zero calvin and hobbes

2010-08-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Status Quo Killer. Or so we would like to believe.

Let's reinvent the wheel

2009-09-22T04:53:00.000-07:00

So, I keep hearing this again and again and again and again - "Let's not reinvent the wheel." I hear it so often that I often feel the urge to shove the wise-guys cracking the wheel line under the wheels of a railcar or something. Damn them, and damn the advise to not invent the wheel. Let's never shy away from reinventing the wheel. It might bring quite a few practical benefits:

An alternative design: A square wheel may be no good for a cart, but it may come mighty useful in a locking mechanism or some other machine.
An alternative material: A wheel made of cotton may be of no use outdoors, but in a hospital or something it might come very useful.
An alternative process: Burning a wheel may be very useful when you need to speed up the process, instead of curving it.

And, above all you can always have the joy in knowing that your superior intelligence have never depended on someone else to invent the wheel for you. Cheers.

Look, Mummy. There's an airplane up in the sky.

2009-07-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

This came to me so suddenly that I had to put it down. Forgive me if I'm grossly wrong. This is how I decided to define the three key components of an agency:

Servicing: Always speaks in a manner that spells "I know" (it's helpful to induce confidence as much possible). Core competence ideally should be people skill and organization.
Creative: Always speaks in a manner that spells "I don't know" (it's fine to be oblivious of reason as long the gut ruts in the right way). Core competence should ideally be imagination and a skill to express that imagination (through writing, designing, singing, whatever).
Planning: Always speaks in a manner that spells "I shall find out". Core competence should be analytical abilities and a very steep learning curve.

I kept the skill to understand brands and the skill to judge communication out of this, as both would apply to all three groups. Now, can I go and hang myself from the next street lamp for the sin of stating the obvious?

C what I mean?

2009-04-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

After a long time, posting something to with planning. It's about the 5 "C"s I've found absolutely necessary for good planning:

Category Insight: How does products and brands behave in a category. That category could be something as wide as "FMCG" or something as narrow as high-end mobile mobile handsets. The client should be able to help with buying habits, market challenges, competitions' strengths, and more. A retail survey and household survey should also be able to help at that. Quantitative? Qualitative? I'd say both.
Consumer Insight: The tricky part, and total planning job. Mining for consumer insights isn't an easy job. Conventional marketing and behavioral research may not deliver the appropriate insight at all. An entire range of stuff - from experiencing the consumer with and open mind and an open heart to taking a look at biological features of psychology - may be needed before coming to the the insight to make or break history. This alone is enough to keep the planner busy with both high-end studies and living a fully social life. Surprise draws attention, but meeting expectations works to hold them on.
Cultural Insight: Never to forget that the homo sapience is a social and cultural being, evolving fast in the cultural direction. There has to be solid insights into emerging trends as well as cultural bedrocks, hallmarks and landscape of the field of operation. Even at a global scale this is a total necessity. It is often wiser to ride on the existing cultural paradigm than to fight it. You really don't want to interrupt you audience who is already pressed against time and fighting against your thousands of competitors trying grab their attention.
Communication Insight: Competition mapping for an advertising professional isn't really about the merchandise they are selling, rather it is the communication they are selling. I'll strongly insist upon that we don't get carried away by the "creativity" of some of the communication that come out. It is important to draw attention and "disrupt", but are measuring these communication for their impact (i.e. is it translating into trial or retention?) and, of course, their shelf life. Even the most memorable works of advertisement these days hardly have a shelf life of more than three months. The clutter and the race towards greater creativity is just getting way too much. Sometimes it might help us to be completely non-creative, if we are sure of what we are doing.
(and last, but not the least) Client Insight: The client is a many headed beast. Living too close to the brand and burdened with business cases, they mostly miss all the points there are. It is primarily important to understand how far the client is ready to go and what syntax would get through the client's cute little head. Without this there is no selling of creative material or strategies. The consumer/audience don't give a flying rat's ass to what the CCO or CMO of a company is going through, but they do care about the creative material they experience. And, at that lies the Achilles' Heals of advertising. Damn.

Consumer Insight I can manage most of the times. Cultural Insights I devise out of thin air. Category Insights I have on an on-and-off basis. Communication Insight I can borrow. But, that last-but-not-the-least Insight I never get, almost. Sad.

