Recognition Tests........@wat is it???

Just came to know what recognition tests stand for???I got an assignment of Integrated Marketing Communications to conduct a market test for a soft drink commercial..I choose Nimbooz...
Process - You have to take a print advertisment and then by hiding it appropriately or by editing you have to show it to the respondents which will give the feedback accordingly...
After getting the feedback you have to provide scores accordingly & then have to relate it with the brand's sales or the success of the brand in grabing market share......Bias is also a part of it..As many respondents just by seeing the texture or the colour are able to relate with the brand...

Denims on Instalment....

Want a new refrigerator, washing machine or oven? A new car or perhaps an iPhone?
India’s middle-classes have been lapping up such pricey goods for some time due to deals that allow them to pay in monthly instalment...
Now, Levi Strauss & Co has decided to offer the same deal to people wanting to buy a pair of its famous blue jeans..
“A large portion of our consumers would love to access Levi’s more frequently than they currently do.”
Under the scheme, customers will be able to pay for Levi’s priced at Rs1,599 ($33) and above in three instalments. The move comes after a two-month experiment at 10 Levi’s stores in the software hub of Bangalore, where consumers offered the instalment option spent an average of 50 per cent more than normal.
As well as boosting purchases from existing customers, the scheme “opens up the brand to a significant number of new users who today already know and aspire to Levi’s”, Mr Chatterjee said.
While popular among urban youth, Levi’s has acquired strong caché among working men, especially those from rural India, helped by billboards featuring Akshay Kumar, the macho Bollywood action film star.
Levi’s arrived in India in 1994, just as the country was opening up its markets, and now has more than 230 dedicated Levi’s boutiques among its roughly 700 Indian points of sale.
In a country where a pair of unbranded blue jeans can sell for as little as Rs200, Levi’s are priced from Rs1,599 up to Rs10,000 per pair for specialised lines.
“Most marketeers in India today are looking at market creation, not market share,” he said. “It’s about giving these guys stuff they couldn’t otherwise own in one shot.”

Surprised !!!!

Read in today's newspaper....And was wondering what the heck is this????

The rivalry btwn Ambani brothers is touching skies...bt it is also disclosing the much hidden facts of how the govt and the lobbyists are playing the devil game....

Branded Sugar cane juice - Untapped potential

Cane juice is emerging as an alternative to colas in India’s Silicon Valley.

Cane-O-La, the country’s first branded sugarcane juice, was launched recently and has met with an encouraging response.Cane-O-La. Spurred by the huge success of the two parlours it has already opened,has plans to unveil 100 outlets in Bangalore over the next two years. Two more are ready for launch.
The sugarcane crop is harvested, peeled and brought to Bangalore in refrigerated vans, crushed and served to consumers in mugs, within 24-36 hours of harvest. “The entire process is mechanised at every stage, and we don’t even add ice,”
Each juice outlet requires at least 20 people, and can help those at the bottom of the pyramid. Indians have always loved cane juice, but earlier, it was available only with roadside vendors, with dubious hygiene standards. Cane-O-La’s mechanised process addresses that issue.
Coming to its pricing....its quite affordable as it provides per glass Rs.10 per glass and those who want to carry it to home the hygienic paper glasses are also available by just paying 2 bucks.

Now thats wat we call Blue Ocean Strategy !!!!...tapping the untapped market by just thinking very down to earth...

Rural Job search site...What an Idea Sirjeee...***

Monster.com and ITC Ltd have together announced the launch of a Web site for the rural job market called Rozgarduniya.com.
The Web site would be made available to rural job-seekers through e-choupal, the Internet-enabled rural initiative of ITC. It would also provide a gateway to the industry to tap the huge rural workforce. It will be first launched in Hindi and English and then in other languages.
"Rural India has a huge untapped talent pool and Rozgarduniya.com will provide a platform to bridge the demand and supply gap,"
"The will be targeting jobs in security agencies, highway construction, courier companies and rural retailing," The company would be looking at graduates and high school pass-outs

Amul at its best !!!!

Its advertising has also started using tongue-in-cheek sketches starring the Amul baby commenting jovially on the latest news or current events. The pun in her words has been popular. Amul outdoor advertising uses billboards, with a humorous take on current events and is updated frequently. The Amul ads are one of the longest running ads based on a theme, now vying for the Guinness records for being the longest running ad campaign ever with Smokey Bear. Sylvester da Cunha was the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, that created, in 1967, the campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.Its advertising has also started using tongue-in-cheek sketches starring the Amul baby commenting jovially on the latest news or current events. The pun in her words has been popular. Amul outdoor advertising uses billboards, with a humorous take on current events and is updated frequently. The Amul ads are one of the longest running ads based on a theme, now vying for the Guinness records for being the longest running ad campaign ever with Smokey Bear. Sylvester da Cunha was the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, that created, in 1967, the campaign whose charm has endured fickle public opinion, gimmickry and all else.

