Touchpoints - As we call it

Struggles of a nation

Here I am struggling with a common problem

I grew up in Shillong often referred to as the Scotland of the East. Ever since I moved out of for my education and then a job I have lived across most metros in India - Chennai to start, then to Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai for a brief time, a couple of years in Kolkata and then Delhi.

My job took me places and during the first few years of my career I found myself waking up in a new town every other day. I got busy, enjoyed the frills that a metro life had to offer, squeezed out time to explore each of them but I never seem to connect to this life that I was living.

The tin roofed cottage that I had lived in, the polished wooden floor, the fireplace, the smell of pine, the garden in front often call me back. Growing up in a hills has its own charm, small cities in which you can practically reach from one end to the other in half an hour. A few climbs and you are away into the jungle, pick cones from the ground and practice a few catches. So many a times we would have full fledged cricket matches with a log and pine cone. The polluted air in the city I live today (Delhi) lead me to ask the question if it was all worth.

We had enough time, we would sit down and allow our thoughts to wonder. Moments such as these are something we often long today but with all the distractions and screens around we have forgotten the process to reflect and gain clarity. We are in the age of finding solution instantly and as a generation have lost patience.

The comfort the hills provide draws me to submission, what would I have done had I not grown up in the hills.

Towns and Villages as per the popstrata -

Just compiled the list of towns and villages across pop strata, A difficult job to get the data right. This data is prepared from the dump files of census 2011.

Our way of gathering information is fast changing- Google VS Facebook

Just sit back and think for a while, how much time have you spent searching for something on Google to the time that you have spent reading articles, updates, information that are shared by your friends of pages you liked on facebook. A recent question being passed on about the top three websites that you visit each day, Facebook leads youtube and google comes third.

This brings us to the believe that there is a drastic shift in the way information would travel and be consumed. What does this trend mean to the a marketeer? A marketeer can no longer wait for the consumer to come to him feed him with the message. From the whole set of people present online, there are a few enthusiasts that do the search and share, then there are a few who share the information searched by others and a large chuck of the online population just consume the information. Hence it has become imperative for a marketeer to create content that urges or inspires a consumer to share.

For the consumer that stays online the triggers to google search comes from social networking platforms like facebook, twitter etc. Hence it is imperative today for a brand to make a presence on the digital platform and create content that are worth sharing.

Organizations have over the years relied on the hitherto communication mediums and have spent huge amount of money on them but it is now time to look at the digital platform with more seriousness.

What is behind the Enfield Thump!!

I came across this print ad in the latest issue of Rolling Stones that lead me to find this amazing film that I thought I should share.

This ad sure draws that attachment to the Enfield, outlines the true essence of an Enfield being made. And the film captures the true essence of Chennai without a word spoken. We have always associated The Royal Enfields with those evangelist who own and drive them. And this film and ad pays tribute to those behind making the machine, a tribute to the place where it comes from.

And it certainly has been able to strike a different chord. A new way of looking at what is an age old principle of advertising started by Ogilvy. Let people know the product, where it comes from and how it is crafted.

Coke Studio: A new Road for Music

I have often written and believed that music is a platform that can unite and has the power to serve a motive (Highway 61, Rock On) . We have had a plethora of realty TV shows from Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to a number of regional ones. This has certainly been instrumental in bringing out talents like Shreya Ghosal, Abhijit Sawant and many more, but what has worried me over the years is the dominance of Bollywood music over independent albums. Though I have great respect for Bollywood music but somehow feel that there exists a lot of talent outside that industry that needs to be brought out.

Music Entrepreneurship/Management and Sports Management are perhaps some things that have not caught up in India as yet, but I am a strong advocate of such concepts in India.

Some of the reasons for the rather slow growth of the independent music label industry:

1. Lack of a proper professional and organised mechanism to market independent music labels.

2. Lack of professional approach of bands or individual artists as they lack the necessary PR skills.

3. No one buys music!! Though the internet has been instrumental in allowing artists to have a greater reach, but piracy has been killing the industry.

4. The concept of live shows has picked up over the years but the consumers are still not ready to give it the same status as other entertaining forms like movies and eating out. With places like Hard Rock Cafes, High spirits in Kolkata, Curve in Pune etc. have surely been a platform for live musicians but still not a sustainable business opportunity for a band.

This brings me to the show that I wanted to share with you “Coke Studio” a show that has entered into its season 3. The underlying ideology of the show is to bring people closer, bridge gaps between societies through powerful music.

