The brand called 'DJ AMUL '

Personal branding is a whole new approach to marketing. Now, instead of simply working on increasing the popularity of the company brand name, more and more people are working on increasing the branding of their own given name. Many have done it. Celebrities are the best example for personal branding.

Why is a goal by Beckham enjoyed more than a goal by any other player?Why do we have people build temples for Rajnikanth and not for any other equally successful movie star? Does the answer lie only in the talents possessed by these individuals or something beyond that? Do these personalities “brand” themselves and consciously do or refrain from doing things that affect their brand image?

Sitting back I was wondering if there is any one in my circuit who personifies personal branding? Quick came the reply!!!! DJ AMUL it is!. I have known this guy for more than 10 years now.To the world he might be known as DJ AMUL,but amongst friends he is still known by his nickname ____(I would refrain from mentioning it in a public forum since that might not go with his current image LOL).

To the best of my knowledge DJ AMUL was an introvert guy in school. Even though he was good at sports he used to be reluctant, to be a part of the annual gathering. However due to extreme persuasion from friends, he agreed to participate in one of the functions. Those were the days when fusion dance(i.e clubbing together of 4-5 songs) was in vogue. Editing for such fusion songs would be done by local cassette stores who would charge a bomb for their service. In this scenario DJ AMUL decided to give it shot with his double cassette player.  The editing was perfect to the 'T' so was his attempt towards' ORTHODOX DJing'.

Incidentally we also happen to complete our bachelors degree from S.I.E.S college.Here the ' ORTHODOX DJing' actually moved to the next level. Cassette player was replaced by good music system, BOSE speakers, MIC and few other gizmos that  I am unaware of. The big day arrived when he enrolled for an inter collegiate war of DJ's and manged to win the competition hands down.There has been no looking back since then.  

  
In a competitive field like DJing one really has to put lot of efforts to stand out in the crowd. This is where personal branding becomes very crucial. Tracking the efforts put by DJ AMUL it looks like he has chosen the social media route to brand himself. This is the right choice since most of the social media tools are either available free of cost or at a negligible cost. Also the other thing which he's got it right is choosing the correct platforms within social media. Following is a screen shot of the platforms chosen by him

Most of the platform chosen are related to the brand personality

Creating personal brands is very much like creating any brand.One needs to decide the brand elements,give meaning to them,position them,communicate the meaning and manage them over a period  of time. Based on this aspect, following is a brand pyramid 

Courtesy: www. fast-company.com

To be a successful personal brand you need to follow the above pyramid diligently and keep a tab of what is happening in the market place.


Now here is the interesting part. I have analysed  brand DJ AMUL very closely and to my surprise knowingly or unknowingly he has followed 8 laws of Peter Montoya which are required to be a successful personal brand.


BRAND DJ AMUL: Adherence to the 8 laws:


1. The law of specialization: DJ AMUL has always focused on his core strength which is alternative/eclectic genre of music like Dub step,Drum N Bass & Break Beat


2. The law of leadership:  DJ AMUL carves a niche every time he is behind the console.He is one of the few DJ's in the country who commands a leadership in the Indian Electronic music scene.


3. The law of personality:  He has created a very respectable and credible personality that is highly regarded by friends and foes alike. He has always communicated the image of working hard to overcome his flaws and as one who experiments on an on-going basis


4. The law of distinctiveness: He has always presented himself with finesse and epitomized style and dominance.Right from creating designer kurtis by cutting the bed linen of his house, this guy has experimented with his outfit & looks and has managed to create a distinctiveness for himself 


5.The Law of Visibility: DJing  being a very glamorous profession  has guaranteed him high visibility. Through consistency in performance and his personification, he has managed to sustain the public’s interest in his brand.


6.The Law of Unity: He mirrors the same image both on and off the DJ console. He has always acted in consistence with his core values and beliefs and has always communicated his brand loud and clear


7. The Law of Persistence: He has never wavered from his core persona. He still is the same reclusive guy I knew of all these years.


8. The Law of Goodwill: Finally with many well wishers like me the law of goodwill works in his favor always


If you are still wondering who is this guy, catch him dropping some awesome music  on the New Year's eve at one of the happening parties in Mumbai.

