Terror through Social Media

Apart from ground artillery and maritime warfare techniques Islamic extremists are also being trained on how to use the popular video-sharing site YouTube! This is to propagate terror through videos.

Social Media is all about community building. And the smart Islamic extremists have understood that well and have identified the most user-friendly tool to form a suicide bomber community for their shamefully cowardly acts.

It will be interesting to see how YouTube, a unit of Google, will handle inflammatory as well blatant terror postings. Freedom to one is weapon to another!!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

IPTV - Pulls Consumers

From Govt regulated Television to Cable to DTH to IPTV.

As of now there are only approx 12,000 IPTV subscribers compared to DTH’s 11 million. But the trend is catching up.

What is most striking about IPTV is that it will not depend on 'Push' advertising but on 'Pull' advertising. That is, Advertising on demand ;)

What is 'Pull'? - you can select from a given category, say second-hand cars, choose the brand, click to know more and the best part : you can simply navigate through the video clips on A-Tube and decide for yourself. On other mediums, you look at the brand, get convinced but still the 'buy action' needs to wait. In IPTV, you just press the button. Red-hot call to action. Money spinner.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Taming Attrition

In the last couple of years whenever I bump into HR heads of outsourcing companies or BPOs, they never fail to mention about the hairy beast called attrition. They have tried everything from Mercer techniques to swank get-togethers to astrology;) … but more employees walked out on them.

Surprise… Surprise… the economic slowdown has apparently done what crazy employee engagement activities, crazier salary hikes and craziest perks and incentives couldn’t: keep more employees of outsourcing companies and BPOs on the rolls.

Sometimes, the best CEO is the market condition !!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

British Airways & Hyderabad Blues

British Airways recently announced the launch of its new routes from Hyderabad to 22 cities in North America. Look at its creative... What a cliche. Akin to showing a Kangaroo if you are flying from Australia.

The rangoli in this ad was specially commissioned from the renowned Singapore based ‘rangoli’ artist, Vijaya Mohan, who has won a slew of awards, including a Guinness World Record for the largest ‘rangoli’, for her creations. Apart from this trivia, nothing strikes a chord. Sometimes, Clients and Agencies get into a cliche trap and fail to realize it.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Recession stumps Cricket !

Now Recession stumps cricket, cricketers, advertisers and cricket lovers. Advertisers will be spending Rs. 300-350 crore less in 2008-09. Immediate casualties – upcoming India-England one-day series and Champions League.

When jobs and heads are rolling - latest news is that BT is laying off 10,000 bodies- Auto companies, telecom, FMCG, real estate, insurance and beverage companies want to play it safe. There will be huge media cuts, nasty negotiations and probably the newer TV commercial scripts will be stalled or dropped. Star values will be questioned. ROI will be the star again.

I think the present scenario can help our cricketers – focus on cricket more and less on camera lens and half-clad sirens.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Another Election. Another Pitch. Who is the real winner ?

Who else can understand the power the communications better than a politician. Big names in national politics are turning to professionals to communicate to the mass. Their blood. Their siblings. Their votebank!

Objective : Campaign for the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections and swing the votebank for a change.

BJP campaign theme : three Is – inflation, internal security and incompetence

General : Bring to light the issues affecting the country at large.

Medium to be used : Use both above-the-line and below-the-line media, including media vehicles such as SMS, MMS and online presence.

Account Size : Rs. 150 crores. Now close your mouth !!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Airtel Digital TV ad - what is digital about it ?

Celebrities sell products. Here the celebrities become the product.

Bharti and JWT (Creative Agency) had roped in 10 celebrities as products to advertise Airtel Digital TV. But sadly, they are not seen as products by the target. I keep hearing the same comment from wannabe consumers : “why do they spend so much money having so many celebrities for this ad” Boom down goes the concept. Nevertheless it makes a ‘cluttered’ impact ;)

Just to take you through the commercial… here is the flash back – swaying and fading out monotone TV ad of Airtel… Madhavan and Vidya Balan accompany yet another business executive in a luxury car to his home. Cricketers Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir and a few other sports icons (and who are they..?) welcome the dad of a 5 year old into the lift. As he reaches his house, the door opens to reveal Kareena Kapoor. Rahul’s wife makes an appearance and ushers him in, where AR Rahman plays piano. And Saif Ali Khan is there to welcome him too.

Now the big question : Is ‘Digital’ TV all about cine and sports celebrities? Give us a break.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Internal Communicator ? - Are you lucky ?

After my session on ‘Internal Communications’ at Ad Club of Madras, one of the students raised an interesting question: how will I break the mindset of the senior management about the importance of internal communications?

Good question… here is my take…

Consider yourself lucky if the senior leaders in your organization view internal communications as important and central to everything that happens inside the organization. Be it celebrations or stick and carrot or polished cane or even hygiene messages.

But on the other hand, if the senior leaders view internal communications as an ‘optional tool’ or ‘gimmick tool’, then you have a bigger task at hand. Break that mindset. Create a space for yourself in the boardroom first or in the CEO’s cubicle. So how do you do this – be extremely proactive, be courageous, be curious about everything in the organization and your line of business.

Tie everything you do with tangible results. Keep proving.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

RED FM, Durga Pooja & Mindset

RED FM ties up with the biggest Durga Pooja in Mumbai

Nice initiative. But I am unable to understand RED FM’s National Marketing Head and Station Head, Mr. Anuj Singh’ comments : “RED FM’s programming reflects the mindset of the city and its people.”

Dear, dear, dear… I suppose that’s what entertainment media should focus on, always. For ever. Entertainment industry can either reflect or break the mindsets of people for the good. I think it is tougher to do the second part and requires a greater application of mind and creativity.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Soldier-less Attack !!???

Where did the US go wrong in its ‘war on Iraq’ communications? Track back a few years; you will remember that the US went to war with one promise to its citizens – soldier-less attack and minimal casualties. Great message, and let me ask you - how do you keep control on the enemy ground after the wham bham? You need to put the army boots on the ground to defend your prized invasion (surely not prized for common American citizens!) When that happened, it became a soldier versus suicide bomber attacks with upper-cut casualties for the US army.

After being battered both financially and emotionally, the decision on pullout is still hiding in some corners of the US power corridor. Probably, USA is delaying the pullout because they have not got on top of their communication strategy to avoid a loss of face.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Shortcut to Pleasure

Madhukar Kumar, Image Strategist, had posted an interesting question in LinkedIn - what is the difference between Brand Personality and Brand Character. This is like chicken or egg for a fair majority of marketers. Let me try and simplify these jargons :

Brand Personality traits are subjective and dynamic. Brand Character traits are objective and timeless. As simple.

Building a brand character is tough and time consuming. Character traits include honesty, trust, reliability courage and so on. On a lighter note, Lehman means 'Greed', Merill means 'Fear' and AIG means '?'... you will know soon ;)

Whereas, Brand Personality is subjective. It includes a brand's preferences, tastes, sense of humor, interiors, attire, passion and a quite a lengthy list. This keeps changing. For example, some of the brand personalities of AXE : 'humorous', 'shortcut to pleasure' :)


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Publishing is the new PR

Gone are the days when company news need to wait for the mainstream media to pick it up. It all depended on how much the Journos liked your company or the spokesperson or the news or your restaurant choice. Then came the web. The transformation begun.

