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” .

Hyderabad Traffic Police and Social Media..... Control Traffic by getting Traffic

Get the Traffic to control the Traffic...

Hyderabad is a prime city located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The city became a hit in the Business World post to the stint of Mr. Naidu as the Chief Minister of the state. The city has been a great source of attraction in history too. From Nizams royal rule to Kohinoor Diamond to the post Independence differences (resolved by Sardar Patel) to the Hitech City era; the city has never missed a chance to be on the World's talk.

I am fortunate and blessed to be born here. I have been bought up playing and schooling in the streets and localities of this incredibly multicultural and multilingual city. Everything has changed here- the infrastructure, the standard of living, the education system and perhaps the beliefs of the people. But, one thing that has never changed for decades till an year ago or two, is the belief and thinking of people towards the Traffic Police of the city. It wouldn’t surprise one if you hear a relatively old man in his forties talking against the management of the Traffic Police Department here. It has always been a belief of majority that the Traffic Police Department can never handle Traffic in this city. I have been hearing the same thing from my Grand Father and my Father and all my relatives of their era. But times have been changing. The Department of Traffic in Hyderabad has been taking a way against this belief of people. The Hyderabad Traffic Police is doing all that is required to manage the traffic and get the reputation for their department in the eyes of its customers (Citizens).

If Gandhiji had a Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin account......

The world is becoming smaller day by day, more so during the nights. When I say smaller, I don’t mean it in terms of the available land resource, I mean it in terms of communication and information processing. It has become so easy for a person located somewhere at the north pole to share or communicate something with some one breathing in the latitudes and longitudes of the south pole. And all the credit goes to the field of Social Media which acquired the world by a storm in just a span of few countable years. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google+, Skype etc have changed the way in which people throughout the world used to communicate, work and share.

Tagline create an Impression. Positioning create an Image.

Any one who has been a student of Marketing or been a Marketer will for sure know about this widely used word in the world of Marketing called as Positioning. When I was in the first semester of my Course of Marketing few years back, I was asked to do a research on POSITIONING and present it the next day to whole of the class. That time the word was new and I knew very little that this word will become so important in my life as it is to the ever growing subject of Marketing.

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.

The Year 2012 and the product named Rohit Tiwari…

23 years ago, it was the untimely launch of me on 1^st August 1989. That means I was born then. There have been many great years passed by then but the year 2012 has been fairly a cocktail type just like any Indian Movie or the daily soaps. 2012 has been the year of hardships, emotions, depression, recession and the happy expressions for me. The year started with a great sense of happiness and belonging as I had just come from IIM Ahmadabad’s Confluence (Dec 2011) which meant a lot for a person like me dwelling from a not so popular B-School.  I was feeling like a legend in the class after attending few sessions at this Mecca of Management Education in India.  Then this happiness was screwed up completely when I noticed that I was few of those unlucky students in the class who were unable to get the Internships which were supposed to be started in the month of April and completed by June ending. 

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.

Kirana- the Bharat. Retail FDI - the India

Its been more than a month that I have not posted. It is not that I was really occupied with something else but the fact is I had nothing new to write. But today my mind again started pushing me towards writing and my hands again and again typing the word blogger on my laptop. So, I thought what should I write about? and the thought of writing a small tiny article on FDI (the talk of the Nation) launched into my mind (empty mind :P)  after reading a couple of newspaper. (All thanks to my job which allows me to read couple of newspaper).

Frankly, I am neither a specialist to talk about this topic nor am I a generalist who at least know little about this subject. I am just a normal person, an aam aadmi (not the political party :P) just like the majority of us are. So, my comments and thoughts on the subject are limited and are personal.

Marketing Hypnosis......

Yesterday was a great Monday for me, I was refreshed and had a great weekend with my friends at Chennai and returned back to the developing rural land at the place where I work. I was feeling very energetic and the very first thing I wanted to do was to sit in my desk, log on to my virtual world and write something on my blog. But like always I was short of topics. But as the time passed one lady in my office made me think over something very important. She was actually looking forward to buy a Television the coming festival season and was trying to get some reviews and information about different brands. While she was conversing with her colleague about the same, I poked in between (which is my regular habit) and started giving my non-sensible advice.  I asked her which segment of the Television is she buying for which I got a reply saying LED. I advised her not to by LED, instead go for LCD. She said that LED will give a great level of comfort to eyes and wont effect your eye lot. This made me think over it again and again with the following questions :