Image for reference only

Why 'WHY THIS KOLAVERI' created an online tornado

I would like to begin by confessing that in spite of being a Tamilian I seldom keep a track of Tamil movies and songs. The Kollywood movies that I watch are either the one’s which have achieved worldwide success (read Indhiran, Sivaji etc) or any other movies that I get dragged to  by my friend Raj who is usually abreast with  Kollywood’s latest happenings. The latest storm that has hit the social media space is #kolaveri.

For my non –Tamilian friends #kolaveri means a savage or a murderous rage. By now, you either have no idea what I’m talking about or are nodding your head helplessly humming the half-Tamil, half-English (and often gibberish) song that has taken the Internet by storm. Why This Kolaveri Di, is a song written and sung by Tamil actor Dhanush in his spare time, which has become frenzy, online and on the radio. A Tamil song that’s crossed over into Hindi airwaves yesterday at prime time of all radio channels. And one that’s done it minus AR Rahman? Whoa.

Listening to it for the first time one would feel that it is a clever  product placement by Knorr in the digital space("yo boys I am singing song,SOUP SONG  flop song why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di rhythm correct why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di maintain this why this kolaveri..di..")

 Now a quick look at how the movie has been marketed smartly even before its release using social media. I am writing this on day 4 of the’ #kolaveri’ trending on twitter! This is one of the smartest word of mouth marketing strategies adapted by movies I have seen by far after Paranormal Activity. In less than a week ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’ a popular song .It  became sensational, conversational track on Twitter, Facebook, Traditional Media and beyond.  The statistics (as of yesterday) below shows its success:

• The song has got about 18,64,011 views, more than 24,709 likes, around 8000 comments on YouTube (As of 23/11/2011, 11 AM)
• The song is trending on Twitter in India from past 3 days with hash tag: #Kolaveri
• The song was shared by 8 Lakh 31 thousand 41 people on Facebook (as of 23/11/2011, 11:10 AM) (refer image above)
• As per Youtube’s Trend Dash Board Kolaveri song is trending in the top 10 is US today and number 1 in India past five days.
• On November 22^nd, 2011 on the basis of the last 1,000 tweets 8,36,069 impressions were generated, reaching an audience of 709,636 followers within the past 24 hours. Of the 1000 tweets 576 were original tweets, 302 were retweets and 122 were the @mentions.  The maximum impression was created by Mr. Anand Mahindra’s Tweet with #kolaveri (refer image above)

The song was released on 16^th of November 2011 on hearing it first I felt this number would be a TamilNadu sensation but it went beyond what I predicted and is now becoming an international sensation with people in Pakistan UK & USA going gung ho about it.

Reasons for National Sensation:

• The song definitely is catchy and makes you addicted, especially the foot tapping beats that makes you shake your head (at-least).
• The lyrics of the song is in English (mostly) sung in tamil style thus making this understandable worldwide,  glad they have added the subtitle bringing to it a karaoke approach.
• The video of the song is very personalized depicting the recent national best actor award winner singing the song (showcasing his singing talents), his expressions and smile that shows soulful singing, presence of Shruti Hassan and Aishwarya at the studio that indicates involvement of the entire crew to make this song and lastly direction of Aniruddh a 21 year of young music director who has made this possible.
• The sequence of shoot is wise, basically hero should have been depicted in a pub with a glass of whisky in hand (typical bollywood style), the choice of shooting it in a studio is wise and very personalized.
• The movie marketing is well strategized with involvement of Social Media from day 1. The recording of the video at the studio itself for the sake of YouTube proves the efforts.
• The song is sensation in US, Australia, India and many other countries – love the way the movie is promoted, a song can speak more than a trailer and thanks to Social Media for making this possible.

I am sure the song has helped creating an identity of the music director, talented actor cum singer and the movie ‘3’.  Click here to view the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8&feature=aso

Delhi V/S ROI

 A lot has been spoken about online marketing by the marketing professionals across the globe. The new buzz for marketers is 'Social Media'. Social media involves using various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,Flickr etc. However the million dollar question is which platform is suitable for my brand?.


Most of the companies are jumping on to the social media bandwagon without realizing what their core objective is. I-want-to-be-there because everyone else is there. How many of us wake up early in the morning and check the status update of our friends on FB or tweet about last night's hang over. Not Many I guess. Now you might be wondering whats Return on Investment(ROI) go to do with Delhi or Delhites. Well in the title ROI stands for Rest of India.There has always been some kind of cold war among various cities based on their personality, traits and characteristics.I am definitely not trying to be racist here,but presenting you the facts.However hardly would have people imagined that this small cold war of cities would create a ruckus in the digital world.

