"Sir..250rupees...Chalega?"

The other day, when I was walking along a road in Bangalore, an auto guy drove ahead and stopped just infront of me blocking me and asked for a ride. The moment I told him the place, he replied with a weird smile “Sir, 250 rupees, baittiye (meaning: 250 rupees, shall sit inside?)”. Knowing the place exactly (not more than 1 mile), I said a big NO!!! and kept walking. He again came and told “Sir, 200 rupees, chalega (Rs 200, OK?)” again I said No. He then desperately asked, “Aap bathayiye, kitna dega? (meaning: Tell me how much can you give then?)”, and I said “meter charge” (meter is common in Indian auto-rickshaws to track the distance covered and shows the corresponding final amount every passenger needs to give for the entire journey). I know the place is nearby, having hardly any traffic signals in between, with comparatively fewer traffic, this cant be Rs. 250. I barely gave any attention when he opened his box of explanations for 250 rupees.

I am just one person among the public who has been exploited by the auto-drivers in Bangalore. Asking almost 20 times the actual price (which doesn't happen even in cocaine/heroine market) that needs to be curbed immediately inorder to protect the mass-exploitation by the rickshaw drivers. While I was in a pursuit of the inside-outs of this auto rickshaw-industry, interestingly I dig out some facts (don’t know whether this is completely true or not) inside a quarter of 2 months.

Basically two factors, the auto-drivers are looking for; one is the skin-tone and the other is the language. If they come to know that one passenger doesn’t know Kannada (an Indian regional language), then auto-drivers always quarrel for the auto-fare with him/her in Kannada only. Some will fight back with the drivers, while some others don’t.

I met one auto driver in Bangalore who has been the rickshaw driver for the past 25 years. He justifies all the criticisms, “Bangalore has changed a lot; a lot of bus services have started, new routes designed, many flyovers erected, introduction of Bangalore metro, and above all, more than 70% of the passengers are IT people who are either having their own company cab service or are comfortable with the Volvo bus services. So a normal auto driver hardly gets 5-7 rides a day for which he has to travel 7-10kms (at an average) to get one passenger.” He remembers, he even travelled more than 20kms without getting any single passenger. So this “high-price” can be used to compensate the operating expenses.

Have you slightly got convinced by his comments? Though we know it is exactly not the same situation for the drivers in other metros like Mumbai, Delhi (where taxi-meter would be “on-condition” for any ride), but we can somehow compare both cities to an extent. So if the drivers of Mumbai are able to compensate their expenses despite following the “meter charge” rule irrespective of the kind of passengers that get in, it is pretty clear that the above comments of our fellow driver is a big LIE. Many say this high price is because of the huge liquidity of the “IT-engineers” who is never a significant population in other metros which emphasizes the fact that it is the "passengers" who ignited such a culture in Bangalore and never the auto drivers. Moreover since it is meter charge in Mumbai suburbs, public prefers auto-rickshaws very often. So there may never arise a waiting period of travelling 7-10kms to get one passenger which was that Bangalore driver’s justification.

No matter who the culprit is, the authorities should take a proactive action inorder to avoid a “certain-consequence” in the near future. Bangalore already witnessed some odd protests from the public regarding the huge fares. There should be a benchmark or upper limit for the price for a particular distance and the authorities should release ordinance or circulars, mentioning the rules and fares so that the public will never get exploited. Infact “share-auto” system is not very common in Bangalore just as in other metros like Chennai, Mumbai etc. which can also be implemented or promoted.

One final note: 

Petrol wastage

But anyways, Due to this continuous running by the auto drivers in Bangalore in pursuit of a passenger, they might never count how much petrol has been wasted. When a private analytics firm conducted a survey on petrol wastage by rickshaws in 2010, Bangalore was on 2^nd position by wasting 0.25 l/per driver/ per hour. Reports suggests there are 1,50,000 rickshaws in Bangalore. Just imagine, these many rickshaws waste almost 9,00,000 ltrs of petrol everyday from Bangalore itself (this petrol wastage from rickshaws is nothing but 20 billion INR every year when simulate into indian currency). This huge petrol wastage rings a buzzer-alarm in a heavily oil consumed country like India. 