Now, I think 'Social Publishing' is the new PR. Go ahead and create your own articles, blogs, podcasts, videos and the likes. Syndicate them at relevant site. If this can be done in a way that fits your brand strategy and business imperatives consistently and effectively, you are on the new curve of creating media. Let the mainline conventional media wait or pick your viral. The choice is still theirs. But you have nothing to lose, now.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

The moral of the Lehman Story

It is a great lesson for all the CEOs to learn to take informed decisions rather than emotional and arrogant ones.

Just got reminded of a famous quote by Phil Knight, Nike co-founder : “The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes, but that we are making too few.”

Wonder with Lehman down, Merill sold and AIG in doldrums, Phil has got it wrong.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Faking 'Smile' is not networking

Economic Times carried an article on networking today. Title reads as 'Networking is about being genuine.' Read on for their first point and the quick tip for the second point - height of contradiction

Be real: The most important rule is to keep it real. Networking is about being genuine and building mutually beneficial relationships based on trust.

Quick tip: Don't flash a smile immediately when you greet someone. Instead, look at the person's face for a second, pause, and then bring on that warm smile.That way, the delay shows the individual that the smile was genuinely only for them.

What a contrived best practice !!

I believe that smile can lie but not the eyes. Throw this rule and be really real.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Public in Public Relations ?

Does your PR agency reach your customers directly? Or do they still depend on the media to communicate your story?

In the US, PR success is measured on this challenging yardstick too. It is still nascent in India! So what do we do to achieve this. Do we have to rework the PR tools? Or change the PR agency ;) Probably, I think, both clients and the PR advisory firms need to change their mindset about PR. And bring 'Public' into Public Relations!

How easy it is to make such motherhood statements and smile at it innocently?!?!?

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Brands are not intangible !!

Who says brand value is intangible? If you're skeptical, take a look at Interbrand's annual survey of the world's most valuable brands.

Click here!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Now it is 'Outplacing'

Down sizing was an ugly word. Right sizing was the substitute. Now 'Outplacing' is the buzzword in the world of retrenchment.

'Outplacement Services' is gathering momentum with the US slowdown putting brakes on hiring, and delay in client decisions forcing companies to cull jobs and weed out non-performers from the rolls. The bottom 20% need to watch out for the big axe but a softer one though.

Some get business because some lose jobs, ironical isn't it!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Tagline : Butt of Jokes?

When people attack a company, the first one to get hit is the tagline.

In 1987, Scott Baker designed the current, so-called "Pac-Man Logo" for Microsoft. The new logo has a slash on the ‘O’ that made it look like Pac-Man, hence the name. In 1994 Microsoft introduced a new tagline Where do you want to go today?, as part of a $100 million advertising campaign. Needless to say, it was widely mocked.

In 1996, perhaps tired of being the butt of jokes like "what kind of error messages would you like today?", Microsoft dropped the slogan. Later, it tried on new taglines like "Making It Easier", "Start Something", "People Ready" and "Open Up Your Digital Life" before settling on the current "Your potential. Our passion."

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

One-line Marketing Strategy

I had a chat with a start-up founder. He wanted me to act as a sounding board and as well give him a one-line marketing strategy.

"Serve a market that is an inch wide and a mile deep and not a mile wide and an inch deep."

How true!! Start-ups should follow this brick to brick or pixel to pixel!!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Losing Audience ?

There was an interesting question in LinkedIn about Presentations : 'When giving a presentation, what is the biggest obstacle to connecting with your audience?'

Read my response :

"Could be your presentation itself.

Especially if you have a powerpoint presentation. Unfortunately, majority of presentations are culttered with content. When you have loads of text up there, human psychology is to read it than listen to the presenter.

I think text should be a talking point triggers and allow visuals to explain the big picture. If this is done, in a second or two, the audience will return to the presenter to validate or understand what is depicted on the slide. If the presenter adds value through relative examples he connects with the audience for that slide. Do it slide after slide after slide after slide!"


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

You are the torch !!

Buddha said, "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

I met a few of my ad friends after a long gap. They were lambasting the industry, the new trends, the defaulting clients, overbearing clients and they forsee death of branding, creativity and what not. I think if you believe that the industry needs to change, help it to change - mentor your juniors or even go to the educational institutions to build things ground up.

In fact, I am doing the same, I care to spend a couple of hours a month to mentor students about the practical fundas of brand building. I am doing a session in LIBA in the first week of September.

Instead of bitching about the state of branding and advertising, please go do something on the ground. Mentor and transform.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Digital East !!

In terms of total broadband users, the US leads the pack with more than 60 million subscribers. But second-placed China is fast closing the gap. From 41 million users a year ago, China now has more than 56 million and looks set to overtake the US as the world's largest broadband market this year.

There are more than 1.1 billion of the world's estimated 6.6 billion people online and almost a third of them are now accessing the internet on high-speed lines. According to the internet consultancy Point Topic, 298 million people had broadband at the end of March and that is already estimated to have shot over 300 million.

Digital west? East is fast moving north to beat the west. Sorry for the pun here. The whole business dynamics will change in the coming years and these numbers are only indicators !!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Sales Killers !

What do retailers do when sales killers are their customer’s companions? Some time back when I was shopping with my wife in a tourist location, I played the villain role unintentionally. She was looking around for handicraft show items. After a while I lost interest and almost parked myself near the exit door, occasionally urging her to finish it soon. After a few impatient glares, she decided to drop it altogether and walked out with me.

The poor retailer watched a sure sales scenario tripping into a no-purchase situation. Reason : the companion of the customer. And most often, I assume the culprit is the male gender.

Later that day, I was thinking about this unfortunate scenario. How would retailers engage the companions while the real customers make some serious purchase? Retailers should come up with clever ideas to keep their sales from being killed by the companions of their customers. Retalers, jump in with your ideas!!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

What IT pros want from Work

Money isn't everything for IT people claims a recent survey by staffing company Computer People!!

The culture of a workplace is a major deal breaker for professional IT workers, according to a poll of 5,000 IT workers by Computer People.

Some nine out of ten said they want a job which was interesting and challenged them, while three-quarters said they liked being friendly with their colleagues.

Having the right tools to do their work properly was key to 79 per cent, while 75 per cent said they wanted a job which offered career development.

Funny part is... the IT pros in the super nations who draw 5 times the sals of what Indian draw here... feel the same when it comes to career and retention issues. Not that I am expecting out of the moon answers from them!!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Art Vs Copy

One of the never ending debates : copy or visual? content or art? Which rules? At what share? On being on either side of the fence, I have heard and keep hearing the inside stories and arguments. But ever hardly managed to make a whole lot of writers or art directors to see the other side of the wall.

I am taking another shot at it armed with latest facts !!!

Authors Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin in their book Neuromarketing report a finding by the 3M Meeting Management Institute that "effective visuals" reduce the time required to communicate a concept by 40 percent.

Hurray! I can hear a shrill dash of chiselled crystal mugs from the 'art' camp.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Why do Webinars fail ?

Webinars. Webinars. Webinars. This is equivalent to TV commercials in the online world. Turn around and you have plenty of free webinars for your taking. Personally, I have registered in a few and as a default missed them or didn't sit through. This raised a serious question in my mind... how does Webinar fare as a key tool in lead generation.