Few months back there a blog which almost created a digital racism war. The blogger was Sahana Nair Joshi(yes you read it write coz she is a part South Indian and part Maharashtrian). Sahana apparently came to the capital two years ago and was sad to see that the average Delhi boy lived up to his reputation of being ignorant, chauvinistic oaf with the intelligence levels of an autistics 3-year old(these are not my words but quoted in Hindustan Times dated 15th September 2011). She was apparently ditched by one of the Punjabi guy which made her to vent her emotions on her blog the same night.


From the time this blog was written it was all over the web and created a national divide of some sort.It received thousands of comments and the followers of the blog from some 30 odd increased to some odd thousands. Most of us who are not active on Twitter would have missed this online battle. Hence I thought I should share this with you all.  


STAGE 1: 

OPEN LETTER TO A DELHI BOY

Dear Delhi boy,

Namaskaram from the South of India, or as you may like to believe, the countries south of the Vindhyas. I came to your city 2 years ago with a brand new job and a bucketload of expectations. My friends and family here thought I was completely insane to choose Delhi over more female conducive cities like Bangalore or even Bombay. I am very sad to report that your reputation of being an ignorant, chauvinistic oaf with the intelligence levels of an autistic 3 year old on crack precedes you and it hurts me even more to admit to this rather accurate description.
Your reputation has travelled far and wide, to countries outside South India as well. And believe me man, it is not a pretty situation. I understand that your stone faded, ripped jeans, your V-neck cleavage showing t-shirts that reveal to the world that you have infact inherited your mother’s voluptuous shaved Punjabi bosom, are what you think maketh a man, but it does not. It only maketh for a man who gets a pity license to share his girlfriend’s bra. I write to you as a woman who has been brought up in a society free of any discrimination towards women so thanks to you, my living in Delhi is as safe as Hugh Hefner’s playmate of the year living in Jeddah.
You meet me at a friend’s birthday, talk to me about nightclubs and your new SUV and when I look like I’m in desperate need of a barf bag, you think I have an attitude problem. I understand this completely. But let me remind you that I am from SOUTH INDIA and not SOUTH DELHI, so no ,I am not scrawny, I am not fair, I don’t have straight hair and my topics of conversation go beyond the Fendi I saw in last month’s Vogue. I am olive-skinned, have lower –back-length lustrous cascading tresses that sometimes make me look like I fell out Jim Morrison’s tour bus. Got a problem with that? Well just suck it up coz I was born into a society where a woman can whoop your Punjabi patoutie to pulp. While your mother pretends to be very progressive but still cows down to the whims of her husband every single time, mine on the other hand was born into a matriarchal home where every single possession is in the rightful name of the girl child. Could you ever, my hunky handsome, cash throwing pig, imagine this kind of power in your society? So stop telling me that women are not treated like trash where you come from. Just shut up and admit to it. It’s just easier that way. And lest we forget that we’ve managed to curtail the number of rape cases despite not having a female Chief Minister. Amma ‘s body composition generates way too much heat for her get out of her AC room anyway, so don’t even bring that up.
And your English. Good Lord, what in the world is up with that? I don’t want you to ‘explain me’ anything. It’s like you need to go to primary school all over again. And call them your parents, not your ‘peerents’ or what your cooler, more happening brethren call them—‘mere mom-dad’. Like what are they? Conjoined twins? Are they joined at the hip? Your South India counterparts may not have your looks, but are way more mentally stimulating, a quality that eludes you obviously, but has been the single most sexy factor for us Southie chicks since the age of five. I mean once again, who can blame you? You were brought up on Gurdas Mann and the heroic deeds of Devinder Singh Bhullar and the ever so fair concepts such as elections in Phugwada while we mere ‘black-colour waale’ mortals had to make do with Bharatnatyam classes, M.S Subhalakshmi and chess. Shame no? And yes, if by a slight chance, you do find my big dancer eyes attractive enough for you to prolong our conversations and meetings and if by an even slighter chance you fall in love with me and decide to marry me, you will have to wear a mundu and you will have to lie prostrate shirtless at the Guruvayurappan temple. A small price to pay for all the genuine independence I am giving up for you. And that’s the real thing, not what you see the Delhi girls at LSR and Stephen’s doing during their fake as hell protest marches coz ultimately they’re going home to a family who’re putting together money for Bobby beta’s bail coz he just ran over his girlfriend’s ex, by mistake of course.
I understand that I come from the land of ugly. I mean obviously Hema Malini, Sri Devi and Aishwarya Rai with their natural banal looks don’t even hold a candle to Priyanka Chopra after her two nose jobs and one lip reconstruction surgery. Not a chance in hell. But when you do come to ask for my hand, remember I am part Maharashtrian and part South Indian and NO, they are not the same thing. So please tell your family, not to drop racist bombs like “Arey woh sab toh ‘Sawth’ ke hi hote hai na?” And YOU—don’t walk up to mother in an attempt to make flattering conversation and say shit like “Aunty you don’t look like a South Indian You are so fair” In return she will verbally Texas chainsaw massacre your face so badly, your dead Dadi will haunt you the very same night, telling you how fleeing Pakistan was less traumatic. So don’t. Better still just don’t speak. Just glean and flex your muscles a little and keep smiling. Just whatever you do, don’t talk.
You may not like our food, but then we don’t like you, which is worse. We may not be even that into food, but then that’s coz we have other things to do with our lives, like crack IIT or become writers, journalists, activists and do things that we are very passionate about. The South Indian woman has a voice and boy can she yell. So if you want to Sambhar ‘Chawl’ your way into my life, then you got to toe the line. Be way more aware than what your are. Remember Delhi is not a country and we are not Black. If I ever hear you utter that name of that colour, I will Kalaripayattu your tongue out of your rear. Yes , that is the secret behind our awesome sex ratio. Just so you know.
For someone who is so confident of his physical abilities you really suck at luring an intelligent woman. Don’t send me text messages that say ‘happy guru purab’, you freakshow and if you want to be cute with your ever so charming (not) Punjabi advances, then don’t send texts that say “Dil laye gayee kudi Madrraaas di”! NO. It’s just not cool man. I may have have missed on a lot in this letter, but that’s ok because you’ll forget to read it and even if you do , you’ll get your cousin Jassi from Defence Callonny to translate it for you. And this letter can’t go on forever like the Punjabi male ego.
So long my love, and here’s two steps of gidda just for you, just to show that I can be traditional and will not accidently kick your sister while doing so.
Love, hugs, kisses aka ‘muah’ (only I shall ‘muah’, you please don’t do anything coz you tend to forget that these are my lips and not a piece of Tandoori Chicken from Kakke- Da- Dhabba)

