manuscrypts

Future Shocks

Sometimes you look back and realise that the future you had envisioned is where you are right now. I’d written about this a few weeks back.

But when you look back, it’s difficult to ensure that only the positive memories get thrown up. Its a bit like Google Search, my memory- even if there’s some remote link to the search query, the result will be shown. And when it’s my own life I’m searching in and about, it’s difficult to stop at Page 1, though I may have got the result. 🙂

Besides, its only natural (when looking for the future I’d envisioned in the past) that I tend to look at a particular time in my life, when the first professional dreams were getting made – around the time that I finished my PG. The summer of 2002, a scenario, quite similar to what the world is facing now. This was the placement season right after the dotcom bust.

I read a few reports recently on how many companies are refusing to honor the offer letters made to students, or delaying the joining date till everything stabilises. I feel very bad for these kids, there are very few things that could’ve prepared them for this. Everything happened in quite a bit of a hurry. And suddenly the dreams of a secure future, the list of purchases to be made from the first salary, all seem like a sick joke that fate played on them. Its difficult to put into words the frustration, the anger and the sorrow that they’d feel. When their confirmed employer suddenly keeps them waiting, then gives them very mixed signals, when they wake up every day and realise that they have finished their education but are yet to start the next step – employment, when relatives see a prey and sweep in to casually ask what their plans are now, when they have to push an entire day knowing that tomorrow would not be any better, when they agonise at home/college wondering why all this is happening to them, when they see their classmates join organisations whose offer they’d rejected, when they start looking for other options only to realise that in such choppy weather, no one is willing to give them even a straw to clutch at, it can shatter their confidence, and more importantly their faith in the force that holds it all together.

But yes, as the old saying goes, whatever doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. I should know, since I was one of them for a nerve wracking 2 months. This post is a thank you note to the higher power , and loved ones for pulling me through. This post is also a prayer for those poor souls who will hopefully look back at all this, and will still be able to smile.

until next time, dream

November 4, 2008
Pepsi – for social drinkers
So, after 5 months of work, pepsi has finally come out with its logo. The new logo is supposed to be a ‘quantum leap’ in positioning and defining Pepsi as a cultural leader. The intent, I feel, is right, if we can go by the following words from Frank Cooper, Pepsi’s VP-portfolio brands, “We felt like, as we move out of this traditional mass marketing and mass distribution era into today’s culture, there’s an opportunity to bring humanity back, both in terms of the design but also in the way we engage consumers.” (via Adage)

Its not difficult to imagine the costs involved in such an exercise, for a global brand. The design cost itself is rumoured to be above $1 million. This 11th logo, in a history of 110 years, comes after 6 years. (the last update was in 2002) The announcement campaign is expected to roll out in 2009. Experts have already started commenting about the new logo, we’ll come to that later.

Continuing on the lines of the strategic intent outlined by the Pepsi exec, Pepsi did a ‘DM’ exercise by sending 3 packages to 25 “digital and social media influencers”, in sequence, each package containing cans representing different logo designs. (via Adrants). They’ve also started a ‘Room’ on Friendfeed, called The Pepsi Cooler, where ‘room mates’ have conversations (moderated) about Pepsi. The last time I checked, there were 225 members, and some very interesting conversations. Again, the intent is just fine, and there are some interesting uses being made of Flickr and Wordle. Perhaps Pepsi is going about it right, to have branded water cooler conversations. 😀

Some India specific talk before we get to the logo. India has seen a plethora of logo changes in the past few months- Hutch to Vodafone, Canara Bank, Shopper’s Stop, India Post, Union Bank of India, among others. Out of these, I’d say that Vodafone’s task was the toughest, in terms of ensuring logo changes at the ground level, because of the multitude of vendors. Though i believe that Vodafone did a decent job, i still see Hutch in many places.

That should throw some light on the magnitude of the task ahead for Pepsi. I don’t know how this works in the US, but in India, I’ve seen most Pepsi Coolers (supplied to restaurants, kirana stores) store everything but Pepsi – that incudes competitors like Coke to Nestle Curd!! And that thought made me consider the vast ocean of cultural and experiential differences that lie between the average friendfeed user and the Tier 3 town citizen, in a country like india. It matters, because Pepsi is a global brand!!

To me, the logo is a symbol
- for the consumer, a symbol of trust and association with the brand
- for the marketer, a symbol of the attributes that he wants the brand to stand for
Yes, a good logo can do a lot of work for the brand, and create associations in the consumer’s mind, but (say, for an FMCG brand like Pepsi) how much can the cool new logo and the virtual rooms contribute to the experience of the real consumer, especially in India? Till I stopped consuming aerated drinks a couple of years back, I was a Pepsiholic, it had nothing to do with taste, and it had everything to do with the brand and its attitude. But i wonder how much the ‘brand’ matters in the Tier 3 town, where the concept of social networking, is the consumer walking to the ‘cool drinks’ shop, asking for a ‘thanda’ and the shopkeeper knowing which brand he is asking for, from experience.

I really don’t know if the ocean will ever be bridged, and whether the logo or the smart brand work happening digitally will ever make a difference to the vast majority of Indian consumers, many of whom have vaguely heard of the internet. With reference to the stated intent, I am intrigued, how will Pepsi become/create a social object in such a scenario, or will parts of the digital medium always be confined to a corner of the long tail?

until next time, non digital natives
November 3, 2008
Vicky’s la terrazza

Remember Vicky’s Tawa Lounge? Well, this is on the top floor of the same building. For directions, take a look at the Tawa Lounge post. This one’s been on the radar ever since we visited the Tawa Lounge. We’d reserved in advance, but the crowd was only just right by 8, so you could just walk in too.

