e-drop

2010-01-26T14:20:00.001+05:30

2010-01-25T13:47:00.001+05:30

My ears are deceiving me! Rock music at a client office!

2009-10-16T04:46:00.001+05:30

Hello Home!

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Take GoogleTalk mobile with fring www.fring.com/googletalk

2009-09-21T03:18:00.001+05:30

Is wasted beyond comprehension..

2009-08-10T12:08:00.001+05:30

listening to Grey's Anatomy original soundtrack. Really good music there!

________________________________________________
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2009-07-26T19:25:00.001+05:30

Get well soon Massa..

2009-07-25T09:44:00.001+05:30

Back to Africaaaaaaa...

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Take GoogleTalk mobile with fring www.fring.com/googletalk

2009-07-20T21:01:00.001+05:30

Expect miracles for you are one.

2009-07-14T11:19:00.001+05:30

If you want security Use Linux, If you want Features use a Mac, If you want solitare use Winodws.

2009-07-12T10:03:00.001+05:30

Tired of social networks? Now talk to strangers: http://omegle.com/

2009-07-06T11:04:00.001+05:30

loves the smell of petrol..can nearly taste the RD days.. :)

________________________________________________
Take GoogleTalk mobile with fring www.fring.com/googletalk

2009-06-30T18:24:00.001+05:30

..be seeing you again soon, Africa!

________________________________________________
Take GoogleTalk mobile with fring www.fring.com/googletalk

2009-06-17T20:32:00.001+05:30

RT @rochitjain RT @deepakt my maid refuses to wash my dishes spotless...she's scared of anything Shiney. ROFL!

2009-06-11T17:31:00.001+05:30

http://ping.fm/H209p

2009-06-04T17:11:00.001+05:30

Procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow. Laterz.

2009-06-02T15:42:00.001+05:30

My data lives!

2009-05-19T17:30:00.001+05:30

Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

2009-05-14T14:22:00.001+05:30

in Mumbai later next week to identify a Branch Head, Creative Resources and Creative Lead. References & recommendations would be great!

2009-05-07T18:35:00.001+05:30

It seems only 40% of Delhi voted.. :o( unconfirmed as yet..

2009-05-07T18:31:00.001+05:30

is in Singapura

2009-05-07T11:42:00.001+05:30

India has my vote!

2009-05-06T15:28:00.001+05:30

Get the dope on your netas @ www.myneta.info Know your constituency state wise at http://ping.fm/kJcKf

2009-05-05T14:27:00.001+05:30

Folks..Its a one-time serious purchase and I need help. http://u.nu/2j64
I also need lens suggestions.

2009-05-02T14:00:00.001+05:30

did branch banking after a really long time.

2009-04-30T14:44:00.001+05:30

So are you a ProdUser? http://bit.ly/web2delhi

2009-04-24T01:09:00.001+05:30

The Future of Marketing is Digital:A Strategic Perspective. A round-table discussion on the relevance of Digital: http://bit.ly/quasar

2009-04-15T23:18:00.001+05:30

brilliant stuff here: The airborne toxic event : http://bit.ly/12k22I

2009-04-11T14:30:00.001+05:30

One day you're the bird; other days, the statue. Must count my blessings still!

2009-04-08T16:26:00.001+05:30

Anyone can spare/point to a PC in good working condition@delhi?A bright kid with limited means wants to buy.can afford 5k.

2009-03-21T20:11:00.001+05:30

is fried with 4 scripts..

2009-03-18T21:18:00.001+05:30

needs a digital planner. References and recommendations welcome..

2009-03-12T13:06:00.001+05:30

Its officially launched: www.skodasuperb.co.in

2009-03-05T18:32:00.001+05:30

Spark Muzic is rocking with over 2500 registrations and nearly 400 uploads in 7 days! http://ping.fm/OP5Eg

2009-03-05T16:30:00.001+05:30

is tired of the whole B2C and B2B arguement...fat chance that a CTOs homepage is tech republic and not google or even the default MSN...!