I got some convincing answers from one of the leading names in global marketing research and consulting. Their inference on why some or many webinars fail :

1. Content was not as advertised
2. Presenter(s) read directly from the slides
3. Webinar began with company/sales information (pitches)
4. You were familiar with the information in the first few slides
5. The webinar was an hour long
6. Presenter(s) spoke slowly
7. Skipped / failed to mark in calendar


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Sales is 'Presence of Mind'

If Business Development is walking in isolated polar regions to hoist a flag of friendship or partnership; Sales is like racing a camel in sahara to win a customer who hates open sky. Then imagine sales through cold calling ??

Cold calling is energy and confidence sapping exercise. But listen to an interesting 'presence of mind' story - when some of my 'breaking the glass' techniques with one of the global giants prospect in sofware product industry failed, I resorted to an old technique - cold calling.

I was kind of not prepared for the call and after a few attempts I got a voice mail. Cleared my throat and started my pitch... as fate has it... I lost my thought track in the middle and stopped abruptly and cut the line.

A 2 minute break did it, I realized where I missed, called the customer again, as fate dictated, I did a remarkable comeback messaging with the following start : Hello... I am Satish and extremely sorry that we got disconnected earlier. As I was illustrating about our strengths on....

Share with me your lively examples of 'presence of mind' in sales and business development.



~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Human body as a billboard !!

Crazy!! Human body is the next target for marketers!

New Zealander James Stewart is taking guerrilla marketing to a new level by selling tattoos as advertising space on his leg in a bid to raise NZ$1m (£384,000).

Stewart, a 24-year-old geology graduate, is promoting a website for local artists and will sell tattoos for NZ$500 per square centimetre.

His left leg offers 2,000 square centimetres of ad space in total and he has already confirmed the first tattoo will be a 10 x 7cm image of a seated fairy on a striped background.



~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Client Presentation

Client Acquisition Presentations? Hours and hours of number crunching, pots of coffee, packs and packs of Gold Flake Kings... you hit a great presentation. Catch some sleep, jet your way to client's place and... And... present it. I really like it if my client, after my 20 minutes gyan, says leave the presentation with him or send him the e-file. In fact I encourage them to use my presentation to present it to their superior bosses.

If the presentation can make them look and feel smart... you have the second line of management backing you as a preferred vendor!!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

PR Agencies Versus Advertising Agencies

When it comes to 'seat-share' in a boardroom or 'spend-share' in a marketing budget -I have seen that the advertising agencies eat a bigger pie compared to the PR agencies.

Public Relations professionals often shy away from asking their clients to enhance their pockets of budget in the marketing mix. Why? Are they unsure about their strong points?

But things are changing with the advent of blogs and social media. My thinking is that the PR agencies might overtake the ad agencies in the new media zone. That is, only if they recognize their strength and play up to it.

Social Media is content driven and PR agencies' strength lies in 'content' messaging. Whereas, ad agencies thrive on 'call-to-action' or 'glamour' messaging.



~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

A Cat could forsee 'Death'!

Surf. Surf. Surf. And yet you see nothing different amongst Indian News channels. One formula, multiple sentional stories or probably made in-house, replays till you yawn and drop; and different faces with honking vocal chords!!

This raises an interesting question - do audience want NEWS as NEWS or do they want it with spice and panneer? I think there is audience fatigue because of the kind of news we get today. NEWS channels know that and they try to beat it by 'having' or 'creating' a personality. And this personality brings in entertainment as a differentiator. Remember a news item about a cat which could ‘foresee’ death! Who's going to give who a break !!


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

A strategic tool called Branding

Economic Times 21 Jul, 2008, 2355 hrs IST, Niranjan Mudholkar

Involving employees in the branding exercise will give them a sense of belonging as well as a sense of ownership and will prove very beneficial in retaining them. Attracting the right talent and retaining it is indeed a huge challenge for most SMEs. Just as people love to buy well-known brands, they also love to work for well-known brands. Sadly, SMEs are usually not looked upon as ideal employers even if they may have employee friendly policies.

“SMEs follow best of the class HR practices, employee welfare and provide extensive trainings but still end up loosing people to a large company thereby end up being training grounds for bigger brands,” says Mr Neeraj Mediratta, CEO, Ace Data. That’s an observation with which many SMEs would be able to relate to. That’s why he too insists that SMEs should focus on branding. Branding can do wonders in attracting (and retaining) the right people. “It has worked remarkably well for us. There are talents from biggies and giants of software industry joining us now,” states Mr Satish Chathanath, Head, Corporate Communications, Aspire Systems (India) Pvt Ltd.

By not creating a strong brand image, many SMEs could actually be losing out on good business opportunities even if they have the right products or services at a competitive price. “Being focused on the core area SMEs are able to maintain good quality of service delivery. Despite this, most of the large customers choose to go with a bigger brand and not a small company. Many a times the proposal from an SME is not looked at by an enterprise customer because the top decision makers have not heard of that name,” explains Mr Mediratta.

A good brand not only gives market recognition but also helps outshine competition. With globalisation, competition has now acquired wider dimensions and therefore branding makes all the more sense. “Every corporate has potential competition not only from the national and regional counterparts but also from the international players! Brand strength can alone help the company withstand the pressure of competition, sustain base and grow parallely,” remarks Ms Usha Periasamy, AGM (Brands and Communication), Royal Classic Polo Group. “It is even more critical for SMEs in the retail era where visibility directly or indirectly results in business. Branding thus is a crucial differentiator,” adds Mr Raghu B Viswanath, MD, Vertebrand Management Consulting Pvt Ltd.

Branding empowers a company to stand out in the commercial crowd and enhance its position; SMEs need to realise that branding can be used as a strategic tool for growing their businesses. “For a long-term and sustainable business, it’s very important to also pay attention to the brand. The brand is what will keep you top-of-mind, so that people will reach out to you when they have a need for you – creating a pull in addition to your push,” says Ms Kirloskar. “It is through its brand image that an enterprise will attract and, more importantly, retain consumer loyalty for its goods and services and thus bring very real and concrete value to its business,” adds Mr Rajesh, MD, Rajathi Group.

If business is about creating value, branding is about giving ‘meaning’ to that value. It ‘means’ what your business stands for. It means a lot!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Be a contrarian

Creating a meaningful and sustainable brand experience matters to every organization whether it is big or small. But SMEs find it tough to create superior brand awareness and value in today’s cluttered, saturated, and price-driven marketplace.

The best branding approach for SMEs would be to move away from ‘Unique Selling Propositions’ (USPs) to ‘Unique Buying Tribes’ (UBTs). At Aspire Systems, we have successfully formed a unique tribe called ‘Producteers’ - they are not just software developer but specialist product engineers. It has worked remarkably well for us. There are talents from biggies and giants of software industry joining us now.

SMEs should shatter the myth that brand-building is a complex exercise that involves lots of funds. Brands may start out small, but their power and reach is only limited by our goals and creativity. At Aspire Systems, we have rigorously used one brand building tool with consistent results – and that is to be a ‘contrarian’.


~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

HR - Priests or Police?

I think HR should be a judicious mix of both traits - Priests and that of Police. Priests understand the business from people's end of it. They care and listen out. They are patient, emotional, rational and effective communicators. But they are not the 'fun' providers, they know the difference between 'fun' and 'engagement'.

Whereas, Police can gauge the inner and unsaid work and beyond work culture in the organisation. They know when it is off track and where to tighten to get the team back on track. They measure and evaluate anything and everything that has an impact on the bottomline and employee's interests alone. But they refrain from framing and imposing rules for the sake of it. For example, a leading IT company in India says no to 'Corduroy pants'. Has a policy around it and spends precious time on communicating or rather nailing it across the org. Beats me.

