Can Brands / Brand Managers in India sustain without Brand Ambassadors?

I was waiting in much anticipation for the India - England test series since it’s the last time we would be seeing the 'Great' Sachin, Dravid, VVS perform one last act on the English soil before they call it a day. But in reality it turned out to a damp squib considering how the Indian team was thoroughly exposed by an well oiled, hungry, goal oriented English team. Hats off to Andrew Strauss and his team for topping the ICC ranking.

The agony and the mental stress of the Indian fan increased by leaps and bounds while watching the Indian team's pathetic, spineless, dis-spirited performance in the English soil. The advertisements featuring Indian cricketers were only adding fuel to the fire. And naturally I started to develop an aversion towards the brand featuring Indian Cricketers. Can brands afford to lose their mind share  amongst the fickle minded consumers, after paying millions of rupees to the Indian Cricketers? Ideally the answer should be No.

How can brand managers insulate their precious Brands from the cyclical nature of the performance of the brand endorser. For example if Cricketer X doesn’t perform well then people might start developing an aversion towards the brand. Or if Actor Y doesn’t give sequence of hits then his / her market value takes a hit. Due to the skewed nature of demand, supply (many brands chasing few successful cricketers / actors) the brand endorser starts charging exorbitant amount. Is it possible to have an effective and efficient brand building exercise without having much dependence of the endorsers?

I think the answer is yes. Instead of paying millions of rupees / dollars trying to sign up those brand endorser it will be more prudent if certain % of the amount is invested on creating / formulating a strategy for Brand Management by highlighting the key differentiating factors or an strategy which captures the imagination of the public adhering to all moral ethical standards. Its all about capturing the mind space of the customers. Advertisements for companies like Tata Steel, Tata Indica, Nestle Maggi,Hutch / Vodafone, Cadburys etc haven't entirely relied upon the celebrities. During crisis management time (for eg: Cadburys chocolate worm incident) they can effectively leverage on a particular Brand Endorser (Mr. Big B in this case) to effectively propagate what the Brands really stands for and to negate any negative publicity arising.

As Mr.Nehruji said "If there is a will, there is a way" so lets try to strike a balance in our pursuit of brand endorsers, thereby letting them concentrate on what they are best known for and the brand managers can go back to what we are best known & paid for. It’s a Win - Win situation. The Cricketer will have more time to polish the rough edges which pushes the probability of him winning more

Why me?

I was enjoying my cup of piping hot filter coffee sitting inside the Air Conditioned room of the famous Hotel Saravana Bhavan. Unmindful of the fact that only couple of minutes ago I was literally drenched in my own sweat thanks to the blistering heat. Mesmerized in the aroma and the visual appeal of the freshly grounded filter coffee until I was jolted back to reality by a little kid who stepped on my legs. Walking down the corridor was a figure whom I could recognize but couldn’t believe. It was Harish normally an young and infectiously enthusiastic individual however was walking with dropping shoulder and unkempt hair. Something was not quite right. 

Waved by big hand and called him to over to my desk. He dragged himself like a tortoise over to my table. Without uttering another word,  I ordered him his favorite juice. And that’s how it was until we departed. On my way back home I couldn’t resist second guessing what could be his problem. When I reached home Harish had already sent me an SMS thanking for the non interference in the hotel and wanting to meet me later that day. So I choose Besant nagar beach, and met him in the extreme right corner of the beach where there was some privacy yet enjoy the beach. 

'My Life is screwed, and my marriage has broken down completely' the first few words he spoke. Shocked and numbed I had to literally regain my composure. Harish is a moral, religious, self respecting person without any bad habits. 

'Why me of all the people….' Harish asked, breaking . I was remained about the famous Arthur Ashe words  'If I were to say, "God, why me?" about the bad things, then I should have said, "God, why me?" about the good things that happened in my life. ' .But at this juncture I cant be this brutally frank with him. Hence I have to deliberately choose another way to motivate my dear friend.

Not everyone undergoes the same intensity of suffering, yet none of us are ready to acknowledge that the other person is suffering more than me. How can we better understand this rather how can I explain this to my dear friend who is deep sorrow. 

I said, Harish its ok to be dejected and let down, irrespective of whether you deserve it or not. I hope you remember the concept of periodic table which was taught to us. Of all the known 118 chemical elements, only few of them are termed or branded us Precious like Platinum, Gold, Silver. Why? 

Without waiting for his answers I continued, Since these chemical elements or metals possessed certain basic properities which makes them special, properties like Malleability, Ductility, Availability  etc. combination of which makes them a rare metals hence more demand and value for them. Hence these metals are subjected extreme chemical reactions to make the end product more admired, valued and cherished by people all over the world. In the end, the finished product is more valuable & precious than the crude raw metal when its discovered in the earth. Its similar to how the uncut diamond is less precious and valuable than the cut diamond. Since the process of cutting and shaping the raw uncut diamond brings to the attention of the internal good qualities of the diamond. But not every other metal or chemical element is valued or subjected this much chemical process. 

