The Next Big Thing

No, this is not the major announcement about an awesome new service I've developed, thats later..sigh

This is about the Ambani kind of Big, and its amazing to see what i consider a perfect duplication of the strategy that made an oil, petrochemical conglomerate. Backward integration. Only ADAG is not stopping at that. Its going horizontal too. Its putting its fingers in every pie that has some stake in the entire big pie of communication and entertainment - be it content or distribution.

Lets talk about distribution first. They have a nationwide CDMA serivce provider, hell, even a GSM provider in a few markets. Smart!! They will roll out a DTH operation very soon, and they already have the retail version of broadband up and running. Its only a matter of time before they make a big impact in the consumer broadband space, and I'm not even taking the ubiquitous datacard into consideration. Which basically means they have 3 platforms - mobile, internet and television neatly tied up. A small bylane in distribution - Big FM, Big Flicks. FM is not that small, and Flicks is a good start to a click and mortar way of functioning. In fact so is FM, because a friend who works there recently sent me a link to their podcast!!

Now the meat - content. You want movies, they got Adlabs. You want music, they got Big Music. Oh, you're that new gen animal that thinks UGC is cool, welcome to Big Adda.

I'd like to think that somewhere i have seen a fragment of the big picture that the younger Ambani has in his head. The more i see it, the more i admire it, coz he really thinks big.

Meanwhile, if/when they integrate from a brand communication perspective, they have a perfect family friend who can be ambassador. Yup, you guessed it, Big B ;)

and i bid adieu thinking zapak is a whole new ballgame :D

Second Coming

The past several months has seen a frenzy in what is called web2.0 in general parlance, and the lions' share of it is being done by and in relatively new entities... which has led to a few experts already snooping around for the proverbial bubble...

I'm not expert enough to comment on that, but i really hope there is no bubble 2.0, because i am not sure that this time around, the crowd that's in the thick of things, is mature enough to handle it.. This is a good read...but oh well, we're almost going into my other blog's territory, so we'll get back to what this blog talks about.

So, whats in web 2.0 for brands? Yes, wrong question to ask because its too generic, but still... viral marketing, buzz marketing, vblog, podcasting, social bookmarking.. yes, some things have been around in various avtars earlier, but perhaps this is their time in the sun...

So how helpful is the phenomenon of create, share, collaborate in the Indian context? With an internet population of 25-40 million (depending on who you quote) and with an urban penetration of less than 10%, does it really matter what web2.0 is when even the static web (or web 1.0) is yet to make a serious impact on Indian media/brand/advertising? Does the long tail of any brand have enough numbers to justify its' venturing into the zone?

Even killer applications like bollywood, cricket, matrimony and other classifieds havent succeeded in drastically changing the fortunes of the internet in india, will this new edition of the web do it? Coming back, how best can traditional brands use this changing internet landscape to their benefit - by doing research and product development online? But thats a bit like blogs, and i personally consider that web 1.0. Building communities around the brand? Fair, but how many brands are like say, a Harley Davidson, in whose case the brand attributes make sense to build communities? But then again, HD didnt need the net for communities....

What will a Surf user/ Chlormint eater/ Clinic All Clear user talk online in a community on a larger timeframe? Will the stuf being created just fizzle out as fads? And there lies the real challenge, and to each band its own.....

and i bid adieu, while you crawl the web...

Dimaag ki Batti buch Gayi

I used to love the Mentos ad until



and i bid adieu, while you chew on that :(

Stuck in a web

I happened to read this a while back, and this recently, and finally, the presentation below

While the last two are quite obviously connected, the first one is too, albeit in a round about way.

Having worked now for over 4 years in a brand role, out of which at least 2 have involved quite some work in the online space, i tend to agree with what Mr.Desai says, especially this part, "The real problem is our mental model of the brand. We see it as a fortress which we must defend against all interlopers."

I have seen this in all the 3 brands i have worked on, and this is exactly why internet marketing is still in its infancy stage in India. In fact, even among the brands that do some stuff in the space, a majority are those who make internet strategy decisions on an excel sheet as part of the media plan - print - x lakhs, outdoor-y lakhs, internet- z lakhs. Nothing wrong with this, except that the strategy ends up as an adaptation of the print/outdoor creative, and the activity on the web is limited to that.

And the next step, if it happens - in the typical knee-jerk reactions that are a regular sight everywhere, the CEO 'discovers' blogging, and wants someone to start a corporate blog, without even pausing to think what is going to be done there and whether it is sustainable. I know at least one example. :)

The problem is in 'letting go'. Brands and brand managers cannot come to terms with it, and are still stuck in a web that refuses to look outward except for the token market research, and we all know how that gets done. Ask the creative guys in agencies and they'll tell you horror stories of subjective likes and dislikes being thrust upon them, not just those, but whims and desires, as well. And one of the mandatory things to go online is the understanding that you will get some brickbats and your brand will be tossed around. The key is in dealing with it, and converting that into a better consumer experience. Are you game for that challenge? The answer, in most corporates (from what i've seen, and maybe i haven't seen enough) would be a resounding no!!

Knowing the RGB configuration of the brand takes 2 minutes of mugging up, but understanding the dna of the brand and working on it is a different ballgame, and if there are consumers willing to help, i wonder why brand guys have difficulty in accepting it.

and i bid adieu, brandishing my love for the internet :)

Contrabrand

And they asked in desperation, If you had to choose between sin and God, weaver, what would you choose? And he laughed and he said, Sin, always sin. Sin is fun, sin is forbidden, sin is, what shall i say, so sinful. They should forbid God as they forbid sin, then maybe he would become far more attractive and we would all be drawn to him.

God's Little Soldier, Kiran Nagarkar

The concept, if you think about it, is not an unknown one in marketing, its called positioning. On the contrary, it is one of the pillars, and in this era of commoditisation, it is all the more significant. So it's not altogether surprising to see brands like Chlormint, Mentos, Happydent and Orbit veer away from the expected trajectory, in their advertising.

There is some spring mention of the product in the ads, and the emphasis is on making the ad as 'different' as possible. From the weird cow doctor to a town getting lit by shining teeth and from 'dubara mat poochna' to noisy footwear in a classical concert, the ads are entertaining, to say the least, and show an abundance in creativity.

But a small dipstick i did, (unsurprisingly) proved my hunch- the ad was remembered, and appreciated, but what was the brand again?

So what's upsetting the apple cart - commoditisation or hypercreativity?

What a bunch of cretins you have for your devotees, oh Lord, he laughed out loud. The fools would sever you from your creation.

and i bid adieu while you chew on it.

Y O Y ?

I've always wanted to be a brand manager.... Ever since i got my first Johnson & Johnson gift on the 2nd day of my existence, it's been my dream....

Why not, i say? It's believeable when actors, singers and sportstars say it, so i'm sticking to that story.

I 've been a blogger for over four years now, and many things have changed in these four years... Google has changed from a useful tool to an online equivalent of oxygen, the percentage increase in the number of TV channels is second to only that of rabbits, Bush got elected..again, dammit.. and so on.. On a smaller scale, I've grown in my profession, and my childhood dream has been realised :)

So, what better reason than that to start a blog that only talks about work - and thus, without further ranting, i present to you BRANTINGS - Ranting about Brands.... Real, Virtual, Desi, Videsi and everything i can lay my virtual hands on...

and i bid adieu for the first time, while you wait for the next post...