You might come across this soon

With the recent war of prices, I wouldn't be suprised to come across this very soon, especially the rate at which they have been targetting women shoppers.

How fast are You growing?

Does make you think...doesn't it?

How the Voda pug got lost in God’s own country

Interesting article I came across after the recently very popular Vodafone Happy To Help ad.

An article by Rajul Kulshreshtha, Managing Director -- Motivator, A GroupM company

Folks, the good news is that advertising works! My wife actually got so inspired by the ad campaign of Kerala State that this summer we all flew down to Kerala, lock, stock and barrel. The bad news, my friends, is that nothing really works. What the advertising claims and what the reality are two different things. The whole funda that I heard from going through zillions of Hofsteads and the countless classes on brand interaction with the consumer finally came to roost in my head.

First, the story of the pug. How many OTS have you all got of the lovely little pug running behind the school bus or helping the little girl put stamps on the envelopes? Lots by now, thanks to Lalitji. ‘Happy to help’ being the tag line. God, how many times will they offer to help? But that could only happen if they were available. Trivandrum was a stutter. Kumarakom was sad, Thekkady was about so-so, and in Munnar the dog vanished! Got lost in God’s own country! And guess what? Only Preity Zinta and ADAG were working. What an idea and Water Air, etc. Dog was only wish karo!

What happens to all the OTS and all the money that people spend in promising to help? Who are they fooling with such claims? Maybe they all need to listen to Bob Marley at some point in time. And if they don’t remember it, let me help: “you can fool some people some time...” But, seriously, do we ever worry about the amount of money that has gone down the drain -- simply because people have not got their backend in place? And the consumer interaction with the brand is so terrible that they kind of develop a serious abhorrence to the pug. And if their company was not handling the brand and if number transferability was a reality, they would have dumped the pug. For whom? Good question... Anil Bhai or Preity or... We have to hand it to him -- Anil Bhai literally follows you! However, Anil Bhai has bigger problems. All that he should do is to get into a ‘burqa’ and visit one of his Reliance Web Worlds. What I can guarantee is that his Hindi vocabulary will certainly improve! The point being made is that consumer interaction with brands is woefully short of what is promised in the advertising. And more importantly, no one is listening or even gives a damn.

Hey, so what happened in God’s own country? Well, let me tell you. Even the CPI(M) has got it right. Arun Sarin is not the only one to do it. Kerala as a state is beautiful -- truly God’s own. But the consumer experience for a destination that is touted as one of the ten must-visit places in the world is woefully inadequate. The state is just not geared up for being a tourist destination. The infrastructure is sad. The people are nice, but are looking at the shorter end of things; roads are good in phases, tariffs are weird, one can go on and on. People still visit Kerala and do so only because they continue to see the wonderful visuals on TV and the Net. But having been there once, do they go back and recommend it? I guess I won’t be doing so. I would rather go to Dubai or even the Swiss Alps given the amount of money one needs to spend to get to Kerala from the North. The consumer interaction with brand Kerala is just not satisfactory.

The moral of the story is – purely from a consumer point of view – that consumer interaction with the brand is beginning to derive more meaning for all those sitting in their plush offices and allowing their agencies to spend their money. What they don’t realise is that they are continuing to lose consumers on a regular basis, and the scary part is that while most know of this, little is being done about it. I could give you many more such examples and I am sure that you will have lots of your own. To me a brand is successful if the consumer interaction with the brand is an enjoyable one. If not, then I am afraid all the noise on an IPL or ICL or whatever else is wasted.

On a parting note, I do hope that Mr Sarin finds the pug before it gets run over!

Source: exchange4media.com

The True Value of Account Management

A must read for Account Management people I thought
An article by,
Anisha Motwani, Vice-president, EURO RSCG, New Delhi

Kick Me
Account Management is the pivot around which the agency business revolves.
Many will laugh at this statement. Even client servicing who have spent some time in the industry.

This laughter isn’t because the statement is untrue, but rather because it is fundamentally true.

The broad role of account management is of a coordinator and manager. He/she is a person who ensures that all departments along with the client work in unison towards a common goal.

All of this looks great on paper but is this the ground reality?

You tend to be at the receiving end of all, clients, creative and bosses.
Creatives brand you as the well-dressed ‘courier guy’ or ‘postman’.
And sometimes you could even win the honorary title of ‘Bisleri’ (play safe).

Of course, the jibes and criticism don’t just stop at names. Your thinking abilities are compared to the amount of water found in the Sahara desert.
You even get blamed for having the ‘gift of the gab’.

So many young client servicing people often wonder if they’re walking around with a sign on their back saying ‘KICK ME’. That too in Futura Extra Bold Condensed in 72 point size.

How does account management earn such animosity? Despite having the most challenging and versatile role in the agency, why such criticism? Are the account service guys not playing their role?

Change is the only constant
As Dylan once famously said, Times are a changin’. This statement can be no truer than it is for account management today. It needs to wear a new hat to earn respectability and put an end to all cynicism.

The true value of account servicing is in being a “Client’s Marketing Problem Solver”. The most successful account management people in the industry are the ones who have played the role of a business partner to a client.

When you approach creativity keeping client’s business problems in mind, you come up with Creative Business Ideas, “CBI”, as against just ideas.
A Creative Business Idea:
-- Is Transformational
-- Changes Business Strategy
-- Drives Profitable Growth.

This is obviously not as simple as it sounds. It requires a complete re-orientation and ingraining it as a work culture in the agency. But what it does is bind the agency and client to a common agenda.

If the creative department is the backbone of an advertising agency, the new role will ensure that account management is the chair that keeps it straight.

Source: Exchange for media

A Programmer Celebrating his B'day

Happy Birthday to a Programmer!