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 »]]> Contrary to popular perception (and current brand behaviour all around) you don’t pussy-foot around communication when you’re in the middle of hard times.

In Hindi there’s a phrase ‘bolti-bandh’ which is quite like the English one ‘the cat got your tongue’. Which leads me to say brands that lie low in tough times, stand the risk of behind seen as a ‘scaredy cat’.

Don’t get me wrong and think I am saying that we should indulge in the loud-mouth, open-wallet communication like a lot of brands have done in the past 4-5 years.

I think we need to find the right balance between verbal diorhhea and communication constipation.

These tough times are forcing us to do what we should have been doing all along – going through a rigorous process of finding the right thing to say, and the right way to say it. They are forcing us to define a more focussed and definitive position for ourselves, and work the media planning machine like it has never been worked before.

“To whomsoever it may concern” type of communication has to give way, and the “to you, to whom it concerns” approach has to step in. And “media reach” has to give way for “media relevance”.

I know folk representing or selling mass media channels will either laugh at this perspective, or throw some ppt slides at you talking about how their mass media channel actually reaches your audience!  Sure it does, like buckshot.

Which brings me to new media and the power of narrowcast communication.

And the beauty of it is new media and narrowcast communication works whether you have loads of money, or very little of it!

New Media, New Focus.

Admittedly most new media conferences do nothing to build a case for new media. The usual suspects gather to make the usual presentations on the usual case studies which they’ve been talking about for the past 3 years!

I believe no one in this industry really talks of the complexity of new media and the dynamic roles it can play in influencing and persuading audiences.  Perhaps no one really knows.

Perhaps peope are all selling the wrong case studies as I mentioned above. I for one would like to talk of something more basic – how approximately 30lakhs spent on print advertising in one month, got a client of mine approximately 300 enquiries. At the same time, 30thousand spent on Google AdWords in the same month got the same client almost a 1000 enquiries. And the conversion rate was higher among the AdWords call-ins!

The point is, if we can focus on getting new media right, we can get a lot of focus on our brands.

New Dogs, Old Tricks.

The trick lies in layering time tested marketing techniques, with new media technology. The trick lies in using traditional best practices of advertising and public relations, and applying them to the internet and mobile communication.

New media strategy is not about building websites online, but about building a web of insights online. New media campaigns are not about fancy virals, but about creating a fever pitch of focussed communication. New media is not about clicks, but about clicking with consumers.

That’s the basic simple truth of the matter.

PR kiya to darna kya?

Another great tool in tough times is public relations. I believe if done right, public relations has far greater and longer term value than most people (including its practitioners) give it.

Public relations can helps you make the right point to the right people, who in turn can put out the right message. You use it to educate and influence the influencers.

PR is the only media which actually allows you to even put across a 10,000 word sales pitch to an audience should you so require. How’s that for talking tough and straight?!

Getting it right

I believe recession is one of the final nails in the coffin of euphoria over mass media advertising. The recession is telling you stop wasting money on buckshot, and find new ways of getting your audiences in the bag.

Lesser budgets literally mean “focus your communication, and keep is simple and effective”.

Which brings me to digital media, activation, and public relations. The perfect tools for getting it right.

But in order to use the above effectively, you have to talk tough with yourself and change decades of conventional media conditioning.

Then you will have to talk tough with your ‘Clients’ who will still demand ‘cover-my-ass TRPs and Reach’, since that’s the only RoI most Marketing Managers know…

Communicating for “closure”, not “ask me for a brochure”.

Communication in digital media, activation and public relations is different and works differently from print and television ads. When used correctly, they can put your brand in the right place at the right time like no other.

Communication in these new media/methods put more pressure on you, because they place your brand right up in the face of your audiences in a relevant context. Which means your message better be right and to the point.

And when you’re up so close to your audiences, they will be more demanding and less forgiving. Which means when you get your one shot at the audience, it better be the right one.

Which essentially means, when you talk tough, you must also be ready to walk the talk. If not, then tough luck.

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.

Continue reading »]]> I have always been fascinated by my own Google results. Call it narcissist, but I am concerned about what I am linked to, and who is linked to me (pun totally intended). My results (all 184 of them at this moment) vary from positive, vague, to totally misleading.