Its similar to the case of Ivory. Although being a bone which has surfaced beyond the layer of skin of the elephant, not every bone is valued or cherished like the tuskers / ivory. The bone which manages to break the skin layer at the proper place like the tusk is labelled as Ivory and valued after. 

In the same way, you having sattvic qualities is a rarity in this fast paced world of instant gratification or in this kali yuga. Since you are blessed with these qualities, god or divine power wants you to evolve or further polish your ability so that you are better prepared to face the real challenges of this world. You may however choose to learn or not to learn from this set back. If you learn another challenging scenario awaits you, testing your previously learnt things. But if you choose not to learn then you will be faced with the same challenge again and again. You may very well become bored of facing the same challenge. I guess you would choose to learn and move on.

Take heart my dear friend that you are facing an unique challenge since you have the basic ingredients in the right amount in the right place.

So fundamentally you are OK!!. There is nothing wrong with you.
It’s the journey which is more interesting rather than the destination. And remember what ever happens, life has to go on and will go on.

As a parting note i told him, Look Harish you are already a winner. There was one in a million chance for you to have fertilized in your mothers womb. And you succeed beating the odds!!! This is nothing.

It’s not what you speak but what others hear.

During my 2 year stay in US, unconsciously I had picked certain words / idioms which were often used in the business context to convey things without any ambiguity. I had shared my apartment with my friends /colleagues; we often tend to use the same vocabulary in our home also to communicate. After reaching India, during my initial days I continued using the same business vocabulary, after all man is a creature of his/her habit. Little did I realize I was upsetting my parents especially with my communication style. My parents and other family elders assumed I had a tectonic shift in my attitude. They were really beginning to worry about my lack of respect to elders and customs (certainly not my intention).

Before my US stint I was known among my circle for giving respect to elders and old customs. Meanwhile I was enjoying the warmth, the food of being at home, all the while being ignorant of the fact everyone around me were bit upset. I always have the greatest regard and respect to all the elders and our traditional custom. Parents and friends being people who loves us no matter how we evolve into, all of them made the internal adjustment to accommodate the new ‘me’. No one had a word with me about this regard, since I fitted perfectly like ‘T’ to their exiting theme of ‘US returned Indian’. Back in office however things weren’t that rosy. I couldn’t convey my message nor get the work done with people, who have been working with me for quite a long time. Slowly on a personnel level introspection I was beginning to wonder may be there is something wrong in the way I am saying things, or may be people have grown much beyond I have comprehended. I was determined to dig to the root of this problem.

I had lots of questions revolving in my mind like ‘What could be wrong’… ‘What is the missing gap’..’Is it with me or with others?’ The gap can be with either of the side, but the onus was on me to fix it, since something was certainly broken. But I didn’t know what was broken. Consciously I began to monitor the choice of words I used to converse with my colleagues and friends. Analyzing the cause and effect reaction of my fellow people for the various choice of word I used during conversation, like a scientist prodding over his analytical data, trying to arrive at a generalization. Finally during one of my bike riding session, with the chilly wind thrusting my face backwards, and the beads of sweat getting frozen and forming a salty layer in my face, the eureka moment arrived. It’s not only that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder the meaning of the English words also lies in the ears of the listener. I can hear the tiny voice inside my readers mind asking the question, “How in the hell can the meaning of the English words change from listener to listener?” It can, hold on just a little longer my dear tiny friend.

For most of the non native speakers of English (for that matter any language), every word has a connotation or a mental image associated with it, irrespective of the literal meaning of the word. During any conversation with another human being it’s this connotation or perception about words that tends to channelize our understanding of the spoken word rather than the literal meaning of the words. So it’s easily provides a lot of opportunity for others to misunderstand you especially when we have to communicate with people coming from different backgrounds, culture, age etc.  That it is important to realize “It’s not what you speak, but what others hear”. No one can question the perception of another person because there is no definite way to approve / deny one’s perception. Perceptions are formed based on an individual’s experience or exposure with the outside world. Unless you don’t share a common platform with the listener the chances of you being misunderstood is highly probable. So is there a no way out for this precarious situation. Don’t loose hope. There is a way out. The best way forward while interacting with people with whom you don’t share a common ground / pedigree is to be smart enough to choose very simple words to get our message across. Don’t use any high flying, Ivy League words in short words which requires the common man to reach out to the nearest dictionary or do a quick Google search.

