Kanupriya Sindhu

Communicating or Spamming?

April 7, 2009

Yes, I am liking this new media communication strategy of Indian Political parties this year esp. of BJP but think they are definitely going over-board now. Can somebody please tell BJP campaign management team that:

Over communication esp. through certain media can really KILL your campaign.
Bombarding consumers repeatedly with too many messages, promises & benefits of the same product can actually be treated as spamming and not marketing.

Here is what I mean by my above two statements. On a daily basis I am getting SMSes from “TA-BJP” on my both mobile phones. Some of those messages are:

BJP’s promise: Terror-free India, Hunger-free society, Debt-free kisan, Worry-free middle class. 3.5 crore families to benefit from income tax exemption for incomes up to Rs. 3 lakh p.a. Student loans at 4%. Advani for PM. www.lkadvani.in
Har school jaane wali balika ko lakhpati banane wali LADLI LAKSHMI YOJANA par karenge amal. Advaniji ki shapath. http://www.lkadvani.in
BJP’s JAI JAWAN JAI KISAN JAI VIGYAN promise. Longstanding demands of our brave Armed Forces to be met. Farm loans at 4%. Road and broadband connectivity to all villages. 1.2 crore IT-enabled jobs in rural areas. Advani for PM. www.lkadvani.in

Need I say more??? These are just few samples, I have definitely received a lot more messages to attain a reflex reaction of pressing the DELETE button as soon as I see the sender as “TA-BJP” now.

Suggestion: BJP campaign team, good to see your aggressive strategies but please introduce some section on your website for consumers to unsubscribe from receiving these messages. Permission is the KEY for certain medium! Also would be good if you can post some anecdotes on your website about execution of any of these promises. Will help in establishing some credibility towards your SMSes!

Confessions of a Shopaholic: The Book

April 1, 2009

Well, I think a must read book for women who enjoy reading chick-lit or light flicks :-). And here is why:

If you are a female born with normal genes & hormones, I will assume you have the code of “I love shopping” embedded somewhere within your DNA. Yeah, I know the level of coding can actually vary from women to women but it’s definitely there in all the women at least I know since childhood. And if you are one of those normal women with this “shopping” thing in your DNA, you’ll definitely like this book or rather I shall say you’ll love this book!
This book is very light, witty & really a fun read.
The journey of main protagonist “Rebecca Bloomwood” whose life is in a mess because of her obsession towards shopping is interesting enough to hold your attention till the end of the book. Not even once while reading I felt bored of it.
I have not watched the movie yet but the writing style of the book is so vivid that you actually feel you are watching a movie.
It definitely leaves you a smile on your face & it’s one of those books which you would like to finish asap.

So, next time when you’re looking for a light casual read, do try it out please.

Other details of the book:
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Price: Rs. 261/- (I bought in from landmark 2 weeks back)
Special Note: Statutory Warning – This book is a strict NO for men! I‘m sure most of the men would not like to try anything which is even remotely related to shopping 🙂

Political Advertising: Indian Politics Reaches Twitter

March 30, 2009

Whew! Indian Political parties are on twitter now… While I was already chating about change in campaign strategy of Indian politicians this time, here I observe some other interesting & noticeable updates:

BJP on Twitter: Yeah BJP has really gone ahead of Congress as far as online strategies are concerned, you go anywhere online & you just can’t ignore BJP’s ads or L.K.Advani messages. And now they are on the latest micro-blogging fad – Twitter too! Not only they are present but they are tweeting quite regularly both by posting their updates as well as interacting with followers. Have a look on some of their latest updates, updates do look promising enough.

bjp_twitter

Congress on Twitter: Till now I have not observed Indian Congress Party formally present on twitter, yes but SM Krishna (candidate from Bangalore) has definitely joined twitter now. He says he has done this to interact with net savvy Bangaloreans!