Free PowerPoint Templates

2009-03-06T02:17:00.000-08:00

Free PowerPoint Templates
More Free PowerPoint Templates
Various PowerPoint Templates

−273.15° Celsius: The zero in the name of this blog

2009-02-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

By international agreement, absolute zero is defined as precisely 0 K on the Kelvin scale, which is a thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale, and −273.15° on the Celsius scale. Absolute zero is also precisely equivalent to 0 °R on the Rankine scale (same as Kelvin but measured in Fahrenheit intervals), and −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale. Though it is not theoretically possible to cool any substance to 0 K, scientists have made great advancements in achieving temperatures close to absolute zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity. In 2000 the Helsinki University of Technology reported reaching temperatures of 100 pK (1×10⁻¹⁰K), which is the coldest temperature ever produced in a lab.

Absolute zero is a temperature marked by a 0 entropy configuration. Temperature is an entropically defined quantity that effectively determines the number of thermodynamically accessible states of a system within an energy range. Absolute zero physically possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy. Having a limited temperature has several thermodynamic consequences; for example, at absolute zero all molecular motion does not cease but does not have enough energy for transference to other systems, it is therefore correct to say that at 0 kelvin molecular energy is minimal.

Couldn't help

2009-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

When someone walks in through that door

2008-07-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, when someone walks in through that door into the planning room I have a feeling of dread. I know it's either of the two things they are going to say - (1) "Can you, please, make a rocking power point presentation for me?" (2) "I need an idea, a really rocking idea."

Well, planning is not exactly about making power point presentations, and it's not exactly about ideas either. Planning is about elaborate structures that seeks to develop a brand with directions for the idea people (that means the creative department, dude), and finding insights to base that structure on. Yes, sometimes we do make rocking presentations, but that's a bonus. When you forgo the real planning part and go for the bonus, it really shows that you haven't evolved as much as advertising did. May be you need to seek a job at a clients office, where you can start expecting miracles and/or service delivery upon order from your advertising agency.

It gives me enormous pain to see how insights are largely, if not completely, ignored by our advertising agencies. We, so desperately, need to have a clear view of what's up in the clutter! No wonder, the shelf life for most advertisement in popular memory has dwindled down to a measly six months for the very best. Talkability is down to something around three months. We don't hit the target, unless the target hits us in the face. Sad, but true.

So, next time you walk in through that door, please, pretty please, have a sensible demand. Then again may be it's too much to ask for.

The young and the restful

2008-03-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Pepsi is asking questions about the youth Bangladesh. So we sat up and took a good look around, dug up all the researches we have done and started talking to the youth. Who are they? What makes them tick? And, what we found was not too surprising, though still a bit of a disappointment. What we found made them apparently tough nuts to crack (sadly, as it means more work for us, advertising professionals). On the other hand, it is possible that they represent opportunities not explored (good, let's get cracking). One last thing before you venture further, we really didn't check those über-rich who shops in Dubai and holidays in South of France.

Here's what we found:
The youth has no role models, not among public personalities, not among the elders, and not even among their friends or acquaintances. They reckon that being influenced by external factors is not probably cool. It is important for them to be presentable, which includes adopting to the latest trends very much. But, they also seek ways of adding their personal touch and making subtle statements of difference in what they wear, how they talk and where they go. Yes, they want people to take notice of them, especially people from the opposite gender and often from their own close peers, but they believe more in making an impression through their personality than their outward appearance (well, outward appearance becomes just a projection of what lies inside).

At that note it becomes difficult for them to make a statement, as the young men and women universally define themselves as - "simple and fun-loving". Only a few describe their own self as "wild" or "compassionate" or "smart" or "focused". Very few. This fact stands in direct contradiction to another universal claim of the youth of Bangladesh - "I want to be myself, not following anyone in anything". When the contradiction is pointed out they admit that there indeed is a bit of incongruity here, and hardly are able to explain beyond that. Cool is hardly defined as a person who stands out loudly, rather cool is an insidious attitude that shows through when you get closer to the person. Who is the coolest person you know of? Most often the answer is a friend, sometimes even a relative, not a person they don't know up close and personal (a celebrity). If they choose a far removed person as role model, strangely enough the name of the Prophet Muhammad comes up most often (hijabs are getting popular, too). However way you talk to them, almost everyone comes out as fiercely individualistic, and very unable to establish their individuality.

