I love my bed and he underwent angioplasty at the age of 36

But I don't love this place called my bedroom.

On dictionary.com, I find two meanings articulated for this concept called bedroom.

One says: a room furnished and used for sleeping

Another says: a room furnished with beds or used for sleeping

Just in case the meaning of room is debated and philosophized and spiritualized, here are two meanings that, to my mind, hold sway:

1. space or extent of space occupied by or available for something
2. opportunity or scope for something

Space available for something. Opportunity or scope for something. In this world called India, what kind of space is available for anything? I mean, for practical purposes. If room is 'opportunity or scope', what kind of opportunity or scope is available given our notions, ideas and imaginations of 'bedroom'?

Now have a look at this bedroom. I randomly picked it up searching on Google.

All the houses that you've been to, how many bedrooms have a similar layout? There goes room that means 'availability', 'scope', 'opportunity'.

And all construction companies, including the mightiest ones which are considered 'brands', keep feeding us with the ideas of 'BHK' (bedroom, hall, kitchen). With those thoughts we dream, we buy, we get into the cycles of EMIs, and so often get into those ever-debilitating problems called Lifestyle Diseases, in spite of the earnest attempts to visit the best of the gyms, and to work out on the best of the equipment.

Just yesterday, son of my Dad's good friend, at the age of 36, underwent angioplasty. Going by what I've seen of them, he lives in a house with a fair number of bedrooms and a little lawn as well to boast of.  

Vibrams, the marketing thinking and the invisible style

Just came back from a 5km run in the backwoods in my Vibrams FiveFingers.

A little girl going to school watched the shoes and followed my moving feet with a sleepy curiosity. A taxi-driver followed my feet for a few seconds. A watchman (whom I encountered for the first time) at a neighborhood building followed my feet for a few seconds too. Sometimes even dogs look at my feet with curiosity.

When at Hiranandani Garden in Mumbai, quite a few fellow runners/walkers on the track look on with inquisitive eyes.

Over more than 2 years now, I've rarely encountered another person in my vicinity wearing Vibrams.

None of the people who've talked to me about Vibrams have ever admitted that they love the style. Strangely, it doesn't bother me. My feet feel so right, so very natural, so free.

That's the point. I am sure Vibrams must have been written to or informed by a mighty number of shoe-lovers about the 'ugliness' of the visual design. On the other hand, a mighty number of Vibrams wearers must have shared how amazing they feel on wearing the shoes.

Surely, exclusivity - even that of the weird or the incomprehensible which borders ugliness - is a style statement. But unless there's something substantial, such style statements are difficult to sustain.

In the case of Vibrams, the movement the shoes facilitate and the feeling arising out of that movement in the wearer, far surpass the awkwardness of visual style. In fact, if you video-record the movements/the action of someone wearing Vibrams, you might not find anything extraordinary either. And this someone won't stop wearing Vibrams.

The ad-driven revenue model for content sites

I have no problems with them from this moment. And here are some points.

I understand that advertisements offer a way for content-driven sites to survive and earn. So far it's innocuous.

I used to get disturbed whenever I clicked an ad flashing right beside the article I would be reading, or a promo-link embedded within a piece of text. Imagine rushing out of a meeting that felt like worthy of your time and never returning to the room again. What's the purpose of that publisher who published the text that resides beside the tempting ad?

The problem gets yet more compounded when the writer talks about the nuisance of using cars on the congested Indian roads and there's an ad promoting a long sedan right beside that post. What does a reader believe? What does a reader believe about what the publisher believes in? Is the aim of such publishing to make the reader understand the virtues of believing paradoxes? And does the reader visit such sites to learn the skill of paradox assimilation?

Motorcycle ads on motorcycle blogs seem a great match. Yesterday I visited this blog that I often visit. The post I was reading was cautiously critical of the move of launching Mahindra Centuro. Right beside I noticed an ad promoting that very motorcycle. No problem so far but if I had left the post midway by clicking the ad, guess it would be an incomplete sort of experience. I read the post and then checked out the motorcycle by clicking the ad. Felt appropriate.

And it isn't a stretch of imagination to apply these occurrences to other media like TV or Radio or newspaper/magazines et al. And I have no doubts that the damage to people's understanding of the world is unprecedented even though seemingly unmeasurable.