Value Advertising - The new trend in $456 bn industry !!!

Advertisements should deliver more value, firms to agencies ....This was the statement which is becoming a nightmare for the Ad agencies all over the world... The worlds top five advertising companies had 2008 revenue of $44 billion, according to industry publication Ad Age.

P&G and Coca-Cola are leading the switch to pay ad companies for the value they bring to a brand, making them more accountable.

Some analyst say this is harmful for the ad agencies and they are very much against it. The practice may shave half a percentage point off revenue in the shortterm .The economic crisis emboldened advertisers to demand results before paying agencies, which can lead to lower ad sales and more competition.

For Example-The latest Sprite online commercial which proved to be a big hit in the online market....making waves all over....

Companies are looking now towards value advertising by paying accordingly....the positive side of the coin is the advertising companies will also be getting a certain % of the increased sales affected through advertising....(P&G claims to give 10%).....

Internet advertising can be called as the revolutionising this concept in which the ad revenues collected by advertising co.are according to the clicks .....

H1N1.....The burning issue !!!!

I agree with you that swine flu awareness is needed, but there is noneed to be panicky and join the publicity propaganda carried out bymedia and others which acts as a vehicle to spread misconception thanto spread scientific information.
These are few facts about swine flu when discussed with the leadingepidemiologists.
1) Swine flu, that is H1N1 flu is not new, first detected in 1987
2) Infective stage of flue is 5 days, 1 day before and 4 days afteronset of symptoms
3) The best way to prevent it spreading is asking patient havingsymptoms of flu like fever cough and running nose to take rest at homefor 4 days so he does not transmit it
4) Masks are of limited value if any, in this disease, it can spreadthrough droplets on your skin, through contact etc, and I have seenthat the masks in Pune are worn as fashion statement, while walking onroad today morning I saw people wearing masks coming out for a morningwalk with their dogs!, many wearing masks around their necks, and soon, infect these masks shall act as the vehicles to carry the virus,instead, avoiding crowded places or cinema halls or malls where airconditioners are on, is advisable, because you get recalculated air,where the virus density multiplies
5)Death after H1N1 flu is not common, infect infections like measlesis taking toll of thousands more every year, and we are oblivious ofthe facts. Swine flu is being blown out of proportion by media tryingto create hysteria among lay people.
6) Fever accompanied by respiratory distress, should be immediatelynotified which is likely to be a complication of H1N1 flu
7)The mortality is less than .01 percent of those affected, that meansmay be one in 10,000 affected is likely to suffer the life loss
.8) If you remember, 2 years ago SARS was blown out of proportion, whathappened? Humans develop immunity to the virus, the same is going tohappen, we develop immunity in due course of time, the virus is in theair, you can not stop it, our body is already developing the immunityso nothing to panic.We need to take care of children and elderly who have less immunityand do not let them go to crowded places that are all.

I am amazed to hear that people are selling masks of RS 20 each whichare available to less than Rupee 1 in the market.See who is getting benefitted?
Please spread the scientific info, do not join the band wagon andstick to science, that should be the order of the day.

Source:An E-Mail from a friend

Exams on.....will be back soon....

GAPS Model of Service Quality

The gaps model of service quality was first developed by a group of authors, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, at Texas A&M and North Carolina Universities, in 1985 (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry). Based on exploratory studies of service such as executive interviews and focus groups in four different service businesses the authors proposed a conceptual model of service quality indicating that consumers perception toward a service quality depends on the four gaps existing in organization consumer environments.

The key points for each gap can be summarized as follows :
Customer gap: The difference between customer expectations and perceptions – the
service quality gap.
Gap 1: The difference between what customers expected and what
management
perceived about the expectation of customers.
Gap 2: The difference between management’s perceptions of customer
expectations and the translation of those perceptions into service
quality specifications and designs.
Gap 3: The difference between specifications or standards of service quality
and the actual service delivered to customers.
Gap 4: The difference between the service delivered to customers and the
promise of the firm to customers about its service quality

Frisking !!!!

Recently what happened with our beloved vice president...Dr.Abdul Kalam...led me to bunch of articles full of the counter views...and the other things....But while I also engrossed reading into it...at the end ...what I felt was...nothing is going to be done...