Most of the youth indeed are "simple", as they can only define their ambitions as "getting by somehow without suffering" and their aspirations as "not being frowned at or looked down upon". Girls are more about studies and career. Guys not as much. What career? A job, with a decent portfolio and a decent pay (the ambitious lot invariably prefers to work for telcos or MNCs, the wilder lot would prefer something to do with show-biz). Romantic relations? For most, it's got more to do with flirting and short-terms than serious commitments. How did they know already that it's not that serious? Well, they just felt that way (don't tell my boyfriend/girlfriend, please). How about friends? Few they call friends, and they mostly belong to one or two tightly knit friend-circles (much more bent towards mixed gender groups than only a decade back). Facebook and MSN are big with the affluents, cellphones are "it" for the less advantaged. Naturally they believe their entire generation to be cool (they have experienced a lot more wonderful stuff than their elders, didn't they?).

What are their primary interests? Little. Most guys don't watch TV enough (at least when there's no cricket on), and most girls don't watch much beyond popular soaps. No one is really into sports (Where is the playing field? For gods sake there's none around), apart from watching a bit of cricket or soccer on TV (wrestling is also big draw for guys... oh! those muscles and those gals!). Music is mostly about whatever the current trend is (Habib, Arnob, Fuad, whoever), nothing much to explore (there are not too many cool musicians in Bangladesh, you know), and FM radio is getting popular, especially with their nocturnal programs. Politics? Oh please, not that. Hardly reads anything - books or newspapers (the news is better on TV).

Movies? Of course, anything available in DVDs (especially if they feature one of the Bollywood Khans - Shahrukh, Amir, Salman or Saif). The Khans and a number of cricketers, especially Ashraful, are big. But do they impress enough to generate followers? Not really, not much. How about gossips? It's fun, but mostly stays within the group (in case of girls, it also involves celebrities). Who is making pass at whom is a good conversation topic, especially if it featured damaging results. Pretty much conforms to the stereotype here, they do (apart from the sporting bit). The future? May be... well... not much... not really. For younger kids discussing future mostly means if they will be separated by separate schools, for the slightly older it is more about which place they are moving to (London? Dhaka? Uttara? It can be anywhere). With an increasingly large number of population moving locations it makes perfect conversation topics. And, ahem, how about recreational drugs? Booze and ganja on occasions, but venturing beyond that happened to few and happened only once (it's pretty hard to get honest answers anyways).

So where does the fun-loving part come from? Leg pulling, pranks and cranks and a lot of monkey business making fools out of each other. All that is tightly limited to inner circles, mostly. Once they get access to a group, they tend not to flirt out of it too much (some even seemed grateful that they they were accepted in). Not surprisingly most activities center around those inner-circles of people that came together though happenstance (sometimes its the people they grew up with, sometimes the gang found at the hostel, sometimes when they ventured to work for a club or a part-time job). It's important that parents approve of their friends, as staying over at each others place is common (more so among girls). Taking trips out of town is way more popular than before, and exotic locations that include really off-the-beaten-track destinations like Boga Lake Para in the hills are becoming popular (predictably, a lot of them aspire to take a long trip through India and Nepal). This finding, well, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, as fun for the most part is indoors. Cafés or friends' homes, gyms or shopping malls - fun always has floors, walls and roofs.

They would hang-out together anytime anywhere, whenever there's an opportunity to do so. Cafés and fast-food joints, little hot tea shops by the school, open spaces, any corridor or stairs at the school, homes and hostels - all that are big draw venues, along with few favorites - GEC point in Chittagong, Saat Mathar Mor point in Bogra, Bibir Pushkuni in Barisal, TSC and the Dhanmondi Lake in Dhaka and so on. The tong, oh don't forget the quintessential tong, the little rundown shop that sells fags and hot tea and always seems to be around colleges and universities. A lot many more girls has picked up smoking (blame it on the company... well, the guys in the company), and universally tea and cola are part of hanging out together (amount of intake varies according to purchase power). Family is a given (yeah, yeah, I'll always be there when they need me, no need to rub it in), but action is where friends are. Most accessed cellphone rights using family and studies as excuses, while most make good use of telecom to get girls or boys and to network with friends (much of it in the deep of the night).

