Read Between the Ps

Ask anyone about China, and more often than not, you would get few catch words like “ Increasingly Progressive ” or “ Biggest economy with youth getting more and more westernized ” or “ Conservative yet fastest growing ” .. Walk into the streets of Shanghai and a strange contrast would hit you in your face – “ Modernized westernized youth ” along with “conservative” elders, progressive culture coupled with core Chinese values, openness but within restricted norms, or westernized business aspirations camouflaged under socialist intentions and termed as, what’s my favorite, “ Capitalistic Socialist Economy ” – that is today’s China…wow! Indeed, this is China…. Consciously confusing but sub-consciously ironic ! And if you haven’t got enough to nod at this point of view, munch on and you would figure out where is this coming from. This incident is a recent one picked from the media & advertising sector - how the government played around for their own convenience and satisfaction, and...

FMCG Industry in India is witnessing a change – a change in the pattern in which it is growing – needless to say, with the changing demographics, the pattern of marketing would also change. As rural penetration increases, the rural markets would command more and more share of the overall FMCG space. Though the urban markets are growing too, the incremental addition in consumers / households is much more in rural space as compared to urban markets. According to an article in Mint, posted a couple of months back , not only have the media investments by FMCG companies moved towards rural India, but also a larger piece of the cake has started coming from the rural belt itself. Rural India, mostly termed as “ high opportunity ” market, is no longer just an opportunitiy, but is now yielding results. As the article mentions, “ 180 million rural and semi-urban people’s attention has already been diverted towards FMCG products, according to latest estimates released by industry chamber, Asso...

Whenever a new medium emerges, marketers run behind it, exploiting it till the time it is coined as “ common media ” or till the time their infatuation with that medium is over. Look around, and you would say the same thing for newspapers, magazines, and now Billboards as well. Initially, they were billboards – just plain simple billboards. An advertiser just wanted to stand next to the road. Not speak anything, but simply stand. If someone passed by, he would talk silently, without caring much if the other person listened or not. Then slowly, more people came, and everyone wanted to stand next to the road. The bigger ones then wanted to move a step further. They shouted! Some….just went on the road itself! And so emerged much more aggressive forms of Outdoor Advertising - ambient, guerilla, virals and so on and so forth What is exciting about Ambients? Well, if nothing, they do grab attention. And some of them move into the viral phase as well, creating more and more attention. The ...

This blog has been sleeping for long now...pretty long! Maybe the blogger too. Atleast that is what I have been hearing, and getting comments about. On one hand, it is great to find regulars visiting my den, even during its dormant days (months!) but on the other hand, the sleep has been fairly long now...probably a lot of regulars moved to the occasionals club! Anyways, I intend to rejoin the regulars club, and hope to find more members there to give me company.. Needless to say, while I was sleeping I did not waste my time and dreamt a lot :). Some of it can be written here, some can simply be applied. With time, I would share a lot of my dreams - atleast the ones that are helpful to the larger and saner mortals... I just got up this morning, with loads of energy and that freshness that sensitizes you to the world around you – that positive smell of freshness that one aspires to internalize , that translates not only to your thought process but also to your passion and perspect...