Yours
Madrasan
(Only I can call myself that. If you EVER call me by this name, I will shove so many coconuts down your system that your little saver pack versions will begin to sprout coir.)

Now here is the reply to the above blog by people who were offended

STAGE 2:

OPEN LETTER TO A DELHI BOY (BY MADRASAN) - RESPONSE (BY DELHI BOY ONLY)

Madrasan girl,

I am pure born n brought up Delhi boy and I am very hurting reading your letter (http://raagshahana.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-letter-to-delhi-boy.html) . You have some misunderstanding I think. We are not like that. We just like to chill. People from Madras and all are too much serious only. Abeyaar chillax.

What is wrong in driving SUV? U know, there is four month waiting for Fortuner. It is great car – even better than my old Civic. Its not for what you think yaar, not for pataoing girls n all, im a car freak. I have need for speed.

And about complexion, It don’t matter if youre black or white. Aishwarya and jaya lalitha (CM of Madras) are so white like us. So its cool. You can be black but don’t be complexed about this yaar. I hate this fair n lovely n all. Just be comfortable yaar. So many rappers people are black, more black than you, but they don’t use fair n lovely or fair n handsome. They are cool like this only.

I think you don’t like Punjabi accent. Me too – I don’t like. But it is only in West Delhi people – like pappes of Punjabi Bagh and Rajouri and all. Im South Delhite and we don’t have Punjabi accent at all. Many my relative live in UK, US, Dubai and all.. Next year, im going to my mamaji’s place in US of A. I know I can speak good American accent also. Also don’t mind but some Southies have very bad accent – they say emm ehh or something.  I know it is because of voice problem or something and they are good from heart.

And what abt this you say Punjab male ego? No man.. we are very chilled people yaar. My cousin brother wife wears bikini n all when she go abroad. My dadaji dadiji are cool with it. We respect women too much. For Rakhi, I gave my sis 25 grand –  money is for spending only, yaar.

