Marketing - The courtship exercise

As I have come to observe, thanks to 5 different books we were asked to read and a class which gives the 6th view, that everybody has a Goddamn opinion on Marketing! Agreed they are experts and have done some research to coin words that’s accepted as buzz word. So I thought let me also try to put into words how I understand the current consumerism works from the perspective of a consumer.

We have changed from adjusting with what you get to demanding what we need. Its more like a shift in the marriage trends - from arranged to love- making the best out of what you get and choosing what you want. Now comes the complication of what in the whole wide world does a customer/consumer want?

Earlier people used to 'buy' commodities. Now a days they go shopping. What is the difference? The consumer is no longer a person who has needs to be met but wants his needs met in style. He now likes to be wooed, to be impressed, to make businesses put an effort to please him - visually(packages), economically(pocket friendly), with 'value addition' and in other words to be courted. And how does the consumer react? Like the most unfaithful lover, he basks in the attention and blatantly sidelines the last product that made him feel special!

Now comes the concept of brands. Someone captures the attention, engages you in multiple 'dates' manages to win a place in the heart of the consumer. Its like a speed dial on your mobile, the name you automatically remember. The consumer is willing to go for your brand despite the other brands that try to woo him with offers and features. That’s being in a relationship - brand relationship to be precise.

As every relationship grows, there comes expectations. Expectations from the consumer for lower prices , increased features, more attention and being made feel special. Now if the brand cannot do that, thanks to pressure from competitors or their own constraints, you're looking at a marriage on the rocks. Brand loyalty needs to earned and trust me, businesses are working hard to save the relationship. Thankfully, atleast here, insecurity is not the spoil sport :)

If you look at the trend of brand loyalty in recent times, its dwindling at a rate more than the skirts of bollywood heroines! Add to it the amorous tendencies of both, the brands and the consumers and you have a concoction with more potency than gin and tonic to give you a high. However, the stress in this field is so much that more and more marketing managers are tiring out much before their finance and operations counterparts. But the adrenaline rush, the uncertainty, the glamour coefficient sure hooks most people.

At the end of the day, its all business and everything is fair in love and war. Whether you see it as love or war, the subject has its appeal. Hope the enthusiasm doesn't get curbed with too much definitions and theory, that I basically suck at :)

Disclaimer: I'm a novice who has probably read a few pages in books and blogs and fallen for marketing hard. All views are my own and not to be related with the classroom teachings (my prof will kill me!). All types of inputs are welcome :)

When things suck the most

Of all the things i wanted to write, from curve analysis to sustainability, here i'm writing yet another sober piece. As someone who had a realization that life gets you immaterial of how much on top of it you see yourself, I've never been carried away in happiness. Gives me a look of sensibility they tell me, but more often than not I end up making a mental note to say a prayer not to 'balance' it out.

The reason i'm in this sober a mode today is that my mom called me at 12.00 am to tell me my bro fell from his bike and has a wrist fracture which needs surgery tomorrow. Its not a major one and hope to God, he will recover fast. More than the news, I got hit by the pangs of guilt for my 'busy'ness and a feeling of impotence that comes from the knowledge that you can't help how much ever u want!

I've been there before, for my grandparents, right outside emergency halls, waiting for doctors to give me some news. Answering calls of worried relatives, comforting my mom and dad that things will be alright while I myself have had to call up a few angel friends for that mental strength. But then, I was doing Something! Here, far away from home, listening to my loved ones worried, just doesn't let me carry on with my work. I read up so much on net and and found its pretty normal surgery. Still doesn't help.So much so that I'm pouring out here where I least expect to expose myself.

God, seriously forgive me for the jackass I might have been to anyone. I'm not gonna be asking for good grades or beautiful brides to be. if need be i'll work for them. For the next 2 years, all i ask is peace of mind, in the comfort of the knowledge that my loved ones are really fine, hale and healthy. a simple enough prayer i guess.

Seriously!

Random Blog

I can’t think of anything subjective and there are a lot of little events and incidents that i have an opinion about (not all good and not all sayable either). So here goes on whatever is commentable.

Last weekend, my activities would befit the job description of a secret service agent – staying under cover and hot! Unfortunately both were literal given i was bedridden (not exactly) with a temperature that borders on crazy. Thanks to a few caring souls around, I am back on my feet. But the interesting fact that mine was not a one off case and there are atleast a dozen ppl who’ve fallen for this seasonal change kind of makes it a challenge. Let me tell you – misery does not always love company!