My postive results throw up my LinkedIn and Facebook public profiles; articles that appeared in Economic Times, Afaqs, and other publications on me; my own writings as a blogger and commenter in various places, and such.

The vague are vague to most of us, because the link text and original pages are in Chinese, Russian, and Korean ~ reviews (and award listings) of some of my creative work and marketing writings cross these parts.

And the totally misleading, but which I personally wish was true, talks of me sitting on a fat bounty of money – lol!

I must confess, I have worked to keep these results the way I want them to be – including ensuring the lastmentioned result stays around, though not in a high or obvious place

How? It is quite simple, yet complex. And I will leave Julia Angwin to enlighten us on the matter. I spotted this piece of hers this morning on my WSJ Blackberry reader (ahem, name dropping helps too, you see).

Julia Angwin writes candidly how she worked with Google to ensure she looks and stays positive and well linked. I hope she counts this link as a positive one

An excerpt, followed by the original piece by Julia:

“One of the paradoxes of the digital age is that the boundless freedoms of the Internet also constrain our identity. Before the ubiquity of search engines you could go on a date or a job interview and construct a narrative about your life that fit the situation. No one in your book group had to know that you were a punk-rocker in high school. But it’s much harder to package yourself in the Google era. Online, your digital identity often comes down to the top 10 links on your SERP, or search-engine results page.”

Read the whole article here.

Continue reading »]]> Every now and then I spot incoming links to my blog, from a site called Business Way which I discover is using my content as is, to attract traffic. And I am not alone in getting my stuff streamed without credit – there are other sites too – there are sites from the US and elsewhere whose content is being streamed here.

Business Way is some wierd link farm with no apparent source of revenue, except for the credit links at the bottom which lead to some finance and brokerage firms, which I think also keep changing.

They seem to be drawing a lot of traffic and comments, and by talking about them and by linking to them I am probably doing what they wanted in the first place.

Whatever it is they’re up to, looks like no good. So if anyone has an explanation, do let me know.

Related reading from a previous similar experience of intellectual theft:
Stop Thief! & Update: Content Theft

Continue reading »]]>

Last Saturday evening, I spent around four hours with some of the friendliest, most unassuming bunch of people I have met in a long time.

Which is surprising, considering I was at the IndiBloggers offline meet in Delhi. And Bloggers, as their reputation suggests, are a volatile and unpredictable bunch of people.

“True, Bloggers around the world have displayed the power to rock countries, bring down companies, and generally cause much damage with their words when provoked, or when they raise their voices against something they feel is not right – for them, or people around them.”

What’s not talked about as much, is the fact that Bloggers often announce important news before daily press and even television channels pick them up; they are known to share knowledge and insights on things both popular and obscure; and they are known to provide great reading (and watching) content that keeps people around the world addicted and waiting for the next post.

So how come there were no fireworks? How come this meet didn’t become the starting point of a revolution that would address the scores of issues around us?

Well there were two reasons for this as I saw it – 1) the Agenda, and 2) the real nature of Bloggers.

The meet’s objectives/agendaitself, was primarily to get Bloggers from the NCR to meet and get to know each other. For this there was a “One Minute of Fame” session, where all the Bloggers stood up and spoke for a minute about their blogs, and why they do what they do.

The next objective was perhaps to begin a dialogue – which translated into a tentative discussion (“this is not a presentation” claimed the organisers) on the issues most bloggers face – of ethics, of responsibility, of censorship, of self-governance, and of course revenue generation, which naturally led to discussions about Google.

Personally, I think this session could have been better planned, because the issues themselves are very important, and while everyone had a point of view, the discussion went all over the place, without reaching any real conclusion or even direction.

“But it was a great start, and I hope to see more such discussions in this area. Because while we Bloggers are all free-spirits, I do believe we have to be good spirits and be spirited for the right reasons.

The fires we create in our rants have to be to shed light, not singe innocents. And the glow we create with our raves have to be natural, not drug-induced.”

I guess you get the drift. So let me get to my next point.

