Category: Digital

  • Spacing Out

    So, MySpace is planning a formal launch in April. I had written about them earlier, when they were doing the Campus Star thing with Channel V. Maybe the idea was to get in the seed users from the audience category they expect/want. This is also a case of going after Youngistan then 🙂 But this is a neat way of doing beta testing.

    Not a bad start then, because they have apparently got some 62000 users registered on IndiHub, which is a community they’d created. From what i saw, it mainly had to do with the music scene, and what has been called ‘Indian programs’. The site does have quite some Indian bands’ videos and songs. I checked Thermal and a Quarter, which is a popular Bangalore band, and it already has over 200 comments. I also happened to check for Galeej gurus, another well known Bangalore band, and found them too, though with lesser comments. Similar with Motherjane.

    With Orkut and Facebook having a major presence already, MySpace will have to find radically different ways of reaching out to their core audience, and college/other music bands definitely fit the bill. If they take over this space, which currently has no owners, they could swing a good and loyal audience their way. The other good part is, it is a good way to become a part of college fests. eg. If Galeej Gurus are going to play at IIM-B’s fest, (and they’re going to know that well in advance), MySpace can actually have communication at the venue saying visit Galeej Gurus at My Space, blog about your experience at IIM-B, connect with other fans, find out where they’re playing next and so on, instead of going about the ‘online partner’ logo way. The idea is obvious- build communities around stuff which evoke passion. The brand then becomes very contextual, relevant, and therefore something which one would immediately want to asssociate with.

    I wonder if they’re also planning the same trick with a more mass commodity – Bollywood, because in the videos’ space, i saw an exlusive interview with Ranvir Sheorey, and a Mithya trailer. This can be another great community builder. Imagine the movies’ trailers having a mention of MySpace in the same ‘Galeej Gurus’ fashion above. Exclusive interviews, trailers, chats with actors, more importantly actresses :D, downloads of wallpapers, ringtones etc – in essence, a Bollywood Hungama in a social networking milieu. Do this for every major movie that releases, actually the non major ones too, after all, its Bollywood and I’m waiting to see how Himesh’s Karzz will turn out to be (hope that numerology funda in the end doesnt turn out to be a preview)

    I wonder if this is what they are planning. If so, social networking in India will be fun because this is a good answer to Facebook’s applications, and while junta will flock to this latest offering purely because of the novelty factor and snob appeal, its important to build users and communities right, so they dont flock towards the next entrant.

    until next time, this is my space 🙂

  • There’s a little bit of social networking in….

    For all those who’ve been good and watching TV, the source of that one should be a lollipop. There are some 4-5 ads of AOL doing the rounds, which you really couldn’t have missed. What’s the context? Well, i read here, that AOL is buying out Bebo for $850 million. Oops, I should’ve told you to hold on to something. Bebo is UK’s #2 social networking site (after Facebook) with a claimed base of 40 million users. Put this in perspective with the eyes  that popped when Desi Martini was picked up for $10 million. I really woudnt be able to offer any intelligence on the valuation, so lets stick to the core competency of this blog – brand +internet.

    Now, Indian online entities have picked up this strange habit of using the reach of TV to sell the concept of email. Remember rediff’s infamous Hoohaa ad, followed by the unlimited ones. Zapak has also been a big TV advertiser. Indiatimes has been making me suspect if i have jaundice for sometime now. Strange, because, while i understand the reach of TV, I’ve never seen the big guys ever do TV (or have i missed something). Its only the locals + AOL who have been eating up TVC time. And except for rediff, I have never used any of them for my email use. (and that was before the ad) I’m quite happy with yahoo and gmail. More importantly, I’ve seen their advertising in the place where it matters – the web. Context, anyone?

    So, I’m guessing, that AOL with those ‘young’ attitude ads was looking at reaching out to the youth audience (isn’t that who everyone’s after?) by showcasing its features in a fun way. While e-mail is the one of the best utlities to use as a carrot, I’ve a different idea for them. Bring Bebo here, lets have a solid ‘fatal fourway’ match with Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. If we include Big Adda, Minglebox, Yaari etc, its a royal rumble. Meanwhile, what AOL has to do is rope in Kareena Kapoor as brand evangelist.

    Did i just catch a ‘Huh?’ from you? Okay, for those of you who look down on Bollywood gossip, Bebo happens to be Kareena’s (quite well known) nickname. Kareena would anyway make a good icon (for the guys because she’s hot, for the girls because she’s smart). Add to that her name connection and the Bollywood effect, and i think we might have some fun here. Imagine weaving in hits like ‘Jab we met’ (in her filmi life) and things like the Shahid Kapur mouth to mouth resuscitation MMS, the Saif gossip being exclusive content on the site, do you need to do extra things to get hits?

