi under the same name in the AP market an year and half ago. And, I strongly felt ans still feel that if pepsi can come with a new brand for the new variant(which it is experimenting with) it would benefit over replacing the drink in the same brand. This will make sure that atleast consumers of the drink Pepsi remains with it mostly and consumers of the drink ThumsUp or Coke would get attracted to the new brand. This is if the new variant clicks. And what if it doesn't?? Simple, Pepsi can always write-off the loss like a bad decision similar to the way they wrote off Pepsi Blue during one of the Cricket World cups...

And the mail said, "Hi Rajiv, We thought you might find it interesting that Pepsi Max is here. Pepsi Max offers consumers a great tasting Cola, with more strength, fizz, punch and an added advantage of no sugar designed for those seeking the ‘Maximum Kick, No Sugar’ experience! Check out the eRelease at http://pepsimax.webrelease.in Warm regards,..."

And finally, here is Pepsi Max which is a fizzier variant of Pepsi which is out in the delhi market to try and grab consumers of it's enemy Coke towards it rather than, the consumers of it's sibling Pepsi. And this makes me again feel that, sometime my brain really works and that too in a direction something that we can name as "Practical logic"...

Open for Comments...

From an Era of No-service to ignoring service

2010-08-22T00:47:00.025+05:30

If a mobile connection can be de-activated within a couple of minutes then, why can't it be restored in a couple of minutes??

If a telemarketing agency of a bank can reach the customer about some bullshit offers 5times in a day, then why does the same customer's mobile be in a "not reachable" state for the same bank's service team throughout the day??

Marketers argue that Customers should not be made kings in India. They complain on various grounds like customer's asking for too much.. But, they forget that it is due to the gap created by the same marketers in between the service provided in reality Vs the expectations created..

In the 90's, it took us months and years to get a telephone connection. And worst than that was a service requirement. You can forget about someone coming down to resolve a problem with your line/connection. Despite knowing these, people have applied for the connections and waited for months.. Similar logic applies to the banking sector w.r.t a bank account maintenance, cash withdrawal, deposit booking, etc., But, people still opened accounts and waited in queue for hours to get their turn.. and same is the case with almost all the related sectors.

The cost of the product was high, Focus of companies on service was very low, they exhibited as if they are willing to only provide low service and the customer's expectations are also on the same levels as the companies focus. Though we knew of this and the problems that we need to face with engineers of the telephone department or the long queues at the bank, we still went ahead to face it. This was done for different reasons like Comfort that you get out of having the service, pride, Lifestyle, etc.,

Later on came the new era(mostly private sector) companies, promising wonderful service in terms of speed, efficiency, comfort, Low Cost.. They started of well attracting customers with better than expected service delivery. We were able to get a telephone/mobile connection in a day's time. Any problem is solved over days rather than months. Different counters for different activities to reduce the time in a bank and so on.. The cost of product was medium, Focus of companies on service is good, they exhibited as if they are willing to provide medium/good service and the customer's expectations were raised to the medium levels. Though there were certain lapses at times, we adjusted to them seeing the change that has taken place. Service was a main focus area for companies at that time since, it attracted more customers and vice-versa apart from the cost structures..

This led to a huge belief in the these new era companies by more customers and this was followed by companies promising even further better and efficient services.. This led to attraction in huge numbers and in the process of ramping up the facilities and increasing the market share, the amount of focus on service has not moved up to the required levels. It's better to say that focus has been lost w.r.t the amount of expectation level created in the minds of customer. There came a huge mismatch between the expected levels and the actual experience. It, might not have been a active decision on part of the companies but, they still think that the amount of service being provided is the best that can be provided within the cost structure available. Which means that, they will never accept this truth and stop over-promising but, would still go ahead and neglect the over-promised service delivery. The cost of the product is low, Focus of companies on actual service remained on the medium levels, they exhibited as if they are willing to provide over-promised service and customers expectations increased to higher levels. Here the actual service delivered to the customer and the company’s display towards customer in the public had a wide gap w.r.t the expectation levels.

And, the cost structure never allows the client to compromise on service because, he/she has been promised all that huge service as a part of the low cost product. And it never really matters to him/her about how hard is your customer service executive working because, they never know the inside functioning. And to this were those companies coming back to same customer's with similar over-promising stories..

But, is everything related to only extra cost to be borne by the company to provide those extra services. In many cases, it doesn't mean so.. The burden of extra service to the customer has come along with the extra benefits provided by the same old product. Hence, many of these can be definitely avoided by the same smart marketing or activation techniques used by companies. But, only if they are willing to do so and if they are not, gods save them from the growing percentage of educated population in India. If we can answer some of the questions below in a positive tone, the work's half done.

If a mobile connection can be de-activated within a couple of minutes then, why can't it be restored in a couple of minutes/an hour/ during night hours??

If a telemarketing agency of a bank can reach the customer about some bullshit offers/cards 5times in a day, then why does the same customer's mobile be in a "not reachable" state for the same bank's service team throughout the day??

If an instruction is given to the service team on timings, how come the engineer on ground visits arrive at a time of his ease to leave a note saying "we missed you"??

Let's consider the telecom sector: Why can't a de-activated connection be activated immediately? We can simplify the process to activate immediately if payment is made through any mode and other back-end processes, checks be done at a later stage to make sure everything's alright. Why should the customer's suffer due to the low knowledge levels of front end executives in the store? We can implement a process to only allow the customer to suffer in absolute mistakes made by them rather than for errors made on part of the company executives / customer care like missing documents, signatures missing, etc., Vodafone is the best example for this.

In banking/logistics, why can't we centralize the systems or information across departments rather than each functioning on their own directives rather than on what customer wants? If we can buy/sell a mediclaim/insurance over a recorded telephone line, we should be able to cancel the same over a recorded telephone line rather than asking the customer to run behind our offices. These services are more applicable and prevalent with sectors such as telecom, financial services, electronics & equipment related, etc.,

As of now there are ways to solve issues related to service but, the process to take it to higher levels is cumbersome, and many are not that well aware, educated enough on the processes or to understand the same. Once, the educated population forms a huge chunk, the processes would be simplified over demand of customer's and it will become easy for a customer to sue the companies like other countries across the globe. Will they change themselves or wait for the process to get simpler to sue them??