You think that  you madrassis n bengalis n all all are intelligent only. No yaar, not true. So many my cousins and colony people study in DU. And one guy (specsy) is doing engineering from IP university. My mom dad also tell me to join regular college for good college experience but yaar, I know my carier is modelling only. So im working very hard to build good body. Too much competition in this field but my bhuaji knows some big fashion designers so I hope I get break. Maybe I also try for Roadies or Splitsvilla – both my favurite shows – but Raghu takes too much in the audition round yaar.

First I read your letter I feel angry but then I feel that this girl maybe have some bad experience with some Rajouri guys. Come to GK side yaar – we are cool – hangout at Costa or at pubs and all. I know madrassis get angry like Sreesanth but it is not good. He is in and out of team. Be cool like Dhoni . He is always captain only yaar,

;-)

Delhi Boy

P.S: All the above information is publicly available online. It does not represent the views of brandchaska in any way. (Probably my last attempt on writing such a long post)

Micro Marketing for Macro Impact....!!!

If you were to look at Marketing a decade back, much emphasis was laid on ALT way of communication i.e. T.V. , Out door, Radio, Press etc. In the last decade we have witnessed a paradigm shift in the planning a 360 Integrated Brand Communication methodology. Today Marketers want to reach out to the consumers & be present in all the possible touch points to make their Brand Visible & heard in the minds of the consumer.

As the share of Modern trade is on a rise, Marketers are re-framing their approach. Today the science of Micro Marketing is on a rise to lure the consumers. Micro Marketing is the most cost effective way of getting your Brand across to your consumers. Though the cost per contact may be a bit on the higher side it ensures that it has a Strong Top of Mind recall to ensure there are off takes for your Brand. Most of the FMCG companies today make their Brand presence at various touch points. Companies have identified their top retail outlets and ensure their Brand presence across theses outlets, through window display units. In modern trade outlets entire aisle, end caps, shelf display are showcasing the Brands with their usp to differentiate themselves against their competitors. Companies have also adopted the sampling route which enables significant trials with the target audience. Automobile companies keep a display unit of new models launched where by the consumers have a look and feel of the new variant.

It is crucial to tickle the consumers sensorial and micro marketing is the perfect way to get it done. Marketing campaign today must have the micro marketing approach which will ensure the Brand campaign is a HIT..

CrowdSourcing the Rajnikant way!!!

Crowd sourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas,or content by soliciting contributions from large groups of people. This is specially done through online community rather than from own employees or business partners.

To simplify the concept let me give you some classic examples of crowd sourcing in the Indian context.

1. Frito lay launched a contest asking consumers to submit their suggestions for new flavor of potato chips to add to its portfolio. The brand then allowed web users to vote for their favorite from the numerous entries it received. The person behind the winning idea bagged a prize of Rs.50 lakh and 1% of future revenues

2.Vodafone Essar & O&M ran a contest for FB users to watch partially completed ad featuring animates 'Zoozoos' and suggest how it might end.

3. Finally not to forget Maggi which asked their users to reveal their real life stories related to Maggi,and promised to feature them on their packaging.

Now coming back to the title of the post. The post would remain incomplete without mentioning the 'BAAP' of crowd sourcing 'Rajnikant'. You might be wondering how the hell is Rajnikant related to crowd sourcing. Ever since Enthiran/Robot has been released there has been an incredible amount of Rajini jokes that have been going around. On the web, on social networking sites, on sms, everywhere the current trending topic is the latest Rajini joke. Rajini jokes are today the best conversation starters.

There is something very interesting about this whole Rajnikanth saga. Every single joke that is going around is complimentary towards Rajinikanth. They are funny, yes, they also eulogize him. It adds to the overall brand appeal of Rajinikanth. People take immense pride in sharing the latest Rajini jokes with each other. So every Rajini joke also adds to cool quotient of the narrator.

Possibly Rajnikanth today is a truly crowd sourced brand. Made by fans. To make more fans. If there was any way of quantifying then I am sure, Rajnikanth has more fans in 4 months, than any time ever before.

There is a lot that Rajini Saar in his inimitable style can teach all of us in marketing and communication. Here are 5 possible reasons.

One: Crowd sourcing works, and how. Crowd sourcing does not destroy brand value, it does not diminish the brand equity. If you truly let the crowd control your brand, and if the crowd loves your brand they will make sure that the story of the brand is told well

Two: Like it or not, crowd sourcing will happen. It cannot be controlled; it currently is on its way to become mainstream culture. We as owners of brand will be better off acting as catalysts and not as inhibitors.

