Monthly Archives: October 2010

There’s nothing Rajini Kant!

Posted on by
1

There is this incredible joke going around on Raijnikanth: Ladies and Gentlemen the most coveted Rajnikanth Award goes to….
Oscars!!!
Ever since Enthiran/Robot has been released there has been an incredible amount of Rajini jokes that have been going around. On the web, on social networking sites, on sms, everywhere the current reigning topic is the latest Rajini joke. Rajini jokes are today the best conversation starters.
There is something very interesting about this whole Rajnikanth saga. Every single joke that is going around is complimentary towards Rajinikanth. They are funny, yes, they also eulogize him. It adds to the overall brand appeal of Rajinikanth. People take immense pride in sharing the latest Rajini jokes with each other. So every Rajini joke also adds to cool quotient of the narrator. In a society where jokes often tend to slip either into bathroom humor kind of category or into crassness, the positivity in the jokes is a remarkable phenomenon.
Possibly Rajnikanth today is a truly crowd sourced brand. Made by fans. To make more fans. If there was any way of quantifying than I am sure, Rajnikanth has more fans in 4 months, than any time ever before.
One of the reasons, why the tone of Rajinikanth jokes is complimentary towards him is because his fans truly idolize him. And they idolize not just his screen persona, but his real self. He is not mere Rajinikanth for them, he is Rajini Saar. Possibly this is because the real Rajinikanth is far more real and relatable than the on screen Rajnikanth and that immensely adds to the persona. The respect than gets translated into unabashed admiration for the man, that we are seeing across all the jokes that are going around.
There is a lot that Rajini Saar in his inimitable style can teach all of us in marketing and communication. Here are 5 possible reasons.
One: Crowd sourcing works, and how. Crowd sourcing does not destroy brand value, it does not diminish the brand equity. If you truly let the crowd control your brand, and if the crowd loves your brand they will make sure that the story of the brand is told well
Two: Like it or not, crowd sourcing will happen. It cannot be controlled; it currently is on its way to become mainstream culture. We as owners of brand will be better off acting as catalysts and not as inhibitors.
Three: crowd sourcing can actually improve your brand in ways you cannot imagine. There is a variety of inputs that comes from crowd, and if you as brand owners are willing to accept, filter and broadcast what is right for the brand, it will make the brand better.
Four: Crowd sourcing can revitalize your brand and fill it with new vitality. What crowd sourcing has done for Rajini brand can be done for any brand. It has made the brand Rajini one of the buzziest brand of our times. Agreed that the Rajini brand has enough in it to spark off the buzz, but than most brands do have enough in them to start a buzz.
Five: To make the entire crowd sourcing effort work, nurture the crowd. There would be times when the brand will not like what the crowd does. Chime in, have a dialogue and together fix the issue. Rajini brand managers could have killed the entire wave of jokes, or they could have curated them. Curating the crowd’s opinion always works better
So if Rajini can, why can’t we?

