N insists that I should try to get back to normal life slowly…I have resumed back work but he wants me to divert my mind to those things which I used to enjoy earlier like painting, blogging, cooking etc. Even my closest friend insists me to do so & I know both of them are saying it for my benefit only. It’s for their sake that I started to write this post today…but don’t know what to write. I think I opened a blank page in the morning but all I could feel is blank and numb. Trust me N & T, I don’t know how to get back to life again…I am trying, I really am but it is difficult…difficult & difficult. I know its 31 days today, almost a month since Kishu left us but tell me, is it possible to overcome a life-long association in just 31 days? It pains, really pains deep inside, something which I can’t express in words…I can’t divert my mind to anything but to think as to how am I supposed to live my whole life without my brother without whom I couldn’t have even imagined one day of my life? Why did God decide to take such a young soul away and how am I supposed to react after seeing my stone-eyed mom who had to bear the worst pain of her life without any fault? When I could not get over the death of my friend since last 8 months, how am I supposed to deal with a loss as big as Kishu? It is excruciating & unbearable…& cruel & … words fail!
Advaniji goes further aggressive on digital medium!
February 5, 2009I had earlier written about Advaniji getting net savvy and his portal www.lkadvani.in. But looks like humare neta, Advaniji toh internet space mein super aggressive ho rahe hai :D. Ah he is not leaving any stone unturned to reach out the online Indian citizens. Here are some developments which I observed recently from Advaniji and his campaign promotion teamJ
- Blog: Like everybody and anybody on this earth, even L.K. Advani has decided to have his presence on blogosphere. His blog http://blog.lkadvani.in/ got launched in Jan’09 & supposedly Mr. Advani is blogging personally on this space. Well, posts are good but don’t think he is writing it himself. Fan following of his blog seems to be ok with each post having on an average 100+ comments. No, I don’t mean 100+ comments is less but kya karein, celebs like BigB and Aamir Khan have set a very high bench-mark for popular personality blogs with each of their posts receiving on an average 1000+ comments.
- Online Advertisement / SEM: Oh this was truly a surprise for me, I noticed 2-3 sites as well as Google sponsored search displaying L.K.Advani portal ads. And yeah quite an extensive keyword listing they have done for these ads, you type any election related keyword & you get to see these ads. Impressive isn’t it?
- Emailer campaigns: Personally I have not received this email but one of my associates was mentioning that after pre-recorded voices now people are doing email blasts as part of political advertising. He received an email with subject as invitation from L.K.Advani to visit his portal www.lkadvani.in
Well, I am neither a big supporter of BJP nor I am active into Indian Politics scenario. Most of the times I find it to be so dirty that I prefer to have my involvement limited to reading or watching just headlines and that too not because of any interest but only to be updated about the latest happenings. Having said that, I do find this initiative of BJP a good move and sort of positive change in Indian Politics. At least they are trying to connect to the newer generation; at least they are taking some effort to reach out to educated mass. Wondering if it is Obama effect or the Social media effect on his campaign management team but whatever it is, I must say it is a welcome change J.
Advaniji goes further aggressive on digital medium!
February 5, 2009Movie Marketing : Promotion “By Chance”
January 31, 2009As I always say movie marketers are getting innovative day by day in India. Now here are some interesting marketing initiatives which have created quite some buzz esp. in Mumbai for the movie “Luck By Chance”. The production house has directly handled the marketing campaign of this movie and they have launched online as well as offline properties to create an overall impact.
· Apart from regular reality show presence, production house has created an offline reality property known as “Auto By Chance”. They have branded auto rickshaws in Mumbai with “Luck By Chance” theme and anybody who spots any of these autos gets a free ride anywhere in Mumbai free of cost! Wow, so time for Mumbaikars to get lucky J. They have also branded some bus shelters as well as local trains in Mumbai with the movie theme. One lucky winner of “Auto by Chance” promotion will be interviewed live on Big FM. (Image Source: TOI)
· The movie has also created good visibility in online space through different contests and promotions on many portals but what is again different is this online game property known as “Luck by Chance – Lucky Break” on zapak.com. You can choose your identity as any of the actors of the movie and play this luck game. Nice game it is from a promotion point of view and lucky winners get to win some prizes as well.
As per me, they have taken a good integrated marketing approach. Let’s see how lucky this movie gets at BO. Personally speaking I’ve been waiting for this movie for long esp. after watching Rock On and I would have anyways gone to see the movie in theater even if there was no promotion for this movie at all. Yeah, I think that’s the aftereffect of “Rock On” on me J. But from initial reactions it looks like Farhan Akhtar has gone second time lucky in his acting stint as movie has received positive response across theaters.
Movie Marketing : Promotion “By Chance”
January 31, 2009Stampede of price driven promotions!
January 29, 2009I get to cross this mall daily on my way back home and its one of the most popular malls of Bangalore. Always damn crowded and is having all popular brands which you can think of. It used to have those occasional promotions during Diwali, Christmas or End of season sale. But now instead of those occasional sale offers, the mall has sort of become “discounted product” mall only. Just think of last 3 months – November they were having “festival special”, December they were having “Christmas / New Year Special” and now in Jan, 1st it was “26th Jan” special which got extended to “end of season sale” on 27th Jan’09. 😀 Wow every day there is a sale and most of these are not “upto 50% off”, rather “FLAT 50% or 40% off”.