One thing I can say for such content-driven sites, where conflicts between advertising and their messages are rampant and blatant, is the publishers aren't doing enough to enhance a reader's understanding in spite of the revenues they earn because of the readers visiting their sites. I think that's such a waste of the opportunity that the readers have given them.

Elements of persuasion

I find the following in the case of a book. I am talking about stuff found on the physical book.

1. Title
2. Author's Name
3. Visual on the Jacket
4. Appreciation/Endorsement Blurbs
5. Award/Number of Copies Sold/Motion Picture Adaptation
6. Story Idea
7. Storyline
8. Price
9. Thickness of the Book
10. Publishing House
11. Material/Binding Quality
12. Mini-reviews inside on the first few pages
13. Manner of Indexing
14. Titles filling up the Index
15. Author's Pic
16. Author's Bio

One way to attempt prediction

is to add spice to the classic and hope it's enough to compel the prospect to see it in a completely different light.

Shoekill

A few days back, I felt an urge at 3:30am to find out what makes these sports shoes so expensive. I thought, let me read up on the internet. But I had done that on a couple of occasions earlier too. And I lost all that I had learnt.

It struck me that there are a couple of pairs which I've stopped wearing. I picked one, grabbed my scissors and went dissecting an actual shoe. So this is the result. You can count the number of components in a typical shoe.

There's designing of course, lots of stitching and most importantly, moulding. Add to that there's quite a bit of 'complexity' too. They call it technology. Compare the above design with the one below.

Significantly less number of components and when you look closely, significantly less complexity. Besides, these red shoes proved to be far more relaxing and fun when worn for long hours. And while running they help me develop a form which is less injurious than the form I adopted coz of the heavily technologized shoes above.

Interestingly, the red shoes should cost, by virtue of its simplicity, should cost less than the technologized shoes. But no. Not yet. In fact, significantly more. Those in the thrall of technology are yet to appreciate these, and so I reckon volumes are limited. Early adopters gotta pay. And they are happy paying.

The thing is whether you can get your market to appreciate the nuances. And how sooner?

Surfing

Ever noticed the body of a surfer? The way a surfer walks? The way a surfer observes? The way a surfer sits? The way a surfer tans?

And they juxtaposed 'surfing' with 'internet' and innocuously called it internet surfing. Making a few rolls of the eyes and clicks of the fingers seem cool.

Noticed the body of an internet surfer? The belly? The powers of observation? The tone of the skin? The sound of the breathing?

Cool words are a tool of marketers. Splitting the cool words is the job of a person who wants a cool body, a cool life.

Invisible Shoes

For anyone who has been into running, and has had to grapple with small or big injuries induced by running, and has spent a good deal of time picking appropriate/perfect running shoes, this is a must watch/read. And for those who are interested in marketing and communication of any sort, this is a must must watch/read.

The oxymoron called INVISIBLE SHOES. And this is a positive note (I mean no contempt coz of it's oxymoronity). Click on the link and check. You'll see 'shoes' like these.

Shoes, these are shoes? And invisible, we are saying?

These are huaraches. (This isn't news, these are already quite popular.) If you were asked to wear huaraches by a Mexican tribesman, you would've frowned. A flaunty burly inebriated guy might have even kicked that tribesman with his Nike pairs :).

In the context of running and shoes-obsessed runners, the way to cut through was take a relative position. Compared to the stuffy big running shoes, of course they can be said to be 'invisible'. They are sandals but for guys wanting 'shoes', the way to make them look at this option is to call it a 'shoe'. And to charge whatever they are charging (which isn't a big deal), the prices of current crop of shoes is a good benchmark.

I might get one of these soon enough :).

The Kaaju Effect

Just had a couple of samosas from Gwalia. I had to carefully extricate the kaaju pieces from the samosas.

On other occasions, I've found kaajus in pav-bhaaji at Honest too. I won't be surprised if someone somewhere has introduced kaajus in burgers and pizzas too.

I haven't found kaaju to add in any manner whatsoever to the taste in such preparations. At best, it has only destroyed my enjoyment from such food.

Am sure Gwalia or Honest charge a good deal coz they use kaaju and sort of show that they make high-quality food. And guess majority of the foodies also find it like that coz this has been going on for long now.