When the traits of Priest and Police combine, the key employee engagement parameters like Career Development, Transparency, Decision Making, Communications, Rewards and Recognition and the likes get the right attention and in the right scale.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Can powerful brands solve all org problems?

That was an interesting question posed to me by a management student. The answer is a resounding 'No'. Very unlikely that powerful brands can solve all organizational problems.

For example: excellent customer service helps build a brand and not vice versa.

Fast, flexible and agile orgs will increasingly 'win' in the new age business arena. I think people should understand what brands are, what brands can do to business and what they can't do.

How cool is 'Cuil'?

Cuil Inc (mouthed 'cool') is the new competition for Google!! Guess who is behind Cuil? Ex-Google specialists!! Who else!!

Promoters claim that Cuil, a new search service, can index, faster and cheaper(read it as 'than Google').

But one thing is for sure... that the time has come and the time is right for a formidable challenger who can really make Google sweat. For the moment let us forget that it is coming from Google's own farm of innovators.

Itching to check how 'cool' is Cuil? Sorry for the intended pun!

Understanding the Mind

The research team, from Durham University and the University of British Columbia, say that elements of human cognition and perception that are not yet fully understood by scientists may receive greater insight by analysing tricks and techniques used by magicians.

CASE STUDY EXPERIMENT

In one experiment, described in Dr Kuhn’s current paper, a group of volunteers watched a video of a ‘misdirection’ trick while their eye movements were recorded with a tracking device. The magician lights a cigarette with a lighter then subtly drops both items into his lap while directing his audience’s attention to his empty right hand, making watchers believe the items have simply disappeared.

The scientists then asked the volunteers if they had detected how the trick was done. They found that the chance of volunteers seeing the items being dropped was not related to the direction in which their eyes were looking – suggesting that where they paid attention was the more important factor. These results offer a striking demonstration of how looking at an object does not necessarily mean we see it.

Dr Kuhn highlights that the observations made in this experiment are related to recent findings in vision science, which showed that only a small part of information that enters our eyes actually enters our conscious awareness.

Click here to view the video clips of some of the magic tricks performed.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Day One : Disengaged

Various global research states that nearly 70% of employees 'quit' even before they complete one year with the organisation. What would be the reasons?

I would point it at 'satisfaction'levels. The engagement levels are at the best when a new employee joins a company. Then why is that a consider share of employees become dis-engaged soon. Sadly, it starts right from day one.

It is up to the organisation to retain, energize and elevate the levels to a new high. But unfortunately, most often, companies don't realize it till they see absolute signs of disengagement. Many companies have a ‘routine’ pre-joining processes, followed by dull induction session where things are forc-fed to the new joiness and the interactivity takes a rear seat. Needless to say, creativity is the answer here. We need not have a standard induction guide book and have a ring master to mindlessly follow the processes as it is in the HR book.

But people who stay on for more than a year have a brighter chance of going with the company for a good length of time.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Stories Happen

Pizza Hut undergoes a grand brand transformation exercise. Even though they are tinkering with the outlet looks to top-up menu, my post will just restrict only to their new logo and brand positioning.

Pizza Hut's positioning has evolved from ‘Treat You Can’t Beat’ to ‘Good Times, Great Pizzas’, and now finally, ‘Stories Happen’.

It wants to become a fancy dine-in experience where people can spend a lot of time, as opposed to just a place where one comes and goes. Probably it is taking a leaf out of Barista's Brand Book.

Human interaction evolve when you provide the right environs, a relaxed ambience and loads of time on your hand. So this is a clear move away from the 'fast food' tag that is normally attached to Pizza Joints even thought that is not the case.

The new tag 'Stories Happen' syncs well with its earlier tag 'Good Times'. Between the two brand phases, the brand positioned on 'Great Pizzas' for a while and to my mind that was off the mark.

On the new logo : the mascot 'hat' is retained but tweaked a bit. A safe transformation!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Growth or ROIC or Both ?

Often SME companies are caught in the 'growth freeze' zone. For example, a 500 head count company will struggle to hit the next big target of 1000 people. They have to sustain as well grow as well create value for customers as well produce profits for the stakeholders. Big ask!! When you find time, read what Bin Jiang and Timothy Koller of Mckinsey got to say on growth pangs.


Here is the summary of the Mckinsey Article :

'Value-minded executives know that although growth is good, returns on invested capital (ROIC) can be an equally—or still more—important indicator of value creation.1 Yet even executives at the best companies often wrestle with strategic decisions in order to reach the right balance between growth and returns. We repeatedly come across executives whose companies earn high returns on capital but who are unwilling to let those returns decline to encourage faster growth. Conversely, we see executives at companies with low returns working to promote growth instead of improving their ROIC.'

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Who's on the bus?

Top management guru and best-selling author Jim Collins quips : "If the bus is your company, and getting the right people is crucial to success — more important, even, than your strategy... and what do you do if you've got the wrong people on the bus? Or the right people doing the wrong things?"

I think that there are times when your most revered and most performing employee may have lost the golden touch or the zest. An aggressive Sales Eagle who wins account at will might become one average sales manager on promotion. A multi-faceted executive could get jaded if micromanaged to put all the eggs in one basket. And employees who thrive in a creative set-ups may choke when you tell them that rules and processes are sancrosant, which is the case in a big company.

How will you match great resources to right jobs?

Would these questions help in every performance appraisal ?? : What is the resource good at? What is the resource not good at? What does the resource love about his/her job? What does he/she hate about his/her job?

Now match your judgements with his or her observations on the same set of questions :What are you good at? What are you not good at? What do you love about your job? What do you really dislike about it?

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Business minus YOU is delegation

Micromanagement is the enemy of Delegation. Your business or department or project should run without you. That is the power of delegation.

Brian Blomgren, owner of business coaching and training firm ActionCOACH rightly points out : "The first person to convince that you can have a business that works without you is yourself. If you do not have a vision of what that looks like, then how can you expect someone else to have that vision for you?"

Read Business Week's 'Smart Answers' Section :
"I have a small company and want it to grow, but have no experience trusting employees to take care of the details I now look after myself. How do I start delegating tasks once I start hiring a larger staff?" —K.G., Seattle

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Forrester on B2B Blogging

A recently published study from Forrester Research raises a new question: Are businesses of any size benefiting from blogging?

A new study by Forrester Research reviewed 90 blogs run by business-to-business companies in the Fortune 500, and surveyed about twice that many B2B marketers. Like most businesses, these companies want to use the Internet to reach their customers. But because B2B companies are selling to people who follow their products professionally and not for pleasure, they face a greater challenge than companies that sell primarily to consumers.

Forrester doesn’t recommend that businesses give up on blogging, however. Instead, it suggests that they spice the blogs up.

I think companies should move away from drab 'this is me' messages to 'customer insight' messages, presented in an absorbing way. Probably get a blogger and not just a 'press release' writer to do this. Does your marketing write your company blog?

Barack Obama, the new CEO

Barack Obama is the presidential contender that corporate recruiters say they would most likely recruit as CEO of their organizations.

In a recent Jobfox online poll of 573 recruiters, nearly half (49.6 percent) said Obama was likely the best CEO material for their organizations — politics aside — compared to Hilary Rodham Clinton, with 32.8 percent of the vote, and John McCain, with 17.6 percent of the vote.