    Meanwhile, to increase this weekend’s productivity, you can read a very neat post on SEO and SEM right here.

    until next time, anyone expressing Aitraaz? 😀

  • Add Sense

    Read a very nice article today on rediff, about Google’s nine innovation rules. Coming from Marissa Mayer, VP of search products and user experience, it underlines why Google’s offering always strike a chord with the audience. While I’m one of those who’re becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Google and its (non) privacy, and its journey away from ” Don’t be evil”, it still manages to get my attention, inspite of all the old enemies (eg. Yahoo with Flickr, del.icio.us, Answers etc)and new upstarts (eg.Facebook) at various boundaries of its kingdom.

    More than random preaching on innovative practices one hears during sermons, she manages to link innovation to simple philosophies that should ideally be practised by all workplaces which consider itself to be ‘innovation practitioners’. The 20% time for pet projects, the sharing network between employees, the treatment of data as apolitical, the idea generation processes all speak of a system which thrives on experimenting and trying out new things, and that, i guess is the reason why Google has reached where it is in such a small timeframe.

    Meanwhile, i was also influenced by the very first principle, ‘innovation, not instant perfection’. Its a difficult lesson to learn, especially for perfectionists (and wannabes 🙂 ), but it just might be a better way in the long run.

    until next time, go ogle

  • Kkyunki Everyone is Doing It

    So if I’m a good brand manager, I should be doing a viral too, that seems to be the rationale behind virals these days. I’d written about it a few days back.

    What provoked this post was the latest viral from (nah, you go see it and come back, then we’ll talk). Ok, lazybones, i know you didnt click, now how is the damn viral supposed to work if you don’t!!!

    Anyway, Bingo and i share a dislike for the same thing, the thing which has joined the elite club that until now only had Bollywood and Cricket – Balaji Productions. I got to know of this viral through a mail from Ekta Kopper with a subject line ‘Kyunki is Bache ka Baap kaun hai”. And before you do my character assassination mentally, I dont like oats, wild or otherwise. But it was still a neat hook 🙂

    And thus it was that i landed up at this c2w creation, which is a spoof on any of the gazillion soaps from Ek Tha Kapoor, complete with a five digit episode number, bahus and a tulsi lookalike. (damn, i let it slip that i watch the soaps :|) . The good part is that the spoof is done well, and the funda of the flavor (achaari masti) has a synergy with that of the TVC – i.e. best way to confirm pregnancy, but…..

    It has a predictable ending albeit a cute one, but more importantly, does it make the viral cut? Only time will tell. I admit its way more VFM than shooting a 30 lakh TVC, but then they’re doing a TVC anyway. Meanwhile, full marks to the Bingo guys for trying. Even their ‘Mad Angles’ TVCs actually broke the clutter, me thinks. Also, they’re genuine in their web efforts (this was an earlier one- http://www.bingeonbingo.com/login/login.asp)

    until next time, what’s the programme now? 😉

  • Viral Fever

    I happened to read from here and here about this, a ‘viral’ from makaan.com. As said on WATblog, it rehashes the Lagaan mixture of two of India’s most influential properties- cricket and bollywood, and not exactly in an earth shattering new take either. So, what’s it about virals that seems to have forced Brand Managers across categories to make it part of their regular campaign ‘things to do’.

    A good viral can definitely do the trick for your brand, there are many examples, most of them are of international brands though. I think the problem starts when we try to force a viral. If its supposed to work as a viral, through Word of Mouse, i wonder how much of force feeding can be done. All you can do, if you’re the brand manager, is to take a good idea, and seed it. I, for one, when reviewing any proposal sent to me, use two conditions to check whether it can work – one, does it somehow connect with what my brand represents, and two, is it good enough for me to forward it to my friends, and not necessarily in that order. I think it has worked for me, because i have junked all the ‘viral’ ideas that have come to me.

    More importantly, i think the reason why good virals are so tough to find is because of the non-adherence to the entire philosophy of the way these things work. Its based on a good idea, true, but more importantly its based on the brand’s willingness to lose control, which is something i see very rarely. For word -of -mouth to truly succeed, the brand has to trust its user, and the more brands think of their user as an end game, and not as a collbarator, the lesser chances for this philosophy to succeed.

    On a sidenote, i rather liked this viral effort from ICICI Prudential and this TVC, from 99 acres, the link being that one is a viral, and the other operating in the same vertical as makaan.

    until next time, lets hope you catch it right