Open for Comments..

Parle Vs Britannia : Parle takes a dig at Britannia

2010-04-18T22:26:00.012+05:30

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Not long after HUL and P&G were engaged in a court battle over comparative advertising, another category seems to travel in the same direction - Biscuits. Both the categories and campaigns have similarity with major players taking a dig at each other for market share in the respective category.

In a product category, that customers are unable to identify a major difference in features, it doesn't affect the brand (using comparative advertising) to a large extent though the product isn't up to the mark. i.e., the detergent category.. A category hard enough for the customer to identify which gives better whiteness, better smoothness to hands, etc. But, if the same kind of comparative advertising is used in a category well enough for the customer to understand the difference in features, it might kill the brand altogether as the customer may not try the brand again in the future. i.e., the biscuits category.. A Category good enough for even a kid to understand the taste as well as the taste compared to another brand(which you can call as perceived difference in value).

So, when you go for comparative advertising, you need to make sure that your product is the best in terms of perceived value.. And not to forget, perceived value in terms of the customer and not the manufacturer/company.

Parle's 20-20 Cookies competes with Britannia Goodday in both butter and Cashew categories. This category is perceived to be not the lower range like glucose/salty but, is a premium category. In this category, the customer's perceived value depends more on taste, quality rather than the cost unless until, there is a huge difference in the cost.

That's exactly where Parle has been on the wrong side of perceived value, when it came out with a comparative print ad campaign against Britannia Goodday in telugu dailies in the Andhra Pradesh market.(Couldn't verify if it has done the same in other markets too and couldn't find such ads in many verified markets..)

Headline of the Ad says, "Parle 20-20 Cookies only give proper value for your money. All other remaining will insert a flower in your ear(Insert a flower in the ear : A phrase in telugu meaning, "making you a fool") followed by a table comparing Britannia Goodday with Parle 20-20 Cookies in both butter and Cashew categories w.r.t the MRP, weight of the pack, number of cookies in the pack.

And this ad focuses on saying that Parle 20-20 pack comes with more weight(27 grams, etc.) and more cookies(8cookies).

This sort of comparision can hardly make any difference to the customers in this category from buying Goodday which has been there since long time with a very good perception in the category. The major reasons for the same being, the customer in this category hardly gives a preference to the small price difference advertised, as well as the number of cookies. Because, the price, number of cookies, weight are not that significantly different in this case. At the maximum, it can make a customer try out Parle 20-20 Cookies instead of Goodday when he/she is buying it next time. But, will this process of trying out a new brand make the customer choose his preferences from Goodday to 20-20. Maybe Yes, if it seems to be far better in taste, value perception as said in the ad.

I buy 4-6 packs of Goodday every month. But, this time I took a couple of 20-20 packs just to try it. My comparision of 20-20 and Goodday with a couple of friends says, "Parle is far behind in the Butter category and it is slightly below in the Cashew category." At the end, I feel like, I should have brought Goodday only.. and there ends my preference for 20-20. And obviously once tried out, it will take huge efforts from Parle if it needs to convince a customer who has a disliking already. And hence, hardly does it make any difference to a customer buying Goodday and the brand Goodday but, it ends up making a good negative impact on 20-20 for sure.

Hence, comparative advertising can turn into a huge negative for the brand, if the customer can perceive the differences that are being advertised... Whiteness in detergents, smoothness with Lubricant Oils, effects due to branded petrol etc are some categories that may not suffer if compared too.. But, something like 20-20 can turn dangerous for the brand.

Open for Comments

SEBI Vs IRDA : SEBI cries over ULIPs like a kindergarten kid

2010-04-11T00:09:00.022+05:30

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Suppose you have been working with an organization for the past 15years. And your HR/Rewards department has taken a decision, to allott/gift 10employees in your office a mercedes benz each from it's allocated budget 10years back. Today, the HR and Finance departments had some ego clashes on their authority as well as who is big types. And today, 10years after the decision was taken and implemented Finance department wakes up and says something that seems to shock you.. Let's consider 2 different scenarios here.

In the first scenario, your finance department in front of the whole office comes to some of you 8employees and asks you to stop using the mercedes and says, "You cannot have it because, you didn't take permission from us for a mercedes." And leaves off 2employees without saying anything about the mercedes given to them and that too without any logic for differenctiation between the 8 and 2employees.

In the second scenario, your finance department sends an email to the HR/Rewards department or sends a show-cause notice to why a mercedes was gifted to you and keeps you too in the loop of communication without making a show off in front of the whole office. And, if they don't get a proper response, move the matter to the higher authority and ask them to take necessary action against or guide against.

This is what has been happening exactly with IRDA (HR), SEBI (Finance department), you (Insurance companies) and the Mercedes (ULIPs). 2employees is the LIC.

ULIPs were offered for the first time around 2001 in the Indian market. Insurance companies have taken the required permissions from IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) to launch the same as it falls under their purview. Off Late, there have been some ego clashes between regulatory bodies in India and a month ago SEBI started behaving like a kid by sending notices to all the life insurance firms asking, "Why did you eat my chocolate i n Kindergarten without my permission??" ("why they haven't taken permission from SEBI before launching ULIPs ??")

This led to companies sending some replies to SEBI and IRDA coming into picture with a couple of meetings with SEBI to solve the issue. But, it is really hard to find out on to whose purview do they fall under due to the complex ways what a regulation says. Indian financial regulations are similar to a traffic signal and a traffic constable where drivers interpret signals and directions in the way they want to and the constable acts as he likes to rather than giving preference to logic.

And as per the latest news, SEBI has proved that it is a kid by sending letters to Insurance companies banning them from selling ULIPs. (Notice from SEBI)

All this raises certain questions to prove the childish acts of SEBI:

1) What do you call the behaviour of the finance department in first scenario?? - Definitely Kiddish, childish..

2) What do you call the behaviour of the finance department in the second scenario?? - Responsible, Logical..

