Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Social Media is what we make it!!!

After reading the most talked about topic on twitter about West Bengal CM Mr. Jyoti Basu made me realise the importance of social media and its effects on the "LIVING" people. I was really astonished to read such a news and I must confess that i myself was about to retweet the very same article. But when i read another article ( http://anirbansaha.wordpress.com) claiming that there is no such news about the death of Mr. Jyoti Basu, I got a little confused anf thought of waiting a little longer to get the correct information about him.
Is this what Social media is made of??? Some psycho blogger writes a damn wierd story about a death of a still living person and it starts trending on social networks. Social media is a plat form where people can share ideas,news or information from around the world but that information need to be authentic and not just any useless piece of rumor.
The problem with the social media is that we cannot find the authenticity of the person involved and he/she can write anything and that news is spread in two minutes like a wave of water. I reckon that its our duty to make sure that the information we are sharing with our networks is acceptable enough. Assorting such news is quite hectic and sometimes time wasting but spreading a untruthful piece of news is quite dire for the society.

Friday, December 25, 2009

A General request!!!!

Hi there!!! Well a long time now that i have written anything here....Recently i was reading some articles on how some companies loose their employees and what all they can do to curb this scenario.
According to me i think every company undergoes a transition period during which they see the most amount of turnovers. A successful company is that which can foresee this transition period and take the necessary measures to stop loosing its precious employees. Many organisations believe that marketing communications is necessary only for customers but only few of them realize that even the employees are the mouth piece of the company. Therefore, it is quite necessary to satisfy the employees whether they are a private firm, an NGO or a public domian.
Just rewarding the employee is not what is neccessary now days. Yes!!! I know most of the employees are happy enough in gaining a monetory reward, a hike, an outing etc but are all these things worth??? Most of the employees forget these rewards when they see a better opportunity in front of them.
What exactly is needed is a good profile, a good paycheck, a continues recognition of the efforts put up the employees and an understanding of their needs by the management. I have also seen quite a few management teams who forget about the work given to the employees and do not take any interest after executing the work. Most of the motivation is lost their. Is this too much to ask??? Well no!!!! These are some necessary things which are mostly igored by us. The company just have to make sure that if it has a good reputation among its employees atleast half of its marketing is done!!!!!!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

A new way to spend money

They said it true "A penny saved is a penny earned". But I think in today's organised shopping world nothing is SAVED. Recently just went to Food Bazaar two buy FEW things and instead i bought 20 more items (yes!!!! i actually counted...:P). I think it haapens with every one, m not only the victim of this new trend.
I must say these FB guys, they do a grt job in the stores. They actually know the customer's psyche like which products to be kept in front n which at the end or the back side of the stores. they have got grt offers like combo packs n all. I have even seen ppl there, who actually do the TOL MOL while selecting the items such as, which item has the most discount or which item is free etc n etc.
The reasons I avoid going for shopping there are :
  1. Man!!! money....its quite a wastage of my hard earned money...:)
  2. Time..in good old days u just go to a kirana store n ask wat u needed but here, i need to find my stuff + buy some unnecessary things too (i keep stressing on that....so dont mind...:P )
  3. Energy..now u have to go around for lookin n buyin things, so u need energy for that (not that imp point but still thought of adding it....:) )
  4. NO place to walk.... wen FB guys have their bachat ke din (Saving days). you actually cant even go inside and if you are lucky enough to get yourself forced inside then you cant walk.
But!!! I also like this organised shopping culture for reasons:
  1. FREE GIFTS...:) Yes!!! you tend to buy things which have free gifts or products with that.
  2. One place for all...you can get everything for house hold purposes in one place n thats a grt concept.

Organised shopping culture is growing and thats good for our economy but some times its not that good also for the kirana store types. Big names like Big bazaar, Relaince, More, spencers etc are gulping these small stores. But I think Indian consumers needed that, after all even they want to buy vegetables and snacks in a trolly...:)

P.S- Dont forget to catch DOCOMO ads (Specialy the plane one)....grt minds behind that ad...:)

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Contrasting ad reviews!!!!