It encompasses the concept of live recordings and performance so that consumers can have a sense of involvement in the process of making music rather than just consume it. The music evokes a gamut of feelings with music ranging from traditional eastern, modern western and regionally inspired music. The platform has been provided by Coco Cola with the philosophy of peace an harmony which I feel is a great branding activity in a county like Pakistan.

Concepts like these can revolutionise the music industry in South Asian countries and replicating a similar model in India would perhaps take the industry on a new route or form a successful industry parallel to the existing Bollywood.

Facebook: Coke Studio

Highway61 will take Indian Rock to another level IF...

I had earlier blogged "We need music to spread its tentacles and serve a bigger responsibility in nurturing the minds of the people, the youth and foster a sense of awareness for the problems that have wrapped the nation." And this band was perhaps, exactly what I was referring to then.

I have been following Highway 61 a Pune based band for a couple of years now. Their music can be categorised under Hindi,Sufi, Urdu and Ethnic Rock. They have risen by playing at various college fests. Recently they won the Battle of Bands at SCMHRD and they would also open Bryan Adams on the 11th FEB 2011 in Pune.

This band has almost the right mix that is required for a band to be commercially successful. This band has risen purely on the basis of their music. They have the ability to take Indian Rock to another level if marketed properly. 50% of the Indian population is below 25 and considering the fact that they sing in Hindi there is a huge audience for the kind of music that they produce.

Their compositions are strongly rooted to what they stand for, they believe that they are the voice of the resurgent youth and it is necessary to make their voices heard, their song Jagoo Zara tries to capture just this essence.

Not too many music band in India have had really great commercial success, may be they have always been overpowered by Bollywood music. I believe that this kind of music has great potential to be commercially successful and give the Indian Rock a new definition. It would be interesting to see how these bands market themselves and what opportunities and business models come up so that bands such as these have sustainable commercial growth.

Follow them on Facebook and download their music: Highway61

What Drives Trade Across Borders?

To start off – some facts
US – Canada trade worth $820 billion (2007) , US-MEXICO TRADE-2006- $342 Billion, CHINA EXPORTS-2007-1.2 trillion of which the breakup is as below.
a. Asia- 46%-Japan-11%
b. Europe-24%-EU- 16%
c. North Ame-21%-US-14%

I was till now of the impression that China’s exports were mainly to America and Europe!!! This left me wondering what drives trade across borders.
The main factors of trade across nations were:
Common Language + 42 %
Common Regional Block + 47 %
Colony/Coloniser + 188 %
Common Currency + 114 %
Common Land Border +125%

The above facts would be true except for perhaps exports between India and Pakistan. Prof. Ghemawat in his book on International Marketing talks about the CAGE Framework to analyse bilateral trade.
C-Cultural, A-Administrative, G-Geographic, E-Economic

There have been multiple cases where organizations successful in their country of origin have failed when they went abroad, Walmart in Germany, Argentina, Brazil from where they eventually pulled out, Disney in Paris, Google in China. It would be interesting to see how Walmart adopts its operations in India though it is only going to manage the backend with Bharti managing the front end.

Different culture, ethnicity, values, language, religion all have an impact on bilateral trade. Geographic differences too have a major role in determining trade relations like physical distance, lack of land border, different time zones, climate etc. One reason for the booming Indian IT industry was the difference in time Zones with US. Another reason that drives trade can be attributed to administrative policies like colonial ties, trade blocks, same currency, political hostility, and policies common and civil. Some internal factors that impact foreign investments and trade are closed economy, lack of membership to international Organizations, weak institutions and corruption in a country. The last reason that impacts bilateral trade is economic, like the rich-poor divide, differences in cost and quality of natural resources, financial resources, human resources, infrastructure, and knowledge. Other macro economic factors like Economic Size and per capita income play a major role too.

Complan Boy!

If you see me you would be certain that I am a complain boy, with a height of 6.1 ft though a little thin. I recently understood the secret behind my height after watching this weird ad of Complan. Though I never liked the taste I drank it till it was replaced with beer.

The ad claims to have done a scientific research on children. Yes Children. Few were given Complan and few were given some other health drink (not beer). Children drinking Complan grew twice.. that’s what they claim.

The ad shows a group of mothers paying a visit to the “Department of Nutrition” to find the truth. Imagine a conversation between two mothers.
Mother1: your son a complain boy.
Mother 2: No, My son was tested with B..vita
Mother1: Ohhh.. I am so sorry for you, your son grew just half compared to mine.

Imagine what would be going through the guys who didn’t grow as much as the Complan kids. Had I been a specimen for the experiment would have sued Complan.
Remember the Complan ad with Shahid Kapoor and Ayesha Takia. The experiment seemed to have failed there I guess, with Shahid still looking like a kid and Ayesha must have got herself overdosed with it.