 As a speaker if your vocabulary is quite simple and plain the chances of you getting your message across effectively without any distortion is pretty high.  The onus is on the speaker and not on the listener since the real purpose of communication is to effectively transfer the ideas from one individual to another person. In today’s knowledge world the customer is the king, similarly in the communication universe it’s the listener who is the king and not the speaker. The speaker is relevant only when he/she has listeners not the other way round.

What is manickism?

What is manickism? Ever since i named my blog i have been asked this question a lot many times. Is it communism? or Socialism? or Capitalism? or is it Sufism? Doesnt it sound bit outdated? Am i following / subscribing to any particular '-ism'? So let me try to put down in words what exactly i feel when i say manickism, it more of an extension or still better a framework through which i understand and assimilate the day today happenings.Its an assimilation of my inner framework + external events, thats why the tag line of my blog say "Orgasm of my thoughts".

So what exactly is 'manickism'? First thing first its a way of life and the way i understand life at this moment. May be some time down the line i am might refine / reject this concept all together, because thats what i am. Always with an open mind to accept new ideas whenever presented with a new facet of information.

Manickism is nothing but oneness / Wholeness. In this 'ism' there is no concept of 'other', Manickism is the I (the bigger I) i consider every living, non living thing as a manisfestation of the same life. There is no place for ego  here.There is no difference between you and me since we both belong to the same seed of life. We may have physically manifested ourselves in two different bodies but in the real sense we all originated from the same pool of life. If you still dont get it, go watch the movie Avatar. The movie is nothing but a grandoise picturization of what i am trying to describe here. It may be totally confusing some of my readers here, but dont worry. It takes some amount of maturity to understand whatever i am saying here. In the meantime you can dismiss this idea or thought i dont mind. After all we all are part of the same life. Whatever i am saying is not something new, its an age old concept. All the ancient books have talked a lot about this. Its just that in the modern rat race we have truly forgotten our roots.

Love you all. God bless universe.

Trouble Down under

The months of December, January and early February are the most pleasant months if you happen to live in Chennai, a place known for its hot & humid weather. The early mornings are pleasant with the birds chirping and the air is fresh ’n’ chill. Come march you would start perspiring the moment you wake up. Living in a hot & humid place and being a hairy person is a practical joke by the Almighty. After completing the morning rituals, most Chennaites will be picking up their copy of “The Hindu” newspaper and enjoying a cup of early morning drink, sitting besides the window.

Of late it deeply disturbs me whenever I read that Indians are being attacked in Australia (the land down under). Initially I hoped and prayed it should be one off incident but alas my hope was shattered into pieces when this little news kept repeating itself, before anyone could realize it turned into a political tornado. True to its nature, the Indian media started serving sensational news item by the day. At one point of time I am sure many followers of English news would have known the Australian geography better than their own neighborhood. The ugly racism card was being repeatedly played and unfortunately the Indian public started to accept the media’s verdict without any questions asked. Until our honorable External Affairs minister called for some sense of sanity and little more responsiveness from the Indian media. The Indian attack rhetoric was played down little once the Home ministry & External ministry started saying their opinion. Meanwhile yours truly was wondering what is that it’s really happening in the land of Kangaroo’s. I always believe in every story has two sides and unfortunately we are not able to go beyond the obvious.  Here is what is really happening in down under and why this might just be the precedent for more clashes like this in the other parts of the world, unless all the stakeholders doesn’t perform due diligence. I sincerely hope & pray I am proved wrong by my fellow human beings.

With the world relenting under severe economic depression the jobs are vanishing in thin air. Suddenly people are losing their opportunity for having a decent life. On the other hand the Indian community is truly opening up thanks to economic liberalization in 1990, Indians have started traveling to faraway places in pursuit of a foreign education and life. Because if ain’t studied aboard you are lost in the Indian rat race. Every free man certainly has the right to choose his / her choice of education. But in the madness the non – metro or ‘Bharat’ (a ‘India’ within India) because of their ignorance often fall trap to the lucrative/enticing offers made by foreign universities. We can’t blame these universities also, since their native population is ageing they naturally want to expose themselves to the student community which is quite in abundance in India.  The Indian parents in their eagerness to provide the best possible education often oversee the fact about the true worthiness of certain college degrees. For them a foreign education is more prestigious than a Indian education not necessarily the better one. 85% of the Indian students take education loans, these loan amounts cover the cost of education and book. With  no one to watch their back and freed from inner moral restrictions most of the Indian students have a blast and start enjoying their academic stay.  In order to earn for their daily livelihood they often end up taking part time jobs as store cashier, gas station person, Indian restaurants working well into late night hours where the hourly billing rate is high since not many native people opt for these timings. No place on earth is safe when you roam around the streets during the owl hooting hours (1am – 3am) there by exposing themselves to all the societal nonsense and robbery attacks. 

