Super Optimist or Stupidest Pessimist

Anyone can be a super optimist. Anyone can be a stupidest pessimist. But the toughest thing to be is just being 'human'! I think people who belong to this mid-category usually come up with creative work that packs more energy than the extreme bloats and hollows of the world. Mark my word, it is pure luck to meet a handful of such remarkable characters before you catch the last bus to heaven!!

~ 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

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

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

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

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.