I’ve been seeing several sites recently trying to take the online offline – ActiveCiti, MeetUp, to a certain extent AroundMe, but I wonder if any of them would ever get the kind of enthusiasm that the recent tweet up in Mumbai received. That got me thinking of Twitter….again. Though I feel its a bit too late to answer the question “Par, Bhaiya, hum twitter kyun karte hain”, I’ve never actually dedicated an entire post to twitter, so here goes. (more…)
Month: August 2008
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Leaps of faith
The new Samsung TVC, starring Aamir Khan has been airing for sometime now, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it means. I’m okay with a brand aiming for the best, and looking out for cutting edge technology, but what’s with the tagline – ‘Next is what?’ Is that a question to me? Are you trying to keep me guessing?
When I see AK jump in the last scene of the TVC, it is, to me, a leap of faith, something which I might be willing to take when its Nokia we’re talking about. But, at this point in time, Samsung has yet to prove to me, its technical superiority, its aesthetic sense or any of the other parameters like value for money that I consider when I make a mobile purchase decision. What Samsung has successfully communicated to me, with this TVC, is that they themselves are not sure what’s going to happen next, and maybe I should wait sometime before I pick up a Samsung handset.
When a brand reaches the zenith in whatever category it is in, it is sometimes smart to ignore the #2 totally, and start positioning itself to be beyond all the mundane new feature/market share/pricing strategy/tactic that it might have resorted to in the past. But, how smart is it when you’re a distant #3 in the market? It makes me wonder if brands also should follow a tweaked version of Maslow’s hierarchy, find out where they figure (in the consumer’s mind) and design communication accordingly. Yes, i agree that brand and people occupy multiple levels at the same time, but at least there would be some method in the communication madness.
When I saw a ‘Next is the spirit of the Olympics’ ad, I couldn’t help but remember this wonderful article. I quote from it “Modern branding has evolved. From its roots creating detailed guidelines for enforcing corporate logos it has become a sophisticated effort to define the compelling and differentiated value that an organization or product offers its customers. And it aspires to create experiences of that value across all interactions. It goes beyond design, messaging, websites and advertising. It touches product development, recruiting, customer service, sales, and it drives and emanates from the very core of every business: culture. That’s where these campaigns miss the mark. They tell me who they are, but not why I should care. They provide an introduction, but can’t sustain the conversation. And I don’t have much attention for brands without substance.”
I’d have been less acerbic, if I’d seen at least a semblance of involving users in this entire positioning exercise. A developer’s community which takes feedback from users on what they want to see in the next samsung mobile model, updating consumers on what they are working on, building some interest around it, and so on. To be fair, they have done something, though the community link took me here. 😐
Tell you what, here’s a free idea, go ahead and sponsor the second season of Bigg Boss. The last season, I always used to wonder, ‘next is what?’ !!!
Which takes me to another premise, I thought a slightly more interesting one. If brands were really gutsy, they would do some product placement in Bigg Boss. From paste, soaps and shampoo, washing soaps to Real Good chicken, tea and coffee brands, apparel brands, exercise equipment, Veneta Cucine kitchens, every damn thing that we use in daily life could find its way there (of course keeping in mind the rules of the show, so no TV, mobile etc) Yes. MDH Masala too!! In fact, the contestants shouldn’t be told in advance what the brands are, so no rigging. Have competing brands also. Yummy!! What you get is a real chance of ‘celebrity’ endorsement. Imagine Rakhi Sawant saying ‘Tide makes washing so easy that I wish I’d more clothes’. Ok, cheesy, but you get the idea 🙂
But that requires absolute faith in the product, and having the maturity to accept criticism and ensure you never make the mistake again. We still have a long way to go before brands can handle reality television, or reality.
Meanwhile, next is WAT too, who’ve got an absolutely cool new design. Go check it out.
until next time, WordPress has a ‘next’ button too 😉
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Indijoe
Indijoe opened an outlet on Church street a few weeks back, and we’ve been guilty of ignoring it for sometime now. That has been assuaged, as we reserved in advance and landed up there yesterday. It was fairly crowded by around 8pm, so it’d would be good to book in advance. This is housed in the place where Bombay House used to be, coming from Brigade Road, just before the Museum Road junction.
While the regular strategy in Indijoe is a starter, followed by a single sizzler, and then dessert, because it just fills the tummy, and we get to eat dessert, hunger overrode logic on this occasion, and we decided to go for a soup/starter (starter if we didn’t like the soup of the day) , and two sizzlers. Dessert was a decision left for later, if space permitted. The mind is always willing. 😀
The menu seems to be a trimmed down version of the one at Airport Road, but larger than the one on Old Madras Road. But we didn’t miss anything much, except for a couple of desserts, and this menu offers enough selection. So, we ordered the Non veg soup of the day, which turned out to be Cream of Chicken and Mushroom, the favourite. The starter plan plan failed before it got started. 😀 The soup was just about as good as that pun, which means it could definitely have been better. While it was thick, and creamy, the flavors just weren’t strong enough, and I was forced to try a salt + pepper+ sauces combo.
For the main course, we ordered a Stacked Chicken Valdostana, which is “sliced chicken layered with cheese and stacked, served with white wine and emmenthal sauce and accompanied with sphagetti, vegetables and spiced with green tabasco sauce” and a Jack Daniels double barrel chicken and stake (sic) combo, which is ‘grilled chicken and cheese placed between two slices of steak with smoky Jack daniels sauce served with tangy cheddar cheese, mashed potatoes and mexican salad’. The tabasco sauce and the mexican salad were served separate, respectively. The sauce is necessary because the dish is slightly bland, but I thought the worcestershire sauce was a much better add on. Though I was apprehensive on the spaghetti, because I’m not a big fan, the dish was actually done very well, and I enjoyed it. It also has a lot of french fries, not mentioned in the description, not that I had a problem with it. We were asked how we wanted the steak, and asked for ‘well done’, and it was 🙂 , though I’m not very sure of the Mexican Salad. Now you might say, I don’t recognise Mexican when i see it, but then, I do recognise Indian. Oh well, maybe they are similar 😀
The snag with ordering two sizzlers is that you might require external help to take you to your vehicle, it leaves you stuffed, with absolutely no room for dessert 🙁 . All of the above cost us Rs.800. It must be mentioned that the service was excellent. They took care to give extra inputs on the dish, so you know exactly what you can expect. I’ve always maintained that among all of the BJN Group properties, Indijoe is the most ‘user friendly’, and this one just reinforces the belief. Great, and will be definitely visited again.
Indijoe, Kalpak arcade, Church Street Ph: 41113311