Link: Believable Fantasy

10:27 PM

(3) Comments

"Of audiences and Colors and Mills & Boon" - This is a brilliant little post and I just had to share it.

Star Plus and many other GECs started the Saas-Bahu saagas a few years back. In the beginning the combination of extravagant settings and everyday family issues worked well to capture the aspirations and fascination of many a Indian housewife. However over a period of time the focus of the script writers and producers seemed to have tilted more towards the extravagance factor and less on building real issues. This is where they went wrong, they pushed the envelope beyond a point where it was just simply unbelievable and in the process forgot about the backbone that every story needs - an interesting, relevant and captivating plot. And Colors called on this brilliantly. 

Well these are just thoughts that to came to my mind after reading the post, Anant Rangaswamy, the author, has nailed it perfectly, please read!

Probably also a lesson for all of us in designing our advertising and communication - create fantasy, but "believable fantasy". 

Amit Budhiraja

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The Story Behind Cleartrip.com

10:34 PM

(3) Comments

Here's an interesting story about Cleartrip.com. 

A bunch of entrepreneurs started a company called 'Paper Plane' back in 1998, which had nothing to do with travel, rather it was a company that offered web designing and hosting services. These guys landed their first major contract wtih Thomas Cook for designing their website and maintaining the back-end of their online operations in India. 

After 6-something years of running thomas cook's online operation and gaining a wealth of insightful information on the travel industry and consumer behavior, these guys actually start thinking that hey travel seems to be a huge opportunity and the TC people don't look to serious about it, why not we put our learnings over the years to good use and tap this opportunity ourselves. 

2 years and several meetings with angel investors later, Cleartrip.com was born in 2006. 

Talk about being at the right place at the right time and having an eye for opportunities !!

Amit Budhiraja

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IPL in South Africa - Comments from Media Professionals

9:50 PM

(1) Comments

I asked a question in a previous post a few days back on what is going to be the effect of the IPL being moved to an international location this year on viewer behavior and what impact, if any, will this have on media revenues during the season.

Well apart from the expert comments I received from two of our "panel" experts - Abhishek and Ajit, I also came across this article on exchange4media.com where some eminent media professionals of the country have shared their thoughts and I quote below:

Nandan Srinath, COO - Radio Mirchi:
“Cricket always has had healthy revenues. Now, even though the matches won’t be played in India, the viewerships would not be affected”. He added, “So, basically other than the venue change, everything else pretty much remains the same.” He further said that the ad campaigns for IPL would go on air at the FM station in the coming week.

Anant Chakravarty, Sr. VP - Big FM:
“Although we have not finalised a fixed revenue figure, we have already started working towards the campaigns and various advertising packages. With the change of venue now, the only difference in terms of advertisements is the variation in the content that we are going to create. There is a little ambiguity regarding the dates, but once that is cleared, we will be out with our ad campaigns.”

Neeraj Chaturvedi, Delhi Station Head, Fever FM:
“According to me, all the three media – print, television and radio – will miss out on some revenue with the tournament being played outside India. Personally, I would have never wanted the venue to be shifted.”

(a bit of trivia - did you know Fever FM is Virgin Radio's India venture? I didn't!)

So there doesn't seem to be a clear verdict yet on how media will be affected. Personally I think while agencies which handle on-ground promos and activities will definitely miss out on the revenus and brands the opportunity to make a solid connect with the consumers on the ground, traditional media like television and radio will only gain viewership from last year.

Amit Budhiraja

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Link: Rural Markets in India

10:46 PM

(1) Comments

I must thank Deepak Laxmikantha for sharing this great article "Rural Markets in India". It is a very long read (I am yet to read it fully myself!) but it is as good a guide as you will find anywhere on the opportunity in Rural India today and the intiatives that leading companies are taking to tap these markets. It is a must-read.

Amit Budhiraja

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IPL Not on Indian Soil This Year - So what?

11:40 PM

(4) Comments

This is a question I'd really like to ask all my cricket loving fans, ethusiasts, fanatics - tous ces gens - if the IPL is not going to be held on Indian soil, how much difference is it going to make to you? Would you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed take-one? Or is it going to make a difference in the sense that you would feel less connected with the competition and it would be more like watching any other T-20 tournament?

I'd love to understand your thoughts as would most marketers in India who have probably already invested significantly in air time during the IPL broadcast.

Are we going to see the same number of eyeballs tuned to the IPL as last year ?

Amit Budhiraja

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Indian Auto Industry - Branding Anyone?

4:40 AM

(1) Comments


Why does the Indian auto industry still stay largely undifferentiated? Whatever little differentiation exists, exists only at the category level.

It’s really curious why car-makers are so reluctant to take a strong positioning on one attribute – I am performance, I am safety, I am comfort, I am technology, I am esteem, instead most seem to be rather comfortable with a general positioning – I am a little bit of everything.

Most brands do carry out a few sporadic campaigns to communicate a particular benefit, Toyota did a few commercials about space for qualis and innova, so did Getz (or was it U-va?), Honda city did comfort for a short while and there are many examples like this, but a coherent long term strategy which seeks to establish one brand on one attribute has been completely missing from this industry. In every segment it is the value offering that just about packs up a little of bit everything that is the market leader.

Ford’s ‘Josh’ machine campaign is probably the only one which has really left a lasting impression that it is a performance oriented vehicle. Sadly later variants of the product hardly lived up to this promise.

So I wonder why this is so, is it because the average consumer is yet to evolve in India? Because buying a car in itself is the dream, not buying a fast car or a really safe car? So these consumers actually want their cars to be a little bit of everything? Is it because the market is yet to mature to a level where manufacturers can profitably seek to customize their products for separate niches?

Even then, this is a huge opportunity for manufacturers. I can’t think of any other industry where every possible positioning plank is…well..BLANK.

Amit Budhiraja

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Link: How will the consumers respond to the slowdown

2:24 AM

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Hey guys, great article by afaqs! - Shop or Stop: How will the consumer respond to the slowdown?

I think this is a must read to understand how consumers are reacting to this slowdown and how are they going to modify their consumption behavior. This is the opportunity I was talking about in my earlier post Is the Recession a Blessing in Disguise for Regional Brands. 

Amit Budhiraja

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