2009-03-04T14:11:00.001+05:30

Want to advertise on http://www.iplt20.com/?

2009-03-03T11:36:00.001+05:30

looking for senior and junior Art Directors and copywriters

2009-02-27T11:01:00.001+05:30

is unwell...again! must be global warming then..

2009-02-22T18:57:00.001+05:30

HP media goes to Omnicom..uncertainty rules!

2009-02-22T00:33:00.001+05:30

is feeling a bit bewildered and helpless looking at a world full of terror

2009-02-19T20:35:00.001+05:30

Its really very easy to become a dinosaur in the digital space..

2009-02-18T15:47:00.001+05:30

Someone at microsoft has 15 dogs and a cow parked around the workstation

2009-02-18T10:12:00.001+05:30

All hiphop sounds the same..maybe that's why the singers call out their names repeatedly in between their songs..

2009-02-11T10:16:00.001+05:30

My phone's Google map just detected me to be @ Limpopo, South Africa!

2009-02-04T19:09:00.001+05:30

We’re hiring! 50 positions| Details on www.quasar.co.in |email onlinehr@quasar.co.in

2009-02-02T16:25:00.001+05:30

We’re Hiring| Now 50 Positions|Digital,Internet,Intn’l Projects|Renumerations beyond industry-best|Only the best need apply to aditi@studiosmile.com

2009-01-31T20:49:00.001+05:30

We're hiring.35 positions.Industry leading renumeration.Best tech and web resources reqd.

2009-01-30T12:05:00.001+05:30

If u love Barkha Dutt as much as I do, you have to read "The Further Adventures of Hark! DaButt": http://ping.fm/aa76l

2009-01-28T16:29:00.001+05:30

We're hiring..27 positions | Internet | Designers, Copywriters, PMs, Developers, Flash Pros. Email aditi@studiosmile.com

2009-01-20T22:36:00.001+05:30

Welcome Mr. Obama..it's been a long wait!

2009-01-16T19:31:00.001+05:30

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me...

2009-01-09T10:22:00.001+05:30

is outta gas!

2008-12-15T17:45:00.001+05:30

Finally someone did it! http://ping.fm/eEkIT

2008-12-02T18:46:00.001+05:30

BA and Qantas to merge soon...ashes to ashes?!

2008-12-02T15:21:00.001+05:30

If there ever was a vomit inducing brief, its this, its this, its this. Who employs these marcom ppl??!

2008-12-01T15:46:00.001+05:30

Good ol'DTC kicks some serious digital ass! http://ping.fm/Au4yJ

Radio-Rama Revisited

2007-08-16T19:01:00.000+05:30

Refer to my earlier post, It seems that the age of niche programming has dawned far too quickly! Delhi tasted its first "for women" only radio station 108-something FM a few weeks back. And a lot more is on the platter in teh coming days..will keep all posted!

Dog-gone MCD!

2007-08-16T18:48:00.000+05:30

This one takes the cake..Delhi MCD has novel solutions to contain the stray dog menace in New Delhi. In their order of preference:

Send them to Korea. They eat dogs there!
Inject them "something" that will put them to sleep all day long
Send them to another state

These are actual ideas minuted in their standing committee meeting on 14th August 2007. All ideas have come forth courtesy elected MCD councilors!

Are these guys for real?! And what were we thinking when we elected them?!

High time we decided and froze upon a standard "eligibility" criterion for these posts - must include specified IQ levels and soem tests to identify just how well-informed are they.

ItTakes 2.0 to Tango!!

2007-03-23T13:01:00.000+05:30

There was this one time, that someone invented a typewriter. It was a revolution of sorts, as you didn’t have to write anymore…although, the effort in writing still looked slim compared to learning the QWERTY layout and ensuring head-hand motor co-ordination to actually type in something coherent without suffering from a wrist malfunction. But a revolution it was still, and continues to be.