The ambience is pleasant, with a very cosy, homely feel to it. Its partially open, so you have a nice breeze blowing in, unless, of course, it rains. The seating is very comfortable, and the entire place has a way of relaxing you.

la terrazza serves continental. The menu, though, is a bit limited, but does offer decent choices for both veg and non vegetarians. We started with a Zucchini and asparagus soup – we also asked for some chicken to be added to it. The soup was thick and delicious, and the garlic bread that was given with it, complemented the flavours beautifully. For the main course, we ordered a Fish with sundried tomato, served with basil rice, and a mixed grill, that’s chicken, beef steak, lamb, sausage, bacon, pineapple, and a fried egg. The fish was quite creamy, and seemed to have a hint of coconut. The mixed grill was made well, though it did border on blandness. You can choose to have french fries or mashed potato to go with it, I chose the latter. Turned out to be a good choice, because the peppery flavour of the mashed potato helped the dish.

All of the above cost us just above Rs.700. The mineral water contributed Rs.30 this time 🙂

There are also some pizza options available, which looked good, at least from a distance. ( two tables away, to be precise 😉 ) There are desserts too, with at least two good chocolate options, but perhaps some other time.

Vicky’s la terrazza, #99, 2nd floor, 5th cross, 6th Block, Koramangala Ph: 41751635/36

@Zomato

November 2, 2008
The First Man in Rome

Colleen McCullough

Its a timeless tale of power.. but timeless as it is, ancient rome is a great setting for the tale… and it is well told, with the neat detailing – for the characters, the lives they lived, and the conditions they lived in…
The wonderful writing makes it easy for the reader to imagine the magnificent civilisation that still influences the world we live in, in many ways… a must read.. and i will start the sequel to this – The Grass Crown very soon

November 1, 2008
Apperception- LinkedIn

Apperception – The process whereby perceived qualities of an object are related to past experience.

Last week, I’d written about some developments in the business networking/enterprise web2.0 space. To make the scenario even more interesting, LinkedIn announced the launch of its applications platform. 9 apps have been launched so far, and they are presentations from Slideshare, and Google Presentations, a reading list app from Amazon, online workspaces from Huddle, a travel networking app from TripIt, blog feeds from WordPress and Blog Link (from Six Apart, powered by Typepad), a file storage, collaboration app from Box.net, and one home production called Company Buzz, to track the twitter talk on your company, trends etc. Going forward, all apps will be screened by LinkedIn to ensure that they are of ‘professional’ nature, and users can add a max of 15 apps on their homepage, this is to prevent clutter. (via Tech Crunch)

While the app ideas seem cool, I was extremely disappointed with the loading time (I tried WordPress and the Blog Link apps). The WP app also does not work with self hosted blogs, so i was advised by @prateekdayal to try the Blog Links app, but its taking forever to load!! I was thinking of a few apps that LinkedIn could consider – a del.icio.us app which would help me share links with those LinkedIn friends who don’t use the bookmark sharing service, an app from upcoming.org that i could use to share events, even a flickr/youtube app to share pics and videos from conferences, events etc (while hoping that I don’t get to see birthday party pics and videos). Oh, okay , a career daily astrology forecast too 😉 No, it stops there, we really can’t have the ‘Which Office character are you’ app.

Meanwhile, the apps will have to use LinkedIn’s ad network, so that ensures control on monetising. I also read recently that LinkedIn has another revenue stream which is in trials now – B2B research surveys. The professional crowd is a great sample for market research, and can be targeted according to expertise/audience preferences too. To ensure that users aren’t pissed off, survey solicitations will be limited to one/member/month. Gift cards, opportunity to view survey results, charitable donations and even monetary rewards are being used as participation carrots.Interestingly, Facebook is also one of the networks which has been used to create a system of virtual currency payment in return for participation in online surveys.

Interesting, because LinkedIn has been profitable since 2006, Facebook still looks at ads as its main revenue stream, and Facebook, for all its popularity hopes it will have a business model in 3 years. Facebook has MySpace and some would say even orkut competing for the users’ attention, in a generic space, Twitter and Friendfeed, too, but in its space, LinkedIn enjoys a huge, loyal user base. It makes me wonder, if at some point of time – considering the economic scenario and the jitteriness of investors, Facebook will look at alternatives, and provide filters for users to create ‘separate’ profiles for separate audiences (work/friends, for starters). If that happens, and Fb can do the app magic (in the work space) that enahanced its popularity, then LinkedIn might feel the heat!!

On the flip side, I also wonder if LinkedIn should reflect a bit on fading work-life borders, and how personal and professional interests are learning to co-exist in an individual’s mind without being shoved into separate compartments. This could play a huge role in deciding LinkedIn’s role in a user’s mindspace. I personally feel that because of a very formal approach that LinkedIn seems to have adopted, it doesn’t share the relationship that Facebook enjoys with me. My time on LinkedIn is limited to adding/accepting contacts, and tweaking my profile once in a while. That’s far behind the quantity and quality of time spend and interactions on Facebook. Its not just about the apps, Orkut has them too, too little, too late and didn’t make any difference to me, its about the overall experience. I am not saying that they should add ‘Superpoke’, but when organisations are becoming more liberal in their outlook and encouraging employees to be personalities , rather than robots, LInkedIn might do well to consider a tweak in its positioning. Perhaps it’s just a design/interface thing, or its a deeper perception about what LinkedIn stands for, but the current image, to me, is neither social nor fun, and that may not be a good thing in the long run. Here’s a good post that talks about infusing some fun into LinkedIn.

I think its fair to say that just like it has in reality, in virtuality too, personal and professional lives will overlap, whether they co-exist or compete, only time will tell.

until next time, will LinkedIn be semi formal on fridays? 😉

October 31, 2008