Well, all interactions & communications on internet with today’s generation are fine but I again wonder – do all these political parties really understand their image amongst Indian Youth? As mentioned in my previous post it’s a welcome change to see such aggressive new age political campaigning in India but don’t you think that these are simply marketing gimmicks? Will they really act on their promises or will these remain as just promises once the elections are over? How much can marketing help them when the core product itself is not good? Would be good to know it from the readers of this post – do you really believe in current communications sent out by any of these parties? Personally speaking as a marketer I like their campaign & appreciate their effort but as a consumer, these communications are not impacting me much as somehow don’t have that trust left on the product itself.

“Jai Ho” vs.” Bhay Ho”

March 29, 2009

While Congress was quick enough to take rights & create a video out of much acclaimed song “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire but quicker was the counter strategy from BJP to come out with another video based on the same song. And I must say I loved this video! Truly marvelous & strikes straight within! This video titled “Bhay Ho” speaks something like – “Aaja aaja voter is jhanse ke tale, aaja jhote moote vaade ke tale, BHAY HO”.

What a competitive attack! Though BJP says that they have not officially released this video & it’s some party supporter who has sent this video to them but I think it’s one of the smartest counter campaigns against any competitor in Indian Politics. It’s surely an interesting case study for new age Indian Political Advertising & if it’s really done by a common man, then I think BJP should immediately look at hiring the man behind this video in their promotional team. Have a look on it, I definitely had a laugh watching this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0yL7Dv_keo]

Kaha Tum Chale Gaye?

March 26, 2009

And it’s Thursday again…every Thursday we feel the same! One more week passed without Kishu! It’s surprising to even think that we are actually surviving without him. Not even a single day used to pass without me speaking to my brother & mom earlier. If nothing else, then at least a one liner call from him saying he has reached home safely. And now it’s the 7th week today without him. Neither the tears dry nor the pain gets lessened…it’s a wound deep within, so deep that it may take a lifetime for us to heal. God knows where our beloved got lost!

As I always say some pains are difficult to express in words but I wonder how come the lyricist of the song “Chitthi Na Koi Sandesh” got this pain expressed in the song so aptly…I always used to like this song but when I got to listen to it today after a long time on FM, I couldn’t express how I felt…looks like the lyricist has experienced some pain like this to craft such a soulful song! Whole song has got a different meaning to me now esp. the following two paragraphs:

Chithi Na Koi Sandesh

Jaane Woh Kaun Sa Desh

Jahan Tum Chale Gaye

Is Dil Pe Lagaa Ke Thes

Jaane Woh Kaun Sa Desh

Jahan Tum Chale Gaye…

Ek Aah Bharee Hogi

Humne Na Sunee Hogi

Jaate Jaate Tumne
Aawaz To Di Hogi

Har Waqt Yehi Hai Gham

Us Waqt Kahan The Hum

Kahan Tum Chale Gaye

Abh Yaadon Ke Kaante

Is Dil Mein Chubhte Hain

Na Dard Thaherta Hai

Na Aansoon Rukte Hain

Tumhe Dhoondh Raha Hai Pyaar

Hum Kaise Karein Iqraar

Ke Haan Tum Chale Gaye

Really we can’t believe ki tum sach mein chale gaye!

Moral Policing – Isn’t it getting worse?

March 23, 2009

Even if I’m too engrossed in my personal life these days but this incident shook me once again. In fact shaken is not the right word rather, “disgusted” is the right word to express my resentment. Yes, I felt disgusted to know of this incident. I was talking to this friend of mine who was at M.G. Road shopping some stuffs & she told that she witnessed a horrific incident last weekend. A man suddenly started beating a woman publicly & nobody came to rescue that lady at all. The worse was that the woman was absolutely clueless about the reason of this assault! Later on got to read this same incident in today’s Times of India (Bangalore edition) with title “moral policing continues”. The news also mentioned another bizarre incident where a man was assaulted for wearing sleeveless t-shirts in Bangalore. Yes a man, looks like these so called moral police is so tired of assaulting women that now they are trying their hands on men too. The worse was to note that when the victim spoke in Kanadda & called cops, the group of men left him & ran away considering he was a localite. So, how wonderful this is getting day by day – first there are these group of people who decide to take charge of the whole society & based on the kind of clothes anyone is wearing or the kind of places which one is visiting they decide to assault people openly, then they decide to further add biasness based on location…so if you are a localite you are free to wear whatever you want to but if you are an outsider dare you do so! We are watching you & have got all the rights to beat you publicly! God, this is sickening & is getting worse day by day. Thankfully that man put up a complaint against those men in nearby police station but will such complaints help??? Enough has been written & spoken about moral police in last few months esp. with all the attacks like Mangalore – girls etc. but has some concrete action being taken? Some activist groups did take some actions against such misdeeds but then without the proper support from Govt. & politicians how far can they go? With numerous questions in my mind, all I can think of this incident is – “yet again it happened & will it happen again”?