The language is a mish-mash of Bangla and English (weak grasp of both) with kids from lower income groups using more Bangla and their polar opposites using more English. A bit of Hindi is also creeping in (most wouldn't admit when asked). Bangla written in Roman alphabet is appreciated (remember SMS and MSN?), but more appreciated is the use of dialects and street coinage (promoted by Mustafa Sarwar Faruki, Fuad and DJuice). A huge language barrier exists between the income urban youth and the middle or lower income non-urban youth, and we call that barrier English. Hollywood, no matter how glamorous, is intimidating to non-urban youth as English dialogues present a formidable barrier to entertainment.

Deshi is in, very in. Starting from wearing "Amra Bangladesh" wrist bands to wearing beaded bangles and saffron kurtas, it is in for many people. A statement? Decidedly looks like one. Hip-hop and grunge are very in, too. You can tell that by the music blaring from their cellphones and CD players, as well as the Jeans that barely manages not to fall off, and piercing too (amazingly, multiple ear piercing can be found even in the old parts of Dhaka and Chittagong, both among guys and girls). Brands matter very much (valid more for the guys, as girls go more towards customization and experimentation). Increasing homogeneity of the youth may be one big reason (aspirationa rural young women see "parties" and "parlors" as major factors in their lives). It is easy to see that more expensive brands (Diesel, Armani, Mont Blanc, Gucci, Esprit, Davidoff, Rolex, FCUK and more in that line) are popular with more affluent of them, while the less advantaged go for the less expensive brands (Bangabazaar for instance) or counterfeit products carrying big-brand logos. Strange new brands are emerging across affluence levels like T-shirts sold at Aziz Market.

They don't conform to their parents values (naturally, their parents come from before the age of satellite TV, cellphones, DVDs and the Internet), or their teacher's advise (well, it's not the education that makes the man, it's what burns within). But, interestingly they are mighty impressed by the virtues of their parents (though the identified virtues vary wildly), though a bit skeptic about the possibility of adopting those virtues. More interestingly, many of them feel that listening their parents in the past would have done them much good (anyways, what's gone stays gone for them). They also are impressed by the teachers who made them work the hardest. Apparently not too proud of what they are and regretting what they could have become (yes, it's the world that wont allow them to grow in spirit and to show their true colors). Almost everyone is a late riser, and most would readily admit it to be "wrong".

They still are happy that their parents don't assert their opinions too much, and often let the youth take decisions about their lives (surprise, surprise). They believe they know way more than their parents about a lot many things (and they are right, too). Often their parents recognize that knowledge as well (cellphones, electronics, grad schools and eateries are some areas of knowledge disparity). Bottled-up, a little low on self-esteem, and lazily optimistic, they really can't tell where they want to be five years from now. But, well, that doesn't bother them either.

The youth is still disenfranchised, like ever, but they are not really that restless anymore.

Here's what they found:
Pepsi in the end decided to run a research on their own, and (wow) did they find wonderful facts out! Check.

The Cultural Context
Bangladesh is a poor country with all the problems that plague a poor country: political instability, lack of economic growth, corruption, unemployment etc.

A Patriarchal Society: The father’s word is a line in stone and is not questioned
A male-dominated society: Preference is clearly given to males in terms of education and freedom of movement
Pro-Pakistan. Anti-India: The inflation raise is attributed to lack of aid
Bangla Pride: The aspiration is for economic prosperity but not to break away from the conservative social, cultural and religious system

The Bangladesh Youth
The Ungeneration: The youth does not see themselves as a collective. Generation automatically refers to the next or the previous generation.
The Traditionals: “We learn by copying our parents. We don’t experiment on our own. Parents don’t want us to.” They aren’t really open to accepting new things:
The Unrebels: Parental interference is to the extent of hair-styles and the kind of clothes that they wear. Choices of education, career, and later marriage, are determined by parental influence.
The Safe-Players: They would prefer stable govt. jobs; entrepreneurship is a ‘no-option’ option. Newer careers are still not available in full gusto though marketing and management are gaining importance. Studying abroad, in the USA, UK and Australia is aspirational.
The Patriots: “Build yourself. Build your country.” was the most resonant sentiment.
The Secluded: English hasn’t picked up as a language or influence.