Then there’s the Kopda cup. The IIMS take on IPL is much more appealing than the original given the participation and the cheer. The class girls were divided into groups of 3 and they became the team management who with the help of the ‘free’ captain would buy the players for their team. The concept was wonderful, not because it was borrowed, but the enthusiasm it generated. You should have seen our CEO’s and CFO’s running around with laptops before auction and then in the auction second guessing, strategising and running proxy price wars to weaken competition! Phew.

The week before we had a visiting lecturer teach us on sustainability. Wow! The way of teaching, the energy levels and not to forget, the concept itself was so different from what we are used to. Somewhere down the line was born the sense of belonging. It asked of me a lot of questions, and I can’t help think it is yet another way for mankind to drive his selfish needs. A desperate attempt to cling on to his un mending ways. In addition the teaching just went on to prove that anyone who is so passionate about the subject can bring out the best from the participants. We need more such Indian faculty.

The regular term began this week and seriously Its like antennas class all over again. I can’t think of the last time i had to prepare before going to a class and even that seems to help little. My gchat status msgs have already exhibited my most relevant questions i’ve come across like how can you take a subject seriously which is abbreviated as BS? (I might fall in love with this subject if i get to study) If macro study is an extrapolation of micro study, then can u study the textile industry by studying micro mini skirts?

Other than that, been suiting up to pose for pics which seem to come out comical than professional. Though kind of liking the suited up feeling especially without a tie and a jeans pant below. Too bad style ain’t an option :P Spoke to an couple of normal people (not in B-school yet) and realized the ‘opportunity cost’ was not a big deal given its still bright and happy :)

As i cough like Devdas with a spoilt larynx i sense, not all good opinions are appreciated nor are all bad opinions unwelcome. But I still am in no mood to entertain people’s wrath. Let me get back to the Price Elasticity of demand that i need to prepare for tomo. Oh wait, today. Damn the biological clock!

Crisis finally!

Crisis is in everyone’s dictionary these days and each in a totally different meaning! A lot of people know i’ve been talking about writing on Crisis ever since i read the Andromeda strain by which i mean i’m going to copy paste the excerpt and take credit for bringing it to notice :D As a severe case of Baddder Meinhoff syndrome (google it), ever since i came to IIM Shillong, everywhere I hear someone or the other using the word.

Dean – “Crisis is the mother of innovation” (Catch phrase here)
Visiting faculty – “Our resources drain is gonna lead to a huge crisis soon”
Senior - “You’ll hear a lot about this @$#%^ Crisis a lot”
Overheard – “Shit,Personal Crisis time! I’ve run out of clean ‘things’ to wear” :P

But on a more serious note I suggest you read the following excerpt and appreciate the relevance to anything and everything u see around.

According to Lewis Bornheim, a crisis is a situation in which a previously tolerable set of circumstances is suddenly, by the addition of another factor, rendered wholly intolerable. Whether the additional factor is political, economic, or scientific hardly matters: the death of a national hero, the instability of prices, or a technological discovery can all set events in motion.

The noted scholar Alfred Pockrun, in his study of crises (Culture, Crisis and Change), has made several interesting points. First, he observes that every crisis has its beginnings long before the actual onset. Thus Einstein published his theories of relativity in 1905-15, forty years before his work culminated in the end of a war, the start of an age, and the beginnings of a crisis.

Similarly, in the early twentieth century, American, German, and Russian scientists
were all interested in space travel, but only the Germans recognized the military potential of rockets. And after the war, when the German rocket installation at Peenernfinde was cannibalized by the Soviets and Americans, it was only the Russians who made immediate, vigorous moves toward developing space capabilities. The Americans were content to tinker playfully with rockets and ten years later, this resulted in an American scientific crisis involving Sputnik, American education, the ICBM, and the missile gap.

Pockran also observes that a crisis is compounded of individuals and personalities,
which are unique:
“It is as difficult to imagine Alexander at the Rubicon, and Eisenhower at Waterloo, as it is difficult to imagine Darwin writing to Roosevelt about the potential for an atomic bomb. A crisis is made by men, who enter into the crisis with their own prejudices,propensities, and predispositions. A crisis is the sum of intuition and blind spots, a blend of facts noted and facts ignored.
Yet underlying the uniqueness of each crisis is a disturbing sameness. A characteristic of all crises is their predictability, in retrospect. They seem to have a certain inevitability,they seem predestined. This is not true of all crises, but it is true of sufficiently many tomake the most hardened historian cynical and misanthropic.”