Learning first of all...

Frisking is a term...which means introspection or inspection done by the authorised officials by checking on outer clothing to detect any concealed weapons...

My view....!!

Just one simple plain vanilla question with civil aviation industry...

If such an incident would have happened with Mr.Barack Obama while travelling in Air India from US to Delhi...!!!..

What would have been the after effects...If I am not wrong might be Mr.Arvind Jhadav has to go personally to clarify the issue....

India gives a list to every airline operating all over the world of its VVIP's & VIP's for a better treatment....or as far as no frisking...

But the way Continental Airlines did....the best part is on the Indian soil itself...It could not be more worse..how the Indian VIP's are treated.....

Surrogate Advertising..

This term...surrogate marketing or proxy marketing or sometimes proxy advertising...just caught up my eye....while on a discuss in one of the lectures...

In simple terms, it means marketing some other product with the same brand name because one is not allowed to market the original product. Well, breweries do this because the law does not permit them to advertise their original products....Bagpiper advertises club soda, we know that they are trying to sell something else. Same with Kingfisher or Director's Special or any other brand that sells alcoholic products. In advertising parlance, this technique is called surrogate advertising. ....

Indian Consumer Behaviour

Kudos to the Indian youth !!!....Out of the population of 120 million ,450 mn are below the age of 21 in India....

Indian is Worlds fourth largest economy in Purchasing Power Parity terms...

Consumer India has been the source of belied expectations and frustating resistance to conventiaonal global offerings....

Its a totally maverick market which a global organization has to deal with its mind as well as its heart...As Sunil Mittal rightly said "Our biggest source of attracting & maintaing subscriber base is through forming an emotional bond with them"..

Looking at some of the global organizations in India....

Nokia wins

Coke & Pepsi struggles

Honda wins

Mercedes struggle

LG & Samsung walk away with the market

GE appliances couldnt cope up

MTV localises

Levis lags behind

Heinz & Kellogs couldnt catch on....

India calls not for the best practices used all over the world but the best practices.....

Source-We are like that only by Rama Bijrupurkar

Nokia-Understanding Indian consumers

Well...It was just struck to me...that why Nokia as a handset provider is reaping success and fruits in the Indian market while its rivals like Samsung,Sony ericsson and Motorola,having world class expertise as well as experience are just taking a small chunk of the remaining cake which is due to the image created by them world over....
So why is it so...I asked myself...and these are the thoughts which I can very well recollect....

a) Full portfolio of handsets ranging from 1000 to 50k...which keeps happy a farmer as well as a millionare out here...by classifying accordingly whereas other providers dont even reach to half of its portfolio.
b)Effective branding and promotions by roping Shahrukh Khan as well as by roping the service providers like Airtel to launch the bundled handsets in the market..which leads to a win win situation for both..
c)Not only developing sets globally but also customising according to the needs of Indian market as rough and tough or durable handsets are much in demand...which it keeps in mind and positions accordingly.
d)Nokia speaks trust....the genuine priority centres to the warranties in which even handsets are changed if the default is unrepairable ...leads to what we call in Service Marketing-the Moment of Truth....leading to immeasurable trust on the handset provider.
e)Effective distribution so that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari you can buy the handset which you want...provided it is launched in India.
f)The service centers-Its backbone...which is the first thing a consumer looks before buying a handset....An average Nokia service outlet recieves 175-250 handsets everyday to be repaired...which is a huge no..but the customers are delighted by the service they get..
g)Time to time revamping strategies of its products and advertisments by roping the best advertising agencies and launcing delighting schemes in festivals so that the consumer cant ask for more...

As I finish off...I just have to say this Finnish handset giant knows what it takes to be a market leader.....
If I am not wrong 100 finlands will be the size of India but this organization knows how to effectively analyse the consumer behaviour.....

BSNL.....on the verge of HMT.

I just read an article today regarding the BSNL's net profit erosion of more than 97% within 2 yrs could soon plunge into red...if the trend continues to go like this....
With "Lifetime schemes,millions of sleeping customers,sharp increase in operating expensesand the massive impac of Sixth pay commision for the employees"...BSNL PAT fell sharply to hit 104 crores from rs.3009 crores...a 96.7% fall....on the vergeof increase in 70% mobile revenues from 2006...
God knows where its fate is about to go..or we can say the politicians and the telecom minister Mr. A.Raja..