Aspirations
To be socially active (Individual fame & glory and altruism)
“I want to be remembered when I die”
“I’d like to help poor/old people. I don’t like the concept of old homes”

To be something different
“I want to be a designer”

Personal growth
“I want to talk in English”

Meeting the Basics
“I will quit my job and start a business because the salary I am getting doesn’t help to manage my living standard.”

It's not about Newton's apple, ever

2007-12-14T21:05:00.000-08:00

We don't live in an ideal world. Oh! You knew that already! Sorry about that. But, we don't live in an ideal world. Just take a look at the crap that gets thrown at a planner everyday.

Planning constructs are supposed to be built on enormous amount of information, or at least what remains after sifting through that amount. The core of planning is supposed to be inspired by pieces of information that most people failed to notice. But, what comes in doesn't resemble that possibility in any damn way. A handful of mundane information, provided on a need to know basis (who the bloody hell decides what needs to be known, when nobody knows what more could be known!) makes perfect fodder for planning in the eyes of the people who provide them (clients, client servicing, researchers and the whole gamut).

It is wonderful to see people asking a farmer to explain the weather, or a physicist to explain why Windows Vista is not working on my PC. I guess, for the uninitiated knowledge is just born on trees, like the apple that fell on Newton. But, unfortunately (for them and Newton) it never is that easy. Years of dawdling with the most abstract of abstracts mathematics preceded the apple back then, as it does now in everything that deals with knowledge.

Hannibal lost, because of insufficient information, and Ho Chi Minh won because he knew everything about everything in Vietnam. Us, poor planners, can't plan to do any better than the giants for the life of us. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to drive that point into some thick skulls that bend nails when hammered.

So, what is this crap?

2007-12-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

This should not be even remotely considered as a subject for a decent blog post. But, I guess, I have become tired answering to the question. Besides, I was never as successful remembering all the finer points of a proper answer. Therefore, here is the answer. From the next time on I'll just lead people to the blog instead of trying to remember the answer, or invent one.

So what is a strategy?

A strategy is an elaborate, long term and systematic plan-of-action or a method with a broad non-specific statement of an powerful approach or idea (including options, priorities and key milestones) designed to achieve defined a set of goals or an objective (goals can be operationally as steps towards achieving the objective).

A strategy is typically a statement about what should be done to ensure an advantage based on the the defined vision, values and/or mission (all three together are an overkill, and more often than not prove an abundance of time to waste). And, yes, a strategy is both the basic idea and the grand design of how a specific campaign shall develop (including the why and how of its specific components or tactics that shall fit together to make the elegant structure).

Now to explain those bold words. Here goes.

Objective: An objective is a clear statement of intended purpose, which defines a problem and a solution. Alternatively it is a coherent description of desired results defined in terms of specific measurable time-based and verifiable outcomes.
Idea (a.k.a. basic idea): An idea is a new and creative approach to specifically address a perceived problem or opportunity (anything from meeting a potential need to facing an emerging challenge), ideally whose object can not be met with anywhere in experience. It is the point of departure for an project or proposal and a discussion or argument.
Plan of action (a.k.a. grand design): A plan-of-action is a set of actionable ideas based on a clear objective that moves us from one set of circumstances (like the present situation) to another (like the a desired state). This set of ideas is to be broken down into components, and at each level into detailed tactics.
Tactics: Tactics are specific techniques or activities (usually intended to be executed step-by-step in a limited time-frame) that lead to implementation or execution of the overall strategy or a specific component.

Do you see more bold words? You must be hallucinating. If you are sure you are not I'll leave those to another post.

Observing through the mind's eyes

2007-12-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

"Creative people are especially observant, and they value accurate observation (telling themselves the truth) more than other people do. They often express part truths, but this they do vividly, the part they express is the generally unrecognized; by displacement of accent and apparent disproportion in statement they seem to point to the usually unobserved... They have more contact than most people do with the life of the unconscious—with fantasy, with reverie, the world of imagination."