101 New Heroes

Posted on by
Reply

Between 3rd and 14th October 2010, India has seen birth of 101 new heroes. These heroes are ordinary Indians like you and me, who through their talent, determination, grit, hard work and dedication have made the country proud. Each one of these 101 new heroes is a symbol of the new resurgent India that the world is watching with awe.
One of the ways of defining the richness of any culture is the number of heroes that they have. Heroes infuse new thoughts, show an alternate path, shape new rituals, and become role models. They are leaders in their own right, they are epitome of excellence. For a long period of time we have had just a handful of the role models. Cricket has contributed a few, and movies have contributed a few more, and the world of business too has had its share. Unfortunately we have had just a handful of icons. More so the world of advertising and marketing has always felt this lacuna where icons from popular culture help in creating engaging messages. It has always fallen short of the role models and has ended up choosing either cricketers or glamour stars from world of movies. Once in a while there have been odd beauty queens or glamorous tennis players.
Clearly the new heroes have caught the nations fancy. People came out in large numbers cheering for them. They braved many negatives and inconvenience to come out and connect with their new found idols. The cheering and the celebration every time they won indicated that there is public following for them. For once India stepped out of their homes to cheer for players who are not cricketers, and also who are not hockey players. Shooters, wrestlers, squash players, athletes, boxers all were adopted willingly.
For once we have a host of icons that can be leveraged to push a new agenda for the society. These are icons that will have far greater credibility, power to engage and power to craft opinions. One of the biggest issue that any brand faces is the credibility of the icon it wants to use and more often than not the communication fails to work due to poor fit of celebrities.
So what are the new possibilities? Here are a few
Haryana has redefined success in sports, and not just men, women have been leading the charge. How about the state of Haryana launching a campaign to promote gender equality, adopting the girl child with open arms and giving the infamous Khap Panchayats a new agenda to follow. Who can say it better than the winning grapplers and runners from Haryana?
The anti smoking lobby can do with a host of heroes who can motivate the impressionable young minds to kick the butt and kick some ball. Kicking the ball is in reality far cooler than lighting up.
Strength is a big dimension for many brands. There are a very few icons that represent strength in a real meaningful way. We have icons now that represent strength in the best possible way. Who can better personify strength than the boxers and wrestlers who have nerves of steel?
Commitment is another huge dimension that the brands strive to build. There are a host of heroes who represent commitment in ample measure. The relay runners, the discus throwers, the gymnasts and even the swimmers are great examples of heroes who are symbols of commitment
There are many more dimensions that the 101 new icons collectively can open up. Team work, pride, passion, nimbleness, triumph over adversity, unconventional path to success and above all a never say dies spirit.
By learning from and working with the new icons the world of advertising and marketing should start a completely new conversation. Conversation that is more real does not have cynicism and drives new behaviour.
The 101 new icons have opened up possibilities of shaping a new India. Let’s not lose the advantage. And let’s also build on their success to create a new culture of success.
Published at http://www.mediaworldbuzz.com

The Controversy Virus

Posted on by
Reply

For any casual observer watching India, it would seem that we are suffering from foot in the mouth disease as a country. The symptoms are all around us.
We have a sports minister who in a function to felicitate Ms. Saina Nehwal, asks who Mr. P Gopichand is. The fact that he is ex All England Badminton Champion and the coach of Indian ace is a detail that the minister never bothered to find out. He then does one better by insulting the coach of wrestler Sushil Kumar’s coach. He asked the legendary Satpal Maharaj to step aside in a ceremony to honour the world champion wrestler. Mr. Satpal himself is a celebrated grappler, Asiad Games gold medalist, winner of Dronacharya Award and a mentor to many of India’s champion wrestlers. The snub even moved Mr. Sushil Kumar who felt that Guru’s need to be respected
We also have Lalit Bhanot who very famously said that “our standards of hygiene are not the same as standards of western countries.” No wonder he had to beat a hasty retreat and take a crash course in hygiene management.
These are not isolated examples of the foot in mouth disease. From the police commissioner of Karnataka who called Kannidigas too lazy to indulge in act of terrorism to the minister in Haryana who pushed the athletes off the stage to stay in front of cameras, the examples are many. This disease has a very pronounced symptom. It afflicts those more who are in power or occupy positions of authority.
The issue is why does it happen? There are three reasons why the virus of this disease attacks the mighty and powerful. Because they are Disconnected. Because they are Unconcerned. Because they are insensitive.
It is amazing how the entire ruling class is so distant from reality. They seldom represent the aspirations and the feeling if the constituency they represent. Amazingly this is not restricted to the populist politicians only. The so called intellectual officials also seem as disconnected. May be they need to borrow something from the world of marketing and go on a market visit. I suspect that even this will not change anything, as the ruling class only sees what it wants to see.
They are disconnected because they are unconcerned. Mr. Gill did not have to apologize, Mr. Bhanot did not have to do so either, and certainly we can’t expect the Police Commissioner of Karnataka to do so. We the ordinary citizens of India seethe with anger and hang our head in shame, but those who bring this shame upon us, move on looking for the next target. Such is the affliction of the virus, and those suffering from it don’t even realize that they are suffering from an infection
The disconnection and lack of concern happens because of lack of sensitivity. Possibly the lack of real heroes in our culture is a reason for this insensitivity. Those who are in power have no role models to look up to. This makes accepting a contrary point of view very different. Every contrary point of view is seen as an irritating fly that needs to be swatted and killed. Wonder how they feel after saying the kind of things they say.
It is amazing that the cut throat world of branding and marketing has by and large has been free of this virus. This may be because the powers to be do not feel that they are powerful enough. It would be nice if we let it be like this for times to come.
As for powers to be, let’s not hand over the reign of brands to them.