It took different avatars; first came the electronic typewriter (Eureka! Auto Correct!), and when the old stenographers complained that the screen was too small, too blurry and too green, someone decided that it was a good time to take those ENIACS, pack ‘em in a box, attach a TV screen and plug in the trusty old key-cranker to it…say hello to the PC! Incidentally, it also led to the advent of younger stenographers as the old ones just couldn’t help knocking the big screens to change channels…evolution is a good thing after all!

But essentially, the revolution changed the way God had expected us to evolve…we started using our hands differently and slowly kinda forgot to write. You & I still learnt the art of scale-book writing, but look at the kids today! Now, evolution is a funny thing. It pushes us to keep innovating…we are laziest mammal you see. The box guy realized that he couldn’t watch Joe DeMaggio hit a home run properly. So he came up with the “screen resolution” idea and the box started getting better (although Mr. Gates still can’t decide just what resolution is perfect for Vista..1024, 800, 600 or 300? Some people are just slow but never mind that!)

To cut the long story short, evolution brought in Internet…hence, interactive; and suddenly, vistas (no pun intended) of possibilities emerged. Wires turned into fibres and it went down our systems pretty well! The big 1.0 emerged and took over the world, changing it completely… I can’t begin to imagine what all could have I done had the 1.0 (do I see a Matrix/Nero connect here? Hmmm…interesting.) been there when I was in the 6th grade and saw an XT for the first time.

It also led to the growth of another species of mankind…the CODERS! Now, they ruled, all right? They are the ones who scrunched and fitted enormous amounts of lines into a CD that became the OS to rule the world…Wizards of OS literally, although it reminds me of the poor moon astronauts sitting on a Petronas Tower full of fuel. Incidentally, they say that the computing power of XP is more that all computing that went into sending man on the moon (although the moon mission seems smarter…there was just one Apollo 13, and even that got back! So much for the Gates intelligence!)

Now, the coders were a hardworking lot. They typed & typed and complied & compiled. But they spent so much time listening to trance while they were at it, that even trance became monotonous (now you know why!). And they got sick of the matrix screensaver. Evolution reared its monstrous head again and then came in the 2.0. Not very imaginative a name...well, coders you see.

Ahem, it just took me one page of incessant rambling to come to the point! I must be in marketing!
Diggs aside (See how 2.0 affects me?!), 2.0 heralded another era of evolution. If the 1.0 had made us forget writing, this one was intent on liquefying all human spectrums of physical activity!

But that actually is not a bad thing. You see, for eons, evolution has always made things simpler. But when you trust the future of mankind to one man, things tend to go wrong…or at least tend to go his way…now you can’t disagree with both these points! Computer technology, as a whole, has mostly complicated things in the past. Where you could write, you started hunting for keys, suffered from carpal whatever syndrome, companies sank without a trace because an organization didn’t upgrade on time, dot com bust liquefied an entire industry generation etc etc…I can even remember this cartoon of a panicky pilot with his aircraft screen showing the “Fatal Blue Screen Error” just when he needs to save the aircraft from crashing! IMHO, we started with bad logic, covered it with more lines of codes to patch it, did it over & over again and ended trusting the world as we know it to programs that would have failed the first level exams. So essentially, the 1.0 packed all of us into this little capsule perched on top of a Petronas tower worth of highly inflammable liquid fuel and promised us the moon. Scary.

2.0 took a different perspective altogether. It said, enough of what we can develop, why don’t you, the user, decide what you want and then create it? For the first time, coders created platforms for development instead of developing platforms. And it is a revolution indeed to realize that finally collective wisdom is considered better than one man’s insanity.