Hmmm... interesting!! This made me think on another tangent - how far can recruiters keep emotional aspects out of employee selection in day-to-day life? Do they get carried away with popular opinions?

Would you rehire him?

Take a look at these smart questions used by reference checkers. I picked these up from Business Pundit.

1. Were you asked to be a reference by (candidate name)?

2. What did he learn during his time with your company?

3. If you could give him a single career suggestion, what would it be?

4. What circumstances frustrate him the most?

5. How well does he manage pressure, stress, or crises?

6. (If reference managed the client) How did the candidate respond to your management style?

7. Would you rehire him?

8. Can you refer me to someone he didn’t get along with?

I personally believe that answers lie in your questions. Sharper the questions, better and closer are the answers !!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

75% Talk & 25% Songs

Recently I got a chance to listen to the entire plethora of FM Stations in Chennai during a long drive. It's unbelievable. Except for a few frills and noise elements, all sounded the same. Same formula. Same themes. Same jokes and satire.

Did a bit of research and found out that currently the ratio of talk to music playing time is 70:30 in most of these channels. This is excluding the ad time.

Probably some newbie should enter in and turn things around its head. Say do 75% talk and 25% songs. At 3:1 ratio! This might take listening and conversing to a different level and hence 'value' differentiation happen.

Any takers for a daring risk like this ?? After all a creative idea is something that scares everything out of you. And it produces an eerie feel of a kick-boxer's pinching punch in the abdomen. This eerie feel transforms into crazy delight once you see the buy in and positive results.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

BBC, Vivek 90.4 FM & IDEA

BBC programmes are available on Vivek 90.4FM, the first community radio station in Chandigarh, India. Listeners of Vivek 90.4 FM will now have opportunities to learn English, get health tips from across the world and learn about world opinions on technological advances, environment, music, art and culture - all on their local FM radio.

Vivek 90.4 FM is a community radio initiative at Vivek High School, Chandigarh, and has been on air since March 2007. The radio station has been involved in spreading community awareness and information in the field of health, education, literacy and nutrition. With the BBC’s enlightening programmes, Vivek 90.4 FM will further enrich its current programming to provide its local audiences with international content.

Remember the latest 'IDEA' TV Commercial. It just stays as a commercial. Your thoughts?

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Is Europe Insulated?

Is the United States of America going into a recession or not? A million $ question!!

There are media reports, analyst briefings and of course scores of online surveys saying 'it is', 'it is not' and so on. We need to view all this in the right context. And as a business strategy, there are biggies going to Europe to beat the US recession. Let us pause here... how insulated is Europe anyways !?

For example take UK considered as a key economic indicator of Europe's financial health. Let us see what CBI has got to say about the trend there...
UK’s premier business body, the Confederation of British Industry, has just turned in a survey that shows that Britons are spending less than ever on eating out, gyms, entertainment, and bars, and consumer facing businesses faced the weakest volume and value of business than at any time since 2001 — even though Britons are continuing to go on holiday.

And if confidence has anything to do with tipping the scale towards a downturn, indicators are that things are on the verge of it, probably not, and so on.

Product Launch - What do we miss?

Hyundai Motor India Ltd., (HMIL) has launched a new ‘i10’, powered by a 1.2 litre Kappa engine, at its plant in Chennai.

Another 'under the hood' product launch and another missed opportunity. Please read my post on 'What does Centrino 2 stand for?'

What does Centrino 2 stand for ?

Intel unveils Centrino 2 technology for laptops.

Gone are the days when 'under the hood products' are launched without showing the products. Nowadays we display them. But can't we do it better? Can't we present them in a way that throws a glow around it rather than show them as a dull, weird looking piece. When we bring a product out of a box, let us present it in a out-of-box way too !! What does Centrino 2 stand for... show that. Any takers !?

'Value Selling' - The Case Study Method

Great sales happen when you bet on 'Value Selling'. And the value should be in the thick of the specifics and not in the thin of the generalities. Because customers always look for the elusive value that a seller brings to them. How do you do it?

I suggest a daring method. Try doing case studies by yourself and not be dependent on Marketing or outsourced consultants. Because I think if sales people cannot put in words their thinking and their methodology, they’re going to be hard pressed to verbalize it to the customer. Move away from the usual Marketing style : We sold this solution to 'X' customer, they loved it and hence you buy it from us.

You have to take the customer rung-by-rung through a flow of events that happened between the time they encountered a business pain, saw its impact on their bottomline or the manager's pride and finally unable to explore the right solution. So Here I AM !!

Easy said, isn't it ?!?

Mackay 66

The Mackay 66 is a tool Harvey Mackay,founder, Chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, uses and recommends for gathering information about customers: personal information, business background, special interests, lifestyle, their business needs, and the nature of your relationship with them.

His approach to using this information is both practical and ethical: it is not used to deceive customers into thinking we care about them more than we do, but rather to allow us to treat them like we would want to, if only our brains could handle the information.

You could download his famous 66 questions from his website : http://www.harveymackay.com/tools/mackay66.cfm

Chinese Whisper - Brand Lesson

At times, Branding can be like a game of Chinese Whispers. Whisper a complicated word into the ear of the first participant in a group and by the time it comes back the word is lengthened or shortened and changed beyond recognition. Try playing the same game with a very very simple word instead. Fair chance that it will remain intact even after a few rounds of whispering.

It is the same with Branding. Have a complex brand positioning, the purpose is lost even before it crosses the chain of management, marketing, sales. Forget the crucial player in the chain - Customer.

Then why do more and more brand owners come up with complex marketing messages. Because they think complexity equals deafening impact and more importantly it will make them look good. But in reality, your brand should be a force of ONE. Just one word. One association. Powerful without dissipation. For example Google means 'Search'; LinkedIn means 'Networking'. What's yours? That is understood by all in the chain from CEOs to the salesgirl in the retail store to the courier pick-up guy.

On track says NASSCOM

Software and services exports surged 29 percent during 2007-08 to garner $40.4 billion revenue — overcoming the strong headwinds such as an impending slowdown and a severe financial sector crisis in the US, as well as currency fluctuation — to meet the targets set at the beginning of FY08.

The domestic market continued to gain momentum, growing 26 percent to register revenue of $11.6 billion in FY08. This took the overall IT industry revenue — exports and domestic combined — to $52 billion, a growth of over 28 percent compared to the previous year; and the overall IT sector direct headcount touched 2 million professionals.

India’s software and services revenue is poised to grow between 21 and 24 percent during 2008-09 to touch $62-64 billion.

Pick Bird's Brain

Happen to listen to Pixar’s Brad Bird. In an interview, this director of two Academy Award–winning animated films (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) tells quite a load on how to foster creativity. Inspiring.

I believe that great managers and CEOs are the ones that can push their teams and individuals far out of their comfy zones and encourage them to embrace the unconquered territories in their businesses and verticals. And yet keep them motivated and provide support all along.

LinkedIn - the second wave

For many social media is now synonymous with LinkedIn. I presume that the second wave of LinkedIn proliferation is on. I see people adding in tens and tens of peers and friends into their networks. But let us pause for a minute here. Are there LinkedIn users who evaluate the value of their networks based on the number of links or people they have got? And hence the rush to add numbers??

On the contrary, I think a linkedIn network should be judged based on the level of reciprocity, interactions, profile visits, comments, business connections and desired results.