- David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy&Mathers

What a guy

2007-12-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

"Overall planning has continually become more exciting. So many of the normal rules don't apply, and there are now more opportunities to consider to be the answer for a brand. Just as creative teams are no longer restricted to a 30-second TV commercial, planning isn't restricted to any particular way of thinking about brands or how they should express themselves."

- Guy Murphy, Global Planning Director at JWT

The big easy

2007-12-06T03:36:00.001-08:00

No, at this far corner of the globe, we are not a creative agency. I have just met this new term - a network agency. That's what we are, and that basically means adapting imported creatives to the local market without making too many changes. Everything goes back to the region, or even worse to the global headquarter, and someone who has never met a single Bangladeshi consumer in life decides the merit of the adaptation.

Beautiful, isn't it? Cuts costs down, keeps the brand uniform around the world (at least the region), and makes way for a smooth centralized command. It is wonderful, indeed, until things start to get down to the details. Which model to use? Come on, we already have this model in Thailand (so what she looks very alien to Bangladeshi viewers). Which context to use? Well, we already have this disco as a context (so what if Bangladesh never had a disco, and as things stand is not even going to have one in foreseeable future). Large packs or mini packs? What mini pack? Oh, there you do have mini packs, right? We're sorry, we forgot all about it. See, if you can fit that in.

There goes your emerging market with 140 million people and 6%-7% GDP growth. Do as the Indians/Thais/Chinese/Arabs do. They don't have time or money for Bangladesh. So what happens to the future? I thought we always must have penetration, incremental value, volume drive et cetera as targets. Or may be it's all a charade. We are not to create markets, the market will always keep making us.

I know, therefore I won't exist

2007-11-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, said in 1943, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Decca Recording wrote - "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on their way out" - before rejecting the Beatles in 1962. Margaret Thatcher claimed in 1974, "It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become prime minister." And, uh, they were wrong, very wrong.

Perfectly intelligent people perched perfectly in positions of knowledge and power keep making assumptions like that round the clock. And, where do you here it most often? Advertising? Politics? Team sports? I'd put my bet on advertising.

Everyone seems to know. Everyone is convinced that they know. Everyone has solutions, dogmas, laws cast in stone, formulas tried and true, full proof ideas and what not. Nowhere else you get to know how much knowledge people has about what will work and what will not. Every step you take outside the line is fight - against colleagues, superiors, clients, the media, traders and the whole shebang.

No wonder that advertising can't retain good and motivated people for long. Why fight so bitterly if in the end you remain a background noise (who remembers the copywriter who wrote "Just Do it" or the graphic designer who created the swish?), especially when you are earning peanuts (Sir Martin Sorell not included).

Personal ego makes the advertising professional and other people's egos kill them. May be I need to take a look in the mirror right now.

Attack of the clones

2007-11-19T03:26:00.000-08:00

We were trying to stir our brains for 7-Up, the biggest Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) in Bangladesh, and were pretty stuck at that. Somebody was trying to figure out an activation, may be two legged - one for the urban crowd, one for the rural. Nice idea, chump, now tell me what does the rural youth want? Yes, somebody actually asked, and Satori or that ancient system of sudden enlightenment struck.

We found out, aspiration of the rural kind hardly varies from the urbanites. That's tough, considering that 80% of all Bangladesh wealth is accumulated into the urban areas that represent only 20% of the population. The maximum impact of the wealth disparity is visible in the scale, or brand names. While a rural girl thinks Pantene is high-end, the urban girls know Dove to be low-brow (well, I just finished a Shampoo research done for Sunsilk), while the rural boy would happily buy a pair of nondescript jeans, the urban boy would probably insist on at least a pair of Levis 501.

Surprising? Not at all. The same media vehicles expose both groups to their cultural stimulus - satellite TV - and both groups depend on the same tool for social networking - cellphones. With Internet penetration lower than 0.1% and connections slower than 0.4 kbs, this is what we have.