Three: crowd sourcing can actually improve your brand in ways you cannot imagine. There is a variety of inputs that comes from crowd, and if you as brand owners are willing to accept, filter and broadcast what is right for the brand, it will make the brand better.

Four: Crowd sourcing can revitalize your brand and fill it with new vitality. What crowd sourcing has done for  brand Rajni can be done for any brand. It has made the brand Rajini one of the buzziest brand of our times. Agreed that the Rajini brand has enough in it to spark off the buzz, but then most brands do have enough in them to start a buzz.

Five: To make the entire crowd sourcing effort work, nurture the crowd. There would be times when the brand will not like what the crowd does. Jump in, have a dialogue and together fix the issue. Rajini brand managers could have killed the entire wave of jokes, or they could have curated them. Curating the crowd's opinion always works better

So if Rajini can, why cant we?

(Shake your head vigorously in front of the computer from left to right to see Rajni 'Saar' in action)

Consumer Kitty in your Brand Equity

If one had to ever measure the quantum of the term Brand Equity, it would more be inclined towards the intangible part of Consumer psyche. If someone plays an important role in making or breaking your Brand is Consumer. More than just using the Brands tangible features toady the Consumer seeks for Intangible benefits he seeks from the Brand. One of the most difficult task with Marketers today is acquiring consumers from the competitor. And if the competitors Brand falls on No. 1 or No. 2 slot the task is even worst. Consumers need a rocket solid reason to switch their Brand. 

Let me give you a real life e.g. One of the consumers who had called me and was complaining about unavailability of a Brand which I was taking care of, I was saved since my Brand was No.1 in India in Sweet Spreads category. This is what I will call a Loyal Consumer, one who not only buys your Brand, but makes it a part of his life. Consumers are taken for a ride by Private Label Brands for Modern Trade, these products are Dirt cheap & offer more value to the consumers by giving Buy one get one Free. Most important task with marketers today is to provide various intangible benefits which the consumers seek out for.   

In the end to conclude The Equity in a Brand which the consumer will some how find should be embedded in the Brand itself & should be visible to the consumer, as a Consumer, he not only buys a Brand but OWNS it...!!!

SEC classification of Bollywood Stars!!!

As a pact between us (me & my co blogger) we had principally decided that we would discuss about anything but Bollywood. We were quite clear from the beginning that the entire purpose of blogging was dissemination and sharing of knowledge pertaining to marketing & branding(that sounded so preachy!! never mind).The idea was to weave in the concept of marketing & branding in whatever damn thing we would discuss on this blog.


However having born in a country which thrives on cricket & Bollywood how could I be an exception? So strictly following the DNA of the blog,I thought of exposing our readers to the concept of SEC classification by citing real life or rather reel life examples from Bollywood. This might sound vague, but this very analogy challenges the existence of the age old marketing concept.


The SEC Classification (also called the Social Economic Classification) is a classification used by surveyors, market researchers,media and marketing companies in India to categorize consumer behavior. SEC is primarily determined by 2 factors:


1.Educational level of the Chief Wage Earner of the household
2. Occupational level of the Chief Wage Earner of the household


For a better understanding you may refer to the latest SEC grid used by the marketers as shown below.

Latest SEC Grid from one of the leading management consultants

  Based on the above grid the country's population is divided into 3 classes:

1.Upper most segment of the consuming class -A1,A2 &B1
2.Middle segment-B2 & C(concentrate on this segment since the climax is related to this segment)
3.The lower most segment-D, E1 & E2

Enough of Gyaan I guess. Cut to Bollywood. Now this is where I have my doubts. If the above information holds true for a population of 1,210,193,422  then our Bollywood stars should be no exception right? Look at some interesting facts below:

Saif Ali Khan - Educated at Winchester College, an independent boys school in England.

Aamir Khan - Bachelor's Degree in B'Comm from NM College, Mumbai

Hrithik Roshan – Bachelor's Degree in B'Comm from Syndeham College, Mumbai

John Abraham - MMS from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET)

Aishwarya Rai – 12th from Ruparel College, Mumbai (She was studying architecture at the Rachana Institute when the Miss World contest happened)

Preity Zinta – Graduate in criminal psychology

Bipasha Basu – A Commerce Graduate, she was planning to study for CA when she became the Ford Supermodel of the World

Kareena Kapoor - Did a course in Information Technology and Microcomputers from Harvard. Studied law for a year but left to focus on her acting career.