If we want our networks to be active and rewarding, we need to be contributing through answers and questions; and importantly helping others to reach a rung up. All this without having a score but with a tab on time !!

Key Challenges faced by the Captives

It is exciting to note that the second session of NASSCOM’s CAPTIVE Forum on "Key Challenges faced by the Captives" is happening at Chennai on 14th July 2008 at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott.

Mr. Raju Bhatnagar- Vice President, NASSCOM is at the forum to brainstorm on the challenges faced by the Captives, best practices followed and solutions.

The key question will be : i)whether the Captive Units can sustain and continue to grow at the same momentum. ii) what are the current stumbling blocks and future shocks.

Fuse to Label

I am reading a new book called : How Toyota Became #1.

It revolves around lean manufacturing and also talks about Toyota's 5-Question method :

1. Why did the machine suddenly stop? Because it blew a fuse.
2. Why did a fuse blow? Because the fuse wasn’t the right size.
3. Why was the wrong sized fuse in the box? Because one of the engineers put it there.
4. Why did the engineer do that? Because somebody in the supply room issued the wrong size fuse.
5. Why? Because the stock bin for fuses was mislabeled.

Analysis to the very root of the problem is the best long term solution. How true!! And how true that majority are caught in the symptomatic treatments and end up in temp solutions.

Consumer Research for FREE!

During my presentation on 'Branding Initiatives' at the NASSCOM Emerging Companies Forum, there was an interesting question on 'how feasible it is to build a brand through social media channels?'

I think more and more brand managers and communication specialists in India are waking up to the new media. The practice of using social media to build brands is fast catching up and there’s enormous work being done in this sphere. Social Media gives the customers a distinct voice - that voices its preferences, tastes, likes, dislikes, discontentment, frustrations and more. Smart companies and branding professionals listen to this patiently and work on how to leverage this interaction to create a positive brand image.
Even though the social media as a brand concept is still nascent in India, there are some organizations which are prioritizing this as one of the key ways of reaching customers and building trust.

30 out of 90 belongs to India

According to US Census Bureau International Data, out of a total projected population of 90 million people in the younger working ages (15-29) population between 2005-25, India will contribute nearly 30 million people.

So there is little doubt that India will continue to be the hub of global human resource activity. The moot question will be whether we have enough people to fill in the demand supply gap.

Communications during Recession

If the US recession is for real... Communicators should get ready to do MORE with LESS. Or should it be MORE square with MORE!

Recession means less consumers.
Declining consumer base means less demand.
Inadequate demand means more efforts to stimulate demand.
Inadequate demand means Marketing & Advertising needs to work harder.

Traditionally, organization worldwide toe this line - when people buy less, spend less on marketing, branding and advertising. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%. This applies to B2B communicators as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.

But shouldn't the advertisers be doing the reverse - spend more on advertising when the going gets tough? Please share your opinions?

'More' with 'Less'

If recession is for real. Communicators should get ready to do MORE with LESS.

Fewer consumers means less demand; less demand means efforts to stimulate demand (i.e,. marketing) are less effective overall. In other words, when people buy less, advertisers spend less. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%.

I should point out that this slowdown applies to business-to-business marketers as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.

Brand Loyalty through Conversation

According to a new study by the consumer social network ExpoTV, 55 percent of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands, and roughly 89 percent would feel more loyalty toward brands that directly communicated with them.

Once consumers have the ear of brand executives, they want to talk about what improvements are being made and what new products are in development. On top of that, 79 percent of consumers want to share their new product ideas.

These are the individuals that marketers should be targeting because of their knowledge, enthusiasm and influence. Embracing them is the key to harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing and ultimately driving brand loyalty.

The survey found a direct link between brand discussions and word-of-mouth buzz. Approximately 92 percent of respondents said they would recommend a product to friends after participating in a dialogue with a brand.

So still the best method for fostering brand loyalty is just the old-fashioned conversation. Interesting!!

CSR - Contribution Vs Greenwashing

I observe that there is a growing disconnect between the brands and their CSR activities. There are many well known brands in India that are into every social issue one can think of to gain cheap PR. This is not a welcome step and it can only whitewash or probably greenwash their brand names as customers don't see any connection.

In my company, Aspire Systems, we ensure that there is a connection that is easy to see between positive brand image and corporate philanthropy. We are in the outsourced product engineering services and hence 'Knowledge' is what we will be associated with. Our CSR wing called 'POLESTAR' solely focuses on imparting education, learning and development to marginalized kids and children of less-privileged schools in and around our workplaces. Our objective is to bring societal transformation through education and knowledge.

I believe that if organizations keep their commitment to do the right things, the consumers will continue to reward the brand through desired positive behaviours.

Udayan sans sensation

TV18 has promoted Udayan Mukherjee as managing editor, CNBC-TV18.

I feel happy for Udayan. He is a no-nonsense TV guy with his head on his shoulders. No rhymes or pacy delivery or aggressive postures and questions. He just delivers cutting edge news and insights to viewers. Plain simple communications. That's what we want right...?

I personally think Udayan has played a key role in building what is today India’s most respected business news network.

Good wishes Udayan!

SWITCH switches

The top six India-based offshore service providers, collectively referred to as the ‘SWITCH’ companies (Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and HCL Technologies) are now regularly invited to bid for larger and more-complex outsourcing contracts, requiring multiple services, says a Gartner report.

This is sure to expand the portfolio of service offerings and help them tap new regions. As a cascading effect, the second line of companies will follow suit. And medium-sized and niche players will benefit in the long run through access to newer tech, regions and resources.

Up the value chain and win-win!!

'Call to Action' Communication

Take a look at this green calculator. Impressive!

It puts a number on your contribution to environment decay.

Mileage badhao, paisa bachao
Mileage badhao, climate bachao

Press Release Or Communications Center

The proposed merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines has already produced one great byproduct: the press release of the future.

Click me

Think of it as a mini-site, or temporary site, almost like a booth at a trade show. It’s a combination of marketing, investor relations, and customer service. The content here is meant to answer all of the questions from any of the merger’s stakeholders.

What works? The content is exhaustive, addressing topics ranging from will current employees lose their jobs to how service will change in each state the airlines fly. Berinato also points to the well designed mutimedia presentation, which includes text, graphics, and video.

Are we ready to change ?

Software Vendors & Billing Rates

The CLSA survey, done with nine vendors, including the top five Indian IT vendors, says four of the nine respondents expected pricing to be stable and at last year’s levels, while five of them expected pricing to deteriorate slightly, but stay positive. The report says if demand doesn’t pick up soon, pricing may not stand its ground.

Accenture’s third quarter results announced last week, however, belie some of these fears. The multinational consulting and technology services firm posted one of its strongest quarters with a profit growth of 36 percent and announced a higher than estimated fourth quarter guidance.

While Accenture’s business cannot be compared on a like-basis with Indian offshore providers, it indicates that the business environment may perhaps not be as negative.

However, what seems more certain is that software vendors may not be able to manage better billing rates from clients. Last fiscal, software companies were able to get 3-4 percent higher billing rates on new contracts and contracts coming up for renewal.

Source : The Economic Times

Recognition for Indian Animators

The UK Animation Companies are now looking for Indian Partners! After Reverse Outsourcing... it is now Reverse British Trade.

Refreshing Change in Print

Government forces Liquour brands to innovate!