Some recommendations from my side-
a)BSNL needs agility in its tender process to keep pace with India's growing demand.

b)Marketing and branding is the need of the hour...for BSNL to grow ahead...

c)Training of its workforce.

d)Or if that doesnt solves the problem...the govt.should privatise it so that it should not become a sick unit...and go to BIFR....
or else...it will be the same case which happened to HMT(Hindustan Machine Tools)....

Source-TOI & ET

Ahh..had a sumptous weekend out of chennai....and now look really rejuvinated.....here I am........

Management Thoughts :

a)Alwayz think in the terms of what the other person wants.

b)Give your son a fish-He eats everyday

Teach him how to fish-He eats forever

c)Anyone can live by working 8 to 5...But success is achieved by working 5 to 8.

d)Being organised is being motivated

f)Dont explain the features,explain the benfits

g)Doing business without advertising and marketing is like winking at a girl in the dark.You know what your are doing...but nobody else does

h)Before you kick the find out the name of its master...

The Great Indian Scam: Story of the missing Rs 4,000 crore

I heard a lot about Harshad Mehta which was known to be the big daddy of the stock market in the late 80s and early 90s...Unfortunately the scam in which he involved got broke out before I could even understand what an organization is all about....So I just thought to putting some light on Mr.Harshad Mehta(I bet that every second Indian has heard his name) and his great scam...which led the Indian financial sector by a thunderstorm...

Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born in a Gujarati jain family of modest means. His father was a small businessman. His mother's name was Rasilaben Mehta. His early childhood was spent in the industrial city of Bombay. Mehta first started working as a dispatch clerk in the New India Assurance Company. Over the years, he got interested in the stock markets and along with brother Ashwin, who by then had left his job with the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, started investing heavily in the stock market.As they learnt the ropes of the trade, they went from boom to bust a couple of times and survived.Mehta gradually rose to become a stock broker on the Bombay Stock Exchange, who did very well for himself. At his peak, he lived almost like a movie star in a 15,000 square feet house, which had a swimming pool as well as a golf patch. He also had a taste for flashy cars, which ultimately led to his downfall....

His favourite stocks included : Reliance,TISCO,ACC,Sterlite,Videocon,Appolo Tyres etc.

In April 1992, the Indian stock market crashed, and Harshad Mehta, the person who was all along considered as the architect of the bull run was blamed for the crash. It transpired that he had manipulated the Indian banking systems to siphon off the funds from the banking system, and used the liquidity to build large positions in a select group of stocks. When the scam broke out, he was called upon by the banks and the financial institutions to return the funds, which in turn set into motion a chain reaction, necessitating liquidating and exiting from the positions which he had built in various stocks. The panic reaction ensued, and the stock market reacted and crashed within days.He was arrested on June 5, 1992 for his role in the scam...

Q-How he was able to do it....????

A-He took the help of two local banks namely BOK(Bank of Karad) and Metropolitan Cooperative Bank to get issued fake BR's namely bank reciepts to borrow money from other banks which thought these BR's are backed by securities...The game went on as long as the stock prices kept going up, and no one had a clue about Mehta’s modus operandi. Once the scam was exposed, though, a lot of banks were left holding BRs which did not have any value - the banking system had been swindled of a whopping Rs 4,000 crore.

He died of a massive heart attack in 2001, while the legal issues were still being litigated....

A tribute to the man....who very brilliantly found the loopholes in the sector and made a big buck....

Johnsons Credo - A mission and vision statement written long back when many companies even dint knew what it takes to have a vision or mission....

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was established as a small medical products company in 1886 by Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson. Since then, the company had brought in many new ideas and products that had transformed human health and well-being. As of 2008, J&J was the world's leading healthcare company and its products ranged from toiletries to pharmaceuticals, to medical diagnostic and now also looking for many other areas related to healthcare and beyond.....

But as the saying goes...Old is Gold...A credo written in 1886 today is a benchmark for every organization to have a vision and mission statement to represent itself even for going public....