MC
The Andromeda Strain

Beautifully put. Our actions without thought, bear the burden of sowing the seeds for things you do not anticipate. Yes, Man is intelligent enough to come out of it, be it the current global meltdown or the energy crisis. But aren’t we always thinking in retrospect? True, one cannot predict whats going to happen, but you can adjudge what your present action might lead to. The entire concept of causality is not a retrospective study.

I’m not sure, if this is true of every person, but whenever i try to do an impact analysis (a term from office), i end up over-thinking. There was a brief coverage on Game theory for decision making, but what we don’t realize is how do you account for variable change when there is a sense of foreboding and inevitability! (see movie 21 :) )

I sensed i’m going too technical (or just terms dropping), but something we need to think about before we term the situation as crisis. Problem, scenario, difficulty, hurdle are more apt words than a crisis for most of our day to day life. But our decisions taken to handle the scenarios are to be rational and with a bit of forethought.

As i typed this, i kind of remembered that our batch music band is also called Crisis! They were awesome in the cult comm fest yesterday, and i need to make a special mention of the pianist and singer, a certain Rukma Jayaram (here). She’s got 3/4th of the batch having the gchat status messages praising her voice and more so in awe after reading this article. The humbleness of someone like her and the fact that she’s one among a very promising set of future managers, makes me really proud to be part of this batch :)

From Byes that weren’t extras to Skip distance strategy

When you have a screwed up pun in the title, the chances are you are on a roll! Being on a roll is a bad news if you are a chicken I guess (buwahaha).

I half expected to see myself getting the business focus, the professionalism and a small amount of cut down on my PJs since I’m now a part of the IM Shillong family. What i didn’t take into account was the fact that I’m back to a college and hostel life! :D

When I quit my job and moved from Bangalore, amidst sad faces (who were secretly exchanging hi-fives whenever my back was turned) there were 3 things that I realized.

a) I’m going to be missing a few people whom I’m really glad I met and Sincerely hope to be in touch with for the rest of my life (a very tough promise)

b) Now that i won’t have a pay-check, I’m actually dependent again and can’t spend big!

c) You cannot carry 5 bags of luggage on your own and cross the railway over-bridge without looking stupid

The week I spent in Chennai after that I kind of realized being literally jobless, I was working more than i ever did in office! Of course a whole lot of running around in the hot sun, eating home food and pampering my dog left me with one day to pack all my stuff for probably a really long stay away from home. (2 years in Bangalore or 4 years in VIT, i ended up coming home atleast once a month). So while all the batch mates I met at the airport were paying extra luggage I was the only one who had less than the limit allowed!! Kind of explained the borrowing I’ve been doing here in the name of "inclusive development" :)

Shillong – Love at first sight! Though it took my maiden flight, bad airline sandwich, a 3.5 hour drive that was dangerously probing the anti gravity attributes of the bad sandwich, the thing that remains in memory of the 1^st of July was my “Shit! This place is Awesome!!” Lush greenery everywhere, warm people, beautiful landscapes, cool weather (I’ve been wearing a jerkin all the while) and above all the excitement at pursuing my dream! I’m gonna be writing a lot more on this place in the next 2 years. ( i left out - the chance to flaunt my hindi :D)

The rigour of work interlaced with ice breaker sessions topped off with awesome partying last -weekend. I got back into the groove of exam-eve-night at VIT (here an everyday affair), long useless conversations (never lost touch) and terms dropping (now all management terms like sustainability and crises) totally out of context (all this before the term even began). Just took a break and came after an hour of absolutely crappy conversation (taking cases and my own case taken) laughing my ass off . Aah, college :D A lot of time to talk about it.

An electronics engineer might know what a skip distance might mean. It is more so relevant in a class room where there’s a terrible generalization that first benchers are sincere ;) On one day when i sat there, a blog entry got written on a fellow students page on how first benchers are sincerely taking notes. Those drawings in the margin and the philo flowing plus the sleep u can manage without getting caught aren’t something that is apparent. Doesn’t hurt in this concept called class participation either :D

I hope to be a bit more regular in this new avatar of dumping business jargons to trivial issues to take off the steam of serious assignments :D Next, i hope to write on crises, long pending after Crichton’s Andromeda Strain :) Adios till then.