Deprived of promoting liquour products directly, companies had for long taken recourse to surrogate advertising — commercials on soda, packaged water or playing cards with the same brand names. Of late, the government has tightened the screws on this form of advertising as well.

As a result, companies like United Spirits, Diageo and Bacardi have designed innovative packaging to push sales. United Spirits has decided to roll out 180 ml tetrapacks. The new packs have been designed by packaging major TetraPak of Sweden.

Customer Benefit : A tetrapack is unbreakable and is easy to carry and dispose.

Other dizzy innovations :
Diageo has introduced Red Label in an ice tray pack. Its Black Label VMM pack is inspired by the shape of the MP422 Formula 1 car. Bacardi's high-end premium gin brand, Bombay Sapphire, has been introduced in a giant gemstone -shaped bottle. Named ‘Revelation', it is available as five handmade crystal bottles individually decorated with sapphires and diamonds, priced at $200,000 (Rs 86 lakh) each.

Controversial Lovins words can't ring any better now!!

Amory Lovins says:

1) Companies, governments, and consumers around the world are grappling with high energy prices. Amory Lovins, cofounder and chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit, has spent more than three decades searching for innovative ways to boost energy efficiency and alleviate this pressure.

2)In this interview, he offers suggestions to CEOs who want to plump up the bottom line by getting their organizations to use energy more efficiently.

Miss not his interview:

Obama's famed Communication Tool

Communicators talk about Barack Obama’s use of the Internet as a means of mobilising voters.

It will be interesting to see how(If Barack is voted president)he will use the new-age medium to drive down the policies, slip out of a crisis or motivate people during challenging times.

One thing is for sure. The Internet has a powerful role to play in the shaping of the future of Democratic Nations.

Reverse Outsourcing & Infosys

The most comprehensive client satisfaction survey in the outsourcing industry conducted by the US-based consultancy Brown-Wilson Group, based on client experience responses of nearly 24,000 buyer executives, saw Infosys fall out of the top 50 this year to rank 59.

The Black Book of Outsourcing Survey results attribute the decline of Infosys, which was ranked 10th last year, to ‘rising accounts of client discontent’, the report notes, “ over a dozen major customers cited the fact that Infosys has not melded their consulting and service delivery well. US clients cite a lack of American front-office support with an imbalance of too much delivered from offshore.”

On the other hand, the report notes the rise of ‘reverse outsourcing’, the phenomenon of Indian companies opening offices in USA and hiring locally. The report says that 'reverse outsourcing development is too new for Indian companies to point to actual cost savings yet, but moving front office processes closer to the client is fast attracting buyer interest. Major suppliers are responding to the demand for enhanced, locally delivery customer service.'

American front office support & processes? Is it the real cure??

Celebrating Tamil Creativity - Interesting

Spark, the annual advertising award show of Ad Club Madras, which was not held for the past couple of years due to lack of entries, is all set to return in a brand new format. According to R Seshadri, Managing Director, Anugrah Madison Advertising, and newly elected President of the Advertising Club Madras, the Club, after a series of brainstorming sessions, had zeroed in on a unique format that would celebrate Tamil creativity across the world.

“Yes, we have plans to re-invent the Ad Club awards this year. After a series of ‘brainstorming’ sessions, the Executive Committee came to the conclusion that the Ad Club Madras awards needs to be unique in order to attract participation from not only local agencies, but also some national and international agencies who have stayed away during the last couple of years. Hence, we felt that the need of the hour was a change in format – a format so unique to Ad Club Madras that it cannot be replicated by other Clubs. Thus, the concept of ‘Tamil Advertising Awards’ was frozen,” Seshadri explained.

“There is a huge body of work created in Tamil, not just by agencies but by radio / TV / Internet and feature film companies that is unique and deserves to be celebrated and awarded. Currently, there is no forum which identifies and recognises this kind of work. The Ad Club Madras, with its roots in Chennai, is in a unique position to implement this concept, which the Club hopes will appeal to even other national and international agencies (especially in Sri Lanka and South East Asia), who target Tamilians,” Seshadri added.

'Head-quartered' pressures on Captives

Faced with the reality of mounting 'head-quatered' pressures, Captive Centres / R&D Centres in India are continually searching for ways to decrease their operational cost and increase productivity and profits.

As a means to accomplish these strategic goals some of these captives are analyzing core functions versus peripherial elements of their business and increasingly outsourcing their non-core business processes in order to gain operational efficiencies.

During my sales calls with a few select captives, I get a feeling that some of them recognize the need and the majority of this lot is increasingly moving towards small and medium size outsourcing companies in India to gain superior control.

Non-intrusive !! Really ??

Engage your customers like never before they say !! I think it is a double edged sword, you could disengage your customers with this intrusive medium. Unlike TV, Mobile is considered very private. And hence doubly intrusive. Do customers see value in SMS advertising? What product categories would fit in here?

Video Advertising Avatars

JuxtConsult Research says that 36 per cent of the 35 million active Internet users in India share videos online. The broadband penetration in India is 3.5 million (referring to Internet speeds of more than 256 Kbps). The ever-increasing interest in Video Advertising is substantiated by the entry of online video ad agencies in India. . YouTube, which recently launched an India site due to the growing usage in the country, is another indicator of the changing habits of users as Internet connections get faster.

Some of the common formats of video ads on the Internet are pre-roll and post-roll ads, video overlays and in-stream ads. Pre-roll ads play in the form of a short video before the actual video content being watched plays, and post-roll ads refer to ads that follow at the end of the main video. Overlay ads work by providing textual information in the form of a banner at the bottom of the screen when the ad is playing. These can be clicked on for more information or turned off if desired. In-stream ads play between the video, similar to how we see ads in TV shows.

The strength of this medium is that it can cleverly combine both Video and Banner formats.

What's next Mr. Gates?

After spending almost 33 years in building and growing Microsoft, Bill Gates, an inspiration to many a wannabe millionaires, steps down as the chairman of Microsoft today.

Looks like he is going to spend the rest of his life caring for people and not bytes. Philanthropy bug has bit him some time back and he is seriously pursuing it. One of the richest in the world, Bill Gates had visited India in 2005, and announced a $1.7-billion investment.

Let's wait and watch what social changes he will aim to bring about and which part of the globe might benefit.

Presentation at Emerging Companies Forum, NASSCOM

Creating a meaningful brand experience matters to every organization whether it is big or small. The focus is on how to create brand value in today’s cluttered, saturated, and price-driven marketplace. Brand-building is often thought of as a difficult exercise that involves lots of funds. Brands may start out small, but their power and reach is only limited by your goals and creativity.

I am presenting on 'BRANDING INITIATIVES – EMERGING COMPANIES' tomorrow at NASSCOM TN Chapter. I am looking forward to the Q&A session to understand, learn and probably help other emerging companies on branding, advertising and PR challenges.

Hanuman and PR

All-India Congress Committee member Brij Mohan Bhama has organised a 11-day religious ceremony at Karol Bagh, Delhi for Obama's success in the U.S. elections.

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/25/stories/2008062556031500.htm

Majority of the communicators might brush this off as a cheap publicity stunt. But an in-depth look will reveal, considering the present political environment in both India and the US, that this is a powerful global PR ploy with positivity and continuity components intact.

It seems Mr. Bhama heard that Mr. Obama carried an idol of Hanuman in his pocket for luck. On hearing this Mr. Bhama decided to gift Mr. Obama a larger idol weighing 15 kg and measuring 21-inch brass idol of Hanuman. Looks like Mr. Obama will soon have a super-heavy luck charmer. Literally.