3) Where was the Finance department and the people in the department sleeping with for 10 long years??

4) If Finance department acts as in the first scenario, can the CEO ask HR and Finance to sort out the matter in between them?? - No, because the same CEO has given certain powers to the HR department saying it can reward a person in the way it wants within the budget allocated.. And CEO is our great Finance Ministry that asks the regulators IRDA and SEBI to settle it between them.

5) Can the finance department pull off the mercedes from 8employees and leave 2employees without saying anything without a proper explanation and logic?? SEBI has done it..

6) Let us assume, it hasn't come to a conclusion in the meetings with IRDA on, whose purview does ULIPs fall under?

Then, it should have gone back to the finance ministry or the other higher authorities that have set up the regulations to clear it off rather than sending letters with a one-sided view that ULIPs fall under their purview. This let to IRDA, like the underworld don come into picture immediately and say "Main Hoon Na.." asks the insurance companies to ignore the SEBI order and do business as usual.

7) And let us assume, ULIPs fall under the purview of SEBI.. It should have acted responsibly as in the second scenario.. By bringing out some timelines that companies should take permission within the next ‘x’ months of time as well as should have come out with the application guidelines for the permission?? But, SEBI chose the other way round to prove that it is a kid and it is not at all suitable to be called a regulator because, regulator needs to act responsibly rather than childish..

8) Let us assume that SEBI is right in it's stand that ULIPs fall under its purview.. Why didn't it regulate the market since last 10years?? Why did it allow companies to sell ULIPs for 10years. Do we need regulators that sleep for 10years without acting in time?? Why can't Life Insurance companies/IRDA sue SEBI in the court for defamation that they didn't take permission where as, it was SEBI's inefficiency that took 10 years for them to recognize??

All these questions though many remain unanswered at least confirms one thing.. “SEBI has screwed up big time like a kid”..

Open for Comments

Flying out of Delhi: Pay more for someone else's mistake

2010-03-28T00:39:00.012+05:30

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It's become very common these days to pay for the mistakes of someone else. The increase in cost estimates by DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd) re-affirms the same.

Suppose, you own a company"A" and you have outsourced some work to another company"B" at a certain cost through bidding process. Both the companies agree upon a target date for completion of works with a certain quality at a certain cost when done through bidding. And if, costs increase all of a sudden due to less time to complete or increase in raw-material costs... Who is responsible for this scenario??

1. Either of the parties involved A/B or both A&B haven't calculated timelines properly. 2. Party"B" hasn't considered the risk of increase in raw-material costs, capacity addition in the process of bidding at a lower price than the competitors and later on realised the same..

Because, it was bid at a certain price, if you haven't communicated the timelines properly to the company"B", obviously you are the person to be blamed for this mess-up. If you have communicated the timelines properly then Company"B" is to be blamed for the mess-up and is required to take up the extra costs as a loss on it's balance sheets.

Here, "A" is the government of India and "B" is the consortium that has won the bid for modernisation of Delhi Airport{(i) GMR Infrastructure Ltd., (ii) GMR Energy Limited, (iii) GVL Investments Private Ltd., (iv) Fraport AG Airport Services Worldwide, (v) Malaysia Airports (Niaga), (vi) Sdn. Berhad, (vii) India Development Fund}.

India has won the bid to host 2010 Commonwealth games way back in 2003. And the government has signed up agreement and awarded the bid for modernization of Delhi Airport in 2006. DIAL consists of representatives from both, the government (AAI) as well as the private companies who have won the bids (GMR and other partners). The estimated cost of the project was almost doubled to Rs.8,900 Crores in 2007 and now finally goes up by another 42% to Rs.12,700 Crores as per the latest reports by some newspapers.

When India has won bid in 2003 and has given the bid in 2006 for modernisation by 2010, where did these multiple increases in cost come from?? Either government hasn't communicated it's timeframe properly at the time of bidding.. or else, the consortium hasn't planned it properly for time required as well as increase in other costs to complete by 2010. This results in a possible increase in the Airport development fee on passengers flying out of Delhi who are already paying Rs.200 and Rs.1300 for domestic and international flights.

AERA (Airports Economic Regulatory Authority), responsible for coming out with capping the charges and other regulations related to charges is yet to finalise the methodology. If it might have been your own private company"A", Will you let the company"B" charge you extra or increase the price of your products in the market due to such an increase in input costs?? Obviously, No is the answer. You would sue "B" for not completing works in the time and costs stipulated in the bid. This throws a number of unanswered questions..

Will AERA consider such mess-ups by government or the consortium and make sure that passengers are not charged for the mistakes done by someone else?? And if it by mistake works in the independent manner it is supposed to(opposite to the way independent authorities work in India as of now) and suggests a roll back in the charges as it was the fault of government/the consortium, Will they pay back the customers charged in the past?? If it decides in the favour of consortium and gives nod to increase the charge under airport development fee and DIAL gets into profits in the future, will it give back customers Rs.200/1300 booking tickets henceforth or would it pocket the profits?? And to what extent can it pocket the profits?? Lots of questions await AERA to answer...

But, as of now you and I pay for the mistakes of government/consortium (either or both) and get ready to pay more for the future while government & AAI (Airports Authority of India) makes a mockery of PPP model similar to the way toll tax being collected for years and years...

Open for Comments..

MiD DAY chooses Chai Ki Tapri : Breaking the clutter II

2010-03-24T00:42:00.013+05:30

Outside Cititowers, my office in Parel is a small , typical 6ftX3ft Chai ki Tapri.. You can see such small ones outside almost each and every office in Mumbai. Can you imagine how can you use this as an advertising medium?? MiD DAY has done it.

It’s trying to reach to those who are in a very much free state of mind smoking with a glass of tea in the other hand. And MiD DAY has chosen the glass in other hand as their medium.

Printed across the upper brim of this small glass is the logo of MiD DAY with lines, “Take a MiD DAY break. MAKE WORK FUN.” Another amazing way to break the clutter for the brand and to reach the target segment of customers, that too at a pretty low cost. The Cost of glass would work out to 2rupees per piece and 20glasses a tapri gets into at least 500hands in a day.

