IIPM Editorial

Monday, November 15, 2010

DOES ADVERTISING ACCURATELY REFLECT THE NEW-AGE WOMAN?

Has today’s advertising kept pace with scores of Indian women emerging from the shadows to seek their rightful place in society? 4Ps B&M presents various views

Ray, however, admits that she personally is prepared to go into this battle, anytime, any day! Theatre luminary Lushin Dubey switches lanes to offer a completely new perspective. “More than advertising projecting the ‘New Woman’, the New Woman seems to be totally seduced by advertising! She appears to totally believe, even celebrate the image that she sees... and this is both distressing and dangerous because it sends out the wrong signals. It implies that TV is this big hospital-cum-beauty parlour-cum-gym, where all shapes and sizes are photo-shopped and air-brushed to perfection! Scary...”

The last words must come from Omkar Sane, author (Welcome To Advertising. Now Get Lost!) and ad-tracker. “Actually, it’s because of the tainted windows, AC cabins and the advertising code for women established during the dark ages!” He points out that in the area of finance or healthcare, it is always the man who understands, applies and takes credit for the action while the woman sits and smiles. “Gul Panag didn’t talk too much in the Tata Sky ads, did she? It was Aamir who apparently knew everything and played a starring role.” Sane laments the fact that advertising “seems to wait for society to change and then show its spurs; while society, for its turn, hopes like hell that advertising will lead the way and effect the much-needed change.” Neither does that; and all one ends up doing is... changing the damn channel!

Well, if you belong to the club that thinks Julius ‘advertising’ Caesar is a brute, then friends, Indians, ladies, unite...

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

Monday, November 1, 2010

TALK TO THE HAND, HONEY!

With two new franchises being sold-off at world-record beating rates, Lalit Modi’s utterly raucous IPL takes leaps towards becoming the world’s largest sporting behemoth. Illogical? Yes, talk to his hand...

Whether it is the well-known Amby Valley knight or some unknown Special Purpose Vehicles, the real rub lies in the outflows that are bound to follow. Whatever the parties have spent so far is only for the purchase of the respective franchises. Now they have to invest on the players, staff, logistics and infrastructure. Starting September, the players’ auctions will restart, and Sahara and Rendezvous will be forced to shell-out some precious coins for purchasing players – whose values with each passing IPL are only going upwards. At the end of the day, building your team as a dominant brand poses the biggest challenge. While money might not be an issue in the case of Sahara, as far as Rendezvous goes, it sure has a rough uphill ride ahead.

Three years back, when IPL was born, Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya paid Rs.441 and Rs.440 crores respectively to purchase Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Royal Challenger franchises. Many pundits had then questioned their vision, calling it nothing more than a mirage. On current terms, those figures look like Downing Street pennies. Although the first year was evidently a damp squib, both in terms of stadium spectators and television viewership, IPL turned into a trusted and successful sporting brand, turning profitable during the second year itself for both the BCCI and the franchise owners. Despite general elections forcing the entire tournament out of the country, brand IPL did not lose its glitter, thanks to some great advertising. According to market experts, IPL 3 will generate Rs.1000 crores in ad-revenues. Even in terms of viewership, IPL no longer looks a three-year-old infant. TAM reports prove how viewership has increased by 6% this season, as compared to IPL 2, with more than 67 million viewers watching the first three matches of IPL 3 in India alone. Yes, national viewership has fallen as the tourney has progressed. But with IPL matches being broadcasted live on YouTube for the first time, viewers in UK, US and Australia are showing keen interest in IPL.

Conclusively, one has to remember that finally, IPL is not just a sporting event, but a venture where investors like Shahrukh, the Wadias, Sahara et al are attempting to maximize their investments. One method to do that is to sell off the franchises to third party buyers, when the going rates are good. Another is to earn from their share in advertisement earnings of the IPL, which are pretty decent currently. But there is a danger of these ad-rates hitting the ceiling, which would therefore divert advertisers to other formats, as Sam Balsara, CMD of Madison World says, “IPL may turn into a Golden Goose. Due to overhype, the ad-rates of IPL slots are too much now. This may suddenly divert advertisers from IPL to other cricketing events. But at this moment, IPL is rocking!” As per a London-based brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, the value of IPL 3 (at $4.13 billion) is twice that of IPL 2 ($2.01 billion). But is this growth a sustainable one? Brand Finance claims it is. And standing true to our sub-heading, Lalit Modi says, “IPL will become the world’s biggest sporting brand!” Yes, keep talk to his hand. Right now, it rocks!