Bloggers are just human. As I watched the gathering that consisted of writers, coders, photoshoppers, a cartoonist, a fitness instructor (she was one, of the two women Bloggers at the meet), a titilator (for want of a better word for a guy who shares ‘sexy’ clips from popular movies on his blog), and other such Bloggers, it struck me that they were no different from each other!

Their reasons for Blogging may be different, but they are all just regular Joes (and Janes) out to voice their opinions, share their passions, and generally aim for the moment of glory or fame that perhaps eludes them in real life. Or perhaps they have just chosen Blogging as the channel through which they will get their moment of glory, get themselves heard the big bad world out there…

These people are not here to harm anyone, not pick unnecessary fights, or rant unreasonably… They all have good intentions, and will hopefully have a positive effect on whoever comes in touch with them. Which is far from what you will get from the average Joe on the street!

And then I realised, I was really proud to call myself a Blogger, and be one of these people. And if the folks behind IndiBloggers and IBNMSget their act together to address serious issues, and develop a gameplan to nurture or channel the energies of Bloggers better, the world will be a whole lot nicer place to live in!

You can quote me on that.

Continue reading »]]>

nice, stylish interface

I was about to write a post on “cuil” (pronounced cool) the new search engine created by former employees of google, when I came upon this post at MoneyManagement’s Weblog.

It is a comprehensive review, so I won’t try and duplicate the effort in detail. But here’s my quick summary on two key factors for search:

1. Look and feel – Great! Minimalistic like google, but that’s where the design similarity in ends. Cuil is very stylish looking in black and blue, a sharp contrast to the undesigned appeal of google.

The results show up in nicely designed columns saving you the bother to scroll. Overall, it’s a great UI experience.

2. Results – It’s fast in coming up with results. Especially when showing “no results were found” for say, “Mehernosh Shapoorjee” which throws up 93 results on Google with 90% being true to the real McCoy.

To be fair, it showed 1.091 results for Noshtradamus, of which 90% were real results and what I was looking for. Google throws up 1,010 with 90% relevant results. Both results were almost identical.

My reading is, for popular pages and search terms, the results are almost identical between google and cuil. But on less popular ones, the difference is huge, the odds of you finding what you are looking for better on google.

But now here’s a killer observation:

google vs cuil - on cuil!

“Search for Cuil on Cuil, and you get 121,578 results – with the cuil search engine itself not showing up on the first page.

Search for Cuil on Google, and you get 886,000 results, with the Cuil Search engine almost filling the first page results – homepage, info, reviews, youtube video, et al!”

But as search engines go, I guess it abilities will get better with time. I wish Cuil all the best. And hope it doesn’t disappear like a dozen other search engines that came and went over the years!

Read the complete review at MoneyManagement’s Weblog here.

ps. I am a die-hard googler. Using it at least 10 times a day, and have google set as the home page on all my computers.

Continue reading »]]> A long time back I wrote about what I call Digital Road Rage. It was about the insensitive and irresponsible side of blogging and the dangers of writing without thinking.

Today I discovered a great post on Blogetiquette – (Blogging Etiquette) which I believe anyone who writes or reads a blog should keep in mind.

Check it out here at IdeaSmithy.

Continue reading »]]> They are two brands I admire, and use every day. Not just for entertainment and personal kicks, but also for understanding and learning what’s up in terms of trends and technologies in the internet space.

Google‘s constant stream of innovations and brand extensions are great teachers. And Facebook‘s current explosion in terms of usage is an eyeopener on social networking and internet product development.

So as news of them trying to get together in some form or the other wasn’t surprising. And neither is the news that Microsoft and Yahoo too are in the fray for a piece of the action.

Then a couple of days back I started noticing ‘google ads’ appearing in Facebook. Wow! I thought, Google’s done it again..!

But then I read this post on VentureBeat about Google’s sneak attack on Facebook! Fascinating… is it another legendary episode on internet warfare in the making? Or is it an indication of a deal already done?

Read the post on venturebeat here. And watch this space for more!

UPDATE: 24th October 2007. US$ 240 Million. And the winner(?) is Microsoft. Read about it here.