Employee Productivity & Performance

Yesterday, during a sales call when I was stressing on our improved performance management system, there was an interesting question from my client : How much does performance management of talent has a role to play in productivity and attrition?

I found shelter in the Aberdeen's benchmark report entitled "Enhancing Operational Results with Employee Performance Management.

The report says that the primary pressure driving employee performance management was the need to improve overall company performance (57%), followed closely by employee productivity (46%).

The pressures driving organizations to pursue employee performance management in 2008have shifted and reflect the stifling realities associated with the global shortage of labor and talent. Though workforce productivity still remains a Top 2 driving force cited by 27% of more than 900 organizations surveyed in Aberdeen study, the primary pressures revolve around insufficient talent pipelines, the loss of top talent to competitors, and a diverse workforce with varying needs and expectations.

Sounds familiar ??

INDIA the new LION at Cannes

Two Advertisement campaigns – the Luxor Highlighter campaign and the Lead India campaign – have changed India’s fortunes at Cannes pretty dramatically.

The Lead India campaign has already bagged a Grand Prix in the Direct Lions, which was a first for India. Now, with another Lion in the Integrated and Titanium category, the campaign has broken further records for this is the first time that an Indian entry has won a Lion or even got shortlisted, for that matter, in this category.

The Lead India campaign is the brainchild of the JWT and Times of India teams. In fact, Agnello Dias, chief creative officer, JWT, told afaqs! that while the brainstorming sessions were on for this campaign, many a time they forgot which was the client and which the agency. Both teams contributed equally to the success of the campaign, said Dias. He repeatedly attributed the success of the campaign to Rahul Kansal and Priya Gupta of The Times of India brand team.

This clearly shows that if the Client and the Agency / Consultant work with open minds, it is easy to tame even lions.

Kudos to all creative Indian brains!!

MNC Captives in India - Location Preferences

It is interesting to note that out of 502 MNC captive centers in India, more than half of them reside in Bangalore. To be exact, 275 at Bangalore, 75 at NCR, 73 at Pune, 52 at Hyderabad and 27 at Chennai.

Even though Hyderabad and Chennai have less captives centres, they are fast emerging as a preferred destination for new comers, says Zinnov.

Not far behind is Cochin, Kolkatta, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

Barrels and barrels of capital

Surging oil prices have turned member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) into financial powerhouses. McKinsey research indicates that between 2007 and 2020, they will earn $5 trillion to $9 trillion from exports of crude oil, and much of this could flow into overseas capital markets.

McKinsey estimates that the total value of the Gulf states’ foreign assets reached $1.9 trillion by the end of 2006—more than double their level in 2003 and nearly equal to the GDP of India and Brazil combined or the market value of the top ten Fortune 500 companies.

With scorching oil prices, the six nations of the GCC would earn a cumulative $6.2 trillion by 2020, or more than triple the amount they earned from 1993 through 2006. Decisions by Gulf leaders on how to use this wealth will have global repercussions for decades.

No wonder the superpowers are behind the oil powers.

Indian CIOs drive innovation better !

IT departments in the US might excel at showcasing emerging technologies such as RFID and mobile connectivity. But in the more important area of using technology to propel business innovation, IT execs in India lead the way, says Forrester Research Vice President Navi Radjou.


What does India know that the US doesn’t? Radjou offers two insights.

1. IT execs in India often come from a business, not a technical background. “Many of them come from a finance or operations background and have held P&L responsibilities as general managers or business unit leaders.”
2. Indian IT is focused on leveraging existing commercial applications, not building something new from the ground up. They hire fewer developers but more outsourcing professionals.

IT Leaders look beyond cost cutting !

IT Business Edge probes. Tim Lambert, vice-president of marketing, UnisysUnisys Global Outsourcing and Infrastructure Services answers! There are quite a handful for service providers to take and note.




Question: Unisys recently commissioned research from IDG that explores the correlation among IT practices, IT management priorities and business outcomes. IDG categorized about a quarter of the organizations it surveyed as IT leaders, those that were most effective at managing IT resources to support business strategy and goals. I believe the leaders ranked the importance of business outcomes somewhat differently than other organizations. What were some of the most striking differences?

Lambert: The largest gap between leaders and others in the survey was on the importance of stimulating innovation and creativity. Eighty-one percent of leaders ranked stimulating innovation and creativity as a very important business outcome, compared to only 52 percent of others in the survey. The new research shows that leading organizations focus their priorities beyond cost-cutting, which is conventionally viewed as the primary business driver of IT best practices. They create service delivery models that employ a balanced mix of practices involving people, process and automation to execute, adjust and innovate in achieving multiple business objectives. Leaders are also more likely to look outside their organization and draw from outsourcing partners to improve best practices. They build partnerships to draw on the expertise of their sourcing partners rather than viewing outsourcers as simply vendors of a service.



Question: There was more agreement on the top IT management objectives. What were the top objectives? Why do you think there was a more consistent viewpoint across all organizations in this area?

Lambert: While cost savings, customer satisfaction and increased business agility remain key measures by which organizations determine business success, leaders have a heightened sense of importance regarding all IT priorities compared to the others. The consistency among the leaders’ perspectives suggests that IT organizations must certainly deliver what you would consider table stakes — such as reducing the risk of operational failure and controlling costs — but also identify IT management priorities that impact their own specific business priorities. What separates the leaders is the ability to pursue multiple business objectives concurrently with equal effectiveness.



Question: One interesting area of the research was that the popularity of certain IT-enabled practices did not correlate with positive business outcomes. How do you explain this? Does it suggest that companies are too quick to adopt IT-enabled practices just because they are trendy?

Lambert: Companies certainly must place a priority on adopting IT-enabled practices, but merely adopting the practice does not ensure that it is a best practice. For it to qualify as a best practice and have a lasting positive impact on the organization, it must be not only widely adopted, but also relevant to an organization’s business and IT management goals. CIOs must work closely with the business to determine which outcomes are the most important and then craft an IT management strategy by outlining the priorities and implementing specific practices accordingly. This will sometimes mean deferring the adoption of some new service delivery approaches if adoption cannot be clearly linked to a critical business outcome.The 139 respondents who emerged as leaders in IT best practices consistently placed a significantly higher premium on customer-focused outcomes than the entire survey population. While all companies ranked cost reduction as an important outcome, the leaders chose value-based outcomes such as customer satisfaction/upsell, customer loyalty/retention and increased business agility as more important.The leaders embraced three key best practices that they considered most effective — including knowledge management, modeling methodologies and Software as a Service ((SaaS). The critical element here is that viewed together, those practices help achieve a balance of people, process and technology. This three-pronged approach to deliver IT services is essential to achieve collaborative innovation between IT and the organization.



Question: Which IT-enabled practices showed the strongest connection to positive business outcomes?

Lambert: Two practices in particular stand out as having a significant impact on business: SaaS and capability maturity model integration (CMMI). While only 12 percent of respondents worldwide have adopted SaaS, those who have adopted it rate it as very effective, and as having a significant impact on achieving business strategy and goals. Only 13 percent of respondents have adopted CMMI-processes for consistent and effective application development, but the practice is rated high for its impact on business. This suggests to us that SaaS and CMMI are emerging areas to consider when seeking to evaluate the cause and effect of IT practices on business outcomes.