Rin Vs Tide new Ad campaign Hungama...

2010-02-28T01:46:00.026+05:30

Who says HUL crossed the lane?? Who says HUL's new RIN vs Tide advertisement is illegal?? And it is misleading customers?? I feel P&G has tried to mislead the customers and HUL is trying to educate them...

I didn't believe my ears.. Came almost running from Kitchen and re-confirmed what I heard with my friend who was watching the television and waited for the ad to appear again... Main tho Chaunk gaya.. stood absolutely stumped in front of the TV... Couldn't believe my eyes that HUL has gone for such a direct attack against P&G's Tide.. Kept on thinking what might be the reason only to guess after watching the ad on youtube closely for some 9-10 times. But, defenitely the Ad agency as well as HUL didn't get the customers perception right.. atleast definitely not as of now If the reason that I think of, is true behind this campaign.

There's a huge buzz in the blogging arena about Rin taking on Tide directly in its new campaign. Rather than questioning HUL's ideology behind the campaign, people started crying foul over the campaign and expressing their concerns that it will be off the screens very soon... How does taking off the screens make things better for Tide??

Already the damage is done to an extent although not to the extent HUL is expecting it to. As far as the legal or the ASCI rules are concerned HUL has played it safe with it's small disclaimers and notes below the ad as well as at the end of ad.. "As tested by Independent Lab" and "Issued in the interest of Rin Users". But still what's the logic behind such a campaign?? Definitely not the normal Rin Vs Tide attack.. definitely HUL tried to convey something which is not getting on to the customer's mind as easily as they expected it to get on...

It's a well known fact that HUL and P&G have been trying to gain market share through price cuts although this has reduced their revenues for FY09-10. Recently in the month of January2010 P&G introduced an extension on it's brand line "TIDE" with the name of "TIDE NATURALS". This at a lower price. And around the end of January itself, HUL has brought down the prices of their detergents RIN, Surf Excel by 10-30%.

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Remind you!! P&G haven't cut the price of other versions of Tide to the price levels of Tide Naturals. But, In reality what the customers have started seeing in the supermarkets is Tide available at such a low price. Most of them never realized that it's Tide Naturals and not all versions of Tide are available at same price. As per relativity, If prices of actual RIN and Tide versions have come down by same extent the volume levels will not show much of a movement from RIN to Tide or Tide to RIN. But, there came a new entrant called "Tide Naturals" which started pulling the volumes of RIN. But, what's customer thinking while picking up a packet of Tide Naturals is..

"I am getting Tide at a very low price" which is what the lady in the ad says, "Tide hain, Khushbhu bhi aur safedi bhi".. She has taken a Tide Naturals pack and she still feels She has taken Tide.. which is not true and who has mislead this customer?? P&G or HUL?? HUL is just trying to educate the customer by saying indirectly in a respectable manner, "You can compare Tide with RIN my dear.. But not Tide Naturals with RIN." It is not saying RIN is better than Tide w.r.t the cost but, it is trying to say it is definitely better than Tide Naturals w.r.t the cost.

And HUL is also to be blamed one fourth for this confusion and the Ad agency that did this Ad for them for the rest three fourth. The concept of direct attack is wonderful and awesome but, I think the customer isn't able to get this right message from the Ad as expected by HUL and the Ad agency.. The customer feels RIN says, "RIN is better than Tide".. I think it would have been better if the Lady might have been shown in the ad picking up Tide Naturals instead of Tide original version and RIN.. This might have emphasised the effect of Tide Naturals in a better way..

But still, this campaign is definitely a tough one to crack for P&G and their agency. Either HUL needs to bring more sense to this ad asap or else, if P&G comes with a campaign in reply (though it will be very difficult to counter the argument) HUL will definitely suffer huge volumes...

I had to view the ad nearly 10times with my eyes glued to TV at 1cm distance to get the blurred disclaimer that appears in the bottom twice during the TVC that says... " Schematic representation of superior whiteness is based on Whiteness Index test of Rin Vs Tide Naturals as tested by Independent lab"

Open for Comments

Bajaj Allianz Life Versus Fixed Deposits…. (The best way to design a worst portray of universally disagreed reality)

2010-02-02T01:06:00.025+05:30

You need to be very strong at logic as well as the differentiated features of a product being compared to, when you decide to collide head on with a strong belief that has made it roots strong since years deep in the mind of a customer. And especially this becomes a basic necessity when your target group itself are these set of customers with strong belief. And if this necessity is not addressed by a brand then, it's a pure waste of effort in terms of money, time and talent with respect to the ad agency as well as the brand in picture. And I think Bajaj Allianz had just done it by not addressing the necessity in it's new campaign targeted at the customer's going for Fixed Deposits.

Fixed Deposits have been one of those products whose roots are buried into the financial planning of Indian since years. It is believed to be one of the best instruments that gives safe and secure returns. Though with time, we have moved money into other instruments like bonds, direct equity, insurance, mutual funds.... Still, there is a huge chunk of population that believes in FD's as the instrument to be put into. Customers who put their money into FD's can be broadly put under 2 categories. First category comprises of those who plan their wealth in a disciplined manner (either through their RM's or self) or those who fix amounts to be put into different instruments in the ratio they like it to be. Second category comprises of those who put their money only in FD's or bonds type of instruments and they have been like that since ages and they like to be like that only.

The new ad from Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance shows people in a bus making fun of a person investing his money into FD's. And starts questioning if his FD will give him "170% guaranteed returns, Life Insurance cover, Tax benefits ...” This is not targeted at any specific customer category we spoke of but, it is targeted at the money both these categories have been investing into FD's. Why will this concept not work for Bajaj Allianz???

The First category of customers have already planned their wealth in a disciplined manner or as per the ratio decided earlier and they believe that they are diversifying their wealth (although many of them are not diversifying in a disciplined or in the required ratio). This category of customers don’t agree to move money from FD into any other market linked product though you try explaining them on a face to face meeting. Hence, this category giving a thought about moving their money from an FD into any other products is a rare possibility.