Satish Chapparike

Monday, October 25, 2010

WHAT’S BUZZING THE BUZZ?!

The latest product and gadget launches that garnered the biggest brownie points with respect to the interest they generated in the market

SAMSUNG 3D FLAT PANEL TV

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:
• Touch of Colour (ToC)
• Design scheme
• Built-in ethernet connection
• Price: Rs. 130,000- 435,000 (LED), & Rs. 129,000- 186,900 (LCD)

MOVING TO THE BIGGER PICTURE: After FujiFilm launched its 3D camera last year, Samsung recently introduced the technology in its flat panel TV. With a built-in 3D video processor and 3D optimized panel, this product provides the best picture quality in its segment. Moreover, the wireless-ready capabilities and built-in ethernet connection elevate the overall consumer viewing experience.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Accolades galore

Planman Media’s senior photographer Sujan Singh – already a winner of the CNN Young Photo Journalist award – has also won the best photo journalist award for the second successive time at the 15th edition of the glamorous fashion festivity, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, held in New Delhi last week. The award was conferred by the President of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) Sunil Sethi and Atul Chand, Chief Executive Officer of ITC’s lifestyle retail business division, in an award giving ceremony during the fashion week at the NSIC exhibition arena foyer in New Delhi. The awards bring together all the fashion talents for an event filled with glitz, glamour and entertainment. Announcing the winners, Sethi said, “The aim behind the awards is to bring to the forefront the talent, grace and finesse available in our nation, representing the multicultural talent of India.” Sujan Singh has also been awarded recently the 2009 Outstanding Performer’s Award at Planman Media.

Monday, October 18, 2010

BIG LEAGUE OR NO LEAGUE

Moving up the value chain has been an aspiration for Indian IT brands for quite sometime now. Now it may well be deemed an unavoidable necessity!

WHY IS COST A RELIC OF THE PAST?

The first point that comes to mind is emergence of low-cost destinations like Philippines, Vietnam, countries in Eastern Europe et al. It is well known that they are proving to be quite competitive with Indian companies on the cost front. Moreover, as Diptarup Chakraborti, Senior Research Analyst, Gartner India, states, “Earlier, difference between US and Indian salaries was close to 100%; now it is just around 20%.” Moreover, it is imperative for them to move beyond the per employee billing rate system; else they risk hitting a revenue ceiling. Chakraborti gives the example of IBM’s revenues, which are 10 times that of TCS, with only 2-2.5 times the number of employees. Improving realisation per employee is absolutely imperative as companies like TCS plan to increase their size and touch revenues of $10-12 billion. An Infosys spokesperson tells us that the company has already started working in this regard. He says, “Infosys offers its clients two business models. The first is the outcome-based or transaction-based model, that offers its clients a value proposition where the rates will be irrelevant and the client pays only for the result the firm provides. The second centres around new opportunities caused by the shift in consumer preferences, where Infosys offers solutions in new platforms such as the mobile network and social networking sites.”

The real risk, in fact, comes from home ground. Sudin Apte, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, elaborates, “We have to stop comparing Indian companies with MNCs. IBM now has around 80,000 employees in India and Accenture has around 60,000. Who are we calling MNCs?” India is a resource destination and no longer the exclusive domain of Indian companies. Mayur Sahni, Senior Market Analyst, IDC Asia Pacific puts it thus, “Cost competitiveness cannot be sustained unless there is an economic and/or business barrier. The economic barrier has been removed to some extent with global IT and technology players setting up operations in India.” The business barrier, on the other hand, links to the margin a particular player is willing to accept while negotiating a deal. According to industry buzz, when TCS won the deal for Malaysian Airlines, another overseas vendor claimed that the price TCS had offered was below their cost! But then vendors like IBM also pay higher salaries, making them more attractive to top talent. So this age-old bastion may not last very long either.