BHK - Residential Architecture thinking

Check the letters highlight by the red circle above. Says 3BHK. B stands for bedroom, H for Hall, K for kitchen. That's what typical residential projects highlight.

How much space does an individual typically get in this country? Parks and tracks are very limited to say the least. Either hopelessly maintained or crowded to the brim.

And the specific space which is always available to a common man, is called bedroom. That's right. That word has 'bed' embedded. And since it's a bedroom, the central element of the room is bed. So what is a person likely to do? Hit the bed and laze or sleep.

I reckon, instead of calling it bedroom, if it were called personal-room, it would be far better. The emphasis would move from 'bed' to the person and how he would use the available space.

Also perhaps, the space might not necessarily be filled with bed. It could just as well be free for this person to do whatever. Bed could be spread or unfolded when needed.

Having personal space could be the biggest factor in cultivating habits that lead to fit and healthy bodies.

Begging and marketing

I was sitting in the car by the roadside when a beggar-girl with a little child in her hands approached.

She uttered a few words when I responded with, "Move away." And she started 'begging' more intensively. It took a few minutes of my ignoring (keeping silent or faking indifference, that is) to make her go away from that place.

My guess is if I hadn't responded in the first place with that 'move away', she would've left sooner. Eliciting response itself is a victory. Positive or negative, it spurs the person trying to get a response into doing a little bit more.

The creepy thing is faking indifference. That kills. Or rather sucks. Now whatever it is you wanna kill, just fake.

Architecture of marketing

Since Mississippi is located in a shopping-center like building and yet has to do a hell lot to get walk-ins, makes me think about the relationship between architecture and marketing.

As you see in the map above, that's where the shop is. Doesn't face the main road closest to the shop. In that, it flouts one of the important principles 'retail is location' (exclude internet retail from this discussion).

We are trying to mitigate the 'lack of impactful location' through advertising and calling and putting up glow-sign which faces the road and so on. I reckon though, nothing beats a great location.

Location's got 2 aspects: the complex of which the shop is a part, and the placement of the shop itself. Was referring to the second point above. Now, a little bit about the first point.

The complex is neat. But that's the impression you'll truly form only once you enter it. From the outside, it is like any other building. A lot of visitors/prospects simply have trouble locating the building coz of its non-descriptiveness.

Now imagine the building modeled by taking inspiration from Qutub Minar! Or may Eiffel Tower. Or perhaps Victoria Terminus. You get it. It would attract attention on its own. And this might rub off positively on the shop owners/tenants in the building.

Architects are busy making maximum use of the space and so are trying to build dry, cubical-conducive buildings. But buildings work and accrue value (apart from the automatic appreciation of value in real estate) coz of their attractiveness, uniqueness and character which are all a result of architecture.

Discounts! Hurry!

And people hurry. Chance to save money on good stuff. They like a lot of stuff. Buy a lot of stuff. But after buying, they've to use. Usage depends on habits. And changing habits is tough, no? For example, just because I have a lot of shirts doesn't quite mean that I am going to change shirts any more often than I do now.

So if discounts tempted me into buying more and if the rate of usage stays the same, a thing would serve me for a longer time. And since these days even perfectly 'good quality' products are also available on sale, they are likely to serve longer. To that extent my next purchases are pushed further in future.

This conclusion might not hold of course if my rate of discarding increases. But then, even that is a matter of habit. I suppose, Indians yet haven't cultivated that disposition of disposing things off any time sooner than they used to in earlier times.

Since the purchases are pushed further in future and brands continue to products on the expanded assembly lines, the likely result would be offer more discounts to lure the customers again.

In the shorter run, customers find value in buying quantities (coz of discounts), but since rate of usage changes rather slowly, there is a great likelihood that a lot of stuff goes waste or becomes outdated. A little common sense would bring them back to buying normal quantities, with or without discounts.

Brands' problems persist.

Discounts! Wow!

A couple of days back, I tweeted, "These days, people shop only when Discount is available. Discount has become the biggest brand." Some people seem to agree. In which case, there are huge implications.

I am quite intrigued by discounts. My interpretation of brands that go on discounts is this. Either the total supply in the category exceeds the demand. Or the particular brand's supply exceeds its demand in the market. Standard economics.

These are the possible layers of outcomes resulting from discounting. Layer-3 follows Layer-2 follows Layer-1.