Instead of replacing writing with typing (how smart was that?!), someone decided that it’s a better idea if technology worked along the lines of how we “thought”, “felt”, “imagined” and even “smelt”. Now that liberated humankind. It gave us a freedom to express (Blogs), “tag” our favorites, “network” with similar brains and “feed” on what we want instead of what others want to feed us!

A central principle of Web 2.0, is that information is capable of being attracted to us. It comes to us, and we keep it coming to us as we move from place to place. Users are increasingly started working across devices (laptop to desktop to wi-fi), formats (open APIs, no longer proprietary formats), and saved locations. Web 2.0 is finally delivering some of the real promise of the information era, now that we really need them! You can actually have a rough cloud of meaningful information to follow you so that it is available when you need it! This happens when we leverage all the information "out there" with reuse/better-use capabilities across media and tools, both mobile and applications. Think tags again. Think RSS again. Think blogs!

Then there is alternate humanity. Look at Second Life. Earlier they thought Doom II shootouts were as real as it gets & then somebody opened a completely new world. This world did not force upon the user a Duke NukeEm persona that they hoped to be like. It simply asked – what is it that you wanna be? Become that. And then meet others who are being their real selves in this world just like you are. Ah..and as a bonus, you can even fly! Now that is pushing evolution a bit..but again, its freedom of thought so I’d take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy the ride! Just how relevant is this alternate, supposedly the real “real” persona? P&G has bought an island…they will showcase their products there. Reuters has deputed a full-time correspondent to keep track and U2 held their first virtual rock show. I think they are serious folks!

So, do we trash our age old understanding of consumer behavior and look at it afresh just for this 2.0? Unrealistic and impossible as it may seem, the answer seems to be a “Yes”.

Call it the 2.0nd chance to get it right…

Just the way the keyboard fooled us for a long time, we, the consumers have only shown the marketers what we want them to see, or what is socially accepted to be seen as. I bought my Mach 3 Razor because it was the cool thing to have and all my friends had it. That’s what P&G communicated & exploited through their advertisements as well! Now considering that I have a goatee on second life (as in real life incidentally!), I may be led to believe that an expensive trimmer along with a cheap razor will give me better ROI considering the two different surfaces on my face. This honesty can come in real life as well, but is difficult to accept when faced with a hot chick in a space shuttle rubbing your jaw. Suddenly, P&G will not see me as one of the TG, hence shoved with a group-targeted product, but meet me personally in alternate reality and be more honest with me. BTL Utopia…but possible!

The benefits of Web 2.0 real-world integration are obvious. More topics that people can relate to, means more interest in the web and specialized services that it has to offer – that in turn are connected to real life. This, in turn means more eyeballs, more business opportunities, and a higher-level of globalisation and connectivity. Oh, and the dishwasher will also eventually put the dishes away once cleaning is complete. Bosch DishWashr BETA complete with reality alarm…

By the way, that last one wasn’t a whimsical statement…the 3.0 is en route and that’s all about intuitive computing. Imagine googling “I wanna go to Switzerland in a 100K budget, stay in a lake facing room in Interlaken district and oh, I have an 11-year old kid too” and getting just one or maybe few “absolutely relevant & to-the-point” results instead of 39,400 results! Start saving for that Dish Washer.

A word of caution though. The real “real” means that we are finally exposing ourselves in the truest possible manner. So it’s good to understand the story above, as long as you realize that your privacy is also now “truly” at stake.

To sum it all up, its here and it’s real. It has become a part of our fabric of life and damn! It’s hot! And if the sentence as usual sounded clichéd, believe you me, this time it isn’t.

Someone once said: “You can’t stop an idea whose time has come.” So, Brace yourself for the ride!

The new tech zaphyr: Getting hotter by the day!

2007-02-08T11:56:00.000+05:30

Helo Helo
Long time no type...but couldn't help... work as usual..

Ok it's time to skip idiosyncracies a bit and focus on a recently noted global phenomenon.