Well as a consumer, it’ too good and I’m loving it but then it forces me to think, are these brands going through sales volume crisis which is forcing them to come out with such price driven promotions every day? Is it another after-effect of recession? I can understand it for few brands but almost every brand is currently running a price driven promotion including some very big names which are not so famous for their discount promotions. Even they have jumped into this price game now. One walk in any popular mall / market and you will see nothing less than a stampede of price driven promotions. As a first impression, it definitely communicates that brands / retailers are trying hard to sell the products to Indian consumers who have otherwise become conscious now of their expenses esp. in categories like luxury & entertainment. Since not many consumers are hit by recession in India as badly as in US, so expenses in necessary categories are still going on but if I think of me, my friends and acquaintances as a sample set, I definitely know that people have curtailed frequency of activities like eating out, multiplexes, impulse apparel purchase and frequent air flying. Though price driven promotions like these are good to some extent, it helps in attracting attention of consumers but do such tactical sales promotions and that too regularly really help companies in meeting their numbers? And even if they will meet their numbers, how about their P&L? And with most of the main marketing budget frozen now, do they have any other option than to do such promotions to increase footfall…Hmmm let me think and in case you have any thoughts, do share it here. In the meantime I think I should enjoy these sales and discounts before companies realize that its hitting their margins badly and decide to stop it J
Update on 30th Jan’09: Two interesting observations related to this post:
· Yesterday I actually stopped at that mall and went to this very prominent apparel retail outlet, they were running an announcement there for promos and offers. And guess what? Despite yesterday being 29th, the promotions running were having old dates, one of the announcements sounded like, “100% money back offer! Dear shoppers, shop for X amount between 10th Jan – 26th Jan and get a gift voucher worth Rs. X back”. And no, the date was not announced by mistake, they kept on repeating the same recorded message J. The promo was still on but collateral as well as promo clip was having the last date as 26th Jan’09. Clearly communicates that they had plans to end the sale on 26th but were continuing it till now!
· Today’s ET states – “Subhiksha is closing a significant number of its 1,600 stores across the country to cope with a cash crunch”. Very recently I read a write-up mentioning Subhiksha’s success story and while I was wondering on these price driven promotions and cash situation of the retailers, here I get to read about a situation which is self-explanatory and that too of Subhiksha! Wondering if other such announcements are also on their way?
Marammat mukaddar ki kar de maula!
January 29, 200926! Yes 26! This is the count of how many times I have listened to this song since morning today and that too in continuation, i.e., no other songs in between :D. No, this does not mean I was having an off [oh how I wish 🙁 ] or I didn’t have any work today. Yes, but this definitely means that I didn’t have much meetings or presentations today and most of the time I actually spent on my desk. For a change it was really good to have a day like this and after a long time I did have the luxury to plug in my music player in my ears today. Wow I enjoyed listening to this song again & again. I am referring to the song “maula mere maula” from Delhi 6! I think it’s simply outstanding and brilliant! Not only the music but even lyrics is sooo good. One of the lines of this song reads something like:
“Daraare daraare hain maathe pe maula,
Marammat mukaddar ki kar de o maula”
Isn’t it a lovely line and can I say relatable too :-)? In one word if I have to say, I will say this song is ADDICTIVE. After quite some time I have got this crazy for any song, few months back I was having these symptoms for “Baawra Man” from hazaaro kwahishen aisi. In fact yesterday while driving to office, the only song which played in our car was maula mere maula, and I played it for so many times that finally N had asked me, “can we please change the track now”? I also like “Masakkali, Matakkali” a lot but as of now its “Maula” song which is on my head. A.R. Rahman as usual has done a magical work & he creates his magic yet again with this movie! And the singers Kailash Kher, Javed Ali (Maula song) & Mohit Chauhan (Masakkali song) have definitely sung these songs brilliantly. Now I’m waiting for this movie to release, till then it will be “Maula mere maula” & “Masakkali, Matakkali” in my car as well ipod continuously 🙂
Stampede of price driven promotions
January 29, 2009IPL is back with yet another marketing gimmick
January 28, 2009Last year we did see the birth and rise of one of the greatest marketing phenomenon in sports marketing in India, yes of course I am referring to IPL’2008. More than cricket, it was this whole business and marketing angle to it which made it so popular. Cricket combined with entertainment and that too Bollywood, what more do you need to create pull in Indian market? After all cricket and Bollywood are like two religions in India. As expected this combination of cricket and entertainment did create a huge roar in the market esp. from business and brand point of view. And when this year IPL is back in news, it is again so with yet another marketing gimmick viz., reality show for Cheerleaders!
Watched it on television first and then read it in news that Shahrukh Khan, owner of Kolkata team Knight Riders is conducting a talent hunt show this time to find cheerleaders for his team. This reality show will be aired on NDTV Imagine and will be produced by his home production “Red Chillies Entertainment”. The program called as “Knights & Angels” will be first ever such contest in India and is open for only young girls who aspire to be cheerleaders in the second season of IPL. Well, I am confused. Do girls really aspire to be cheerleaders in life??? But on second thought when girls can compete to be the item number queen on television now, then why not a cheerleader? Personally speaking I’m all for IPL and its overall marketing angle to it, it definitely gives a different edge to sports in India, but a reality show for cheerleaders is something which didn’t go well with me. Anyways reality show is done to death now, so I don’t know if there will be any added charm for this program and most importantly how does it matter if these cheerleaders come through reality contest or through some other medium? Will it really make any difference to the team? From promotion perspective it can create some hype but let’s see if it really benefits the overall Knight Rider brand in IPL season two.
IPL is back with yet another marketing gimmick
January 28, 2009Last year we did see the birth and rise of one of the greatest marketing phenomenon in sports marketing in India, yes of course I am referring to IPL’2008. More than cricket, it was this whole business and marketing angle to it which made it so popular. Cricket combined with entertainment and that too Bollywood, what more do you need to create pull in Indian market? After all cricket and Bollywood are like two religions in India. Read More At Marketing Chit-Chat…
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