All marketing happens to create perceptions which lead to the desired outcome, right? When discounts become a recurring and a quite-awaited feature of the brand, what can one say about the perceptions getting created?

If one looks at Layer-3, one theoretical possibility is "Image is intact" for both, brands making net loss as a result of the discounts and brands making net profit even after the discounts. Is there a hope that when a good number of sales happen and people really start liking the brand, they would start paying the 'normal' prices and forget the discounted prices? But is that a possibility in real? My judgment is that brand image takes a dip and people might not be willing to pay 'normal' prices once accustomed to paying at certain levels of prices.

Discounts are a downward spiral. What happens if the "image is hurt"? Since people would resist walking in, offer more discounts? And then?

If companies make a good Net Profit even after discounts then why discount at all? Reduce the prices across the board, so that customers are willing to walk in at any time of the year, if they like the brand.

I don't have hard numbers to substantiate the hypotheses or judgments in this post. Some numbers would help understand the phenomena better.

Live Ads

When I watched this TEDx video "Dance Your PhD" featuring John Bohannon & Black Label Movement, I was stunned.

Stunned by its impact and its simplicity. It absorbs the viewer. Not necessarily sure if the theories still becomes understandable right in the first go. But one just cannot deny its attention grabbing quality.

Would you pass by without watching such a performance for a few minutes?

Having worked on Brand Activation assignments for quite some time, it stuns me in that we never could think of something like this. Evidence to the effectiveness of such activation is for every one to see. Reality dance shows, song and dance in movies, advertisements, theatre, street theatre/play. Not in the sense of attaching a brand message to a theatrical or dance performance. But in the sense of actually acting or dancing out the message of the brand itself.

I call this kind of activation a 'Live Ad'. The memorability of such a Live Ad is undoubtable. I suppose, engagement is almost guaranteed. Of course, it needs a narrator/spokesperson of great ability.

The best part is it is a celebration of human form in motion. While it is choreographed, it isn't staged like an ad on television. It is felt in its immediacy and reality. It calls for great fitness on part of the performers, and therefore, most likely, the faces that lend themselves to the brand are going to be immaculate.

Any brand wanting to engage audience like this? We will make it possible. Write in to siddharthsoni at witvanwinkle dot com. Check witvanwinkle.com as well.

How much should customer service guys be paid?

Why not the same as paid to sales or marketing guys? I am talking about the guys on the shop-floor. The guys who carry 'Help' tags on their chest.

Marketing guys makes promises. The manner of making the promise or the promise itself captures the prospects' attention. But who fulfills those promises?

Let's say Mississippi Earrings advertises. So it makes a promise, implicit or explicit. When that advertisement pulls in prospects at the retail shop, who fulfills or tries to fulfill the promise? The person on the shop-floor. If this person behaves obnoxiously, all's gone.

It applies to hospitals too. After gathering attention, who fulfills a big part of the promise? Doctors? Ward-boys, nurses, helpers?

In an educational institute, who fulfills the promise? The ad that captures attention? Or the teachers in the class?

At Pantaloons? Ad or the shop-floor exec?

On most occasions, I see a massive difference between a typical marketing person and a shop-floor exec. Someone might say, "But there's a difference in quality/skills." True! In fact, people hired as shop-floor execs aren't necessarily the greatest talkers or thinkers or problem-solvers. And these are the people who fulfill a big part of the promise. So why hire people with such poor skills? (Standard argument, shortage of quality manpower!)

Having chatted with prospects online and stayed on the shop-floor at Mississippi, I reckon,  delivery on the promises carries equal weightage, if not more.

Assuming that similar guys are put in charge of marketing and customer service, who would get more? Why is there such a discrepancy between remunerations?

Guess, in the entire sequence of conducting business, capturing attention of prospects is the first activity. Then follows all other things. So, 'first' wins. But we've seen the tall claims and, so often, we've experienced the delivery against those claims.

Too eager to sell?

Since the assembly line were set up quite a few years back and the greatest efficiency is when the assembly line keeps churning out stuff 24 hours a day, marketing men are also expected to work with greatest efficiency. As a result of which whatever gets loaded onto them to sell, they try conjuring up ideas to sell all that.