Maruti Suzuki-kitna deti hai

In the past two weeks, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) have been extremely busy working on corporate branding by showing their very famous “mileage-ads” amidst every Olympic event. Infact they rather chose advertisements in order to mask their lock-out hassle in Manesar plant, Haryana. On the other side, the ad which captions “kitna deti hai? (meaning: how much it gives)” attracted several millions because it points promptly onto the mindset of a typical Indian who always looks for “more value for less money”. God knows why they chose this particular ad since there are more than half a dozen ads portraying their n-number of unique features like service station availability, mileage etc. and numerous campaigns like “count-on-us” campaign, “India comes home in Maruti Suzuki” campaign etc. 

kitna deti hai-ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzW7Sxzkr1Y 

India comes home in Maruti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbX8e4seGoY

service station ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiWDwEfMGM&feature=related 

What’s in a mileage??

Indians certainly never need an introduction about what mileage exactly is; but it is significant to note that who can be the target customer when talks about mileage. It would be undoubtedly “the middle class” which itself creates an impression that MSIL caters only to the middle class (not even upper middle class who has the potential to spend 1-1.5 million INR or even >1.5 million INR for a car); which is nothing but narrowing down their target group.

It’s quite senseless to bring mileage factor for brand association when talks about an umbrella brand like Maruti Suzuki. It’s been reported that people who buy cars worth more than 1 million (like Kizashi, Grand Vitara or even high end versions of SX-4 and Ertiga) would be more performance oriented than looking for “value-for-money” which incidentally discards mileage factor. And hence choosing one or two particular models for conveying the mileage aspect would have been a better option.

Mileage ad - in Olympics???

Another big question is the time at which they aired the ad, London Olympics; which stands for ultimate sports and sheer vigour. They could have come up with some new ads regarding their upcoming launches, or ‘Olympics-inspirational-ad’ just what HERO MOTO CORP. did or branding any sporty versions of Maruti like Swift sport, or SX-4 etc. It’s true that they are not interested in spending money for creating new ads and hence selected a cost effective way in the turbulent time, but hardly make any sense amid Olympics. Though Maruti however succeeded in not losing the brand image (due to their lockout problem) by showing their mileage ads, generally these kinds of functional ads (like toothpastes and other cosmetic products’ ads) will never be suitable on big events.

So the point is; be sure about the suitability (with regard to time and occasion) and worth of an ad before going for its official airing!!!

NOKIA – Connecting people?

Nokia, now more or less like a serious heart patient on a ventilator, is striving hard for its sustenance in the market. The brand once was synonymous to cell phone, the brand which once was more popular than the star icon - Amitabh Bachchan, the brand which has captured the minds of several millions; is now almost vanished. Nokia finds extreme difficulty in coming out of that status quo even after launching many new models. The “former No.1’s” dismal performance continues in the international telecom market for quite a long time.

It was not an overnight journey for Nokia to reach the top of the world. Hard work, continuous innovation, customer knowledge base etc. marked their success in the cell phone market. The way they custom made the cell phones according to the needs and desires of the customers was tremendous and should be highly appreciated.

Nokia – where did the mistake happen?

Everything went quite well until the time arrived when they started underestimating the term “smart phone”. It was in early 2008, when a consortium of 34 companies (Open Handset Alliance) started working in a project called “Android”, for which Nokia hardly gave any attention.