Interesting trend I observed recently...Apple Computers is now known as Apple Inc. Essentially, a straightforward attempt on Mr. Job's part to go with the new foun didentity of the company as a provider of more devices & solutions than just computers - the iPOD, iTV, iPhone along with the traditional iBook & iMac's. They see themselves now as more than just computer manfacturers...and hence the shift. Very strategic in my opinion.

You may ask what's so strategic in this...looks like an obvious reason and expected action. But there's more to it than what meets the eye.

Rewind back a year and you will recall another strategic shift...IBM dropped out of machines and moved to solutions, bringing in Lenovo (a little known Taiwanese firm till then) as the name for its machines. This is the same IBM that, at one stage (early 80's) was seen as the "Big Brother" and was the largest PC manufacturer in the world...imagine stepping out of those shoes..unimaginable then atleast!

A few months back, Microsoft revealed Zune...an MP3 player to take on the iPOD (it failed miserably but that's another story...too much too "zune" i say!). But they are holding on and will definitely become a force to reckon with soon. They also moved in with XBox...a gaming device..earlier a prerogative of the likes of Sony & Nintendo mostly...Microsoft is the same firm that has traditionally made OS's (okok, copied mostly) & software. Now they are pushing Media Centre PCs that show Live TV...Their recent forays could not be imagined a couple of years back...

Google started as a web search engine like a lot many others (we have had ask jeeves/ask forever!). They then launched a mail platform (Gmail), social networking (Orkut), Shopping (Froogle), Groups, Patents, Books, Blogs (yours truly Blogspot), Videos, News etc etc..I check my mail on google, blog on google, network on them, my custom start page delivers all the news, info, language translation, chat & conference on Google Talk, the works...! How often do I leave their servers anyway?!!

Want to get scared? Click to : Check out google, Microsoft & Yahoo acquisitions over the years....

What the hell is going on? Are we not to trust any business instincts with market dynamics & corporate strategies changing literally on the fly? It doesn't take time nowadays...don't expect change to be planned over "years"...months are the norm now!

I can share a perspective that makes a bit of sense somewhere or so I hope.
IT market is dynamic, growing at a lightening pace..blah..blah..etc & IT biggies are moving towards consolidation...This is happening at two distinct levels:
1. Platform:
Apple has Tiger OS & iTunes, Windows has Vista etc. They are now offering devices that run on these platforms alone. An iPhone will have Safari browser, email & possible office applications, thus rendering the need of a notebook/PDA..its a blackberry, iPOD & phone bound in one gizmo. While its too early to say that it will replace notebooks (PDA's have been there forever..unsuccessfully), but blackberry has shown the way & finally PDA's are overcoming the traditional shortcomings - low power, limited apps etc.

2. Hardware:
Serious consolidation here as we all can see around us. Gizmos combined together, 100 GBs HDD & a gig of RAM fit in a HCL Nano PC that is as big as a book, Microsoft Media Centre PCs are throwing conventional TVs out of the window, iTV doing the same, XBox functions as a superb Hi-Def DVD player etc.

If this is not enough, now codes are replacing hardware! A little shell extension loaded on a PC turns your Gmail Account into a 100Gig storage hard disk...for free. Should Samsung & Hitachi shut shop? AJAX has enabled applications to run from a web page instead of showing static data...end of app installations and consequently heavy Hard Disk/RAM requirements?

Who needs a server now? We needed it for Intranet in office, data storage and basic PC infra management. Atleast these were the key reasons. Now people browse wirelessly-anywhere & not just in office, data storage is becoming remote (google drive/file upload sites/increased email speed & carrying ability) & managing PC's is moving again towards remote management as PCs are driven out in favor of notebooks/PDA's/Blackberrys.

So if we don't need PCs or Servers, whats gonna happen to brands like HP & Dell who specialise in just that? It really is high time that they thought it over, lest HP goes back to selling printers alone!