Now, connect that to the thesis put forward by Mythili Chandrasekar, the celebrated planning superhero from JWT India - the youth has turned into the the primary population target for all advertising, and for a good reason, too. In this extremely youth-centric world no one is ready to become a senior citizens anymore. Facelifts and aromatherapy, Viagra and gymnasiums are taking care of that big time. In the mindspace this phenomenon has an even bigger impact. Hence Amitabh Bachchan dating (oh, please, dating on screen) Zia Khan and Tabbu, Sean Connery dating Kathrine Zeta Jones and so on.

What is this new psychographics then? No rural-urban segmentation and no youth-adult segmentation? Scary. In a largely homogenized world suddenly I feel like attacked by the clones.

Behave anyhow

2007-07-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

Clearly change isn't one unified whole. It features all the nuances you'd expect from regular human behavior. Some behavior change happens overnight, like affluent people adopting CNG-driven vehicles. Some other takes a long time to happen, like girls adopting knee-length skirts in public. Some change has only benefit, like accepting FM radio. Some other would entail a clear disadvantage, like accepting condoms. Some behavior change takes a total departure from existing way of living, like starting to use mobile phones. Some other change is a natural extension of the existing way, like shifting from tea shops to MIRC chatrooms for that adda.

Let's take a look, then, at two fundamentally different streams of Behavior Change at the opposing end of the spectrum:

The Light Drizzle: Happens over a long time, is a natural extension of the existing behavior, and has no obvious obstacles.
The Hailstorm: Happens overnight despite obvious disadvantages and entails a total departure from the existing behavior.

The communication needs for these two types are obviously different. But, that would be material for another post.

Advertising for what?

2007-07-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is working for three or more agencies at same time, supposedly he has a stake in the ownership of all of them, and all three are pretty uprising agencies already (okay, I don't know the business volume exactly). Another of my friends believes he is perfect to head a mid-sized agency or even a large one, because he had a five year long stint at two different agencies that ended six years back, and because he has been looking after the communication wing for a very large social development organization. One other friend, who works as the head of an in-house communication wing for a big league local company, thinks agencies that work for MNCs like Unilever will never grow. Still another friend thinks it's all about doing something on your own, and therefore working for the largest agency in the country doesn't count for much.

I have just one question for all of them - how much of an intention to do great advertising features in your world view? That's the only drive that keeps me going.

Selling pointer

2007-07-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Until today I took enormous pride in telling people that advertising doesn't sell products, marketing does. Advertising helps to make a product Top of Mind (TOM), have Share of Mind (SOM) and builds a Word of Mouth (WOM) for it. But, making the actual purchase depends a lot upon pricing, distribution, actual quality and other stuff (three of the problems we are facing with Virgin Water, Finlay Tea and Teem from Pepsi).

But, today I got learn that as soon as our advertisement for GrameenPhone Internet hit the media, so many new subscribers came in... well, the system crashed. A success at the level of Amazon or e-bay. Advertising don't sell products? I am thinking again.

Men's brands?

2007-07-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

For quite a long time now advertising professionals are scratching their hair out to create the bang-on-target women's brand. The consensus tells us - men are easy simpleton and women are complex beings, and therefore it is always difficult to find what women wants. But, the 21st century men are no pushovers either. They are as complex and varied in psychological makeup as women, and due to a long history of neglect probably have become more impenetrable as well. I am sure there are agencies working on the problem. But, I am getting kind of frustrated to see that all FMCG, all food and half of all real estate in Bangladesh are targeting women. Where are the men's brands? I sincerely can't believe that big tits and potent beer can be the holy grail for all men, not anymore at least.

Behave or die

2007-07-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

When we introduce a new brand into an existing category, we do simple communication - my d**k is bigger than theirs - or something in that line. But, when we introduce a new category (like, Rexona in Bangladesh) we start promoting a new behavior. Start using a deo, or do something about your body odor - as in the case of Rexona. And, much like any other Behavior Change Communication (BCC) we need to aware people of the problem as well as the solution. Example - ORSaline, where we talked about Oral Rehydration Therapy first, and much later we introduced the branded product. There could of course be better examples, which I may be putting forward in future. But, for now I am really wondering about this particular scenario where brand communication turns into BCC, and a lot of stuff that Johns Hopkins and other social communication experts propagate becomes perfectly relevant to marketing communication.

Let me ponder some more.