In India, soon after Micromax launched an Android phone which priced as less than 3.5k, many companies started launching their low end Android mobiles. The high brand value of Google, price and the customization factor tempted the public to try those models which inturn helped Andoid to gain popularity and this further prompted Samsung, LG, HTC and other companies to launch their different models to utilize that demand fully. Slowly and steadily Android gained strength eclipsing many of its competitors (iOS, Blackberry-OS). The high brand value of Apple, the unique apps of Blackberry, cheaper and efficient Android phones of Samsung, LG, HTC; all these factors literally squeezed Nokia from all sides and ultimately pull them out from the market. The lag in identifying the emerging competitors marks the beginning of Nokia’s fall in the smart phone segment.  

Nokia-Microsoft deal

Nokia refused to join the consortium (Open Handset Alliance) and decided to continue with their Symbian and Windows mobile OS hoping a success to the latter. Microsoft however welcomed this move of Nokia for obvious reasons; Firstly Windows mobile-OS became obsolete due to the extreme failure of their highly anticipated and high budget project, MS-kin (MS-kin was a $1 billion project, but Microsoft apparently withdrew their MS-kin cell phones exactly 48 hours after its international launch) in 2010. Secondly as per the deal, Microsoft had the rights to handle the software interface which includes the usage of various apps (E.g. ‘Bing’ search engine) which itself create huge revenues for Microsoft. Thirdly the deal gave Microsoft a platform to use Nokia’s authorized dealer network as Microsoft’s official “marketplace”. As a result, the relationship could not result in converting into numbers for Nokia.

Nokia now

Nokia has been trying with their new models (Lumia 900, 800, 610) in recent times to create a pull in the market. Despite its high brand endorsements and other marketing efforts, the new products however generate rather poor acceptance due to many reasons like substandard technical specifications (no flash, no Bluetooth file transfer, no video calling, no USB mass storage mode etc.), absence of Android and relatively high price compared to its competitors. Apple and Blackberry are not going to provide their OS to Nokia by any chance which finally gave Nokia left with only one chance; to stick with Windows OS only. And hence in June 2012, Nokia made another deal with Microsoft with a view to launch Windows 8 (mobile version) on their new cell phones. Nokia cannot expect an immediate response and acceptance from the public. They surely have to wait for quite a while as we all know “It takes a few seconds to destroy a brand, but will take years to revive”

Now let’s wait and see what Nokia has reserved for the public and how the public respond to the new Windows 8-enabled phones of Nokia.

Note: Nokia has become a failure only in smart phone segment. However in the segment of low end mobiles, still Nokia has a decent market share.

A light into the bottled water

Indian packaged drinking water industry started way back in 1960s when Bisleri started their operation in 1965 by selling their “glass bottles” (later changed to PVC bottles) in Mumbai suburbs. The numbers in those days were strikingly not more than 100 or 150 a day. Nearly 5 decades later, what we see now, is almost 2 million

The per capita consumption of mineral water (packaged drinking water) in India is a mere 0.6-litre compared to 115-litres in Europe and 45-litres in USA. This figure can however be ruled out by pointing out the presence of wells, water purifiers etc. But despite all these, it is quite an alarming figure in this part of 21^st century when the ground water is almost draining off irrespective of the place we live in India. Infact as per UN study conducted in 122 countries in 2008, in connection with water quality, India's number was a pathetic 120. 

A less advertised product

Unlike other products, packaged drinking water is one of the rare segments where we can hardly find advertisements very often. Is it because the product is a necessary one? Of course it’s not a huge hit in many of the rural areas in India and so a TV commercial endorsing actors, cricket stars etc. is not worth showing, every now and then. Then the advertisers' focus surely will be on seasonal advertisements especially during summer (when water would be the perfect drink during the summer in Tropics). 