The Second category of customers are those who belong to "We are like that only" category. It's nothing to blame them about their behaviour but, it's just their way of looking at managing their wealth. And their behaviour is well expressed by their modes of investments. A person investing only into an FD or bonds related products is a very low risk taker, very careful before investing into any product, will consider multiple options, re-check the details of product they would invest into.

The Logic that is used to collide head on with an FD is fine to an extent in terms of less returns, a Life Insurance attached (although at an extra cost) and is actually true in reality.. but it doesn't make much of a difference to this customer. I don't think this customer segment is financially illiterate to an extent that they are not aware that FD's give lower returns compared to equity linked instruments. And although if it makes a little sense to this customer to give it a thought, the way it is being advertised 170% returns makes the customer search for that * mark around some corner of the ad... And this customer already being a very careful evaluator, the only way he/she finally agreeing upon taking up this financial instrument is "mis-selling" by the agent/sales person.

The best way to design a worst portray of Universally disagreed reality.....

Open for Comments…..

Time for a change @ Broadcasters and Brands

2009-07-13T21:33:00.011+05:30

(Continued… from the previous post..)

One more defeat.. Just one more required and it will happen.

I think it's high time that brands have been loosing out money on Ad space on low TRP matches(especially those after India is out of the tournament) as well as on the efforts of building up the required hype towards a concept or a new launch.

I think brands have realised that they need to work out some kind of agreement before the tourney rather than, what they have tried to do this time by settling post the tournament.. I think this is going to affect the broadcasters with a new risk rather than anyone else on the line. Neither those brands are going to let it go, nor will BCCI give it away.

Neither the brands will let it go because of the loss that occurs to them in this kind of situation. Nor BCCI will give it away because it has a huge opportunity to encash if one broadcaster it not ready to go ahead with their wishes(you can find this always in their DNA from the way they handled ICL). So, this might at the maximum lead to a fall in the revenue that BCCI gets through sale of rights by 10-15% but ultimately, the risk of handling the brands and the agreement lies with the Broadcasters.

Here is how it might go for them.... The brands will pay a certain rate for the time India is in the tournament and they will pay a different rate whenever India moves out of the tournament. But, what if India moves out in the first round? What if they have gone out in quarter finals / semi finals? So, this is going to be a good task for the broadcasters to come out with a set of 3-4 tables with rates per slot for every brand.

And now how is it going to affect the advertising strategy for the brands??
The brands have suffered in two ways during these events. One is the direct loss in terms of monetary value. Second, is the loss on the strategy front if they have tried something new or launched a new product or service. I think you will not find ads with a new product launch during the tournaments like World Cup or that involves basically more than 4-5 teams... You will neither see a new juice/drink being launched nor will you see a major change in the brand communications happening around these times.

Why??

If Vodafone might have come out with the Zoo Zoo's during World cup, they might have never ended up so famous that even Mumbai Police wants to use them to spread awareness.. Or you might have never seen Zoo Zoo wallpapers on so many mobiles or PC's..

Similarly, If a new product/service is launched or if there is a major change in the brand communication it needs continuity for some time in terms of not the number of days on Air but with respect to the number of times it has appeared constantly to the same group of audience. And you will never be able to trust on getting this continuity in these tournaments. So, it will always be an IPL that the brands will favour rather than a World Cup or for that matter a T20 World Cup.

This will be a good space to watch for because, the brands will not come out with launches or new brand communication to break the clutter like Zoo Zoo's and still they will try to dominate the space with some brand communication which should not be costly in terms of brand ambassadors as well as it should not cost the image of brand if India is out of the tournament.

So, less of brand ambassadors but still, a big fight to grab the pie...

Open for Comments.....

India out of T20 Worldcup n Finally ... Predictions (of my first article) almost come true.. after 2 years

2009-06-28T00:45:00.011+05:30

For those who might have read my last post, this might seem to be giving an effect of views from an egoistic sense rather than a schizophrenic.. Because both of them speak of something that I expected to happen in the future some 2 years back and which have almost come towards what my predictions said…

There was an article that I posted on my blog (on 1st April 2007) related to "the poor performance on Indi an cricket team in 2007 World cup and its effects on brands.." There was a predictive conclusion that was made that the brands might go towards a ad space buying agreement on the basis of India being in or out of the tournament.

Atlast, after more than 2 years, I see something moving towards the predictions made on that day..

ET has come out with an article on 22nd June 2009 "Admen seek compensation after India exits T20"

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Admen-seek-compensation-after-India-exit/articleshow/4685293.cms

“It’s obviously disappointing, and the advertisers with long-term and heavy investment in cricket will look for long-term compensation from the broadcaster,” said R Gowthaman, south Asia leader at GroupM-owned MindShare, the country’s largest media buying house. “The compensation would be a function of which advertiser has invested how much, and the terms of compensation would be worked out individually on a case-to-case basis. It will depend on the volume of commitment a particular advertiser has made,” he added. (as quoted in the ET article)

I think one more such a defeat where India comes out of the tournament in the coming 2 years I see a customized Ad space sales with respect to India being in or out of the tournament coming into picture between the broadcaster and brands.. How can this be done?? If it is done who will take the risk of broadcaster?? Should BCCI drop in?? And very interesting topic would be, how will the Advertising strategies of brands change w.r.t the type of tournament?? (to be continued in the next article...)

For now I don't care what others feel or think of but, I feel that atleast sometimes "My brain does work and something that I have thought of has been happening... 1.Pepsi Vs ThumsUp and now 2.Broadcasters Vs Brands...." I feel as if I am sitting on the top of this world for now.. It might take sometime to come back into realisation.. Till then, the floor is open for your comments.

Pepsi to steal the thunder: Fizzier Pepsi Vs ThumpsUp??

2009-03-25T00:00:00.006+05:30

"A PepsiCo spokesman said the base formulation of the beverage hasn’t been changed while increasing the amount of carbon dioxide to make the drink fizzier" read the e-paper on economic times.. and the first thing I did was to try calling some of my project mates of IMT.. But, their numbers are not available and I turned towards my blog to share it with.

