Month: June 2008

  • Mobilisation

    For those in India who look forward to the internet taking a major stake in ad spends, this (via PluggdIn) cannot be music to your ears. While the internet spend has grown by over 90% in 2007, as far as absolutes go, its a mere 2% in the overall media spend. And with the total figures increasing for all media, its a case of the rich getting richer, and the poor getting much lesser than what they deserve. Ironically, The Times Group finds a place among the top spenders on the net.

    In this report, mobile has been included under digital which has internet, search and mobile. I think its only a matter of time before it becomes a separate category altogether. Like i have written earlier, the mobile is poised to become the internet’s saviour in India. Which is one of the reasons why I’d consider this news very significant – Yahoo has announced a tie up with Idea and MTNL for mobile advertising as well as One search. The SMS search was launched late last year. And if we go by the interesting stuff that Yahoo has been doing globally, the space is bound to throw up some fun stuff considering that Yahoo can leverage all its content from mail to messenger to social media on this platform. (Remember the Reliance-Yahoo Messenger ad?)

    Meanwhile, their friends at Google have not been idle either. Their SMS search was launched just before Yahoo. Their deal with Airtel was also well hyped and they have also launched a voice based local search earlier this year. (while on that, this one – Ubona is an interesting service in Bangalore)

    Also, its not just the web giants who are fighting for the mobile advertising pie. One example would be Nokia’s acquisition of Enpocket, which already services a few clients in India. And in this context, one cannot afford to ignore the major happening in october (hopefully) and the impact it would have on internet access via mobile.

    until next time, net losses

  • Driven

    Its been a while since 1983. 25 years, and as the car maker which transformed the Indian automobile scene with their very first car in that year, its reason enough to celebrate. And the new TVC does justice to that. From the now almost extinct original Maruti 800, which was a bestseller till 2004, to the Swift, the car with the highest sales figures in 2006, its been a long road, with Omni, Maruti 1000, Zen, Baleno, Alto, Esteem, Gypsiy, SX4, Versa, Vitara and a divestment all packed in between.

    While i partially agree with this – the ‘local’ all encompassing big brand concept that has been used by many other brands succesfully has been used here too, I think the timing could not have been better. With Chevrolet, Ford, Skoda, Toyota, Honda, Renault etc and the other desi Tata, coming out with models and talking about everything from fuel efficiency to attitude, it was time to hit India with something that rarely fails – an emotion packed family drama which would trigger bouts of nostalgia.

    And it does well, with some excellent camerawork that takes you from the modern jet setting India, to a typical, traditional Kerala temple procession scene, complete with elephants, to the timeless ‘papa impatiently waiting at the gate for the daughter who’s late’ and an armed forces mountain terrain scenario, from the usage as the proxy school van to a hitchhiker asking for a lift to reach home in time for Diwali, all with the different brands that have got it a 6.5 million customer base; a really hummable theme music, that I hope they will retain for some time, and a powerful line ‘India comes home in a Maruti Suzuki’.

    In essence, a stance that befits a market leader of ethnic origin with the best distribution and service chain in the country, which has consistently worked on its products and has decided to use a communication that took me back to some wonderful times and trips in a Maruti 800, one that I’m sure would have the same effect on millions of Indians, and who in their next car purchase decision, are sure to remember an old companion.

    until next time, a Capital idea

  • A Prisoner of Birth

    Jeffrey Archer

    Lord Archer hits the bulls eye.. again. Loosely resembling the classic ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, this book belongs to the league of his earlier works ‘Kane and Abel’, ‘As the Crow Flies’ etc. Watch out for the awesomely written court room scenes in the climax. I really wish this would be made into a film. The character of Nick Moncrieff makes me wonder about its inspiration. Other than the brilliant twists and turns that usually characterises his work, I also liked the showcasing of an old world charm in this book – Mr.Munro, Sir Matthew Redmayne, Mr.Arnold Pearson, characters who believe in fairness, who respect not just the law, but the spirit of the law. An excellent read, and yes, there is a sweet twist in the tail. 🙂

    Spoiler Alert- Please read only after you’ve finished the book. While i have said ‘loosely resembling The Count of Monte Cristo, notice the subtle reworking of the plot. While the original plot was based on the love for the central female character, in this one the plot is set in motion by Spencer’s lust for Beth. While Edmond Dantes escapes from prison by replacing a dead body, whose secret he uses to find the treasure, in this case Danny uses his physical resemblance with Nick to switch identities and escape, and then uses Nick’s inheritance.

  • Happy Father’s Day?

    until next time, a billion plus wishes 😉

  • Aaranya

    Aaranya is quite close to the heart, because it has been a place which we have frequented from the time we came to Bangalore, 5 years back. At one time, it used to be a neighbour and the constant source of takeaways/home deliveries, apart from a place to take relatives to, when they visited. It’s never given us a cause to complain. It’d been quite a while since the last visit, primarily because we shifted to the other side of town, but now that we’re back in koramanga, the connection has been recharged 🙂

    Its located in HSR Layout. When coming from the MG Road direction, take a left from under the Silk Board flyover, and after about 200m, you’ll see it on the left on the service road, opposite Fernhill Apartments. They’ve added parking space, so parking won’t be a problem.

    There are some three floors of dining space. Go to the top floor, a dimly lit breezy place. I’ve always wondered why they wouldn’t take off some of the vegetation, it would give a beautiful view. Possibly because ‘aaranya’ means garden? Anyway, the seating is great for largish groups, though they have some good 4 seater options too. If you go after say, 8.30, expect more of a wining crowd (though not the boisterous type) than a dining one.

    Since it was almost 9 by the time we got there, we had to wait for about 10 minutes before we got a table. We ordered a Cream of Chicken soup, and had to use quite some salt and pepper to get some flavor. But it was thick, and the adding is something we’re used to ;).

    For the main course, we ordered an Andhra Roast chicken (gravy), a Fish Tikka Masala, an onion kulcha, a butter naan, and a plain naan. The Andhra Roast chicken is quite a unique preparation, with the normal spicy flavour that you’d expect, and because the chicken is roasted, it gives a taste diferent from the regular chicken gravies. I’d recommend you try it out once. The Fish tikka masala was also good, but i think their Goan Fish Curry is a better bet. I was expecting the Kulcha to have a spicy Andhra twist, but it was quite normal 🙂

    Meanwhile, there are quite a lot of starters here, both fish and fowl, and they also serve Chinese, though I’ve not been adventurous enough to try it out. They also have a lot of ice cream options, and a few North indian dessert options too. Though we didn’t have any this time, the Gajar ka Halwa is quite good.

    All of the above cost us less than Rs.600, and we’ll be regular visitors, unless they do something really nasty to us 🙂

    Aaranya, Opp. fernhill apartments, HSR Layout, Ph- 41108346/7