What is written above is reality, not projections. This reality only took months to invade our world, not years. And the future seems brighter, smarter & even more consolidated. Nobody wants to carry multiple devices, change domains & connections and run between providers & help centres.

So what's the way forward?

Step 1: Create a platform. iTunes, Vista, Symbian show that owning platforms is a very good idea to ensure device compatibilities & ease of transition in future. Nokia, a hardware manufacturer, was thinking just this when they acquired Symbian. iTunes came way early...Apple simply weaved its products - iPOD, iTV & now iPhone around it. They even tried iTunes to Motorola for their Razr range of phones...nice way of testing don't u think?!

Platform can even include browsers (IE7 & Safari - both in use on mobile devices!). Google tied up with FireFox & zillion other software providers (including open source) to offer its toolbar as standard accesory..hence effectively owning the browser!

Platforms also help in helping customers get used to your products, generate familiarity & allow immense ease of transition when products start getting combined. Meanwhile when all products are running on a common platform, customer stickiness is guaranteed as the google server example above shows! Its like owning the "Living Space" of the consumer...wherever he dips his hand, he engages with just one provider.

Step 2: Offer ease of ownership & usage: iPOD is easy, portable & fun to use...and its one dead serious product..brilliant in every which way. So is Zune. So is the XBox. Plus they are not expensive to own initially...platforms are mostly free & these products don't really cost a bomb. 18K indian rupees for an iPhone with all those features is ABSOLUTELY affordable & offers VFM.

Step 3: Engage the audience. Be it via gaming devices or owning the web platform to ensure he only sees your content (sounds malicious..but consumer has a choice still), the longer the time he spends with you, the better he is for your business. No wonder apple is working on gaming, interactive websites & forums are becoming standard and more & more brands are focusing on what "activities" they should do to engage & interact with consumers. That's the only way they are gonna listen in this new world full of too much information to capture any attention for long...

And keep thinking...not just about how to sell the latest range of PCs!

Note: You may notice that all through the article, I have used the terms consumer & customer for the same set of people. While I am aware of the difference between the two, I am hoping that the note above should make you think that the boundry is ever diminshing...

FotoMania

2006-12-19T15:00:00.000+05:30

There was a time when I used to dream of Cameras that i would like to own, the frames i'd capture & the rest of the blah..blah.. But I couldn't afford a camera. Then came my trustry Kodak Kroma...a simple point & shoot camera that nearly redefined my existence (shall elaborate on a more opportune moment)...

Then it seemed that photography died...as a passion that is. Cameras went digital..no I am not getting into the Digital vs Manual debate here. In my opinion, digital is a great way to experiment as it saves a lot of time. Period. But with the revolution came the sharp price hike. You could not afford a decent camera for a long long time...anything over 3MPs was exorbitant and 5 MP was "way-professional"! But as it was all digital, prices tumbled soon and today its not so difficult to spot a good 8MP camera within reasonable budgets.

Digital brought in another aspect to this near-extinct..ok ok not extinct..but very niche art form. The camera phones - from radically blurry to today's MP phones, the journey has been a short one. And it managed to put a camera in the hands of all & sundry...suddenly everyone was a photographer!

It led to a lot of crap flooding web-albums, flickr & the rest, but it also opened eyes & minds of some seriously talented people who never knew that they had the eye for a frame! Its nice to see so many of my co-workers take up photography as a hobby nowadays...I couldn't imagine they would bother to spend that kinda money even just a year back!

Hmm..time i saved up some for that 400-D now...

Maruti Estilo

2006-12-06T15:33:00.000+05:30

Whats with Maruti anyway?
First they confuse the world with their car nomenclatures and now they are confusing them with their new designs!!

Once upon a time they launched the Maruti 1000. After the 800, it was a logical move and a near correct nomenclature for a 900-odd cc car. They they changed its engine & called it Esteem...but waitaminnit...the same car abroad was called the Swift.
Then they launch the Baleno..which incidentally is known as Esteem worldwide!
Then they launch the Swift, which is actually the same as the one abroad, BUT now it has in its portfolio an Esteem which is actually the Swift, Baleno which is actually the Esteem and Swift which has its older sibling still in production! Yikes!!!