"Looking into the developments that can be made within the domestic resources would be: To launch some product which would capture the PCI share. There had been some differences between the CCI and PCI products (which we came to know in our research) due to which people are attracted towards one’s products and dislike the other products. CCI needs to concentrate upon bringing a new brand or drink (for ex: a drink with less fizz with almost same taste of present Coke) that would capture PCI customers. This sort of improvements would let our customers remain with us and capture the opponent’s customers."
"Ohh!! That's a wonderful strategy and a good suggestion indeed", said the executive from Vodafone. I thought, I have impressed him with this point but later on I screwed up big time by giving confused answers to some of those questions he asked me in the interview.."

I wonder why someone hasn't paid attention to this point 2 years back when we did it as an academic project for the subject Marketing Management-II?? Neither my team mates recognized it nor my Professor of marketing. The only one person who recognized it was the executive who came from Vodafone for final placements at IMT, Ghaziabad during our batch placements. And now seeing Pepsi going on similar lines of strategy makes me feel that actually in reality, "My brain does work sometimes :-) "

One of my strong recommendation in the academic project done on Coca-Cola India for the Marketing Management-II subject was to "Introduce a drink with less fizz and a bit of high sweet content with respect to ThumsUp or Coke as a new brand to capture the market share of the drink Pepsi.." and this is what pepsi had been trying to do these days in some parts of Indian Market. It has introduced fizzier pepsi in the market of Andhra Pradesh to pull out some share of ThumsUp. I finally thought though something has been happening in reality to what my thoughts were at some point of time... But, I feel that Pepsi can do it better that what it is trying to do with this decision.

When you know what's attracting customers towards your competition there are two ways to pull them back to you with one basic strategy behind it. Basic strategy is "To provide similar to what the competition is offering or to provide something better than what competition is offering." And the two ways to do it are "Make your brand offer the same proposition" or else, "Introduce a new brand that can provide that proposition." I think the second way will be better for Pepsi because of a simple reason.

The simple reason being, "There had been some differences between the CCI and PCI products (which we came to know in our research) due to which people are attracted towards one’s products and dislike the other products" and that this customers of Pepsi is a considerable chunk." Customers who prefer Pepsi to ThumsUp do so because they have found some connection in their tastes like less fizz, the amount of sweet content(in terms of taste), etc. So, now the strategy should be to attract new customers while retaining those old ones who are a considerable chunk. This can be done better by introducing a new brand with more fizz and a different sweet content, etc.

Yes, there are negative effects too if you introduce a new brand or some objections to it too. The cost of launching a new brand, the cost to company if the proposition fails in the market, etc.. But, if the product fails wouldn't it affect the image of Pepsi to an extent even if they withdraw fizzier Pepsi later on?? And if the cost of launching a new brand is too costly for Pepsi in these recession times why can't they start it with a limited edition which might have been called "Pepsi+" or "Pepsixyz"?? This might have helped them in covering up the extra costs to launch a new brand, etc and make sure that the product is placed well in the market.

Horlicks Vs TIME.... Who can do it and who can't??

2009-03-15T00:51:00.007+05:30

Can you find something that is similar between the brands Horlicks (Health Drink) and TIME (Coaching Institute). If you see the ads that have been run by these brands since some time, the concept behind both these ads is the same. The concept of trying to pull customers attention through display of some statistical data that is neither known nor proven by anyone in public.

Though it has been the same concept behind both the ads, who can use this concept and who cannot is the question? Some say it's creative, some say that it's stupid, some say it's unethical.. I am not against the creative feelings of the directors. This is one of the best ways to directly attack against many competitors in the cluttered ad space. But, my question to who can and who cannot is by looking into which might mislead and which might not do so??

Horlicks has been advertising with the line "Children who drink horlicks have grown 3cms more than those who haven't consumed horlicks..." whereas, TIME has been advertising with the line "90% of the new batch at IIM are from TIME..." There are two different set of customers who are targeted by these two brands under the similar concept of advertising and that's where the difference of who can and who cannot crops up.....

In the case of Horlicks, the customers are parents across the country and if you try considering the nutritional awareness among parents in India the value would be drastically low. Thus we eliminate a set of customers who are really aware of nutritional factors and decide on some drink firmly. Now the next set of customers, whom we can eliminate out of the considerate set are those, who give a preference to the taste buds of their kids or to the taste that the kids like among different drinks. And to just try to know about the buying behaviour of this remaining chunk of parents just try assuming some parents in your home or ask some of your friends about the behaviour of their parents who buy a specific brand most of the time. Most of the time, it's either the health drink that is being used since long time in their home or through the suggestion of someone saying that a particular health drink is good because of so and so reasons such as it makes you get good strength, energy or keeps you stronger in older age, etc. And these logics which spread as word of mouth are most of time are from the advertisements which gave them a feel good factor or connected well with them. And these logics are what we are talking about which the Ad from Horlicks says that "Children who drink horlicks have grown 3cms taller than those who didn't drink horlicks." And the final set of customers who are in our consideration set constitute a huge chunk and this is how there is a problem of misleading someone through a logic which is neither proved nor disclosed with proper results. And finally this Ad is proving out to be misleading the customers rather than breaking the clutter.

In the case of TIME, the customers are those students who aspire to become future managers through education from a premier B-School. This set of customers can be broadly classified into three groups. The first group of people are those who are matured enough of taking a decision where to go for coaching. The second group are those who take advice from seniors, discuss with friends about a certain institute or a branch before joining in it. The third group are those who are neither matured nor among those who discuss with several people but would join just like that because they heard somewhere that it's good or else it's near to their home or comfortable for them or else attracted by the ads and then converted by those counselling professionals at the branch. Now this third group of customers are those who may be affected by the ad or whose decision might be affected by this ad and this chunk is very low on a overall scale. And this Ad is turning out to be breaking the clutter just to improve awareness of the brand rather than mislead someone.

