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How about some #BlackbirdPie? My experiment with the #Wordpress – #Twitter integration? http://t.co/zjtuewA

November 9, 2010 2:38 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@noshtradamus

Mehernosh Shapoorjee

I’ll say it again, if Taylor Swift put on black eyeliner and flushed her head in a toilet full of glitter she’d be Ke$ha.

November 8, 2010 4:17 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@kellyoxford

kelly oxford

Yes, I agree that a stable Pakistan is good for India. But who would send the horses there? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable

November 7, 2010 1:27 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@fakingnews

Faking News

Five smart brands and innovations from ‘emerging’ markets — http://bit.ly/exceptionall

November 3, 2010 8:21 pm via bitlyReplyRetweetFavorite

@springwise

Springwise

The stairway to Heaven is now closed. An elevator is currently in progress.

November 6, 2010 3:52 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@jesus

Jesus Christ

hmm

Continue reading »]]> Interestingly, only today I read a couple of tweets which I wanted to share here on my blog. I actually copy + pasted the tweets into a word document and was planning to talk about them in a post soon.

Then amazingly, today I noticed that WordPress announced a couple of days back, new feature that allows bloggers to post tweets into a blog very simply, not just the text, but also the username, the hash-tags, everything!

So here it is: A taste of Blackbird Pie. Cooked up by WordPress and Twitter!

Mitch Joel‘s Contest! The author of the very significant (and my fav) Six Pixels of Separation tweeted this contest today. The contest closes very soon, but the entries are fascinating, and provide great learning!

What's the best piece of management advice you've ever received? http://bit.ly/cmksrX <-- add yours here (and win!)

November 8, 2010 8:26 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@mitchjoel

Mitch Joel

God Save the Queen! Buckingham Palace today jumped Facebook first into Web 2.0 (or is it 3.0 now?) today. Fascinating to see all the Queens Horses, and the Queen’s Men scrambling to bring back order again!

God save the Queen -- from her Facebook followers | http://su.pr/ApUVEx

November 8, 2010 8:27 pm via Su.prReplyRetweetFavorite

@TIME

TIME.com

McKQuarterly Wants You! Well your opinion only… McKinsey Quarterly has been pretty active on social networks, Facebook too, for some time now. Now McKQuarterly is asking people to share their opinion on the challenges faced by marketing organisations – around consumers, as well as structure/operations. Again, the varied answers are very interesting!

Your input needed: The challenges for marketing organizations. Post your comments on Facebook. http://on.fb.me/cwRDZP

November 8, 2010 8:32 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@McKQuarterly

McKinsey Quarterly

(Disclaimer: I am trying this for the first time. If it doesn’t work, here’s where you can complain!)

Possibly Related Articles (automatically generated)

• WordPress Enables Blackbird Pie. Just Grab A Tweet URL And It Appears In Your Content (techcrunch.com)
• WordPress Adds Feature for Embedding Tweets (mashable.com)

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Having read and heard all the hype around Walmart’s cash and carry route into the Indian market with Bharti, two colleagues and I decided to check out their spanking new Best Price outlet at village Paragpur on NH1 between Jalandhar and Phagwara in Punjab.

It is a large swanky building with huge branding that prominently displays the word “Wholesale” – which has not deterred hordes of families trooping in for some “new kind of mall” experience (Viva Collage mall is next door). A “wholesale cash n carry” concept is alien out here (oye!! ay ki hai??)

Of course, they, and we, are stopped at the entrance, saying we need a Membership Card to get in. Turns out, Membership is only available if you are a retailer, which means you have to show certain documents (Sales Tax, Registration, etc) before you can enter the mother ship, and take off with goodies at wholesale prices, to further sell them to customers at retail prices, keeping your margin, and paying up the requisite taxes to the government.

Hmm. The only claim to being a retailer I can make, is the fact that my grandfather and his father before that, owned one of the largest retail outfits in north India way back in the early 1900s. So we did the next best thing we could do as good Indians – we made some calls and tada – we were inside in ten minutes!

Now the place is massive by Indian standards, but puny by international standards of even malls and places like Ikea. But the products and prices on offer were very impressive. From a considerable thousands of rupees on air-conditioners and shoes (yep, thousands on shoes!) to a few hundreds on everything, including good brands of shirts. I was of course, disappointed by the tiny margins on my favorite Gillette Mach 3 razor blades.

But hey, who am I kidding – our contacts may have got us inside, but they couldn’t get us to be able to shop

But that was not the case with the other Pappaji, Mummiji, and chota Pintu and Montu who were inside – with Membership Cards. They were all around the place, as were other aunties with bachchas, buying a jhadu, one pair of shoes, some tee shirts, and of course, sabzis.

Funny, out of the hundred odd people in the place, no one seemed to be really buying “whole sale”. They seemed to be just treating themselves to “great products at great bargain prices” without the bargaining!

Unless they were just buying “samples” and would come back later and pick up 5000 jhadus and 2 quintals of tamatar.

Trick or treat, only time will tell.