Have you ever thought why these companies are not giving any sales promotion for packaged water (E.g. Buy one-get-one free, or price discounts, or giving "free" with any of the snacks like lays, bingo etc.). Though it sounds funny and hilarious, there is a reason why they never do. Firstly, the need for pure water is always increasing because of increased health awareness, high media exposure, high disposable incomes and the like. So people are ready to spend their income on water without much hesitation. Secondly, there is no substitute for water, just like Coke for Pepsi, Tea for Coffee, Lays for Bingo, Dosa for Chapatti etc. No other drink will do the job of water and so the demand is always up. And finally there is nothing like “Target customers” for drinking water. It is unanimously needed across all demographics (age, sex, income level, nationality, religion, caste etc.). And the next probable question may be; Have the water purifiers actually killed the packaged drinking water industry or the other way around? And the answer is a big NO. Though they look like mutual category killers, the numbers (sale of the products in both the industry) however say that, they both live in symbiosis to each other. 

Strategy

There is a hidden strategy as many of us never know or rather never noticed. It is in every summer, the multinational giants like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola etc. intentionally spread the awareness of the need for water in summer through health magazines in urban areas and flyers in rural or semi urban areas. They also insist the audience/people through these reports to avoid their local counterparts mentioning some of the safety issues. Even though these reports are true to some extent, their main idea is to kill their local counter parts and to enjoy a major share in the market. Not all local players are to be blamed for the safety issues and so this however can be treated as a strategy, rather a negative strategy done by the multinational companies.

Safety Issues – plenty of local players

In India, the branded market is 40 % of the category and non- branded contributes to 60% of the market which itself tells how big is the role played by the local counterparts. Bisleri (a product of Parle Agro) is the market leader in mineral water in India with a 55% market share within the organized mineral water category. The 60% (unorganized sector) however creates an anxiety in everyone that how this 60% ensures hygiene for their products.

Sources report that many local companies are still using drainage water or its equivalent and low quality carbon filters to purify it which hardly kill the germs inside it. In many urban and semi urban areas, thousands of children are deployed by these lobbies (agents of unorganized bottled-water companies) in order to collect the used bottles from the garbage which later use to refill with water without even cleaning it. Many reports even from Kerala (supposedly considered as the best state in India in health and hygiene) showed the presence of harmful microorganisms like coliform bacteria in many bottled water which cause diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera etc. 

Microorganisms may cause these diseases, but the presence of lead, cadmium and other poisonous chemicals in the impure water cause cancer and will lead to death of a person as a result. Moreover, the compounds of many of these chemicals (E.g. Arsenic trichloride which is infact colourless and present in industrial sewage, Arsenic acid etc.) cause even mutations and will thus affect not only this generation, but also the subsequent generations. 

However the labels on the bottles of all these companies will have ISO 9001 certification and proof of UV treatment. A Ultra-violet (UV) treatment is the disinfection process of passing water by a special light source which emits UV waves that can inactivate harmful microorganisms. However prolonged storage of water after UV treatment is not recommended. This method is gaining popularity because of the nature of its chemical-free treatment.

It is pretty obvious that UV treatment purification needs huge amount of money as capital investment and for its maintenance thereafter. Remember, a UV treatment will only kill the microorganisms in it, and never purifies the harmful chemicals like Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium etc. So the question remains is; should the source of water for these companies be drainage or other impure water bodies, then what are the measures or methods in which they purify completely and make it so called “drinkable”?  

Finally

There should be a proper system or authority to check and validate consistently the purity of water. And this authority should be given an autonomous power to take actions against the culprits. Normally what happens is; the “regulatory department” and the companies go hand-in-hand and eventually sell the unhygienic products to the public. They should regularly monitor (the samples) on a daily basis and gives a warning to the companies if found guilty once and should terminate the licence if found guilty thrice. Infact the companies which show fake ISO certification on their bottles should be banned. The closing down of these companies may affect a lot of workers who are associated with the un-organised sector, but this is a necessity to save a generation ahead, for a better tomorrow!!!

A dissection on Euro 2012

Another Euro cup has passed by with its spirit and exertion engraving completely on the minds of the soccer hooligans across the globe. And this Euro witnessed many new stuffs; it has hardly had any nerve ending matches, neither had 'the very famous comebacks' nor had any surprise early exits...In short, except one or two, every game looks very dull and boring. It also witnessed the third consecutive Championship victory of the defending champions without much effort and the worst defeat by any team in finals of any major Championship. And finally regarding the telecast in India, this was one of the worst telecasts I ever had in my life. Even the Carling Cup and Santosh trophy telecasts were much better than this year's Euro (Thanks to Neo Sports!!!!)