Consider, in addition, the phenomenon of protectionism. Admittedly, that isn’t a real worry, since companies have begun to accept offshoring as an inevitability. As Chakraborti cites an example, “Let us say that Exxon Mobil suddenly decides that we will do all IT in-house, while they don’t have the capacity. It will take them 3-5 years. What will they do in the interim?” So, if outsourcing is stifled, it will hurt them more. But it is also true that these debates do weigh heavy on client perceptions, while going for deals. In a recent NASSCOM conference, Pramod Bhasin admitted that this was one of the key reasons why Indian IT companies were going for on-site hiring.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

THE CREATIVITY ABNORMALITY

Despite being populated with innumerous product categories, the Indian FMCG sector has invested dramatically in promoting creativity to ensure a distinct brand imagery that has broken the clutter

It was an irksome Wednesday afternoon. Mrs. Kathuria, a housewife, had just switched on the TV to calm down her foul mood. Her son, Rohan, who was hitherto quite excited about rescuing his best buddy in school from a bunch of bullies, had just been scolded by his mother for ruining his uniform, which was now completely mud-soiled. And suddenly, in the background, starts the jingle, ‘Agar daag lagne se kuch acha hota hai, toh daag ache hain!’ A scene right out of a TV advertisement? Wrong! What we described is actually verbatim how the mother of a truant school going kid (aren’t all of them) in one fine South Delhi household explained to us the moments preceding the jingle (which had started in the background during the break in the afternoon soap serial). But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is what she told us further on. “The moment I heard the jingle, my fury reduced immensely and I, in a way, felt less angry at my son – well, the coincidence between what the ad was showing and what was happening every day in front of me could not be ignored,” exclaimed Mrs. Kathuria. So what’s the dope we’re pushing here?

Creativity! Compare any standard (say) American FMCG advertisement to a standard Indian FMCG advertisement, and the difference would hit you fantastically hard. Comedy, shock, surrealism – Indian advertisements score miles ahead of Western advertisements in ensuring that the brand is recalled like nobody’s business by the consumers. Think about it. If we were to ask you to fill in the blanks in the punch line, “xxxx ki safedi,” a majority Indians would bang on hit the right target!

To some extent, Surf (and of course, ‘washing powder Nirma’) was amongst the first ones, daring to be different at a time when the advertising of detergent powders a few years back showed the same run-of-the-mill commercials promising greater whiteness, gentle on clothes proposition, floral fragrances, et al. And this in fact was true for most of the product categories in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) category? How many TVCs of toothpastes, soaps, creams, et al, of different companies could were differentiated from one another? Hardly. Didn’t all toothpastes promise fresh breath and white teeth just a few years back? Didn’t one-third shampoos promise Zero Dandruff, another third promise Zero Hair Fall and remaining guarantee shine and strength (in fact, don’t they do so even now)? Clearly, even in India, till just a few years back FMCG products, in most categories, were unable to create a unique brand promise!

NEW DAYS, NEW WAYS (ALMOST)

With every player in the Indian FMCG arena battling to stay a step ahead of others, one can see a lot of new (and not so new) weapons in their marketing strategies. 4Ps B&M sums up four such strategies, which have now emerged as top competitive tools

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF FMCG NETWORKING

A new wave of marketing is emerging through social networking sites

Those were the times when Steve Jobs depended on blogs to find out whether his new launch was being trashed or trusted. India seems to have ridden up the wave to some extent, and FMCG players are realising that social networking sites are fast emerging as an important tool for FMCG players to keep in touch with their consumers. Recently, Dabur opened a Twitter account for news, views, latest updates and discussions on Dabur and its flagship brands. Organisations like Perfetti Van Melle, Coca Cola, et al, are also using this route to touch base with their target group. But strangely, presence on the net in India in no way promotes the sales of the product – due to extremely low internet penetration and usage – but allows the companies to understand critical views that might be easily handled in advance than later.

