The taste of India

The little girl with the red dots...the yellow colored thing that spawns water in the mouth and tickles our taste buds...and the humorous one liners...yes, the real taste of India...AMUL.

Generations of youngsters like me (of course, am still young...) have grown up along with the polka dotted girl and the jingle of Amul. The taste of India is in fact the toast of our generation. The engagement model that Amul has adopted is impeccable and talks to every one. The print ads, the bill boards, the television ads...what not, everything is a master piece; a lesson in teaching brand engagement.

I still remember my early college days when I used to rush towards the lone bill board near my house to check the latest riddle from Amul's stable. And then I run around telling each of my friends to do the same. Whenever we happen to pass by that junction, I make it a point to ask everyone to enjoy the message. Unknowingly, I became a part of the publicity bandwagon of Amul...the customer engagement worked wonders for Amul's word-of-mouth publicity.

And the best part of all this is, at no point of time will you feel that this is a brand advertisement. The messages are so relevant and so in-the-time that it hits on your face. And behind all this, Amul makes its way to your dining table and the taste of India becomes the toast of your home!

The pyramid and its dynamics

I love pyramids...They are a wonderful portrayal of how life is; busy at the bottom lonely at the top. The various spectra of earnings and livings are beautifully signified by one Dr. C.K. Prahalad which of course became our bible!

And how! Everyone started looking at the actual untapped market at the BOP (bottom of the pyramid). It may not make sense to a BMW or a Toyota but it definitely makes sense to a HUL or a Godrej to tap the markets. If not with a specialized product definitely with a modified version.

Look at Godrej now. They wanted the Vinod khanna-era-stuck Cinthol's image to be modified. So...kaboom...off went the old Cinthol and in came the new re-branded Hrithik's Cinthol. Did they gain mileage? Well, a little. They at least got eye balls and got the minds tickling with the whole exercise. (They got me hooked too, thanks to Hrithik!)

But what did they realise now? That the too-costly-for-rural Cinthol soap might not make it to the bottom of the pyramid. So in comes the new lesser price models. A recent report states that Godrej is looking at penetrating the market with Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 packets to tap the huge market.

Is it going to work? If the conventional wisdom is anything to go by, Cinthol has a decent shot at the market. It isn't rocket science to tap the rural market. You just need to be approachable - on all 4Ps. Get your product in a feasible model reaching every nook and corner (you are targeting) and then make it affordable.

Cinthol might not receive an instant thumbs up from the market. It would take probably little longer before the market embraces Godrej. And if it does, they might try the same technique on other products. However, beware of competition...ITC already has the strength of its operational backbone and might use it (which they are actually doing) to push its products.

But one thing is sure...the next few months are going to be wonderful for the market. Let's sit back and enjoy

Royal way to earn!

It will not be long before cricket fans will forget the adage...answer your critics on the cricket field! IPL has become the new rocking star on the horizon and how!!! Those who get to play even a small part keep flaunting IPL on their resumes(remember Kalyan Krishna from AP who played in Deccan Chargers?? forget it...I guess he must have lost count of that as well!) And those who are shunned quickly do the forgiving act! (Kamran Akmal has forgiven IPL for the snub and is ready to play IPL IV...aah, so many thanks Mr. Akmal for 'dropping' this hint)

But look at it from behind the scenes. Right from the drum rolls till now, Rajasthan Royals have went about their PR in the best way possible! Answer your critics with the moolah. Give them 100 rupees to spend on players, they will spend 10 rupees and give the rest as credit to SRK. Then they spend the interest on their PR.

Look at their marketing strategy! Who would have thought about the global consortium. What are you achieving by this? Nothing but money! I mean, who cares if Cobras would be Royals tomorrow or Hampshire would be Royals the day after. All that matters for the administrators is money. And how to get it? Just make sure you get an innovative way of marketing!

Not to say that they are doing badly on the field (in fact far away from that...they are doing real good. Consider my poor friend SRK; he just keeps beaten everywhere - on the posters, on the ground, off the ground....) but kudos to them now everyone is looking at marketing their global team consortia and eating into our pockets...after all Answer your critics with marketing!

Economotion

Okay...I just got out of my extra-long hibernation flexing my muscles to write something. And what better than my usual favorite SRK!

Why on earth would you want to tickle the tiger when you can't tame it? Well...the perennial question that has no answer but what fascinates me more is why people keep asking What is all this fuss about? Excuse me....you don't understand what this fuss is about???

There are two types of decisions that we take in our life:

1. Decisions related to money (Which job to take, Which restaurant to take your date to, etc). These are what I call Economic decisions
2. Decisions related to your emotions (Whom to marry, Which team to support, etc) These are what I call Emotional decisions

There, however, is a considerable overlap of some of these decisions. If you ask Preity which team she would support in IPL III, you wouldn't hear Deccan Chargers! More than the emotion it is the economics that determine her decision in this.

As I see it, this overlap is growing by the day. There are more decisions that are being determined by a combination of factors...which movie to go (am a fan of Aamir but SRK movie comes cheap), which team to support (my heart is with India but I bet on South Africa!)... These are what I call the new trend decisions.

I label them Economotion decisions...welcome to the world of Economics and Emotion in no particular order. Most of the new-world decisions are, if you ask me, economotive decisions. SRK wouldn't mind an extra dose of publicity for his movie, even if it comes from the Thackerays. And Thackerays know where to pinch SRK to get their message through.

Don't mix politics and arts....don't mix politics and sports....we keep hearing them often, ain't it? Conventional wisdom says that we should not mix these. But Economotion wisdom says that we should! After all, if IPL doesn't snub Pakistan players, will they get the emotional message? If his movies are not blocked, will SRK get the Thackerays' message?

Sorry Mr. Gandhi (now don't ask if it is Rahul...am talking about our dear old Mahatma) but this is not the age of Satyagraha. These are the days of Econograha...show your anger on the economics...hail the new order!