But at the time of exiting the place I noticed our parking ticket serial number was 648, and the parking attendant clarified it started at 001 with the opening the day before.

On a busy highway in the heart of vibrant Punjab, is that a good figure for visitors on day 1 & 2? Go figure.

PS: Noshtradamus has nothing to do with Bharti Walmart or Best Price. We are neither their representatives, consultants, pr, advertising, digital or any kind of communication agency. Nor are we their help desk. So we cannot answer any questions related to them, their operations, or anything else to do with them. To know more about them, I suggest you look here.

Continue reading »]]> There’s a lot of buzz around twitter and how its the next big thing in marketing… here’s a comprehensive and useful piece by Ann Handley

“AdAge calles twitter assinine.
Is it for everyone? No.
But twitter has real use for media companies
and social-media-savvy brands”

7 Ways Marketers Can Use Twitter >

And when you are done reading the above, check out this video via BarelyDigital

Continue reading »]]> Big brother, wifey, buddy, mistress, whoever… they can all track your movements as you can track theirs, thanks to Google Latitude. Latitude is a GPS based tracking system which runs on Google Maps on Blackberry and other Windows based handheld devices.

Every length you take, every move you make… (with apologies to the Police)

When you download the app, you need to give the device permission to track your movements, then add others who also have Latitude installed on their handhelds (and have given you permission to track them!).

Not me, you aint!

It’s seems quite cool, but I still haven’t been able to convince anyone else to let me track them. Perhaps my 9 year old daughter will – if I first give her a cellphone! And this brings me to the real benefit/practicality of using something like this.

It is a great tool for parents, clingy spouses, and nutty buddies. Has great novelty value, but can be quite disconcerting to on a day to day basis… “oh look honey, I know you are at the office… or baby, don’t tell me you are in the loo, i know you are in the kitchen!”. Those of you who allow friends to ‘see your location’ in Second Life will know what I mean.

Money talks, when you walk!

From the commercial angle, it can make a great tool to know who is where, and then throw relevant offers to him or her via sms or whatever… “oh, so you are at Landmark, eh? why not step across to the new KFC next door? We’ll even throw on a chicken leg free if you grab a breast..” um. maybe something like that.

You can run, but you can’t hide!

As far as corporates go, it makes a cool tracking device for employees – couriers, sushi delivery, travelling salespersons, etc. While it works quite like other GPS tracking devices, this one is free. Only you need a high-end handheld with an unlimited data-transfer package to use it to the max.

And as I write this I am even more convinced it only has novelty value, and nothing commercial. Not surprising therefore, its predecessors like loopt and where are still to grab public imagination on a large scale.

Someday maybe

Maybe they will one day become popular. Maybe we will let ourselves be tracked and commercially violated for that free chicken leg, or the lure of 3-drinks-for-the-price-of-1 at 4 in the afternoon.

Until then apps like this will remain a closely guarded secret between the makers and the few takers. Quite like my current location.

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Desert, anyone?!

So there I was sitting in the office of a large financial institution in Dubai. I had just met Sandra at the reception. Vinod brought me a cup of tea. And I was about to sit in on a meeting with Gaurav, Rajan, Michelle and Aman* .

As I looked at my fellow desis buzzing around the office with purpose and efficiency,  I suddenly wondered - “am I really in Dubai? am i really not in India?”. And then it struck me, Dubai is the perfect BPO Model!

“Amost every business process in Dubai has been outsourced to foreign countries. Except the people that do their work, actually work and live in Dubai!”

An estimated 85% of the 5.4 million population of the UAE is expatriate! That’s a lot of foriegners running around the country, and running the country. Or at least believing they are…

Because quite simply, even though you may be doing real important jobs out here in Dubai, you are playing by the rules of Dubai.

Here’s what I’ve seen about the structure of businesses/organisations:

• The Boss/Owner is always a UAE national – who sets the tone and vision/mission for the company.
• Professional Managers from around the world – are the 1-downs who oversee the day to day business.
• Below them there are professionals of different nationalities – who do all the day to day ops and dirty work.
• 40% of the above two levels are UAE nationals.

Why I think this is great:

At the social/business level there is no loss of income, or insecurity usually felt by local companies when the MNCs set up shop. They are part of the set up. Which is quite different in other parts of the world, where there is a lot of angst against MNCs!

In the UAE, at the larger level:

• The companies are all local, belonging to local nationals – they get to keep the profits.
• Every foreign company that wants to set up/do business here, has to have a local partner – who again shares the profits.
• The system allows for silent partners – so many locals make money by just being partners on paper, and not doing any real work.
• At the common man/day to day level – 40% of all professional jobs are reserved by law for local nationals.
• And in small businesses and services – the expats end up doing the things locals wouldn’t want to do anyway!