Then there is the Zen. Now she is known abroad as the Alto. In India, they have another car called Alto which is basically a redesigned & souped up 800. Yesterday, they renamed it the "Estilo", calling it the new "Zen". AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH! Why can't they just let the car names be what they really are!!

Coming to designs, the Zen/Alto/Now-Estilo is a fantasic example of confusion...the first one looked cute in their self-propagated "jelly-bean" design. Then they came up with a "Classic/Retro" version where they essentially covered all the lamp holes (visible patch up..) and added round lamps in front and back and pasted a pseudo-retro grill in front...basically made the car look so atrocious that noone would buy it!

Then suddenly they had an export surplus...they export the same jelly bean as a 2-door hatch and it wasn't selling. The market was flooded by this piece as a "limited edition" sports version that would never be made again...and they expected people to fall for it!! It was called "Metal" or something...correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Now they have the Estilo, which by the way, looks like a redeigned now-defunct Daewoo Matiz! That's not all about their design inspirations...the new-look wagon-R looks like theold Hyundai Santro (Bug-Eyes version) that people hated so much...I guess they have been trying for 6 years to dethrone Santro (originally called Atos but thats another story!), and have finally decided that the best way is to copy the design!!! Matiz was a best seller and so is Santro, so can't really say that their hopes are unjustified...

They are now discontinuing the Baleno/ Esteem, replacing it with the SX-7. My only prayer..I hope they call it the SX-7, release it as a hatch that she really is..(add-on boots kill the design..not to mention those atrocious patch-on tail-lamps!) and then maybe offer the boot version as an option.

When this happens, I will finally agree that Indian car designs & sensibilities are on the same page as the rest of the world...

Case Studies - making them work for you

2006-12-05T18:10:00.000+05:30

I wrote the below piece as a mail for my office folks when sharing an "Ideal Case Study" example... It seems relevant for people..especially marketing professionals in general and hence sharing the same...do post in your comments!

A case study is a window into our world, the way we function, our strengths and capabilities. By virtue, a case study indicates an accomplishment; a project that has worked so well that it has set a standard for others to learn.

However, when we share such an accomplishment with the world - be it our clients, prospects or peers, we need to be careful of certain things that define the thin line between a project that fires imaginations vis-a-vis a "not-so-relevant" info collation exercise. Most of the times, they are not as well-versed as you in your project and hence may not immediately understand either the in-depth analysis or just a brief snapshot that is the result of your long & deailed association with a project.

Ask these questions before sharing an example:

1. What is the person's background/ area of interest or influence?
Most of the times, we end up sharing number-heavy data with MarCom managers who could be idea-oriented and creative ideas with sales managers who may just want to know numbers.

2. How easy is the data understood by a layperson?
While making it simple enough for a layperson is literally creating a textbook entry, we should be careful to gauge the level of understanding & sphere of knowledge of the person/client concerned. A lot many times presentations fall flat because the person on the other side is not as enthusiastic as us about the intricacies of a loyalty program or event setup details. We should ideally be sending across a simple message - we have done it & can do it again, and we have cases to support our claim. This brings us to the next question.

3. What is your objective?
Most probably its to interest the client enough in our work and build trust & a level of comfort with our capabilities. In business development, its to get that all-important serious appointment. At this stage, its important that what we present fulfills the following criterion:
> Captures the person's imagination : Ensures that s/he goes through the entire presentation/case study
> Showcase our capability with valid data and testimonials
> Be brief : There should be enough interest built in the process to allow that person to call back for more. If they get the entire data, mechanics and the rest in one go, they may just
- not have the time to see it all
- ignore it or ask the same thing to be presented again in-person
- lose interest if not understood (all of us agree that cases, especially data, is best explained in-person)

Therefore, our endeavor should be to deliver the basics in the first interaction and deliver it right.
Give the client an opportunity to call back!