If we really want to avoid such happenings in the future, the Indian parents and students should exercise a little more caution & restraint in choosing a foreign university, ensure whether it’s the best course and there is no such quality courses offered in India. Make sure you don’t return from part time jobs during ‘owl hooting’ hours and even if you happen to return please ensure you come together as a group of people.

Now this volatile issue has the characteristics to be repeated across the globe unless all the stakeholders perform due diligence in their respective areas. And the Indian media should  reports news events as it is rather than garnishing with their own seasonings. God bless humanity.

Expectation ?

When a man / woman can accept the fact that nature doesn't change its characteristics for any living or non living thing on this planet, why cant they have the same understanding when it comes to fellow human beings? Why does an individual expect his / her friend to change the characteristics for the sake others expectation.  Why cant we celebrate differences of opinion and yet have a tranquil relationship.Slowly we want to create clones of each of us.

M.G.R, Rajini,??? (Who is next)?

Mr.M.G.Ramachandran (a.k.a M.G.R) and Mr. Rajinikanth, the two biggest names in Tamil Cinema whose influence among the Tamil movie audience is unparalled in the World Cinema history. How did they reach this stardom, was it by luck or by design or is it rocket science, or something beyond the comprehension of the common man.

Both the super star had a very poor childhood and roamed the street in search of a means to live. Both of them are non native speakers of Tamil, yet they managed to win and woe millions of Tamil audience with their aura. The profound effect of their songs or still pictures on the common man is something that can be believed only by seeing, no, no only by experience. No language in the modern world can adequately describe the trance the common man enters into, including yours truly. How did they achieve this god like following and stardom?

M.G.R burst onto the Tamil movie industry in the early 1950’s right when India got its independence. Finally after two hundred years of colonial rule the constant demand for independence was over and it was time for national rebuilding in every sense. People’s soul and morality had been crushed / manipulated by our colonial rulers. In the 200 years of independence struggle, original thinking was reduced to its marginal best and people always had to look upon either the British or the national hero’s to guide their lives. Now after gaining independence, with the British gone and the national hero’s engaged in national level country building task, people needed region specific leaders who can fill this moral void. M.G.R with his thought provoking, moral based songs perfectly filled the void, earning the name of “Vathiyar” (meaning teacher). His image management was perfect to the T. He ensured none of his on screen roles portrayed him like smoking /drinking/beating the opposite sex and he reaped rich rewards when he pioneered the way for actors entering into politics and ruling the state for 12 years continuously. No other politician has won a state election while lying in the hospital bed thousands of miles away such is the profound effect this great man.

Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, fondly known as Rajinikanth, super star to the Tamil people, was born in the state of Karnataka. He had worked his magic and influence across millions of Tamil people, more recently Japanese also, through sheer hard work and a better choice of acting roles. He came into the Tamil movie industry when the Tamil society had more or less settled and people in general were quite getting frustrated about the lack of efficiency in the government system, when the Indian GDP was mildly termed as Hindu Rate of growth in the international economic forums. His roles were basically of the ‘Angry young man’ who fought back against the ills of the system, who held sway against established zamindars, large business people etc. The youth of 1980’s and early 1990’s were readily able to identify themselves in the roles played by Rajini. They wanted to achieve something in life but were denied because of lack of opportunity, expect for those people who got admission into IIT’s and had the right last name. Rajini was the epitome of the aspirations of the common man, who broke the glass ceilings and achieved stupendous success, which was best portrayed in the movies and in reality was like finding an oasis in the desert.

So to answer our original million dollar question, who is next? Where can we find a safe answer to this? Can I even have a remote chance of predicting an answer to this question? I believe so. To carry this herculean, rocket science task, all I need to know is where to look for answers. With a hindsight knowledge why M.G.R and Rajini dominated the Tamil movie industry and extrapolating the same, I need not look further than the current Tamil society, which can provide me the answer. The modern Tamilian has dream and aspiration. Each and every one of them wants to make a socio economic progress and the best tool for it is providing the best possible education for his/her children. He /She also has realized if they work hard, sincerely there are adequate opportunities available which will give an uplift in their socio economic life. Long thing short, the modern day hero, should in fact be a common man, who has his own dreams and aspirations. And works sincerely towards achieving while facing his own share of problems thrown by life and how he outwits the social problems and achieves success. Gone are the days of cinema which revolved around revenge, love, family feud etc.

Is this there any actor who has figured this out? The answer is NO. The modern day hero’s think they can become the next super star by repeating what worked in 1980’s and 1990’s. They in fact look like Rip Van Wrinkle who has just woken up after a long sleep, hardly realizing that the world he has woken up to has evolved into a much different society. That’s why we see more than ever before big banner / big time hero’s movie failing miserably in the box offices.

There will be only one M.G.R and one Rajinikanth. History never repeats itself in the same way.