At other levels, what’s happening is:

• The country with its infrastructure and way of life is a big attraction for talent and people with ideas – especially from the Indian subcontinent who want some sense of law and order around, besides great material benefits.
• Paperwork and Bureacracy is almost non-existent, when it comes to setting up shop or home here. If you qualify and have the right documents, you’re in, in no time with least effort. That’s a big entry barrier removed.
• Pricing in the country is cleverly designed – it’s cheap to buy, set up and run homes and offices here. So the next entry barrier is gone too!

The beauty of all this is:

• You pay a lot of money to outsiders to come do all the work your people cannot, and/or will not do.
• You provide the outsiders an attractive environment and remuneration model to live and work here.
• The outsiders earn and spend the money within the UAE itself (they buy and spend more in UAE than they repatriate home)
• More and more money is coming into the country, in order to feed the booming economy, which in itself is created by these people coming in. There is no real local population to exploit, as in India or China.

And all this is happening in a land, which is in reality a very hot and empty desert. Which until recently, had only one thing to offer the world – oil.

I think Dubai and the thinking of its Rulers is a case study all marketers and management consultants should watch and learn from closely. Just like I am.

Related Reading:
Dubai Diaries Part 1: First Impressions
Dubai Diaries Part 2: Paradoxes Galore

*(names changed, nationality reflected)

Continue reading »]]> Talk about new media and innovation – here’s “an invitation you cannot refuse” for a gathering of YouTubers in NYC on 07.07.07 – posted on YouTube of course!

Needless to say, if she’s going to be there – I am too! (Sorry, just kidding – I live on the other side of the world in India). But seriously, she’s beautiful, she’s obviously very talented, and to know more, check out Happy Slip.

And if you’re in New York on the 7th of July 2007, try and be there. Sounds like fun! 

Continue reading »]]> There’s a saying that half the money spent on advertising is wasted – only you don’t know which half. I believe we now have the right answer – it’s the half you spend on sledgehammer mass media advertising that’s wasted. Because quite simply, instead of ‘turning on your audiences’ and having consumers turn to you – you’ve made them ‘turn off the TV’ and turn to your less obtrusive, empathising competitor!

Now this may be too simply put to make a point, but Mahesh Murthy provides great insights and reflections of our media plans and the way we (man)handle our audiences and consumers, in this article here on AgencyFAQs. Check it out!

Continue reading »]]> Another blast from the past which is still relevant today – on what I believe all communication firms need to focus on – personalised media. I do believe the mass market or mass audience is dead. And media planners who claim cricket and television are the solution to every marketers problems should get their heads examined, and sacked by clients for wasting money.

Here are my thoughts, backed by some facts (originally written 13th December 2005):

“The fact is, most advertising agencies in India are not easily adapting to the new India. And this has nothing to do with technology – but everything to do with ‘mindsets’, and something to do with budgets!” read more, click here.

Continue reading »]]> Noshtradamus is supposed to be a blog where i stargaze about communication, strategy, talent and new media in the new world. I write my posts keeping that in mind – or at least that’s what I think I’m doing!

Call it lack of proper focus, or call it the unpredictability of the internet www – whacky wide web – the fact is my visitor stats throw up different and interesting facts.

A large number of people find my blog through search engines. And the top “keywords” have been:

• Julie Roehm pictures
• Superbikes India
• Advertising
• Honda superbikes
• Indian Economy
• Bill Rylance
• Santosh Desai
• bates
• cricket.

Alternately, the technorati tags that bring people here are advertising, public relations, media and cricket. 

While I have actually wanted people looking for most of the above to land up at my blog, keywords like cricket and superbikes aren’t on my list of priority… at least not in the context that my search engine visitors were looking for.

You see:

a) the focus of my post was Indian bike brands and their marketing issues – not about ‘where superbikes are available in India’, or about ‘bad roads’.

b) i’ve written two posts on bikes, plenty about others, but bikes are right up there in terms of popularity.

c) i have received more hits from users looking for ‘cricket’ and ‘ICC world cup’ than I have on the bates-david-enterprise merger (despite just one post on cricket, more on the merger)

The point I’m making is, no matter how much we try, the www will do its own thing. There is no such thing as being able to accurately predict what will happen on the internet.

In the context of using the internet for strategic brand communication, admittedly there are trends, cycles, popular sentiment and what not… but there is no real formula for success.

No one, and no technology can give you the accurate results you’d want as a brand manager, or reputation custodian.

To draw a parallel, you can be the perfect driver and drive carefully following all the rules, but nothing can stop an accident, if the person on the other side doesn’t know, or follow the rules…

And the other point is, what’s out there on the net, and the perception around you or your brand, varies depending upon who’se point of view you’re looking at.

For example, if you do a blog search for say, Bill Rylance, you’ll reach my blog here, in perhaps the top 20 results. And read a very complimentary post/opinion.

But if you search for cricket and indian advertising, you will land at my blog here… and get all the negatives associated with it!

And the two can be blissfully unaware of the reputation (good and bad) being built online, by this simple unpredictable fact of the internet.

Should Brands step out in the www and do something about their reputations online… yes, certainly!

Is there a right answer or correct solution to the problems faced by brands on the internet..? If you need an answer to this… you need to start reading this post all over again.