Holding or breaking down?

March 17, 2009

Sorrow you can hold, however desolating, if nobody speaks to you. If they speak, you break down. ~Bede Jarrett

Read this quote on a website yesterday morning & thought of posting it on my blog but for some reason didn’t do it. When I read it today yet again I couldn’t resist myself from sharing it here. I find this quote to be so relatable & so very true. I am trying to overcome the pain but somehow find it to be too deep to overcome. Rational mind says that I need to hold my tears back but there is this emotional force deep within which always overcomes my rational mind these days. Colleagues & friends around me say that there is no point in being silent and I need to speak it out…& that silence is the refuge which cowards or depressed people take, the courageous ones speak & fight it out! But then they don’t know that speaking has its own disadvantages too. I think if I am silent, I can still manage to hold back my sorrow but if I speak esp. to my closed ones I can’t help myself from breaking down. I understand that I can’t keep on crying in office & I try to keep myself composed as much as possible but despite me trying to avoid this colleague of mine with whom I am close, when I met her last week I couldn’t hold back my tears at all. Yesterday some close friends visited my place & again despite N convincing me & me being mentally prepared to not cry in front of them, I couldn’t stop myself from breaking down…when they sat near me or touched my hand I just couldn’t. I don’t know if it’s my own weakness / cowardice or the proximity which I share with them which made me do so but then there are certain behavior to which no logic or rationale can be applied. It is true – “you can hold your sorrow if nobody speaks to you but if they speak you can’t”.

Cynicism

March 11, 2009

I was dreading this day since last one week…it’s Holi today and as expected our day started with both me and mom getting up in tears. No, I don’t have the courage to console my mom today when I am myself feeling so dreadful. First thing which this holi reminded me of was all the planning which we did just a day prior to that fateful day when Kishu left us. For last few years, I have not spent holi at my place, I was either at my job location or with my in-laws. This year since I had just made a trip to my in-laws place in Jan, so we decided to gather up in Mumbai for holi at my brother’s place. Some long planning sessions were done between me and my mom about how we all can meet up this time and have holi together. But well, we never knew what was in store for us next day! Forget about knowing, we never even could have imagined it then that something like this was waiting for us…and they say to believe on saying “whatever happens, happens for good”. REALLY???

It’s all festive and colorful around me, people in office are playing Holi and I am HATING it. For the first time, I think I am not liking anything colorful and bright around me, today for the first time I do not repent office being open on a festival, I thought at least I will have some respite from all the festivity around me, for the first time I am really not liking everybody smiling , enjoying & dancing around me. People insisted so much to at least join for the lunch outing today and maybe I could have done that, but here I am sitting on my desk alone typing this post as I really-really didn’t have the heart to go out on lunch… I can’t and I don’t feel like! My rational mind says if I am not celebrating holi, this does not mean everybody will not play holi. They have all the rights to enjoy their life and I should at least smile on their requests if I can’t join that celebration. But don’t know why, I am finding this smile also very difficult to come today. Isn’t it wrong to behave like this? Am I being too cynical? I don’t know…

Communicating or Spamming?

Confessions of a Shopaholic: The Book

“Jai Ho” vs.” Bhay Ho”

Kaha Tum Chale Gaye?

Moral Policing – Isn’t it getting worse?

Holding or breaking down?

Cynicism

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