DABBA WALAS or MBAWALLAS

today morning I was watching a program on tv about Mumbai Dabbawalas. Their penchant for accuracy and customer service. Much has talked about and written about them. They are a case of reverse take on MNCs like HSBC claiming to be the world's local bank. Here is a home grown institution that is showing way to world about logistics, customer management and six sigma etc....stressing that local insights can work on a global platform.

Another example that comes to my mind is our good old laloo, who turned a white elephant of indian railways into a proud,profit making jumbo and is taking classes for management students.

as Gandhiji said India does (also) lives in its villages: my reading -the true potential of our country is just not the big minds of corporate world, it can be the home grown talent without management degrees...be it laloo or the dabbawallas

Anti Valentine

As it is said for every trend there is a counter trend. The valentine's day has been exploited to the guilt.Now there is an anti valentine sentiment in the market, where in people feel that they don't need a valentine day for their partner to express their love, as true love doesn't need special days. All the singles in town have also been rallying in favour of this anti valentine trend...where in they feel its normal to be single and not have a valentine....

In fact greeting card companies have started cash in on this trend and as am writing my friend tells me there is anti valentine party In AUH

Insights

Insight is the most tangible product of a planner's thinking process.If you have a strong insight on hand, it will definitely lead to a impactful creative rendition.I do believe that insights can come from come from any part of the branding triangle of market, target and brand. An insight could come from a chat with salesman at the store or having lunch with target themselves.To be an insightful person one need to be passionate about the search of insights. As without a good insight a planner doesn't add value to business....more on insights

Brand You

Today a colleague of mine was talking about how some people get promotions as they deserve it, some get it even if they dont and some dont get it even if they deserve it. My reply was that the promotion thing is a two way street between the employee and the management. Even though you may deserve a promotion sometimes,you have not made your candidature relevant to the management and hence you become a blind spot.Probably the solution to this problem could be,about branding and positioning yourself within the organisation.The following post is an interesting read

Elevator Spiel

As it is often said, if you can't express a thought in few words, it lacks clarity in thinking. this is what is so special about those elevator speech exercises where one is given 30 secs to make a point to the other person.Advertising practitioners need to master this skill and be precise and succinct in these 30 sec to get their point across... be it servicing, creative or a planning guy. Came across an interesting post in this context which stresses the importance of being simple and succinct, the ground rule for all briefs......

Brand Egos

Do brands have egos??? Yes they do...if you recall in the early nineties when Coke entered India, they bought the brand ThumsUP( a well established indian soft drink brand) to get a foothold in the market. Soon they wanted to kill this home grown brand to convert all its franchise into Coke.But some times Brand equities overcome Brand egos. Coke realized the fact that it is very hard to kill ThumsUp and instead invested more into ThumsUP brand and rest is history.

I was reading an interesting story of how AT&T after the buy out of the Cingular brand, AT&T is planning to kill the Cingular brand. Another episode of Brand Ego. While AT&T is a well estblished brand, it is seen to very old and monolithic. While Cingular is more young, with it and has a geeky feel to it. Hope somebody in AT&T will give a call to Coke India to learn from their ThumsUP experience.

INDIA :Prosperity at one hand and poverty at the other.

When India recently celebrated its 58Th republic day. India is being making news as the new aggressive economy to be watched and bet ted on.While this was happening NDTV ran a campaign, India, The Republic of Hunger of highlighting the lopsided growth India has where in the shadows of this so called prosperity still many children don't get a square meal a day. Working in the same direction Everest Y&R India ran an ambient campaign in restaurants across over 50 outlets. A tent card was placed at the tables. people who visited these places were shocked to find a small cut out of a child inside this tent card. this prompted them to read more. this campaign struck an immediate chord with people and over 2 lac Indian rupees were collected. Social marketing though in infant stages in India, created a lot of focused impact.

Mums- to- be shouldn't smoke

Pregnant women who smoke are at danger of passing on the effects of tobacco to their child they are carrying. To highlight the importance of this, Ice sculptures shaped like pregnant moms with a plastic baby inside where installed on the streets to melt. The point? "Over 30 million children lose their moms to tobacco every day."
watch the video at trend hunter

Making of a TVC

A team from our agency has just returned from Egypt after finishing a TVC. Just thought this piece to be very appropriate and topical

Too cool for comfort

Munich I believe had the worst winter in recent times. A travel company came up with an unique idea for Sunny holidays.I think the main reason for such an innovative idea would have have been a strong insight that said " People are tired with this long winter and looking forward to take a sunny holiday".


Click here to know more.

who killed the electric car?

Few days back UN has released a world wide study on global warming. Findings point out that Humans are the primary reason for creating global warming. Sony Pictures has released a film on DVD which showcases the facts of how electic cars are slowly disappearing from the surface of the earth.I think its a good buy for movie buffs for their personal collection.
Click this link to get details on this dvd.

Co-creation rules

Much has been talked and written about co-creation,involving the consumer and the brand to create unique brand experiences.

The Co-creation manifesto by from James Cherkoff & Johnnie Moore,
which i found is very relevant and practical making the art of co creation come alive

More you hide, more people want to see: Blog of Geisha

Came across this interesting post on a blog started by a Geisha.Once a forbidden zone, the diary of this Geisha has attracted may people across the globe.Disover more about her.....

how cultural mix can lead to new product innovations

The Burqini Bikini

Australians of Middle east origins have adapted the regular bikinis to suit there religious dress code while swimming. What was once a handicap has been turned into a advantage. As it is said neccesity is the mother of invention.
Here are two interesting posts from cnn and telegraph

Dont shake hands outside the toilets

Many a time when known people meet in font of a loo, they rather greet by saying a hi, than shaking a hand... because how on earth would you know if the guy has cleaned his hands after doing his business at the loo.

JWT toronto is running a ambient promotion for the same

Also visit this website

USP is dead ! Long Live UEP

USP the great branding aconym is long dead and gone. In today's world of parity , what differentiates a brand is how uniquely it engages its target.today a brand which offers unique unforgettable experience to its customer will make the customer to come and ask for the same brand at the sales counter. this is what I call UEP: Unique engaging Proposition.
this is how nike invites its target to test run its shoes

Continuing the on stuff on Red

I believe in branding, its all about being simple and succinct. Here is a piece I came across about RED. An ideal reference for people who are looking at writing briefs with clarity.

abu dhabi goes red with F1

Formula One comes to Abu Dhabi. Starting 2009 Abu Dhabi will host the F1 grand prix. The agreement is for a renewable7 year term. As curtain raiser to this event, yesterday Abu Dhabi hosted the F1 festival. The event which featured the largest gathering of current F1drivers and cars ever assembled outside of a grand prix venue.

The show was great and will go a long way in positioning Abu Dhabi on the world map in its quest to become premier investment destination in the region and the world