I am not against anyone's ideologies of creativity in advertising or breaking the clutter but somewhere, I do feel that Horlicks ad is turning out to be misleading whereas, the as from TIME is turning out to be the one which is trying to break the clutter. And the way people at Horlicks and TIME replied to those certain questions raised by the press further supports the same... and there should be a limit to this sort of advertisements at least in the food segment and that's where the regulators should try playing there bit of role.. Especially, when such an Ad from GSK is pulled off the air without any reply to the questions from the UK advertising council but there isn't anyone to question them in India?? This brings out the biggest question of the day... "Is there any advertising regulator present in the country called INDIA????"

Vodafone Mumbai... Happy to (not) help

2008-09-28T00:07:00.007+05:30

I strongly feel at times that "Happy to not help" would suit better than the original tag for Vodafone Mumbai customer care. Btw am not against Vodafone and it's services. I had post-paid connection for an year in Delhi from Vodafone. I never faced even a minor problem wrt any servicing issue. Right from the time of taking the connection to billing to call centre ccare executives to anything. I still remember, something related to my caller tunes or some other VAS also getting solved over minutes during the early hours arnd, 02:00Hrs.

But, in Mumbai it's absolutely upside down. Some of the patterns that I observed with the Vodafone Mumbai over the past 2 months are:

1. The form that we fill and the proof documents that were submitted goes missing from the hands of Vodafone people and without any communication, the number goes disconnected as if it was your fault.

2. The executive may forget to take your signature at a place in the form and the number goes disconnected again without any communication.

3. The executives at the store goes into the Manager's room in the store and makes the customers wait at the desk for hours.

4. You need to shout at the executives in the store to get your problem resolved and if you can't do that, you can opt to wait for 2-3 hours in the store. And to come out of the store with a solution will not take less than 2 hours.

5. The customer care executives on toll free (111) number are always very sorry for what happened but they can't help out in any way. And you are suggested to visit the nearest Vodafone store for any issue.

6. And when ever the number is disconnected it is done around 6PM in the eve. The stores close at 7PM and if you are lucky enough to reach the store before 6:30PM, the manager promises you to get it reconnected in 2 hours as they know that after 2 hours the stores are closed and they need not answer any issues. If you are not able to reach the store by 6:30PM, the call centre execs are again sorry for what happened but they can't help.

7. Address verification happens but still it appears pending on the systems for months. And they hope to get it resolved in the next 7 working days to activate any other services like ISD, etc. But, those 7 working days never end up.

8. I wonder why they give the waiting numbers to customers in the store when they don't follow the order. Have you ever learned that 115 comes before 95 and someone who doesn't have a waiting number is called before people still waiting for their turn standing since past one hour and this is just because the store manager knows the person well.

9. At any point of time only 75% of people work whereas the other 25% keep roaming here and there quite often though, there are lots of customers waiting. I wonder why 2 or 3 people leave their desk and keep peeping at other desk, chit chatting with others when there are customers waiting for their turn.

10. If you speak to any executive you may wonder if that exec owns the company called Vodafone. They can't solve the problem; they don't want the problem to be escalated to their superior as it might push the exec into soup. And finally they end up saying "If you meet my superior or anyone above him/her in the company they too can't help you out."

11. The Store Manager of any store is always on leave and the person whom you are sitting with over the computer desk is the person handling the store for the day.

12. The network/systems of Vodafone (either the call centre or at the store) are slow at any point of time on any day.

13. The Nodal Officer is too busy to meet any customer for 5 minutes at any point of time on a 24hour day. I seriously don't know then how is he able to live without at least 5 minutes of free time.

14. And the stores of Vodafone speak for themselves. Every time blocked with so many customers waiting for their issues resolved.

Mr. Sujit, please try changing the tag to "Happy to not help" for your Mumbai circle.

Missing out on basics of selling??

2008-09-15T00:23:00.007+05:30

I have been worried about my shoes for the past few days. It has already been two years that I have changed my formal shoes and they started showing some signs of cracks. Finally, after a lot of thought process whether to buy a RedTape to use for 1 year or BATA for 5 months because of the Mumbai weather I decided to go with RedTape or Lee Cooper.

And I started my search for shoes with Lifestyle store at the Oberoi Mall in Goregaon. It has been offering 30-50% discounts on various brands in the price range of Rs.1000/- to Rs.5000/-. The sales executives invited us with a very caring attitude, and carried themselves in a way they should with the customers. Everything was fine in terms of quality of the shoes, brands available. But, there was some feeling from inside that stopped me from buying it from the store though it has huge discounts on the brand I need. It was a feeling that came from inside that I am not buying a new pair of shoes. The shoes were arranged in a systematic way on the hi-quality racks sort of things. But the way they looked is almost like they are 2nd hand shoes with dirt on some shoes, unpolished or looking old, etc.

Then, I moved on to Central store in the same mall. Found the same quality, brand shoes with the same discounts that were offered at the Lifestyle store. Though the sales executives are relatively less on the way they carried out, it did. It meant OK for me as they too are busy with so many customers in the store. But this time it's the size of my feet made me miss on buying a pair.

Next was the Mochi at Infinity Mall in Andheri. I entered the store where 2 executives were sitting along with in charge or manager at one corner. Some 3-4 executives standing at several points with no sense of feeling. They are almost equal to statues unless until, some customer asked them about the price or discount. It has been offering 50% discounts on several shoes and though the sales executive’s behaviour doesn't matter towards my buying behaviour, it was once again the way shoes looked and the way they are arranged. They were with dirt, looking old and need to search the whole table to find the full pair. One shoe lies at one end and the other shoe of the same pair lies somewhere which is to be searched for.

Next was the Metro shoes at Pheonix Mall in Lower Parel. There aren't any offers available on the brands that I wanted over here but still tried to look into them once. The sales executive invited the same way as in Lifestyle with taking my size asking about the type of shoes, range I am looking at and finally started showing different brands. Finally though it doesn't have any discount I settled on RedTape for Rs.2000/.

Though, I got the same pair and brands at LifeStyle or Mochi at 1200 bucks, I preferred to go with Metro for 2000 bucks. There are two reasons for these sorts of decisions that may take place with any customers.

