The Bharat Nirman Saga and the Idiots Marketing.

Someone wisely said "If you can't blind them with brilliance, then bedazzle them with bullshit..." I don’t know the name of the person who quoted this but I am confident that if this man or women was alive today then he/she would be for sure working with the Government of India.  From past few weeks, there are a series of Ad- Campaigns on “Bharat Nirman” being aired on almost every channel. These campaigns launched by United Progressive Alliance (The ruling political party of India) looks to me something near similar to the “India Shining” campaign launched by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) during their Government dated back 9 years ago. The “Bharat Nirman” campaign just like the Oldie friend –“India Shining” campaign 2004 is aimed at one single objective – the near coming election season. But the name, the time, the ruling party and the growth has changed. The big difference from 2004 is that the Congress cannot help making you believe that everything in this country was brought to you by the Nehrus and Gandhis (I Love Mahatma Gandhi), the rest of India are just passengers who ride their train. The Golden Quadrilateral Highway which connects Kolkatta, Chennai and Bengaluru had posters of AB Vajpayee placed everywhere during NDA’s rule but now they are replaced by Sonia Gandhi’s as if she or her political party has sanctioned the project. I respect Mrs.Gandhi for several reasons but sometimes I just wonder; does she really deserve that kind of attention just because her suffix is Gandhi. I think No. But yes, for sure she is a Woman who inspires me a lot for several reasons. I will discuss that later someday in one of my post. But for today I just want to concentrate upon the “BHARAT NIRMAN” Ads.  I don’t find them relevant today. And If I look at all these Ad Campaigns with the research oriented mind fixed into the top floor of my Body, then it will push me to the level of frustration. Let us talk about it now,

FREE FREE FREE - a 4 letter Word . . . .

Free – a very lucrative word which can hypnotize Richest of the Rich and of course Poorest of the Poor. It is impossible for a person to resist this so called syndrome of Free Gifts, Free Products, Free Services and so on. Now a days FREE is one of the most dependable tool and the widely used idea by the Marketers and Businesses.

Last month, I did a lot of shopping for self and family, and was attracted by the Flat 50% Sale provided by Future Group's CENTRAL Mall. Also in the run were branded outlets like Nike, Adidas, Wrangler, Lee and the list goes long. The Sale attracted me at the point of buying and I ended up shelling out lots of money on buying stuff which I felt gave me a better deal. Once I returned back home and shifted my Brain's gear from Customers to a Marketers, I realized that I have bought so much of stuff which I didn’t require and I perhaps don’t use. I also realized that I had gone to the Mall to buy few T-Shirts for me and ended up buying a pair of shoes, jeans and many such items which I had not intended to. This scratched the inner marketer in me and I was just thinking whether I have gained from the deal or I just got blown away with the wind like many others. Is there anything called “Free” in this Business oriented world??

My post today will deal with few sensible and non sensible views of mine on this so called Marketing Magic Stick used by Marketers all over called as “FREE” .

Stakeholders, Organizations, Brands and Maha Kumbh!!!

Today I was at leisure the whole day and was following the news channels continuously to get my brain equipped with the ongoing issues like “Pakistans Ceasefire”, “Rapes in India”, “The Hate Monger of Hyderabad” and so on. But what drew my attention was that the majority of the News Channels were flashing news about Maha Kumbh and as a person interested in the History (which comes from my genes) I started watching and gathering all that was shown in those news program about Maha Kumbh.  Tomorrow the Maha Kumbh festival is going to be celebrated at Allahabad (India) and I thought this would be the right time for me to write something about it on my blog.

One Dabang and Many Brands.

Was traveling a lot last week, few days in Chennai and a day at the ever divine Tirupati. The only thing which was same every where was the craze of the new item song from the Salman Khan starer movie titled "Dabang 2" which is a part of Dabang series. The song has become so popular that, I was amazed to here it in a Tamil Nadu Govt bus also.

Brands and Bands - The Hyper Sonic Marketing...

As any other Indian citizen I have been brought up watching movies and TV serials which are filled with variety of songs. As a kid I used to enjoy the jingles and anthems that used to be a part of the advertisements which used to flash after every few minutes of a program. In fact I was so crazy about those jingles and anthems that I set the britania biscuits tone which syncs as "tin tin tidin" as my message alert tone for my first mobile phone. One day while I was going through the Brand Equity News paper, I heard about a branch of Marketing named "Sonic Marketing/Branding". Sonic Marketing refers to Marketing your brand with a musical feel. For example : Airtel tone, Nokia mobile tone, Britania's tin tin titin, Titan watch tone etc and etc. But today I find the concept of Sonic Marketing taking a curve into something which can be termed as Hyper Sonic Marketing. Brands have always been using jingles and music but suddenly they are extending their engagement levels with music to a new highs.