This new ad is one of the weirdest I have ever seen, and if such an experiment was actually carried out, we better call Maneka Gandhi to fight for us too.

Rock ON?

If you have heard the song “Sindabad the Sailor” from the movie Rock On and you often hum it because the tune appeals to you than hold on a moment and get hold of the lyrics. I would definitely classify this in the genre of ‘ROCK’. A heavy metaphor, with a modest message to follow one’s own dreams and harness courage to do what one is passionate about. Not paying heed to what others have to say and focus in our pursuit of satisfaction and happiness.

What I am trying to drive to at this junction is not what the song means, but the fact that this kind of music has the potential to revolutionize and provoke thought among the common masses. We have had decades of hindi music which have revolved around the same theme of “love” and they have become so ordinary that it wont be difficult for you to guess the line that will follow when you are given the first. We still haven’t had any success in hindi rock so far, A few good Indian rock bands like Moksha, Thermal in a Quarter, Parikrama, Candywalk have had success but limited may be because their medium is English which fails to send across the message to every person. Candywalk did make an effort strike a chord with the masses by roping in Palash Sen in one of their songs on Aids awareness.

Rock music can have inspiration from a plethora of themes from something as noble as friendship to politics, child labour, global warming….. and is not bound by any preconceived story lines. It can be used as a squib to ignite the minds of the youth. It can be used as a tool to awaken the feeling of esteem.

“I can’t believe the news today.. I can’t close my eyes and make it go away…how long” a line from the track “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2. This song was written after an incident in Northern Ireland where 13 Catholic’s were shot. This song brings back the memories of the inhuman act each time they perform the song on stage. Twenty five years have passed since then, but that incident made immortal by the song has an impact as strong as it did then.

We need songs that can give a reflection of daily sufferings of humans and pave a road to become a medium to propagate a message of social importance. Axl Rose came up with the lyrics of their famous track “welcome to the jungle” that portrays the inner feeling of a man who moved from a rural place to the fast moving city life.

Rock music allows listeners to paint their own interpretations like the song “Sindabad the Sailor” an amazing composition, and hats off to Javed Akhtar for the thoughtful lyrics. Cobain, is a master of heavy metaphor, the famous track “Come as you are” is just an example of how people expect you to be “as you are” and not put on a mask, he goes on to add a line “And I swear that I don't have a gun” has been interpreted to mean that Cobain "had nothing to hide from anyone".We need music to spread its tentacles and serve a bigger responsibility in nurturing the minds of the people, the youth and foster a sense of awareness for the problems that have wrapped the nation.

Choose your machine:

Bikers- what you are going to read is expert advice from an expert. I proudly own a CBZ (not Xtreme), however I have tried not to be biased towards CBZ or Hero Honda.
Having driven almost all bikes in the 150cc segment that are available in India, I qualify to write this, so you are deprived of the right to question me. I just tried the “All new muscle Hunk” note: the limited edition one which one of my pals will be an owner not sure whether a rightful owner though. It claims 0 to 60 in 5 secs and lives up to it, but so what CBZ, pulsar even the sporty Apache just manages to do it.

Now the CBZ “It had rocked the nation like nothing ever had, it won hearts, it became a cult, it became a legend in its own life time” it sure did, and they say the “legend is reborn” the Xtreme. Did it? Xtreme loses to the Hunk in looks and in feel. They are equally powerful at 14.4 Ps. Wondering what Ps is, close the browser and watch “Kyu Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi bahu Thi”. But for all those wannabe bikers, PS is the German name for horsepower, a horse is a pferd, power is strom, hence "PS".
I am bored of seeing the pulsar on Indian roads, I find a guy on a Bajaj Chetak cooler to the guy on Pulsar. I have my votes for the pulsar with round headlights when it comes to looks. It was “definitely male” but can’t say the same for the alien head pulsar with its razor sharp tail. The throttle is a fraction better than the CBZ.

Now moving to the Yamaha stable, Libero disappointed me and just when I was losing faith, they decided to woo me. The new FZ is an amazing piece of engineering, and yes it has Yamaha written all over it. I will never trade it for its sheer looks and the Yamaha logo. Yamaha is back in the segment which was ruled by Hero Honda and Bajaj.

So if you have the bucks the Hunk and FZ are the bikes to look out for, and the added advantage these bikes have is the seating comfort and the high pillion seat. So all you guys who are lucky to have a girl rob a bank or blackmail your dad or take the tough road and earn the bucks to ride these machines.