1. SALE with a huge discount doesn't mean that customers buy anything despite the packaging or other features. It's one of the basic funda's I was saying about which a street side shoe seller follows everyday in the morning that biggies like LifeStyle and Mochi missed upon. Everyday morning before arranging the shoes for sale, he makes sure that each pair is shining which was opposite to that at the 2 stores.

2. SALE with a huge discount doesn't mean that customers will make themselves comfortable with the shoes in the store. Products like shoes are still different though it is sold in a Mall from the Apparels. Customer needs to get a sense of buying a product and this comes only when he/she at comfort which comes when someone accompanies them in showing/making them try the products like shoes. You may go to an Apparel store in a Mall and select some pairs and try it for yourself. But, in terms of shoes do you go, select some shoes which are arranged in a scrambled manner, search for pair, try them and ask someone to pack it. It's an absolute "NO" in realistic terms. This is the other funda which a street side shoe shop person follows and missed at Mochi.

SALE may not make a sale unless until you get your basic fundas right...

Breaking the clutter I: Kotak Credit Card

2008-09-07T10:00:00.008+05:30

In today’s world, with so many products and services being launched every minute it has become hard for many companies to try and break the clutter. A very few campaigns break the clutter these days and here is one of those campaigns - Kotak Credit Card.

The pics show the way Kotak has reached the customers through the middle-upper class restaurants in Mumbai. You cannot get a better time rather than lunch or dinner, when people are in a relaxed mood. And you can't get a better time to push the message into customer's mind. This isn't a new thought but the way it reached the thoughts of customer is a bit new. The message making it correlated with dining/lunch - card offering discounts on dining at restaurants, card offering free coupons for lunch/dining.

How customers end up Swimming

2008-08-30T18:06:00.014+05:30

(in the pvt. label brands of Pantaloons)

Swimming was never on my mind. At least not on the top 500 options during free time on my mind. But sometimes it just happens like that because, we get attracted at certain point of time and this can be called impulsive.

I, along with Narayan my Mumbai flat mate decided to go to the gym from evening. As we entered the gym, I have seen Sonam working out with the dum bells and I tried to find the thread mill but couldn't. I checked with other available items but couldn't find something that attracted my attention to let my body bend for the exercise.

And I jumped out of the gym as soon as possible and found Abhinash shouting out of the swimming pool ...Sona mil gaya, Sona referring to some golden ring type thing he found in the pool. And as I asked him about learning swimming he immediately asked me to jump in and he would try teaching me how to swim?? And the rest is history with me learning swimming in steps day by day.

As I told you swimming was never on my mind. But it happened. It happened because, I didn't find something impressive in the gym. Impressive in terms of the effort that I need to put and the result I get out of it. It happened because, I found that swimming also survives my requirement of reduction in weight as well as the size. And it happened in an impulsive manner. And this impulsive decision is almost similar to that of the impulsive behaviour you can observe in the customers of Brand Factory.

200+ brands, 25-50% discount on all the major brands and what else do you need apart from this? The same quality, brand at a cheaper price..... that's how Brand Factory is positioned... and most of those customers rush due to this perception in mind.

There are two major types of customers who go to Brand Factory. 1. People who have been using brands since years and want to buy branded items only. 2. People who have been using unbranded and low end brands who would like to go for the upper and popular brands when they come at such a huge discounts.

The first set of customers are accustomed to brands and they want only brands. There isn't much of a deviation in this segment. But, it's the second set of customers who are the focus of this topic. These people go to brand factory because of the above described perception of popular brands at huge discounts. But, once this set of customers enter the place they are attracted by the discounts over popular brands but, they are too much attracted towards the huge discounts over the private labelled brands of pantaloons. When compared to other brands they almost quote a rock bottom prices with various offers. This is the impulsive selection that's happening with this set of customers making them end up swimming in the pvt. labelled brands of pantaloons. Added to this is the confusion between brands like ITC’s John Players and Future group’s John Millers for people who are not that familiar with John Players.

They make an impulsive decision because, they found something impressive in the private labelled brands and they have the impression that these brands do survive their requirement.

What a way to sell your private labelled brands using the brand value of well built brands of competitors?? Only possible to few people like Biyani.... Kishore, you did it again..

BSNL connection Vs i-ball laser precise mouse

2008-08-23T23:50:00.006+05:30

Can you guess the relationship between the above two brands... BSNL & i-ball. If you see the present ads from these brands it has been the same concept behind the Ads. The concept where a girl rejects a boy during the engagement because of the reasons that they don't have a BSNL Landline or they don't use i-ball mouse.

Though it has been the same concept behind both the ads, the first seems to make the position of BSNL landline worse in the customer's mind where as, the second seems to make the position if i-ball strong in their minds. This is basically due to the timing of the Ads. It isn't the timing of release of ads but the timing with respect to the brand's journey in the market. If you clearly observe the i-ball ad brings a smile on the face of the customer where as, the BSNL ad brings a feeling of something crappy.

This sort of difference in the feelings a customer exhibits can be attributed to two factors. Just assume of something which you know that is not that efficient but someone tries to support it or assume of some peer whom you know is not good at the required skills but someone tries to support him/her. The immediate reaction that comes out of our mind is to oppose the support or the decision. Whereas, some new person is introduced to you as a brilliant or good at skills by someone and you will remember about the person and will try to observe his/her skills directly or indirectly. This is one of the two factors that I am talking about. BSNL is an old brand with the similar inefficiency whereas, i-ball is a new entry. In the first case you oppose it whereas in the second case you try to observe it.

And the second factor is about the person who introduces it to you and the mismatch between the both. In the first case there is a huge mismatch between the personality of Priety zinta and that of BSNL. Priety Zinta is someone who is accepted by most of the customers as a good actress which is almost opposite to the view about brand BSNL. In the second case though someone familiar hasn't introduced it, we are just keeping an eye on it where there isn't a mismatch. A neutral case is better than a mismatch.

What BSNL could have done in executing the idea is that, it must have used this IDEA after bringing some changes in its services and features to an observable level. But, trying to show the same services and features as something wondeful from a new angle is really a miserable idea.... And recently you have changed your brand ambassador from priety to Deepika and you expect it to do wonders.. C’mon grow up.