Priyanka Chopra – Completed 12th from Army Public High School (Bareilly). Began her graduation course from Jai Hind College in Mumbai but left after winning Miss World. So based on the above SEC grid Priyanka Chopra & Aishwarya Rai would fall under SEC B2 (this is taking into account their education qualification as HSC and considering Bollywood celebrity as self employed professionals). Now practically speaking everybody knows that the SEC of a person is directly proportional to the income he or she earns. These Bollywood beauties charge an average of Rs.3.5 crore per endorsement(Source: Percept Talent Management) & an equal amount for featuring in one movie.  Even if we decide to overlook the money they make from public appearances which range  from performing at a politician's daughter's wedding to being judge of a reality show,they still wouldn't qualify as SEC B2. I wonder which SEC grid are the marketers of brands like Gucci, Fendi & Prada using to classify their TG?.However I am sure they would figure that out coz,bloody we are marketing guys yaar!!

The Sphere of Marketing

Serving in the Marketing function & having a descent understanding of the term, “Marketing” from Gurus all over the world, it still surprises when the term marketing is used by surrounding people in their day to day life so very often. Working in the FMCG industry for a last couple of years, it just made me realize how the 4P’s of Marketing have been evolved over last few decades. Going beyond the science & dna of Marketing what surprises me is the use of word Marketing in the day to day life by people surrounding you. More than a mere definition the value, perception and whole angle of understanding Marketing has changed amongst the general audience.

Let me share a few insights on the perception of the term MARKETING:

So here it goes........

I have put Marketing into various clutters as per the understanding of common man in his daily life, so the realm of Marketing will no more be the same to Professional in Marketing. It starts with the rising sun and ends with the moon setting on the horizon.

Everything is Marketing: it starts with the house maid getting groceries from local kirana store, “The store owner is doing so much Marketing that it is becoming difficult to get daily needs at a good price”. The reference made here was the renovation done at the store which was directly / indirectly related to hike in prices.

Local daily transport: Getting an auto rickshaw which going to office is become like winning a lottery these day, at least in the western suburbs of Mumbai. In a casual conversation with one of the auto rickshaw drivers I was told that morning Marketing activities by local fishermen made the transportation unavailable. What was meant that the fishermen use to transport their daily stock which resulted in unavailability of transportation.

Buying of house hold requirement: What is outside stems from inside. Typically any purchase related activities meant for house hold activities is coined under Marketing. So it can be anything as simple as buying 1kg pack of sugar for that matter!!!!.... I am sure this angular shift will take best of Purchase managers for a toss.

So I fail to understand and anticipate the structural change Marketing has gone through & the time has come when the Global Marketing Guru’s need to revise the definition of Marketing beyond 4p’s.

Marketing Professionals the least sought after life partners!!!

 Me and my co-blogger had been contemplating for past one week on what should be the topic for our first write up. Being overtly creative we both could not arrive at a consensus on the topic to be chosen. Until i came across a article in one the leading dailies(read TOI).

Apparently there was a survey done by one the leading matrimonial search engine(till this point I only knew of the BIG THREE search engines. Thanks TOI for educating me) . The sample size was 5000 respondents and the methodology adopted was Quantitative research (this is 4 d uninformed who are unaware that survey forms a part of the quantitative methodology). Some interesting facts from the survey are as under:

1.50% women chose finance professionals over software professionals as their preferred life partners

2.  80% of the women are willing to work after marriage

3.50% of them might call it quits after having a child (not sure if this 50% is from the above 80% or is it independent of the above)

4. Nearly 70% of the women expected their spouses to earn between `50,000 and 1 lakh per month

5.  Almost 20% wanted to marry a man earning more than `1 lakh per month(again not sure if this 20% is from the above 70% or independent) 

6. And this one was the final nail in the coffin ' Marketing Professionals were the least sought after life partners'

Even though the sample size was small I was quite convinced that its is quite representative in nature since the findings are bang on. My mom on reading this article immediately started shouting ' Finance pannu da entna dara sonnen'(which meant I urged you take finance as your major, in my mother tongue)

But I still believe otherwise coz, Bloody we are marketing guys yaar.