WHY CADBURY SHOULD THANK KELLOGG

Five years ago, there was just one brand Kellogg fighting hard to educate Indians about health; today, it’s a stampede

It was a tough battle for Kellogg to break the habit of Indians, who were used to indulge in high-in-calorie breakfasts like paranthas. Today, Cadbury India is reaping the benefits of the health-conscious Indian consumer with it’s pro-health promotion of Perk (‘with glucose energy’ of course). Now, it’s almost a Zimbabwean wilder beast stampede in progress. So we have Saffola Arise (healthy rice), Parle Monaco Smart Chips (non-fried chips), Maggi nutri-licious Pazzta (100% made of suji), all launched in the last two to three months, and all harping over the health-quotient. But do Indians really worry about health enough to eat only ‘the healthy stuff’? Umm, ask yourself, do you?

Angshuman Paul & Savreen Gadhoke

Friday, August 27, 2010

IIPM Latest Updates - HR Seminar - Conducted by IIPM & Strategic Management Group (SMG)

IIPM in association with its Strategic Management Group (SMG) conducted a seminar for HR aspirants, at NCUI auditorium on 13th August 2010. The note of the seminar was on -“Strategies to Re-focus, Re-engage and Re-energize employees for company’s quick recovery from the Recession.”

The list of delegate speakers included corporate dignitaries like Mr. Anuj Taneja (HR Head, HDFC Bank), Mr Anand Pillai (Sr Vice President & Global Head- Quality and Talent Transformation at HCL technologies.), Mr Deepak Bahl (HR Head, Eros), Mr Rajesh Verma (HR Head, Max Health Care), Ms Neha Sharma ( HR Manager, Lloyd Ventures), Mr Kamal Kumar ( Sr. GM, Recruitment & Training, dhanuka Agritech Ltd.), Mr Arindam Nath (Head Consulting Partner, Planman HR).

The seminar had all the speakers enlightening the students by sharing anecdotes. Through their speeches they emphasized on the importance of retaining talent – which is one of the major challenges the HR industry faces today. They addressed various nuances of HR. From looking into balance sheets to ‘breaking all rules’, the seminar was a roller coaster ride.

The seminar was one of the initiatives under the Corporate Interface Program (2010-11). Under the aegis of this program IIPM has partnered with organizations like Pepsico, Colgate & Palmolive, Google INC, Berger Paints, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, HSBC Bank, Oracle Corporation, Bharti Telecom, ADAG, HDFC Bank, ICICI, UB Group, Zee Enterprises, E Value Serve, Copal Partners, Standard Chartered, Mahindra, Hewlett Packard, DLF, Yamaha, Suzuki and many for Guest lectures and Seminars.

It was attended by about 200 students specializing in Human Resource.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

IIPM 4Ps Business & Marketing - Nutrivita PRESENTS 100 MARKETING BRAINS THAT MOVE AND SHAKE INDIA

Summet Vohra

Head Marketing, P&G

Sumeet Vohra, a management graduate from IIM-A and has been working with P&G for the last 18 years. Looking at P&G’s growth story, Vohra is undoubtedly one of the key men behind the company’s success and in its drive to remain contemporary. But perhaps the biggest contribution he has made would be in the Gillette campaign – ‘To shave or not’ – which even won the Cannes Gold as well as the Silver Lion. After this campaign, sales increased by 38%. Awareness doubled! Trials increased by 400%! And market share increased by 35%. All in all, P&G has remained at the top slot in the shaving products category by a far margin and Vohra has had a major contribution in the same.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

IIPM 4Ps Business & Marketing-Nutrivita PRESENTS 100 MARKETING BRAINS THAT MOVE AND SHAKE INDIA

Hidehiko Tanaka

MD, Nikon India

I have experienced many situations which demanded smart and effective marketing decision to pull up a successful result but I would consider the following strategies that we have adopted for the Indian market in the recent past as some defining moments: Change in our Distribution Network from National to Regional, wherein, Nikon appointed 27 local distributors across India; establishments of 30 Nikon Touch & feel zones all over the country (with a target to take this number to 80 by 2011); training of in-shop demonstrators as per Nikon’s standard; our plan to move beyond just print & BTL activities to TV commercials in India in 2010-11. All these initiatives were truly an outcome of a combined team effort.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