How should we go about it then?
Tell the client a story with a happy ending. Be brief, interesting and showcase summarized achievements.
> Begin with the marketing challenge and market reality / status that needed to be tackled.
> Explain briefly the creative breakthrough and its relevance to the product/service/market
> Snapshot results and their impact - program extension? increase in market share? further activity off-shoots? Replication in other markets/for other SKU's?
> If possible, add a slide on how this can be translated for a particular client. Give the client an opportunity to call back!

Get these in place and you wil have a winner in your hand!

RadioRama

2006-12-04T13:11:00.000+05:30

I hadn't come around to setting up my car radio for many a days and it frankly was quite irritating to keep scanning for traffic reports. As I got down to it, I quickly realized that my antiquated piece of equipment was no match for the recent radio storm that has hit New Delhi! 10 as per my last count, and I only have 6 presets..ugh..

But the funny thing is that they all play the same thing. In that context, we are a really funny lot. I remember when AIR FM came around in 94-95...Times FM they called it and it played all the latest and not-so-latest western numbers. In time, the private entrepreneurs go sick of the government bureaucracy and moved out, leaving AIR to manage it on its own. In their quest to be "cool" AIR hired some atrocious RJ's with even more atrocious accents (they are around still) and made a mockery of the whole thing...license Raj thrived and no private player entered for good five years.

Then came Mirchi in Mumbai...again with the latest foot-tapping western numbers and cooler RJ's with not so thick but rather "with-it" accents. Alas, that was not to last, and as quickly as they rapped, they turned "vernacular"...welcome Daler Mehndi!

Since then, we have been faced with a vicious attack of the channels with a channel popping in every month or so nowadays...All playing the same thing, vying for the same ad-slots and poaching the same morning RJ's (Nitin from Mirchi to Red, Simran from Red to Big, Dev from...etc etc..).

Funny thing is, all the new channels come with the same promise..no ads, no jokes, no talk...just music...look at Hit 95 or Fever 104. And even more funnily, they start by playing non-stop western numbers....dwindle down slowly to add some ads and finally the westerns disappear altogether!! What does it mean? That their primary audience or Word-of-mouth spreaders are the western music lovers....and once they have done their job, they don't deserve to listen to their favorite music, and the station suddenly becomes "one-with-the-masses"!

Then there's another angle to the story - how long can they all keep playing the same thing? They crack the same jokes, interview the same celebs, preview the same releases, warn of the same traffic jam...and as mentioned earlier, with their RJ poaching habits, its difficult to sub-consciously realize which station is which! Who will survive..as I don't think any one of them can command loyalty today unless they move into specialization. Mirchi has to play one lousy number for me to switch to the next available station. Red has to play one ad to get swapped for someone who isn't playing an ad. This has led to rolling-ads amongst some stations...brilliant idea but pissing off nonetheless...you see, an ad begins on 91.1, you switch to preset 2 i.e. 92.7 (marketeers hope that most people would set stations sequentially) to find the same ad either starting or right at the spot you left it in the last station and so on....what a piss off!!!! OK, now that you are enlightened, just to this...preset in random order or switch stations randomly and you might just survive!

Radio stations have to realize that this cannot go on forever. There will be a time soon enough when listeners won't know the difference between stations and hence not bother with who's pitching what. At that stage, they will need to do the following:

Play distinctive music (Oldies, Hip-Hop, Raagas etc)
Cater to distinctive populace (city slickers, kids, teenagers, college students etc)
Have a regional or language specialization like the present crop of cable TV channels

As for me, I wish the industry all the very best....the better it does, more new stations there will be. And that would at least mean that I will always have one station that will be playing non-stop music...including some good western stuff...

Amen to that!