One final Note from the Champions
There are however some lessons from this year's Euro. At first, They proved; In a country like Spain which has done budget cuts of over €27 billion this year, training the lads for defence and forward positions is a luxury and not a necessity. And hence they concentrated on midfield and won it and proudly said to the world that "Midfield becomes the corner stone in every football match". A defensive midfielder can play in centre backs, an attacking midfielder can play in forwards. That's what happened for Spain.
Secondly, football is a team game and so the chemistry between the players, harmony among them off the field etc. become crucial which marks the way to exit for many big bosses like France, England etc. Many powerhouses like Ronaldo, Rooney, Benzema etc miserably failed towards the end, not because of lacking their pin point accuracies or in creating chances, but because the other players failed to support them effectively.
Thirdly, Have a definite and unique plan towards every team. There is no rocket science in this, Stop the supply/passes/crosses of the opponents, then create passes, have more possession and attack silently.

Decoding Spain!!!!! a necessity....
 The back-to-back victories of one team/player will remain some certain bad impacts on the future of a game. The direct impact which can be pointed out is, the alleviating number in viewership which was exactly happened in F1 when Schumacher won five consecutive World Championships, also when Australia were on the road to victory for consecutive third time in Cricket World Cup 2007. So if another country fail to defeat Spain for one next time, then it will have serious impact on the viewership across the globe. Because, the beauty of every game is its prevailing uncertainty, and if that uncertainty never exists, it will kill the game apparently.

How Companies celebrated Euro??
(In India) Carlsberg, Touborg, Cadbury, Samsung, Nokia, Reliance Netconnect etc have utilized their opportunity quite well by showing their ads very often in this Euro. And the sales for many companies has increased during this period.

 In India, Airtel come up with an offer to the kids by giving a chance to join in Manchester Youth Academy. this however was purely a good marketing campaign and they worked out it very well.
Though Nike launched their Euro ad this time too and had a record 9 million views in first 3 days, they never build on it by showing their ads like others did.

Note: Hope for a better and interesting Euros in the later years with a new Champion kissing on the trophy. Also hoping for a better telecast partners next time...!!!!

The new ad of Cadbury's Gems- Raho Umarless

The recent Cadbury Gems ad seriously questions about the sheer rapport between the tv commercials and the product positioning. They infact showed a couple of ads; one with an old lady who tries to find Gems from the ground,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ink9lAkrcxY other of a sculpture, made completely out of Gems http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjV91ZRqu-o&feature=relmfu .

By showing the childlike characters in adults, the message they tried to portray may be, the diversification of their brand into adults apart from kids. However the message was totally unclear and moreover baffling, which is highly unlikely from the PR and Advertising giants, O&M. Infact the ad was unknowingly crash landed with an abrupt ending showing their new tagline there, which failed to stress the idea of "Living an ageless life".

In my opinion, There should be a logical nexus from the start of an ad till its very end. And the tagline should only be a means for concreting the message in viewer's mind, or to have a brand recall whenever they see it. But here in this case, the tagline which shows at the end of both the ads ("Raho Umarless" meaning "Stay ageless")  has hardly got any connection with the actual ad. Nearly after 3 weeks of its launch, the result was not in numbers for Cadburys (no impact in sales), However their highly variety ringtone has got a publicity when college lads started using it.

Finally their new ads hardly created any appeal to the targeted audience. So the point is, it doesn't actually matter whether the ad is simple or complicated; but the viewers should be able to make out from that 10-20 sec ad and should thereby reflect in sales very sooner. Hope O&M and Cadburys will come up with new interesting ads in the future with more clarity in conveying the message.