manuscrypts

Apex Racing

Apex Racing wants to educate riders on the need for formal training. In conversation with co-founder Anil Kumar S

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June 22, 2012
The Zeroth Place

When I read this post on how Starbucks was turning itself into a tech company and how it is increasingly using digital tools to interact with consumers to adapt to the ‘seismic shifts’ caused by social, mobile etc, I was immediately reminded of two things – its aim to appropriate the ‘third place‘ (Read para 4) and the Zeroth law, in Asimov’s laws of Robotics, formulated after the 3 laws. We’ll come back to that. Starbucks is doing it all – from integrated strategy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest to WiFi and iPads in stores, and more cutting edge NFC based loyalty solutions. #envy

In other news, brands are increasingly becoming content producers and using means of distribution that are far away from the traditional media outlets. GigaOm had a post on why, with even more new features, traditional media should be very afraid of Twitter. (assuming they weren’t already)

So, the zeroth law and the third place. The way I see it, the always on internet (across various platforms – tablet, mobile, laptop, desktop) has become the zeroth place, and whether it is through content creation and (other) usage of social technology, brands (and the various related agencies – example) have started getting a move on. It isn’t just Starbucks, take a look at this awesome app from Ford (to showcase Keyfree login) that uses bluetooth to automatically login to to social platforms when you approach your computer. The increasing challenge of the brand custodian is to get a bird’s eye view and work out an all encompassing approach. Arguable, whether that’s even possible in this era of mega fragmentation.

until next time, square zero

PS: If we replace ‘robot’ with ‘brand’ in the 3 laws…..

June 21, 2012
Ms Office

Knowing all about the new guy’s ‘secretary’ fantasies, (browser history checks during his smoke breaks) she cockily walked in, and sat on his desk. Ignoring her perfect figure, he replaced the hourglass, checked his daily engagements, and showed her the finger. Wedding ring. To the persistent caller, he answered “Yes, I’ll return the laptop soon”

June 20, 2012
No God in Sight

Altaf Tyrewala

Somewhere in between a relay race and ‘six degrees of separation’ lies the narrative style of this excellent novel. And just like the city it showcases, it sets a scorching pace. But its not just a microcosm of the city, its also a take on social issues – from religion to class differences to a clash of the old and new. And somewhere in between is a subtext of man’s search for where he came from and where he is going, and the series of connected lives and the sheer weariness that prevents them from being able to think beyond their immediate existence, somehow points towards the title – ‘no god in sight’.

From the millions that make up the phenomenon that’s Bombay, and gives it a ‘spirit’, the author manages to create a few characters that give us a glimpse of the individual lives. He begins with a seemingly nonchalant treatment of what might be considered a moral issue – abortion, and thus captures the pulse of a city and the thought process and credo of a new generation. But amazingly, there is a universal nature to it too, and more often than not, the author manages to walk this line with balance, despite the majority of characters being Muslim. Featuring the famous local trains, the cop who expounds the logic of his sense of justice, the men who share a name with a terrorist, the book is quintessentially Mumbai, and yet, from another perspective, they’re just human stories. If we juxtapose the allusions to ‘my mumbai’ and ‘your mumbai’ in the corporate executive’s story and the ‘to be comfortable with discomfort, one must banish all contact with ease’ in the butcher’s story, we see two sets of people figuring out their own ways to cope with what the city and life throws at them. Sometimes, they can’t, and all they want to do is escape, like Amin Bhai.

In just about 170 pages, Altaf Tyrewala creates not just the characters who make Mumbai, but even manages to represent, even if its just through a few examples, how they got there. Can’t even complain about the lack of character development because the snapshots almostd efine the characters. Another great rendition of Mumbai, and a must read!

June 17, 2012
Master Class

Last week, I read a profoundly insightful post at Gaping Void, titled ‘On Mastery‘. The post seeks to answer (in Hugh’s own words) ““Success”. What does it take to be successful, prosperous, happy, have a sense of purpose etc? What does THAT actually look like?” The answer, according to his post, is mastery. (do read his post for examples) When I shared this post on Twitter, Asmita related it to Chandni Chowk food vendors. Bingo. Around my own city – Bangalore- I can see examples of that. I can also see examples of when some of them have tried to scale and have fallen apart.

Fame, popularity and money are by-products, but the master is not really dependent on that. In fact, he might even see it as undesirable side effects. As someone commented on Hugh’s post, it’s not even about the product, it’s the process. In Hugh’s own words “It’s something that truly belongs to you” and perhaps that’s why it’s so much more better, because there’s no dependency, unlike the by-products.

It’s more of a personal learning for me, and it struck a chord as soon as I read it, as though I had the thought in my subconscious but lacked the cognizance to express it, even it to myself. In fact, I’d go on now to slightly disagree with Hugh MacLeod and say that for many people, mastery is success.

Meanwhile, how does all this apply to business and brands? If I look at it through the prism of how things work now, I might be inclined to say that mastery cannot really scale, and I’d go back to my ‘Institutional Realignment‘ post and say that we’ll eventually get back to making mastery, a smaller ‘audience’, and a lesser scale the norm. But in some ways, I can see examples of brands having mastered a culture and found a way to scale it – the much abused example – Zappos.

However, if I had to look at it another way, I’d say that the web has made discovery much easier. Not in the traditional media way of ‘push the message to a mass and the interested ones will find you’ kind of a way, but the exact opposite. To use the data that people are sharing and through that, to find the right audience. The kind of audience who will appreciate the brand’s mastery, and who will then create good old fashioned community and word of mouth. The web offers tremendous opportunities to focus, but unfortunately we’re still in the early days of organised marketing and CRM data and most brands are busy losing focus and spamming themselves into oblivion, courtesy the lure of scale and its trappings.

Of course, a part of me believes that mastery should have nothing to do with business, but as with many other things, the web might just change my perspective.

until next time, Master of Business Administration 😉

June 15, 2012