After a long time.....Here is another ad review. THUMBS UP!!!! These thmbs up ad never made sense to me n this time they have actually crossed the limit. I dunno where to categorize this advertisment, as in adventure ad or a celebrity hook!!
I just couldn understand why is there only one thumbs up in the world n ONLY Akshay kumar is behind it n ll nearly kill himself for it. DUDE!!! WAKE UP!!!! Go to a retail shop,ask for a thumbs up bottle n just pay. You wont have to kill anyone (or urself for that) or jump from a 13th floor building on a truck or something. Anyways, if this is how he has to drink it let it be. Cant change him anyhow. One kind advice to thumbs up ppl out there.... GUYS!!!! It wont catch the audience (or rather most of the normal guys...:) ) Put a new one liner for pete's sake!!!! We want change not your sad (killing oneself for a bottle) signature ad.
Now is the time for Tata tea Advertisement. Man!!! I am in love with their ads. They are always so fresh n creative. Their Jaago re campaigns r the best. I cant compare them with any other brand's ads.
How adequately they have related chai (tea) as an eye opener, from women empowerment to vote do campaighn n now this rishvat (bribe) advertisement. The best part in their ads are the involvment of the youth. Their is a spot on focus on how this country is dependent on this generation for its growth, maturity and development. I am TOTALLY IMPRESSED!! Hats off!!! to them...Adore their way of artistic n innovative advertising....

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Is this what advtg all abt????

Its quite late at night and somethin abt this AIRTEL ad is disturbing me a lot. I dunno what to infer from this. Is this wats left with the advertisers??? What these airtel guys were thinking abt??? This Saif, Kareen and Sarah jane ad is sad. I dunno what are they showing exactly. and guys if u couldnt catch this advertisement then better do it now, cos this is what I am all gonna talk abt now.
Three grt celebrities: Man!!!! I dunno whats wrong with Airtel. They were justt so busy casting them that they all forgot abt the theme of the ad. As far as i know, an advertisement is all abt educating/informing ppl what the product is all abt (features, benefits, company, target audience etc). Now look what this heavy celeb act did!!! they r just trying to woo the audience with the ppl involved in their advertisement. I think marketers still believe that the customers will purchase their products when they see their fav ppl using it. I know this strategy is still in the market but with a different set of products.
Picture Quality: Now that locket!!! That locket can be seen in any DTH service. I really dunno why that thing was so strangely focused (ya ya!!! searchingg for that girl). But guys!!!! whats that has to do with a DTH service ad???? Kinda funny though.
I am actually waiting what this advertisement will bring to airtel's glory. But surely it didnt do any good to the big old world of advertising.

Friday, August 21, 2009

will they ever change???

writing something abt a bad experience is a bad experience in itself. Anyways lets start....
Around one year back my friend who is a vodafone customer and dont wanna leave the vodafone service for any reason till now, had a very weird feeling (I wont say bad, u ll come to know why). She had to barr a number from her list and so we went up to customer care officer n asked him for the details. SHOCK: they told us that to barr a number they will charge 100 bucks pm. I dunno if this fabulous service is still available with them or not nor even i care now. Along with that i couldn see any warmth in their service and we felt like it was our mistake to even go there. Anyways, we better thot of not barring that number instead of loosing those precious 100 bucks every month.
Some what exciting: When i was in Bangalore my sister had a vodafone connection which was then recently changed from hutch to vodafone. She had this urgent requirement to extend her validity for i think 15 days more at a cost of Rs.30. I dunno something wrong might have happend for there was a deduction of Rs.60 or something from her account. She called the customer care but even after waiting n shouting they couldnt help her. The worst thing was they stopped picking her calls.
Its not a matter of few rupees in both the cases but what is bad is the way they are taking their customers. what still bothers me is that why companies still do this kind of act even when they know that viral marketing, Customer service etc are so important for their business to grow. Anyways what is done is done. I hope organisations become more receptive to the enviornment around them and can create an edge for themselves in this ever growing competition.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fire,fire,fire!!!!

Hi!!!!!! FIRE,FIRE,FIRE!!!! this might have generated many thots in ur minds, the famous Phillip Kotler words. I was just reading his theory abt changing mktg in this world of globalisation and i just couldnt understand the need for that. Yes, i know it is very important to satisfy the customers in any case due to the ongoing domestic and international competition. But are the customers really ready to experience the fast going competition/war between the companies??? are customers becoming the targets in all this????
If i was the company, i would have really wanted to satisfy my customer first cos thats the Competitive Edge for me. But not competing fiercly and forgetting all abt my consumers. Recently i saw an advertisement abt the water coolers. They were very openly targetting each other. Is it correct???? Nopes!! these companies are hard core customer service organisations. for them customers always come first. But they are not presenting their image as a Customer Centric companies.
Companies still have to get ready first for their mkt seg,the enviornment around them. Just aiming on something wit out considering anything is not a mature or a calculated step.
I still think this tactic can only be followed when their is no other way or when the company knows that it has to focus on each prospective customer but not on the mass. Now companies know that they have to target each individual, they know that they have to produce products of a shorter life span, they know that they have to be more prepared to customise the product according to each buyer's wishes. And for all this a company should have a premediated and a deliberate plan and not a juvenile undeveloped scheme which can be the result of A FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!!! approach.