I was reading a book by Orison Swett Marden wherein he had argued that we can enjoy what others own without our necessarily wanting to own them. Taj Mahal is a beautiful piece of art that we enjoy without wanting to possess them. The roses in the Mughal garden are no less enchanting even If they belonged to the President’s estate. A diamond necklace on a beautiful woman’s neck was admired at by an ordinary woman placed in not so fortunate circumstances and when she expressed her thankfulness, the rich woman wondered why the thanks when she had done nothing to the poor woman. The latter replied the thanks was for letting her see the exquisite necklace which she herself could not see and which she had to carefully protect and preserve for others to see on her neck. The quote .”I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate” summarizes the message. One need not be wealthy to derive pleasure out of things not belonging to them. The quality to derive joy from all sorts of sources is a rare gift and is not a function of wealth..It is only when you aspire to own them or feel jealous of others owning them, you miss the see the beauty and fail to enjoy in full measure. As Rev Dr.Charles F.Aked. put it “If you are not wealthy yourself, be glad that somebody else is, and you will be astonished at the happiness that will result to yourself.”We must cultivate the the habit of feeling rich and happy at the wealth, beauty and good experiences of others even though we are modest in our circumstances. Let us learn to rejoice at all good things around us without wanting to possess them ourselves. ...
A lesson from the above thing can be taken for the corporate life as well as for marketing :
a) You should not jealous over the success of your competitor and look for differentiating your product from the rest.
b) Dont envy over the bosses new Merc infact appreciate it...And who knows you will be having one in a matter of time...

Gay Ho !!!!!

"God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve".....the full page articles on same sex led me to include one post on this topic...which is the need of the hour....
Adore it or Avoid it...but the same sex love is one of the biggest truths of today.....
According to me...One may accept homosexuality but it should not be propagated or preached...
We should follow our traditions but at the same time avoid any extremeities....

Air India - Flying on dark clouds..

The Maharaja which used to be the big daddy of the Indian Airline sector is diving south on a fast pace..
The losses are mounting and it is looking forward to the govt for some bailout..
The maharaja is not able to come out and even the chairman cum managing director of the airlines Mr.Arvind Jadhav is reluctant to speak about it...

Problems :-

a) Revenues falling
b) Excess no.of employees
c) Obsolete aircraft's
d) Political Interference
e) Improper Management

Reasons :-

a) 46,500 employees for 147 aircrafts or 330 employees per aircraft.A no.far ahead of other airlines.
b) Offices with excess staff in foreign locations which is increasing costs in foreign currency..and has been born by the exchequer.
c) Repeatedly canceling orders for Airbus A320 which was the need of the hour..As the airline is using old Boeing 747 which are depreciated to a large extent.
d) By political interference and cast ism creating new vacancies and posts in the airline for the near and dear ones.
e) Negligence on the part of govt to look at the operations as well as the fuel prices at which it is buying fuel.
f) Indiscriminate wage agreements with the employees on a continous basis...which led to a big hole in the airline's wallet.
f) Not operating properly in the lucrative routes which can earn huge revenues.
g) Providing licenses to the private players on the basis of undertable enquiries ,Silenced accident investigations ,Rules flouted are just some of the nuts and bolts of the aviation management which is the cause of the airline to be in such a gloomy state...

Disclaimer: Expressed views are of my own.

A new change on blog

Hey all,from now on I decided..as this blog will totally be dedicated to the domain related content...which is Marketing & Strategy...

As change is d new buzzword...I will most probably concentrate on the recent developments in the world as well..which can provide a gud plateform for the readers and creative writing skills to me...

Getting ready .....D

Saying sorry to myself again and again...fr not getting the time to put up my thoughts out....bt today managed somehow.....

to start off with a quote..."If you dont have a strategy of your own,you will be part of someone else's".....heard from a gud friend of mine...

Had a big long discussion regarding "What difference lies between disinvestment and divestment?"...but still couldnt figure out.....

Although thinking of going for the latest flick "Hangover"....but already I am having a hangover of my own...of yest nite's bash...

A big task ahead for tomm..to finish up some pending assignments....
Campus is around...so just thinking to work on that also.......:-)

I promise to be regular....on this blogging thing....
And if any reader or follower can give some feedback how to utilize this blogging thing effectively...
it will be of gr8...help..
cyaa..

D first step

Hmmmm....to start or to do smethin elsee....or to just roam arnd or to keep sittin on fb(facebook) nd get hypnotised by ppl extraordinary skills nd damn cute pics....lol....yep...todays world I think rules wid d fact dat if u hve got it den flaunt it.....

Comin to me.....jst a guy next door doin mba frm 10000 kilometers away frm my home......out here wid dreams more dan d population of somalia....goin into a lil flashback.....born nd bought up in utmost care of parents....dey saw a businessmen in me or u can say a simple,understanding,adjusting son wid not so many desires.......life went quite smooth till 10th standard.....nd den I got my biggest shock of life...dat no u dnt hve to go to school...no need u can do much better things at home or can join businesss(mainly dey wanted d second option)....I agreed,bt den life's unpredictable....u knw....jst like scored marks...