So an idea which was terrific and which initially helped sell a certain amount of stuff now comes under increasing pressure to sell more. So another idea gets added to the earlier genius-like idea, so that the two ideas combined start selling more.

Efficiency. Churn out more and more and more. Load. And explode. Either bend their backs or expand their tummies. Obesity and back problems are some of the most common problems among corporates, are they?

Social media has its origins in the desire to express and converse and create. Conversations flow in innumerable directions. Not just selling. Some brand marketers want to ring in the same message in response to every conversation and perhaps expect that every conversation converts into a sale. Sure, selling is their task. But selling is just one of the many conversations that can happen. You can't fill social media with just that kind of conversation. If you do, you become boring.

Breaking the Clutter Online Through Advertisements: A Perspective

The TV Screen, The Laptop/Desktop/Tablet screen, The Mobile Screen: the three prominent screens in our day-to-day lives. And marketers/advertisers have been, and are still, vying somehow to occupy space on all the three screens. While the TV screen was fairly well-captured long back, the confidence on other two screens is at best shaky.

How was the TV screen captured? You watching some drama, some action and snap... Bang. There's a new jingly wall in front. Yes, the one view was completely obliterated to show you another. All space gone in one go. Typical interruption strategy. After the ad's done, there's drama and action again. Action-Ad-Action-Ad. It's sequential.

So what's happening on the Laptop screen? There's some spot there, some spot here. The page remains for perusal, but some space is allotted to advertisements. Which means the content-for-perusal and the ad-for-interruption show up in close vicinity and at the same time. Advertising on Web Screen is largely space-sharing, unlike on television where it is largely sequential (one-after-another).

If researches on usability and eye-scanning-on-the-web are to go by, people develop blind spots when they become familiar with the web-page in question. It means certain spaces just don't register any more. Very similar phenomenon to your behavior in places that you are very familiar with. No matter how many obstructions or projections come in your way, after a while, your movement becomes smooth enough to dodge them.

This gives rise to an inference: if page-designs (especially layouts) remain the same/are standardized, ad-spots will typically become blind spots. Bling spots are always reserved for content, in whatever form. Whether marketers know this or not, that's the reason there is so much emphasis on engagement (or conversation). And engagement would only happen through content spots.

TV Screen erects ad-walls but Laptop/Web Screen cannot.

TV Screen uses dramatic breaks during dramas to drill into the consumer's heads, Web Screen allows great conversations to be soaked up by consumer's senses.

So what do ya got to talk about? Who's doing the talking? Does he know how to talk?

Flood of Names

Branding has to contend with quite a few names now. Add to that the words in the message that the brand wants people to remember and credit the brand for.

Depending on the business model and the intentions, one might have to take care of the following names/words. Take for once, Shopper's Stop, a retail hub fashion brands.

• Retail Store Name - Shopper's Stop
• Online Store/Domain Name - Shoppersstop.com
• Tagline/Punchline for the Retail Store - Start Something New
• Owned Brands - Stop (and similar other names)

Also, important is the category name. Category name of the retail store, category name of the product for which it has an owned brand and so on

• Category Name for the retail store - Fashion Store? Lifestyle Store?
• Category Name for the owned brand - Women's Office Wear / Casual Wear, etc.

Sure, category names get embedded in a while and therefore, might not need marketing spends and energies. But for any new position or innovation, category names also need to be remembered.

And many more words are added through campaigns and messages in those campaigns... Imagine the memory capacities of common people! And there's a passage through which these messages reach the place of storage in the consumer's active memory, imagine the width of that passage and possibilities of clogging.

Or if the minds are fertile lands of the earth, imagine the rate of absorption. Also imagine then, the viscosity of the messages. Water-like? Toothpaste-like? Soup-like? Or wood-like? Or metal-like?

So how patient are you? How much do you have? Do you have a nail and a hammer?

Sharad Pawars of business

I guess, if more politicians were accessible or if politicians were accessible more frequently, they would have very similar experiences.

If customers could find the top men of businesses, perhaps a lot of them would share the fate. In a country like ours, an unheard or unattended complaint is nothing but a slap which missed the target. If only marketers could appreciate this desperation and rage among consumers, and try to address that instead of releasing one 'beautiful' ad after another, instead of bothering about simply meeting targets and showing amazing numbers on the ppt, instead of worrying about shareholders' wealth every quarter.